Marc Mitchell: Breakers new coach on future and investors

The New Zealand Breakers officially have new owners. 

The basketball team have a a majority owner in 47-year-old American Marc Mitchell. 

Mitchell's investment group includes Leon and Stephen Grice, and Paul and Liz Blackwell.

New owner Marc Mitchell talks to Mike Hosking. 

LISTEN ABOVE. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The basketball where the Breakers have got new owners. Mike Mitchell,
not the police minister or another. Mike Mitchell's your new majority
owner investment group involves Leon and Stephen Greis, Paul and
Liz Blackwell. You may know the name they previously owned
the side. They're back along with former Plaid Tom Abercrombie. Anyway,
Mike Mitchell's with us. Mike morning, Good morning, How are
you very well? Indeed, is it easy to price up
a basketball team if you're looking to buy one?

Speaker 2 (00:22):
No, it's not. What we do know is that the
prices are going up everywhere. Boston Celtics just sold for
six point one billion dollars US, so this is a
little bit different than that. But across the NBL, the
league is growing. Each team, though, has different assets. You know,
we have Spark Arena, which holds around eight thousand Perth

(00:43):
has a much bigger arena. There's apples and oranges. But
the thing that was consistent across the board was how
this league is growing in the popularity worldwide of the NBL.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
What were you looking for a sports team in general
or you're a basketball now.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
Both. I grew up in Los Angeles as a fan
of Magic Johnson and the Showtime Lakers. I still have
my Lakers season tickets even though I've lived here for
five years. So I am a basketball fan for sure,
But mostly I believe in Auckland. I believe in New Zealand.
I believe in sports in this region, not only from
a business perspective, but what it can do to help

(01:21):
change lives and transform communities.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
Can you do something with the breakers to take them
back to what they were?

Speaker 2 (01:28):
We're doing it. We're doing it from day one. I
hope everybody recognizes the vision here. So bringing in the Blackwells,
who are so beloved and so trusted, not only because
they won on the court, but because of what they
did off the court, the ties to the community and
all the programs that they set up that are still

(01:49):
having effects. So we're going to bring those back. Dylan
Boucher as my president of Basketball operation, to Tom Avercrombie, obviously,
Leon and Stephen Grice, who are really amazing Kiwis who
have so much experience across the board in business and
in government and beyond. And we're not done. I think
the fans will be really happy to see some of

(02:09):
the other people who will be involved and we'll announce
those in due time. We're just going to keep building
the team. It's going to be really strong. It's going
to have Kiwi roots and something that we can all
be proud of.

Speaker 1 (02:19):
And you'll here for the long haul.

Speaker 2 (02:22):
Oh yeah, we're here. We're by the way. The team
is in Auckland. We're not going anywhere. We are in
New Zealand. We will be the one team in the
NBL that represents this country. The NBIL has made that clear.
There are no other teams that are going to be
in New Zealand, so we represent the entire country and
we understand that responsibility.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
Fantastic. What's you do the base with it? Mike Mitchell
the new Brake designer or one of the new Bright designers.
For more from the Mike Housking Breakfast, listen live to
news talks.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
It'd be from six am weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.