1
00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:03,320
Speaker 1: This is the business of sports. Let's talk Super Bowl

2
00:00:03,520 --> 00:00:07,160
Speaker 1: and Fox Sports guarantee money isn't necessarily guaranteed. One major

3
00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:10,959
Speaker 1: League soccer owner is leading out fifty million dollar investment,

4
00:00:11,160 --> 00:00:14,200
Speaker 1: blurring of the lines between sports team owners and the

5
00:00:14,200 --> 00:00:18,599
Speaker 1: sports gambling space. How high can these valuations go? Evan

6
00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:21,200
Speaker 1: Williams Off the field, the NBA has never been buzzier,

7
00:00:21,320 --> 00:00:24,000
Speaker 1: and the leaders in the sports industry Major League Baseball

8
00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:27,440
Speaker 1: Commissioner Rob Manfred Idy O'Neill is President of Director Consumer

9
00:00:27,480 --> 00:00:30,440
Speaker 1: in that then the race card driver Elio Castron, Evs,

10
00:00:30,600 --> 00:00:34,120
Speaker 1: Jared Smith, president of Ticketmasters. Bloomberg Business of Sports from

11
00:00:34,159 --> 00:00:39,400
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Radio. Hello, I'm Evan Novie Williams, and I'm Jason Kelly,

12
00:00:39,479 --> 00:00:41,600
Speaker 1: and I'm Michael barn This is the Bloomberg Business of

13
00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:44,159
Speaker 1: Sports podcast, where we explore the big money issues in

14
00:00:44,200 --> 00:00:47,400
Speaker 1: the world of sports today. We begin with the NFL

15
00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:50,400
Speaker 1: putting together a plan to refund tickets for any games

16
00:00:50,440 --> 00:00:54,160
Speaker 1: that may end up canceled this year. This reportedly came

17
00:00:54,240 --> 00:00:59,640
Speaker 1: in a memo sent to the teams by Commissioner Roger Goodell. Evin. Yeah, guys,

18
00:00:59,640 --> 00:01:01,120
Speaker 1: do you know the the The official word from the

19
00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:04,640
Speaker 1: NFL remains that they expect to get the full seventeen

20
00:01:04,680 --> 00:01:07,800
Speaker 1: weeks regular season in uh. They're going to release the

21
00:01:07,840 --> 00:01:10,880
Speaker 1: schedule later this week. Everyone expects that schedule to kind

22
00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:14,479
Speaker 1: of be the full schedule. However, there are things around

23
00:01:14,560 --> 00:01:17,640
Speaker 1: the edges that make you think that the NFL realizes

24
00:01:17,720 --> 00:01:20,240
Speaker 1: that there's a decent chance that this season is going

25
00:01:20,280 --> 00:01:23,000
Speaker 1: to be disrupted in some ways. There were some some

26
00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:25,880
Speaker 1: some pay cuts at the league office last week two

27
00:01:25,880 --> 00:01:28,480
Speaker 1: weeks ago, and now this, as you said, Michael, you

28
00:01:28,520 --> 00:01:31,759
Speaker 1: know a plan put in place by the league across

29
00:01:31,840 --> 00:01:35,360
Speaker 1: all of its teams essentially telling them if any fan

30
00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:38,240
Speaker 1: who bought tickets through the team wants a refund, you

31
00:01:38,319 --> 00:01:40,959
Speaker 1: have to grant them that or give them credit towards

32
00:01:41,480 --> 00:01:44,240
Speaker 1: a tow towards one in the future. Jason, am I

33
00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:46,240
Speaker 1: thinking about that correctly? Do you think is this kind

34
00:01:46,280 --> 00:01:49,960
Speaker 1: of a slower admission by the NFL that, hey, you know,

35
00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:52,120
Speaker 1: we're aware that there's a chance that that that things

36
00:01:52,120 --> 00:01:55,440
Speaker 1: may not go as planned heading in September. It's got

37
00:01:55,440 --> 00:01:57,640
Speaker 1: to be and and listen, it's good to see that

38
00:01:57,640 --> 00:01:59,800
Speaker 1: they're doing some sort of contingency planning. I think it'd

39
00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:02,760
Speaker 1: be elite if they weren't. I mean to some extent,

40
00:02:03,240 --> 00:02:07,840
Speaker 1: there are two scenarios that they outline here beyond I

41
00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:10,880
Speaker 1: think the very unlikely one that we just like, hey,

42
00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:12,720
Speaker 1: we're all going to the Giants game this weekend, Like

43
00:02:12,840 --> 00:02:16,720
Speaker 1: that seems very unlikely. Um, But one is they canceled

44
00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:19,800
Speaker 1: the season or somehow postpone it. The other is games

45
00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:22,080
Speaker 1: without fans. And we're gonna talk a little bit later

46
00:02:22,120 --> 00:02:26,920
Speaker 1: on about one league when much smaller's nascent league, UH

