Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. I honestly believe that
Speaker 1: part of the equation that wasn't in our control was
Speaker 1: the mass general public and the business sector not ready
Speaker 1: for women, not ready for powerful women, not ready for
Speaker 1: women with big voices who have grand ideas. We didn't
Speaker 1: have the deep pockets. And before coming here today, I
Speaker 1: think that's the one thing that kept coming into my
Speaker 1: head was I had zero dollars that I could be
Speaker 1: an owner with. I didn't make money in the beginning
Speaker 1: playing soccer.
Speaker 2: So Alex Brandy Chastain, I mean so many these superlatives
Speaker 2: around her, two time Olympic gold medalists, two time World
Speaker 2: Cup winner. If you wanted to find the perfect lens
Speaker 2: for the past three to four decades of women's soccer,
Speaker 2: the growth, the missed opportunities, the incredible successes, it's all right.
Speaker 3: There for her.
Speaker 2: She starts in ninety one on the US women's national
Speaker 2: team in the very first ever women's World Cup.
Speaker 3: They win it.
Speaker 2: She gets cut from the team, but comes back from
Speaker 2: the ninety six Olympics. Then that iconic moment in nineteen
Speaker 2: ninety nine that sets her on a completely different journey.
Speaker 2: She is one of those people who transcended her sport.
Speaker 2: Now she's an owner, and that's what I am most interested.
Speaker 2: I can't wait to hear the back and forth about
Speaker 2: player turned owner.
Speaker 3: It's a vibe, you know.
Speaker 4: Yeah. I mean, if you think about like ninety one
Speaker 4: ninety nine, we just remember those years were so important
Speaker 4: an iconic player, as you mentioned. But I'm really interested
Speaker 4: to see how she transfers her ecosystem, her experience from
Speaker 4: player to owner, and how she plans to bring value
Speaker 4: to that franchise.
Speaker 2: So Alex, let's keep it in mind. Nineteen ninety nine,
Speaker 2: it's this huge moment. Everybody's like women's soccer, it's here
Speaker 2: to stay in the United States. Womh wah, it doesn't
Speaker 2: happen right. The WSA and WPS, those are the first
Speaker 2: and second women's soccer leagues in the US. They both folded.
Speaker 2: So then the NWSL, the National Women's Soccer League, comes
Speaker 2: along in twenty thirteen. So BFC, that's Brandy's team. They
Speaker 2: come into the NWSL this year. They're the newest team.
Speaker 2: And the twist for them is they're backed by a
Speaker 2: private equity fund and that's a huge deal.
Speaker 5: It's very interesting. I'm intrigued.
Speaker 4: I'm going to ask her, like, how did you get
Speaker 4: this enormous private equity group to invest in team sports,
Speaker 4: in women's sports. I'm excited and I'm also excited. What
Speaker 4: is her pitch? What is the value proposition in women's sports?
Speaker 4: I know I feel very bullish about it. I want
Speaker 4: to hear from her.
Speaker 2: Right, So Sixth Street is the firm that she's a
Speaker 2: partner with. She and three other former US national team
Speaker 2: players teamed up with Alan Waxman. Sheryl Sandberg's also in
Speaker 2: this group. This is a team led by Brandy that
Speaker 2: could really be the key to US women's soccer from
Speaker 2: a domestically perspective, having staying power, and that has been
Speaker 2: elusive to this point, and to your point, women's sports
Speaker 2: as a growth investment.
Speaker 3: You talk about it around your boardroom.
Speaker 4: Right, phenomenal phenomena And look, Mark Lazie recently said he
Speaker 4: finds more growth, more opportunity in women's sports than in
Speaker 4: men's sport. I think that hasn't really been commercialized. But
Speaker 4: I think when we look at women's sports, we won't
Speaker 4: believe where it is in five years versus today.
Speaker 2: On this episode of the Deal, Brandy Chastain. So, Brandy,
Speaker 2: we're very happy here. Let's start if you don't mind
Speaker 2: introducing yourself and what you're doing these days.
Speaker 1: Sure, my name is Brandy Chastain, and I am gosh,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure how to introduce myself in terms of
Speaker 1: my title. I'm a co founder of the Bay FC,
Speaker 1: the newest expansion team in the NWSL. I'm one of
Speaker 1: four founding women. And I'm born and raised in San Jose, California,
Speaker 1: which is right in the heart of Silicon Valley and
Speaker 1: the Bay Area. So that's my secondary title too. I'm
Speaker 1: a mom and a grandmother and a wife, I guess.
Speaker 3: And a pretty good soccer player.
Speaker 1: And back in my data, back.
Speaker 3: In the day. Well, let's start back in the day.
Speaker 2: We're so fascinated by you having I feel like both
Speaker 2: of us like watch this career that has mirrored soccer
Speaker 2: in this country. I think we have to start in
Speaker 2: nineteen ninety nine. That moment that you kicked the winning
Speaker 2: penalty kick the world changes. What did it do for
Speaker 2: you as a human but also as a business person.
Speaker 1: Well, first and foremost, it made me sleepless for many
Speaker 1: in many months, but in all seriousness, it gave a
Speaker 1: visibility to a sport, a team individuals, not just myself
Speaker 1: that had really been deserving since ninety one when we
Speaker 1: had the first Women's World Cup in China, and nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety six was the first time we had the Olympic Games.
Speaker 1: So imagine, the Olympics have been around one hundred years
Speaker 1: and women's soccer is just now getting in in nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety six, and so I think ninety six was kind
Speaker 1: of the first boost that we had that gave us
Speaker 1: the idea and the confidence that we could put a
Speaker 1: Women's World Cup in massive stadiums from coast to coast,
Speaker 1: north to south, and FIFA wasn't really interested in that,
Speaker 1: and so I think there was a big battle for
Speaker 1: us to show up and to show off what we
Speaker 1: could do, and that on the business side as well
Speaker 1: as the footballing side of things, and so it changed
Speaker 1: that dynamic for sure. Going forward, we've seen every World
Speaker 1: Cup now done in this bigger way. I think for
Speaker 1: me personally, it gave me a platform to stand on
Speaker 1: so that I could just scream at the top of
Speaker 1: my lungs about the importance of women's sports, the importance
Speaker 1: of women and decision making positions. The importance of young
Speaker 1: girls participating in sports. It created an opportunity for me
Speaker 1: to dream of a nonprofit for young girls. So many
Speaker 1: things changed that day, and in the moment, I didn't
Speaker 1: know that, not at all, and that was not the intention,
Speaker 1: which I feel really good about because I think all
Speaker 1: great things come from organic moments, in genuine moments, and
Speaker 1: so I'm obviously very proud of what has happened for
Speaker 1: women in sports and women in general. Host nineteen ninety nine. Yeah.
