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Speaker 1: Hello, I'm Michael Vaughn and I'm Scott Sasnik. On this

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Speaker 1: week's podcast will explore the big money issues in the

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Speaker 1: world of sports and talk to some of the biggest

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Speaker 1: players in the industry. This club is in the World

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Speaker 1: Series for the second time ever. We speak with Houston

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Speaker 1: Astros owner Jim Crane called and said, hey, you need

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Speaker 1: to get back and play to lift the town up.

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Speaker 1: And so the guys UM came up with a Houston

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Speaker 1: Strong patch on their jersey, UM, just to kind of

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Speaker 1: unite the city. And when we came back that Saturday,

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Speaker 1: a j gave a speech to the fans and they

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Speaker 1: were packed in there and said, hey, we're playing for you, guys.

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Speaker 1: We want to win. So we got a little bit

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Speaker 1: of um win behind our back from all the fans

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Speaker 1: and pulling together. We'll have more of our interview with

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Speaker 1: Houston Astros owner Jim Crane in a few minutes, but

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Speaker 1: first let's look at the top stories of the week.

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Speaker 1: Joining us as Bloomberg Business of Sports reporter Eben Novie Williams,

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Speaker 1: Let's start with a surprise. I didn't see this coming,

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Speaker 1: maybe everyone else did. George Girardi out as manager of

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Speaker 1: the New York Yankees. They just got to the American

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Speaker 1: League Championship Series. Of course, they lost to the Houston Astros,

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Speaker 1: and I'm gonna let you handle it, but I will

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Speaker 1: say to Michael Barr, how did you not see this coming?

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Speaker 1: You are indeed the one person that did not see

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Speaker 1: this as a possibility. But even you explained the one

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Speaker 1: and I can understand Michael's confusion. I mean, the Yankees

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Speaker 1: significantly this year. This was a team that was not

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Speaker 1: supposed to make the playoffs at all. They ended up

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Speaker 1: catching fire with a rookie and Aaron Judge and made

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Speaker 1: it to the postseason. Girardi was the runner up for

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Speaker 1: Ale Manager of the Year. I mean, there's certain circles

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Speaker 1: in baseball where he's doing a fantastic job. Now there's

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Speaker 1: a lot we don't know about contract negotiations. He obviously

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Speaker 1: made a few high profile mistakes in the playoffs, but

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Speaker 1: he's been there for ten years. One of US World

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Speaker 1: Series went to the playoffs six teams. You just said,

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Speaker 1: you just said it. You're the manager of the New

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Speaker 1: York Yankees. He has been there ten years and he's

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Speaker 1: won one World Series. That does not cut it in

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Speaker 1: the land of Steinbrun I'm sorry. If I'm a Tigers fan,

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Speaker 1: if you get us to the a L's Championship Series,

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Speaker 1: we're buying you a new car and everything. Maybe if

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Speaker 1: you had somebody like justin Verland or on your team,

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Speaker 1: you could get there. You know, I'm sorry, but I'm

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Speaker 1: going to cry over here. This will be a very

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Speaker 1: Obviously it's Yankees. It's a high profile job. But this

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Speaker 1: is a desirable position for anybody. I mean, you're stepping

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Speaker 1: into a team that is young and also very very talented. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: I understand what you're saying that this was not expected,

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Speaker 1: but the reality of all things Yankees is that you're

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Speaker 1: expected even when most don't expect you to. You are

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Speaker 1: expected with the resources you have to reach the postseason.

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Speaker 1: This is not just win the division anymore. There are

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Speaker 1: two wild cards. There are many ways you can get

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Speaker 1: to the postseason, and the Yankees should be there. They

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Speaker 1: got there, and what happened there? You mentioned the mistake

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Speaker 1: against the Indians. Maybe a younger team is not exactly

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Speaker 1: a mesh for Girardi, sort of patient profile, analytical approach,

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Speaker 1: who knows what will come out. But to be surprised

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Speaker 1: that this happened I had just with one World series

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Speaker 1: in ten years. You just got a sense that at

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Speaker 1: the end of a contract that didn't find in the

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Speaker 1: middle of a contract he had four years and sixteen

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Speaker 1: million dollars, they have just decided let's try something else.

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Speaker 1: You know. There was a piece of audio of Girardi.

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Speaker 1: He was talking about Sabathia and it was just only

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Speaker 1: a few days ago, and he was saying, it's like,

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Speaker 1: they're no guarantees for me, and I thought, well, he's

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Speaker 1: just being modest. I just didn't think there was no

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Speaker 1: way in the world this was gonna happen. Well, the

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Speaker 1: only guarantee is what your contracts. This is guaranteed. And

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Speaker 1: guess when his contract was guaranteed through this season. That's it.

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Speaker 1: Let's talk about our next topic. Boy, did you see

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Speaker 1: it on ESPN bar Stool Van Talk. Well it was

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Speaker 1: only on for one episode. They got rid of the show.

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Speaker 1: What happened here the beauty? This is Evan and I

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Speaker 1: have these discussions in real time as these things get announced,

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Speaker 1: so we're just kind of rehashing what we do sitting

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Speaker 1: next to each other anyway, and I looked Damon and

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Speaker 1: I said, what in the world is esp and doing

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Speaker 1: associating itself with this sort of content. No, no knock

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Speaker 1: against Barstool, but in the environment being a Disney company,

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Speaker 1: I just couldn't believe that John Skipper was willing to

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Speaker 1: take on that sort of content, especially knowing things that

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Speaker 1: had gone on between people in his company, his talent,

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Speaker 1: and people at Barstool. That's the most surprising thing to me.