47
00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:30,720
Speaker 1: playing games without fans in sort of a quarantined type situation,

48
00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:35,080
Speaker 1: that feels more likely. And I guess the other thing

49
00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:37,560
Speaker 1: that I would say is going back to what we

50
00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:40,399
Speaker 1: talked about earlier this week about the Miami Dolphins, they're

51
00:02:40,520 --> 00:02:43,720
Speaker 1: envisioning maybe a situation where you've got a third of

52
00:02:43,720 --> 00:02:46,280
Speaker 1: the fans, so that means two thirds aren't showing up

53
00:02:46,320 --> 00:02:49,480
Speaker 1: and they're probably gonna want their money back. Absolutely, And

54
00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:51,360
Speaker 1: as we said here, you know these are for for

55
00:02:51,440 --> 00:02:54,320
Speaker 1: fans who bought tickets from the club directly. It sounds

56
00:02:54,320 --> 00:02:57,080
Speaker 1: like the NFL also has some buy in from some

57
00:02:57,160 --> 00:02:59,880
Speaker 1: of the secondary market partners. You know, your stubhubs, you're

58
00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:02,919
Speaker 1: your your ticket masters, your sea geeks. To refund some

59
00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:05,440
Speaker 1: or all of the tickets there where. That leaves out

60
00:03:05,600 --> 00:03:09,000
Speaker 1: Michael barr Is brokers. You know, there's gonna be a

61
00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:11,760
Speaker 1: big reckoning in the in the broker world where if

62
00:03:11,840 --> 00:03:13,560
Speaker 1: you you know, if you got your hands on a

63
00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:16,880
Speaker 1: ticket for X amount and then you sold that moving

64
00:03:16,919 --> 00:03:20,160
Speaker 1: forward for you know, six x, you know, when you

65
00:03:20,200 --> 00:03:21,960
Speaker 1: have to refund all that, there's a chance that you've

66
00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:25,040
Speaker 1: already spent the profit you made on that for something else, right,

67
00:03:25,040 --> 00:03:27,440
Speaker 1: which might not be refunded in an easy way. So

68
00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:29,760
Speaker 1: I do think that, you know, even though the folks

69
00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:32,919
Speaker 1: who maybe bought tickets from directly from teams will be okay,

70
00:03:32,960 --> 00:03:35,480
Speaker 1: maybe some folks that made secondary market purchases are gonna

71
00:03:35,520 --> 00:03:38,640
Speaker 1: be okay, it's still kind of leaves the middlemen in

72
00:03:38,680 --> 00:03:42,040
Speaker 1: this whole scenario, I think, holding the bag and potentially

73
00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:45,000
Speaker 1: in some pretty dire straits financially. Yeah, if you bought

74
00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:47,920
Speaker 1: your tickets from Benny saying I got some front row seats, baby,

75
00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:51,360
Speaker 1: you're in TROMP. So that's not gonna work. But one

76
00:03:51,400 --> 00:03:53,960
Speaker 1: thing that is going to happen. And we talked about

77
00:03:53,960 --> 00:03:57,360
Speaker 1: this earlier, and I wonder what these guys are going

78
00:03:57,440 --> 00:04:02,400
Speaker 1: to do because they're gonna be less seats available, even

79
00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:06,400
Speaker 1: if they do have fans coming into the stadiums, the

80
00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:09,160
Speaker 1: ticket prices are going to go up. So then that

81
00:04:09,200 --> 00:04:13,160
Speaker 1: means you we all know about business, it's supply and demand,

82
00:04:13,640 --> 00:04:17,799
Speaker 1: and if there's not enough supply, that means the prices

83
00:04:17,839 --> 00:04:20,440
Speaker 1: are going to go up. And I'm just wondering what

84
00:04:20,520 --> 00:04:24,400
Speaker 1: these brokers are going to do when that situation happens.

85
00:04:24,880 --> 00:04:26,719
Speaker 1: I think one of the things you're gonna see, certainly

86
00:04:26,760 --> 00:04:31,400
Speaker 1: from the team side, is maybe some innovative options where

87
00:04:31,440 --> 00:04:34,120
Speaker 1: if you're you know, Jason Kelly Giants fan, and you

88
00:04:34,160 --> 00:04:36,600
Speaker 1: had tickets for a September game that doesn't have fans,

89
00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:39,960
Speaker 1: you know, we'll give you your refund, but we may

90
00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:43,880
Speaker 1: instead ask you, hey, let us keep your money next year.

91
00:04:44,040 --> 00:04:46,520
Speaker 1: Your credit is worth one and a half times whatever

92
00:04:46,560 --> 00:04:49,159
Speaker 1: you paid, and that is a way to maybe spread

93
00:04:49,200 --> 00:04:53,400
Speaker 1: out the financial damage. It lets you kind of push

94
00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:56,720
Speaker 1: some of that loss onto the balance sheet for next year.

