1 00:00:08,640 --> 00:00:12,440 Speaker 1: Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to the Bob Left Sets Podcast. 2 00:00:13,039 --> 00:00:16,680 Speaker 1: My guest today is chairman and CEO of the oak 3 00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:21,840 Speaker 1: View Group, the one and only Tim LIGHTWICKI Tim, good 4 00:00:21,840 --> 00:00:23,280 Speaker 1: to have you on the podcast. 5 00:00:23,920 --> 00:00:26,080 Speaker 2: Bob. It's good to be here. It's good. Every day 6 00:00:26,160 --> 00:00:28,000 Speaker 2: is good to be alive. So let's start with that, 7 00:00:28,080 --> 00:00:30,120 Speaker 2: but in particular, it's a good day to be with you, 8 00:00:30,200 --> 00:00:30,680 Speaker 2: my friend. 9 00:00:31,600 --> 00:00:34,720 Speaker 1: Let's start with the basics. What exactly is the Oakview Group? 10 00:00:35,920 --> 00:00:39,240 Speaker 2: So the Oakview Group was created about seven years ago 11 00:00:39,400 --> 00:00:43,760 Speaker 2: between myself and my partner, Irving Asoff, and we wanted 12 00:00:43,800 --> 00:00:46,680 Speaker 2: to think outside the box and be a positive disruption 13 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:51,479 Speaker 2: to the live industry, the facility industry, and in particular 14 00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:54,600 Speaker 2: our focus is on the music side of the business, 15 00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:59,440 Speaker 2: although we obviously are strongly connected and now deeply and 16 00:00:59,480 --> 00:01:03,680 Speaker 2: heavily involved in sports as well. But it was taking 17 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:07,640 Speaker 2: my background, in my experience with twenty years at AG 18 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:11,720 Speaker 2: and before that of building the Denver Nuggets and the 19 00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:15,160 Speaker 2: Pepsi Center and the Minnesota timber Wilson the Target Center, 20 00:01:15,720 --> 00:01:21,200 Speaker 2: and essentially trying to redefine a way to build the 21 00:01:21,240 --> 00:01:27,360 Speaker 2: business around building new facilities, renovating new facilities, representing current facilities, 22 00:01:27,880 --> 00:01:31,759 Speaker 2: getting into the service business, the sales business, the food 23 00:01:31,800 --> 00:01:36,959 Speaker 2: and beverage business. So it really is centered around the 24 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:41,600 Speaker 2: live entertainment experience with a heavy emphasis of the facilities. 25 00:01:42,200 --> 00:01:46,520 Speaker 2: And although I have in the past created and been 26 00:01:46,560 --> 00:01:50,840 Speaker 2: heavily involved in the promotional side of it, this one's 27 00:01:50,920 --> 00:01:56,720 Speaker 2: much more specific, and we strike partnerships with the promoters, 28 00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:00,760 Speaker 2: but we ourselves do not promote sell them to we promote. 29 00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:06,160 Speaker 2: So it's a core competency. It's highly focused. It's about facilities, 30 00:02:06,360 --> 00:02:10,480 Speaker 2: it's about live entertainment, it's about the guest experience, and 31 00:02:10,560 --> 00:02:15,960 Speaker 2: it's about trying to ultimately also build the next great 32 00:02:16,160 --> 00:02:20,400 Speaker 2: generation of those live venues that people could go and 33 00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:21,880 Speaker 2: enjoy their favorite artists. 34 00:02:21,880 --> 00:02:26,680 Speaker 1: At what is the status of arenas around the world today. 35 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:32,400 Speaker 2: Well, arenas have been through the peaks in the valleys. 36 00:02:32,440 --> 00:02:36,880 Speaker 2: Probably the greatest lows and the highest highs have been 37 00:02:36,960 --> 00:02:40,320 Speaker 2: these last four or five years. So if you look 38 00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:45,120 Speaker 2: at what happened to our industry in particular during COVID, 39 00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:49,639 Speaker 2: I'm not sure there was any Every industry was affected, 40 00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:53,120 Speaker 2: and some were terribly affected, but the live industry was 41 00:02:53,280 --> 00:02:56,880 Speaker 2: essentially wiped out. We disappeared, And so if you looked 42 00:02:56,880 --> 00:03:02,240 Speaker 2: at arenas. It was an amazing survival for arenas to 43 00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:04,200 Speaker 2: try to figure out how we were going to weather 44 00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:07,799 Speaker 2: that storm, and we had to figure out what we 45 00:03:07,800 --> 00:03:09,560 Speaker 2: were going to look like when we came out of 46 00:03:09,560 --> 00:03:14,040 Speaker 2: the storm. We had just a whole new set of 47 00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:22,120 Speaker 2: assumptions and risks and operating challenges that we had to 48 00:03:22,160 --> 00:03:25,720 Speaker 2: inherit coming out of COVID from air circulation. And look, 49 00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:28,560 Speaker 2: who would have ever thought, I know, in our case, 50 00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:31,959 Speaker 2: with many of the arenas that we just recently built 51 00:03:31,960 --> 00:03:35,160 Speaker 2: and open, we were in the middle of building seven 52 00:03:35,200 --> 00:03:38,560 Speaker 2: of these seven during COVID, and I had to go 53 00:03:38,680 --> 00:03:42,920 Speaker 2: back and every one of our projects ultimately had to 54 00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:51,000 Speaker 2: be rebuilt with new experiences, with new challenges, and with 55 00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:57,560 Speaker 2: a new way of dealing with germs and COVID and 56 00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:01,080 Speaker 2: trying to figure out how we were going to now 57 00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:06,800 Speaker 2: take something that so dramatically stopped all of our industry 58 00:04:06,800 --> 00:04:09,760 Speaker 2: and its tracks and be able to convince people to 59 00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:13,160 Speaker 2: come back and feel safe in a live environment in 60 00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:17,279 Speaker 2: arenas and stadiums in theaters. And so we had to 61 00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:20,960 Speaker 2: go back and rebuild and re engineer and rethink our 62 00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:27,520 Speaker 2: HVAC systems, and we installed a filtering system and all 63 00:04:27,560 --> 00:04:32,320 Speaker 2: of our buildings that essentially traps and kills the bugs. 64 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:36,120 Speaker 2: And I never thought ten years ago that this would 65 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:39,720 Speaker 2: become one of the highest priorities and the largest expenditure 66 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:42,720 Speaker 2: we would make when we're developing new arenas. But if 67 00:04:42,760 --> 00:04:46,679 Speaker 2: you look at our Mer thirteen filterization systems we built 68 00:04:46,720 --> 00:04:51,760 Speaker 2: a UBS arena and a climate Pledge arena. They are massive, 69 00:04:51,960 --> 00:04:56,800 Speaker 2: gigantic filter systems that essentially hump fresh air in and 70 00:04:56,839 --> 00:04:59,200 Speaker 2: take air out. And as we're taking the air out, 71 00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:02,080 Speaker 2: we now, I'll send that air through a bunch of 72 00:05:02,120 --> 00:05:06,640 Speaker 2: filterization systems, trap the bad stuff, and then literally burn 73 00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:11,400 Speaker 2: those germs on site. And so again we had to 74 00:05:11,480 --> 00:05:14,200 Speaker 2: learn we had to alter the way we think about safety, 75 00:05:14,360 --> 00:05:18,479 Speaker 2: about customer convenience. We had to regain the confidence and 76 00:05:18,520 --> 00:05:21,039 Speaker 2: the trust and the consumer that they could walk back 77 00:05:21,080 --> 00:05:23,880 Speaker 2: into these buildings and be safe and not get sick. 78 00:05:25,040 --> 00:05:28,039 Speaker 2: And in particular, one thing that was unique about COVID 79 00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:33,200 Speaker 2: is the scientists and all of the experts that we 80 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:37,239 Speaker 2: brought in to help us think through it. The ice 81 00:05:37,320 --> 00:05:41,719 Speaker 2: facilities in particular were a bit challenging because of the 82 00:05:41,760 --> 00:05:44,880 Speaker 2: way air floats and airs trapped and hot air and 83 00:05:44,960 --> 00:05:49,719 Speaker 2: cold air and the unique aspect of COVID and how 84 00:05:49,760 --> 00:05:52,839 Speaker 2: that bug could hang in the air. It was suddenly 85 00:05:52,880 --> 00:05:56,000 Speaker 2: a whole new set of rules and a whole new 86 00:05:56,000 --> 00:06:00,960 Speaker 2: set of thinking on engineering and airflow that we had 87 00:06:00,960 --> 00:06:04,440 Speaker 2: to adjust and quickly react to. So we came out 88 00:06:04,480 --> 00:06:08,159 Speaker 2: of that. I think our industry did a phenomenal job 89 00:06:08,200 --> 00:06:13,160 Speaker 2: of surviving. We were not an industry that got bailed out. 90 00:06:13,320 --> 00:06:16,720 Speaker 2: So the interesting thing is I didn't get one dollar 91 00:06:17,200 --> 00:06:21,240 Speaker 2: of subsidies, or we didn't. We didn't get any of 92 00:06:21,279 --> 00:06:26,159 Speaker 2: the COVID funds that the government ultimately parceled out. I 93 00:06:26,160 --> 00:06:31,680 Speaker 2: think there was a perception, why help billionaires, even though 94 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:35,680 Speaker 2: we're not billionaires. I think sports owners and facility owners 95 00:06:35,680 --> 00:06:39,320 Speaker 2: in particular, they weren't going to They weren't going to 96 00:06:39,360 --> 00:06:42,039 Speaker 2: get any of the PPP money, and we didn't, and 97 00:06:42,080 --> 00:06:44,000 Speaker 2: so we had to go do this on our own. 98 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:46,520 Speaker 2: We had to survive on our own, and in the 99 00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:49,080 Speaker 2: case of our company, we didn't lay anybody off. I 100 00:06:49,120 --> 00:06:52,960 Speaker 2: didn't let anybody go, we didn't furlough anybody. I didn't 101 00:06:52,960 --> 00:06:56,080 Speaker 2: ask anyone to take a pay cut. We we had 102 00:06:56,200 --> 00:06:59,400 Speaker 2: great faith that this society that we live in today 103 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:05,720 Speaker 2: and the smart brilliant people that were working on this 104 00:07:05,800 --> 00:07:08,280 Speaker 2: on a daily basis. They were going to find a solution, 105 00:07:08,960 --> 00:07:10,680 Speaker 2: and we had to be prepared to come out of 106 00:07:10,720 --> 00:07:12,760 Speaker 2: this and hit the ground running, so we weren't going 107 00:07:12,800 --> 00:07:16,480 Speaker 2: to shut everything down. We very much valued everybody that 108 00:07:16,560 --> 00:07:20,040 Speaker 2: worked for us. We had literally tens of thousands of 109 00:07:20,040 --> 00:07:22,600 Speaker 2: people that were employed by this company because of all 110 00:07:22,720 --> 00:07:26,200 Speaker 2: the people working on the construction sites. And so instead 111 00:07:26,200 --> 00:07:28,640 Speaker 2: of sitting here trying to figure out how to save 112 00:07:28,720 --> 00:07:32,640 Speaker 2: money or how to go get subsidies or PPP funds, 113 00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:35,680 Speaker 2: we did exactly the opposite, which is, how do we 114 00:07:35,720 --> 00:07:37,920 Speaker 2: go take care of our people, how do we create 115 00:07:38,080 --> 00:07:41,400 Speaker 2: safe work sites today, how do we continue constructing our 116 00:07:41,560 --> 00:07:45,120 Speaker 2: seven new arenas, How do we ultimately survive this? But 117 00:07:45,160 --> 00:07:46,720 Speaker 2: then how do we come out of this at the 118 00:07:46,800 --> 00:07:49,280 Speaker 2: right time and be better for what we're going to 119 00:07:49,360 --> 00:07:52,760 Speaker 2: learn in the next couple of years. I'm not sure. 120 00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:54,760 Speaker 2: At the time we thought it was a couple of years, Bob. 121 00:07:54,800 --> 00:07:57,240 Speaker 2: We were hoping it was a year, but it wasn't 122 00:07:57,280 --> 00:08:02,160 Speaker 2: a year. We're just now just now getting back to 123 00:08:02,200 --> 00:08:06,239 Speaker 2: what I would say is business as usual and normal 124 00:08:06,680 --> 00:08:15,360 Speaker 2: and so hugely challenging for us. Life lessons character in particular, 125 00:08:15,400 --> 00:08:21,760 Speaker 2: a very very strong character building moment for our industry 126 00:08:21,920 --> 00:08:25,160 Speaker 2: and for our company. And I will say, in the 127 00:08:26,840 --> 00:08:30,960 Speaker 2: roughly forty plus years I've been doing it, I probably 128 00:08:31,120 --> 00:08:35,199 Speaker 2: lost more sleep and had more nights where I'd wake 129 00:08:35,280 --> 00:08:37,240 Speaker 2: up in the middle of the night thinking, my God, 130 00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:39,440 Speaker 2: I'm not going to make it through this. Our company's 131 00:08:39,520 --> 00:08:43,120 Speaker 2: not going to make this, make it through this. We're 132 00:08:43,200 --> 00:08:45,640 Speaker 2: ultimately not going to be able to get these arenas open. 133 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:48,400 Speaker 2: I'm not going to be able to ultimately get people 134 00:08:48,480 --> 00:08:52,000 Speaker 2: to buy naming rights or sponsorships or suites. We're never 135 00:08:52,040 --> 00:08:54,720 Speaker 2: going to see business as usual again. You have I 136 00:08:54,800 --> 00:08:58,280 Speaker 2: call them the demons, and I never had the demons 137 00:08:58,320 --> 00:09:02,720 Speaker 2: as much as we did during COVID, and yet God 138 00:09:02,760 --> 00:09:05,840 Speaker 2: works in mysterious ways. We came out of that and 139 00:09:05,920 --> 00:09:09,000 Speaker 2: now we've had the best year in the history of 140 00:09:09,040 --> 00:09:12,959 Speaker 2: live entertainment. And if you see the pent up demand, 141 00:09:13,040 --> 00:09:16,199 Speaker 2: and you see what Elton John just did, what Taylor 142 00:09:16,240 --> 00:09:19,400 Speaker 2: Swift is doing, what Ed Sheard's doing, what Cold Play's doing, 143 00:09:20,559 --> 00:09:22,719 Speaker 2: if you see the success of arena shows now and 144 00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:27,280 Speaker 2: Harry Styles just shocking what Harry Styles has pulled off here. 145 00:09:27,720 --> 00:09:31,240 Speaker 2: And by the way that young man is my hero 146 00:09:31,840 --> 00:09:36,319 Speaker 2: because he stayed through that tour during COVID and dealt 147 00:09:36,320 --> 00:09:40,640 Speaker 2: with all the issues he had with the bubble, with 148 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:44,319 Speaker 2: his crew, with his band, with safety, with people getting sick, 149 00:09:44,960 --> 00:09:48,480 Speaker 2: and he fought through it in the middle of COVID 150 00:09:48,720 --> 00:09:51,480 Speaker 2: kept this tour going, and the poor guy is still 151 00:09:51,480 --> 00:09:58,000 Speaker 2: out touring. And so huge admiration for the industry and 152 00:09:58,160 --> 00:10:02,960 Speaker 2: in particular the year that we've had and the passion 153 00:10:03,480 --> 00:10:05,720 Speaker 2: that the fans have to get out and live life. 154 00:10:06,080 --> 00:10:09,040 Speaker 2: We're seeing that and we're all benefiting from that, but 155 00:10:09,120 --> 00:10:14,520 Speaker 2: also the artist and how resolute the industry was at 156 00:10:14,679 --> 00:10:18,079 Speaker 2: giving people reason to come back together and to celebrate, 157 00:10:18,440 --> 00:10:22,840 Speaker 2: giving people an opportunity to be happy, to go back 158 00:10:22,880 --> 00:10:28,080 Speaker 2: to these public places and be able to forget about 159 00:10:28,240 --> 00:10:30,240 Speaker 2: all of the things and all of the demons and 160 00:10:30,280 --> 00:10:33,160 Speaker 2: all of the problems that we were dealing with. I 161 00:10:33,200 --> 00:10:36,000 Speaker 2: think it was our finest moment in the music industry 162 00:10:36,120 --> 00:10:40,400 Speaker 2: and the live entertainment industry, and I am absolutely proud 163 00:10:40,480 --> 00:10:43,760 Speaker 2: to be a part of it, but also hugely grateful 164 00:10:43,800 --> 00:10:47,440 Speaker 2: back to the fans that they came back and supported 165 00:10:47,800 --> 00:10:51,400 Speaker 2: the industry, our facilities, and the artists the way they have, 166 00:10:52,120 --> 00:10:58,080 Speaker 2: and in particular we understand now people everyone appreciates life. 167 00:10:58,160 --> 00:11:00,800 Speaker 2: Now when you go through something like that, you're going 168 00:11:00,880 --> 00:11:02,559 Speaker 2: to go live the rest of your life and you're 169 00:11:02,559 --> 00:11:04,640 Speaker 2: going to live it every day and you're not going 170 00:11:04,720 --> 00:11:08,120 Speaker 2: to take it for granted. And music and sports, but 171 00:11:08,240 --> 00:11:11,440 Speaker 2: especially music a huge part of that. And I think 172 00:11:11,520 --> 00:11:14,480 Speaker 2: that's why our best years are directly ahead of us 173 00:11:14,800 --> 00:11:19,600 Speaker 2: and we're going to continue to enjoy this surge in 174 00:11:19,640 --> 00:11:21,760 Speaker 2: our business that we've seen this past year. 175 00:11:22,800 --> 00:11:27,400 Speaker 1: Let's go back to the HVAC and the arenas. One 176 00:11:27,440 --> 00:11:31,439 Speaker 1: of the components of ovg's business is managing and having 177 00:11:31,480 --> 00:11:36,360 Speaker 1: relationships with other businesses. You said you have seven new 178 00:11:36,400 --> 00:11:40,880 Speaker 1: arenas that you re configured for HVAC. How about the 179 00:11:40,920 --> 00:11:43,559 Speaker 1: arenas that you consult? What did they do? 180 00:11:44,440 --> 00:11:48,200 Speaker 2: So I'll tell you you know what I love about 181 00:11:48,240 --> 00:11:52,960 Speaker 2: this and the format that you've created and the times 182 00:11:52,960 --> 00:11:55,480 Speaker 2: I've listened in to all of your guests is the 183 00:11:55,520 --> 00:11:59,760 Speaker 2: ability to have time to tell stories, because after all, 184 00:12:00,320 --> 00:12:04,440 Speaker 2: that's actually what we all do, right, Musicians write songs 185 00:12:04,440 --> 00:12:07,440 Speaker 2: and tell stories, and you give us an opportunity to 186 00:12:07,480 --> 00:12:10,160 Speaker 2: tell stories about our industry and how it affects people. 187 00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:14,320 Speaker 2: In our particular case, how we survived the greatest challenge 188 00:12:14,360 --> 00:12:19,160 Speaker 2: in the history of our industry. I was the very 189 00:12:19,200 --> 00:12:25,760 Speaker 2: early stages of COVID. So ironically, just by chance, if 190 00:12:25,760 --> 00:12:28,720 Speaker 2: you look at when COVID broke out, there were three 191 00:12:28,840 --> 00:12:32,880 Speaker 2: or four hotspots where it first hit where we're all going, 192 00:12:33,040 --> 00:12:36,080 Speaker 2: what is this thing? So one of them was Seattle 193 00:12:36,200 --> 00:12:40,320 Speaker 2: and the nursing homes. Unfortunately, just terrible what happened there. 194 00:12:40,360 --> 00:12:44,080 Speaker 2: But that was the first place in the United States 195 00:12:44,160 --> 00:12:47,880 Speaker 2: where suddenly you're like, wait a minute, something's wrong, hair, 196 00:12:48,120 --> 00:12:52,640 Speaker 2: this is serious. Second place was the town in New York, 197 00:12:52,960 --> 00:12:56,120 Speaker 2: just outside of New York City, where it was a 198 00:12:56,160 --> 00:13:00,600 Speaker 2: temple and a congregation and an actual event became a 199 00:13:00,960 --> 00:13:04,280 Speaker 2: super spreader event first, one of those things that we've seen. 200 00:13:04,720 --> 00:13:08,480 Speaker 2: No one quite understood super spread until that. And in 201 00:13:08,600 --> 00:13:12,720 Speaker 2: the third place that just got absolutely hammered and was 202 00:13:13,240 --> 00:13:17,200 Speaker 2: ground zero. I think for what it was how quickly 203 00:13:17,240 --> 00:13:20,040 Speaker 2: it was spreading and how many people it was killing, 204 00:13:20,440 --> 00:13:23,720 Speaker 2: was Milan. I happened to be in all three of 205 00:13:23,760 --> 00:13:27,800 Speaker 2: those places in that one to two week period of 206 00:13:27,840 --> 00:13:30,360 Speaker 2: time when all of this started popping. So I was 207 00:13:30,360 --> 00:13:34,040 Speaker 2: in Seattle and suddenly you began to hear stories about 208 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:38,960 Speaker 2: people in retirement homes that were getting sick and dying, 209 00:13:39,520 --> 00:13:42,520 Speaker 2: and then people not wanting to go into the retirement 210 00:13:42,559 --> 00:13:45,240 Speaker 2: homes and trying to figure out how to get the 211 00:13:45,280 --> 00:13:48,080 Speaker 2: people out of the retirement homes. And you were scratching 212 00:13:48,120 --> 00:13:52,800 Speaker 2: your head, going, man, this is bad. What happens if 213 00:13:52,960 --> 00:13:55,760 Speaker 2: this spreads? And it did. And then I went to 214 00:13:55,800 --> 00:14:00,360 Speaker 2: New York. I'm sure enough just that one event and 215 00:14:00,400 --> 00:14:05,280 Speaker 2: that one particular temple, and then how that reached out instantly, 216 00:14:05,360 --> 00:14:09,280 Speaker 2: and You're like, oh my god, this thing is highly contagious. 217 00:14:09,880 --> 00:14:12,880 Speaker 2: This is a problem. And then literally the day I 218 00:14:12,920 --> 00:14:15,520 Speaker 2: went into Blan, we had a meeting with the mayor 219 00:14:16,240 --> 00:14:19,520 Speaker 2: and the Olympic Committee and the meetings get canceled. We're 220 00:14:19,520 --> 00:14:22,240 Speaker 2: sitting there in the square outside the Great Cathedral in 221 00:14:22,280 --> 00:14:25,160 Speaker 2: the center of Balan, and they closed the cathedral down. 222 00:14:25,440 --> 00:14:28,640 Speaker 2: Now I'm a Catholic boy and grew up in a 223 00:14:28,720 --> 00:14:31,840 Speaker 2: church and went to Catholic school, and I know when 224 00:14:31,840 --> 00:14:35,600 Speaker 2: they start closing the churches down, there's trouble. And so 225 00:14:35,680 --> 00:14:38,960 Speaker 2: I'm like, this is not good. And so as we 226 00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:42,080 Speaker 2: immediately changed plans and went to the airport to try 227 00:14:42,120 --> 00:14:45,280 Speaker 2: to get back home. The airport started shutting down and 228 00:14:45,320 --> 00:14:48,120 Speaker 2: they were taking everyone's temperature, and by the way, it 229 00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:51,600 Speaker 2: was not a real exact science on how they were 230 00:14:51,640 --> 00:14:54,920 Speaker 2: testing people and taking temperature, and so you looked at 231 00:14:54,920 --> 00:14:58,560 Speaker 2: it and said, this is a shit show. They don't 232 00:14:58,600 --> 00:15:01,400 Speaker 2: have this figured out. This this isn't working whatever they're 233 00:15:01,440 --> 00:15:04,680 Speaker 2: trying to do. And by the way, they don't really 234 00:15:04,800 --> 00:15:08,200 Speaker 2: have a method of trying to figure out who might 235 00:15:08,240 --> 00:15:10,800 Speaker 2: be sick and who might not be sick. And they're 236 00:15:10,800 --> 00:15:13,640 Speaker 2: putting all these people on airplanes. This is a disaster. 237 00:15:14,320 --> 00:15:16,440 Speaker 2: And that's when I knew. I came back home and 238 00:15:16,480 --> 00:15:20,400 Speaker 2: told my wife, this is the most serious problem we 239 00:15:20,480 --> 00:15:24,800 Speaker 2: will ever experience in our lifetime. So I was on 240 00:15:24,880 --> 00:15:28,800 Speaker 2: the front line, and I'm like, I'm really really worried 241 00:15:28,840 --> 00:15:31,360 Speaker 2: about this. So I called up a friend of mine 242 00:15:32,200 --> 00:15:36,040 Speaker 2: who happens to be one of our best partners at 243 00:15:36,120 --> 00:15:38,800 Speaker 2: ubs Irene in New York with us in the Islanders, 244 00:15:39,480 --> 00:15:43,520 Speaker 2: and I talked to the president of the hospital and said, Michael, 245 00:15:44,080 --> 00:15:47,600 Speaker 2: what is this. Can you help me understand this? And 246 00:15:47,640 --> 00:15:51,080 Speaker 2: he said, he said, this will be the most contagious, 247 00:15:51,560 --> 00:15:55,720 Speaker 2: deadly outbreak you will ever see in your lifetime. I 248 00:15:55,760 --> 00:16:00,720 Speaker 2: said serious, and he said, this is really bad. And 249 00:16:00,760 --> 00:16:05,240 Speaker 2: I said, well, explain to me how does this transmit itself? 250 00:16:05,320 --> 00:16:09,440 Speaker 2: I mean, what's going on here? And we in particular, 251 00:16:09,560 --> 00:16:13,320 Speaker 2: he told me, we got a massive problem because we 252 00:16:13,840 --> 00:16:17,560 Speaker 2: people don't understand it. The government thinks it's touching. It's 253 00:16:17,600 --> 00:16:20,440 Speaker 2: not touching. It's in the air and it's circulating in 254 00:16:20,480 --> 00:16:24,120 Speaker 2: the air. And I'm like, well, if it's circulating in 255 00:16:24,160 --> 00:16:26,800 Speaker 2: the air, tell me, how are you doing that with 256 00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:30,200 Speaker 2: your emergency rooms. And by the way, how's it getting 257 00:16:30,200 --> 00:16:33,480 Speaker 2: out of the emergency rooms. If it's circulating in the air, 258 00:16:34,400 --> 00:16:37,520 Speaker 2: don't you shut those systems down in your emergency rooms. 259 00:16:38,200 --> 00:16:41,680 Speaker 2: And he said, it's getting into the ventilating system. And 260 00:16:41,720 --> 00:16:44,360 Speaker 2: he said, Tim, it's circulating through the whole hospital. And 261 00:16:44,400 --> 00:16:47,000 Speaker 2: he said, we're getting people sick and other wings of 262 00:16:47,080 --> 00:16:50,320 Speaker 2: the hospital where there are no COVID patients, none of 263 00:16:50,360 --> 00:16:54,000 Speaker 2: the COVID personnel that are working on those patients because 264 00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:57,000 Speaker 2: we think it's in the air system and it's traveling 265 00:16:57,040 --> 00:17:00,760 Speaker 2: by air. Now, Bob, when I heard that, that was 266 00:17:00,840 --> 00:17:07,000 Speaker 2: probably I got to say, the most dreadful, shocking bit 267 00:17:07,040 --> 00:17:10,960 Speaker 2: of news I've ever had, with the exception of the 268 00:17:11,040 --> 00:17:14,639 Speaker 2: death of some of my family members. I was stunned 269 00:17:15,200 --> 00:17:19,240 Speaker 2: when he told me that and I said, Michael, if 270 00:17:19,280 --> 00:17:24,600 Speaker 2: that's the case, we're screwed. I mean, how do I 271 00:17:24,600 --> 00:17:27,480 Speaker 2: build arenas? And he was the one that said, you 272 00:17:27,560 --> 00:17:30,520 Speaker 2: got to give some serious consideration to the way you're 273 00:17:30,560 --> 00:17:33,800 Speaker 2: treating your handling systems and arenas. I'm like, Michael, we 274 00:17:33,880 --> 00:17:36,680 Speaker 2: got twenty thousand people in our arenas. Do you understand 275 00:17:36,680 --> 00:17:39,080 Speaker 2: the magnitude of me trying to figure out how to 276 00:17:39,119 --> 00:17:42,280 Speaker 2: clean my air up? And he said I do, and 277 00:17:42,320 --> 00:17:44,680 Speaker 2: you're going to have to figure it out. And that's 278 00:17:44,720 --> 00:17:49,159 Speaker 2: when everything changed, Bob. That's when suddenly I had We 279 00:17:49,200 --> 00:17:52,119 Speaker 2: went back to our engineers and literally after I got 280 00:17:52,160 --> 00:17:57,800 Speaker 2: off that call, I went back from the advice that 281 00:17:57,840 --> 00:18:00,800 Speaker 2: Michael and Northwell gave me, and I called my engineers 282 00:18:00,840 --> 00:18:03,560 Speaker 2: in Dallas that we're doing the air handling system for 283 00:18:03,640 --> 00:18:06,640 Speaker 2: all of our buildings, but in particular our New York building, 284 00:18:06,840 --> 00:18:09,840 Speaker 2: are Austin Building and our Seattle building that we're all 285 00:18:09,920 --> 00:18:13,399 Speaker 2: under construction. And I said, look, I just had a 286 00:18:13,440 --> 00:18:17,240 Speaker 2: really smart guy that I trust tell me this thing's 287 00:18:17,280 --> 00:18:21,960 Speaker 2: in the air and it's circulating and infecting people within 288 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:26,439 Speaker 2: the air, which means air circulation. And he got shocked 289 00:18:26,440 --> 00:18:28,359 Speaker 2: and said, are you serious? And I said, yeah, I 290 00:18:28,359 --> 00:18:31,879 Speaker 2: think that's what this thing is. Tell me what that 291 00:18:32,040 --> 00:18:36,680 Speaker 2: means and he said, well, you're not building a system 292 00:18:36,960 --> 00:18:39,760 Speaker 2: that ultimately deals with that in any of your buildings. 