WEBVTT - Businessweek Extra - Tilman Fertitta 0:00:02.520 --> 0:00:06.680 This is Bloomberg Business Week from Bloomberg Radio. I'm Jason Kelly. 0:00:06.720 --> 0:00:09.840 Welcome to the Bloomberg Business Week Extra. It's a podcast 0:00:09.840 --> 0:00:12.200 where we bring you an in depth interview you won't 0:00:12.280 --> 0:00:16.680 hear anywhere else. This time around talking to Tillman for Tita. 0:00:16.800 --> 0:00:18.880 He's the owner of the Rockets, he's the chairman of 0:00:19.040 --> 0:00:22.200 Landry's owner of a bunch of restaurants across the country. 0:00:22.480 --> 0:00:24.800 And he's got a new book. It's called Shut Up 0:00:24.960 --> 0:00:27.840 and Listen. Check it out. So Tellman, great to have 0:00:27.960 --> 0:00:30.800 you here. What inspires you to write a book? And 0:00:30.920 --> 0:00:34.720 kiddidly a book? This pointed the title alone, shut Up 0:00:34.720 --> 0:00:38.600 and Listen with the exclamation point. What inspired this? You know, 0:00:38.600 --> 0:00:43.320 it's really interesting. Harper Collins came to me about eighteen 0:00:43.360 --> 0:00:46.280 months ago and said, hey, Teman, we've watched your television show. 0:00:46.400 --> 0:00:48.839 We if we see you on all these business shows 0:00:49.000 --> 0:00:51.519 and and uh and al, we've seen some stuff with 0:00:51.560 --> 0:00:53.720 the Houston Rockets. We read all these articles and you 0:00:53.760 --> 0:00:56.000 have all these Tillman is ums and all these one 0:00:56.080 --> 0:00:59.520 liners about how you've been very fortunate and been successful 0:00:59.600 --> 0:01:03.360 and the tools that you used to be successful. Have 0:01:03.440 --> 0:01:05.399 you thought about writing a book, and I said, you know, 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:08.039 people come to me all the time about writing a 0:01:08.080 --> 0:01:10.040 life story, and I've always said, I gotta wait till 0:01:10.080 --> 0:01:11.800 I get a little older, because I really want to 0:01:11.800 --> 0:01:14.120 go after some people, but I'm still out there doing deals. 0:01:14.319 --> 0:01:16.200 They said, that is not what we want. We want 0:01:16.200 --> 0:01:20.640 a book totally focused in a silo of of what 0:01:20.720 --> 0:01:23.440 do you do day to day? What separates you from 0:01:23.480 --> 0:01:28.360 everybody else in your big hospitality entertainment empire. And so 0:01:28.760 --> 0:01:31.640 that's what happened. They you know, did the outline and 0:01:31.680 --> 0:01:33.560 we had a lot of fun with it. Right, And 0:01:33.600 --> 0:01:35.760 so what was the biggest surprise to you in writing 0:01:35.760 --> 0:01:38.120 the book? Because there is a little there's some introspection 0:01:38.200 --> 0:01:42.119 in here. There's you know, some some reflection in terms 0:01:42.200 --> 0:01:45.400 of understanding what what makes yourself tick? I mean a 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:47.240 book is sort of a form of therapy and in 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:49.840 some ways of realizing sort of who you are. What 0:01:49.840 --> 0:01:53.680 what was surprising to you? What? What? What What? What? What 0:01:53.760 --> 0:01:58.440 got me was when I started sitting down and looking 0:01:58.480 --> 0:02:01.520 at old notes and had, uh, you know, round tables 0:02:01.520 --> 0:02:04.240 with my employees have been with me twenty five and 0:02:04.320 --> 0:02:07.760 thirty years. Uh, the stuff that I had even forgotten 0:02:07.800 --> 0:02:10.720 that I said, gosh, this is a great lesson again 0:02:10.800 --> 0:02:13.480 even for me, but but also the time that we 0:02:13.600 --> 0:02:17.639 put into it. Uh, even even HarperCollins said, the amount 0:02:17.680 --> 0:02:20.040 of time that you've gone through this book and then 0:02:20.080 --> 0:02:23.040 after it was written, the editing and the editing and 0:02:23.080 --> 0:02:25.440 the editing that I would take my team and we 0:02:25.600 --> 0:02:27.600 just go through the book and if I said, if 0:02:27.600 --> 0:02:30.040 you ever get to a paragraph that you feel like 0:02:30.200 --> 0:02:33.160 is dragging, we're gonna