1
00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:04,560
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business of Sports. The world changing and

2
00:00:04,640 --> 00:00:06,840
Speaker 1: what are things we can do to transform our business

3
00:00:06,840 --> 00:00:09,719
Speaker 1: and engage our fans globally in different ways. People are

4
00:00:09,760 --> 00:00:12,680
Speaker 1: using their name and likeness to create more opportunities, more

5
00:00:12,720 --> 00:00:15,520
Speaker 1: stakes and companies. In order to turn the organization around,

6
00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:17,279
Speaker 1: we had to turn it around not only just on

7
00:00:17,440 --> 00:00:20,919
Speaker 1: baseball operations side, but other business operations side well, and

8
00:00:21,079 --> 00:00:23,079
Speaker 1: any other sport. Is very difficult, but I like to

9
00:00:23,160 --> 00:00:26,560
Speaker 1: rub my horizons and be able to expand. Sports need

10
00:00:26,600 --> 00:00:29,040
Speaker 1: to be consumed a lot and not to the big

11
00:00:29,160 --> 00:00:33,640
Speaker 1: competitive advantage for inaugural property holders of sports content in

12
00:00:33,720 --> 00:00:37,920
Speaker 1: the media landscape. Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.

13
00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:43,440
Speaker 1: So Paul rabel h third season come into a close

14
00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:46,640
Speaker 1: for the PLL. What have you learned about this business?

15
00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:51,400
Speaker 1: It's really hard. It's a hard business, but it is

16
00:00:51,920 --> 00:00:55,360
Speaker 1: a great industry where we can build a ton of

17
00:00:55,480 --> 00:01:00,640
Speaker 1: enterprise value for not just our players, which was the

18
00:01:00,680 --> 00:01:03,080
Speaker 1: initial construct of why we're starting a new league in

19
00:01:03,080 --> 00:01:06,160
Speaker 1: the first place, but for all shareholders, from our board

20
00:01:06,200 --> 00:01:09,160
Speaker 1: members and investors to we view, our brand partners, our

21
00:01:09,240 --> 00:01:12,080
Speaker 1: network partner all the way down to the fans and

22
00:01:12,400 --> 00:01:16,440
Speaker 1: what you get in sport and a professional league that

23
00:01:16,520 --> 00:01:18,440
Speaker 1: kind of sit to top or governs, it is an

24
00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:23,880
Speaker 1: opportunity to not only grow commercial interest and fandom, but

25
00:01:23,959 --> 00:01:27,640
Speaker 1: you can really create community across the world. And if

26
00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:29,720
Speaker 1: you look at what's happened since we even launched the

27
00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:32,240
Speaker 1: league is the i o C this past summer gave

28
00:01:32,319 --> 00:01:37,360
Speaker 1: full membership to lacrosse as it approaches l A games,

29
00:01:37,360 --> 00:01:39,680
Speaker 1: So season three pretty much in the books of the

30
00:01:39,720 --> 00:01:43,080
Speaker 1: p LL. What have you learned about this business? The

31
00:01:43,120 --> 00:01:45,960
Speaker 1: business is really hard. It's a lot of fun to operate.

32
00:01:46,600 --> 00:01:52,320
Speaker 1: It's challenging in ways that underneath the professional sports league

33
00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:56,400
Speaker 1: are effectively five businesses. We run a media company, a

34
00:01:56,400 --> 00:02:00,640
Speaker 1: sponsorship business, a ticket sales business, a merchandise business, and

35
00:02:00,760 --> 00:02:05,040
Speaker 1: a youth lacrosse or a youth event business. And as

36
00:02:05,040 --> 00:02:08,040
Speaker 1: an operator and co founder, you have to build out

37
00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:11,040
Speaker 1: each of those word charts uniquely and then figure out

38
00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:13,920
Speaker 1: dotted lines across so that everyone can move up at

39
00:02:13,960 --> 00:02:17,160
Speaker 1: the same time. So what happens with pro sports leagues

40
00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:21,200
Speaker 1: behind the scenes is there operated much like a fortune,

41
00:02:21,520 --> 00:02:24,639
Speaker 1: and then what our fans and our players get is

42
00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:28,840
Speaker 1: a ton of entertainment, and I mean the world of

43
00:02:28,880 --> 00:02:31,280
Speaker 1: sports even over the three years that you've been doing

44
00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:37,240
Speaker 1: this has changed by virtue of activism, by virtue of distribution,

45
00:02:37,440 --> 00:02:41,560
Speaker 1: by virtue of a pandemic. As you sort of synthesize

46
00:02:41,639 --> 00:02:46,359
Speaker 1: all those things, how has your league changed. Well. Our

47
00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:50,680
Speaker 1: bet early was that a sport like lacrosse and as

48
00:02:50,760 --> 00:02:52,639
Speaker 1: ten million fans in the US two and a half

49
00:02:52,680 --> 00:02:57,840
Speaker 1: million participants wasn't large enough to be a city base model,

50
00:02:58,040 --> 00:03:01,000
Speaker 1: right and to invest in new venues all over the

51
00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:04,839
Speaker 1: country and find independent operators. So we went the individual

52
00:03:04,960 --> 00:03:08,960
Speaker 1: sports route like golf and tennis and decided to go

53
00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:12,040
Speaker 1: tour based. We still kept all of the initial structure

54
00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:14,840
Speaker 1: of the win loss race to playoffs and having an

55
00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:18,880
Speaker 1: eventual champion in the season schedule, but that tour based

56
00:03:18,919 --> 00:03:23,079
Speaker 1: strategy position as really well during COVID because each game weekend,

57
00:03:23,160 --> 00:03:24,920
Speaker 1: all of our teams go to the same market and

58
00:03:24,919 --> 00:03:27,600
Speaker 1: play at a single venue, and we're able to use

59
00:03:27,639 --> 00:03:31,480
Speaker 1: those operational efficiencies. So when we were faced with the pandemic,

60
00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:34,840
Speaker 1: that's effectively what all sports leagues were challenged and ended

