The Twins Are Killing Their Brand, and It's Brutal to Watch

[Nick Nelson]

With baffling decisions and tone-deaf messaging, the Twins continue to alienate their audience at a crucial moment of opportunity. Despite their best efforts, the organization's leadership cannot escape culpability in this fan-infuriating fiasco. You have to wonder where everything went so wrong.

Image courtesy of Theo Tollefson

When Joe Pohlad took over as the new figurehead for ownership during the 2022-23 offseason, he talked a big game, with the organization positioning him as a bold leader who would usher in a bright new era of prestige for the Minnesota Twins brand. He seemed ready to back it up.

As the third-generation Pohlad settled into his new title and role, Minnesota's payroll rose to unprecedented heights, fueled in large part by the paradigm-shattering Carlos Correa signing. Meanwhile, the Twins were unveiling an ambitious and comprehensive rebrand, while also teasing big upgrades to Target Field, including a $30-million scoreboard expansion. 

The message at the time was that the Twins were only getting started. "While he didn’t mention a specific number, Pohlad didn’t hesitate to suggest the Twins could increase payroll significantly if everything was properly aligned," wrote Dan Hayes in The Athletic at the time. In the article, Pohlad did not rule out the possibility of payroll eventually climbing into the $180-200 million range, putting Minnesota into another class of resource availability and market legitimacy.

In the ensuing 2023 season, a slow start stifled enthusiasm around the team, but things progressed brilliantly after the All-Star break, as the Twins rallied to a division title and snapped a two-decade postseason curse before a packed house at Target Field. 

As luck would have it, their TV contract with the much-maligned Diamond Sports Group was reaching an end, making the Twins free agents in the broadcast arena, free to shop their rights around or bring them under their own umbrella. Team officials crowed about the opportunity to expand reach and access throughout Twins Territory, while also publicly promising to end blackouts.

Here's a quick recap of all that's happened since the Twins were eliminated from the playoffs by Houston last year:

• Derek Falvey openly stated the team's intention to substantially reduce spending, just days after one of the most exciting breakthroughs in the franchise's modern history, driven by a record payroll.
• The Twins followed through on this declaration to the extreme, slashing payroll by a whopping $35 million to drop into the bottom third of the league.
• At the same time, they ended up signing on for another year with Diamond Sports, in a decision clearly and solely motivated by money, rendering false and hollow their talk about fan access being the priority.

You can throw in some other questionable courses of action – e.g. unceremoniously parting ways with Dick Bremer in a manner that struck many as cold – but those are the big ones, from my view. Especially in tandem. Slashing payroll and pocketing the TV money (while sticking with a broadcast situation that the team already acknowledged as a raw deal for their fans) really felt to a lot of people like a middle finger extended in their direction, rather than an open hand of welcome. Who could blame them?

Now, it's gotten even worse. Last week, without any warning, Bally Sports North and other Diamond Sports RSNs went dark for Comcast and Xfinity customers, as the two sides evidently failed to reach agreement ahead of a May 1 deadline. Two huge, greedy, despised companies at war. As a byproduct, a massive share of the Twins' already-restricted audience lost their means of watching them.

In light of all those lofty proclamations about the vital importance of making their product available to a larger audience, the emergence of new barriers for willing, would-be paying customers to watch this baseball team almost feels like some kind of sick joke. Those proclamations were savvy, and correct! Yet, the Twins have betrayed these supposed beliefs in their every action, and they now find themselves embroiled in a disaster of their own making, damaging their brand in ways that are difficult to overstate.

Yes, someone like me can find an alternative. I did. I canceled my Xfinity subscription over the weekend and I'm now on board with Fubo TV, which seems fine. But the Twins were never at risk of losing me. They're at risk of losing people who lack the means to find a new solution, or who are so fed up with all this garbage that they don't even try to do so. 

I think of restaurants and sports bars, which – I can say from experience – were already liable to have whatever out-of-market NBA or NHL game happened to be available on TV instead of the Twins, even when the broadcasts were easier to access. I think of people like my parents, who are big Twins fans but also longtime cable subscribers, and unlikely to make some drastic change over this. Guess they'll just dial back their investment.

I think of stories like the one below, from a Twitter acquaintance whose 87-year-old grandpa now suddenly has to figure out how he can watch the team at his assisted living community. It's sad. 

These are all missed opportunities at best, and flagrant brand-building blunders at worst. Although I am one, it doesn't take a marketing professional to understand the dire long-term implications of this sort of audience gatekeeping, especially in a local market where competition for sports fans is fierce: The Timberwolves are making a thrilling postseason run, and the Vikings just drafted their quarterback of the future.

