Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News.
Speaker 2: This is Bloomberg Business of Sports. Business of Sports can
Speaker 2: be intimidating for hard for a start to break into.
Speaker 3: We really appreciate when our owners are actually there, you know,
Speaker 3: with us through the journey.
Speaker 1: Teams ours especially have been very intentional to diversify at
Speaker 1: all levels of the company.
Speaker 4: I think we're in the golden gears for the NFL
Speaker 4: and college football.
Speaker 3: Our demographic reach has continued to expand. This is going
Speaker 3: to be really unlocking the streaming platform for sports fans.
Speaker 4: Sports valuations are rising, We'll see when they peak.
Speaker 5: You don't have to be the best in your sports
Speaker 5: to make a whole ton of money.
Speaker 4: Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 1: This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports where we explore
Speaker 1: the big money issues in the world of sports. I'm
Speaker 1: Scarlett Foo along with Damian Sasaur and special guest hosts
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Originals, Sports Course, Want, Vanessa Perdomo, Michael barr Is
Speaker 1: Off this week and later Boomberg Originals. She of course Wonded.
Speaker 1: Jason Kelly will be joining.
Speaker 4: Us coming up on the show. We'll hear from the
Speaker 4: CEO of Bet MGM Adam Greenblatt right as we hit
Speaker 4: the home stretch of the NFL season.
Speaker 6: It's been a tailor of growth over the last four
Speaker 6: or five years. Benm GM is now in twenty nine
Speaker 6: different states, serving over fifty percent of the US population
Speaker 6: with some kind of sports offering, sports betting offering.
Speaker 1: Plus we'll talk you as soccer with Cindy Parlo Cone.
Speaker 1: She's president of the United States Soccer Federation.
Speaker 3: What we're seeing specifically in soccer is investors that are
Speaker 3: committed to the game and the people right and wanting
Speaker 3: to really develop these people and surround these people with
Speaker 3: great executives around them.
Speaker 1: That conversation and more on the way on the Bloomberg
Speaker 1: business of sports. But first, big tech companies have been
Speaker 1: leaning into carrying more live sports on their platforms, none
Speaker 1: more so than Amazon Prime. Prime has carried the NFL's
Speaker 1: Thursday Night and even carried games on Black Friday.
Speaker 5: Amazon believes leaning into live sports will get more people
Speaker 5: into their ecosystem, and it is putting its money where
Speaker 5: its mouth is. Right now, Amazon is outspending the rest
Speaker 5: of big tech with live sports, adding NBA games next season,
Speaker 5: WNBA games, Women's soccer NASCAR and more. That's on top
Speaker 5: of this huge deal with the NFL.
Speaker 4: For more on Amazon's live sports plans and how it
Speaker 4: helps the retailer's bottom line, we welcome Bloomberg News Global
Speaker 4: Business Editor Matt Townsend. Matt, Welcome to the Bloomberg Business
Speaker 4: of Sports.
Speaker 2: Hey, thanks for having me, Matt.
Speaker 5: Amazon paid one hundred million dollars for the Black Friday Game,
Speaker 5: They pay a billion dollars annually for Thursday Night Football,
Speaker 5: and their new NBA contract is worth nineteen billion dollars.
Speaker 5: How long can they keep spending like this before they
Speaker 5: need to raise the cost of prime?
Speaker 2: Good question. I mean the story with prime has always
Speaker 2: been that it is heavily subjudized and then you're getting
Speaker 2: way more than what you pay for it. I think
Speaker 2: it's like one hundred and thirty nine dollars now, I
Speaker 2: mean the but uh, you know, Ara Budue wrote wrote
Speaker 2: a story about this, and you know what he gets
Speaker 2: into in the story is that there's a question mark
Speaker 2: about you know, is Amazon really making any money off this?
Speaker 2: Like what is the return on all this investment in sports?
Speaker 2: Obviously they're not coming out and saying giving us all
Speaker 2: the details, but you know, they do put ads around
Speaker 2: these games, you know, TV ads where they have some
Speaker 2: advertising business. They obviously get people to sign up for stuff,
Speaker 2: and they're doing all these things with QR code. There
Speaker 2: was all these prompts to hold up your phone to
Speaker 2: the screen and to do this QR code.
Speaker 4: So yeah, you know that, Matt, let me jump in here,
Speaker 4: because that is everywhere, right, these QR codes along the
Speaker 4: border of yours, of any tell I mean I was
Speaker 4: on all week and long. You know, is that is
Speaker 4: that something that's working? Do you have any information on that?
Speaker 2: I think I wrote in his story that you know
Speaker 2: it was somewhat successful. I mean it wasn't you know.
Speaker 2: They do that a lot with with their prime content.
Speaker 2: So I think it is, you know, a behavior that
Speaker 2: people are starting to do more and more as just consumers,
Speaker 2: you know, putting up their phone to the TV or
Speaker 2: whatever screen they're watching and scanning that QR code. Again,
Speaker 2: my currer codes have been around for a long time,
Speaker 2: so it's it's kind of funny that that's like the
Speaker 2: big strategy for a lot of these companies to get
Speaker 2: you to shop while you're watching TV. But yeah, it
Speaker 2: mains me seem like, how how far amant that will
Speaker 2: go with this, you know, and how much of a
Speaker 2: return they're getting given that they're putting more money into it,
Speaker 2: they like necessarily signed this big NBA deal, You would
Speaker 2: think that they are seeing returns. They do see it
Speaker 2: as a way to bring people into the ecosystem. So yeah,
Speaker 2: I think I think more of the same is probably
Speaker 2: to come from.
