Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: I understood the business side because when the athletes come
Speaker 2: up to me and talk to me, especially tennis players,
Speaker 2: I go, well, what should I learn? What should I do?
Speaker 2: I said, learn the business. Learn the business, don't learn
Speaker 2: just about a player.
Speaker 3: Hi, everyone, welcome to the deal. I'm your host, Jason Kelly.
Speaker 4: Hello, I'm Alex Rodriguez.
Speaker 3: All right, So we like to start this show by
Speaker 3: having the guests introduce themselves.
Speaker 5: So please introduce yourself and tell us what you do.
Speaker 6: My name is Elana Klaus and I'm the CEO of
Speaker 6: Billy Jean King Enterprises. I manage all of our initiatives
Speaker 6: from marketing of Billy Jean Legacy investments and also consulting.
Speaker 2: I'm Billy Jean King, and I don't know what to say.
Speaker 3: I will say it's one of the most fun things
Speaker 3: when people who never have to introduce themselves.
Speaker 2: No, I have to sometimes. But everything in my life
Speaker 2: right now is particularly as women's sports, just trying to
Speaker 2: help all sports, for women to grow and for them
Speaker 2: to prosper, and all the things I've experienced through tennis
Speaker 2: as a tennis former tennis player.
Speaker 4: So Jason Alex is all no, I'm so fired up.
Speaker 2: I'm like coming out.
Speaker 4: I can tell cologies for this. You know, crazy suit
Speaker 4: you go to business stuff.
Speaker 7: But I'm fascinated by great partnerships and compliments your set
Speaker 7: of skills. As an example, Jason and I are great
Speaker 7: partners between us.
Speaker 4: We have six to ninety six home runs.
Speaker 5: We graduated from Georgetown.
Speaker 4: He's a great writer and reader. I'm not. But in
Speaker 4: all seriousness, how are you guys complimentary?
Speaker 7: I can tell already from meeting you how your set
Speaker 7: of skills compliment each other.
Speaker 4: But maybe talk about it a little bit.
Speaker 2: Can I just say something here? Go for I dream it,
Speaker 2: Elana builds it. I'm a dreamer. I'm always thinking about
Speaker 2: how it could be, even the future. I'm always telling you, Alana,
Speaker 2: we got to do this. We go do that, and
Speaker 2: she quietly and succinctly and does it properly, goes out
Speaker 2: and makes it happen usually and then I help her
Speaker 2: if I can. But Elana's a driving force of when
Speaker 2: you see us achieve something, usually in our company is
Speaker 2: because of Ilana's leadership and also the other people that
Speaker 2: work at the office. So it's fantastic.
Speaker 6: Thank you. It's very nice to know. I think Billy
Speaker 6: obviously has incredible respect for everything that she's fought for,
Speaker 6: and I think the passion and purpose that Billy has
Speaker 6: in her life to make things better for others, it's
Speaker 6: so much easier to help get stuff done, especially if
Speaker 6: it's not for you, right. I think everything we try
Speaker 6: to do is to help make it better for future generations,
Speaker 6: and so I feel really privileged to be in a
Speaker 6: position to be able to use the platform and sweat
Speaker 6: equity that has put in And I was very lucky.
Speaker 6: I did play professional tennis for eleven years. I met
Speaker 6: Billy Jean in South Africa in nineteen sixty six. I
Speaker 6: was ten years old and I remember she had a
Speaker 6: few balls with me and I decided I was going
Speaker 6: to be a professional tennis player. Because of that, I
Speaker 6: was that younger generation that was in the room when
Speaker 6: the Women's Tennis Association was formed in nineteen seventy three
Speaker 6: at Wimbledon. It was my first Wimbledon as a pro.
Speaker 6: And like I said, I think it's a great privilege
Speaker 6: to be able to use all of that to really
Speaker 6: now try to help other women's sports. Because tennis was
Speaker 6: the leader and still is, but it's just been great
Speaker 6: to be able to use all this knowledge and experience.
Speaker 6: I was able to be on the court and now
Speaker 6: off the court, and I think that's huge. I'm sure
Speaker 6: for you Alex in business, you know, you have that
Speaker 6: experience of you've been on the field, so you know,
Speaker 6: I think people respect that.
Speaker 3: And to that end, I feel really good today because
Speaker 3: when we created this show, this was one of the
Speaker 3: conversations we had been looking forward to. And I will
Speaker 3: tell you not to fanboy, but more to think about
Speaker 3: the moment that we're all sitting in.
Speaker 5: I was telling.
Speaker 3: Everyone everyone that I know knows where I am right
Speaker 3: now talking to the two of you, and I want
Speaker 3: to talk about this moment, celebrating fifty years of equal
Speaker 3: prize money and how.
Speaker 5: It feels to you.
Speaker 3: How it felt to you last year at the fiftieth,
Speaker 3: Now you know the second half of the century, what's
Speaker 3: it feeling.
Speaker 2: I'm a big believer in history because I think the
Speaker 2: more you know about history, the more you know about yourself.
Speaker 2: But most importantly, it helps you shape the future. And
Speaker 2: that's what I want young people to understand. History is living.
Speaker 2: It's not dead, it's living. We're making history as we
Speaker 2: talk today right now. So it's really really important for
Speaker 2: young people because there are future there are future leaders.
Speaker 2: So I'm always trying to encourage them to know history.
Speaker 2: Because the reason I think I was able to have
Speaker 2: my dreams is because when I was a child, I
Speaker 2: did not grow up in tennis. I didn't know what
Speaker 2: it was. I grew up in pro football, pro baseball.
Speaker 2: I've come from California, we didn't have a pro baseball team,
Speaker 2: so I watched Triple A and then Susan Williams in
Speaker 2: fifth grade asked me to play tennis, and I said,
Speaker 2: what's tennis? Tis your kidding? Thank God for Susan Williams
Speaker 2: asking me to play. She is on my blessing list
Speaker 2: every morning because if Susan Williams had not asked me
Speaker 2: to play tennis, I would have never had the life
Speaker 2: I've had. So every time I see her, I still
Speaker 2: am such with there I go, thank you, You're on
Speaker 2: my blessing lit So I went out and I said, well,
Speaker 2: we're at a country club, so I know I'm not
Speaker 2: going to play, but Valhalloe and the coach of a
Speaker 2: softball team we're also playing on said they have free
Speaker 2: instruction here every Tuesday. Free instruction means I have free
Speaker 2: tennis court. I have a coach, Clyde Walker. First time
Speaker 2: I meet him. At the end of that day, I
Speaker 2: knew I want to be number one in the world.
