Inside the Mind of a Sports Visionary: B.League Saga Ballooners President Tabata Opens Up on the Highs and Lows of Running a Pro Team
“The Saga Ballooners will be the catalyst that will contribute to Saga’s economic growth.”
Through the interview, we sensed “confidence” and “determination” from Saga Ballooners Co., Ltd. President and CEO Jutaro Tabata (hereinafter, Tabata). Behind this was his passionate thoughts about the future of regional cities and young people.
The establishment of a new arena and sales of 1.2 billion yen. What has the president of a team that has been growing rapidly in recent years been working on since taking office? We had the opportunity to hear from him about the management of a professional sports team, particularly building relationships with local governments, organizational structure, and human resource development.
SAGA Arena, home of the Saga Ballooners
Cities and regions don’t exist for basketball, but basketball exists to revitalize cities and regions.
–The Saga Ballooners seem to have received generous support from the local government, including the establishment of the arena. Is there anything you consider important when communicating with the local government?
Tabata)I communicate with city and prefecture assembly members and prefectural officials on a daily basis, but one thing I try to do is not to talk about my personal matters. For assembly members and prefectural officials, basketball is not something they are particularly interested in.The most appealing aspect is the “liveliness of the town,” and in other words, whether the people of the prefecture will be happy.The standard is how much support we can give to the local community. That’s why, rather than talking about basketball, we try to convey with great enthusiasm that “if we do this, the town and the local area will become more energetic.” Some people may think that the Saga Ballooners are in business to make a profit, but that’s not actually the case, and we have made it clear that we want to give back and invest any profits we make into the local community. Support from local governments means that we are using your tax money, so they won’t accept it just by saying “Please support us” or “Give us money.”
The other one is,I have many opportunities to speak with governors, members of the assembly, and bureau chiefs, but I try not to leave it at that level and instead try to have dialogue at the field level.In order to ensure that the Sports Promotion Division staff fully understands our purpose, we continue to explain to them “what is the meaning and passion behind our efforts” and “how these efforts will benefit the local community and the people of the prefecture.” By repeating this process, we believe it will become a sustainable activity that gets people moving.
-From the perspective of “talking on the ground,” have there ever been any instances where people on the ground actually talked to each other and implemented any measures?
Tabata)That’s exactly what we’re doing with the Saga City Tourism Department. We’ve introduced subsidies for hotel accommodation for the customers of opposing teams. It’s the idea behind sports tourism. This won’t dramatically change the team’s sales, but it will have an economic effect on the local area as more people come and spend more. Similarly, we want people who come to the arena for tourism to also come to the Balloon Festival, and we’re talking about transportation infrastructure, such as “Can we get a shuttle bus?” In addition, we’ve been having discussions since the brainstorming stage about things like “What if we made parking free to attract people into the city?”, so I feel like the feasibility is gradually increasing.
–I’ve heard that you often visit restaurants in the city. What is your intention behind that?
Tabata)I often try to visit restaurants in the town. Even if it’s just for a short while, I try to go to as many different places as possible. When people talk about the Saga Ballooners over drinks, it’s easy to spread the word because it’s a local town, and it also increases awareness and interest in the team. In that respect, I think it’s a very effective form of local marketing.
Sometimes the store staff will introduce me to customers, and I’ve actually had cases where I’ve signed sponsorship contracts through such encounters.
We are still not well known, which is why we think it is necessary to talk to people directly, let them understand what the club is thinking, and get them to support us.
–Are these hometown activities being carried out in the same way by other on-site staff besides Mr. Tabata? I was wondering if the ideas are enlightened and systematized, rather than being dependent on the individual.
Tabata)We’re not able to do that yet. Of course, the staff are slowly beginning to understand, but they’re still too focused on themselves, not the local government. In order to get funding, we create sponsorship proposal documents and say, “This is how much it costs…”, but instead, we need to start by listening carefully and understanding what role each department plays, how much budget is allocated to achieve that, and what that budget is currently being used for. Compared to the past, we’re getting better at this, but we still need a little more.
I also tell them to be careful about only using emails for communication or being uninformed. No matter how convenient this age is, subtle nuances are not conveyed, so hometown activities require direct visits to the sites. I went even when I had no business there (laughs). At first, they responded, “Oh, you’re here again,” but by continuing, they started to talk about the city’s issues and asked me for advice on revitalizing the city. When I go to talk about the Ballooners, I have nothing to talk about, but when I go to look for problems in the city, I have a lot to talk about. “That area is becoming a depopulated area,” or “That area around the station has become a hangout for high school students at night, so we need to take measures.” I hope that the Ballooners can find ways to help as an extension of that, and I think it would be good if other methods were to emerge. Since we are doing this to improve Saga, this is a natural action to take.
