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 --> 00:00:07,120
Speaker 1: and Fox Sports guarantee money isn't necessarily guaranteed. One major

3
00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:11,000
Speaker 1: League soccer runer is leading out fifty billion dollar investment,

4
00:00:11,160 --> 00:00:14,200
Speaker 1: bluring 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: william 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 --> 00:00:27,000
Speaker 1: Commission to Rob Manfred Idy O'Neill is President of Director

9
00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:30,040
Speaker 1: Consumer in that then the race card driver Elio Castro

10
00:00:30,080 --> 00:00:33,360
Speaker 1: and Evers Jared Smith, president of Ticketmasters. Bloomberg Business of

11
00:00:33,440 --> 00:00:37,879
Speaker 1: Sports from Bloomberg Radio. Hello, I'm Evan Nobe Williams and

12
00:00:37,880 --> 00:00:40,280
Speaker 1: I'm Michael barn This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports

13
00:00:40,280 --> 00:00:43,519
Speaker 1: podcast where we explore the big money issues in the

14
00:00:43,560 --> 00:00:46,839
Speaker 1: world of sports. And this is a case of just

15
00:00:47,080 --> 00:00:49,800
Speaker 1: sad time. And we're going to start with the XFL.

16
00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:56,640
Speaker 1: They have suspended operations because of the coronavirus and I

17
00:00:56,680 --> 00:01:00,320
Speaker 1: feel bad because they were getting people in the stand ends.

18
00:01:00,360 --> 00:01:05,600
Speaker 1: This is owned by Vince McMahon, uh and it was

19
00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:08,800
Speaker 1: also the executives and we've had them on the show.

20
00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:13,240
Speaker 1: XFL CEO Jeffrey Pollock and of course Commissioner Oliver Luck.

21
00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:18,520
Speaker 1: I feel horrible for these guys. Yeah, this is this

22
00:01:18,600 --> 00:01:21,400
Speaker 1: is a tough result. You know, as you said that

23
00:01:21,560 --> 00:01:23,680
Speaker 1: they were on the show recently, we talked to them

24
00:01:23,720 --> 00:01:26,280
Speaker 1: about their business plan. You know, this is what they

25
00:01:26,319 --> 00:01:31,080
Speaker 1: had to say about their model. Here's the business plan, patients, patients,

26
00:01:31,480 --> 00:01:35,800
Speaker 1: we we we are launching, have our launching a hundred

27
00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:38,760
Speaker 1: year brand that already has twenty years of equity built

28
00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:41,679
Speaker 1: into it. We're in this for the long haul. If

29
00:01:41,720 --> 00:01:43,840
Speaker 1: you were to ask me, what are are measures of

30
00:01:43,880 --> 00:01:46,520
Speaker 1: success for the first season, I'd say, asked me at

31
00:01:46,560 --> 00:01:48,080
Speaker 1: the end of the first season. So you heard it

32
00:01:48,160 --> 00:01:50,800
Speaker 1: right there, patients. You know, they would not commit to

33
00:01:50,800 --> 00:01:53,920
Speaker 1: whether we were definitely going to see one season, but

34
00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:55,920
Speaker 1: they made it clear that they were in this for

35
00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:59,440
Speaker 1: the long haul. You know, obviously no way to foresee

36
00:01:59,520 --> 00:02:01,360
Speaker 1: that they would only make it five weeks into the

37
00:02:01,400 --> 00:02:06,320
Speaker 1: season before a global pandemic essentially ground the entire global

38
00:02:06,360 --> 00:02:10,680
Speaker 1: sports calendar to a halt. My question for you, Michael,

39
00:02:10,800 --> 00:02:12,720
Speaker 1: you know it certainly seems likely. You know, they laid

40
00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:16,520
Speaker 1: off almost all their staff, their refunding ticket purchase purchases

41
00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:19,760
Speaker 1: for it seems likely that this XFL is not going

42
00:02:19,800 --> 00:02:22,400
Speaker 1: to exist next year. Either. Do you think we've seen

43
00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:25,680
Speaker 1: the end of you know, investors putting hundreds of millions

44
00:02:25,680 --> 00:02:29,360
Speaker 1: of dollars into you know, spring football or other professional

45
00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:31,480
Speaker 1: football leagues, or do you think, you know, we're just

