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Speaker 1: This is the Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio. Hello,

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Speaker 1: I'm Jason Kelly, and I'm Michael barn and I'm Mike Lynch.

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Speaker 1: And here we are Monday's, Wednesdays and Thursdays. We're explaining

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Speaker 1: the big money issues in the world of sports. Talk

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Speaker 1: to some of the biggest players in the industry. Were

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Speaker 1: so excited to have with us today. Javier Gautier as

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Speaker 1: he is the CEO of the Arizona Coyotes, newly minted,

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Speaker 1: newly moved to Phoenix, and you know, what a time

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Speaker 1: to move to Phoenix. We'll talk about that and much more.

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Speaker 1: He's also notably the first Latino chief executive in NHL history. Javier,

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Speaker 1: really good to have you with us. Congrats on the

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Speaker 1: new role, Congrats on the move, and man, what a

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Speaker 1: time to be taking over this job in this market,

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Speaker 1: in this sport. Give us a state of play, like

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Speaker 1: what's your life like right now? So first of all, guys,

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Speaker 1: really really great talking to you. I really appreciate the

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Speaker 1: time and longtime fans, so I was looking forward to

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Speaker 1: this conversation. Uh yeah, you know, really really interesting time

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Speaker 1: to be to be in Arizona. Given all the challenges

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Speaker 1: we're facing with this pandemic to be in sports generally,

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Speaker 1: but but certainly the NHL given our return to play,

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Speaker 1: and and also again the challenges that we've been all

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Speaker 1: trying to manage with the with the pandemic. But I

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Speaker 1: got to tell you my my family and I my

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Speaker 1: wife Jerik, and my son Hobby were really excited and

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Speaker 1: just honored to be to be part of this community

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Speaker 1: and to be in this role. And so I, uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, I always say there are opportunities in challenges,

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Speaker 1: and certainly we see the opportunity here and really excited

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Speaker 1: just to be a part of it. Before we continue,

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Speaker 1: people joke about, yeah, it's hot, and you know wherever

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Speaker 1: you are it's hot as blazes in Arizona and especially

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Speaker 1: right now, how do you deal with the heat at

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Speaker 1: this change? Uh? Well absolutely, you know I keep getting

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Speaker 1: told but it's a dry heat, that's all. I gets cold,

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Speaker 1: and I said, it's sure, But again, when the sun is,

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Speaker 1: you know, on top of your head, it definitely has

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Speaker 1: an impact. Um, you know, how do you deal with listen? Um,

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Speaker 1: you have really good air conditioning both in your house

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Speaker 1: and in your car and in your office, and uh,

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Speaker 1: right now it's it's just been. Uh, it's been a

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Speaker 1: great opportunity for us to just see new things and

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Speaker 1: and get to meet new people. The real challenge of

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Speaker 1: this pandemic for us and making this move is that

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Speaker 1: there's so many amazing people who have reached out to

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Speaker 1: me from this community that unfortunately I best all I

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Speaker 1: can do is do a video call and to thank

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Speaker 1: them and to get to know them. But um, but

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Speaker 1: people have been very welcoming, very warm, and have been

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Speaker 1: very very much reaching out to me to to really

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Speaker 1: offer their support and their help and making me and

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Speaker 1: my family feel welcome. Javier, this is Mike up in Boston. Um.

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Speaker 1: I've been out there a couple of times. I know

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Speaker 1: your arena is out next to the football stadium and

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Speaker 1: it's a little bit of drive from downtown. Is on

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Speaker 1: your to do list is trying to get a new

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Speaker 1: arena past job one? Absolutely. I've joked on a number

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Speaker 1: of occasions that I thought the the arena solution quote

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Speaker 1: unquote was going to be priority one through five, and

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Speaker 1: Alex Morello, the the owner of the Coyotes, quickly corrected

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Speaker 1: me and said, no, it's priority one through ten for you.

