Since buying the Clippers in 2014, Steve Ballmer has transformed the franchise into one of the top teams in the NBA. They have been a perennial playoff team and have always shown terrific ambition in improving the roster and signing superstars. The former Microsoft CEO wanted the team to have its own identity and escape the Lakers’ shadow. To aid that quest, he sanctioned the construction of the Intuit Dome, a $2 billion, state-of-the-art arena, which will be the franchise’s new home from the upcoming season.
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Ballmer’s ambition knows no end. His team hasn’t won the NBA title, but they are one of the best-run organizations in the league. However, he isn’t satisfied with owning and bankrolling the Clippers. He was keen on increasing his sporting portfolio and adding an NFL team. However, his wife Connie dissuaded him from following through with a stern and hilarious warning.
During a conversation with Jon Wertheim on 60 Minutes, the interviewer brought up the possibility of Ballmer buying an NFL team. She quipped,
“I told him that he and his next wife will have a good time with that.”
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Ballmer was reportedly keen on buying the Seattle Seahawks. The team’s owner, the late Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, requested his sister Jody to sell the franchise in his will. Buying the team would’ve allowed the 68-year-old to do right by his former colleague. However, Connie is against her husband owning another team and made a compelling argument to stop him from exploring the idea. Ballmer revealed,
“Connie likes to say this, and I agree with her, ‘We got enough sports.'”
His sole focus is on leading the Clippers to a championship win, which has been his dream for a decade.
Ballmer’s committed the Clippers
The Clippers were viewed as an irrelevant franchise due to their lack of success and their residing in a city home to arguably the most famous basketball team on the planet. However, when the NBA forced Donald Sterling to sell the team after he was caught making racist remarks about players past and present, Ballmer bought the team and his enthusiasm injected a new sense of life into the organization.
Ballmer retired from Microsoft a couple of months before he purchased the Clippers. While they operate in vastly different industries, the billionaire believes he can apply the same principles that helped turn Microsoft into one of the biggest companies ever to the Clippers and turn them into a sporting juggernaut. During his interview on 60 Minutes, he said,
“Let me say a little different sweat. I ran Microsoft, I grew up with the place. I helped shape the place. I knew where all the bodies were buried, or where most of the bodies were buried. And every day it was my butt on the line. So I sweated more at Microsoft but I don’t worry any less at the Clippers. And I don’t worry about the revenue or day-to-day, winning, I do worry about winning.”
The Clippers vacated the Crypto.com Arena in 2024 and will play in their new home, the Intuit Dome, in the upcoming season. It’s the beginning of a new era for the team, but for Ballmer, the goal remains the same: Winning a championship.