95
00:04:56,800 --> 00:05:00,599
Speaker 1: It also keeps Jason involved right exce it at about

96
00:05:00,680 --> 00:05:03,000
Speaker 1: the game that he's gonna go to next year or

97
00:05:03,040 --> 00:05:05,159
Speaker 1: not this year. I think you're gonna see a number

98
00:05:05,200 --> 00:05:07,599
Speaker 1: of teams kind of within the rubric that Roger Goodell

99
00:05:07,680 --> 00:05:10,040
Speaker 1: laid out, and I think we'll see this across all sports,

100
00:05:10,520 --> 00:05:12,840
Speaker 1: uh college for example. Also, you know, I think they're

101
00:05:12,839 --> 00:05:15,919
Speaker 1: gonna ask their wealthy season ticket holders, hey, if the

102
00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:18,120
Speaker 1: games don't happen, like, would you be willing to turn

103
00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:21,200
Speaker 1: your season ticket into a donation for the university. I

104
00:05:21,240 --> 00:05:23,080
Speaker 1: think there's just gonna be a lot of options that

105
00:05:23,080 --> 00:05:25,479
Speaker 1: they're going to try to get people to think about

106
00:05:25,520 --> 00:05:28,000
Speaker 1: ways in which they can, instead of getting a refund,

107
00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:30,839
Speaker 1: do something that maybe pushes their tickets down the road,

108
00:05:30,880 --> 00:05:34,560
Speaker 1: but also you know, helps financially benefit the team or

109
00:05:34,560 --> 00:05:37,359
Speaker 1: the college where there where their fans are well. And

110
00:05:37,400 --> 00:05:39,520
Speaker 1: I also think one of the things that the teams

111
00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:42,159
Speaker 1: and the leagues are going to be wrestling with is

112
00:05:42,240 --> 00:05:45,440
Speaker 1: something that we're starting to see in the broader world,

113
00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:48,599
Speaker 1: which is just because you reopen, or just because you

114
00:05:48,640 --> 00:05:51,200
Speaker 1: figure out a way to do something with people, it

115
00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:53,800
Speaker 1: doesn't actually guarantee they're gonna show up. Now, I'm not

116
00:05:53,839 --> 00:05:55,800
Speaker 1: saying that people all of a sudden are are gonna

117
00:05:56,040 --> 00:05:58,240
Speaker 1: you know that no one's gonna want to go to

118
00:05:58,320 --> 00:06:01,480
Speaker 1: a football game, But I do you think there's this

119
00:06:01,880 --> 00:06:06,560
Speaker 1: to use a maybe tortured old sports cliche, you know,

120
00:06:06,640 --> 00:06:08,719
Speaker 1: if you open it, will they come? You know, will

121
00:06:08,760 --> 00:06:12,400
Speaker 1: they actually show up? Will consumers feel safe showing up

122
00:06:12,440 --> 00:06:17,719
Speaker 1: with even fifteen thousand of their closest friends to a

123
00:06:17,760 --> 00:06:21,280
Speaker 1: sporting event in September. Maybe it's different in November or December,

124
00:06:21,279 --> 00:06:24,479
Speaker 1: where we feel better about a vaccine. I just think

125
00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:29,440
Speaker 1: there's some big questions about the appetite especially, and I think, Michael,

126
00:06:29,480 --> 00:06:31,880
Speaker 1: you said this earlier in the week. When you can

127
00:06:31,920 --> 00:06:34,279
Speaker 1: like chill out at home with a nice big TV

128
00:06:34,960 --> 00:06:36,479
Speaker 1: and watch the game, so as long as the games

129
00:06:36,480 --> 00:06:39,360
Speaker 1: are happening, I might be more comfortable just chilling with

130
00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:42,000
Speaker 1: some you know, beer and popcorn. You're right, Jason, I

131
00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:44,240
Speaker 1: mean I can watch the Detroit Lions lose on TV,

132
00:06:44,480 --> 00:06:46,080
Speaker 1: so why do I want to go to the stadium

133
00:06:46,240 --> 00:06:50,279
Speaker 1: and golden I'm sorry, that's too soon. Uh. Up next,

134
00:06:50,839 --> 00:06:53,960
Speaker 1: in our daily roundup of the pandemic planning and the

135
00:06:53,960 --> 00:06:57,040
Speaker 1: world of sports, we have ward on how the Premier

136
00:06:57,120 --> 00:07:01,119
Speaker 1: Lacrosse League plans to handle things this season. Yeah, guys,

137
00:07:01,120 --> 00:07:04,240
Speaker 1: this is the lacrosse league launched last year by Paul Rabel,

138
00:07:04,520 --> 00:07:07,200
Speaker 1: the sports best known player, and his brother Mike, who

139
00:07:07,279 --> 00:07:09,680
Speaker 1: have been on the show before. Jason, I know, you

140
00:07:09,680 --> 00:07:12,760
Speaker 1: know them pretty well as well. Um, yeah, that they

141
00:07:12,800 --> 00:07:15,080
Speaker 1: have answered for their own league kind of this this

142
00:07:15,120 --> 00:07:17,480
Speaker 1: all important question of of of how do we get

143
00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:20,280
Speaker 1: some sort of a season in right now to to

144
00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:23,880
Speaker 1: satisfy our partners, our sponsors, are fans, are players. And

145
00:07:23,880 --> 00:07:28,680
Speaker 1: their answer is a fifteen day, fully quarantined lacrosse tournament.

