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Speaker 1: This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports showbal Beaks What

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Speaker 1: the big money issues in the world of sports On

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Speaker 1: Michael barn.

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Speaker 2: I'm Scarlet Food and Don Damian Sasaur.

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Speaker 1: The n h L playoffs stands for National Hockey League

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Speaker 1: are here, and for the first time since the twenty

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Speaker 1: seventeen eighteen season, the New Jersey Devils are back in.

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Speaker 2: To see it.

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Speaker 1: You know what, you can't beat the horn when it

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Speaker 1: sounds for goal in a hockey game. I love that horn.

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Speaker 1: It's is Even the train horn is not as as

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Speaker 1: cool as that. I love that.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: It just gets you all excited, right, And there's good

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Speaker 4: reason to be excited too, because the Devil's pulled off

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Speaker 4: one of the biggest turnarounds in NHL history. They went

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Speaker 4: from sixty three points in twenty twenty two to one

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Speaker 4: hundred and twelve this past year.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and then when fifty two games, that's time for

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Speaker 2: second most in the league.

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Speaker 1: Scarlett sure did and here to talk about the success

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Speaker 1: of the year and the excitement around battling their cross

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Speaker 1: river rivals, the New York Rangers in the opening round.

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Speaker 1: Sorry we welcome, I'm sorry, Jake Reynolds, New Jersey Devil's

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Speaker 1: president Jake Reynolds, Welcome to the Bloomberg Business of Sports.

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Speaker 3: Thank you, Michael Damian. I appreciate it, Scarlett, I.

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Speaker 1: Still love you.

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Speaker 3: We'll played my hot, but that intro got me ready

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Speaker 3: to go. I'm ready to run through a wall.

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Speaker 1: Well let's start with that. I mean, you, guys, what

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Speaker 1: a turnaround. First of all, and I'm sure the Devils

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Speaker 1: fans are totally excited.

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Speaker 3: They are, and they have been absolutely incredible all season long,

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Speaker 3: and they've taken it up a level when you know,

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Speaker 3: when we're talking playoffs, and then it goes to even

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Speaker 3: another level when you bring in, obviously the crosstown rivals.

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Speaker 3: But this year has been absolutely incredible. It has been

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Speaker 3: a perfect storm across the board. You mentioned a few

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Speaker 3: of those obviously in terms of a franchise record, in

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Speaker 3: terms of wins, a franchise record in points, the greatest

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Speaker 3: turnaround in NHL history from one season to the next.

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Speaker 3: You have the emergence of Jack Hughes as a superstar,

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Speaker 3: setting an organizational records.

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Speaker 1: You're dad even fourteen a piece.

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Speaker 3: Here's Hughes playing with all kinds of competences. Hues, He's

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Speaker 3: gotta be kidding me and you bring all of that

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Speaker 3: together and it's just been a perfect storm and we're

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Speaker 3: having some fun and our fans have stepped up and

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Speaker 3: responded in an incredible way.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, the superlatives are so impressive. And I think about

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Speaker 4: how this in this first round of playoffs, you're playing

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Speaker 4: your cross River rival, but you can almost make the

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Speaker 4: argument that you have homelics advantage for the entire series

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Speaker 4: because you're not your players are not going too far

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Speaker 4: when they play their away games either. How important is

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Speaker 4: that homelaice advantage in a series like this, I.

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Speaker 3: Mean, it plays such a big factor, and you know

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Speaker 3: there's a number of kind of layers into that. Obviously,

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Speaker 3: just being able to have the comfort of playing in

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Speaker 3: our arena, having this fan base here, for our players

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Speaker 3: to be able to sleep in their own beds most

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Speaker 3: you know, a couple extra nights. It goes a really

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Speaker 3: long way just in terms of their preparation, the comfort,

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Speaker 3: and then obviously, you know, you add in the fact

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Speaker 3: that this is one market and you know it adds

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Speaker 3: to the rivalry, you know, whether it's here at you know,

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Speaker 3: the Crudential Center and you have some some Ranger fans

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Speaker 3: coming in here to liven things up, or you know,

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Speaker 3: we sought earlier this year when we were playing at MSG.