Look, I'm not unearthing any secret, groundbreaking revelations here. And that's where I end up utterly confused. Joe Pohlad is renowned for, as much as anything, his brand-building chops. His previous work in taking over Go Media was largely tied to this strength, despite business failures, even in his own words. "Go had a ton of successes in my opinion on the brand side. But the failures came from the business standpoint, from pivoting," Pohlad said in the aforementioned Hayes article. 

Well, from a business standpoint, the Twins need to pivot. Clearly. They're fumbling that right now. But at the very least, they can get their situation straight from a messaging and branding standpoint. Your fans, and potential future fans, are everything. Stop antagonizing them! Is this billable business advice? Should I be charging?

Whatever advice this organization's leadership is receiving now, it doesn't seem very good. I'm not sure who felt that an out-of-touch shrug the shoulders ¯_(ツ)_/¯ would be received well as the team's spin on this Bally Sports travesty. "No role or voice in this matter"? Get real. Treating your audience as expendable is one thing; treating them as idiots is another.

I'm writing this not because I'm calling for heads to roll, or even because I want to single out any specific person for the complete debacle that has unfolded with this franchise. Joe Pohlad, Dave St. Peter, I don't care. Someone's gotta step up and mitigate the brand damage.

Notably, whoever is going to play a role in turning around this wayward ship, it won't be Meka Morris. Hired in 2021 as the organization's first-ever Chief Revenue Officer, and described by Forbes in a glowing feature last summer as "the woman in charge of selling [the Twins'] appeal," Morris quietly exited recently, taking a job in March as EVP/Revenue & Chief Business Officer (essentially the same title) for the Chicago Bears.

I'm not going to speculate on the reasons behind the departure of this executive who was seemingly viewed as a rising star. As far as I can tell, neither side has commented on the split publicly. But at the very least, it's yet another glaring example of the bright and confident vision laid out for this organization just a few years ago going by the wayside. Revenues are dropping, payroll is dropping, fans are pissed off, and everyone seems completely clueless and reactive in the way they're responding and communicating about it.

It's a real shame, at a time where the Twins should be capitalizing on all the excellent work this front office and this coaching staff and these players have done to generate energy and excitement. They deserve better.

We all deserve better. It's time for the Minnesota Twins – their ownership, their business side – to do better. Or find somebody who can.

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[Karbo]

I have DirecTV so I haven't been affected, at least not yet. I am a retired, partially disabled, die hard Twins fan, and I would be lost if I couldn't watch them (and the Wild) most nights. Ownership must step up if they want to build the bran. Players are doing what they can, competing for another title so lets not waste the progress!

[Linus]

Thanks for writing this Nick - it had to be said. Obviously I have no idea what ownership thinks on this subject but it feels like there is a disconnect in their understanding of their customers. My mother in law has always been a big Twins fan. She hasn’t been able to watch them for several years so she’s moved on. Doesn’t follow them doesn’t go to games anymore etc.  My guess is this is happening in large numbers across Twins territory. 

[CRF]

I'm certainly no fan of the way the Twins ownership and front office have been operating, but this is the way it currently is. I don't always agree with what they've done as far as the players, or what they've done as far as the tv situation.  I'm paying through the nose for Charter/Spectrum...mainly to get the Twins games, and a couple other channels that my wife and I watch pretty regularly. I'd have no problem dropping cable, if I could get what I want elsewhere, but the services available to me always are missing one or two specific channels that I want. So, I'm stuck with cable...for now.  I wish the Twins would figure out a viable plan for viewers, so I could figure out a plan for what I want to do. 

[terrydactyls]

I am someone who lives 1500 miles from the Twins Cities and has no direct connection to the TV fiasco.  But I am a Twins fan and have been since Pedro Ramos took the mound on opening day 1961.  And I do have a strong opinion on the budget cutting enacted by the front office.  It is my opinion that the Twins should have taken advantage of the almost league wide payroll hesitancy to step up, buck the trend, and invest in an even better product for the 2024 season.  For a product valued at roughly $1.4 billion dollars (and ownership valued at an additional $1B), there isn't any reason why another $30M could not have been added to the payroll.  Instead of fueling the enthusiasm, the Twins figuratively dowsed it in cold water.  To me, the Twins payroll cut was a total disaster that should have been avoided.

[Schmoeman5]

Great article. I for 1 have advocated for the Twins organization to be trailblazers. It looks like they started to make headway and suddenly got lost. But fans are generally forgiving. I have wondered about this TV debacle. Am I way off in thinking, why don't the Twins start their own network? 

