Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio News.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to the Deal.
Speaker 3: I'm your host, Jason Kelly, back with my partner Alex Rodriguez.
Speaker 2: You're in Miami. I'm in New York.
Speaker 3: Coming up later on the show, We've got Mike Ropoli.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, this guy, the two of you, it
Speaker 3: was it was just like a comedy show, like what
Speaker 3: is your deal with Mike Ropoli.
Speaker 1: You know, Big Mike's from the Big Apple and you
Speaker 1: know he went to Saint John's. But he's got a
Speaker 1: personality bigger than the Big Apple. I mean, he is
Speaker 1: bigger than life. Everything he does is huge, whether it's
Speaker 1: everything he's done in the soft drink business, in horses,
Speaker 1: and his latest project with Saint John's has been nothing
Speaker 1: but spectacular, while bringing in Rick Patino and really supporting
Speaker 1: that program from eight to eight.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, sadly for him and probably good for us.
Speaker 3: We recorded this prior to this week because he would
Speaker 3: be in his bag, as the kids say, this week,
Speaker 3: because Saint John's went out with a bit of a whimper.
Speaker 4: It was.
Speaker 5: I was gonna say it's hard to watch. It was
Speaker 5: hard to watch for Micropol.
Speaker 3: I will say it was not as hard for me
Speaker 3: to watch as a Georgetown guy, because I don't like
Speaker 3: Saint John's at all. I mean, they have had Georgetown's
Speaker 3: number for a long time. But you know, to your point,
Speaker 3: he has invested, Mike has heavily into that program. It's
Speaker 3: a real window into the business of college sports and
Speaker 3: how much money is at stake with nil with a
Speaker 3: transfer portal. They have built an incredible program and as
Speaker 3: you say, it's just the latest thing that he's built.
Speaker 2: I mean, what a career vitamin water.
Speaker 3: I feel like is one of those signature deals where
Speaker 3: equity really came to the four for the athletes and
Speaker 3: the celebrities who were involved. I have to think that
Speaker 3: caught your attention when when it was going down right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and no question about it, it was a watershed moment
Speaker 1: for all athletes and entertainers, especially when you read the
Speaker 1: numbers of fifty cents and David Wright, and you know
Speaker 1: Kobe's also been in other of his partnerships, and that's
Speaker 1: when the light went up for all athletes. And then
Speaker 1: Sanders said, wait a minute, maybe there's an opportunity to
Speaker 1: get equity and build real wealth versus just you know,
Speaker 1: collecting a check. But again, you've got to give Micropoli credit.
Speaker 1: He's a pioneer all throughout. He jokes around him being
Speaker 1: a c student at Saint John's, but he's truly one
Speaker 1: of the smartest people that I've ever met. Eq Iq.
Speaker 1: He can be a stand up comedian. As you saw,
Speaker 1: he is psychony and then he's fearless Jason, that's the
Speaker 1: one thing. And he has an incredible work ethic that
Speaker 1: comes from his parents.
Speaker 6: I mean, he's awesome.
Speaker 3: I've never seen anyone who has your number like this guy.
Speaker 3: So I do want to mention March Madness because a
Speaker 3: couple of things. First of all, later this week, you
Speaker 3: and I are headed to Atlanta. We're going to do
Speaker 3: an event with our friends at Invesco. We're going to
Speaker 3: talk to the athletic director of Georgia Tech all about
Speaker 3: the business of college sports, March Madness, everything that's happening there.
Speaker 3: I get to show you around my hometown a little bit.
Speaker 3: That's gonna be really fun. I've spent a lot of
Speaker 3: time in Miami. Now you get to spend at least
Speaker 3: a little bit of time in Atlanta. I mean, you've
Speaker 3: been out to Truest Park and you've you know, played
Speaker 3: the braves and stuff, but you know, like hanging out
Speaker 3: in Atlanta with me, that's a different thing. But the
Speaker 3: other thing I wanted to mention related to March madness.
Speaker 3: I know you've been watching the tournament, maybe even a
Speaker 3: little more closely this year because we've brought you into
Speaker 3: the fold brackets for a cause, which is the huge
Speaker 3: charity thing that we do here at Bloomberg. My colleague
Speaker 3: and friend Peter Grower, our chairman emeritus, who I believe
Speaker 3: you met for the first time just a few weeks ago.
Speaker 3: We roped you in and I bet you're paying a
Speaker 3: little more attention to your bracket, right there's money on
Speaker 3: the line.
Speaker 1: I really am, And you know, anytime this is the deal,
Speaker 1: when money's a probably pay closer attention, you know.
Speaker 6: But you know, talking about Peter, who.
Speaker 1: Was the great host with you that night, I mean,
Speaker 1: what an incredible role model. I mean, this guy has
Speaker 1: the passion of like a fifty year old. He is
Speaker 1: like so full of great energy. He told this beautiful story.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. Jason Fort, Kelly and I to dinner.
Speaker 1: We had an awesome time and we hope we get
Speaker 1: invited back. But yes, I am paying close attention to
Speaker 1: my brackets.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and so just for our listeners out there, So
Speaker 3: this is something I've worked on for the past nine
Speaker 3: or ten years here at Bloomberg.
Speaker 2: It's called Brackets for a Cause.
Speaker 3: And we get, you know, really important influential folks like yourself.
Speaker 3: We get David Solomon, the Sea of Goldman Sachs, John Gray,
Speaker 3: the president of Blackstone Cliffastist, Dwight Anderson, some really well
Speaker 3: known hedge fund managers. Joe Reese from Helena Capitol who's
Speaker 3: worked across Wall Street, Jenny Johnson who runs Templeton, Michelle
Speaker 3: Side who ran Russell Investments for a long time.
Speaker 2: I mean, the list goes on and on.
Speaker 3: Carolyn Tish Blodjack co Yeah, Gary Kohane of course, the
Speaker 3: vice chairman of IBM. And what's cool is everybody pledges
Speaker 3: twenty thousand dollars they pick a charity. We have a
Speaker 3: record sixty one people playing this year, which means so
Speaker 3: you as you know, you picked your men's bracket and
Speaker 3: your women's bracket. So more than six hundred thousand dollars
Speaker 3: is in each of those pools, and the winner gets
Speaker 3: fifty percent of that money to their charity. So you're playing,
Speaker 3: I believe for the Boys and Girls Club of Miami Dade.
Speaker 2: So their set.
Speaker 3: If you can pull it off, they're set for a
Speaker 3: big payday, Jason.
Speaker 1: For you, six hundred thousand is pocket change and public
Speaker 1: for me, I mean, for us humble people from the ground.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is real life changing money.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: And what's funny is we have heard I mean, it's
Speaker 3: not funny, it's amazing. We've heard over the years that
Speaker 3: you know, this is money that really can change the
Speaker 3: trajectory of an individual charity. So it's really cool. I'm super,
Speaker 3: super excited that you're evolved. So we're watching the brackets
Speaker 3: closely and again we're gonna be in Atlanta. We're going
Speaker 3: to talk a lot about March Madais. It's been a
Speaker 3: fun tournament so far. Although I will say one of
Speaker 3: the interesting things, you know, talking about the deal and
Speaker 3: the business of college basketball, there have been We're going
Speaker 3: to talk about this with the athletic director of Georgia Tech.
