Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio News.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to the Deal.
Speaker 3: I'm your host, Jason Kelly, alongside my partner Alex Rodriguez.
Speaker 3: We are coming to you from Beverly Hills, the Milkon
Speaker 3: Global Conference.
Speaker 2: Alex, what a scene.
Speaker 4: You sound very fancy with Beverly Hills, and it is
Speaker 4: a scene. I've been coming here for about ten years
Speaker 4: and this is by far, I think the most productive,
Speaker 4: but the busiest, because there's a lot going on in
Speaker 4: the world right now.
Speaker 1: Is trying to raise capital.
Speaker 3: The world is trying to raise capital, and I think
Speaker 3: the world is wrestling with an economy that is far
Speaker 3: from certain. I would say it is uncertain. I would
Speaker 3: say it is turbulent. We hear that all the time.
Speaker 4: For people.
Speaker 3: They're talking about tariffs, they're talking about global trade, they're
Speaker 3: talking about this administration, lots of geopolitics, lots of finance,
Speaker 3: stock markets, et cetera. But they're also talking a ton
Speaker 3: about sports. You are on an incredible panel. I mean
Speaker 3: talk about star Studed tell Us who was on this roster.
Speaker 4: It was really incredible. It was Sam Kennedy, CEO Fenway Sports,
Speaker 4: the Great Willow Bay, your buddy Jason Wright was very impressive,
Speaker 4: Rich Paul from Clutch Sports, and myself, And it was
Speaker 4: an hour, but I could have been there for three
Speaker 4: hours because I really enjoyed what everybody else was saying,
Speaker 4: and it's such an interesting point. We had a great
Speaker 4: jam packed audience and we had a great time.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was really something to sort of see that
Speaker 3: collection of people. Jason Wright, of course ran the Washington Commanders.
Speaker 3: Now has gone to work with Mellie Hobson. She will
Speaker 3: be on an upcoming episode of the Deal in just
Speaker 3: a couple of weeks, so stay tuned for that. She
Speaker 3: talks all about how her new funded aerial has come together.
Speaker 2: I got to do it.
Speaker 3: I have to say a very cool like check the
Speaker 3: box the bucket List interview yesterday.
Speaker 4: And I got to say, you were absolutely amazing. You
Speaker 4: did your best work and you were with really two titans.
Speaker 4: Then you studied, you've ran them by and I don't
Speaker 4: know how you get these people, but you're good.
Speaker 2: Jason, Well, thank you. I really appreciate that. It's really fun.
Speaker 3: Henry Cravits and George Roberts, who do very very little
Speaker 3: together in public, the founders of KKR, came together on stage.
Speaker 3: It was a packed house in the International Ballroom, same
Speaker 3: stage where they do the Golden Globes. I felt about
Speaker 3: as much pressure as if I was going for a
Speaker 3: Golden globe to deliver. With those guys, it was super fun.
Speaker 3: They talked a lot about their relationship, They talked about
Speaker 3: the markets, They talked about throwing off the tag of
Speaker 3: being barbarians, which was fascinating. So it was a lot
Speaker 3: of fun. The last two days have been crazy, but
Speaker 3: the days before that were even crazier because we were
Speaker 3: both in Miami. Were recorded a couple episodes, one with
Speaker 3: Susie Wolf, who's coming up later on the season, and
Speaker 3: she was in town for Formula One the Miami GP.
Speaker 3: It has become an unbelievable scene in your hometown.
Speaker 4: You can make an argument that Miami is one of
Speaker 4: the hottest cities in the world, and this has become
Speaker 4: the biggest of the best, and Formula One it used
Speaker 4: to to come compare to the Super Bowl and our
Speaker 4: Baso and so many different events. But this thing has
Speaker 4: taken over the city in a way I've never seen before.
Speaker 4: And you were there, which I was there.
Speaker 3: So I went out on Saturday as a guest of
Speaker 3: tom Garfinkel, who has been a guest on the show.
Speaker 3: He of course works closely with Stephen Ross. He's the
Speaker 3: primary architect of bringing F one to Miami. He put
Speaker 3: together an incredible collection of people who were watching this race.
Speaker 3: It was an absolute who's who of finance, sports and entertainment.
Speaker 3: And they are there because they have to be, they
Speaker 3: need to be. All of their peers are there and
Speaker 3: what we got to witness was something pretty incredible and
Speaker 3: it was all due to the guest on this week's show,
Speaker 3: Zach Brown, the CEO of McLaren Racing. One two finish
Speaker 3: on the podium for McLaren. They are leading the standings.
Speaker 3: This is a guy you and I have both gotten
Speaker 3: to know, and we got to catch up with him.
Speaker 2: We had a great conversation.
Speaker 4: Zach Brown, no college degree, no high school degree, and
Speaker 4: really one of the best leaders, not only in America
Speaker 4: but around the world. And he's one of the most
Speaker 4: impressive And I think our audience is really going to
Speaker 4: enjoy that podcast.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a really good interview and a good conversation.
Speaker 3: I think in part because what we learn from Zach
Speaker 3: is really some key business lessons. He's got an incredible
Speaker 3: management challenge on his hand that he goes right into,
Speaker 3: which is he has two superstars battling for a championship.
Speaker 3: This is a team sport to a point because both
Speaker 3: of these guys want to win, and they've each won
Speaker 3: already this year. Talked about Oscar Piastre and Lando Norris
Speaker 3: and how this season ends. It's going to be good,
Speaker 3: we think, but it's a tricky thing for Zach Brown.
Speaker 3: He gets into it. So let's get into it with
Speaker 3: Zach Brown right here on the Deal. Welcome back to
Speaker 3: the Deal. I'm Jason Kelly alongside Alex Rodriguez. So excited
Speaker 3: today to have Zach Brown McLaren racing here with me
Speaker 3: in studio.
Speaker 2: Great to have you here.
Speaker 1: Good to be here, good to see everyone.
Speaker 3: All Right, So you are in the midst of such
Speaker 3: an interesting industry, but really one of the most interesting
Speaker 3: and exciting teams in this sport in Formula One. Specifically,
Speaker 3: talk to us about this past year and what it's
Speaker 3: felt like you win the Constructors Championship, A real turnaround
Speaker 3: from where this team was when you took over.
