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Speaker 1: This is the business of sports where in the situation

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Speaker 1: that we haven't dealt with in modern times, pandemic here

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Speaker 1: has really accelerated the investments that we've been advocating for

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Speaker 1: for years. Almost everyone else there is hoping that there's

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Speaker 1: some kind of return to normal by August September. In

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Speaker 1: depth conversations with the leaders in the sports industry, who

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Speaker 1: wants to be the sacrificial lambs that shows up at

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Speaker 1: the first big major sporting events were part of something

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Speaker 1: much bigger than the sports right now and the health

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Speaker 1: and safety of our stakeholders are both more important every moment.

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Speaker 1: I think we're all from business respective thinking about the

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Speaker 1: impact that the virus is having across the country. Bloomberg

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Speaker 1: Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio. Hello, I'm Jason Kelly,

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Speaker 1: and I'm Mike Lynch and I'm Michael Barr And this

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Speaker 1: is the Bloomberg Business of Sports podcast where we explore

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Speaker 1: the big money issues in the world of sports. Well

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Speaker 1: it's Monday, June one, and guys, safe to say the

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Speaker 1: world has been different for a long time. It feels

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Speaker 1: even more different today, having gone through the weekend and

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Speaker 1: in all of the cities where we live deeply affected

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Speaker 1: by the protests, in some cases leading to riots and violence,

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Speaker 1: you know, all stemming from the murder recently in Minneapolis.

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Speaker 1: And I do wonder it's hard sometimes to just say, hey,

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Speaker 1: let's talk about sports. At the same time, we know

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Speaker 1: that sports or an integral part of our culture, and

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Speaker 1: we also are living at a time Michael Barr where athletes, rightly, uh,

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Speaker 1: feel compelled to weigh in and we look to them

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Speaker 1: in many ways. And so I thought we could talk

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Speaker 1: about for a few minutes what you guys have heard

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Speaker 1: from some of the biggest names in sports, and what

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Speaker 1: you make of it in that through that lens, I guess,

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Speaker 1: and uh, and the importance of sports as this cultural touchstone. So,

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Speaker 1: Michael Barr, what do you make of it? Well, you

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Speaker 1: haven't heard Michael Jordan's make a lot of comments social issues,

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Speaker 1: and sometimes he has received some criticism about it, but

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Speaker 1: not this time. He released a statement and he said,

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Speaker 1: we must listen to each other, show compassion and empathy,

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Speaker 1: and never turn our backs on senseless brutality. And many

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Speaker 1: other athletes have said something along that line. It's and

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Speaker 1: I have to bring this up because also that I'm

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Speaker 1: a newsman also So this is what I do for

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Speaker 1: a living and I have to talk about it every day.

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Speaker 1: And I'm not gonna lie fellas that it's sometimes it

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Speaker 1: gets very hard uh to do it and and do

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Speaker 1: but we have a job to do to present this

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Speaker 1: and it's the same as it crosses over in the sports.

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Speaker 1: I'm sure sports athletes are thinking, hey, I just don't

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Speaker 1: want to talk about it. In fact, I think there

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Speaker 1: was uh an announcement from last week where it was

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Speaker 1: it was an ice cube that was supposed to go

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Speaker 1: on Good Morning America and he canceled that saying I

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Speaker 1: just didn't feel like saying good Morning America after all

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Speaker 1: this went going down. And I'm sure a lot of

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Speaker 1: athletes feel the same way. And yet, Mike Lynch, it

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Speaker 1: feels like more and more athletes are feeling compelled to

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Speaker 1: say something and we do expect them UH to do so.

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Speaker 1: You know, over the course of you know, knowing athletes

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Speaker 1: and covering sports for as long as you have, is

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Speaker 1: that a Is that a change? No? I think that

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Speaker 1: it goes way way back. I think back to in

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Speaker 1: Michael Barr, You'll remember this, to Cleveland Summit back in

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Speaker 1: nineteen seven. Um, some of the biggest name African American

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Speaker 1: athletes in the world got together in Cleveland, including the

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Speaker 1: great Jim Brown, Muhammad Ali, Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul Jabbar

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Speaker 1: who was Luell Sindur at the time. Now they got

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Speaker 1: together because Muhammad Ali was banned from fighting and they

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Speaker 1: just wanted to come together with unity. But there was

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Speaker 1: a lot of they also came together. It was the

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Speaker 1: first time that a group of African Americans visibly was

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Speaker 1: were in front of a camera speaking out against social

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Speaker 1: and racial injustice. And I applaud Lebron James, I applaud

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Speaker 1: Michael Jordan's I think I think it might have more

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Speaker 1: of an impact if they could just congregate together and

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Speaker 1: with some other prominent people and just say, look, protest peacefully,

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Speaker 1: make your point, but stop the looting, stop burning police cars.

