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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio News.

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Speaker 2: Welcome back to the Deal. I'm your host, Jason Kelly,

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Speaker 2: back with my co host Alex Rodriguez. Not just back

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Speaker 2: in the same room. I love it. We're in the

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Speaker 2: same room together. You're here in New York. We're in

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Speaker 2: our fancy studio here at Bloomberg Headquarters. And very excited

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Speaker 2: about today's episode, a conversation with Alison Felix. But before

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Speaker 2: we get to that, I want to talk some baseball.

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Speaker 2: A couple weekends ago, I tuned in. I wanted to

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Speaker 2: watch the little motorcar racing. I knew you were at

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Speaker 2: Bristol rain out, so you gotta stretch, You gotta fill

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Speaker 2: some time, yep. But the best stretching was you and

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Speaker 2: mister Derek Cheeter, a couple former Yankees, chopping it up

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Speaker 2: about the state of this team. I live here in

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Speaker 2: New York. It ain't good, bro.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, the irony about that. By the way, you give

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Speaker 3: Major League Baseball Rob Man for a lot of credit.

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Speaker 3: Tony Clark, the head of a union for Major League Baseball.

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Speaker 3: These are kind of chances they need to do emerging properties,

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Speaker 3: as Fox has with Speedway and with Major League baseball

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Speaker 3: and you had almost one hundred thousand people there. It

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Speaker 3: was a phenomenal effort. You can't control the weather, so

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Speaker 3: we'll give them a pass. But as a result of that, Jace,

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Speaker 3: we had an hour pregame show and that turned into

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Speaker 3: like two and a half three hours, and we're like,

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Speaker 3: what are we going to talk about? And of course, inevitably,

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Speaker 3: the New York teams have been struggling now for about

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Speaker 3: two and a half months, and you know, the Mets

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Speaker 3: are somewhere around three hundred and forty million dollars payroll.

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Speaker 3: The Yankees are hovering writer three hundred plus and the

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Speaker 3: results are not there. I think both teams in a

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Speaker 3: weird way have benefited from struggling at the same time,

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Speaker 3: especially the Mets. Oh my god, because it's still a

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Speaker 3: Yankees town and the Yankees have been awful and it's

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Speaker 3: tough to watch right now.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, you know, we talk in the show

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Speaker 2: all the time about obviously the business of sports. We

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Speaker 2: think about payrolls, we think about investment, we talk to

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Speaker 2: owners all the time. Meanwhile, out of Milwaukee, our friend

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Speaker 2: Mark Attanasio, the Brewers are crushing it. They're sub one

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Speaker 2: hundred million I believe in payroll, and they have the

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Speaker 2: best record.

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Speaker 3: And they do it in a beautiful way. Jason. They

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Speaker 3: win two ways. They either win the game or you'll

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Speaker 3: lose the game. But they'll force you to get twenty

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Speaker 3: seven outs and they'll force you to give them thirty

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Speaker 3: because they put the ball in play, they take the

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Speaker 3: extra base. They have an old school manager in Murphy

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Speaker 3: who has a beautiful story. By the way, he recruited

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Speaker 3: me when he was at Notre Dame and Arizona State.

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Speaker 3: Then he went seven years as a bench coach to

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Speaker 3: Greg Council, who's now got a big contract with the Cubs,

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Speaker 3: and he's a sixty six year old guy. He calls

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Speaker 3: it as he sees it, calls his players out and

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Speaker 3: not saying that's always the best way. But there's an

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Speaker 3: accountability in Milwaukee that's pretty awesome and that fan base.

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Speaker 3: I cannot wait hopefully they advance because that's a fun

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Speaker 3: stadium and it's a great team to cover.

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Speaker 2: Right and you'll obviously be covering with Fox the playoffs

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Speaker 2: again this year, so looking forward to that in October.

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Speaker 2: So I would ask you to put on a different hat,

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Speaker 2: which is your owner's hat, and when you look at

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Speaker 2: making these decisions that now you and Mark Lurry have

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Speaker 2: to make. How do you look at something like, Okay,

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Speaker 2: you've got these teams led by very smart people. Steve Cohen,

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Speaker 2: who owns the Mets, is not a dumb guy. He

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Speaker 2: obviously is very willing to invest. Mark Adnascio also not

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Speaker 2: a dumb guy. He's investing literally, you know less than

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Speaker 2: a third of what Steve Cohen is. As you think

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Speaker 2: about those types of decisions, what do you take away

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Speaker 2: when you see payroll and performance not being correlated.

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Speaker 3: Well, for one, it doesn't matter if the Yankees and

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Speaker 3: Mets of the Dodgers with these huge revenue I mean

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Speaker 3: the Dodgers are going to do over a billion dollars

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Speaker 3: in revenue. That is unbelievable. Those are NFL numbers plus right,

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Speaker 3: that's more than you know ninety percent of NFL teams

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Speaker 3: are making. So that's that's phenomenal. But the problem is

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Speaker 3: you can't have contracts that are just dead ducks. And

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Speaker 3: what I mean by that, you take three contracts with

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Speaker 3: the New York Yankees. You have Aaron Hicks, Marcus Stroman,

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Speaker 3: and you have DJ Lemayhew. Those three players make more

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Speaker 3: money combined than Bryce Harper and Kyle Schuber, who may

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Speaker 3: be the nationally GUEMBA p for the Phillies. Issus, you're

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Speaker 3: with forty two home runs. You cannot have that type

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Speaker 3: of dead money. So all of a sudden salaries around

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Speaker 3: three hundred million dollars for the Yankees. Now you're it's

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Speaker 3: really a two twenty. Yeah, So it's a little misleading.

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Speaker 3: So you got to stay away from the big bombs.

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Speaker 3: If you look at the Brewers contract, every contract's in

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Speaker 3: the money, meaning if you're paying a player two million,

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Speaker 3: he's paying like a five million dollar player. If you're

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Speaker 3: paying someone five million, they're playing like a ten million

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Speaker 3: dollar player. The opposite is true for a lot of

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Speaker 3: the Mets contracts and the Yankee contracts. So you got

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Speaker 3: to stay away from the big bombs. And then the

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Speaker 3: other thing is you got to be a contrarian. And

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Speaker 3: the Brewers are playing like the nineteen eighties Brewers, the

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Speaker 3: nineteen nineties Brewers. They're valuing contact, they're valuing going deeper

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Speaker 3: into games, they're valuing catching the ball, putting pressure on

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Speaker 3: the ball. I mean, this whole concept of you know,

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Speaker 3: the three outcome resulting that you strike out you walk,

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Speaker 3: your hit a home run, I think is not only

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Speaker 3: boring in a bad product, it's just not sustainable. The

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Speaker 3: other part is when you have pictures like the Yankees

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Speaker 3: and the Mets that go four and a third, five

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Speaker 3: and a third, you're asking twelve, thirteen, fourteen outs out

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Speaker 3: of the bullpen every night. It's just not sustainable. So

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Speaker 3: I'd like to see the Yankees go back into rewarding pictures,

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Speaker 3: go into six or seventh inning and having two or

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Speaker 3: three pitchers closed out the game, not seven pictures. Too

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Speaker 3: many things can go wrong.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, the talent management piece of it is so interesting

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Speaker 2: to me. I was reading a story I believe in

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Speaker 2: the Wall Street Journal just recently that was talking about

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Speaker 2: the Tigers, another like unbelievably high performing team, and one

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Speaker 2: of the things they've talked about was the third base

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Speaker 2: coach essentially went to the team was like, stop lollygagging

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Speaker 2: around the bases, go let's go. Like that was literally

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Speaker 2: the quotes like let's go so when you're on base,

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Speaker 2: like air on the side of like going for it.

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Speaker 2: And that didn't just change their run scoring, but it

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Speaker 2: changed their mentality of like, we're a team that goes

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Speaker 2: for it. Which I thought was such a fascinating insight

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Speaker 2: because we can talk about dollars and cents all day long,

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Speaker 2: but you know this as a player. You know this

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Speaker 2: is an owner, you know this is an entrepreneur. Part

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Speaker 2: of it's about motivating the people around you, which I

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Speaker 2: think is just a fascinating aspect. These are human beings.

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Speaker 3: I think that's what said Jason. I think motivated. And

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Speaker 3: also it's leadership and it's accountability. And we have kids,

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Speaker 3: both of us kids, and when they were ten years old,

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Speaker 3: if you say, hey, your curfew's ten o'clock and they

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Speaker 3: get there at ten thirty every night and nothing happens,

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Speaker 3: well they're gonna be there at ten thirty eleven by

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Speaker 3: the time, they'll be there at midnight and nothing's gonna happen.

