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Speaker 1: This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. What is up

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Speaker 1: straight Fire, FAMI, It's maybe Jason McIntyre. Straight Fire four Wednesday,

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Speaker 1: May eleventh. We got a special special guest today. Listen.

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Speaker 1: I'm pretty thrilled with how this podcast has gone for

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Speaker 1: two years. Um, I don't I mean, I guess I

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Speaker 1: can break a little news here were We just got

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Speaker 1: signed to do a third year. Um, things are going well.

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Speaker 1: Almost five hundred podcasts in the can and this is

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Speaker 1: the exciting news when you look at the range of

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Speaker 1: guests we've had on this pod. Okay, former NBA assistant coach,

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Speaker 1: We've had a comedian, We've had an actor, NFL first

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Speaker 1: round pick the day before the draft, Heysman Trophy winner

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Speaker 1: on down the list. Well, obviously we're gonna do insiders,

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Speaker 1: guys who covered the league, gamblers, blah blah blah. It's

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Speaker 1: just a lot of fun, right. Obviously, connecting with the

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Speaker 1: audiences number one, but also finding a diverse, wide range

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Speaker 1: of guests is key, hopefully to make you make you

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Speaker 1: guys more informed, smarter, and today's guest fits all those.

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Speaker 1: Samuel Porter, a guy I've known for a long time,

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Speaker 1: co managing partner, owner, of Nick Coxa. Yes, the soccer

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Speaker 1: team I bought into. We'll get into how that went down,

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Speaker 1: how I became owner of a soccer team, how he

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Speaker 1: wrangled Eva Longoria, mes It Ozil, uh, who else, Shawn Marion,

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Speaker 1: Richard Jefferson. It's a pretty awesome story. I think you

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Speaker 1: guys are really gonna like it. And we do have

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Speaker 1: a wealthy audience too, to an extent here, certainly based

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Speaker 1: on people I've heard from, uh, not only via social

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Speaker 1: media but also um in person, um. And you know,

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Speaker 1: I think you guys are gonna really like this the

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Speaker 1: direction of this, this conversation with Sam Porter, guy I've

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Speaker 1: known for probably seven or eight years now. But before

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Speaker 1: we get to say a couple of quick notes on

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Speaker 1: the NBA, it was a crappy night in the league.

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Speaker 1: Two games. MAVs los by thirty, yes, thirty points, and

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Speaker 1: the Sixers one up them and lost by thirty five.

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Speaker 1: So as good as the games were on Monday night,

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Speaker 1: the games on Tuesday night were equally as rotten. Another

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Speaker 1: MAVs game was a little interesting for a couple of reasons.

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Speaker 1: Number One, they led after the first quarter. It was

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Speaker 1: a game for a half, then they give up a

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Speaker 1: seventeen nothing run and Phoenix runs away with it. The

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Speaker 1: weird thing is when you look at what happened in

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Speaker 1: the final, like three minutes, it was garbage time and

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Speaker 1: there's a lot of backups getting an arguments, and you

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Speaker 1: had a couple of players ejected, and then they ended

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Speaker 1: up going down the same tunnel on accident and I

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Speaker 1: don't know if it's on accident purpose, and Marquise Chris,

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Speaker 1: who rarely plays former I believe lottery pick, gets into

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Speaker 1: it with Biambo. Marquis Chris, I guess followed Biambo down

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Speaker 1: owned the tunnel or went down the wrong tunnel, and

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Speaker 1: security like sprinted into potentially break up an altercation. Kind

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Speaker 1: of bizarre. And then after the final buzzer there were

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Speaker 1: words exchanged at half court. It was all guys off

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Speaker 1: the bench. Although Biambo has been kind of a resurgent

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Speaker 1: factor in the series. Inside played twenty one minutes seven

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Speaker 1: and seven plus twenty although everybody on the suns was

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Speaker 1: plus a lot, and you know, listen, Luca was really good,

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Speaker 1: but they got to get other guys involved. But you

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Speaker 1: can't have six assists through three quarters and expect to

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Speaker 1: compete like that's just not gonna cut it. Uh, Luca

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Speaker 1: was very good, but you know what I did. The

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Speaker 1: small thing I noticed about the Suns their defense. When

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Speaker 1: Luca goes to the air, you usually have a lot

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Speaker 1: of people watching, and Luca is able to find the

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Speaker 1: open three point shooter. It seemed to me that everybody

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Speaker 1: stayed at home and the three point shooters were hugged

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Speaker 1: up on at the line as such, Dallas eight of

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Speaker 1: thirty two from Deep, Reggie Bullock of Goose Egg, Duran

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Speaker 1: Phinney Smith on a hit two, Cleber hit one, Burton's

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Speaker 1: hit three, and Spencer Dinwiddie was a train wreck. Again,

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Speaker 1: feel bad for the guy, like this is supposed to

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Speaker 1: be him establishing himself as a number three, and I

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Speaker 1: mean he's definitely not the number. Tim Hard always going

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Speaker 1: to come back and be either the two or the three.

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Speaker 1: We'll see what happens with Brunson, but it was. It

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Speaker 1: was a bad game for the MAVs and also a

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Speaker 1: bad game for my wallet, as I bet the MAVs. Yeah, listen,

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Speaker 1: you're not gonna have a winning night every night in

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Speaker 1: the NBA. It's just not gonna happen. I did not, fortunately,

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Speaker 1: bet on the seventies Sixers who totally no showed down

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Speaker 1: double digits. I think the entire to final two and

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Speaker 1: a half quarters like it was. It was an embarrassment

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Speaker 1: and Beeve got hit in the face. He was bad.

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Speaker 1: Tyrese Maxie didn't show up. And oh, by the way,

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Speaker 1: the Heat played defense. Um. The scary thing about both

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Speaker 1: these series if you're a Sixers fan and if you're

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Speaker 1: a MAVs fan when into too two series, whoever wins

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Speaker 1: Game five wins the series two percent of the time.

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Speaker 1: I can see the Math winning at home. I can

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Speaker 1: see the Sixers winning get home. Will either of those

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Speaker 1: be able to pull the upset in game seven? My

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Speaker 1: guess is people would think Philly has a better chance

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Speaker 1: to do it, although you've got Doc Rivers working against you,

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Speaker 1: a not healthy embiid, James Harden's history of meltdowns in

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Speaker 1: important games. Take a Game four, James Harden can go nuts.

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Speaker 1: Go off James Harden because we see what's gonna happen

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Speaker 1: for James Harden in Game seven in Miami. It could

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Speaker 1: be tough. I'm just saying, Um, Kyle Lowry did not

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Speaker 1: play for the Heat. Oh, by the way, it didn't

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Speaker 1: matter Max Strusce, who I think was delivering door dash

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Speaker 1: like you know. Two years ago, nineteen and ten, I

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Speaker 1: saw a crazy stat. Max Struss of all players leads

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Speaker 1: the entire playoffs in plus minus Max Strusce. That is,

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Speaker 1: that's crazy. All right, Without further ado, let's get to

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Speaker 1: our guest, Sam Porter, the co managing partner and the

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Speaker 1: owner of Club Nakasa, a soccer team. I'm a small

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Speaker 1: percentage owner of in Liga MX. Fox Sports Radio has

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Speaker 1: the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all

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Speaker 1: of our shows at Fox Sports Radio dot com and

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Speaker 1: within the I Heart Radio app search f s R

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Speaker 1: to listen live. Jason likes to think he knows everything

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Speaker 1: when it comes to sports. I know what sports dance want,

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Speaker 1: but for everything he doesn't, he knows a guy who does.

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Speaker 1: Let's just say I know a guy who knows a

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Speaker 1: guy he knows another guy. All Right, it's time to

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Speaker 1: welcome into straight Fire a guest. I hiped him a

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Speaker 1: little bit, uh this week. I've talked about him, uh

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Speaker 1: in you know, hushed tones here on the podcast for

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Speaker 1: a while. But I've known this guy, I don't know,

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Speaker 1: seven eight years. Maybe I met him when he was

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Speaker 1: an NBA agent. Now he is the owner of a

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Speaker 1: soccer team in Ligam. I mean, he's just such a

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Speaker 1: big deal right now, Sam Porter, how are man? I'm good?

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Speaker 1: Thank you over overseas and please come on this. You're

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Speaker 1: you're the type of guests that a lot of people

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Speaker 1: want to get on because you know the inner workings

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Speaker 1: of the NBA MLS League MX, the top soccer league

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Speaker 1: in Mexico. I mean, you're where a lot of people

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Speaker 1: want to be, owning a soccer team, making decisions on

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Speaker 1: the roster and the GM and the coaches and like,

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Speaker 1: this is just an opportunity for a lot of fans

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Speaker 1: to really talk to somebody on the inside and get

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Speaker 1: an idea of how the heck they got where you are,

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Speaker 1: because's where everybody wants to be, right Sam, And listen

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Speaker 1: to storry to hype you up a little bit much.

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Speaker 1: But uh, you've got an awesome job, man, and a

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Speaker 1: great career. Yeah, great job so far. Really fun to

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Speaker 1: work in sports. Uh keeps you busy seven as you know,

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Speaker 1: and you know it's interesting for the best thing I

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Speaker 1: would say about kind of being in sports industries and

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Speaker 1: touches on so many other things. So if your interest

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Speaker 1: is finance. There's a lot of financial related aspects of

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Speaker 1: the job. If you're interest is on the pitch, you're

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Speaker 1: dealing with players and agents, You've got that as much

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Speaker 1: as you want. You've got real estate development, You've got

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Speaker 1: you know, international communications, media, R. It's all these different things.

