In 2023, David Rubenstein, a cofounder of the private equity giant Carlyle Group with an estimated net worth of $4.3 billion, was negotiating to buy the Baltimore Orioles when a Zoom call turned insulting.
asserted
call → estimate → Orioles
Lawyers and investment bankers representing the buyers and the team’s owners were discussing the deal.
asserted
Lawyers → represent → deal
Someone questioned whether Rubenstein, now 77, and his prospective partner, investment executive Mike Arougheti, 53, understood debt — though they’d spent their careers in finance.
asserted
they → question → finance
“I announced to everyone that I had heard enough, I was dropping out of the deal and getting off the Zoom, and disconnected,” Rubenstein writes in “Inside the Owner’s Box: Conversations on Power and Leadership in Sports” (Simon & Schuster), out September 22.
asserted
Rubenstein → announce → Sports
“That occurred in the space of about ten seconds.”
asserted
That → occur → seconds
The blowup nearly ended his pursuit of his hometown team.
asserted
blowup → end → team
“I began to think that maybe I had no business buying the team in the first place,” he writes.
asserted
he → begin → place
About two weeks later, he revived negotiations, eventually completing a $1.7 billion purchase in 2024.
asserted
he → revive → 2024
Buying the team gave Rubenstein plenty of opportunities to have his judgment questioned again.
asserted
judgment → buy → opportunities
His book, which includes interviews with fourteen other owners, reveals what comes with owning a major professional sports franchise: fans heckling you in the grocery store, trades you’re still defending years later and colleagues telling you just how stupid your latest decision was.
asserted
decision → include → you
Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai, 62, knows how quickly an expensive trade can turn an owner into a target.
asserted
trade → know → target
The Alibaba cofounder, worth an estimated $12.1 billion, still takes heat from fans for the January 2021 trade that brought James Harden to Brooklyn alongside Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
asserted
that → estimate → Durant
Durant and Irving had arrived in 2019, before Tsai became controlling owner.
asserted
Tsai → arrive → 2019
Harden was his gamble, acquired at the cost of players and valuable draft assets.
asserted
Harden → acquire → players
The trio never delivered a championship.
asserted
trio → deliver → championship
“The Harden decision was definitely on my watch,” Tsai tells Rubenstein.
asserted
Tsai → tell → Rubenstein
“That’s why I’m hated by fans on social media.”
asserted
I → ’ → media
Even before taking control, Tsai faced a decision that tested his personal loyalties.
asserted
that → take → loyalties
General manager Sean Marks called in 2018 to explain that the Nets were trading Jeremy Lin.
asserted
Nets → call → Lin
“Sean, if you trade Jeremy Lin, I will be hated in China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong,” Tsai recalls telling him.
asserted
Tsai → trade → him
“The entire Chinese community will hate me forever.”
asserted
community → hate → me
Marks replied, “That’s why I’m calling you.”
asserted
I → reply → you
Tsai accepted the rationale.
asserted
Tsai → accept → rationale
But he wanted a way to explain himself to fans, so he opened a Twitter account despite objections from his communications team.
asserted
he → want → team
He promised to discuss sports rather than Alibaba or politics.
asserted
He → promise → sports
“I need to have a direct channel to communicate with our fans,” he tells Rubenstein.
asserted
he → need → Rubenstein
“I can’t have the New York Post interpret.”
asserted
Post → have → ?
Seattle Mariners owner John Stanton, 71, gets feedback without opening an app.
asserted
Stanton → get → app
An approximately eighty-year-old woman wearing Seahawks gear once planted herself in front of his grocery cart, announcing that she had important things to say.
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she → wear → things
Fortunately, she liked how the team was doing.
asserted
team → like → ?
When fans are unhappy, Stanton tells Rubenstein, “Sometimes you’re hearing yelling from another corner of the grocery store.”
asserted
you → tell → store
Ted Leonsis, 69 and worth an estimated $4.5 billion, made his fortune selling his marketing company to AOL and then working as an executive there.
asserted
Leonsis → estimate → executive
He bought the Washington Capitals in 1999, well aware that success in one industry wouldn’t automatically transfer to sports.
asserted
success → buy → sports
Two years later, he helped push for the Capitals to acquire hockey superstar Jaromír Jágr.
asserted
Capitals → help → Jágr
“I advocated maybe a little more enthusiastically than I should have,” Leonsis tells Rubenstein.
asserted
Leonsis → advocate → Rubenstein
“We brought Jaromír here, and that was a disaster.
asserted
that → bring → Jaromír
I made a mistake.”
asserted
I → make → mistake
After two-and-a-half disappointing seasons, Washington traded Jágr to the Rangers in 2004, continuing to pay part of his salary.
asserted
Washington → trade → salary
Another intervention worked.
asserted
intervention → work → ?
Hockey executive Dick Patrick advocated locking up Alex Ovechkin with a thirteen-year contract, and Leonsis approved it.
asserted
Leonsis → advocate → it
…and 22 more, not listed.
The Aporia