46
00:02:31,480 --> 00:02:33,840
Speaker 1: gonna keep seeing people try this, you know, year in

47
00:02:33,919 --> 00:02:38,240
Speaker 1: year out. Well, the American Football League, Uh, yeah, you're

48
00:02:38,240 --> 00:02:41,280
Speaker 1: not gonna see something like that. But the XFL they

49
00:02:41,360 --> 00:02:43,840
Speaker 1: just ran. I mean, they're in the same boat like

50
00:02:43,960 --> 00:02:49,680
Speaker 1: every other major sport out there. Bad timing, it's you

51
00:02:49,720 --> 00:02:54,800
Speaker 1: have no sports and even if they ran into another problem,

52
00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:58,320
Speaker 1: even if they could play the game, they probably wouldn't

53
00:02:58,360 --> 00:03:00,640
Speaker 1: be able to put people in the stands, and that's

54
00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:04,040
Speaker 1: revenue also, So I just I feel horrible for him.

55
00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:07,680
Speaker 1: They they really thought this out and it was innovative,

56
00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:12,760
Speaker 1: and I really thought that this uh collaboration with Vince McMann,

57
00:03:12,840 --> 00:03:15,680
Speaker 1: I think Alphae Entertainment also, Yeah, I thought this was

58
00:03:15,680 --> 00:03:19,560
Speaker 1: gonna work. And and they just had a bad deal. Yeah,

59
00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:22,600
Speaker 1: I mean I would argue that they got doubly unlucky here. Right. So,

60
00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:26,440
Speaker 1: not only did the coronavirus mean that the KFL could

61
00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:28,519
Speaker 1: not play you know, the rest of its season or

62
00:03:28,560 --> 00:03:32,359
Speaker 1: its playoffs. It also meant that w w E suddenly,

63
00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:34,560
Speaker 1: you know, kind of went into a financial tail span.

64
00:03:34,639 --> 00:03:37,320
Speaker 1: You know, in the past year, ww stock went from

65
00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:39,440
Speaker 1: a high of a hundred dollars down to thirty seven

66
00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:41,880
Speaker 1: dollars right now. You know, easy math there, that's a

67
00:03:41,960 --> 00:03:45,360
Speaker 1: that's a sixty three percent jump. Um. A couple of

68
00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:48,280
Speaker 1: weeks ago, Vince McMahon went through and there's way too

69
00:03:48,360 --> 00:03:52,400
Speaker 1: much details here for me, but a prepaid variable forward contract, Michael,

70
00:03:52,440 --> 00:03:54,840
Speaker 1: I'll ask you to explain that one. From what I understand.

71
00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:57,640
Speaker 1: You know, he freed up a lot of cash right

72
00:03:57,680 --> 00:04:00,320
Speaker 1: now in exchange for either paying that money act or

73
00:04:00,480 --> 00:04:03,440
Speaker 1: agreeing to sell shares at a later date. You know,

74
00:04:03,480 --> 00:04:05,520
Speaker 1: the value of his shares has gone down, you know,

75
00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:08,360
Speaker 1: hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars in the past

76
00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:11,400
Speaker 1: few weeks alone. You know. So the XFL not only

77
00:04:11,520 --> 00:04:14,080
Speaker 1: hit a snag with its own season, it hit a

78
00:04:14,120 --> 00:04:17,520
Speaker 1: major snag with the money behind, you know, the money

79
00:04:17,560 --> 00:04:20,240
Speaker 1: back stopping the entire enterprise. And it's hard for me

80
00:04:20,279 --> 00:04:22,800
Speaker 1: actually to fully tell, you know, how much of the

81
00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:26,160
Speaker 1: problems the XFL had is directly related to bucket number one,

82
00:04:26,240 --> 00:04:29,479
Speaker 1: which is, you know, they couldn't hold their season, or

83
00:04:29,600 --> 00:04:31,760
Speaker 1: more broadly related to bucket number two, which is that

84
00:04:31,880 --> 00:04:34,400
Speaker 1: Vince McMahon and w w E are having their own

85
00:04:34,440 --> 00:04:37,120
Speaker 1: financial troubles and that really, you know, put pressure on

86
00:04:37,120 --> 00:04:42,680
Speaker 1: the XFL enterprise. Well speaking of wrestling and fighting, Uh,

87
00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:47,400
Speaker 1: the UFC they decided, uh, you know what, we're not

88
00:04:47,400 --> 00:04:52,599
Speaker 1: going to hold. They changed their mind and and and

89
00:04:53,240 --> 00:04:57,120
Speaker 1: I think probably for the better. I can't say I'm surprised.

