Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio News.
Speaker 2: Hi everyone, welcome to the deal.
Speaker 3: I'm your host, Jason Kelly, Longsun, my partner Alex Rodriguez. Alex,
Speaker 3: We're going to talk to my friend Javier Gutierrez, who
Speaker 3: I guarantee is going to be your friend after this.
Speaker 3: You guys have a lot of overlap, like a lot
Speaker 3: of business interest, a lot of ambition. We're going to
Speaker 3: talk about a new study that he has about Latinos
Speaker 3: and sports, a new firm that he's created. He's super accomplished.
Speaker 3: I'm excited for you to get to know him a
Speaker 3: little bit. And along those lines, I mean, it is
Speaker 3: Hispanic Heritage Month. And so I do wonder like as
Speaker 3: you reflect on your experience as a I mean, consider
Speaker 3: yourself what a Dominican American like. I mean, what has
Speaker 3: that experience been like for you? In the sports world.
Speaker 1: It's been great.
Speaker 4: I Mean I was always taught from early on that
Speaker 4: if you can help us win, if you show up
Speaker 4: on time, if you stay late, if you work hard,
Speaker 4: if you're a good attitude, all is included. And I
Speaker 4: just remember a two thousand and nine World championship team
Speaker 4: with the New York Yankees I mean, we looked like
Speaker 4: the United Nation. Our MVP was heade Ki Matsui from Japan,
Speaker 4: our closer Marina Rever from Panama, one of our best players,
Speaker 4: Jeter and Sabbathia, African Americans, Me and Cano and Melki Dominicans.
Speaker 4: It was a complete melting pot and we all checked
Speaker 4: the ego at the door and we won together.
Speaker 1: It was really cool.
Speaker 3: This is something we're going to talk about with Hoavier.
Speaker 3: But like, I wonder, how much did you benefit from,
Speaker 3: like growing up in Miami and you know, sort of
Speaker 3: having that experience of this was normal course of business
Speaker 3: in a lot of ways.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a great point.
Speaker 4: Look in Miami, it's a heavy Cuban community and Hispanic community,
Speaker 4: and in many ways a lot of my white friends
Speaker 4: they felt like the minority. So it was like us
Speaker 4: against the world. And it was open doors everywhere you went.
Speaker 4: You know, it's probably fifty to fifty English and Spanish,
Speaker 4: so that I think was an advantage. I didn't get
Speaker 4: to see any of the ugliness that sometimes is out
Speaker 4: there in the world. Fortunate because I was protected by sports.
Speaker 4: I was protected by the Boys and Girls Club, and
Speaker 4: just fortunate to just have the opportunities, and I would
Speaker 4: say mentors that I had to help me pull me along.
Speaker 2: All right, speaking Boys and Girls Club, Serious.
Speaker 3: Fomo, I've got going on, because by the time everyone
Speaker 3: hears this, you will have been to the most baller event,
Speaker 3: not just a baller of it, baller of it in
Speaker 3: my hometown of Atlanta. You're killing me on this. Tell
Speaker 3: us about what you will have done by the time,
Speaker 3: folks who are.
Speaker 1: Listening to this.
Speaker 4: So one after this, you're mister Atlanta atl You and
Speaker 4: Dominique Wilkins and Chipper Drones.
Speaker 3: People talk about the three of us in the same
Speaker 3: sentence all the time.
Speaker 4: But this is one of my favorite meetings that I have,
Speaker 4: and it happens every couple of years where the Boys
Speaker 4: and Girls Club is this wonderful organization that millions of
Speaker 4: kids have benefited from me being like right there front
Speaker 4: and center. I'm proud to be basically the co chair
Speaker 4: with Denzel Washes in this one. So I have to
Speaker 4: give a little speech and talk a little bit about
Speaker 4: my experiences. But simply said Jason, without the Boys and
Speaker 4: Girls Club, I would not be here today. I specifically
Speaker 4: remember when I was about twelve or thirteen years old,
Speaker 4: that they came out with the three to five campaign,
Speaker 4: and what that basically meant is that data told us
Speaker 4: that most kids would get in trouble at that time
Speaker 4: because I was the gap between school.
Speaker 1: And when the parents got home.
Speaker 4: A lot of them, like me, single parents, so that
Speaker 4: window kept me away from trouble. I will go there
Speaker 4: every day after school in Miami and I would do
Speaker 4: my homework first and then we would play till like
Speaker 4: midnight to whenever my mom can pick me up after work.
Speaker 4: So I love the Boys and Girls Club. I love
Speaker 4: to give back and for me, it's been a lifesaver,
Speaker 4: and I speak for millions of kids out there that
Speaker 4: are doing great things as adults now well.
