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Despite being called crazy, Roberts embarked on taking the boxers public, and through typical Roberts brashness and perseverance, it finally came to fruition. In 1990, Roberts became the first and only person to take a boxing management company public. “We first raised $5 million, and eventually we raised more than $150 million for three fighters and riverboat gaming through additional offerings.” The stock debuted at $5 a unit, but skyrocketed to $164. In 1991, Roberts managed Ray Mercer as he became heavyweight champion of the world. “After he won, we had the party of parties,” Roberts laughs.
After leaving Triple Threat, Roberts founded Worldwide Entertainment and Sports in 1995. Expanding his reach, Roberts represented not only big-name boxers like Shannon Briggs, but also NFL, NBA, and NASCAR athletes. His stable went from five pros to more than 100, and in 1996 he became the first person to take a diversified sports management company public. But by 2000, he knew it was time for a change. ‘1 always planned my exit when I was 40. I wanted to succeed in a whole new industry.” So he sold his stake as president and chairman of Worldwide Entertainment and Sports and made a hefty sum of money. He brought his sizable Rolodex south to Florida, and focused on the booming real estate market. And we’re back to Rule No. 1: Go for it.
Roberts wants to recreate Miami. “The city is missing a place where people can walk,” he says, reconfirming what we know all too well. With the help of partner Art Falcone, who sold his private company, Transeastern Homes, to a public entity in 2005 for more than $1 billion, Roberts is developing areas of downtown Miami near American Airlines arena. ‘This is the best assemblage of land in any top tier city in America,” says Roberts. “We’re developing a new city—20 million square feet and more than four-and-a-half years of planning, but the first phase will be a lot of retail. If we stay the course it wilt be just like a modern day Rockefeller move. I look at it like buying in New York in the ‘5Os or ‘60s.” The project, dubbed Miami Worldcenter, encompasses close to 30 acres, including parcels on Biscayne Boulevard. Roberts has the rights to build a live-work-play environment that he hopes to make the new center of Miami. “There is no better place to do this because Miami is the greatest city in the world. Everyone wants to be here.” The land that Roberts controls offers up to 20 million square feet of buildable area, making this project one of the largest, private, master-planned urban environments in the world. And while many others may have dreamt on such a large scale, Roberts is doing what he does best: making it happen. “For the first time, someone owns the critical mass to get it done,” he explains. “Now for the first time, it is all in Art Falcone and my hands, and planned the way it should be.”
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