Sports
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman on Hockey's Growth, An Early Look at the Olympics
In this episode of Bloomberg Business of Sports, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman discusses the growth of hockey and shares insights on the upcoming Olympics. He emphasizes the importance of engaging fan...
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman on Hockey's Growth, An Early Look at the Olympics
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The FIFA World Cup 26 is coming to North America.
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Get closer to where business meets the beautiful game
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with a hospitality package featuring premium seats and entertainment.
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Hi, I'm Stephen Carroll.
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It's called Bloomberg Daybreak Europe Edition,
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This is the business of sports.
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Sports are the greatest unscripted show on earth.
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The next generation of players really grew up with tech and believe in tech.
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Your face is your ticket, your face is your wallet,
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These are such iconic and important buildings for businesses, for fans.
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Covid was one of the best things ever happened to golf.
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Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
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This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports
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who we explore the big money issues in the world of sports.
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I'm Michael Barr, along with my colleagues, Damian Sassauer and Vanessa Pradoomo.
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Coming up on the show,
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we'll hear from NHL Commissioner Gary Beckman
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as we get ready for another season of hockey.
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You look for big events, for big stories,
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and you use every platform imaginable,
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whether it's linear streaming platform, social media,
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and no different than what we did in February with the Four Nations tournament.
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I mean, we created something that even if you weren't a hockey fan,
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even if you weren't a sports fan,
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you felt compelled to tune in because it was so topical
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and so intriguing people wanted to know more.
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That been spoke on stage,
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alongside monumental sports and entertainment founder Ted Leone says
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in a panel moderated by our own Scarlett Foo recently
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at Bloomberg Power Players New York.
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All that is on the way on the Bloomberg Business of Sports.
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But first, the next winter Olympics are right around the corner
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and preparations are well underway for the next summer Olympics
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that hit Los Angeles in 2028.
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To give us an update on all things Olympics,
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we welcome back Sarah Herschlein,
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she's Chief Executive Officer of the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee.
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Sarah, welcome back to the Bloomberg Business of Sports.
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I am so glad that you have joined us
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and I want to talk about some of the things that you're doing
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with the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee.
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Where do you see it now for the upcoming games?
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Where do you see the committee heading in this race?
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Well, as you know, in February,
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we will take a delegation of Team USA to Italy,
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anchored in Milan,
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but with a strong presence up in Cortina,
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Lavinio,
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so we'll be spread across the Italian Alps
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with what I will say is one of the strongest winter Team USA teams
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we've seen in quite some time.
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So we're optimistic and excited.
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My goodness, spread across the Italian Alps.
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It doesn't sound too bad, doesn't Michael.
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No, I think we can tag along.
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Yeah, I think so.
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You need someone to carry the luggage just told me.
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Yeah, so in this time in the next few months,
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what are you, you know,
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what's your biggest, you know,
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things that you have to worry about
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and that you have to strategize for for Team USA to be ready
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for those games in February?
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Well, a few pretty, pretty important things.
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Number one, we've got to make sure all the athletes qualify.
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So there is a quite a series of, you know,
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as we like to say, making Team USA,
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you got to make the Olympic and Paralympic Team first.
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So a lot of qualification events,
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those will actually start here very soon across all of the winter sports.
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And then there will be some team selections.
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As you can imagine,
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something like our Isaki teams,
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those coaches and captains will go through a process
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of selecting the individual athletes
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who will represent us on those teams.
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So you got to qualify first.
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Our organization spending a lot of time
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making sure we have all of the logistics in place
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so that when we get on the ground,
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these athletes have all of the support resources
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that they're accustomed to in their training environments.
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And, you know,
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that's everything from nutrition to recovery equipment
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to sports medicine support,
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making sure that they can be in an environment
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that's going to allow them to reach their,
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their highest potential at exactly the right moment.
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And the, you know, the core,
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the secret, if you will,
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that's not such a secret is we always say,
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if we get Team USA to the start line healthy,
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we like our chances.
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Yes.
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So, you know, Sarah, for me,
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the question I have is,
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what are you doing?
