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"The Sky Is The Limit"

© texte Ty Bronicel - © photos par Fernando Escovar

Jon Bon Jovi continues to make millions as a rock star, but his latest project, co-owning a sports franchise, allows him to combine two passions; football and pushing himself to new heights.

Jon Bon Jovi is one of the biggest names in the history of rock. He's worth over "a couple hundred". (If you have to ask, $200 million). His band has sold more than 100 million albums, played over 2500 concerts worldwide, and he's currently recording a new album, planning a fall tour, and making a little more dough( albeit a much smaller chunk) on the Philadelphia Soul, the Arena League football team he co-owns.

So what in the hell is he doing calling a writer to answer follow-up questions on, of all days his birthday? How many people, never mind someone as powerful and just damn busy, would even think of such a thing? " Well, I'm heading to LA in the morning to work on our next album," he explains, "and I figured this might be the only free time I have. It's OK. Richie and my wife and kids are starting without me."

But that's Bon Jovi. Say what you want about him and his band. He's already heard it all- "Some people just don't like me or our music," he says. "Others do. You can't please everybody. At this point, I figure you either like us or hate us, that's your business. I don't care." But after spending a couple afternoons with him, you realize that the more positive descriptions written about him appear to be true. He's likeable, straightforward, and funny. (Samples: "I like to say I'm richer than one of the Olson twins, but not as big as both of them." "Photographers lie, man. The'll say,'One more, OK just one more. This is the last one. LAST one. Promise, last more.")

He's also a grounded guy, someone who's been committed to the same woman (Dorothea, his high school sweetheart and wife of 15 years), state (New Jersey, where he's lived forever) and football team (he's beloved New York Giants) since he was a teenager. Those are some serious, Redwood deep roots. He's a dedicated man, definitely, but his first true love was not for a girl or guitar, but for the G-men. Even he wouldn't have guessed that one day he'd play in Giants stadium, thrilling tens of thousands of fans, not on the field but on the stage.

If JBJ has seen a million faces and rocked them all, then he's probably done nearly as many photo shoots and interviews. When he arrives on a Saturday afternoon at Jersey's Teterboro Airport, where First Aviation Services Hangar and NetJets- BJ has a stake in the company- have arranged for him to be photographed on a $20 million GulfstreamIV-SP, and where actor Chris Tucker was seen minutes earlier, BJ enters with zero fanfare.

   

He's wearing an untucked, stylish striped shirt; hip, oversized shades; and jeans. A limo had been booked but he chose to drive himself, in his BMW 735Li. "You're not going to see me with the bling-bling and the entourage," he says. "Fuck no. That never was who I am and I don't understand it."

That said, he does live in a 19,000 square-foot French Chateau-style riverfront house in Middletown, New Jersey. His estate sits on 16 acres and includes a guest house, loft building, pub, and recording studio. But it's the only house he owns- oh, wait, he forgot about the place in the Hamptons he bought last year that is being remodeled.
And he also owns but never stays in, the gorgeous Manhattan apartment that serves exclusively as the office for Bon Jovi Management, which he runs with the help of only three fulltime staffers.

As his makeup is applied - he doesn't really need it; Jon's a youthful, fit 43 ("I'm actually Dorian Gray. The painting is locked up in my attic" he jokes) - he perks up when football becomes the first topic.

"I'm a die-hard Giants fan. We'd go to games as a family, my uncle had the tickets, and football was the bonding thread in our house," he says, though the musician's own Pop Warner career was shortlived. " I was a linebacker and then a bench warmer. I was slow and not vey good."
In the early '80s BJ met Giants punter Sean Landeta at a bar and the two started chatting. When Landeta discovered what a huge fan BJ was, he arranged for the singer to attend a practice, even though Giants coach Bill Parcells practices were closed to the media and general public.

"The first day I showed up, Parcells yelled at me, " BJ remembers. "He was like, 'Get the hell out of the way'. He knew exactly who I was but he treated me like a kicker" he says laughing at the memory. But he was nice enough to let me hang around and meet the guys. I maintained a relationship so much that I was allowed to be on the sidelines during NFC Championship games and Super Bowls. I mean, I was out on the field, jumping around celebrating with the guys when [Buffalo's Scott] Norwood missed that field goal in Super Bowl XXV, giving the Giants a 20-19 win). So, I've had ridiculous access to things that the average Joe just doesn't get."

 

After the Giants dynasty disbanded, he stayed in touch with Parcells, while becoming close friend of then-assistant Bill Belichick. While BJ has visited Belichick's training camps at the coach's various stops, Belichick likewise has attended several BJ concerts and once went on the road when the band toured Europe.

" I love that they're both just guys' guys," Bon Jovi says, "and that they aren't media darlings. They don't care about any of that. They care about getting the job done. I like how they run their teams, their no-nonsense approach. When it's time to be on the field it's all business, and when they're off the field they can talk about anything other than [football]. They're both very bright guys. They were also intrigued by what I did for a living so there was mutual respect."

After music made Bon Jovi a wealthy man, he flirted with the idea of co-owning an NFL team.

"I had a conversation with Tom Cruise (also a Giants fan) many years ago," he remembers. "I don't know him from Adam, mind you, but we were at this dinner once and at that time (1992) the Browns were for sale. And we were joking, saying, 'You know, if we pooled our money we could buy the Browns.'" He chuckles at this wishful thought, saying, "Of course, neither of us had enough money to really buy them, but man, we would have made a killing, a killing!"