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Speaker 1: So it's an industry that has a really broad sort

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Speaker 1: of her viewing and you can really find, you know,

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Speaker 1: within that space what you're most interested in or best.

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Speaker 1: Then and you have this pensiant for being early. Two things. UM,

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Speaker 1: obviously Liga MX you were the you know, the first

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Speaker 1: basically American ownership in in the league. UM. A couple

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Speaker 1: of other endeavors that will get to but I want

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Speaker 1: to turn back the clock way back. Uh St Joe's College.

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Speaker 1: And you know, obviously you're a smart individual, But did

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Speaker 1: you have an idea of what you wanted to be

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Speaker 1: because I don't know what, five six years after college

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Speaker 1: you're an NBA agent. Well, yeah, I I was, so

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Speaker 1: I went to St. Joe's University. Uh. When I was there,

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Speaker 1: St Joe's was really good. We were you know, uh

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Speaker 1: pararily in the n c A tournament. We had Jamor

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Speaker 1: now Sen and De Lante West and those teams. So

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Speaker 1: we had an undefeated My senior year, we were undefeating

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Speaker 1: the regular season, went into the nt A Tournament as

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Speaker 1: a one seed, lost a heartbreaker in the Elite eight

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Speaker 1: to Oklahoma State, and uh, you know, I was really

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Speaker 1: into the team. Never good enough athlete myself to certainly

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Speaker 1: play Division one hoops or anything, but love love basketball.

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Speaker 1: UM probably the sport that I, you know, liked the

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Speaker 1: most before I got very involved in soccer and UM

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Speaker 1: at the time, you know, there's early two thousands, I

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Speaker 1: really hard to think about a career in sports. I

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Speaker 1: was a double major in political science and history and

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Speaker 1: uh in international relations, and I was just I was

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Speaker 1: kind of focused on going to law school. I was

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Speaker 1: pretty sure that's what I wanted to do. So after

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Speaker 1: after college, UM, I worked at a law firm for

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Speaker 1: a year and then went to law school. And while

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Speaker 1: I was in law school, I went to law school

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Speaker 1: with an idea of you know, kind of seeing where

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Speaker 1: things went. But I thought that I might want to

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Speaker 1: get into commercial real estate development. And I got an

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Speaker 1: internship at a sports agency and in New York City,

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Speaker 1: a large agency to represent a lot of NFL players,

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Speaker 1: and I was kind of one of those things where

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Speaker 1: I got in there and it was kind of like, oh,

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Speaker 1: like this kind of felt like I was around like

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Speaker 1: minded people. It was a high intensity, kind of fast

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Speaker 1: paced workplace, and um, you got I got to use

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Speaker 1: a lot of the skills you know that I was

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Speaker 1: learning in law school at the time, and also using

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Speaker 1: kind of interpersonal skills and being around that, um the

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Speaker 1: action of being around athletes and negotiating contracts and recruiting

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Speaker 1: and all the things that come along with it. So

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Speaker 1: it um developed while I was in law school, I

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Speaker 1: stated at that agency, and kind of one thing led

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Speaker 1: to another. I worked with more and more players, and

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Speaker 1: I at the end of law school, they said to me, like, hey,

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Speaker 1: we we'd be interested in you staying on full time,

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Speaker 1: and I said, I am interested in that, but I

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Speaker 1: want to I want to launch an NBA or a

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Speaker 1: basketball division of the agency. And so I basically went

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Speaker 1: out and just started recruiting and you know, potential NBA

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Speaker 1: players and signed some guys that played in the NBA,

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Speaker 1: and signed guys that played internationally a lot a lot

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Speaker 1: of guys that played internationally, had a big practice in

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Speaker 1: Europe and Asia, and also had you know, guys and

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Speaker 1: NBA teams um that were doing really well. So it

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Speaker 1: was it was one of those things where you know,

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Speaker 1: I just kind of I kind of went for it

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Speaker 1: in that space where I found an opening, and it

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Speaker 1: kind of wasn't always easy, but I just kind of

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Speaker 1: kept you know, work on the next player, on the

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Speaker 1: next deal, and kept my head down and was really

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Speaker 1: grinding during those years. Yeah, it sounds like the idea

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Speaker 1: of get in the building, learn what's going on, and

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Speaker 1: then see what you can do and what what what

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Speaker 1: you can provide of assistance, And they didn't have anyone

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Speaker 1: doing your thing, and then all of a sudden, next thing,

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Speaker 1: you know, you've got a bunch of NBA players and

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Speaker 1: that's how I met you. Now you you say you

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Speaker 1: had some NBA guys, but also the international guys. They

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Speaker 1: can make a lot of money playing overseas, correct, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: guys in China, Philippines, Australia, and you're in a lot

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Speaker 1: in Europe, and I mean you have guys in in China.

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Speaker 1: At the time, I don't know exactly what it's like

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Speaker 1: now I'm pretty removed from it, but you know, at

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Speaker 1: the time that were you could make more money as

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Speaker 1: a good player in China than you could as just

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Speaker 1: being like a minimum guy in the NBA. Now that

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Speaker 1: comes with different things the different people value. But there

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Speaker 1: were a lot of players that could have had a

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Speaker 1: minimum MBA contracts or near minimum MBA contracts that preferred

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Speaker 1: to make, you know, considerably more than that international markets.

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Speaker 1: And I had a bunch of guys on you know,

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Speaker 1: EuroLeague teams that were doing really well financially, and guys

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Speaker 1: in Asia as well as as well as the NBA guys.

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Speaker 1: So it was a What was really great about it

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Speaker 1: was a working with the players and helping them develop

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Speaker 1: their careers. But beyond that, I got a real view

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Speaker 1: into sports outside of the US, and um it was

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Speaker 1: I had a client in Germany that I was visiting,

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Speaker 1: and I went to a soccer match of football match

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Speaker 1: in Germany and met with the president of the team.

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Speaker 1: In a lot of European countries, they the teams are

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Speaker 1: quote unquote clubs, which means it's a sporting club like

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Speaker 1: Real Madrid or Barcelona or Bayern Munich their clubs. Where

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Speaker 1: in those countries the soccer team football team is the headliner,

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Speaker 1: but the basketball team and the handball team and the

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Speaker 1: volleyball team all play under that same banner. And so

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Speaker 1: when I was in Germany, I went to a football

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Speaker 1: match and there I was there with the president of

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Speaker 1: the club, and he was telling me, you know what,

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Speaker 1: there what their budget was for their soccer team versus

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Speaker 1: what it was for their basketball team. And I started

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Speaker 1: to think, maybe maybe I'm in the wrong sport, because

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Speaker 1: that really dawned on me how big soccer was globally,

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Speaker 1: how significant the whole ecosystem of money within soccer was,

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Speaker 1: And so I started that's when it real my my

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Speaker 1: sort of gears started turning on that, uh it sort

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Speaker 1: of as a sport that was maybe your value in

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Speaker 1: the US. And so that whole experience led me to

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Speaker 1: really thinking about soccer in a way that maybe wasn't

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Speaker 1: being thought about by a lot of people. Obviously there

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Speaker 1: was people in the soccer business for a long time,

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Speaker 1: but but you know, for me, it was an eye

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Speaker 1: opening experience. Yeah, and I think that's when I met you.

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Speaker 1: You were like not quite transitioning from hoops to soccer,

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Speaker 1: but it was like fifteen in that area. You had

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Speaker 1: an international player that was in Mike Town in Pennsylvania,

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Speaker 1: and then we connected and you had known me through

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Speaker 1: the big lead, and I think that's when you were

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Speaker 1: moving to d C United to kind of get into soccer.

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Speaker 1: But what I liked was your move was not like

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Speaker 1: just strictly like all, I'm an NBA agent going to

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Speaker 1: be now a soccer guy. You went to business and

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Speaker 1: legal affairs using the law background, which gave you basically,

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Speaker 1: you know, an awesome opportunity to go up the ladder

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Speaker 1: pretty quickly. Huh. Yeah, I would say, you know it

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Speaker 1: at the time was when I joined d United, and

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Speaker 1: I think since then that was, you know, eight years ago.

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Speaker 1: The MLS has grown a lot, and any of these teams, um,

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Speaker 1: if you get you get your foot in the door,

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Speaker 1: just like the agent business, and you start to figure

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Speaker 1: things out and you see where you can add value,

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Speaker 1: where you can become, um, you know, a sort of

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Speaker 1: value creator. Uh. And so at d United, I had

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Speaker 1: a relationship to pre existing relationship with a managing partner

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Speaker 1: and OAP main owner Jason Levan, and I went in

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Speaker 1: there and d C was on the precipice. DC United

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Speaker 1: was on the precipice of doing a lot of big

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Speaker 1: things and had already started working on the outline of

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Speaker 1: what it would look like to build a stadium in

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Speaker 1: downtown d C, which eventually became Autie Field. And so

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Speaker 1: what I brought to the table, I think at the time,

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Speaker 1: was the ability to look at things through an agent's lens.

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Speaker 1: Player trading in any sport in the NFL, the NBA,

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Speaker 1: major League Baseball, whatever, playing trading players and building your

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Speaker 1: roster through free agency or the draft or whatever. It's

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Speaker 1: very important in soccer. There is a draft in MLS,

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Speaker 1: but it's largely a almost always flew free agent market.

