1
00:00:00,680 --> 00:00:03,840
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Bloomberg Business of Sports podcast. We explore

2
00:00:03,920 --> 00:00:05,720
Speaker 1: some of the big money issues in the world of sports.

3
00:00:05,800 --> 00:00:10,440
Speaker 1: On Michael Blarn I'm Scarlet and we have with us

4
00:00:10,440 --> 00:00:14,920
Speaker 1: the president of eight eight eight US and also Sports

5
00:00:14,960 --> 00:00:19,639
Speaker 1: Illustrated Sports Book, and we have on the line Howard Mittman.

6
00:00:20,480 --> 00:00:25,720
Speaker 1: I understand that Howard and Damien are like BFFs and

7
00:00:25,960 --> 00:00:31,600
Speaker 1: uh comments, so this is gonna be fun. Howard, Welcome

8
00:00:31,640 --> 00:00:34,479
Speaker 1: to the Bloomberg Business Sports. Thanks for having me. Excited

9
00:00:34,520 --> 00:00:37,320
Speaker 1: to be here with you in Scarlett and you know,

10
00:00:37,440 --> 00:00:42,640
Speaker 1: maybe a little less odating. Well, I'm gonna ask the

11
00:00:42,680 --> 00:00:47,600
Speaker 1: obvious question, and it's something that everybody is wondering. State

12
00:00:47,640 --> 00:00:50,279
Speaker 1: and growth of sports betting in America. Where do you

13
00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:54,000
Speaker 1: guys see it today? Yeah, look, I think, you know,

14
00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:56,600
Speaker 1: sports betting is at a at a critical moment. I

15
00:00:56,600 --> 00:00:58,840
Speaker 1: think we're you know, we're very much in the early

16
00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:01,960
Speaker 1: names of this entire process. But you know, it's important

17
00:01:01,960 --> 00:01:06,480
Speaker 1: to remember in Europe this has been legal for a

18
00:01:06,520 --> 00:01:10,240
Speaker 1: long time. And we just acquired work for eight eight Holdings.

19
00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:12,680
Speaker 1: We just acquired William Hill. That's an eighty eight year

20
00:01:12,680 --> 00:01:16,320
Speaker 1: old business. Right here, we're in our infancy and so

21
00:01:16,680 --> 00:01:19,040
Speaker 1: some of the things that we're seeing play out now

22
00:01:19,120 --> 00:01:21,399
Speaker 1: and and happen are what I call the sort of

23
00:01:21,400 --> 00:01:24,119
Speaker 1: the difference between betting one point oh and em betting

24
00:01:24,160 --> 00:01:26,080
Speaker 1: two point oh. And it's not dissimilar to what we

25
00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:28,440
Speaker 1: saw on Web one point and Web two point oh.

26
00:01:28,680 --> 00:01:30,680
Speaker 1: And I think part of that is it's just this

27
00:01:30,800 --> 00:01:34,959
Speaker 1: macro understanding that we're all trying to figure out what's real,

28
00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:37,600
Speaker 1: what's not, what the hype is and and and you know,

29
00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:40,480
Speaker 1: plot out where the market is going. And what we

30
00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:43,920
Speaker 1: see is this sort of second stage of evolution as

31
00:01:43,959 --> 00:01:47,120
Speaker 1: we get out of the excitement stage that betting is

32
00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:50,680
Speaker 1: finally legal here in a lot of places in the US. Howard,

33
00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:52,880
Speaker 1: I wonder if you could help us help our audience

34
00:01:52,920 --> 00:01:55,240
Speaker 1: better understand your march to the middle strategy. I mean,

35
00:01:55,680 --> 00:02:00,600
Speaker 1: for me, you know, every Fandel, DraftKings, you know, bet MGM,

36
00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:02,440
Speaker 1: you name it. They're all going after my son, who's

37
00:02:02,480 --> 00:02:04,400
Speaker 1: by the way, seventeen years old, to stay away. But

38
00:02:04,480 --> 00:02:06,640
Speaker 1: I mean they're all going after that millennial that gen

