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Speaker 1: Interactive studio and to Washington, DC, bloom from using their

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Speaker 1: name of one of those six weeks, to the country

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Speaker 1: and around the business from Bloomberg Radio Dot Go in

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Speaker 1: any other sports bloom Business of Sports Bloomberg Radio fan

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Speaker 1: sports need to be consumed a lot and not to

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Speaker 1: the big competitive advantage for in artual property holders of

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Speaker 1: sports content in the media landscape. Bloomberg Business of Sports

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Speaker 1: from Bloomberg Radio. Hi everyone, I'm Jason Kelly, and I'm

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Speaker 1: Mike Lynch and Michael Barr And this is the Bloomberg

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Speaker 1: Business of Sports podcast where we explore the big money

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Speaker 1: issues in the world of sports. All right, guys, I'm

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Speaker 1: back from Vegas, alive and well, and I went down

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Speaker 1: to rabbit Holes this weekend, so I want to talk

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Speaker 1: to you about that. I want to talk about the

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Speaker 1: rest of the sports world because, as you said, Uh, Lynchy,

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Speaker 1: so much going on London, Vegas, everywhere, uh in between. Uh.

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Speaker 1: Let me start by telling you what I was up

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Speaker 1: to and then we can break it down a little bit. Um.

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Speaker 1: So I went to Vegas to primarily to work on

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Speaker 1: a piece that will be coming out this fall about

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Speaker 1: the UFC. So I really um it spent a lot

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Speaker 1: of time around Dana White and his crew and and

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Speaker 1: all of this obviously was centered around the massive fight

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Speaker 1: that happened on Saturday night, which turned out to be

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Speaker 1: a little bit anti climactic. We can talk a little

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Speaker 1: bit about that between Dustin Pourier and Connor McGregor. And

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Speaker 1: it was quite a thing to be in Vegas for

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Speaker 1: all of this, and a real understanding for me, and

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Speaker 1: you understand me. For me, it's to just how massive

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Speaker 1: a business the UFC is. Um And I also got

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Speaker 1: to catch up with our friend Ice Cube, who was

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Speaker 1: on this program last weekend and last week to see

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Speaker 1: the Big Three in action that was happening at the

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Speaker 1: Orleans UH Arena and casino just outside just off the strip. UM,

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Speaker 1: So I saw him, I got to shot with him

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Speaker 1: a little bit. And uh, I tell you, the Big

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Speaker 1: Three is even cooler than than I thought it was

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Speaker 1: gonna be in terms of the quality of play, but

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Speaker 1: also just just the vibe of it. So it was

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Speaker 1: really something to be in Vegas because you know, in

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Speaker 1: addition to that stuff happening, you had the USA basketball

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Speaker 1: team they were playing. Uh, You've got a whole any

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Speaker 1: number of concerts that are going on, so and obviously

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Speaker 1: the sports books were just humming as you can imagine

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Speaker 1: with everything going on, whether it was Wimbledon, um or

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Speaker 1: the or the English their England versus Italy final for

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Speaker 1: for the Euros. So I don't know, I guess Lynchia,

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Speaker 1: I would ask you how did it look from from

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Speaker 1: the outside, because you know, when you're in it, you

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Speaker 1: feel like, well, every everybody in the world is must

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Speaker 1: be looking at this. But I don't know if that

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Speaker 1: was true. I think the eyes of the sports world

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Speaker 1: where were split in two places, as you said, in

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Speaker 1: Vegas and in over in London, so much going on

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Speaker 1: in both cities. Will start where you were right there

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Speaker 1: the Big Three basketball in the UFC um banged out

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Speaker 1: arena for the Sean McGregor Poorie of fight and the

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Speaker 1: Big Three played. The three went to three games right

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Speaker 1: in Vegas and three in New Orleans. Yes, so my

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Speaker 1: question is why did you come home? It was very tired,

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Speaker 1: um and most of it, most of us done. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I will tell you. I mean from from the UFC perspective.

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Speaker 1: It's interesting, you know, because we like to unpack things,

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Speaker 1: obviously from from the business perspective, and you know, we've

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Speaker 1: talked about how there are all these elements that become

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Speaker 1: media events and fan events, and that was one of

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Speaker 1: the most fascinating things that I have said that I

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Speaker 1: didn't expect, which was Thursday afternoon. We showed up to

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Speaker 1: T Mobile Arena. And we've all been to lots and

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Speaker 1: lots of you know, pregame, pre whatever press conferences, right

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Speaker 1: the press conference for the UFC for a big UFC fight,

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Speaker 1: um for the for the main event in this case,

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Speaker 1: Boyer McGregor was in the arena, I mean, and there

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Speaker 1: were give or take five thousand people there, you know.

