In Defense of Dave Kaval - A lesson in revamping the spirit and morale of the Oakland Athletics
We’re writing this response to media commentary that President Dave Kaval and the Oakland Athletics are swindling the A’s fans and contributing to the “worst relationship” between the ownership and fanbase. While not everything surrounding the Oakland A’s 2018 season is fine and dandy, and they still haven’t returned to their big brother status in Bay Area baseball, Dave Kaval’s leadership has ushered a new era in the franchise history - something we call at GameChangers - taking your organization from ‘shit to gold.’
Let’s be honest. This kind of shift, or desired shift in fanbase spirit and morale is not an easy feat. Let’s examine some of the neighboring franchises that saw a turnaround in fan excitement: Oakland Raiders in 2016, and San Francisco 49ers in 2011. The Oakland Raiders made the playoffs for the first time in 12 years, a leg injury away from at least the Divisional Round. What really happened is they went from 7-9 in 2015 to 12-4 in 2016. This rapid change in production on the field brought crazy excitement to the fanbase, and you saw it even more prominently in increased energy around their offseason and expectations in 2017.
Taking a look at Jim Harbaugh (Turnaround genius at USD & Stanford), the 49ers were 6-10 in 2010 and then went 13-3 in 2011. Harbaugh revamped the spirit and morale of an organization that was in limbo since the days of Mariucci and Jeff Garcia.
What does this mean? It means that fanbases respond with insane optimism if the team’s on-field production has stepped it up. How about the Warriors? 2015’s 21-0 record start, not just championship run, is what evolved the fervor of the fanbase.
But if a team does not have a sudden increase of the on-field product, how do you bring about continued excitement? How do you create a ‘renaissance of human spirit’ surrounding your fanbase? You do what Dave Kaval has done from the beginning.
A new rallying cry (Buy-In-Concept) for the Oakland A’s under Dave Kaval’s leadership
To put in perspective, Dave Kaval became President of the Oakland A’s in November 2016. As soon as he started, community office hours and a new rallying slogan #RootedInOakland took the East Bay by storm. A team finally dedicating themselves to the East Bay. Not only that, the first A’s ownership group since the Haas family welcoming input from the fans and encouraging communication between the two chief stakeholders.
Skeptics still think a move out of Oakland is on the table. But we shouldn’t liken the A’s to the Raiders in this instance. The Raiders never branded themselves as ‘RootedInOakland’. They had 1 foot inside Oakland and 1 outside - whether in LA, San Antonio or Las Vegas - the entire time Libby Schaaf started discussing an Oakland option in the media.
The reason why we should support the Kaval’s efforts with the A’s is because while the stadium has not moved in the direction we’d ideally hoped for, and the A’s are still 2-3, what Dave Kaval has done from the beginning is revamp the spirit and morale of the Oakland A’s organization.
At GameChangers, we prescribe pride - unity - change in bringing this legacy shift. The 3 dominant tools build this initial pride is (1) the Buy-In Concept, (2) Heritage & Tradition, and (3) Rivalry.
49ers’ Buy-In Concept under Coach Jim Harbaugh
The first of these is the Buy-In Concept. It usually is a rallying cry or a slogan to entice an organization or team’s support: the buy-in. You can see this in other successful franchises. The 2016 Raiders called it winning any game “By Any Means,” Kerr’s Warriors exemplify the ideal of joy while playing the game, Harbaugh’s 49ers had it “better than” everyone else, and Kaval successfully implemented and is still using “Rooted In Oakland.”
The Buy-In Concept contains a vision, a standard, anything that the team and the organization can rally around and find excitement in regarding the state of their organization. You see this in business/politics too: former CEO of Ford Alan Mulally stuck to “One Ford” after unloading the Range Rover and Jaguar brands to focus on exclusive Ford products, President Obama used “Change” as his buy-in concept. The Buy-In concept is a stable leadership tool, and used in turnaround cultures all over society.