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Speaker 3: When someone like jazz and nothing against jazz, he makes

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Speaker 3: a brutal base run, a mistake, SODA's Wells walks off

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Speaker 3: the bag in an X rating game with two outs

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Speaker 3: and he gets tagged for the third out. You have

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Speaker 3: to come sit on the bench, You have to sit

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Speaker 3: a point that that type of behavior. We will allow

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Speaker 3: physical mistakes with the right intentionality, trying to make the

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Speaker 3: right impact in the game, no problem. Those are rewarded

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Speaker 3: as long as they're aggressive and they're thoughtful. When you're

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Speaker 3: just forgetting the outs or you'd make just a bonehead play,

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Speaker 3: you got to come sit on it maybe a day

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Speaker 3: or two. And that sends a message to everyone, and

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Speaker 3: those kind of things are not happening. So I think

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Speaker 3: sometimes Murphy, we talked about the sixty six year old

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Speaker 3: manager for the Milwaukee Brewers. He'll sit you on the

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Speaker 3: bench right Nowah, and that needs to happen more.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Interesting. So before we leave baseball, one unfortunate shout

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Speaker 2: out is your old teammate Mariano rivera old Timers game.

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Speaker 2: He's out in Sea enter field. I watched the video.

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Speaker 2: He goes down Tora's achilles brutal.

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Speaker 3: You know what it is. We're all getting old, Jason.

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Speaker 3: This is sad, really sad. But I'll give you a

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Speaker 3: quick story. When he was forty one years old, we

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Speaker 3: had seventy five players in Tampa and spring training, seventy

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Speaker 3: five and that seventy five we're gonna cut down to

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Speaker 3: twenty five. So essentially fifty go home, twenty five make

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Speaker 3: the team. And there's really like one or two open spots.

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Speaker 3: But in the first day you have physicals and he

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Speaker 3: was number one in like four categories at the age

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Speaker 3: of forty one from seventy five and most of us

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Speaker 3: were in our twenties. Yeah I wasn't, but a lot

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Speaker 3: of these. He was number one in flexibility and he

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Speaker 3: was number one in vertical jump at forty one years old.

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Speaker 3: Like he can dunk a basketball like easily at forty one.

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Speaker 3: And to see him go down on you know, old

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Speaker 3: timer's day was heartbreaking. I'm going to face some of

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Speaker 3: them after this. Yeah, see how my guy's doing. He's

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Speaker 3: the best.

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Speaker 2: He is the best, and hopefully he's doing well. There's

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Speaker 2: an interesting corollary and sort of call ahead to this

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Speaker 2: week's episode with Alison Felix because we actually talked to

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Speaker 2: her about the idea of like still get out and

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Speaker 2: sort of practice your trade. I don't think you're playing

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Speaker 2: nine innings anymore, and she's not, you know, running the

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Speaker 2: track like she used to. But you know, it's the mentality,

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Speaker 2: that's what That's.

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Speaker 3: What answer will surprise our listeners.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, no, it is. It is pretty good. So

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Speaker 2: before we get to that, one last really interesting deal

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Speaker 2: of the week, and in a lot of ways. Is

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Speaker 2: Mark Shapiro, one of the first people we had on

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Speaker 2: this show, of course, the president of TKO, longtime ESPN

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Speaker 2: executive or in six Flags for a while. TKO a massive,

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Speaker 2: massive deal. Of course, they control both the WWE and

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Speaker 2: most notably in this case, the UFC. Dana White obviously

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Speaker 2: the guy behind all of that seven point seven billion

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Speaker 2: dollar media deal. Eye popping, to say the least in

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Speaker 2: its you know, enormity, just the figure, but also a

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Speaker 2: different business model now for the UFC in business with

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Speaker 2: paramount plus.

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Speaker 3: When you look at this deal, Jason, it's really eye

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Speaker 3: popping because CBS is an American institution and this is

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Speaker 3: a very very important deal not only for media and sports,

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Speaker 3: but really for America. And a couple of numbers to

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Speaker 3: really think about here. Larry Ellison and his son David

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Speaker 3: Edison acquired this with our friend Jerry Carnell as the

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Speaker 3: third partner. Those three controls seventy percent of a capital stack,

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Speaker 3: meaning all major decisions will be made by those three individuals,

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Speaker 3: which is really good because all three of them are

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Speaker 3: really smart. The other part that eye popping is they

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Speaker 3: have seventy million subs. That's about twenty million more than ESPN.

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Speaker 3: That was an eye popping number. And if you combine

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Speaker 3: a couple of those with Peacock and combined they don't

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Speaker 3: have seventy million. And then the other part that's fascinating

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Speaker 3: because I have a lot of fans that are UFC fans,

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Speaker 3: is you may now see UFC fights no more you

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Speaker 3: have to pay for it, no more pay per view.

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Speaker 3: You can actually watch it on CBS on Live network TV,

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Speaker 3: which is pretty cool. So I'm really excited about this.

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Speaker 3: And to think about it, Mark Shapiro again and Dana

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Speaker 3: White negotiating a brilliant deal. It is a perfect storm.

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Speaker 3: Does David Edilson is trying to make a statement like

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Speaker 3: here we are. We're not just the old CBS. We're

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Speaker 3: not your daddy's CBS. We're new CBS. We're going to

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Speaker 3: push the envelope. And they doubled it from five to

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Speaker 3: fifty to about a billion one per year, massive deal.

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Speaker 2: Well, and you think about you know, obviously David Ellison

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Speaker 2: and his dad Larry Elson, incredibly bright, don't sleep on

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Speaker 2: exactly you mentioned before. Jerry Cardinal create the S network.

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Speaker 2: He's a team owner. He is so deep into this

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Speaker 2: and obviously the sky Dance deal for Paramount I think

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Speaker 2: we really do need to underscore this idea of like

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Speaker 2: bringing it out from a pretty old school pay per

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Speaker 2: view paywall and now potentially really juicing subscribers for Paramount Plus.

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Speaker 2: It's so funny, you know, just anecdotally, my son Henry,

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Speaker 2: who's twenty one, huge UFC fan, his first reaction was

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Speaker 2: literally sends me a text, two texts, did you see

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Speaker 2: this deal? When are we getting Paramount Plus? I mean

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Speaker 2: those were the and that was it. And so that

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Speaker 2: is exactly what I think Jerry, Larry and David were imagining,

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Speaker 2: was all these young UFC fans being like, well, I'm

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Speaker 2: going wherever it is, and so that sort of subscriber

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Speaker 2: acquisition they understand. And David Elson said this in a

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Speaker 2: lot of the presses he was talking about it. The

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Speaker 2: power of live sports is massive meteor rites. You're very

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Speaker 2: familiar with this, you know how that's going for all

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Speaker 2: the major leagues.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and a few more things there. Dre said, on

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Speaker 3: to what you said, I agree with everything you said.

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Speaker 3: I think what's really powerful about TKO is unlike any

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Speaker 3: other league, this is truly probably the most global sport

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Speaker 3: in the world. Outside of soccer. Yeah, I mean they

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Speaker 3: can go anywhere in UFC. And that's something that Major

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Speaker 3: League Baseball can be a little jealous of, NBA, NFL everyone, right,

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Speaker 3: because what the NFL and NBA and Major League Basil's

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Speaker 3: trying to do. Tkl's already there. So when you think

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Speaker 3: about subs for paramount, these eyeballs are going to come

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Speaker 3: from all over the world. That's one point. The other

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Speaker 3: thing too, that's really important to remember is, Okay, where's

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Speaker 3: David Ellison going to go next?

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Speaker 2: Yeah?

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Speaker 3: Is he going to go to maybe baseball because that

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Speaker 3: you know, back in the day used to have baseball.

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Speaker 3: Can it go to WNBA? What else is it going

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Speaker 3: to bring as an attraction? Because obviously now they want

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Speaker 3: to get this subs from seventy to over one hundred million,

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Speaker 3: and you're only going to do that through live sports,

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Speaker 3: and I think they understand that.

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Speaker 2: Well, let's not forget that the NFL is probably gonna

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Speaker 2: opt out of their current deal and so that's going

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Speaker 2: to come up for negotiation as well. So watch this

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Speaker 2: space and obviously if you want to learn more about

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Speaker 2: Jerry Cardinal and Mark Shapiro and a lot of the

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Speaker 2: other people we mentioned. Go back into the feed listen

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Speaker 2: to those episodes. You'll learn about sort of how they think.

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Speaker 2: All right. Coming up this week on The Deal, Alison Felix.

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Speaker 2: Welcome back to the Deal. I'm Jason Kelly alongside Alex Rodriguez.

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Speaker 2: So excited to have with us Alison Felix. She is

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Speaker 2: seven time gold medals, eleven medals from the Olympics. To

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Speaker 2: her credit, she's an entrepreneur in many different ways. She

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Speaker 2: started a shoe company, she started talent company, She's involved

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Speaker 2: in the LA Olympics. Coming up, We're so excited to

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Speaker 2: have you, Alison. Thank you so much for being here.

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Speaker 1: Oh, thank you guys for having me.

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Speaker 2: So let me start with sort of a question that

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Speaker 2: I've been thinking about because there's so many different ways

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Speaker 2: to go with you. How do you identify yourself at

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Speaker 2: this point because you do have all of these different

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Speaker 2: things that you've done, but also things that you're doing,

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Speaker 2: Like how do you describe yourself to the world.