61
00:03:34,880 --> 00:03:37,240
Speaker 1: up doing was pulling off that bubble. So we were

62
00:03:37,240 --> 00:03:39,080
Speaker 1: well prepared for it. And then I think in the

63
00:03:39,120 --> 00:03:43,360
Speaker 1: future of sports, you really look at where most of

64
00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:46,600
Speaker 1: the revenue is targeted, and that's around eyeballs and attention,

65
00:03:47,200 --> 00:03:50,760
Speaker 1: which it fits the NBA, the NFL, Major League Baseball

66
00:03:51,240 --> 00:03:54,560
Speaker 1: tends to center around the biggest matchups, the biggest markets,

67
00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:58,320
Speaker 1: and the biggest stars. So I think the original model

68
00:03:58,480 --> 00:04:01,840
Speaker 1: of growing your le around expansion, trying to get to

69
00:04:01,960 --> 00:04:06,400
Speaker 1: thirty teams in thirty markets, is now more about talent

70
00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:11,200
Speaker 1: density and how you're striking every time you're on television

71
00:04:11,680 --> 00:04:15,920
Speaker 1: or every time your games on a streaming platform. Um,

72
00:04:15,960 --> 00:04:18,520
Speaker 1: and we're positioned to do that quite well, right. And

73
00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:22,240
Speaker 1: also every time that an individual player, whether it's you

74
00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:25,880
Speaker 1: or or some of your colleagues, post on Instagram or

75
00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:28,360
Speaker 1: posts on Twitter. I mean that whole element of the

76
00:04:28,839 --> 00:04:31,640
Speaker 1: power shift. We're gonna talking about you as an athlete

77
00:04:31,680 --> 00:04:36,760
Speaker 1: in a second. I mean, that's been an amazing not

78
00:04:36,839 --> 00:04:39,920
Speaker 1: just pendulum swing, but but feels like a systemic change

79
00:04:40,040 --> 00:04:44,160
Speaker 1: in the way we think about sports and athletes. Massive. So,

80
00:04:44,560 --> 00:04:47,880
Speaker 1: prior to the social media era, all of the power

81
00:04:48,279 --> 00:04:52,240
Speaker 1: was with the network executives. They dictated to us when

82
00:04:52,279 --> 00:04:56,640
Speaker 1: we needed to watch a show at what time, and

83
00:04:56,640 --> 00:05:01,400
Speaker 1: there was primetime viewing habits since DVR to on demand

84
00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:06,720
Speaker 1: two now live streaming, but essentially V O D and

85
00:05:06,839 --> 00:05:10,200
Speaker 1: O T T the power shifted to the consumer. And

86
00:05:10,279 --> 00:05:14,120
Speaker 1: so in this new ecosystem, the networks and are now

87
00:05:14,160 --> 00:05:17,200
Speaker 1: switching from really a broadcast cable strategy to broadcast streaming

88
00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:20,440
Speaker 1: and the consumer gets to choose when they want to

89
00:05:20,440 --> 00:05:24,839
Speaker 1: consume except for sports. Sports is the final kind of

90
00:05:24,960 --> 00:05:30,760
Speaker 1: live opportunity for networks to capitalize. But we were able

91
00:05:30,760 --> 00:05:32,960
Speaker 1: to take advantage of and I don't think we would

92
00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:34,960
Speaker 1: have been able to start the p LLL ten years ago.

93
00:05:35,960 --> 00:05:38,839
Speaker 1: Is this new social media era where if you're not

94
00:05:39,279 --> 00:05:44,560
Speaker 1: largely known and an NBA or NFL player, you now

95
00:05:44,680 --> 00:05:47,480
Speaker 1: have the ability to build an audience in a community

96
00:05:47,480 --> 00:05:50,400
Speaker 1: of people who like what you like through social And

97
00:05:50,440 --> 00:05:54,240
Speaker 1: it's with that type of earned media that you can

98
00:05:54,279 --> 00:05:56,760
Speaker 1: build a big business off of. And that unlocked our

99
00:05:56,800 --> 00:05:59,920
Speaker 1: ability to start a professional across league in the twenty century.

100
00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:02,800
Speaker 1: And and one of the ways I think you've been

101
00:06:02,839 --> 00:06:06,640
Speaker 1: able to do that is by both empowering but also

102
00:06:06,680 --> 00:06:10,240
Speaker 1: sort of challenging and expecting the players to play a

103
00:06:10,320 --> 00:06:12,839
Speaker 1: more meaningful role in that than then maybe they would

104
00:06:12,880 --> 00:06:15,000
Speaker 1: have been a previous era. Right, It's like show up

105
00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:17,520
Speaker 1: on the weekend, they go play the game. Maybe they

106
00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:19,479
Speaker 1: like show up at a car dealership or whatever. But

107
00:06:19,560 --> 00:06:22,280
Speaker 1: like they're like their jobs on the field, Your job

108
00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:24,839
Speaker 1: is Your job as a player is not limited to

109
00:06:24,960 --> 00:06:27,400
Speaker 1: being on the field. Yeah. I think what social media

110
00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:32,760
Speaker 1: has created for a lot of athletes and entertainers that

111
00:06:32,880 --> 00:06:35,720
Speaker 1: is now more obvious than ever is that you are

112
00:06:35,760 --> 00:06:39,960
Speaker 1: actually in the business of entertainment. Yeah, you're a showman

113
00:06:40,040 --> 00:06:43,279
Speaker 1: or a show woman, and you don't have to be

114
00:06:43,760 --> 00:06:46,280
Speaker 1: so you can still step on the field and compete

115
00:06:46,320 --> 00:06:48,360
Speaker 1: and get your salary for being the best at what

116
00:06:48,400 --> 00:06:51,599
Speaker 1: you do. But if you take advantage of social then

117
00:06:51,640 --> 00:06:54,479
Speaker 1: you can now all of a sudden, unlock so much

118
00:06:54,480 --> 00:07:00,800
Speaker 1: opportunity in different industries. And with that opportunity also comes leverage,

119
00:07:00,839 --> 00:07:02,960
Speaker 1: so you have access to an audience. So the whole

