WEBVTT - Tim Leiweke 0:00:08.640 --> 0:00:12.440 Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to the Bob Left Sets Podcast. 0:00:13.039 --> 0:00:16.680 My guest today is chairman and CEO of the oak 0:00:16.800 --> 0:00:21.840 View Group, the one and only Tim LIGHTWICKI Tim, good 0:00:21.840 --> 0:00:23.280 to have you on the podcast. 0:00:23.920 --> 0:00:26.080 Bob. It's good to be here. It's good. Every day 0:00:26.160 --> 0:00:28.000 is good to be alive. So let's start with that, 0:00:28.080 --> 0:00:30.120 but in particular, it's a good day to be with you, 0:00:30.200 --> 0:00:30.680 my friend. 0:00:31.600 --> 0:00:34.720 Let's start with the basics. What exactly is the Oakview Group? 0:00:35.920 --> 0:00:39.240 So the Oakview Group was created about seven years ago 0:00:39.400 --> 0:00:43.760 between myself and my partner, Irving Asoff, and we wanted 0:00:43.800 --> 0:00:46.680 to think outside the box and be a positive disruption 0:00:46.960 --> 0:00:51.479 to the live industry, the facility industry, and in particular 0:00:51.760 --> 0:00:54.600 our focus is on the music side of the business, 0:00:54.640 --> 0:00:59.440 although we obviously are strongly connected and now deeply and 0:00:59.480 --> 0:01:03.680 heavily involved in sports as well. But it was taking 0:01:04.000 --> 0:01:07.640 my background, in my experience with twenty years at AG 0:01:08.400 --> 0:01:11.720 and before that of building the Denver Nuggets and the 0:01:11.720 --> 0:01:15.160 Pepsi Center and the Minnesota timber Wilson the Target Center, 0:01:15.720 --> 0:01:21.200 and essentially trying to redefine a way to build the 0:01:21.240 --> 0:01:27.360 business around building new facilities, renovating new facilities, representing current facilities, 0:01:27.880 --> 0:01:31.759 getting into the service business, the sales business, the food 0:01:31.800 --> 0:01:36.959 and beverage business. So it really is centered around the 0:01:37.000 --> 0:01:41.600 live entertainment experience with a heavy emphasis of the facilities. 0:01:42.200 --> 0:01:46.520 And although I have in the past created and been 0:01:46.560 --> 0:01:50.840 heavily involved in the promotional side of it, this one's 0:01:50.920 --> 0:01:56.720 much more specific, and we strike partnerships with the promoters, 0:01:57.000 --> 0:02:00.760 but we ourselves do not promote sell them to we promote. 0:02:00.960 --> 0:02:06.160 So it's a core competency. It's highly focused. It's about facilities, 0:02:06.360 --> 0:02:10.480 it's about live entertainment, it's about the guest experience, and 0:02:10.560 --> 0:02:15.960 it's about trying to ultimately also build the next great 0:02:16.160 --> 0:02:20.400 generation of those live venues that people could go and 0:02:20.520 --> 0:02:21.880 enjoy their favorite artists. 0:02:21.880 --> 0:02:26.680 At what is the status of arenas around the world today. 0:02:27.800 --> 0:02:32.400 Well, arenas have been through the peaks in the valleys. 0:02:32.440 --> 0:02:36.880 Probably the greatest lows and the highest highs have been 0:02:36.960 --> 0:02:40.320 these last four or five years. So if you look 0:02:40.360 --> 0:02:45.120 at what happened to our industry in particular during COVID, 0:02:45.600 --> 0:02:49.639 I'm not sure there was any Every industry was affected, 0:02:49.680 --> 0:02:53.120 and some were terribly affected, but the live industry was 0:02:53.280 --> 0:02:56.880 essentially wiped out. We disappeared, And so if you looked 0:02:56.880 --> 0:03:02.240 at arenas. It was an amazing survival for arenas to 0:03:02.280 --> 0:03:04.200 try to figure out how we were going to weather 0:03:04.240 --> 0:03:07.799 that storm, and we had to figure out what we 0:03:07.800 --> 0:03:09.560 were going to look like when we came out of 0:03:09.560 --> 0:03:14.040 the storm. We had just a whole new set of 0:03:15.560 --> 0:03:22.120 assumptions and risks and operating challenges that we had to 0:03:22.160 --> 0:03:25.720 inherit coming out of COVID from air circulation. And look, 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:28.560 who would have ever thought, I know, in our case, 0:03:28.800 --> 0:03:31.959 with many of the arenas that we just recently built 0:03:31.960 --> 0:03:35.160 and open, we were in the middle of building seven 0:03:35.200 --> 0:03:38.560 of these seven during COVID, and I had to go 0:03:38.680 --> 0:03:42.920 back and every one of our projects ultimately had to 0:03:42.960 --> 0:03:51.000 be rebuilt with new experiences, with new challenges, and with 0:03:52.840 --> 0:03:57.560 a new way of dealing with germs and COVID and 0:03:57.840 --> 0:04:01.080 trying to figure out how we were going to now 0:04:01.240 --> 0:04:06.800 take something that so dramatically stopped all of our industry 0:04:06.800 --> 0:04:09.760 and its tracks and be able to convince people to 0:04:09.800 --> 0:04:13.160 come back and feel safe in a live environment in 0:04:13.280 --> 0:04:17.279 arenas and stadiums in theaters. And so we had to 0:04:17.320 --> 0:04:20.960 go back and rebuild and re engineer and rethink our 0:04:21.200 --> 0:04:27.520 HVAC systems, and we installed a filtering system and all 0:04:27.560 --> 0:04:32.320 of our buildings that essentially traps and kills the bugs. 0:04:32.400 --> 0:04:36.120 And I never thought ten years ago that this would 0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:39.720 become one of the highest priorities and the largest expenditure 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:42.720 we would make when we're developing new arenas. But if 0:04:42.760 --> 0:04:46.679 you look at our Mer thirteen filterization systems we built 0:04:46.720 --> 0:04:51.760 a UBS arena and a climate Pledge arena. They are massive, 0:04:51.960 --> 0:04:56.800 gigantic filter systems that essentially hump fresh air in and 0:04:56.839 --> 0:04:59.200 take air out. And as we're taking the air out, 0:04:59.600 --> 0:05:02.080 we now, I'll send that air through a bunch of 0:05:02.120 --> 0:05:06.640 filterization systems, trap the bad stuff, and then literally burn 0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:11.400 those germs on site. And so again we had to 0:05:11.480 --> 0:05:14.200 learn we had to alter the way we think about safety, 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:18.479 about customer convenience. We had to regain the confidence and 0:05:18.520 --> 0:05:21.039 the trust and the consumer that they could walk back 0:05:21.080 --> 0:05:23.880 into these buildings and be safe and not get sick. 0:05:25.040 --> 0:05:28.039 And in particular, one thing that was unique about COVID 0:05:28.480 --> 0:05:33.200 is the scientists and all of the experts that we 0:05:33.520 --> 0:05:37.239 brought in to help us think through it. The ice 0:05:37.320 --> 0:05:41.719 facilities in particular were a bit challenging because of the 0:05:41.760 --> 0:05:44.880 way air floats and airs trapped and hot air and 0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:49.719 cold air and the unique aspect of COVID and how 0:05:49.760 --> 0:05:52.839 that bug could hang in the air. It was suddenly 0:05:52.880 --> 0:05:56.000 a whole new set of rules and a whole new 0:05:56.000 --> 0:06:00.960 set of thinking on engineering and airflow that we had 0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:04.440 to adjust and quickly react to. So we came out 0:06:04.480 --> 0:06:08.159 of that. I think our industry did a phenomenal job 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:13.160 of surviving. We were not an industry that got bailed out. 0:06:13.320 --> 0:06:16.720 So the interesting thing is I didn't get one dollar 0:06:17.200 --> 0:06:21.240 of subsidies, or we didn't. We didn't get any of 0:06:21.279 --> 0:06:26.159 the COVID funds that the government ultimately parceled out. I 0:06:26.160 --> 0:06:31.680 think there was a perception, why help billionaires, even though 0:06:31.680 --> 0:06:35.680 we're not billionaires. I think sports owners and facility owners 0:06:35.680 --> 0:06:39.320 in particular, they weren't going to They weren't going to 0:06:39.360 --> 0:06:42.039 get any of the PPP money, and we didn't, and 0:06:42.080 --> 0:06:44.000 so we had to go do this on our own. 0:06:44.080 --> 0:06:46.520 We had to survive on our own, and in the 0:06:46.520 --> 0:06:49.080 case of our company, we didn't lay anybody off. I 0:06:49.120 --> 0:06:52.960 didn't let anybody go, we didn't furlough anybody. I didn't 0:06:52.960 --> 0:06:56.080 ask anyone to take a pay cut. We we had 0:06:56.200 --> 0:06:59.400 great faith that this society that we live in today 0:07:00.120 --> 0:07:05.720 and the smart brilliant people that were working on this 0:07:05.800 --> 0:07:08.280 on a daily basis. They were going to find a solution, 0:07:08.960 --> 0:07:10.680 and we had to be prepared to come out of 0:07:10.720 --> 0:07:12.760 this and hit the ground running, so we weren't going 0:07:12.800 --> 0:07:16.480 to shut everything down. We very much valued everybody that 0:07:16.560 --> 0:07:20.040 worked for us. We had literally tens of thousands of 0:07:20.040 --> 0:07:22.600 people that were employed by this company because of all 0:07:22.720 --> 0:07:26.200 the people working on the construction sites. And so instead 0:07:26.200 --> 0:07:28.640 of sitting here trying to figure out how to save 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:32.640 money or how to go get subsidies or PPP funds, 0:07:33.120 --> 0:07:35.680 we did exactly the opposite, which is, how do we 0:07:35.720 --> 0:07:37.920 go take care of our people, how do we create 0:07:38.080 --> 0:07:41.400 safe work sites today, how do we continue constructing our 0:07:41.560 --> 0:07:45.120 seven new arenas, How do we ultimately survive this? But 0:07:45.160 --> 0:07:46.720 then how do we come out of this at the 0:07:46.800 --> 0:07:49.280 right time and be better for what we're going to 0:07:49.360 --> 0:07:52.760 learn in the next couple of years. I'm not sure. 0:07:52.800 --> 0:07:54.760 At the time we thought it was a couple of years, Bob. 0:07:54.800 --> 0:07:57.240 We were hoping it was a year, but it wasn't 0:07:57.280 --> 0:08:02.160 a year. We're just now just now getting back to 0:08:02.200 --> 0:08:06.239 what I would say is business as usual and normal 0:08:06.680 --> 0:08:15.360 and so hugely challenging for us. Life lessons character in particular, 0:08:15.400 --> 0:08:21.760 a very very strong character building moment for our industry 0:08:21.920 --> 0:08:25.160 and for our company. And I will say, in the 0:08:26.840 --> 0:08:30.960 roughly forty plus years I've been doing it, I probably 0:08:31.120 --> 0:08:35.199 lost more sleep and had more nights where I'd wake 0:08:35.280 --> 0:08:37.240 up in the middle of the night thinking, my God, 0:08:37.240 --> 0:08:39.440 I'm not going to make it through this. Our company's 0:08:39.520 --> 0:08:43.120 not going to make this, make it through this. We're 0:08:43.200 --> 0:08:45.640 ultimately not going to be able to get these arenas open. 0:08:46.320 --> 0:08:48.400 I'm not going to be able to ultimately get people 0:08:48.480 --> 0:08:52.000 to buy naming rights or sponsorships or suites. We're never 0:08:52.040 --> 0:08:54.720 going to see business as usual again. You have I 0:08:54.800 --> 0:08:58.280 call them the demons, and I never had the demons 0:08:58.320 --> 0:09:02.720 as much as we did during COVID, and yet God 0:09:02.760 --> 0:09:05.840 works in mysterious ways. We came out of that and 0:09:05.920 --> 0:09:09.000 now we've had the best year in the history of 0:09:09.040 --> 0:09:12.959 live entertainment. And if you see the pent up demand, 0:09:13.040 --> 0:09:16.199 and you see what Elton John just did, what Taylor 0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:19.400 Swift is doing, what Ed Sheard's doing, what Cold Play's doing, 0:09:20.559 --> 0:09:22.719 if you see the success of arena shows now and 0:09:22.800 --> 0:09:27.280 Harry Styles just shocking what Harry Styles has pulled off here. 0:09:27.720 --> 0:09:31.240 And by the way that young man is my hero 0:09:31.840 --> 0:09:36.319 because he stayed through that tour during COVID and dealt 0:09:36.320 --> 0:09:40.640 with all the issues he had with the bubble, with 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:44.319 his crew, with his band, with safety, with people getting sick, 0:09:44.960 --> 0:09:48.480 and he fought through it in the middle of COVID 0:09:48.720 --> 0:09:51.480 kept this tour going, and the poor guy is still 0:09:51.480 --> 0:09:58.000 out touring. And so huge admiration for the industry and 0:09:58.160 --> 0:10:02.960 in particular the year that we've had and the passion 0:10:03.480 --> 0:10:05.720 that the fans have to get out and live life. 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:09.040 We're seeing that and we're all benefiting from that, but 0:10:09.120 --> 0:10:14.520 also the artist and how resolute the industry was at 0:10:14.679 --> 0:10:18.079 giving people reason to come back together and to celebrate, 0:10:18.440 --> 0:10:22.840 giving people an opportunity to be happy, to go back 0:10:22.880 --> 0:10:28.080 to these public places and be able to forget about 0:10:28.240 --> 0:10:30.240 all of the things and all of the demons and 0:10:30.280 --> 0:10:33.160 all of the problems that we were dealing with. I 0:10:33.200 --> 0:10:36.000 think it was our finest moment in the music industry 0:10:36.120 --> 0:10:40.400 and the live entertainment industry, and I am absolutely proud 0:10:40.480 --> 0:10:43.760 to be a part of it, but also hugely grateful 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:47.440 back to the fans that they came back and supported 0:10:47.800 --> 0:10:51.400 the industry, our facilities, and the artists the way they have, 0:10:52.120 --> 0:10:58.080 and in particular we understand now people everyone appreciates life. 0:10:58.160 --> 0:11:00.800 Now when you go through something like that, you're going 0:11:00.880 --> 0:11:02.559 to go live the rest of your life and you're 0:11:02.559 --> 0:11:04.640 going to live it every day and you're not going 0:11:04.720 --> 0:11:08.120 to take it for granted. And music and sports, but 0:11:08.240 --> 0:11:11.440 especially music a huge part of that. And I think 0:11:11.520 --> 0:11:14.480 that's why our best years are directly ahead of us 0:11:14.800 --> 0:11:19.600 and we're going to continue to enjoy this surge in 0:11:19.640 --> 0:11:21.760 our business that we've seen this past year. 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:27.400 Let's go back to the HVAC and the arenas. One 0:11:27.440 --> 0:11:31.439 of the components of ovg's business is managing and having 0:11:31.480 --> 0:11:36.360 relationships with other businesses. You said you have seven new 0:11:36.400 --> 0:11:40.880 arenas that you re configured for HVAC. How about the 0:11:40.920 --> 0:11:43.559 arenas that you consult? What did they do? 0:11:44.440 --> 0:11:48.200 So I'll tell you you know what I love about 0:11:48.240 --> 0:11:52.960 this and the format that you've created and the times 0:11:52.960 --> 0:11:55.480 I've listened in to all of your guests is the 0:11:55.520 --> 0:11:59.760 ability to have time to tell stories, because after all, 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:04.440 that's actually what we all do, right, Musicians write songs 0:12:04.440 --> 0:12:07.440 and tell stories, and you give us an opportunity to 0:12:07.480 --> 0:12:10.160 tell stories about our industry and how it affects people. 0:12:10.960 --> 0:12:14.320 In our particular case, how we survived the greatest challenge 0:12:14.360 --> 0:12:19.160 in the history of our industry. I was the very 0:12:19.200 --> 0:12:25.760 early stages of COVID. So ironically, just by chance, if 0:12:25.760 --> 0:12:28.720 you look at when COVID broke out, there were three 0:12:28.840 --> 0:12:32.880 or four hotspots where it first hit where we're all going, 0:12:33.040 --> 0:12:36.080 what is this thing? So one of them was Seattle 0:12:36.200 --> 0:12:40.320 and the nursing homes. Unfortunately, just terrible what happened there. 0:12:40.360 --> 0:12:44.080 But that was the first place in the United States 0:12:44.160 --> 0:12:47.880 where suddenly you're like, wait a minute, something's wrong, hair, 0:12:48.120 --> 0:12:52.640 this is serious. Second place was the town in New York, 0:12:52.960 --> 0:12:56.120 just outside of New York City, where it was a 0:12:56.160 --> 0:13:00.600 temple and a congregation and an actual event became a 0:13:00.960 --> 0:13:04.280 super spreader event first, one of those things that we've seen. 0:13:04.720 --> 0:13:08.480 No one quite understood super spread until that. And in 0:13:08.600 --> 0:13:12.720 the third place that just got absolutely hammered and was 0:13:13.240 --> 0:13:17.200 ground zero. I think for what it was how quickly 0:13:17.240 --> 0:13:20.040 it was spreading and how many people it was killing, 0:13:20.440 --> 0:13:23.720 was Milan. I happened to be in all three of 0:13:23.760 --> 0:13:27.800 those places in that one to two week period of 0:13:27.840 --> 0:13:30.360 time when all of this started popping. So I was 0:13:30.360 --> 0:13:34.040 in Seattle and suddenly you began to hear stories about 0:13:35.000 --> 0:13:38.960 people in retirement homes that were getting sick and dying, 0:13:39.520 --> 0:13:42.520 and then people not wanting to go into the retirement 0:13:42.559 --> 0:13:45.240 homes and trying to figure out how to get the 0:13:45.280 --> 0:13:48.080 people out of the retirement homes. And you were scratching 0:13:48.120 --> 0:13:52.800 your head, going, man, this is bad. What happens if 0:13:52.960 --> 0:13:55.760 this spreads? And it did. And then I went to 0:13:55.800 --> 0:14:00.360 New York. I'm sure enough just that one event and 0:14:00.400 --> 0:14:05.280 that one particular temple, and then how that reached out instantly, 0:14:05.360 --> 0:14:09.280 and You're like, oh my god, this thing is highly contagious. 0:14:09.880 --> 0:14:12.880 This is a problem. And then literally the day I 0:14:12.920 --> 0:14:15.520 went into Blan, we had a meeting with the mayor 0:14:16.240 --> 0:14:19.520 and the Olympic Committee and the meetings get canceled. We're 0:14:19.520 --> 0:14:22.240 sitting there in the square outside the Great Cathedral in 0:14:22.280 --> 0:14:25.160 the center of Balan, and they closed the cathedral down. 0:14:25.440 --> 0:14:28.640 Now I'm a Catholic boy and grew up in a 0:14:28.720 --> 0:14:31.840 church and went to Catholic school, and I know when 0:14:31.840 --> 0:14:35.600 they start closing the churches down, there's trouble. And so 0:14:35.680 --> 0:14:38.960 I'm like, this is not good. And so as we 0:14:39.280 --> 0:14:42.080 immediately changed plans and went to the airport to try 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:45.280 to get back home. The airport started shutting down and 0:14:45.320 --> 0:14:48.120 they were taking everyone's temperature, and by the way, it 0:14:48.200 --> 0:14:51.600 was not a real exact science on how they were 0:14:51.640 --> 0:14:54.920 testing people and taking temperature, and so you looked at 0:14:54.920 --> 0:14:58.560 it and said, this is a shit show. They don't 0:14:58.600 --> 0:15:01.400 have this figured out. This this isn't working whatever they're 0:15:01.440 --> 0:15:04.680 trying to do. And by the way, they don't really 0:15:04.800 --> 0:15:08.200 have a method of trying to figure out who might 0:15:08.240 --> 0:15:10.800 be sick and who might not be sick. And they're 0:15:10.800 --> 0:15:13.640 putting all these people on airplanes. This is a disaster. 0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:16.440 And that's when I knew. I came back home and 0:15:16.480 --> 0:15:20.400 told my wife, this is the most serious problem we 0:15:20.480 --> 0:15:24.800 will ever experience in our lifetime. So I was on 0:15:24.880 --> 0:15:28.800 the front line, and I'm like, I'm really really worried 0:15:28.840 --> 0:15:31.360 about this. So I called up a friend of mine 0:15:32.200 --> 0:15:36.040 who happens to be one of our best partners at 0:15:36.120 --> 0:15:38.800 ubs Irene in New York with us in the Islanders, 0:15:39.480 --> 0:15:43.520 and I talked to the president of the hospital and said, Michael, 0:15:44.080 --> 0:15:47.600 what is this. Can you help me understand this? And 0:15:47.640 --> 0:15:51.080 he said, he said, this will be the most contagious, 0:15:51.560 --> 0:15:55.720 deadly outbreak you will ever see in your lifetime. I 0:15:55.760 --> 0:16:00.720 said serious, and he said, this is really bad. And 0:16:00.760 --> 0:16:05.240 I said, well, explain to me how does this transmit itself? 0:16:05.320 --> 0:16:09.440 I mean, what's going on here? And we in particular, 0:16:09.560 --> 0:16:13.320 he told me, we got a massive problem because we 0:16:13.840 --> 0:16:17.560 people don't understand it. The government thinks it's touching. It's 0:16:17.600 --> 0:16:20.440 not touching. It's in the air and it's circulating in 0:16:20.480 --> 0:16:24.120 the air. And I'm like, well, if it's circulating in 0:16:24.160 --> 0:16:26.800 the air, tell me, how are you doing that with 0:16:26.920 --> 0:16:30.200 your emergency rooms. And by the way, how's it getting 0:16:30.200 --> 0:16:33.480 out of the emergency rooms. If it's circulating in the air, 0:16:34.400 --> 0:16:37.520 don't you shut those systems down in your emergency rooms. 0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:41.680 And he said, it's getting into the ventilating system. And 0:16:41.720 --> 0:16:44.360 he said, Tim, it's circulating through the whole hospital. And 0:16:44.400 --> 0:16:47.000 he said, we're getting people sick and other wings of 0:16:47.080 --> 0:16:50.320 the hospital where there are no COVID patients, none of 0:16:50.360 --> 0:16:54.000 the COVID personnel that are working on those patients because 0:16:54.000 --> 0:16:57.000 we think it's in the air system and it's traveling 0:16:57.040 --> 0:17:00.760 by air. Now, Bob, when I heard that, that was 0:17:00.840 --> 0:17:07.000 probably I got to say, the most dreadful, shocking bit 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:10.960 of news I've ever had, with the exception of the 0:17:11.040 --> 0:17:14.639 death of some of my family members. I was stunned 0:17:15.200 --> 0:17:19.240 when he told me that and I said, Michael, if 0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:24.600 that's the case, we're screwed. I mean, how do I 0:17:24.600 --> 0:17:27.480 build arenas? And he was the one that said, you 0:17:27.560 --> 0:17:30.520 got to give some serious consideration to the way you're 0:17:30.560 --> 0:17:33.800 treating your handling systems and arenas. I'm like, Michael, we 0:17:33.880 --> 0:17:36.680 got twenty thousand people in our arenas. Do you understand 0:17:36.680 --> 0:17:39.080 the magnitude of me trying to figure out how to 0:17:39.119 --> 0:17:42.280 clean my air up? And he said I do, and 0:17:42.320 --> 0:17:44.680 you're going to have to figure it out. And that's 0:17:44.720 --> 0:17:49.159 when everything changed, Bob. That's when suddenly I had We 0:17:49.200 --> 0:17:52.119 went back to our engineers and literally after I got 0:17:52.160 --> 0:17:57.800 off that call, I went back from the advice that 0:17:57.840 --> 0:18:00.800 Michael and Northwell gave me, and I called my engineers 0:18:00.840 --> 0:18:03.560 in Dallas that we're doing the air handling system for 0:18:03.640 --> 0:18:06.640 all of our buildings, but in particular our New York building, 0:18:06.840 --> 0:18:09.840 are Austin Building and our Seattle building that we're all 0:18:09.920 --> 0:18:13.399 under construction. And I said, look, I just had a 0:18:13.440 --> 0:18:17.240 really smart guy that I trust tell me this thing's 0:18:17.280 --> 0:18:21.960 in the air and it's circulating and infecting people within 0:18:22.000 --> 0:18:26.439 the air, which means air circulation. And he got shocked 0:18:26.440 --> 0:18:28.359 and said, are you serious? And I said, yeah, I 0:18:28.359 --> 0:18:31.879 think that's what this thing is. Tell me what that 0:18:32.040 --> 0:18:36.680 means and he said, well, you're not building a system 0:18:36.960 --> 0:18:39.760 that ultimately deals with that in any of your buildings. 