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Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business of Sports, where in a situation

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Speaker 1: that we haven't dealt with in modern times, the pandemic

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Speaker 1: here has really accelerated the investments that we've been advocating

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Speaker 1: for for a year. From a macro standpoint, I think

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Speaker 1: our sport industry is really forced to look at the

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Speaker 1: business a little bit differently. In depth conversations with the

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Speaker 1: leaders in the sports industry and he sport, there's a

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Speaker 1: good admiration were still moving forward with part of something

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Speaker 1: much bigger than the sport right now, the health and

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Speaker 1: tradustry of our stakeholders, the brook Smart important every moment.

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Speaker 1: I think we're all from a business respective thinking about

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Speaker 1: the impact that the virus is having across the country.

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Speaker 1: In Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio, Hi everyone,

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Speaker 1: I'm Jason Kelly. You're listening to the Bloomberg Business of

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Speaker 1: Sports a special edition today, a breaking news edition. We're

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Speaker 1: going to talk about a deal going on down in

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Speaker 1: South Florida. The first you're going to hear from it

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Speaker 1: directly from the man himself yet Derek Jeter. He is

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Speaker 1: the CEO of the Florida Marlins. He played for a

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Speaker 1: time up here in my back yard in New York

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Speaker 1: Hall of Fame inductee as of Well, he's got a

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Speaker 1: new name for his ballpark. Used to be known as

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Speaker 1: Marlin's Park, from here on out, it's going to be

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Speaker 1: known as Loan Depot Park, taking the name of one

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Speaker 1: of the country's biggest non bank lenders. It's based out

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Speaker 1: in California. But this was a deal that was long

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Speaker 1: in the making, as Jeter and his fellow owners set

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Speaker 1: about trying to find the best partner. So let's get

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Speaker 1: into it. Well, Derek, Jeter, really nice to talk to you.

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Speaker 1: Tell me about this deal. This is a big move

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Speaker 1: for you. Well, we got here, we we acquired the

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Speaker 1: organization about three and a half years ago, and we

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Speaker 1: knew that this is one of the pillars for us

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Speaker 1: as an organization to continue to grow and build UH

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Speaker 1: and and be sustainable on the business operations side. Um.

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Speaker 1: But the but the process for us is is you know,

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Speaker 1: it's one of the things that I mentioned to Happeny

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Speaker 1: and we This is I think why we've we've gotten

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Speaker 1: along so well is the fact that I told him

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Speaker 1: I didn't want this to be transactional. I wanted it

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Speaker 1: to be a true partnership, and and we've had inbound

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Speaker 1: calls um since we've been here, and we're searching for

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Speaker 1: the right partner. And it just took a short period

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Speaker 1: of time getting to know Anthony and seeing his leadership

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Speaker 1: skills and what he has built at Loan Depot, and

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Speaker 1: for us it was it was a perfect match. And

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Speaker 1: so Anthony, tell me about the process from your perspective,

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Speaker 1: because there's a big commitment. You know, you're slapping your

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Speaker 1: name on on something, but even more so, as Derek said,

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Speaker 1: you're really getting into business here. I mean, these these

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Speaker 1: are pretty serious relationships, pretty serious marriages. Um, you know

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Speaker 1: when you when you link up with with a team

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Speaker 1: like this. So tell us about the process from from

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Speaker 1: your perspective. Well, being married to uh Miami Marlin Derrek

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Speaker 1: Jeters sounds okay. So we just went for immediately, UM.

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Speaker 1: So you know, from our perspective, I think beyond the

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Speaker 1: financial obligation here, it was just really important for us

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Speaker 1: to find the right cultural chat and the right type

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Speaker 1: of enthusiasm and a contemporary sort of feel to what

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Speaker 1: we were searching. Obviously, lots of choices on the marketplace

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Speaker 1: and UH and we were evaluating an opportunity like this,

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Speaker 1: I would say for five years. So when we finally

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Speaker 1: met Derek in the entire Marlin organization, it just fell

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Speaker 1: right to us, and uh, in this entire sort of process. Uh,

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Speaker 1: it just gave us an opportunity to confirm the fact

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Speaker 1: that we just select the right partner and we're just

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Speaker 1: we're just throw And so Derek put this deal in

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Speaker 1: context for me in terms of some of the other