120
00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:07,440
Speaker 1: ecosystem is shifted around athletes, in many cases across social

121
00:07:07,520 --> 00:07:10,240
Speaker 1: having larger audiences than the teams, in some cases than

122
00:07:10,280 --> 00:07:13,520
Speaker 1: the league's. So we have to recognize that and figure

123
00:07:13,560 --> 00:07:16,440
Speaker 1: out new ways to monetize and collaborate with athletes. And

124
00:07:17,120 --> 00:07:21,520
Speaker 1: that's frankly why we launched the league and shared uh

125
00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:23,840
Speaker 1: an ownership stake with our players. Were the only league

126
00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:27,120
Speaker 1: in North America where players have stock options, right, and

127
00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:29,440
Speaker 1: and to that point, I mean part of what you

128
00:07:29,520 --> 00:07:32,080
Speaker 1: did in that regard, what you have done is to

129
00:07:32,200 --> 00:07:35,080
Speaker 1: lead by example. You were really the first lacrosse player

130
00:07:35,160 --> 00:07:38,680
Speaker 1: to go out and market yourself to to get big

131
00:07:38,760 --> 00:07:42,080
Speaker 1: name endorsements, you know, Weather, it was under Armour and

132
00:07:42,080 --> 00:07:46,400
Speaker 1: and many more. Was that just something that you modeled

133
00:07:46,560 --> 00:07:50,240
Speaker 1: on other professional athletes? What what was the what was

134
00:07:50,280 --> 00:07:52,720
Speaker 1: your thinking? Then, I'm taking you back a little way. Yeah,

135
00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:53,920
Speaker 1: I mean it was a little bit of fake it

136
00:07:54,000 --> 00:07:58,880
Speaker 1: till you make it. I think that you know, I

137
00:07:58,920 --> 00:08:03,720
Speaker 1: grew up watching Michael Jorge and is famously known for

138
00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:07,400
Speaker 1: his Nike deal and his footwear deal which was transcending.

139
00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:11,680
Speaker 1: The one that was most meaningful to me was his

140
00:08:11,760 --> 00:08:14,440
Speaker 1: Gatorade deal and to be like Mike commercial which actually

141
00:08:14,520 --> 00:08:19,440
Speaker 1: humanized Mike as a person beyond just this illustrious athlete.

142
00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:22,480
Speaker 1: And I've used social media that way. It's a different

143
00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:26,000
Speaker 1: relationship that your fans can have. It's much more personal

144
00:08:26,040 --> 00:08:30,360
Speaker 1: and authentic. And then the league's they position in brand's

145
00:08:30,400 --> 00:08:34,360
Speaker 1: position athletes as these larger than life figures, so you're

146
00:08:34,440 --> 00:08:39,760
Speaker 1: able to connect more deeply with an audience. I figured

147
00:08:39,760 --> 00:08:42,360
Speaker 1: that out because I had to. No one was covering

148
00:08:42,360 --> 00:08:45,480
Speaker 1: professional across when I graduated it, I was drafted number one,

149
00:08:46,120 --> 00:08:50,000
Speaker 1: and even my closest friends didn't know right and Facebook

150
00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:53,400
Speaker 1: at the time had just launched fan pages, so previous

151
00:08:53,440 --> 00:08:56,800
Speaker 1: to that, our friends in any Facebook page was capped

152
00:08:56,800 --> 00:08:59,640
Speaker 1: at five thousand, and I remember graduating from college and

153
00:08:59,679 --> 00:09:03,199
Speaker 1: having ten thousand plus friend requests because they had also

154
00:09:03,280 --> 00:09:08,240
Speaker 1: just allowed high schoolers to register fan pages. Happen. I

155
00:09:08,440 --> 00:09:11,439
Speaker 1: build a page, it gets fifty followers, and all of

156
00:09:11,480 --> 00:09:14,840
Speaker 1: a sudden, I'm having a conversation with people around the

157
00:09:14,960 --> 00:09:18,400
Speaker 1: US that are interested in professional lacrosse. They didn't even

158
00:09:18,440 --> 00:09:20,960
Speaker 1: know where to watch it. So that to me turned

159
00:09:20,960 --> 00:09:25,000
Speaker 1: on this idea that oh, there's something here not just

160
00:09:25,800 --> 00:09:29,559
Speaker 1: for athletes in social but for professional across as a whole.

161
00:09:29,600 --> 00:09:30,960
Speaker 1: I didn't know that I was going to start a

162
00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:34,800
Speaker 1: league ten years later, but that was the big moment. Yeah,

163
00:09:35,040 --> 00:09:38,040
Speaker 1: and what have you learned as an athlete about having

164
00:09:38,160 --> 00:09:41,160
Speaker 1: that sort of platform, Because it comes obviously with a

165
00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:45,720
Speaker 1: lot of opportunity, that is, you know, economic and fame

166
00:09:45,800 --> 00:09:48,640
Speaker 1: and all of that, but also a lot of responsibility.

167
00:09:48,840 --> 00:09:51,480
Speaker 1: This is not an easy time to be a public

168
00:09:51,520 --> 00:09:54,320
Speaker 1: figure in many ways. What have you learned? Well? I

169
00:09:54,320 --> 00:09:59,920
Speaker 1: think Michelle Obama says it pretty regularly that, um, you know,

170
00:10:00,640 --> 00:10:03,240
Speaker 1: you have a thought we all do. Take a minute,

171
00:10:03,480 --> 00:10:06,960
Speaker 1: let the first impulse pass, and then do some research,

172
00:10:07,960 --> 00:10:09,839
Speaker 1: think about it a little bit more critically, and then

173
00:10:09,880 --> 00:10:12,720
Speaker 1: share with your audience if you feel compelled to. Um.

174
00:10:13,640 --> 00:10:16,960
Speaker 1: The world's really complex. It always has been, but information

175
00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:20,760
Speaker 1: symmetry is far greater than it ever was, and our

176
00:10:20,800 --> 00:10:24,719
Speaker 1: ability to connect and share peer to peer is now

177
00:10:24,840 --> 00:10:29,640
Speaker 1: pure to virility. So you absolutely have to be mindful.