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2025 is an off year,
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you know,
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but there's so much preparation
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that goes hand in hand with getting the venues ready,
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getting actually the athletes ready.
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You know, where are you most focused right this minute?
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It's, you know, the year after a summer games
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and right before winter games is naturally
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a bit of a transition year for us.
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So, you're right.
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It's a combination of some long term planning.
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Obviously, the short term planning
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and work that goes into preparations for the winter games.
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But it's also an opportunity for us to make sure
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that we're focused on,
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you know, what's on the long horizon?
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And are we set up properly to drive a good, strong,
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healthy sport culture for many years to come?
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So, we do work on what we call quadrennial planning,
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a four-year long-range plan looking out ahead,
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obviously for us.
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We're in the unique situation of having the LA28 games
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in our next four-year cycle.
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So, it is getting the people,
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getting the resources in place, human and financial,
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to be ready.
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In late July of the committee,
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they updated its policies on transgender athletes.
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Can you tell us more about what the committee decided?
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You know, a real,
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and this has been, as you guys well know,
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a really robust discussion, I would say,
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across global sport,
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across this country,
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but also with our peers around the world.
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And I think there's a very strong commitment
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in many places, many countries,
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many hallways in the United States,
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a very strong commitment to protecting women's sports
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in particular,
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and a real focus on ensuring that the games we've made
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in the U.S., in particular,
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continue to provide fair opportunities,
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safe opportunities for women to compete in sport.
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And that's really exactly what this is about.
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And that obviously comes off of the back of President Trump's
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declaration, right, of keeping women's sports
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and protecting women's sports, is that right?
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That's right.
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The administration and the president in particular
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have been, you know, really vocal on this topic.
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And it's an area where we see tremendous support
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from the public at large.
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People understand fairness in sport
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and safety in sport above all else.
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Athletes will tell us,
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it's the single most important two issues to them.
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And so we feel a real obligation
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to make sure we're listening
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and paying attention to what is it going to take
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to provide both a safe environment,
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but also, you know, fairness
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that everyone feels like they arrive
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on the field to play with a level playing field.
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Sarah, talk to me about ski mountaineering.
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It's a new sport in 2026.
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What other new sports are coming to the Olympics
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in the Nazi distant future?
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Well, that's the one in 2026 on the winter side.
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And it will be, you know, we do,
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there are people in the United States
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who are ski mountaineer athletes.
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And so we will hope to have a team there competing.
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But not something that's been, you know,
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mainstream and really popular.
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So I think the US will find it fun.
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It's quite an endurance sport
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and we tend to like the endurance sports, you know.
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I you could almost liken it to long distance running
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or cycling, but but the combination of some endurance
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and some speed.
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So it'll be fun to watch.
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When we get to Los Angeles on the summer side,
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we know we'll see squash.
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We'll see flag football and I'll call out in particular there.
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That one will be fun for both men and women.
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We'll see baseball softball come back.
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We'll see lacrosse come to the games for the first time.
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So and we'll see, I think I mentioned squash
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and we'll see cricket for the first time.
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So some some very popular global sports
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back in the games in Los Angeles.
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Obviously we saw a huge research
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and just felt like a big research in 2024.
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The Paris games just being so, so successful.
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And then now kind of not to take a step back,
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but what's going on with college athletics
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and given the NCAA House settlement
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that now was passed that looks to potentially
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have some some adverse effects on Olympic style sports.
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Are you would all worried about that
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given that a lot of T. M. USA is made up of college athletes
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or athletes that train at colleges?
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We have been very vocal for some time years now
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in the halls of Congress and among our peers
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in the collegiate space advocating
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for the preservation of broad-based sport opportunities
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on our campuses.
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The US is the envy of the world.
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We are the greatest sporting nation in the world.
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And a huge component of that is the education-based sports system
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that we have always enjoyed.
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And so to see that sports system threatened
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and changing in elementary middle school high schools
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as it has and to now see that broad-based sport offering
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threatened at the collegiate level
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is absolutely concerning to us.
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And so yes, we are very focused on it.
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We are we're advocating, we're lobbying
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and we're sitting at every table that we can
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to be part of the conversation around creating solutions.
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Further to that, how does name image likeness affect you?
