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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio News.

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Speaker 2: I'm Joe Matthew in Washington for Bloomberg TV and Radio.

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Speaker 2: I'm glad to say we're joined in studio now by

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Speaker 2: Ted Leonsis, the founder, chairman and CEO of Monumental Sports

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Speaker 2: and Entertainment here in the nation's capital. What a treat

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Speaker 2: to see you. Thanks for sitting down with us.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for the invite.

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Speaker 2: I'm looking forward to talking with you about reimagining a city,

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Speaker 2: which is an opportunity that does not come along very often,

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Speaker 2: and you have a chance to do it again. But

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Speaker 2: you wouldn't be in this position if it weren't for

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Speaker 2: a deal to move your company, your teams, the Wizards,

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Speaker 2: the Caps to Virginia, a deal that did not work out.

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Speaker 1: You've said that politics.

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Speaker 3: Took over, but politics is always part of the deal, right,

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Speaker 3: how come it was different this time?

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Speaker 1: Well, first, I never signed anything.

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Speaker 4: That's the most remarkable thing in it was a handshake. Yeah,

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Speaker 4: it was a handshake deal and Washington d C. Came

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Speaker 4: here from Lowell, Massachusetts on a Greyhound bus and the

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Speaker 4: mid seventies, fell in love with the city, went to

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Speaker 4: Georgetown University, and then we stood up AOL and built

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Speaker 4: really the commercialization of the Internet not too far away

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Speaker 4: in Virginia.

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Speaker 1: And I've always looked at.

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Speaker 4: This community, the DMV, if you will, being the District

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Speaker 4: Maryland in Virginia. It's the most important market. It's ten

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Speaker 4: million people. It's the third or fourth largest DMA in

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Speaker 4: the country. And so you know DC. We need a

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Speaker 4: strong DC, We need a strong downtown. And we own

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Speaker 4: the building, we own the teams, we own the network,

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Speaker 4: the studios here, and so you've made a big commitment

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Speaker 4: and we'll work with the mayor and help to reimagine

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Speaker 4: what should the next version of downtown rebirth look like.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I want to ask you about what that looks like.

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Speaker 2: But did Governor Glenn Youngkin get a little over his scheme?

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Speaker 2: Is when he shook your hand on that deal?

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Speaker 3: What happened?

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Speaker 4: I think the governor is a really great executive, and

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Speaker 4: he dealt with what basically everyone is dealing with, a

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Speaker 4: real bifurcated view of what is best for people. And

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Speaker 4: when I said, Paula Tooks took over, this was a great,

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Speaker 4: great business deal and we were told that your business

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Speaker 4: isn't wanted here.

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Speaker 1: And so that was done not.

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Speaker 4: Through where we were being located in Alexandria, but by

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Speaker 4: the political machine in Richmond, and so you know, you

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Speaker 4: get to the point where you say, there's no place

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Speaker 4: like home. And we worked a deal with the mayor

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Speaker 4: and the city council, and you know, we're a part

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Speaker 4: of that team. And the country needs a functioning, strong, safe,

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Speaker 4: clean growth mindset. Washington, d C. Where a bell weather,

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Speaker 4: if you will, for the entire countries. And we fell

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Speaker 4: behind a bit pre pandemic, during the pandemic post pandemic,

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Speaker 4: and I'm really glad that there's been this reckoning, if

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Speaker 4: you will, and it's happening in all major metro areas

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Speaker 4: and now we can move forward in coordination with business

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Speaker 4: and the philanthropy community. We have a unique set of

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Speaker 4: issues here because of the federal government overlay, and just

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Speaker 4: every day we have to deal with things that connect

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Speaker 4: Virginia and Maryland in DC, like the metro, like the

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Speaker 4: traffic that needs to be mitigated, like the infrastructure dollars

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Speaker 4: that are being spent on roads and road closures, and

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Speaker 4: so all of that. I think we can play a

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Speaker 4: big social responsibility role in helping to make things better.

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Speaker 2: We're going to play a pivotal role in the future

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Speaker 2: of the city in the downtown area. I heard you

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Speaker 2: mentioned the other day you might be interested in, speaking

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Speaker 2: of talking like a politician an honorary title vice Mayor

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Speaker 2: of the d DC Downtown DC, because that's kind of

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Speaker 2: what you are. You joined city officials on a trip

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Speaker 2: to Las Vegas to a retail conference a couple of

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Speaker 2: weeks ago to bring business here. You're representing the city,

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Speaker 2: and what is truly a balance of politics and business,

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Speaker 2: isn't it.

