BASEBALL DREAMS

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CJ WALKER Bases Loaded: New Florida Marlins owner (opposite) is revamp- ing South Florida’s team. Below, a game plays to a full house at in Jupiter.

When New York art dealer and baseball aficionado Jeffrey Loria bought the Marlins last year, South Florida fans had all but abandoned the team. Now Loria is not only rebuilding a roster of solid players, he is also reconstructing the team’s relationship with its home base. Will the fans play ball? By Jeff Zbar

a glorious March day pable. It’s spring training. Marlins,” says Loria, who repeats the at Jupiter’s Roger Amid it all is a 62-year-old with a boy- name in a playful Boston accent: “The Dean Stadium – the ish grin who is plainly in his glory. Jeffrey Mah-lins.” kind of day baseball Loria, owner of the Florida Marlins and About 100 yards away from the owner is made for. The sun avid fan of the game, is talking strategy is the team president, Loria’s stepson, It’s is shining brightly as with Jeff Torborg behind the bat- . Sitting on a second floor players mill about on the field of their ting cage that is perched over home plate. deck outside his office overlooking left sprawling practice facility. The crack of Not owner to employee, but fan to man- field, Samson is as enamored with the bats punctuates the play list coming from ager. As the two talk, up walks Kevin Mil- business of baseball as his stepdad is of the PA system: a mix of hip-hop, Latin and lar, the former Marlins and current Red the game itself. They seem a perfect country-western music, fitting for players Sox pitcher. He wise cracks and the three match: Don’t talk to Samson about the and north Palm Beach County locals alike. start to laugh. joys of going to baseball games as a kid, Fans bedecked in Red Sox red and Mar- Loria breaks away to mingle with fans. he’d rather talk Knicks basketball – if any lins teal also amble about, hotdogs layered An older Red Sox fan starts talking team sport at all – while Loria prefers to skirt in ketchup, pretzels slathered in mustard. dreams and hopes for the season. “Who’re front-office chat and go directly to talk The beer is cold. The buzz in the air is pal- you?” the man asks. “I’m the owner of the about the team.

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Fan to Fan: Loria (right) loves to talk baseball strategy with Marlins manager “The Marlins have a tremendous Jeff Torborg (left). fan base in South Florida, but until him from moving up. Yet, baseball was always there, at least from a fan’s perspec- tive. Professionally, with a degree in art those fans get ... a competitive history from Yale and an MBA from Columbia, Loria’s first job was with , Roebuck & Co., in the department store’s team, they’re not going to spend fledgling art-buying program. By 24, he had published several books on art. In the money to go to the game.” 1965, he opened Jeffrey H. Loria & Co., a private art dealership he still runs on New York’s Upper East Side. Over the ensuing – Scott Becher, Sports & Sponsorships decades he became wealthy by catering to private clients, dealing in high-end art by the likes of Pablo Picasso and sculptor “My ability to be a fan has increased breakout year. Success or failure will be Henry Moore. exponentially since I got into the game,” measured as much in the stands as on the For his part, Samson, 35, can trace his Samson admits. “But it’s my responsibility field. And both men know it. taste for baseball to a day in 1998. That’s to run the business.” when Loria negotiated to buy the Montreal Together, these two – a New York art Trajectory of a Dream Expos – and lured Samson from his job as dealer and a New York wealth manage- At 62, Loria can trace his love of base- a wealth strategist with Morgan Stanley in ment exec – are the unlikely would-be sav- ball back to his first Yankees game. When New York to be the team’s executive vice iors of South Florida baseball. With only the logged the last out, a president. four years in the business of big league six-year-old Loria asked his father if that Actually, the Marlins are Loria’s third baseball they took over the Marlins in the was all. shot at team ownership. He was the owner spring of 2002, hoping to give the fickle Hardly. Loria went on to play second of the Triple-A Oklahoma City 89ers. The local audience something to be proud of – base for his high school – team won the 1992 league championship, and to spend money on. This, their sopho- though any hope of making a college and Loria was named executive of the year more season in Florida, could be the squad was quashed when bum knees kept by the league.

40 SouthFloridaCEO / April 2003 The minors weren’t big enough for Loria, however, who sold the team in 1993. Six years later, when the opportu- nity came up to acquire the for about $120 million, he entered the big leagues. But Canada was a different world for baseball. Revenues and attendance were weak. Loria couldn’t negotiate English- language TV rights in the French-domi- nant province. To make matters worse, while the team collected revenues in Cana- dian dollars, players had to be paid in US currency. “Things fell apart,” says one baseball writer. Then, in November 2001, the league voted to pursue “contraction” – a euphe- mism for eliminating the two worst-per- forming teams from the league. The Expos were one of the targets. While substantial legal barriers still stood in the way of such a contraction, Loria didn’t want to wait around to see if his team would be shut down, and he didn’t want to lose his ties to the bigs. So he negotiated a deal that called for (MLB) to buy the Expos from him, in turn allowing him to buy the Marlins. MLB paid him the $120 million he had shelled out for the Expos, then loaned him another $38.5 million to cover Marlins owner John Henry’s $158.5 million asking price. This freed Henry to buy the Boston Red Sox, and kept the Expos alive for a future relocation to a US city. Loria was left with the expense of operating the Marlins, and with the task of helping underwrite a new ballpark for South Florida within the next five years. Under the terms of the deal, if no new ballpark is built, part of the loan will be forgiven – since the absence of a dedi- cated park will make it much tougher to turn a profit.

