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Speaker 1: This is the business of sports. Should Major League Baseball

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Speaker 1: shorten up the season? How do we present football to

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Speaker 1: the audience of the future. I don't think that most

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Speaker 1: players understand the power that they have. Michael Barr. The

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Speaker 1: future of IndyCar racing is looking bright. Scott Sashnik. Very

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Speaker 1: basic math here, more bidders means more money. Evan Nobody Williams.

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Speaker 1: The team value has essentially quadruples. And the leaders in

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Speaker 1: the sports industry time to bring in our guest, Hal Stimbrunner,

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Speaker 1: National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Betman, Atlanta Braves president Derek Schiller,

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Speaker 1: Patriots President Jonathan Kraft. Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio. Hello,

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Speaker 1: I'm Evan Noby Williams, and I'm Scott Sashnik, And this

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Speaker 1: is the Bloomberg Business of Sports podcast where and if

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Speaker 1: Michael Barr was here and not gallivanting around Detroit on vacation,

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Speaker 1: he would say the big we explore the money. What

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Speaker 1: does he say? See? We need Michael bar here where

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Speaker 1: we explore the big money issues in the world of sports.

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Speaker 1: And today we begin with Magic Johnson stepping down as

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Speaker 1: an executive with the Lakers. I was happier when I

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Speaker 1: wasn't the president, and when you got to make trades,

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Speaker 1: you're not happy when when you when you like people.

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Speaker 1: Um and then um, I think that lucas a good man.

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Speaker 1: I liked Luke a lot, So you know, so what

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Speaker 1: we have a different opinion is about different things. That's okay,

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Speaker 1: you know that that happens in life. But know, my

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Speaker 1: my concern is really my relationship with my sister, and

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Speaker 1: that's Genie Fuss. That's all I care about. Don't all

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Speaker 1: the rest of the stuff don't really matter, all right?

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Speaker 1: So the Luke he was referencing, of course, Luke Walton,

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Speaker 1: the coach. Reportedly on his way out, Magic had gotten

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Speaker 1: permission to fire him, but Magic fired himself first. Um

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Speaker 1: and weird though, he showed up to the arena last

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Speaker 1: night and sort of hung out by the parking lot

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Speaker 1: eating for Genie bus so he could tell Jennie that

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Speaker 1: he's leaving. Then he was told Jeannie's not coming tonight,

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Speaker 1: and then he holds it impromptu press conference to say

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Speaker 1: he's resigning. Yeah forty minute, you know, kind of ranting

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Speaker 1: and reaving. And my big takeaway was that he seemed

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Speaker 1: like a guy who just got out of jail. Right,

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Speaker 1: It's like they see the gate closing behind him and

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Speaker 1: he breathed the fresh air. Yeah, he said. He called

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Speaker 1: himself a free bird. Didn't want to be handcuffed. He

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Speaker 1: wants to go back to having fun. Uh, he really

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Speaker 1: painted a picture. I don't know who's gonna take this

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Speaker 1: job after it. But it's not like he doesn't know.

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Speaker 1: He's done this before. He knows what the job entails,

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Speaker 1: and that is sometimes firing people, and that is sometimes

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Speaker 1: trading people, and that maybe long hours in the gym

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Speaker 1: you don't want to be in instead of trapsing around

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Speaker 1: Italy as he does in the offseason. It is not easy.

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Speaker 1: I once asked pat riley Um about the idea that

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Speaker 1: people could do the job without being around all the time,

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Speaker 1: and that was like, no, no, no, no, you need

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Speaker 1: to be there, you need to hear, you need to see,

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Speaker 1: Like I'd love to do this job in the Bahamas.

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Speaker 1: Just doesn't work that way. Yeah, And I think, and

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Speaker 1: I'm not dragging Magic Johnson here. He said it himself.

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Speaker 1: This is not a job that he's cut up for, right.

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Speaker 1: He clearly did not want to have to do all

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Speaker 1: the things that you're describing he didn't want to fire

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Speaker 1: Luke Walton. You know, he didn't want to have to,

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Speaker 1: you know, look players in the eye and say, look,

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Speaker 1: we're getting rid of you, we're trading you, were cutting you, etcetera. UM,

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Speaker 1: And this is a job that requires that, you know.

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Speaker 1: So you know, good luck to him. He's fifty nine

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Speaker 1: years old, he's a legend. He's a businessman, as you know,

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Speaker 1: he's a part owner in the Dodgers. Um. There's a

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Speaker 1: lot that he's going to be able to keep himself

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Speaker 1: busy with now that he's out of the job that

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Speaker 1: he's held for what two years or And if he

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Speaker 1: really is worried about his relationship with Genie Buss, he needn't.

