Analysis of Movie Trouble with the Curve

1) State all the stakeholders of a sporting franchise and the interest of the
stakeholders.
Trouble with the Curve is a corny, Conventional, and quite enjoyable father-daughter
reconciliation the story is based on the baseball game. Where Gus has been one of the best
scouts in baseball he has been allotted a job of scouting a new slugger for the team. In the
movie, there are many stakeholders. The Scouts (Gus (The Scout for Atlanta Braves) Mickey
(Gus daughter who is working as an attorney) Johnny(Scout for Boston Red Sox) ), The
Administration of the Baseball team Atlanta Braves, The Spectators, The Players, Media,
Financial Stakeholders.

The Scouts

Gus is the scout for Atlanta Braves for many years and he has found some best talent for the
Club. The Club is highly dependent on him for finding the new slugger, but anyhow some of
the administration people doubt that Gus is too old to do the Job and recognize a new
talent, and its time for him to take the retirement. Gus has some serious issue where he
start losing his eye-sight doctor ask him to get treated but he insist of completing his
assignment for the season and don’t give up on the passion for baseball and set out to scout
for Bo (Joe Massingill) a baseball player playing in a local baseball tournament in North
Carolina. Gus says that Bo is not the real thing, because he's conceited and mouthy. Gus
contract was to get over in the next three month and he was looking forward to renewing
his contract with the club as he had a great passion for the sports
Mickey is Gus daughter she is an attorney and joins a one of the renowned law firm and
become a partner in the firm. The law firm choose to assign an important case to her. She
has good baseball knowledge, unlike her father. When Gus go for Scouting Mickey is asked
by one of Gus friend to join Gus on the trip as it will be the last time they can sort out the
differences between them. She Joins her father and helps him in scouting the best player for
the Club and in turn they slowly settle out the difference between them. Mickey always
wanted to be a baseball player and this scouting trip with her father will help her in
polishing her skills of scouting.
Johnny was a pitcher who was recruited by Gus and one day he had a severe injury in his
shoulder and was dropped out of the team; he's now scouting for Boston Red Sox scout this
season on the way to what he hopes will be an announcing job. Johnny and Mickey grow
sweet about each other. He was looking forward to signing a contract with Boston Red Sox if
he can scout the best player for the season.

Atlanta Brave

The Club wants to get into a contract with one of the best players from the local baseball
tournament their interest is to win the upcoming season game. They want to surprise the
fans by signing up for a new player who can change the game and make Atlanta Brave a
strong team. The good performance by the Club in the season will put the club in limelight
and bring goodwill for the company. Atlanta brave have been very serious while selecting a
good player. The only thing they want is they want the player to perform out of the box in
the upcoming season. People will only buy tickets and interested in watching the match if
they have high chances of winning. The club needs to keep the fans happy. It is also really
important to keep the franchises happy or they might stop sponsoring the club if the club
doesn’t perform well.

The Players

The players are one of the stakeholders in the movie every player wants to perform the best
and get selected in a high league club. Players knew that everything matters on their
performance. A good performer like Bo (Joe Massingill) gets everything a good
endorsement, Clubs willing to pay high bids to sign a contract, Sponsorships, and Fans
running around for the Autograph. It was like a limelight no one wanted to miss. Every
player wanted to be under the scout’s eyesight and was willing to perform the best.

The Spectators

They are the real stakeholder all these things were happening for, the club wanted to keep
the fans happy for which scouts were given the job to find the best talent. These spectators
were really happy to have a player who can take away the game from competitors anytime
they want, because, in the end, they were the people who will be filling up the seats in the
stadium and cheering there team. They influence the financial success of the team. The
game is the source of an entertainment for them and sometime the matter of pride if there
team wins.

Media

Media plays an important role they keep informing the clubs by their articles on the
newspaper or television about the player who is performing excellently in the local
tournament. It helps clubs and scouts to identify the right talent. The media benefits by
getting articles and headlines by covering this small leagues.

Financial Stakeholders.

Financial stakeholders invest on players and the club they carry out all the expenses related
to coaching, kits, training etc. expecting heavy returns in form of commercial sponsors,
broadcasting rights.
 2) What if the interest of the stakeholders aren’t aligned?

There was a clash of thoughts between Gus, the Scout, and Philip from the administrative
department of Atlanta Brave. The clash was regarding one of the baseball player Bo, who
Gus was scouting since the last few matches. Gus found out that Bo can only hit the ball out
of the park only with his strength but he cannot face the fastball or a curveball. Philip argues
and believes the records made by Bo in his outstanding season in the local league he ask his
manager to sign Bo for the season whereas Gus believed it wasn’t worth signing Bo instead
they should get a pitcher. Gus believed that the best player should always stick to the right
method and techniques. Philip wanted a player in terms of limelight and who was well
known and had performed outstandingly in the local baseball leagues.
The management and the Scout had two different views the management doubts Gus
capabilities. Bo is signed by the club Atlanta Braves. Mickey finds a local boy practicing in the
field whose name is Rigo Sanchez and bring him to the club. Where he throws the ball to Bo
and Bo is not even able to touch the ball. Again there is a conflict between Philip and the
manager because Philip had wasted money by signing Bo because he had an issue that he
cannot hit the curveball.
The father and the daughter finally finds a great pitcher for the Atlanta Brave and the player
that can truly change the game. The management fired Philip for the wrong decision he
made picking a wrong player. The Interest of other stakeholders were in place.