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Speaker 1: Hello, I'm Michael barn and I'm Scott. On this podcast,

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Speaker 1: we will explore the big money issues in the world

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

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Speaker 1: in the industry. On this week's show, we talked to

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Speaker 1: the man who just spent the most money ever to

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Speaker 1: buy a sports franchise this summer, Tillman for Tita bought

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Speaker 1: the NBA's Houston Rockets for two point two billion dollars.

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Speaker 1: I'm a guy that focuses everything on evena and and

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Speaker 1: everything I've ever bought. I'll make the numbers work even away.

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Speaker 1: We'll have more with our interview with Houston Rockets owner

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Speaker 1: and Tilman for Tita in a few minutes, but first

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

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Speaker 1: us is Bloomberg Business of Sports reporter Evan Novie Williams.

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Speaker 1: And let's start with the US soccer men's team out

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Speaker 1: not being able to play for the World Cup. That

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Speaker 1: will impact ad dollars. I think let's let's let Evan

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Speaker 1: go first. I mean, even though I played soccer all

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Speaker 1: over the world in my youth, Evan does play down

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Speaker 1: at pure forty in an old man's league, So you know,

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Speaker 1: maybe he's our soccer guy. Maybe they should have signed

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Speaker 1: me the way Tim Howard looked in Gold. Maybe they

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Speaker 1: could have used Evan Noby Williams. But Fox ain't too happy,

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Speaker 1: right Evan. Yeah, this is a disaster for Fox. I mean,

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Speaker 1: if you look at ratings of the last World Cup

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Speaker 1: in Rio for ESPN, the U S games were by

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Speaker 1: far the most watch games outside of the final um

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Speaker 1: in America. And that's because Americans, it's not a soccer country.

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Speaker 1: They care about the local team when they're playing well,

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Speaker 1: when they're in the big tournament. But when you lose

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Speaker 1: that peg, then you're left with pitching this two stars

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Speaker 1: like Messi and Ronaldo, and well, that way may work

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Speaker 1: for the die hard soccer fans, that's not going to

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Speaker 1: get the casual fan in America interested in this tournament.

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Speaker 1: And there are some other companies involved, but I would

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Speaker 1: say if you go down the peg, the other big

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Speaker 1: loser and all this is major league soccer. They have

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Speaker 1: lots of players on the national team. It's nice if

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Speaker 1: one of two of them can become a star during

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Speaker 1: the World Cup where people would know the name, know

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Speaker 1: the face, like to follow. But this is gonna be

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Speaker 1: a long time Michael, where casual soccer fan will go

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Speaker 1: without seeing US soccer. That's a tough break from for MLS. Well,

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Speaker 1: that's the thing about the World Cup that brought in

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Speaker 1: the casual soccer viewer and now US teams. Yeah, it's

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Speaker 1: a it's a dearth of soccer action right now. And

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Speaker 1: of course there's Nike as well. They'll lose out and

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Speaker 1: the players themselves lose out on some money, But the

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Speaker 1: big disaster Fox in MLS. And to put this in

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Speaker 1: perspective for Fox, they have the next World Cup and

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Speaker 1: Cutter that was moved from the summer to the winter,

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Speaker 1: which makes it a much worse TV property. So they're

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Speaker 1: gonna take a hit on this one because US is out.

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Speaker 1: They're gonna take a hit on the next one because

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Speaker 1: of the time change. And then the third one as

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Speaker 1: a make good for the Cutter change, they've got World

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Speaker 1: Cup likely going to be in America. It's like it's bigger,

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Speaker 1: it's gonna have thirty three more teams. That's gonna be

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Speaker 1: a huge windfall for Fox. They got into discount. That's

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Speaker 1: going to be their opportunity to make up for what

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Speaker 1: they're losing on these two. You and I used to

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Speaker 1: sit at the desk and argue over whether they were

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Speaker 1: expanding the field to accommodate China and that market. Now

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Speaker 1: we have to say, oh, goody, maybe the Americans can

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Speaker 1: make it so we have China and the United States.

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Speaker 1: Then we have something to celebrate on the business side. Sure,

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Speaker 1: and there's another angle here about the women's soccer team.

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Speaker 1: The women's national team, obviously past couple of years has

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Speaker 1: made a push to get paid more, trying to get

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Speaker 1: paid what the men are paid. The argument against it

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Speaker 1: has always been that the men's team makes more money.

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Speaker 1: That may change now that the women's team is going

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Speaker 1: to be in these World Cups and the men are not.

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Speaker 1: Let's move on to the next story. A big story

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Speaker 1: that has been in the news, and we're talking about

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Speaker 1: NFL players kneeling for the national anthem. President Donald Trump

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Speaker 1: says about time that NFL commission at Roger Goodell demands

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Speaker 1: that all players stand for our great anthem, respect our country.

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Speaker 1: And now Goodell has told club executives in a memo

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Speaker 1: that the anthem issue is dividing the league from its fans.

