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Speaker 8: Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 7: This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports show. We explore
Speaker 7: the big money issues in the world of sports.
Speaker 8: Michael Barr and I'm an insas Hour Scarlett.
Speaker 7: We'll be back later on Coming Up, we check in
Speaker 7: on the latest episode of the Deal with Alex Rodriguez
Speaker 7: and Jason Kelly. Plus we head to Chicago. The Bears
Speaker 7: have their new QB and now they're hoping to have
Speaker 7: a brand new stadium. All that and more is straight
Speaker 7: Ahead on the Bloomberg Business of Sports. But we start
Speaker 7: with the NFL and the draft.
Speaker 9: With the first pick in the twenty twenty four NFL Draft,
Speaker 9: the Chicago Bears select Caleb Williams, quarterback.
Speaker 7: Tell the California that's USC quarterback Caleb Williams going number
Speaker 7: one overall. Jump starting this year's draft. To take us
Speaker 7: through everything that happened draft night, where things stand for
Speaker 7: the league, we welcome NFL Network analyst and former NFL
Speaker 7: head coach Brian Bellick. Brian, welcome to the Bloomberg Business
Speaker 7: of Sports.
Speaker 3: Thank you for having me. Always an exciting time. We're
Speaker 3: talking about adding talent into the NFL.
Speaker 7: Yeah, well, my first thought, what do you think about
Speaker 7: the draft?
Speaker 3: Well, first you got to you gotta what a spectacular event.
Speaker 3: I mean, over seven hundred people in Detroit. I don't know, broken.
Speaker 3: It's amazing to me that the ratings on particularly that
Speaker 3: first night, they upwards of twelve thirteen million people. That's
Speaker 3: more than the NBA or NHL playoff games. Games. And
Speaker 3: now I sound like Alan Igerson, but we're talking about games, right,
Speaker 3: compared to a show that's nothing more than really making
Speaker 3: a list. So you know, the energy and the interest
Speaker 3: in it is. It's unbelievable, Brian.
Speaker 8: I mean, you are right in Michael Barr's warehouse talking
Speaker 8: about Detroit, the city of Detroit. I mean, oh my god,
Speaker 8: I have a tear in my eye thinking about it.
Speaker 8: But you know, let's go through the draft. I mean,
Speaker 8: some winners, some losers. I mean I'm looking at the
Speaker 8: Eagles and Chiefs and they look stronger to me on paper.
Speaker 8: And then you've got some of the other teams out there,
Speaker 8: the Falcons, the Raiders, the Vikings, all of them are
Speaker 8: taking quarterback. But you know, I look back at what
Speaker 8: they've done and I'm like, what is going on here, Brian,
Speaker 8: help us out.
Speaker 3: Well, any time you bring that many quarterbacks and this
Speaker 3: was a record number of quarter taken in the first
Speaker 3: twelve picks. The thing that I always look at and
Speaker 3: beyond whether it's the right pick or none, and whether
Speaker 3: it's going to be good or not. I mean, tradition
Speaker 3: tells us that fifty percent of these guys are going
Speaker 3: to fail. And that's just the way it is in
Speaker 3: the NFL, which is amazing. You think of the analytics
Speaker 3: and the experience we have, but it's such unique position
Speaker 3: and when you're taking six guys in the first twelve picks. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it increases the numbers. And what it does is it
Speaker 3: pushed a lot of really good football players down to
Speaker 3: the draft, down further than the draft guys that you
Speaker 3: would nowhere in a million years. You're a Jet fan.
Speaker 3: They got that good tackle from Penn State. There's no
Speaker 3: way he's outside of a top ten pick on a
Speaker 3: normal year. But because of the quarterbacks and the receivers
Speaker 3: that were taken, you had guys like that push down.
Speaker 3: Brock Bauers from Georgia gets pushed down to the Raiders.
Speaker 3: The big rush edge guy Dallas Turner gets pushed to
Speaker 3: the Vikings at number seventeen. I mean, there's no way
Speaker 3: in a normal draft that a talent like Dallas Turner
Speaker 3: is going to get pushed down to the seventeenth pick.
Speaker 3: So this was a really good, solid draft for a
Speaker 3: lot of teams, not the least of which is the
Speaker 3: fact is that quarterbacks receivers push so many good players
Speaker 3: down the draft board.
Speaker 7: Let's go back to nineteen seventy seven and you were
Speaker 7: selected eleventh in the eleventh round by the San Francisco
Speaker 7: forty nine ers. My wife would love that. By the
Speaker 7: way that's her team. But my goodness, from nineteen seventy
Speaker 7: seven until today, I can't eat. This is going to
Speaker 7: sound like a simple thing question, But how much has
Speaker 7: it changed the NFL Draft?
Speaker 3: You know, it's interesting, certainly obviously, and there's there weren't
Speaker 3: even eleven round you know, back then. Now I would
Speaker 3: be an undrafted free agent right because it only goes
Speaker 3: through the top seven rounds and then and then you
Speaker 3: get into a whole nother layer of it. I think
Speaker 3: the biggest change the game itself the evaluation of talent. Certainly,
Speaker 3: like everything, it's be become more mechanized, it's become more
Speaker 3: data driven. But at the end of the day, it
Speaker 3: still is that combination that art, science of experience, intuition
Speaker 3: along with the data in choosing these players. The difference
Speaker 3: is the attention. We just talked about the draft. There
Speaker 3: are so many people focused into draft, better than sixty
Speaker 3: million people over the three days, and they're all fantasy
Speaker 3: league driven guys. My eight year old grandson can sit
Speaker 3: here and tell you every team, every quarterback, receiver, running
Speaker 3: back what he did. And so everybody is so focused
Speaker 3: on these players coming in because they're getting cranked up
Speaker 3: for the fantasy league. That interest and the level of
Speaker 3: interest is it's why the NFL just blows the doors
Speaker 3: off any other league.
