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Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business of Sports. The world changing and

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Speaker 1: what are things we can do to transform our business

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Speaker 1: and engage our fans globally in different ways. People are

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Speaker 1: using their name and likeness to create more opportunities, more

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Speaker 1: stakes and companies. In order to turn the organization around,

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Speaker 1: we had to turn it around not only just on

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Speaker 1: baseball operations side, but other business operations side well, and

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Speaker 1: any other sport. Is very difficult, but I like to

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Speaker 1: plug my horizons and be able to expand. Sports need

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Speaker 1: to be consumed a lot and not to the big

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Speaker 1: competitive advantage for intual property holders of sports content in

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Speaker 1: the media landscape. Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.

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Speaker 1: Hi everyone, I'm Jason Kelly, and I'm Mike Lynch and

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Speaker 1: I'm Michael Barr. Over the next hour, we will explore

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Speaker 1: the big money issues in the world of sports and

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Speaker 1: talk to some of the biggest players in the industry. So, guys,

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Speaker 1: we're getting to that point of the year where some

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Speaker 1: of the things that we mark on our calendar are

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Speaker 1: starting to kick off. The NFL season obviously is about

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Speaker 1: to get underway. We had a great conversation with Chris

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Speaker 1: Collinsworth last weekend. About that. Coming up, we're gonna talk

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Speaker 1: about what's going on in Las Vegas. Certainly things are

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Speaker 1: revving up there as well. Let's talk about college football,

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Speaker 1: college sports. One of our favorite topics here this week

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Speaker 1: came the announcement because it's a time of great realignment,

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Speaker 1: Lynchy in the world of college sports. The Alliance. I

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Speaker 1: was joking with somebody earlier. It sounds like something from

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Speaker 1: a James Bond movie, or you know, like a Marvel movie.

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Speaker 1: But what it is is the A C C, the

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Speaker 1: Big Ten, and the Pact Ten coming together and saying, well,

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Speaker 1: we're gonna sort of cooperate a little bit because this

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Speaker 1: juggernaut of the SEC, the new look SEC with OU

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Speaker 1: in Texas coming in, you know, poses a real threat,

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Speaker 1: as it were, to just overtake all of college football.

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Speaker 1: This whole alliance is so amorphous to me, I really

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Speaker 1: can't just you know, I'd like to have it be

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Speaker 1: like silly puddies, so I could just form something in

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Speaker 1: my hands. But it's a gentleman's agreement, nothing written, nothing signed,

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Speaker 1: and I think it's taking a little bit of a

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Speaker 1: shot at the SEC um. They talk about the academic

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Speaker 1: standing of their school's prioritizing and preserving the collegiate model.

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Speaker 1: And you know, if I'm the SEC, I'm saying, hey,

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Speaker 1: you know, cut the bologna here. You're taking us the

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Speaker 1: backhanded swipe at us right here. They want to bring

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Speaker 1: stability to college athletics. Well, as long as this big

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Speaker 1: TV money and long as the SEC is around there,

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Speaker 1: there will be instability more than stability. And you know,

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Speaker 1: this is in some ways bar kind of a broadside

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Speaker 1: against the the n C double A and its inability

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Speaker 1: to kind of pull everything together. I mean, one thing

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Speaker 1: that I found really interesting was that even though these

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Speaker 1: you know, commissioners of these respective conferences didn't talk specifically

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Speaker 1: about compensation and n i L already people including Jeffrey Kessler,

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Speaker 1: who was the lead Planets attorney in the Austin case

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Speaker 1: in front of the Supreme Court was basically like, if

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Speaker 1: you guys make one move towards essentially colluding around player compensation,

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Speaker 1: we're coming after you under under antitrust. So this is

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Speaker 1: going to be a mess. Well, SEC, look at what

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Speaker 1: you did. This is all a reaction because of that.

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Speaker 1: So at least that I'm looking at it, keep in mind,

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Speaker 1: you got forty one teams now involved in this whole

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Speaker 1: alliance thing here and they're trying to, you know, keep

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Speaker 1: the schedules in line and all of this and that whatever.

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Speaker 1: But you're seeing all of this now, you know with

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Speaker 1: this alliance not in the SECNE you had two other

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Speaker 1: teams joined the SEC Now I think Texas, uh it

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Speaker 1: was involved in that. This is going Can you imagine

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Speaker 1: if I don't even see wait for an example, I

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Speaker 1: can see somebody, some lawyers saying, you know what, like

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Speaker 1: you said, don't even give an example. I don't like

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Speaker 1: this monopoly. This is like standard oil and and this

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Speaker 1: is what's going to turn out. Speaking of n C

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Speaker 1: double A eligibility is always an interesting question. This is

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Speaker 1: the field good story, Lynchy. I think yes, j R.

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Speaker 1: Smith going back to school, not to play basketball. He

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Speaker 1: did pretty well in that on on the pro level,

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Speaker 1: but you can go to college. He's going to be

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Speaker 1: a college golfer. He's thirty six years old, jumped from

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Speaker 1: high school to the NBA. This reminds me of Rodney

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Speaker 1: Dangerfield in the movie Back to School, who want to

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Speaker 1: being a diver on the swim team, And now j R.