Speaker 3: Them, Matt.
Speaker 1: I also want to bring in another story that your
Speaker 1: team has been covering, and that is the sale of
Speaker 1: the Boston Celtics. We know that it's up for sale,
Speaker 1: and now it turns out that some Middle East sovereign
Speaker 1: wealth funds are potential buyers. They've been kind of kicking
Speaker 1: the tires.
Speaker 2: Yes, we reported this week that the principle owner of
Speaker 2: the of the of the Celtics was over in Abu Dhabi.
Speaker 2: It's part of the NBA's annual trip over there in
Speaker 2: the preseason. The Celtics plays some preseason games, and we
Speaker 2: reported that Celtics owners have met with one of the
Speaker 2: sovereign wealth funds over there, and this would be only
Speaker 2: to buy a passive sort of small stake in the
Speaker 2: in the in the in the club. But you know,
Speaker 2: more and more Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds are sort
Speaker 2: of the investors of last resort for a lot of
Speaker 2: sports franchises because it is so much money. So it
Speaker 2: remains to be seen whether this this specific sovereign wealth
Speaker 2: fund will invest in in the Celtics. We had some
Speaker 2: reporting that, you know, these sovereign wealth funds are kind
Speaker 2: of tired of putting in, you know, getting small passive stakes.
Speaker 2: They want to they want some say in management. They'd
Speaker 2: like to try to own, you know, us sports franchises.
Speaker 2: The leagues at this point aren't allowing that. So the
Speaker 2: NBA is one of the few leagues right now allows
Speaker 2: even some love fund to take a small stake. So
Speaker 2: but it gets that's sort of the push over to
Speaker 2: the Middle East. The NBA is doing more of this.
Speaker 2: They're trying to expand internationally and then Release is one
Speaker 2: of the markets where they think they have a lot
Speaker 2: of potential.
Speaker 7: And in that market.
Speaker 5: It's interesting obviously Jake and Giles's story they kind of
Speaker 5: talk about how the NBA is planning on expanding there
Speaker 5: more and looking at the idea of you know, putting
Speaker 5: in an office there potentially, which they do have a
Speaker 5: lot of international offices.
Speaker 7: Obviously, to grow, you know, their footprint.
Speaker 5: But do you think that they're looking at this as
Speaker 5: a way into getting those sovereign deals done, do you
Speaker 5: think or.
Speaker 7: Is it just they actually see a market there in
Speaker 7: the fandom.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's probably a little of both. I think.
Speaker 2: I mean, they definitely are courting some wealth funds. You know,
Speaker 2: they have deep pockets. They want to they'd love to
Speaker 2: get them into ownership. But also, you know, the NBA
Speaker 2: wants to keep expanding internationally, and there's a lot of
Speaker 2: talk about will they just put a team overseas somewhere,
Speaker 2: whether it's in North America or maybe they'll do something
Speaker 2: with with Europe, sort of creating a league over there
Speaker 2: that's connected to the NBA in some way. The NBA
Speaker 2: was one that was basically, you know, the first big
Speaker 2: pro league to really go international. They pushed and they
Speaker 2: have tons of international fans, and then you know they're
Speaker 2: they're seeing right on the wall that they need to
Speaker 2: do more of this to really keep growing the fan base.
Speaker 2: They can't just rely on North America anymore.
Speaker 4: So, you know, I find it very I mean, I
Speaker 4: have to say, Matt, you know, Wick Grosspick, the principal
Speaker 4: owner of the Celtics is a friend of the show.
Speaker 4: You know, he was just on a few weeks of
Speaker 4: back and you know, I know the guys that move
Speaker 4: Battala and I'm just surprised he didn't, you know, break
Speaker 4: that to us, Scarlett. I'm a little bit disappointed with
Speaker 4: him for that. And you know, look, I mean I
Speaker 4: know what Scarlett really wants to know. She wants to
Speaker 4: know up the Nixer for salth. So talk to me
Speaker 4: about what is going on with James Dolan, his relationships
Speaker 4: with the Middle East. You know that Sphere Entertainment's got,
Speaker 4: you know, you know, I think they're building one in
Speaker 4: Amudabi now another sphere, and you know, talk to us
Speaker 4: a little bit about you know, what Middle Eastern money
Speaker 4: means to the New York Knickerbockers.
Speaker 2: Yeah again, I mean, you know, for those of us
Speaker 2: who followed James Dolan's career, it doesn't seem feasible that
Speaker 2: he's going to want to sell a controlling stake in
Speaker 2: the next to someone else. But look that they're looking
Speaker 2: for more money to do, you know, more things with
Speaker 2: the franchise. And you know, Dolan's a smart business business person,
Speaker 2: so he's he's already has connections to the Middle East,
Speaker 2: so it makes sense that you know, they're kicking the
Speaker 2: tires on bringing in uh, you know, some milliaster investors.
