Adelaide Crows CEO Andrew Fagan lauds club’s takeover of Adelaide Giants ahead of Championship Series this weekend
SA’s sole baseball club has gone from wooden spooners to playing in the ABL Championship Series since being taken over by the Crows two years ago. The venture has been a huge success, says Adelaide CEO Andrew Fagan.
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A vision to create new revenue streams, which left football fans scratching their heads, is on the cusp of delivering title success having already opened new doors in Asia for the Crows.
Adelaide chief executive Andrew Fagan said the takeover of SA’s sole professional baseball outfit, then Adelaide Bite, in June 2018 was reaping rich rewards for both clubs.
The rebranded Adelaide Giants will vie for the state’s first national baseball title in 40 years, when they meet Melbourne Aces in this weekend’s championship series.
Fagan said their transition from wooden-spooner to minor premier has been mirrored in fresh business ventures for the Crows and exposure to more than 30 million TV viewers globally.
“It’s been a really exciting 18 months to two years since we started this journey,” Fagan said.
“Similar to clubs around the world, we were looking at ways to diversify and grow our operations in order to ensure we’re able to remain sustainable.
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“Baseball has a global reach of which only a few sports can probably compare.
“It’s a proven and popular sport in both Asia and the US, and it provided us with the ability to expand our brand and footprint offshore to engage with a different fanbase.
“To bring joy to baseball fans in South Australia is probably the thing that we’d be most proud of initially.
“We had some growth last season and now to have the team in with a chance to win its first national title, the Claxton Shield, in 40 years, it’s pretty special.”
The purchase of the Giants was the Crows’ first move towards becoming a multifaceted sporting organisation, in the mould of European heavyweights Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Fagan said sharing the club’s West Lakes training facilities and coaching knowledge with the baseball team had helped it advance to its first title decider since 2016.
He said hosting a Japanese university team tournament in November and Korean powerhouse Lotte Giants for a five-week training camp, had allowed the Crows to build new links to Asia.
These were strengthened by a youth player exchange program with Major League baseball China and the inclusion of Geelong-Korea in the Australian Baseball League last season.
This was the moment closer Ryan Chaffee - with his 10th out of the ballgame - sent the @AdelaideGiants into an #ABLCS against Melbourne.
— #ABLCS (@ABL) February 2, 2020
Game one tickets are on sale now, game two and three later today.
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Fagan said Adelaide’s eight matches with the new franchise this summer had each attracted global TV audiences in excess of 30 million.
The Crows’ push into Asia follows cross-town rival Port Adelaide staging annual home-and-away fixtures in China for the past three years.
“It (Asia) was certainly a significant point of focus at the outset and it’s been really positive so far,” said Fagan, after the Giants played pre-season games in Taiwan for the first time.
“The four biggest baseball countries are also top-10 trading partners and business partners of Australia in Korea, the US, Taiwan and Japan.
“It was taking a sport that was already popular and looking to create a connection.”
The Giants players complete their fitness, recovery and rehabilitation sessions at the Football Park headquarters.
Fagan said the Crows’ sports science and football department staff had also offered guidance.
He said the approach had helped the Giants attract and retain top talents, given 11 players on their roster are affiliated to US Major League clubs.
“There were a lot of great people doing great work already at the Giants,” Fagan said.
“Given our size and breadth of operations, we were able to provide them with access to ... experienced high-performance personnel and facilities, which has helped fast-track things.
“They’ve also taken leanings from our list management in how we assess players through the (AFL) draft and in trade.
“We’ve taken those principles to the baseball free agency market in assembling our roster.”
Fagan said initial concerns from some Crows supporters that the baseball club would drain the club’s football resources had been largely dispelled.
The Giants partnership had in fact brought in new business, as Adelaide’s media team live stream ABL matches and Baseball Australia works with its sports management arm.
Fagan said a breakthrough championship will reward the loyalty of the SA baseball community and build a platform for future success.
“It also in some ways legitimises the engagement.
“It proves that when you can bring together two organisations that share a passion for high-performance sport and fan engagement, you can create something pretty special.
“We’re at the start of a journey, but I’m sure there’s lots of two-way learning that’s possible.”