The following interview is part of our ongoing Expert Series that asks C-level professionals, team presidents, league executives, athletic directors and other sports influencers about their latest thoughts and insights on new technologies impacting the sports industry.
Name: David Wright
Company: Minor League Baseball
Position: Chief Marketing/Commercial Officer
David Wright is the Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer at Minor League Baseball. He is tasked with growing the MiLB brand by overseeing all advertising, media, marketing, promotion, research, and business development efforts. In addition, Wright oversees the MiLB Project Brand initiative, designed to maximize enterprise value through integrated national and regional partnerships leveraging the power and overall scale of the 160 member clubs.
Wright joined Minor League Baseball in 2016 following more than a decade at Major League Soccer (MLS) and Soccer United Marketing (SUM), most recently as its Senior Vice President, Global Sponsorship. He oversaw new business efforts for the premier soccer properties in North America (including Major League Soccer, U.S. Soccer Federation and the Mexican National Team). Wright also managed a Partnership Marketing team tasked with day-to-day management, growth and retention of more than 40 MLS/SUM partners.
In recent years, Wright has also been an adjunct professor and regular contributor to the New York University Graduate Sports Business program. A 2012 SportsBusiness Journal Forty Under 40 Award recipient, Wright earned a Bachelor of Science in kinesiology from Indiana University and a Master of Science in sports management from the University of Massachusetts.
1) What utilization of technology in professional or college sports has recently blown you away and why?
How and where consumers consume content continues to move at the speed of light. Very interesting to see traditionally non-sport media outlets jump into the sport space in an effort connect with the next generation fan/consumer (think Netflix, Twitter, Amazon, Facebook, et al). The influx to secure streaming rights is the obvious example. In the end, competition is a beautiful thing … this evolution is good for consumers as it forces the media industry — specifically, the linear networks — to evolve and adapt to maintain relevance. MLB, NBA, NFL and MLS (among others) are properties paving the way for the future of content consumption.
2) How is Minor League Baseball leveraging specific forms of technology to better engage with fans both in-arena and online?
The vision of MiLB is to be a dynamic leader in sport and entertainment. Without question, innovation and technology are central to that vision and we have several great examples. One area that stands out and that is very real-time centers around the ticketing space and how consumers purchase, share and use tickets. At the end of the day, how do you super-serve the fan and create a frictionless experience? In addition, as the ticketing business evolves, access to real-time data that allows our clubs the ability to better connect with their fans is a huge priority for us moving forward.
Another example is our recently announced partnership with FIS Global focused around creating “Ballparks of the Future” and MiLB’s first-ever national fan loyalty program. FIS is a global leader in the payment services industry and has dozens of products and services that provide tremendous fan engagement opportunities. From POS and merchant processing designed to enhance the fan experience in Ballpark to positively influencing consumer behavior via a loyalty program, cutting edge technology is at the core of the partnership.
3) If money were no object, what technology would you build or buy to help you do your job better?
We have an aggressive goal to eclipse 50 million fans through turnstile by 2026 (MiLB is currently at 41.5 million annually). As we think forward, there are a lot of strategic priorities that support our push for growth and driving next-generation fandom. Creating compelling “outside the white lines” content is an area that we can own across 160 MiLB markets.
The ability to have on the ground, market-specific production capabilities at each of our clubs would be very powerful (and expensive). Leveraging our scale and the incredible lifestyle storylines taking place daily in each of our markets is a big, big area of focus.
4) As a sports fan, what sports-related service, app, product, etc., could you not live without and why?
TeamSnap…seriously. With two incredibly active kids, our ability to stay organized with the craziness that comes with youth sports is key!
5) If you had to project 20 years into the future, what will most sports fans want from a technology standpoint when they attend ‘live’ sports events, specifically MiLB games?
AI (artificial intelligence) is a trend that will gain momentum in the coming years. Again, goes back to super-serving the fan, in this case, with on-demand customer service to provide customers an outlet to engage with organizations while enhancing the overall experience. The Tampa Bay Lighting, our great neighbors over the bridge, are one of the first organizations to launch the technology. The Lightning are leaders in customer service, and AI will further support their efforts to enhance the game day experience (via razor focused, tech-driven customer service).
In addition, the growing delta between the “at-home” experience and the “in-venue” experience is real. Throw in the rapidly increasing cost of entry (ticket, food/bev., parking, transportation, et al), the industry is at a big cross-roads. I believe technology will play an integral role in creating in-ballpark/venue experiences that simplify the overall experience while providing all the amenities (or more) that a fan would experience at home in their living room. Conversely, and a potential threat (or enhancement) to the in-ballpark/venue experience, VR will provide experiential opportunities unimaginable in 2017. The sport of baseball has a lot of authentic VR opportunities … imagine sitting at a game (or in your living room) and using VR to bring you front and center with the athlete. Inside the batting helmet. Catcher’s mask. Suddenly the incredible nuances of experiencing a 98 MPH fastball take on a whole new depth of understanding and appreciation. The application of VR is somewhat endless and will continue to be a big focus throughout the industry.
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6) Give us your bold prediction about a form of technology that will be integral to MiLB/baseball in general over the next 12 months and why?
“Ballparks of the Future” will become synonymous with @MiLB. FIS’ incredible product and services further support our commitment to continually evolve and enhance the overall fan experience.