rewrite that paragraph or we're gonna 0:02:33.160 --> 0:02:36.400 take it out because I want this book bang bang bang. 0:02:36.480 --> 0:02:39.920 That every word means something in this book. Well, and 0:02:39.960 --> 0:02:41.359 I'm glad you brought that up, because one of the 0:02:41.400 --> 0:02:43.520 things that really jumps out to me as I read 0:02:43.560 --> 0:02:49.600 it is your incredible attention, I might even say obsession 0:02:49.639 --> 0:02:54.240 with detail. You tell some stories about I mean, really 0:02:54.400 --> 0:02:58.000 getting into it. You know, there's one anecdote about you know, 0:02:58.160 --> 0:03:02.840 going into a kitchen and you're you realize that the 0:03:02.919 --> 0:03:05.360 bus boy has been throwing the silverware, and so like 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:07.760 you dump it out and you were going piece by 0:03:07.840 --> 0:03:11.680 piece through the garbage to pick out the silverware. Is 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:13.960 that just a natural instinct that you have to be 0:03:14.040 --> 0:03:16.520 that detail oriented or is it something you learned it's 0:03:16.639 --> 0:03:20.360 believing or not. It's it's just the way I am. 0:03:20.520 --> 0:03:23.519 And and I went to a one of my best 0:03:23.560 --> 0:03:26.280 friend's house at the CEO of Jeffreys here in New York, 0:03:26.520 --> 0:03:28.880 Rich Handler, and he was having a party for all 0:03:29.080 --> 0:03:31.799 these next leaders on Wall Street. So they weren't just 0:03:31.840 --> 0:03:34.240 from his company, but from a lot. And there I 0:03:34.320 --> 0:03:38.480 walk in and the bartender sitting there, and I ordered, uh, 0:03:38.720 --> 0:03:42.000 Tito's and soda and two lines dash of cranberry, and 0:03:42.080 --> 0:03:45.320 he goes, I'm sorry, so we're out of lime. Okay, 0:03:45.400 --> 0:03:48.880 let me have a little cranberry. I'm sorry the cranberries 0:03:48.880 --> 0:03:51.160 at the other bar out there. And so I had 0:03:51.200 --> 0:03:53.160 to give him a little lesson in service on the 0:03:53.240 --> 0:03:56.280 side and and uh kind of gave him more hard 0:03:56.320 --> 0:03:58.119 time when I talked about everybody. But then I wrote 0:03:58.160 --> 0:04:00.440 him a nice book. No, give him a side book. 0:04:00.480 --> 0:04:03.000 But it's just I can't help but train people and 0:04:03.120 --> 0:04:05.280 just say this is what you're doing today. I don't 0:04:05.280 --> 0:04:07.200 care that you're studying to be an actor, but take 0:04:07.240 --> 0:04:10.360 pride and respect and do your job good okay, and 0:04:10.360 --> 0:04:13.280 stop telling the damn customer no okay. And that's a 0:04:13.320 --> 0:04:15.360 big focus in my book. I'm glad you said that, 0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:17.400 because that was something that really jumped out at me. 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:21.280 Especially it seems very twenty nineteen. When all of us 0:04:21.320 --> 0:04:24.560 are looking for reasons to say no, you essentially say, 0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:27.520 start with yes and then figure it out. I'm paraphrasing, 0:04:27.640 --> 0:04:30.160 but tell me a little bit about that. It's just 0:04:30.480 --> 0:04:32.839 no matter who you talk to or who you ask 0:04:32.960 --> 0:04:35.839 or whatever. It just seems like if you just tell 0:04:35.920 --> 0:04:38.840 somebody know, they just move on. And I try to 0:04:38.880 --> 0:04:43.080 train all of my people take no out of your vocabulary. 0:04:43.120 --> 0:04:45.760 You don't have to say yes, okay, but you don't 0:04:45.800 --> 0:04:48.760 have to say no. And I'm tired of using you know, 0:04:48.839 --> 0:04:51.640 this one example, but I think it really explains it 0:04:51.680 --> 0:04:55.040 better than anything else. It's eleven o two in the morning, 0:04:55.480 --> 0:04:57.320 you just got off of a business call, you're on 0:04:57.360 --> 0:04:59.719 a road trip, and you call downstairs to order some 0:04:59.760 --> 0:05:03.120 brea was from the hotel. I'm sorry, sir, we don't 0:05:03.120 --> 0:05:06.560 serve breakfast anymore. And you go, okay, that's fine, I understand. 