Is Steve Ballmer Seattle’s new Paul Allen?
Today, I received an email from Steve Ballmer. Yes, it was actually from him and in its entirety it read, “Thanks.” I had a few thoughts about Ballmer when I received the email back. First, I wonder what phone he sent that from? It wouldn’t be a Blackberry or an iPhone, even though Apple is now licensing Microsoft technology for business email on the iPhone. Second off, I was surprised that he lives up to his word of saying he responds personally to all emails. Third, I started to think that he may be the new Paul Allen.
For starters he is the 43rd richest man in the world, only two spots and $1B behind Paul Allen. He became the CEO of the company that Allen founded and has been with it through it’s ups and downs and has made it into what it is today. Pretty incredible ride if you ask me.
What makes me think he is the new Paul Allen though is that he is making a last second move to help keep a professional sports team in Seattle. Something that Paul Allen is famous for doing with the Seahawks. Who now, with their success have turned Paul Allen into a local hero. Along with a few other big money names here in the Seattle area, Ballmer has put together a team that has, not only offered to buy the Sonics from an outside ownership team that is trying to move the team to Oklahoma City, but also offered to pay $150M of the $300M Key Arena renovation. This is a huge move! The Key Arena is desperately in need of a major renovation in order to keep up with the other sports teams in the city as well as the NBA as a whole. I know people aren’t fans of public money going to private owners, but in the case of Key Arena, this actually makes sense. Key Arena is owned by the city as part of the Seattle Center which hosts festivals, concerts, and many other events throughout the other 300 days that don’t have basketball games. So in this case, it actually doesn’t make “sense” for the private investors, Allen and Co., to be giving money to the Seattle Center. These renovations will bring more top tier concerts that have recently began to skip Seattle for the easier in and out access of the Tacoma Dome because the facilities didn’t match up with the extra 30 minutes of driving and much more complicated logistics of getting trucks in and and out of the city of Seattle. These renovations should pay for themselves, and at the least, not turn the Seattle Center into a ghost town which it would be without a renovated Key Arena.
So, although I wish that Howard Schultz and his group of the investors had not sold the Sonics, especially to a group that everybody knew wanted to move the team to another city, it could provide Seattle with a new billionaire hero. Think about it. Ballmer saving the Sonics shortly before they leave would turn him into the modern day Paul Allen if the Sonics turn into the team they could in the near future with their salary cap room and draft picks coming down the line (6 first round picks in the next 3 years). They would also be two of the main Seattle Centers if this deal does get done (Allen with the Experience Music Project and of course Ballmer with the Key Arena). So if this deal does go through, is this the beginning of Ballmer making his mark on the Seattle area outside of Microsoft?
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