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Speaker 1: It's just how hastily this all seemed to be done,

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Speaker 1: both in the deciding to partner with them and then

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Speaker 1: deciding to sever the partnership after one episode. I mean,

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Speaker 1: the writing was on the wall. As Scott said, this

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Speaker 1: was obviously not gonna work out. I mean, the kind

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Speaker 1: of content that Barstool trades on what makes them so popular,

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Speaker 1: is exactly the kind of thing that ESPN is trying

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Speaker 1: to avoid doing with its show. It's polarizing. Some people

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Speaker 1: find parts of it disgusting. They've said some nasty things

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Speaker 1: about some ESPN employees, which I'm sure Skipper wishes he

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Speaker 1: knew about beforehand, if he had thought about it prior

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Speaker 1: to making this announcement. But in general, the past couple

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Speaker 1: of months, we've just seen this listing in the wind

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Speaker 1: from from ESPN they're at tacking against the people that

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Speaker 1: think they're too liberal, then they're tacking against the people

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Speaker 1: that think they're ultra conservative. It just doesn't seem like

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Speaker 1: they have a full clear direction of what they're doing.

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Speaker 1: We know what it doesn't show. We know what it

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Speaker 1: does show is just how desperate ESPN is to reach

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Speaker 1: that young male demographic. And another topic, and this is

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Speaker 1: from former NBA commissioner David Stern, and he is saying,

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Speaker 1: you know what, maybe it's time the league should remove

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Speaker 1: the marijuana, as my dad would say, from the band list,

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Speaker 1: which brings up an interesting point. How we gotten to

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Speaker 1: the point now It is like, listen, is marijuana just

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Speaker 1: like having a drink at the bar? Well, what he's

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Speaker 1: saying is if it's legal in your state, you should

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Speaker 1: be allowed to do it in your state. So legal

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Speaker 1: in Colorado. If you play for the Denver Nuggets and

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Speaker 1: you're in Denver, if you play for another team and

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Speaker 1: you're in Denver and you want to do it, you

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Speaker 1: should be allowed to. It's no longer stigmatized the way

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Speaker 1: it was. But I'll tell you this, having known David

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Speaker 1: Stern for more than twenty years now and knowing how

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Speaker 1: David Stern treats Adam Silver and is very reverential towards

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Speaker 1: Adam Silver. You can bet this is probably something that

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Speaker 1: has already been discussed and he knows how Adam feels.

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Speaker 1: He wouldn't say this publicly unless he knew this is

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Speaker 1: this is how Adam felt and was probably going to

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Speaker 1: take action. What do you think happens first leagues dropped

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Speaker 1: their stance on marijuana, or they dropped their stance on

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Speaker 1: sports betting. No, I think it's gonna be sports betting.

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Speaker 1: I think marijuana is gonna happen in those states within

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Speaker 1: a year two at the most. And I think we've

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Speaker 1: from most people we've heard of sports betting. I mean,

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Speaker 1: we know how they feel. We're looking at three to

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Speaker 1: five years before that's actually something they have to do

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Speaker 1: our Thanks to Bloomberg Business of Sports reporter Evan nob Williams,

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Speaker 1: six years ago, a successful businessman from the Midwest purchase

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Speaker 1: to baseball team for almost seven million dollars. That team

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Speaker 1: is the Houston Astros and they are fighting to capture

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Speaker 1: their first World Series and franchise history. Jim Crane is

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Speaker 1: the one who purchased the club back in Jim, thanks

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Speaker 1: for joining us. Thanks guys, thanks for having me on.

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Speaker 1: Now I have to I'm gonna tell our listeners ahead

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Speaker 1: of time. I know the answer to this question. So

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Speaker 1: we are speaking about fifteen sixteen hours after the end

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Speaker 1: of Game two, and I was curious, how long did

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Speaker 1: it take for your blood pressure to settle back to

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Speaker 1: normal rhythms. Well, it was an up and down game

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Speaker 1: and it was very nerve wracking, so it takes you

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Speaker 1: a little while to on wine from all that. But

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Speaker 1: at least two or three hours. It's hard to get

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Speaker 1: out of that ballpark, so you got to stay there

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Speaker 1: after the game for a while to the traffic so bad.

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Speaker 1: But by midnight we were calmed down a little bit.

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Speaker 1: I as one who has left or tried to leave

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Speaker 1: Dodger Stadium, I can I can attest that it does

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Speaker 1: take a while. But is this why you bought the team?

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Speaker 1: Is this these are the moments why you said I

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Speaker 1: want to do this. Well, we we told everybody when

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Speaker 1: we bought the team we had to re rebuild the team.

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Speaker 1: The team was in bad shape based the big team was,

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Speaker 1: you know, at the bottom of the baseball and then

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Speaker 1: the franchise and in a hole with the minor league

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Speaker 1: system was one of the worst, so um, we knew

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Speaker 1: we had a lot of work to do, and we

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Speaker 1: we started um with the minor league system and worked

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Speaker 1: back into the big club and made a lot of improvements.

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Speaker 1: I am a Detroit Tigers fan. They always laugh at me,

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Speaker 1: so I am rooting for you guys because and you

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Speaker 1: know why, you have my man Justin Berlander on there,

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Speaker 1: and he has been a gym for you guys. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: he's Keith came in really the last month of the season,

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Speaker 1: so he's been a big lift for the team and

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Speaker 1: a great leader for the rest of the ball club.