0:05:06.600 --> 0:05:08.760 I don't want to eggs ben a dickt or a 0:05:08.760 --> 0:05:12.000 Spanish Omelet just throw a couple of eggs into a 0:05:12.040 --> 0:05:15.320 skillet and and and scramble them real quick and send 0:05:15.360 --> 0:05:17.440 them up to me. I'm sorry, sir, we don't serve 0:05:17.440 --> 0:05:19.599 breakfast anymore. It's eleven o two. We quit that at 0:05:19.600 --> 0:05:22.520 eleven o'clock. But if I order a hamburger, you're gonna 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:24.760 take that hamburger, Patty and throw it into the skill 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:26.680 at the eggs. I promise you were sitting right there 0:05:26.680 --> 0:05:29.880 in the refrigerator too. It's so easy to say no? 0:05:30.080 --> 0:05:33.599 Why say yes? What happened to hospitality? And we're all 0:05:33.600 --> 0:05:35.800 in the hospitality business no matter if I'm in here 0:05:35.839 --> 0:05:37.840 with you when you're taking care of me because I'm 0:05:37.880 --> 0:05:40.560 your guest, or if you're a doctor, a lawyer or 0:05:40.640 --> 0:05:44.520 anything you do, we're all in the hospitality and service business. 0:05:45.040 --> 0:05:48.560 Why have we lost that? I don't know. And it's 0:05:48.720 --> 0:05:51.520 it's like it's just the time and age that we're 0:05:51.520 --> 0:05:56.000 in and everybody just wants to say no, and and uh, 0:05:56.080 --> 0:05:58.760 it's really disappointing. So I try to beat it in 0:05:58.880 --> 0:06:01.600 my company that you do not tell a customer no. 0:06:01.839 --> 0:06:04.400 You don't have to say yes, but you don't say no. 0:06:04.760 --> 0:06:07.040 You just give them a roadmap to get wherever they 0:06:07.080 --> 0:06:09.880 need to get somehow, all right, So with that incredible 0:06:09.960 --> 0:06:12.919 attention to detail, I know, you know the numbers of 0:06:12.960 --> 0:06:15.599 your business better than anyone. You point that out in 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:18.080 your book that that's a key tenant for you as 0:06:18.120 --> 0:06:23.240 knowing the numbers given that tell us about the consumer 0:06:23.360 --> 0:06:26.640 right now, because I feel like we have a lot 0:06:26.680 --> 0:06:28.640 of evidence that the consumer is feeling pretty good. But 0:06:28.680 --> 0:06:31.320 at the same time, business leaders, you talk to them 0:06:31.360 --> 0:06:35.160 as well, they're a little cautious. Help me understand that 0:06:35.320 --> 0:06:39.760 dichotomy or that disconnect. Well, you have to know your numbers. 0:06:39.760 --> 0:06:42.160 And I can talk to anybody about their business. They 0:06:42.160 --> 0:06:44.320 can walk up to me and say, oh, I'm an entrepreneur, 0:06:44.560 --> 0:06:49.200 I have this company, and I'm truly sixty to ninety seconds, 0:06:49.240 --> 0:06:50.679 I can tell you if they know what they're talking 0:06:50.720 --> 0:06:53.919 about and as their business going to be successful because 0:06:53.960 --> 0:06:55.760 if they know their numbers are not. I mean, you 0:06:55.800 --> 0:06:57.560 can just wrap it far. And I loved it. I 0:06:57.640 --> 0:07:00.400 love doing it on my on my television and show 0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:04.560 Billion Dollar Buyer. And and the world is a little 0:07:04.600 --> 0:07:08.400 soft right now. But you've got to remember that history 0:07:08.440 --> 0:07:11.480 repeats itself. That's the one thing we know. And every 0:07:11.520 --> 0:07:14.880 five to six years there's always a little bleep and 0:07:14.880 --> 0:07:17.960 and we've gone now ten years that we have our 0:07:18.000 --> 0:07:21.000 economy has just been strong as it can be. But 0:07:21.080 --> 0:07:24.560 the problem is you can only keep growing so fast 0:07:24.720 --> 0:07:28.520 every year, and then it has to label off, level 0:07:28.560 --> 0:07:31.680 off because everybody has already bought. All the cars are 0:07:31.680 --> 0:07:34.000 gonna buy, all the TVs are gonna buy, all the 0:07:34.080 --> 0:07:37.840 books are gonna buy sometimes and and