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Speaker 1: And by the way, these are five thousand people who

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Speaker 1: stood out in the no exaggeration, hundred and ten hundred

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Speaker 1: and twelve degree heat, waiting to get in for for

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Speaker 1: basically a thirty minute performance as it were, featuring Um,

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Speaker 1: Dustin and Connor and Dana White, you know, kind of

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Speaker 1: keeping them apart, and it just you can feel it building.

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Speaker 1: It's highly produced, and you've got people chanting and so

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Speaker 1: excited about it. You know. One interest thing that somebody

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Speaker 1: told me about the crowd, which of course was sold

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Speaker 1: out twenty thousand plus on Saturday night, the biggest sporting event.

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Speaker 1: In terms of attendance, we were told um in the

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Speaker 1: history of T Mobile Arena. Now it's only been around

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Speaker 1: for a few years, but it does, Um you know this.

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Speaker 1: It's the same arena that's the host to the very

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Speaker 1: successful Gold to Nights. But the crowd was largely domestic.

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Speaker 1: Interestingly enough, a lot of times for a McGregor FIGHTE

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Speaker 1: you've got a whole bunch of people coming over from Ireland,

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Speaker 1: but many, many fewer of that crowd just because, as

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Speaker 1: you mentioned earlier, Um Lynchy, the COVID protocols make international

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Speaker 1: travel tricky. So I mean it was ferocious. The fans are,

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Speaker 1: you know, in full effect around the UFC. And and

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Speaker 1: if you're sleeping on that as a business, you are

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Speaker 1: you are missing something. Michael Barr. I mean it really.

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Speaker 1: I think it's reminiscent culturally and socioeconomically to you know

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Speaker 1: what Bond was. And I think all of us were

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Speaker 1: growing up, man, think of it, Lynsey, Jason, Mr. I

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Speaker 1: was hanging out man with ice Cube and I went

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Speaker 1: to the UFC fight and I was in Las Vegas.

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Speaker 1: You just you just how did my father used to say,

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Speaker 1: It's like you just know what don't know? What to

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Speaker 1: do with yourself now do you? Man? That is great? Man,

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Speaker 1: what a great Yeah? I am like Lynchy, why did

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Speaker 1: you come back? Man? That was very good? Now, you

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Speaker 1: know it is it's great. And as you mentioned, and

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Speaker 1: we're talking about that, as you said that, you got

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Speaker 1: a full crowd there and obviously Dana White is obviously

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Speaker 1: pleased because it shows that a major sport is back

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Speaker 1: and it's the it's the sport now that even though

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Speaker 1: it was kind of anti climactic, uh, people were still

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Speaker 1: totally totally interested in it, you know. And McGregor, I

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Speaker 1: guess he has a broken leg now out of that

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Speaker 1: whole thing. Yeah, so let's talk about that. I mean,

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Speaker 1: because from an from an economic and a business implication,

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Speaker 1: you know, Connor McGregor not just losing, but losing rather

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Speaker 1: anti climactically the end of the first right at the

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Speaker 1: very end of the first round, and I will tell

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Speaker 1: you in the arena it was obviously a little bit

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Speaker 1: unclear as to exactly what was going on. It looked

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Speaker 1: like he was quite literally saved by the bell Um

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Speaker 1: Pourier was was when he definitely won the first round. Um,

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Speaker 1: I think on on every judge's card, Um McGregor is down.

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Speaker 1: I was sort of on the other side of the

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Speaker 1: arena from the from the side of the octagon that

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Speaker 1: he had gone down, and so he was down, he

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Speaker 1: wasn't getting up. And then it was clear and a

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Speaker 1: bunch of people were texting me basically saying, it looks

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Speaker 1: like he he broke his leg. And by all accounts

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Speaker 1: are by the best accounts, it looks like he broke

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Speaker 1: his his lower tibia. Um initially fractured it by with

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Speaker 1: a kick, and then when he went back on it

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Speaker 1: after missing a shot, Um, it just it just snapped.