[Doctor Gast]

I'm with you Nick in your concern over the future of the Twins or even baseball in general in MN. It's heart-wrenching to see what's happening. The Twins need to attract & make available the Twins to the public. I'd love the Pohlads to give Bally the boot & walk away. Since I'm not experienced on the business level so it's hard for me to blame the Pohlads, especially growing up with the Griffiths. I love them going out, extending Buxton & signing Correa. What is done is done, is there anything that can be done now to resolve the problem? Besides the maybe stadium promotions & promote Bally alternatives.

Pohlads are invested in the Twins, I don't think they'll sell. Would they be open to bring in partners? To forego the Bally's black-outs & incompetence. 

[Riverbrian]

They signed a one year deal with a media company/regional sports network that COULDN'T GAURENTEE REGIONAL coverage because of an expiring deal with the largest cable television provider in that limited REGION... also a company under bankruptcy proceedings using an outdated delivery system that demands exclusivity to restrict access. 

 

[Patzky]

14 minutes ago, Schmoeman5 said:

Great article. I for 1 have advocated for the Twins organization to be trailblazers. It looks like they started to make headway and suddenly got lost. But fans are generally forgiving. I have wondered about this TV debacle. Am I way off in thinking, why don't the Twins start their own network? 

I'll have to read more but l spotted something yesterday about Chicago teams getting on their own dedicated network.. assumed it's the Bulls Hawks and Sox. 

 

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2024/05/06/chicago-blackhawks-bulls-white-sox-standard-media-group/

[Doctor Gast]

39 minutes ago, Karbo said:

I have DirecTV so I haven't been affected, at least not yet. I am a retired, partially disabled, die hard Twins fan, and I would be lost if I couldn't watch them (and the Wild) most nights. Ownership must step up if they want to build the bran. Players are doing what they can, competing for another title so lets not waste the progress!

Yeah, Karbo, bran is very important for fans our age. You gave me a good laugh, thanks

[tony&rodney]

Comcast is no longer sending any money to Bally for Twins broadcast. Is that correct? How will Bally make money and meet deadlines for paying the Twins per their contract? I'm lost on this. It seems like Bally will eventually (July?) cease any payments to the Twins. Admittedly, my knowledge of the contracts, payment dates, and other details are missing, but this all seems like a repeat of the debacle Bally began last season.

To be clear, I'm not weighing in on the budget. Despite my abhorrence of the deals last offseason, I did feel a payroll of $110-120 million was not going to doom the team if sound roster/trades were completed. My question is what happens when Bally tanks and cannot pay the Twins? Will people be surprised?

I do agree that the loss of access to the Twins via television can only hurt their brand. I have no idea how much. 

[Riverbrian]

They need total control of their product if they want to expand the reach and increase the number of consumers of their product. 

[Riverbrian]

9 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

Comcast is no longer sending any money to Bally for Twins broadcast. Is that correct? How will Bally make money and meet deadlines for paying the Twins per their contract? I'm lost on this. It seems like Bally will eventually (July?) cease any payments to the Twins. Admittedly, my knowledge of the contracts, payment dates, and other details are missing, but this all seems like a repeat of the debacle Bally began last season.

To be clear, I'm not weighing in on the budget. Despite my abhorrence of the deals last offseason, I did feel a payroll of $110-120 million was not going to doom the team if sound roster/trades were completed. My question is what happens when Bally tanks and cannot pay the Twins? Will people be surprised?

I do agree that the loss of access to the Twins via television can only hurt their brand. I have no idea how much. 

Diamond Sports Group is having this issue with 12 different teams to varying degrees of Comcast percentages of households. 

What happens with the advertising contracts? They all have a different value now and decrease in value the longer this drags out.  

When the Twins go to the mail box looking for the check... It can't be good news but I don't know how this Bankruptcy stuff works. Hopefully someone can shed some light.  

[wabene]

Inexplicable, confounding, curious. A large, profitable operation that appears to be self-sabotaging. DSP lost my confidence years ago, but Joe began his tenure with some excitement and promise. It appeared the Twins had a new leader that was interested in baseball. A great new beginning, but now this. What happened? I don't get it.

[DJL44]

5 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

What happens with the advertising contracts? They all have a different value now and decrease in value the longer this drags out.  

This has to be absolutely killing their in-stadium advertising sales revenue. "Advertise with us and a few people who use DirectTV will see it!"

Quote

Diamond Sports Group is having this issue with 12 different teams to varying degrees of Comcast percentages of households. 