Speaker 2: But I don't. I don't think Knicks fans, whether you
Speaker 2: like James Doan or not, should expect any sort of
Speaker 2: change in control with the mix. For sure, they're looking
Speaker 2: just to raise some more money and have some more
Speaker 2: cash in their pocket to do certain things.
Speaker 5: So the other story that we're looking at that Randal
Speaker 5: put out this week was about Oklahoma City and Russell Westbrook,
Speaker 5: you know, investing into their downtown, but it also has you.
Speaker 7: Know, potential.
Speaker 5: They're building a new stadium, but it's for the Oklahoma
Speaker 5: City Energy FC, which is a second tier you know
Speaker 5: men's soccer team. Talk to us about that, and you
Speaker 5: know what it really says about, I guess investing in
Speaker 5: more so of the entertainment sphere, right because it seems
Speaker 5: like it the soccer play isn't what's going to make
Speaker 5: the most money here.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So there's you're right, there's this movement, this trend
Speaker 2: where you know, especially city centers or downtowns are looking
Speaker 2: at their development, you know, whether they have stadiums or
Speaker 2: arenas and basically, you know, figuring out ways to get
Speaker 2: more tax dollars coming from those areas. So they're trying
Speaker 2: to build sort of entertainment destinations. And we've seen these
Speaker 2: in other markets where it's not just a stadium in
Speaker 2: a parking lot anymore. It's a stadium with you know,
Speaker 2: tons of restaurants and bars and other little venues maybe
Speaker 2: where you can have concerts and sort of you know,
Speaker 2: just make it more of a year round destination. And
Speaker 2: that's what's happened here in Oklahoma City. There's this open
Speaker 2: land near the Convention Center, near the NBA Arena and
Speaker 2: Wes Russell Welsbrook and this investment from our partnering with
Speaker 2: with the city to build this soccer stadium which would
Speaker 2: be multi use and have you know, it could be
Speaker 2: a concert venue as well or other events, and then
Speaker 2: build restaurants and retail and some community spaces around it
Speaker 2: to make it more of a destination year round, like
Speaker 2: I was saying. So that's it's kind of in line
Speaker 2: with the trend we're seeing across sports where they want
Speaker 2: more than just to stay in a parking lot. That's
Speaker 2: kind of the old way of thinking about how you
Speaker 2: develop the area around a stadium on arena.
Speaker 1: All right, Matt Townsend, thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 1: Matt Townsend is Bloomberg's Global business editor for sports.
Speaker 4: Coming up on the show, we're going to pivot to
Speaker 4: soccer and talk with US Soccer President Cidy Parlow Cone.
Speaker 3: But before we get there.
Speaker 4: Vanessa, you have been following all the NWILL action this year.
Speaker 4: Tell us about Kansas City, tell us about the growth
Speaker 4: of women's soft and tell us about your weekend.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 5: So I was in Kansas City last week for the
Speaker 5: championship game between the Orlando Pride and the Washington Spirit,
Speaker 5: and you know, the Pride ended up taking it won nothing.
Speaker 5: It was quite an exciting game, even though it doesn't
Speaker 5: sound like it, you know, it just is. You know,
Speaker 5: when you're there in the stadium, the vibe was really high,
Speaker 5: even though you know, surprisingly it wasn't a full stadium.
Speaker 7: I guess you can.
Speaker 5: Say surprisingly or not surprisingly it was technically sold out.
Speaker 3: But Damian, here's the thing.
Speaker 5: The nws CEL hosts their championship games at neutral sites.
Speaker 5: So the problem is Orlando Pride in Washington Spirit. They
Speaker 5: advanced in the semi finals one week before the Championship,
Speaker 5: so fans really only had one week to get there
Speaker 5: in Kansas City, not the biggest airport in the world.
Speaker 7: You know, not the easiest place to get to.
Speaker 5: So there was a decent turnout, but not as many
Speaker 5: fans as I'm sure they would like. And the Kansas
Speaker 5: City fans who bought tickets, you know, thinking their team
Speaker 5: would be in the final because they made it to
Speaker 5: the semifinals and they had an incredible year. They didn't
Speaker 5: end up a lot of them didn't end up going,
Speaker 5: but a lot of them still went because, you know,
Speaker 5: they said, when I talked to some fans in the stadium,
Speaker 5: they said, listen, it's been a great year.
Speaker 7: It's still going to be a good game. I wish
Speaker 7: we would have made it, but you know, we bought tickets,
Speaker 7: so here we are.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 5: One of the reasons it was held in Kansas City
Speaker 5: this year was because CPKC Stadium is the first ever
Speaker 5: stadium built for a women's soccer team in the world,
Speaker 5: so it was really historic having the game there.
Speaker 4: Vanessa Predomo Bloomberg Originals correspondent on all things women's soccer related,
Speaker 4: and we've got more soccer up next with US Soccer
Speaker 4: President Cindy Parlow Cohne stick around were my colleagues Scarlett
Speaker 4: fu and the Desa Predomo. I'm Damian sas Hour and
Speaker 4: you're listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 4: Around the world, you're.
