WEBVTT - Carolyn Tisch Blodgett: Inside Women's Soccer's Biggest Year 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:02.759 Welcome back to she Pivots. I'm Carolyn Tisch Blodgett. 0:00:13.360 --> 0:00:16.880 Welcome back to she Pivots, the podcast where women share 0:00:17.000 --> 0:00:21.640 bold career moves and personal turning points that changed everything. 0:00:22.640 --> 0:00:30.560 I'm your host, Emily Tisch Sussman. There is exactly one 0:00:30.680 --> 0:00:34.240 guest I bring back on this show every season, same person, 0:00:34.520 --> 0:00:35.480 different pivots. 0:00:35.560 --> 0:00:36.440 Every single year. 0:00:36.840 --> 0:00:41.960 We're back with our annual she Pivots episode with my sister. 0:00:42.920 --> 0:00:46.160 Carolyn Tish Blodgett is the CEO and founder of Next Three, 0:00:46.240 --> 0:00:49.839 our family sports investment fund. She represents our family's ownership 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:52.720 at the New York Giants. She's the governor of Gotham FC, 0:00:52.960 --> 0:00:55.480 New York and New Jersey's women's soccer team, and the 0:00:55.520 --> 0:00:58.040 first ever chair of the Executive Committee of the National 0:00:58.040 --> 0:01:01.160 Women's Soccer League. And this past year, the team she's 0:01:01.200 --> 0:01:06.120 been building at Gotham won the championship again. She got 0:01:06.160 --> 0:01:09.080 here by her own three kid pivot after building the 0:01:09.120 --> 0:01:11.680 brand at Peloton. But for that story, you're going to 0:01:11.760 --> 0:01:13.880 have to go back to her episode from twenty twenty three. 0:01:14.319 --> 0:01:16.880 We do this interview every year because I want the 0:01:16.920 --> 0:01:19.160 real time version of what it takes to build a 0:01:19.200 --> 0:01:22.720 women's sports brand, not just the highlight reel, the bet, 0:01:23.160 --> 0:01:27.560 the doubt, the wins, the parts nobody sees. This is 0:01:27.640 --> 0:01:32.000 Carolyn Tish Blodgett, and this is how she pivots again. 0:01:35.400 --> 0:01:36.520 What is your name and what do you do? 0:01:36.800 --> 0:01:40.040 I'm Carolyn Tisch Blodgett, CEO and founder of Next three. 0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:42.520 I oversee all of our sports investments. I'm the governor 0:01:42.560 --> 0:01:44.520 of Gotham FC, and I work with our family at 0:01:44.560 --> 0:01:46.640 the Giants as an advisor to ownership. 0:01:47.000 --> 0:01:48.000 And how do we know each other? 0:01:48.080 --> 0:01:48.240 Oh? 0:01:48.240 --> 0:01:51.920 And you're my sister. This is now our annual interview 0:01:52.120 --> 0:01:52.920 fel so honored. 0:01:53.120 --> 0:01:54.560 The reason we keep having you back on is not 0:01:54.600 --> 0:01:57.920 just because you keep pivoting, but also because we've been 0:01:58.040 --> 0:02:02.280 tracking the progression of Gotham from the beginning, Like we've 0:02:02.320 --> 0:02:04.480 done this every season now of like, how do you 0:02:04.520 --> 0:02:06.840 think about owning a women's sports team? 0:02:07.240 --> 0:02:08.760 What is the landscape? 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:11.080 And it's evolved every year, So how do you think 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:13.840 about owning a women's sports team? Because you really run Gotham, 0:02:13.919 --> 0:02:14.720 how has it evolved? 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:17.960 I think when I came on this podcast last year, 0:02:18.080 --> 0:02:20.280 I was just about to become the first ever chair 0:02:20.520 --> 0:02:22.920 of the executive committee, which is kind of chair of 0:02:22.919 --> 0:02:25.280 the league. I think we were like late breaking news 0:02:25.320 --> 0:02:27.040 on the podcast. We broke it, Yes, we broke it 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:29.680 here breaking news. I'm still here now. It's a two 0:02:29.720 --> 0:02:31.959 year role, so next year I will be breaking news 0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:34.200 of pivoting away from that. There wasn't such an easy 0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:36.400 decision to take on that role because it is a 0:02:36.440 --> 0:02:36.960 lot of work. 0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:40.240 I think we know. I've like I've built brands before. 0:02:40.240 --> 0:02:42.440 I used to run marketing and peloton, so I know 0:02:42.480 --> 0:02:44.440 what it takes to be successful at the kind of 0:02:44.480 --> 0:02:45.919 what is in front of me. These are the steps 0:02:45.960 --> 0:02:47.800 we need to do to be successful at the local level. 0:02:47.960 --> 0:02:51.919 But our success at Gotham really hinges on the league 0:02:51.919 --> 0:02:55.399 being successful. I think all of us collectively, and part 0:02:55.400 --> 0:02:57.280 of what's interesting about being on the board is as 0:02:57.360 --> 0:03:00.120 much as we compete on the field, it really is 0:03:00.120 --> 0:03:02.440 is a group of people that believe in the collective 0:03:02.480 --> 0:03:04.560 and we all work together because we all know each 0:03:04.600 --> 0:03:06.120 of us is only going to be successful in our 0:03:06.160 --> 0:03:09.000 own markets if the league is successful. So that was 0:03:09.040 --> 0:03:11.200 kind of the decision to spend time on the league. 0:03:11.600 --> 0:03:14.000 As I think about how I spend my time on 0:03:14.080 --> 0:03:16.120 league things, some of it's like very in the weeds 0:03:16.120 --> 0:03:18.080 and probably not that interesting on the podcast, But I 0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:20.680 think at a macro level, we are coming up on 0:03:20.720 --> 0:03:25.040 our next media deal. Getting more people, getting the casual 0:03:25.160 --> 0:03:29.000 sports fan and a lighter user of the product into 0:03:29.080 --> 0:03:32.800 our games in a more regular way is job number one. 0:03:33.360 --> 0:03:36.600 Part of our thesis, and in investing in Gotham was 0:03:36.640 --> 0:03:39.520 a bet that we have the best product in the 0:03:39.520 --> 0:03:42.440 world if you're talking about women's soccer, really soccer in general. 0:03:42.560 --> 0:03:44.080 This is one of the best products in the world, 0:03:44.160 --> 0:03:46.720 but not enough people are currently fans today. So we 0:03:46.800 --> 0:03:48.800 want to go grow that and I think we've seen 0:03:48.840 --> 0:03:50.960 a lot of that success, but I think we're still 0:03:51.080 --> 0:03:53.880 really at the tip of the iceberg in terms of 0:03:53.920 --> 0:03:57.200 how big this league can grow, and so all our 0:03:57.240 --> 0:04:00.000 eyes are on this next media deal, really getting more 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:04.000 eyeballs on the product. And can you actually explain what 0:04:04.040 --> 0:04:06.760 the media deal is and why it's significant. We're only 0:04:06.760 --> 0:04:09.200 in the first ever media deal for the entire league, 0:04:09.280 --> 0:04:12.640 right what was before that? So this is the second one, 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:15.600 the original media deal. The games are on Lifetime TV. 0:04:16.000 --> 0:04:19.159 Personally love Lifetime TV, but not really your destination for 0:04:19.320 --> 0:04:21.039 like I'm just laying on the couch looking for a 0:04:21.080 --> 0:04:23.640 sports game, where can I find it? So this current 0:04:23.720 --> 0:04:26.440 media deal that we're in was really revolutionary. At the time, 0:04:26.440 --> 0:04:28.680 it was forty times what the last one was. The 0:04:28.839 --> 0:04:31.240 league actually has to pay for production, so a lot 0:04:31.320 --> 0:04:33.800 of times like you're losing money actually to even get 0:04:33.839 --> 0:04:38.240 your games on TV. So now we are on multiple channels, 0:04:38.279 --> 0:04:40.680 we are paid at a much higher rate. Again, I 0:04:40.680 --> 0:04:42.520 think that number will go up. It's kind of a 0:04:42.560 --> 0:04:44.760 balance of how much you're paid and how much access 0:04:44.800 --> 0:04:48.440 you have. The discoverability is challenging if you think about, 0:04:48.480 --> 0:04:52.120 like when the NFL moved Thursday Nights to Amazon Prime, 0:04:52.560 --> 0:04:56.080 that took hundreds of millions of dollars to train consumers 0:04:56.120 --> 0:04:59.240 like Thursday night, I watched the NFL on Prime, and 0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:02.080 so we are on Prime on Friday nights. We're still 0:05:02.160 --> 0:05:05.120 training the consumer to realize that, figuring out the right 0:05:05.160 --> 0:05:08.720 balance of reach, discoverability, and who are the partners that 0:05:08.760 --> 0:05:10.920 are going to really lean in and help us grow this. 0:05:11.640 --> 0:05:13.960 Before this media deal, when it was just on Lifetime, 0:05:14.040 --> 0:05:16.599 not every game was aired right. So if you like 0:05:16.640 --> 0:05:17.800 went to a game and you're like, oh, this is 0:05:17.880 --> 0:05:19.840 so fun, I start following, you can't find a lot 0:05:19.839 --> 0:05:22.400 of that couldn't right, and that's still the case. Not 0:05:22.560 --> 0:05:25.320 all of our games are aired today, So we have 0:05:25.400 --> 0:05:27.920 as a league product called the End of Yourself plus app. 0:05:28.240 --> 0:05:30.200 It exists so you can at least to your point, 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:32.960 like if you're a really avid fan, you can find 0:05:33.000 --> 0:05:34.039 all of our games. 0:05:34.240 --> 0:05:35.360 Even for our own games. 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:37.320 Like when we talk about like discoverability, the amount of 0:05:37.400 --> 0:05:40.360 texts that go on game day, mainly from mom who's 0:05:40.400 --> 0:05:42.000 like I can't figure out what the game is on. 0:05:42.400 --> 0:05:44.000 I can't even find it. It's like it's like go 0:05:44.080 --> 0:05:45.800 through all of them. Even when you go into any 0:05:45.839 --> 0:05:49.640 of our channels, even if you start searching the keywords 0:05:49.960 --> 0:05:53.360 like NWSL Gotham Soccer. 0:05:53.360 --> 0:05:55.159 It doesn't always show up. You have to search like 0:05:55.240 --> 0:05:56.440 twenty different names. 0:05:56.720 --> 0:05:59.039 I think as teams, we could do a much better 0:05:59.160 --> 0:06:02.479 job of promoting where our games are. I think that's 0:06:02.560 --> 0:06:05.120 back to the kind of building the habits. Like ESPN 0:06:05.440 --> 0:06:07.320 will be in a more regular cycle where we're on 0:06:08.120 --> 0:06:10.799 ESPN every Sunday night, so then we'll start to build 0:06:10.839 --> 0:06:12.640 the habit and the teams and the league can do 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:14.880 a much better job of like building those habits and 0:06:14.920 --> 0:06:18.080 pushing people there. And then to your point, on discoverability 0:06:18.080 --> 0:06:20.120 within it. That's where I go back to, like, who 0:06:20.160 --> 0:06:22.320 are the right partners that are really going to invest 0:06:22.400 --> 0:06:24.720 with us and really want to see us be successful. 