Speaker 1: I'm sitting here at the Bloomberg Sports Summit at the
Speaker 1: Bloomberg headquarters here in UH in Los Angeles, and I'm
Speaker 1: joined right now by Michael Eisner, a former CEO of Disney,
Speaker 1: who's UH also a owner of a football team now,
Speaker 1: the Portsmouth Football Club that you've purchased your investment group, UH.
Speaker 1: And I'm it's so interesting to me that you've got
Speaker 1: involved here with a soccer team and also soccer team
Speaker 1: and sort of not not in the top two leagues,
Speaker 1: but maybe the third league in in in UH in Europe,
Speaker 1: and I wonder what business opportunity you see there. Well,
Speaker 1: it was actually the fourth league when we were negotiating
Speaker 1: and ended up in the third league. I would rather
Speaker 1: which I did at ABC and a paramounted Disney, go
Speaker 1: into a situation where you can't fall off the floor
Speaker 1: and you build it up, rather than spending all that
Speaker 1: equity for the Premier League and then getting relegated and
Speaker 1: losing all your recording. So it's a big spread between
Speaker 1: what Manchester United is worth than what we paid for
Speaker 1: poor Smith, like three billion dollars spread that ain't nothing.
Speaker 1: So there's a lot of upside and it's a very
Speaker 1: famous team. It's the naval city. It's the only island
Speaker 1: city and and uh in England like Manhattan is island city.
Speaker 1: Um they have they won the f A Cup, They've
Speaker 1: been in the Premier League. They were owned by a
Speaker 1: arms dealer who went under, took them under. They were
Speaker 1: owned by a another strange character, and finally was brought
Speaker 1: by the fans four years ago. Three thousand fans put
Speaker 1: up a thousand pounds each and then sixteen others matched it,
Speaker 1: and I bought it from them the summer. And I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna be patient. I guess my questions. What's the
Speaker 1: business opportunity there, What's what's what's the model for this
Speaker 1: that that will help you make some money on this deal?
Speaker 1: The spread between Manchester United and Pointsmouth, So it's getting
Speaker 1: out up there. Yeah, I mean, I'm no interest in
Speaker 1: selling it every I've got three sons that are interested
Speaker 1: in it. I think investment outside the United States is
Speaker 1: a good idea. I think Brexit created a a discount
Speaker 1: to the dollar. I think the Premier League and even
Speaker 1: the Championship League with principally the Premier League is the
Speaker 1: best world league sports. Uh, maybe even bigger than in
Speaker 1: the NFL. It doesn't face the problems and some of
Speaker 1: the other leagues have. It is the world's sport. MSL
Speaker 1: in the US is becoming more and more entrenched. H
Speaker 1: Someday maybe the m MSL will will play the same
Speaker 1: season that the rest of the world plays. So it
Speaker 1: just seemed to me town of a no brainer. You know,
Speaker 1: you just talked about um Michael's Carol Masser back in
Speaker 1: the New York studio about you know, taking a team
Speaker 1: that has the potential to do so much more right
Speaker 1: rather than somebody that's you know, necessarily right at the top.
Speaker 1: Let me ask you about out Disney ESPN. ESPN has been,
Speaker 1: you know, the cream of cable properties. Um, but we
Speaker 1: know that subscribers have been declining. Is this a property
Speaker 1: that you think is worth holding onto for the longer
Speaker 1: term at this point or has it run its course? Well,
Speaker 1: it's not run its course. I mean when we bought
Speaker 1: Capital Cities ABC, it was the hidden asset. Not even
Speaker 1: really recognized it, but we did. I think it just
Speaker 1: has had a fantastic run. Um. Yes, it paid a
Speaker 1: lot of money for the franchises it has, and yes,
Speaker 1: there are some areas that are concerned, you know, the
Speaker 1: cord cutting and all that, But I have great faith
Speaker 1: in the management of ESPN, all of whom then when
Speaker 1: I was there, some of them I hired, like the
Speaker 1: head and Bob Iger at Disney, and they recognize there's
Speaker 1: a new world. But ESPN is still a great brand.
Speaker 1: I mean, when I went to Disney, everybody was saying
Speaker 1: it's going to be bought by United Technico, Large Genius
Speaker 1: is going to be but by MGM it's gonna be
Speaker 1: torn apart. Nobody cares about Disney, nobody hears about Family,
Speaker 1: nobody can internationally. It's really failing. And it didn't take
Speaker 1: too long to bring it back. Now ESPN is doesn't
Speaker 1: need to be brought back. Everybody knows what ESPN stands for.
Speaker 1: So if you can own the ESPN brand, which the
Speaker 1: Walt Disney Company does, I think you're you're It helps
Speaker 1: in your diversified company and it fits well with Disney.
Speaker 1: But I guess I wonder, you know, are there what
Speaker 1: are the opportunities in that new business model when you
Speaker 1: have a longer tail, when you have the ability for
Speaker 1: people to watch lots of different stuff and lots of
Speaker 1: different ways, And I wonder it seems to me they're
Speaker 1: going to be different business models at work. In sports,
Speaker 1: there are there evolving business models. And and and we
Speaker 1: had a great run in the broadcasting had the same
Speaker 1: great run. Cable had the great run. But they haven't
Speaker 1: gone away. CBS hasn't gone away. Um, movie theaters haven't
Speaker 1: gone away. The great brands are there, so esp In
Speaker 1: hardly has gone away. I mean, they're probably getting seven
Speaker 1: or eight dollars a month. They're probably got eight perscriber
Speaker 1: per month times eighty eight million of it is. I
Speaker 1: don't think you should, you know, cry for them right now.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm pretty happy still being a cheerleader for Disney.
Speaker 1: I wond er two when you when you look at
Speaker 1: what's happening with Disney. You know that Bob has extended
Speaker 1: his his retirement date a couple of times now. But
Speaker 1: I wonder when you look forward, who you think the
Speaker 1: next city of Disney should be. I don't know. I
Speaker 1: mean they're doing they're doing a search. Um, I hope
Speaker 1: Bob stays for a long time. It's either that a
Speaker 1: president United States pick one or the other. Maybe Disney
Speaker 1: will be more fun. Um, he's not leaving for a while.
Speaker 1: Um I. Often it is better from within than without
Speaker 1: for successions. But that's what they're not working on. UM
Speaker 1: and and But do you think that the necessary information
Speaker 1: needs to be from someone in the company that they
Speaker 1: don't need someone from outside. It's not necessary because I
Speaker 1: came from the outside. Disney saw the advocated from the outside.
Speaker 1: I came from Paramount. But when we made the transition
Speaker 1: to Bob. When I left, it always was Bob Eiger
Speaker 1: or who And there was nobody even close. Bob Iger
Speaker 1: had been in president of a SEE and all the
Speaker 1: rest of it in new sports and played out that way.
Speaker 1: Michael Eismer, thank you very much so. Michael Eiser from
Speaker 1: the Ports Smith Football Club, among other things, glad to
Speaker 1: have you, right