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Speaker 1: And now they will meet next week about this issue

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Speaker 1: with the union. And let's Let's say that there's conflating

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Speaker 1: issues here. Let's let's say people are misunderstand standing it's

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Speaker 1: not what they're pro whatever that maybe the owners are

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Speaker 1: looking at one thing. What is the impact on our

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Speaker 1: television ratings and our business partners and our value. That's

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Speaker 1: what this is about the NFL brand. You've heard a

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Speaker 1: million times Michael Edman protect the shield. Right now, the

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Speaker 1: shield is dented. The people are not watching as many games.

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Speaker 1: And you can talk hurricanes, you can talk whether at

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Speaker 1: some point you have to look at the protest, at

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Speaker 1: the mood of the country and wonder what sort of

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Speaker 1: effect this is having, which is what Jerry Jones wants

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Speaker 1: his team to do. This is an admission by Roger

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Speaker 1: Goodell in the NFL that this is affecting business um

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Speaker 1: and we've seen with a lot of companies way beyond

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Speaker 1: sports in the last couple of months, when you get

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Speaker 1: into these fights with the president over politics, staying in

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Speaker 1: the news is not necessarily the best way to do that.

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Speaker 1: And I think it's clear that the union, that especially

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Speaker 1: Roger Goodell and the owners, they want to figure out

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Speaker 1: a way to solve this quietly so that it goes

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Speaker 1: away as opposed to stay as national times. You wonder

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Speaker 1: what kind of cooperation they'll they'll get from the players,

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Speaker 1: because we all know the average career length is to

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Speaker 1: two and a half years. The guys who have contracts, now,

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Speaker 1: they're gonna get paid. You're gonna get paid next year,

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Speaker 1: You're gonna get paid. This is about the long term

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Speaker 1: health of the NFL, and that's about franchise valuation. That's

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Speaker 1: a material impact for the owners. I wonder if the

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Speaker 1: players will say, we don't care, We're gonna get ours now.

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Speaker 1: You've ran plenty of things down our throats. Here's our

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Speaker 1: chance for payback. In another big story, Ultimate Finding Championship,

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Speaker 1: they have struck a multi year deal with Madela. Madela

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Speaker 1: replaces Anneheuser Busch, one of the biggest sponsors out there

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Speaker 1: in all of sports. Anytime you see a b shifting

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Speaker 1: their money, it's a good idea to see why are

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Speaker 1: they going there? Is this a trend while others follow

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Speaker 1: because they are one of the big time spenders. Sure,

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Speaker 1: and this is you've seen them In the past couple

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Speaker 1: of months. You have se Is signing a large number

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Speaker 1: of corporate partnership deals and that is a direct result

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Speaker 1: of the the William Morris i MG acquisition. You know,

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Speaker 1: William Morris came in. They have a lot of contacts

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Speaker 1: across the sports world, across the sponsorship world, and UFC

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Speaker 1: is now leveraging that to sign deals like Madelo, to

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Speaker 1: sign companies like seven eleven, like body Armor, and that's

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Speaker 1: a young demo. Let's see now, is drinking buddwise are

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Speaker 1: going to be cool? I mean, are we done with

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Speaker 1: some of the other stuff? Is Bud going to be

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Speaker 1: the choice of millennials? I don't know, but this is

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Speaker 1: an audience they're reaching our thanks to Bloomberg Business of

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Speaker 1: Sports reporter Evan Nobi Williams and now for our interview.

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Speaker 1: He's Houston Rockets owner Tilman for Tita. He is also

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Speaker 1: the owner of the Landry's restaurant chain and Golden Nugget

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Speaker 1: casino and hotels. This summer, for Tita, shelled out an

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Speaker 1: NBA record two point two billion dollars to purchase the Rockets.

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Speaker 1: What is the first thing you do when you are

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Speaker 1: approved as owner of a sports franchise? Do you go

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Speaker 1: in review processes? Like? What do you do first when

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Speaker 1: you're approved? You've already been working up to it. It's

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Speaker 1: when you signed the contract you start getting involved in

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Speaker 1: the team. Are you making decision? No? But but you've

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Speaker 1: already You've been around the office and they've come to

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Speaker 1: see you management, and and uh, you've already they kind

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Speaker 1: of know your skull already. But you know, the Houston

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Speaker 1: Rockets is different because I've been around the team for

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Speaker 1: thirty five years. I was a minority partner between eighty

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Speaker 1: three and ninety three with Charlie Thomas, and then I've

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Speaker 1: been sitting next to Less on the front row for

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Speaker 1: twenty four years and I was an advisory director to him.

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Speaker 1: So you know, it was what do you do? You?

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Speaker 1: You know, you just are happy that you finally got

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Speaker 1: it done. And that's what you're worried about. Everybody has

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Speaker 1: heard has heard about buyer's remorse. Is there almost buyer's

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Speaker 1: remorse on your end? I mean, you had a chance

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Speaker 1: to get this thing when Less bought the team. You

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Speaker 1: were outbid by four million dollars looking at the price.

