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Grousbeck In His Lucky Suit
Prior To '07 NBA Draft Lottery |
“I was a fan before I was an owner, and I still am a fan,” said Celtics CEO & Managing Partner
WYC GROUSBECK, who headed a local investment group that bought the team in '02 for an NBA-record $360M. Grousbeck’s co-Managing Partners are his father,
H. IRVING GROUSBECK;
STEPHEN PAGLIUCA and
ROBERT EPSTEIN. Grousbeck and other less-connected fans anticipate a banner year. The Celtics created a stir during the summer with the addition of NBA All-Stars
KEVIN GARNETT and
RAY ALLEN, leading to a virtual sell-out of tickets for this season and a record number of sponsorships. Born in Worcester and raised outside Boston, where he now lives, Grousbeck left home to attend Princeton, Michigan and Stanford before working as a venture capital lawyer in Silicon Valley and a manager of a public biotech corporation. He returned to Massachusetts in '95 when he joined Highland Capital Partners, where he led investments in medical and information technologies and health-care services. Grousbeck spoke with SportsBusiness Journal N.Y. bureau chief Jerry
Kavanagh while the Celtics prepped for opening night with a series of pre-season exhibitions in Europe.
Date & Place of Birth: June 13, 1961, in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Education: B.A. History, Princeton; J.D. University of Michigan; M.B.A., Stanford.
Vacation spot: Hawaii.
Piece of music: I’m a Pearl Jam/Led Zeppelin/Aerosmith guy and I play drums in a rock band. We actually go play gigs, so I’m a rock drummer in my spare time.
Books: “The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Alone 1932-1940,” by WILLIAM MANCHESTER; “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,” by MARK HADDON.
Quote: I just say “Celtic Pride,” from RED AUERBACH.
Movie: I should say something like “The English Patient” or something intellectual, but I have to say “Caddyshack.” I can quote the whole movie, and so can my friends and so can my wife. I guess that’s how you get to be one of my friends, or my wife.
Daily routine: I row at 6:00am most mornings on the Charles River with my racing partners, and then I carpool with some kids at 8:00am. In the office by 9:00. There might be a game that night, so it can be a pretty long day.
Superstitions: I have a lucky suit, which was tailored in Italy and has green stripes. It’s a pretty noticeable green. Some people would call it a challenge. I wore it to the lottery. When we got the fifth pick, I really thought it had become unlucky. And now that I look at it months later, I actually think the lucky suit worked again.
Collections: A couple of classic cars and some rock memorabilia -- nothing notable.
Basic business or management philosophy: To find a great team to be part of and focus on the fact that you’re just part of a team.
Best business advice: From my father, who is a professor of business as well as an entrepreneur. He said always, “Follow your passion. Follow your heart.”
Most influential person: My son, who has special needs. Everything my wife and I do revolve around thinking of children with special needs and trying to help them.
Earliest sports memory: When I was six years old in ‘67, my dad got to go to a Red Sox/Cardinals World Series game and I didn’t get to go.
Q: ERNIE ACCORSI, the former GM of the New York Giants, said, “There is nothing tougher in sports than high expectations.” Do you have a sense of that as the Celtics prepare to open the season with the addition of Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen?
Grousbeck: I’m holding Ernie’s book, “The GM,” which I’m halfway through. We revel in high expectations. When we bought the Celtics, people asked if the pressure of having won 16 championships was going to be unbearable. We want the excitement. We want to think about what winning a 17th championship would feel like. Boston’s a very special place because of its expectations, and that’s the fun of being here.
Q: It’s been a while since the last championship banner was raised.
Grousbeck: Somebody asked me if Boston fans would be patient while we built the Celtics back to being contenders. This was in 2003. The reason that year is important is it was before the Red Sox won. And I said, “Well, we’ve all waited 85 or 86 years for the Red Sox; I think we can wait a few years for the Celtics, too.”
Q: The fans might not be so patient now.
Grousbeck: The fans have supported the team, even through some tough seasons. We had our Brussels sprouts and broccoli for four or five years and now everybody’s looking forward to some dessert. I’ll tell you, over the next four- or five-year run, with the three players we have and the supporting cast, I’d be very disappointed if we weren’t serious contenders.
Q: After the Celtics added Garnett, DAN SHAUGHNESSY wrote in the Boston Globe, “Has there ever been a better time to be a Boston sports fan?”
Grousbeck: Let me tell you in about six or seven months.
Q: How is the business health of the Celtics?
Grousbeck: If all my businesses were like the Celtics, I wouldn’t have the money to buy a sports team (laughing). But we’re doing this for love and we’re doing fine because of the fan support. But this is really about more than the dollars.