Bon Jovi may never wind up owning a piece of an NFL franchise- even though he's been tied to the league for years through season kickoff concerts, halftime shows and a Super Bowl post-game performance - because he's not sure it makes sound business sense for him.

The Minnesota Vikings valued at $600 million according to Forbes, are up for sale, but a potential owner must put down 30 percent. Bon Jovi mimics figuring the mind-boggling sum, and concludes, after what would be left of his empire, " [I'd] have to sleep under the seats in the stadium."

That's why two years ago he turned to a more logistical opportunity: owning a piece of an Arena League Football franchise. "A sports marketing buddy of mine had told me about it and I had heard of the AFL, but had no real interest, hadn't seen any games. But I told him how I go into mourning after the Super Bowl. I'm one of those guys that during the week between [championship games] and the Super Bowl walks around the house going, 'Now what do I do?' And then you watch the Pro Bowl and you're just sick because you know it's nine months until football season again."

So after hearing his buddy's initial quote of $400,000, BJ says he and the band figured, "'four hundred grand? Oh, man, this is gonna be easy.' Plus, we had always wanted our own team just so we could sit around and watch football while we smoked cigars."

But as feelers were put out, Bon Jovi realized the actual price was "about 40 times that," or $16 million. The other band members fell out, but Bon Jovi saw the potential of the league. Being a savvy entrepreneur - he fired his band's longtime manager 14 years ago and created his own firm -Bon Jovi realized he needed a partner and was introduced to Craig Spencer, a Philadelphia real estate developer. The two ponied up $ 8 million each in 2003 for the start-up franchise.

Bon Jovi was hands on right from the start. He chose the team nickname (the Soul), picked the team colors (slate blue and a graphite-shade gray that he spotted on an old Porsche), and even created the mascot ( The Soul Man, inspired by Blues Brother John Belushi). The Souls first season was a resounding success: The team made a small profit, led the league in attendance, and was the leader in sponsorship money and merchandise sold.

Says Soul president Ron Jaworski, " He's a magnificent guy. When we met two years ago, I thought, 'Oh, a rock star as an owner, huh?' But within ten minutes of our first meeting I knew he was the right guy. He's bright, a very solid business guy and he has great intuition."

This year, despite a losing record, which led to BJ firing head coach Mike Trigg, the Soul continues to draw nearly 17,000 fans to each home game. Bon Jovi is also giving back plenty to the Philadelphia community, helping a foster home build a playground, getting at-risk youth internships, funding a teen crisis hot-line, and calling upon his famous and wealthy friends, such as Elton John, to match his donation to aid domestically abused women and their children. "I like to keep parlaying my place in the celebrity world as a way to play Robin Hood."

   

Once upon a time, though, Bon Jovi was a hard drinking cowboy rockin' and partyin' across America. He shakes his head as he recalls the years of living out of suitcases and the vampire sleep schedule. "Up 'til four or five in the morning, wake up at noon, then do it all over again, seven nights a week," he says. The lyric from the hit "Wanted: Dead or Alive (Sometimes you tell the day by the bottle that you drink) was no lie, he says. "For us, it was a bottle of whatever, red, white, or clear; we didn't care, it was a wild lifestyle."

Bon Jovi still drinks and smokes ("I'm no saint and I'm not perfect, and I've never pretended to be," he says) and women still throw themselves - and article of underwear - at him during shows, but he's mellowed. Marriage ("That's the best deal I've ever made," he says) and four kids will do that to you.

The band continues to draw huge crowds at big venues but this year's tour will include 50 to 75 dates; not the 250-plus gigs the band delivered during the "deliriously insane" mid-'80s-to-early-'90s.
They'll aslo help celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Hard Rock Hotel in Vegas with a special outdoor show April 30.

For Bon Jovi, playing live is still a rush, even after 20 years. "When you're in the zone," he says "and the lights go out, and you are running up the ramp and fans are hysterical, oh, you could knock cars over! And I dare anyone to get off a stage after two and a half hours and thousands of people cheering and just go lay down and go to sleep. You have to come down. "But at 43, I feel like Jerry Rice sometimes." 'Can I do it one more time? Can I get myself up one more time?'"

Like his idol, Frank Sinatra, Jon Bon Jovi has been up and down, done it his way, and has too few regets to mention.
He'd like to act more (he's appeared in several movies and TV shows) but he "hates " the whole Hollywood scene and calls many of the principal players there "shallow." He once owned a house in Malibu but sold it. "I've been told that if I want to further my movie career I have to be [in Los Angeles]. But I'm not willing to sacrifice the life I have for that."

Despite what music or movie critics might say, there's no arguing his ambition, his decisions, and his success. Plus, unlike countless other rockers, he hasn't blown his fortune; rather he's turned it into more riches. He's no dummy and you'd be a fool to think otherwise.

" I tell people don't judge a book by it's cover," he says. "When somebody doubts me or looks at me as someone they perceive to be inexperienced in business I feel like, 'OK, this is going to be good. Come on over and sit next to me.'

"The core of my being is that I've been driven since I was a young kid. That's the Pisces in me. The race or journey is always more of a challenge and more interesting than the goal. It's like getting to the 1- yard-line. OK, so then you score. But getting there was the fun."

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