Speaker 4: When you look at iconic moments over the last century,
Speaker 4: I mean, for me, my era was the Regijaction three
Speaker 4: home run, the World Series again, the Dodgers on three pitches.
Speaker 4: You look at Montana to Clark, you're in a San
Speaker 4: Jose person famous pass, and you look at Jordan the
Speaker 4: way he retarded as Utah. To me, as an American,
Speaker 4: I felt so much pride, and I just saw that
Speaker 4: over and over again. My question to you is, I
Speaker 4: know how I felt. How did that make you feel
Speaker 4: as an American? But b as really a pioneer in
Speaker 4: a moment.
Speaker 1: I think in the moment, I was so exhausted. Prior
Speaker 1: to that. We practiced those kicks a lot, and that's normal.
Speaker 1: As you would in baseball fielding grounders or bunts or whatever.
Speaker 1: So that's a normal kick. I would have taken a
Speaker 1: kick in the run of play, but this is special.
Speaker 1: You're in the World Cup, you're in the Rose Bowl,
Speaker 1: it's the final game. It's been a bend not break
Speaker 1: situation between two teams who were so good that either
Speaker 1: one could have been Crown Champion. Right before going out
Speaker 1: to the middle, our assistant coach had come up to
Speaker 1: me and said, hey, you want to take a penalty.
Speaker 1: I said, yep, no problem, I got it. Then our
Speaker 1: head coach comes over, Tony de Chico, and he says, okay,
Speaker 1: puts his hand on my shoulder and goes, you're going
Speaker 1: to take a penalty. I said, yep, I talked to
Speaker 1: Lauren already about it. He goes, okay, good, you're going
Speaker 1: to take it with your left foot, and then he
Speaker 1: ran off. So I didn't think about it because I
Speaker 1: practiced them and practice no problem. But later after the
Speaker 1: kick and after everything sort of took a beat. I'd
Speaker 1: never taken a penalty with my left foot in a game. Wow,
Speaker 1: And now we're in the World Cup final. You know
Speaker 1: it would be like, hey, step up, left handed and hit,
Speaker 1: so I think in that moment, what I think, what
Speaker 1: jumps off the page for me is this concept that
Speaker 1: I try to share every time I have a meeting
Speaker 1: with a young person on the sports field or in
Speaker 1: a big group of business people, is that we all
Speaker 1: have tools, and sometimes we get stuck in using him
Speaker 1: in the same manner that we always have used them.
Speaker 1: But we were so much more than that, and we
Speaker 1: can really turn those tools into to work in different ways.
Speaker 4: I honestly think there's a great just as a fan
Speaker 4: and a former athlete, I think for viewers and listeners,
Speaker 4: I think there's a great coach and teaching opportunity. Before
Speaker 4: your coach has hit it with your left where was
Speaker 4: from one to ten at your confidence level? And then
Speaker 4: when he tells you that in real time, what does
Speaker 4: it do to that number?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think my confidence was ten and it was
Speaker 1: probably eleven after you said that. And the reason being
Speaker 1: is again, earlier in my career, I was my position
Speaker 1: was goalscorer. That's all I woke up thinking about. That's
Speaker 1: what I went to bed thinking about. After the ninety
Speaker 1: one World Cup, I was cut from the team and
Speaker 1: I spent four years away from the national team, and
Speaker 1: Tony brought me back and he changed my position, and
Speaker 1: so I trusted this man and this coach implicitly. So
Speaker 1: if he said something to me, he was telling me
Speaker 1: that because he believed that I could do it, and
Speaker 1: so my confidence was always very high when he put
Speaker 1: me in uncomfortable positions or an usual moments, And so
Speaker 1: I think I was exhausted as well, Alex, to be fair,
Speaker 1: but in all honesty, I think that's the narrative of
Speaker 1: a coach in a player. Young player's life is so
Speaker 1: important and if we get that right, people can blossom
Speaker 1: into just about any I.
Speaker 4: Know, we're way Jason, like, it's funny because I'm thinking
Speaker 4: about my World Series moments.
Speaker 5: You've been a little exhausted.
Speaker 4: Probably helps because it kind of just you just want
Speaker 4: to survive and it keeps you in the pocket. If
Speaker 4: you're not tired, you might be a little bit too
Speaker 4: energetic and too high.
Speaker 5: So that's interesting.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And so the expectation for women's soccer just explodes
Speaker 2: at that point in that media bar and storming to
Speaker 2: everything that happens after that. What was your expectation for
Speaker 2: women's soccer as a business.
Speaker 1: I have to tell you, I've been in this almost
Speaker 1: five decades. I've been loving and playing and supporting women's
Speaker 1: soccer for quite some time, and of course I thought
Speaker 1: it would be that inflection point to a successful league
Speaker 1: that would then transform into more driven by business than
Speaker 1: by just the love and the passion of the game.
Speaker 1: And that didn't happen. So that was very disappointing at
Speaker 1: the minimum. Right, so in two thousand and three, when
Speaker 1: the WUSA shut its doors, we had a chance for reflection.
Speaker 1: And reflection is amazing because it allows you to say
Speaker 1: what you did well, to celebrate those moments, but then
Speaker 1: to recognize, okay, what didn't go well, and how can
Speaker 1: we change And if you're really good and you're really
Speaker 1: invested and you really believe, you can change anything. And
Speaker 1: I think this as the third iteration of women's soccer,
Speaker 1: the NWSL. We've gone through a lot of hardship, and
Speaker 1: I honestly believe that part of the equation that wasn't
Speaker 1: in our control was the mass general public and the
Speaker 1: business sector not ready for women, not ready for powerful women,
Speaker 1: not ready for women with big voices who have grand ideas.
