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Red McCombs: the 78-year-old San Antonio salesman--is there any better way to describe him?--on football, cars, radio, cattle, and giving away his millions.

Article Excerpt
You recently sold the Minnesota Vikings, which means this is the first football season in seven years that you won't be the owner of an NFL team. How does it feel? Well, I miss it a lot. We approached this season as if we'd own the Vikings forever. The lead investor in the investor group I made the deal with turned out to be not quite as liquid as the league wanted, so I didn't know whether it was going to close or not. As it turned out, another person in the group was acceptable as far as liquidity, but I had to be ready [in case I couldn't sell]. So I was very active in the free-agent market. There were five free agents we wanted, and we got four of them. And we were pleased with our draft. I look at this year's team as really being my team.

Let the record show that you're wearing Viking purple. You still feel that loyal to the team. Of course, because it is my team. I put it together over the past seven years. I've been through this numerous times in the ownership of professional sports teams: When I sell a team, as long as players, coaches, and staff who I hired are there, I stay well connected.

You've owned pro basketball teams--the San Antonio Spurs twice and the Denver Nuggets once. Is there something particular about owning a pro football team versus a team in another sport? In terms of what you have to do with your team, it's not a lot different. The first team I owned, when I was 25 years old, was a class B baseball team in Corpus Christi. It had essentially the same issues. You have a product that's an entertainment product. It has to compete with a lot of other products for its place. Then you have the issue of knowing that you're in a business, that you're in a league, and that when it's all over, only one of you is going to be a winner. It's such a challenge to try to be that one. Having said that, the NFL was the epitome of all sports opportunities. I actually chased the NFL for more than 30 years. It took me a long time to get in, but once I got in, it was even more than what I thought it would be.

How's that? It's a closely held brotherhood, yet all of those guys are so competitive against each other as owners. And...

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