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Speaker 3: I was at that game and I'm looking around, and

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Speaker 3: you know, I'm seeing you know, Devil's fans kind of

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Speaker 3: throughout the building and chanting Igor. It's what makes it

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Speaker 3: so special and it's what takes this rivalry to the

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Speaker 3: next level.

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Speaker 2: Well, Jake, I mean, let's talk about this home ice

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Speaker 2: for a second second. Let's talk about the Crew Center.

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Speaker 2: I mean, listen, I mean an organizational record for ticket

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Speaker 2: sales revenue this year, I mean up thirty two percent

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Speaker 2: year over year. I mean half of Devil's home games

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Speaker 2: were sellouts. I think you had single game ticket sales,

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Speaker 2: setting an organizational record. I mean, talk to us about,

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Speaker 2: you know, what the team looks like, what its prospects

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Speaker 2: look like with these two young stars at the helm

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Speaker 2: here for the Devils, and what your plans are going forward.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely, and and it even goes back a little bit

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Speaker 3: further when you when you go back to obviously twenty

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Speaker 3: twenty and what we experienced as we are going through

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Speaker 3: COVID and emerging out of that, just some of the

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Speaker 3: impact and the recovery and some of the challenges Obviously

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Speaker 3: we faced and you know, in many degrees, are still

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Speaker 3: facing in terms of just continuing to get this business

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Speaker 3: back to where it needs to be attracting big events.

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Speaker 3: But when we look at, you know, the opportunity that

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Speaker 3: we have to, you know, build off of what this

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Speaker 3: team is providing. We we've talked a lot as an

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Speaker 3: organization over the course of the last four years. We've

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Speaker 3: had a mantra that we want to be one hundred point,

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Speaker 3: meaning that you know, even a couple of years ago,

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Speaker 3: when you know, we weren't you know, in the playoffs,

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Speaker 3: we were preparing for what was coming, and we wanted

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Speaker 3: to make sure from a business side that as this

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Speaker 3: team turned the corner, we were prepared to capitalize on

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Speaker 3: some of the success. And so you're seeing a lot

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Speaker 3: of that cumber fruition right now. And I give our

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Speaker 3: team here a tremendous amount of credit being ready. Obviously,

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Speaker 3: Tom Fitzgerald and our hockey operations department have done an

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Speaker 3: unbelievable job in terms of executing that vision. And you

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Speaker 3: look at the team that we have on the ice,

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Speaker 3: it's the third you know, it's the youngest team in

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Speaker 3: the NHL. We finished third in the League. In terms

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Speaker 3: of our record this year, our prospect pipeline is deep

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Speaker 3: and we are looking forward to a ten year plus

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Speaker 3: run of being able to compete for a Stanley Cup.

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Speaker 3: So as incredible as this year has been both on

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Speaker 3: and off the ice, the most exciting part is this

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Speaker 3: is step one in terms of what is going to

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Speaker 3: be a long, fun journey for this organization.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, the youth is really impressive.

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Speaker 4: Certainly, I wonder and I'm so glad that Damien brought

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Speaker 4: up Jack Hughes because Jack's little brother, Luke also joined

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Speaker 4: Jack on the ice after his University of Michigan lost

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Speaker 4: at Quinnepiaca in the NCAA Tournament.