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Speaker 1: Now do you kick yourself for not boosting your bid bag? Then?

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Speaker 1: You know, not at all? Um, you know it's amazing

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Speaker 1: is if I would have ended up with the team

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Speaker 1: twenty five years ago. Uh, that would have probably been

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Speaker 1: all that I did. And I probably wouldn't have built

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Speaker 1: the empire that I did outside of the Houston Rockets.

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Speaker 1: And and sure what, I what, I have a team

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Speaker 1: that's worth two billion dollars today, Yes, but but I

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Speaker 1: wouldn't have a six hundred unit restaurant empire. And I

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Speaker 1: went on all the Golden Nego casinos and numerous other

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Speaker 1: hotels and amusement parks and aquariums. So I think it

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Speaker 1: kind of fell into place, and I'm really happy about it.

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Speaker 1: You know, my kids are old enough now to enjoy

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Speaker 1: it and be a part of it. So you know,

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Speaker 1: things all work out. Let me ask a question, though,

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Speaker 1: and this because you used to own a piece of

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Speaker 1: the Texans, uh. And and the reason why you had

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Speaker 1: to sell it, if I understand it correctly, is because

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Speaker 1: of NFL rules. Thank goodness, the NBA rules are totally different.

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Speaker 1: Can you explain that process why the NBA is okay?

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Speaker 1: Which I don't see anything wrong with it about owning

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Speaker 1: the Golden Dug at the sinos and opposed to the NFL.

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Speaker 1: You know, I think that that when it comes to

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Speaker 1: sports betting, you know, there's so many more people that

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Speaker 1: bet on NFL football than do on basketball or baseball.

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Speaker 1: And I think, uh, you know, it appears that the

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Speaker 1: the NBA has just been a little more you know,

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Speaker 1: progressive thinking, and in that retrospect, I think the NFL

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Speaker 1: has come a long way. I don't know today. I mean,

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Speaker 1: they haven't ruled on it, but I don't know today

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Speaker 1: if if a casino owner wanted to own an NFL team,

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Speaker 1: I don't know that they would have an issue with that.

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Speaker 1: Just the way it is. It's it's it's different today.

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Speaker 1: I think the NBA realized that to own a casino today,

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Speaker 1: the regulation and the background checks and everything that goes

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Speaker 1: on is is that it's more regulated than any other

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Speaker 1: end to be out there. And uh, I think could

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Speaker 1: realize that. I'm the people that ot casine. Those are

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Speaker 1: pretty quality people. And I think the NFL, like I said,

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Speaker 1: has come a long way, and that's probably where they

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Speaker 1: are now too. You said something during the press conference

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Speaker 1: when you were being introduced as the new owner of

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Speaker 1: the Rockets, and you mentioned the San Diego Rockets, and

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Speaker 1: I started thinking, Oh, yeah, that's right. They were. They

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Speaker 1: were out there. It was what seventy four around in

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Speaker 1: that era when when they moved to Houston, and take

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Speaker 1: us through that, because you are really it really was

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Speaker 1: important that you had a hometown team, uh, that you

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Speaker 1: owned as an NBA franchise. Can you take us to

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Speaker 1: that process and what that meant to you? You know,

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Speaker 1: it's really amazing is that I know other owners in

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Speaker 1: the different sports and they all loved their teams, but

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Speaker 1: they only go to sporadic games, and they have to

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Speaker 1: get on a plane and they have to fly to

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Speaker 1: that particular city, and you have to build loyalty and

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Speaker 1: and uh to that team. You know, it happens pretty

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Speaker 1: quick when you own it. But it's just different. And

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Speaker 1: I think that if you talk to anybody that owns

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Speaker 1: a team outside of their hometown where they grew up

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Speaker 1: and the team they pulled for there, They're just gonna

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Speaker 1: tell you it's different. This is one question I always

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Speaker 1: have for folks who fork over big money and surely

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Speaker 1: you could afford the best season tickets and have the

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Speaker 1: best access in the world. Why do you want the

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Speaker 1: headache of ownership? You know, you can say that about anything.

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Speaker 1: I mean, why don't I have five casinos in six

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Speaker 1: hundred restaurants in a dozen hotels, casinos. They understand that

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Speaker 1: it's always wins. They don't believe that I've had some

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Speaker 1: very stressful nights with somebody who beating me out of

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Speaker 1: a million dollars. Uh, it's it's it's just different, and

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Speaker 1: it's a different decisions that you get to make. It

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Speaker 1: it's uh, it's sports, I mean, and that's why you're

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Speaker 1: in business a sport and your competitiveness and continue to

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Speaker 1: want to do deals and and uh, you know, it's

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Speaker 1: amazing how complicated, you know, running a professional sports team

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Speaker 1: is today with collective bargaining and with the decisions and

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Speaker 1: luxury tax and revenue share and you know everything else

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Speaker 1: just in the NBA, the fantasy issues and an MLB

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Speaker 1: and NFL. So I mean, it's, uh, it's amazing. And

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Speaker 1: you know, XS and os is only one thing. And

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Speaker 1: it's it's amazing how much I thought I knew about

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Speaker 1: basketball and I realized how much I didn't know, you know,

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Speaker 1: in the last forty five days. But but you know,

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Speaker 1: the business side is a big part of it. And

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Speaker 1: the business side is really sport for me. All right,

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Speaker 1: let me talk about that. Then you paid thirty five

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Speaker 1: times EBITDA and you seem to say that doesn't matter.