Speaker 8: So, Brian, fast forward. My son is nineteen years old,
Speaker 8: and believe me, he was playing fantasy since he can crawl.
Speaker 8: And he is the one who brought it to my attention. Right,
Speaker 8: are you ready for this? Joe Burrow's record setting deal
Speaker 8: with the Bengals pays him fifty five million a year
Speaker 8: in Cincinnati to be their quarterback. And then you've got
Speaker 8: Caleb Williams, who's going to be the highest paid rookie
Speaker 8: out of this year's class, obviously quarterback USC He's going
Speaker 8: to be making eight million a season. So here's the
Speaker 8: deal that differential. I mean, my son's explained it. He's
Speaker 8: like Dad, the Texans have CJ.
Speaker 7: Stroud.
Speaker 2: You don't understand they can shoot for the moon.
Speaker 8: And so explain to me and our audience a little
Speaker 8: bit about that concept of these teams like the Jets
Speaker 8: a few years back spent breaking the bank for a quarterback,
Speaker 8: only to release him a few years later for pennies
Speaker 8: on the dollar. I mean, talk to us a little
Speaker 8: bit about how this impacts general managers Joe Douglas, Eric
Speaker 8: Deacosta in Baltimore, your old shop, talk to us about
Speaker 8: what they're thinking inside the war room.
Speaker 3: Well, it's a lot because when you're talking about taking quarterback,
Speaker 3: and there were six taken in the first round. The
Speaker 3: difference being in the old day, these rookie contracts were huge,
Speaker 3: huge contracts. They've gotten that under control now. That's why
Speaker 3: there's a differentiation between guys that have been in the
Speaker 3: league that are waiting for that second contract and the rookies.
Speaker 3: That's what makes them so attractive that you can be
Speaker 3: particularly if you hit it and if a Caleb Williams
Speaker 3: or a Jayden Daniels or Drake may hit it with
Speaker 3: Chicago or Washington, New England or any of these quarterbacks,
Speaker 3: that's a huge plus because you're playing on their rookie money, which,
Speaker 3: like you said, you know, eight million dollars a year
Speaker 3: is It's not like we've got to go start a
Speaker 3: go Fundme page for these guys. They're doing okay, but
Speaker 3: they're really waiting obviously for that next contract. Now you're
Speaker 3: talking about that onion one hundred and fifty two hundred
Speaker 3: million guaranteed money, that next level of contract that we
Speaker 3: just saw Lamar Jackson get from last year. So the
Speaker 3: rookie cap, which is a good thing because before the
Speaker 3: rookie cap came in, you were you having to do
Speaker 3: a lot, huge, huge amounts of moneys to the rookies
Speaker 3: who hadn't played it down in the NFL. Now that
Speaker 3: money gets pushed to the veterans, those that have already
Speaker 3: played and shown in the league. The rookie contracts typically
Speaker 3: will go forward maybe five years if they have an
Speaker 3: option year, good solid payday, but it's not the payday
Speaker 3: that's going to be they get to that second contract.
Speaker 3: So that's why the differentiation the number right now, and
Speaker 3: why you know the rookies that are so valued because
Speaker 3: they get to play on that rookie number compared to
Speaker 3: what you got to play the veteran. I think the
Speaker 3: cap this year is going to be maybe off a
Speaker 3: little bit, two hundred and seventy million. You would think
Speaker 3: that would be enough to pay your fifty three players,
Speaker 3: but I mean, now it's amazing. It's amazing how because
Speaker 3: on typically typically eight, nine, ten players will gobble up
Speaker 3: seventy percent of that cap number. So it really is
Speaker 3: a money game in terms of how you're doueling out
Speaker 3: this money, and you can see by those numbers that
Speaker 3: when you've got your quarterback, particularly if he's a good
Speaker 3: one and he's playing on his rookie numbers, he's not
Speaker 3: one of that that that eight, nine, ten guys that
Speaker 3: are taking up seventy percent of the cap. It's a
Speaker 3: real asset because now you have those other moneies to
Speaker 3: go give to other athletes.
Speaker 7: Well, speaking of college athletes, let's talk about something that
Speaker 7: has just reverberated through the entire collegiate world of sports,
Speaker 7: and that's NIL, which we all know stands for needs
Speaker 7: infinite loop. And I'm just amazed it has changed everything.
Speaker 7: In fact, it's supposed to be a factor why Nick
Speaker 7: Saban decided, now am I going to come back as
Speaker 7: Alabama coach? That's the story your thoughts about NIL.
Speaker 3: The NIL combined with the portal is a travesty right now.
Speaker 3: It's a cesspool. And I appreciate the Nick Sabans and
Speaker 3: the Mike Krzyzewski's of the world when they were retired,
Speaker 3: said guys, we got to get this under control because
Speaker 3: right now this is not good. It's not good for
Speaker 3: college football. It's really not good for the athletes, because
Speaker 3: at the end of the day, this nil money that's
Speaker 3: going to get so focused on the front end, it's
Speaker 3: going to cost lesser programs to fold up on the
Speaker 3: back end, and that's not good. They've got to get
Speaker 3: it under control. The portal compounds it. It's got to
Speaker 3: get some kind of structure to it. They want to
Speaker 3: be like the NFL model than be like the NFL model.
