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- [00:00]
Michael Barr
The FIFA World Cup 26 is coming to North America. Get closer to where business meets the beautiful game with a hospitality package featuring premium seats and entertainment. Get closer to wins on and off the pitch. Register interest@hospitality dota.com interest when you own.
- [00:20]
Vanessa Perdomo
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- [01:40]
Jewel Lloyd
The business of sports can be intimidating or hard for a starter to break into.
- [01:44]
Damian Sassauer
We really appreciate when our owners are actually there, you know, with us through the journey.
- [01:48]
Vanessa Perdomo
Teams, ours especially have been very intentional to diversify at all levels of the company.
- [01:53]
Damian Sassauer
I think we're in the golden years for the NFL and college football. Our demographic reach has continued to expand.
- [01:59]
Jewel Lloyd
This is going to be really unlocking the streaming platform for sports fans.
- [02:04]
Randall Williams
Sports valuations are rising. We'll see when they peak.
- [02:06]
Damian Sassauer
You don't have to be the best.
- [02:08]
Michael Barr
In your sport to make a whole ton of money.
- [02:12]
Vanessa Perdomo
Bloomberg Business of Sports From Bloomberg Radio.
- [02:17]
Michael Barr
This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports where we explore the big money issues in the world of sports. Michael Barr along with Damian Sassauer Vanessa Verdomo will join us a bit later on in the show. Coming up, we'll talk about the WNBA's Las Vegas Aces and star guard Jewel Lloyd on her family office venture.
- [02:36]
Jewel Lloyd
It's not about money, it's really about the impact, healing and ownership. I think our mission is to really help families founders communities build generational power and aligning that with capital and purpose.
- [02:46]
Michael Barr
Plus, we'll hear from the commissioner, Major league pickleball Samin Awani on pickleball's growing popularity. All that and more is straight ahead on the Bloomberg Business of Sports. But first, Eli Manning is working to put together a bid to buy a stake in the team. He won two Super Bowls for the New York Giants. Here to take us through what we know is friend of the show, Bloomberg US Sports business reporter Randall Williams. Randall, welcome back to the Bloomberg Business of Sports.
- [03:16]
Randall Williams
I appreciate you all for having me.
- [03:19]
Michael Barr
Well, we got a couple of things to talk about. So I'm going to start first of all with let's talk about Eli Manning. And now Eli Manning's thinking, hey, you know what? My old team, I wouldn't mind owning just a piece of that. Tell us about that.
- [03:32]
Jewel Lloyd
Yeah.
- [03:33]
Randall Williams
So the Marin Tisch family has put a 10% stake up for sale. That's, that's what the number has been reported originally by the Sports Business Journal. Eli has long said, I think it was on CNBC earlier this year, that there was one team that he was going to own a piece of. It was going to be the Giants. It's sort of a no brainer here that he's throwing his name in the hat to buy at least a piece of that 10%. Maybe not the full thing, but part of it for sure.
- [03:56]
Damian Sassauer
So talk to us a little bit, Randall. I mean what are the Giants valued at here? Is it something on the order of what, $8 billion? Is it some? I mean so, so 10%, 800 million? Like walk me through the numbers here. I mean like would Eli carry a substantial, you know, stake in the team? I mean would he have at least, you know, some sort of say in, in, in, in how the team is managed? What are your thoughts there?
- [04:17]
Randall Williams
I think a lot of it is to be determined. Like if you think about the way that the Miami Dolphins and, and Steven Ross were able to get to 8.1 billion and then Jeffrey Lurie and the Eagles got to 83 and New York is bigger than both of those cities. Just from the market perspective, I would imagine that the Giants would go for more than both of those teams or at least the stake would go for both of those teams. In regards to what Eli and, and his position is within the Giants is going to be, it really depends on what the Mares want it to be. I mean, the Giants obviously haven't had much success over the last decade and Eli surely could come in and provide some football analysis the same way that Tom Brady is doing For Mark Davis and the Las Vegas Raiders.
- [04:59]
Michael Barr
I was, I was just going to get into that because now if this goes through with Eli, he's going to have the same problem that Tom Brady had because both are technically in the booth. Well, of course, Tom Brady, we know he's in the booth, but Eli and his brother Peyton, they have the Monday night cast where it's still, they're broadcasting. Are they going to run into problems just like Tom Brady?