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Speaker 1: Smith is gonna be a golfer. You know, this is

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Speaker 1: really this is gonna be something. And the golf coach says,

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Speaker 1: he's a good player and we're glad to have him

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Speaker 1: on the team. And he already signed up for his

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Speaker 1: first day of classes. I think he did it, had

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Speaker 1: his first couple of classes remotely, and uh I love it.

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Speaker 1: I absolutely love it. Yeah, it's good. It's good to

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Speaker 1: see this, uh bar. I mean, you know it's gonna

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Speaker 1: be good for the team to that's a good golfer. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: look who got j R. I mean, this is great.

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Speaker 1: I am I am really impressed. And it's nice to say.

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Speaker 1: I want to see how far he can go in

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Speaker 1: this because it's like you guys said, I mean, you know,

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Speaker 1: he played the Dickens out of the NBA. Now let's

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Speaker 1: see what happens here. And I'm also glad too he

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Speaker 1: made the call and this is, you know, the personal

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Speaker 1: thing in his life. I want to go back to

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Speaker 1: college and and good for him, and it shows that

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Speaker 1: it's never too late. If you want to get us

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Speaker 1: an education, do it. Go ahead. If you if you

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Speaker 1: are like a hundred and two and you still want

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Speaker 1: an education, go out there and do it. You're not

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Speaker 1: gonna make it the golf team. But still, I mean,

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Speaker 1: it's go and do what you want to do and

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Speaker 1: follow your heart and your dreams. Good for him. I'm

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Speaker 1: just pointing out to anybody listening out there in the

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Speaker 1: A d or or coach that Lynchi is the only

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Speaker 1: one who sort of blew through his eligibility and that

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Speaker 1: prey successful season. But my a bar and I, you know,

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Speaker 1: like I got four years of eligibility on my die,

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Speaker 1: I didn't I didn't waste any of it as an

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Speaker 1: underground so I am available, um and not good at

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Speaker 1: anything in any case. Vegas, all right, if that doesn't

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Speaker 1: get you going, I don't know what. Thanks so much

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Speaker 1: for joining us, Bar You just you like counting cards,

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Speaker 1: Like what are you doing? Right? Does that just get

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Speaker 1: you all? Jazz to well? Jason and Lindsey, that was

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Speaker 1: the worst Elvis that I've ever done in my life. Man,

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Speaker 1: you can't help but to get pumped up. Let's get

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Speaker 1: the inside story of what is going on in Las Vegas.

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Speaker 1: I was there just about a month ago for the

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Speaker 1: UFC fight and was just blown away by everything that's happening,

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Speaker 1: not just in the world of fighting, but in the

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Speaker 1: world of pro sports. The guy who's in the center

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Speaker 1: of it all is Steve Hill. He is the Las

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Speaker 1: Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, president and CEO, pulling it

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Speaker 1: all together, in charge of that massive new stadium where

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Speaker 1: the Las Vegas Raiders are playing. He joins us from Vegas. Steve,

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Speaker 1: really good to have you with us, and I gotta

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Speaker 1: start by asking you what is underneath all of this?

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Speaker 1: Why are we seeing this now that Vegas is just

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Speaker 1: exploding as a pro sports done? Well, start, thank you

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Speaker 1: for having me, and uh, we're excited about what's happening

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Speaker 1: here in Vegas, and sports is a huge part of that.

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Speaker 1: Vegas has always been a sports town, largely more on

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Speaker 1: an individual event. So we've been always known as kind

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Speaker 1: of the boxing capital of the world, and we've had

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Speaker 1: NASCAR here for a long time and a lot of

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Speaker 1: different events over the past decades, you know, over the

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Speaker 1: last five or ten years, partially due to the rise

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Speaker 1: of UFC, and then obvious are the Golden Nights coming

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Speaker 1: along and being so successful and integrating themselves into the

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Speaker 1: community so well, and then the Raiders committing to come

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Speaker 1: to Vegas and making that happen. And it's only been

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Speaker 1: about five years since we first met the Raiders and

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Speaker 1: we're getting ready to enter their second season in a

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Speaker 1: stadium here. So all of that has just contributed to

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Speaker 1: Vegas really being the sports capital along with everything else

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Speaker 1: that we are known for. It used to be that

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Speaker 1: you are the sports betting capital, and like you said,

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Speaker 1: now you're the one of the sports capitals in the nation.

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Speaker 1: The transformation for Las Vegas, can you take us more

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Speaker 1: through that? It's almost like there's downtown Vegas and then

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Speaker 1: obviously there's the Strip and now the sports is exploding. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and it really hasn't. And frankly, from a professional sports standpoint,

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Speaker 1: it was all fairly sadden. There's been a sports culture

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Speaker 1: in Vegas, as I said, for for a long time.

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Speaker 1: But if you had asked anybody here six or seven

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Speaker 1: years ago, particularly, would we have an NFL team in

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Speaker 1: Las Vegas. That was probably one of the last things

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Speaker 1: that we thought would happen. You know. The evolution of

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Speaker 1: sports gambling and in game betting and all of that

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Speaker 1: has really played a role in the argument that Vegas

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Speaker 1: has made for a long time is that people are

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Speaker 1: going to gamble and having it regulated, having great oversight.