0:18:39.920 --> 0:18:42.879 That's not what we're putting in your system. We're bringing 0:18:42.960 --> 0:18:45.520 fresh air in and we're taking her out, but we're 0:18:45.520 --> 0:18:48.800 not doing anything ultimately to test the quality of that 0:18:48.880 --> 0:18:52.640 air or kill anything that's in the air that may 0:18:52.640 --> 0:18:56.160 be coming or going. You don't have filterization systems like that, 0:18:56.840 --> 0:18:59.159 and I said, well, he mentioned this scene called MERV thirteen. 0:18:59.200 --> 0:19:02.440 He said, yeah, routine is what we put into like 0:19:02.680 --> 0:19:07.080 emergency rooms and operating rooms in hospital tim It's the 0:19:07.200 --> 0:19:11.720 highest filterization system you could possibly have to not only 0:19:11.800 --> 0:19:14.920 monitor your air, but clean it and kill the germs 0:19:14.960 --> 0:19:18.000 on the spot. I said, well, how complicated is it? 0:19:18.040 --> 0:19:19.760 And could we put it in an arena? And he said, 0:19:19.800 --> 0:19:22.520 you can't put it in an arena. I said, well, 0:19:22.520 --> 0:19:23.879 I think we're going to have to figure out how 0:19:23.920 --> 0:19:26.400 to put it in an arena. And to their credit, 0:19:26.680 --> 0:19:29.560 Ed and his team worked for about two weeks straight 0:19:30.359 --> 0:19:32.880 round the clock and came back to me two weeks 0:19:32.920 --> 0:19:34.560 later and said, I think we figured out how to 0:19:34.600 --> 0:19:36.479 do it, but you're going to have to start fresh 0:19:36.960 --> 0:19:39.560 with all of your ventilation systems, and you're going to 0:19:39.600 --> 0:19:44.920 have to build giant, giant plants with this filterization system 0:19:45.200 --> 0:19:49.040 and suck everything into this filterization system. And then Tim, 0:19:49.080 --> 0:19:50.760 You're going to have to figure out how to burn 0:19:50.840 --> 0:19:54.440 it and kill the germs at a high heat rate. 0:19:55.080 --> 0:19:57.200 And I'm like, all right, let's figure it out now. 0:19:57.840 --> 0:20:00.480 The complication, Bob, that came out of that problem for 0:20:00.680 --> 0:20:03.680 Steve Collins, who's my president, develops all of our arenas, 0:20:04.320 --> 0:20:07.159 was profiled to try to figure out space and we 0:20:07.240 --> 0:20:09.760 had to start fresh, and we had to change our plans, 0:20:09.760 --> 0:20:12.080 and we were in the middle of constructing our arenas 0:20:12.320 --> 0:20:15.680 and had to change on the fly. What was even 0:20:15.720 --> 0:20:20.119 more interesting is the MERV thirteen filterization system they were 0:20:20.320 --> 0:20:25.640 proposing to add to our HVAC system was driven by 0:20:26.080 --> 0:20:29.920 ultimately gas that would come in and burn and kill 0:20:29.960 --> 0:20:33.919 the bad guys to the grums. But the problem with 0:20:33.960 --> 0:20:36.520 that is I happen to have a carbon neutral arena 0:20:36.560 --> 0:20:40.399 in Seattle. We don't use gas. We use solar power 0:20:40.600 --> 0:20:44.280 and electricity. And went back to the engineers and said, 0:20:44.320 --> 0:20:46.560 I can't put gas in there, and he said, there's 0:20:46.680 --> 0:20:51.879 not enough electrical power in order to generate the kindy 0:20:51.960 --> 0:20:54.200 heat you're going to have to generate to kill the bug, 0:20:54.600 --> 0:20:57.520 and only gas works. And I'm like, ed, You're going 0:20:57.600 --> 0:20:59.000 to have to go back to the drawing board and 0:20:59.040 --> 0:21:02.240 figure out how to make it work through electrical power, 0:21:02.400 --> 0:21:05.320 because that's all we're pulling into our arena. We pulled 0:21:05.359 --> 0:21:09.480 our gas lines out already, so Bob, halfway through building 0:21:09.880 --> 0:21:12.879 what became Climate Pledge Arena, we made the pledge to 0:21:12.880 --> 0:21:16.040 be carbon neutral, and I pulled all my gas lines 0:21:16.040 --> 0:21:18.679 out and we went one hundred percent of the energy 0:21:19.080 --> 0:21:22.919 that we utilized at Climate Pledge Arena the solar powered energy. 0:21:23.280 --> 0:21:26.000 So we had to refigure not only do we have 0:21:26.080 --> 0:21:28.399 to rebuild our systems, we had to go back to 0:21:28.400 --> 0:21:31.960 the engineers and refigure out how to get enough heat 0:21:32.160 --> 0:21:35.920 in order to build a bad the germs without using gas. 0:21:36.000 --> 0:21:40.000 So it was just that, I mean, honestly, I'm so 0:21:40.119 --> 0:21:42.920 proud of our team that we were able to turn 0:21:42.960 --> 0:21:46.240 on a dime like that and come up with new 0:21:46.280 --> 0:21:49.239 ideas and new ways to keep our people at our 0:21:49.280 --> 0:21:52.560 arenas safe. And then we had to go do what 0:21:52.600 --> 0:21:54.960 everyone else had to do, which is how do I 0:21:55.000 --> 0:21:59.679 create bubbles, how do I ultimately, And it was funny 0:21:59.680 --> 0:22:04.119 when I talked to Michael and Northwell, he said, you 0:22:04.160 --> 0:22:07.080 know those guys, those Ghostbuster guys you have going in 0:22:07.160 --> 0:22:11.040 and spring your seats. He said, it's Olbs. Said it 0:22:11.080 --> 0:22:13.800 doesn't work, said go send them all in. He said 0:22:13.840 --> 0:22:19.439 that that doesn't it's Timiate's not touch it's here, And 0:22:19.720 --> 0:22:22.720 we had to rethink everything we were doing. So then 0:22:22.800 --> 0:22:26.359 we pull calls together, Bob, back to your question, and 0:22:26.440 --> 0:22:29.040 we'd have our arena Alliance and the twenty nine arenas 0:22:29.080 --> 0:22:32.000 on there, and we brought these experts on and said 0:22:33.200 --> 0:22:36.040 you need to hear this, you need to understand what 0:22:36.119 --> 0:22:38.399 we're learning and what we're dealing with. And they were 0:22:38.440 --> 0:22:41.920 all shocked, but to their credit, a lot of them, 0:22:43.000 --> 0:22:46.040 for example the State Farm Arena and Steve and his 0:22:46.119 --> 0:22:50.199 team down there, unbelievably diligent at how they jumped in 0:22:50.320 --> 0:22:52.439 and dove into this to try to learn what it 0:22:52.560 --> 0:22:54.800 is we're dealing with and how do we correct it. 0:22:55.280 --> 0:23:01.840 And so shocking moment, but an absolutely brilliant moment because, 0:23:01.960 --> 0:23:06.000 as is typical for our industry in particular, we shared, 0:23:06.440 --> 0:23:13.479 we communicated, we explored, there was no territory whatever we learned, 0:23:13.920 --> 0:23:17.240 we shared with everybody else, and then we went out 0:23:17.320 --> 0:23:19.600 and we tried to deal with the politicians and warned 0:23:19.640 --> 0:23:22.440 them what we were dealing with and asked them for help. 0:23:22.920 --> 0:23:27.639 And the only request we ever made to Washington was 0:23:27.760 --> 0:23:30.560 can you give us subsidies to help us pay for 0:23:30.640 --> 0:23:33.320 the systems that we're going to have to now re 0:23:33.520 --> 0:23:37.600 engineer and redeploy and all of our arenas. So this 0:23:37.680 --> 0:23:40.840 is millions, tens of millions of dollars in some cases 0:23:41.160 --> 0:23:43.199 that we're all going to have to spend. Can you 0:23:43.280 --> 0:23:48.399 help us? They didn't. So proud of the industry that 0:23:48.440 --> 0:23:51.520 we rolled up our sleeves and again not only found 0:23:52.040 --> 0:23:59.359 creative solutions, but we paid for ourselves. 0:24:03.600 --> 0:24:06.439 Okay, let's pull the lens all the way back, not 0:24:06.600 --> 0:24:13.159 solely about the OVG group. How many arenas are there 0:24:13.200 --> 0:24:17.080 in the world, to what degree is their room for 0:24:17.240 --> 0:24:21.080 more arenas? And what is the state of the infrastructure 0:24:21.119 --> 0:24:21.639 out there? 0:24:23.440 --> 0:24:31.000 Great question? So there are thousands of arenas in the world. Funny, 0:24:31.760 --> 0:24:33.880 as you look at this industry and you look at 0:24:34.200 --> 0:24:38.520 thousands of arenas, and you look at the life cycle 0:24:38.640 --> 0:24:41.520 of an arena, which is not you know, I just 0:24:41.600 --> 0:24:44.920 came back from Europe, and I had the great privilege 0:24:45.000 --> 0:24:50.040 and great opportunity to go explore the Colosseum again. And 0:24:50.080 --> 0:24:51.800 I've been to the Colosseum a couple of times, but 0:24:51.920 --> 0:24:57.399 I'm fascinated by the genus of the architectural marvel that 0:24:57.600 --> 0:24:59.960 is the Colosseum, And to this day it's still in Spa. 0:25:00.040 --> 0:25:06.000 Hires me because that's where our industry started, and to 0:25:06.040 --> 0:25:10.720 this day we still use many of the architectural designs 0:25:10.760 --> 0:25:15.560 and the genius of that particular building and everything that 0:25:15.600 --> 0:25:20.040 we do on every design and every building we go develop. 0:25:20.800 --> 0:25:22.920 And so I spent time there, and then we also 0:25:23.040 --> 0:25:27.000 went to the Vatican and saw the genius of the 0:25:27.119 --> 0:25:33.160 architects and the artists that that took the the great 0:25:34.600 --> 0:25:38.760 parts of the Vatican and including the Grand Cathedral and 0:25:38.800 --> 0:25:45.040 the Systeine Chapel, and just looking at Michaelangelo and some 0:25:45.080 --> 0:25:48.359 of the people that ultimately were responsible for thinking through 0:25:50.280 --> 0:25:53.640 the way that they designed that chapel and the way 0:25:53.680 --> 0:25:59.120 they they they thought about architect and they thought about paintings, 0:25:59.119 --> 0:26:03.000 and they thought about finishes, and they thought about the 0:26:03.160 --> 0:26:07.880 experience that people have when they go through those places 0:26:07.920 --> 0:26:12.040 like the Colosseum. It really is shocking, and every time 0:26:12.040 --> 0:26:16.000 I go there it changes my view of arenas. But 0:26:16.040 --> 0:26:19.520 what you begin to understand is from there, from those 0:26:19.680 --> 0:26:26.720 two buildings, ironically came huge inspiration, huge knowledge, and a 0:26:26.840 --> 0:26:32.720 huge amount of what affects our industry today was really 0:26:33.080 --> 0:26:36.800 started with the Colosseum in particular. So there's thousands of 0:26:36.800 --> 0:26:41.120 arenas around the world, but if you really talk about 0:26:42.000 --> 0:26:45.919 our e industry, there's probably two hundred and fifty of 0:26:45.960 --> 0:26:49.119 these things, right, So it's kind of crazy. It's a 0:26:49.240 --> 0:26:53.200 very big world out there, and there's billions and billions 0:26:53.240 --> 0:26:57.359 of people on the planet, but there's only probably two 0:26:57.440 --> 0:27:00.280 hundred and fifty arenas that I would consider to be 0:27:00.600 --> 0:27:05.920 an A class arena, and even fewer stadiums. And when 0:27:05.960 --> 0:27:10.800 you think about, in particular in our country, the demand 0:27:10.520 --> 0:27:14.200 that is created in stadiums with the NFL are Major 0:27:14.280 --> 0:27:17.439 League Baseball, and then the rest of the world this 0:27:17.560 --> 0:27:22.960 little sport called football soccer, and the impact that's had. 0:27:23.960 --> 0:27:27.639 What we forget, especially in North America, is we have 0:27:27.760 --> 0:27:31.480 lots of new arenas and new stadiums, brilliant stadiums like 0:27:31.560 --> 0:27:36.240 Sofar and Allegian. But then as you get into Europe 0:27:36.880 --> 0:27:39.720 and even more in particular when you get into Africa 0:27:39.800 --> 0:27:43.879 or South America or Asia, there are very very few 0:27:43.960 --> 0:27:47.480 new arenas right now. And so in the last couple 0:27:47.560 --> 0:27:51.280 of years when we've opened up seven, we've opened up 0:27:51.359 --> 0:27:53.480 the only seven that have been built in those two years. 0:27:53.560 --> 0:27:57.800 So it was OVG with seven arenas and no other 0:27:57.840 --> 0:28:01.520 arenas were getting built, partially because of COVID. So what 0:28:01.600 --> 0:28:04.520 you realize is thousands of arenas. Most of them aren't 0:28:04.600 --> 0:28:07.760 very good, most of them are very old. There are 0:28:08.080 --> 0:28:11.880 hundreds of arenas that are kind of driving our industry 0:28:11.880 --> 0:28:15.800 as we know it today, but there are not very 0:28:15.840 --> 0:28:19.720 many arenas like we have in North America and the 0:28:19.760 --> 0:28:23.480 rest of the world. It is pretty shocking. But therein 0:28:23.520 --> 0:28:26.920 lie is the opportunity, which is we're going to see 0:28:26.960 --> 0:28:31.360 a huge explosion and a huge opportunity to build these 0:28:31.400 --> 0:28:35.159 world class arenas and take what we've learned here on 0:28:35.200 --> 0:28:39.120 how to build them and the technology and the acoustics 0:28:39.400 --> 0:28:43.800 and the experience in the premium and now transfer that 0:28:44.200 --> 0:28:46.960 and be able to take that with us everywhere we 0:28:47.000 --> 0:28:49.000 go in the world. And if you don't think the 0:28:49.040 --> 0:28:52.360 industry is changing, then go look at what Jim Donald's 0:28:52.440 --> 0:28:57.920 building with the sphere, because it's revolutionary, it's masterful. I 0:28:57.920 --> 0:29:01.040 don't know how the hecky came up with all of this, 0:29:01.760 --> 0:29:04.120 not sure how the hell you pay for it, but 0:29:04.200 --> 0:29:07.440 what I know is he's going to change our industry forever, 0:29:07.880 --> 0:29:10.800 and the minute that opens up in September, we will 0:29:10.880 --> 0:29:15.840 never be the same. And so thousands of arenas, most 0:29:15.840 --> 0:29:19.080 of them highly outdated, most of them in effective compared 0:29:19.120 --> 0:29:24.480 to where the customer expectations and conveniences, the artists expectations 0:29:24.560 --> 0:29:30.320 and conveniences, the technology, the acoustics, the engineering, the demand 0:29:30.480 --> 0:29:33.160 is going to be immense for new arenas going forward, 0:29:33.480 --> 0:29:36.840 and we keep on reinventing the experience. So we spent 0:29:37.160 --> 0:29:41.360 one point one billion on Climate Pledge, Jim spending billions 0:29:41.400 --> 0:29:45.440 of dollars on the sphere, Steve Baumer spending billions of 0:29:45.440 --> 0:29:48.080 dollars on the indto an arena. And if you look 0:29:48.120 --> 0:29:51.080 at how quickly it's changing because of technology, and you 0:29:51.160 --> 0:29:54.120 look at how quickly it's changing because of the customer experience, 0:29:54.480 --> 0:29:59.800 just things like engineering and acoustics and led, we're in. 0:30:00.240 --> 0:30:03.239 We're in a revolutionary moment in time. So even though 0:30:03.280 --> 0:30:07.840 there's thousands of arenas, there's very few new arenas outside 0:30:07.840 --> 0:30:11.520 of North America, and yet the demand has never been greater. 0:30:11.760 --> 0:30:15.480 And I think you're going to see the greatest amount 0:30:15.600 --> 0:30:18.680 of development of arenas in the history of the industry 0:30:18.960 --> 0:30:20.280 in these next twenty years. 0:30:21.240 --> 0:30:25.240 Okay, in Los Angeles, Irving took the Forum and turned 0:30:25.240 --> 0:30:29.480 it into a music only building. There are no sports there. 0:30:30.000 --> 0:30:30.360 Now. 0:30:30.400 --> 0:30:35.160 My understanding is you're doing something similar from Scratch and Manchester, England. 0:30:35.640 --> 0:30:40.200 There reports that on the Island with the Islanders in 0:30:40.240 --> 0:30:44.160 the new building there, you had specific things you added 0:30:44.240 --> 0:30:47.640 to make the sound although it's a hockey arena, make 0:30:47.720 --> 0:30:52.640 the sound better for music. So as opposed to the 0:30:52.680 --> 0:30:56.800 sixties and seventies when they were multi use buildings, do 0:30:56.840 --> 0:30:59.960 you need a multi use building to make the economics work? 0:31:00.640 --> 0:31:03.680 And if you do have a multi yet use building, 0:31:03.960 --> 0:31:06.760 how do you make it a good experience for concerts? 0:31:07.720 --> 0:31:11.960 Well, first of all, you have summarized in one question, 0:31:12.760 --> 0:31:15.320 what's taken me seven years to figure out as a company, 0:31:15.400 --> 0:31:21.800 So the Forum. When Irving and Jim did the Forum, 0:31:22.080 --> 0:31:24.560 so I was at AG at the time, we had 0:31:24.560 --> 0:31:27.800 Staple Center downtown. We owned the Forum for some period 0:31:27.840 --> 0:31:32.520 of time, but quite frankly, I didn't have the vision 0:31:32.600 --> 0:31:35.640 or the foresight they did to understand the demand in 0:31:35.680 --> 0:31:39.880 the marketplace and how we needed another music venue in particular, 0:31:40.800 --> 0:31:44.040 and we should have paid more attention to it at 0:31:44.040 --> 0:31:48.520 AG and I'll put that's my fault. And so we 0:31:48.880 --> 0:31:51.000 ended up selling the forms of the Church. The church 0:31:51.080 --> 0:31:55.360 then sold it to Jim, and Jim was very intelligent 0:31:55.560 --> 0:31:59.120 about coming in and realizing, how do I go create 0:31:59.160 --> 0:32:01.960 the same experience that we created at the Garden for 0:32:02.120 --> 0:32:06.800 music with a low ceiling, great acoustics, get rid of 0:32:06.800 --> 0:32:09.520 the signage, get rid of the scoreboard. I don't care 0:32:09.560 --> 0:32:11.719 about sports. We're not going to do sports. I don't care. 0:32:11.840 --> 0:32:13.640 We're not going to have an ice plant. We're not 0:32:13.680 --> 0:32:16.240 going to do hockey, We're not going to do basketball. 0:32:16.360 --> 0:32:18.080 I don't care about any of that. We're just going 0:32:18.160 --> 0:32:20.640 to be phenomenal at music. And he spent a couple 0:32:20.600 --> 0:32:24.000 of hundred million dollars and from that, by the way, 0:32:24.080 --> 0:32:26.920 came the Sphere. So if you ask Jim Dolan, what 0:32:27.000 --> 0:32:30.760 he'll tell you is what they created at the Forum 0:32:31.160 --> 0:32:35.040 spurred him on to the thinking that eventually is the Sphere. 0:32:35.080 --> 0:32:38.720 And if when the Spear opens, I encourage everyone to 0:32:38.720 --> 0:32:42.720 go see it. It is a absolute you want to 0:32:42.760 --> 0:32:46.440 talk about, an entrepreneurial spirit and an entrepreneurial moment. God 0:32:46.480 --> 0:32:49.400 blessed Jim for what he's done there. It is going 0:32:49.480 --> 0:32:54.240 to change our industry forever. And so the great debate 0:32:54.800 --> 0:32:56.480 that came out of that. So and by the way, 0:32:56.520 --> 0:32:59.000 it's a debate I have with Jim. So Jim tells 0:32:59.040 --> 0:33:01.840 me you you never build another arena, you should only 0:33:01.840 --> 0:33:04.240 build spheres, and I'm like, well, I get it, but 0:33:04.680 --> 0:33:06.880 you know I can't afford to bill spheres. I got 0:33:06.960 --> 0:33:09.160 to figure out a way to pay for it. Because, 0:33:09.200 --> 0:33:11.560 by the way of the seven arenas we built, we 0:33:11.640 --> 0:33:15.120 didn't take one penny from the public sector on any 0:33:15.200 --> 0:33:18.120 of those seven arenas, and most of the arenas we 0:33:18.240 --> 0:33:22.440 built and then gave back to the city. So we 0:33:22.840 --> 0:33:26.320 privatized everything, which means we had to pencil this out 0:33:26.480 --> 0:33:29.800 and figure out how naming and right sponsorship, premium ticket sales, 0:33:29.840 --> 0:33:35.000 food and beverage, parking can pay for the privatization of 0:33:35.040 --> 0:33:38.920 these particular buildings. In some cases, Seattle is an example, 0:33:39.960 --> 0:33:42.200 You're going to build one arena, and you got to 0:33:42.200 --> 0:33:44.000 make it work for hockey, and you got to make 0:33:44.000 --> 0:33:47.160 it work for basketball. When we get the NBA back, 0:33:47.440 --> 0:33:49.720 but you got to make it perfect for music. And 0:33:49.760 --> 0:33:52.040 that was the problem up there. So not only did 0:33:52.040 --> 0:33:55.640 the Old Key Arena kind of have that huge roof 0:33:56.120 --> 0:33:58.320 that was kind of a pyramid at the top of it, 0:33:58.640 --> 0:34:01.360 so the sound of a concert would go up into 0:34:01.400 --> 0:34:03.600 the roof and bounce around a few times and then 0:34:03.680 --> 0:34:06.200 bounce back down. It was I always use to tell 0:34:06.240 --> 0:34:09.160 people Earl's Court is my favorite place to go for 0:34:09.200 --> 0:34:11.200 a concert because I get to hear the band three 0:34:11.239 --> 0:34:14.359 times because the first time and then the second time 0:34:14.520 --> 0:34:16.600 with the echo. On the third time the echo from 0:34:16.640 --> 0:34:20.960 the echo. And so we had to go recreate the 0:34:21.040 --> 0:34:24.360 music experience in Seattle. And what we did is we 0:34:24.560 --> 0:34:28.480 learned from the forum as well, and from an engineering standpoint, 0:34:28.480 --> 0:34:31.200 we figured out how to build clouds in our ceiling 0:34:31.280 --> 0:34:35.120 with acoustical treatment and drop them and have panels. So 0:34:35.280 --> 0:34:39.480 in Seattle, our panels open and close based on where 0:34:39.520 --> 0:34:42.759 we know music is coming from and the sound and 0:34:42.800 --> 0:34:46.480 the reverb and the base compared to where sports noise 0:34:46.560 --> 0:34:50.960 comes from. And so in a very can they both 0:34:51.320 --> 0:34:53.440 work together and be aligned. They can't. And here's how 0:34:53.480 --> 0:34:56.680 you do it. So if you think about creating the 0:34:56.719 --> 0:35:00.680 graized environment humanly possible for sports. And you think about 0:35:00.760 --> 0:35:04.120 the crowd noise, which is what you want to amplify 0:35:04.719 --> 0:35:07.799 and keep in the building so that you create that 0:35:07.840 --> 0:35:12.640 wonderful environment and so many great sports facilities. You understand 0:35:12.680 --> 0:35:15.680 that that crowd noise comes from the bowl, not the ice, 0:35:15.760 --> 0:35:17.640 from not the cord, It comes from the bull. So 0:35:17.680 --> 0:35:20.799 as that crowd noise goes up, you want it not 0:35:20.960 --> 0:35:22.879 to be trapped and killed in the roof. You want 0:35:22.920 --> 0:35:25.080 it to bounce in the roof and come back down. 0:35:25.480 --> 0:35:28.840 That's what creates that intimidating experience in many arenas today. 