0:06:25.040 --> 0:06:27.880 I would point to the Championship. It was on CBS. 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:30.400 It broke a million viewers, first time we've had over 0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:32.880 a million viewers on Championship or any of our games, 0:06:32.920 --> 0:06:33.960 and CBS was. 0:06:34.160 --> 0:06:36.800 Thrilled with it. They really wanted to lean in. 0:06:36.880 --> 0:06:38.440 When we lean in with our partners and we have 0:06:38.440 --> 0:06:40.839 the right broadcast people there and all that, we get 0:06:40.839 --> 0:06:43.120 the results. And so now going into the season, we're 0:06:43.160 --> 0:06:45.400 having great conversations with all of our partners, but in 0:06:45.440 --> 0:06:47.440 particular them to say how do we build off of 0:06:47.440 --> 0:06:50.640 that championship number and continue to grow that into the 0:06:50.680 --> 0:06:51.159 next year. 0:06:52.080 --> 0:06:54.880 We had a talking circle at Gloria Steinem's house a 0:06:54.920 --> 0:06:56.919 couple of weeks ago, and one of the things that 0:06:57.000 --> 0:07:00.400 came out of that conversation was that women's yo worts 0:07:00.480 --> 0:07:02.800 is in the zeitgeist. When we had this conversation two 0:07:02.839 --> 0:07:06.000 years ago, it was not. So that feels really different now, 0:07:06.160 --> 0:07:09.279 like two three years later. The ownership of women's sports 0:07:09.840 --> 0:07:12.200 is seen by a lot of male investors as an 0:07:12.240 --> 0:07:15.000 incredible investment, and they're moving fast, and they're taking up 0:07:15.000 --> 0:07:17.560 all the allocations of these investments, and so a lot 0:07:17.600 --> 0:07:20.679 of these women's sports teams and sports leagues are actually 0:07:20.680 --> 0:07:23.120 getting gobbled up by the mail investors who who are 0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:25.720 like purely in it for the numbers, and the women 0:07:25.800 --> 0:07:28.720 investors who are moving a little slower and maybe don't 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:30.960 have the confidence to be in sports are getting edged out. 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:33.240 This has now become like a new passion to find. 0:07:33.640 --> 0:07:36.880 We are having right now the great wealth transfer where 0:07:37.000 --> 0:07:39.800 our generation, the generation above us are making a lot 0:07:39.800 --> 0:07:41.720 more money inheriting a lot more money, like need to 0:07:41.760 --> 0:07:44.960 diversify and think about how to invest, and women are 0:07:44.960 --> 0:07:47.120 not necessarily looking at sports in that same way. 0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:50.640 How is that playing out for you? Is this true? 0:07:50.680 --> 0:07:52.320 Like, are you finding that these male investors are like 0:07:52.400 --> 0:07:54.560 moving fast and taking up all the allocation. Are you 0:07:54.640 --> 0:07:57.600 having other conversations with women who could be going into 0:07:57.600 --> 0:07:59.320 sports investment, in sports ownership? 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:00.600 What are those conversations look like. 0:08:01.080 --> 0:08:03.800 Obviously there's many less female owners than there are male 0:08:03.880 --> 0:08:07.320 across men's and women's sports. Wealthy individuals that could become 0:08:07.920 --> 0:08:12.119 investors in sports, that's probably where the conversation needs to happen. 0:08:12.160 --> 0:08:14.440 So whether it is like their advisors, their family offices, 0:08:14.480 --> 0:08:17.800 whoever is advising them to start to have those conversations 0:08:17.840 --> 0:08:19.480 around do you want to be sports owner? 0:08:19.680 --> 0:08:20.560 Is that interesting to you? 0:08:20.640 --> 0:08:20.720 Like? 0:08:20.760 --> 0:08:22.040 These are the teams we should look at. 0:08:22.280 --> 0:08:26.360 Women's sports being seen as an investable asset is a 0:08:26.480 --> 0:08:29.480 very good thing for women's sports. There is a good 0:08:29.600 --> 0:08:33.120 return on an investment in women's sports. That was our thesis. 0:08:33.280 --> 0:08:36.000 I've spent the past two years trying to get people 0:08:36.080 --> 0:08:39.360 to see that, and I think when you see private 0:08:39.400 --> 0:08:41.880 equity funds coming into women's sports, that's a good thing. 0:08:42.000 --> 0:08:44.080 That means that people see that there's a return. 0:08:44.360 --> 0:08:46.920 Before it was seen as an investment asset, it was 0:08:46.960 --> 0:08:48.719 seen as a charity. And you don't want to be 0:08:48.760 --> 0:08:51.200 a charity because a charity means it's not taken seriously. 0:08:51.240 --> 0:08:53.440 It means funding gets pulled when you change your mind. 0:08:53.679 --> 0:08:56.200 That's not the gross story of women's sports. The growth 0:08:56.240 --> 0:08:58.600 story is an investment class. The back of private equity 0:08:58.600 --> 0:09:01.400 firms want to invest in women's sports is a good 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:04.200 thing and I think we'll continue to drive valuations up. 0:09:04.200 --> 0:09:07.600 It will continue to drive real investments into women's sports, 0:09:07.640 --> 0:09:10.000 including the end of yoursel. Your point that I agree 0:09:10.040 --> 0:09:13.160 with is the like, why don't more women see themselves 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:16.280 as owners? And I don't think that's really on the league. 0:09:16.520 --> 0:09:19.439 By the time it gets to us and we're reviewing, 0:09:19.520 --> 0:09:23.600 you know, expansion bids or potential investors, that's probably too late. 0:09:23.920 --> 0:09:25.840 I think what you're saying, which I agree with, is 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:28.720 like the advisors, the bankers who are talking to these 0:09:28.760 --> 0:09:32.480 people about you just inherited XYZ fortune. How do you 0:09:32.520 --> 0:09:35.520 want to spend your money? That's probably where the conversation 0:09:35.600 --> 0:09:37.440 should be had around do you want to invest? 0:09:37.679 --> 0:09:39.600 You are someone who said we're going to go into 0:09:39.640 --> 0:09:41.560 this space before other people. 0:09:41.920 --> 0:09:42.199 Yeah. 0:09:42.280 --> 0:09:44.440 I mean there's a fair amount of women now that 0:09:44.480 --> 0:09:46.760 are NFL owners. There are some that are MBA, so 0:09:46.800 --> 0:09:49.199 I think it's changing. I was just talking to a 0:09:49.240 --> 0:09:51.560 potential investor in an expansion team and I said, you 0:09:51.559 --> 0:09:53.800 know someone I like a lot of Admira a lot, 0:09:53.840 --> 0:09:56.040 And I said, obviously, I personally would love to see 0:09:56.040 --> 0:09:57.120 you in the league. I think you'd add a lot 0:09:57.160 --> 0:09:59.839 of value. But you have to go in eyes wide open. 0:10:00.240 --> 0:10:03.319 This is a long term investment. Our evaluation is tripled 0:10:03.320 --> 0:10:05.200 I think since we've come into the league, so clearly 0:10:05.400 --> 0:10:07.760 there is a return there, but it's a lot of time, 0:10:07.840 --> 0:10:09.840 it's a lot of unglamorous work. This is not a 0:10:09.840 --> 0:10:13.160 passive investment. If you're looking for a straight, simple return, 0:10:13.360 --> 0:10:14.120 go buy a stock. 0:10:14.480 --> 0:10:17.320 This is not that you've talked about that. 0:10:17.400 --> 0:10:21.280 You're in partnership meetings like sponsorship meetings all the time, 0:10:21.600 --> 0:10:24.000 and this is for women's sports broadly, and you're also 0:10:24.040 --> 0:10:25.880 in them for the giants as well. So you see 0:10:25.880 --> 0:10:29.480 that in like established men's sports brands, it's not the 0:10:29.520 --> 0:10:31.800 same conversation necessarily in both. It's better than it used 0:10:31.800 --> 0:10:33.760 to be in women's sports, but it's not necessarily the same. 0:10:34.320 --> 0:10:35.280 Yeah, it's interesting. 0:10:35.440 --> 0:10:37.640 What's nice is I think there's a growing number of 0:10:37.640 --> 0:10:40.960 brands that totally get it and are ready to lean 0:10:41.000 --> 0:10:44.000 in and they see the Roi CarMax our front of 0:10:44.040 --> 0:10:46.200 Kit sponsor I would put high on that list of 0:10:46.240 --> 0:10:47.960 took a bet on us when they became our front 0:10:47.960 --> 0:10:50.600 of Kit sponsor in twenty twenty three and have continued 0:10:50.640 --> 0:10:53.720 to see that bet payoff. They look at their return 0:10:53.760 --> 0:10:56.640 on their marketing spend with Gotham versus any other male 0:10:56.720 --> 0:10:58.920 sports team, and it's a better investment and they see that. 0:10:59.200 --> 0:11:01.960 I think looking at like in investment in Gotham versus 0:11:02.000 --> 0:11:05.880 an NFL team, for example, the eyeballs can't compare an 0:11:05.920 --> 0:11:09.280 average NFL game is getting, you know, seventeen million, twenty 0:11:09.320 --> 0:11:12.560 million people to watch like a very average game. We're 0:11:12.600 --> 0:11:14.520 not obviously getting that. We just broke a million for 0:11:14.520 --> 0:11:17.959 the championship. What we have is a much deeper engagement. 0:11:18.080 --> 0:11:20.720 Our fans are much more engaged in the product, and 0:11:21.080 --> 0:11:24.080 in particular, we see a much higher recall rate for 0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:26.520 our sponsors. We see a much higher shift to brand 0:11:26.520 --> 0:11:31.280 loyalty than women's sports. I think our consumers deeply understand 0:11:31.360 --> 0:11:34.040 that our partners are key to our success, and so 0:11:34.120 --> 0:11:37.320 they are much more likely to shift their spend and 0:11:37.480 --> 0:11:40.120 spend with a partner than they typically do in men's sports. 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:43.040 Much more of a data story. It's more work on 0:11:43.080 --> 0:11:45.400 our partnership team and for us to sell that. But 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:48.360 for the brands that get it, then they really get 0:11:48.360 --> 0:11:50.439 it and they're really seeing the benefit. So there are 0:11:50.600 --> 0:11:54.160 definitely still brands that we talk to that maybe they 0:11:54.160 --> 0:11:56.760 don't want to do the like under the tent looking 0:11:56.800 --> 0:11:59.280 to understand a difference between the different partners. They're just 0:11:59.400 --> 0:12:01.520 kind of looking to put their name on something and 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:03.000 like logo slap and see where. 0:12:02.840 --> 0:12:05.199 It goes, Like check a women's sports box exactly. 0:12:05.280 --> 0:12:06.640 Certain brands don't want to talk to us at all, 0:12:06.640 --> 0:12:07.920 and they're like, what's a women's soccer team? 0:12:07.920 --> 0:12:08.600 I have no interest. 