Speaker 3: And also, I mean you were telling me before we
Speaker 3: got on the mics, like the people who are going
Speaker 3: to be there, it's insane. I mean a lot of
Speaker 3: people are like you in the sense that they owe
Speaker 3: a lot to the Boys and Girls Club, and they
Speaker 3: definitely show up for this.
Speaker 4: It's one of the most impressive alums rosters you ever
Speaker 4: want to see of any organization. I mean, from Denzel
Speaker 4: Washington to Charles Barkley, Allen Iverson, Kerrie Washington, and many
Speaker 4: many others from Hollywood to private equity, to the titans
Speaker 4: of Wall Street and Main Street, and then of course
Speaker 4: some of the greatest athletes you know, from Shack to
Speaker 4: everyone in between.
Speaker 3: Well, and also you know, convening in the atl which
Speaker 3: I think is not an accident, you know, given the
Speaker 3: high profile nature. I mean again flexing my hometown a
Speaker 3: little bit, but like the high profile nature of that city.
Speaker 3: How people you know, they want to be there, you know,
Speaker 3: you and I talk about it all the time, and
Speaker 3: with friends in sports and entertainment, just gravitating toward there
Speaker 3: constantly in terms of the business opportunities.
Speaker 2: So that's a cool room to be in.
Speaker 5: All right.
Speaker 3: Coming up is Xavier Gutierra, CEO of Impact ex Sports Group.
Speaker 2: All right, welcome back to the deal.
Speaker 3: Always a pleasure to have a good friend not just
Speaker 3: on the show, but actually physically next to me. So
Speaker 3: what we do is we have the guests introduce themselves,
Speaker 3: so please tell us who you are, what you do.
Speaker 6: Fantastic Jason, Alex, thanks for having me. Javier gutierres I
Speaker 6: am the chairman and CEO of Impact X Sports, which
Speaker 6: is a new private investment and advisory firm in the
Speaker 6: global sports industry. I was previously the president, CEO and
Speaker 6: alternate governor of the Arizona Coyotes, as the first Latino
Speaker 6: CEO in the history of the NHL. I have a
Speaker 6: thirty year career and private equity and I'm sure we'll
Speaker 6: get into that. So one of the few former private
Speaker 6: equity in real estate executives to ever have run a
Speaker 6: major professional sports team.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, Alex, this was one where I texted
Speaker 3: you and I was like, I think we can get
Speaker 3: this guy for the show, and you are like, say
Speaker 3: less done. I mean, and you know so many reasons
Speaker 3: talk to you. Javier. You and I are good friends.
Speaker 3: We've known each other for a while. You know that
Speaker 3: the timing is interesting because it is Hispanic Heritage Month.
Speaker 3: You just oversaw this really cool report about Latinos and sports.
Speaker 3: We're going to talk a little bit about that because
Speaker 3: you have, you know, such a deep experience, Javier, and
Speaker 3: a lot of you know, just a lot of insights
Speaker 3: on the sort of Latinos and sports of it all.
Speaker 2: I would love to ask both of you what was
Speaker 2: that experience.
Speaker 5: Like for you?
Speaker 3: I mean, your family moved, you know, from Mexico to
Speaker 3: northern California when you were very little. In short, what's
Speaker 3: the path for you into this world of private equity
Speaker 3: in sports.
Speaker 6: Well, you know, I feel very blessed, and you've heard
Speaker 6: me say that on a number of occasions. I am
Speaker 6: an immigrant to this country. I came from Walder La Jara,
Speaker 6: Mexico when I was five, and really through the vision
Speaker 6: of my mom, who was really the one who wanted
Speaker 6: to have her children have a better education. And it
Speaker 6: really is a number of those of inflection points that
Speaker 6: gets you to a place like this. I'm sure Alex
Speaker 6: can also relate to that. There are door openers in
Speaker 6: your life, and it started with my mother opening this
Speaker 6: door into this country, saying this is where you're going
Speaker 6: to have a better life. This is where you're going
Speaker 6: to have a better path to whatever success you want
Speaker 6: to achieve. As you know, I've had great fortune to
Speaker 6: go to great schools and that's where the door openers continue.
Speaker 6: And I think i've shared this story that you know
Speaker 6: I interned when I was at Harvard undergrad with the
Speaker 6: youngest mayor in the US because I thought I wanted
Speaker 6: to be an elected official.
Speaker 5: I thought that's going to be the path.
Speaker 6: After I did this internship where I brought in and
Speaker 6: out Burgers as headquarters back to Baldwin Park, California.
Speaker 2: By the way, who was the mayor.
Speaker 6: It was Fidel Vargas, who now runs the Hispanic Scholarship Fund.
Speaker 5: Okay, actually he was the one who.
Speaker 6: Said, no, you need to go to Wall Street. You
Speaker 6: need to learn about capital. You need to bring investment
Speaker 6: back into the communities in which we all grew up
Speaker 6: because of the importance of capital and investment in business
Speaker 6: to our communities. I knew nothing about socks. I knew
Speaker 6: nothing about bombs. That wasn't a conversation we had at
Speaker 6: our kitchen table. It was exactly where I should be.