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Speaker 1: Nevada being the gold standard for that Thrankully, that's that's

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Speaker 1: a better environment than having it, you know, done where

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Speaker 1: the sun's not shining. And that realization has taken hold.

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Speaker 1: You know, you've seen NFL owners invest in those businesses

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Speaker 1: and that started even uh slightly for professional sports started

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Speaker 1: here in Las Vegas. But that statement, that story that

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Speaker 1: Las Vegas has told for a long time, I think

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Speaker 1: the professional sports leagues started to realize, you know, that's

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Speaker 1: actually true and it is much better, uh that this

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Speaker 1: is regulated and allowed to happen in a way that

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Speaker 1: everybody involved knows is fair and maintains the integrity of

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Speaker 1: each of the league's in the sports. And that has

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Speaker 1: played a big role in allowing the professional sports teams

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Speaker 1: to come. And then you know the individual commitment from

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Speaker 1: Bill Foley and the Nights and Mark Davis and the

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Speaker 1: Raiders and there really successful introduction to the city and

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Speaker 1: integration has allowed for even more interest beyond them. You

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Speaker 1: had it's the second of the Raiders, as you said,

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Speaker 1: but no fans last year and you had your a

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Speaker 1: preseason game against Seattle. Tell me how everything went. They

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Speaker 1: had almost a full house there, and you know, there's

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Speaker 1: nothing like opening night it's exciting, but when it's the

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Speaker 1: first night, uh, there are all kinds of headaches and

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Speaker 1: problems that can be avoided or just sort of pop

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Speaker 1: up unexpected. How did it go? Yeah, the evening went

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Speaker 1: really well and the you know, from a fan experience standpoint,

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Speaker 1: I mean, I guess I just start with the level

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Speaker 1: of excitement for an exhibition game was pretty remarkable. You know.

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Speaker 1: We did a ribbon cutting for the fans to come

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Speaker 1: into the stadium for really the first time that at

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Speaker 1: scale for professional football, and we did that three and

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Speaker 1: a half hours before kickoff and had to pack audience

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Speaker 1: out front. Everybody was excited to be able to finally

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Speaker 1: come to a Raiders game. You know, you build up

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Speaker 1: an awful lot of anticipation for last year and then

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Speaker 1: can't do it, and so that anticipation just continued to

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Speaker 1: grow and you saw that was a packed house that

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Speaker 1: you know, the first exhibition game of the season, which

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Speaker 1: you don't usually see. Um, you know, from a fan

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Speaker 1: experience around the stadium, the stadium really benefited from having

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Speaker 1: some real major events prior to this exhibition game. We

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Speaker 1: had a full house for a Garth Brooks concert on

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Speaker 1: July tenth. We had a full house for the Cocka

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Speaker 1: capt Gold Cup Final between the USA and Mexico and

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Speaker 1: August one, and learned a lot from those events, primarily

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Speaker 1: around parking and traffic and getting people efficiently and easily

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Speaker 1: into the stadium. And the lessons learned from those two events,

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Speaker 1: which kind of understandably and predictably were bumping. Nobody had.

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Speaker 1: Nobody locally had had the opportunity to go to the stadium,

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Speaker 1: didn't really know where they were going to park, didn't

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Speaker 1: really know what the best route to get to their

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Speaker 1: parking spot was. Like everybody else in the country. The

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Speaker 1: stadium has had some difficulty having full employment, full staffing

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Speaker 1: for these events, and all of those things played into um,

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Speaker 1: you know, some rough patches in those first really major events.

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Speaker 1: It was much smoother for this exhibition game, and there

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Speaker 1: were still some things that need to be worked out,

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Speaker 1: but really just a great night and everybody was excited

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Speaker 1: to be able to be there and it's really a

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Speaker 1: fun environment. All right, Steve, let's go there. Let's talk

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Speaker 1: about pro sports, the state of play, but also where

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Speaker 1: you may be going. The elephants in the room, as

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Speaker 1: it were, you got two of them, You got the

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Speaker 1: two Biggias in turn a Pro Football and the National

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Speaker 1: Hockey League talk to me about basketball and talk to

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Speaker 1: me about baseball. We think, frankly that it is inevitable

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Speaker 1: that those two leagues will have teams here, you know,

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Speaker 1: the next five or ten years. We think it makes

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Speaker 1: a lot of sense. And I would throw the MLS

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Speaker 1: into the conversation as well, because obviously the city is

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Speaker 1: pursuing an MLS franchise on a couple of us and uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, it's a it's a big soccer town as well,

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Speaker 1: So we think all three of those make sense for

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Speaker 1: Las Vegas. The the NBA obviously has a at least

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Speaker 1: an initial facility at Team Obile Arena. They would have

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Speaker 1: to share with the Golden Nights, but that certainly was

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Speaker 1: the idea when that arena was built, and it's a

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Speaker 1: terrific facility, and um that makes it from you know,

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Speaker 1: building the facility standpoint is unnecessary for the NBA, which

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Speaker 1: helps move that path. Obviously, the A's are at least

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Speaker 1: exploring Las Vegas, so that's certainly at least a possibility.

