Tag Archives: Sports Teams

I Cringed When I Saw Tom Brady Go Down: A 7 Point Plan for Great Success

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Winning a championship is the toughest thing to do in business and creating a team that can compete and win championships multiple times is nearly impossible. While there have been a few dynasties in sports within the modern day era, they are less and less prevalent and harder to replicate.

We have researched and benchmarked championship-winning franchises and great generational teams in all sports and it is interesting to see the shared values and shared traits they all have in common:

  1. They all have great talent and a set of great individual performers who at some point in their career have toned down their “individualness” to fit into a winning team concept. They have sacrificed individual stats to win championships and focus on “team.” And while a team may have a great generational player, the team has a core of multiple players – all in their prime - that the team is built around. The mentality is “all for one – one for all” and the focus is on team winning and championships. That is all everyone gets maniacally focused in on and players around the league want to play there because they know the team is in the business of “winning championships.”
  2. The key great players have started to accept a bit less money so that the team can be kept together and new players that fit the system can be added to keep the system fresh and ongoing. The teams play the salary cap system in their sport very well and have the least amount of “dead money” on their roster compared to other teams. The personnel mistakes made are usually NOT catastrophic. If a team signs long term the wrong franchise player, it can be hindered for equally as long a time and the great franchises usually have the right screen and make fewer mistakes in their signings than other teams.
  3. The coaching schema and culture “fit” the talent. The GM, scouts and coach know the system and are in synch. The players drafted, recruited and signed via trade of free agency all “fit” that mold. The teams that start with young players and ingrain in them the system and the love of the franchise, for the most part, seem to do better than those that are thrown together and built around free agents.
  4. The system stays the same with minor modifications. The players know what to expect when they come to camp and the focus is on improvement and perfecting a system not on learning the system from scratch. There is a bit of plug and play to the system and new players can be coached by other players who know the system so well.
  5. Health. Teams that stay healthy and lose less man games usually perform better than not. The loss of a key foundational player a la Tom Brady at the beginning of the season usually spells trouble. The Pats will be very competitive this year because of their systemic approach to the game but it will be very hard for them to win a Super Bowl if Brady is sidelined all season. The loss of the “key” player in a franchise is usually a really bad development for the team.
  6. Luck. Every championship team I can think of has had some luck: Perhaps winning a lottery to pick a generational player; perhaps an opponent’s shot hits the post; perhaps a player is injured from the other team at the wrong time; perhaps a player picked up on waiver turns out to be a “steal” etc. etc. Luck is underappreciated, although, I do remember Arnold Palmer once saying ”the more I practice, the luckier I get.”
  7. Respect from the officials. Ever notice that winning teams seems to catch the respect of the officials? They seem to catch the breaks; get penalized least; and win games taking advantage of an official’s calls.

I cringed when I saw Tom Brady get hurt yesterday. That wasn’t in the Pats’ plans and will play havoc with what the Patriots had planned and conceived for the year.

We have miles to go before we sleep as a franchise. We know what it takes to win as per our research. Execution of the 7 point plan above is paramount to great success on a long term basis and we are committed to winning. We have to execute; stay healthy; have some luck; and see what happens.

Debate

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When the NHL was in lockout, I had a debate with a well-respected newspaper editor. The debate focused on whether it was better to own a professional sports team or a newspaper in the town that you lived in. At the time, this editor basically posited to me that the NHL was “dead as a doornail” and that there was no real consumer interest in hockey. I posited that we were getting our game restructured and that hockey was a global game. Its interest level was growing with young people and that we would lead in digital delivery of our content and services. I bet him that in less than five years that all of our growth arrows would be green and all of his growth arrows would be in the red.

I also noted that sports teams, newspapers and universities were the enduring brands in each city. (Think about it.) They were all trophy properties and since you couldn’t buy a university and newspapers were shrinking badly and were already public companies, that sports team would become the most “aspirational” of all things to own and operate in a major city. 

So here is the question: Would you rather own the Washington Redskins or Washington Nationals or Washington Capitals or Washington Wizards vs. the Washington Post? Or in the case of Sam Zell, would you rather own the Chicago Cubs, Chicago Bears, Chicago Bulls or Chicago Blackhawks compared to the Chicago Tribune. Note that the Tribune Company is selling the Cubs right now basically to help pay down debt incurred to the business and take it private which I believe is a mistake because sports teams are appreciating while newspapers are shrinking.

So what do you think? Better to own a sports team or a newspaper in a top 10 market?