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Speaker 1: Yea. Welcome to the Bloomberg Surveillance Podcast. I'm Tom Keene

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Speaker 1: Jay Ley. We bring you insight from the best in economics, finance, investment,

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Speaker 1: and international relations. Find Bloomberg Surveillance on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud,

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Speaker 1: Bloomberg dot Com, and of course on the Bloomberg paulse Manie,

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Speaker 1: let's do this with Michael Barr and I'm Tom Keene

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Speaker 1: in New York, and we are thrilled to begin a

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Speaker 1: special half hour of baseball with a really interesting person.

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Speaker 1: We got Sam Kennedy coming up with the Red Sox.

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Speaker 1: I called George emstein Brenner. The third I called hell Steinbrenner.

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Speaker 1: I called Henry Steinbrenner, and Jennifer and Jessica and Jones

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Speaker 1: stein Brenner, and none of them would come on. So

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Speaker 1: we got another Yankees fan from Rome, New York. Rob

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Speaker 1: band Fred joins us. He's got another job as the

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Speaker 1: tenth Commissioner of Baseball Commissioner. We are through oldier with

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Speaker 1: us is a Yankees fan. It is goose bumps as well.

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Speaker 1: How much are your Yankees gonna love that center field

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Speaker 1: fence at three five ft? Well, I want to be

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Speaker 1: clear about one thing first. I did grow up a

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Speaker 1: Yankee fan, but I am strictly neutral. Um, the center

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Speaker 1: field fence at the London stadium is like right and

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Speaker 1: left field at Fenway the Yankees, I mean the Yankees

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Speaker 1: at the edge to begin with right. Well, it's really interesting. Uh.

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Speaker 1: You know, one of the challenges of playing uh here

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Speaker 1: in Europe is finding a stadium that can be configured

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Speaker 1: for a major league game. Um. We think that the

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Speaker 1: power alleys are long in the ballpark. Um, center field,

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Speaker 1: as you point out, as a little short, but we

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Speaker 1: have a sixteen foot wall there, so it's gonna play

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Speaker 1: like four feet. Um. We think it's very playable for

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Speaker 1: a major league game. And uh, the fact that a

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Speaker 1: matter is a few home runs will probably be pretty

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Speaker 1: exciting for the fans here in London. There's all sorts

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Speaker 1: of big spat questions to talk to him where Michael

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Speaker 1: bar will jump in here in a moment, Commissioner. But

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Speaker 1: you're sitting next to the Duke of Sussex. He's been

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Speaker 1: a little occupied. He's gonna ring Archie to the game.

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Speaker 1: He's gonna have Archie in his arms. He's sitting next

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Speaker 1: to you. Because you're a fancy guy. How do you

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Speaker 1: explain baseball to the Duke of Sussex. You know, I

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Speaker 1: think that, uh, the Duke is quite a uh sports

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Speaker 1: fan in general. I don't think he's gonna need a

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Speaker 1: lot of explanation for from me UM about the game.

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Speaker 1: But I will say this, baseball is not the easiest

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Speaker 1: game to explain to somebody who has never seen a

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Speaker 1: game before. Uh. It can be difficult, you thank you.

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Speaker 1: It can be a bit difficult, and full disclosure, Commissioner,

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Speaker 1: I still don't get cricket, Paul Sweeney exactly. So, Commissioner Manfred,

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Speaker 1: I just wonder what you think the opportunity is in

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Speaker 1: the UK for baseball. We know the NFL has been

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Speaker 1: there for several years with bringing games there. Give us,

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Speaker 1: just give us a sense of what you think the

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Speaker 1: opportunity is for baseball in the UK. Well, let's talk

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Speaker 1: short term already. UM thirty percent of our licensed product

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Speaker 1: that's sold outside the United States is sold in Europe. UM.