Speaker 1: We didn't have the deep pockets and before coming here today.
Speaker 1: I think that's the one thing that kept coming into
Speaker 1: my head was I had zero dollars that I could
Speaker 1: be an owner with. I didn't make money in the
Speaker 1: beginning playing soccer. I made some money, and when I
Speaker 1: say some, it's much less than what they're making now.
Speaker 1: And I felt like, Okay, I could make a living,
Speaker 1: but not really great. And I was probably only one
Speaker 1: of maybe a dozen possibly so I don't think our
Speaker 1: illusions were two grand at that time. But we felt
Speaker 1: that how could ninety thousand plus forty million or more
Speaker 1: people tune in and have this not go somewhere? And
Speaker 1: so we've been believers ever since. But it's taken a
Speaker 1: lot of cajoling and a lot of educating and a
Speaker 1: lot of believing, and then, you know, finding the right people.
Speaker 2: Without getting too uncomfly deep into your finances. That's not
Speaker 2: life changing. Money doesn't come to you after ninety nine, No,
Speaker 2: not even not close.
Speaker 1: I have the work every day, thankfully. Yeah, in a
Speaker 1: good way. Abby Wombach said it so eloquently. I thought
Speaker 1: at the SP's when she was standing next to Peyton Manning,
Speaker 1: if you might remember it, you know, her thing is here.
Speaker 1: She is standing up as Athlete of the Year and
Speaker 1: receiving this amazing, impressive award. But tomorrow she got to
Speaker 1: go to work because the money she made won't sustain
Speaker 1: her for the rest of her life. And that's what's different.
Speaker 1: That's the difference between men and women's sports right now,
Speaker 1: and we're working diligently every day to show the value. Listen,
Speaker 1: let's talk about the two buckets. We've got men's professional
Speaker 1: sports and we've got women's professional sports. And what I
Speaker 1: think is so fascinating about the business sector is that
Speaker 1: we know that women spend the majority of money in right,
Speaker 1: So why is everything I'm pushing in this direction opposite
Speaker 1: of that? Why don't we go after women in sports?
Speaker 1: Why don't we get into women in sports because that's
Speaker 1: where the money spent. So I think now people have
Speaker 1: finally woke up to the fact that this is the richest,
Speaker 1: deepest will of talent, intellect, opportunity that is out there.
Speaker 1: There's nothing else out there that has as many resources
Speaker 1: and as many people who can do great things as
Speaker 1: women's sports.
Speaker 2: Yeah, one of the moments, which was obviously critical, was
Speaker 2: even before nineteen ninety I went to nineteen ninety one
Speaker 2: and you know that first World Cup and opened a
Speaker 2: lot of eyes. Could you have imagined in nineteen ninety one,
Speaker 2: when I believe you got five hundred bucks for winning
Speaker 2: the World Cup, that's right, no prize money for the
Speaker 2: for the team, that was just a bonus. I believe
Speaker 2: that US Soccer paid. Could you have imagined or was
Speaker 2: it your assumption that, of course one day it would
Speaker 2: be like this.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's a great question. I think in
Speaker 1: the moment, that's not what we were thinking about, right.
Speaker 1: We were playing a game that we loved, that made
Speaker 1: us feel individually accepted, wanted good about ourselves, and that
Speaker 1: we could collectively come together from all the corners of
Speaker 1: the United States and create this beautiful harmony on the
Speaker 1: field born out of competition. Like I think this is
Speaker 1: something that is really important in something that I stress
Speaker 1: all the time that you know, competition for women has
Speaker 1: historically not been a good thing because there's only been
Speaker 1: one seat at the table, and so we have to
Speaker 1: compete against each other, we couldn't support one another. But
Speaker 1: this team was a beautiful example of how if Alex
Speaker 1: and I were fighting for the same position, we could
Speaker 1: still be great teammates. And we had that, and I
Speaker 1: think that's why this team and going forward into nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety nine we were so successful. How critical that is.
Speaker 1: There's enough out there for all of us and we
Speaker 1: can support each other in that way, and I think
Speaker 1: going forward that's that really is going to be a
Speaker 1: part of the landscape for women's sports. But thinking back
Speaker 1: to ninety one, you know, we weren't thinking about big contracts.
Speaker 1: I mean, we were thinking US Soccer needs to do better,
Speaker 1: without a doubt. We had great captains in Carlo Overbag,
Speaker 1: Julie Faudy, Michelle Akers, and we did. We fought for contracts. Honestly,
Speaker 1: US Soccer. They put our back against the wall in
Speaker 1: ninety six or ninety five after the World Cup, and
Speaker 1: basically the players were willing to give up the Olympics,
Speaker 1: the first ever Olympics in Atlanta, for a better contract,
Speaker 1: not for them but for the future. And we stood
Speaker 1: our ground and we got better, which was still not
Speaker 1: good enough, but it was a move in the right direction.
Speaker 1: But ninety one was the first opportunity to display what
Speaker 1: we were doing on a big scale and for people
Speaker 1: to look and say, hmm, something is going on. And
Speaker 1: we could put sixty thousand people in a stadium in Guangzhou, China. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and put out two great products and have the game
Speaker 1: be excellent.
Speaker 4: So Brandy Jason asked you about ninety nine and that
Speaker 4: was in the moment that changed things for you. When
Speaker 4: you take a step back over the last five years,
Speaker 4: I've seen some real movement and you see Kaitlyn Clark
Speaker 4: going off, and you do, what are maybe one or
Speaker 4: two three things that have happened that all of a
Speaker 4: sudden you have big private equity firms, institutional capital trying
Speaker 4: to pour money into women's sports.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I would say moments like Kaitlyn Clark looking at
Speaker 1: collegiate women's sports. I think Nebraska held a volleyball game
Speaker 1: inside of the football stadium and it got ninety thousand people.