Yes, and Comcast has all of the leverage. It probably benefits Comcast to crush Diamond Sports and make them go away completely. Comcast is not just a customer, they are a competitor with their own regional sports channels. Eliminating Diamond Sports would make MLB more likely to take Comcast's terms to stream games on Peacock or partner with them on regional sports networks.

[USAFChief]

A brutally bad offseason, no doubt. Announcing a payroll slash days after winning your first postseason series in 2 decades might be the worst marketing decision since new Coke. Letting your CY Award runnerup leave without even a handshake, much less any attempt to keep him, or at least replace him...not going to play well. 

14384 announced attendance at Target Field last night, and there were nowhere near that many actually there. Sometimes you get to lie in the bed you made.

 

[Tired MN Fan]

This is all so disappointing and frustrating to watch unfold.  I've been a diehard Twins fan for over 40 years and remember the days of watching quite a few of their games over the air on Channel 9 with my dad.  On a very limited budget, he never would have would have dropped a dime for paid television.  In fact, we watched on a 9-inch black and white television.  In spite of the antiquated viewing option, I fell in love with the Twins and the sport.  I will never forget the time that my dad won free Twins tickets in 1984.  The first time that I walked through the cement hall and caught a glimpse of the white dome, blue baggy in right field, and bright green turf, it took my breath away.  

Fast forward to today, I am still a diehard fan but the circumstances have changed.  The wonder and awe of Target Field and the television experience are almost entirely gone.  Also gone are the "Knothole Days" where a parent could buy an inexpensive ticket and get four more youth tickets for free.  Most of my days during the baseball season involve work and then coaching.  As a high school baseball coach, I wish the kids that I coach had the same opportunity to observe the Twins in the manner that I did.  Free, over the air, and not a money grab.    

I was able to attend the MN HS Baseball Coaches Association seminar at Target Field this past January.  The seminar was amazing with guest speakers, great food, and an all-around great weekend.  The weekend wrapped up with a Q&A with Derek Falvey.  Some of the questions revolved around the television issue.  Falvey spoke with great optimism and borderline promises.  To summarize from memory, he said the details would be announced soon and fans are going to be happy with the options for 2024.  I do not fault Falvey for this statement as he was likely just passing along information.  

Whoever is to blame for this mess should be shown the door.  If it's ownership, I do not know how that happens aside from not buying their product.  Ownership is doing a great job of jump-starting that movement on their own.  I would imagine that ownership sees limited television access as a path toward more attendance.  In my experience, limited access will lead to a much more negative outcome than any positive bump in attendance.   

[Rod Carews Birthday]

Great article Nick!  I find it truly amazing that the billionaire owners of a baseball team take the most conservative approach.  Bally contract done -- chance to really try something different but having to take a few short term chances for some long term gain -- nope, we'd rather have this dying bird in the hand for sure $$$ and long term harm.  Argh!

[farmerguychris]

I'm confused about how the team is managing their money.  For years they didn't appear to be spending the traditional 50% of revenue on payroll, but now they claim the want to 'right size' the budget - that indicates they are losing money.  Does that mean they are so poorly running finances of the rest of the organization that they can't 'keep their doors open' on the non-payroll revenues?   This comes down to Dave St. Peter as he's responsible for the business end of the team - not the on-field product.  

I understood they took a short term Bally's deal in hopes of getting something better as a larger group of teams whose Bally contract is expiring at the end of this year.  BUT - they knew their contract was almost up a year ago.   Why wait until it was up to try and find a new solution for the 2024 season?  Maybe they didn't, but it appears they had to sign a short term contract as a result of poor advance planning.  

I'm fortunate that I prefer listening to games on the radio - so this doesn't impact me as much as others, but it does show that while I think the on-field portion of the leadership team is doing their job, the business end has to do better.  

Example - They appear to be short on money.  Then why are they one of the few teams with no ads on their jerseys?  I don't care for them, but I'm sure some company would be willing to pay them something for a patch on their sleeve.  Perhaps they are overvaluing their brand (same as they overvalued Kepler in the past and were unable to trade him?) and can't find a partner willing to meet their demands for how much a patch should cost?  Why not take a short term deal on the income side as well and try again next year if revenues are failing?

[Vanimal46]

The Twins have been killing their brand for more than 3 years. DSG pulled Bally Sports from popular cable alternatives like YouTube TV and Hulu TV in 2021. Those folks have new routines now, and watching the Twins isn’t a part of the routine anymore. The relationship with Bally Sports is only getting worse. 

Beyond the TV disaster, Dave St Peter continues to say tone deaf things every year. Placing the blame on fans not showing up to the ballpark as the reason for trading away players and reducing payroll. That’s not how this works in 2024. Not when there are other sports and entertainment options available in the area. 

