Alan Ledford, President, MountainStar Sports Group

I guess you could call this episode’s guest Alan Ledford “a baseball guy.” He’s been working in the game for over 30 years, beginning as an intern for the Oakland A’s in 1983 and rising top the the club’s VP of Operations. Since then, Ledford has helped launch multiple minor league baseball teams, most notably the Sacramento River Cats and the El Paso Chihuahuas. So, a baseball guy, right? Not exactly. You see, Ledford is currently president of Mountain star Sports Group, the owner of the Chihuahuas, but also the USL’s El Paso Locomotives and FC Juarez of Liga MX. So the baseball guy is also a soccer guy? What Ledford really is one of the sharpest minds in sports business. Success follows the former minor League baseball executive of the year, and in our discussion he details some of the things that have helped him and the teams he works for find that success. We also talk about the challenges in launching a new franchise, why he believes baseball will endure, and what it’s like to lose a seemingly impossible number of foosball games to yours truly.