Speaker 2: But I also wanted to change the sport once I
Speaker 2: read the history. I read the history immediately, and women
Speaker 2: weren't in it very much. But I already dreamed about
Speaker 2: changing tennis from it was amateur. The best players were
Speaker 2: called amateurs, and I go, that's things. I go, if
Speaker 2: you're an amateur, it's a hobby, but if you're pro,
Speaker 2: it means you're really good. Remember I go up around
Speaker 2: pro sports. I don't think amateur, right, And so I thought,
Speaker 2: I got to change the sport. I got to change
Speaker 2: the sport for men and women. Just we've got to
Speaker 2: be pro. And so finally, in nineteen sixty eight, we
Speaker 2: got our first prize Bunny at Wimbledon. Finally we're pro.
Speaker 2: Rod Labor won two thousand pounds and I won seven
Speaker 2: hundred and fifty pounds. I go, oh, no, now I'm
Speaker 2: gonna have to fight for that too, Like you know,
Speaker 2: we're gonna have to do that. So those are the
Speaker 2: things that got me crazy. And then I wanted the
Speaker 2: men and women to be together in the sixties late sixties,
Speaker 2: and they didn't. They kept rejecting us. Unfortunately, I still
Speaker 2: think we should be always together as an association. But anyway,
Speaker 2: the men when they had and did their own association
Speaker 2: in seventy two, we did ours in seventy three is
Speaker 2: what you're talking about, as well as the equal prize
Speaker 2: money that year. But in nineteen seventy two at the
Speaker 2: US Open, I made ten thousand to win it and
Speaker 2: Eli Nestazi made twenty five thousand. And this is really
Speaker 2: the second year we'd had a tour, the Virginia Slim's Tour,
Speaker 2: and I had had it. I was exhausted, first of all,
Speaker 2: because all I do is play and promote. And I said,
Speaker 2: you know what, I don't think the women are going
Speaker 2: to come back next year unless we get equal prize money.
Speaker 2: This isn't seventy two. And then I realized I haven't
Speaker 2: talked to the women yet. I'm like, ah, yeah, yay,
Speaker 2: I should have talked, but I couldn't help. But it
Speaker 2: was just a feeling I had in the finals with
Speaker 2: the media. Remember we didn't have social media. This is
Speaker 2: this is the people who tell our story and mostly men.
Speaker 2: I don't think there were any women yet, and I
Speaker 2: just remember saying we're not coming back, and of course
Speaker 2: they love that. They're writing line crazy. But then I
Speaker 2: went and talked to different sponsors that we had relationships
Speaker 2: because I was part owner of tournaments, so I understood
Speaker 2: the business. I said, would any of you together make
Speaker 2: up the difference in equal prize money for next year
Speaker 2: or one of you? And I went to different people,
Speaker 2: and Bristol Myers came back to me. He said, we
Speaker 2: want to do the whole thing. Holy come only, I
Speaker 2: said the whole thing. It's only fifty five thousand dollars
Speaker 2: I think at the time if we stayed the same.
Speaker 2: So I went to Billy Talbert, the director tournament director,
Speaker 2: who was also a great player and a great businessman,
Speaker 2: and I said, we have equal money and he said
Speaker 2: you have the money? He turned white. I said, yes,
Speaker 2: where all's that? I said, Bristol Myers wants to do it.
Speaker 2: Really well. I thought the board of the USTA had
Speaker 2: passed it the next year, and they did not. I
Speaker 2: found out the truth is that Billy Talbert just announced
Speaker 2: it in nineteen seventy three, after Wimbledon, he announced that
Speaker 2: the US Open was going to have equal prize money.
Speaker 2: So I'm very indebted to Billy Talbert. I wish he
Speaker 2: were still alive, yeah, because I didn't really know the
Speaker 2: whole story at the.
Speaker 3: Time, but that moment and I feel like that is
Speaker 3: a key learning was show up with the money, found
Speaker 3: the money.
Speaker 2: Well, I know it's about money, but you see, because
Speaker 2: I was part owner of tournaments with my former husband Larry,
Speaker 2: that I understood the business side. Because when the athletes
Speaker 2: come up to me and talk to me, especially tennis players,
Speaker 2: they go, well, what should I learn? What should I do?
Speaker 2: I said, learn the business. Learn the business, don't learn
Speaker 2: just about a Players just want more, more money, better rooms,
Speaker 2: better food. They just want more. Okay, I said, how
Speaker 2: about the person who spent the whole year risking a
Speaker 2: one week tournament. Do you ever ask him or her
Speaker 2: or them how they did? How did they do? I
Speaker 2: always go over to a promoter or whoever owns a business,
Speaker 2: how are you doing? Because they took the risk for
Speaker 2: me to play that week. Every single week someone's taking
Speaker 2: a risk. It's business and it's money. So I think
Speaker 2: it's really important the players understand business. And I also
Speaker 2: want players to go into the business after they're finished
Speaker 2: playing with their careers, so I'm always trying to encourage
Speaker 2: them to learn the business and relationships are everything. They
Speaker 2: are everything.
Speaker 3: I'm imagining a young Alex Rodriguez, you know, going in
Speaker 3: your cleats to go see owners. Yeah, yeah, and you
Speaker 3: learned that lesson.
Speaker 4: I sure did.
Speaker 7: And Magic Johnson, your partner, he told me, Alex, why
Speaker 7: you're playing, learn the business, build relationships because once you're done,
Speaker 7: they're not going to answer your emails or your calls
Speaker 7: as much.
Speaker 5: So build it now.
Speaker 4: And it was just the.
Speaker 7: Most incredible advice he's crating. I started my business probably
Speaker 7: in my fifth year. I played for almost twenty five years,
Speaker 7: so once I retired, I can hit the ground running.
Speaker 7: I can really turn on the turbo charge. And again
Speaker 7: that's part of putting the work in and thinking really
Speaker 7: long term. I think too many athletes today think what's
Speaker 7: the transaction?
Speaker 4: What do I get?
Speaker 7: What room do I get? How's my food? Instead of
Speaker 7: thinking how do I build a partnership that can last?
Speaker 4: You know exactly right.
Speaker 7: I think the greatest teacher of business is playing sports,
Speaker 7: and it's professional sports, even better, but like getting your
Speaker 7: butt knocked out, like did the agony of defeat, it
Speaker 7: brings you to tears. I know baseball does, I don't
Speaker 7: know if tennis does.
Speaker 2: It does it's all the same, Beliemits I played all the.
Speaker 7: Sports literally in tears, thinking, Jason, am I ever going
Speaker 7: to hit this fricking ball again? And you're getting Buddha
Speaker 7: Yankee Stadium and you're just like I am a bum
Speaker 7: and to be able to come back every single day
Speaker 7: you have to do it in business. But I'm interested
Speaker 7: what lessons or attributes most helped you and transferred from
Speaker 7: athlete to business for both of you.