90
00:04:57,279 --> 00:04:59,320
Speaker 1: It is interesting, you know, if you read the reporting

91
00:04:59,360 --> 00:05:01,520
Speaker 1: on kind of how this went down after we talked

92
00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:04,719
Speaker 1: about this last week, it sounds as though ESPN was

93
00:05:04,760 --> 00:05:06,839
Speaker 1: the one that called, you know, ESPNS has the the

94
00:05:06,880 --> 00:05:09,200
Speaker 1: big you know, multiple big deals with UFC, is the

95
00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:11,279
Speaker 1: one that called Dana White and said, you know, this

96
00:05:11,320 --> 00:05:13,960
Speaker 1: isn't gonna happen. And it sounds like the pressure on

97
00:05:14,360 --> 00:05:18,000
Speaker 1: ESPN came from the political world. So you know, California

98
00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:20,560
Speaker 1: Governor Gavin Newsom, I know, Diane Finstein was out there

99
00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:23,320
Speaker 1: talking about how she thought this was a bad idea. UM,

100
00:05:23,480 --> 00:05:27,360
Speaker 1: so kind of interesting to see, you know, the different

101
00:05:27,480 --> 00:05:30,200
Speaker 1: levelers that were pulled in different areas of the of

102
00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:33,440
Speaker 1: the sports and the political world to end up with

103
00:05:33,480 --> 00:05:36,159
Speaker 1: this result, which is that you know, UFC's plan of

104
00:05:36,200 --> 00:05:40,200
Speaker 1: holding multiple pay per view events at a tribal land

105
00:05:40,279 --> 00:05:43,320
Speaker 1: site in California is not going to happen, at least

106
00:05:43,320 --> 00:05:45,720
Speaker 1: not in the near future now. And I'm I'm gonna

107
00:05:45,760 --> 00:05:49,520
Speaker 1: take the same approach that I have with the XFL.

108
00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:52,800
Speaker 1: And Dana White, who has also been a friend of

109
00:05:52,800 --> 00:05:55,880
Speaker 1: the program, has been on the show. Listen, you're trying

110
00:05:55,920 --> 00:05:57,719
Speaker 1: to the bottom line as you're trying to run a

111
00:05:57,760 --> 00:06:03,000
Speaker 1: business and you're trying to do old sporting events. And yes,

112
00:06:03,080 --> 00:06:06,520
Speaker 1: obviously the coronavirus it's a horrible thing that's going through

113
00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:09,440
Speaker 1: the entire world, But I'm just focusing on the sports

114
00:06:09,440 --> 00:06:11,720
Speaker 1: part of it. In the business part of it, it's

115
00:06:11,760 --> 00:06:15,560
Speaker 1: another deal of bad timing, absolutely, and there's you know,

116
00:06:15,600 --> 00:06:17,680
Speaker 1: if you again, if you look at kind of like XFL,

117
00:06:17,720 --> 00:06:21,279
Speaker 1: if you look at the ownership structure behind UFC, you

118
00:06:21,360 --> 00:06:24,040
Speaker 1: kind of get a sense of why, you know, it's

119
00:06:24,040 --> 00:06:26,560
Speaker 1: so imperative for them to host hold these events. Right,

120
00:06:26,560 --> 00:06:29,240
Speaker 1: they have a majority of their revenue comes through their

121
00:06:29,440 --> 00:06:33,040
Speaker 1: ESPN deals, and those deals almost definitely have a kind

122
00:06:33,080 --> 00:06:36,200
Speaker 1: of minimum amount of events that they need to fulfill

123
00:06:36,600 --> 00:06:38,360
Speaker 1: for that deal to kick in, right, and so we're

124
00:06:38,360 --> 00:06:41,840
Speaker 1: already at you know, a month plus of events being canceled.