- [05:22]
Randall Williams
I'm not sure. I think that that's a good question and I think the NFL will definitely be meeting about it for if, if Eli, you know, if Eli's bid does go to the point where they have to approve it. I think that, you know, some of the people that they're talking to on the Manning cast aren't active players as well as, you know, the, the, the people that they're speaking about during the games or most of the time are playing. So I think it's a little different. But there might be some owners in the NFL who look at this and are like, absolutely not. I want similar rules on Manning is that there are on Brady. So we'll have to see in the months to come.
- [05:55]
Damian Sassauer
Well, Manning is obviously very close with both the Mara and the Tisch family. He's played for the team for 16 years. You know, Randall, do you think that when he goes to actually sign on the dotted line and take his stake in the team that he dresses like Chad Powers, puts on a big mustache, pretends like he's a walk on at Penn State University? No, I'm just. But no, I mean, let's switch gears a little bit. I mean, it's a great story, but you know, the real story for me, Michael Barr, the Washington Commanders, I mean, they are getting to play in their own stadium again. Talk just a little bit about that. Randall, what's the word?
- [06:21]
Randall Williams
I think that Josh Harris and what he has done with the team is simply remarkable. From, I mean, if you remember the state of the Commanders just three years ago, just the, the worry that other NFL owners that Roger Goodell had just because of Dan Snyder and then Josh Harris buys the team. They're not very good in year one. But then, you know, he, he, he commits to saying like, okay, we're going to get better. They draft Jaden Daniels, they hire Dan Coin, they put a good front office in place and you know, they have this miraculous season and you know, along the way there is stadium talks like that's the number one thing on his mind. The product on the field was Taking care of itself. But the stadium thing was not certain that he was going to be able to get RFK Stadium.
- [07:01]
Damian Sassauer
Not at all.
- [07:01]
Randall Williams
The fact that two years later he has. He has a deal is, is just insane.
- [07:06]
Damian Sassauer
Well, I mean, think about that, Randall. I mean, Josh Harris, I mean, you're absolutely right. Roger Goodell, I mean, they had written it off under the Snyder years. Roger Goodell. And I didn't even know this. He's been in D.C. he's been lobbying the government for what? Now, walk me through this, because I didn't understand. So the RFK site was controlled by the federal government and not DC and what needed to happen was it needed to change hands. Is that right?
- [07:28]
Jewel Lloyd
Yeah.
- [07:28]
Randall Williams
So in December, they voted to, I think was Congress voted to shift it from the federal government to D.C. and then Joe Biden, or former President Joe Biden signed it in on one of his last days in office. So this was miraculous that this happened. And then, of course, you have these months that come. It's some, you know, let's say 120 days later, and you have a deal. But you think about the way that other stadiums and, and teams and local governments have to make these deals. It normally doesn't happen this quick. The fact that, you know, the mayor is sitting there, you have Josh Harris, you have Roger Goodell, who are all committing the, you know, it's, it's 3.8. I'm sure it will get to $4 billion to a stadium. I'm. I'm astounded.
- [08:09]
Michael Barr
I think that what impressed me the most was, well, first of all, they came out with the statement, you know, they played until the mid-1990s at the old RFK, which, you know, old man Barr. I remember that, you know, ingrained in my head. And what impressed me, though, was here's Joe Theisman and he's making the announcement on the video. Hey, this is going to happen. And one of the things that he mentions is that, you know, we're talking about more than just a new stadium. We're talking about a food hall and all the other amenities.
- [08:47]
Randall Williams
Yeah, the way that the plan is right now, it'll be the second most expensive stadium ever, behind Sofi. And anyone who's been to Sofi. Sofi is a palace. And I think this stadium very well could be the exact same. I mean, what a lot of these owners are looking at is that if you get a new stadium, you put a dome on it, and now all of a sudden you can host the Super Bowl. And I can assure you that if slash, when this stadium gets built, it's 20, 25 today, 2035, there might be a Super bowl in Washington, D.C. well.