Speaker 6: Alana, Well, I mean I think thing about sports, or
Speaker 6: competitive sports or all sports. Really you win or you lose,
Speaker 6: you get immediate feedback. I wasn't as good as Billy Jan.
Speaker 6: Yes I was a pro, and yes I was highly
Speaker 6: ranked and one on US Open and a couple of titles,
Speaker 6: but losing was tough, and you lose a lot more
Speaker 6: than you went in tennis. And it's also a little
Speaker 6: different when you're most individual sport right. We do have
Speaker 6: doubles and we have other team events, but a lot
Speaker 6: of times you're alone. You won or you lost. And
Speaker 6: that's actually one of the reasons I got out of
Speaker 6: playing pro tennis, because I had a hard time separating
Speaker 6: how I did on the court versus the rest of
Speaker 6: my life. But I also because of Billy, and she
Speaker 6: was a mentor of mine. I did learn the business
Speaker 6: and I knew that I loved the sport, and so
Speaker 6: for me, actually transitioning to the business was so much
Speaker 6: better because I could have a goal and I could
Speaker 6: work towards it, and of course you want to win,
Speaker 6: and I love to get to the end result, but
Speaker 6: it was a process and it wasn't also as public
Speaker 6: as being a professional athlete was. And that's why I
Speaker 6: actually liked doubles more than singles, because I felt like
Speaker 6: I was out there with a teammate.
Speaker 2: But also, you're a born salesperson. Her dad was great
Speaker 2: in sales ord I never got a salary, only got commissioned.
Speaker 2: He was always the number one salesperson in South Africa.
Speaker 2: And Elana it's in her blood. I'm telling you, she
Speaker 2: knows how to sell. She knows how to finish, like
Speaker 2: she gets the yes and then you get the first jack.
Speaker 2: That's what Alana does so well.
Speaker 4: I love that.
Speaker 7: I'm reading Jason's book who he wrote about a decade
Speaker 7: ago about the Titans of private equat right KKR, Carlile
Speaker 7: Blackstone and so on and so forth. What I find
Speaker 7: fascinating business Wah Street Titans versus sports is the Titans
Speaker 7: speak every day, four times a day sometimes, and they
Speaker 7: can be competitors. Right, Blackstone does a deal with Carlile K.
Speaker 7: Carter is a deal with you know, TPG. Athletes, we
Speaker 7: don't talk to each other, and there's not enough collaboration
Speaker 7: going on. And I hope and maybe he's gotten a
Speaker 7: little bit better, Billy, but I hope that that's something
Speaker 7: in the future that athletes can come together for the
Speaker 7: greater good, both socially and in business. I think together
Speaker 7: they're better obviously right here, obviously right now.
Speaker 5: Thoughts you had to build consensus.
Speaker 2: I'm exhausted thinking about it. What do you remember about
Speaker 2: the seventies, I go, I was exhausted. I averaged four
Speaker 2: hours of sleep at night and I'm playing, by the way,
Speaker 2: oh yeah, oh playing tennis.
Speaker 6: Yes, yeah, well, I think it's again. In our day,
Speaker 6: we also didn't earn as much money, so you did
Speaker 6: not have these incredible support teams that they have now right,
Speaker 6: So I mean we would warm each other up, even
Speaker 6: if they might be your opponent. And I remember Billy
Speaker 6: would help chriserve it, learn how to serve or volley
Speaker 6: and we you know, that's what we did, right. We
Speaker 6: went out and competed, but we shared a car to
Speaker 6: drive to the next tournament, or sometimes you shared a
Speaker 6: room with your opponent. I think it's become such big
Speaker 6: business now that the athletes are very isolated, they have
Speaker 6: a team around them. You know, that team is driving
Speaker 6: their business. And I think also the whole media landscapes changed.
Speaker 6: I mean, for Billy, we were encourage the media where
Speaker 6: our friends they told our story with at them, nobody
Speaker 6: would know who we were. Nowadays, you know, everyone can
Speaker 6: tell their own story. But I always listen to Billy saying,
Speaker 6: you know what, you need other people telling your stories,
Speaker 6: not only yourself. But it was just different. There's so
Speaker 6: much more money in the game, and in some ways
Speaker 6: that's fantastic. I mean, Billy's like they living what she
Speaker 6: dreamed right for them. So but it's very different.
Speaker 3: And I want to talk about that specifically because if
Speaker 3: you look around today, you know we had someone just
Speaker 3: say to us yesterday it's not a moment, it's a movement.
Speaker 3: What's happening right now. It's been a movement for you
Speaker 3: for they're saying it now.
Speaker 2: Which makes me happy. I usedn't say it's a movie.
Speaker 3: Yes, of course, what are you observing today that is
Speaker 3: different or feels different? You have been here, You both
Speaker 3: have been here all along the way for these catalytic moments.
Speaker 3: Is there something different happening now?
Speaker 5: Billy?
Speaker 2: Definitely. I mean we're starting to get the ratings. We
Speaker 2: used to have about four percent of the media content
Speaker 2: and people watching us. Then we went up to five percent.
Speaker 2: This is only like four years ago. We're up to
Speaker 2: fifteen percent now.
Speaker 4: Wow.
Speaker 2: And media content's where the money is. This is always
Speaker 2: it always goes back to money. Okay, it's business and
Speaker 2: one thing I know a lot when you were talking,
Speaker 2: I was thinking also, the agents have changed the landscape
Speaker 2: a lot, and they've made it better in some ways,
Speaker 2: and in a lot of ways they've made it a
Speaker 2: lot worse. I think because they don't want their players
Speaker 2: talking to anyone. It's all about let me take care
Speaker 2: of it. The players don't talk to each other enough.
Speaker 2: They need to talk to each other about going into
Speaker 2: business later or even while they're playing, if they can,
Speaker 2: I want them to be part of this because they
Speaker 2: understand it. And we as players, we didn't have coaches.
Speaker 2: That's why we helped each other. We didn't have any money.
Speaker 2: The money they spent is fantastic. No wonder they can
Speaker 2: play longer, No wonder they play better longer. I mean,
Speaker 2: look at the difference from when we were playing and
Speaker 2: then what the players get now, and how much money
Speaker 2: the travel, how much better it is. That's just in
Speaker 2: our little tiny world of tennis. But if you look
Speaker 2: at baseball, look at all the money they make now.
Speaker 2: My brother played in the seventies, Randy Moffatt with the
Speaker 2: San Francisco Giants, which is so odd. We were the
Speaker 2: Dodgers fans, and he got drafted first round by the
Speaker 2: by the Giant and he played seven years there. He's
Speaker 2: a relief pitcher. He said he's pretty average, and I thought, well,
Speaker 2: average is fine for the MLB. I played twelve years,
Speaker 2: so you have to be decent good slider. But yeah,
Speaker 2: I think the mostly maybe was one hundred and twenty
Speaker 2: five thousand, probably, So people have to unders stand that.
