Jerry Colangelo is leading a group that is looking to bid on a Las Vegas NBA expansion team and brings a wealth of pro sports leadership experience with him.
Colangelo, 86, the longtime sports executive, is no stranger to expansion teams and sports franchise ownership and was a major player in turning Phoenix into the sports town that it is today. He held ownership stakes in the NBA’s Phoenix Suns, MLB’s Arizona Diamondbacks, WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, and helped land the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes (now the Utah Mammoth) in 1996.
Here are five interesting facts about Colangelo and his lengthy sports business career.
1. Early NBA experience
Colangelo got his first job in the NBA in 1966 with the Chicago Bulls, working in multiple positions including marketing director, scout and an assistant to the president. Colangelo left two years later to become the general manager of the expansion Phoenix Suns. At 28 years old, Colangelo was the youngest GM in pro sports at the time.
2. Saving the franchise
After working for the Suns for 19 years, Colangelo assembled a group and purchased the team for $44.5 million in 1987. He served as managing partner for the Suns until 2004, when he sold his interest in the team to former owner Robert Sarver for $401 million, a record sale price at the time.
3. Arena full circle
Colangelo owned the Arena Football League’s Arizona Rattlers between 1992, when they were an expansion team, and 2004. In 1997, the Rattlers won the AFL championship, beating the Iowa Barnstormers in Arena Bowl XI. The Barnstormers were led by quarterback Kurt Warner, who left the AFL for the NFL the following season and went on to have a long NFL career and led the Arizona Cardinals to the franchise’s first Super Bowl appearance in 2009.
4. UNLV connection
In 1987, Colangelo led the Suns through a cocaine scandal where three current and two former players at the time were indicted on drug-related charges. One of the Suns players involved in the scandal was Grant Gondrezick, the younger brother of late UNLV great and former NBA player Glen Gondrezick. Grant Gondrezick eventually pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and entered rehab, while a member of the Los Angeles Clippers.
5. Fast expansion success
Colangelo was responsible for Phoenix landing the MLB’s Arizona Diamondbacks as an expansion team in 1998. The team won their one and only World Series while under Colangelo’s ownership in 2001, in the team’s fourth year in existence, besting the New York Yankees 4-3 in the seven-game series.
Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.
