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Speaker 1: Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where I'll never

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Speaker 1: stop talking about doing the Ellie Stump with Ellie the

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Speaker 1: Elephant on stage at the Women's Sports Foundation Gala. I

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Speaker 1: don't know that i'd call what I did dancing within

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Speaker 1: the endless retellings of the story four plus four because

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Speaker 1: I absolutely hate that. It's Friday, October twenty fourth, and

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Speaker 1: on today's show, we'll be talking to President of the

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Speaker 1: Portland Fire WNBA expansion team, Claire Hamil about how she's

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Speaker 1: preparing for her team's looming tip off amidst an uncertain

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Speaker 1: off season, the hiring of inaugural head coach Alex Sarama,

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Speaker 1: and how the New Portland Fire planned to engage with

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Speaker 1: the legacy of the og Portland Fire. Plus shouting across

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Speaker 1: a Void, a gymnastics streak continues and Brondello is back.

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Speaker 1: It's all coming up right after this. Welcome Backslices, Happy Friday.

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Speaker 1: Here's what you need to know today to the WNBA,

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Speaker 1: Sandy Brondelo is expected to be named as the Toronto

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Speaker 1: Tempo first ever head coach.

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Speaker 2: Brondelo, who was.

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Speaker 1: Fired by the New York Liberty last month following the

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Speaker 1: team's first round exit from the playoffs, reportedly received interest

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Speaker 1: from multiple organizations before she picked the Canadian based expansion side.

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Speaker 1: The news of Brondelo's first gig was reported by Howard

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Speaker 1: Megdal of The Nine on Wednesday and later confirmed by.

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Speaker 2: Multiple other outlets.

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Speaker 1: Brondelo's hiring is expected to be officially announced in the

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Speaker 1: coming days.

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Speaker 2: More WNBA coaching news.

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Speaker 1: The Dallas Wings are expected to hire longtime University of

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Speaker 1: South Florida women's basketball coach Jose Fernandez as their new

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Speaker 1: head coach, though an official signing has not yet occurred

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Speaker 1: as of this taping. Arriving at USF in two thousand,

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Speaker 1: Fernandez posted a four eighty five and three seventeen record

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Speaker 1: and led the Bulls to ten NCAA tournament appearances, including

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Speaker 1: eight in the last eleven years. ESP Nation was the

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Speaker 1: first to report this news. Fernandez will be the Wing's

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Speaker 1: fifth coach in seven years, succeeding Chris Coklanis, who was

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Speaker 1: fired in September after just one year with the team.

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Speaker 1: More WNBA and an update on the state of CBA negotiations,

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Speaker 1: with the current October thirty first deadline just over a

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Speaker 1: week away. In the last few days, the league and

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Speaker 1: the Players Association issued a series of contradictory statements highlighting

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Speaker 1: the tense state of the negotiations. First on Tuesday, during

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Speaker 1: an interview on The Today Show, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver

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Speaker 1: was asked by NBC's Craig Melvin if you thought WNBA

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Speaker 1: players should receive a larger share of the revenue.

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Speaker 2: Take a listen.

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Speaker 3: They get a nine percent of total revenue compared to

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Speaker 3: roughly fifty percent of the revenue of NBA players. Should

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Speaker 3: they be getting a larger share of the revenue in

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Speaker 3: the WNBA? Yes, I mean I think the share isn't

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Speaker 3: the right way to look at it, because there's so

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Speaker 3: much more revenue in the NBA. I think you should

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Speaker 3: look at absolute numbers in terms of what they're making,

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Speaker 3: and they are going to get a big increase in

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Speaker 3: this cycle of collective bargaining and they deserve it.

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Speaker 1: The Players Association took issue with Silver's use of quote

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Speaker 1: unquote absolute numbers here, replying on social media writing quote

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Speaker 1: don't want to share at Adam Silver. Then on Wednesday morning,

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Speaker 1: the league issued a statement which read quote, as the

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Speaker 1: WNBA has stated repeatedly, we agree with the players that

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Speaker 1: they deserve to be paid more and importantly, to participate

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Speaker 1: in the success and growth of the league by sharing

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Speaker 1: in revenue. The comprehensive proposal we provided to the Players

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Speaker 1: Association includes both significant guaranteed salary cap increases and substantial

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Speaker 1: uncapped revenue sharing that enables player salaries to grow as

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Speaker 1: the league's business grows.

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Speaker 2: End quote.

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Speaker 1: So WNBPA Executive director Terry Jackson replied with a statement

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Speaker 1: of her own, saying, in part quote, what the league

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Speaker 1: and teams are really trying to do is not only

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Speaker 1: limit the cost of labor, but also contain it through

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Speaker 1: an artificial salary system that isn't tied to the business

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Speaker 1: the players are building in any real or meaningful way.

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Speaker 2: You know they know.

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Speaker 1: It's bad when the best they say they can do

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Speaker 1: is more of the same, a fixed salary system and

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Speaker 1: a separate revenue sharing plan that only includes a piece

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Speaker 1: of the pie and pays themselves the league back.

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Speaker 2: First, We've come to the table prepared to do business.

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Speaker 1: They've responded with bad math and are hoping everyone does

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Speaker 1: an under stand what uncapped actually means end quote. Essentially,

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Speaker 1: this all gets back to the quote unquote main thing

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Speaker 1: that WNBPA Council Aaron Drake said last week on this

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Speaker 1: very show, revenue share is the main thing, but it

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Speaker 1: appears the league and players still have philosophically divergent opinions

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Speaker 1: on what that revenue share process and percent should look like.

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Speaker 1: The back and forth continued after Terry Jackson's statement, as

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Speaker 1: the WNBA rebutted again Wednesday night, issuing a statement to

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Speaker 1: multiple media outlets that said, quote, it is frustrating and

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Speaker 1: counterproductive for the union to be making misrepresentations about our proposals,

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Speaker 1: while also accusing the League of engaging in delay. That

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Speaker 1: is simply not true. While we have delivered comprehensive proposals

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Speaker 1: that seek an agreement that will benefit all the players,

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Speaker 1: Association has yet to offer a viable economic proposal and

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Speaker 1: has repeatedly refused to engage in any meaningful way on

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Speaker 1: many of our proposal terms. We stand ready to continue

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Speaker 1: negotiating in good faith and hope they will do the

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Speaker 1: same so that we can finalize a mutually beneficial new

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Speaker 1: CBA as quickly as possible.

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Speaker 2: End quote deep side.

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Speaker 1: We'll have to see what the coming days hold, but

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Speaker 1: it sure feels like there are still miles to go

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Speaker 1: before a new deal is reached. If you're up for

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Speaker 1: some more reading on these ongoing negotiations and the issues

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Speaker 1: of the w there's a really good ESPN piece quoting

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Speaker 1: anonymous owners, execs, and players on issues including Commissioner Kat

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Speaker 1: the Engelbert's future, the officiating of the league, and the CBA.

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Speaker 1: One team executive set of Commissioner Engelbert's public feud within

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Speaker 1: the Visa Collier and the loud booze she received during

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Speaker 1: the WNBA finals quote, Once you have that kind of

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Speaker 1: fighting with your best players, it's a.

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Speaker 2: Death spiral end quote.

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Speaker 1: One team owner took issue with Collier's tactics, telling ESPN quote,

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Speaker 1: I can't stand what Collier did. That was a private conversation.

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Speaker 1: It makes me not want to fire Kat the Engelbert,

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Speaker 1: even though I think.

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Speaker 2: She should be fired end quote.

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Speaker 1: When it comes to the CBA negotiations, one team execs said,

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Speaker 1: disagreements are rooted in some team owners just owning WNBA clubs,

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Speaker 1: while others have different priorities because of their involvement in

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Speaker 1: an MNBA team too, said the source quote, I think

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Speaker 1: you have some teams that view it as an enterprise level,

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Speaker 1: meaning the appreciation of the teams and the growth of

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Speaker 1: the league, and you'll have some teams think about it

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Speaker 1: like cash flow and if I have this expense, what.

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Speaker 2: Does it mean for my bottom line?

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Speaker 1: A lot of times that comes down to how people

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Speaker 1: think about their business as an investment versus a true

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Speaker 1: business on the day to day end quote. There's a

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Speaker 1: lot more really interesting stuff in there, So we'll link

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Speaker 1: to that ESPN store in the show notes if you

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Speaker 1: want to read more more. WNBA Golden State Valkyrie's president

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Speaker 1: and friend of the show, Jess Smith, has been awarded

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Speaker 1: the inaugural WNBA Business Executive Leadership Award. The new award

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Speaker 1: is given to a team president who demonstrates quote exceptional

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Speaker 1: leadership in driving meaningful business transformation end quote. Smith, who

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Speaker 1: previously helped launch Angel City in the NWSL, helped the

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Speaker 1: Valkyries break a record after record in their inaugural season,

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Speaker 1: including setting new WNBA records for average attendance and total attendance,

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Speaker 1: selling out all twenty two regular season home games. Smith

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Speaker 1: also signed an impressive roster of founding partners, oversaw the

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Speaker 1: team's local broadcast partnership, and launched impactful community engagement initiatives,

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Speaker 1: driving dollars to the Golden State Community Foundation and to

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Speaker 1: Bay Area Youth. Now I'm admittedly biased, but I've said

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Speaker 1: it before and I'll say it again. I would go

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Speaker 1: to battle behind Jess Smith any day. And if you're

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Speaker 1: a team or a business trying to figure out how

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Speaker 1: to thrive in the women's sports space, she is your

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Speaker 1: north star.

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Speaker 2: A very well deserved honor to soccer.

