Steve Ballmer On The LA Clippers New Home the 'Intuit Dome'

Introduction here at the 2024 NBA Allstar game in Indiana the 24th annual NBA Tech Summit and I am joined by the ninth richest person in the world Steve bomber how you doing sir good good thanks jar I What Steve Ballmer Has Learned At The NBA Tech Conference appreciate uh listen I was watching you on stage and you know when I come to these events from time to time I'm I'm always curious to find out what people are learning what what what is the most important thing you've learned at the tech Summit this year yeah I mean we're second panel but I'm already learning about just from our panelists you got you know folks from Google and Amazon and ESPN and okay how are they really thinking about what's the future of streaming are they thinking about Innovation and that's on my own panel you know I'm going to go back in and next guy uh up right now is a really genius guy I worked with at Microsoft Eric horvitz okay he's on the pulse of what's going on in AI he'll be able to tell us where things things are going I'm staying for the following panel and there is a lot there are a lot of nuggets not just about sort of deeply technical issues but how people are thinking about problems yeah I was just at at the ITI in DC at their convers and one role that's coming online Chief AI officers how companies have to prepare for them Chief AI or do you have a chief AI officer at the Clippers and if not are you going to hire one we don't now our core we we do our own stuff but we rely for qutech on the NBA so you know each owner gets a chance to push a little bit on the people doing R&D at the league uh I'm I will bet they'll have a chief AI officer sooner than later you need them you need them here Steve Ballmer's Sports Inspirations we're in February now so I don't want to uh let the month Escape us Black History Month is this month when you think about outside of the notable names the mark the kings of the world but when you think about a figure uh that may have inspired you throughout your life you know when black c m who who pops them mind uh throughout my life means go back to Childhood um I'd honestly say Muhammad Ali actually now that partly shows you my age but I don't know sort of the way he brashley sort of showed up on stage and was sort of true to what he believed um maybe an odd choice but I'd certainly put him on my list I think it's a great choice had a chance to go to a game the other day with Mr Martin Luther King III that was inspiring because you know it's sort of like this small connection and he's a wise man really has a lot of wisdom and and Good Will to to help others himself I got to say that was cool yeah uh even though I just met him absolutely yeah well listen let's get into the business right the last time me and you spoke you were going through this decision of whether to put 40 Locker sneaker stalls or 20 and you were going back and forth with the number what did you decide on cuz you're only a few months right before you got to open this Arena so you have to have that number what did you decide I believe we shook out at 36 36 that's not a bad compromise no no it's not at all um we sort of looked at the guys who have the most shoes at their Locker in our current practice facility and we kind of built off that yeah well now you have James Harden so I'm sure he probably takes the cake with that uh him and PJ Tucker actually wow PJ is a lot of you know a lot of shoes guy yeah absolutely yes he has his own Warehouse though so I mean we need stalls um looking into that though and also the last time I saw you you weren't the happiest because I think you guys were getting you lost to the Nuggets without their MVP right and I knew I looked at your face the game you were just red but now you should be smiling right the team is in good spot third place in the west as we as we speak right now in you know competition right they could very well finished number one you liking what you see with this roster and do you feel more comfortable about your title chances yeah well I think our team has improved we've improved by the addition of of James I can't remember whether he had joined us yet at that time uh the guys now seem to know how to play together uh and yet we know we have room for improvement uh Kawhi Leonard in a comment the other day said yeah we can improve for sure we're winning as individual stars but we have more opportunity to come together and play better as a group guys all get along so it's just a question of how to continue to improve uh as Five Guys yeah I've covered Ka throughout his career I can't believe he said all of that I mean this is a guy who's very M but he says this um speaking of your Arena you are a few months before this opens right what take me into the Dome what's happening where you at I know the roof is finished where is that construction process well if you Construction On Ballmer's New Arena: What's New? were to ask me as a non-construction guy will they be done by the end of June yeah I'd say freaking no way now they're all very confident and they say we're ahead of where a lot of other have at this stage but we're starting to do finishes for example in the S the the scoreboard is uh MO is getting fully installed which is which is great for us uh we are still building out what we call our Sunken Garden there's a place for players a training pool and some other things outside uh that's a big big thing because we got to make sure all the underground work has Integrity for water and flow and and the rest of that we got a torture test on on waterproofing it's the heaviest rain season LA's had in years and guess what I welcome it it gives us a chance to see okay we needed to increase these gutter sizes and so uh I love that um but you know the the Next Generation markets we're building where you just grab and go you can see some of those completely finished at this stage pretty cool I'm looking forward the next All-Star game I attend will be 2026 I'm skipping next year because I'm going right to 2026 I want in that Dome can you give us a preview of what's to come I mean I know it's about a year and a half away plus some but still like no we'll be open for next season well the allstar game the allar yeah what's to come in 2020 you have any ideas flowing in your head right now about what you're going to look and what you're going to see specifically for Allstar I think what we'd really want to do is use the board to light things you to really do some it's a place where you know we can do some crazier things working with the league obviously uh our wall of sound 51 straight rows steep no break I think having a place where we can put together the most intense fans of the league the allstar fans can bring a an energy to the the building yeah Allstar is always fun but getting getting a little bit of crazy energy in there I think that that'll be good for for for All-Star Game you know I don't know if the format's going to continue to evolve the league will tell us the league office but I think there's a lot because we have you know you have to look at what we built as a as a what should I say platform we have thought through the scenarios for how we're a platform for the Clippers and now also for a platform for concerts the allstar game I'm sure they'll be extra Innovation listen I hope this is all because when I talk to other team CEOs and presence I'm telling them listen Steve bom's going to blow y out of the water with this Arena he's building I'm telling you like this it's y'all better get y'all act together I know the Sixers are trying to get their Arena downtown and I'm telling you guys better get your act together so I'm really excited about this Arena yeah I mean we we are Partners we we don't compete uh but we're we're the most recent Arena and somebody race byas and that that is what it is but if there's some you know and do I think any everybody will say oh I like that Innovation they're goingon to say bomber screwed that up I don't want to do that they're going to look at something in Milwaukee I mean we want to I don't know 20 or so of the Arenas as part of the process and there's something you can steal from everybody as a good idea I hope the next Folks up go to a lot of Arenas if there's some stuff from us great I'll feel proud of that um but there are going to be other innovations that people pick up yeah I Ballmer On Vital Partnerships had a chance to talk and look at your panel for a little bit before coming in here to meet you and uh one of the things you were talking about is the streaming portion of it right you know we're looking right now Amazon's in the mix they well they more in the mix they've already been in RSN because when they were with the Yankees with theet network and now you got Fox and Disney and Warner Brothers com you know combining their own streaming services uh I talked to people about this and they call it the great rebundling that's what they call it the Great rebundling what do you see and what are we looking at it is the great unbundling that's that's a fair thing to say you know from the perspective of the content provider our job is innovation and audience right that's our job the bundling is in the role of the distribution system and there's two parts to the distribution system the people who do the bundles and buy the rights and then the you know the operators who run the cable connections or you know phone connections or whatever and the relationship I think between the bundlers and that ecosystem will change the relationship between the bundlers you know the leagues may do some things directly so how that all comes together in terms of bundles and who's offering them and who's marketing them there's a lot to be revealed yeah you take pick it Geo-Politics And How That Plays Into Major Sporting Events And Venues outside of sports for one second what are we looking at from a macroeconomics perspective I'm looking at two Wars going on I see inflation is still there right I know Microsoft and Oracle and Google you guys are completing or or competing for Footprints to serve the next Generations of people there's data centers and all what are we at where are we at in 2024 and what still keeps Steve bomber up at night all right first of all I'm not an economist but I did take economics I'm I I have a sort of age kind of in in economics but I've never practiced but just from my read of the situation uh I think things actually are on a pretty good path economically uh but there are some big risks so you can be doing this but there's a chance to have these things whether it's from war or things change in the labor market immigration can change the labor market but I have one big scary thing uh two big scary things on my mind as we think about the future one is will we be able to save our planet as we know it because of climate change uh and the second big thing uh on my mind is the federal budget deficit 32 trillion yeah I mean it's it's you know extremely large at this stage I don't believe anything like that is sustainable nor or do I think by the way either political party really focuses on on it you know one party wants to get rid of Revenue uh one party wants to increase expenses but you know whether Revenue goes down or expenses go up it doesn't shrink any deficits no yeah we got to obviously get that balance right is the way you see it yeah you probably for our country to stay sustainable and I'm not talking about climate now but from a financial perspective yeah we need more taxes somehow and we need less spending somehow all right get you out Steve Ballmer On His Success And Fortune of here we need both two quick things before I let you go cuz I know you want to get back to the tech Summit and take some more notes uh uh the first being you know when you look at forbes.com and you see your worth what do you say to that you say that's wrong right we got you at $10 billion and you the night person the world are we right on that well I'm never going to tell you if you're right or wrong because that's how you guys had your value uh what I will tell you is that it is you know look I've been blessed it it and certainly my my lifestyle could be supported by way less money than we have so our goal has to be to figure out how to add value to people who more need it than we do whether it's supporting after school programs or mentoring programs or changes in the criminal justice laws or more pre school for kids working with government uh making investments in people who are pushing for climate different kind of climate uh tax environment Etc to to help improve the climate situation that's what our money is for at this stage we have to be a good Steward of that you know not J the one thing that changed my lifestyle was being able to buy the Clippers and build the Inuit Dome absolutely uh and that I'm so glad for that blessing but even those things do we own them or are we just stewards for the fans until the next generation of people buy them stewards I think we're really stewards yeah you said in the past that you would never share sell your Microsoft shares but are you going to pass them given away because you're and your wife you give a lot well I mean there'll be you know certainly a big chunk of it that will go to a foundation I would suspect we don't have one now but we we give away money but we don't have Foundation uh and you know some will go to our kids and the rest pass to me if he wants to the rest is going to go to federal government they need it they need it more than any yeah so in a way I'm I'm happy to pay our taxes when we pass I'm glad the government that's the wealth tax when we pass half of what we want to give away well it either goes to a foundation or something goes to our kids and the federal government gets every bit as much as we give to our kids From Steve Ballmer: What Makes A Good Tech Company vs. A Great One? absolutely get you out of here on this good great Jim Collins's book I love that book right what is the difference between a good tech company and a great one in 2024 well first and foremost frankly is you have to te I don't know if you remember a movie called Woody Allen or line in it but they said this about relationships they're like sharks they either move forward or they die yeah tech companies are like sharks they either move forward or they die so really locking into future Innovations building on future Innovations not saying oh we're only give our customers what they want no you have to anticipate what they might want that they can't dream about and I think that that distinguishes a great tech company and you also have to listen to your customers be accountable make results you can't you can't say it's either or there's a chap a small chapter in one of the Collins books called The Tyranny of or M I can either make a lot of money short term or I can invest in the future now the great companies figure out how to do both that's what the Collins book said to me in its most meaningful chapter absolutely Steve bomber I appreciate the time we got to do this again because so much to talk about generative Ai and all this other and protein bars and and you still and you still don't drink caffeine and all of that stuff yeah so much to talk about it but good luck the rest of the way I know how tough it is and health and all that and hopefully you can raise that championship trophy appreciate it thanks trar problem