Speaker 2: Listening to Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 4: This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports where we explore
Speaker 4: the big money issues in the world of sports. I'm
Speaker 4: Damian Sasawer along with my colleagues Vanessa Perdomo and joining
Speaker 4: us now Bloomberg Originals Chief correspondent Chas and Kelly. Soccer
Speaker 4: is on the rise in the US with a North
Speaker 4: American World Cup right around the corner, and the US
Speaker 4: Soccer Federation knows it's at a major moment of opportunity.
Speaker 4: Here to talk with us about the rise of soccer
Speaker 4: in the States is US Soccer Federation President Cindy Parlow Cone. Cindy,
Speaker 4: Welcome to the Bloomberg Business of Sports.
Speaker 3: Thanks, thanks guys for having me.
Speaker 4: All Right, so we have a new men's head coach.
Speaker 4: We've got a lot happening in the world of women's soccer.
Speaker 4: Tell us a little bit about what you're focused on
Speaker 4: here in the early going.
Speaker 3: You know, what we're focused on is winning so her games,
Speaker 3: getting more kids playing soccer, right, improving the access to soccer.
Speaker 3: And then obviously le announced Michelle Kang's generous donation of
Speaker 3: thirty million dollars to US Soccer. So that will heavily
Speaker 3: impact over one hundred thousand girls and women on the
Speaker 3: girls side and women's side of the game.
Speaker 5: Unbelievable. Yeah, generous is to say the least, for sure.
Speaker 5: You know, Sindy, She's been doing so much in the space.
Speaker 5: Michelle Kang's been doing so much in this space. She
Speaker 5: owns three women's soccer teams, won the Washington Spear who
Speaker 5: are in the NWSL Championship, and from what you've seen
Speaker 5: from everything she's done, can you tell us about how
Speaker 5: this deal came together. Was it you seeing what she
Speaker 5: was doing and you being like, hey, over here, you know,
Speaker 5: you know, we can use some of that too, or
Speaker 5: was it a collaborative effort.
Speaker 7: Did she come to you? How did it all come together?
Speaker 3: It was a very collaborative effort. You know, Michelle is
Speaker 3: continuously breaking down barriers and setting new expectations, and I
Speaker 3: think her gift does exactly this. You know, my ninety
Speaker 3: nine World Cup teammates and I we all thought the
Speaker 3: ninety nine World Cup happened and then it was going
Speaker 3: to be this massive explosion, but it ended up being
Speaker 3: a moment, right. I think Michelle and what she has
Speaker 3: done is she started a movement, right and it has
Speaker 3: been sustained. You know, her donation to us is going
Speaker 3: to be so impactful. So she's contributing to three main areas.
Speaker 3: One is enabling us to increase our number of youth
Speaker 3: national team camps, so we have eight youth national teams,
Speaker 3: so we'll have more camps with us and more opportunities
Speaker 3: for young girls and women. She's also putting money into
Speaker 3: expanding improving our talent identification, so regardless of where you
Speaker 3: live and play, you will have the opportunity to be
Speaker 3: seen by our scouts. And then third, and I think
Speaker 3: this is really important, is she's putting money towards fueling
Speaker 3: the professional development of the coaches, the referees and executives.
Speaker 7: We all know, to.
Speaker 3: Develop the best players in the world, you have to
Speaker 3: develop everyone around them too. For instance, right now, we're
Speaker 3: looking with this donation to double the number of female
Speaker 3: coaches and referees, which would be significant.
Speaker 4: Talk to us a little bit about some of these benefactors.
Speaker 4: It's not just you know, it's not just Ken. There's
Speaker 4: so many other people out there, and certainly Ken had
Speaker 4: a pretty big role, you know, in hiring the US
Speaker 4: men team's new head coach, Mauricio Pocentino. I mean, tell
Speaker 4: us a little bit about the role he played, about
Speaker 4: the role you expect him to play for US Soccer
Speaker 4: going forward.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean he played a great role. I mean,
Speaker 3: we know, to go after the best coaches in the world,
Speaker 3: it's going to cost a lot of money, right and
Speaker 3: as an MGB, as a nonprofit, that delta between a
Speaker 3: head coach salary of a professional team and a head
Speaker 3: coach salary of an m GB nonprofit organization like US Soccer,
Speaker 3: it's hard to make up. And so when Ken stepped
Speaker 3: up and we had some other donors step up as well,
Speaker 3: it literally made us be able to dream big and
Speaker 3: be bold and be able to hire what I think
Speaker 3: is the best coach in the world in Pachettino.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 5: You know what's interesting about that is, you know, with
Speaker 5: Ken and some other benefactors, it might seem, you know,
Speaker 5: out of the ordinary for them to just want to
Speaker 5: want to help out. But with Michelle's investment specifically, and
Speaker 5: with Arthur Blank's investment and things like that, these people
Speaker 5: are very integral into professional soccer in the US. And
Speaker 5: with Michelle, you know, owning multiple teams. It's not you know,
Speaker 5: she said it this you know on CBS when she
Speaker 5: made the announcement. This may seem like an investment in
Speaker 5: a donation into a nonprofit, but US soccers are the
Speaker 5: one who is developing the talent, you know, for these
Speaker 5: professional leg So can you talk to you a little
Speaker 5: about that, how this is going to then feed into
Speaker 5: professionalism in the US, how it's going to make our
Speaker 5: teams better national teams and the end of you sell
Speaker 5: the MLS and all that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, all of those professional players started somewhere and
Speaker 3: so right, So they started in their local league. And
Speaker 3: so I started playing when I was three years old.
