The Boyk Brief
Go into chambers with attorneys Chuck Boyk, Mike Bruno, Zac Shaffer, and the attorneys of Charles Boyk Law Offices on The Boyk Brief, as we talk with interesting personalities from the legal world, celebrities, experts, business & community leaders, and other engaging people about a variety of topics.
The Boyk Brief
Boyk Brief Episode 34: Erik Ibsen - Toledo Mud Hens G.M.
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Boyk Law Attorney Mike Bruno talks about the business and fun of minor league baseball with Toledo Mud Hens General Manager Erik Ibsen.
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https://youtu.be/leP4av2DI_U
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Hi, it's Mike Bruno. I'm here at the Charles Boyk Law Offices in Holland, Ohio. And for today's uh episode of the BoIck Brief, we have the pleasure of introducing Eric Ibsen. Eric is the executive vice president and general manager of our Toledo Mudheads. Hi, Mike. Thank you for having me. So I've looked at the schedule, and one thing that uh that I noticed was is that the the season is set up with six-game series. Six-game homestands, and and then you hit the road for a six-game homestand in someone else's park. Right. Is this new or has this been done?
SPEAKER_01So that's a great question, Mike. This is the second year for that schedule process. And really, I guess the the genesis of it was no baseball season in 20. Major League Baseball took over the minor league operation last year, about two months before the 2021 season started. So, due to COVID restrictions and some things that Major League Baseball was trying to wrap their arms around, um the six-game schedule came to be. And we thought it was just going to be for the 2021 season. One of the main reasons behind it was normally within that six-day period, we would in the historically have visited maybe two teams over a road trip, and two teams would have been here during a homestand. But the idea was to cut down on travel, cut down on time where guys were spending on buses in close proximity, and everything started as a COVID precaution. And then as the season played out last year, the feedback that we gave and other minor league teams gave is this the six-game homestand really works from a business operations standpoint. Um there's probably some things for the on-the-field component, seeing an opponent six days in a row can be a little bit challenging. You go all the way through the pitching rotation and you see a guy a second time, or if you know there's some bad blood between teams early in a home stand and you've got them in town another three or four days. But based upon the feedback between Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball, the takeaways were there were many more positives than negatives. So we wanted to try it again in 2022. And what it also allows is Mondays are off days. Mondays are traditionally a slow attendance day, so we didn't mind that from a business perspective. The players who up prior to COVID were playing quite often three weeks in a row of games without a day off, now get one day off a week and it's set on Mondays, and there might be a little bit of travel in there, depending upon the schedule, but they at least get a set day off for that player wellness and healthy aspect that Major League Baseball wants to make sure uh ball players are getting. So we decided to do it again, and we were happy we did it. We'll see. Right now, we like it enough that where we hope it sticks around for a little bit. You're not getting these long nine and ten game homestands, which can be tricky on sales at some points or tricky on your staff at other points. So it's nice you get a six-game schedule and then you hit the refresh button on Monday and off you go.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And uh is is COVID the reason why the season's now extending deep into September as opposed to like Labor Day weekend. I mean, when I was growing up, it was you watch the Hens, Labor Day weekend, and then a lot of the kids got called up to the the big roster when they expanded the rosters, but that apparently is different too.
SPEAKER_01Yep, that that's another change, and there's there's a couple reasons for that. Um, really, when you factor in the six-game schedules that we were just starting and giving every Monday an off day, well, that's that's about 12, 13, 14 days where there used to be some games before. So you're you're automatically extending the season a little bit just by giving a Monday off day every week. So that that takes us past the Labor Day schedule that we used to be on. And I also think Major League Baseball wanted triple A players playing a little bit longer uh in terms of uh covering for injuries late in the year and having players that they can go to prior to playoffs in the major league level. And the model really, we don't mind that either, because uh truthfully, I'd in a perfect world, we'd start May 1st and go to October 1st, just based upon weather in Northwest Ohio. Sure. Um, but it was really a combination of major league roster, the 40-man roster that used to be in place, went away. And so they wanted AAA to play a little bit longer, and then you mix that in with more off days during the season to help with player safety, and it's all those things combining together.
SPEAKER_00I mean, one of the cool things about fifth, third field, I mean, it's 20 years now. I mean, it's hard to believe it's been around that long. I mean, I grew up and it was the rec center, and you went and watched a baseball game. You had a hot dog and you had a soda pop, maybe some popcorn, and that was about it. Now it's all about the experience. I mean, there is a lot going on at fifth, third field, and even outside the doors of fifth third field. So what would you how would you comment on that? How baseball has changed in terms of an entertainment venue?
