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Speaker 1: You're listening to Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.

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

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Speaker 1: Michael Barr, and this is the Bloomberg Business of Sports

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Speaker 1: podcast where we explore the big money issues in the

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Speaker 1: world of sports. So guys, happy Monday. Uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: sports are getting back to normal to some extent, although

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Speaker 1: I fully confess as we talked about what's going on

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Speaker 1: in the world of business and sports, I remain a

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Speaker 1: little bit obsessed. I was reading all weekend, listening to

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Speaker 1: podcasts about the Super League that wasn't an in part

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Speaker 1: because yes, they're all these kind of TikTok postmortems about

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Speaker 1: what went wrong, but this story is definitely not over.

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Speaker 1: And reading the headlines this morning, we're talking on a

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Speaker 1: Monday morning. There is potential ownership change coming to the

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Speaker 1: Premier League, or at least talk about it, and nothing

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Speaker 1: of late or nothing right now, Lynchy when it comes

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Speaker 1: to your friends at Fenway Sports Group in Liverpool, but

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Speaker 1: over at Arsenal, which of course is owned by Stan

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Speaker 1: Cronky and who is also owns the Los Angeles Rams.

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Speaker 1: Of course, Uh, he may get a competing bid from

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Speaker 1: the founder and CEO of Spotify, along with some former players.

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Speaker 1: This one stands to be a really interesting battle if

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Speaker 1: it goes anywhere. What do you think, well, I mean,

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Speaker 1: Daniel Eck is talking with his heart obviously because he

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Speaker 1: grew up as a big fan of Arsenal and he

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Speaker 1: has three former players in his camp now and they

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Speaker 1: would like to buy, but the Cronky family said they

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Speaker 1: have no intention of selling uh the Arsenal Football Club

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Speaker 1: right now. So that's one of many things that are

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Speaker 1: being juggled in the air right now. Many of the

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Speaker 1: teams that we know that there's a great deal of

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Speaker 1: unhappiness still even though the Super League deal is dead.

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Speaker 1: I mean, the Irish Mirror published today a poll should

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Speaker 1: the Big Six be punished for their Super League betrayal?

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Speaker 1: And they all kinds of categories and how they should

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Speaker 1: be punished. You know, if this happened to the United States,

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Speaker 1: it's gonna be a brush fire to be over in

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Speaker 1: about three hours. But this is a long lingering effects.

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Speaker 1: So Michael barr I was thinking about this over the weekend,

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Speaker 1: and you know, you're such a sort of voice for

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Speaker 1: for the fan out there, and and I do wonder

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Speaker 1: about this element, which is the German teams didn't get

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Speaker 1: involved in this, in part because we don't have to

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Speaker 1: get into the technical aspects of it. But essentially they

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Speaker 1: have mandated, legislated, to some extent, community ownership of the teams. Basically,

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Speaker 1: the fans, the communities owned the teams, and so that

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Speaker 1: ultimately prevented the German teams from signing onto this. Do

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Speaker 1: you think that is a viable model? I mean it

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Speaker 1: it almost it's it's a sort of Green Bay Packers

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Speaker 1: type set up to to some extent it has worked,

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Speaker 1: you know, sort of sporadically around here in the United States.

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Speaker 1: What do you make of it? I always thought that

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Speaker 1: was very workable because when you have many members in

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Speaker 1: the community and you have a shareholders meeting, then you

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Speaker 1: just like in any old shareholders meeting, you you vote

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Speaker 1: on whether to do this or to do that whatever.

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Speaker 1: But when it's just one person owning the team, they

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Speaker 1: control everything and it will not go unnoticed to the

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Speaker 1: teams that said yeah, let's do this, and the fans

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Speaker 1: are saying, okay, we won't forget that. So I believe

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Speaker 1: that this could be the way to go. I mean, Lenchie,

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Speaker 1: I think we were already talking about some legislation coming

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Speaker 1: down in the UK that could force this sort of issue.