Speaker 3: You got to put a cap on it. You got
Speaker 3: to put a specific time on the portal. Right now,
Speaker 3: it's the wild wild West. I don't know who's in
Speaker 3: charge of it, but it's embarrassing and it's a cesspool
Speaker 3: for college football.
Speaker 8: Coach Billick, when you won your first championship in Baltimore
Speaker 8: back I believe in two thousand over the New York Giants,
Speaker 8: you know, you were known as an offensive mastermind. Yet
Speaker 8: we all know it was that defense. I mean, I
Speaker 8: mean wow, I mean ray Lewis and the whole smash.
Speaker 8: But you had six coaches on your staff that went
Speaker 8: to coach other teams, and you know, I just want
Speaker 8: to go back to that concept of the quarterback and
Speaker 8: shooting for the moon, taking these rookies. Hopefully it's the
Speaker 8: next CJ. Stroud, or having a real coaching staff in
Speaker 8: place to develop the quarterback over a period of time
Speaker 8: to give them a year. I mean, are we beyond
Speaker 8: that now? I mean, is that even? I mean, when
Speaker 8: you hire a coaching staff your quarterbacks coach your offense.
Speaker 8: I mean, I mean does that even matter in today's
Speaker 8: day and age where it's win now? Show me now?
Speaker 8: I mean, do we even have time with these contracts
Speaker 8: in the way the NFL is set up to coach
Speaker 8: up these young quarterbacks and make them starters in the NFL.
Speaker 3: It's tougher and tougher, but certainly that element. I wrote
Speaker 3: a book called the Q Factor, which looked at the
Speaker 3: twenty eighteen draft where we had five quarterbacks and typical
Speaker 3: to chalk, you know, two of the five turned out
Speaker 3: to be okay. You know, that was the year that
Speaker 3: we had Sam Darnold and Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson,
Speaker 3: Josh Rosen and again same thing. It's a fifty to
Speaker 3: fifty crap shoot. When we looked at that draft and
Speaker 3: subsequent drafts, the biggest challenge in taking the quarterback one
Speaker 3: is okay, can the the ability to translate from college
Speaker 3: to the NFL. That's always the toughest question, but also
Speaker 3: one of the misses happened is where you misalign with
Speaker 3: the style of play, or maybe you get on a
Speaker 3: cycle where you go through a number of different coaches.
Speaker 3: That's going to be a factor as well. So if
Speaker 3: you can get to build at the coaching position, stability
Speaker 3: in the system and now have a very clear vision
Speaker 3: of what you want at the core. At the core
Speaker 3: abilities of quarterback. Baker Mayfield is one that was spake
Speaker 3: escaping my mind. Who is the number one pick overall
Speaker 3: in twenty eighteen and you have I don't want to
Speaker 3: say he's a bust, but obviously obviously did not perform
Speaker 3: at the number one overall pick level, but he went
Speaker 3: through He's been through like six and seven different coordinators.
Speaker 3: That is a strong factor in terms of developing this
Speaker 3: talent in the.
Speaker 7: NFL set tight. We've got more with former NFL head
Speaker 7: coach Brian Billick on the way next.
Speaker 3: Both the NFC and the AFC. I think it's going
Speaker 3: to be wide open going into next year. We're so
Speaker 3: deep in good quarterback play probably is as good that
Speaker 3: we've ever been in the NFL. You follow that trail,
Speaker 3: I think we've had more teams that are legitimately in
Speaker 3: the Super Bowl mix than we've had at any any
Speaker 3: given time, and that's exciting.
Speaker 7: You're listening to Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 7: Around the world, you're listening to Bloomberg Business of Sports
Speaker 7: from Bloomberg Radio. This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports show,
Speaker 7: but we explore the big money issues in the world
Speaker 7: of sports. I'm Michael Barr along with Damian Sas. Hour
Speaker 7: Scarlett will be back on later. We're talking with NFL
Speaker 7: analysts and former NFL ahead coach Brian Billick. Let's dive
Speaker 7: back into that conversation.
Speaker 8: Coach Bilk, I have to ask you this. We've moved
Speaker 8: through free agency. There's some guys left out there, but
Speaker 8: for the most part, you know, we're through with that.
Speaker 8: We've now just completed the draft. You know, I'm looking,
Speaker 8: I mean, I know, I know Michael Barr is looking
Speaker 8: at his FanDuel account. He's trying to figure out who's
Speaker 8: going to win the Super Bowl next year. I'm looking
Speaker 8: at the odds out there. The Niners, the Chiefs, the
Speaker 8: Ravens are all up there. The Lions too. Michael Barr
Speaker 8: the Lions too. But talk to us a little bit,
Speaker 8: Coach Bilk, which teams have improved their status the most
Speaker 8: of this offseason? Who are you looking for here in
Speaker 8: twenty twenty four?
Speaker 3: Well, right now, they're all excited, they're all good. Everybody
Speaker 3: gets to know, and everybody's going to the super Bowl
Speaker 3: right now. That's the exciting fans and the teams and
Speaker 3: certainly the ones. Buffalo obviously right there on the custom
Speaker 3: of But I think Dallas is flirting with it. They're
Speaker 3: going to make the next move. A team like Green
Speaker 3: Bay is interesting to me to see Jordan Love can
Speaker 3: he indeed, he showed that he could take that next step?
