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Speaker 1: We are back with Fish Unfiltered. It is March fifth,

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty five. We are just two days away from

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Speaker 1: opening day. My name is Azekazude. Joined is always by

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Speaker 1: Eli Sussman, and today we are joined by a very

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Speaker 1: special guest, the President of Business Operations, Caroline O'Connor. Miss Caroline,

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Speaker 1: thank you so much for taking the time. I assume

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Speaker 1: that this is as busy as your schedule can get

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Speaker 1: this time of year, right.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's our peak season. Thanks for having me. I'm

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Speaker 2: an avid listener.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely well. I guess we could just start with but

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Speaker 1: the fans that don't really know what does the day

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Speaker 1: to day operations for you look like on a day

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Speaker 1: to day basis, what departments you oversee, and just what

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Speaker 1: does your schedule look like during the season and during

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Speaker 1: the off season.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's very busy, but very interesting. So we handle

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Speaker 2: all of the business departments, so everything related to revenue,

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Speaker 2: ticket sales, sponsorship sales, special events, but also what I

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Speaker 2: call the corporate center of the Marlins, so really being

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Speaker 2: great partners to the baseball organization making sure that they

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Speaker 2: have everything they need from the perspective of facilities, offices, HR, legal,

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Speaker 2: all those types of things go through our team, and

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Speaker 2: so we try to provide great service to them and

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Speaker 2: let them focus on the field and those important decisions

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Speaker 2: that they make out there. But yeah, every day is

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Speaker 2: a little bit different, And I say we're kind of

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Speaker 2: like a small business. We have a lot of people

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Speaker 2: that are good at many many things, and we all

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Speaker 2: pitch in and really have a very collaborative environment to

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Speaker 2: produce what we think is a great experience for our

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Speaker 2: fans at baseball games and at special events, and really

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Speaker 2: are really focused on getting the community into Lone Deeple

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Speaker 2: Park for all kinds of different events, especially Marlin's baseball.

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Speaker 3: For people that aren't familiar. Caroline, You've never been with

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Speaker 3: Marlins for about seven and a half years ever since

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Speaker 3: the ownership transition. You were new to South Florida when

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Speaker 3: you came over, you were new to the professional sports

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Speaker 3: world after previously being in banking. What I'm wondering is

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Speaker 3: is there anything about working for the Marlins that has

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Speaker 3: been different than you thought it would be, just considering

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Speaker 3: how much of a different field it is from what

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Speaker 3: you were used to before that.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it feels really odd to say, you know, I'm

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Speaker 2: enduring my eighth season because it really did fly by,

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Speaker 2: and every season has been a little bit different. And

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Speaker 2: I said, you know, I didn't know a ton about

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Speaker 2: obviously working for a team when I came here, but

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Speaker 2: I learned a lot and a lot of that's the

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Speaker 2: credit of the people that are here. So we have

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Speaker 2: a lot of people with tons of knowledge about baseball,

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Speaker 2: about business, and really that teamwork that you know you

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Speaker 2: always hear about sports on the field, it exists in

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Speaker 2: the offices as well. So you know, we have great

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Speaker 2: teamwork across both baseball and business, which really helped me

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Speaker 2: to learn both the sports side and the business side.

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Speaker 2: And so you know, my job is overseeing it all is,

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Speaker 2: you know, to give people the resources they need, help

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Speaker 2: them to make really important decisions. And right now we're

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Speaker 2: really focused on growing our business, so getting everything that

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Speaker 2: we need to maximize you know, Lone Deeople Park and

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Speaker 2: maximize our attendance at Marlins games create lots of reasons

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Speaker 2: for people to come in and have a great experience

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Speaker 2: with us. So, yeah, seven and a half years, South

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Speaker 2: Florida has been amazing, such great neighbors in the community

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Speaker 2: that we live in. You know, I can't speak highly

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Speaker 2: enough about it. But it's been a wonderful place for

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Speaker 2: me professionally, but also for my family.

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Speaker 1: You mentioned the importance of, you know, maximizing attendance. I'm

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Speaker 1: curious if you can touch on just the challenges on

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Speaker 1: the business side of things to, you know, for tickets sales,

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Speaker 1: in particular in a year like this where obviously a

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Speaker 1: lot of the notable names are no longer in the organization.

