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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Bloomberg Business of Sports. Who are we

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Speaker 1: explore some big money issues in the world of sports

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Speaker 1: on Michael blarn I'm Scarlett and Damien's Jonathan Sorrows, co

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Speaker 1: founder of Athletes Unlimited at the Women's Pro Sports Leagues Network.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I like it. The company is trying to

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Speaker 1: get about thirty million dollars funding. UH, And first of all, Jonathan,

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Speaker 1: welcome to the Bloomberg Business of Sports. Great to be here.

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Speaker 1: What brought you into this? UH? Trying to to raise

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Speaker 1: thirty million to the fund leagues? Well, just to be clear,

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Speaker 1: we actually just just announced the completion of our thirty

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Speaker 1: million dollar funding, which is our first round of outside

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Speaker 1: into the business. So we started Athletes un Limited. UH

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Speaker 1: actually launched publicly in early in March, right before the pandemic.

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Speaker 1: UH shut the world down with an idea that there

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Speaker 1: was a tremendous opportunity in in women's sports undervalue athletes

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Speaker 1: and underserved fans who deserved an opportunity to see the

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Speaker 1: best in the world play their sports. And earlier this year,

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Speaker 1: Athletes Unlimited signed a new multi year rights agreement with

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Speaker 1: ESPN that will see more than what a hundred sixties.

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Speaker 1: Softball lacrosse games air on different ESPN platforms. I'm curious

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Speaker 1: when you look at metrics and try to quantify how

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Speaker 1: effective these deals are. How how do you measure viewership?

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Speaker 1: What does success look like or sound like to you?

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Speaker 1: So what we've seen in in all of our sports.

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Speaker 1: We play four sports. We play softball, indoor volleyball, lacrosse,

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Speaker 1: and basketball, and three of those sports, we are the

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Speaker 1: only professional league in the US, one of the only

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Speaker 1: professional league in the world. Obviously, basketball also has the

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Speaker 1: w n B. A UM, all of those sports at

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Speaker 1: the collegiate level have been performing incredibly well for years.

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Speaker 1: Softball is the third more successful of the nt Double

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Speaker 1: A Championships, folly ball right behind it. Basketball. We've seen

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Speaker 1: the w n B numbers skyrocket over this over this

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Speaker 1: past year, So we know that there's a tremendous audience

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Speaker 1: out there for all of these sports. UM. We're still

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Speaker 1: a new company. We've only been around for these uh

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Speaker 1: these last two years. People are still getting to know us, UM.

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Speaker 1: But what we're seeing is all the fans who find

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Speaker 1: us love what they see UM, and they come back

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Speaker 1: and they and they tell their friends. You mentioned about

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Speaker 1: the w n B A and their season just wrapped up,

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Speaker 1: and ordinarily believe there's about a hundred forty plus players

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Speaker 1: in the w n B A, about half of them

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Speaker 1: would go over to foreign countries to play basketball there.

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Speaker 1: But between COVID, Brittney Grinder being detained in Russia and

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Speaker 1: just the geopolitics of what's going on, that is all

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Speaker 1: dried up, and the w n B A players would

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Speaker 1: make a million plus going overseas. Can you talk to

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Speaker 1: us about that about how all of this has affected

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Speaker 1: women basketball players? Yeah, I mean those those opportunities haven't

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Speaker 1: dried up. Obviously, going to Russia would be a real

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Speaker 1: challenge this year, or Ukraine. But there's still plenty of

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Speaker 1: leagues across the world where where athletes can can go

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Speaker 1: and play. Um it's a hard life flow. They play

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Speaker 1: in the w n B A and then they turn

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Speaker 1: right around and go and play overseas to make additional money. UM.

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Speaker 1: What athletes are limited provides, among other things, as an

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Speaker 1: opportunity for those same athletes to stay here and play

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Speaker 1: at home UH during the w n B off season

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Speaker 1: and earn a good amount of money UH and play

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Speaker 1: highly highly competitive basketball in a different format. UM. So

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Speaker 1: you know, we we believe that we're a great compliment

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Speaker 1: to the w n B a uh and provide another

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Speaker 1: opportunity for for athletes to play here at home that

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Speaker 1: they wouldn't otherwise. Have. Jonathan talk to us about the

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Speaker 1: influence of private equity on the sports world. You know,

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Speaker 1: we've seen aries racing money for you know, investment in sports,

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Speaker 1: in sports franchises are like Silver League has been active.