293 00:18:39,920 --> 00:18:42,879 Speaker 2: That's not what we're putting in your system. We're bringing 294 00:18:42,960 --> 00:18:45,520 Speaker 2: fresh air in and we're taking her out, but we're 295 00:18:45,520 --> 00:18:48,800 Speaker 2: not doing anything ultimately to test the quality of that 296 00:18:48,880 --> 00:18:52,640 Speaker 2: air or kill anything that's in the air that may 297 00:18:52,640 --> 00:18:56,160 Speaker 2: be coming or going. You don't have filterization systems like that, 298 00:18:56,840 --> 00:18:59,159 Speaker 2: and I said, well, he mentioned this scene called MERV thirteen. 299 00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:02,440 Speaker 2: He said, yeah, routine is what we put into like 300 00:19:02,680 --> 00:19:07,080 Speaker 2: emergency rooms and operating rooms in hospital tim It's the 301 00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:11,720 Speaker 2: highest filterization system you could possibly have to not only 302 00:19:11,800 --> 00:19:14,920 Speaker 2: monitor your air, but clean it and kill the germs 303 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:18,000 Speaker 2: on the spot. I said, well, how complicated is it? 304 00:19:18,040 --> 00:19:19,760 Speaker 2: And could we put it in an arena? And he said, 305 00:19:19,800 --> 00:19:22,520 Speaker 2: you can't put it in an arena. I said, well, 306 00:19:22,520 --> 00:19:23,879 Speaker 2: I think we're going to have to figure out how 307 00:19:23,920 --> 00:19:26,400 Speaker 2: to put it in an arena. And to their credit, 308 00:19:26,680 --> 00:19:29,560 Speaker 2: Ed and his team worked for about two weeks straight 309 00:19:30,359 --> 00:19:32,880 Speaker 2: round the clock and came back to me two weeks 310 00:19:32,920 --> 00:19:34,560 Speaker 2: later and said, I think we figured out how to 311 00:19:34,600 --> 00:19:36,479 Speaker 2: do it, but you're going to have to start fresh 312 00:19:36,960 --> 00:19:39,560 Speaker 2: with all of your ventilation systems, and you're going to 313 00:19:39,600 --> 00:19:44,920 Speaker 2: have to build giant, giant plants with this filterization system 314 00:19:45,200 --> 00:19:49,040 Speaker 2: and suck everything into this filterization system. And then Tim, 315 00:19:49,080 --> 00:19:50,760 Speaker 2: You're going to have to figure out how to burn 316 00:19:50,840 --> 00:19:54,440 Speaker 2: it and kill the germs at a high heat rate. 317 00:19:55,080 --> 00:19:57,200 Speaker 2: And I'm like, all right, let's figure it out now. 318 00:19:57,840 --> 00:20:00,480 Speaker 2: The complication, Bob, that came out of that problem for 319 00:20:00,680 --> 00:20:03,680 Speaker 2: Steve Collins, who's my president, develops all of our arenas, 320 00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:07,159 Speaker 2: was profiled to try to figure out space and we 321 00:20:07,240 --> 00:20:09,760 Speaker 2: had to start fresh, and we had to change our plans, 322 00:20:09,760 --> 00:20:12,080 Speaker 2: and we were in the middle of constructing our arenas 323 00:20:12,320 --> 00:20:15,680 Speaker 2: and had to change on the fly. What was even 324 00:20:15,720 --> 00:20:20,119 Speaker 2: more interesting is the MERV thirteen filterization system they were 325 00:20:20,320 --> 00:20:25,640 Speaker 2: proposing to add to our HVAC system was driven by 326 00:20:26,080 --> 00:20:29,920 Speaker 2: ultimately gas that would come in and burn and kill 327 00:20:29,960 --> 00:20:33,919 Speaker 2: the bad guys to the grums. But the problem with 328 00:20:33,960 --> 00:20:36,520 Speaker 2: that is I happen to have a carbon neutral arena 329 00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:40,399 Speaker 2: in Seattle. We don't use gas. We use solar power 330 00:20:40,600 --> 00:20:44,280 Speaker 2: and electricity. And went back to the engineers and said, 331 00:20:44,320 --> 00:20:46,560 Speaker 2: I can't put gas in there, and he said, there's 332 00:20:46,680 --> 00:20:51,879 Speaker 2: not enough electrical power in order to generate the kindy 333 00:20:51,960 --> 00:20:54,200 Speaker 2: heat you're going to have to generate to kill the bug, 334 00:20:54,600 --> 00:20:57,520 Speaker 2: and only gas works. And I'm like, ed, You're going 335 00:20:57,600 --> 00:20:59,000 Speaker 2: to have to go back to the drawing board and 336 00:20:59,040 --> 00:21:02,240 Speaker 2: figure out how to make it work through electrical power, 337 00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:05,320 Speaker 2: because that's all we're pulling into our arena. We pulled 338 00:21:05,359 --> 00:21:09,480 Speaker 2: our gas lines out already, so Bob, halfway through building 339 00:21:09,880 --> 00:21:12,879 Speaker 2: what became Climate Pledge Arena, we made the pledge to 340 00:21:12,880 --> 00:21:16,040 Speaker 2: be carbon neutral, and I pulled all my gas lines 341 00:21:16,040 --> 00:21:18,679 Speaker 2: out and we went one hundred percent of the energy 342 00:21:19,080 --> 00:21:22,919 Speaker 2: that we utilized at Climate Pledge Arena the solar powered energy. 343 00:21:23,280 --> 00:21:26,000 Speaker 2: So we had to refigure not only do we have 344 00:21:26,080 --> 00:21:28,399 Speaker 2: to rebuild our systems, we had to go back to 345 00:21:28,400 --> 00:21:31,960 Speaker 2: the engineers and refigure out how to get enough heat 346 00:21:32,160 --> 00:21:35,920 Speaker 2: in order to build a bad the germs without using gas. 347 00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:40,000 Speaker 2: So it was just that, I mean, honestly, I'm so 348 00:21:40,119 --> 00:21:42,920 Speaker 2: proud of our team that we were able to turn 349 00:21:42,960 --> 00:21:46,240 Speaker 2: on a dime like that and come up with new 350 00:21:46,280 --> 00:21:49,239 Speaker 2: ideas and new ways to keep our people at our 351 00:21:49,280 --> 00:21:52,560 Speaker 2: arenas safe. And then we had to go do what 352 00:21:52,600 --> 00:21:54,960 Speaker 2: everyone else had to do, which is how do I 353 00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:59,679 Speaker 2: create bubbles, how do I ultimately, And it was funny 354 00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:04,119 Speaker 2: when I talked to Michael and Northwell, he said, you 355 00:22:04,160 --> 00:22:07,080 Speaker 2: know those guys, those Ghostbuster guys you have going in 356 00:22:07,160 --> 00:22:11,040 Speaker 2: and spring your seats. He said, it's Olbs. Said it 357 00:22:11,080 --> 00:22:13,800 Speaker 2: doesn't work, said go send them all in. He said 358 00:22:13,840 --> 00:22:19,439 Speaker 2: that that doesn't it's Timiate's not touch it's here, And 359 00:22:19,720 --> 00:22:22,720 Speaker 2: we had to rethink everything we were doing. So then 360 00:22:22,800 --> 00:22:26,359 Speaker 2: we pull calls together, Bob, back to your question, and 361 00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:29,040 Speaker 2: we'd have our arena Alliance and the twenty nine arenas 362 00:22:29,080 --> 00:22:32,000 Speaker 2: on there, and we brought these experts on and said 363 00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:36,040 Speaker 2: you need to hear this, you need to understand what 364 00:22:36,119 --> 00:22:38,399 Speaker 2: we're learning and what we're dealing with. And they were 365 00:22:38,440 --> 00:22:41,920 Speaker 2: all shocked, but to their credit, a lot of them, 366 00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:46,040 Speaker 2: for example the State Farm Arena and Steve and his 367 00:22:46,119 --> 00:22:50,199 Speaker 2: team down there, unbelievably diligent at how they jumped in 368 00:22:50,320 --> 00:22:52,439 Speaker 2: and dove into this to try to learn what it 369 00:22:52,560 --> 00:22:54,800 Speaker 2: is we're dealing with and how do we correct it. 370 00:22:55,280 --> 00:23:01,840 Speaker 2: And so shocking moment, but an absolutely brilliant moment because, 371 00:23:01,960 --> 00:23:06,000 Speaker 2: as is typical for our industry in particular, we shared, 372 00:23:06,440 --> 00:23:13,479 Speaker 2: we communicated, we explored, there was no territory whatever we learned, 373 00:23:13,920 --> 00:23:17,240 Speaker 2: we shared with everybody else, and then we went out 374 00:23:17,320 --> 00:23:19,600 Speaker 2: and we tried to deal with the politicians and warned 375 00:23:19,640 --> 00:23:22,440 Speaker 2: them what we were dealing with and asked them for help. 376 00:23:22,920 --> 00:23:27,639 Speaker 2: And the only request we ever made to Washington was 377 00:23:27,760 --> 00:23:30,560 Speaker 2: can you give us subsidies to help us pay for 378 00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:33,320 Speaker 2: the systems that we're going to have to now re 379 00:23:33,520 --> 00:23:37,600 Speaker 2: engineer and redeploy and all of our arenas. So this 380 00:23:37,680 --> 00:23:40,840 Speaker 2: is millions, tens of millions of dollars in some cases 381 00:23:41,160 --> 00:23:43,199 Speaker 2: that we're all going to have to spend. Can you 382 00:23:43,280 --> 00:23:48,399 Speaker 2: help us? They didn't. So proud of the industry that 383 00:23:48,440 --> 00:23:51,520 Speaker 2: we rolled up our sleeves and again not only found 384 00:23:52,040 --> 00:23:59,359 Speaker 2: creative solutions, but we paid for ourselves. 385 00:24:03,600 --> 00:24:06,439 Speaker 1: Okay, let's pull the lens all the way back, not 386 00:24:06,600 --> 00:24:13,159 Speaker 1: solely about the OVG group. How many arenas are there 387 00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:17,080 Speaker 1: in the world, to what degree is their room for 388 00:24:17,240 --> 00:24:21,080 Speaker 1: more arenas? And what is the state of the infrastructure 389 00:24:21,119 --> 00:24:21,639 Speaker 1: out there? 390 00:24:23,440 --> 00:24:31,000 Speaker 2: Great question? So there are thousands of arenas in the world. Funny, 391 00:24:31,760 --> 00:24:33,880 Speaker 2: as you look at this industry and you look at 392 00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:38,520 Speaker 2: thousands of arenas, and you look at the life cycle 393 00:24:38,640 --> 00:24:41,520 Speaker 2: of an arena, which is not you know, I just 394 00:24:41,600 --> 00:24:44,920 Speaker 2: came back from Europe, and I had the great privilege 395 00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:50,040 Speaker 2: and great opportunity to go explore the Colosseum again. And 396 00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:51,800 Speaker 2: I've been to the Colosseum a couple of times, but 397 00:24:51,920 --> 00:24:57,399 Speaker 2: I'm fascinated by the genus of the architectural marvel that 398 00:24:57,600 --> 00:24:59,960 Speaker 2: is the Colosseum, And to this day it's still in Spa. 399 00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:06,000 Speaker 2: Hires me because that's where our industry started, and to 400 00:25:06,040 --> 00:25:10,720 Speaker 2: this day we still use many of the architectural designs 401 00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:15,560 Speaker 2: and the genius of that particular building and everything that 402 00:25:15,600 --> 00:25:20,040 Speaker 2: we do on every design and every building we go develop. 403 00:25:20,800 --> 00:25:22,920 Speaker 2: And so I spent time there, and then we also 404 00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:27,000 Speaker 2: went to the Vatican and saw the genius of the 405 00:25:27,119 --> 00:25:33,160 Speaker 2: architects and the artists that that took the the great 406 00:25:34,600 --> 00:25:38,760 Speaker 2: parts of the Vatican and including the Grand Cathedral and 407 00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:45,040 Speaker 2: the Systeine Chapel, and just looking at Michaelangelo and some 408 00:25:45,080 --> 00:25:48,359 Speaker 2: of the people that ultimately were responsible for thinking through 409 00:25:50,280 --> 00:25:53,640 Speaker 2: the way that they designed that chapel and the way 410 00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:59,120 Speaker 2: they they they thought about architect and they thought about paintings, 411 00:25:59,119 --> 00:26:03,000 Speaker 2: and they thought about finishes, and they thought about the 412 00:26:03,160 --> 00:26:07,880 Speaker 2: experience that people have when they go through those places 413 00:26:07,920 --> 00:26:12,040 Speaker 2: like the Colosseum. It really is shocking, and every time 414 00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:16,000 Speaker 2: I go there it changes my view of arenas. But 415 00:26:16,040 --> 00:26:19,520 Speaker 2: what you begin to understand is from there, from those 416 00:26:19,680 --> 00:26:26,720 Speaker 2: two buildings, ironically came huge inspiration, huge knowledge, and a 417 00:26:26,840 --> 00:26:32,720 Speaker 2: huge amount of what affects our industry today was really 418 00:26:33,080 --> 00:26:36,800 Speaker 2: started with the Colosseum in particular. So there's thousands of 419 00:26:36,800 --> 00:26:41,120 Speaker 2: arenas around the world, but if you really talk about 420 00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:45,919 Speaker 2: our e industry, there's probably two hundred and fifty of 421 00:26:45,960 --> 00:26:49,119 Speaker 2: these things, right, So it's kind of crazy. It's a 422 00:26:49,240 --> 00:26:53,200 Speaker 2: very big world out there, and there's billions and billions 423 00:26:53,240 --> 00:26:57,359 Speaker 2: of people on the planet, but there's only probably two 424 00:26:57,440 --> 00:27:00,280 Speaker 2: hundred and fifty arenas that I would consider to be 425 00:27:00,600 --> 00:27:05,920 Speaker 2: an A class arena, and even fewer stadiums. And when 426 00:27:05,960 --> 00:27:10,800 Speaker 2: you think about, in particular in our country, the demand 427 00:27:10,520 --> 00:27:14,200 Speaker 2: that is created in stadiums with the NFL are Major 428 00:27:14,280 --> 00:27:17,439 Speaker 2: League Baseball, and then the rest of the world this 429 00:27:17,560 --> 00:27:22,960 Speaker 2: little sport called football soccer, and the impact that's had. 430 00:27:23,960 --> 00:27:27,639 Speaker 2: What we forget, especially in North America, is we have 431 00:27:27,760 --> 00:27:31,480 Speaker 2: lots of new arenas and new stadiums, brilliant stadiums like 432 00:27:31,560 --> 00:27:36,240 Speaker 2: Sofar and Allegian. But then as you get into Europe 433 00:27:36,880 --> 00:27:39,720 Speaker 2: and even more in particular when you get into Africa 434 00:27:39,800 --> 00:27:43,879 Speaker 2: or South America or Asia, there are very very few 435 00:27:43,960 --> 00:27:47,480 Speaker 2: new arenas right now. And so in the last couple 436 00:27:47,560 --> 00:27:51,280 Speaker 2: of years when we've opened up seven, we've opened up 437 00:27:51,359 --> 00:27:53,480 Speaker 2: the only seven that have been built in those two years. 438 00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:57,800 Speaker 2: So it was OVG with seven arenas and no other 439 00:27:57,840 --> 00:28:01,520 Speaker 2: arenas were getting built, partially because of COVID. So what 440 00:28:01,600 --> 00:28:04,520 Speaker 2: you realize is thousands of arenas. Most of them aren't 441 00:28:04,600 --> 00:28:07,760 Speaker 2: very good, most of them are very old. There are 442 00:28:08,080 --> 00:28:11,880 Speaker 2: hundreds of arenas that are kind of driving our industry 443 00:28:11,880 --> 00:28:15,800 Speaker 2: as we know it today, but there are not very 444 00:28:15,840 --> 00:28:19,720 Speaker 2: many arenas like we have in North America and the 445 00:28:19,760 --> 00:28:23,480 Speaker 2: rest of the world. It is pretty shocking. But therein 446 00:28:23,520 --> 00:28:26,920 Speaker 2: lie is the opportunity, which is we're going to see 447 00:28:26,960 --> 00:28:31,360 Speaker 2: a huge explosion and a huge opportunity to build these 448 00:28:31,400 --> 00:28:35,159 Speaker 2: world class arenas and take what we've learned here on 449 00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:39,120 Speaker 2: how to build them and the technology and the acoustics 450 00:28:39,400 --> 00:28:43,800 Speaker 2: and the experience in the premium and now transfer that 451 00:28:44,200 --> 00:28:46,960 Speaker 2: and be able to take that with us everywhere we 452 00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:49,000 Speaker 2: go in the world. And if you don't think the 453 00:28:49,040 --> 00:28:52,360 Speaker 2: industry is changing, then go look at what Jim Donald's 454 00:28:52,440 --> 00:28:57,920 Speaker 2: building with the sphere, because it's revolutionary, it's masterful. I 455 00:28:57,920 --> 00:29:01,040 Speaker 2: don't know how the hecky came up with all of this, 456 00:29:01,760 --> 00:29:04,120 Speaker 2: not sure how the hell you pay for it, but 457 00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:07,440 Speaker 2: what I know is he's going to change our industry forever, 458 00:29:07,880 --> 00:29:10,800 Speaker 2: and the minute that opens up in September, we will 459 00:29:10,880 --> 00:29:15,840 Speaker 2: never be the same. And so thousands of arenas, most 460 00:29:15,840 --> 00:29:19,080 Speaker 2: of them highly outdated, most of them in effective compared 461 00:29:19,120 --> 00:29:24,480 Speaker 2: to where the customer expectations and conveniences, the artists expectations 462 00:29:24,560 --> 00:29:30,320 Speaker 2: and conveniences, the technology, the acoustics, the engineering, the demand 463 00:29:30,480 --> 00:29:33,160 Speaker 2: is going to be immense for new arenas going forward, 464 00:29:33,480 --> 00:29:36,840 Speaker 2: and we keep on reinventing the experience. So we spent 465 00:29:37,160 --> 00:29:41,360 Speaker 2: one point one billion on Climate Pledge, Jim spending billions 466 00:29:41,400 --> 00:29:45,440 Speaker 2: of dollars on the sphere, Steve Baumer spending billions of 467 00:29:45,440 --> 00:29:48,080 Speaker 2: dollars on the indto an arena. And if you look 468 00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:51,080 Speaker 2: at how quickly it's changing because of technology, and you 469 00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:54,120 Speaker 2: look at how quickly it's changing because of the customer experience, 470 00:29:54,480 --> 00:29:59,800 Speaker 2: just things like engineering and acoustics and led, we're in. 471 00:30:00,240 --> 00:30:03,239 Speaker 2: We're in a revolutionary moment in time. So even though 472 00:30:03,280 --> 00:30:07,840 Speaker 2: there's thousands of arenas, there's very few new arenas outside 473 00:30:07,840 --> 00:30:11,520 Speaker 2: of North America, and yet the demand has never been greater. 474 00:30:11,760 --> 00:30:15,480 Speaker 2: And I think you're going to see the greatest amount 475 00:30:15,600 --> 00:30:18,680 Speaker 2: of development of arenas in the history of the industry 476 00:30:18,960 --> 00:30:20,280 Speaker 2: in these next twenty years. 477 00:30:21,240 --> 00:30:25,240 Speaker 1: Okay, in Los Angeles, Irving took the Forum and turned 478 00:30:25,240 --> 00:30:29,480 Speaker 1: it into a music only building. There are no sports there. 479 00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:30,360 Speaker 2: Now. 480 00:30:30,400 --> 00:30:35,160 Speaker 1: My understanding is you're doing something similar from Scratch and Manchester, England. 481 00:30:35,640 --> 00:30:40,200 Speaker 1: There reports that on the Island with the Islanders in 482 00:30:40,240 --> 00:30:44,160 Speaker 1: the new building there, you had specific things you added 483 00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:47,640 Speaker 1: to make the sound although it's a hockey arena, make 484 00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:52,640 Speaker 1: the sound better for music. So as opposed to the 485 00:30:52,680 --> 00:30:56,800 Speaker 1: sixties and seventies when they were multi use buildings, do 486 00:30:56,840 --> 00:30:59,960 Speaker 1: you need a multi use building to make the economics work? 487 00:31:00,640 --> 00:31:03,680 Speaker 1: And if you do have a multi yet use building, 488 00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:06,760 Speaker 1: how do you make it a good experience for concerts? 489 00:31:07,720 --> 00:31:11,960 Speaker 2: Well, first of all, you have summarized in one question, 490 00:31:12,760 --> 00:31:15,320 Speaker 2: what's taken me seven years to figure out as a company, 491 00:31:15,400 --> 00:31:21,800 Speaker 2: So the Forum. When Irving and Jim did the Forum, 492 00:31:22,080 --> 00:31:24,560 Speaker 2: so I was at AG at the time, we had 493 00:31:24,560 --> 00:31:27,800 Speaker 2: Staple Center downtown. We owned the Forum for some period 494 00:31:27,840 --> 00:31:32,520 Speaker 2: of time, but quite frankly, I didn't have the vision 495 00:31:32,600 --> 00:31:35,640 Speaker 2: or the foresight they did to understand the demand in 496 00:31:35,680 --> 00:31:39,880 Speaker 2: the marketplace and how we needed another music venue in particular, 497 00:31:40,800 --> 00:31:44,040 Speaker 2: and we should have paid more attention to it at 498 00:31:44,040 --> 00:31:48,520 Speaker 2: AG and I'll put that's my fault. And so we 499 00:31:48,880 --> 00:31:51,000 Speaker 2: ended up selling the forms of the Church. The church 500 00:31:51,080 --> 00:31:55,360 Speaker 2: then sold it to Jim, and Jim was very intelligent 501 00:31:55,560 --> 00:31:59,120 Speaker 2: about coming in and realizing, how do I go create 502 00:31:59,160 --> 00:32:01,960 Speaker 2: the same experience that we created at the Garden for 503 00:32:02,120 --> 00:32:06,800 Speaker 2: music with a low ceiling, great acoustics, get rid of 504 00:32:06,800 --> 00:32:09,520 Speaker 2: the signage, get rid of the scoreboard. I don't care 505 00:32:09,560 --> 00:32:11,719 Speaker 2: about sports. We're not going to do sports. I don't care. 506 00:32:11,840 --> 00:32:13,640 Speaker 2: We're not going to have an ice plant. We're not 507 00:32:13,680 --> 00:32:16,240 Speaker 2: going to do hockey, We're not going to do basketball. 508 00:32:16,360 --> 00:32:18,080 Speaker 2: I don't care about any of that. We're just going 509 00:32:18,160 --> 00:32:20,640 Speaker 2: to be phenomenal at music. And he spent a couple 510 00:32:20,600 --> 00:32:24,000 Speaker 2: of hundred million dollars and from that, by the way, 511 00:32:24,080 --> 00:32:26,920 Speaker 2: came the Sphere. So if you ask Jim Dolan, what 512 00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:30,760 Speaker 2: he'll tell you is what they created at the Forum 513 00:32:31,160 --> 00:32:35,040 Speaker 2: spurred him on to the thinking that eventually is the Sphere. 514 00:32:35,080 --> 00:32:38,720 Speaker 2: And if when the Spear opens, I encourage everyone to 515 00:32:38,720 --> 00:32:42,720 Speaker 2: go see it. It is a absolute you want to 516 00:32:42,760 --> 00:32:46,440 Speaker 2: talk about, an entrepreneurial spirit and an entrepreneurial moment. God 517 00:32:46,480 --> 00:32:49,400 Speaker 2: blessed Jim for what he's done there. It is going 518 00:32:49,480 --> 00:32:54,240 Speaker 2: to change our industry forever. And so the great debate 519 00:32:54,800 --> 00:32:56,480 Speaker 2: that came out of that. So and by the way, 520 00:32:56,520 --> 00:32:59,000 Speaker 2: it's a debate I have with Jim. So Jim tells 521 00:32:59,040 --> 00:33:01,840 Speaker 2: me you you never build another arena, you should only 522 00:33:01,840 --> 00:33:04,240 Speaker 2: build spheres, and I'm like, well, I get it, but 523 00:33:04,680 --> 00:33:06,880 Speaker 2: you know I can't afford to bill spheres. I got 524 00:33:06,960 --> 00:33:09,160 Speaker 2: to figure out a way to pay for it. Because, 525 00:33:09,200 --> 00:33:11,560 Speaker 2: by the way of the seven arenas we built, we 526 00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:15,120 Speaker 2: didn't take one penny from the public sector on any 527 00:33:15,200 --> 00:33:18,120 Speaker 2: of those seven arenas, and most of the arenas we 528 00:33:18,240 --> 00:33:22,440 Speaker 2: built and then gave back to the city. So we 529 00:33:22,840 --> 00:33:26,320 Speaker 2: privatized everything, which means we had to pencil this out 530 00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:29,800 Speaker 2: and figure out how naming and right sponsorship, premium ticket sales, 531 00:33:29,840 --> 00:33:35,000 Speaker 2: food and beverage, parking can pay for the privatization of 532 00:33:35,040 --> 00:33:38,920 Speaker 2: these particular buildings. In some cases, Seattle is an example, 533 00:33:39,960 --> 00:33:42,200 Speaker 2: You're going to build one arena, and you got to 534 00:33:42,200 --> 00:33:44,000 Speaker 2: make it work for hockey, and you got to make 535 00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:47,160 Speaker 2: it work for basketball. When we get the NBA back, 536 00:33:47,440 --> 00:33:49,720 Speaker 2: but you got to make it perfect for music. And 537 00:33:49,760 --> 00:33:52,040 Speaker 2: that was the problem up there. So not only did 538 00:33:52,040 --> 00:33:55,640 Speaker 2: the Old Key Arena kind of have that huge roof 539 00:33:56,120 --> 00:33:58,320 Speaker 2: that was kind of a pyramid at the top of it, 540 00:33:58,640 --> 00:34:01,360 Speaker 2: so the sound of a concert would go up into 541 00:34:01,400 --> 00:34:03,600 Speaker 2: the roof and bounce around a few times and then 542 00:34:03,680 --> 00:34:06,200 Speaker 2: bounce back down. It was I always use to tell 543 00:34:06,240 --> 00:34:09,160 Speaker 2: people Earl's Court is my favorite place to go for 544 00:34:09,200 --> 00:34:11,200 Speaker 2: a concert because I get to hear the band three 545 00:34:11,239 --> 00:34:14,359 Speaker 2: times because the first time and then the second time 546 00:34:14,520 --> 00:34:16,600 Speaker 2: with the echo. On the third time the echo from 547 00:34:16,640 --> 00:34:20,960 Speaker 2: the echo. And so we had to go recreate the 548 00:34:21,040 --> 00:34:24,360 Speaker 2: music experience in Seattle. And what we did is we 549 00:34:24,560 --> 00:34:28,480 Speaker 2: learned from the forum as well, and from an engineering standpoint, 550 00:34:28,480 --> 00:34:31,200 Speaker 2: we figured out how to build clouds in our ceiling 551 00:34:31,280 --> 00:34:35,120 Speaker 2: with acoustical treatment and drop them and have panels. So 552 00:34:35,280 --> 00:34:39,480 Speaker 2: in Seattle, our panels open and close based on where 553 00:34:39,520 --> 00:34:42,759 Speaker 2: we know music is coming from and the sound and 554 00:34:42,800 --> 00:34:46,480 Speaker 2: the reverb and the base compared to where sports noise 555 00:34:46,560 --> 00:34:50,960 Speaker 2: comes from. And so in a very can they both 556 00:34:51,320 --> 00:34:53,440 Speaker 2: work together and be aligned. They can't. And here's how 557 00:34:53,480 --> 00:34:56,680 Speaker 2: you do it. So if you think about creating the 558 00:34:56,719 --> 00:35:00,680 Speaker 2: graized environment humanly possible for sports. And you think about 559 00:35:00,760 --> 00:35:04,120 Speaker 2: the crowd noise, which is what you want to amplify 560 00:35:04,719 --> 00:35:07,799 Speaker 2: and keep in the building so that you create that 561 00:35:07,840 --> 00:35:12,640 Speaker 2: wonderful environment and so many great sports facilities. You understand 562 00:35:12,680 --> 00:35:15,680 Speaker 2: that that crowd noise comes from the bowl, not the ice, 563 00:35:15,760 --> 00:35:17,640 Speaker 2: from not the cord, It comes from the bull. So 564 00:35:17,680 --> 00:35:20,799 Speaker 2: as that crowd noise goes up, you want it not 565 00:35:20,960 --> 00:35:22,879 Speaker 2: to be trapped and killed in the roof. You want 566 00:35:22,920 --> 00:35:25,080 Speaker 2: it to bounce in the roof and come back down. 567 00:35:25,480 --> 00:35:28,840 Speaker 2: That's what creates that intimidating experience in many arenas today. 