178
00:10:30,240 --> 00:10:31,880
Speaker 1: M one of our core values of the plots. Just

179
00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:37,360
Speaker 1: think critically. You know, I like to stand up for

180
00:10:37,520 --> 00:10:40,800
Speaker 1: things that I care about. UM, But you also have

181
00:10:40,960 --> 00:10:45,120
Speaker 1: to be critically aware of other people's viewpoints. And what

182
00:10:45,240 --> 00:10:48,160
Speaker 1: I tell our athletes is educate yourself before you get

183
00:10:48,200 --> 00:10:50,760
Speaker 1: into subject matter to the best that you can, and

184
00:10:50,760 --> 00:10:52,439
Speaker 1: then we'll be here to help. But I think it's

185
00:10:52,440 --> 00:10:55,800
Speaker 1: important that should you feel compelled to, you you share

186
00:10:55,840 --> 00:11:00,720
Speaker 1: your views. All right, Well, let's shift to something that

187
00:11:00,920 --> 00:11:05,199
Speaker 1: is really the big news, which is from a playing perspective,

188
00:11:06,400 --> 00:11:11,600
Speaker 1: you're hanging it up. I'm hanging it up. Yeah? Why now? Well,

189
00:11:11,640 --> 00:11:14,400
Speaker 1: I think maybe a week ago I would have been

190
00:11:14,440 --> 00:11:17,840
Speaker 1: in your T shirt and feel more comfortable as just

191
00:11:18,480 --> 00:11:23,400
Speaker 1: now I'm like trying to get used to a business guy. Yeah. Um,

192
00:11:23,400 --> 00:11:29,120
Speaker 1: the time had come for me, both personally and professionally,

193
00:11:29,720 --> 00:11:33,080
Speaker 1: and we started this conversation. U asked me three years

194
00:11:33,080 --> 00:11:37,040
Speaker 1: in how is it? Um? And we're at that inflection point.

195
00:11:38,080 --> 00:11:42,400
Speaker 1: So from a commercial standpoint, the more time that I

196
00:11:42,480 --> 00:11:45,160
Speaker 1: spend on the business, I think, the more helpful I

197
00:11:45,240 --> 00:11:50,959
Speaker 1: convening my colleagues. But personally, I'm thirty five, I've been

198
00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:54,000
Speaker 1: through a lot of injuries the last seven years and

199
00:11:54,720 --> 00:11:57,760
Speaker 1: actually running the league and playing in it. I remember

200
00:11:57,800 --> 00:12:01,480
Speaker 1: an early conversation you and I had, UM, I basically

201
00:12:01,520 --> 00:12:05,440
Speaker 1: compared myself to Jackie Mean and uh, and I try

202
00:12:05,480 --> 00:12:10,959
Speaker 1: to bring some self deprecation two the notion of how

203
00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:13,120
Speaker 1: do you do both? Or is there a conflict of interest?

204
00:12:13,920 --> 00:12:17,800
Speaker 1: And while formerly there there is none because we've structured

205
00:12:17,840 --> 00:12:21,120
Speaker 1: our our business that way, it still felt that way. Yeah.

206
00:12:21,240 --> 00:12:23,080
Speaker 1: I felt that way for me, It felt that way

207
00:12:23,120 --> 00:12:26,880
Speaker 1: for my teammates in and out of the locker room.

208
00:12:26,880 --> 00:12:29,920
Speaker 1: And it was hard. It's really hard for for three

209
00:12:29,960 --> 00:12:35,640
Speaker 1: seasons sitting over top of our media marketing network and

210
00:12:35,920 --> 00:12:40,640
Speaker 1: working directly with NBC and scoping out the next weekend's

211
00:12:40,640 --> 00:12:46,520
Speaker 1: broadcast and then being in it, and yeah, balancing that

212
00:12:46,640 --> 00:12:49,640
Speaker 1: was difficult. So I think it was like an amalgamation

213
00:12:49,679 --> 00:12:54,160
Speaker 1: of time as as an athlete and uh and what

214
00:12:54,240 --> 00:12:57,520
Speaker 1: I want to continue to devote now all of my

215
00:12:57,640 --> 00:13:01,720
Speaker 1: time too as an entrepreneur. And I think walking away

216
00:13:01,760 --> 00:13:05,880
Speaker 1: from anything is is really really difficult and you'll never

217
00:13:05,920 --> 00:13:08,839
Speaker 1: be a but if you can get to eighty or

218
00:13:09,520 --> 00:13:12,480
Speaker 1: it's pretty powerful. I think we deliberate and get stuck

219
00:13:12,480 --> 00:13:16,240
Speaker 1: when we're and that's something that I've learned in my

220
00:13:16,360 --> 00:13:19,200
Speaker 1: life thus far with difficult decisions. If you can actually

221
00:13:19,200 --> 00:13:24,040
Speaker 1: get closer that that's probably your decision. Um. And nothing

222
00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:26,120
Speaker 1: ever in life is permanent, even though we try to.

223
00:13:26,880 --> 00:13:29,280
Speaker 1: I think it is, and we we get pushed towards

224
00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:32,840
Speaker 1: the binary. But um, you know right now it is

225
00:13:32,920 --> 00:13:38,280
Speaker 1: it is time, and so stepping away, um yeah, you

226
00:13:38,320 --> 00:13:40,959
Speaker 1: never think about it as an athlete and I'm still

227
00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:44,160
Speaker 1: probably processing it. And so how does it feel. I

228
00:13:44,160 --> 00:13:47,240
Speaker 1: mean as someone who obviously will continue in the game.