Speaker 3: Can he go even further? In that standpoint? I think
Speaker 3: Cincinnati with a healthy Joe Burrow can get back into
Speaker 3: the mix. So yeah, I think that that's the exciting thing.
Speaker 3: I think we're as deep in good quarterback play. And
Speaker 3: then let me back up too, CJ. Stroud in Houston
Speaker 3: and Houston Texans, they you know, they they that is
Speaker 3: the real deal and they showed that they can be competitive.
Speaker 3: So yeah, on both the NFC and the AFC, I
Speaker 3: think it's going to be wide open going into next year.
Speaker 3: We're so deep in good quarterback play probably is as
Speaker 3: good that we've ever been in the NFL. You follow
Speaker 3: that trail, I think we've had more teams that are
Speaker 3: legitimately in the Super Bowl mix than we've had at
Speaker 3: any any given time, and that's exciting.
Speaker 8: I mean, we're talking about the quarterbacks a lot, but
Speaker 8: there are some other positions. The running back position, for example,
Speaker 8: I don't think any running backs are taken in the
Speaker 8: first round this year. You know, others that kind of
Speaker 8: stand out, safety, linebacker. I mean, a lot of these positions,
Speaker 8: which you know you see a few of them now
Speaker 8: come into the first round. It's just been a really
Speaker 8: really it's really been light.
Speaker 3: I'm curious to hear.
Speaker 8: Your thoughts in the future of some of those positions.
Speaker 8: Specifically the running back position.
Speaker 3: Well, that's always been one that I don't want to
Speaker 3: say was devalued. Jonathan Brooks was the first running back
Speaker 3: taken from Texas with a forty sixth pick. That's the
Speaker 3: second round. But what we've seen over the last few
Speaker 3: years is that the second and third round seems to
Speaker 3: be a fertile ground to get good, solid running backs,
Speaker 3: and you tend to have a running game by committee,
Speaker 3: and so there's good value in taking that. People are
Speaker 3: hesitant to expend a first round pick on the running
Speaker 3: back position when you can get good value further down.
Speaker 3: That's not to say that they're not worthy of that.
Speaker 3: You got the Dereck Henrys in the world that obviously
Speaker 3: are spectacular, and taking a guy on the first round
Speaker 3: is not bad. But the position has kind of been
Speaker 3: devalued per se. And the fact that you know, we
Speaker 3: had one guy taken in the second round and then
Speaker 3: not again, we had three guys taken in the third round.
Speaker 3: So that seems to be the mode going forward in
Speaker 3: terms of what people looking at, simply because you can
Speaker 3: get value at other positions in the first round and
Speaker 3: the running back position. The other one to me, interesting
Speaker 3: to me is the tight end position because that's one
Speaker 3: that as we see really good tight ends in the league.
Speaker 3: Obviously like a Travis Kelcey liking Mark Andrews in Baltimore.
Speaker 3: There's a couple of really good tight ends around the league.
Speaker 3: You saw Las Vegas Raiders had to brock Bowers fall
Speaker 3: to them at number thirteen. That's a spectacular pick for them.
Speaker 3: There wasn't another tight end taken until the second and
Speaker 3: then the third round, so even though they're coveted, you
Speaker 3: can usually get some good value. The Commanders took in
Speaker 3: the second round the kid out of Kent State Senate,
Speaker 3: their Sonata, I think, and then rioting from Illinois to Arizona,
Speaker 3: so you can get like the running back. It's a
Speaker 3: high priority, you really want to have one, but you
Speaker 3: seem to get good value in the second and third round.
Speaker 7: One day and I see it coming because one we're
Speaker 7: playing more games NFL games overseas in London, Germany, Mexico
Speaker 7: City in Brazil is coming there. When will it happen
Speaker 7: when the league expands to more teams and this time
Speaker 7: maybe a team out in London.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that one's above my pay grade because obviously they
Speaker 3: are nurturing interests internationally and they're highly successful games. I
Speaker 3: do a radio show in London and those are excited,
Speaker 3: knowledgeable fans when I get on the radio with the
Speaker 3: folks in London, and I can't wrap my head around
Speaker 3: how that's going to work. If you have a franchise
Speaker 3: in one of these international cities, then how they're going
Speaker 3: to be competitive in terms of playing in the state
Speaker 3: and then teams going obviously over there to play, or
Speaker 3: whether you can develop a branch of the NFL in
Speaker 3: the international loop. I don't know. I'm sure they've got
Speaker 3: some plan for it. It may be that they're just
Speaker 3: going to continue these sprinkling of games and expand on that.
Speaker 3: And now you're it's no onerous when a team only
Speaker 3: has to play one international game a year, but complete
Speaker 3: maybe an entire schedule overseas, but with different teams. I
Speaker 3: don't know. You know, mine's above mine and you're figuring
Speaker 3: that out. But clearly the money is there and the
Speaker 3: international interest is there.
Speaker 7: I'm just wondering if you're going to have something like, Okay,
Speaker 7: we're going to play three games in London and then
Speaker 7: we're going to be on the road for like a month.
Speaker 7: Then we're going to come back and play three more games.
Speaker 7: And I wonder if some structure like that's going to
Speaker 7: be set up.
Speaker 3: That could be and certainly that would make sense that
Speaker 3: if an international team's going to come to the States,
Speaker 3: that they have a two to three game stretch at
Speaker 3: the minim to minimize the travel back and forth. With
Speaker 3: that the pressure that's a lot. That's a lot to
Speaker 3: deal with being on the road for three straight weeks
Speaker 3: and orchestrating that and where you're going. That's that's a
Speaker 3: tough circumstance for a team to compete and be competitive
Speaker 3: with if that's their routine.
