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Speaker 1: This is the Business of Sports on Bloomberg Radio with

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Speaker 1: Scott and Michael Barr. Hello, I'm Michael bar and I'm

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Speaker 1: Scott Sashnik. Each week we explore the big money issues

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Speaker 1: in the world of sports. We talked to some of

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Speaker 1: the biggest players in the industry. Today, we spend the

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Speaker 1: hour with the owner of the Los Angeles Lakers, Genie Buss,

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Speaker 1: and of course we address the issue of the Lakers

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Speaker 1: possibly drafting Alonzo Ball, son of controversial LaVar Ball. He

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Speaker 1: has a very passionate father who I have In my

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Speaker 1: thirty plus years of experience, I have met many parents

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Speaker 1: and siblings and spouses of you know, great athletes, and

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Speaker 1: I think having a strong family advocate is important for

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Speaker 1: the success of a player. We'll have more of our

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Speaker 1: conversation with Lakers owner Jennie Buss, but first, Michael, let's

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Speaker 1: get to the top Business of Sports stories of the week, Scott.

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Speaker 1: One of the big surprise teams in small this year

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Speaker 1: is the Yankees, led by rookie Aaron Judge. To left,

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Speaker 1: Derek goes more than halfway up the bleachers and left

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Speaker 1: a monster blast. The home run call courtesy of the

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Speaker 1: S Network and looks like someone is close to buying

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Speaker 1: a piece of the Bronx. Bomber Scott, you broke the

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Speaker 1: news from Bloomberg Phillis in. Yeah, a lot of people

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Speaker 1: trying to buy pieces of sports teams these days. The

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Speaker 1: Miami Marlins, of course tied Tag Romney making a bid,

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Speaker 1: but keeping with the Tag Romney of course, he's the

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Speaker 1: founder of Solo Mere Capital. Two of his partners there

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Speaker 1: are close to closing on a one percent stake of

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Speaker 1: the Yankees. Now why a lot of people do this?

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Speaker 1: You know that there's these limited partners in sports teams,

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Speaker 1: and there are many reasons. One why sell one percent?

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Speaker 1: A lot of times it could be a state planning,

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Speaker 1: so you take a little money off the table. The

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Speaker 1: valuation has gotten so high on these things. The Yankees

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Speaker 1: are the most valuable franchise in baseball. If they were

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Speaker 1: really on the market, the whole shebang could top four

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Speaker 1: billion dollars. So there's a little discount for limited partnership.

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Speaker 1: So let's say thirty five million dollars for one percent stake?

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Speaker 1: Do I buy it? Because I want to do some

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Speaker 1: things with my core business that others can't do. Let's

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Speaker 1: say you have a business transaction and you're looking to

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Speaker 1: close the deal. Pretty cool to be able to take

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Speaker 1: somebody into the Yankee Stadium clubhouse, introduce him to Aaron

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Speaker 1: Judge and then talk business after that. That's one reason

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Speaker 1: people do this. I know the story we're following involves

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Speaker 1: soccer legend David Beckham. Beckham could raise the roof with

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Speaker 1: a goal. I don't believe it. David Beckham score cickle

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Speaker 1: to take England all the way to the World Cup finals.

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Speaker 1: Give that man, Annoys. Yes, that was David Beckham's classic

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Speaker 1: goal against Greece in two thousand one. Scott we knew

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Speaker 1: what a success he was on the pitch. Well now,

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Speaker 1: like some other star athletes, he wants ownership. You saying

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Speaker 1: pitch better than field. I like that. It's very colloqual.

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Speaker 1: Good for you. But I like what he said. Give

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Speaker 1: this man or whatever. But here's a perfect indicator of

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Speaker 1: professional sports right now. Doesn't matter that this is international

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Speaker 1: megastar David Beckham. If you want money to build a

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Speaker 1: stadium or an arena anytime anywhere these days, it's not easy.

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Speaker 1: He has been trying to do this for more than

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Speaker 1: four years. As part of his deal. Remember when he

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Speaker 1: joined MLS part of his deal was he had the

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Speaker 1: right to get an expansion team. By the way he

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Speaker 1: priced Tagg that at twenty five million bucks, they're going

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Speaker 1: for a hundred and fifty million or more these days.