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Garnett Making Impact Both On
And Off The Court For Celtics |
Q: You have said that the impact of adding Garnett has been “much, much better than we thought.” That should help on the court, but what about on the business side?
Grousbeck: I would almost answer that the other way around. It’s been a great help on the business side. We’ve held out some tickets for daily sales, and we have some club seats and suites left. But essentially the entire season has sold out. On the court, what I’ve seen so far in practices, is that the intensity level of Kevin Garnett is twice what I thought it would be. I had very high expectations, but he’s at least doubled them, and I think that has affected the entire team.
Q: Any other new business as a result of the new players?
Grousbeck: We’re at a record level of sponsorships and radio broadcast sponsorships and we’re anticipating very satisfactory television ratings. The entire picture has been improved by adding Garnett and Ray Allen while keeping PAUL PIERCE.
Q: The team has so much money tied up in those three players. Is there enough for the complementary players every team needs?
Grousbeck: There was enough left over to add JAMES POSEY, EDDIE HOUSE and SCOT POLLARD, three veterans with serious playoff experience. Posey has a [championship] ring, Pollard was in the Finals recently and House has been on some very good teams. You know, we went into the luxury-tax zone to do it, and when I walk around the streets, people say, “Thanks for stepping up.”
Q: When you were looking to buy a pro sports franchise, why did you choose an NBA team?
Grousbeck: My father had been a successful businessman and had capital available. He looked at three or four different MLB franchises, including the Red Sox. And when it came my turn to build up some capital through investing with Highland Capital Partners, it sort of became my turn to look at the landscape. I focused on the Celtics, as a hometown team, a team I thought might be available, in a league that had really excellent growth prospects, particularly internationally, and a salary cap.
Q: When you bought the Celtics you said you were confident that the NBA would “be an important part of sports in the world of advertising dollars and of general fan interest and health 20 years from now.”
Grousbeck: And I feel twice as confident now. At the time, I thought we would expand to Europe. Now we’re seeing incredible demand in China. I probably thought our new TV deal would be maybe flat or down, just because we didn’t know. But it was a nice increase. Our digital rights have essentially exploded. And our fan support, particularly here in Boston, has just been incredible. I’m really optimistic about the business of the NBA.
Q: Did Red Auerbach offer advice before or after you bought the Celtics?
Grousbeck: Frequently. You never needed to ask Red for advice. He was always forthcoming. But that was once we had been able to build a relationship with him where he felt comfortable and we had let him know how important he was to us. He was truly one of the greatest and most influential people I’ll ever meet. I miss him every day. We have something special planned for opening night this year that’s a surprise. It’s the one-year anniversary of his death.
Q: What in your background has been most instrumental to you with the Celtics?
Grousbeck: Throughout my business career I’ve been a partner. I was in a venture capital partnership. I’ve been on a number of boards of directors. Even in my sports career, I was a rower, with seven other rowers in a boat -- and we were national champions. I love being on a team. I love building teams. And I love being a partner in a business team. So, we put together a business partnership to buy the Celtics, and I feel well-prepared to organize and run it because of my business experience.
Q: When you bought the Celtics, you said the goals were to learn and improve. What have you learned?
Grousbeck: I’ve learned that we have to keep improving. I’ve learned that it takes superstar veteran players to win and that we had to be patient and build up enough through youth and drafting and coaching. We had to build up enough to be able to make these [player] deals this summer. I’ve also learned how difficult it is to trade away a player, and I will miss the players we traded for many years.
Q: SAL GALATIOTO said that the best team owners are individuals. He said, “A team needs a face. It’s very difficult for a large corporation to own a franchise.”
Grousbeck: I was told by [NBA Commissioner] DAVID STERN and others that the team needs a face, and they nominated me. I told them that looking in the mirror every day was very discouraging, couldn’t we find a better one? I’m very happy for the face of this team to be Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, DOC RIVERS and DANNY AINGE. We are a bunch of fans -- it’s not just me -- who bought this team, and we’re happy to be supportive in the background.
Q: JERRY COLANGELO said, “The days of just opening the doors and selling tickets are over” as far as attracting the fans. What’s the Celtics’ best new fan initiative?
Grousbeck: I don’t think we need to talk about it this year because all we had to do is answer the phones. But over the last five years, we’ve set records for ticket and sponsorship sales because we have thanked the fans and the sponsors for joining us, and we have asked them constantly what we can do better.
Q: What have you done?