Speaker 2: In seventy one, when we had our first tour, first
Speaker 2: year of the tour, I told Larry, I said, I'm
Speaker 2: going to try to make one hundred thousand, so people
Speaker 2: will watch the tour, they'll start getting interested. And it's
Speaker 2: our job to promote the other players. So when I talk,
Speaker 2: I'm not talking about Billy Gene. I'm talking about the
Speaker 2: other players and the tour and the money and what
Speaker 2: we're trying to do as promoting all the time. So
Speaker 2: I think it helped for me to win money. And
Speaker 2: I won over one hundred thousand in October of seventy one,
Speaker 2: so I was the first woman athlete to make over
Speaker 2: one hundred and then Chris Everett was the first one
Speaker 2: to make over a million, So it's like quickly.
Speaker 6: But I think one of the things that you asked is,
Speaker 6: you know what's really changed, and I think for women's
Speaker 6: sports if you go beyond tennis, because I think tennis
Speaker 6: and golf, these individual sports have always had decent money
Speaker 6: and prize money and sponsorship the individual sports. But the
Speaker 6: big thing that I think has changed is that the
Speaker 6: billionaires are investing in women's sports, and that is huge.
Speaker 6: I think if you look at you know, who's buying
Speaker 6: NWSL teams WNBA teams, who's investing in the Billy Jenkin Cup.
Speaker 6: Mark Walter, who's the Dodgers owner. He helped us start
Speaker 6: a Women's Professional Hockey League TWG. His company invested. So
Speaker 6: it's people men and women. I mean you have Michelle Kang,
Speaker 6: who is an investor in the Washington NWSL team. Chila
Speaker 6: Johnson's been doing women's sports forever in DC. You have
Speaker 6: Clara Wusai, who owns the New York Liberty. So I
Speaker 6: think people with real wealth and experience and business knowledge
Speaker 6: are investing, and that makes a huge difference. I think
Speaker 6: prior to that, you would get people who loved women's sports,
Speaker 6: maybe they had a daughter who was trying to be
Speaker 6: a pro, or maybe they just cared they didn't get
Speaker 6: to live the dreams, but they didn't have the big money.
Speaker 6: Now the big money is looking at women's sports as
Speaker 6: an investment, not as a charity. And that's huge because
Speaker 6: you have a runway to be able to build. I
Speaker 6: mean the PWHL, which is the hockey league that started
Speaker 6: this January. I mean, we have an eight year business plan,
Speaker 6: so you can invest and you're not under that pressure
Speaker 6: to make decisions that aren't smart. Decisions because it does
Speaker 6: take time to build, and women's sports is so far
Speaker 6: behind men's sports, and so we need time. And if
Speaker 6: you have investment to help you build, I think it's
Speaker 6: it's unbelievably exciting and you know, for Billy to be
Speaker 6: alive to see this, I mean it's great and people
Speaker 6: coming to us and asking us to share our knowledge
Speaker 6: because I mean, she really did help build it, and
Speaker 6: she is the goat and so but it's really this
Speaker 6: investment that you know, people are now believe that women's
Speaker 6: sports is a good investment and that's what's changed a lot.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so let's talk about the hockey for a minute,
Speaker 3: because you touched on a couple different things, both the
Speaker 3: people and the money, and I think specifically the sustained investment, right,
Speaker 3: because I believe.
Speaker 2: You've got to be sustained. If it's not sustained, it's
Speaker 2: not going to make it.
Speaker 3: And that's what's happened in women's soccer over the twenty years.
Speaker 5: It was not sustained.
Speaker 3: Correct, it is happening in hockey. How did that happen?
Speaker 5: Tell it?
Speaker 3: Like, take us inside that deal, because there were some
Speaker 3: phone calls and some it's.
Speaker 2: Funny we meet a lot of the athletes actually through
Speaker 2: the Women's Sports Foundation. At our call, they'll come to
Speaker 2: the dinner and they'll start talking to us. So we
Speaker 2: met Kennell Coin and others, and Kendall called us. We
Speaker 2: happened to be in a Lakers game, and Ilana took
Speaker 2: the call and went into the hallway and Kendall Coyn,
Speaker 2: who was the captain of the women's USA team, you know,
Speaker 2: for the Olympics and World Championships, she said, can I
Speaker 2: talk to you? So she came to our apartment year
Speaker 2: in New York. He said, would you guys help us?
Speaker 2: What do you want? She says, well, we want a
Speaker 2: proper league, not like the leagues that are being played now.
Speaker 2: We won't play in those anymore because they're not pro
Speaker 2: and we need help. So Illana and I met with
Speaker 2: them in Chicago and Ilana goes, all right, you have
Speaker 2: to talk to him. See I do the talking. She
Speaker 2: doesn't work, so anyway, she says, talk to him. So
Speaker 2: the first question I asked the women, I said, do
Speaker 2: you have an association or a union? And they were
Speaker 2: blank and they said no. Well, I said, that's the
Speaker 2: first thing you have to do. And because Canada and
Speaker 2: US are always at it at each other because in Canada,
Speaker 2: ice hockey is a religion, but they're always against each
Speaker 2: other a lot, the Canadians and the Americans. I said,
Speaker 2: you guys have to be together. So if you're willing
Speaker 2: to do that and put it out there, we'll do
Speaker 2: everything we can to help you. And Illana spent an
Speaker 2: enormous amount of time with helping them get an association.
Speaker 2: And then we said, well who should run this? You
Speaker 2: have to have an executive director of somebody. Oh, every
Speaker 2: single one was a Jena Heffer bull like that. She's Canadian,
Speaker 2: she's a Hall of Famer, very good in business, which
Speaker 2: is the difference. And so she's done a great job
Speaker 2: with them. But Ilana helped that day in and day
Speaker 2: out process of becoming an association, and now they've become
Speaker 2: a union because a collecting bargaining agreement.
Speaker 6: It was a five year journey from the time you know,
Speaker 6: Kendall called us, and I mean, to be honest, we
Speaker 6: used a little bit of the playbook of forming the
Speaker 6: Women's Tennis Association right, a little bit different, but history
Speaker 6: does tend to repeat itself. So first thing, one voice,
Speaker 6: which was great because all the top players were willing
Speaker 6: to come together. And we learned that from tennis, right
Speaker 6: when there were two separateurs and we got them all together.
Speaker 6: Because you want all the best players playing in one place.
Speaker 6: We spend an inordinate amount of time High Deloitte to
Speaker 6: do some just some modeling and research what it would
Speaker 6: cost and what I think is really interesting about this.