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Speaker 1: business moves you've been making, even pretty busy in this offseason,

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Speaker 1: it feels like, you know, lining up sponsors as you say,

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Speaker 1: you know, this is a business that needs to be funded. Um,

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Speaker 1: tell me more about how that works, your involvement with

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Speaker 1: it and and the strategy underneath it, especially for this

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Speaker 1: specific team. Yeah, I mean, look, it's it's we've been

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Speaker 1: very vocal since we've gotten here and some of the

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Speaker 1: deals that we needed to get done to help turn

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Speaker 1: around this this organization. You know, obviously are TV deal

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Speaker 1: was it was important for us. That's a pillar for us.

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Speaker 1: Naming rights is is a big deal for us. But

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Speaker 1: it's something that you know, I just just want to

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Speaker 1: say this once again, it's not something that we felt

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Speaker 1: as though we had to rush into you know, we

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Speaker 1: were looking for someone that had shared values and vision

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Speaker 1: and and someone that was committed to the community. And uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, speaking with Anthony about his commitment and Loan

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Speaker 1: Deepo's commitment what they've done, uh in the community. Uh,

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Speaker 1: that was that was a big part of this. So

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Speaker 1: for us as an organization, you know, we came here

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Speaker 1: and we said that we're gonna any promises that we made,

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Speaker 1: we were going to keep and and we understood that

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Speaker 1: how in order to turn the organization around, we had

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Speaker 1: to turn it around not only just on baseball operation side,

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Speaker 1: but on the business operations side and having partners and

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Speaker 1: developing relationships with with uh. You know, a company like

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Speaker 1: Loan Depot really really just I think it shows not

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Speaker 1: only um, you know, the fans of the Miami Marlins,

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Speaker 1: but it also shows the South Florida community that you

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Speaker 1: have a national um company like Loan Depot that's willing

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Speaker 1: to invest in the organization and in the South Florida community.

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Speaker 1: You know, that's that's a big sign. It's a good sign.

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Speaker 1: And and uh, you know, I'm happy to hear that

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Speaker 1: there are companies out there like Loan Depot that believe

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Speaker 1: in what we're building down here, and they believe in

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Speaker 1: the South Florida community. Well, let's talk about that community

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Speaker 1: if we can, Anthony, because South Florida and I don't

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Speaker 1: have to tell either of you this, and I certainly

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Speaker 1: don't have to tell Derek this because he's been living

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Speaker 1: at living and breathing it for the last three and

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Speaker 1: a half years. It's a different sort of market. It's

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Speaker 1: incredibly diverse in many ways, economically and otherwise. Guys, So

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Speaker 1: how do you look at the market from an opportunity perspective,

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Speaker 1: Because ultimately this is a business decision for you. You're

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Speaker 1: trying to reach a new audience. You're trying to serve

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Speaker 1: a very specific community. So what does that specific community

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Speaker 1: represent for you from a business opportunity. Well, I I

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Speaker 1: think that one of the key words here is diversity,

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Speaker 1: and you know, being an immigrant, UH in a minority

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Speaker 1: and understanding how important diversity is. If you look at

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Speaker 1: UH the Marlins organization, as well as looking at loan depot, UH,

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Speaker 1: it just again goes back to my point earlier. It

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Speaker 1: just just set all the boxes that we were looking for. UH.

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Speaker 1: Florida is one of the largest home um ownership state

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Speaker 1: in the country, and certainly our headquarters are currently in California,

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Speaker 1: although we operate uh out of all fifty states in

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Speaker 1: the country, so geographically, it just made a ton of

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Speaker 1: sense to us, and culturally as well as the diversification

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Speaker 1: just checked up every box for our young organizations brand

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Speaker 1: and what we stand for. And the fact that South

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Speaker 1: Florida and Florida is such a diverse area of inflow

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Speaker 1: is a great area for visitors and vacationers. It just

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Speaker 1: does allow for a brand. So, Derek, similar question to you.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I would imagine that moving around South Florida

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Speaker 1: as you do, there are certain days where you feel

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Speaker 1: like you never left New York. It's just a little

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Speaker 1: warmer because of all the New Yorkers that are down there.