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Speaker 4: Yes, you may not know this, but I was once

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Speaker 4: mayor elected mayor of my town in Florida. I serve

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Speaker 4: for six years as mayor. Every time I see many

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Speaker 4: of Bloomberg, we choke and call each other honorable. So

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Speaker 4: you should pay a little more respect.

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Speaker 1: To me there, mister mayor. I appreciate it.

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Speaker 4: Yes, I understand the role that we can play in

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Speaker 4: attracting businesses. And frankly, I said, I was surprised at

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Speaker 4: you'd always heard how well managed the state of Virginia is,

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Speaker 4: low taxes, it's a great state.

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Speaker 1: But I found it easier to.

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Speaker 4: Negotiate and work with the City of DC than I

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Speaker 4: did with the State of Virginia. And so Yeah, I'm

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Speaker 4: going to go out and be an evangelist for the city,

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Speaker 4: for the mayor, for the city council. I want a

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Speaker 4: higher quality of life for our employees. We bring two

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Speaker 4: and a half million people into the city every year

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Speaker 4: for our concerts, for NCAA tournaments, for the Capitals, for

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Speaker 4: the Wizards, for the Mystics. We have back to back

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Speaker 4: Mystics games WNBA tonight and tomorrow night. There'll be thirty

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Speaker 4: thousand people or so in those two nights coming into

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Speaker 4: DC and most of them come in from Maryland in Virginia,

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Speaker 4: and they'll spend money in DC pay tax dollars here.

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Speaker 2: Well, people are talking about the Caitlin Clark effects in

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Speaker 2: the local media today.

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Speaker 3: You're right.

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Speaker 2: You've got four games now for the WNBA this season.

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Speaker 2: I believe tonight tomorrow are going to be huge at

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Speaker 2: the Capitol One Arena. You've also said that you want

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Speaker 2: DC to be the world capital of women's sports. You

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Speaker 2: described this as a growth stock. How do you make

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Speaker 2: that happen?

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Speaker 4: Well, I think what we'll look to do is we're

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Speaker 4: second longest tenured owners of a WNBA team. The Mystics

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Speaker 4: are a growing business. I'm chairman of the Media Committee

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Speaker 4: at the NBA. I know what's going to happen with

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Speaker 4: the WNBA media rights. It will be a very nice

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Speaker 4: increase there. We own our network. I know what the

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Speaker 4: ratings are locally for women's sports, and so what I'd

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Speaker 4: like to do is make a monumental w Right. We

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Speaker 4: own multiple teams and venues and a network. Let's use

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Speaker 4: the mystics as kind of the foundation. And I would

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Speaker 4: love one day to have a women's hockey team here.

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Speaker 4: I would love one day to have women's volleyball professional.

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Speaker 4: We should make DC the professional women's sports capital. We

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Speaker 4: have a very broad base of ownership executives, Sheila Johnson,

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Speaker 4: Lareen Powell, jobs, Michelle Freeman. We have the gravitas for

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Speaker 4: DC through our WNBA bona fides and through our ownership group. Yeah,

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Speaker 4: we'll make those investments and I think you'll see DC

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Speaker 4: emerging as that capital.

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Speaker 1: Well.

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Speaker 2: TV is a big deal with an important story right

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Speaker 2: now about NBA.

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Speaker 3: Right so you can speak directly.

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Speaker 2: To this, or maybe I should say TV is not

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Speaker 2: as big a deal as it used.

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Speaker 3: To be because we're looking at a proposal now.

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Speaker 2: It's Amazon, NBC, ESPN, a big chunk of these games

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Speaker 2: will be streamed exclusively, and I wonder if the owners

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Speaker 2: are going to sign off on this and what you

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Speaker 2: see as the future here.

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Speaker 4: You know, nothing's been announced yet, There's been lots of

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Speaker 4: reports on it. What I'll say is that the the

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Speaker 4: convening power of sports, both bricks and mortar, bringing people

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Speaker 4: into an arena and then being able to watch the

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Speaker 4: game on multiple devices, your television, your iPad, your iPhone

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Speaker 4: on a global basis. We've proven how valuable our ip is,

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Speaker 4: our content is, and my expectation is that this deal

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Speaker 4: will be very very strong for the players, for the owners,

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Speaker 4: for the league itself, and it allows us to continue

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Speaker 4: to invest because.

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Speaker 1: The game has never been.