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How does it affect Olympic athletes?
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Do you see there be incentives for them to move away
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from amateur sports from the Olympics?
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Or is I mean, what are you doing to compete with all that?
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I think the important thing is we have to separate
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true name image likeness from the pay to play environment.
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And that unfortunately hasn't happened effectively
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in the collegiate environment.
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We are and have been huge advocates for athletes
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to capitalize on their name image and likeness
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to generate income.
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We've been supporters of that at the Olympic and Paralympic
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level. We're supporters of that at the collegiate level.
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And there are athletes who've been wildly successful
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in becoming marketing geniuses in their own right
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and capitalizing on their on their name image and likeness
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to drive real income.
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And that's good and positive and should be encouraged.
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But the distinction between that and what has become
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recruiting endorsements is a very different thing.
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And that's where the struggles and challenge
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in collegiate athletics is navigating
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how you properly ensure athletes have the ability to earn
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in an appropriate and fair way.
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We have the same sort of principles and premises.
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We would love for Team USA athletes to have significantly
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greater income than they do.
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We're working really hard to improve upon that.
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In fact, this year was a huge milestone for us.
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You guys know a big part of our revenue and our funding
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comes from the American public through philanthropy.
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We had our first $100 million donation
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by an incredibly generous gentleman in his family
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named Ross Stevens who created the Stevens Awards.
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And that is income directly to athletes.
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It's $100,000 grant and $100,000 life insurance
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for athletes who make Team USA and the winter games in 26
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will be the first group of athletes who receive that benefit.
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So a lot of us are working on the right ways
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to ensure athletes have earning.
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The key is to make sure that we do it in ways
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that's going to incent the right behaviors.
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Sarah Herschelan, Chief Executive Officer
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of the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee.
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We are so grateful that you came to join us and talk
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with Bloomberg's Business of Sports.
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We really do appreciate it.
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It's always a pleasure to be with you guys.
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Thank you.
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Up next, we turn to Sports Tech
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and a firm investing in the people and products
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that will power the future of sports.
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From colleagues Vanessa Pradoomo and Damien Zasauer,
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I'm Michael Barr.
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You are listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports
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Bloomberg Radio Around World.
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The FIFA World Cup 26 is coming to North America
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next summer.
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It's the ultimate celebration of sports and culture
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and an opportunity to elevate your company.
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Get closer to where business meets the beautiful game
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with a premium hospitality package.
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Build partnerships in the best seats and sweets.
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Achieve goals over world-class food and beverage.
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Get closer to wins on and off the pitch.
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Register interest at hospitality.fifa.com.
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Slash interest.
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Hello, I'm Caroline Heppker,
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introducing you to the new stock movers report from Bloomberg.
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There are so many big names and equities to keep track of
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and our stock movers report is the best way to find out
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Get the latest stock news and data backed by reporting
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This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports,
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where we explore the big money issues in the world of sports.
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I'm Michael Barr, along with my colleagues Damien Sassauer
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and Vanessa Pradamo.
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Now for a look at the sports tech world.
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76 Capital is a sports tech venture capital company
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that focuses on the people and products that are building the data
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analytics and technology that will power the future of sports.
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Joining us now is Wayne Kimmel.
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He's managing partner at 76 Capital.
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Wayne, welcome to the Bloomberg Business of Sports.
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Thanks for having me.
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This is really exciting to be here.
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I'm excited because you know me.
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I hate this.
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Yes, I bet.
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Yes, I do.
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And I'm not good at it.
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But I bet.
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Have we hit a point now where the market has saturated
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with online betting?
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Not yet.
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I mean, I really don't think we've hit a point yet.
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We certainly have where draft kings and fan dole
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have taken the lead with betting today.
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But at the same time, you've got
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BetmgM, fanatics, nipping at their heels.
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You've got also at the same time the prediction markets.
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And that's a whole nother can of worms,
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which really now has betting legal in 50 different states.
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Now, not just the 38, 39, 40, whatever it is,
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the regulated states.
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Now, it's everywhere.
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So it's really, really interesting to see
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what's going to happen next.
