Nets owner Joe Tsai spoke with Bloomberg Businessweek, and essentially said that he and Levy, the former president of Turner Broadcasting, had different expectations for the job. Tsai, who closed his record purchase of the Nets in September, also made Levy the president of J Tsai Sports. Through the holding company for his sports portfolio, Tsai owns not only the Nets, but the WNBA’s New York Liberty, a lacrosse team in San Diego, and stakes in MLS side LAFC and in the Premier Lacrosse League. “He was already looking ahead at how to grow the J Tsai sports portfolio, but we also needed someone to do the nuts and bolts,” Tsai told Bloomberg Businessweek. “Maybe he thought that he wanted to do something that’s bigger and he could just bring in other people to do it, and I’m of a view that before you outsource something you should do it yourself.”
Tag: Joseph Tsai
Tsai wooed Levy, a 33-year veteran of …
Tsai wooed Levy, a 33-year veteran of Turner Sports, with a heavy portfolio. He was named CEO of the Nets, Barclays and J Tsai Sports, Tsai’s holding company that also controls the New York Liberty and his other sports investments in lacrosse, soccer and esports. Levy was also named an “alternate governor” of the Nets and a “venture partner” in Tsai’s family investment vehicle. Still, one team insider told NetsDaily that Levy was surprised to be managing something as small as the Nets after running Turner Media. And in fact, Levy told Bloomberg last month, “It wasn’t the job I signed up for and we agreed to part ways.” Both Tsai and Levy told Boudway they remain friends.
Joseph Tsai says his purchase last year …
Joseph Tsai says his purchase last year of NBA’s Brooklyn Nets—along with their home arena—is meant to capitalize on the growing worldwide appeal of basketball. “Basketball is a global sport because it is easily accessible and its urban street culture is appealing to young people. Fans from all over the world, from China to Southeast Asia to Europe to the U.S., form a deep bond over this cultural phenomenon, led by the NBA and its stars,” Tsai, 56, says in an email through an Alibaba spokesman.
He returned home to take a job in the …
He returned home to take a job in the Ministry of Economic Affairs, becoming, Tsai says, the chief drafter of a 1960 law that opened Taiwan to foreign investment and helped usher in an export-driven economic boom that lasted decades. In 1965, the year after Joe was born as the first of four children, his grandfather and father established Tsar & Tsai, a law firm that became a go-to shop for international clients looking to do business in Taiwan. “I’m Chinese,” Tsai says. “I grew up in a very culturally Chinese environment.” He spoke Mandarin as a child, and his parents talked about returning to visit the mainland. At the time, the KMT saw itself as China’s rightful ruler, a status then recognized by most of the West. “My upbringing is always that there is one China,” he says.
Before Tsai boarded his flight to …
Before Tsai boarded his flight to Shanghai to see the Nets play the Lakers, he says, he sent the league a copy of the letter he was planning to post on Facebook. “They basically said, ‘Look, Joe, you have to say what you have to say,’ ” he says.
In talking with Bloomberg’s Ian …
In talking with Bloomberg’s Ian Boudway, Joe Tsai notes that getting NBA games back on CCTV-5, the Chinese government owned version of ESPN, is critical. TenCent, the company that holds the NBA’s streaming rights, is back airing games, but CCTV has refused to relent on its boycott. “Once you are on the air,” Tsai said, “everything will come back.” And a “person familiar with the matter” told Bouway that the league is optimistic the network will begin airing games again, starting with the All-Star Game on February 16.
Whenever the controversy ends, the …
Whenever the controversy ends, the question is whether the Nets, with their Chinese owner, will supplant the Rockets as China’s team, a position Houston held from the time they drafted Yao Ming in 2002 till last fall’s controversy. Tsai doesn’t think it’s a big deal. Most of the China revenue, along with most NBA revenue in general, is shared by all 30 teams. “If the Nets are very well-known in China, maybe we will get a little bit more sponsorship revenue, maybe some Chinese company will have signs here instead of Qatar Airways,” he told Boudway, pointing to ads ringing the rafters at Barclays. “But that doesn’t really move the needle. What’s important is if the NBA is very popular in China.”
Tsai reiterated that he’s willing to …
Tsai reiterated that he’s willing to pay the luxury tax if needed… ”We know the fans expect us to win a championship…if we pay luxury tax, so be it. And the good thing is I believe that we do have the pieces in place. Now we have some injuries and people are coming back. But the fundamental pieces are in place to perhaps go all the way, so I’m absolutely comfortable that if we pay the luxury tax that’s fine.”
In the YES interview. Tsai noted the …
In the YES interview. Tsai noted the popularity of hoops in China and the importance of international basketball to the NBA’s future. “Well, the NBA is global; it’s a global sport. Basketball is played everywhere in the world, and in China there’s over 300 million people that play basketball, that watch NBA games. Also let’s put this thing in a historical perspective; the NBA has been in China for 40 years.”
Joe Tsai: “So when you look at these 40 …
Joe Tsai: “So when you look at these 40 years — all the history of the NBA in China, all the goodwill the NBA has built up — you have to take a long-term perspective. Now, we sort of have a short-term setback. Both sides are working to get our relationship back on track. The key thing is we need be broadcast on TV back in China. There’s talk NBA ratings are kind of down for various reasons. But we don’t want to see ratings go down globally. We need the NBA games to be back on TV in China.”