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Speaker 1: It's a year where it's more of a developmental year

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Speaker 1: at the big league level, just you can touch on

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Speaker 1: the difficulties and trying to sell tickets in a season

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Speaker 1: like twenty twenty five.

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Speaker 2: I think we're really fortunate in our community here and

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Speaker 2: how large the South Florida market is. There's a lot

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Speaker 2: of diverse interests and a lot of great things that

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Speaker 2: we offer at Lone Depot Park, and I think, you know,

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Speaker 2: people are excited about our players and the team that

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Speaker 2: we're putting out. I think it's really exciting, especially as

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Speaker 2: we start off the season to get to know these

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Speaker 2: new players. You know, I've had the privilege of you know,

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Speaker 2: going to a lot of spring training games, so I've

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Speaker 2: gotten to know the players, and I think there's a

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Speaker 2: lot of exciting stories there that are going to start

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Speaker 2: to play out through the season. But you know, we

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Speaker 2: have such a big community here and I think it's

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Speaker 2: an opportunity to find things that bring in different audiences

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Speaker 2: and audience that maybe never went to a baseball game

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Speaker 2: and decide that, Okay, they really like a baseball game

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Speaker 2: because they came. So you know, you'll see us go

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Speaker 2: out with a lot of theme nights really make it

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Speaker 2: a baseball game. Plus, plus we're excited about Opening Day

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Speaker 2: where we're doing our first on field postgame concert, so

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Speaker 2: we'll have Louis Fonsi and flow Rida joining us after

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Speaker 2: the game. So that's us really, you know, putting an

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Speaker 2: investment into the fan experience and trying to put things

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Speaker 2: out there and see, you know, how our community reacts

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Speaker 2: to them, because ultimately want people to come and have

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Speaker 2: a great time when they're here.

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Speaker 1: It's fair to say you're more so prioritizing maybe the

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Speaker 1: not die hard baseball fans, more so to the families

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Speaker 1: and the ones who may not really care whether they

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Speaker 1: win or lose, but just the ones that are going

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Speaker 1: out for a good time out in Miami.

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Speaker 2: Well, I think our baseball avids will have a great

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Speaker 2: time as well. Right, So we've all our season ticket

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Speaker 2: members who are very important form our base, and you know,

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Speaker 2: so many of them have been Marlins fans from the beginning, right,

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Speaker 2: and they're there for every pitch. And you know, there

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Speaker 2: are some of the most positive ones on the team, right.

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Speaker 2: They come to every game, they come to all of

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Speaker 2: our member of fans. They were out here at fan Fest.

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Speaker 2: So I think there, you know, are a lot of

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Speaker 2: people that are excited about the team, that are very

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Speaker 2: supportive of the team, and so we have great things

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Speaker 2: for them, but also great things for you know, people

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Speaker 2: that you know might not have gone to a baseball

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Speaker 2: game before and having their first experience. They want them

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Speaker 2: to have a great experience. We want everybody to come back.

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Speaker 3: Well, just after we started speaking with you, I saw

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Speaker 3: another reminder about the partnership that the Marlins have with

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Speaker 3: Bright Line in terms of bringing more people from Brodward

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Speaker 3: and from Palm Beach. And you've been doing that for

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Speaker 3: a few years now. So is the team actually seeing

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Speaker 3: some results as best as you can track it in

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Speaker 3: terms of people coming from outside of Miami day to

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Speaker 3: come to games. I think that is a pretty common

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Speaker 3: thing that comes up from my experience in covering this

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Speaker 3: community is people saying that because the location of the

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Speaker 3: ballpark that they it's just more difficult for even diehard

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Speaker 3: fans due to traffic and do the time to drive

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Speaker 3: in and out, that some of those people haven't been

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Speaker 3: able to come to games as consistently than they did

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Speaker 3: during the earlier years of the franchise.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we listened to the fan feedback and you know,

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Speaker 2: take it pretty seriously and we do our planning and

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Speaker 2: the bright Line has been a great partner to us.

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Speaker 2: So we've seen ridership increase every season, which is really

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Speaker 2: great for us. We see us say particularly heavily on

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Speaker 2: the weekends, but you know, bright Line's great Monday through Sunday,

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Speaker 2: so that's been a great you know partnership for us.