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Speaker 4: I think I always come back to Olympian you know,

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Speaker 4: it's the starting place, and I believe that that has

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Speaker 4: allowed me to do so many other things that I'm

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Speaker 4: really passionate about, and so that leads me to entrepreneur,

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Speaker 4: and you know, I still it's so passionate about advocating

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Speaker 4: for women's rights and you know, everything in that lane

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Speaker 4: as well. But I think Olympian kind of wraps it up.

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Speaker 2: And it's funny, Alex. So Alison and I got to

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Speaker 2: know each other. I was working on a series that

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Speaker 2: still is going on it at bloombare called power Players,

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Speaker 2: and I spent a couple days with her in Los

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Speaker 2: Angeles and we went to our high school and saw

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Speaker 2: that track it's named after her. And then of course

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Speaker 2: there's another track named after you, Allison at USC where

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Speaker 2: you went to college, where Alex and I both spent

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Speaker 2: a decent amount of time. This was not I mean

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Speaker 2: I remember sort of being surprised at the time that

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Speaker 2: you know, you took this up from an athletic perspective,

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Speaker 2: you know, sort of late in life in the sense

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Speaker 2: of like you sort of rocked up to high school

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Speaker 2: and realized you were like generationally fast. You know, as

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Speaker 2: you look back on those sort of early moments and

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Speaker 2: as you say you define yourself as an Olympian, does

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Speaker 2: any of this sort of surprise you that it's all

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Speaker 2: gone this way?

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Speaker 1: I think all of it, all of it has.

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Speaker 4: I mean, I just I never, you know, set out

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Speaker 4: to be a professional athlete like that was not my

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Speaker 4: family's plan, you know. I think with some Olympians, you know,

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Speaker 4: there is like this roadmap that they're following and that's

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Speaker 4: always been the intention. You know, They've started when they

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Speaker 4: were like three years old and you know, done all

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Speaker 4: of that. But for me, you know, I stumbled into

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Speaker 4: the sport and I came in because I was looking

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Speaker 4: for friend in high school and super shy and introvert.

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Speaker 1: So when I look.

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Speaker 4: At my path and my journey and where I am today,

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Speaker 4: there's no parts of it that I would have thought

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Speaker 4: that this would have happened. But I think, you know,

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Speaker 4: that's the beauty of life and it taking you to

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Speaker 4: some places you know you didn't plan.

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Speaker 3: So for me, Alison, as an athlete, it was around

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Speaker 3: my junior year where I kind of went to the

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Speaker 3: US Olympic team. I looked around and I said, hey,

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Speaker 3: you know what, I'm pretty good and that gave me

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Speaker 3: an incredible amount of confidence. When I went back for

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Speaker 3: my junior year Westminster Christian in Miami. When was that

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Speaker 3: moment for you that you just said, hey, this is

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Speaker 3: more than just getting to know friends. I'm actually unique.

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Speaker 3: I'm a unicorn.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it was similar for me.

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Speaker 4: It was it was my senior year in high school

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Speaker 4: and I remember I went to my coach was really

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Speaker 4: great about kind of pushing me, and he had entered

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Speaker 4: me in this professional race and it was in Mexico

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Speaker 4: City and we all flew out there, and you know,

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Speaker 4: for me, I was just excited to compete somewhere, you know,

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Speaker 4: other than the high school. And so we get there

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Speaker 4: and I'm just like, Okay, I'm just going to do

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Speaker 4: the best.

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Speaker 1: That I can.

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Speaker 4: There were other there were Olympians in the race and

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Speaker 4: you know, really accomplish you know, women, And.

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Speaker 1: I ran that race. I was like in the very

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Speaker 1: outside lane.

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Speaker 4: I don't think anybody knew that I was there, and

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Speaker 4: I just ran as hard as I could. I remember

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Speaker 4: crossing the line of like, oh my gosh, nobody passed me,

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Speaker 4: like I actually won this thing. And I ran the

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Speaker 4: fastest time in the world at that time. And that

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Speaker 4: was kind of the shift for me where it was like, oh, okay,

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Speaker 4: like I have the ability to do something different and

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Speaker 4: maybe this is going to be bigger than just getting

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Speaker 4: a scholarship to go to college.

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Speaker 3: And Alison, what event was it and what was the time?

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Speaker 4: It was the two intermeters and I had ran twenty

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Speaker 4: to eleven, the high school record at the time.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Wow, that's so interesting too, because Alex, because I know

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Speaker 2: your story pretty well, I'm hearing echoes too of you know,

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Speaker 2: your high school coach saying listen, this is what's going

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Speaker 2: to happen next, this is the roadmap. And it sounds like, Alison,

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Speaker 2: you were in a position to sort of have people

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Speaker 2: around you. And we're going to talk about your brother

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Speaker 2: later on, because he's been so critical in your journey,

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Speaker 2: especially as a business person, but those people who essentially

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Speaker 2: said no, you can do this, and then of course

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Speaker 2: you have to go out and do it, but sort

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Speaker 2: of having the people who can say this is the direction,

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Speaker 2: this is the path I see for you is critical.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: I mean because I didn't even know at that point

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Speaker 4: I had been running track for that was like my

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Speaker 4: fourth year ever running track, and so I didn't know,

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Speaker 4: you know, I didn't know the history, I didn't know

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Speaker 4: the sport, and Alex, I don't know how it was

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Speaker 4: for you.

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Speaker 1: My coach, he was a volunteer coach like he didn't

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Speaker 1: know either.

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Speaker 4: You know, he knew that there was so much potential

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Speaker 4: there and he saw the talent, but then he really

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Speaker 4: wanted to help, like surround me with people who were

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Speaker 4: knowledgeable as I was going out for the next level.

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Speaker 4: But it was really about the people around me seeing that, Okay,

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Speaker 4: you have a gift. And I think that's incredible when

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Speaker 4: somebody can see it in you and believe in you

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Speaker 4: before you even know yourself. I think that just it

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Speaker 4: speaks volumes, and I think you want to rise to

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Speaker 4: the occasion as well, because it's like, well, this person

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Speaker 4: who has done it before and has all this experience

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Speaker 4: is telling me that you know this is possible, And yeah,

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Speaker 4: I feel like that was my experience kind of on

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Speaker 4: the next level. You know, when I reached the next

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Speaker 4: coach that I worked with, it was just like, Okay,

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Speaker 4: if you believe in me, then I know I can

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Speaker 4: do this.

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Speaker 2: And I remember you and I've talked about this a

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Speaker 2: little bit before, but you know there is this moment

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Speaker 2: too for you where it's not just like, oh, I

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Speaker 2: can go out and win races, but I can essentially

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Speaker 2: do this for a living. I mean, I'm going to

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Speaker 2: do this as my as my life's work for some

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Speaker 2: amount of time, What was that moment where you realized, Okay,

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Speaker 2: there's sort of financial viability. You know, it's like you

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Speaker 2: didn't come from a huge amount of money, Like there's

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Speaker 2: some risk involved. But what's the moment where you s see, okay,

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Speaker 2: like sponsors are showing up, I can actually fund myself

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Speaker 2: to make a career out of this.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, after I ran that time in Mexico City and

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Speaker 4: you know, I then qualified for the World Championship team

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Speaker 4: and things started to happen, and then that's when you know,

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Speaker 4: the sponsor started to come and they started to you know,

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Speaker 4: talk to my family about, you know, the possibilities of

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Speaker 4: not going to college. And at that time, there had

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Speaker 4: never been a track athlete from the US that didn't

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Speaker 4: go to college and went straight to the pro.

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Speaker 1: So that was it felt very risky.

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Speaker 4: You know, it felt like I think people were really

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Speaker 4: critical of that idea, and it was just me kind

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Speaker 4: of leaning on my family. And my family didn't really

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Speaker 4: know either, because you know, we were all new to

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Speaker 4: the sport. But they were just dedicated parents, you know,

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Speaker 4: like they would do their homework, they talked to their friends,

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Speaker 4: and just tried to figure it out. But it was

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Speaker 4: really at that moment where we started to understand like, oh,

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Speaker 4: this could be a career. Because for me, I don't

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Speaker 4: even think I had that understand you know, I had

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Speaker 4: I understood, you know, the Olympics, but I didn't know that,

434
00:20:04,600 --> 00:20:07,240
Speaker 4: you know, people were out here doing this for a living.