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Speaker 1: Every time I see Justin berrn Lander now in a

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Speaker 1: Houston uniform, I'm thinking it's like it's like that old

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Speaker 1: girlfriend that you see, you know, down the road and

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Speaker 1: she's with a handsome guy. Now I'm happy as heck

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Speaker 1: for him because now he's got a chance to win

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Speaker 1: a World Series title. Take us through that for what

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Speaker 1: it's worth about a World Series title and what it

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Speaker 1: would mean for the ball club, Well, the franchise hasn't

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Speaker 1: has only been to the World Series months before in

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Speaker 1: and lost four in a rows. It's been it's been

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Speaker 1: a long road for the team. Um, you know, you

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Speaker 1: don't get these many opportunities to win, and you know,

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Speaker 1: we have a ball club that's as deep with talent,

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Speaker 1: and you know, we feel we can we can win

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Speaker 1: the championship. They get knocked down, they get back up. Um,

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Speaker 1: they don't quit. So we're we're excited about that. Justin's

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Speaker 1: a big piece of that. We are chatting with Houston

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Speaker 1: Astros owner Jim Crane and Jim you talked about when

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Speaker 1: you first bought the team and the message was we

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Speaker 1: have to improve from the minor leagues on up. Did

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Speaker 1: everybody buy in? Because in my experience, a lot of

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Speaker 1: times owners will say that and sometimes those these owners

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Speaker 1: that don't really intend to spend big dollars on the

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Speaker 1: big club, but it's an easy out to say we

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Speaker 1: need to start with the minor leagues. Did people buy

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Speaker 1: it or were they skeptical? Well, certainly, you know the

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Speaker 1: fans want, you know, team that's in contention all the time,

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Speaker 1: and that's hard to do unless you have a great

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Speaker 1: minor league system. We looked at a lot of different teams.

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Speaker 1: You know, I had the opportunity to bid on some

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Speaker 1: other teams like the Rangers and the Cups and and

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Speaker 1: look at some of the Padres and a little bit

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Speaker 1: of the Cardinals, and you know, we we determined very

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Speaker 1: quickly that the teams that sustained themselves over a long

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Speaker 1: period of time have a great minor league system. In

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Speaker 1: ours was in disarray, and so we started there. But

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Speaker 1: but people, you know, um, you know, originally didn't buy

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Speaker 1: into it. I mean, we we lost a bunch of

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Speaker 1: games the first three years. The first year we got

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Speaker 1: the team, we really couldn't make any adjustments because it

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Speaker 1: was pretty well set um. But after that, you know,

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Speaker 1: Jeff lun Now dismantled, you know, the big ball club

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Speaker 1: and really start assembling really deep talent in the minor

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Speaker 1: league system. And you've seen that with you know, George Springer.

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Speaker 1: You've seen it with the Carlos Corey, Alex Bregman. All

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Speaker 1: these guys were coming out of our draft, in our

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Speaker 1: in our farm system. You as a professional built sort

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Speaker 1: of transportation distribution management business. And I'm assuming data analytics

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Speaker 1: is a big part of that business. Is that where

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Speaker 1: the focus on analytics with the Astros came from. Because

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Speaker 1: I'm always told it starts up top if the owner

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Speaker 1: doesn't believe in analytics, it's not going to work on

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Speaker 1: the big league level. Well yeah, I mean, you know,

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Speaker 1: some of it's cutting edge, and some of the old

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Speaker 1: school coaches and managers you know, don't embrace it as

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Speaker 1: much as you would like. But we knew we had

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Speaker 1: to take a look at that as as as best

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Speaker 1: we could. And we really had nothing. I mean, are

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Speaker 1: literally are minor league scouts were filling in you know,

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Speaker 1: paperwork and sending it in. They didn't even have computers.

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Speaker 1: So we we upgraded. Um, we brought in Jeff and

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Speaker 1: he had some experience there. But you know, I played

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Speaker 1: baseball in college, so I knew enough to be dangerous

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Speaker 1: and I knew you know, if you have you know,

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Speaker 1: running any business flos to logistics, business or baseball team,

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Speaker 1: if you have very good and good information, you can

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Speaker 1: make much better decisions. And you know, they did a

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Speaker 1: good job of rebuilding you know, kind of the analytics

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Speaker 1: where we really had none, and now we're kind of

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Speaker 1: cutting edge on it, and we continue to push forward

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Speaker 1: to that area and put resources there um to gain

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Speaker 1: an advantage and a lot of it's worked. You played

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Speaker 1: a college ball can you tell us the difference today

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Speaker 1: between college baseball and Major League baseball. I mean, I

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Speaker 1: know obviously yes, uh, from college to the major leagues,

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Speaker 1: but the difference for what a player has to go through.

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Speaker 1: Can you take us through that? Well, there's really two

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Speaker 1: paths where players, a lot of them come in, um,

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Speaker 1: out of high school, get drafted out of high school,

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Speaker 1: or from Puerto Rico or Mexico will come in very young.

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Speaker 1: You know, I'm not a big proponent of that. I'd

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Speaker 1: rather see the kids go to school. Um. You know,

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Speaker 1: the colleges have gotten very, very sophisticated in baseball too,

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Speaker 1: so it's really a mini minor league systems. So you

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Speaker 1: can draft a kid out of high school or then

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Speaker 1: as he goes to a four year school, you can

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Speaker 1: only draft him, um after his third year, so he's

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Speaker 1: got three years of college. So they get to play

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Speaker 1: a lot of baseball in college and and get trained there. Um.

