Favorito: How to win in baseball business? Multilingual clubhouse is key
From Joe Favorito at Portada Online on March 15, 2018:
Last weekend’s Society of American Baseball Research conference in Phoenix was largely about baseball by every way, shape, and form of numbers, but it also touched on a key point of growing the Latino fan base and the brand value of athletes in a way that had less to do with data: culture.
Throughout the weekend, speakers talked about the need for understanding and inclusion in the clubhouse as a key parameter for success, with the most successful teams, and the brands tied to them, being the most valuable and the most successful both on and off the diamond.
“The guys willing to learn Spanish will bring the clubhouse together and have tremendous value,” said ESPN veteran announcer John “Boog” Sciambi in a conversation with MLB Network’s Brian Kenny. “What Eric Hosmer brings to the table because he took the time to learn a language to communicate with his younger teammates shows how far he, and others, should go, to help an organization grow.”
With a sport whose rising stars are increasingly Latino, and with a marketing effort that includes a more concerted effort to integrate Spanish language partners in Mexico and beyond, as well as the major Spanish-first brands looking to grow in the U.S. marketplace, the value of a bilingual, or a multicultural clubhouse is going to be essential to the marketing of baseball going forward.
Read the full article here: https://www.portada-online.com/2018/03/15/how-to-win-in-baseball-business-the-multilingual-clubhouse-is-key/
- Related link: For more coverage from the SABR Analytics Conference, visit SABR.org/analytics
Originally published: March 15, 2018. Last Updated: March 15, 2018.