October 17th Board Meeting
| Date & Time: | Oct 17, 2008 at 01:00 PM – 03:00 PM |
|---|---|
| Location: | EPI Center 13805 58th St N Room 2-304 Clearwater, Fl 33760 |
A BASEBALL COMMUNITY (ABC)
A.K.A Tim ABC COALITION
WWW.ABC-BASEBALL.COM
PuBLIc MEETING
EPI Center October 17, 2008
13805 — t5h8 Street North, Rm 2-304, Clearwater, FL
Friday,1:00 p.m.
MINUTES
Board Members Jeff Lyash, Chair (President & CEO, Progress Energy Florida)
Present: Judy Mitchell, Co-Chair & Spokesperson (President, Peter Brown Construction)
Alan Bomstein, Secretary/Treasurer (President, Creative Contractors)
Barbara Heck, Chair, Fan Support & Involvement CIG (President, Council of
Neighborhood Associations)
Gregory Johnson (President, Pinellas County Urban League)
Russ Kimball (Executive V.P. & General Manager, Sheraton Sand Key Resort)
Steve Raymund (Chairman of the Board, Tech Data)
Bob Stewart (Pinellas County Commissioner; Chair, Tourist Development Council)
Chuck Sykes, Chair, Corporate Support CIG (President & CEO, Sykes Corporation)
Board Members Absent: Ricardo “Rick” Davis (President, Bay Area Medical Supplies, Inc.)
Craig Sher, Chair, Stadium Options CIG (President & CEO, The Sembler Company)
Stakeholder
Representatives: Michael Kalt, Sr. V.P. of Development, Tampa Bay Rays
Mike Meidel, Director of Economic Development, Pinellas County
Rick Mussett, City Development Senior Administrator, City of St. Petersburg
Stuart Rogel, President & CEO, Tampa Bay Partnership
Also Present: Joe Bourdow, Co-Chair, Corporate Support CIG (President, Valpak Direct Marketing
Systems, Inc.)
Charley Harris, Legal Counsel
Nancy Loehr (Community Relations Manager, Progress Energy Florida)
Joe Zeoli, Director ofAdministration & Finance, City Development Adm.
Eva Andujar, City Clerk, City ofSt. Petersburg
Vicky Davidson, Administrative Assistant, Development Services, City ofSt.
Petersburg
Agenda Item I. Opening Remarks
Chair Jeff Lyash called the meeting to order at 1:05 p.m., a quorum was present.
Chair Lyash announced that Price Waterhouse had an emergency so their presentation will be deferred until the December 11th meeting and the Rays’ presentation will be rescheduled to the November 14th meeting. The City of St. Petersburg will also give a presentation at the November t1h4 meeting encompassing the background history of baseball in the City leading up to the present.
ABC PUBLIC MEETING MINUTES OCTOBER 17. 2008
Agenda Item II. Approval of Minutes
Alan Bomstein moved with the second of Judy Mitchell to approve the October 1, 2008 minutes as written. The minutes were approved by a consensus vote.
Agenda Item III. Price Waterhouse
Deferred until December 11, 2008.
Agenda Item IV. CIG Reports
Corporate Support CIG:
Copies of a Corporate Support CIG outline encompassing the Leadership Team, Mission, Definition of Success, Role & Purpose, Approach, CIG Team Structure, and the Next Steps were distributed. Corporate Support CIG Chair Chuck Sykes stated that he and Corporate Support CIG Co-Chair Joe Bourdow had their first publicly noticed meeting. Mr. Sykes referred to the strategy map and expressed his views on working with the community and how they may come together. The Rays have to put a good product on the field for a successful organization; processes have to be in place to engage fan support (non-corporate support), engage corporate
support, and to have a great venue. There are dimensions of value that fans will want (e.g. cost of going to a game, quality of the product on the field, time standpoint or convenience factor, and added value received in addition to watching the game) as well as in relationships and service area, and the power of the brand. The key is fan and corporate support. This committee will not be the sales arm for the Rays, but to assist and support them. Success of this committee will be defined as follows: Corporate sales support should represent 2/3 of total ticket sales, expect sponsorships to grow, help instill and bring together broad-base support in the corporate community for special projects (e.g. stadium decision). To achieve this success, the committee will organize, build and serve as a communication channel between the Rays organization and the business community throughout the region. This channel will be a two-way communication which can help the Rays understand the corporate market and vice versa, and help establish relationships between the two. This channel can also be used for various promotions. To organize this channel, they will establish a network of business leaders that are plugged in with various business associations. Chambers will be great contact points, especially with small & medium businesses. Stuart Rogel will serve as Corporate Support CIG Regional Leader assisting
with the larger businesses that are more regional than local. Mr. Sykes stated that they first want to meet with the Rays organization to understand where they are in their relationships and this will probably take place after October. Leadership points need to be identified throughout the counties and members were asked to submit names of leaders throughout the Tampa Bay area that may want to be contacted. Once the business leaders have been identified and on board, the committee will begin building the plant to achieve the role, purpose and the overall goals (build the network, understand the market, create relationships, and promote ticket sales & sponsorships).