Speaker 6: In the beginning, it was very much player driven. You know,
Speaker 6: the players were involved and they came up with what
Speaker 6: they thought would be a league that they wanted to
Speaker 6: play in that was professional, right, not earning seven thousand
Speaker 6: dollars for a season or sleeping on a couch or
Speaker 6: flying into a city. Minnesota. Kendall actually played for Minnesota,
Speaker 6: and you know they'd fly in on a Friday, play
Speaker 6: a couple of games, and then fly home to Chicago
Speaker 6: because they had a job. So we really tried first
Speaker 6: an association. Then they organized. They were amazing. They played
Speaker 6: for no money for like three years, just organized play.
Speaker 6: Played for Dream Gap Yeah, Dream Beap Tour. We were
Speaker 6: building a model that we could take to investors. We
Speaker 6: went to NHL teams. We went to Gary Batman a
Speaker 6: couple times because we thought, you know, the NHL has
Speaker 6: the infrastructure, and wouldn't it be great just to put
Speaker 6: a w W NHL And some of the teams were interested,
Speaker 6: and I have to say Gary always met with us,
Speaker 6: He always provided us with these people to talk to,
Speaker 6: but it really wasn't something that they were willing to undertake.
Speaker 6: And you know, I think you don't just get in
Speaker 6: this and get out right. You want the sustained investment.
Speaker 6: So while they were helpful, they weren't willing to make
Speaker 6: a commitment to run the league. Billy and I had
Speaker 6: gotten to know Mark and kimber Walter through our investment
Speaker 6: in the Dodgers, and so we kept talking to him
Speaker 6: about you know, we think this is a great opportunity.
Speaker 6: There's a pretty clear landscape. You know, there isn't a
Speaker 6: truly professional league. There were other leagues, and you know,
Speaker 6: he kept challenging us. You know, doesn't work with two leagues.
Speaker 6: You know, somehow you've got to get one league.
Speaker 2: Is there a.
Speaker 6: Collective bargaining agreement where like no, because they're own have
Speaker 6: a union. So you know, it really was We hired
Speaker 6: a lot of the players to go out and do
Speaker 6: promotional work to help promote and they formed a union
Speaker 6: and then we were able to negotiate a CBA, so
Speaker 6: it really was a process. But the league, it's single
Speaker 6: entity ownership, really all funded by Mark and kimber Walter.
Speaker 6: But I think that's a great model to get started
Speaker 6: because you want parody across the league, and you don't
Speaker 6: want one team who has huge investment and then the
Speaker 6: other team doesn't. And we had run World Team Tennis,
Speaker 6: a professional tennis league for almost forty years, and that
Speaker 6: was the old model. Right, you sell franchises, but the
Speaker 6: difference in ownership investment is not good in the beginning.
Speaker 6: So we have this single entity ownership model. We were
Speaker 6: incredibly fortunate Mark Walter our Stan Kasten, who's the president
Speaker 6: of the Dodgers, to job Royce Cohen who works with
Speaker 6: the Dodgers and actually came from MLB. He was amazing
Speaker 6: on the modeling, and you know, we've had an opportunity
Speaker 6: to build this. But you can do everything right and
Speaker 6: you're never sure people are going to come. People came
Speaker 6: it it's crazy. We sell twenty people in Montreal. Tickets
Speaker 6: sold out I think in a few hours, So there's
Speaker 6: this need. But because we have this long term investment,
Speaker 6: we can build it in a way that's sustainable. We
Speaker 6: put every game on YouTube TV, so anyone in the
Speaker 6: world who wanted to follow women's hockey could see it.
Speaker 6: But that costs money. So you know, I think it's
Speaker 6: just so exciting to be part of something that has
Speaker 6: the investment that's needed.
Speaker 7: You give us an idea of how much money. I mean,
Speaker 7: because look, just stays in it for years, you're going
Speaker 7: to be a lost leader. Probably for the first three
Speaker 7: or four years in the marble will show that you've
Speaker 7: been to positive.
Speaker 4: Is it tens of millions?
Speaker 6: Yes, yes, yeah, ten millions, keep going it is And look,
Speaker 6: I think you know, people say, well, how long are
Speaker 6: you in it? For as long as it takes, that's
Speaker 6: the answer, you know. I mean, I just think the
Speaker 6: plan is to build it and make it an incredibly
Speaker 6: valuable asset, and already people are interested in by they're
Speaker 6: interested by our really. Yeah, you know, it's been so
Speaker 6: great because you know, girls have never been able to
Speaker 6: have the dream right. Usually in hockey, the girls and
Speaker 6: boys play together and they go to the ice rink together,
Speaker 6: and then when the girl turns eleven or twelve, she's told, Okay,
Speaker 6: now you have to go play, you know, be an
Speaker 6: ice skater. You can't play professional hockey or there's no
Speaker 6: programs here. So now they can have the dream. And
Speaker 6: I mean everyone should have the dream, right.
Speaker 2: They never have had the dream before. Now they can
Speaker 2: have it. Now they can have it. If you can
Speaker 2: see it, you can be it. So we know we've
Speaker 2: done something good and right thanks to Mark and Camber.
Speaker 2: Because you're going to have all these dreams. But if
Speaker 2: you don't have the money, it doesn't matter exactly.
Speaker 6: Billy always says, follow the money and have to have right.
Speaker 6: I mean, we were very lucky to meet Mark and
Speaker 6: Kimber in Chicago actually at a charity fundraise and a fundraiser,
Speaker 6: and we ended up going to dinner a couple of
Speaker 6: days later and Mark said to Billy, Jess and I
Speaker 6: own the Sparks, the La Sparks, and would love to
Speaker 6: get you and Elana involved. And Billy without missing a beat,
Speaker 6: I mean, I almost fell off the chair. It's like,
Speaker 6: why not the Dodges?
Speaker 2: Why not?
Speaker 4: Exactly?
Speaker 6: And she was right, and Mark was like, and Mark
Speaker 6: was like why not?
Speaker 2: He said why not?
Speaker 6: But it was so interesting that you know, the first
Speaker 6: thing that the discussion started was with the Sparks and
Speaker 6: so actually getting involved with the Dodgers and being at
Speaker 6: the big boy table as we call it, and you know,
Speaker 6: not just having a seat at the table, but Billy
Speaker 6: talks about how important it is to have a voice
Speaker 6: and to be able to learn. And yes, we got
Speaker 6: to spend more time with Magic and with the other Dodgers' owners.
Speaker 6: And I think, you know, you just learn and you
Speaker 6: grow from that.
Speaker 3: And so I want to dig a little deeper in
Speaker 3: something you said, which is being at that table, you know,
Speaker 3: essentially saying why not the Dodgers.