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Speaker 1: That is that is always kind of um, you know,

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Speaker 1: you can you can make a lot of moves really quickly,

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Speaker 1: and I think at the time there was value in

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Speaker 1: somebody coming in who had who had spent time as

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Speaker 1: an agent and being able to come to the other

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Speaker 1: side of the table and negotiate on the team's behalf,

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Speaker 1: but from you know, kind of knowing all the tricks

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Speaker 1: of an agent and understanding their perspective and then also

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Speaker 1: taking those skills and transitioning them into negotiating with the

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Speaker 1: District of Colombia and other stakeholders around the construction of

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Speaker 1: five million dollar stadium that was public private partnership to

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Speaker 1: get done so that was really a huge, you know,

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Speaker 1: part of my arc at DC United. Yeah, I got

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Speaker 1: to know you a little bit better. What I wrote

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Speaker 1: a piece for the Big lead on Bill Hamide, the

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Speaker 1: goalie who you know, had a cup of coffee with

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Speaker 1: the US national team. And then one of my friends

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Speaker 1: from my hometown ended up marrying a DC United player,

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Speaker 1: you know. So I became like a big DC fan.

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Speaker 1: And then the next thing I see they got Wayne

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Speaker 1: Rooney and I'm like, I'm like one. But you know,

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Speaker 1: of my generation of soccer players, when Rooney had to

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Speaker 1: be up there as one of the biggest names, would

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Speaker 1: would you would you say that's that's accurate last twenty

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Speaker 1: years of soccer. I mean, Wayne is the all time

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Speaker 1: leading scorer for the English national team. He's the all

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Speaker 1: time leading score for Man United, you know, arguably the

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Speaker 1: biggest club in the world. So Wayne is a huge deal.

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Speaker 1: So when we were uh working on finalizing Audie Field

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Speaker 1: and scheduling it's opening, there's a lot of data that

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Speaker 1: we were looking at and that was some of the

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Speaker 1: highest percentage of soccer fans in the d C metro area.

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Speaker 1: So you're kind of Baltimore south to Richmond Virginia, UH,

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Speaker 1: that area, those fans really like the e p L.

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Speaker 1: The EPL ratings are always high in that region. UM.

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Speaker 1: And so when you're thinking about the international star at

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Speaker 1: that time, a lot time was playing for l A Galaxy.

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Speaker 1: You had had Pierre Low play for end Y CFC recently. Um,

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Speaker 1: you had had recently, UM, Stephen Gerard and Franklin Landpard

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Speaker 1: in the league. And so when when you're an MLS

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Speaker 1: team and you're thinking about one of these you know,

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Speaker 1: slightly older superstars, UM, You're you're taking a risk and

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Speaker 1: you've got to You've got to think about a lot

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Speaker 1: of things. You've got to think about the fans perception

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Speaker 1: first and foremost. You gotta think about what they're gonna

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Speaker 1: do for you on the on the pitch, and you

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Speaker 1: also have to think about, how are the economics of

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Speaker 1: that player, which are gonna be drastically different than any

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Speaker 1: other player on your team, how is that going to

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Speaker 1: impact the company's financials? I mean, because these are these

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Speaker 1: are big bets, and you know it's all pretty significant

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Speaker 1: relative to to revenues and value add So with Wayne,

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Speaker 1: it was a situation where we had paid a lot

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Speaker 1: of attention to him, our our same ownership group of

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Speaker 1: d United also owned Swansea City in UH in English football,

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Speaker 1: and we had seen Wayne go from Man United and

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Speaker 1: then he was on a on a deal with Everton,

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Speaker 1: which was his original professional club team, and we knew that,

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Speaker 1: you know, maybe there was something there. He was still

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Speaker 1: playing for Everton and doing really well. He was their

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Speaker 1: leading score but he was on really high wages at Everton,

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Speaker 1: and we thought there might be an opportunity. To be

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Speaker 1: totally honest with you, when we first started talking about

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Speaker 1: Wayne Rooney, it was like, you could we really could

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Speaker 1: we really get Wayne Rooney? And then you know, we

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Speaker 1: went and we met with Wayne, and we met with

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Speaker 1: his agent and we started a dialogue and it seemed

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Speaker 1: like there might be a chance there. Then came over

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Speaker 1: and towards the stadium and we talked about what we

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Speaker 1: were working on building, and I think that Wayne and

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Speaker 1: his agent Paul Um, both remained friends. Now are We're

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Speaker 1: really impressed with kind of the direction of DC, the

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Speaker 1: direction of mls UM, the region, the quality of life,

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Speaker 1: all these things that go into it. Wayne has four

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Speaker 1: sons and you know, they need to play school in place,

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Speaker 1: they need to go to school and play soccer and

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Speaker 1: do all these different things. So all that was all

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Speaker 1: taken to account by then. So so throughout UM kind

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Speaker 1: of the first half of we were working on that deal,

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Speaker 1: working on that deal, and then we we got we

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Speaker 1: got across the line and Wayne played in the first

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Speaker 1: ever match at Audie Field. We won the match, Um,

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Speaker 1: and then he went on to have a really big,

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Speaker 1: you know season and a second I think not quite

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Speaker 1: as good, but second really solid season in MLS before

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Speaker 1: he went back to UH England to really pursue Mannett

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Speaker 1: being a full time manager and raising his family in England.

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Speaker 1: Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in

390
00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:21,919
Speaker 1: the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox Sports

391
00:20:22,040 --> 00:20:25,120
Speaker 1: Radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app

392
00:20:25,200 --> 00:20:28,880
Speaker 1: search f s R to listen live. I'm obviously following

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Speaker 1: from l A. I'm seeing Rooney and I remember like

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Speaker 1: a legendary goalie had from nearly midfield. Um that was

395
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Speaker 1: all over highlights everywhere, and I'm texting you and I'm

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Speaker 1: texting the DC United player I know, and it was

397
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Speaker 1: just like this guy knows what he's doing. And then

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Speaker 1: you know, I would say, I don't remember exactly when

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Speaker 1: it was, Sam, but you brought me uh the idea

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Speaker 1: that hey, there could be an opportunity to invest in

401
00:20:51,520 --> 00:20:53,800
Speaker 1: a Liga MX team, and you couldn't tell me, obviously

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00:20:53,840 --> 00:20:56,480
Speaker 1: because it was a buttoned up plan. But I'm of course,

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00:20:56,800 --> 00:20:58,160
Speaker 1: you know, I tell the wife like, oh, we got

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00:20:58,160 --> 00:21:00,399
Speaker 1: we gotta get ready because we had already done uh

405
00:21:00,400 --> 00:21:03,680
Speaker 1: an Australian basketball team investment with you, and that's fun

406
00:21:03,720 --> 00:21:06,159
Speaker 1: and exciting, but this one was like, you know, closer

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00:21:06,200 --> 00:21:09,400
Speaker 1: to home, a little more money and a higher profile.

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Speaker 1: And I start doing research and I'm combing through the

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Speaker 1: team's looking the owners, trying to guess and eventually, you know,

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Speaker 1: tell me how that came to you and how you

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00:21:17,880 --> 00:21:20,080
Speaker 1: kind of discovered it, because this is the part of

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00:21:20,080 --> 00:21:22,040
Speaker 1: the podcast that I know people are waiting for. How

413
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Speaker 1: the hell do you find a team with a great

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Speaker 1: business opportunity? Do you look at the p n L reports,

415
00:21:27,200 --> 00:21:30,399
Speaker 1: the stars, the location, like what are you looking for?

416
00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:32,960
Speaker 1: Because there's a high barrier of entry to get into

417
00:21:33,280 --> 00:21:36,720
Speaker 1: the top soccer league in Mexico. Yeah, it's a really

418
00:21:36,720 --> 00:21:40,960
Speaker 1: good question. And yeah, we we we're both investors with

419
00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:43,440
Speaker 1: our our mutual friend Matt and the New Zealand Breakers,

420
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Speaker 1: which you know, I think has a couple of really

421
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Speaker 1: exciting things on the horizon as far as the NBA

422
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Speaker 1: Draft goes. And then so we know each other, you

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Speaker 1: know we've done that. And then on the on League

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Speaker 1: Max It's it's something that I was always this is

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Speaker 1: something that kind of led me out of being an agent,

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Speaker 1: right because an agent you can only represent so many

427
00:22:03,840 --> 00:22:06,439
Speaker 1: players and it's hot, it's high touch, and if you

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00:22:06,480 --> 00:22:10,679
Speaker 1: represent the Rock or you represent Brad Pitt or something, Okay,

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Speaker 1: you represent Lebron James like that, one guy is enough.

430
00:22:13,800 --> 00:22:15,919
Speaker 1: But if you're if your typical agent, you've got a

431
00:22:15,960 --> 00:22:18,159
Speaker 1: lot of clients and there's only so many hours in

432
00:22:18,160 --> 00:22:21,960
Speaker 1: a day. And so I always found that the struggle

433
00:22:21,960 --> 00:22:25,120
Speaker 1: with the agent businesses, it wasn't really scalable. And and

434
00:22:25,160 --> 00:22:27,879
Speaker 1: so for me, the kind of concept of scalability has

435
00:22:27,880 --> 00:22:30,320
Speaker 1: always been something that has been really interesting to me.