The second is Heritage & Tradition of the organization. Recalling former traditions, current traditions, and stories of earlier times only seeks to create pride with the fanbase. Stories of world series wins their parents attended, stories from when they were younger, fan favorites, etc. These are all pieces of cherished history and team lore that help create pride in a fanbase.
What are examples of producing pride in an organization with their heritage and tradition? Bo Schembechler (legendary college football coach of Michigan) talked about upholding the history of any organization your leading in his book Bo’s Lasting Lessons. Jon Gruden has been all about the Raiders Mystique ever since he got back into the coach’s seat. How many Raiders fans have watched the Raiders Mystique youtube video or listened to the Autumn Wind since he’s been back? Pride oozes when you respect the heritage and tradition of an organization.
Kaval has helped the A’s in this way too. His first official baseball game as President the team named the field at the Coliseum, “Rickey Henderson Field.” Rickey himself came out and threw the first pitch. You’ll notice a lot of teams start to bring around their older stars when they are looking to shift momentum in a winning direction (Raiders / Gruden press conference). Kaval didn’t stop there. C-Gate was renamed “Catfish Hunter Gate.” And why not? The A’s are one of the few teams to have a three-peat and let’s take some pride in that heritage of our organization. Kaval renamed D-gate after hometown hero (from Fremont) Dennis Eckersley. Actions like this surround the fanbase with positive energy of the successful times of the past. A kid asks who is Catfish Hunter? 3 time World Series champion, 1974 AL ERA leader, 1974 Wins leader, 1974 Cy Young winner. That means a lot to a fan that was there back then, and it means a lot to a younger fan because it’s proof that what he/she believes in has truth.
Building new traditions is a good way to build pride as well. And that’s why you create something like the TreeHouse. The Coliseum (experiencing 4 World Series titles and 2 Super Bowls) always gets a lot of heat for being old and not modern enough. Well, the TreeHouse builds upon those deficiencies! Now you can go to the A’s ballpark and hang out in a bar-like setting. This place will soon be emblematic of the Coliseum experience, similar to the Wrigley Rooftops. Why make a TreeHouse? Why spend money on something like this? Because it builds fan experience! It gives the organization and fanbase something to believe it, it brings them a service they can feel pride in. I’m excited to go to the next ballgame just so I can hang out at the TreeHouse!
Lastly - Rivalry. Rivalry is huge because it takes the pride you’ve built up and it tests it against an opponent. Rivalry is so important some leaders embrace it within their buy-in concepts. Jim Harbaugh’s buy-in concept: “Who’s Got it Better Than Us? NOBODY!” It directly pitted the 49ers against other teams and rallied his team/fanbase to stick with them against anyone else. We did this at American High School too. Our rivals were a lot better than us in traditional athletics, but it didn’t stop us from creating Battle of the Boulevard (Fremont Blvd) and making a rival out of our neighbor, and pulling out whatever we could that would make us better than them.
Why wouldn’t any team that wants to shift team spirit do this? The A’s have to pit the fanbase and team against the team across the Bay. This isn’t elementary school, it’s the Major Leagues with huge organizations. Not only has the team across the bay won a few titles over the past 10 years, but it’s also got a huge foothold over the media market (owns half of NBC Sports Bay Area - vertical monopoly maybe)? The A’s and Dave Kaval will do anything it takes to bring out their forces of fans against the rival. There’s even more history with the Giants rivalry (1989 World Series). How many Bay Area baseball fans in the past 40 years were A’s fans well before the Moneyball A’s tragedies/Giants 2010 success? There’s only so many baseball fans in the Bay Area. Any organization in the A’s position would hype up this rivalry more than ever before. It’s a leadership tactic to build up the energy of this organization.
Keep the giants-fans surcharge at parking, the hat replacement program, and all the A’s advertising space in San Francisco. Just because the A’s rolled over with bad ownership tactics over the past 20 years and let SFG take over the market doesn’t mean the A’s can’t pull out their war chest of illustrious spirit, history, and tradition. Dave Kaval’s efforts are an exemplary course in GameChanger leadership. Anyone who ridicules these efforts doesn’t understand turnaround strategies of organizational leadership.