The Value of Advanced Planning: The Business Lessons we can take from WWE v. the Denver Nuggets
Imagine the following scenario: You have just experienced an unprecedented event in the growth of your business. You’ve reached a level of success that you have not achieved in years. But then suddenly, there’s a snag. A contract you signed almost a year before creates a business conflict which places your business in a less than advantageous position, causing you to lose not only short term revenue, but a long time customer.
This is exactly what has happened to the Denver Nuggets, the Pepsi Center and the owner of both entities, Stan Kroenke, in the last week. In a period where they should be excited about reaching the Western Conference finals for the first time in years, the Nuggets are now engaged in a war of words with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and its verbose owner, Vince McMahon.
The issue arises over the WWE entering into a leasing agreement on August 15 of last year to use the Pepsi Center for a live broadcast of its flagship program, Monday Night Raw tonight. The Nuggets even confirmed the agreement on April 15, 2009 of this year, knowing the playoff schedule and their status as the number 2 seed in the West and a favorite to be in the conference finals.
Therein lies the problem. The Nuggets reaching the conference finals results in there being a home game for the Nuggets also scheduled tonight. So by failing to plan ahead for playoff success, Kroenke and his team have been forced into a very public contractual dispute with a publicity savvy opponent.
As a result of the failure to plan, Kroenke is taking a beating both business wise and in the media. The WWE has moved its show to Los Angeles, the home of the Lakers, the Nugget’s opponents in the Western Conference finals. Worse for Kroenke and the Nuggets, the WWE intends to spend much of the show lampooning Kroenke (who their webpage refers to as “the Chicken Nugget”) and the Nuggets. On a more serious note, the WWE is releasing statements that it will use other arenas in future trips through the Denver area.
So what can we take from this? Even in these difficult times, you have to plan for being successful. We all spend time planning how to make our businesses successful, but we also need to be sure to plan on what to do once we get there. Had Kroenke and his staff chosen to plan for the success of their team, they could have avoided this issue entirely.