436
00:22:30,600 --> 00:22:32,680
Speaker 1: So when you when you own a team or you

437
00:22:33,080 --> 00:22:38,080
Speaker 1: are in a league team structure, there is the ability

438
00:22:38,200 --> 00:22:40,920
Speaker 1: to effectively sell the media rights, the rights to watch

439
00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:44,440
Speaker 1: your your game, the games that your club plays, and yeah,

440
00:22:44,480 --> 00:22:46,919
Speaker 1: you have you have kind of two businesses. One is

441
00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:53,159
Speaker 1: the match day business, which is its suitets, seats, food, beverages,

442
00:22:53,440 --> 00:22:55,879
Speaker 1: you know, match day sponsorship, all those things. There's a

443
00:22:55,960 --> 00:22:58,000
Speaker 1: finite amount that you can sell for that because there's

444
00:22:58,040 --> 00:23:00,000
Speaker 1: only so many seats in building and only so many

445
00:23:00,200 --> 00:23:02,159
Speaker 1: you know, hot dogs or beers or whatever that you

446
00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:05,879
Speaker 1: can sell. However, the media rights you can sell, you know,

447
00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:08,280
Speaker 1: kind of an infinite amount or however many human beings

448
00:23:08,320 --> 00:23:10,119
Speaker 1: are on the earth if there's interest in these people

449
00:23:10,160 --> 00:23:16,359
Speaker 1: watching the games. So that led that whole concept led

450
00:23:16,400 --> 00:23:19,400
Speaker 1: me to starting to think about and look at uh

451
00:23:20,040 --> 00:23:22,840
Speaker 1: viewership and where's the viewership. So you start in the

452
00:23:22,920 --> 00:23:25,360
Speaker 1: US and you go you look at the NFL viewership.

453
00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:27,880
Speaker 1: I think this past year, seventy five of the top

454
00:23:27,960 --> 00:23:30,760
Speaker 1: one things that people watch in the US we're NFL.

455
00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:33,760
Speaker 1: And so you start to think, like, okay, people are

456
00:23:33,760 --> 00:23:36,520
Speaker 1: watching the NFL a lot. Then you look, Okay, the

457
00:23:36,560 --> 00:23:39,000
Speaker 1: next thing is the NBA. Um they watch a lot

458
00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:41,399
Speaker 1: more NBA playoffs than to do regular season games. Okay,

459
00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:43,359
Speaker 1: Then the next thing, and you go, next thing, next thing,

460
00:23:43,400 --> 00:23:45,960
Speaker 1: next thing, and you start to look, okay, soccer specific

461
00:23:46,040 --> 00:23:48,560
Speaker 1: soccer is the most most watched sport in the world.

462
00:23:49,480 --> 00:23:51,480
Speaker 1: Who has the highest ratings? Okay, the e p l

463
00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:54,280
Speaker 1: U LA Liga in Spain. You go on down the

464
00:23:54,320 --> 00:23:58,879
Speaker 1: list and then you look at US specific viewership and

465
00:23:59,359 --> 00:24:02,240
Speaker 1: LEGA and that was number one, And it wasn't like LEGUA.

466
00:24:02,280 --> 00:24:05,560
Speaker 1: M X was number one and MLS was behind it

467
00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:08,800
Speaker 1: by fifty thou viewers a match. It was number one

468
00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:13,000
Speaker 1: in overall eyeballs by a significant margin, and ep L

469
00:24:13,119 --> 00:24:16,159
Speaker 1: was number two, and then MLS was number three, and

470
00:24:16,359 --> 00:24:19,000
Speaker 1: Liga Liga m X was more had more viewers in

471
00:24:19,040 --> 00:24:22,359
Speaker 1: the US in the U S alone than than e

472
00:24:22,520 --> 00:24:26,200
Speaker 1: p L and MLS combined, and the e p L

473
00:24:26,280 --> 00:24:29,919
Speaker 1: is getting significant media rights fees from the US market.

474
00:24:30,320 --> 00:24:33,960
Speaker 1: So I just started thinking, like, okay, what's there. There's

475
00:24:34,480 --> 00:24:38,439
Speaker 1: there's something here. I had been in the industry in

476
00:24:38,480 --> 00:24:41,920
Speaker 1: a time where people had bought NBA teams for three

477
00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:46,040
Speaker 1: hundred four hundred million dollars prior to the Bomber Clippers

478
00:24:46,080 --> 00:24:50,840
Speaker 1: deal uh for for two billion dollars, and you know,

479
00:24:50,920 --> 00:24:53,760
Speaker 1: you saw and NBA teams go from being teams that

480
00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:56,760
Speaker 1: people could buy for four hundred, five hundred, six hundred

481
00:24:56,760 --> 00:24:58,560
Speaker 1: million dollars. Even Atlanta Hawks was I think in the

482
00:24:58,560 --> 00:25:00,800
Speaker 1: seven eight hundred million dollar range to all of a sudden,

483
00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:03,439
Speaker 1: every NBA teams over a billion dollars, many over two

484
00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:07,160
Speaker 1: billion dollars, and and what's that based on. That's based

485
00:25:07,200 --> 00:25:12,439
Speaker 1: on viewership and growth viewership both domestically internationally. So knowing

486
00:25:12,480 --> 00:25:16,440
Speaker 1: those two things, the viewership is important and knowing that sports, uh,

487
00:25:16,560 --> 00:25:20,399
Speaker 1: teams valuations can grow rapidly when when you know, people

488
00:25:20,480 --> 00:25:24,240
Speaker 1: realize that the scarcity value and the upside of the economics,

489
00:25:24,800 --> 00:25:28,280
Speaker 1: um uh, I couldn't. I can't buy an NBA team.

490
00:25:28,320 --> 00:25:30,600
Speaker 1: You know, I don't have two billion dollars. So I'm

491
00:25:30,960 --> 00:25:33,480
Speaker 1: I started thinking about where where's the value, where's the

492
00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:37,840
Speaker 1: growth opportunity? And because I was working in MLS, I

493
00:25:37,880 --> 00:25:40,399
Speaker 1: was seeing a lot of what was going on in

494
00:25:40,480 --> 00:25:43,120
Speaker 1: Mexican football. The two leagues are pretty they play each

495
00:25:43,119 --> 00:25:47,159
Speaker 1: other across competitions, there's friendlies. Obviously, the US is a

496
00:25:47,240 --> 00:25:50,360
Speaker 1: very important market for League m X, So for me

497
00:25:50,440 --> 00:25:53,879
Speaker 1: it was something where it just started to make sense.

498
00:25:53,920 --> 00:25:56,399
Speaker 1: And then from dealing with player agents, I knew I

499
00:25:56,440 --> 00:25:59,879
Speaker 1: had relationships in Mexico. So I just started talking to

500
00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:03,320
Speaker 1: people and saying, what's what's the you know what, what

501
00:26:03,400 --> 00:26:05,840
Speaker 1: teams are potentially for sale? Some of these teams won't trade.

502
00:26:05,840 --> 00:26:07,879
Speaker 1: Some of these teams are you know over a billion

503
00:26:07,880 --> 00:26:11,040
Speaker 1: dollars in evaluation themselves. So you know, where can you

504
00:26:11,080 --> 00:26:13,879
Speaker 1: find where can you find your spot? And and you know,

505
00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:18,400
Speaker 1: over the course of a process, um, I found and

506
00:26:18,400 --> 00:26:21,560
Speaker 1: and with with with my partners and other others, you know,

507
00:26:21,560 --> 00:26:25,240
Speaker 1: found Club NACAXA, and um, you know, we we started

508
00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:27,399
Speaker 1: talking to the existing ownership, the family. It was a

509
00:26:27,440 --> 00:26:30,000
Speaker 1: single family that owned the club. Still there are partners

510
00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:33,560
Speaker 1: there now and we were able to get to a deal. Yeah.

511
00:26:33,600 --> 00:26:36,040
Speaker 1: I met some of them at the MLS All Star

512
00:26:36,119 --> 00:26:38,720
Speaker 1: game out here in l A. And it's funny because

513
00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:40,520
Speaker 1: I go, you know, I go to the game. Obviously

514
00:26:40,560 --> 00:26:42,359
Speaker 1: you were there. I want to see you, and you know,

515
00:26:42,840 --> 00:26:45,160
Speaker 1: I know you put together a diverse group of owners

516
00:26:45,440 --> 00:26:48,840
Speaker 1: ozil Eva Longoria and then I walked into the box

517
00:26:48,880 --> 00:26:51,840
Speaker 1: and it's like Richard Hamilton and Shawn Marriott former NBA

518
00:26:51,920 --> 00:26:54,640
Speaker 1: All Stars. I'm like, oh jeez. I mean, I knew

519
00:26:54,640 --> 00:26:56,840
Speaker 1: there were some heavy hitters, Sam, but goodness. I talked

520
00:26:56,880 --> 00:26:58,880
Speaker 1: to me about how you put together this diverse group

521
00:26:58,920 --> 00:27:01,600
Speaker 1: of owners, Like how is one approach osal and say, hey,

522
00:27:01,680 --> 00:27:03,440
Speaker 1: we're gonna be buying a team any interest, what do

523
00:27:03,520 --> 00:27:06,840
Speaker 1: you how do you do able? Longoria? Yeah, that's a

524
00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:10,040
Speaker 1: great another great question, um, because it is pretty unique.