125
00:06:42,120 --> 00:06:44,320
Speaker 1: So UFC is certainly looking at the calendar and thinking

126
00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:46,520
Speaker 1: how many events when we can put them on again,

127
00:06:46,839 --> 00:06:49,479
Speaker 1: can we squeeze in to make that deal full? And

128
00:06:49,520 --> 00:06:52,400
Speaker 1: then secondly, you know, UFC was bought a number of

129
00:06:52,480 --> 00:06:55,080
Speaker 1: years ago by Endeavor, which is you know, the former

130
00:06:55,120 --> 00:06:58,520
Speaker 1: William Morris Talent Agency and a group of private equities,

131
00:06:58,520 --> 00:07:01,120
Speaker 1: silver Lake and KKR. There's a lot of debt on

132
00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:03,400
Speaker 1: that deal, right that Endeavor has to pay you know,

133
00:07:03,560 --> 00:07:07,320
Speaker 1: debt service on on a monthly or quarterly basis, and

134
00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:11,800
Speaker 1: Endeavor owns almost just a shade over that. So if

135
00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:15,160
Speaker 1: because of this, KKR and silver Lake end up having

136
00:07:15,200 --> 00:07:17,600
Speaker 1: to buy up more equity, put more money into this company,

137
00:07:17,920 --> 00:07:22,160
Speaker 1: Endeavor could lose the control controlling steak that it has

138
00:07:22,200 --> 00:07:25,120
Speaker 1: in UFC. You know. So obviously as we as we

139
00:07:25,160 --> 00:07:27,960
Speaker 1: talk about the sports calendar, every league, you know, every

140
00:07:28,080 --> 00:07:31,280
Speaker 1: entity is in its own boat. But both both XFL,

141
00:07:31,440 --> 00:07:34,240
Speaker 1: you know, by virtue of its ww E backing, and

142
00:07:34,280 --> 00:07:38,280
Speaker 1: then UFC, by virtue of its Endeavor silver Lake KKR backing,

143
00:07:38,480 --> 00:07:41,040
Speaker 1: they're both in kind of unique situations that is really

144
00:07:41,120 --> 00:07:44,400
Speaker 1: driving the decisions you're seeing publicly right now. And by

145
00:07:44,400 --> 00:07:47,040
Speaker 1: the way, I want to add something which is uh

146
00:07:47,080 --> 00:07:51,640
Speaker 1: an asterisk to it this uh Ronda Rowsey, former UFC champion.

147
00:07:51,760 --> 00:07:57,040
Speaker 1: She says she decided her decision to retail the w

148
00:07:57,040 --> 00:08:02,400
Speaker 1: w E career is because of ungrateful fans. Um she

149
00:08:02,560 --> 00:08:07,360
Speaker 1: was a little more stronger language than that, but yeah,

150
00:08:07,840 --> 00:08:11,760
Speaker 1: I guess you know, so all of this together is

151
00:08:11,880 --> 00:08:15,560
Speaker 1: just uh, I'm feeling bad because this is I saw

152
00:08:15,600 --> 00:08:17,680
Speaker 1: her and Michael I saw she stepped in a little bit.

153
00:08:17,720 --> 00:08:21,000
Speaker 1: She she was getting backlash for calling w w E

154
00:08:21,080 --> 00:08:24,560
Speaker 1: and and and wrestling in general fake fights. How do

155
00:08:24,680 --> 00:08:27,160
Speaker 1: you how do I know you're kind of a wrestling fan,

156
00:08:27,200 --> 00:08:30,080
Speaker 1: how do you feel about the about that? Hey, if

157
00:08:30,120 --> 00:08:34,760
Speaker 1: you bleed, it's real to me, to be honest. You know,

158
00:08:35,640 --> 00:08:38,600
Speaker 1: when you see UFC fighter and you see in the

159
00:08:38,760 --> 00:08:41,040
Speaker 1: w w E, you see you see all of that,

160
00:08:41,800 --> 00:08:46,360
Speaker 1: and you see what they do and if some of it, yes,

161
00:08:46,800 --> 00:08:50,520
Speaker 1: I know back in the day wrestling or back as

162
00:08:50,559 --> 00:08:55,560
Speaker 1: it was called rastling was on TV. Yeah, some of

163
00:08:55,600 --> 00:08:59,559
Speaker 1: it was orchestrated, but you know what, it's still blessed

164
00:08:59,559 --> 00:09:02,800
Speaker 1: their heart yeah, even the orchestrated I forgot the guy's

165
00:09:02,880 --> 00:09:06,280
Speaker 1: name who would have a chair whacked on his back.