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Speaker 1: So yes, it is very much top of mind. So,

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Speaker 1: so Mike, you you're being from the Boston area, you know,

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Speaker 1: it's I've been told it's the equivalent of putting your

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Speaker 1: arena out in Worcester and having people in downtown Boston

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Speaker 1: try to get there in the middle of a rush

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Speaker 1: hour on a twothday night. So it is it is

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Speaker 1: a bit of a challenge. Um. But you know, this

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Speaker 1: has been an issue that there's been a number of

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Speaker 1: conversations over the years. I've re engaged all those discussions,

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Speaker 1: and and truth be told, there's there's a lot of options.

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Speaker 1: You know. The thing about this market, it is a

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Speaker 1: growth market. There's a lot of both population growth and

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Speaker 1: corporate growth, and a lot of companies that are either

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Speaker 1: moving and or expanding their footprint here. And so from

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Speaker 1: a corporate perspective, there's a lot of opportunity for business growth.

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Speaker 1: And uh And clearly, and I'm sure we'll talk about it,

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Speaker 1: this is uh I've come to see a really, really

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Speaker 1: passionate hockey fan base that that he lives here and

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Speaker 1: uh so it's been great from that perspective to look

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Speaker 1: and see that there is a lot of opportunity for

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Speaker 1: us to to solve this issue and to do what's

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Speaker 1: right by our team, for our franchise, by our fans,

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Speaker 1: by our our business partners, and by our community partners. Well,

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Speaker 1: let's talk about those fans, Javierra's if we may. Who

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Speaker 1: are they, where are they? What have you learned about them?

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Speaker 1: And maybe start with what surprised you about the fan

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Speaker 1: base is you got to know the team and the fans. Sure, well,

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Speaker 1: you know I had heard about the passion that the

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Speaker 1: Coyotes fan base really you know, had the beating heart

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Speaker 1: of the fans, and uh it, without a doubt has

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Speaker 1: actually come to fruition. In terms of my interaction with them,

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Speaker 1: I've gotten a number of notes and letters and emails

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Speaker 1: and just thanking me for for you know, coming on board,

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Speaker 1: how excited they are for you know, the continuation of

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Speaker 1: the great things that Alex Marelo has has started to

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Speaker 1: do since buying the team about a year ago. And

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Speaker 1: so that has been just overwhelming. In terms of the

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Speaker 1: positive embrace that I've gotten from these incredible fans, I

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Speaker 1: will tell you I have been shocked. And the numbers

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Speaker 1: really there it out as to how big a hockey market,

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Speaker 1: especially at the youth level, you have here in Arizona,

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Speaker 1: and uh, I was sent a report from USA Hockey

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Speaker 1: that for under eight boys, this is the number one

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Speaker 1: growth market in America. For under a girls, it's the

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Speaker 1: number three market. That to me is shocking, and yet

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Speaker 1: it is amazing because it really just says the demand

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Speaker 1: is there, we need to, you know, oversupply it. And

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Speaker 1: one of the one of the things that I've seen

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Speaker 1: here again as an opportunity, is we need more ice

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Speaker 1: rinks in this market, and we we we are looking

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Speaker 1: into opportunities to to really grow the sport and really

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Speaker 1: meet that youth demand. And as you all know, when

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Speaker 1: you look at the youth, what do you get? You

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Speaker 1: get the parents, you get the family members, you get

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Speaker 1: everybody engaged. And that is one of the several cohorts

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Speaker 1: that I've talked about in terms of the hockey fan

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Speaker 1: in waiting that I'm hoping to tap into, if I

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Speaker 1: may follow briefly on that, Javier, So as you, I mean, listen,

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Speaker 1: you're an investor by training, you do due diligence, uh

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Speaker 1: as a career, as as a job. It's built in

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Speaker 1: you model things I know, coming through private equity and

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Speaker 1: investment world. As you dig into that growth, like what's

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Speaker 1: underneath it. Is it just the demographics of the city.

