SCL Comeback

The South Coast League (SCL) forum
MikeH
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Post by MikeH » Fri Jun 20, 2008 4:43 pm

[quote=""gameon""]Wow,
I've been gone for about three weeks - drilling for oil- but there sure has been a lot of activity on this little thread I started way back when.

What's up with all the bashing? This started as a nice little discussion about the merits of an SCL comeback and then turned to talk about an alternative league instead. Then, a lot of you jumped on the bash MikeH bandwagon because that one "knowbetter" cat came on for two posts to blast him.

Well, I've never worked in sports, I'm just a big fan, but I have worked all of my life since age 13. It seems to me if all you have is a bash for someone in two posts and then you just disappear, you should just keep your big mouth shut, in the first place. If you really have twenty years of baseball experience, contact Mike and offer to help, don't criticize him because he has the sac to try and do it and you don't! All of you bandwagon-bashers, MikeH has absolutely nothing to do with your sour grapes! To jump in and bash him before he's actually failed shows a lack of class and professionalism, and perhaps gives the rest of us an insight into the true failure of the SCL! And no, that statement doesn't take JayTee off the hook because he held the ultimate responsibility and was responsible for hiring you. However, atleast he has had the testicular fortitude to come on here and stand up and take the heat!
The rest of you cowardly know-it-alls should just go away, not mad, just go away! Maybe then, we can get back to productive discussion and eventually see some indy baseball in the South![/quote]

Thank you gameon. Very well said.

By the way gameon, I admire you guys who work drilling for oil and work on oil rigs. I've seen a new show coming on truTV called Texas Gold. I've seen these guys lose their fingers, arms, and get hit with heavy stuff enough to crush every bone in their bodies.

Those guys are real men. That is something I could never do. I can only run into burning buildings to save people, and even that is nothing compared to being an oil worker. You have my utmost respect sir! Get us a lot of oil so we can see some drop in these prices.

[quote=""kearupt""]As far as Anderson, and this is just my opinion, I think Mike was trying to show that the numbers he has worked out for himself show a profit is possible. I know it sounded like he was saying that that was the way it would be in Anderson, but I think he meant it more along the lines of, "if this is the way it was".

As far as the Macon situation, Mike may not be announcing the possible owner because Macon refused to talk with Mike. Therefore, the owner has to approach Macon himself, and it could be his wish that nothing is said, until he actually talks to Macon.[/quote]

I am basing an average attendance of 500 people per game in Anderson. I expect 1 season ticket holder in Anderson, JoesFan. No group sales. I haven't even included beer revenue. I am also expecting no sponsors in Anderson.

Broken down into 4 main revenue streams, concessions, concession sales, and merchandise revenue (just hats and shirts, not counting other merchandise), the Anderson club could make a nice profit.

Ticket sales alone in Anderson is enough to pay the players alone. All tickets in Anderson would be $5.00. Let's do the math.

$5.00 tickets average 500 fans per game for 45 games is a total revenue of $112,500.00 for one season.

Concessions, if at least 250 of those people paid an average of $10.00 in concession items roughly brings in $112,500.00 in concession revenue.

These are not actual figures. They are estimates and averages, just like Kearupt stated.

An estimate of 500 fans per game is low, and is what I can see Anderson getting for 1-2 years due to the SCL fiasco. However, my proposal will be the breaking point in Anderson.

If I provide information that Anderson could not refuse, they will give me the lease. I know what to add and what not to add in my proposal. This is not the first proposal I have drawn up for a city. My other one is a 9 page proposal that consists of 42 paragraphs. It is very detailed and specific.

I had it reviewed and was told that it was a very well written proposal.

And as Kearupt said, as a personal respect for my owners, I will not divulge information until they give me permission. You cannot demand me to release information that is confidential. That would be like going to the FBI and demanding them to show you or release top secret files. If my owners are not ready to be released in the news, then I have to respect their wishes.

One of my owners, the one who planned to own the Macon franchise, bought stock from me to become a minority owner in the league. I also allow owners of franchises to buy into the league, even if it gives them a specific role within the league. So as for me calling the shots, couldn't be more wrong. I have 2 other people I have to run things by before I make final decisions.

