Touching Base With Ken Young

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November 27, 2009 - What do you do in addition to owning the Baysox? I own four other franchises besides the Baysox. The Norfolk Tides and Frederick Keys, both affiliated with the Orioles, the Albuquerque Isotopes, class Triple-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Norfolk Admirals in the American Hockey League, affiliate of the Tampa Bay Lightning. On top of that, I am president of Ovations Food Services, an approximately $200 million annual gross sale food and beverage company that operates in the United States and Canada. I also serve on a couple of bank boards and do some other miscellaneous things. I do some volunteer stuff, I sit on the committee of the Outback Bowl and handle their licensing. You are based in Tampa, Fla., what is your travel schedule like? How often do you make it to the different teams? I live in Norfolk in the summertime, and I do travel a lot. A lot of it is related to the food service company. I'm probably traveling about 60 percent of the time. A lot of the travel in the summertime, though, is at baseball stadiums and even though you are on the road, at least you are in a great environment. It's kind of nice, all of our offices are in the venues we play in. I always say 'Going to work when you are in a baseball stadium, there are a lot of things that could be a lot worse.' What led you to purchasing your first baseball team? My first franchise came about purely by accident. It's not something that I thought about doing early in my career. It actually stemmed from a relationship I had very early in my career in Baltimore. In 1978 I was involved as a regional VP, and one of my accounts was at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. The gentleman who was in charge of the Orioles business there was a guy by the name of Al Harazon. Al and I became pretty friendly, we had a good business relationship, and he wound up leaving the Orioles to go to the Mets. We stayed in touch, and in 1992 I was pursuing the food service at a new stadium being built in Norfolk, Va., for the Tidewater Tides who eventually became the Norfolk Tides. Al was the GM of the New York Mets by then and one day after we wrapped up the food service part of it, the Mets owned the Tides and he just casually said 'Ken, we're probably going to sell this franchise, how would you like to buy it? We think you could help market it well and we could have a good relationship.' That was how it came about. I put together an investor group back in 1992. We actually completed the purchase of the franchise in early 1993 when the Tides were going to move into the new ballpark on the Elizabeth River in downtown Norfolk. What led you to purchasing the Baysox? In 2001 we sold part of the food service company to Comcast Spectacor, and Comcast Spectacor had purchased the Baysox around the same time. A couple years later they were looking to sell the franchise, and since I was already involved with the food service in Bowie, I thought it would possibly be a good investment to buy Bowie and Frederick at that time. Do you see yourself buying more teams in the future? You know, there's a possibility. What I try to do is look at the opportunity. Certainly the franchises in the minor leagues have appreciated pretty well. As you get into that and as you look at purchase prices and returns on investments, you need to look at things that you think make a sensible investment. It's possible, but I don't go out seeking another team. I'm content where I am right now. What are some things the Baysox have done that you are proud of? I think the key is that we provide great family entertainment and do it at a very inexpensive price so people can come out, have a great evening and socialize. That's minor league baseball. I think with all of my franchises, including Bowie, that's what I'm most proud of. That we provide a great show with high quality baseball at very reasonable pricing and keep it fun for everybody. Did you play sports? In high school, and before that. I never played in college, I wasn't good enough. Baseball was my favorite, I've been a big baseball fan since I was 10 years old. I enjoyed playing when I was little, and through my teenage years. I used to play whiffle ball outside all the time. Baseball was always my favorite, but I am also a fan of most sports. I'm a Philadelphian, so I got into all of the major teams in Philadelphia. You spend a lot of time at the ballpark, what is your favorite ballpark food? My favorite ballpark food? The truth is, I could probably eat hotdogs every night and it wouldn't bother me. As a matter of fact, one of my biggest challenges is trying not to eat ballpark food every night since I'm in the ballpark. I really do love hotdogs and all the sausage products. We have such a great variety of different items in Bowie. Even with that variety, you can give me a jumbo dog and I'm pretty happy with that. At the same time, it's almost like being a season ticket holder and being in the ballpark every night. You do look for other variety and I understand that, but those sausage products are number one with me. How long do you see yourself in baseball? I see myself being in baseball for probably most of my life. It's something that is fun and it's been a reasonable investment. It's challenging because you want to try new things and keep it fun for the fans. It's one of the things that maybe even when I retire from the food service end of things, which I don't think will be any time soon, my guess is that I will keep a couple of ball clubs and will continue to stay involved. Is there anything you would like Baysox fans to know? The key thing is, I think that I am pretty accessible. If fans have suggestions, send me an e-mail. I like talking with the fans. If you have some ideas, send me an e-mail at kyoung@ovationsfoodservices.com and I'd love to hear your feedback. It doesn’t have to be ideas, if it is criticism give us that feedback. That is how we better ourselves. I do that all over the country, and fans do write to me, and I like that.

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