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Speaker 1: And as I said, the MLS efforts has been underway

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Speaker 1: for well over a year now, so all of those

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Speaker 1: teams likely to me over a reasonable period of time.

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Speaker 1: Who would be the aggressor in one of those teams?

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Speaker 1: Winding up there? Your convention and visitors, authority or the

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Speaker 1: leagues themselves. Yeah, and I you know the term aggressor is?

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Speaker 1: I mean, I kind of get what you mean, but

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Speaker 1: probably not how I would phrase it. Sooner I didn't.

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Speaker 1: I didn't. I didn't want to say that the hunter

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Speaker 1: or the hunted. But there's wooing that happens, isn't there. Well, really,

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Speaker 1: what it boils down to is um an owner of

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Speaker 1: a team ultimately has choices on where that team will be,

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Speaker 1: and what we do is present what Las Vegas has

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Speaker 1: to offer. Whoever that owner happens to be needs to

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Speaker 1: make a decision that I'd like to be in Las Vegas.

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Speaker 1: This is where I see my franchise best situated, and

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Speaker 1: let's see if we can make something like that work.

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Speaker 1: The competing against other cities I don't really think is

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Speaker 1: an accurate description of what we do or really all

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Speaker 1: that affective. I suppose there are locations that can try

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Speaker 1: and buy a franchise away, but if you have to

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Speaker 1: do that, I'm not sure that it's the best ft

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Speaker 1: and really what we try and do is present why

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Speaker 1: we think Las Vegas would be a great fete, and

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Speaker 1: it's up to those owners of those teams to figure

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Speaker 1: out if it is the best match for them. The

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Speaker 1: success of the Knights and the Raiders, which has been

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Speaker 1: pretty unprecedented across those leagues, really helps that conversation, and

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Speaker 1: it kind of in and of itself draws interests from

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Speaker 1: team owners. So Vegas isn't a test out. I mean

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Speaker 1: I often say I have the easiest sales job in

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Speaker 1: the world. Sell in Vegas is not a tough thing

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Speaker 1: to do. So, um, we're we're going to get interest

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Speaker 1: m but you know, the owners can have choices, and

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Speaker 1: we're not trying to really show the best of Vegas

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Speaker 1: while we are denigrating other cities. There are other great

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Speaker 1: cities out there, but we think Vegas is a pretty

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Speaker 1: obvious choice at some point for each of those leagues.

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Speaker 1: And and obviously respecting that their confidential conversation going on, Steve,

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Speaker 1: I mean, tell us about what you can about the

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Speaker 1: a's in in particular, because obviously this is a situation

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Speaker 1: that's playing out very publicly. How does that change the

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Speaker 1: way that you have to go about this sort of courtship,

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Speaker 1: uh process, which again it is playing out in front

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Speaker 1: of all of our eyes. Well, um, I don't know

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Speaker 1: that it being public really changed as much. It's frankly,

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Speaker 1: in any one of these situations, it is way more

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Speaker 1: than likely that it's it's going to be known. It's

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Speaker 1: not like you're going to keep these things the secret.

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Speaker 1: And yeah, we went through a very public process with

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Speaker 1: the Raiders where that conversation happened in front of the

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Speaker 1: Tourism Infrastructure Committee in public meetings um over the course

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Speaker 1: of about fifteen months. So they're not all going to

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Speaker 1: be quite that public, um, And a conversation with the

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Speaker 1: A's because of the situation doesn't need to be. But um,

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Speaker 1: they're all public, so you just you know, it's just

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Speaker 1: part of the deal. Well, Steve, one, what is it

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Speaker 1: gonna take for the A's to get there? And two,

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Speaker 1: for that matter, any pro baseball team, what will it

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Speaker 1: take to get them there? I know what Vegas has

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Speaker 1: to offer. Vegas is a sports town. Sports fans across

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Speaker 1: the country, our Vegas fans typically too. And so you know,

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Speaker 1: from a tourism standpoint, visiting fans coming to Las Vegas

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Speaker 1: when you compare that to virtually any place else. I

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Speaker 1: think any place else, Um, they're going to look at

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Speaker 1: the schedule and say, I want to go see my

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Speaker 1: team in Dacos, and you know, you see that happening

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Speaker 1: with the Knights and the Raiders, where it is very easy.

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Speaker 1: I mean it's it's it's difficult for those teams to

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Speaker 1: maintain a home field or a home ice advantage. They

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Speaker 1: have to work to do it um and limit the

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Speaker 1: number of tickets that are sold to m fans outside

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Speaker 1: of the area so that they can so From from

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Speaker 1: that standpoint, you know, Vegas has a real advantage. We

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Speaker 1: have a hundred and twenty eight different cities in the

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Speaker 1: United States with direct connections on flights, probably the easiest

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Speaker 1: city in the United States to get to on a

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Speaker 1: direct flight um out there. Um. So from a tourist standpoint,

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Speaker 1: it is very attractive because it really adds um the

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Speaker 1: potential for attendees that most cities really can't match. And

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Speaker 1: then the the convenience of Las Vegas once you're here

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Speaker 1: is great too. You know, the the airport is right

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Speaker 1: beside the strip. The venues at least so far are

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Speaker 1: basically on the strip, and so you know, you land,

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Speaker 1: you can go to a hotel, you can get right

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Speaker 1: to the game. UM, and then the experience around that

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Speaker 1: game is completely different when you're here. In most other

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Speaker 1: markets it's uh you know. And our drive to the

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Speaker 1: the event, it might be stuck in traffic for a

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Speaker 1: while both before and after. You might eat before or after.

