October 4, 2025 • 35 mins
Today’s episode is a special one, because we’re doing a crossover with our sister podcast, Side Story Sports, where we dive into the behind-the-scenes moments and people who make sports happen.
We’re thrilled to welcome back Joe LaBue, who was with Charlotte FC as our President for the first three years and played a pivotal role in shaping the club from the ground up. Since then, Joe has transitioned to the University of Maryland, where he now serves as the Deputy Athletic Director and Chief Revenue Officer.
In this episode, we’ll hear from Joe about his journey, what it takes to build and run a club, and how his experiences at Charlotte FC are influencing his next chapter in college athletics.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
It's time for the Charlotte FC Podcast.
Hello, Charlotte FC family, NickFanelli here, and welcome back
to the Charlotte FC Podcast. Today's episode is a special one
because we're doing a crossover with our sister podcast, Side
Story Sports, where we dive in the behind the scenes moments of
the people who make things happen very similar to what we
(00:22):
do at Charlotte FC, but outside of the Charlotte FC ecosystem.
Well, we're thrilled to welcome back Joe Laboux, who was the
Charlotte FC President for the first three years and played a
pivotal role in shaping the clubfrom the ground up.
Since then, Joe has transitionedon to the University of
Maryland, where he now serves asthe Deputy Athletic Director and
Chief Revenue Officer. Welcome back to Side Story
(00:50):
Sports. I'm your host Nick Fanelli, and
today we're sitting down with someone who's helped shape some
of the biggest sports organizations in the country.
From the Washington Commanders and the Carolina Panthers, to
being part of the launch of Charlotte FC and now stepping
into a new challenge as Deputy Athletic director and Chief
Revenue Officer at the University of Maryland, Joe
Laboux has seen it all. We talk about career pivots,
(01:13):
lessons learned, leadership in sports, and what it means to
make the hard calls when the spotlight is on.
This one is packed with good stories and insights you won't
want to miss. Nick, good afternoon.
I appreciate you having me on Joel Laboux.
I am currently the Deputy Athletic Director, Chief Revenue
(01:35):
Officer at my alma mater, University of Maryland.
I have been in professional sports for over 20 years.
So we're, we're approaching 2 months into my, my first dip
into the collegiate space and it's been, it's been a blast.
So it's it's a great to connect with you again.
Awesome. So of course you you talked
(01:57):
about your your long career in pro sports, working at
Monumental Sports, which is up there Caps, Wizard, Mystics,
them you worked for the commanders.
You came to Charlotte, lived for14 years, worked for the
Panthers and then kind of headedup the startup called Charlotte
FC. So tell us about the decision to
return back to Maryland and whatled to that moment.
(02:19):
And like, what did you, what didit feel like to step back into
the college thing? Because I know college is
different these days. It's it's, it's just as big as
far as everything that you're doing on the business side.
Then running a franchise in, in professional sports.
I know that, but there are different things.
Yeah, no, it was a it was a, it was an intentional decision.
(02:42):
It's it's one of these things where I found myself at a
crossroads in my career trying to figure out what was next
after Charlotte FC. And that was the most enjoyable
four to five years of my life being involved in the really the
conception of the of that team through its first, its first
three seasons on the pitch. And that was going to be a
(03:04):
tremendous void to fill. So I sat back and I wanted to go
somewhere meaningful. I didn't really know Charlotte
FC was going to be as meaningfulas it is and, and, and always
will be to me. And I think the child in me, the
typical person getting into sports because they love sports
type led me to pursue an opportunity like Maryland.
(03:29):
I, I grew up in Western New York.
So there was some potential opportunities to, to go up there
and, and, and maybe work, work for a team where it's in your
DNA already. You're really excited about it.
You take all the experiences youhave, the relationships you
have, the network you have, and you pour gasoline on that fire
(03:50):
by just having sort of a, a built in passion.
It's kind of where Maryland cameinto play.
So really I, I took some time and sort of diving into to the,
the evolution of, of the collegespace just with the introduction
of an IL and then eventually where we landed with the house
settlement and, and revenue sharing becoming a real, real
(04:13):
part of roster management. There's, there's a need to be
commercially minded in this partof the sports industry, not that
there never was before, but there is more of a need.
I mean, there's you're, you're seeing the successful
universities that will figure itout.
And right now it's a bit of the wild, Wild West and nobody
really has all of the answers yet, but the ones that'll figure
(04:36):
it out, you're going to see it translate on the field, You're
going to see it translate on thecourt.
And then the, the cool part about college athletics too,
which is a little bit different than the professional side is
Charlotte FC was cool because wehad a first team, a second team
and four Academy team. So it wasn't just about the
first team. It was always like sort of the
iceberg to me. People saw what was above the
(04:57):
surface, but they didn't really understand what was was what was
underneath. And the real, the machine that
drive drives an Amolas club, or any, any soccer club for that
matter. Here at Maryland, we've got 20
varsity sports, right? There is no shortage of things
to do, ideas to come up with, solutions that are needed from
(05:17):
track and field to volleyball tomen's basketball, women's
basketball, field hockey, lacrosse.
I mean, it's there's so much. And the great part about
Maryland is we're competitive and everything.
Yeah. And I also in in college sports
and having so many different sports themselves, you have
facilities for all of these. They have to be paid for.
(05:39):
You have to have top notch for that and that they're all
specialties too. So it's almost like you have a
ton of mini Charlotte out seats in a way.
It, it's exactly right. It's you just put it.
I mean, that's exactly what's going through my head every
single day. We just, we just opened up one
of the nicest facilities for, for any sport, let alone, I mean
(05:59):
college basketball. We just opened it up.
You can see it online, it's the Berry Peak Gossip Basketball
Performance Center. It is breathtaking.
It is unbelievable. If I'm a 17 or 18 year old, why
wouldn't I want to come to Maryland to be in this facility
every single day? But you see the resources and
the investment that the university and this ecosystem is
(06:22):
putting into that program. And right across the street, our
offices are at Xfinity Center, the basketball arena, but across
the parking lot, it's got to be one of the nicest facilities, if
not the nicest facility in the country for our field hockey
program and our women's lacrosseprogram.
And you want to walk into a facility that all you need to do
is walk in the front door and you probably want to come play
(06:43):
here. You just see the national
championship trophies that are just stacked in there between
those two programs. It is absolutely amazing what
Missy and Kathy have been able to do for us in this university.
So yeah, with those with those facilities comes a lot of
opportunity. There's a lot of, there's a lot
of day-to-day things to figure out.
(07:03):
You know, the way I'm thinking like we did it in Charlotte was
like, how do we use these outside of the normal training
ground? And the reason it was really
built, I mean, are there are there opportunities to, to
activate and utilize, whether it's it's, it's introducing
youth in the area to these sports or getting them on campus
(07:25):
or bringing alum back to Maryland and showing them how
this, this place has evolved. It's really cool.
So no, no shortage of those conversations.
And it, it's amazing. Your mind can get lost and you
can almost get ahead of yourselftoo much.
So I think prioritizing things has been really, it's been a
real challenge. The first probably two months
(07:46):
here, I just I want to run before walking or crawling.
Right as NIL just changed literally the whole landscape
and you guys have player sharingthere or so as that really
changed how you even approach everything from funding first
facilities to how you go about marketing to how you go about
(08:07):
culture to how you go about coaches.