435
00:20:07,760 --> 00:20:09,720
Speaker 2: We're going to fast forward a little bit because and

436
00:20:10,040 --> 00:20:13,040
Speaker 2: it sounds ridiculous to sort of essentially like YadA YadA,

437
00:20:13,119 --> 00:20:15,359
Speaker 2: YadA a bunch of like gold medals in world championships

438
00:20:15,400 --> 00:20:18,120
Speaker 2: and things like that, but you did all that, and

439
00:20:18,280 --> 00:20:20,400
Speaker 2: there are many great interviews that you've done where people

440
00:20:20,400 --> 00:20:22,040
Speaker 2: could learn a lot more about that. But we do

441
00:20:22,080 --> 00:20:24,040
Speaker 2: want to talk about sort of the business of Alison

442
00:20:24,080 --> 00:20:28,280
Speaker 2: Felix because it is not a straight line. What seems

443
00:20:28,280 --> 00:20:29,960
Speaker 2: like the biggest moment probably in your life is you

444
00:20:29,960 --> 00:20:32,200
Speaker 2: signed with Nike and then you break up with Nike,

445
00:20:32,560 --> 00:20:35,600
Speaker 2: and you know you have this moment where you essentially

446
00:20:36,320 --> 00:20:41,120
Speaker 2: have to leave them because they will not pay you

447
00:20:41,240 --> 00:20:46,639
Speaker 2: empirically what you're worth. Walk us through that decision. You

448
00:20:46,680 --> 00:20:49,080
Speaker 2: go public with this. I know you've told the story

449
00:20:49,119 --> 00:20:52,280
Speaker 2: a lot, but like it is, it's critical for people.

450
00:20:52,359 --> 00:20:55,199
Speaker 2: I think to understand not just who you are, but

451
00:20:55,320 --> 00:20:57,199
Speaker 2: like what you did in the implications of that.

452
00:20:58,119 --> 00:21:01,120
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, that moment changed my life. As we've talked

453
00:21:01,119 --> 00:21:04,560
Speaker 4: about a little bit before, I'm an introvert. I was

454
00:21:04,600 --> 00:21:07,480
Speaker 4: really about just doing my job head down. You know,

455
00:21:07,760 --> 00:21:10,680
Speaker 4: I'm here to try to win medals, try to break records.

456
00:21:10,720 --> 00:21:13,159
Speaker 4: That's what it's all about. And when I decided to

457
00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:15,720
Speaker 4: start a family, and you know, I had been with

458
00:21:15,840 --> 00:21:18,320
Speaker 4: Nike for almost a decade at the time, I did

459
00:21:18,359 --> 00:21:20,480
Speaker 4: have a lot of fear in that moment because I

460
00:21:20,480 --> 00:21:23,240
Speaker 4: had seen what my teammates and my colleagues had been through,

461
00:21:23,280 --> 00:21:26,840
Speaker 4: and they had really struggled through motherhood. And what was

462
00:21:26,880 --> 00:21:29,560
Speaker 4: happening to a lot of them was their contracts were

463
00:21:29,560 --> 00:21:33,280
Speaker 4: being paused once they you know, shared that they were pregnant,

464
00:21:33,520 --> 00:21:36,359
Speaker 4: or they would hide a pregnancy and try to get

465
00:21:36,400 --> 00:21:40,760
Speaker 4: a new contract. And so I was renegotiating my contract

466
00:21:40,800 --> 00:21:44,680
Speaker 4: at the time, and I did not disclose my pregnancy yet,

467
00:21:44,880 --> 00:21:48,200
Speaker 4: and my renegotiation was already starting off in a very

468
00:21:48,240 --> 00:21:48,800
Speaker 4: bad place.

469
00:21:48,800 --> 00:21:51,000
Speaker 1: The offer was seventy percent less.

470
00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:54,000
Speaker 4: Than what I had been making before, and so that

471
00:21:54,160 --> 00:21:57,920
Speaker 4: really amplified my fear. I felt like the same thing

472
00:21:57,960 --> 00:21:59,879
Speaker 4: is going to happen to me that it happened to

473
00:22:00,080 --> 00:22:03,240
Speaker 4: all of my teammates, and so I did what they did.

474
00:22:03,400 --> 00:22:06,000
Speaker 4: You know, I hid my pregnancy, I started to train

475
00:22:06,040 --> 00:22:08,600
Speaker 4: in the dark. I did all of these things because

476
00:22:08,720 --> 00:22:12,720
Speaker 4: essentially there was no nothing on paper to secure even

477
00:22:12,760 --> 00:22:15,639
Speaker 4: this seventy percent less and this drug on for a

478
00:22:15,680 --> 00:22:18,320
Speaker 4: really long time. You know, we continued to try to

479
00:22:18,440 --> 00:22:22,119
Speaker 4: negotiate and it wasn't going well, and so I really

480
00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:25,919
Speaker 4: had this moment where I shifted my ask away from

481
00:22:26,520 --> 00:22:30,440
Speaker 4: my concern around the financials to asking for maternal protections.

482
00:22:30,880 --> 00:22:32,040
Speaker 1: And simply what that.

483
00:22:31,920 --> 00:22:34,000
Speaker 4: Means in track and field is that if you go

484
00:22:34,080 --> 00:22:37,320
Speaker 4: to the Olympics or you go to World Championships, you

485
00:22:37,359 --> 00:22:40,520
Speaker 4: get a bonus, but if you don't, you get a reduction.

486
00:22:40,960 --> 00:22:43,399
Speaker 4: And so if you are pregnant or if you just

487
00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:46,439
Speaker 4: had a baby, there's nothing in place to protect you.

488
00:22:47,240 --> 00:22:51,080
Speaker 1: And so, you know, what I was looking at.

489
00:22:50,880 --> 00:22:54,760
Speaker 4: Was facing another reduction even on top of the seventy percent,

490
00:22:54,880 --> 00:22:58,240
Speaker 4: if I didn't make it back to the World Championships

491
00:22:58,400 --> 00:23:02,160
Speaker 4: months after having a baby. You know, it seemed absurd,

492
00:23:02,240 --> 00:23:04,679
Speaker 4: and it's what so many women had been facing for

493
00:23:04,720 --> 00:23:06,480
Speaker 4: so long, and so that's what.

494
00:23:06,400 --> 00:23:09,240
Speaker 1: I asked for. And actually when I you know.

495
00:23:09,720 --> 00:23:13,440
Speaker 4: Shared that, and you know, I had disclosed my pregnancy,

496
00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:16,439
Speaker 4: shared all the things, and they said, okay, you know,

497
00:23:16,520 --> 00:23:18,240
Speaker 4: you could have that time to be able to recover.

498
00:23:18,440 --> 00:23:20,199
Speaker 4: And I was like, great, that's all I you know,

499
00:23:20,880 --> 00:23:24,080
Speaker 4: the money's the money whatever, I can accept that, but

500
00:23:24,240 --> 00:23:26,040
Speaker 4: this to me is a non negotiable.

501
00:23:26,680 --> 00:23:27,760
Speaker 1: And so when the.

502
00:23:27,720 --> 00:23:30,600
Speaker 4: Contract came back, I was shocked because there was no

503
00:23:30,760 --> 00:23:34,280
Speaker 4: mention of pregnancy, no mention of maternity. And so what

504
00:23:34,320 --> 00:23:36,960
Speaker 4: we learned is that they were not willing to tie

505
00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:39,720
Speaker 4: this time to be able to recover from giving birth

506
00:23:40,359 --> 00:23:42,679
Speaker 4: to maternity. You know, they were willing to do it

507
00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:44,960
Speaker 4: for me, but in their words, they said they wanted

508
00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:48,359
Speaker 4: to take a case by case basis. And so that's

509
00:23:48,440 --> 00:23:51,439
Speaker 4: really what led to you know, writing this op ed

510
00:23:51,480 --> 00:23:54,000
Speaker 4: in the New York Times and you know, sharing what

511
00:23:54,320 --> 00:23:57,160
Speaker 4: I had been facing in so many of my teammates

512
00:23:57,200 --> 00:24:01,119
Speaker 4: and colleagues as well. And that was terrify because you know,

513
00:24:01,280 --> 00:24:04,639
Speaker 4: it was everything that was opposite of you know, what

514
00:24:04,680 --> 00:24:08,080
Speaker 4: I was about. But I just I deeply believed in

515
00:24:08,359 --> 00:24:11,240
Speaker 4: what I was doing and deeply believed that things needed

516
00:24:11,240 --> 00:24:13,120
Speaker 4: to change, and came out with.

517
00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:15,600
Speaker 1: Op ED and I think it was something like two

518
00:24:15,640 --> 00:24:16,400
Speaker 1: two and a half.

519
00:24:16,280 --> 00:24:20,600
Speaker 4: Weeks later that they changed their policy along with other companies,

520
00:24:20,640 --> 00:24:24,199
Speaker 4: and today they offer eighteen months of maternal protection for

521
00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:28,000
Speaker 4: all their female athletes. And yeah, other companies are standing

522
00:24:28,040 --> 00:24:28,720
Speaker 4: on that as well.

523
00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:30,760
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a huge moment. I mean it's a huge

524
00:24:30,760 --> 00:24:32,840
Speaker 2: moment in the history the sport, is a huge moment

525
00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:37,880
Speaker 2: in gender equity when it comes to sports. And what's

526
00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:40,480
Speaker 2: interesting Alex is then Alison decides to take it a

527
00:24:40,520 --> 00:24:44,200
Speaker 2: step further and say, I'm going to start my own company.