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Speaker 1: It's largely sold as a fashion brand. People like the logos,

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Speaker 1: even though they're not quite sure what they are. We

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Speaker 1: think we can drive that business once people associate those

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Speaker 1: popular logos with some of the greatest athletes in the world. UM. Secondly,

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Speaker 1: we think there's a media opportunity for US UM in

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Speaker 1: the UK and in UH Europe more generally and over

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Speaker 1: the long haul. We feel like UM it is a

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Speaker 1: great event business for us to continue to bring live games,

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Speaker 1: not only to the UK but to other parts of Europe. Commissioner,

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Speaker 1: let me bring in our Michael bar of course, hosting

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Speaker 1: every week are Bloomberg business and sports. He's I have

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Speaker 1: to apologize, Commissioner up front, he's a Tigers fan. We

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Speaker 1: won't go there, Michael. I've had a bunch of kleenex

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Speaker 1: is all over the place. But that's another story. Commissioner,

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Speaker 1: what are the odds one day that we will actually

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Speaker 1: see a Major League Baseball team in a place like

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Speaker 1: London or Mexico. Look, I think Mexico, UH, just because

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Speaker 1: of the travel issues as they currently exist, probably more feasible. UM.

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Speaker 1: You know, we're basically in everyday game and travel is

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Speaker 1: a concern. But I think travel is going to continue

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Speaker 1: to improve. UM. It's not that different to go from

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Speaker 1: the east coast of the United States to London and

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Speaker 1: as as it is to go east to West. So

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Speaker 1: I think it's a it's a realistic possibility for US.

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Speaker 1: I think it's something that would be really exciting, UM,

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Speaker 1: for our fans, both domestically and here, and something that

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Speaker 1: would drive our business. UH Commissioner. I watched Rockies Dodgers

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Speaker 1: last night, a great exhibition. Mr Biller was doing better

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Speaker 1: than good for the Dodgers. I was thunderstruck that they

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Speaker 1: didn't have netting up down the field. You've had a

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Speaker 1: tragic injury to a two year old in baseball, they've

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Speaker 1: got plexiglass around hockey and you know the other dangerous

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Speaker 1: sports with the projectile. How how quickly do you have

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Speaker 1: to act to provide safety for fans given how hard

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Speaker 1: the ball is hit today? Well, safety of our fans obviously,

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Speaker 1: UM a paramount concern for US. UM. What I think

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Speaker 1: you've seen UH since the most recent incident, UH, number

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Speaker 1: of clubs have already proceeded with plans to extend their netting. UM.

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Speaker 1: The Pirates announced yesterday, UM the latest in a series

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Speaker 1: of clubs, and I think you'll see that progress continue

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Speaker 1: and continue quickly. UM. It is more difficult UH in

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Speaker 1: some of our facilities, just because of structural issues to

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Speaker 1: do them on a short string. And I think, UM,

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Speaker 1: we have had great success over the last four or

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Speaker 1: five years and extending netting by encouraging the clubs, allowing

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Speaker 1: them to deal with their local differences, and always keeping

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Speaker 1: fans safety in the front of their mind. Commissioner Well

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Speaker 1: said Paul Tweeney. I was thinking last night watching Dodgers Rockies,

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Speaker 1: are we gonna give up Derek Jeter in the stands

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Speaker 1: in that historic play from years ago? And the answer

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Speaker 1: is for kids safety? Yeah, exactly so, Commissioner Manfred, this

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Speaker 1: is Bloomberg. We're an economic show. I'm interested in the

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Speaker 1: economics of this London matchup here. How did you convince

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Speaker 1: the Red Sox to give up to home games, particularly

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Speaker 1: against the New York Yankees, which are presumably huge money

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Speaker 1: makers for the Red Sox. Well, the answer to that

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Speaker 1: question is the always the answer. We compensate the Red

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Speaker 1: Sox for what they would clear on a home gate,

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Speaker 1: so they're made whole on what they would have made

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Speaker 1: if they played the two games in Boston, and Major

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Speaker 1: League Baseball assumes the risk of the economics of the

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Speaker 1: two games here in London. And how does it look

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Speaker 1: right now? Just give us a sense of kind of

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Speaker 1: the ticket sales in London, the the buzz, the how's

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Speaker 1: it all shaping up here as we get ready to play? Well,

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Speaker 1: the ticket sales were phenomenal. We sold out two games,

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Speaker 1: about sixty thousand seats per game in less than twenty

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Speaker 1: four hours. Uh. The secondary market has been really strong,

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Speaker 1: really strong. And uh, you know, just being out and

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Speaker 1: about in London and events, there seems to be a

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Speaker 1: lot of buzz about the games and we're thrilled by that.