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Speaker 1: So great deal for David. But he still has to

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Speaker 1: get this done. So the city council has approved the

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Speaker 1: land deal finally the last three acres where he needs

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Speaker 1: to to buy and build this stadium. But there's still

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Speaker 1: more that needs to get done. And that was the thing.

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Speaker 1: It wasn't so much as you know, hey, you can

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Speaker 1: get the team. You had to get the land. And

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Speaker 1: he did that. Yeah, the teams easy part. No, MLS

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Speaker 1: has not officially granted an expansion team to Miami yet.

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Speaker 1: But let me see how hard would it be to

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Speaker 1: figure David Beckham has an arena deal. He's the biggest

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Speaker 1: face of the sport. Yeah, I think they want him involved.

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Speaker 1: I don't think that's the problem here. The problem is,

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Speaker 1: show me you've got the land and the money behind

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Speaker 1: the team, then we grant you a friendship. The fact

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Speaker 1: that this is happening right now, right there, with all

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Speaker 1: that's happening on with the taxpayer money in Miami, certainly

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Speaker 1: worked against him in the past couple of years. And

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Speaker 1: our final story of the week involves to other soccer

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Speaker 1: players and one of the greatest basketball players of all time,

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Speaker 1: and that is Lebron James on Forbes magazine. Has now

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Speaker 1: slipped into the number two slot. He has moved past

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Speaker 1: Lionel Messi as the richest athletes living of all time time.

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Speaker 1: He is behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Lebron James. Look, this

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Speaker 1: is just loaded it just to show you how much

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Speaker 1: he's making. It's about fifty eight million dollars when you

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Speaker 1: throw in the sponsorship. This is just the sponsorship part alone.

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Speaker 1: This is off the field, off the court rather, so

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Speaker 1: you throw that in and it's a lot of money.

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Speaker 1: He has Coca Cola and he has other sponsors. But

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Speaker 1: my goodness, that that's just a boatload of money, about

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Speaker 1: eighties six million dollars total. Lebron says he wants to

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Speaker 1: be an owner one day. That requires billions, be billions.

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Speaker 1: The real money will come from the media empire that

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Speaker 1: he's setting up. He owns those things. He owns the

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Speaker 1: Blaze Pizza. That's the big money money man. You're listening

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Speaker 1: to Bloomberg Business of Sports on Bloomberg radio around the world,

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Speaker 1: and let's get to Los Angeles, where we're joined by

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Speaker 1: Ginnie Buss, one of the most powerful women in sports today,

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Speaker 1: certainly is she owns the Los Angeles Lakers of the NBA.

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Speaker 1: And Gennie, thanks for joining us. What is your management philosophy?

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Speaker 1: What my father taught me was higher the best people

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Speaker 1: and get out of their way. That's something that I

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Speaker 1: practice with the Lakers today, you know, really making sure

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Speaker 1: that the people that I do have in place have

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Speaker 1: everything that they need to be successful. I'm dating myself

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Speaker 1: a bit because I saw the Lakers play at the

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Speaker 1: Forum and I knew your dad. He was a poker

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Speaker 1: player to he also talked about stamina, which is which

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Speaker 1: is not easy. Can you tell me about your dad

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Speaker 1: and how he conveyed these messages to you was a

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Speaker 1: great anecdote where you say that sort of defines how

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Speaker 1: he did things. He tried to teach me to be

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Speaker 1: a good poker player, and I really I didn't have

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Speaker 1: the It just wasn't attractive to me. I don't know why.

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Speaker 1: But what he was really trying to teach me was

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Speaker 1: about the stamina and that in the game of poker,

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Speaker 1: you have to be patient, and you have to wait

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Speaker 1: for the opportunity and that you know, if you if

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Speaker 1: you rush things and you and you try to play

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Speaker 1: a hand that doesn't have the right cards, maybe you

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Speaker 1: can bluff your way out of it. But it's really

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Speaker 1: about over time and making the right decisions, strategic decisions,

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Speaker 1: staying patient, not rushing things. However, when you do have

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Speaker 1: the opportunities, when you do have the cards, you have

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Speaker 1: to be able to go from zero to a hundred

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Speaker 1: in a heartbeat. So you always have to be prepared

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Speaker 1: and you can't be lulled into complacency. So that really

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Speaker 1: was the lesson that he was trying to teach me.