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Speaker 1: They're looking around the rest of Europe, or they're looking

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Speaker 1: around Europe. Technically the UK is not part of Europe

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Speaker 1: post practice, but they're looking across the channel there at

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Speaker 1: at some of the things that happened in in France

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Speaker 1: and in Germany specifically because neither of those countries had

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Speaker 1: teams in this initial Dirty dozen as it were, that

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Speaker 1: we're proposed to be part of the Super League. Um,

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Speaker 1: I mean, I also I don't know, like I just

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Speaker 1: I think about the ramifications of this, and you know,

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Speaker 1: whether it does change the way John Henry or someone

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Speaker 1: looks at building a portfolio. I mean, they seemed like

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Speaker 1: an unstoppable juggernaut in terms of building out a portfolio

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Speaker 1: of global sports franchises in many ways, I wonder if

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Speaker 1: this gives someone like John Henry pause. You know that

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Speaker 1: they've always been long distance owners. They occasionally come over

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Speaker 1: for a championship match, but they mostly stay over in

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Speaker 1: Boston in the United States. And the word custodian is

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Speaker 1: being used. I've never seen it use more than I

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Speaker 1: have in the last week. And you know, it used

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Speaker 1: to have a nice connotation. I don't think it has

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Speaker 1: a friendly connotation anymore. Custodian means somebody that rules or

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Speaker 1: owns and governs from afar in terms of through the

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Speaker 1: lens of the European football fan. Yeah, I mean it's interesting.

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Speaker 1: I've been thinking a lot about this, as you guys

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Speaker 1: can tell, and in part because I helped produce a

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Speaker 1: piece for our digital original series about American ownership and

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Speaker 1: Peter Moore, the former CEO of Liverpool, talked about this

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Speaker 1: very idea as it related to Finnway Sports Group, and

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Speaker 1: I think we talked about this last week, this notion

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Speaker 1: of you know, they're not really the owners, they just

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Speaker 1: have sort of a commercial you know, they're sort of

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Speaker 1: responsible for the commercial side, that the real owners are

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Speaker 1: the fans and uh and that that certainly is a

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Speaker 1: big reminder. Well when it comes to ownership. We got

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Speaker 1: to talk about the Mats and and not necessarily the

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Speaker 1: way we have been over the past few months with

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Speaker 1: Stevie Cohen coming in and trying to rejuvenate that franchise,

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Speaker 1: and obviously Devin Gordon, who was on this show, wrote

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Speaker 1: a great book about the Mats in their history, but

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Speaker 1: now comes news via our friends over at Sportico that

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Speaker 1: the Wilpons, the former owners, are talking about selling s

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Speaker 1: n Y network. Now we know Michael Barr and this

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Speaker 1: was a driver just you know, drawing some some connective

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Speaker 1: tissue here, creating some connected tissue here to the Super League.

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Speaker 1: The broadcast money is where it all is in modern

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Speaker 1: day sports, and so the fact that this could get sold,

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Speaker 1: this sporting network TV network could get sold, you know,

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Speaker 1: has some ramifications and may given a new comp for

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Speaker 1: you know, what these broadcast rights are going to go to,

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Speaker 1: or what the networks and the media side are worth.

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Speaker 1: I've always wondered why sell it, because, like you said,

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Speaker 1: that's where the coin is so so so why get

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Speaker 1: rid of it? But listen, there there are business people

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Speaker 1: way smarter than me that have reasoning for this, and

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Speaker 1: and you're right, this could change the entire landscape if

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Speaker 1: you're talking about getting rid of s n Y uh,

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Speaker 1: the whole network, And first of all, who would be

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Speaker 1: out there to buy it? Uh? And then the second

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Speaker 1: of all, what's the price tag? That's the one I

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Speaker 1: want to see? What what are we looking at? Well?

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Speaker 1: And Lynchy, it does make me think going back to

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Speaker 1: Fenway Sports Group right there in your backyard. I mean Nesson,

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Speaker 1: I believe is what you guys call it up there.

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Speaker 1: I mean this, this has been a crown jewel right

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Speaker 1: of Fenway Sports Group and and part of the real

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Speaker 1: value of the broader portfolio comes from that broadcast piece.

