On October 10, 2002 George Lapides conducted an in-depth interview with Andy Dolich, President of Business Operations for the Memphis Grizzlies. The following is an edited transcript of that interview.
GEORGE LAPIDES - What's going to be different about the Grizzlies this year, in year two, as opposed to year one?
ANDY DOLICH -- First of all the players. We've already seen that in Drew Gooden and Gordan Giricek . . . the flexibility that Jerry West has given Sid (Sidney Lowe). Secondly, I think the increased expectations that fans and the team itself has for an improved record. And that's the name of the game in professional sports . . . the building, anticipation and excitement of the new arena, which is moving along pretty quickly downtown. Those are really two of the major themes that we have along with, on the marketing side, growing our market. Perfect example . . . the (exhibition) game in Little Rock. Then continuing to build on the great basketball tradition that already exists in this market.
GEORGE -- How much do you need support from areas, let's say, from 50 miles and beyond Memphis?
DOLICH -- It's critical to our future success that people in the Mid-South region over the next few months and years recognize the Grizzlies as their team. Oneof the great levels of education that we've learned is the tremendous fervor that the SEC has here. Even though many of the schools are relatively close to each other, they reach out over a really large area and people's lifestyles during football season and, sometimes beyond that, are tied to those schools. Obviously, that's been decades in the making, but it's an incredibly positive example and a standard of what we would strive to . . . but realizing that it would take a number of years to reach. But if can come close to that, you're going to be successful. I've been to a number of those campuses and games already, you see people from an hour and two hours away come to those schools on their Saturdays to root for them.
GEORGE -- Did the fervor and loyalty toward the SEC schools here, that degree of it, catch the Grizzlies a little bit off guard?
DOLICH -- Not off guard. As I said, it was a great example to us and a great piece of education. When you're the new kid on the block, even though we're a significant major sport, you can't just change people's patterns overnight. And, of course, football is the sport that has the fewest games, it builds up over a week, and basketball has a lot more games and today people's time is much more dear to their heart. I think we're working so people understand the commitment to 41 home basketball games is obviously more than eight or 10 football games.
GEORGE -- How was revenue last year compared to the last year the Grizzlies were in Vancouver and how is it projecting this year compared to last year?
DOLICH -- Well, it was about 100 plus percent better last year, and we'd like to think we were brilliant marketers and business people, but -- as you know -- a lot of that was just the change, the exchange rate, between the U.S. dollar and the Canadian dollar. So just by moving to the United States we improved our financial bottom line significantly. In terms of this year, we knew going in that year two would be the biggest business challenge. Year one, you just had this tremendous level of enthusiasm with the market place getting its first significant major pro team. We also have the true challenge that everybody is facing now, a very, very stagnant economy where people are really looking at their disposable incomes . . . and many corporations are being assaulted not just on decreased earnings, but what's happening in terms of how they run their business. We fully expect this year that our numbers will be pretty much like they were last year. And the we'll start to see a ramp up next year and then, obviously, after into the new building, if everything works the way it should, we we can start to become a profitable business. You know, we've been a non-profit entity for seven years and we'll be a non-profit entity this year.
GEORGE -- What's been the biggest source of frustration?
DOLICH -- Time. Lack of it. And incredible expectations. We have a really knowledgeable and sophisticated basketball market here, but, again, people have not seen a full slate of NBA games. It takes a while to truly understand that the L.A. Clippers or Sacramento Kings can be as exciting as teams like the Lakers or the Sixers, and that there's a lot of great players in this league. We just into our, I've calculated, 400 plus days. That's not 40 years like some of the other programs or 100 years, but it's 400 days, so we've put real challenges on ourselves, and the market place will challenge you. Pro sports is based upon commitment to the community, which we've think we've done, but it's also about winning games and obviously that needs to be improved. From a community standpoint, all of the due diligence that we did when we looked at Memphis, most of that is actually proving true. We know we must be a neighbor in the community, that we must develop partnerships, that it takes time to develop trust levels and that we need to give back more than we take out. We've taken that very seriously and we're seeing dividends that are starting to pay off.
GEORGE - When the higher ups in the front office, people like you and Jerry, sit around and talk about what expectations are for this season as far as on-the-court performances are concerned, what do you say when you are just talking among yourselves?