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But for us, look, it's all about making sure
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that betting is safe and fun.
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And we're just making sure that there's true integrity.
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There's real compliance with everything that's going on
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across that.
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And that's where one of our companies, I-360,
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I-C360, is right in the middle of all that.
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Which is really important, obviously.
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And when we're talking about security and all that,
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and it's particularly struggling right now
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in the prediction markets, I would say, right?
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It's a little bit less regulated there.
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There's those things there that aren't really regulated
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as much.
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So how do you figure that when it comes to the entire betting process?
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Well, look, I think in general, what we really want to make sure
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is that there's true integrity, and there's really no anomalies
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across the whole space.
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And that's what our team at I-C360 really works on
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to make sure.
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And just making sure that people are doing the right thing.
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I mean, I think that's the key to everything.
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If everything's on the up and up, we can't let professional
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sports turn into a scripted something like wrestling.
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Like, it can't be that.
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We need to be able to be in a position where we know
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that what's going on on the field is really what's happening.
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And that's the most important thing for us.
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Wayne, you're the managing partner of 76 Capital.
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And the reason Michael Barham, we started asking about sports betting
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is because that's really been your focus for the better part
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of the last few years.
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And you know, 76, you invest in all sorts of different companies
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of all different shapes and sizes.
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And I just have to ask you, you know, that world of sports
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as an asset class.
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You know, talk to us about exit strategies.
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Because it's really easy to invest in a good idea.
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And it's really, really difficult to crystallize that in terms
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of returns for you and your partners.
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So talk to us a little bit about your approach,
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how you work with these companies,
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how you get them cash flow positive,
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and how you get them into cruising altitude.
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Yeah, I think what's really important is to make sure
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that these companies are truly ready to go and sort of moving forward
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and working with our companies so that they then can be one
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of those companies that we can sell, like we did with Vyson
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selling them to DraftKings or, you know, selling a company
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to Fubo TV or the Pylon Camps, you see an NFL field
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that was sold to Cosm and then Cosm raised $250 million
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to open up more of their venues.
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So for us, it's really all about getting behind amazing entrepreneurs
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who are truly doing something innovative.
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And then, and most times, the stuff that we invest in are companies
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that are involved that have hardcore technology, data and analytics.
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And we really help those companies and help build those companies
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and make sure that they have relationships with the teams,
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the leagues, the sports betting regulators, the sportsbooks themselves,
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and also, you know, just think about, you know, it could be at any,
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is any part of the overall landscape from professional sports
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where they work in or college sports or it could be even on the
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youth side of things.
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There's so much to do out there right now, but for us,
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it's really all about making sure that we get behind amazing companies,
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we get them moving and then they start to really execute
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and do what they need to do.
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Well, when you made an interesting point there,
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I mean, all of those exits were selling to a private, right?
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Or, you know, to a larger company.
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It wasn't a public listing, so to speak.
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It wasn't an IPO, you know, the traditional way that a lot of, you know,
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private equity investors tried to, you know, to cash in.
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But, you know, talk to me about, you know, the depth of that market, you know,
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and an operator like you who's been in the business since, you know,
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I mean, the late 90s, you know, those relationships and how important they are.
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I mean, you have your athlete and residence program at 76.
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Talk to us a little bit about how you work with your investors,
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your constituents, and you kind of get to that point where you have
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those relationships that you can even take a good idea or a well functioning opportunity
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and bring it to somebody's attention.
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Well, I think one of the big things that we do at 76 Capital
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is really work closely with our companies and help them with their marketing,
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with their branding.
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So they actually get out there into the market so that they are a brand name
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when it comes to the NFL or the NBA or any of those leagues.
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At the same time, we sometimes will use the help of an athlete
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who can help us maybe, you know, market the company a little bit to get them,
spk_0
get them out there a little bit.
spk_0
So that's something that we'll certainly do.
spk_0
But I think the key for everything is really that these companies have the best technology
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that they have to be able to work really closely with incredible media companies like ESPN.
spk_0
I mean, as an example, you know, one of our companies is literally powering
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the personalization and customization of the ESPN app that's out there today.
spk_0
We're super excited about that.