568 00:35:29,719 --> 00:35:33,239 Speaker 2: But for concerts, you do want to kill it. You 569 00:35:33,280 --> 00:35:36,240 Speaker 2: want to trap it and take make sure there's no echo, 570 00:35:36,320 --> 00:35:40,040 Speaker 2: no reverb. And that means you've got to build acoustical 571 00:35:40,160 --> 00:35:43,959 Speaker 2: systems and your roof and your walls and anything that's 572 00:35:43,960 --> 00:35:48,239 Speaker 2: a surface that stares at the speakers. And so our 573 00:35:48,280 --> 00:35:50,440 Speaker 2: engineers came in and figured out a system in the 574 00:35:50,520 --> 00:35:56,279 Speaker 2: roof where it allows sports noise to bounce. But they 575 00:35:56,360 --> 00:36:00,800 Speaker 2: knew where the speakers were going to be positioned with music, 576 00:36:01,239 --> 00:36:04,440 Speaker 2: and we knew how to take the baffling system and 577 00:36:04,560 --> 00:36:09,839 Speaker 2: actually kill the noise, the echo and the reverb as 578 00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:13,000 Speaker 2: that noise is coming out of the speakers. We add 579 00:36:13,120 --> 00:36:18,360 Speaker 2: the ability to take our acoustical panels and hang them 580 00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:21,760 Speaker 2: and curve them in a way where they're directed at 581 00:36:21,920 --> 00:36:24,440 Speaker 2: where the speakers are going to be hung for concerts. 582 00:36:24,760 --> 00:36:27,480 Speaker 2: So you can make it work together. You can build 583 00:36:27,520 --> 00:36:32,480 Speaker 2: a great venue for sports Iubs or by the way, 584 00:36:32,640 --> 00:36:36,600 Speaker 2: Moody Center or what we did at Climate Pledge and 585 00:36:37,120 --> 00:36:41,240 Speaker 2: have an intimidating environment for sports, but a perfect environment 586 00:36:41,280 --> 00:36:45,400 Speaker 2: for acoustics. And for me, the greatest critic in the 587 00:36:45,440 --> 00:36:49,000 Speaker 2: world on acoustics are the artists, because they got to 588 00:36:49,000 --> 00:36:50,560 Speaker 2: live with it and they're the ones that hear it. 589 00:36:50,719 --> 00:36:52,520 Speaker 2: By the way, they're the ones that to deal with 590 00:36:52,719 --> 00:36:56,120 Speaker 2: bad acoustics more than anybody. And if you talk about 591 00:36:56,160 --> 00:36:59,080 Speaker 2: an artist that really does care about the experience for 592 00:36:59,160 --> 00:37:02,120 Speaker 2: their fans, Don Henley is top of the list in 593 00:37:02,120 --> 00:37:05,759 Speaker 2: my opinion of an artist that really will critique you 594 00:37:06,200 --> 00:37:09,960 Speaker 2: and give you feedback on good experiences and bad experiences. 595 00:37:10,560 --> 00:37:13,319 Speaker 2: And the great thing for Don is he noticed in 596 00:37:13,360 --> 00:37:16,719 Speaker 2: all of our buildings, including the renovation in Baltimore. He 597 00:37:16,880 --> 00:37:20,640 Speaker 2: knew the work that we put in there on acoustics 598 00:37:20,800 --> 00:37:24,160 Speaker 2: because he felt it and heard it on the stage, 599 00:37:24,520 --> 00:37:27,719 Speaker 2: and he knew the difference in our buildings with the 600 00:37:27,760 --> 00:37:31,080 Speaker 2: acoustical treatment that Irving and I had committed to compared 601 00:37:31,080 --> 00:37:35,280 Speaker 2: to other buildings, and so same with Springsteen. He really 602 00:37:35,480 --> 00:37:40,800 Speaker 2: loved the acoustic He so to one of the great 603 00:37:40,840 --> 00:37:45,040 Speaker 2: stories in my life. And as I fooled, Sir Bruce, 604 00:37:45,239 --> 00:37:48,360 Speaker 2: He's been running around in my head for about twenty 605 00:37:48,360 --> 00:37:50,600 Speaker 2: five years and I can't get rid of him. So 606 00:37:50,680 --> 00:37:53,319 Speaker 2: when we open up Staples Center, Bruce agreed to open 607 00:37:53,360 --> 00:37:57,680 Speaker 2: the building for us, and we were truly honored, because 608 00:37:58,000 --> 00:38:00,400 Speaker 2: you know, when you're in the business for forty five years, 609 00:38:01,040 --> 00:38:06,520 Speaker 2: Bruce Springsteen is God. So I'm like, Bruce Springsteen is 610 00:38:06,520 --> 00:38:08,719 Speaker 2: going to open our building. Coolest thing ever. And we 611 00:38:08,760 --> 00:38:10,919 Speaker 2: had him for a couple of nights, and Rob White 612 00:38:10,920 --> 00:38:15,240 Speaker 2: from CAA did a favor and intervened and convinced Bruce 613 00:38:15,239 --> 00:38:18,120 Speaker 2: to do it for us, and so Bruce came the 614 00:38:18,160 --> 00:38:21,720 Speaker 2: first night. Never forget it, and you know, huge success 615 00:38:21,760 --> 00:38:24,800 Speaker 2: for us. Really cool to have Bruce open the building. 616 00:38:25,360 --> 00:38:28,360 Speaker 2: And he gets on stage and after one song or 617 00:38:28,400 --> 00:38:31,799 Speaker 2: two songs, he said, Hey, all you people up there 618 00:38:31,800 --> 00:38:34,560 Speaker 2: in all those boxes, why don't you come on out 619 00:38:34,640 --> 00:38:37,480 Speaker 2: and join the rest of us, and I'm like, did 620 00:38:37,520 --> 00:38:41,120 Speaker 2: he just say that? And then the person I was listening, Yeah, 621 00:38:41,239 --> 00:38:45,719 Speaker 2: he just said that. I'm like, oh shit, and I 622 00:38:45,880 --> 00:38:48,759 Speaker 2: was embarrassed. I'm like, oh my god. And then you 623 00:38:48,800 --> 00:38:53,000 Speaker 2: can tell he was a little myfthed that there were 624 00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:55,319 Speaker 2: a lot of people in those suites having parties that 625 00:38:55,360 --> 00:38:58,120 Speaker 2: weren't part of the concert, and you can't do that 626 00:38:58,160 --> 00:39:02,040 Speaker 2: to an artist. That's a mistake. And I instantly realized 627 00:39:02,080 --> 00:39:05,640 Speaker 2: three levels this week. That was the moment I realized 628 00:39:06,160 --> 00:39:09,040 Speaker 2: I made a terrible mistake with three levels of suites here. 629 00:39:09,600 --> 00:39:11,840 Speaker 2: I did not think about the artist like I should have. 630 00:39:12,800 --> 00:39:16,239 Speaker 2: And so I went to see him afterwards after the 631 00:39:16,280 --> 00:39:19,200 Speaker 2: concert and thanked him for opening the building, and then 632 00:39:19,239 --> 00:39:21,799 Speaker 2: he said something to me that has run in my 633 00:39:21,880 --> 00:39:25,560 Speaker 2: head for twenty five years, which is, you know, Tim, 634 00:39:25,840 --> 00:39:27,800 Speaker 2: I know you put a lot of love into the building, 635 00:39:27,840 --> 00:39:31,160 Speaker 2: but I like hot, sweaty holes. And I walked away 636 00:39:31,160 --> 00:39:34,600 Speaker 2: going jeez. I just got like I'm dressed by the boss. 637 00:39:34,760 --> 00:39:39,319 Speaker 2: This is not good, and it stuck with me. So 638 00:39:39,360 --> 00:39:43,880 Speaker 2: when we started OVG, ironically, the very question you asked 639 00:39:43,920 --> 00:39:46,880 Speaker 2: has been running around my head all these years, which is, 640 00:39:46,960 --> 00:39:50,960 Speaker 2: can we build an arena that is phenomenal for music, 641 00:39:51,200 --> 00:39:54,400 Speaker 2: acoustically perfect for the artists and their fans so that 642 00:39:54,440 --> 00:39:56,680 Speaker 2: they feel like they're right there next to each other. 643 00:39:57,440 --> 00:40:01,319 Speaker 2: And can we make it so it's a dominal advantage 644 00:40:01,640 --> 00:40:04,120 Speaker 2: for the home team for basketball and hockey when you're 645 00:40:04,120 --> 00:40:07,600 Speaker 2: going to share the building. Sometimes like Manchester, We're going 646 00:40:07,640 --> 00:40:10,319 Speaker 2: to build the perfect building for music because I'm going 647 00:40:10,320 --> 00:40:12,399 Speaker 2: to do one hundred and fifteen nights of music every year, 648 00:40:12,440 --> 00:40:14,680 Speaker 2: so I don't need to worry about an ice hockey 649 00:40:14,719 --> 00:40:17,920 Speaker 2: team or a basketball team. But other times, like Seattle, 650 00:40:18,239 --> 00:40:20,560 Speaker 2: to cover a billion dollar bat, we got to happen 651 00:40:20,560 --> 00:40:22,759 Speaker 2: an NHL team and we won an NBA team, so 652 00:40:22,800 --> 00:40:26,440 Speaker 2: it all has to work. There are very smart people 653 00:40:27,080 --> 00:40:30,560 Speaker 2: that have perfected this if you are willing to spend 654 00:40:30,560 --> 00:40:35,000 Speaker 2: the money necessary to build the acoustical treatment in order 655 00:40:35,040 --> 00:40:37,360 Speaker 2: to make it perfect. And that's what we've done in 656 00:40:37,400 --> 00:40:41,160 Speaker 2: the buildings. And so when Bruce played, he was very 657 00:40:41,239 --> 00:40:43,560 Speaker 2: kind and did two nights for us at ubs this 658 00:40:43,800 --> 00:40:45,879 Speaker 2: last tour. It was the only two nights he did. 659 00:40:45,960 --> 00:40:48,640 Speaker 2: He did one night every place else, so really cool 660 00:40:48,680 --> 00:40:51,439 Speaker 2: because he had kind of committed to help us open 661 00:40:51,480 --> 00:40:54,160 Speaker 2: the building. But then Covid hit, and he didn't forget us. 662 00:40:54,400 --> 00:40:59,800 Speaker 2: So remarkable him, John and the whole team at Bruce's 663 00:40:59,840 --> 00:41:03,520 Speaker 2: came phenomenal. How loyal they are to their fans and 664 00:41:03,560 --> 00:41:07,160 Speaker 2: to our business. I have huge respect for them for 665 00:41:07,280 --> 00:41:11,080 Speaker 2: the way they treat people. It's just so refreshing to 666 00:41:11,120 --> 00:41:13,400 Speaker 2: be with people that are that down to earth and 667 00:41:13,960 --> 00:41:17,880 Speaker 2: that loyal to the music, the experience, the fans, and 668 00:41:17,920 --> 00:41:20,640 Speaker 2: the building. And so they came back into two at 669 00:41:20,760 --> 00:41:23,640 Speaker 2: ubs and they told me the acoustics were perfect. They said, 670 00:41:23,680 --> 00:41:26,200 Speaker 2: you did a great job here. Good on you. And 671 00:41:26,440 --> 00:41:28,759 Speaker 2: they talked about Moody Center and how what a cool 672 00:41:28,840 --> 00:41:31,160 Speaker 2: experience that was in Austin. And they talked about Climate 673 00:41:31,440 --> 00:41:34,840 Speaker 2: Pledge and how great that was and how unbelievable that 674 00:41:34,920 --> 00:41:37,480 Speaker 2: we were able to build a carbon neutral arena. They cared, 675 00:41:37,520 --> 00:41:40,279 Speaker 2: they actually knew the whole stick. I'm like, God, you 676 00:41:40,320 --> 00:41:45,080 Speaker 2: guys sound like a walking brochure for OVG. So by 677 00:41:45,120 --> 00:41:48,120 Speaker 2: the time they got to Baltimore, he was going to 678 00:41:48,120 --> 00:41:51,640 Speaker 2: play the baseball stadium and instead did us a favor 679 00:41:51,920 --> 00:41:54,680 Speaker 2: and they helped us open the arena. They were one 680 00:41:54,680 --> 00:41:57,279 Speaker 2: of the first nights in the renovated arena. Because he 681 00:41:57,400 --> 00:42:00,480 Speaker 2: cared about Baltimore. He cared about us spending a quarter 682 00:42:00,520 --> 00:42:03,200 Speaker 2: of a billion dollars of a city that some in 683 00:42:03,280 --> 00:42:07,719 Speaker 2: the media, not you, but some in the media Fox trashed, 684 00:42:08,000 --> 00:42:12,520 Speaker 2: absolutely destroyed the city, absolutely buried it, absolutely treated the 685 00:42:12,600 --> 00:42:16,400 Speaker 2: people that are a part of that community with huge 686 00:42:16,440 --> 00:42:20,720 Speaker 2: disdain for their own political purposes. And most of it 687 00:42:20,760 --> 00:42:24,240 Speaker 2: is absolutely untrue. The city is not burning up in flames. 688 00:42:24,280 --> 00:42:26,120 Speaker 2: People are not being shot when they come out of 689 00:42:26,160 --> 00:42:29,279 Speaker 2: their homes. Bruce knew that, and he knew that that 690 00:42:29,320 --> 00:42:32,560 Speaker 2: city had been treated unfairly, and they need people to 691 00:42:32,640 --> 00:42:37,040 Speaker 2: come lift them up. Our partner in Baltimore, Sparrell and Farrell, 692 00:42:37,160 --> 00:42:40,320 Speaker 2: talks about steps, giving people that first step on the 693 00:42:40,440 --> 00:42:43,279 Speaker 2: ladder and helping them get up, and then they're going 694 00:42:43,360 --> 00:42:44,759 Speaker 2: to go the rest of the way up on their 695 00:42:44,800 --> 00:42:47,320 Speaker 2: own if you can help them on that first step. 696 00:42:47,719 --> 00:42:49,520 Speaker 2: But you got to build the ladder. You got to 697 00:42:49,520 --> 00:42:52,839 Speaker 2: build the first step. Bruce got it great news as 698 00:42:52,880 --> 00:42:56,080 Speaker 2: he came in and said, the building's phenomeno and it's 699 00:42:56,120 --> 00:42:58,560 Speaker 2: amazing what you did here. Good on you because most 700 00:42:58,560 --> 00:43:04,120 Speaker 2: people wouldn't have taken this chance. Those they prove two things, Bob. First, 701 00:43:04,360 --> 00:43:07,920 Speaker 2: you can build arenas that ultimately are advanced enough to 702 00:43:07,920 --> 00:43:11,640 Speaker 2: be acoustically perfect for concerts and work for sports. And 703 00:43:11,760 --> 00:43:15,160 Speaker 2: second of all, what a phenomenal industry we all get 704 00:43:15,200 --> 00:43:18,000 Speaker 2: the chance to work in when you get had those moments, 705 00:43:18,040 --> 00:43:20,920 Speaker 2: and one, I have stopped Bruce from running in my 706 00:43:21,120 --> 00:43:24,360 Speaker 2: head for twenty five years finally, and number two, I 707 00:43:24,480 --> 00:43:27,400 Speaker 2: guess what I learned from them and understood the mistakes 708 00:43:27,480 --> 00:43:30,319 Speaker 2: I had made, and I vowed to myself I'd never 709 00:43:30,360 --> 00:43:33,040 Speaker 2: make those mistakes again, and I'd be smarter and better 710 00:43:33,440 --> 00:43:36,920 Speaker 2: because I listened to what the artists ultimately want. And 711 00:43:36,960 --> 00:43:39,719 Speaker 2: so when Don Henley tells me where we're good and 712 00:43:39,760 --> 00:43:43,400 Speaker 2: where we're bad, I listen because Don Henley, in my opinion, 713 00:43:43,960 --> 00:43:47,000 Speaker 2: is one of the great artists of our generation. And 714 00:43:47,080 --> 00:43:50,799 Speaker 2: I care about how he cares about his fans and 715 00:43:50,880 --> 00:43:53,319 Speaker 2: the experience he wants people to have in an Eagle show. 716 00:43:53,520 --> 00:43:56,520 Speaker 2: Same with Bruce. I think that's the great thing about 717 00:43:56,560 --> 00:43:59,960 Speaker 2: our building or our industry, And it's what you ask 718 00:44:00,120 --> 00:44:03,520 Speaker 2: at the very beginning, which is the industry shares. The 719 00:44:03,560 --> 00:44:06,279 Speaker 2: industry will learn from one another, the industry will try 720 00:44:06,320 --> 00:44:09,760 Speaker 2: to get better from one another. And it's the passion 721 00:44:09,800 --> 00:44:13,399 Speaker 2: that an artist has that we have that the fans have. 722 00:44:13,920 --> 00:44:17,640 Speaker 2: If you could kind of combine that and align that together, 723 00:44:18,120 --> 00:44:19,960 Speaker 2: then great things are going to come out of that, 724 00:44:20,040 --> 00:44:24,680 Speaker 2: great musical experiences, great venues and stadiums and arenas and festivals. 725 00:44:25,239 --> 00:44:28,520 Speaker 2: But that's part of what I think is encouraging about 726 00:44:28,520 --> 00:44:31,880 Speaker 2: our industry right now, is we are building better arenas 727 00:44:31,920 --> 00:44:35,919 Speaker 2: and theaters and stadiums. The experiences are ten times better 728 00:44:35,960 --> 00:44:38,440 Speaker 2: than they used to be, and people are having a 729 00:44:38,440 --> 00:44:41,439 Speaker 2: lot more fun at our concerts when they come into 730 00:44:41,480 --> 00:44:44,759 Speaker 2: this environment because we ultimately have figured out how to 731 00:44:44,800 --> 00:44:53,239 Speaker 2: make it a better experience for them. 732 00:44:53,360 --> 00:44:55,520 Speaker 1: Okay, a couple of things. I remember when Bruce opened 733 00:44:55,560 --> 00:44:59,319 Speaker 1: the building, we talked about the acoustics negatively. But you 734 00:44:59,520 --> 00:45:03,640 Speaker 1: bring up the luxury boxes, the suites of which there 735 00:45:03,680 --> 00:45:06,600 Speaker 1: are three tiers and seats above in what is now 736 00:45:06,600 --> 00:45:12,280 Speaker 1: called crypto. So what'd you learn about how many luxury 737 00:45:12,320 --> 00:45:16,000 Speaker 1: boxes you can build in how to build them to 738 00:45:16,080 --> 00:45:17,280 Speaker 1: see ciate the artists. 739 00:45:19,120 --> 00:45:21,200 Speaker 2: Well, again, I made a mistake at Stable Center. We 740 00:45:21,280 --> 00:45:23,200 Speaker 2: built too many. We built two hundred and twenty of 741 00:45:23,200 --> 00:45:27,680 Speaker 2: them on three levels, and it acoustically wasn't a great experience, 742 00:45:27,680 --> 00:45:30,719 Speaker 2: and I'm sorry it isn't today. I know though, they'll 743 00:45:30,760 --> 00:45:32,800 Speaker 2: say that's because I compete with them. It has nothing 744 00:45:32,800 --> 00:45:35,040 Speaker 2: to do with that. That's just a fact. And so 745 00:45:35,239 --> 00:45:37,520 Speaker 2: when you look at the Forum, it takes you two 746 00:45:37,560 --> 00:45:41,840 Speaker 2: minutes to figure out, well, why is almost every artist 747 00:45:41,880 --> 00:45:44,319 Speaker 2: going into Forum and not going to Crypto. Guess what? 748 00:45:44,600 --> 00:45:48,000 Speaker 2: The forums of phenomenal experience. We're an artist in their fans. 749 00:45:48,640 --> 00:45:53,279 Speaker 2: There are no suites, none, right, so everybody's right in 750 00:45:53,280 --> 00:45:56,760 Speaker 2: that bowl, tight to the artists, tight to the stage, 751 00:45:57,120 --> 00:46:00,759 Speaker 2: tight to the experience. The acoustics are perfect, there's no 752 00:46:00,880 --> 00:46:04,680 Speaker 2: bounce back, there's no reverb. That's what I learned is 753 00:46:04,800 --> 00:46:08,000 Speaker 2: guess what it does matter? And so, okay, you. 754 00:46:08,120 --> 00:46:12,279 Speaker 1: Build something from scratch that also has sports, I think 755 00:46:12,320 --> 00:46:14,880 Speaker 1: you have to have luxury boxes. How do you decide 756 00:46:14,920 --> 00:46:16,080 Speaker 1: how to build them and how many? 757 00:46:17,120 --> 00:46:19,799 Speaker 2: So I think the Garden to me is still the 758 00:46:19,840 --> 00:46:22,200 Speaker 2: greatest building in the world. It's still to me is 759 00:46:22,280 --> 00:46:27,160 Speaker 2: the cathedral for arenas and sports and live entertainment. And 760 00:46:27,200 --> 00:46:29,359 Speaker 2: I still learn from the Garden every time I go there. 761 00:46:29,400 --> 00:46:31,520 Speaker 2: I learned from the Calcium every time I go there. 762 00:46:31,880 --> 00:46:38,000 Speaker 2: So what we figured is make the bowl pure, but 763 00:46:38,120 --> 00:46:42,279 Speaker 2: still build premium experiences that will not take away from 764 00:46:42,280 --> 00:46:45,879 Speaker 2: that experience or the acoustics within the bowl. So what 765 00:46:46,000 --> 00:46:49,280 Speaker 2: you see now in all my buildings, we still have suites. 766 00:46:49,280 --> 00:46:52,960 Speaker 2: We have fifty six weeks total at Climate Pledge Arena, 767 00:46:53,000 --> 00:46:56,160 Speaker 2: but it's one level and the seats are all out. 768 00:46:56,360 --> 00:47:01,200 Speaker 2: So we have taken the seats and extended them over 769 00:47:01,360 --> 00:47:03,960 Speaker 2: the lower bowls, so they actually go into the bowl 770 00:47:04,000 --> 00:47:07,239 Speaker 2: and the people are sitting out in that experience. And 771 00:47:07,280 --> 00:47:10,840 Speaker 2: then we tuck the sweeps and the common area, the 772 00:47:10,920 --> 00:47:13,640 Speaker 2: kitchen area, and the food area. We tuck them back 773 00:47:13,680 --> 00:47:16,239 Speaker 2: further and kind of hide them. And we only have 774 00:47:16,719 --> 00:47:20,239 Speaker 2: roughly forty of those on that one level at Climb 775 00:47:20,280 --> 00:47:23,120 Speaker 2: to Pledge Arena, so we minimized it. And then we 776 00:47:23,160 --> 00:47:26,359 Speaker 2: build bunker suites down low. But the bunker suites are 777 00:47:26,360 --> 00:47:29,320 Speaker 2: completely hidden. You don't see them in the back hallway. 778 00:47:30,320 --> 00:47:34,000 Speaker 2: And so you come down a tunnel of vomitory by 779 00:47:34,040 --> 00:47:37,040 Speaker 2: the way from the coloseum, and you walk down that 780 00:47:37,160 --> 00:47:41,240 Speaker 2: vomitory and you come into the seats down low from 781 00:47:41,480 --> 00:47:46,560 Speaker 2: your sweet but they're disconnected. And so what we're beginning 782 00:47:46,560 --> 00:47:49,560 Speaker 2: to learn is with our clubs, with our suites, with 783 00:47:49,640 --> 00:47:52,840 Speaker 2: our premium areas, put them on the outside of the 784 00:47:52,840 --> 00:47:55,520 Speaker 2: skin of the building, put them so they don't disrupt 785 00:47:55,560 --> 00:47:58,000 Speaker 2: the bowl. Put them so that there's not the hous 786 00:47:58,040 --> 00:48:02,879 Speaker 2: and the have nots. Still have premium experiences, bring them 787 00:48:02,880 --> 00:48:05,600 Speaker 2: out to the seats, but designing it away where the 788 00:48:05,640 --> 00:48:08,319 Speaker 2: flow of the bull is perfect and you don't have 789 00:48:08,400 --> 00:48:11,799 Speaker 2: three levels of suites and three levels of glass and 790 00:48:11,920 --> 00:48:15,080 Speaker 2: three levels of people make a noise where everything's bouncing 791 00:48:15,239 --> 00:48:18,480 Speaker 2: off of those suites in that glass. So we still 792 00:48:18,520 --> 00:48:23,080 Speaker 2: have suites, we still have premium. We have four or 793 00:48:23,120 --> 00:48:26,200 Speaker 2: five thousand premium seats and most of the buildings we're 794 00:48:26,200 --> 00:48:29,239 Speaker 2: building today. But what we've done is we've taken the 795 00:48:29,280 --> 00:48:32,360 Speaker 2: clubs and integrated them into the concourse, not the bowl, 796 00:48:32,840 --> 00:48:36,000 Speaker 2: and then we use the seating in the bowl as 797 00:48:36,040 --> 00:48:41,359 Speaker 2: the opportunity to fulfill those commitments for the premium seat 798 00:48:41,360 --> 00:48:44,879 Speaker 2: holders in great locations. But we don't disrupt the flow 799 00:48:44,920 --> 00:48:47,080 Speaker 2: of the bowl, the acoustics of the bowl, the experience 800 00:48:47,120 --> 00:48:50,600 Speaker 2: of the fans by ultimately building three levels of suites. 801 00:48:51,960 --> 00:48:55,360 Speaker 1: Okay, you mentioned the experience in the old days, you 802 00:48:55,520 --> 00:48:59,719 Speaker 1: go to the arena, there'll be hot dogs and cold pizza. Okay, 803 00:49:00,280 --> 00:49:03,319 Speaker 1: And but what we know is if the act is 804 00:49:03,400 --> 00:49:06,560 Speaker 1: hot enough, does it matter what is going on, people 805 00:49:06,560 --> 00:49:13,240 Speaker 1: will pay the price. So this investment in the experience, 806 00:49:13,680 --> 00:49:16,640 Speaker 1: does it pay dividends? Find the insinely. 807 00:49:18,640 --> 00:49:21,760 Speaker 2: So great question. So again I'll tell you another story 808 00:49:21,760 --> 00:49:26,520 Speaker 2: that probably answers it well. And So despite what people 809 00:49:26,560 --> 00:49:30,480 Speaker 2: think as to the competition between OVG and ABG, yes 810 00:49:30,600 --> 00:49:33,680 Speaker 2: we compete. But I still have great respect for Philanes 811 00:49:33,760 --> 00:49:37,200 Speaker 2: because he wrote the checks and he took a huge 812 00:49:37,480 --> 00:49:41,400 Speaker 2: risk on investment on Staples Center and La Live, and 813 00:49:42,120 --> 00:49:46,239 Speaker 2: in particular the two. So at the time, building an 814 00:49:46,280 --> 00:49:54,040 Speaker 2: arena in London privately, crazy idea, building an arena privately 815 00:49:54,280 --> 00:50:00,520 Speaker 2: in London underneath a tent. Crazier building it up underneath 816 00:50:00,600 --> 00:50:03,720 Speaker 2: a tent and not having the ability to go down 817 00:50:04,640 --> 00:50:08,480 Speaker 2: because there's a thing called the Thames River are up 818 00:50:08,800 --> 00:50:13,040 Speaker 2: because the tent is a National Historic landmark, and so 819 00:50:13,160 --> 00:50:15,759 Speaker 2: it's like, how the hell are you going to go 820 00:50:15,840 --> 00:50:20,560 Speaker 2: do that? But it was a daring, bold bat by 821 00:50:20,560 --> 00:50:24,319 Speaker 2: Phil to provide the money and to the team that 822 00:50:24,360 --> 00:50:27,680 Speaker 2: we put together to design it and build it stunningly 823 00:50:27,719 --> 00:50:31,120 Speaker 2: brilliant as to here's an idea, let's build the arena 824 00:50:31,239 --> 00:50:34,800 Speaker 2: under the tent and create the greatest arena outside of 825 00:50:34,840 --> 00:50:38,120 Speaker 2: the United States, and we'll pay for it privately and 826 00:50:38,200 --> 00:50:44,040 Speaker 2: all work. And again there's an old saying Bob I have, 827 00:50:44,200 --> 00:50:47,680 Speaker 2: which is there are people that want to participate in 828 00:50:47,680 --> 00:50:50,959 Speaker 2: the parade. There are some people that want to lead 829 00:50:51,040 --> 00:50:53,640 Speaker 2: the parade, and then there's a segment of people that 830 00:50:53,840 --> 00:50:55,880 Speaker 2: just want to pee on the parade. And there were 831 00:50:55,920 --> 00:50:57,759 Speaker 2: a lot of people that wanted to pee on the 832 00:50:57,760 --> 00:51:00,920 Speaker 2: O two idea. And everyone was telling us what a 833 00:51:00,960 --> 00:51:04,640 Speaker 2: mistake this was, and partially why are you building an 834 00:51:04,640 --> 00:51:07,840 Speaker 2: arena in London? Why are you building an arena in London? 835 00:51:07,880 --> 00:51:12,040 Speaker 2: It's music specific. There's a Euro's Court, there's the Wembley Arena. 