39
00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:09,560
Speaker 1: Z crowd talk about, you know, the march of the

40
00:02:09,600 --> 00:02:13,520
Speaker 1: middle strategy that you employ. Ah, Look, you know, think

41
00:02:13,520 --> 00:02:17,080
Speaker 1: about Sports Illustrated right, the brand that we're using, you know,

42
00:02:17,280 --> 00:02:21,280
Speaker 1: sixty plus years of legacy, heritage, history, credibility, and for

43
00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:24,640
Speaker 1: a generation of sports fans, s I was the window

44
00:02:24,720 --> 00:02:28,480
Speaker 1: into the world, knowledge and proximity to the game's athletes.

45
00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:31,760
Speaker 1: They love um cloks like me. And I was a

46
00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:35,040
Speaker 1: journalism of major you know, at the Ohio State University

47
00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:37,880
Speaker 1: and um you know, I ran to the mailbox every

48
00:02:37,919 --> 00:02:41,639
Speaker 1: Tuesday to get my issue. Right. So, if you think

49
00:02:41,639 --> 00:02:43,880
Speaker 1: about that per sect and you think about who does

50
00:02:43,919 --> 00:02:47,359
Speaker 1: the s I brand appeal to, it's a forty fifty

51
00:02:47,520 --> 00:02:51,280
Speaker 1: sixty plus year old sports fan. And you know, rather

52
00:02:51,320 --> 00:02:53,520
Speaker 1: than sort of lean away from that or pretend like

53
00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:55,720
Speaker 1: we have this sort of like tribal following that's some

54
00:02:55,800 --> 00:02:58,760
Speaker 1: other you know, younger brands do, I think we need

55
00:02:58,840 --> 00:03:01,000
Speaker 1: to lean into it. And you know, as we've done that,

56
00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:03,120
Speaker 1: you know, we found what I call sort of the

57
00:03:03,240 --> 00:03:07,000
Speaker 1: unsexy sweet spot. You know, this is an older consumer

58
00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:10,639
Speaker 1: who's a you know, sports fan that bets casually or

59
00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:13,760
Speaker 1: who doesn't get um and you know, I call them

60
00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:16,200
Speaker 1: the unsexy sweet spot. But you know, it's sort of

61
00:03:16,240 --> 00:03:18,360
Speaker 1: a tongue in cheek joke because if you let her

62
00:03:18,440 --> 00:03:21,200
Speaker 1: in the high brand awareness that I have the consideration

63
00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:23,840
Speaker 1: that we have you know, for you know, members of

64
00:03:23,919 --> 00:03:27,000
Speaker 1: this this group in terms of their willingness to partner

65
00:03:27,040 --> 00:03:29,520
Speaker 1: with or get through a Sports Illustrated branded that and

66
00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:33,840
Speaker 1: then you layer on um there you know on some levels,

67
00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:38,080
Speaker 1: lack of technological sophification right uh, the loyalty that that

68
00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:42,280
Speaker 1: can read the um you know, the household income that

69
00:03:42,320 --> 00:03:44,960
Speaker 1: they bring to the table, and an our poop level

70
00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:48,680
Speaker 1: that we're calculating in about forty five x forty plus

71
00:03:48,800 --> 00:03:51,840
Speaker 1: versus under. And so we don't have the money, we

72
00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:53,480
Speaker 1: don't have the brand, we don't have to where with

73
00:03:53,560 --> 00:03:57,480
Speaker 1: all or strategy to compete for those consumers. We're happy

74
00:03:57,520 --> 00:04:00,520
Speaker 1: finding our our niche and leaning into of the folks

75
00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:03,640
Speaker 1: who have a higher h h I likely to ease

76
00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:06,960
Speaker 1: our service. Are still significant size of the US market

77
00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:10,920
Speaker 1: at about and as the highest earning. So we're building

78
00:04:10,920 --> 00:04:13,280
Speaker 1: an app that markets who speaks to and it's built

79
00:04:13,400 --> 00:04:17,440
Speaker 1: for those casual you know, vetters and rapid sports fans

80
00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:20,760
Speaker 1: who are learning how you know the world. This is