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Speaker 1: The US women's national team continues its trio of international

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Speaker 1: friendlies this Sunday with a second contest against Portugal. Now

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Speaker 1: we're recording this ahead of game one with Portugal on

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Speaker 1: Thursday night, so we're not yet sure whether the US

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Speaker 1: will be looking to get revenge or keep up the

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Speaker 1: momentum on Sunday, but should be a good watch either way.

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Speaker 1: Ahead of the match, which will be played in East Hartford, Connecticut,

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Speaker 1: US Soccer will honor Connecticut native and goalkeeper extraordinaire Alissa Nayer,

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Speaker 1: who retired from international soccer last year. She still plays

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Speaker 1: for her club, Chicago Stars FC. That game gets underway

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Speaker 1: at four pm Eastern and you can watch on TNT,

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Speaker 1: True TV, and HBO, Max, Ta Vibes, and Major League Volleyball,

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Speaker 1: the league that absorbed Slash merged with slash quote unquote

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Speaker 1: continues the pre existing Pro Volleyball Federation league. We're not

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Speaker 1: entirely sure exactly what happened there, to be honest, but

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Speaker 1: basically it's Major League Volleyball now.

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Speaker 2: Anyway.

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Speaker 1: They've been solidifying details ahead of the twenty twenty six season,

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Speaker 1: including revealing the name and venue of its new Dallas

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Speaker 1: based team, the Pulse, which will play its home matches

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Speaker 1: at Comerica Center in Frisco. The Pulse will also have

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Speaker 1: the first overall pick in the league's upcoming draft, which

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Speaker 1: is scheduled for November twenty fourth to gymnastics, Angelina Melnikova,

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Speaker 1: competing as a neutral athlete from Russia, won the women's

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Speaker 1: all around title at the World Gymnastics Championships on Thursday,

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Speaker 1: just etging American Leanne Wong by one tenth of a point.

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Speaker 1: It marks the second time that Malnikova defeated.

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Speaker 2: Wog to win the all around it.

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Speaker 1: Worlds, as the two athletes also finished one two back

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Speaker 1: in twenty twenty one. Wong was an fourth heading into

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Speaker 1: her final rotation, the vault, and opted to compete a

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Speaker 1: difficult Cheng vault to give her the best chance of

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Speaker 1: finishing on the podium, and with her silver medal, Wong

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Speaker 1: helps continue a US gymnastics streak. Since two thousand and three,

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Speaker 1: at least one American woman has made the all around

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Speaker 1: podium at every Olympics and World Championships. That's twenty three

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Speaker 1: straight championships in a row. The World Gymnastics Championships continue

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Speaker 1: through Saturday with the apparatus finals. We'll link to the

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Speaker 1: full schedule in the show notes. To golf, the LPGA's

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Speaker 1: team match play competition, the Hanwa Life Plus International Crown,

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Speaker 1: continues this weekend in South Korea. The bi annual event

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Speaker 1: is a four day competition featuring eight teams each with

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Speaker 1: four players. Thailand is the defending champion, having defeated Australia

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Speaker 1: two years ago when the event was in San Francisco.

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Speaker 1: Seven nations are represented this year, the United States, Australia, Thailand, China, Japan,

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Speaker 1: South Korea, and Sweden, while the eighth team, Team World

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Speaker 1: is composed of the four best players from nations that

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Speaker 1: didn't qualify a team. We'll link to the full event

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Speaker 1: broadcast schedule in the show notes. Finally, Forbes ranked the

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Speaker 1: top twenty five most powerful women in sports, and somehow

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Speaker 1: they neglected to include any of the members of Big Citrus,

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Speaker 1: Big Miss if you ask me anyway. The top three

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Speaker 1: spots go to an NFL SLASH, NBA owner and execs

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Speaker 1: from fan Duel and Nike, but some athletes and execs

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Speaker 1: from the women's sports base rate pretty high too. Indiana

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Speaker 1: Fever guard Caitlin Clark takes top honors for an athlete

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Speaker 1: at number four, followed by unrivaled co founders and Fisa

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Speaker 1: Collier and Brianna Stewart at number nine, and Michelle Kang,

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Speaker 1: a multi team owner and investor with the Washington Spirit

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Speaker 1: in her portfolio, sits at number five, with nwsl commissioner

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Speaker 1: Jessica Berman at number seven. I'm still scrolling, but I

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Speaker 1: don't see Katy Engelbert's name yet.

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Speaker 2: Hmm. We'll link to the list in the show notes.

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Speaker 1: We got to take a quick break when we come back.

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Speaker 1: Tattoos and failed retirements.

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Speaker 2: With Claire Hamill.

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Speaker 1: Joining us now, she's the interim president of the Portland

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Speaker 1: WNBA expansion team.

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Speaker 2: She enjoyed a.

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Speaker 1: Forty three year career at Nike, including roles as the

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Speaker 1: VP and GM of Nike's Women's Business, VP of North

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Speaker 1: American Sales, and retail, and as the executive sponsor for

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Speaker 1: the Women in Nike program, which recruited more than seventy

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Speaker 1: retired professional women athletes to the company, the founding board

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Speaker 1: chair of the nonprofit organization Children's Cancer Association. She did

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Speaker 1: her undergrad at the University of New Hampshire and got

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Speaker 1: her master's at Penn State, and her commitment to the

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Speaker 1: fire was solidified two months ago when she got the

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Speaker 1: team's rose logo tattooed on her left forearm.

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Speaker 2: It's Claire Hamill High Claire.

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Speaker 4: Hey, Hi Sarah, thanks for having me.

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Speaker 2: Still confident in the tattoo.

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Speaker 5: Any regrets, No, no, no, just last night out at

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Speaker 5: a bar, people asking me to see the tattoo. So

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Speaker 5: it's it's good. It's my calling card now, no regrets.

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Speaker 2: I love it.

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Speaker 1: So you tried to retire but it didn't stick. How

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Speaker 1: many days or weeks did we actually get?

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Speaker 4: Six months? Actually? But yeah, no, I'm not bad.

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Speaker 5: I still consider failed a bit at retirement, though my

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Speaker 5: daughters described this job as the perfect retirement job, so

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Speaker 5: you know, we'll see. But no, this was something I

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Speaker 5: couldn't say no to. It's too exciting.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, there are some really prominent female execs at the

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Speaker 1: highest levels, one in particular who has told me that

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Speaker 1: she thinks every single woman, in particular, but person should

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Speaker 1: take at least six months off at some point really

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Speaker 1: high in their career to get some perspective and decide

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Speaker 1: if they're doing what they want, going the direction that

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Speaker 1: they want, spending the time the way that they want.

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Speaker 1: Yours came a little late, but you still got that

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Speaker 1: six month break before you dove back in.

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Speaker 4: I actually had one other break.

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Speaker 5: It wasn't with the intention of retiring, but it was

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Speaker 5: just well timed where I took. I don't know if

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Speaker 5: it was six months, but it was three or four.

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Speaker 5: And I agree with you. I mean, I think, particularly

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Speaker 5: as you get later in your career, it's good to

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Speaker 5: almost every year take a little bit of a check

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Speaker 5: in on you know, am I living to what I

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Speaker 5: want to do? Might be an intentional about this, And

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Speaker 5: certainly retiring and having six months I don't know made

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Speaker 5: it even clearer and made it easier even to say, yes.

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Speaker 2: I do love that.

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Speaker 1: Most people's retirement jobs are like Walmart greeter or community service.

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Speaker 1: So why is being the president of a whole lass

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Speaker 1: team the perfect job for you? According to your daughters.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, a whole lass team.

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Speaker 5: Well, and I've never led a team before either, so

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Speaker 5: there was that, you know, So yeah, it kind.

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Speaker 4: Of fits with me. You know.

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Speaker 5: I think I have passions, particularly around women's sports, women's

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Speaker 5: basketball Portland, and a bit of a track record of

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Speaker 5: saying yes to.

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Speaker 4: Wow, are you really even qualified for that? And jumping

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Speaker 4: into it.

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Speaker 5: And learning and loving it. So I don't think that

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Speaker 5: many people are all that surprised by it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I have to say there was a

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Speaker 1: lot of early kind of question about Portland, mainly just

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Speaker 1: because being on the same timeline as the Toronto Tempo

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Speaker 1: in terms of both tipping off next season, it felt

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Speaker 1: like the Tempo were ahead of y'all in terms of

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Speaker 1: putting together a front office and getting things going. And

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Speaker 1: when I saw that you were the replacement for Inky's son,

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Speaker 1: who was the franchise's first president, hired back in April

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Speaker 1: but lasted just three months in the role before the

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Speaker 1: team moved on, I felt confident that someone with your

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Speaker 1: background was the right person to step in, albeit a

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Speaker 1: little late, but to be able to get.

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Speaker 2: The right things done.

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Speaker 1: Did you have any concerns about joining an org that

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Speaker 1: had an early shake up at the top like that.

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Speaker 5: No, No, I'd had a chance to meet Inky, and

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Speaker 5: you know, I think it didn't work out, But you know,

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Speaker 5: I didn't have any concerns. I mean, I've jumped into

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Speaker 5: a lot of pretty complex things and things that I

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Speaker 5: cared a lot about, but I knew were going to

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Speaker 5: be a lot of work and a lot of learning.

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Speaker 5: And this definitely is a lot of work and a

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Speaker 5: lot of learning, but I didn't know.

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Speaker 4: I didn't have concerns about that.

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Speaker 5: In fact, I think the city was ready for somebody

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Speaker 5: to come in that they knew, and somebody who had

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Speaker 5: a huge track record around women's basketball and who they

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Speaker 5: knew could build a great team if I think about it.

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Speaker 5: And that's kind of what I hear all the time,

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Speaker 5: and just trying to live up to that right now.

