Lakers Majority Owner Mark Walter Discussion

And he can really sing too!

 

From rags to riches. Welcome to the Lakers.

 

Another (Dodgers ) hire. From Ocho on LG:

Another Dodger exec joins the FO.
Quote:
The Los Angeles Lakers have named Michael Spetner as Chief Strategy & Growth Officer.

In this newly created role, Spetner will be responsible for leading the organization's long-term business strategy, driving value and identifying emerging opportunities for international growth.

"As we look to redefine what's possible across the sports landscape for fans and partners, we will build on the Lakers legacy and orient toward the future to consider what's next," said Los Angeles Lakers President of Business Operations Lon Rosen. "Michael's leadership will help us optimize our business to ensure long-term value."

Spetner spent the last decade with the Los Angeles Dodgers, most recently as the Vice President of Business Strategy & Analytics. He played a pivotal role in driving the Dodgers' commercial opportunities, implementing new business models for rightsholders and modernizing the fan ecosystem, combining in-arena experiences with digital communities.
At the Dodgers, Spetner emphasized international engagement, leading the Dodgers' efforts to launch a Japan-based fan club and creating an immersive museum-style exhibition in Tokyo to celebrate the team's history and global appeal.

Spetner is a graduate of Macalaster College and resides in Los Angeles with his wife and two sons.


I wondered early on after Mark's purchase of the team if Rui's presence on the team "might" have additional monetary value beyond his basketball talents due to the red highlighted experience and additional money generated with gear sales and such, above, for the Dodgers. Plus JJ seems to still like Rui a lot.

 

we're so gonna sushi stand rui this summer.

 

Yep and he's not going anywhere now

 

I was thinking the same thing after watching Chicago play that really small Japanese dude, who is actually very strong for his size and made a clean three.

 

New hire, new position

 

Here's more about him




Walter has made a couple of these hirings so far to maximize the team's value and his ROI. It's kind of odd how poorly this was done under Jeanie when it's your only source of income I would've expected more. It takes money to make money though and you can't run a 4 person front office and get this done. Pete (LFR) previously talked about how the league passed the Lakers by in this area, that Harris relied a lot on brand name and Lakers exceptionalism doing the heavy lifting and the Lakers are the Lakers approach which worked decades ago. That's not enough anymore though.

 

Why I keep saying Rui is the team’s ONE current connection to fan intensive Japanese market that the Dodgers are loaded with on their roster.

 

This. This is why I have always hated the "poor family run business" crap. They were so terribly run, business wise. They were worth billions and one of the biggest brands in the world, but cheaped our on so many things - including things that would have increased revenue and profit! And this showed on court as well. The stupid things like letting Caruso go were the direct result of a stupid cheap business philosophy that actually cost them money and hurt their objectives. So glad we have better ownership now.

 

yeah, it was absolutely infuriating watching gs and the clips just lap us in basketball spending before the second apron stuff happened, and that was on top of all the ancillary stuff unaffected by salary cap concerns (e.g., training and medical staff, assistant coaches, scouting, etc.).

 

Yeah. This was a big part of why I've been so critical of the organization over the last few years. We relied on the brand and honestly, dumb luck and it was definitely maddening to watch.

 

Buss family didn't care about the Lakers winning. They cared about the $ it brought in and the increase in value.

Many of the Buss owners don't really have a business outside of the Lakers so their biggest income source was the Lakers. Them spending money on the luxury tax meant less $ for them. I mean, the fact that they even had to choose between Caruso and THT was quite embarrassing considering how important Caruso was to the team. If not for that, I believe the Lakers would still have Caruso today on the roster.

The difference is most of the other NBA owners were rich before the NBA and will be rich after the NBA. Buss family became rich from the NBA so it's all they know business-wise.

They should have got out of the business a long time ago. They had no clue what they were doing and Jeanie Buss, sorry but she does not seem like the brightest of individuals. Lakers were long overdue to have new owners who have the funds to keep it pushing. I think that's part of why Magic left... He felt the team wasn't being ran like a professional organization and more like a bodega.

 

I'll take Jeanie over Magic 10 times out of 10...

 

…. and it’s BS she didn’t care about winning and same with the Buss bros …. just was mom and pop financially run as stated by everyone because it wasn’t multi billionaire owner owned and in family trust. And yes Caruso will never be forgiven.

 

was mostly with you until the bolded. magic doesn't have a leg to stand on with respect to running it like a professional. the terrible decisions that he took credit for were enough, and the manner in which he took potshots at the organization after he left was bush league stuff.

but i agree that the buss's financial disadvantage really hurt the on-court product. once kobe tore his achilles, the franchise was fully dead in the water until lebron decided it was good for business to come here. the luka trade just bought us some bridge years until hopefully walter and co. can recreate the flagship nba franchise. can't have this boston nonsense continue...

 

Yeah. While the younger Buss bros and even Jeannie and Jim cared about the franchise, several others had long checked out.

And yes, that's a big part of why Magic left. I don't agree with how he did it, but I do get it to an extent. People with that kind of money don't stick around for nonsense and you don't get to be a billionaire the way Magic achieved it without knowing at least some aspects of how a business should be properly run. It's part of why he had no issues joining other ownership groups and could end up with a stake in the rumored Vegas franchise should it go through.

Jeannie was well liked around the league, but I do think part of that was the other owners being happy that she wasn't running the franchise nearly as well as it could be run and Walter buying it is a nightmare scenario for a lot of them.

We're definitely in much better hands now.

 

I agree 100% with the premise that it was mostly about protecting their golden goose, but the pride of winning was still there- it just would never be able to outweigh the Almighty Dollar for the Buss siblings.
Anyway, I’m happy that we now don’t have to complain anymore regarding this.
Btw, have the Rambii been shown the door yet, or are they still inexplicably collecting paychecks since Jeanie is still here?