Casey Wasserman

I operated a professional football team in L.A. By no means was it the NFL, but I understand what it takes on some level to build and operate a professional sports enterprise in Los Angeles. ”

I had the freedom to choose my career. I had the opportunity to choose a career in sports. It's what I'm most passionate about. It's what I love. ”

The All-Star Game represents everything we as a nation love about basketball on and off the court - diversity, sportsmanship and, most of all, a commitment to unite fans. ”

Giving back was an expectation, not an option. ”

You can't just put a bubble over the Westside of L.A. and pretend like there aren't other problems. The way that we are failing the kids in this city through our education system has a profound effect on everybody in the city, and I'm not prepared just to turn a blind eye to that. ”

I have been in business a long time. I never had a successful relationship or partnership with any entity by issuing an ultimatum. ”

I don't need the NFL to be happy or successful. ”

This is one of the last unique things to do in the business of sports, to return the National Football League to the city of Los Angeles. I happen to love the city of Los Angeles; I happen to love the NFL - and to somehow be a part of that, a helper in that process, is something I've always been interested in. ”

It's no secret that I have, at best, a strained and awkward relationship with my dad. The Wasserman family - my mom, my sister, Lew and Edie - raised me. They are the people I define as my family. ”

I love the entertainment business. I have a lot of friends in it, but it wasn't my passion. The sports business is what I am passionate about. I also wanted to define myself through something that wasn't linked to my grandfather. ”