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Speaker 1: I have that right, right, you do have it right

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Speaker 1: the the it's New England Sports Network nesson UM owned

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Speaker 1: by the Red Sox, by the Boston Bruins and Win,

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Speaker 1: Lose or draw. There are about ten million boxes cable

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Speaker 1: boxes around the New England area. And whether they don't

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Speaker 1: care that the ratings mean nothing because they're getting money

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Speaker 1: every single month into their coffers win lose or draw.

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Speaker 1: Now over the year, products, you have to improve your

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Speaker 1: product news stations, what can we do to get get

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Speaker 1: better ratings? Ratings don't really matter because the money's coming

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Speaker 1: in when lose or draw. And if they have a

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Speaker 1: wide network, uh, they's and why by the way, is

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Speaker 1: eight million in the Greater New York area and twelve

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Speaker 1: million IT subscribers throughout the throughout the country. And you

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Speaker 1: know change a change cha ching on the first of

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Speaker 1: every month. Yeah, and you know it'll be interesting to

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Speaker 1: see as you say, Michael Barr who picks it up. Um,

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Speaker 1: Sinclair apparently is in their Red Bird capital. Um. This

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Speaker 1: is a well known group that includes Billy Bean. It's

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Speaker 1: a spack and you know that leads us down a

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Speaker 1: whole other road. Um. You know they have a small

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Speaker 1: steak via uh Fenway Sports Group that their recent investment

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Speaker 1: there in nesson. And you know, I also wonder what

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Speaker 1: the valuation will be based on the viewing habits because

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Speaker 1: as you alluded to lynch E, you know, obviously the

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Speaker 1: cable boxes are still very valuable. Live sports are the

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Speaker 1: last bastion of the folks who still have not cut

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Speaker 1: the cord. And yet with this recent NFL broadcast deal

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Speaker 1: we saw Amazon pick up the rights to the Thursday

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Speaker 1: night football games. We know that some of the viewership

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Speaker 1: is shifting there, and so do these regional sports networks

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Speaker 1: you know, still have that cash a they still do

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Speaker 1: right now, that is for sure, Um, you know. And

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Speaker 1: yet at the same time, I was looking at the

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Speaker 1: Supporticode website this morning. Um, you know, you've got WrestleMania

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Speaker 1: and we had Steph McMahon on this program not too

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Speaker 1: long ago that chief marketing officer over at the w

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Speaker 1: w E. You know, WrestleMania has this massive deal with Peacock,

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Speaker 1: the streaming service owned by Comcast Universal and NBC Comcast,

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Speaker 1: and you know there they are driving people uh to

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Speaker 1: to the streamers. So I just I don't know, I mean,

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Speaker 1: for for folks, for sports fans of a certain age,

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Speaker 1: I just don't know whether that is the sort of comfortable,

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Speaker 1: natural um way to go. Uh So, Lynchi Draft Week,

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Speaker 1: uh NFL Draft Week. It's always a big deal. It

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Speaker 1: feels like it's sort of snuck up on us this

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Speaker 1: time around a little bit. But the thing I'm most

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Speaker 1: excited about this is ridiculous. But I was scrolling through

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Speaker 1: ESPN this morning, so Roger Goodell apparently he's vaccinated, so

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Speaker 1: he's gonna be up on stage and able, you know,

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Speaker 1: to give those like big man hugs too, to the

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Speaker 1: big guys who are going to be playing in the NFL.

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Speaker 1: But you know, listen, the NFL Draft is incredibly important

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Speaker 1: to the business of football. It sets a lot of

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Speaker 1: parameters and precedent around how much we're paying players. And

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Speaker 1: given everybody who's going out in this draft, it's gonna

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Speaker 1: shape the NFL immediately, not just in the long term.

