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Speaker 1: This is the business of sports. The International Olympic Committee

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Speaker 1: for facing a crisis, which sport would you point to

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Speaker 1: and say, put your money here? Where the money is

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Speaker 1: blowing inside sports around the globe as NASCAR's business engine

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Speaker 1: lost some horse problem. Now I'm paying five or ten

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Speaker 1: percent what I used to pay to buy the whole team.

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Speaker 1: Michael Barr. Nothing like a cheap hot dog, which is

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Speaker 1: what you should get. Scott Sasha, how do you put

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Speaker 1: your brand outside of the United States? How do you

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Speaker 1: capture fans around the world? Bloomberg Business of Sports on

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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Radio. We're pleased to have on the program today

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Speaker 1: with Prospect, owner of the Boston Celtics. He bought the

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Speaker 1: team in two thousand two and was previously a partner

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Speaker 1: adventure capital firm Highland Capital Partners. Thank you for joining

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Speaker 1: us with really glad to be on pay Let me

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Speaker 1: see if you remember Wick prior to the season, we

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Speaker 1: were at the NBA Owner's meetings together in the lobby.

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Speaker 1: I said to you, just casual conversation, how's the team

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Speaker 1: look this year? Do you remember what you said back? No,

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Speaker 1: I don't remember specifically, but I probably said I think

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Speaker 1: we're good, but maybe not as good as everybody's making

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Speaker 1: this out to be, you actually said, and I loved it.

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Speaker 1: You said, I've learned after all this time. There are

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Speaker 1: only two answers to that question. There's watchable and there's unwatchable.

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Speaker 1: And you said we're watchable. What does that mean? I

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Speaker 1: guess I had my business hat on then, Like people

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Speaker 1: are gonna be interested in the team, watched the team,

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Speaker 1: come to the games. You enjoyed the team. But you know,

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Speaker 1: you could also say you're either a contender or not

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Speaker 1: a true contender, one of the very very few elite

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Speaker 1: or or or not a true true contender. And it

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Speaker 1: still remains to be seen if we're one of those

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Speaker 1: or not. But we are definitely watchable. But things are

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Speaker 1: certainly trending positively for the Boston Celtics. Absolutely, we're doing uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, we've we've sort of won over the city.

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Speaker 1: I mean, they always love us, but they've got four

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Speaker 1: teams up here to love, and Bill Belichick and Robert

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Speaker 1: Craft and a bunch of Patriots players are coming in.

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Speaker 1: The Red Sox of Bruins come in when they can.

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Speaker 1: You know, it's just a big it's a feeling that

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Speaker 1: we're all in it together up here and it's us

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Speaker 1: against the world. In a sense, I have some heartbreaking

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Speaker 1: memories because I'm a native Detroitter and a big Pistons fan,

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Speaker 1: and I remember those Pistons Celtics matchup and there have

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Speaker 1: been many boxes of Kleenex that were used during those times.

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Speaker 1: Such a rich history with the Celtics, It's amazing. And

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Speaker 1: to say, you know, the Pistons have a great history

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Speaker 1: and they've got some banners up there. I've went to

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Speaker 1: both of our road games in Detroit this year, um

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Speaker 1: at the Palace the last season in the Palace, and uh,

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Speaker 1: i've I've I see the banners in your place as well.

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Speaker 1: It's You've got a great tradition out there. And Tom

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Speaker 1: Gore's the owner, is a good friend of mine. Tom

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Speaker 1: is of course from Platinum Equity. You have a venture

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Speaker 1: capital background. Does that affect ownership groups? We hear sort

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Speaker 1: of the new breed of owning. We keep hearing that

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Speaker 1: new breed private equity. Does it affect the ownership group

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Speaker 1: and the way they go about the business. But when

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Speaker 1: I put this group together fifteen years ago was like yesterday,

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Speaker 1: but it was fifteen years I think we were one

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Speaker 1: of the first to have a bunch of guys come

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Speaker 1: in UM. And we really needed to because the price

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Speaker 1: even back then was already a big price and I

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Speaker 1: certainly didn't have that money. I needed to find some

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Speaker 1: great partners and we found the partnership. We formed it

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Speaker 1: out of, uh, really a bunch of guys in private

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Speaker 1: equity and venture capital coming together and saying, let's invest.

