President/COO
Boston - MA United States
The big idea: In 25 words or less, please tell us how this Fast 50 Nominee is helping to address the planet's problems.
FSG leverages groundbreaking sports marketing programs, a team of experienced sports business executives and sports & entertainment property investment to reshape the business of sports.
Please describe how this nominee is using business as a force of positive change. What technology, idea, or strategy is the nominee using -- and what problem, such as global warming, poverty, or pollution, does it address? (suggested length: 100 words)
New England Sports Ventures and the leadership team of its subsidiary the Boston Red Sox conceived Fenway Sports Group (FSG) to grow and expand new and existing revenue opportunities to diversify its portfolio outside of Major League Baseball (MLB). In doing so, it has created a new paradigm for sports business that will serve as a roadmap for smaller market pro sports teams looking to compete against larger market competitors.
By the spring of 2004, the Red Sox sales and marketing team had sold all of the team’s and Fenway Park’s available marketing assets. In doing so, the organization amassed an impressive list of contacts and clients and sought to leverage them outside of baseball. The goal was to generate non-baseball revenue outside of the league’s new revenue sharing agreement.
The result was the creation of FSG, an agency that blended sports marketing consulting and sponsorship sales with an aggressive investment and acquisition strategy.
FSG immediately leveraged existing relationships and expertise that, in turn, led to new sports marketing clients outside of MLB, including golf, college athletics and NASCAR. In addition, it created several new subsidiaries to meet the demands of the sports fan base including FanFoto, a fan-centric sports photography business that focuses on helping spectators commemorate their experience at sports venues throughout the country and Red Sox Destinations, a sports travel program that allows Sox fans to follow their team on the road. Both businesses are rapidly expanding into other sports leagues.
FSG has also pursued an aggressive investment strategy that generated significant new revenue opportunities. At the forefront are the company’s 50 percent investment in NASCAR’s Roush Fenway Racing and its recent acquisition of Single-A baseball franchise, the Salem Avalanche.
Collectively, these subsidiaries (Roush Fenway Racing, Salem Avalanche, Red Sox Destinations and FanFoto) generate significant revenue, and also, through the work of FSG’s sports marketing division, create additional new business opportunities through sponsorship sales, representation and consulting services.
What are the results, both financial and social? How has the nominee's business performed, and what impact has it had on the problem it addresses? (suggested length: 100 words)
FSG’s business model has reshaped the economics of the sports industry and has been duplicated throughout MLB. The Texas Rangers and the San Francisco Giants have developed similar sports marketing models and other teams are considering the same.
In 2007, FSG remained one of the world’s fast-growing sports marketing agencies adding more than 10 clients to its roster, doubling its business base. The company’s purchase of 50 percent of Roush Racing in February 2007 marked the first time that owners of a professional franchise in one of the four major sports leagues purchased an ownership stake in a NASCAR team, a move since replicated by Montreal Canadiens owner George N. Gillett Jr., entrepreneur Robert Kauffman and Arizona Diamondbacks minority owner Jeff Moorad.
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