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Speaker 1: So there's that's your two feet are spots. But you know,

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Speaker 1: there's there's a big difference from a kid coming in

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Speaker 1: at eighteen who's not been around and not not traveled

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Speaker 1: as much and not as much social exposure as a

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Speaker 1: kid that's matured in coming into this third year in college.

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Speaker 1: And actually we prefer the kids that are a little

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Speaker 1: older to put in the system because they're more predictable.

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Speaker 1: And you said, Jim, just enough, you know, just enough

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Speaker 1: to be dangerous. I'm going to bet, though, that you

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Speaker 1: recall to a T your college statistics as a pitcher.

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Speaker 1: I can call him to a T. I bet you

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Speaker 1: remember your wins, your losses, and your e r A.

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Speaker 1: I'll bet because they're done good. Don't be modestly how

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Speaker 1: how well how good were you? Well? I was, you know,

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Speaker 1: played in Division two, but I was, uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: I was an All American a couple of years, and

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Speaker 1: I had some very good records and got to pitch

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Speaker 1: in the College World Series and so a hold a

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Speaker 1: few school records. So, um, you know it was it

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Speaker 1: was a lot of fun to play it. It taught

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Speaker 1: me a lot about people, and um, you know, to

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Speaker 1: play in a competitive atmosphere in big games, not as

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Speaker 1: big as these guys are playing in, but you know

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Speaker 1: where there's some pressure on and you got to kind

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Speaker 1: of get focused. So I think it was great exposure

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Speaker 1: and it gives me, you know, an idea what these

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Speaker 1: guys are going through. I know what it feels like

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Speaker 1: after you pitch nine innings in the back of your

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Speaker 1: leg hurts, and you know, you know, whole body is

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Speaker 1: a little bit sore. So I can relate to what

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Speaker 1: they're doing. I'm not was never at their level, but um,

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Speaker 1: you know, these guys are really good when you think about, um,

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Speaker 1: how good they are. Um, we have eight minor league teams,

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Speaker 1: so we have two hundred players. Of those players that

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Speaker 1: make it to the big leagues, only play one inning

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Speaker 1: in the big leagues, played three years or more. And

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Speaker 1: that's the best college players, the best high school players,

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Speaker 1: the best international players, um, that make it into the

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Speaker 1: big league. So it's really hard to get to the

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Speaker 1: level that our teams at and the quality of players

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Speaker 1: we have. UM, you know, there's people that are really

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Speaker 1: good at different levels, but to get to the big

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Speaker 1: leagues and play that well at that level is um,

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Speaker 1: you know, pretty spectacular. And we set at the top

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Speaker 1: of the show. You paid almost seven million dollars for

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Speaker 1: the franchise, and a lot of folks tell me, don't

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Speaker 1: get involved in pro sports for r O I return

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Speaker 1: on investment. They get involved because it's a passion, maybe

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Speaker 1: it's going to be in the family, it's something they

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Speaker 1: love to do. However, these have been shown to be

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Speaker 1: great investments. Did you think that you were making a

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Speaker 1: great investment in a baseball team as an appreciating asset, Well,

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Speaker 1: we we thought that. You know, we didn't buy it

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Speaker 1: with the intention of selling it. And we you know,

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Speaker 1: we knew the team when we bought it it was

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Speaker 1: losing some money, so we knew we had to turn

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Speaker 1: it around. We didn't really think we're gonna make a

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Speaker 1: lot of money, but we were going to run a

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Speaker 1: team that at least broke even and and and cash

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Speaker 1: float a little bit. Um. To do that, you have

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Speaker 1: to win, and you have to you know, have a

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Speaker 1: solid plan, but you know, you don't really you know,

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Speaker 1: if I would compare it to my other business, UM,

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Speaker 1: I told people, if you want to um make some money,

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Speaker 1: better do some other things alongside of it to make

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Speaker 1: most of the money. But the ball team can cash

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Speaker 1: flow from time to time. And this year we're having

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Speaker 1: a great year and we'll move on down the line.

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Speaker 1: Can you give us some specifics is what a World

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Speaker 1: Series run does for the cash hole in the bottom

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Speaker 1: line at the end of the year in the books, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's it's it's a big lift. I mean we don't.

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Speaker 1: We don't budget. That's so everything we've got, you know,

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Speaker 1: really runs our budget, you know, to break even or

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Speaker 1: make a little bit of money during the season, and

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Speaker 1: then as we get into the playoffs, that's all extra.

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Speaker 1: So you know, the gates big um. The price of

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Speaker 1: the tickets go up um. You know by by league,

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Speaker 1: you know the title, and you know, winning the division

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Speaker 1: in the first round of the playoffs you get a

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Speaker 1: lot of that that revenue from the gate and then

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Speaker 1: the merchandizing in the in the concession. So yeah, it

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Speaker 1: could be a big windfall, you know, tens and twenty

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Speaker 1: millions of dollars. We're talking with the owner of the

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Speaker 1: Houston Astros, Jim Crane, and we can talk about winning

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Speaker 1: the World Series, about the ball club and money, but

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Speaker 1: there's something else very important. This team winning the World

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Speaker 1: Series would mean a heck of a lot for a

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Speaker 1: city that has gone through a lot, especially with the

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Speaker 1: storm damage. And you tell us what it would mean

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Speaker 1: from that aspect of winning a World Series and what

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Speaker 1: it would mean for Houston. Well, yeah, Houston had a

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Speaker 1: tough patch there for really a whole week, it was

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Speaker 1: the town was really shut down. I couldn't even get

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Speaker 1: back to town for a week. Happened to be out

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Speaker 1: of town that weekend, but the team was on the

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Speaker 1: road and we couldn't get the team even back in town,

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Speaker 1: so we had to transfer three games with Dallas down

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Speaker 1: to Tampa. UM. We finally got back on a Friday,

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Speaker 1: and the Mets were kind enough to let us have

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Speaker 1: a day off and play a double header on Saturday. UM.