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Speaker 1: Don't look at the numbers explained to a business novice.

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Speaker 1: Why thirty five times EBITDA, which you wouldn't see in

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Speaker 1: sort of a regular transaction, Why that doesn't matter? Well,

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Speaker 1: and I'm a guy that focuses everything on evena and

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Speaker 1: and everything I've ever bought, I make the numbers work

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Speaker 1: even a wise, because there's never been an NFL team

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Speaker 1: that is are an m an NBA team, are an

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Speaker 1: MLB team that's sold for less than it was paid

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Speaker 1: for it. And you can just basically book it that

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Speaker 1: in the next eight to ten years this asset is

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Speaker 1: going to be worth three billion dollars. And that's just

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Speaker 1: the way it is. You Know, it's hard to believe

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Speaker 1: that the New York Yankees sold in nineteen seventy for

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Speaker 1: ten million dollars. It's hard to believe that just twenty

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Speaker 1: something years ago that the Dallas Cowboys sold for a

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Speaker 1: hundred and forty million dollars. Uh. When I bought in

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Speaker 1: with Charlie Thomas and in Night four it was twenty

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Speaker 1: million dollars, and then he sold it ten years later

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Speaker 1: for eighty million dollars. Now, am I going to get

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Speaker 1: that kind of run up. Probably not. But basically all

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Speaker 1: I did was take two billion of equity out of

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Speaker 1: one company where I had four bellion in equity and

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Speaker 1: moved it into another business. And so and I feel alike.

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Speaker 1: On in an NBA team, there's a generational asset and

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Speaker 1: it's only going to go up and value. So what

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Speaker 1: it makes on a year to year basis really is

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Speaker 1: it important? Is it going to be worth three billion

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Speaker 1: dollars in ten years? And you have to remember there's

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Speaker 1: only you can only put two hundred and fifty million

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Speaker 1: dollars in dead on an NBA team, So there's a

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Speaker 1: lot of equity in an NBA team. It's funny though,

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Speaker 1: the the widespread thinking right now. You see ESPN sub

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Speaker 1: fees are going down, it's the world is sinking. The

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Speaker 1: media rights fees are going to go down. This is

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Speaker 1: terrible for pro sports. But you're telling me you're banking

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Speaker 1: on a guarantee this thing is going to continue to

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Speaker 1: go up. Do you see anything that could prevent franchise

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Speaker 1: valuations from going up? I really don't. You know, they

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Speaker 1: talked about TV contracts not being the same, but but

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Speaker 1: but you also you also have to remember that that

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Speaker 1: even if the television contracts come down, you have streaming

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Speaker 1: now and it couldn't been on Google, or it could

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Speaker 1: it be on Twitter, or it could it be on Amazon, Honor.

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Speaker 1: It's everything is different today. The world is changing. And

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Speaker 1: what the NBA has his content and you have content

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Speaker 1: for each team for eighty two games, just like for

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Speaker 1: the NFL sixty two games and Major League Baseball a

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Speaker 1: hundred and sixty two games. And you know what made

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Speaker 1: me comfortable about the NBA is is that when you

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Speaker 1: look at it behind soccer, it's a world sport. There

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Speaker 1: is expansion opportunities that that you really wouldn't have an

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Speaker 1: American football or even Major League Baseball. And the average

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Speaker 1: viewer of Major League Baseball, you're sixty years is sixty

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Speaker 1: years old today. You know, millennials. I'm in the service

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Speaker 1: in hospitality business, okay, and we're dealing with the with

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Speaker 1: the with the generation today that is different and and

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Speaker 1: and they're very active and they always want to be

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Speaker 1: doing something and everything they do they want it to

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Speaker 1: be entertainment. Okay. And I've had to change the way

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Speaker 1: I operate my businesses and I kind of like the

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Speaker 1: way they think. But they don't want to sit there

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Speaker 1: and watch a baseball game for three hours. And people

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Speaker 1: love the energy of basketball. And I think as you

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Speaker 1: look into the future into the next ten years, twenty years,

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Speaker 1: it's going to be the sport that grows more so

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Speaker 1: than any other sport. Nobody makes a purchase like this

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Speaker 1: without looking at the synergistic possibilities. You have the restaurants,

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Speaker 1: you have, the casinos. How do you plan to make

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Speaker 1: it all work together in a global marketplace? Well, I

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Speaker 1: mean that's something that we totally looked at. I mean,

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Speaker 1: you know, Landry's restaurant Empire has you know, three million

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Speaker 1: members of their Loyalty club, and the casinos have four million,

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Speaker 1: and the Rockets have a million, And you definitely want

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Speaker 1: to find a way to take those customers and make

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Speaker 1: them all your customers. Uh. In the In the Houston area,

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Speaker 1: which is the fourth largest area in the United States,

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Speaker 1: I dominate the entertainment, you know, with aquariums and amusement

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Speaker 1: parks and board walk and seventy five restaurants and a casino.

