It has been a decade since the Sacramento Kings have made headlines in the western conference playoffs. Until recently, it’s as if this NBA franchise had been forgotten. In 2004, the Kings were one of the most exciting teams in the NBA. The franchise electrified fans everywhere, and they were contenders in the playoffs for several years. Vivek Ranadive is determined to return the Kings back to that throne.
Unlike most franchise owners, Vivek Ranadive’s passion for the sport came at a very late age. A single father to three children, he volunteered to coach a middle school girls basketball team, in hopes of spending more time with his daughter Anjali. Having no prior experience or even touching a basketball, Ranadive managed to lead that team to the national championship.
In Malcolm Gladwell’s new best seller David and Goliath, the acclaimed author featured Vivek Ranadive’s coaching experience in his opening chapter. Undersized and under skilled, Ranadive’s approach to the game was to full court press all the teams, all the time. In order for David to beat Goliath, he had to choose an unconventional strategy, one where the underdog could level out the playing field. Ranadive embodies this principle both on the court and in how he conducts his business.
In the summer of 1969, 12 year old Vivek Ranadive had his ears glued to the radio during the moon landing. For Ranadive, that one small step for man inspired him to come to America. After leaving Mumbai, India at age 17, his underdog story would begin at the prestigious MIT, where he obtained his bachelors and masters degree, both within four years. At age 26, he obtained his MBA from Harvard as a Baker Scholar. As a young entrepreneur, Ranadive pursued his first business venture while still at MIT, which would later become UNIX Consulting Services. Since then, Ranadive’s vision has led him to establish benchmark technology companies such as Teknekron Software Systems and TIBCO.
Today, the 56 year old CEO and founder of TIBCO software resides in an estate in Silicon Valley. His technology company specializes in infrastructure and business intelligence software. As of last year, TIBCO was capitalized at $5.1 Billion dollars.
Ranadive’s story however, extends beyond Silicon Valley, and even the sports industry itself. It is a story of the America dream, a father and his daughter, and how David was able to beat Goliath.
As a former minority owner of the Golden State Warriors, Ranadive had implemented significant developments to their social media network. After acquiring the Kings Franchise in May 2013, Ranadive has already made momentous changes to the Franchise’s culture and future direction.
Ranadive had TIBCO develop a Sacramento Kings App specifically for their fans. The app allows fans to earn points through digital interaction, allowing them to redeem Kings tickets and merchandise. The King’s app includes mobile ticketing functions and other all access information. The app also allows location based offers, and provides other functions that enhance the overall fan experience. The network incorporates high speed messaging, real time event processing engines, and various visual capturing devices. Ranadive’s vision is to expand the Kings globally. The app aims to have fans across the world have the same experience as those sitting in the arena.
With the new culture of technology, the Kings introduced the Google Glass broadcast on January 24th against the Indiana Pacers. The franchise partnered with CrowdOptic to provide a unique perspective to the game. Select players, staff, mascots, dancers, and announcers provided visual feed that would allow fans to have a first person experience.
The Kings have also announced that by March 1st, fans will be able to purchase tickets and merchandise through Bitcoins. In doing so, the team would become the first professional sports franchise to accept the virtual currency.
Following a threat of relocation, the team is now seeing an increase in ticket sales, and a positive outlook from the fan response. The franchise is also expecting to move to a $448 million dollar arena in 2016.
The NBA has always maximized social networking to engage their fans. Considering that one of the NBA’s main areas of development is to expand their product globally, Ranadive’s technological approach could serve as a precedent to the league’s future direction.
Although the Kings are still in the bottom rankings of the western conference, the franchise has found momentum towards a new direction. As the new owner of the Sacramento Kings, Vivek Ranadive is once again the underdog. For David, the Goliath he now faces has become faster, stronger, and probably shoots 3s.