81
00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:24,719
Speaker 1: so painful to hear us described as the unsexy sweet

82
00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:27,960
Speaker 1: spot because we're very much Damian Michael Barr and I

83
00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:32,880
Speaker 1: are very much in that gen X group that you're targeting. However,

84
00:04:33,080 --> 00:04:34,840
Speaker 1: we live in New York or we live in the

85
00:04:34,880 --> 00:04:38,159
Speaker 1: Tri state area, so we're actually not your target demo

86
00:04:38,240 --> 00:04:40,400
Speaker 1: in that respect. Why is that? Why are you staying

87
00:04:40,440 --> 00:04:43,200
Speaker 1: out of the coastal states like California, New York? Yeah,

88
00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:45,760
Speaker 1: you know, look, I'm dead center in the middle of that.

89
00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:48,440
Speaker 1: I'm forty nine years old. I'm of the sort of

90
00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:51,159
Speaker 1: group of folks who's still going to hit cool restaurants,

91
00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:53,120
Speaker 1: but starting to notice that the font is getting a

92
00:04:53,120 --> 00:04:59,440
Speaker 1: little bit smaller. Glasses. Yeah, a lot of reading glasses,

93
00:04:59,440 --> 00:05:01,320
Speaker 1: a lot of ifall is coming out, maybe you know,

94
00:05:01,480 --> 00:05:03,520
Speaker 1: a fight over the candle in the middle of the table.

95
00:05:03,560 --> 00:05:06,400
Speaker 1: But in any of that, um, you know, you won't

96
00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:10,160
Speaker 1: likely see us in uh New York, Scarlett that that's

97
00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:12,880
Speaker 1: that's not for us. And frankly, you're not likely to

98
00:05:12,920 --> 00:05:16,800
Speaker 1: see us in Illinois. I don't know how California plays out,

99
00:05:16,839 --> 00:05:18,880
Speaker 1: but I suspect that that would be a more difficult

100
00:05:18,920 --> 00:05:21,159
Speaker 1: states for us. We tend to think of these states

101
00:05:21,160 --> 00:05:25,239
Speaker 1: as vanity states. Uh. What we're looking for our states

102
00:05:25,320 --> 00:05:29,720
Speaker 1: that have attractive tax rates. We're looking for states that

103
00:05:29,800 --> 00:05:34,799
Speaker 1: have um, you know, night density in terms of population um,

104
00:05:34,839 --> 00:05:37,839
Speaker 1: total numbers, and and and sort of strategically, we want

105
00:05:37,839 --> 00:05:40,640
Speaker 1: them geographically located in ways that make it easier for

106
00:05:40,720 --> 00:05:43,160
Speaker 1: us to market to them. And then we're looking for

107
00:05:43,200 --> 00:05:47,480
Speaker 1: states that don't have thirty plus players in the market.

108
00:05:47,600 --> 00:05:52,039
Speaker 1: You know, if we enter into a state moving forward, uh,

109
00:05:52,080 --> 00:05:54,880
Speaker 1: it needs to have those things and it's going to

110
00:05:54,920 --> 00:05:59,240
Speaker 1: need to have you know, casino legal, casino live or

111
00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:02,200
Speaker 1: expected to be live shortly thereafter, because that's an area

112
00:06:02,240 --> 00:06:07,600
Speaker 1: where globally has has I'll stop short of calling it dominance,

113
00:06:07,640 --> 00:06:09,960
Speaker 1: but we have we to recognize as one of the

114
00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:12,440
Speaker 1: best in the world with that in terms of our

115
00:06:12,560 --> 00:06:14,920
Speaker 1: cat in terms of our user experience, the student how

116
00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:18,000
Speaker 1: studios that we have, the game development. So with all

117
00:06:18,040 --> 00:06:21,279
Speaker 1: of those resources, gaming is an area where we think

118
00:06:21,279 --> 00:06:23,360
Speaker 1: we have right and permission to win until we're going

119
00:06:23,400 --> 00:06:27,719
Speaker 1: to lead into that quite heavily. Well, one state here