Speaker 6: I love deal making. I've had a long career in
Speaker 6: real estate, private equity, and corporate private equity banking. As
Speaker 6: you know, I owned the largest Latino bank in California
Speaker 6: for a long time.
Speaker 5: So this was a world that I truly embraced.
Speaker 6: But through it all was this, you know, through line
Speaker 6: of how do I use my platform and my voice
Speaker 6: to do for others, to really embrace that opportunity to
Speaker 6: make a difference, to make an impact.
Speaker 5: And one of those impacts that.
Speaker 6: I wanted to do was obviously using this powerful voice
Speaker 6: of sports, right right, And we've talked about that, so
Speaker 6: I know Alex has an incredible personal history as well.
Speaker 6: I've followed it for many years and it's very similar,
Speaker 6: you know, using our voices to really make a difference
Speaker 6: in so many settings.
Speaker 3: And also, Alex, you know a mom opening the door, right,
Speaker 3: I mean that clearly was the same case for you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, Jason.
Speaker 4: As I hear Havier, I'm getting goosebumps because it's such
Speaker 4: a beautiful story and such a role model for millions
Speaker 4: and millions of Latinos, both men and women. But for me,
Speaker 4: this is what makes this country the greatest country in
Speaker 4: the world is we're very similar, but yet we had
Speaker 4: different paths to how we got here. I did not
Speaker 4: go to Harvard or Stanford law. I kind of went
Speaker 4: through the school of hard knocks. But I've had incredible
Speaker 4: mentors from George Steinbernner to Robert Kraft, Jerry Jones, Jerry Reinsdorf,
Speaker 4: and I've.
Speaker 1: Been really blessed that they've mentored me.
Speaker 4: And now I think Javier and I sit in a
Speaker 4: position where's our job and responsibility not just to go
Speaker 4: into boardroom, but to leave that boardroom open for others
Speaker 4: to come in behind.
Speaker 2: Us, and so Javier like, talk to us.
Speaker 3: I mean, let's get into those some of those boardrooms,
Speaker 3: because you know, you have a career in private equity
Speaker 3: and banking, but you know, let's talk about your sports career.
Speaker 2: Because you work at the NFL as a as a
Speaker 2: younger man. You're still a young man.
Speaker 3: I say that very conscious to word of the exact
Speaker 3: same age and just slightly older than Alex. But you know,
Speaker 3: you work in the NFL, but then you go into
Speaker 3: private equity world, you come back into sports world in
Speaker 3: a very meaningful way as the CEO of the Coyotes.
Speaker 3: There's a whole story that's that's a separate story, is
Speaker 3: a separate story. But like, what's the takeaway? I mean,
Speaker 3: what's the thing that you take from that? Candidly, I
Speaker 3: mean turbulent experience of you know, being with the team.
Speaker 2: The franchise now.
Speaker 3: Resides in Utah, but clearly that puts you on a
Speaker 3: very distinct path to where you are. Now, what are
Speaker 3: the one or two things that you're like, Okay, this
Speaker 3: is what I take from this?
Speaker 6: Sure, well, definitely a lot of lessons from the Coyotes experience,
Speaker 6: and I'll share a couple of things. I think those
Speaker 6: players are going to do incredibly well. I think Utah
Speaker 6: is going to be an incredible market. The takeaway I
Speaker 6: have is first and foremost that sports is a very
Speaker 6: serious business. It's a very institutional business. And I saw
Speaker 6: it actually come in the course of me sitting in
Speaker 6: this chair. You saw the private equity funds being allowed
Speaker 6: for the first time to actually be in the sports formally, right.
Speaker 5: So clearly this is an.
Speaker 6: Institutional asset class and it has incredible growth, incredible opportunity
Speaker 6: to continue to professionalize, to continue to be an institutional
Speaker 6: not just with the teams, but something that I'm very
Speaker 6: interested with the enterprises, all the affiliated businesses that have
Speaker 6: incredible opportunity for not only outsized financial returns, but capital deployment.
Speaker 6: So the first lesson was it is an incredible serious
Speaker 6: business and it honestly is just getting started as big
Speaker 6: as these valuations of what have you.
Speaker 5: I steal see it as.
Speaker 6: Because of the second thing, which is it is truly
Speaker 6: an impact enterprise when you think about the impact of
Speaker 6: it on commerce, on culture, on community. I took over
Speaker 6: in the middle of COVID. I saw what happens when
Speaker 6: you don't have sports in terms of the driver of
Speaker 6: economic activity that no longer occurred. You also saw the
Speaker 6: impact it had on culture, Alex, you would know this.
Speaker 6: When did most people actually realize that COVID was this thing?