836 00:51:12,440 --> 00:51:16,120 Speaker 2: We don't need another arena. We're fine. So one night 837 00:51:17,280 --> 00:51:20,360 Speaker 2: Irving brings the Eagles over. This is, you know, and 838 00:51:20,440 --> 00:51:25,440 Speaker 2: a story of my partner, Irving and Tim. There's parts 839 00:51:25,440 --> 00:51:27,480 Speaker 2: of our life where we were getting along quite well 840 00:51:27,480 --> 00:51:29,440 Speaker 2: and none were parts of our life where we wouldn't 841 00:51:29,480 --> 00:51:32,680 Speaker 2: talk to each other and we didn't like each other 842 00:51:32,800 --> 00:51:35,959 Speaker 2: very much. So we've seen it all. This was good 843 00:51:36,080 --> 00:51:39,040 Speaker 2: Tim and Irving right. So Irving brought the Eagles over 844 00:51:39,200 --> 00:51:43,160 Speaker 2: to the old Wembley Arena and I went out to 845 00:51:43,200 --> 00:51:45,520 Speaker 2: say out of Irving and the band and I'm working 846 00:51:45,640 --> 00:51:50,320 Speaker 2: on getting the O two started and built. This is 847 00:51:50,320 --> 00:51:52,839 Speaker 2: at the very early stages of us making the deal 848 00:51:52,920 --> 00:51:57,880 Speaker 2: for the Millennium Dome. And I, you know, during the concert, 849 00:51:58,080 --> 00:52:01,680 Speaker 2: I go walk the concourse to go see, Okay, how 850 00:52:01,680 --> 00:52:03,960 Speaker 2: are they doing here? How do they do food? How 851 00:52:04,040 --> 00:52:06,520 Speaker 2: do they And I go up to the one of 852 00:52:06,560 --> 00:52:12,160 Speaker 2: the stands and I say to the woman, I'll take 853 00:52:12,200 --> 00:52:15,760 Speaker 2: a beer, and she goes okay. So she goes back 854 00:52:16,000 --> 00:52:19,520 Speaker 2: to this like crazy ass antique machine and presses the 855 00:52:19,520 --> 00:52:23,279 Speaker 2: button and she's pouring twenty four beers at one time 856 00:52:23,320 --> 00:52:26,200 Speaker 2: onto this machine, and she presses the button and it 857 00:52:26,239 --> 00:52:28,239 Speaker 2: begins to fill up the twenty four cops. But as 858 00:52:28,280 --> 00:52:31,520 Speaker 2: she comes away from pressing the button, she hits one 859 00:52:31,560 --> 00:52:34,880 Speaker 2: of the cups and knocks the half full cup of 860 00:52:34,960 --> 00:52:38,920 Speaker 2: beer over and immediately panics and stops the points that 861 00:52:39,040 --> 00:52:41,560 Speaker 2: puts the stop machine. And now she's sitting there with 862 00:52:41,840 --> 00:52:45,400 Speaker 2: twenty three half empty cops and she's pondering, well, what 863 00:52:45,440 --> 00:52:47,799 Speaker 2: the hell do I do now? And so she gets 864 00:52:47,840 --> 00:52:49,719 Speaker 2: a fresh cup, puts it down where she knocked the 865 00:52:49,719 --> 00:52:53,200 Speaker 2: old cup over, presses the button and then starts to 866 00:52:53,239 --> 00:52:55,640 Speaker 2: fill the beer up. But then she realizes, well, wait 867 00:52:55,680 --> 00:52:59,399 Speaker 2: a minute. The machine thinks I'm pouring a fresh cup 868 00:52:59,440 --> 00:53:01,400 Speaker 2: of beer instead of a half a cup of beer. 869 00:53:01,520 --> 00:53:04,160 Speaker 2: And now she's panicked because there's beer running everywhere from 870 00:53:04,200 --> 00:53:06,000 Speaker 2: these cops. She doesn't know what the hell to do, 871 00:53:06,440 --> 00:53:08,560 Speaker 2: and I'm looking at her like, this is the worst 872 00:53:08,800 --> 00:53:12,239 Speaker 2: time I've ever see. So then she gives me the 873 00:53:12,280 --> 00:53:14,759 Speaker 2: beer and I drink the beer and I'm like, oh 874 00:53:14,800 --> 00:53:18,399 Speaker 2: my god, this beer tastes awful. And I realized, first 875 00:53:18,400 --> 00:53:21,000 Speaker 2: of all, it's warm, and second of all, and I 876 00:53:21,040 --> 00:53:25,600 Speaker 2: asked her, I'm like, man, I'm trying not to be considered, 877 00:53:25,600 --> 00:53:28,200 Speaker 2: because you know, after all, they think we're ugly, stupid 878 00:53:28,239 --> 00:53:31,080 Speaker 2: Americans to begin with, and they were mostly correct. And 879 00:53:31,120 --> 00:53:35,799 Speaker 2: I'm like, where where's this beer coming from? She says, Oh, 880 00:53:35,840 --> 00:53:39,719 Speaker 2: it's you know, the tap room. Says, well, where's the 881 00:53:39,760 --> 00:53:42,960 Speaker 2: tap room? She says, Oh, it's downstairs. I'm like, are 882 00:53:42,960 --> 00:53:46,720 Speaker 2: you telling me you got a line that runs from 883 00:53:46,840 --> 00:53:50,920 Speaker 2: that stupid ass twenty four person, twenty four cup machine 884 00:53:51,640 --> 00:53:54,880 Speaker 2: all the way through the concrete downstairs to some back 885 00:53:55,000 --> 00:53:57,759 Speaker 2: of room commissary where you got all the kegs of 886 00:53:57,760 --> 00:54:02,000 Speaker 2: beer stacked. She said, yeah, and it's not refrigerated, and 887 00:54:02,120 --> 00:54:05,279 Speaker 2: what I realized is two things. One it was an 888 00:54:05,320 --> 00:54:09,319 Speaker 2: absolute stupid way to serve a customer. And two, what 889 00:54:09,520 --> 00:54:14,000 Speaker 2: happens is those lines that have beer in them get polluted, 890 00:54:14,640 --> 00:54:17,080 Speaker 2: and there's a lot of bad stuff in those lines, 891 00:54:17,160 --> 00:54:21,279 Speaker 2: including mildew, because remember there's long periods of time where 892 00:54:21,280 --> 00:54:23,759 Speaker 2: there's no one in the building and it gets hot 893 00:54:23,840 --> 00:54:26,200 Speaker 2: during the summertime, and they didn't add their conditioning back 894 00:54:26,239 --> 00:54:29,000 Speaker 2: in the day at Wembley, and so I realized that 895 00:54:29,040 --> 00:54:31,400 Speaker 2: this is the worst cup of beer I've ever had 896 00:54:31,880 --> 00:54:35,360 Speaker 2: in a place where they absolutely love to drink beer. 897 00:54:35,719 --> 00:54:37,880 Speaker 2: That's the stupidest thing I've ever seen. We got to 898 00:54:37,920 --> 00:54:42,880 Speaker 2: fix that. And so the idea of building in refrigerators 899 00:54:43,320 --> 00:54:47,000 Speaker 2: at every concession stand and serving clean beer where we 900 00:54:47,040 --> 00:54:51,840 Speaker 2: had a minimal line was revolutionary, revolutionary at the O 901 00:54:51,960 --> 00:54:54,880 Speaker 2: two and everyone was happy because they were getting a 902 00:54:54,920 --> 00:54:58,279 Speaker 2: really cold cup of beer, and by the way, they 903 00:54:58,280 --> 00:55:01,640 Speaker 2: weren't having to worry about a polluted line that the 904 00:55:01,640 --> 00:55:04,839 Speaker 2: bear was traveling from. And so we knew we were 905 00:55:04,840 --> 00:55:10,080 Speaker 2: going to succeed because we knew that the threshold and 906 00:55:10,120 --> 00:55:13,400 Speaker 2: the expectations were very low, and we were going to 907 00:55:13,440 --> 00:55:18,360 Speaker 2: do something extraordinary. Ironically, now that we see the evelp 908 00:55:18,400 --> 00:55:21,680 Speaker 2: back to one of your earlier questions. The evolution of 909 00:55:21,719 --> 00:55:26,120 Speaker 2: the experience is dramatically different today than it was twenty 910 00:55:26,200 --> 00:55:29,400 Speaker 2: years ago when we started building the two. So the 911 00:55:29,640 --> 00:55:32,239 Speaker 2: two is old, by the way, and it's outdated in 912 00:55:32,239 --> 00:55:34,960 Speaker 2: my opinion, because they haven't put money into it to 913 00:55:35,080 --> 00:55:39,239 Speaker 2: update it. So Manchester, why do we go into Manchester 914 00:55:39,239 --> 00:55:41,920 Speaker 2: where there's an existing arena? And by the way, Manchester 915 00:55:42,200 --> 00:55:44,920 Speaker 2: used to be and you know this, Manchester was a 916 00:55:45,040 --> 00:55:49,160 Speaker 2: top five market forever for live ticket sales and the 917 00:55:49,239 --> 00:55:52,440 Speaker 2: old men Arena was a top two or three arena 918 00:55:52,840 --> 00:55:56,840 Speaker 2: in the entire world for music. It sold more tickets 919 00:55:57,120 --> 00:56:00,520 Speaker 2: and did more concerts than any other building in the world, 920 00:56:00,600 --> 00:56:04,920 Speaker 2: with the exception of maybe the Garden, the Forum and 921 00:56:05,320 --> 00:56:08,120 Speaker 2: occasionally one of the buildings is in London, but it 922 00:56:08,200 --> 00:56:14,000 Speaker 2: was that successful. When we went to Manchester ovg we 923 00:56:14,360 --> 00:56:17,200 Speaker 2: went through exactly what you were asking about, which is 924 00:56:17,440 --> 00:56:20,399 Speaker 2: the evolution of the experience and how is it going 925 00:56:20,400 --> 00:56:23,840 Speaker 2: to change? One have we learned that ultimately could build 926 00:56:24,040 --> 00:56:27,319 Speaker 2: a better arena and a better experience for artists and 927 00:56:27,360 --> 00:56:30,360 Speaker 2: fans that fans will pay for. And what we do 928 00:56:30,560 --> 00:56:33,600 Speaker 2: is the AO Arena was built for fifty six million 929 00:56:33,640 --> 00:56:37,279 Speaker 2: pounds for the Commonwealth Games. All public, by the ways, 930 00:56:37,320 --> 00:56:39,200 Speaker 2: is a public building and it was built for sports. 931 00:56:39,239 --> 00:56:42,319 Speaker 2: It was never built for music, and they've never put 932 00:56:42,320 --> 00:56:45,000 Speaker 2: a penny into it since they're just now putting money 933 00:56:45,040 --> 00:56:48,120 Speaker 2: into it because here we come, and so they're like, oh, 934 00:56:48,160 --> 00:56:50,280 Speaker 2: we better put some money into it so we could compete. 935 00:56:50,360 --> 00:56:52,880 Speaker 2: Too late. Can't put a band aid on a gaping wound, 936 00:56:53,440 --> 00:56:57,240 Speaker 2: not when we're spending three hundred and sixty five million pounds, 937 00:56:57,280 --> 00:56:59,400 Speaker 2: so call it five hundred million US to build the 938 00:56:59,400 --> 00:57:03,560 Speaker 2: greatest arena ever build anywhere outside of the US, and 939 00:57:03,640 --> 00:57:07,640 Speaker 2: we didn't because the experience in AO is bad. It's 940 00:57:07,680 --> 00:57:09,720 Speaker 2: not good for the customer, it's not good for the artist. 941 00:57:10,160 --> 00:57:13,319 Speaker 2: We have multiple artists when we go over to them 942 00:57:13,320 --> 00:57:15,839 Speaker 2: and say, what is it you'd like us to do 943 00:57:16,160 --> 00:57:19,919 Speaker 2: back a house at co Op Live that you will 944 00:57:19,920 --> 00:57:22,320 Speaker 2: love and that will be meaningful for you in the experience. 945 00:57:22,560 --> 00:57:24,880 Speaker 2: And we happen to have Harry Else who's our partner. 946 00:57:25,320 --> 00:57:29,880 Speaker 2: Harry has strong opinions on the experience for the artists 947 00:57:29,920 --> 00:57:32,840 Speaker 2: and for his fans, and he has been actively involved 948 00:57:32,840 --> 00:57:35,720 Speaker 2: in the design of the building. And what we know 949 00:57:36,640 --> 00:57:38,520 Speaker 2: is that our building when we open it up in 950 00:57:38,560 --> 00:57:43,040 Speaker 2: April is going to be shocking for the industry internationally 951 00:57:43,240 --> 00:57:47,280 Speaker 2: because they've never seen anything like this, far better, far 952 00:57:47,360 --> 00:57:50,160 Speaker 2: better than the AO experience. They'll never be able to 953 00:57:50,200 --> 00:57:55,200 Speaker 2: catch us, no disrespect. It's too good and much better 954 00:57:55,960 --> 00:57:58,439 Speaker 2: than the O two. Because we now have twenty years 955 00:57:58,480 --> 00:58:02,400 Speaker 2: worth of Jim Dolan and the Forum and Jim Dolan 956 00:58:02,640 --> 00:58:06,680 Speaker 2: and the Spear and Tim Lwiki and Irving Azof at 957 00:58:06,840 --> 00:58:10,840 Speaker 2: Climate Pledge Arena with Todd Lwiki and David Bonderman and 958 00:58:11,000 --> 00:58:15,560 Speaker 2: UBS Arena, and Scott Malkin as our partner, the thinking, 959 00:58:16,120 --> 00:58:20,040 Speaker 2: the new ideas, the new air systems, the new acoustic 960 00:58:20,040 --> 00:58:24,600 Speaker 2: gold treatment, the new system of creating premium without disrupting 961 00:58:24,640 --> 00:58:30,040 Speaker 2: the bull. We have thirty two clubs and restaurants and 962 00:58:30,120 --> 00:58:33,400 Speaker 2: private spaces at co Op Lives thirty two, but they're 963 00:58:33,440 --> 00:58:35,880 Speaker 2: all buried on the outside of the building, not the 964 00:58:35,880 --> 00:58:38,760 Speaker 2: inside of the building. That's why we get twenty four 965 00:58:38,960 --> 00:58:42,919 Speaker 2: thousand people into that building. And it's a hot, sweaty hall. 966 00:58:43,280 --> 00:58:45,520 Speaker 2: So when Bruce goes in there and plays it, he's 967 00:58:45,560 --> 00:58:47,200 Speaker 2: going to look around and go, oh my god, they're all 968 00:58:47,280 --> 00:58:49,720 Speaker 2: right on top of me. This is fantastic. I love 969 00:58:49,760 --> 00:58:54,520 Speaker 2: this experience. We've had twenty thirty years worth of evolution 970 00:58:55,480 --> 00:58:58,120 Speaker 2: on how to make the experience better, and this is 971 00:58:58,160 --> 00:59:01,000 Speaker 2: the first arena that's going to be built outside of 972 00:59:01,040 --> 00:59:04,440 Speaker 2: the United States. Is taking all of that thinking and 973 00:59:04,560 --> 00:59:07,040 Speaker 2: all of that evolution and now putting it to work. 974 00:59:07,520 --> 00:59:12,000 Speaker 2: And it's just being entrepreneurial, listening to what people want, 975 00:59:12,480 --> 00:59:15,120 Speaker 2: trying to understand your competition, and then building a better 976 00:59:15,160 --> 00:59:15,680 Speaker 2: mouse trap. 977 00:59:16,880 --> 00:59:21,120 Speaker 1: Okay, moving on to naming rights. Certainly you go back 978 00:59:21,480 --> 00:59:25,920 Speaker 1: to the sixties and prior it was Yankee Stadium Shay Stadium. 979 00:59:25,920 --> 00:59:30,280 Speaker 1: There was no money involved that changed. Yankee Stadium is 980 00:59:30,280 --> 00:59:35,080 Speaker 1: still Yankee Stadium, the Mets playing City Field. Question is, 981 00:59:36,240 --> 00:59:38,040 Speaker 1: let me try to break this down a little bit. 982 00:59:38,080 --> 00:59:40,000 Speaker 1: All of a sudden, it got to the point where 983 00:59:40,720 --> 00:59:44,560 Speaker 1: the audience was feeling, Okay, it's Jiffy lu Marina. They 984 00:59:44,680 --> 00:59:47,720 Speaker 1: just paid a price. It's got nothing to do with 985 00:59:47,840 --> 00:59:53,240 Speaker 1: the music. In addition, the name keeps changing. Is this 986 00:59:53,480 --> 00:59:58,440 Speaker 1: just a giant middle finger to at the fans because 987 00:59:58,880 --> 01:00:02,080 Speaker 1: not everybody goes regularly. They don't even know where the alls. 988 01:00:02,080 --> 01:00:04,000 Speaker 1: I mean, even in this business we use, some of 989 01:00:04,040 --> 01:00:06,400 Speaker 1: these names changed so much you can't remember what city. 990 01:00:06,960 --> 01:00:10,280 Speaker 1: Just to add a little add on to that, a 991 01:00:10,440 --> 01:00:16,160 Speaker 1: number of these buildings are sponsored by companies that have 992 01:00:16,280 --> 01:00:20,880 Speaker 1: a short shelf life, they've gone bankrupt or they're crypto companies. 993 01:00:21,040 --> 01:00:25,680 Speaker 1: In some cases, the arena got paid, there was an advance, 994 01:00:25,720 --> 01:00:27,959 Speaker 1: et cetera. So what's really going on in the whole 995 01:00:28,040 --> 01:00:29,200 Speaker 1: naming right sphere. 996 01:00:30,160 --> 01:00:37,680 Speaker 2: Well, so, ironically, it's a necessary evil. When you privatize buildings. 997 01:00:38,160 --> 01:00:42,040 Speaker 2: You need to figure out a way to create revenue 998 01:00:42,040 --> 01:00:44,200 Speaker 2: streams and that are going to be able to help 999 01:00:44,240 --> 01:00:46,600 Speaker 2: you pay down your debt and get a rate of 1000 01:00:46,600 --> 01:00:49,040 Speaker 2: return on the equity that you invest in these things. 1001 01:00:49,040 --> 01:00:53,440 Speaker 2: And so, but there's a way to do it well, 1002 01:00:53,760 --> 01:00:56,240 Speaker 2: and then there's a way to do it kind of sloppy. 1003 01:00:57,520 --> 01:01:01,160 Speaker 2: So a lot of people have done and again a 1004 01:01:01,200 --> 01:01:04,880 Speaker 2: lot of credit to MSG and Jim. It's still the Garden. 1005 01:01:05,440 --> 01:01:10,160 Speaker 2: It's presented by Chase, and he actually makes more money 1006 01:01:10,880 --> 01:01:14,120 Speaker 2: off the Chase deal than almost any other naming rights 1007 01:01:14,160 --> 01:01:18,440 Speaker 2: deal in the entire industry. But it's still called the Garden. 1008 01:01:20,960 --> 01:01:25,520 Speaker 2: Some names are they flow naturally. The O two worked 1009 01:01:25,520 --> 01:01:27,680 Speaker 2: out extremely well and it's still called the O two, 1010 01:01:27,800 --> 01:01:31,200 Speaker 2: So good on them for that. That has created a 1011 01:01:31,240 --> 01:01:36,880 Speaker 2: great brand and a great experience and a massively intelligent investment. 1012 01:01:37,360 --> 01:01:40,480 Speaker 2: Because I always used to tell Matthew, who we made 1013 01:01:40,520 --> 01:01:44,240 Speaker 2: to deal with for the two in London, Matthew, if 1014 01:01:44,240 --> 01:01:47,520 Speaker 2: they think you named your company after the arena, that 1015 01:01:47,800 --> 01:01:51,800 Speaker 2: is a really good bet. And they do. They think 1016 01:01:51,840 --> 01:01:54,560 Speaker 2: they named a telecomt company after the arena in London. 1017 01:01:54,760 --> 01:01:59,360 Speaker 2: That's how successful that partnership's been. That's a great partnership 1018 01:01:59,440 --> 01:02:02,560 Speaker 2: that works for the fans, works well for the city, 1019 01:02:02,960 --> 01:02:05,320 Speaker 2: works well for O two, and worked well for ag 1020 01:02:06,680 --> 01:02:10,040 Speaker 2: Climate Pledgerina got to give Amazon a whole lot of credit. 1021 01:02:10,080 --> 01:02:11,920 Speaker 2: It's one of the largest naming rights ever done in 1022 01:02:11,960 --> 01:02:14,880 Speaker 2: the business. And you don't hear the Amazon name anywhere. 1023 01:02:15,000 --> 01:02:18,360 Speaker 2: It's their commitment to sustainability and carbon neutral so they 1024 01:02:18,360 --> 01:02:21,040 Speaker 2: call it Climate Pledgerina, and by the way, was voted 1025 01:02:21,080 --> 01:02:23,120 Speaker 2: the best facility in the world last year, in the 1026 01:02:23,280 --> 01:02:26,920 Speaker 2: entire world. And that's with so Far and Allegiance Stadium 1027 01:02:26,920 --> 01:02:30,960 Speaker 2: and the others that were up for the award at 1028 01:02:31,000 --> 01:02:36,240 Speaker 2: the same time. Huge commitment and statement about not only 1029 01:02:36,320 --> 01:02:40,320 Speaker 2: Jeff Bezos who drove that decision, but Amazon and Andy Jassey, 1030 01:02:40,560 --> 01:02:44,440 Speaker 2: the CEO, for their commitment towards sustainability. That name works 1031 01:02:44,560 --> 01:02:47,920 Speaker 2: extremely well. Ubs Arena works extremely well. It's a good name. 1032 01:02:47,960 --> 01:02:51,120 Speaker 2: It rose well. They're headquartered in New York. Made all 1033 01:02:51,160 --> 01:02:55,480 Speaker 2: the sense in the world. Moody Center again, we got lucky. 1034 01:02:55,600 --> 01:02:59,600 Speaker 2: It's a not for profit foundation based in Austin. Wanted 1035 01:02:59,640 --> 01:03:03,480 Speaker 2: to do something great for the city. Appreciated ourselves in 1036 01:03:03,560 --> 01:03:08,080 Speaker 2: Live Nation spending three hundred and fifty million privately with 1037 01:03:08,160 --> 01:03:12,160 Speaker 2: Matthew mcconaugheyt and wanted to do something to do to 1038 01:03:12,920 --> 01:03:16,280 Speaker 2: be a part of that, and so they wrote a 1039 01:03:16,400 --> 01:03:20,440 Speaker 2: massive check for twenty years, so it's a twenty year 1040 01:03:20,480 --> 01:03:24,160 Speaker 2: guaranteed deal. They paid upfront and they we never had 1041 01:03:24,160 --> 01:03:26,800 Speaker 2: to change that name for twenty years. And the Moody 1042 01:03:26,880 --> 01:03:30,240 Speaker 2: Center is not only a very well known name because 1043 01:03:30,280 --> 01:03:33,600 Speaker 2: the family's from Austin, and there are other things on 1044 01:03:33,680 --> 01:03:36,720 Speaker 2: the campus and into the city named after Moody, but 1045 01:03:36,800 --> 01:03:39,200 Speaker 2: the Moody Center has a great ring and a role 1046 01:03:39,240 --> 01:03:42,840 Speaker 2: to it, so it works out well. Sometimes it's it's 1047 01:03:43,000 --> 01:03:47,720 Speaker 2: not a natural kind of fit. Acrosuur Arena. Acrosture is 1048 01:03:47,760 --> 01:03:53,600 Speaker 2: based in Michigan, but the president owner very smart about 1049 01:03:53,640 --> 01:03:57,000 Speaker 2: trying to create a brand that he wants to get 1050 01:03:57,040 --> 01:04:00,480 Speaker 2: more momentum for as he grows, the company doubles and 1051 01:04:00,520 --> 01:04:03,920 Speaker 2: triples in size. So we saw a great buy in 1052 01:04:04,040 --> 01:04:07,400 Speaker 2: Palm Desert because it was Irving and OVG and Tim 1053 01:04:07,400 --> 01:04:10,120 Speaker 2: and he knew we'd do well. We'd go get Harry Styles, 1054 01:04:10,160 --> 01:04:13,560 Speaker 2: and we'd go get the Eagles, and we'd go we'd 1055 01:04:13,600 --> 01:04:16,000 Speaker 2: get Paramore and sell it out. And so he made 1056 01:04:16,000 --> 01:04:18,480 Speaker 2: a bet on us at a rate card that is 1057 01:04:19,000 --> 01:04:21,160 Speaker 2: a fraction of what these other people are paying for 1058 01:04:21,240 --> 01:04:22,840 Speaker 2: some of these name it rights. And it turned out 1059 01:04:22,880 --> 01:04:26,640 Speaker 2: to be great for acrature and great exposure, and they're ecstatic. 1060 01:04:27,000 --> 01:04:30,000 Speaker 2: So you got to be smart, you gotta be clever, 1061 01:04:30,080 --> 01:04:31,800 Speaker 2: You got to find good partners. You got to try 1062 01:04:31,840 --> 01:04:34,880 Speaker 2: to make it last. I don't find any joy and 1063 01:04:35,080 --> 01:04:39,520 Speaker 2: changing staples out to Crypto or FTX coming and going 1064 01:04:39,560 --> 01:04:42,000 Speaker 2: in a matter of a couple of years. That's tough 1065 01:04:42,200 --> 01:04:44,200 Speaker 2: for the brand, it's tough for the building, it's tough 1066 01:04:44,600 --> 01:04:49,480 Speaker 2: for the city. But they are a necessary evil on 1067 01:04:49,760 --> 01:04:53,120 Speaker 2: in particularly the privatization of these facilities now and so 1068 01:04:53,840 --> 01:04:58,560 Speaker 2: stan Kronki spent five point five billion dollars building Sofi Stadium. 1069 01:04:59,120 --> 01:05:00,959 Speaker 2: He deserves to be be able to put a naming 1070 01:05:01,040 --> 01:05:03,240 Speaker 2: rights on there and try to recoup some of his money. 1071 01:05:03,560 --> 01:05:06,200 Speaker 2: And I think the name worked well for San and 1072 01:05:06,280 --> 01:05:08,680 Speaker 2: for the Rams and for Los Angeles. It's a great 1073 01:05:08,800 --> 01:05:12,040 Speaker 2: name and people refer to the stadium in as Sofi Stadium. 1074 01:05:12,280 --> 01:05:15,600 Speaker 2: So it's a tricky business. You got to find the 1075 01:05:15,680 --> 01:05:18,160 Speaker 2: right companies, You've got to make sure it stands the 1076 01:05:18,240 --> 01:05:22,200 Speaker 2: test of time. We're just now beginning to go out 1077 01:05:22,240 --> 01:05:25,120 Speaker 2: and talk about our new arena we're going to build 1078 01:05:25,160 --> 01:05:27,840 Speaker 2: in Las Vegas and the naming rights partner there and 1079 01:05:27,880 --> 01:05:30,880 Speaker 2: we want to do the right thing. We want to 1080 01:05:30,920 --> 01:05:33,760 Speaker 2: make sure that it's the right partner that could last 1081 01:05:33,760 --> 01:05:36,480 Speaker 2: a long period of time and that the name rings 1082 01:05:36,480 --> 01:05:43,800 Speaker 2: well and rings long. But that one's tricky because we're 1083 01:05:43,800 --> 01:05:46,880 Speaker 2: not the first arena in the marketplace. And it's tricky 1084 01:05:46,960 --> 01:05:51,080 Speaker 2: because we don't have an anchor tenant. If the NBA 1085 01:05:51,480 --> 01:05:53,640 Speaker 2: wants to expand, we'll go after it, but we'll see 1086 01:05:53,680 --> 01:05:56,040 Speaker 2: what happens. I think it'll be years before they make 1087 01:05:56,120 --> 01:06:00,600 Speaker 2: that decision. So when you price it at who do 1088 01:06:00,640 --> 01:06:04,000 Speaker 2: you go get that has longevity? If you get a 1089 01:06:04,040 --> 01:06:06,760 Speaker 2: team after you open, then what do you do with 1090 01:06:06,840 --> 01:06:08,880 Speaker 2: the naming rights and the value and by the way, 1091 01:06:08,880 --> 01:06:14,240 Speaker 2: will they support the team and so tough business, complicated 1092 01:06:14,280 --> 01:06:18,640 Speaker 2: business now and it's not like there's a million companies 1093 01:06:18,680 --> 01:06:20,680 Speaker 2: out there that can afford to buy naming rights. 1094 01:06:27,640 --> 01:06:33,120 Speaker 1: Okay, let's talk about OVG. Who owns OVG? And all 1095 01:06:33,160 --> 01:06:37,640 Speaker 1: of these are private buildings? Where does the money come from? 1096 01:06:37,680 --> 01:06:42,760 Speaker 2: So? OVG is a private company. I'm proud of that. 1097 01:06:43,800 --> 01:06:46,960 Speaker 2: We started it seven years ago. The majority of the 1098 01:06:46,960 --> 01:06:51,560 Speaker 2: company is owned by myself, Irving, and our executives, our employees. 1099 01:06:52,640 --> 01:06:56,120 Speaker 2: We have a partner, an investor in silver Lake, but 1100 01:06:56,160 --> 01:07:00,520 Speaker 2: they're an investor. They just simply have given us money 1101 01:07:00,640 --> 01:07:04,520 Speaker 2: to go grow this business, and in particular to provide 1102 01:07:05,080 --> 01:07:08,600 Speaker 2: the equity we need to invest in to build these arenas. 1103 01:07:09,360 --> 01:07:13,200 Speaker 2: They don't have to say so on how we run 1104 01:07:13,240 --> 01:07:16,920 Speaker 2: the company day to day, but we have an alignment 1105 01:07:17,040 --> 01:07:20,040 Speaker 2: with them, and by the way, love them. They're awesome partners. 1106 01:07:21,120 --> 01:07:23,760 Speaker 2: We don't go make a big bet without them, so 1107 01:07:24,040 --> 01:07:26,560 Speaker 2: we're aligned. We see everything the same way and if 1108 01:07:26,600 --> 01:07:30,640 Speaker 2: we don't do it, that's the deal. They've been They've 1109 01:07:30,640 --> 01:07:35,240 Speaker 2: never told us no, so they've been phenomenal. They've invested 1110 01:07:35,280 --> 01:07:37,960 Speaker 2: a lot of money in our company. Irving and I 1111 01:07:38,040 --> 01:07:41,200 Speaker 2: have put money into our company. They put more, they 1112 01:07:41,240 --> 01:07:47,240 Speaker 2: have more, and so we ultimately went for a long 1113 01:07:47,280 --> 01:07:51,080 Speaker 2: period of time with the company where we actually didn't 1114 01:07:51,120 --> 01:07:54,640 Speaker 2: have any debt on the company itself and just recently 1115 01:07:54,720 --> 01:07:58,120 Speaker 2: put some debt on the company because the company is 1116 01:07:58,160 --> 01:08:02,600 Speaker 2: growing and we're out acquiring things. So we bought Spectrum 1117 01:08:02,960 --> 01:08:07,240 Speaker 2: from Comcasts a couple of years ago. That got us 1118 01:08:07,240 --> 01:08:10,560 Speaker 2: into the facility management business and the food and beverage business. 1119 01:08:11,600 --> 01:08:15,240 Speaker 2: And we didn't think the food and beverage brand and 1120 01:08:15,320 --> 01:08:18,519 Speaker 2: the way we did food and beverage with Inspector our 1121 01:08:18,560 --> 01:08:22,719 Speaker 2: OVG was great. So we kept on buying additional food 1122 01:08:22,720 --> 01:08:26,439 Speaker 2: and beverage companies, including most recently a company called Rubarb 1123 01:08:26,800 --> 01:08:29,760 Speaker 2: that's the best food and beverage catering company I've ever seen. 1124 01:08:30,439 --> 01:08:33,280 Speaker 2: And so we are trying to figure out a way 1125 01:08:33,280 --> 01:08:35,679 Speaker 2: to continue to grow, trying to figure out a way 1126 01:08:35,680 --> 01:08:38,519 Speaker 2: to be the best service provider for all of the 1127 01:08:38,560 --> 01:08:42,200 Speaker 2: needs of an arena. So we're in the food and 1128 01:08:42,240 --> 01:08:46,560 Speaker 2: beverage business. We sell naming rights through OVGD Global Partnership. 1129 01:08:46,880 --> 01:08:49,519 Speaker 2: We sell our own sponsorships through Global Partnership. We have 1130 01:08:49,520 --> 01:08:53,840 Speaker 2: one hundred and fifty people that sell in Global partnership. 1131 01:08:54,640 --> 01:08:57,320 Speaker 2: We have our own parking company, we have our own 1132 01:08:57,360 --> 01:09:00,960 Speaker 2: facility management company, we have a sustainability company, and so 1133 01:09:01,200 --> 01:09:04,120 Speaker 2: unlike the rest of the industry, we actually have a 1134 01:09:04,200 --> 01:09:07,439 Speaker 2: group of people that do nothing but figure out how 1135 01:09:07,520 --> 01:09:10,200 Speaker 2: to have a more sustainable operation for all of our 1136 01:09:10,240 --> 01:09:13,960 Speaker 2: buildings and created a company called Goal with a Fenway 1137 01:09:14,000 --> 01:09:16,479 Speaker 2: Sports and our friends at State Farm Arena in Atlanta 1138 01:09:16,600 --> 01:09:21,240 Speaker 2: that are our partners, and we track how you operate 1139 01:09:21,240 --> 01:09:23,320 Speaker 2: a building one quarter to the next and whether or 1140 01:09:23,360 --> 01:09:26,240 Speaker 2: not you're more sustainable the next quoter than the last quarter, 1141 01:09:26,479 --> 01:09:29,960 Speaker 2: and then we grade everybody and we publicize those grades 1142 01:09:30,240 --> 01:09:35,320 Speaker 2: so everyone knows if you truly have a commitment to sustainability, 1143 01:09:35,520 --> 01:09:38,880 Speaker 2: not on how you design it. That's leads, but that's 1144 01:09:38,920 --> 01:09:40,479 Speaker 2: not what's going to stay in the earth. It's how 1145 01:09:40,479 --> 01:09:43,479 Speaker 2: you operate it. So we have our own sustainability company, 1146 01:09:44,400 --> 01:09:47,519 Speaker 2: We have our own special event company. We have our 1147 01:09:47,520 --> 01:09:51,960 Speaker 2: own food and beverage and catering company. So we have 1148 01:09:52,080 --> 01:09:55,840 Speaker 2: fourteen different service companies now that we build and those 1149 01:09:55,960 --> 01:10:02,920 Speaker 2: service companies they provide all of the knowledge and all 1150 01:10:02,920 --> 01:10:06,679 Speaker 2: of the outside help that we need when we bring 1151 01:10:06,720 --> 01:10:10,320 Speaker 2: in outside people for the purpose of operating our buildings. 