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And that's something that, you know, you won't know the name of the business.
spk_0
It's not really that important, but it's when you see your fantasy and you see your bets
spk_0
and you see everything that's personalized to you,
spk_0
that's coming through the tech side of things.
spk_0
I want to talk about you were an investor in Veson when the whole thing started.
spk_0
I don't think people understand how much of an impact Veson made on the market
spk_0
because it used to have to go to the racetrack.
spk_0
Some guy is selling a tip, you know, a piece of eight and a half by 11 paper
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that's all typed in.
spk_0
Now you can listen to Veson.
spk_0
And if you want to do your homework on a bet, you can.
spk_0
Talk to us about that about the impact of Veson.
spk_0
Well, Veson was an unbelievable investment for us.
spk_0
I mean, getting the opportunity to work with the legendary Brent Musberger,
spk_0
his nephew Brian Bill 80.
spk_0
These guys were just incredible and they were always thinking about everything, you know, 10 steps forward.
spk_0
So it was the idea of why shouldn't there be a network that lets you hear everything that's happening across the bet sports betting markets,
spk_0
just like here at Bloomberg, where you get to learn everything that's happening on the financial markets.
spk_0
And then not only have it be able to listen to it, but also broadcast it like you guys do right from the floor of the exchange,
spk_0
which at the time our first studio was in the South Point in Las Vegas, the only 24 hour sports betting book that was open at the time.
spk_0
It was amazing to be there and be in the middle of all that and have the glass studio in there and really built that out.
spk_0
But now they're at circa and just in many other places.
spk_0
I mean, they're continuing to really build that.
spk_0
We sold that company to Draftkings.
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Now it's private again.
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They have it back.
spk_0
But it's one of those things where it was all about those entrepreneurs, their ideas going out and getting really great hosts,
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to really make sure you have authentic voices.
spk_0
That was one of the most important things, right?
spk_0
You hadn't really know what minus 110 means, not negative.
spk_0
That is a learning curve for sure.
spk_0
And I just hit my first big bet actually this week really pumped about it.
spk_0
It had $400 bet it was awesome.
spk_0
Well, well, well, well, well, no, no, you don't have to be so nervous.
spk_0
I had $400 bet this weekend, Michael, be jealous.
spk_0
It was amazing.
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So my nails for my bachelor party can be free.
spk_0
So one of the things you were talking about there and you were talking about Vison and you were talking about like the pile on cam and things like that,
spk_0
those are more forward facing like for consumer businesses, right?
spk_0
And then you have other things that you invest in on the analytic side, the baseball and basketball,
spk_0
shot tracker, those things that really help the sport in itself.
spk_0
When you're looking at what to invest in in the space, which are you really looking at?
spk_0
More, what is, what would you say is more for your interest or has a bigger impact on the sport?
spk_0
Yeah, the big thing for us is really, you know, whether it's on the field, off the field, for the consumer, you know, for the business,
spk_0
it's really just making sure that there's the core of everything is all around tech data and analytics.
spk_0
So, you know, you mentioned shot tracker and diamond kinetics on the baseball side.
spk_0
I mean, like shot tracker on the basketball side of things, really being able to use that information, use that data to enable you to be a better player.
spk_0
And that could be at the youth level, that could be at the college level, all the way up to the pro side of things.
spk_0
So, I think like the whole thing for us is just making sure that you have really the best of the best tech.
spk_0
And that's what, that's a big part of what we look for.
spk_0
Wayne, we were kidding offline here about the phenomenal valuations that specifically the NFL,
spk_0
but all professional sports teams are now fetching in the open market, you know, some of these transactions.
spk_0
I mean, I'll just give our audience, you know, I think the Dallas Cowboy, which were the most valuable franchise heading into this year per Sportico,
spk_0
a 10.3 billion. It's now estimated to be 14.5 billion, right?
spk_0
Same 1.2 billion in revenue per year, you know, but my question for you as we were talking about it offline is,
spk_0
what do these team owners need to do to justify those valuations?
spk_0
I mean, is it IP? Is it a technology? I mean, what can they do to realize any where near what the market values are going for now?
