Colorado Rapids Hire Haley Durmer as CBO, Replacing Wayne Brant

Commerce City, CO – Colorado Rapids have hired a Haley Durmer as the new Chief Business Officer (CBO), the club announced Thursday morning. This position was vacated by longtime KSE employee Wayne Brant in December.

Durmer will begin July 7. She has a background mainly in baseball, having worked on ticketing strategy, fan analytics, and revenue optimization. She previously was the Senior Director of Revenue Optimization at the Seattle Mariners. Before that, she was a Senior Analyst of Business Strategy with the New York Yankees.

She led the Mariners in implementing AI tools on the business side. She helped develop Yankees U, an internal education initiative that developed mostly non-sporting staff. Front Office Sports had her on their ‘Rising 25’ in 2019. She was a Division I swimmer at the University of Virginia, majoring in Marketing Management, Commerce & Leadership. KSE used Elevate Sports Ventures as a search firm which sounds fancy.

“I see tremendous potential here to strengthen our connection with the community and to build on the momentum of a front office full of talented, driven individuals. I’m eager to get started, collaborate with this exceptional team, and engage with our passionate Rapids supporters soon,” Durmer said.

“We endeavor to build championship teams on and off the pitch and bringing in dynamic leaders is critical to that. Haley’s background will help us evolve our approach across the board, from enhancing our supporter experience on gamedays at DSG Park and beyond, to driving a greater impact in communities across Colorado,” said Kevin Demoff, President of Team and Media Operations, Kroenke Sports & Entertainment.

So that was a lot of words. Beyond the fancy titles, LinkedIN jargon, and quotes, what does this all mean?

It’s good that this position was filled relatively quickly. Brant left at a good time of the year. Much of the decisions and deals that needed to be done to set up the club’s 2025 season were done while he was still here. It’s good the club’s hiring someone from outside MLS and KSE. Durmer will have fresh eyes and few preconceived notions about the club.

A source indicated the club will be reorganizing much of the business, ticketing, marketing, etc. within the Rapids rather than KSE headquarters in downtown Denver. Durmer will help facilitate that transition. That should help that those staff will be Rapids-specific rather than the club being tertiary to the Nuggets and Avalanche (or lower).

I am really curious to see what she might do with AI or have the club implement at scale. There’s inefficiencies and pitfalls in any organization of this size. Her background seems to be more systems and process oriented rather than relationships and partnerships. Maybe that’s what the club needs after taking so long to stabilize the shirt sponsor and other significant CBO-related items. Look inward and improve yourself rather than try to make something that’s hard for the club in its market work.

To quote Moneyball, “if we try to play like the Yankees in here, we will lose to them out there.” Maybe this hiring helps initiate the business equivalent of ‘let’s buy distressed assets and play the kids.’

I have generally heard good things about Kevin Demoff. He hasn’t tried to just keep doing the same things the club’s done in the past. The Rapids get his attention as much as the other assets in the KSE ecosystem. He supposedly was the one that got STM the credit to try out the new scran that launched last year. Much of those concession items are hard to find or not there this season though.

Like Demoff and Brant, Durmer is going to have to find ways to move the needle within the constraints KSE still has on the club. It might be more about people and systems rather than larger budgets and physical upgrades. We stand by our reporting that Brant resigned in part because big things he was working on like renovating the stadium just weren’t happening.

It’s good to see both of them discuss the fan experience. The club’s tried to improve on that. Sources say there is an internal goal to 2x the fanbase by the end of the decade. Fern Varela has done well as the Fan Engagement Specialist. There’s a lot one can do to make Rapids fans more valued and engaged that doesn’t require a check from a sponsor or a new scoreboard. If they can harness that, it will help the club. If they can optimize revenue streams off of that to pay for one more DP or TAM player, all the better.

Durmer seems different and qualified enough that her arrival should help. How much and what will that do for the average fan or the results on the field, we’ll see.

Photo Credit: Mark Shaiken

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