The Sharks Should Buy KFOX here's why

I think the San Jose Sharks should buy KFOX. Here's why.

KFOX (officially FCC licensed as KUFX) is most likely not going to be part of the new Entercom radio group that is merging with CBS Radio. In the San Francisco San Jose Market (considered together for ownership rules) Entercom will be over the limit of stations you can own. KFOX listeners are all over the Bay Area but most of their ratings (and therefore their ad sales) are based in the San Jose area. See a coverage map here

For that reason I think Entercom will not include them in their new ownership group of San Francisco based stations.

Since radio station sale price is mostly based on revenue all other things being equal (signal strength etc) a San Jose station would sell for less than a San Francisco station.

The San Jose Sharks aren't really just the San Jose Sharks. They are really Sharks Sports and Entertainment. In addition to the San Jose Sharks, Sharks Sports and Entertainment currently manages the business operations of several entities. As arena managers, Sharks Sports & Entertainment operates and manages the SAP Center at San Jose, including the booking of all events in the building.

Sharks Sports and Entertainment also manages several ice facilities in the Bay Area, including Sharks Ice at San Jose, Sharks Ice at Fremont and Oakland Ice Center operated by Sharks Ice.

So how would owning a radio station help?

The Sharks have had a long relationship with KFOX. KFOX is and has been a successful San Jose Classic Rock station that also runs live Sharks games during the season. The Sharks don't get much attention from the other sports stations in the market. Football, basketball, and baseball dominate there. Only in the playoffs do you hear much about the Sharks on those stations. They and their fans and advertisers want more than what they get from local sports coverage.

Owning this one station would give them a bigger voice on the airwaves with possible longer pre and post game shows, game replays, coach and or player segments during regular programming. It also opens up another way to distribute podcasts and online audio and video. The Sharks broadcast team already produce a lot of content during the season.

The infrastructure at Sharks Sports and Entertainment means you have a promotions department, ad sales team, production department, IT, HR, and more, plus the offices needed for them. No additional cost there.

How about radio studios? Sharks Sports and Entertainment has audio and video studios where they do their own in house production. A radio station would fit in easily. A radio studio just needs pretty simple equipment these days and takes up very little space. An on call radio engineer can be used for the transmitter issues.

Ad sales for the Sharks broadcasts now become ad sales on KFOX as well. It benefits everybody. Promotions, social, production, and more can all be shared resources. Pre game broadcasts live from SAP Arena could happen for every home game.

When Sharks Sports and Entertainment does concerts or events at SAP Center the ads on KFOX are "free" and the cross promotion ideas are endless.

The cost of buying the station would be something the team could afford and the cost to run the station wouldn't be much. It seems like a no brainer!

I don't have any inside information on this happening and I haven't heard any rumors. The idea came to me when listening to a Sharks pre season game. It seems like a good idea.

#GoSharks

more on Sharks Sports and Entertainment from the 2017 - 2018 Sharks Media guide

Sharks Sports & Entertainment, the parent company of the San Jose Sharks, aims to operate a Stanley Cup-caliber hockey team each and every season, leverage the organization’s core competencies of arena and hockey management to provide world-class sports and entertainment to San Jose, and grow the game of hockey throughout the Bay Area.

In addition to the San Jose Sharks, Sharks Sports & Entertainment currently manages the business operations of several entities.

As arena managers, Sharks Sports & Entertainment operates and manages SAP Center at San Jose, including the booking of all events in the building.  Since its grand opening in September of 1993, SAP Center at San Jose has hosted a “who’s who” of music history, including Paul McCartney, Adele, The Rolling Stones, Barbra Streisand, Katy Perry, Garth Brooks, Beyonce, Elton John, Jay-Z, The Three Tenors (Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti and Jose Carreras), Madonna, Lady Gaga, Prince, The Eagles and U2.

SAP Center at San Jose has also hosted world-class, championship sporting events, including: the 2016 Stanley Cup Final; the 2016 Women’s Gymnastics Olympic Trials; three NCAA Men’s Basketball Western Regional Finals; 2003- 07 Pac-10 Women’s Basketball Tournament; 1999 NCAA Women’s Basketball Final Four; 1996 and 2012 U.S. Figure Skating Championships; and 2012 Olympic Trials – Men and Women’s Gymnastics.

In 2018, the highly sought-after U.S. Figure Skating Championships will return to SAP Center.

Sharks Sports & Entertainment also owns and operates the American Hockey League’s (AHL) San Jose Barracuda, the San Jose Sharks top development hockey affiliate, which relocated to San Jose in 2015. Formerly the Worcester Sharks, the Sharks top minor league affiliate, under the coaching tutelage of Roy Sommer, the AHL’s all-time winningest coach, has paved the “road to San Jose” for a number of current San Jose Sharks, including Logan Couture, Joe Pavelski, Justin Braun, Chris Tierney and Melker Karlsson. In total, 15 of the 20 players from the Sharks 2016 Stanley Cup Final roster spent time playing in the American Hockey League during their career. In 2016-17, the Barracuda, as one of the youngest teams in the AHL, finished the regular season with the second best record en route to the franchise’s first Western Conference Finals appearance. In addition, several players were recognized with league honors and Sommer was tabbed as the AHL’s Coach of the Year.

Sharks Sports & Entertainment also manages several ice facilities in the Bay Area, including Solar4America Ice at San Jose, Solar4America Ice at Fremont and Oakland Ice Center operated by Sharks Ice.  Solar4America Ice at San Jose, one of only ten facilities in the United States with four or more NHL-sized ice rinks, is the largest facility of its type located west of the Mississippi River. 

Solar4America Ice at San Jose is the official training facility of the San Jose Sharks, San Jose Barracuda and also is the home of the San Jose Jr. Sharks travel hockey program, recognized by USA Hockey as one of 21 model association programs in the country.

As the host to a number of national figure skating and hockey tournaments, Solar4America Ice at San Jose is a travel destination and responsible for the second-highest number of hotel room reservations in San Jose on an annual basis, behind only the San Jose Convention Center.

Furthermore, according to USA Hockey, the Sharks Ice family of ice rinks is home to the highest number of registered adult hockey players, with more than 4,500 active participants.