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Speaker 1: So after that slow start on the business ops and

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Speaker 1: front office front the fires that have been pretty busy

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Speaker 1: lately adding employees prepping for season one next year, the

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Speaker 1: team just announce the hiring of head coach Alex Sarama,

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Speaker 1: who's known for his embrace of the constraints led approach,

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Speaker 1: which I mentioned on a previous show. Did a little

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Speaker 1: explainer on it sounds fascinating. What was it about Alex

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Speaker 1: that made him the choice to be this team's inaugural coach?

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Speaker 5: Yeah, I think it's completely consistent with what we've been

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Speaker 5: saying we want to do. We want to make Portland

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Speaker 5: the global epicenter of women's sports.

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Speaker 4: We want to be modern basketball.

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Speaker 5: We hired a GM who is that, who has an

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Speaker 5: incredible basketball mind, who's driving us towards this CLL approach

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Speaker 5: that Alex has. But it's also consistent with us wanting

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Speaker 5: to innovate, right. We want to be the future. The

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Speaker 5: performance center that we're building that, the coach ties to that,

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Speaker 5: the people were hiring ties to that. So it's one

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Speaker 5: hundred percent online with the strategy that we have to

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Speaker 5: be the future.

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Speaker 1: I wasn't familiar with the constraints let approach, but I

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Speaker 1: read up on some of the folks who swear by it.

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Speaker 1: Very successful athletes, very successful teams. Did you know much

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Speaker 1: about it before you started vetting him?

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Speaker 5: No, not that much, But he'd written a book, and

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Speaker 5: so we all started to dive in a bit to

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Speaker 5: reading the book. And you know, actually pretty funny. I

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Speaker 5: thought I knew quite a bit about basketball, and now

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Speaker 5: I've started to be around folks like Vanya and Alex

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Speaker 5: and I'm like, whoa, I know, like so little really,

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Speaker 5: like these guys are like brainiac basketball minds and great

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Speaker 5: team builders and from when I can see really good people.

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Speaker 5: So no, I'm still figuring it out. Like we had

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Speaker 5: to do a sort of mini video just to show

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Speaker 5: people like what it was, which is actually super helpful.

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Speaker 5: So we actually have a little cheat sheet video if

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Speaker 5: you I want to see it, and.

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Speaker 4: It's super helpful.

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Speaker 5: But no, it's it wasn't something I knew a lot about,

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Speaker 5: but we feel great about it.

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Speaker 2: I would love to see that video.

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Speaker 1: I think I like this story you're telling about wanting

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Speaker 1: to be a modern team. We're hearing a lot in

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Speaker 1: the WNBA about teams turning toward folks that can consider

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Speaker 1: more of what we've seen on the NBA side, that

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Speaker 1: positionless basketball. Was there any conversation about prioritizing the hiring

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Speaker 1: of a woman head coach? Did you think about how

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Speaker 1: to balance best person for the job while also understanding

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Speaker 1: that there aren't enough women head coaches at the professional

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Speaker 1: and collegiate level.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 5: Absolutely, And you know, Bonya ran a great process with

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Speaker 5: the owners and interviewed. You know a number of folks

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Speaker 5: that had quite a few folks, and Alex is exactly

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Speaker 5: the coach that.

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Speaker 4: We want around where we want to go with basketball.

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Speaker 5: And obviously everybody's focused on accelerating women in leadership, nobody.

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Speaker 4: More than me. But when you have the right coach

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Speaker 4: and you have the best person for the job, that's

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Speaker 4: where you go.

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Speaker 2: You keep mentioned it's Chernyevich.

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Speaker 5: When she says it, it sounds a little different than

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Speaker 5: when I say it.

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Speaker 2: But.

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Speaker 1: I know every time I go back and listen to

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Speaker 1: her saying and then try to repeat it, and I'm like, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I can't do that. But she was hired back in August,

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Speaker 1: named gm at the team after a year with the

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Speaker 1: Golden State Valkyries as vice president of basketball ops and

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Speaker 1: she worked under valx Gmohema nine and who put together

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Speaker 1: this very international team. Nearly half their roster was born

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Speaker 1: outside the US. You talk about having a modern approach,

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Speaker 1: is that part of what you mean embracing international talent?

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Speaker 1: Is that also going to be a priority for the

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Speaker 1: fire Is that? Is it depending on where the skills

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Speaker 1: and the players are that are going to fit what

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Speaker 1: you want to create in terms of a team.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, for sure the latter. You know, this is going

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Speaker 4: to be quite a year for picking a team.

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Speaker 5: First of all, we don't even know when all the

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Speaker 5: dates are yet, but let's assume we start rolling here

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Speaker 5: at some point soon.

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Speaker 4: There's a lot of free agents.

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Speaker 5: There's definitely an influx of more international players playing in

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Speaker 5: the league, and so it's great to have somebody who

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Speaker 5: knows that side of the business so well. But it's

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Speaker 5: not specifically the strategy. I think the strategy will be

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Speaker 5: to build the right team, and again, there's going to

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Speaker 5: be a lot of players to look at this year.

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Speaker 1: Let's talk about the uncertainty you mentioned this offseason, the

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Speaker 1: WNBPA and the WNBA are negotiating a new CBA, so

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Speaker 1: the expansion draft and the timing on that is affected

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Speaker 1: the tremendous number of free agents. I keep saying it

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Speaker 1: on the show, but there's less than a handful of

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Speaker 1: players that are veterans in this league signed to contracts.

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Speaker 1: Everybody else is up for staying where there are going

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Speaker 1: somewhere else. So there's so much that's influx as timelines

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Speaker 1: remain unclear, and yet you're expected to continue building toward

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Speaker 1: a tip off next season. So how are you most

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Speaker 1: affected right now by the fact that this deal has

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Speaker 1: not gotten done.

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Speaker 4: That's a good question. You know, we're planning as if

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Speaker 4: things are going to roll generally in.

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Speaker 5: The timelines that happened last year for the Valkyries as

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Speaker 5: an expansion team. So I mean, we are laser focused

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Speaker 5: on that first game in May, right, and you know,

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Speaker 5: we don't have a schedule yet, the schedule release hasn't

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Speaker 5: come out, but we're focused on that, like, we want

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Speaker 5: to deliver the absolute best game experience for our fans, right,

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Speaker 5: So we're focused on the fans, and then we're just

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Speaker 5: getting ready, like we're just getting prepared for expansion draft,

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Speaker 5: for free agency, for releasing jerseys and all the things

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Speaker 5: you do along the way to that start of the season.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, obviously, behind the scenes, you can be

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Speaker 1: scouting players, you can be looking at rosters trying to

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Speaker 1: figure out who might be protected and who might not be.

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Speaker 2: You can, you know, do all of that stuff.

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Speaker 1: But in the meantime, do you sort of put a

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Speaker 1: little more time and focus into culture merch rollout community

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Speaker 1: engagement because you have to maybe sit and wait a

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Speaker 1: little on some of the other stuff.

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Speaker 5: Well, the good news is now that we have Vanya

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Speaker 5: and Alex, we also hired Ashley Battle, who's going to

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Speaker 5: be in a really unique role as a VP of

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Speaker 5: strategy and Innovation. They've definitely are hunkering down, so there's

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Speaker 5: within the constraints of what they can do now they're

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Speaker 5: building a game plan. We also hired the SVP of

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Speaker 5: Marketing from the Valkyries. Happy to say the Valkyrie is

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Speaker 5: still like us, even though we have hired a few

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Speaker 5: good people from them, and so far laser laser focused.

439
00:21:15,560 --> 00:21:16,680
Speaker 4: Yeah, so far, so far.

440
00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:23,240
Speaker 5: Jen still takes my calls, but laser focused on you know, fans,

441
00:21:23,280 --> 00:21:27,680
Speaker 5: fan engagement, fan acquisition. We just went out to start

442
00:21:27,720 --> 00:21:31,320
Speaker 5: selling tickets and so the communication with that and then

443
00:21:31,400 --> 00:21:35,840
Speaker 5: getting ready for as Kimberly calls it, the three hour show.

444
00:21:35,880 --> 00:21:39,320
Speaker 5: We have to put on twenty three nights in the summer,

445
00:21:39,520 --> 00:21:42,480
Speaker 5: so we've got both paths going.

446
00:21:43,080 --> 00:21:46,720
Speaker 1: You know, you talk about the putting on a show,

447
00:21:46,760 --> 00:21:51,119
Speaker 1: the telling a story, the performance of basketball. How do

448
00:21:51,160 --> 00:21:54,040
Speaker 1: you see the relationship between the original Portland Fire, the

449
00:21:54,119 --> 00:21:56,119
Speaker 1: w team that played three seasons from two thousand to

450
00:21:56,160 --> 00:21:57,080
Speaker 1: two thousand and two.

451
00:21:57,160 --> 00:21:58,560
Speaker 2: And this new incarnation.

452
00:21:58,680 --> 00:22:01,240
Speaker 1: How does that come into play as being creative and

453
00:22:01,280 --> 00:22:03,800
Speaker 1: thoughtful around what it's going to look like for fans

454
00:22:03,840 --> 00:22:05,040
Speaker 1: this next season.

455
00:22:05,280 --> 00:22:08,080
Speaker 5: Well, it's great to have that, right, So, I mean,

456
00:22:08,160 --> 00:22:09,879
Speaker 5: what's not great is that we had to wait twenty

457
00:22:09,880 --> 00:22:13,320
Speaker 5: five years in Portland to get the Fire back. But

458
00:22:13,920 --> 00:22:16,320
Speaker 5: what is great is there is a legacy and there

459
00:22:16,400 --> 00:22:18,400
Speaker 5: is a team, and so we're definitely going to pull

460
00:22:18,440 --> 00:22:21,800
Speaker 5: some threads back to that as we also set ourselves

461
00:22:21,880 --> 00:22:24,680
Speaker 5: up to be the future some of the original players,

462
00:22:24,680 --> 00:22:26,600
Speaker 5: a player like Jackie Stiles, who was one of the

463
00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:28,640
Speaker 5: most popular players in the league.