0:35:29.719 --> 0:35:33.239 But for concerts, you do want to kill it. You 0:35:33.280 --> 0:35:36.240 want to trap it and take make sure there's no echo, 0:35:36.320 --> 0:35:40.040 no reverb. And that means you've got to build acoustical 0:35:40.160 --> 0:35:43.959 systems and your roof and your walls and anything that's 0:35:43.960 --> 0:35:48.239 a surface that stares at the speakers. And so our 0:35:48.280 --> 0:35:50.440 engineers came in and figured out a system in the 0:35:50.520 --> 0:35:56.279 roof where it allows sports noise to bounce. But they 0:35:56.360 --> 0:36:00.800 knew where the speakers were going to be positioned with music, 0:36:01.239 --> 0:36:04.440 and we knew how to take the baffling system and 0:36:04.560 --> 0:36:09.839 actually kill the noise, the echo and the reverb as 0:36:09.920 --> 0:36:13.000 that noise is coming out of the speakers. We add 0:36:13.120 --> 0:36:18.360 the ability to take our acoustical panels and hang them 0:36:18.800 --> 0:36:21.760 and curve them in a way where they're directed at 0:36:21.920 --> 0:36:24.440 where the speakers are going to be hung for concerts. 0:36:24.760 --> 0:36:27.480 So you can make it work together. You can build 0:36:27.520 --> 0:36:32.480 a great venue for sports Iubs or by the way, 0:36:32.640 --> 0:36:36.600 Moody Center or what we did at Climate Pledge and 0:36:37.120 --> 0:36:41.240 have an intimidating environment for sports, but a perfect environment 0:36:41.280 --> 0:36:45.400 for acoustics. And for me, the greatest critic in the 0:36:45.440 --> 0:36:49.000 world on acoustics are the artists, because they got to 0:36:49.000 --> 0:36:50.560 live with it and they're the ones that hear it. 0:36:50.719 --> 0:36:52.520 By the way, they're the ones that to deal with 0:36:52.719 --> 0:36:56.120 bad acoustics more than anybody. And if you talk about 0:36:56.160 --> 0:36:59.080 an artist that really does care about the experience for 0:36:59.160 --> 0:37:02.120 their fans, Don Henley is top of the list in 0:37:02.120 --> 0:37:05.759 my opinion of an artist that really will critique you 0:37:06.200 --> 0:37:09.960 and give you feedback on good experiences and bad experiences. 0:37:10.560 --> 0:37:13.319 And the great thing for Don is he noticed in 0:37:13.360 --> 0:37:16.719 all of our buildings, including the renovation in Baltimore. He 0:37:16.880 --> 0:37:20.640 knew the work that we put in there on acoustics 0:37:20.800 --> 0:37:24.160 because he felt it and heard it on the stage, 0:37:24.520 --> 0:37:27.719 and he knew the difference in our buildings with the 0:37:27.760 --> 0:37:31.080 acoustical treatment that Irving and I had committed to compared 0:37:31.080 --> 0:37:35.280 to other buildings, and so same with Springsteen. He really 0:37:35.480 --> 0:37:40.800 loved the acoustic He so to one of the great 0:37:40.840 --> 0:37:45.040 stories in my life. And as I fooled, Sir Bruce, 0:37:45.239 --> 0:37:48.360 He's been running around in my head for about twenty 0:37:48.360 --> 0:37:50.600 five years and I can't get rid of him. So 0:37:50.680 --> 0:37:53.319 when we open up Staples Center, Bruce agreed to open 0:37:53.360 --> 0:37:57.680 the building for us, and we were truly honored, because 0:37:58.000 --> 0:38:00.400 you know, when you're in the business for forty five years, 0:38:01.040 --> 0:38:06.520 Bruce Springsteen is God. So I'm like, Bruce Springsteen is 0:38:06.520 --> 0:38:08.719 going to open our building. Coolest thing ever. And we 0:38:08.760 --> 0:38:10.919 had him for a couple of nights, and Rob White 0:38:10.920 --> 0:38:15.240 from CAA did a favor and intervened and convinced Bruce 0:38:15.239 --> 0:38:18.120 to do it for us, and so Bruce came the 0:38:18.160 --> 0:38:21.720 first night. Never forget it, and you know, huge success 0:38:21.760 --> 0:38:24.800 for us. Really cool to have Bruce open the building. 0:38:25.360 --> 0:38:28.360 And he gets on stage and after one song or 0:38:28.400 --> 0:38:31.799 two songs, he said, Hey, all you people up there 0:38:31.800 --> 0:38:34.560 in all those boxes, why don't you come on out 0:38:34.640 --> 0:38:37.480 and join the rest of us, and I'm like, did 0:38:37.520 --> 0:38:41.120 he just say that? And then the person I was listening, Yeah, 0:38:41.239 --> 0:38:45.719 he just said that. I'm like, oh shit, and I 0:38:45.880 --> 0:38:48.759 was embarrassed. I'm like, oh my god. And then you 0:38:48.800 --> 0:38:53.000 can tell he was a little myfthed that there were 0:38:53.000 --> 0:38:55.319 a lot of people in those suites having parties that 0:38:55.360 --> 0:38:58.120 weren't part of the concert, and you can't do that 0:38:58.160 --> 0:39:02.040 to an artist. That's a mistake. And I instantly realized 0:39:02.080 --> 0:39:05.640 three levels this week. That was the moment I realized 0:39:06.160 --> 0:39:09.040 I made a terrible mistake with three levels of suites here. 0:39:09.600 --> 0:39:11.840 I did not think about the artist like I should have. 0:39:12.800 --> 0:39:16.239 And so I went to see him afterwards after the 0:39:16.280 --> 0:39:19.200 concert and thanked him for opening the building, and then 0:39:19.239 --> 0:39:21.799 he said something to me that has run in my 0:39:21.880 --> 0:39:25.560 head for twenty five years, which is, you know, Tim, 0:39:25.840 --> 0:39:27.800 I know you put a lot of love into the building, 0:39:27.840 --> 0:39:31.160 but I like hot, sweaty holes. And I walked away 0:39:31.160 --> 0:39:34.600 going jeez. I just got like I'm dressed by the boss. 0:39:34.760 --> 0:39:39.319 This is not good, and it stuck with me. So 0:39:39.360 --> 0:39:43.880 when we started OVG, ironically, the very question you asked 0:39:43.920 --> 0:39:46.880 has been running around my head all these years, which is, 0:39:46.960 --> 0:39:50.960 can we build an arena that is phenomenal for music, 0:39:51.200 --> 0:39:54.400 acoustically perfect for the artists and their fans so that 0:39:54.440 --> 0:39:56.680 they feel like they're right there next to each other. 0:39:57.440 --> 0:40:01.319 And can we make it so it's a dominal advantage 0:40:01.640 --> 0:40:04.120 for the home team for basketball and hockey when you're 0:40:04.120 --> 0:40:07.600 going to share the building. Sometimes like Manchester, We're going 0:40:07.640 --> 0:40:10.319 to build the perfect building for music because I'm going 0:40:10.320 --> 0:40:12.399 to do one hundred and fifteen nights of music every year, 0:40:12.440 --> 0:40:14.680 so I don't need to worry about an ice hockey 0:40:14.719 --> 0:40:17.920 team or a basketball team. But other times, like Seattle, 0:40:18.239 --> 0:40:20.560 to cover a billion dollar bat, we got to happen 0:40:20.560 --> 0:40:22.759 an NHL team and we won an NBA team, so 0:40:22.800 --> 0:40:26.440 it all has to work. There are very smart people 0:40:27.080 --> 0:40:30.560 that have perfected this if you are willing to spend 0:40:30.560 --> 0:40:35.000 the money necessary to build the acoustical treatment in order 0:40:35.040 --> 0:40:37.360 to make it perfect. And that's what we've done in 0:40:37.400 --> 0:40:41.160 the buildings. And so when Bruce played, he was very 0:40:41.239 --> 0:40:43.560 kind and did two nights for us at ubs this 0:40:43.800 --> 0:40:45.879 last tour. It was the only two nights he did. 0:40:45.960 --> 0:40:48.640 He did one night every place else, so really cool 0:40:48.680 --> 0:40:51.439 because he had kind of committed to help us open 0:40:51.480 --> 0:40:54.160 the building. But then Covid hit, and he didn't forget us. 0:40:54.400 --> 0:40:59.800 So remarkable him, John and the whole team at Bruce's 0:40:59.840 --> 0:41:03.520 came phenomenal. How loyal they are to their fans and 0:41:03.560 --> 0:41:07.160 to our business. I have huge respect for them for 0:41:07.280 --> 0:41:11.080 the way they treat people. It's just so refreshing to 0:41:11.120 --> 0:41:13.400 be with people that are that down to earth and 0:41:13.960 --> 0:41:17.880 that loyal to the music, the experience, the fans, and 0:41:17.920 --> 0:41:20.640 the building. And so they came back into two at 0:41:20.760 --> 0:41:23.640 ubs and they told me the acoustics were perfect. They said, 0:41:23.680 --> 0:41:26.200 you did a great job here. Good on you. And 0:41:26.440 --> 0:41:28.759 they talked about Moody Center and how what a cool 0:41:28.840 --> 0:41:31.160 experience that was in Austin. And they talked about Climate 0:41:31.440 --> 0:41:34.840 Pledge and how great that was and how unbelievable that 0:41:34.920 --> 0:41:37.480 we were able to build a carbon neutral arena. They cared, 0:41:37.520 --> 0:41:40.279 they actually knew the whole stick. I'm like, God, you 0:41:40.320 --> 0:41:45.080 guys sound like a walking brochure for OVG. So by 0:41:45.120 --> 0:41:48.120 the time they got to Baltimore, he was going to 0:41:48.120 --> 0:41:51.640 play the baseball stadium and instead did us a favor 0:41:51.920 --> 0:41:54.680 and they helped us open the arena. They were one 0:41:54.680 --> 0:41:57.279 of the first nights in the renovated arena. Because he 0:41:57.400 --> 0:42:00.480 cared about Baltimore. He cared about us spending a quarter 0:42:00.520 --> 0:42:03.200 of a billion dollars of a city that some in 0:42:03.280 --> 0:42:07.719 the media, not you, but some in the media Fox trashed, 0:42:08.000 --> 0:42:12.520 absolutely destroyed the city, absolutely buried it, absolutely treated the 0:42:12.600 --> 0:42:16.400 people that are a part of that community with huge 0:42:16.440 --> 0:42:20.720 disdain for their own political purposes. And most of it 0:42:20.760 --> 0:42:24.240 is absolutely untrue. The city is not burning up in flames. 0:42:24.280 --> 0:42:26.120 People are not being shot when they come out of 0:42:26.160 --> 0:42:29.279 their homes. Bruce knew that, and he knew that that 0:42:29.320 --> 0:42:32.560 city had been treated unfairly, and they need people to 0:42:32.640 --> 0:42:37.040 come lift them up. Our partner in Baltimore, Sparrell and Farrell, 0:42:37.160 --> 0:42:40.320 talks about steps, giving people that first step on the 0:42:40.440 --> 0:42:43.279 ladder and helping them get up, and then they're going 0:42:43.360 --> 0:42:44.759 to go the rest of the way up on their 0:42:44.800 --> 0:42:47.320 own if you can help them on that first step. 0:42:47.719 --> 0:42:49.520 But you got to build the ladder. You got to 0:42:49.520 --> 0:42:52.839 build the first step. Bruce got it great news as 0:42:52.880 --> 0:42:56.080 he came in and said, the building's phenomeno and it's 0:42:56.120 --> 0:42:58.560 amazing what you did here. Good on you because most 0:42:58.560 --> 0:43:04.120 people wouldn't have taken this chance. Those they prove two things, Bob. First, 0:43:04.360 --> 0:43:07.920 you can build arenas that ultimately are advanced enough to 0:43:07.920 --> 0:43:11.640 be acoustically perfect for concerts and work for sports. And 0:43:11.760 --> 0:43:15.160 second of all, what a phenomenal industry we all get 0:43:15.200 --> 0:43:18.000 the chance to work in when you get had those moments, 0:43:18.040 --> 0:43:20.920 and one, I have stopped Bruce from running in my 0:43:21.120 --> 0:43:24.360 head for twenty five years finally, and number two, I 0:43:24.480 --> 0:43:27.400 guess what I learned from them and understood the mistakes 0:43:27.480 --> 0:43:30.319 I had made, and I vowed to myself I'd never 0:43:30.360 --> 0:43:33.040 make those mistakes again, and I'd be smarter and better 0:43:33.440 --> 0:43:36.920 because I listened to what the artists ultimately want. And 0:43:36.960 --> 0:43:39.719 so when Don Henley tells me where we're good and 0:43:39.760 --> 0:43:43.400 where we're bad, I listen because Don Henley, in my opinion, 0:43:43.960 --> 0:43:47.000 is one of the great artists of our generation. And 0:43:47.080 --> 0:43:50.799 I care about how he cares about his fans and 0:43:50.880 --> 0:43:53.319 the experience he wants people to have in an Eagle show. 0:43:53.520 --> 0:43:56.520 Same with Bruce. I think that's the great thing about 0:43:56.560 --> 0:43:59.960 our building or our industry, And it's what you ask 0:44:00.120 --> 0:44:03.520 at the very beginning, which is the industry shares. The 0:44:03.560 --> 0:44:06.279 industry will learn from one another, the industry will try 0:44:06.320 --> 0:44:09.760 to get better from one another. And it's the passion 0:44:09.800 --> 0:44:13.399 that an artist has that we have that the fans have. 0:44:13.920 --> 0:44:17.640 If you could kind of combine that and align that together, 0:44:18.120 --> 0:44:19.960 then great things are going to come out of that, 0:44:20.040 --> 0:44:24.680 great musical experiences, great venues and stadiums and arenas and festivals. 0:44:25.239 --> 0:44:28.520 But that's part of what I think is encouraging about 0:44:28.520 --> 0:44:31.880 our industry right now, is we are building better arenas 0:44:31.920 --> 0:44:35.919 and theaters and stadiums. The experiences are ten times better 0:44:35.960 --> 0:44:38.440 than they used to be, and people are having a 0:44:38.440 --> 0:44:41.439 lot more fun at our concerts when they come into 0:44:41.480 --> 0:44:44.759 this environment because we ultimately have figured out how to 0:44:44.800 --> 0:44:53.239 make it a better experience for them. 0:44:53.360 --> 0:44:55.520 Okay, a couple of things. I remember when Bruce opened 0:44:55.560 --> 0:44:59.319 the building, we talked about the acoustics negatively. But you 0:44:59.520 --> 0:45:03.640 bring up the luxury boxes, the suites of which there 0:45:03.680 --> 0:45:06.600 are three tiers and seats above in what is now 0:45:06.600 --> 0:45:12.280 called crypto. So what'd you learn about how many luxury 0:45:12.320 --> 0:45:16.000 boxes you can build in how to build them to 0:45:16.080 --> 0:45:17.280 see ciate the artists. 0:45:19.120 --> 0:45:21.200 Well, again, I made a mistake at Stable Center. We 0:45:21.280 --> 0:45:23.200 built too many. We built two hundred and twenty of 0:45:23.200 --> 0:45:27.680 them on three levels, and it acoustically wasn't a great experience, 0:45:27.680 --> 0:45:30.719 and I'm sorry it isn't today. I know though, they'll 0:45:30.760 --> 0:45:32.800 say that's because I compete with them. It has nothing 0:45:32.800 --> 0:45:35.040 to do with that. That's just a fact. And so 0:45:35.239 --> 0:45:37.520 when you look at the Forum, it takes you two 0:45:37.560 --> 0:45:41.840 minutes to figure out, well, why is almost every artist 0:45:41.880 --> 0:45:44.319 going into Forum and not going to Crypto. Guess what? 0:45:44.600 --> 0:45:48.000 The forums of phenomenal experience. We're an artist in their fans. 0:45:48.640 --> 0:45:53.279 There are no suites, none, right, so everybody's right in 0:45:53.280 --> 0:45:56.760 that bowl, tight to the artists, tight to the stage, 0:45:57.120 --> 0:46:00.759 tight to the experience. The acoustics are perfect, there's no 0:46:00.880 --> 0:46:04.680 bounce back, there's no reverb. That's what I learned is 0:46:04.800 --> 0:46:08.000 guess what it does matter? And so, okay, you. 0:46:08.120 --> 0:46:12.279 Build something from scratch that also has sports, I think 0:46:12.320 --> 0:46:14.880 you have to have luxury boxes. How do you decide 0:46:14.920 --> 0:46:16.080 how to build them and how many? 0:46:17.120 --> 0:46:19.799 So I think the Garden to me is still the 0:46:19.840 --> 0:46:22.200 greatest building in the world. It's still to me is 0:46:22.280 --> 0:46:27.160 the cathedral for arenas and sports and live entertainment. And 0:46:27.200 --> 0:46:29.359 I still learn from the Garden every time I go there. 0:46:29.400 --> 0:46:31.520 I learned from the Calcium every time I go there. 0:46:31.880 --> 0:46:38.000 So what we figured is make the bowl pure, but 0:46:38.120 --> 0:46:42.279 still build premium experiences that will not take away from 0:46:42.280 --> 0:46:45.879 that experience or the acoustics within the bowl. So what 0:46:46.000 --> 0:46:49.280 you see now in all my buildings, we still have suites. 0:46:49.280 --> 0:46:52.960 We have fifty six weeks total at Climate Pledge Arena, 0:46:53.000 --> 0:46:56.160 but it's one level and the seats are all out. 0:46:56.360 --> 0:47:01.200 So we have taken the seats and extended them over 0:47:01.360 --> 0:47:03.960 the lower bowls, so they actually go into the bowl 0:47:04.000 --> 0:47:07.239 and the people are sitting out in that experience. And 0:47:07.280 --> 0:47:10.840 then we tuck the sweeps and the common area, the 0:47:10.920 --> 0:47:13.640 kitchen area, and the food area. We tuck them back 0:47:13.680 --> 0:47:16.239 further and kind of hide them. And we only have 0:47:16.719 --> 0:47:20.239 roughly forty of those on that one level at Climb 0:47:20.280 --> 0:47:23.120 to Pledge Arena, so we minimized it. And then we 0:47:23.160 --> 0:47:26.359 build bunker suites down low. But the bunker suites are 0:47:26.360 --> 0:47:29.320 completely hidden. You don't see them in the back hallway. 0:47:30.320 --> 0:47:34.000 And so you come down a tunnel of vomitory by 0:47:34.040 --> 0:47:37.040 the way from the coloseum, and you walk down that 0:47:37.160 --> 0:47:41.240 vomitory and you come into the seats down low from 0:47:41.480 --> 0:47:46.560 your sweet but they're disconnected. And so what we're beginning 0:47:46.560 --> 0:47:49.560 to learn is with our clubs, with our suites, with 0:47:49.640 --> 0:47:52.840 our premium areas, put them on the outside of the 0:47:52.840 --> 0:47:55.520 skin of the building, put them so they don't disrupt 0:47:55.560 --> 0:47:58.000 the bowl. Put them so that there's not the hous 0:47:58.040 --> 0:48:02.879 and the have nots. Still have premium experiences, bring them 0:48:02.880 --> 0:48:05.600 out to the seats, but designing it away where the 0:48:05.640 --> 0:48:08.319 flow of the bull is perfect and you don't have 0:48:08.400 --> 0:48:11.799 three levels of suites and three levels of glass and 0:48:11.920 --> 0:48:15.080 three levels of people make a noise where everything's bouncing 0:48:15.239 --> 0:48:18.480 off of those suites in that glass. So we still 0:48:18.520 --> 0:48:23.080 have suites, we still have premium. We have four or 0:48:23.120 --> 0:48:26.200 five thousand premium seats and most of the buildings we're 0:48:26.200 --> 0:48:29.239 building today. But what we've done is we've taken the 0:48:29.280 --> 0:48:32.360 clubs and integrated them into the concourse, not the bowl, 0:48:32.840 --> 0:48:36.000 and then we use the seating in the bowl as 0:48:36.040 --> 0:48:41.359 the opportunity to fulfill those commitments for the premium seat 0:48:41.360 --> 0:48:44.879 holders in great locations. But we don't disrupt the flow 0:48:44.920 --> 0:48:47.080 of the bowl, the acoustics of the bowl, the experience 0:48:47.120 --> 0:48:50.600 of the fans by ultimately building three levels of suites. 0:48:51.960 --> 0:48:55.360 Okay, you mentioned the experience in the old days, you 0:48:55.520 --> 0:48:59.719 go to the arena, there'll be hot dogs and cold pizza. Okay, 0:49:00.280 --> 0:49:03.319 And but what we know is if the act is 0:49:03.400 --> 0:49:06.560 hot enough, does it matter what is going on, people 0:49:06.560 --> 0:49:13.240 will pay the price. So this investment in the experience, 0:49:13.680 --> 0:49:16.640 does it pay dividends? Find the insinely. 0:49:18.640 --> 0:49:21.760 So great question. So again I'll tell you another story 0:49:21.760 --> 0:49:26.520 that probably answers it well. And So despite what people 0:49:26.560 --> 0:49:30.480 think as to the competition between OVG and ABG, yes 0:49:30.600 --> 0:49:33.680 we compete. But I still have great respect for Philanes 0:49:33.760 --> 0:49:37.200 because he wrote the checks and he took a huge 0:49:37.480 --> 0:49:41.400 risk on investment on Staples Center and La Live, and 0:49:42.120 --> 0:49:46.239 in particular the two. So at the time, building an 0:49:46.280 --> 0:49:54.040 arena in London privately, crazy idea, building an arena privately 0:49:54.280 --> 0:50:00.520 in London underneath a tent. Crazier building it up underneath 0:50:00.600 --> 0:50:03.720 a tent and not having the ability to go down 0:50:04.640 --> 0:50:08.480 because there's a thing called the Thames River are up 0:50:08.800 --> 0:50:13.040 because the tent is a National Historic landmark, and so 0:50:13.160 --> 0:50:15.759 it's like, how the hell are you going to go 0:50:15.840 --> 0:50:20.560 do that? But it was a daring, bold bat by 0:50:20.560 --> 0:50:24.319 Phil to provide the money and to the team that 0:50:24.360 --> 0:50:27.680 we put together to design it and build it stunningly 0:50:27.719 --> 0:50:31.120 brilliant as to here's an idea, let's build the arena 0:50:31.239 --> 0:50:34.800 under the tent and create the greatest arena outside of 0:50:34.840 --> 0:50:38.120 the United States, and we'll pay for it privately and 0:50:38.200 --> 0:50:44.040 all work. And again there's an old saying Bob I have, 0:50:44.200 --> 0:50:47.680 which is there are people that want to participate in 0:50:47.680 --> 0:50:50.959 the parade. There are some people that want to lead 0:50:51.040 --> 0:50:53.640 the parade, and then there's a segment of people that 0:50:53.840 --> 0:50:55.880 just want to pee on the parade. And there were 0:50:55.920 --> 0:50:57.759 a lot of people that wanted to pee on the 0:50:57.760 --> 0:51:00.920 O two idea. And everyone was telling us what a 0:51:00.960 --> 0:51:04.640 mistake this was, and partially why are you building an 0:51:04.640 --> 0:51:07.840 arena in London? Why are you building an arena in London? 0:51:07.880 --> 0:51:12.040 It's music specific. There's a Euro's Court, there's the Wembley Arena. 