I am going to buy the Anaheim Ducks
To position it as America’s Hockey Team
Several years ago, I was sitting at a YPO dinner with Henry Samueli, the founder of Broadcom and the current owner of the Anaheim Ducks. After hours of peppering him with questions, he looked across the table and said, “You seem like the kind of kid who would want to own the Ducks someday.”
At the time, I laughed it off.
Who was I to even think about something like that?
But his words stayed with me. They planted a seed that has now grown into this mighty oak of aspiration that I cannot ignore.
I want to buy the Anaheim Ducks.
This vision is about building something hockey has never had before: America’s team, a cultural institution that lives far beyond status or prestige.
What Makes America’s Team
In every major sport, there is one team that has become America’s team.
The Dallas Cowboys in football.
The New York Yankees in baseball.
Basketball has a few contenders depending on where you grew up and what you watched. For many, it was the LA Lakers with their Hollywood spectacle. For others, the New York Knicks with the magic of Madison Square Garden. Some would argue for the Boston Celtics or the Chicago Bulls.
No matter the debate, every great sport has a team that transcended the game and became a symbol of America itself.
That kind of identity is always designed.
Behind every America’s team, there has been a person or a group of visionaries who made intentional choices to shape it.
The Dallas Cowboys became America’s team because television executives positioned their games as a national ritual. The New York Yankees became America’s team because marketers and storytellers turned their cap into an everyday symbol of America, worn by people all over the world whether they watched baseball or not. The LA Lakers became America’s team because their owners leaned into the allure of Hollywood, transforming basketball into an entertainment spectacle that carried their brand far beyond the court.
Hockey has never had its America’s team.
Why the Ducks
The Anaheim Ducks are uniquely positioned to fill that role.
They were born from Disney, and Disney has always been the heartbeat of American culture. Disney’s genius has been in capturing hearts early. A child falls in love with a story, and that love carries forward through parents and eventually through generations.
This connection is personal for me.
I live twenty minutes from the Honda Center, the home of the Ducks, and twenty minutes from Disneyland. For the last fourteen years, I have lived inside this world with my two children. We have combed through the Disney parks, watched games on ice, and experienced the blend of those two brands in real life. I know what it feels like to live that story, to see how seamlessly sport and storytelling can come together.
Beyond the white picket fence, this is what being American is all about.
Families can spend the day at Disneyland and then walk across the street to the Honda Center for a Ducks game. Experiences like that create traditions, carry memories from one generation to the next, and plant the roots of culture that grow stronger over time. It feels quintessentially American, and it is the foundation on which hockey’s America’s team can be built.
How to Build It Today
The world has changed.
In the past, a single owner or a major network could create the kind of brand power it takes to become America’s team. We live in a completely different media ecosystem right now. Culture today is shaped by a chorus of voices, not by a single one.
The way to build America’s team in hockey is to bring those voices together.
My vision is to (selectively and strategically) crowdsource the ownership of the Ducks with the most influential people in the world… not only influential, but people with the largest audiences, the kind of reach that shapes culture in real time. When those voices are unified, they allow us to craft a narrative of being America’s team in the shortest possible time.
No single billionaire could achieve that kind of groundswell alone. A coalition of the most powerful influencers, aligned on one vision, definitely can.
In fact, this groundswell is already in motion.
I have already shared this vision with my partners Alex and Leila Hormozi, who are all in, along with several other major influencers who have already said yes. They see what I see: that no single individual at the top, no matter how powerful, can create the cultural wave that a collective of leaders with massive audiences can generate together.
That is how you build America’s team in 2025 and beyond.
What Really Matters
The limiting factor here is not money.
We already have access to the funds to make this happen.
What truly matters is assembling the “right” syndicate of influence… the audiences, the voices, the reach… that can get behind this vision and bring it to life.
Not to mention, over the last 10 years the team’s value grew by 300%.
Of course, this will also be an extraordinary financial investment, with returns that will be undeniable. But profitability is only the cherry on top. The real reward is cultural. What we are building is a legacy that is not once in a lifetime, but once in history. It will become part of the country’s story.
And we have one shot to do it.
Legacy as a Verb
Legacy is often treated as a noun, a static thing to be left behind in the form of money or assets, yet that version feels hollow for me.
I think of legacy as a verb, something alive that you live through your choices, your example, and the traditions you create.
For me, building America’s team is legacy as a verb.
It means creating an institution that families can pass down through tradition, that children can grow up believing in, and that future generations can inherit as part of their cultural identity.
The Bigger Picture
This vision is about shaping something that becomes part of the American fabric, something far more lasting than balance sheets or luxury.
I want kids decades from now to grow up with hockey as naturally as they grow up with baseball, football, or basketball. I want families to weave Ducks games into their traditions the way they gather for the Super Bowl or wear a New York Yankees ball cap.
For me, this isn’t a dream on paper.
I live twenty minutes from Disneyland and twenty minutes from the Honda Center. For fourteen years, I have lived the integration of those two worlds with my children. We have walked the parks together. We have cheered through the games together. I have seen how deeply Disney and the Ducks already complement one another.
That, to me, is America at its best: families creating rituals together, generations passing down memories that last, and culture taking root through shared experiences that grow into traditions.
It begins with one team and grows with one story. And if we do it right, the Anaheim Ducks will become America’s team in hockey.
I already have a strong group of business influencers committed to this vision, and I know there will be more who want to join as the story spreads. If you feel called to co-own America’s team with me, reach out.
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I never doubted you from the beginning. You’ll crush this. And slight editorial correction. The Padres are America’s team :) (Maybe the Cubs)