528
00:24:44,640 --> 00:24:46,840
Speaker 2: I'm going to start my own shoe company, which is

529
00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:49,520
Speaker 2: not for the fant of heart, as someone who has

530
00:24:49,520 --> 00:24:51,679
Speaker 2: worn a lot of athletic shoes over the course of

531
00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:54,040
Speaker 2: his life can attest to. And I know Alex and

532
00:24:54,040 --> 00:24:57,119
Speaker 2: I are both interested in this. Talk about that moment

533
00:24:57,160 --> 00:24:58,920
Speaker 2: where you decide to start your own company.

534
00:24:59,560 --> 00:25:02,720
Speaker 4: Well you said it perfectly, like I think you don't

535
00:25:02,760 --> 00:25:05,520
Speaker 4: know what you're up against. You know, in that moment

536
00:25:05,520 --> 00:25:07,960
Speaker 4: you're so passionate and you know this is the next step.

537
00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:10,440
Speaker 4: I can't find another sponsor, so you know, I'm talking

538
00:25:10,520 --> 00:25:11,560
Speaker 4: to Wes, like, let's.

539
00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:12,200
Speaker 1: Do it ourselves.

540
00:25:12,680 --> 00:25:15,639
Speaker 2: Wes, your is your brother, sorry, yes, my brother Wes.

541
00:25:15,880 --> 00:25:19,560
Speaker 4: And then we take steps to actually do it, and

542
00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:22,440
Speaker 4: it was a huge, huge thing. You know, I think

543
00:25:22,560 --> 00:25:26,000
Speaker 4: you almost need that piece of not knowing how hard

544
00:25:26,040 --> 00:25:29,879
Speaker 4: this industry is, because had we known, you know, maybe

545
00:25:29,880 --> 00:25:33,280
Speaker 4: we don't go into it. But the moment that really

546
00:25:33,720 --> 00:25:36,720
Speaker 4: pushed us forward was, you know, I start looking for

547
00:25:36,840 --> 00:25:41,800
Speaker 4: another shoe sponsor. I can't find one. And when Wes says,

548
00:25:41,840 --> 00:25:43,520
Speaker 4: you know, I think we should do this ourselves.

549
00:25:43,640 --> 00:25:44,600
Speaker 1: What we thought we.

550
00:25:44,440 --> 00:25:47,320
Speaker 4: Were creating was you know, just shoes for me to

551
00:25:47,320 --> 00:25:49,960
Speaker 4: wear in the Olympics. But as we you know, did

552
00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:52,320
Speaker 4: a deep dive into the industry and we start talking

553
00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:55,560
Speaker 4: to people, we learn of this bigger problem, and that

554
00:25:55,720 --> 00:25:58,960
Speaker 4: is that shoes weren't being made for women. And so

555
00:25:59,080 --> 00:26:01,439
Speaker 4: a shoe is build off of a lass, which is

556
00:26:01,440 --> 00:26:03,679
Speaker 4: a mold of a foot, and it's the mold of

557
00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:07,240
Speaker 4: a man's foot that has been used to make women's footwear.

558
00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:10,119
Speaker 4: And that was the thing that really pushed us forward

559
00:26:10,160 --> 00:26:13,399
Speaker 4: and said, you know, this is so much bigger, you

560
00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:15,720
Speaker 4: know than me or what I went through. This is

561
00:26:15,760 --> 00:26:19,080
Speaker 4: saying it's time for the industry to change. We have

562
00:26:19,160 --> 00:26:22,600
Speaker 4: to be making shoes specifically for women, and they can't

563
00:26:22,640 --> 00:26:25,680
Speaker 4: be an afterthought and we can't just have this brilliant

564
00:26:25,720 --> 00:26:29,280
Speaker 4: marketing that is telling women that they're wearing shoes made

565
00:26:29,320 --> 00:26:31,480
Speaker 4: for them when they're really just wearing men's shoes.

566
00:26:44,520 --> 00:26:47,200
Speaker 3: Jason, you mentioned it's never a straight line. Well, that's

567
00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:50,240
Speaker 3: so true in my case. In twenty fourteen, I served

568
00:26:50,880 --> 00:26:54,919
Speaker 3: a very long suspension for PDUs and during this time,

569
00:26:55,200 --> 00:26:57,440
Speaker 3: as I'm thinking I'm the fourth quarter of my career,

570
00:26:58,480 --> 00:27:01,960
Speaker 3: I was always thinking and planning life after baseball, and

571
00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:04,520
Speaker 3: then I have this kind of giant problem that I

572
00:27:04,560 --> 00:27:08,560
Speaker 3: got myself into and that was a very scary, in

573
00:27:08,680 --> 00:27:11,320
Speaker 3: daunting time for me because I'm like, well, it's hard

574
00:27:11,400 --> 00:27:14,879
Speaker 3: enough to go from athlete to entrepreneur and now I

575
00:27:14,920 --> 00:27:17,760
Speaker 3: have this big kind of red mark on me, and

576
00:27:18,960 --> 00:27:21,920
Speaker 3: it was very scary. Did you go through that? I mean,

577
00:27:21,960 --> 00:27:24,480
Speaker 3: with the op ed, you have this controversy with Nike.

578
00:27:25,480 --> 00:27:28,080
Speaker 3: Arguably with all the gold medals you made, your legacy

579
00:27:28,119 --> 00:27:29,399
Speaker 3: is going to be you changed and you made a

580
00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:33,160
Speaker 3: huge impact for all women, including my daughters, which is incredible.

581
00:27:33,520 --> 00:27:35,280
Speaker 3: But did you go through a very scary time of

582
00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:37,159
Speaker 3: going like, oh boy, is this the right time? As

583
00:27:37,200 --> 00:27:39,879
Speaker 3: you talk with Wes your agent talk us through that

584
00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:40,360
Speaker 3: a little bit.

585
00:27:40,600 --> 00:27:41,480
Speaker 1: Oh absolutely.

586
00:27:41,680 --> 00:27:45,000
Speaker 4: I mean I'm very interested in your perspective on this

587
00:27:45,080 --> 00:27:49,159
Speaker 4: as well. But being an athlete, you know, who is

588
00:27:49,240 --> 00:27:52,520
Speaker 4: moving in the space of an entrepreneur, there was so

589
00:27:52,640 --> 00:27:55,520
Speaker 4: much imposter syndrome. There was so much feeling of like

590
00:27:55,600 --> 00:27:58,639
Speaker 4: do I actually belong here? You know, I'm completely in

591
00:27:58,680 --> 00:28:02,800
Speaker 4: a new industry now and I'm raising capital and you know,

592
00:28:02,960 --> 00:28:05,879
Speaker 4: I think in one sense it is great being an

593
00:28:05,920 --> 00:28:08,800
Speaker 4: athlete and you know, you get every meeting and you

594
00:28:08,800 --> 00:28:11,639
Speaker 4: know the doors are opened. But then sometimes you step

595
00:28:11,640 --> 00:28:12,440
Speaker 4: into the room.

596
00:28:12,240 --> 00:28:14,320
Speaker 1: And I'm like, is this a meet and greet?

597
00:28:14,480 --> 00:28:18,960
Speaker 4: Or you know, you don't feel like you're being taken seriously,

598
00:28:19,080 --> 00:28:22,120
Speaker 4: or the question is, well, who's really gonna run the company?

599
00:28:22,880 --> 00:28:26,080
Speaker 4: And so it's fighting all of that, especially you know

600
00:28:26,240 --> 00:28:28,679
Speaker 4: as a person of color, as a woman of color,

601
00:28:29,119 --> 00:28:33,680
Speaker 4: knowing the statistics around how much you know VC money

602
00:28:33,760 --> 00:28:36,879
Speaker 4: is going to us, It's such a small number, and

603
00:28:36,960 --> 00:28:39,760
Speaker 4: so it did feel like I'm just fighting against so

604
00:28:39,880 --> 00:28:43,000
Speaker 4: much and it just feels like this is so hard,

605
00:28:43,040 --> 00:28:46,200
Speaker 4: and it's been hard at so many different kind of levels.

606
00:28:47,080 --> 00:28:48,959
Speaker 4: I think it's asking yourself like do you have the

607
00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:51,920
Speaker 4: fight still? You know, after all the athletic career, do

608
00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:54,360
Speaker 4: you still have the fight to break into something new?

609
00:28:54,400 --> 00:28:56,680
Speaker 4: And to me, it was really my why that continued

610
00:28:56,920 --> 00:29:00,720
Speaker 4: to push me forward. But did you experience something did

611
00:29:00,760 --> 00:29:03,479
Speaker 4: you you know, did you face that imposter syndrome or

612
00:29:03,760 --> 00:29:05,480
Speaker 4: was it more of a kind of a natural progression

613
00:29:05,520 --> 00:29:06,520
Speaker 4: for you?