1152 01:10:10,800 --> 01:10:14,680 Speaker 2: That's all under OVG. Pardon me, you can hear I've 1153 01:10:14,680 --> 01:10:19,160 Speaker 2: been traveling too much. That's also part of the core business, 1154 01:10:19,160 --> 01:10:22,200 Speaker 2: which is our own and operated and the equity we 1155 01:10:22,240 --> 01:10:25,840 Speaker 2: put and the seven arenas we built today and the 1156 01:10:25,960 --> 01:10:28,640 Speaker 2: eight more arenas now we have under development somewhere in 1157 01:10:28,680 --> 01:10:33,880 Speaker 2: the world. And then we have probably four hundred accounts 1158 01:10:34,280 --> 01:10:37,560 Speaker 2: where we manage arenas, convention centers or food and beverage 1159 01:10:37,600 --> 01:10:42,519 Speaker 2: for facilities. And we're committed to growing, and so we'll 1160 01:10:42,560 --> 01:10:44,519 Speaker 2: double in size here in the next couple of years. 1161 01:10:44,560 --> 01:10:50,120 Speaker 1: Again, okay, silver Lake. That's private money putting in. They 1162 01:10:50,200 --> 01:10:54,599 Speaker 1: usually want a relatively short term return, which would BEG. 1163 01:10:54,680 --> 01:10:57,800 Speaker 1: The question is the ultimate goal of OVG to go 1164 01:10:57,920 --> 01:10:59,800 Speaker 1: public and when might that have? 1165 01:11:03,160 --> 01:11:06,840 Speaker 2: So I hope we never go public. I don't want 1166 01:11:06,840 --> 01:11:10,320 Speaker 2: to go public. I my intention is never to sell 1167 01:11:10,320 --> 01:11:15,400 Speaker 2: the company. So I learned after building AG that was 1168 01:11:15,439 --> 01:11:17,960 Speaker 2: Phil's company, and I respect that that was his checkbook, 1169 01:11:18,000 --> 01:11:21,719 Speaker 2: his money, his risk. He deserves to own that company 1170 01:11:22,280 --> 01:11:25,320 Speaker 2: and run that company the way he sees that I 1171 01:11:25,400 --> 01:11:29,639 Speaker 2: get it. OVGS our company, and so we have certain 1172 01:11:29,880 --> 01:11:33,920 Speaker 2: guiding principles and core values as a company. One of 1173 01:11:33,960 --> 01:11:36,479 Speaker 2: them is we don't want to be public and don't 1174 01:11:36,520 --> 01:11:39,400 Speaker 2: have any intention of ever being public. It's not a 1175 01:11:39,479 --> 01:11:44,960 Speaker 2: quick spin. My daughter is one of the key executives here. 1176 01:11:45,080 --> 01:11:47,880 Speaker 2: She's hopefully going to inherit this company and run it. 1177 01:11:47,960 --> 01:11:49,720 Speaker 2: She's good at it and I'm proud of her. She's 1178 01:11:49,720 --> 01:11:53,160 Speaker 2: earned it. My executives are committed long term, and so 1179 01:11:53,280 --> 01:11:56,040 Speaker 2: when you look at Chris Granger, where you look at 1180 01:11:56,120 --> 01:12:00,280 Speaker 2: Dan Griffiths, or you look at Christina Song who's our 1181 01:12:00,280 --> 01:12:03,280 Speaker 2: general counsel, or Steve Collins who's the president are Development, 1182 01:12:04,200 --> 01:12:08,120 Speaker 2: and you look at the group we put together, this 1183 01:12:08,160 --> 01:12:10,559 Speaker 2: group's going to operate this company for a long period 1184 01:12:10,600 --> 01:12:14,240 Speaker 2: of time. My executive committee average age is in their forties. 1185 01:12:14,320 --> 01:12:17,479 Speaker 2: By the way, the majority of my executive committee or females. 1186 01:12:17,880 --> 01:12:20,479 Speaker 2: We're diverse, and I'm proud of that. Our new CFO 1187 01:12:21,040 --> 01:12:25,559 Speaker 2: just came on and is minority, and he's fantastic, and 1188 01:12:25,680 --> 01:12:30,160 Speaker 2: he's young. He's in his forties. So we're built to 1189 01:12:30,200 --> 01:12:34,479 Speaker 2: be long term. We're built to be private, We're built 1190 01:12:34,680 --> 01:12:38,160 Speaker 2: to be generational, and that's what we intend on doing. 1191 01:12:38,400 --> 01:12:42,559 Speaker 2: And we took Spectra when we bought it. We've doubled 1192 01:12:42,600 --> 01:12:45,320 Speaker 2: in size in our first full year. We'll double again 1193 01:12:45,400 --> 01:12:47,640 Speaker 2: in the next two years, and that's what we're going 1194 01:12:47,720 --> 01:12:51,000 Speaker 2: to do. We're entrepreneurial, we see outside the box. We're 1195 01:12:51,000 --> 01:12:54,200 Speaker 2: not afraid to take risk. We're very driven. We love 1196 01:12:54,280 --> 01:12:57,479 Speaker 2: building this company, we love operating this company. We have 1197 01:12:57,520 --> 01:13:00,240 Speaker 2: no intention of selling it. We will always own it, 1198 01:13:00,479 --> 01:13:03,240 Speaker 2: at least as long as myself and Dudley, my dog, 1199 01:13:03,280 --> 01:13:03,719 Speaker 2: are alive. 1200 01:13:05,200 --> 01:13:09,240 Speaker 1: Okay, Now, the big cahouna in this world is ASM, 1201 01:13:09,680 --> 01:13:12,600 Speaker 1: and there's been rumors that it's going to be purchased 1202 01:13:12,640 --> 01:13:17,560 Speaker 1: by Legends. I know that the contracts come up for 1203 01:13:17,720 --> 01:13:21,800 Speaker 1: these buildings. I know the people at ASM. How do 1204 01:13:21,840 --> 01:13:27,559 Speaker 1: you view OVG, VISA v ASM and a perfect world? 1205 01:13:27,600 --> 01:13:30,400 Speaker 1: Would you just like to continue to gain market share? 1206 01:13:32,240 --> 01:13:38,400 Speaker 2: So I always remind our folks, stay focus, stay focused 1207 01:13:38,439 --> 01:13:41,680 Speaker 2: on us. We're the greatest ass that we have and 1208 01:13:41,840 --> 01:13:44,920 Speaker 2: we're our own worst animates, So stay focused on us. 1209 01:13:46,080 --> 01:13:49,840 Speaker 2: We're going to be great, not because ASM is bad. 1210 01:13:50,320 --> 01:13:53,360 Speaker 2: We're going to be great because OVG is going to 1211 01:13:53,479 --> 01:13:57,960 Speaker 2: sell and so we we We've been on thirty three 1212 01:13:58,000 --> 01:14:01,040 Speaker 2: accounts here in the last roughly six months, thirty three 1213 01:14:01,479 --> 01:14:04,960 Speaker 2: we won thirty of the bids. We don't pay attention 1214 01:14:05,040 --> 01:14:09,040 Speaker 2: to the other guys. We stay focused on us. Our 1215 01:14:09,160 --> 01:14:12,960 Speaker 2: success is not because of their failure. We can both succeed, 1216 01:14:13,040 --> 01:14:17,639 Speaker 2: and we both will succeed. They they're they're owned by 1217 01:14:17,720 --> 01:14:22,200 Speaker 2: an investment firm in Toronto, a good investment firm. I 1218 01:14:22,280 --> 01:14:24,559 Speaker 2: knew them when I ran a police sports and entertainment. 1219 01:14:24,560 --> 01:14:27,439 Speaker 2: They're very good and we very much like Jerry Schwartz 1220 01:14:27,479 --> 01:14:30,920 Speaker 2: and the people that run that company. But Onyx is 1221 01:14:30,960 --> 01:14:34,400 Speaker 2: they're gonna they're they're gonna buy it, they're gonna build it, 1222 01:14:34,439 --> 01:14:36,360 Speaker 2: and then they're gonna sell it. That's what they do. 1223 01:14:37,080 --> 01:14:40,160 Speaker 2: That's the difference between having silver Late that invest in 1224 01:14:40,200 --> 01:14:44,240 Speaker 2: my An Irving's company compared to having an investor that 1225 01:14:44,280 --> 01:14:46,760 Speaker 2: owns your company. They're going to spin it at some 1226 01:14:46,840 --> 01:14:49,840 Speaker 2: point or another. So does it shock me that they're 1227 01:14:49,840 --> 01:14:51,720 Speaker 2: for sale. No, but that I don't know that for 1228 01:14:51,760 --> 01:14:54,000 Speaker 2: a fact. I don't tell them how to run their company. 1229 01:14:54,800 --> 01:14:57,479 Speaker 2: I used to have that privilege. I don't anymore. I 1230 01:14:57,840 --> 01:15:00,960 Speaker 2: kind of focus on our company. So we're going to 1231 01:15:01,000 --> 01:15:04,000 Speaker 2: stay focused on our company. We're going to win thirty 1232 01:15:04,000 --> 01:15:06,360 Speaker 2: of the next thirty three bits we go make. We're 1233 01:15:06,360 --> 01:15:08,400 Speaker 2: going to build eight new arenas. We're going to continue 1234 01:15:08,400 --> 01:15:10,479 Speaker 2: to buy food and beverage companies. We're going to continue 1235 01:15:10,560 --> 01:15:14,759 Speaker 2: to create new genius. I hope service companies like Goal 1236 01:15:15,360 --> 01:15:17,439 Speaker 2: and that all of this focused on us and what 1237 01:15:17,560 --> 01:15:20,960 Speaker 2: makes us unique and different than everybody else. I own 1238 01:15:21,040 --> 01:15:24,920 Speaker 2: seven arenas, Irving and I own seven arenas. We understand 1239 01:15:24,960 --> 01:15:27,680 Speaker 2: how to run arenas. We understand how to build arenas. 1240 01:15:27,800 --> 01:15:30,400 Speaker 2: We understand how to book arenas. We understand how to 1241 01:15:30,439 --> 01:15:33,639 Speaker 2: sell arenas. I'm not involved in all the other stuff. 1242 01:15:33,720 --> 01:15:36,360 Speaker 2: We stay focused on our core. But when I go 1243 01:15:36,479 --> 01:15:38,599 Speaker 2: out to somebody and say, let me run your building 1244 01:15:38,640 --> 01:15:40,960 Speaker 2: for you, I looked them in the eye and say, 1245 01:15:40,960 --> 01:15:43,800 Speaker 2: because I am you, I built the arena, I am 1246 01:15:43,840 --> 01:15:47,559 Speaker 2: in the business. I have accountability, I have risk, I 1247 01:15:47,640 --> 01:15:50,840 Speaker 2: have money that I put into this. I get the 1248 01:15:50,920 --> 01:15:53,280 Speaker 2: way you think about what you need out of me 1249 01:15:53,479 --> 01:15:56,360 Speaker 2: as a service company, and I will be much more 1250 01:15:56,479 --> 01:15:59,800 Speaker 2: unique at answering your needs because I have been where 1251 01:15:59,800 --> 01:16:02,639 Speaker 2: you ben and I walk in your shoes. That's the difference. 1252 01:16:03,520 --> 01:16:07,880 Speaker 1: And how are responsibilities divided between you and Irving? 1253 01:16:10,000 --> 01:16:13,479 Speaker 2: Actually there is no responsibilities divided by Irving and I 1254 01:16:13,520 --> 01:16:15,519 Speaker 2: as Shelley, and so at the end of the day, 1255 01:16:17,040 --> 01:16:22,479 Speaker 2: that is a misnomer. So Irving is one of the 1256 01:16:22,520 --> 01:16:27,800 Speaker 2: founders and a great partner. Irving's not involved day to day. 1257 01:16:27,880 --> 01:16:30,599 Speaker 2: He has his own company that he's running, and by 1258 01:16:30,640 --> 01:16:33,160 Speaker 2: the way, he's doing quite well. He is still the 1259 01:16:33,280 --> 01:16:38,000 Speaker 2: largest manager in the business. He amazes me on a 1260 01:16:38,080 --> 01:16:42,160 Speaker 2: daily basis based on his age, his passion for the 1261 01:16:42,200 --> 01:16:44,839 Speaker 2: business and the growth he's having in the business is amazing. 1262 01:16:45,320 --> 01:16:49,000 Speaker 2: He happens to be very fortunate to have a partner 1263 01:16:49,320 --> 01:16:52,960 Speaker 2: and a young man named Jeffreys Off, who I think 1264 01:16:53,040 --> 01:16:55,959 Speaker 2: is really one of the finest young men in the industry, 1265 01:16:56,840 --> 01:16:58,840 Speaker 2: one of the best people in the industry. I love 1266 01:16:58,920 --> 01:17:02,439 Speaker 2: Jeffrey's Off. He's a breath of fresh air and done 1267 01:17:02,439 --> 01:17:07,800 Speaker 2: an unbelievable job on Full Stop. And Jeffrey, at some 1268 01:17:07,880 --> 01:17:11,719 Speaker 2: point or another will probably inherit his portion of this company. 1269 01:17:11,800 --> 01:17:14,920 Speaker 2: And Jeffrey and my daughter Francesca went to school together 1270 01:17:14,960 --> 01:17:17,400 Speaker 2: and get along quite well, see the world the same way. 1271 01:17:18,040 --> 01:17:22,040 Speaker 2: So we are uniquely set up to make sure we 1272 01:17:22,080 --> 01:17:24,439 Speaker 2: pass us on to the next generation, who happens to 1273 01:17:24,439 --> 01:17:26,839 Speaker 2: get along extremely well. And they're both in the business 1274 01:17:27,240 --> 01:17:29,360 Speaker 2: and Jeffrey's doing a good job with full Stop, and 1275 01:17:29,400 --> 01:17:31,800 Speaker 2: Francesca is doing a good job of trying to run 1276 01:17:31,840 --> 01:17:36,600 Speaker 2: this company. Irving when I need him. He's an invaluable 1277 01:17:36,640 --> 01:17:39,400 Speaker 2: resource because no one understands the business more than Irving. 1278 01:17:40,040 --> 01:17:43,200 Speaker 2: And he's smart and he's good do Irving and I, 1279 01:17:43,720 --> 01:17:46,680 Speaker 2: you know, have we had forty years worth of heavenly bliss. No, 1280 01:17:46,960 --> 01:17:49,160 Speaker 2: but that's what makes us fairly unique. We've had good 1281 01:17:49,240 --> 01:17:53,080 Speaker 2: days and bad days together. But we're both very emotionally 1282 01:17:53,080 --> 01:17:57,200 Speaker 2: committed to this company and doing something spectacular, and we're 1283 01:17:57,200 --> 01:18:00,679 Speaker 2: both passionate about what it is we're doing, and we're 1284 01:18:00,680 --> 01:18:04,360 Speaker 2: both heavily involved and trying to make this a great company. 1285 01:18:04,680 --> 01:18:06,880 Speaker 2: The difference is I had to get up every day 1286 01:18:06,880 --> 01:18:09,559 Speaker 2: and operate it. That's my job, that's my part of 1287 01:18:09,560 --> 01:18:12,960 Speaker 2: this partnership. But there is no one to have that 1288 01:18:13,160 --> 01:18:15,360 Speaker 2: is a better partner than Irving when it comes to 1289 01:18:15,479 --> 01:18:19,120 Speaker 2: content and an understanding pipeline and music and how to 1290 01:18:19,120 --> 01:18:23,240 Speaker 2: book our buildings. And he is a huge resource. He 1291 01:18:23,360 --> 01:18:28,559 Speaker 2: is a he is the Encyclopedia Britannica. Anything I need 1292 01:18:28,600 --> 01:18:30,920 Speaker 2: to know about the business, I pick up the phone 1293 01:18:30,920 --> 01:18:36,200 Speaker 2: and call Irving, and he knows that particular issue because 1294 01:18:36,200 --> 01:18:39,600 Speaker 2: he's experienced that particular issue. He knows everybody in the 1295 01:18:39,640 --> 01:18:43,760 Speaker 2: business and you know there aren't many people that are 1296 01:18:43,760 --> 01:18:44,799 Speaker 2: going to book around Irving. 1297 01:18:46,160 --> 01:18:50,280 Speaker 1: Okay, So since you own and are a consultant and 1298 01:18:50,360 --> 01:18:55,280 Speaker 1: operator of other buildings, what are the advantages and what 1299 01:18:55,479 --> 01:19:00,360 Speaker 1: leverage you gain? Obviously you can help with routing, but 1300 01:19:00,479 --> 01:19:04,320 Speaker 1: by having I hate tesity to use the word control, 1301 01:19:04,400 --> 01:19:07,760 Speaker 1: but I will control of all these buildings. What advantages 1302 01:19:07,840 --> 01:19:08,879 Speaker 1: you gain in leverage? 1303 01:19:10,320 --> 01:19:13,000 Speaker 2: Well, for the biggest advantages, I'm stupid and I've made 1304 01:19:13,000 --> 01:19:15,120 Speaker 2: a lot of mistakes and I know it, and so 1305 01:19:15,360 --> 01:19:17,400 Speaker 2: I could go back and tell people, look, I know 1306 01:19:17,479 --> 01:19:19,439 Speaker 2: the right answer to this because I screwed it up. 1307 01:19:20,040 --> 01:19:22,320 Speaker 2: And if you don't believe it, go look at the Forum. 1308 01:19:22,479 --> 01:19:24,040 Speaker 2: And if you don't believe it, go look at three 1309 01:19:24,120 --> 01:19:28,200 Speaker 2: levels of suits at the Crypto. I'm really good at 1310 01:19:28,240 --> 01:19:31,720 Speaker 2: acknowledging that to be great in our business you need 1311 01:19:31,760 --> 01:19:35,000 Speaker 2: to do two things very well. Number one, be a 1312 01:19:35,040 --> 01:19:37,800 Speaker 2: good thief and steal other people's ideas and admit it 1313 01:19:37,840 --> 01:19:40,200 Speaker 2: and say, you know, I really like what Jim doo 1314 01:19:40,280 --> 01:19:43,479 Speaker 2: one did at the Forum. It's really clever. He built 1315 01:19:43,479 --> 01:19:49,320 Speaker 2: a acoustically perfect building. I love the technology Jim Dolan 1316 01:19:49,400 --> 01:19:50,840 Speaker 2: is putting in at the Spirit and it's going to 1317 01:19:50,880 --> 01:19:53,960 Speaker 2: change our industry, I admit it. And I spend a 1318 01:19:53,960 --> 01:19:57,439 Speaker 2: lot of time trying to learn from Jim what he's 1319 01:19:57,840 --> 01:20:00,960 Speaker 2: doing with new technology. You knew stakes at the sphere, 1320 01:20:01,360 --> 01:20:04,400 Speaker 2: so one just go learn from other people and still 1321 01:20:04,520 --> 01:20:08,280 Speaker 2: take those ideas. You don't have to recreate everything yourself. 1322 01:20:08,960 --> 01:20:13,280 Speaker 2: And the second thing is acknowledging that with time comes 1323 01:20:13,640 --> 01:20:16,680 Speaker 2: good decisions and bad decisions, and you could put that 1324 01:20:16,720 --> 01:20:18,760 Speaker 2: to work for you. And so I've been doing this 1325 01:20:18,920 --> 01:20:21,240 Speaker 2: a long time now, and I've made a lot of 1326 01:20:21,280 --> 01:20:23,640 Speaker 2: good decisions, and I've made a lot of bad decisions. 1327 01:20:23,640 --> 01:20:27,519 Speaker 2: And I remind our young executive team around here come 1328 01:20:27,560 --> 01:20:30,360 Speaker 2: back to me and at least involve me in the conversation, 1329 01:20:30,520 --> 01:20:33,080 Speaker 2: and chances are pretty good. I've been there already and 1330 01:20:33,080 --> 01:20:35,640 Speaker 2: I've done it, and I either did it well or 1331 01:20:35,680 --> 01:20:39,000 Speaker 2: I probably did it poorly, but I did it, and 1332 01:20:39,080 --> 01:20:42,040 Speaker 2: I can at least make that experience work. That's the 1333 01:20:42,080 --> 01:20:46,160 Speaker 2: advantage we have as a company. I am an arena geek. 1334 01:20:46,800 --> 01:20:49,080 Speaker 2: I've spent my whole life doing this. I've built more 1335 01:20:49,120 --> 01:20:52,200 Speaker 2: arenas than anybody in the world, some good, some bad, 1336 01:20:52,360 --> 01:20:55,320 Speaker 2: but I'm getting better at it. Just time goes on. 1337 01:20:55,479 --> 01:20:58,599 Speaker 2: You know, I'm getting smart in my old age. Finally, Bob, 1338 01:20:59,080 --> 01:21:01,840 Speaker 2: and so the advantage we have with our clients and 1339 01:21:01,880 --> 01:21:05,360 Speaker 2: our partners and our arena alliance. We have twenty nine 1340 01:21:05,360 --> 01:21:07,600 Speaker 2: in the top thirty three arenas in the business that 1341 01:21:07,640 --> 01:21:10,800 Speaker 2: are part of our alliance. And we learned, we are 1342 01:21:10,840 --> 01:21:14,040 Speaker 2: saying as we book together, we buy together, we think together, 1343 01:21:14,120 --> 01:21:17,160 Speaker 2: and we try to act together. We learn from each 1344 01:21:17,200 --> 01:21:19,519 Speaker 2: other and we communicate. Once a month we get on 1345 01:21:19,560 --> 01:21:22,679 Speaker 2: a phone and talk. Irving and I are still actively involved. 1346 01:21:22,800 --> 01:21:26,080 Speaker 2: We got another call next week and we try to 1347 01:21:26,160 --> 01:21:29,800 Speaker 2: learn with them about how do we operate buildings better, 1348 01:21:29,840 --> 01:21:32,280 Speaker 2: how do we become more profitable? What else can we 1349 01:21:32,280 --> 01:21:34,439 Speaker 2: do to be a better business. But we have a 1350 01:21:34,439 --> 01:21:36,360 Speaker 2: lot of experience and a lot of knowledge. We do 1351 01:21:36,400 --> 01:21:39,200 Speaker 2: a lot of communicating with our twenty nine partners in 1352 01:21:39,240 --> 01:21:42,360 Speaker 2: the alliance. I got seven arenas that I operate, so 1353 01:21:42,439 --> 01:21:44,400 Speaker 2: I can tell them what I'm doing well when I'm 1354 01:21:44,400 --> 01:21:48,439 Speaker 2: not doing so well. Of the seven, most of them 1355 01:21:48,520 --> 01:21:51,120 Speaker 2: are really good. A couple of them we're trying to 1356 01:21:51,160 --> 01:21:52,640 Speaker 2: get it where we want them to be in or 1357 01:21:52,720 --> 01:21:55,920 Speaker 2: out there yet, but they'll get there. Most of them 1358 01:21:55,960 --> 01:21:59,680 Speaker 2: are doing much better than we thought we're Seattle's one 1359 01:21:59,680 --> 01:22:01,960 Speaker 2: of the high grossing arenas in the world. It's top 1360 01:22:02,120 --> 01:22:04,720 Speaker 2: ten arena in the world. We're really proud of that 1361 01:22:04,760 --> 01:22:08,439 Speaker 2: fact that we build an arena privately and it's one 1362 01:22:08,479 --> 01:22:10,800 Speaker 2: of the top arenas in the world. Now the Moody 1363 01:22:10,840 --> 01:22:13,320 Speaker 2: Center is one of the top arenas in the world. 1364 01:22:13,600 --> 01:22:16,599 Speaker 2: We're really proud of that building. Very creative what we 1365 01:22:16,640 --> 01:22:19,640 Speaker 2: did there to build an arena on a campus at 1366 01:22:19,680 --> 01:22:22,439 Speaker 2: the University of Texas that the state owns, and we 1367 01:22:22,479 --> 01:22:24,840 Speaker 2: figured out a way to make it work. And so 1368 01:22:25,800 --> 01:22:28,280 Speaker 2: that's unique to have that kind of experience when you're 1369 01:22:28,320 --> 01:22:30,880 Speaker 2: talking to people about managing their building or we have 1370 01:22:30,920 --> 01:22:34,479 Speaker 2: twenty nine partners in the alliance. They respect us because 1371 01:22:34,520 --> 01:22:36,960 Speaker 2: we have put up four and a half billion dollars 1372 01:22:37,320 --> 01:22:40,320 Speaker 2: to build arenas and I'm about to spend another four 1373 01:22:40,400 --> 01:22:43,519 Speaker 2: and a half billion on eight more. And by the way, 1374 01:22:43,960 --> 01:22:46,120 Speaker 2: I'm going to put eight more in the pipeline as 1375 01:22:46,120 --> 01:22:49,920 Speaker 2: soon as those eight are under construction. So we're we 1376 01:22:49,960 --> 01:22:52,640 Speaker 2: want to have twenty five to three arenas that are 1377 01:22:52,680 --> 01:22:55,000 Speaker 2: the best arenas in the world that we own and operate, 1378 01:22:55,840 --> 01:22:59,840 Speaker 2: and that's we're allowed to do that, right. There's no 1379 01:23:00,080 --> 01:23:03,639 Speaker 2: competitive issues there. That's what I love about our industry 1380 01:23:04,080 --> 01:23:06,439 Speaker 2: is I could have twenty five of the best arenas 1381 01:23:06,439 --> 01:23:10,320 Speaker 2: in the world, I could sell them together. I could 1382 01:23:10,640 --> 01:23:13,519 Speaker 2: great naming rates, so I could sell somebody at naming 1383 01:23:13,600 --> 01:23:16,360 Speaker 2: rights in one city, but then take that brand and 1384 01:23:16,400 --> 01:23:19,720 Speaker 2: make them sponsors in ten other cities and give them 1385 01:23:19,720 --> 01:23:22,840 Speaker 2: a worldwide reach. They're not going to get any other place. 1386 01:23:23,200 --> 01:23:25,600 Speaker 2: It's impossible to do what we do because we have 1387 01:23:25,680 --> 01:23:28,639 Speaker 2: arenas and some of the biggest best markets in the world. 1388 01:23:28,720 --> 01:23:32,880 Speaker 2: Now I can learn from premium. I could go to 1389 01:23:32,920 --> 01:23:36,679 Speaker 2: companies and sell them premium in multiple arenas in multiple cities. 1390 01:23:37,320 --> 01:23:40,599 Speaker 2: I can go to artists and ultimately say, come play 1391 01:23:40,640 --> 01:23:43,080 Speaker 2: all my buildings and all of my different markets, and 1392 01:23:43,080 --> 01:23:45,760 Speaker 2: by the way, I'll give you an economic advantage for 1393 01:23:45,880 --> 01:23:50,000 Speaker 2: giving me bolk mass that is unique on what we're building, 1394 01:23:50,040 --> 01:23:51,840 Speaker 2: and we're the only ones that could do it. Now. 1395 01:23:52,400 --> 01:23:54,719 Speaker 2: There is no one that will hit our critical mass. 1396 01:23:55,040 --> 01:23:57,679 Speaker 2: If you think about it, twenty five of the top 1397 01:23:57,760 --> 01:24:02,200 Speaker 2: fifty arenas in this world five or seven years will 1398 01:24:02,240 --> 01:24:04,760 Speaker 2: be ours. No one else could claim that, and no 1399 01:24:04,760 --> 01:24:07,959 Speaker 2: one else could replicate that. That's the goal, that's the ambission, 1400 01:24:08,000 --> 01:24:09,800 Speaker 2: that's the job at hand. We got a lot of 1401 01:24:09,840 --> 01:24:11,920 Speaker 2: work to do to get there. But that's what we're 1402 01:24:11,920 --> 01:24:15,120 Speaker 2: trying to do. That makes us unique, doesn't make us smarter, 1403 01:24:15,800 --> 01:24:22,240 Speaker 2: doesn't make us better, just makes us unique. 1404 01:24:25,040 --> 01:24:28,200 Speaker 1: Let's just talk ticketing for a minute. All these buildings 1405 01:24:28,240 --> 01:24:33,479 Speaker 1: were not operated by someone with as much experience or 1406 01:24:33,560 --> 01:24:39,960 Speaker 1: smart as you, and they all had exclusive deals frequently 1407 01:24:40,000 --> 01:24:43,920 Speaker 1: with Ticketmaster and sports not necessarily. And if you talk 1408 01:24:44,000 --> 01:24:47,280 Speaker 1: to those like Fred Rosen in the business, the deals 1409 01:24:47,280 --> 01:24:50,559 Speaker 1: would end up being in perpetuity because it'd be like 1410 01:24:50,600 --> 01:24:53,519 Speaker 1: a five year deal. You would give an advance to 1411 01:24:53,600 --> 01:24:57,000 Speaker 1: the building, and the building would come back for more money, 1412 01:24:57,120 --> 01:25:01,799 Speaker 1: and then ultimately the ticketing enter rise would get more years. 1413 01:25:02,320 --> 01:25:07,640 Speaker 1: So what is your belief in feeling about exclusives and 1414 01:25:08,160 --> 01:25:11,559 Speaker 1: how much should the building get in fees? This is 1415 01:25:11,760 --> 01:25:15,640 Speaker 1: dark arts if the average person doesn't understand, but you know, 1416 01:25:15,800 --> 01:25:16,720 Speaker 1: like the back of your head. 1417 01:25:18,560 --> 01:25:23,799 Speaker 2: So all good questions, all important questions, right now and timely. 1418 01:25:24,880 --> 01:25:30,439 Speaker 2: So we look we sell as a company. We're selling 1419 01:25:30,479 --> 01:25:33,080 Speaker 2: tens of millions of tickets and all of our buildings 1420 01:25:33,120 --> 01:25:37,880 Speaker 2: now and we probably are, you know, with seven open 1421 01:25:37,920 --> 01:25:40,559 Speaker 2: and eight more coming. If you look at those fifteen 1422 01:25:40,600 --> 01:25:43,920 Speaker 2: buildings and then you look at the buildings we manage 1423 01:25:44,120 --> 01:25:48,479 Speaker 2: where we got one hundred million tickets, we probably sell 1424 01:25:48,520 --> 01:25:51,960 Speaker 2: as a company here. Once we get everything up, we 1425 01:25:52,000 --> 01:25:56,080 Speaker 2: could probably be our own ticketing company. But the decision 1426 01:25:56,120 --> 01:26:00,200 Speaker 2: we make of ticketing has a little bit less do 1427 01:26:00,280 --> 01:26:04,360 Speaker 2: with money and more to do with having a system 1428 01:26:05,360 --> 01:26:08,720 Speaker 2: and having a technology that actually works without having to 1429 01:26:08,720 --> 01:26:10,920 Speaker 2: go spend the time and the money to go create it. 1430 01:26:10,960 --> 01:26:15,960 Speaker 2: So at AG I started with Brian Perez on building 1431 01:26:16,000 --> 01:26:19,599 Speaker 2: Access Ticketing and they're still going strong. Into Brian's credit, 1432 01:26:19,680 --> 01:26:23,240 Speaker 2: he's done a good job of building that company from 1433 01:26:23,280 --> 01:26:26,400 Speaker 2: the ground floor. Hard to do, really hard to do. 1434 01:26:26,800 --> 01:26:29,519 Speaker 2: It's like a black hole. I mean it is. The 1435 01:26:29,560 --> 01:26:32,680 Speaker 2: amount of money you got to spend on technology in 1436 01:26:32,800 --> 01:26:36,880 Speaker 2: order to make a ticketing system efficient is just astronomical. 1437 01:26:38,080 --> 01:26:40,800 Speaker 2: What people don't get about Ticketmaster and the reason we're 1438 01:26:40,800 --> 01:26:43,599 Speaker 2: with Ticketmaster is a couple of things, and it's really simple. 1439 01:26:43,800 --> 01:26:47,000 Speaker 2: They are the best ticketing company in the world. Everyone 1440 01:26:47,000 --> 01:26:48,880 Speaker 2: can sit here and argue, but look, I sell more 1441 01:26:48,880 --> 01:26:52,400 Speaker 2: tickets I think than just about anybody else in the world. 