146
00:07:28,720 --> 00:07:30,320
Speaker 1: They don't have a location yet, it's going to be

147
00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:33,280
Speaker 1: at the end of July. All the games, all twenty games,

148
00:07:33,280 --> 00:07:36,080
Speaker 1: including the playoffs, are going to be televised or streamed

149
00:07:36,360 --> 00:07:40,480
Speaker 1: through their exclusive partner, NBC. But this is their sophomore season.

150
00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:43,520
Speaker 1: Instead of touring around the country as they did last year,

151
00:07:43,560 --> 00:07:46,160
Speaker 1: as they certainly planned to do this year, Uh, They're

152
00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:49,840
Speaker 1: instead gonna do everything in a fifteen day span, all

153
00:07:49,880 --> 00:07:55,320
Speaker 1: in a fully quarantined kind of campus scenario. Jason. Obviously

154
00:07:55,360 --> 00:07:57,760
Speaker 1: not a great result for them. They'd rather have the

155
00:07:58,040 --> 00:08:01,200
Speaker 1: full season, but you know, given what's happening, if they

156
00:08:01,240 --> 00:08:03,840
Speaker 1: can get this event off the ground, I think that

157
00:08:03,960 --> 00:08:06,680
Speaker 1: this is a nice result for them, and it lets

158
00:08:06,680 --> 00:08:09,120
Speaker 1: them satisfy kind of the big revenue streams that they have.

159
00:08:09,680 --> 00:08:12,360
Speaker 1: I totally agree with you, and I have to say,

160
00:08:12,400 --> 00:08:14,320
Speaker 1: and as you know, as you said, I do know

161
00:08:14,360 --> 00:08:17,120
Speaker 1: these guys, uh pretty well. I've gotten to know them,

162
00:08:17,280 --> 00:08:22,120
Speaker 1: and they're smart. And I also think that in some

163
00:08:22,200 --> 00:08:25,360
Speaker 1: ways there they're doing their best to make sort of

164
00:08:25,440 --> 00:08:29,960
Speaker 1: lemonade out of lemons here. And also I think understanding

165
00:08:30,560 --> 00:08:33,760
Speaker 1: the broader world that is, and we've talked a ton

166
00:08:33,840 --> 00:08:38,480
Speaker 1: about this already, is just starved for sports of any form,

167
00:08:38,679 --> 00:08:42,760
Speaker 1: especially on TV. I mean, ESPN is a desert right now.

168
00:08:42,800 --> 00:08:44,640
Speaker 1: And I know we're going to talk about it, uh

169
00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:47,400
Speaker 1: in a minute when it relates to Disney earnings. But

170
00:08:47,640 --> 00:08:51,480
Speaker 1: I mean, you're gonna put fresh content on TV. You're

171
00:08:51,480 --> 00:08:54,800
Speaker 1: gonna put it on NBC and its family of networks.

172
00:08:55,160 --> 00:08:57,840
Speaker 1: The broadcast was the thing that was really driving their

173
00:08:57,880 --> 00:09:00,920
Speaker 1: business last year. I think as much as they said, hey,

174
00:09:01,040 --> 00:09:03,079
Speaker 1: you know, we were happy with how many people showed up,

175
00:09:03,840 --> 00:09:07,160
Speaker 1: the attendance wasn't the thing. It was the broadcast and

176
00:09:07,240 --> 00:09:11,040
Speaker 1: really getting to this growing base of fans, many of

177
00:09:11,400 --> 00:09:14,520
Speaker 1: whom are younger, many of whom are affluent. I mean

178
00:09:14,559 --> 00:09:16,920
Speaker 1: we are talking about lacrosse here, So I think this

179
00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:20,680
Speaker 1: is pretty smart. Yeah, broadcasting and sponsors as well, you know,

180
00:09:20,800 --> 00:09:24,080
Speaker 1: they good point. They're up two and a half times

181
00:09:24,120 --> 00:09:26,679
Speaker 1: from last year. There their sponsorship numbers. I believe it's

182
00:09:26,679 --> 00:09:29,400
Speaker 1: their biggest revenue driver. And the surprising thing to me

183
00:09:29,800 --> 00:09:31,600
Speaker 1: one of the things Mike Rabel told me this week,

184
00:09:32,520 --> 00:09:36,040
Speaker 1: by doing this fifteen day tournament, they are satisfying all

185
00:09:36,080 --> 00:09:39,959
Speaker 1: of their sponsorship requirements. That's incredible. It's a shortened season,

186
00:09:40,080 --> 00:09:43,240
Speaker 1: of course, but they're gonna keep all those deals intact.