[danielp19653]

33 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

Diamond Sports Group is having this issue with 12 different teams to varying degrees of Comcast percentages of households. 

What happens with the advertising contracts? They all have a different value now and decrease in value the longer this drags out.  

When the Twins go to the mail box looking for the check... It can't be good news but I don't know how this Bankruptcy stuff works. Hopefully someone can shed some light.  

My guess is it would be very similar to the Padres last year, sometime in the near future Diamond just says we aren't going to pay you or broadcast games anymore and the MLB takes over and throws them in market on mlb.tv until the end of the year and the Twins decide whether to sign somewhere else again or stay on mlb.tv with the presumed other 10ish teams that would be looking if diamond crumbled.

[ashbury]

In the running for best TD article of the year.

[Vanimal46]

12 minutes ago, Tired MN Fan said:

In my experience, limited access will lead to a much more negative outcome than any positive bump in attendance.

Spot on. There is immense power in out of sight, out of mind. You’ve got insight that others don’t, coaching HS baseball. Do the kids even watch MLB games? Or just the highlights on Twitter or Tik Tok?

[bean5302]

20 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

This has to be absolutely killing their in-stadium advertising sales revenue. "Advertise with us and a few people who use DirectTV will see it!"

Yes, and Comcast has all of the leverage. It probably benefits Comcast to crush Diamond Sports and make them go away completely. Comcast is not just a customer, they are a competitor with their own regional sports channels. Eliminating Diamond Sports would make MLB more likely to take Comcast's terms to stream games on Peacock or partner with them on regional sports networks.

Brands advertise with Comca$t
Comca$t pays Bally Sports North
Bally Sports North pays the Twins

There are some sponsors at the stadium itself, but I'm not sure how much the Twins actually make from sponsored advertising directly.

[DJL44]

13 minutes ago, Tired MN Fan said:

Whoever is to blame for this mess should be shown the door. 

Quote

Notably, whoever is going to play a role in turning around this wayward ship, it won't be Meka Morris. Hired in 2021 as the organization's first-ever Chief Revenue Officer, and described by Forbes in a glowing feature last summer as "the woman in charge of selling [the Twins'] appeal," Morris quietly exited recently, taking a job in March as EVP/Revenue & Chief Business Officer (essentially the same title) for the Chicago Bears.

There's two options here that make sense

1) Morris messed up, overplayed the Twins hand and they ended up back at BSN with little leverage. The Twins told her to leave.

2) Morris set something brand new up and was about to start it before she was overruled by higher up execs who chose 1 year with BSN. She left because her work was not appreciated.

[Riverbrian]

4 minutes ago, danielp19653 said:

My guess is it would be very similar to the Padres last year, sometime in the near future Diamond just says we aren't going to pay you or broadcast games anymore and the MLB takes over and throws them in market on mlb.tv until the end of the year and the Twins decide whether to sign somewhere else again or stay on mlb.tv with the presumed other 10ish teams that would be looking if diamond crumbled.

Makes sense but I assume there has to be a breach of contract first.

Assumptions that I can only make without knowing when the payments are due. 

 

[LambchoP]

So with this whole broadcast debacle and the lack of revenue that will inevitably come out of it,does this mean ANOTHER payroll reduction for 2025? There's no reason our payroll needs to be as low as it is...

[rick kayser]

I agree! The ownership has lost a great opportunity to increase their company's long-term value. To treat a valuable resource based on a one-year commodity setback. is poor business management.

The company had a breakthrough year, increasing the value of the franchise, and was poised to  increase it dramatically. The "shortfall" due to tv issues was weatherable. The ownership did not respond with foresight, but rather with a painful, knee-jerk reaction.

It is bad business.

[USAFChief]

4 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

There's two options here that make sense

1) Morris messed up, overplayed the Twins hand and they ended up back at BSN with little leverage. The Twins told her to leave.

2) Morris set something brand new up and was about to start it before she was overruled by higher up execs who chose 1 year with BSN. She left because her work was not appreciated.

3) She took a promotion to work for the Chicago Bears, a larger organization with a larger fanbase and bigger revenues.

[Tired MN Fan]

9 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Spot on. There is immense power in out of sight, out of mind. You’ve got insight that others don’t, coaching HS baseball. Do the kids even watch MLB games? Or just the highlights on Twitter or Tik Tok?

Some of the players do watch though I'm afraid that much of that has to do with a parent being a Twins fan as well.  Fast forward another generation and there will be little to no interest left without a drastic change in intentional engagement.