0:12:08.720 --> 0:12:11.240 Other brands I think are starting to feel a little 0:12:11.320 --> 0:12:15.800 pressure to have a women's sports strategy, but it does 0:12:15.840 --> 0:12:18.000 feel a little bit like a check the box. The 0:12:18.080 --> 0:12:21.080 investment they're willing to make is so small and they 0:12:21.080 --> 0:12:23.440 don't even really want to engage. It's like, we want 0:12:23.440 --> 0:12:26.240 our partners to be there on game day and show 0:12:26.320 --> 0:12:28.360 up and do stuff with our players, and when you're 0:12:28.400 --> 0:12:30.200 checking a box, you just don't end up wanting to 0:12:30.240 --> 0:12:30.480 do that. 0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:35.760 Coming up, we dig deeper into how you build a 0:12:35.840 --> 0:12:38.480 team people recognize on the other side of the world 0:12:38.960 --> 0:12:42.320 the night Gotham flew to Kansas City with every single 0:12:42.360 --> 0:12:45.400 odds stacked against them, and why the locker room of 0:12:45.440 --> 0:12:48.079 the future has an L shaped entrance. 0:12:48.800 --> 0:12:50.720 We'll get there right after the break. 0:13:01.360 --> 0:13:04.240 Coming back to this broader goal that you articulated from 0:13:04.280 --> 0:13:07.400 the beginning, that Gotham will be the first global brand 0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:11.680 in women's sports, and those individual athletes, female athletes, primarily 0:13:11.679 --> 0:13:13.880 tennis that people recognize anywhere in the world where there's 0:13:13.880 --> 0:13:16.959 no women's team and that will be Gotham. How has 0:13:17.000 --> 0:13:20.000 that vision played out? So it really does start with 0:13:20.040 --> 0:13:22.240 the product on the fields. If you think about all 0:13:22.320 --> 0:13:24.600 those teams that have become global brands, and I would 0:13:24.640 --> 0:13:28.080 probably put Kansas City Chiefs in that, you know, in 0:13:28.120 --> 0:13:31.160 its recent era in the NFL, but the Dallas Cowboys 0:13:31.160 --> 0:13:33.199 in their era been like the like. 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:36.720 People in England love the Dolphins because that's funny. 0:13:36.760 --> 0:13:38.840 I know, it's so funny because that's when they started 0:13:38.840 --> 0:13:41.000 airing the NFL, right when. 0:13:40.840 --> 0:13:41.880 They were good. Yeah, exactly. 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:44.640 You see a lot of La Dodgers fans like hats 0:13:44.640 --> 0:13:47.040 around when you're like walking around in other countries. So 0:13:47.400 --> 0:13:49.520 if you think about these brands, which I have all 0:13:49.559 --> 0:13:51.880 been men's to date, that have all become these big 0:13:51.880 --> 0:13:55.720 global brands, it does start with winning. And winning is 0:13:55.760 --> 0:13:58.760 when a casual fan comes in. It is then on 0:13:58.880 --> 0:14:01.400 us as stewards are the bran to convert them into 0:14:01.480 --> 0:14:03.880 lifelong fans. And so we'll talk about that, but it 0:14:03.920 --> 0:14:06.480 does start with winning. And so last year we won 0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:10.000 the championship. Great job, congratulations. So the celebrating of the 0:14:10.080 --> 0:14:11.680 championship was really important to that. 0:14:12.080 --> 0:14:13.280 So we won championship. 0:14:13.520 --> 0:14:16.439 It was critically important to me, to our whole team 0:14:16.800 --> 0:14:19.440 that if we won, when we won, that we celebrated 0:14:19.440 --> 0:14:22.840 this team like the champions that they are, and that 0:14:22.880 --> 0:14:26.000 we took the exact playbook of how men's teams are 0:14:26.040 --> 0:14:29.040 celebrated in New York. We went really deep, like screen 0:14:29.120 --> 0:14:31.720 by screen of the YouTube video that we found of 0:14:31.760 --> 0:14:34.400 the Giants parade to make sure down to what was 0:14:34.440 --> 0:14:36.320 the seating at City Hall, to make sure you know, 0:14:36.320 --> 0:14:38.400 we do we really followed it like as much as 0:14:38.480 --> 0:14:40.960 we could, because again, if you're going to be this 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:44.080 first global women's brand, we have to take a page 0:14:44.120 --> 0:14:46.160 from the men's book. They celebrate champions well and we 0:14:46.200 --> 0:14:48.280 need to follow that same playbook. So first on the 0:14:48.280 --> 0:14:51.520 business side was really being championship ready. Then how do 0:14:51.600 --> 0:14:55.280 we convert these moment in time fans into lifelong fans 0:14:55.280 --> 0:14:58.240 of the team. And so we relaunched our season ticket 0:14:58.320 --> 0:14:59.640 membership called the Blueprint. 0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:01.600 Now, so if you think about what. 0:15:01.640 --> 0:15:04.920 Season ticket memberships look like in sports, it's always been 0:15:04.960 --> 0:15:07.880 about just access to tickets because in a world before 0:15:07.920 --> 0:15:10.880 a secondary ticket market, the only way to get like Giants' 0:15:10.880 --> 0:15:12.920 tickets for a long time, the buildings sold out. There's 0:15:12.960 --> 0:15:15.240 no stub hubver or feet Geek, and so the only 0:15:15.280 --> 0:15:18.040 way to have tickets was to be a season ticket member. Now, 0:15:18.080 --> 0:15:21.240 in a world of secondary ticket markets, the ticketing part 0:15:21.240 --> 0:15:23.760 of it doesn't matter as much, and so it's much 0:15:23.840 --> 0:15:27.240 more about joining a community. So our bet on creating 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:30.440 a Blueprint was to reimagine season ticket membership to really 0:15:30.440 --> 0:15:33.680 be about joining a community. And so the blueprint is 0:15:33.720 --> 0:15:36.440 only the first five thousand members. You get a fancy 0:15:36.520 --> 0:15:38.720 jacket with your number on it. We will one day, 0:15:38.800 --> 0:15:41.080 you know, memorialize it physically. You know, if you drop 0:15:41.120 --> 0:15:42.680 out of being a season ticket member, we're not going 0:15:42.720 --> 0:15:45.440 to replace you as that number. You will always be 0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:48.040 one of the original five thousand people that got this 0:15:48.160 --> 0:15:50.480 team to what hopefully one day will be a multi 0:15:50.480 --> 0:15:53.400 billion dollar team. And so we've made decisions like that 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:56.440 that were really deliberate in taking that great product and 0:15:56.480 --> 0:15:59.320 that great moment of winning the championship and translating that 0:15:59.480 --> 0:16:01.760 into what we hope is lifelong fandom. 0:16:02.400 --> 0:16:04.680 And by the way, the jacket is popping off. 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:08.360 I went to the Sirens game right after the Blueprint 0:16:08.440 --> 0:16:11.640 Jackets were mailed on like Thursday. I went to the 0:16:11.640 --> 0:16:14.400 Sirens game on Sunday and there were a lot of 0:16:14.480 --> 0:16:17.800 people wearing blueprint jackets. I couldn't believe how quickly they 0:16:17.840 --> 0:16:20.440 had turned it around and how proud they were to 0:16:20.480 --> 0:16:22.760 be wearing them, which I also think points to how 0:16:22.840 --> 0:16:26.200 a fan of women's sports can be different than a 0:16:26.240 --> 0:16:27.200 fan of men's sports. 0:16:27.560 --> 0:16:28.400 Yeah, it's interesting. 0:16:28.480 --> 0:16:30.880 So we have a bunch of different types of target 0:16:30.880 --> 0:16:34.840 audiences in our fans. Some are kind of core soccer loyalists, 0:16:34.840 --> 0:16:36.680 love the sport of soccer and this is a great product. 0:16:36.720 --> 0:16:38.840 They love that there is a group, as you said, 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:41.960 of kind of women's sports fans, and they really believe 0:16:42.000 --> 0:16:44.200 in kind of the broader role they are playing in 0:16:44.240 --> 0:16:46.760 lifting women's sports up. They love the vibe, they think 0:16:46.800 --> 0:16:49.080 it's really fun. They're going to wear that jacket proudly. 0:16:49.360 --> 0:16:52.160 They are proud supporters. It's actually kind of a page 0:16:52.200 --> 0:16:54.560 out of our Peloton book is early on, when you 0:16:54.840 --> 0:16:57.040 did your hundredth ride, you got this T shirt. 0:16:57.120 --> 0:16:57.760 You couldn't buy it. 0:16:57.760 --> 0:16:59.920 The only way you could get this T shirt was 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:02.440 is if you did one hundred rides. And our head 0:17:02.480 --> 0:17:04.359 of I think member experience was this title at the 0:17:04.359 --> 0:17:06.160 time built out a model of like if we got 0:17:06.160 --> 0:17:08.760 really big, which was the hope, how expensive it was 0:17:08.840 --> 0:17:10.919 going to be free. It's like free T shirts? How 0:17:10.920 --> 0:17:13.280 could you give away so many free T shirts? But John, 0:17:13.320 --> 0:17:15.960 our founder, thought this was the worst advice he'd ever gotten. 0:17:16.000 --> 0:17:17.959 He's like, what are you talking about? Like this is gold. 0:17:18.359 --> 0:17:21.520 The fact that somebody is so proud to be a 0:17:21.520 --> 0:17:23.479 part of your community that they're going to wear this 0:17:23.560 --> 0:17:26.560 T shirt dropping their kids at school, walking down the street, 0:17:26.560 --> 0:17:28.760 That is exactly what we want to be doing. And 0:17:28.800 --> 0:17:31.280 so the Blueprint jacket was kind of that same idea. 0:17:31.480 --> 0:17:33.720 It was super expensive, and we did look at a 0:17:33.760 --> 0:17:36.280 model of how expensive five thousand of those would be. 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:38.800 But the bet was that people are going to be 0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:40.960 so proud to be a part of Gotham that they're 0:17:40.960 --> 0:17:42.320 going to go to a Sirens game, They're going to 0:17:42.320 --> 0:17:43.960 a Liberty game, They're going to walk down the street 0:17:44.000 --> 0:17:46.440 wearing that jacket and tell all of their friends about 0:17:46.440 --> 0:17:48.040 how proud they are to be a part of Gotham. 0:17:48.680 --> 0:17:51.080 And it's definitely working, Like I feel like I now 0:17:51.119 --> 0:17:53.400 get daily texts from people of like a random person 0:17:53.440 --> 0:17:54.919 they took a picture of on the street like a 0:17:54.920 --> 0:17:56.240 gothamat wearing a Gotham sweatshirt. 0:17:56.359 --> 0:17:58.399 I had lunch today at the American Girls Store, not 0:17:58.560 --> 0:18:00.719 too Bragh. I was there. 