I mean just I can imagine it. It just opens up a door that
wasn't even thought of before. Yeah, I think it was, look,
people wanted to play in front of full, full arenas and full
stadiums. I don't think that's changed.
I think what's different now is I think when you talked about
being commercially minded or revenue driven in college
sports, it was probably a bit taboo.
(08:28):
You know, you're just, you're just it's it's there.
The college game is different. It's student athletes, it's
century tradition. It's not professional sports.
It's not professional. People would say we're now it's
very similar. And I think the I think the
playing field is actually leveling out more than people
(08:51):
would, would, would probably argue.
I think there's the the narrative out there that it's
just it's, it's, it's going to completely be the haves and the
have nots where I think now it'sthere there's more, there's more
schools that can compete. You know, I get the power for
versus the the rest of the the schools, those that have opted
in to revenue sharing and can really make an impact there that
(09:14):
have the resources can drive revenue.
But with NILI think what that's done, it's really given athletes
the platform to to really matureand to benefit.
You know, NIL sits outside of revenue sharing.
I think people think the common,the common misconception is
they're one and the same. It's not.
I mean the revenue, the $20.5 million that goes towards your
(09:36):
sort of roster makeup comes fromlocal revenues coming in,
tickets, partnerships, all the things that you and I have
talked about in the past that that are professional.
NIL is something that a, a student athlete can't partner
with a brand and form a businessrelationship in that regard.
And it's an additive. It's on top of.
(09:59):
Right. And it's not.
It's just benefiting the person necessarily the the
organization. That's right.
So where, where the university comes into play is just is, is
sort of bridging these relationships, right?
It's, it's, it's making the introductions, it's making sure
that we know our student athletes and we, we can go and
canvas the marketplace both locally and nationally for, for
(10:21):
companies that want to utilize really smart, really
charismatic, really talented people to, to drive eyeball and,
you know, be a resource for themto help grow their businesses.
It's, it's really smart. And I'm just, I'm amazed with
the platforms that these studentathletes have and just how
mature they are when it comes tothis too.
(10:43):
So it's still a very, it's a very new space and people are
trying to figure out how to playwithin it.
But it's been, it's been a lot of fun to get to be a part of
it. Cool.
So let's go backwards a little bit.
Can you take us back to a momentin your career maybe that you
kind of completely shifted your perspective on just working in
(11:03):
sports and being like changing your, your outlook on, OK, this
is what this is what it's about.This is what I have to do.
You may have had like a not necessarily a misconception but
just like this is my understanding.
But wow this totally changes howI think about things.
It's a really good question. I've I've been asked something
similar in the past. The one advice, I'll sort of use
(11:26):
this as an advice to somebody who's trying to figure out their
path. They know they want to be in the
industry and everybody has a different path.
So don't take this is the key tosuccess.
But for me, it was really interesting.
I, I, I didn't really know what I wanted to do when actually
when I was here at Maryland, I stumbled upon an internship
with, with the commanders and got thrown into the corporate
(11:50):
hospitality world where I was selling corporate hospitality
packages, game day packages, groups of 24 people that wanted
to come out and watch the team play.
And it was only all inclusive. You got 20 tickets.
You had a pregame tent. I think it's very common across
sports. And that was my, that was really
my senior year here. I did it.
I worked probably 30 or 40 hoursa week doing that and upon
(12:11):
graduation, they didn't have a full time role there.
I ended up working in the ticketoffices and ticket operations.
The best advice I got there was you're going to get to know
every nook and cranny this organization.
You're going to get to know everybody because everybody
wants to know the ticketing people and take advantage of it.
Could start start figuring out what these people do.
It'll help. It'll help put you on a path.
(12:33):
I did that for a little bit, eventually got my way back into
sales. I felt like that was my that was
my calling was, was ticket sales.
And a lot of people use ticketing as sort of a launching
pad to going into partnership sales, for example, sponsorship
and everyone wants to be in sponsorship.
(12:54):
And I thought I wanted to do that too.
And I jumped into the partnership world with
Monumental. As you mentioned, I was
fortunate enough to be there when I was just the Washington
Capitals and I became Monumentalwhile I was there, which was a
great thing. I went from selling just hockey
and the Mystics to all of a sudden now the building and the
Wizards and and all that's coming through the nation's
(13:14):
capital. And I enjoy corporate
partnerships, but I think a common misconception is how
important ticketing is. So you talk about that point in
my career, I was like, you know what, You know, what would
probably help excel me is getting back into ticketing.
And that's when I, I took the job in Carolina with the
Panthers back in 2011. I think a lot of people felt
(13:35):
like that may have been a step back for me because I was in
corporate partnerships in DC multi property.
But I took a sales manager role in 2011 with the Carolina
Panthers. But I, you know, if you look at
revenues and how teams operate, you've got media rights, which
is your biggest thing. So take the NFL, for example.
(13:55):
Teams are getting a $400 millioncheck from the TV deal every
single year, right? Next in line is ticketing.
I mean, most NFL teams, you're over 100 million a year in in
ticket revenue. Most partnership, most
partnerships are probably in the607080 million.
So while while partnerships has,you know, the cache, people want
(14:19):
to see the big brands. It's a necessity and it's very
important at the core of it, ticketing.
Ticketing drives dollars, ticketing drives engagement.
Ticketing is the foundational piece of of everything.
I mean, it's why we do what we do.
We want people to come to games.It's in the spirit of
professional sports. I mean, people want to go see
(14:40):
their heroes. And if they're not there, then.
Yeah, you want to, don't want tobe there.
Yeah, You want to build these core memories.
And you can do that sitting at home and watching with your
parents. And I've got plenty of those
memories myself. But I think getting back into
the ticketing world, Nick, I think that was such a big piece
for me there and I was glad I had the partnership experience.
But sort as my career went on, the biggest piece of Charlotte
(15:02):
FC and how it was going to succeed in that market was how
are you going to fill NFL size stadium with soccer fans in the
South? 17 * a year.
Yeah, he needed to figure out the ticketing part and that's
those doors are always open. So I think for me, it was really
important and I was fortunate enough to work with some really
(15:25):
great people with the Panthers. They were coming off a tough
season in 2010, two and 14. And we're fortunate that Cam
Newton came walking through the door and it was such a great run
and such a blessing to be a partof that organization for for as
long as I was in Charlotte. That's pretty cool.
Now some of the some of the the choices and the things you make,
(15:48):
you may have made like an easy choice rather than the right
choice. Or maybe you've you've gone
through and thought about something.
You're like, you know what, I'm going to do this even though
everybody else is saying I shouldn't because it's the right
thing to do. And ultimately in the long run,
it's going to be better for thisorganization.
Do you have an example that you could share?
(16:10):
I. Don't think we have enough time.
Several one that comes to mind just because I think it was it
was it was a September. So there's got to be some some
anniversary to it. Maybe it was a two year
anniversary to or maybe it was last year.
Major League Soccer. We tried our best to predict
(16:33):
sort of the unpredictable and you're looking at all 17 matches
and you're trying to figure out what we need to do to fill up
this stadium for each of these matches.
Well, as part of the, the Apple TV agreement, our second year,
we went from a year 1. And you probably remember we
had, we had a number of afternoon matches and during our
(16:56):
first year as part of the Apple deal, there was a very strict
730 kick off on Saturday night. There was a few outliers, but
most of your home games were going to be 730 on Saturday
nights. And for us as a new franchise,
we sort of we felt like we were missing the opportunity to grab
young families. The seven 30s on Saturday night
(17:17):
were were a bit difficult, particularly when school was
going on summer it was a little bit lighter out.
