Royals owner John Sherman wants fans at The K. He discusses this, KC’s payroll and more
John Sherman wants fans at Kauffman Stadium, and the Royals have a plan to make that happen.
“It’s well thought out and follows CDC guidelines,” Sherman said. “Whether or not we get to implement that plan, it’s really not in our control. But we’d love to have fans back here at The K. We’ve got to do it in a way that protects their health and safety and makes sure they are comfortable.”
The Kansas City Royals’ chairman and CEO described the plan during a wide-ranging conversation this week that touched on baseball’s return to play, the Royals’ stance on Black Lives Matter and social-justice efforts, his level of commitment to spending on payroll and Patrick Mahomes’ recent purchase of a share of the team.
Sherman described the plan generally: fans distanced while entering and exiting the ballpark, spectators spread out through the stands and measures to ensure access to concessions and bathrooms.
Capacity would be similar in percentage to the 14-percent-of-capacity plan announced recently by Sporting Kansas City for games at Children’s Mercy Park, which would be about 5,300 people at Kauffman Stadium. The decision will be MLB commissioner Rob Manfred’s, made in conjunction with public health officials.
“Fans are telling us they want to come back,” Sherman said. “So if we can do it for them and keep them safe, we’d like to do that.”
Sherman was not heavily involved in the return-to-play negotiations between MLB owners and players, but he regrets how that played out: “We need to do better.”
He expressed pride in how the sport has operated since, however, with the obvious caveat of the problems with COVID cases seen by the Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals.
Sherman’s distinction is that the shutdowns that followed outbreaks on those two clubs were because of breach of protocol, rather than failures of that protocol. That’s certainly true with the Marlins, where a group of players went to a bar and contracted the virus.
It’s less clear with the Cardinals, who last played on July 29, but either way Sherman pointed to baseball tightening its safety measures with hopes of ensuring a full season.
“Bottom line is (I’m) really proud of the way that MLB got back on the field as the only major sports league not doing this in a bubble,” he said. “We’d like to think we could be a good example of how to go back to work safely.”
Sherman talks often about “civic responsibility.” He brings up that term unprompted, and expands upon it when asked.
He said he operated his businesses with civic responsibility in mind — “if you’re going to operate and build a business in a community then find ways to make that community better” — and feels an additional duty with the reach and popularity of a Major League Baseball team.
The world has drastically changed since Sherman’s group officially purchased the Royals in November, of course. He said experience of starting a business less than two weeks before the Sept. 11 attacks and navigating a public company through the Great Recession have helped guide his thinking with the Royals now.
“You want to be decisive, but you also want to be thoughtful,” he said. “You don’t want to under-react, but you don’t want to overreact. I think the main thing is not to panic.”
He also has personal experience and interests guiding him as sports’ role in social issues has grown.
The line between social action and civic responsibility can be blurry and is viewed differently by different people. But the Royals created a fund to provide assistance after the lockdown, have partnered with sponsors on various efforts and funded thousands of meals through Harvesters.
They also had food-delivery events at both Kauffman Stadium and the Urban Youth Academy.
“Those are things that should be expected of us,” he said. “But I was really impressed by how the organization responded even though we had challenges of our own to deal with.”
Sherman has long been among Kansas City’s most prolific philanthropists, with a heavy focus on education in underserved areas.
There is some harmony there with the general embrace from many teams and leagues toward social justice and Black Lives Matter. Sherman said the focus has been on supporting the right of players and other employees to express themselves and listening to those with different life experiences.
“I think we’re trying to be consistent in our messaging,” he said. “That we believe in racial justice and racial equity and I think have people in our organization that have particular views and we want to be supportive of those people.”
Sherman’s newest and most famous ownership partner has been heavily involved with social justice. Mahomes’ investment was announced a few weeks ago, and on a recent video call he said he was motivated by a love for baseball and desire to invest in Kansas City.
Mahomes did not buy part of a particular investor’s share, but rather became an additional investor.
“He made a cash investment in Royal Blue Equity just like the rest of us,” Sherman said.
Sherman said he hoped the partnership would prove to be mutually beneficial. Mahomes is a world-class athlete with broad success and reach, and players will presumably be interested in sharing and learning from him. Mahomes will be associated with a highly successful and influential group of Kansas Citians, with the opportunity to learn more about the business of sports.
“It has to be for the right reasons for him,” Sherman said. “That’s what impressed me about him. He loves the game of baseball. He’s committing to Kansas City on a long-term basis.”
These are the issues of the moment, but Sherman also knows that, to most fans, the success or failure of his group will be determined by the success or failure of the baseball team.
Baseball’s financial structure means it’s more difficult to win in Kansas City than New York, so it’s up to small-money teams to get creative.
The Royals’ recent history is defined largely by peaks and valleys. They finished last or next-to-last in the AL Central every year from 2004 to 2011, then won two pennants and a World Series in 2014 and 2015, and then lost 207 games the last two seasons.
Sherman is prioritizing sustainability, which is what everyone likes to say but also requires a heightened level of efficiency from baseball operations and spending from ownership.
He has personal experience as a minority investor in the Cleveland Indians before purchasing the Royals. The Indians added Andrew Miller at the 2016 trade deadline and then gave Edwin Encarnacion the biggest free-agent contract in franchise history before the 2017 season to bolster a winner.
But spending has limits, too. Cleveland has won the most games in the American League since 2013, with the Yankees second. The Indians have spent an average of $101.5 million less than the Yankees over those years, using USA Today’s database.
Two things can be true at the same time, then. Sherman’s group should be prepared to spend more than Glass did for sustainability — Lorenzo Cain and Eric Hosmer can’t leave through free agency in the same winter, for instance — but the baseball operations staff must also produce consistent talent.
“It’s kind of situational,” Sherman said. “It’s hard to really predict what it will take to make sure we can compete. But I would say that we want to do all of those things, and then we’re going to commit to spending the money when it’s the right time when we can compete for championships.
“That’s the objective, and it’s really important that we’re measuring our progress toward those goals.”
This is a time of drastic change for the Royals, even with one of baseball’s most stable front offices. Manager Mike Matheny is much more analytically driven with lineup construction, defensive positioning and bullpen usage when compared to Ned Yost.
And Sherman’s directives are different than Glass’. This continues to be an interesting dynamic. Glass and Moore were extremely close. Glass could’ve easily fired Moore in 2012, but didn’t. Moore could’ve taken the Atlanta Braves job in 2014, but stayed.
Sherman and Moore have known each other for some time and express mutual respect. Sherman took Moore’s direction on retaining and paying the organization’s minor-leaguers this year, for instance, and is supporting established efforts to improve in areas like performance and behavioral science.
But relationships take time to build. This one is just beginning.
“In terms of measuring progress, I just think we have to be better,” Sherman said. “We have to show we’re getting better in all areas. There’s lots of ways to measure that. Wins and losses are one of the ways, but there’s lots of other ways to measure that as well.”