Speaker 3: I didn't make a national team until I was fourteen,
Speaker 3: So there were many years where a young player is
Speaker 3: developing in our ecosystem. And if we want to have
Speaker 3: the best players in the world, and if we want
Speaker 3: to provide the best possible environments for players to play,
Speaker 3: whether they're going to make it onto the national team
Speaker 3: or a pro league or not. Right, we still want
Speaker 3: all kids to be engaged in the sport and to
Speaker 3: have fun with it. So in order to do that,
Speaker 3: we have to invest in the ecosystem around them, and
Speaker 3: that is exactly what Michelle is doing. Player development is
Speaker 3: very much a part of this, but also the professional
Speaker 3: development of everyone around them that is literally developing these players.
Speaker 3: And what's so great about Michelle is that she is
Speaker 3: adamant like, this is just the start, right, I want
Speaker 3: other people to jump on top of this. This thirty
Speaker 3: million is great, it's going to push us along, but
Speaker 3: she wants other people to jump in and join her
Speaker 3: in investing in the youth landscape, investing in women and girls.
Speaker 8: You know, City, you made such an interesting point a
Speaker 8: few minutes ago about the ninety nine ers, and we've
Speaker 8: spoken to Brandy Chastain and others who echo your exact
Speaker 8: sentiment that you know, ninety nine happens, you win. It's like, okay,
Speaker 8: here we go. Not only did it not happen then,
Speaker 8: but there have been several failed attempts at a US
Speaker 8: women's professional league. Does this feel different and what do
Speaker 8: you see you know, especially you know, you played in
Speaker 8: the WUSA, so you've seen this from all angles. What's
Speaker 8: different this time, especially from a business perspective, that makes
Speaker 8: you feel like this is now sustainable as a league.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think we've gone about it in a smart way.
Speaker 3: I think looking back now, ninety nine was kind of
Speaker 3: this aha moment to a lot of sports fans of like, oh,
Speaker 3: women play sports and it's actually entertaining. But then the
Speaker 3: tournament ended and it kind of was like there were
Speaker 3: some increases in participation and what have you, but it
Speaker 3: and we started the pro league that only lasted three
Speaker 3: years in the WSA, Go Atlanta.
Speaker 8: B Yeah, atl represent love it.
Speaker 3: Yeah. But what we're seeing now are and we're seeing
Speaker 3: it in multiple women's sports. It's not just soccer, but
Speaker 3: what we're seeing specifically in soccer is investors that are
Speaker 3: committed to the game and the people right and wanting
Speaker 3: to really develop these people and surround these people with
Speaker 3: great executives around them. And so we've really and the
Speaker 3: NDBASL has done a great job of this, and then
Speaker 3: the USL has just started a Division one professional women's
Speaker 3: league as well, trying to provide more opportunities for women
Speaker 3: and girls in the sports industry, and not everyone has
Speaker 3: to play soccer right or be a great point. Yeah,
Speaker 3: this is a whole industry. This business has so many
Speaker 3: different types of jobs, so you don't have to be
Speaker 3: a technical person to be in the sports industry or
Speaker 3: the soccer industry. And so I think we've seen a
Speaker 3: shift in that in the professionalization, the true professionalization of
Speaker 3: the women's game, but we still have to take it
Speaker 3: to another level.
Speaker 4: Cydy Parlo cohone, you are the first female president of
Speaker 4: US Soccer. So I have one question for you. What
Speaker 4: is wrong with the men? I mean, seriously, what is
Speaker 4: wrong with men's soccer here in the US as a
Speaker 4: coaching Is it the lack of experience in big tournaments?
Speaker 4: I mean, is the team you know, just in experience.
Speaker 4: I mean, talk to us a little about if you
Speaker 4: had your druggers about you, what would you do to
Speaker 4: fix men's soccer here in the US.
Speaker 3: You know, I think on the men's side, we've made
Speaker 3: up to fun of progress and I think the hiring
Speaker 3: of Pachettino speaks to our ambitions and what we think
Speaker 3: our men's national team can do. And we you know,
Speaker 3: I think part of it is we need to really
Speaker 3: unite the whole youth system, the development system up into
Speaker 3: the youth academies and make them have it be more connected.
Speaker 3: We just have to continue to like we're talking about
Speaker 3: on the women's side, it's the same thing is true
Speaker 3: on the men's side. We have to improve the environments,
Speaker 3: improve everyone around those players so that it's not happenstance
Speaker 3: or just by luck that a player develops.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and how much do you think the twenty twenty
Speaker 5: six World Cup is going to feed into that system?
Speaker 5: As in, do you think we are primed right now
Speaker 5: now to develop even more until twenty twenty six or
Speaker 5: is twenty twenty six going to be the moment where
Speaker 5: soccer explodes here?