Speaker 6: Is when sports stopped. Even the casual person was like, wait,
Speaker 6: there's no sports, there's no sports center, there's no NBA, NHL,
Speaker 6: Like what is going on? And I think it just
Speaker 6: again showed you the cultural influence, but then also the
Speaker 6: impact it had in bringing the community together. One of
Speaker 6: the takers I had is I really felt that we
Speaker 6: accomplished that in terms of embracing the Coyotes as a
Speaker 6: community asset. Our arena. It was a testing site, it
Speaker 6: was a vaccination site, it was a voting booth. We
Speaker 6: did a blood drive, a food drive, a clothing drive.
Speaker 6: We did everything to say we are here for you
Speaker 6: as a community. And we were the first to bring
Speaker 6: people back into an indoor arena using clear we had
Speaker 6: you know, social distancing. So it's a serious business. It
Speaker 6: is an impact enterprise and that's why you know, people
Speaker 6: have asked me, am I going to go back into
Speaker 6: private equity? I said, yeah, through sports, I want to
Speaker 6: continue the opportunities that you're seeing, not just with teams,
Speaker 6: but also with these enterprises.
Speaker 4: I'm really really interested in what's next for Javier, what's
Speaker 4: this private equity around sports?
Speaker 1: And I do agree that there's so many businesses.
Speaker 4: I call it an octopus of opportunities around the moat
Speaker 4: of sport, where twenty thirty years ago that's all people
Speaker 4: looked at. But today it is a holding company and
Speaker 4: there's all types of different silos. Where as an investor,
Speaker 4: you can deploy capital if you have some patience and
Speaker 4: you have ten fifteen years, you could be surprised of
Speaker 4: the type of returns and is not correlated to the markets,
Speaker 4: which is another part that you know, great investors like.
Speaker 6: Sure, well, you know, I sort of tried to take
Speaker 6: the summer off. It's a little warm in Arizona during
Speaker 6: the summer, so you try to kind of get out
Speaker 6: of the of the desert and spend time with my wife, Jerika,
Speaker 6: my son Hobby, who's a junior in high school and
Speaker 6: did summer schools, and your alma mater there at Georgetown,
Speaker 6: and amongst other things. And really what it started happening
Speaker 6: was these institutional investors started giving me a call and
Speaker 6: saying what would you like to do? We want to
Speaker 6: deploy capital, what's your interest?
Speaker 3: And that's new, yeah, not tender, that's new. Yes, right,
Speaker 3: I mean you've seen and Alex you've seen it as well.
Speaker 3: Like that is not the story of even five years ago.
Speaker 3: I don't think was it.
Speaker 5: No, it's not.
Speaker 6: That's why I'm saying. I sat in this chair. All
Speaker 6: of a sudden, you know, these conversations started to come
Speaker 6: to me. And you know this as I'm one of
Speaker 6: the few private equity real estate guys who also ran
Speaker 6: a team. Right, there's plenty that have owned a team,
Speaker 6: but who's rant team? So I understand sort of the
Speaker 6: ebb and flow and the operational and by the way,
Speaker 6: the opportunities, Yeah, that exists. And so they started, you know,
Speaker 6: kind of reaching out. And what I thought about was, listen,
Speaker 6: I'd like to partner with you. I'd like to take
Speaker 6: your capital, but I want to do it in a
Speaker 6: very different way. I don't want to just be an investor.
Speaker 6: I want to be a partner and a solutions provider
Speaker 6: to these leagues and to these teams and to say,
Speaker 6: where are the opportunities, where are the growth ventures that
Speaker 6: you honestly probably don't want to deploy capital or also
Speaker 6: don't have the operational execution. I had someone from actually
Speaker 6: the NHL League office come to me says, you know,
Speaker 6: part of the challenge with you private equity guys, as
Speaker 6: you come in, you have great ideas, some of them
Speaker 6: we can do. We don't have the rights, but great ideas.
Speaker 6: You drop a check and then you leave and we'll say, great,
Speaker 6: who's going to do any of that? Because we're trying
Speaker 6: to just keep the train on the tracks. And it's
Speaker 6: true in my role, ninety percent of my time was
Speaker 6: keep the train on the tracks. And yet there's all
Speaker 6: these strategic opportunities and so sort of the value creation
Speaker 6: strategy that I'm trying to execute potentially in these partnerships
Speaker 6: with both the capital guys as well as with the
Speaker 6: teams in the leagues is to say, let's optimize real estate.