1442 01:26:52,640 --> 01:26:57,160 Speaker 2: Ticket Master is the best ticketing system in the business, 1443 01:26:57,520 --> 01:27:02,840 Speaker 2: bar none, no disrespectbody else. No one sells as many 1444 01:27:02,880 --> 01:27:07,120 Speaker 2: tickets as Ticketmaster. No one does it as well as 1445 01:27:07,120 --> 01:27:09,840 Speaker 2: they do it, and yes they have their days, but 1446 01:27:09,960 --> 01:27:16,120 Speaker 2: guess what this whole thing with Taylor, that's Taylor. She's amazing. 1447 01:27:16,200 --> 01:27:19,120 Speaker 2: I mean, I don't care what system you use, she'd 1448 01:27:19,160 --> 01:27:22,880 Speaker 2: break it. She's that big. We've never had an artist 1449 01:27:23,000 --> 01:27:26,160 Speaker 2: like this before ever. There has never been someone this 1450 01:27:26,280 --> 01:27:30,400 Speaker 2: young lady is a force of nature that we've never 1451 01:27:30,479 --> 01:27:33,519 Speaker 2: seen in our industry. And again people will say, what 1452 01:27:33,600 --> 01:27:36,880 Speaker 2: about Elton John, what about this? We've never had a 1453 01:27:36,920 --> 01:27:40,800 Speaker 2: Taylor Swift. She's incredible. She'll break any system out there, 1454 01:27:41,000 --> 01:27:44,439 Speaker 2: guarantee you, because she's that good. With that much demand 1455 01:27:45,240 --> 01:27:49,040 Speaker 2: day to day, every show we put on sale and 1456 01:27:49,120 --> 01:27:51,559 Speaker 2: we put on you know, we've had hundreds and hundreds 1457 01:27:51,560 --> 01:27:56,680 Speaker 2: of shows in our buildings. Ticketmaster's system is highly reliable 1458 01:27:56,880 --> 01:27:59,320 Speaker 2: and they do a good job. So one, I don't 1459 01:27:59,360 --> 01:28:00,800 Speaker 2: want to have to go spend the time and the 1460 01:28:00,800 --> 01:28:03,840 Speaker 2: money to go create my own system. It's you don't 1461 01:28:03,880 --> 01:28:07,120 Speaker 2: fight a war on two fronts. That's stupid. So if 1462 01:28:07,160 --> 01:28:11,200 Speaker 2: we find a good partner that is best in class, 1463 01:28:11,320 --> 01:28:13,439 Speaker 2: that could do that for me while I spend my 1464 01:28:13,520 --> 01:28:15,519 Speaker 2: time trying to figure out a way to build a 1465 01:28:15,560 --> 01:28:18,760 Speaker 2: great arena, then why wouldn't I do that so I 1466 01:28:18,800 --> 01:28:22,559 Speaker 2: could stay focused on my core business. That's one. Number 1467 01:28:22,560 --> 01:28:26,080 Speaker 2: two is they've been great partners. Honestly, they're fantastic. When 1468 01:28:26,120 --> 01:28:28,680 Speaker 2: I got a problem, I pick up the phone and 1469 01:28:28,880 --> 01:28:33,479 Speaker 2: Marla and the team there, they are unbelievably responsible back 1470 01:28:33,520 --> 01:28:37,160 Speaker 2: to me. They help me, They help us think. They 1471 01:28:37,200 --> 01:28:40,679 Speaker 2: know how driven we are on technology and a customer experience, 1472 01:28:40,720 --> 01:28:44,400 Speaker 2: and they're very good at trying to make that experience better. 1473 01:28:44,840 --> 01:28:48,720 Speaker 2: When we had COVID issues and we had four checkpoints, 1474 01:28:48,720 --> 01:28:50,800 Speaker 2: four checkpoints people had to go through to get into 1475 01:28:50,800 --> 01:28:54,519 Speaker 2: our buildings, they came along and they were unbelievably good 1476 01:28:54,560 --> 01:28:57,680 Speaker 2: at trying to help me eliminate wait times because we 1477 01:28:57,760 --> 01:29:00,880 Speaker 2: had people waiting for twenty or thirty minutes weather in 1478 01:29:00,920 --> 01:29:03,040 Speaker 2: some of our buildings because they had to do the 1479 01:29:03,080 --> 01:29:05,559 Speaker 2: COVID test and they had to do security checking, and 1480 01:29:05,600 --> 01:29:08,760 Speaker 2: they had to do tickets waye and it was a problem. 1481 01:29:08,840 --> 01:29:12,760 Speaker 2: And so I love the fact that the smartest, most experienced, 1482 01:29:12,840 --> 01:29:15,360 Speaker 2: most knowledgeable people in the world happened to also be 1483 01:29:15,479 --> 01:29:18,519 Speaker 2: my best partners, and they're unbelievably good at helping me 1484 01:29:18,600 --> 01:29:23,800 Speaker 2: think through problems. And then finally, my relationship with Live 1485 01:29:23,880 --> 01:29:28,040 Speaker 2: Nation is one that started out of necessity. At first, 1486 01:29:28,240 --> 01:29:30,599 Speaker 2: Age didn't want to work with us, and I get 1487 01:29:30,600 --> 01:29:33,400 Speaker 2: it they I guess, I don't know what I m 1488 01:29:33,479 --> 01:29:37,200 Speaker 2: to them, but they didn't go to Polestar, they didn't 1489 01:29:37,200 --> 01:29:41,839 Speaker 2: participate in Pollstar. I begged them to ultimately participate, speak, 1490 01:29:42,160 --> 01:29:44,080 Speaker 2: be on a panel, do their own panel, do a 1491 01:29:44,160 --> 01:29:48,000 Speaker 2: keynote anything. They've prohibited their people from going to Polestar, 1492 01:29:48,080 --> 01:29:50,519 Speaker 2: So what was I supposed to do? Irving and I 1493 01:29:50,560 --> 01:29:54,800 Speaker 2: went with Live Nation because I didn't have an alternative, 1494 01:29:55,240 --> 01:29:57,760 Speaker 2: and they accepted us and put their arms around us 1495 01:29:58,040 --> 01:29:59,920 Speaker 2: and made a huge bet on us. Now they look 1496 01:30:00,040 --> 01:30:03,320 Speaker 2: pretty good. So Ticketmaster looks pretty good and Live Nation 1497 01:30:03,400 --> 01:30:06,560 Speaker 2: looks pretty good because we exploded. I'm never going to 1498 01:30:06,600 --> 01:30:09,640 Speaker 2: forget who helped me start this company. I'm never going 1499 01:30:09,720 --> 01:30:12,360 Speaker 2: to forget the fact they made a bet on us 1500 01:30:12,400 --> 01:30:15,200 Speaker 2: and believed in us to begin with. And now they're 1501 01:30:15,240 --> 01:30:17,599 Speaker 2: my partner on a bunch of buildings. So now they're 1502 01:30:17,640 --> 01:30:21,639 Speaker 2: writing checks with me. So I'll work with any promoter 1503 01:30:21,720 --> 01:30:24,360 Speaker 2: in the business because I'll work with any artist. This 1504 01:30:24,439 --> 01:30:28,200 Speaker 2: is about the artist period. Every artist should play our 1505 01:30:28,200 --> 01:30:30,759 Speaker 2: building because I'm trying to build the best buildings Irving 1506 01:30:30,760 --> 01:30:32,439 Speaker 2: and I are committed to building the best area has 1507 01:30:32,479 --> 01:30:35,600 Speaker 2: ever built. We want every artist to come experience that 1508 01:30:35,960 --> 01:30:38,559 Speaker 2: We're dedicated to that. That's why I think we'll win 1509 01:30:39,120 --> 01:30:43,280 Speaker 2: is because we have a unique thought process of what 1510 01:30:43,360 --> 01:30:46,200 Speaker 2: does the artist and their fans want out of this experience. 1511 01:30:46,520 --> 01:30:48,800 Speaker 2: But I'm not going to forget Ticketmaster because they gave 1512 01:30:48,840 --> 01:30:51,040 Speaker 2: me the best system and adopted me from day one, 1513 01:30:51,640 --> 01:30:53,760 Speaker 2: and I'm not going to forget Live Nation because at 1514 01:30:53,800 --> 01:30:55,960 Speaker 2: the end of the day, they were there when I 1515 01:30:56,040 --> 01:30:58,640 Speaker 2: started the company and they've been unbelievable ever since, and 1516 01:30:58,640 --> 01:31:00,920 Speaker 2: they put their money where their mouth is. I have 1517 01:31:00,960 --> 01:31:03,879 Speaker 2: a great relationship with Jamar Seattle. They book our buildings. 1518 01:31:03,960 --> 01:31:06,559 Speaker 2: They've had a pretty good run with us in Austin 1519 01:31:06,720 --> 01:31:09,920 Speaker 2: and Seattle in particular. I wish they booked the building more, 1520 01:31:10,320 --> 01:31:14,439 Speaker 2: but in time that'll come and so we get on 1521 01:31:14,600 --> 01:31:17,360 Speaker 2: with it. But I love Ticketmaster because it's a good system, 1522 01:31:17,360 --> 01:31:19,680 Speaker 2: and they're loyal people and they've been great friends, and 1523 01:31:19,720 --> 01:31:22,480 Speaker 2: it's the best system in the business. And I absolutely 1524 01:31:22,479 --> 01:31:24,960 Speaker 2: adore Live Nation. Doesn't mean we don't fight every day. 1525 01:31:25,000 --> 01:31:27,960 Speaker 2: We do, but when I have a problem, I pick 1526 01:31:28,000 --> 01:31:30,400 Speaker 2: up the phone and call Michael or Omar Bob or 1527 01:31:30,400 --> 01:31:33,040 Speaker 2: the team over there, and they call me right back, 1528 01:31:33,200 --> 01:31:37,800 Speaker 2: and we are unbelievably good at solving problems and creating opportunities. 1529 01:31:37,960 --> 01:31:40,439 Speaker 2: They think outside the box like we do. So look, 1530 01:31:40,479 --> 01:31:44,439 Speaker 2: I'm blessed, Honestly, I am so damn lucky to have 1531 01:31:44,520 --> 01:31:47,679 Speaker 2: partners like Ticketmaster and Live Nation, which made our decision 1532 01:31:47,760 --> 01:31:50,360 Speaker 2: much easier. Now doesn't mean, Bob, we don't go press. 1533 01:31:50,439 --> 01:31:55,280 Speaker 2: So I've had huge battles with the leagues about our 1534 01:31:55,400 --> 01:31:58,320 Speaker 2: security system. We happen to own a security company called 1535 01:31:58,360 --> 01:32:03,639 Speaker 2: Prevent Advisors. It's the best security company and the facility business. 1536 01:32:03,680 --> 01:32:08,040 Speaker 2: We do the Homeland certification checks for Homeland certification on 1537 01:32:08,120 --> 01:32:11,680 Speaker 2: all the facilities. We're the only one that is certified 1538 01:32:11,800 --> 01:32:16,200 Speaker 2: by Homeland Security, so we're certified. We have a system 1539 01:32:16,520 --> 01:32:20,040 Speaker 2: on security that we think is the best system in 1540 01:32:20,080 --> 01:32:23,000 Speaker 2: the industry, and we couldn't get the leagues to allow 1541 01:32:23,080 --> 01:32:25,839 Speaker 2: us to use it in our buildings because that system 1542 01:32:25,920 --> 01:32:28,320 Speaker 2: wasn't certified. But it takes three to five years to 1543 01:32:28,320 --> 01:32:32,760 Speaker 2: get certification from the US government. It's a bureaucracy, and 1544 01:32:32,840 --> 01:32:37,160 Speaker 2: so we're always pressing for new systems, new technology, new 1545 01:32:37,200 --> 01:32:40,040 Speaker 2: ways to make the experiences better. We'll always look outside 1546 01:32:40,120 --> 01:32:43,280 Speaker 2: the box. We're not wedded to somebody because of an 1547 01:32:43,320 --> 01:32:46,640 Speaker 2: old boys network. We will go explore new ticketing. We 1548 01:32:46,680 --> 01:32:49,160 Speaker 2: will go find new ways to do ticketing. But right 1549 01:32:49,200 --> 01:32:51,439 Speaker 2: now there is no one better than ticket Massart, and 1550 01:32:51,439 --> 01:32:55,000 Speaker 2: they're doing an extraordinary job for us. Last thing, I 1551 01:32:55,040 --> 01:32:59,519 Speaker 2: don't believe in the secondary tickets companies don't. I don't 1552 01:32:59,520 --> 01:33:02,559 Speaker 2: think they have skin in the game. I've spent Irwie 1553 01:33:02,600 --> 01:33:04,799 Speaker 2: and I have spent four and a half billion dollars 1554 01:33:04,840 --> 01:33:08,160 Speaker 2: trying to build these arenas. I've had the demons come 1555 01:33:08,240 --> 01:33:11,080 Speaker 2: visit me often at night, in the middle of COVID, 1556 01:33:11,160 --> 01:33:14,400 Speaker 2: in the middle of economic stress and inflation and interest 1557 01:33:14,479 --> 01:33:17,920 Speaker 2: rates going up. There's a lot we have to fight 1558 01:33:18,000 --> 01:33:22,080 Speaker 2: through to be successful. As an entrepreneur and as somebody 1559 01:33:22,080 --> 01:33:26,000 Speaker 2: who is privately financing these arenas. What right do they 1560 01:33:26,040 --> 01:33:28,920 Speaker 2: have to come in? No skin in the game. They 1561 01:33:28,960 --> 01:33:31,479 Speaker 2: don't give us a penny, They don't make the arena 1562 01:33:31,560 --> 01:33:34,040 Speaker 2: better for the fan ar the artists. They don't give 1563 01:33:34,080 --> 01:33:37,200 Speaker 2: the artists any money. So they're not sharing anything with 1564 01:33:37,840 --> 01:33:41,720 Speaker 2: Bruce or Down or Tailor. So they just simply come 1565 01:33:41,760 --> 01:33:44,800 Speaker 2: in and exploit as a middleman. Right, They're just a 1566 01:33:47,360 --> 01:33:49,840 Speaker 2: mentalman buying tickets and then reselling them for a lot 1567 01:33:49,880 --> 01:33:53,920 Speaker 2: more money, and in particular they're disrupting the system. So 1568 01:33:54,040 --> 01:33:58,439 Speaker 2: the bots the they unleash on early on sale are 1569 01:34:00,240 --> 01:34:04,320 Speaker 2: part of why we see some of the technical issues 1570 01:34:04,360 --> 01:34:07,960 Speaker 2: we see on Giant on sense is because the bots 1571 01:34:08,360 --> 01:34:13,799 Speaker 2: and the technology they deploy absolutely cost having and their middlement. 1572 01:34:14,120 --> 01:34:16,040 Speaker 2: They don't share the money with the artists and they're 1573 01:34:16,040 --> 01:34:18,040 Speaker 2: not sharing the money with the building. Now that's my 1574 01:34:18,080 --> 01:34:20,920 Speaker 2: own opinion. I'm you know, I check my car every 1575 01:34:21,000 --> 01:34:24,400 Speaker 2: day because i know I'm not their favorite person. But 1576 01:34:24,600 --> 01:34:28,799 Speaker 2: we don't believe that scalpers and the secondary ticket companies 1577 01:34:28,840 --> 01:34:31,799 Speaker 2: have the right to exploit the fans and the artists 1578 01:34:31,800 --> 01:34:34,559 Speaker 2: the way they do without sharing in the risk, sharing 1579 01:34:34,600 --> 01:34:37,960 Speaker 2: in the entrepreneurial spirit, and sharing where the money should go, 1580 01:34:38,040 --> 01:34:40,640 Speaker 2: which is we come to go see Don Henley in 1581 01:34:40,680 --> 01:34:43,360 Speaker 2: the Eagles. That's what I pay money to go see. 1582 01:34:43,720 --> 01:34:46,000 Speaker 2: Why is Don Henley in the Eagles not making a 1583 01:34:46,040 --> 01:34:47,599 Speaker 2: portion of that money like they should? 1584 01:34:48,720 --> 01:34:51,360 Speaker 1: Okay, that's a much longer conversation we have to take, 1585 01:34:51,400 --> 01:34:56,040 Speaker 1: but this does beg the question. Before Irving got involved 1586 01:34:56,080 --> 01:35:00,040 Speaker 1: with Oakview, one of his main complaints was all the 1587 01:35:00,080 --> 01:35:03,600 Speaker 1: tickets that are not on the manifest whither you're a 1588 01:35:03,640 --> 01:35:06,840 Speaker 1: building owner, which how do you address that? 1589 01:35:07,840 --> 01:35:11,240 Speaker 2: Well, we actually, I believe in the artists look at 1590 01:35:12,240 --> 01:35:15,360 Speaker 2: I'm very fortunate that I've had forty years in the 1591 01:35:15,400 --> 01:35:18,040 Speaker 2: business and I see it the way they see it, 1592 01:35:19,240 --> 01:35:22,920 Speaker 2: because again, we're buying tickets to go see Bruce Springsteen. 1593 01:35:24,200 --> 01:35:26,560 Speaker 2: By the way, he's spectacular. I just saw him in 1594 01:35:26,640 --> 01:35:31,080 Speaker 2: Hyde Park. My god, I'm blessed her. We to have 1595 01:35:31,160 --> 01:35:34,880 Speaker 2: this guy still spending three hours, three and a half 1596 01:35:34,880 --> 01:35:38,400 Speaker 2: hours every night entertaining us. What a great industry and 1597 01:35:38,439 --> 01:35:41,240 Speaker 2: what a great world to be able to participate. And 1598 01:35:41,320 --> 01:35:44,760 Speaker 2: as a fan, I went to Hide Park is by 1599 01:35:44,800 --> 01:35:48,240 Speaker 2: the way, guests of age thanked them, and what a 1600 01:35:48,280 --> 01:35:51,719 Speaker 2: great experience. They've done a phenomenal job with that counselor 1601 01:35:51,840 --> 01:35:55,080 Speaker 2: experience there, and it just it made me understand how 1602 01:35:55,160 --> 01:35:57,479 Speaker 2: much I love this industry. Is just someone that want 1603 01:35:57,520 --> 01:36:00,320 Speaker 2: that night to go experience Bruce Springsteen. After or I've 1604 01:36:00,320 --> 01:36:02,639 Speaker 2: seen them I don't know eight times this year already, 1605 01:36:02,920 --> 01:36:04,920 Speaker 2: and I walked away. My daughter went with me, and 1606 01:36:04,960 --> 01:36:09,200 Speaker 2: I said, how great was that? Bruce Springsteen should get 1607 01:36:09,200 --> 01:36:12,439 Speaker 2: the money? He just should, So I see it the 1608 01:36:12,439 --> 01:36:15,120 Speaker 2: way they see it, which means on the manifest when 1609 01:36:15,160 --> 01:36:18,000 Speaker 2: we build a new arena, we have to find in 1610 01:36:18,080 --> 01:36:20,839 Speaker 2: economic balance. Now I gotta go pay for the arena. 1611 01:36:22,880 --> 01:36:25,080 Speaker 2: I've created a better experience for them. And by the way, 1612 01:36:25,080 --> 01:36:26,840 Speaker 2: they're making a hell of a lot more money in 1613 01:36:26,840 --> 01:36:28,959 Speaker 2: my arena than they used to making the old arenas. 1614 01:36:29,240 --> 01:36:32,439 Speaker 2: So I'm giving them more seats. They could charge more 1615 01:36:32,479 --> 01:36:34,439 Speaker 2: for the seats because the experience is better for the 1616 01:36:34,439 --> 01:36:39,519 Speaker 2: seats and cut I do bonuses if you will, back 1617 01:36:39,560 --> 01:36:43,320 Speaker 2: to promoters and artists to reward them for the number 1618 01:36:43,360 --> 01:36:46,320 Speaker 2: of dates they'll do in my buildings. So what we 1619 01:36:46,439 --> 01:36:51,160 Speaker 2: do is actually very simple. On my premium seats, I 1620 01:36:51,200 --> 01:36:53,960 Speaker 2: will buy the ticket from the artists, and then the 1621 01:36:54,200 --> 01:36:58,280 Speaker 2: upside for the premium services, for the special food, the 1622 01:36:58,320 --> 01:37:01,960 Speaker 2: special club, the special parking, the special experiences, the right 1623 01:37:02,000 --> 01:37:04,360 Speaker 2: to buy the tickets before the rest of the people 1624 01:37:04,400 --> 01:37:07,080 Speaker 2: get a chance to buy them, so they got predictability. 1625 01:37:07,520 --> 01:37:09,960 Speaker 2: I'm going to keep the upside. I'll give them a 1626 01:37:09,960 --> 01:37:12,599 Speaker 2: little bit of the upside, that's that bonus. But I'm 1627 01:37:12,600 --> 01:37:14,960 Speaker 2: going to buy the ticket from them because they deserve 1628 01:37:15,560 --> 01:37:18,320 Speaker 2: to be paid for the ticket. We're going to do 1629 01:37:18,400 --> 01:37:21,840 Speaker 2: that now we have to go deal occasionally with an 1630 01:37:21,880 --> 01:37:23,679 Speaker 2: artist that comes on and says, well, I don't want 1631 01:37:23,960 --> 01:37:26,120 Speaker 2: anybody getting a first right to the tickets. I want 1632 01:37:26,120 --> 01:37:29,080 Speaker 2: the fans, everybody to have the first right to the ticket. 1633 01:37:29,720 --> 01:37:32,680 Speaker 2: So we work through that. There are a lot of 1634 01:37:32,720 --> 01:37:35,160 Speaker 2: bands out there that are passionate about that, Kurnel Jam 1635 01:37:35,280 --> 01:37:38,320 Speaker 2: for example. We figure it out. We take our premium 1636 01:37:38,360 --> 01:37:41,600 Speaker 2: seaholders and say, hey, occasionally, we're going to do the 1637 01:37:41,640 --> 01:37:44,280 Speaker 2: best we can that not every night are we going 1638 01:37:44,360 --> 01:37:46,240 Speaker 2: to be able to guarantee the first right to buy 1639 01:37:46,240 --> 01:37:50,439 Speaker 2: that seat. And so you got to be flexible. You 1640 01:37:50,520 --> 01:37:52,439 Speaker 2: got to understand the ne aedge of the artists. You 1641 01:37:52,560 --> 01:37:55,080 Speaker 2: got to be fair. You should buy the ticket from 1642 01:37:55,080 --> 01:37:57,800 Speaker 2: the artists. We don't buy the sweet tickets because we 1643 01:37:57,840 --> 01:38:00,400 Speaker 2: sell them annually. That's the one place where it goes 1644 01:38:00,439 --> 01:38:03,680 Speaker 2: to help pay for the building. Every promoter we deal with, 1645 01:38:03,720 --> 01:38:05,920 Speaker 2: and every manager we deal with, and every agent we 1646 01:38:06,000 --> 01:38:09,000 Speaker 2: deal with, they understand that. They get that I'm spending 1647 01:38:09,280 --> 01:38:12,080 Speaker 2: five hundred million on average to build an arena, and 1648 01:38:12,120 --> 01:38:14,360 Speaker 2: the arena's making them a lot more money than they 1649 01:38:14,479 --> 01:38:16,559 Speaker 2: used to make, and it's a much better experience, and 1650 01:38:16,800 --> 01:38:19,040 Speaker 2: the back house is better, the loading is better, the 1651 01:38:19,120 --> 01:38:21,639 Speaker 2: rigging is better. They spend less money coming and going. 1652 01:38:21,680 --> 01:38:23,479 Speaker 2: They make more money at the end of the night 1653 01:38:23,920 --> 01:38:26,720 Speaker 2: because they could charge more for my arenas because the 1654 01:38:26,720 --> 01:38:30,479 Speaker 2: seats are fantastic. We share, We figure out a way 1655 01:38:30,520 --> 01:38:33,120 Speaker 2: to be partners. We're aligned. We make sure we take 1656 01:38:33,160 --> 01:38:35,720 Speaker 2: care of them and respect them. That's what does get 1657 01:38:35,720 --> 01:38:38,479 Speaker 2: me wound up about. You know, those that are making 1658 01:38:38,560 --> 01:38:42,400 Speaker 2: money that don't participate in that alignment, don't take risks, 1659 01:38:42,439 --> 01:38:45,599 Speaker 2: don't make the experience better, and don't reward the artist. 1660 01:38:45,760 --> 01:38:48,840 Speaker 2: That's a problem. But I'm not the problem. I figure 1661 01:38:48,880 --> 01:38:50,720 Speaker 2: out a way to see it in their eyes. I 1662 01:38:50,800 --> 01:38:53,280 Speaker 2: try to treat them fairly, and I also ask them 1663 01:38:53,320 --> 01:38:57,599 Speaker 2: to remember, I'm spending five hundred million dollars to build 1664 01:38:57,640 --> 01:38:59,840 Speaker 2: this arena. I got to make my money back. Help 1665 01:38:59,880 --> 01:39:01,840 Speaker 2: me do that, and I'll help you and I'll pay 1666 01:39:01,880 --> 01:39:02,960 Speaker 2: you for the tickets. 1667 01:39:04,000 --> 01:39:06,800 Speaker 1: Okay, where are you from originally and what were your 1668 01:39:06,920 --> 01:39:08,479 Speaker 1: circumstances growing up? 1669 01:39:09,680 --> 01:39:13,640 Speaker 2: So I grew up in Saint Louis, six brothers and 1670 01:39:13,680 --> 01:39:19,080 Speaker 2: sisters six Wow. Yeah, My brother Todd is I think 1671 01:39:19,720 --> 01:39:22,960 Speaker 2: the most accomplished person I'd met in the industry. He's 1672 01:39:23,680 --> 01:39:25,800 Speaker 2: much better and smarter than I am, so I'm not 1673 01:39:25,840 --> 01:39:28,040 Speaker 2: sure what I think. They dropped me on my head 1674 01:39:28,040 --> 01:39:31,400 Speaker 2: a couple of times, and thoroughly enjoy working with him, 1675 01:39:31,400 --> 01:39:34,080 Speaker 2: which we do every day. He's running the Kraken and 1676 01:39:34,240 --> 01:39:36,840 Speaker 2: Climate Pledge for us up in Seattle. We're partners and 1677 01:39:36,880 --> 01:39:39,840 Speaker 2: by the way, he's a shareholder in this company for 1678 01:39:40,280 --> 01:39:45,360 Speaker 2: being a part of our partnership up there. So both 1679 01:39:45,360 --> 01:39:48,160 Speaker 2: of us have enjoyed growing our careers together. We enjoy 1680 01:39:48,200 --> 01:39:50,800 Speaker 2: spending time with each other. We just jointly been on 1681 01:39:50,920 --> 01:39:55,439 Speaker 2: Memorial Stadium and Seattle won that bid, So we owe 1682 01:39:55,479 --> 01:39:58,040 Speaker 2: a huge debt of gratitude to both my mom and 1683 01:39:58,120 --> 01:40:02,400 Speaker 2: dad who have passed. One of our brothers just died 1684 01:40:02,920 --> 01:40:05,240 Speaker 2: and it was sad because he died quickly, and it 1685 01:40:05,280 --> 01:40:07,880 Speaker 2: was an experience that shook both of us because we 1686 01:40:07,880 --> 01:40:12,160 Speaker 2: were with him. He's the healthiest of everybody in the family, 1687 01:40:12,200 --> 01:40:17,679 Speaker 2: so it was quite shocking. But it shows you how 1688 01:40:17,800 --> 01:40:22,160 Speaker 2: devastating cancer could be because he literally he disappeared in 1689 01:40:22,160 --> 01:40:24,080 Speaker 2: front of us in three weeks. So it was the 1690 01:40:24,200 --> 01:40:27,320 Speaker 2: just one of the worst things I've ever seen, and 1691 01:40:27,360 --> 01:40:30,519 Speaker 2: so we appreciate every day the five that remained. We 1692 01:40:31,040 --> 01:40:34,080 Speaker 2: were installed great work ethic. I didn't go to college 1693 01:40:34,080 --> 01:40:36,240 Speaker 2: because I couldn't go to college. We were doing the 1694 01:40:36,320 --> 01:40:38,920 Speaker 2: dog paddle. My brother didn't go to college. Todd and 1695 01:40:38,960 --> 01:40:42,479 Speaker 2: I are very unusual to be in the positions and 1696 01:40:42,560 --> 01:40:46,360 Speaker 2: to have the fortunate opportunities that we both had, and 1697 01:40:46,439 --> 01:40:49,640 Speaker 2: neither of us have a college education. But we were 1698 01:40:49,760 --> 01:40:53,519 Speaker 2: very fortunate that our mother and our father, and we 1699 01:40:53,600 --> 01:40:56,120 Speaker 2: lost her mother. I was I think seven or eight 1700 01:40:56,200 --> 01:40:59,960 Speaker 2: years old when she died. But they taught us work ethic, 1701 01:41:00,080 --> 01:41:02,840 Speaker 2: and they taught us how to get up every day 1702 01:41:02,880 --> 01:41:06,840 Speaker 2: and earn your keep, and so both of us are 1703 01:41:06,880 --> 01:41:12,000 Speaker 2: relentless at living our lives every day hard. We are 1704 01:41:12,120 --> 01:41:15,639 Speaker 2: relentless at trying to be successful. Were relentless on pushing 1705 01:41:15,640 --> 01:41:19,960 Speaker 2: ourselves and our people. But he, in particular builds some 1706 01:41:20,000 --> 01:41:23,160 Speaker 2: of the greatest culture I've ever seen for employees. He 1707 01:41:23,240 --> 01:41:25,840 Speaker 2: does a phenomenal job up there for not just the 1708 01:41:25,880 --> 01:41:28,920 Speaker 2: people that work for the Kracking and for Climate Pledge, 1709 01:41:29,680 --> 01:41:32,400 Speaker 2: but for the fans of the KRACK and the people 1710 01:41:32,400 --> 01:41:34,960 Speaker 2: that come to that building every day. And I think 1711 01:41:35,080 --> 01:41:38,719 Speaker 2: that's kind of Yes, we kind of had to fight 1712 01:41:38,960 --> 01:41:42,639 Speaker 2: when we were young and went through some really tough times, 1713 01:41:43,080 --> 01:41:45,800 Speaker 2: but I think that installed within us a character and 1714 01:41:45,840 --> 01:41:51,120 Speaker 2: a work ethic that hopefully still at our core value today. 1715 01:41:52,080 --> 01:41:54,599 Speaker 1: So what did your father do for a living and 1716 01:41:54,680 --> 01:41:56,720 Speaker 1: what kind of kid were you growing up? Were you 1717 01:41:56,800 --> 01:41:58,320 Speaker 1: the strawsters the drink? 1718 01:41:58,400 --> 01:42:03,280 Speaker 2: Were you a loader or what? So my dad was 1719 01:42:03,640 --> 01:42:05,679 Speaker 2: he did what he had to do to survive because, 1720 01:42:05,960 --> 01:42:08,360 Speaker 2: you know, suddenly he was trying to raise six kids, 1721 01:42:08,360 --> 01:42:12,439 Speaker 2: because we were all pretty young still my two older 1722 01:42:12,479 --> 01:42:16,080 Speaker 2: brothers were in college already, but still pretty shocking to 1723 01:42:16,280 --> 01:42:20,000 Speaker 2: lose your wife at that age, because he was they 1724 01:42:20,000 --> 01:42:22,680 Speaker 2: were in their forties and then having six kids you 1725 01:42:22,720 --> 01:42:25,160 Speaker 2: got to raise and then still go have a career. 