Speaker 3: Well, I think World Cup twenty six will help, like
Speaker 3: kind of put a shot in the arm. It will
Speaker 3: change the trajectory of soccer in our country on the
Speaker 3: men's side and the women's side. Look, I think MLS
Speaker 3: has done a tremendous job, as has the NWSL and
Speaker 3: the USL, so our professional leagues are thriving. Where we
Speaker 3: need to do a better job is the development of
Speaker 3: the players, coaches, referee professionals, the executives, in and around
Speaker 3: the game so we can continue to develop better and
Speaker 3: better players. One thing that I'm super excited about that
Speaker 3: I'm very engaged on is we're under construction right now
Speaker 3: with the Arthur M. Blank US Soccer National Training Center
Speaker 3: in Atlanta. So I think that's going to be very
Speaker 3: transformative for our country. It'll push our national teams to
Speaker 3: new heights, allowing us to really build that culture, cultivate
Speaker 3: winning teams through player development, and so many other things.
Speaker 3: Every time I think of something that we're doing at
Speaker 3: US Soccer, I think about how the National Training Center
Speaker 3: is just going to have such a positive impact on
Speaker 3: everything we're trying to do.
Speaker 5: You know, we have this amazing World Cup coming up
Speaker 5: in twenty twenty six, and then LA twenty twenty eight.
Speaker 5: Feels like there was an opportunity for us to host
Speaker 5: the twenty twenty seven World Cup. Do you think the
Speaker 5: world would have just been sick of us? Or was
Speaker 5: that maybe something a little bit of a missed opportunity there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So we decided to shift our focus from twenty
Speaker 3: seven to thirty one because we wanted the same focus
Speaker 3: on the Women's World Cup and thirty one as was
Speaker 3: given to the twenty six. This given to the six
Speaker 3: Men's World Cup, and we had real concerns that if
Speaker 3: we were twenty six then twenty seven, that twenty seven
Speaker 3: wouldn't be a focus until twenty six was done, and
Speaker 3: that is not the right thing to do, and so
Speaker 3: so we decided strategically this shift to thirty one. So
Speaker 3: now we have this long build up like we've had
Speaker 3: for the Men's World Cup, and so we can prepare,
Speaker 3: the host cities can prepare, FIFA can prepare as well
Speaker 3: as Conky Calf and really make the Women's World Cup
Speaker 3: as great as it can be, and the players can
Speaker 3: have equal experiences to the players of the Men's World Cup.
Speaker 3: The fans have similar experiences as well.
Speaker 4: Cindy Parlo Cone, President United States Soccer Federation, thank you
Speaker 4: so much for joining us here today on the Bloomberg
Speaker 4: Business of Sports.
Speaker 9: We really do.
Speaker 3: Appreciate Thank you, guys, appreciate you having me up.
Speaker 4: Next, we welcome bet MGM CEO, Adam Green Black for
Speaker 4: my colleague Scarlett Food, Jason Kelly, and Vanessa Prudomo. I'm
Speaker 4: Damian Sasaur. You're listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports
Speaker 4: from Bloomberg Radio. Around the world.
Speaker 2: You're listening to Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 4: Thank you for joining us on the Bloomberg Business of Sports,
Speaker 4: where we explore the big money issues in the world
Speaker 4: of sports. I'm Damian sas Hour along with my colleague
Speaker 4: scarlettfu and guest host Vanessa Perdomo. Michael barr is off
Speaker 4: this week. The sports betting landscape continues to grow and
Speaker 4: bet MGM finds itself at the forefront. Here now to
Speaker 4: talk to us about the sports gambling landscape here in
Speaker 4: the US, we have bet MGM CEO Friend of the show,
Speaker 4: Adam green Blatt. Adam, welcome back to the Bloomberg Business
Speaker 4: of Sports. Adam, welcome to the Bloomberg Business of Sports.
Speaker 9: Well, thank you for having me. I'm really pleased to
Speaker 9: be here.
Speaker 4: So Adam talked to us a little bit about the
Speaker 4: state of sports gambling here in the US. You know,
Speaker 4: has it been growing, what states are coming online? What
Speaker 4: comes next?
Speaker 6: Yes, it's been a tale of growth over the last
Speaker 6: four or five years. Bet MGM is now in twenty
Speaker 6: nine different states, serving over fifty percent of the US
Speaker 6: population with some kind of sports offering. Sports betting offering.
Speaker 6: So it really has been something to behold And as
Speaker 6: we look to the twelve months ahead, we've got two
Speaker 6: new states or two new jurisdictions coming. Missouri just past
Speaker 6: enabling legislation a few weeks ago, so we're we're looking
Speaker 6: forward to the launch of that online sports betting in
Speaker 6: that state. And also north of the border, we have
Speaker 6: our second province in Canada with Alberta bringing to its
Speaker 6: players online sports betting and I gaming probably in the.
Speaker 9: Middle of the twenty five.
Speaker 1: So, Adam, I'm curious what you're seeing in different sports,
Speaker 1: you know, especially the kind of volume and the interest
Speaker 1: from betters. Why don't we start with the NBA. You know,
Speaker 1: we're the heart of the season right now. What does
Speaker 1: the interest look like for daily games versus high profile games?
Speaker 6: Absolutely well, we've seen just more generally, we've seen a
Speaker 6: significant increase in handle euron your for both pregame and
Speaker 6: live so while the game is on betting in each
Speaker 6: of those during the start of this season, just to
Speaker 6: give put a number on that, we've seen a seventy
Speaker 6: seven zero percent increase in total NBA bets EU on
Speaker 6: Your And what's also interesting this year is that there
Speaker 6: is extra interest in the NBA Cup games, so we
Speaker 6: see a spike in activity on Tuesdays and Thursdays so far,
Speaker 6: and of course b The other interesting trend I think
Speaker 6: is the continued growth and popularity.
