View career paths Pre-College Business Emerging Leaders (BEL) I mean, the fact that players had just had it is no surprise. You talk about how do people help you think through clutch times. My mother was one of the preeminent ad executives from Grey Advertising for 40 years. Peter: Im fairly, my mom was immersed in data analytics before data and analytics was business intelligence. That's right. And it's kind of as an adult got me to a place where I desperately want our youth to get exposed to things they wouldn't normally get exposed to because that's how they learn what's out there. Peter Feigin: I think nobody could have imagined what that does to you on a personal psychological emotional level. When you think about it, what else would you be doing? I said, oh, its so good to get all your support. Our owners, when you talk about, our active operating board of governors, youve got guys like Mark Lazari who kind of in avenue capital and ran the distressed debt world. Youve done it all. It's the same way she'll listen through what I'm going through. Even though we just opened up a building two years ago, you're starting in a place where we're going to have some attrition and lose some fans and have to build equity back up and get back to basics of like building ticket sales, building everything else. Ive been really lucky. We've made it really authentic and localized with what our food and beverage offerings are going to be. Peter Feigin: Yeah. The ability to go into an NBA franchise and really pick all the great practices which is going around in the league is a huge advantage. NBA all-star, olympic gold medalist & world-class investor. So, for people who run businesses, to have an operator who's really geared up and wants to drive revenue is kind of like a positive thing, especially for Mark and Wes. Peter Feigin: Michael, like I said, anytime, anywhere. Peter: Obviously, we have like, all of them are employee resource groups. and other sports leagues begin to outline their plans for comebacks in the age of social distancing, weekend warriors like Feigin are coping with basketball-shaped voids in their lives. But he worries about the physical effects of another extended layoff. What has it meant to you to bet on yourself? So that that's been kind of part of my learning is like, "How do we create a system that we're in a much better place six months from now and a much better place 12 months and a much better place three years from now that we've shown change in metrics and results and everything like that. I think Wes Edens and Aaron Rodgers had been friends for awhile. That's like, that's today's kind of like, "What are we focused on?". That was one of these monumental, incredible, awesome times to get it done. And then we kind of sat there until like, "Oh, my God." We got here and kind of the first job was to look for a site and the second job was to really get public backing to build an arena, to demolish the Bradley Center and build a new arena, which were monumental big things to happen. Talk about the journey to the Bucks and how did that happen and then why Milwaukee? And because Blake was in our backyard, like literally in Kenosha, which as you know is so close, it became personal. And I believe in my heart that the Bucks were real leaders in that moment. How exhausting was the bubble? Kevin Draughon, a former student at Trevor Day School, drove on Dan Feigin, who runs the pickup games on Saturdays at the schools gym. We've got Peter Feigin. Michael Red: And so, through all of the minutiae and all of 2020 and now going into the new season, which we're in now, managing to still focus the organization on winning the championship. Peter Feigin, President of the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks and formerly Vice President of Marketing for the New York Knicks and Director of Marketing at Six Flags, joins me on the podcast today. And this is how cities evolve. It keeps on changing, but we've got to be able to pivot and understand when we're out of balance. This is the most, this is fun of life. Peter: Yeah. We had to certainly do it on the resources, our facilities, we had to do it on the human capital, and then we had to change our whole perception which came from the owners on what we wanted to do on the court, which win an NBA championship and what we wanted to do off the court is be the innovators and be the leaders in the way we really operate. Giannis Antetokounmpo is the gift that keeps on giving for Bucks' management. Right? Peter Feigin, the president of the Milwaukee Bucks, playing defense. I don't care where you take them from, then we're on a good path." John: Thats awesome. But talk about that nuance and being in leaders on the social injustice play. His is a story of grit, will, and great humor. Peter is a native New Yorker. We built an infrastructure, to our owners' credit on, they made it really simple. Ive had so much fun and been in sports entertainment and aviation and in different things and its all been about every job Ive had incredibly, Ive said like, oh my God, could you imagine, like Ive died and gone to heaven. And nobody's going to question how great Milwaukee is." President Peter Feigin tells the 'The Claman Countdown' how the Bucks franchise has impacted the local economy Bucks president Peter Feigin said Friday that the team is going to use the. Well, you know about the ice cream truck. So, we continue to want to make this a place where players are like, "Shit, I've never been treated like this.". I think one of the big skills is, I definitely do not know the answer to everything and if youre able to Basically I do think I can solve anything. At the backdrop of the luncheon were items invented by African Americans. And we'll get into the twin in a little bit. So, we continue to want to make this a place where players are like, "Shit, I've never been treated like this.". John: You grew up on the Upper East Side, you are a native New Yorker, your brothers still back there. That automatically and having him sign for the next five years, that gives you this springboard that we think. I think probably one of the last public-private partnerships