1726 01:42:25,200 --> 01:42:28,040 Speaker 2: So he sold his whole life. So that's probably where 1727 01:42:28,040 --> 01:42:30,799 Speaker 2: Todd and I learned how to sell. But he bounced 1728 01:42:30,840 --> 01:42:34,640 Speaker 2: a lot, and you saw him deteriorate as a you know, 1729 01:42:35,360 --> 01:42:38,000 Speaker 2: that takes a huge toll on this. The next wife 1730 01:42:38,040 --> 01:42:40,000 Speaker 2: died of cancer, so he went back to back and 1731 01:42:40,040 --> 01:42:42,400 Speaker 2: we lost our mom and our step mom to cancer, 1732 01:42:42,880 --> 01:42:45,280 Speaker 2: and so that that changed him and he was never 1733 01:42:45,320 --> 01:42:49,679 Speaker 2: the same, and thank god he didn't. You know, quite frankly, 1734 01:42:49,880 --> 01:42:55,400 Speaker 2: that would have driven most people to abuse their life, 1735 01:42:55,600 --> 01:42:58,800 Speaker 2: and he didn't. He got up every day and worked hard. 1736 01:42:59,120 --> 01:43:03,120 Speaker 2: But it he lost confidence, and he lost hope, and 1737 01:43:03,160 --> 01:43:07,880 Speaker 2: he lost ambition, because you can't go through life and 1738 01:43:07,920 --> 01:43:10,120 Speaker 2: take two gut punches like that and not have it 1739 01:43:10,320 --> 01:43:13,240 Speaker 2: affect who you are as a human being. But he 1740 01:43:13,240 --> 01:43:15,640 Speaker 2: didn't let the demons get him, and I have a 1741 01:43:15,720 --> 01:43:18,960 Speaker 2: deep appreciation for the fact he lived till his nineties 1742 01:43:19,000 --> 01:43:22,680 Speaker 2: and he never let the demons get him. Meant the 1743 01:43:22,720 --> 01:43:25,400 Speaker 2: rest of us Again, the dog paddles in the middle 1744 01:43:25,400 --> 01:43:28,840 Speaker 2: of the lake. I was very committed and attached to 1745 01:43:28,880 --> 01:43:32,760 Speaker 2: my mother, And then I'd say I was a disciplined 1746 01:43:32,840 --> 01:43:35,960 Speaker 2: young man, and I worked two or three jobs at 1747 01:43:35,960 --> 01:43:38,040 Speaker 2: all times in my life. When I was growing up, 1748 01:43:38,439 --> 01:43:40,200 Speaker 2: I'd get up early in the morning and work at 1749 01:43:40,200 --> 01:43:42,080 Speaker 2: a bakery, and then I'd go from the bakery to 1750 01:43:42,160 --> 01:43:46,760 Speaker 2: a deli. And so I always worked hard and I 1751 01:43:46,800 --> 01:43:49,280 Speaker 2: didn't cause a lot of havoc and a lot of trouble. 1752 01:43:49,800 --> 01:43:51,920 Speaker 2: And I say that for my later years, and now 1753 01:43:51,920 --> 01:43:54,439 Speaker 2: I'm making up for being a good kid, I guess, 1754 01:43:54,560 --> 01:43:59,880 Speaker 2: so it all averages out. But lucky that those values 1755 01:43:59,920 --> 01:44:03,439 Speaker 2: also give me a wife of thirty plus years and 1756 01:44:03,479 --> 01:44:05,840 Speaker 2: a daughter I'm really proud of who has chosen to 1757 01:44:05,840 --> 01:44:09,559 Speaker 2: go into business and two grandsons, and the oldest grandson, 1758 01:44:09,600 --> 01:44:11,840 Speaker 2: who's eight, wants to go build arenas for a living. 1759 01:44:12,040 --> 01:44:16,160 Speaker 2: And so it's a full circle. And I've been blessed, 1760 01:44:16,240 --> 01:44:19,200 Speaker 2: and I'm very fortunate that I learned a lot of 1761 01:44:19,200 --> 01:44:22,439 Speaker 2: tough lessons early on that have come in and I 1762 01:44:22,600 --> 01:44:26,360 Speaker 2: hope given me other opportunities later in my life that 1763 01:44:26,600 --> 01:44:30,640 Speaker 2: have overcompensated me quite frankly for some of the early challenges. 1764 01:44:31,360 --> 01:44:35,200 Speaker 1: Okay, but growing up, were you good in school? Bad 1765 01:44:35,240 --> 01:44:39,479 Speaker 1: in school? Were you popular? And ultimately, how did you 1766 01:44:39,520 --> 01:44:41,760 Speaker 1: decide not to go to college? 1767 01:44:42,479 --> 01:44:46,400 Speaker 2: So I'd say I was good at the things I 1768 01:44:46,479 --> 01:44:49,799 Speaker 2: was interested in. I was really good. So I selled 1769 01:44:49,840 --> 01:44:58,360 Speaker 2: in things like debate, history, fascinated by history, politics, math. 1770 01:44:59,280 --> 01:45:01,840 Speaker 2: Everyone that's worked around me knows I sit there and 1771 01:45:02,040 --> 01:45:04,479 Speaker 2: add stuff up in my head as we're talking, and 1772 01:45:04,520 --> 01:45:10,240 Speaker 2: they're all fearful of my ability to make decisions quickly 1773 01:45:10,280 --> 01:45:12,519 Speaker 2: on stuff like that. But there was other stuff I 1774 01:45:12,760 --> 01:45:16,840 Speaker 2: just wasn't interested in. And so but I graduated a 1775 01:45:16,920 --> 01:45:19,200 Speaker 2: year early in high school and got all with it. 1776 01:45:20,160 --> 01:45:22,320 Speaker 2: I could have gone to college, but I was working, 1777 01:45:22,479 --> 01:45:24,760 Speaker 2: and I had to work. I wasn't living at home. 1778 01:45:24,800 --> 01:45:26,320 Speaker 2: I was living on my own and I had to 1779 01:45:26,360 --> 01:45:28,280 Speaker 2: go work, and I was working two jobs. And then 1780 01:45:29,080 --> 01:45:32,800 Speaker 2: I started with a company called New England Life, which 1781 01:45:32,880 --> 01:45:39,920 Speaker 2: is a very old, conservative, established life insurance pension investment 1782 01:45:40,479 --> 01:45:44,040 Speaker 2: firm out of Boston. And you had to be twenty 1783 01:45:44,040 --> 01:45:47,400 Speaker 2: one years old. Somebody had to recommend you into the company. 1784 01:45:47,400 --> 01:45:50,000 Speaker 2: You had to have a college education. I didn't have 1785 01:45:50,040 --> 01:45:52,040 Speaker 2: two of the three, but I had somebody that really 1786 01:45:52,080 --> 01:45:55,599 Speaker 2: believed in me, called Bill Whitney, and he spoke up 1787 01:45:55,600 --> 01:45:57,439 Speaker 2: and said, we got to bring this kid in and 1788 01:45:57,560 --> 01:46:01,080 Speaker 2: let him do the internship program. Stanley. He's only twenty 1789 01:46:01,160 --> 01:46:04,200 Speaker 2: years old, but there's something about the kid. They did. 1790 01:46:04,280 --> 01:46:07,160 Speaker 2: And then I was a Rookie of the Year. And 1791 01:46:08,200 --> 01:46:11,400 Speaker 2: my third year of doing that and beginning to have success, 1792 01:46:11,760 --> 01:46:14,519 Speaker 2: I went to work for an indoor soccer team. I 1793 01:46:14,600 --> 01:46:18,519 Speaker 2: was the number two employee. The number one employee got 1794 01:46:18,560 --> 01:46:20,679 Speaker 2: caught doing something he shouldn't have done, and I became 1795 01:46:20,720 --> 01:46:23,320 Speaker 2: the number one employee and became the president like twenty 1796 01:46:23,320 --> 01:46:25,799 Speaker 2: one or twenty years So wait, wait. 1797 01:46:25,720 --> 01:46:29,920 Speaker 1: You were selling you were selling insurance. What motivated you 1798 01:46:30,000 --> 01:46:32,880 Speaker 1: to jump to indoor soccer which was not lighting up 1799 01:46:32,920 --> 01:46:33,800 Speaker 1: the world at the time. 1800 01:46:33,840 --> 01:46:40,320 Speaker 2: To boot, So my brother ironically, so I think I 1801 01:46:40,360 --> 01:46:42,840 Speaker 2: was twenty three or twenty four actually at the time, 1802 01:46:43,520 --> 01:46:47,080 Speaker 2: and my brother was the announcer for the Houston Arrows, 1803 01:46:47,280 --> 01:46:50,240 Speaker 2: which was a World Hockey League team with the Gordy 1804 01:46:50,280 --> 01:46:54,479 Speaker 2: how and his sons, and the owner of the Houston 1805 01:46:54,560 --> 01:46:58,880 Speaker 2: team bought the expansion rights to Saint Louis and I 1806 01:46:58,920 --> 01:47:01,240 Speaker 2: was in Saint Louis and my brother said, you should 1807 01:47:01,240 --> 01:47:02,720 Speaker 2: go talk to him. I talked to him. My god, 1808 01:47:02,800 --> 01:47:04,640 Speaker 2: this is really interesting. And I grew up in a 1809 01:47:04,680 --> 01:47:10,439 Speaker 2: family that liked sports and enjoyed sports, and they offered 1810 01:47:10,479 --> 01:47:12,360 Speaker 2: me a job and I decided to take it. And 1811 01:47:12,400 --> 01:47:17,759 Speaker 2: so ironically, the Saint Louis Steamers averaged about eighteen seventeen 1812 01:47:17,800 --> 01:47:20,800 Speaker 2: thousand people, and I ate our first year shocking. So 1813 01:47:20,840 --> 01:47:23,960 Speaker 2: we sold out the Czecherdome. The Blues were there, and 1814 01:47:24,000 --> 01:47:26,599 Speaker 2: the guys that ran the Blues thought we were a circus, 1815 01:47:26,640 --> 01:47:29,479 Speaker 2: and I said, I know, and everybody loves the circus. 1816 01:47:29,520 --> 01:47:34,520 Speaker 2: You don't get it, do you. We were unbelievably successful, 1817 01:47:34,720 --> 01:47:37,920 Speaker 2: and then I got hired at the age at twenty 1818 01:47:37,960 --> 01:47:40,840 Speaker 2: five to be the president of Baltimore Blast, which is 1819 01:47:40,880 --> 01:47:44,160 Speaker 2: my passion for Baltimore. We sold out pretty much every 1820 01:47:44,200 --> 01:47:47,559 Speaker 2: game there and did well. And then went to Kansas 1821 01:47:47,680 --> 01:47:50,720 Speaker 2: City and we created the comments and did extremely well there. 1822 01:47:50,800 --> 01:47:55,400 Speaker 1: Okay, okay, a little bit slower. These seats don't sell themselves. 1823 01:47:55,680 --> 01:47:58,960 Speaker 1: What was the special philosophy were employing to make these 1824 01:47:59,320 --> 01:48:00,600 Speaker 1: teams successful? 1825 01:48:01,160 --> 01:48:05,559 Speaker 2: We worked hard, honestly. So for example, in Baltimore, you know, 1826 01:48:05,640 --> 01:48:07,920 Speaker 2: I was a twenty six twenty seven year old kid, 1827 01:48:08,040 --> 01:48:10,280 Speaker 2: and I was the president of the whole organization, so 1828 01:48:10,360 --> 01:48:15,800 Speaker 2: everything reported into me. And so in the summer when 1829 01:48:15,840 --> 01:48:18,360 Speaker 2: we had our we hadn't started playing yet, so we 1830 01:48:18,360 --> 01:48:22,000 Speaker 2: were in breaking in the community. We created a concept 1831 01:48:22,160 --> 01:48:25,160 Speaker 2: called beat the Goalie. So we brought our players in early, 1832 01:48:25,320 --> 01:48:27,880 Speaker 2: paid them nothing. It was I think we paid one 1833 01:48:27,880 --> 01:48:30,360 Speaker 2: thousand dollars a month. That was kind of ridiculous at 1834 01:48:30,360 --> 01:48:34,479 Speaker 2: the time. Except Geentenheimer was our keeper. I remember him 1835 01:48:34,560 --> 01:48:38,320 Speaker 2: quite well. And then we had another kid named Alan Mayer, 1836 01:48:40,160 --> 01:48:42,160 Speaker 2: and we brought him in during the summer and said, look, 1837 01:48:42,160 --> 01:48:43,960 Speaker 2: we're going to we're going to work. You're going to 1838 01:48:44,000 --> 01:48:46,640 Speaker 2: help me go out and meet everybody in this community. 1839 01:48:46,760 --> 01:48:50,400 Speaker 2: And every weekend we'd go to every festival and every 1840 01:48:50,439 --> 01:48:53,439 Speaker 2: fair everywhere in Baltimore and Maryland, and we do beat 1841 01:48:53,479 --> 01:48:56,599 Speaker 2: the goalie. And by the way, I was the third goalie, 1842 01:48:56,640 --> 01:48:59,800 Speaker 2: so we'd rotate, so I'd give them a break and 1843 01:49:00,120 --> 01:49:01,920 Speaker 2: I wouldn't let the kids score on me. That was 1844 01:49:01,960 --> 01:49:04,760 Speaker 2: the difference. I'm like, no one's scoring on me today. 1845 01:49:05,840 --> 01:49:09,200 Speaker 2: We met thousands, tens of thousands of people and turned 1846 01:49:09,200 --> 01:49:11,679 Speaker 2: them into Blast fans because we got to know them 1847 01:49:11,800 --> 01:49:15,200 Speaker 2: and we got to build a relationship. And then we 1848 01:49:15,800 --> 01:49:19,000 Speaker 2: did a thing in Saint Louis, in Kansas City and 1849 01:49:19,040 --> 01:49:23,080 Speaker 2: in Baltimar called Introductions, which no one had ever tried before. 1850 01:49:23,560 --> 01:49:27,120 Speaker 2: So I was working with my brothers in Kansas City, 1851 01:49:27,160 --> 01:49:31,320 Speaker 2: but in Saint Louis and Baltimore, I did Introductions. So 1852 01:49:32,479 --> 01:49:35,439 Speaker 2: in Saint Louis we created a song. We stole a 1853 01:49:35,479 --> 01:49:38,960 Speaker 2: song called Ain't No Stopping Us Now, and I created 1854 01:49:38,960 --> 01:49:41,000 Speaker 2: a light show with mirror balls and I'd turn out 1855 01:49:41,000 --> 01:49:43,480 Speaker 2: the lights and I'd use small because we were the steamers, 1856 01:49:43,520 --> 01:49:45,800 Speaker 2: so we came out of steam and I made it 1857 01:49:45,840 --> 01:49:50,160 Speaker 2: a show. And then in Baltimore we did Diana Ross 1858 01:49:50,160 --> 01:49:52,640 Speaker 2: I'm Coming Out. I made it a bigger show. And 1859 01:49:52,680 --> 01:49:55,360 Speaker 2: by the time we got to Kansas City, we were absolute, 1860 01:49:55,840 --> 01:49:59,240 Speaker 2: like perfect at producing the circus and we were the 1861 01:49:59,280 --> 01:50:03,880 Speaker 2: circus and we created a ten minute show in an 1862 01:50:03,880 --> 01:50:06,479 Speaker 2: introduction where every night we do a different piece of 1863 01:50:06,560 --> 01:50:10,680 Speaker 2: music and I'd orchestrate a different special effect from fireworks 1864 01:50:10,720 --> 01:50:14,439 Speaker 2: to mirror balls, to smoke to lasers. And one day, 1865 01:50:14,920 --> 01:50:17,120 Speaker 2: true story, We're sitting at lunch in Kansas City, my 1866 01:50:17,160 --> 01:50:20,200 Speaker 2: brother and I and the bus boy comes up and 1867 01:50:20,320 --> 01:50:23,280 Speaker 2: I'm looking at this kid and he says a few 1868 01:50:23,280 --> 01:50:25,920 Speaker 2: words and I'm like, has anyone told you you look 1869 01:50:26,240 --> 01:50:29,600 Speaker 2: exactly like Michael Jackson And he says, oh, yeah, I 1870 01:50:29,680 --> 01:50:33,200 Speaker 2: do a Michael Jackson imitation. I said, well, can you 1871 01:50:33,720 --> 01:50:35,560 Speaker 2: show me? So right there in the middle of the 1872 01:50:35,640 --> 01:50:38,599 Speaker 2: hind it where we're having lunch, he is the middle. 1873 01:50:40,840 --> 01:50:43,400 Speaker 2: I want you to come see me after your shift today. 1874 01:50:43,960 --> 01:50:46,920 Speaker 2: He came down to the Kemper arena and I said, 1875 01:50:47,120 --> 01:50:49,680 Speaker 2: do you sing? And he sings a few songs he 1876 01:50:49,840 --> 01:50:52,559 Speaker 2: is Michael Jackson. Like, my god, I've never seen anything 1877 01:50:52,640 --> 01:50:55,559 Speaker 2: like it. We put him in the pregame show, so 1878 01:50:55,680 --> 01:50:58,519 Speaker 2: we do some Michael Jackson music. Introduced this young man. 1879 01:50:59,000 --> 01:51:01,160 Speaker 2: He's out there in the middle of it, and he's 1880 01:51:01,240 --> 01:51:04,439 Speaker 2: so good that everyone thinks it's Michael Jackson. I'm like, yeah, 1881 01:51:04,439 --> 01:51:08,160 Speaker 2: Michael Jackson is doing the opening of a Kansas City comments, 1882 01:51:08,439 --> 01:51:13,040 Speaker 2: believe what you will. He became a sensation. We actually 1883 01:51:14,520 --> 01:51:17,920 Speaker 2: everyone would show up ten minutes, had a tip off 1884 01:51:18,040 --> 01:51:21,160 Speaker 2: to see the pregame show. Sixteen thousand people every night, 1885 01:51:21,200 --> 01:51:24,080 Speaker 2: and we became a sensation. That was really the first 1886 01:51:24,080 --> 01:51:27,839 Speaker 2: time you saw introductions in sports, and it was the beginning. 1887 01:51:27,880 --> 01:51:30,840 Speaker 2: And then I think the bulls and Steve Shamwald came 1888 01:51:30,880 --> 01:51:33,160 Speaker 2: in and did an even better job. God bless him 1889 01:51:33,479 --> 01:51:37,400 Speaker 2: with Manford, man of the Earth being if I'm not mistaken, 1890 01:51:37,880 --> 01:51:42,559 Speaker 2: and so we were perfectionists though, and I'd literally go 1891 01:51:42,760 --> 01:51:47,240 Speaker 2: create a new ten minute pregame show every night, and 1892 01:51:47,280 --> 01:51:50,719 Speaker 2: I'd hire people. I brought it in a kid's choir 1893 01:51:50,800 --> 01:51:53,840 Speaker 2: one night to do the course for Kenny Loggins. I'm 1894 01:51:53,840 --> 01:51:56,920 Speaker 2: free and we'd coreograph it and rehearse it. And I 1895 01:51:57,000 --> 01:51:59,840 Speaker 2: had these special effect guys that were stagehand guys for 1896 01:52:00,240 --> 01:52:02,640 Speaker 2: and Roll, and I said, I want to create a 1897 01:52:02,720 --> 01:52:05,000 Speaker 2: rock and roll show every night for ten minutes before 1898 01:52:05,000 --> 01:52:08,320 Speaker 2: we introduced the players. It was going along swimmingly until 1899 01:52:08,320 --> 01:52:10,720 Speaker 2: one night the mirror ball he forgot to turn the 1900 01:52:10,720 --> 01:52:13,000 Speaker 2: crane off and it hit the top of the ceiling 1901 01:52:13,120 --> 01:52:15,439 Speaker 2: busted and came down on the floor and almost took 1902 01:52:15,439 --> 01:52:18,519 Speaker 2: out my entire team, But we had a good time. 1903 01:52:18,680 --> 01:52:22,120 Speaker 2: It was a life lesson. I'd learned how important it 1904 01:52:22,200 --> 01:52:25,960 Speaker 2: was to put on a show. And also we kind 1905 01:52:25,960 --> 01:52:28,080 Speaker 2: of ran temper arenas, so we got to get into 1906 01:52:28,120 --> 01:52:31,679 Speaker 2: the rock and roll business and we were promoters. So 1907 01:52:32,960 --> 01:52:35,200 Speaker 2: that's what got me into arenas, and that's what got 1908 01:52:35,240 --> 01:52:38,880 Speaker 2: me into music, and that's what got me into eventually promotion. 1909 01:52:40,040 --> 01:52:41,759 Speaker 1: So where'd you go From Kansas City? 1910 01:52:42,680 --> 01:52:47,439 Speaker 2: I was hired as the youngest person ever for the 1911 01:52:47,520 --> 01:52:50,840 Speaker 2: Minnesota Timberwolves. That was their first employee, and I was 1912 01:52:50,880 --> 01:52:53,680 Speaker 2: in charge of all the business and we broke at 1913 01:52:53,720 --> 01:52:56,920 Speaker 2: tennants records our first year at the Metrodome, so to 1914 01:52:56,920 --> 01:52:59,400 Speaker 2: this day, I think they still stand. We sold over 1915 01:52:59,439 --> 01:53:02,760 Speaker 2: a million tickets our first year for the Timberwhiss that 1916 01:53:02,800 --> 01:53:06,120 Speaker 2: we averaged something like twenty seven thousand people a night. 1917 01:53:06,520 --> 01:53:10,720 Speaker 2: We were terrible, terrible, the worst form of basketball mankind 1918 01:53:10,720 --> 01:53:14,400 Speaker 2: had ever invented. Bill Musselman believed in running out the 1919 01:53:14,560 --> 01:53:18,240 Speaker 2: shot clock every possession and if a player tried to 1920 01:53:18,280 --> 01:53:20,960 Speaker 2: score too quickly, he'd bentioned. It was like, oh, this 1921 01:53:21,120 --> 01:53:24,880 Speaker 2: is god awful. But we sold twenty seven thousand tickets 1922 01:53:24,920 --> 01:53:27,360 Speaker 2: a night, and then we moved into the new Target 1923 01:53:27,400 --> 01:53:31,680 Speaker 2: Center and helped build that. Although that was not my 1924 01:53:31,760 --> 01:53:34,880 Speaker 2: favorite building, it's amazing it's still there today. They needed 1925 01:53:34,880 --> 01:53:37,439 Speaker 2: a new arena in Minnesota, the timber Will snow it 1926 01:53:38,880 --> 01:53:42,200 Speaker 2: and then spent four years there and then hired as 1927 01:53:42,200 --> 01:53:46,960 Speaker 2: the youngest president in the NBA for the Denver Nuggets 1928 01:53:47,000 --> 01:53:50,520 Speaker 2: and came in and resurrected that franchise from near bankruptcy, 1929 01:53:51,200 --> 01:53:54,320 Speaker 2: and then we had great success on the court. Bernie 1930 01:53:54,360 --> 01:53:58,439 Speaker 2: Bickersteph was the general manager and Danis was the head coach, 1931 01:53:58,479 --> 01:54:04,080 Speaker 2: and we had the mutumble mathon Zoellis and a group 1932 01:54:04,200 --> 01:54:07,360 Speaker 2: of kids that were fantastic, and we made it all 1933 01:54:07,439 --> 01:54:09,800 Speaker 2: the way to the Western Conference finals, I think in 1934 01:54:09,880 --> 01:54:12,559 Speaker 2: our third year, and that's where we created the Pepsi 1935 01:54:12,640 --> 01:54:14,760 Speaker 2: Center at the time, so I negotiated the deal to 1936 01:54:14,800 --> 01:54:17,200 Speaker 2: build a new arena and we decided to do it 1937 01:54:17,280 --> 01:54:19,920 Speaker 2: privately and it became the Pepsi Center. And then I 1938 01:54:20,000 --> 01:54:23,519 Speaker 2: went from there to a thing called the La Kings 1939 01:54:24,160 --> 01:54:26,040 Speaker 2: and it became ag. 1940 01:54:27,680 --> 01:54:33,320 Speaker 1: Okay. Now that's a megalopolis in downtown Los Angeles. Tell 1941 01:54:33,400 --> 01:54:37,360 Speaker 1: me how you ran the Kings and how you ultimately 1942 01:54:37,560 --> 01:54:40,240 Speaker 1: came up with the idea for LA Live, et cetera. 1943 01:54:41,800 --> 01:54:45,600 Speaker 2: So the Kings Phil Phil was smart. Phil is smart. 1944 01:54:46,320 --> 01:54:49,720 Speaker 2: He bought him out of bankruptcy, paid everybody off, God 1945 01:54:49,760 --> 01:54:53,360 Speaker 2: bless him. Convinced me to leave what I was doing 1946 01:54:53,560 --> 01:54:59,560 Speaker 2: and moved to LA which that was tough and a transition. 1947 01:55:00,040 --> 01:55:02,720 Speaker 2: Frankly and my family stayed back in Denver for a 1948 01:55:02,800 --> 01:55:07,000 Speaker 2: while while I was out in LA. So we were 1949 01:55:07,120 --> 01:55:09,880 Speaker 2: a terrible team that didn't have a philosophy. We had 1950 01:55:09,920 --> 01:55:11,880 Speaker 2: just traded away the greatest player in the history of 1951 01:55:11,920 --> 01:55:15,240 Speaker 2: the game and Wayne Gretzky, which was stupid, and we 1952 01:55:15,400 --> 01:55:16,920 Speaker 2: had to build it from there, and I ended up 1953 01:55:16,960 --> 01:55:19,840 Speaker 2: having to fire everybody and bring on a whole new staff. 1954 01:55:19,880 --> 01:55:22,320 Speaker 2: And I didn't know anything about hockey, so I had 1955 01:55:22,360 --> 01:55:24,920 Speaker 2: to teach myself the game, and I wasn't very good 1956 01:55:24,960 --> 01:55:26,400 Speaker 2: at it, by the way. At first we made a 1957 01:55:26,440 --> 01:55:31,280 Speaker 2: lot of mistakes, but then we Phil partnered with a 1958 01:55:31,320 --> 01:55:33,520 Speaker 2: guy named Ed Rosky, and I got to know ed Rosky, 1959 01:55:33,560 --> 01:55:36,440 Speaker 2: and ed Roski's the guy that created the genius behind 1960 01:55:36,600 --> 01:55:39,760 Speaker 2: LA Live. That was Ed's vision, not mine, not Phills, 1961 01:55:39,760 --> 01:55:42,200 Speaker 2: that was Eds. But we took it and ran with 1962 01:55:42,320 --> 01:55:45,160 Speaker 2: it as I said. We took a good idea and said, Okay, 1963 01:55:45,320 --> 01:55:47,360 Speaker 2: I get it. Let me go try to make this happen. 1964 01:55:48,120 --> 01:55:51,760 Speaker 2: Forged an unbelievable partnership with doctor Buss. He put me 1965 01:55:51,880 --> 01:55:54,520 Speaker 2: under his wing and I learned about naming rights and 1966 01:55:54,560 --> 01:55:58,000 Speaker 2: premium seats and showtime. I was the only non Bust 1967 01:55:58,080 --> 01:56:00,680 Speaker 2: member on the board there for a very long time 1968 01:56:00,800 --> 01:56:04,360 Speaker 2: and got to watch genius at work. We won. I 1969 01:56:04,480 --> 01:56:08,000 Speaker 2: still have I think five or six championships and rings 1970 01:56:08,200 --> 01:56:11,760 Speaker 2: from my time with the Lakers. Loved Genie Buss, loved 1971 01:56:11,760 --> 01:56:14,440 Speaker 2: the Bus family, loved doctor Buss. He taught me more 1972 01:56:14,520 --> 01:56:17,240 Speaker 2: than anybody I've ever been around in my life and 1973 01:56:17,440 --> 01:56:21,440 Speaker 2: was an unbelievably good partner. We were highly lucky with 1974 01:56:21,560 --> 01:56:25,800 Speaker 2: Staple Center that we had two kids named Shaquille O'Neil 1975 01:56:26,080 --> 01:56:29,360 Speaker 2: and Kobe Bryant, and we won championships, and then when 1976 01:56:29,440 --> 01:56:32,640 Speaker 2: they slowed down, the King started winning championships in twenty 1977 01:56:32,680 --> 01:56:35,680 Speaker 2: twelve and twenty fourteen and won Stanley Cups. So we 1978 01:56:35,800 --> 01:56:39,240 Speaker 2: were blessed by the Lakers in the run they had 1979 01:56:39,320 --> 01:56:44,280 Speaker 2: and Jerry West and Phil Jackson. Amazing to be around 1980 01:56:44,360 --> 01:56:49,600 Speaker 2: those gentlemen and learn that literally from doc Bus to 1981 01:56:50,240 --> 01:56:54,480 Speaker 2: Jerry West, to Phil Jackson and just watched them. They 1982 01:56:54,640 --> 01:56:57,040 Speaker 2: taught me a lot about how to win, and I 1983 01:56:57,240 --> 01:57:00,560 Speaker 2: use that in order to help the King win and 1984 01:57:00,640 --> 01:57:04,040 Speaker 2: helped the Galaxy win, and we grew as a company. 1985 01:57:04,160 --> 01:57:07,000 Speaker 2: We bought the only Galaxy. We built the Home Depot Center, 1986 01:57:07,040 --> 01:57:08,480 Speaker 2: and then we went out and I got a little 1987 01:57:08,760 --> 01:57:11,120 Speaker 2: English lad named David Beckham to come to the league 1988 01:57:11,160 --> 01:57:13,880 Speaker 2: and to help us change the league forever. And then 1989 01:57:13,960 --> 01:57:16,680 Speaker 2: we got into the promotion business and decided to do 1990 01:57:16,840 --> 01:57:20,480 Speaker 2: concerts and became the second largest promotion company in the 1991 01:57:20,520 --> 01:57:24,760 Speaker 2: world and bought We were lucky. We found a partner 1992 01:57:24,800 --> 01:57:28,160 Speaker 2: and a young man named Paul Tillett, and became partners 1993 01:57:28,200 --> 01:57:31,040 Speaker 2: in Coachella and then created the festival called stage Coach. 1994 01:57:31,120 --> 01:57:35,480 Speaker 2: The Eagles were our partners on Stage Coach originally, and 1995 01:57:35,640 --> 01:57:39,160 Speaker 2: we grew from there, and we jumped into Randy Phillips 1996 01:57:39,240 --> 01:57:42,240 Speaker 2: and j Marciano got us into things like Hyde Park. 1997 01:57:43,160 --> 01:57:45,840 Speaker 2: We built new arenas in London, and built a new 1998 01:57:45,880 --> 01:57:49,200 Speaker 2: arena in Berlin at the Wall, literally staring at the 1999 01:57:49,240 --> 01:57:53,440 Speaker 2: wall our first night we had Metallica opened the building 2000 01:57:53,520 --> 01:57:56,400 Speaker 2: for us, and five thousand people protested and I couldn't 2001 01:57:56,480 --> 01:57:59,720 Speaker 2: understand it. It's like, wait a minute. We privatized the building, 2002 01:58:00,000 --> 01:58:01,920 Speaker 2: built it for free. We hired all these people. We 2003 01:58:02,000 --> 01:58:05,240 Speaker 2: brought in Metallica to open the building. What are they protesting? 