uh, it's just 0:07:38.040 --> 0:07:40.480 leveling off right now. That that doesn't mean it's got 0:07:40.480 --> 0:07:42.880 to go down and you and and are you gonna 0:07:42.920 --> 0:07:45.960 have the growth? Maybe not, but as long as you 0:07:46.000 --> 0:07:50.280 don't go negative, okay, it'll tremendously help us. But it's 0:07:50.280 --> 0:07:53.320 definitely soft out there because I see the consumer because 0:07:53.320 --> 0:07:56.360 I have the highest in and mast Rows and Martins, 0:07:56.680 --> 0:07:59.680 and then I own Bubba Gumps and Rainforest and and 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:03.360 wards like that, and then with casinos everywhere from Vegas 0:08:03.360 --> 0:08:06.720 to Atlantic City to in between outside of Houston. So 0:08:06.760 --> 0:08:09.520 I have a really good feel for the consumer because 0:08:09.560 --> 0:08:12.080 I do over a hundred million customers a year out 0:08:12.080 --> 0:08:15.360 of my business, right and and so where do you 0:08:15.440 --> 0:08:19.280 see pockets of of worry among those consumers? Are people 0:08:19.320 --> 0:08:22.320 starting to sort of scale back on the high end 0:08:22.400 --> 0:08:24.360 or does that feel good? Or people starting to scale 0:08:24.360 --> 0:08:27.040 back in the middle where or if if there is 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:30.440 that sort of softening. As you say, where is it. 0:08:30.440 --> 0:08:32.920 It's a little bit everywhere. You see a little bit 0:08:32.960 --> 0:08:35.400 at the high end and a little bit and the 0:08:35.440 --> 0:08:38.960 consumer going to certain suburban stores where I see that 0:08:39.000 --> 0:08:42.760 with more of my salt grasses and and and concepts 0:08:42.760 --> 0:08:46.120 like that. And it's not bad, don't get me wrong, okay, 0:08:46.160 --> 0:08:49.000 but you just you're not getting that one to two 0:08:49.040 --> 0:08:53.319 percent three percent positive same store sales every year, which 0:08:53.400 --> 0:08:55.880 the business people out there all knows a huge measurement 0:08:56.040 --> 0:08:59.440 and in any consumer business. And so as you think 0:08:59.440 --> 0:09:03.040 about the new concepts that that you have launched, which 0:09:03.080 --> 0:09:05.960 are the ones that have surprised you on the upside 0:09:06.080 --> 0:09:11.160 or or the downside? Uh, it's kind of unbelievable right 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:14.439 now that people really love the fast casual and then 0:09:14.480 --> 0:09:17.400 they love the super high end. Uh. You know, right 0:09:17.400 --> 0:09:21.480 here in New York Catch, you know, the seafood restaurant 0:09:21.480 --> 0:09:26.960 we're just opened to Catch Stay. The Mastro's still heavy, heavy, busy, busy, 0:09:27.679 --> 0:09:30.280 Martin's busy, busy. But then I still see you know, 0:09:30.960 --> 0:09:33.600 Bubba Gump on Times Squared, you know, just killing it 0:09:33.600 --> 0:09:36.960 in Dose Caminos and and Bill's Burgers. You know how 0:09:37.000 --> 0:09:39.240 in the world do you do so much business selling burgers? 0:09:39.240 --> 0:09:42.840 But there's really somebody uh to eat everything out there, 0:09:42.920 --> 0:09:45.319 believe it or not? Right right, Well, speaking of what 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:47.640 you you mentioned burgers, which gives me a good opening, 0:09:47.679 --> 0:09:49.240 one of the things I really wanted to ask you 0:09:49.240 --> 0:09:52.240 about is this whole sort of fox meat craze, because 0:09:52.280 --> 0:09:55.920 you understand the consumer. It feels like this has just 0:09:56.120 --> 0:09:58.840 come on so strong. What does that tell us about 0:09:59.440 --> 0:10:04.199 consum Where is desire either for something healthy, something different? 