0:51:12.440 --> 0:51:16.120 We don't need another arena. We're fine. So one night 0:51:17.280 --> 0:51:20.360 Irving brings the Eagles over. This is, you know, and 0:51:20.440 --> 0:51:25.440 a story of my partner, Irving and Tim. There's parts 0:51:25.440 --> 0:51:27.480 of our life where we were getting along quite well 0:51:27.480 --> 0:51:29.440 and none were parts of our life where we wouldn't 0:51:29.480 --> 0:51:32.680 talk to each other and we didn't like each other 0:51:32.800 --> 0:51:35.959 very much. So we've seen it all. This was good 0:51:36.080 --> 0:51:39.040 Tim and Irving right. So Irving brought the Eagles over 0:51:39.200 --> 0:51:43.160 to the old Wembley Arena and I went out to 0:51:43.200 --> 0:51:45.520 say out of Irving and the band and I'm working 0:51:45.640 --> 0:51:50.320 on getting the O two started and built. This is 0:51:50.320 --> 0:51:52.839 at the very early stages of us making the deal 0:51:52.920 --> 0:51:57.880 for the Millennium Dome. And I, you know, during the concert, 0:51:58.080 --> 0:52:01.680 I go walk the concourse to go see, Okay, how 0:52:01.680 --> 0:52:03.960 are they doing here? How do they do food? How 0:52:04.040 --> 0:52:06.520 do they And I go up to the one of 0:52:06.560 --> 0:52:12.160 the stands and I say to the woman, I'll take 0:52:12.200 --> 0:52:15.760 a beer, and she goes okay. So she goes back 0:52:16.000 --> 0:52:19.520 to this like crazy ass antique machine and presses the 0:52:19.520 --> 0:52:23.279 button and she's pouring twenty four beers at one time 0:52:23.320 --> 0:52:26.200 onto this machine, and she presses the button and it 0:52:26.239 --> 0:52:28.239 begins to fill up the twenty four cops. But as 0:52:28.280 --> 0:52:31.520 she comes away from pressing the button, she hits one 0:52:31.560 --> 0:52:34.880 of the cups and knocks the half full cup of 0:52:34.960 --> 0:52:38.920 beer over and immediately panics and stops the points that 0:52:39.040 --> 0:52:41.560 puts the stop machine. And now she's sitting there with 0:52:41.840 --> 0:52:45.400 twenty three half empty cops and she's pondering, well, what 0:52:45.440 --> 0:52:47.799 the hell do I do now? And so she gets 0:52:47.840 --> 0:52:49.719 a fresh cup, puts it down where she knocked the 0:52:49.719 --> 0:52:53.200 old cup over, presses the button and then starts to 0:52:53.239 --> 0:52:55.640 fill the beer up. But then she realizes, well, wait 0:52:55.680 --> 0:52:59.399 a minute. The machine thinks I'm pouring a fresh cup 0:52:59.440 --> 0:53:01.400 of beer instead of a half a cup of beer. 0:53:01.520 --> 0:53:04.160 And now she's panicked because there's beer running everywhere from 0:53:04.200 --> 0:53:06.000 these cops. She doesn't know what the hell to do, 0:53:06.440 --> 0:53:08.560 and I'm looking at her like, this is the worst 0:53:08.800 --> 0:53:12.239 time I've ever see. So then she gives me the 0:53:12.280 --> 0:53:14.759 beer and I drink the beer and I'm like, oh 0:53:14.800 --> 0:53:18.399 my god, this beer tastes awful. And I realized, first 0:53:18.400 --> 0:53:21.000 of all, it's warm, and second of all, and I 0:53:21.040 --> 0:53:25.600 asked her, I'm like, man, I'm trying not to be considered, 0:53:25.600 --> 0:53:28.200 because you know, after all, they think we're ugly, stupid 0:53:28.239 --> 0:53:31.080 Americans to begin with, and they were mostly correct. And 0:53:31.120 --> 0:53:35.799 I'm like, where where's this beer coming from? She says, Oh, 0:53:35.840 --> 0:53:39.719 it's you know, the tap room. Says, well, where's the 0:53:39.760 --> 0:53:42.960 tap room? She says, Oh, it's downstairs. I'm like, are 0:53:42.960 --> 0:53:46.720 you telling me you got a line that runs from 0:53:46.840 --> 0:53:50.920 that stupid ass twenty four person, twenty four cup machine 0:53:51.640 --> 0:53:54.880 all the way through the concrete downstairs to some back 0:53:55.000 --> 0:53:57.759 of room commissary where you got all the kegs of 0:53:57.760 --> 0:54:02.000 beer stacked. She said, yeah, and it's not refrigerated, and 0:54:02.120 --> 0:54:05.279 what I realized is two things. One it was an 0:54:05.320 --> 0:54:09.319 absolute stupid way to serve a customer. And two, what 0:54:09.520 --> 0:54:14.000 happens is those lines that have beer in them get polluted, 0:54:14.640 --> 0:54:17.080 and there's a lot of bad stuff in those lines, 0:54:17.160 --> 0:54:21.279 including mildew, because remember there's long periods of time where 0:54:21.280 --> 0:54:23.759 there's no one in the building and it gets hot 0:54:23.840 --> 0:54:26.200 during the summertime, and they didn't add their conditioning back 0:54:26.239 --> 0:54:29.000 in the day at Wembley, and so I realized that 0:54:29.040 --> 0:54:31.400 this is the worst cup of beer I've ever had 0:54:31.880 --> 0:54:35.360 in a place where they absolutely love to drink beer. 0:54:35.719 --> 0:54:37.880 That's the stupidest thing I've ever seen. We got to 0:54:37.920 --> 0:54:42.880 fix that. And so the idea of building in refrigerators 0:54:43.320 --> 0:54:47.000 at every concession stand and serving clean beer where we 0:54:47.040 --> 0:54:51.840 had a minimal line was revolutionary, revolutionary at the O 0:54:51.960 --> 0:54:54.880 two and everyone was happy because they were getting a 0:54:54.920 --> 0:54:58.279 really cold cup of beer, and by the way, they 0:54:58.280 --> 0:55:01.640 weren't having to worry about a polluted line that the 0:55:01.640 --> 0:55:04.839 bear was traveling from. And so we knew we were 0:55:04.840 --> 0:55:10.080 going to succeed because we knew that the threshold and 0:55:10.120 --> 0:55:13.400 the expectations were very low, and we were going to 0:55:13.440 --> 0:55:18.360 do something extraordinary. Ironically, now that we see the evelp 0:55:18.400 --> 0:55:21.680 back to one of your earlier questions. The evolution of 0:55:21.719 --> 0:55:26.120 the experience is dramatically different today than it was twenty 0:55:26.200 --> 0:55:29.400 years ago when we started building the two. So the 0:55:29.640 --> 0:55:32.239 two is old, by the way, and it's outdated in 0:55:32.239 --> 0:55:34.960 my opinion, because they haven't put money into it to 0:55:35.080 --> 0:55:39.239 update it. So Manchester, why do we go into Manchester 0:55:39.239 --> 0:55:41.920 where there's an existing arena? And by the way, Manchester 0:55:42.200 --> 0:55:44.920 used to be and you know this, Manchester was a 0:55:45.040 --> 0:55:49.160 top five market forever for live ticket sales and the 0:55:49.239 --> 0:55:52.440 old men Arena was a top two or three arena 0:55:52.840 --> 0:55:56.840 in the entire world for music. It sold more tickets 0:55:57.120 --> 0:56:00.520 and did more concerts than any other building in the world, 0:56:00.600 --> 0:56:04.920 with the exception of maybe the Garden, the Forum and 0:56:05.320 --> 0:56:08.120 occasionally one of the buildings is in London, but it 0:56:08.200 --> 0:56:14.000 was that successful. When we went to Manchester ovg we 0:56:14.360 --> 0:56:17.200 went through exactly what you were asking about, which is 0:56:17.440 --> 0:56:20.399 the evolution of the experience and how is it going 0:56:20.400 --> 0:56:23.840 to change? One have we learned that ultimately could build 0:56:24.040 --> 0:56:27.319 a better arena and a better experience for artists and 0:56:27.360 --> 0:56:30.360 fans that fans will pay for. And what we do 0:56:30.560 --> 0:56:33.600 is the AO Arena was built for fifty six million 0:56:33.640 --> 0:56:37.279 pounds for the Commonwealth Games. All public, by the ways, 0:56:37.320 --> 0:56:39.200 is a public building and it was built for sports. 0:56:39.239 --> 0:56:42.319 It was never built for music, and they've never put 0:56:42.320 --> 0:56:45.000 a penny into it since they're just now putting money 0:56:45.040 --> 0:56:48.120 into it because here we come, and so they're like, oh, 0:56:48.160 --> 0:56:50.280 we better put some money into it so we could compete. 0:56:50.360 --> 0:56:52.880 Too late. Can't put a band aid on a gaping wound, 0:56:53.440 --> 0:56:57.240 not when we're spending three hundred and sixty five million pounds, 0:56:57.280 --> 0:56:59.400 so call it five hundred million US to build the 0:56:59.400 --> 0:57:03.560 greatest arena ever build anywhere outside of the US, and 0:57:03.640 --> 0:57:07.640 we didn't because the experience in AO is bad. It's 0:57:07.680 --> 0:57:09.720 not good for the customer, it's not good for the artist. 0:57:10.160 --> 0:57:13.319 We have multiple artists when we go over to them 0:57:13.320 --> 0:57:15.839 and say, what is it you'd like us to do 0:57:16.160 --> 0:57:19.919 back a house at co Op Live that you will 0:57:19.920 --> 0:57:22.320 love and that will be meaningful for you in the experience. 0:57:22.560 --> 0:57:24.880 And we happen to have Harry Else who's our partner. 0:57:25.320 --> 0:57:29.880 Harry has strong opinions on the experience for the artists 0:57:29.920 --> 0:57:32.840 and for his fans, and he has been actively involved 0:57:32.840 --> 0:57:35.720 in the design of the building. And what we know 0:57:36.640 --> 0:57:38.520 is that our building when we open it up in 0:57:38.560 --> 0:57:43.040 April is going to be shocking for the industry internationally 0:57:43.240 --> 0:57:47.280 because they've never seen anything like this, far better, far 0:57:47.360 --> 0:57:50.160 better than the AO experience. They'll never be able to 0:57:50.200 --> 0:57:55.200 catch us, no disrespect. It's too good and much better 0:57:55.960 --> 0:57:58.439 than the O two. Because we now have twenty years 0:57:58.480 --> 0:58:02.400 worth of Jim Dolan and the Forum and Jim Dolan 0:58:02.640 --> 0:58:06.680 and the Spear and Tim Lwiki and Irving Azof at 0:58:06.840 --> 0:58:10.840 Climate Pledge Arena with Todd Lwiki and David Bonderman and 0:58:11.000 --> 0:58:15.560 UBS Arena, and Scott Malkin as our partner, the thinking, 0:58:16.120 --> 0:58:20.040 the new ideas, the new air systems, the new acoustic 0:58:20.040 --> 0:58:24.600 gold treatment, the new system of creating premium without disrupting 0:58:24.640 --> 0:58:30.040 the bull. We have thirty two clubs and restaurants and 0:58:30.120 --> 0:58:33.400 private spaces at co Op Lives thirty two, but they're 0:58:33.440 --> 0:58:35.880 all buried on the outside of the building, not the 0:58:35.880 --> 0:58:38.760 inside of the building. That's why we get twenty four 0:58:38.960 --> 0:58:42.919 thousand people into that building. And it's a hot, sweaty hall. 0:58:43.280 --> 0:58:45.520 So when Bruce goes in there and plays it, he's 0:58:45.560 --> 0:58:47.200 going to look around and go, oh my god, they're all 0:58:47.280 --> 0:58:49.720 right on top of me. This is fantastic. I love 0:58:49.760 --> 0:58:54.520 this experience. We've had twenty thirty years worth of evolution 0:58:55.480 --> 0:58:58.120 on how to make the experience better, and this is 0:58:58.160 --> 0:59:01.000 the first arena that's going to be built outside of 0:59:01.040 --> 0:59:04.440 the United States. Is taking all of that thinking and 0:59:04.560 --> 0:59:07.040 all of that evolution and now putting it to work. 0:59:07.520 --> 0:59:12.000 And it's just being entrepreneurial, listening to what people want, 0:59:12.480 --> 0:59:15.120 trying to understand your competition, and then building a better 0:59:15.160 --> 0:59:15.680 mouse trap. 0:59:16.880 --> 0:59:21.120 Okay, moving on to naming rights. Certainly you go back 0:59:21.480 --> 0:59:25.920 to the sixties and prior it was Yankee Stadium Shay Stadium. 0:59:25.920 --> 0:59:30.280 There was no money involved that changed. Yankee Stadium is 0:59:30.280 --> 0:59:35.080 still Yankee Stadium, the Mets playing City Field. Question is, 0:59:36.240 --> 0:59:38.040 let me try to break this down a little bit. 0:59:38.080 --> 0:59:40.000 All of a sudden, it got to the point where 0:59:40.720 --> 0:59:44.560 the audience was feeling, Okay, it's Jiffy lu Marina. They 0:59:44.680 --> 0:59:47.720 just paid a price. It's got nothing to do with 0:59:47.840 --> 0:59:53.240 the music. In addition, the name keeps changing. Is this 0:59:53.480 --> 0:59:58.440 just a giant middle finger to at the fans because 0:59:58.880 --> 1:00:02.080 not everybody goes regularly. They don't even know where the alls. 1:00:02.080 --> 1:00:04.000 I mean, even in this business we use, some of 1:00:04.040 --> 1:00:06.400 these names changed so much you can't remember what city. 1:00:06.960 --> 1:00:10.280 Just to add a little add on to that, a 1:00:10.440 --> 1:00:16.160 number of these buildings are sponsored by companies that have 1:00:16.280 --> 1:00:20.880 a short shelf life, they've gone bankrupt or they're crypto companies. 1:00:21.040 --> 1:00:25.680 In some cases, the arena got paid, there was an advance, 1:00:25.720 --> 1:00:27.959 et cetera. So what's really going on in the whole 1:00:28.040 --> 1:00:29.200 naming right sphere. 1:00:30.160 --> 1:00:37.680 Well, so, ironically, it's a necessary evil. When you privatize buildings. 1:00:38.160 --> 1:00:42.040 You need to figure out a way to create revenue 1:00:42.040 --> 1:00:44.200 streams and that are going to be able to help 1:00:44.240 --> 1:00:46.600 you pay down your debt and get a rate of 1:00:46.600 --> 1:00:49.040 return on the equity that you invest in these things. 1:00:49.040 --> 1:00:53.440 And so, but there's a way to do it well, 1:00:53.760 --> 1:00:56.240 and then there's a way to do it kind of sloppy. 1:00:57.520 --> 1:01:01.160 So a lot of people have done and again a 1:01:01.200 --> 1:01:04.880 lot of credit to MSG and Jim. It's still the Garden. 1:01:05.440 --> 1:01:10.160 It's presented by Chase, and he actually makes more money 1:01:10.880 --> 1:01:14.120 off the Chase deal than almost any other naming rights 1:01:14.160 --> 1:01:18.440 deal in the entire industry. But it's still called the Garden. 1:01:20.960 --> 1:01:25.520 Some names are they flow naturally. The O two worked 1:01:25.520 --> 1:01:27.680 out extremely well and it's still called the O two, 1:01:27.800 --> 1:01:31.200 So good on them for that. That has created a 1:01:31.240 --> 1:01:36.880 great brand and a great experience and a massively intelligent investment. 1:01:37.360 --> 1:01:40.480 Because I always used to tell Matthew, who we made 1:01:40.520 --> 1:01:44.240 to deal with for the two in London, Matthew, if 1:01:44.240 --> 1:01:47.520 they think you named your company after the arena, that 1:01:47.800 --> 1:01:51.800 is a really good bet. And they do. They think 1:01:51.840 --> 1:01:54.560 they named a telecomt company after the arena in London. 1:01:54.760 --> 1:01:59.360 That's how successful that partnership's been. That's a great partnership 1:01:59.440 --> 1:02:02.560 that works for the fans, works well for the city, 1:02:02.960 --> 1:02:05.320 works well for O two, and worked well for ag 1:02:06.680 --> 1:02:10.040 Climate Pledgerina got to give Amazon a whole lot of credit. 1:02:10.080 --> 1:02:11.920 It's one of the largest naming rights ever done in 1:02:11.960 --> 1:02:14.880 the business. And you don't hear the Amazon name anywhere. 1:02:15.000 --> 1:02:18.360 It's their commitment to sustainability and carbon neutral so they 1:02:18.360 --> 1:02:21.040 call it Climate Pledgerina, and by the way, was voted 1:02:21.080 --> 1:02:23.120 the best facility in the world last year, in the 1:02:23.280 --> 1:02:26.920 entire world. And that's with so Far and Allegiance Stadium 1:02:26.920 --> 1:02:30.960 and the others that were up for the award at 1:02:31.000 --> 1:02:36.240 the same time. Huge commitment and statement about not only 1:02:36.320 --> 1:02:40.320 Jeff Bezos who drove that decision, but Amazon and Andy Jassey, 1:02:40.560 --> 1:02:44.440 the CEO, for their commitment towards sustainability. That name works 1:02:44.560 --> 1:02:47.920 extremely well. Ubs Arena works extremely well. It's a good name. 1:02:47.960 --> 1:02:51.120 It rose well. They're headquartered in New York. Made all 1:02:51.160 --> 1:02:55.480 the sense in the world. Moody Center again, we got lucky. 1:02:55.600 --> 1:02:59.600 It's a not for profit foundation based in Austin. Wanted 1:02:59.640 --> 1:03:03.480 to do something great for the city. Appreciated ourselves in 1:03:03.560 --> 1:03:08.080 Live Nation spending three hundred and fifty million privately with 1:03:08.160 --> 1:03:12.160 Matthew mcconaugheyt and wanted to do something to do to 1:03:12.920 --> 1:03:16.280 be a part of that, and so they wrote a 1:03:16.400 --> 1:03:20.440 massive check for twenty years, so it's a twenty year 1:03:20.480 --> 1:03:24.160 guaranteed deal. They paid upfront and they we never had 1:03:24.160 --> 1:03:26.800 to change that name for twenty years. And the Moody 1:03:26.880 --> 1:03:30.240 Center is not only a very well known name because 1:03:30.280 --> 1:03:33.600 the family's from Austin, and there are other things on 1:03:33.680 --> 1:03:36.720 the campus and into the city named after Moody, but 1:03:36.800 --> 1:03:39.200 the Moody Center has a great ring and a role 1:03:39.240 --> 1:03:42.840 to it, so it works out well. Sometimes it's it's 1:03:43.000 --> 1:03:47.720 not a natural kind of fit. Acrosuur Arena. Acrosture is 1:03:47.760 --> 1:03:53.600 based in Michigan, but the president owner very smart about 1:03:53.640 --> 1:03:57.000 trying to create a brand that he wants to get 1:03:57.040 --> 1:04:00.480 more momentum for as he grows, the company doubles and 1:04:00.520 --> 1:04:03.920 triples in size. So we saw a great buy in 1:04:04.040 --> 1:04:07.400 Palm Desert because it was Irving and OVG and Tim 1:04:07.400 --> 1:04:10.120 and he knew we'd do well. We'd go get Harry Styles, 1:04:10.160 --> 1:04:13.560 and we'd go get the Eagles, and we'd go we'd 1:04:13.600 --> 1:04:16.000 get Paramore and sell it out. And so he made 1:04:16.000 --> 1:04:18.480 a bet on us at a rate card that is 1:04:19.000 --> 1:04:21.160 a fraction of what these other people are paying for 1:04:21.240 --> 1:04:22.840 some of these name it rights. And it turned out 1:04:22.880 --> 1:04:26.640 to be great for acrature and great exposure, and they're ecstatic. 1:04:27.000 --> 1:04:30.000 So you got to be smart, you gotta be clever, 1:04:30.080 --> 1:04:31.800 You got to find good partners. You got to try 1:04:31.840 --> 1:04:34.880 to make it last. I don't find any joy and 1:04:35.080 --> 1:04:39.520 changing staples out to Crypto or FTX coming and going 1:04:39.560 --> 1:04:42.000 in a matter of a couple of years. That's tough 1:04:42.200 --> 1:04:44.200 for the brand, it's tough for the building, it's tough 1:04:44.600 --> 1:04:49.480 for the city. But they are a necessary evil on 1:04:49.760 --> 1:04:53.120 in particularly the privatization of these facilities now and so 1:04:53.840 --> 1:04:58.560 stan Kronki spent five point five billion dollars building Sofi Stadium. 1:04:59.120 --> 1:05:00.959 He deserves to be be able to put a naming 1:05:01.040 --> 1:05:03.240 rights on there and try to recoup some of his money. 1:05:03.560 --> 1:05:06.200 And I think the name worked well for San and 1:05:06.280 --> 1:05:08.680 for the Rams and for Los Angeles. It's a great 1:05:08.800 --> 1:05:12.040 name and people refer to the stadium in as Sofi Stadium. 1:05:12.280 --> 1:05:15.600 So it's a tricky business. You got to find the 1:05:15.680 --> 1:05:18.160 right companies, You've got to make sure it stands the 1:05:18.240 --> 1:05:22.200 test of time. We're just now beginning to go out 1:05:22.240 --> 1:05:25.120 and talk about our new arena we're going to build 1:05:25.160 --> 1:05:27.840 in Las Vegas and the naming rights partner there and 1:05:27.880 --> 1:05:30.880 we want to do the right thing. We want to 1:05:30.920 --> 1:05:33.760 make sure that it's the right partner that could last 1:05:33.760 --> 1:05:36.480 a long period of time and that the name rings 1:05:36.480 --> 1:05:43.800 well and rings long. But that one's tricky because we're 1:05:43.800 --> 1:05:46.880 not the first arena in the marketplace. And it's tricky 1:05:46.960 --> 1:05:51.080 because we don't have an anchor tenant. If the NBA 1:05:51.480 --> 1:05:53.640 wants to expand, we'll go after it, but we'll see 1:05:53.680 --> 1:05:56.040 what happens. I think it'll be years before they make 1:05:56.120 --> 1:06:00.600 that decision. So when you price it at who do 1:06:00.640 --> 1:06:04.000 you go get that has longevity? If you get a 1:06:04.040 --> 1:06:06.760 team after you open, then what do you do with 1:06:06.840 --> 1:06:08.880 the naming rights and the value and by the way, 1:06:08.880 --> 1:06:14.240 will they support the team and so tough business, complicated 1:06:14.280 --> 1:06:18.640 business now and it's not like there's a million companies 1:06:18.680 --> 1:06:20.680 out there that can afford to buy naming rights. 1:06:27.640 --> 1:06:33.120 Okay, let's talk about OVG. Who owns OVG? And all 1:06:33.160 --> 1:06:37.640 of these are private buildings? Where does the money come from? 1:06:37.680 --> 1:06:42.760 So? OVG is a private company. I'm proud of that. 1:06:43.800 --> 1:06:46.960 We started it seven years ago. The majority of the 1:06:46.960 --> 1:06:51.560 company is owned by myself, Irving, and our executives, our employees. 1:06:52.640 --> 1:06:56.120 We have a partner, an investor in silver Lake, but 1:06:56.160 --> 1:07:00.520 they're an investor. They just simply have given us money 1:07:00.640 --> 1:07:04.520 to go grow this business, and in particular to provide 1:07:05.080 --> 1:07:08.600 the equity we need to invest in to build these arenas. 1:07:09.360 --> 1:07:13.200 They don't have to say so on how we run 1:07:13.240 --> 1:07:16.920 the company day to day, but we have an alignment 1:07:17.040 --> 1:07:20.040 with them, and by the way, love them. They're awesome partners. 1:07:21.120 --> 1:07:23.760 We don't go make a big bet without them, so 1:07:24.040 --> 1:07:26.560 we're aligned. We see everything the same way and if 1:07:26.600 --> 1:07:30.640 we don't do it, that's the deal. They've been They've 1:07:30.640 --> 1:07:35.240 never told us no, so they've been phenomenal. They've invested 1:07:35.280 --> 1:07:37.960 a lot of money in our company. Irving and I 1:07:38.040 --> 1:07:41.200 have put money into our company. They put more, they 1:07:41.240 --> 1:07:47.240 have more, and so we ultimately went for a long 1:07:47.280 --> 1:07:51.080 period of time with the company where we actually didn't 1:07:51.120 --> 1:07:54.640 have any debt on the company itself and just recently 1:07:54.720 --> 1:07:58.120 put some debt on the company because the company is 1:07:58.160 --> 1:08:02.600 growing and we're out acquiring things. So we bought Spectrum 1:08:02.960 --> 1:08:07.240 from Comcasts a couple of years ago. That got us 1:08:07.240 --> 1:08:10.560 into the facility management business and the food and beverage business. 1:08:11.600 --> 1:08:15.240 And we didn't think the food and beverage brand and 1:08:15.320 --> 1:08:18.519 the way we did food and beverage with Inspector our 1:08:18.560 --> 1:08:22.719 OVG was great. So we kept on buying additional food 1:08:22.720 --> 1:08:26.439 and beverage companies, including most recently a company called Rubarb 1:08:26.800 --> 1:08:29.760 that's the best food and beverage catering company I've ever seen. 1:08:30.439 --> 1:08:33.280 And so we are trying to figure out a way 1:08:33.280 --> 1:08:35.679 to continue to grow, trying to figure out a way 1:08:35.680 --> 1:08:38.519 to be the best service provider for all of the 1:08:38.560 --> 1:08:42.200 needs of an arena. So we're in the food and 1:08:42.240 --> 1:08:46.560 beverage business. We sell naming rights through OVGD Global Partnership. 1:08:46.880 --> 1:08:49.519 We sell our own sponsorships through Global Partnership. We have 1:08:49.520 --> 1:08:53.840 one hundred and fifty people that sell in Global partnership. 1:08:54.640 --> 1:08:57.320 We have our own parking company, we have our own 1:08:57.360 --> 1:09:00.960 facility management company, we have a sustainability company, and so 1:09:01.200 --> 1:09:04.120 unlike the rest of the industry, we actually have a 1:09:04.200 --> 1:09:07.439 group of people that do nothing but figure out how 1:09:07.520 --> 1:09:10.200 to have a more sustainable operation for all of our 1:09:10.240 --> 1:09:13.960 buildings and created a company called Goal with a Fenway 1:09:14.000 --> 1:09:16.479 Sports and our friends at State Farm Arena in Atlanta 1:09:16.600 --> 1:09:21.240 that are our partners, and we track how you operate 1:09:21.240 --> 1:09:23.320 a building one quarter to the next and whether or 1:09:23.360 --> 1:09:26.240 not you're more sustainable the next quoter than the last quarter, 1:09:26.479 --> 1:09:29.960 and then we grade everybody and we publicize those grades 1:09:30.240 --> 1:09:35.320 so everyone knows if you truly have a commitment to sustainability, 1:09:35.520 --> 1:09:38.880 not on how you design it. That's leads, but that's 1:09:38.920 --> 1:09:40.479 not what's going to stay in the earth. It's how 1:09:40.479 --> 1:09:43.479 you operate it. So we have our own sustainability company, 1:09:44.400 --> 1:09:47.519 We have our own special event company. We have our 1:09:47.520 --> 1:09:51.960 own food and beverage and catering company. So we have 1:09:52.080 --> 1:09:55.840 fourteen different service companies now that we build and those 1:09:55.960 --> 1:10:02.920 service companies they provide all of the knowledge and all 1:10:02.920 --> 1:10:06.679 of the outside help that we need when we bring 1:10:06.720 --> 1:10:10.320 in outside people for the purpose of operating our buildings. 