Speaker 6: I think every sports facility should be an anchor to
Speaker 6: a health and wellness center, a performance center, entertainment district,
Speaker 6: all of them. Your main facility, your practice, your training,
Speaker 6: even your international facility. So that's number one. Number two
Speaker 6: market expansion. You should have a footprint internationally. But differently,
Speaker 6: I often criticize that it's the circus strategy. Go pitch
Speaker 6: a tent, bring the circus into town. Circus does great,
Speaker 6: Then the circus leaves and you take the tent. There
Speaker 6: needs to be an ongoing presence that you can do
Speaker 6: fan development, business development. You're talking overseas, but also, you know,
Speaker 6: I think there needs to be vertical ownership. I think
Speaker 6: teams shouldn't be thinking about their minor leagues, their youth leagues,
Speaker 6: their female counterparts, really rolling it up because I also
Speaker 6: believe in this as the most valuable intellectual property that
Speaker 6: needs to be monetized. And then finally, Alex Jason has
Speaker 6: heard this almost ted talk that I have of super
Speaker 6: serving the fan but equally focused on the fan in waiting.
Speaker 6: You know, I have this chart where I showed the
Speaker 6: three point six million people in Arizona in the DMA,
Speaker 6: and you know, right at the core was the forty
Speaker 6: thousand or so people who came to a game historically.
Speaker 6: Then there's another half a million that followed us and
Speaker 6: bought a T shirt or what have you. But it's
Speaker 6: three point six million people. So what am I going
Speaker 6: to do with three point one million people?
Speaker 5: How do I touch them? Yes?
Speaker 6: You need to compete, you need to be compelling, you
Speaker 6: need to be accessible, but you also need to go
Speaker 6: to the fin and waiting through merchandise and fashion, through content,
Speaker 6: through experiences and entertainment. That's the conversation I'm having when
Speaker 6: we're thinking about these enterprises is how do you create
Speaker 6: this value off of this core asset of the team.
Speaker 6: Now there's the enterprises, and quite frankly, that's the pe model, right.
Speaker 6: You buy the core asset and you look at everything
Speaker 6: around it.
Speaker 1: I love where you're going with this.
Speaker 4: The question then becomes how big from a scale point
Speaker 4: of view does your first fund have to be?
Speaker 1: Because it's a you have to write meaningful checks.
Speaker 4: You know, probably nine figures at some point, yes, maybe smaller,
Speaker 4: maybe bigger. And then you have to have the duration
Speaker 4: to be a strategic partners to folks like us. That
Speaker 4: one of the things that private equity do. One of
Speaker 4: the big knocks is well, you guys are end but
Speaker 4: you're out in seven years, right, the duration of a fund.
Speaker 1: Talk to me a little bit about scale and duration.
Speaker 6: Sure, both very good questions, And I'll twist it a
Speaker 6: little bit in that my vision isn't really a fun
Speaker 6: it's an operating company. It's to actually bring the capital
Speaker 6: from these institutional investors and say I want to invest
Speaker 6: and run these things. I want to create a portfolio
Speaker 6: of control positions in the non teams. And that's what's
Speaker 6: the key. Because people say, well, you want to own
Speaker 6: five percent of a team. I go, no, I think
Speaker 6: that's listen that to fine business. I know plenty of
Speaker 6: people who are doing that. I'm interested in the enterprises
Speaker 6: which can be longer term holds. And when you have
Speaker 6: that conversation, Alex, then the duration starts being more interesting
Speaker 6: because you can do a lot more with an operating
Speaker 6: company in terms of your exits, your buy and build,
Speaker 6: your M and A. The opportunity set increases rather than
Speaker 6: just here's my investment. How quickly can I get it
Speaker 6: back at my you know multiples that I'm looking for.
Speaker 6: And so that conversation has resonated with the capital folks, right,
Speaker 6: and it's also quite frankly resonated with the teams and
Speaker 6: the leagues who are wondering, are you going to be
Speaker 6: gone too quickly? Or how are you going to exit?
Speaker 6: I mean, I think there's a lot of questions about that.
Speaker 6: Even though I do believe in the continuation fund model
Speaker 6: and other things that I think will mitigate that risk.
Speaker 4: What I like about what you're saying is when you
Speaker 4: go outside of the team co there's less restrictions. Therefore,
Speaker 4: you have a lot more flexibility with your capital on
Speaker 4: when to exit, what to do, be more strategic without
Speaker 4: the leagues, who you know, have a big hand and
Speaker 4: big voice and everything that the thirty or thirty two
Speaker 4: teams you know, do. Outside of that, you have a
Speaker 4: lot more flexibility, which I think plays into your thesis.
Speaker 5: Sure you know one of the things.
Speaker 6: And Jason left the first time I told him, I said, someone,
Speaker 6: now you know quite well, ask me what do you
Speaker 6: think about sports? I say, well, I think one of
Speaker 6: the problems with sports is people focus too much on
Speaker 6: the sports. Yeah, and don't get me wrong, I love
Speaker 6: sports right and we love it and creates the passion
Speaker 6: and creates the brand. But as a business, that's just
Speaker 6: the core asset. Then there's everything else, and that's where
Speaker 6: the opportunities, in my opinion, lie.