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Speaker 1: Talk to us about the role of private equity more

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Speaker 1: generally speaking in the world of sports. Yeah, you know,

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Speaker 1: we do something. We do things an entirely different way.

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Speaker 1: We're the first professional sports league to be organized as

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Speaker 1: a public benefit corporation, which means that we incorporate mission

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Speaker 1: and the public benefit into into everything we do. Um

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Speaker 1: and so we are you know, we are about delivering

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Speaker 1: returns to shareholders. All of the folks who invested with

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Speaker 1: us in this round believe that they're going to get

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Speaker 1: a financial return on this investment because they see the opportunity.

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Speaker 1: But we're also about delivering a product that is valuable

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Speaker 1: to the athletes, valuable to the fans, and valuable to

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Speaker 1: their communities. UM and so I uh, you know, it's

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Speaker 1: just a very different model from from where private equity

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Speaker 1: is going and trying to capitalize on on the existing leagues.

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Speaker 1: I want to follow up on what you said to

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Speaker 1: Damien about Athletes un Limited being a public benefit corporation.

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Speaker 1: I'm curious in general over the role of private equity

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Speaker 1: in the sports world. If you could talk a little

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Speaker 1: bit more about that. What was the catalyst for pe

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Speaker 1: becoming such a big player in sports. I understand they

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Speaker 1: have a lot of dry powder. Um, they have money

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Speaker 1: that they need to invest. How much of it is

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Speaker 1: a function of they have a long time horizon. They're

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Speaker 1: not scared off by UH liquidity issues. UM. So actually,

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Speaker 1: you know, back back in the day, I spent some

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Speaker 1: time looking at some of the existing professional sports clubs

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Speaker 1: in a private equity concept. You know, I think that

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Speaker 1: what they see are high value assets that have continued

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Speaker 1: to grow in value over over time, belief that sports

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Speaker 1: is going to be continued to be essential to the

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Speaker 1: to the media landscape. UM. As you know now the

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Speaker 1: multiplicity of options for viewers to diversify their viewing. Live

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Speaker 1: sports is a product that people still show up for

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Speaker 1: UH and has has a lot of value. Um. You know,

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Speaker 1: and and and these teams are deeply embedded in their uh,

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Speaker 1: in their community. So I can see the value that

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Speaker 1: that that they're seeing. UM, we see also the value

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Speaker 1: of really being able to deliver for the athletes, making

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Speaker 1: them partners from day one. UH. It's part of the

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Speaker 1: unique model of Athletes Unlimited. Is every one of our

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Speaker 1: sports has a has a player executive committee where the players,

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Speaker 1: the athletes themselves are working alongside of us in making

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Speaker 1: every decision that affects their league. It is truly unique

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Speaker 1: and professional sports. So, you know, I think it's I

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Speaker 1: understand why private equity is involved in in in the

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Speaker 1: other leagues, but we've got a very very different model

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Speaker 1: of Athletes Unlimited. So John of thing, you know, talk

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Speaker 1: to us, talk to us about you know, the thirty

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Speaker 1: million dollar capital rais you know, what are the funds

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Speaker 1: going to be used for the working capital? Are you

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Speaker 1: guys looking to maybe branch into new sports? Um? Is

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Speaker 1: anyone cashing out? I mean, I love to see that,

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Speaker 1: Kevin Durant in investors alongside yourself. Now I'm just getting

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Speaker 1: but curiously, I mean, what's what are the process going

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Speaker 1: to be used for? How are you planning to grow

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Speaker 1: the company. So it's principally working capital. We have a

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Speaker 1: thesis UM going in that we needed to get to

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Speaker 1: scale very quickly, and we need to deliver best in

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Speaker 1: class product, uh, not just for the athletes, but also

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Speaker 1: for the fans. So if you watch our games on

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Speaker 1: on ESPN and on the other networks where they've appeared,

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Speaker 1: you will see a sports product that compares to any other,

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Speaker 1: uh in the landscape. And it's our view that that

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Speaker 1: you know, people talk a lot about what the what

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Speaker 1: the athletes deserve, and absolutely they deserve a professional experience

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Speaker 1: that is second to none, but it's also about what

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Speaker 1: the fans deserve. They deserve to see, uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: see the games with all of the things that they've

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Speaker 1: come to expect to end more with you know, in

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Speaker 1: game mic, mic, dub players and like uh you know,

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Speaker 1: sports gambling available for for all of our sports, uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, and and all the rest. So so we've

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Speaker 1: built very very quickly accompanied to scale UM and we're

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Speaker 1: going to continue to grow that and invest in the

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Speaker 1: lease that that that we've already uh we've already produced.