- [09:17]
Damian Sassauer
You know, Randall, now you're there, right? I mean, here's what I don't understand. Why only 65,000 in capacity, right? I mean, isn't East Rutherford, isn't MetLife 82,000, 83,000? I mean, you know, why not go for the, you know, Ann Arbor 100? I mean, like, are those things, do they not make financial sense? I guess I'm curious. Or is it a size, a spirit space issue? I mean, is it not big enough to handle that kind of size? I'm just, I'm wondering out loud here, Randall, any thoughts there?
- [09:40]
Randall Williams
I think it's more so a cost thing. I mean, you want to make sure that the money you're putting into it is, provides the best experience possible. And it isn't always a guarantee that the more people you have, the louder it is just because you're adding voices in there. It really depends on, like if you go to a Chiefs game at Arrowhead and you go to a Packers game, like it's. The environment of these stadiums is different because the culture of each team is different. In regards to the commanders, I think that when you put $4 billion or 3.8 or $3 billion into a stadium and it's going to put 65,000 and it's going to be a state of the art arena, I'm sure the fans when they get there are going to lose their mind, not only because of Jaden Daniels playing, but also because they have a $3 billion stadium.
- [10:23]
Michael Barr
I'm going to add an addendum to that and I think there is another reason why I'm from the old Detroit Lions era of the Pontiac Silver Gnome, and it had about almost 80, 90,000 seats and a maybe more than that. And a lot of times it didn't sell out, which means if it didn't sell out, you were not going to get local coverage. The game had to sell out for that to happen. And I'm wondering, you know, if you keep it down to 65,000, you could sell it out easier.
- [10:54]
Randall Williams
I think so too. But I think that when you have Jaden Daniels leading your team, based on his rookie season alone, I mean, God willing, he's going to be a superstar quarterback in the league for another 10, 15 years, but he's going to pack out that stadium regardless of what happens. I don't think they're going to have any trouble. And Josh Harris, I Mean, he's been a Wonderful owner for D.C. so if you, if, you know, things go awry in D.C. you trust you have an owner that you trust to build a team all over again. And, I mean, it's truly remarkable what he's done in, you know, 730 days.
- [11:25]
Damian Sassauer
Well, Randall. Yeah. One last thing for audience. I mean, let's crystallize this. I mean, the project is expected to create, get this, 2,000 permanent jobs, another 14,000 jobs during construction, and over 30 years, direct spending on the project may surpass $15 billion for the D.C. metro area. So, I mean, that's pretty unbelievable. And, and look, I mean, you're absolutely right. I mean, Josh Harris, you know, friend of the show, John Fasciatelli, I'm going to shout out to him. He's going to be busy here. Right. He used to run real estate for Josh Harris and, and, and Harris Blitzer. So, you know, I got to believe, you know, there's going to be a lot of contracts, a lot of people involved with this. It's going to be. It's going to be great for the city of D.C. right, Randall?
- [12:00]
Randall Williams
Yeah, I think so. I mean, the number one thing that the city of D.C. wants is a Super bowl, of course. So, you know, you get a Super bowl, you get a new stadium, and then you host a Super bowl. Every in D.C. is going to be losing their minds.
- [12:12]
Michael Barr
Yeah. And you mentioned about, I know we starting to run short of time, but you mentioned about Washington, D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser, and she's been pushing for this for, you know, a long time. And like you said, you know, it's. They, they could have lost the whole thing to Virginia, but they didn't. And good for them. I mean, because she really stepped up to the plate in this one. Forgive the pun.
- [12:37]
Randall Williams
Yeah, she did. I mean, Harris is committing, like 2.7 billion himself, or Harris and the commanders are committing, excuse me, committing 2.7 billion. Then you have the city of D.C. that has 1.1 billion. That's a lot of money. But if you think about it, from the percentages, that's roughly 75% commanders and 25% the people of D.C. and that's a good deal for a $4 billion stadium. A lot. If you think about what Chicago is doing and where the Chiefs are, and I'm sure there's going to be some other teams that are going to face stadium issues somewhere down the line. This is a great deal.