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Speaker 1: What the folks you went west and then you go

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Speaker 1: home where you know, Vegas. You can turn it into

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Speaker 1: a three day event, you can. You know, we had

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Speaker 1: on July tenth, we had Garth Brooks at the stadium.

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Speaker 1: We had UFC event at T Mobile Arena, and then

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Speaker 1: we had people going from the UFC event at T

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Speaker 1: Mobile walking across Toshiba Plaza to go see Bruno Mars

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Speaker 1: at the park after the fight at the arena. You

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Speaker 1: just don't get that opportunity any place. At UM, we

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Speaker 1: have available parcels for a stadium to be built, whether

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Speaker 1: that's for baseball or for soccer. And then you've got

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Speaker 1: you know, a big local audience that are all sports

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Speaker 1: fans too and UM so those types of things don't

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Speaker 1: exist other places, and that's UM a real attraction. So

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Speaker 1: we we think we're a great place for this and Uh.

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Speaker 1: Like I said, the owners of those teams need to

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Speaker 1: figure that out for themselves. I have two questions. Uh. First,

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Speaker 1: I want to ask about Las Vegas in general, because

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Speaker 1: when you think of Vegas, first thing that comes to

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Speaker 1: my mind is betting. And now with online betting in

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Speaker 1: a lot of states, how has that impacted Vegas in

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Speaker 1: general for revenue compared to online betting? And will Las

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Speaker 1: Vegas one day adapt to that. The effect on Vegas,

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Speaker 1: you know, given that we've gone through about eighteen months

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Speaker 1: of the pandemic is, you know, if you look at

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Speaker 1: it from a data perspective, a little hard to figure out,

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Speaker 1: because obviously the city has been gone from being closed

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Speaker 1: for ten weeks to opening and having to go through

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Speaker 1: the ups and downs of the pandemic. What I will

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Speaker 1: say is that what helps that industry typically helps Vegas

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Speaker 1: to Uh. The companies that are largely at the center

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Speaker 1: of online gaming or in game betting are all headquarters

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Speaker 1: in Las Vegas. So what helps them generally helps Vegas.

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Speaker 1: In Vegas typically almost universally knows how to you know,

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Speaker 1: we call it inventing ourselves. That really what we've done

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Speaker 1: is continued to add to what the city has so

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Speaker 1: we will have every confidence that we will um not

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Speaker 1: only figure all that out, but leave that effort. I

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Speaker 1: think it's an economic development opportunity generally for the city

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Speaker 1: as well, because the development of those products all around

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Speaker 1: the sports industry that is now here has real potential

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Speaker 1: into the future. And I think Las Vegas will be

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Speaker 1: one of the centers for that are going forward as well.

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Speaker 1: And so, Steve, you mentioned the UFC fight, and I

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Speaker 1: was fortunate to be working on a piece a few

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Speaker 1: weeks ago, and so I was there for UFC two

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Speaker 1: sixty four and and I can attest to the fact

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Speaker 1: that people poured out of that arena, and I don't

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Speaker 1: think anybody went back to their hotel. I certainly didn't.

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Speaker 1: I had a great dinner on the strip after that

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Speaker 1: with some friends. Um. You know, the UFC has been

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Speaker 1: such a fascinating piece of the recent history, you know,

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Speaker 1: recent being over the last twenty years and certainly over

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Speaker 1: the last ten. I know that your vice chairman on

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Speaker 1: the Stadium Authority is Laurence Epstein, the CEO of the UFC.

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Speaker 1: Help us understand how the UFC both sort of enhances

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Speaker 1: but also reflects the sort of modern Vegas. Yeah, the

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Speaker 1: UFC story here is pretty remarkable. You know, the Fertito's

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Speaker 1: bought uh UFC about twenty years ago for two million

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Speaker 1: dollars and fifteen years later sold it for four billion. UM.

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Speaker 1: You know, it's obviously stayed involved with I m G

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Speaker 1: and you know it's evolution, but it has been a

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Speaker 1: remarkably successful chis and a great success story for Las

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00:26:02,880 --> 00:26:06,880
Speaker 1: Vegas and the folks that us UFC will tell you

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Speaker 1: that the partnership with Las Vegas has been a big

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Speaker 1: part of their success. UM. But UM, you know, not

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Speaker 1: certainly the you know what everybody knows about UFC, the

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Speaker 1: fights and the athletes, and they're remarkable success has been

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Speaker 1: really important for Vegas. But UM, that organization is also

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Speaker 1: exceptionally innovative and entrepreneurial. So they you know, if you've

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Speaker 1: been to their facility, the technology they employ there is remarkable.

