Phoenix Suns owner explains ‘unique’ decision to move to European soccer with Steve Kerr

Andy Kohlberg (New York, 65-years-old) is the president of RCD Mallorca in LaLiga and co-owner of the Phoenix Suns in the NBA. He exudes a sense of calm, the same ease that allowed him to face the football team’s relegation to the now-defunct Segunda B in his first season. With clear ideas and working alongside both Steve Nash and Steve Kerr, he has returned the team to the First Division and is in the fight to play in Europe, with a clear vision of the team’s future.

Can you explain why you chose Mallorca?

I think we looked at Mallorca as a unique opportunity to do something different, given the level of tourism and the broad reach of the different fan bases.

We thought we could have a fan experience that was unique and different while still maintaining the culture of the island, still continuing to cater to the local families who’ve been coming for many generations, and also providing some experiences for maybe a German family who was a Bayern Munich fan, but they had a house in Mallorca, and give them a unique experience in the VIP area.

They might not be a real Mallorca fan, but they want to come see a good football match and have a unique and different experience with great food and entertainment.

What’s the plan as regards Mallorca in the United States? Lots of clubs have relationships and presence out there.

I think we’re still developing a plan working with LaLiga, obviously with our American ownership group, and the well known people like Steve Nash and Steve Kerr, but I think doing things in conjunction with LaLiga and maybe having some pre-season games, which the bigger clubs have done, is something on the horizon.

Is your plan to expand to the USA?

We have to get a plan together and go slowly. It takes a long time to build a brand, especially in a big market like the US, but we can have a niche, because more Americans are coming to Mallorca now with the non-stop United Airlines flight.

Even in the last three years, the number of Americans is increasing a lot in Mallorca, so we want to build on that, and we have a partnership with Air Europa to help establish that.

Do you think soccer can become one of the strongest sports in the USA?

I think Messi has made a big difference in the US, in the popularity, attendance is doing well. The difficulty with soccer in the US is the TV and the TV revenue and the number of people watching on TV is still not growing so much, but the overall popularity of the sport, both men’s and women’s, is growing a lot, and some of that is because of Messi.

Some of the women’s national team was very good, but it will take a while, but the big thing that has to come around is TV.

Will the 2026 World Cup be the springboard for soccer to make a leap forward in the US?

I think so. I think Messi has started it, and the World Cup will coincide with the end of his career. I think that’s a good thing and a good send off. So, yes, I think it has the potential to be a really big driver of a larger fan base.

Is it tough to create a balance between catering for those fans and the local fans?

Oh no, I think we’re doing a good job. The basic premise is you listen to the customer and give them what they want, and the local fan who’s been coming for generations and doesn’t come early or stay late, and that’s fine.

We have different things for everybody, so I think it’s a good mix and a good blend, and everybody seems to be happy. We haven’t heard many complaints about the fans who have been coming for 50 years, that ‘this is different’ or that ‘this is terrible’. They still can do what they’ve always done, but we have other areas for people who want a different experience.

You mentioned before that you looked at certain Premier League clubs, but in the end, you chose LaLiga. Why? What was the defining factor in that decision?

I think there’s a bit more opportunity in Spain. As we said, Financial Fair Play was coming into fruition at that time, 2014/15 when we were looking at clubs, and we thought that was the discipline that we wanted and the Premier League wasn’t doing that.

Also, it was much more expensive to buy a Premier League club, and yet they still lost huge amounts of money, most of the clubs, even the top ones. So we just felt there was more opportunity in Spain and a little bit easier to advance and become a top 10 club than it was in the Premier League.

Would you look to expand the board? Lots of US investors have come into the Premier League and La Liga, would you be open to more US investors, sports, people like yourself coming into Mallorca?

We’ll see. We’re doing well right now, we have five or six partners. You never know what will happen in the future, but we’re very happy with our group right now and we’re taking Mallorca to the States.

And you have a unique identity that you’re an island, and the identity of the club.

Most Americans know where Mallorca is, but they don’t have any idea about Real Mallorca, but they know Mallorca. Trying to take the notoriety of the island and transfer it to the club as part of the strategy for us.

What’s the Asian strategy?

I think we’re third or fourth in Japan in terms of views. I was over there last year and we’re going again. As we said, we have a Japanese sponsor; we are the club with the most number of Japanese players. And, you know, we had Lee Kang-In, who was very, very popular.

We had probably 100 tourists every week coming from Korea just to watch him, and so it turned out to be a really good thing. So we think we have some unique opportunities to expand in Asia because of the connection. And we’re there, we’re going over there more often than anyone else. So that helps when.

What do you make of Donald Trump’s tariffs? Will it affect you?

I’m not a big fan of the tariffs. So we’ll see what happens. I don’t think anybody knows what’s going to happen. There’s so much uncertainty, which is never good for business. It would be better if they said ‘these are the tariffs’, but they’re changing so often, and nobody is sure if they will be negotiated. So no companies will make an investment, and that’s even worse, the uncertainty is almost as bad as the tariffs themselves. So we’ll see. But hopefully things get worked out.

When you arrived you moved through the divisions, how important is that calmness and holding your nerves?

The word I like to use is stability. You know the good franchises, successful franchises in the NBA, have been very stable. The Golden State Warriors had the same owner, the same general manager and the same coach for many years. Miami Heat: same owner, same general manager, same coach for a dozen years. San Antonio: same owner, same coach, same general manager.

Football is not like that…

America is not normally like that, but the good teams have figured out how to keep stable management, and I think that’s helpful in sports in general. So that’s what we’re trying to do. You don’t get it right all the time, and if you make a mistake, you obviously have to change.