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Speaker 1: But the difference is, uh, certainly in our case that

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Speaker 1: we weren't investing for a financial return. We were really

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Speaker 1: investing for the emotional return of being involved in the

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Speaker 1: Boston team that we thought we might be able to

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Speaker 1: take to a championship someday. UM. So it's really more

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Speaker 1: of an emotional reward or investing as a fan, putting

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Speaker 1: some spare money into, you know, probably a decent investment

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Speaker 1: or a reasonably safe place. But but really we never

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Speaker 1: talked about the finances. We only talked about could we

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Speaker 1: win the championship? And that's been the hallmark of this

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Speaker 1: ownership group ever since. Now, lots of owners say that

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Speaker 1: it's about the emotional and usement. But to understand where

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Speaker 1: you come from, you have to go back to when

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Speaker 1: you were a fan. Your father IRV gross Beeck was

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Speaker 1: founded Continental Cable. You and he went to games correct, Oh, absolutely,

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Speaker 1: and we went to all four sports, though it wasn't

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Speaker 1: just exclusively the Celtics. And then for many years he

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Speaker 1: thought about trying to own a Major League Baseball team,

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Speaker 1: starting with the Red Sox, and uh looked at the

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Speaker 1: Giants and the A's along the way, and then looked

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Speaker 1: at the Red Sox again. So he really gave me

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Speaker 1: the original idea of buying control of a team and

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Speaker 1: came in as a managing partner of the Celtics in

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Speaker 1: two thousand two. I'm very glad to say it's been

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Speaker 1: a real pleasure working directly with my dad for fifteen years.

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Speaker 1: The arena t D Garden. It is now an experience

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Speaker 1: to watch a game. And I've always said this that

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Speaker 1: sports has changed from the fan being at the game,

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Speaker 1: from just getting a hot dog and peanuts to now

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Speaker 1: you experienced so much, from from shows during halftime to

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Speaker 1: the big elaborate scool board. Yeah, it really is. We

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Speaker 1: want you win or lose. We want the fan to

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Speaker 1: feel like they got entertained. And we actually have a

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Speaker 1: family crowd. We really have a bunch of kids in

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Speaker 1: the stands, a bunch of younger people, uh coming in.

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Speaker 1: We really skew young just generally in the NBA. And

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Speaker 1: I think our our crowd at the Celtics is the

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Speaker 1: youngest crowd among the four sports in Boston. Um and so.

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Speaker 1: But but young or old, we're looking to be entertained

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Speaker 1: these days. I'm in my fifties and I like the

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Speaker 1: I like the music, I like the you know, just

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Speaker 1: everything's going on. I like seeing the fans up on

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Speaker 1: the JumboTron when they're shown in their seats, Uh, having fun.

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Speaker 1: It's just kind of infectious. We are chatting with with Grossbeck,

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Speaker 1: owner of the Boston Celtics, and you know what's infectious, Wick,

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Speaker 1: That that's dancing Gino when he comes on to school board.

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Speaker 1: That that's when everybody gets up at that place, right. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: we we like having Gino. That's if we're really winning

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Speaker 1: in a blowout. And by the way, I always like

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Speaker 1: to use co owner and emphasize my partners. But but anyway,

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Speaker 1: back back on track here, Yeah, it's Gino shows up.

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Speaker 1: You know things are going well. You mentioned Detroit earlier, Wick,

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Speaker 1: and they're moving downtown, sharing an arena with the hockey club.

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Speaker 1: It's about a sports and entertainment development and district. We're

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Speaker 1: hearing that a lot these days. It's like a ten pole,

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Speaker 1: whether it's a media play or a real estate play.

