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(upbeat music) (inspirational music) - Welcome to Business Forward.

I'm your host, Matt George.

Joining me tonight, Bart Rogers.

Bart is the Owner and COO of the Peoria Rivermen Hockey Club.

This is gonna be a fun show.

Welcome, Bart.

- Thanks, Matt, for having me.

- Well, let's briefly talk about you.

So did you always, because back when I was younger and I still think I could be a general manager, you always, as a kid in sports, you've always had that dream.

Was that a dream of yours?

- I grew up in a athletic family.

My dad was a longtime high school basketball coach and golf coach and growing up around that, if I couldn't play it, which that was a dream always to be a professional athlete, if you couldn't do that, then the next best thing was to stay around it and be involved in it on the business side, which at the end of the day, I'm blessed to be where I'm at today.

- Isn't that crazy, though, that you actually, because at one time, I actually thought I was gonna be a pro tennis player.

And then, in college, I quickly realized that I was not going to be a pro tennis player.

And it's very in your face, right?

- Right.

- But you, to be able to take it to that next step and to fulfill that dream that very few, I'm talking less than 1%, get to the level of where you're at right now, that's pretty cool.

- Yeah, and I was the same way.

I actually went and played basketball at Eureka College for a year and after that I realized quick I wasn't gonna make the NBA so let's quickly get through school as fast as possible and get into the career that you want, which was sports, and a lot of people helped me along the way.

Just like any business, it's about relationships and finding those people with the ins.

And then sports, at the time when I got in, was really crazy, and it probably still is today.

But to find that help to get you to that unpaid internship, which I did here in 1992 from Mr. Saurs, and to see where I'm at today, 28, 30 years later, is pretty amazing.

- Well, I was gonna get to the history first and then talk about, but you mentioned something, relationships, and that mentoring piece you have to have in this business, like many businesses, but you have to have someone mentor you and kick open those doors for you.

I mean, was Bruce Saurs one of those guys?

- Oh, 100%, him, John Butler.

There's just a host of people that helped you get to that level where you're at and a lot of that is day-to-day operations, a lot of that is giving you enough rope to try things and fail and not fire you for that.

And Bruce, 100%, was just an incredible, incredible business person, just like Pete Vonachen in the sports side here of Peoria and when those people go, thankfully we're able to keep on his legacy currently today and we celebrated our 40th anniversary last year and we're one of the seventh continually, longest continuing operating Minor League hockey franchises in all North America, so it's pretty incredible story for Peoria.

- It's incredible and you mentioned Pete Vonachen and Bruce Saurs, I had Jason Mott on, but I've in talking to Rocky and knowing, I mean, you talk about very rarely does a town, especially a town our size, have two legends, and I'm talking legends.

- Yeah, and two great businessmen in the end.

I mean, that's what their business, the business that they made, Bruce was through the car dealerships, he was a high school coach and then got the opportunity one summer to be able to get into the car business and one thing that led to another and he became a magnet in regards to the car industry and that's what allowed him to help bail out the city when the hockey was gonna go by the wayside in the mid-'80s and he bought the franchise and one thing led to another and he wanted the best for Peoria.

Pete wanted the best for Peoria, which is why Dozer Park's there and those guys left their legacy here and it's for a lot of people like Jason Mott and Rocky and myself to make sure those legacies continue for those.

- Yeah, and if you think about, there is a responsibility there because you mentioned community and we talk about it on the show all the time, it's about community.

- It is, it is, this is a huge community asset, whether it's Bradley basketball or the Peoria Chiefs or the Peoria Zoo, whatever it is, assets are critical to the growth of our community and for sports, not many cities across America can say they have the assets that we have.

And again, it's definitely a blessing.

- It's so cool.

So the Rivermen, they were founded in 1982 and they were the Peoria Prancers.

Where did they come up with that name?

- I'm sure it was a guess the team type of contest or create the name of the team, but yeah, that didn't last very long.

There were a lot of, I think, challenges with the team didn't play very well in the early days.

Probably the logo didn't fit hockey and eventually it was changed over to the Rivermen.

