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 Don't bet on it. That experience, Ballmer knows, makes his team
unique, and it will be part of the story he tells to earn one thing
that was not guaranteed by the record price tag: a fan base that
will sustain the team for years to come.
"I think people understand we are a different kind of team," Ballmer
told Reuters on Wednesday, sitting on the Clippers practice court.
"We are born in a funny way, and the guys have all had to live
through something not only on the court but off the court together
that requires a deeper kind of commitment."
What they endured was former owner Donald Sterling's published
racist comments and his refusal to sell the team after being banned
for life by the NBA. With Ballmer securing the team through a deal
with Sterling's estranged wife, the Clippers now open their next
season on Oct. 30.
Ballmer says he is pleased with the basketball side of his new
venture, his first after 34 years working at Microsoft Corp, from
the very beginning with friend and co-founder Bill Gates. He has
signed Coach Doc Rivers for another five years, and has star players
Chris Paul and Blake Griffin anchoring one of the league's strongest
teams.
But the man who helped sell personal computing to the masses knows
he has to sell a team that has long been overlooked and overshadowed
by its more famous L.A. rival, the Lakers.
Ballmer, 58, is a renowned salesman, carrying intense kinetic energy
in his hulking frame as he strides across the court. He relentlessly
talks about "the fan experience" and says he's not competing against
the Lakers, but against the 29 other NBA teams.
"Engaged fans actually help the team, team gets better, fan
experience gets better, fans get more enthusiastic," he said. "It's
like voom, a perpetual motion machine."
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DITCH THE IPADS
Ballmer promises that whether the fan comes to the arena, or cheers
from the couch, or follows on a smartphone or tablet "you are going
to have the best experience and that is not just the best in L.A."
The mobile experience is something Ballmer knows intimately and he
acknowledges that under his leadership at Microsoft it was something
he did not get right. Competitors such as Apple Inc< AAPL.O> and
Google Inc seized the mobile revolution and put pressure on Ballmer
to innovate. He stepped down as CEO in February after 14 years.
"And do I wish a higher percentage of today's mobile devices were
ours and we had birthed that category?," he mused. "Yes, of course I
do."
Ballmer left the board of Microsoft last month but is still the
largest individual shareholder, with about 4 percent of the company
worth $15.7 billion.
It should come as no surprise, then, that the Clippers will be a
Microsoft organization. The son of a Ford Motor Co manager, he's
always been a company and product loyalist, banning his own family
from using Apple's iPhones.
"Most of the Clippers on are Windows, some of the players and
coaches are not," Ballmer said.
"And Doc kind of knows that’s a project. It's one of the first
things he said to me: 'We are probably going to get rid of these
iPads, aren’t we?' And I said, 'Yeah, we probably are.' But I
promised we would do it during the off season."
(Editing by Ken Wills)
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