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Speaker 1: It's just great news for us. I mean, we had

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Speaker 1: Joseph A Buddha on the legendary fashion designer yesterday, Uh, commissioner,

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Speaker 1: and you know he's psyched for two games in a row.

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Speaker 1: My suggested Commissioner is, you've got to schedule a whole

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Speaker 1: bunch of games, Michael Barr, don't you think. And we

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Speaker 1: need a surveillance road trip to London for you know, Detroit,

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Speaker 1: Kansas City. We can do that right now. We can

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Speaker 1: do that right now. Cubs white socks. I mean, come on,

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Speaker 1: it works. One thing about baseball, Commissioner, is that it's

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Speaker 1: a summer built game, and when the season first started,

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Speaker 1: there was a problem with attendance in the stands at

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Speaker 1: some of the games, but that has now since improved

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Speaker 1: or am I incorrect about that. Yeah, we've made great

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Speaker 1: progress in our single game sales. UM. Things just pay.

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Speaker 1: Things always pick up after the kids get out of school. UM,

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Speaker 1: it's kind of a baseball tradition. But we think that

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Speaker 1: we continue to deliver a live product that's compelling for

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Speaker 1: our fans. And UM, we have some uh really great

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Speaker 1: pennant races um going this year and we think we're

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Speaker 1: gonna have a strong summer. So Commission, I know that

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Speaker 1: Major League Baseball they opened in Tokyo, they're playing here

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Speaker 1: in London. Mexico, Puerto Rico have happened recently, so just

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Speaker 1: give us a sense going forward. Are we gonna see

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Speaker 1: more Major League Baseball outside of the US. Yeah? Absolutely, UM.

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Speaker 1: I think it's important um for us to continue to

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Speaker 1: internationalize the game. I think Mexico, we were there twice

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Speaker 1: this year with two different series, UH, presents an important

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Speaker 1: opportunity for US and I think our I think our

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Speaker 1: European situation a little different um than than football. UM.

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Speaker 1: I know they've done very well here in London. They

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Speaker 1: continue to come back. I think our goal would to

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Speaker 1: be to play here in London. We're gonna be back

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Speaker 1: again next year. We know that already, but we'd like

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Speaker 1: to play other places in Europe. We think it's important

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Speaker 1: to take the live product there and uh in order

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Speaker 1: to make the most out of the growth opportunity. Commissioner,

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Speaker 1: can you pull some something to some poor I don't

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Speaker 1: know if CCS bathis pitching this weekend. Come on, cc

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Speaker 1: Sbathew has gotta go out to the mountain London, doesn't

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Speaker 1: it with the career he's aid, Yeah, well he CEC

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Speaker 1: has had a great career, and you know, really it

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Speaker 1: has been a great ambassador for our game. On top

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Speaker 1: of it does tremendous work in the community, as so

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Speaker 1: many of our our great players. To um, I think

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Speaker 1: it's jay happen Tanaka to their sketul pretty think you're

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Speaker 1: dictating it. Commissioner, Thank you so much, and I hope

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Speaker 1: the Red Sox win rob Man for commission or Baseball

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Speaker 1: and Yankees fin as well. Of course in London, let's

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Speaker 1: bring in a gentleman who actually played baseball. How odd

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Speaker 1: for baseball management. Sam Kennedy on the field for Brookline

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Speaker 1: High School. This is a few years ago, and the

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Speaker 1: Trinity College is a chief executive officer of the Red Sox,

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Speaker 1: and of course joins us from London. Sam, we just

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Speaker 1: spoke to the Commissioner Baseball and he was, you know,

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Speaker 1: the usual Commissioner Baseball, chit chat. Let's cut to the chase.

