Morgan Taylor: Off the Court Impact
Looking into a unique aspect of basketball business with Liberty and Long Island Nets Vice President of Business Operations Morgan Taylor
Thanks for reading the Her Hoop Stats Newsletter. If you like our work, be sure to check out our stats site, our podcast, and our social media accounts on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. You can also buy Her Hoop Stats gear, such as laptop stickers, mugs, and shirts!
Haven’t subscribed to the Her Hoop Stats Newsletter yet?
Last week was eventful for the Liberty organization in what was also an eventful Women’s History Month. For Liberty VP of Business Operations, Morgan Taylor, it was another job well done.
On March 26, the Brooklyn Nets celebrated the New York Liberty for Women’s Impact Night. Players donned Liberty-themed apparel upon arriving to the game and seafoam-colored accessories during the game.
On March 27, the franchise announced it is building an $80 million, 75,000-square-foot practice facility in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, scheduled to open in 2027. The following Friday, the Long Island Nets of the NBA’s G League had a Liberty-themed crossover for their Girls Night Out event at Nassau Coliseum. Nets players donned a special seafoam jersey inspired by the Liberty’s home jerseys. Fans took photos with the 2024 WNBA championship trophy the Liberty brought home last fall.
New York Liberty and Long Island Nets Vice President of Business Operations Morgan Taylor is key in making such events happen. Part of BSE Global, the parent company for both entities, Taylor had high remarks on the event.
“Our company, BSE Global, is committed to supporting all of our properties,” Taylor said. “So it's really special that we can have the Brooklyn Nets honor the Liberty, and our Long Island Nets honor the Liberty. You can see the seafoam show up, and it is a testament to the entire company's commitment to women's empowerment. We are fortunate to have Ellie and our Timeless Torches show up and have the players actually represent the Liberty’s branding on court. It's just a wonderful night.”
Taylor is not the only member of the Liberty organization who echoes the importance of women’s empowerment. As part of International Women’s Day celebrations, Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello was part of a panel set up by the Australian-based Change Our Game initiative. The panel discussed the role of women in sports. During that conversation, Brondello said, “If you can’t see it, you can’t be it.” This was a broader message about the role visibility plays in getting women involved in sports.
Taylor shares the same sentiment as Brondello, believing that the Liberty play a crucial role locally for fostering young women in sports.
“It's ingrained in the fabric of what we do,” Taylor said. “We want to be a resource for the next generation of women growing up. Whether they want to play basketball, whether they want to be on the court, off the court as a coach, within the industry of sports, we want to make sure that there is representation. We want to make sure that there's a diverse representation of what they can be in the future.”
Taylor’s current position as vice president makes her perfect for showing how young women can play a role in the business of sports. She is pivotal in generating ideas for engaging the Liberty faithful.
“My role, specifically for the Liberty, is really focused on fan engagement,” Taylor said. “I oversee all of our fan engagement initiatives, organizing and strategic planning for our theme nights: Pride Night, West Indian Night, Noche Latina, etc. We are making sure that we're showing up genuinely and authentically in those communities, bringing them to a game, and making sure that their experience is great. With the Long Island Nets, I oversee all operational functions for the business: community relations, ticketing, sponsorship, PR, and every aspect of the business. It's really fun to make both of my roles interact with each other.”
Taylor’s role has allowed her to participate in special moments surrounding the Liberty, but there’s one experience that she treasures the most.
“Our championship for the Liberty, the parade, all of the excitement around our Game 5 win was just the icing on the cake for me,” Taylor said. “No other experience has come close to it.”
Since starting with Liberty, especially in the business wing, Taylor has witnessed the franchise’s growth firsthand.
“It's really exciting. I feel like the world and society have caught up to what we believe working for the team,” Taylor said. “It's just amazing to see the support, the enthusiasm, the rallying cry around our team, our brand, the city, and how Brooklyn has specifically shown up for the New York Liberty.”
In the business sphere, growth is essential. But sustaining growth is vital to an organization’s future. For Taylor, fan engagement is crucial for the Liberty’s prospects.
“It's about keeping the fans engaged and making sure we're meeting them where they are,” Taylor said. “The Liberty just re-signed with Fox. So, we're going to be accessible to millions of people within New York City…We have our own digital platform “Liberty Live” through our app where folks can watch our games. It's about engaging with fans, making us more accessible, and making sure we're keeping up with demand and being ahead of the demand for things like merchandise, engagement and in-game entertainment at every game.”
In an arena, fan engagement can change momentum. Over the past two seasons, the Barclays Center crowd helped give the Liberty a 31-9 home record in the regular season. Not only is fan engagement key to the Liberty organization, but it also helped Taylor’s entry into business.
“My professional career started in ticket sales,” Taylor said. “I was on the phone, working, when I was at Madison Square Garden. I sold Liberty tickets, and that's where I knew that in order to retain fans, in order to get new fans, we had to make sure we were analyzing data, listening to what they were saying, in order to make their experience better. At the end of the day, sports is discretionary income for people to engage with. So, how can we make this worth their time and money?”
Taylor elaborated on her foray into optimizing fan experience: “I actually started at Major League Soccer in a sponsorship role, where I learned the value of the digital properties. So, it was a really great experience for me. However, I wasn't super interested in soccer and was looking for the perfect alignment with women's sports and basketball in New York City. Ultimately, I was able to work at Madison Square Garden with the Liberty. Working in ticket sales propelled me to get interested in what the fans wanted and how to make their experience better, and that has always been my key driver throughout my career. And now I'm really focused on it, and that's selling tickets. Now it isn't my day-to-day, being on the phone, but it's the intersection of driving revenue for the company while also engaging fans, making them come back, making them feel valued, seen and heard, and how that shows up in our brand is really important, and what keeps me going.”
Through multiple experiences generating fan intrigue and retention, Taylor’s business outlook is customer-facing.
“Fans don't operate within a monolith,” Taylor explained. “We have to know their individual stories. We want to be able to connect with them. So, we find that connection point as to what makes them come back every game, what makes them cheer for an individual player or the whole team, or what makes them love their seat within the building, and that's really important as we grow and understand that we've acquired a whole new fan base since being in Brooklyn.”
Through the efforts of Taylor and others in the Liberty organization, attendance for Liberty games has grown significantly. According to the team, season ticket memberships and home attendance increased by 152% and 64%, respectively, year-over-year. Metrics such as those, quantifying the team’s increased profile, led the organization to make the Fast Company annual list of the world’s most innovative companies.
“We have increased our season ticket membership base,” Taylor said. “However, those nuances of understanding the connection points for our fans are super important, because we want to help continue to create those memorable experiences for them, to keep them coming back. That's through phone calls, surveys, interactions on the concourse, and having great events outside of game days to make sure we're keeping those interactions of high quality.”
Taylor’s vast experience in relationship-building with fans, driving revenue, and helping grow the team’s business pursuits is a clear example of how one can play a role in sports off the court. As someone who has achieved a lot in the sports business world, one may ask if Taylor has advice for the younger generation of women wanting to enter the field.
“I always say dream big,” Taylor said. “You don't want anyone to tell you no. But, in this lifetime, things are possible. You want to dream big, then work with other people and find mentors to help you achieve those dreams. I never really thought I would be able to work for my favorite team, starting out with Madison Square Garden, and then here at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. It's been a huge dream of mine, and now I’m accomplishing it. I've had people tell me ‘no’ along the way between family, folks in my personal life, and professionally. So, just keep going and go after your big dream.”
Thanks for reading the Her Hoop Stats Newsletter. If you like our work, be sure to check out our stats site, our podcast, and our social media accounts on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.