Speaker 3: There have actually been fewer upsets. There are fewer Cinderella
Speaker 3: teams because of the trans for a portal like the
Speaker 3: teams are really stacked at the highest level and so
Speaker 3: you don't have these teams sort of coming out of nowhere.
Speaker 3: It actually has had a profound effect on the tournament.
Speaker 3: I think so kind of fascinating. I'm not sure people
Speaker 3: saw that coming.
Speaker 1: This is such a different time now with where college
Speaker 1: basketball is today, with the nil and players being able
Speaker 1: to move. I mean I saw one interview from Rick
Speaker 1: Patino that he actually said, we're not looking at one
Speaker 1: high school player this summer, which for me was like,
Speaker 1: I couldn't even comprehend it because we grew up Jason
Speaker 1: with you go.
Speaker 6: After high school.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Donald's all American.
Speaker 1: So I think what you're seeing is these are pro
Speaker 1: players that happen to be in college and it becomes
Speaker 1: a lot more predictable because you bringing in kids that
Speaker 1: are twenty one to twenty three to twenty four year olds.
Speaker 6: And I think that's taken.
Speaker 1: A little bit of the upset away from the tournament.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3: And you know it's happening in the men's game, it's
Speaker 3: happening in the women's game as well. So we'll see,
Speaker 3: you know, ultimately who comes out Sweet sixteen obviously starts
Speaker 3: this weekend.
Speaker 2: People are gonna be watching that very closely.
Speaker 3: All right, coming up, Micropoly, he is gonna have me
Speaker 3: and Stitches making fun of you, and so people really
Speaker 3: need to tune into that because it's the side of
Speaker 3: you I've never seen and a guy who has been
Speaker 3: wildly successful across all aspects of sports and business.
Speaker 1: So that's coming up, Jason, I have to say one
Speaker 1: thing about Micropoley. So Tom Brady had his roast on Netflix. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna put We're gonna position this as the a
Speaker 1: Rod roast on Bloomberg because that's exactly.
Speaker 6: What it was.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, it was unbelievable, unbelievable.
Speaker 5: All Right, we're super, super excited to have Micropoley with us.
Speaker 3: I have to say, like having been a part of
Speaker 3: a little pre show, Alex, I've never quite seen your
Speaker 3: react to another human being quite like this, and I'm
Speaker 3: so excited to get into it. Mike, thank you so
Speaker 3: much for joining us. We have so much to talk
Speaker 3: to you about. But I mean, let's talk about what
Speaker 3: I just alluded to, which is you guys know each
Speaker 3: other really well. You you know, looked at deals together.
Speaker 3: Do you remember the first time I'm just opening you up,
Speaker 3: but do you remember the first time you met Alex
Speaker 3: Rodrick Guz.
Speaker 4: We were actually introduced by a banker, JP Morgan. After
Speaker 4: they introduced me to Alex, I stopped using them because
Speaker 4: I didn't really I didn't like who they were referring
Speaker 4: me to. So uh. But but we we had a
Speaker 4: like this personality and this banter that we have, We've
Speaker 4: had like day one, like it never stopped. You know.
Speaker 4: One thing about Alex is I'm very funny, and he
Speaker 4: tries to be funny. So it's cool to watch that.
Speaker 4: But you know what, when he says something funny to me,
Speaker 4: I laugh, And when I say something funny to him,
Speaker 4: he laughs. And it's a very good personality when you
Speaker 4: actually like getting ripped on as much as you like
Speaker 4: ripping people. And obviously no sensitivities, no insecurities, you know,
Speaker 4: a great French where you can just be yourself and
Speaker 4: say whatever you want.
Speaker 3: It's interesting because, you know, being introduced by a banker.
Speaker 3: That's sort of interesting to me. Again, like when you
Speaker 3: think about like how you normally get introduced to athletes,
Speaker 3: It's like, oh, I was at a game and I
Speaker 3: was with my buddy and we went into the locker
Speaker 3: room and there's this guy. It's like there aren't many
Speaker 3: athletes who get introduced to by a banker, so clearly
Speaker 3: like there were deals afoot.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean years ago, you know, Alex and I
Speaker 4: and Jennifer of Vinie Viola looked at purchasing the Mets.
Speaker 4: So I mean obviously we might have known each other through.
Speaker 4: You know, I did deals at Vitamin Order from two
Speaker 4: thousand to two thousand and seven, and I was a
Speaker 4: Met fan, so I signed David Wright. I didn't sign
Speaker 4: any Yankees, that was part of my deal. So Alex
Speaker 4: and Derek Jeter were out automatically. But we always knew
Speaker 4: of each other in business, and I always always impressed
Speaker 4: Alex as a as a ball player. You know, was
Speaker 4: very intrigued by business. I mean he was very into it.
Speaker 4: And you know, I was friends with Kobe Bryant, who's
Speaker 4: very interested in business, Tom Brady, who's real business and
Speaker 4: honestly really impressed with what he's done with real estate
Speaker 4: and what him and Walk has done with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Speaker 4: I mean, they've made him a hot brand and they've
Speaker 4: done I mean, he's done an amazing job with the Timberwolves.
Speaker 4: I mean I've done a much better job with Saint
Speaker 4: John's University in Brickentino and making them a top ten
Speaker 4: team overnight. But Alex is learning from me, I'm sure
Speaker 4: with basketball.
Speaker 3: Also, do you remember meeting Mike Fred You know, it's like,
Speaker 3: obviously you guys knew of each other, and I want
Speaker 3: to talk in a minute about the vitamin water specifically
Speaker 3: because it was a seminal deal I think, especially in
Speaker 3: this intersection of athletes and business. But Alex, you know,
Speaker 3: talk to us about you know, sort of the first
Speaker 3: time you guys really got to know each other and
Speaker 3: getting in on the Mets deal, because that's another deal
Speaker 3: that I think people will look back on as really
Speaker 3: starting to change the landscape of who's buying teams and
Speaker 3: how they're getting bought and sold.
Speaker 1: Well, when I read his bio and I saw that
Speaker 1: he was at a Saint John's alum with a two
Speaker 1: point two great point average, I.
Speaker 6: Said, this is my kind of guy. I'm gonna get
Speaker 6: along with this guy.
Speaker 1: No, but in all seriousness, obviously his reputation speaks for
Speaker 1: itself and it precedes him. When you meet these titans,
Speaker 1: it could go many different ways. And literally, like Mike said,
Speaker 1: in the first three minutes, he had me laughing my
Speaker 1: you know what off, and it was a sincerity about it.
Speaker 6: I think in the first twenty five minutes ago, I.
Speaker 1: Was, look, I don't know who you are, but whatever,
Speaker 1: I'm in for twenty five million, And by the end
Speaker 1: of the conversation he's like, I can go as much
Speaker 1: as two hundred, but I don't know if I like
Speaker 1: you that much. So anyways, it was an incredible relationship.