464
00:22:29,080 --> 00:22:30,399
Speaker 4: We've already been talking.

465
00:22:30,160 --> 00:22:33,600
Speaker 5: To her and so I think it'll give us a

466
00:22:33,600 --> 00:22:37,159
Speaker 5: lot of strength. I think there's multiple consumer segments and

467
00:22:37,240 --> 00:22:40,880
Speaker 5: some segments had tickets back in two thousand and we're

468
00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:43,879
Speaker 5: at the arena and saw Jackie play, and then you

469
00:22:43,920 --> 00:22:45,520
Speaker 5: have a lot of new fans and you want to

470
00:22:45,560 --> 00:22:47,760
Speaker 5: tell those stories as you move forward.

471
00:22:47,920 --> 00:22:49,879
Speaker 4: So it's going to give us a lot of strength.

472
00:22:49,880 --> 00:22:52,200
Speaker 5: We're definitely going to play, definitely going to play into

473
00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:54,119
Speaker 5: it for sure, and maybe even try to get all

474
00:22:54,160 --> 00:22:57,359
Speaker 5: those players to the first game. So we're still, yeah,

475
00:22:57,400 --> 00:22:59,320
Speaker 5: I know that'd be fun talking about it.

476
00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:03,120
Speaker 1: And there's such a great culture of women's sport in

477
00:23:03,200 --> 00:23:06,199
Speaker 1: Portland despite that team being gone for so long, because

478
00:23:06,240 --> 00:23:10,800
Speaker 1: obviously Portland Thornons shared ownership between the Thorns and the Fire,

479
00:23:11,359 --> 00:23:14,600
Speaker 1: how much do you want to try to reach out

480
00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:17,960
Speaker 1: to and use the fact that you've already got the information, emails,

481
00:23:18,320 --> 00:23:21,080
Speaker 1: phone numbers all that for the fans that are already

482
00:23:21,080 --> 00:23:22,000
Speaker 1: going to Thorn's games.

483
00:23:22,440 --> 00:23:24,720
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, it's a strength to have both teams. I

484
00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:29,560
Speaker 5: mean we are literally sharing the same hallway, So it's

485
00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:31,840
Speaker 5: the Thorns have done a fantastic job. Have you ever

486
00:23:31,840 --> 00:23:34,600
Speaker 5: been to a Thorn's game or anybody who has, it's crazy.

487
00:23:34,640 --> 00:23:38,680
Speaker 5: I mean it's twenty plus thousand, you know, it's all

488
00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:42,560
Speaker 5: sorts of rituals and rivalry noise and it's super fun.

489
00:23:42,680 --> 00:23:45,480
Speaker 5: So yeah, the good news is there's a really strong

490
00:23:45,880 --> 00:23:49,160
Speaker 5: poll for women's sports in Portland, and I think it's

491
00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:54,199
Speaker 5: both the existing Thorns fans and new fans. So the

492
00:23:54,240 --> 00:23:57,800
Speaker 5: good news is we can share information, we can cross promote,

493
00:23:57,960 --> 00:23:59,640
Speaker 5: we can you know, do.

494
00:23:59,640 --> 00:24:01,160
Speaker 4: Things together, we can do things apart.

495
00:24:01,240 --> 00:24:03,359
Speaker 5: We want to do like a big rivalry weekend together

496
00:24:03,400 --> 00:24:06,600
Speaker 5: where we both play against Seattle, for example. So there's

497
00:24:06,640 --> 00:24:09,560
Speaker 5: lots of fun things we can do together and definitely

498
00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:13,679
Speaker 5: impacting the community and growing the fan base together is

499
00:24:13,680 --> 00:24:14,800
Speaker 5: a priority for sure.

500
00:24:15,400 --> 00:24:18,040
Speaker 1: When I was out in Portland for the conference a

501
00:24:18,080 --> 00:24:21,400
Speaker 1: couple months ago with leaders from Nike and the Thorns

502
00:24:21,480 --> 00:24:23,720
Speaker 1: and the Fire and everyone else talking about wanting to

503
00:24:23,720 --> 00:24:26,080
Speaker 1: be sort of the global epicenter for women's sport, I

504
00:24:26,160 --> 00:24:29,000
Speaker 1: was so fascinated by the conversations around the creation of

505
00:24:29,040 --> 00:24:31,840
Speaker 1: the joint facility. My thought was, you know, are the

506
00:24:32,680 --> 00:24:34,960
Speaker 1: fireside of things going to be taller, the mirrors will

507
00:24:34,960 --> 00:24:37,320
Speaker 1: be hired, the chairs will be taller than the Thorn side.

508
00:24:37,480 --> 00:24:40,480
Speaker 1: But also that I really want like a reality show

509
00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:43,760
Speaker 1: featuring all of the players from both teams both as

510
00:24:43,840 --> 00:24:46,440
Speaker 1: like what kind of training tips do they give each other,

511
00:24:46,440 --> 00:24:49,720
Speaker 1: what kind of friendships arise, what kind of romantic relationships arise?

512
00:24:49,760 --> 00:24:53,000
Speaker 1: Like there's just so much potential content there. To have

513
00:24:53,080 --> 00:24:57,840
Speaker 1: these amazing professional players in one place. Remind me of

514
00:24:57,840 --> 00:25:00,000
Speaker 1: the timeline of when that building's open, because I think, right,

515
00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:03,040
Speaker 1: and now, you're sharing like offices, but that facility is

516
00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:04,000
Speaker 1: still a couple of years out.

517
00:25:04,320 --> 00:25:08,520
Speaker 5: Yeah, we're sharing offices. But when the facility is completely finished,

518
00:25:08,600 --> 00:25:12,119
Speaker 5: all the Thorns staff, all the Fire staff, and all

519
00:25:12,160 --> 00:25:14,639
Speaker 5: the teams, everything will be in one place. It's going

520
00:25:14,720 --> 00:25:17,120
Speaker 5: to be a staged rollout and it's going to begin

521
00:25:17,280 --> 00:25:21,080
Speaker 5: in February and roll through the spring. So the goal

522
00:25:21,160 --> 00:25:23,000
Speaker 5: is to be in there and have everybody in there

523
00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:25,320
Speaker 5: playing as close to the start of the season for the.

524
00:25:25,280 --> 00:25:26,280
Speaker 4: Fire as possible.

525
00:25:26,400 --> 00:25:27,440
Speaker 2: So fantastic.

526
00:25:27,520 --> 00:25:31,480
Speaker 5: We're still moving fast towards that. But yeah, no, it's

527
00:25:31,480 --> 00:25:35,200
Speaker 5: going to be great. And you mentioned the reality show

528
00:25:36,480 --> 00:25:40,200
Speaker 5: my experience at Nike anytime you get athletes together, women

529
00:25:40,240 --> 00:25:43,440
Speaker 5: athletes together, Like when I was running the women's business,

530
00:25:43,520 --> 00:25:45,720
Speaker 5: we invited like twenty five athletes into town. We got

531
00:25:45,760 --> 00:25:48,800
Speaker 5: them all together, The things they talk about, the things

532
00:25:48,800 --> 00:25:51,440
Speaker 5: they share, the sort of common level they start at

533
00:25:51,720 --> 00:25:54,960
Speaker 5: around talking. I think it's going to be incredibly fun

534
00:25:55,040 --> 00:25:58,800
Speaker 5: to see these athletes together. And yes, we did have

535
00:25:58,840 --> 00:26:00,960
Speaker 5: to think about making sure there was the right height

536
00:26:01,040 --> 00:26:04,520
Speaker 5: for all the w girls and comfortable for everybody, but

537
00:26:06,080 --> 00:26:07,879
Speaker 5: I think the girls are I think the girls are

538
00:26:07,880 --> 00:26:08,760
Speaker 5: going to love being together.

539
00:26:09,359 --> 00:26:12,720
Speaker 1: You mentioned that you spent four decades at Nike Women's Sports,

540
00:26:12,880 --> 00:26:15,760
Speaker 1: women's athletes, that was your focus. What do you think

541
00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:18,960
Speaker 1: people still get wrong about women professional athletes or what

542
00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:21,600
Speaker 1: do you want to make sure that you bring to

543
00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:23,639
Speaker 1: the table now that you're in a position of power

544
00:26:23,760 --> 00:26:27,920
Speaker 1: to not just be in the ecosystem as part of Nike,

545
00:26:28,040 --> 00:26:30,000
Speaker 1: but to actually be running a team and helping make

546
00:26:30,080 --> 00:26:33,760
Speaker 1: decisions that could change anything from how they practice, how

547
00:26:33,800 --> 00:26:36,600
Speaker 1: the teams are marketed, how the business is done at

548
00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:36,960
Speaker 1: the top.

549
00:26:37,920 --> 00:26:40,000
Speaker 5: Oh, that's a good question. There's I know, there's probably

550
00:26:40,040 --> 00:26:43,639
Speaker 5: a couple things. I think the one thing that people

551
00:26:43,680 --> 00:26:46,199
Speaker 5: might get wrong, though, I think that's changing fast, is

552
00:26:46,240 --> 00:26:49,400
Speaker 5: that this notion that there are more than basketball players

553
00:26:49,680 --> 00:26:52,960
Speaker 5: that the you know, when you watch an Angel Reese,

554
00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:56,120
Speaker 5: for example, build a sort of whole brand and ecosystem

555
00:26:56,160 --> 00:27:01,320
Speaker 5: around herself, and how much that's impacting the business of basketball.