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Speaker 1: And in every single city in this town, um locally

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Speaker 1: here in Boston where I am uh and Ascantor was

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Speaker 1: down in the Boston Common yesterday with tens of thousands

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Speaker 1: of people. He took the microphone and I applaud him.

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Speaker 1: Jalen Brown of the Celtics drove down to Atlanta to

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Speaker 1: march peacefully. I applaud them as well, I think they

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Speaker 1: have to be out front. Releasing a statement is important,

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Speaker 1: but I think being in front of the camera where

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Speaker 1: we're a visual world now, Uh, it's and I think

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Speaker 1: that makes more of an impact if they can see

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Speaker 1: you saying those words rather than eating those words. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it is an interesting moment in that regard. And that's

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Speaker 1: an interesting point, Mike, that it is so visual in

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Speaker 1: many ways, and and obviously the pictures of a peaceful

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Speaker 1: protest versus the picture and the pictures of violence are

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Speaker 1: are starkly contrasted in many ways. It also strikes me

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Speaker 1: as interesting that you're expecting to hear more and more

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Speaker 1: from not just the athletes, but also the owners and

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Speaker 1: the teams, and and this is a place where and

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Speaker 1: we've talked about this on on this program before, it

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Speaker 1: does feel like the NBA, for a whole variety of reasons,

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Speaker 1: is a little bit more out front. Perhaps it is

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Speaker 1: owing to the cultural significance of many of the athletes,

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Speaker 1: whether it's Lebron or more historically Michael Jordan's. But you know,

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Speaker 1: it was notable that the Washington Wizards, you know, came

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Speaker 1: out and made a statement, uh, specifically as a team

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Speaker 1: that seems relatively rare historically. Uh, but important that you

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Speaker 1: know that institutions are are coming out and making a

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Speaker 1: statement as well. What is the role in your estimation,

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Speaker 1: Michael Barr of not just the individual athletes, but but

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Speaker 1: the clubs and the teams saying something, well, is it

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Speaker 1: kind of goes back to what Mike Lynch was saying.

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Speaker 1: When it's one thing when you have individual statements, when

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Speaker 1: you have an entire team coming together to make that

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Speaker 1: statement or even to go in front of the camera,

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Speaker 1: that has a lot of impact. If if you had

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Speaker 1: the the Los Angeles Lakers making a statement, and like

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Speaker 1: you said, the Wizards making a statement, Uh, the NHL

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Speaker 1: made a statement they stand behind all those who are

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Speaker 1: working to achieve a racially just society and against all

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Speaker 1: those who perpetuate and poled racism, hatred, bigotry, and violence.

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Speaker 1: And as something else struck me was was Nick Saban

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Speaker 1: made a comment. He said, we're at an important moment

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Speaker 1: in our country and now is the time for us

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Speaker 1: to choose kindness, tolerance, understanding, empathy, and most importantly, it

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Speaker 1: is time to love each other. And if I if

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Speaker 1: I may add, I'm an African American and I've been

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Speaker 1: on the receiving end of just god awful racism and uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, just out of the blue, I've been called

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Speaker 1: the N word. I've had my car spat up on

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Speaker 1: twice in my lifetime, and you wonder, it's like, really,

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Speaker 1: this is what I get just because my skin color

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Speaker 1: is different. Now, going back to what Mike Lynch said, also,

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Speaker 1: it's like, no, listen the looting and all the other stuff,

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Speaker 1: that's let's cut that out. We need to come together

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Speaker 1: with peace and love and top all this with racism

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Speaker 1: and stop the looting and let's get together as a society.