0:18:00.840 --> 0:18:02.960 One of the women who works there saw my Gotham 0:18:03.000 --> 0:18:05.639 necklace and she immediately was like, olhways that the women's 0:18:05.640 --> 0:18:06.160 soccer team. 0:18:06.400 --> 0:18:08.879 Wow. Cool? And I was like, have you been to 0:18:08.920 --> 0:18:10.080 a game yet? And she's like no. 0:18:10.160 --> 0:18:11.679 I go to a lot of Liberty games and my 0:18:11.680 --> 0:18:14.280 friends are all Liberty season ticket holders and there was 0:18:14.320 --> 0:18:16.640 a ticket bundle with Gotham and so my friends got 0:18:16.640 --> 0:18:18.480 tickets to Gotham and I can't wait to go. 0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:21.879 I love that. Yes, I've been waiting to tell you 0:18:21.880 --> 0:18:23.760 this the whole time you've been here. But tell the story. 0:18:23.800 --> 0:18:24.879 I'm thrilled, you know. 0:18:24.920 --> 0:18:27.480 Sometimes I feel like last year we're just all about testing, 0:18:27.680 --> 0:18:30.239 tried a million different things to see what's stuck. And 0:18:30.400 --> 0:18:32.760 so obviously we're still kind of collecting the data and 0:18:33.160 --> 0:18:35.200 some things that was clear we were better than others, 0:18:35.240 --> 0:18:37.560 but it's always helpful to hear the anecdote of like, oh, yeah, 0:18:37.600 --> 0:18:38.280 it worked great. 0:18:38.880 --> 0:18:41.480 So that also is part of being in New York 0:18:41.520 --> 0:18:43.320 and part of building the brain is like leading into 0:18:43.359 --> 0:18:46.439 culture in New York, the general fans of women's sports 0:18:46.480 --> 0:18:48.600 like a lot of it is like millennial moms. It's 0:18:48.600 --> 0:18:50.560 like people like us who were just looking for a 0:18:50.600 --> 0:18:55.520 great irl, no screen experience, things that feel safe and 0:18:55.600 --> 0:18:58.880 positive to experience with their kids. But beyond people who 0:18:58.920 --> 0:19:01.919 are looking first, there's a big push this year to 0:19:02.040 --> 0:19:06.040 move into broader culture, particularly grounded in New York schleppin 0:19:06.080 --> 0:19:08.560 players all over the city. How is this part of 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:11.040 the strategy. I feel like it's important to articulate. 0:19:10.960 --> 0:19:13.560 To me, this is critical to our success to be 0:19:13.640 --> 0:19:16.920 able to break through nationally and then globally. To break through, 0:19:16.960 --> 0:19:18.679 you have to be a part of culture. So I 0:19:18.720 --> 0:19:20.879 was actually just interviewing someone and we were talking about 0:19:21.000 --> 0:19:24.119 marketers that can steal share from other brands. So like 0:19:24.119 --> 0:19:26.359 a Pepsi coke again, you know, like you're a soda drinker. 0:19:26.400 --> 0:19:27.920 You're gonna drink a soda? Are you gonna drink a 0:19:27.920 --> 0:19:29.800 Pepsi or a coke? Do you clar for godtect people 0:19:29.840 --> 0:19:31.200 who know that you did used to work at Pepsi, 0:19:31.320 --> 0:19:32.960 Yes I did. I just like haven't talked with Pepsi 0:19:32.960 --> 0:19:35.439 in fifteen years, but here we are talking about today. 0:19:35.640 --> 0:19:35.960 I did. 0:19:36.080 --> 0:19:38.080 But anyway, if you're like looking for a soda, you're 0:19:38.119 --> 0:19:40.320 going to drink a pepsi or a coke or other 0:19:40.400 --> 0:19:43.440 marketers have a I think, more exciting challenge of audience creation. 0:19:44.080 --> 0:19:46.040 And that was our job at Peloton. No one was 0:19:46.320 --> 0:19:48.640 waking up saying like, I wonder what at home spin 0:19:48.720 --> 0:19:51.200 bike I should buy. We had to go create the audience. 0:19:51.320 --> 0:19:53.760 That is our job at Gotham, and our job at 0:19:53.760 --> 0:19:55.680 the end of your Celle I think is to go 0:19:55.760 --> 0:19:58.480 create the audience. People aren't waking up saying which women's 0:19:58.480 --> 0:20:00.359 soccer teams should I be a fan of? Sitting here 0:20:00.359 --> 0:20:01.919 in New York, they're saying, like, what should I do 0:20:02.040 --> 0:20:04.560 for this weekend? And we need to get Gotham like 0:20:04.640 --> 0:20:06.159 higher on that list and then get them to a 0:20:06.200 --> 0:20:09.280 game or to watch on TV. Breaking into culture in 0:20:09.400 --> 0:20:12.359 other parts of New York and other parts of society 0:20:12.560 --> 0:20:15.560 is very high to me on that list, because that 0:20:15.720 --> 0:20:18.000 is how we're going to get other audiences to be 0:20:18.119 --> 0:20:20.800 aware and then eventually to come into our games. So 0:20:20.880 --> 0:20:23.280 you've done, obviously a great job of getting us into 0:20:23.320 --> 0:20:26.399 the fashion where like all of New York culture, we 0:20:26.560 --> 0:20:29.480 have the World's Cup coming this summer, and so that 0:20:29.880 --> 0:20:33.480 is a massive opportunity for us to break into culture. 0:20:33.680 --> 0:20:37.080 We're going to have the global epicenter of soccer happening 0:20:37.119 --> 0:20:38.000 in our backyard. 0:20:38.119 --> 0:20:38.960 So we've been. 0:20:38.960 --> 0:20:41.520 Very deliberate and how we're going to break into that. 0:20:41.880 --> 0:20:44.560 The Men's World Cup, Yes, Men's World Cup, Yeah, so 0:20:44.720 --> 0:20:47.960 it is I mean New York especially, we're hosting eight games, 0:20:48.000 --> 0:20:50.639 including the final. When you're an upstart brand, like we 0:20:50.640 --> 0:20:53.360 couldn't go create our own FanFest during the World's Cup. 0:20:53.400 --> 0:20:55.000 That's you know, cost millions of dollars. 0:20:55.280 --> 0:20:57.600 But we've been working really closely with the host committee 0:20:57.600 --> 0:20:59.920 and the sponsor brands to say, ohko, you're going to 0:21:00.080 --> 0:21:02.720 have this great watch party in Central Park and Queen's. 0:21:02.920 --> 0:21:04.639 Can Gotham show up and be a part of that? 0:21:04.880 --> 0:21:06.840 Can we get our players into things? So we're going 0:21:06.920 --> 0:21:09.560 to be kind of pushing in wherever we can. From 0:21:09.600 --> 0:21:12.240 an end of your Celle perspective, the league will stop 0:21:12.320 --> 0:21:15.359 playing for June because there's not enough stadium availability, and 0:21:15.400 --> 0:21:17.720 then in July the league will start again, so we 0:21:17.800 --> 0:21:20.440 won't have access to our own stadium where we normally play. 0:21:20.560 --> 0:21:23.440 And the league came to us and as we're creating schedule, 0:21:23.520 --> 0:21:26.120 I assume you want to be away for July because 0:21:26.119 --> 0:21:27.840 you're not going to have your stadium. And we got 0:21:27.840 --> 0:21:30.560 together as a team and said, well, yes, that is 0:21:30.600 --> 0:21:33.520 what makes sense on paper. But what if we actually 0:21:33.640 --> 0:21:36.920 leaned in and said, no, everyone's going to be in 0:21:36.920 --> 0:21:40.199 New York for soccer, Let's play a game in New 0:21:40.280 --> 0:21:41.879 York during that week kind of leading up to the 0:21:41.880 --> 0:21:45.000 World Cup. Let's be creative, let's play somewhere else. So 0:21:45.240 --> 0:21:48.440 we have made the decision to play the Wednesday before 0:21:48.680 --> 0:21:49.600 the World Cup. 0:21:49.440 --> 0:21:50.920 Final at City Field. 0:21:51.320 --> 0:21:54.360 First time Gotham will have ever played in a baseball stadium, 0:21:54.480 --> 0:21:56.960 first time we've ever played at this scale in New 0:21:57.040 --> 0:21:57.560 York City. 0:21:57.720 --> 0:21:58.800 This will be right where the. 0:21:58.800 --> 0:22:01.600 Mets play, right where the tennis stadium is. Couldn't be 0:22:01.760 --> 0:22:04.120 easier to access. It opens up Long Island, it opens 0:22:04.160 --> 0:22:07.080 up Westchester, all of New York. So we're super excited. 0:22:07.280 --> 0:22:09.160 And again there's going to be fans to the point 0:22:09.160 --> 0:22:11.960 of like building a global brand, fans of soccer from 0:22:12.040 --> 0:22:15.400 all over the world, and we are inserting ourselves into 0:22:15.440 --> 0:22:18.200 that and hoping that people will add a Gotham game 0:22:18.280 --> 0:22:19.720 to their soccer tour. 0:22:19.520 --> 0:22:20.360 While they're in New York. 0:22:22.480 --> 0:22:25.119 With the Men's FIFA World Cup, bringing the summer of 0:22:25.160 --> 0:22:28.240 soccer to the US. Gotham FC will be participating in 0:22:28.280 --> 0:22:32.439 a new creative way, a women's soccer game at City Field. 0:22:32.840 --> 0:22:35.600 Gotham will face the Washington Spirit in a rematch of 0:22:35.640 --> 0:22:39.760 the twenty twenty five NWSL Championship on July fifteenth, and 0:22:39.800 --> 0:22:43.040 it's going to set the record for the largest women's 0:22:43.080 --> 0:22:46.080 sporting event in New York City history. 0:22:46.960 --> 0:22:48.480 So now we're going to go back to the championship. 0:22:48.640 --> 0:22:50.800 We technically closed. 0:22:50.359 --> 0:22:52.960 The deal before the twenty twenty three championship when Gotham won, 0:22:53.040 --> 0:22:54.840 so we were technically the owners of twenty train three 0:22:54.880 --> 0:22:56.520 but had been in the room for like four minutes. 0:22:56.800 --> 0:22:58.359 And then in twenty twenty four we made it to 0:22:58.400 --> 0:23:01.560 the semifinals, lost and penalty kicks. Twenty twenty five this 0:23:01.680 --> 0:23:04.600 past year. This is the business team that you built. 0:23:04.720 --> 0:23:06.399 This is the soccer team that you built. This is 0:23:06.440 --> 0:23:08.280 the team that you managed. I'm going to try talking 0:23:08.280 --> 0:23:09.560 about this. You won. 0:23:10.200 --> 0:23:13.320 Oh, thank you one that I like this. You're crying 0:23:13.359 --> 0:23:15.000 every time I think You're like, I know, like this 0:23:15.160 --> 0:23:17.639 is your team. How does that feel? Gosh? 0:23:17.680 --> 0:23:20.000 I feel like now I have to take myself mentally 0:23:20.040 --> 0:23:22.480 back there, it does feel different than twenty twenty three. 0:23:22.720 --> 0:23:25.159 I feel like my brain thinks about the championship in 0:23:25.160 --> 0:23:25.919 two different ways. 0:23:26.240 --> 0:23:27.480 On the one hand, to. 0:23:27.400 --> 0:23:30.520 Your point about losing penalty cakes, you could argue, we 0:23:30.600 --> 0:23:32.399 have a really good team. I mean, we won in 0:23:32.440 --> 0:23:34.840 twenty twenty three, we lost some penalty kicks in twenty 0:23:34.840 --> 0:23:36.640 twenty four, and then we won in twenty twenty five. 0:23:36.680 --> 0:23:38.399 Like some people would call that a dynasty. I think 0:23:38.400 --> 0:23:38.879 you got to win. 0:23:38.920 --> 0:23:42.480 Another to colour said she did the great superd Yeah, yeah, 0:23:42.520 --> 0:23:44.439 I'll go with her on that. So on the one end, 0:23:44.440 --> 0:23:46.880 you could say this team that was built before our time, 0:23:47.040 --> 0:23:50.439 credit our coach Juan Carlos, our general manager a l 0:23:50.560 --> 0:23:53.639 Abrabush West. They have built an incredible team, incredible roster, 0:23:53.840 --> 0:23:55.720 and we're kind of in our dynasty era and we 0:23:55.720 --> 0:23:58.080 need to capitalize on that. On the other hand, last 0:23:58.160 --> 0:24:00.720 year was really challenging and a lot of way we 0:24:00.760 --> 0:24:03.280 had to make a lot of really difficult roster decisions 0:24:03.520 --> 0:24:06.280 quickly at the beginning of twenty twenty five, every time 0:24:06.320 --> 0:24:09.280 we announced that a player was leaving. Our fans are 0:24:09.320 --> 0:24:11.480 really like loyal fans that really understand the team. 0:24:11.800 --> 0:24:14.040 Were you know, what is y L doing? Why is 0:24:14.080 --> 0:24:17.119 she the general manager? This is terrible. She should be fired. 