525
00:27:10,080 --> 00:27:11,480
Speaker 1: So so so Shan, Mary and I've been friends with for

526
00:27:11,480 --> 00:27:14,240
Speaker 1: a number of years. Uh, Matrix Tricks, I call him,

527
00:27:14,280 --> 00:27:17,920
Speaker 1: he's he's the best, UM awesome guy. UM. I had

528
00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:19,960
Speaker 1: a I had a client on The Mavericks when when

529
00:27:19,960 --> 00:27:23,360
Speaker 1: he was on The Mavericks in I met him back then. UM,

530
00:27:23,480 --> 00:27:27,680
Speaker 1: we've We've always gotten along really really well. He's super supportive. Um,

531
00:27:27,720 --> 00:27:29,239
Speaker 1: he made a lot of money in his career, and

532
00:27:29,320 --> 00:27:33,520
Speaker 1: he's a very he's a very thoughtful investor and has

533
00:27:33,640 --> 00:27:35,440
Speaker 1: and he he has a vision for things that he's

534
00:27:35,480 --> 00:27:38,399
Speaker 1: interested in. So Sean was kind of the first guy

535
00:27:38,440 --> 00:27:39,600
Speaker 1: that I went to and was like, what do you

536
00:27:39,600 --> 00:27:41,160
Speaker 1: think about this? And he was like, this is great.

537
00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:44,919
Speaker 1: I didn't I didn't know Rip Hamilton's before Sean and

538
00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:47,120
Speaker 1: Shawn said listen, I talked to Rip a lot, could

539
00:27:47,160 --> 00:27:49,520
Speaker 1: I would you be interested in having him in the group?

540
00:27:49,560 --> 00:27:51,480
Speaker 1: And I said, yeah, listen a huge Rip Hamilton's fan.

541
00:27:52,160 --> 00:27:54,720
Speaker 1: My mom's from the same town in Pennsylvania as Rip.

542
00:27:55,200 --> 00:27:58,479
Speaker 1: Um and uh, you know that Rip and I hit

543
00:27:58,520 --> 00:28:00,560
Speaker 1: it off when we first spoke and He's like, hey,

544
00:28:00,600 --> 00:28:04,240
Speaker 1: I'm interested. So have Sewan and Ripped there and then

545
00:28:04,920 --> 00:28:08,159
Speaker 1: uh Eva super interesting because you know she's probably the

546
00:28:08,200 --> 00:28:11,840
Speaker 1: most involved of any of the celebrity quote unquote celebrity investors.

547
00:28:11,880 --> 00:28:14,200
Speaker 1: She's a Mexican American. She spends a lot of time

548
00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:17,520
Speaker 1: in Mexico City. She's very knowledgeable about the league. She's awesome.

549
00:28:17,560 --> 00:28:20,280
Speaker 1: You know, she's super high energy. She does a million things.

550
00:28:20,280 --> 00:28:23,679
Speaker 1: She has her own tequila company. Um she um consa

551
00:28:23,720 --> 00:28:27,200
Speaker 1: Del Sol shot them out and uh she um. She's

552
00:28:27,240 --> 00:28:28,720
Speaker 1: just amazing. She does it. She does a lot of

553
00:28:28,760 --> 00:28:32,520
Speaker 1: stuff and she's she she watches every match. She's very involved.

554
00:28:32,640 --> 00:28:36,399
Speaker 1: And so she she came about because my partner and

555
00:28:36,760 --> 00:28:40,040
Speaker 1: co managing partner on on the Coxa is a guy

556
00:28:40,120 --> 00:28:44,720
Speaker 1: named Al tailis um. Al is very philanthropic. He has

557
00:28:44,760 --> 00:28:47,000
Speaker 1: a family foundation, he does a lot of stuff, and

558
00:28:47,080 --> 00:28:50,240
Speaker 1: so he's met a bunch of people through that world.

559
00:28:50,640 --> 00:28:53,800
Speaker 1: And when we started talking about, okay, we're going to

560
00:28:53,880 --> 00:28:55,560
Speaker 1: buy the club, and we were we were happy to

561
00:28:55,560 --> 00:28:57,720
Speaker 1: buy the club anyway, make the investment in the club,

562
00:28:58,240 --> 00:29:01,400
Speaker 1: you know, to have fifty percent of it anyway. But

563
00:29:01,480 --> 00:29:03,800
Speaker 1: then you know, it was it was an idea of like, hey,

564
00:29:03,840 --> 00:29:06,800
Speaker 1: maybe if we bring in some celebrities and some friends

565
00:29:06,800 --> 00:29:09,040
Speaker 1: and family. Maybe there's there's some you know, you get

566
00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:12,000
Speaker 1: synergies of bringing in partners, and we were like, who

567
00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:16,640
Speaker 1: would be the absolute kind of best Mexican American celebrity

568
00:29:16,680 --> 00:29:20,240
Speaker 1: and Eva was was like on our minds of like

569
00:29:20,520 --> 00:29:23,000
Speaker 1: she was sort of like the ideal person, and then

570
00:29:23,160 --> 00:29:25,920
Speaker 1: we spoke to her and she was really really into it,

571
00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:28,920
Speaker 1: and so she came on board. And then with with

572
00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:35,040
Speaker 1: mess it Um Mesodos, former Arsenal player, German national team

573
00:29:35,040 --> 00:29:37,960
Speaker 1: player won the World Cup with Germany Real Madrid. Um

574
00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:41,440
Speaker 1: you know, kind of a modern day superstar player, huge

575
00:29:41,720 --> 00:29:45,440
Speaker 1: hundred plus million super social media following. I've known his agent,

576
00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:50,720
Speaker 1: Urkutgut for a long time or cut nine met Uh

577
00:29:50,760 --> 00:29:56,320
Speaker 1: when we first acquired Swansea in Um. He's he's a friend,

578
00:29:56,560 --> 00:29:58,720
Speaker 1: he's a really smart agent. He's somebody who I think

579
00:29:58,720 --> 00:30:00,720
Speaker 1: does the agent business a little bit frank and others.

580
00:30:01,040 --> 00:30:04,880
Speaker 1: So Um to be honest, Before I left d C United,

581
00:30:05,680 --> 00:30:08,800
Speaker 1: I tried when when as It was was going to

582
00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:12,760
Speaker 1: be leaving Arsenal, I tried really really hard to sign

583
00:30:12,840 --> 00:30:15,520
Speaker 1: as It to come to d C United. In the end,

584
00:30:16,160 --> 00:30:19,560
Speaker 1: a Turkish team, Fenerbaci put together a crazy offer. Mes

585
00:30:19,600 --> 00:30:22,000
Speaker 1: it as a Turkish German. His wife's from Turkey, his

586
00:30:22,080 --> 00:30:24,479
Speaker 1: mom's from Turkey. In the end, he went to Turkey

587
00:30:24,520 --> 00:30:27,160
Speaker 1: instead of coming to d C United. But during that process,

588
00:30:27,520 --> 00:30:29,000
Speaker 1: I had known him as IT for a couple of years.

589
00:30:29,280 --> 00:30:31,360
Speaker 1: As I mentioned, I known as agent for several years.

590
00:30:31,560 --> 00:30:34,920
Speaker 1: And through that process, Um, I said, hey, listen, you

591
00:30:34,920 --> 00:30:36,560
Speaker 1: know I wasn't able to sign you at DC United,

592
00:30:36,640 --> 00:30:38,440
Speaker 1: but is this something you'd be interested in? He was like,

593
00:30:38,480 --> 00:30:41,520
Speaker 1: this is super interesting. We went through it all and

594
00:30:41,320 --> 00:30:43,840
Speaker 1: m and as It signed on. He's been extremely supportive

595
00:30:43,920 --> 00:30:46,640
Speaker 1: as well. So, um, all all of our celebrity investors

596
00:30:46,640 --> 00:30:48,920
Speaker 1: are real investors. There's not like, hey, do you just

597
00:30:48,960 --> 00:30:52,200
Speaker 1: want to put your attachment into this. Everybody's committed to it.

598
00:30:52,240 --> 00:30:55,320
Speaker 1: They've invested money in it. They um, they think about it.

599
00:30:55,400 --> 00:30:58,400
Speaker 1: They are, you know, give feedback on the reports that

600
00:30:58,400 --> 00:31:00,680
Speaker 1: that that they get. So m it's it's been a

601
00:31:00,680 --> 00:31:02,200
Speaker 1: really good group. I think we got. We got really

602
00:31:02,200 --> 00:31:04,920
Speaker 1: fortunate with the group that we put together. UM. I

603
00:31:05,280 --> 00:31:07,200
Speaker 1: love that. I know that some people are going to

604
00:31:07,280 --> 00:31:10,040
Speaker 1: be listening, being like, Okay, dealing with MLS contracts is

605
00:31:10,080 --> 00:31:13,160
Speaker 1: one thing right in America, But man, I mean, Sam,

606
00:31:13,200 --> 00:31:15,400
Speaker 1: I got a couple of friends who when I say, oh, yeah,

607
00:31:15,440 --> 00:31:18,720
Speaker 1: we're going to Cabo or whatever, They're like, you go

608
00:31:18,800 --> 00:31:21,320
Speaker 1: to Mexico, but what about the cartels? How sketchy? And

609
00:31:21,320 --> 00:31:24,480
Speaker 1: I'm like, come on, guys. I actually told them if listen,

610
00:31:24,520 --> 00:31:27,320
Speaker 1: if Nikoxa had won their first playoff game they lost

611
00:31:27,360 --> 00:31:29,800
Speaker 1: in p K's, I would be going And they're like really.

612
00:31:30,160 --> 00:31:33,200
Speaker 1: I was like, of course. And I'm just curious. From

613
00:31:33,240 --> 00:31:36,280
Speaker 1: an agent perspective, dealing with contracts and lega X, how

614
00:31:36,320 --> 00:31:40,120
Speaker 1: different is it than than MLS. Yeah, so, I mean

615
00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:42,960
Speaker 1: it's very similar to MLS. It's very it's very similar MS.