187
00:09:43,280 --> 00:09:46,040
Speaker 1: They're gonna add some on field logos, maybe more advertising

188
00:09:46,120 --> 00:09:49,400
Speaker 1: during the broadcasting. As you're talking about, Jason, they do

189
00:09:49,480 --> 00:09:52,120
Speaker 1: a lot of really innovative work on social media, some

190
00:09:52,160 --> 00:09:54,600
Speaker 1: digital video. They're gonna be doing more of that and

191
00:09:54,640 --> 00:09:56,920
Speaker 1: those things. As you guys, you guys know, you don't

192
00:09:56,920 --> 00:09:58,360
Speaker 1: need to be on the field, you don't need to

193
00:09:58,400 --> 00:10:01,480
Speaker 1: necessarily be playing games, especially for the way that their

194
00:10:01,520 --> 00:10:05,200
Speaker 1: their audience, you know, interacts with their game. Uh So, yes,

195
00:10:05,240 --> 00:10:07,360
Speaker 1: I think that this is this is a smart result.

196
00:10:07,400 --> 00:10:10,439
Speaker 1: It is not perfect, but it lets them, uh it

197
00:10:10,520 --> 00:10:12,880
Speaker 1: lets them keep going. And and and Michael, a question

198
00:10:12,920 --> 00:10:15,040
Speaker 1: for you. You know, this is not a league like

199
00:10:15,080 --> 00:10:17,720
Speaker 1: the NBA that's been around for multiple decades. It's not

200
00:10:17,800 --> 00:10:21,000
Speaker 1: you know, it's not fully ingrained in the sports ecosystem

201
00:10:21,080 --> 00:10:23,679
Speaker 1: right now. How important do you think it is for

202
00:10:23,720 --> 00:10:26,280
Speaker 1: them just to have something, to have kind of some

203
00:10:26,360 --> 00:10:30,400
Speaker 1: sort of continuity here, as opposed to saying, ah man

204
00:10:30,480 --> 00:10:33,679
Speaker 1: that the pandemic happened. We can't get anything off the ground.

205
00:10:33,679 --> 00:10:36,440
Speaker 1: This you'll we'll see us in year three without having

206
00:10:36,480 --> 00:10:38,480
Speaker 1: a year to be being a young league. I think

207
00:10:38,520 --> 00:10:41,479
Speaker 1: it's important for them to keep some sort of continuity

208
00:10:41,520 --> 00:10:44,199
Speaker 1: going and in their early stages, well, it's like what

209
00:10:44,280 --> 00:10:47,319
Speaker 1: Mike Rabel sent to you, that they're going to have

210
00:10:47,400 --> 00:10:51,120
Speaker 1: lacrosse on television for fifteen days straight is kind of

211
00:10:51,120 --> 00:10:54,520
Speaker 1: like binge watching on Netflix, and you can't help but

212
00:10:54,760 --> 00:10:57,920
Speaker 1: to have that pent up demand for the live sports.

213
00:10:57,960 --> 00:11:01,440
Speaker 1: It can't do anything but help them out. And as

214
00:11:01,520 --> 00:11:05,800
Speaker 1: time goes along, I hope to that more sports do

215
00:11:06,040 --> 00:11:09,560
Speaker 1: something like this because you can kind of binge watch

216
00:11:09,640 --> 00:11:12,679
Speaker 1: a sport and get hooked and get right back and

217
00:11:12,720 --> 00:11:15,719
Speaker 1: get the popularity going again. Absolutely, and we we know

218
00:11:15,800 --> 00:11:18,040
Speaker 1: that all the big sports are all looking at this

219
00:11:18,160 --> 00:11:21,840
Speaker 1: same idea. Right The NBA is considering, you know, sports

220
00:11:21,840 --> 00:11:25,000
Speaker 1: in a bubble somewhere. The NHL is talking to towns

221
00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:28,760
Speaker 1: in New Hampshire and North Dakota the same idea. There's

222
00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:30,800
Speaker 1: things about the Lacrosse League that make things a lot

223
00:11:30,840 --> 00:11:33,880
Speaker 1: easier in that regard, there's less teams, there's fewer games.

224
00:11:34,200 --> 00:11:36,439
Speaker 1: The league owns all the teams, so it's it's a

225
00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:39,240
Speaker 1: single decision making process, which makes things easy. You know.

226
00:11:39,280 --> 00:11:41,520
Speaker 1: They also, you know, no one has a home stadium.