556
00:27:01,720 --> 00:27:03,920
Speaker 5: You know, back in ninety six when we did Cheryl

557
00:27:03,920 --> 00:27:06,720
Speaker 5: Swoop shoe, it was hard to even sell a women's

558
00:27:06,760 --> 00:27:09,400
Speaker 5: basketball shoe. There was nobody was really saying the league

559
00:27:09,480 --> 00:27:12,240
Speaker 5: was strong, the athletes were great, but nobody believed in

560
00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:13,320
Speaker 5: the business of it.

561
00:27:13,400 --> 00:27:14,159
Speaker 4: And if you.

562
00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:17,520
Speaker 5: Fast forward, what's happened is the business is way beyond

563
00:27:17,560 --> 00:27:18,240
Speaker 5: on the court.

564
00:27:18,520 --> 00:27:20,080
Speaker 4: It's the culture of basketball.

565
00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:23,240
Speaker 5: It's all the brands, and so I think that piece

566
00:27:23,280 --> 00:27:24,120
Speaker 5: of it's a big deal.

567
00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:25,800
Speaker 4: I think we want to get that right.

568
00:27:25,840 --> 00:27:27,879
Speaker 5: We want to build a brand in the fire and

569
00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:33,040
Speaker 5: with the athletes that is more than basketball, that you know,

570
00:27:33,040 --> 00:27:35,840
Speaker 5: where the players can all build their brands and have

571
00:27:35,880 --> 00:27:36,359
Speaker 5: an impact.

572
00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:38,920
Speaker 4: I think there's that you mentioned the performance side.

573
00:27:39,560 --> 00:27:41,080
Speaker 5: I think there's a lot of work to do to

574
00:27:41,119 --> 00:27:44,040
Speaker 5: do more research around women's sports, and you probably heard

575
00:27:44,040 --> 00:27:46,679
Speaker 5: a little bit about that when you're at Nike for

576
00:27:46,760 --> 00:27:50,959
Speaker 5: the Epicenter event. And we want to definitely in that

577
00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:54,080
Speaker 5: performance center, partner up with folks like Nike and others

578
00:27:54,119 --> 00:27:57,400
Speaker 5: to push the agenda around research. I mean, there's still

579
00:27:57,440 --> 00:27:59,680
Speaker 5: too many players getting injured, Like how do we think

580
00:27:59,680 --> 00:28:02,560
Speaker 5: about out that, how do we affect training, how do

581
00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:05,240
Speaker 5: we work with the coaches. I still think there's a

582
00:28:05,280 --> 00:28:09,040
Speaker 5: lot to do there. And you know, those are two

583
00:28:09,119 --> 00:28:10,439
Speaker 5: things I'm thinking about.

584
00:28:11,240 --> 00:28:13,320
Speaker 1: You mentioned the brand and it being sort of cultural,

585
00:28:13,359 --> 00:28:15,040
Speaker 1: and that's one of the things I love most about

586
00:28:15,280 --> 00:28:17,879
Speaker 1: the last five ten years, maybe even a little bit longer,

587
00:28:17,960 --> 00:28:21,680
Speaker 1: is the shift to women athletes being cool being the

588
00:28:21,720 --> 00:28:24,159
Speaker 1: thing that the culture looks to. Whether that's from the

589
00:28:24,200 --> 00:28:26,840
Speaker 1: tunnel fits or the merch or whatever it is, it

590
00:28:26,840 --> 00:28:30,720
Speaker 1: has shifted in that way. Same goes for WNBA brands

591
00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:32,880
Speaker 1: and women's sports. Brands in general, so there's a lot

592
00:28:32,920 --> 00:28:35,160
Speaker 1: more that gets put into the creative behind that.

593
00:28:35,720 --> 00:28:40,200
Speaker 2: I love your logo. I think it is so sick.

594
00:28:40,240 --> 00:28:42,640
Speaker 1: But I'm curious about the colors because they're really similar

595
00:28:42,960 --> 00:28:45,600
Speaker 1: to the MNBA team in town, the Portland Trailblazers. Was

596
00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:48,080
Speaker 1: there a desire to sort of align with them and

597
00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:51,200
Speaker 1: basketball in the city as opposed to establishing a very

598
00:28:51,240 --> 00:28:53,320
Speaker 1: unique brand in presence that sits away from.

599
00:28:53,200 --> 00:28:55,160
Speaker 4: Them, Again, a very good question.

600
00:28:55,360 --> 00:28:58,200
Speaker 5: So I don't think we're going to lean into red,

601
00:28:58,240 --> 00:29:01,200
Speaker 5: for example, as our primary color, but it is. What's

602
00:29:01,240 --> 00:29:04,760
Speaker 5: really good about the color red in our logo is

603
00:29:04,760 --> 00:29:05,960
Speaker 5: it actually ties back to.

604
00:29:05,920 --> 00:29:07,480
Speaker 4: The original fire colors too.

605
00:29:07,800 --> 00:29:11,959
Speaker 5: So when if you imagine you saw a red jersey,

606
00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:14,160
Speaker 5: for example, it could be a really great way to

607
00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:18,720
Speaker 5: tie back to where the og Fire jerseys were. So

608
00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:21,680
Speaker 5: reds in the colors for a couple reasons, and not

609
00:29:22,160 --> 00:29:24,880
Speaker 5: specifically because we wanted to tie to the Blazers, but

610
00:29:24,920 --> 00:29:27,160
Speaker 5: there's certainly nothing wrong with that.

611
00:29:27,320 --> 00:29:28,800
Speaker 4: I think you'll see us leaning.

612
00:29:28,520 --> 00:29:31,240
Speaker 5: Into some of that glacier blue that you see at

613
00:29:31,240 --> 00:29:33,360
Speaker 5: the top of the rose in the logo. I could

614
00:29:33,360 --> 00:29:35,600
Speaker 5: show you my tattoo and we could walk right through

615
00:29:35,640 --> 00:29:38,840
Speaker 5: those colors that you want it. You'll see that you

616
00:29:38,920 --> 00:29:41,960
Speaker 5: saw that rose color quite a bit. They're just looking

617
00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:44,840
Speaker 5: at court designs and uniforms for twenty seven because we're

618
00:29:44,840 --> 00:29:47,920
Speaker 5: going to do twenty six and twenty seven new uniforms,

619
00:29:48,840 --> 00:29:51,400
Speaker 5: so there'll be a mix of colors. They'll be red

620
00:29:51,400 --> 00:29:53,240
Speaker 5: in it, which will give us some nice ties, but

621
00:29:53,480 --> 00:29:55,400
Speaker 5: we're going to lean into some other colors as well.

622
00:29:56,080 --> 00:29:58,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, obviously red makes sense both for fire

623
00:29:58,720 --> 00:30:02,320
Speaker 1: and also for Row City, and then the Thorns have read.

624
00:30:02,360 --> 00:30:04,000
Speaker 1: It's sort of like you can't escape it in a

625
00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:05,240
Speaker 1: city that's called the Rose City.

626
00:30:05,280 --> 00:30:06,680
Speaker 2: You got to have a little bit of it in there,

627
00:30:07,680 --> 00:30:07,920
Speaker 2: you know.

628
00:30:08,080 --> 00:30:12,240
Speaker 1: I've had such an incredible interest in how you create

629
00:30:12,320 --> 00:30:14,640
Speaker 1: something from scratch. Now, obviously the Portland Fire does have

630
00:30:14,680 --> 00:30:16,440
Speaker 1: a history to build off of, but you're still trying

631
00:30:16,480 --> 00:30:19,479
Speaker 1: to create something new in this moment. I've loved talking

632
00:30:19,520 --> 00:30:22,320
Speaker 1: to Jess Smith about building the Valkyries. I've loved talking

633
00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:25,480
Speaker 1: to Teresa Rish about building the Toronto Tempo. Are you

634
00:30:25,600 --> 00:30:28,240
Speaker 1: in communication with those folks in particular? I know in

635
00:30:28,280 --> 00:30:31,560
Speaker 1: women's sports there's a lot of sharing of information because

636
00:30:31,600 --> 00:30:33,600
Speaker 1: of rising tide lift cell boats, it is of course

637
00:30:33,640 --> 00:30:36,840
Speaker 1: competitive like any sport, but it's also about making sure

638
00:30:36,880 --> 00:30:37,959
Speaker 1: everybody succeeds.

639
00:30:38,120 --> 00:30:40,080
Speaker 2: Are you talking to, in particular.

640
00:30:39,680 --> 00:30:42,800
Speaker 1: Those other recent expansion teams and current expansion teams about

641
00:30:42,800 --> 00:30:44,960
Speaker 1: how they're rolling things out or asking for advice on

642
00:30:45,040 --> 00:30:45,560
Speaker 1: what's working.

643
00:30:47,560 --> 00:30:48,520
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean.

644
00:30:49,920 --> 00:30:53,280
Speaker 5: I think probably talked to Teresa or texted or emailed

645
00:30:53,280 --> 00:30:56,200
Speaker 5: her like two or three days ago. So yes, I think.

646
00:30:56,840 --> 00:30:58,360
Speaker 5: And as I already said, we hired a couple of

647
00:30:58,360 --> 00:31:01,760
Speaker 5: great people away from Jess. So yeah, I mean the

648
00:31:01,840 --> 00:31:05,400
Speaker 5: Valkyrie crushed it. I mean they raised the bar, not

649
00:31:05,640 --> 00:31:07,880
Speaker 5: just for expansion teams but.

650
00:31:07,960 --> 00:31:08,880
Speaker 4: For every team.

651
00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:12,080
Speaker 5: I mean in the brand they built, how they created Valhalla,

652
00:31:12,160 --> 00:31:15,280
Speaker 5: what they did with that brand, how they brought fans in,

653
00:31:16,880 --> 00:31:19,400
Speaker 5: they absolutely crushed it. They crushed it as it relates

654
00:31:19,440 --> 00:31:24,560
Speaker 5: to results as well, in filling the arena, in season

655
00:31:24,640 --> 00:31:28,680
Speaker 5: tickets and merch. So that playbook, they just busted it

656
00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:31,400
Speaker 5: open and did it. They did it in a great way.