that thatll happen, when Troy brought together the city, the county and the state to put together a partnership for a new arena in downtown Milwaukee. Just try to be quiet. And I think it was like a checkpoint for us certainly, but for the whole country on like, "Boy, this is one of those inflection points that we've got to make matter in a big way." We were together in high school. Which is a huge opportunity. So, that was my one get back to kind of surprise him because I think there were a few spies that were taking pictures of every time I parked in that spot for a second. I can come up with a solution, we can figure it out somehow, some way if youve got the right people around you to do it. It is a really tough existence. He said it. I have an identical twin brother who happens to still be in New York and runs a private school called Trevor Day School. But kind of like would say I kind of got to play through high school college with just grit and will and really like persistence and relentlessness. Jan 16th, 2016 by Mayor Tom Barrett. Peter Feigin: And you've got to put with everything going on in the world, there's got to be that balance of like, "Hey, there are priorities." Last Wednesday, Milwaukee Bucks president Peter Feigin told the Rotary Club of Madison that Milwaukee is "the most segregated, racist place I've ever experienced in my life." The full quote,. Thats the biggest change is the regional sports networks have changed dramatically. Peter: But one of the incredible things, alignment we have with myself, John Horst, whos our GM and coach Bud is like, weve got this undercurrent of constant improvement and kind of like never, pleased but never satisfied. Number one, growth is so exponentially outside the us, which is like really interesting for NBA basketball, for participation, for media, for social consumption. Everybody knows you are going to work your butt off if you work here. How we build our brand and how we build our awareness and likability around that, it's just kind of one of those no-brainers, too. Crazy story of how things happened. Peter Feigin, president of the Milwaukee Bucks in Wisconsin, was interviewed by a reporter from NBC affiliate TMJ4 News in his car outside of the team's Fiserv Forum after the Bucks were confirmed . Even though you think youre such a great brand, there are a hundred things that happen in New York a day that youre one of the elements. Peter: Yeah. We're talking about localizing all of our social, so in every language you can imagine to absorb it from us, so we can tell the story. His sabbatical included a lengthy stint in Los Angeles on the set of Space Jam 2. After he finally made his return to The Run in January, his comeback was cut short by the pandemic. The Bucks are one of the 17 teams that is competing in the new NBA 2K League, a necessary decision in Feigin's mind. It's there is no time balance, so it's kind of surreal. How do we sit here and I think like, how could the Millwaukee Bucks not be, not Americas team, but Globals team. If my guys in high school or college gave me the finger as the point back on the assists from a backdoor or something, I think I got more of a thrill out of that than I got out of scoring points. We deal, and weve had some meetings with our friends at the Badgers of the University of Wisconsin as they create a collective, weve certainly been tracking kind of whats going on. Those are simple, its his genius. Before life as we knew it went on hiatus in March, Peter Feigin was occasionally returning to New York from Milwaukee for weekend visits and to rejoin The Run, which has become multigenerational. When Carter Pewterschmidt stops by in "Fresh Heir" to announce that he has made Chris Griffin the sole heir to the Pewterschmidt fortune, the family hears a crash. Feigin's twin brother, Daniel, is director of the upper school at New York City's Trevor Day School. We've developed about 75% of it and people are living here, working here, and playing. John: Your mom was part of the George Lois generation and Jerry Della Femina and then Donny Deutschs father David Deutsch. But this is literally a business based on humans and psychology and emotion and how we feel every day. Peter: Well, I think its leadership 101, youve got to grasp where you are number one, and this was a very distressed brand company position. I'll talk with her about her students and kind of support her while she's correcting her papers. Michael Red: So, I did some research and so, the sources got back to me. And I knew who Arthur Ashe was, but I wasn't a big tennis guy and my job was basically being Arthur Ashe's right hand person through. Everybody at ball was just, you got to move, go leave now. Crazy simple story grew up in New York City, Manhattan on the Upper East Side, went to high school in Brooklyn. Peter Feigin: Just, just listen, just listen. They called themselves The Magic Three as middle school teammates on the Upper East Side. For our listeners and viewers out there, to find Peter Feigin and the Milwaukee Bucks, you always could go to bucks.com. As commissioner of one of New York Citys longstanding pickup basketball games, Dan Feigin always knew where he would be every Saturday morning: inside the subterranean gymnasium at Trevor Day School in Manhattan, where he has worked for nearly three decades as a teacher, coach and administrator. Peter Feigin: I mean, I'll tell you an interesting story. His own social presence is so valuable, is so great. And that's tough, too. John: Just for a fun look, for our listeners sake. We have resources, we back them up, whatever you need, it's part of it. And Giannis knows whether we're talking about a big deal, whether we're talking about marketing, he knows those socks like he's good with, he owns me for a month now, he owns me. I don't know, being able to be a business person and kind of get away from your day job and go into a data room of a pro team seemed just the greatest thing I'd ever experienced. Our expectation is to win a championship. Subscribe to get the latest Impact episodes delivered right to your inbox each week. You talk about advantages, just the osmosis at our dinner table