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Speaker 1: But the Celtics of the Celtics, can we anticipate moving

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Speaker 1: forward that the Celtics maybe the cornerstone of something bigger

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Speaker 1: some whether it's a real estate development or anchor programming

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Speaker 1: for something else. Is there more to what you hope

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Speaker 1: to accomplish with this team? While I'm looking at my

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Speaker 1: office window right now at the TV Garden which is

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Speaker 1: about a hundred yards away, and there's building going on

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Speaker 1: all around it led by the obviously led by the

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Speaker 1: owners of the Garden and UH and the Boston Bruins,

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Speaker 1: the Delaware North Corporation by partners UH in very many aspects,

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Speaker 1: including the least were tenants in the building, but they

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Speaker 1: are building all around including entertainment, um and residential and

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Speaker 1: office and they're they're best UH position to comment on

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Speaker 1: the development with some massive development, and we're enjoying being

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Speaker 1: in the arena, which is also being renovated and as

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Speaker 1: part of the whole plan. Would it be a better

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Speaker 1: position for you to be an owner of an arena

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Speaker 1: rather than a tendant. I know they have like the

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Speaker 1: yellow seats for the Bruins. You'd think maybe the Celtics

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Speaker 1: would have green seats or maybe we'll just have yellow uniforms.

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Speaker 1: I mean red our back is rolling over. Uh. We

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Speaker 1: we have a great relationship with them, and it's built

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Speaker 1: over the time over the fifteen years, and uh been

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Speaker 1: through several lease renewals and extensions and and really forming

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Speaker 1: closer and closer bonds. And we're really uh pleased with

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Speaker 1: the able the way we've been able to put a

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Speaker 1: competitive team on the court most years and have the

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Speaker 1: whole process work and part of the processes the least

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Speaker 1: we have. The gardens were very happy before we stand.

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Speaker 1: One of the biggest expenses when it comes to owning

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Speaker 1: and operating a team in the NBA players salaries. Wick.

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Speaker 1: How do you keep costs down when teams are paying

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Speaker 1: close to a hundred million dollars in team salary? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I try not to look at those things. They don't

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Speaker 1: even look like salaries anymore. They anymore they look like

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Speaker 1: sort of I don't know, like the national debt, you know,

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Speaker 1: billboard on the on the you know in New York.

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Speaker 1: But basically, um, we have a partnership with the players.

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Speaker 1: We split the revenues roughly fifty fifty with the players,

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Speaker 1: and it's a system that's been in place for a

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Speaker 1: while and it seems to be working for both sides,

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Speaker 1: both partners um. But it's amazing. But I guess the

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Speaker 1: more we're paying the guys, the more obviously that they

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Speaker 1: are bringing into the whole business because we're splitting with them,

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Speaker 1: so you know, we get to keep the same amount

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Speaker 1: on our side, although we have to pay expenses out

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Speaker 1: of it. You know, it just seems to be working.

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Speaker 1: The NBA is really in kind of a golden period

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Speaker 1: right now. Uh, some great players on the court, great

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Speaker 1: fan interest. Um. Really has become a global sport, rivaling

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Speaker 1: Holy Soccer um in terms of international and franchise appreciation

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Speaker 1: everything else. It's just been it's a great time to

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Speaker 1: be in the NBA. And UM, we don't pregradge anybody

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Speaker 1: any any piece of it. Speaking of sharing revenue, Boston

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Speaker 1: is a fierce sports town. There are many fans that

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Speaker 1: are devoted to their teams, which means that they can't

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Speaker 1: get to the game, they'll either catch it on TV

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Speaker 1: or on radio. And those contracts the TV and radio

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Speaker 1: contracts are huge, which has to be a major plus

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Speaker 1: for any sports organization in Boston. Yeah, they've really changed

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Speaker 1: since the time I've been in our local partnership with Comcast.

