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Speaker 1: I'm here right now with Stephen Palayuka, of course, the

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Speaker 1: former co chairman of Bane Capital and co owner of

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Speaker 1: the Boston Celtics. We've been talking a lot about the

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Speaker 1: business of sports here, Steven. Probably no business has grown

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Speaker 1: as much, at least not here in the US as

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Speaker 1: a National Basketball Association. The current television broadcast rights set

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Speaker 1: to expire sometime in mid twenty twenty five. I know

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Speaker 1: negotiations have already begun, at least with current partners, but

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Speaker 1: there's a lot of speculation right now about how much

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Speaker 1: the NBA will broaden its reach in terms of the

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Speaker 1: TV rights and the TV partners it has well, we're

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Speaker 1: very optimistic.

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Speaker 2: Viewership has never been higher.

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Speaker 3: It's been a fantastic season, great competitive balance, and wonderful playoffs.

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Speaker 2: So singers looking up for the NBA.

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Speaker 3: It's a global game and we continue to build the

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Speaker 3: business in Africa overseas, and so really exciting times ahead.

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Speaker 1: In order to sort of reach a lot of the

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Speaker 1: new folks as well as even the current crop of

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Speaker 1: fans that you have in the league. Here. There is

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Speaker 1: I'm concerned here that over the last few years, if

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Speaker 1: you wanted to watch an NBA game, there were really

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Speaker 1: only a couple of places that you can do it.

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Speaker 1: You know that how we watch TV, how we consume

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Speaker 1: media has changed a lot, even over the last five years.

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Speaker 1: When you anticipate what a new contract, a new broadcast

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Speaker 1: contract looks like, do you think it's going to be

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Speaker 1: a much wider number of companies involved than what we

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Speaker 1: currently have.

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Speaker 3: Yes, that's been the trend. Trend in the NFL, the

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Speaker 3: trend in all sports, so more people can see more games. Fundamentally,

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Speaker 3: a lot of these valuations have been driven up by

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Speaker 3: the fact that certainly basketball and soccer are global games,

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Speaker 3: and with the streaming capability and the ability to reach

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Speaker 3: millions and millions of customers. We used to measure the

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Speaker 3: fan base in millions, and now it's tens of millions,

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Speaker 3: hundreds millions, and even billions as far as football goes.

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Speaker 1: As we see valuations for the popular sports, the soccers

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Speaker 1: of the world, the nbas of the world, we've also

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Speaker 1: seen investors now start to look at I guess what

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Speaker 1: can be considered second tier sports where you're talking about

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Speaker 1: something like lacrosse or even something as what was once

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Speaker 1: obscure like pickleball, at least as a professional sport. Have

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Speaker 1: you taken any interest in that sort of tier of

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Speaker 1: sports leagues?

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Speaker 3: Yes, PAGs Group Sports our family office, we've looked at

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Speaker 3: several opportunities, and again, I think sports is compelling programming

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Speaker 3: and there's going to be a trickle down effect into

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Speaker 3: all these other leagues. So people will start have the

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Speaker 3: capability of watching lacrosse or watching pickleball because it's compelling programming.

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Speaker 2: So I think you're going to see growth in those

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Speaker 2: ancillary sports.

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Speaker 1: I am curious about your career in private equity. I

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Speaker 1: know you've stepped away from your main role at Bain

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Speaker 1: Capital earlier this year. There are I think personally some

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Speaker 1: parallels to the growth that we've seen in the private

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Speaker 1: equity space over the last couple of decades and the

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Speaker 1: growth that we've seen in the interest and valuations in

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Speaker 1: sports franchises over that same period of time. Is there

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Speaker 1: a material difference in how you approach what you did

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Speaker 1: at Bain and the companies that you were involved with

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Speaker 1: in Bane and what you're doing now in the world

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Speaker 1: of sports.

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Speaker 3: It's actually very similar. There are similar dynamics in sports.

