Founder, Fidelity National Financial
2024 Business Hall of Fame Inductee: Bill Foley
... adventurous vintner, Bill Foley serves on the board of several publicly traded companies, including Fidelity National Financial, ...
About Bill Foley
Bill Foley, owner of the NHL's Vegas Golden Knights, stated in a July 2026 CNBC interview that he is pursuing an NBA expansion team for Las Vegas. Foley said he believes the city is ready for a franchise and that he intends to replicate the Golden Knights' success. He described his ownership approach as focused on long-term franchise development and community involvement rather than short-term profits, and said he plans to be similarly engaged with a basketball team's operations and players. Foley noted that he has not yet spoken to NBA owners about the process, stating he wants to be respectful and clear any discussions with the league first. He also mentioned that owning both a hockey and basketball team could benefit arena scheduling, naming rights, sponsorships, and personal seat license sales.
Transcript (8 segments)
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Bill Foley0:00
Well, I mean the first challenge was bringing a hockey team here when everyone said it couldn't be done. So, I love that kind of challenge, prove them wrong. But, people should be careful about telling me I can't do something.
Really we traveled, my dad was in the service so moved every 3 years. And we lived in Ottawa, Canada for actually four years, a longer stint. That's where I learned how to play hockey as a young kid. We lived in Venezuela for 3 years, which I hated the experience at the time, cause I wanted to be in America and I wanted to be growing up around, you know, Americans. But it forced me to learn a new culture, learn a new language, experience totally different type of experience being in a South American country. And we traveled, we went to every country in South America, traveled throughout South America and Central America, throughout the Caribbean. So, I've had a, I've had a pretty wide range of experiences, which helps you become, I mean, I think more tolerant, more, have a little bit more of a vision possibly. Than my leadership skills or talents, such as they are, were really developed at, undergraduate at West Point. But they really teach you how to multitask. So, you do a lot of different things at once and how to delegate both authority and responsibility because without you can delegate responsibility but if the person doesn't have authority to implement change or implement a decision then you've done nothing.
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George McPhee1:52
He makes decisions quick, he supports his people and he listens to the people he hires. He stays engaged but he leaves you alone to do your job and to make your decisions and that's the best kind of guy to work for. And he backs you up if things aren't going well, he backs you up.
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Kerry Bubolz2:17
Bill really at times has said to me, 'Hey, you're overthinking it. Don't overthink it. I hired you for your skills. I hired you for your decision making. It's ready, aim, fire and if we miss, recognize that miss and then quickly get back in position, ready, aim, fire again.' And that really has stuck with me since I've started working with him because he's right. I think time has value as well and the time that you're spending maybe researching an idea versus actually executing against that idea is really important.
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Bill Foley2:51
And that's the way we lead. We say we really have a reverse pyramid. I'm down at the bottom of the pyramid and everything goes up this way. It doesn't go that way and if you do that you're just going to be successful. It's you'll be successful, period.
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Kerry Bubolz3:06
Well, he's deserving of this award because he was the catalyst. He took the risk to bring major professional sports to Las Vegas. There were so many reasons not to do it and he took the risk and again he was that catalyst and look where we are today. We just hosted the Super Bowl, Formula 1, all the great events that are coming in the future.
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George McPhee3:29
So, Bill Foley has sort of opened things up to all teams to come to Vegas and create this amazing sports town but he didn't take money from Vegas and there aren't many people that do that anymore.
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Bill Foley3:47
Well, we're going to do a lot keep on doing a lot of the things we're currently doing. If the NBA comes, I would hope that that'd be part of that franchise, that organization to build another Golden Knights but have this team, have that team be really part of the community. If I'm fortunate enough to be part of that group that actually brings the NBA here, and that'll be a really a fun kind of wrap up to maybe my career and to be involved in that.