SPEAKER_01Sure. Uh, you know, my minor league baseball has really found its niche as family affordable entertainment, and and we we use those words a lot, but it it couldn't be more accurate. And uh people have a lot of choices as to what to do with their time and discretionary income. And we're fortunate that in Toledo we have bar none, in my opinion. Obviously, I'm a little biased, but a lot of facts to back this up. Between the Mudends and the Walleye, the best minor league sports market in the country. And the support proves it. We're not the biggest market, uh, but we outpunch our weight quite a bit in terms of metrics and attendance based upon the population in the Toledo market. But really, it's it comes down to, you know, if if the Mudends or even the Walleye were to depend on just the die hard baseball or hockey fans, the business wouldn't generate enough revenue to continue. So you you get into minor league promotions and activities and theme nights and uh school celebration days and sleeping with your scout troop on the field after the game, because whether or not you love the game of baseball, there's a lot of fun things that we can tie to a baseball game that expand our audience or expand the number of people that are willing to sample us. And that's where you see the the Star Wars nights and the Harry Potter nights and the superhero nights and uh faith in family nights, and because it's our job to generate things and events and experiences that people might want to bring their family to, they might want to bring out-of-town guests to, they might want to bring their business or company to, they might come to a game with a school group or a church group, and all those things are what help us sell tickets and make us successful. And really, only about, you know, in the surveying we do, only about 15%, that's one five, uh, are made up of true die hard baseball fans, where they know what place we're in, they know everyone on our roster, they know everything about the tigers, and and you know, 15% you know, you're not gonna get enough people through fifth for fifth, third field on an annual basis if you're depending upon just the diehard. So that's how we're able to expand our reach a little bit. And if we're doing our job right, people are coming down. Some people leave without even knowing the score of the game. Uh, but as long as they had a good time, you know, that that's okay, and that's what we're about.
SPEAKER_00I knew that I had no future in baseball when I couldn't hit a 75 mile an hour fastball in high school. Uh, so I had to find something else to do and stumbled upon this career. Tell us a little bit about how you got involved in the management end of baseball. People see what happens on the field, but they probably don't know behind the scenes how it all gets put together.
SPEAKER_01Great question, Mike. You know, um, you know, I guess about me a little bit. I I am from the Philadelphia area. I went out to University of Arizona and I have a degree in marketing. Um, I was actually a better soccer player and basketball player than a baseball player. So baseball was was third in terms of my ability level. I just really knew I wanted to tie my degree in marketing to sport somehow. And, you know, doing some homework as I was finishing up school, I ended up in Toledo at Ned Skeldon Stadium to do an internship with the Mud Hens and did a lot of different things that summer from selling tickets to certain game operational things that interns did and and uh was offered a job at the end of my internship and and really worked on the sales side, uh, selling tickets, selling group outings, selling mini plans, and have been fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time where I've been able to move up through the organization and and decided that minor league baseball was where I wanted to make a career. And it's a lot of fun. The events are different every day. Our staff does an exceptional job. We've got about 40 people on our full-time staff now that uh are second to none in terms of the effort and the results that they get due to the work they put in. It's a lot of long hours at times bunched together, uh, but it can be very fun and rewarding, especially when you consider that the place that the Mudends and the Walleye have in the Toledo community, and it's it's neat to be a part of a community treasure, like we like we feel we are. And there's so many great things in this region and many places to go and attend, and to be a nice piece to that and to be the big sports teams for the area is something that everyone that works here takes very seriously.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well, uh I'm old enough to remember that there was some controversy with moving the hands downtown. And those people who were against it, boy, were they wrong. Because that has just transformed with the hocke with the hockey arena, has just transformed and meant so much for downtown and bringing people downtown. Uh it's just such a a changed environment from the downtown Toledo I remember.
SPEAKER_01Well, and that's that that's you know, our our board and and Joe Napoli, who's who's my boss and is the president of the company, when when fifth, third field, the plans were made. There there were a lot of seasoned ticket holders and a lot of people up in arms about moving downtown due to what downtown Toledo was like at that moment. And there was a lot of homework and research done. I still have a few people a year come up and say, hey, you know, I was against it. I didn't think it should happen, and man, was I wrong. And, you know, we we like to think we're a part of something big downtown. And um, there's been a lot of great things that have been happening. The last couple of years has provided a ton of momentum with all the things happening, but you know, for the ballpark in fifth, third field to be a keystone to some of the development. And there's lots of facts and figures about the number of businesses that have started right around in the warehouse district in a three, four block radius around the ballpark. And and then when the arena came online, uh that added another piece, and all the things that a lot of great companies and organizations are doing to make downtown what it should be. You know, it's it's great for us to be a part of that. And if we were one of the first pieces to that, fantastic. And it just shows that the script that was written, we've exceeded all attendance projections. A lot of people thought uh there'd be a three or four-year honeymoon period, and then things would start to fall off, like in other markets. And between the corporate and the community support that we've received, you know, we've averaged about 525,000 people a year over that time frame, which doesn't happen with many new ballparks. A lot of times you'll see some erosion in years five, six, seven, where in years seven, eight, nine, we were still growing everything.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00How are you growing the fan base, specifically the young kids?