614
00:29:06,560 --> 00:29:09,440
Speaker 3: No, there was nothing natural about it. And you know,

615
00:29:09,680 --> 00:29:13,239
Speaker 3: I remember how big your story was with Nike and

616
00:29:13,240 --> 00:29:15,960
Speaker 3: how proud I was of you, and also as a

617
00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:18,480
Speaker 3: man of color and someone who went through a very

618
00:29:18,680 --> 00:29:21,040
Speaker 3: very public event. I mean, if you think about it,

619
00:29:21,040 --> 00:29:23,800
Speaker 3: it was major League Baseball, it was the New York Yankees,

620
00:29:24,240 --> 00:29:27,160
Speaker 3: it was Pdu's I mean, I had every buzzword and

621
00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:29,960
Speaker 3: it was a big, big, national, amount global story. And

622
00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:31,760
Speaker 3: at the same time, at the heels of that, I'm

623
00:29:31,760 --> 00:29:35,080
Speaker 3: trying to introduce myself to the market as an entrepreneur

624
00:29:35,480 --> 00:29:39,160
Speaker 3: and how important vital trust is. So I was having

625
00:29:39,200 --> 00:29:42,680
Speaker 3: read marks across the board, which created a lot of headwinds,

626
00:29:43,360 --> 00:29:46,160
Speaker 3: and I needed to find a way to kind of

627
00:29:46,440 --> 00:29:48,360
Speaker 3: never give up, because I think that's what you and

628
00:29:48,400 --> 00:29:51,040
Speaker 3: I have as athletes, is we have this ability to

629
00:29:51,040 --> 00:29:53,720
Speaker 3: just keep pushing forward no matter how much the odds

630
00:29:53,720 --> 00:29:56,280
Speaker 3: are against us, and then I just took it one

631
00:29:56,320 --> 00:29:59,800
Speaker 3: step at a time, and I took very very small steps,

632
00:30:00,240 --> 00:30:01,880
Speaker 3: but as long as I was moving a little bit

633
00:30:01,880 --> 00:30:05,560
Speaker 3: forward every day and rebuild my reputation. And now it's

634
00:30:05,560 --> 00:30:09,000
Speaker 3: been you know, eleven years and I'm in a good place.

635
00:30:09,040 --> 00:30:12,640
Speaker 3: But it was one of the most challenging things that

636
00:30:12,680 --> 00:30:14,520
Speaker 3: I've ever had to endure, and it's made me better

637
00:30:14,520 --> 00:30:16,760
Speaker 3: for it. My question for you is you had this

638
00:30:16,840 --> 00:30:20,040
Speaker 3: imposter syndrome you mentioned, but you're also an introvert. I'm

639
00:30:20,040 --> 00:30:22,120
Speaker 3: a little bit of an introvert until you get to

640
00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:24,560
Speaker 3: know me. Hey, Jason thinks I talk too much now,

641
00:30:24,640 --> 00:30:26,040
Speaker 3: but we're very good friends.

642
00:30:27,040 --> 00:30:29,720
Speaker 2: When Alex says he's an introvert, I just like, can

643
00:30:29,800 --> 00:30:31,800
Speaker 2: you hear my eyes rolling at this?

644
00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:36,520
Speaker 3: But did you feel, Alison, like, how did you introduce

645
00:30:36,600 --> 00:30:40,000
Speaker 3: yourself into the business community that sometimes is very scary?

646
00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:41,920
Speaker 3: I would say all the time, it's very scary.

647
00:30:43,280 --> 00:30:45,520
Speaker 1: Yeah, for me, it did feel like all the time.

648
00:30:45,560 --> 00:30:48,160
Speaker 4: At the beginning, it was it was just so new

649
00:30:48,200 --> 00:30:52,080
Speaker 4: and so uncomfortable, you know, going into so many rooms.

650
00:30:52,120 --> 00:30:54,880
Speaker 4: You know, I'm used to being the only at a

651
00:30:54,880 --> 00:30:58,080
Speaker 4: lot of different points in my life, but I found

652
00:30:58,120 --> 00:31:01,840
Speaker 4: it particularly hard in this space. Yes, I think that

653
00:31:02,560 --> 00:31:06,040
Speaker 4: I had to remind myself that I did belong and

654
00:31:06,320 --> 00:31:09,840
Speaker 4: so many things that allowed me to be successful on

655
00:31:09,920 --> 00:31:12,960
Speaker 4: the track are the same things that will allow me

656
00:31:13,040 --> 00:31:15,960
Speaker 4: to be successful in this new area. They might all

657
00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:19,719
Speaker 4: be called something different in business, but I know how

658
00:31:19,760 --> 00:31:22,440
Speaker 4: to work hard, I know how to do something, you know,

659
00:31:22,840 --> 00:31:25,240
Speaker 4: be the best in the world at something. And I

660
00:31:25,400 --> 00:31:29,120
Speaker 4: just have to translate those skills and the perseverance and

661
00:31:29,160 --> 00:31:31,680
Speaker 4: the dedication to me that has been the part that

662
00:31:31,760 --> 00:31:36,400
Speaker 4: has served me the most, because you know, in business

663
00:31:36,480 --> 00:31:39,280
Speaker 4: there's so many ups and downs, and it's about you know,

664
00:31:39,440 --> 00:31:43,040
Speaker 4: really coming back and not being afraid. I think that's

665
00:31:43,080 --> 00:31:45,520
Speaker 4: the thing that has been at the core. As you know,

666
00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:48,920
Speaker 4: I've filled a million times on the track and it

667
00:31:49,160 --> 00:31:51,200
Speaker 4: doesn't shake me. And so it's like, Okay, can I

668
00:31:51,240 --> 00:31:53,360
Speaker 4: come back and I put the pieces together and can

669
00:31:53,360 --> 00:31:54,160
Speaker 4: we keep doing this?

670
00:31:54,880 --> 00:31:55,320
Speaker 2: I sure.

671
00:31:55,360 --> 00:31:58,400
Speaker 3: One quick advice that my good friend and mentor, Magic

672
00:31:58,440 --> 00:32:01,640
Speaker 3: Johnson taught me many many years ago. He said, Alex,

673
00:32:02,000 --> 00:32:04,880
Speaker 3: you know, whether it's you, Alison, myself, when we go

674
00:32:04,920 --> 00:32:07,560
Speaker 3: into a meeting, we can take every meeting and will

675
00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:10,880
Speaker 3: be very successful. Taking meetings, however, usually ends up with

676
00:32:10,920 --> 00:32:14,200
Speaker 3: a picture and assigned autographs and that's it. He goes.

677
00:32:14,280 --> 00:32:17,440
Speaker 3: When you get into those meetings, it's your job to

678
00:32:17,440 --> 00:32:19,120
Speaker 3: stay in those meetings. And how you stay in those

679
00:32:19,120 --> 00:32:21,400
Speaker 3: meetings is you have to have a world class team.

680
00:32:21,760 --> 00:32:24,000
Speaker 3: It can't just be Magic Johnson. It has to be

681
00:32:24,440 --> 00:32:27,960
Speaker 3: pat Riley, James Worthy, Kareem Kobe. You have to go

682
00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:30,760
Speaker 3: in there with a team that's worthy of winning championships

683
00:32:30,760 --> 00:32:33,120
Speaker 3: in the world of business. And that's one of the

684
00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:35,640
Speaker 3: greatest lessons I've learned. And as I thought about building

685
00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:38,680
Speaker 3: my team and building my company, the one thing that

686
00:32:38,720 --> 00:32:40,600
Speaker 3: you and I can do is we are pretty good

687
00:32:40,600 --> 00:32:44,080
Speaker 3: at recruiting great talent is identifying it and then how

688
00:32:44,080 --> 00:32:46,200
Speaker 3: do you bring them on board to sharing your vision

689
00:32:46,760 --> 00:32:48,640
Speaker 3: to go and build this great company that you want

690
00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:50,880
Speaker 3: to build. And yeah, so I passed it along with

691
00:32:50,880 --> 00:32:53,880
Speaker 3: you because it served me so well as an entrepreneur.

692
00:32:54,360 --> 00:32:57,160
Speaker 1: I appreciate that. That's incredible advice.

693
00:32:57,200 --> 00:33:01,680
Speaker 4: And I'm so grateful for you, know you, for Magic,

694
00:33:01,840 --> 00:33:06,040
Speaker 4: for Serena, for athletes who have been in this space

695
00:33:06,240 --> 00:33:09,320
Speaker 4: and who have been really transparent about their journeys. Because

696
00:33:10,040 --> 00:33:13,080
Speaker 4: it is a difficult road. I think you know, it's

697
00:33:13,120 --> 00:33:16,160
Speaker 4: hard enough to deal with retirement. But then you know,

698
00:33:16,200 --> 00:33:21,680
Speaker 4: when you have these really ambitious goals to be successful

699
00:33:21,680 --> 00:33:24,080
Speaker 4: in business as well, to be able to look at

700
00:33:24,120 --> 00:33:27,240
Speaker 4: people who have done it, it's very helpful and to

701
00:33:27,280 --> 00:33:29,600
Speaker 4: me it's been refreshing, you know, I feel like in

702
00:33:29,600 --> 00:33:32,600
Speaker 4: sports it is so competitive sometimes, you know, in the

703
00:33:32,640 --> 00:33:36,160
Speaker 4: world of business, I have found it really refreshing to

704
00:33:36,200 --> 00:33:38,960
Speaker 4: be able to connect with people who want to see

705
00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:40,960
Speaker 4: you win and want to help you. And I think,

706
00:33:41,120 --> 00:33:44,320
Speaker 4: you know, coming back to team that is everything. And

707
00:33:44,360 --> 00:33:47,000
Speaker 4: we've all been a part of some incredible teams and

708
00:33:47,440 --> 00:33:49,840
Speaker 4: knowing how to build them and how to be a

709
00:33:49,880 --> 00:33:52,719
Speaker 4: team player, you know, is definitely so relevant in this

710
00:33:52,960 --> 00:33:53,760
Speaker 4: in this new world.

