All Joe Lacob does is win.
From conceiving the Warriors’ dynasty to igniting the Valkyries’ speedy championship to turning both franchises into the highest-valued in their respective leagues to constructing a basketball mecca along the bay, Lacob keeps hitting the jackpot.
Ultracompetitive and willing to spend what it takes to win, Lacob is innovative with hiring practices, fan engagement, diversity, inclusion, empowerment, and a success-oriented culture that resonates throughout the Bay Area and beyond.
It’s a pity his sports ownership portfolio is limited to basketball.
Major League Baseball badly needs this guy.
Lacob has tried multiple times to buy into baseball teams but continues to get denied. The sooner MLB accepts him into the fraternity, the quicker the game will benefit. His cutting-edge thinking and “light-years” approach to outdoing the competition would work well in a league that too often is slow to adapt to the times.
Lacob tried to buy (or at least looked into buying) the A’s, Angels, Dodgers, and Padres.
Oh, one more: the Giants.
Yes, I’ve heard Lacob casually inquired with the Giants multiple times over the last several years about buying the team, but ownership made it clear it has no intention of selling.
The Giants, who reached the playoffs just once in the past decade, are taking on new money with both private equity and independent investors. They are in need of a PR boost in the wake of a dreadful 97-loss season in which they alienated fans with their on-field play and off-field blunders, including their handling of Pride Night.
But Lacob, who potentially could provide fresh ideas to help guide the team back to prominence, wouldn’t be interested in becoming a limited partner. He has earned the right to serve as a control person, and the position isn’t available in San Francisco. Greg Johnson, who became the Giants’ chairman in 2019, is five years younger than the 70-year-old Lacob.
In a September story in The Standard, Giants owners insisted they’re in it for the long haul.
One said, “I don’t think anybody’s looking to sell.” Another said, “We’re not going anywhere.” The Giants’ value tops $4 billion, the fifth-most in the majors. Their Mission Rock development is a massive money maker, and their lease with the Port of San Francisco runs through 2062.
Lacob will continue to run his two basketball squads, and presumably run them well. He bought the Warriors in 2010 for $450 million, a record at the time, and Steph Curry and Co. won the championship in 2015, the first of three titles in four years and four in eight years. The Warriors are worth $14.5 billion, according to Sportico, or $13.5 billion, according to Forbes.
Meanwhile, the Valkyries are considered the WNBA’s first $1 billion franchise, quite an accomplishment for Lacob, who was awarded the team in 2023 for a $50 million expansion fee. The Valkyries beat the Atlanta Dream in seven games to win the championship and celebrated Wednesday with a parade down the Embarcadero, ending at Oracle Park, the Giants’ home.
1 day ago
4 days ago
Wednesday, Oct. 28
That was relevant if only because the Giants and Valkyries are on such different wavelengths. The Giants haven’t done much right lately. The Valkyries seem to do everything right. Just one example: their Pride events. The Giants colossally mishandled theirs, alienating many faithful fans. Two weeks later, the Valkyries hosted a joyous celebration that fans and players fully embraced. After leading the Valkyries to victory, Gabby Williams said, “I couldn’t lose on Pride Night.”
For now, the MLB door isn’t open to Lacob, which is a shame. He thought he had an excellent chance to buy the A’s in 2005, when Steve Schott and Ken Hofmann were selling. Lacob agreed to the $180 million asking price, and qualifying wasn’t a problem. But he was rejected by Commissioner Bud Selig and the league. The A’s went to John Fisher, a rotten blow for fans who saw him gut the team and yank it out of Oakland.
Lacob, who wasn’t then known in baseball circles, learned from the experience. He became a minority partner with the Boston Celtics in 2006 and networked through the NBA, and when the Warriors became available, the league was comfortable signing off on his purchase, five years after MLB denied him.
Lacob bought the Warriors a year after the franchise selected Steph Curry with the No. 7 pick in the 2009 NBA draft. | Source: Jed Jacobsohn/Associated Press
It’s likely, considering his ensuing success with pro franchises, that Lacob would have built a privately funded ballpark for the A’s and made it possible for two thriving baseball teams to exist in the Bay Area. Baseball’s loss is basketball’s gain.
Lacob also pursued all three of MLB’s Southern California teams, starting with the Angels, but the Walt Disney Company sold to Arte Moreno. With the Dodgers, he was to team with Peter Guber, his eventual Warriors partner, and Frank McCourt, but both got out because they didn’t fully trust McCourt, for good reason. Guber later joined the group that bought out McCourt, who had fallen into bankruptcy.
Lacob took another crack at the Angels when Moreno seemed to be selling in 2023, but Moreno pulled back — at least until September, when he cut a $4 billion deal with Stan Kroenke that’s expected to close soon. In the spring, Lacob was runner-up in his bid to buy the Padres, who went for $3.9 billion to José E. Feliciano and Kwanza Jones.
I haven’t interviewed Lacob in a while, but I’m sure he’d be interested in other baseball pursuits. Majority owner Mark Walter said the Dodgers aren’t for sale, but that could change. He’s the subject of a federal investigation over possible mishandling of his insurance companies and has agreed to sell the Lakers (after owning the franchise for only a year) to a group including former Disney CEO Bob Iger and venture capitalist Joshua Kushner (brother of President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared), whose Thrive Eternal equity group bought into the Giants in April.
Even if the Dodgers go up for sale, Lacob might not be interested this time. His reason is honorable, especially for folks in the Bay Area. When he first pursued the Dodgers in the early 2000s, he hadn’t yet bought the Warriors, and in 2012, when he had another chance at the Dodgers with the Walter-led group involving Guber, he took a pass.
Lacob gave his reason a year ago in an interview with The Standard’s Danny Emerman:
“I was asked to be in the deal, and I probably should’ve said yes, but I said no,” he said. “Because I just felt now, having owned the Warriors, I didn’t think it’d be a good look to own the Dodgers because the Giants are here. I just didn’t think the Warrior owner owning the Dodgers would be a good thing. [Guber] could get away with it, but I didn’t think I could, because I’m the lead guy.”
John Fisher has owned the A’s since 2005. | Source: Getty Images
That Giant-Dodger rivalry was a big enough drag to keep Lacob away from Chavez Ravine?
“It was for me,” he said. “I just felt for our fans, it would not go well. Peter wasn’t the main guy. He didn’t live in the market. I live here.”
While Lacob could have mightily cashed in with a Dodger partnership, he doesn’t regret avoiding the deal.
“No. It was the right decision,” he said.
MLB is bracing for a potentially ugly labor strife with the collective bargaining agreement expiring Dec. 1, but the league would do itself a favor to eventually make it work for Lacob. On that note, expansion is on the horizon.