A discussion took place between the members and stakeholders on corporate support and how this can be achieved.
Fan Support & Community Involvement CIG:
Fan Support & Community Involvement CIG Chair Barbara Heck reported that the committee met last Wednesday, October l5, and in an effort to provide a better focus on this project they recommend creating two subcommittees; (1) Rays Fans with Barbara Heck as Chair and (2) Community Outreach with Gregory Johnson as Chair.
Rays Fans: Ms. Heck stated that they are looking for a way to identify the fan base that is already out there throughout West Central Florida, create a list identifying said fans and their needs, and engage these fans with special type events for Rays fans only. She would also like to provide an interactive Rays-only website, if possible and not cost prohibitive, collaborate with the Rays on shared events and at the same time broaden the Rays fan support base by working on a multi-generation aspect with the families, look for additional niche markets, document best practices to retain the fan support, look at any additional outreach opportunities, and become a liaison to the Rays.
Community Outreach: Mr. Johnson stated that a connection with the seven (7) counties is needed by putting the message in front of them via town hail and public meetings. He talked about the possibility of using the various Chambers as a venue to reach people in the different communities. The vision of the outreach involvement is getting their message out to the three CIGs as well as to the community, with the possibility of having a representative from each of the three CIGs giving a presentation to the community and solicit feedback from their audience. Mr. Johnson also stated that working with the colleges (SPC & USF) on developing a data base
as a class project is a possibility Richard George would be the Community Outreach Co-Chair and has volunteered to take on the relationship with the various Chambers of the seven (7) counties and to help facilitate the meetings through the Chambers.
A discussion took place between the members and stakeholders regarding the efficiency of having numerous committees/subcommittees in response to Ms. Heck’s request of forming two subcommittees. Mr. Johnson stated that his vision of the Community Outreach subcommittee is to facilitate the communication between the works of this body and the people in the seven (7) counties. Ms. Heck stated that they envision gathering the information from the initial meetings, assessing the information and putting the plan out there, similar to the Land Development Regulations (LDR5) adoption process.
Bob Stewart talked about what the people want to know regarding the assignment of ABC — Measure value of baseball to the community? Just to increase fan support? To look at the stadium’s issues in regards to replace or repair, locations, or to look at funding structures to make those things happen? How do you measure community buy-in? Mr. Stewart went on to say that in lieu of just having a public hearing/meeting allowing people to voice their opinions, steps need to be taken to identify specific questions to which answers are needed and the public could respond to, and to take caution with providing forums without giving the public something
to respond to.
After further discussion, Chair Lyash agreed to Ms. Heck’s request of forming the two subcommittees (Rays Fans and Community Outreach) with the understanding that the Community Outreach intends to function essentially as a service organization coordinated with the other CIGs whose mission is to identify the need to reach out to the community and to provide education and/or receive input, and the role of Community Outreach is how best to do that, when, where, and by what method (directed outreach).