- [13:10]
Damian Sassauer
Yeah. The only thing I guess I could think about that might be a negative, but I mean, kudos to Harris. I mean, if there's anyone who could figure this out, it's him. But you know, all of the, the Washington, D.C. based office space right now with the government layoffs after post Doge, you know, I wonder if that'll, you know, maybe that means now's the time, right, to capitalize on the fact that real estate's cheap, right? So, you know, Josh Harris, man, kudos to the commanders, I mean, and Jaden Daniels, I can't wait to see him running. And, and I mean, Randall, I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the turf they were playing on, I forget the name of the stadium where they've been playing. Wasn't that like voted the worst to play on by NFL players like over the past three years or something? Crazy.
- [13:46]
Randall Williams
Yeah, I think it's Northwest Field or Northwest Stadium after it was renamed from FedEx Field. And it's never been popular. I mean, you think about some of the things that have happened there over the past couple of years. Jalen Hurts is walking into the locker room. The guardrail falls. You have the, the pipe that burst and the team said it was rainwater. The, the fans said it was sewage. Like that stadium is a dump. And they won't be there too much longer though.
- [14:07]
Michael Barr
I forgot all about the guardrail falling down, man. Yeah, that's. Oh my God. Yeah, you're right, man. Our thanks to Bloomberg US Sports Business reporter Randall Williams for joining us. Up next, we turn to the world of pickleball for Damien Sassauer. I'm Michael Barr. You're listening to the Bloomberg Business of sports from Bloomberg Radio around the world. The FIFA World Cup 26 is coming to North America next summer. It's the ultimate celebration of sports and culture and an opportunity to elevate your company. Get closer to where business meets the beautiful game with a premium hospitality package. Build partnerships in the best seats and suites. Achieve goals over world class food and beverage. Get closer to wins on and off the pitch. Register interest@hospitality.FIFA.com Interest Join Bloomberg in Houston or via livestream on November 4th for the future. Finding the Opportunities this 2025 event series will examine how companies are investing in their businesses to create efficiencies, innovating their products and services and improving the customer experience. This series is Presented by Invesco Q. Q. Q. Register@BloombergLive.com FutureInvestorHouston that's BloombergLive.com FutureInvestorHouston this is.
- [15:35]
Vanessa Perdomo
Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
- [15:39]
Michael Barr
This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports, where we explore the big money issues in the world of sports. I'm Michael Barr along with Vanessa Perdomo. Pickleball is one of the fastest growing sports, with major league pickleball driving around 50 million in revenue in 2024, not including revenue generated by individual teams. Here to talk to us more about the league and the growth of pickleball, we welcome Major league pickleball commissioner Samin Adwani. Samin, welcome to the Bloomberg Business of Sports.
- [16:11]
Samin Adwani
Appreciate you having me, man.
- [16:13]
Michael Barr
Tell you what, now see, here's old man Barr coming through and I know Vanessa's like, oh, God, what old story is he going to tell now? When pickleball first came out, I'm like, oh, that's cute. You know, this is a cute little sport. I don't know if it's going to pick up steam. And then pickleball said, shut up, bar. Because this thing just took off, like to the moon.
- [16:38]
Samin Adwani
That's right. That's right. I mean, in some part we've had a lot of success because so many people are playing. And the question was always, come on, is pro pickleball real? Like, are people really going to tune into this? And then like you said, we're sitting in this office and you clearly know about the sport. Vanessa clearly knows about the sport. I'm the commissioner of major league pickleball. So it's here. And I think more than anything else, it's come faster than any of us anticipated. And a big part of that has been the fact that we've had influencers and high profile people really lean in and kind of say, hey, we believe in this thing, too. I used to work for Kevin Durant. I convinced the guy to buy a pickleball team, and we actually had him out playing. He's not, you know, he might not love that I'm saying this. It's not very good, but he got it. He understood the sort of belief that, hey, it can have old people and young people and they can compete and have a chance to sort of showcase some of the things that they loved about team sports growing up.
- [17:37]
Guest Host/Interviewer (possibly Vanessa Perdomo or Damian Sassauer)
I mean, you mentioned KD, right? And then it's LeBron and it's Tom Brady. How does it happen that way? And is are all those profiles and all those people the reason why it's been able to grow so fast and sustain itself?