657
00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:33,600
Speaker 5: And I think it's because they had, Yeah, they have

658
00:31:33,720 --> 00:31:35,800
Speaker 5: the backing of the Warriors and all that, and they

659
00:31:35,800 --> 00:31:37,760
Speaker 5: have a great city, but they had a bit of

660
00:31:37,760 --> 00:31:40,440
Speaker 5: a clean slate to do it right for their fans,

661
00:31:41,160 --> 00:31:43,640
Speaker 5: and they started with the fans. And I think one

662
00:31:43,680 --> 00:31:45,040
Speaker 5: of the things I learned at Nike is if you

663
00:31:45,080 --> 00:31:46,560
Speaker 5: start with athletes, you usually.

664
00:31:46,360 --> 00:31:47,520
Speaker 4: Get it right.

665
00:31:47,600 --> 00:31:49,600
Speaker 5: And if you in this business, to me, it feels

666
00:31:49,600 --> 00:31:51,560
Speaker 5: like if you start with what's right for the fans,

667
00:31:51,600 --> 00:31:54,680
Speaker 5: which is what the Valkyries did, and who are they

668
00:31:54,720 --> 00:31:57,360
Speaker 5: and how do we engage them and how do we

669
00:31:57,400 --> 00:32:00,720
Speaker 5: get them to come back and back and even told me,

670
00:32:00,760 --> 00:32:02,760
Speaker 5: and then Kimberly, of course what works for us now

671
00:32:03,480 --> 00:32:05,440
Speaker 5: said that they went at it like we want this

672
00:32:05,520 --> 00:32:07,800
Speaker 5: experience to be so great for fans that even if

673
00:32:07,800 --> 00:32:10,480
Speaker 5: we don't win, they're going to come back. Well, the

674
00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:14,240
Speaker 5: good news is they want right, which it was crazy good.

675
00:32:15,160 --> 00:32:16,840
Speaker 5: And then Teresa and I are talking all the time.

676
00:32:16,880 --> 00:32:18,760
Speaker 5: We're both a little bit in the same boat. We're like,

677
00:32:19,120 --> 00:32:21,280
Speaker 5: oh my god, we don't even know the schedule quite yet,

678
00:32:21,280 --> 00:32:24,080
Speaker 5: but we need to figure all these things out so

679
00:32:25,400 --> 00:32:28,440
Speaker 5: and honestly, Sarah, and that this might surprise people, and

680
00:32:28,480 --> 00:32:31,080
Speaker 5: you just mentioned it, the amount of support from all

681
00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:34,320
Speaker 5: the presidents, Like I was just leaning into the Fever

682
00:32:34,440 --> 00:32:38,040
Speaker 5: team around how they've done merchandising, for example, and just

683
00:32:38,200 --> 00:32:41,720
Speaker 5: open arms like, no problem, let's get together, let's connect

684
00:32:41,720 --> 00:32:45,040
Speaker 5: on that let's talk about what we've learned. So I

685
00:32:45,400 --> 00:32:48,160
Speaker 5: do think that's maybe a bit unique in women's sports,

686
00:32:48,280 --> 00:32:50,080
Speaker 5: but it's definitely been my experience.

687
00:32:50,680 --> 00:32:52,040
Speaker 1: You know. One of the things that we talked to

688
00:32:52,120 --> 00:32:55,800
Speaker 1: Teresa about was when the WNBA website accidentally leaked at

689
00:32:55,800 --> 00:32:59,000
Speaker 1: their name dropped down in the list of teams, and

690
00:32:59,040 --> 00:33:02,280
Speaker 1: how sheirasponded and kind of treats a moment like that.

691
00:33:02,360 --> 00:33:04,280
Speaker 2: And I'm curious for you. You've seen a couple of

692
00:33:04,320 --> 00:33:05,320
Speaker 2: weeks from the team.

693
00:33:05,400 --> 00:33:07,480
Speaker 1: There was a LinkedIn post that broke the news about

694
00:33:07,880 --> 00:33:11,000
Speaker 1: coach saramas hiring. There were trademark filings over the summer

695
00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:12,880
Speaker 1: that shared the team name and logo ahead of the

696
00:33:12,880 --> 00:33:15,880
Speaker 1: official announcement. We love getting that news early because we

697
00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:17,680
Speaker 1: like to talk about it on the show. But we're

698
00:33:17,680 --> 00:33:19,920
Speaker 1: guessing that's not how you planned for the rollout. So

699
00:33:20,320 --> 00:33:23,560
Speaker 1: what's your sort of approach or ethos to handling circumstances

700
00:33:23,600 --> 00:33:26,040
Speaker 1: like that where things don't go as planned in life?

701
00:33:26,080 --> 00:33:28,160
Speaker 1: We're in work, and I imagine the first thing you

702
00:33:28,200 --> 00:33:30,360
Speaker 1: do is go try to figure out why they happened

703
00:33:30,640 --> 00:33:31,880
Speaker 1: in a way that you hadn't planned.

704
00:33:32,640 --> 00:33:35,040
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, certainly I've learned over my forty years at

705
00:33:35,120 --> 00:33:38,080
Speaker 5: Nike that it doesn't always go exactly as you planned,

706
00:33:40,120 --> 00:33:41,719
Speaker 5: but you know, I think you want to learn from it.

707
00:33:41,840 --> 00:33:44,440
Speaker 4: I mean, you know, this business is team business.

708
00:33:44,520 --> 00:33:47,440
Speaker 5: I'm seeing it's a little unique from where I've been

709
00:33:47,560 --> 00:33:51,720
Speaker 5: in the just the sheer amount of social and the

710
00:33:51,760 --> 00:33:55,040
Speaker 5: power of social media and just the amount of information

711
00:33:55,160 --> 00:33:57,800
Speaker 5: everybody wants to absorb all the time, and how much

712
00:33:57,840 --> 00:34:00,560
Speaker 5: news it is. And you'd think Nike would have the same,

713
00:34:00,600 --> 00:34:03,120
Speaker 5: but it's different. It was definitely a little different.

714
00:34:03,200 --> 00:34:03,560
Speaker 4: And so.

715
00:34:05,400 --> 00:34:07,520
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think, you know, it wasn't exactly how we

716
00:34:07,560 --> 00:34:09,640
Speaker 5: planned it, and you know, we made a mistake in

717
00:34:09,680 --> 00:34:12,080
Speaker 5: that we fixed it quick. The trick is don't do

718
00:34:12,120 --> 00:34:14,839
Speaker 5: it again, so to learn from your mistakes. But you

719
00:34:14,840 --> 00:34:19,000
Speaker 5: know what, there's mistakes. They happen, you know, and so yeah,

720
00:34:19,080 --> 00:34:21,080
Speaker 5: I tried to de escalate it a little bit and

721
00:34:21,120 --> 00:34:23,480
Speaker 5: then let's just let's just figure out how to do

722
00:34:23,560 --> 00:34:26,719
Speaker 5: better and keep moving. So in the end we ended

723
00:34:26,800 --> 00:34:29,279
Speaker 5: up in the end, it's ended up great. But no,

724
00:34:29,360 --> 00:34:32,680
Speaker 5: that's not what you want to have happened. But we

725
00:34:32,800 --> 00:34:35,160
Speaker 5: try not to make it into it just a completely

726
00:34:35,200 --> 00:34:37,400
Speaker 5: bad news experience, like, Okay, this happened.

727
00:34:37,440 --> 00:34:39,640
Speaker 4: It was a mistake, let's keep moving well.

728
00:34:39,680 --> 00:34:43,040
Speaker 2: And also neither of them is a super big deal.

729
00:34:43,080 --> 00:34:45,080
Speaker 1: I mean, of course you'd like to roll it out yourself,

730
00:34:45,120 --> 00:34:47,640
Speaker 1: but if you make the mistakes on things that don't

731
00:34:47,640 --> 00:34:50,120
Speaker 1: matter as much, then you're in position to hopefully not

732
00:34:50,239 --> 00:34:52,800
Speaker 1: make those same mistakes about something that does matter, whether

733
00:34:52,840 --> 00:34:56,479
Speaker 1: that's I don't know, an athletes, medical information or news

734
00:34:56,520 --> 00:34:58,680
Speaker 1: of a fir ring, like something that you really would

735
00:34:58,760 --> 00:35:02,000
Speaker 1: rather not have be reacted to and responded to before

736
00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:04,239
Speaker 1: you get the narrative that you want out. And so

737
00:35:04,840 --> 00:35:07,600
Speaker 1: now you kind of hopefully in theory, have systems in

738
00:35:07,640 --> 00:35:10,040
Speaker 1: place or figure out where the leads are and you

739
00:35:10,080 --> 00:35:11,680
Speaker 1: know who hit the button or whatever.

740
00:35:11,680 --> 00:35:12,640
Speaker 2: It is as simple as that.