Speaker 1: I learned so much. We also had the privilege to
Speaker 1: learning from Benny Viola, who's, you know, a great friend
Speaker 1: of both Mike and I and a great mentor to
Speaker 1: both of us.
Speaker 4: You know, it's hort to find people sometimes in your
Speaker 4: life that will be brutally honest with you. I mean,
Speaker 4: I've said some things to him that I'm sure he
Speaker 4: wasn't happy about, and he said some things to me
Speaker 4: that were not happy about. But having that come from
Speaker 4: the heart or the brain and really think about what
Speaker 4: somebody said, I mean, you know, I'm sure Alex like me.
Speaker 4: We get a lot of people who tell us what
Speaker 4: they think we want to know versus just being brutally
Speaker 4: honest with each other. And we have that relationship in business.
Speaker 4: But then we also have it on our personal side,
Speaker 4: and anytime you can laugh and think with someone, it's
Speaker 4: a really cool experience.
Speaker 1: So, Mike, you have had this incredible career, You're full
Speaker 1: of energy, your world class manager of businesses like whatever
Speaker 1: your next business is, we have such trust that I
Speaker 1: would just say I'm in tell me the idea later,
Speaker 1: where do I wire the money? My question to you
Speaker 1: is who mentored you? Is people like Vinnie Viola others
Speaker 1: that have you have modeled your career at or is
Speaker 1: it a combination or is it from sports? Where where
Speaker 1: did you get this desire and disability to be such
Speaker 1: a great entrepreneur.
Speaker 4: Alex is not just people have influenced me. I've always
Speaker 4: been driven by me. You know, I've told everyone. I mean, Alex,
Speaker 4: you Kate, You're one of the best players in baseball
Speaker 4: of all time. And you might have had role models,
Speaker 4: but at the end of the day, you would in
Speaker 4: the you were working out, you were taking batting practice.
Speaker 4: You know this this assumption that people can mentor you.
Speaker 4: It's good. I think people can influence you, but at
Speaker 4: the end of the day, you know, there's a great
Speaker 4: poem Man in the glass. It's really about you looking
Speaker 4: at yourself and saying what do I want to do?
Speaker 4: And sometimes when I give people advice and it works,
Speaker 4: they tend to thank me. And I said, I didn't
Speaker 4: do any of the work. I just suggested something, and
Speaker 4: you put the eighteen hours a day. You put in
Speaker 4: this seven days a week. You know, my dad was
Speaker 4: a waiter. He was born in France. My mom was
Speaker 4: a seamstress. I know your upbringing, you know your dad.
Speaker 4: You're not having a relationship you and your mom having
Speaker 4: multiple jobs. I mean, your mom didn't teach you how
Speaker 4: to hit a baseball, right she but she had that
Speaker 4: work ethic and she had two or three jobs to
Speaker 4: keep it going. I was first generation. My dad was
Speaker 4: a waiter at the Marriott in Lexington and he works
Speaker 4: six days a week, fourteen hour days. He and I
Speaker 4: only saw him on Sunday. So he didn't teach me
Speaker 4: as much as I watched the work work ethic to
Speaker 4: give me this life. And you know it's something that
Speaker 4: I want to you know, my two two great point average.
Speaker 4: I love it. It's comical to a higher degree than
Speaker 4: you've ever had because you're past agree. But we won't
Speaker 4: go into that. But but what it did was at
Speaker 4: the end of the day, it's it's about you know,
Speaker 4: when you graduate, O with a four point oh or
Speaker 4: three point h or two point zero. Once you graduate,
Speaker 4: or even if you don't graduate, there's no textbook for
Speaker 4: the real world. It's about grit, it's about determination, it's
Speaker 4: about leadership, it's about hiring great people working together as
Speaker 4: a team. And it's so important. You know, I say,
Speaker 4: the A students work for the C students. You know,
Speaker 4: I was a D student, so I don't know what
Speaker 4: that means, but it's the only story.
Speaker 2: But you own the company.
Speaker 4: But it's so important. Like what we learned at our
Speaker 4: age is I think we're missing that with young children
Speaker 4: right now, Like kids in their twenties are more lost
Speaker 4: than I've ever seen before. We coddle these kids, We
Speaker 4: tell them that this four hundred thousand dollars education is
Speaker 4: going to get you this great job and this great opportunity.
Speaker 4: And they get out into the real world and it's
Speaker 4: like culture shop. They got the helicopter parents that oversee
Speaker 4: their life. And Jason, I know your background, Alex said,
Speaker 4: you know, we grew up with grit, Like we have
Speaker 4: to teach kids grit. Adversity bills greatness, make a mistake,
Speaker 4: you know, I say, if you're not failing, you're not
Speaker 4: trying hard enough. And I think with this social media
Speaker 4: world where every mistake is you know, magnified, is it
Speaker 4: really magnified or is it magnified inside someone's head? Because
Speaker 4: I love being wrong showing me a better way, and
Speaker 4: I'm going to follow that path.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's interesting to put that in the context
Speaker 3: of your career too, Mike, because you know we alluded
Speaker 3: to it earlier. You know, you've taken two huge swings
Speaker 3: in the beverage industry, and I grew up in that
Speaker 3: business insofar as my dad worked for Coca Cola for
Speaker 3: a long time. I know it's been a key business
Speaker 3: partner of yours. I watched that business and one of
Speaker 3: the things that I observed from a very young age
Speaker 3: is it is fiercely competitive. You know, not just because
Speaker 3: you have Coke and PEPSI who are you know you
Speaker 3: said it best, or the Red Sox and the Yankees.
Speaker 3: Like it's just like one of the fiercest rivalries that
Speaker 3: still exists in business. But there's also this entire other
Speaker 3: world KDP and others who were all going after the
Speaker 3: beverage business. But you look at that and you're like, no,
Speaker 3: I think I can do something there, Like what's the
Speaker 3: thesis there? Where you see a real opportunity to do
Speaker 3: something meaningful in beverages.
Speaker 4: It's funny. I had two chapters in beverages at Vitamin Water.
Speaker 4: When we started that, I was twenty nine years old,
Speaker 4: and I sold the company at thirty seven. Then I
Speaker 4: vowed never to be in the beverage industry again. And
Speaker 4: then I needed a challenge, so at forty two I
Speaker 4: started Body Armour and I had that for ten years.
Speaker 4: It's almost like, you know, Michael Jordan has had his
Speaker 4: first three championships, then took two years off to play baseball,
Speaker 4: found out how tough it was, and then went back again.
Speaker 4: And the first part was that I was very naive,
Speaker 4: you know, I thought I can get you know, Vitamin
Speaker 4: went into McDonald's. I didn't know about Fountain Soda and
Speaker 4: Coke Exclusive. If I would have known own what I
Speaker 4: knew at thirty seven, at twenty eight, twenty nine, I
Speaker 4: might have been too scared to take a chance being
Speaker 4: naive and not knowing like got you there. We did
Speaker 4: one hundred thousand our first year and I'm like, Wow.