227
00:11:41,520 --> 00:11:44,200
Speaker 1: It's a tour based model. Son no one has stuck

228
00:11:44,280 --> 00:11:46,760
Speaker 1: trying to kind of make people happy in a specific

229
00:11:46,800 --> 00:11:49,760
Speaker 1: region or a specific city. So so in this regard,

230
00:11:50,040 --> 00:11:52,320
Speaker 1: you know, the PLL has has an advantage and maybe

231
00:11:52,400 --> 00:11:54,760
Speaker 1: getting this thing off the ground. But I do think

232
00:11:54,800 --> 00:11:56,520
Speaker 1: that there are people, you know, and I know these

233
00:11:56,520 --> 00:11:58,480
Speaker 1: guys are talking to to folks at the NBA and

234
00:11:58,520 --> 00:12:01,600
Speaker 1: the NHL, I think across us the sports world. This

235
00:12:01,800 --> 00:12:04,760
Speaker 1: is potentially the goal right now is to figure out

236
00:12:04,800 --> 00:12:07,480
Speaker 1: a way, even in some abridged way, maybe make it

237
00:12:07,559 --> 00:12:10,400
Speaker 1: the binge watching idea that you're talking about, Michael, but

238
00:12:10,400 --> 00:12:13,199
Speaker 1: but trying to get something off the ground, and if

239
00:12:13,240 --> 00:12:16,000
Speaker 1: doing it all in one place in one condensed time

240
00:12:16,080 --> 00:12:19,000
Speaker 1: is the safest way for your athletes to do that,

241
00:12:19,360 --> 00:12:20,760
Speaker 1: then you know, I think that's the way this is

242
00:12:20,760 --> 00:12:22,760
Speaker 1: going to work out well. And I think that's the

243
00:12:22,760 --> 00:12:26,280
Speaker 1: really important point here is the timing of this means

244
00:12:26,440 --> 00:12:29,280
Speaker 1: that every league is going to be watching this so

245
00:12:29,360 --> 00:12:32,440
Speaker 1: closely and they are going to be studying every single

246
00:12:32,520 --> 00:12:35,560
Speaker 1: aspect to it. And I will say I mean Paul

247
00:12:35,720 --> 00:12:39,680
Speaker 1: and Mike both they are indefatigable when it comes to

248
00:12:40,200 --> 00:12:43,319
Speaker 1: like networking and being out there. They are working it

249
00:12:43,440 --> 00:12:45,800
Speaker 1: all the time, and you know that they are going

250
00:12:45,840 --> 00:12:49,040
Speaker 1: to be very open to sharing everything that they can

251
00:12:49,200 --> 00:12:53,080
Speaker 1: about this because if they can go down in history,

252
00:12:53,160 --> 00:12:55,560
Speaker 1: essentially in this sort of twisted history that we're in

253
00:12:55,720 --> 00:12:58,440
Speaker 1: as figuring out a way to get sports back their

254
00:12:58,480 --> 00:13:02,960
Speaker 1: heroes at this point. And finally, since we're talking about broadcasting,

255
00:13:03,040 --> 00:13:06,040
Speaker 1: let's talk sports media in the age of COVID nineteen

256
00:13:06,880 --> 00:13:10,160
Speaker 1: And if you are Disney, if you remember the coyote

257
00:13:10,200 --> 00:13:11,840
Speaker 1: that was chasing the road running and he would hold

258
00:13:11,920 --> 00:13:14,200
Speaker 1: up a sign that says, e ads, Well, that's what

259
00:13:14,440 --> 00:13:19,360
Speaker 1: happened to Disney's ugly report all around the world's biggest

260
00:13:19,480 --> 00:13:22,400
Speaker 1: entertainment company. But let's dig into what it says about

261
00:13:22,440 --> 00:13:27,000
Speaker 1: the state of sports broadcast media rights right now. And

262
00:13:28,080 --> 00:13:32,640
Speaker 1: it's gonna be tough to get money. Granted, Disney makes

263
00:13:32,679 --> 00:13:34,760
Speaker 1: their money off the parks, that's their bread and butter,

264
00:13:34,880 --> 00:13:37,840
Speaker 1: but obviously when it's kind of closed. You can't make

265
00:13:37,880 --> 00:13:40,880
Speaker 1: any money, and never mind the entertainment part of it too,

266
00:13:40,920 --> 00:13:44,079
Speaker 1: So this is really going to impact how much it's

267
00:13:44,080 --> 00:13:47,680
Speaker 1: gonna cost for media rights. Evan, what do you think? Yeah, guys,

268
00:13:47,679 --> 00:13:49,640
Speaker 1: this has been a I mean, this is the business

269
00:13:49,679 --> 00:13:51,599
Speaker 1: nerd in me. I don't think I've ever been this

270
00:13:51,720 --> 00:13:54,880
Speaker 1: excited for an Earny report. And then I was this

271
00:13:55,160 --> 00:13:57,880
Speaker 1: week when when Disney talked about it's you know, it's

272
00:13:57,920 --> 00:13:59,679
Speaker 1: first quarter. And granted, this is a quarter that ended,

273
00:13:59,720 --> 00:14:02,040
Speaker 1: I believe, even at the end of March, so certainly

274
00:14:02,040 --> 00:14:04,640
Speaker 1: not all encompassing in any way of kind of what