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Speaker 1: The closest casino to Houston is the Golden Nugget Late Charles,

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Speaker 1: which is one of the nicest casinos in America, So

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Speaker 1: you know the entertainment dollar now along with the Houston Rockets,

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Speaker 1: there's definitely synergies and we want to build all those

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Speaker 1: customers with each other. You said you're in the entertainment industry,

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Speaker 1: and you are right. And with the NBA team now

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Speaker 1: under your belt, which is another piece of entertainment, what

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Speaker 1: would you bring differently to this team as a perspective

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Speaker 1: as a casino owner that maybe hasn't been tried before

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Speaker 1: among other NBA owners. Well, I don't know of anything

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Speaker 1: today that I can tell you this. Uh. You know,

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Speaker 1: national sports betting is going to happen, and even the NFL,

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Speaker 1: as everyone knows, that's soften their stance. And uh, I

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Speaker 1: do have the number one gaming internet gaming company in

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Speaker 1: the United States right now in New Jersey, and that's

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Speaker 1: something we understand. And and I think internet sports gaming

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Speaker 1: is going to happen as well. You're gonna start opening

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Speaker 1: up in multiple sports in multiple states again. So I

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Speaker 1: think it's something that we understand better than everybody else.

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Speaker 1: And uh, it'll be interesting to see what happens if

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Speaker 1: it's approved. Well tell me, not long ago, while the

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Speaker 1: process was still going on, I wrote a story that

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Speaker 1: said Beyonce was interested in investing in the Rockets. One

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Speaker 1: of the most read stories as you might imagine, what

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Speaker 1: are your plans for syndication. Do you want to sell

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Speaker 1: of the franchise or pieces slice it up popular thing

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Speaker 1: to do, take unlimited partners or were you gonna hold hold?

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Speaker 1: I have no desire to to to sell any of

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Speaker 1: the basketball team, uh on a of my other company,

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Speaker 1: and it's part of that company. And I prefer to

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Speaker 1: you know, if somebody as special as a Beyonce or

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Speaker 1: somebody like that wanted to come in for any percentage

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Speaker 1: because they wanted to be an ambassador from the team

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Speaker 1: because this is their hometown. When I sit down and

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Speaker 1: discuss it with them, you know, I would sit down

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Speaker 1: and discuss it with them. I mean, it's a compliment

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Speaker 1: to have somebody like the os to want to be,

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Speaker 1: you know, a part of your team. You know. One

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Speaker 1: of the reasons I didn't go after you know, limited

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Speaker 1: partners is number one. When teams were selling for four

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Speaker 1: or five, six hundred million dollars, seven hundred million dollars,

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Speaker 1: the guy that would come in and and and and

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Speaker 1: and put in thirty five million dollars or ten million

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Speaker 1: dollars or five million dollars was worth a lot, okay,

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Speaker 1: and it helped to get the deal done. But today,

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Speaker 1: when you start talking about a two billion dollar purchase,

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Speaker 1: you know to be a limited partner. And on five

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Speaker 1: you've got to write out of check for a hundred

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Speaker 1: million dollars. So you can't just look at percentages anymore.

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Speaker 1: People that write out of check for a hundred million dollars,

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Speaker 1: they want to seat at the table, and uh, regardless

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Speaker 1: of the only home factors sent and and to go

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Speaker 1: out and find you limited partners to write out checks

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Speaker 1: between a million dollars. But one per cent. I just

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Speaker 1: don't think it's gonna be as easy to do these

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Speaker 1: deals with limited partners. And when I started, you know,

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Speaker 1: seeing talk about different people all this guy is gonna

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Speaker 1: put a group together, and this person is going to

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Speaker 1: put a group together. When you start talking about two

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Speaker 1: billion dollars, somebody's got to come with a billion five

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Speaker 1: And then if you can go syndicate out five millions,

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Speaker 1: you still got to find a bunch of people to

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Speaker 1: write out some fifty million dollar checks and some twenty

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Speaker 1: five and some undreds. So it's just not that easy anymore.

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Speaker 1: So you know, it's it's a it's a it's a shame.