Speaker 8: Well, coach Billak also, I mean, let's go back. You know,
Speaker 8: you coached for San Diego State University, the Aztecs, go
Speaker 8: as techs. My cousin Larry Sassaur shout out. I have
Speaker 8: to ask you some of these universities that have filtered
Speaker 8: so many players into the NFL. You mentioned Brock Bauers.
Speaker 8: I'm thinking Georgia obviously Alabama. Talk to me about the
Speaker 8: Michigan Wolverines. Thirteen players in this year's draft selected from
Speaker 8: this year's team. I mean, which if you're a student,
Speaker 8: I mean a scholar athlete and you're looking at you know,
Speaker 8: those you know, institutions that you want to play your
Speaker 8: college ball for. I mean just I mean, like, what's
Speaker 8: out there? What's the available pool today? Given nil, given
Speaker 8: the transfer portal, I mean, are we really limited it
Speaker 8: just a handful of universities Now, if you really have
Speaker 8: the talent and what it takes to make in the NFL, yeah, and.
Speaker 3: The money, you know, whether it be a Georgia, and
Speaker 3: we'll see it will sort itself out in terms of
Speaker 3: what teams are actually going to get into this super
Speaker 3: league they're talking about should be thirty five forty forty
Speaker 3: five teams modeled on the NFL, certainly Michigan and that's
Speaker 3: why they're national champions. What they were able to do
Speaker 3: with the group of started with JJ McCarthy and then
Speaker 3: all the way down, I mean through the seventh round,
Speaker 3: the number of players and across the board defensive line, linebacker,
Speaker 3: wide receivers, offensive line, some good football players. So with
Speaker 3: the current state of the portal and the NIL, that's
Speaker 3: what you're going to see. They're going to see teams
Speaker 3: that or players that get signed someplace and get developed
Speaker 3: like a San Diego State, then expand their opportunities and
Speaker 3: go to a place like Michigan or Georgia or you know,
Speaker 3: USC where they're going to pay anybody the amount of
Speaker 3: money that they pay to try to buy a national championship,
Speaker 3: and that just is going to kind of be the
Speaker 3: way of the college football going forward until they get
Speaker 3: it under control.
Speaker 7: Special thing thanks to NFL Network analyst and former NFL
Speaker 7: head coach Brian Billick for joining us today, by the way.
Speaker 8: On the business side of things, Brian is involved with
Speaker 8: a few companies, including a recent partnership with Signal Relief.
Speaker 8: He's also the author of several books, including More Than
Speaker 8: a Game, The Glorious Presence and The Uncertain Future of
Speaker 8: the NFL and Now look who's here, Scarlet Foo is back.
Speaker 5: I was tied up with the NHL playoffs, but the
Speaker 5: Raiders swept, so I'm in good shape.
Speaker 8: Now, sure, sure we're all okay.
Speaker 5: From the grid iron to the tennis courts. The latest
Speaker 5: edition of The Deal with Alis Ardriguez and Jason Kelly
Speaker 5: features the tennis superstar the Goat herself, Serena Williams.
Speaker 8: Let's take a little listen to a little bit of
Speaker 8: that conversation.
Speaker 4: You know, when I started tennis, first of one from Compton, California,
Speaker 4: and I remember playing on these courts, and you know,
Speaker 4: my life was great. I never felt like I needed anything,
Speaker 4: you know, and so for me, money was never motivation.
Speaker 4: I remember when I first started, back in the day,
Speaker 4: they used to write out checks after you won your tournament,
Speaker 4: and I would always forget to get the checks, and
Speaker 4: so at the end of the year we would always
Speaker 4: they would always have to say, Serena, we have all
Speaker 4: these checks for you.
Speaker 2: I'm like, oh my god. So it was never literally
Speaker 2: forget to pick up.
Speaker 4: The checkstually, and at the time I had an accountant
Speaker 4: who would be like, Serena, like they sent me all
Speaker 4: these checks that you would forget to get from the tournaments.
Speaker 4: And so so with that being said, that was never
Speaker 4: my motivation, to be honest, for my motivation and looking
Speaker 4: at the success that I had financially was never my
Speaker 4: starting point. My starting point was always like, I just
Speaker 4: want to win championships and I want to have fun,
Speaker 4: and I want to be a great tennis player, and
Speaker 4: quite frankly, I just wanted to win a Grand Slam,
Speaker 4: and I honestly, for me, everything else was a bonus.
Speaker 4: And obviously it's great, Like you know, I really everything
Speaker 4: that I have, Believe me, I worked really hard for
Speaker 4: nothing really came for free, and nothing came easy.
Speaker 2: Like I think everything was super hard working for me.
Speaker 4: But it is cool to look back and see the
Speaker 4: success that I've had financially, but also multiplying that now
Speaker 4: and trying to expand that and then again just considering
Speaker 4: like what does that mean for me going forward.
Speaker 6: So, Serena, when we're thinking about this show, I started
Speaker 6: thinking about people that I like, respect, admire in the
Speaker 6: world of sports, in the world of business. And we
Speaker 6: had a business call recently and I said, would you
Speaker 6: come on our show? Yeah, but I'm interested to know
Speaker 6: what motivates you today.
Speaker 4: When you're used to being a champion, used to winning,
Speaker 4: and so that's something that I'm always motivated by. A
Speaker 4: success and what a success. I think success is different
Speaker 4: for a lot of people, and I think that's one
Speaker 4: thing that I think a lot of people get wrong.