0:10:04.240 --> 0:10:06.320 How do you read that sort of pop with a 0:10:06.480 --> 0:10:09.240 beyond meat on the stock market and what seems to 0:10:09.240 --> 0:10:11.920 be a lot of excitement if nothing else, well, I 0:10:11.920 --> 0:10:14.800 think is all companies. I think Wall Street also starting 0:10:14.800 --> 0:10:17.200 to realize, is that we don't just want revenue like 0:10:17.280 --> 0:10:20.040 the tech companies. And even the tech companies now how 0:10:20.080 --> 0:10:23.800 they've kind of thrown up certain ones and and uh 0:10:24.040 --> 0:10:28.760 but but but investors want earnings now. It's not You're 0:10:28.760 --> 0:10:31.000 just not gonna do it on hype of revenue. You're 0:10:31.000 --> 0:10:35.320 gonna have to make money. And and and we're a 0:10:35.360 --> 0:10:38.240 fast change in society. And I preach as much as 0:10:38.240 --> 0:10:41.880 anybody change change, Think change, which I talked about in 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:44.400 my book. It's one of my tumin is ms. But 0:10:44.480 --> 0:10:48.080 at the same time, when you analyze everybody, oh my god, 0:10:48.120 --> 0:10:50.800 it's it's I'm gonna eat a beyond meat burger because 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:55.080 because it's it's healthier. Well maybe it is healthier in 0:10:55.120 --> 0:10:57.680 one way, but people don't even look to see that 0:10:58.320 --> 0:11:02.360 Your average rotein fat burger is I think two thirty 0:11:02.440 --> 0:11:05.520 calories and beyond meat burgers two undred and seventy calories. 0:11:05.880 --> 0:11:10.280 And it's it's almost like, through through marketing and media 0:11:10.520 --> 0:11:14.000 and just talking about it, that people really don't know. 0:11:14.720 --> 0:11:16.640 And and now but some people who don't want to 0:11:16.679 --> 0:11:19.040 eat meat, well now you've got this alternative. But that 0:11:19.080 --> 0:11:23.000 doesn't mean it's necessarily healthier. It's just maybe because that's 0:11:23.520 --> 0:11:26.240 that you don't want to eat meat, okay, but it's 0:11:26.280 --> 0:11:29.520 not proven necessarily that it's healthier. So look around the 0:11:29.559 --> 0:11:33.000 corner in terms of new concepts. What are people wanting 0:11:33.080 --> 0:11:39.679 more of that's not out there from a food perspective. Choices, 0:11:39.840 --> 0:11:43.640 just lots of choices like that. You know that there 0:11:44.080 --> 0:11:46.040 there's a lot of people that say people aren't gonna 0:11:46.080 --> 0:11:48.800 eat meat in three hundred years. I find that hard 0:11:48.840 --> 0:11:52.360 to believe. Uh, wire, steak, We're still a steak and 0:11:52.520 --> 0:11:56.319 potatoes world. Okay, I sell so many different steaks that 0:11:56.440 --> 0:12:00.199 so many different concepts, and as much as people love 0:12:00.280 --> 0:12:03.840 seafood and and other items, and and there's so many 0:12:03.880 --> 0:12:07.480 people now eating vegan or whatever, but they're just still 0:12:07.520 --> 0:12:10.480 seems as long as you have people, you're gonna have 0:12:10.640 --> 0:12:14.200 each type of people and group of people liking different 0:12:14.200 --> 0:12:18.320 types of food. Uh. You know, you mentioned your casino business, 0:12:18.360 --> 0:12:20.000 and I do wonder it feels like we've had a 0:12:20.080 --> 0:12:22.000 lot of m and A activity or potential m and 0:12:22.040 --> 0:12:25.079 a activity out in the sort of real estate, hotel 0:12:25.280 --> 0:12:27.880 and even the casino world. Some rumors about some things 0:12:27.920 --> 0:12:30.680 going on out in Vegas. What do you see in 0:12:30.800 --> 0:12:34.920 terms of the movement in that part of the industry 0:12:35.520 --> 0:12:38.400 I think is all industries. There continues to be lots 0:12:38.400 --> 0:12:42.400 of mergers and acquisitions and some companies getting bigger, some 0:12:42.520 --> 0:12:46.240 getting smaller. Uh, the the op Co, prop Co, and 0:12:46.320 --> 0:12:47.800 you know, I don't want to get too far over 0:12:48.040 --> 0:12:51.680 you know the viewers head here, but but you know 0:12:51.679 --> 0:12:56.120 where people monetize their real estate and and uh, you know, 0:12:56.440 --> 0:12:59.880 sometimes I'm really far that sometimes I'm against it, but 0:13:00.480 --> 0:13:02.719 it's kind of changed the world because it's raised the 0:13:02.840 --> 0:13:05.000 multiples of what you have to pay right So what 0:13:05.000 --> 0:13:08.720 are you looking to buy right now? Is that restaurant concepts? 