Speaker 9: Of player props.
Speaker 6: You know, the NBA does a great job in marketing
Speaker 6: their players, which drives a decent percentage of interest and
Speaker 6: betting action, and so we're seeing a lot of bets.
Speaker 6: For example, player prop bets on Jason Tatum quollowed by
Speaker 6: Donovan Mitchell.
Speaker 5: Adam, you know, when you were talking, I was hoping
Speaker 5: that you were going to say, you know, we're seeing
Speaker 5: a lot of growth, and the biggest one is in
Speaker 5: women in sports.
Speaker 7: You know, so I love that, but so I am curious.
Speaker 5: You know what you've seen this year with the uptick
Speaker 5: in popularity of women's sports, particularly in women's basketball. Would
Speaker 5: you say it's one of the you know, the biggest
Speaker 5: growth areas for the sports betting market.
Speaker 9: It's it certainly is.
Speaker 6: But last year we're coming off the back of a
Speaker 6: season where we saw the unprecedented Caitlin Clark effect, and
Speaker 6: so NCAA women's basketball has just been exploded and we're
Speaker 6: seeing two factors.
Speaker 9: Actually, we're seeing.
Speaker 6: More men following women's games and betting on women's games.
Speaker 9: So there's more male interest in women's sports. But on
Speaker 9: top of that, and this.
Speaker 6: Is the also exciting part, we are seeing more women
Speaker 6: participation in sports betting following women's games.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 6: The success this year of Paige because Yukon Huskies is.
Speaker 9: A is another draw cross sports.
Speaker 6: However, the Taylor Swift effect is also gathering more women
Speaker 6: into interest in live sports, and that that cuts across
Speaker 6: both obviously NFL and the NBA and the college game.
Speaker 9: So we're seeing, just to put.
Speaker 6: A number on this, one hundred and thirteen percent increase
Speaker 6: in betting euro over here in the WNBA.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 4: Wow, Adam, Well, look you're you're you're you're free from
Speaker 4: South Africa, so I can speak to you, you know,
Speaker 4: very openly here Alberta, Canada. I mean, come on, how
Speaker 4: many people are going to be gambling on the Edmonton
Speaker 4: Oilers and Calgary Flames. I mean, I understand the Saint
Speaker 4: Louis Blues and Cardinals, I get it. I understand Missouri
Speaker 4: coming online, but like Canada, I mean, come on, talk
Speaker 4: to us a little bit about how Canadians gamble on sports.
Speaker 6: Well, well, Berenham Gym is particularly well situated. You know,
Speaker 6: we've long been supportive of the all time greats in
Speaker 6: the world of hockey of Wayne Gretzky, who is.
Speaker 9: More more popular than Coca Cola, and of course Conen
Speaker 9: McDavid is also a partner, so.
Speaker 6: You know, we've been particularly we've penetrated the Canadian market
Speaker 6: particularly well. We think in aggregate we bet and GYM
Speaker 6: are the market leaders across ie gaming and sports.
Speaker 9: And what's also been.
Speaker 6: Very impactful on the sports business is the ability to
Speaker 6: cross sell from gaming.
Speaker 9: We've been betm gem is.
Speaker 6: The biggest ie gaming brand and we see a very
Speaker 6: healthy level of cross sell between sports and gaming in
Speaker 6: both directions. Actually, so the two do support each other
Speaker 6: and we see really good betting interests.
Speaker 9: Obviously the sports.
Speaker 6: Bias north of the border is different, but we do
Speaker 6: see very strong interest in both sports and I gain.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's going to be interest in betting on
Speaker 1: sports whether you're in Canada, South Africa or the US.
Speaker 1: The thing is there's so many different ways to do
Speaker 1: it right. You don't have to do that MGM. You
Speaker 1: could do DraftKings, you could do a fan duel.
Speaker 4: I mean, talk to us a little bit about that.
Speaker 4: I mean, like, you know, where is the growth in
Speaker 4: sports gambling. I mean, has it really kind of come
Speaker 4: over that hurdle? Has it been exhausted?
Speaker 9: The industry is growing up.
Speaker 6: We're seeing an expansion of bet types and sports betting
Speaker 6: really has gone beyond the traditional Vegas six pack of
Speaker 6: money line spreads and totals.
Speaker 9: You know, what we're seeing now is.
Speaker 6: That immense growth, really exciting growth of the world of parlays,
Speaker 6: the growth of player crops, crops. Generally, live betting is
Speaker 6: on the up in all of our major sports, and frankly,
Speaker 6: US sports lend themselves to live betting more than most
Speaker 6: given the stop start nature of the sports themselves. The
Speaker 6: other one of the other trends that we've talked about
Speaker 6: the growth of in interest in women's sports, but the
Speaker 6: growth of the first markets like first touchdown, first drive props.
Speaker 6: We are seeing well over one hundred percent growth of
Speaker 6: take up of those kinds of bets.
Speaker 9: You're on you And the last thing I would point
Speaker 9: out is is this.
