Major league owners are famously reluctant to release franchise-specific financial information. However, Forbes estimates that the value of the Red Sox has climbed from about $500 million in 2002 to $900 million in 2011 — an impressive 7% annual growth.
Companies seeking to revitalize seemingly stagnant businesses can take three lessons from the Red Sox success:
1. Question orthodoxy. Of course you can’t put people on top of the Green Monster. Or host a hockey game in Fenway. Or can you?
2. Systematically evaluate business model options. A business model describes how an organization creates, captures, and delivers value. Consider all of the different levers at your disposal to create growth.
3. Look to the peripheries. Cable broadcasting and fan clubs aren’t obvious places to look for growth. Growth often comes from carefully examining the edges of your current business.
Just because a business is mature doesn’t mean there isn’t room for growth. If the Red Sox can find growth in an almost 100-year-old stadium, surely corporations can find growth in products and services that seem to have leveled off.
Reader Comments and Retorts
Go to end of page
Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.
1. DarrenIs this actually impressive? Seems par for the course in franchise appreciation. Arte Moreno bought the Angels about the same time and has seen more growth than that on a percentage basis. Though my guess is 900M for the Red Sox current value is a bit low, they would probably fetch 10 digits.
Anyway, bragging about a team's business acumen because of franchise value increases reminds me of the common folk 6-7 years ago who boasted about how smart they were because of their latest house appraisal.
Franchise appreciation looks to me like a classic case of the ultra-wealthy creating the structures to shield themselves from the actual effects of a free market. That's proven itself a sustainable model over the last several decades.
The stadium and business side is being discussed and Larry Lucchino's name (Princeton '67) is left out?
This is an article on the GOOD management skills, not EVIL management skills.
You must be Registered and Logged In to post comments.
<< Back to main