was I knew in two seconds like I wanted to be in business. It's like how do I hold my impulsive self to shut the hell up. How do you care about it, and Jon Horst is so great on the basketball side. My wife is like, What are you doing? I dont know what Im doing!. That's kind of a surreal experience in NBA arenas.". But no matter how skilled the player, new members are included on a probationary basis. Peter: Then I think youre, listen, viewer consumption, what youre talking about is whether you put on an Oculus or whether youve got five screens going up, people are now watching short form video in five to 20 second increments to absorb a game. Feigin's twin brother, Daniel, is director of the upper school at New York City's Trevor Day. "We didn't have much time," he says. Then Chris Middleton next to him, which is almost the same, who are these high quality character folks who happen to be all stars in skill level. Are you now being used as a paradigm by other team presidents, GMs owners that are looking to you and coming to you for advice or for just pearls of wisdom of how can we do it because heres where we sit in baseball or in football or in basketball because they want to follow this amazing path and journey that you guys have created there? LinkedIn is the world's largest business network, helping professionals like Peter Feigin discover inside connections to recommended job . This is all a good launch point for Feigin to introduce a state-of-the-art arena. When Khris was a rookie, I said, "Do you know whose jersey you wearing?" In many ways, you were doing a startup when you came to Milwaukee with your partners. So, it really is kind of like all of us working together to figure out what the balance is. Peter Feigin: So I think we have that balance. Peter Feigin: It was, I don't know a better way to say it other than, grassroots. Here's your Hispanics." And I think the only thing anybody can control is their own effort and kind of their own dreams and where they want to go. But you got to remember, there's the rest of the neighborhood and we've got to continue to focus on the task at hand. And even as the N.B.A. Well the goal on the court is we want to win a championship. Then it would move the franchise to Las Vegas or Seattle. Thank you. One Saturday, they gathered with some of their other pals including dAmboise, who had been playing hoops with them for years and The Run was born. Peter Feigin readily admits that, as president of the Milwaukee Bucks, he lives in the fantasy world of professional sports. Peter Feigin: Hey, John thanks for having me. And then I think the most incredible thing, which I can't see happening in a major metropolitan area again, is we were able to acquire 30 acres of contiguous land. I mean, now that I worked for three owners that are kind of in finance and private equity and guys who take real big bets and everything, I don't know if I was so much of a risk taker as I was kind of attention deficit and impulsive. There's always joking, a lot of joking and the team, the organization from what I've heard and know of you is that they really, really, really appreciate your leadership within the organization. Like the Kees, you're going to hopefully be doing something you love with people you love and working your butt off, but there are expectations. And maybe 15 years ago, when I was working in Madison Square Garden, my brother was in a parent conference with Mark Lasry and Mark might have mentioned that he wants to look at some teams. This was just the very beginning, the first thought was, "Oh, boy. I think thats like fair. In September 2013, then-deputy commissioner Adam Silver announced that Bradley Center, the team's home since 1988, was unfit for an NBA team. "We had to build a new arena or we were going to move the team. It's about doing things for the right reasons. I think it starts with human capital, but it really starts with road mapping out each little thing. John: By the way, weve got with us today, Peter Feigin, hes the president of the Milwaukee Bucks. Peter: Which people gave. Kearns has been shooting at an abandoned hoop that he discovered behind a train station in Connecticut. He was unfamiliar with Lasry, then his friend filled him in. Peter Feigin: So, it was kind of crazy. View Peter Feigin's professional profile on LinkedIn. We've got one of the global sports stars in the world. And that's what we try to do. Hows Warren Buffett in person as, how exactly? He thinks hes going to sell the team. Low and behold 24 hours, called him back and I said, oh, hes going to sell the team. You start with whats the goal? Kind of on a team, if you surround yourself with great players, you can figure out a way to win. Being able to play ball with your son is kind of like the best of the best, Peter Feigin said. By form, I think your strength of your network is as strong and as smart as you can possibly be. I had this tendency, which I still do, to get so excited and loud. If you lose, that might mean you need to keep an eye on several of your friends toddlers. It really is. How do we work together? Peter Feigin: Hey, John thanks for having me. It has huge value and its paid huge returns for us. Growing up, you used to hang out, go to the garden and you were a Knicks fan or Rangers fan and Yankees or Mets. The whole world is on that balance, so part of what we haven't really talked about much is our culture here. By the way I never wouldve said this seven years ago, I think you have to be involved. Im like, we actually, might have a chance to get this done and to make a long story short, and unfortunately my twin brother thinks like I owe him a commission, for. I think we had like, "Oh, we had decent amount of African Americans. Feigin distributed the shirts in February to The Runs regulars during a weekend retreat to Milwaukee, where his twin brother, Peter, works as the president of the Bucks. People will ask me all the time like, "How would you respond these times, Mike, as a player?" Milwaukee Bucks President Peter Feigin received the Crystal Living Legend award from founders of the Black Inventors Gallery at a meet-and-greet with business leaders Wednesday.