0:13:08.800 --> 0:13:11.520 Is that other things in hospitality? You've got a blank 0:13:11.600 --> 0:13:14.320 check company. I believe that that you launch what what 0:13:14.360 --> 0:13:16.679 are you seeing out there in terms of potential acquisition? 0:13:16.920 --> 0:13:19.319 It's kind of funny and and and I talked about 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:22.800 this in the book. Is I've always used when things 0:13:22.880 --> 0:13:27.640 start slowing down as an opportunistic time. And even right now, 0:13:29.280 --> 0:13:33.839 I just bought a very successful restaurant company out of bankruptcy. 0:13:35.040 --> 0:13:39.040 I'm gonna probably announce another major restaurant acquisition that I've 0:13:39.080 --> 0:13:41.199 been working on all week, even though I'm on this 0:13:41.360 --> 0:13:44.800 book road show. So I'm seeing the opportunity out there. 0:13:45.200 --> 0:13:47.520 And and it has nothing to do with the success 0:13:47.559 --> 0:13:51.600 of the individual restaurants. The individual restaurants are are are 0:13:51.800 --> 0:13:56.439 very successful. It's just the fact that once again, uh, 0:13:56.679 --> 0:14:00.280 the old Peter principal poor management has done a very 0:14:00.280 --> 0:14:03.280 poor job and how they set up the capital structure 0:14:03.320 --> 0:14:06.520 of these restaurants, or they just did certain major mistakes 0:14:06.559 --> 0:14:10.040 at the carpet level. So therefore it's a very opportunistic 0:14:10.080 --> 0:14:12.400 time for me because that's how I've always grown my 0:14:12.520 --> 0:14:16.400 network is in bad times. That's why you build liquidity 0:14:16.440 --> 0:14:19.520 and you build your balance sheet and good times and 0:14:19.560 --> 0:14:21.640 you don't have to do acquisitions in your good times. 0:14:22.160 --> 0:14:24.520 You eat the week and the bad times well. And 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:26.600 you point out early in the book, you point out 0:14:26.640 --> 0:14:28.760 the importance of working capital and sort of having that 0:14:28.840 --> 0:14:32.040 money available not just to run your business, but but 0:14:32.160 --> 0:14:34.800 also too, as you say, take advantage of to pay 0:14:34.840 --> 0:14:37.920 a huge multiple when everybody's trying to do it. Why 0:14:37.960 --> 0:14:41.520 not wait until there's a dip in the economy, which 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:45.080 always happens, and you get a lot more for your money. 0:14:45.280 --> 0:14:49.120 All right, So, speaking of buying things, you bought a 0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:53.440 basketball team not too long ago in your hometown. What's 0:14:53.480 --> 0:14:56.440 that been? Like? What's surprised you? I keep asking about 0:14:56.440 --> 0:14:59.600 the surprises, but what surprised you about being a team owner? 0:15:00.600 --> 0:15:05.400 You know, sports is religion and and especially in Texas, 0:15:05.480 --> 0:15:09.800 especially in Texas, but really everywhere. And even though you know, 0:15:09.840 --> 0:15:12.200 like I said, I've I've been doing TV and thanks 0:15:12.240 --> 0:15:16.960 for twenty five years. Okay, anything that you say, you 0:15:17.600 --> 0:15:19.480 all of a sudden you could be a headline on 0:15:19.840 --> 0:15:23.600 ESPN and and and it's you know, well, how was 0:15:23.720 --> 0:15:27.440 James and Chris Paul's relationship everything. You've got to be 0:15:27.480 --> 0:15:31.840 exactly careful are It's not their Howard Russell Westbrook and 0:15:31.920 --> 0:15:36.160 James Harden' gonna play together now? So so uh, sports 0:15:36.200 --> 0:15:40.360 is religion religion, You better choose your words right right. Uh? 0:15:40.400 --> 0:15:44.480 And so as you've gotten religion around the Rockets and 0:15:44.560 --> 0:15:47.720 the NBA, you seem to be in the midst of what, 0:15:47.880 --> 0:15:52.000 by all accounts, is one of the most interesting leagues. 