However, when I started it, it was just me, so therefore I was the shot caller. I owned 51% of the league which made me the head honcho as the President/CEO. I paid out of my own pocket to form the company, which made it mine. Now it is owned by 3 people, not just me.

I will allow fans to even buy stock in the league. Fans, players, owners, coaches, and anyone associated with the league has the option to purchase stock.

In order to negotiate certain deals, I have to make some sacrafices. If it helps the league, then the sacrafice is worth it. For one of my partners, the sacrafice was worth 20% of stock and the best investment and trade off I could have asked for. There were more underlying terms negotiated with the deal, however, that is not for public knowledge at the moment or even at all.

One last thing, when offering sponsorships, you have to fork over some season tickets in exchange for their dollars. It shows a thank you for their investment and provides the companies to offer special things for their employees and/or clients.
Last edited by MikeH on Sat Jun 21, 2008 12:03 am, edited 6 times in total.
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JayTee
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Post by JayTee » Sat Jun 21, 2008 12:30 am

Mike, Is there really going to be one $5 ticket price for games at the Anderson ballpark or was that just a part of the hypothetical operational budget? Will the pricing structure be league mandated or will the individual owners have authority over the pricing structure? No group sales? No sponsors? What will the ACL salary cap be for players or are you still going to allow the individual owners to set their own player payroll? If you are selling individual franchises, what would make a prospective investor see value in a league level investment? Will the league office not operate under a zero balance budget for each playing season? I am curious as to why you decided to give the two league level executives positions on the board of directors?

I know there are a lot of questions here but I thought they were good questions considering the trend of keeping the conversations positive, and you certainly don’t have to answer any questions that you don’t feel comfortable with…… and will all of this said, I commend your positive approach to building the ACL. Regardless of what people say about “showing them”, my advice is to stay your own course. You know what kind of hours you are putting in and all the behind the scenes developments that are coming to fruition. It is not easy to do what you are doing, and our failures certainly did nothing to help you within the former SCL markets.

Baseball Insider, the SCL spent approx 69% of our operating revenue on payroll during the 2007. We generated approx. 2.6 million in revenue and payroll was approx. 1.8 million, we WERE overstaffed. Keeping in mind that I assessment of being overstaffed includes the league office and most importantly the seasonal and game day staffers. The staff in Macon had a general manager with more than twenty years of baseball experience in Ric Sisler, yourself and your experience, along with arguably the marquee intern class of the entire league and that is not enough to “contact everyone” in Macon, GA?

MikeH
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Post by MikeH » Sat Jun 21, 2008 12:58 am

[quote=""JayTee""]Mike, Is there really going to be one $5 ticket price for games at the Anderson ballpark or was that just a part of the hypothetical operational budget? Will the pricing structure be league mandated or will the individual owners have authority over the pricing structure? No group sales? No sponsors? What will the ACL salary cap be for players or are you still going to allow the individual owners to set their own player payroll? If you are selling individual franchises, what would make a prospective investor see value in a league level investment? Will the league office not operate under a zero balance budget for each playing season? I am curious as to why you decided to give the two league level executives positions on the board of directors?

I know there are a lot of questions here but I thought they were good questions considering the trend of keeping the conversations positive, and you certainly don’t have to answer any questions that you don’t feel comfortable with…… and will all of this said, I commend your positive approach to building the ACL. Regardless of what people say about “showing them”, my advice is to stay your own course. You know what kind of hours you are putting in and all the behind the scenes developments that are coming to fruition. It is not easy to do what you are doing, and our failures certainly did nothing to help you within the former SCL markets.

Baseball Insider, the SCL spent approx 69% of our operating revenue on payroll during the 2007. We generated approx. 2.6 million in revenue and payroll was approx. 1.8 million, we WERE overstaffed. Keeping in mind that I assessment of being overstaffed includes the league office and most importantly the seasonal and game day staffers. The staff in Macon had a general manager with more than twenty years of baseball experience in Ric Sisler, yourself and your experience, along with arguably the marquee intern class of the entire league and that is not enough to “contact everyone” in Macon, GA?[/quote]

Jamie, I was never intentionally knocking the SCL. I do not feel that the SCL disaster is as bad as everyone portrays it. The failure of the SCL I cannot fault only you for, as you were not the only person in the office. You had league officials, and even team staff. But, as always, the captain goes down with the ship.

I view the SCL situation as a huge challenge. And let me tell you, I am the one for challenges. I am the type of person that, whether succeed or fail, will face challenges head on without backing down.

You have seen yourself, I legitimately show everyone on this forum that I expect 0 sponsors, 0 group sales, and 1 season ticket holder for the Anderson club. I even set a low goal for attendance at 500 per game. As JoesFan, we may be surprised and get more than that, especially $5.00 for a single ticket.

We cannot tell individual owners where to set the prices, we can only suggest. Two markets that we have lined up that should be no problem in securing will have tickets no more than $5.00.

I will tell any potential owner that you cannot expect any sponsors or season ticket holders in the former SCL markets because they are mad. Even though they should be mad at themselves. If what I see is true about there being nights when the teams were lucky to get so many fans on a night, that shows the lack of fan support. However, they blame the SCL and everyone involved.

The players salary cap is limited to $750-$1,000 per month for a 25 man roster. I did develop a payscale, however, after further review, in order to maintain a decent operating budget, I stuck with the $750-$1,000 per month.

I am not sure what the SCL paid their players, of course because I was not involved, but I remember seeing that all players were paid $1,500? What was the SCL's roster limit; 20, 22, 25?

The only thing I know is if the ACL succeeds and surpasses all of the league's expectations, year 2 will be even sweeter.

The board of directors is comprised of 1 representative of each franchise. I am chairman because of my amount of shares, I own 29% of the company, whereas Greg owns 28%.

The board of directors is not a public shareholder committee that public companies have. The ACL has not gone public and we should not go public until after the first few years. I refuse to place a company I run on the market when there is bound to be some instability in the first 5 years.

Each owner of each franchise will appoint a member to represent their franchise on the ACL Board of Directors, most likely the GM's. The GM's have the most knowledge of how their teams are operating.
Last edited by MikeH on Sat Jun 21, 2008 2:27 am, edited 2 times in total.
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MikeH
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Post by MikeH » Sat Jun 21, 2008 2:22 am

What would everyone say to ACL franchises selling Mike's Hard Lemonade. To be honest, it is one of the best drinks I have ever tasted.
**HOMETOWN CLUBS**
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wellington
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Post by wellington » Sat Jun 21, 2008 10:35 am

[quote=""MikeH""]What would everyone say to ACL franchises selling Mike's Hard Lemonade. To be honest, it is one of the best drinks I have ever tasted.[/quote]

Only if they going to be a league-wide sponsor. Just to make sure that they are suitable for the ACL we all need to taste test their products first -- maybe on multiple occasions just to be sure. :p

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Post by MikeH » Sat Jun 21, 2008 3:49 pm

[quote=""wellington""]Only if they going to be a league-wide sponsor. Just to make sure that they are suitable for the ACL we all need to taste test their products first -- maybe on multiple occasions just to be sure. :p [/quote]

I will see if they can be. They make a really good "lemonade". :infun:

Tastes just like Smirnov Ice.
**HOMETOWN CLUBS**
Durham Bulls (Class AAA International League)
Carolina Mudcats (Class AA Southern League)
Winston-Salem Dash (Class A Advanced Carolina League)
Greensboro Grasshoppers (Class A South Atlantic League)
Burlington Indians (Rookie Appalachian League)
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Kearupt
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Post by Kearupt » Sat Jun 21, 2008 4:24 pm

To protect the fans, you'll have to stay away from Mike's. :D
There was a story on the news about a month ago about a dad who got arrested at a minor league game in Michigan for buying one for his 7 year old son. Apparently, so he claims, he had no idea it was alcoholic, he thought he was buying regular old lemonade with a cool name. :eek:
The son was taken into state custody and he was in danger of losing his other three kids. I wonder what his wife had to say when she bailed him out! :mad:

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Post by MikeH » Sat Jun 21, 2008 4:34 pm

[quote=""Kearupt""]To protect the fans, you'll have to stay away from Mike's. :D
There was a story on the news about a month ago about a dad who got arrested at a minor league game in Michigan for buying one for his 7 year old son. Apparently, so he claims, he had no idea it was alcoholic, he thought he was buying regular old lemonade with a cool name. :eek:
The son was taken into state custody and he was in danger of losing his other three kids. I wonder what his wife had to say when she bailed him out! :mad: [/quote]

What a boob!

It does taste better than regular old lemonade though, with a twist. :rolleyes:
**HOMETOWN CLUBS**
Durham Bulls (Class AAA International League)
Carolina Mudcats (Class AA Southern League)
Winston-Salem Dash (Class A Advanced Carolina League)
Greensboro Grasshoppers (Class A South Atlantic League)
Burlington Indians (Rookie Appalachian League)
**CINCINNATI REDS' AFFILIATIONS**
Louisville Bats
Carolina Mudcats
Dayton Dragons
Billings Mustangs

Baseball Insider
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Post by Baseball Insider » Sat Jun 21, 2008 10:41 pm

Mike - I do apreciate you addressing my points as best you can. I am not trying to rip you or your league. Having spent an interesting year in Indy Ball myself, I just think I bring some valuable insight to this forum if nothing else. While a lot of capital coming to the table may not guarantee a long term partnership, it helps, ask the Golden League. I just think by announcing the person who wants to own the team, that may help in increasing support and momentum within that community. There have been cases when a potential owner may be revelaed before it is actually in place. Again, I read everything and like to think I am smart, but by announcing him/her, would be a great way to counteract Fortson who referred to you as "a fan."

As far as trying to control the league, I am just using examples of when you said the SPCA would "sponsor" all of the dog days in the ACL, your kids club, and now Mike's Hard Lemonade, etc. In affiliated ball, teams aren't forced to be locked into league and National Association Deals. Even in the hockey league now I am in, owners don't have to particpate in "league wide deals."

I am a little worried about who is telling you you guys may break even? Ask Jay Tee, on how much he spent on player salaries, manger salaries, player visas, workers/players comp./medical issues, stadium tranportation, beer licenses, payroll (with small staffs), travel will get only worse with sickening gas prices, utilities, stadium clean-up. Let's say you do have a rain-out (it honestly does seem like the weather is changing for the worse - either real hot or nasty storms) you are in trouble. You can buy insurance, but those rates are increasing.....See what I mean?

I know that in some leagues and some owners looking to bring a team to a territory will send out a questionaire to get a feel for the level of community interest. sponsorship and I guess I am unsure if some markets really want baseball.....seems like it keeps getting pushed on them (I know, maybe they will learn to like it).

Again, I think I am making valid points........

Jay Tee - You are right, we did have the class of the interns for the SCL and some good people like myself. You can rest easily. I (we) did call all of the major players in Macon. I have to think though, that there are maybe at least 20,000 businesses in Macon/Warner Robins/Milledgeville. I don't think we hit everyone. I also know that the level of service we provided, honsetly stunk. I would have liked to have done better with surveys, actually do that season ticket holder batting practice (which Sisler promised), come up with a plan of sponsor prrof of performances, etc. We didn't get Kazoo (mascot) into the community enough and we didn't do enoough for the Kids Club.

I can't speak for everyone, but I know in my case, from when I listened in on the conference calls, we totally got judged by what we sold, and I tried to to whatever I could to help out there.......whether it was setting up a Kids day, classic car night, Red Hat night, etc.

I only need to got to Augusta to make my point. The Ripkens have raised their staffiing and as a result, reveunes are following. I belive that they have someone that does client services. One of the former Music interns who is there now, can just focus on selling tickets and nothing else. I spent way too much time trying to find an official scorer for like every game the last half, trying to smooth over Phil's apartment issues, etc.

Oh well - At least you did give us Big Cecil (concessions Cecil - not Cecil Fielder) and that was appreciated as I know some AGM's handled (or tried to anyway)that.

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Post by Baseball Insider » Sat Jun 21, 2008 10:46 pm

I forgot to mention on the staffing.......One of the things John Moss, former SAL president said was he tried to sell groups like he was running a political campaign. In other words, he would not only try an meet with GEICO, let's say, but try to find all of the numerous group possibilites that were withink that one company. We got GEICO, but I don't think we maximized the relationship -

Make sense??

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