616
00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:45,440
Speaker 1: I mean, same agents, same players, the players go back

617
00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:47,080
Speaker 1: and forth, and then not not all the same, right,

618
00:31:47,120 --> 00:31:48,880
Speaker 1: but like a lot of players who have played a

619
00:31:48,920 --> 00:31:50,600
Speaker 1: lot of the players. If you look at the rosters

620
00:31:50,600 --> 00:31:52,280
Speaker 1: of many MLS teams, you're gonna see a lot of

621
00:31:52,360 --> 00:31:54,960
Speaker 1: guys who spend time in the MLS, uh in the

622
00:31:55,000 --> 00:31:57,440
Speaker 1: League X and vice versa. There's a lot of and

623
00:31:57,480 --> 00:31:59,360
Speaker 1: a lot of those guys have the same agents, So

624
00:31:59,400 --> 00:32:01,080
Speaker 1: you're dealing with many of the same agents who dealing

625
00:32:01,080 --> 00:32:02,680
Speaker 1: with many of the same players. A lot of these

626
00:32:02,720 --> 00:32:05,360
Speaker 1: guys are Mexican players. A lot of them are Mexican

627
00:32:05,360 --> 00:32:06,960
Speaker 1: Americans who have dual pair sports, and a lot of

628
00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:11,920
Speaker 1: them are from Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Peru. You're you know, uh,

629
00:32:12,160 --> 00:32:14,680
Speaker 1: mostly South American players. And so you're dealing with a

630
00:32:14,720 --> 00:32:17,080
Speaker 1: lot of the same agents, um, and you're dealing with

631
00:32:17,120 --> 00:32:19,240
Speaker 1: a lot of the same things that they want compensation,

632
00:32:19,280 --> 00:32:21,560
Speaker 1: they want agent fees, they want length of contract, they

633
00:32:21,600 --> 00:32:23,400
Speaker 1: want this then that and the other thing. And you've

634
00:32:23,440 --> 00:32:25,720
Speaker 1: got to manage it all regardless of if you're doing

635
00:32:25,760 --> 00:32:29,440
Speaker 1: it in the MLS or d EPL or Syria or uh.

636
00:32:29,720 --> 00:32:31,680
Speaker 1: That's a great thing about soccer, is it. It's it's

637
00:32:31,880 --> 00:32:33,840
Speaker 1: very global and like you cant have a player that

638
00:32:33,840 --> 00:32:35,640
Speaker 1: one years in Mexico and the next years in Italy.

639
00:32:35,880 --> 00:32:37,920
Speaker 1: And you get a player who one year is in

640
00:32:38,520 --> 00:32:40,680
Speaker 1: MLS and the next year is playing in first Division

641
00:32:40,720 --> 00:32:42,840
Speaker 1: in Germany and just got bought for millions of dollars.

642
00:32:42,840 --> 00:32:44,680
Speaker 1: Like it's a it's a very fluid market that I

643
00:32:44,680 --> 00:32:47,280
Speaker 1: mentioned before, and and the things tend to be the same.

644
00:32:47,920 --> 00:32:50,240
Speaker 1: And just to touch on your point about safety and

645
00:32:50,240 --> 00:32:52,680
Speaker 1: and like things in Mexico, I spent a lot of

646
00:32:52,680 --> 00:32:56,240
Speaker 1: time in Mexico City the past year plus Um, I

647
00:32:56,360 --> 00:32:59,200
Speaker 1: find it to be very similar to being in a

648
00:32:59,360 --> 00:33:02,960
Speaker 1: Rome or Paris or something. It's a huge city. Um,

649
00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:05,840
Speaker 1: if you are in the right neighborhoods, you don't really

650
00:33:05,920 --> 00:33:09,960
Speaker 1: feel any sort of concern of safety. I mean it

651
00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:12,280
Speaker 1: feels like it doesn't feel all that much difference than

652
00:33:12,280 --> 00:33:14,680
Speaker 1: being in l A or New York. Yeah, if you

653
00:33:14,760 --> 00:33:17,280
Speaker 1: there's some certainly some bad neighborhoods where you wouldn't want

654
00:33:17,280 --> 00:33:19,360
Speaker 1: to go to. But I think that's true of any

655
00:33:19,400 --> 00:33:22,920
Speaker 1: major city. And I've never I haven't had any sort

656
00:33:22,960 --> 00:33:28,320
Speaker 1: of you know, scary situations or unfortunate sense that that

657
00:33:28,400 --> 00:33:31,800
Speaker 1: we're that we're in an uncomfortable or dangerous situation. So

658
00:33:31,960 --> 00:33:35,800
Speaker 1: I personally, I mean, obviously everybody could look up crime rates,

659
00:33:35,840 --> 00:33:39,080
Speaker 1: incidents whatever, like things happen, for sure. But but like

660
00:33:39,160 --> 00:33:42,680
Speaker 1: things happen, you know, the media covers things in certain ways. Uh,

661
00:33:42,720 --> 00:33:45,560
Speaker 1: you know, I think Mexico there's there's a certain amount

662
00:33:45,600 --> 00:33:47,040
Speaker 1: of things that you've got to keep an eye out for.

663
00:33:47,160 --> 00:33:49,160
Speaker 1: But just like anywhere else, you know, you know where

664
00:33:49,160 --> 00:33:51,560
Speaker 1: to go go there there at the right times. Don't

665
00:33:51,640 --> 00:33:54,800
Speaker 1: don't you know, do anything and anything stupid, And I

666
00:33:54,800 --> 00:33:58,560
Speaker 1: think you're gonna be Okay, I mean lightning, constriking any situation.

667
00:33:58,600 --> 00:34:01,680
Speaker 1: But it's a It's a country that I feel very comfortable,

668
00:34:01,680 --> 00:34:05,600
Speaker 1: and the people are super nice, super welcoming and hospitable,

669
00:34:05,720 --> 00:34:09,480
Speaker 1: and I've had a really unbelievable experience doing business there

670
00:34:09,520 --> 00:34:12,799
Speaker 1: so far. It's weird because during COVID in the last

671
00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:14,279
Speaker 1: two years out here in l A, you know, the

672
00:34:14,280 --> 00:34:17,080
Speaker 1: crimes picked up a lot. And I got friends and

673
00:34:17,160 --> 00:34:19,360
Speaker 1: my brothers sending me stuff about how l A is

674
00:34:19,400 --> 00:34:21,879
Speaker 1: like the purge. People are getting robbed in the middle

675
00:34:21,880 --> 00:34:23,839
Speaker 1: of the day in Beverly Hills. Oh my gosh, how

676
00:34:23,880 --> 00:34:25,640
Speaker 1: are you are you going out in l A. And

677
00:34:25,680 --> 00:34:29,200
Speaker 1: I'm like, dude, we live right right here. It's it's

678
00:34:29,320 --> 00:34:31,680
Speaker 1: not that bad. And again, obviously l A is not

679
00:34:32,000 --> 00:34:34,520
Speaker 1: in the media sensational. However it is to me l A.

680
00:34:34,920 --> 00:34:37,080
Speaker 1: You know crime, you know New York City. How can

681
00:34:37,120 --> 00:34:39,640
Speaker 1: you like, yes, there's been there's been a national crime

682
00:34:39,640 --> 00:34:42,560
Speaker 1: surge in COVID, and and I think anywhere you go,

683
00:34:43,360 --> 00:34:45,120
Speaker 1: you know, the kind of the same rules applied, you know,

684
00:34:45,440 --> 00:34:48,879
Speaker 1: and just be smart. And but for me, I think

685
00:34:49,080 --> 00:34:51,080
Speaker 1: traveling to Mexico, I traveled there with with my family.

686
00:34:51,080 --> 00:34:53,439
Speaker 1: I have young kids, it has not been something where

687
00:34:53,440 --> 00:34:56,040
Speaker 1: I'm like going around with huge security teams or anything.

688
00:34:56,040 --> 00:34:58,239
Speaker 1: It's it's been very comfortable so far. We can start

689
00:34:58,280 --> 00:35:00,680
Speaker 1: to wrap up, like I guess a couple questions that

690
00:35:01,040 --> 00:35:03,719
Speaker 1: you know, everybody gets excited about the future, right, and

691
00:35:03,800 --> 00:35:06,080
Speaker 1: obviously you know this is an investment. You love soccer.

692
00:35:06,160 --> 00:35:08,560
Speaker 1: I love soccer, but people can see kind of the

693
00:35:08,600 --> 00:35:11,360
Speaker 1: writing on the wall, right, World Cup coming to North America,

694
00:35:12,880 --> 00:35:18,160
Speaker 1: um Lega m X suspends relegation. A lot of you know,

695
00:35:18,320 --> 00:35:22,720
Speaker 1: dots are being connected to potentially a Lega MX joining

696
00:35:22,719 --> 00:35:26,319
Speaker 1: forces with MLS. As you noted, MLS is struggling from

697
00:35:26,320 --> 00:35:29,960
Speaker 1: a TV's perspective in America like they're the third banana

698
00:35:30,000 --> 00:35:33,040
Speaker 1: behind Lega MX N E p L And it's like, well, jeez,

699
00:35:33,120 --> 00:35:37,000
Speaker 1: if MLS combined forces with legam X, maybe there's something

700
00:35:37,040 --> 00:35:38,879
Speaker 1: for both, a win win for both. And again that's

701
00:35:39,120 --> 00:35:41,480
Speaker 1: deep on the horizon, but you know how much does

702
00:35:41,520 --> 00:35:44,520
Speaker 1: that factor in when you're doing, you know, your your

703
00:35:44,600 --> 00:35:49,680
Speaker 1: legwork Before we bought the team. I think that the

704
00:35:49,680 --> 00:35:52,439
Speaker 1: World Cup in twenty six is a massive inflection point

705
00:35:52,480 --> 00:35:54,360
Speaker 1: because if you think about the World Cup was was

706
00:35:54,400 --> 00:35:59,239
Speaker 1: in the US, and out of that the MLS was porn.

