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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News.

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Speaker 2: This is Bloomberg Business of Sports. Business of Sports can

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Speaker 2: be intimidating for hard for a start to break into.

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Speaker 3: We really appreciate what our owners are actually there, you know,

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Speaker 3: with us through the journey teams.

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Speaker 4: Ours especially then very intentional to diversify at all levels

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Speaker 4: of the company.

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Speaker 3: Maybe we're in the golden gears for the NFL and

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Speaker 3: college football. Our demographic reach has continued to explode.

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Speaker 4: This is going to be really unlocking the streaming platform

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Speaker 4: for sports fans.

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Speaker 2: Sports evaluations arising. We'll see when they peak.

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Speaker 5: You don't have to be the best in your sports

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Speaker 5: to make a whole ton of money.

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Speaker 2: Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio. This is the

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Speaker 2: Bloomberg Business of Sports where we explore the big money

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Speaker 2: issues the world of sports.

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Speaker 3: Michael Blar and Time Dmian SaaS Scarlett Food.

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Speaker 2: Would join us later in the program. Coming up, we

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Speaker 2: get ready for the NHL season for the president and

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Speaker 2: CEO of the reigning Stanley Cup winners, the Florida Panthers.

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Speaker 6: We went through some tough years early on to get

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Speaker 6: it going in the right direction, but this last five

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Speaker 6: years we've consistently been in the playoffs, went to the

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Speaker 6: Cup finals two years ago, got a taste of it.

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Speaker 6: But now that we've won it, we were so proud

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Speaker 6: of the players and the staff and the market. The

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Speaker 6: market is just on fire with hockey. They're so excited.

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Speaker 2: Plus, we take a look at the firm behind the

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Speaker 2: brand new training facility and headquarters for the Phoenix Mercury,

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Speaker 2: only one of three built exclusively for a w NBA team.

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Speaker 2: All that and more is on the way on the

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Speaker 2: Bloomberg Business of Sports, But first we talked Nike. The

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Speaker 2: legendary sneaker and sports brand is struggling lately and a

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Speaker 2: lot of people are pointing fingers at soon to be

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Speaker 2: former CEO John Donahoe's vision. Nike announced this past week

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Speaker 2: it would be pulling former executive Elliott Hill out of

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Speaker 2: retirement to replace Donahoe as CEO. Bloomberg Kim Bessin and

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Speaker 2: Lily Meyer have been following the drama at Nike and

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Speaker 2: wrote a piece for Bloomberg Business Week about what went

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Speaker 2: wrong with Donahoe's tenure, and they're here now to take

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Speaker 2: us through it. Kim, I'm going to start with you.

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Speaker 2: Donaho He was tapped to lead Nike back in twenty twenty,

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Speaker 2: and it seemed like he had a good plan until

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Speaker 2: he did.

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Speaker 6: So.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, basically those in those first years like lifestyle sneakers.

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Speaker 5: Those are Air Force ones, pandas were the big one

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Speaker 5: that's the black and whites, the low top dunk that

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Speaker 5: you see absolutely everywhere now and those two and air

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Speaker 5: Jordan's like Jordan Ones, the OG nineteen eighty five looking Jordan's.

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Speaker 5: These are all very old shoes, right, and none of

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Speaker 5: them are real performance shoes anymore. You don't wear Jordan

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Speaker 5: Ones on the court, that's weird. You wear the most recent,

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Speaker 5: the most recent type of basketball shoe. So these are

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Speaker 5: life sneakers. They're meant to be worn on the sidewalk,

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Speaker 5: They're meant to be worn on the streets. Uh, And

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Speaker 5: they're not that like that the old core Nike performance

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Speaker 5: thing that we used to see. Now, there weren't sports

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Speaker 5: going on if you recall in twenty twenty.

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Speaker 2: Right, hey it was marble racing.

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Speaker 5: Come on there, there was a World Chase tag. Yeah,

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Speaker 5: but like going forward from there, Eventually, when those lifestyle

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Speaker 5: sneakers started to slow down and the market was saturated

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Speaker 5: with with with them. Nike hadn't really innovated enough on

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Speaker 5: the back end. So back at the Lebron James R.

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Speaker 5: And D Center in Beaverton, Oregon, right there just weren't

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Speaker 5: enough new products ready to replace those lifestyles.

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Speaker 3: Well, Kim, I mean, let's talk about what John Donahoe did.

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Speaker 3: I mean John Donahoe, I mean formerly the eBay you know,

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Speaker 3: bank Bane management consultant. You know, you know, he's a

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Speaker 3: bang guy. They know what a cut costs. They know

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Speaker 3: how to drive revenues, you know, improve margins until they

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Speaker 3: don't one of the things that apparently John did. And

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Speaker 3: I read this in your article and it was just

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Speaker 3: I had no idea. But now you know, someone who

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Speaker 3: goes into the mall and goes to foot locker to

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Speaker 3: you know, bypair of sneakers realizes exactly what they did.

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Speaker 3: They basically pulled a lot of Nikes off the shelves,

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Speaker 3: not just a foot locker, but off of websites like Amazon,

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Speaker 3: and their distribution channels were quickly you know, taken up

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Speaker 3: by other manufacturers. Right, and so you know, now I

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Speaker 3: guess if I'm hearing you correctly, and why the stock

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Speaker 3: price is you know, crashing and cretering here. You know

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Speaker 3: it is because they kind of on the back end

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Speaker 3: with their distribution. They really kind of, you know, they

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Speaker 3: failed to deliver. Talk to us a little bit about

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Speaker 3: that and how they can rectify the ship there if

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Speaker 3: at all.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, this goes back to the previous CEO, and then

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Speaker 5: I could hand it off to Lily from here, who

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Speaker 5: knows a whole lot about this. Back in Mark Parker's days,

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Speaker 5: we all know Mark Parker is the big set of genius,

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Speaker 5: the genius sneaker designer, revered by all who brought Nike

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Speaker 5: over the past of the prior fifteen years or so

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Speaker 5: to where it was before the pandemic pleted.

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Speaker 3: Philm Night sentences, Yeah, yeah, yeah.

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Speaker 5: He tried to move to more direct to consumer. Why

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Speaker 5: because you have better margins that way you cut out

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Speaker 5: the middleman, the middleman as the retailer. But he didn't

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Speaker 5: quite have the expertise as like the sneaker guy to

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Speaker 5: build up Nike's e commerce channels, their appose, those direct

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Speaker 5: ways of buying from Nike dot Com and the sneakers

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Speaker 5: app and everything. That's why they brought in John Donaho.

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Speaker 5: He's from eBay, from Bain. He used to run the

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Speaker 5: Baine West Coast office, Like he's the e commerce guy

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Speaker 5: and he was the one who could come in and

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Speaker 5: do that for Nike.

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Speaker 7: Yeah, So he tried to help Nike focus on their

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Speaker 7: online store. They wanted to prioritize their direct to consumer

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Speaker 7: sales selling sneakers and everything online, and so in mid

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Speaker 7: twenty twenty, he started to cut relationships with a lot

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Speaker 7: of their retailers, So with Bob Stores, with City Blue,

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Speaker 7: with ds W, the list goes on and on. He

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Speaker 7: pulled the sneakers off of the shelves, which is.