Speaker 4: Then we did a million, Then we did three to nine.
Speaker 4: The last year we did seven hundred and twenty one
Speaker 4: million before we sold to Coke.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 4: So zero to seven twenty one. And it was about
Speaker 4: sharing success. Every employee was a shareholder. I was thirty
Speaker 4: with people forty and fifty years old reporting to me,
Speaker 4: but sharing the sharing success where you know, I didn't
Speaker 4: have the money to pay Coca Cola or Pepsi salaries
Speaker 4: when I signed David Wright or Shaquille O'Neill or Brian
Speaker 4: Urlacker or David Ortiz. I couldn't afford the endorsement deals
Speaker 4: that they got from other companies. So I gave them
Speaker 4: stock options so David Ortiz could go, hey, I own
Speaker 4: body Armor. Hey, David Wright could say I own They
Speaker 4: couldn't say they owned gator Ade. They couldn't say they
Speaker 4: owned Coke. So you know, fifty cent word out there
Speaker 4: is that you know he had ten percent of the company.
Speaker 4: He made four hundred million without getting my life in dangered.
Speaker 4: I'm going to tell you that's not accurate, but I'm
Speaker 4: not going to give you the real number.
Speaker 2: But but he did, he did fine.
Speaker 4: He did great. But for him the perception that everybody
Speaker 4: thought he made four hundred million was more valuable to
Speaker 4: him than if he really made four hundred million. Everybody
Speaker 4: thought he made ten million. And it was just that
Speaker 4: I started at thirty one years old. What I think
Speaker 4: was sports endorsement deal, equity deals, equity deals. I did
Speaker 4: that with equity, and then you know, at Body Armor,
Speaker 4: I did again, but Kobe owned ten percent, and I
Speaker 4: took six million dollars from Kobe. So I said, hey,
Speaker 4: I'm not going to give you equity. I'm Micropoli. If
Speaker 4: I was playing basketball, I would pay you, but you're
Speaker 4: gonna pay me. So Kobe came in there, and it
Speaker 4: was equity. And when Alex and I, hey, I'm going
Speaker 4: to throw in two hundred million for the Mets, and
Speaker 4: you're going to throw two hundred million for the Mets,
Speaker 4: you know, it's not like Alex was going to get
Speaker 4: a ten percent discount because you know, he had seven hundred,
Speaker 4: seven hundred more home runs a may. Actually I think
Speaker 4: it was six something, six nineties, but that's okay.
Speaker 2: Six But I round forward took my friend.
Speaker 4: So that's the importance. But what you guys talked about
Speaker 4: people in brand is like the players and the team.
Speaker 4: You know, got to make sure there's the right chemistry,
Speaker 4: got to make sure people are aligned. Everybody has to
Speaker 4: be rowing in the same direction. So building teams through
Speaker 4: great people and giving them equity. You know, I say,
Speaker 4: you know, when Alex won the World Series, he was
Speaker 4: the old only player that got the World Series ring.
Speaker 4: The whole organization got the ring. You know, the front
Speaker 4: office of everyone that worked there, it's the same thing.
Speaker 4: You know, invited more water. The shipping clerk made seven
Speaker 4: hundred thousand dollars, the receptionist made four hundred thousand, and
Speaker 4: we had you know, two hundred people make over a million,
Speaker 4: and two hundred people make over five hundred thousand. And
Speaker 4: body armor we sold.
Speaker 2: For eight billion off of their equity. You're saying, off of.
Speaker 4: Their equity, off their stockps.
Speaker 6: Wow.
Speaker 1: So, Mike, you mentioned Kobe Bryant, and I love Kobe,
Speaker 1: and I know how close you guys were in Vanessa,
Speaker 1: who's an incredible woman as well. My question to you is,
Speaker 1: if Jason and I were Kobe, take us back to
Speaker 1: the conversation. It's very, very difficult, as you know now,
Speaker 1: even more so than to have any athlete slash entertainer
Speaker 1: write a check for one dollar yet along six million.
Speaker 1: What was your kind of thirty second pitch to Kobe
Speaker 1: to hook him because you are also a great salesman.
Speaker 4: Well it was an easier hook than you think because
Speaker 4: he contacted me. Okay, So I knew Kobe at the
Speaker 4: end of Viten Water in two thousand and eight and
Speaker 4: he was still trying to win championships. We did a
Speaker 4: Kobe Bryant Lebron Vitamin Water twenty four to twenty three,
Speaker 4: and I was always in touch with them, and he
Speaker 4: was always intrigued Alex very similar to business. He wanted
Speaker 4: to talk business, not basketball. You wanted to talk business
Speaker 4: not baseball, which is always intriguing. And I always know
Speaker 4: when I meet you know, somebody like you or Kobe,
Speaker 4: when you start talking about what you want to know
Speaker 4: versus what you know best and always love your curiosity
Speaker 4: is second or none. And Kobe was the same thing.
Speaker 4: And ask intelligent questions. When I say intelligent, I'm meaning Kobe,
Speaker 4: not you so much. But at the end of the day,
Speaker 4: when he tore his achilles, it was the first time
Speaker 4: in his life he couldn't be in the gym. It
Speaker 4: was the first time in his life he couldn't. And
Speaker 4: Kobe was very similar to you, was a visionary. He
Speaker 4: saw the end of his career. Who's in the back nine?
Speaker 4: You know? In fact, with that Achilles, that could have
Speaker 4: been the last hole. He just didn't know about it.
Speaker 4: So we got start talking about business, and at the
Speaker 4: end of the day, it wasn't even about body Armor.
Speaker 4: It was about Kobe inc. It was about business. I
Speaker 4: was intrigued by his curiosity and I just loved talking
Speaker 4: to him. When I started body Armor, I start to
Speaker 4: send samples and get his opinion on it. And then
Speaker 4: we were one million minus six million dollars. We were
Speaker 4: four million minus ten, and we were six million minus sixteen.
Speaker 4: I went to dinner with Kobe and he asked me
Speaker 4: a couple of times about investing, and Alex, if you
Speaker 4: wanted to invest in we were six minus sixteen. I
Speaker 4: would say, give me all your money. But I liked Kobe,
Speaker 4: so it was a little different here.
Speaker 6: Okay, So.
Speaker 4: When Kobe asked me to invest, I said no the
Speaker 4: first time, and I blew him off the second time.
Speaker 4: But he got me at Mastro's. In this one on one,
Speaker 4: he's drinking his boker and I'm drinking my red wine
Speaker 4: and he says I want to invest, and I'm like,
Speaker 4: I caught it.
Speaker 6: Beat it.
Speaker 4: He goes, Mike, I'm giving it to my trainer, I'm
Speaker 4: giving it to my kids. I'm giving it to my
Speaker 4: soccer moms. I'm giving it to my younger the younger
Speaker 4: players on the team, giving it to everybody. My nutrition
Speaker 4: is my chef like, you know, hey, I want to invest.