0:15:52.200 --> 0:15:53.840 It's funny. I was talking to my I have two 0:15:53.840 --> 0:15:55.760 teenage sons. I was talking to them last night, told 0:15:55.800 --> 0:15:57.600 him I was going to see you today, and my 0:15:57.640 --> 0:16:00.840 sixteen year old said, you gotta ask him about the 0:16:00.880 --> 0:16:06.200 modern NBA player, social media, social consciousness. As an owner, 0:16:07.160 --> 0:16:11.040 how do you sort of embrace that and give them 0:16:11.080 --> 0:16:14.600 the room to be the brands that they are, but 0:16:14.680 --> 0:16:17.600 also run a successful team. You know, that's really such 0:16:17.640 --> 0:16:21.600 a such a Uh. Your sixty year is very smart 0:16:22.320 --> 0:16:25.480 because the NBA is unlike the other leagues that you 0:16:25.600 --> 0:16:28.560 have these players and and I don't know this for 0:16:28.600 --> 0:16:30.880 a fact, but I think I'm right. I bet you 0:16:30.920 --> 0:16:35.080 if you look at your top fifty most followed athletes 0:16:35.240 --> 0:16:38.840 in the United States, because there's some in in Uh, 0:16:38.880 --> 0:16:41.360 in Europe the soccer players that have huge followers. But 0:16:41.400 --> 0:16:45.800 in the United States, of your four major leagues football, basketball, Baseball, 0:16:45.920 --> 0:16:50.480 and in the NHL, I bet you forty five of 0:16:50.560 --> 0:16:54.720 the top fifty or NBA players that they have built 0:16:55.200 --> 0:16:57.960 this this where they're so big. And part of it 0:16:58.000 --> 0:17:00.600 is there's only five guys out there start and they're 0:17:00.640 --> 0:17:03.200 not wearing a helmet, they're not wearing a hat. The 0:17:03.240 --> 0:17:05.520 fans sits right there next to them. You get to 0:17:05.560 --> 0:17:09.880 know their personality. Uh. Where these football players have even 0:17:09.920 --> 0:17:12.840 been around for fifteen and eighteen years in the league, 0:17:12.880 --> 0:17:16.239 these quarterbacks, you just never get to know them like 0:17:16.320 --> 0:17:19.560 you do a basketball player. And and the NBA has 0:17:19.600 --> 0:17:21.879 done such a great job and I just came from 0:17:21.920 --> 0:17:24.760 an NBA owners meeting just a few minutes ago, is 0:17:24.960 --> 0:17:29.480 of propping up our players. Your players are superstars and 0:17:29.480 --> 0:17:32.600 and and they do have say so on these teams 0:17:32.680 --> 0:17:36.600 because I've got a guy like James Harden. Okay, I'm 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:39.800 not gonna bring in a Chris Paul or a Russell 0:17:39.840 --> 0:17:43.320 Westbrook with without sitting down with James Harden and say, James, 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:47.280 can you make it work with this guy? Okay? You 0:17:47.480 --> 0:17:50.359 just gotta have it because there's only five of you, okay, 0:17:50.560 --> 0:17:53.040 and you're the guys that are gonna make it happen. 0:17:53.080 --> 0:17:56.120 And so I think part of it is because they're 0:17:56.160 --> 0:17:58.119 so close to the fans, and that's why they have 0:17:58.200 --> 0:18:02.040 the huge social media following. They become such superstars and 0:18:02.080 --> 0:18:04.560 they make so much money that the top ones in 0:18:04.600 --> 0:18:06.880 our league, you know, make forty million. I got two 0:18:06.920 --> 0:18:10.080 of them making forty million. And then they have these 0:18:10.200 --> 0:18:13.920 huge shoe contracts from Nike and Adida's and under Armour 0:18:14.000 --> 0:18:18.119 and everybody else, and and uh, it's it's it's uh, 0:18:18.440 --> 0:18:22.320 it's it's interesting. But they're all great guys and and 0:18:22.440 --> 0:18:24.919 uh it's a great thrill to own a team in 0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:29.200 your hometown. Very few owners even get to experience that, right, Right, 0:18:29.359 --> 0:18:31.440 How's it changed sort of your day to day life 0:18:31.480 --> 0:18:34.480 moving around Houston? You have people, I mean, you're well 0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:38.159 known already and a restaurant tour and an entrepreneur, but 0:18:38.200 --> 0:18:40.560 when you own the team, that's a little bit of 0:18:40.560 --> 0:18:42.640 a different thing. And the Rockets are big, you know, 0:18:42.880 --> 0:18:46.320 as they are. But from I'm probably the one owner 0:18:46.359 --> 0:18:50.080 that when they bought their team in their hometown, I mean, 0:18:50.119 --> 0:18:51.840 it was like they would run polls, who do we 0:18:51.880 --> 0:18:55.440 want to buy the Rockets? Well, you know seventy, said 0:18:55.480 --> 0:18:58.959 Tillman Fatita. Just because I happened to have been around 0:18:59.040 --> 0:19:01.800 so long in my in town and was so so 0:19:01.880 --> 0:19:06.000 well known, Uh, did it take it uh to another level? 