spk_0
I think one of the big things for us, certainly, and it's certainly the theme of everything that we do at 76 Capital is the idea, you look at every other industry and every other company that has gone from where they are today or where they were in the past and how they've continued to grow,
spk_0
that's what needs to happen here in sports and what they use and what they do is many cases is that's where they use the tech side of things.
spk_0
And so for us to be able to bring in ways for you to now monetize your fan base even more through the use of technology.
spk_0
So that could even be, you know, one of our companies, as an example, is boomerang is actually, and boomerang is a lost technology company that enables lost and found, you know, easily to find something.
spk_0
So if you lose something at Madison Square Garden at a nix game this year, you can easily get it back through using boomerang.
spk_0
Same thing, Fenway Park, same thing at many NFL stadiums, many other NFL arenas around the country.
spk_0
But those are the types of things to, if you use technology to enable your team to get better on the field for you to be able to monetize your fans.
spk_0
And that's where we believe the values of these enterprises which today are, some people say are high, but we believe they can go even higher because we're just getting going with that.
spk_0
Because what also the thing is is that if you start to think about the types of people also that are now owning these teams, they have done this in other industries.
spk_0
This isn't the first go round for some of these masters of the universe, we'll call them right now owning a lot of these teams.
spk_0
They've done this before, they've actually gone in and bought companies and then taken those companies to the next level and then sold them.
spk_0
And that's what's going to happen. And we really believe that the reason for these valuations that continue to rise is because of the tech.
spk_0
Our thanks to Wayne Kimmel for joining us. He's managing partner at 76 capital, a firm that invests in the sports tech space.
spk_0
Up next, we look ahead to the new NHL season with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and monumental sports and entertainment founder Ted Leonses, Corbiness of Pradovo and Damien Sassel.
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I'm Michael Barr. Stick around. There's more straight ahead on the Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio Around World.
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This is Scarlett Foo.
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And I'm Paul Swini inviting you to join us for the Bloomberg Intelligence Podcast.
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Every day we harness the power of Bloomberg Intelligence to bring you deep dives into the companies that are moving markets from publicly traded companies like Apple to those that are privately owned but known by everyone on Earth like OpenAI.
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Now I helped to build Bloomberg Intelligence to what it is today, Scarlett. And now our analysts are the best in the world, covering more than 2000 global companies.
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That is your legacy, Paul. And we speak to those in-house experts every day. They are Bloomberg's go to authorities on sectors, companies and legal processes.
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And we do it all live each weekday. Then bring you the best conversations in our daily podcast.
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So be sure to search for Bloomberg Intelligence on YouTube, Apple, Spotify or anywhere else you listen.
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Listen in the afternoons on your way home from work to catch up on the market news you missed during the business day.
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That is the Bloomberg Intelligence Podcast. I'm Scarlett Foo.
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And I'm Paul Swini. Subscribe today wherever you get your podcasts.
spk_0
This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
spk_0
Thanks for joining us on the Bloomberg Business of Sports where we explore the big money issues in the world of sports.
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Michael Barr, the NHL kicks off its regular season this week. Recently, NHL Commissioner Gary Batman was at Bloomberg World Headquarters in New York for our annual Power Players event.
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He spoke on stage alongside monumental sports founder, chairman, managing partner and CEO Ted Leoneses in a panel moderated by our own Scarlett Foo.
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Let's take a listen to a portion of their conversation.
spk_0
Ted, you've built monumental sports, which includes the caps and NHL team, the Washington Wizards NBA team, the Mystics WNBA team around this idea of increasing fandom.
spk_0
So I'm curious what does that look like from the C-suite where you sit and what does that look like to the average fan? How does it end up looking like for them?
spk_0
We're spending most of our time now trying to capitalize on we captured a new generation of fan.
spk_0
You know, that's going to affect if you will 20 years, all these young kids. We have the most active, one of the most active in North America, Yutaki.
spk_0
And you have to follow where the young people are because that's who your fan base is going to be.