But I think going through the ups and downs, our feeling of stability was very important, and that’s what we want to do going forward: hire people who want to be at the club for a long time, and we’re doing that.

Do you have a Europa League/Champions League dream?

You know, I think our main objective is to stay in the league and be in the top 10. And if you’re top 10, that means you’re fighting and you’re competing and you’re right there every year. But it’s not realistic.

There are five clubs, maybe six clubs that we’re never going to be better than over the course of many seasons. Obviously, we can beat Athletic Bilbao in a game or even maybe a season, but we’re never going to be better than Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atlético, Athletic Bilbao, Villarreal, over four or five seasons - it is not realistic. They are bigger clubs with more budget.

So we got to be in the next group, which is kind of 5 to 10 and be there every year, competing for those things. And that’s our objective, and stay in the league, obviously.

So is that the ceiling for the team? Top 10 but not top 5?

I wouldn’t say the ceiling at any given moment or season, but over the course of 5-10, years, we’re not going to be third place every season, so I think that’s realistic. We need to improve a lot to get to that consistent level of 5-10th place every season.

With the success of the club, the players’ values have risen. How does that fit into your model?

I think it’s part of a realistic strategy. We have to be willing to sell some players occasionally. You know, we’re not doing that as the main driver of the business model, but players like Take Kubo and Lee Kang-In, they’re going to want to go to the bigger the bigger clubs.

And we know that when Kang In signed with us, we knew that, and same with Take Kubo, so we have to make that part of our strategy and be a club that is good at developing young players.

We also have to let them know that we’re willing to let them move on to bigger clubs when it makes sense, and not fight it too much. You can’t have five to seven guys you sell at the same time, but we know that if we’re getting a top young player for two or three years, they’re going to be with us and then move on. And the same thing with our young kids. We don’t want them to move on, but Real Madrid and Barcelona come calling and they leave. So we have to build that into our strategy and not try to fight it. This is the inevitability of the size of our club.

It’s very honest and humble for you to say that you’re willing to let them go to a bigger club when the time comes.

We’re just trying to be realistic and then build it into our strategy and have a balance. Obviously, we want good young players to stay, but that’s not realistic.

Can you speak about Jagoba Arrasate and the job he’s done this season?

I think he’s been a great fit. He’s very humble. He plays a bit more offensive style, with a bit higher up the pitch, and that’s what we wanted. The players have adapted very well, but it’s a long season, and to continue with that, but he’s been a great coach and has adapted really well, and the players have adapted to him really well.

I’d also like to say that we’re very thankful for what Javier Aguirre did. He set a very strong foundation of defence, solidity and consistency. Jagoba has built on that and improved on that without tearing the whole thing down. A lot of coaches come in and they just fire everybody to start a completely new regime. Jagoba wasn’t like that. He liked some of the people who were already working there, he liked the players and built on what was good and improved some things we needed to improve. So I’m very impressed.

What’s his personality and mentality like day to day?

He’s very calm, humble, it’s very easy to get along with him and all the staff. The staff all say he’s just fantastic to deal with on a day to day basis.

Can you tell us about your plan for the academy?

That’s something we’re working on. We need to get better at it and we need to invest more money with dorms and more young players. So it’s the next step in our evolution. It’s hard to invest in the academy when you’re in a different division every year, first, second, third... But now we’re stable and La Liga, we can invest in the academy, and that’s our plan.

What are your thoughts on the LaLiga spending limits? Does it stop you from doing everything you’d like?

Overall, I think the financial fair play rules have been very positive for LaLiga because of the reasons we mentioned regarding the discipline. I think they can make some small adjustments to the rules that would help, but I think that generally they’ve been very positive, and LaLiga has been pretty disciplined about enforcing them. And so those we view as positive things, but there can be some tweaks that I think could

be improved.

So you’d like a bit more leniency?

I think in terms of putting new dollars in right now, you only get a very little credit each year for those dollars. They could just increase the percentage a little bit. The concept, I think, is right.

The other thing that the NBA has done that I think works very well is that if a team spends more than a salary cap, they get a penalty and that money gets distributed among other teams that are not in the penalty. I think that makes sense. If an owner wants to spend a billion dollars, then make some of that money good to the other teams to bring them up.

I think the concept makes a lot of sense but it’s how you adapt that to Spain, I’m not sure. As a general theme, I think if someone’s willing to put money in, there should be some caps, but there should be some stages where more and more money goes to the rest of the teams. And if the owner wants to continue to do that and subsidise the other teams…

What’s the latest on contract renewals? Muriqi, the important players…

I can’t speak to anyone individually, but our theme, as I mentioned, as a club, is stability, and we want to continue with our players. We’ve had a very good track record of renewing players who wanted to renew with Dani and Abdon, Raillo, all of our captains, so we want to continue with that. But I can’t speak to any players.

What has surprised you about Spain? What do you find curious about Spanish football compared to American sports?

Relegation changes everything. I’m also surprised at how the rules haven’t adapted a little bit quicker to the realities of the new style of game. NBA changes the rules more quickly to adapt to what’s happening: now there’s a lot more three-point shooting and a lot more offense. They change the rules.

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It seems like I mentioned earlier, some simple things could be changed in the rules. It would make it, I think, a much better game, and easier to referee. There wouldn’t be so many complaints, some simple things, and they seem to take a long time to get around to that here. So that’s what’s surprising, that to me as an outsider looking in, it seemed there were some obvious, real changes that would make things a lot easier.

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