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Speaker 5: A really big Yeah. I mean foot Locker is its

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Speaker 5: biggest partner, yep, and Nike is Footlocker in both directions,

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Speaker 5: they're their biggest partners. They didn't remove all shoes from

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Speaker 5: foot Locker, but they reduced them. So what was seventy

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Speaker 5: five percent of all foot Locker purchases used to be Nike.

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Speaker 5: That went down to sixty five percent that or to

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Speaker 5: seventy percent, that went down to sixty percent a year later.

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Speaker 5: Like that's that's a major pullback. And some of these

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Speaker 5: other retailers are huge. It's like Macy's, Urban Outfitters, DSW.

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Speaker 5: As Lily just said, like these are huge retailers.

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Speaker 2: You could walk into the mall, you know back in

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Speaker 2: the day, you know when I had jet black hair,

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Speaker 2: and you could go and get a pair of Nikes anywhere.

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Speaker 2: And then it seems like John Donahoe decided, Hey, you

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Speaker 2: know what, let's cut out the middleman and let's try

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Speaker 2: to sell it ourselves. And that's when it seems like

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Speaker 2: it all went to hell in a.

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Speaker 5: Handbask exactly what happens to that shelf space space that

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Speaker 5: Nike vacates, right Suddenly it's empty, and those retailers are

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Speaker 5: looking around thinking, okay, well we have all this space

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Speaker 5: that Nike doesn't want anymore. We're gonna replace them with

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Speaker 5: every other brand, all of its competitors exactly. Yeah.

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Speaker 7: So then people could go into like a foot locker

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Speaker 7: and there's On and Hoka and Brooks and all these

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Speaker 7: other shoe companies that took up the space and caught

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Speaker 7: up with Nike because they had all these shelf space

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Speaker 7: and the major retailers.

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Speaker 2: A lot of the stuff that has happened with Nike.

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Speaker 2: There was a line in there from the employees Nike employees,

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Speaker 2: we love your business acumen Donahoe, but we don't like

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Speaker 2: your Bayeness Bayinus.

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Speaker 5: They do not like the Bayeness over there. A lot

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Speaker 5: of costcuting happened.

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Speaker 3: Let me take a step further, Pershing Square Blackman now

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Speaker 3: is a very large stake and a building stake in

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Speaker 3: the company. And we know how these sort of vulture investors,

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Speaker 3: you know, like to operate right like they like to

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Speaker 3: make change, you know, and you know, talk to us

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Speaker 3: a little bit about what comes next for Nike. Talk

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Speaker 3: to us about you know, where management is. You know

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Speaker 3: what kind of confidence the cherlds have in the company,

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Speaker 3: and you know whether or not they have the resources

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Speaker 3: to again to write the ship here.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean the question comes down to leadership at

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Speaker 5: this point and what the board decides to go forward with.

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Speaker 5: So in our story we report that John Donajo's contract

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Speaker 5: is up in January, when he is eligible to retire.

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Speaker 5: Now we don't know whether what decisions have been made

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Speaker 5: at this point, but whoever leads Nike going forward has

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Speaker 5: to rebuild those relationships with those retailers. Nike is already

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Speaker 5: starting to do that. The foot Locker CEO, there's a

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Speaker 5: new one from a couple years ago. Her name is

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Speaker 5: Mary Dylan, and she's been talking about how Nike and

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Speaker 5: foot Locker have been rebuilding that relationship that they're getting

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Speaker 5: more everytailer is getting more input and visibility into Nike's

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Speaker 5: future plans and the new shoes they're going to release

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Speaker 5: and things like that. So like that, there are steps

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Speaker 5: being made to revert a little bit of some of

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Speaker 5: the things that they've done.

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Speaker 2: You know, it's because listen, the man can run a business.

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Speaker 2: I can't even run a dagg on foster. But I mean,

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Speaker 2: I have to say that there was that point when

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Speaker 2: he was ready to cut more staff, and the speech

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Speaker 2: he gave into either Lily or Kim that this was

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Speaker 2: going to happen. It wasn't exactly a cuddly, come on

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Speaker 2: kumbay hug.

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Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean, Phil Knight had been known for making

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Speaker 7: these really amazing speeches. One employee even told us they

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Speaker 7: were sometimes brought to tears by the speeches. A former employee.

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Speaker 7: But yeah, I think people didn't quite like John's approach

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Speaker 7: and felt like, you know, he wasn't being that supportive

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Speaker 7: of them. And you know, there's this one kind of

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Speaker 7: now famous Zoom call where Donahoe got on and that

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Speaker 7: the chat blew up with employees, you know, calling for

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Speaker 7: him to step down criticizing him, which was like a

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Speaker 7: first in Nike history.

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Speaker 5: And like, during these layoffs, there was this video that

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Speaker 5: went viral among staff, Like so as they're packing up

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Speaker 5: their desks, people are sharing this thing around with each

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Speaker 5: other and it's it's the CEO from his old Silicon

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Speaker 5: Valley days talking about leadership on this little little panel

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Speaker 5: right with a VC firm, and firings came up, like

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Speaker 5: that topic, how do you deal with firings? And the

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Speaker 5: CEO's there and he's sipping from a little cand of Lacroix,

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Speaker 5: and he casually says, it just explains his philosophy. And

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Speaker 5: I'm gonna I'm going to read what he said from

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Speaker 5: that say, Okay, I have fired so many people in

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Speaker 5: my career. And when I say fired, remember I grew

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Speaker 5: up at Bain. For every ten people we hired, we

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Speaker 5: managed half out within two years. We managed seventy five

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Speaker 5: percent out within five. So I learned that there. And

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Speaker 5: you can't be afraid of that conversation.

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Speaker 2: Well, Damien, that was about as cuddly as a yeah.

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Speaker 3: I mean, I mean, look, you know, I just think

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Speaker 3: about you know, someone like Mary Dylan, who's the chairman

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Speaker 3: and CEO foot walker, and I wonder you know what

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Speaker 3: it's going to take, you know, to convince her to

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Speaker 3: be on size with you know the fact that, oh

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Speaker 3: we've found religion here. We need you guys again. You know,

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Speaker 3: it's post pandemic. You know people there's foot trafficate malls again.

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Speaker 3: You guys are in every mall. You know, we'd love

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Speaker 3: to put some Nikes on the shelves there. I mean,

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Speaker 3: you know, my question is also, I guess does Mary

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Speaker 3: Dylan see I guess a benefit here?

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 5: You got to remember, like in the first couple of

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Speaker 5: years here, everything it worked, like this strategy, Oh yeah

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Speaker 5: it was.

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Speaker 2: It worked.

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Speaker 5: It grew twenty five percent, Like Nike went the goal

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Speaker 5: was fifty billion. They set that goal years ago for

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Speaker 5: twenty twenty, and they were nowhere close by the time

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Speaker 5: they hired John Donahoe. So that's one reason he wanted

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Speaker 5: him to supercharge growth, right, and that's what he did.

