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Komoroski Has Found Success
Across Several Pro Leagues |
In his sports business odyssey, Cavaliers and Quicken Loans Arena President
LEN KOMOROSKI has made successful stops at numerous teams across several pro leagues. He set out in '82 with the Major Indoor Soccer League's expansion Pittsburgh Spirit, moved on to the Penguins, and was back in the MISL in '85 with the Minnesota Strikers. Komoroski then worked for two years for Miller Brewing Co.'s marketing arm. He played a major startup role with the T'Wolves and Target Center, returned to Cleveland in '94 as COO of the IHL Lumberjacks, spent seven years as Senior VP & Chief of Business Operations for the Eagles and joined the Cavs in April '03. With a major assist from then-rookie
LEBRON JAMES, the Cavaliers went on to establish record increases in attendance, TV and radio ratings and merchandise sales.
Komoroski spoke with SportsBusiness Journal N.Y. bureau chief Jerry
Kavanagh in advance of the second round of the NBA playoffs.
Favorite pieces of music: "Jungleland," by BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN; "The Last Resort," by the Eagles.
Favorite vacation spot: Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
Favorite book: "Atlas Shrugged," by AYN RAND.
Favorite quote: ROBERT FROST's "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -- I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."
Favorite movies: "Caddyshack," "It's a Wonderful Life," "The Waterboy," and "Rudy."
Favorite Web sites: hoopshype.com, Cavs.com, ESPN.com and Google.
Last book read: "The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life," by ALICE SCHROEDER.
Collections: Ticket stubs for all the major events I've been to.
Best sports event attended: 2000 Super Bowl (Rams-Titans). Hope to see the Cavs return to the NBA Finals as well as attend Wimbledon.
Earliest sports memory: I grew up a big hockey fan in Pittsburgh and always wanted to go to a game. On my 10th birthday, my father took me and our family to a Penguins game in 1970. Back then, the Penguins weren't very good and lost 4-0 to the Rangers. At the end of the game, my father, who wasn't a big hockey fan then but became one over time because of my passion and my brother's, said, "And you wanted to come to this for your birthday?!"
Indulgence: Chocolate chip cookies.
Most influential: TIM LEIWEKE taught me at a young age in this business that anything is possible, and DAN GILBERT taught me the value of a relentless entrepreneurial spirit.
Q: Do you have a basic management philosophy?
Komoroski: Find great, passionate people who are obsessed with finding a better way and bind them together with a common culture and vision that they all help build and realize.
Q: That could apply to the Cavaliers, who had the best record in the NBA this season.
Komoroski: With MIKE BROWN, we have a coach who continues to preach "One game at a time." And my partner on the basketball side, [GM] DANNY FERRY, gets it from a business perspective. As a result, both the business and basketball arms of our organization have worked seamlessly as one.
Q: Things look pretty good off the court: the highest local regular-season TV ratings for any NBA team in more than a decade.
Komoroski: What we've seen is a continued growth and deepening interest in the team, not only within our television market, our DMA [designated market area], but also within our region every year. It's been exciting to see, whether it's been ratings or unique visitors on the Web site.
Q: The team looks strong in other areas: merchandise and attendance, for example.
Komoroski: We're third in the league in merchandise sales. When you look at different measures of interest, whether it be TV or Web or merch -- things that are indicative of a broader interest, certainly beyond sellouts at the arena -- it's been extremely strong at levels that are very high. And considering the size of our market -- we're the 17th-largest TV market -- that does speak to a widening amount of interest.
Q: To what extent has Cleveland been affected by the economy?
Komoroski: Pretty significantly. We have one of the larger automotive-based economies in the country (second behind Detroit). We have a large amount of that industry here, whether it's manufacturing, assembly plants, engine plants or parts suppliers. Cleveland had also been the headquarters for what had been one of the top 10 banks in the country in National City Bank until it was acquired by PNC. So, we've been affected. From the automotive and financial sectors, there's certainly been a direct impact.
Q: What effect has the economy had on the team's business?
Komoroski: We've been very fortunate to have received just phenomenal support. We were coming off a record attendance year, and we have the third-largest building in the NBA. We've had a record ratings year and record Web site views. Our revenues have held very strong throughout that.
Q: At the World Congress of Sports in April, Tim Leiweke said, "We have to be realistic to the fact that in sports, buys are made six months, 12 months, years in advance, and I don't think we've seen the impact yet because so many of our buys and so much of our revenue came early." What implications will the economy have on the NBA next season?
Komoroski: The NBA is as well positioned as any league to be able to deal with that, and it's really because the infrastructure is in place and our teams have embraced the culture of best practices and innovation with their daily mantra. It's like anything else: When you put the infrastructure in place and you continue to place focus and resources in any area, your ability to develop exponentially in those areas only is heightened. That's what's happened with the NBA.
Q: What about the economy's effect on the Cavs next season?
Komoroski: People are making commitments for season tickets. We've had very strong season-ticket renewals coupled with new season-ticket sales, where we're first in the league. So, we've seen an endorsement by the marketplace that, despite the challenges of the economy and what's been happening here in northeast Ohio, they're excited about the direction of the franchise and what's happening here and they want to be part of it.
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Cavs Have Frozen Ticket
Prices For Next Season |
Q: The Cavs have frozen ticket prices for next season. Any other basketball decisions being driven by the economy?
Komoroski: Dan Gilbert has provided our franchise with the resources to compete at the highest level, despite our mid-market status. We had the third-highest payroll in the league this season, for example. As far as the season-ticket holders, and in recognition of the circumstances going on out there, Dan's whole premise is covered by, "What's the right thing to do?" And that's been a fundamental aspect of our overall success here.