Speaker 5: That are right there.
Speaker 6: They're in waiting, and I do believe institutional capital is
Speaker 6: the way to go, but also capital and execution, investor
Speaker 6: and operator because quite frankly, you have the teams focused
Speaker 6: on the teams. Yeah, and there's nothing wrong with that.
Speaker 6: But now I think there's plenty of opportunity. And that's
Speaker 6: as I've had these conversations. There's almost this like, yes,
Speaker 6: you're right, then I go, great, let's pursue it.
Speaker 3: All right, let's talk about Latinos and sports again. You
Speaker 3: and I have been talking about this for a number
Speaker 3: of years. Javier, tell us about the genesis of this project.
Speaker 3: This is the Latinos in Sports study that you did
Speaker 3: in partnership with Nielsen, and I'd love to talk through
Speaker 3: some of the findings because you go through this report
Speaker 3: and there are just some eye popping and candidly, I
Speaker 3: think shocking statistics in terms of not just how distinct
Speaker 3: this market is as consumers, but where you know, where
Speaker 3: the eyeballs are, where the money's going.
Speaker 2: So how did this all come about?
Speaker 5: Sure?
Speaker 6: Well, you know, when I took over, I was very
Speaker 6: proud of the fact that I was the first Latino
Speaker 6: CEO in the history of the NHL.
Speaker 2: Took over the.
Speaker 5: Job of the Coyotes. You know, there are one.
Speaker 6: Hundred and fifty three teams men's teams in the top
Speaker 6: five leagues. I was the only Latino CEO of one
Speaker 6: hundred and fifty three teams. Now the Moss family owned
Speaker 6: the team and run the team, so I was the
Speaker 6: first non owner, and I just didn't think that was right,
Speaker 6: just given the importance of this cohort to the teams,
Speaker 6: to the leagues, to the sports. I just felt like,
Speaker 6: I need to do something while I'm in this role,
Speaker 6: because I knew that at some point I would not
Speaker 6: be in this role. And so I started, you know,
Speaker 6: talking to other enterprises of same I think we need
Speaker 6: a platform to do a couple of things.
Speaker 5: I think we need to.
Speaker 6: Elevate the importance of Latinos to the global sports industry.
Speaker 6: I had the great fortune of partnering with Pedro Guerrero,
Speaker 6: who is the editor of Hispanic Executive magazine, and say,
Speaker 6: why don't we create an enterprise lis Latinos and sports,
Speaker 6: and let's start by actually creating some data out there
Speaker 6: and putting it out there. And so we had an
Speaker 6: event here in New York City as part of the
Speaker 6: US Open. So we wanted to tie it to these
Speaker 6: large ten pole events, in which we released this report
Speaker 6: Game Changer, which I invite everybody to download and major
Speaker 6: major takeaways.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 6: The first obviously unmatched enthusiasm for Latino fans and a
Speaker 6: couple of non traditional sports you would think, right, So
Speaker 6: thirty one percent more likely to be avid WNBA fan. Okay, right,
Speaker 6: very interesting.
Speaker 3: Take note Minnesota links, yeah, absolutely noted.
Speaker 6: Notably younger. Obviously this is a very young covert. And
Speaker 6: I'll say two statistics on that, right, seventy two percent
Speaker 6: of Latino fans are gen Z or millennial compared to
Speaker 6: fifty percent of the general market. But also the most
Speaker 6: common age of this community, right, the largest segment is fourteen,
Speaker 6: the general population fifty nine. Yes, so that census data.
Speaker 6: So if you look at the Latino community, the largest
Speaker 6: sort of segment is aged fourteen. Wow, and the largest
Speaker 6: segment of the general population fifteen. So if you're a
Speaker 6: consumer company like sports, these are right now your targets
Speaker 6: to not only get them in the fold today, but
Speaker 6: to actually have them in the fold for many years
Speaker 6: to come. Digital first one hundred percent. This is an
Speaker 6: issue that I think really resonates in sports. When you
Speaker 6: think about Latino fans, they're thirty eight percent more likely
Speaker 6: to use TikTok for sports news and consumption. So when
Speaker 6: we're talking about the methods of reaching this incredibly young
Speaker 6: cohort that's very digitally savvy, you have to start thinking
Speaker 6: about these other you know, means.
Speaker 2: Alex knows that from the fan who live.
Speaker 3: In the household TikTokers who have the last name Rodriguez.
Speaker 5: Absolutely, I have seen that.
Speaker 3: Actually we all have, I mean, but most importantly we've
Speaker 3: seen Alex on tip doing the dances.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's is quite embarrassing.
Speaker 2: Really what we're here for, aren't we?
Speaker 6: Alex absolutely need you need to put a link to that.