Later we started we started seeing the league was a little
bit lenient with some of the clubs and they started having
some matches moved to the afternoon.
So we felt like let's go after this, let's be proactive and go
(17:38):
to the league and get a game moved to the afternoon.
So the schedule came out. We had all 730 matches on
Saturdays. We took a look at it and we
identified an opportunity to move a game against the New
England Revolution to an afternoon game.
It was a September game and I'llnever get having to go to the
leadership and say, look, this is an opportunity for us.
(18:00):
I feel like we can we can get a ton of kids and families and
this was what people are asking for and they said fine, do some
diligence on it. We looked up things like what's
the average temperature in Charlotte on a Saturday in
September and it was 70s. It would look comfortable.
We didn't want to put our club in a situation where they were
(18:20):
playing in a really a sunny, hotday on that artificial surface.
There right there goes your competitive advantage.
It's going right out the door. You're doing it yourselves,
self-inflicted. So we looked into that.
We went to the league, we sent several emails to them and we're
really, really hoping that they would side with us, Brian Biello
(18:42):
and New England. And those guys were supportive
and they're like, OK, we're in. If they're in.
Well, we ended up getting the game moved and we were really,
really excited about it. We thought it would be a huge
hit. And honestly, Nick, it fell flat
in terms of ticket sales. And then just the insult to
injury. It was like 85 and humid that
(19:02):
day. And I remember sitting in the
stands going like God, like Murphy's Law, man, like, you
know, But my take away from it was I would do it over again
because we felt like it was the right thing to do.
You know, I felt like we moved mountains.
We were making a decision that we felt like was going to
(19:24):
benefit the club and benefit thefans.
I mean, we were thinking about the five and six year olds that
weren't going to those Saturday night games.
And I am confident that a 5 or 6year old was at that game and it
was a core memory game. We end up winning the game to
nothing, I remember. So it was worth it was worth
everyone's time and effort from that standpoint.
(19:44):
But at the same time, when you think you've got everything
figured out, sometimes you don't.
And that's part of the deal. And I'm not embarrassed to tell
that story and I wasn't, I wasn't embarrassed to apologize
and tell people, you know what, maybe maybe we were wrong.
We apologize for doing it and now we've got a data point
moving forward. So right.
Yeah, you just can use that for the next time.
That's right. So what is one of the hardest
(20:07):
things that you've had to do in any of your position?
Is it dealing with people? Is it is it more of just
decision making? Is it data?
Is it getting information? Yeah, I think like in any
industry, this is such a fast-paced industry and it's one
of these things that people careabout sports, they care about
their teams. It's very emotional.
(20:28):
People feel attached and that's a good thing.
And it also could be a bad thingwhen you make the wrong
decisions. And I think learning how to
manage up and manage down, there's a skill set there that
whether you're reporting directly to an owner or you're
reporting to AVP, wherever you fall in line, it's always easy
(20:50):
to come up with a plan and try to hold people accountable and,
and manage numbers. And the best leaders out there
know how to do that well. But I think the elite leaders
also understand how to manage upand lead up.
So what information needs to getshared, when and how and being
(21:11):
able to identify all of the benefits and all the potential
risks that come with decisions. You know, when you're dealing
with legal and you're dealing with HR and you, you have to
think about the local media, local national, just impact of
all decisions. And I, I think that's, that's
the hardest part of being in this world because you just
(21:34):
can't hide from, from tough decisions and central
self-inflicted PR crisis, right?Talking about you on the news
and and all those sorts of things.
You have to understand, too, howthat impacts an entire
organization and people you haveworking for you and with you.
And that's a lot of weight on people's shoulders because it's
(21:55):
impossible to sort of leave yourwork behind when you're in our
world, right? Always want to talk about it.
Now, do you, do you have when you're making these decisions?
Because you of course, like you said there, there's always these
hard decisions, but are you seeing every path through?
It's almost like, OK, if we go this way, here's what's, here's
what possibly could happen if one of these goes awry.
(22:17):
These are the things we have to be ready with.
Are are those just part of the whole gamut?
Absolutely. And depending on the situation
that you got to figure this stuff out on the fly.
Not very often are you afforded time to really vet everything,
but you've got to do what you need to do when you need to do
it. And that's when you're on emails
(22:38):
and calls it all hours of the night and things like that.
It's not a great part of the industry.
It's a necessary evil of it. And you want to be respectful of
people's time and their lives and things like that too.
So it's a lot to balance. But yeah, you need to, you need
to, you need to be able to take calculated risks with certain
decisions and then also mitigate, yeah, a, a lot of
(22:59):
potential pitfalls when you whenyou make decisions on things.
And I don't want, I don't want to make it sound like
everything's doom and gloom, butlike, that's real, very real
part of this industry that a lotof people don't see because
rightfully so, people can be very critical right, in our
world, and that's OK. That's well, there's never
apathy. Apathy doesn't exist in sports.
(23:21):
People like to think it does. And people are like, oh, this
organization's fan base is apathetic.
No, they're just bad. You know, they're just gonna be
Uber critical, right? And that's OK.
That's fine as long as you're part.
Of that criticism is maybe not showing up for a match or buying
tickets. But exactly as soon as.
The team's doing well or something turns around in their
(23:41):
head about a feeling. Stadium's full.
That's right. And it's not just winning,
right. Besides, it's decisions made,
it's pricing decisions or offering or you can fix a
parking issue or you do good well through community service
and people are like, you know what, I'm I want to back this
team. I'm back thick and thin.
That's it's very important. I always felt like Charlotte FC
(24:03):
had a kind of college like atmosphere.
So I'm sure kind of the the, themoving over and, and in that
area is like, Oh yeah, I understand this feeling like
this affinity and just always like I'm rooting for you no
matter what kind of thing. I think you're right and that
was the beauty of Charlotte FC and it's not unique to Charlotte
FC, but it's it's very special there and that was intentional
(24:28):
too. We want to make sure that the
people that support us from day one felt, felt valued and felt
like they, their voices were heard and always will be heard
there. And when you do that from day
one, I, I mentioned it earlier and it's in your DNA, It's woven
into your day today. And that can be said with, with
(24:49):
college athletics, there's something just special about it
because the school means more topeople than just how the
basketball team is doing or how the lacrosse team is doing or
how the women's soccer team is doing.
It's really important. That's something to always talk
about. That's a huge sense of pride for
people. But the school is really
important too, for for a lot of reasons.
(25:10):
So people just love their school.
It's part of their identity. And whether they grew up in the
state or they attended here, their mom and dad went here,
whatever it was and it, it's great.
I mean, you get that feeling walking on campus.
You're you're part of something much bigger than just the
athletic department. Yeah, when you first started
your career, you said your dad gave you some advice and this
(25:31):
was around when the commanders were sold and new regime came
in. And I think he said something
like figure out who the people are that stayed.
And then so has, you know, besides that, that nugget there
from from your dad, is there a mentor or a friend or someone
that you've kind of like always kept in touch with?
(25:52):
But like use that to kind of be your sounding board and be like,
hey, what do you think about this?
