OWNED WITH REX CHAPMANHOSTED BYSMARTLESS MEDIA | WONDERY
Buckle up for a wild trip behind the scenes of one of the most exclusive clubs on earth: the world of professional sports owners. A mix of comedy, tragedy, and everything in between, OWNED is the first podcast ever to take listeners way above the court or field into the luxury boxes where billionaires roam. Each week, former NBA player (and current Twitter all-star) Rex Chapman is joined by a cast of reporters, athletes, and comedians to dissect the politics, scandals, and scores of these eccentric moguls who hold our hopes and dreams in their hands. It is fun, funny, dynamic, surprising, and based on incredible stories; a hybrid talk show that combines the wit and flair of SmartLess with the reporting, storytelling, and production muscle of Campside Media, creators of hit shows like Chameleon: Wild Boys, and Suspect.
And moved to Barbados in the early nineties, drawn by the island's casual vibes and fresh seafood. Oops. Sorry. I think I pronounced that wrong. He was drawn to the islands, tax breaks. MELDek was one of the richest residents of Barbados. At least I assume before Rhianna started making music. Eugene lived on a coveted 3 acre property, overlooking a beach sand as white as the snow from his homeland. And the fortress was built for entertaining. The property had a sunken room with a piano, 2 separate guest homes and a 3000 bottle wine cellar. It was here that Melnick would host extravagant part often featuring performances from everyone from Bon Jovi to meatlo. Barbedos became a bit of a safe haven for Eugene. That's what I'm trying to say. And Bert's was its crown jewel, a place where he could watch his team play from the comfort of an 80 degree climate, while the actual players chase pucks in subzero temperatures, 2000 miles north. Meanwhile, all the healthy scratches. Melnick took meetings at the bar, hosted watch parties, and was an eager participant in Bert's annual NFL pool. All while in shorts, a t shirt, and flip flops, a deceptively laid back island uniform for the antagonistic businessman he was known as back home. Back in Canada, Melnick was a ferocious wheeler and dealer, prone to yelling fits, harsh confrontations, and a tyrannical managerial style. He was also known to have quite the appetite for liquor, something that sticks out a little more when you're in an office building in Canada and not on a Caribbean island. Fired into the Toronto. Which is why Burt's became the official Caribbean headquarters for the Saint Michael's major. We're looking out on the left wing. Melnick plucked a Canadian broadcaster from obscurity, gave him a job covering every game for the team and arranged for the broadcast to be beamed directly to birds, where MELnick would be watching, beer in hand. Locals joked that the broadcaster was doing play by play just for Mel
So then, basically, for the rest of his life, he is the principal owner and general manager of the Raiders. He is the tough guy image that we know him as. That slick back 19 fifties style hair, dark sunglasses, the Brooklyn accent. Yeah. And he got runs a pretty tight ship as we talked about. So, like, he gets into some trouble. He'll, like, fire players and stuff or trade players that won't be too popular. Bowls, 15 playoff appearances, 1 in only 5 teams to play in the Super Bowl in 4 different decades. So there's some longevity there as well. Awesome. He he always seemed to be the coolest guy. Yeah. Kind of the coolest guy in the room. I was a chef. Revolutionary pioneer type of guy. Yeah. Kinda broke the mold with him. He was, interesting. In addition to this, I will say some thing of note is that he is the first NFL owner to hire an African American head coach, a female chief executive, as well as the first Latino coach. Let's go. This is a big deal. In that vein, he similarly refused to allow players to play games in cities where black and white players would be in segregated hotels. That's another important thing. Perfect. Love it. And, also, I another thing to another thing that I will note is that while this is happening, and this is kind of maybe the lesser loved side of him, is the constant threatening to move to LA, the movement of the Raiders around. Yeah. It seemed like he was kind of always leveraging, kind of using that as a as a chip to get what he wanted, just so, you know, the team would, the city would continue to help, put the bill a little bit. Yeah. So he, like, tries to move the Raiders to LA, but is blocked, but then he sues the NFL. Again, suing this Pete Rozelle. He wins that. He can move them to LA. But then once he's in LA
Here, and it was a treat. I think I've seen them once as well as a young child. How was it? What was your thought? I mean, it's it's it's fun. That's, like, the one word. It seems simple, but, like, that's it. You know? Well, for us, in our hometown, like, we didn't get pro sports. We didn't get anything like that. And and when the Globetrotters came to town, it was like our seeing an NBA game. I mean, we saw these people we saw on TV all the time. Yeah. They were fun. They were fantastic. They were athletes. It was great. What they're known as today, I think, is very different than how they got started, which is the part that I said that I didn't know about until looking into this. So they started in 1926, not in Harlem, on the south side of Chicago. And they played exhibition games before dances, like at this one, Dantal, who was struggling where they didn't have any dancers or anything like that. So they're trying to lure people in, the Venn diagram of people that like dancing and basketball. So there a few years later, there's this big dispute, probably dance related. They have a dance battle. I don't know. And the team splinters off, and it's these 2 other teams start. And one is led by this manager and promoter, this guy named Abe Saperstein. Yeah. Who are we gonna be talking about today? And this team calls themselves, as you could have guessed, the Harlem Globetrotters. And one thing that will become very clear about Abe is that he's very good at marketing. So he calls them they call themselves the Harlem Globetrotters because they were an all black team, and Harlem was the epicenter of black American culture at the time, and then the globetrotters because, they wanted to trot all over the world. The globe. Sorry. Fuck. So let's get into this guy, Abe. And before we do, I do wanna say that one of our guests coming on is very knowledgeable at the Harlem Globetrotters. Calls into question so Abe is largely considered the founder of the Harlem Globetrotters. Now our our guest, calls into question that. I mean, this happens, like, you know, 19 twenties. That's kinda well, you know what? That's kinda the way it is with history. Right? Yes. Yeah. I would say so. Yes.