Speaker 2: For me, success right now is having great investments.
Speaker 4: I think a lot of people's success is being a
Speaker 4: mom or which is super successful for me because that's
Speaker 4: something that I've always wanted to do in my life.
Speaker 4: Or maybe it's getting an A on your grades or
Speaker 4: whatever that is. So I think for me, the motivation
Speaker 4: is definitely success.
Speaker 6: Both of us played for a couple decades right, very public,
Speaker 6: me more domestically, you more around the world. But what's
Speaker 6: interesting is, Jason, you mentioned half a billion dollars. You know,
Speaker 6: for me it was about the same thing, But ninety
Speaker 6: percent of my money came from playing baseball on the
Speaker 6: field with you is ecxact opposite with yours marketing? Yeah,
Speaker 6: how do you think about the impact that you've made
Speaker 6: not only to all your partners, but how the ripple
Speaker 6: effect around the world of the business of Serena.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's so different, right.
Speaker 4: I think it's really interesting how I learned early on
Speaker 4: that your paycheck from tennis. Maybe that's why I forgot
Speaker 4: them to be your small to be your smallest earning. Oh,
Speaker 4: it's my dad always told me growing up, and so
Speaker 4: so I always thought, Okay, well, partnering with the right
Speaker 4: people and also deciding who do you really want to
Speaker 4: partner with, because for me, it's also about being very
Speaker 4: authentic with those partnerships, not necessarily partnering with a company
Speaker 4: that either doesn't believe in what you're.
Speaker 2: Doing or you don't really use and utilize.
Speaker 4: So I think throughout my whole career, I wanted to
Speaker 4: make sure that those partnerships are very authentic and they
Speaker 4: spoke to me and they also gave back in some
Speaker 4: sort of way, shape or form.
Speaker 5: That's from the latest episode of the Deal with Alex
Speaker 5: Rodriguez and Jason Kelly this week featuring Serena Williams.
Speaker 8: Up next on the show. We dive behind the scenes
Speaker 8: of that episode with the co host Bloomberg Originals Chief
Speaker 8: correspondent Jason Kelly.
Speaker 5: You're listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 7: You're listening to Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 5: This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports show where we
Speaker 5: explore the big money issues in the world of sports.
Speaker 5: I'm Scarlett Foo along with Damian Sassar. Michael Barr had
Speaker 5: to step out. He'll be back next week. The Deal
Speaker 5: with Alex Rodriguez and Jason Kelly is one of the
Speaker 5: latest series from Bloomberg Originals, covering the biggest names were sports,
Speaker 5: business and culture collide.
Speaker 8: The latest episode features tennis superstar Serena Williams and joining
Speaker 8: us to talk a little bit about the new episode
Speaker 8: is co host and Bloomberg Original's chief correspondent Jason Kelly.
Speaker 9: I mean, man, when we set out to do this show,
Speaker 9: I said to Alex there's a mount rushmore of guests
Speaker 9: and one of the people on it is Serena Williams,
Speaker 9: And I gotta tell you, she just one hundred percent
Speaker 9: delivered as I knew she would. But like what an
Speaker 9: amazing story. Again not just on the tennis court, but
Speaker 9: off the court.
Speaker 5: Just incredible, especially since when you consider what she's been
Speaker 5: doing since right, I mean, she's so active not just
Speaker 5: in building her brand, but in building an empire.
Speaker 9: Totally building an empire. And you know, she has identified
Speaker 9: a place where she can really make a difference, uh,
Speaker 9: and that is in investing and specifically investing in highly
Speaker 9: highlight underrepresented communities via founders who are women or people
Speaker 9: of color. And as you guys, you know all the
Speaker 9: statistics because they are horrifying. You know, about two percent
Speaker 9: of venture capital money goes to female founders and about
Speaker 9: one percent, probably a little less, goes to black founders.
Speaker 9: And so sixty eight percent of Serena Venture's portfolio is
Speaker 9: actually diverse. And so as she did on the tennis court,
Speaker 9: she is, i mean quite literally breaking down barriers. She's
Speaker 9: a force, and I think anybody who's spent any time
Speaker 9: with her knows that she's been super engaged from the
Speaker 9: beginning on everything that she's involved in. You know, one
Speaker 9: of the most interesting things is this this idea of
Speaker 9: her relationship with her father and you know, sort of
Speaker 9: going the other way on the King King Richard himself,
Speaker 9: and one of the most interesting things that he did. Obviously,
Speaker 9: you know we've seen the movie, we've followed her career
Speaker 9: and her sister Venus. He obviously gave them tremendous opportunities
Speaker 9: to play tennis and at the same time what he
Speaker 9: did to them, and Serena talks about this in the episode.
Speaker 9: She had a conversation with him where he essentially said,
Speaker 9: you're in charge of your own money, figure it out.
Speaker 9: So he was not prescriptive in that regard. The one
Speaker 9: thing that he did that really set her up was
Speaker 9: on her very first deal, the Puma deal, he insisted
Speaker 9: that she be physically at the table, to the point
Speaker 9: where she actually fell asleep in the middle of the
Speaker 9: night they were negotiating.
Speaker 8: Oh my god, but he said.
Speaker 9: Don't go into another room. You need to be at
Speaker 9: the table. And I have to say, She's never left.
Speaker 9: And so she is in such firm control of her
Speaker 9: own direction, strategy, strategically, tactically. She has a great team
Speaker 9: around her, but I can tell you from talking to
Speaker 9: her she is intensely involved in every detail.