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Speaker 1: And it wasn't just about a card game. I love

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Speaker 1: to play poker and I remember watching a televised event

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Speaker 1: of the Poker Tournament all of a sudden like, oh

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Speaker 1: my goodness, there's Mr Bust and he's on there and

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Speaker 1: it's and it did something else too, is that because

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Speaker 1: of his appearance, it made me think, hey, I want

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Speaker 1: to catch the Lakers game. So something like that, at

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Speaker 1: least from that aspect, and yes, you know, playing cards,

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Speaker 1: you want to win, but it was also a great

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Speaker 1: tool to market the linkers. He started on the World

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Speaker 1: Poker Tour and the early nineties, and I think he

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Speaker 1: was actually even Rookie of the Year when here he was.

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Speaker 1: He really was passionate about the game and really enjoyed

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Speaker 1: the people that he met and got to play cards with.

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Speaker 1: But absolutely he was a very competitive person and it

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Speaker 1: brought out that side in him. Talking with Lakers owner

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Speaker 1: Jennie Buss and Genny, lots of kids looked at Magic

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Speaker 1: and Michael, I want to be like Mike, but they

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Speaker 1: were talking about basketball. These guys, however, were leaders in

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Speaker 1: another realm. Everybody wants to be a brand. Everybody's in tech,

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Speaker 1: everybody's hanging out with the mark andresens of the world.

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Speaker 1: This is not just athletics anymore. This is athletics leading

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Speaker 1: to something else. That is absolutely the case that I

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Speaker 1: see that with the athletes that are coming into the NBA,

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Speaker 1: they are prepared for a career after basketball. They want

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Speaker 1: their exposure, they want a platform to bring eyeballs to

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Speaker 1: their Instagram page. You know, I don't blame them. I

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Speaker 1: think the opportunity to play in the NBA gives you

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Speaker 1: a global platform to you know, introduce yourself to the

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Speaker 1: world and what you stand for and who you are,

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Speaker 1: and a lot of smart players have become good businessmen

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Speaker 1: using those opportunities that the NBA presents to them. Gennie,

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Speaker 1: you certainly had your share of star power. Let's see Shack, Magic, Kobe,

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Speaker 1: keep it on and on and on. How important is

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Speaker 1: it for the brand, for the Laker brand to have

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Speaker 1: star power. It's critical, you know, if, especially if it

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Speaker 1: leads to winning. I don't think any owner would want

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Speaker 1: to be in a position of having mega star but

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Speaker 1: never appear in the playoffs. You have to not only

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Speaker 1: have that star and build a team or round that

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Speaker 1: star or two stars or two and a half stars

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Speaker 1: or three stars, whatever the formula is that people believe

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Speaker 1: now leads to championships. What Magic Johnson is trying to

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Speaker 1: put together for the Lakers. Now, you know, you have

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Speaker 1: to have that go to guy. If that's the guy

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Speaker 1: that is the star because of his charisma, his ability

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Speaker 1: to win, then all that happens organically. Who the fans

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Speaker 1: gravitate too. I think trying to just say, let's get

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Speaker 1: a well known player, let's get an all star, but

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Speaker 1: if he doesn't fit your team's culture or doesn't fit

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Speaker 1: on your team and you're and you don't win, then

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Speaker 1: a star doesn't matter. It's like Kobe Bryant. You have

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Speaker 1: to miss him, and he sold a lot of tickets

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Speaker 1: for the Lakers. Kobe was one of the lifetime, once

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Speaker 1: in a generation type players. We were lucky to have

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Speaker 1: him for twenty years on one team. I don't think

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Speaker 1: you're going to see that often in a league any longer,

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Speaker 1: you know, with the kind of rules we have with

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Speaker 1: free agency, and you know, just the longevity of a

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Speaker 1: career like Kobe Bryant. Can you talk more about that,

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Speaker 1: about what it is like to have so many people

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Speaker 1: like a Kobe or a Magic to sit down and

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Speaker 1: talk to. I'm so lucky. I pinched myself every day

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Speaker 1: when I go in the office and Magic Johnson's there,

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Speaker 1: and um, you know, we can talk about things that

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Speaker 1: you gotta understand, Like for me, having somebody of like

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Speaker 1: mind and purpose is what I enjoy working with. And

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Speaker 1: there's nobody with more pure intentions than Magic Johnson of

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Speaker 1: wanting the Lakers to be on top again. We are

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Speaker 1: chatting with Jennie Buss, owner of the Lakers, and Jenia.