Speaker 2: What was the key decision.
Speaker 1: People is kind of the best way to summarize it,
Speaker 1: but there's obviously a lot that goes into that. When
Speaker 1: I started in twenty seventeen, we had our worst year
Speaker 1: in the history of McLaren. We were ninth in the championship.
Speaker 1: We had none of these beautiful logos. Ninth out of ten,
Speaker 1: nine out of ten. That's not very good. It's terrible.
Speaker 1: A matter of fact, morale was down huge brand. But
Speaker 1: you know, kind of like the Yankees, they expect you
Speaker 1: to win, and if you're not winning, the booze are
Speaker 1: kind of louder. Then if you're a team no one
Speaker 1: cares about, which is both a blessing in some sense
Speaker 1: but also a challenge in another. It was just not
Speaker 1: a great place, and so I started by trying to
Speaker 1: fix the leadership team right everything kind of the buck
Speaker 1: starts at the at the top. Got the right people
Speaker 1: in place, got everyone row in the same direction, playing
Speaker 1: as a as a as a team, because this is
Speaker 1: you know, McLaren racing. Fourteen hundred people, about a thousand
Speaker 1: of those are on the Formula one team, and getting
Speaker 1: everyone building trust, belief, backing each other up. And now
Speaker 1: nine years later we're won our first World championship in
Speaker 1: twenty six years, which is kind of crazy because when
Speaker 1: I grew up watching McLaren they kind of won everything
Speaker 1: all the all the time, and we fell far from
Speaker 1: behind that. But people, of course, we invested in technology,
Speaker 1: we got great sponsors involved, all those things came together.
Speaker 1: Two awesome drivers, which I'm sure we'll talk about here. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because having two some drivers isn't without its challenges at times.
Speaker 1: But it's been a great, great journey and now we're
Speaker 1: at the top. Now. The tricky part is managing all
Speaker 1: the expectations and trying to stay at the top because
Speaker 1: in sport you don't stay on top forever, so enjoy
Speaker 1: it why you can.
Speaker 3: And so when you think about where this sport has come,
Speaker 3: especially in the United States where we are now, obviously
Speaker 3: the drive to survive effect everything that's happening three Grand
Speaker 3: Prix here in the United States. What needs to happen
Speaker 3: next to sort of, you know, as we say in
Speaker 3: the investment business, is you know, sort of consolidate the
Speaker 3: games and keep growing.
Speaker 2: What needs to happen.
Speaker 1: Well, I think it's kind of that in the sense
Speaker 1: of what we're doing is working. So let's keep kind
Speaker 1: of incrementally improving, but let's not change the game because
Speaker 1: we as a sport, we're winning. I think we have
Speaker 1: twenty four races. Now we have demand for more. We
Speaker 1: can't do more in a year, So I'm a fan
Speaker 1: of let's go to twenty five fixed Grand Prix and
Speaker 1: go to eight Grand Prix that rotate every other year,
Speaker 1: so you can get some geographic expansion, but not on
Speaker 1: an annual basis, because we just these twenty four races
Speaker 1: around the world. We just we can't do twenty five.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, you don't want to kind
Speaker 1: of not grow. I think if I look at North America,
Speaker 1: our TV ratings, if you compare it to the big leagues,
Speaker 1: here a lot of room for growth. I don't think
Speaker 1: we need more than three Grand Prix here. I think
Speaker 1: we could have more than three Grand Prix, but that
Speaker 1: would come at the expense of getting into India or
Speaker 1: South Africa, Korea or some of the other areas I
Speaker 1: think we need to expand into. Sponsorship is unbelievable. New
Speaker 1: brands coming in, you know every day, the Googles, the
Speaker 1: gold Men's, these companies weren't involved in Formula one historically,
Speaker 1: so it's very healthy we have. The franchise value is
Speaker 1: finally caught on. If you look at these MLB or
Speaker 1: NBA or NFL teams, Formula one teams, are you know,
Speaker 1: as a franchise owner, are all healthy. So let's keep
Speaker 1: doing what we're doing, but let's keep making incremental gains.
Speaker 1: You know, the Netflix was amazing for our sport. I
Speaker 1: think the Brad Pitt movie coming out in June will
Speaker 1: be awesome. I think that will turn a lot more
Speaker 1: people onto the sport. And if you look at where
Speaker 1: the sport needed to grow from pre Liberty acquiring it,
Speaker 1: we didn't have the diversity that we needed. We didn't
Speaker 1: have the youth that we needed. We didn't have North America.
Speaker 1: You know, arguably if not the most important sports and
Speaker 1: commercial marketplace. We didn't have as many women. And now
Speaker 1: you look at the audience. You know, I just got
Speaker 1: stopped coming in here and it's my women, and it's youth,
Speaker 1: and it's diversity. It's North America, you know in New York.
Speaker 1: You know, kind of one of my favorite funny stories
Speaker 1: as I was staying at a hotel here when Netflix
Speaker 1: came out, and I pull up to the hotel and
Speaker 1: there's these two buses and fans everywhere. You know, it's
Speaker 1: either there's a baseball team or football team. And I
Speaker 1: come in and I go upstairs. Sure, I'm gonna go
Speaker 1: down to dinner. And I get in the elevator two
Speaker 1: guys seven foot three, So it's like, okay, yeah, basketball team,
Speaker 1: but I don't follow basketball closely, so I made a
Speaker 1: funny joke to the guys, Hey, here for the tennis,
Speaker 1: and they kind of laughed to get with that. You're
Speaker 1: probably thinking, who is this guy, Let's beat him up,
Speaker 1: but they're super nice. Get out of the elevator. Lakers everywhere,
Speaker 1: all right, it's the it's the Lakers. And they're going
Speaker 1: to the bus and they won't sign for the fans
Speaker 1: because they got to get to the bus. But they're
Speaker 1: very friendly. Yes, sorry, you got to get to the bus.
