Satoshi Miyano: Believing in the Power of Sports

2019/07/19

In 2014, Grulla Morioka (renamed "Iwate Grulla Morioka" starting this season) joined J3, which was established as the third division of the J.League. Having grown up in Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture, until graduating high school, I had been devoted to soccer since childhood. However, since Grulla was founded after I left for university, I wasn't familiar with them; my impression was simply, "Oh, a J.League club was formed in Morioka, I hope they do well." Time passed, and one day, while working with the J.League as part of my management consulting job, a problem arose where Grulla fell into a serious management crisis. Through various connections, I became involved in the corporate turnaround of my hometown club starting from the 2017 season.

In the coastal areas, the scars of the earthquake remain vivid even now, and looking at the prefecture's finances, "reconstruction" in various senses seems likely to take several more decades. What can I do for my hometown of Iwate? In this place where I chased a ball dreaming of becoming a professional soccer player as a child, what can I do for the children who dream the same way? I want to root the idea of "the greatness of having local professional sports" in Iwate—where passion for sports is naturally high—and bring inspiration and excitement to the lives of the prefectural residents. As I lived in my hometown for the first time in a long while, these feelings grew stronger, and I decided to take over as president and fully take the helm starting this season.

Recently, sports business has become a trend, with various conferences held mainly in Tokyo and sports business-related topics frequently seen on social media. While it appears that sports business is finally evolving in Japan, trailing several laps behind the West, the actual reality on the ground is that the methods touted on paper are rarely implemented. Unfortunately, there are organizations that cannot change due to a lack of manpower capable of actualizing those ideas.

The same applies to J.League clubs spread across the country; for Iwate, it is important to evolve in a way unique to Iwate. While there are success stories nationwide where "the club's charm doubled attendance regardless of wins or losses," this is ultimately the world of professional sports. Without hiding behind the phrase "winning is everything," I feel that aiming to be a "perennial winner" is vital for club management and is the direction best suited to the character of the people of Iwate. While keeping sustainable management as the core, I intend to view things through a microscopic, macroscopic, and fluid lens to bring J2 promotion—and thus inspiration and excitement—to Iwate Prefecture in the near future.