707
00:35:59,320 --> 00:36:01,520
Speaker 1: So the World Cup is is, you know, the biggest

708
00:36:01,520 --> 00:36:04,000
Speaker 1: sporting event in the world, happens every four years, and

709
00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:07,120
Speaker 1: it's a major It brings with it some some major

710
00:36:07,120 --> 00:36:11,160
Speaker 1: implications where people interest in soccer really goes up, especially

711
00:36:11,280 --> 00:36:13,080
Speaker 1: in our country. And I think this is you know,

712
00:36:13,160 --> 00:36:16,120
Speaker 1: it's been you know, it'll it'll have been thirty two

713
00:36:16,200 --> 00:36:18,759
Speaker 1: years since the last World Cup in the US, and

714
00:36:19,040 --> 00:36:21,239
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna be major, major, major, because there's

715
00:36:21,280 --> 00:36:24,600
Speaker 1: been a whole generations of new soccer fans who have

716
00:36:24,640 --> 00:36:26,480
Speaker 1: come up with the availability to be able to watch

717
00:36:27,080 --> 00:36:30,520
Speaker 1: international soccer. When I was a kid, um and I'm

718
00:36:30,520 --> 00:36:32,080
Speaker 1: not I'm not that old, but when I was a kid,

719
00:36:32,480 --> 00:36:34,200
Speaker 1: you couldn't you know, on the on the weekends, you

720
00:36:34,239 --> 00:36:36,000
Speaker 1: woke up, you turn on the TV. You're not you

721
00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:39,560
Speaker 1: don't have EPL league, all these different options. It was

722
00:36:39,600 --> 00:36:42,040
Speaker 1: just not a thing. So now there have been multiple

723
00:36:42,080 --> 00:36:44,840
Speaker 1: generations of kids who are like, they know all the

724
00:36:44,840 --> 00:36:47,880
Speaker 1: players on West Ham or or whatever. And and so

725
00:36:48,480 --> 00:36:50,799
Speaker 1: I think this World Cup is gonna be huge. I

726
00:36:50,840 --> 00:36:52,759
Speaker 1: think that in the lead up to the World Cup,

727
00:36:52,800 --> 00:36:55,640
Speaker 1: we have there it's already been announced, but there's a

728
00:36:55,640 --> 00:36:59,479
Speaker 1: new new property new event called the League's Cup, which

729
00:36:59,480 --> 00:37:02,720
Speaker 1: is going to be between League m X and MLS.

730
00:37:03,080 --> 00:37:05,040
Speaker 1: They're gonna it's gonna be played entirely in the US.

731
00:37:05,280 --> 00:37:07,319
Speaker 1: It's gonna be all eight teen teams from League MX,

732
00:37:07,320 --> 00:37:09,440
Speaker 1: it's gonna be all the MLS teams at thirty teams,

733
00:37:09,680 --> 00:37:12,400
Speaker 1: and it's gonna be almost a World Cup style tournament

734
00:37:12,719 --> 00:37:15,360
Speaker 1: that we're both leagues are going to suspend their domestic

735
00:37:15,480 --> 00:37:19,040
Speaker 1: league play for a month. They're gonna play against each other, uh,

736
00:37:19,280 --> 00:37:25,000
Speaker 1: group stage, knockout, semifinal, final, and UM, I think this

737
00:37:25,120 --> 00:37:28,680
Speaker 1: is I don't know if if the League's merge properly

738
00:37:28,680 --> 00:37:30,160
Speaker 1: and they just become one league, I don't I don't

739
00:37:30,160 --> 00:37:33,080
Speaker 1: know if that's reasonable, And there's a lot of um,

740
00:37:33,120 --> 00:37:36,279
Speaker 1: you know, legal aspects and logistics that would be really

741
00:37:36,280 --> 00:37:40,560
Speaker 1: tough for that to work out administratively, But anything is possible.

742
00:37:40,560 --> 00:37:42,040
Speaker 1: But I think the Leagus Cup is a really good

743
00:37:42,040 --> 00:37:47,759
Speaker 1: step to further the crossover between the different qualities that

744
00:37:47,800 --> 00:37:49,960
Speaker 1: both leagues bring, both MLS and League X. I'm a

745
00:37:50,000 --> 00:37:53,239
Speaker 1: huge fan of MLS. Um you mentioned them being you know,

746
00:37:53,239 --> 00:37:56,520
Speaker 1: struggling for TV ratings. I would say the TV ratings

747
00:37:56,800 --> 00:37:59,160
Speaker 1: may not they're not They're not the best certainly compared

748
00:37:59,200 --> 00:38:02,160
Speaker 1: to to League MX or EPL at the moment. But

749
00:38:02,280 --> 00:38:05,080
Speaker 1: MLS does have some really some things that does really

750
00:38:05,160 --> 00:38:07,719
Speaker 1: really well. I mean, I think it's match day a lot.

751
00:38:07,760 --> 00:38:09,719
Speaker 1: You get a lot of sold out stadiums around the

752
00:38:09,760 --> 00:38:13,080
Speaker 1: whole entire u S. For MLS, you have strong corporate support,

753
00:38:13,400 --> 00:38:16,640
Speaker 1: strong local support. I think that that TV viewership is

754
00:38:16,680 --> 00:38:19,719
Speaker 1: sort of that that last thing that if MLS can get,

755
00:38:19,760 --> 00:38:21,880
Speaker 1: they can become a true powerhouse. And I think that

756
00:38:22,000 --> 00:38:25,359
Speaker 1: League m X can can take a lot away from

757
00:38:25,360 --> 00:38:27,960
Speaker 1: what MLS has done over the past twenty five years

758
00:38:28,040 --> 00:38:31,160
Speaker 1: or so to to become a you know, you know,

759
00:38:31,160 --> 00:38:34,839
Speaker 1: a legitimate powerhouse as far as leagues go. And now

760
00:38:35,040 --> 00:38:37,360
Speaker 1: there's growth to be done. But I think that you know,

761
00:38:37,640 --> 00:38:39,680
Speaker 1: MLS does a lot of things really really well. I

762
00:38:39,680 --> 00:38:41,640
Speaker 1: think LEAGA NEX does some things really really well. And

763
00:38:41,680 --> 00:38:43,480
Speaker 1: I think the more they cross over and play against

764
00:38:43,520 --> 00:38:47,000
Speaker 1: each other, and the more we borrow and and exchange

765
00:38:47,040 --> 00:38:49,520
Speaker 1: best practices, I think you're going to see a really

766
00:38:49,600 --> 00:38:52,920
Speaker 1: strong dynamic between the two countries and their their top leagues.

767
00:38:53,200 --> 00:38:55,680
Speaker 1: And you know, I know, people who listen to podcast

768
00:38:55,719 --> 00:38:59,359
Speaker 1: obviously follow NFL and BA every support. And the way

769
00:38:59,400 --> 00:39:02,120
Speaker 1: they covered Liga m X teams in Mexico is like

770
00:39:02,200 --> 00:39:07,239
Speaker 1: the NFL here, right, anything is massive news like lineups,

771
00:39:07,680 --> 00:39:10,920
Speaker 1: uh players struggling like they really are aggressive. The media

772
00:39:11,000 --> 00:39:13,680
Speaker 1: covering the league, which is which is outstanding for the product? Right,

773
00:39:13,719 --> 00:39:16,720
Speaker 1: That's how it is down there in Mexico Sports Center, Mexico.

774
00:39:16,760 --> 00:39:18,600
Speaker 1: You turn, you go to Mexico, you turn on ESPN.

775
00:39:18,640 --> 00:39:20,960
Speaker 1: They have their own sports center and it's you know,

776
00:39:21,520 --> 00:39:23,640
Speaker 1: the left back from the Coxa is out for two

777
00:39:23,680 --> 00:39:26,440
Speaker 1: weeks with a with a cash strain. Here's who they

778
00:39:26,520 --> 00:39:28,600
Speaker 1: might replace, Here's who might be starting in his place.

779
00:39:28,719 --> 00:39:32,799
Speaker 1: There they treat they treat the League MX teams like

780
00:39:32,880 --> 00:39:36,440
Speaker 1: we treat NFL teams here in the sports center. And

781
00:39:37,120 --> 00:39:40,520
Speaker 1: just for you know, for people's you know understanding. Mexico

782
00:39:41,000 --> 00:39:43,120
Speaker 1: has a population of a hundred and thirty million people.