You know, we got this decision going on because they're
probably either parallel with your career or maybe did
something before you. Do you have somebody like that?
Yeah, I mean, there's there's several people in different
walks of the industry. Everybody's got their sort of
(26:13):
phone, phone. A friend I've got, I've got one
in Doug's Moyers, his name Doug's a good friend of mine.
Doug was selling tickets for theCommanders when I was there.
And his path, his path sort of skyrocketed in the corporate
partnerships world. And he's a guy that always
wanted to work in the NFL and he's a guy that made it happen.
(26:33):
And I always felt like this guy just had a plan and, and, and
went after it. And he's always been a huge
sounding board for me. And I've always, I've always
appreciated that. There's people like Phil Yahtzee
who hired me at the Panthers. You know, he's just, he's a good
friend and a mentor, work, working in life, you know, very
(26:55):
great balance of a guy that coached his kids in baseball.
And anytime you talk to him, he wanted to talk about his kids
playing baseball. Not the business, yeah.
And it was at the time, I just, I didn't realize it until my
family started getting older andmy kids started playing sports.
(27:15):
And it was just so refreshing toknow I had someone in my life
like that. And he's always stayed in touch.
Danny Morrison's another one. Danny's been so successful.
But if you talk to anybody aboutDanny Morrison, they just talk
about him as a person and how great of a human he is.
It's not all the things he's done, from being the president
of the Panthers to holding the 80 role at TCU to to what he's
(27:37):
done at the Charlotte Sports Foundation or teaching classes
at South Carolina. You know, he's just that's,
that's the reputation I would love to leave behind.
I just want people to feel like I, I brought a lot as a human
being to where I was and the impact you leave behind in terms
of the, the bottom line or areasyou built out in the stadium,
the work you've done is great, but it's that lasting impact and
(28:00):
reputation. That's something that my family
could be proud of or people havehelped me along the way or proud
of the person, the reputation I've built.
So those are just a few of the mentors.
There's so many more that I can talk about, but it's a great
industry, Nick. There's so many people, so many
good people and there's there's people that understand what we
(28:22):
go through because it is a very unique industry.
So to have that that that brother and sisterhood of people
is just really, really cool. Nice, now is there a moment in
your career, good or bad, that kind of still gives you these
chills? Like just like wow, I just
remember this so vividly. Yeah, I mean, opening night,
(28:44):
Charlotte FC, I mean, it'll, thehair still stands up on the back
of my neck there. I mean, breaking the attendance
record. And that was something that was
so rewarding because we told people we were going to do it.
You know, we were not bashful about it.
You know, we were we leaned intoit and to make it happen and to
(29:09):
have the national anthem go the way it went to become viral,
that's still a tradition that's going to live long beyond my
time was really, really special.And it was just it was such a
great, such a great moment that I'll I'll never forget.
And just how the city rallied around that team and how people
(29:30):
just people fell in love with soccer that night.
A lot of people that didn't didn't owe the game, didn't care
for the game, didn't just wantedto go because it was seemed like
it was going to be a big deal. And they've become diehards and
their kids are playing and all the things you could ever want.
Nick all happened that night. So that'll be.
I'll never forget that. Yeah.
(29:50):
Speaking of rituals, do you havesome sort of ritual or things
that you've done in your life that has kind of fueled your
success and you're like, OK, keep on doing this, Like this is
working something personal that you do to really make you excel
at what you do? Handwritten notes, really, I
think people stop doing that. I think if you can get a
(30:14):
handwritten note from somebody, it's just, it's, I think people,
people receive it very well still.
I know when I do, I'm really appreciative of someone taking
the time to sit down and write anote out.
I mean, it's really overall, I mean, just letting people know
they're doing a great job. I mean, emails are really great.
A text here and there being trying to stay positive.
(30:36):
I think that's one thing too is,is the highs are really high and
the lows are really low. And I think celebrating the
highs and letting people understand like, Hey, I'm with
you during the lows is really important.
And then I just think from an organizational standpoint,
writing down A to do list every single day.
I just started off this conversation letting you know I
(30:58):
can do a million different things right now.
My head could go in so many directions.
So I think staying on task, staying focused, I'm I'm a big
list maker and I love crossing things off.
Yeah, that's good. I've done a lot of research on
checklists and how that helps our brain move forward in lots
of other ways. Cool.
Yeah. All right, one more question
before our lightning round. What the rise of like analytics
(31:21):
and sports business, How do you balance all the data decisions
and then just gut? Oh man, that is it.
I mean, that's the secret sauce.It's, it's art and science.
And we've got a lot more sciencenow to to back up decisions.
I think the, the gut and the artis through years of experience
(31:46):
and really taking the time to get to know your fan base,
getting to know your student athletes in this case, and your
coaches and anything that's unique about your organization
or your athletic department. But I think the analytics is so
important now. I mean, it helps with expedited
decisions. Like I said, a lot of the
(32:06):
decisions you're making are, arevery quick.
And now with business strategy being such a, a big part of
sports, it's not only on the business side, but on the, on
the sporting and athletic side too.
It's just, it's impossible not to ignore and just love it.
But you're always, there's always that human nature and you
(32:28):
understand how to motivate people and get the most out of
on a certain situations. And sometimes you can take
calculated risk too. And that's where that that's
where the art comes into play. Nice, we got about a minute
left. All right, so as quickly as you
can, do you have any walk up music?
(32:49):
Sure shot, Beastie Boys. Oh yeah, OK, unplugged activity.
Going to my kids sporting events, just hanging out with my
kids. Boring the best all.
Right, What's your go to snack when you're just watching the
teams play? I love goldfish.
Any kind just cheddar? Okay.
(33:10):
Do you find starting a project or finishing one more
gratifying? Starting it for sure.
I think with everything going onit's hard to get started.
Once I get started, I'm good to go, OK starting and making the
time to start it. All right, if you are not in
sports, what job would you? Have.
I would be an attorney. Yeah, yeah.
(33:32):
OK, So what recharges you when you are just getting away from
it with your family? You all just like just to get
away? I know there's no offseason, but
yeah, you pick your offseason. My wife has gotten us onto a
national parks kick, so we're we're one of those families that
wants to check off every single National Park and we've done a
decent amount the last year or so.
(33:54):
So we're on a good pace right now for that.
It's been a lot of fun. Have you been to Yosemite?
We haven't been to Yosemite yet.We did Death Valley.
We did Joshua Tree. Not part of California, we did.
That's Acadia in Maine. It's amazing.
That was my so far. Yeah, I'd like to go there.
I've been to your Symphony and some of those in Utah which are
really nice. Yeah, we got to get back out
(34:16):
there and do those. We've put a decent amount on the
East Coast, but it's been a lot of fun.
Awesome. Well, Joe, thanks for your time
today. Thanks for being on the show and
sharing some of your wisdom, some of your stories, and some
of the fun that you've had alongthe way.
Yeah, I really appreciate it. It's great connecting with you
again and I appreciate you giving me the time and good luck
with with everything y'all have got going on and go.
(34:39):
Terps fear the turtle sounds good.
See you, Nick. Thanks.
That wraps up today's episode ofSide Story Sports.
A huge thanks to Joe Lebou, Deputy athletic director and
Chief Revenue Officer for the University of Maryland.