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Speaker 5: Like these lifestyle sneakers are going crazy, and Nike did

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Speaker 5: get to fifty billion, but like at what cost?

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Speaker 2: Right?

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Speaker 5: And there's some happy medium here between Nike and its

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Speaker 5: retail partners where like everyone can can get a piece

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Speaker 5: of this.

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Speaker 2: Our thanks to Bloomberg's Kim Bessin and Lily Meyer for

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Speaker 2: joining us. Find their latest piece on Nike online at

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Speaker 2: Bloomberg dot com or on the Bloomberg terminal. It is

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Speaker 2: a great read up. Next, we turned to the WNBA

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Speaker 2: and the architectural and design firm behind a brand new

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Speaker 2: facility for the Phoenix Mercury. For my colleagues Damian Sasawer

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Speaker 2: and Scarlett Fu, I'm Michael Barr. You're listening to the

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Speaker 2: Bloomberg Business of Sports Bloomberg Radio around the world. Your

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Speaker 2: list name to Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.

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Speaker 2: This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports, where we explore

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Speaker 2: the big money issues the world of sports. Michael Barr.

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Speaker 2: The Phoenix Mercury are one of only three WNBA teams

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Speaker 2: that have a facility built exclusively for them. A majority

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Speaker 2: of WNBA teams and women's sports teams in general still

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Speaker 2: share arenas and facilities with men's teams. Gensler is a

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Speaker 2: global architecture, design and planning firm and the company behind

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Speaker 2: the new groundbreaking facility for the Mercury. My colleagues Damian Sassauer,

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Speaker 2: Bloomberg Original's Chief correspondent Jason Kelly and Bloomberg Original sports

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Speaker 2: correspondent Vanessa Perdomo got a chance to speak with Gensler

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Speaker 2: Studio director and senior associate Elizabeth Pritchett about the new

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Speaker 2: facility and how her firm is looking to close the

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Speaker 2: gender gap in sports by creating training centers designed for

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Speaker 2: women athletes. Let's listen in on that conversation.

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Speaker 3: So, Elizabeth, you have touched everything from the Chase Center

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Speaker 3: arena for the Golden State Warriors, the Cleveland Browns, well,

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Speaker 3: now it's called Huntington bank Field. You've done large scale

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Speaker 3: renos for Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. But I'd love

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Speaker 3: to hear what you're doing in Phoenix. I mean, there's

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Speaker 3: a certain nineteen sixties Cores brewing distribution center that is

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Speaker 3: now home to the Phoenix Mercury. I'm curious to hear

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Speaker 3: what that project look like. Can you tell us a

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Speaker 3: little bit more about it?

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Speaker 4: Yes, absolutely, it's really a game changer. Super excited to

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Speaker 4: jump into that, just real quick before doing so. For

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Speaker 4: listeners who are not familiar with Gensler, we're a global

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Speaker 4: architecture and design firm. You've all walked through. Probably you know,

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Speaker 4: hundreds of our projects. We've designed everything from sports buildings,

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Speaker 4: which we'll talk about a moment, to airports, hotels, et cetera.

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Speaker 4: Jumping into the Phoenix Mercury, you know, it's rare in

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Speaker 4: our in the profession that I'm in to be part

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Speaker 4: of a team of amazing designers and architects and quite

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Speaker 4: frankly owners, visionary owners who are really carrying the torch

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Speaker 4: for a new project type. This has been a long

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Speaker 4: time coming. What's happening both It started in Seattle with

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Speaker 4: the creation of the first ever women's WNBA practice facility,

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Speaker 4: then moved to the Aces Las Vegas Aces under the

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Speaker 4: leadership and visionary of Mike Davis, and then here in

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Speaker 4: Phoenix the project project that we're going to jump into.

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Speaker 4: Gensler designed and opened an incredible groundbreaking project in Phoenix

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Speaker 4: for the Phoenix Mercury. It opened in June. So I'm

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Speaker 4: happy to walk you through some of the how we

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Speaker 4: kind of got there. Does that helped?

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Speaker 8: Yeah, you know, I think for us, you know, yeah,

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Speaker 8: we'd love to hear how it got there. You know,

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Speaker 8: when you're thinking about how this all came together, Like

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Speaker 8: you said, it started with the Aces in the Storm

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Speaker 8: and Mark Davis over at the Aces is you know,

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Speaker 8: just this visionary owner for women's sports and really cool

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Speaker 8: to see those both be very standalone. But this is

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Speaker 8: a little bit different, right, This is a franchise that

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Speaker 8: also has an NBA team, and now they'll have their

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Speaker 8: own WNBA facility. So I'd love to hear how those

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Speaker 8: worked differently and how this one came together.

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Speaker 4: Well, a couple of things. I think the biggest thing

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Speaker 4: here for the Las Vegas Aces was really again having

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Speaker 4: at having at the foundation, really a desire to make

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Speaker 4: change quickly. Mattisb bought the Mercury in twenty twenty three

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Speaker 4: and made it a priority from the outset to create

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Speaker 4: this state of the art facility. He didn't want to

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Speaker 4: just sort of hit the bar. He wanted to exceed

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Speaker 4: the bar. And that really, you know, it really starts with,

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Speaker 4: of course, the talented athletes, but to think about think

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Speaker 4: about it this way, to go to a to go

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Speaker 4: to your job every day where you don't have an office,

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Speaker 4: how are you going to do your best? How are

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Speaker 4: you going to perform at your best?

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Speaker 5: And it's just.

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Speaker 4: Incredible to me that these athletes were going to work

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Speaker 4: every day and not having a place to do their jobs,

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Speaker 4: and so just at the most basic, you know, Matt,

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Speaker 4: Matt and Mike and some of the others said, we're

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Speaker 4: going to we're flipping the switch. We're going to do this,

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Speaker 4: we're going to do this, we're going to do this differently,

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Speaker 4: and we're going to make massive change. And so it

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Speaker 4: really started from that point of view. So there's just

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Speaker 4: a level of excellence that's desired from this team and

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Speaker 4: an expectation to perform at the highest level for both

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Speaker 4: the athletes. We were able to create a facility for

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Speaker 4: them to practice their craft, to be at the leading

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Speaker 4: edge of sport performance, and we were asked to sort

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Speaker 4: of step up to the table and really and really

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Speaker 4: did that. We're really proud of the facility that we built.

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Speaker 4: The players are thrilled to be able to you know,

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Speaker 4: come to work there every day, to call it their own,

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Speaker 4: and to have it be a place that really sets

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Speaker 4: the bar for women's not just well with the WNBA

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Speaker 4: and basketball, but the trend is going to be moving

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Speaker 4: this into other sports so that there's just continued equity

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Speaker 4: across the board.

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Speaker 9: Yeah, Elizabeth, you went exactly where I was hoping to go.

