By Julia Parmley
In 2006, Robert Young, J.D. ’73, was approached by his good friend and film producer Alan Mintz with a unique business opportunity: purchasing the Fullerton Flyers, a professional baseball team based in Southern California.
Mr. Young’s answer: “Are you out of your mind?”
But the idea was not too far-fetched for Mr. Young, who says he used to “day dream’ about owning a sports team.
“Especially watching the Los Angeles Dodgers failed ownership under the reigns of Fox News Corporation and now the McCourts, who have been more interested in themselves than the fans and their obligation to the community,” says Mr. Young. “And so it really was serendipity when my client and friend called and said, ‘You want to own a baseball team?’”
A managing member of now-named Orange County Flyers since 2007, Mr. Young says the experience has been “a blast.”
“Life takes you on a lot of strange twists and turns,” says Mr. Young, a lawyer based in New York and Los Angeles. “Law has led me into a lot of different entrepreneurial opportunities, and as it so happens, this venture has brought me more joy than I could’ve ever imagined.”
Joy and a bit of hard work, too. Among Mr. Young’s responsibilities are building the team’s Orange County fan base, helping the players make it to the “big leagues” and building the team a new stadium in Fullerton, which Mr. Young hopes happens by 2012
“When [Mr. Mintz] first called, I thought, OK, the team would be a good passive investment, something I could have fun with as I look to retire,” says Mr. Young. “It turned out to be more hands on because that’s the way it is in baseball.”
The Flyers, a member of the Golden Baseball League, an independent professional league with 10 teams in California, Arizona, Hawaii, Mexico and Canada, are owned by a group of investors mainly from the entertainment industry, including James Denton of ABC’s Desperate Housewives, and Mike Colusano, long-time writer for the “Jay Leno Show.” Although Mr. Young says the Flyers play “quality baseball, comparable to Double AA” they don’t have the vast budget of a major league team, which means Mr. Young has to make sure the team stays in the black.
He also draws on his legal expertise to aid the team. Already an established entertainment lawyer, Mr. Young has now been delving into real estate and bond financing to get the proposed stadium off the ground.
“Working with the team has exposed me to new fascinating ventures and is bringing a whole new dimension to my legal skill set,” he says.
Mr. Young cites Los Angeles Lakers Head Coach Phil Jackson as a leader he hopes to emulate.
“When I had to make speech to welcome season ticket holders and fans and players in 2007, I was astonished to look at the crowd of more than 300 people packed into the local Brea Improv. My first reaction was Holy smokes!, This team has fans!” he says. “I also have the responsibility to take care of our players. Being responsible for your team and community—that’s really the big thing that I’ve experienced as professional sports owner.”
A Dodgers fan, Mr. Young attends up to 12 major league games a year, but makes it to almost every Flyers home game. The difference between the two? Not much, he says, except when it comes to the bang for your buck.
“Minor league baseball is wonderful because you can sit behind home plate--and with the price you pay, a family of four can afford those kinds of seats,” says Mr. Young. “But you can’t have those seats at a Yankees or Dodgers game without mortgaging your first born. I think the major leagues, especially in today’s economic times, is going in the wrong direction. The minor leagues have a real upside in terms of the value of one’s dollar.”
Although not affiliated with a major league baseball team, the Flyers have shared and received players from both the leagues. Mark Prior, a former National League All-Star pitcher, recently joined the team, and a few of its players have been signed to major league teams, including the Seattle Mariners, Los Angeles Angels, and the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The team has also found much success on its home field at California State University at Fullerton. In 2008, they won the league championship, are currently second in the league’s south division and are expected to make the championship play-offs. Mr. Young says the team’s win in 2008 was “thrilling.”
“I never experienced such exhilaration even as an athlete as when the Flyers won the championship,” he says. “We had a really quality staff—our manager was Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter and our hitting coach was [former major league player] Darrell Evans—and the journey was just exciting. I felt joy not only as an owner doing something for the community but also for the players. Experiencing our team prevailing—that was pretty cool.”
Principal and partner with his family’s firm Lindenbaum and Young, Mr. Young has found much success in his career, but sports were always a personal passion. A talented athlete, Mr. Young was a member of the Brown University soccer team as an undergraduate as well as the U.S. soccer team in the 1969 Maccabiah Games in Israel.
Mr. Young’s father, Sidney Young, was almost a professional baseball player. He had signed with the then New York Giants but slipped on a patch of ice and broke his elbow right before spring training. Mr. Young says Sidney gave up on pursuing baseball himself because “he could never throw a curveball” and passed his passion for the game down to his son.
So, Mr. Young followed in his father’s legal footsteps. Location played into Mr. Young’s decision to attend GW Law School in 1970. A native of Long Island, Mr. Young says he didn’t want to return to New York at the time and thought he’d “get a fine education at GW and enjoy the nation’s capital.” It was also an exciting time politically to be in D.C.; the Watergate scandal broke in 1972 and the country was dealing with unrest from the Vietnam War.
“As a child of the ’60s, I also participated in the March on Washington in 1969. The city was quite interesting then,” he says. “My time at GW was great. I had fabulous teachers and had a wonderful experience.”
Although owning a minor league baseball team has its ups and downs, Mr. Young says it’s a decision that has only made his life more full.
“You want to make money, but in the end, the venture is bigger than you,” he says. “What really matters is giving back to the community, the team and the game.”