I appreciate him sharing his journey from his ticket sales to
leading at the highest levels and reminding us that leadership
(35:01):
is about people. 1st and for ourlisteners, if you enjoyed this
episode, please subscribe, follow, leave a review and share
it with a friend who loves sports but also cares about the
story behind the box score. We'll be back another time for
another behind the. Scenes Side Story in sports.
Until then, remember sometimes the most interesting play
happens off the field. Till next time, enjoy the day.
It's time for the Charlotte FC Podcast.
Hello, Charlotte FC family, NickFanelli here, and welcome back
to the Charlotte FC Podcast. Today's episode is a special one
because we're doing a crossover with our sister podcast, Side
Story Sports, where we dive in the behind the scenes moments of
the people who make things happen very similar to what we
(00:22):
do at Charlotte FC, but outside of the Charlotte FC ecosystem.
Well, we're thrilled to welcome back Joe Laboux, who was the
Charlotte FC President for the first three years and played a
pivotal role in shaping the clubfrom the ground up.
Since then, Joe has transitionedon to the University of
Maryland, where he now serves asthe Deputy Athletic Director and
Chief Revenue Officer. Welcome back to Side Story
(00:50):
Sports. I'm your host Nick Fanelli, and
today we're sitting down with someone who's helped shape some
of the biggest sports organizations in the country.
From the Washington Commanders and the Carolina Panthers, to
being part of the launch of Charlotte FC and now stepping
into a new challenge as Deputy Athletic director and Chief
Revenue Officer at the University of Maryland, Joe
Laboux has seen it all. We talk about career pivots,
(01:13):
lessons learned, leadership in sports, and what it means to
make the hard calls when the spotlight is on.
This one is packed with good stories and insights you won't
want to miss. Nick, good afternoon.
I appreciate you having me on Joel Laboux.
I am currently the Deputy Athletic Director, Chief Revenue
(01:35):
Officer at my alma mater, University of Maryland.
I have been in professional sports for over 20 years.
So we're, we're approaching 2 months into my, my first dip
into the collegiate space and it's been, it's been a blast.
So it's it's a great to connect with you again.
Awesome. So of course you you talked
(01:57):
about your your long career in pro sports, working at
Monumental Sports, which is up there Caps, Wizard, Mystics,
them you worked for the commanders.
You came to Charlotte, lived for14 years, worked for the
Panthers and then kind of headedup the startup called Charlotte
FC. So tell us about the decision to
return back to Maryland and whatled to that moment.
(02:19):
And like, what did you, what didit feel like to step back into
the college thing? Because I know college is
different these days. It's it's, it's just as big as
far as everything that you're doing on the business side.
Then running a franchise in, in professional sports.
I know that, but there are different things.
Yeah, no, it was a it was a, it was an intentional decision.
(02:42):
It's it's one of these things where I found myself at a
crossroads in my career trying to figure out what was next
after Charlotte FC. And that was the most enjoyable
four to five years of my life being involved in the really the
conception of the of that team through its first, its first
three seasons on the pitch. And that was going to be a
(03:04):
tremendous void to fill. So I sat back and I wanted to go
somewhere meaningful. I didn't really know Charlotte
FC was going to be as meaningfulas it is and, and, and always
will be to me. And I think the child in me, the
typical person getting into sports because they love sports
type led me to pursue an opportunity like Maryland.
(03:29):
I, I grew up in Western New York.
So there was some potential opportunities to, to go up there
and, and, and maybe work, work for a team where it's in your
DNA already. You're really excited about it.
You take all the experiences youhave, the relationships you
have, the network you have, and you pour gasoline on that fire
(03:50):
by just having sort of a, a built in passion.
It's kind of where Maryland cameinto play.
So really I, I took some time and sort of diving into to the,
the evolution of, of the collegespace just with the introduction
of an IL and then eventually where we landed with the house
settlement and, and revenue sharing becoming a real, real
(04:13):
part of roster management. There's, there's a need to be
commercially minded in this partof the sports industry, not that
there never was before, but there is more of a need.
I mean, there's you're, you're seeing the successful
universities that will figure itout.
And right now it's a bit of the wild, Wild West and nobody
really has all of the answers yet, but the ones that'll figure
(04:36):
it out, you're going to see it translate on the field, You're
going to see it translate on thecourt.
And then the, the cool part about college athletics too,
which is a little bit different than the professional side is
Charlotte FC was cool because wehad a first team, a second team
and four Academy team. So it wasn't just about the
first team. It was always like sort of the
iceberg to me. People saw what was above the
(04:57):
surface, but they didn't really understand what was was what was
underneath. And the real, the machine that
drive drives an Amolas club, or any, any soccer club for that
matter. Here at Maryland, we've got 20
varsity sports, right? There is no shortage of things
to do, ideas to come up with, solutions that are needed from
(05:17):
track and field to volleyball tomen's basketball, women's
basketball, field hockey, lacrosse.
I mean, it's there's so much. And the great part about
Maryland is we're competitive and everything.
Yeah. And I also in in college sports
and having so many different sports themselves, you have
facilities for all of these. They have to be paid for.
(05:39):
You have to have top notch for that and that they're all
specialties too. So it's almost like you have a
ton of mini Charlotte out seats in a way.
It, it's exactly right. It's you just put it.
I mean, that's exactly what's going through my head every
single day. We just, we just opened up one
of the nicest facilities for, for any sport, let alone, I mean
(05:59):
college basketball. We just opened it up.
You can see it online, it's the Berry Peak Gossip Basketball
Performance Center. It is breathtaking.
It is unbelievable. If I'm a 17 or 18 year old, why
wouldn't I want to come to Maryland to be in this facility
every single day? But you see the resources and
the investment that the university and this ecosystem is
(06:22):
putting into that program. And right across the street, our
offices are at Xfinity Center, the basketball arena, but across
the parking lot, it's got to be one of the nicest facilities, if
not the nicest facility in the country for our field hockey
program and our women's lacrosseprogram.
And you want to walk into a facility that all you need to do
is walk in the front door and you probably want to come play
(06:43):
here. You just see the national
championship trophies that are just stacked in there between
those two programs. It is absolutely amazing what
Missy and Kathy have been able to do for us in this university.
So yeah, with those with those facilities comes a lot of
opportunity. There's a lot of, there's a lot
of day-to-day things to figure out.
(07:03):
You know, the way I'm thinking like we did it in Charlotte was
like, how do we use these outside of the normal training
ground? And the reason it was really
built, I mean, are there are there opportunities to, to
activate and utilize, whether it's it's, it's introducing
youth in the area to these sports or getting them on campus
(07:25):
or bringing alum back to Maryland and showing them how
this, this place has evolved. It's really cool.
So no, no shortage of those conversations.
And it, it's amazing. Your mind can get lost and you
can almost get ahead of yourselftoo much.
So I think prioritizing things has been really, it's been a
real challenge. The first probably two months
(07:46):
here, I just I want to run before walking or crawling.
Right as NIL just changed literally the whole landscape
and you guys have player sharingthere or so as that really
changed how you even approach everything from funding first
facilities to how you go about marketing to how you go about
(08:07):
culture to how you go about coaches.
I mean just I can imagine it. It just opens up a door that
wasn't even thought of before. Yeah, I think it was, look,
people wanted to play in front of full, full arenas and full
stadiums. I don't think that's changed.
I think what's different now is I think when you talked about
being commercially minded or revenue driven in college
sports, it was probably a bit taboo.