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Speaker 1: How are the Red Sox adapting to the seven demand

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Speaker 1: of people like me who want to see what I

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Speaker 1: want to see when I want to see it. I mean,

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Speaker 1: what are you gonna do to Joe Stiglione and the

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Speaker 1: rest of the nest and crew over the next ten years?

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Speaker 1: How do you maintain the franchise in this new modern

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Speaker 1: age of broadcast. Well, we better be where the fans

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Speaker 1: want us to be at all times. To your point,

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Speaker 1: we gotta connect with that next young generation of fans

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Speaker 1: and uh, it's gonna be in a mobile environment. We

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Speaker 1: know that. Uh, playing baseball here in London is pretty obvious.

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Speaker 1: Our fans all over the world can connect with us.

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Speaker 1: And that's frankly why we're here. We need to grow

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Speaker 1: this game to a global audience or else we'll be

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Speaker 1: in trouble. We need to grow. We need to follow

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Speaker 1: the leads of some of the other leagues that have

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Speaker 1: paved the way. And kudos to that commissioner, Mr Manfred

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Speaker 1: for bringing us over here. What a great event for

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Speaker 1: the Red Sox and the Yankees. And look, we need

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Speaker 1: to win two games. By the way, while we're here,

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Speaker 1: we're nine games back in the American League East, so uh,

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Speaker 1: we we better be ready to go tomorrow. So, Sam,

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Speaker 1: talk about the decision making for taking two valuable dates

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Speaker 1: away from your fans, uh with the Yankees and moving

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Speaker 1: them to London. Just give us a sense of the

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Speaker 1: calculus you guys went through. Yeah, well, how Steinbrenner and

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Speaker 1: John Henry are two uh principal owners have been talking

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Speaker 1: about this for many, many years in terms of highlighting

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Speaker 1: are great game to a national audience or international audience?

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Speaker 1: Excuse me, So the Red Sox and Yankees made sense. Um,

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Speaker 1: the Red Sox were willing to take two gates from

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Speaker 1: Fenway Park. We obviously are being reimbursed for our revenues,

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Speaker 1: but we just felt it was in the intro so

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Speaker 1: the greater good of the game, and we're happy to

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Speaker 1: participate in our fans. Lots and lots of our fans

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Speaker 1: have traveled over here for the games, which is terrific.

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Speaker 1: Sim Kennedy, let me bring in our colleague, Michael Barr

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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Business and Sports. You may know Mr Barr. He

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Speaker 1: was the one twenty four years ago who tried to

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Speaker 1: climb Pesky's polling. That was me. I thought, yeah, we

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Speaker 1: got his picture on every gate around Fenway Park. Don't

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Speaker 1: want we know who you are. I am impressed how

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Speaker 1: quickly the tickets sold out for the London contest between you,

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Speaker 1: the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. I

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Speaker 1: mean it went on sale in boot that was it. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: tickets went quick. I think it's an indication that this

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Speaker 1: was indeed a good idea to lead with the Red

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Speaker 1: Sox and Yankees. Obviously a lot of Vex pats over here,

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Speaker 1: but uh, I think eighty percent or so maybe tickets

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Speaker 1: were purchased in the UK, which is great, and um,

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Speaker 1: we need to do more of this. We're really pushing

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Speaker 1: at the Internet. I sit on the International Committee at

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Speaker 1: Major League Baseball. We need to continue to grow the

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Speaker 1: game outside the h the walls of North America. So

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Speaker 1: it's an exciting, exciting weekend for Major League Baseball. So

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Speaker 1: it's interesting, Sam, I mean the Major League Baseball has

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Speaker 1: been uh, you know, branding itself internationally again. Tokyo, Mexico,

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Speaker 1: other markets, very few European born players in the big leagues.

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Speaker 1: Any any thoughts about how you could develop some European players. Absolutely,

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Speaker 1: I mean you have to get people exposed to the game.

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Speaker 1: Are Playball initiative that Commissioner Manford and his team have

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Speaker 1: brought over here to London. It will help. You've got

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Speaker 1: little leagues going on in central London and on the

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Speaker 1: continent and that's really important. You've got to play it.