711
00:33:54,600 --> 00:33:57,720
Speaker 2: Well, and that's a really nice and natural segue into

712
00:33:57,760 --> 00:34:01,520
Speaker 2: always Alpha. Walk us through the decision to create the

713
00:34:01,560 --> 00:34:04,880
Speaker 2: talent management firm. Also, I believe you partnered with your

714
00:34:04,880 --> 00:34:08,480
Speaker 2: brother Wes on that and some other folks, so walk

715
00:34:08,560 --> 00:34:09,000
Speaker 2: us through that.

716
00:34:09,520 --> 00:34:12,640
Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely, I think you know, it comes back to

717
00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:15,480
Speaker 4: when you don't see something in the world that you

718
00:34:15,560 --> 00:34:18,960
Speaker 4: feel should exist, creating it and not being afraid to

719
00:34:18,960 --> 00:34:22,720
Speaker 4: do so. And I think creating Sage first really helped

720
00:34:22,719 --> 00:34:23,799
Speaker 4: me to see.

721
00:34:23,560 --> 00:34:24,600
Speaker 1: That that's possible.

722
00:34:24,640 --> 00:34:28,040
Speaker 4: And so Wes my brother, he's a couple of years

723
00:34:28,040 --> 00:34:31,279
Speaker 4: older than me. He represented me for the majority of

724
00:34:31,320 --> 00:34:34,760
Speaker 4: my career as an agent, and he, you know, built

725
00:34:34,800 --> 00:34:39,680
Speaker 4: a really great boutique agency that really focused on Olympians.

726
00:34:39,800 --> 00:34:42,040
Speaker 4: And when I got to kind of the end of

727
00:34:42,080 --> 00:34:45,080
Speaker 4: my competing years, I was kind of having these conversations

728
00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:47,480
Speaker 4: with Wes, was like, I wish I could do this again.

729
00:34:47,520 --> 00:34:50,880
Speaker 4: I feel like I learned so much, and women's sports

730
00:34:50,920 --> 00:34:53,680
Speaker 4: as you know, having incredible momentum. I was just like,

731
00:34:53,760 --> 00:34:57,640
Speaker 4: I feel like it would be so incredible to be

732
00:34:57,719 --> 00:35:00,400
Speaker 4: able to put all of this knowledge to use. And

733
00:35:00,400 --> 00:35:03,640
Speaker 4: that's really where the idea of Always Alpha came from.

734
00:35:03,719 --> 00:35:06,520
Speaker 4: It was, you know, saying, we want to create an

735
00:35:06,560 --> 00:35:10,120
Speaker 4: agency that is fully focused on women's sports. Like we

736
00:35:10,239 --> 00:35:13,040
Speaker 4: are all in on women's sports. It's not about you know,

737
00:35:13,080 --> 00:35:16,279
Speaker 4: we can sign you know, this male athlete and you

738
00:35:16,320 --> 00:35:18,239
Speaker 4: know that's going to take care of the bills, and

739
00:35:18,280 --> 00:35:21,320
Speaker 4: it's we're all in. And so our firm is fully

740
00:35:21,360 --> 00:35:25,200
Speaker 4: focused on women's sports. We really are kind of modeled

741
00:35:25,239 --> 00:35:28,880
Speaker 4: off the entertainment industry where we are a management firm

742
00:35:29,320 --> 00:35:31,759
Speaker 4: and we can also you know, work with others, but

743
00:35:31,920 --> 00:35:36,239
Speaker 4: really representing female athletes and the ability to build their

744
00:35:36,280 --> 00:35:39,120
Speaker 4: business on the field of play and off the field

745
00:35:39,120 --> 00:35:42,080
Speaker 4: as well. And so you know, when people have come

746
00:35:42,400 --> 00:35:45,360
Speaker 4: to me athletes and asked me, you know, how was

747
00:35:45,400 --> 00:35:47,280
Speaker 4: I able to do this or that, you know, really

748
00:35:47,320 --> 00:35:50,919
Speaker 4: being able to point them into the direction and say, well,

749
00:35:51,160 --> 00:35:53,400
Speaker 4: we bring the best people in the world to build

750
00:35:53,400 --> 00:35:56,880
Speaker 4: your business out and to really walk this journey with

751
00:35:56,960 --> 00:35:59,319
Speaker 4: you and create what you want to create. And it's

752
00:35:59,360 --> 00:36:02,640
Speaker 4: not this cookie cutter kind of model that comes from

753
00:36:02,680 --> 00:36:05,640
Speaker 4: some of your more traditional, larger agencies.

754
00:36:06,080 --> 00:36:08,399
Speaker 2: It's funny, as we start to sort of wind down

755
00:36:08,400 --> 00:36:10,759
Speaker 2: a little bit, there's one big topic that I want

756
00:36:10,760 --> 00:36:14,360
Speaker 2: to sort of end and sort of go back to

757
00:36:14,400 --> 00:36:16,480
Speaker 2: where we began, which is you're an Olympian. That is

758
00:36:16,480 --> 00:36:20,280
Speaker 2: how you identify yourself. And now you know, in three years,

759
00:36:20,400 --> 00:36:23,320
Speaker 2: you know, almost exactly three years from now, your hometown,

760
00:36:23,360 --> 00:36:26,320
Speaker 2: Los Angeles, is going to host the Summer Olympic Games.

761
00:36:26,360 --> 00:36:29,520
Speaker 2: You've stayed deeply involved in the Olympics. You were recently

762
00:36:29,520 --> 00:36:32,880
Speaker 2: inducted into the US Olympic and Paralympic Hall of Fame.

763
00:36:33,360 --> 00:36:36,640
Speaker 2: You're deeply involved in the organizing committee to bring and

764
00:36:36,680 --> 00:36:39,959
Speaker 2: put on a successful games there in Los Angeles from

765
00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:43,200
Speaker 2: a business person's perspective, because now that's the hat you wear.

766
00:36:44,360 --> 00:36:46,440
Speaker 2: What are your sort of biggest visions What are the

767
00:36:46,440 --> 00:36:49,680
Speaker 2: biggest challenges for bringing the Olympics successfully to LA.

768
00:36:50,360 --> 00:36:53,040
Speaker 4: Well, first, I'm so excited that the Olympics are coming

769
00:36:53,040 --> 00:36:55,040
Speaker 4: to LA. I think it's incredible. But yeah, I'm wearing

770
00:36:55,080 --> 00:36:57,239
Speaker 4: a different hat this time. I'm an IOC member, I

771
00:36:57,239 --> 00:36:59,640
Speaker 4: said on the LA twenty eight board. I think, you know,

772
00:36:59,680 --> 00:37:03,920
Speaker 4: the big challenge is looking at this from a standpoint

773
00:37:03,920 --> 00:37:06,959
Speaker 4: of it's almost looking like a world championship in every

774
00:37:06,960 --> 00:37:11,919
Speaker 4: sport happening every single day. That is a massive, you know, undertaking,

775
00:37:11,960 --> 00:37:15,480
Speaker 4: and so a lot will happen between now in twenty

776
00:37:15,520 --> 00:37:19,120
Speaker 4: twenty eight and being a Angelino. We know like the

777
00:37:19,200 --> 00:37:22,879
Speaker 4: excellence that happens here in the environment, so I think

778
00:37:22,880 --> 00:37:25,080
Speaker 4: that'll be incredible. But I think it's just making sure

779
00:37:25,120 --> 00:37:29,200
Speaker 4: that everything works seamlessly, and that's a big task. You know,

780
00:37:29,239 --> 00:37:34,719
Speaker 4: everything from athletes having the best you know, experience facilities

781
00:37:34,760 --> 00:37:38,760
Speaker 4: able to have their best performances, to all of the

782
00:37:38,800 --> 00:37:41,800
Speaker 4: moving about of so many people coming to the city,

783
00:37:41,960 --> 00:37:43,040
Speaker 4: all of it working together.

784
00:37:43,760 --> 00:37:46,799
Speaker 2: What's it going to be like for you being a

785
00:37:46,840 --> 00:37:48,560
Speaker 2: host rather than a participant.

786
00:37:49,080 --> 00:37:51,480
Speaker 1: I think it's going to be different.

