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| St. Louis Blues Enterprises
CEO Peter McLoughlin |
On June 30, Sports Capital Partners LLC bought the Blues and the lease to the Savvis Center, the team’s facility, from
BILL and
NANCY LAURIE. A week later, Chair & CEO
DAVE CHECKETTS named
PETER MCLOUGHLIN CEO of St. Louis Blues Enterprises. In his position, McLoughlin supervises all non-hockey-related operations for the team and the facility, including sales, marketing, finance and new business development. McLoughlin made an immediate impression: By late August, he had secured a new naming-rights partner, Scottrade, for the arena and redesigned season-ticket plans. Prior to his appointment, McLoughlin worked for 21 years at Anheuser-Busch as VP/Corporate Media after leaving NBC Sports (‘79-85), where he supervised on-site production of such programming as MLB, the NFL, NCAA basketball and the French Open. McLoughlin spoke with SportsBusiness Journal
New York bureau chief
Jerry Kavanagh early in the NHL season.
| Date & Place of Birth: February 26, 1957 in Princeton, New Jersey. |
| Favorites vacation spot: Martha’s Vineyard. |
| Favorites piece of music: Anything by JAMES TAYLOR. |
| Favorites book: “Trinity,” by LEON URIS. |
| Favorites movie: “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” |
| Last book read: “The Year of Magical Thinking,” by JOAN DIDION. |
| Do you have a fantasy job: No. |
| Any regrets: No. |
| Pet peeves: None -- Am I making this too boring? |
| Superstitions: I won’t get on a motorcycle. |
| Personal hero: My dad. |
| Earliest sports memory: As a participant: pee wee hockey; as a fan, watching the Mets win the ‘69 World Series. I was 12 years old. After the final game the fans stormed the field and basically tore it up. |
| Indispensable piece of technology: I hate to say it -- the Blackberry. |
| Management philosophy: Communicate. Communicate. Communicate. |
| Best professional advice you received: My father told me, “You can’t get ahead in business unless the people around you want you to get ahead.” |
| Best business decision: Deciding to join NBC Sports in ‘79 and then Anheuser-Busch in ‘85 and the Blues in ‘06. |
| Biggest challenge: To win back the fans of the Blues. |
| Fictional character you identify with: Conor Larkin in “Trinity.” |
Q: You grew up in Princeton but went to Harvard. How did that work?
McLoughlin: I just knew I had to get out of town.
Q: You were a sportswriter for the Harvard Crimson. How do you view the state of sports journalism today?
McLoughlin: The challenge is competing with the Internet and ESPN's “SportsCenter” because the information is readily and immediately available. But a great sportswriter can capture the challenges and the nuances and drama of the games still, and that’s why it’s great to read the newspapers.
Q: Any favorites?
McLoughlin: MURRAY CHASS, E.M. SWIFT and CURRY KIRKPATRICK.
Q: What’s a Harvard English Lit major doing as CEO of non-hockey operations of an NHL team?
McLoughlin: It’s a good question. My reason for being a Harvard literature major was to try to read as many great books as I could when I had the time to do it. But I’ve always been a hockey player and a fan of the game, and I was one of the hockey beat writers for the Harvard Crimson. So, there’s always been a combination of literature and hockey in my life.
Q: Doesn’t all that marketing jargon offend your literary sensibility?
McLoughlin: No.
Q: What is the greatest work in the English language?
McLoughlin: “Hamlet.”
Q: What are non-hockey operations?
McLoughlin: Anything to do with the business of the St. Louis Blues and the Scottrade Center: sponsorship sales, ticket sales, suite sales, marketing, booking events into the Scottrade Center, revenue, finance and marketing.
Q: How did you go from VP/Corporate Media at Anheuser-Busch to CEO of St. Louis Blues Enterprises?
McLoughlin: The how was my relationship with Dave Checketts that goes back about 12 years. And when Sports Capital Partners became owners of the Blues, we got into conversations about the state of hockey in St. Louis and that led to my coming on board with the Blues.
Q: Why did you make the move?
McLoughlin: After 21 years at a fantastic company like Anheuser-Busch, where I had led our media sponsorship negotiations for many years with television networks and sports teams, I felt that it was a good time in my career to take on a new challenge.
Q: Upon your appointment as CEO, you said your job would be to “improve the team’s visibility among fans through sponsors willing to make long-term commitments.” How do you convince sponsors?
McLoughlin: There’s a good base of interest here. Right now, the Blues are positioned for growth; there’s a lot of upside. So, while the Cardinals and the Rams certainly have a strong impact in the St. Louis market, there’s a lot of respect for the Blues in the hockey fan that exists here. We’ve got good sponsors on board, not only with Scottrade, but also with Bud Light, Pepsi and a lot of local companies. And in addition to reaching the Blues -- and in this building -- we are the pre-eminent venue in St. Louis for major concerts and family shows. So, it’s really a 12-month operation here that reaches a strong core of hockey fans as well as families and young adults.
Q: How do you compete for the fans’ attention and wallets with the Rams, who sell out every game, and the World Series-winning Cardinals, who play in a new stadium?
McLoughlin: The Cardinals opened up the new Busch Stadium and [drew] in excess of 3.5 million fans this year, and the Rams are extremely popular -- as all the NFL teams are. The hockey fan in St. Louis is loyal. The team’s been in existence for 40 years, and during the winter months, this is where the diehard St. Louis sports fan wants to be. St. Louis is a great sports town. We know we have a challenge, but it’s one that we think we can fulfill.