1:10:10.800 --> 1:10:14.680 That's all under OVG. Pardon me, you can hear I've 1:10:14.680 --> 1:10:19.160 been traveling too much. That's also part of the core business, 1:10:19.160 --> 1:10:22.200 which is our own and operated and the equity we 1:10:22.240 --> 1:10:25.840 put and the seven arenas we built today and the 1:10:25.960 --> 1:10:28.640 eight more arenas now we have under development somewhere in 1:10:28.680 --> 1:10:33.880 the world. And then we have probably four hundred accounts 1:10:34.280 --> 1:10:37.560 where we manage arenas, convention centers or food and beverage 1:10:37.600 --> 1:10:42.519 for facilities. And we're committed to growing, and so we'll 1:10:42.560 --> 1:10:44.519 double in size here in the next couple of years. 1:10:44.560 --> 1:10:50.120 Again, okay, silver Lake. That's private money putting in. They 1:10:50.200 --> 1:10:54.599 usually want a relatively short term return, which would BEG. 1:10:54.680 --> 1:10:57.800 The question is the ultimate goal of OVG to go 1:10:57.920 --> 1:10:59.800 public and when might that have? 1:11:03.160 --> 1:11:06.840 So I hope we never go public. I don't want 1:11:06.840 --> 1:11:10.320 to go public. I my intention is never to sell 1:11:10.320 --> 1:11:15.400 the company. So I learned after building AG that was 1:11:15.439 --> 1:11:17.960 Phil's company, and I respect that that was his checkbook, 1:11:18.000 --> 1:11:21.719 his money, his risk. He deserves to own that company 1:11:22.280 --> 1:11:25.320 and run that company the way he sees that I 1:11:25.400 --> 1:11:29.639 get it. OVGS our company, and so we have certain 1:11:29.880 --> 1:11:33.920 guiding principles and core values as a company. One of 1:11:33.960 --> 1:11:36.479 them is we don't want to be public and don't 1:11:36.520 --> 1:11:39.400 have any intention of ever being public. It's not a 1:11:39.479 --> 1:11:44.960 quick spin. My daughter is one of the key executives here. 1:11:45.080 --> 1:11:47.880 She's hopefully going to inherit this company and run it. 1:11:47.960 --> 1:11:49.720 She's good at it and I'm proud of her. She's 1:11:49.720 --> 1:11:53.160 earned it. My executives are committed long term, and so 1:11:53.280 --> 1:11:56.040 when you look at Chris Granger, where you look at 1:11:56.120 --> 1:12:00.280 Dan Griffiths, or you look at Christina Song who's our 1:12:00.280 --> 1:12:03.280 general counsel, or Steve Collins who's the president are Development, 1:12:04.200 --> 1:12:08.120 and you look at the group we put together, this 1:12:08.160 --> 1:12:10.559 group's going to operate this company for a long period 1:12:10.600 --> 1:12:14.240 of time. My executive committee average age is in their forties. 1:12:14.320 --> 1:12:17.479 By the way, the majority of my executive committee or females. 1:12:17.880 --> 1:12:20.479 We're diverse, and I'm proud of that. Our new CFO 1:12:21.040 --> 1:12:25.559 just came on and is minority, and he's fantastic, and 1:12:25.680 --> 1:12:30.160 he's young. He's in his forties. So we're built to 1:12:30.200 --> 1:12:34.479 be long term. We're built to be private, We're built 1:12:34.680 --> 1:12:38.160 to be generational, and that's what we intend on doing. 1:12:38.400 --> 1:12:42.559 And we took Spectra when we bought it. We've doubled 1:12:42.600 --> 1:12:45.320 in size in our first full year. We'll double again 1:12:45.400 --> 1:12:47.640 in the next two years, and that's what we're going 1:12:47.720 --> 1:12:51.000 to do. We're entrepreneurial, we see outside the box. We're 1:12:51.000 --> 1:12:54.200 not afraid to take risk. We're very driven. We love 1:12:54.280 --> 1:12:57.479 building this company, we love operating this company. We have 1:12:57.520 --> 1:13:00.240 no intention of selling it. We will always own it, 1:13:00.479 --> 1:13:03.240 at least as long as myself and Dudley, my dog, 1:13:03.280 --> 1:13:03.719 are alive. 1:13:05.200 --> 1:13:09.240 Okay, Now, the big cahouna in this world is ASM, 1:13:09.680 --> 1:13:12.600 and there's been rumors that it's going to be purchased 1:13:12.640 --> 1:13:17.560 by Legends. I know that the contracts come up for 1:13:17.720 --> 1:13:21.800 these buildings. I know the people at ASM. How do 1:13:21.840 --> 1:13:27.559 you view OVG, VISA v ASM and a perfect world? 1:13:27.600 --> 1:13:30.400 Would you just like to continue to gain market share? 1:13:32.240 --> 1:13:38.400 So I always remind our folks, stay focus, stay focused 1:13:38.439 --> 1:13:41.680 on us. We're the greatest ass that we have and 1:13:41.840 --> 1:13:44.920 we're our own worst animates, So stay focused on us. 1:13:46.080 --> 1:13:49.840 We're going to be great, not because ASM is bad. 1:13:50.320 --> 1:13:53.360 We're going to be great because OVG is going to 1:13:53.479 --> 1:13:57.960 sell and so we we We've been on thirty three 1:13:58.000 --> 1:14:01.040 accounts here in the last roughly six months, thirty three 1:14:01.479 --> 1:14:04.960 we won thirty of the bids. We don't pay attention 1:14:05.040 --> 1:14:09.040 to the other guys. We stay focused on us. Our 1:14:09.160 --> 1:14:12.960 success is not because of their failure. We can both succeed, 1:14:13.040 --> 1:14:17.639 and we both will succeed. They they're they're owned by 1:14:17.720 --> 1:14:22.200 an investment firm in Toronto, a good investment firm. I 1:14:22.280 --> 1:14:24.559 knew them when I ran a police sports and entertainment. 1:14:24.560 --> 1:14:27.439 They're very good and we very much like Jerry Schwartz 1:14:27.479 --> 1:14:30.920 and the people that run that company. But Onyx is 1:14:30.960 --> 1:14:34.400 they're gonna they're they're gonna buy it, they're gonna build it, 1:14:34.439 --> 1:14:36.360 and then they're gonna sell it. That's what they do. 1:14:37.080 --> 1:14:40.160 That's the difference between having silver Late that invest in 1:14:40.200 --> 1:14:44.240 my An Irving's company compared to having an investor that 1:14:44.280 --> 1:14:46.760 owns your company. They're going to spin it at some 1:14:46.840 --> 1:14:49.840 point or another. So does it shock me that they're 1:14:49.840 --> 1:14:51.720 for sale. No, but that I don't know that for 1:14:51.760 --> 1:14:54.000 a fact. I don't tell them how to run their company. 1:14:54.800 --> 1:14:57.479 I used to have that privilege. I don't anymore. I 1:14:57.840 --> 1:15:00.960 kind of focus on our company. So we're going to 1:15:01.000 --> 1:15:04.000 stay focused on our company. We're going to win thirty 1:15:04.000 --> 1:15:06.360 of the next thirty three bits we go make. We're 1:15:06.360 --> 1:15:08.400 going to build eight new arenas. We're going to continue 1:15:08.400 --> 1:15:10.479 to buy food and beverage companies. We're going to continue 1:15:10.560 --> 1:15:14.759 to create new genius. I hope service companies like Goal 1:15:15.360 --> 1:15:17.439 and that all of this focused on us and what 1:15:17.560 --> 1:15:20.960 makes us unique and different than everybody else. I own 1:15:21.040 --> 1:15:24.920 seven arenas, Irving and I own seven arenas. We understand 1:15:24.960 --> 1:15:27.680 how to run arenas. We understand how to build arenas. 1:15:27.800 --> 1:15:30.400 We understand how to book arenas. We understand how to 1:15:30.439 --> 1:15:33.639 sell arenas. I'm not involved in all the other stuff. 1:15:33.720 --> 1:15:36.360 We stay focused on our core. But when I go 1:15:36.479 --> 1:15:38.599 out to somebody and say, let me run your building 1:15:38.640 --> 1:15:40.960 for you, I looked them in the eye and say, 1:15:40.960 --> 1:15:43.800 because I am you, I built the arena, I am 1:15:43.840 --> 1:15:47.559 in the business. I have accountability, I have risk, I 1:15:47.640 --> 1:15:50.840 have money that I put into this. I get the 1:15:50.920 --> 1:15:53.280 way you think about what you need out of me 1:15:53.479 --> 1:15:56.360 as a service company, and I will be much more 1:15:56.479 --> 1:15:59.800 unique at answering your needs because I have been where 1:15:59.800 --> 1:16:02.639 you ben and I walk in your shoes. That's the difference. 1:16:03.520 --> 1:16:07.880 And how are responsibilities divided between you and Irving? 1:16:10.000 --> 1:16:13.479 Actually there is no responsibilities divided by Irving and I 1:16:13.520 --> 1:16:15.519 as Shelley, and so at the end of the day, 1:16:17.040 --> 1:16:22.479 that is a misnomer. So Irving is one of the 1:16:22.520 --> 1:16:27.800 founders and a great partner. Irving's not involved day to day. 1:16:27.880 --> 1:16:30.599 He has his own company that he's running, and by 1:16:30.640 --> 1:16:33.160 the way, he's doing quite well. He is still the 1:16:33.280 --> 1:16:38.000 largest manager in the business. He amazes me on a 1:16:38.080 --> 1:16:42.160 daily basis based on his age, his passion for the 1:16:42.200 --> 1:16:44.839 business and the growth he's having in the business is amazing. 1:16:45.320 --> 1:16:49.000 He happens to be very fortunate to have a partner 1:16:49.320 --> 1:16:52.960 and a young man named Jeffreys Off, who I think 1:16:53.040 --> 1:16:55.959 is really one of the finest young men in the industry, 1:16:56.840 --> 1:16:58.840 one of the best people in the industry. I love 1:16:58.920 --> 1:17:02.439 Jeffrey's Off. He's a breath of fresh air and done 1:17:02.439 --> 1:17:07.800 an unbelievable job on Full Stop. And Jeffrey, at some 1:17:07.880 --> 1:17:11.719 point or another will probably inherit his portion of this company. 1:17:11.800 --> 1:17:14.920 And Jeffrey and my daughter Francesca went to school together 1:17:14.960 --> 1:17:17.400 and get along quite well, see the world the same way. 1:17:18.040 --> 1:17:22.040 So we are uniquely set up to make sure we 1:17:22.080 --> 1:17:24.439 pass us on to the next generation, who happens to 1:17:24.439 --> 1:17:26.839 get along extremely well. And they're both in the business 1:17:27.240 --> 1:17:29.360 and Jeffrey's doing a good job with full Stop, and 1:17:29.400 --> 1:17:31.800 Francesca is doing a good job of trying to run 1:17:31.840 --> 1:17:36.600 this company. Irving when I need him. He's an invaluable 1:17:36.640 --> 1:17:39.400 resource because no one understands the business more than Irving. 1:17:40.040 --> 1:17:43.200 And he's smart and he's good do Irving and I, 1:17:43.720 --> 1:17:46.680 you know, have we had forty years worth of heavenly bliss. No, 1:17:46.960 --> 1:17:49.160 but that's what makes us fairly unique. We've had good 1:17:49.240 --> 1:17:53.080 days and bad days together. But we're both very emotionally 1:17:53.080 --> 1:17:57.200 committed to this company and doing something spectacular, and we're 1:17:57.200 --> 1:18:00.679 both passionate about what it is we're doing, and we're 1:18:00.680 --> 1:18:04.360 both heavily involved and trying to make this a great company. 1:18:04.680 --> 1:18:06.880 The difference is I had to get up every day 1:18:06.880 --> 1:18:09.559 and operate it. That's my job, that's my part of 1:18:09.560 --> 1:18:12.960 this partnership. But there is no one to have that 1:18:13.160 --> 1:18:15.360 is a better partner than Irving when it comes to 1:18:15.479 --> 1:18:19.120 content and an understanding pipeline and music and how to 1:18:19.120 --> 1:18:23.240 book our buildings. And he is a huge resource. He 1:18:23.360 --> 1:18:28.559 is a he is the Encyclopedia Britannica. Anything I need 1:18:28.600 --> 1:18:30.920 to know about the business, I pick up the phone 1:18:30.920 --> 1:18:36.200 and call Irving, and he knows that particular issue because 1:18:36.200 --> 1:18:39.600 he's experienced that particular issue. He knows everybody in the 1:18:39.640 --> 1:18:43.760 business and you know there aren't many people that are 1:18:43.760 --> 1:18:44.799 going to book around Irving. 1:18:46.160 --> 1:18:50.280 Okay, So since you own and are a consultant and 1:18:50.360 --> 1:18:55.280 operator of other buildings, what are the advantages and what 1:18:55.479 --> 1:19:00.360 leverage you gain? Obviously you can help with routing, but 1:19:00.479 --> 1:19:04.320 by having I hate tesity to use the word control, 1:19:04.400 --> 1:19:07.760 but I will control of all these buildings. What advantages 1:19:07.840 --> 1:19:08.879 you gain in leverage? 1:19:10.320 --> 1:19:13.000 Well, for the biggest advantages, I'm stupid and I've made 1:19:13.000 --> 1:19:15.120 a lot of mistakes and I know it, and so 1:19:15.360 --> 1:19:17.400 I could go back and tell people, look, I know 1:19:17.479 --> 1:19:19.439 the right answer to this because I screwed it up. 1:19:20.040 --> 1:19:22.320 And if you don't believe it, go look at the Forum. 1:19:22.479 --> 1:19:24.040 And if you don't believe it, go look at three 1:19:24.120 --> 1:19:28.200 levels of suits at the Crypto. I'm really good at 1:19:28.240 --> 1:19:31.720 acknowledging that to be great in our business you need 1:19:31.760 --> 1:19:35.000 to do two things very well. Number one, be a 1:19:35.040 --> 1:19:37.800 good thief and steal other people's ideas and admit it 1:19:37.840 --> 1:19:40.200 and say, you know, I really like what Jim doo 1:19:40.280 --> 1:19:43.479 one did at the Forum. It's really clever. He built 1:19:43.479 --> 1:19:49.320 a acoustically perfect building. I love the technology Jim Dolan 1:19:49.400 --> 1:19:50.840 is putting in at the Spirit and it's going to 1:19:50.880 --> 1:19:53.960 change our industry, I admit it. And I spend a 1:19:53.960 --> 1:19:57.439 lot of time trying to learn from Jim what he's 1:19:57.840 --> 1:20:00.960 doing with new technology. You knew stakes at the sphere, 1:20:01.360 --> 1:20:04.400 so one just go learn from other people and still 1:20:04.520 --> 1:20:08.280 take those ideas. You don't have to recreate everything yourself. 1:20:08.960 --> 1:20:13.280 And the second thing is acknowledging that with time comes 1:20:13.640 --> 1:20:16.680 good decisions and bad decisions, and you could put that 1:20:16.720 --> 1:20:18.760 to work for you. And so I've been doing this 1:20:18.920 --> 1:20:21.240 a long time now, and I've made a lot of 1:20:21.280 --> 1:20:23.640 good decisions, and I've made a lot of bad decisions. 1:20:23.640 --> 1:20:27.519 And I remind our young executive team around here come 1:20:27.560 --> 1:20:30.360 back to me and at least involve me in the conversation, 1:20:30.520 --> 1:20:33.080 and chances are pretty good. I've been there already and 1:20:33.080 --> 1:20:35.640 I've done it, and I either did it well or 1:20:35.680 --> 1:20:39.000 I probably did it poorly, but I did it, and 1:20:39.080 --> 1:20:42.040 I can at least make that experience work. That's the 1:20:42.080 --> 1:20:46.160 advantage we have as a company. I am an arena geek. 1:20:46.800 --> 1:20:49.080 I've spent my whole life doing this. I've built more 1:20:49.120 --> 1:20:52.200 arenas than anybody in the world, some good, some bad, 1:20:52.360 --> 1:20:55.320 but I'm getting better at it. Just time goes on. 1:20:55.479 --> 1:20:58.599 You know, I'm getting smart in my old age. Finally, Bob, 1:20:59.080 --> 1:21:01.840 and so the advantage we have with our clients and 1:21:01.880 --> 1:21:05.360 our partners and our arena alliance. We have twenty nine 1:21:05.360 --> 1:21:07.600 in the top thirty three arenas in the business that 1:21:07.640 --> 1:21:10.800 are part of our alliance. And we learned, we are 1:21:10.840 --> 1:21:14.040 saying as we book together, we buy together, we think together, 1:21:14.120 --> 1:21:17.160 and we try to act together. We learn from each 1:21:17.200 --> 1:21:19.519 other and we communicate. Once a month we get on 1:21:19.560 --> 1:21:22.679 a phone and talk. Irving and I are still actively involved. 1:21:22.800 --> 1:21:26.080 We got another call next week and we try to 1:21:26.160 --> 1:21:29.800 learn with them about how do we operate buildings better, 1:21:29.840 --> 1:21:32.280 how do we become more profitable? What else can we 1:21:32.280 --> 1:21:34.439 do to be a better business. But we have a 1:21:34.439 --> 1:21:36.360 lot of experience and a lot of knowledge. We do 1:21:36.400 --> 1:21:39.200 a lot of communicating with our twenty nine partners in 1:21:39.240 --> 1:21:42.360 the alliance. I got seven arenas that I operate, so 1:21:42.439 --> 1:21:44.400 I can tell them what I'm doing well when I'm 1:21:44.400 --> 1:21:48.439 not doing so well. Of the seven, most of them 1:21:48.520 --> 1:21:51.120 are really good. A couple of them we're trying to 1:21:51.160 --> 1:21:52.640 get it where we want them to be in or 1:21:52.720 --> 1:21:55.920 out there yet, but they'll get there. Most of them 1:21:55.960 --> 1:21:59.680 are doing much better than we thought we're Seattle's one 1:21:59.680 --> 1:22:01.960 of the high grossing arenas in the world. It's top 1:22:02.120 --> 1:22:04.720 ten arena in the world. We're really proud of that 1:22:04.760 --> 1:22:08.439 fact that we build an arena privately and it's one 1:22:08.479 --> 1:22:10.800 of the top arenas in the world. Now the Moody 1:22:10.840 --> 1:22:13.320 Center is one of the top arenas in the world. 1:22:13.600 --> 1:22:16.599 We're really proud of that building. Very creative what we 1:22:16.640 --> 1:22:19.640 did there to build an arena on a campus at 1:22:19.680 --> 1:22:22.439 the University of Texas that the state owns, and we 1:22:22.479 --> 1:22:24.840 figured out a way to make it work. And so 1:22:25.800 --> 1:22:28.280 that's unique to have that kind of experience when you're 1:22:28.320 --> 1:22:30.880 talking to people about managing their building or we have 1:22:30.920 --> 1:22:34.479 twenty nine partners in the alliance. They respect us because 1:22:34.520 --> 1:22:36.960 we have put up four and a half billion dollars 1:22:37.320 --> 1:22:40.320 to build arenas and I'm about to spend another four 1:22:40.400 --> 1:22:43.519 and a half billion on eight more. And by the way, 1:22:43.960 --> 1:22:46.120 I'm going to put eight more in the pipeline as 1:22:46.120 --> 1:22:49.920 soon as those eight are under construction. So we're we 1:22:49.960 --> 1:22:52.640 want to have twenty five to three arenas that are 1:22:52.680 --> 1:22:55.000 the best arenas in the world that we own and operate, 1:22:55.840 --> 1:22:59.840 and that's we're allowed to do that, right. There's no 1:23:00.080 --> 1:23:03.639 competitive issues there. That's what I love about our industry 1:23:04.080 --> 1:23:06.439 is I could have twenty five of the best arenas 1:23:06.439 --> 1:23:10.320 in the world, I could sell them together. I could 1:23:10.640 --> 1:23:13.519 great naming rates, so I could sell somebody at naming 1:23:13.600 --> 1:23:16.360 rights in one city, but then take that brand and 1:23:16.400 --> 1:23:19.720 make them sponsors in ten other cities and give them 1:23:19.720 --> 1:23:22.840 a worldwide reach. They're not going to get any other place. 1:23:23.200 --> 1:23:25.600 It's impossible to do what we do because we have 1:23:25.680 --> 1:23:28.639 arenas and some of the biggest best markets in the world. 1:23:28.720 --> 1:23:32.880 Now I can learn from premium. I could go to 1:23:32.920 --> 1:23:36.679 companies and sell them premium in multiple arenas in multiple cities. 1:23:37.320 --> 1:23:40.599 I can go to artists and ultimately say, come play 1:23:40.640 --> 1:23:43.080 all my buildings and all of my different markets, and 1:23:43.080 --> 1:23:45.760 by the way, I'll give you an economic advantage for 1:23:45.880 --> 1:23:50.000 giving me bolk mass that is unique on what we're building, 1:23:50.040 --> 1:23:51.840 and we're the only ones that could do it. Now. 1:23:52.400 --> 1:23:54.719 There is no one that will hit our critical mass. 1:23:55.040 --> 1:23:57.679 If you think about it, twenty five of the top 1:23:57.760 --> 1:24:02.200 fifty arenas in this world five or seven years will 1:24:02.240 --> 1:24:04.760 be ours. No one else could claim that, and no 1:24:04.760 --> 1:24:07.959 one else could replicate that. That's the goal, that's the ambission, 1:24:08.000 --> 1:24:09.800 that's the job at hand. We got a lot of 1:24:09.840 --> 1:24:11.920 work to do to get there. But that's what we're 1:24:11.920 --> 1:24:15.120 trying to do. That makes us unique, doesn't make us smarter, 1:24:15.800 --> 1:24:22.240 doesn't make us better, just makes us unique. 1:24:25.040 --> 1:24:28.200 Let's just talk ticketing for a minute. All these buildings 1:24:28.240 --> 1:24:33.479 were not operated by someone with as much experience or 1:24:33.560 --> 1:24:39.960 smart as you, and they all had exclusive deals frequently 1:24:40.000 --> 1:24:43.920 with Ticketmaster and sports not necessarily. And if you talk 1:24:44.000 --> 1:24:47.280 to those like Fred Rosen in the business, the deals 1:24:47.280 --> 1:24:50.559 would end up being in perpetuity because it'd be like 1:24:50.600 --> 1:24:53.519 a five year deal. You would give an advance to 1:24:53.600 --> 1:24:57.000 the building, and the building would come back for more money, 1:24:57.120 --> 1:25:01.799 and then ultimately the ticketing enter rise would get more years. 1:25:02.320 --> 1:25:07.640 So what is your belief in feeling about exclusives and 1:25:08.160 --> 1:25:11.559 how much should the building get in fees? This is 1:25:11.760 --> 1:25:15.640 dark arts if the average person doesn't understand, but you know, 1:25:15.800 --> 1:25:16.720 like the back of your head. 1:25:18.560 --> 1:25:23.799 So all good questions, all important questions, right now and timely. 1:25:24.880 --> 1:25:30.439 So we look we sell as a company. We're selling 1:25:30.479 --> 1:25:33.080 tens of millions of tickets and all of our buildings 1:25:33.120 --> 1:25:37.880 now and we probably are, you know, with seven open 1:25:37.920 --> 1:25:40.559 and eight more coming. If you look at those fifteen 1:25:40.600 --> 1:25:43.920 buildings and then you look at the buildings we manage 1:25:44.120 --> 1:25:48.479 where we got one hundred million tickets, we probably sell 1:25:48.520 --> 1:25:51.960 as a company here. Once we get everything up, we 1:25:52.000 --> 1:25:56.080 could probably be our own ticketing company. But the decision 1:25:56.120 --> 1:26:00.200 we make of ticketing has a little bit less do 1:26:00.280 --> 1:26:04.360 with money and more to do with having a system 1:26:05.360 --> 1:26:08.720 and having a technology that actually works without having to 1:26:08.720 --> 1:26:10.920 go spend the time and the money to go create it. 1:26:10.960 --> 1:26:15.960 So at AG I started with Brian Perez on building 1:26:16.000 --> 1:26:19.599 Access Ticketing and they're still going strong. Into Brian's credit, 1:26:19.680 --> 1:26:23.240 he's done a good job of building that company from 1:26:23.280 --> 1:26:26.400 the ground floor. Hard to do, really hard to do. 1:26:26.800 --> 1:26:29.519 It's like a black hole. I mean it is. The 1:26:29.560 --> 1:26:32.680 amount of money you got to spend on technology in 1:26:32.800 --> 1:26:36.880 order to make a ticketing system efficient is just astronomical. 1:26:38.080 --> 1:26:40.800 What people don't get about Ticketmaster and the reason we're 1:26:40.800 --> 1:26:43.599 with Ticketmaster is a couple of things, and it's really simple. 1:26:43.800 --> 1:26:47.000 They are the best ticketing company in the world. Everyone 1:26:47.000 --> 1:26:48.880 can sit here and argue, but look, I sell more 1:26:48.880 --> 1:26:52.400 tickets I think than just about anybody else in the world. 1:26:52.640 --> 1:26:57.160 Ticket Master is the best ticketing system in the business, 1:26:57.520 --> 1:27:02.840 bar none, no disrespectbody else. No one sells as many 1:27:02.880 --> 1:27:07.120 tickets as Ticketmaster. No one does it as well as 1:27:07.120 --> 1:27:09.840 they do it, and yes they have their days, but 1:27:09.960 --> 1:27:16.120 guess what this whole thing with Taylor, that's Taylor. She's amazing. 