787
00:37:51,800 --> 00:37:54,160
Speaker 4: You know. The one thing that I wished, you know,

788
00:37:54,280 --> 00:37:56,080
Speaker 4: my whole career was to be able to have a

789
00:37:56,120 --> 00:37:59,040
Speaker 4: home game. So I think there's nothing, you know, like

790
00:37:59,080 --> 00:38:02,240
Speaker 4: that experience, and so I'm really excited for the American

791
00:38:02,280 --> 00:38:04,040
Speaker 4: athletes who are going to be able to have that

792
00:38:04,160 --> 00:38:08,200
Speaker 4: home field advantage, and so I think it'll be incredible

793
00:38:08,239 --> 00:38:10,479
Speaker 4: to be able to support. You know, I'm looking forward

794
00:38:10,520 --> 00:38:14,000
Speaker 4: to bringing my own kids, letting them experience it. There's

795
00:38:14,080 --> 00:38:18,200
Speaker 4: nothing like seeing the Olympics up close, and so for Angelinos,

796
00:38:18,280 --> 00:38:20,719
Speaker 4: for you know, so much the world that will be here,

797
00:38:20,840 --> 00:38:24,160
Speaker 4: I'm looking forward to the impact that that will have.

798
00:38:24,239 --> 00:38:26,360
Speaker 4: I think there will be a lot of new fans

799
00:38:26,400 --> 00:38:29,200
Speaker 4: for a lot of different sports. I think we have

800
00:38:29,280 --> 00:38:32,239
Speaker 4: the ability to really leave a legacy here in Los

801
00:38:32,280 --> 00:38:35,680
Speaker 4: Angeles and with the people here, and as we send

802
00:38:35,719 --> 00:38:38,200
Speaker 4: people back home as well, how they will be touched

803
00:38:38,239 --> 00:38:39,640
Speaker 4: and moved by the games.

804
00:38:40,120 --> 00:38:42,839
Speaker 3: I get asked all the time, Alex, do you ever

805
00:38:42,880 --> 00:38:45,799
Speaker 3: get back in the batting cage? And my answer is like, no,

806
00:38:46,000 --> 00:38:48,160
Speaker 3: I don't. I do love the game and I miss

807
00:38:48,200 --> 00:38:50,400
Speaker 3: the game, But do you ever go out in the

808
00:38:50,440 --> 00:38:54,040
Speaker 3: track and just kind of do like some workouts, some sprints,

809
00:38:54,320 --> 00:38:55,680
Speaker 3: PI metrics. Do you miss it?

810
00:38:56,880 --> 00:38:59,799
Speaker 1: I do miss it? And I do. You know, it

811
00:38:59,840 --> 00:39:01,200
Speaker 1: is what I know best.

812
00:39:01,400 --> 00:39:04,759
Speaker 4: And so as far as like workout wise, I know

813
00:39:04,840 --> 00:39:05,920
Speaker 4: what I'm doing on a track.

814
00:39:06,040 --> 00:39:08,120
Speaker 1: And I also feel like I have to stay a

815
00:39:08,239 --> 00:39:08,880
Speaker 1: bit ready.

816
00:39:09,000 --> 00:39:12,680
Speaker 4: My daughter is you know, you know, she's I'm starting

817
00:39:12,719 --> 00:39:14,560
Speaker 4: to see you know, we were at the beach the

818
00:39:14,560 --> 00:39:16,120
Speaker 4: other day, and you know, how to raise her, I

819
00:39:16,160 --> 00:39:18,880
Speaker 4: had to like let her know what, There's.

820
00:39:18,680 --> 00:39:21,640
Speaker 1: Not going to be any winning of anybody else around

821
00:39:21,680 --> 00:39:23,239
Speaker 1: here for quite some time.

822
00:39:23,320 --> 00:39:25,560
Speaker 4: So I got to make sure that I'm able to, like,

823
00:39:25,920 --> 00:39:28,840
Speaker 4: you know, when someone challenges me, that I can deliver.

824
00:39:29,719 --> 00:39:44,040
Speaker 5: I love my God, all right.

825
00:39:44,080 --> 00:39:47,000
Speaker 2: So we end every episode with a lightning round. It's

826
00:39:47,040 --> 00:39:50,160
Speaker 2: five questions. We'll bounce it back and forth. The only

827
00:39:50,200 --> 00:39:52,439
Speaker 2: advice is just the first thing that comes to your mind.

828
00:39:52,520 --> 00:39:54,359
Speaker 2: So I'll start and then Alex will pick up. Are

829
00:39:54,360 --> 00:39:54,800
Speaker 2: you ready?

830
00:39:55,480 --> 00:39:56,480
Speaker 1: Okay, let's do it?

831
00:39:56,480 --> 00:39:59,480
Speaker 2: Okay, all right? What's the best piece of advice you've

832
00:39:59,520 --> 00:40:01,400
Speaker 2: ever receeend on deal making or business?

833
00:40:03,280 --> 00:40:04,520
Speaker 4: You don't have to know it all. You don't have

834
00:40:04,560 --> 00:40:06,880
Speaker 4: to be the smartest person in the room.

835
00:40:07,239 --> 00:40:09,560
Speaker 3: Who's your dream deal making partner?

836
00:40:10,080 --> 00:40:12,799
Speaker 2: Melody Hobson Former guests, O the deal. We'd love to

837
00:40:12,800 --> 00:40:15,239
Speaker 2: see that, which see? Do you want to see win

838
00:40:15,320 --> 00:40:16,560
Speaker 2: a championship more than.

839
00:40:16,400 --> 00:40:18,120
Speaker 1: Any the Lakers?

840
00:40:20,960 --> 00:40:23,200
Speaker 3: What's your hype song before you go into a big

841
00:40:23,239 --> 00:40:25,239
Speaker 3: meet or negotiation?

842
00:40:27,280 --> 00:40:29,680
Speaker 1: Oh, I gotta start using it? Okay, So that's Beyonce.

843
00:40:29,840 --> 00:40:32,520
Speaker 1: I'm a divay. Ever attract me? But I like that.

844
00:40:32,560 --> 00:40:34,520
Speaker 4: I think you know, before I go into my like

845
00:40:34,840 --> 00:40:37,600
Speaker 4: my board meetings. Now I gotta, I gotta start playing it.

846
00:40:38,719 --> 00:40:41,160
Speaker 2: It's a good one, all right. And finally, what's your

847
00:40:41,200 --> 00:40:44,280
Speaker 2: advice for someone listening who wants a career like yours?

848
00:40:44,560 --> 00:40:46,400
Speaker 2: Fully knowing that no one's ever going to have a

849
00:40:46,400 --> 00:40:48,680
Speaker 2: career exactly like yours, But what would your advice be?

850
00:40:49,000 --> 00:40:51,080
Speaker 4: You don't have to wait for a perfect moment to

851
00:40:51,160 --> 00:40:53,879
Speaker 4: start something to do something different, Just do it, put

852
00:40:53,880 --> 00:40:56,840
Speaker 4: that first step forward, and do you deeply believe in something,

853
00:40:57,000 --> 00:40:57,640
Speaker 4: go after it.

854
00:41:00,040 --> 00:41:03,279
Speaker 2: Alison Felix, I was so excited when I knew that

855
00:41:03,320 --> 00:41:05,680
Speaker 2: this was happening. It's so great to reconnect with you.

856
00:41:06,000 --> 00:41:10,400
Speaker 2: Thank you for your good humor and wisdom, and it

857
00:41:10,440 --> 00:41:12,200
Speaker 2: was really a treat, So thank you for your time.

858
00:41:12,360 --> 00:41:14,279
Speaker 1: So nice to talk to you, Jason. So good to

859
00:41:14,280 --> 00:41:15,400
Speaker 1: see you, Alex.

860
00:41:15,160 --> 00:41:15,520
Speaker 3: Thank you.

861
00:41:15,840 --> 00:41:25,160
Speaker 2: Thanks. The Deal is hosted by Alex Rodriguez and me

862
00:41:25,320 --> 00:41:29,479
Speaker 2: Jason Kelly. This episode was made by Anamazarakus, Stacey Wong,

863
00:41:29,600 --> 00:41:33,080
Speaker 2: and Lizzie Phillip. Amy Keen is our editor and Will

864
00:41:33,120 --> 00:41:36,120
Speaker 2: Connelly is our video editor. Our theme music is made

865
00:41:36,120 --> 00:41:40,640
Speaker 2: by Blake Maples. Our executive producers are Kelly Leferrier, Ashley Hoenig,

866
00:41:40,719 --> 00:41:44,280
Speaker 2: and Brendan Nenham. Sage Bauman is the head of Bloomberg Podcast.

867
00:41:44,840 --> 00:41:48,839
Speaker 2: Additional support from Rachel Carnivale and Elena Los Angeles. Thanks

868
00:41:48,880 --> 00:41:50,680
Speaker 2: so much for listening to the Deal. If you have

869
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Speaker 2: a minute, subscribe, rate and review our show. It'll help

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Speaker 2: other listeners find us. I'm Jason Kelly. See you next week.