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Speaker 5: How do you plan to market the Hughes brothers.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it is one of those rare moments and

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Speaker 3: rare gifts that we received. You have someone like Jack

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Speaker 3: who is just an elite generational talent. To be able

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Speaker 3: to have him as a cornerstone to build this franchise

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Speaker 3: around was something unique, special and very fortunate for us

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Speaker 3: to then be able to, you know, bring in his

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Speaker 3: brother and draft his brother who from a talent level

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Speaker 3: is right there was a top five pick to be

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Speaker 3: able to bring those two together obviously on the ice

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Speaker 3: is incredible just from a talent perspective, and then when

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Speaker 3: you translate that in terms of kind of our storytelling,

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Speaker 3: how we're able to engage our fans, the fun that

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Speaker 3: we're able to have in and around this And you know,

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Speaker 3: one of my favorite things I think that we have

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Speaker 3: done is coming out of that draft. Obviously you've seen

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Speaker 3: the step Brothers movie poster with Will Ferrell Riley. You know,

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Speaker 3: we we took that, had some fun with it. We

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Speaker 3: put Jack in Luke's face on there, step Brothers and

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Speaker 3: put real brothers, and so it is just a tremendous

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Speaker 3: amount of fun. And I think we're just scratching the surface.

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Speaker 3: And then obviously you got to see Luke play two

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Speaker 3: games here at the end of the regular season. Uh.

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Speaker 3: I don't know that he could have had a better

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Speaker 3: entrance in terms of scoring a game winning goal in overtime,

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Speaker 3: but you just see the response not only from Jack

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Speaker 3: in the excitement that they had, but from the entire

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Speaker 3: team and just the impact and integration that he's going

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Speaker 3: to have.

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Speaker 5: Well, maybe you can send them to the Catalina wine

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Speaker 5: mixer next, Like.

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Speaker 1: Hey, listen, I got I got it.

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Speaker 3: For you.

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Speaker 1: I'm giving it to you now. You can trademark this

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Speaker 1: if you want the huge hues. How about that?

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Speaker 2: How about that?

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Speaker 1: That's yours. I gave it to you, Jake, that's the

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Speaker 1: one right there.

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Speaker 3: You take it and run. I'll give you credit all

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Speaker 3: along the way.

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Speaker 2: Well, you know, Jacob's not your first experience, right, going

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Speaker 2: back to your time with the seventy six ers organization, right,

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Speaker 2: Joel Embiid, Right, I mean, you know you had the

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Speaker 2: fortunate opportunity of working with a young, up and coming

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Speaker 2: NBA star. I mean, does this compare to that?

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Speaker 3: You know, it really is. And you know, we were

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Speaker 3: fortunate obviously as we were going through our process in Philadelphia,

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Speaker 3: we were able to land a generational talent like Joel Embiid.

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Speaker 3: You obviously see the impact that he has had. He

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Speaker 3: should be the league MVP this year. Seven tonight, you know,

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Speaker 3: and I know that team is well positioned for a

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Speaker 3: very deep playoff run, and a lot of that starts

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Speaker 3: with those cornerstone pieces, and so to be able to

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Speaker 3: have that, to be able to have the experience of

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Speaker 3: seeing that come to life and how we maximize the

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Speaker 3: opportunity there, to be able to translate a lot of

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Speaker 3: those learnings to what Jack has meant and the impact

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Speaker 3: that he has had already. There's been an invaluable experience

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Speaker 3: for us. And you know, I think that's one of

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Speaker 3: the things too that is so unique about this team

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Speaker 3: that we have with the Devils is you know, you

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Speaker 3: have Jack Hughes obviously, then you look at the other

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Speaker 3: core pieces around this. You know, we have obviously Niko Heisher,

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Speaker 3: who is you know, one of the youngest captains in

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Speaker 3: the NHL on you know, assigned him to a seven

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Speaker 3: year contract. You look at Dougie Hamilton, who is here

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Speaker 3: long term. You look at jessper Bratt.

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Speaker 1: You have these.

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Speaker 3: Cornerstone pieces that we're going to be able to build

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Speaker 3: around and build around for a really long time. And

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Speaker 3: the sustainability piece of this is what we were heavily,

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Speaker 3: heavily focused on. This was not a one year splash,

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Speaker 3: So the goal was how do we build this team

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Speaker 3: to sustainably compete for a Stanley Cup championship for many

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Speaker 3: years to come.

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Speaker 2: So for our audience, I mean, they should be aware.