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Speaker 1: So so Michael, if I can jump in here, let's

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Speaker 1: let's turn the clock back. Let's say you're some of

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Speaker 1: these looters. Let's just say they're in their their their

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Speaker 1: twenties or late teens, early twenties. Who would make an

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Speaker 1: impact on you? Would you listen to? Would there be

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Speaker 1: anybody that you would listen to? What would it be

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Speaker 1: A you? We're not going to listen to the President

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Speaker 1: of the United States, so obviously none of us are

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Speaker 1: going to listen. But would you listen to a to

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Speaker 1: a prominent African American athlete? Would you listen to your mayor,

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Speaker 1: your governor, who would make an impact on you at

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Speaker 1: that particular ages and as an young African American sort

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Speaker 1: of looking for a compass, looking for some direction, and

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Speaker 1: uh to to to just stop all this looting nonsense

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Speaker 1: and pete and protests peacefully. Well it's and that's a

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Speaker 1: good point, isn't it. I guess I look back in

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Speaker 1: my twenties. I think of the Detroit Pistons, back when

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Speaker 1: you're in the bad boy era, and uh, let's just

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Speaker 1: say a little before that, the Detroit Tigers. Let's say,

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Speaker 1: for instance, the here come the sixty eight Tigers and there,

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Speaker 1: which is ironic because in sixty seven in Detroit we

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Speaker 1: had the Riots and in sixty the Tigers won the

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Speaker 1: World Series, and you talk about some cohesiveness in the city.

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Speaker 1: I remember that, and and I guess so I guess

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Speaker 1: I'd start with the Detroit Tigers. Uh, you know, a

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Speaker 1: team like that and everybody coming together just to say, hey, uh,

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Speaker 1: where's the peace and love? And I think Lebron James

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Speaker 1: said it the best, is that why doesn't America love us?

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Speaker 1: You know? And and I I guess I just say,

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Speaker 1: as a collection of voices, like you said that Cleveland Summit.

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Speaker 1: We need to see something like that. Well, here's hoping

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Speaker 1: and um again, we're having this conversation on Monday after

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Speaker 1: a very very difficult weekend. We don't know what the

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Speaker 1: next few days are going to bring. And obviously this

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Speaker 1: is happening against the the backdrop of this global pandemic,

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Speaker 1: and it is this moment of agony in all sorts

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Speaker 1: of ways, and a moment where we are looking more

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Speaker 1: and more two sports guys to give us some sense

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Speaker 1: of grounding in many ways, And obviously when it comes

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Speaker 1: to the civil unrest and everything that we're seeing. You know,

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Speaker 1: we've talked about the voices that need to be heard,

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Speaker 1: but we're also at this moment where we want them

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Speaker 1: to come back to give us some sense of normalcy.

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Speaker 1: And so let's talk a little bit about baseball, if

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Speaker 1: we can, and where we may go next here. This

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Speaker 1: has been a pretty big economic divide in many ways

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Speaker 1: between the players and the owners, and we had a

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Speaker 1: proposal yesterday from the players which is very different from

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Speaker 1: anything that the owners have put forth. Mike Lynch, are

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Speaker 1: you more optimistic less optimistic? Now? Having seen the players

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Speaker 1: salvo in all of this that we may see baseball.

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Speaker 1: I'm less optimistic right now because more and more owners

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Speaker 1: are going to say, you know what, I'd see them

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Speaker 1: throwing their arms up in the Oakland days, the Kansas

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Speaker 1: City Royals, the have nots now, let's just bag the

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Speaker 1: whole season. You know, this is ridiculous. You know, Scott

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Speaker 1: Boris is telling all the players, don't take any pay cuts,

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Speaker 1: don't build out the owners, etcetera, etcetera. Um And as

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Speaker 1: we said on a previous show, if the golf is

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Speaker 1: coming up, NASCAR's up and running, um hockey and and

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Speaker 1: basketball maybe going before baseball gets going, and there's gonna

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Speaker 1: be like who cares by the time they finally get

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Speaker 1: this thing all worked out in and playing. This is

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Speaker 1: this is their their tone deaf the players are right

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Speaker 1: now and at a time when they really need to

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Speaker 1: be paying attention to what the heck is going on

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Speaker 1: in this country. Well, and Michael Barr, I think that's

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Speaker 1: such an interesting point too, because there there is this

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Speaker 1: idea in the other sports. I think the NBA being

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Speaker 1: a really good example of that, that everybody was behind

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Speaker 1: this notion of Okay, we're getting back to business, like

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Speaker 1: we're going to figure it out, but we all have

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Speaker 1: that end goal in mind, and as Mike Clinch very

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Speaker 1: rightly points out, the worm has turned a little bit

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Speaker 1: on the ownership side, where people just say you have

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Speaker 1: specific owners effectively saying, look, I'm gonna lose a ton

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Speaker 1: of money doing this. Let's just pick up next year.

