How to Manage a Baseball Team, from an Administrative Point of View

By Frankie Wallace
Updated: January 6, 2020

As we sit watching our favorite team play, whether it be in the stands or from the comfort of our own homes, it can be hard to focus on much else aside from the next pitch. But believe it or not, you are noticing a lot of other things about the teams playing. Things like how their uniforms look and how unkempt the stadium is. All of these little things play into the larger experience.

It can be difficult to think much of all of the small things, but keeping up on them can be a full-time job. More often than not, day-to-day tasks and business management objectives are left to sports administrators. People within these roles have more than likely impacted your life as a fan far more than you can imagine.

Sports administrators wear many hats, and their roles vary depending upon the size and organization of the team they are working for. For instance, a sports administration professional may be in charge of things such as:

Public outreach as response to media questions.
Working with administrative systems to manage information databases.
Collaborative work with outside organizations.
Managing budgets and sponsorship.
Developing player contracts and negotiations during trades.
Team branding and marketing.
Ensuring legal protections and liability management.

The list is extensive, but here are a few ways that sports administrators may impact the way you experience the game.

Legal Protection

Regardless of whether you’re watching teams on the Major League field or playing on them as part of a local recreational team, someone is working behind the scenes to protect the establishment from any legal issues that may crop up. For example, things like a crazy fan who decides to run across the field or a stray foul ball that manages to bust a windshield in the parking lot. Often times, handling potential legal issues falls into the realm of the sports administrator.

Your favorite team or recreation department likely has some sort of liability insurance that will help to protect them from the unexpected accidents that may be experienced by fans. For some major organizations, dealing with legal issues could be a full-time job. For others, it might be more of an occasional thing that has to be dealt with.

Chances are, the sports administration is also going to be one of the people you speak with should some unexpected accident happen to you such as getting hit with a pop fly into the stands. Communication skills are one of the most important aspects of the job, overall. This is especially true when your job description could have you dealing with upset fans in the morning, marketing companies in the afternoon, and organizing team training sessions before heading home for the day.

Branding and Marketing

In many parts of the sports industry, the sports administrator is also likely to be involved with the majority of the branding and marketing you see. This covers nearly everything from the jerseys your team wears to the types of fan gear available, to the special promotions that go on to attract fans to big-ticket games. In the modern era, it can even cover the use of artificial intelligence to change the way fans interact with the game.

If your team has recently gone through a major branding change, you can almost bet a sports administrator was involved in executing the plans. For instance, when it comes time to update the team’s color scheme or repaint the dugouts and other brightly colored stadium locations, the sports administrator likely organized the painting contracts, color and design, and budgeting for the improvements.

They were also likely deeply involved in the marketing of the new updates in an attempt to keep fans excited about the changes rather than annoyed. This type of mar keting and branding change was probably planned months prior to its implementation. The person in charge needed to build up hype through all channels including social media, radio, and athlete interviews to encourage fans to remain loyal to the brand.

Budget Management

Some of us may consider it one of the least fun tasks when it comes to anything in life, but budget management is an essential part of being successful. The same is true in baseball and the sports industry in general. Often these tasks will also fall under the realm of the sports administrator.

Everything from travel and uniform costs to negotiating trades and contract deals could feasibly fall under the management of a sports administrator. They are responsible for keeping everything up and running and in working order. Obviously, in a bigger organization, there will likely be a designated team of people that handle budget objectives and nothing else.

Sports administrators may even be in a position to recommend cheaper alternatives to baseball managers. For example, using now-common things like statistics to recruit players or up-and-coming technologies such as artificial intelligence in baseball can actually save or earn teams a lot of money. Managers who take this advice and use it correctly stand to gain a lot.

Chances are, sports administrators can substantially influence the way you view the game of baseball. Whether it is legal protection of the team from weird accidents, marketing and branding for stadium updates, or saving money and budgeting by using new technologies, a sports administrator probably had some hand in it. There’s a lot going on behind the scenes to make every inning a fun one to watch!