229
00:13:47,320 --> 00:13:51,160
Speaker 1: I mean a lot of people retire and it's like, well,

230
00:13:51,160 --> 00:13:53,920
Speaker 1: I'm still gonna stay close to the game. You're gonna

231
00:13:53,960 --> 00:13:56,600
Speaker 1: be inside the game and in many ways, like no

232
00:13:56,600 --> 00:13:58,959
Speaker 1: one is going to be who's not on the field,

233
00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:01,560
Speaker 1: it's going to be closer than you in some ways,

234
00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:05,000
Speaker 1: does that make it easier or harder? I mean I

235
00:14:05,040 --> 00:14:10,680
Speaker 1: think unequivocally easier. You'd probably have to drag me off

236
00:14:10,679 --> 00:14:14,200
Speaker 1: the field if I was just an athlete. The game

237
00:14:14,240 --> 00:14:17,720
Speaker 1: means so much to me and really gotten everything that

238
00:14:17,760 --> 00:14:22,200
Speaker 1: I have today, relationships to business opportunities because of lacrosse,

239
00:14:22,760 --> 00:14:24,360
Speaker 1: and there's still so much work to be done in

240
00:14:24,480 --> 00:14:28,680
Speaker 1: stories to be told. So knowing that I can still

241
00:14:28,720 --> 00:14:32,920
Speaker 1: be a part of every game weekend commercially drive its interest,

242
00:14:32,960 --> 00:14:38,120
Speaker 1: But most importantly, I think storytell and narrate what lacrosse is,

243
00:14:38,720 --> 00:14:41,240
Speaker 1: where it came from, who the people are to play

244
00:14:41,240 --> 00:14:44,160
Speaker 1: it today. That's the type of stuff that I'm really

245
00:14:44,200 --> 00:14:48,720
Speaker 1: excited about devoting all of my energy too. And so

246
00:14:48,800 --> 00:14:51,600
Speaker 1: what is that I know this is all TBD in

247
00:14:51,600 --> 00:14:53,520
Speaker 1: in some ways what the day to day looks like,

248
00:14:53,600 --> 00:14:55,480
Speaker 1: But what does your day to day look like like?

249
00:14:55,560 --> 00:14:57,480
Speaker 1: What are the things that you'll now be able to

250
00:14:57,520 --> 00:15:00,680
Speaker 1: do on a day to day basis that were previously

251
00:15:00,760 --> 00:15:05,280
Speaker 1: taking up taken up by team meetings and workouts and right,

252
00:15:05,320 --> 00:15:07,000
Speaker 1: and all the stuff that you've been doing, Yeah, well

253
00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:09,160
Speaker 1: there was. Like I said, the last five years, there's

254
00:15:09,160 --> 00:15:12,320
Speaker 1: been a ton of time dedicated to rehabilitation, prehab, rehab,

255
00:15:12,720 --> 00:15:16,320
Speaker 1: surgery's recovery. All that stuff been practice. But I think

256
00:15:16,320 --> 00:15:21,960
Speaker 1: the biggest weight that is lifted is the constant mindfulness

257
00:15:22,280 --> 00:15:26,000
Speaker 1: that any professional athlete has to have, especially into her

258
00:15:26,200 --> 00:15:30,600
Speaker 1: or his thirties. Of it's just it's basically like a

259
00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:33,320
Speaker 1: checklist every day, Jason. So it's like I don't sleep

260
00:15:33,360 --> 00:15:36,600
Speaker 1: eight hours. That's haunting me as a professional athlete. If

261
00:15:36,600 --> 00:15:40,640
Speaker 1: I'm not hydrated, I gotta go find water and gain

262
00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:42,800
Speaker 1: rate and make sure that I'm taking care of myself.

263
00:15:43,800 --> 00:15:46,520
Speaker 1: And uh, I'm still going to take care of myself,

264
00:15:46,560 --> 00:15:50,880
Speaker 1: but to the degree that my performance relies on that,

265
00:15:51,160 --> 00:15:53,840
Speaker 1: I get to shed some of that. My day to

266
00:15:53,960 --> 00:15:58,200
Speaker 1: day as as an entrepreneur over the last three years

267
00:15:58,240 --> 00:16:00,720
Speaker 1: has shifted on the season and the off season, I've

268
00:16:00,760 --> 00:16:03,440
Speaker 1: prioritized running the business and then I squeeze workouts in

269
00:16:03,440 --> 00:16:08,560
Speaker 1: in hotel gyms or um at night, and once the

270
00:16:08,600 --> 00:16:12,000
Speaker 1: season comes it's the opposite. I would prioritize my workouts,

271
00:16:12,080 --> 00:16:15,560
Speaker 1: my rehab, my team meetings, and then make the calls.

272
00:16:16,640 --> 00:16:20,240
Speaker 1: The opportunity here is that the most important time of

273
00:16:20,240 --> 00:16:23,360
Speaker 1: the year for our executive team is the season, and

274
00:16:23,400 --> 00:16:25,640
Speaker 1: that was the time where I was spending the least

275
00:16:25,640 --> 00:16:30,000
Speaker 1: amount on the business. So um, so I'm getting that.

276
00:16:31,240 --> 00:16:33,680
Speaker 1: I would say that my day starts at seven and

277
00:16:34,120 --> 00:16:38,560
Speaker 1: finishes at nine o'clock at night. And any entrepreneur can

278
00:16:38,600 --> 00:16:41,200
Speaker 1: probably relate. Or business executive where there's a lot of

279
00:16:41,240 --> 00:16:45,040
Speaker 1: writing on decisions that you make, is that you're really

280
00:16:45,800 --> 00:16:51,040
Speaker 1: really on most of the time creatively, especially I read

281
00:16:51,120 --> 00:16:56,800
Speaker 1: a lot, especially about other leagues and businesses that are

282
00:16:56,840 --> 00:16:59,080
Speaker 1: in and around sport, so we could be on the

283
00:16:59,120 --> 00:17:04,040
Speaker 1: cutting edge and quicker and continue to innovate. So I'll

284
00:17:04,040 --> 00:17:07,520
Speaker 1: give you an example. If I'm watching an NFL broadcast

285
00:17:07,760 --> 00:17:13,240
Speaker 1: and it's being simulcast on Nickelodeon and there is, um,

286
00:17:13,280 --> 00:17:17,720
Speaker 1: you know this this a R component to celebrate a touchdown,