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Speaker 1: We've continued to grow from day one, so you know,

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Speaker 1: we've not been standing still. This year in two was

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Speaker 1: the first time, we ran a basketball league, adding our

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Speaker 1: fourth sport, and we also added a second season of softball,

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Speaker 1: a mini season we called a u X where the

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Speaker 1: same format was used in a in a in a

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Speaker 1: short two weeks season. And three we're gonna grow within

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Speaker 1: the existing sports as well. Uh something we're not ready

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Speaker 1: to announce yet, but we'll we'll have some some more

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Speaker 1: editions within our existing sports on the horizon, uh, not

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Speaker 1: in we can see adding additional sports. The model is

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Speaker 1: set to the company is set to be able to

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Speaker 1: add additional sports, but that's not on the and that's

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Speaker 1: not on the immediate horizon. This capital is really going

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Speaker 1: to be used to continue producing best in class products

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Speaker 1: in the four sports that were involved in and growing

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Speaker 1: within those sports. Jonathan, you mentioned sports betting. That's near

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Speaker 1: and dear to my heart. You know, I just have

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Speaker 1: to ask you a question. You know, I mean Vanduel,

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Speaker 1: you know Draftking, Caesar's mgm Um, you know Barstool. You

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Speaker 1: know I struggle to find U n B A lines.

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Speaker 1: You know I struggle to find live golf for f one.

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Speaker 1: You know, talk to me about women's sports and the

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Speaker 1: potential to get a piece of that sports handle that.

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Speaker 1: You know that call it sixty billion dollar beast through

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Speaker 1: the first nine months of this year. You know, what's

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Speaker 1: the potential for women's sports in the sports gambling sphere.

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Speaker 1: I mean it's it's it's as unlimited as any as

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Speaker 1: any other. I agree with you there, they're they're hard

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Speaker 1: to find. Um. You know, those lines can be hard

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Speaker 1: to find. Uh, it's hard to get up and running.

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Speaker 1: And we made a real commitment early on again and

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Speaker 1: to be able to serve fans in the way that

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Speaker 1: they want to be served and be it the way

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Speaker 1: that they want to be able to interact with their sports.

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Speaker 1: We made a real commitment commitment to get to get

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Speaker 1: registered in the states where where it was legal, um,

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Speaker 1: and to get those lines up. UM. As more and

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Speaker 1: more fans show up for these sports, as there's as

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Speaker 1: we're seeing not just in in our leagues, but in

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Speaker 1: the nw CELL and the w n b A, uh,

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Speaker 1: those lines will become more prominent. It's just inevitable. Uh.

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Speaker 1: You know, there are this segment. It's not every buddy,

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Speaker 1: There is a segment of sports fans that love to

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Speaker 1: bet um and and they will bet on sports that

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Speaker 1: are engaging and fun to watch. And and all of

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Speaker 1: ours are that you mean there are people out there

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Speaker 1: that love to bet. Gee. I don't know anybody like that.

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Speaker 1: Jonathan Surles, co founder of Athletes Unlimited Women's Pro Sports

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Speaker 1: League Network, Thank you so much for joining us on

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Speaker 1: the Bloomberg Business with Sports and good luck to you, sir.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much. It's great to talk to you all.

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Speaker 1: This has been the Bloomberg Business of Sports podcast where

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Speaker 1: we explore some of the big old money issues in

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Speaker 1: the world of sports. I'm Michael Barre. You can follow

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Speaker 1: me on Twitter at Big bar Sports and you can

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Speaker 1: find me on Twitter at Scarlett Fold and I'm on

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Speaker 1: Twitter at d sass Hour and of course our podcasts

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Speaker 1: every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. And don't forget to download

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Speaker 1: the way we roll