Speaker 1: And I'm walking out with them for the front door,
Speaker 1: and these three fans popped out from this group. They go,
Speaker 1: can we get your autograph? And they're like, sorry, we're
Speaker 1: not signing. No, no, not you, mister Brown love Formula
Speaker 1: one And these two guys looked at me like, who
Speaker 1: the hell is this guy? And I mean, that was
Speaker 1: New York, right, and New York was the last place
Speaker 1: in the world that was a Formula one city up
Speaker 1: until a few years ago. So it's been awesome for
Speaker 1: the sport. So I think we need to keep exposing
Speaker 1: people to our sport. And I think that's what Netflix
Speaker 1: did is they showed us what goes on behind the scenes.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so Zach from the outside as Americans and I'm
Speaker 4: probably the minority in this now because your game has
Speaker 4: grown so much.
Speaker 1: Your sport, but it's.
Speaker 4: Quite intimidating from afar right until you get to know,
Speaker 4: like Drive for Survive and you start getting into it
Speaker 4: a little bit. I've been to a few races and
Speaker 4: it's really really exciting. It's a great product. I remember
Speaker 4: seeing you and your team in Vegas and it was awesome.
Speaker 4: But what is the business model? How do you make money?
Speaker 4: What are your largest revenue streams? What are your largest
Speaker 4: fixed costs? Explain that for our listeners a little bit
Speaker 4: high level.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, So our revenue streams are pretty simple. The
Speaker 1: strong majority is commercial sponsorship. Our revenues this year will
Speaker 1: be over six hundred million pounds, which is a record
Speaker 1: for US, and I believe in in Formula one that's
Speaker 1: probably three quarters of our revenue. Then you get effectively
Speaker 1: prize money from Formula one and we get paid this
Speaker 1: year on last year's results, and then the teams get
Speaker 1: the majority, not enough of the majority from the league
Speaker 1: and then that's distributed based on how you finished and
Speaker 1: some historical prize money if you'd like, So we get
Speaker 1: paid that in arrears that goes up or down depending
Speaker 1: on the revenue. Formula one generates Formula ones generating the
Speaker 1: revenue from broadcast money, sponsorship and promoter fees to put
Speaker 1: on the events and the promoters keeping the gate the
Speaker 1: grandstand sales. Then of course there's license merchandise. So we
Speaker 1: really only kind of have three main revenue streams sponsorship,
Speaker 1: Formula one, moneies and then the licensing revenues. And then
Speaker 1: we have a cost cap, which is what's driven the
Speaker 1: competitiveness in the sport and also so until since Liberty
Speaker 1: got involved, and that's that's been a game changer. Last
Speaker 1: year we had seven different winners, four different teams that
Speaker 1: won multiple races. Never in the history since I followed
Speaker 1: the sport have we had that level of competitiveness. And
Speaker 1: the problem that we had is before there was a
Speaker 1: cost gap, you could spend as much as you could
Speaker 1: afford to lose. That was kind of the name of
Speaker 1: the game. And when you had a big OEM coming
Speaker 1: in who could afford to spend a lot, big manufacturer,
Speaker 1: but it was great value for them because of the exposure.
Speaker 1: They could just outspend you. And then you get a
Speaker 1: discrepancy on the playing field because, especially in our sport
Speaker 1: or so dependent upon technology, if you can outstand you
Speaker 1: just buy better technology, not just better engineers and more engineers.
Speaker 1: Better engineers, more engineers, and so that's now been capped,
Speaker 1: and that's given everybody a chance to be competitive, and
Speaker 1: the whole grid is now covered by two percent, so
Speaker 1: there's not much between the best and the worst. So
Speaker 1: the sport's really healthy as an on track product.
Speaker 3: All Right, we're getting into what everybody wants to hear,
Speaker 3: which is you have a champagne problem, which is you
Speaker 3: alluded to it at the top of the conversation. You
Speaker 3: have two awesome drivers. You won the Constructors' Championship, which
Speaker 3: is the team championship last year. I have the benefit
Speaker 3: of co hosting this show with the superstar who has
Speaker 3: some experience being one of a couple superstars on a
Speaker 3: team and now is in a position where he has
Speaker 3: to manage superstars, So we want to chop it up
Speaker 3: on this with you. Alex has some advice, but I'll
Speaker 3: ask you, what is the macro approach for you to
Speaker 3: managing Landa Norris and Oscar Piastri, who are by all
Speaker 3: accounts battling it out for the championship.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, And I do want to hear what Alex
Speaker 1: has to say, because especially when you join the Yankees,
Speaker 1: you know there was a couple guys playing the same
Speaker 1: position and I'm curious how that kind of played out.
Speaker 1: But for us, it's about transparency, communication, fairness, and we're
Speaker 1: going to get it wrong, but let's trust each other.
Speaker 1: If we get it wrong, it's not going to be
Speaker 1: because we tried to get it wrong or we were up.
Speaker 1: So you know, when we come into a race weekend,
Speaker 1: we sit down with boat drivers on Thursday, here's the
Speaker 1: game plan, here's on what car. Because sometimes you do
Speaker 1: get into a situation where you're trying to get upgrades
Speaker 1: to the track so quickly. Sometimes you can't have and
Speaker 1: these are small upgrades both cars with the same stuff.
Speaker 1: So what you don't want to do is not tell
Speaker 1: one driver and when you do, hey, this guy's getting
Speaker 1: the upgrades. This weekend, here's why, or you got them
Speaker 1: last time. You kind of keep score. Then on Sunday
Speaker 1: after qualifying, so we know what the grid looks like,
Speaker 1: we talk and we talk about strategy. Hey, he might
Speaker 1: be on a harder tire softer tire. That might mean
Speaker 1: this might happen in the race. And so you just
Speaker 1: open transparent fair and then give everyone the benefit of
Speaker 1: the doubt. And I'm also a big fan of if
Speaker 1: something goes wrong, unless you can fix it right then
Speaker 1: and there, let's just talk about it on Monday because
Speaker 1: in sport, the adrenalins go in, the passions going, and
Speaker 1: you can say some stuff that you don't mean, but
Speaker 1: you've said it. And even though you can say sorry
Speaker 1: on Monday morning, you've said it. So kind of leave
Speaker 1: the helmets on and don't let the media because the
Speaker 1: media love a good a good fight.