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Speaker 1: Not long ago you said, like you're you're not a

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Speaker 1: stone cold killer, like like Kobe was a cold blooded

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Speaker 1: but you did have to take some serious action not

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Speaker 1: long ago when you fired your brother and Mitch cup

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Speaker 1: Check took some stone cold killer in you. Was it

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Speaker 1: difficult or something you had to work up to. You know,

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Speaker 1: it's not really comfortable for me to talk about. It

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Speaker 1: was a difficult thing. My first public statement about it

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Speaker 1: was that I really didn't want to see that day come,

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Speaker 1: and perhaps I waited too long to make that decision,

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Speaker 1: and that for that I was sorry to our fans.

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Speaker 1: Not participating in the playoffs for four years in a

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Speaker 1: row was unheard of. In the thirty two years that

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Speaker 1: my dad ran the team, he only missed the playoffs twice,

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Speaker 1: and so that kind of play after route for us,

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Speaker 1: it was, you know, unacceptable, and you know, had to

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Speaker 1: make a change, And a lot of people question the

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Speaker 1: timing of it because it was a few days before

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Speaker 1: the trade deadline in February. Once I knew the decision

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Speaker 1: and the course that I wanted to take, you look

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Speaker 1: at the end be a calendar, and there is no

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Speaker 1: off season in the NBA. If once you make a decision,

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Speaker 1: it's it's best to just do it and and start

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Speaker 1: to move forward so that you can lay out the

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Speaker 1: plans that you want to to take as soon as possible. Jennie,

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Speaker 1: the Lakers have the second pick in the NBA Draft.

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Speaker 1: Now we've heard about the father of Alonzo Ball, of

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Speaker 1: our ball. We know there is controversy swirling around him,

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Speaker 1: everything from five D sneakers and the way he talks

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Speaker 1: about his son. What about drafting Alonzo Ball? Is that

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Speaker 1: something that the Lakers are shying away from. I will

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Speaker 1: defer that to our front office. Um, you know, I've

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Speaker 1: been asked that question. Certainly. I think if our front

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Speaker 1: office believes he's an asset to our basketball team, I

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Speaker 1: would I'd be thrilled. I would embrace him. I he

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Speaker 1: has a very passionate father who I have In my

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Speaker 1: thirty plus years of experience, I have met many parents

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Speaker 1: and siblings and spouses of you know, great athletes, and

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Speaker 1: I think having a strong family advocate is important for

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Speaker 1: the success of a player. And so, um, you know,

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Speaker 1: whoever they decide to draft with that number two pick,

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Speaker 1: I'm ready. I I feel my job is to whatever

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Speaker 1: they want as a basketball team than the I'm there

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Speaker 1: to help them be the best that they could be.

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Speaker 1: We're getting ready to move into our new training facility,

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Speaker 1: a new Lakers headquarters um in about two months, and

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Speaker 1: it's going to triple the amount of space that we

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Speaker 1: currently have for training and development and rehab. We really

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Speaker 1: at the Lakers want the players to exceed their own

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Speaker 1: expectations of what they're capable of by giving them the

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Speaker 1: best training staff and all the date of the art

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Speaker 1: facilities that will help them, you know, be the best

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Speaker 1: basketball player possible. In all my years traveling to El

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Speaker 1: Segundo J you have to say, yeah, you need more

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Speaker 1: room because those shiny trophy balls that were overlooking the

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Speaker 1: practice court. Yeah, you need more room for the Lakers.