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Speaker 4: Better, both hockey and basketball. The playoffs, the competition, women's basketball,

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Speaker 4: the entertainment value, the competitiveness is off the chart, and

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Speaker 4: so we now have to take more control and be

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Speaker 4: digital first company. That's essentially what the movement is. Yes,

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Speaker 4: Terrestrial is going to play a huge part of it.

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Speaker 4: You know, I look at Bloomberg. I've spent a couple

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Speaker 4: hours here today. You were a for runner in it.

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Speaker 4: You built the platform, it was digitally based, you bought

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Speaker 4: print properties, you have television properties, you stream, you have

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Speaker 4: private networks.

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Speaker 2: Well, that's what we should be everywhere TV. But what's

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Speaker 2: the endgame? Is it direct to consumer? A company like

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Speaker 2: Monumental subscribes to me, say ten years from now, I'm

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Speaker 2: at home watching a Wizard's game on my headset gambling

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Speaker 2: at the same time.

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Speaker 3: Is that the future?

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Speaker 1: We want to have.

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Speaker 4: Deep engagement relationships with consumers however they want, and I

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Speaker 4: do believe that subscriptions. I look at it more like

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Speaker 4: a software company.

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Speaker 1: We have a.

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Speaker 4: Software services business model where we get a subscriber. Our

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Speaker 4: season ticket holders as an example, they.

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Speaker 1: Were new in a bad year eighty eighty.

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Speaker 4: Five percent, in good years ninety nine percent. Someone has

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Speaker 4: to die if you will, and you know for the

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Speaker 4: family to lose their season tickets, and many cases here.

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Speaker 1: No, no, no, my dad left it to me.

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Speaker 4: I'm stepping into issues, right, and so subscriptions business is great.

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Speaker 4: And if you build a big audience that people value

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Speaker 4: by pain, that's the difference than like a website. Right,

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Speaker 4: people are paying to come to the games, and people

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Speaker 4: are paying to watch these performers. Then we license our

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Speaker 4: content to terrestrial, to cable companies, and then more and

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Speaker 4: more we're saying, well, if you don't have cable, if

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Speaker 4: you don't subscribe to a service, we need to get

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Speaker 4: it to you directly. Well, that's just like a subscription, sure,

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Speaker 4: And so we've made a big investment in Monumental. We

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Speaker 4: own our network, the Monumental Sports Network. It's available on cable,

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Speaker 4: on satellite. We've done deals with Amazon and Prime. We're

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Speaker 4: doing deals where we get subscribers directly. And I think

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Speaker 4: we want to control our IP and be able to

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Speaker 4: distribute it fore and wide.

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Speaker 2: It sounds endless if you do it right when it comes.

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Speaker 4: To well, I think partnerships lead to prosperity. And these

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Speaker 4: are some of the greatest companies, media companies and tech companies.

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Speaker 1: And that's been the new phenomenon.

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Speaker 4: Now that the Microsoft's and the Alphabets, Googles, the Amazons,

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Speaker 4: the Apples, they are placing a lot of value in

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Speaker 4: the IP itself.

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Speaker 1: As are the TV people, right.

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Speaker 4: Although I don't think the Comcast NBC views itself as

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Speaker 4: a TV company anymore, right, it's a tech company.

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Speaker 1: The big distribution platforms.

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Speaker 2: You couldn't have imagined this when you were watching Celtics

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Speaker 2: games with Rabbit ears at Lowell High School. No, this

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Speaker 2: is another universe that we're in now you couldn't have imagined.

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Speaker 2: And having a second chance to revitalize.

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Speaker 3: The nation's capital.

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Speaker 2: We hear a lot about crime, the balance between safety,

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Speaker 2: innovation and openness. How do you make it safe enough

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Speaker 2: for someone to want to invest, but free enough for

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Speaker 2: people to have a good time.

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Speaker 4: Well, the city has to continue to find ways to

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Speaker 4: make fair and equitable laws that service businesses and the

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Speaker 4: populace and the voters.

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Speaker 2: Obviously, so business and politics meet again.

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Speaker 1: Very much so.

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Speaker 4: And I think that was the big breakthrough over the

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Speaker 4: last six months that people understand that if the federal

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Speaker 4: office buildings aren't open and people aren't taking metro or

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Speaker 4: driving and parking and coming into the city and having

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Speaker 4: lunch in the city and buying apartments renting apartments in

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Speaker 4: the city, that's a bad thing for the local economy and.

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Speaker 1: Warrant here.