Play Ball: Marlins executive vice presi- dent David Samson (top) has worked with owner Jeff Loria since 1998; left, a new Marlins ad campaign aims to drum up excitement for the team.

Panthers (13 percent). “The research shows the fans are there,” says agency president Scott Becher, who also consulted with the Marlins under for- But ask locals which pro teams they fol- mer owner John Henry. “Just because A Fighting Chance? low, and some 50 percent from the tri- someone doesn’t attend a live game, it In South Florida, where football rules, county area say they regularly follow the doesn’t mean they’re not a fan. The Mar- other pro sports franchises tend to struggle Marlins. That’s according to a poll com- lins have a tremendous fan base in South at the turnstile. The Marlins are no excep- missioned each year by Sports & Sponsor- Florida, but until those fans feel like tion. Samson claims the team was left with ships, a Beach-based sports mar- they’re getting better treatment from own- a mere 250 season ticket-holders when keting firm. Among the 600 people polled ership in the form of a competitive team, Loria bought it. Last year, the team was – 200 in each of the three counties – Mar- they’re not going to spend the money to go outdrawn by minor league squads in Mem- lins followers were second only to the to the game.” phis, Sacramento and even a Mexican Dolphins (58 percent) and significantly Loria and Samson can trace their fans’ league team. ahead of the Heat (32 percent) and the woes back to the weeks following the

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Take Me Out: Spring training is the revamped Marlins’ first chance to try to capture a new audience of ticket-buying fans. Bottom left, a player signs auto- graphs for fans both young and old. Left, a kid waits for a fly ball.

“My name doesn’t start with ‘H’ like the previous regimes, who did what they wanted to do,” Loria says. “We had noth- ing to do with the previous regime.” Nonetheless, the challenges loom large. Doomed Without a Dome? 1997 . Still euphoric from Now Management intends to rebuild One of Loria’s biggest conundrums is winning 108 games and the trophy, players that relationship, by improving both the one which stymied Henry: where – and and fans awoke weeks later to the news team’s performance and its marketing, how – to build a dedicated ballpark. In the that team owner H. was which are intimately linked. As Becher end, Henry’s inability to secure a public paring down the team’s $86 million pay- notes, “You can market all you want. commitment for the lion’s share of funding roll. Before the next season, virtually all of They’ve already heard the hyperbole on for a new stadium drove him to leave the the star players who had taken the team to net promises. Winning is the only form of area in frustration. The problem is that, the top were gone. marketing that will put butts in seats.” without a domed facility to call its own, After the roster cuts, there came the fire For his part, Loria has hardly been up to the Marlins are at a disadvantage. Some sale of the team to John Henry, a couple of bat. After all, he took possession of the local commentators, such as Sun-Sentinel cellar-dweller seasons and a rash of threats team just after players reported for spring sports columnist Mike Berardino, believe that the team would be moved if a new sta- training last year. Nonetheless, going into that the Marlins have little chance of sur- dium were not built with public funds. this season the team has some 4,000 regu- viving in South Florida without one. “Marlins fans had their hearts torn out,” lar season ticket-holders, a figure which The problem is multifold. First there is Becher says, and Loria “inherited a dys- they expect to rise 20 percent by the end of the weather. Forget the twin rainy seasons functional fan-team relationship.” the current season. that bracket the summer; the heat alone