Speaker 4: And I'm like, dude, we're losing twelve sixteen million dollars
Speaker 4: a year. If I didn't like you, I would take
Speaker 4: your six million dollars. I actually like you. I'm not
Speaker 4: going to do it. I said, Kobe, there's a one
Speaker 4: percent chance of this making it. And he looked at
Speaker 4: me with this puzzled look. About one percent and one
Speaker 4: percent and he paused, and he said, I was raised
Speaker 4: in Italy, I played high school ball in Philadelphia. My
Speaker 4: dad signed my contract. I was drafted at seventeen, I
Speaker 4: got married at twenty. I won five championships MVPs one percent.
Speaker 4: Those are the best odds of my life. And I
Speaker 4: was like, wow, but Alex, that's the athlete mentality that
Speaker 4: guys like Tom Brady, you and Kobe have the odds
Speaker 4: of you being who you were were point zero zero one.
Speaker 4: The odds of Kobe being who he was was point
Speaker 4: zero one. When you tell somebody one percent, guys, that's
Speaker 4: the easiest thing he's ever done in his life. So
Speaker 4: I took six million dollars from him and Jason, I'll
Speaker 4: be honest with you. I went back and told my
Speaker 4: two CFOs Family Office CFO and body on our CFO,
Speaker 4: I'm taking six million from Kobe, but if it doesn't
Speaker 4: work I'm going to give him back six point nine
Speaker 4: and tell them that we made fifteen percent. I took
Speaker 4: it more from me interesting I needed that fire at
Speaker 4: forty two. I couldn't lose Kobe Bryant's money. I wasn't
Speaker 4: going to let this fail. We built a beautiful brand together,
Speaker 4: an amazing friendship, and you know, I'm so blessed that
Speaker 4: people like Alex has come into my life, Tom Brady
Speaker 4: has come into my life, and Kobe has come into
Speaker 4: my life. They're so great, and they got this these
Speaker 4: minds that very few people have. They're misunderstood by their genius.
Speaker 4: And then I come in and I get to kind
Speaker 4: of like pick their brains as they picked my brains.
Speaker 4: And you know, it's amazing that God has put these
Speaker 4: three people in my life. And you know the curiosity
Speaker 4: and how they see things is so different. The value
Speaker 4: that Kobe added was second to none. He knew nothing
Speaker 4: about beverages, you know, but it was so important.
Speaker 6: Mike says, you like me so much.
Speaker 1: Can I invest ten million dollars to your next start
Speaker 1: and you give me back ten point nine?
Speaker 4: You know what, I'm going to give you ten point nine,
Speaker 4: but it's gonna be worth a billion, so I'm gonna
Speaker 4: rip you off the other way. So yes, I will
Speaker 4: give you ten point nine. Give me the ten million.
Speaker 4: Now I'll use it for ten percent interest, No problem.
Speaker 4: It was, you know, it listened. It was. I always
Speaker 4: thought God put people like Alex and Tom and Kobe
Speaker 4: into my life for a different purpose. With Kobe, you
Speaker 4: know what. On February twenty fourth was a five year
Speaker 4: anniversary of the celebration of life. Kobe knew his stock
Speaker 4: was worth two hundred million when he passed away, and
Speaker 4: we were trending up. When Coke bought fifteen percent of
Speaker 4: the company. They gave me a check at a two
Speaker 4: billion dollar valuation for three hundred million, so to be
Speaker 4: able to give him back twenty eight million in twenty eighteen,
Speaker 4: and for him to know his stock was worth two
Speaker 4: hundred million. Thank god I had that day and he
Speaker 4: knew it was going in the direction. And you know what,
Speaker 4: his great great great grandkids are always going to be
Speaker 4: taking the total amount that he made four hundred and
Speaker 4: forty million dollars. And you know it's a sad story. Wow,
Speaker 4: it's but it's beautiful in a certain way.
Speaker 3: Also, Yeah, And I don't want to lose sight of
Speaker 3: the underlying element here, and you both alluded to it,
Speaker 3: which is this whole notion of athletes, entertainers and others
Speaker 3: who were involved envitamin water. Specifically, you had folks like
Speaker 3: Alex and Kobe who who I think understood this implicitly.
Speaker 3: In this value of ownership versus endorsement of either writing
Speaker 3: a check or getting equity instead of you know, endorsement compensation.
Speaker 3: That was a radical idea. And I know you said
Speaker 3: you did it a little bit out of necessity, but
Speaker 3: did you anticipate how much that would I think it's
Speaker 3: fair to say permanently alter the way athletes, especially look
Speaker 3: at their value and their ability to create even more
Speaker 3: value by again pursuing equity rather than endorsement.
Speaker 4: You know, it was a combination. But I didn't just
Speaker 4: do it for the athletes. That are. If you were
Speaker 4: a marketing agency that we used, I gave the equity.
Speaker 4: If you were packaging, you made my caps and my labels,
Speaker 4: I made you an investor. Every employee, from the shipping
Speaker 4: clerk to the receptionist to the president of the company,
Speaker 4: I've always made as an investor. You know, I've always
Speaker 4: learned as a kid. You know, success is best when shared.
Speaker 4: Having more winners, having more people vested in the company
Speaker 4: or the brand, or in the vision of what you're
Speaker 4: trying to create, is so important. And you know, listen,
Speaker 4: if I could have a ten percent employee pool and
Speaker 4: a five percent partnership pool, most likely I'm taking it
Speaker 4: from myself, but I've said to some entrepreneurs, which you'd
Speaker 4: rather have one hundred percent of a ten million dollar
Speaker 4: company or ten percent of a ten million dollar company?
Speaker 4: You do the math. You know, Alex has heard to
Speaker 4: be saying this before. Being a kid from Queen's you know,
Speaker 4: I was always a think, big, dream, bigger person. And
Speaker 4: when you tell me no, it means yes. You know,
Speaker 4: and if he told me yes, it means it's easy
Speaker 4: for me. So I want tough. You know, grit is
Speaker 4: so important and that next generation needs to be taught grit. Yeah,
Speaker 4: if I could teach that next generation something, it's grit.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I guess one of the things I've observed from where
Speaker 3: I sit, and obviously sit in a different seat than
Speaker 3: you guys do. What I saw post vitamin water and
Speaker 3: in many deals since, is this idea that it actually
Speaker 3: Because I take your point about equities for everyone, and that's.
Speaker 2: That's a great thing.
Speaker 3: I think specifically for athletes, what it did was it
Speaker 3: actually changed the perception of themselves. You know that, because
Speaker 3: I do think that athletes for a long time are like, yeah,
Speaker 3: I'm really good at baseball or I'm only good at basketball,
Speaker 3: and somebody's going to pay me to like slap my
Speaker 3: name on this. But wait a second, Now, I'm an
Speaker 3: owner that changes a lot of their own mindst this notion.
Speaker 3: We now look at athletes differently because they're owners. Is
Speaker 3: that a fair observation, you think so, Jayson.
Speaker 6: Here here's the deal. There's one thing.
