The Art of the "Good" Failure: Joe LaBue

If you look at Joe LaBue’s resume, it reads like a highlight reel of the mid-Atlantic sports world: The Washington Commanders, The Capitals, The Panthers, and finally, the launch of Charlotte FC.But titles don’t tell you what it feels like to sit in an empty stadium after a decision goes wrong. They don’t tell you what it’s like to leave a “dream job” in the MLS to navigate the chaos of the NCAA’s new NIL era.On this week’s episode, we sat down with Joe LaBue, now the Deputy Athletic Director and Chief Revenue Officer at the University of Maryland, to talk about the reality of running a sports franchise.Here is the side story of how a ticket salesman became a president, and why the “unsexy” decisions are usually the most important ones.The 100-Million Dollar MisconceptionIn the sports industry, everyone wants to work in sponsorships. It has the cachet; you’re dealing with big brands, TV deals, and flashy activations.But early in his career, LaBue made a move that confused his peers: He left a high-level corporate partnership role to go back into ticket sales. Why? Because he understood the math.“While partnerships has the cachet... Ticketing is the engine. Ticketing drives dollars, ticketing drives engagement, ticketing is the foundational piece of everything... If [the fans] are not there, you don’t have a building.”He broke down the reality: In the NFL, after the massive TV money, ticketing is often a $100M+ revenue stream, dwarfing sponsorships. His advice to young professionals? Don’t chase the glamour. Chase the engine.The “Good” Failure: The Afternoon MatchLeadership is often framed as a series of brilliant victories. LaBue offers a different perspective: Leadership is about taking calculated risks, even when they flop.He recounted a specific experiment during Charlotte FC’s second season. The club lobbied the league to move a match against the New England Revolution to the afternoon, aiming to attract young families who couldn’t make the standard 7:30 PM kickoffs.The result? It fell flat. Ticket sales were low, and to add insult to injury, it was 85 degrees and humid.But LaBue’s takeaway wasn’t regret.“I would do it over again because we felt like it was the right thing to do... We were thinking about the five and six-year-olds that weren’t going to those Saturday night games. Now we’ve got a data point moving forward.”It’s a masterclass in decision-making: You make the call based on your values (growing the fanbase), you accept the result, and you learn.The “Wild West” of College SportsNow at his alma mater, Maryland, LaBue is facing a new frontier: The NCAA in the era of NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) and revenue sharing.He compares the current landscape to a startup environment. It’s no longer just about “tradition” and “school spirit”; it’s about being commercially minded in a space that used to view money as taboo.“It’s a bit of the Wild West... but the ones that figure it out, you’re going to see it translate on the field.”He is applying the same “Art and Science” approach he used in the pros—balancing the cold hard data of revenue sharing with the emotional connection alumni feel for their school.The Takeaway: Joe LaBue proves that the “business of sports” isn’t just about the bottom line. It’s about handwritten notes (a ritual he swears by), understanding the people in the stands, and having the courage to try things that might fail.Listen to the full conversation to hear Joe’s thoughts on the future of college athletics and his memories of Charlotte FC’s historic opening night on the latest episode of Side Story Sports. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sidestorysports.substack.com