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Speaker 1: Genie was out with a statement saying, you know, I

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Speaker 1: love you, Irvin. You're part of the family. And that's

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Speaker 1: how close was. Yeah. So yeah, next time, give me

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Speaker 1: a call. And if you find out I'm not gonna

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Speaker 1: be just like this, be a lesson for young folks.

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Speaker 1: If you're going to leave a job and there's somebody

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Speaker 1: really really close to you, who is your your superior,

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Speaker 1: tell them first. Don't have an impromptu press conference. But hey,

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Speaker 1: everything seems to be right with imagining and Genie, even

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Speaker 1: if everything is not right with the l A Lakers

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Speaker 1: and Magic. Yeah, I mean this is a you know,

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Speaker 1: one of the biggest franchises in basketball, you know, sixteen

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Speaker 1: time champions. They're worth over three and a half or

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Speaker 1: three and a half billion dollars. They haven't been to

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Speaker 1: the playoffs since two thousand This year, this year, And

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Speaker 1: what I want to ask you, how much do you

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Speaker 1: think that this, you know, Magic stepping down obviously tired

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Speaker 1: of being in the position. How much do you think

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Speaker 1: that Lebron James is arrival in in l A kind

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Speaker 1: of factors into that. I mean, Lebron has brought chaos

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Speaker 1: to organizations in the past. First year that Lebron shows

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Speaker 1: up and his Lebron and his folks are used to

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Speaker 1: having say in how things are run. Lebron is a

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Speaker 1: looming large presence. They did not make the playoffs. What's

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Speaker 1: Lebron's age now? He um, He's got a lot of

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Speaker 1: miles on that body. He is now trying to recruit

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Speaker 1: players to the Lakers. You're competing against other teams with

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Speaker 1: lots of caps based and free money. I don't care

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Speaker 1: if it's the Knicks, Uh, competing with the Nets. He's

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Speaker 1: competing with some real teams. Uh, let's see which marquee

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Speaker 1: free agency can get but ain't gonna be around Magic.

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Speaker 1: So Lebron is thirty four. Um, this just looked it up.

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Speaker 1: I did. I looked up the we did, Michael Barman.

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Speaker 1: I assume I assume this is still a coveted position, right,

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Speaker 1: I mean this is and even even despite the fact

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Speaker 1: that you're kind of coming into a team where you

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Speaker 1: know you have a powerful player that you know might

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Speaker 1: might even be more powerful than you are. It's the Lakers.

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Speaker 1: It's well interesting. Anyway, Let's move on next topic. Add

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Speaker 1: Thus teaming up with and you're used to a big

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Speaker 1: name team here, like you're waiting for an or or

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Speaker 1: somebody like Cardy b beyonced but no friend of the program.

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Speaker 1: Paul Rabel and his Premier lacrosse league teaming up with Adidas.

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Speaker 1: And when I take away from this, Evan is the

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Speaker 1: portion sure they're gonna get their shoes in their and

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Speaker 1: their jerseys. Okay, I get it. The part that I

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Speaker 1: see is a good match here. As we know Paul

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Speaker 1: and we know his social media presence and his brother

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Speaker 1: Michael as well, Adidas is fond of this creator's label.

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Speaker 1: And we can see that with Kanye, we see it

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Speaker 1: with James Harden. It's about more than just the athlete.

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Speaker 1: That part of this deal, where Adidas is gonna put

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Speaker 1: money into content creation, seems like a marriage made in heaven. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and we've had Paul in the podcast. He's told us

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Speaker 1: about his digital strategy. Uh Dan near who runs Didas Lacrosse.

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Speaker 1: One of the things he told me, you know, this

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Speaker 1: is the most digitally focused sports league that we've kind

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Speaker 1: of ever seen, you know, especially in in in the

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Speaker 1: lacrosse space. Right. So, so for a brand that really

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Speaker 1: likes it's athletes and it's celebrity endorsers to be able

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Speaker 1: to create on their own either you know, artistically, you know,

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Speaker 1: via video, via music, via you know, clothing, Um, this

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Speaker 1: is a this works very well with Adidas. Right Paul

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Speaker 1: built this league. He's still an active player, you know,

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Speaker 1: he wanted it to be a more player centric league.

