Menu
Franchises

NBA Owners Discuss Keys To Running A Successful Franchise On NBA TV Special

Several NBA owners recently got together for a roundtable discussion airing Friday night on NBA TV that tackles several issues they deal with, including the day-to-day involvement with their teams and listening to fans. Hawks Owner Tony Ressler said he "did not appreciate the amount of time and effort that is obviously required" to run a team when he bought the club in '15. He said, "You get to see that when you see great franchises that have built championship cultures." Lakers President Jeanie Buss said the "role of an owner is to put together all of the pieces." She added, "We’re the producers, we put everything together so that the team can be the best that they can be." The Cavaliers' Dan Gilbert said for a team owner, the "second you cross the line into the arena, you’re meddling and you have to stay away." He asked if there is "any other business" where the word "meddling" is used. Gilbert: "It’s a word that only goes with ownership of sports." Warriors co-Owner Joe Lacob said, "The truth is the best owners … are those that are very involved. They do not micromanage, that’s the key." Gilbert added an owner has to be the one "setting the culture" for the organization, providing the capital to run the franchise and being the one to make the "hard decisions that have to be made." The Clippers' Steve Ballmer: "There are big decisions that are only the owner's to make, big financial decisions."

STRIVING FOR SUCCESS: Buss said teams "always want to stay relevant" in the league. She said, "These teams that say, ‘Hey, we need to tank and we need to get really bad for a long time,’ their players aren’t gaining any valuable experience. You’re wasting the time, maybe even doing damage to their psyche." Buss said teams "that want to get to the bottom" are just "prolonging their own agony." Meanwhile, she brought up listening to fans' comments and said, "Any person in my position would be foolish not to listen." Buss: "There’s a difference between the fans, and then there’s your customers." Gilbert said, "It doesn’t mean you’ve got to act on it (from fans), but you’ve got to listen." Lacob said he likes "to listen to all the fans, good and bad." Lacob: "I read everything. You have to be pretty good at compartmentalizing and not getting upset when they say critical things." Ressler said his basketball business causes him more "sleepless nights," and it was something he "did not anticipate." Ressler: "Having an NBA franchise is not a day job. It’s a day job, it’s a night job, it’s a morning job. You think about it all the time the things you should do" ("Open Court," NBA TV, 10/6).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2017/10/06/Franchises/NBA-Owners-Roundtable.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2017/10/06/Franchises/NBA-Owners-Roundtable.aspx

CLOSE