166
00:09:06,440 --> 00:09:08,680
Speaker 1: I mean just knocked the living day and that was

167
00:09:08,720 --> 00:09:13,400
Speaker 1: for real. And I'm like, man, it's you know, God

168
00:09:13,400 --> 00:09:15,760
Speaker 1: bless you guys for for doing all of this. And

169
00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:20,520
Speaker 1: I know a guy who used to be a pro wrestler,

170
00:09:20,800 --> 00:09:26,400
Speaker 1: and that's a tough hustle. Mhm uh. Let's speaking of

171
00:09:26,440 --> 00:09:31,880
Speaker 1: tough hustles. The NBA they they're gonna wait until May

172
00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:35,520
Speaker 1: uh to formally reassess its shut down due to the

173
00:09:35,559 --> 00:09:41,520
Speaker 1: coronavirus pandemic. That's according to Commissioner Adam Silver. So I

174
00:09:41,559 --> 00:09:44,319
Speaker 1: guess one of the things that he wants is that

175
00:09:44,360 --> 00:09:47,080
Speaker 1: he wants a twenty five day program for the players

176
00:09:47,080 --> 00:09:50,480
Speaker 1: to go through before they resume game play, And which

177
00:09:50,480 --> 00:09:52,840
Speaker 1: makes perfect sense because you just can't hop back out

178
00:09:52,880 --> 00:09:55,240
Speaker 1: on the court if you guys are gonna play again.

179
00:09:55,840 --> 00:09:59,640
Speaker 1: And I still say, may might be a little optimistic

180
00:09:59,679 --> 00:10:03,160
Speaker 1: as the this round. Yeah, it's funny. I think we're

181
00:10:03,200 --> 00:10:06,560
Speaker 1: kind of going through, we're proceeding in phases through kind

182
00:10:06,600 --> 00:10:09,800
Speaker 1: of what this sports shutdown looks like. You know, in

183
00:10:09,840 --> 00:10:12,320
Speaker 1: the way beginning, it was no idea when things are

184
00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:15,320
Speaker 1: going to resume again, way too early to comment, you know.

185
00:10:15,400 --> 00:10:17,520
Speaker 1: Then we hit over the past two weeks, I kind

186
00:10:17,520 --> 00:10:19,760
Speaker 1: of think we hit this phase where you know, the

187
00:10:19,800 --> 00:10:22,240
Speaker 1: moonshot ideas were being bounced around, right, and a lot

188
00:10:22,320 --> 00:10:25,160
Speaker 1: of ideas, a lot of reporting around. Is the NBA

189
00:10:25,240 --> 00:10:27,240
Speaker 1: going to take out a cruise and and go hold

190
00:10:27,280 --> 00:10:28,839
Speaker 1: it on, you know, in the middle of the ocean.

191
00:10:28,880 --> 00:10:31,640
Speaker 1: Are they going to take over a Las Vegas casino

192
00:10:31,760 --> 00:10:35,360
Speaker 1: and hotel and just move the entire league there? Now

193
00:10:35,520 --> 00:10:37,600
Speaker 1: it seems like we may be kind of starting to

194
00:10:37,679 --> 00:10:41,199
Speaker 1: shift into the next phase that is maybe the more reasonable,

195
00:10:41,760 --> 00:10:45,720
Speaker 1: the more measured, the more scientific approach to what it

196
00:10:45,760 --> 00:10:50,040
Speaker 1: actually looks like once a league like the NBA wants

197
00:10:50,080 --> 00:10:52,760
Speaker 1: to really start to try to hold games again. And

198
00:10:52,800 --> 00:10:55,280
Speaker 1: you mentioned this twenty five day program that that is

199
00:10:55,320 --> 00:10:57,760
Speaker 1: reportedly being you know, bounced around there in the NBA.

200
00:10:58,160 --> 00:11:00,280
Speaker 1: To break that down, it would be essential, you know,

201
00:11:00,280 --> 00:11:02,600
Speaker 1: because players right now are you know, they're working out,

202
00:11:02,600 --> 00:11:04,880
Speaker 1: but they are not in game shape by any means.