Speaker 2: This is the story of the season.
Speaker 1: And it's and and everyone's kind of waiting for it
Speaker 1: to happen. And what we're saying is, hey, it's gonna happen.
Speaker 1: It's not if it's gonna happen, it's when it's gonna happen.
Speaker 1: But you know what, drivers make mistakes, You can have
Speaker 1: two guys racing as hard as they are twenty four races,
Speaker 1: someone's gonna get it wrong or driving it. It's not
Speaker 1: gonna be intent. It's going to be good, hard racing,
Speaker 1: and you know what, it's a mistake. Mistakes happened, So
Speaker 1: keep your helmet on. Don't take the bait, because I've
Speaker 1: seen in our IndyCar team we had two drivers that
Speaker 1: were battling it out last year and one of our
Speaker 1: drivers gave a great interview and then at the end
Speaker 1: gave a little bit of a sound bite, which was okay,
Speaker 1: But then I saw the media go to the other
Speaker 1: driver and they went, hey, your teammate just said this,
Speaker 1: which was the sound bite. That's not what he said. Luckily,
Speaker 1: because our drivers are good guys. And I think kind
Speaker 1: of coming back Alex, do we say interviewing people. I
Speaker 1: don't think all drivers will play this way, but our
Speaker 1: drivers will play this way because of the relationship we have.
Speaker 1: And it's like, don't take the bait. And the driver
Speaker 1: didn't take the bait because of Hattie, then they would
Speaker 1: have gone back to the other driver did and then
Speaker 1: you know, next thing, you know, you have a war
Speaker 1: of words, and actually it was just been instigated. So
Speaker 1: we're ready for it. We're quite relaxed about it, and
Speaker 1: we've even said, you know what, we can't wait till
Speaker 1: that happens because we think it's going to be a
Speaker 1: non event. One's gonna be a bit disappointed and then
Speaker 1: can we just move on and get.
Speaker 2: Back to racist right?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 2: All right?
Speaker 3: So Alex, come on in here, because you you've been
Speaker 3: on the other side of this. You know, you show
Speaker 3: up in New York. I mean, I'll name the names.
Speaker 3: You show up in New York. You're considered one of
Speaker 3: the best shortstops you know, who's ever played the game.
Speaker 3: And as Zach said, somebody's playing that position.
Speaker 2: His name is Derek Jeter.
Speaker 1: He's really good at me he's too.
Speaker 4: Yeah, he's pretty damn good.
Speaker 2: So what was it like? I mean, like, what is
Speaker 2: it like?
Speaker 3: Because you were I don't know, people can make their
Speaker 3: own decisions. You were either Lando or Oscar in this case,
Speaker 3: but like, what was it like from your perspective?
Speaker 4: Well, I think it was a perfect storm, just like Zach,
Speaker 4: like what you're managing today, right, and you have the
Speaker 4: enormous brands that's similar, right, you have you're McLaren brand.
Speaker 4: We have the New York Yankees, you have two stars
Speaker 4: in their primes, you have a blue chip, legendary owner, right,
Speaker 4: George Steinberner. That's the role you're playing, and that's a
Speaker 4: great that's pretty good. George was the best. And mister Steinberner,
Speaker 4: he set the boundaries from day one. He said, Alex,
Speaker 4: if you want to be a Yankee, I can make
Speaker 4: that happen. But let's be clear. You're going to be
Speaker 4: a third baseman. And I said to mister Steinberner on
Speaker 4: a phone call, it was about a seven minute phone call.
Speaker 4: I said, I'll do one better for you. If you
Speaker 4: ever played me to short, I'll ask for a trade.
Speaker 4: That's the deal. I'm the third baseman. Derek's a shortstop.
Speaker 4: And Derek and I have had great conversations about this,
Speaker 4: you know, twenty years later on how much he respected that.
Speaker 4: There was ever one rumor about me wanting to play short.
Speaker 4: And I think Zach for me, I got it wrong
Speaker 4: the first four years because I always wanted to justify
Speaker 4: I was a little bit too chatty for New York
Speaker 4: and coming from Seattle in Texas much smaller markets, you
Speaker 4: could be chatty and you wouldn't get you know, penalized.
Speaker 4: So finally, after four years of a lot of pain
Speaker 4: and mistakes on my part and O nine, it all
Speaker 4: came together. We kind of put the name of the
Speaker 4: the brand and not the names of our last names
Speaker 4: at the very front, and we won a title. And
Speaker 4: when you win, we all win. And I think one
Speaker 4: of the lessons that I learned is learn and keep
Speaker 4: the door shut, because to your point, if you leave
Speaker 4: it open, the media is going to run with it.
Speaker 4: So be very absolute, be very black and white, and
Speaker 4: don't justify anything because the media is not your friend.
Speaker 4: They're looking for reality TV. And the first four years
Speaker 4: I gave them that, and then after that it was
Speaker 4: much better.
Speaker 1: You hit the nail on the head there with kind
Speaker 1: of don't give them too much because the more you talk,
Speaker 1: the more likely you are to say something by accident.
Speaker 1: And so actually I think less is more when you're
Speaker 1: the profile now that Lando and Oscar and McLaren or
Speaker 1: Steinbrenner and Jeter and a Rod like, you want to
Speaker 1: talk because you actually just want to kind of explain things.
Speaker 1: You know, it's an innocent delivery, but they're waiting for that. Ooh,
Speaker 1: I can use that sound bite right there, and then
Speaker 1: then you kind of get pissed off, don't you when
Speaker 1: you read it? And then I think you do have
Speaker 1: to kind of learn by your mistakes. I've done the
Speaker 1: same thing, you know, myself over the years many times,
Speaker 1: and you know what, I'm going to do it again.