Speaker 6: The synthesis the integration of the world of sports betting
Speaker 6: and the world of social conversation and the narrative around sports.
Speaker 6: You may be aware that BETNGM was the first of
Speaker 6: its kind to form a partnership which with one of
Speaker 6: the big social media companies.
Speaker 9: We are partners with X and X has just.
Speaker 6: Frankly launched its NFL portal and we are the exclusive
Speaker 6: odds provider of that portal. So if you're in if
Speaker 6: you're in a state where sports betting is allowed, you
Speaker 6: get onto X's NFL portal and there's a live link
Speaker 6: to to bed and gin and our six peck odds
Speaker 6: on display. So the integration of the world of social
Speaker 6: and the world of sports bedding, the world of media
Speaker 6: and sports bedding is really coming to life in.
Speaker 9: A real way.
Speaker 5: We're seeing, you know, the Black Friday games that they
Speaker 5: were on Amazon and when you see those things like
Speaker 5: on streaming platforms, does that differ for you at all?
Speaker 7: And when they're on streaming platforms and when they're on.
Speaker 5: You know, regular you know networks, is that different for
Speaker 5: you guys at all.
Speaker 6: Well, we've seen the most relevant recent use cases the
Speaker 6: Thursday Night game in the NFL, and what we're seeing
Speaker 6: is viewership is down on you from broadcast to streaming.
Speaker 9: But on the streaming service, we're also seeing viewership grow
Speaker 9: from its current base. So I think this was the.
Speaker 6: Question, of course for all of us, is well, what
Speaker 6: we understand that there's been a step back as the
Speaker 6: shift from from cable to the cutting the cord process continues.
Speaker 6: The question is at what point does when's the tipping
Speaker 6: point and where is the tipping point? We haven't seen
Speaker 6: that yet, but based on the projections of current growth
Speaker 6: in viewership fandom, we think the move to streaming will
Speaker 6: ultimately maybe one year, two years be better, certainly for
Speaker 6: our business and for viewership more generally.
Speaker 5: We've talked a lot about growth here and i'd love
Speaker 5: to see, you know, hear your take on Obviously, now
Speaker 5: it's about five six years into sports betting being legal
Speaker 5: in the US, and it's so it's not really new anymore.
Speaker 5: So how do you get new subscribers, new people to
Speaker 5: engage with the platform now that it's kind of been
Speaker 5: out there, you'd think everyone who is interested would be
Speaker 5: on you know that MGM already.
Speaker 9: So.
Speaker 6: It has been around for a little while, for more
Speaker 6: than a little while now, So I agree with the
Speaker 6: premise that you know, those keen beings who have spontaneous
Speaker 6: interest are participating. I see that as wave one Wave two,
Speaker 6: and that there are two big populations which exist today
Speaker 6: that represent further growth, further deepening of potential penetration of
Speaker 6: the industry and for bet MGM as part of that.
Speaker 6: The first is those that participate in the illegal market.
Speaker 6: There's still a big offshore market, which frankly is just
Speaker 6: a continuation.
Speaker 9: And of what came before regulated and regulated sports betting.
Speaker 6: You know, those that had their person that they you know,
Speaker 6: that call up ahead of the weekend and get a
Speaker 6: line and have a bet.
Speaker 9: That still goes on, and it goes on, we understand
Speaker 9: at scale.
Speaker 6: The other thing to which sign posts this point that
Speaker 6: I'm making is the search interest in illegal operators ahead
Speaker 6: of ten pole events. So you get up to the
Speaker 6: if you track Google searchers and I won't name the
Speaker 6: names Google searchers for those unregulated operators, that they are
Speaker 6: still search at scale.
Speaker 9: Search volume.
Speaker 6: So really for all of us, one of the challenges
Speaker 6: and opportunities is bringing that offshore business on shore, which
Speaker 6: protects consumers, which raise US tax revenue. It's just an
Speaker 6: all around good thing. So that's the one population.
Speaker 9: The other population is everybody else, and I know that's
Speaker 9: a ridiculous thing to say.
Speaker 10: But what we saw in if you look at other
Speaker 10: international markets that are significantly more mature than the US
Speaker 10: is what we see is for many, many years.
Speaker 6: After the regulation of the market of the ability to participate,
Speaker 6: we see double digit growth here on you for many.
Speaker 9: Ten years plus.
Speaker 6: And the one of the drivers for that is more
Speaker 6: participation of those who enjoy it. And the other driver
Speaker 6: is the answer to your question now, the other driver
Speaker 6: is it becomes really just part of the leisure basket
Speaker 6: for a broader population.
Speaker 1: All right, Adam, really appreciate your joining us today. Adam
Speaker 1: Greenblatt is CEO of bet MGM.
Speaker 4: And that does it for this edition of the Bloomberg
Speaker 4: Business of Sports. If you missed any of our conversations,
Speaker 4: please listen on demand now with the Bloomberg Business of
Speaker 4: Sports podcast. Find that on Apple, Spotify and all your
Speaker 4: favorite podcast platforms. For Scarlett fu and Vanessa Perdomo, I
Speaker 4: am Damien sas Hour. Thank you for joining us. Tune
Speaker 4: in again next week for the latest on the stories
Speaker 4: moving big money in the world of sports. You're listening
Speaker 4: to Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio around the world.