Tom Penn is an American sports executive who is no longer the president and co-owner of

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

Los Angeles Football Club Los Angeles Football Club, commonly referred to as LAFC, is an American professional Association football team based in Los Angeles. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The clu ...

. Penn is also an

NBA TV NBA TV is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit. Dedicated to basketball, the network features exhibition, regular ...

analyst, former

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

executive and co-founder of the Sports Leadership Institute.

Los Angeles Football Club

The Los Angeles Football Club is a Major League Soccer (MLS) team based in downtown Los Angeles. Along with Penn, owners include Henry Nguyen,

Peter Guber Howard Peter Guber (born March 1, 1942) is an American business executive, entrepreneur, educator, and author. He is chairman and CEO of Mandalay Entertainment. Guber's most recent films from Mandalay Entertainment include '' The Kids Are All ...

Magic Johnson Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. (born August 14, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player. He is often regarded as the greatest point guard of all-time and has been compared with Stephen Curry. Johnson played 13 seasons in the ...

Nomar Garciaparra Anthony Nomar Garciaparra (; born July 23, 1973) is an American retired Major League Baseball player and current SportsNet LA analyst. After playing parts of nine seasons as an All-Star shortstop for the Boston Red Sox, he played shortstop, third ...

Mia Hamm Mariel Margaret Hamm-Garciaparra (; born March 17, 1972) is an American retired professional soccer player, two-time Olympic gold medalist and two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion. Hailed as a soccer icon, she played as a forward for the U ...

Tony Robbins Anthony Jay Robbins (né Mahavoric, born February 29, 1960) is an American author, coach, speaker, and philanthropist. He is known for his infomercials, seminars, and self-help books including the books ''Unlimited Power'' and ''Awaken the Gia ...

, and

Will Ferrell John William Ferrell (; born July 16, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. He first established himself in the mid-1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'', where he performed from 1995 to 200 ...

. The team was announced in October 2014 and planned to play its first game in 2018.

ESPN analyst

As an NBA analyst, Penn is regularly featured as a basketball operations expert on advanced analytics,

salary cap In professional sports, a salary cap (or wage cap) is an agreement or rule that places a limit on the amount of money that a team can spend on players' salaries. It exists as a per-player limit or a total limit for the team's roster, or both. Sever ...

issues, the NBA draft, player trades and collective bargaining issues. Penn started working with ESPN during the 2010 NBA Draft, and during the free agency period of 2010, he operated ESPN's cap machine on SportsCenter, where he manipulated a touchscreen to show potential destinations for LeBron James and other marquee free agents. Penn has also been on ESPN using the ESPN Trade Machine to break down NBA trades. He left ESPN in 2018 to join Turner Sports.

NBA executive

In 2012, Penn was widely reported as being close to accepting a position as general manager of the

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, colloquially known as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eas ...

. He instead re-signed with ESPN. From 2007 to 2010, he spent four seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers as vice president of Basketball Operations and assistant general manager. Penn is an expert on the NBA salary cap and collective bargaining agreement. Penn worked with general manager Kevin Pritchard as they restored the Blazers from the "Jail Blazers" era. The Blazers won 54 games in 2008–09 and again reached 50 wins in 2009–10 in spite of injuries to key players. During the summer of 2009, Penn was offered the general manager job with the

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. Founded in 19 ...

, but he turned it down, deciding to stay with the Blazers after a promotion to vice president of Basketball Operations. Ten months later, Penn was fired after in what one writer called a "drive by" shooting. On June 24, 2010, the day of the NBA Draft, Kevin Pritchard was also fired by the Blazers. Penn worked with the

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

Memphis Grizzlies The Memphis Grizzlies (referred to locally as the Grizz) are an American professional basketball team based in Memphis, Tennessee. The Grizzlies compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference ...

as assistant general manager and legal counsel from 2000 to 2007. For five of those seasons in Memphis, he worked closely with

Jerry West Jerome Alan West (born May 28, 1938) is an American basketball executive and former player. He played professionally for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). His nicknames included "Mr. Clutch", for his ability ...

and

Chuck Daly Charles Jerome Daly (July 20, 1930 – May 9, 2009) was an American basketball head coach. He led the Detroit Pistons to two consecutive National Basketball Association (NBA) championships in 1989 and 1990—during the team's "Bad Boys" era— ...

