Relocation Proposal: White Sox to Las Vegas

This presentation discusses the proposal for the Chicago White Sox to relocate to Las Vegas, Nevada. It covers the team's history, challenges they may face, potential solutions, rebranding strategies, and the benefits of moving to Las Vegas. The presentation also explores the potential for a baseball district in Las Vegas and the advantages of being in a city known for entertainment and tourism.

White Sox to Las Vegas

Overview
Proposal for the Chicago White Sox to relocate to Las
Vegas, Nevada.
To-do
● About
● History
● Relocation (League)
● Why leave?
● Why Las Vegas
● Rebranding
● Product/service
● Pricing
● Placement
● Promotion

About:
● 1 of 2 Chicago based
Major League Baseball
(MLB) teams
● Located in the south of
Chicago
● Play at Guaranteed Rate
Field
● In the American League
Central division
● Owner is Jerry Reinsdorf
Courtesy of Google.com

Team History
● Derived from the minor league team Sioux City Cornhuskers
● Been in Chicago since its opening season in 1901
● 3 World Series championships 1906, 1917 & 2005
● 6 American League (AL) Pennants: Most recent-2005

Continued
● Second longest World Series Championship
drought through history (87 years).
● 11 postseason appearances since 1901
according to ESPN
● 10 year postseason appearance drought
● 13 year championship drought
www.espn.com/mlb/history/teams/_/team/CHW

Relocation Process
● Starts with a request for proposal (RFP)
○ Announcement style
○ Notice to all markets that have an interest in the club
● Process doesn’t start till any legal challenges are cleared (Stadium lease
& Lawsuits)
● Clear the “home market option”
● The league then forms a relocation committee to approve all plans
https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2019/01/07/inside-how-mlb-relocation-and-expansion-would-play-out/#1e5635a6634d

Relocation Process Cont.
● Relocation committee could
recommend a vote
○ Other MLB committees could
recommend a vote as well
● 75% of the leagues owners would
need to approve
○ Last vote was the Expo’s to D.C and
with a 29-1 vote
● Realignment negotiations
● Very lengthy investment
https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2019/01/07/inside-how-mlb-relocation-and-expansion-would-play-out/#1e5635a6634d

Challenges for The White Sox
● Guaranteed Rate Field is
owned by Illinois Sports
Facilities Authority (ISFA)
● 13 year naming rights deal
with Retail Mortgage Lender.
● Signed in 2016

Challenges cont.
● The White Sox lease ends
2029
● Signed a five year deal with
NBC Sports Chicago in
December 2018
● Realignment of league

White Sox Ranking

Potential Solutions
● Officially leave Chicago in
2029 (cost effective)
○ Live out the whole stadium
lease
○ Allow time for stadium to built
○ Proper time to end all deals

Option 2
● Break lease and leave
immediately (most
expensive)
○ Potential lawsuits from
city and tv networks and
existing sponsors
○ Find a stadium to play in

Option 3
● Break the lease after 5
years (expensive)
○ Hold on to the 5 year tv
deal till it expires
○ Buys time to build
stadium
○ Proper notice to sponsors

Realignment of League

Realignment of League Solution

Rebranding
Branding is a marketing concept based on which a company can create its name
and identity that helps in its recognition. The name, design, symbol or a
combination of each of the elements related to a sports organisation can help in
distinguishing its country, club or state and the type of sport that it is involved with.
The success of a brand is usually based on the fans that it has along with the
sponsorship it gains and the club members that remian loyal to them. This defines
the performance of the sports team
The influence of the team logo and the player uniforms can help in the
identification of the club, country or state

Logo: Visual representation of a brand
● New colors:
Black
● New logo:
Designed in the
form a playing
card,
specifically of
jack
● New name: Las
Vgeas Black
Jacks
- Cost around $3
million Dollars

Getting sponsorship
The sponsorship can be derived from the owners of the baseball club.
At the same time, investors interested in setting of casinos can approached in
order to set up the new company.
Sponsors from the Major League Baseball can be gained and the White Sox can
invite payers from the rival teams to be involved in the casino for a post match get-
together

191901
1901-1902
1991-Present

Why the change?
- The change is to cope up with the innovation process in the society and to
ensure that excitement and freshness can be brought about
- The changes have been made so as to make it unique from the team that is
involved in the sport. It is for this reason that the logo has been chaneged to a
king with a baseball
- The design helps in depicting the modern development of the team with retro
elements from its previous logo and designs
- Mix and match of colors to upgrade its visualisation

Promotion
The promotion of the casino can be done via social media websites
The White Cox website can contain information about the type of business that the
casino provides
At the same time, promotion can be made on the giant screen of the home team
so that every people can be updated about the casino
The players of the White Cox can be used in advertisements for promoting the
casino and during its grand opening

Uniform
The uniform can be related to the professional uniforms worn by casino members
across the country
Innovation can be made as the uniform can contain the logo with the color of the
uniform being some retro colors used by the White Sox during their time
At the same time, different uniforms can be worn by the people that are involved in
supervising the games of the casino

Neighborhood
● The neighborhood is dangerous
● Gang violence

Pro-baseball In Vegas
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Las Vegas
● 641,676 population in 2017
● 40 million visitors a year
● Daily visitors create revenue and
jobs
Roughly 382,700 jobs in 2018
Generated about $16.4 billion in
wages and salaries

Las Vegas Visitor Spending
● $35.9 billion visitor spending in 2018
● Visitor spending averaged about $30 billion in the last 10 years
● People will spend money in Vegas
● We can guarantee we will have sold out games for The Blackjacks

Why Vegas?
● 2.2 million residents plus another
300,000-350,000 visitors on any
given day
● FOMO
● People go to Vegas with a
propensity to be entertained
● Baseball is the perfect entertainment
to add to the portfolio of experiences

Why Vegas?
● Las Vegas remains the most
popular city named when
players are asked where
they'd like to see an
expansion team.
● There is money to be made
not only from locals with
interest in a new team, but a
heavy flow of tourists as well

Minor League in Vegas
● Las Vegas Aviators are a minor
baseball team
Advantages of having a minor league
● Creates a fan base
● Major leagues recruit players
from minor leagues
● (MiLB) is the most successful
minor/development league
of any professional sport.

National Hockey League
● Las Vegas Golden Knights began in Vegas in 2017
● First Major League team in Vegas besides the Aces (women’s basketball)
● The Vegas Golden Knights made the Finals in their first season
T-Mobile Arena
● Arena holds 17,500 fans for Hockey
● Golden Knights average attendance of 18,042 (103.9% capacity percentage)
● Team value of $575M as of Dec. 2018 (forbes)
● Ranked 6 in the 10 top most valuable teams in the NHL

Golden Knights
● Golden Knights success in the past 2 years reassures our decision to move
the White Sox to Las Vegas
● As the second most popular sport to watch in America, we have no doubt that
the White Sox will increase in performance and revenue as they transfer to
Las Vegas

Stadium (Chicago)
● Capacity: 40,615
● Cost: $137 Million
● Opening: April 18, 1991
○ 6th oldest stadium
● Elevation: 596

Las Vegas Stadium
● Retractable Roof
● 2 year construction time frame
● Seating: 35,000
● Capacity: 42,000

Interior of Stadium
● Party Decks/Bars
● Sportsbookie for betting
● Restaurants

New Location of Stadium
● Las Vegas Golf center
● Close to the Airport
● Close to the Vegas Strip
● Easy Access

Baseball District
● Bars
● Swimming Pools
● Golf
● Viewing centers

Parking
Baseball District