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Speaker 1: But it was a big lift of the city. The

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Speaker 1: city was beat up. You know, everybody was scrambling. There

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Speaker 1: was thousands so you know, fifty homes were flooded. UM,

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Speaker 1: a million cars were damaged. You know, you could look

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Speaker 1: at on TV and it looked bad, but until you

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Speaker 1: were down there and saw it. And the players were upset.

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Speaker 1: Of their families were having trouble. So to get the

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Speaker 1: guys back and Mary called and said, hey, you need

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Speaker 1: to get back and play to lift the town up.

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Speaker 1: And so the guys m came up with a Houston

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Speaker 1: strong patch on their jersey. UM, just to kind of

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Speaker 1: unite the city. And when we came back that Saturday,

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Speaker 1: A j gave a speech to the fans and they

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Speaker 1: were packed in there and said, hey, we're playing for

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Speaker 1: you guys. We want to win. So we got a

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Speaker 1: little bit of UM win behind our back from all

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Speaker 1: the fans and pulling together, and we raised a bunch

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Speaker 1: of money to help UM special projects around town. We

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Speaker 1: even have flown some airplanes down into Puerto Rico. So

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Speaker 1: you know it's nice to see the city pull together

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Speaker 1: and everybody working together, and and you know they've kind

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Speaker 1: of gotten on the back of the team, you know,

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Speaker 1: as as their montter to kind of win something and

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Speaker 1: put our name, you know, back on the globe. We've

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Speaker 1: been talking about the World Series and and trying to

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Speaker 1: get to this moment. Television rights, we can go on

390
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Speaker 1: about that, all all on the line, but locally this

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Speaker 1: has to be important for the TV rights also because uh,

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Speaker 1: they bring in a lot of revenue for the club

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Speaker 1: as well. Yeah, each team kind of has a regional

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Speaker 1: sports network. Cars is with UM A, T and T now,

395
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Speaker 1: but we didn't get off to a good start there.

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Speaker 1: But we were with Comcast but that didn't work, so

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Speaker 1: they followed bankrupt to re regroup. But a big part

398
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Speaker 1: of your revenue comes from your regional sports network and

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Speaker 1: UM you know we're in a big market, so we

400
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Speaker 1: get a you know, a reasonable lot of money, not

401
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Speaker 1: as much as New Harker, l A or Chicago or

402
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Speaker 1: some of the other biggest So you're really two numbers

403
00:19:22,520 --> 00:19:26,000
Speaker 1: really come from you know, your regional sports network and

404
00:19:26,119 --> 00:19:29,000
Speaker 1: then you know your attendants and your concessions and that

405
00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:32,440
Speaker 1: sort of thing, um and merchandise, so um. When you

406
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Speaker 1: when when those numbers are up, you know, you know,

407
00:19:35,240 --> 00:19:39,280
Speaker 1: certainly it rises um and and it increases the franchise

408
00:19:39,400 --> 00:19:42,639
Speaker 1: values as years go along. Jim, when you saw the

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Speaker 1: l A Dodgers deal with Time Warner Cable, did you say, wait,

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Speaker 1: how much you had some troubles like you said at

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Speaker 1: the RSN world in the early in the early going.

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Speaker 1: But that was some eye popping number. And they still

413
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Speaker 1: don't even have full distribution to do other owners look

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Speaker 1: and say, whoaa, how much are they getting? Well, they're

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Speaker 1: you know, it spalls a little bit different than uh,

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Speaker 1: the NFL. The NFL splits all the TV money evenly,

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Speaker 1: and you know baseball has the national network like Fox

418
00:20:09,560 --> 00:20:12,639
Speaker 1: last night, that's all split with throughout all the teams.

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Speaker 1: But your regional money you get to keep locally, and

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Speaker 1: the bigger markets have more um population, so they're gonna

421
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Speaker 1: have more subscribers. The l A deal is a little

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Speaker 1: bit different because it hasn't been able to get distribution.

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Speaker 1: But they were guaranteed the money when we did our deal.

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Speaker 1: Um you know, Comcast you know did not guarantee the money.

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Speaker 1: So when they didn't get the distribution, they came back

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Speaker 1: and filed bankruptcy. So then it went to a T

427
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Speaker 1: and T. So we lost some our equity in that deal.