It's been the Rivermen ever since and we've had a few logos here or there, but that consistency, like the business side, has been been there for decades.

- Well, I mean, you talk about a contest, it was with the Journal Star, Peoria Journal Star.

They had a contest to rename the Rivermen, to the Rivermen.

And so back in, I think it was '85, '84/'85, they won the Turner Cup at the time.

And now in '89, we're talking about Bruce Saurs, things changed and it really became, and it really I guess was cemented, the history moving forward, little did he know the legacy that we were talking about with him and Pete with the Chiefs that Bruce Saurs, he had that club for 15 plus years, almost 20 years.

And now, like you said, longest running hockey teams, is that just because they come and go and go to different cities or what?

- Yeah, come and go, different owners, people that wanna move the franchises, they go under.

I mean, there's just a host of things.

It's a very challenging business so the profit margins are very thin, becomes based upon day of the week and schedules and customers' experience and at the end of the day, most of those things we can control and we're very proud of how we treat our customers, how we treat our fans that come to the game and our partners and I think that's the longevity, that's something Bruce said is, "Always take care of those people," no matter if you're gonna lose some money on a deal, if you'd done something wrong, step up, admit it, move forward and those people appreciate that and I think that's the same commitment we make to this day to our franchise.

- And if you think about it too, in your business, you've got every game, every promotion, everything, those can fall flat and they do.

And some that you may not have a lot of confidence in actually are huge, right?

- Yeah, you never know.

It's the gift of the unknown.

One thing you you think is a home run, you spend a lot of marketing promoting it and like you said, it falls flat.

And the next thing is some interesting event that just takes off and is a boom.

- Let's talk about like the Hall of Fame for a second 'cause it's, I always love hometown teams and looking at all the people that have either played or coached in an organization.

And the time that I was, man, I was so like going to Rivermen games and there was that Trevor Baker and Jason Christie era and Tyler Rennette and all those guys, right, and everybody has like their favorite time.

And I would just remember going and there was Tony Twist at one time.

- [Bart] Chevy Chase, yeah.

- Yeah, isn't it amazing like when you look back and do you still have contact with a lot of these guys?

- Most of those guys we do and it's very interesting to see a lot of those guys.

You mentioned Jason Christie, he's the assistant coach for the Buffalo Saberes, Don Granato, who was his coach when we won the championship during that time is the head coach there.

When you talk about relationships, that's what it's all about.

Those people, you run through the wall for the guy and he remembers ya and you take care of him when he has that opportunity, whether that's athletic trainers, equipment managers, coaches, front office staff, players.

I mean, you make the commitment to our organization, you're going to the next level one way or the other.

- [Matt] Dennis Cyr.

- Dennis Cyr is another one.

- And now he's City Councilman here in Peoria and it's just so cool.

So, all right, this is what I couldn't wait to talk to you about, winning, right, so for the first time in 20 plus years, the Rivermen won their League, they won the championship.

So you go in and you go on the road.

You're playing Roanoke.

- [Bart] Yeah.

- And you end up winning the game 3/2.

Were you just like, as an owner, like how do you, how do you calm the nerves, are you just going nuts the whole game?

- Well, we'd won the first two games at home so it was a five-game series, so we could have won the series in game three and actually we probably played one of the worst games in the whole playoff, so you have a lot of second thoughts then, but you believe in the coach, you believe in our players and they came back, came from behind a game, came out game four behind, but battled back and got it to overtime and I told our staff who all went out there, I said, "If we can get it to overtime, we're gonna win this thing," and would did.

And it's great, I mean, I'm blessed with a experienced office staff.

Most of my staff have at least a decade experience working for our organization, some 15 years, and a lot of those guys had never won a championship.

Sports is, on the business side, is a lot of hours away from your family, but everyone has passion for the team, for our brand and for winning and to be able to see that.

I experienced one back in the Kelly Cup when you mentioned Jason Christie and Don Granato era, but to be able to have my staff and our coach, Jean-Guy Trudel, who's just put in his heart and soul to the front, to the hockey side of it to see, finally, just to be able to hoist that cup was awesome.

