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MLB’s Minnesota Twins Are Flirting With Success. Meet The Woman In Charge Of Selling Their Appeal by JabariJYoung
That’s up from $111 million in 2020 during the pandemic. But the club wants to surpass its record revenue of $297 million from 2019. Since hiring Morris, the Twins have added corporate partners that include United HealthCare, security tech firm Evolv, and expanded a contract with U.
.S. Bank. The club also spent $29 million to upgrade their scoreboard, and Morris says she’ll push for even more investment to keep up with augmented and virtual reality experiences. Twins vice-chairman and owner Joe Pohlad tellsSt. Louis, Colorado, and Milwaukee on the revenue front. According to, all three clubs made more than the Twins last season. The Cardinals led the way with $358 million in revenue. “She’s programmed to win,” says Twins CEO Dave St. Peter. “If she doesn’t win, she’s going to spend a lot of time understanding why she didn’t win.” For now though, the Twins are winning—having reclaimed first place in the American League Central as they seek their first World Series since 1991. However, obstacles do await Morris. As the Twins' inaugural chief revenue officer, her first order of business is to land a uniform sponsorship deal—MLB changed its rules this year to allow it—which industry insiders tellthe nation's largest RSN provider, filed for bankruptcy protection, and it's already impacting some MLB team revenues. Diamond-owned Bally Sports North is paying the Twins $54 million in local rights this season, but the club has no contract for 2024. “It’s going to create a level of disruption and uncertainty,” St. Peter says of RSNs. MLB teams will need to dive “headfirst into the direct consumer business. Now, a media subscription is just as important, if not more, than a season-ticket,” says former MLB advisorAdding to the difficulty, the Twins are attempting to grow revenue in a rugged advertising landscape as marketers pull back with constant recession fears. But Morris has plenty of fans rooting for her. “She hasn’t spent her whole life in baseball, so she looks at things differently,” St. Peter says. “I think that’s what has driven her throughout her career. She’s programmed to win. If she doesn’t win, she’s going to spend a lot of time understanding why she didn’t win.” Money Ball: Minnesota Twins chief business officer Meka White Morris is working on landing a uniform deal for the team.he Pohlad family purchased the Twins in 1984 for $35 million. Today,values the team at $1.4 billion. When it came time to seek a chief revenue officer, Joe Pohlad tellsthat he went against his usual method of identifying C-suite hires. Pohlad usually favors candidates who exhibit patience. Morris was the opposite. She was aggressive and impatient—that fit with Pohlad’s vision for the Twins to be innovative and adapt to a changing society. “I knew the moment we started speaking, Meka was the one for us,” Pohlad says. “You knew that she was somebody that had that competitive edge that clearly runs in her family.” A native of Middleton, Massachusetts, about 20 miles outside of Boston, Morris inherited much of that intensity from her father, Jo Jo White, the Boston Celtics legend who helped that franchise win two NBA championships. He died in 2018, but Morris credits her father for instilling a competitive mindset in her older brother Brian,, and Morris’ four sisters. “It all came from him,” Morris says of her Hall of Fame father. “He encouraged us to compete.” In college, she excelled in track and field before graduating from the University of Kansas with a degree in journalism. In 2004, Morris landed a job with the Cleveland Cavaliers as a corporate sale accountant. Back then, she would scan a local phonebook for leads to previous ticket buyers to make sales goals. “You ate what you killed,” Morris says. “You just dialed and smiled for dollars.” It paid little, but a career in sales satisfied Morris’ urge to compete. And after leaving the Cavs, she had roles with the Charlotte Hornets , Las Vegas Raiders ; entertainment companies Live Nation, and Legends, where she met West. Recalling their time at Legends, West labels Morris a “spark plug.” She recalls an episode from 2016, when as chief marketing officer West oversaw Legends New York City tourist property,which was underperforming. Typically, the business attracted beverage sponsorships worth seven figures. Morris devised a plan to launch fast pass lanes and special tour days, and those experiences led to prominent partnerships with Mastercard and Mercedes-Benz. A year later, Morris was promoted to oversee sales and marketing, leading to more prominent roles at firms Learfield, and in 2020, software company TappitAnd throughout her climb, Morris has always styled Air Jordans. “I don’t always wear sneakers,” she says, “but about 80 percent of the time, whether I got a suit, a dress on or anything else, I probably got a pair of Js on.”hen it comes to doing business, St. Peter often meets with Morris over a beer to get updates. “She’s drinking a fancy cocktail,” he jokes. “I’m probably drinking a beer.” But in those moments, St. Peter sees a more vulnerable and less competitive executive. “I can appreciate and relate with that on many levels,” St. Peter says. “Then, on other levels, I cannot because I’m not a Black woman trying to carve out a career in sports.” Following the May 2020 murder of George Floyd in Minnesota, diversity became the theme of corporate America, and sports teams indeed sought Black executives to hire.
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