741
00:35:12,800 --> 00:35:15,319
Speaker 1: But you know, you mentioned Nike, and I'm curious you

742
00:35:15,360 --> 00:35:19,560
Speaker 1: were at a company that is massive, and there's some

743
00:35:19,760 --> 00:35:22,160
Speaker 1: really great parts of working somewhere huge like that. And

744
00:35:22,200 --> 00:35:24,839
Speaker 1: then there's also like, I've actually never had a job

745
00:35:24,840 --> 00:35:26,640
Speaker 1: in one of those like giant ones in terms of

746
00:35:26,680 --> 00:35:29,040
Speaker 1: the business exec side. But I have friends who are like,

747
00:35:29,080 --> 00:35:30,960
Speaker 1: I've been trying to fire someone for three months, and

748
00:35:31,000 --> 00:35:33,839
Speaker 1: the number of people that have to like say yes

749
00:35:33,920 --> 00:35:36,160
Speaker 1: on me saying that this guy literally isn't even coming

750
00:35:36,160 --> 00:35:38,640
Speaker 1: to work anymore before I'm allowed to officially. You know,

751
00:35:38,680 --> 00:35:41,120
Speaker 1: there's a lot of that over communication or let me

752
00:35:41,200 --> 00:35:44,360
Speaker 1: run in up the ladder, five different people. This is

753
00:35:44,440 --> 00:35:47,360
Speaker 1: a small but mighty group trying to create a massive

754
00:35:47,400 --> 00:35:49,840
Speaker 1: thing that to your point, everyone has so much interest

755
00:35:49,840 --> 00:35:52,040
Speaker 1: in how different does it feel for you working for

756
00:35:52,080 --> 00:35:56,960
Speaker 1: this little thing doing something big versus this giant global corporation.

757
00:35:57,680 --> 00:35:59,440
Speaker 5: Well, some people would say I got pretty good at

758
00:35:59,480 --> 00:36:02,319
Speaker 5: that big in corporation, but let's just say it's not

759
00:36:02,360 --> 00:36:05,400
Speaker 5: easy all the time. So yeah, but you know, I

760
00:36:05,440 --> 00:36:07,680
Speaker 5: grew up at Nike, and I was a part of

761
00:36:07,719 --> 00:36:09,800
Speaker 5: helping Nike grow up, right, So it's you know, it

762
00:36:09,880 --> 00:36:12,560
Speaker 5: started when Nike was eight years old. So if there's

763
00:36:12,600 --> 00:36:15,160
Speaker 5: anybody who knows, there's anybody that knows how to get

764
00:36:15,239 --> 00:36:18,840
Speaker 5: things done at Nike, I probably would make that list.

765
00:36:18,920 --> 00:36:21,200
Speaker 5: And yes, it is complicated, but one of the things

766
00:36:21,239 --> 00:36:23,680
Speaker 5: about a big company is you also if you point

767
00:36:24,040 --> 00:36:25,880
Speaker 5: in the right direction, you can have a big impact,

768
00:36:26,760 --> 00:36:28,879
Speaker 5: and so you can do a lot of good. And

769
00:36:28,960 --> 00:36:32,840
Speaker 5: so I like to think that I and Nike balances

770
00:36:32,920 --> 00:36:35,120
Speaker 5: the oh my god, it's a big, complicated company with

771
00:36:35,800 --> 00:36:38,000
Speaker 5: and we can make a big difference, and so I

772
00:36:38,040 --> 00:36:40,800
Speaker 5: think that's a good thing about having a big company

773
00:36:40,800 --> 00:36:43,359
Speaker 5: and a lot of resources. Yeah, this is a little

774
00:36:43,360 --> 00:36:45,600
Speaker 5: bit like a startup to be honest, right, you know,

775
00:36:45,760 --> 00:36:49,840
Speaker 5: so there's there's sort of playbooks, but some things are true.

776
00:36:50,080 --> 00:36:50,319
Speaker 4: Right.

777
00:36:50,480 --> 00:36:52,319
Speaker 5: One of the things that is true is you need

778
00:36:52,400 --> 00:36:55,080
Speaker 5: great people, right, so you have to start there.

779
00:36:55,120 --> 00:36:57,160
Speaker 4: The other thing that's true is you win as a team.

780
00:36:57,840 --> 00:36:58,000
Speaker 2: Right.

781
00:36:58,120 --> 00:37:00,480
Speaker 4: So maybe it was like super.

782
00:37:00,320 --> 00:37:04,560
Speaker 5: Complicated teamwork at Nike, but there's still lots of people

783
00:37:04,600 --> 00:37:08,359
Speaker 5: to connect with and it's still a team here. And

784
00:37:08,520 --> 00:37:10,719
Speaker 5: you know, the other thing is if you focus on

785
00:37:10,760 --> 00:37:13,080
Speaker 5: the right things, you're gonna win. And you know, we're

786
00:37:13,080 --> 00:37:16,040
Speaker 5: focused on fans. You know, we're focused on creating a

787
00:37:16,040 --> 00:37:18,680
Speaker 5: great experience. We're focused on having an impact in Portland,

788
00:37:19,280 --> 00:37:20,440
Speaker 5: and this is a city.

789
00:37:20,160 --> 00:37:22,200
Speaker 4: Where women's sports can make a big difference.

790
00:37:22,239 --> 00:37:26,120
Speaker 5: And so I think there's actually more similarities than you think.

791
00:37:26,160 --> 00:37:28,520
Speaker 4: It's just a little bit of the scale.

792
00:37:28,560 --> 00:37:30,839
Speaker 5: But the things that help you win in a big

793
00:37:30,840 --> 00:37:33,600
Speaker 5: company are usually the same things that help you win

794
00:37:33,640 --> 00:37:37,200
Speaker 5: in whatever you do. And I'm trying to just keep

795
00:37:37,239 --> 00:37:37,960
Speaker 5: it simple like that.

796
00:37:38,440 --> 00:37:41,080
Speaker 1: Okay, I want to end where we started. You're back

797
00:37:41,120 --> 00:37:44,239
Speaker 1: on the job after trying and failing to retire. So

798
00:37:44,400 --> 00:37:47,600
Speaker 1: what excites you most about this team and going to

799
00:37:47,640 --> 00:37:48,319
Speaker 1: work every day?

800
00:37:48,800 --> 00:37:50,520
Speaker 4: I know I did kind of fail at retirement.

801
00:37:52,200 --> 00:37:56,520
Speaker 5: Well, honestly, yesterday three brand new employees walked in the job.

802
00:37:56,640 --> 00:37:58,719
Speaker 4: They were so excited.

803
00:37:59,160 --> 00:38:01,000
Speaker 5: You know that one of them worked at the Timbers,

804
00:38:01,040 --> 00:38:03,640
Speaker 5: ones worked at the Blazers, and another one and they're like,

805
00:38:04,160 --> 00:38:06,600
Speaker 5: we have been just looking to have a chance to

806
00:38:06,680 --> 00:38:10,280
Speaker 5: work in women's basketball, and we're so excited for the fire.

807
00:38:10,400 --> 00:38:13,200
Speaker 5: So I think that experience, even though we're still in

808
00:38:13,200 --> 00:38:15,800
Speaker 5: a temporary building and it's a little close quarters, this

809
00:38:16,719 --> 00:38:19,279
Speaker 5: energy and enthusiasm to come in and be a part

810
00:38:19,320 --> 00:38:23,480
Speaker 5: of something great, like that's the that's the fun stuff.

811
00:38:23,520 --> 00:38:26,400
Speaker 5: So that's what I'm the most excited about. So as

812
00:38:26,400 --> 00:38:29,840
Speaker 5: we're building a team, I think just and yeah, I

813
00:38:29,840 --> 00:38:31,319
Speaker 5: think the other thing is I mean I was just

814
00:38:31,360 --> 00:38:33,400
Speaker 5: out last night at something. It was a going away

815
00:38:33,400 --> 00:38:35,959
Speaker 5: party for one of the w players that we hired

816
00:38:35,960 --> 00:38:40,040
Speaker 5: at Nike. And even while I'm there, like randomly every

817
00:38:40,080 --> 00:38:41,960
Speaker 5: people coming up to me, oh my god, I just

818
00:38:41,960 --> 00:38:44,600
Speaker 5: got a note about my season tickets and can you

819
00:38:44,600 --> 00:38:47,799
Speaker 5: help me with this? And we're so excited and the

820
00:38:47,960 --> 00:38:51,480
Speaker 5: enthusiasm is great. It's everywhere you go in Poland, and

821
00:38:51,520 --> 00:38:55,040
Speaker 5: it's with new employees, so that's that's fun.

822
00:38:55,600 --> 00:38:57,480
Speaker 1: Well, I can almost guarantee I'll be back for a

823
00:38:57,520 --> 00:39:00,200
Speaker 1: game next season because I had such a blast out there.

824
00:39:00,360 --> 00:39:02,839
Speaker 1: I've got friends in Portland and all the rumors are

825
00:39:02,840 --> 00:39:05,399
Speaker 1: true about the Thorns games and about the scene out

826
00:39:05,440 --> 00:39:06,560
Speaker 1: there for women's sports.

827
00:39:06,560 --> 00:39:08,239
Speaker 2: It is an enviable space to be in.

828
00:39:08,360 --> 00:39:10,480
Speaker 1: So if you guys nail it, it's going to be

829
00:39:10,719 --> 00:39:13,920
Speaker 1: a full stadium and a whole bunch of people that

830
00:39:13,960 --> 00:39:15,840
Speaker 1: are really excited to have the fireback.

831
00:39:15,960 --> 00:39:17,680
Speaker 2: So I'm just excited for y'all.

832
00:39:18,000 --> 00:39:20,040
Speaker 4: Thank you. Yeah, we plan to nail it. So that's

833
00:39:20,360 --> 00:39:22,640
Speaker 4: and we'd definitely love to have you back for sure.

834
00:39:22,840 --> 00:39:26,759
Speaker 1: Yeah, thanks again, Declaire for hanging out with us. We

835
00:39:26,840 --> 00:39:29,320
Speaker 1: got to take another break when we return a cycle.

836
00:39:29,360 --> 00:39:35,719
Speaker 1: We want to see obliterated welcome back slices. We love

837
00:39:35,760 --> 00:39:37,200
Speaker 1: that you're listening, but we want you to get in

838
00:39:37,200 --> 00:39:39,480
Speaker 1: the game every day too, So here's our good game

839
00:39:39,520 --> 00:39:42,080
Speaker 1: play of the day. A handful of you already sent

840
00:39:42,160 --> 00:39:45,600
Speaker 1: us some intriguing recommendations of lesser known candy that you

841
00:39:45,680 --> 00:39:49,040
Speaker 1: love ahead of the Halloween celebrations this weekend and next week.