120
00:06:27,839 --> 00:06:31,800
Speaker 1: in the US that all the online casinos are hoping

121
00:06:32,560 --> 00:06:37,719
Speaker 1: things will open up in that market California. Now, you know,

122
00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:40,359
Speaker 1: it's it's kind of iffy about what's going to happen

123
00:06:40,480 --> 00:06:44,280
Speaker 1: right now in California, But it depends on you know,

124
00:06:44,680 --> 00:06:48,520
Speaker 1: how it goes. Maybe you know, maybe California will come

125
00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:51,880
Speaker 1: very soon. And if it does, what does that mean

126
00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:56,480
Speaker 1: for you and the entire market for online gaming? You know,

127
00:06:56,839 --> 00:06:58,600
Speaker 1: I can honestly say that I know what it means

128
00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:01,560
Speaker 1: for me. I think for the gaming community, it's a

129
00:07:01,640 --> 00:07:06,560
Speaker 1: it's a really great, you know, statement of what gaming needs,

130
00:07:06,640 --> 00:07:09,640
Speaker 1: and you know, the admission that betters are better sports

131
00:07:09,640 --> 00:07:11,760
Speaker 1: fans and that it's just as a part of enhancing

132
00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:15,800
Speaker 1: the experience for you know, fandom. UM. As it relates

133
00:07:15,800 --> 00:07:18,120
Speaker 1: to the numbers, it's a I don't know the population

134
00:07:18,160 --> 00:07:20,119
Speaker 1: status in front of it is a very large state.

135
00:07:20,520 --> 00:07:24,640
Speaker 1: So right now, the Tier one operators are are supporting

136
00:07:24,720 --> 00:07:28,360
Speaker 1: conversations and efforts to try to push legalization, and I

137
00:07:28,440 --> 00:07:31,200
Speaker 1: know some of the um you know tribes have a

138
00:07:31,280 --> 00:07:35,040
Speaker 1: very different opinion. I'm staying out of that conversation. That's

139
00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:36,680
Speaker 1: not a that's not a fight for me. I mean,

140
00:07:36,720 --> 00:07:39,800
Speaker 1: I think what we're looking to do here. You know,

141
00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:41,920
Speaker 1: we see the world as there's Tier one, Tier two,

142
00:07:41,920 --> 00:07:45,520
Speaker 1: and Tier three. There's three brands in Tier one. I

143
00:07:45,920 --> 00:07:47,680
Speaker 1: won't say what I think they are, but you could

144
00:07:47,680 --> 00:07:50,880
Speaker 1: probably guess there's a bunch more that are Tier two,

145
00:07:51,040 --> 00:07:52,840
Speaker 1: and then there's about twenty or so brands that are

146
00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:56,680
Speaker 1: Tier three, we are decidedly in Tier three. Everything we're

147
00:07:56,720 --> 00:07:59,680
Speaker 1: doing is trying to employ a strategy where in the

148
00:07:59,720 --> 00:08:02,600
Speaker 1: next eighteen to twenty four months we can find our

149
00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:06,080
Speaker 1: way into you know, Tier two, probably even the lower

150
00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:09,600
Speaker 1: end of Tier two, but that's the strategy. So California

151
00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:12,400
Speaker 1: is a Tier one conversation for right now, or maybe

152
00:08:12,400 --> 00:08:14,360
Speaker 1: even a Tier two, but it's not one that I'm

153
00:08:14,360 --> 00:08:16,440
Speaker 1: considering myself too much with or spending a lot of

154
00:08:16,440 --> 00:08:19,360
Speaker 1: time personally thinking about for hourly business. You know, Howard,

155
00:08:19,440 --> 00:08:21,720
Speaker 1: One thing we've talked about, you know, offline is the

156
00:08:21,720 --> 00:08:24,520
Speaker 1: importance in the role of content, you know, and how

157
00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:27,920
Speaker 1: that plays into you know, consumer engagement, right and you know,

158
00:08:27,920 --> 00:08:30,240
Speaker 1: when I think of Sports Illustrated, I was just like you,