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Speaker 1: But you know, I never thought I was going to

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Speaker 1: be able to fulfill my dream as I started seeing

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00:20:40,320 --> 00:20:43,880
Speaker 1: these franchises go up, and you know, I was fortunate

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Speaker 1: to find a way to pay more than anybody has

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Speaker 1: ever paid. But but uh, I think instead of it

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Speaker 1: being a game of billionaires, now it's it's uh you've

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Speaker 1: got to be a multi multi billionaire to own one

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Speaker 1: of these sports franchises. Am I right or wrong? I'm

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Speaker 1: saying that's the biggest pressure on franchise valuation, that the

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Speaker 1: available pool of people who are capable of cutting these

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Speaker 1: checks is shrinking, you know, absolutely, and and and a

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Speaker 1: lot of these younger people that have made billions and

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Speaker 1: billions of dollars in technology. And when we were sitting

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Speaker 1: there and wondering who was going to be our competitor,

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Speaker 1: you know, you know, some of my people that work

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Speaker 1: closely with me would say, well, gosh, what about if

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Speaker 1: this person from Texas comes in or this person from

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00:21:31,359 --> 00:21:34,920
Speaker 1: Texas comes in, and and and I and I would

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Speaker 1: always say, I said, what you don't understand is they

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Speaker 1: have absolutely no desire to own a sports franchise because

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Speaker 1: if they did, they would already own one. And and uh,

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Speaker 1: you know it's when you start talking about guys like

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Speaker 1: Steve Baumber. If they want to own a team, they'll

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Speaker 1: come in and on it. But but but you have

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Speaker 1: a lot of other these technology guys that are worth

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Speaker 1: ten billion enough, they just don't have any desire. They

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Speaker 1: want to change the world in other ways. But uh

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Speaker 1: so so I think some of those people you can

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Speaker 1: just kind of take out of the equation that just

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Speaker 1: have no interest. I mean, you're a youth sports fan.

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Speaker 1: That's because you do what you do. That's I'm a

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Speaker 1: youth sports fan. But there's a lot of people out

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Speaker 1: here that I have no desire to go spend two

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Speaker 1: billion dollars on a franchise. I mean before I did this,

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Speaker 1: I set around with my family and my four kids

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Speaker 1: and we and I said, is there any place y'all

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Speaker 1: could think that you would rather go spend two billion dollars?

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Speaker 1: And and uh, you want to go buy other huge casino,

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Speaker 1: You want to go buy a hotel company. They grew

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00:22:43,160 --> 00:22:45,399
Speaker 1: up with all of that, and there wasn't even a

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Speaker 1: mention of anything else. And I would ask you, guys,

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Speaker 1: I mean, if if what would you go do with

430
00:22:51,520 --> 00:22:54,840
Speaker 1: two billion dollars? You would probably What would you rather have?

431
00:22:55,040 --> 00:22:57,640
Speaker 1: What would be more fun? What is never gonna lose

432
00:22:57,680 --> 00:23:01,639
Speaker 1: its value? You can go by huge real estate project

433
00:23:01,680 --> 00:23:05,320
Speaker 1: and of the time they all plays, you know, go

434
00:23:05,520 --> 00:23:08,200
Speaker 1: up and values that every now and time, then they don't.

435
00:23:08,520 --> 00:23:12,680
Speaker 1: So you know it's I think it was a safe bet.

436
00:23:13,080 --> 00:23:16,280
Speaker 1: And and uh, you know, I feel good about it.

437
00:23:16,680 --> 00:23:18,800
Speaker 1: You got me dreaming now about two point two billion

438
00:23:21,880 --> 00:23:26,280
Speaker 1: five Lazy Boys five television. But every now and then

439
00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:30,800
Speaker 1: we're talking with the new Houston Rockets on there Tilman Fatida,

440
00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:34,920
Speaker 1: And I guess it brings up this question about passion. Yes,

441
00:23:35,040 --> 00:23:40,480
Speaker 1: former players have passion, like y'all, they have the passion

442
00:23:41,040 --> 00:23:45,200
Speaker 1: for the game. But are they good owners? I mean,

443
00:23:46,280 --> 00:23:49,520
Speaker 1: as you've heard earlier. I mean, you know in baseball,

444
00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:52,200
Speaker 1: we've we've been through this dairy Jeter. He's now part

445
00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:54,919
Speaker 1: of a group. He now owns the part of the Marlins.

446
00:23:55,320 --> 00:23:59,280
Speaker 1: He has the passion. Does that translate being a good owner?

447
00:23:59,600 --> 00:24:03,080
Speaker 1: Every situation is different and everybody is a different individual.

448
00:24:03,280 --> 00:24:07,960
Speaker 1: But you you're making a big adjustment from from management,

449
00:24:08,720 --> 00:24:11,919
Speaker 1: you know, to to to too from player. And when

450
00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:15,000
Speaker 1: I say management, that's ownership and and all of a sudden,

451
00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:17,560
Speaker 1: you were on one side of the collective bargaining agreement

452
00:24:17,640 --> 00:24:20,119
Speaker 1: and now you're on the other side of it. And

453
00:24:20,119 --> 00:24:22,560
Speaker 1: and so I think it's a big adjustment. It is

454
00:24:22,600 --> 00:24:25,120
Speaker 1: a business. And even though you get close to your players,

455
00:24:25,160 --> 00:24:27,560
Speaker 1: and you want to be close to your players, it's

456
00:24:27,560 --> 00:24:31,800
Speaker 1: a business. And and uh, sometimes a lot of these guys,

