Alumni Spotlight - David Klineberg, AS'00

In a world filled with sports fans that second-guess virtually every managerial move or in-game decision, this may be the ultimate fantasy sports opportunity. Want to have a unique say in the operation of a baseball franchise? Northeastern alumnus David Klineberg may have the perfect opportunity for you.

Klineberg, who graduated in 2000 with a degree in journalism, and his three business partners recently launched Our Baseball Haven, an initiative aimed at acquiring a professional or amateur team, relocating it to the New Haven, CT, area, and paying all operating costs through membership dues. For a $100 annual investment, members will be part of the new media concept of “crowdsourcing,” in which most day-to-day operational decisions are made via majority vote. Everything from the team name and logo to lineup changes and player transactions will be voted on.

There is one baseball tradition that will go unchanged: all on-field decisions will remain in the hands of the team’s manager. Of course, should his decisions be unpopular to the majority, he could be looking for a job.

“This will be the first franchise of its kind in the United States,” Klineberg said. “There have been similar models in Europe, including one in the (United Kingdom). That’s kind of what inspired this idea.”

The Ebbsfleet United soccer team in England is considered the ground-breaker in sports crowdsourcing. The minor-league team operates under the direction of 26,000 online voters, including approximately 1,500 in the United States.

Klineberg met reporter Brett Orzechowski – who has written extensively on the struggles of professional baseball in New Haven – and their love of the sport and a desire to see it return to Connecticut’s third-largest city helped plant the seeds for Our Baseball Haven. The company, Interactive Sports Innovation, came to fruition when two other area businessmen joined the project.

“What we’re doing is developing a lot deeper relationship and interactivity with our fans, so they have a lot more vested interest in what’s going on,” Klineberg said. “I look at my friends who play fantasy sports and spend hours a week adjusting their lineups, and this is something where they can actually see something manifest itself on the field.

“The majority rules here. . . . This is a chance for them to get involved. The connection to a team and the players is a lot deeper.”

Klineberg and his partners are hoping to attract at least 5,000 investors through the initial membership drive, yielding a $500,000 operating budget. The group hopes to purchase an existing franchise or form a new one in an independent league or collegiate summer league.

“For minor league teams to be successful, you have to look at the model a little differently, specifically in our market we’ve seen the traditional model fail before,” Klineberg said. “So people have been asking us: Can this work? Are you guys crazy?

“No, what is crazy is looking at something that’s been done before and failed and repeating that. So we’re coming at it from a different angle. Yeah, it’s baseball, but it’s a new approach. It’s a whole new way of doing it. We’re taking something that’s traditionally been done one way and flipping it on its head.”

Initial interest in the concept has been very promising, Klineberg said.

“After our web site (www.ourbaseballhaven.com) launched, we got a lot of great feedback, a lot of excitement,” Klineberg said. “We’ve heard from people all over the country and thought, we’re really on to something here. The response has been great so far.”

Klineberg and his partners believe Our Baseball Haven can also serve a vital purpose in the community, something that goes beyond the baseball diamond. For each game, a percentage of stadium seats will be made available to the general public and area nonprofit agencies for fund-raising purposes. Because game-day operations are already covered by the membership base, almost all gate revenue goes directly to the nonprofit.
 
“That was really important to us and one of the things that brought us together,” said Klineberg, whose “day job”  is as an account director with Response Marketing. “My partners and I either all work in this area or have ties to the community and we felt that . . . anywhere we could help give back and support programs, we thought that would be a big part of engaging the community.”

Getting a baseball team back in New Haven would also go a long way toward engaging the community. And who knows? The unique approach of Our Baseball Haven just might be the ticket.