842
00:39:49,320 --> 00:39:53,800
Speaker 1: Amanda Valo shouted out nature Jam, Baseball gumballs, and Palmer's

843
00:39:53,880 --> 00:39:57,880
Speaker 1: Orange slices. Match mo O'Donnell said Utah truffles for her,

844
00:39:57,960 --> 00:39:59,800
Speaker 1: but she stocks up on glow sticks for the trigger

845
00:39:59,800 --> 00:40:03,560
Speaker 1: t read. I used to love a glow stick at Redhead. Laurie,

846
00:40:03,560 --> 00:40:06,799
Speaker 1: who is a huge Chicago Sky fan, said Tony's Chocaloni,

847
00:40:07,080 --> 00:40:10,480
Speaker 1: which is yummy and responsible. Shawne Boy twenty nine says

848
00:40:10,520 --> 00:40:14,080
Speaker 1: Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate, Almond butter cups, and mom Tasadie

849
00:40:14,080 --> 00:40:17,600
Speaker 1: says Trader Joe's Wicked good bars. Shawn Quinn sent in

850
00:40:17,680 --> 00:40:21,839
Speaker 1: a few I've never seen, including Silver Mints, Swizzles, Refreshers,

851
00:40:22,200 --> 00:40:27,799
Speaker 1: Cadbury Crunchies, and one that really caught my eye, wine gums. Unfortunately,

852
00:40:27,920 --> 00:40:30,280
Speaker 1: a little research revealed that the gummies do not contain

853
00:40:30,520 --> 00:40:33,920
Speaker 1: actual wine. Producer Alex said her go to is Darryl

854
00:40:34,000 --> 00:40:37,279
Speaker 1: Lee Strawberry licorice. It's been her faithful candy companion since

855
00:40:37,280 --> 00:40:40,640
Speaker 1: twenty twelve, through texture changes, branding, shakeups, and the great

856
00:40:40,680 --> 00:40:44,359
Speaker 1: Trader Joe's Exodus of twenty sixteen. I am always here

857
00:40:44,360 --> 00:40:47,600
Speaker 1: for licorice unless it's black licorice, and black licorice can

858
00:40:47,600 --> 00:40:48,200
Speaker 1: get the fuck out.

859
00:40:48,760 --> 00:40:50,120
Speaker 2: Thanks for all the great suggestions.

860
00:40:50,160 --> 00:40:51,440
Speaker 1: I might have to add a few of those to

861
00:40:51,480 --> 00:40:55,880
Speaker 1: my little stockpile of sour Swedish fish. This weekend's task,

862
00:40:56,080 --> 00:40:57,920
Speaker 1: we want you to send us any and all women's

863
00:40:57,920 --> 00:41:00,600
Speaker 1: sports related Halloween costumes that you see at your parties

864
00:41:00,600 --> 00:41:03,279
Speaker 1: and events. There has got to be someone rocking a

865
00:41:03,360 --> 00:41:06,840
Speaker 1: Kim Malkey in the basketball hoopsweater costume somewhere and I

866
00:41:06,880 --> 00:41:08,759
Speaker 1: want to see it, so send it to us. Hit

867
00:41:08,800 --> 00:41:11,520
Speaker 1: us up on email, good game at wondermedianetwork dot com,

868
00:41:11,680 --> 00:41:13,320
Speaker 1: or leave us a voicemail at eight seven.

869
00:41:13,160 --> 00:41:14,920
Speaker 2: Two two o four fifty seventy.

870
00:41:15,280 --> 00:41:19,359
Speaker 1: And speaking of voicemails for our everyday listeners, I wanted

871
00:41:19,400 --> 00:41:21,720
Speaker 1: you to know we just got another voicemail for Cooper's

872
00:41:21,719 --> 00:41:22,600
Speaker 1: grooming appointment.

873
00:41:23,440 --> 00:41:26,200
Speaker 6: Hello, my name is Monic. I'm calling with Simply Grooms.

874
00:41:26,200 --> 00:41:32,520
Speaker 6: I'm calling to confirm your appointment tomorrow for Cooper. Huh.

875
00:41:32,560 --> 00:41:34,759
Speaker 6: It's at nine am and we just wanted to make

876
00:41:34,800 --> 00:41:36,920
Speaker 6: sure that you will be here, So if you can

877
00:41:36,960 --> 00:41:40,400
Speaker 6: please kindly respond back to the confirmation text.

878
00:41:40,200 --> 00:41:44,840
Speaker 1: Mess Simply Grooms has really got to update that number. Finally,

879
00:41:44,880 --> 00:41:47,880
Speaker 1: don't forget to subscribe, rate and review slices. It's easy

880
00:41:48,120 --> 00:41:55,560
Speaker 1: watch quote unquote blood money, Rating Infinity EWSE review. Thursday's

881
00:41:55,560 --> 00:41:58,920
Speaker 1: headlines were dominated by the intersection of gambling and hoops

882
00:41:59,200 --> 00:42:03,200
Speaker 1: as the MNBA was rocked by an FBI investigation. Portland

883
00:42:03,200 --> 00:42:07,279
Speaker 1: Trailblazer's head coach Chauncey Billups, former Cleveland Cavalier's assistant coach

884
00:42:07,360 --> 00:42:10,640
Speaker 1: Damon Jones, and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier were all

885
00:42:10,760 --> 00:42:14,400
Speaker 1: arrested in an FBI probe into illegal betting activities that

886
00:42:14,480 --> 00:42:17,279
Speaker 1: looks like it could mushroom into something even bigger. In

887
00:42:17,320 --> 00:42:19,920
Speaker 1: the meantime, I was reading up on the gross way

888
00:42:20,040 --> 00:42:24,280
Speaker 1: gambling has touched the women's game, namely, quote unquote blood money,

889
00:42:24,520 --> 00:42:27,279
Speaker 1: the term some betters are giving to placing wagers based

890
00:42:27,280 --> 00:42:29,160
Speaker 1: on WNBA players periods.

891
00:42:29,760 --> 00:42:32,520
Speaker 2: Per a Wired story, quote, dozens.

892
00:42:32,120 --> 00:42:35,960
Speaker 1: Of dedicated gamblers online are making bets on players potential

893
00:42:35,960 --> 00:42:40,600
Speaker 1: performance based on their predictions or rather assumptions about their

894
00:42:40,640 --> 00:42:41,600
Speaker 1: menstrual cycles.

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00:42:41,960 --> 00:42:43,200
Speaker 2: End quote.

896
00:42:43,480 --> 00:42:50,719
Speaker 1: Gross, stupid, scientifically unfounded, likely to incite insulting and misogynist

897
00:42:50,760 --> 00:42:54,840
Speaker 1: comments and responses, furthering a false narrative about women's performance

898
00:42:54,880 --> 00:42:58,080
Speaker 1: and abilities because of their periods and as Nadia Okamoto,

899
00:42:58,160 --> 00:43:01,040
Speaker 1: founder of the gender inclusive menstrual product company August and

900
00:43:01,120 --> 00:43:04,200
Speaker 1: author of Period Power tells Wired, quote, one of the

901
00:43:04,200 --> 00:43:06,520
Speaker 1: big issues in women's sports is pay equity.

902
00:43:06,600 --> 00:43:06,759
Speaker 2: Right.

903
00:43:07,120 --> 00:43:09,480
Speaker 1: If there's this narrative that twenty five percent of the

904
00:43:09,480 --> 00:43:11,360
Speaker 1: month women are not going to be competing at the

905
00:43:11,400 --> 00:43:14,560
Speaker 1: same level, there are very dangerous repercussions.

906
00:43:14,000 --> 00:43:16,720
Speaker 2: To such a negative stigma. End quote.

907
00:43:17,040 --> 00:43:20,680
Speaker 1: This kind of creepy, sexist, pseudo science bullshit makes me

908
00:43:20,719 --> 00:43:24,880
Speaker 1: want to scream and know not because I'm on my period.

909
00:43:25,480 --> 00:43:28,640
Speaker 1: Now it's your turn, y'all, rate and review. Thanks for listening,

910
00:43:28,800 --> 00:43:31,840
Speaker 1: See you next week. Good game, Claire, Good game, Jess Smith.

911
00:43:32,640 --> 00:43:36,560
Speaker 1: You sick gambling bros making things weird. Just watch the

912
00:43:36,680 --> 00:43:41,560
Speaker 1: basketball you absolute freaks. Good Game with Sarah Spain is

913
00:43:41,600 --> 00:43:44,439
Speaker 1: an iHeart women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue

914
00:43:44,440 --> 00:43:47,680
Speaker 1: Sports and Entertainment. You can find us on the iHeartRadio app,

915
00:43:47,719 --> 00:43:49,319
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever.

916
00:43:49,040 --> 00:43:50,040
Speaker 2: You get your podcasts.

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00:43:50,239 --> 00:43:54,360
Speaker 1: Production by Wonder Media Network, our producers are alex Asie Grace, Lynch,

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00:43:54,480 --> 00:43:58,680
Speaker 1: Taylor Williamson, and Lucy Jones. Our executive producers are Christina Everett,

919
00:43:58,760 --> 00:44:02,040
Speaker 1: Jesse Katz, Jenny cap Glynn, and Emily Rutter. Our editors

920
00:44:02,040 --> 00:44:06,000
Speaker 1: are Emily Rutter, Britney Martinez and Gianna Palmer. Production assistants

921
00:44:06,040 --> 00:44:09,000
Speaker 1: from Avery LOFTUS and I'm Your Host Sarah Spain