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Together, Loria and Samson – a New York art dealer and a New York wealth management exec – are the unlikely would-be sav- iors of South Florida baseball. keeps too many fans out of Pro Player Sta- For starters, they brought in an experi- haul. They believe they can win their divi- dium. And then there is the inability to enced new front office staff. They stirred sion, and I give them credit for tilting at leverage a stadium for revenue. Because up the league by making a failed bid for that windmill.” Huizenga owns the Pro, the Marlins can- Rockies pitcher Mike Hampton. They shed not reap the full rewards of sponsorship, $30 million from their payroll by ditching In The Spotlight luxury suite sales, or even parking conces- outfielder Preston Wilson and Both Loria and Samson admit that the sions. Location is another issue: Henry Charles Johnson, while retaining well- bright lights of baseball are a world away wanted a downtown , near known names like infielders from their formerly private careers. Close Cuban neighborhoods where baseball is a and . They picked up Ivan friend and fellow New York art dealer major fascination. “Pudge” Rodriguez, a veteran catcher per- Maxwell Davidson III feels for Loria. The Dedicated stadium or no, however, the fect for the team’s young roster. They two met 40 years ago at Sears, and have Marlins have little choice but to go the signed only one player to a contract longer been close ever since, hitting Yankees full nine innings. MLB won’t let them than a year – cutting out any need for games in their younger years and taking in relocate, and contraction isn’t an issue insurance payments to cover the possibili- a few spring training games this March. until 2007, when the current collective ties of payouts to injured players. Today, Maxwell remembers the heat Loria took bargaining agreement with players they stand at around $48 million in pay- from the press in Montreal. The people expires. And they can’t sell – except at a roll, half of what it once was. there did not appreciate Loria, he says, and big loss. So while they might not have “I don’t think they have anything up did not understand that he had the makings intended to stay in South Florida perma- their sleeve. There is no viable escape of a great owner – intelligent, focused, nently, Loria and Samson must make the route,” Berardino says. “To their credit, committed. He hopes South Florida will best of the situation. they’ve taken one broadside after another be kinder and gentler. “They crapped all On their end, the priority is to first and made missteps. I expected this to be over him in Montreal and I hate them for rebuild the team – and make it a more another bloodletting, and it wasn’t. it,” Maxwell says. “But the Montreal play- important part of the South Florida psyche They’ve made additions to the infrastruc- ers thought he was terrific.” – before worrying about a stadium. ture that tell me they are in it for the long So, too, do the Marlins, it seems. In the

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44 SouthFloridaCEO / April 2003 BASEBALL DREAMS locker room, pitcher calls ness and civic groups, spreading the word brochure featuring fan reward programs. Loria over to meet some of his friends that Marlins’ management is serious about After being stagnant for a year, “they’re from Oklahoma. Second-baseman Luis success. “We’re trying to win fans one at a being visible,” says one local sports writer. Castillo still sports the medallion Loria time,” Samson says. “The questions now are much more about picked up for him at the Vatican last year Because the team has a roster of young baseball than if the team is staying.” after his 35-game hitting streak. players who are shy – if not unknowing – of That’s just what Loria and Samson hope But that’s not what people see – the owner the media, the team hired RBB Public Rela- – that the team will play hard and be cutting up with his players, as much a fan as tions to handle their interaction with the warmly received, that it will find success any paying spectator. Instead, the press and public and press. The firm immediately set on the field and in the media, and that by public took pot shots at the team last year for up media training for all the players. Atten- October, it will be in the post-season. not marketing the product. What was there to dance hit 100 percent. “It was very well “Jeffrey and I will go down in history,” market, Samson asks? By the time new man- received,” says RBB partner Ed Gilhuly. Samson says. “If we fail here, we will be agement arrived, it was too late to even cre- The public relations push is already pay- the third failure in this market. Or, we will ate opening day programs. No ads were on ing off. February’s Fan Fest at Pro Player be the ones who make baseball prosper in the airwaves; the team even ran out of hot- Stadium drew more than 10,000 people. South Florida – that two people with high dogs on opening day. The team now has a slick season-ticket hopes failed, and we hit a .” Not this year. Management has taken the team on the road. The caravan made appearances at Little Havana’s Calle Ocho and the Doral golf tournament. The team stocked up on 30,000 hotdogs to give away free on opening day. They’re even having some fun. Thou- sands of Ryan Dempster bobblehead dolls sit in storage, ordered just before the team traded the pitcher to the Cincinnati Reds. So the team will hold “Ryan Dempster Bobble- head Doll Day” when the Reds come to town in May. The next day, they’ll hold Juan Encarnacion glove day – for the player the team picked up in the Dempster trade. “When you have time to have an off season, you have time to plan and exe- cute,” Samson says. Michael Goldberg sees the fun. The team’s account rep at Zimmerman & Part- ners Advertising, Goldberg is working with Loria, Samson and team marketing VP Sean Flynn to create a campaign that, Ad hopefully, will rekindle the flame that fan and team once shared. The latest ads speak of the team’s revival. “Get back in the game,” the campaign begs. The $2.5 mil- lion effort will range from TV and radio spots to print and billboard ads to dorsal fins strapped to the tops of cabs. The message promotes the points impor- tant to Loria – speed, passion, youth and intensity. One billboard ad sports the image of a pitched baseball burning the board in half. A TV spot shows Marlins pitchers demolishing opposing team bobblehead dolls. “It’s pretty simple,” Goldberg says. “The mandate is to reinvent the brand to create a love affair with this market.” The marketing goes beyond advertising. One of the wilder promotions is the spon- sorship by Budweiser and Sunshine Pools of three, eight-person hot tubs in the sta- dium. Actually, they will not be hot tubs, per se, but large tubs filled with cool water and perched in a tropical, beach-like setting behind the home-team bullpen. More down to earth, “Ambassadors” will greet and thank fans at the gates before and after each game. And each week, Samson’s schedule includes speaking events before local busi-

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