Speaker 1: Not all equities created equal, and this is where it
Speaker 1: gets tricky, right, You have to decipher, Okay, is ex
Speaker 1: company going to pay me a million dollars or they're
Speaker 1: going to give me five percent of the company. In
Speaker 1: many cases, I would say nine out of ten take
Speaker 1: the million dollars, deposit it, and call it a day.
Speaker 6: However, here's the caveat.
Speaker 1: If Micropoli calls you Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Vinnie Viola,
Speaker 1: Mark Lorie, that equity's worth a lot more because these
Speaker 1: guys are one of one and they do not lose.
Speaker 1: And I haven't talked to Mike about this, but he
Speaker 1: sold companies for billions and billions of dollars.
Speaker 6: It's never been an easy ride.
Speaker 1: There's been struggles where ninety nine out of one hundred
Speaker 1: entrepreneurs would have failed flat on their face because people
Speaker 1: have had better idea than Mike, but they don't have
Speaker 1: the execution, the vision, and the energy and the grid
Speaker 1: to do it.
Speaker 4: Mike, Yeah, I mean, Alex, that's a great answer, and
Speaker 4: it just shows that my mentor is really working with you.
Speaker 4: So I feel real good with it. So I'm actually
Speaker 4: very honored right now and so appreciative watching you answer
Speaker 4: that question so eloquently. He not only is one hundred
Speaker 4: percent right. I can add to that where when I
Speaker 4: started to give equity, it was two thousand and two
Speaker 4: thousand and eight. This was before social media, so they
Speaker 4: weren't using that. But that was the first step of wow,
Speaker 4: I'm an owner. Now you add where every athlete is
Speaker 4: a brand and every athlete has a platform, and that
Speaker 4: took it to another level. So it's a combination of
Speaker 4: the equity plus the platform, because I mean, there are
Speaker 4: certain athletes like you know, listen, I use this guy
Speaker 4: and I he's the one of the greatest basketball players
Speaker 4: of all the time. But Tim Duncan didn't get the
Speaker 4: greatest endorsement deals because he wasn't Kobe Bryant, you know.
Speaker 4: I mean, but he's a Hall of Famer and a
Speaker 4: top fifty player. So now with the platforms, I mean,
Speaker 4: you see, certain athletes aren't even that talented that have
Speaker 4: two million TikTok followers and one hundred, you know, fifty
Speaker 4: million Instagram followers. They make more money being on the
Speaker 4: bench than they do if they played. So it works
Speaker 4: both ways. What Alex says though about do you bet
Speaker 4: on the horse or do you bet on the jockey?
Speaker 4: Like that's it. When I started to do body armor again.
Speaker 4: And I used to talk to agents about players that
Speaker 4: we were going to sign to equity deals. The funny
Speaker 4: thing that they would say is, Mike, I've done twenty
Speaker 4: equity deals in the last fifteen years and only one
Speaker 4: has panned out, and it was vitamin Water. So he
Speaker 4: said the other fourteen that he did didn't work out.
Speaker 4: So I set this thing where everybody says, take equity,
Speaker 4: you're going to make a four billion dollars, it's going
Speaker 4: to be great, and Alex is right. It's ninety nine
Speaker 4: out of one hundred and Alex again, great point was
Speaker 4: bet the guy that's done it before. Bet the guy
Speaker 4: that what do you call it? You know, some people
Speaker 4: give up equity for money and they do five years
Speaker 4: and guess what, they got nothing out of it. So
Speaker 4: it's a right balance of what you want to do
Speaker 4: and what you don't want to do. So it's very important.
Speaker 2: Interesting.
Speaker 3: So walk us through a little bit the Tom Brady deal,
Speaker 3: because you've mentioned this sort of drive of athletes, all
Speaker 3: of whom are legendary in their sports. You know, Tom Brady,
Speaker 3: I think has followed a template that you know, Alex
Speaker 3: and Kobe certainly set in a lot of ways, and
Speaker 3: I think Alex would say Magic Johnson, you know, sort
Speaker 3: of created the original template that a lot of these
Speaker 3: guys followed. Talk to us about Brady. You know, we've
Speaker 3: sort of seen him in an entirely different light. You know,
Speaker 3: we watched him call the Super Bowl. He has been
Speaker 3: terrific as a businessman. Talk to us about your business
Speaker 3: relationship with him.
Speaker 4: You know, it's funny. I got to know Tom through
Speaker 4: horse racing because he's a big horse racing fan, goes
Speaker 4: to the Kentucky Derby and a guy by the name
Speaker 4: of Odd and Fips introduced me a while back. And
Speaker 4: when Tom was building his TV twelve and his Brady
Speaker 4: brand business, he ran him as two separate businesses. So
Speaker 4: a couple of times we'd have a conversation about his businesses,
Speaker 4: and in all transparency, they were struggling because Tom was
Speaker 4: the face of the brand and the founder of the brand.
Speaker 4: But Tom was focused on winning Super Bowls. That's all
Speaker 4: Tom wanted to do. He didn't want business to get
Speaker 4: in the way of winning championships. So I told Tom,
Speaker 4: I said, what if you did more business and less football,
Speaker 4: how many Super Bowls would you win? And it wouldn't work.
Speaker 4: He thought he can be a part time entrepreneur or
Speaker 4: do this five hours a week and just high peedable
Speaker 4: for brands that are called Brady or TV twelve, you
Speaker 4: can't because you're the brand and hiring someone to be
Speaker 4: used not going to work. You know, it's not going
Speaker 4: to be like, you know, we're going to bring Alex
Speaker 4: in to play Tom Brady a quarterback and just put
Speaker 4: number twelve on him and watch them, you know, throw
Speaker 4: in three interceptions with three batters. He's not going to
Speaker 4: work that way, Okay. So explaining that to Tom was
Speaker 4: very like, Wow, I thought business was you just hire
Speaker 4: other people and it works. Now it doesn't. So what
Speaker 4: I did is I started to coach and mentor him
Speaker 4: a little bit about the brands, and we built this friendship.
Speaker 4: And then I bought this brand called No Bull and
Speaker 4: it was a CrossFit brand that was kind of getting
Speaker 4: into the sneaker category. And I love the name. I mean,
Speaker 4: when you talk about Alex and Kobe and Tom Brady
Speaker 4: and even Micropoli, there's a no attitude about us, get
Speaker 4: it done. We win a championship or we lost. You know,
Speaker 4: you're either first or your last second's the first loser,
Speaker 4: and that's what that noble mentality was. So when I
Speaker 4: bought this brand and I started being friendly with Tom,
Speaker 4: I said, you know, noble shouldn't just be a sneaker
Speaker 4: in a power company. You know, we should do nutrition.
Speaker 4: Nike doesn't do nutrition. So we bought TV twelve, we
Speaker 4: merged the Brady brand, and now we're bringing this together.