Speaker 6: You got to put a link to that one right there,
Speaker 6: you know. And then and then sitting in the chair
Speaker 6: that I did in terms of CEO, you want to know. Okay,
Speaker 6: so but how do we monetize this? What does this
Speaker 6: mean for revenue? And this was the statistic that got
Speaker 6: me right. Latino fans eleven percent more likely to purchase
Speaker 6: a brand after experiencing a sponsor message and twenty percent
Speaker 6: more likely to engage in life betting thirty nine percent
Speaker 6: more likely than the general population to recommend a sponsor.
Speaker 5: So this is actionable.
Speaker 6: This isn't just Hey, they're young, they're on social media,
Speaker 6: they're digital It's like, no, they are fans, they are young,
Speaker 6: they're are digitally savvy, and they buy.
Speaker 3: And so Alex, when you hear this stuff, like is
Speaker 3: it as surprising to you? What are the things that
Speaker 3: you react to again? I mean not to hit the
Speaker 3: nail on the head too many times, Like as a
Speaker 3: Latino in sports, when you hear these statistics, like what
Speaker 3: do you think?
Speaker 1: Well, I agree, I just didn't think there were this big.
Speaker 4: Yeah, these numbers are really big and you have to
Speaker 4: pay attention to them, whether it's politics or sports. I mean,
Speaker 4: Latinos are going to have a big influence and a
Speaker 4: big impact in who's in the White House and how
Speaker 4: to really grow these enterprises.
Speaker 6: If you don't mind me say something like Alex sitting
Speaker 6: in the ownership's chair. We need more of that, Yeah,
Speaker 6: we really do. And it's not just for diversity's sake.
Speaker 6: It's because of perspective. It's because of the cultural impact
Speaker 6: that you can bring to any organization, but specifically one
Speaker 6: that's as culturally influential as a sports franchise. And that's
Speaker 6: part of this entire conversation is listen, there are incredible
Speaker 6: individuals out there that certainly should be in sports that
Speaker 6: have the financial means but also have these different backgrounds
Speaker 6: and perspectives. And again, for me, it's about decision making.
Speaker 6: What is the right decision making tree? And when you
Speaker 6: have different perspectives, whether they're professional, different, diversity, ethnic, gender, international,
Speaker 6: I think all that makes for better business decision making.
Speaker 6: One of the things I wanted to make sure though,
Speaker 6: and you've heard me say this is this isn't just
Speaker 6: about Latinos talking to Latinos. We need non Latino decision
Speaker 6: makers to be in the room. I was blessed to
Speaker 6: be the person that could decide certain things in the
Speaker 6: role that I was with the Coyotes, and I said,
Speaker 6: I want to start the first diverse coach's internship program.
Speaker 6: And the way I did it, I was like, I
Speaker 6: just invited two African American coach well one was Canadian
Speaker 6: and the other one was from DC. And I asked
Speaker 6: my French Canadian coach and my Canadian GM, can they
Speaker 6: just be part of our rookie camp. And ten days
Speaker 6: later what happened. We hired one of them full time
Speaker 6: and the other one we recommended to USA Hockey and
Speaker 6: now he's the head coach of the first HBCU hockey team,
Speaker 6: and I remember my coach coming up to me and saying,
Speaker 6: we would have never known them, we would have never
Speaker 6: realized how talented coaches they were. And any what you
Speaker 6: appreciated is like I didn't force him to do it.
Speaker 6: I just invited them. And that's the thing putting people
Speaker 6: in the room and having voices in the room. And
Speaker 6: so Alice, I want here for me to publicly applaud
Speaker 6: you for embracing the role being an owner. I'm very,
Speaker 6: very proud of the fact that you're there, and I
Speaker 6: know that you using your voice to just say, hey,
Speaker 6: there's other opportunities that we not only as a team,
Speaker 6: but as a league and as a sport, should be embracing.
Speaker 6: So you make us all incredibly proud.
Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you, hevery that means a lot coming from you.
Speaker 4: We have a very very smart audience that listens to
Speaker 4: the show, and I want to kind of as you talk,
Speaker 4: I said, boy, I wish I was fifteen years old
Speaker 4: listening to you. So I'm going to move forward a
Speaker 4: little bit. For some of our listeners who are young
Speaker 4: or younger than us, and your Latin or you're minority
Speaker 4: of some sort, what are some of the things that
Speaker 4: they have to do to kind of follow your path,
Speaker 4: and even more importantly, what are the things they should
Speaker 4: avoid from doing to try to stay in play for
Speaker 4: this possible dream opportunity that you're in and I'm in.
Speaker 5: Listen.
Speaker 6: I think it's a number of things. I think first
Speaker 6: and foremost, it really comes by embracing those opportunities that
Speaker 6: the door openers. You know, sometimes we say, well I
Speaker 6: don't know that, and I don't want to fail, or
Speaker 6: I'm embarrassed about it, and it's hard.
Speaker 5: Listen.