783
00:39:43,360 --> 00:39:46,600
Speaker 1: That's larger than any European country. Additionally, there's a you know,

784
00:39:46,600 --> 00:39:50,360
Speaker 1: approximately fifty million, you know, give or take more individuals

785
00:39:50,360 --> 00:39:53,279
Speaker 1: in the US who identify as Mexican American first, second

786
00:39:53,360 --> 00:39:56,480
Speaker 1: or third generation living in the US. Who are you know,

787
00:39:56,640 --> 00:39:59,319
Speaker 1: Mexican ancestry or still or you know you have have

788
00:39:59,440 --> 00:40:01,359
Speaker 1: just moved to or have come in the last few

789
00:40:01,719 --> 00:40:05,919
Speaker 1: years or decades, and so you effectively have a near

790
00:40:06,280 --> 00:40:09,799
Speaker 1: hundred and eighty to two hundred million person nation that

791
00:40:09,840 --> 00:40:13,000
Speaker 1: that that that goes between two countries, and this is

792
00:40:13,080 --> 00:40:15,760
Speaker 1: this this is the sport in the league that's most

793
00:40:15,800 --> 00:40:18,920
Speaker 1: interesting to them and most that they are most passionate

794
00:40:18,920 --> 00:40:22,440
Speaker 1: about and really you know, as part of their lives.

795
00:40:22,680 --> 00:40:25,160
Speaker 1: And so that that's what this is. And it's hard

796
00:40:25,360 --> 00:40:28,359
Speaker 1: if you've grown up as a as you know, uh,

797
00:40:28,440 --> 00:40:31,440
Speaker 1: your your average American who doesn't have a lattan background,

798
00:40:31,480 --> 00:40:34,120
Speaker 1: who's you know, used to watching the NFL and the NBA,

799
00:40:34,239 --> 00:40:37,680
Speaker 1: Like like, I am, this is all kind of surprising

800
00:40:37,719 --> 00:40:40,360
Speaker 1: to you. But this is a very you know, significant

801
00:40:40,600 --> 00:40:44,480
Speaker 1: league with significant uh tail winds and and and a

802
00:40:44,520 --> 00:40:47,600
Speaker 1: lot of demographics that support you know, continued growth. I

803
00:40:47,600 --> 00:40:49,600
Speaker 1: guess to wrap up, there was a team that had

804
00:40:49,640 --> 00:40:57,239
Speaker 1: a rough incident in Leagua, MXUS here say that right, yeah, yeah, yeah,

805
00:40:58,960 --> 00:41:00,960
Speaker 1: but not that close they had the fan incident. They're

806
00:41:01,000 --> 00:41:04,920
Speaker 1: being forced to uh sell the team. I am curious, like,

807
00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:08,000
Speaker 1: as an owner, how close to you are you monitoring

808
00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:10,759
Speaker 1: the situation? Again, you're the first American to come in.

809
00:41:11,280 --> 00:41:15,480
Speaker 1: Maybe there's European American interest in uh this team and ownership.

810
00:41:15,520 --> 00:41:18,200
Speaker 1: But like, I'm just curious from an ownership perspective, how

811
00:41:18,239 --> 00:41:20,520
Speaker 1: close are you watching just to get an idea? You know,

812
00:41:20,640 --> 00:41:23,640
Speaker 1: this kind of thing happens, uh in the NBA obviously

813
00:41:23,640 --> 00:41:26,920
Speaker 1: with Donald sterling um and and in the NFL the

814
00:41:26,920 --> 00:41:29,160
Speaker 1: Broncos are now for sale. But just give me the

815
00:41:29,200 --> 00:41:34,120
Speaker 1: owner perspective on them. Well, certainly, you know, anytime in

816
00:41:35,000 --> 00:41:38,080
Speaker 1: professional sports there are not a lot of trades. It's

817
00:41:38,080 --> 00:41:40,439
Speaker 1: not like you know, it's not like the real estate

818
00:41:40,480 --> 00:41:42,880
Speaker 1: market where you can compare apples apples and say, oh,

819
00:41:42,920 --> 00:41:45,520
Speaker 1: we'll tend similar homes traded in this zip code in

820
00:41:45,520 --> 00:41:49,000
Speaker 1: the past twelve months or whatever. It's something where when

821
00:41:49,000 --> 00:41:51,319
Speaker 1: a team sells its significant news. You mentioned a couple

822
00:41:51,360 --> 00:41:54,000
Speaker 1: of significant ones. You know, Chelsea just traded in the

823
00:41:54,000 --> 00:41:56,839
Speaker 1: e p l um, the Broncos sales underway. These are

824
00:41:56,880 --> 00:41:59,040
Speaker 1: things that everybody's watching, I think who's interested in the

825
00:41:59,040 --> 00:42:02,680
Speaker 1: sports business because all of these transactions have knock on

826
00:42:02,719 --> 00:42:06,200
Speaker 1: effects as to how it impacts the broader market. And

827
00:42:06,280 --> 00:42:09,200
Speaker 1: so certainly I'm playing paying really close attention to it,

828
00:42:09,640 --> 00:42:13,359
Speaker 1: um without be touring any confidences. You know, I've had

829
00:42:13,400 --> 00:42:19,839
Speaker 1: a number of high profile US based UH sports investors

830
00:42:19,880 --> 00:42:24,080
Speaker 1: with with existing you know, UM investments in sports call

831
00:42:24,200 --> 00:42:26,440
Speaker 1: me and ask about the league and ask about the situation.

832
00:42:26,560 --> 00:42:29,120
Speaker 1: And I know that that situation is drawing a lot

833
00:42:29,200 --> 00:42:33,799
Speaker 1: of interest from both Mexican and international investors. So I

834
00:42:33,840 --> 00:42:36,160
Speaker 1: think that they'll, you know, something will happen there, you know,

835
00:42:36,440 --> 00:42:38,919
Speaker 1: sooner rather than later. And I'm paying I'm playing close

836
00:42:38,960 --> 00:42:42,120
Speaker 1: attention to it and certainly you know, talking to people

837
00:42:42,200 --> 00:42:44,239
Speaker 1: who want to talk about it and get my take

838
00:42:44,320 --> 00:42:46,600
Speaker 1: on the club in the league and the you know,

839
00:42:46,640 --> 00:42:48,880
Speaker 1: the kind of the big picture of thoughts. It's funny,

840
00:42:49,080 --> 00:42:51,480
Speaker 1: you know, I'll just say this and closing. SAM is

841
00:42:51,480 --> 00:42:53,040
Speaker 1: the kind of guy who looks ahead, right. So with

842
00:42:53,120 --> 00:42:55,640
Speaker 1: the New Zealand Breakers, I believe we were the first

843
00:42:55,640 --> 00:42:58,319
Speaker 1: American group together in the league. Now I think half

844
00:42:58,400 --> 00:43:01,120
Speaker 1: the league SAM is owned by America another group. Don't

845
00:43:01,120 --> 00:43:03,359
Speaker 1: know exactly, but it's close to it. Yea. I don't

846
00:43:03,360 --> 00:43:05,399
Speaker 1: follow it super closely, but I know several other groups

847
00:43:05,440 --> 00:43:07,520
Speaker 1: have come in and I don't think it will be

848
00:43:07,560 --> 00:43:11,200
Speaker 1: so dissimilar. It'll I think that there are I think

849
00:43:11,239 --> 00:43:14,840
Speaker 1: that sports ownership is an asset class is becoming more democratized,

850
00:43:15,120 --> 00:43:18,080
Speaker 1: and I think, you know, not everybody can own a

851
00:43:18,080 --> 00:43:19,759
Speaker 1: sports team or being investoring in a sports team. You

852
00:43:19,760 --> 00:43:20,880
Speaker 1: have to be qualified, a mutual, you have to do

853
00:43:20,920 --> 00:43:23,880
Speaker 1: all these different things. But I think that you know,

854
00:43:23,920 --> 00:43:25,880
Speaker 1: the world where it's like it's Jerry Jones and you

855
00:43:25,920 --> 00:43:29,360
Speaker 1: own an eight billion dollar NFL team or or nothing,

856
00:43:29,440 --> 00:43:31,359
Speaker 1: I think there's there's a lot of in between, and

857
00:43:31,360 --> 00:43:33,480
Speaker 1: and the valuations are still significant and the money is real,

858
00:43:33,800 --> 00:43:37,000
Speaker 1: but there is opportunities and they're not they don't all

859
00:43:37,040 --> 00:43:39,960
Speaker 1: have to be multibillion dollar transactions. So um, I think

860
00:43:39,960 --> 00:43:42,120
Speaker 1: that's right. And I think I think you'll see I

861
00:43:42,160 --> 00:43:44,400
Speaker 1: think over the coming years and decades, you're going to

862
00:43:44,520 --> 00:43:49,560
Speaker 1: see Americans owning baseball teams in Japan and uh cricket

863
00:43:49,600 --> 00:43:52,399
Speaker 1: teams in India. This stuff is already happening. So it's

864
00:43:52,440 --> 00:43:54,920
Speaker 1: just it's just you know, where are you willing to

865
00:43:55,239 --> 00:43:57,520
Speaker 1: take the risk, and what's interesting to you and and

866
00:43:57,520 --> 00:44:00,160
Speaker 1: and those kinds of things. But it's it's definitely know,

867
00:44:00,719 --> 00:44:04,719
Speaker 1: an ongoing world of people looking for more interesting international

868
00:44:04,719 --> 00:44:08,480
Speaker 1: sports properties. All right, Sam Porter, big deal in the

869
00:44:08,560 --> 00:44:11,080
Speaker 1: ownership world. I'm just happy to know you, man. I mean,

870
00:44:11,840 --> 00:44:13,759
Speaker 1: it's just it's awesome talking to you and listening. I

871
00:44:13,760 --> 00:44:16,359
Speaker 1: feel like I got kind of an MBA intro here

872
00:44:16,440 --> 00:44:20,319
Speaker 1: in sports team ownership. You're too kind. I appreciate the time,

873
00:44:20,360 --> 00:44:22,160
Speaker 1: and I appreciate you having me on