287
00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:22,520
Speaker 1: I'm immediately thinking about, well, what's our augmented reality approach

288
00:17:22,560 --> 00:17:26,640
Speaker 1: and how does that work in lacrosse? And after a goal,

289
00:17:27,160 --> 00:17:29,960
Speaker 1: so it just never shuts off, which is maybe part

290
00:17:29,960 --> 00:17:34,439
Speaker 1: of the problem. And so what's the biggest business challenge

291
00:17:34,480 --> 00:17:38,040
Speaker 1: you think that you individually want to tackle now that

292
00:17:38,119 --> 00:17:41,600
Speaker 1: you will be devoted to the business. Well, the most

293
00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:45,720
Speaker 1: exciting part about right now for the pol And Professional

294
00:17:45,720 --> 00:17:49,920
Speaker 1: Across is that we have gotten through our first three

295
00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:53,480
Speaker 1: years with year year growth. From a viewership standpoint, we're up.

296
00:17:54,560 --> 00:17:58,560
Speaker 1: From a ticket sales standpoint, we're up. We've survived a pandemic,

297
00:17:58,600 --> 00:18:00,520
Speaker 1: were not only able to survive it, but we're able

298
00:18:00,560 --> 00:18:03,679
Speaker 1: to propel. We've turned sports betting on. We brought in

299
00:18:03,920 --> 00:18:06,760
Speaker 1: non endemic sponsors that have never even looked out across before.

300
00:18:07,320 --> 00:18:12,119
Speaker 1: But right now are our first media rights partnership with

301
00:18:12,280 --> 00:18:16,000
Speaker 1: NBC has reached its end. And what we hear about

302
00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:19,520
Speaker 1: in the businesses support quite regularly is a new media deal.

303
00:18:20,640 --> 00:18:26,840
Speaker 1: And sports are about viewership and distribution. So this offseason,

304
00:18:26,960 --> 00:18:29,320
Speaker 1: like my sole focus right now, is a new media

305
00:18:29,400 --> 00:18:34,280
Speaker 1: deal and and how can we creatively do something that

306
00:18:35,040 --> 00:18:39,240
Speaker 1: nobody has done in professional sports? How can we build

307
00:18:39,280 --> 00:18:42,400
Speaker 1: on the success of our NBC partnership and the viewership

308
00:18:42,440 --> 00:18:44,880
Speaker 1: numbers that we have, And then how can we adapt

309
00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:50,120
Speaker 1: to this new streaming world that everyone is becoming much

310
00:18:50,160 --> 00:18:57,280
Speaker 1: more accustomed to and welcoming to. And as you think

311
00:18:57,320 --> 00:19:00,400
Speaker 1: about winding down as as a professional athlete, I mean

312
00:19:00,480 --> 00:19:03,200
Speaker 1: that and We've touched on this a little bit already,

313
00:19:03,200 --> 00:19:06,360
Speaker 1: but the role of the professional athlete has changed, the

314
00:19:06,480 --> 00:19:08,479
Speaker 1: role of the college athlete has changed. You know, when

315
00:19:08,520 --> 00:19:10,760
Speaker 1: you think about the new rules around name, image and

316
00:19:10,840 --> 00:19:16,680
Speaker 1: likeness and whatnot, as you're leaving that part of your career,

317
00:19:18,320 --> 00:19:21,479
Speaker 1: what changed in in those those years that you were

318
00:19:21,520 --> 00:19:25,640
Speaker 1: a college athlete and a professional athlete from then to now. Well,

319
00:19:25,640 --> 00:19:29,959
Speaker 1: there's the generational shift that's happening right now in lacrosse,

320
00:19:31,240 --> 00:19:36,440
Speaker 1: accepting and appreciating and vuying towards a professional league. When

321
00:19:36,520 --> 00:19:39,840
Speaker 1: I was growing up playing the game, the peak for

322
00:19:39,920 --> 00:19:43,200
Speaker 1: me was making the final four in college pro lacrosse

323
00:19:43,760 --> 00:19:46,679
Speaker 1: hadn't been built yet, and then when it did, it

324
00:19:46,720 --> 00:19:49,560
Speaker 1: didn't have distribution, So I was always thinking about college

325
00:19:49,640 --> 00:19:53,440
Speaker 1: as the pinnacle um. Now the next generation was looking

326
00:19:53,440 --> 00:19:56,520
Speaker 1: at playing in the p l O and that shift

327
00:19:56,640 --> 00:20:00,560
Speaker 1: is huge because you're able to attract new part dinticipants

328
00:20:00,600 --> 00:20:05,080
Speaker 1: to the game, and you're also able to motivate a

329
00:20:05,520 --> 00:20:10,639
Speaker 1: community of sports fans in the direction that will create

330
00:20:10,640 --> 00:20:14,800
Speaker 1: more attention around across The name, image and likeness is

331
00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:17,840
Speaker 1: huge for a sport like ours. I think it disproportionately

332
00:20:17,960 --> 00:20:22,840
Speaker 1: favors the long tail sports over what we already know

333
00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:25,359
Speaker 1: in in basketball, football, and baseball is a ton of

334
00:20:25,400 --> 00:20:28,800
Speaker 1: attention at the professional level. And so I view n

335
00:20:28,840 --> 00:20:32,000
Speaker 1: i L as a really strong primer for our college

336
00:20:32,080 --> 00:20:35,200
Speaker 1: lacrosse players to begin thinking about how to build their

337
00:20:35,240 --> 00:20:37,720
Speaker 1: brands so that when they do jump into the p LLL,

338
00:20:38,160 --> 00:20:43,679
Speaker 1: we have a big audience that wants to meet this player.

