Jeter throughout this season has consistently reached out to season-ticket holders and sponsorsGETTY IMAGES
No detail has been "too small" for Marlins CEO Derek Jeter in his first 10 months on the job, and each correct decision brings the team closer to Jeter's "ultimate goal: a sixth championship ring," according to a profile by Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com. Among the big-picture items on Jeter's agenda are "negotiating new TV and stadium naming rights deals, 'rebranding' the team uniform and colors" and "upgrading the spring training complex in Jupiter." Jeter is an exec who "craves feedback from ticket holders." Before this season, the Marlins "installed video booths at the park marked with the Spanish word Dímelo (talk to me)." Jeter brings up the videos on his computer and "diligently watches them." He has done "lots of what he calls 'relationship mending.'" At a more granular level, Jeter has "reached out tirelessly to season-ticket holders, sponsors and business partners, along with prospective new season-ticket holders, sponsors and business partners." Jeter said, "Re-engaging with the community is our No. 1 goal as an organization. We're Miami's team, bottom line. We want South Florida to be proud of this organization."
SOUTH BEACH VIBE: Jeter constantly "monitors the promotions, music and other elements that define the in-game entertainment experience for Marlins fans." Only in Miami can an MLB team "find room on the schedule for Jewish, Dominican, Puerto Rican, Nicaraguan, Venezuelan, Colombian and Mexican Heritage Nights at the park." Under the direction of Marlins Senior VP/Marketing & Community Relations Elisa Padilla, the team has "added 10 Neighborhood Nights to the schedule this season." The Marlins are "out in the community doing public service projects, holding baseball clinics and reaching out to fans" in neighborhoods near Marlins Park. Jeter: "In my mind, baseball needs to cater to the younger demographic. ... Everything that happens in this park has to capture the energy, culture and diversity of Miami. We are catering to that diversity, from the music to the food." Crasnick noted as the Marlins' young Latin-American players "take English lessons, the American-born players and coaches will be required to learn Spanish." Last week, Jeter "hauled a bunch of vice presidents into a room for the first of what will be regular weekly lessons in Español" (ESPN.com, 8/14).
THE BATTLE CONTINUES: In Miami, Douglas Hanks notes the Marlins "lost their bid to stay out of a local courthouse in a fight over profit-sharing with Miami-Dade County." A federal judge tossed the case back to Circuit Court with a warning that Jeter and partners "'face an uphill battle' proving foreign ownership in the case." Lawyers for the Marlins "claimed the ownership of the team held corporate citizenship in the British Virgin Islands because a holding company with a stake in the franchise was based there." They then cited international contract agreements in trying to "move the case away from an elected judge in Miami-Dade to the federal court system." In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles "sided with county lawyers and sent the proceedings back to the state level." Gayles "didn’t make any decisions that struck at the heart of the case, saying it was too early to say whether the dispute should go to the kind of arbitration that the Marlins and former owner Jeffrey Loria want." At issue is an '09 profit-sharing agreement that Loria "struck with the county and the city of Miami in exchange for public financing of Marlins Park and the surrounding parking garages" (MIAMI HERALD, 8/15).