Speaker 1: I mean that moves the needle. I think you look
Speaker 1: at Women's World Cup again, the US one back to
Speaker 1: back World Cups twenty fifteen, twenty nineteen. You know how
Speaker 1: big can this World Cup be? And what is the
Speaker 1: potential for selling sponsorships and broadcast rights. It's changed. Honestly,
Speaker 1: FIFA didn't believe and wasn't interested in women's soccer, but
Speaker 1: as a vehicle of equity they had to be even
Speaker 1: though it wasn't equitable in the funds. But we're getting
Speaker 1: there and that's important. It's still frustrating. There's still opportunity
Speaker 1: out there to be better. And I think Alex to
Speaker 1: give you more examples, I think every day we're seeing
Speaker 1: young girls signing up participating in sports of all kinds.
Speaker 1: So we're onto something. And I think everybody on the outside,
Speaker 1: those people who were uncomfortable maybe in women's sports, are
Speaker 1: now finding interest. They're finding that it's valid and that
Speaker 1: they want to be involved.
Speaker 4: I think transparency has been one of the things that
Speaker 4: have actually helped women's sports and the trajectory of it.
Speaker 4: And i'd say what I mean, when you look at
Speaker 4: the ESPN numbers, for example, we can now see them
Speaker 4: the audience, the viewers can see them and daily almost weekly, right,
Speaker 4: And when you look at the final four last year,
Speaker 4: what was comparable was the viewership and the ratings. Yeah,
Speaker 4: but I'll tell you what wasn't comparable is how the
Speaker 4: media companies value and what they pay or don't pay
Speaker 4: for women's sports and the reason why we're so bullish
Speaker 4: at a corp and women's sports, and of course we
Speaker 4: own the timbules and the basketball links. And now we're
Speaker 4: looking at a third sport, a second sport in women,
Speaker 4: a third sport to own in the world of women's sports,
Speaker 4: which we're very excited about.
Speaker 1: And I would even take that example that you gave
Speaker 1: about the basketball and go just go all the way
Speaker 1: down to the size of the weight room, the fact
Speaker 1: that the women had like twenty weights literally and the
Speaker 1: men had a five thousand square foot gym basically in
Speaker 1: the hotel. So even when your organization like the NCAA
Speaker 1: doesn't support you in the way, even though the numbers
Speaker 1: are even, it begs a lot of questions like what
Speaker 1: is going on? Why are we so afraid of this environment?
Speaker 1: I can't tell you. Is it a gender thing? Is
Speaker 1: it a sporting thing.
Speaker 4: I do think there's a rewiring of the brain that
Speaker 4: has to happen. Is not as zero some game. I
Speaker 4: actually make a different argument that the more you compliment
Speaker 4: and reward women, the better is for sports. And when
Speaker 4: everything rises, all bolts rise. It's not like women get more,
Speaker 4: we get less.
Speaker 3: Is that right?
Speaker 5: I don't see it that way.
Speaker 2: One of the things that you alluded to, Brandy and
Speaker 2: in that post ninety nine era with the WUSA and
Speaker 2: then the subsequent league before the NWSL. I mean, if
Speaker 2: you look at it from a pure business perspective, there's
Speaker 2: essentially no sustained investment. We were talking about this. You
Speaker 2: think about the links the WNBA, they're twenty six years in.
Speaker 2: Why didn't people stick with it longer?
Speaker 1: I can't answer that because I wasn't the ownership group.
Speaker 1: But I think what I would assert is that it
Speaker 1: was a passion play. It was my kids are playing,
Speaker 1: we love it, we want to be a part of it,
Speaker 1: we want to help grow it. I think at that time, Alex,
Speaker 1: to your point, it was if you exist, then there
Speaker 1: is less, and we don't want that to grow. So
Speaker 1: I think there was an actual tamping down of the
Speaker 1: interest on it. Major League Soccer has been around for
Speaker 1: a long time. They are supporting a group that I
Speaker 1: work with and women in soccer who are trying to
Speaker 1: make soccer opportunities accessible for more women and marginalized groups.
Speaker 1: And Major League Soccer is supporting our career fair So
Speaker 1: that is phenomenal, but it's taken a long time for
Speaker 1: us to coexist in a way that I've always said,
Speaker 1: it's soccer baseball doesn't have a natural competitor, right, does
Speaker 1: not have a natural competitor. It's a traditional American sport,
Speaker 1: and for us, I think soccer did feel slightly threatened
Speaker 1: at times because of women's soccer instead of seeing it
Speaker 1: like you saw, which is, Hey, we're going to do
Speaker 1: soccer together. We're going to make it so great it's
Speaker 1: going to be undeniable. We are the world's lead eating
Speaker 1: sport by far. There's nothing out there that compares to us,
Speaker 1: So why wouldn't we raise this boat to be on
Speaker 1: this level?
Speaker 2: And so during that period of under investment and candidly
Speaker 2: the failure of leagues, what does that feel like from
Speaker 2: your perspective as someone who has devoted her life to
Speaker 2: the sport you're playing and then ultimately coaching, What are
Speaker 2: you seeing and what does that disconnect feel like as
Speaker 2: you're kind of looking around, probably like mildly bewildered.
Speaker 1: Well, I think there's two sides to this. I think
Speaker 1: there is great opportunity and I think there is, of
Speaker 1: course disappointment. And on the disappointment side, it's just how
Speaker 1: I how can I do a better job of sharing
Speaker 1: and making other people see the value of this, And
Speaker 1: you know, we thought for a long time we had
Speaker 1: done that, and we had broadcasted this the biggest game
Speaker 1: in the world for women's sports at the time, and
Speaker 1: we still weren't getting that traction. And again to your point,
Speaker 1: Alex about you know, listen, people need to be rewired.
Speaker 1: I think what's been happening in business for so long
Speaker 1: is the way we do things right, that's the culture.
Speaker 1: We've already been doing it like this. It's been successful.
Speaker 1: Don't tell us how to do what we do when
Speaker 1: that's not what we're interested in. What we're interested in
Speaker 1: is growing opportunity.
Speaker 2: Coming up, we discuss Brandy's transition from being a world
Speaker 2: class player to being a team owner, plus how six
Speaker 2: streets investment in her team BAFC potentially shifts the future
Speaker 2: not just for women soccer but all of sports.