SPEAKER_01Well, that that's that that's a great question. It's something we're working on with our relationship with Major League Baseball. Um, there's some youth programs. There's a program called Play Ball that MLB has really gotten behind, and we've got a weekend of games in June where there's a lot of events geared towards kids and coming down on the field early in the day of Mud Hens Games and uh doing little clinics and camps and and really trying to get kids interested in the game of baseball. There's there's some initiatives that we're also involved with with Major League Baseball, uh, with local RBI programs. And you just want kids to get out there and play. You know, the day when I when I was young, which was a long time ago, we go out and play baseball for hours on end. And, you know, baseball is a little bit tricky because you need a lot of guys and or girls and a lot of positions to fill. And sometimes it's hard to get a pickup game going compared to other sports. And we take that mission very seriously as well, and we're constantly looking to see where we can educate about the game of baseball. Uh, we do camps and clinics on a regular basis, you know, on our own too, outside of what Major League Baseball works with us on. And you try and just do some kids-oriented promotions to try and get kids to come down and and be exposed to a game that maybe they haven't seen before or been able to play. And and all those things are things that we continue to want to grow and and help get more people involved with.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00What's it gonna take to get the tigers to come down for another exhibition? I think it's been 10 years maybe since we've seen them.
SPEAKER_01I think your calendar is right. I feel like it was 2012, maybe. Um, you know, that the days where the major league team would play its triple affiliate and like the tigers would come down almost annually out at Ned Skeldon Stadium, those days are a little bit harder now with collective bargaining agreements and players' associations and things. We had talked to the Tigers about that event almost 10 years ago, and and uh there was a charitable component to it which helped sell them on it. And I think it went so well that there was discussion that it would have to be done again in the future. It probably is time to bring that conversation up again and and just see. We'd love to do it as much as possible. Uh and the Tigers have been so fantastic to work with the relationship we have with them. I think we have the, if I'm not mistaken at this point, the third longest relationship out of 30 teams between the AAA team and the major league affiliate. And there's many great reasons for that. Obviously, the geography is great, uh, but more important, the people and the relationships and the support that we get from them, and they feel like they can trust us with their players and having that relationship. Um, that all lends itself to a great relationship. But it it probably is time, Mike, to to have that conversation again and just just see what the possibilities are for the next couple of years.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I was a little kid when they would come to Ned Skelton Stadium, and I remember running into Bill Frehan, who was a giant. He was a big guy as it was, but I was only 10 years old at the time. And then later on, took my kids and took my youngest son, and I remember we were in the front row, and Bobby Higginson was tapping him because my kid was turned around backwards, tapping him with a bat in the on-deck circle. So that's some pretty good memories of those games.
SPEAKER_01Baseball in general has such a neat way of having memories like that. And uh minor league baseball, the the memories we create. I I still have a lot of people talk about how you know, maybe I helped somebody's grandson get a first pitch and they were six at the time, and now they're 26, and there's still memories every time they come to Toledo about when they got to throw the first pitch out at Skeldon Stadium, and all these neat stories that are within families and families that love the game of baseball. Um, you know, there I mean, there's been many books written about those sorts of things, and each person or each fan or each attendee has their memories of baseball and go into games with their grandparents and parents and those sorts of things. And that's another great reason to be in this business because it's it's uh it's a fun atmosphere, it's a fun game. We're able to do things that are creative, we're allowed to promote things that hopefully let people take a little three-hour from vacation from the daily stressors that they're dealing with and and come down and enjoy a game. And uh, even if they don't care for the game of baseball or it's not one of their favorite sports, we feel there's enough going on that that someone can really be entertained and spend that quality time with friends and family.
SPEAKER_00Well, the Mud Hands are a Toledo treasure, and Eric Instant, we thank you for the role you're playing on putting the product on the field for us. And uh hopefully we'll be talking playoffs this year.
SPEAKER_01We we would we would love to do that. Nobody supports playoffs in a minor league market like the the fans in Toledo and the surrounding areas. It's we have lots of numbers to back that up. Uh and it cuts across baseball and hockey, and we've sold out playoff games where other minor league teams in our industry ask us how we do it because it just doesn't happen that often at the minor league level for various reasons. But um, what let's hope we have a great summer and a nice long playoff potential run here in 2022.
SPEAKER_00Okay, thanks for your time. Thank you.