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Speaker 4: Those two and a half million people who come in

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Speaker 4: you know, they'll come in, arrive at five o'clock today,

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Speaker 4: they'll go drink, they'll go eat at the local restaurants,

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Speaker 4: they'll take metro. Metro ridership needs to be increased so

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Speaker 4: that it can do longer hours and make more investments

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Speaker 4: in technology and safety and security. So I think what's

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Speaker 4: happened is there's been awakening that everything is connected.

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Speaker 1: That that metro, that.

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Speaker 4: The police, that the traffic mitigation, that the infrastructure investments

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Speaker 4: and roads, all of that comes together to make a

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Speaker 4: higher quality of life. We have to integrate it and

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Speaker 4: not take anything for granted that. You know, this is

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Speaker 4: a very competitive world. Maryland Virginia want to steal DC's companies.

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Speaker 4: DC wants to bring those companies into back into downtown,

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Speaker 4: and so you know, you get judged by what kind

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Speaker 4: of results that you get.

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Speaker 1: And I think DC now is on a rebirth.

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Speaker 4: We're seeing crime go down, We're seeing Metro coming up,

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Speaker 4: We're seeing tourism having record numbers, and tourism we have

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Speaker 4: to find ways to get the tourists to downtown to

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Speaker 4: eat and dine because right now there seems to be

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Speaker 4: almost like a fence, you know, that keeps them on the.

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Speaker 1: Other constitution, a barrier exactly.

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Speaker 3: It's a real thing. When are you going to buy

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Speaker 3: the gnats?

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Speaker 4: I would very much like to buy the gnats and

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Speaker 4: be very respectful to the process and the family. I

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Speaker 4: think it makes a lot of sense in this super

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Speaker 4: city vernacular, to have one platform, year round teams, and

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Speaker 4: to have the size and scale so that we can

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Speaker 4: compete in terms of payroll, in terms of talent, in

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Speaker 4: terms of infrastructure with Los Angeles, with New York that

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Speaker 4: you know, just have markets. And so we're seeing in media,

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Speaker 4: We're seeing in most industries that scale really matters, and

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Speaker 4: you know, you have to have a growth mindset. And

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Speaker 4: so for us, because we own the Winter Sports if

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Speaker 4: you will, and we own the network and we own

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Speaker 4: the venues, adding that team I think is really really

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Speaker 4: important to the business. But I want to win championships.

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Speaker 4: And the way that you win championships is by having

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Speaker 4: great farm teams and great infrastructure and great coaches. Takes money,

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Speaker 4: and then they have the patients to rebuild the teams.

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Speaker 4: And the Nationals are well on their way to rebuilding

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Speaker 4: a great team.

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Speaker 3: Is it right on a regional TV deal?

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Speaker 1: Right now?

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Speaker 4: I think it's a whole new game in local TV.

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Speaker 4: I don't know what will happen in baseball. I know

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Speaker 4: that I know that we've controlled our destiny locally by

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Speaker 4: buying our regional sports networks.

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Speaker 1: Now you know, it's no no.

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Speaker 4: Longer at NBC it's a monumental sports network. There's the

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Speaker 4: Masson network. It's it's on its.

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Speaker 1: Own if you will.

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Speaker 4: It's not part of a bigger property, and it carries

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Speaker 4: the two baseball teams.

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Speaker 1: There's a lot of turmoil going on in that industry.

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Speaker 4: We've binoculated ourselves and our fans to that. We've just

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Speaker 4: opened the most advanced technology invested almost sixty million dollars

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Speaker 4: in a digital first real studio.

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Speaker 1: It's nicer and bigger than this one. Wow, Wall, I

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Speaker 1: need to come over. You should. That's right, we raised

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Speaker 1: the bar for you.

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Speaker 4: I think you'll go and come back and say, how

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Speaker 4: come they can do that.

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Speaker 3: Let's do the next one of these in your studio.

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Speaker 1: I'd love to do that.

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Speaker 2: We're invested here obviously, and we're here to stay in

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Speaker 2: downtown Washington, and I'm glad we can talk about it.

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Speaker 2: We'd like to continue following your story here anytime.

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Speaker 4: I work honored to come here, and it's amazing the

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Speaker 4: investments that you've made downtown right on New York Avenue,

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Speaker 4: and we're almost neighbors. So love to come see you well.

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Speaker 2: From Lowell to Washington. Mayor ted Leonsis, thank you for that.

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Speaker 1: Time, great to see Thanks for the invite,