0:19:06.040 --> 0:19:09.400 Probably so, and everybody is so nice all the time. 0:19:09.440 --> 0:19:12.680 But also, just one sixty and fifty three games. I'm 0:19:12.760 --> 0:19:14.600 gonna have to be hiding if I only ever win 0:19:14.720 --> 0:19:17.520 thirty three games exactly. What's the biggest thing you've learned 0:19:17.520 --> 0:19:19.680 from owning a team that you apply back to your 0:19:20.080 --> 0:19:22.600 day to day business. Well, I probably it's more of 0:19:22.640 --> 0:19:25.399 what I apply to to the other in the NBA 0:19:25.520 --> 0:19:28.520 team is is that you still pay attention to the detail. 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:31.440 There are no spare customers. Uh. If you don't put 0:19:31.480 --> 0:19:34.080 a good product out there, there's too much entertainment dollar 0:19:34.119 --> 0:19:36.399 in the city of Houston, they're gonna go do something else. 0:19:36.800 --> 0:19:38.800 So I treat the same thing, whether it be one 0:19:38.840 --> 0:19:42.119 of my hotels, casinos, restaurant seats, or putting people at 0:19:42.119 --> 0:19:44.640 a Rocket game at the Tota Center. You better put 0:19:44.680 --> 0:19:46.920 butts in the seats and you better put a good product. 0:19:47.200 --> 0:19:49.000 It's kind of funny, but it's no different than the 0:19:49.000 --> 0:19:53.199 rest of my businesses. Instead of serving good food or 0:19:53.200 --> 0:19:55.440 giving them a nice room. You better have good players 0:19:55.480 --> 0:19:57.680 out there who produce and have a good team, or 0:19:57.840 --> 0:20:00.600 people are not gonna come. And you know, it's kind funny. 0:20:00.640 --> 0:20:04.040 I'm into the details. I was walking last year one 0:20:04.080 --> 0:20:06.160 time and they were having their pre meeting of all 0:20:06.200 --> 0:20:09.000 the red coats who helped customers or do whatever. And 0:20:09.040 --> 0:20:11.159 I stopped them for a minute and and and and 0:20:11.200 --> 0:20:13.440 talk to them because I love to teach and train, 0:20:13.560 --> 0:20:16.800 and just you know, reminded them that that people are lost, 0:20:16.840 --> 0:20:20.480 people don't understand, be patient and let people walk away 0:20:20.480 --> 0:20:24.560 from the Toyota Center and say, everybody is so nice there, okay, 0:20:24.640 --> 0:20:27.200 And you just have to remind everybody that that we're 0:20:27.680 --> 0:20:30.879 we're in the in the hospitality business, no matter if 0:20:30.880 --> 0:20:33.440 you're sitting at one of my tables, are sleeping. Are 0:20:33.480 --> 0:20:36.040 you in the Toyota Center right? Uh? You have been 0:20:36.160 --> 0:20:38.720 very opportunistic, as you say in your day to day 0:20:38.960 --> 0:20:43.160 hospitality businesses. Are you planning to be opportunistic as more 0:20:43.320 --> 0:20:47.320 sports franchises come up? For sound? Uh? What? I love 0:20:47.359 --> 0:20:51.800 to own more sports for sure? Yeah, Okay, I love sports. Uh. 0:20:51.880 --> 0:20:55.080 I think the NFL and MLB and NHL and the 0:20:55.240 --> 0:20:58.439 MLS are great products and and there's never been a 0:20:58.440 --> 0:21:01.160 sports team for self for US, So I think long 0:21:01.280 --> 0:21:04.040 term investments. I don't think there's anything any better. Right, 0:21:04.359 --> 0:21:07.320 So you could, you could expand. I would love to 0:21:07.359 --> 0:21:10.680 expand if the opportunity is there. Right before I let 0:21:10.680 --> 0:21:15.240 you go, Houston, Uh, your hometown is such an interesting 0:21:15.240 --> 0:21:18.000 sort of economic hotbed. In many ways, it's a much 0:21:18.000 --> 0:21:20.119