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna hopefully try and do it less frequently.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I'm you know, my fall up, Zach is
Speaker 3: I mean, this is I think unique to motorsport. You
Speaker 3: know that you would have this situation, and so I
Speaker 3: do wonder as a CEO making business decisions around this,
Speaker 3: this is this is the card cards you've been dealt,
Speaker 3: you know. I think those of us who you know,
Speaker 3: like the business of Formula one, certainly liberty media would
Speaker 3: probably say, yeah, this is a feature, not a bug,
Speaker 3: you know, like you're welcome. So how do you how
Speaker 3: do you approach it as someone running this business? Are
Speaker 3: there different decisions you make around sponsorship, around you know, appearances,
Speaker 3: like what what do you do to sort of I
Speaker 3: guess maximize this this moment?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's it's interesting. What's never really been
Speaker 1: done before that I can remember, is two drivers competing
Speaker 1: for the World champion ship in the same team, right
Speaker 1: and it not ending in tiers. That's the reality. Andrea Stella,
Speaker 1: who's our team principal, who's responsible for the performance of
Speaker 1: the Formal one team, does an amazing job. And PK
Speaker 1: Mansel Tiers, Rosberg, Hamilton Tiars Cena prost Tiers like I
Speaker 1: can't remember the last time there weren't tiers. But we're
Speaker 1: gonna we're gonna be different and we're we're on it.
Speaker 1: And I think I'm a believer in you know, right
Speaker 1: now we're on on top, but I don't want us
Speaker 1: to act too much differently because I also recognize there
Speaker 1: will be It's not if, it's it's when now. I
Speaker 1: hope when we're not on top, we're a second or third,
Speaker 1: not not ninth. I'd like to think we're on top
Speaker 1: of things now, but I also don't ever want to,
Speaker 1: like with our our sponsor partners, be like we're the
Speaker 1: hottest team and foremore on right now and we're gonna
Speaker 1: charge a premium, because the first thing's gonna happen is
Speaker 1: the minute we're not the hottest team in Formula One,
Speaker 1: there we go like, well wait a minute. So I
Speaker 1: want to be kind of consistent I don't want us
Speaker 1: to change our personality if you'd like and be like,
Speaker 1: you know, we're the big guys on the block now,
Speaker 1: and have some humility about what we're doing, and keep
Speaker 1: our feet on the ground. It wasn't that long ago
Speaker 1: we were ninth in the championship. Enjoy the moment, bring
Speaker 1: everyone along the for the journey. I mean, one of
Speaker 1: the reasons why you know this orange that we call
Speaker 1: Papaya is our team. I thought was dark and exclusive
Speaker 1: when I joined, and I wanted us to be warm
Speaker 1: and inclusive, and a lot of that is our drivers
Speaker 1: and I just I remember the first race I went to.
Speaker 1: I was ten years old, Long Beach Grand Prix, nineteen
Speaker 1: eighty one. You guys all have the same experience in
Speaker 1: various sports. The impression it made on me, I remember
Speaker 1: it like it was yesterday. I remember the first racing
Speaker 1: driver that I met, I got his autograph, And I
Speaker 1: also remember over the years, every athlete I've met that
Speaker 1: wasn't so nice. And so I want to make sure
Speaker 1: we're nice guys one hundred percent of the time. You know,
Speaker 1: to stop for ninety eight percent of the fans, that's
Speaker 1: not good enough. And we're fortunate. The drivers we have
Speaker 1: are great guys. I've never seen them not stop for
Speaker 1: sign a photo or take take a picture. Because at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, we're in the sport and
Speaker 1: entertainment business, and some of the people in our sport go, well,
Speaker 1: it's not entertainment. I was like, well, wait a minute,
Speaker 1: it's my time off. I'm buying a ticket to go
Speaker 1: watch something, or I'm sitting on my couch and watch it.
Speaker 1: How's that not entertaining very definition of it. It's totally
Speaker 1: so we need to be entertaining for our fans and
Speaker 1: not lose sight of the fact that all of our
Speaker 1: number one customer is the fan. Without a fan, we
Speaker 1: don't have countries that want to hold races without fans,
Speaker 1: we don't have sponsors. So when you see some of
Speaker 1: the drivers in Formula one kind of not appreciate the fans,
Speaker 1: how did they think they get paid it the end
Speaker 1: of the day. And so I think it's just very
Speaker 1: important for us all to be fan focused. And so
Speaker 1: the more I can expose the fan base to McLaren
Speaker 1: and our cool drivers, and the better off we are.
Speaker 1: And it feels good. I remember the the you know,
Speaker 1: the impressions. It's left on me.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so Jason mentioned Zach early. He alluded to how
Speaker 4: busy you are, and you're one of the busiest guys
Speaker 4: in the world, but yet you're traveling the world. You're
Speaker 4: doing a great job managing your defending championship team. You
Speaker 4: answer emails like in seconds, and you're hit me on
Speaker 4: what's pp at all hours of the night. I do
Speaker 4: the same thing right back to you. What does a
Speaker 4: typical Monday Tuesday look like for Zach Brown?
Speaker 1: They're all flat out? Is probably the only common aspect.
Speaker 1: I've always believed I'm not the smartest guy in the room,
Speaker 1: but if I can be the hardest working guy in
Speaker 1: the room, that I can get a little bit of
Speaker 1: a head start. And I love what I do. It
Speaker 1: doesn't feel like a job, right, I mean, you're playing
Speaker 1: baseball for the Yankees. I mean, okay, I know it's
Speaker 1: a job, but you know what, I love that job
Speaker 1: and I'm going racing for a living. You know, it
Speaker 1: wasn't long ago I was playing with little hot wheels cars.
Speaker 1: I kind of I'm just playing with the bigger versions
Speaker 1: now and so I love it. And it doesn't mean
Speaker 1: I mean it's unbelievably hard. There's a immense amount of pressure.
Speaker 1: It's not easy, it's not always fun, but ninety five
Speaker 1: percent of the time it's great, and so I get
Speaker 1: up every day and every day is kind of a
Speaker 1: new adventure. I think. My view is I work for
Speaker 1: the race team. The racing team doesn't work for me.
Speaker 1: So my job as manager, if you'd like, is how
Speaker 1: do I get the best out of all the players
Speaker 1: on the field in the factory? What do you need?