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Speaker 1: Comcast sports Net, the channel we have here in New England,

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Speaker 1: UM has been successful and and is is well regarded

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Speaker 1: and popular. And then on the national side, we just

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Speaker 1: redid at the league level the national agreements two years

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Speaker 1: ago and they're kicking in this year. Things are really good.

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Speaker 1: We're grateful to the the media partners, and we're especially

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Speaker 1: grateful to the fans who are watching. If they can't

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Speaker 1: come to the games at all, UM, you know, it's

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Speaker 1: a it's a good time, but we we've got to

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Speaker 1: give them a team. Back to the original question, or

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Speaker 1: that is the team watchable? You know, we're we really

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Speaker 1: want Celtic pride to be embodied on the court. We

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Speaker 1: want people to really appreciate our guys and the way

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Speaker 1: they play. And we're doing our best or we're trying

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Speaker 1: hard and hopefully doing our best towards that wake. I'm

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Speaker 1: gonna ask you to read some tea leaves. You just

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Speaker 1: said things are really good. They are because you just

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Speaker 1: locked in that long term TV deal. Perhaps Bob Iger

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Speaker 1: and John Skipper over at ESPN and Disney are not

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Speaker 1: saying things are so great. Can you read some tea

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Speaker 1: leaves as to what the future of these media deals

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Speaker 1: might look like and who might be involved. Well, I

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Speaker 1: can't really read any tea leaves, I guess, and we're

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Speaker 1: just in the early stages of both deals, the local

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Speaker 1: and the national. But I guess I'd say it's it's

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Speaker 1: clear that new um pipes, if you will, new ways

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Speaker 1: people to watch Facebook, Google, Amazon and so on. Um.

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Speaker 1: You know, people are thinking about coming in, but that

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Speaker 1: they you know, and they might try to get live

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Speaker 1: major sports and some you know, certainly, the NFL has

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Speaker 1: made a couple of deals recently with people streaming games

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Speaker 1: and so forth. And we have an NBA League past

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Speaker 1: that streams digitally all over the world and it's very profitable.

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Speaker 1: So I actually have an investment fund with two partners,

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Speaker 1: Causeway Media Partners, and we invest in UH sort of

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Speaker 1: the future trends or emerging trends in UH fans watching

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Speaker 1: sports on mobile devices, and technology enabling sports teams to

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Speaker 1: do various things including put their games out there. So

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Speaker 1: that's I'm investing with my in my spare time in

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Speaker 1: a sense, or halftime in sort of these new media trends.

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Speaker 1: But when it comes to the four major sports in

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Speaker 1: the United States, it's not clear to me what will

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Speaker 1: happen in five fifteen years, and it probably shouldn't even speculate,

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Speaker 1: since I'm under agreement with some great partners right now.

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Speaker 1: In sort of the traditional model, I'm gonna ask a

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Speaker 1: little bit more of a generic question here. I made

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Speaker 1: the mistake about a couple of years ago. I visited

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Speaker 1: the Boston Cape Cod area, which is a beautiful area.

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Speaker 1: That's a mistake. No, no, that's not the mistake. The

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Speaker 1: mistake was I wore a Lions jersey and the guy

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Speaker 1: looked at me and he said, do you know where

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Speaker 1: you are? Like, oh, yeah, I get it. The thing

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Speaker 1: about Boston, the fans are very devoted. You don't hear

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Speaker 1: that pretty much in any other town. You'll hear people

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Speaker 1: complain about the team is like, oh, this team is

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Speaker 1: this and all our team is that. But in the

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Speaker 1: Boston area that you only see that at all. I

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Speaker 1: hope though it's it's kind of done, uh lightly. Most

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Speaker 1: of the time. You know, people are you know, sort

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Speaker 1: of being tough about it. They're just sort of being

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Speaker 1: proud about it, being proud about the Patriots, for example.

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Speaker 1: I guess if you add it up, there's been a

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Speaker 1: I think it's eleven championships one in Boston since two

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Speaker 1: thousand two something like that. I mean, that's just outrageous.