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Speaker 1: There are other, obviously, parts of the South Florida area,

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Speaker 1: especially in Miami, which feels very different and vibrant from

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Speaker 1: an entirely different way. How do you coalesce that from

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Speaker 1: a business perspective? How do you create a product that

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Speaker 1: does appeal across that wide spectrum? Well, I think you look,

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Speaker 1: Miami is a very unique city. I mean, you guys

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Speaker 1: have talked about the diversity here and and you know,

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Speaker 1: we want to be a reflection of that, and and

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Speaker 1: we've we've done that. I think we've done a pretty

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Speaker 1: good job of that since we've been down here. Is

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Speaker 1: embracing the diversity, embracing the culture of Miami and making

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Speaker 1: it this a fun atmosphere because you come down to Miami,

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Speaker 1: you enjoy yourself, you have fun. We we've invested a

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Speaker 1: lot of money into a lot of private money into

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Speaker 1: a public entity here, which is the ballpark and Loan

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Speaker 1: Depot Park now, and um, you know, we've done that

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Speaker 1: to make sure that our fans have a first class experience,

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Speaker 1: and um, you know, we're going to continue to do

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Speaker 1: that as an ownership group. But I think embracing the

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Speaker 1: culture here, it's it's Miami's a fun city to be in.

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Speaker 1: We want to have fun at the ballpark, and you know,

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Speaker 1: we're in the entertainment business bottom line. And I know

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Speaker 1: you mentioned a lot of New Yorkers coming down here,

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Speaker 1: but look, there's a lot of people that are moving

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Speaker 1: to the South Florida area and we want to make

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Speaker 1: sure that they have a world class UH venue to

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Speaker 1: come to and enjoy, whether it's baseball or it's non

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Speaker 1: baseball events. And so Derek just picking up what on that.

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Speaker 1: I mean, you're alluding to the fact that it's a

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Speaker 1: lot of competition, you know, not necessarily, you know, you've

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Speaker 1: got to go a little ways to get some good

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Speaker 1: baseball competition, but just you know, kind of eyeballs and

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Speaker 1: and share of wallet and all of those things. How

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Speaker 1: do you fit intoto that broader array of opportunities? Because

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Speaker 1: you say, people you know come down there to have fun,

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Speaker 1: how do you make sure they get to your ballpark? Well,

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Speaker 1: I think it's it's the messaging. I think it's affordable.

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Speaker 1: You know, we made sure that. You know, when I

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Speaker 1: talked about the money that the Inmponentship Group has invested

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Speaker 1: into with one of the most affordable entertainment options in

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Speaker 1: South Florida. Uh, and we feel as though, look, this

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Speaker 1: is one of the best ballparks in the country. And uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, for us, it's getting people in here. Once

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Speaker 1: they get in here, they enjoy themselves. And and uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, we we've had a lot of renovations to

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Speaker 1: the ballpark. Like A said before, it's a public entity.

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Speaker 1: We've we've invested our ownership group has invested a lot

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Speaker 1: of money into the ballpark because we want the fan

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Speaker 1: base to feel as though this is their team, right,

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Speaker 1: this is the community's team, this is the community's ballpark.

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Speaker 1: And we've also focused on non baseball events. So this

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Speaker 1: is UH, this is a venue that we view as

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Speaker 1: three sixty five days a year, and we're to continue

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Speaker 1: to pursue non baseball events. And so Anthony on on

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Speaker 1: the subject of baseball and your choice to you know,

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Speaker 1: as as we sort of jogging instaid as being sort

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Speaker 1: of get married to Derek Jeter and and and the

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Speaker 1: Marlins in this case, why baseball you know, I mean

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Speaker 1: basebll I feel like it is at this very critical

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Speaker 1: moment in some ways, and we're all at a critical

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Speaker 1: moment coming out of the pandemic. But you know, when

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Speaker 1: you think about baseball right now, why does this specific

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Speaker 1: sport makes sense to you? You know, as as you know,

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Speaker 1: as a larger UH company and younger company UM that's

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Speaker 1: eleven years old, we looked at as you can imagine

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Speaker 1: all types of opportunities out there for us to partner with,

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Speaker 1: and you know, baseball is American's pastime. UM. Not not

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Speaker 1: only do we believe that it represents um UH the

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Speaker 1: best alignment for loan depot, but for me personally having

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Speaker 1: been uh not only a baseball fan, um, but at

