George Steinbrenner of the New York Yankees and Brady Nelson of BYU’s class of 2002 share something in common: both are owners of a sports franchise. But, one thing they don’t share is age. Steinbrenner, now 75, purchased the Yankees at the age of 42. At only 28, Nelson is a very young upstart as majority owner of the Spokane Shock.
In April 2005, just three years after earning his degree in business management, Nelson saw an opportunity to create an arena football team in his home state of Washington and went for it.
“It was an uphill battle to convince the league and the city that a team could flourish in the Spokane market,” Nelson says. “But the youthfulness of the owners has been a big benefit. There’s just so much energy here to go and do it.”
Having heard so many of her husband’s business proposals, Nelson’s wife didn’t give much thought to the idea of owning a football team. “She’s not a big sports fan, but when we went to go see our first arena football game together as a family, she really took to the idea, and the kids had a blast,” Nelson says.
Nelson and his fellow investors, Adam Nebeker, a 2002 business graduate, and Eric Enloe, a 1998 mechanical engineering graduate, join the ranks of some high-profile arena football owners such as Jon Bon Jovi, Tim McGraw, and John Elway.
With so many team owners in the league just as a hobby, Nelson admits wondering—at least at first—if they’d gotten in over their heads. They had taken a number of large risks, Nelson says, but soon he and his co-owners felt more secure with their investment.
“His vision of what we can accomplish is never based on what other teams are doing or what’s been done in the past,” Nebeker says. “Brady amazes me with his ‘why not?’ attitude.”
In addition to operating the Shock, Nelson continues to manage Regal Satellite and Security—a company he started while attending BYU. Regal provided him with the financial resources as well as the business savvy needed to create an athletic program.
“Door-to-door selling taught me lessons about running my own business, forecasting the market, and selling the product,” Nelson explains. “I felt more confident negotiating contracts with TV and radio executives with my previous sales experience.”
As owner of a satellite company and a football team, Nelson sees an opportunity to promote both businesses. During the course of a game, he hopes each company will generate a good deal of revenue.
“The business management core classes I took at BYU were the biggest help for me,” Nelson says. “The Center for eBusiness also really helped me understand project management.”
The team’s owners established a goal for season ticket sales, which was one thousand more than what the best-selling team sold last year. As of March, the Shock was on pace to meet that goal.