Speaker 2: That's the first time I had the guts to do that,
Speaker 2: because the girls are taught not to ask for what
Speaker 2: we want and need. And that thing flashed through my head.
Speaker 2: I go, okay, I'm a woman. Here we go. I'm
Speaker 2: a girl and I'm old. Now it doesn't matter. It's
Speaker 2: the same brain, you know, You're like, don't ask her
Speaker 2: what you want? And why not the Dodgers. I grew
Speaker 2: up with the Dodgers, right, you know, and my brother
Speaker 2: played professional baseball and so anyway, and Mark, I could
Speaker 2: not believe when Mark said why not, Oh my gosh,
Speaker 2: I'm glad I asked her what I wanted and need it.
Speaker 2: I wanted it, I know, but I'm so chicken. Usually
Speaker 2: just do that.
Speaker 3: I don't think anyone has ever referred.
Speaker 2: To a chicken. Sometimes I am Actually I don't like confrontation.
Speaker 6: Billy is quite shy, and you know, she's okay fighting
Speaker 6: for others, but for herself, so it is interesting. So
Speaker 6: usually I ask on her behalf.
Speaker 2: Milana's got much more guts to ass than I do.
Speaker 5: I'm a whimp.
Speaker 4: So I want to.
Speaker 7: Take you guys back a little bit because you talked
Speaker 7: about the Dodgers, and when you look at the Dodgers,
Speaker 7: if you zoom out, you can arguably say you have
Speaker 7: the best ownership group and management team. I mean you
Speaker 7: go from Mark Walters to Todd Bowley, Stancaster, a Lone
Speaker 7: rose in Andrew Friedman running baseball. Is there one or
Speaker 7: two nuggets that you can share with us that you've
Speaker 7: learned that you can take to your other sports teams,
Speaker 7: because and by the way, I'm going to make a
Speaker 7: bold prediction, as you think this will be the first
Speaker 7: team in professional sports around the world that will cross
Speaker 7: the one billion revenue mark for a year.
Speaker 4: That's just my guess. I have no information what about
Speaker 4: the Yankees.
Speaker 7: I think they'll get there before the Yankees. But I
Speaker 7: may be wrong. Be the social hills in the expansion.
Speaker 2: Of Japan and Asia, Yes, because I really do think.
Speaker 6: I think we just went over like the three million
Speaker 6: mark in ticket sales, you know, first season. I think
Speaker 6: three or four teams will we'll do that. I mean
Speaker 6: it's a good question.
Speaker 4: I think why are they so successful?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that brilliant talk is brilliant. How he
Speaker 2: thinks things through, he just keeps pounding on. He's brilliant.
Speaker 6: And they're also willing to invest, yes, for a long term.
Speaker 6: They are not short term thinkers. And also I think
Speaker 6: just the higher management team has so much experience from
Speaker 6: other things. You know, Stan Casting, I think he did
Speaker 6: NHL team, he did the Braves, I think he did basketball.
Speaker 6: So I mean they just the wisdom that they have
Speaker 6: in the knowledge base. And again I think they're not
Speaker 6: afraid to invest.
Speaker 2: I think they're older. It helps they've been through more.
Speaker 2: You know, most everyone that you just mentioned are not
Speaker 2: twenty years old or thirty years old or even forty
Speaker 2: years old. They're probably in their fifties and sixties. So
Speaker 2: I think they've had a lot of experience, and all
Speaker 2: of them have had experience, not just one of them, right,
Speaker 2: you know, unless Alana talked about Stan who did a
Speaker 2: great job with the p WHL. I mean they went
Speaker 2: out and hired two hundred people in a week and
Speaker 2: a half.
Speaker 4: I mean, I'm like, what was something done?
Speaker 2: Once they make up their mind, boom, it's done, they
Speaker 2: take a lot of time thinking about it. They're not.
Speaker 6: Well, that's that's that's what I love.
Speaker 2: You really learnally got to go through every little thing
Speaker 2: long term, short term, what's gonna happen? What if nobody
Speaker 2: shows up? Then you gotta get Arenas That was a nightmare.
Speaker 6: I mean yeah, but I think it's a little bit
Speaker 6: like Billy always thinks about everything that could go wrong
Speaker 6: right ahead of time. So by the time she went
Speaker 6: on the court, she was totally calm because she had
Speaker 6: gone through every all the good and all the bad.
Speaker 6: And I think that's how you win. And I think
Speaker 6: it's the same thing with anything we've done with the Dodgers,
Speaker 6: or with Mark investing in hockey or investing in tennis.
Speaker 6: Is he really challenges us to think about everything so
Speaker 6: that nothing is a surprise. So in your mind, you
Speaker 6: kind of have gone through the steps, but he's brilliant.
Speaker 6: I've never actually met someone who has challenged me as
Speaker 6: much and been right.
Speaker 3: And maybe that does inform an Angel City type decision.
Speaker 5: Being at the.
Speaker 3: Table with the Dodge owners, like what have you taken
Speaker 3: away that you've then applied and sort of honed your
Speaker 3: playbook in?
Speaker 2: I think just asked, really, if you really want to
Speaker 2: do something, ask us. We had to ask Angel City.
Speaker 2: They did not ask us.
Speaker 5: Really.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we called Julie exactly.
Speaker 6: We called Julia and I mean.
Speaker 5: Who's one of the co founders.
Speaker 6: Yeah, So, I mean obviously the reason that I think
Speaker 6: it came to my attention was Serena's husband, Alexa so
Speaker 6: Henny and had invested and he talked about making an
Speaker 6: investment for Serena's little daughter at the Olympia, and so
Speaker 6: we were like, wow, that's weird. You know, we know
Speaker 6: Julie Faddy and so I asked, hey, Julie, what's up?
Speaker 6: You know, why didn't you call us? I mean we
Speaker 6: you know, it's we're kind.
Speaker 3: Of into women's for it.
Speaker 6: And she's like, oh my god, I really didn't think
Speaker 6: about it. She was called Julie. I called Julium, and
Speaker 6: she said, you know, we're almost done. But you know,
Speaker 6: of course we love.
Speaker 2: Wasn't that we don't invest that much? But they were full.
Speaker 5: Yeah, we've invested.
Speaker 2: We would have invested a lot more. Well, and we
Speaker 2: know Bob and Willow, Bob Ager and will Obey. Right,
Speaker 2: So will Obey is the dean also at Annenberg School. Exiss, see,
Speaker 2: we should just end yes. Of course if you don't
Speaker 2: know Bob Agery, he's ahead of Disney.
Speaker 5: Hello.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And so what's fascinating about that we talk? I mean,
Speaker 3: this is the deal. We talk about money. They come
Speaker 3: in at two hundred and fifty million dollar valuation. The
Speaker 3: expansion fee was somewhere between two and three million dollars.
