Entertainment will be focus of Brewers’ new regime
Schlesinger returns with Disney focus
The Milwaukee Brewers’ day-to-day business is now being handled by Rick Schlesinger, the team’s new executive vice president of business operations.
Schlesinger previously worked for the Walt Disney Co., and he intends to raise the entertainment value of the Miller Park experience.
He also needs to rebuild the team’s connections to southeastern Wisconsin’s business community — not an easy task after the Brewers’ miserable 2002 season.
Schlesinger discussed his plans during a recent interview with Small Business Times executive editor Steve Jagler. The following are excerpts from that interview.
SBT: Let’s go back for a moment. Last year — You’re working for the Angels, and out of nowhere comes this dream season. What was that like?
Schlesinger: What made it so special was it really was so unexpected. Everything that needed to fall into place with the Angels fell into place. Once we got into the playoffs, that team had a sense of destiny to it. There’s no experience quite like it. It’s the ultimate drug. … It’s legal and it’s safe.
SBT: Looking back at this change in regime for the Brewers, I remember seeing (former president and chief executive officer) Wendy Selig-Prieb at the press conference to announce that she was stepping aside. It was such a monumental thing, and I think the way Wendy handled it was so classy and selfless. A lot of people might have handled it differently. With all of the turnover in the Brewers’ front office, are things settling in for the new management team?
Schlesinger: It’s a good question. I agree with you on the Wendy point. I know that it was not the decision of the board. It was her decision. It was a decision that frankly, she made for her own personal reasons. … It’s a very tough business and a very public business, and it’s a very high-stress business. Her stepping away from the day-to-day was a rational decision for her. It wasn’t what the board wanted, but they understood. And the reality is that she’s still an asset to the organization.
SBT: There’s a public perception, I think, that she was pushed out. That is misguided, isn’t it?
Schlesinger: I know that’s the perception. That’s not the reality. She wants what’s best for the organization.
SBT: What have you found since you’ve arrived here?
Schlesinger: What I’ve found is that there is a very high level of talent in this front office that has been overlooked, because when you haven’t been winning on the field, the reality is that the front office isn’t getting accolades.
You know, I was the same person when the Angels were 75-87 as when the Angels won the World Series. I was not a better executive. I didn’t throw a pitch. I didn’t hit a ball. I didn’t field one grounder for the team last year. And then we won the World Series, and you get some of the glow, some of the credit that flows into the front office.
I have no doubt that I worked hard, and I’m proud of my accomplishments. But the reality is I was proud of my work ethics and accomplishments when we were 75-87.
Getting back to your point, I have found tremendous people here, and I have spent the last three weeks going from meeting to meeting.
But there’s room for criticism. Let’s be blunt. When you have 10 losing seasons in a row, the baseball operations side isn’t doing its job. But from a business side, which I have responsibility for, I’ve found some very talented people.
SBT: Looking at your job description. You’re ultimately responsible for the Brewers’ marketing, ticket operations, ballpark operations, broadcasting, corporate communications and corporate partnerships. From a business standpoint, what else is there? Aren’t those a lot of hats?
Schlesinger: I view my role that I am responsible for the revenue of this baseball team. Most of the expenses of this organization go to (player) payroll and player development. But I’m responsible to bring in the money so we can pay for player development, player acquisition and current team.
SBT: Ticket sales obviously declined last year. And now the newness of Miller Park has worn off. There is no logical reason for even hardy fans to believe the team is going to the postseason this year. How are ticket sales?
Schlesinger: There’s another element. The economy. You’re absolutely right. We are coming off an unacceptable performance in 2002. Unacceptable in terms of wins and loses and unacceptable in the work ethic and motivation and the accountability. The reality is that when you lose as many games as we did, you’re going to have a decline, your season ticket sales are going to be down.
Having said that, I don’t accept that, necessarily. There are things that I can control to have a strong input to increase attendance here.
I can sleep easily at night, knowing that (general manager) Doug Melvin and (manager) Ned Yost, if nothing else, are not going to tolerate some of the behavior we saw last year.
I can feel comfortable talking to season ticket holders that, at least from a work performance and effort standpoint, it’s going to be night and day.
SBT: What can you do to boost attendance?
Schlesinger: I can work on in-game entertainment. I can work on how we treat people, in terms of our customer service. I can get people excited about coming to the park.
SBT: The in-game entertainment — can you give me an example of the kinds of things fans can expect at the ballpark this year?
Schlesinger: Your timing is very good. I’m having a strategic dinner/brainstorming session with our entertainment people tonight. I’ve got a number of initiatives we are going to discuss, but I can’t give you any specifics right now, because we haven’t finalized what they are.
SBT: Well, after all, you are coming from Disney ….
Schlessinger: I can tell you, coming from Disney, my personal bias is that the entertainment has to be an important element. As I look it, we’re putting on 81 shows a year.