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Speaker 1: But I've been able to recover from it. Okay, But yeah,

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Speaker 1: the bigger markets have a lot more revenue there, and

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00:20:46,720 --> 00:20:49,280
Speaker 1: you know, someone like a Tampa or Milwaukee or somebody

431
00:20:49,520 --> 00:20:52,240
Speaker 1: that is a bigger disadvantage. Now there's revenue sharing that

432
00:20:52,400 --> 00:20:55,440
Speaker 1: tries to you know, equalize that throughout the teams. But

433
00:20:55,600 --> 00:20:58,920
Speaker 1: it's fairly complicated. But um, you know, I I say,

434
00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:00,960
Speaker 1: you have the rich to poor and the medium income

435
00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:03,320
Speaker 1: families in baseball, and we just have to be a

436
00:21:03,440 --> 00:21:05,320
Speaker 1: little smarter and a little faster than the rest of

437
00:21:05,359 --> 00:21:08,280
Speaker 1: them to try to compete in the big picture of

438
00:21:08,480 --> 00:21:11,080
Speaker 1: media and as revenue driver, we know it's a big

439
00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:14,119
Speaker 1: chunk of the national revenue. Where do you see it

440
00:21:14,280 --> 00:21:18,280
Speaker 1: going in a world where ESPN is losing sub fees? However,

441
00:21:18,480 --> 00:21:21,160
Speaker 1: the Amazons and the twitters and facebooks of the world

442
00:21:21,520 --> 00:21:24,399
Speaker 1: are starting to engage in pro sports and perhaps be

443
00:21:24,680 --> 00:21:28,080
Speaker 1: real world bidders on Live on Live. Right, So where

444
00:21:28,160 --> 00:21:30,840
Speaker 1: is an owner do you see media going? Well, I

445
00:21:30,920 --> 00:21:34,560
Speaker 1: think it's changing quickly. I mean the the you know,

446
00:21:34,680 --> 00:21:38,520
Speaker 1: the ESPN and you know even even our subscribers, you know,

447
00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:40,960
Speaker 1: they pay a fee, it's it's in their bill. You're

448
00:21:40,960 --> 00:21:44,960
Speaker 1: seeing a lot of things headswords, social media, you know, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat.

449
00:21:45,040 --> 00:21:48,480
Speaker 1: All the millennials are you know looking at all this stuff.

450
00:21:48,560 --> 00:21:51,960
Speaker 1: You know, you've got augmented reality, virtual reality. I think

451
00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:54,440
Speaker 1: all these things will continue to increase and that will

452
00:21:54,440 --> 00:21:57,600
Speaker 1: be another area where you know, if the cabling goes

453
00:21:57,680 --> 00:22:00,160
Speaker 1: down or the you know, the satellite goes down down,

454
00:22:00,560 --> 00:22:02,880
Speaker 1: you know it's gonna be picked up on this other

455
00:22:02,960 --> 00:22:04,600
Speaker 1: side because they're gonna pick it up and that's the

456
00:22:04,640 --> 00:22:07,280
Speaker 1: way they want to get the content. Well, Baseball made

457
00:22:07,320 --> 00:22:09,479
Speaker 1: a great investment in band tech, sort of the digital

458
00:22:09,880 --> 00:22:13,560
Speaker 1: media arm of Major League Baseball sold to Disney. Where

459
00:22:13,600 --> 00:22:15,639
Speaker 1: do you see baseball in terms of the content that

460
00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:19,520
Speaker 1: it has to deliver scalable media on a global basis?

461
00:22:19,960 --> 00:22:22,960
Speaker 1: Where does baseball stand when compared to the other sports, well,

462
00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:25,760
Speaker 1: you know, we're you know, baseball, you know, tried to

463
00:22:25,800 --> 00:22:29,400
Speaker 1: expand globally into Mexico. We're in Canada, you know, Puerto Rico,

464
00:22:29,520 --> 00:22:32,919
Speaker 1: and you know, you see some interest in Europe. UM,

465
00:22:33,040 --> 00:22:34,800
Speaker 1: and I think they'll continue to look at that, even

466
00:22:34,840 --> 00:22:37,880
Speaker 1: playing some games over there next year. UM, and down

467
00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:41,000
Speaker 1: down into Mexico. Um, you're starting to see the interest

468
00:22:41,080 --> 00:22:43,280
Speaker 1: expand there's a little bit of interest in Asian and

469
00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:45,480
Speaker 1: you know, we'd certainly like to crack that market, but

470
00:22:45,600 --> 00:22:48,280
Speaker 1: you'd like to have your your content global and and

471
00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:52,159
Speaker 1: your fans global. Um. It's a game that wasn't played

472
00:22:52,200 --> 00:22:57,400
Speaker 1: over there, like like football or are we call it soccer? Um?

473
00:22:57,680 --> 00:23:01,000
Speaker 1: You know, that's really a global sport. But it's expanding

474
00:23:01,080 --> 00:23:02,880
Speaker 1: and I think there's a lot more interested and it's

475
00:23:02,880 --> 00:23:05,200
Speaker 1: going to come from the digital content and that sort

476
00:23:05,240 --> 00:23:08,240
Speaker 1: of thing. I apologize for not knowing this, but do

477
00:23:08,359 --> 00:23:11,720
Speaker 1: you guys have the dugout style seating for ticket holders?

478
00:23:11,720 --> 00:23:13,959
Speaker 1: The reason why bringing up it's because Fenway Park now

479
00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:18,959
Speaker 1: they're thinking about bringing that dugout style seating for the fans.