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Speaker 9: Next And we've all done a lot of work around this,

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Speaker 9: and Vanessa especially and I have looked at you know,

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Speaker 9: what's next in sports? We literally had a series around that,

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Speaker 9: and one of the things we featured was and Vanessa

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Speaker 9: went there the Kansas City facility that is the first

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Speaker 9: of its kind for women's soccer. And so you sort

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Speaker 9: of weave that into everything that you're saying. I would

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Speaker 9: love to understand I know our listeners would love to

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Speaker 9: understand the business case underneath this in terms of like,

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Speaker 9: does is this a response to more demand from fans?

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Speaker 9: Is it and sponsors and other sort of economic stakeholders,

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Speaker 9: here is this in anticipation? Like help us understand the

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Speaker 9: economics around these sorts of decisions as you're working with

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Speaker 9: these partners.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, so it's a really it's a really great, great question,

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Speaker 4: and I think it's nuanced. I think there's maybe a

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Speaker 4: couple of answers there. I think it's a little bit

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Speaker 4: of you know, the perfect storm, if you will, and

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Speaker 4: in a good way of different sort of synergies kind

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Speaker 4: of coming together. I think that you know, back to

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Speaker 4: matters Bee and the ownership, knowing that two things when

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Speaker 4: you're giving, when you're giving your employees and the athletes

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Speaker 4: the space they need to both be their physical best

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Speaker 4: their mental best. Just giving them a facility where they

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Speaker 4: can perform at the leading edge. They're going to be happier,

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Speaker 4: They're going to do their job better, They're going to

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Speaker 4: perform better. That of course coincides with you know, Caitlin

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Speaker 4: Clark and all of the I'm just talking specifically about

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Speaker 4: basketball here. You know, all of the hype and all

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Speaker 4: of the just the excitement around college basketball that's been

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Speaker 4: around for years for men, but to see that bleed

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Speaker 4: over into the women's side at the same time, really

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Speaker 4: I think helped propel and move this story forward a

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Speaker 4: little bit faster. I think this has been years in

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Speaker 4: the making. I mean, there has been amazing athletes performing

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Speaker 4: at the highest level in basketball and quite frankly in

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Speaker 4: all other sports, and they just are not getting the

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Speaker 4: front pages right. And so to now see you know,

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Speaker 4: investment to support the to support the talent of these

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Speaker 4: women athletes, to have them move forward like this is huge.

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Speaker 4: The business side of it. I think it's interesting because

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Speaker 4: they're the viewership is up, you know, the viewership is

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Speaker 4: up all around for college sports. There's a you know,

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Speaker 4: there's been a new business deal and you're going to

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Speaker 4: have to do your homework here. And because I don't

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Speaker 4: know the exact math, but right after this facility opened,

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Speaker 4: there was a viewership a deal where at the WMA

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Speaker 4: where they were you know, exceeded expectations in terms of

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Speaker 4: what that deal was, and part of that money then

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Speaker 4: funnels back into the athletes. So it's this kind of

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Speaker 4: circular thing, if you will.

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Speaker 8: I would like to get back to this really quick

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Speaker 8: about the training facility specifically. And you know, like we said,

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Speaker 8: you've worked on tons of other projects, you know, the

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Speaker 8: Chase Center and the LACFC, all these things, those are

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Speaker 8: men's specific projects. So for when you're working in a

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Speaker 8: female sports teams specific facility, how do you make that

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Speaker 8: different and tailor it to female athletes and what they want,

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Speaker 8: what they need, you know, because I'm assuming you know,

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Speaker 8: you guys talk to the players and things like that,

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Speaker 8: and we know that a lot of sports science isn't

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Speaker 8: dedicated to women. So how do you make this training

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Speaker 8: facility for them so they can perform at the best level.

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Speaker 4: You hit the nail on the head, you know, the

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Speaker 4: basic quality of men's and women's practice facilities. You know,

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Speaker 4: should should should be equal. You know, athletes of both

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Speaker 4: genders are both aspiring to the edge of human performance.

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Speaker 4: We have seen, however, that there are, through a lot

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Speaker 4: of questions and conversations and inquiry and digging with the

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Speaker 4: various women teams, that there are differences in terms of

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Speaker 4: needs and desires and wants, and so a lot of

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Speaker 4: the program as we call it in the in this field,

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Speaker 4: the sort of organization and how we think about putting

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Speaker 4: our buildings together, what the needs are, came from the conversations,

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Speaker 4: the fact finding, the question asking that we did of

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Speaker 4: the teams and the organizations, and every team's different. I

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Speaker 4: would say in general, there's a real folk for women

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Speaker 4: female athletes really on preparation, and that goes, you know,

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Speaker 4: back to mental preparation. Having rooms for mental health, you know,

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Speaker 4: quiet rooms or meditation rooms. Of course, there are nursing

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Speaker 4: and mother's rooms. That's a commonplace in a lot of

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Speaker 4: our buildings that we do these days, we've designed family lounges,

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Speaker 4: places for you know, family, for grandparents to hang out

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Speaker 4: and to be there with you know, perhaps some young children.

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Speaker 4: While practice is happening, we're seeing you know, places we're

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Speaker 4: seeing the desire. We're places to promote personal brands. So

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Speaker 4: so folks are you know, different athletes are sponsored. They

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Speaker 4: can you know, take a podcast conversation, you know. Then

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Speaker 4: of course top of the line nutrition, you know, nutrition,

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Speaker 4: the They oftentimes want the space the building to be

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Speaker 4: open twenty four to seven so that you know, these

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Speaker 4: athletes can come in and get the meal plan tailored

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Speaker 4: to their needs, their nutrition plan tailored to their needs

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Speaker 4: at any time of day. So really all of this

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Speaker 4: is to support top performance, and not top performance is

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Speaker 4: going to look different to different folks. There are you know,

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Speaker 4: underwater treadmills, there's cold and hot plunge pools, there's all

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Speaker 4: of those bells and whistles which are not even bells

434
00:24:20,480 --> 00:24:24,879
Speaker 4: and whistles there you know, there there needed components of

435
00:24:25,560 --> 00:24:28,720
Speaker 4: thriving and performing at the top. So those are all

436
00:24:29,080 --> 00:24:31,240
Speaker 4: you know, these are things that men off. Some of

437
00:24:31,320 --> 00:24:34,280
Speaker 4: these there are crossover with mail facilities, but I think

438
00:24:34,320 --> 00:24:36,600
Speaker 4: a lot of it was about how we organize the

439
00:24:36,640 --> 00:24:38,920
Speaker 4: building as well in terms of you know, is the

440
00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:41,639
Speaker 4: mother's room next to the grooming area, what are the

441
00:24:41,720 --> 00:24:44,560
Speaker 4: you know, down to having you know the right type

442
00:24:44,600 --> 00:24:47,159
Speaker 4: of hot tools for hair, What type of hot tools

443
00:24:47,200 --> 00:24:49,840
Speaker 4: do they prefer. Let's make everything built in think about it,

444
00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:52,359
Speaker 4: like you know, we designed these spaces like you would

445
00:24:52,440 --> 00:24:56,080
Speaker 4: your own beautiful bathroom space at home or where there's

446
00:24:56,119 --> 00:24:58,840
Speaker 4: a place for everything so when you get there, you

447
00:24:58,960 --> 00:25:01,600
Speaker 4: can feel your best and look your best and then

448
00:25:01,680 --> 00:25:03,080
Speaker 4: be your best on the court.