1:27:16.200 --> 1:27:19.120 I mean, I don't care what system you use, she'd 1:27:19.160 --> 1:27:22.880 break it. She's that big. We've never had an artist 1:27:23.000 --> 1:27:26.160 like this before ever. There has never been someone this 1:27:26.280 --> 1:27:30.400 young lady is a force of nature that we've never 1:27:30.479 --> 1:27:33.519 seen in our industry. And again people will say, what 1:27:33.600 --> 1:27:36.880 about Elton John, what about this? We've never had a 1:27:36.920 --> 1:27:40.800 Taylor Swift. She's incredible. She'll break any system out there, 1:27:41.000 --> 1:27:44.439 guarantee you, because she's that good. With that much demand 1:27:45.240 --> 1:27:49.040 day to day, every show we put on sale and 1:27:49.120 --> 1:27:51.559 we put on you know, we've had hundreds and hundreds 1:27:51.560 --> 1:27:56.680 of shows in our buildings. Ticketmaster's system is highly reliable 1:27:56.880 --> 1:27:59.320 and they do a good job. So one, I don't 1:27:59.360 --> 1:28:00.800 want to have to go spend the time and the 1:28:00.800 --> 1:28:03.840 money to go create my own system. It's you don't 1:28:03.880 --> 1:28:07.120 fight a war on two fronts. That's stupid. So if 1:28:07.160 --> 1:28:11.200 we find a good partner that is best in class, 1:28:11.320 --> 1:28:13.439 that could do that for me while I spend my 1:28:13.520 --> 1:28:15.519 time trying to figure out a way to build a 1:28:15.560 --> 1:28:18.760 great arena, then why wouldn't I do that so I 1:28:18.800 --> 1:28:22.559 could stay focused on my core business. That's one. Number 1:28:22.560 --> 1:28:26.080 two is they've been great partners. Honestly, they're fantastic. When 1:28:26.120 --> 1:28:28.680 I got a problem, I pick up the phone and 1:28:28.880 --> 1:28:33.479 Marla and the team there, they are unbelievably responsible back 1:28:33.520 --> 1:28:37.160 to me. They help me, They help us think. They 1:28:37.200 --> 1:28:40.679 know how driven we are on technology and a customer experience, 1:28:40.720 --> 1:28:44.400 and they're very good at trying to make that experience better. 1:28:44.840 --> 1:28:48.720 When we had COVID issues and we had four checkpoints, 1:28:48.720 --> 1:28:50.800 four checkpoints people had to go through to get into 1:28:50.800 --> 1:28:54.519 our buildings, they came along and they were unbelievably good 1:28:54.560 --> 1:28:57.680 at trying to help me eliminate wait times because we 1:28:57.760 --> 1:29:00.880 had people waiting for twenty or thirty minutes weather in 1:29:00.920 --> 1:29:03.040 some of our buildings because they had to do the 1:29:03.080 --> 1:29:05.559 COVID test and they had to do security checking, and 1:29:05.600 --> 1:29:08.760 they had to do tickets waye and it was a problem. 1:29:08.840 --> 1:29:12.760 And so I love the fact that the smartest, most experienced, 1:29:12.840 --> 1:29:15.360 most knowledgeable people in the world happened to also be 1:29:15.479 --> 1:29:18.519 my best partners, and they're unbelievably good at helping me 1:29:18.600 --> 1:29:23.800 think through problems. And then finally, my relationship with Live 1:29:23.880 --> 1:29:28.040 Nation is one that started out of necessity. At first, 1:29:28.240 --> 1:29:30.599 Age didn't want to work with us, and I get 1:29:30.600 --> 1:29:33.400 it they I guess, I don't know what I m 1:29:33.479 --> 1:29:37.200 to them, but they didn't go to Polestar, they didn't 1:29:37.200 --> 1:29:41.839 participate in Pollstar. I begged them to ultimately participate, speak, 1:29:42.160 --> 1:29:44.080 be on a panel, do their own panel, do a 1:29:44.160 --> 1:29:48.000 keynote anything. They've prohibited their people from going to Polestar, 1:29:48.080 --> 1:29:50.519 So what was I supposed to do? Irving and I 1:29:50.560 --> 1:29:54.800 went with Live Nation because I didn't have an alternative, 1:29:55.240 --> 1:29:57.760 and they accepted us and put their arms around us 1:29:58.040 --> 1:29:59.920 and made a huge bet on us. Now they look 1:30:00.040 --> 1:30:03.320 pretty good. So Ticketmaster looks pretty good and Live Nation 1:30:03.400 --> 1:30:06.560 looks pretty good because we exploded. I'm never going to 1:30:06.600 --> 1:30:09.640 forget who helped me start this company. I'm never going 1:30:09.720 --> 1:30:12.360 to forget the fact they made a bet on us 1:30:12.400 --> 1:30:15.200 and believed in us to begin with. And now they're 1:30:15.240 --> 1:30:17.599 my partner on a bunch of buildings. So now they're 1:30:17.640 --> 1:30:21.639 writing checks with me. So I'll work with any promoter 1:30:21.720 --> 1:30:24.360 in the business because I'll work with any artist. This 1:30:24.439 --> 1:30:28.200 is about the artist period. Every artist should play our 1:30:28.200 --> 1:30:30.759 building because I'm trying to build the best buildings Irving 1:30:30.760 --> 1:30:32.439 and I are committed to building the best area has 1:30:32.479 --> 1:30:35.600 ever built. We want every artist to come experience that 1:30:35.960 --> 1:30:38.559 We're dedicated to that. That's why I think we'll win 1:30:39.120 --> 1:30:43.280 is because we have a unique thought process of what 1:30:43.360 --> 1:30:46.200 does the artist and their fans want out of this experience. 1:30:46.520 --> 1:30:48.800 But I'm not going to forget Ticketmaster because they gave 1:30:48.840 --> 1:30:51.040 me the best system and adopted me from day one, 1:30:51.640 --> 1:30:53.760 and I'm not going to forget Live Nation because at 1:30:53.800 --> 1:30:55.960 the end of the day, they were there when I 1:30:56.040 --> 1:30:58.640 started the company and they've been unbelievable ever since, and 1:30:58.640 --> 1:31:00.920 they put their money where their mouth is. I have 1:31:00.960 --> 1:31:03.879 a great relationship with Jamar Seattle. They book our buildings. 1:31:03.960 --> 1:31:06.559 They've had a pretty good run with us in Austin 1:31:06.720 --> 1:31:09.920 and Seattle in particular. I wish they booked the building more, 1:31:10.320 --> 1:31:14.439 but in time that'll come and so we get on 1:31:14.600 --> 1:31:17.360 with it. But I love Ticketmaster because it's a good system, 1:31:17.360 --> 1:31:19.680 and they're loyal people and they've been great friends, and 1:31:19.720 --> 1:31:22.480 it's the best system in the business. And I absolutely 1:31:22.479 --> 1:31:24.960 adore Live Nation. Doesn't mean we don't fight every day. 1:31:25.000 --> 1:31:27.960 We do, but when I have a problem, I pick 1:31:28.000 --> 1:31:30.400 up the phone and call Michael or Omar Bob or 1:31:30.400 --> 1:31:33.040 the team over there, and they call me right back, 1:31:33.200 --> 1:31:37.800 and we are unbelievably good at solving problems and creating opportunities. 1:31:37.960 --> 1:31:40.439 They think outside the box like we do. So look, 1:31:40.479 --> 1:31:44.439 I'm blessed, Honestly, I am so damn lucky to have 1:31:44.520 --> 1:31:47.679 partners like Ticketmaster and Live Nation, which made our decision 1:31:47.760 --> 1:31:50.360 much easier. Now doesn't mean, Bob, we don't go press. 1:31:50.439 --> 1:31:55.280 So I've had huge battles with the leagues about our 1:31:55.400 --> 1:31:58.320 security system. We happen to own a security company called 1:31:58.360 --> 1:32:03.639 Prevent Advisors. It's the best security company and the facility business. 1:32:03.680 --> 1:32:08.040 We do the Homeland certification checks for Homeland certification on 1:32:08.120 --> 1:32:11.680 all the facilities. We're the only one that is certified 1:32:11.800 --> 1:32:16.200 by Homeland Security, so we're certified. We have a system 1:32:16.520 --> 1:32:20.040 on security that we think is the best system in 1:32:20.080 --> 1:32:23.000 the industry, and we couldn't get the leagues to allow 1:32:23.080 --> 1:32:25.839 us to use it in our buildings because that system 1:32:25.920 --> 1:32:28.320 wasn't certified. But it takes three to five years to 1:32:28.320 --> 1:32:32.760 get certification from the US government. It's a bureaucracy, and 1:32:32.840 --> 1:32:37.160 so we're always pressing for new systems, new technology, new 1:32:37.200 --> 1:32:40.040 ways to make the experiences better. We'll always look outside 1:32:40.120 --> 1:32:43.280 the box. We're not wedded to somebody because of an 1:32:43.320 --> 1:32:46.640 old boys network. We will go explore new ticketing. We 1:32:46.680 --> 1:32:49.160 will go find new ways to do ticketing. But right 1:32:49.200 --> 1:32:51.439 now there is no one better than ticket Massart, and 1:32:51.439 --> 1:32:55.000 they're doing an extraordinary job for us. Last thing, I 1:32:55.040 --> 1:32:59.519 don't believe in the secondary tickets companies don't. I don't 1:32:59.520 --> 1:33:02.559 think they have skin in the game. I've spent Irwie 1:33:02.600 --> 1:33:04.799 and I have spent four and a half billion dollars 1:33:04.840 --> 1:33:08.160 trying to build these arenas. I've had the demons come 1:33:08.240 --> 1:33:11.080 visit me often at night, in the middle of COVID, 1:33:11.160 --> 1:33:14.400 in the middle of economic stress and inflation and interest 1:33:14.479 --> 1:33:17.920 rates going up. There's a lot we have to fight 1:33:18.000 --> 1:33:22.080 through to be successful. As an entrepreneur and as somebody 1:33:22.080 --> 1:33:26.000 who is privately financing these arenas. What right do they 1:33:26.040 --> 1:33:28.920 have to come in? No skin in the game. They 1:33:28.960 --> 1:33:31.479 don't give us a penny, They don't make the arena 1:33:31.560 --> 1:33:34.040 better for the fan ar the artists. They don't give 1:33:34.080 --> 1:33:37.200 the artists any money. So they're not sharing anything with 1:33:37.840 --> 1:33:41.720 Bruce or Down or Tailor. So they just simply come 1:33:41.760 --> 1:33:44.800 in and exploit as a middleman. Right, They're just a 1:33:47.360 --> 1:33:49.840 mentalman buying tickets and then reselling them for a lot 1:33:49.880 --> 1:33:53.920 more money, and in particular they're disrupting the system. So 1:33:54.040 --> 1:33:58.439 the bots the they unleash on early on sale are 1:34:00.240 --> 1:34:04.320 part of why we see some of the technical issues 1:34:04.360 --> 1:34:07.960 we see on Giant on sense is because the bots 1:34:08.360 --> 1:34:13.799 and the technology they deploy absolutely cost having and their middlement. 1:34:14.120 --> 1:34:16.040 They don't share the money with the artists and they're 1:34:16.040 --> 1:34:18.040 not sharing the money with the building. Now that's my 1:34:18.080 --> 1:34:20.920 own opinion. I'm you know, I check my car every 1:34:21.000 --> 1:34:24.400 day because i know I'm not their favorite person. But 1:34:24.600 --> 1:34:28.799 we don't believe that scalpers and the secondary ticket companies 1:34:28.840 --> 1:34:31.799 have the right to exploit the fans and the artists 1:34:31.800 --> 1:34:34.559 the way they do without sharing in the risk, sharing 1:34:34.600 --> 1:34:37.960 in the entrepreneurial spirit, and sharing where the money should go, 1:34:38.040 --> 1:34:40.640 which is we come to go see Don Henley in 1:34:40.680 --> 1:34:43.360 the Eagles. That's what I pay money to go see. 1:34:43.720 --> 1:34:46.000 Why is Don Henley in the Eagles not making a 1:34:46.040 --> 1:34:47.599 portion of that money like they should? 1:34:48.720 --> 1:34:51.360 Okay, that's a much longer conversation we have to take, 1:34:51.400 --> 1:34:56.040 but this does beg the question. Before Irving got involved 1:34:56.080 --> 1:35:00.040 with Oakview, one of his main complaints was all the 1:35:00.080 --> 1:35:03.600 tickets that are not on the manifest whither you're a 1:35:03.640 --> 1:35:06.840 building owner, which how do you address that? 1:35:07.840 --> 1:35:11.240 Well, we actually, I believe in the artists look at 1:35:12.240 --> 1:35:15.360 I'm very fortunate that I've had forty years in the 1:35:15.400 --> 1:35:18.040 business and I see it the way they see it, 1:35:19.240 --> 1:35:22.920 because again, we're buying tickets to go see Bruce Springsteen. 1:35:24.200 --> 1:35:26.560 By the way, he's spectacular. I just saw him in 1:35:26.640 --> 1:35:31.080 Hyde Park. My god, I'm blessed her. We to have 1:35:31.160 --> 1:35:34.880 this guy still spending three hours, three and a half 1:35:34.880 --> 1:35:38.400 hours every night entertaining us. What a great industry and 1:35:38.439 --> 1:35:41.240 what a great world to be able to participate. And 1:35:41.320 --> 1:35:44.760 as a fan, I went to Hide Park is by 1:35:44.800 --> 1:35:48.240 the way, guests of age thanked them, and what a 1:35:48.280 --> 1:35:51.719 great experience. They've done a phenomenal job with that counselor 1:35:51.840 --> 1:35:55.080 experience there, and it just it made me understand how 1:35:55.160 --> 1:35:57.479 much I love this industry. Is just someone that want 1:35:57.520 --> 1:36:00.320 that night to go experience Bruce Springsteen. After or I've 1:36:00.320 --> 1:36:02.639 seen them I don't know eight times this year already, 1:36:02.920 --> 1:36:04.920 and I walked away. My daughter went with me, and 1:36:04.960 --> 1:36:09.200 I said, how great was that? Bruce Springsteen should get 1:36:09.200 --> 1:36:12.439 the money? He just should, So I see it the 1:36:12.439 --> 1:36:15.120 way they see it, which means on the manifest when 1:36:15.160 --> 1:36:18.000 we build a new arena, we have to find in 1:36:18.080 --> 1:36:20.839 economic balance. Now I gotta go pay for the arena. 1:36:22.880 --> 1:36:25.080 I've created a better experience for them. And by the way, 1:36:25.080 --> 1:36:26.840 they're making a hell of a lot more money in 1:36:26.840 --> 1:36:28.959 my arena than they used to making the old arenas. 1:36:29.240 --> 1:36:32.439 So I'm giving them more seats. They could charge more 1:36:32.479 --> 1:36:34.439 for the seats because the experience is better for the 1:36:34.439 --> 1:36:39.519 seats and cut I do bonuses if you will, back 1:36:39.560 --> 1:36:43.320 to promoters and artists to reward them for the number 1:36:43.360 --> 1:36:46.320 of dates they'll do in my buildings. So what we 1:36:46.439 --> 1:36:51.160 do is actually very simple. On my premium seats, I 1:36:51.200 --> 1:36:53.960 will buy the ticket from the artists, and then the 1:36:54.200 --> 1:36:58.280 upside for the premium services, for the special food, the 1:36:58.320 --> 1:37:01.960 special club, the special parking, the special experiences, the right 1:37:02.000 --> 1:37:04.360 to buy the tickets before the rest of the people 1:37:04.400 --> 1:37:07.080 get a chance to buy them, so they got predictability. 1:37:07.520 --> 1:37:09.960 I'm going to keep the upside. I'll give them a 1:37:09.960 --> 1:37:12.599 little bit of the upside, that's that bonus. But I'm 1:37:12.600 --> 1:37:14.960 going to buy the ticket from them because they deserve 1:37:15.560 --> 1:37:18.320 to be paid for the ticket. We're going to do 1:37:18.400 --> 1:37:21.840 that now we have to go deal occasionally with an 1:37:21.880 --> 1:37:23.679 artist that comes on and says, well, I don't want 1:37:23.960 --> 1:37:26.120 anybody getting a first right to the tickets. I want 1:37:26.120 --> 1:37:29.080 the fans, everybody to have the first right to the ticket. 1:37:29.720 --> 1:37:32.680 So we work through that. There are a lot of 1:37:32.720 --> 1:37:35.160 bands out there that are passionate about that, Kurnel Jam 1:37:35.280 --> 1:37:38.320 for example. We figure it out. We take our premium 1:37:38.360 --> 1:37:41.600 seaholders and say, hey, occasionally, we're going to do the 1:37:41.640 --> 1:37:44.280 best we can that not every night are we going 1:37:44.360 --> 1:37:46.240 to be able to guarantee the first right to buy 1:37:46.240 --> 1:37:50.439 that seat. And so you got to be flexible. You 1:37:50.520 --> 1:37:52.439 got to understand the ne aedge of the artists. You 1:37:52.560 --> 1:37:55.080 got to be fair. You should buy the ticket from 1:37:55.080 --> 1:37:57.800 the artists. We don't buy the sweet tickets because we 1:37:57.840 --> 1:38:00.400 sell them annually. That's the one place where it goes 1:38:00.439 --> 1:38:03.680 to help pay for the building. Every promoter we deal with, 1:38:03.720 --> 1:38:05.920 and every manager we deal with, and every agent we 1:38:06.000 --> 1:38:09.000 deal with, they understand that. They get that I'm spending 1:38:09.280 --> 1:38:12.080 five hundred million on average to build an arena, and 1:38:12.120 --> 1:38:14.360 the arena's making them a lot more money than they 1:38:14.479 --> 1:38:16.559 used to make, and it's a much better experience, and 1:38:16.800 --> 1:38:19.040 the back house is better, the loading is better, the 1:38:19.120 --> 1:38:21.639 rigging is better. They spend less money coming and going. 1:38:21.680 --> 1:38:23.479 They make more money at the end of the night 1:38:23.920 --> 1:38:26.720 because they could charge more for my arenas because the 1:38:26.720 --> 1:38:30.479 seats are fantastic. We share, We figure out a way 1:38:30.520 --> 1:38:33.120 to be partners. We're aligned. We make sure we take 1:38:33.160 --> 1:38:35.720 care of them and respect them. That's what does get 1:38:35.720 --> 1:38:38.479 me wound up about. You know, those that are making 1:38:38.560 --> 1:38:42.400 money that don't participate in that alignment, don't take risks, 1:38:42.439 --> 1:38:45.599 don't make the experience better, and don't reward the artist. 1:38:45.760 --> 1:38:48.840 That's a problem. But I'm not the problem. I figure 1:38:48.880 --> 1:38:50.720 out a way to see it in their eyes. I 1:38:50.800 --> 1:38:53.280 try to treat them fairly, and I also ask them 1:38:53.320 --> 1:38:57.599 to remember, I'm spending five hundred million dollars to build 1:38:57.640 --> 1:38:59.840 this arena. I got to make my money back. Help 1:38:59.880 --> 1:39:01.840 me do that, and I'll help you and I'll pay 1:39:01.880 --> 1:39:02.960 you for the tickets. 1:39:04.000 --> 1:39:06.800 Okay, where are you from originally and what were your 1:39:06.920 --> 1:39:08.479 circumstances growing up? 1:39:09.680 --> 1:39:13.640 So I grew up in Saint Louis, six brothers and 1:39:13.680 --> 1:39:19.080 sisters six Wow. Yeah, My brother Todd is I think 1:39:19.720 --> 1:39:22.960 the most accomplished person I'd met in the industry. He's 1:39:23.680 --> 1:39:25.800 much better and smarter than I am, so I'm not 1:39:25.840 --> 1:39:28.040 sure what I think. They dropped me on my head 1:39:28.040 --> 1:39:31.400 a couple of times, and thoroughly enjoy working with him, 1:39:31.400 --> 1:39:34.080 which we do every day. He's running the Kraken and 1:39:34.240 --> 1:39:36.840 Climate Pledge for us up in Seattle. We're partners and 1:39:36.880 --> 1:39:39.840 by the way, he's a shareholder in this company for 1:39:40.280 --> 1:39:45.360 being a part of our partnership up there. So both 1:39:45.360 --> 1:39:48.160 of us have enjoyed growing our careers together. We enjoy 1:39:48.200 --> 1:39:50.800 spending time with each other. We just jointly been on 1:39:50.920 --> 1:39:55.439 Memorial Stadium and Seattle won that bid, So we owe 1:39:55.479 --> 1:39:58.040 a huge debt of gratitude to both my mom and 1:39:58.120 --> 1:40:02.400 dad who have passed. One of our brothers just died 1:40:02.920 --> 1:40:05.240 and it was sad because he died quickly, and it 1:40:05.280 --> 1:40:07.880 was an experience that shook both of us because we 1:40:07.880 --> 1:40:12.160 were with him. He's the healthiest of everybody in the family, 1:40:12.200 --> 1:40:17.679 so it was quite shocking. But it shows you how 1:40:17.800 --> 1:40:22.160 devastating cancer could be because he literally he disappeared in 1:40:22.160 --> 1:40:24.080 front of us in three weeks. So it was the 1:40:24.200 --> 1:40:27.320 just one of the worst things I've ever seen, and 1:40:27.360 --> 1:40:30.519 so we appreciate every day the five that remained. We 1:40:31.040 --> 1:40:34.080 were installed great work ethic. I didn't go to college 1:40:34.080 --> 1:40:36.240 because I couldn't go to college. We were doing the 1:40:36.320 --> 1:40:38.920 dog paddle. My brother didn't go to college. Todd and 1:40:38.960 --> 1:40:42.479 I are very unusual to be in the positions and 1:40:42.560 --> 1:40:46.360 to have the fortunate opportunities that we both had, and 1:40:46.439 --> 1:40:49.640 neither of us have a college education. But we were 1:40:49.760 --> 1:40:53.519 very fortunate that our mother and our father, and we 1:40:53.600 --> 1:40:56.120 lost her mother. I was I think seven or eight 1:40:56.200 --> 1:40:59.960 years old when she died. But they taught us work ethic, 1:41:00.080 --> 1:41:02.840 and they taught us how to get up every day 1:41:02.880 --> 1:41:06.840 and earn your keep, and so both of us are 1:41:06.880 --> 1:41:12.000 relentless at living our lives every day hard. We are 1:41:12.120 --> 1:41:15.639 relentless at trying to be successful. Were relentless on pushing 1:41:15.640 --> 1:41:19.960 ourselves and our people. But he, in particular builds some 1:41:20.000 --> 1:41:23.160 of the greatest culture I've ever seen for employees. He 1:41:23.240 --> 1:41:25.840 does a phenomenal job up there for not just the 1:41:25.880 --> 1:41:28.920 people that work for the Kracking and for Climate Pledge, 1:41:29.680 --> 1:41:32.400 but for the fans of the KRACK and the people 1:41:32.400 --> 1:41:34.960 that come to that building every day. And I think 1:41:35.080 --> 1:41:38.719 that's kind of Yes, we kind of had to fight 1:41:38.960 --> 1:41:42.639 when we were young and went through some really tough times, 1:41:43.080 --> 1:41:45.800 but I think that installed within us a character and 1:41:45.840 --> 1:41:51.120 a work ethic that hopefully still at our core value today. 1:41:52.080 --> 1:41:54.599 So what did your father do for a living and 1:41:54.680 --> 1:41:56.720 what kind of kid were you growing up? Were you 1:41:56.800 --> 1:41:58.320 the strawsters the drink? 1:41:58.400 --> 1:42:03.280 Were you a loader or what? So my dad was 1:42:03.640 --> 1:42:05.679 he did what he had to do to survive because, 1:42:05.960 --> 1:42:08.360 you know, suddenly he was trying to raise six kids, 1:42:08.360 --> 1:42:12.439 because we were all pretty young still my two older 1:42:12.479 --> 1:42:16.080 brothers were in college already, but still pretty shocking to 1:42:16.280 --> 1:42:20.000 lose your wife at that age, because he was they 1:42:20.000 --> 1:42:22.680 were in their forties and then having six kids you 1:42:22.720 --> 1:42:25.160 got to raise and then still go have a career. 1:42:25.200 --> 1:42:28.040 So he sold his whole life. So that's probably where 1:42:28.040 --> 1:42:30.799 Todd and I learned how to sell. But he bounced 1:42:30.840 --> 1:42:34.640 a lot, and you saw him deteriorate as a you know, 1:42:35.360 --> 1:42:38.000 that takes a huge toll on this. The next wife 1:42:38.040 --> 1:42:40.000 died of cancer, so he went back to back and 1:42:40.040 --> 1:42:42.400 we lost our mom and our step mom to cancer, 1:42:42.880 --> 1:42:45.280 and so that that changed him and he was never 1:42:45.320 --> 1:42:49.679 the same, and thank god he didn't. You know, quite frankly, 1:42:49.880 --> 1:42:55.400 that would have driven most people to abuse their life, 1:42:55.600 --> 1:42:58.800 and he didn't. He got up every day and worked hard. 1:42:59.120 --> 1:43:03.120 But it he lost confidence, and he lost hope, and 1:43:03.160 --> 1:43:07.880 he lost ambition, because you can't go through life and 1:43:07.920 --> 1:43:10.120 take two gut punches like that and not have it 1:43:10.320 --> 1:43:13.240 affect who you are as a human being. But he 1:43:13.240 --> 1:43:15.640 didn't let the demons get him, and I have a 1:43:15.720 --> 1:43:18.960 deep appreciation for the fact he lived till his nineties 1:43:19.000 --> 1:43:22.680 and he never let the demons get him. Meant the 1:43:22.720 --> 1:43:25.400 rest of us Again, the dog paddles in the middle 1:43:25.400 --> 1:43:28.840 of the lake. I was very committed and attached to 1:43:28.880 --> 1:43:32.760 my mother, And then I'd say I was a disciplined 1:43:32.840 --> 1:43:35.960 young man, and I worked two or three jobs at 1:43:35.960 --> 1:43:38.040 all times in my life. When I was growing up, 1:43:38.439 --> 1:43:40.200 I'd get up early in the morning and work at 1:43:40.200 --> 1:43:42.080 a bakery, and then I'd go from the bakery to 1:43:42.160 --> 1:43:46.760 a deli. And so I always worked hard and I 1:43:46.800 --> 1:43:49.280 didn't cause a lot of havoc and a lot of trouble. 