457
00:24:31,840 --> 00:24:36,080
Speaker 1: because they've been athletes, have have not had the experience

458
00:24:36,800 --> 00:24:40,480
Speaker 1: of being a business person. And I can tell you this,

459
00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:43,439
Speaker 1: I don't care how smart you know one of these

460
00:24:43,600 --> 00:24:48,040
Speaker 1: you know, young studs are out there. History there's a

461
00:24:48,080 --> 00:24:52,320
Speaker 1: lot and my experience in business and history is one

462
00:24:52,359 --> 00:24:55,040
Speaker 1: of the reasons that I was able to acquire this

463
00:24:55,119 --> 00:24:57,159
Speaker 1: team because I knew how to do it, and when

464
00:24:57,200 --> 00:24:59,720
Speaker 1: everybody else was talking about it, I went out and

465
00:24:59,720 --> 00:25:03,520
Speaker 1: did And that's why this team not only sold for

466
00:25:03,560 --> 00:25:06,879
Speaker 1: the most but also was the quickest clothes ever in

467
00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:09,440
Speaker 1: the NBA. This team went on the market on January

468
00:25:09,480 --> 00:25:12,400
Speaker 1: the seventeen, and the deal was done the first week

469
00:25:12,440 --> 00:25:16,120
Speaker 1: in October, Okay, at the highest price. I don't know

470
00:25:16,440 --> 00:25:20,520
Speaker 1: if some of these athletes they will develop the experience,

471
00:25:21,119 --> 00:25:24,679
Speaker 1: but you know, once again, I think a lot of

472
00:25:24,680 --> 00:25:27,000
Speaker 1: these guys and a lot of these players thought that

473
00:25:27,080 --> 00:25:30,199
Speaker 1: they could end up with the sports team, and Michael

474
00:25:30,320 --> 00:25:33,120
Speaker 1: Jordan's was able to end up with control of one.

475
00:25:33,680 --> 00:25:37,879
Speaker 1: But I think that's when the Charlotte UH team was

476
00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:41,520
Speaker 1: worked five six million dollars. But what's happened now is

477
00:25:41,560 --> 00:25:44,760
Speaker 1: with these teams being worth now and the billion five

478
00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:48,040
Speaker 1: plus range, it's gonna be harder and harder for these

479
00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:51,280
Speaker 1: guys to assume control of one of these teams. They're

480
00:25:51,320 --> 00:25:52,840
Speaker 1: going to have to make a bunch of money for

481
00:25:52,920 --> 00:25:56,479
Speaker 1: a bunch of years. But only time will tell if

482
00:25:56,480 --> 00:25:58,440
Speaker 1: they make good owners or not. Tell me about your

483
00:25:58,520 --> 00:26:01,920
Speaker 1: business interests and to analytics, because you are taking over

484
00:26:01,960 --> 00:26:04,960
Speaker 1: a franchise. Darryl Moray, a friend of mine, is your

485
00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:08,160
Speaker 1: is your GM, then he doesn't do anything without looking

486
00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:12,080
Speaker 1: at the analytics. Are you a huge believer in analytics?

487
00:26:13,200 --> 00:26:17,679
Speaker 1: You know what's really interesting is the analysis department of

488
00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:21,760
Speaker 1: Landry's and Landry's is UH is almost a four billion

489
00:26:21,760 --> 00:26:26,600
Speaker 1: dollar revenue company. The analyst's office on my floor. And

490
00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:29,760
Speaker 1: I think one of the things that has made us

491
00:26:29,800 --> 00:26:34,679
Speaker 1: successful is that we are so strong at analysis and

492
00:26:35,040 --> 00:26:38,160
Speaker 1: what exactly a cost should be and where our revenue

493
00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:40,600
Speaker 1: is coming from. And so it's kind of funny that

494
00:26:40,640 --> 00:26:43,600
Speaker 1: I bought a team that depends on analysis more so

495
00:26:43,680 --> 00:26:47,639
Speaker 1: than probably any other team in the NBA. So Darrell

496
00:26:47,680 --> 00:26:51,520
Speaker 1: and I have a great relationship. I've known Darryl for years, Uh,

497
00:26:51,560 --> 00:26:53,159
Speaker 1: but I've got to know him a lot more in

498
00:26:53,160 --> 00:26:56,920
Speaker 1: the last thirty days. And and uh, we're excited to

499
00:26:56,960 --> 00:26:59,959
Speaker 1: be working together. The new owner of the Houston Rockets

500
00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:03,280
Speaker 1: two woman, Fatita, Thank you so much, server talking. Thanks, gentlemen,

501
00:27:03,320 --> 00:27:05,240
Speaker 1: look forward to seeing you guys in New York same time.