Speaker 1: Do you need direction, do you need more resources, do
Speaker 1: you need more employees? Whatever it may be. So I'm
Speaker 1: constantly going to trying to figure out what does everybody need?
Speaker 1: What are my sponsors need? How can I deliver on that?
Speaker 1: So I'm constantly trying to give everyone in our ecosystem
Speaker 1: what they need to get the most out of their
Speaker 1: time at McLaren. And you know, two hundred and seventy
Speaker 1: nights a year on the road, so travel like a lunatic.
Speaker 1: I'm at the racetrack. I raced four or five times
Speaker 1: a year. I raced this past weekend, so probably not
Speaker 1: healthy that on my weekend off from being at the racetrack,
Speaker 1: I went back to the racetrack and I love it.
Speaker 4: You know, I got a chance to drive, actually sit
Speaker 4: in the back for a race. We did one lap.
Speaker 4: It was the scariest thing I've ever done in my life.
Speaker 4: I thought I was dead. I did forte in hell.
Speaker 4: Mary's a lot of prayers in baseball. Wish you could
Speaker 4: have a camera just like you could for the drivers,
Speaker 4: so people at home can say, how are they even?
Speaker 4: You can't even see the ball when it's coming in
Speaker 4: one hundred miles an hour.
Speaker 1: It's you know, I've been and I'm sure you've done
Speaker 1: the same. Alex play professional with a professional golfer, Yeah,
Speaker 1: sit courd side in an NBA. The professionals are just
Speaker 1: at a level that until you kind of see it,
Speaker 1: you go, you know, when I'm golfing, I'm like, I'm
Speaker 1: trying to go that way. Yeah, when you're playing with
Speaker 1: Justin Rose or Rory and been fortunate to play, I'm
Speaker 1: trying to go that way. But land it there put
Speaker 1: some backspin on it because I and it's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: what is going? And they just professionals in sports see
Speaker 1: the game, play the game unlike a way you can
Speaker 1: really appreciate it until you're close up and then it's
Speaker 1: just like, wow.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So it's interesting Zach.
Speaker 3: You know you alluded to this with with your great
Speaker 3: story about you know, being in an elevator and sort
Speaker 3: of seeing what Formula one became. I do wonder for
Speaker 3: you what it's been like in how you've managed essentially,
Speaker 3: and again I may pose this question my co hosts
Speaker 3: as well, like becoming really famous. I mean you walk
Speaker 3: through the Bloomberg and people are asking for selfies. I've
Speaker 3: seen this happen with other team principles. You know, there
Speaker 3: aren't a lot of team principles and CEOs who get
Speaker 3: stopped for selfies, but like you and Toto and Gunther
Speaker 3: when he was a team principal at Gunther Steiner all
Speaker 3: gets up, what was that transition like for you? How
Speaker 3: do you manage it and still sort of maintain your
Speaker 3: sort of job and your management responsibilities.
Speaker 1: Well, it's part of the job, yeah, because you know,
Speaker 1: the fans they can't control when they bump into you,
Speaker 1: and the fans are ninety nine out of one hundred
Speaker 1: times really gracious, really nice, other than maybe when they
Speaker 1: get ahold of you on social media. That kind of
Speaker 1: challenges that goes kind of more to one out of
Speaker 1: one hundred. But putting that aside, Alex is for people
Speaker 1: who are just listening and they're excited to see you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and so I think, you know, if you're going to
Speaker 1: be in the public spotlight, you kind of can't turn
Speaker 1: it on and off. It is what it is. And
Speaker 1: you know, so I always stop for fe photos and
Speaker 1: you know, people are excited and cheering for McLaren this
Speaker 1: weekend and in airports, and so you do have to
Speaker 1: kind of raise your awareness. Security is something that you
Speaker 1: need to think a little bit about, which is unfortunate
Speaker 1: but as the reality. But you know, I've always felt
Speaker 1: that way on my own mind, so I think it's
Speaker 1: part of it. It comes back to the entertainment aspect.
Speaker 1: I've seen some celebrities over the years that we all
Speaker 1: have that are you know, kind of I'm not working
Speaker 1: right now. It's like, dude, you signed up to be
Speaker 1: in the public spotlight. Yeah, you're working. There could be
Speaker 1: times it's a bit more inconvenient if you like. I mean,
Speaker 1: it can be a little bit strange when you're in
Speaker 1: the bathroom and someone wants to take a selfie. That's
Speaker 1: you know, i'd wait. But I also remember when I
Speaker 1: was a fan waiting to meet the the Alexes of
Speaker 1: the world. I was the guy waiting at the ballpark,
Speaker 1: got there early, figured out where the players park the car.
Speaker 1: I wanted their you know, autographed, and so I get it.
Speaker 1: I was there, and it comes back to I remember
Speaker 1: what impression it made on me, and so you know,
Speaker 1: it's changed things, but I'm good with it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, how have you dealt with that, Alex? I don't
Speaker 3: know if we've ever talked about it on the show.
Speaker 4: No, we haven't, Jason. But you know, for me, that
Speaker 4: process mindset was shaped early in my career because they
Speaker 4: say you never want to meet your heroes, but in
Speaker 4: my case, it was wonderful that I met my heroes.
Speaker 4: I mean, from Michael Jordan to Cayle Ripken, Keith Hernandez
Speaker 4: Magic Johnson. They were all honestly ten out of ten.
Speaker 4: And I told myself when I was a teenager boy,
Speaker 4: if I ever was that famous, I want to be
Speaker 4: like Magic. I want to be like Michael. I want
Speaker 4: to be like cay Ripkin. But early in my career
Speaker 4: it's flipped Jason. To answer your question more specifically, I
Speaker 4: thought the media was a nuance, like something you had
Speaker 4: to deal with but I thought they were against me
Speaker 4: right as of my you know, because you in New
Speaker 4: York you want to play defense against the media, and
Speaker 4: then the fan base was something you had to kind
Speaker 4: of dance around to get some privacy. Today is completely flipped.