Grousbeck: We’ve built a new courtside club. We’ve given parking and food. We’ve upgraded seating. We’ve provided more off-court events where our best customers can meet players. We’ve done a lot more with the charities that the team sponsors through the Shamrock Foundation. And we’ve dramatically upgraded the game entertainment. All that comes together so that, win or lose, people feel that they’re in a place they like to be.
Q: What’s the most pressing issue facing the NBA?
Grousbeck: Continuing to entertain our fans with the world’s biggest superstars and finding a way to still be a preferred source of entertainment when there are so many other choices for people to make.
Q: Is there a sports business story or angle that you are watching closely?
Grousbeck: I’m fascinated with how the various leagues are looking internationally and I’m happy with all the work the NBA has put in internationally. As I’m about to leave for London and see my team, it takes on all the more meaning.
Q: RANDY VATAHA of GamePlan LLC, which negotiated the purchase, called the transaction “our 90-yard touchdown,” putting it at the top of his company’s deals.
Grousbeck: The deal at the time looked to everybody to be very expensive, but we had a lot of confidence in Boston sports, the Celtics specifically and the NBA generally. And our confidence has been rewarded.
Q: You have said that you felt the NBA had great long-term prospects. What are the short- and long-term prospects for the league and the Celtics?
Grousbeck: I think in the short term we’re projecting a very strong year ticket-wise around the league -- not just the Celtics. I’m going to predict a record year of revenues league-wide and for the Celtics. Longer term, our staff, led by our commissioner, has spent 20 years going to China and opening up the opportunities for the NBA in China. We are now the No. 1 sport in China if you’re 30 or under, and probably the No. 1 or No. 2 sport country-wide. After the Olympics, the future of the NBA in China is wide-open, and I’m very optimistic.
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Grousbeck Says Cuban Helped Ownership
Group Make Transition Into NBA |
Q: Mavericks owner MARK CUBAN said, “It’s very difficult coming in [to the NBA] to try to gauge what’s different in this industry vs. what’s worked for you in other businesses. There will be far more scrutiny than you’ve ever had to experience in any other business.” Did you find this to be true?
Grousbeck: I did, and I would mention that Mark has gone out of his way to help us make the transition from business to sports. What we found successful so far in the Celtics is what got us here in the first place, which is finding good people to run the business and then backing ’em to the hilt. So, Danny Ainge, Doc Rivers and our new marketing and sales staff, led by [team president] RICH GOTHAM… you back those people as hard as you can, pay the bills that they run up and thank the customers for coming. It’s really not that difficult.
Q: JOE DUMARS, in Boston Magazine, advised caution in marketing a team. He said, “I think there is a rush to market yourself in the NBA. You have to be patient with that. If you are trying to sell yourself before you have defined yourself, it’s just a gimmick and it won’t work.”
Grousbeck: What we’ve done over the last few years has, I think, been very straightforward. We’ve said we have a number of kids. We think they’re good enough to improve. Let’s watch them together. That was the storyline, and that’s what happened. And the fans responded. Now we are saying we have three fantastic players and a great supporting cast and this could be a very special four- or five-year period. I think the fans are responding to that.
Q: Rich Gotham said that “Winning is the best marketing. The second-best marketing is the hope of winning."
Grousbeck: We are 0-0. I have to keep reminding myself that we haven’t won anything yet. And the good news about Doc and Danny and Kevin is that they’re not letting anybody forget that we have not won a thing and that’s it’s going to take a lot of hard work.
Q: SCOTT O'NEIL, Senior VP of Team Marketing & Business Operations at the NBA, called the Celtics “the most analytically savvy team” in the league. What do the Celtics do that distinguishes their marketing, or sets them apart, from other teams?
Grousbeck: (laughing) Clearly he is one of the most insightful people in the league office. We deconstruct college records in basketball to predict future success as a pro player when we’re organizing our draft. We analyze ticket pricing, ticket promotions and which customers are most at risk. And we make sure that we talk to each of them very frequently to make sure that they come back and join us again as they renew their season tickets.
Q: Do you get any inspiration from other the major professional sports or facilities, or borrow ideas from them?
Grousbeck: Going to all the Red Sox and Patriots games that I do, I’m constantly seeing what other Boston teams are doing in terms of entertaining fans. The most inspiration I’ve gotten is watching Boston sports my whole lifetime and realizing that a great Boston athlete becomes larger than life. I wanted to keep Paul Pierce here and retire his jersey at the end of his career instead of letting him go. So, one of the inspirations was to build around Pierce based on the heroes of the past that I remember growing up: BOBBY ORR, CARL YASTRZEMSKI, JOHN HAVLICEK, JO JO WHITE and BILL RUSSELL.
