New Clippers Owner Steve Ballmer said that his "top priority" as he takes over the team is improving the fan experience, according to Dan Woike of the ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER. Ballmer said, “You’ve got to think about what things are like in the arena. You’ve got to think about what things are like in the community, on the broadcast and what things are going to be like on the phone, on the go, on the PC, whatever.” He added, “We’re going to try to do a couple things that are significant, that are different. That’s important.” Woike notes Ballmer has “undergone extensive on-the-job learning” since purchasing the team. He has “picked the brain” of Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, and has talked to Trail Blazers Owner Paul Allen and Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban in “looking for ways to run the Clippers the best way possible.” The “early returns” on Ballmer’s ownership “seem positive.” He said that ticket sales “seem strong and sponsors are coming back, though that’s an area where the organization can improve.” Ballmer: “We need to get even better and more creative. It hasn’t been my top priority, not because it’s not important. But I think hiring a president for the business side is a higher priority and making as good a statement as we can make in the first game about the fan experience” (ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 9/25). Ballmer said of the $2B price tag, "This will appreciate. I expect to own this as long as I'm alive ... but I would expect it to have capital appreciation that's at least as good or better as the S&P Index Fund." Asked if he would have been willing to pay $3B for the team, he said, "I would be silent on that point. No one ever talks about what they would have done. I know I bid the most and I bought the team" ("Squawk Box," CNBC, 9/25).
EXIT, STAGE LEFT: Ballmer said that the franchise has “severed ties” with Dir of Basketball Administration Eric Miller, the son-in-law of former Owner Donald Sterling. Miller “left the organization earlier this summer.” Ballmer said that Miller “departed even though he was entitled to two-year employment ‘on substantially similar terms’ to his previous arrangement under Sterling.” A source said that former Clippers President Andy Roeser, who was placed on an indefinite leave of absence, “has also permanently left the organization” (L.A. TIMES, 9/25).