This home decor and extra special items she'll adore. Need something original and affordable for mother's day? Etsy has it. Shop until May 12th for up to 30% off gifts for mom. Terms apply. Andre Knott is an in game reporter for the Cleveland Guardians with Bally Sports and contributor to Fox 8 Cleveland and ESPN radio Cleveland and the host of Brownstown, a podcast about the Cleveland Browns. First, what what were Art Modell's early years as an owner like? I think they were pretty good for the most part because, you know, he was an old school Brooklyn guy. He was a businessman, you know, a mover and a shaker. And he comes to Cleveland, and and he had a little bit of Hollywood mixed in. He had married someone that was a a Hollywood starlet, I guess, you could say. So come to Cleveland, and and I and I want people that hear this to understand this. I know in 20 whatever year, we're 23, 24. People don't look at Cleveland as this money making place. But if you really go back and do your research back in the, you know, fifties, sixties, one of the biggest, one of the richest suburbs in America was in Shaker Heights. And you can look around in the Cleveland area. There was a ton of money here. So for for the people listening to this, you gotta understand when Art Model comes into this town, he owns the Cleveland Browns. This is one of the meccas for all the money in the world. They had won so many championships prior to the Super Bowl to hear. So if you go back to, I don't know, the early fifties, maybe the sixties, you look at Art Modell a little bit like you look at a a Bob Kraft maybe today. You know? He was he was a part of this winning organization. The Browns had had Paul Brown, and he was so innovative, with the game of football that this was kinda looked at. And, I mean, obviously, Northeast Ohio has the the pro football hall of fame. This was kinda looked as the hotbed of of football, and and it still is, but Art Modell spewed that a little bit in. Well A brief yeah. In your in your pod, Brownstown, you mentioned that that Modell was one of the only
Get even better, adding the likes of Dennis Rodman and Steve Kerr. And Jerry Reinsdorf, as the owner, is the guy who helped assemble this roster, or at least stayed out of everyone's way and didn't mess it up too bad. For this, he's dubbed the sports owner of the future. And what a bright future it would be for Jerry and the Bulls. They'll win 6 titles in 8 years. It's a dynasty that will create legends and change basketball forever. Alright. That's enough of that. I think I got some champagne in my eye. Let's see where we're headed next. May 5, 1999. In the rafters of the United Center. It's the last game of the season, and the Chicago Bulls are honoring their former coach, Phil Jackson. Now you can't That guy who was celebrating in the locker room 8 years ago in a halftime ceremony. Of the Phil Jackson banner. There's a huge crowd here tonight, and everyone's watching in awe as the Bulls raise a banner honoring Phil up to the rafters, where it'll hang right next to Michael Jordan's. Phil even gets a standing ovation when he comes out to give his speech, and the crowd remains standing for the entire 20 minute ceremony. Well, I wanna thank you from my heart. Well, I think Except for one part. Toward the end of his speech, Phil thanks Jerry Rhinesdorf. For putting this And the crowd begins to boo. What the hell happened here? How did Jerry Reinsdorf go from the sports owner of the future to a Chicago villain who gets booed in his own arena? Is he the best owner of all time or the worst? Or maybe he's both? The answers to these questions, I I hope, coming up on OWNED.