1:43:49.800 --> 1:43:51.920 And I say that for my later years, and now 1:43:51.920 --> 1:43:54.439 I'm making up for being a good kid, I guess, 1:43:54.560 --> 1:43:59.880 so it all averages out. But lucky that those values 1:43:59.920 --> 1:44:03.439 also give me a wife of thirty plus years and 1:44:03.479 --> 1:44:05.840 a daughter I'm really proud of who has chosen to 1:44:05.840 --> 1:44:09.559 go into business and two grandsons, and the oldest grandson, 1:44:09.600 --> 1:44:11.840 who's eight, wants to go build arenas for a living. 1:44:12.040 --> 1:44:16.160 And so it's a full circle. And I've been blessed, 1:44:16.240 --> 1:44:19.200 and I'm very fortunate that I learned a lot of 1:44:19.200 --> 1:44:22.439 tough lessons early on that have come in and I 1:44:22.600 --> 1:44:26.360 hope given me other opportunities later in my life that 1:44:26.600 --> 1:44:30.640 have overcompensated me quite frankly for some of the early challenges. 1:44:31.360 --> 1:44:35.200 Okay, but growing up, were you good in school? Bad 1:44:35.240 --> 1:44:39.479 in school? Were you popular? And ultimately, how did you 1:44:39.520 --> 1:44:41.760 decide not to go to college? 1:44:42.479 --> 1:44:46.400 So I'd say I was good at the things I 1:44:46.479 --> 1:44:49.799 was interested in. I was really good. So I selled 1:44:49.840 --> 1:44:58.360 in things like debate, history, fascinated by history, politics, math. 1:44:59.280 --> 1:45:01.840 Everyone that's worked around me knows I sit there and 1:45:02.040 --> 1:45:04.479 add stuff up in my head as we're talking, and 1:45:04.520 --> 1:45:10.240 they're all fearful of my ability to make decisions quickly 1:45:10.280 --> 1:45:12.519 on stuff like that. But there was other stuff I 1:45:12.760 --> 1:45:16.840 just wasn't interested in. And so but I graduated a 1:45:16.920 --> 1:45:19.200 year early in high school and got all with it. 1:45:20.160 --> 1:45:22.320 I could have gone to college, but I was working, 1:45:22.479 --> 1:45:24.760 and I had to work. I wasn't living at home. 1:45:24.800 --> 1:45:26.320 I was living on my own and I had to 1:45:26.360 --> 1:45:28.280 go work, and I was working two jobs. And then 1:45:29.080 --> 1:45:32.800 I started with a company called New England Life, which 1:45:32.880 --> 1:45:39.920 is a very old, conservative, established life insurance pension investment 1:45:40.479 --> 1:45:44.040 firm out of Boston. And you had to be twenty 1:45:44.040 --> 1:45:47.400 one years old. Somebody had to recommend you into the company. 1:45:47.400 --> 1:45:50.000 You had to have a college education. I didn't have 1:45:50.040 --> 1:45:52.040 two of the three, but I had somebody that really 1:45:52.080 --> 1:45:55.599 believed in me, called Bill Whitney, and he spoke up 1:45:55.600 --> 1:45:57.439 and said, we got to bring this kid in and 1:45:57.560 --> 1:46:01.080 let him do the internship program. Stanley. He's only twenty 1:46:01.160 --> 1:46:04.200 years old, but there's something about the kid. They did. 1:46:04.280 --> 1:46:07.160 And then I was a Rookie of the Year. And 1:46:08.200 --> 1:46:11.400 my third year of doing that and beginning to have success, 1:46:11.760 --> 1:46:14.519 I went to work for an indoor soccer team. I 1:46:14.600 --> 1:46:18.519 was the number two employee. The number one employee got 1:46:18.560 --> 1:46:20.679 caught doing something he shouldn't have done, and I became 1:46:20.720 --> 1:46:23.320 the number one employee and became the president like twenty 1:46:23.320 --> 1:46:25.799 one or twenty years So wait, wait. 1:46:25.720 --> 1:46:29.920 You were selling you were selling insurance. What motivated you 1:46:30.000 --> 1:46:32.880 to jump to indoor soccer which was not lighting up 1:46:32.920 --> 1:46:33.800 the world at the time. 1:46:33.840 --> 1:46:40.320 To boot, So my brother ironically, so I think I 1:46:40.360 --> 1:46:42.840 was twenty three or twenty four actually at the time, 1:46:43.520 --> 1:46:47.080 and my brother was the announcer for the Houston Arrows, 1:46:47.280 --> 1:46:50.240 which was a World Hockey League team with the Gordy 1:46:50.280 --> 1:46:54.479 how and his sons, and the owner of the Houston 1:46:54.560 --> 1:46:58.880 team bought the expansion rights to Saint Louis and I 1:46:58.920 --> 1:47:01.240 was in Saint Louis and my brother said, you should 1:47:01.240 --> 1:47:02.720 go talk to him. I talked to him. My god, 1:47:02.800 --> 1:47:04.640 this is really interesting. And I grew up in a 1:47:04.680 --> 1:47:10.439 family that liked sports and enjoyed sports, and they offered 1:47:10.479 --> 1:47:12.360 me a job and I decided to take it. And 1:47:12.400 --> 1:47:17.759 so ironically, the Saint Louis Steamers averaged about eighteen seventeen 1:47:17.800 --> 1:47:20.800 thousand people, and I ate our first year shocking. So 1:47:20.840 --> 1:47:23.960 we sold out the Czecherdome. The Blues were there, and 1:47:24.000 --> 1:47:26.599 the guys that ran the Blues thought we were a circus, 1:47:26.640 --> 1:47:29.479 and I said, I know, and everybody loves the circus. 1:47:29.520 --> 1:47:34.520 You don't get it, do you. We were unbelievably successful, 1:47:34.720 --> 1:47:37.920 and then I got hired at the age at twenty 1:47:37.960 --> 1:47:40.840 five to be the president of Baltimore Blast, which is 1:47:40.880 --> 1:47:44.160 my passion for Baltimore. We sold out pretty much every 1:47:44.200 --> 1:47:47.559 game there and did well. And then went to Kansas 1:47:47.680 --> 1:47:50.720 City and we created the comments and did extremely well there. 1:47:50.800 --> 1:47:55.400 Okay, okay, a little bit slower. These seats don't sell themselves. 1:47:55.680 --> 1:47:58.960 What was the special philosophy were employing to make these 1:47:59.320 --> 1:48:00.600 teams successful? 1:48:01.160 --> 1:48:05.559 We worked hard, honestly. So for example, in Baltimore, you know, 1:48:05.640 --> 1:48:07.920 I was a twenty six twenty seven year old kid, 1:48:08.040 --> 1:48:10.280 and I was the president of the whole organization, so 1:48:10.360 --> 1:48:15.800 everything reported into me. And so in the summer when 1:48:15.840 --> 1:48:18.360 we had our we hadn't started playing yet, so we 1:48:18.360 --> 1:48:22.000 were in breaking in the community. We created a concept 1:48:22.160 --> 1:48:25.160 called beat the Goalie. So we brought our players in early, 1:48:25.320 --> 1:48:27.880 paid them nothing. It was I think we paid one 1:48:27.880 --> 1:48:30.360 thousand dollars a month. That was kind of ridiculous at 1:48:30.360 --> 1:48:34.479 the time. Except Geentenheimer was our keeper. I remember him 1:48:34.560 --> 1:48:38.320 quite well. And then we had another kid named Alan Mayer, 1:48:40.160 --> 1:48:42.160 and we brought him in during the summer and said, look, 1:48:42.160 --> 1:48:43.960 we're going to we're going to work. You're going to 1:48:44.000 --> 1:48:46.640 help me go out and meet everybody in this community. 1:48:46.760 --> 1:48:50.400 And every weekend we'd go to every festival and every 1:48:50.439 --> 1:48:53.439 fair everywhere in Baltimore and Maryland, and we do beat 1:48:53.479 --> 1:48:56.599 the goalie. And by the way, I was the third goalie, 1:48:56.640 --> 1:48:59.800 so we'd rotate, so I'd give them a break and 1:49:00.120 --> 1:49:01.920 I wouldn't let the kids score on me. That was 1:49:01.960 --> 1:49:04.760 the difference. I'm like, no one's scoring on me today. 1:49:05.840 --> 1:49:09.200 We met thousands, tens of thousands of people and turned 1:49:09.200 --> 1:49:11.679 them into Blast fans because we got to know them 1:49:11.800 --> 1:49:15.200 and we got to build a relationship. And then we 1:49:15.800 --> 1:49:19.000 did a thing in Saint Louis, in Kansas City and 1:49:19.040 --> 1:49:23.080 in Baltimar called Introductions, which no one had ever tried before. 1:49:23.560 --> 1:49:27.120 So I was working with my brothers in Kansas City, 1:49:27.160 --> 1:49:31.320 but in Saint Louis and Baltimore, I did Introductions. So 1:49:32.479 --> 1:49:35.439 in Saint Louis we created a song. We stole a 1:49:35.479 --> 1:49:38.960 song called Ain't No Stopping Us Now, and I created 1:49:38.960 --> 1:49:41.000 a light show with mirror balls and I'd turn out 1:49:41.000 --> 1:49:43.480 the lights and I'd use small because we were the steamers, 1:49:43.520 --> 1:49:45.800 so we came out of steam and I made it 1:49:45.840 --> 1:49:50.160 a show. And then in Baltimore we did Diana Ross 1:49:50.160 --> 1:49:52.640 I'm Coming Out. I made it a bigger show. And 1:49:52.680 --> 1:49:55.360 by the time we got to Kansas City, we were absolute, 1:49:55.840 --> 1:49:59.240 like perfect at producing the circus and we were the 1:49:59.280 --> 1:50:03.880 circus and we created a ten minute show in an 1:50:03.880 --> 1:50:06.479 introduction where every night we do a different piece of 1:50:06.560 --> 1:50:10.680 music and I'd orchestrate a different special effect from fireworks 1:50:10.720 --> 1:50:14.439 to mirror balls, to smoke to lasers. And one day, 1:50:14.920 --> 1:50:17.120 true story, We're sitting at lunch in Kansas City, my 1:50:17.160 --> 1:50:20.200 brother and I and the bus boy comes up and 1:50:20.320 --> 1:50:23.280 I'm looking at this kid and he says a few 1:50:23.280 --> 1:50:25.920 words and I'm like, has anyone told you you look 1:50:26.240 --> 1:50:29.600 exactly like Michael Jackson And he says, oh, yeah, I 1:50:29.680 --> 1:50:33.200 do a Michael Jackson imitation. I said, well, can you 1:50:33.720 --> 1:50:35.560 show me? So right there in the middle of the 1:50:35.640 --> 1:50:38.599 hind it where we're having lunch, he is the middle. 1:50:40.840 --> 1:50:43.400 I want you to come see me after your shift today. 1:50:43.960 --> 1:50:46.920 He came down to the Kemper arena and I said, 1:50:47.120 --> 1:50:49.680 do you sing? And he sings a few songs he 1:50:49.840 --> 1:50:52.559 is Michael Jackson. Like, my god, I've never seen anything 1:50:52.640 --> 1:50:55.559 like it. We put him in the pregame show, so 1:50:55.680 --> 1:50:58.519 we do some Michael Jackson music. Introduced this young man. 1:50:59.000 --> 1:51:01.160 He's out there in the middle of it, and he's 1:51:01.240 --> 1:51:04.439 so good that everyone thinks it's Michael Jackson. I'm like, yeah, 1:51:04.439 --> 1:51:08.160 Michael Jackson is doing the opening of a Kansas City comments, 1:51:08.439 --> 1:51:13.040 believe what you will. He became a sensation. We actually 1:51:14.520 --> 1:51:17.920 everyone would show up ten minutes, had a tip off 1:51:18.040 --> 1:51:21.160 to see the pregame show. Sixteen thousand people every night, 1:51:21.200 --> 1:51:24.080 and we became a sensation. That was really the first 1:51:24.080 --> 1:51:27.839 time you saw introductions in sports, and it was the beginning. 1:51:27.880 --> 1:51:30.840 And then I think the bulls and Steve Shamwald came 1:51:30.880 --> 1:51:33.160 in and did an even better job. God bless him 1:51:33.479 --> 1:51:37.400 with Manford, man of the Earth being if I'm not mistaken, 1:51:37.880 --> 1:51:42.559 and so we were perfectionists though, and I'd literally go 1:51:42.760 --> 1:51:47.240 create a new ten minute pregame show every night, and 1:51:47.280 --> 1:51:50.719 I'd hire people. I brought it in a kid's choir 1:51:50.800 --> 1:51:53.840 one night to do the course for Kenny Loggins. I'm 1:51:53.840 --> 1:51:56.920 free and we'd coreograph it and rehearse it. And I 1:51:57.000 --> 1:51:59.840 had these special effect guys that were stagehand guys for 1:52:00.240 --> 1:52:02.640 and Roll, and I said, I want to create a 1:52:02.720 --> 1:52:05.000 rock and roll show every night for ten minutes before 1:52:05.000 --> 1:52:08.320 we introduced the players. It was going along swimmingly until 1:52:08.320 --> 1:52:10.720 one night the mirror ball he forgot to turn the 1:52:10.720 --> 1:52:13.000 crane off and it hit the top of the ceiling 1:52:13.120 --> 1:52:15.439 busted and came down on the floor and almost took 1:52:15.439 --> 1:52:18.519 out my entire team, But we had a good time. 1:52:18.680 --> 1:52:22.120 It was a life lesson. I'd learned how important it 1:52:22.200 --> 1:52:25.960 was to put on a show. And also we kind 1:52:25.960 --> 1:52:28.080 of ran temper arenas, so we got to get into 1:52:28.120 --> 1:52:31.679 the rock and roll business and we were promoters. So 1:52:32.960 --> 1:52:35.200 that's what got me into arenas, and that's what got 1:52:35.240 --> 1:52:38.880 me into music, and that's what got me into eventually promotion. 1:52:40.040 --> 1:52:41.759 So where'd you go From Kansas City? 1:52:42.680 --> 1:52:47.439 I was hired as the youngest person ever for the 1:52:47.520 --> 1:52:50.840 Minnesota Timberwolves. That was their first employee, and I was 1:52:50.880 --> 1:52:53.680 in charge of all the business and we broke at 1:52:53.720 --> 1:52:56.920 tennants records our first year at the Metrodome, so to 1:52:56.920 --> 1:52:59.400 this day, I think they still stand. We sold over 1:52:59.439 --> 1:53:02.760 a million tickets our first year for the Timberwhiss that 1:53:02.800 --> 1:53:06.120 we averaged something like twenty seven thousand people a night. 1:53:06.520 --> 1:53:10.720 We were terrible, terrible, the worst form of basketball mankind 1:53:10.720 --> 1:53:14.400 had ever invented. Bill Musselman believed in running out the 1:53:14.560 --> 1:53:18.240 shot clock every possession and if a player tried to 1:53:18.280 --> 1:53:20.960 score too quickly, he'd bentioned. It was like, oh, this 1:53:21.120 --> 1:53:24.880 is god awful. But we sold twenty seven thousand tickets 1:53:24.920 --> 1:53:27.360 a night, and then we moved into the new Target 1:53:27.400 --> 1:53:31.680 Center and helped build that. Although that was not my 1:53:31.760 --> 1:53:34.880 favorite building, it's amazing it's still there today. They needed 1:53:34.880 --> 1:53:37.439 a new arena in Minnesota, the timber Will snow it 1:53:38.880 --> 1:53:42.200 and then spent four years there and then hired as 1:53:42.200 --> 1:53:46.960 the youngest president in the NBA for the Denver Nuggets 1:53:47.000 --> 1:53:50.520 and came in and resurrected that franchise from near bankruptcy, 1:53:51.200 --> 1:53:54.320 and then we had great success on the court. Bernie 1:53:54.360 --> 1:53:58.439 Bickersteph was the general manager and Danis was the head coach, 1:53:58.479 --> 1:54:04.080 and we had the mutumble mathon Zoellis and a group 1:54:04.200 --> 1:54:07.360 of kids that were fantastic, and we made it all 1:54:07.439 --> 1:54:09.800 the way to the Western Conference finals, I think in 1:54:09.880 --> 1:54:12.559 our third year, and that's where we created the Pepsi 1:54:12.640 --> 1:54:14.760 Center at the time, so I negotiated the deal to 1:54:14.800 --> 1:54:17.200 build a new arena and we decided to do it 1:54:17.280 --> 1:54:19.920 privately and it became the Pepsi Center. And then I 1:54:20.000 --> 1:54:23.519 went from there to a thing called the La Kings 1:54:24.160 --> 1:54:26.040 and it became ag. 1:54:27.680 --> 1:54:33.320 Okay. Now that's a megalopolis in downtown Los Angeles. Tell 1:54:33.400 --> 1:54:37.360 me how you ran the Kings and how you ultimately 1:54:37.560 --> 1:54:40.240 came up with the idea for LA Live, et cetera. 1:54:41.800 --> 1:54:45.600 So the Kings Phil Phil was smart. Phil is smart. 1:54:46.320 --> 1:54:49.720 He bought him out of bankruptcy, paid everybody off, God 1:54:49.760 --> 1:54:53.360 bless him. Convinced me to leave what I was doing 1:54:53.560 --> 1:54:59.560 and moved to LA which that was tough and a transition. 1:55:00.040 --> 1:55:02.720 Frankly and my family stayed back in Denver for a 1:55:02.800 --> 1:55:07.000 while while I was out in LA. So we were 1:55:07.120 --> 1:55:09.880 a terrible team that didn't have a philosophy. We had 1:55:09.920 --> 1:55:11.880 just traded away the greatest player in the history of 1:55:11.920 --> 1:55:15.240 the game and Wayne Gretzky, which was stupid, and we 1:55:15.400 --> 1:55:16.920 had to build it from there, and I ended up 1:55:16.960 --> 1:55:19.840 having to fire everybody and bring on a whole new staff. 1:55:19.880 --> 1:55:22.320 And I didn't know anything about hockey, so I had 1:55:22.360 --> 1:55:24.920 to teach myself the game, and I wasn't very good 1:55:24.960 --> 1:55:26.400 at it, by the way. At first we made a 1:55:26.440 --> 1:55:31.280 lot of mistakes, but then we Phil partnered with a 1:55:31.320 --> 1:55:33.520 guy named Ed Rosky, and I got to know ed Rosky, 1:55:33.560 --> 1:55:36.440 and ed Roski's the guy that created the genius behind 1:55:36.600 --> 1:55:39.760 LA Live. That was Ed's vision, not mine, not Phills, 1:55:39.760 --> 1:55:42.200 that was Eds. But we took it and ran with 1:55:42.320 --> 1:55:45.160 it as I said. We took a good idea and said, Okay, 1:55:45.320 --> 1:55:47.360 I get it. Let me go try to make this happen. 1:55:48.120 --> 1:55:51.760 Forged an unbelievable partnership with doctor Buss. He put me 1:55:51.880 --> 1:55:54.520 under his wing and I learned about naming rights and 1:55:54.560 --> 1:55:58.000 premium seats and showtime. I was the only non Bust 1:55:58.080 --> 1:56:00.680 member on the board there for a very long time 1:56:00.800 --> 1:56:04.360 and got to watch genius at work. We won. I 1:56:04.480 --> 1:56:08.000 still have I think five or six championships and rings 1:56:08.200 --> 1:56:11.760 from my time with the Lakers. Loved Genie Buss, loved 1:56:11.760 --> 1:56:14.440 the Bus family, loved doctor Buss. He taught me more 1:56:14.520 --> 1:56:17.240 than anybody I've ever been around in my life and 1:56:17.440 --> 1:56:21.440 was an unbelievably good partner. We were highly lucky with 1:56:21.560 --> 1:56:25.800 Staple Center that we had two kids named Shaquille O'Neil 1:56:26.080 --> 1:56:29.360 and Kobe Bryant, and we won championships, and then when 1:56:29.440 --> 1:56:32.640 they slowed down, the King started winning championships in twenty 1:56:32.680 --> 1:56:35.680 twelve and twenty fourteen and won Stanley Cups. So we 1:56:35.800 --> 1:56:39.240 were blessed by the Lakers in the run they had 1:56:39.320 --> 1:56:44.280 and Jerry West and Phil Jackson. Amazing to be around 1:56:44.360 --> 1:56:49.600 those gentlemen and learn that literally from doc Bus to 1:56:50.240 --> 1:56:54.480 Jerry West, to Phil Jackson and just watched them. They 1:56:54.640 --> 1:56:57.040 taught me a lot about how to win, and I 1:56:57.240 --> 1:57:00.560 use that in order to help the King win and 1:57:00.640 --> 1:57:04.040 helped the Galaxy win, and we grew as a company. 1:57:04.160 --> 1:57:07.000 We bought the only Galaxy. We built the Home Depot Center, 1:57:07.040 --> 1:57:08.480 and then we went out and I got a little 1:57:08.760 --> 1:57:11.120 English lad named David Beckham to come to the league 1:57:11.160 --> 1:57:13.880 and to help us change the league forever. And then 1:57:13.960 --> 1:57:16.680 we got into the promotion business and decided to do 1:57:16.840 --> 1:57:20.480 concerts and became the second largest promotion company in the 1:57:20.520 --> 1:57:24.760 world and bought We were lucky. We found a partner 1:57:24.800 --> 1:57:28.160 and a young man named Paul Tillett, and became partners 1:57:28.200 --> 1:57:31.040 in Coachella and then created the festival called stage Coach. 1:57:31.120 --> 1:57:35.480 The Eagles were our partners on Stage Coach originally, and 1:57:35.640 --> 1:57:39.160 we grew from there, and we jumped into Randy Phillips 1:57:39.240 --> 1:57:42.240 and j Marciano got us into things like Hyde Park. 1:57:43.160 --> 1:57:45.840 We built new arenas in London, and built a new 1:57:45.880 --> 1:57:49.200 arena in Berlin at the Wall, literally staring at the 1:57:49.240 --> 1:57:53.440 wall our first night we had Metallica opened the building 1:57:53.520 --> 1:57:56.400 for us, and five thousand people protested and I couldn't 1:57:56.480 --> 1:57:59.720 understand it. It's like, wait a minute. We privatized the building, 1:58:00.000 --> 1:58:01.920 built it for free. We hired all these people. We 1:58:02.000 --> 1:58:05.240 brought in Metallica to open the building. What are they protesting? 