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Speaker 1: And I grew up here in Boston and we had

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Speaker 1: the Celtics winning, and we had the Bruins in the

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Speaker 1: early seventies. Of course we didn't have the Red Sox,

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Speaker 1: didn't have the Patriots winning, and uh, it was kind

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Speaker 1: of a little bit of a more desolate, a little

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Speaker 1: bit more of a waste land um after Larry Bird retired.

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Speaker 1: Certainly the nineties were rough, rough period, and so to

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Speaker 1: have eleven championships and so too, if I'm right on

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Speaker 1: the number is I mean, not even to be able

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Speaker 1: to know the number is ridiculous. So Boston is. We're

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Speaker 1: all pretty proud of these teams. We're lucky to be

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Speaker 1: part of it. We're we're glad to get our one.

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Speaker 1: We'd love to get another one someday and and keep

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Speaker 1: adding to the total. We are chatting with Wick crow Spec,

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Speaker 1: owner of the Boston Celtics, and you can't see Michael Barwick.

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Speaker 1: But the problem wasn't that he was wearing a Lions jersey.

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Speaker 1: It's that he was wearing this medium that was that

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Speaker 1: was the problem. Little kids started running away right after that. Wick.

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Speaker 1: Let's talk about the NBA as a global sport. I

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Speaker 1: know lebron can sell globally. I know Steph Curry can

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Speaker 1: sell globally. Is it more difficult to sell the Celtics

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Speaker 1: internationally because you don't have a real breakout star. You

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Speaker 1: have a great team and a marketing brand. Though the

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Speaker 1: brand was built overseas for years and years and years

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Speaker 1: by Red Auerbach and he and he and when he

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Speaker 1: was here, he was here four years with us. Uh

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Speaker 1: in the early parts of the ownership. We brought him

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Speaker 1: back to be team president, which he should always have

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Speaker 1: been and Uh I had the honor of working with

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Speaker 1: Red for four years. Um but I heard all the

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Speaker 1: stories about going to Moscow, going to Spain. The dream

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Speaker 1: team was in Spain with Larry Bird. And when we

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Speaker 1: take the Celtics overseas, people go absolutely crazy like no

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Speaker 1: other NBA franchise. And it builds off the past to

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Speaker 1: build up Red and Larry and the Bill Russell in

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Speaker 1: the past of the Celtics and so um. We were

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Speaker 1: in uh, Spain and Italy a couple of years ago

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Speaker 1: and the people turned out. Um in you know, thousands

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Speaker 1: and thousands and thousands of people turned out. We're going

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Speaker 1: back overseas next year. I can't disclose quite yet what

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Speaker 1: we're doing, but we go back every couple of years,

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Speaker 1: one place or another, and the reception is unbelievable for

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Speaker 1: the Celtics. So um, it's it's an NBA's individual stars,

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Speaker 1: but it's also team legacies. I want to pivot to

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Speaker 1: sort of the intellectual capital of Boston. We hear about

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Speaker 1: analytics these days. You hired a coach and Brad Stevens,

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Speaker 1: he was the first to utilize analytics in such a

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Speaker 1: heavyweight in college, had a specific person on his staff

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Speaker 1: devoted to analytics. I hear that the teams in Boston

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Speaker 1: actually have a cooperative spirit. The Patriots will share with

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Speaker 1: the Celtics, will share with the Bruins best practices. Of course,

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Speaker 1: all the intellectual capital the universities in the area, that

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Speaker 1: that's a contributing factor to why Boston teams win. What

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Speaker 1: can you tell me about that? Well, I guess I

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Speaker 1: think that's true. I don't know the details of what

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Speaker 1: the other teams are doing. I can tell you generally

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Speaker 1: what we do with the Bruins, and I've talked about

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Speaker 1: our working together over at the Garden just in many

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Speaker 1: different ways. Uh, at the Red Sox and the Patriots

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Speaker 1: back in the day, we're sharing season ticket lists with

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Speaker 1: things with us and doing promotions co promotions with us

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Speaker 1: to try to help us when we are in a downtime.