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Speaker 1: The care that they give the athletes is cutting edge,

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Speaker 1: and they just keep expanding that envelope. And UM, you know,

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Speaker 1: their success over twenty years, I think UM was helpful

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Speaker 1: in umtracting Mr Folio Nights and the Raiders and they're

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Speaker 1: they're just great partners for everyone in the community. So

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Speaker 1: having them here has made a huge difference. Good golly,

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Speaker 1: can you imagine if Las Vegas got the Super Bowl

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Speaker 1: that you talk about what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, No,

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Speaker 1: that it wouldn't stay in Vegas that night. That I

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Speaker 1: can just imagine what the city would be like having

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Speaker 1: the Super Bowl in Las Vegas. Can you expand on that? Well?

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Speaker 1: And we certainly look forward to helping make that happen,

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Speaker 1: and I feel confident that it will at some point.

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Speaker 1: Obviously there's some probably some rumors out there, stories about

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Speaker 1: that that you can reference, but um, we really look

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Speaker 1: forward to it. I mean when when the stadium was built,

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00:28:04,320 --> 00:28:08,119
Speaker 1: a part of the reason that it was built was

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Speaker 1: invested in with with room tax m was to bring

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Speaker 1: the largest events in the world to Las Angas, and

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Speaker 1: we just didn't have a venue here they could do that. Uh,

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Speaker 1: football field that you n l V used to play

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Speaker 1: on needed to be replaced. It's fairly remote, probably twelve

431
00:28:29,800 --> 00:28:33,120
Speaker 1: fifteen miles east of the strip, out on the edge

432
00:28:33,160 --> 00:28:35,639
Speaker 1: of town, and that was not going to be the

433
00:28:35,680 --> 00:28:39,360
Speaker 1: place that any of this happened. Um, And you know,

434
00:28:39,440 --> 00:28:41,959
Speaker 1: the largest venue we had was T Mobile Arena. So

435
00:28:44,200 --> 00:28:47,880
Speaker 1: bringing the Super Bowl, bringing the College Football National Championship,

436
00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:52,600
Speaker 1: bringing the Final Four, bringing those you know, the the

437
00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:57,680
Speaker 1: largest stadium concerts, UM which we're seeing real interest in.

438
00:28:58,280 --> 00:29:04,200
Speaker 1: It was a big reason and that um our legislature

439
00:29:04,320 --> 00:29:08,160
Speaker 1: and really the people in the BATA were willing to

440
00:29:08,280 --> 00:29:12,560
Speaker 1: invest that much money into the stadium to make it happen.

441
00:29:13,160 --> 00:29:15,840
Speaker 1: And we feel comfortable that all that's going to play

442
00:29:15,880 --> 00:29:18,840
Speaker 1: out having a Super Bowl, and I mean, you know,

443
00:29:19,320 --> 00:29:21,560
Speaker 1: there are more people now who come to Las Vegas

444
00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:24,760
Speaker 1: for the Super Bowl than go to the city is

445
00:29:24,760 --> 00:29:28,440
Speaker 1: actually hosting the Super Bowl, and so being able to

446
00:29:28,520 --> 00:29:32,320
Speaker 1: actually have the game here when that happens is going

447
00:29:32,360 --> 00:29:36,000
Speaker 1: to be sent Steve. I was going to ask you

448
00:29:36,040 --> 00:29:37,800
Speaker 1: what your wish list would be, but I think you

449
00:29:37,880 --> 00:29:44,520
Speaker 1: just answered that question for me. Um, outside of MLB, NBA, MLS,

450
00:29:44,720 --> 00:29:47,960
Speaker 1: anything else up there that you'd love to see comfort fruition,

451
00:29:48,080 --> 00:29:53,160
Speaker 1: Final Four? Yeah, now, and certainly UM the Final Four

452
00:29:53,360 --> 00:29:57,920
Speaker 1: is uh is on our list, all of those uh

453
00:29:58,680 --> 00:30:03,120
Speaker 1: you know, r key events that you know, there's only

454
00:30:03,200 --> 00:30:09,360
Speaker 1: about twelve domed stadiums in the United States, and UM,

455
00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:13,520
Speaker 1: We're we're going to be a very competitive venue for

456
00:30:14,280 --> 00:30:17,520
Speaker 1: every one of those major events that happens in a

457
00:30:17,640 --> 00:30:21,120
Speaker 1: venue like that. Well, Steve, it's been really really good,

458
00:30:21,200 --> 00:30:25,120
Speaker 1: uh catching up with you. Obviously, it's an incredibly exciting

459
00:30:25,200 --> 00:30:28,560
Speaker 1: time for your city. A lot of hard work obviously

460
00:30:28,600 --> 00:30:31,680
Speaker 1: goes into a lot of infrastructure has been built there.

461
00:30:31,760 --> 00:30:34,280
Speaker 1: So we we imagine we'll be talking to you more,

462
00:30:34,760 --> 00:30:37,280
Speaker 1: uh in the not too distant future, because that timeline

463
00:30:37,360 --> 00:30:39,320
Speaker 1: you laid out, it's going to be a very different

464
00:30:39,360 --> 00:30:42,440
Speaker 1: city when it comes to pro sports already is it

465
00:30:42,480 --> 00:30:44,240
Speaker 1: feels like there's a lot in the horizons. So we

466
00:30:44,360 --> 00:30:47,360
Speaker 1: really appreciate it. Thank you. Well, we we appreciate the interest.