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Speaker 1: And nothing is more interesting than drafting quarterbacks. You can

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Speaker 1: defensive backs, cornerbacks, they're they're fine, Safeties are fine. But

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Speaker 1: when quarterbacks are front and center, it gets a lot

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Speaker 1: of attention. And there are a lot of teams that

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Speaker 1: knee quarterbacks, including the New York Jets and the New

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Speaker 1: England Patriots and a lot of other teams. And and

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Speaker 1: there were at least five quality quarterbacks in and go

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Speaker 1: very very early in this draft. So there's gonna be

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Speaker 1: a lot of attention. It's in Cleveland and Cleveland Rocks

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Speaker 1: as we know, and they've invited I think was a

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Speaker 1: little bit more than a dozen players are going to

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Speaker 1: be there on hand and the rest of them are

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Speaker 1: going to be virtual. So this is gonna be a

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Speaker 1: big difference slash year when Roger Goodell was in his

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Speaker 1: basement when the when the draft was held. So this

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Speaker 1: is the right it's uh, think of the economic impact

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Speaker 1: if the New York Jets make a splash, people running

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Speaker 1: out buying jerseys, maybe trying to uh, you know, increase marketing,

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Speaker 1: increase exposure. I mean, you get you get a stud

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Speaker 1: coming in there, it changes everything. Well, you know, I've

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Speaker 1: been thinking about I mean to go back to the

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Speaker 1: to the Super League, and and we've all been digging

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Speaker 1: in a little bit more to understand some of the

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Speaker 1: nuances of English football. And you know, one of the

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Speaker 1: brilliant things I think we're reminded of with this NFL draft,

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Speaker 1: Michael bar is the by far. I mean, there's it's

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Speaker 1: seemingly no chance that the number one pick isn't Trevor Lawrence,

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Speaker 1: and the number one pick is held by the Jacksonville Jaguars.

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Speaker 1: They've got a new coach in Urban Meyer. I mean,

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Speaker 1: this is a team that really could go and you

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Speaker 1: think about the um the economic implications of winning in

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Speaker 1: the NFL. Uh, this could be a game changer for

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Speaker 1: the city of Jacksonville and for that franchise, which, with

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Speaker 1: all apologies to our beloved colleague Dave Wilson at Bloomberg Radio,

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Speaker 1: who is a big, big Jaguars fan, I mean, this

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Speaker 1: team sort of sucks. Sorry, I mean, look, they are really,

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Speaker 1: they are really They've really been tough to watch. Hello,

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Speaker 1: is this thing on? They listen? It has been tough

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Speaker 1: to watch the Jacksonville Jaguars. But this could be a turnaround.

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Speaker 1: And keep in mind, now there are several teams that

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Speaker 1: have a lot of first rounders. Yeah, um, I think

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Speaker 1: Detroit they made some deals where, you know, we can

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Speaker 1: get some first rounders in there. Also, Sorry I gotta

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Speaker 1: bring it up, but it is true. So a lot

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Speaker 1: of people are going to be watching this. And one

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Speaker 1: of the things that I always thought about with the

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Speaker 1: NFL Draft last year, we did the best we could.

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Speaker 1: I mean, yes, we saw a Goodell in his basement

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Speaker 1: with his pool table right behind him, whatever it was,

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Speaker 1: and it but it just wasn't the same. At least

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Speaker 1: this year, we're going to get a chance to see things.

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Speaker 1: It's gonna be great for Cleveland because a lot of people.

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Speaker 1: I wonder what the arrangement is going to be for

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Speaker 1: the fans coming in because I mean, obviously you can't

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Speaker 1: you know, have it as crowded as you usually did

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Speaker 1: in the past, but you can have some fans in

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Speaker 1: there yelling is like what you pick them for? This, that, whatever,

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Speaker 1: And that's the excitement of of watching the NFL Draft.

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Speaker 1: I want to see how that goes well. And you know,

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Speaker 1: we've been talking a lot about broadcast over the course

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Speaker 1: of this conversation, Lynchie. I mean, and you gotta to

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Speaker 1: the NFL. I mean they've turned what is really just

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Speaker 1: kind of a series of business decisions into this major

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Speaker 1: broadcast event multi day. Once they took it out, I mean,

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Speaker 1: it was exciting in Radio City Music Hall, but once

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Speaker 1: they took it on the road, I mean, Nashville obviously

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Speaker 1: is the example everybody pushes towards. You know, you see

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Speaker 1: these pictures of everybody partying and concerts and things like that.