- Is there a downfall to winning because now the coach is marketable and now some of these players start moving up or is that just the business 'cause you love to, you want them to succeed?

- Yeah, that's just the business.

We've owned the franchise in this League for nine years and we're the winningest franchise in the entire League throughout those nine years so we made it to the championship four out of the five years and just couldn't get that break, just couldn't get over that hump and this year we finally got those breaks, which is one of the most challenging years because we had out every team at every level had issues, even fielding teams and immigration issues and coming off COVID and just getting sticks and everything that you are usually easy things to be able to operate your business with, every item was a challenge and to overcome that, it was an incredible feeling.

- Isn't that crazy that the supply chain issues affect sports.

People don't realize that, but in baseball, wood bats and hockey sticks and pucks and all the concessions.

- [Bart] Yeah.

- It was funny, I was talking to somebody and they didn't have peanuts at a baseball game and they said, "We couldn't get the peanuts."

I'm thinking to myself, "Are we joking right now?"

I mean, you know, and so- - And all the way down to us for housing, we have to house our players when they come here.

We were faced with that crunch in July with the housing crunch.

- [Matt] Oh my, I never even thought of that.

- You have to find 22 places for players to stay.

- [Matt] That is crazy.

- We ended up going to Airbnb route and ended up having some great partners that had some houses.

At every turn we were faced with the challenge, so making our 40th anniversary conclude winning that championship was definitely made it work, better than any championship we've ever had.

- I'm proud of you guys.

I mean, that is fun.

And let's talk community for a minute because I was talking to you before the show about here you've got the trophy and you take it around and think about all those kids that skate at Owens Center or are on hockey teams and they sit there and they go, "I could do this someday."

Think about the confidence that brings.

- To everybody.

- [Matt] To everybody.

- I think not only the Youth Hockey, which was great, but to our season ticket holders who stood behind us during COVID time.

At that time we were on the show here last year with Jason Mott.

I mean, we were talking about, we didn't even know if we were gonna get to the other side of this, let alone to be, and our fans stood behind us.

They had already paid for their tickets.

They moved it forward.

Our sponsors were the same way.

We came out of COVID on the business side greater than probably we were in 1920, and that's when we transpired because of our success.

- Now think about this and I know this to be true without you even verifying it, that has to do with the culture and the way you run your business because there is a trust and relationship.

It's no different than me and my business in nonprofit with the donors because we still had to do some fundraising and I said you just have, "Don't leave us now, we need you."

- Right and we had that same message and I tell my staff and that goes on all the way down the line is stick, you know, if you take care of people and you build a great relationship, whether that's your, the season ticket holder or the sponsor, in times of toughness, which our industry went through the toughest time we'll ever probably go through, those people will stand behind you.

Or if budgets need to be cut, you have that relationship with that business person or their corporate partner, you won't be cut, or you might be trimmed a little bit to get by the tough times, but stick with 'em.

- How does a player that plays for the Rivermen, how do they move up to that next level?

Are there other recruiters or other teams?

How does that work?

- It's interesting in baseball, there's the set Leagues, which we have the same levels.

Our levels in the Southern Professional Hockey League that we play in is the single A hockey, it's independent, which is great for the players, awful for our coach and sometimes our fans with all the up and down, but when you're an independent, those players that you have can go to any team at the next level, which there's 27 or 28 teams at the AA level.

So if a player is doing well, we don't just have the Cardinals or the Cubs calling to take that player, one team, we have 27, 28 teams trying to pick the best players off your team.

So the great thing with our coach is, players wanna come here, they wanna play for him, they know they're gonna get better and they know they're gonna get that opportunity.

So last year, we had players refusing call ups to stay here because they felt that camaraderie and that culture of getting better and they're young.

They can play here for a year and still be able to go work toward what they wanna be and we had four or five players already be signed to the next level for this upcoming year so that's what we're all about.

- And you worry too as an owner too and the older you get, you sit there and you go, "I love this.

I love seeing this guy succeed."

- I'm the same way with our office staff and our hockey ops, our trainers, like I mentioned, our equipment managers, all those guys have opportunities.