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Speaker 1: It's not worth the brain damage and it's not worth

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Speaker 1: more importantly, the economic damage to myself and my club.

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Speaker 1: I'm just gonna look past this. Does that worry you.

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Speaker 1: My father had an old saying, don't cut your nose

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Speaker 1: off to spite your face, and that's what I believe

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Speaker 1: the players are doing right now. Yes, is it's not

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Speaker 1: an ideal situation salary wise, but you know, don't just

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Speaker 1: you know, scrap everything because all the other sport, like

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Speaker 1: you said, you know, all the racing is kicking in

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Speaker 1: with NASCAR. We're about to see basketball get back into play.

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Speaker 1: We're about to see the NHL get back into play.

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Speaker 1: And this could turn out to where where we had

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Speaker 1: the strike in the early nineties and we lost the

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Speaker 1: season in the World Series, where there's an interest lost

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Speaker 1: in the sport and baseball in general. Fortunately they got

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Speaker 1: it back. I'm not so sure they're going to get

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Speaker 1: it back this time if the whole season is scrapped.

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Speaker 1: I think that's true. I mean, I just and and

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Speaker 1: I've said this on this program before. I think about

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Speaker 1: my teenage kids, who you know, two sons, very athletic,

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Speaker 1: the really don't care about baseball. You know. I grew

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Speaker 1: up an avid Braves fan, going to so many UH games,

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Speaker 1: you know, during the Ted Turner area era, Ostrich races

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Speaker 1: and all terrible team in the eighties and a much

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Speaker 1: better team UH in the nineties, as we all know,

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Speaker 1: couldn't quite get there as many times as everyone wanted.

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Speaker 1: But it is a game that has certainly ebbed in

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Speaker 1: the in the popular consciousness. And I do worry about

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Speaker 1: the national attention span now, especially with everything that's going on,

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Speaker 1: and it feels like both sides, and especially to your point,

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Speaker 1: the players are just it's almost like they're they're begging

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Speaker 1: people to pay less attention. And and ultimately we're talking

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Speaker 1: about the business sports here on this podcast. The economic damage,

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Speaker 1: the economic long term damage is going to be difficult

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Speaker 1: to quantify. I think, Mike, without question, as you're talking

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Speaker 1: about your sons, and I'm sure that they can tell

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Speaker 1: you that in the spring lacrosse U the number of

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Speaker 1: people that go off for lacrosse teams is killing baseball teams.

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Speaker 1: You'll see it all around the country. It's become Baseball

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Speaker 1: is slipping away as as one of the top four

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Speaker 1: major sports, and it's no longer America's game. Football right

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Speaker 1: now is America's game. And just the mere fact that

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Speaker 1: these guys are whining, I mean people, how many millions

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Speaker 1: of people are out of work, don't have anything to eat.

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Speaker 1: And this guy's Blake Snell, the cy Young Award winners,

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Speaker 1: And I'm not going to play for faultry three million

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Speaker 1: dollars this year. I want my seven million dollars. I mean,

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Speaker 1: that just is not so well with anybody that angers people.

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Speaker 1: And people are not going to forget any of that.

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Speaker 1: And you know, you think people are going to booth

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Speaker 1: the Houston Astros every time they could have to play.

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Speaker 1: If there was a baseball season this year, they may

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Speaker 1: boo every single Major League Baseball player if they ever

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Speaker 1: allowed fans back into the stadium. Yeah, alright, Well, let's

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Speaker 1: end on a happier note, which is the you know,

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Speaker 1: the world that we're living in now. Everybody kind of

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Speaker 1: doing their best. The Orlando Magic plowing ahead with their

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Speaker 1: summer basketball camps. I have to say as a kid,

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Speaker 1: I loved going to sports camps. It was one of

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Speaker 1: the you know, things that I really looked forward to. Uh.

