Howard Schultz： I should not have owned the SuperSonics

I think I did not handle that well. I was too young to understand the role and responsibility of an owner at that time. So you were a high school quarterback which, you know, kind of become a big man on campus. Then later on, you end up, I believe this is college, getting blindsided by a linebacker. Tell about the injury and how that has affected you later in life. Yeah. Well, interestingly enough, you know, when you have an injury at 18, you don't realize the long-term effects. But I broke my jaw in a practice. I ended up having multiple jaw surgeries after that. That ultimately affected my spine. I've had five back and spine surgeries, including a neck fusion, since that injury. And what happened was I actually broke my neck. And it was undiagnosed. And what happened is the hairline fracture I had in my neck actually healed on its own and fused by itself. And that one area that was never diagnosed when I was 18, 19 years old has caused me massive problems over the years. How does that impact you on kind of a day-in, day-out basis? I think I'm in better shape today in terms of the ailments. But one of the things I love to do through the years is that, you know, I became an avid cycler and I can't cycle anymore. It's just the pain of that movement and leaning over. And so I've had to give that up. Why Northern Michigan? It was a freaky thing. You know, I was a good high school football player and I had an opportunity to go to Northern Michigan and play football. When I got there, though, I realized I was like, holy ****, these guys are big and strong and I'm not as good as they are. And Steve Mariucci, who was the quarterback of that team, was so good and much better than me. And then another great player, Tom Izzo, who's the coach of Michigan State, was the point guard on the basketball team. Those guys became lifelong friends of mine. But I wasn't good enough. I mean, I just wasn't. And so the injury kind of ended my career. And so I ended up not playing college football. It was kind of a turning point in my life where I had to move into other areas of interest and kind of swallow my pride. And I was steeped in humility at the age of 19. So we actually had somebody who sent in a question for you that I wanted to play. Tom Izzo. Oh, my God. Hey, Howard. Tom Izzo here. I'm here to meet with my good buddy, Graham. I just want to ask you one major question. How come when Mariucci and I were trying to get that eeny, beeny one little franchise of Starbucks, you can never work it out for us? And then magic came along and you worked it out for him. But in all honesty, Howard, the question I have for you, when the hell did you sell the Seattle Supersonics before you could try to hire me? I was hoping that that day would come. You got rid of them before I could be good enough to do that. Hope all things are going well for you, Howard. God bless. Oh, that is nice. That is nice. It kind of brings me an emotional moment to see Izzo like that. And I appreciate that you did that. Was it emotional? I mean, here we are, you know, we're all approaching 70 years old. Tom, myself, Mariucci got to know each other when we were 19. Look at how the years have passed. Izzo has gone on to become one of the great, great coaches, mentors, leaders in college sports. Mariucci had a great career as a National Football League head coach, now broadcasting on national TV. And these guys went on to do great things. And I'm proud to be in their company. And whenever I reach out to either one of them, five, ten minutes later, they text me right back. They're just wonderful people. And I'm touched by that. And I appreciate the fact that you did that. You ever wonder how things would be different if you continued as owner of the Supersonics? I try and learn from my mistakes. I think I did not handle that well. I was too young to understand the role and responsibility of an owner at that time. How so? I just, you know, the city of Seattle was going through a rough period. We didn't have the right arena. We were losing money. The NBA then wasn't as it is today. You know, I had trouble with a player in terms of, you know, Gary Payton was an extraordinary player, but he and I just didn't kind of see the world the same way and made a trade at that time for Ray Allen, which was great for the team and great player. But it just didn't turn out the way I'd hoped. If you had to do that period over again, what, if anything, would you do differently? I would not have left the team. You wouldn't have? No. You have a lot of dreams in life, and sometimes you got to be careful what you dream for because it may not be the right thing. It wasn't the right thing for me, and it was conflicting with my Starbucks responsibility. And the economic model of the NBA and a team that was not in a prime market at the time is that we were losing a lot of money and weren't selling out and didn't have a great team. And it really did require a comprehensive full-time commitment that I couldn't give it. And so it just didn't work out. And unfortunately, the team's not here. And I'm very confident that what Todd Lewicki has done with the Kraken and the experience he's created in the new arena, that under Todd's leadership, they'll bring an NBA team back to Seattle. And I'm all for that. And Todd and the ownership group are the right people. It is remarkable how much these teams have gone up in value. It's unbelievable. I mean, wouldn't have been the worst investment. Yeah, just incredible in terms of the value of professional sports teams, also the salaries that people are getting paid. But it just wasn't for me. And so it was an experience that I learned a lot from. And as I said, I've had many experiences that have been good and some not so good, and try and learn from them all and not look back.