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Speaker 1: Derek Jeter fans throughout my entire life. Um this you know,

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Speaker 1: being American's pastime and you know one of our our

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Speaker 1: brand voice for Loan Depot as America's lender. So it

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Speaker 1: again just uh, it just further aligns our brand to

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Speaker 1: the overall sort of spirit of the sport and the

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Speaker 1: history of the sport and what it stands for. And certainly, um,

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Speaker 1: you know, we just believe that as we partner up

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Speaker 1: with not only UH Miami Marlins, but we also uh

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Speaker 1: are the exclusive mortgage provider for a Major League Baseball

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Speaker 1: So we're sort of doubling down here as an organization

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Speaker 1: to MLB and we just believe that is just a

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Speaker 1: great alignment for for our company. One other thing I

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Speaker 1: want to have Jason, is when when Anthony decides to

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Speaker 1: retire from his career at Loan Depot, we have a

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Speaker 1: job for him here in the front office because he's

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Speaker 1: done a pretty good job of grilling our our employees

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Speaker 1: about not only the major league team, but what we

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Speaker 1: doing his due diligence here with the Marlins organization. I

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Speaker 1: like it. I like it. That's good. That's good, that

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Speaker 1: that that's a that's an active partnership, as they say.

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Speaker 1: Um So, Derek, how did the pandemic change baseball? From

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Speaker 1: your perspective? Like, what are you coming out of the

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Speaker 1: last year thinking about when it comes to your fans,

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Speaker 1: you feeling about it? Well? I think one, there's there's

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Speaker 1: a lot of optimism. I think the fans miss baseball.

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Speaker 1: I mean, look, this was the first year. Last year

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Speaker 1: was the first year in seventeen years that our organization

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Speaker 1: the ballpark and see it in person, but they didn't.

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Speaker 1: Um you know, so, I think there's there's eagerness for

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Speaker 1: a fan base to get back. I think for us

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Speaker 1: as an organization, you know, we set out and we

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Speaker 1: said what we were going to do when we took

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Speaker 1: over three and a half years ago. We said we

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Speaker 1: were going to build a minor league system, a foundation

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Speaker 1: of the organization on baseball operations, and we're gonna stick

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Speaker 1: with that plan. And I think you're you're starting to

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Speaker 1: see our plan um come to light here, and uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, we still have a long way to go.

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Speaker 1: I told Anthony this when when we first spoke, is that, uh,

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Speaker 1: we still have a long way to go here as

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Speaker 1: an organization. I'll always say that, but we do. And uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, to have him believe in what we're building here,

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Speaker 1: and you know, there's it's a big opportunity for the sport.

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Speaker 1: You know, it's a big opportunity for the sports to

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Speaker 1: be back on center stage and and uh continue to

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Speaker 1: build our fan base not only here in Miami, but

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Speaker 1: throughout the country in Major League Baseball. The transparency, the bigger,

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Speaker 1: the focus and the intensity of Derek and the entire

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Speaker 1: Marlin organization is really uplifting and it's contagious. I can

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Speaker 1: feel it here all the way across the country. Every

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Speaker 1: time I sort of review, evaluate, talk to Derek and

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Speaker 1: talk to the folks of the Marlins organization, it just

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Speaker 1: it just feels like a you know, it's it's it's

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Speaker 1: it's a winner in the making. And uh, that type

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Speaker 1: is intangible that you can't really right into a contract

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Speaker 1: but you can you can feel it. You could feel

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Speaker 1: that that that vibe. Derek is building something of quality

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Speaker 1: and we just want to hitch our wagon to to

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Speaker 1: his cart and we want to make sure that that

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Speaker 1: we're along for the ride. So, Derek, has this been

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Speaker 1: harder than you thought? What surprised you about being in

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Speaker 1: this for three and a half years? Ah? Well, I

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Speaker 1: knew it was going to be hard. Anything that means something,

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Speaker 1: anything that's important to you, is going to be difficult, right. Uh.