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Speaker 1: I mean not to be too graphic about it, but um,

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Speaker 1: you know, it does raise big questions. You know, this

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Speaker 1: is a guy who's in his early thirties. He is

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Speaker 1: extraordinarily wealthy. He is the highest paid athlete in the

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Speaker 1: world for the year owing to both what he won

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Speaker 1: in the octagon, uh, you know what he won for fighting,

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Speaker 1: but also for the sale of his liquor brand that

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Speaker 1: he's associated with called Proper twelve. And UM, hard to say,

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Speaker 1: you know when he's coming back and in what form,

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Speaker 1: I will tell you. It is undisputed that he is

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Speaker 1: the biggest star in the UFC and probably the biggest

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Speaker 1: star of the UFC has ever had. Now, what Dana

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Speaker 1: White and others would say is every time there's been

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Speaker 1: a big star, whether it was rond Rowsei Um or others,

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Speaker 1: there's always been the question, well, you know, how are

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Speaker 1: you ever gonna replace that person? To McGregor, he's one

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Speaker 1: of one, as they say, And uh so, I do

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Speaker 1: think there there are some big question marks as to

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Speaker 1: you know, how and when he comes back and what

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Speaker 1: his association is going forward. But um, I don't know.

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Speaker 1: I mean, Lynch, it sounds like you did. You weren't

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Speaker 1: among the one to one point seven or so million

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Speaker 1: people who who paid for paid for the pay per view,

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Speaker 1: But it didn't feel like there was too much disappointment

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Speaker 1: because there was a lot of content, you know. I

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Speaker 1: think what this does is sets up a great story

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Speaker 1: coming up his comeback, and that's gonna be built up.

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Speaker 1: I mean the UFC is that they're they're great in marketing,

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Speaker 1: they're great in promotion and the anticipation of Connor McGregor

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Speaker 1: coming back. There's going to be documentary's okay, I'm now

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Speaker 1: with physical therapy. I'll be back, you know, and the

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Speaker 1: first opponent who's whose head am I going to tear off?

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Speaker 1: Will it be a rematch with Parier or will it

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Speaker 1: be somebody else? If the current champion, it looks like

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Speaker 1: he says he'll be back in six months or so.

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Speaker 1: I think the build up in the anticipation for his

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Speaker 1: return is all green light and all good for the UFC. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: definitely definitely has that potential um potential to be in

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Speaker 1: And in the meantime, you know, do you see other

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Speaker 1: other players step forward? I mean it is fascinating too,

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Speaker 1: because this is such a machine, the UFC. You know,

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Speaker 1: they're fighting next in Houston in early August, then they

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Speaker 1: go back to Abu Dhabi, I believe, and then they'll

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Speaker 1: be here in New York later in the year. So

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Speaker 1: the it just builds and builds and bills. They had

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Speaker 1: a big sponsorship deal that they announced last week with

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Speaker 1: Crypto dot Com being the first time they've had an

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Speaker 1: exclusive sort of kit sponsor, meaning every fighter and his

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Speaker 1: or her team, you know, war essentially the same thing

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Speaker 1: coming in and uh so it was it was really something.

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Speaker 1: And I will say, just to shift gears a little bit,

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Speaker 1: going back to the Big Three, you know, I have

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Speaker 1: to say and I don't know if you guys felt

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Speaker 1: this way when I when we've had our conversation with Cube,

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Speaker 1: I was like, yeah, I want to stop by and

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Speaker 1: sort of see it. And I imagined it to be,

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Speaker 1: you know, kind of a cool little thing. It's a

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Speaker 1: big production and you know, there were there were fans

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Speaker 1: in the stands for sure. It's very rowdy in the

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Speaker 1: best possible way. I mean, it really is as if

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Speaker 1: you took a playground game and and essentially said, what

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Speaker 1: if I took a playground game, put it on the

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Speaker 1: best court that I could, had the best production values,

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Speaker 1: put it in an arena, and just like let it fly,

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Speaker 1: and it's just a really interesting five and you walk around.

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Speaker 1: We talked about this with Cube. You know, you walk

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Speaker 1: around and you're like, oh my god, you know that

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Speaker 1: guy played the NBA. That guy played in the NBA.

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Speaker 1: I mean my moment was I walked out into then

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Speaker 1: through the tunnel onto the floor and I look up

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Speaker 1: and I'm like, huh that's Dr Jay and uh, I mean,

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Speaker 1: and it's it's so incredible. I got a chance to

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Speaker 1: talk with him a little bit afterwards, and uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: he basically said, and this speaks to I think the

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Speaker 1: power of the not just the idea, but the personalities

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Speaker 1: behind it. I asked him, I said, how did you

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Speaker 1: get involved in this? He's like Cube called me and uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, it sounded like fun. I love the game,

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Speaker 1: and so there he is. I mean, Julia serving like,

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Speaker 1: that's no joke. So I really feel like this flywheel

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Speaker 1: is starting to turn, you know, interestingly, just from an

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Speaker 1: anecdotal perspective. You know, one of my brothers texted me

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Speaker 1: love are watching the Big Three and said then very obnoxiously.