Speaker 5: That was the Financial City.
Speaker 3: You guys roll You just keep going with Angel City presumably,
Speaker 3: But what does that say to you each This is
Speaker 3: the largest price, largest valuation for any women's team ever
Speaker 3: in the world. How significant is that or is it
Speaker 3: just one data?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 2: Significant, because every time it goes up, everybody knows this
Speaker 2: and everything else starts to go up. People start to believe.
Speaker 2: Because when people believe, things happen.
Speaker 6: Well in women's sports. I think it started with the
Speaker 6: I think the San Diego Waves sold for like one
Speaker 6: hundred and twenty million, and then you know, you get
Speaker 6: a couple of years later Angel City, and now you
Speaker 6: look at what the expansion teams are going for in WNBA,
Speaker 6: you know, over one hundred million. So it's definitely this
Speaker 6: wave of people believing. But I think the Angel City
Speaker 6: deal is just a proof point. But you know, they
Speaker 6: took three years to get started. That wasn't done of
Speaker 6: the plan for three.
Speaker 2: Years before they started Angel City.
Speaker 6: Right, and that was tough for them because they did
Speaker 6: not have it was a huge group of investors. It
Speaker 6: wasn't just one, and I think we've been very fortunate
Speaker 6: with the hockey to find, you know, one person who's willing,
Speaker 6: who has the wealth and willing to commit to building it.
Speaker 3: Because one of the things that Angel City did, I
Speaker 3: believe and keep me honest here is they were ambitious
Speaker 3: about going and finding new sponsors, new money to back
Speaker 3: the team, and they were able to create revenue that
Speaker 3: wasn't just reliant on ticket sales, but they were going
Speaker 3: into the community and getting.
Speaker 2: But they also give the community a percentage exactly. I
Speaker 2: don't know.
Speaker 6: I think that ten percent of a re sponsorship deal,
Speaker 6: gets reinvested in.
Speaker 2: Them, and then they're going to give the players a
Speaker 2: certain percentage.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 6: Just recently, the NWSL have changed the structure where you know,
Speaker 6: there's no draft, there's not going to be a draft.
Speaker 2: They're just going to get it's more.
Speaker 6: Like your free agency. So it's really interesting and I
Speaker 6: think they realized that there's so much competition in Europe
Speaker 6: and the UK with women's football, women's soccer, and so,
Speaker 6: you know, I think that was a brilliant.
Speaker 2: Move because we might lose some of our players, right
Speaker 2: we need the best players in the world here.
Speaker 3: Because historically the best players have played here, but now
Speaker 3: they go to England and the other.
Speaker 6: World correct because all of the Premier League have men's
Speaker 6: and women's teams on the Premier soccer So that was
Speaker 6: a significant move from the NWSL.
Speaker 3: So what happens with the business of tennis. There are
Speaker 3: all these rumors that the ATP, the WTA, you're going
Speaker 3: to come together.
Speaker 2: Please please when I hear that room where I go,
Speaker 2: please please.
Speaker 5: I don't know you want it to happen.
Speaker 2: I've always want us to be together. I've always thought
Speaker 2: we're more powerful. It's not just what we do on
Speaker 2: the court, it's what we can do off the court
Speaker 2: to make the world a better place.
Speaker 5: Right, and also.
Speaker 2: Where men and women and all a lot of genders
Speaker 2: now are in this world together and we have to
Speaker 2: be together and help each other. We should be four
Speaker 2: each other. I don't care what gender you are.
Speaker 6: It's one sport. You play on the same size court.
Speaker 6: You know, it's sold as a joint asset at the
Speaker 6: big events, right, the media rights, so, but it is
Speaker 6: it's a real challenge. I mean, people have tried for years.
Speaker 6: The thing with tennis, sometimes we get in our own way.
Speaker 6: There's seven organizations, right, you have the four brands, you
Speaker 6: have the ATP, the WTA, you have the International Tennis Federation,
Speaker 6: and everyone kind of has their own agenda. There's no
Speaker 6: commissioner per se.
Speaker 2: They all want a commission And I said, really, we
Speaker 2: have seven organizations.
Speaker 6: And also the calendar goes from January through November. So
Speaker 6: it is a challenge, but it's a great product. When
Speaker 6: the men and women play together, those tournaments are have
Speaker 6: a much higher evaluation. So I think there'll be more
Speaker 6: and more collaboration.
Speaker 3: And it feels like the investment case for CVC, which
Speaker 3: obviously is a big shareholder in the WAA. Now is
Speaker 3: pushing for that? I mean that is there?
Speaker 4: No?
Speaker 6: Yes, right, no, no, of course, no question because I
Speaker 6: think the properties together are well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you have an investment company. I always tell
Speaker 2: all the players, you guys, they have to get their
Speaker 2: investment that right, They're not going to do this just
Speaker 2: for fun. They go, huh. I'm like, that's why why
Speaker 2: I'm to understand the business so they can help.
Speaker 6: But it's great that we have these type of companies
Speaker 6: investing that you have billionaires investing in buying some of
Speaker 6: the tournaments, and we want them to be successful so
Speaker 6: that they don't, you know, kind of fold up their
Speaker 6: tent and leave. So it is important that Tennis gets
Speaker 6: its act together and that we start working together. But
Speaker 6: I really believe that there's a big push towards working
Speaker 6: together because the assets are much more valuable together.
Speaker 3: All right, So we're going to do a rapid fire
Speaker 3: round and we're going to bounce back and forth. But
Speaker 3: we want you each to answer the questions.
Speaker 2: If we I can a lot of probably can.
Speaker 6: Don't count on last question.
Speaker 3: You each answer it, and then you'll ask me, yes, okay,
Speaker 3: I'm more explaining it for myself so that I remember,
Speaker 3: what's one word to describe your deal making style?
Speaker 5: One word?
Speaker 2: What's the word for when we worry about what they
Speaker 2: get as well as what we get? I think partnership, Yeah, partnership.
Speaker 4: Would be good.
Speaker 5: What about you?
Speaker 2: I think? I mean I just kind of walked through that,
Speaker 2: didn't I know. I'm big on on teamwork, working together. Yeah,
Speaker 2: everyone's got to win or else it's not good.
Speaker 4: Okay.
Speaker 7: So what's more important in stincts that gut or actual
Speaker 7: data to make a decision?
Speaker 5: I do use both both, I have to.
Speaker 6: I'm mostly gut.
Speaker 3: What's the hardest part of making a deal? The beginning,
Speaker 3: the middle or getting it closed?
Speaker 2: That's easy?