480
00:23:19,359 --> 00:23:21,920
Speaker 1: Do you guys have something like that? And would you

481
00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:24,800
Speaker 1: guys be interested in something like that if. Well, we've

482
00:23:24,840 --> 00:23:26,920
Speaker 1: worked hard on the ballpark. Some of the some of

483
00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:32,280
Speaker 1: the ballpark dugout styles is cool. The younger people like

484
00:23:32,920 --> 00:23:36,960
Speaker 1: social areas. We've renovated our entire center field area where

485
00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:39,200
Speaker 1: it's more of a social area we're saying, and there's

486
00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:42,919
Speaker 1: some tables and it's more of a gathering area. UM

487
00:23:43,080 --> 00:23:44,399
Speaker 1: and you see a lot more that a lot of

488
00:23:44,400 --> 00:23:46,480
Speaker 1: people don't want to sit for three hours in one

489
00:23:46,560 --> 00:23:48,920
Speaker 1: spot and get up and down and what they want

490
00:23:48,960 --> 00:23:52,760
Speaker 1: to you know, kind of move around and visit and

491
00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:55,160
Speaker 1: talk to different people. So we've tried to create more

492
00:23:55,240 --> 00:23:58,920
Speaker 1: areas like that. The newer ballparks UM like Atlanta have

493
00:23:59,080 --> 00:24:01,320
Speaker 1: a lot more of those areas. So we're working hard

494
00:24:01,359 --> 00:24:03,800
Speaker 1: to try to transform some of those areas in our ballpark.

495
00:24:03,880 --> 00:24:05,680
Speaker 1: But you know, Boston has done some of that and

496
00:24:05,800 --> 00:24:08,680
Speaker 1: been successful with it. Houston is a good area because

497
00:24:08,800 --> 00:24:11,159
Speaker 1: you have many fans from Mexico that can come in

498
00:24:11,720 --> 00:24:14,200
Speaker 1: and see the ball club. Can you talk about that

499
00:24:14,320 --> 00:24:16,600
Speaker 1: advantage and what it means that you can bring in

500
00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:21,119
Speaker 1: more fans from Mexico. Well, you know, yeah, it's a

501
00:24:21,240 --> 00:24:23,640
Speaker 1: it's a big it's very close that we have close

502
00:24:23,720 --> 00:24:27,000
Speaker 1: ties to Mexico. And Houston, UM, and it's not that far.

503
00:24:27,160 --> 00:24:29,000
Speaker 1: So yeah, we get a lot of fans in from

504
00:24:29,240 --> 00:24:34,000
Speaker 1: really Puerto Rico and the Dominican and UM, Mexico and

505
00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:36,200
Speaker 1: and that's a big draw for us, and and we

506
00:24:36,400 --> 00:24:39,160
Speaker 1: kind of cater to those guys. We have Spanish radio

507
00:24:39,280 --> 00:24:43,160
Speaker 1: and UM Jeff Luno even our GM speaks fluently in Spanish,

508
00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:45,480
Speaker 1: So we do a lot of work in that area

509
00:24:45,560 --> 00:24:47,480
Speaker 1: to make sure they're getting the content they need to

510
00:24:47,880 --> 00:24:50,320
Speaker 1: get some interest in the team. Okay, Jim Crane, owner

511
00:24:50,359 --> 00:24:52,080
Speaker 1: of the Houston Astros, thank you very much for taking

512
00:24:52,119 --> 00:24:54,480
Speaker 1: the time and good luck in the series. Thank you, sir. Thanks.

513
00:24:55,560 --> 00:24:59,040
Speaker 1: Takeaways from Jim Crane, owner of the Houston Astros, and

514
00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:02,160
Speaker 1: the keyword there is Houston. Because we can talk about

515
00:25:02,200 --> 00:25:05,680
Speaker 1: the World Series, we can talk about trying to get

516
00:25:05,800 --> 00:25:09,080
Speaker 1: past the Dodgers, but the bottom line is Houston has

517
00:25:09,160 --> 00:25:13,040
Speaker 1: been to you nowhere and back, and bless their hearts,

518
00:25:13,119 --> 00:25:16,640
Speaker 1: they are fighting hard after all the stuff they have done.

519
00:25:16,680 --> 00:25:18,520
Speaker 1: And I like his answer about the city trying to

520
00:25:18,560 --> 00:25:20,560
Speaker 1: get back. We saw that in two valand and one

521
00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:24,320
Speaker 1: with the Yankees and baseball coming back. It's certainly a

522
00:25:24,480 --> 00:25:28,399
Speaker 1: distraction during hard times for me. I I focus on

523
00:25:28,560 --> 00:25:34,280
Speaker 1: the businessman Jim Crane and the analytics of his transportation distribution,

524
00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:39,160
Speaker 1: translating into everything he does in the sports. He talked

525
00:25:39,160 --> 00:25:43,280
Speaker 1: about Jeff Luna. Uh, my friend Sigmsdal used to work

526
00:25:43,320 --> 00:25:47,280
Speaker 1: at NASA, now works for Jeff. I mean, it's really

527
00:25:47,359 --> 00:25:52,440
Speaker 1: an analytics focused team and you're starting to see more

528
00:25:52,520 --> 00:25:55,840
Speaker 1: and more and the Dodgers to invest heavily in analytics.

529
00:25:55,920 --> 00:25:58,680
Speaker 1: So all the old school guys you know on the

530
00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:02,119
Speaker 1: clipboard five tool throws hard, runs fast, who don't believe

531
00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:05,159
Speaker 1: in the numbers. This is really going to start to

532
00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:07,600
Speaker 1: sway a lot of minds. This stuff is working. This

533
00:26:07,720 --> 00:26:11,119
Speaker 1: all started way back and the old moneyball, back with

534
00:26:11,359 --> 00:26:15,040
Speaker 1: the Oakland A's and they had a team back then.