203
00:11:05,360 --> 00:11:08,160
Speaker 1: This twenty five days would essentially be an eleven day

204
00:11:08,200 --> 00:11:10,960
Speaker 1: stretch of individual workouts which players can do at home

205
00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:13,800
Speaker 1: while social distancing to kind of start to rev that

206
00:11:13,880 --> 00:11:17,360
Speaker 1: engine up and then ideally whence once the NBA feels

207
00:11:17,360 --> 00:11:19,439
Speaker 1: like things might be ready, you know, a two week

208
00:11:19,880 --> 00:11:22,640
Speaker 1: plan where people get back together. It's like a training

209
00:11:22,679 --> 00:11:26,800
Speaker 1: camp of sorts for for resuming either the regular season

210
00:11:26,880 --> 00:11:29,839
Speaker 1: or jumping right into the playoffs. But again, I mean

211
00:11:29,880 --> 00:11:32,079
Speaker 1: to me, you know, the tenor of the reporting is

212
00:11:32,160 --> 00:11:35,640
Speaker 1: changing a bit from you know, these crazy moonshot ideas

213
00:11:35,760 --> 00:11:38,680
Speaker 1: now to okay, as we you know, look at the

214
00:11:38,679 --> 00:11:42,520
Speaker 1: science and things maybe start to level out. Optimistically, maybe

215
00:11:42,600 --> 00:11:47,360
Speaker 1: it's we can start thinking about when, whether it's June, July, August, September,

216
00:11:47,440 --> 00:11:50,480
Speaker 1: when we might realistically be able to hold events again,

217
00:11:50,679 --> 00:11:52,480
Speaker 1: and what does that look like for our players who

218
00:11:52,480 --> 00:11:54,720
Speaker 1: have been essentially sitting at home for the past four weeks.

219
00:11:55,240 --> 00:11:58,680
Speaker 1: By the way, you want to play a horse? Did

220
00:11:58,720 --> 00:12:01,040
Speaker 1: you did you watch it? I'm curious. I saw some

221
00:12:01,120 --> 00:12:02,760
Speaker 1: of this, and for people who don't know what I'm

222
00:12:02,760 --> 00:12:06,000
Speaker 1: talking about, I think, well, well, now it's like four

223
00:12:06,040 --> 00:12:10,000
Speaker 1: players are left in the NBA Horse Challenge. Uh they

224
00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:14,480
Speaker 1: went through around where I think Trey Young with the Ninahawks,

225
00:12:15,520 --> 00:12:19,480
Speaker 1: and uh, I think Chris Paul also got knocked out

226
00:12:19,520 --> 00:12:23,199
Speaker 1: of the tournament or something like that. Uh, let's see.

227
00:12:23,280 --> 00:12:26,520
Speaker 1: It is interesting. I mean, you know, it's it is.

228
00:12:27,840 --> 00:12:30,640
Speaker 1: I know, it's like I know when you're thinking, like, well,

229
00:12:30,679 --> 00:12:33,240
Speaker 1: I used to do that in the backyard, but it's

230
00:12:33,400 --> 00:12:37,599
Speaker 1: like it is something. Listen, when you have nothing is

231
00:12:37,840 --> 00:12:41,480
Speaker 1: what's the old Eddie Murphy joke. Uh, when you are

232
00:12:41,559 --> 00:12:44,280
Speaker 1: hungry and you get a rich cracker, that's the best

233
00:12:44,320 --> 00:12:47,640
Speaker 1: tasting ritz cracker that you're ever gonna get. And this

234
00:12:47,720 --> 00:12:52,160
Speaker 1: is what we're going through right now. But you know,

235
00:12:52,720 --> 00:12:56,200
Speaker 1: it is it is something. So for folks who aren't

236
00:12:56,240 --> 00:12:58,160
Speaker 1: fully aware of what we're talking about. You know, the

237
00:12:58,280 --> 00:13:02,240
Speaker 1: NBA put together with alongside espn UH and the n

238
00:13:02,280 --> 00:13:05,439
Speaker 1: b p A, a horse tournament for players to compete