I can tell you this much. One of the things I believe in is to know your audience and what your audience wants. Sundays are family days. Wednesdays, we’re going to be focusing on women, and Saturdays are a different kind of crowd. Your entertainment has to be responsive to those different kinds of audiences.
I have kids and I take kids to the games, and one thing I can tell you that is a reality for every mom or dad is that it’s hard for children to sit in their seats for an entire game. It’s not a Nintendo game. It doesn’t have a clock. Frankly, they get restless.
Well, we need to respond to that. We need to have things that when the mom or the dad have to take the kids out of the seats for a breather, we need to provide some entertainment, so that those kids and those parents are not just aimlessly wandering the concourse. There are things here in place, there are things we can improve and there are things we can add. That’s a focus for me.
SBT: What is the "women on Wednesday" thing?
Schlessinger: We are dedicated to focusing on some women’s things. Being a guy, my wife says I don’t know how women think, and I’ll be the first to plead guilty to that. But we’ve got people here who know of some concerns of women. We’re going to have some forums where women can have opportunities to hear speakers addressing issues that are important to women. Frankly, we’re going to try to consider promotional items on Wednesdays that might be geared to women. It’s in its infancy stage, but it’s going to be good this year, and it’s going to be better next year.
SBT: Are the extra things that work for entertainment in California, with Disney, different than the things that will work here?
Schlessinger: That’s a very good question, and I’m going to find out the answer.
SBT: Case in point – the rally monkey mania for the Angels. I understand that was an accident, a whim from a scoreboard operator that just took off. Is that true?
Schlesinger: In fact, you’re absolutely right. It was literally just that. One of the guys just threw it out there, thought it would be funny. I think the reason it took off was that it wasn’t intended to take off. I know that sounds kind of counterintuitive, but if there had been a master plan …. Let’s roll out the rally monkey and bombard the fans with merchandise and try to create something, rather than let the fans create it for us, it wouldn’t have worked.
Everybody would like to have that happen. Catch that lightning in a bottle. There is something called the "buzz." The "buzz" works, but you can’t create it. You have to let it happen. There’s an element of luck.
SBT: So, does Miller Park get a rally monkey? You’ll need a rally, won’t you?
Schlesinger: I do think there are some things. I am not interested in just transplanting the Anaheim Angels entertainment experience here, because there are different things. Obviously, the sausage race is very popular here, but it would not go over well in Los Angeles. You’d probably have more vegetables racing.
My philosophy is I want to try new things that are going to be less traditional. I’ll tell you that right now. I have been a baseball fan a long time, and I respect the game, but you’ve got to provide entertainment.
SBT: Things are different today, aren’t they? It’s a faster-moving world, one in which the methodical game of baseball almost seems out of place. I hear what you’re saying, but at the same time, I envision a curmudgeon out there somewhere who’s saying, "I just want to see a stinking baseball game. What do I care about all this other stuff?"
Schlesinger: Your point is well taken. You have to be mindful that there are huge numbers of traditional baseball fans who want to focus on what the team is doing, who are not going to be swayed by what’s on the scoreboard or what kind of mascot you have and all that stuff.
Having said that, the challenge for me is to respect that, but at the same time provide elements for those other fans who are more interested in that. You can do it. It takes some thought. Your fans will let you know if you’ve gone too far.
SBT: Where are season ticket sales?
Schlesinger: We are going to have fewer season tickets sold for the 2003 season than we did for the 2002 season. That’s reality throughout baseball. I hear a lot about the economy. We’ve got a lot of small businesses, and it’s a tough environment, and if they’ve got to do some cutting, they’re often going to cut on discretionary spending and entertainment. It’s going to affect not only the Brewers, but the Bucks, and it’s going to affect the revenues for the broadcasters. This is a tough economic environment. We’re getting hit.
But I’m not accepting that. There are things we can do.
SBT: It’s critical that the team rebuild its relationships with the local business community, isn’t it?
Schlesinger: Small-business owners, guys who are working businesses and are successful, but they just don’t happen to be working for Fortune 500 companies …. But many of them are run better than the Fortune 500. It sounds trite, but we have a tremendous amount of support from our small-business owners, and the fact is that the small-business owners who live in the five counties helped build this ballpark.
The reality is we have not frankly delivered a product that is equal to the value that they deserve. This market is still a great baseball market. We still drew almost 2 million here with a team that was just terrible.
SBT: So, what can you do?
Schlesinger: The best thing we can do for the small-business person is get this team in shape. If you’re a small-business owner, you may not be going to that many games, but you want to use those tickets for your clients. You want to entertain. There’s nothing better than taking a prospective client to a game, where you can do business, but it’s in the context of entertainment.
The thing is, if we’re not putting the product on, this is not a valuable vehicle for business people to do business. That’s the challenge. I know I can do things, but the most important hire Ulice made was Doug Melvin; hse’s the key.
Feb. 7, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee
