Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Culture will need to change
Former Mavs co-owner says that must be priority
The group in competition with the Derek Jeter/Jeb Bush bid for the Marlins is one led by Tagg Romney and by Hall of Fam pitcher Tom Glavine, above. weigh the competing groups’ financial resources not only for purchasing the team but for being able to run it effectively.
The latter cannot be measured solely on a balance sheet.
“There are only two ways to change the culture,” Zaccanelli said. “One is you have to change some of the people. You don’t have to change all the people but you have to change some of the management team in order to make that happen.
“As owners you have to be able to instill into the team that you put together the understanding that you’re going to do everything that it takes in order to win. That includes, in professional sports, you’re going to have to spend a little bit of money.”
It wasn’t until years later under subsequent owner Mark Cuban that the Mavericks won a championship, defeating the Miami Heat in the 2011 NBA Finals. The Perot ownership did put some building blocks for success in place with a new arena, adding key players in Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash and Michael Finley, and in turning over a manageable payroll.
Coming from success in other businesses, Zaccanelli quickly got an education in the differences of pro sports management. After spending the first year as general manager, his best move was making a trip to Hawaii to coax Don Nelson out of retirement to take over the role.
“You have to get quality people that have done this before,” he said. “We had to be able to provide the leadership in order to start to move things in the right direction. To be very candid, Nellie was careful about how committed we were to doing that.”
Based on his experience, Zaccanelli’s advice to the next Marlins owners: “It’s going to take time. It’s going to take some level of patience. It’s going to take money. It’s going to take some know how. It’s going to take a changing of the culture.”
Zaccanelli’s only connection to South Florida is he played one year in Boca Raton on the first basketball team at Marymount College, now Lynn University. His interest in the Marlins is as an observer intrigued by the dynamic of the sports and political backgrounds of the Jeter/ Bush combination.
“Kudos to Jeb for teaming up with one of the alltime greats in Derek Jeter,” he said. “There is going to be a lot of buzz about this. I would be shocked if Major League Baseball doesn’t do everything in their power to bring to bear the Jeb Bush/Derek Jeter ownership.”