159
00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:31,800
Speaker 1: you know, I ran to the mailbox to get it

160
00:08:31,840 --> 00:08:34,280
Speaker 1: every week, but increasingly as I got older, I only

161
00:08:34,360 --> 00:08:36,679
Speaker 1: ran to the mailbox during Februaries when the swimsuit issue

162
00:08:36,679 --> 00:08:38,199
Speaker 1: came out. So, you know, talk to me about it,

163
00:08:38,960 --> 00:08:41,040
Speaker 1: Talk to me about you mean, new Talk to me

164
00:08:41,040 --> 00:08:43,559
Speaker 1: about how you're leveraging the content that s I has

165
00:08:43,600 --> 00:08:46,600
Speaker 1: today where you know, you know all of that, and

166
00:08:46,640 --> 00:08:48,520
Speaker 1: how you plan on you know kind of pouring that

167
00:08:48,600 --> 00:08:51,840
Speaker 1: over onto the sport books. I paging Muss, paging mrs

168
00:08:52,160 --> 00:08:56,320
Speaker 1: so she never listens to the show. So you know,

169
00:08:56,559 --> 00:08:59,400
Speaker 1: from our from our perspective, right, I mentioned betting one

170
00:08:59,400 --> 00:09:02,360
Speaker 1: point bet two point They need to answer this question properly.

171
00:09:02,559 --> 00:09:05,040
Speaker 1: I'll frame out a little bit about what we see

172
00:09:05,080 --> 00:09:07,360
Speaker 1: as the differences between them two right, betting one point

173
00:09:07,360 --> 00:09:11,680
Speaker 1: oh had a highly competitive landscape, very high position costs,

174
00:09:12,600 --> 00:09:17,680
Speaker 1: very bonus driven. Brands are spending, operators are spending for share. Um.

175
00:09:17,960 --> 00:09:21,920
Speaker 1: The sports books are were generally pure plays and rather

176
00:09:22,080 --> 00:09:26,400
Speaker 1: transactional experience. Right. Moving out at two point oh, there's

177
00:09:26,600 --> 00:09:29,520
Speaker 1: a lot of shifts. You know, that competitive landscape was

178
00:09:29,840 --> 00:09:33,240
Speaker 1: leading for the path where consolidation is increasingly going into

179
00:09:33,320 --> 00:09:36,320
Speaker 1: the conversation UM. That will cominate a lot of your

180
00:09:36,440 --> 00:09:40,040
Speaker 1: thoughts relative to the market. Those high acquisition costs aren't

181
00:09:40,440 --> 00:09:44,079
Speaker 1: sustainable and brands are have to now and are shifting.

182
00:09:44,120 --> 00:09:48,199
Speaker 1: We are certainly focused on LTV and pretension. Right. So

183
00:09:48,640 --> 00:09:51,679
Speaker 1: the next part of that is content. Content brings about

184
00:09:51,679 --> 00:09:57,199
Speaker 1: consistent engagement. Content will you know, help these brands lower

185
00:09:57,240 --> 00:10:00,120
Speaker 1: their acquisitions. We'll take care of some of that, like

186
00:10:00,240 --> 00:10:03,240
Speaker 1: spending for share mentality as it shifts towards to spend

187
00:10:03,360 --> 00:10:06,840
Speaker 1: for profitability, and I think, you know, if you look

188
00:10:06,880 --> 00:10:10,080
Speaker 1: at the sports betting landscape, betting one point oh could

189
00:10:10,120 --> 00:10:12,920
Speaker 1: best be described as you know, I'm using air quotes here. Yeah,

190
00:10:13,080 --> 00:10:16,280
Speaker 1: it's legal betting two point I was going to transition

191
00:10:16,320 --> 00:10:20,520
Speaker 1: out into you know, product and content based experiences, and

192
00:10:20,679 --> 00:10:22,800
Speaker 1: you know, we we think we have an advantage with

193
00:10:23,480 --> 00:10:26,400
Speaker 1: with this community that we've identified this on sexy sweet