502
00:27:05,760 --> 00:27:09,320
Speaker 1: Takeaways from this I love the line that he said, Listen,

503
00:27:09,680 --> 00:27:12,800
Speaker 1: back in the day, you could come with maybe several

504
00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:16,480
Speaker 1: million dollars, but now someone's got to come with one

505
00:27:16,560 --> 00:27:20,280
Speaker 1: point five billion at least if you want to buy

506
00:27:20,640 --> 00:27:23,240
Speaker 1: a sports franchise. Yeah. I love the fact that he

507
00:27:23,280 --> 00:27:26,040
Speaker 1: said everything I do, I look at Ibada, it's all

508
00:27:26,080 --> 00:27:29,920
Speaker 1: about earnings. I make the numbers work, he said. And

509
00:27:29,960 --> 00:27:33,879
Speaker 1: the guarantee. I was really surprised by this, Michael, the guarantee.

510
00:27:34,600 --> 00:27:38,040
Speaker 1: Nothing is going to have the value of these franchises

511
00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:40,400
Speaker 1: going down. He said, five to ten years, this thing

512
00:27:40,440 --> 00:27:43,280
Speaker 1: will be worth three billion dollars. Mark Cuban said he

513
00:27:43,320 --> 00:27:49,080
Speaker 1: got a deal obviously for Tita thinks he's right. Feels

514
00:27:49,080 --> 00:27:50,960
Speaker 1: better to be number one than number five. I'll wear

515
00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:52,680
Speaker 1: a number because of mine. We have a chance to

516
00:27:52,720 --> 00:27:54,320
Speaker 1: go for three in a row. Kid numbers in a

517
00:27:54,320 --> 00:27:56,440
Speaker 1: good time. And i'd first started wearing the number, I

518
00:27:56,480 --> 00:27:59,920
Speaker 1: would just have the and Floomberg Business of Sports done.

519
00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:02,679
Speaker 1: Number of the week. Time Now for the number of

520
00:28:02,680 --> 00:28:04,960
Speaker 1: the week, and you've got the number. Yeah, we're going

521
00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:07,720
Speaker 1: big this time. Ready, Ready, Michael, you tell me seven

522
00:28:07,800 --> 00:28:11,680
Speaker 1: hundred and eighty six thousand, nine hundred eighty eight. Now

523
00:28:11,720 --> 00:28:14,600
Speaker 1: that's dollars. But that's a pretty big number. I thought

524
00:28:14,640 --> 00:28:17,280
Speaker 1: you're gonna say the number of pieces of lint. But

525
00:28:17,440 --> 00:28:20,800
Speaker 1: that's another story. But anyway, Yeah, what what is this?

526
00:28:20,800 --> 00:28:24,000
Speaker 1: This is the amount it cost the Golden State Warriors

527
00:28:24,240 --> 00:28:27,399
Speaker 1: to have a championship parade after the title. Now, what

528
00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:31,800
Speaker 1: makes this interesting is that the city's initial estimate was

529
00:28:31,920 --> 00:28:36,520
Speaker 1: three hundred thousand, So the Warriors have agreed to pay

530
00:28:36,640 --> 00:28:39,440
Speaker 1: more than three quarters of a million dollars for the celebration,

531
00:28:39,680 --> 00:28:43,200
Speaker 1: a celebration, by the way, that most cities usually pick up.

532
00:28:43,800 --> 00:28:47,080
Speaker 1: Even though it's more than double the estimate. The city

533
00:28:47,080 --> 00:28:49,760
Speaker 1: game and they're happy about it, but they're doing it,

534
00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:53,160
Speaker 1: but why didn't they pick it up? Sometimes the cities

535
00:28:53,200 --> 00:28:55,280
Speaker 1: are strapped, they'll go to team say can you kick in?

536
00:28:55,640 --> 00:28:57,680
Speaker 1: But when you're told three hundred thousand and this is

537
00:28:57,720 --> 00:29:01,959
Speaker 1: about clean up police, you generally have an idea of

538
00:29:01,960 --> 00:29:04,400
Speaker 1: what it's going to cost to come in it more

539
00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:08,000
Speaker 1: than double that estimate. That's why I think the uh

540
00:29:08,240 --> 00:29:12,080
Speaker 1: the Warriors went public for their displeasure with the number,

541
00:29:12,400 --> 00:29:14,640
Speaker 1: which is a biggie, but they did say we will

542
00:29:14,680 --> 00:29:17,640
Speaker 1: cover it. You've been listening to Bloomberg Business of Sports.

543
00:29:17,640 --> 00:29:20,280
Speaker 1: We are here each and every week at the same time,

544
00:29:20,280 --> 00:29:23,240
Speaker 1: exploring the world of money and sports. Michael Varnen and

545
00:29:23,280 --> 00:29:25,600
Speaker 1: I'm Scott Sashnik. Thanks for joining us, and please tune

546
00:29:25,640 --> 00:29:27,520
Speaker 1: in next week when we speak with the biggest and

547
00:29:27,600 --> 00:29:30,160
Speaker 1: the brightest in the world of sports business. You're listening

548
00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:33,400
Speaker 1: to Bloomberg Business of Sports on Bloomberg Radio around the

549
00:29:33,400 --> 00:29:36,560
Speaker 1: world and online as an Apple podcast on iTunes.