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Speaker 1: I know you're hoping for that. But kudos to Eugenie

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Speaker 1: buzz I mean, passionate and a strong family advocate. That

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Speaker 1: is the most diplomatic way I have heard Lonzo Ball's

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Speaker 1: father referred to thus far. That was fantastic. But I

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Speaker 1: want to take you to a business discussion. Forget about

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Speaker 1: his talent. I mean, you're gonna take the best player

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Speaker 1: that helps the Lakers, I get it. What are your

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Speaker 1: thoughts of the marketing acumen of his father and that

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Speaker 1: he is generating buzz for his Big Bowler brand. Your

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Speaker 1: thoughts on LaVar Ball as a marketer. Most of the

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Speaker 1: people that I know who aren't in this business know

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Speaker 1: who he is, and I think if that's the name

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Speaker 1: of the game is, you know, getting your brand out there,

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Speaker 1: then I think he's done a good job. You are

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Speaker 1: one of the most highly powered women in sports, and

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Speaker 1: his recent take on women and on his Fox Sports

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Speaker 1: appearance sort of stay in your lane towards the female

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Speaker 1: host of the show, your take on sports women, what

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Speaker 1: they're what sports are missing by not having more women

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Speaker 1: in decision making places. For me, you know, I've been

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Speaker 1: in this business a long time and I've seen a

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Speaker 1: tremendous amount of women join the sports business from many

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Speaker 1: different areas that have to do with sports, and I

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Speaker 1: think that there are opportunities for women. You know. It's

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Speaker 1: kind of led me to a passion project that I

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Speaker 1: have called Wow Women of Wrestling. It's actually women's professional wrestling,

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Speaker 1: which is more character driven, meaning we have characters who

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Speaker 1: the women wrestle as Jungle Girl. It's really fun. But

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Speaker 1: it's the reason I got involved in that is that

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Speaker 1: there's so many great female athletes that participate at a

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Speaker 1: collegiate level, and there's really no place for them to

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Speaker 1: turn pro unless they're in the w n b A

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Speaker 1: or a professional tennis player. And I just felt that

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Speaker 1: there were there wasn't opportunities for women as performers, as athletes,

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Speaker 1: and women of wrestling gives women that opportunity to to

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Speaker 1: earn money, um, you know, by being athletic, by performing,

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Speaker 1: and it's a lot of fun as well. It's an

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Speaker 1: empowerment of women. So I've been involved in sports a

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Speaker 1: long time. I think there's uh a lot of opportunities

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Speaker 1: now that didn't exist twenty five years ago. But I

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Speaker 1: still think that there's more and I think that will

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Speaker 1: continue to grow genuine. The Clippers were sold for two

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Speaker 1: billion dollars. I spoke to a number of owners who

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Speaker 1: just for fun sort of called a sports banker or

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Speaker 1: two and said, what's my team worth? Did you maybe

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Speaker 1: make a phone call or ask around saying I know

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Speaker 1: you're not selling, this is not where we're going, but

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Speaker 1: was there a bit of curiosity saying, gee, what is

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Speaker 1: that Laker branworth? I don't think what we'd ever really

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Speaker 1: find out what the team would be worth until there

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Speaker 1: for sale, and they're like you said they are not

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Speaker 1: for sale, and I can repeat that many times. We

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Speaker 1: can always measure the health of a team wins and losses,

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Speaker 1: but that doesn't always tell the story of a franchise

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Speaker 1: behind the scenes. Give me the health of the franchise

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Speaker 1: from a business perspective, Well, I think we're at ninety

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Speaker 1: six percent renewal rate for our season tickets, which you know,

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Speaker 1: I feel our fans are the best fans in the league.

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Speaker 1: They've had to put up with a few disappointing seasons,

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Speaker 1: but I believe that there there's a lot of excitement

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Speaker 1: enthusiasm for what Magic Johnson is going to bring UH.

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Speaker 1: In terms of players, I think UH coach Luke Walton

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Speaker 1: has pleaded his rookie season as a head coach, which

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Speaker 1: he had some difficult season for him, but we ended

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Speaker 1: on a high note by winning, you know, the last

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Speaker 1: five of our last six games, and um, you know,

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Speaker 1: to some criticism that you know, the concern was that

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Speaker 1: if we won that many games that we would lose

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Speaker 1: our draft pick because it was only top three protected.