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Speaker 1: It is kind of brilliant to turn it into an event.

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Speaker 1: Because it's a draft. I mean, that's kind of incredible.

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Speaker 1: I think of any all the other sports, the NBA

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Speaker 1: Draft is the only thing that comes close to it,

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Speaker 1: but the National Football League Draft is big and and

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Speaker 1: the night they released the schedule, they've made that into

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Speaker 1: a show all by itself. Maine releasing the schedule, like,

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Speaker 1: you know, all right, coming up after this break, we'll

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Speaker 1: have games five, six, seven, and eight, and you know,

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Speaker 1: people are hanging in there, Oh my god, who's gonna

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Speaker 1: are We're gonna get a Monday night game, We're gonna

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Speaker 1: get a Sunday night game. We're gonna get a Thursday

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Speaker 1: night game. And then everyone gets out there their pens

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Speaker 1: and they they right that wins and losses. They have

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Speaker 1: projections and on how the season is going to go

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Speaker 1: for their particular team. The NFL is just brilliant, just

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Speaker 1: absolutely brilliant. They have been for a long time. I'm

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Speaker 1: looking forward to this draft. I mean I'm blocking everything

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Speaker 1: out on Thursday night and the combine I'm starting. I mean, shoot,

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Speaker 1: we combine. We didn't we didn't care. I mean only

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Speaker 1: people that cared about the combine were guys like us

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Speaker 1: that had to cover the teams. You know, now that's

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Speaker 1: you know, this is huge, So I'm excited. So if

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Speaker 1: you're in the front office of the Patriots, Lynchy, but

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Speaker 1: what are you thinking about on as as draft approaches

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Speaker 1: and you anticipate at least some of the moves that

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Speaker 1: that are going to move around. I mean there's a lot.

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Speaker 1: I do feel like we haven't seen a year like

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Speaker 1: this in a long time, a with so many quarterbacks

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Speaker 1: available in the draft. You know, we've seen a lot

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Speaker 1: of offseason movement obviously in Detroit, Los Angeles UM and

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Speaker 1: beyond Carolina um and and no real movement in knowing

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Speaker 1: in New England so far. But I read this morning

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Speaker 1: that the Falcons, you know, my team, you know, Julio

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Speaker 1: Jones maybe uh, you know, on the table at some point.

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Speaker 1: If you're sitting in the in the Pat's front office,

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Speaker 1: what are you thinking. Well, if I was sitting in

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Speaker 1: the front office, I would try to move up. And

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Speaker 1: I still love Mac Jones out of Alabama. That's the guy.

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Speaker 1: I think he's a prototypical NFL quarterback. I think he

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Speaker 1: might be gone. He could be gone to San Francisco.

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Speaker 1: If not, he might get scooped up by Denver at

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Speaker 1: number seven. The Patriots were at fifteen right now, and

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Speaker 1: ostensibly they're cutting uh, Cam Newton a lot of slack

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Speaker 1: with this COVID he had last year. They think they've

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Speaker 1: surrounded him now with some from the free agent market.

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Speaker 1: They made a big splash with tight ends, a couple

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Speaker 1: of wide receivers, and unless they make a deal, they're

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Speaker 1: going with him again this year. And that's got a

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Speaker 1: lot of people scratching their heads. But everyone's kind of

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Speaker 1: waiting to see what Belichick is going to do here. Yeah, Well,

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Speaker 1: as we wrap up, one thing I did want to

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Speaker 1: mention because it happened after we taped last week going

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Speaker 1: into the weekend show, and we really spent the whole

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Speaker 1: weekend show rightly, I think, UH talking about the Super

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Speaker 1: League and and if you didn't hear that, check it

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Speaker 1: out because we had Jordan Gardner who was an owner, UH,

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Speaker 1: a minority owner in the Premier League and also a

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Speaker 1: majority owner in Denmark. They had actually a nice win

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Speaker 1: over the weekend, so our thanks to him. We also

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Speaker 1: caught up with Robbie Musto over UH, an analyst at

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Speaker 1: NBC Sports covering the Premier League, and then our colleague

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Speaker 1: Tom Metcalfe as well, breaking down sort of the banking side.