339
00:20:43,720 --> 00:20:47,040
Speaker 1: Already may know this player and accrues to your interest

340
00:20:47,080 --> 00:20:50,920
Speaker 1: in some ways. Having these brands come through Hopkins a

341
00:20:51,080 --> 00:20:55,000
Speaker 1: u v A. I'll say at a Georgetown then and

342
00:20:55,040 --> 00:20:57,520
Speaker 1: there yeah, no doubt. And so our players were then

343
00:20:57,560 --> 00:21:00,080
Speaker 1: going to be primed. They're going to be using and

344
00:21:00,200 --> 00:21:05,560
Speaker 1: social differently than maybe they would have had they otherwise

345
00:21:05,560 --> 00:21:08,640
Speaker 1: not had access to brand deals. And Sportco just listed

346
00:21:08,920 --> 00:21:12,720
Speaker 1: that that lacrosse is in the top ten for deals

347
00:21:12,800 --> 00:21:15,119
Speaker 1: right now. They are coming in from brands, and I

348
00:21:15,119 --> 00:21:18,119
Speaker 1: would have never imagined that three years ago. So it's

349
00:21:18,160 --> 00:21:20,399
Speaker 1: good momentum for us. You know, I have a vested

350
00:21:20,440 --> 00:21:24,399
Speaker 1: interest in the in the youth lacrosse world. Tell me

351
00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:26,159
Speaker 1: what you've learned about that, because you know a lot

352
00:21:26,160 --> 00:21:29,119
Speaker 1: of people listening to and watching this, you know, have sons,

353
00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:32,879
Speaker 1: daughters who play this is a fast growing sport in

354
00:21:32,960 --> 00:21:36,239
Speaker 1: many ways. Obviously it's a pipeline of sorts for for

355
00:21:36,320 --> 00:21:39,639
Speaker 1: college and the PLL. But help me understand how you

356
00:21:39,680 --> 00:21:42,520
Speaker 1: look at the economics, because you see it not only

357
00:21:42,560 --> 00:21:45,600
Speaker 1: from a talent perspective, but from a business perspective as well.

358
00:21:45,640 --> 00:21:48,360
Speaker 1: This is one of the pillars you talked about. Yeah. Absolutely,

359
00:21:48,880 --> 00:21:51,480
Speaker 1: There's a couple of things I'll say about youth across

360
00:21:51,520 --> 00:21:55,760
Speaker 1: and it's generally use sports. It's gotten so competitive. Every

361
00:21:55,800 --> 00:22:01,200
Speaker 1: parent that enlists their daughter or son at age nine

362
00:22:01,240 --> 00:22:03,960
Speaker 1: to ten want them getting a scholarship to college and

363
00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:06,919
Speaker 1: playing professionally. When I was growing up, it was more

364
00:22:06,960 --> 00:22:09,919
Speaker 1: of a means to have fun and and playing the

365
00:22:09,920 --> 00:22:14,280
Speaker 1: community with your neighbors. Um SO, I think that you

366
00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:19,119
Speaker 1: know the benefit of privatized youth sports is that there's uh,

367
00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:23,879
Speaker 1: there's more attention and there's greater effort into developing the

368
00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:27,120
Speaker 1: skill of players at a younger age. So the professional

369
00:22:27,200 --> 00:22:31,439
Speaker 1: leads get the benefit of having Zion Williamson's come to

370
00:22:31,480 --> 00:22:36,119
Speaker 1: the NBA who looks like a ten year veteran. Um

371
00:22:36,160 --> 00:22:39,400
Speaker 1: SO lacrosse is catching up to the AU model, for example,

372
00:22:39,960 --> 00:22:46,440
Speaker 1: UM and club soccer. The challenges that privatized youth sports

373
00:22:46,520 --> 00:22:49,919
Speaker 1: create a barrier for those who can't afford it. So

374
00:22:51,359 --> 00:22:54,120
Speaker 1: part two to what I was saying is revitalizing reck

375
00:22:55,040 --> 00:22:57,920
Speaker 1: and revitalizing rec Lacrosse is important to me. I think

376
00:22:57,960 --> 00:23:00,760
Speaker 1: REX sports across the border down and have been down

377
00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:04,000
Speaker 1: year every year for the last decade. So as part

378
00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:07,399
Speaker 1: of my retirement announcement, I talked about a new endeavor.

379
00:23:07,400 --> 00:23:09,919
Speaker 1: It's important to me. It's called Goals for Greatness, but

380
00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:15,280
Speaker 1: I'm committing to beginning and beyond lacrosse goals in all

381
00:23:15,320 --> 00:23:19,040
Speaker 1: fifty states, so I'll resource it and u and the

382
00:23:19,080 --> 00:23:24,080
Speaker 1: goal is to increase accessibility visibility for the game. I

383
00:23:24,119 --> 00:23:28,320
Speaker 1: grew up in neighborhoods that all had basketball courts, tennis courts,

384
00:23:28,320 --> 00:23:30,399
Speaker 1: and baseball diamonds, and you see them everywhere, and you

385
00:23:30,480 --> 00:23:33,080
Speaker 1: become accustomed to that, even as a casual sports fan.

386
00:23:33,119 --> 00:23:36,240
Speaker 1: There's a hundred million in the US, but I never

387
00:23:36,920 --> 00:23:40,520
Speaker 1: and still really struggle to this day finding lacrosse goals

388
00:23:40,560 --> 00:23:43,879
Speaker 1: to shoot on. So I lug one on my shoulder

389
00:23:43,920 --> 00:23:46,880
Speaker 1: or throw it in my truck. And I want to

390
00:23:46,920 --> 00:23:49,119
Speaker 1: eliminate that barrier. And I think there's gonna be a

391
00:23:49,119 --> 00:23:51,520
Speaker 1: big trickle down effect for doing so, so as we

392
00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:56,600
Speaker 1: finish up, you know, looking even further ahead, could be

393
00:23:58,240 --> 00:24:03,160
Speaker 1: that's having a conversation in Los Angeles with lacrosse fully

394
00:24:03,200 --> 00:24:07,320
Speaker 1: apart of the Olympics. How big will that be potentially?

395
00:24:07,480 --> 00:24:11,640
Speaker 1: How big is that evolution toward getting back to the Olympics? Uh?