They do a good job for us, they're gonna be noticed because we're one of the top teams in Minor League Hockey, how we do things, I feel, and they're gonna get on, they're gonna get that opportunity to go to the next level, which it's proven.

- I like what you say and I've heard you talk about your team before your staff.

You always give credit to them and I think as an owner, it's important because especially in today's day and age with attrition and their people just saying, "I could go over here, I could go over here," to have that feel, but part of that field too has to do with a winning organization.

So if the Rivermen or the winningest organization the last nine years in the League, right, when you're going to those other places, it kind of feels good to be that guy.

- [Bart] Oh yeah.

- Because those other teams go, "Man, I can't stand the Rivermen or I can't."

- The best compliment I say when our team goes to another market is, "We're hated."

- [Matt] Yes.

- And we're the New York Yankees because we win and we have a, you know, we win on the ice, we're very successful, which that's a hard thing.

I mean, that part of the equation, just as I mentioned, with all the call ups and all the transitions of players, that's a hard thing to do, but we've got the best coach in Minor League Hockey doing that and he's committed to Peoria.

He's been here, he's played for the Rivermen.

He is a Hall of Famer and he controls, he has 100% control over that hockey side.

I don't dip into to that.

- Why would you?

- I've got my own challenges with the business side.

So anyway, it definitely, I give credit 'cause Bruce taught me something way back when when I first was given the job as the General Manager or President of the team when he owned the franchise was surround yourself with the best people out there.

Too many business people don't want those top people working under them, fear of their ego and fear of possibly taking the job, but he goes, "The easiest thing you can do is surround yourself with the best people imaginable."

And I definitely have that both on our business side and the hockey side and they're experienced.

I mean, that doesn't come on a cheaper, we could definitely do that on a cheaper basis and bring young people in and filter 'em in, but we don't grow the plan, we don't grow our season ticket base, we don't grow our business and that side of it will suffer.

So just like during COVID, we had to make that decision.

We were out for 18 months, but we had to make the decision of do we have to lay people off?

We don't know.

We have no idea what this future is and our ownership group made the commitment that, these people, it's not their fault.

They have been with us for decades and when we get to the other side, if we have to come out of this with an all-green workforce because our employees went to another company, we're gonna be 10 times worse than where we were so we made the commitment to take care of those employees 100%, paid them all the way through COVID, even though there was nothing for any of us to do but wait.

And because of that, we were able to come out of it.

But I don't think if we wouldn't have done that, it would've been very challenging on our bottom line or our financial statement.

- Yeah, I mean, I've known you for a while and that's the one thing I've always given you respect for is that you take care of your team and that's all that matters.

- [Bart] Yeah, I appreciate it.

- Let's talk about the business for a second.

So COO, that's operations, right?

And so, I mean, you're in charge of everything.

So as an owner, you're sitting here going, "Okay, it's ticket sales, it's suite leases, it's sponsorships, it's groups, it's you name it, right?

What is the toughest thing to do?

Is the toughest thing to do is to coordinate all that?

Or is there just one or two outliers that you just always keep you up at night?

- Yeah, that's a good question.

I mean, I think it's always wanted to, I think the biggest thing this day and age, and in 1920 it probably was different things, but it's the unknown, I mean, there's just so many unknowns that you walk into the day with that have never been there before and you have to overcome maybe inflation in the business side and what we're going through now, but it's the unknowns that pop up that know you, you better work on the fly and make sure that you can make the decisions quickly.

So that's probably the biggest challenge is just sometimes not having, we don't have the staff that we need to, but we're coming out of a tough time.

So hopefully we can have another good year, continue to ramp that up and make the commitment to growing the business even more, but I think it's the unknown, it's just a, it's a challenging time and it's probably still gonna be challenging for many years forward for our industry for what we went through.

- I always say, like most people don't realize, you have HR issues, you have accounting issues, you have to have an audit, you have all the, you're a business.

People just that are fans, all they're there for is the sport, but they don't understand really what goes on.

I think that's one of the reasons why I wanted to have you on is to, it's no different than any other small business and I think that's what you're talking about, getting those people in there, keeping those people.