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Speaker 1: You know.

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Speaker 2: It was indeed Harris Splitter Sports and Entertainment which appointed

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Speaker 2: Jake Reynolds President of the Devils. You know, obviously HBS

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Speaker 2: owns the seventy six ers as well. Jake is Josh

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Speaker 2: Harrow's going to buy the Commanders. No, I'm just kidding,

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Speaker 2: you know, but seriously, I mean I say that kind

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Speaker 2: of tongue in cheek because you know, having been a

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Speaker 2: part of that organization and and had the experience of

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Speaker 2: working with organizations like the Giants and the Pacers, you know,

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Speaker 2: what makes this so interesting, what makes the Devil so different,

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Speaker 2: and what makes the NHL, you know, the opportunity that

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Speaker 2: it is and the challenge that it is for you.

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Speaker 3: You know, I think first and foremost you touched on it. Obviously,

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Speaker 3: we're very fortunate to have two incredible managing partners, and

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Speaker 3: Josh Harris and David Blitzer obviously two titans in their

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Speaker 3: own industry. But then you look at just kind of

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Speaker 3: the ambition that they have in terms of building and

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Speaker 3: growing a sports portfolio that rivals any throughout the world.

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Speaker 3: And you know, they are competitive, They love this, they

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Speaker 3: invest in it, they're passionate about it. So to be

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Speaker 3: able to have two managing partners that care and invest

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Speaker 3: in this business as much as they do, it puts

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Speaker 3: us in an incredible position. But you know, you mentioned it.

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Speaker 3: I've been really fortunate to work for some incredible teams,

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Speaker 3: some incredible brands across multiple leagues. You know. One of

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Speaker 3: the things that I love most obviously about the Devil's,

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Speaker 3: the Crudential Center and the NHL one is just the market.

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Speaker 3: We're fortunate to be in the great gatest market in

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Speaker 3: the country. To be able to have that, to be

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Speaker 3: able to leverage that is just incredibly impactful. Two is

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Speaker 3: I love the legacy of the Devil's brand. Obviously, we're

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Speaker 3: celebrating our fortieth anniversary this year in terms of when

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Speaker 3: this team came to New Jersey, so a relatively young

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Speaker 3: team by you know, by many standards, but to have

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Speaker 3: a legacy of three Stanley Cups is very rare and unique.

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Speaker 3: And then the third piece, obviously is the NHL. I

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Speaker 3: think the NHL has shown tremendous growth over the last

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Speaker 3: several years, and I think it's poised to make another

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Speaker 3: enormous leap this next year and in future years. When

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Speaker 3: you start to look at just the impact that they're

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Speaker 3: having on social you look at the national TV deals

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Speaker 3: with ESPN and Turner, the reach overall is being able

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Speaker 3: to draw in more casual fans as well.

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Speaker 5: Absolutely.

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Speaker 4: I'm curious though when it comes to the local broadcasting rights.

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Speaker 4: You air on MSG, which is owned of course by

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Speaker 4: James Dolan, who also owns in New Yorker. So it's

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Speaker 4: an interesting relationship that is that comes out here when

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Speaker 4: you play your crossdown Rivals, but your home broadcast network

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Speaker 4: is owned by your crossdown Rivals.

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Speaker 5: Can you walk me through some of that it is?

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Speaker 3: And you know, I'll tell you first and foremost. MSG

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Speaker 3: has been incredible partners of ours for a very long

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Speaker 3: time and obviously have a you know, enormous reach in

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Speaker 3: this marketplace. And you look at the different teams they

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Speaker 3: carry obviously the Devils, you look at the Rangers, they

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Speaker 3: have the Knicks, they have the Sabers, they have the Islanders,

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Speaker 3: So there is a lot of competition. That's the other

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Speaker 3: thing that also makes this market incredible is you have

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Speaker 3: eleven professional sports teams. Obviously you have a lot of

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Speaker 3: other entertainment options. But the fact that this market can

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Speaker 3: continue to support and elevate and raise so many different

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Speaker 3: teams when there's so much competition is what makes it

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Speaker 3: unique and special. And MSG obviously has incredible reach and

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Speaker 3: incredible history here, and I think it helps kind of

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Speaker 3: add a little bit of fuel through the rivalry when

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Speaker 3: we when we're able to have an opportunity like hosting

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Speaker 3: the Rangers in Round one.