467
00:30:47,440 --> 00:30:50,400
Speaker 1: Happy to talk to anytime. Thanks for having me. So, guys,

468
00:30:50,440 --> 00:30:53,520
Speaker 1: what a moment that Las Vegas is having. And you know,

469
00:30:53,520 --> 00:30:55,440
Speaker 1: if you put it in historical context, you know, for

470
00:30:55,480 --> 00:30:58,240
Speaker 1: a long time, Vegas was the place you would go

471
00:30:58,240 --> 00:31:01,720
Speaker 1: to gamble on teams that weren't there, and all of

472
00:31:01,760 --> 00:31:05,959
Speaker 1: a sudden, they've really been able to refashion themselves. You know,

473
00:31:06,080 --> 00:31:08,680
Speaker 1: the evolution of Las Vegas has been fascinating to watch.

474
00:31:09,160 --> 00:31:12,280
Speaker 1: This is a real moment that they are having. And

475
00:31:13,080 --> 00:31:16,520
Speaker 1: if they are able to get the A's or any

476
00:31:16,520 --> 00:31:19,160
Speaker 1: baseball team, the as seem the most likely uh, and

477
00:31:19,360 --> 00:31:23,440
Speaker 1: an NBA team, which again seems somewhat inevitable based on

478
00:31:23,720 --> 00:31:25,720
Speaker 1: not just what Steve Hill said, but what the NBA

479
00:31:25,760 --> 00:31:29,920
Speaker 1: has said and what potential owners and current owners say.

480
00:31:30,040 --> 00:31:32,680
Speaker 1: I mean, this could be one of the most exciting

481
00:31:32,760 --> 00:31:36,560
Speaker 1: sports towns in America, Lynching, and I love what that

482
00:31:36,640 --> 00:31:42,560
Speaker 1: Steve had to say. It's become a destination for visiting teams. So, Jason,

483
00:31:42,600 --> 00:31:45,120
Speaker 1: you're a Atlantic guy. The Falcons are playing against the

484
00:31:45,200 --> 00:31:47,480
Speaker 1: Raiders in November, right, that's a road trip. We're gonna

485
00:31:47,520 --> 00:31:49,680
Speaker 1: go down there and go to Vegas, baby, or Michael

486
00:31:49,680 --> 00:31:51,800
Speaker 1: Barr says. The Red Wings are playing against the Golden

487
00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:54,680
Speaker 1: Knights in February. We're gonna make a road trip. He says,

488
00:31:54,720 --> 00:31:57,280
Speaker 1: sometimes it's hard to tell who the home team is

489
00:31:57,320 --> 00:31:59,840
Speaker 1: because so many people come from out of town and

490
00:32:00,120 --> 00:32:04,040
Speaker 1: just gonna make a Las Vegas and even more desirable destination. Yeah.

491
00:32:04,120 --> 00:32:07,680
Speaker 1: And and the fan base, even the sort of natural

492
00:32:07,720 --> 00:32:11,440
Speaker 1: fan base, is surprising as well, Bar, I mean, in sense,

493
00:32:11,520 --> 00:32:13,240
Speaker 1: you know, being out there, you see a lot of

494
00:32:13,280 --> 00:32:16,719
Speaker 1: Golden Knights license plates. I mean, it's just it's a

495
00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:20,640
Speaker 1: town that's built for excitement, and you know that as

496
00:32:20,640 --> 00:32:27,440
Speaker 1: a degenerate gambler, thank you, Jason. But you know what's

497
00:32:27,480 --> 00:32:31,040
Speaker 1: But what's funny is that you usually when you go

498
00:32:31,080 --> 00:32:34,239
Speaker 1: to Vegas and you're watching a sports games because you've

499
00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:37,600
Speaker 1: got some money on the game. What's starting to happen

500
00:32:37,680 --> 00:32:40,840
Speaker 1: now is that people are watching the games not because

501
00:32:40,880 --> 00:32:43,520
Speaker 1: they got money on it, is because they're homers. You're

502
00:32:43,560 --> 00:32:47,000
Speaker 1: watching a night's game, You're going to be watching the

503
00:32:47,120 --> 00:32:51,160
Speaker 1: Raiders game, and it just just cheering because you want

504
00:32:51,200 --> 00:32:54,360
Speaker 1: to cheer. That I think is really cool. It's it's

505
00:32:54,400 --> 00:33:00,240
Speaker 1: way more than U n l V. Kids, because better

506
00:33:00,280 --> 00:33:02,600
Speaker 1: to be than the one than number five number. Because

507
00:33:02,640 --> 00:33:04,200
Speaker 1: of mine, we have a chance to go for three

508
00:33:04,200 --> 00:33:05,880
Speaker 1: and a row. Good numbers are a good time. When

509
00:33:05,880 --> 00:33:07,880
Speaker 1: I first started wearing the number, how we just have

510
00:33:07,960 --> 00:33:11,280
Speaker 1: the im proud Bloomberg business of sports. The number of

511
00:33:11,280 --> 00:33:15,280
Speaker 1: the week. All right, number the week, let's do it.