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Speaker 2: We've also tried, you know to look at our game

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Speaker 2: times and one of the best times for people to

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Speaker 2: come during the week we've gone to that six forty

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Speaker 2: game time Monday through Thursday. So we think that is

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Speaker 2: you know, helpful for fans that are either just coming

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Speaker 2: from work or popping home and coming down. And then

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Speaker 2: the weekends, you know, with Saturdays at four ten and

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Speaker 2: Sundays at one. Friday nights are at seven ten to

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Speaker 2: give people a little bit more time if they're you know,

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Speaker 2: stopping stopping home or something. But we try to take

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Speaker 2: all that feedback and I think be considerate. We also have,

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Speaker 2: you know, a lot of people that are in walking

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Speaker 2: distance or you know, a short trolley ride distance, So

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Speaker 2: I think we have a lot of options of how

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Speaker 2: to get here, and what we're trying to do is

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Speaker 2: communicate better all those options that are out there. So

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Speaker 2: on days like opening day, you know, we'll have a

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Speaker 2: shuttle going from downtown parking garages. You know, we'll have

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Speaker 2: extra support over at our ride share lots, and we'll

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Speaker 2: also be really pushing that message about people getting prepaid

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Speaker 2: parking so they're guaranteed a spot in the garages and

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Speaker 2: kind of get waved through the traffic and the police

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Speaker 2: setups there. So trying to make that fan experience better

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Speaker 2: every single day.

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Speaker 3: A massive piece of the Marlins revenue pie, as far

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Speaker 3: as we could tell, is the local television rights that

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Speaker 3: now with Fan Sports Network Florida. It's renamed a couple

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Speaker 3: of times just since you've been around. Our understanding is

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Speaker 3: that it's a relatively short term deal moving forward, of course,

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Speaker 3: their parent company had bankruptcy issues. There have been a

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Speaker 3: handful of other Major League teams that were affiliated with

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Speaker 3: that network that have since left and now have their

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Speaker 3: games distributed through MLB dot TV. Do you think that

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Speaker 3: is the direction that the Marlins are going to eventually

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Speaker 3: head in as well, where games are going to be

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Speaker 3: distributed through MLB and I met that's it just seems

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Speaker 3: like a pretty seismic change considering how much the franchise

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Speaker 3: historically has leaned on those TV rights revenue every year.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the media is a rapidly changing industry

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Speaker 2: and we're a part of that. You know, FanDuel has

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Speaker 2: been great partners to us, and we work really closely

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Speaker 2: on them on the programming and the planning. This year,

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Speaker 2: you're going to see them be very focused on the

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Speaker 2: direct to consumer products, so where people can start up

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Speaker 2: and they can stream the games and watch them in

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Speaker 2: the app. So you'll see a lot of advertising on

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Speaker 2: that and really trying to get people aware of how

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Speaker 2: they can access our Marlins games. So we, you know,

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Speaker 2: have a good team and a good partnership there, and

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Speaker 2: our goal is to create a broadcast that you know,

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Speaker 2: keeps our fans interested and engage. Think we're very excited about,

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Speaker 2: you know, our new broadcaster this year and Kyle se

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Speaker 2: Laff sorry to lose him on the Marlins radio side,

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Speaker 2: but they've been great partners to us.

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Speaker 4: You know.

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Speaker 2: We we do see you know, a future with them,

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Speaker 2: but we'll be ready to do what we need to

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Speaker 2: do to ensure that, you know, our Marlins games can

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Speaker 2: get to our fans.

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Speaker 4: Fish On First has partnered with About the Fans to

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Speaker 4: launch a merchandise collection rep the fof logo and more

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Speaker 1: Caroline, I'm curious you mentioned all the departments that you oversee.

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Speaker 1: I sue marketing is one of them. Are curious your

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Speaker 1: thoughts on the on the recent trending the last few

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Speaker 1: years of the Spanish influx, whether it's in the social

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Speaker 1: media or at the ballpark, just a lot, a lot

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Speaker 1: of a Spanish and I'm curious your thoughts on it.

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Speaker 2: So, I think we live in a very diverse community

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Speaker 2: and we think of the Tri County region, it becomes

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Speaker 2: even more diverse. So we want to create as an

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Speaker 2: experience that's inviting and fun for everyone. But we also

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Speaker 2: want to you know, be a team that's in Miami

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Speaker 2: and create you know, some of that local Miami flair.