1:58:05.320 --> 1:58:08.800 And they said, they're just protesting. They don't care. They 1:58:09.080 --> 1:58:12.040 just wanted to come together and protest you because they can. 1:58:14.120 --> 1:58:20.080 So we built arenas in Shanghai and other places around 1:58:20.120 --> 1:58:23.320 the world. It was an unbelievable experience. Philly Anshuts is 1:58:23.520 --> 1:58:26.800 to this day someone I highly respect for the risk 1:58:27.040 --> 1:58:28.680 and the money he gave us to go build that 1:58:28.800 --> 1:58:31.400 company and get into all things that he probably would 1:58:31.480 --> 1:58:33.240 look at me and go, what the hell are you 1:58:33.360 --> 1:58:36.840 doing here? But it was an amazing experience in an 1:58:36.840 --> 1:58:40.120 amazing twenty years, and we enjoyed every moment of including 1:58:40.240 --> 1:58:44.120 building what became the most important entertainment district in the industry, 1:58:44.280 --> 1:58:47.440 LA Live and showing what you could do. I remember 1:58:47.520 --> 1:58:51.120 when we were debating building Staples Center and getting approval, 1:58:51.120 --> 1:58:54.200 and remember we priva sized it, so we built the 1:58:54.320 --> 1:58:57.840 arena ourselves privately. Mister Anshuts and had Rosky paid for 1:58:57.960 --> 1:59:01.560 that out of their own pockets, and in the debate 1:59:01.800 --> 1:59:04.280 to get entitlement there was a council the named Joel Wax, 1:59:04.760 --> 1:59:07.600 and Joel was opposing us because he could. He was 1:59:07.840 --> 1:59:11.960 Piston on the parade and Joel would hold these public 1:59:12.080 --> 1:59:15.280 meetings and be showcases. And as I learned at the 1:59:15.360 --> 1:59:18.920 time and now it's my other favorite, saying every city 1:59:19.040 --> 1:59:23.080 has cave people, which is citizens against virtually everything. And 1:59:23.200 --> 1:59:26.560 so they all came out, and Joel brought in this 1:59:26.680 --> 1:59:29.760 professor from the University of Chicago, and he said, sports 1:59:29.840 --> 1:59:33.680 facilities do not make an economic difference. Sports facilities don't 1:59:33.720 --> 1:59:37.840 create jobs. Sports facilities will have zero impact on the 1:59:37.960 --> 1:59:40.760 future of urban growth in a community. And there's no 1:59:40.960 --> 1:59:44.120 reason to get these guys the entitlement they want because 1:59:44.120 --> 1:59:47.520 they won't help the city. They'll hurt the city. And 1:59:47.640 --> 1:59:49.760 I remember getting up after the guy spoke and said, 1:59:49.840 --> 1:59:52.240 I cannot believe this man is teaching our kids. We 1:59:52.320 --> 1:59:55.960 have a serious problem. Turns out, I think Staple Center 1:59:56.040 --> 1:59:58.760 saved downtown Los Angeles. And when you look at downtown 1:59:58.800 --> 2:00:00.880 Los Angeles, to the credit of ed Rosky and the 2:00:00.960 --> 2:00:05.960 vision he had, it dynamically changed a city that no 2:00:06.080 --> 2:00:08.120 one wanted to live and no one wanted to work, 2:00:08.160 --> 2:00:10.040 and then no one wanted to come down and play 2:00:10.080 --> 2:00:14.560 in and LA Live and the investment that happened the JW. 2:00:14.800 --> 2:00:19.160 Marriott and the Ritz the Convention Center and turning that 2:00:19.480 --> 2:00:22.480 back into something that was an important, dominant convention center 2:00:22.520 --> 2:00:26.120 in the industry pretty amazing. And then my favorite part 2:00:26.160 --> 2:00:28.320 of my favorite thing is the Grammy Museum that we 2:00:28.400 --> 2:00:34.400 built there and a wonderful gentleman that also adopted me, 2:00:34.520 --> 2:00:38.600 Jerry Perncio, giving us the grant to help build that thing, 2:00:39.320 --> 2:00:43.760 and moving the Grammys downtown and being a part of 2:00:44.480 --> 2:00:50.600 the lure of Staples Center, and changing lives, hopefully of 2:00:50.920 --> 2:00:54.400 thousands and thousands of kids because we put music back 2:00:54.440 --> 2:00:56.680 into schools at a time when they were the first 2:00:56.760 --> 2:01:00.120 damn program everybody was yanking out of the curriculum. So 2:01:00.600 --> 2:01:04.960 really enjoyed LA Live and enjoyed AG, enjoyed AG Presents, 2:01:05.120 --> 2:01:09.880 and it was a fascinating time. But eventually, when you 2:01:10.280 --> 2:01:12.840 have two people that are a bit polar opposite, which 2:01:12.920 --> 2:01:15.440 Phil and I were politically and in a lot of 2:01:15.520 --> 2:01:17.080 other ways. And by the way, it was his company 2:01:17.400 --> 2:01:19.880 and he felt like I didn't respect that he was 2:01:19.920 --> 2:01:24.960 probably right after twenty years, I forgot that he wrote 2:01:24.960 --> 2:01:27.680 the checks and he owned it. And so I respect 2:01:27.760 --> 2:01:30.120 that now as somebody that owns the company and has 2:01:30.200 --> 2:01:33.080 taken the financial risk that we've taken here, I get 2:01:33.160 --> 2:01:36.960 that and so fortunate that I get a chance to 2:01:37.000 --> 2:01:40.960 go build my own company with Irving and our executives 2:01:41.000 --> 2:01:44.640 here and my daughter and Silberly, Okay. 2:01:44.560 --> 2:01:48.200 It ends with AEG very quickly. You take a job 2:01:48.320 --> 2:01:52.080 in Toronto. My personal belief is when they have a 2:01:52.200 --> 2:01:56.040 job that good, you know you want to sit back 2:01:56.560 --> 2:02:01.320 and assess the landscape. Although you were successfully Toronto, was 2:02:01.440 --> 2:02:05.200 that a rash decision? And ultimately, why did you decide 2:02:05.240 --> 2:02:06.120 to leave Toronto? 2:02:06.960 --> 2:02:09.680 So I went to Toronto just because I didn't want 2:02:09.680 --> 2:02:13.120 to pick a fight with Phil and I had to 2:02:13.200 --> 2:02:16.360 respect his decision that we needed to part and go 2:02:16.600 --> 2:02:19.200 for different ways. And I didn't want to stay in 2:02:19.400 --> 2:02:25.720 la because one it hurt right, we were winning championships, 2:02:25.760 --> 2:02:30.520 and it just I didn't want to have to sit 2:02:30.600 --> 2:02:34.280 here and go every day and have the Kings Lakers 2:02:34.440 --> 2:02:37.920 Galaxy results on TV that night and me going, you know, 2:02:38.440 --> 2:02:41.720 what the hell? So it was a good decision to 2:02:41.840 --> 2:02:44.480 move and get out and not pick a fight and 2:02:44.640 --> 2:02:48.400 not have a conflict. If I would have started OVG 2:02:49.120 --> 2:02:51.600 that first year. My guess is it would have been 2:02:51.640 --> 2:02:55.440 a bigger fight between the two companies because that that 2:02:55.640 --> 2:02:59.840 was really rubbing, and out of respect to Phil, he 2:03:00.040 --> 2:03:03.480 treated me well at AG for most of the years 2:03:03.520 --> 2:03:06.280 and he gave me a great opportunity, and so I 2:03:06.360 --> 2:03:09.640 wasn't going to go pick that fight. And I had 2:03:09.720 --> 2:03:12.320 to get out of LA and let him go do 2:03:12.520 --> 2:03:14.720 his thing. And by the way, they have a hell 2:03:14.760 --> 2:03:18.520 of a company today. So I went to Toronto. Larry 2:03:18.560 --> 2:03:21.360 Tannebon was kind enough to convince me to come up there, 2:03:22.440 --> 2:03:28.640 and I quickly realized they were definitely afraid of winning. Crazy, right, 2:03:28.880 --> 2:03:31.240 we're in the sports business. We should get paid to 2:03:31.320 --> 2:03:34.000 win and that's all we should think about. They were 2:03:34.080 --> 2:03:36.120 afraid to win, didn't know how to win, and had 2:03:36.160 --> 2:03:39.360 too much pressure on them. I remember going to one 2:03:39.360 --> 2:03:43.280 of my first soccer games for the Toronto FC and 2:03:43.520 --> 2:03:46.240 we're in this it was a sweep and I called 2:03:46.280 --> 2:03:49.920 a nutri suite. It was a sweet substitute and I said, 2:03:49.960 --> 2:03:52.360 I'm going to go outside and sit outside and I said, 2:03:53.280 --> 2:03:55.800 don't do that. I'm like, why not? I said, well, 2:03:55.840 --> 2:03:57.560 the fans are going to help you and throw things 2:03:57.600 --> 2:03:58.920 at you. And I said, well, first of all, we 2:03:59.040 --> 2:04:01.560 deserve it, and if I was a fan, I threw 2:04:01.720 --> 2:04:03.760 rocks at me based on the way you guys have 2:04:03.920 --> 2:04:06.960 run this franchise. We stuck, so let them have that 2:04:07.240 --> 2:04:09.720 me and it'll make them feel better. And sure enough 2:04:09.800 --> 2:04:12.720 they did. They hurled stuff at me and insulted me, 2:04:12.760 --> 2:04:14.480 and I'm like, you're right, I get it. We're going 2:04:14.520 --> 2:04:18.600 to switch it. But it taught me about kind of 2:04:19.200 --> 2:04:22.120 how they just respect. They forgot about the fans. So 2:04:22.280 --> 2:04:25.040 we came in and we rebuilt the organizations. Was. I 2:04:25.160 --> 2:04:28.360 was there roughly four years, so two years full time 2:04:28.440 --> 2:04:31.120 in two years where I was allowed to do both jobs. 2:04:31.200 --> 2:04:34.080 It was. It was actually a lot of fun. Met 2:04:34.240 --> 2:04:37.280 great people, had a great staff, great organization. Stolen me 2:04:37.440 --> 2:04:40.200 Si you Jerry from Denver and he came in, was 2:04:40.280 --> 2:04:45.200 the president. Stole a kid a kid. Then Tim Vezbachenko 2:04:45.320 --> 2:04:49.120 from MLS and he became my president. We won championships 2:04:49.160 --> 2:04:54.000 with TFC. We went and got Giovinco and he came 2:04:54.040 --> 2:04:56.840 in and toured the league up Michael Bradley. So we 2:04:57.040 --> 2:04:58.360 had a lot of fun with the team and that 2:04:58.440 --> 2:05:01.000 team changed the league in a iamic way and we 2:05:01.160 --> 2:05:05.640 were winning championships and having fun there and then Messa. 2:05:05.680 --> 2:05:08.080 I won a championship with the Raptors that I was 2:05:08.200 --> 2:05:10.920 fortunate enough to be a part of at the end there, 2:05:11.560 --> 2:05:14.480 and you know, I still think they're going to win 2:05:14.520 --> 2:05:17.480 a Stanley Cup. I hired Brendan Shanahan to be the 2:05:17.520 --> 2:05:19.360 president there, and I think they're on the right track 2:05:19.440 --> 2:05:22.280 and will win a Stanley Cup here. So I enjoyed winning. 2:05:23.240 --> 2:05:27.600 That was fun. Championships are fun. That culture was fun. 2:05:28.240 --> 2:05:31.160 We became much more aggressive at music, had a good 2:05:31.280 --> 2:05:34.600 joint venture with Live Nation, made music a much higher 2:05:34.640 --> 2:05:38.640 priority in the building, built a new training center for 2:05:38.720 --> 2:05:42.640 the Raptors, built essentially a new stadium for Toronto FC, 2:05:43.560 --> 2:05:48.600 and great owners with Rogers, Bell and Larry and enjoyed it. 2:05:48.680 --> 2:05:51.280 But I told them day one, hey, I'm going to 2:05:51.360 --> 2:05:54.560 do this, but understand, there's going to be a day 2:05:54.600 --> 2:05:58.000 and time sometime in a five years here where I'm 2:05:58.080 --> 2:06:01.360 going to go build my own company. And I just 2:06:01.520 --> 2:06:03.240 want you to know that's what I'm going to do. 2:06:03.760 --> 2:06:06.800 I'm not going to be here forever. And they knew it. 2:06:06.960 --> 2:06:10.200 But you know, when I walked in the door one 2:06:10.240 --> 2:06:12.080 day and said I think I want to go do that, 2:06:13.240 --> 2:06:14.960 it was hard because we were just starting to win. 2:06:15.160 --> 2:06:17.760 So we figured out a way to share, and I 2:06:17.920 --> 2:06:22.000 bounced between OVG and maple Lice forts and entertainment, and 2:06:22.040 --> 2:06:24.560 they were kind enough and good enough to allow me 2:06:24.640 --> 2:06:26.560 to do that for some period of time before we 2:06:26.680 --> 2:06:32.000 found a successor Do you have any free time or 2:06:32.080 --> 2:06:35.280 do you just consider work to be play? Where is 2:06:35.320 --> 2:06:37.880 there some you have down time where you either do 2:06:38.040 --> 2:06:41.240 something else, maybe you don't want to travel or watch 2:06:41.280 --> 2:06:47.000 streaming television, read whatever. So it's definitely work is not play. 2:06:48.280 --> 2:06:52.640 It's hard. I do like working, I do work hard, 2:06:52.800 --> 2:06:55.280 and I do really enjoy what I do. But it's hard. 2:06:55.560 --> 2:06:59.480 It's very hard. We started with four of us at OVG. 2:07:00.240 --> 2:07:02.680 We now have forty thousand employees, and so it's hard. 2:07:03.160 --> 2:07:06.400 And we've grown quicker than even I thought we would. 2:07:08.440 --> 2:07:11.280 You go from COVID to inflation to interest rates to 2:07:11.840 --> 2:07:15.520 you in Manchester Brexit. Still can't figure out why the 2:07:15.600 --> 2:07:18.560 hell they did that one. It is just you just 2:07:19.640 --> 2:07:23.560 it's not easy to be an entrepreneur anymore. I don't 2:07:23.680 --> 2:07:26.320 get the politics and most of the places we're at 2:07:26.360 --> 2:07:28.920 in putting here, I stretched my head saying, what the 2:07:28.960 --> 2:07:31.920 hell happened here? And we got to deal with a 2:07:31.960 --> 2:07:38.160 lot of politicians, some phenomenal like in Baltimore, unbelievably blessed. 2:07:38.200 --> 2:07:42.080 Mayor Scott is fantastic, young, dynamic, great for the city, 2:07:42.240 --> 2:07:45.760 believes in the city. Governor Moore, He's going to be 2:07:45.800 --> 2:07:48.800 president one day. This guy is fantastic, just fantastic. It 2:07:48.880 --> 2:07:51.840 gives me new hope for our country. There are still 2:07:52.040 --> 2:07:56.080 great leaders out there that are willing to sacrifice their 2:07:56.160 --> 2:07:59.520 lives and their time and their families to go make 2:07:59.600 --> 2:08:01.400 a different and he's going to make a difference. So 2:08:01.480 --> 2:08:04.480 we were lucky that we get to deal with a 2:08:04.560 --> 2:08:08.840 lot of good politicians. We you know, in Texas, I 2:08:09.200 --> 2:08:11.400 wanted to make it a carbon neutral building, and they're 2:08:11.440 --> 2:08:15.440 looking at me, going what's carbon neutral? So you know, 2:08:15.600 --> 2:08:18.040 to each his own, and you've got to adopt, and 2:08:18.720 --> 2:08:20.720 you got to make sure you're a mirror image the 2:08:20.760 --> 2:08:23.360 community you're supposed to represent it. We're trying to do that. 2:08:24.200 --> 2:08:28.880 That's hard work. Traveling is hard work. I just spent 2:08:29.040 --> 2:08:33.960 three weeks traveling internationally. Hard work. But I look, I 2:08:34.040 --> 2:08:36.160 get to go to places now. I just came back 2:08:36.200 --> 2:08:40.200 from Riad. We don't understand Saudi Arabia. We're making a 2:08:40.240 --> 2:08:43.720 mistake with Saudi Arabia and the Crown Prince is going 2:08:43.800 --> 2:08:46.400 to change that country. And we have you could have 2:08:46.520 --> 2:08:49.560 your opinions on the politics there, but he's opening the 2:08:49.600 --> 2:08:54.000 country realts. You can't wave a switch and do it overnight. 2:08:54.160 --> 2:08:57.440 And I understand a lot of people on on what 2:08:57.640 --> 2:09:02.280 happened with the journalists and it's unfortunate. But as some 2:09:02.440 --> 2:09:04.880 of the people's Honey Arabia said to me, just people 2:09:04.960 --> 2:09:07.080 on the street when we would talk, and I said, 2:09:07.280 --> 2:09:09.800 tell me, I said, first, our lives are better. He's 2:09:09.880 --> 2:09:12.440 opening up society. The quality of life is ten times better. 2:09:12.480 --> 2:09:16.840 They're reinvesting, there's less less corruption, they're putting money back 2:09:16.920 --> 2:09:20.440 into the system. And by the way, look you guys 2:09:20.800 --> 2:09:23.720 didn't exactly do a great job with the Indians, and 2:09:23.840 --> 2:09:28.840 so you've got to understand there are moral standards and 2:09:28.920 --> 2:09:31.720 values each society needs to put upon themselves and then 2:09:32.320 --> 2:09:35.360 figure that out from within that society. I'm not sure 2:09:35.480 --> 2:09:37.880 you have the right to go tell us how we're 2:09:37.920 --> 2:09:40.040 supposed to run this country. And I'm like, I get it. 2:09:40.280 --> 2:09:44.760 I understand. I am shocked at the trillions and trillions 2:09:44.760 --> 2:09:47.920 of dollars they are putting into that country and rebuilding 2:09:48.000 --> 2:09:51.040 that country as quick as they are and by twenty thirty, 2:09:51.440 --> 2:09:53.120 Rion is going to be the center of the universe. 2:09:53.200 --> 2:09:57.520 The airport, the development, the arenas, which you see the 2:09:57.560 --> 2:10:00.920 arenas they're building there, they're all the charts. I've never 2:10:00.960 --> 2:10:05.560 seen anything like it. Abu Dhabi, Yes Island, Dubai, That 2:10:05.680 --> 2:10:08.520 whole world there is just amazing, and it's the center 2:10:08.560 --> 2:10:11.160 of the universe. And let's not forget they are right 2:10:11.280 --> 2:10:14.560 next to India, which is one of the fastest growing, 2:10:14.600 --> 2:10:18.080 most important countries in the world. They're right near Africa, 2:10:18.640 --> 2:10:23.040 and Africa is going to be a really critical part 2:10:23.080 --> 2:10:26.000 of the world and a part of our society that 2:10:26.080 --> 2:10:28.880 we need to pay attention to. Think of what Nigeria 2:10:29.640 --> 2:10:32.800 is doing to music today and the artists that are 2:10:32.840 --> 2:10:38.000 emerging and dominating our music from places like Legos. So 2:10:38.160 --> 2:10:41.040 we're going to build an arena in Legos because that's 2:10:41.080 --> 2:10:44.480 the future. And by the way, that's all centered around 2:10:44.840 --> 2:10:49.200 places like Rihann and so earth shattering to go learn 2:10:49.440 --> 2:10:52.000 about the rest of the world. We spend a lot 2:10:52.040 --> 2:10:55.200 of time in the UK. We hopefully are going to 2:10:55.240 --> 2:10:57.920 get an arena on the West side of London. One day. 2:10:59.640 --> 2:11:02.840 We're on another project in Bristol, so we're excited about that. 2:11:03.000 --> 2:11:06.120 We just wanted to bid in Vienna, fascinating part of 2:11:06.160 --> 2:11:09.360 the world in Central Europe because Vienna has about thirty 2:11:09.400 --> 2:11:12.720 million people that live in and around that region to 2:11:12.800 --> 2:11:15.839 go to Vienna for their culture and their activity, their sports, 2:11:15.880 --> 2:11:19.800 their music. It is the birthplace of music in many ways, 2:11:20.680 --> 2:11:23.560 with great composers that came from that part of the world, 2:11:23.640 --> 2:11:27.160 like most art. So highly excited about that project. We're 2:11:27.280 --> 2:11:31.760 excited about San Pollo, thirty million people in Brazil, South America. 2:11:31.920 --> 2:11:35.080 You cannot ignore Brazil and the growth of that country 2:11:35.160 --> 2:11:40.080 and Pollow thirty million people trying to bid in Singapore 2:11:40.240 --> 2:11:43.400 because we understand that part of the world is growing 2:11:43.440 --> 2:11:47.080 as well. So the majority of our growth is internationally 2:11:47.160 --> 2:11:50.360 and that means to spend a lot of time working internationally. 2:11:51.520 --> 2:11:54.320 That's good news, but it's hard. It's not easy. It's 2:11:54.360 --> 2:11:57.040 not easy to have forty thousand employees. We got five 2:11:57.120 --> 2:12:01.280 thousand permanent employees. We have six headquarters I think six 2:12:01.680 --> 2:12:04.760 in London and New York and Los Angeles and Austin. 2:12:07.680 --> 2:12:09.520 It takes a lot of time and a lot of 2:12:09.680 --> 2:12:11.960 energy to try to do this right. We're not always right. 2:12:12.560 --> 2:12:14.720 We have a lot to learn. We could do better, 2:12:14.960 --> 2:12:18.280 we will do better. But you've got to be committed 2:12:18.320 --> 2:12:20.160 and you've got to be passionate, and it doesn't leave 2:12:20.240 --> 2:12:22.840 a lot of time for everything else. Do have a family, 2:12:22.960 --> 2:12:26.000 and they travel with me when they can, love my 2:12:26.080 --> 2:12:28.400 two grandsons and spend as much time with them as 2:12:28.440 --> 2:12:32.680 I can, and blessed, I'm the favorite person to play 2:12:32.720 --> 2:12:34.960 golf with it at my club because everyone could beat me, 2:12:35.400 --> 2:12:38.360 so I'm the sure thing. But I do try to 2:12:38.400 --> 2:12:41.360 get out occasionally and play with some of my buddies 2:12:42.680 --> 2:12:46.280 and I we have a home still up in the 2:12:46.360 --> 2:12:49.800 mountains in Colorado, and I love Colorado, and so we're 2:12:49.840 --> 2:12:52.400 going to open up another office there and I'll have 2:12:52.520 --> 2:12:54.600 the fortunate working out of there and working out of 2:12:54.760 --> 2:12:57.200 LA and working out of New York. So my job 2:12:57.400 --> 2:12:59.840 is my passion. I do enjoy my job. That it's hard, 2:13:00.480 --> 2:13:03.840 and I'm not that good at golf, so I think 2:13:03.880 --> 2:13:05.080 I better keep the day job. 2:13:06.360 --> 2:13:10.320 Okay, you have a long history in sports and now 2:13:10.400 --> 2:13:14.560 you're focusing primarily on music. Are you a sports guy 2:13:14.680 --> 2:13:15.560 or a music guy? 2:13:16.880 --> 2:13:19.800 Well, we you know, we own a sports team. We 2:13:19.920 --> 2:13:22.680 own the coach Umvel Firebirds with the Cracket, so we're 2:13:22.720 --> 2:13:26.000 fifty to fifty partners. It's funny to watch Irving A's 2:13:26.040 --> 2:13:29.800 off get enamored by an American Hockey League team that 2:13:29.920 --> 2:13:31.560 he was. We went all the way to the seventh 2:13:31.640 --> 2:13:34.440 game of the finals and lost in overtime, and he 2:13:34.600 --> 2:13:37.760 was heartbroken and was like, how did that happen. I'm like, 2:13:38.160 --> 2:13:41.880 welcome to sports. That's what sports is. You don't know. 2:13:42.760 --> 2:13:46.760 That's why sports is still the most valuable commodity and 2:13:46.840 --> 2:13:50.040 the most valuable asset, and they're going for six billion 2:13:50.080 --> 2:13:54.760 dollars because you don't know. It's highly unpredictable and a 2:13:54.840 --> 2:13:58.240 lot of fun. We're partners with the Kracket. We're partners 2:13:58.280 --> 2:14:00.400 with the Islanders, so we do a lot there. I 2:14:00.520 --> 2:14:04.480 still have great Genie Buss and Linda Rambis were kind 2:14:04.600 --> 2:14:07.280 enough to do a preseason game in our arena, and 2:14:07.360 --> 2:14:10.480 I for sure Steve Baumer, God bless his heart, he's 2:14:10.520 --> 2:14:13.760 doing a preseason game for us in Seattle. Adamsilver was 2:14:13.880 --> 2:14:17.680 one of my best professional friends and relationships I have 2:14:17.760 --> 2:14:20.000 in the industry. I hope they expand one day. If 2:14:20.040 --> 2:14:24.280 they do, we're going after it. In Las Vegas and 2:14:24.400 --> 2:14:27.320 I have phenomenal partners there and we're excited about the 2:14:27.400 --> 2:14:31.280 possibilities of that ever occurs. So I'm still heavily involved 2:14:31.360 --> 2:14:35.640 in sports where partners with the greatest sports franchise in 2:14:35.680 --> 2:14:38.600 the world today that no one will ever guess. It 2:14:38.760 --> 2:14:43.240 just astounds me that people don't understand the absolute brilliance 2:14:43.440 --> 2:14:46.120 of man City. So City Football Group and US are 2:14:46.160 --> 2:14:49.000 fifty to fifty partners with Harry Styles on co Op Live. 2:14:49.440 --> 2:14:52.160 I am Manchester and I get to spend a fair 2:14:52.200 --> 2:14:54.520 amount of time with them and went to the Championship 2:14:54.560 --> 2:14:58.000 in Istanbul where they got the TRIFECTA huge admire of 2:14:58.120 --> 2:15:01.400 that franchise and they have where they grossed more money 2:15:01.720 --> 2:15:04.440 this past year than any other franchise anywhere in the world. 2:15:04.640 --> 2:15:08.400 They are the most valuable franchise. We're partners with Fenway 2:15:08.440 --> 2:15:13.480 Sports and Tom Warner, who's a dear friend, and John Henry, 2:15:13.640 --> 2:15:16.280 So we were fans of the Red Sox and fans 2:15:16.320 --> 2:15:19.800 of Liverpool and fans of the Penguins. We run PPG Arena, 2:15:19.960 --> 2:15:21.880 so I'm partners with the Penguins and we do a 2:15:21.960 --> 2:15:26.600 lot with them. We're about to announce another partnership in basketball. 2:15:26.720 --> 2:15:29.600 We're going to be partners with an NBA team, So 2:15:29.920 --> 2:15:33.040 I am a huge sports fan. I spend a fair 2:15:33.040 --> 2:15:36.320 amount of time with Gary Bettman on new arenas for 2:15:36.760 --> 2:15:40.720 NHL teams. It's the world that we live in. It's 2:15:40.960 --> 2:15:43.520 you know, we live and die with music, we enjoy 2:15:43.640 --> 2:15:46.400 sports in between, and I love being a part of 2:15:46.480 --> 2:15:49.640 that because it moves people. I always like to say 2:15:50.400 --> 2:15:52.960 the uniqueness of sports is it's the only industry I 2:15:53.080 --> 2:15:54.920 know where you were the name of the community on 2:15:55.040 --> 2:15:59.240 your uniform, that's pretty damn unique. I didn't have that 2:15:59.320 --> 2:16:00.600 at the bakery or the deli. 2:16:02.360 --> 2:16:04.760 And on that note, I'm gonna let you go. 2:16:05.000 --> 2:16:05.240 Tim. 2:16:05.360 --> 2:16:08.440 This has been wonderful. Thanks so much for sharing this. 2:16:08.600 --> 2:16:11.720 Time with my ordance and Bob. Thank you for allowing 2:16:11.760 --> 2:16:13.920 all of us to tell our story, allowing us to 2:16:13.960 --> 2:16:16.920 tell our passion for music. I know you're equally as passionate. 2:16:17.520 --> 2:16:20.800 Thank you, because normally I don't really like spending time 2:16:20.880 --> 2:16:24.400 talking about me, but I love the fact you have 2:16:24.480 --> 2:16:27.560 a format that makes people so damn comfortable about talking 2:16:27.600 --> 2:16:28.680 about themselves. Thank you. 2:16:30.160 --> 2:16:32.920 Until next time. This is Bob left Sense