Tickets and merchandise were being sold out of the same small building that player negotiation and trades took place. This placed pressures on the teams' front office having to deal with customers on a daily basis. Also fans were open to agree or disagree with the plays of the team, quality of the team and even the costs of tickets. The only way Fletcher found to deal with these issues was to make himself available to customers and take in their suggestions. Customer service soon became a high priority to the team. Among other issues Fletcher had was in his staff and partners. Before the opening of his team, his partners withdrew from the deal. This caused Fletcher to have no choice but to assign his first manager Paul Deese to double as a partial owner. Deese made the call as to baseball decisions and Fletcher made the business decisions and this worked out very well, but after the 1996 season Deese sold his share back to Fletcher and left the company for personal reasons. Fletcher became aware after years of running his business that the rest of the league did not have good leadership. Many thought it would be fun to own a baseball league but didn't want to be bothered with the business aspect of it.

Others didn't realize that it was a business not a hobby. These aspects caused the organization to suffer.

There were great aspects to the company. The Marketing division had great success. They were limited to media resources and Kevin Wolski, director of sales marketing and promotion, found this to be a challenge. He overcame this challenge by making a connection between the sponsors, the team, family and baseball as a whole.

Have promotional items that the people care about especially if you are putting a sponsor's logo on it." (Page 8 of Case Study) This proved to be a success as the Crushers drew crowds of 93,000 per year.

Now Fletcher...

At the end of the 2002 season
Some of the other franchises were having to close down due to financial issues and could not continue to be teams, even the most successful team The Heat would no longer be able to play. Fletcher was facing this same problem. Fletcher considered himself to be business savvy and was always able to maintain the business he didn't feel he could keep going as he had been. "I kept hanging on, working hard and hoping the league would turn around enough so we could sell out, but in the end it seems too risky for any potential investors. I have no regrets, except I wish I could have had a stronger league from top to bottom."

In my opinion, I would say that with it being too costly to become an affiliation of the major league, although that would drastically change the situation, and many of the other teams in the league having the same financial difficulties it would be in Fletchers best interest to liquidate his assets and sell his team. The organization did fairly well for eight years but if other teams are having to close their doors who would they have to play? Also now would be the best time to close his doors since his contract is up on the lease of the ballpark. It would be better now than to renew his contract and have possible lawsuits by not abiding by the lease.

Fletcher stated himself that he did not want to pass the team to his sons, his whole intent had always been to sell. (Page 9 of Case Study)

If the other teams were not having these same problems I would like to see him hang in there and obtain quality employees who have better leadership skills. If there were time to do this I believe he would have a greater chance of salvaging his losses and have a better organization.

Bibliography

Case Study: Sonoma County Crushers: Baseball or Business