Speaker 4: Impostsandom. Is there something there for you that when you
Speaker 4: walk into an owner's room with all these smart people,
Speaker 4: private equity, institutional capital, is there any imposter syndom for
Speaker 4: you as an athlete?
Speaker 1: I would say that there's a level of understanding who
Speaker 1: I am. I don't have an MBA, I don't have
Speaker 1: a private equity firm, but I know this game and
Speaker 1: I know the segment and I understand the history, and
Speaker 1: so I'm valuable. So in that way, I'm not pretending
Speaker 1: to be someone i'm not, and I'm open to learning
Speaker 1: and growing. So I'm not afraid to go into those meetings.
Speaker 1: But I'm also willing to say, hey, can you say
Speaker 1: that again, Let's talk this over, let's find a better way.
Speaker 4: And as a former player, what are one or two
Speaker 4: three things that you've learned as an athlete and a
Speaker 4: player that you wish owners did for you. Then now
Speaker 4: you're thinking about doing for your players to bring value
Speaker 4: and make it a better experience.
Speaker 1: Well, I have to say there's one that stands out
Speaker 1: above the rest that in men's sports, nobody will talk about.
Speaker 1: Safety of the player has been the priority. And I
Speaker 1: think if you looked to ross the board in business,
Speaker 1: in sports or otherwise, safety has always been an issue
Speaker 1: for women. Whether that's safety of speaking out, whether that's
Speaker 1: safety being by yourself, whether that's walking to your car
Speaker 1: at night. You know, whatever it is, safety is important.
Speaker 1: You know, what is the culture of the environment and
Speaker 1: do they support women. I'm going to say full stop,
Speaker 1: safety is far and wide the most important.
Speaker 2: And clearly that's at the core has been at the
Speaker 2: court of the discussion around the NWSL. Yes, this is
Speaker 2: a league that almost became the third failure right because
Speaker 2: of gruesome for lack of a better term, very widespread
Speaker 2: scandal across the league that led to the commissioner, you know,
Speaker 2: stepping down. I have to think something starts to form
Speaker 2: in your head. Conversations are happening. Take us back to
Speaker 2: that moment, right, I.
Speaker 1: Think as those things are happening, obviously your head goes
Speaker 1: right to the players and how could this happen? Because
Speaker 1: as guardians or stewards of the game, my generation, how
Speaker 1: didn't we change this? You know, how did we let
Speaker 1: this happen? So I think there's a little bit of responsibility.
Speaker 1: Then I think the thoughts go to how do we
Speaker 1: make it better? And what kind of influence can I,
Speaker 1: as an individual have or my collective group of ninety
Speaker 1: nine ers have, And when Angel City was coming to town, myself,
Speaker 1: Ali Wagner, Daniel Slayton, Leslie Osbourne, the other four hours. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Oh I like that. Okay, I will say you said
Speaker 1: it first, but I might have to go forward with that.
Speaker 1: You know, we said what we have a historical significance
Speaker 1: in women's soccer here, and yet we don't have a team.
Speaker 1: We have to do something. All of a sudden started
Speaker 1: the gears churning a little bit harder and faster and
Speaker 1: reaching out to people. And ultimately, when we met some
Speaker 1: good business folks, they said, you know, money will be
Speaker 1: the least of your worries. I chuckled because I'm like
Speaker 1: a decade older than these other three, thinking money's always
Speaker 1: been the problem, right, always been the problem for us
Speaker 1: because either we get it and we don't know how
Speaker 1: to spend it. And the league actually historically did not
Speaker 1: invite private equity to the table. And so we're game
Speaker 1: changers a little bit in that way. And that's a
Speaker 1: good thing, right. We're getting ourselves to look at ourselves
Speaker 1: and say why and answer that why question and then
Speaker 1: move forward to how can we then change the landscape
Speaker 1: altogether and make our league even better? And so that
Speaker 1: conversation started happening right away.
Speaker 4: So Sixth Street you got to think, well, if they're
Speaker 4: looking at other data and they're looking in data room
Speaker 4: potential and forecasting, and they're investing our viewers and listeners
Speaker 4: should be is there something we should be investing in.
Speaker 4: But how does Brandy in the court for as Jason tagged,
Speaker 4: you guys, how do you get on the table with
Speaker 4: six st every but it wants to get on the
Speaker 4: table with them?
Speaker 5: Why you how'd you make that pitch?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Great question, and I'm not sure I know all the parts,
Speaker 1: but I think being locals was very important. We had
Speaker 1: other relationships with the likes of Cheryl Samberg, who obviously
Speaker 1: we know her from a different space, but just you know,
Speaker 1: a woman in business. I think also, and honestly, at
Speaker 1: the grassroots level, kids playing soccer. Alan Waxman's kids are
Speaker 1: involved in you soccer.
Speaker 3: Alan Waxman, the co founder and CEO of.
Speaker 1: Sorry, I appreciate that, and I think they're also they
Speaker 1: have investments in international professional leagues and so they understand
Speaker 1: the game and to your point about data, they see
Speaker 1: how that's driving a lot of significant monetary decisions and valuations.
Speaker 1: And so now is the right time?
Speaker 2: And is it fair to say, Brandy that as you
Speaker 2: guys start talking about this and you sit with Ellen
Speaker 2: and the sixth Street team, it's got to feel different
Speaker 2: the types of questions they're asking than WUSA days and
Speaker 2: subsequent I mean, did it feel different in terms of
Speaker 2: their approach.
Speaker 1: Well, there's no even comparing what has happened before with
Speaker 1: what is happening now, So it's almost a moot point.
Speaker 1: We don't need to discuss it because it's it's so
Speaker 1: insignificant what we were doing back then, with the exception
Speaker 1: of the fact that we were still doing what we
Speaker 1: believe for women's soccer was the right thing, which was
Speaker 1: putting it out into the mass public in a professional landscape.