449
00:25:03,720 --> 00:25:08,520
Speaker 2: That's Elizabeth Pritchett. She's studio director and senior associate for Gensler,

450
00:25:08,960 --> 00:25:11,840
Speaker 2: the firm behind the state of the art training facility

451
00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:15,280
Speaker 2: and headquarters for the Phoenix Mercury, speaking with my colleagues

452
00:25:15,359 --> 00:25:20,440
Speaker 2: Damian Sassaur, Bloomberg Originals Chief Correspondent Jason Kelly, and Bloomberg

453
00:25:20,480 --> 00:25:24,600
Speaker 2: Original Sports Correspondent Vanessa Pernomo. Up next, we look ahead

454
00:25:24,640 --> 00:25:28,360
Speaker 2: to the start of the NHL's season with the Florida Panthers,

455
00:25:29,760 --> 00:25:34,720
Speaker 2: President CEO of the team Alternate Governor Matt Caldwell. I'm

456
00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:37,320
Speaker 2: Michael Barr. You're listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports

457
00:25:37,320 --> 00:25:52,040
Speaker 2: from Bloomberg Radio. Around the world, you're listening to Bloomberg

458
00:25:52,200 --> 00:25:56,960
Speaker 2: Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio. Thanks for joining us

459
00:25:57,000 --> 00:25:59,240
Speaker 2: on the Bloomberg Business of Sports, where we explore the

460
00:25:59,240 --> 00:26:02,680
Speaker 2: big money issue the world sports Michael Barr. The reignings,

461
00:26:02,800 --> 00:26:06,800
Speaker 2: Staning League Cup winning Florida Panthers are ready to start

462
00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:07,800
Speaker 2: another season.

463
00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:11,200
Speaker 9: Florida try to end it up against the law, which

464
00:26:11,240 --> 00:26:13,920
Speaker 9: would be fit three seconds.

465
00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:13,720
Speaker 6: To go.

466
00:26:15,640 --> 00:26:17,200
Speaker 4: The Florida Panthers.

467
00:26:17,640 --> 00:26:19,280
Speaker 3: How Florida Scarlet Cup.

468
00:26:20,280 --> 00:26:23,480
Speaker 2: The club's pre season opener is this weekend and the

469
00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:27,359
Speaker 2: regular season kicks off in early October. To talk about

470
00:26:27,440 --> 00:26:32,040
Speaker 2: the team's recent success and the preview the upcoming NHL season,

471
00:26:32,440 --> 00:26:36,760
Speaker 2: my colleagues Damian Sasaur and Scarlett fu spoke with Florida

472
00:26:36,840 --> 00:26:42,440
Speaker 2: Panthers President, CEO and alternate governor Matt Caldwell. Let's take

473
00:26:42,480 --> 00:26:43,840
Speaker 2: a listen in on that conversation.

474
00:26:45,359 --> 00:26:48,720
Speaker 1: You guys won your first ever Sailing Cup championship. Of

475
00:26:48,840 --> 00:26:52,760
Speaker 1: course you'd been in the playoffs pretty consistently. Talk about

476
00:26:53,160 --> 00:26:56,399
Speaker 1: how the organization is feeling heading into this next season.

477
00:26:57,680 --> 00:27:00,359
Speaker 6: Oh, listen with feeling great. I think anyone coming off

478
00:27:00,400 --> 00:27:04,000
Speaker 6: of Stanley Cup win is still on cloud nine. We

479
00:27:04,160 --> 00:27:07,840
Speaker 6: certainly are. It's you know, it's been a long time

480
00:27:07,920 --> 00:27:12,280
Speaker 6: coming for the franchise. We won our thirtieth year in existence.

481
00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:16,200
Speaker 6: Our ownership brought the team about ten years ago, and

482
00:27:16,920 --> 00:27:19,240
Speaker 6: you know, if your all hockey fans out there. It

483
00:27:19,359 --> 00:27:24,399
Speaker 6: was a massive turnaround situation with the team, and it

484
00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:26,879
Speaker 6: was we went through some tough years early on to

485
00:27:27,200 --> 00:27:29,400
Speaker 6: get it going in the right direction. But this last

486
00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:32,240
Speaker 6: five years we've consistently been in the playoffs. We went

487
00:27:32,280 --> 00:27:34,520
Speaker 6: to the Cup finals two years ago, got a taste

488
00:27:34,560 --> 00:27:37,479
Speaker 6: of it. But now that we've won it, we were

489
00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:40,280
Speaker 6: so proud of the players and the staff and the market.

490
00:27:40,480 --> 00:27:43,520
Speaker 6: The market is just on fire with hockey. They're so

491
00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:47,480
Speaker 6: excited about the team, and it's just it's wonderful that,

492
00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:50,400
Speaker 6: you know, we've created a hockey town in South Florida.

493
00:27:50,800 --> 00:27:53,600
Speaker 3: Matt you joined the Florida Panthers back in twenty fourteen.

494
00:27:53,720 --> 00:27:56,119
Speaker 3: I mean, what a decade it's been for you. You

495
00:27:56,359 --> 00:27:59,159
Speaker 3: are a former West Point cadet, you served time in

496
00:27:59,240 --> 00:28:01,960
Speaker 3: the US Army. You and Vinnie Viola, the owner of

497
00:28:02,240 --> 00:28:04,360
Speaker 3: the Florida Panthers. Talk to us about how the two

498
00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:06,639
Speaker 3: of you together have built this championship team. Talk to

499
00:28:06,760 --> 00:28:09,760
Speaker 3: us about the success of GM bil Zito bringing in

500
00:28:09,800 --> 00:28:12,480
Speaker 3: head coach Paul Maurice. Talk to us about the team,

501
00:28:12,920 --> 00:28:14,560
Speaker 3: the structure and what comes next.

502
00:28:14,920 --> 00:28:16,879
Speaker 6: Yeah, you know, so when Vinnie, you know, as you

503
00:28:16,920 --> 00:28:20,800
Speaker 6: mentioned Vinnie's a West Point graduate myself as well as

504
00:28:21,520 --> 00:28:23,919
Speaker 6: graduate of the academy two thousand and two, and when

505
00:28:23,960 --> 00:28:26,280
Speaker 6: he bought the team, you know, we knew that there

506
00:28:26,359 --> 00:28:28,159
Speaker 6: was a lot of things that we had to do

507
00:28:28,240 --> 00:28:31,119
Speaker 6: on the ice, you know, finding the right roster and

508
00:28:31,520 --> 00:28:34,600
Speaker 6: finding the right you know, GM and coach. But but

509
00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:37,800
Speaker 6: you know, putting that aside, you know, starting with the

510
00:28:37,920 --> 00:28:40,080
Speaker 6: culture that we wanted to establish. You know, given our

511
00:28:40,120 --> 00:28:45,280
Speaker 6: military experience everything, you all know, teamwork and hard work

512
00:28:45,440 --> 00:28:49,320
Speaker 6: and you know, always putting the fans first, you know,

513
00:28:49,560 --> 00:28:52,720
Speaker 6: finding people that are aligned with that kind of mindset.