. The Grizzlies made the playoffs three straight seasons but never advanced passed the first round. In 1999, Penn worked as part of prospective NBA owner

Michael Heisley Michael E. Heisley (March 13, 1937 – April 26, 2014) was an American businessman and former majority owner of the Memphis Grizzlies. Biography A computer salesman by trade, Heisley used $150,000 from selling his home and $10 million in bank lo ...

's NBA acquisition team. Penn worked with

Dick Versace Richard Patrick Versace (April 16, 1940 – February 25, 2022) was an American basketball coach and executive. He was also the first American of Puerto Rican descent to have coached a National Basketball Association (NBA) team. Early life Versace ...

and Heisley's team to help guide Heisley through the NBA acquisition process until Heisley ultimately purchased the Vancouver Grizzlies in May 2000. After one season in Vancouver, Heisley moved the team to Memphis.

Sports Leadership Institute

The Sports Leadership Institute is a company that organizes private leadership summits for global sports owners, pro sports executives, major college Ads, and professional athletes. Penn founded the company in 2011, and they organize the Global Sports Summit in Aspen, Global Sports Management Summit in Chicago and Collegiate Sports Summit in Santa Monica.

Agent and lawyer

Penn was a lawyer and a player agent. He worked mostly as a criminal defense attorney and acted in 20-plus cases including murder, armed robbery and other serious felony cases. He also was a basketball player agent and organized tours of Europe with free agent players.

Upper Deck Company The Upper Deck Company, LLC (colloquially as Upper Deck and Upper Deck Authenticated, Ltd. in the UK), founded in 1988, is a private company primarily known for producing trading cards. Its headquarters are in Carlsbad, California, United Stat ...

—the trading card company—was his sponsor for the tours and the team was called the "Upper Deck All-Stars". Fox Sports Chicago filmed a documentary movie about one of the tours called ''Over There''.

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

Penn has been a member of the Board of Governors of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital since 2002. He helped found for St. Jude—an NBA Cares program that raises awareness and funds to fight childhood cancer. For the 2010-11 NBA Season, Hoops for St. Jude features the endorsement of NBA stars

Dwyane Wade Dwyane Tyrone Wade Jr. (; born January 17, 1982) is an American former professional basketball player. Wade spent the majority of his 16-year career playing for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and won three NBA champi ...

Dwight Howard Dwight David Howard II (born December 8, 1985) is an American professional basketball player for the Taoyuan Leopards of the T1 League. He is an NBA champion, eight-time All-Star, eight-time All-NBA Team honoree, five-time All-Defensive Team m ...

Pau Gasol Pau Gasol Sáez (, ; born July 6, 1980) is a Spanish former professional basketball player. He was a six-time NBA All-Star and a four-time All-NBA team selection, twice on the second team and twice on the third team. Gasol won two NBA champion ...

Kevin Love Kevin Wesley Love (born September 7, 1988) is an American professional basketball player for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is a five-time All-Star, a two-time member of the All-NBA Second Team and ...

Rudy Gay Rudy Carlton Gay Jr. (born August 17, 1986) is an American professional basketball player for the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The 6'8" forward played college basketball for the University of Connecticut before being d ...

, David Lee,

Steve Blake Steven Hanson Blake (born February 26, 1980) is an American professional basketball coach and former player. After winning the 2002 NCAA Championship with Maryland Terrapins men's basketball, Maryland, Blake was selected by the Washington Wizards ...

, and coach

George Karl George Matthew Karl (born May 12, 1951) is an American former professional basketball coach and player. After spending five years as a player for the San Antonio Spurs, Karl became an assistant with the team before getting the chance to become a ...

. Penn serves on the board of directors of the Children's Cancer Association, a Portland-based charity that provides services and programs to children and families who are traumatized by cancer and other diseases.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Penn, Tom American television hosts Living people American sports executives and administrators Sports owners Major League Soccer owners Year of birth missing (living people)