396
00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:15,000
Speaker 1: For for the game massive three and a half billion

397
00:24:15,040 --> 00:24:18,119
Speaker 1: people are aware of the Olympics and there's two and

398
00:24:18,119 --> 00:24:22,119
Speaker 1: a half million participants in lacrosse. There's sixty eight countries

399
00:24:22,160 --> 00:24:24,560
Speaker 1: that are sanctioned, which is how we got to where

400
00:24:24,600 --> 00:24:29,199
Speaker 1: we are today. Lacrosse was once an Olympic sport, but

401
00:24:29,440 --> 00:24:33,240
Speaker 1: four teams played and UH. Team USA was comprised of

402
00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:38,600
Speaker 1: Johns Hopkins Canada one both times to be fair and UH.

403
00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:42,440
Speaker 1: And then the Olympics began to commercialize and changed a

404
00:24:42,480 --> 00:24:45,840
Speaker 1: little bit of its pre rex and lacrosse fell out

405
00:24:45,880 --> 00:24:50,080
Speaker 1: of it because there wasn't enough participation around the globe.

406
00:24:50,520 --> 00:24:54,040
Speaker 1: So we've since reached those prerequisites and we've got full

407
00:24:54,040 --> 00:24:58,440
Speaker 1: membership recognition from the IOC this past summer, which was amazing,

408
00:24:58,880 --> 00:25:01,480
Speaker 1: and now we begin a charted path to be in

409
00:25:02,480 --> 00:25:06,639
Speaker 1: games in l A m IF and I believe when

410
00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:11,560
Speaker 1: it happens you're gonna see the most important piece unlock,

411
00:25:11,840 --> 00:25:14,840
Speaker 1: which is on a pro rata basis. All of the

412
00:25:14,880 --> 00:25:18,639
Speaker 1: sixty eight probably plus countries that have the ability to

413
00:25:18,680 --> 00:25:22,640
Speaker 1: compete in those Olympic Games will get those resources from

414
00:25:22,680 --> 00:25:26,359
Speaker 1: their national governing bodies, which means, for sport like lacrosse,

415
00:25:26,400 --> 00:25:28,959
Speaker 1: which is much like hockey and golf, it's expensive, it's

416
00:25:28,960 --> 00:25:32,720
Speaker 1: an equipment sport, you begin to offer those goods to

417
00:25:33,480 --> 00:25:37,560
Speaker 1: people and athletes in your country. Um. So that's how

418
00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:41,359
Speaker 1: I view the long tail benefit of the Olympics, and

419
00:25:41,400 --> 00:25:46,639
Speaker 1: then the obvious and immediate ones are visibility and in growth.

420
00:25:47,960 --> 00:25:50,480
Speaker 1: All right, well we're wrapping up, but I gotta ask you, like,

421
00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:53,280
Speaker 1: how do you feel like? I mean, this is a

422
00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:56,800
Speaker 1: this is a it's a big thing. It's a big

423
00:25:56,840 --> 00:25:58,800
Speaker 1: thing for you. I don't think and I'm not saying

424
00:25:58,840 --> 00:26:00,959
Speaker 1: this because you're sitting here. I don't think there's any

425
00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:04,920
Speaker 1: other person who is as associated with the game as

426
00:26:04,920 --> 00:26:09,760
Speaker 1: a player as you are. You must be feeling the

427
00:26:09,760 --> 00:26:13,879
Speaker 1: the weight of that to some extent, but and clearly

428
00:26:13,920 --> 00:26:17,720
Speaker 1: also some pride in that. But it's a big moment. Yeah,

429
00:26:17,760 --> 00:26:19,800
Speaker 1: it is. I mean, I appreciate you saying that. I

430
00:26:19,880 --> 00:26:22,960
Speaker 1: was having that conversation last night with a board member,

431
00:26:23,880 --> 00:26:28,199
Speaker 1: and he always encourages me to like step back and

432
00:26:28,400 --> 00:26:33,120
Speaker 1: appreciate everything that we've been working on. And I try

433
00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:38,080
Speaker 1: to do that in my daily practice. But it's it

434
00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:41,760
Speaker 1: sits in a catch twenty two of entrepreneurs having to

435
00:26:42,440 --> 00:26:48,360
Speaker 1: have to be hyper focused on the multiple tasks at hand. Um.

436
00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:49,960
Speaker 1: But if I'm able to like sit in this chair

437
00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:53,600
Speaker 1: and talk to you about what I've done and been

438
00:26:53,640 --> 00:26:57,520
Speaker 1: able to do, I feel really grateful, um grateful for

439
00:26:57,600 --> 00:27:00,639
Speaker 1: my family. My brother is my co founder and the

440
00:27:00,640 --> 00:27:05,800
Speaker 1: CEO of the POLUM, a lot of coaches and teammates

441
00:27:05,840 --> 00:27:12,119
Speaker 1: and medical staff, and I've been pretty fortunate to be

442
00:27:12,160 --> 00:27:16,000
Speaker 1: on some great teams and then all of a sudden

443
00:27:16,280 --> 00:27:19,600
Speaker 1: you find yourself operating the Pro League. So I just

444
00:27:19,600 --> 00:27:23,480
Speaker 1: would never have dreamed that I would be in this

445
00:27:23,560 --> 00:27:28,640
Speaker 1: position doing something that I love so much. I'm gonna

446
00:27:28,640 --> 00:27:32,080
Speaker 1: miss the game. I know I'm gonna I'm gonna miss plane,

447
00:27:32,119 --> 00:27:34,440
Speaker 1: and it's probably gonna take two, maybe three years for

448
00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:39,680
Speaker 1: me to feel normal about it. But I'll be close

449
00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:43,280
Speaker 1: to the field every week, so that'll be a nice

450
00:27:43,320 --> 00:27:47,280
Speaker 1: way to alleviate some of that page people may look

451
00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:50,240
Speaker 1: over like is he suiting up? Like what's happening over?

452
00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:53,159
Speaker 1: Where did he go? Where did he go? Maybe I'll

453
00:27:53,200 --> 00:27:56,679
Speaker 1: jump in an All Star Games TV. They good to

454
00:27:56,720 --> 00:28:01,560
Speaker 1: see her, great to see her. Congratulation. Thank you Foo