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Speaker 1: He had a nice piece subsequent to that about the

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Speaker 1: bank that is underwriting this new push by the by

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Speaker 1: the Champions League. But one story that came out on

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Speaker 1: Friday was Simone Biles, obviously one of the most decorated

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Speaker 1: Olympic athletes in American history, a sort of gravity defying

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Speaker 1: record breaking UH Olympic gymnasts. She is moving from Nike

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Speaker 1: to Athleta. Athleta, of course, is the women focused brand

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Speaker 1: owned by GAP, relatively small about a billion dollars a year,

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Speaker 1: and revenue is certainly peeling in compared US and to Nike.

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Speaker 1: You know, Lynchy, I think about this a lot, as

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Speaker 1: you know, in part because Nike has a little bit

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Speaker 1: of a problem when it comes to hanging on to athletes,

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Speaker 1: and candidly, especially hanging on too prominent female athletes. I

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Speaker 1: feel like every couple of months, this new story comes

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Speaker 1: out about a woman who was slighted or worse, you know,

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Speaker 1: maybe mistreated, especially around a pregnancy or coming back uh

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Speaker 1: an athlete empowerment. We talked about it on this show

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Speaker 1: all the time. This is Simone Biles, you know, voting

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Speaker 1: with her feet and her somersaults to some extent. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean we've talked about this Nike problem on the

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Speaker 1: show several months ago. But Simone Biles, you know, she's

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Speaker 1: going to athletic now and she just likes what the

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Speaker 1: company stands for. It's a company by woman for woman.

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Speaker 1: Nine seven percent of the employees and the company are female.

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Speaker 1: The company stands not only for athletic gear, but also

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Speaker 1: for diversity and inclusion, which you know have been right

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Speaker 1: to the forefront of almost every single conversation over the

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Speaker 1: past year or so. And Michael Barr it's it's the

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Speaker 1: most recent proof that athletes are really concerned, as more

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Speaker 1: concerned in in some cases and taking a longer view

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Speaker 1: about what happens off the court, off the field, outside

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Speaker 1: the gym, how they're perceived, what they're putting their names on.

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Speaker 1: And and somebody I was talking, one of our analysts

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Speaker 1: at Bloomberg about this made the really important point. This

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Speaker 1: is increasingly important to consumers. You know that they want

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Speaker 1: to be associated with brands that they feel like are

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Speaker 1: consistent with their own values. And so a younger consumer,

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Speaker 1: it's not surprising that a younger athlete like Simone Bials

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Speaker 1: is going to take that exact approach. A lot of

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Speaker 1: what a brilliant move because of just what you said.

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Speaker 1: And now you have Simone Bials as one of the

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Speaker 1: faces for your products, and with a company that has

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Speaker 1: many women involved in in high places, that's what you need.

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Speaker 1: You need to see something like that. And in sometimes

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Speaker 1: it's not about the money all the time Nike, Yes,

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Speaker 1: they've they've got they got deep pockets, but it's always

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Speaker 1: not about the money. It's it's and that's a life lesson.

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Speaker 1: Sometimes if you feel that you're doing the right thing,

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Speaker 1: then do it instead of just going for the MoneyGram

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Speaker 1: This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports podcast on Michael

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Speaker 1: Bar on Twitter at Big bar Sports and I'm Mike Lynch.

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Speaker 1: You can follow me at Lynch w CVB. And I'm

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Speaker 1: Jason Kelly. Find me at Jason Kelly News. We're here

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Speaker 1: each and every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday talking about the

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Speaker 1: world of money in sports. Join us again at the

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Speaker 1: end of the week. We're gonna catch up with the

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Speaker 1: CEO of Churchill Downs. You can hear the trumpets blaring,

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Speaker 1: Michael bar the horses, Uh here comes save but too.

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Speaker 1: You're listening to bloom a bit cs A Bloomstone anyway.

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Speaker 1: You're listening to Bloomberg Business of Sports on Bloomberg Radio

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Speaker 1: around the world and online wherever you get your podcasts.