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Speaker 1: Is it the folks who are moving to Phoenix? Like,

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Speaker 1: what's driving that? I think, first of all, it's a

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Speaker 1: very good question. I'm still trying to get my arms

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Speaker 1: around exactly what is driving it. But I think it's

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Speaker 1: a confluence of things. I said, I think and I've

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Speaker 1: seen this is a growth market and so you are

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Speaker 1: seeing people coming here from other parts. Um so that

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Speaker 1: for sure is a dynamic. But it is also a

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Speaker 1: youthful market, especially when we're now talking about sort of

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Speaker 1: the multicultural of the Latino they asking American community, it

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Speaker 1: tends to be a youthful market here, and so I

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Speaker 1: think it's it's a confluence of things, but it does

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Speaker 1: show something that that as an investor, as you mentioned

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Speaker 1: in in my in my career, you know, one of

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Speaker 1: the areas that you're constantly looking at is is there

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Speaker 1: a demand and is that and growing? And the analysis

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Speaker 1: is that it absolutely is here. And that's something that

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Speaker 1: that Alex Morello had actually analyzed what he was thinking

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Speaker 1: about acquiring the team, and that now that I've come

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Speaker 1: on board, that I'm looking at it is a great

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Speaker 1: So the answer isn't I have to manufacture demand. The

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Speaker 1: answer is how do we need it? And what can

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Speaker 1: we do to expand it? And what can we do

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Speaker 1: to feed into the interests, the passion and really create

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Speaker 1: a pathway for growth that creates you know, financial stability,

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Speaker 1: financial prosperity, and really really really positions us as a

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Speaker 1: successful franchise. We're talking with Javier Guccieri is the CEO

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Speaker 1: of the Arizona Coyotes and barrier broken, long overdue, first

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Speaker 1: Latino chief executive in NHL history. Let's talk about that.

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Speaker 1: What first of all, what does that mean to you?

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Speaker 1: And what will that mean for the hockey community and

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Speaker 1: trying to get more players into the game of color. Well, listen,

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Speaker 1: I I first and foremost, and I'm honored, I'm humbled

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Speaker 1: and UH and I'm really grateful. You know, I'm following

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Speaker 1: UH in the footsteps and and the door that was

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Speaker 1: open to me by a trailblazer in his own right,

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Speaker 1: and Alex Morello, the first Latino owner in the NHL

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Speaker 1: UM and so many others who have leally open doors

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Speaker 1: and who have said, you know, we need to have

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Speaker 1: diverse faces and diverse individuals at the feats of decision making,

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Speaker 1: whether it be for capital, whether it be for investment,

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Speaker 1: whether it be for UM sports. And so I am

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Speaker 1: very very honored, and UM, I'm excited because I think

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Speaker 1: it is another step that shows UM that we can

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Speaker 1: look out into what the future of America which is today,

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Speaker 1: and what it looks like and to say, hey, there

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Speaker 1: are our individuals that can fit at these seats and

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Speaker 1: can tap into these communities and can represent them very well.

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Speaker 1: You know, I keep getting asked do I feel pressure,

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Speaker 1: And I keep saying I don't feel pressure because I

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Speaker 1: look at those that have come before me, and I

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Speaker 1: look at those that will come after me, and if

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Speaker 1: I'm able to do uh, just a little bit to

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Speaker 1: inspire that young woman and the young man to say

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Speaker 1: I could do that, That's something that I could achieve

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Speaker 1: that to me would be success. So it's it's very exciting.

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Speaker 1: And when we look at what we'd like to accomplish,

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Speaker 1: one of the things we'd like to do is we

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Speaker 1: want to be at the vanguard of of looking at

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Speaker 1: what the sports fan in America looks like. And for us,

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Speaker 1: it's an opportunity for us to expand into the youth,

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Speaker 1: into the female fan, and into the multicultural fan. The Latino,

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Speaker 1: the African American UM and the NHL is fully committed

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Speaker 1: as a league to do that. And now it's a

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Speaker 1: matter of how best to do that and how do

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Speaker 1: you execute on that plant. How are the Hispanic community

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Speaker 1: of population in the greater Phoenix area is over. I

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Speaker 1: know you had some nephews. I did some research on

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Speaker 1: you that played in southern California and the Ducks and

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Speaker 1: the Kings were very good and making connections with the

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Speaker 1: Latino and Hispanic community. What lessons have you learned from

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Speaker 1: them that you may be able to apply in your

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Speaker 1: new job with the Coyotes. You know, that's that's a

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Speaker 1: great question, and yes, you're right. I point out really

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Speaker 1: three stories as sort of the things that I think

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Speaker 1: about as to how we're going to go ahead and

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Speaker 1: execute in sorts of reaching out to the Latino community.

