Greenspun’s Instincts Are on the Money

The Dodgers’ new chief operating officer spent his first day on the job Monday, after having made what some might consider a bad business decision.

Martin Greenspun recently resigned as chief financial officer of the New York Yankees to return to his native Southern California and join the baseball organization he has rooted for his entire life. One problem: He had no firm commitment from the Dodgers when he left his post.

“That was a very bold move, I thought, [to show] his commitment to the organization,” Dodger co-owner Frank McCourt said. “Here’s a guy who really wanted to be here in the worst way.”

Greenspun said he was headed west, whether the Dodgers hired him or not, because he “really needed to come back home” for family reasons.

“The stars aligned,” Greenspun said. “It’s been my lifelong dream to work for this organization.”

McCourt can only hope that Greenspun, 41, is as successful in his attempt to return the Dodgers to profitability as he was in helping to make the Yankees baseball’s preeminent business empire during his six years with them.

Greenspun made his biggest contributions in merchandising. He was responsible for Yankee team stores in Times Square and inside Yankee Stadium. He also was responsible for streamlining ticketing operations.

Greenspun said he didn’t see any irony in leaving the cash-rich Yankees for the cash-strapped Dodgers, who listed operating losses of more than $100 million in 2001 and 2002.

“I think there are a lot of similarities with the tradition of both clubs,” said Greenspun, who declined to share his ideas about making the Dodgers profitable. “It’s not fair for me to make statements because I haven’t met all the staff yet.”

McCourt said that increasing Dodger Stadium attendance would be a focus and, so far, the first-place Dodgers are off to a fast start at the turnstiles and in the National League West standings.

Attendance is up 19.2% through the first 20 games, compared to 2003, with the Dodgers averaging 42,084 a home game. That’s second in the major leagues, behind only the Yankees. Seven games at Dodger Stadium sold out, one against the dreadful Montreal Expos.

“We’re way ahead of last year in terms of attendance,” McCourt said. “We had our biggest opening day ever in the history of the ballpark, our biggest three-day series ever, against the [San Francisco] Giants, in the history of the team, and our sixth-biggest crowd ever against the Expos on a Friday night in April. That says a lot.”

Saying that it was too early to project over the entire season, McCourt said he was “confident that over the next two or three years, we’ll be able to get this organization headed in a much more fiscally prudent direction. That would be great because it would provide the stability the organization needs on a year-to-year basis.”

McCourt added that he was selling real estate assets that would allow him to repay the loans he used to buy the Dodgers in January. McCourt said that would take several years.

Greenspun joins a new executive team that includes General Manager Paul DePodesta and Lon Rosen, the executive vice president of marketing charged with restoring a Dodger brand that has faded a bit in the eight seasons since the team last appeared in the playoffs.

“What I really wanted to do was to identify three people that I felt would be able to fulfill the goals of this organization right now, and those goals are to build a winner, grow the revenue and restore the brand,” McCourt said. “Marty was somebody who really struck me as being an incredibly capable individual in terms of helping us grow the revenue of this business.”

Born in San Bernardino, Greenspun attended Long Beach Poly High and received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from USC. Before joining the Yankees, he worked as Disney Sports Enterprises’ director of finance for the Mighty Ducks and Angels from 1994 to 1998, and executive director of finance for the Kings from 1988 to 1994.

Greenspun attended his first Dodger game in years Sunday, after flying in to Los Angeles from his home in Tampa, Fla. He said he was thrilled to be back home, where his and his wife’s relatives live.

“Quite frankly,” Greenspun said, “I’ve wanted to come home for a long time.”