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Speaker 2: What we really want is to create an experience as

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Speaker 2: like no other. Right, So if you're coming to Miami,

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Speaker 2: you have to see a baseball game in Lone Depot Park,

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Speaker 2: the experience is different than anywhere else. So we mix

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Speaker 2: a little bit of the traditional with some you know,

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Speaker 2: newer engagements and flavors. I like that picture that you're

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Speaker 2: showing there, but really we want to create an inclusive

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Speaker 2: experience that everyone can enjoy.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's undert so, but do you think that maybe

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Speaker 1: you'd be turning off as many people as you guys

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Speaker 1: are attempting to turn on with that.

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Speaker 2: I guess with that diverseness, I think it's an important balance.

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Speaker 2: I think that, you know, when we try to play

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Speaker 2: up what is a special culture about you know, the

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Speaker 2: city of Miami and the reputation of the city of

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Speaker 2: the Miami, we you know, pay tribute to some of

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Speaker 2: those things. But now you know, we do take the

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Speaker 2: feedback from the fans and talk to you know, our

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Speaker 2: longtime season ticket members. We want to strike the right

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Speaker 2: balance so that everybody loves coming to Marlins games.

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Speaker 3: We definitely wanted to have you on to get us

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Speaker 3: up to speed on Miami Live or now. A couple

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Speaker 3: of months into the original announcement about that development on

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Speaker 3: the plaza, it was exciting, but a little bit vague

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Speaker 3: in terms of exactly what this is going to look

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Speaker 3: like and how if it's going to expand the footprints

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Speaker 3: of the ballpark in any way. So the announcement was

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Speaker 3: in January. I know the original target day was early

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Speaker 3: twenty twenty six. When is some sort of visible construction

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Speaker 3: going to begin on that in order to actually have

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Speaker 3: it ready by that ambitious target date.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so we're doing a lot of background work right now,

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Speaker 2: so it's plans, it's working on permits and things like that.

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Speaker 2: So over the summer you'll start to see you know,

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Speaker 2: the construction site go up and yeah, we're hoping to

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Speaker 2: have it opened by World Baseball Classic in twenty twenty six,

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Speaker 2: so that's an early March timeframe there. And so it's

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Speaker 2: going to be you know, bar and restaurant, concert stage

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Speaker 2: that will enhance the fan experience both before and after

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Speaker 2: our games, but also on non game days. So we've

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Speaker 2: partnered with, you know, an industry leader and creating these

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Speaker 2: sports adjacent experiences and that's the Courtish Companies. And really

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Speaker 2: what we loved about them is that they're very good

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Speaker 2: at programming. So you know, you could have a Tuesday

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Speaker 2: night in the fall and they're going to be having

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Speaker 2: a yoga class outside or zoomba class. So it really

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Speaker 2: create an experience and enhance the reasons for the community

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Speaker 2: to come to know to the ballpark. And so we're

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Speaker 2: excited about that part bit. So we really want to

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Speaker 2: create a thriving, you know, three hundred and sixty five

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Speaker 2: day a year ecosystem around our park because you know,

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Speaker 2: it's a beautiful place and we have a great community here,

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Speaker 2: and you know, we want to continue to outreach and

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Speaker 2: welcome the community in.

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Speaker 3: Right And just to clarify, this whole project is going

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Speaker 3: to be contained within the existing long depot park property

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Speaker 3: or is there going to be any sort of branching

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Speaker 3: out to across the street and block surrounding it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's definitely possible that it's a catalyst for bigger

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Speaker 2: things and then that would make us really happy. As

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Speaker 2: of now, the Miami Live will be you know, on

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Speaker 2: our West Plaza there, which is actually you know, a

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Speaker 2: large three acre site, so there's a lot of room

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Speaker 2: out there. I think, you know, the renderings maybe don't

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Speaker 2: do a justice, but I think it'll be a great

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Speaker 2: people a great place for people to congregate. And we

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Speaker 2: have some of our bigger heritage nights and we have

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Speaker 2: concerts out there. I mean, we will have five and

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Speaker 2: six thousand people out on that plaza, So we want

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Speaker 2: to continue to have that and making sure that the

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Speaker 2: programming fits and you know, all of our fans still

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Speaker 2: fit because we want to be enhancing of the experience.

