Catching Up With Raptors President & GM Bryan Colangelo

Raptors President & GM Bryan Colangelo

When the Raptors added JERMAINE O'NEAL to their frontcourt this offseason, they got a player who at age 29 had already spent 12 years in the NBA. The franchise got a similar injection of both youth and experience in '06 when it named BRYAN COLANGELO President & GM. At the age of 40, Colangelo already had been an NBA GM for 15 years with the Suns and brought with him the expertise gained studying under his father, JERRY COLANGELO. Staff Writer Preston Bounds caught up with the younger Colangelo via e-mail on the eve of NBA Opening Night. 

Hometown: Harvey, Illinois, outside of Chicago
Current residence: Toronto 
Favorite Movie: "The Thomas Crown Affair" (both original and re-make)
Childhood sports idol: ROGER STAUBACH
Favorite Web sites: NBA.com, ESPN.com, Google.com, HoopsHype.com, YouTube.com
Book you're reading: "The Snowball, Warren Buffett and the Business of Life" by ALICE SCHROEDER
Surprise team of this NBA season: Raptors
Most marketable first- or second-year player in NBA: Thunder F KEVIN DURANT

Q: Finish this sentence: People would be surprised to find that I spend much of my day working on ...

Colangelo: Things that have nothing to do with basketball. The devil is in the details and we are constantly working on improving things that improve or establish an environment and culture conducive to winning.

Q: What is another team, in the NBA or elsewhere, whose business model you admire?

Colangelo: Well the Spurs and Pistons have surely set the bar high for success on a reasonable budget in recent years. They have done a spectacular job of managing the salary cap, avoiding the luxury tax and consistently winning.

Q: What is the single biggest business issue facing the NBA today?

Colangelo: The current economic downturn is something that is obviously affecting everyone. We are certainly not immune and therefore we must work even harder to retain our fans through added value offerings, price sensitivity and good old fashioned effort on the court.

Q: How is your franchise seeing the effects of that downturn?

Colangelo: As the only Canadian NBA franchise, we have been enjoying a relatively stable period of growth north of the border until only recently when global markets started to crash. The warning signs were certainly there so our management team (Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment) began to take precautionary steps several months earlier in order to be prepared for worsening conditions. In our business, we are more likely to see a lag effect on things like season-ticket and corporate partnership renewals in subsequent seasons if those negative conditions persist.

Q: What does a slumping loonie mean for the Raptors?

Colangelo: Fortunately our financial officers have employed an ongoing strategy of hedging that protects us from currency fluctuations for several years in advance, although we will certainly be knocked down a few spots on league rankings related to various revenue categories. The fact that our players are paid in US dollars does give them a distinct advantage with regard to cost of living and consumer spending here in Toronto.

Q: What was the conversation like with your father when you decided you wanted to go into this business?

Colangelo: I decided at a young age that I wanted to be involved in sports, namely basketball. After graduation, I did decide to leave for awhile to establish myself away from the family business with no clear timetable for a return. Ultimately, it was him convincing me that the time was right. I followed his lead.

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Q: What is your favorite of CHRIS BOSH's popular YouTube videos?

Colangelo: The All-Star car salesman pitch was an instant classic.

Q: Your roster, including Assistant GM MAURIZIO GHERARDINI, is one of the most internationally diverse in the league. How does that help you market and sell the team in a diverse city like Toronto?

Colangelo: We do have a diverse team that has several international players, but not significantly more than other NBA teams where roughly 20% of the league now is foreign born. Our plan is to win, therefore talent and character are the first things we are looking at regardless of where they are from. Our fans want to win too. Toronto happens to be a world class multi-cultural city so international players do seem to appeal to a diverse fan base, but winning, not marketing, is the number one goal.

Q: What is a sports business story you are watching closely?

Colangelo: Collective bargaining across all sports is something that intrigues me. The next several years will be interesting to watch.