239
00:13:05,440 --> 00:13:07,920
Speaker 1: against each other remotely from from each other's you know,

240
00:13:08,040 --> 00:13:11,920
Speaker 1: courts or backyards. Featured some former NBA stars, featured some

241
00:13:12,040 --> 00:13:14,880
Speaker 1: w NBA stars Hall of famers as well, which I

242
00:13:14,880 --> 00:13:17,280
Speaker 1: thought was was a good idea. I didn't watch any

243
00:13:17,320 --> 00:13:20,560
Speaker 1: of it, you know, full disclosure, the people on Twitter

244
00:13:20,600 --> 00:13:22,679
Speaker 1: didn't seem to love it all that much. But I'm

245
00:13:22,679 --> 00:13:25,320
Speaker 1: with you, Michael. I think that, you know, kudos to

246
00:13:25,640 --> 00:13:28,360
Speaker 1: all of all the people involved for trying this right

247
00:13:28,400 --> 00:13:30,120
Speaker 1: and if it ends up that not a lot of

248
00:13:30,120 --> 00:13:31,760
Speaker 1: people liked it. You know, we might not see a

249
00:13:31,760 --> 00:13:34,960
Speaker 1: horse tournament on ESPN again, but I appreciate kind of

250
00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:38,600
Speaker 1: the creativity that goes into organizing it, you know, the

251
00:13:38,640 --> 00:13:41,440
Speaker 1: thought process. And listen, if ESPN tries a bunch of

252
00:13:41,440 --> 00:13:44,400
Speaker 1: these things. You know, we talked about the NBA players

253
00:13:44,520 --> 00:13:47,959
Speaker 1: two K event last week which continued this weekend, this

254
00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:50,000
Speaker 1: horse event, if they just try a bunch of these things,

255
00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:52,079
Speaker 1: eventually they're going to hit something that. You know, a

256
00:13:52,160 --> 00:13:54,840
Speaker 1: lot of NBA fans say this was cool. I would

257
00:13:54,880 --> 00:13:57,720
Speaker 1: watch this again, and then they perhaps have a blueprint

258
00:13:57,800 --> 00:14:00,559
Speaker 1: for something that is actually gonna draw some significant eyeballs

259
00:14:01,080 --> 00:14:03,640
Speaker 1: during a time when NBA games aren't happening. So Horse

260
00:14:03,679 --> 00:14:07,000
Speaker 1: may not be it, you know, obviously too early to tell, fully,

261
00:14:07,160 --> 00:14:10,440
Speaker 1: but again I appreciate the appreciate the creativity, and I

262
00:14:10,480 --> 00:14:12,080
Speaker 1: think I hope that we're going to see kind of

263
00:14:12,120 --> 00:14:15,679
Speaker 1: more ideas like this, whether they land or not. Who

264
00:14:15,679 --> 00:14:18,240
Speaker 1: didn't appreciate it? J J. Reddy to see what he tweeted,

265
00:14:18,679 --> 00:14:20,640
Speaker 1: I did. I did see that. Yeah, he's one of

266
00:14:20,680 --> 00:14:24,760
Speaker 1: the ones who was very vocal. He said Horse could

267
00:14:24,800 --> 00:14:27,800
Speaker 1: not be worse. I gave it five minutes hard Pass.

268
00:14:28,680 --> 00:14:31,080
Speaker 1: I think we'll put that in the no column for

269
00:14:31,200 --> 00:14:33,920
Speaker 1: Mr brid That guy's a pure shooter. I'm sure he thinks,

270
00:14:33,960 --> 00:14:38,480
Speaker 1: of course, as this is sac religious as it is.

271
00:14:38,880 --> 00:14:42,480
Speaker 1: This is the Bloomberg Businesses Sports Podcast. I Michael Barr,

272
00:14:42,480 --> 00:14:46,480
Speaker 1: along with Evan Nobi Williams. We're here each and every Monday,

273
00:14:46,520 --> 00:14:49,400
Speaker 1: Wednesday and Thursday talking to the biggest names in sports.

274
00:14:49,920 --> 00:14:53,240
Speaker 1: You are listening to Bloomberg Business and Sports on Bloomberg

275
00:14:53,320 --> 00:15:06,080
Speaker 1: Radio around the world and online wherever you get your podcasts.