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And we have to fully make the pivot from linear analog to digital. We've been global from day one.
spk_0
And you know, we're in Washington DC and the most popular athlete in the history of the community is Alex Ovechkin or Russian.
spk_0
And so we spend all of our time trying to figure out how can we build a platform, be a really, really important business in this 10 million household community.
spk_0
Obviously, the linear part of that cable plant has shrunk. We bought our cable company, our RSN from Comcast and NBC.
spk_0
And now we're able to make it a IP distribution network for us and across promotion arm.
spk_0
And we put all of our games there. We, you know, gotten renewals, but not only from the cable side, but now we can work with the YouTube's and the,
spk_0
and the Amazon's. And we think we have to become a just embedded in the lives of 10 million people from Richmond, Virginia, all the way to Delaware.
spk_0
So it looks very seamless from the fans perspective because it's where it should be, wherever they turn, there you are.
spk_0
Gary, in keeping with this idea of Alex Ovechkin, his quest to surpass WinGreski as the all-time score.
spk_0
Obviously, that was a big thing, but it's not a regular thing. You can't count on something like that happening every season.
spk_0
So how do you build on the momentum that was generated and continue to activate fans?
spk_0
Well, that's a great question, but I want to add one thing, which is the best indication of what a visionary Ted is.
spk_0
He has created his own ecosystem, and they have content 24, 7, 365 days a year that they create because he's aggregated all of the assets,
spk_0
whether it's teams in a variety of sports, the arena, or his own streaming platform. That's what makes it all work.
spk_0
And he has always been fan-facing, consumer-facing, from the day you first bought the franchise, which was what, 26, 27 years ago.
spk_0
I was in the second hall of the club, I bought the team and...
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He was a fan first.
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So what Ovechkin did is really what sports is about. It captures the imagination.
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It gives people a chance to focus on things that are superhuman.
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Alex broke a record that nobody thought was possible to break, and it's a testament to him, his physical prowess, his skill, his endurance, his ability to not get injured,
spk_0
and the support that he got from his organization in terms of the players they surrounded him with, and everything they've done off the ice.
spk_0
So what do you do is you look for big events, for big stories, and you use every platform imaginable, whether it's linear streaming platform, social media,
spk_0
and no different than what we did in February with the Four Nations tournament.
spk_0
I mean, we created something that even if you weren't a hockey fan, even if you weren't a sports fan, you felt compelled to tune in, because it was so topical and so intriguing, people wanted to know more.
spk_0
Your partnerships matter, as the CEO of a $300 billion company has said, put it, partnerships like TikTok on the Capital as a Wage Erase, roblox to create a metaverse experience, so that idea of teaming up with brands that matter to a younger audience that perhaps isn't trained to watch TV the same way we are.
spk_0
There are two parts to answering that question.
spk_0
One is the authenticity and the game itself, and the good news for us, and I know we like to talk about other sports, but when it comes to pace of play, there's more action.
spk_0
You can't be on your phone if you're watching.
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You'll miss something.
spk_0
You'll miss something because it happens fast and furious, so the amount of action, the amount of length of a game works very well for us, and it's compelling for younger people.
spk_0
The second thing is you've got to reach your fans, and you would be fans on their terms now, particularly now.
spk_0
You've got to give them, as everybody says, what they want, when they want it, how they want it.
spk_0
It didn't get a lot of attention, but when the old deal in Canada with Rogers, 12 years ago, included a streaming component.
spk_0
It was really the first national sports league deal to do that, and our deal, most recent deal with ESPN, and we have Amazon in Canada, we've always looked to see how can we use technology, not to change the game, but to take essential elements of the game and make them more fan or consumer friendly, so that we can bring people inside the game.
spk_0
That's where, because the game is so fast, using technology, puck and player tracking does a couple of things for us.
spk_0
One, we're creating millions of data points a minute, and that's enabled fans to get inside the game and understand the better if they didn't grow up at hockey fans.
spk_0
And using the metaverse, we actually use the puck and player tracking to use animated versions of our game so that young people can get attracted to watching it using their favorite cartoon characters.
spk_0
And we're rematcheting the game, especially on a global basis, where the largest investor, chairman of Team Liquid, Team Liquid is the number one esports in North America.
spk_0
We just came in second place in Saudi Arabia, $30 million in prize money that was awarded there.