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Speaker 1: Otherwise it would have gone to Philadelphia. But as it

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Speaker 1: turns out, Um, we needed to be in that position

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Speaker 1: to to get the number two picks, so it all

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Speaker 1: worked out. UM, But certainly what the coach needs is

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Speaker 1: um some more talent so that he can play the

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Speaker 1: style of basketball that he wants to play. And everybody

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Speaker 1: is on the same page in terms of what they

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Speaker 1: want to accomplish, what they're looking for in this draft,

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Speaker 1: and UM, I think our fans, you know, want to

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Speaker 1: be part of that building. And um, certainly there was

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Speaker 1: when we had Kobe Bryant's last game. I think the

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Speaker 1: capacity of Staples Center was twice the size of what

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Speaker 1: it it states on paper because there was. I've had

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Speaker 1: at least thirty thousand people tell me that they were

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Speaker 1: there in person, even though it doesn't hold that many people.

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Speaker 1: But it was one of those moments in time that

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Speaker 1: people wanted to be there to see Kobe's last game,

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Speaker 1: and a lot of people that were there were also

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Speaker 1: there for Kobe's first game as a Laker, and so too.

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Speaker 1: You know that That's what I think our fans want

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Speaker 1: to be a part of, not only the winning and

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Speaker 1: the ultimate success, but also part of, you know, how

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Speaker 1: did we get there? How do you build a team?

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Speaker 1: How do you watch a player develop and mature and

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Speaker 1: gain that experience that makes them a smarter ball player

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Speaker 1: and to go along with their athleticism. I couldn't be

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Speaker 1: more excited about the health of the Lakers. You know,

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Speaker 1: we're in good hands with Magic Johnson. As has been said,

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Speaker 1: they enjoyed showtime, they endured slow time. Let's let's see

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Speaker 1: what's up next for the Lakers. Genie Bus, thank you

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Speaker 1: so much for taking a few minutes a great stuff

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Speaker 1: from Lakers owner Jennie Buss Michael. My takeaways One, Magic

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Speaker 1: Johnson is in full control of that franchise and he

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Speaker 1: has supportive ownership. And two, the Lakers will not shy

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Speaker 1: away from Lonzo ball just because Dad likes to run

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Speaker 1: his mouth about everything from Sneakers to superstardom and something else.

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Speaker 1: I liked when she was talking about her dad playing

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Speaker 1: poker at the highest level and the lessons that she

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Speaker 1: learned about her dad playing poker. I enjoyed that patience

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Speaker 1: patience patiens that was the lesson. Well. I don't know

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Speaker 1: if Nike and under Armour are patient when it comes

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Speaker 1: to sales, but our numbers of the week ready, we

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Speaker 1: got three of them this week, one, two, and three.

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Speaker 1: Things are going well for the Golden State Warriors on

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Speaker 1: the court, but Nike versus Under Armour was also a

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Speaker 1: big deal going into the finals. Check out these numbers,

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Speaker 1: Lebron's fourteen, Kyrie three, and k D ten, the Nike

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Speaker 1: shoes numbers one, two and three in sales, Steph curry

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Speaker 1: shoe coming behind at number four. I wonder how long

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Speaker 1: this is going to continue because you're talking between under

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Speaker 1: Armour and Nike. You talk about two powerhouses going at it.

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Speaker 1: How long can this continue? Well, so much was made

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Speaker 1: of Nike losing Steph Curry. How did they lose them?

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Speaker 1: How did they not keep them? They had the right

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Speaker 1: to match the deal and didn't they let the great

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Speaker 1: one get away? Like that doesn't happen to Nike, right,

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Speaker 1: But how much of a loss is it? Their guys

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Speaker 1: are still selling shoes. I don't know if it's the

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Speaker 1: design of the shoe. I don't know if it's Steph

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Speaker 1: not here to say what it is, but the facts

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Speaker 1: are Nike shoes are one, two and three and Steph

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Speaker 1: is coming in at number four. I get the feeling though,

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Speaker 1: after this NBA season, Steph Curry and the sponsors will

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Speaker 1: have nothing to worry about. I can tell you what's

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Speaker 1: going to happen. They're all gonna go to Asia on

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Speaker 1: a whirlwind media tour and try and sell more shoes.

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Speaker 1: Book it. That's what's gonna happen. You heard Scott Sashnik

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Speaker 1: saying here, folks, I trust the man, and you can

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Speaker 1: trust us to be here each and every week, right

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Speaker 1: here on Bloomberg Business of Sports, on Bloomberg Radio around

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Speaker 1: the world.