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Speaker 1: I texted him. I was like, I'm standing next to

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Speaker 1: Dr J and he's like, okay, um, but but in

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Speaker 1: any case, so, I mean, it's on CBS. People are

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Speaker 1: watching it, and uh I. I was surprised on the

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Speaker 1: upside and how good the product was. I'm just amazed

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Speaker 1: that any team name three headed monsters. Man. I love that.

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Speaker 1: That is great. Yeah, And and I do think it's

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Speaker 1: it's interesting, you know, this blend of celebrity and and

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Speaker 1: um and clearly the the money is there, Lynchy, because

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Speaker 1: if you go back and listen to the conversation we

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Speaker 1: had with Cube, they were about to announce another big

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Speaker 1: sponsor when we talked to him, and and that sponsor

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Speaker 1: is Microsoft, so it's not I mean they're not getting

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Speaker 1: you know, sort of small names. So they've got the

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Speaker 1: likes of Microsoft and Toyota. I believe he was an

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Speaker 1: existing sponsor. You know, they're there, so it's blue chip

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Speaker 1: names for sure. You know, he and I talked Cube

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Speaker 1: and I talked to that day about how you know,

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Speaker 1: that's something they're really continuing to work hard on. In

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Speaker 1: addition to bringing in new investors. These media deals are

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Speaker 1: are huge for them, and you know, even seeing it

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Speaker 1: pop up in some of the sports newsletters that we

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Speaker 1: all subscribe to that it's something that that folks are

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Speaker 1: paying attention to. I also left their thinking it'll be

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Speaker 1: interesting the recruiting that the players and the coaches will

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Speaker 1: do because if you were to get I'm making this

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Speaker 1: up just because it's it's a name that we both

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Speaker 1: know if you were to that we all know, if

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Speaker 1: if you get a an ivor Sin or somebody of

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Speaker 1: that quality or one of the current crop of stars

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Speaker 1: to sign on to do that this thing could really

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Speaker 1: it could really blow up. I'll give you three letters

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Speaker 1: that will tell you how this league is going to

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Speaker 1: go c b S. When you sign on with CBS

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Speaker 1: and they broadcast your games, you are legitimate. CBS isn't

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Speaker 1: isn't going to broadcast you know, um Australian rules football

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Speaker 1: like ESPN did in its infancy. When you get on CBS,

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Speaker 1: you aren't legitimate. And they're on a schedule and they're

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Speaker 1: gonna play every week for through September. I think, right,

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Speaker 1: I saw the schedule, and that's that legitimizes you and says, Okay,

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Speaker 1: you know what I'm flicking through. It's on CBS. I'm

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Speaker 1: gonna pay attention. Yeah, yeah, Well, and and just to

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Speaker 1: to pivot back briefly and then we'll move on to

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Speaker 1: other sports beyond my great Vegas adventure. But you know,

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Speaker 1: it's also very clear and and and as I said,

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Speaker 1: I was obviously down the rabbit hole with the UFC

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Speaker 1: and and consuming all things UFC. But one of the

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Speaker 1: things that I certainly noted was if you, if you're

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Speaker 1: any sort of sports fan, almost inevitably, I think inevitably,

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Speaker 1: you were going to be looking at what's happening on ESPN.

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Speaker 1: You could not watch ESPN, click on anything related to

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Speaker 1: ESPN and not know that there was a big UFC fight.

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Speaker 1: That's because ESPN is now the rights holder for for UFC.

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Speaker 1: That has always been the goal. It was clear in

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Speaker 1: talking to to Dana and others about the the hopes

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Speaker 1: and dreams of the UFC all along and being on

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Speaker 1: ESPN to take your exact point, Lynch e On on

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Speaker 1: Big Three really legitimizes and widens UFC's reach and in

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Speaker 1: a meaningful way. Now, to watch the to watch the

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Speaker 1: main card, those last five fights, which which culminated obviously

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Speaker 1: in poorer McGregor you you had to do the pay

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Speaker 1: per view, which was um but everything leading up to that,

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Speaker 1: and let me tell you, especially in ESPN Plus, there

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Speaker 1: is an endless array of UFC content. I mean you

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Speaker 1: you cannot You could spend days and days watching all

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Speaker 1: that and so flipping that around fascinating to think about it.

