Paul Freedman, co-founder and CEO of the Oakland Balls
Paul Freedman, a 45-year-old serial entrepreneur who founded and sold five education technology companies, decided last June to start a new kind of enterprise: a baseball team.
Friedman was frustrated when Major League Baseball’s A’s announced last year that they planned to leave Oakland, Calif., for Las Vegas. Friedman was born in neighboring Palo Alto and spent much of his early education in Chicago before moving to Oakland at the age of 15. As a high school freshman, Friedman initially had some trouble making friends, so he gravitated toward A’s games, especially those at the Oakland Coliseum Wednesday $2 ——As a common activity to interact with classmates.
“It makes me feel welcome,” Friedman told CNBC. “Right field at the Coliseum made me feel part of the community again.”
Friedman has lived in Oakland for 30 years, during which time he has watched professional sports teams leave the city one after another. The NBA’s Golden State Warriors gave up on what was then Oracle Arena in Oakland in 2019. to Sacramento and eventually moved to Sacramento. Settled in Las Vegas in 2028.
Frustrated with his city, Friedman sent a text message to his high school A’s friend Bryan Carmel last June that provocatively began: “I have a crazy idea. .
Freeman began brainstorming ways to keep baseball in Oakland. That gave birth to the Oakland Ballers, or “B-Team,” a Trail Blazers League team co-founded by Friedman and Carmel that debuted earlier this year. The team had just secured initial seed funding and faced an uphill battle in establishing a successful business model in Oakland—a city with severe crime challenges and a city all but abandoned by professional sports.
Oakland Burroughs Stadium.
Courtesy: Oakland Ballers
The Pioneer League, a partner league of Major League Baseball whose teams were not affiliated with professional teams like minor league baseball, immediately appealed to Friedman’s technical sensibilities because it was a proving ground for baseball’s evolution. Oakland also has a reputation for its forward thinking in baseball, first in the 1960s and 1970s Under the leadership of owner Charlie Finley and later in The “Moneyball” era of the 2000s, This ushered in an era of analytics that is used in almost every sport.
A Pioneer League game that was tied after nine innings ended in a tie rather than overtime. Five-pitch home run derby. The league allows players Challenge balls and batting Do it on the fly using a computer system. The B’s also boasted having the league’s first female player, Pitcher Kelsey Whittemore.
Now Friedman has another innovation in mind: a new investment model.
B shares
Friedman invested $1 million in the Oakland B’s and loaned the team an additional $5 million. Freedman and Carmel also raised $3 million in outside financing from about 60 individual investors.
Freedman and Carmel are about to set a new valuation for their investment, raising an initial crowdfunding round of up to $1.235 million, the legal limit allowed by SEC regulations for entities whose finances are audited by public accountants but not formally audited.
The new round of financing will allow fans to directly own equity in the team. While there isn’t yet a market where the team’s stock can be day traded and function as an actual investment, Friedman and Carmel hope that one day this will become a reality. This distinguishes this concept from public Green Bay Packers common stock, for example, which is intentionally designed to be a non-profit organization.
“We’re testing the waters here,” Friedman said. “There may be dividends. There may be a secondary market. The shares will come with voting rights.”
A liquid secondary market would allow team shares to be monetized outside of major transactions such as a team sale.
dealmakerThe platform B uses to crowdsource funding has received letters of intent from more than 3,500 people who have expressed a willingness to invest in the team, committing a total of nearly $8 million.
DealMaker chief marketing officer Jon Stidd said that of the hundreds of campaigns DealMaker has launched that started with early expressions of interest, this is the largest number of potential investors the platform has ever seen.
“It’s a testament to B’s fans and what they do for the entire community,” Steed said in an interview.
Oakland Burroughs Stadium.
Courtesy: Oakland Ballers
The fundraising campaign is expected to officially launch in the coming days. Potential investors will be able to buy their shares on a first-come, first-served basis, Steed said, “just like you would buy sneakers from a B’s in Oakland.”
Steed said early interest sparked inquiries from other local baseball and football teams looking to raise money on DealMaker.
“This is a rising tide. The Oakland players are sending a message to the outside world,” he said.
local challenges
Friedman plans to use the crowdsourced funds for baseball operations in general and marketing in particular. B’s generated approximately $1 million in merchandise sales in its first year and signed 47 sponsors, including San Francisco’s BART transit system and AAA Insurance, according to the team.
The team worked with Oakland city officials to use $1.6 million of the team’s initial funding to renovate West Oakland’s Raimondi Field, a historic baseball stadium site. Oakland’s all-black A-26 Boilermakers Played before racial integration. Friedman said the field was abandoned, in such disrepair that it couldn’t even be used for Little League games.
Friedman said that during discussions about how to keep baseball in Oakland, he ruled out simply buying and relocating a minor league team out of concern that bringing a team to Oakland would entrench the city. A reputation as a second-tier city not well suited to supporting a first-tier sports team.
But he has to make sure B flourishes as a feel-good story rather than a dull reminder of what Oakland once was.
“We don’t think we’re going to replace the Oakland Athletics,” Friedman said. “We join everyone in mourning the loss of A.”
One of Friedman’s biggest challenges is convincing locals that Raimondi Park is a fun and safe tourist attraction. Last month, the San Francisco Chronicle reported on agent Lonnie Murray, who recently married former A’s star and Oakland native Dave Stewart. expressed players’ concerns Ask Friedman about substandard housing in areas where players’ vehicles have been vandalized or stolen. Team B responded by moving the team to a hotel in a safer area.
Oakland Burroughs Stadium.
Courtesy: Oakland Ballers
Not long ago, Raimondi Park was adjacent to a homeless encampment in West Oakland. Revitalizing the area is important to both Friedman and Oakland, but it’s also a potential roadblock to recruiting fans. Raimondi Park has a capacity of approximately 4,100 people. Most home games so far have drawn around 2,000 fans – slightly below average Join the Pioneer League.
Even among locals, Friedman said, there are misunderstandings about how dangerous the area is. He compared the community to Wrigleyville in Chicago, home of the Chicago Cubs. Friedman said he is developing partnerships with local businesses to promote the team and hopes to expand off-field entertainment and dining experiences.
“We definitely face headwinds,” Friedman said. “Auckland hasn’t gotten a good press lately in terms of crime. What changes people’s perceptions is people having a safe experience. That’s what we provide.”
Next season, when the Athletics no longer exist, it will be even more important to remind locals that this team exists. Green Day singer Billie Joe Armstrong Recently did some free publicity for the team through spray painting The B’s logo sits above the Oakland A’s logo at Toronto’s Rogers Centre.
Winning helps, too. The B-Team’s first season has been impressive. The Pioneer League season consists of 96 games, divided into two halves, and ends on September 8. day starts.
“There’s a lot of value in having baseball in town,” Friedman said. “If Oakland wants to have baseball, it should have baseball.”