Speaker 1: And like many other innovations, the first time doesn't usually
Speaker 1: sure and in the final product, so it was necessary
Speaker 1: for WUSA and WPS to exist before. But no sitting
Speaker 1: in in a board room with sixth Street and going
Speaker 1: through sheet after sheet of you know, necessary information and
Speaker 1: to your point about you know how the data is
Speaker 1: driving everything and really how even to pick players and
Speaker 1: to line up players. And as a old school person
Speaker 1: like I have to fight data every now and again
Speaker 1: because I know with my eye I can tell you
Speaker 1: what I see and what I know to be valuable.
Speaker 1: But in the bigger market scheme six streets excellence will
Speaker 1: rise above and allow us to make some good decisions
Speaker 1: based upon things that we didn't have access to in
Speaker 1: the past.
Speaker 2: And I mean, I think it's worth pointing out. I mean,
Speaker 2: you're sitting in you know, owners meetings all the time, Alex.
Speaker 2: I mean, this notion is radical. A private equity firm
Speaker 2: coming in. It's the first time in US sports history
Speaker 2: that an institutional investor has been the majority owner. This
Speaker 2: has never happened in the NBA, NFL, MLBA elsewhere. I
Speaker 2: have to think, I mean, I'm turning that, I'm turning
Speaker 2: Pew for a second, But I mean that must feel
Speaker 2: radical to you from the outside in and has the
Speaker 2: potential to change how sports investment overall happens.
Speaker 4: Right, It changes everything and is radical in one sense,
Speaker 4: but it's really a validation. But to Brandy's point about
Speaker 4: some of the things I did as you, we fight
Speaker 4: data sometimes because data is important, but it's not the gospel.
Speaker 4: It's a guide, not a gospel, right, And the three
Speaker 4: things we've did that we're not really p and l builders.
Speaker 4: Where we build an owner's lounge because we wanted to
Speaker 4: cast a net to have people like yourself and Jason
Speaker 4: come in where we can mark and I can visit
Speaker 4: and spend time with people.
Speaker 5: Locker room. The importance of locker room.
Speaker 4: We want players come in early and leaving late, so
Speaker 4: create casting a net that's really friendly environment for players.
Speaker 4: We know the difference between a great locker room and
Speaker 4: a poor locker room. And then thirdly a family room.
Speaker 4: And then they said, why family room, where's the p
Speaker 4: and L. I said, it's a single most important asset
Speaker 4: our players and their partners. The reason I know is
Speaker 4: my girls were raised in the Yankee Locke family room,
Speaker 4: so it is important. And happy partner, happy player. And
Speaker 4: that's really three things that were really contrarian to numbers
Speaker 4: but really have paid tremendous dividends to our players and
Speaker 4: it shows.
Speaker 3: In our record.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think some things you can't put on paper, right,
Speaker 1: You can't. You can't quantify it, Yeah, you can't. And
Speaker 1: I think peace of mind, safety, health, and wholeness are
Speaker 1: aspects of the game that without those things, batting averages
Speaker 1: go down, errors go up, you don't win penance, and
Speaker 1: fans don't buy your merchandise and they don't buy tickets, and.
Speaker 4: So anxiety anxiety revenue goes down.
Speaker 2: Brandy Alex mentioned earlier sort of you know confidence level.
Speaker 2: I'm going to turn that question a little bit to
Speaker 2: you now as an owner, it feels like something important
Speaker 2: is happening with the NWSL. You know, you look at
Speaker 2: the numbers alone, fifty three million dollar expansion fee that
Speaker 2: you guys paid record one hundred and twenty five million dollars.
Speaker 2: You're investing into this team. That's setting a new standard
Speaker 2: for other teams that are going to come into the league.
Speaker 2: Boston is coming in. I believe that a year or
Speaker 2: two after you guys do what is your confidence level
Speaker 2: as an owner that this time it's going to work,
Speaker 2: that this time is different.
Speaker 1: Well, I think now we can look back over ten years,
Speaker 1: like you're talking about, like what are the data points
Speaker 1: over the last ten years, and we've seen it growing.
Speaker 1: We now have an ownership in Kansas City who is
Speaker 1: built the first ever women's sports specific stadium that's unbelievable,
Speaker 1: that will preview in Kansas City this season. We have
Speaker 1: more teams than we've ever had, We've had larger media
Speaker 1: buys than we've ever had in the past. Players from
Speaker 1: around the world, the best players around the world are
Speaker 1: coming to the NWSL. Coaches from around the world are
Speaker 1: coming to our league. So what started out as obviously
Speaker 1: a young girl's dream is now manifesting itself in a
Speaker 1: proper business forum and we get to now again expand
Speaker 1: what women's soccer can do. And I'm very excited about
Speaker 1: that because I want to change FIFA at the same
Speaker 1: time as we're changing the landscape here in America about
Speaker 1: traditional sports, like that's radical baseball, of course, traditional American sport,
Speaker 1: American football, traditional American sport, basketball, traditional American sport, women's soccer,
Speaker 1: traditional American sport. So bullish on making that a part
Speaker 1: of the landscape, Like you can't say American sport without
Speaker 1: saying women's soccer. I think that's critical to the future.
Speaker 1: For me.
Speaker 2: It is this fascinating moment for the global game, right.
Speaker 2: You know, we came out of a World Cup, which
Speaker 2: was quite disappointing for those of us who are US
Speaker 2: fans and fans and former players who have been at
Speaker 2: the pinnacle. How do you hold on to that? I mean,
Speaker 2: the world is to your point about the American game,
Speaker 2: world's catching up.
Speaker 1: It's interesting though, I'm going to say everybody's saying the
Speaker 1: world is catching up. The world has been ahead of
Speaker 1: us in soccer since inception of the game, so we
Speaker 1: really I think caught early momentum because we were very
Speaker 1: fortunate to live and be in the United States of
Speaker 1: America with Title nine blessing Sabilityjan King and the generation
Speaker 1: of women who fought so hard and those lawmakers who
Speaker 1: enacted Title nine in nineteen seventy two, because that changed
Speaker 1: the landscape. That allowed federally funded money to be spread
Speaker 1: across the board and to get an education meant that
Speaker 1: you could also play sports. Now, not everybody was in compliance,
Speaker 1: so it didn't work perfectly in the beginning, but now
Speaker 1: it's changing. And now we have so many women who
Speaker 1: are graduating as doctors and lawyers and whatever else that
Speaker 1: they want while also playing sports. The world isn't catching
Speaker 1: up to us. We have thrust ourselves into the soccer
Speaker 1: landscape in a way that nobody else could in the
Speaker 1: world interesting and we did it really well because I
Speaker 1: think of what is so special about our country. What
Speaker 1: is so special about our country is we have people
Speaker 1: that are sitting right here together that look completely different.