Saga Ballooners Co., Ltd. President Jutaro Tabata
Tabata)From the Ballooners’ point of view, the promotion to the Balloon Festival doesn’t bring in a single yen. But we exist because the local government is working hard. Our number one priority is to make the town lively, and as I’ve said many times before, not everyone is interested in basketball.
I want to bring the city back to the way it was before, full of people, and we need to strive to make it a sustainable area where businesses can continue to operate. If Ballooners is better than last year, the city needs to be better as well. That’s what I think.
If you don’t have a purpose for working, you won’t grow as a person.
–Next, I’d like to talk about organization building and training. I hear the number of employees has been increasing recently, but what do you think is important when building an organization?
Tabata)I don’t go into too much detail. I have no intention of telling them “do this, do that.” However, I do tell them that I want them to have a clear idea of ”why they are working.” In my case, it’s “for the community, for Saga.” Basically, people don’t grow if they don’t have a purpose.
For example, if you like basketball and want to be involved in it, you can work hard to a certain extent, but at some point you’ll run out of gas. This may be a common thread across all generations, but there aren’t many people who can give a clear answer as to why they work.
I can say that I do it because I love it and to make a living, but that’s not the case.If you have a goal or a will that you want to achieve in life, you will be able to continue and you will grow faster.For me it’s for the community, but I think anything is good.
–Since you became president, have there been any changes, including in the atmosphere of the organization?
Tabata)I think that has changed a lot. In the past, they would just stamp my seal on things and approve them without my permission. They would even order T-shirts without my permission. If they handed out T-shirts when only 600 people were attending, they would have ended up in the red. They were ignoring profit and loss when making decisions. That doesn’t work. Now, as is the norm, we appoint department heads, create a flow for approvals, and make the final decisions myself. I think we have established the minimum system that a normal company does.
Also, we are very strict about the standards we set for our operations. We don’t flatly reject things, but we’re an entertainment company, so we don’t want to do anything that isn’t interesting.
I want them to have a strong sense of commitment to each and every item, and I think it’s important that the children are excited about it, and that the person in charge really thinks it’s interesting.It’s about whether or not it’s just business. That’s something that will be directly conveyed to those watching.
So that young people can proudly say, “I’m from Saga Prefecture”
– Changing the subject a bit, what impact do you think having a professional sports team in a regional city has on society and its residents?
Tabata)I think it’s great to have a local sports team. It’s a part of identity, isn’t it? It’s a local identity, but I think children and residents will be happy to know that there is a team in their town, the Ballooners, in Saga. The team name includes “Saga.” We even made the call simple, “GOGO! SAGA!”
Living a normal life,You don’t shout “Saga!” over and over again, do you?The same goes for Saga. It’s not easy to say that Saga is the best, and I think most people would be embarrassed to say it out loud. But sports is a way to do that naturally.
As an aside, when I first moved to Tokyo, I hid the fact that I was from Saga. I was embarrassed about Saga, so I lied and said I was from Fukuoka (laughs). That’s how often people would ask me, “Where is Saga?” It’s not my original experience, but I want to create something in Saga that young people can be proud of. The Ballooners have that potential. Of course, Sagan Tosu does too.
I also believe that the economy will improve because of our presence.
After the game, everyone eats and drinks together. It’s not exactly tourism, but it’s important to have that kind of movement, and I want to spread the word that Kyushu has more to offer than just Fukuoka.
–Finally, I’d like to ask you. In your talk, you repeatedly used the phrase “for Saga.” What do you want to do with Saga and the Ballooners in the future?
Tabata)This is clear,First of all, to become number one in Japan in basketballI’ve been telling my staff that we want to be number one in Japan in four years.However, this is just a goal, and our real objective is to make the residents of the prefecture happy.
There aren’t many things that are number one in Japan in Saga Prefecture.By having the Ballooners become number one in Japan, locals can feel proud, and people who have moved away from Saga can proudly say, “I was born in Saga.”Just imagining that makes me happy.
To do that, the front office has to be strong. It’s not just the team, but the overall strength of the front office that can become number one in Japan. The Chiba Jets and the Ryukyu Golden Kings have a strong front office staff, and they also have a solid way of thinking. This creates a sustainably strong team, a team that can become number one in Japan. In the case of the Saga Ballooners, the axis of their strength is the common language of “to improve the region.”
If we only focus on the players, or only think about ourselves, or if everyone is doing something different, we will definitely fall apart. More and more people understand that we need to make the region better. Next, we need to develop staff who can show this through their actions. This applies not only to the business side, but also to the players. Regardless of whether they have a connection to the region or not, I want the players to have feelings for Saga, and I want them to understand that they are able to play basketball because of the community and boosters.
To that end, we communicate with each other, and that is the basis of team building. Some teams have a stance of not allowing players to participate in social activities, but that is absolutely not acceptable in Saga. This is because we believe that if we don’t do that at this local club, we won’t be able to go up.
-Thank you very much.