(08:28):
You know, you're just, you're just it's it's there.
The college game is different. It's student athletes, it's
century tradition. It's not professional sports.
It's not professional. People would say we're now it's
very similar. And I think the I think the
playing field is actually leveling out more than people
(08:51):
would, would, would probably argue.
I think there's the the narrative out there that it's
just it's, it's, it's going to completely be the haves and the
have nots where I think now it'sthere there's more, there's more
schools that can compete. You know, I get the power for
versus the the rest of the the schools, those that have opted
in to revenue sharing and can really make an impact there that
(09:14):
have the resources can drive revenue.
But with NILI think what that's done, it's really given athletes
the platform to to really matureand to benefit.
You know, NIL sits outside of revenue sharing.
I think people think the common,the common misconception is
they're one and the same. It's not.
I mean the revenue, the $20.5 million that goes towards your
(09:36):
sort of roster makeup comes fromlocal revenues coming in,
tickets, partnerships, all the things that you and I have
talked about in the past that that are professional.
NIL is something that a, a student athlete can't partner
with a brand and form a businessrelationship in that regard.
And it's an additive. It's on top of.
(09:59):
Right. And it's not.
It's just benefiting the person necessarily the the
organization. That's right.
So where, where the university comes into play is just is, is
sort of bridging these relationships, right?
It's, it's, it's making the introductions, it's making sure
that we know our student athletes and we, we can go and
canvas the marketplace both locally and nationally for, for
(10:21):
companies that want to utilize really smart, really
charismatic, really talented people to, to drive eyeball and,
you know, be a resource for themto help grow their businesses.
It's, it's really smart. And I'm just, I'm amazed with
the platforms that these studentathletes have and just how
mature they are when it comes tothis too.
(10:43):
So it's still a very, it's a very new space and people are
trying to figure out how to playwithin it.
But it's been, it's been a lot of fun to get to be a part of
it. Cool.
So let's go backwards a little bit.
Can you take us back to a momentin your career maybe that you
kind of completely shifted your perspective on just working in
(11:03):
sports and being like changing your, your outlook on, OK, this
is what this is what it's about.This is what I have to do.
You may have had like a not necessarily a misconception but
just like this is my understanding.
But wow this totally changes howI think about things.
It's a really good question. I've I've been asked something
similar in the past. The one advice, I'll sort of use
(11:26):
this as an advice to somebody who's trying to figure out their
path. They know they want to be in the
industry and everybody has a different path.
So don't take this is the key tosuccess.
But for me, it was really interesting.
I, I, I didn't really know what I wanted to do when actually
when I was here at Maryland, I stumbled upon an internship
with, with the commanders and got thrown into the corporate
(11:50):
hospitality world where I was selling corporate hospitality
packages, game day packages, groups of 24 people that wanted
to come out and watch the team play.
And it was only all inclusive. You got 20 tickets.
You had a pregame tent. I think it's very common across
sports. And that was my, that was really
my senior year here. I did it.
I worked probably 30 or 40 hoursa week doing that and upon
(12:11):
graduation, they didn't have a full time role there.
I ended up working in the ticketoffices and ticket operations.
The best advice I got there was you're going to get to know
every nook and cranny this organization.
You're going to get to know everybody because everybody
wants to know the ticketing people and take advantage of it.
Could start start figuring out what these people do.
It'll help. It'll help put you on a path.
(12:33):
I did that for a little bit, eventually got my way back into
sales. I felt like that was my that was
my calling was, was ticket sales.
And a lot of people use ticketing as sort of a launching
pad to going into partnership sales, for example, sponsorship
and everyone wants to be in sponsorship.
(12:54):
And I thought I wanted to do that too.
And I jumped into the partnership world with
Monumental. As you mentioned, I was
fortunate enough to be there when I was just the Washington
Capitals and I became Monumentalwhile I was there, which was a
great thing. I went from selling just hockey
and the Mystics to all of a sudden now the building and the
Wizards and and all that's coming through the nation's
(13:14):
capital. And I enjoy corporate
partnerships, but I think a common misconception is how
important ticketing is. So you talk about that point in
my career, I was like, you know what, You know, what would
probably help excel me is getting back into ticketing.
And that's when I, I took the job in Carolina with the
Panthers back in 2011. I think a lot of people felt
(13:35):
like that may have been a step back for me because I was in
corporate partnerships in DC multi property.
But I took a sales manager role in 2011 with the Carolina
Panthers. But I, you know, if you look at
revenues and how teams operate, you've got media rights, which
is your biggest thing. So take the NFL, for example.
(13:55):
Teams are getting a $400 millioncheck from the TV deal every
single year, right? Next in line is ticketing.
I mean, most NFL teams, you're over 100 million a year in in
ticket revenue. Most partnership, most
partnerships are probably in the607080 million.
So while while partnerships has,you know, the cache, people want
(14:19):
to see the big brands. It's a necessity and it's very
important at the core of it, ticketing.
Ticketing drives dollars, ticketing drives engagement.
Ticketing is the foundational piece of of everything.
I mean, it's why we do what we do.
We want people to come to games.It's in the spirit of
professional sports. I mean, people want to go see
(14:40):
their heroes. And if they're not there, then.
Yeah, you want to, don't want tobe there.
Yeah, You want to build these core memories.
And you can do that sitting at home and watching with your
parents. And I've got plenty of those
memories myself. But I think getting back into
the ticketing world, Nick, I think that was such a big piece
for me there and I was glad I had the partnership experience.
But sort as my career went on, the biggest piece of Charlotte
(15:02):
FC and how it was going to succeed in that market was how
are you going to fill NFL size stadium with soccer fans in the
South? 17 * a year.
Yeah, he needed to figure out the ticketing part and that's
those doors are always open. So I think for me, it was really
important and I was fortunate enough to work with some really
(15:25):
great people with the Panthers. They were coming off a tough
season in 2010, two and 14. And we're fortunate that Cam
Newton came walking through the door and it was such a great run
and such a blessing to be a partof that organization for for as
long as I was in Charlotte. That's pretty cool.
Now some of the some of the the choices and the things you make,
(15:48):
you may have made like an easy choice rather than the right
choice. Or maybe you've you've gone
through and thought about something.
You're like, you know what, I'm going to do this even though
everybody else is saying I shouldn't because it's the right
thing to do. And ultimately in the long run,
it's going to be better for thisorganization.
Do you have an example that you could share?
(16:10):
I. Don't think we have enough time.
Several one that comes to mind just because I think it was it
was it was a September. So there's got to be some some
anniversary to it. Maybe it was a two year
anniversary to or maybe it was last year.
Major League Soccer. We tried our best to predict
(16:33):
sort of the unpredictable and you're looking at all 17 matches
and you're trying to figure out what we need to do to fill up
this stadium for each of these matches.
Well, as part of the, the Apple TV agreement, our second year,
we went from a year 1. And you probably remember we
had, we had a number of afternoon matches and during our
(16:56):
first year as part of the Apple deal, there was a very strict
730 kick off on Saturday night. There was a few outliers, but
most of your home games were going to be 730 on Saturday
nights. And for us as a new franchise,
we sort of we felt like we were missing the opportunity to grab
young families. The seven 30s on Saturday night
(17:17):
were were a bit difficult, particularly when school was
going on summer it was a little bit lighter out.
Later we started we started seeing the league was a little
bit lenient with some of the clubs and they started having
some matches moved to the afternoon.
