 | | When Steve Patterson moved from Houston to the Trail Blazers in 2003, he came to an organization with problems on and off the court. “We’ve had to change the roster a good bit,” he says. “Some guys who didn’t get it … they’re no longer here.” | Steve Patterson returned to the NBA in June 2003 with the Portland Trail Blazers following a highly successful run as a sports executive in Houston. He spent nine years in the front office of the Houston Rockets, which captured the franchise’s first NBA title in 1993-94. Patterson then moved across town to the Aeros of the International Hockey League, where he spent more than three years as president and general manager and helped the club set league records for ticket revenue and merchandise sales. He also served as president of Arena Operating Co., which managed and operated Compaq Center, then the home of the Rockets, Aeros and WNBA Comets. In September 1997, Patterson joined Houston NFL Holdings, working successfully with Bob McNair to acquire an NFL franchise, the Texans, build Reliant Stadium and bring Super Bowl XXXVIII to Houston. As president of the Trail Blazers, he oversees all aspects of the organization’s business development, sales, marketing, facilities management and operations. Patterson spoke with SportsBusiness Journal New York bureau chief Jerry Kavanagh.  Education: Undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Texas
Favorite movie: “Casablanca”
Athlete you most enjoy watching: Brett Favre
Favorite vacation spot: Peru
Favorite piece of music: Anything by Eric Clapton
Last books read: Jack Welch’s “Winning” and Ayn Rand’s “The Fountainhead”
Smartest players: Oscar Robertson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Scotty Brooks and Otis Thorpe
Basic business philosophy: The key is to hire good people, put them into positions and let them do their jobs. Treat them right and, hopefully, that should lead to success.
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You took on the challenge of moving from a city and fan base you were familiar with [Houston] to a new city and fans. How difficult is that?
Patterson: It’s fun. You probably couldn’t pick two cities that are the alpha and omega of style. Houston is the buccaneer, entrepreneurial, capitalist, wildcatter town of America, and Portland is probably close to the other extreme. But I love it here. It’s a great town.
Aside from basketball, Portland is not home to another major league sports franchise. Is that an advantage as the only pro game in town?
Patterson: I think it can be when things are going well. But when you have hiccups, they’re going to get greater scrutiny.
What’s the biggest challenge in your position?
Patterson: It’s getting our culture and brand fixed.
You have the task of rebuilding not only the team, but also the team image, which has been hurt in recent years by off-court misbehavior by a few players. How do you rebuild the team image? How do you rebuild the breach with the fan base that historically had been so loyal?
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| Patterson calls Damon Stoudamire one of the Blazers’ “good turnaround stories.” |
Patterson: That’s been the challenge out here. … I think in this market, the image of the franchise and the image of the players and having those players and what they represent be congruent with the values of the community are probably more important than in some other markets. In some other markets, it may be purely winning or winning at all costs. That approach hasn’t been one that the community embraces 100 percent here. There’s an expectation that the players and their performance on and off the floor would be in line with the community values. So, we’ve had to change the roster a good bit. We’ve had to spend a lot of time talking to our guys about that. The guys that got it … some have been good turnaround stories. Guys like Damon Stoudamire, who has gotten his life together and done a great job the last couple of years. Some guys who didn’t get it, like Qyntel Woods and Bonzi Wells and Jeff McInnis and Rasheed [Wallace], they’re no longer here. And the guys that we’ve brought in, I think for the most part, have been great guys that the community can embrace.
Peter Holt of the San Antonio Spurs said he believed the biggest crisis facing sports today is the image issue: “the image of [the] players, the image of the league itself, the image of professional sports.” What’s the biggest crisis facing the NBA today?
Patterson: I don’t know that I’d say it’s a crisis, but I think the key for the league is to continue to enhance the image of the league and the brand of the NBA, and that will take a concerted effort on everybody’s part.
You go back over 20 years in the NBA to your experience with the Rockets. How much has the business of the game changed since your earlier days in the league?
Patterson: I actually go back to the ’60s with my father when he started the [Milwaukee] Bucks. At that time, one of the promotions was “See the Bucks for a buck.” Things have changed dramatically. The dollars are a lot bigger, and that’s something that gets reported a lot. But I think what’s more interesting is the international growth of the game. You look at the All-Star Game, and here you have a fellow from China [Yao Ming] who’s the No. 1 vote-getter because people are getting on the Internet from all over the planet and voting for him. Last year we drafted three players who were not born in the United States. So, since that Dream Team in ’92, there’s been an incredible explosion and interest in basketball all over the world. You’ve got an omnipresent media with cable and Internet 24/7. That’s a dramatic change. And players that weren’t known more than regionally are now well-known all over the planet.
Aside from overall talent, is there something in particular you are looking for in the draft?
Patterson: I think you’ve got to look at work ethic, at psychological profile, at basic intelligence, at character — you look at a number of factors to try to see, to try to predict, if individuals will be successful. You look at physical characteristics of a player. Success in the NBA isn’t always about pure talent. It’s about how those individuals work and strive to become greater athletes over the course of their careers.
ABC TV’s ratings for the playoffs are down dramatically. How does the league remedy that and reconnect with the fans? What is the problem?
Patterson: The ratings generally are better when you have the premier teams in the larger markets. That’s no secret. I think last year, the way the Lakers loaded up with guys like [Gary] Payton and [Karl] Malone — and they had Kobe [Bryant] and Shaq [O’Neal], of course — was a compelling story. And the perception of Detroit as a kind of underdog was compelling. You have to have compelling stories. You have to have players that the individual fans can relate to. You have to have good games. And I think we’re still in the midst of developing those images of those young players ready to take the place of guys like [Michael] Jordan that, in the past, drove a lot of the ratings. And if you look at our ratings compared to a lot of television, they still fare better. Sports generally fares better than a lot of television. But certainly I’d like to see our ratings be better, and I think in the future they will be.
Is there anything in basketball you would not miss if it were eliminated?
Patterson: Dick Vitale.
Who or what has had the biggest influence on your career?
Patterson: Probably growing up in the business it was my father. … We were a great team. We had some success and we had a lot of fun. I look back at that very fondly.
Look for more of this conversation in our sister publication, SportsBusiness Daily, located at www.sportsbusinessdaily.com.