Speaker 1: We come from different places. We may have our history
Speaker 1: or our heritage, may have spoke different languages. But they
Speaker 1: came to America and they brought their best parts, and
Speaker 1: they worked hard. They became successful and now the community grew.
Speaker 1: And the way we saw soccer at the beginning for
Speaker 1: women was we like what Spain's doing, We're like what
Speaker 1: Japan's doing, Brazil, England, Norway, and we put it all
Speaker 1: together and we were unafraid to say that and we
Speaker 1: liked how that was kind of this melting pot of things.
Speaker 1: We are still new to soccer in our country compared
Speaker 1: to the world. We just found a way to do
Speaker 1: it better in the beginning, and now we have to
Speaker 1: be able to sustain that right.
Speaker 3: So how do you do that?
Speaker 1: I think you have to have the right people. I
Speaker 1: think people matter, and again I think that's a diverse approach,
Speaker 1: not just gender, not just color. We have to have
Speaker 1: voices that come from all over and we have to
Speaker 1: be comfortable in that. To me, that gives confidence to
Speaker 1: an organization. If you are diverse, you have a chance
Speaker 1: to grow in ways that institutions or organizations just can't.
Speaker 1: They can't understand.
Speaker 2: You know, One thing that I'm curious about is where
Speaker 2: you look to for inspiration.
Speaker 3: And I might turn this.
Speaker 2: On you in the second Alex Do because obviously playing
Speaker 2: a different sport from the sport you're now an owner
Speaker 2: in where do you get inspiration as you think about
Speaker 2: building this new team.
Speaker 1: Well, Number one, I'm inspired by every environment I'm in.
Speaker 1: But I think again, we're in Silicon Valley. The ideation
Speaker 1: and the innovation that happens here changes the world, and
Speaker 1: we want to be a leader globally in changing the
Speaker 1: way women's soccer, women's football is consumed, celebrated, shared, viewed,
Speaker 1: and we want to come up with radical ideas. I
Speaker 1: think the word radical today is probably what we're most
Speaker 1: interested in. Being different, you know us for you know,
Speaker 1: we've been different our whole lives. People have always asked
Speaker 1: us like why are you playing this game? Like what's
Speaker 1: driving you to stay in this lane? And I think
Speaker 1: we just saw something different and we've always been different.
Speaker 1: So we have a chance to work with some executives
Speaker 1: at the Warriors or the Giants or the forty nine ers,
Speaker 1: and we value their experiences. We should absolutely sit down
Speaker 1: and listen. And they're like, Okay, how does that help us?
Speaker 1: And I think we can help each other.
Speaker 2: I would imagine that those conversations are a lot easier
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty three, twenty twenty four than they were
Speaker 2: twenty years ago.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think there's a lot of education that's gone
Speaker 1: around the world about the sport. I think, you know,
Speaker 1: we're pretty fortunate that we participated in the Olympic Games. Obviously,
Speaker 1: everybody values the Olympics in a different way than they
Speaker 1: do professional leagues. The ninety nine ers were a collective
Speaker 1: of trailblazers, to be honest with you, you know, we
Speaker 1: had a leader in Mia Hamm who was thrust into
Speaker 1: the spotlight and carried herself so humbly and so honestly
Speaker 1: and so team first that it just endeared people to
Speaker 1: what it is that we were doing. And it wasn't
Speaker 1: even big at that time. So you know what's happening now,
Speaker 1: Just you know, think about how we've been spinning those
Speaker 1: wheels for so long. We finally got the traction and
Speaker 1: to make a bigger difference is really phenomenal. Again, it
Speaker 1: all comes down to the people and the culture that
Speaker 1: we want to create for every single person who sets
Speaker 1: foot into our stadium or onto the training ground, or
Speaker 1: into the locker room, into the boardroom, is that they're valued,
Speaker 1: they're respected, that they have something to contribute to the outcome,
Speaker 1: and that they also will be leaders at some.
Speaker 4: Point and Brandy as an owner player, Churn owner, what
Speaker 4: has been the biggest surprise, if any, And is there
Speaker 4: any owners out there that you're looking at, studying and
Speaker 4: basically trying to learn from.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm trying to learn from everybody. I'm as naive
Speaker 1: as a new day like I might know. This is
Speaker 1: not my specialty. I think there's Again, We're very fortunate
Speaker 1: that we have started with Sixth Street and that we
Speaker 1: have this opportunity with this institutional capital to march forward
Speaker 1: in a big way, and that I think right there
Speaker 1: sets the foundation for the type of group we can
Speaker 1: be and team we can be. I talked to a
Speaker 1: lot of fans, I mean people stop me everywhere dog park,
Speaker 1: the golf club, and they're like, we are so excited
Speaker 1: about your team. And then I asked them why, you know,
Speaker 1: tell me why, and they're like, we haven't seen it
Speaker 1: before and we want to be a part of it,
Speaker 1: and we can't afford something else. We grew up playing
Speaker 1: the game. It reminds me of my childhood. I mean,
Speaker 1: so many reasons people want to be involved, and Brady, there's.
Speaker 4: A lot of athletes out there that are listening to
Speaker 4: you that you're their role model. What surprises have you
Speaker 4: seen that surprise you? That was surprised them as players,
Speaker 4: not as owners.
Speaker 1: Honestly, it's everything for me right now. You know, we
Speaker 1: took our team down to Santa Barbara and we stayed
Speaker 1: in the most beautiful place. Like the thought of that
Speaker 1: happening for women's soccer was never in my never. I
Speaker 1: would never think about that. But they deserve it, and
Speaker 1: so we should do that the opportunity. Julie Foudy used
Speaker 1: to say this all the time. We'd come into the
Speaker 1: hotel and we'd have like one of those big conference
Speaker 1: rooms for the buffet breakfast or the buffet lunch, and
Speaker 1: it was the same old stuff and not great, and
Speaker 1: she'd just like say, can I just have cheddar cheese?