spk_0
And we play in 11 different platforms, and you'll read, it's a winter, nuclear winter for esports.
spk_0
That's like saying, the web, this was bad in the mid-90s, the web blew up. Don't make any investments in web companies.
spk_0
I think 25 years ago, the company I helped to create AOL, we had a $200 billion market cap, Microsoft had a $400 billion market cap.
spk_0
It's 25 years later, AOL doesn't exist, Microsoft has a $4 trillion market cap.
spk_0
And they've had to reinvent themselves, they're now an AI and cloud computing company.
spk_0
So Team Liquid, we play in 11 different platforms, and the people in Saudi Arabia, which are building a whole city and infrastructure for tourism, for their young people around esports.
spk_0
They said, what other sport can we reinvent and make competitive? And we said, chess.
spk_0
Chess? Chess? Okay, no.
spk_0
As an esport?
spk_0
So we launch, and we sign Magnus Carlson, the world's most famous number one chess player, and he won the World Championship a couple of weeks ago.
spk_0
And it's boom now with young kids. Young kids go, chess is cool. It's analytic, it's algorithmically oriented. You can train online, you can do multi-user games.
spk_0
So it's a really interesting loop, if you well, you can use technology to reinvigorate, you know, what looked like an older sport.
spk_0
That's what I think we've done in the NHL. When I first came in 26 years ago, I said, this looks like a video game to me.
spk_0
I mean, you've got the glass, the players are out there, they're working as hard as they can, but for 30 second shifts, Alex probably stays out a little longer than he should.
spk_0
But the speed, the music, it was a video game come to life. They said, we have to connect that speed, the sounds, and you know, like I got rid of the organ.
spk_0
I can't tell you how many older fans hated me. I said, but can you go with the times?
spk_0
Yeah, we kids want it, don't they want different music, they don't want organ music. So just paying attention to the younger audience.
spk_0
And it's amazing how fast time goes, Gary, how long have you been commissioner?
spk_0
32 years. 32 years. He's the most tenured commissioner. Not ten years, he's got 32 years.
spk_0
You're the longest serving commissioner in North American sports. I was we talked about 32 years. What kind of succession planning is taking place once you decide to move on?
spk_0
The answer is I have a very strong bench. I have great executives who work with me, particularly at the C-suite level. I have a deputy commissioner who has been with me for 26 years, build daily, who is terrific.
spk_0
And if I got hit by a bus walking out of here today, he could step in. But it was funny. I've said to my executive committee, nothing I'm getting ready to retire, but I said at some point we need to focus on this because I'm more they've ever, most of them have ever known.
spk_0
I mean, there are three legacy families in Boston, Detroit, and Chicago, original six clubs. And then there's Ted and everybody news come in since I've been commissioner. And when you get identified with something as much as I have been, succession becomes an issue.
spk_0
I'm just a little bit more of a newbie because I question the style and presence and branding, but I'm also cognitive of the fact that at some point there needs to be a more youthful person pitching the brand.
spk_0
That's a portion of a conversation with NHL Commissioner Gary Betman and Ted Leones's founder and CEO of monumental sports and entertainment live from Bloomberg power players New York recently.
spk_0
Our very own Scarlett Foo moderated that panel. And that does it for this edition of the Bloomberg Business of Sports for my colleagues, Damien Sassower and Vanessa Pradomo. I'm Michael Barr. Thank you for joining us.
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Tune in again next week for the latest on the stories moving big old money in the world of sports. You're listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio Around the World.
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In our new podcast, everybody's business. We talk about the business news that concerns everybody from Bloomberg Business week. I'm Stacy Vannick Smith and I'm X Shafton.
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Each week we unpack what is happening on Main Street and Wall Street, all the streets. WrestleMania has taken over the US economy.
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Topics Covered
FIFA World Cup 26
Bloomberg Daybreak Europe Edition
sports news podcast
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman
Team USA Olympics
US Olympic and Paralympic Committee
2028 Summer Olympics
winter sports qualification
transgender athletes policy
new Olympic sports 2026
college athletics concerns
sports business insights
sports culture development
sports technology integration
economic impact of sports