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Speaker 1: You know, so there's a creator tie in just directly

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Speaker 1: right there. But but but speaking more broadly, you know,

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Speaker 1: they're their their digital goals, their social goals very much

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Speaker 1: aligns with what Adidas is trying to build itself right

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Speaker 1: now brand wide. Yeah, what we heard from Paul and

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Speaker 1: Michael is that lacrosse there's a there's a big storytelling aspect.

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Speaker 1: It's a lifestyle with lacrosse that has never been told.

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Speaker 1: They've been trying to do it now with the boost

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Speaker 1: from Adidas, Adidas and the platforms of NBC, which is

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Speaker 1: their broadcast partner, it'll be very interesting interesting to see

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Speaker 1: if folks like Adidas athlete Miles Jones, um, he's sort

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Speaker 1: of like to me that the cool old b J's

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Speaker 1: got the mohawk, sometimes the colored mohawk. Like, does he

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Speaker 1: take off and become sort of this household personality among

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Speaker 1: the crosse fans by the way, growing audience, affluent audience

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Speaker 1: can buy a lot of stuff. Does he become the

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Speaker 1: the other players that you see now I never Frankly,

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Speaker 1: I don't remember his name, but one of the goalies

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Speaker 1: who's like the size of the incredible Hulk, like Paul

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Speaker 1: puts his stuff on on Twitter all the time. Have

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Speaker 1: you seen this guy? Then there's a face off guy

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Speaker 1: nicknamed the Animal. I swear it. It looks like remember

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Speaker 1: I said that the cartoon guys where you hit him

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Speaker 1: over the head with with a crowbar and the bar

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Speaker 1: bends over the head. That's what they look like. And

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Speaker 1: I would just wonder if they can become mega stars

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Speaker 1: in the community. Yeah, and the league kicks off this summer.

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Speaker 1: Six teams for those who don't remember. Unlike a kind

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Speaker 1: of a traditional sports league where where teams are based

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Speaker 1: in cities, this is kind of a traveling model. So

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Speaker 1: all six teams traveled together. You know, they're gonna be

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Speaker 1: doing you know, weekends in Boston, in New York, in Supple,

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Speaker 1: across exactly across the country. UM. And yeah this you

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Speaker 1: mentioned NBC, which is their other probably top tier partner.

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Speaker 1: Um Lacrosse. Professional Lacrosse has a an entrenched outdoor in

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Speaker 1: an entrenched indoor league, and PLL is trying to you know,

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Speaker 1: elevate itself to becoming the premier outdoor league. UM. I

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Speaker 1: would imagine you know, adding Adidas. What what the Rabel

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Speaker 1: brothers told you, Scott, you know, this is the biggest

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Speaker 1: apparel partnership ever in pro lacrosse. This just kind of

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Speaker 1: adds another kind of arrow to their to their quiver.

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Speaker 1: All right, let's move on to the final topic, The

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Speaker 1: New Jersey Devil's Friends of the program as well. Mr

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Speaker 1: Scott O'Neill, Mr Hugh Weber, Congratulations, it's one of those years. Right. No,

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Speaker 1: it's not Lebron James because it doesn't get as much attention.

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Speaker 1: But if you follow hockey and the up and comers,

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Speaker 1: there's an American by the name of Jack Hughes who

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Speaker 1: is widely can centered the top number one prospect out there,

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Speaker 1: and without them saying it, it's pretty safe to say

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Speaker 1: Mr Hughes will be headed to Prudential Center. Yeah. For

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Speaker 1: basketball fans that are familiar with not trying for Zion

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Speaker 1: this year, NHL lose for Hughes for it was that

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Speaker 1: he's that much of you know, an expected superstar that

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Speaker 1: you know they put the made the phrase for him. Um.

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Speaker 1: But a great a great result for the Devil's right.

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Speaker 1: Two years ago they had the number one pick, they

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Speaker 1: picked Nico Husher. They traded for Taylor Hall, who was

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Speaker 1: the number one pick in two thou he became the

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Speaker 1: m v P. Was injured most of this year, so

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Speaker 1: they're gonna get him back. They're probably gonna add Hughes

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Speaker 1: to the mix. I would imagine Hugh Eber was popping

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Speaker 1: some champagne this week I saw. Speaking of social media,

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Speaker 1: I saw Hugh put out on Twitter. He was hugging

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Speaker 1: the ping punk. I didn't send back to him. He

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Speaker 1: a little awkward photo, but he was hugging at Scott

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Speaker 1: O'Neill sent me a video of the staff, the Devil

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Speaker 1: staff watching it full and they went bonkers when the

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Speaker 1: you know the Devil's logo was shown. So good news

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Speaker 1: for New Jersey in general at a time, by the way,

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Speaker 1: when the playoffs are about sure and area hockey. By

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Speaker 1: the way, the number two runner up in the in

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Speaker 1: the draft was you know, the New New York New

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Speaker 1: York Rangers. Um, people assume they're going to take the

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Speaker 1: Finnished kid Capo Coco, but yees. As we headed to

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Speaker 1: the playoffs, you know they kick off this week. UM.