194
00:10:26,400 --> 00:10:30,120
Speaker 1: spot with UM the strategy that we've identified and how

195
00:10:30,120 --> 00:10:33,240
Speaker 1: we're going to look at UH sports and Casino can

196
00:10:33,360 --> 00:10:36,160
Speaker 1: join and UM. You know, we think it becomes really

197
00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:41,840
Speaker 1: interesting because of brickly aligned, integrated UM content experience should

198
00:10:41,880 --> 00:10:45,280
Speaker 1: help with retention and helps us start shifting our thinking

199
00:10:45,360 --> 00:10:47,840
Speaker 1: from how quickly can we get people in and out

200
00:10:47,880 --> 00:10:49,840
Speaker 1: of the app to how long can we keep them?

201
00:10:50,040 --> 00:10:52,280
Speaker 1: How can we build experiences for them? How can we

202
00:10:52,360 --> 00:10:56,000
Speaker 1: roll that out into a more broad membership where all

203
00:10:56,040 --> 00:10:58,679
Speaker 1: the various elements events and covers and and f t

204
00:10:58,840 --> 00:11:00,480
Speaker 1: s and all the things that you know at Sports

205
00:11:00,520 --> 00:11:03,200
Speaker 1: Illustrator has grown into can then be a part of

206
00:11:03,200 --> 00:11:06,880
Speaker 1: that for our users. Okay, so we're in betting one

207
00:11:06,880 --> 00:11:10,240
Speaker 1: point oh right now, Yeah, it's legal you're positioning yourself

208
00:11:10,240 --> 00:11:12,800
Speaker 1: for betting two point oh? What does it look like

209
00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:15,040
Speaker 1: two point o that transition to two point oh? And

210
00:11:15,120 --> 00:11:18,040
Speaker 1: does it happen uniformly across the country or does it

211
00:11:18,080 --> 00:11:21,440
Speaker 1: take place in different markets? Because certain markets are ahead

212
00:11:21,440 --> 00:11:24,480
Speaker 1: of the curve when it comes to adoption of sports betting,

213
00:11:24,520 --> 00:11:26,839
Speaker 1: whereas California, we still don't know what's going to happen.

214
00:11:27,040 --> 00:11:30,199
Speaker 1: How is that going to roll out? Yeah, so it's

215
00:11:30,200 --> 00:11:32,200
Speaker 1: a great question. I'll say, how I think it's going

216
00:11:32,240 --> 00:11:34,520
Speaker 1: to roll out. I don't pretend to have all the

217
00:11:34,520 --> 00:11:38,400
Speaker 1: answers and where any of this, you know, really ultimately goes.

218
00:11:38,440 --> 00:11:41,240
Speaker 1: But but our thesis is that you know, yeah, it's legal,

219
00:11:41,280 --> 00:11:44,920
Speaker 1: shifts to products based experiences, and what that means for

220
00:11:45,120 --> 00:11:49,520
Speaker 1: us is that the user becomes the center of the equation,

221
00:11:49,600 --> 00:11:51,719
Speaker 1: become the sort of center focus in the center of

222
00:11:51,760 --> 00:11:54,400
Speaker 1: the flywheel that you try to build. Um, not just

223
00:11:54,679 --> 00:11:58,320
Speaker 1: yeah it's legal. So um, we're investorally heavily in that.

224
00:11:58,800 --> 00:12:01,960
Speaker 1: You know, we see the app evolving. We've started to

225
00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:04,880
Speaker 1: evolve in a in a pretty interesting direction, you know,

226
00:12:04,920 --> 00:12:08,640
Speaker 1: from our perspective at least. So again back to those

227
00:12:08,640 --> 00:12:10,840
Speaker 1: men used at the dinner table, in a dark restaurant.