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Speaker 1: That's how you fall in love with the sport. And

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Speaker 1: you need to see it live. I mean, baseball is

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Speaker 1: a great game when you see it live. And uh,

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Speaker 1: it's happened with soccer in the United States over the

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Speaker 1: last ten to fifteen years. We have an investment in Liverpool.

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Speaker 1: Do I didn't know that that grow all over the US.

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Speaker 1: So it's uh, it can happen. We just need to

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Speaker 1: make the affirmative investment and effort. Sam Cutt ofy I

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Speaker 1: got one final question. There's a kid in Shanghai with

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Speaker 1: a Red Sox hat of the wall. He was weaned

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Speaker 1: on nomar Garciaparra, which is great. And every little league

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Speaker 1: kid in Brookline, Wellesley and points north, south, east and

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Speaker 1: west all of a sudden to adjust their gloves, tap

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Speaker 1: their toes, step out of the batting box. They all

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Speaker 1: went through that. How are you doing on speeding up

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Speaker 1: the game? When these clowns get in the batting box

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Speaker 1: and do their nomar garciaparra act. I mean, are you

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Speaker 1: getting there? Yeah? We have to get there that. The

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Speaker 1: pace of game is critical. We're at three hours and

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Speaker 1: three or four minutes now. You'd like to see the

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Speaker 1: game around two forty. There are lots of ways to

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Speaker 1: eliminate the dead time. The previous guest commissioner Manford's working

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Speaker 1: on that. We've got a pitch clock at the under

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Speaker 1: league level. It works very very work works beautifully while

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Speaker 1: we're talking about it, and I think now it's get

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Speaker 1: there too. Yeah, I agree, and have no more. You

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Speaker 1: can do it. You can do a red sox flag

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Speaker 1: or whatever across the first clock and if no more

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Speaker 1: pulled the flag away because it's his fault, jump with

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Speaker 1: the final question one I have to ask and and

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Speaker 1: all of the major league ballparks have done a great

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Speaker 1: job of this of making it extremely fan friendly, from

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Speaker 1: bringing in uh Internet where you can follow the game

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Speaker 1: on your phone. If you're a fantasy baseball player, you

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Speaker 1: can follow the scores, and if I can ask Mr

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Speaker 1: Kennedy is can you tell us how long it had

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Speaker 1: taken to get something like this and and bring it

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Speaker 1: forward like this? Well, it's um it's been a huge

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Speaker 1: investment by Baseball, all the ballparks. We started this conversation

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Speaker 1: by talking about connecting with our fans, and every single

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Speaker 1: person just about it walks through our gates has a

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Speaker 1: mobile device, so we need to be connected at all times.

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Speaker 1: I'm connected to are you serving there against at Logger

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Speaker 1: Beer at the game in London? That's all I want

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Speaker 1: to know. There there's I'll tell you what. Just from

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Speaker 1: walking around the streets in London. You know they say

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Speaker 1: it's five o'clock somewhere. I think it's noon in London.

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Speaker 1: There's people out on the streets and you know we're

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Speaker 1: working over here. But boy, people are having a good time,

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Speaker 1: beautiful weather. Great to be here and it'll be an

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Speaker 1: exciting weekend. Congratulations. And as I said to the commissioner,

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Speaker 1: come on, you gotta beat the dreaded Yankees in London.

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Speaker 1: I mean it's it's it's American right. We need where

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Speaker 1: the Yankees have us where they want us. We're the

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Speaker 1: underdogs even though we're World Series champs, we're back at

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Speaker 1: being the underdogs, like right right where we want to be.

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Speaker 1: You know, we ruined my childhood, Sam kind of Thank

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Speaker 1: you so much from Brookline, Manstitusetts and the Course uh

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Speaker 1: CEO of the Boston Rest. Thanks for listening to the

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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Surveillance podcast. Subscribe and listen to interviews on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud,

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Speaker 1: or whichever podcast platform you prefer. I'm on Twitter at

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Speaker 1: Tom Keane Before a podcast, you can always catch us worldwide.

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Speaker 1: I'm Bloomberg Radio