275
00:14:04,760 --> 00:14:07,679
Speaker 1: the what the reality is among the pandemic. But just

276
00:14:07,720 --> 00:14:09,600
Speaker 1: to toss some some numbers out there on on the

277
00:14:09,840 --> 00:14:12,640
Speaker 1: ESPN side, you know, I think the big things, uh

278
00:14:12,679 --> 00:14:15,880
Speaker 1: their AD revenue down eight percent in the quarter. Uh,

279
00:14:15,920 --> 00:14:20,280
Speaker 1: their ESPN Plus subscriptions up a pretty good amount quarter

280
00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:23,400
Speaker 1: over quarter. They're almost an eight million subscribers. You know,

281
00:14:23,520 --> 00:14:27,000
Speaker 1: remember that they have bundled those oftentimes with Disney Plus,

282
00:14:27,360 --> 00:14:30,200
Speaker 1: which is going through the roof right now. So you know,

283
00:14:30,200 --> 00:14:31,840
Speaker 1: it's it's it's it's a little hard to judge that

284
00:14:31,920 --> 00:14:34,920
Speaker 1: number exactly on its face, but but Jason you know,

285
00:14:34,960 --> 00:14:37,960
Speaker 1: looking at these numbers, getting kind of an early sense

286
00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:41,800
Speaker 1: of maybe how this sports shutdown is affecting ESPN. You know,

287
00:14:41,880 --> 00:14:43,760
Speaker 1: one of the one of the bigger units at Disney.

288
00:14:44,240 --> 00:14:46,880
Speaker 1: What were your takeaways? Was this about what you expected?

289
00:14:46,920 --> 00:14:49,160
Speaker 1: Where did things actually look better or worse than you

290
00:14:49,200 --> 00:14:51,600
Speaker 1: were expecting? You know, it looked a little bit better,

291
00:14:51,640 --> 00:14:53,840
Speaker 1: And I think in part that's because of what you

292
00:14:53,880 --> 00:14:56,400
Speaker 1: said that it's not fully baked in and we really

293
00:14:56,440 --> 00:14:59,040
Speaker 1: need to see this current quarter that we're living in

294
00:14:59,080 --> 00:15:04,320
Speaker 1: to understand exactly what the ramifications are. And you guys

295
00:15:04,360 --> 00:15:07,520
Speaker 1: know as well as I do. I mean, ESPN has

296
00:15:07,560 --> 00:15:11,840
Speaker 1: been struggling maybe too strong a word, but certainly has

297
00:15:11,880 --> 00:15:13,880
Speaker 1: been trying to find itself a little bit over the

298
00:15:13,920 --> 00:15:17,960
Speaker 1: past couple of years in terms of what it's offering

299
00:15:18,120 --> 00:15:19,880
Speaker 1: is I mean all the way down to some talent

300
00:15:19,960 --> 00:15:23,680
Speaker 1: management issues and things like that. So this couldn't have

301
00:15:23,720 --> 00:15:26,840
Speaker 1: come at a worse time. I think they're looking out

302
00:15:26,880 --> 00:15:31,640
Speaker 1: at a fall that is incredibly bleak if there is

303
00:15:31,840 --> 00:15:35,920
Speaker 1: some lack or a total lack of college football. I mean,

304
00:15:35,960 --> 00:15:39,360
Speaker 1: you think about franchises like Game Day and other things,

305
00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:42,560
Speaker 1: and it's hard to imagine the revenue that will be

306
00:15:42,600 --> 00:15:44,600
Speaker 1: lost if they're not able to put a lot of

307
00:15:44,600 --> 00:15:47,240
Speaker 1: those games on television. So I think the story is

308
00:15:47,320 --> 00:15:50,440
Speaker 1: yet to be written. And I think you're totally right

309
00:15:50,480 --> 00:15:53,720
Speaker 1: about some of the benefit they're getting from the other

310
00:15:53,760 --> 00:15:58,440
Speaker 1: streaming services, notably Disney Plus, and as a big consumer

311
00:15:58,480 --> 00:16:02,520
Speaker 1: of Disney Plus here Notable Frozen to mo Wanna, those

312
00:16:02,560 --> 00:16:04,800
Speaker 1: sorts of things, and maybe a little Star Wars thrown in,

313
00:16:05,240 --> 00:16:07,560
Speaker 1: I hear you. I mean, I think that's how I

314
00:16:07,600 --> 00:16:11,440
Speaker 1: think that's how people did end up with ESPN Plus.