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Speaker 1: You know, we looked at it as we had an

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Speaker 1: opportunity to build something special and in my mind build

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Speaker 1: it from the ground up, which which we set out

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Speaker 1: to do. UM. So I wouldn't necessarily say it's harder

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Speaker 1: than I thought. UM. I think if you you asked

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Speaker 1: my wife, it's more time consuming than she thought. But

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Speaker 1: you know, it's it's anything that means something to you

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Speaker 1: is um is going to take a lot of Time's

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Speaker 1: gonna take a lot of effort. But you know, we've

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Speaker 1: we've had our heads down here for three and a

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Speaker 1: half years. We're going to continue to work hard and

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Speaker 1: have our heads down and and we've got a long

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Speaker 1: way to go, like I said. But but it's it's

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Speaker 1: you know this right here is it's a huge deal

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Speaker 1: for us as an organization, for us as a South

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Speaker 1: Florida community. Um, and I think it goes to show

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Speaker 1: that you have people that are believing in what we're building.

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Speaker 1: And Derek, I mean, and both of you guys are

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Speaker 1: sort of alluding to this in some ways. I mean,

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Speaker 1: you've been in the spotlight your entire life and in

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Speaker 1: many ways and certainly a different sort of scrutiny when

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Speaker 1: when you're part of an ownership group, you guys have

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Speaker 1: made some some bold decisions. And in hiring of course,

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Speaker 1: you know, with Kim coming in especially or being promoted

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Speaker 1: to her position, how important. How much pressure do you feel? Um,

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Speaker 1: it's a different sort of pressure obviously than than playing

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Speaker 1: for the New York Yankees. But in terms of you

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Speaker 1: just sort of demonstrating and being I dare say, sort

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Speaker 1: of a role model from an ownership perspective at a

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Speaker 1: time when people are paying a lot more attention to

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Speaker 1: owners I know exactly, UM, type of organization we wanted

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Speaker 1: to build down here, first class organization where you know,

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Speaker 1: players wanted to play, employees want to come work, and

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Speaker 1: you know, the fans want to come watch and there's

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Speaker 1: the way to do it. And you know, I I

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Speaker 1: am a little biased, but you know, I played for

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Speaker 1: an organization that's considered by many to be the best,

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Speaker 1: and I learned quite a lot throughout my twenty year

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Speaker 1: career twenty three years professionally, UM with that organization, and UM,

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Speaker 1: you know, trying to take some of the things that

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Speaker 1: I learned and and and bring them down here, uh

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Speaker 1: in Miami. But I've always taken the approach where you

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Speaker 1: just do the right thing. You know, you do the

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Speaker 1: right thing. You can't worry about what people say or

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Speaker 1: what people think. I think any time when you're in

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Speaker 1: a position of leadership, you're gonna have to make some

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Speaker 1: decisions that get scrutinized the time times and and I'm

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Speaker 1: not I don't shy away from that because every decision

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Speaker 1: that we make is for the betterment of the organization

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Speaker 1: since we've gotten here, and we'll continue to make those decisions.

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Speaker 1: But you know, this, this organization is something that I'm

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Speaker 1: proud of of of how far we've come, once again

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Speaker 1: saying we have a long way to go, and so

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Speaker 1: Anthony just is and we're running out of time here,

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Speaker 1: but you know, I will ask you we are Bloomberg

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Speaker 1: after all? Sort of what you see from from your

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Speaker 1: perspective in the lending business. You guys are one of

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Speaker 1: the biggest non bank lenders out there. We all have

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Speaker 1: questions about the broader economy. Obviously, this deal in some

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Speaker 1: ways gives you a deeper window into a very important

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Speaker 1: um region. But but what do you see it across

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Speaker 1: the U. S. Economy here? Well, certainly, you know right

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Speaker 1: now we're in uncharted territory. You know, we're on the

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Speaker 1: back side of of COVID. Uh. Certainly, housing has um

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Speaker 1: changed quite a bit over the last eighteen months. Inventory

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Speaker 1: is at its all time low. The market for housing

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Speaker 1: and for sellers in particular has been very, very abullish.