0:24:17.480 --> 0:24:20.560 We had to band together and put our head down 0:24:20.560 --> 0:24:22.760 and say, like, this might look like a bad idea 0:24:22.800 --> 0:24:24.159 in the outside, but we know this is the right 0:24:24.200 --> 0:24:25.840 thing for our team. I give you L a lot 0:24:25.880 --> 0:24:27.520 of credit for being able to put our head down 0:24:27.560 --> 0:24:29.080 and do what was right for the team then, and 0:24:29.680 --> 0:24:33.240 from my perspective, coming off of the twenty twenty four loss, 0:24:33.480 --> 0:24:36.520 I hadn't really deliberately set what our culture should be, 0:24:36.720 --> 0:24:38.800 and it showed and we said we want to be 0:24:38.960 --> 0:24:41.399 the first global women's soccer brand. Like how that showed 0:24:41.480 --> 0:24:43.959 up in the day to day really wasn't clear. And 0:24:44.000 --> 0:24:46.680 so in the off season from twenty four to twenty five, 0:24:46.800 --> 0:24:49.919 we very deliberately set out what our mission was, what 0:24:49.960 --> 0:24:52.320 our vision was, and most importantly, what our values were, 0:24:52.520 --> 0:24:55.119 and brought that to the team and our player leadership 0:24:55.119 --> 0:24:56.760 Council was a part of it. It was my vision, 0:24:56.800 --> 0:24:58.920 but it was very much a collaborative effort. We quite 0:24:59.000 --> 0:25:01.240 literally spray painted them on the wall, made a lot 0:25:01.280 --> 0:25:03.720 of difficult decisions, set what our culture was, and then 0:25:03.840 --> 0:25:06.879 our performance on the field was bumpy all year and 0:25:06.920 --> 0:25:10.119 there was really a narrative around us of who is 0:25:10.160 --> 0:25:12.920 this team? Do we underperform? It looks like we have 0:25:13.000 --> 0:25:14.760 a lot of pieces, but it doesn't seem like it's 0:25:14.800 --> 0:25:17.840 all clicking together. What's the problem. And so going into 0:25:17.840 --> 0:25:20.320 the playoffs, at one point we were as high as 0:25:20.480 --> 0:25:24.400 ranked fourth, which from a business perspective, having a home 0:25:24.440 --> 0:25:27.880 playoff game is very different than having an away playoff game. 0:25:28.000 --> 0:25:30.320 There's no revenue sharing in the league, so when you 0:25:30.320 --> 0:25:32.399 have a home playoff game, you can make money. 0:25:32.480 --> 0:25:34.680 When you have an away playoff game, you lose money. 0:25:34.720 --> 0:25:37.000 Just to put it simply, we were planning for a 0:25:37.040 --> 0:25:39.280 home playoff game, ready with our list to go out 0:25:39.280 --> 0:25:41.720 in our marketing, and then we lost in North Carolina 0:25:41.720 --> 0:25:43.439 the week before. We drop all the way down to 0:25:43.440 --> 0:25:45.840 eighth place, and it meant that we had to go 0:25:46.080 --> 0:25:49.480 face Kansas City current the number one team in the league, 0:25:49.520 --> 0:25:50.920 and not just a number one team in the league, 0:25:50.960 --> 0:25:51.480 the number. 0:25:51.320 --> 0:25:52.680 One team that the league had ever had. 0:25:52.800 --> 0:25:54.119 The top of the table to the bottom of the 0:25:54.119 --> 0:25:55.600 table is usually really tight. 0:25:55.880 --> 0:25:56.520 Not this year. 0:25:56.920 --> 0:25:59.840 Kansas City run away winning the shield, which is like 0:25:59.880 --> 0:26:03.000 the regular season, most number of goals scored, least number 0:26:03.000 --> 0:26:06.320 of goals allowed, any stat they broke it, and Gotham 0:26:06.400 --> 0:26:08.760 had just come off the worst game we've ever played. 0:26:08.560 --> 0:26:10.360 And Kansas City had never lost at home. 0:26:10.480 --> 0:26:12.720 Kis City had never lost at home since yet like 0:26:12.760 --> 0:26:15.000 eighteen months or something like that. Gossam had never beaten 0:26:15.080 --> 0:26:18.040 Kansas City. I mean, it was like every single odds 0:26:18.080 --> 0:26:21.040 stacked against us. My friend I get my eyebrows done 0:26:21.080 --> 0:26:23.440 at her house sometimes, and I was sitting there getting 0:26:23.440 --> 0:26:25.280 my eyebrows down with her the Friday before the game, 0:26:25.320 --> 0:26:25.960 and I was like, oh. 0:26:25.880 --> 0:26:27.040 My god, we to go to Kansas City. 0:26:27.040 --> 0:26:28.040 And I was like, oh, I think we have to 0:26:28.119 --> 0:26:30.000 charter a plane because the government shut down. 0:26:30.040 --> 0:26:30.720 Can we afford this? 0:26:30.960 --> 0:26:33.000 I'm debating with my lovely friend and I said, I 0:26:33.040 --> 0:26:35.480 was like, Okay, if we lose, I'm gonna be really 0:26:35.520 --> 0:26:37.160 annoyed that we charted this plane. But if we win, 0:26:37.200 --> 0:26:39.280 I think we're gonna win the championship. And obviously, you know, 0:26:39.320 --> 0:26:40.800 we went in kidsity we win the whole thing. But 0:26:40.880 --> 0:26:42.640 she did texting and she's like, thank god you came 0:26:42.680 --> 0:26:45.560 for eyebrows. Thank god you chartered that plane because it 0:26:45.600 --> 0:26:48.600 really helped. They're also the only team that has their 0:26:48.640 --> 0:26:52.040 own stadium, and so most games you go to, including 0:26:52.080 --> 0:26:54.040 our games. We try to make it feel like a 0:26:54.040 --> 0:26:56.280 home game, but it still feels like we're a tenant 0:26:56.200 --> 0:26:59.280 in someone else's stadium. Kansas City, and I give one 0:26:59.320 --> 0:27:01.240 hundred per cent credit to the Longs, the owners there, 0:27:01.280 --> 0:27:03.840 who really had the vision of how much to invest 0:27:03.880 --> 0:27:07.359 in their women's team. They built this amazing stadium. I 0:27:07.359 --> 0:27:09.399 mean the entire town of Kansas City. It feels like 0:27:09.600 --> 0:27:11.160 you're in the current hometown. 0:27:11.200 --> 0:27:15.119 The whole neighborhood has like sides of the buildings with 0:27:15.160 --> 0:27:16.439 the players faces on it. 0:27:16.560 --> 0:27:19.320 Right. It is like home field advantage like I've never 0:27:19.400 --> 0:27:23.000 seen in this league before. And it's also freezing cold, 0:27:23.040 --> 0:27:24.680 which I think we're a little bit used to, but 0:27:24.720 --> 0:27:28.120 they're really used to. So windy, the stadiums sold out. 0:27:28.400 --> 0:27:30.600 Their fans are on their feet screaming, 0:27:30.800 --> 0:27:32.320 the whole Ted Lasso cast is there 0:27:32.359 --> 0:27:34.960 Oh right, the whole ted last cast is there everywhere? 0:27:35.040 --> 0:27:35.159 Right. 0:27:35.200 --> 0:27:37.320 They're also filming the end of re Cell documentary and 0:27:37.320 --> 0:27:39.879 they're featuring Kansas City. They're not featuring Gotham, so they 0:27:39.920 --> 0:27:42.200 have no interest in showing us, And I think it 0:27:42.320 --> 0:27:46.159 gave us the freedom to a prove the world wrong 0:27:46.240 --> 0:27:48.639 that they'd gotten the story wrong about Gotham, and obviously 0:27:48.720 --> 0:27:51.200 Jaden Shaw had the famous quote of underdogs my ass. 0:27:50.960 --> 0:27:52.360 After, which is perfect. 0:27:52.600 --> 0:27:54.639 But I think it gave us as a team the 0:27:54.720 --> 0:27:57.800 freedom to just be who we are, because if we 0:27:57.880 --> 0:28:00.240 had lost, no one would have bet a night Side 0:28:00.240 --> 0:28:02.720 World would have said, obviously Kansas City just had some 0:28:02.720 --> 0:28:04.960 steps on their way to go win the championship, and 0:28:05.000 --> 0:28:06.919 we were just one of the steps. I felt like 0:28:06.960 --> 0:28:10.159 the night before, you know, in our team meeting, we 0:28:10.200 --> 0:28:12.760 all had this feeling of we could go lose and 0:28:12.760 --> 0:28:14.639 everyone would say, yeah, got them at a kind of 0:28:14.680 --> 0:28:18.240 mediocre season, or we could really band together and show 0:28:18.240 --> 0:28:21.280 everyone the best version of ourselves and we know that 0:28:21.320 --> 0:28:23.200 the best version of ourselves can beat anyone. 0:28:23.320 --> 0:28:27.040 And then we did welcome everyone to the NWSL Championship. 0:28:27.040 --> 0:28:29.600 It's the number two seed Washington Spirit getting ready to 0:28:29.640 --> 0:28:31.240 take on number eight seed. 0:28:31.560 --> 0:28:40.040 Gotham FC, Nothing got them in the NWSL Championship. 0:28:40.240 --> 0:28:43.600 Bing up the confetti from what was a grand party 0:28:43.800 --> 0:28:46.480 down Broadway and on the steps of City Hall to 0:28:46.520 --> 0:28:51.320 celebrate the twenty twenty five NWSL champions, Gotham FC. 0:28:52.120 --> 0:28:56.760 We stand here as twenty twenty five NWSL champions. 0:28:59.680 --> 0:29:03.506 So we won now so now it's all great, right? 0:29:03.506 --> 0:29:06.680 So. Definitely, for twenty four hours it felt amazing. City 0:29:06.680 --> 0:29:09.120 Hall was amazing. This is a very privileged position to 0:29:09.160 --> 0:29:10.960 be in, to be winning, and we would much rather 0:29:11.000 --> 0:29:12.320 be winning than not winning. So let me just be 0:29:12.440 --> 0:29:14.200 very clear about that. We were very quick to add 0:29:14.200 --> 0:29:17.280 that second star to our crest. But in soccer, soccer 0:29:17.320 --> 0:29:21.480 is a global game, and so with success comes entry 0:29:21.640 --> 0:29:24.520 into all these other global tournaments. And again to the 0:29:24.560 --> 0:29:26.640 conversation of we want to be a global brand, like 0:29:26.680 --> 0:29:27.720 this is again a privilege. 0:29:27.720 --> 0:29:28.600 This is where we want to be. 0:29:28.640 --> 0:29:30.680 We want to be in all these tournaments, but it 0:29:30.800 --> 0:29:33.200 is definitely a strain on our players and a strain 0:29:33.280 --> 0:29:36.479 on our staff. So because we won the CONCACAF tournament 0:29:36.560 --> 0:29:39.960 last year, the first ever CONCACAF tournament, we represented the 0:29:40.040 --> 0:29:42.960 CONCACAF region which is like the America, Central and North 0:29:43.000 --> 0:29:47.160 America in FIFA's first ever what they called the Women's 0:29:47.240 --> 0:29:49.640 Champions Cup basically at Club World Cup, and so it 0:29:49.680 --> 0:29:52.440 was best teams from around the world, all competing to 0:29:52.480 --> 0:29:53.520 be the best team in the world. 0:29:53.760 --> 0:29:56.440 Again, a privilege. We wanted to be there. We earned 0:29:56.440 --> 0:29:59.240 our right to be the ones representing North and Central America, 0:29:59.400 --> 0:30:02.280 but it was during our off season. We had a 0:30:02.360 --> 0:30:04.800 really short off season, especially because we won the championship, 0:30:04.840 --> 0:30:07.280 so it's even shorter our players, our staff really didn't 0:30:07.280 --> 0:30:10.240 get to recharge in the same way that they typically would. 0:30:10.360 --> 0:30:12.080 For those of us that are on the planning end 0:30:12.080 --> 0:30:14.000 of it, we had no off season because we're planning 0:30:14.040 --> 0:30:15.960 for the preseason to be able to go into that 0:30:16.080 --> 0:30:19.040 and so we'll be in the CONCACAFT Tournament again this year. Again, 0:30:19.080 --> 0:30:21.480 these are all tournaments we want to be in. We 0:30:21.800 --> 0:30:23.800 very much believe we should be in. If you want 0:30:23.840 --> 0:30:25.400 to be able to global brand, which we do, you 0:30:25.560 --> 0:30:27.320 have to be in these tournaments. I think we have 0:30:27.400 --> 0:30:30.680 something like fourteen extra games compared to everyone else, and 0:30:30.720 --> 0:30:33.080 that's a lot, or twelve maybe, So we think a 0:30:33.120 --> 0:30:35.560 lot about the mental health of our staff, our players, 0:30:35.720 --> 0:30:38.120 assuming that there are going to be levels of burnout 0:30:38.160 --> 0:30:40.040 that we just have never seen. No team in the 0:30:40.120 --> 0:30:42.240 end of our sale has played as many games as 0:30:42.240 --> 0:30:43.160 we will play this year. 0:30:43.240 --> 0:30:44.080 Oh that's crazy. 0:30:44.280 --> 0:30:45.719 Yeah, that's I just said that for the first time 0:30:45.760 --> 0:30:47.800 out loud. But I think it's true because we were 0:30:47.840 --> 0:30:49.920 in the feed for tournament. We are in the CONCA 0:30:49.960 --> 0:30:53.040 CALFF champion like semi finals and hopefully championship from twenty 0:30:53.080 --> 0:30:55.720 twenty five, and then we're also in next year's CONCACAFT 0:30:55.720 --> 0:30:57.960 tournament in the fall since we won last year's and 0:30:58.000 --> 0:31:01.520 the Resale championship, so we are in three different tournaments 0:31:01.600 --> 0:31:04.000 on the same time as we're playing our regular season. 0:31:04.400 --> 0:31:06.560 And we have so many international players that play for 0:31:06.600 --> 0:31:08.880 their country and we're in a year before the World Cup. 0:31:09.160 --> 0:31:12.200 They're all trying to compete for spots on their national 0:31:12.240 --> 0:31:14.520 team rosters, so it's not like in the off breaks 0:31:14.520 --> 0:31:16.680 that they're getting a break. They're now working as hard 0:31:16.680 --> 0:31:18.240 as they've ever worked trying to get on the World 0:31:18.320 --> 0:31:20.880 Cup roster. So it is a lot. Again, it's a 0:31:20.920 --> 0:31:22.600 good problem to have. It's where we want to be, 0:31:22.760 --> 0:31:24.000 but it comes with challenges. 0:31:26.240 --> 0:31:28.920 Women's sports are on the rise and nobody is expecting 0:31:28.920 --> 0:31:31.880 the hype to slow down anytime soon, but there are 0:31:31.920 --> 0:31:33.920 still leaps and bounds that need to be made while 0:31:33.920 --> 0:31:38.240 the world catches up. Resources like facilities are crucial for 0:31:38.280 --> 0:31:41.360 women's sports teams to thrive, which is why Gotham FC 0:31:41.600 --> 0:31:45.800 just announced that we're building our very own new practice facility. 0:31:46.400 --> 0:31:50.040 Will dive into why that's so important right after the 0:31:50.040 --> 0:32:07.080 break be right back. There has been this arms race 0:32:07.120 --> 0:32:10.200 for facilities, which was a little unexpected when we walked 0:32:10.200 --> 0:32:13.080 into this three years ago and very exciting we now 0:32:13.080 --> 0:32:14.720 have the opportunity to do it ourselves. 0:32:14.840 --> 0:32:18.080 We're super excited about this long overdue. I take our 0:32:18.200 --> 0:32:21.760 player feedback very seriously. When we came into twenty twenty three, 0:32:21.760 --> 0:32:24.400 I think there was not a great relationship between ownership 0:32:24.520 --> 0:32:27.040 and players. I think they've been promised things over and 0:32:27.080 --> 0:32:30.000 over that didn't come through, including not having a celebration 0:32:30.080 --> 0:32:31.640 when they won in twenty twenty three. So one of 0:32:31.640 --> 0:32:33.560 the first things I did when we came in as 0:32:33.600 --> 0:32:36.320 new owners was I asked l R. General Manager for 0:32:36.360 --> 0:32:38.000 the phone number of each of our players and the team, 0:32:38.000 --> 0:32:39.920 even the ones that we're leaving, and I called every 0:32:39.920 --> 0:32:42.200 single one personally and said, I'm Carolyn, I'm the new owner. 0:32:42.280 --> 0:32:44.680 We're going to do things differently. Here's my cell phone number. 0:32:44.760 --> 0:32:46.640 We can only be as good as the feedback we get. 0:32:46.760 --> 0:32:48.880 Call me text me anytime if you have any feedback. 0:32:49.080 --> 0:32:50.840 I think Yell was horrified that she was like, You're 0:32:50.840 --> 0:32:53.040 going to call all of them like I am. And 0:32:53.120 --> 0:32:55.040 so now fast forward to today. I have a player 0:32:55.160 --> 0:32:57.560 Leadership Council. Any player knows that they can call me, 0:32:57.640 --> 0:32:59.600 and they do at any time with any feedback. But 0:33:00.040 --> 0:33:02.320 I have a very deliberate relationship with the player Leaderseral Council, 0:33:02.400 --> 0:33:05.520 basically like the captains who bring feedback to meet. So 0:33:05.760 --> 0:33:09.720 facilities has always been a sore spot with our staff 0:33:09.760 --> 0:33:12.320 and with our players. So actually back to the culture 0:33:12.360 --> 0:33:15.440 point before, we had one hundred percent of our players 0:33:15.800 --> 0:33:20.000 coming out of twenty twenty five recommended Gotham to others. Wow, 0:33:20.280 --> 0:33:23.120 never seen a statistic like that before. Again, coming out 0:33:23.120 --> 0:33:27.000 of a very challenging twenty twenty four, it was really unbelievable. 0:33:27.120 --> 0:33:29.600 One hundred percent of players that took the service said 0:33:29.640 --> 0:33:31.040 that they would recommend Gotham 0:33:31.240 --> 0:33:33.480 And we've had very few players leave, but the ones 0:33:33.520 --> 0:33:35.240 that did are very sad to go. 0:33:35.680 --> 0:33:38.400 Yes, yeah, obviously, you know that's the difficulty of sport 0:33:38.480 --> 0:33:40.200 is sometimes you have to make a decision that's right 0:33:40.240 --> 0:33:42.120 for you personally. It feels like a funeral every time 0:33:42.160 --> 0:33:42.391 they leave 0:33:42.391 --> 0:33:42.960 every time 0:33:42.960 --> 0:33:47.280 Tears, and you know, we just very sad. Our players 0:33:47.280 --> 0:33:49.840 are now super happy. Obviously we can continue to get better, 0:33:49.840 --> 0:33:52.680 but we've really invested in a player experience always building, 0:33:52.720 --> 0:33:55.360 never finished, always building, and actually always building, never finished. 0:33:55.520 --> 0:33:56.479 So we're literally building, 0:33:56.520 --> 0:33:59.760 but literally building. Yes, the facilities was the one area 0:34:00.080 --> 0:34:02.640 that we hear consistently from our players that needs to 0:34:02.640 --> 0:34:04.960 get better and from our staff. We're going to continue 0:34:05.000 --> 0:34:06.520 to raise the bar and we're not going to raise 0:34:06.560 --> 0:34:08.759 the bar across everything at any moment. You know, we 0:34:08.800 --> 0:34:10.680 have to go kind of one by one. But when 0:34:10.719 --> 0:34:12.880 we raise the bar, we are never going to go 0:34:13.000 --> 0:34:15.600 back to what it was before. You know, medical used 0:34:15.640 --> 0:34:18.359 to be a really negative spot for us. We ended 0:34:18.440 --> 0:34:21.080 up hiring great medical director. Anytime in the future, there 0:34:21.160 --> 0:34:22.719 might be dips, but we will never go back to 0:34:22.760 --> 0:34:25.759 what it looked like before. And so facilities again, we 0:34:25.760 --> 0:34:27.560 will never go back to what it looks like. So 0:34:27.719 --> 0:34:30.319 I've been trying to kind of take pictures. Along the way. 0:34:30.400 --> 0:34:32.640 When the rookie class comes in the year after our 0:34:32.640 --> 0:34:35.000 facility is done and they're like, oh, yeah, cool, you 0:34:35.040 --> 0:34:37.279 have like your own four field and you just drive 0:34:37.320 --> 0:34:39.719 in and park and showers when you want them, Like, 0:34:39.760 --> 0:34:41.799 I just want them all to remember what it used 0:34:41.840 --> 0:34:43.960 to look like. So when I go to our offices 0:34:44.080 --> 0:34:47.400 now there's no privacy, there's nowhere to have a conversation. 0:34:47.520 --> 0:34:49.839 So yeah, Ella and I will often meet in her car, 0:34:50.000 --> 0:34:52.640 the only place of a private conversation, and that's the 0:34:52.680 --> 0:34:54.760 only private place. I'm like, let's just take a picture 0:34:54.760 --> 0:34:57.480 of this and remember this. When we have our beautiful office, 0:34:57.560 --> 0:34:59.479 you will know where we came from to the point 0:34:59.480 --> 0:35:02.320 of always been never finish. It is always going to 0:35:02.440 --> 0:35:04.759 feel like there is more work to be done. You know, 0:35:04.840 --> 0:35:06.560 I said our players are happy today, they might not 0:35:06.600 --> 0:35:09.279 be happy tomorrow. There will always be things that can 0:35:09.320 --> 0:35:11.719 be improving. That's part of being at a growth team. 0:35:11.760 --> 0:35:14.719 I think that's what's exciting about it. But it's very 0:35:14.719 --> 0:35:18.000 important to me that we are always continuing to raise 0:35:18.040 --> 0:35:19.840 the bar and we will never go back to what 0:35:19.880 --> 0:35:22.960 it looks like before. So this is something we've been 0:35:23.000 --> 0:35:25.000 looking at since we came in. It was clear to 0:35:25.080 --> 0:35:27.719 us really quickly, you know, once we became owners that 0:35:27.800 --> 0:35:30.719 the facility was not good enough. Even before there was 0:35:30.719 --> 0:35:33.200 an arms race of facilities. These are professional athletes that 0:35:33.239 --> 0:35:35.160 need to be treated as such and this is not it. 0:35:35.239 --> 0:35:38.800 So what we currently have is we rent the academy 0:35:38.800 --> 0:35:42.560 field from Red Bulls, so it's normally used for their academy, 0:35:42.600 --> 0:35:44.640 meaning like their young boys to see it like their 0:35:44.680 --> 0:35:47.040 teenagers that play for them, and then we come in 0:35:47.040 --> 0:35:48.960 and rent it. We don't have our own locker room there, 0:35:49.040 --> 0:35:51.520 we don't. Have meeting space there, and so then we 0:35:51.560 --> 0:35:54.880 took over this warehouse down the street, and that's where 0:35:54.920 --> 0:35:56.959 our locker rooms are, that's where our gym is, where 0:35:56.960 --> 0:35:58.920 the team lifts, that's where our meetings are, that's where 0:35:58.920 --> 0:36:01.520 our equipment is. And so the players and staff have 0:36:01.640 --> 0:36:04.480 to just drive back and forth between the two and 0:36:04.520 --> 0:36:08.640 it's just this logistical headache and just not a real 0:36:08.800 --> 0:36:11.920 experience of a professional athlete. So we have decided to 0:36:12.000 --> 0:36:14.719 take over the Red Bulls facility. They're moving somewhere else 0:36:14.840 --> 0:36:17.960 and so we will have their entire facility now, which 0:36:18.000 --> 0:36:22.120 is massive, four field as I said before, huge indoor space. 0:36:22.239 --> 0:36:25.400 We're still in the design phase, but an incredible upgrade 0:36:25.400 --> 0:36:28.040 and having our own facility that we can control when 0:36:28.080 --> 0:36:30.480 we practice, we can control when we have team meetings, 0:36:30.520 --> 0:36:32.319 the privacy of going in the gym and it just 0:36:32.400 --> 0:36:35.279 being ours will all feel completely different than where we 0:36:35.280 --> 0:36:37.799 were before. And just to be really thoughtful, like the 0:36:37.840 --> 0:36:40.160 difference between building for women's team and our men's team, 0:36:40.239 --> 0:36:42.359 you know, the fact that like the locker rooms will 0:36:42.400 --> 0:36:45.000 have an L shaped entrance, so it's not like totally 0:36:45.080 --> 0:36:47.399 open to it. When we were at the championship game 0:36:47.440 --> 0:36:49.719 in San Jose, we went the day before when the 0:36:49.719 --> 0:36:51.040 players were practicing there and I was like, I just 0:36:51.080 --> 0:36:51.919 want to see the locker room. 0:36:51.960 --> 0:36:55.799 Going into the locker room. Where our players were preparing 0:36:55.920 --> 0:36:58.799 for the championship game, One, there were just a ton 0:36:58.840 --> 0:37:01.000 of urinals. I was like, someone some flowers and plays. 0:37:01.080 --> 0:37:04.800 And two the players had to walk by a gigantic 0:37:05.280 --> 0:37:09.240 wall of stinky shoes and it's like, who stinky shoes 0:37:09.239 --> 0:37:11.319 are these? And they said, oh, it's the academy the 0:37:11.320 --> 0:37:14.200 teenagers of the men's team for the champion 0:37:15.120 --> 0:37:15.480 exactly, 0:37:15.480 --> 0:37:17.640 And. Said are they going to be here tomorrow? And 0:37:17.760 --> 0:37:18.160 they are, 0:37:18.360 --> 0:37:18.879 Yes, they were, 0:37:18.920 --> 0:37:21.040 And the answer was they were, like they left up 0:37:21.040 --> 0:37:23.839 the stinky teenage boys shoes for the championship. 0:37:23.920 --> 0:37:26.520 Yeah. It's really hard not to feel like an unwanted 0:37:26.560 --> 0:37:29.240 tenant in every stadium we play, and even when we're wanted, 0:37:29.280 --> 0:37:31.800 it's just your tenant. And so having our own space, 0:37:31.840 --> 0:37:34.279 to your point that will be for women, even 0:37:34.360 --> 0:37:37.279 just being thoughtful around where is the coach's locker room 0:37:37.360 --> 0:37:40.160 versus the player's locker room. How much privacy do we 0:37:40.200 --> 0:37:42.520 want versus how much do we want? A community space? 0:37:42.640 --> 0:37:45.280 Where is the mother's room, where it's like the social 0:37:45.440 --> 0:37:47.960 content room. A lot of our players do things kind 0:37:47.960 --> 0:37:49.799 of on the outside to help build the brands. How 0:37:49.800 --> 0:37:51.759 do we support them in that so it will just 0:37:51.840 --> 0:37:55.520 be so deliberately for women, which will feel so different. 0:37:55.560 --> 0:37:58.320 I was talking to Tyrna Davidson, one of our captains 0:37:58.520 --> 0:38:01.600 oh at the Glorious Steinem and she was saying, you know, 0:38:01.600 --> 0:38:04.360 it's super important to her is that it's clearly designed 0:38:04.400 --> 0:38:06.960 for women. And she used just a silly example of 0:38:07.239 --> 0:38:09.200 when they go into like a men's locker room, the 0:38:09.200 --> 0:38:12.480 bathrooms usually don't have garbages, and in any women's bathroom, 0:38:12.600 --> 0:38:14.880 obviously you would put a garbage can there, and it 0:38:15.000 --> 0:38:17.680 just doesn't occur to them. From details like that all 0:38:17.719 --> 0:38:19.759 the way through to what beautiful branding can we put 0:38:19.800 --> 0:38:23.480 on the outside, it will hopefully feel very deliberately designed 0:38:23.800 --> 0:38:25.400 for women. And for Gotham. 0:38:25.960 --> 0:38:28.839 When we played in an international tournament CONCACAF last year 0:38:28.880 --> 0:38:32.120 at CONCA CAF in Monterey, Mexico, I remember them telling 0:38:32.200 --> 0:38:34.840 us that the players can't like take a bathroom break 0:38:34.960 --> 0:38:36.680 during so they have to just like go before and 0:38:36.760 --> 0:38:39.120 like go at halftime, and they didn't have enough bathrooms 0:38:39.200 --> 0:38:41.200 for them all to go during halftime and make it. 0:38:41.320 --> 0:38:43.240 Oh, because they're like only used to having urinels, I guess? 0:38:43.360 --> 0:38:46.586 yeah, right. It was it a thirty six person roster. 0:38:46.586 --> 0:38:47.370 Yeah, that's crazy 0:38:47.370 --> 0:38:48.759 And it was like, I don't know how they did it, 0:38:48.800 --> 0:38:50.960 like prioritized by urgency. That's a problem. 0:38:50.960 --> 0:38:53.560 Totally. Yes, our Player Leadership Council will be a part 0:38:53.600 --> 0:38:55.600 of the process, our key members of our staff will 0:38:55.600 --> 0:38:57.040 be part of it. So we're going to be very 0:38:57.120 --> 0:39:00.759 no stone unturned, deliberate in hearing all like the pain 0:39:00.760 --> 0:39:03.319 points people have had and making sure to bring those through, 0:39:03.440 --> 0:39:07.439 and also being really eyes wide open that what good 0:39:07.520 --> 0:39:10.280 looks like today in twenty twenty six is probably different 0:39:10.280 --> 0:39:12.480 than what good looks like in twenty eight, in thirty 0:39:12.560 --> 0:39:15.359 and beyond that. So we also want to leave some flexibility, 0:39:15.440 --> 0:39:17.759 Like we don't want to build this perfect state of 0:39:17.800 --> 0:39:21.360 the art facility today that will never need to be evolved. 0:39:21.400 --> 0:39:23.759 We want it to be very flexible because the game 0:39:23.840 --> 0:39:26.480 is growing so quickly, evolving so quickly that we want 0:39:26.480 --> 0:39:28.560 to be able to be flexible and like grow into 0:39:28.600 --> 0:39:29.200 it as well. 0:39:29.760 --> 0:39:32.239 You've been advising our family and representing our family and 0:39:32.280 --> 0:39:35.640 the Giants for years longer than we've been involved in Gotham. 0:39:35.840 --> 0:39:38.319 So what have you learned that you can take from 0:39:38.360 --> 0:39:41.640 the Giants, Either things that we can like directly apply. 0:39:41.560 --> 0:39:42.840 Or the opposite. 0:39:43.080 --> 0:39:44.960 I think the biggest thing that sticks out to me 0:39:45.040 --> 0:39:47.960 about the Giants or any NFL team is there's this 0:39:48.080 --> 0:39:50.880 incredible history the Giants to celebrate their one hundred anniversary 0:39:51.000 --> 0:39:54.839 last year. Fandom is passed down through the generation. I 0:39:54.840 --> 0:39:56.520 mean people, you know, I don't tell you this, like 0:39:56.560 --> 0:39:57.960 we'll stop you on the street if you're wearing a 0:39:57.960 --> 0:40:01.160 Giant shirt, Like, oh, my grandfather a season ticket member, 0:40:01.440 --> 0:40:03.080 and then my dad became a season. 0:40:02.800 --> 0:40:04.720 Ticket member, and now I'm a season ticket member. 0:40:04.800 --> 0:40:08.839 And so from a fan engagement perspective, you really have 0:40:08.920 --> 0:40:12.279 to honor the tradition of that. But also, I think 0:40:12.280 --> 0:40:14.439 for a long time you didn't really have to think 0:40:14.560 --> 0:40:16.839 that much about like what I would call fan acquisition 0:40:17.040 --> 0:40:19.919 because fandom was intergenerational, like it came from the top 0:40:19.960 --> 0:40:22.960 and was passed down. For Gotham, we had the opposite 0:40:23.000 --> 0:40:25.560 of that, where there are no fans being passed down. 0:40:25.600 --> 0:40:28.600 It is all new, so nothing's being handed to us 0:40:28.600 --> 0:40:32.040 from Gotham. Soccer is the number one sport being played 0:40:32.080 --> 0:40:34.840 at the grassroots level, at the rec level, for children, 0:40:34.920 --> 0:40:38.000 at youth level. So all these kids are going out 0:40:38.040 --> 0:40:40.319 on the weekends playing soccer, their parents are standing there 0:40:40.360 --> 0:40:42.680 on the sidelines, and then they're coming home and no 0:40:42.719 --> 0:40:45.160 one's actually thought about what team they should root for. 0:40:45.560 --> 0:40:47.440 One of the things that I think we've had to 0:40:47.480 --> 0:40:51.000 do differently is be able to bring that fandom from 0:40:51.080 --> 0:40:53.480 the ground up and be able to then say, like, 0:40:53.520 --> 0:40:56.640 how do you actually get the youth participants to convince 0:40:56.680 --> 0:40:59.640 their parents to become fans, and that actually, I think 0:40:59.680 --> 0:41:02.400 it's some we've been able to bring to the Giants 0:41:02.840 --> 0:41:05.680 in their flag strategy. I'm obsessed with black football and 0:41:05.680 --> 0:41:07.560 I think it's like the key to the NFL's future. 0:41:07.760 --> 0:41:10.440 So I think flag has always been thought of in 0:41:10.480 --> 0:41:13.160 the NFL and at the Giants as a community asset. 0:41:13.480 --> 0:41:16.040 This is how we can get people playing football. Yes, 0:41:16.280 --> 0:41:19.160 and it should also be a marketing asset, particularly for 0:41:19.280 --> 0:41:21.000 young girls. This is a way and in a lot 0:41:21.000 --> 0:41:23.239 of communities people are not playing tackle at the same race. 0:41:23.400 --> 0:41:25.480 The number one way you get someone to become a 0:41:25.520 --> 0:41:28.680 fan is to play. So getting more people to play 0:41:28.719 --> 0:41:31.480 the sport at a youth level then translates into fandom. 0:41:31.600 --> 0:41:33.400 I think that's an area where we've been able to 0:41:33.440 --> 0:41:35.680 test things at Gotham that we can bring to the Giants. 0:41:36.000 --> 0:41:39.360 I think on the football side, there's so much for 0:41:39.680 --> 0:41:43.200 Gotham to learn from the Giants when I think about 0:41:43.520 --> 0:41:47.680 their scouting, their analytics, the way they think about player 0:41:47.840 --> 0:41:50.840 fit on the team, the psychological model of who would 0:41:50.840 --> 0:41:52.880 thrive in the New York market and who wouldn't. 0:41:52.960 --> 0:41:53.480 I think we. 0:41:53.440 --> 0:41:55.319 Probably have the best scouts in the end of your cell, 0:41:55.719 --> 0:41:58.719 But as Ell and I talk about often, like our 0:41:58.760 --> 0:42:00.000 bar isn't to be the best in the end of 0:42:00.480 --> 0:42:02.479 you wanted the best in the world. And so that's 0:42:02.520 --> 0:42:04.920 an area I think we can continue to lean in. 0:42:04.960 --> 0:42:07.840 And even like ty Sam who runs data and analytics 0:42:07.880 --> 0:42:10.719 for the Giants, the way that he uses analytics to 0:42:11.040 --> 0:42:15.200 support the coaches in their game day decision making, that's 0:42:15.239 --> 0:42:18.000 an area where we're kind of in the early innings 0:42:18.040 --> 0:42:18.680 of what we can do. 0:42:19.400 --> 0:42:22.640 I got a tattoo after this championship forgot them. It's 0:42:22.680 --> 0:42:26.400 the Championship Star I actually traced it from the actual championship. 0:42:26.440 --> 0:42:29.160 Well, I was wondering how we did it so perfectly. Yeah, yeah, no, no, no, 0:42:29.160 --> 0:42:30.600 I had the tattoo artists trace it. I did not 0:42:30.640 --> 0:42:31.880 trace it. Yeah, yeah, I got it right there. And 0:42:31.880 --> 0:42:33.799 Mom came with me and said that she is going 0:42:33.840 --> 0:42:35.920 to get one. She still has not made good on that. 0:42:36.120 --> 0:42:37.479 What's your likelihood of getting one? 0:42:37.640 --> 0:42:38.319 Well? Will? 0:42:38.440 --> 0:42:41.600 My husband told my kids that if they ever get 0:42:41.600 --> 0:42:43.920 a tattoo, they will be banned from our household. 0:42:44.040 --> 0:42:46.440 So the answer is low, like until they're sixty. My 0:42:46.480 --> 0:42:48.640 kids repeated it back to me. Once they're sixty, they 0:42:48.680 --> 0:42:49.200 can decide. 0:42:49.200 --> 0:42:49.680 Oh they can't. 0:42:49.719 --> 0:42:51.279 Okay, Well what I was going to say, Okay, so 0:42:51.360 --> 0:42:53.879 I guess I have some time. I have twenty years 0:42:53.960 --> 0:42:56.439 to decide what my tattoo is. Sadly, I think it's low. 0:42:56.800 --> 0:42:58.880 What do you hope in all of this that your 0:42:58.960 --> 0:42:59.880 kids take away from this? 0:43:00.320 --> 0:43:01.520 Oh, that's a good question. 0:43:02.440 --> 0:43:05.439 I think they obviously get like a very inside look 0:43:05.520 --> 0:43:07.600 as they often hear me on the phone or listening 0:43:07.600 --> 0:43:09.960 to like voicemails late at night being traded. 0:43:09.640 --> 0:43:10.200 Back and forth. 0:43:10.320 --> 0:43:14.720 I think being able to make the hard decisions even 0:43:14.800 --> 0:43:17.440 when the world is telling you something different. There have 0:43:17.520 --> 0:43:21.600 been moments where we've made decisions, whether it's roster decisions 0:43:21.680 --> 0:43:24.560 or difficult decisions on letting people go or not hiring 0:43:24.560 --> 0:43:28.240 people that I think the outside world might be critical about, 0:43:28.440 --> 0:43:31.000 and to be able to kind of like shut out 0:43:31.000 --> 0:43:33.480 the outside noise, look inward and say I'm going to 0:43:33.560 --> 0:43:36.120 do what's right by my team or or by the 0:43:36.160 --> 0:43:37.799 culture I'm trying to create or the vision I'm trying 0:43:37.800 --> 0:43:39.840 to create. It's easier said than done sometimes, but I 0:43:39.880 --> 0:43:42.520 think to be able to kind of look inward and 0:43:42.560 --> 0:43:45.000 even I would broaden that to just believing in a 0:43:45.040 --> 0:43:47.400 women's soccer team. Back to the conversation on investors, like, 0:43:47.600 --> 0:43:49.839 there's a lot of different ways to spend your time, 0:43:49.960 --> 0:43:50.680 spend your money. 0:43:50.719 --> 0:43:51.799 And I don't want to say. 0:43:51.680 --> 0:43:53.400 It's a sacrifice because I love what I do and 0:43:53.480 --> 0:43:54.960 I get a lot of joy out of it, but 0:43:55.239 --> 0:43:57.400 there are sacrifices to it. Can't tell the last time 0:43:57.440 --> 0:43:58.560 I went to a restaurant. They can't tell you the 0:43:58.600 --> 0:44:01.920 last time I saw my friends. But being deliberate about 0:44:02.000 --> 0:44:04.600 how you spend your time and if you believe in something, 0:44:04.719 --> 0:44:07.680 making the sacrifices to achieve what you want to achieve. 0:44:08.080 --> 0:44:09.759 Hopefully is something they take away from it. 0:44:10.040 --> 0:44:12.000 I did have this thought the other day that I 0:44:12.000 --> 0:44:13.680 don't have to tell you, like this has been my 0:44:13.800 --> 0:44:16.800 lifelong dream from when I was seven years old, was 0:44:16.840 --> 0:44:18.879 to go work for our family at the Giants one day, 0:44:19.040 --> 0:44:20.800 and you know, I wrote my college essay about it. 0:44:20.800 --> 0:44:22.560 I wrote my busins school application essay about it, like 0:44:22.640 --> 0:44:25.399 this is where I'm going, and I probably glamorized it 0:44:25.440 --> 0:44:27.400 to some degree because I didn't actually really know what 0:44:27.440 --> 0:44:30.200 it meant. The other day, I think my kids, I 0:44:30.200 --> 0:44:31.840 couldn't put them to bed because I was stuck in 0:44:31.880 --> 0:44:33.480 a call I don't know something where I was like 0:44:33.760 --> 0:44:35.279 maybe I had to go on a work trip and 0:44:35.360 --> 0:44:37.440 you know, I had to leave them again. And obviously 0:44:37.480 --> 0:44:40.359 they see like the glamorous parts of it. The US 0:44:40.400 --> 0:44:42.719 soccer team won this weekend and Alexander was like, oh, 0:44:42.760 --> 0:44:44.279 are you going to be on stage? And I was like, no, 0:44:44.320 --> 0:44:45.640 that I have nothing to do with this. This is 0:44:45.760 --> 0:44:47.640 not my game to win. So obviously, like they see 0:44:47.680 --> 0:44:49.640 the glamorous parts of it, but they also see the 0:44:49.680 --> 0:44:51.920 trade offs and the not glamorous parts of it. 0:44:52.160 --> 0:44:53.160 So I did have that thought. 0:44:53.200 --> 0:44:54.799 I was like I wonder if my kids would dream 0:44:54.840 --> 0:44:57.719 about being in a family business in the same way 0:44:57.719 --> 0:45:00.200 that I did, because also the family business part it 0:45:00.280 --> 0:45:03.480 is complicated and it does change dynamics between family members. 0:45:03.480 --> 0:45:05.399 So I never had this conversation with them. So maybe 0:45:05.400 --> 0:45:08.000 they would say yes, But I wonder would they want 0:45:08.040 --> 0:45:09.879 to work for a family business in the same way 0:45:09.880 --> 0:45:11.799 that I did because it is complicated. 0:45:12.040 --> 0:45:13.440 Yeah, well, definitely. 0:45:13.440 --> 0:45:15.960 My little daughter Evelyn, Yes, yeah, she was pantsuits to 0:45:16.160 --> 0:45:18.920 every game it has since she was four, and follows 0:45:18.960 --> 0:45:19.839 you around every game. 0:45:19.960 --> 0:45:22.560 So she's all in. She's one hundred percent. Oh, I 0:45:22.600 --> 0:45:24.440 don't care about family dynamics Now I'm in. Yeah, yeah, 0:45:24.440 --> 0:45:26.760 She's like, oh, barrel right through exactly. 0:45:27.320 --> 0:45:29.720 Is there something that you saw as a low point 0:45:30.000 --> 0:45:32.239 or a challenge that now you see it as having 0:45:32.280 --> 0:45:34.640 really built you to the successes you're having today or 0:45:34.680 --> 0:45:35.560 success you are now. 0:45:36.160 --> 0:45:38.600 Yeah, there's a lot of low points. I'd probably point 0:45:38.640 --> 0:45:40.600 to the feedback. I kind of alluded to this before 0:45:40.600 --> 0:45:44.600 in the Culture conversation, but we got some really challenging 0:45:44.640 --> 0:45:47.600 feedback at the end of twenty twenty four that I 0:45:47.640 --> 0:45:51.120 think made me question my leadership, our team's leadership, and 0:45:51.600 --> 0:45:53.879 what we were doing here that was my first full 0:45:54.000 --> 0:45:56.840 year in seat. Was I doing a good job? Was 0:45:56.880 --> 0:45:59.400 I the right person to lead this? I think now 0:45:59.560 --> 0:46:03.160 our team is so much better off for the decisions 0:46:03.200 --> 0:46:04.360 we made, the way. 0:46:04.200 --> 0:46:05.000 That we handled it. 0:46:05.080 --> 0:46:07.200 I think we very clearly know who we are, what 0:46:07.239 --> 0:46:09.600 we stand for, what our values are. We're better, I think, 0:46:09.640 --> 0:46:12.120 get identifying when it's right, fit when it's not. And 0:46:12.239 --> 0:46:14.359 I think I'm able to be more deliberate and where 0:46:14.400 --> 0:46:16.440 I spend my time and where I don't. And so 0:46:17.000 --> 0:46:19.640 I think I'm a better leader for going through that. 0:46:19.719 --> 0:46:21.440 I think our team is in a better place. We're 0:46:21.440 --> 0:46:23.520 going through it, but it was really difficult. 0:46:23.920 --> 0:46:25.399 Yeah, do you think you'll pivot again? 0:46:25.760 --> 0:46:29.240 Feel pretty locked into this one. Feels like I'm really 0:46:29.520 --> 0:46:32.680 here to stay. Maybe pivot within it, like you know, 0:46:33.040 --> 0:46:35.560 maybe not the chair of the executive committee forever, you know, 0:46:35.719 --> 0:46:39.200 smaller pivots. Yeah, yeah, a smaller one within it. But 0:46:39.280 --> 0:46:41.120 I feel really here to stay. 0:46:40.880 --> 0:46:42.520 On this one. I think everyone will be thrilled to 0:46:42.520 --> 0:46:44.960 hear that. Okay, great, thank you for your annual she 0:46:44.960 --> 0:46:47.120 Pivots interview. Thank you. Now I'm already thinking what we're 0:46:47.120 --> 0:46:51.719 gona talk about next year. Always building, never finished. 0:46:52.120 --> 0:46:55.000 This is Gotham FC's mantra, but I think it applies 0:46:55.040 --> 0:46:57.680 to women's sports as a whole, especially during this period 0:46:57.719 --> 0:47:00.839 of growth. We do this interview with care once a year, 0:47:00.880 --> 0:47:03.120 and every year she tells me about the new things 0:47:03.120 --> 0:47:06.760 to be excited about building. Not only is Gotam building 0:47:06.800 --> 0:47:10.280 a new practice facility, but has a Yesterday, the team 0:47:10.360 --> 0:47:13.200 is officially planning to move to New York City's first 0:47:13.280 --> 0:47:16.440 ever soccer specific stadium in Queens, playing there starting in 0:47:16.440 --> 0:47:20.440 twenty twenty eight. Carolyn decided what she wanted to build, 0:47:20.800 --> 0:47:23.400 set it out loud and kept showing up for the 0:47:23.520 --> 0:47:26.600 unnglamorous version of it. And the proof is the new 0:47:26.640 --> 0:47:29.960 Heightscotham FC and the whole NWSL have achieved in the 0:47:30.000 --> 0:47:33.640 past year. Carolyn leads from the top, but everyone has 0:47:33.680 --> 0:47:36.719 a role. Go to a woman's sporting event, wear the 0:47:36.760 --> 0:47:40.120 merch and tune in. I'll see you at the Queen's 0:47:40.160 --> 0:47:45.760 Classic next week on Wednesday, July fifteenth. Thanks for listening 0:47:45.760 --> 0:47:48.799 to She Pivots. If you like this episode, follow the 0:47:48.840 --> 0:47:51.439 show so you never miss a pivot story and share 0:47:51.480 --> 0:47:53.239 it with one woman in your life who might need 0:47:53.280 --> 0:47:56.000 to hear it. To learn more about our guests and 0:47:56.080 --> 0:47:59.480 join our community, follow us on Instagram at she pivots 0:47:59.520 --> 0:48:03.400 the podcast are Subscribe to our substack for exclusive content 0:48:03.480 --> 0:48:06.600 and behind the scenes conversations. You can also find us 0:48:06.600 --> 0:48:11.840 at shepivotspod dot com. This episode was produced and edited 0:48:11.880 --> 0:48:15.239 by Paige Davis Janatt, with sound editing and mixing by 0:48:15.320 --> 0:48:19.240 Nina Pollock. Logistics and planning by Amostopic and Kendall Crupkin. 0:48:19.600 --> 0:48:23.080 Research by Christine Dickinson. She Pivots is proud to be 0:48:23.120 --> 0:48:27.160 a part of the iHeart Podcast Network. I endorse che 0:48:27.480 --> 0:48:28.280 Pivots