Speaker 4: I'm fixing and flying this plane. Unlike where I started
Speaker 4: Vita Wortar from scratch and made my mistake and grew
Speaker 4: the brand. Same with body Armor. Here, I got one
Speaker 4: hundred and eighty million dollar company that is doing it
Speaker 4: fifty percent right, but is also bankrupt. And I'm coming
Speaker 4: in to save this company, and I'm trying to fix
Speaker 4: and fly this plane. And then Tom had two businesses
Speaker 4: very similar, so we merge them together. And what I
Speaker 4: tell Tom is last year was preseason and this is preseason.
Speaker 4: Really the noble mentality making people better physically, mentally and
Speaker 4: emotionally almost life coaches in a way, that's the goal
Speaker 4: for twenty twenty six to twenty and thirty five just unknowable.
Speaker 6: Because I love this concept. What is the vision for you?
Speaker 1: I hear where it was and where it is today,
Speaker 1: where is it in the next three to five years,
Speaker 1: what would it be.
Speaker 6: What's a good comp and who do you exit to.
Speaker 4: Alex I think that's a great question. I mean to me,
Speaker 4: I want to create the Noble Wellness Company. Everybody needs
Speaker 4: wellness nowadays. It's about not only physical wellness, but it's
Speaker 4: that mental wellness, it's that emotional wellness. I want this
Speaker 4: brand to be there for you nutrition wise, with Noble
Speaker 4: you know, Electrolytes and Noble Protein. I wanted to be
Speaker 4: there for podcasts like this where we can teach people,
Speaker 4: whether they're older or younger, school age, kids, grandfar others,
Speaker 4: about dealing with life. I think Noble you know, I
Speaker 4: want to come out with something called Noble TV and
Speaker 4: have you guys on that platform and have Tom and
Speaker 4: Rick Patino on a platform about coaching and discipline and
Speaker 4: about nutrition and about you know, Pete, about gratitude, about grit,
Speaker 4: about you know, faith and friends and family and real life,
Speaker 4: like real, authentic, genuine life. Because sometimes people think, oh
Speaker 4: my god, that guy has it great. That woman she
Speaker 4: is unbelievable. They don't know the adversity that she's going through.
Speaker 4: They don't know about I mean, Alex, I know you
Speaker 4: as a friend. I'm sure there's things. You have two daughters,
Speaker 4: two great daughters. You know, you know, an amazing girlfriend
Speaker 4: of business. You know, how many days do you not
Speaker 4: have a problem, Chason? How many days do you have
Speaker 4: an easy day?
Speaker 6: You know?
Speaker 4: People don't understand that, and we as influences need to
Speaker 4: share that. You know what, I have a bad day too.
Speaker 4: I have a problem too. I have adversity also, It's
Speaker 4: all normal, you know, Jason. The one thing I just
Speaker 4: want to hit upon is I did this global study.
Speaker 4: I'll ask you and Alex, what percent of people in
Speaker 4: this world spent a lot of money on this have
Speaker 4: mental illness? Some sort of mental illness. You guys want
Speaker 4: to take a guess.
Speaker 6: You guys, uh, fifty okay, Jason, I'll go higher.
Speaker 2: I'll go sixty two.
Speaker 4: Okay, you guys are close. It's one hundred percent everybody
Speaker 4: had I made it up, Alex. I know I shocked you.
Speaker 2: It's made up.
Speaker 4: Okay, No, I know you're shocked. Wow. So it's one
Speaker 4: hundred percent. Everybody has something. If we tackle this stigma
Speaker 4: with that, everybody has something, And at the end of
Speaker 4: the day, if we can talk about it and laugh
Speaker 4: about it. And how do you deal with being OCD
Speaker 4: and trusting other people and stop being a micromanager. Your
Speaker 4: ADHD is all over the place, like we all have
Speaker 4: something and noble wants to change mental illness into mental wellness.
Speaker 4: You know, fight through this man, pick each other up
Speaker 4: like your teammates did, and when you're in a slump.
Speaker 4: Or I mean Tom Brady, he came into my life.
Speaker 4: You know, at the end of his career. He was
Speaker 4: going through a tough divorce, He had some business issues
Speaker 4: and you know, like I met Tom Brady after he
Speaker 4: won the Super Bowl with Tampa. You know, I joke
Speaker 4: with Tom, I'm like, dude, you're hurting my reputation. You
Speaker 4: haven't done anything really good in the last five.
Speaker 2: Or six years.
Speaker 4: Like like like Tom, I mean, I got I'm a winner, man,
Speaker 4: What the hell have you won those mikes? I mean,
Speaker 4: maybe you should say I want him. When I introduced
Speaker 4: Tom Brady, I said, this is my friend Tom. He's
Speaker 4: lost three Super Bowls, one hundred game. I get facts.
Speaker 4: Chasing it, asked, I get facts. I just don't tell
Speaker 4: me about the seven championships.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 4: So, but you know what great motivators, great coaches, great leaders,
Speaker 4: but more importantly, great doers in life, no matter what
Speaker 4: the busines. This is. Yeah, like my goal is you know, listen,
Speaker 4: we all want to be better every day. I don't
Speaker 4: even tell my team that they're doing good. I just
Speaker 4: told them they sucked LUs today. You guys sucked LUs today.
Speaker 3: Mike Bloomberg likes to tell people. He hasn't never said that.
Speaker 3: I don't think he said this to you, Alex yet.
Speaker 3: But if you tell him you've got an amazing new assignment,
Speaker 3: you're doing something, he says, don't mess it up. But
Speaker 3: spoiler alert, he doesn't say mess but you got the idea?
Speaker 1: Yes, So, Mike, obviously you have so much going on
Speaker 1: in your life.
Speaker 6: You're such an inspiration.
Speaker 1: And I got to tell you personally, speaking for listeners
Speaker 1: and Jason, who I have not shared this with. Anytime
Speaker 1: I've come to a ford in the road, I usually
Speaker 1: call you. You always take my call, no matter how
Speaker 1: busy you are, and you always are there to give
Speaker 1: me sound advice. But I was so inspired when we
Speaker 1: took a great run at acquiring the METS. I thought
Speaker 1: we really had an amazing general partnership team, and of course,
Speaker 1: you're basically a queen's guy.
Speaker 6: Love the Mets. We love the Mets.
Speaker 1: Next chapter, you see the Boston Celtics should be selling.
Speaker 1: Is there an opportunity for you or a vision for
Speaker 1: you to be a great general partner, because I think
Speaker 1: what you can do for a franchise where you've done
Speaker 1: your whole life, all you going to do is win
Speaker 1: and make a franchise better. Any thoughts there?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, first of all, I appreciate what you said, Alex.
Speaker 4: And even though we didn't buy the Mets, you could
Speaker 4: say it was a failed process or we lost the bid,
Speaker 4: and we all took it very hard because we really
Speaker 4: put our heart and soul in this for four months.
Speaker 4: It was seven days a week. But I remember saying
Speaker 4: to you, like, I'm so happy we lost that process
Speaker 4: because this friendship and this relationship would have never happened
Speaker 4: if we didn't have that. So sometimes even when you lose,
Speaker 4: you wind up winning. And for me, it was like,
Speaker 4: this relationship is very special. Only the Mets are having
Speaker 4: this relationship. I'd rather have this relationship than the Mets.