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Speaker 3: You need to have a great operation, you want to

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Speaker 3: build a championship team, you have to have fantastic management

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Speaker 3: like we have at the Celtics. So there are a

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Speaker 3: lot of parallels. The great news is there is a

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Speaker 3: tailwind in the growth and private equity. It's been a

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Speaker 3: missing over in the past. Maybe forty years ago, private

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Speaker 3: equity was known for taking out costs. Today the industry

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Speaker 3: is competitive and really focused on building businesses, and they

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Speaker 3: want to build growth businesses. So it's very similar in

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Speaker 3: that aspect. People want to buy and invest in companies

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Speaker 3: that can grow, and sports is a very growing property

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Speaker 3: throughout the world.

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Speaker 1: All right, Steve Well, One of the reasons why we

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Speaker 1: wanted to talk to you specifically on this week is

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Speaker 1: because the National Basketball Association Draft was held Thursday here

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Speaker 1: in New York City. There was a lot of discussion

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Speaker 1: about I guess who would be picked first. I don't

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Speaker 1: think the discussion really veered too far away from I

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Speaker 1: guess demand that everyone thinks is going to be there

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Speaker 1: this league when but Mania, I think, is what they're

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Speaker 1: calling it right now. What do you make of him?

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Speaker 1: And more importantly, I think what he can mean for

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Speaker 1: the league and what it can mean for new viewership.

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Speaker 3: Well, the league has been fortunate in that you know,

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Speaker 3: I've been following it's for forty years now and we

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Speaker 3: had the Larry Magic, you know, Michael Jordan Age, and

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Speaker 3: now there are more stars than ever.

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Speaker 2: In the league.

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Speaker 3: So if you look down the list, there are thirty

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Speaker 3: forty what i'd call transcendent players. And when Bomania, you know,

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Speaker 3: is going to be amazing. He's one of the most

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Speaker 3: skilled big men we've ever seen. He can do it all,

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Speaker 3: not unlike Lebron when he came in, so high hopes

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Speaker 3: for him to kind of lead the next generation at

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Speaker 3: ane tempo out there, and it's only gonna be great

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Speaker 3: for the league to have even more stars. But he's

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Speaker 3: he definitely has all the tools and all the skills

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Speaker 3: to be a transcendent player, and it's going to be

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Speaker 3: exciting to watch them. It's gonna be tough to play against,

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Speaker 3: but exciting to watch them.

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Speaker 1: Well, let's talk about the Celtics, and you're the structure

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Speaker 1: of what this team is going to look like over

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Speaker 1: the next year. I guess one of those sort of

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Speaker 1: a news that did shock a lot of people over

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Speaker 1: the last couple of days was the trade of one

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Speaker 1: of your star players, Marcus Smart and the acquisition of

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Speaker 1: I guess another star player in Chrisenne Presentskins.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: The toughest thing in this in sports is you know,

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Speaker 3: we all love Marcus smart and but but but the gentleman,

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Speaker 3: the goal in Boston is to win championships and to

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Speaker 3: do that you have to put the best team out

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Speaker 3: there you possibly can. So our team has studied this

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Speaker 3: and we need more strength upfront. And Perzingis is a

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Speaker 3: fantastic player that will really add a lot and to

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Speaker 3: our to our club and allow us to contend for

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Speaker 3: a championship. And Marcus will, you know, be forever remembered

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Speaker 3: here for for his leadership and heart and and that's

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Speaker 3: really the toughest thing. I love the Celtics that love sports,

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Speaker 3: and the toughest thing is is seeing some of these

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Speaker 3: fantastic players, you know, go to new opportunities. Marcus will

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Speaker 3: make a huge difference down in Memphis, and you know,

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Speaker 3: we we wish him well, we thank him for everything

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Speaker 3: that he's done here and and and and hopefully our

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Speaker 3: team is positioned to contend again and hopefully get a championship.

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Speaker 3: We came very close the last couple of years, and

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Speaker 3: we hopefully we can push it over the top.

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Speaker 1: All right, Steeve, really appreciate you taking time for us.

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Speaker 1: Steven Peluca there. He is, of course, the former co

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Speaker 1: chairman of Bane Capital, co owner of the Boston Celtics