514
00:28:52,840 --> 00:28:54,560
Speaker 6: You know that that's what we stated from day one

515
00:28:54,680 --> 00:28:57,280
Speaker 6: that you know, we were going to bring respect back

516
00:28:57,360 --> 00:29:01,200
Speaker 6: into the organization. There's an earlier that the team was

517
00:29:01,240 --> 00:29:04,520
Speaker 6: really struggling before the Viola ownership, So there was a

518
00:29:04,560 --> 00:29:06,239
Speaker 6: lot of work to do in the community with our

519
00:29:06,320 --> 00:29:08,760
Speaker 6: fan base, and you know, we promised them that we

520
00:29:08,760 --> 00:29:11,160
Speaker 6: would build a winner. We didn't know, you know, when

521
00:29:11,240 --> 00:29:13,160
Speaker 6: we would win the Stanley Cup, but we promised that

522
00:29:13,240 --> 00:29:16,760
Speaker 6: we would just always have conviction and be relentless in

523
00:29:16,880 --> 00:29:21,000
Speaker 6: that pursuit. And then you know, after you know, you know, learning,

524
00:29:21,200 --> 00:29:23,920
Speaker 6: you know, learning sports ownership was the first time Vinnie

525
00:29:23,960 --> 00:29:25,280
Speaker 6: was at least a majority owner.

526
00:29:25,880 --> 00:29:26,000
Speaker 2: Uh.

527
00:29:26,320 --> 00:29:29,080
Speaker 6: You know in hockey, you know, it took us some

528
00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:32,920
Speaker 6: time to find the right hockey expert. And you know

529
00:29:33,040 --> 00:29:37,400
Speaker 6: when when COVID hit, we led a GM search process

530
00:29:37,560 --> 00:29:40,320
Speaker 6: and found Bill Zito, who's been you know, the best

531
00:29:40,360 --> 00:29:43,200
Speaker 6: hire we've ever made. Uh and you know these last

532
00:29:43,240 --> 00:29:45,920
Speaker 6: five years, and his watch had been just phenomenal. And

533
00:29:46,600 --> 00:29:49,800
Speaker 6: he also led us to coach Maurice and that combination

534
00:29:49,960 --> 00:29:53,600
Speaker 6: has just been absolutely transformational to the hockey side.

535
00:29:53,840 --> 00:29:55,560
Speaker 3: Man, I just need to follow up here. I'm such

536
00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:57,920
Speaker 3: a big Vinnie Viola fan. For those who don't know,

537
00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:00,280
Speaker 3: he's the founder and chairman of Virtue Financial. I mean

538
00:30:00,400 --> 00:30:03,000
Speaker 3: he uh, you know, he's just an amazing chap. And

539
00:30:03,120 --> 00:30:05,560
Speaker 3: he's a tough, tough chap. You know, he was born

540
00:30:05,600 --> 00:30:08,840
Speaker 3: here in Bklyn. He's an Italian, you know, American. You know,

541
00:30:08,920 --> 00:30:11,840
Speaker 3: he's he's tough, you know, and you know, talk about tough.

542
00:30:11,920 --> 00:30:14,080
Speaker 3: I mean the man, you know, cut his teeth trading

543
00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:16,240
Speaker 3: oil on the NIMEX, where he eventually rose to be

544
00:30:16,400 --> 00:30:18,000
Speaker 3: you know, I think chairman at one point. I mean,

545
00:30:18,880 --> 00:30:21,600
Speaker 3: how did that experience? I mean, you you've worked closely

546
00:30:21,680 --> 00:30:23,640
Speaker 3: with him being an oil trader on the floor of

547
00:30:23,680 --> 00:30:26,400
Speaker 3: the Imax. How does he take that skill set and

548
00:30:26,520 --> 00:30:27,959
Speaker 3: translate into the Florida Panthers.

549
00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:33,760
Speaker 6: Well, listen, he's he's a serial entrepreneur at heart. As

550
00:30:33,800 --> 00:30:35,520
Speaker 6: you said, he you know, he started his at least

551
00:30:35,560 --> 00:30:38,240
Speaker 6: his civilian career, you know, on the on the trading floor,

552
00:30:38,560 --> 00:30:42,760
Speaker 6: very rough and humble environment, which was wasn't wasn't very

553
00:30:42,840 --> 00:30:46,480
Speaker 6: different from his military experience. But he you know, he

554
00:30:46,600 --> 00:30:49,760
Speaker 6: learned a lot about business. He went on to launch

555
00:30:50,040 --> 00:30:53,560
Speaker 6: a number of companies and you know that's part of

556
00:30:53,560 --> 00:30:57,320
Speaker 6: the reason why he wound up naming me CEO, is

557
00:30:57,920 --> 00:31:00,600
Speaker 6: you know, for a market like South Florida, which is

558
00:31:00,720 --> 00:31:04,360
Speaker 6: not New York, doesn't have you know, generations and generations

559
00:31:04,400 --> 00:31:07,320
Speaker 6: and fans. You know, when he bought the team, it

560
00:31:07,400 --> 00:31:10,640
Speaker 6: was only twenty years old, which in sports is feels

561
00:31:10,680 --> 00:31:13,479
Speaker 6: like it's you know, maybe just a level above an

562
00:31:13,480 --> 00:31:16,680
Speaker 6: expansion team. So you know, there was a lot to

563
00:31:16,800 --> 00:31:20,080
Speaker 6: clean up. And you know, he said from the beginning, like,

564
00:31:20,480 --> 00:31:23,800
Speaker 6: you know, we're committed to excellence. We're never going to

565
00:31:23,840 --> 00:31:26,960
Speaker 6: take you know, failure or no for an answer, and

566
00:31:28,160 --> 00:31:30,800
Speaker 6: you know he just demanded it every single day, every

567
00:31:30,800 --> 00:31:34,400
Speaker 6: single season, you know, he wanted to He wanted to

568
00:31:34,440 --> 00:31:36,520
Speaker 6: be the New York Rangers, you know today, not not

569
00:31:36,640 --> 00:31:38,760
Speaker 6: in ten years. And he just kept that that mindset

570
00:31:39,560 --> 00:31:42,480
Speaker 6: from day one. And and you know, he sets the

571
00:31:42,560 --> 00:31:46,200
Speaker 6: tone and you know, we you know, you know, sometimes

572
00:31:46,240 --> 00:31:49,000
Speaker 6: you can hire you know, typical, you know, industry types,

573
00:31:49,160 --> 00:31:52,640
Speaker 6: people that have been experienced in bigger markets. But after

574
00:31:52,680 --> 00:31:55,360
Speaker 6: a few years owning the team, he figured, listen, I

575
00:31:55,480 --> 00:31:58,360
Speaker 6: have someone that you know, that he trusted in myself.

