An Afternoon with Kevin Uhlich

Kevin Uhlich grew up in Southern California and became a batboy for the California Angels in 1976 while in high school.  While he was thrilled with the position, he never expected that it would ultimately lead to him spending twenty-six years as a member of the Angels organization culminating in ten years as the team's Chief Operating Officer.

After attending college to and securing a job as a radio broadcaster, Uhlich was offered a job in operations with the California Angels in 1981.  From that position, he steadily moved up the corporate ladder.  He was eventually promoted to Director of Operations and spent two years coordinating the 1989 All Star Game.  Then Uhlich was transferred out of operations and over into the business side of the organization. 

After the Autry family sold the Angels, he was one of just twelve people to remain in the front office of the organization.  A few years later, Tony Tavares, then the President of the Anaheim Angels, allowed Uhlich to restore red as the primary color of the uniforms and to shift to focus of the team's logo back to halos rather than wings.  Uhlich remained as the Chief Operation Officer after the team was sold by Disney to Arte Moreno, but ultimately decided to leave the organization five months later.

After a few months at home spending time with his children, Uhlich received a phone call from his former boss, Tony Tavares on October 8, 2004.  Tavares asked Uhlich if he would be willing to assist in establishing the new franchise in Washington.  Four days later, Uhlich had arrived in Washington to help as a consultant.

He immediately decided that his first priority was to manage the organization's communications, then he would move on to hire a company that would handle all job postings and sort through the thousands of submitted resumes. 

The organization had to full thirty-five fulltime positions in under two months because many Canadian citizens could not retain their jobs in Washington.  As of January 29, the team ninety percent of the positions have been filled and the team has received more than 9,000 resumes.  The organization attempted to fill as many positions with natives of the District of Columbia as possible rather than hiring people away from other organizations.

After filling the staff, Uhlich then had to decide how the team would handle ticketing.  The organization made it a goal to be both competitive and affordable and settled on an average ticket price of $24.  Family packages and Sunday packages will be made available shortly after February 4th.

Because the team expected a high demand for tickets, the organization asked for lists of members from DC Baseball and other organizations that had spent years attempting to lure baseball back to The District.  The lists were then cross-checked to remove multiple entries and the people on the lists were given a week to get first crack at season tickets as a reward for their patience and hard work in attracting baseball.

Even after attempting to please all fans, some were immediately upset about their seat locations.  For example, the 100, 200, and 300 levels of RFK Stadium are all inside the inner bowl, but many people saw 300 on their tickets and angrily called the team.  Many people have visited the stadium and been shown their seats to allow them to realize how close they truly are.

As for broadcasting the games, the team is still attempting to finalize a radio deal which should be settled within a week.  Uhlich, Tavares and the rest of the staff do not really have much of a say in the television package because it is being negotiated out of New York by Major League Baseball.

Next, the team had to transform RFK Stadium into a suitable venue for the Major Leagues.  With the Angels, Uhlich presided over a $120 million stadium renovation, but he was told that his budget in Washington was just $13.5 million.  After pulling a few strings, the budget was ultimately increased to $18.5 million, but many desirable amenities were not pursued because of cost.

Some of the of the changes at RFK Stadium include the expansion of the dugouts, the renovation of the press box, the creation of office space for the front office, the installation of new LED scoreboards in the outfield, and the addition of new sprinklers and a drainage system.  As of today, the field is nearly eighty percent complete, and grass should be down by the first week of March.  In addition, $2 million is being spent to upgrade the concession facilities.

During this renovation, the team attempted to not disrespect any of the previous aspects or tenants of the stadium.  For example, a plan was created to cover all of the infield dirt for DC United home games.  In addition, despite trying to sell sponsorships, the team is attempting to honor the "Ring of Stars" that surround the playing field at RFK.

The parking lots surrounding RFK contain ten thousand parking spots and season tickets will be allowed to buy parking passes for $10.  However, the team has been informed that people have run studies demonstrating that forty-five percent of the spectators will arrive via the Metro (subway) System.

On April 3, a charity game will be played between the Nationals and the New York Mets in which both teams will donate all of the revenue to charity and tickets should be on sale for this game near the beginning of March.

As for other aspects of the organization, Uhlich briefly touched on a few topics.  First, he is doing his figure out the team's tradition.  They are still unsure about how to honor the Expos, the old Senators teams and are trying to find as many Senators traditions as possible to determine which, if any, are feasible to incorporate into the new team.  They were surprised to learn that every single focus group discovered that at least fifty percent of the participants preferred that the new team be named the Senators.

Finally, the front office is doing its best not to speculate on the future of the organization and determine who will eventually emerge as the new owner.  However, he does admit that they cannot make certain decisions simply because they do not want to tie the hands of the future owner.

I would like to thank Mr. Uhlich for taking the time to reach out to a hardcore fan base and for his willingness to answer some tough questions from the audience.  Feel free to discuss the story here.