Speaker 4: With some perspective, I realized that without fans, you don't
Speaker 4: have a sport, you don't have a team. We're really
Speaker 4: kind of working for them, even though we're not a
Speaker 4: public company at least us you is as close as
Speaker 4: public as you can be. And then the media is
Speaker 4: a great conduit to our fan base. And you've seen
Speaker 4: it in you know, Drive to Survive your f one show,
Speaker 4: and you've seen it with content that NBA's provided MLB.
Speaker 4: It's an incredible important part of our business and that
Speaker 4: has switched.
Speaker 1: You must have had an even bigger challenge though, because
Speaker 1: while you know, okay, I'm known on Netflix Flix, when
Speaker 1: you came to the Yankees, that was more like royalty
Speaker 1: level of publicity. Right with me. They just want to
Speaker 1: know what's going on on the track with you. They
Speaker 1: want to know what's going on in the field, what's
Speaker 1: off the field, what restaurant were you at. They wanted
Speaker 1: to know kind of about your twenty four to seven
Speaker 1: and that I would imagine is a higher degree of
Speaker 1: frustration or annoyance when it's like, look, this isn't about
Speaker 1: a fan coming up asking for an autograph. This is
Speaker 1: about you trying to dive into my personal life. And
Speaker 1: I fortunately haven't had to deal with that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Zach, you're spot on it. And there was three things,
Speaker 4: and I played in New York for almost fifteen years,
Speaker 4: there was three things that did religiously every morning three
Speaker 4: sixty five twenty four seven when I woke up, I
Speaker 4: put out the New York Post and I would look
Speaker 4: at the front page, I'm not there, look at the
Speaker 4: back page, I'm not there. And then you look at
Speaker 4: page six. It was a trifecta. If you made it
Speaker 4: clear on those three it's a good day. You lived
Speaker 4: to see the end of the day.
Speaker 1: And the problem was those three pages weren't about how
Speaker 1: you hit last night, right. I mean, they wanted something
Speaker 1: a little bit more gossipy than that. So I think
Speaker 1: that gets frustrating because they can kind of start to
Speaker 1: shape your image in a way that's not accurate. I've
Speaker 1: met so many people that I didn't know, so I
Speaker 1: had an impression which I was formed because of what
Speaker 1: I've read, and then you meet him, I'm like, man,
Speaker 1: that guy couldn't be totally opposite, more misunderstood. And so
Speaker 1: you've learned to give everyone the kind of I want
Speaker 1: to get to know the person and not kind of
Speaker 1: just believe what I read.
Speaker 4: And Zach, one of the one of the head fakes
Speaker 4: that I've seen athletes do is they make a mistake
Speaker 4: to the media and then the journalist does his job,
Speaker 4: he writes a story, and then the athlete gets mad
Speaker 4: at the media member, and you got to realize, wait
Speaker 4: a minute, they got a job to do. You made
Speaker 4: a mistake, correct the mistake. Do it less is more
Speaker 4: applied to what you're talking about, Zach, And don't get
Speaker 4: mad at the reporter. So that that's another dynamic that
Speaker 4: is so easy to blame the reporter. Not look in
Speaker 4: the mirror and say, Okay, how did I make a
Speaker 4: mistake here? I got to do a better job managing
Speaker 4: my my look.
Speaker 3: At Alex defending journalists, this is like I feel like
Speaker 3: my work here is done, Like this is.
Speaker 2: This is just I don't know what a moment.
Speaker 3: So we're going to get to our lightning round in
Speaker 3: in just a minute, because I know you got to go,
Speaker 3: but you know, I want to ask you, you know,
Speaker 3: sort of in the spirit of the deal. You know,
Speaker 3: you've you've somewhat quietly, sort of really built under McLaren
Speaker 3: racing like an empire. You know, you talked about Formula One,
Speaker 3: you talked about Indy. You know, you're going back to Lamon,
Speaker 3: You're doing a little racing yourself, Like what's next for
Speaker 3: the business. You know, this is a booming sport right now.
Speaker 3: You know, I have to think you're leaning into other opportunities.
Speaker 3: Are they motor sports related? Are there other sports you're
Speaker 3: interested in? We're in such an you know again, we're
Speaker 3: in such an interesting moment of growth in the sports ecosystem.
Speaker 3: Where do you see opportunity?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you know, we've only won one World
Speaker 1: championship in the last twenty six years, so I think
Speaker 1: we're we're far from tick. That's that's Sharon. So obviously,
Speaker 1: you know, as a sports team, it's all about winning
Speaker 1: and trying to win. So we are the only racing
Speaker 1: team I've ever won the Triple Crown, which is the
Speaker 1: Indy five hundred, the twenty four hours Lamont and Monaco.
Speaker 1: No team has ever done that in the same era,
Speaker 1: same year. We're now competing or going to be competing
Speaker 1: in all three of those series the Lamas Series in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty seven, so it would be pretty cool to
Speaker 1: do something that's never been done before. That can be
Speaker 1: a jeopardy question twenty years from now. So I think
Speaker 1: we all have an aspect of looking back and what's
Speaker 1: kind of the legacy you can create because you can't
Speaker 1: rewrite the record books, so a lot of winning left
Speaker 1: still to do in all three series. That's first foremost.
Speaker 1: We're looking at a few different ways that we could
Speaker 1: maybe extend our brand into maybe some other sporting equipment,
Speaker 1: you know, golf, scheme, tennis, those are some you know
Speaker 1: sports that are using aerodynamics, using materials that are premium.
Speaker 1: There's you know a lot of our sponsors are also
Speaker 1: in golf. So I think if there was a you know,
Speaker 1: Ferrari has the Ferrari World theme park in n Abu Dhabi,
Speaker 1: and then you've seen Porsche's got the Porsche of Towers.
Speaker 1: So but we're a racing team first and foremost. But
Speaker 1: if there's from a business point of view, a few
Speaker 1: areas that we might be able to extend our brand
Speaker 1: that would be of interest to us. But I think
Speaker 1: it's kind of let's stay let's stay focused. If you're
Speaker 1: a baseball team, don't try and be a football team. Right,
Speaker 1: You're a baseball team, and we're a racing team, and
Speaker 1: I like the three racing series that we're in the
Speaker 1: three biggest forms of motor racing. We've not won the
Speaker 1: Indy five hundred since nineteen seventy six, So that's a
Speaker 1: focus before we think about doing anything anything.
