Reviving the horse.

AuthorSchley, Stewart
PositionSPORTS [biz]

One of the more notable tales of corporate turnaround has just been authored by Starbucks, the coffee retailer whose fortunes Look a severe tumble starting in 2008 as the economy reeled, the company over-expanded and the brand persona went from hip to humdrum.

Last month Starbucks reported its net income for its first fiscal quarter rose 36 percent from a year ago, to $241 million, as same-store sales rose 4 percent, reversing a string of declines.

Credit for the revival goes to CEO Howard Schultz, who reclaimed his former post two years ago in a bid to arrest the Starbucks downward spiral. A few key ingredients in his recipe for success: Listen to customers, be honest and improve the product. Biz-school students who will be studying the Starbucks case in semesters to come will recognize these as proven remedies for brands that are in peril, which is exactly the unfamiliar slate into which the Denver Broncos football franchise has fallen.

The sad statistics are piling up like so many soiled uniforms: TV ratings are down. No-shows are up. Game-day tickets, once rare, can be snapped up at face-value on Saturday afternoon with a couple of clicks from a computer mouse. And of course, the worst numbers of all, 4 and 12, sum up how far a Super Bowl team has fallen.

The biggest question Denver's E&E (Ellis and Elway) executive team must answer isn't which players to target for free-agent acquisition or draft-day selection, but what to do to restore the love that seems to have faded between a team and its fans.

It's easy to identify the prime contributor to the modern malaise. The sorry record, obviously, is the overwhelming culprit. The Broncos need to win games, or at least - and this is critical from a fan psychology standpoint - present a credible possibility of winning games, Sunday after Sunday.

It's an interesting distinction. Restoring the vibe at Invesco Field doesn't necessarily require an instant vault to a 12-4 record and a bye in week 1 of the playoffs. If that were the case, 20 of the NFL's 32 teams would have no prayer of filling up stadiums and selling scads of jerseys. What it requires is more nuanced than that. Fans have to find a reason to believe and to invest something of themselves emotionally.

The newer of the E&E duo seems to recognize that. "This is the first time since I've been here that we lost that (emotional) connection," Elway said...

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