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Speaker 1: The first is this story. I have three nephews who

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Speaker 1: grew up in a suburb of Los Angeles, and truth

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Speaker 1: be told, their first love of hockey and why because

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Speaker 1: the Kings and the Ducks decided when when they were

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Speaker 1: looking out and say how do we grow the sport,

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Speaker 1: We're going to go after the youth market. Well, the

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Speaker 1: youth market in southern California has a very heavy component

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Speaker 1: of Latinos, and so they invest the youth hockey, They

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Speaker 1: did camps, they reached out and they did you know,

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Speaker 1: the rollerblading, the inline skating, and really that that instilled

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Speaker 1: this level of hockey to this day. I was a

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Speaker 1: kid around Luke Robot. I was one of the first

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Speaker 1: people to call me to congratulate me, and I asked him,

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Speaker 1: I said, Luke, how do I rip the jersey of

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Speaker 1: And you know, he had a funny line and he

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Speaker 1: basically said they can beat Coyotes fans until they play

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Speaker 1: the Kings, and so that I thought that was funny. Um.

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Speaker 1: But the other story is is the other to deal

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Speaker 1: with one. My hometown of Sajose, California, Jos is a

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Speaker 1: hockey town and really the Sharks did an incredible jump

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Speaker 1: and have an incredible job of reaching out to that

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Speaker 1: entire community. So I have friends Latinos living in San

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Speaker 1: Jose who are rocking you know, the jerseys right that

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Speaker 1: so people are always asking me they're like Candle, Latinos

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Speaker 1: like Pockeayt. I said, I see it. I have friends

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Speaker 1: And then the final thing is I I tell the

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Speaker 1: game and you see a game live. You have three

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Speaker 1: and it's fast, it's the players are skilled, and the

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Speaker 1: fans are passionate. And I just thought it was an amazing,

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Speaker 1: And so when I think of all those you know,

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Speaker 1: three stories, I say, that is all possible here in

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Speaker 1: Arizona and just be told in other markets that have

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Speaker 1: these large Latino populations, which is pretty much every major

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Speaker 1: metropolitan area in the country, and saying, okay, let's reach

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Speaker 1: out to them at the youth level and really tell

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Speaker 1: them this something that that they would enjoy. Let's reach

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Speaker 1: out to the entire community and embraced them as as fans,

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Speaker 1: and then let's get them into this transformative experience of

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Speaker 1: going to a hockey game and being there. It's it's

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Speaker 1: one of the few sports that because of the ice,

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Speaker 1: it's almost like you feel you're part of the game.

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Speaker 1: And so I think those all three things are things

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Speaker 1: that we are absolutely going to focus on and we're

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Speaker 1: gonna it's gonna be key to to our growth strategy. So, Javier,

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Speaker 1: I want to talk about sort of what's going on

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Speaker 1: I'm fascinated to know about the conversations that sort of

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Speaker 1: led you to this role with with Alex. Was this

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Speaker 1: one of these things it's like, yeah, of course, like

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Speaker 1: this is a natural next step in my career. Or

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Speaker 1: was it more complicated than that? Tell us about those conversations. Sure, yeah,

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Speaker 1: that's uh, there were many conversations to start with that.

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Speaker 1: But no, Alix and I have known each other for

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Speaker 1: a decade. I used to be the chief about snocer

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Speaker 1: of his holding company, and so we had done deals

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Speaker 1: for about seven plus years. I then moved on to

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Speaker 1: a private equity firm based in southern California, actually started

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Speaker 1: by my roommate from graduate school. But but Alex and

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Speaker 1: I still maintained our our business relationships world. We're co

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Speaker 1: owners in a community bank in southern California, and I

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Speaker 1: was very excited for him and his family. I know

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Speaker 1: that sports ownership was something that he was very focused

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Speaker 1: until when he bought the team. I was obviously thrilled

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Speaker 1: for him, and almost immediately he started out talking about

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Speaker 1: his vision and what he thought was possible and where

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Speaker 1: he thought the growth area was and in particularly he

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Speaker 1: also commented about how much he loved Arizona and how

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Speaker 1: the people were so warm, welcoming and and really you know,

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Speaker 1: embraced him and his family with open arms. And then

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Speaker 1: of course the natural conversation turned into well, so what

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Speaker 1: would you do and what are your mom saying? And

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Speaker 1: we began having those over time. To me, I think

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Speaker 1: it was really a two prompt approach that he took.