That's what you hear from CEO of a fortune 500 company.

And I think that's a pretty good comparison there.

So what's the hardest thing about your job?

- Good question.

I don't really think there's anything that's really hard.

I've done it for so long.

Again, and we've had an experienced staff.

We know what to do.

It's just the changes of how we're doing things probably is the biggest thing.

Advertising, how that has changed in the last four or five years is just incredible and it's still a moving part every year.

You're like, "I need to change how we're doing things," 'cause social media and traditional market and traditional advertising has kind of gone by the wayside, but I've done it for so long, I don't wanna get rid of that, I don't wanna cut that back.

So I think advertising is probably the biggest challenge.

How you get your word out?

How you get people to know about the brand?

How do you get the games that are being played?

There probably is no right or wrong way, but that's probably one of the biggest challenges for me on a daily basis.

Again, the staff, they're very passionate about our brand.

They're there, they've been there for a long time.

We all know what to do.

Maybe getting set in the way you do things.

That's sometimes, you know, when we've all done it for so long, we're used to doing it this way and to maybe get out of that shell and do something a little bit different is another challenge that we need to hit head on moving forward.

- So since you own the team, do you happen to have to report to anybody or do you have a board or how does that work?

- So we, when we purchased the team in 2013, when the Blues left, we had an ownership group of five people, Mr. Saurs being one, myself and three other individuals.

We had a group.

In 2017, we sold the majority of share of that to a company called CSH International out of Canada, Mr. Yuill, who owns a lot of different sports franchises.

So they're the majority owner, I'm the minority owner.

I do have a president of our whole entire corporation.

I'm on our corporation that I report to.

But again, we do things correctly.

We do things the right way.

We do have budgets.

We do have strategic plans that we present, but I'm pretty much allowed to do what I have to do, but they're a great resource for help anytime we need it.

- Well, that's what I was wondering.

You took my next question.

So you do have to put together a bunch of strategic plans.

It's a business.

- Even though it changes, depending on different aspects of the way the organization runs and travel and how many home games you have compared to what you actually thought you were gonna get, those things change, but if you don't know how to do a business plan, you don't do a strategic plan, a marketing plan, I mean, you probably won't be in business very long.

- When you win a championship, did you have like that surreal moment where you sat there and said, "This is what community's about?"

- Oh yeah, I mean, you mentioned taking the cup around.

I mean, to be able to see every day, we're usually, that cup's two to four places, whether it's sponsors or parties or whatever, and to see people excited to have that cup.

I mean, that is what it's all about.

That is, that's why our fans come to the game.

That's why our season ticket holders by season tickets with.

That's why sponsors sponsor with the team.

People don't wanna be around the losing team.

I mean, I pride myself, I'm always a sports guy.

I mean I always pounded to win.

Our coach.

- [Matt] Your coach.

It's tenfold win, I mean, even if you don't have that same passion and mentality to get better, you will not be here and that's a great thing that why we are independent is, if a player doesn't have that, he's gone the next day, where if you are affiliated, that guy might be here the whole year that you're having to deal with, so we're able to move those parts along and again, this is a community team and it's a community asset and when you win, it's definitely a community win.

- I was talking to Ozzie Smith one time.

I had him in for an event and he said, "No one that's ever gotten to a Hall of Fame has ever not been competitive."

So that's your coach, my point on that.

Oh, that's great.

So I was thinking about the sponsorship side 'cause we're gonna wrap up here in a second, but I need to talk about this for a second.

You get sponsors in there and you've got people out of town and they're coming in, your job is to create memories.

- [Bart] Correct.

- I mean, is that spot on?

- And no matter if it's for that casual fan or for the sponsor or for the season ticket holder, it's to come here, it's to come for 2 1/2 hours, drop all the problems that you have in the world and have fun and part of that is to entertain those guys.

Winning is one thing and entertaining is definitely a part of the equation.

- Well, Bart, thank you for coming on.

- [Bart] Thanks Matt.

- Peoria Rivermen champions.

That's awesome, I'm Matt George, another episode of Business Forward.

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