535
00:26:15,200 --> 00:26:17,720
Speaker 1: As you guys know that I didn't have a lot

536
00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:19,920
Speaker 1: of money, but boy, they had a lot of analytics

537
00:26:19,960 --> 00:26:21,960
Speaker 1: and it worked. Yeah, and you have to prove what

538
00:26:22,040 --> 00:26:25,359
Speaker 1: your value. They valued getting guys on base. It was

539
00:26:25,520 --> 00:26:28,320
Speaker 1: on base percentage, the old BP. What's your what's his

540
00:26:28,400 --> 00:26:31,639
Speaker 1: o b P? He may not hit three ten, but

541
00:26:31,800 --> 00:26:34,480
Speaker 1: his o b P is good. We like it. They

542
00:26:34,640 --> 00:26:37,119
Speaker 1: sort of peeled back the curtain and now it's about

543
00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:39,720
Speaker 1: what do you value. How do you get the data?

544
00:26:39,840 --> 00:26:42,560
Speaker 1: What do you do with the data? But the two

545
00:26:42,680 --> 00:26:45,800
Speaker 1: teams in the World Series, and I don't think it's happenstance.

546
00:26:46,200 --> 00:26:49,200
Speaker 1: These two teams are heavily devoted to it. You don't

547
00:26:49,200 --> 00:26:52,399
Speaker 1: want to be feels better to be number one than

548
00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:54,359
Speaker 1: number five. I'll wear a number because of Mike. We

549
00:26:54,440 --> 00:26:55,800
Speaker 1: have a chance to go for three in a row.

550
00:26:55,920 --> 00:26:57,800
Speaker 1: Good numbers at a good time. And I first started

551
00:26:57,840 --> 00:26:59,840
Speaker 1: wearing the number. How would just have the and foul

552
00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:05,399
Speaker 1: floomberg business of sports? The number of the week, number

553
00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:08,640
Speaker 1: of the week. Can let me say, let me say

554
00:27:08,760 --> 00:27:10,880
Speaker 1: that I want to set you up this this one

555
00:27:11,040 --> 00:27:13,320
Speaker 1: is for you, all right? Well you, I mean, you

556
00:27:13,480 --> 00:27:15,080
Speaker 1: kind of said it, but I don't know if everybody

557
00:27:15,119 --> 00:27:18,440
Speaker 1: heard it. This is number thirty five. You alluded to

558
00:27:18,600 --> 00:27:22,000
Speaker 1: it in the interview with Jim Crane. But is it

559
00:27:22,119 --> 00:27:26,560
Speaker 1: bittersweet seeing thirty five putting up lots of zeros? You

560
00:27:26,640 --> 00:27:29,240
Speaker 1: like what I did there? You know what this is like?

561
00:27:29,600 --> 00:27:31,920
Speaker 1: It's like I was saying with Jim Crane, It's like

562
00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:34,760
Speaker 1: when you break up with a girlfriend and now the

563
00:27:34,840 --> 00:27:38,600
Speaker 1: girlfriend is with this handsome looking dude, and all you

564
00:27:38,680 --> 00:27:42,080
Speaker 1: can say is, well, I hope she's happy now. And

565
00:27:42,320 --> 00:27:44,760
Speaker 1: that's what I can say. Now for Justin Berlin, I'm

566
00:27:44,760 --> 00:27:47,280
Speaker 1: gonna look at out producing Medina and just laugh and say,

567
00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:49,120
Speaker 1: at least you know, Bar has never been the good

568
00:27:49,160 --> 00:27:52,440
Speaker 1: looking dude that's the girl now. He's always seen it

569
00:27:52,560 --> 00:27:56,119
Speaker 1: from one side. But are you happy for Verlin? I mean,

570
00:27:56,160 --> 00:27:58,960
Speaker 1: are you happy for him? Or I'm happy because he

571
00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:00,840
Speaker 1: has a chance to in it all, He has a

572
00:28:00,920 --> 00:28:03,640
Speaker 1: chance to get that ring and I'm and he didn't

573
00:28:03,640 --> 00:28:07,520
Speaker 1: win it in in Detroit. He was almost there. We

574
00:28:07,720 --> 00:28:10,320
Speaker 1: almost went into Detroit. But now he has the chance

575
00:28:10,359 --> 00:28:12,000
Speaker 1: to do it, and I want to see him do it,

576
00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:16,280
Speaker 1: and just if anything, I want to see Justin. I

577
00:28:16,359 --> 00:28:19,560
Speaker 1: hope he'll never be in the Michael bar sort of

578
00:28:19,800 --> 00:28:23,440
Speaker 1: Jack Morris Pantheon Hall of Love. I hope he's happy.

579
00:28:23,800 --> 00:28:26,160
Speaker 1: That's all. That's all I'm gonna say. Looks happy. Where's

580
00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:30,960
Speaker 1: my tissue? Okay? You've been listening to Bloomberg Business of Sports,

581
00:28:31,520 --> 00:28:34,240
Speaker 1: where each and every week at the same time, exploring

582
00:28:34,320 --> 00:28:37,840
Speaker 1: the world of money and sports, go Justin, Michael Bar

583
00:28:38,040 --> 00:28:40,120
Speaker 1: and um Scott Sashi. Thanks for joining us, and please

584
00:28:40,160 --> 00:28:42,000
Speaker 1: tune in next week when we talk to the biggest

585
00:28:42,040 --> 00:28:43,959
Speaker 1: and brightest in the world of the Business of Sports.

586
00:28:44,360 --> 00:28:47,160
Speaker 1: You're listening to Bloomberg Business of Sports on Bloomberg Radio

587
00:28:47,240 --> 00:28:50,360
Speaker 1: around the world and online as an Apple Podcast on iTunes,