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Speaker 2: Of the playoffs and Jake, you know, you talk about competition,

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Speaker 2: it extends to you know, not just the sports, but

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Speaker 2: to entertainment as well. Right, talk to us a little

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Speaker 2: bit about, you know, the influence of the MetLife Center.

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Speaker 2: I mean, I know, you guys don't get to have

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Speaker 2: Taylor Swift at the pre Center in late May, so

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Speaker 2: I mean, you know you've had Springsteen, the Eagles. Talk

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Speaker 2: to us a little bit about when you're competing for

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Speaker 2: some of those tech names, the type of talent you

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Speaker 2: see there. You know, what kind of you know, obstacles

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Speaker 2: do you encounter, what type of challenges? Is it purely

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Speaker 2: just size and the fact that you know the pre

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Speaker 2: Center can only handle sixteen thousand, five hundred seats, I mean,

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Speaker 2: I mean, what does it come down to when you're

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Speaker 2: trying to get that top talent on the entertainment side

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Speaker 2: of the business.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely, And you know we say it all the time

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Speaker 3: here we're in the big events business here at the

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Speaker 3: Prodential Center, and that's probably one of the areas of

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Speaker 3: most of the most significant growth over the last few years.

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Speaker 3: You know, we'll set a record this year in terms

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Speaker 3: of number events hosted at the Prodential Center, will host

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Speaker 3: over two hundred events. Obviously, you are going to have

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Speaker 3: the stadium component, where you know, seventy five eighty thousand seats.

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Speaker 3: There are certain artists that are going to want to

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Speaker 3: play those. But when you start to look at the

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Speaker 3: lineup of the big events that we have had come

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Speaker 3: through the Credential Center just within the last twelve months,

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Speaker 3: it's pretty remarkable. Just within the last couple of weeks,

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Speaker 3: we've had the Eagles, We've had Springsteen, we have UFC

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Speaker 3: coming up here in May, which is going to be

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Speaker 3: an incredible event. We've had top ranked boxing and you know,

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Speaker 3: a lot of work that our group has put in

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Speaker 3: has been over the last two and a half years

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Speaker 3: being able to attract those big events back to the

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Speaker 3: state of New Jersey, and that's been incredibly important for us.

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Speaker 3: But to be able to host two hundred events in

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Speaker 3: a single year was a big milestone for us. When

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Speaker 3: you start to look at Crudential Center, we were ranked

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Speaker 3: number five and number ten worldwide respectively from Pollstar in Billboard,

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Speaker 3: which is really incredible when you think about it. But

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Speaker 3: you know, being able to attract those events, the VMA's

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Speaker 3: this past year and the year prior were incredible. So

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Speaker 3: we are in the big events business and we're continuing

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Speaker 3: to look for opportunities to grow and expand that.

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Speaker 1: I want to give a shout out to the regular,

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Speaker 1: good old hockey player because they are some of the

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Speaker 1: toughest players in any of the professional sports. Rich Trumana

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Speaker 1: were extraordinary. Producer came to me and he said, I

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Speaker 1: got a number of the week for you, and I said, okay,

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Speaker 1: what is it? Seventy five. I'm like, seventy five, Well,

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Speaker 1: what's that? Those are the number of stitches that Winnipeg

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Speaker 1: Jets Morgan Baron took to the face when he got

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Speaker 1: a skate in the face playing against the Knights. He

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Speaker 1: went off the ice and then came back the next period.