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Speaker 1: Right Why when we took the team over and had

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Speaker 1: eleven thousand people sitting in an eighteen thousand, six four set,

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Speaker 1: you know stadium, right when we bought the team, um

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Speaker 1: so tried to help us get going. But the camaraderie

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Speaker 1: among the ownership and front office staffs among the teams

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Speaker 1: is real and it's unprecedented. I've really not seen it

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Speaker 1: in other cities in the States. But so we do

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Speaker 1: work together in terms of data and analytics. To really

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Speaker 1: tell you for sure I know what we're learning from

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Speaker 1: the Patriots or the Red Sox about analytics, um I

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Speaker 1: would probably be the wrong person. I have to ask

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Speaker 1: our assistant GM, Mike's Erin. I've spoken with with Mike

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Speaker 1: many times on the subject, including up at the Sloan

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Speaker 1: Analytics Conference in Boston that is co founded by a

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Speaker 1: member of the Patriots team and a member of the

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Speaker 1: Houston Rockets team, Darryl Moray. Are you more up to

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Speaker 1: buy into analytics because of your background in finance that

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Speaker 1: you don't have to be sold on it by a coach? Yeah? Well,

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Speaker 1: I actually hired Darryl into the league out of parts

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Speaker 1: and non consulting in two thousand two when he originally

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Speaker 1: helped just as a diligence analyst on our acquisition of

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Speaker 1: the Celtics. So I brought him in to the NBA.

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Speaker 1: It's my fault in a sense, but Darryl is a

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Speaker 1: great guy and um, and now, as you say, is

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Speaker 1: the GM of the Rockets. Uh, I'm I'm sold on

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Speaker 1: doing things right or doing things as you know, better

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Speaker 1: than everybody else if we possibly can. But not being

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Speaker 1: stuck in the past. And analytics in basketball. Uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: it's growing importance and and we're totally embracing it. Fantasy

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Speaker 1: sports that has always been a big proponent of many sports,

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Speaker 1: from the NFL to Major League Baseball to NBA. Many

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Speaker 1: people play fantasy sports and people know the players in

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Speaker 1: an intricate way because of fantasy sports. But I'm wondering

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Speaker 1: if it's a double edged sword in your mind. No,

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Speaker 1: we like fan engagement. We like we'd like fantasy sports.

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Speaker 1: We're happy to have fans um engage with us and

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Speaker 1: pay attention to what we do. You know, there are

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Speaker 1: a lot of games in the season. There are aged

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Speaker 1: two regular season games, and some of those games in

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Speaker 1: you know, December, January, February. You know, you're sort of

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Speaker 1: far away from the playoffs. Um. You know, we we

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Speaker 1: want people to stay engaged and have the games remain

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Speaker 1: relevant to them, And maybe fantasy has something to do

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Speaker 1: with keeping people of a certain age, at least the

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Speaker 1: younger people kind of fired up about the games and

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Speaker 1: the team and the players. But I don't I don't

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Speaker 1: see any downsides myself to fantasy sports. I really don't,

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Speaker 1: UM have any comment on sort of the legality of it.

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Speaker 1: In different states, it seems to be trending more positively.

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Speaker 1: But um, I'm not heavily involved into other people probably

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Speaker 1: better to comment unt of that than I am. But

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Speaker 1: I have a generally benevolent view of fantasy sports and

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Speaker 1: even of gambling. I think following our Commissioner Adam Silver's lead. Um,

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Speaker 1: you know, I think eventually regulated you know, in a

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Speaker 1: sense safe and clean. Uh. You know, gaming with respect

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Speaker 1: to sports teams is probably a good way for state

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Speaker 1: local governments to race revenue. Um, and it's probably gonna

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Speaker 1: be okay with us if we if we can get

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Speaker 1: it right. I think we think we can get it

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Speaker 1: right someday. It will also drive fan engagements. Just one

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Speaker 1: of those things that will drive engagement as well. Right,

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Speaker 1: you touched on causeway media. I'd like to just look

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Speaker 1: back at it because it sort of ties into this.