Speaker 2: Else, Alex, anything else for we moved to lightning rounds.
Speaker 4: No, I think we're ready.
Speaker 2: Right, let's do it all right, So five questions.
Speaker 3: We'll bounce it back and forth and just you know,
Speaker 3: say whatever comes to your mind. All right, Zach Brown,
Speaker 3: what's the best piece of advice you've received on deal
Speaker 3: making your business?
Speaker 1: Don't make the same mistake twice.
Speaker 4: Who's your dream deal making partner?
Speaker 1: Oh? Good question. I think that have to be Roger Penske. Oh,
Speaker 1: Rogers great one.
Speaker 2: One.
Speaker 3: We got to get him on the show. Roger's awesome
Speaker 3: that we both pitched him on it. And I think
Speaker 3: he's gonna do it all right.
Speaker 1: That he travels like two hundred and seventy one days
Speaker 1: a year. He can't keep up with that guy.
Speaker 3: He's he's unbelievable. All right, what's the most nervous you've
Speaker 3: ever been?
Speaker 1: I mean usually the start of the race, but I
Speaker 1: would say Abu Dhabi last year when we won the championship,
Speaker 1: because Saturday qualifying was perfect, first and second, the Ferrari
Speaker 1: was seventeenth. Turn one max for stopping takes out Oscar,
Speaker 1: Oscar's last Charles has an unbelievable start. He's eight, Charles
Speaker 1: Leclair Leclaire, and all of a sudden, I saw our
Speaker 1: championship going away. Lando had to win that race to
Speaker 1: win the championship, and so that was the longest two
Speaker 1: hours of my life. So I'd say that was the
Speaker 1: most nervous.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's right there.
Speaker 1: It's for two hours too. I don't mind nervous like
Speaker 1: the start of the race. It's over nervous getting up
Speaker 1: to the bat, but kind of like once the picture
Speaker 1: winds up. It all this was two hours.
Speaker 4: So what's your hype song before you walk into a
Speaker 4: big meeting or negotiation.
Speaker 1: Oh, that's a good question. I don't really have a
Speaker 1: hype song. Snoop Dogg's pretty cool, dude. I kind of
Speaker 1: like rap high energy, so that you know the guys
Speaker 1: that are doing kind of classical musical on the grid.
Speaker 1: I kind of like the adrenal government.
Speaker 3: All right, So what's your advice for someone listening who
Speaker 3: wants a career like yours?
Speaker 1: Everyone says hard work, but it's amazing how many people
Speaker 1: don't actually do it and then just get in experience
Speaker 1: and networking. And I sometimes have people come in and
Speaker 1: they're they're big aspirations, which are great, but they kind
Speaker 1: of want to start there as opposed to work their
Speaker 1: way up. So I think it's just get experience, get
Speaker 1: to know people, and follow your passion. That's all I've
Speaker 1: ever done. I didn't kind of this wasn't my plan.
Speaker 1: I just knew I wanted to be in racing my
Speaker 1: entire life, and I've just worked really hard and I've
Speaker 1: been fortunate to land where I am. Can I do
Speaker 1: two for a run?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, all right for it?
Speaker 1: All right?
Speaker 2: Sure.
Speaker 1: Toughest pitcher you ever faced.
Speaker 4: I would say nineteen ninety nine Pedro Martinez. He can
Speaker 4: do it all. He had three perfect pitches, a fast
Speaker 4: bought one hundred ninety one mine hour slider and bugs
Speaker 4: bunny change up.
Speaker 1: Okay, Pedro is unbelievable. I guess he had also the
Speaker 1: inside pitch if he felt you might take him along,
Speaker 1: so that would be his fourth pitch. And then who's
Speaker 1: the best hitter you played with?
Speaker 4: Boy, that's such a great question. I would say the
Speaker 4: best right handed hitter I ever played with was Edgar Martinez,
Speaker 4: who's in the Hall of Fame and probably the best
Speaker 4: complete right handed hitter. And there's so many. I would
Speaker 4: say Manny Ramirez awesome.
Speaker 1: And the last one, who's your favorite ballplayer growing up?
Speaker 1: Like they didn't play with, but like who's your idol?
Speaker 4: Well, I had three, and they all had to do
Speaker 4: with media because these as you remember when we were kids,
Speaker 4: you know, there was the three big station at w
Speaker 4: R where you watch the Mets. You had TBS where
Speaker 4: you watched the Braves, and then you had WGN where
Speaker 4: you watched the Cups. And so therefore it was Dale Murphy,
Speaker 4: Keith Hernandez from the Mets, and I love Darryl.
Speaker 1: Darryl Strawberry is awesome, except I'm a Cardinals guy, so
Speaker 1: so Keith Hernandez from the Cardinals. But I know not
Speaker 1: on the same channel.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, right, and of course cal Ripken because he
Speaker 4: was a tall, short step Yeah.
Speaker 1: He was amazing, all right, Zach, Great, thanks for having
Speaker 1: me on. Thanks thanks guys, Thank you Zach.
Speaker 3: The Deal is hosted by Alex Rodriguez and me Jason Kelly.
Speaker 3: This episode was made by Anamazarakus, Stacy Wong, and Lizzie Phillip.
Speaker 3: Amy Keen is our editor and Will Connelly is our
Speaker 3: video editor.
Speaker 2: Our theme music is.
Speaker 3: Made by Blake Maples. Our executive producers are Kelly Leferrier,
Speaker 3: Ashley Hoenig, and Brenda Newham. Sage Bauman is the head
Speaker 3: of Bloomberg Podcast. Additional support from Rachel Carnivale and Elena
Speaker 3: Los Angeles. Thanks so much for listening to the Deal.
Speaker 3: If you have a minute, subscribe, rate and review our show.
Speaker 3: It'll help other listeners find us. I'm Jason Kelly. See
Speaker 3: you next week.