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Speaker 1: From the ESPN perspective, ESPN Plus has been like, yeah, okay,

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Speaker 1: it's going okay, we're trying to figure it out. UFC

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Speaker 1: has been jet fuel for that. So there's there's a

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Speaker 1: lot of a lot of interesting business storylines, uh here

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Speaker 1: for sure. Meanwhile, let's shift briefly before we wrapped to

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Speaker 1: to the other Center of Sports, Lynchy, London, obviously with

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Speaker 1: the Euro Finals at Wembley, but you know, let's not

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Speaker 1: sleep on Wimbledon. Joke of which is now you know

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Speaker 1: in the panther. I mean, he was in the pantheon before,

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Speaker 1: but now he's legitimately, you know, tied with his fellows

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Speaker 1: uh Nadal and Federer for most Grand Slams and is

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Speaker 1: it will be going here in New York for a

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Speaker 1: calendar Slam. And listen, I read this this morning. He

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Speaker 1: may not be the most likable guy too many, but

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Speaker 1: you have to respect what he's done. And he just

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Speaker 1: picked that bracket apart. And he's a guy that comes

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Speaker 1: roaring back. He is, you know, he's like a snake.

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Speaker 1: You gotta cut his head off in those first two

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Speaker 1: sets or other. He is not going away. And he

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Speaker 1: came roaring back after losing the first set. And now

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Speaker 1: he's got twenty Grand slams. And this is gonna be high,

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Speaker 1: high drama because the last man to win a Grand

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Speaker 1: Slam in the calendar year was Rod Labor back in

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Speaker 1: nineteen sixty nine. So I mean, everything Djokovic does in

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Speaker 1: this US Open coming up in the fall is going

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Speaker 1: to be magnified a hundred times fold. Yeah, Yeah, it

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Speaker 1: was a really it was really interesting to to watch,

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Speaker 1: you know, Wimbledon from afar and obviously I was on

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Speaker 1: on West Coast time. I was watching it very early,

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Speaker 1: um in the morning and watching it, watching it all

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Speaker 1: play out, and uh, but still captured a huge amount

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Speaker 1: of attention. And as you say, you know, if you're

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Speaker 1: if you're thinking about the US Open from a business perspective,

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Speaker 1: it is you know, that's a good story that it's

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Speaker 1: it's a rich storyline, as it were, if you're going

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Speaker 1: to have have some history potentially being made there, both

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Speaker 1: in terms of the sheer volume of Grand slams one,

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Speaker 1: you know, holding that record on his own, but then

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Speaker 1: a historic I mean, it's amazing you have to go

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Speaker 1: back to labor to get that. But yeah, and it's

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Speaker 1: in New York. It's in New York. You know, it's

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Speaker 1: not over in Melbourne. It's in New York, right, Yeah, exactly,

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Speaker 1: So a lot of a lot of excitement. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I'm I personally can't wait to get out to two

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Speaker 1: Flushing Meadows for that. And it's a it's we've talked

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Speaker 1: about it on the show before. It's the Quintessential UH

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Speaker 1: Sports event in New York City. Alright, bar any final

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Speaker 1: thoughts from you. I I do like it because Djokovic

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Speaker 1: he he did at the post match interview and he

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Speaker 1: paid tribute to as he put it, and Roger and

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Speaker 1: and I think yes, and you guys said it earlier.

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Speaker 1: It's like, Okay, he can he can be mcgrufford times.

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Speaker 1: But you look at it and you see him, It's like, man,

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Speaker 1: you are awesome. You can play this game big time

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Speaker 1: and and to match twenty on with the of all

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Speaker 1: the the opens. I mean, my goodness, that that the

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Speaker 1: Grand Slams, that that that's doing something. This is the

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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Business of Sports podcast Michael Barr. You can follow

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Speaker 1: me on Twitter and Big Bar Sports, and I'm Mike

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Speaker 1: Lynch still wondering if what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

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Speaker 1: He can follow me at Lynchy w CVB Jason and

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Speaker 1: I'm Jason Kelly at Jason Kelly News. I wish I

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Speaker 1: had more salacious stories from Vegas, but it just shows

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Speaker 1: how much of a nerd I am. We're here each

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

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Speaker 1: money and sports in Vegas and beyond. I don't know Lynchi.

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Speaker 1: I hear the rumor about a teddy Bear and put

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Speaker 1: anything You're listening to Bloomberg Business of Sports on Bloomberg

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Speaker 1: Radio around the world, and online wherever you get your

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Speaker 1: contact