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Speaker 1: The first is, obviously, here's the business opportunity um, which

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Speaker 1: included obviously solving the arena issue. And I, you know,

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Speaker 1: in another lifetime, used to be a partner at a

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Speaker 1: real estate private equity firm. So I had managed institutional

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Speaker 1: capital to make investments in march real estate projects around

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Speaker 1: the country, So so I know that industry well. UM,

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Speaker 1: So we talked a lot about the business opportunity and

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Speaker 1: the growth and that the corporate sponsors and and being

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Speaker 1: you know, at the forefront of bringing capital and investment

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Speaker 1: firms into this market. But the second, and this goes

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Speaker 1: back to a previous question in terms of you know,

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Speaker 1: what I think about me is in this historic sort

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Speaker 1: of higher is the opportunity to utilize sports as a

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Speaker 1: platform and as a voice to make an impact on communities.

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Speaker 1: And Alex knew that at this point in my career,

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Speaker 1: having been in the investment sort of business for about

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Speaker 1: twenty plus years, that I wanted to also really utilize

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Speaker 1: my business platform to really get involved and focus on

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Speaker 1: being a voice, and focus on opening doors and engaging

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Speaker 1: in these conversations that that are challenging and are difficult

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Speaker 1: conversations such as how do you bring uh individuals of

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Speaker 1: color into positions of decision making authority, how do you

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Speaker 1: ensure that all communities are are economically empowered. I've shared

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Speaker 1: my story that I am an immigrant from Mexico and

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Speaker 1: I've been able to live the American dream, and I

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Speaker 1: really want to be involved in opening doors and pathways

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Speaker 1: to allow others to live their American dream, especially when

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Speaker 1: it comes to the issues of economic opportunity and economic empowerment,

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Speaker 1: and so Alex knew those things were all very important

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Speaker 1: to me, and he really said, listen, um, the Coyotes

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Speaker 1: sports in general, Um, they are community assets and this

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Speaker 1: allows you to really be engaged with the community on

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Speaker 1: those levels and be a part of the solution. So

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Speaker 1: to me, it was it was a little bit of

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Speaker 1: of what you might not have expected because I am

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Speaker 1: a huge sports fan. Um. But it wasn't so much

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Speaker 1: the sports argument as it was the business and the

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Speaker 1: opportunity to make an impact. Let me ask also about positions,

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Speaker 1: because you mentioned about that you gotta have positions. And

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Speaker 1: know what I mean by that is with the COVID

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Speaker 1: nineteen pandemic that's going on, many other sports have had

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Speaker 1: to cut back on their jobs. F one is is

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Speaker 1: cut back on their jobs. Many soccer clubs have cut

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Speaker 1: back on on team jobs. Can the NHL survive this

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Speaker 1: and and and continue to grow and and have a

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Speaker 1: prosperous next season or later this season? So the short

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Speaker 1: answer is yes. And I always point out to one stack.

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Speaker 1: It's because fans love the sport. And ultimately, when you

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Speaker 1: start with the passionate fans for the sport, that they

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Speaker 1: they're journey for this and we see it now. Just

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Speaker 1: after the announcement of the return to play, I've had

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Speaker 1: so many fans reach out and say, we can't we

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Speaker 1: can't wait to see you guys back on the ice.

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Speaker 1: And obviously we're we're going into the postseason for the

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Speaker 1: first time in eight years. So it's it's gott An

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Speaker 1: added um An added focus there that people are excited about. UM.