DOLICH -- Well, obviously we're not talking among ourselves now if we're having this conversation, but basically I try to keep things in focus on the business side. That simply means more people in the stands and a great entertainment product. Jerry (West) has been very public and very direct in terms of we need better basketball players. It's his job to get them. And then they need to be coached to win more games, which is his (West's) responsibility, and we've got to get out of the 20s in terms of the number of victories and into the 30s. Jerry West isn't here and Michael Heisley did not do this deal unless he wanted to be an NBA champion. As you know, with many, many teams, there are ownerships that just play at the game, but Mike is really serious. It's not going to happen overnight, but there seems to be a quality nucleus building here. We don't have a specific model, but if you look at the Sacramento Kings, the smaller market teams, the Utah Jazz, the San Antonio Spurs, the Portland Trail Blazers, it's that model which pretty much dictates how we want to be. We're still in the toddler stage -- A as a franchise and B definitely in the baby stage of a team in the market place. There's plenty of work to be done, but Jerry West is one of the premier architects of championship building in sports and that's what he's spending every waking moment doing and that's the greatest level of credibility that any team could have.
GEORGE - What's been the most surprising thing since you've moved to Memphis?
DOLICH - To me, the growth of the market place, the kind of sense that this a market on the move. I've been lucky enough to be in some big markets, I've been lucky enough to in some small markets and I see the same sort of parallel that I saw in Oakland. Both in Oakland and now in Memphis certain parts of the community have a lack of self confidence and people from outside the market underrate it, but when you come to it and you become a next door neighbor, and you live here and you see the quality of life, you say "I get it now." There's still a lot of work to be done; obviously, the fight helped a lot, brought people in here who had never seen the city, and the NBA has done that. And you see what's starting to take place in the city center with Peabody, the great example of Auto Zone, the fact that people walk by the FedEx Arena every day and see that it is actually happening and being built, and the continued growth of the suburbs, what's happened out East. As relative newcomers here, maybe it's easier for us to sense the level of excitement and growth and opportunity than maybe people who have been here for a longer period of time.
GEORGE - How has the corporate community responded to the Grizzlies?
DOLICH - In an excellent fashion. On the sponsorship side, we're seeing significant growth numbers. Obviously last year, when we got here, after July, really in August, many corporate budgets were already put to bed, there was still a fair amount of debate over the team and the arena, even though the Pursuit Team had done a spectacular job in setting the stage, there were questions. This community had been led down the path many, many times before. I think it was "well, show me first." Well, we showed them, on the sponsorship side and with promotions. Even thoughthe team only won 23 games, most people had a great time, saw a really high level of entertainment value, so we've seen really strong support there. What's taken a little bit longer is to (growing) our season ticket base is here. They are a little bit more expensive than what people had normally been used to in collegiate sports and with the minor league teams that have been here. We've had our greatest success in the most expensive seats and with the most affordable seats. As you know, we've worked very, very hard on affordability, the five dollar seats, which are essentially bleacher seats for basketball, the nine dollar seats, the 25 dollar seats, all of that, including the 125s and the 200s to 400s at courtside, those sell really well. It's the ones in the middle, the 55s and the 70s, that are the business challenge. This is still relatively a small market. It's not a Chicago or a New York with thousands of manufacturing companies, large scale producers of goods and services. We're working hard at that level, we'll work hard to continue to build the season ticket base, which is the lifeblood of any sports team.
GEORGE - How has the media treated the Grizzlies?
DOLICH - The media has been, I think, fantastic. There's been a lot written, pro, con and in the middle about the Grizzlies coming here, about the arena. I happen to be a big believer in an open and democratic debate about all the issues, and I think those have been aired, I don't think anybody has cornered the market one way or the other and the relationship that the players and, hopefully, our management has forged with the print media, radio and television has been strong. We also need to expand - we'll be broadcasting, televising, games in Little Rock this year, which is part of our regional strategy. We're announcing that we'll have 20 some odd games televised in Little Rock, which helps us in our regional marketing. We'll continue to add to that. We can't take anything for granted in terms of how you lay out your stories, how you structure your goals and objectives and how open we try to be as a franchise.