Speaker 4: As far as sports, I meane, you guys know that
Speaker 4: I'm trying to win the Kentucky Derby. I won British Cups.
Speaker 4: I'm over ten in the Derby Steaks. Yeah, I won
Speaker 4: the Belmont Steaks. I wanted the Travers twice. I've won
Speaker 4: these dream races. I actually liked. Being over ten in
Speaker 4: the Kentucky Derby means I got there ten times by
Speaker 4: the way, right, And it means that every time there's
Speaker 4: a journey to get there. I don't even have to
Speaker 4: win the Kentucky Derby, just getting there, taking my friends,
Speaker 4: taking my family. My dad's eighty four, my mom's seventy nine.
Speaker 4: They go to the races. Joy is nine years old.
Speaker 4: She went to our first Derby when she was eleven
Speaker 4: months old. It took me forty five years, it took
Speaker 4: her eleven months. And it's just it's such a party.
Speaker 4: If we win one hundred, people celebrate. If we lose
Speaker 4: ninety nine, people celebrate. Because I pay for everything and
Speaker 4: I'm the only miserable person sitting in the corner. So
Speaker 4: it's great. But am I going to own a sport team? Yeah?
Speaker 4: I think I want to impact people's lives, just like
Speaker 4: I've been impacted by so many people, and impact work
Speaker 4: is a two way street. Every time I feel like
Speaker 4: I impact somebody, they impact me. And I know why
Speaker 4: you asked the question about an owner. You know that
Speaker 4: if I buy a basketball team, you'll never win a championship.
Speaker 4: A lot of owners are afraid of that, so people
Speaker 4: me to keep me out of the league, you know.
Speaker 4: So yeah, I listen, I'd love to do it, but
Speaker 4: there's so much time to build teams like the Noble
Speaker 4: Team that's my sport team, the body armor team, the
Speaker 4: Vitamin Water team. I want to build those teams. And yeah, listen,
Speaker 4: I think in ten years. I mean, I mean, I'll
Speaker 4: probably start as as a minority owner and work my
Speaker 4: way up. I mean, if you want help in Minneapolis,
Speaker 4: I mean, I'm giving you free advice anyway. I mean,
Speaker 4: I mean what that I mean you want me to
Speaker 4: pay for it, I'll do that also, but whatever. But
Speaker 4: it's it's a dream. It's a check the box thing.
Speaker 1: By the way, this is the way it is when
Speaker 1: we talk on eevery time, Like literally I'm rolling over myself. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and look, I think it is Mike the funniest guy
Speaker 1: in the world. Probably not, But there's a chemistry. There's
Speaker 1: a chemistry that works, and that stuff you like to
Speaker 1: bottle it. And he's right. We didn't went out on
Speaker 1: the Mets, but we won on this beautiful relationship.
Speaker 4: You know, I think it's good for people to see
Speaker 4: Alex and me like this because when you have real friends,
Speaker 4: this is how you can be very open and honest
Speaker 4: and be able to share your opinion.
Speaker 2: So yeah, really good.
Speaker 4: And Alex said, I'm not the funniest person. Probably it's
Speaker 4: only because I choose not to be clear, it's not
Speaker 4: my focus right now. One day it will be maybe,
Speaker 4: all right.
Speaker 3: So you you you so far chosen not to be
Speaker 3: an NBA owner and not to be the funniest person.
Speaker 3: So it's like, watch this space. I mean, you know,
Speaker 3: we've we've got a lot to look forward to, all right.
Speaker 3: So we end every episode with a quick lightning round
Speaker 3: five questions will bounce it back and forth and I'll
Speaker 3: kick off and then and then Alex will jump in.
Speaker 3: All right, what's the best piece of advice you've ever
Speaker 3: received on deal making or business?
Speaker 4: Close the deal?
Speaker 6: Who's your dream deal making partner?
Speaker 4: God?
Speaker 5: What's the most nervous you've ever been?
Speaker 4: I'm anxious every day. I can't tell you the most nervous.
Speaker 4: I'm driven by nervousness, only the paranoids of ud.
Speaker 1: What's your hype song before a big meeting or a
Speaker 1: big negotiation?
Speaker 4: Eminem, what is that? Yourself? What's it? Alex?
Speaker 2: Come on, lose yourself, lose yourself. There you go, I'm spaghetti. Yeah.
Speaker 3: What's your advice for someone listening who wants a career
Speaker 3: like yours?
Speaker 4: Work eighteen hours a day, seven days a week. Don't
Speaker 4: worry about the path it will find you. Just keep working,
Speaker 4: keep grinding. I've been doing this for thirty years. Eighteen
Speaker 4: hour days, seven days a week. Every day I wake
Speaker 4: up broke by midnight. I'm a multi billionaire. I enjoy
Speaker 4: two hours. I go to bed at two, wake up
Speaker 4: at six dead broke again every single day. That's it.
Speaker 4: Eighteen hour days, seven days a week. Never give up,
Speaker 4: just keep doing it.
Speaker 3: Wo All right, well you heard it here. This is
Speaker 3: how you become Micropolly. Mike, you are one of one.
Speaker 3: We are so happy to have gotten you on this
Speaker 3: show and got some time with you.
Speaker 2: All I ask is.
Speaker 3: That at some point, whether it's New York, Miami, Minneapolis,
Speaker 3: I want to have dinner with the two of you,
Speaker 3: because this is my favorite show to watch.
Speaker 2: This has been amazing. Thank you so much.
Speaker 4: Thank you. Jason, and I got your text that you're
Speaker 4: looking to replace Alex and I'll be available, but I
Speaker 4: got the text. Thank you so much for sending it
Speaker 4: for me. So yeah, Alex, sorry it didn't work out
Speaker 4: for you again, but you know, but this is great.
Speaker 5: Yeah, but listen, we've created this great relationship.
Speaker 2: So you know, it's like you know, everybody wins.
Speaker 4: Jason, great, met you and Alex. You said it best.
Speaker 4: It's this is what a live FaceTime call that we're
Speaker 4: having that we've had over the years.
Speaker 2: Thanks now, everybody again, all appreciate it. Thanks so much.
Speaker 3: The Deal is hosted by Alex Rodriguez and me Jason Kelly.
Speaker 3: This episode was made by Anna Maazarakus, Stacey Wong, and
Speaker 3: Lizzie Phillip. Amy Keene is our editor. Our theme music
Speaker 3: is made by Blake Nples. Our executive producers are Kelly Laferrier,
Speaker 3: Ashley Honig, and Brenda Newnham. Auman is the head of
Speaker 3: Bloomberg Podcasts. Additional support from Rachel Carnivale and Elena Los Angeles.
Speaker 3: Thanks so much for listening to the Deal. If you
Speaker 3: have a minute, subscribe rate and review our show. It'll
Speaker 3: help other listeners find us. I'm Jason Kelly. See you
Speaker 3: next week.