228
00:12:11,280 --> 00:12:15,240
Speaker 1: We've introduced larger funts. We have larger buttons for fat

229
00:12:15,240 --> 00:12:17,960
Speaker 1: finger syndrome like you know I I suffer from. We

230
00:12:18,040 --> 00:12:21,880
Speaker 1: have you know, a cleaner um cleaner user experience. We

231
00:12:21,880 --> 00:12:26,920
Speaker 1: we have um SI branded writers like Michael Fabiano and

232
00:12:27,320 --> 00:12:29,160
Speaker 1: you know, Bill and Right and others, some of the

233
00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:32,800
Speaker 1: best in the business who are writing columns for us,

234
00:12:32,880 --> 00:12:36,000
Speaker 1: tied into activities that are happening in the app and

235
00:12:36,360 --> 00:12:39,880
Speaker 1: maintaining obviously the level of journalistic credibility that they've always had,

236
00:12:40,200 --> 00:12:44,120
Speaker 1: but giving our users a chance to experience, you know,

237
00:12:45,040 --> 00:12:47,560
Speaker 1: the world of sports and sports betting too there, So

238
00:12:47,880 --> 00:12:49,800
Speaker 1: we see it sort of shifting that way and then

239
00:12:49,840 --> 00:12:52,840
Speaker 1: as a as a drawd lens. We believe that bad

240
00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:56,280
Speaker 1: content is the bad product is the enemy who could content?

241
00:12:56,880 --> 00:13:02,480
Speaker 1: And um right now we're not even close to the

242
00:13:02,480 --> 00:13:05,440
Speaker 1: best sports app, but we think we've made some really

243
00:13:05,440 --> 00:13:08,440
Speaker 1: strategic moves and are about to make some massive jumps

244
00:13:08,440 --> 00:13:11,040
Speaker 1: in terms of the quality of our product. Specifically, is

245
00:13:11,080 --> 00:13:13,920
Speaker 1: it relates to the audience we cover. But you know,

246
00:13:14,040 --> 00:13:17,199
Speaker 1: it's a little bit of the you know, low bar,

247
00:13:17,440 --> 00:13:20,520
Speaker 1: you know, the level of product innovation and evolution even

248
00:13:20,559 --> 00:13:24,160
Speaker 1: for the best in our business is far lower than

249
00:13:24,160 --> 00:13:25,760
Speaker 1: I think you expect from some of the other apps

250
00:13:25,760 --> 00:13:28,800
Speaker 1: you would invite onto your home screen. And so you know,

251
00:13:28,840 --> 00:13:32,240
Speaker 1: we're focused on that, and we have a customer journey

252
00:13:32,240 --> 00:13:34,959
Speaker 1: that we've outlined and mapped out happy walking through it.

253
00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:37,000
Speaker 1: There's an entrance but that that you know, in terms

254
00:13:37,040 --> 00:13:40,160
Speaker 1: of the ways we think about maintaining this vertically aligned

255
00:13:40,160 --> 00:13:45,600
Speaker 1: consumer focus. You are the former CEO of Bleacher Report,

256
00:13:45,880 --> 00:13:53,920
Speaker 1: and obviously that that's huge. What experiences from that carries

257
00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:57,319
Speaker 1: over into this, Yeah, you know, I think look, prior

258
00:13:57,360 --> 00:14:00,520
Speaker 1: to that, I was at Conde Nast and I was

259
00:14:00,600 --> 00:14:03,560
Speaker 1: the publisher and c r O. At g Q, I

260
00:14:03,640 --> 00:14:06,720
Speaker 1: have the same title it wired. Um, all of these

261
00:14:06,840 --> 00:14:11,560
Speaker 1: jobs are very similar right now. There's obviously nuances and

262
00:14:11,600 --> 00:14:15,160
Speaker 1: differences on the betting side that you know, the regulatory issues,

263
00:14:15,200 --> 00:14:18,679
Speaker 1: the compliance issues, the trading those are newer things to do.

264
00:14:18,800 --> 00:14:20,960
Speaker 1: But the thing that's most interesting about each one of

265
00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:23,240
Speaker 1: the stops I've been lucky enough to have is that

266
00:14:23,320 --> 00:14:26,160
Speaker 1: they sit at a cross section. Right So it's wired.