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Speaker 3: Even now. But even without this, you have a ready

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Speaker 3: referenced to. There have been plenty of non baseball events

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Speaker 3: on at the ballpark through the years. Is there anyone

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Speaker 3: that you take the most pride in or that you

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Speaker 3: just had the most fun at attending? So, you know,

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Speaker 3: WBC A side, other International Baseball side, just the non

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Speaker 3: baseball events. What do you take pride in having brought

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Speaker 3: to the ballpark in terms of bringing new audiences or

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Speaker 3: new revenue over the years.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so you've done a number of you know, great

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Speaker 2: concerts and special events. I'd say the ones that are

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Speaker 2: really meaningful for us or when we invite our community

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Speaker 2: in So one that's been a mainstay for us has

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Speaker 2: been the American Cancer Society Walk each year, and that's

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Speaker 2: a special one for us because you know, we get

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Speaker 2: together with our elected officials or really important cause and

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Speaker 2: you know, we fill our closet, we fill our ballpark

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Speaker 2: with people coming out really to make an impact in

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Speaker 2: that and so the that's a really special one for us.

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Speaker 2: We'll continue, you know, to push into the concert space.

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Speaker 2: We'll have some exciting announcements coming up soon and then

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Speaker 2: as you know, you know, we'll have the NHL Winter

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Speaker 2: Classic coming up January second, So that's going to be

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Speaker 2: another really exciting one for us. But you know, we've

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Speaker 2: done some great enhancements to the ballpark since being here.

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Speaker 2: Our turf field, our lighting system, we've done a lot

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Speaker 2: to really attract major events to coming to the building.

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Speaker 2: And so we're starting to see some of that come

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Speaker 2: to fruition in you know, the enhancements we've made, and

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Speaker 2: then our team doing a great job on the communication

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Speaker 2: and sales side to be bringing in some more special events.

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Speaker 1: You mentioned there's an exhibition game happening in exactly thirty minutes.

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Speaker 1: I'm curious Marlin's Yankees game is probably going to have

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Speaker 1: a pretty decent turnout. I'm curious if that's the plan

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Speaker 1: going forward after spring training, in between the final grade

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Speaker 1: for league game and opening days. That's something that you

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Speaker 1: guys see happening more often in coming years.

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Speaker 2: I think what you'll see is us experimenting with things,

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Speaker 2: and I say, this is what this is. We wanted

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Speaker 2: to bring this and see how the fans reacted to it.

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Speaker 2: We think it's a great opportunity for us to have

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Speaker 2: a soft open to the building, like you out the concessions,

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Speaker 2: to test out the parking, everything, which is really good

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Speaker 2: for us. But yeah, I think it's going to be

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Speaker 2: very successful today. And yeah, we want to invite the

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Speaker 2: fans in early, want them to come early in the season,

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Speaker 2: then want to come back from Marlin's game. So we

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Speaker 2: think more programming we can put in the building and

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Speaker 2: things that appeal to our fans are really good for us.

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Speaker 2: So open to your suggestions, Isaac, But yeah, would certainly

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Speaker 2: we're taking a lot of notes today and would certainly

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Speaker 2: look to have one again.

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Speaker 3: If one other thing I had to be sure to

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Speaker 3: squeeze in here. You guys kept it under wraps pretty well,

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Speaker 3: this rebrand of There we Go, the Norwegian Cruise Line

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Speaker 3: Home Run Harbor that seems to be replacing aut Donation

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Speaker 3: alley out in left center field. We've gotten some little

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Speaker 3: details about what that is is. Can you guess up

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Speaker 3: to speed in terms of how that came together and.

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Speaker 2: If there's yes, I heard Andy scooped us on that

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Speaker 2: this morning, but no, I'm really excited Norwege and Cruise

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Speaker 2: Line has been such a good part or to us

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Speaker 2: and they've been with us for a few years now.

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Speaker 2: Really excited to be expanding that partnership to include the

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Speaker 2: home Run Harbor, which does sit on top of that

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Speaker 2: alley there. So I think it's going to be a

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Speaker 2: really special feature. More details coming out here in the

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Speaker 2: next few days about it, but really to you know,

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Speaker 2: showcase what's a really strong partnership between NCL and the

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Speaker 2: Miami Marlins, but also to create something very special for

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Speaker 2: our fan experience.

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Speaker 1: Well, Carolyn, two days before opening day, we really appreciate

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Speaker 1: you taking the time to join us here today. We'll

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Speaker 1: hope to do this again, maybe next year, but Nevertheless,

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Speaker 1: thank you so much for taking the time.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks guys to you soon.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely for Eli, for Caroline, for myself, thank you for listening,

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Speaker 1: and as always, go fish