Q: Writing in The N.Y. Times in February, DAVID FALK said that the NBA's financial system is broken, and "fixing it will require radical measures that almost guarantee a standoff in 2011, when the [CBA] expires." Did you read that?
Komoroski: Yeah, I've seen quotes to that effect. In fact, Danny Ferry gave me a copy of [Falk's] book, "The Bald Truth." I'm looking forward to reading it.
Q: Falk said he believes that DAVID STERN would "push for a hard salary cap, shorter contracts, a higher age limit on incoming players, elimination of the midlevel cap exception and an overall reduction in the players' percentage of the revenues," and said that Stern "will probably get what he wants."
Komoroski: To that end, I would have to defer all comment to the league office.
Q: In your career, has there been an insight that has directed the way you do your job?
Komoroski: It may sound simple, but one insight we use here every day is, "The inches we need are everywhere around us." When you think about it, it's not just about the silver bullet or the secret sauce. It's about the little things.
Q: What in your past sports experience has been most helpful to you in your current position?
Komoroski: Every opportunity I've been involved with has been some type of significant building process. My very first job in sports was with the Major Indoor Soccer League expansion franchise Pittsburgh Spirit. We started from scratch there. At the Minnesota Timberwolves, which was a startup, I had a chance to work with people like Tim Leiweke and JOHN THOMAS. With the Cleveland Lumberjacks, I was making my attempt to get in the ownership side of the business here in the International Hockey League. That was even harder than a startup because we had to change a model that was broken and make it viable.
Q: And then you went to the Philadelphia Eagles in 1996.
Komoroski: With the Eagles, we had the opportunity of going with a team that wasn't performing well (back in their 3-13 days) in the worst venue (Veterans Stadium) and building it up with facilities (Lincoln Financial Field and the Novacare Complex) and a team that ANDY REID has made competitive every year. When you put all those things together, it really created, I think, a level of anticipation, opportunity and quiet confidence of what the potential was.
Q: Has there been a defining moment in your career?
Komoroski: I am a native of Pittsburgh and I was a huge Penguins fan growing up. I got my job start in sports interning at the Civic Arena with the Spirit. I was director of PR. Within a three-year period, that had evolved into a position with the Penguins. A goal I had early on was working for that team. Ultimately I was offered an opportunity through a friend to go to the indoor soccer league team in Minnesota, which was owned by JOE ROBBIE at that time, to become the assistant GM.
Q: Was that a difficult decision?
Komoroski: The bigger thing about it was the fact that it was the first time I was leaving home. I always use Robert Frost's poem "The Road Less Traveled." That was a huge decision, and it really set the whole course of action for the rest of my career as far as looking at that opportunity and opting for substantial change and an amount of risk.
Q: You had an easier decision in June 2003, two months after joining the Cavs, when you took LeBron James with the first overall pick in the draft.
Komoroski: We were really fortunate as far as that goes. From a business end, we started a process of changing over the leadership and the culture. LeBron has been just a tremendous accelerant to enhancing everything that we were attempting to do. It was very lucky that it worked out that way and he was able to stay in his hometown.
Q: For the last two years, there have been stories speculating about NBA teams trying to clear cap space in order to make a run at LeBron James when his contract expires after next season. How much of a distraction is that?
Komoroski: We feel that our franchise's goals and LeBron's goals are unified in that we're both working toward the same thing: winning NBA championships. That's what drives us on a day-to-day basis. We're focused on creating a championship-caliber culture throughout our organization. Mike Brown does an unbelievable job of keeping our players focused on the next game, and that's it. We follow the lead of our team as far as trying to create a consistency in the messaging to the community because it's so important in our ultimate success.
Q: From your wide experience, what can the different pro sports leagues learn from one another?
Komoroski: In terms of the business of sports, whether it's major or minor league team sports or more individual-based sports, it's all fundamentals. Ticketing is the core of the business. No one likes to drink in an empty bar, and if you have strong ticket initiatives from new business and retention, it goes a long way in helping you drive the rest of your business. That applies to every sport and league in the industry.
Q: NBA teams share business insights.
Komoroski: There's quite a bit of exchange of information in our league. The NBA does a tremendous amount to learn what other leagues are doing. Our franchise has an insatiable appetite to learn and see what others are doing. The National Sports Forum has so many different leagues and teams and others on that front. The same with SportsBusiness Journal, with its franchise and team summit. Those are great opportunities to get together with all different walks of life in our industry and learn from each other.
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Komoroski Wishes Teams Could
Choose Home Jersey Colors |
Q: If you could change one thing about the game, what would it be?
Komoroski: [The NBA has] a rule that mandates that white jerseys are worn at home. From our ideal world, it would be the option of the home team as to what jersey is worn at home, a la the NFL, where the team can choose more or less what it wants to have presented to its fans.
Q: What in sports would you not miss if it were eliminated?
Komoroski: There have been efforts to create a more vigilant pace for the games, in all sports, so that they don't turn into marathons. I'd like to make sure that we are able to conduct our events in a way that really puts the best foot forward.
Q: About two years ago, David Stern said, "I would love the idea of experimenting with no timeouts allowed in the last three minutes of a game. It dawned on me as I was watching an old game and the action was spectacular because no timeouts were called. Let the players play."
Komoroski: David's always been a great experimenter, and that's what has led to a lot of innovations in our league over the years.
Q: BILL VEECK wrote, "Nothing beats a well-told tale." What is the best, or most interesting, story in sports these days?
Komoroski: First of all, Bill Veeck is the godfather of what sports should be about, which is entertainment. He has a tremendous heritage here in Cleveland, and his son Mike has picked up right where his father left off. But the one thing that will be interesting here as it evolves is what happens on multiple league fronts with the CBA discussions.