576
00:31:58,440 --> 00:32:00,400
Speaker 6: I was working in his family office. I also have

577
00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:03,480
Speaker 6: a finance background. I worked at Goldman Sachs and and

578
00:32:03,600 --> 00:32:06,480
Speaker 6: he said, you know, you'll you'll at least be able

579
00:32:06,520 --> 00:32:09,680
Speaker 6: to establish the culture and run the financials like the

580
00:32:09,720 --> 00:32:12,520
Speaker 6: way I like to see things, because you know, ultimately,

581
00:32:12,720 --> 00:32:15,080
Speaker 6: you know, we're you know, we have to be you know,

582
00:32:15,120 --> 00:32:17,320
Speaker 6: at least break even and profitable. We have to be

583
00:32:17,440 --> 00:32:20,520
Speaker 6: smart and make good fiscal decisions. And you know, you'll

584
00:32:20,600 --> 00:32:23,320
Speaker 6: find the right people on the hockey side, right we

585
00:32:23,400 --> 00:32:26,479
Speaker 6: don't want myself and any drafting players or trading players.

586
00:32:26,560 --> 00:32:28,360
Speaker 6: You know, of course, we want to provide some input,

587
00:32:28,440 --> 00:32:31,320
Speaker 6: but ultimately we want to hire the right people to

588
00:32:31,400 --> 00:32:33,080
Speaker 6: guide us on the hockey side. And that's that's what

589
00:32:33,240 --> 00:32:36,240
Speaker 6: led us to build Zo and Paul Maurice and they've

590
00:32:36,440 --> 00:32:39,400
Speaker 6: they've just fit perfectly into our culture. And you have

591
00:32:39,560 --> 00:32:42,080
Speaker 6: to you have to find folks that want to communicate

592
00:32:42,280 --> 00:32:46,200
Speaker 6: that are all about, you know, being themselves and putting

593
00:32:46,200 --> 00:32:48,800
Speaker 6: their ego aside and putting the team first. And that's

594
00:32:48,840 --> 00:32:50,960
Speaker 6: not always the case, especially in sports. You know, it's

595
00:32:50,960 --> 00:32:53,840
Speaker 6: there's a lot of a lot of big egos. But

596
00:32:54,240 --> 00:32:57,200
Speaker 6: the Bill and Paul, you know, exemplified that. And obviously

597
00:32:57,640 --> 00:32:59,920
Speaker 6: our hockey expertise is second to none.

598
00:33:00,600 --> 00:33:03,920
Speaker 1: So Matt I got to ask you you talk about

599
00:33:03,960 --> 00:33:06,840
Speaker 1: this culture of excellence that you and the owner have

600
00:33:06,920 --> 00:33:10,720
Speaker 1: put together through the Panthers organization. Florida has become this

601
00:33:11,320 --> 00:33:15,880
Speaker 1: really big hotbed of hockey in the last twenty thirty years.

602
00:33:16,080 --> 00:33:18,920
Speaker 1: The Tampa Bay Lightning, which are based in central Florida

603
00:33:19,080 --> 00:33:21,720
Speaker 1: in Tampa, won the Cup in twenty four, twenty twenty

604
00:33:21,760 --> 00:33:24,240
Speaker 1: and twenty twenty one. You guys just won the Cup

605
00:33:24,280 --> 00:33:27,720
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty four. Talk a little bit about how

606
00:33:27,840 --> 00:33:32,680
Speaker 1: you split up the Florida market. How do you build

607
00:33:32,680 --> 00:33:35,320
Speaker 1: a hockey culture from nothing? Yes, we know there are

608
00:33:35,320 --> 00:33:37,680
Speaker 1: a lot of transplants from the Northeast in the state

609
00:33:37,720 --> 00:33:41,000
Speaker 1: of Florida. But you are creating a hockey culture from

610
00:33:41,040 --> 00:33:43,880
Speaker 1: scratch in many ways. How do you do that with

611
00:33:44,720 --> 00:33:46,920
Speaker 1: the Lightning and how do you guys kind of divvy

612
00:33:47,040 --> 00:33:47,480
Speaker 1: up the state.

613
00:33:48,840 --> 00:33:51,720
Speaker 6: Yeah, well, first and foremost, I mean there are you know,

614
00:33:51,800 --> 00:33:55,600
Speaker 6: the Lightning are our art rival like on the ice,

615
00:33:55,720 --> 00:33:58,400
Speaker 6: but we have such deep respect for them and what

616
00:33:58,520 --> 00:34:02,800
Speaker 6: they've accomplished. Jeff Finnick is an incredible owner. And a

617
00:34:03,040 --> 00:34:05,000
Speaker 6: quick little stat for you. You know, the Stanley Cup

618
00:34:05,040 --> 00:34:07,280
Speaker 6: has been in Florida the last five years. You know,

619
00:34:07,360 --> 00:34:09,759
Speaker 6: you mentioned, you know, two of the Cup wins that

620
00:34:09,840 --> 00:34:11,879
Speaker 6: the Lightning had. They also went to a third Cup

621
00:34:12,200 --> 00:34:13,879
Speaker 6: they wind up losing, but they were in the Cup

622
00:34:13,920 --> 00:34:16,319
Speaker 6: three straight years, and then you know, two seasons ago

623
00:34:16,360 --> 00:34:18,319
Speaker 6: we went to the Cup, lost to Vegas, and then

624
00:34:18,360 --> 00:34:20,880
Speaker 6: we won this last year. So I would have never

625
00:34:21,160 --> 00:34:23,439
Speaker 6: imagined that, you know, being a hockey fan all my life,

626
00:34:23,520 --> 00:34:27,120
Speaker 6: that the Stanley Cup would would travel through Florida, you know,

627
00:34:27,239 --> 00:34:29,960
Speaker 6: five straight years. So they've always been you know, they've

628
00:34:29,960 --> 00:34:33,640
Speaker 6: always been a great example for us, and we talk

629
00:34:33,719 --> 00:34:36,799
Speaker 6: to them all the time and share best practices as

630
00:34:36,840 --> 00:34:38,839
Speaker 6: far as splitting up the market. You know, the league

631
00:34:38,920 --> 00:34:43,360
Speaker 6: rules we're only able to market around you know, a

632
00:34:43,440 --> 00:34:46,920
Speaker 6: seventy five mile radius around our arena to kind of

633
00:34:46,960 --> 00:34:51,760
Speaker 6: give us like that exclusive, exclusive territory. So just naturally,

634
00:34:52,080 --> 00:34:54,960
Speaker 6: you know, they're more you know, Tampa Orlando focused. We're

635
00:34:55,000 --> 00:34:59,200
Speaker 6: more you know, Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale and Miami focused. However,

636
00:34:59,280 --> 00:35:03,759
Speaker 6: that being said, both those areas are highly traveled, big

637
00:35:03,840 --> 00:35:08,560
Speaker 6: tourist destinations. So when we play the Rangers, for example,

638
00:35:08,640 --> 00:35:10,960
Speaker 6: and the New York New Yorkers come to those games,

639
00:35:12,440 --> 00:35:14,480
Speaker 6: you know, they of course they wear their Ranger jerseys,

640
00:35:14,680 --> 00:35:17,279
Speaker 6: but but we still you know, get to meet them,