Speaker 5: I love that anecdote because it really tells you about
Speaker 5: how she doesn't let people speak on her behalf. She
Speaker 5: makes sure that she is the principal and that she
Speaker 5: is representing herself. You talk about her team. A member
Speaker 5: of her team in a way is her spouse Alexis Ohanian, right,
Speaker 5: and of course an accomplished startup founder himself and an investor.
Speaker 5: And did you talk a little bit at all about
Speaker 5: how their world's kind of intersect.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a great question.
Speaker 9: We did talk about that a little bit because if
Speaker 9: you think about her her life and her business and
Speaker 9: her tennis, she's had this great series of partners, right first,
Speaker 9: her dad, her sister. Obviously they're incredibly close. They live
Speaker 9: very close to each other still in Florida. Alexis Ohanian,
Speaker 9: as you mentioned, co founder of Reddit, an incredible investor
Speaker 9: in his own right.
Speaker 2: She did.
Speaker 9: She talked about how they've managed to create this kind
Speaker 9: of like church and state where they each have their
Speaker 9: own things. Clearly they are influential to each other.
Speaker 7: You know.
Speaker 9: One of the most notable examples was, you know, Alexis
Speaker 9: led the funding of Angel City Football Club right in
Speaker 9: the NWSL and that came, and Serena talks about this
Speaker 9: a little bit. That came because their daughter, Olympia was
Speaker 9: playing was playing soccer, and Alexis said, you know, I
Speaker 9: would love to get involved in women's sports because Olympia
Speaker 9: is into it. And Serena and this is like classic.
Speaker 9: Serena said, okay, but you need to ensure that if
Speaker 9: she's going to be a professional athlete, she gets paid.
Speaker 9: And so it's like, so that has always been so
Speaker 9: intentional on her behalf, and so that's I think a
Speaker 9: huge influence that she has had on him. And he
Speaker 9: is obviously I just saw him a couple of weeks
Speaker 9: ago here in New York. He's a huge proponent of
Speaker 9: investing in women's sports. He's got this new track and
Speaker 9: field thing that he's investing in obviously Angel City as well.
Speaker 9: So clearly very influential there.
Speaker 8: Jason, I wonder if you got into the state of tennis,
Speaker 8: what her belief about what the state of tennis is
Speaker 8: today the future stars.
Speaker 9: I mean, she did talk about the state of tennis
Speaker 9: insofar as you know, there were you know, there are
Speaker 9: a lot of questions when she left of you know,
Speaker 9: can the sport be what it was or what it
Speaker 9: was with her without her? You know, she was a
Speaker 9: huge draw. You know, the ratings, the attendance. Everything went
Speaker 9: up when she was playing. You know, what she has
Speaker 9: said and others have noted, is you know, tennis does
Speaker 9: seem to be on good footing. You do have a
Speaker 9: crop of stars. Obviously, Cocoa goff here in the United
Speaker 9: States is a massive influence on the popularity. I think
Speaker 9: her win at the US Open, you know, really sealed
Speaker 9: that next generation. So I think Serena feels pretty good
Speaker 9: about where the game is and feels good about, you know,
Speaker 9: redirecting her efforts into the broader business world.
Speaker 5: All right, Jason Kelly, fantastic stuff. Jason Kelly is co
Speaker 5: host of The Deal with Alex Rodriguez and of course
Speaker 5: their guest of the week none other than the goat,
Speaker 5: Serena Williams. Thanks guys, don't miss the latest episode of
Speaker 5: the Deal with Alex Rodriguez and Jason Kelly this week
Speaker 5: featuring Serena Williams.
Speaker 8: Catch it Fridays it's seven pm Eastern on Bloomberg Television,
Speaker 8: or stream it on Thursdays at nine pm Eastern on
Speaker 8: Bloomberg Originals and find it anywhere you get your podcasts.
Speaker 5: Now, let's turn to a subject we've been covering a
Speaker 5: lot lately, yet another team wants a new stadium. Oh really,
Speaker 5: can you think of a couple of other teams?
Speaker 8: I could think of a view of one, but I
Speaker 8: mean Chicago. Let's talk Chicago.
Speaker 5: Let's talk Chicago, and we're talking about the Chicago Bears here.
Speaker 5: So we need to bring in Shrudy Singh, who covers
Speaker 5: Chicago for us in our Chicago Bureau all things Chicago,
Speaker 5: including municipal issues. Shrudy, talk to us a little bit
Speaker 5: here about what the Chicago Bears are aiming to do.
Speaker 5: Soldier Field is old and some would say even decrepit,
Speaker 5: and they're looking to upgrade and build a new stadium.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So the Chicago Bears unveiled a four point seven
Speaker 1: billion dollars stadium plan that would replace the current Soldier Field,
Speaker 1: which is about one hundred years old. It's one of
Speaker 1: the smaller stadiums in the country and it doesn't have
Speaker 1: a dome. So there's lots of things that the team
Speaker 1: is looking to change about where it plays. And this
Speaker 1: particular four point seven billion dollars stadium complex would include
Speaker 1: a three point two billion dollars stadium itself, but then
Speaker 1: the rest of the money would be for the complex
Speaker 1: around the stadium, which could include lots of park space
Speaker 1: and infrastructure improvements and things like that, and some of
Speaker 1: it would be financed by the team, and some of
Speaker 1: it they're looking for help from municipal financing, which is
Speaker 1: what I cover.