Stadium Options CIG:
Alan Bomstein reported that Stadium Options CIG Chair Craig Sher has been busy formulating the subcommittees and stated that all of the subcommittees will meet within the next 30 days. The Demographic and Data Research subcommittee will be chaired by Geraland Franklin, Dean of the Business School at USF-St.Petersburg. The Tropicana Opportunities subcommittee will be chaired by Ross Roeder. They are still trying to find the right person to chair the Potential Sites subcommittee. Mr. Bomstein agreed to chair the Design Development subcommittee. The Finance subcommittee will be chaired by Katie Pemball and the Government Information subcommittee will be chaired by Bob Carter. Mr. Bomstein also stated that they are trying to get
John Schuler with the Tampa Tribune involved, as well.
Additional Board Membership to CIGs:
Co-Chair & Spokesperson Judy Mitchell reported that according to the bylaws, two leadership board members are to be on each CIG. Stadium Options is full (Craig Sher & Alan Bomstein, with Rick Davis expressing interest), Fan Support & Community Outreach is full (Barbara Heck & Greg Johnson on both), and Corporate Support is full (Chuck Sykes & Steve Raymund).
Agenda Item V. Conifict of Interest
Copies of the proposed conflict of interest policy were distributed. Legal Counsel Charley Harris reviewed said policy and stated that it requires self disclosure, requiring members to declare direct conflict and indirect conflict (people who would benefit from any decision of this board). If the board approves, then every member needs to sign, date, and return to Nancy Loehr. It was agreed that everyone would review this policy and will be placed on the next meeting’s agenda for approval.
Agenda Item VI. Round Table
Alan Bomstein: He feels that the board’s focus will change in six to eight months due to the Rays’ success. He believes that the Rays will be in the top half of the league in ticket sales next season.
Barbara Heck: Go Rays!
Greg Johnson: He went through this in Cleveland when one of the worst teams started winning and then turned everything around. Mr. Johnson asked that the chairs of the CIGs to keep him informed.
Steve Raymund: No comment.
Jeff Lyash: He asked that everyone read the San Diego Padres and Minneapolis Twins reports (copies were distributed) to get a feel for what other organizations went through with a similar effort.
Judy Mitchell: She hears two things from people who find out she is on this committee — (1) When the Rays are winning there should be no problem with ticket sales, and (2) The stadium had better be covered and air conditioned.
Russ Kimball: No comment.
Chuck Sykes: He emphasized that they are here to support the Rays, not to take over the responsibility or to second guess them.
Bob Stewart: He made three points — (1) they are not meddling but needs to be comfortable when they hear from the Rays stating their wants/needs - a comfort level needs to be achieved between the committee and the Rays; (2) come together with an understanding of what the goal/objective/mission is; and (3) a budget is needed to accomplish our goals and where will the money come from and what will the money be used for.
Charley Harris: Monies have already been spent (building website and other services) to which the vendors have agreed to wait for payment. A filing needs to occur due to the tax status and is a major issue with this board to consider raising money to pay for related expenses.
Rick Mussett: He concurred with Mr. Sykes that it is important to seek input based on facts and not just opinions.
Stuart Rogel: No comment.
Mike Meidel: He is excited about comparing this year with the previous years and in order to maintain a quality team, the Rays need to be provided with more financial resources and opportunities. He also agrees with having an air conditioned stadium. Chair Lyash asked that once the season is over, would he be in the position to present to the committee what they thought the economic impact was for the Division Series, A.L.C.S. and, hopefully, the World Series for Pinellas County and the Tampa Bay Area. Mr. Meidel replied that they are working on a computer model. Mr. Mussett stated that they also need to work in conjunction with
the City, as well. Chair Lyash stated that he hopes they can, at least, measure the short term economic impact of the playoff series. Mr. Raymund stated that the PWC study the Chamber commissioned has quite a bit of detail on direct and indirect financial impact with baseball in this area and that data could be helpful.
Michael Kalt: He thanked everyone for the time they are putting into this and feels that the core issues are important.
Chair Lyash stated that the next meeting will consist of grounding, education, and zeroing in on specific objectives, and will begin with the presentation from Rays, the City of St. Petersburg, and Price Waterhouse. In parallel with that, the action phase will begin by collecting information from the CIGs, at which time money/resources will be needed and sources identified to pay for commission studies, services, etc.
Agenda Item VII. Adjourn
With no further items to come before the Committee, the meeting was adjourned
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