FIVE QUESTIONS WITH...George Mackin
Key rainmaker in the deal to keep the Pacific Life Open in Indian WellsExclusive interview with Liza Horan, Editor of TENNISWIRE.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Liza Horan
330 Third Ave.
New York,
212-682-6829
liza@tenniswire.org
03/15/05 -
This is the debut of FIVE QUESTIONS WITH...,
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Q. The negotiations of trying to buy IMG's share of the tournament, and keep it stateside, dragged on for 10 months. Why was it so complicated?
A. When you get lawyers together with lawyers, things get drawn out. And there were five sets at the table here. Also because these are all organizations that are used to getting their own way. First you have the seller, IMG, and their set of lawyers. I have to say IMG was great in that we missed deadline after deadline and Bob Kain and Gavin Forbes really gave us the time we needed to put this together--and they could’ve pulled the plug. Then you have the City of Indian Wells and their attorneys, in terms of purchasing the parking lot to actually make this happen. Then you have the Desert Commercial Bank syndicate of eight banks, and their lawyers, to do the underwriting and the restructuring of the debt. And then you have the USTA and their lawyers, and then (tournament founders and managers) Raymond (Moore) and Charlie (Pasarell) and their lawyers as the management company.
So you’re having to navigate through five sets of agreements—pretty extensive, complex legal agreements as well as taking out $39 million in bond-holder debt along the way, with all the approvals that need to go along with that. It just made for a hugely complex and trying transaction.
And even at the very end, now in finalizing the approvals with the ATP and WTA, and we’re navigating through our last set of lawyers, so it’s just been a really complicated transaction.
Q. This deal seems to have been all-consuming. How intense was it?
A. It was the single hardest thing I’ve done in my life--and I’ve built some businesses from scratch into major companies. There were times--more than 22 times--when Raymond and I threw up our hands and said, ‘This’ll never happen,’ and emotionally, physically, mentally walked away from it and said, ‘We really tried, but.’
And then we just kept getting sucked back into it [laughs].
I kidded with Raymond, “I started the deal when I was 53 and I just turned 68!”
I’m extremely happy about it, and I know Raymond is, too. It’s been a long strange trip, but it ended up in a really great place.
Q. Why did you hang in there?
A. We did a whole lot of due diligence looking at this from an investment standpoint because we were representing a lot of small investors coming into this. When you have the kind of huge offers that these guys were getting from Shanghai and Doha--where they would have made tens of millions of dollars more each to take those offers--and they were willing to walk away from that to keep the tournament here, that was the best due diligence we could ever have. That just told me these guys were so committed to this and they believe so much in it that I just started drinking the Kool-Aid along with them [laughs].
Q. Professionally you’ve gained a meaningful property with an enormous opportunity to leverage TENNIS Magazine. But personally, what have you lost or gained?
A. Lost: One appendix.
Our first deadline was Dec. 22, and on Dec. 26 I had an emergency appendectomy, which I totally believe is from the stress of 10 months in this pressure cooker with all these groups. And Bob Kain, who also had an appendectomy, was nice enough to say, 'I understand how tough that is, we’ll give you an extension.'
To pull an emergency appendectomy just to not make a deadline was pretty extreme, I think! [laughs]
Gained: At least one dear friend.
I’ve been in the trenches with Raymond Moore for 11 months and we probably talk three times a day, and six times over the weekend for the last 10 months, and we’ve become really good friends. But as you go through a process with someone like this and you’re fighting with them in the trenches—and it’s you against everyone else—you not only create an incredible bond with somebody but you know how comfortable you would be going forward being in business with them. Because when people under stress have to make decisions, and they’re making one great decision after another, you build up an incredible amount of respect and trust for them. And so it was really Raymond, in my mind, who pulled the whole thing together. Because there were times—more than 22 times—when Raymond and I threw up our hands and said, ‘This’ll never happen.’ And emotionally, physically, mentally walked away from it and said, ‘we really tried, but.’ And then we just kept getting sucked back into it. [laughs]
In the end it was a tremendous accomplishment for everybody. It wasn’t just me, I could never have done it without all these other people falling in line and supporting it.
Q. The City of Indian Wells has a clear advantage in keeping the event here. But what are the opportunities beyond tennis?
A. IMG didn’t really want to multipurpose the facility beyond tennis and we’re going to be doing more things along those lines, which the city will love it’ll be more reasons to bring visitors from outside the Coachella Valley to stay in hotels and spend money and enjoy the desert experience. It’s a very impactful event when 300,000 people come through the gates in 10-day period. There’s a lot of incremental spending going on. It’s a great stadium and it’s a great facility, so we actually booked the Eagles there for two nights. We’re planning on moving ahead with the City of Indian Wells and booking music and cultural events, and maybe corporate outings. We're excited about it. I think it's going to be fantastic.
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