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Speaker 1: Lots of fun, juicy storylines. One that I'm particularly interested

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Speaker 1: in the Columbus Blue Jackets. You know, they drew the

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Speaker 1: Tampa Bay Lightning, who are you know, the runaway best

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Speaker 1: team in the league so far in the regular season,

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Speaker 1: But a really kind of compelling story in my opinion

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Speaker 1: out of Columbus. You know, a team that was kind

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Speaker 1: of teetering on the edge of maybe making the playoffs,

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Speaker 1: maybe not where they going to be sellers at the deadline,

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Speaker 1: where they're gonna be buyers. They turned into huge buyers

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Speaker 1: with a bunch of restrictive ask Aaron Matthew Shane. You

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Speaker 1: can argue that I think they're six or seven best

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Speaker 1: players are all free agents at the end of this year,

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Speaker 1: so a nice you know, they rolled the dice a

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Speaker 1: little bit right and and and ending up playing the

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Speaker 1: Lightning in the first round is maybe not the best draw,

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Speaker 1: but I like the idea of a team that has

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Speaker 1: maybe risking a bit of its long term future trying

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Speaker 1: to win now. And I'll be interested to watch the

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Speaker 1: mom I'm just gonna for me, I'm watching one series closely.

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Speaker 1: I want to see every minute of Toronto and Boston,

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Speaker 1: two teams that I think everyone even things could win

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Speaker 1: the Stanley Cup. Really really both could win. And they

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Speaker 1: face each other in the first round. Too bad, one

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Speaker 1: of them's got to go. But this is the time

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Speaker 1: when the NHL shines on Twitter, You'll see, Hey, we're

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Speaker 1: headed to overtime again. No more shootouts. We're gonna play

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Speaker 1: this one out. Maybe we'll have double overtime, triple overtime.

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Speaker 1: A lot of fans sort of casual fans find the

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Speaker 1: sport this time of year, and we got to see

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Speaker 1: if they can sort of again. How do you ride that?

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Speaker 1: How do you become bigger? How do you win the

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Speaker 1: new fans? Um? How do you generate more revenue? What

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Speaker 1: does the NHL do? I mean, they've got young players,

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Speaker 1: you've got stars, you've got great matchups, but you've got

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Speaker 1: a capitalize. Yeah, let's not sleep on the on the

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Speaker 1: Vegas Golden Nights either. Year two, they're playing probably just

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Speaker 1: as well, if not even better than they were at

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Speaker 1: this point. I still getting to the Stanley Confinal was

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Speaker 1: not good for them in their first year. Anything short

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Speaker 1: now will be a major disappointment. And you see what

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Speaker 1: happens to Maybe true, but there has not been a

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Speaker 1: sophomore slump yet from a fan perspective, and and that is,

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Speaker 1: for my money, the biggest you know, expansion success story

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Speaker 1: of the modern era in American sports. Um, so you know,

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Speaker 1: we'll be fun to watch the Vegas Knights as well.

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Speaker 1: They play the Shacks, right, they play the Sharks. Eric

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Speaker 1: Carlson has been hurt too bad. Yeah, good beards too,

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Speaker 1: I know I like that, all right? I am Scott

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Speaker 1: Sashnik along with Evan Noby Williams. Michael Barr is hanging

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Speaker 1: out in Detroit watching his Tigers, which means he is

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Speaker 1: and we'll be happy when Michael Barr is bad. Next week,

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Speaker 1: we're runner list Ship without you. We're here each and

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Speaker 1: every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday exploring the world of money

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Speaker 1: in sports. Join us again at the end of the

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Speaker 1: week when we speak with Brooklyn Nets, GM, Shawn Marks.

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Speaker 1: He's happy to He's a happy guy. You are listening

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Speaker 1: to the Bloomberg Business of Sports on Bloomberg Radio around

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Speaker 1: the world and online wherever you get your podcasts. If

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Speaker 1: you feel if you feel like happiness, because I'm happy. Happy,