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Speaker 1: But interest rates are going up. So we have a

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Speaker 1: new administration, we have different fiscal spending. Currently, there's a

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Speaker 1: fear of inflation, and of course with rising real estate

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Speaker 1: prices across the country and now writing interest rates, UH,

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Speaker 1: there's some concern about affordability and that we're just going

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Speaker 1: to have to watch that closely for the rest of

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Speaker 1: the year and see what happens. And so, Derek, last

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Speaker 1: question to you, I mean again sort of just going back,

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Speaker 1: it's sort of rounding out this notion of sort of

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Speaker 1: what you've learned as an owner and and and sort

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Speaker 1: of picking up on this notion that I do feel

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Speaker 1: like we are expecting more and probably rightly of people

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Speaker 1: who own sports teams. You know, this has been quite

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Speaker 1: a year in many ways around athlete activism and the

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Speaker 1: expectation that you know, athletes have stronger voices. You obviously

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Speaker 1: had a strong voice as a player. Now you're on

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Speaker 1: the other side of the desk. How does that change

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Speaker 1: your perspective? How has the last year change your perspective

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Speaker 1: in terms of working with players, working with the team

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Speaker 1: in a way that is socially responsible and and really

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Speaker 1: sends the right message, you know, to to the broader

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Speaker 1: world at a time when we are listening more and

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Speaker 1: more um to athletes. Well, I think one thing is

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Speaker 1: is you have to understand that athletes are not just

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Speaker 1: one dimensional. I mean, they have to use they have opinions,

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Speaker 1: and I think you know, throughout the years, I think

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Speaker 1: they've been more willing to voice their opinions. And and

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Speaker 1: one thing that I've I've tried to do and in

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Speaker 1: this position here, is to make sure that I communicate

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Speaker 1: and over communicate not only with our with our players,

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Speaker 1: but our front office staff as well, and giving them

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Speaker 1: giving them an opportunity to voice their opinions, voice their concerns,

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Speaker 1: and and make sure that I let them know where

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Speaker 1: we stand as an organization. And I feel as though

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Speaker 1: that everyone should stand up for what they believe in

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Speaker 1: and they're going to have the support of ownership with

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Speaker 1: this organization. And I think, um, you know a lot

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Speaker 1: of times you have athletes that are flu has been

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Speaker 1: to speak up because they're they're concerned with what the

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Speaker 1: repercussions maybe um from a from an ownership group or

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Speaker 1: front office group, and and I've been very vocal and

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Speaker 1: let them know that, you know, make sure that you're

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Speaker 1: very clear with your thoughts and and you articulate, um,

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Speaker 1: your thoughts and your beliefs and and we'll be here

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Speaker 1: to support you. So fans in the stands at the

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Speaker 1: newly named Loan Depot Park, Yes, sir, we're looking forward

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Speaker 1: to it opening day in a few days. So this

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Speaker 1: is this is uh something that we've been looking forward

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Speaker 1: to for for a year now, and um, I couldn't

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Speaker 1: be more excited about one season. So Derek Moore deals

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Speaker 1: coming in terms of the Marlins across the course of

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Speaker 1: the season. This is obviously a big one, but I

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Speaker 1: know you guys have been busy. Yeah, we have been busy,

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Speaker 1: and and you know this is obviously you know, this

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Speaker 1: is a huge deal for us UM as an organization.

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Speaker 1: But uh, you know, it's not the only business that

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Speaker 1: believes in what we've been building here. So you know,

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Speaker 1: we've we've got long standing partnerships since we've been here

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Speaker 1: with Automation, the Party. I mean, we have a lot

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Speaker 1: of deals here and and a lot of local companies

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Speaker 1: that believe in what we're building and building down here

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Speaker 1: as well. But the only thing I'll say about our

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Speaker 1: deal here at Loan Depot is it's a multi year partnership.

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Speaker 1: It in and it's going to be mutually beneficial to

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Speaker 1: for the Marlins and for Loan Depot as well. And

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Speaker 1: and uh happy to hear that Anthony is gonna be

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Speaker 1: spending a little bit more time down here. Well, thank

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Speaker 1: you so much, Derek Jeter and Anthony Shay. Really good

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Speaker 1: to catch up with you guys on this very newsy day.

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Speaker 1: I'm Jason Kelly. You have been listening to the Bloomberg

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Speaker 1: Business of Sports. Catch this podcast every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

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Speaker 1: Coming up this weekend, we're gonna catch up with another CEO.

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Speaker 1: That is the CEO of the Boston Red Sox, Sam Kennedy. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's baseball time, folks, so check that out. In the meantime,

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Speaker 1: follow me on Twitter. I'm Jason Kelly at Jason Kelly

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Speaker 1: Bus