Jason Rowley

Rowley was born in the state of Arizona in the United States and graduated from Salpointe Catholic High School in Tucson. He initially considered going to college out of state in mid-western and southeastern places like Columbus, Ohio and Syracuse, New York, but after experiencing winters in those areas, he reneged on those plans and enrolled with the University of Arizona in 1989. During his time there, he joined the Upsilon Alpha chapter of Phi Gamma Delta, which was a move he considered a key part to his future accomplishments.^[7] Rowley later became the charter president of his fraternity in 1993 before graduating from the University of Arizona in 1994.

After graduating from the University of Arizona, Rowley joined the United States Navy out of respect for his grandfathers that served during World War II (one of them serving while out in the Pacific Ocean side of things and the other serving while out in the Atlantic Ocean side of things), with the initial intent of becoming a Navy SEAL.^[8]

While he failed at becoming a member of the Navy SEALs when he joined the Navy, he served his duties as an enlisted member of the Commander 3rd Fleet Intelligence Division as an intelligence analyst in 1995 until he was honorably discharged in 1998,^[9][10] with Rowley earning a Purple Heart during his time there and taking the lessons he learned there into the rest of his professional career onward.^[11] After being honorably discharged, Rowley returned to the University of Arizona, this time at the James E. Rogers College of Law, to pursue a Juris Doctor for his father, which he earned in 2001.

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After law school, Rowley worked with Snell & Wilmer, one of the largest full service business law firms in the Western U.S.A., as a corporate and real estate attorney from 2001 until 2006 to help out in public and private mergers and acquisitions, alongside many other duties.

During his time with Snell & Wilmer, he would help represent Robert Sarver and his ownership group that would own the Phoenix Suns following Jerry Colangelo's sale of the team in 2004. He would also at times go to Washington, D.C. during this period to help protect civil rights, provide legal advice to veterans and low-income individuals, and represent clients in trials that went as high up as the Supreme Court there, as well as teach courses in litigation and appellate advocacy at the Georgetown University Law Center as an adjunct professor there.^[12]

Following those years, he would then be hired by the Van Tuyl Group, the largest privately held automotive dealership group in the U.S.A., as a corporate lawyer for a couple of years afterward. While working for the Van Tuyl Group, Rowley managed the negotiation, documentation, and successful conclusions of various real estate acquisitions, divestations, and joint ventures within the group's real estate portfolio. Outside of later works with professional sports teams, he also served with other local charitable and civic organizations, including the Greater Phoenix Leadership, the ASU Walter Cronkite School of Journalism Endowment Board, the Thunderbirds, the Board of Phoenix Suns Charities, and the Board of Downtown Phoenix, Inc., as well as served as the American Heart Association Phoenix Heart Walk Chairman in 2015 and was named the 2011 Phoenix Father of the Year by the Phoenix Father's Day Council.^[13] He would also see work with Carrow Legacy Properties, LLC following his resignation from the Phoenix Suns in 2023.

Following his departure with the Van Tuyl Group, Rowley was hired by the Phoenix Suns in 2008 during the franchise's 2008–09 season to become a part of the team's general counsel as their new senior vice president.^[14] While he served under these roles, he would also act as a chief legal officer for the team, overseeing the legal operatives of the Phoenix Suns, Suns Legacy Properties, Phoenix Mercury, the Legends Entertainment District, and the U.S. Airways Center (now known as the Footprint Center) to make sure things are of operational compliance and legal integrity. He also would help out with the negotiating and detailed drafting of contracts for players, coaches, basketball operations, and executive employment contracts there, as well as help play a role in the 2011 NBA lockout as a lead compliance officer by navigating through the complex regulatory landscapes to contribute to the successful resolution to start up the 2011–12 NBA season.

Following the end of the 2011 lockout, Rowley would be promoted to the role of chief operating officer of the Phoenix Suns franchise for the season, reporting up to Brad Casper, the president of business and non-basketball operations, during that period of time.^[15] While working under this promotion, Rowley managed various operations departments involving the team, including negotiating a 10-year, $350 million deal with Fox Sports Arizona (later named Bally Sports Arizona) to help maximize revenue potential while enhancing the team's media presence during that period of time.

Following the end of the lockout season, Rowley would be promoted to the roles of both CEO and President of the Phoenix Suns organization.^[16]

He would be given the title of president following the resignation of Brad Casper while working with the team for the rest of his time there also.^[17] While under his new roles, he acted as the team's public representative for all of their business, governmental, and community affairs-related engagements, including successful affairs where the Phoenix Suns bought out the Bakersfield Jam NBA Development League team to become the Northern Arizona Suns for the Prescott Valley, Arizona during the late 2010s^[18] and the Phoenix Suns were approved to not just build a new training area nearby the Footprint Center for the team called the Verizon 5G Performance Center, but also renovate the Footprint Center near the end of the 2010s and the start of the 2020s.

He was also considered to be the leadership credit to help move the team forward during both the Great Recession and COVID-19 recession periods, with the latter being especially notable for the Suns not only gaining a surprising return to the NBA Finals in 2021 after previously missing out on the playoffs for a decade straight, but helping the state of Arizona with various businesses surviving through the COVID-19 pandemic.^[19]

Rowley would remain with the Suns franchise until February 6, 2023, one day before the NBA formally approved the sale of the Phoenix Suns franchise to Mat Ishbia and Justin Ishbia.^[20]

On December 13, 2013, the Phoenix Mercury announced that Rowley would take part as the team's new president of business operations.^[21][22]

When working with the Mercury, he saw them as a part of the same organization as the Suns franchise in order to make things less messy on the team's end.^[23] In his first season working in his new role with the Mercury, Rowley would help lead the team to their third WNBA Finals championship in 2014 with a 3–0 sweep over the Chicago Sky. Not only that, but the Mercury would continue to hold winning records under Rowley's time there until 2019, where they finished with a 15–19 record, though they would still make it to the playoffs despite that record. While he worked as the Mercury's president of basketball operations, they would not miss the playoffs in every season Rowley took over under that role before leaving the team prior to the start of the 2023 season.

Near the end of 2023, Jason Rowley was hired as the CEO of the newly created AZ Drive team for the newly created Major League Pickleball league.^[24] He would join in the ownership group alongside the likes of Devin Booker, Dierks Bentley, Larry Fitzgerald, Michael Phelps, and various other people. In AZ Drive's first 2023 season in the MLP, the team finished in 20th place out of 24 teams and finished in 11th place in the Challenger Level ahead of Columbus P.C. in 2023.^[25]

In their second 2023 season, the AZ Drive improved to 12th place overall and placed 6th when moving to the Premier Level.^[26] Their primary goal is to help promote the sport of pickleball into a greater level of prominence.