Speaker 3: Please?
Speaker 1: Just give me cheddar cheese, you know instead of like,
Speaker 1: you know.
Speaker 3: The white cheese fits the American you.
Speaker 1: Know, like that would have made things so much better, right,
Speaker 1: So it's little things.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'll tell you from personal experience, Jason and Brandy,
Speaker 4: I will tell you that I played for almost twenty
Speaker 4: three years in the major leagues with three teams, Seattle,
Speaker 4: Texas and the Yankees, and I took a lot of
Speaker 4: things for granted. I mean life in the major leagues
Speaker 4: was outstanding. I mean, you show up locker room, you
Speaker 4: have all type of food, all type of cheese, white yellow,
Speaker 4: plenty of cheddar.
Speaker 5: You show up and you have clean uniforms.
Speaker 4: You go on the charter, you fly to a team,
Speaker 4: you stay at a beautiful hotel, you have per DM,
Speaker 4: you have all these things.
Speaker 5: And I never thought once like, how does this all happen?
Speaker 5: How does the train run?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 4: And now being on the other side as an owner,
Speaker 4: you realize all the work and all the people and
Speaker 4: all the commitment that takes to keep that train move
Speaker 4: and it's been pretty, uh an educational process for me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think also to that point, and I'm glad
Speaker 1: that you said that, because from our perspective we didn't
Speaker 1: experience something like that to that degree. But I think
Speaker 1: the thing again that we noticed as a team in
Speaker 1: ninety nine specifically, and why this group is so special
Speaker 1: about we all have to contribute to the outcome, right,
Speaker 1: And it doesn't matter if you're serving the food, or
Speaker 1: you're picking up the balls, or you're cleaning up after yourself.
Speaker 1: You know the amount of gratitude that you have for
Speaker 1: this opportunity and the people around you is paramount to anything.
Speaker 1: Doesn't matter what your job is. If you're the center
Speaker 1: back or the goalkeeper, you could still pick up the balls,
Speaker 1: you can still move the goal, you can still say
Speaker 1: thank you very much for the meal that's just been served.
Speaker 1: And I think that awareness of the humanity that happens
Speaker 1: around professional sports and my dedication and my deliberate shout
Speaker 1: out to my team and other teams in the NWSL
Speaker 1: is we have to have a connection to the people
Speaker 1: who come to our stadiums and they have to feel
Speaker 1: like this belongs to them. That is what will happen here,
Speaker 1: and I hope that that happens everywhere because Alex, I
Speaker 1: know that people would love to be next to you,
Speaker 1: they'd love to get close to you, to get your
Speaker 1: autograph or to look you in the eye, and you
Speaker 1: just smile and then I mean that was me as
Speaker 1: a kid. I was waiting right here in San Jose,
Speaker 1: California for George Best to come out from the Santose
Speaker 1: Earthquakes locker room and for me to be able to
Speaker 1: get a picture or to have an autograph, and most
Speaker 1: times it didn't happen, and I went away like Okay,
Speaker 1: maybe next time, you know, Like I was enthusiastic about it,
Speaker 1: but it never happened. I when our games were done
Speaker 1: or practices were done and I had an opportunity to
Speaker 1: engage with fans, That's always a priority because at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, without them, an empty stadium means nothing.
Speaker 4: All right, Brandy, So you have a lot of young
Speaker 4: athletes fans from all over the world. A lot of
Speaker 4: people want to be like you. They want to be
Speaker 4: a great Hall of Fame type player like you. They
Speaker 4: want to have abs like you.
Speaker 1: Hey, that was a long time ago, my friend, I
Speaker 1: got a big jacket on.
Speaker 4: An owner like you and follow your lead. How can
Speaker 4: someone who's out there, who's young, middle age, older, how
Speaker 4: can they be more like you?
Speaker 1: First, I think the number one important thing to remind
Speaker 1: these people is that be your best self, right. Trying
Speaker 1: to be somebody else will never work. You have to
Speaker 1: be yourself. You have to invest time, you know, invest
Speaker 1: your time and know your craft, and to be humble
Speaker 1: while doing it because it will. As it did for me,
Speaker 1: my whole career was not this straight line ascension to
Speaker 1: Olympic gold medals and World Cup championships. You know, I
Speaker 1: was injured. I had two ACL reconstructions. I was out
Speaker 1: of the sport for two and a half years injured,
Speaker 1: I was on the team, I was cut from the team,
Speaker 1: I was brought back, change position. So I would say
Speaker 1: it's important to be yourself, to invest time in yourself,
Speaker 1: to understand that you will make mistakes and you will
Speaker 1: fall down, but you're going to be fine. You're going
Speaker 1: to get up and you're going to go after it.
Speaker 1: Be kind, be kind, and know that no one's perfect.
Speaker 1: And my mom, she gave me a saying when I
Speaker 1: was a kid, when things weren't going well, when I
Speaker 1: was injured and out of collegiate soccer for like I
Speaker 1: said those two and a half years, she said, Brandy,
Speaker 1: find your yes. People are going to tell you no,
Speaker 1: and that is okay. Don't be afraid to ask the question.
Speaker 1: So that's what I would say to people, you know,
Speaker 1: find your yes. It won't always come easy, it won't
Speaker 1: always come in the way that maybe you've dreamt it,
Speaker 1: but it's out there and you can do it.
Speaker 5: I'm that well.
Speaker 2: This has just been such a pleasure. Thank you for
Speaker 2: having us in your town. Best of luck with the
Speaker 2: season with the team.
Speaker 3: What a treat for both of us. Thank you well.
Speaker 1: I would love to invite you to come to one
Speaker 1: of our games, if you wouldn't mind say last you
Speaker 1: tell me the date and I will give you the ticket.
Speaker 5: All right, Thank you so much. And likewise to Minnesota,
Speaker 5: thank you, Timbos and the Links.
Speaker 1: Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
Speaker 6: The Deal is a production from Bloomberg Podcasts and Bloomberg Originals.
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