So we felt like let's go after this, let's be proactive and go
(17:38):
to the league and get a game moved to the afternoon.
So the schedule came out. We had all 730 matches on
Saturdays. We took a look at it and we
identified an opportunity to move a game against the New
England Revolution to an afternoon game.
It was a September game and I'llnever get having to go to the
leadership and say, look, this is an opportunity for us.
(18:00):
I feel like we can we can get a ton of kids and families and
this was what people are asking for and they said fine, do some
diligence on it. We looked up things like what's
the average temperature in Charlotte on a Saturday in
September and it was 70s. It would look comfortable.
We didn't want to put our club in a situation where they were
(18:20):
playing in a really a sunny, hotday on that artificial surface.
There right there goes your competitive advantage.
It's going right out the door. You're doing it yourselves,
self-inflicted. So we looked into that.
We went to the league, we sent several emails to them and we're
really, really hoping that they would side with us, Brian Biello
(18:42):
and New England. And those guys were supportive
and they're like, OK, we're in. If they're in.
Well, we ended up getting the game moved and we were really,
really excited about it. We thought it would be a huge
hit. And honestly, Nick, it fell flat
in terms of ticket sales. And then just the insult to
injury. It was like 85 and humid that
(19:02):
day. And I remember sitting in the
stands going like God, like Murphy's Law, man, like, you
know, But my take away from it was I would do it over again
because we felt like it was the right thing to do.
You know, I felt like we moved mountains.
We were making a decision that we felt like was going to
(19:24):
benefit the club and benefit thefans.
I mean, we were thinking about the five and six year olds that
weren't going to those Saturday night games.
And I am confident that a 5 or 6year old was at that game and it
was a core memory game. We end up winning the game to
nothing, I remember. So it was worth it was worth
everyone's time and effort from that standpoint.
(19:44):
But at the same time, when you think you've got everything
figured out, sometimes you don't.
And that's part of the deal. And I'm not embarrassed to tell
that story and I wasn't, I wasn't embarrassed to apologize
and tell people, you know what, maybe maybe we were wrong.
We apologize for doing it and now we've got a data point
moving forward. So right.
Yeah, you just can use that for the next time.
That's right. So what is one of the hardest
(20:07):
things that you've had to do in any of your position?
Is it dealing with people? Is it is it more of just
decision making? Is it data?
Is it getting information? Yeah, I think like in any
industry, this is such a fast-paced industry and it's one
of these things that people careabout sports, they care about
their teams. It's very emotional.
(20:28):
People feel attached and that's a good thing.
And it also could be a bad thingwhen you make the wrong
decisions. And I think learning how to
manage up and manage down, there's a skill set there that
whether you're reporting directly to an owner or you're
reporting to AVP, wherever you fall in line, it's always easy
(20:50):
to come up with a plan and try to hold people accountable and,
and manage numbers. And the best leaders out there
know how to do that well. But I think the elite leaders
also understand how to manage upand lead up.
So what information needs to getshared, when and how and being
(21:11):
able to identify all of the benefits and all the potential
risks that come with decisions. You know, when you're dealing
with legal and you're dealing with HR and you, you have to
think about the local media, local national, just impact of
all decisions. And I, I think that's, that's
the hardest part of being in this world because you just
(21:34):
can't hide from, from tough decisions and central
self-inflicted PR crisis, right?Talking about you on the news
and and all those sorts of things.
You have to understand, too, howthat impacts an entire
organization and people you haveworking for you and with you.
And that's a lot of weight on people's shoulders because it's
(21:55):
impossible to sort of leave yourwork behind when you're in our
world, right? Always want to talk about it.
Now, do you, do you have when you're making these decisions?
Because you of course, like you said there, there's always these
hard decisions, but are you seeing every path through?
It's almost like, OK, if we go this way, here's what's, here's
what possibly could happen if one of these goes awry.
(22:17):
These are the things we have to be ready with.
Are are those just part of the whole gamut?
Absolutely. And depending on the situation
that you got to figure this stuff out on the fly.
Not very often are you afforded time to really vet everything,
but you've got to do what you need to do when you need to do
it. And that's when you're on emails
(22:38):
and calls it all hours of the night and things like that.
It's not a great part of the industry.
It's a necessary evil of it. And you want to be respectful of
people's time and their lives and things like that too.
So it's a lot to balance. But yeah, you need to, you need
to, you need to be able to take calculated risks with certain
decisions and then also mitigate, yeah, a, a lot of
(22:59):
potential pitfalls when you whenyou make decisions on things.
And I don't want, I don't want to make it sound like
everything's doom and gloom, butlike, that's real, very real
part of this industry that a lotof people don't see because
rightfully so, people can be very critical right, in our
world, and that's OK. That's well, there's never
apathy. Apathy doesn't exist in sports.
(23:21):
People like to think it does. And people are like, oh, this
organization's fan base is apathetic.
No, they're just bad. You know, they're just gonna be
Uber critical, right? And that's OK.
That's fine as long as you're part.
Of that criticism is maybe not showing up for a match or buying
tickets. But exactly as soon as.
The team's doing well or something turns around in their
(23:41):
head about a feeling. Stadium's full.
That's right. And it's not just winning,
right. Besides, it's decisions made,
it's pricing decisions or offering or you can fix a
parking issue or you do good well through community service
and people are like, you know what, I'm I want to back this
team. I'm back thick and thin.
That's it's very important. I always felt like Charlotte FC
(24:03):
had a kind of college like atmosphere.
So I'm sure kind of the the, themoving over and, and in that
area is like, Oh yeah, I understand this feeling like
this affinity and just always like I'm rooting for you no
matter what kind of thing. I think you're right and that
was the beauty of Charlotte FC and it's not unique to Charlotte
FC, but it's it's very special there and that was intentional
(24:28):
too. We want to make sure that the
people that support us from day one felt, felt valued and felt
like they, their voices were heard and always will be heard
there. And when you do that from day
one, I, I mentioned it earlier and it's in your DNA, It's woven
into your day today. And that can be said with, with
(24:49):
college athletics, there's something just special about it
because the school means more topeople than just how the
basketball team is doing or how the lacrosse team is doing or
how the women's soccer team is doing.
It's really important. That's something to always talk
about. That's a huge sense of pride for
people. But the school is really
important too, for for a lot of reasons.
(25:10):
So people just love their school.
It's part of their identity. And whether they grew up in the
state or they attended here, their mom and dad went here,
whatever it was and it, it's great.
I mean, you get that feeling walking on campus.
You're you're part of something much bigger than just the
athletic department. Yeah, when you first started
your career, you said your dad gave you some advice and this
(25:31):
was around when the commanders were sold and new regime came
in. And I think he said something
like figure out who the people are that stayed.
And then so has, you know, besides that, that nugget there
from from your dad, is there a mentor or a friend or someone
that you've kind of like always kept in touch with?
(25:52):
But like use that to kind of be your sounding board and be like,
hey, what do you think about this?
You know, we got this decision going on because they're
probably either parallel with your career or maybe did
something before you. Do you have somebody like that?
Yeah, I mean, there's there's several people in different
walks of the industry. Everybody's got their sort of
(26:13):
phone, phone. A friend I've got, I've got one
in Doug's Moyers, his name Doug's a good friend of mine.
Doug was selling tickets for theCommanders when I was there.