Speaker 8: Well, Shreudy. I mean, I'm sure our audience would love
Speaker 8: nothing more than to talk about Caleb Williams and Dons
Speaker 8: and how the Bears crush the NFL draft, But you know,
Speaker 8: tell us about what has changed not only in the
Speaker 8: state of Illinois but the city of Chicago. I mean,
Speaker 8: how can they even think about taking on a project
Speaker 8: like this.
Speaker 1: So basically the issue is that and this has actually
Speaker 1: come up a lot in conversations, and you'd be surprised
Speaker 1: that even folks who are talking about the stadium and
Speaker 1: their love for the Bears, when you listen to the
Speaker 1: conversations that are going on around Chicago, people are still
Speaker 1: bringing up the finances, like how is this going to
Speaker 1: be paid for? And so, as I mentioned, part of
Speaker 1: the Bear's proposal is for about nine hundred million dollars
Speaker 1: in debt financing from the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, which
Speaker 1: was basically set up in the eighties to help finance
Speaker 1: pro sport stadiums. So this organization, this agency basically helps
Speaker 1: with selling debt for pro stadiums around the state. Now,
Speaker 1: one of the things is that these are bonds that
Speaker 1: are paid for through state and local taxes. Illinois is
Speaker 1: currently the lowest rated state in terms of its credit rating.
Speaker 1: It has certainly climbed up the ratings over the last
Speaker 1: couple of years. It's had a string of upgrades by
Speaker 1: just improving the way it handles its finances, including passing
Speaker 1: budgets on time, paying down its debt liability and its
Speaker 1: pension liability, things like that, but it still has marginally
Speaker 1: the lowest credit rating among its peers. Chicago also has
Speaker 1: some of its own financial issues. The two states and
Speaker 1: local governments share one thing in common, which is that
Speaker 1: they both have a very large unfunded pension liability. So
Speaker 1: that is the longest sort of financial burden that both
Speaker 1: state and local government have, and it takes up for
Speaker 1: each government, it takes about a fifth of their regular budget.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's pretty massive. So you mentioned that this Illinois
Speaker 5: Sports Facilities Authority, this government agency was set up in
Speaker 5: the eighties to build and renovate stadiums for pro teams. Clearly,
Speaker 5: the environment has changed a lot from the eighties to now,
Speaker 5: and taxpayers are not so enamored of the idea of
Speaker 5: having to shoulder the burden of funding in some where
Speaker 5: another new facilities for teams owned by billionaires. They would
Speaker 5: rather the teams show it out themselves. Can you talk
Speaker 5: a little bit about the environment.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So there's been a lot of questions posed by
Speaker 1: the elected official chair in Illinois. The Governor of Illinois, JB.
Speaker 1: Pritzker is saying that, you know, to be known about
Speaker 1: this proposal, and he has been reluctant to provide any
Speaker 1: sort of inkling or you know, support of this initial proposal.
Speaker 1: He's not ruling it up, but he said, you know,
Speaker 1: he's skeptical and he's been reluctant. In terms of other
Speaker 1: leadership here in this state, Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch
Speaker 1: has said right now, in this environment, if this was
Speaker 1: put for a vote, it would fail. So that's kind
Speaker 1: of where things stand in terms of what the leadership
Speaker 1: in Illinois is talking about. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: Chicago Mayor Johnson was at the press conference last Wednesday
Speaker 1: and is supportive of this, but this needs approval from
Speaker 1: the state legislature and the governor.
Speaker 8: Trudy to that exact point. I mean, we just saw
Speaker 8: on Kansas City that you know, they put this whole
Speaker 8: thing to a vote. There was you know, marketing going
Speaker 8: on into the vote by Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelcey.
Speaker 8: I mean, people knew about it. They were they were
Speaker 8: you know, they were made aware of of all the
Speaker 8: details of how much it wouldst et cetera. And they
Speaker 8: were given an opportunity to vote. In this case, if
Speaker 8: I'm reading this correctly, they're trying to push this through
Speaker 8: in five weeks. So talk to us a little bit
Speaker 8: about the process here and is there anything we can
Speaker 8: read into from that sort of accelerated timeline.
Speaker 1: So right now, the Illinois General Assembly is going through
Speaker 1: its budgeting process and they have about five weeks left
Speaker 1: actually a little bit under five weeks, just about a
Speaker 1: month left in their current spring session. Now, the Bears
Speaker 1: indicated last Wednesday that they would actually like to seek
Speaker 1: and get approval for this project, which as I mentioned,
Speaker 1: would require funding, you know, partially through this sports facility
Speaker 1: that's run by the state, and they're eager to get
Speaker 1: this rolling in this spring session which ends at the
Speaker 1: end of this month. The Illinois General Assembly has lots
Speaker 1: of other things going on that they're trying to do,
Speaker 1: including balancing a budget that includes a lot of competing
Speaker 1: needs right now in the state of Illinois.
Speaker 8: Our thanks to Shredy Singh for joining us from our
Speaker 8: Chicago bez. And that does it for this week's edition
Speaker 8: of The Bloomberg Business of Sports. If you missed any
Speaker 8: of it, check it out now on the Bloomberg Business
Speaker 8: of Sports podcast on Apple, Spotify, and anywhere else you
Speaker 8: get your podcasts.
Speaker 5: This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports. We're here each
Speaker 5: and every week at the same time for Michael Barr
Speaker 5: and Damien Sassar. I'm Scarlet Foo. Tune in next week
Speaker 5: for the latest on the stories moving big money in
Speaker 5: the world of sports. You're listening to The Bloomberg Business
Speaker 5: of Sports from Bloomberg Radio around the world.