2004 01:58:05,320 --> 01:58:08,800 Speaker 2: And they said, they're just protesting. They don't care. They 2005 01:58:09,080 --> 01:58:12,040 Speaker 2: just wanted to come together and protest you because they can. 2006 01:58:14,120 --> 01:58:20,080 Speaker 2: So we built arenas in Shanghai and other places around 2007 01:58:20,120 --> 01:58:23,320 Speaker 2: the world. It was an unbelievable experience. Philly Anshuts is 2008 01:58:23,520 --> 01:58:26,800 Speaker 2: to this day someone I highly respect for the risk 2009 01:58:27,040 --> 01:58:28,680 Speaker 2: and the money he gave us to go build that 2010 01:58:28,800 --> 01:58:31,400 Speaker 2: company and get into all things that he probably would 2011 01:58:31,480 --> 01:58:33,240 Speaker 2: look at me and go, what the hell are you 2012 01:58:33,360 --> 01:58:36,840 Speaker 2: doing here? But it was an amazing experience in an 2013 01:58:36,840 --> 01:58:40,120 Speaker 2: amazing twenty years, and we enjoyed every moment of including 2014 01:58:40,240 --> 01:58:44,120 Speaker 2: building what became the most important entertainment district in the industry, 2015 01:58:44,280 --> 01:58:47,440 Speaker 2: LA Live and showing what you could do. I remember 2016 01:58:47,520 --> 01:58:51,120 Speaker 2: when we were debating building Staples Center and getting approval, 2017 01:58:51,120 --> 01:58:54,200 Speaker 2: and remember we priva sized it, so we built the 2018 01:58:54,320 --> 01:58:57,840 Speaker 2: arena ourselves privately. Mister Anshuts and had Rosky paid for 2019 01:58:57,960 --> 01:59:01,560 Speaker 2: that out of their own pockets, and in the debate 2020 01:59:01,800 --> 01:59:04,280 Speaker 2: to get entitlement there was a council the named Joel Wax, 2021 01:59:04,760 --> 01:59:07,600 Speaker 2: and Joel was opposing us because he could. He was 2022 01:59:07,840 --> 01:59:11,960 Speaker 2: Piston on the parade and Joel would hold these public 2023 01:59:12,080 --> 01:59:15,280 Speaker 2: meetings and be showcases. And as I learned at the 2024 01:59:15,360 --> 01:59:18,920 Speaker 2: time and now it's my other favorite, saying every city 2025 01:59:19,040 --> 01:59:23,080 Speaker 2: has cave people, which is citizens against virtually everything. And 2026 01:59:23,200 --> 01:59:26,560 Speaker 2: so they all came out, and Joel brought in this 2027 01:59:26,680 --> 01:59:29,760 Speaker 2: professor from the University of Chicago, and he said, sports 2028 01:59:29,840 --> 01:59:33,680 Speaker 2: facilities do not make an economic difference. Sports facilities don't 2029 01:59:33,720 --> 01:59:37,840 Speaker 2: create jobs. Sports facilities will have zero impact on the 2030 01:59:37,960 --> 01:59:40,760 Speaker 2: future of urban growth in a community. And there's no 2031 01:59:40,960 --> 01:59:44,120 Speaker 2: reason to get these guys the entitlement they want because 2032 01:59:44,120 --> 01:59:47,520 Speaker 2: they won't help the city. They'll hurt the city. And 2033 01:59:47,640 --> 01:59:49,760 Speaker 2: I remember getting up after the guy spoke and said, 2034 01:59:49,840 --> 01:59:52,240 Speaker 2: I cannot believe this man is teaching our kids. We 2035 01:59:52,320 --> 01:59:55,960 Speaker 2: have a serious problem. Turns out, I think Staple Center 2036 01:59:56,040 --> 01:59:58,760 Speaker 2: saved downtown Los Angeles. And when you look at downtown 2037 01:59:58,800 --> 02:00:00,880 Speaker 2: Los Angeles, to the credit of ed Rosky and the 2038 02:00:00,960 --> 02:00:05,960 Speaker 2: vision he had, it dynamically changed a city that no 2039 02:00:06,080 --> 02:00:08,120 Speaker 2: one wanted to live and no one wanted to work, 2040 02:00:08,160 --> 02:00:10,040 Speaker 2: and then no one wanted to come down and play 2041 02:00:10,080 --> 02:00:14,560 Speaker 2: in and LA Live and the investment that happened the JW. 2042 02:00:14,800 --> 02:00:19,160 Speaker 2: Marriott and the Ritz the Convention Center and turning that 2043 02:00:19,480 --> 02:00:22,480 Speaker 2: back into something that was an important, dominant convention center 2044 02:00:22,520 --> 02:00:26,120 Speaker 2: in the industry pretty amazing. And then my favorite part 2045 02:00:26,160 --> 02:00:28,320 Speaker 2: of my favorite thing is the Grammy Museum that we 2046 02:00:28,400 --> 02:00:34,400 Speaker 2: built there and a wonderful gentleman that also adopted me, 2047 02:00:34,520 --> 02:00:38,600 Speaker 2: Jerry Perncio, giving us the grant to help build that thing, 2048 02:00:39,320 --> 02:00:43,760 Speaker 2: and moving the Grammys downtown and being a part of 2049 02:00:44,480 --> 02:00:50,600 Speaker 2: the lure of Staples Center, and changing lives, hopefully of 2050 02:00:50,920 --> 02:00:54,400 Speaker 2: thousands and thousands of kids because we put music back 2051 02:00:54,440 --> 02:00:56,680 Speaker 2: into schools at a time when they were the first 2052 02:00:56,760 --> 02:01:00,120 Speaker 2: damn program everybody was yanking out of the curriculum. So 2053 02:01:00,600 --> 02:01:04,960 Speaker 2: really enjoyed LA Live and enjoyed AG, enjoyed AG Presents, 2054 02:01:05,120 --> 02:01:09,880 Speaker 2: and it was a fascinating time. But eventually, when you 2055 02:01:10,280 --> 02:01:12,840 Speaker 2: have two people that are a bit polar opposite, which 2056 02:01:12,920 --> 02:01:15,440 Speaker 2: Phil and I were politically and in a lot of 2057 02:01:15,520 --> 02:01:17,080 Speaker 2: other ways. And by the way, it was his company 2058 02:01:17,400 --> 02:01:19,880 Speaker 2: and he felt like I didn't respect that he was 2059 02:01:19,920 --> 02:01:24,960 Speaker 2: probably right after twenty years, I forgot that he wrote 2060 02:01:24,960 --> 02:01:27,680 Speaker 2: the checks and he owned it. And so I respect 2061 02:01:27,760 --> 02:01:30,120 Speaker 2: that now as somebody that owns the company and has 2062 02:01:30,200 --> 02:01:33,080 Speaker 2: taken the financial risk that we've taken here, I get 2063 02:01:33,160 --> 02:01:36,960 Speaker 2: that and so fortunate that I get a chance to 2064 02:01:37,000 --> 02:01:40,960 Speaker 2: go build my own company with Irving and our executives 2065 02:01:41,000 --> 02:01:44,640 Speaker 2: here and my daughter and Silberly, Okay. 2066 02:01:44,560 --> 02:01:48,200 Speaker 1: It ends with AEG very quickly. You take a job 2067 02:01:48,320 --> 02:01:52,080 Speaker 1: in Toronto. My personal belief is when they have a 2068 02:01:52,200 --> 02:01:56,040 Speaker 1: job that good, you know you want to sit back 2069 02:01:56,560 --> 02:02:01,320 Speaker 1: and assess the landscape. Although you were successfully Toronto, was 2070 02:02:01,440 --> 02:02:05,200 Speaker 1: that a rash decision? And ultimately, why did you decide 2071 02:02:05,240 --> 02:02:06,120 Speaker 1: to leave Toronto? 2072 02:02:06,960 --> 02:02:09,680 Speaker 2: So I went to Toronto just because I didn't want 2073 02:02:09,680 --> 02:02:13,120 Speaker 2: to pick a fight with Phil and I had to 2074 02:02:13,200 --> 02:02:16,360 Speaker 2: respect his decision that we needed to part and go 2075 02:02:16,600 --> 02:02:19,200 Speaker 2: for different ways. And I didn't want to stay in 2076 02:02:19,400 --> 02:02:25,720 Speaker 2: la because one it hurt right, we were winning championships, 2077 02:02:25,760 --> 02:02:30,520 Speaker 2: and it just I didn't want to have to sit 2078 02:02:30,600 --> 02:02:34,280 Speaker 2: here and go every day and have the Kings Lakers 2079 02:02:34,440 --> 02:02:37,920 Speaker 2: Galaxy results on TV that night and me going, you know, 2080 02:02:38,440 --> 02:02:41,720 Speaker 2: what the hell? So it was a good decision to 2081 02:02:41,840 --> 02:02:44,480 Speaker 2: move and get out and not pick a fight and 2082 02:02:44,640 --> 02:02:48,400 Speaker 2: not have a conflict. If I would have started OVG 2083 02:02:49,120 --> 02:02:51,600 Speaker 2: that first year. My guess is it would have been 2084 02:02:51,640 --> 02:02:55,440 Speaker 2: a bigger fight between the two companies because that that 2085 02:02:55,640 --> 02:02:59,840 Speaker 2: was really rubbing, and out of respect to Phil, he 2086 02:03:00,040 --> 02:03:03,480 Speaker 2: treated me well at AG for most of the years 2087 02:03:03,520 --> 02:03:06,280 Speaker 2: and he gave me a great opportunity, and so I 2088 02:03:06,360 --> 02:03:09,640 Speaker 2: wasn't going to go pick that fight. And I had 2089 02:03:09,720 --> 02:03:12,320 Speaker 2: to get out of LA and let him go do 2090 02:03:12,520 --> 02:03:14,720 Speaker 2: his thing. And by the way, they have a hell 2091 02:03:14,760 --> 02:03:18,520 Speaker 2: of a company today. So I went to Toronto. Larry 2092 02:03:18,560 --> 02:03:21,360 Speaker 2: Tannebon was kind enough to convince me to come up there, 2093 02:03:22,440 --> 02:03:28,640 Speaker 2: and I quickly realized they were definitely afraid of winning. Crazy, right, 2094 02:03:28,880 --> 02:03:31,240 Speaker 2: we're in the sports business. We should get paid to 2095 02:03:31,320 --> 02:03:34,000 Speaker 2: win and that's all we should think about. They were 2096 02:03:34,080 --> 02:03:36,120 Speaker 2: afraid to win, didn't know how to win, and had 2097 02:03:36,160 --> 02:03:39,360 Speaker 2: too much pressure on them. I remember going to one 2098 02:03:39,360 --> 02:03:43,280 Speaker 2: of my first soccer games for the Toronto FC and 2099 02:03:43,520 --> 02:03:46,240 Speaker 2: we're in this it was a sweep and I called 2100 02:03:46,280 --> 02:03:49,920 Speaker 2: a nutri suite. It was a sweet substitute and I said, 2101 02:03:49,960 --> 02:03:52,360 Speaker 2: I'm going to go outside and sit outside and I said, 2102 02:03:53,280 --> 02:03:55,800 Speaker 2: don't do that. I'm like, why not? I said, well, 2103 02:03:55,840 --> 02:03:57,560 Speaker 2: the fans are going to help you and throw things 2104 02:03:57,600 --> 02:03:58,920 Speaker 2: at you. And I said, well, first of all, we 2105 02:03:59,040 --> 02:04:01,560 Speaker 2: deserve it, and if I was a fan, I threw 2106 02:04:01,720 --> 02:04:03,760 Speaker 2: rocks at me based on the way you guys have 2107 02:04:03,920 --> 02:04:06,960 Speaker 2: run this franchise. We stuck, so let them have that 2108 02:04:07,240 --> 02:04:09,720 Speaker 2: me and it'll make them feel better. And sure enough 2109 02:04:09,800 --> 02:04:12,720 Speaker 2: they did. They hurled stuff at me and insulted me, 2110 02:04:12,760 --> 02:04:14,480 Speaker 2: and I'm like, you're right, I get it. We're going 2111 02:04:14,520 --> 02:04:18,600 Speaker 2: to switch it. But it taught me about kind of 2112 02:04:19,200 --> 02:04:22,120 Speaker 2: how they just respect. They forgot about the fans. So 2113 02:04:22,280 --> 02:04:25,040 Speaker 2: we came in and we rebuilt the organizations. Was. I 2114 02:04:25,160 --> 02:04:28,360 Speaker 2: was there roughly four years, so two years full time 2115 02:04:28,440 --> 02:04:31,120 Speaker 2: in two years where I was allowed to do both jobs. 2116 02:04:31,200 --> 02:04:34,080 Speaker 2: It was. It was actually a lot of fun. Met 2117 02:04:34,240 --> 02:04:37,280 Speaker 2: great people, had a great staff, great organization. Stolen me 2118 02:04:37,440 --> 02:04:40,200 Speaker 2: Si you Jerry from Denver and he came in, was 2119 02:04:40,280 --> 02:04:45,200 Speaker 2: the president. Stole a kid a kid. Then Tim Vezbachenko 2120 02:04:45,320 --> 02:04:49,120 Speaker 2: from MLS and he became my president. We won championships 2121 02:04:49,160 --> 02:04:54,000 Speaker 2: with TFC. We went and got Giovinco and he came 2122 02:04:54,040 --> 02:04:56,840 Speaker 2: in and toured the league up Michael Bradley. So we 2123 02:04:57,040 --> 02:04:58,360 Speaker 2: had a lot of fun with the team and that 2124 02:04:58,440 --> 02:05:01,000 Speaker 2: team changed the league in a iamic way and we 2125 02:05:01,160 --> 02:05:05,640 Speaker 2: were winning championships and having fun there and then Messa. 2126 02:05:05,680 --> 02:05:08,080 Speaker 2: I won a championship with the Raptors that I was 2127 02:05:08,200 --> 02:05:10,920 Speaker 2: fortunate enough to be a part of at the end there, 2128 02:05:11,560 --> 02:05:14,480 Speaker 2: and you know, I still think they're going to win 2129 02:05:14,520 --> 02:05:17,480 Speaker 2: a Stanley Cup. I hired Brendan Shanahan to be the 2130 02:05:17,520 --> 02:05:19,360 Speaker 2: president there, and I think they're on the right track 2131 02:05:19,440 --> 02:05:22,280 Speaker 2: and will win a Stanley Cup here. So I enjoyed winning. 2132 02:05:23,240 --> 02:05:27,600 Speaker 2: That was fun. Championships are fun. That culture was fun. 2133 02:05:28,240 --> 02:05:31,160 Speaker 2: We became much more aggressive at music, had a good 2134 02:05:31,280 --> 02:05:34,600 Speaker 2: joint venture with Live Nation, made music a much higher 2135 02:05:34,640 --> 02:05:38,640 Speaker 2: priority in the building, built a new training center for 2136 02:05:38,720 --> 02:05:42,640 Speaker 2: the Raptors, built essentially a new stadium for Toronto FC, 2137 02:05:43,560 --> 02:05:48,600 Speaker 2: and great owners with Rogers, Bell and Larry and enjoyed it. 2138 02:05:48,680 --> 02:05:51,280 Speaker 2: But I told them day one, hey, I'm going to 2139 02:05:51,360 --> 02:05:54,560 Speaker 2: do this, but understand, there's going to be a day 2140 02:05:54,600 --> 02:05:58,000 Speaker 2: and time sometime in a five years here where I'm 2141 02:05:58,080 --> 02:06:01,360 Speaker 2: going to go build my own company. And I just 2142 02:06:01,520 --> 02:06:03,240 Speaker 2: want you to know that's what I'm going to do. 2143 02:06:03,760 --> 02:06:06,800 Speaker 2: I'm not going to be here forever. And they knew it. 2144 02:06:06,960 --> 02:06:10,200 Speaker 2: But you know, when I walked in the door one 2145 02:06:10,240 --> 02:06:12,080 Speaker 2: day and said I think I want to go do that, 2146 02:06:13,240 --> 02:06:14,960 Speaker 2: it was hard because we were just starting to win. 2147 02:06:15,160 --> 02:06:17,760 Speaker 2: So we figured out a way to share, and I 2148 02:06:17,920 --> 02:06:22,000 Speaker 2: bounced between OVG and maple Lice forts and entertainment, and 2149 02:06:22,040 --> 02:06:24,560 Speaker 2: they were kind enough and good enough to allow me 2150 02:06:24,640 --> 02:06:26,560 Speaker 2: to do that for some period of time before we 2151 02:06:26,680 --> 02:06:32,000 Speaker 2: found a successor Do you have any free time or 2152 02:06:32,080 --> 02:06:35,280 Speaker 2: do you just consider work to be play? Where is 2153 02:06:35,320 --> 02:06:37,880 Speaker 2: there some you have down time where you either do 2154 02:06:38,040 --> 02:06:41,240 Speaker 2: something else, maybe you don't want to travel or watch 2155 02:06:41,280 --> 02:06:47,000 Speaker 2: streaming television, read whatever. So it's definitely work is not play. 2156 02:06:48,280 --> 02:06:52,640 Speaker 2: It's hard. I do like working, I do work hard, 2157 02:06:52,800 --> 02:06:55,280 Speaker 2: and I do really enjoy what I do. But it's hard. 2158 02:06:55,560 --> 02:06:59,480 Speaker 2: It's very hard. We started with four of us at OVG. 2159 02:07:00,240 --> 02:07:02,680 Speaker 2: We now have forty thousand employees, and so it's hard. 2160 02:07:03,160 --> 02:07:06,400 Speaker 2: And we've grown quicker than even I thought we would. 2161 02:07:08,440 --> 02:07:11,280 Speaker 2: You go from COVID to inflation to interest rates to 2162 02:07:11,840 --> 02:07:15,520 Speaker 2: you in Manchester Brexit. Still can't figure out why the 2163 02:07:15,600 --> 02:07:18,560 Speaker 2: hell they did that one. It is just you just 2164 02:07:19,640 --> 02:07:23,560 Speaker 2: it's not easy to be an entrepreneur anymore. I don't 2165 02:07:23,680 --> 02:07:26,320 Speaker 2: get the politics and most of the places we're at 2166 02:07:26,360 --> 02:07:28,920 Speaker 2: in putting here, I stretched my head saying, what the 2167 02:07:28,960 --> 02:07:31,920 Speaker 2: hell happened here? And we got to deal with a 2168 02:07:31,960 --> 02:07:38,160 Speaker 2: lot of politicians, some phenomenal like in Baltimore, unbelievably blessed. 2169 02:07:38,200 --> 02:07:42,080 Speaker 2: Mayor Scott is fantastic, young, dynamic, great for the city, 2170 02:07:42,240 --> 02:07:45,760 Speaker 2: believes in the city. Governor Moore, He's going to be 2171 02:07:45,800 --> 02:07:48,800 Speaker 2: president one day. This guy is fantastic, just fantastic. It 2172 02:07:48,880 --> 02:07:51,840 Speaker 2: gives me new hope for our country. There are still 2173 02:07:52,040 --> 02:07:56,080 Speaker 2: great leaders out there that are willing to sacrifice their 2174 02:07:56,160 --> 02:07:59,520 Speaker 2: lives and their time and their families to go make 2175 02:07:59,600 --> 02:08:01,400 Speaker 2: a different and he's going to make a difference. So 2176 02:08:01,480 --> 02:08:04,480 Speaker 2: we were lucky that we get to deal with a 2177 02:08:04,560 --> 02:08:08,840 Speaker 2: lot of good politicians. We you know, in Texas, I 2178 02:08:09,200 --> 02:08:11,400 Speaker 2: wanted to make it a carbon neutral building, and they're 2179 02:08:11,440 --> 02:08:15,440 Speaker 2: looking at me, going what's carbon neutral? So you know, 2180 02:08:15,600 --> 02:08:18,040 Speaker 2: to each his own, and you've got to adopt, and 2181 02:08:18,720 --> 02:08:20,720 Speaker 2: you got to make sure you're a mirror image the 2182 02:08:20,760 --> 02:08:23,360 Speaker 2: community you're supposed to represent it. We're trying to do that. 2183 02:08:24,200 --> 02:08:28,880 Speaker 2: That's hard work. Traveling is hard work. I just spent 2184 02:08:29,040 --> 02:08:33,960 Speaker 2: three weeks traveling internationally. Hard work. But I look, I 2185 02:08:34,040 --> 02:08:36,160 Speaker 2: get to go to places now. I just came back 2186 02:08:36,200 --> 02:08:40,200 Speaker 2: from Riad. We don't understand Saudi Arabia. We're making a 2187 02:08:40,240 --> 02:08:43,720 Speaker 2: mistake with Saudi Arabia and the Crown Prince is going 2188 02:08:43,800 --> 02:08:46,400 Speaker 2: to change that country. And we have you could have 2189 02:08:46,520 --> 02:08:49,560 Speaker 2: your opinions on the politics there, but he's opening the 2190 02:08:49,600 --> 02:08:54,000 Speaker 2: country realts. You can't wave a switch and do it overnight. 2191 02:08:54,160 --> 02:08:57,440 Speaker 2: And I understand a lot of people on on what 2192 02:08:57,640 --> 02:09:02,280 Speaker 2: happened with the journalists and it's unfortunate. But as some 2193 02:09:02,440 --> 02:09:04,880 Speaker 2: of the people's Honey Arabia said to me, just people 2194 02:09:04,960 --> 02:09:07,080 Speaker 2: on the street when we would talk, and I said, 2195 02:09:07,280 --> 02:09:09,800 Speaker 2: tell me, I said, first, our lives are better. He's 2196 02:09:09,880 --> 02:09:12,440 Speaker 2: opening up society. The quality of life is ten times better. 2197 02:09:12,480 --> 02:09:16,840 Speaker 2: They're reinvesting, there's less less corruption, they're putting money back 2198 02:09:16,920 --> 02:09:20,440 Speaker 2: into the system. And by the way, look you guys 2199 02:09:20,800 --> 02:09:23,720 Speaker 2: didn't exactly do a great job with the Indians, and 2200 02:09:23,840 --> 02:09:28,840 Speaker 2: so you've got to understand there are moral standards and 2201 02:09:28,920 --> 02:09:31,720 Speaker 2: values each society needs to put upon themselves and then 2202 02:09:32,320 --> 02:09:35,360 Speaker 2: figure that out from within that society. I'm not sure 2203 02:09:35,480 --> 02:09:37,880 Speaker 2: you have the right to go tell us how we're 2204 02:09:37,920 --> 02:09:40,040 Speaker 2: supposed to run this country. And I'm like, I get it. 2205 02:09:40,280 --> 02:09:44,760 Speaker 2: I understand. I am shocked at the trillions and trillions 2206 02:09:44,760 --> 02:09:47,920 Speaker 2: of dollars they are putting into that country and rebuilding 2207 02:09:48,000 --> 02:09:51,040 Speaker 2: that country as quick as they are and by twenty thirty, 2208 02:09:51,440 --> 02:09:53,120 Speaker 2: Rion is going to be the center of the universe. 2209 02:09:53,200 --> 02:09:57,520 Speaker 2: The airport, the development, the arenas, which you see the 2210 02:09:57,560 --> 02:10:00,920 Speaker 2: arenas they're building there, they're all the charts. I've never 2211 02:10:00,960 --> 02:10:05,560 Speaker 2: seen anything like it. Abu Dhabi, Yes Island, Dubai, That 2212 02:10:05,680 --> 02:10:08,520 Speaker 2: whole world there is just amazing, and it's the center 2213 02:10:08,560 --> 02:10:11,160 Speaker 2: of the universe. And let's not forget they are right 2214 02:10:11,280 --> 02:10:14,560 Speaker 2: next to India, which is one of the fastest growing, 2215 02:10:14,600 --> 02:10:18,080 Speaker 2: most important countries in the world. They're right near Africa, 2216 02:10:18,640 --> 02:10:23,040 Speaker 2: and Africa is going to be a really critical part 2217 02:10:23,080 --> 02:10:26,000 Speaker 2: of the world and a part of our society that 2218 02:10:26,080 --> 02:10:28,880 Speaker 2: we need to pay attention to. Think of what Nigeria 2219 02:10:29,640 --> 02:10:32,800 Speaker 2: is doing to music today and the artists that are 2220 02:10:32,840 --> 02:10:38,000 Speaker 2: emerging and dominating our music from places like Legos. So 2221 02:10:38,160 --> 02:10:41,040 Speaker 2: we're going to build an arena in Legos because that's 2222 02:10:41,080 --> 02:10:44,480 Speaker 2: the future. And by the way, that's all centered around 2223 02:10:44,840 --> 02:10:49,200 Speaker 2: places like Rihann and so earth shattering to go learn 2224 02:10:49,440 --> 02:10:52,000 Speaker 2: about the rest of the world. We spend a lot 2225 02:10:52,040 --> 02:10:55,200 Speaker 2: of time in the UK. We hopefully are going to 2226 02:10:55,240 --> 02:10:57,920 Speaker 2: get an arena on the West side of London. One day. 2227 02:10:59,640 --> 02:11:02,840 Speaker 2: We're on another project in Bristol, so we're excited about that. 2228 02:11:03,000 --> 02:11:06,120 Speaker 2: We just wanted to bid in Vienna, fascinating part of 2229 02:11:06,160 --> 02:11:09,360 Speaker 2: the world in Central Europe because Vienna has about thirty 2230 02:11:09,400 --> 02:11:12,720 Speaker 2: million people that live in and around that region to 2231 02:11:12,800 --> 02:11:15,839 Speaker 2: go to Vienna for their culture and their activity, their sports, 2232 02:11:15,880 --> 02:11:19,800 Speaker 2: their music. It is the birthplace of music in many ways, 2233 02:11:20,680 --> 02:11:23,560 Speaker 2: with great composers that came from that part of the world, 2234 02:11:23,640 --> 02:11:27,160 Speaker 2: like most art. So highly excited about that project. We're 2235 02:11:27,280 --> 02:11:31,760 Speaker 2: excited about San Pollo, thirty million people in Brazil, South America. 2236 02:11:31,920 --> 02:11:35,080 Speaker 2: You cannot ignore Brazil and the growth of that country 2237 02:11:35,160 --> 02:11:40,080 Speaker 2: and Pollow thirty million people trying to bid in Singapore 2238 02:11:40,240 --> 02:11:43,400 Speaker 2: because we understand that part of the world is growing 2239 02:11:43,440 --> 02:11:47,080 Speaker 2: as well. So the majority of our growth is internationally 2240 02:11:47,160 --> 02:11:50,360 Speaker 2: and that means to spend a lot of time working internationally. 2241 02:11:51,520 --> 02:11:54,320 Speaker 2: That's good news, but it's hard. It's not easy. It's 2242 02:11:54,360 --> 02:11:57,040 Speaker 2: not easy to have forty thousand employees. We got five 2243 02:11:57,120 --> 02:12:01,280 Speaker 2: thousand permanent employees. We have six headquarters I think six 2244 02:12:01,680 --> 02:12:04,760 Speaker 2: in London and New York and Los Angeles and Austin. 2245 02:12:07,680 --> 02:12:09,520 Speaker 2: It takes a lot of time and a lot of 2246 02:12:09,680 --> 02:12:11,960 Speaker 2: energy to try to do this right. We're not always right. 2247 02:12:12,560 --> 02:12:14,720 Speaker 2: We have a lot to learn. We could do better, 2248 02:12:14,960 --> 02:12:18,280 Speaker 2: we will do better. But you've got to be committed 2249 02:12:18,320 --> 02:12:20,160 Speaker 2: and you've got to be passionate, and it doesn't leave 2250 02:12:20,240 --> 02:12:22,840 Speaker 2: a lot of time for everything else. Do have a family, 2251 02:12:22,960 --> 02:12:26,000 Speaker 2: and they travel with me when they can, love my 2252 02:12:26,080 --> 02:12:28,400 Speaker 2: two grandsons and spend as much time with them as 2253 02:12:28,440 --> 02:12:32,680 Speaker 2: I can, and blessed, I'm the favorite person to play 2254 02:12:32,720 --> 02:12:34,960 Speaker 2: golf with it at my club because everyone could beat me, 2255 02:12:35,400 --> 02:12:38,360 Speaker 2: so I'm the sure thing. But I do try to 2256 02:12:38,400 --> 02:12:41,360 Speaker 2: get out occasionally and play with some of my buddies 2257 02:12:42,680 --> 02:12:46,280 Speaker 2: and I we have a home still up in the 2258 02:12:46,360 --> 02:12:49,800 Speaker 2: mountains in Colorado, and I love Colorado, and so we're 2259 02:12:49,840 --> 02:12:52,400 Speaker 2: going to open up another office there and I'll have 2260 02:12:52,520 --> 02:12:54,600 Speaker 2: the fortunate working out of there and working out of 2261 02:12:54,760 --> 02:12:57,200 Speaker 2: LA and working out of New York. So my job 2262 02:12:57,400 --> 02:12:59,840 Speaker 2: is my passion. I do enjoy my job. That it's hard, 2263 02:13:00,480 --> 02:13:03,840 Speaker 2: and I'm not that good at golf, so I think 2264 02:13:03,880 --> 02:13:05,080 Speaker 2: I better keep the day job. 2265 02:13:06,360 --> 02:13:10,320 Speaker 1: Okay, you have a long history in sports and now 2266 02:13:10,400 --> 02:13:14,560 Speaker 1: you're focusing primarily on music. Are you a sports guy 2267 02:13:14,680 --> 02:13:15,560 Speaker 1: or a music guy? 2268 02:13:16,880 --> 02:13:19,800 Speaker 2: Well, we you know, we own a sports team. We 2269 02:13:19,920 --> 02:13:22,680 Speaker 2: own the coach Umvel Firebirds with the Cracket, so we're 2270 02:13:22,720 --> 02:13:26,000 Speaker 2: fifty to fifty partners. It's funny to watch Irving A's 2271 02:13:26,040 --> 02:13:29,800 Speaker 2: off get enamored by an American Hockey League team that 2272 02:13:29,920 --> 02:13:31,560 Speaker 2: he was. We went all the way to the seventh 2273 02:13:31,640 --> 02:13:34,440 Speaker 2: game of the finals and lost in overtime, and he 2274 02:13:34,600 --> 02:13:37,760 Speaker 2: was heartbroken and was like, how did that happen. I'm like, 2275 02:13:38,160 --> 02:13:41,880 Speaker 2: welcome to sports. That's what sports is. You don't know. 2276 02:13:42,760 --> 02:13:46,760 Speaker 2: That's why sports is still the most valuable commodity and 2277 02:13:46,840 --> 02:13:50,040 Speaker 2: the most valuable asset, and they're going for six billion 2278 02:13:50,080 --> 02:13:54,760 Speaker 2: dollars because you don't know. It's highly unpredictable and a 2279 02:13:54,840 --> 02:13:58,240 Speaker 2: lot of fun. We're partners with the Kracket. We're partners 2280 02:13:58,280 --> 02:14:00,400 Speaker 2: with the Islanders, so we do a lot there. I 2281 02:14:00,520 --> 02:14:04,480 Speaker 2: still have great Genie Buss and Linda Rambis were kind 2282 02:14:04,600 --> 02:14:07,280 Speaker 2: enough to do a preseason game in our arena, and 2283 02:14:07,360 --> 02:14:10,480 Speaker 2: I for sure Steve Baumer, God bless his heart, he's 2284 02:14:10,520 --> 02:14:13,760 Speaker 2: doing a preseason game for us in Seattle. Adamsilver was 2285 02:14:13,880 --> 02:14:17,680 Speaker 2: one of my best professional friends and relationships I have 2286 02:14:17,760 --> 02:14:20,000 Speaker 2: in the industry. I hope they expand one day. If 2287 02:14:20,040 --> 02:14:24,280 Speaker 2: they do, we're going after it. In Las Vegas and 2288 02:14:24,400 --> 02:14:27,320 Speaker 2: I have phenomenal partners there and we're excited about the 2289 02:14:27,400 --> 02:14:31,280 Speaker 2: possibilities of that ever occurs. So I'm still heavily involved 2290 02:14:31,360 --> 02:14:35,640 Speaker 2: in sports where partners with the greatest sports franchise in 2291 02:14:35,680 --> 02:14:38,600 Speaker 2: the world today that no one will ever guess. It 2292 02:14:38,760 --> 02:14:43,240 Speaker 2: just astounds me that people don't understand the absolute brilliance 2293 02:14:43,440 --> 02:14:46,120 Speaker 2: of man City. So City Football Group and US are 2294 02:14:46,160 --> 02:14:49,000 Speaker 2: fifty to fifty partners with Harry Styles on co Op Live. 2295 02:14:49,440 --> 02:14:52,160 Speaker 2: I am Manchester and I get to spend a fair 2296 02:14:52,200 --> 02:14:54,520 Speaker 2: amount of time with them and went to the Championship 2297 02:14:54,560 --> 02:14:58,000 Speaker 2: in Istanbul where they got the TRIFECTA huge admire of 2298 02:14:58,120 --> 02:15:01,400 Speaker 2: that franchise and they have where they grossed more money 2299 02:15:01,720 --> 02:15:04,440 Speaker 2: this past year than any other franchise anywhere in the world. 2300 02:15:04,640 --> 02:15:08,400 Speaker 2: They are the most valuable franchise. We're partners with Fenway 2301 02:15:08,440 --> 02:15:13,480 Speaker 2: Sports and Tom Warner, who's a dear friend, and John Henry, 2302 02:15:13,640 --> 02:15:16,280 Speaker 2: So we were fans of the Red Sox and fans 2303 02:15:16,320 --> 02:15:19,800 Speaker 2: of Liverpool and fans of the Penguins. We run PPG Arena, 2304 02:15:19,960 --> 02:15:21,880 Speaker 2: so I'm partners with the Penguins and we do a 2305 02:15:21,960 --> 02:15:26,600 Speaker 2: lot with them. We're about to announce another partnership in basketball. 2306 02:15:26,720 --> 02:15:29,600 Speaker 2: We're going to be partners with an NBA team, So 2307 02:15:29,920 --> 02:15:33,040 Speaker 2: I am a huge sports fan. I spend a fair 2308 02:15:33,040 --> 02:15:36,320 Speaker 2: amount of time with Gary Bettman on new arenas for 2309 02:15:36,760 --> 02:15:40,720 Speaker 2: NHL teams. It's the world that we live in. It's 2310 02:15:40,960 --> 02:15:43,520 Speaker 2: you know, we live and die with music, we enjoy 2311 02:15:43,640 --> 02:15:46,400 Speaker 2: sports in between, and I love being a part of 2312 02:15:46,480 --> 02:15:49,640 Speaker 2: that because it moves people. I always like to say 2313 02:15:50,400 --> 02:15:52,960 Speaker 2: the uniqueness of sports is it's the only industry I 2314 02:15:53,080 --> 02:15:54,920 Speaker 2: know where you were the name of the community on 2315 02:15:55,040 --> 02:15:59,240 Speaker 2: your uniform, that's pretty damn unique. I didn't have that 2316 02:15:59,320 --> 02:16:00,600 Speaker 2: at the bakery or the deli. 2317 02:16:02,360 --> 02:16:04,760 Speaker 1: And on that note, I'm gonna let you go. 2318 02:16:05,000 --> 02:16:05,240 Speaker 2: Tim. 2319 02:16:05,360 --> 02:16:08,440 Speaker 1: This has been wonderful. Thanks so much for sharing this. 2320 02:16:08,600 --> 02:16:11,720 Speaker 2: Time with my ordance and Bob. Thank you for allowing 2321 02:16:11,760 --> 02:16:13,920 Speaker 2: all of us to tell our story, allowing us to 2322 02:16:13,960 --> 02:16:16,920 Speaker 2: tell our passion for music. I know you're equally as passionate. 2323 02:16:17,520 --> 02:16:20,800 Speaker 2: Thank you, because normally I don't really like spending time 2324 02:16:20,880 --> 02:16:24,400 Speaker 2: talking about me, but I love the fact you have 2325 02:16:24,480 --> 02:16:27,560 Speaker 2: a format that makes people so damn comfortable about talking 2326 02:16:27,600 --> 02:16:28,680 Speaker 2: about themselves. Thank you. 2327 02:16:30,160 --> 02:16:32,920 Speaker 1: Until next time. This is Bob left Sense