Speaker 6: My son makes fun of me that I go up
Speaker 6: to people all the time and introduce myself. I said, well,
Speaker 6: it's not like how that's how I started. I was
Speaker 6: like everybody else, you're kind of embarrassed, You're like, what
Speaker 6: do you do? But creating those opportunities, embracing those opportunities,
Speaker 6: I think is incredibly important. I think also, you know,
Speaker 6: building relationships, building network I was just in one of
Speaker 6: your guys's for Bloomberg, your Hispanic Heritage Month events, and
Speaker 6: one of the conversation was the importance of networking. It's
Speaker 6: difficult because you think it's inauthentic to have relationships that
Speaker 6: maybe aren't your friends and family, they're your acquaintances. I
Speaker 6: learned that very early on, that it's okay to have
Speaker 6: acquaintances that you're connecting with and that you touch base
Speaker 6: with every now and then, and that's what creates opportunity.
Speaker 6: And I think, you know, the other thing is embrace
Speaker 6: your voice, embrace the power that you have and to
Speaker 6: say I actually do bring something important to the table.
Speaker 6: I do have a different perspective, whether it's your personal journey,
Speaker 6: whether it's having come from a very different socioeconomic environment
Speaker 6: that you can add to the discussion. But also listen,
Speaker 6: hard work nothing happens overnight.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 6: I love the saying, you know an overnight sensation that
Speaker 6: it takes twenty years to establish. I mean, Alex, you
Speaker 6: didn't just show up in the owner's chair. I saw
Speaker 6: you at the Milk and Global conference probably about eight
Speaker 6: years ago, nine years ago, and I saw you working
Speaker 6: a room of people saying I'd like to learn from you,
Speaker 6: I'd like to sit with you. That's work, That is,
Speaker 6: you know every day knowing you're going to build something fantastic.
Speaker 6: But it's one brick at a time, as they would say,
Speaker 6: and so it doesn't happen you don't snap your fingers
Speaker 6: and show up and you know you're a partner at
Speaker 6: clear Lake tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 6: But it's all those steps in a journey, and if
Speaker 6: you recognize all those I think important factors. Yeah, I
Speaker 6: think that's how you get there.
Speaker 1: All right.
Speaker 3: So we're gonna wrap this with our lightning round, rapid
Speaker 3: fire round.
Speaker 2: So we're gonna bounce back and forth.
Speaker 3: Alex and I, all right, what's the best piece of
Speaker 3: advice you've ever received on deal making or business trust
Speaker 3: in people?
Speaker 1: Who's your dream deal making partner?
Speaker 6: Ol sefeliciana partner at Clearly.
Speaker 2: What's the most nervous you've ever been.
Speaker 6: Getting up in front of the NHL draft knowing that
Speaker 6: twenty thousand people were going to boom me? What's your
Speaker 6: hype song before a big meeting or negotiation started from
Speaker 6: the bottom?
Speaker 5: Now we're here, what's.
Speaker 2: Your advice for someone listening who wants a career like yours?
Speaker 5: Embrace the door openers?
Speaker 3: Awesome, Javier, what a trait this is. I feel like
Speaker 3: this has been sitting there for a long time, just
Speaker 3: waiting to happen. I'm so glad you guys know each
Speaker 3: other at least virtually now.
Speaker 4: The only shame about this interview, Jason, is that I
Speaker 4: could listen to Javier for hours, I know, and we
Speaker 4: already have to end, but we'll have to continue over
Speaker 4: dinner sometime maybe in the wintertime in scott totally.
Speaker 3: I think Scottsdale round of golf, dinner at the Goudiera's household.
Speaker 3: I'm just I'm saying I'm willing that into.
Speaker 2: Being, putting it out into the unit, out of the universe.
Speaker 2: All right, thank you, my friend, Thank you guys.
Speaker 5: It's a really pleasure.
Speaker 3: The Deal is hosted by Alex Rodriguez and me Jason Kelly.
Speaker 3: This episode was made by Stacey Wong, Annamasaracus, Lizzie Phillip,
Speaker 3: and Victor Eveez. Our theme music was made by Blake Maples.
Speaker 3: Our executive producers are Kelly Laferrier, Ashley Honig, and Brendan Newnham.
Speaker 3: Sage Bauman is the head of Bloomberg Podcast. Additional support
Speaker 3: from Rachel Scaramzzino and Elena Los Angeles. Thanks for listening
Speaker 3: to the Deal. If you have a minute, please subscribe, rate,
Speaker 3: and review our show. It'll help other listeners find us,
Speaker 3: and remember, if you're a Bloomberg subscriber, you can listen
Speaker 3: to all of our episodes absolutely ad free on Apple Podcasts.
Speaker 3: All you need to do is find the Bloomberg channel
Speaker 3: and connect your Bloomberg account.
Speaker 2: I'm Jason Kelly. See you next week.