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Speaker 1: But you're right, these are very challenging times, and not

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Speaker 1: just for sports, but but for business in general, and

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Speaker 1: so we as as an organization had to make some

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Speaker 1: very difficult decisions. We did have to furlough individuals, We

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Speaker 1: did have to reevaluate what our what our structure looks

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Speaker 1: like in terms of the amount of personnel. But but

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Speaker 1: the reality is that hockey, the NHL professional sports in general, UM,

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Speaker 1: we're anchored by the passion of our fans and the

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Speaker 1: interest of our fans. Now we will probably have to adjust.

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Speaker 1: And I keep telling folks, every day is new. We're

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Speaker 1: iterating as we go to say these are imprecedented times.

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Speaker 1: And it's almost a cliche at this point that it's unprecedented,

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Speaker 1: because every day is unprecedented. UM but you have to adapt.

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Speaker 1: And for me, one of the things that I'm very

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Speaker 1: focused on is creating a model sports franchise, but about

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Speaker 1: a long term financially prosperous and stable business enterprise. And

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Speaker 1: so part of that is is unfortunately making some very

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Speaker 1: difficult decisions that do have an impact on personnel. But

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Speaker 1: the goal is to make sure that this organization is

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Speaker 1: on solid financial footing through this pandemic, in the recovery

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Speaker 1: um and and into the future. Javier, and one of

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Speaker 1: your interviews with Sports Illustrated, you're asked about the your

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Speaker 1: your plan your model planning. Your answer was, go where

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Speaker 1: the puck is going? So where is the puck going

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Speaker 1: right now in July? Sure? Um, well, you know what

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Speaker 1: I was alluding to. Obviously, there was how do we

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Speaker 1: go after the the hockey fans and waiting right and

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Speaker 1: even in right now July and as we prepare for

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Speaker 1: our return to play, we are very focused on not

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Speaker 1: only serving our existing fan base, which is incredibly rapid, passionate,

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Speaker 1: but beginning that conversation of reaching out to the entire

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Speaker 1: community and unveiling marketing campaign and an outreach campaign that

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Speaker 1: we hope will resonate with the casual sports fan and

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Speaker 1: the sports fan that may not have may not have

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Speaker 1: been targeted in the past. And so to me that

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Speaker 1: the where the puck is going is being at the

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Speaker 1: forefront of what the sports fan in America is looking

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Speaker 1: like and and in particular, as I mentioned earlier, looking

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Speaker 1: at the youth, looking at the Phoenix sports fan, and

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Speaker 1: looking at the multicultural sports fan and in this market

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Speaker 1: in particular the Latino sports fan. And so I think

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Speaker 1: that will be a very key component as we look

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Speaker 1: to not only return to play, but as we look

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Speaker 1: to really execute on a growth strategy. Well, this has

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Speaker 1: been a real treat for us. Javier Gautier, CEO of

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Speaker 1: the Arizona Coyotes, We're so grateful for you spending some

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Speaker 1: time early morning there. You're still adjusting to that no

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Speaker 1: change of the uh, no change of the clock's situation

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Speaker 1: there in Phoenix, plus the heat, which we talked about

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Speaker 1: and you really can't ever talk too much about the

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Speaker 1: heat uh in Phoenix. Good luck with the season, UH.

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Speaker 1: And we hope you'll keep in touch and let us

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Speaker 1: know how it's all going, because as you have so

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Speaker 1: nicely laid out a lot of big opportunities there in

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Speaker 1: that market, so we really appreciate you spending some time

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Speaker 1: with us. Hey, guys, thanks so much. I really enjoyed

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Speaker 1: this and happy to come back anytime and continue the dialogue.

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Speaker 1: So good luck and stay safe. All right, all right,

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Speaker 1: you can catch our podcast right here every Monday, Wednesday

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Speaker 1: and Thursday. Jason Kelly on Twitter. Find me at Jason

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Speaker 1: Kelly News. Get ready. Later this week, we're gonna sit

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Speaker 1: down with Cincinnati reds ace Trevor Bauer. He's got some

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Speaker 1: hot takes. Michael Barr Hot Michael Barr at Big Bar Sports.

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Speaker 1: I gotta be ready for this and I cannot wait

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Speaker 1: for that one. I'm Mike Lynch. You can find me

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Speaker 1: at Lynch e w CBB. You're listening to Bloomberg Business

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Speaker 1: of Sports for Bloomberg Radio around the world.