512
00:33:16,360 --> 00:33:19,440
Speaker 1: Here's our quick setup. Uh. It's a great time in

513
00:33:19,520 --> 00:33:22,760
Speaker 1: Major League Soccer. They're going in negotiations for its next

514
00:33:22,960 --> 00:33:27,920
Speaker 1: TV contract and the league goes into the final two

515
00:33:27,960 --> 00:33:31,080
Speaker 1: months of the regular season with ratings not only up

516
00:33:31,080 --> 00:33:35,120
Speaker 1: significantly over last season, but twenty nineteen as well. What

517
00:33:35,240 --> 00:33:38,960
Speaker 1: I want to know, according to what the numbers are

518
00:33:39,080 --> 00:33:45,680
Speaker 1: ABC ESPN is averaging what number per telecast? The number

519
00:33:45,760 --> 00:33:49,760
Speaker 1: of people who are watching each game? Averaging Yes, at

520
00:33:49,800 --> 00:33:55,400
Speaker 1: the average per telecast, I'm gonna say pretty relatively conservative,

521
00:33:56,360 --> 00:34:00,160
Speaker 1: uh and say quarter of a million? Two or Okay,

522
00:34:00,200 --> 00:34:03,840
Speaker 1: he's locked into two fifty. I'm gonna chop his legs

523
00:34:03,880 --> 00:34:06,080
Speaker 1: out from underneath him. I'm gonna go with like uh

524
00:34:06,600 --> 00:34:13,839
Speaker 1: to the final answer wow, and she usually I thought

525
00:34:13,880 --> 00:34:17,040
Speaker 1: you were gonna get it because usually you go higher. Yeah,

526
00:34:17,719 --> 00:34:23,360
Speaker 1: The ABC ESPN average per telecast is three hundred eighty

527
00:34:23,520 --> 00:34:30,520
Speaker 1: four thousand. That is up from last season, and that's

528
00:34:30,560 --> 00:34:34,640
Speaker 1: a big job. That's a huge jump. Fox FS one

529
00:34:35,120 --> 00:34:37,880
Speaker 1: they had a fourteen percent increase over last year, averaging

530
00:34:38,080 --> 00:34:43,520
Speaker 1: two hundred thirty one thousand. But that's good news. Yeah,

531
00:34:43,600 --> 00:34:45,560
Speaker 1: it's good news for soccer. And again they're going to

532
00:34:45,640 --> 00:34:50,879
Speaker 1: head into TV contracts now. Yeah, they're they're like they're

533
00:34:50,880 --> 00:34:53,640
Speaker 1: they're rubbing their hands. Is like, you know what, guess

534
00:34:53,640 --> 00:34:56,640
Speaker 1: what you're gonna be paying too. So yeah, that's good,

535
00:34:56,880 --> 00:34:59,239
Speaker 1: that's good. Well, I mean it's also interesting I think

536
00:34:59,280 --> 00:35:03,640
Speaker 1: to think of out how you know, even amid all

537
00:35:03,760 --> 00:35:08,680
Speaker 1: this turmoil in you know the media landscape and how

538
00:35:08,719 --> 00:35:11,439
Speaker 1: people are viewing things if if people are still tuning in,

539
00:35:11,600 --> 00:35:15,799
Speaker 1: you know, live sports. They're the last bastion of of

540
00:35:15,880 --> 00:35:19,520
Speaker 1: the broadcast and cable world. So interesting to see how

541
00:35:19,560 --> 00:35:22,080
Speaker 1: that deal turns out. You've been listening to Bloomberg Business

542
00:35:22,080 --> 00:35:24,200
Speaker 1: of Sports. We're here each and every week for you

543
00:35:24,239 --> 00:35:27,160
Speaker 1: at the same time, plus online wherever you get your podcast.

544
00:35:27,200 --> 00:35:30,680
Speaker 1: Those drop on Monday's, Wednesdays and Thursdays. You can always

545
00:35:30,719 --> 00:35:34,560
Speaker 1: catch us on Twitter. I'm Jason Kelly. Find me there

546
00:35:34,600 --> 00:35:36,919
Speaker 1: at Jason Kelly News and I'm Mike Lynch, the guy

547
00:35:36,960 --> 00:35:38,799
Speaker 1: with a big L on his forehead right now for

548
00:35:38,880 --> 00:35:41,359
Speaker 1: this week's number of the week. I'll be back next

549
00:35:41,400 --> 00:35:44,640
Speaker 1: week stronger than ever, as they say in Boston. You

550
00:35:44,680 --> 00:35:49,320
Speaker 1: can find me at Lynch w CVV, and I'm Michael

551
00:35:49,320 --> 00:35:51,759
Speaker 1: bar on Twitter at Big Bars Sports. You're listening to

552
00:35:51,760 --> 00:35:55,600
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Business and Sports and Bloomberg Radio around the world.

553
00:35:58,080 --> 00:36:00,520
Speaker 1: Action alogies