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Speaker 1: How do you reach fans around the world. For folks

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Speaker 1: don't know. You're also involved in Formula E, which is

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Speaker 1: sort of electric Formula one racing flow sports you can

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Speaker 1: get if your track and field aficionado, you can get

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Speaker 1: almost any race, any meat anywhere in the world. Is

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Speaker 1: this where we're headed sort of no more broadcasting, but

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Speaker 1: narrowcasting where I can get what we want to this

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Speaker 1: we think at least for let's take the example of

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Speaker 1: Formula E and flow. You know, they're definitely not the

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Speaker 1: mainstream sports. Uh. You know, racing is a mainstream sport,

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Speaker 1: but formula is much smaller than our competitor Formula one,

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Speaker 1: but growing, you know, really nicely and doing very very

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Speaker 1: well the next races this weekend in Monica, uh, and

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Speaker 1: then the week after that in Paris, downtown Paris, to

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Speaker 1: be able to race hundred fifty cars you know, badged

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Speaker 1: you know in the teams include Jaguar and BMW and

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Speaker 1: Audi you know, some amazing racing names um around the

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Speaker 1: streets of downtown Paris. What you couldn't do with combustion

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Speaker 1: cars is really truly extraordinary, is pretty cool business. But

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Speaker 1: Flow is broadcasting actually twenty two different sports. We have

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Speaker 1: twenty two different sports verticals that's growing unbelievably fast. So

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Speaker 1: it's totally a streaming network, uh and collection of um

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Speaker 1: not niche sports, but you know, I mean niche perhaps,

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Speaker 1: but another way would be uh, you know, specialty sports.

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Speaker 1: And people are paying monthly and yearly subscriptions to subscribe

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Speaker 1: to Flow to watch their favorite sports. It's a great

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Speaker 1: business model, great management team. We're really excited about those

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Speaker 1: two investments. I want to get more into Formula E

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Speaker 1: because anybody who has not seen this sport it is

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Speaker 1: It's one of the coolest things I've ever seeing. I'm

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Speaker 1: a big racing fan, and you're watching pure electric cars

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Speaker 1: with a lot of torque going on different tracks around

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Speaker 1: the world. The cars are so quiet, you just basically

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Speaker 1: here the squeal of the tires, not like you do

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Speaker 1: with the regular combustion engines. And I just want to

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Speaker 1: expand more on that. Like you said, this is going

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Speaker 1: to catch on, and we're going to see telecast of

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Speaker 1: this more than just like at midnight or one am.

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Speaker 1: This is going to be really in the prime time

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Speaker 1: one day. Well, I hope you're right, and I appreciate

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Speaker 1: I appreciate you following it. You know. We we started

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Speaker 1: this season in downtown Hong Kong right on the water

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Speaker 1: which was spectacular. As I say, We're going through Monico

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Speaker 1: in Paris, Berlin, after that double header in Montreal, which

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Speaker 1: is cool, and then a double header in Brooklyn, so

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Speaker 1: on the waterfront, Brooklyn Navy Yard right there with the

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Speaker 1: Manhattan skyline in the background. So actually, uh, Formula one

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Speaker 1: style racing, um, you know, in the streets of New

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Speaker 1: York City, which hasn't happened ever, um, And we're pretty

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Speaker 1: excited about that. That's mid JULYI so the sport is

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Speaker 1: taking off a bit. We're still working hard on it. Um,

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Speaker 1: we're not going to declare victory, just like I'm not

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Speaker 1: declaring victory for the Celtics. But we really love the

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Speaker 1: way formula is going. And what's cool about it in

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Speaker 1: a pit stop is that, unlike combustion cars where you're

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Speaker 1: putting in the fuel and changing the tires, you just

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Speaker 1: changed the whole car. You just get the driver gets

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Speaker 1: up from one car to another car and then you're off.