And his path, his path sort of skyrocketed in the corporate
partnerships world. And he's a guy that always
wanted to work in the NFL and he's a guy that made it happen.
(26:33):
And I always felt like this guy just had a plan and, and, and
went after it. And he's always been a huge
sounding board for me. And I've always, I've always
appreciated that. There's people like Phil Yahtzee
who hired me at the Panthers. You know, he's just, he's a good
friend and a mentor, work, working in life, you know, very
(26:55):
great balance of a guy that coached his kids in baseball.
And anytime you talk to him, he wanted to talk about his kids
playing baseball. Not the business, yeah.
And it was at the time, I just, I didn't realize it until my
family started getting older andmy kids started playing sports.
(27:15):
And it was just so refreshing toknow I had someone in my life
like that. And he's always stayed in touch.
Danny Morrison's another one. Danny's been so successful.
But if you talk to anybody aboutDanny Morrison, they just talk
about him as a person and how great of a human he is.
It's not all the things he's done, from being the president
of the Panthers to holding the 80 role at TCU to to what he's
(27:37):
done at the Charlotte Sports Foundation or teaching classes
at South Carolina. You know, he's just that's,
that's the reputation I would love to leave behind.
I just want people to feel like I, I brought a lot as a human
being to where I was and the impact you leave behind in terms
of the, the bottom line or areasyou built out in the stadium,
the work you've done is great, but it's that lasting impact and
(28:00):
reputation. That's something that my family
could be proud of or people havehelped me along the way or proud
of the person, the reputation I've built.
So those are just a few of the mentors.
There's so many more that I can talk about, but it's a great
industry, Nick. There's so many people, so many
good people and there's there's people that understand what we
(28:22):
go through because it is a very unique industry.
So to have that that that brother and sisterhood of people
is just really, really cool. Nice, now is there a moment in
your career, good or bad, that kind of still gives you these
chills? Like just like wow, I just
remember this so vividly. Yeah, I mean, opening night,
(28:44):
Charlotte FC, I mean, it'll, thehair still stands up on the back
of my neck there. I mean, breaking the attendance
record. And that was something that was
so rewarding because we told people we were going to do it.
You know, we were not bashful about it.
You know, we were we leaned intoit and to make it happen and to
(29:09):
have the national anthem go the way it went to become viral,
that's still a tradition that's going to live long beyond my
time was really, really special.And it was just it was such a
great, such a great moment that I'll I'll never forget.
And just how the city rallied around that team and how people
(29:30):
just people fell in love with soccer that night.
A lot of people that didn't didn't owe the game, didn't care
for the game, didn't just wantedto go because it was seemed like
it was going to be a big deal. And they've become diehards and
their kids are playing and all the things you could ever want.
Nick all happened that night. So that'll be.
I'll never forget that. Yeah.
(29:50):
Speaking of rituals, do you havesome sort of ritual or things
that you've done in your life that has kind of fueled your
success and you're like, OK, keep on doing this, Like this is
working something personal that you do to really make you excel
at what you do? Handwritten notes, really, I
think people stop doing that. I think if you can get a
(30:14):
handwritten note from somebody, it's just, it's, I think people,
people receive it very well still.
I know when I do, I'm really appreciative of someone taking
the time to sit down and write anote out.
I mean, it's really overall, I mean, just letting people know
they're doing a great job. I mean, emails are really great.
A text here and there being trying to stay positive.
(30:36):
I think that's one thing too is,is the highs are really high and
the lows are really low. And I think celebrating the
highs and letting people understand like, Hey, I'm with
you during the lows is really important.
And then I just think from an organizational standpoint,
writing down A to do list every single day.
I just started off this conversation letting you know I
(30:58):
can do a million different things right now.
My head could go in so many directions.
So I think staying on task, staying focused, I'm I'm a big
list maker and I love crossing things off.
Yeah, that's good. I've done a lot of research on
checklists and how that helps our brain move forward in lots
of other ways. Cool.
Yeah. All right, one more question
before our lightning round. What the rise of like analytics
(31:21):
and sports business, How do you balance all the data decisions
and then just gut? Oh man, that is it.
I mean, that's the secret sauce.It's, it's art and science.
And we've got a lot more sciencenow to to back up decisions.
I think the, the gut and the artis through years of experience
(31:46):
and really taking the time to get to know your fan base,
getting to know your student athletes in this case, and your
coaches and anything that's unique about your organization
or your athletic department. But I think the analytics is so
important now. I mean, it helps with expedited
decisions. Like I said, a lot of the
(32:06):
decisions you're making are, arevery quick.
And now with business strategy being such a, a big part of
sports, it's not only on the business side, but on the, on
the sporting and athletic side too.
It's just, it's impossible not to ignore and just love it.
But you're always, there's always that human nature and you
(32:28):
understand how to motivate people and get the most out of
on a certain situations. And sometimes you can take
calculated risk too. And that's where that that's
where the art comes into play. Nice, we got about a minute
left. All right, so as quickly as you
can, do you have any walk up music?
(32:49):
Sure shot, Beastie Boys. Oh yeah, OK, unplugged activity.
Going to my kids sporting events, just hanging out with my
kids. Boring the best all.
Right, What's your go to snack when you're just watching the
teams play? I love goldfish.
Any kind just cheddar? Okay.
(33:10):
Do you find starting a project or finishing one more
gratifying? Starting it for sure.
I think with everything going onit's hard to get started.
Once I get started, I'm good to go, OK starting and making the
time to start it. All right, if you are not in
sports, what job would you? Have.
I would be an attorney. Yeah, yeah.
(33:32):
OK, So what recharges you when you are just getting away from
it with your family? You all just like just to get
away? I know there's no offseason, but
yeah, you pick your offseason. My wife has gotten us onto a
national parks kick, so we're we're one of those families that
wants to check off every single National Park and we've done a
decent amount the last year or so.
(33:54):
So we're on a good pace right now for that.
It's been a lot of fun. Have you been to Yosemite?
We haven't been to Yosemite yet.We did Death Valley.
We did Joshua Tree. Not part of California, we did.
That's Acadia in Maine. It's amazing.
That was my so far. Yeah, I'd like to go there.
I've been to your Symphony and some of those in Utah which are
really nice. Yeah, we got to get back out
(34:16):
there and do those. We've put a decent amount on the
East Coast, but it's been a lot of fun.
Awesome. Well, Joe, thanks for your time
today. Thanks for being on the show and
sharing some of your wisdom, some of your stories, and some
of the fun that you've had alongthe way.
Yeah, I really appreciate it. It's great connecting with you
again and I appreciate you giving me the time and good luck
with with everything y'all have got going on and go.
(34:39):
Terps fear the turtle sounds good.
See you, Nick. Thanks.
That wraps up today's episode ofSide Story Sports.
A huge thanks to Joe Lebou, Deputy athletic director and
Chief Revenue Officer for the University of Maryland.
I appreciate him sharing his journey from his ticket sales to
leading at the highest levels and reminding us that leadership
(35:01):
is about people. 1st and for ourlisteners, if you enjoyed this
episode, please subscribe, follow, leave a review and share
it with a friend who loves sports but also cares about the
story behind the box score. We'll be back another time for
another behind the. Scenes Side Story in sports.
Until then, remember sometimes the most interesting play
happens off the field. Till next time, enjoy the day.
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