315
00:16:11,640 --> 00:16:14,800
Speaker 1: I don't think they're dialing it up to just watch

316
00:16:14,880 --> 00:16:17,240
Speaker 1: some of the random stuff that's on ESPN these days,

317
00:16:17,240 --> 00:16:20,000
Speaker 1: are they? I mean, are you watching Michael far Are

318
00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:23,200
Speaker 1: you watching a lot of ESPN right now? Not the

319
00:16:23,240 --> 00:16:27,960
Speaker 1: Marble racing? Other than that, I mean, I did watch

320
00:16:28,080 --> 00:16:33,960
Speaker 1: the Michael Jordan's documentary, and and ESPN couldn't wait for

321
00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:36,360
Speaker 1: that to come out because they were telling the producers,

322
00:16:36,520 --> 00:16:40,240
Speaker 1: please put this out earlier. We need some programming. And

323
00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:44,440
Speaker 1: that really helped ESPN at least. But to put it

324
00:16:44,480 --> 00:16:48,880
Speaker 1: in perspective, guys, in case anybody who didn't know, this

325
00:16:48,960 --> 00:16:53,520
Speaker 1: whole coronavirus crisis cost Disney as much as one point

326
00:16:53,760 --> 00:16:58,440
Speaker 1: four billion dollars in lost profit last quarter. So far

327
00:16:58,680 --> 00:17:02,080
Speaker 1: so far, And Michael, I'm actually glad you brought up

328
00:17:02,120 --> 00:17:03,680
Speaker 1: the I'm glad you brought up the Last Dance, that

329
00:17:03,760 --> 00:17:06,080
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan documentary. We've talked a lot, you know, the

330
00:17:06,119 --> 00:17:08,560
Speaker 1: past few weeks about kind of the different things ESPN

331
00:17:08,640 --> 00:17:10,760
Speaker 1: was trying. You know, it did the O Show and

332
00:17:10,800 --> 00:17:13,800
Speaker 1: the Marble Racing, It was doing kind of old sports

333
00:17:13,840 --> 00:17:16,639
Speaker 1: movies for a while, it was doing classic games. I

334
00:17:16,680 --> 00:17:20,240
Speaker 1: think they have hit on their potential short term solution

335
00:17:20,359 --> 00:17:24,520
Speaker 1: for keeping people engaged, and it is smart documentary original content.

336
00:17:24,920 --> 00:17:27,920
Speaker 1: The first six episodes of The Last Dance averaging five

337
00:17:27,960 --> 00:17:30,720
Speaker 1: point eight million viewers on Sunday night. That's a that's

338
00:17:30,720 --> 00:17:33,040
Speaker 1: a good number, you know, regardless of what the what

339
00:17:33,160 --> 00:17:36,560
Speaker 1: the event is. And and I understand now ESPN is

340
00:17:36,640 --> 00:17:41,160
Speaker 1: kind of moving accelerating three more documentaries, one on Lance Armstrong,

341
00:17:41,520 --> 00:17:43,800
Speaker 1: one on Bruce Lee, and then one that I think

342
00:17:43,920 --> 00:17:47,159
Speaker 1: is probably the most anticipated of the three, documentary on

343
00:17:48,080 --> 00:17:51,640
Speaker 1: Home Run Race between Sammy Sosa and and Mark McGuire.

344
00:17:51,920 --> 00:17:53,800
Speaker 1: So I do think that, you know, as we wait

345
00:17:53,840 --> 00:17:56,119
Speaker 1: for for Live Sports to resume, you know that the

346
00:17:56,200 --> 00:17:59,000
Speaker 1: documentary angle is one that I definitely think ESPN is

347
00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:02,240
Speaker 1: gonna play just because of how well this Michael Jordan's

348
00:18:02,240 --> 00:18:04,600
Speaker 1: one has done. And then on the other side, you

349
00:18:04,600 --> 00:18:07,320
Speaker 1: know they're gonna get live events back. I think sooner

350
00:18:07,320 --> 00:18:10,440
Speaker 1: than people think this weekend. In fact, UFC is holding

351
00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:14,520
Speaker 1: UFC tot in Florida that will be available on you know,

352
00:18:14,760 --> 00:18:18,120
Speaker 1: ESPN Plus and then ESPN Linear and then the big

353
00:18:18,160 --> 00:18:20,320
Speaker 1: ones are a pay per view sixty five dollars that

354
00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:23,280
Speaker 1: you buy through ESPN Plus, So there is at least

355
00:18:23,440 --> 00:18:26,879
Speaker 1: help on the way in some ways for ESPN moving forward.

356
00:18:27,880 --> 00:18:30,560
Speaker 1: This has been the Bloomberg Business of Sports podcast at

357
00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:33,400
Speaker 1: Michael Barr along with Jason Kelly and Evan W. Williams.

358
00:18:33,560 --> 00:18:36,800
Speaker 1: We're here each and every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday exploring

359
00:18:36,840 --> 00:18:39,080
Speaker 1: the world of money in sports. Join us again tomorrow

360
00:18:39,160 --> 00:18:43,320
Speaker 1: when we speak with Formula E CEO Jamie Regal. You're

361
00:18:43,359 --> 00:18:46,639
Speaker 1: listening to Bloomberg Business of Sports and Bloomberg Radio around

362
00:18:46,680 --> 00:18:49,040
Speaker 1: the world and online wherever you get your podcasts.