Carmelo Anthony stayed in New York for, among other reasons (I can think of 124 million of them) to be closer to his business interests.
What does that mean?
To him being a pioneer athlete in the tech world. Succeeding in that business world the way players like Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan have in others.
Anthony spoke at the Bloomberg Sports Business Summit in New York this week and among the things he discussed was his desire to be the first star athlete to really take advantage of the digital age. The New York Post has the quotes.“I want to brand myself as the digital athlete,” Anthony said Thursday at the Bloomberg Sports Business Summit in Manhattan. “Nobody really took that place. There’ve been athletes that came before me that were doing what I’m doing and there are going to be people after me that are doing what I’m doing. But I really want to be the pioneer for that digital athlete, and when it comes to tech I want to be the face of that space…”
To that end, Anthony and business partner Stuart Goldfarb, former VP of NBC, launched Melo7 Tech Partners this summer. The company invests in startup firms specializing in digital media, Internet consumer ventures and technology-based operations.
“At the end of the day, we all know what’s my day job: basketball,” Anthony said. “That’s what my brand is built on, but I’m trying to take my brand to the next level, make it bigger, make it stronger.”
The company has already invested in a few projects such as “OrangeChef” for the smart kitchen, or SeatGeek ticket buying search engine. There are other investments as well.
Good for Anthony. I have no idea how well these investments work out, but good for Anthony for broadening himself beyond the court. We in American have a fascination with singularly minded, tunnel-vision people who focus on one things. We generally applaud those people.
But frankly that makes a dull person. Anthony and his family are better off with him having other interests. So long as the Knicks and his game remain a top priority (behind family). I don’t think that will be the Knicks problem.