267
00:14:26,160 --> 00:14:29,920
Speaker 1: It was a cross section of technology, business culture. At

268
00:14:30,240 --> 00:14:34,720
Speaker 1: g Q, it was fashion, culture and sports. At Bleacher

269
00:14:34,880 --> 00:14:41,680
Speaker 1: it was sports and culture. Here it's sports, media, culture, betting.

270
00:14:41,760 --> 00:14:43,760
Speaker 1: It's just a it's a mash up. It's a lot

271
00:14:43,800 --> 00:14:47,320
Speaker 1: of streams coming together. I tend to thrive in those moments,

272
00:14:47,320 --> 00:14:49,640
Speaker 1: in those environments where they sit at the cross section

273
00:14:49,680 --> 00:14:53,040
Speaker 1: of multiple interesting streams that are coming together. And I

274
00:14:53,040 --> 00:14:55,880
Speaker 1: think we're doing a ressemble a really nice team here

275
00:14:55,880 --> 00:14:59,120
Speaker 1: that bought our arms around it and works in conjunction

276
00:14:59,160 --> 00:15:01,360
Speaker 1: with our partners at uh you know, the Arena group

277
00:15:01,400 --> 00:15:05,760
Speaker 1: who publishes Sports Illustrated, an Authentic Brands group owned Sports Illustrated,

278
00:15:05,840 --> 00:15:10,320
Speaker 1: and you know he's an investor in our venture. Well, Howard,

279
00:15:10,480 --> 00:15:13,640
Speaker 1: don't feel bad about you need a bigger funt. And

280
00:15:14,120 --> 00:15:18,040
Speaker 1: we came in the studio and you know, now, Damien's

281
00:15:18,080 --> 00:15:21,960
Speaker 1: eyes and Scarlett's eyes they're great, but I'm like, man,

282
00:15:22,080 --> 00:15:24,000
Speaker 1: we got to turn the lights on people. I can't

283
00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:27,080
Speaker 1: see anything in here. Man. It's that's how bad I'm

284
00:15:27,120 --> 00:15:30,760
Speaker 1: getting in my glasses. If we had sunlight in here,

285
00:15:31,280 --> 00:15:33,800
Speaker 1: you know, if you said it right, like a magnifying glass,

286
00:15:33,840 --> 00:15:36,760
Speaker 1: you could start a fire. So don't worry about that, man.

287
00:15:36,880 --> 00:15:40,720
Speaker 1: It's you know, I'm that unsexy crowd. Man. Don't know.

288
00:15:41,840 --> 00:15:43,520
Speaker 1: We're trying to start a little bit of a fire

289
00:15:43,600 --> 00:15:50,400
Speaker 1: over here. Howard Mitman. He's the president of eight at

290
00:15:50,440 --> 00:15:54,520
Speaker 1: eight US also Sports Illustrated Sports book. Howard, thank you

291
00:15:54,680 --> 00:15:57,600
Speaker 1: so much for joining us on the Bloomberg Business of Sports. Michael,

292
00:15:57,680 --> 00:16:00,400
Speaker 1: thanks so much, and thank you Starlett and Damian. Appreciate

293
00:16:00,440 --> 00:16:02,720
Speaker 1: you having me and having the opportunities to chat with

294
00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:05,720
Speaker 1: your listeners. Thank you, sir. This has been the Bloomberg

295
00:16:05,760 --> 00:16:08,040
Speaker 1: Business of Sports podcast or we explore some of the

296
00:16:08,080 --> 00:16:10,160
Speaker 1: big money issues in the world of sports on Michael Bar.

297
00:16:10,240 --> 00:16:12,720
Speaker 1: You can follow me on Twitter at Big Bar Sports.

298
00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:15,440
Speaker 1: I'm Scarlett flu and I'm on Twitter at Scarlett po

299
00:16:15,680 --> 00:16:18,560
Speaker 1: and I'm Damien sass Hour on Twitter at ds hour.

300
00:16:18,880 --> 00:16:23,640
Speaker 1: And you can catch our podcast every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.

301
00:16:23,760 --> 00:16:26,280
Speaker 1: And by the way, you can download the show wherever

302
00:16:26,560 --> 00:16:27,640
Speaker 1: you get your podcasts.