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Speaker 1: I mean, the hockey player blessed their hearts. Hockey some

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Speaker 1: of the toughest people ever around Laudiators they are And

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Speaker 1: if you want to like you know, you get an

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Speaker 1: injury report upper body injury and you're damn lucky to

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Speaker 1: get that. I mean, Jake, I just want to salute

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Speaker 1: the hockey player of America, just like that old beer commercial.

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Speaker 1: I want to salute the hockey player.

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Speaker 3: They are a special breed. There is no doubt about that.

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Speaker 3: They're right up there with the NASCAR drivers, right Michael.

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Speaker 1: Oh, heck you.

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Speaker 5: Oh you did your homework, Jake. Very impressive.

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Speaker 2: That is impressive, Jake.

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Speaker 4: You know, I wanted to ask you something because you

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Speaker 4: mentioned that the Devils are celebrating their fortieth anniversary. It's

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Speaker 4: a young team and they've won. They've had tremendous success

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Speaker 4: on the ice. Also, they have quite a high profile

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Speaker 4: in pop culture as well. I think about David Putty

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Speaker 4: on Seinfeld and how he was a big Devils fan

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Speaker 4: with his face painting and everything. And I know that

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Speaker 4: in the past the Devils have hosted Putty for a

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Speaker 4: puck drop on nineties Night, So there is that relationship

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Speaker 4: that continues.

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Speaker 5: How do you ensure that you can bring that back?

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Speaker 4: How do you deploy that at opportune moments to keep

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Speaker 4: the Devils in the pop culture consciousness?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's you know, I think it all starts with

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Speaker 3: just our content, and you know, a few years ago,

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Speaker 3: we start investing heavily pre Covid in content and obviously

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Speaker 3: served as well as we were going through content or

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Speaker 3: through covid, and we had that Covid cloud that we

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Speaker 3: could not be hosting events, but we were looking for

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Speaker 3: unique and unique ways to engage our fan base. And

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Speaker 3: pop culture obviously is directly correlated to sports and they

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Speaker 3: go hand in hand in so many ways. But I

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Speaker 3: give our social media team, our content team, and our

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Speaker 3: digital team here so much credit for the creativity and

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Speaker 3: the work that they put in and finding different ways

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Speaker 3: to connect our brand with pop culture and then being

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Speaker 3: able to translate that to our fan base. And so

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Speaker 3: you see it time and time again, and then you

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Speaker 3: see just the growth in terms of our engagements, and

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Speaker 3: you know there's a correlation there. But our team has

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Speaker 3: done an incredible job of storytelling, of staying relevant, finding

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Speaker 3: new and creative ways to engage influencers and be able

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Speaker 3: to tie that back to our brand in an incredibly

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Speaker 3: authentic way.

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Speaker 2: Scarlett through the channeling mark and brew Door unbelievable.

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Speaker 4: I'm a picture of Bean Bartie Bordor by the way,

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Speaker 4: Yeah too bad, this is not TV. I would you

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Speaker 4: know if this were TV, we just post it right now.

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Speaker 1: With the opinions expressed on this show can not necessarily

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Speaker 1: reflect anyway. Jake Reynolds, President of the New Jersey Devils,

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Speaker 1: huge users, I'm telling you that's it man. It's like,

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Speaker 1: go ahead and run with it, man. Thank you so

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Speaker 1: much Trademark. Michael, it's done. I am so glad you

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Speaker 1: joined us for the Bloomberg Business of Sports.

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Speaker 3: Thank you, sir, Michael, Scarlett Damien really appreciate it. Enjoyed

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Speaker 3: being on.

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Speaker 1: This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports podcast. I'm Michael Barr,

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Speaker 1: along with Scarlett Food and Damien sas Hour. Catch us

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Speaker 1: here each and every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday exploring the

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Speaker 1: world of money in sports. Catch me on Twitter at

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Speaker 1: Bigbar Sports.

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Speaker 5: And of course you can find me on Twitter at Scarlett.

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Speaker 2: Food and I'm on Twitter at d sas Hour.

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Speaker 1: You are listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports on

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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Radio around the world.