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Speaker 1: That's fully charged. Yeah, that's right. And and uh and

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Speaker 1: as you know, in front of the one, they don't

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Speaker 1: even fuel anymore. They feel like it's dangerous, so they

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Speaker 1: just give the fuel for at the beginnings. That's sort

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Speaker 1: of gone but in either sport. But yeah, in two seasons,

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Speaker 1: our new batteries come in and we'll use the same

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Speaker 1: car for the whole race. It's we're actually driving electric

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Speaker 1: vehicle technology and trying to actually help the environment while we're, um,

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Speaker 1: you know, trying to amaze people with some great racing.

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Speaker 1: So we are in fact developing the world's best batteries

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Speaker 1: and we'll be able to in the full hour at

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Speaker 1: d you know, fifty or so miles an hour on

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Speaker 1: the same car, which is gonna be absolutely amazing. Well,

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Speaker 1: if you can put one in my iPhone, I would

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Speaker 1: appreciate it. But you gave me a perfect segue before

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Speaker 1: Wick when you talked about going in Brooklyn in the

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Speaker 1: Navy Yards. That happens to be with a practice facility

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Speaker 1: for the Brooklyn Nets. Is you swung a deal with

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Speaker 1: the Nets? Now you here are a playoff team, and

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Speaker 1: playoff teams are not supposed to have the best chance

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Speaker 1: at winning the lottery and getting the best player in

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Speaker 1: college basketball. But that's where you sit. Can you remember

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Speaker 1: when you swung this deal for Garnett and Pierce and

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Speaker 1: all these I don't know, I think you got like

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Speaker 1: four D draft picks from the Brooklyn Nets. What do

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Speaker 1: you remember how excited you were to complete that deal,

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Speaker 1: because it really is setting you up for the future. Well,

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Speaker 1: I'd like, I have to be honest, I remember every

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Speaker 1: word of it, um And it was, you know, tween

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Speaker 1: and a half years ago or four years or whatever.

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Speaker 1: It was a bunch of years ago, but I remember

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Speaker 1: I remember the deal clearly. But let's be honest, and

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Speaker 1: that UH felt like they had a very good chance

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Speaker 1: of putting together a great team and being very very competitive,

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Speaker 1: and they did put together a great team and it

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Speaker 1: was competitive. It just didn't get all the way. Um.

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Speaker 1: But they and and we we all figured, including on

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Speaker 1: our side, that there the draft picks they were giving

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Speaker 1: us might not be worth all that much in the

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Speaker 1: scheme of things. They might be towards the end of

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Speaker 1: the first round, because the Nets had a chance to

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Speaker 1: be a really good team for a while, a good

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Speaker 1: long while. And so we never felt that this was

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Speaker 1: a you know, lopsided deal. In fact, we felt like

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Speaker 1: they worked hard to get a fair price and and

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Speaker 1: so did we. So I just don't think it's it's

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Speaker 1: right to look back at it um in any other

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Speaker 1: way than than to say, sometimes things work out, you know,

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00:24:43,720 --> 00:24:45,560
Speaker 1: one way or another, but you can't always predict it

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00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:47,720
Speaker 1: back at the time. Well, certainly worked out for you

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Speaker 1: this time with grows Back, owner of the Boston Celtics.

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Speaker 1: Thank you very much for taking the time. Thank you, sir.

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Speaker 1: I appreciate you. Guys. This is Bloomberg Business of Sports

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00:24:54,960 --> 00:24:58,119
Speaker 1: on Bloomberg Radio around the world. We are here each

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00:24:58,160 --> 00:25:01,040
Speaker 1: and every week at the same time, exploring the world

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00:25:01,280 --> 00:25:04,560
Speaker 1: money and sports. I'm Michael barn and I'm Scott Sashnik.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us. Please tune in next week when

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Speaker 1: we talk tech, real estate, and hoops with l A

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00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:10,200
Speaker 1: Clipper's owner Steve Balmer.