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| Free Agent Signees Like Hinote
Helping Blues Connect With Fans |
Q: The Blues had the worst record in the NHL last season and missed the playoffs for the first time in 25 years. And season-ticket prices increased for ‘06-07 by an average of 10%. How challenging has it been?
McLoughlin: We had good retention with our season-ticket holders, but it has been challenging. In order for us to be competitive on the ice, we need to improve our team, and that takes signing free agents, which [President] JOHN DAVIDSON did with seven new free agents this year. We can’t be competitive and have the lowest ticket price in the league. And even with the ticket price increase, our average ticket price is the same as it was in ‘01-02. And we’re in the low third of the league. We’ve had to raise prices in order to operate our business. I think the fans understand that. They are coming back to see the Blues. And if the Blues play well, we think it will continue to improve in terms of attendance.
Q: What or where are the growth and new business opportunities that are unique for the Blues and the Scottrade Center?
McLoughlin: Right now, we have an opportunity in the wireless category and in the banking category. We think we’re well-positioned in a lot of the other major sports categories: beer, soft drink, energy drink, casino. And with Scottrade, we accomplished one of our primary objectives going in: to get a new naming-rights partner. Savvis, the former partner, was no longer paying for that right. There are some categories that are common in sports that we still need to uncover. We got a relatively late start when we took over management in the early part of July, so we’re still out there beating the bushes.
Q: On June 30, Sports Capital Partners closed on its $150M purchase of the Blues and the Savvis Center lease. Two months later, you had a new naming-rights deal. How did it happen so quickly?
McLoughlin: The key was we found a partner in Scottrade, a St. Louis-based company with 285 offices around the country, that was looking to expand upon its national brand recognition. When we met with them about becoming a partner with the Blues, the conversation quickly began about the possibility of a naming-rights deal. We were fortunate to come to a quick meeting of the minds with a company that wanted to make a splash and expand its name nationally and happened to be a St. Louis company, and it made economic sense and brand marketing sense. We couldn’t be happier about it.
Q: RICK DUDLEY of Octagon said he thought relevancy is the biggest marketing challenge the NHL faces this season. Do you agree? If so, how do you make the league, the Blues relevant?
McLoughlin: For sports enthusiasts, hockey is a very relevant sport. There’s no greater game to watch live in the building. The hockey athletes are genuine, good people. The game is fast and furious and hard-hitting. Think back to last season’s Stanley Cup finals, with Carolina beating Edmonton in Game 7. The Carolina fans were on their feet for the entire game. The building was rocking. When you can sell out an arena for the seventh game, that’s relevant.
Q: How do you market the team to the casual fan?
McLoughlin: Again, I think it’s the energy and the excitement. Making the arena -- and watching the game -- a place you have to be. Improving the entertainment value between periods and before the game. People like winners and they like to be where the action is, particularly sports fans. We saw that with the Cardinals. The World Series games were high energy and high drama. It was a great year for them. We think that with time we can replicate that.
Q: Have you applied any ideas or practices that you have seen in other facilities or franchises? Do you get any inspiration from other major professional sports, or borrow ideas from them?
McLoughlin: I’ve always admired the energy of Madison Square Garden: the combination of a storied building in the middle of Manhattan with two great franchises in the Knicks and the Rangers. Madison Square Garden has always been a place where it’s a hard ticket to get and a place where you want to be and be seen. Our challenge and our opportunity here is to create an environment in St. Louis where people want to be at a Blues game, want to be in the Scottrade Center.
Q: Is there another sports business executive you most admire?
McLoughlin: I’m working very closely these days with Dave Checketts, our owner. He’s a great leader, very inspirational. I’m really enjoying the opportunity to work with him.
Q: What about somebody outside your organization?
McLoughlin: I‘ve gotten to be very close with (AEG President & CEO) TIM LEIWEKE and (Seahawks CEO) TOD LEIWEKE. I find both to be very creative, high-energy executives, and I’ve learned a lot in dealing with them.
Q: The NHL survived the lockout. What does it need to do to thrive?
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| McLoughlin Feels NHL On Right
Track To Scoring With New Fans |
McLoughlin: I think frankly the way the game is being played these days -- with much more wide-open play, the elimination of the red line, more passing, more scoring, the shootout and the 4-on-4 in overtime -- that’s exciting. To me it’s the game. There’s no greater game in the world than ice hockey. The Olympic hockey every four years is fantastic to watch. The NHL’s got a lot of young new talent in the ranks coming up. I think just continuing to have great quality ice hockey, and when fans discover it, they get hooked.
Q: What’s the best new idea in sports marketing?
McLoughlin: Here in St. Louis it’s our new LED board that Daktronics built for us. The change that it’s had on our building is incredible. It’s provided a lot of energy and a lot of new visuals. It’s not the newest idea in the world, but it’s new for St. Louis and it looks great.
Q: How’s business?
McLoughlin: I would say business is good. We’ve got our challenges. While the Cardinals were in the World Series, that’s where the focus was in St. Louis, but we had 17,000 in the building for opening night.
Q: Has there been a feel-good carryover effect from the Cardinals’ success?
McLoughlin: I think it’s all very positive. St. Louis is a great sports town, and we all tend to root for one another. There’s a lot of civic pride and a lot of team pride that goes with winning.