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Speaker 1: You know, I was fortunate to grow up in Houston,

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Speaker 1: and I may have said this to you guys before,

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Speaker 1: and one of my most vivid memories is that this

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Speaker 1: was a very different time in the NBA, but the

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Speaker 1: Houston Rockets used to when the Summit, remember the Summit

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Speaker 1: where the the Rockets used to play, when the Summit

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Speaker 1: was occupied by ice capades or whatever it was going

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Speaker 1: to be, they would work out at like our little St.

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Speaker 1: Thomas High School, Jim, because it was close. It was

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Speaker 1: close by, and I remember physically running into Hakima Lajwan

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Speaker 1: at some point. We were so enamored with big basketball players,

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Speaker 1: literally big basketball players. And that's one of the ways

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Speaker 1: that basketball teams and other professional sports really connect with

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Speaker 1: their communities. And Orlando has figured out a novel way

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Speaker 1: in the age of social distancing and zoom meetings and

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Speaker 1: all that, to actually put on a virtual basketball camp.

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Speaker 1: Michael Parr, I think this is an excellent idea, and

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Speaker 1: first of all, you brought up the ice Capades, and

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Speaker 1: I always think of the plug is like and Dorothy

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Speaker 1: Hamill will also joint slyer on out there, guys. I

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Speaker 1: think this is a great idea. And and the camps

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Speaker 1: Uh usually there for ages as young as six and

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Speaker 1: as old at seventeen, and this is some reason the

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Speaker 1: age around that time. For kids, it's it's like it's

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Speaker 1: in them to go technical. They can figure out stuff anything,

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Speaker 1: so going virtual won't mean anything. My fifteen year old

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Speaker 1: has to tell me stuff on the computer. It's like, Dad,

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Speaker 1: do this, and that's it, and he's done. So I

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Speaker 1: think this is gonna be a huge success. I agree

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Speaker 1: with you, Mike Uh. And and you know it's I

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Speaker 1: looked up the fee here and I said, okay, this

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Speaker 1: is gonna be the only bad part. Fifty dollars and

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Speaker 1: it's for a whole week, and it's nine in the

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Speaker 1: morning until five in the afternoon. Um, it's it keeps

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Speaker 1: kids busy, number one. It gives them hope, and it

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Speaker 1: also shows them that someone cares about them, especially some

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Speaker 1: adults in a professional team cares about what's going on

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Speaker 1: with them, and they you know, this is all about

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Speaker 1: inclusion right now, everyone wants to be included. Nobody wants

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Speaker 1: to be excluded. And I think this is absolutely spectacular.

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Speaker 1: And you're right about the h the virtual thing. I

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Speaker 1: have a four year old granddaughter who now knows how

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Speaker 1: to pick up my daughter's phone or mother and actually

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Speaker 1: FaceTime me during the day, So yeah, which I have

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Speaker 1: trouble doing. So these kids are not gonna have a

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Speaker 1: problem at all doing virtual basketball. And they'll be drilling

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Speaker 1: between their legs and will be doing all these moves,

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Speaker 1: and yeah, I think it's wonderful. Good for the Lando

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Speaker 1: Magic bumbs up. It's great. It's great for them to do.

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Speaker 1: And I learned about a new app which is called

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Speaker 1: Bolo g b A L l O G y uh

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Speaker 1: and so that apparently is helpful in private group training sessions.

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Speaker 1: So they're utilizing that as well. So uh, here's hoping

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Speaker 1: that maybe, uh, the next generation will won't totally get

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Speaker 1: rusty even if professional sports aren't around. Well, gentlemen, thank

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Speaker 1: you so much for a really interesting conversation. These are

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Speaker 1: not easy days by any stretch of the imagination, and uh,

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Speaker 1: it's nice to share some thoughtful conversation with both of you. Well,

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Speaker 1: this is the Bloomberg Business So Sports Podcast. I'm Jason Kelly.

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Speaker 1: You can find me on Twitter at Jason Kelly Is.

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Speaker 1: And I'm Mike Glinch. You can find me at Lynch

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Speaker 1: e w at w CDV, and you can follow me

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Speaker 1: at Big Bar Sports. We are here each and every Monday,

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Speaker 1: Wednesday and Thursday exploring the world of money in sports.

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Speaker 1: You're listening to Bloomberg Businesses Sports on Bloomberg Radio around

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Speaker 1: the world, online, wherever you get your podcast. Stay safe, everyone,