Speaker 6: Close that is hard. Closing is difficult. But for me,
Speaker 6: if I can get in the door, usually I'm going
Speaker 6: to find a way to close. So it's really getting
Speaker 6: in the door and being able to tell your story
Speaker 6: and build that relationship, you know, build a connection.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 7: All right, So who's your dream deal making partner? One
Speaker 7: person you can make a deal with as your partner?
Speaker 7: Who would that be?
Speaker 5: I think we already have it with Mark Mark Walter.
Speaker 2: I think so look what he's done for us already, all.
Speaker 4: Right, we'll make it fun. Give me another name.
Speaker 6: Besides Mark, I think beyond Mark Walter, I would think
Speaker 6: of the Clara, who's the Sheila Johnson or the Michelle Kansa.
Speaker 3: What's the best deal you've ever made?
Speaker 2: Billy, best deal marrying alone?
Speaker 5: That one's fade off, Yeah, no, it's just it's fright.
Speaker 4: All right.
Speaker 7: So what's the best piece of advice you've received on
Speaker 7: deal making?
Speaker 2: I think Warren Buffet's always been a great guy. I
Speaker 2: think he always talked about friendship, relationships and all that,
Speaker 2: and then he just reinforced the relationships for everything. He
Speaker 2: really did enforce that. I think you've talked him a lot.
Speaker 6: I would say that both people feel like they've won.
Speaker 3: What's the worst advice you've ever been given?
Speaker 6: Ending a deal on a very negative way? And you know,
Speaker 6: walking out or banging the door? Burning a bridge, yes,
Speaker 6: burning a bridge exactly.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're not big on burning bridges. What's the point?
Speaker 4: All right?
Speaker 7: So what's your hype song before a big meeting or
Speaker 7: big negotiation?
Speaker 6: For me, it would probably be simply the best Tina
Speaker 6: tan Okay and I have it too, actually sorry, and
Speaker 6: Frank Sinatra my way.
Speaker 4: Okay, that's good.
Speaker 2: I love Rutha Franklin respect, I love all. I love it.
Speaker 4: If you can watch one sport for the rest of
Speaker 4: your life, but just one. What sport is it?
Speaker 2: Oh my god, you're killing me after you have this discussion?
Speaker 2: Are you kidding?
Speaker 6: I think for me it has to be tennis, because
Speaker 6: tennis gave me everything. Okay, with that tennis, I wouldn't
Speaker 6: be here today. Yeah, I probably agree, But I love
Speaker 6: basketball too. I grow in basketball.
Speaker 5: All right.
Speaker 3: This is an interesting one because of all the teams
Speaker 3: that you guys are involved in, which team do you
Speaker 3: want to see win a championship more than anything?
Speaker 6: I think has to be Dodges.
Speaker 2: Oh god, I'd like to see the Sparks doing better.
Speaker 2: We'ren't the second largest market in the country, right, we
Speaker 2: should have great teams.
Speaker 7: One fun fact about yourself that your colleagues will be
Speaker 7: surprised to hear about.
Speaker 5: We know a lot about you, Billy.
Speaker 2: I think Ilana probably probably. I don't I play. I
Speaker 2: like to play by the rules. Drives are crazy, you know.
Speaker 2: I grew up in a family. My dad was a
Speaker 2: police officer and a firefighter. Really loved his basketball. He's good.
Speaker 2: But we played by the boy rules were really important,
Speaker 2: and everyone thinks I don't play by the rules, but
Speaker 2: I do. I'm like misrule, like don't turn there, we
Speaker 2: shouldn't turn there. It's not not terrible and a lot
Speaker 2: of goes. Nobody would believe what's wrong on here.
Speaker 6: I do all my best thinking when I'm at running jogging.
Speaker 6: I think that changed my life because I could go
Speaker 6: to the distance didn't matter how long. It was all
Speaker 6: for me, and so I still look at running as
Speaker 6: something that I can do that's totally for me.
Speaker 3: Well, I agree with that in part because I went
Speaker 3: for a run this morning, mostly because I was so
Speaker 3: nervous about this interview and I just needed to like
Speaker 3: get in the headspace, take the edge off, just to
Speaker 3: take the edge off.
Speaker 4: And do it outside.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I went running along the Hudson River by
Speaker 3: the house and it was gorgeous and US is beautiful.
Speaker 3: Maybe I did better owing to that, but this was
Speaker 3: a tree. So thank you both. Thanks.
Speaker 2: It's great to be on your show and to see
Speaker 2: both of you and both of you so successful. And
Speaker 2: of course Solana loves to see Alex on Shark Tank.
Speaker 6: She loves it's wonderful. I mean, we get Billy especially
Speaker 6: gets us to do a lot of things, and we
Speaker 6: really wanted to do this.
Speaker 2: We're really pleased for neighbors. It's great. We will you
Speaker 2: know what. A lot of people don't realize we're in
Speaker 2: business though. It's amazing. So we love being on the
Speaker 2: show because we love business. I've been in business since
Speaker 2: nineteen sixty eight. No one knows it that they got
Speaker 2: played Dennis.
Speaker 7: It's amazing how many athletes and people in sports. We
Speaker 7: love talking about business. I mean, we don't ask about
Speaker 7: baseball technique, but we talk about the business. Right meteorized there,
Speaker 7: how's it going? And how is all connected?
Speaker 6: Now?
Speaker 5: Well, thank you so much?
Speaker 2: Thanks, I went over here.
Speaker 1: The Deal is a production from Bloomberg Podcasts and Bloomberg Originals.
Speaker 1: The Deal is hosted by Alex Rodriguez and Jason Kelly.
Speaker 1: Our producers are Anna Maazarakus, Stacey Wong, and Lizzie Phillip.
Speaker 1: Original music and engineering by Blake Maples. Our managing editor
Speaker 1: is David E. Ravella. Our executive producers are Jason Kelly,
Speaker 1: Brendan Francis, Noonham, Jordan Opplinger, Trey Shallowhorn, Kyle Kramer, Andrew Barden,
Speaker 1: Kelly Laferrier, and Ashley Hoenigg. Sage Bauman is our head
Speaker 1: of podcasts, additional support from Rachel Scaramzino and Elena So
Speaker 1: Los Angeles. Joshua Devaux is our director of photography. Rubob
Speaker 1: Shakir is our creative director. Art direction is from Jacqueline Kessler.
Speaker 1: Casting by Julia Manns. Our associate producer is Natasha Abelard,
Speaker 1: Camera operation by Jesse Ridner, Tsine Rabbi and Summa Hussain.
Speaker 1: Our gaffer is Julia Geweski, and our grip is Megan Miller.
Speaker 1: Our production assistant is Gabriella Demataes. Katia Vanoy is our
Speaker 1: video editor. Listen to the Deal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also tune
Speaker 1: into The Video Companion on Bloomberg Originals and on Bloomberg TV.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening.