Speaker 1: You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and
Speaker 1: Jason Kelly on Bloomberg Radio. All right, I'm gonna say it,
Speaker 1: Carol Master and I can see each other because we
Speaker 1: have this great video con system that allows us to
Speaker 1: see each other, so we don't step on each other
Speaker 1: all the time. We still managed to, uh, we can
Speaker 1: see each other. We're absolutely giddy like Christmas morning. It's Friday.
Speaker 1: I'm headed out on vacation and over the weekend, I'm
Speaker 1: going to be in front of the TV. I can
Speaker 1: tell you on Sunday whether I like it or not.
Speaker 1: And I want to be because the championship the Premier
Speaker 1: Lacrosse League it's happening. The slate is set. So let's
Speaker 1: understand what led us to this place. Because we heard
Speaker 1: about the plans from him back in May, and now
Speaker 1: he has pulled it off. We're talking about Paul Rabel,
Speaker 1: co founder, chief marketing officer, star player of the Premier
Speaker 1: Lacrosse League. He joins us on the phone from the
Speaker 1: bubble there in Utah. Alright, pr, how you doing? I'm
Speaker 1: doing all right? How are both of you? I wish
Speaker 1: I could be on the video conference too. Oh God,
Speaker 1: we would love that. I would love to do that.
Speaker 1: I'm going to do that next time so you can
Speaker 1: see how ridiculous we are, like signaling each other back
Speaker 1: and forth. Um. So here we are you you the
Speaker 1: league has played keep me on this here nineteen games,
Speaker 1: one to go. UM the Championship on Sunday. It'll be
Speaker 1: on main NBC NBC Sports. Remind me NBC at twelve
Speaker 1: thirty Eastern. We have about a three hour windows, so
Speaker 1: you'll get the not only the championship game of the
Speaker 1: of the two teams that have survived the Gauntlet and
Speaker 1: the whip, Snakes and Chaos, and it's a it's a
Speaker 1: really interesting storyline. So I remember being on with both
Speaker 1: of you and May and talking about the concept that
Speaker 1: that we've been able to basically pull off that's medically
Speaker 1: safe and and this bubble that that a lot of
Speaker 1: leagues that we're seeing, leagues that haven't done it, um
Speaker 1: are in trouble. Um. You know, we created essentially a
Speaker 1: World Cup tournament, and what we ended up getting was
Speaker 1: the team who finished last place in group play ended
Speaker 1: up upsetting in the elimination round to higher seeded teams.
Speaker 1: So we have this David versus Goliath number one team
Speaker 1: and the Whips versus the number seven team in chaos,
Speaker 1: um and uh, and it's gonna be an exciting game.
Speaker 1: So everything that we bet on, that that the three
Speaker 1: of us talked about around Rationale is to why do it?
Speaker 1: And what's the business model? Looks like it's all it's
Speaker 1: all really paid off. Viewerships up, uh, subscriptions are up.
Speaker 1: Just excitement and general energy around the sport. And then
Speaker 1: for us um as as a new league, this is
Speaker 1: our second season. A lot of the challenges you get
Speaker 1: as a co founder as an operator when you pitch
Speaker 1: networks and brands is well, why are you not going
Speaker 1: to be the next XFL or the next a S
Speaker 1: And for us to be able to pull this off
Speaker 1: with class and success and and having negative COVID tests,
Speaker 1: And I think it's for us as we go to
Speaker 1: market next year and begin selling the business and generating revenue.
Speaker 1: I've told our b D team we're gonna lead our
Speaker 1: pitch decks with this. Yeah, so it's it's uh, it's
Speaker 1: a silver lining. So I gotta tell you, you know, Jason,
Speaker 1: I've talked a lot Paul about what you did because
Speaker 1: I feel like you were certainly ahead of the curve
Speaker 1: when it came to sports trying to figure out the
Speaker 1: way back. And you guys did the bubble and did
Speaker 1: it really well. When you see the other stories of
Speaker 1: other leagues and players in other sports and say baseball
Speaker 1: and they're testing positive and it's just not going well,
Speaker 1: you know what's the difference. What it is it that
Speaker 1: you did that made it work so well? And what
Speaker 1: do you think is going wrong with some of the
Speaker 1: other leagues? And I think the NFL is up next
Speaker 1: if they don't create like a multi bubble uh season.
Speaker 1: And I think the the NFL, given that they are
Speaker 1: are held to the highest standard in pro sports of
Speaker 1: the guess business in the industry standalone, Um, you know,
Speaker 1: canceling our postponing games is I don't think it's gonna
Speaker 1: land as well as And then a lot of people
Speaker 1: they're they're discussing MLB would say that it hasn't landed well.
Speaker 1: But I can't imagine a week where it just as
Speaker 1: the much revenue and attention goes in the NFL, of
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, you know, the Dallas Cowboys have
Speaker 1: nineteen positive COVID test and then well we're gonna postpone
Speaker 1: this critical week. It's just not gonna sit well. So, UM,
Speaker 1: the the difference, Carol. For us, we were already doing
Speaker 1: a single site model going tour based, and that was
Speaker 1: disruptive to the pro sports landscape, and we had our
Speaker 1: investors that came in and believed in it. So we
Speaker 1: we had a step ahead of the competition, call it
Speaker 1: other sports leagues, because we knew how to operate a
Speaker 1: single site model where we were bringing all of our
Speaker 1: teams to one site over a weekend. So what we
Speaker 1: did is took those principles and expanded them over three weeks,
Speaker 1: and then we layered over top of it, but really
Speaker 1: a table stakes COVID nineteen Medical Team and Health protocol
Speaker 1: where we were began our testing with all of our
Speaker 1: participants at home. You had to have a negative test
Speaker 1: to then resumed to transportation, and then on arrival you
Speaker 1: had to have another negative tests that were quarantine involved.
Speaker 1: We got through UM and and thankfully to all the
Speaker 1: participants and everyone who and it took themselves took the
Speaker 1: process safely. We we had fewer than half a dozen
Speaker 1: positive tests to start from at home, and then when
Speaker 1: we began testing on site, but three subsequent tests have
Speaker 1: all been negative. Every single test was negative. And so
Speaker 1: the bubble and my my co founder and CEO, has
Speaker 1: called it more of a force field. Force field it
Speaker 1: works because if you can isolate the virus and and
Speaker 1: not let anyone else in, then uh, as long as
Speaker 1: everyone does their job from a disciplinary standpoint, you can
Speaker 1: get back to business. So can I just say it's
Speaker 1: a great lesson for society at large? Totally? And I mean,
Speaker 1: and then it's a lesson the world gonna have to
Speaker 1: learn as we go through this. Only about a minute
Speaker 1: left before we do some news. Um, your co founder
Speaker 1: brother Mike Rabel, were there any moments, Paul where you
Speaker 1: looked at each other and we're like, we're really nervous
Speaker 1: about this. Yeah, all the way through April and May.
Speaker 1: Um and then uh and then you know, I remember
Speaker 1: telling you all because you were the second show I
Speaker 1: did after the announcement on the Today's Show was like, well,
Speaker 1: we're here now. So it's one of those things like
Speaker 1: when we raised our money a couple of years ago,
Speaker 1: we made the announcement, we're here now, and uh, and
Speaker 1: let's just focus on one step at a time, one
Speaker 1: day at a time one Uh, you know, one mask
Speaker 1: at a time, and uh, it's it's it's analogous to
Speaker 1: sports and and as Carol said, it's analogous to how
Speaker 1: this country is going to change, this first wave or
Speaker 1: not is like that the details live in the nuance
Speaker 1: of our day to day and it's like taking care
Speaker 1: of yourself, wearing ppe and being respectful, right, respectful of
Speaker 1: your community. And I thought, and you're gonna say, was
Speaker 1: there any time you looked at your brother and said,
Speaker 1: I'm kind of sick and tired of you living together
Speaker 1: in this bubble? And I love my siblings. Listen, these brothers,
Speaker 1: they are something special. It's a special time, as you
Speaker 1: have seen up close and personal. So, Paul, one of
Speaker 1: the things we've talked with you a lot about you
Speaker 1: and I have talked a lot about on the sidelines,
Speaker 1: as it were, is the media and broadcast side of this.
Speaker 1: And I remember talking to you and Mike about the
Speaker 1: fact that you guys are constantly pushing on how to
Speaker 1: make it a more immersive and more interactive type of broadcast.
Speaker 1: You're making up players, you're doing all sorts of things.
Speaker 1: What was new and different? What did you learn from
Speaker 1: this experience of over the last couple of weeks. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a great question. And and your your broadcast is
Speaker 1: your product as a as a pro league, so you
Speaker 1: got to get it right. And things that we got
Speaker 1: right in our inaugural year was our talent with NBC.
Speaker 1: Those are the first two people that if you were
Speaker 1: at home, engages with. If they're welcoming, if they're insightful,
Speaker 1: if they're educational, if they're if they're motivational and exciting,
Speaker 1: like that creates a better experience for the viewer at home,
Speaker 1: so that they're really important. You're looking for the curl
Speaker 1: mass of lacrosse. Basically, that's right. That's exactly right, Emma,
Speaker 1: Jason Kelly, don't. I'm just gonna say it's it's that's right.
Speaker 1: So you get that right. You know, the products on
Speaker 1: field competitively is going to be great, but you can
Speaker 1: enhance that and so we brought we doubled our hot
Speaker 1: mics on players during COVID, knowing that you were going
Speaker 1: to be stripped of like the fan ambiance, and that's
Speaker 1: really exciting. You think about football broadcast, there's like anywhere
Speaker 1: from you know, I think twenty one minutes of actual
Speaker 1: gameplay over four hours on screen, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: panning out of the crowd. So we did a couple
Speaker 1: of things, and I think that we had the advantage
Speaker 1: of watching a few individual sports leagues go off before
Speaker 1: us first without fan noise that was pushed in either
Speaker 1: through the speakers of the stadium are done in posts
Speaker 1: through the broadcast. We found that that created actually a
Speaker 1: more familiar viewing experience and was voted positively for the fans.
Speaker 1: So we have, uh, you know, kind of a pretty
Speaker 1: we haven't essentially like a DJ booth of of fan
Speaker 1: noise per what's happening on the game. That's what they're
Speaker 1: doing the MLS right now, it's what they're doing in
Speaker 1: the NBA, and it makes a better experience. Um, we
Speaker 1: go from the booth to our players on field live
Speaker 1: and have conversation with them that's unique to the p LLL.
Speaker 1: And then we've done a lot of fan and the
Speaker 1: greatest stuff from home. So if our fans are no
Speaker 1: longer in the stands and they're on their couches at
Speaker 1: home watching, how can we get them involved? So we
Speaker 1: use technology called tagboard that enables our fans posts on
Speaker 1: social media be picked up through the broadcast. And we've
Speaker 1: also done watch parties that we've included on broadcasts. And
Speaker 1: we've included celebrities uh through a zoom conference line that
Speaker 1: come in and and UH two boxes what you call
Speaker 1: it in the business where you'll see Bill Belichick from
Speaker 1: the lower third, UH talking to Paul Bermister and Ryan
Speaker 1: Boyle who are a host on NBC during a game
Speaker 1: and talking about the game. And that's one really exciting
Speaker 1: when you get that level of talent involved in the
Speaker 1: broadcast and it's fun for the viewer. But two our
Speaker 1: celebrities that come in and Drew Brees is another. We've
Speaker 1: had Camio Acoustic. UM. They use their promotional platforms to
Speaker 1: bring more viewers to us. So that's what we've done
Speaker 1: from a broadcast standpoint. And UH and we have a
Speaker 1: couple more tricks up our sleeps through the championship game. So, Paul,
Speaker 1: I don't know if you've heard that. It's the phone
Speaker 1: ringing and the head of NBC Sports wants to hire
Speaker 1: you to figure out how to reprogram how they cover sports. No,
Speaker 1: but I do think about that, right, you know, go back.
Speaker 1: You know, in the last couple of years, we've had
Speaker 1: tons of conversations about the NFL and you know, different
Speaker 1: sports and they're losing a younger audience. So from what
Speaker 1: you've learned, you know here in your second season, what
Speaker 1: do you think can apply or what do you think
Speaker 1: other sports maybe should be doing to really pull in
Speaker 1: maybe a larger audience and a younger audience. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go like kind of deep here in theory.
Speaker 1: So what we had the benefit of in we started
Speaker 1: building is what would a pro sports league built in
Speaker 1: the century look like? Because all legacy leagues were built
Speaker 1: in the twentieth century and your primary revenue generator was
Speaker 1: plinket sales. Now we all talk about media and broadcast
Speaker 1: in social media as a promotional tool. And so actually,
Speaker 1: if you look at this pandemic what we're in, and
Speaker 1: you look at industries across the board, a lot of
Speaker 1: great executives are able to predict the future, what's the
Speaker 1: environment gonna be like ten years from now, and who
Speaker 1: can get their quickest. That's how you build momentum across generations.
Speaker 1: COVID has for me presented this forcing mechanism for leagues
Speaker 1: now who are really left with no choice but to
Speaker 1: build a bubble to then say, okay, what are we
Speaker 1: focused on now and its viewership and the national sponsorship,
Speaker 1: So that means how do you then enhance the broadcast?
Speaker 1: And uh, I think what what we're seeing as a
Speaker 1: result is similar to what we've seen technology due to
Speaker 1: businesses over the last decades, similar to what we saw
Speaker 1: you know, subscription video on demand services due to the
Speaker 1: film business. And I think we're going to see as
Speaker 1: a result, at least the positive results we're seeing in
Speaker 1: this bubble model is like some exploration of shifts on
Speaker 1: how sports are presented across the board, not just for broadcasts,
Speaker 1: but you know, how fans are experiencing them even at games,
Speaker 1: and and and I think this is that potential tipping
Speaker 1: point for pro sports that have been pretty past attend
Speaker 1: enough to this point. And we're in an advantageous position
Speaker 1: because we're the most nimble as as a league, and
Speaker 1: we're well financed and and uh and we can take
Speaker 1: more risks. So when do you make a decision only
Speaker 1: about lap, but when do you make the decision about
Speaker 1: next season? Paul? Yeah, So the the interesting thing for us,
Speaker 1: So you guys know, we're tour based, and that's a
Speaker 1: difference that's a different look. But this has gone so well. Abstractly,
Speaker 1: I like to I like to look at both ends
Speaker 1: of the spectrum apossible. Od one end is what individual
Speaker 1: sports have done so well, And take golf and tennis,
Speaker 1: they have the four majors. Is there a world where
Speaker 1: professional lacrosse, at least with the p LL, explores next
Speaker 1: year doing like four of these bubble bobs? And that's
Speaker 1: if that's if we don't solve for COVID nineteen. Now,
Speaker 1: if we have a vaccine and we can, I think
Speaker 1: we'll go back to our tour based model. But there's
Speaker 1: a lot of success in what we've built here and
Speaker 1: it's it's worth taking another objective look at it with
Speaker 1: our board this offseason. Right all right, Well, we look
Speaker 1: forward to catching up with you on that. Best of
Speaker 1: luck this week in the championship game for the PLL.
Speaker 1: Find it on an NBC this Sunday, twelve thirty. Paul
Speaker 1: Rabel He is the co founder of the Chief Marketing Office, Sir,
Speaker 1: and the man behind it all. He and his brother Mike,
Speaker 1: they created this league. Love catching up with him. So
Speaker 1: happy we were able to do that. Yeah, me too,
Speaker 1: good call, I know you were in touch with him,
Speaker 1: and it just makes me smile. And he's just so
Speaker 1: smart in terms of how he thinks about things.