641
00:35:17,560 --> 00:35:20,280
Speaker 6: you know, try to encourage them to come to Panther games,

642
00:35:20,640 --> 00:35:23,000
Speaker 6: especially if they're you know, snowbirds or maybe they have

643
00:35:23,040 --> 00:35:24,880
Speaker 6: a house here or they live here. We say, you

644
00:35:24,920 --> 00:35:27,040
Speaker 6: know what, we understand you're gonna wear you know, a

645
00:35:27,120 --> 00:35:29,520
Speaker 6: Rangers jersey when the when New York is here, But

646
00:35:29,560 --> 00:35:31,920
Speaker 6: there's forty other games that you can come to and

647
00:35:32,120 --> 00:35:34,319
Speaker 6: and and support us. And you know what, that's worked

648
00:35:34,400 --> 00:35:37,479
Speaker 6: because when someone you know, hockey is a die hard

649
00:35:38,480 --> 00:35:42,319
Speaker 6: fan base and you know the you know, it's it's

650
00:35:42,360 --> 00:35:44,880
Speaker 6: it's smaller than like the NFL or the NBA, but

651
00:35:45,560 --> 00:35:47,879
Speaker 6: the ones that love hockey. You know, they love any

652
00:35:47,920 --> 00:35:49,840
Speaker 6: kind of brand of hockey as long as it's competitive.

653
00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:56,280
Speaker 6: So you get them for but you give them exactly yeah, exactly.

654
00:35:56,520 --> 00:35:58,200
Speaker 3: Well, Matt, you know, this is the business of sports,

655
00:35:58,239 --> 00:35:59,680
Speaker 3: so I have to ask you a little bit about

656
00:35:59,680 --> 00:36:02,040
Speaker 3: the business of running the Florida Panthers. We know you

657
00:36:02,120 --> 00:36:04,800
Speaker 3: guys have absolutely crushed it in terms of attendance of

658
00:36:04,880 --> 00:36:07,360
Speaker 3: twenty five percent over the last two years, ticket revenue

659
00:36:07,360 --> 00:36:11,000
Speaker 3: of fifty percent, corporate partnerships revenue. I mean, you changed

660
00:36:11,000 --> 00:36:12,640
Speaker 3: the name of the stadium. But I need to ask

661
00:36:12,719 --> 00:36:15,239
Speaker 3: you about some of these big projects you guys have

662
00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:19,399
Speaker 3: been involved with, the revitalization of the War Memorial Auditorium,

663
00:36:19,600 --> 00:36:21,840
Speaker 3: the pract new practice facility you guys built. Talk to

664
00:36:21,920 --> 00:36:25,040
Speaker 3: us a little bit about those, about those things and

665
00:36:25,280 --> 00:36:26,760
Speaker 3: the challenges in getting them up and running.

666
00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:31,000
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, the practice facility was so important for

667
00:36:31,040 --> 00:36:34,560
Speaker 6: a number of reasons because the Panthers traditionally, you know,

668
00:36:34,680 --> 00:36:39,719
Speaker 6: before the Biola family came in, you know, players looked

669
00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:42,160
Speaker 6: at the team as you know, a place that you

670
00:36:42,280 --> 00:36:45,640
Speaker 6: can go and enjoy your lifestyle. You can go play golf,

671
00:36:45,680 --> 00:36:48,239
Speaker 6: you can go to the beach at beautiful hospitality, but

672
00:36:49,000 --> 00:36:50,600
Speaker 6: you know, you're probably not going to win on the ice,

673
00:36:50,640 --> 00:36:52,000
Speaker 6: but at least you have a good life, you know,

674
00:36:52,160 --> 00:36:54,160
Speaker 6: off the ice. And we had to change that whole.

675
00:36:55,040 --> 00:36:57,320
Speaker 6: We called it like a country club, you know, mentality.

676
00:36:58,440 --> 00:37:02,000
Speaker 6: And Bill Zito when he came in, he coined this

677
00:37:02,200 --> 00:37:06,480
Speaker 6: phrase that we want to be a destination franchise, which is, yes,

678
00:37:06,600 --> 00:37:08,920
Speaker 6: you're going to come here and live comfortably, but you're

679
00:37:08,920 --> 00:37:10,440
Speaker 6: also going to win and be a part of a

680
00:37:10,480 --> 00:37:13,360
Speaker 6: first class organization. You're gonna have the history of the

681
00:37:13,400 --> 00:37:16,359
Speaker 6: big teams and the commitment to excellence, but you're also

682
00:37:16,440 --> 00:37:19,239
Speaker 6: going to be able to have a great lifestyle, like

683
00:37:19,280 --> 00:37:22,520
Speaker 6: I said, off the ice. And we've really, you know,

684
00:37:23,040 --> 00:37:26,320
Speaker 6: we've really you know pursued that and have pushed that

685
00:37:26,400 --> 00:37:29,520
Speaker 6: agenda and building a brand new, state of the art

686
00:37:29,640 --> 00:37:33,239
Speaker 6: practice facility. We just opened it during last season. All

687
00:37:33,320 --> 00:37:36,640
Speaker 6: the opposing teams practiced there, you know, opposing gms you know,

688
00:37:36,760 --> 00:37:39,319
Speaker 6: come through and check it out. But it's a message, right,

689
00:37:39,440 --> 00:37:42,000
Speaker 6: It's a message to the league that like, we're serious

690
00:37:42,200 --> 00:37:44,080
Speaker 6: and you know, we're committed to be in first class.

691
00:37:44,480 --> 00:37:48,600
Speaker 2: That's Matt Caldwell. He's President, CEO and alternate governor for

692
00:37:48,800 --> 00:37:52,040
Speaker 2: the NHL's Florida Panthers. He spoke with my coll league

693
00:37:52,040 --> 00:37:55,239
Speaker 2: Scarlett Fou and Damian sas hour. Now, have you missed

694
00:37:55,360 --> 00:37:58,480
Speaker 2: any part of that conversation or any others from the

695
00:37:58,560 --> 00:38:02,560
Speaker 2: show today, check out on the Bloomberg Business of Sports podcast.

696
00:38:03,080 --> 00:38:07,719
Speaker 2: Find that on Apples, Spotify and all your favorite podcast platforms.

697
00:38:08,080 --> 00:38:10,440
Speaker 2: And that does it for this edition of The Bloomberg

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00:38:10,520 --> 00:38:14,279
Speaker 2: Business of Sports for my colleague Scarlett Food, Damien Sassauer,

699
00:38:14,400 --> 00:38:19,839
Speaker 2: and Bloomberg Originals sports correspondent The NASA Berdomo. I'm Michael Barr.

700
00:38:20,080 --> 00:38:21,880
Speaker 2: Tune in again next week for the latest on the

701
00:38:21,920 --> 00:38:25,359
Speaker 2: stories moving big money in the world of sports. You're

702
00:38:25,440 --> 00:38:29,160
Speaker 2: listening to The Bloomberg Business of Sports Bloomberger Radio around

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00:38:29,239 --> 00:38:29,720
Speaker 2: the world.