- [17:51]
Samin Adwani
I don't know if it's the driver of it growing. I think the real root of it growing is the amateurs playing and just the fact that you know, post Covid. For all intents and purposes, you know, pickleball didn't exist before the pandemic, and now it's sort of exploded into this.
- [18:04]
Guest Host/Interviewer (possibly Vanessa Perdomo or Damian Sassauer)
Thing that tell lots of gym classes. Okay, I had to play in high school.
- [18:10]
Randall Williams
No.
- [18:10]
Samin Adwani
And I think what's interesting and fun for us is the people that are leaning in kind of represent in some ways the diversity of the demographic that's playing. And so when you have Jewel Lloyd and Katie and Tom Brady and Gary Vaynerchuk all kind of believing in a thing, it's sort of representative of what's happening on the court where you can go out with your grandparent or the four of us can go play and within 10 minutes, like, we'd be having a nice competitive match.
- [18:33]
Damian Sassauer
Well, Samin, I'll tell you this. You know, just the fact that my country club up in Greenwich, Connecticut, Tamarack, is converting two of its tennis courts into pickleball just tells you everything you need to know. And I'm seeing it everywhere now. You know, riddle me this. You know, what needs to take place in order to get real buy in from the youth, from colleges, from the next generation so that we can kind of feed in to a professional pickleball league. What are you doing? What efforts are the Pickleball association making in order to make that happen?
- [19:00]
Samin Adwani
So for us, a big focus has been launching our junior PPA tour. And the thought there is, look, sometimes the universities and the ncaa, they're kind of like last movers. You gotta show them that there's a bunch of people that want to do this and then they'll sanction it, right? And they'll turn it into sort of a, a Division 1 sport. And so our focus was, look, we're kind of going faster than anyone anticipated. I mean, you know, in terms of growth and how quickly the sport is sort of taken up, you know, participation at the youth level. And so we said, let's launch the junior tour. And if it turns into, you know, varsity sports or it turns into an NCAA Division 1 sport, great. That's the outcome that we all want. But we're able to move at a pace that allows for us to be able to kind of own and operate that tournament. And these young kids, it's amazing, they're on their phones following their tour ranking points. Oh, I just beat my Riley 11 9. And I just jumped him in the rankings. It's amazing to see how into it they've become.
- [19:54]
Michael Barr
I'm amazed by how many big name investors and you were touching off on it earlier. Drake's also in it. The other Michael Jordan with a B in it, he's also there. There are a lot of key investors that have picked up in this sport and I just see it growing and growing.
- [20:15]
Samin Adwani
Yo, and the funny part is you go on Drake's Graham. He's posted about him playing pickleball. He plays, he plays at his place out in the Caribbean, which is unbelievable. Another really big players, Jamie Foxx. The guy has three courts in his backyard in la, hosts high level games. So I think it's one of those things again where like if you were young and competitive and you enjoyed that competitive spirit, this is kind of an outlet for you in a way to do that, you know, longer into your life.
- [20:43]
Damian Sassauer
Sameen, let me ask you this franchise valuation. You hear about all these stars, all these big high profile names that are investing in these pickleball teams, but in order to get to profitability, how are they thinking about this? How do you value a pickleball team? What goes into it? What's the pay like? Walk us through that.
- [21:01]
Samin Adwani
The players are earning over $30 million in aggregate to be a pro pickleball player. The average player makes north of 250,000. Some people say, well, that's not very good for your P and L. Okay, sure, but indulge me for a. What you're able to do when you allow them to earn that high of a living is they're able to do it full time. All of a sudden, our 150 professional players are able to host camps and clinics and do appearances and come out to 20, 25 tournaments a year. As we're traveling all around the country, the thesis was if we let these players do it full time, it in turn will benefit the pro game. So your valuations and franchise point, the unique structure with us is, is we operate kind of two distinct brands. We have major league pickleball, which is the team format, and then we have the PPA Tour, which is the tour format. Kind of like golf, tennis, etc. As an investor, you get both. So you get a chance to sort of have a part in the upside of pro pickleball as a whole. I think we're going to learn more and more. Is it the tour format that works? Is the team format that works? Is it both that work? And we get that one plus one equals three. But we're excited about the fact that people are all in on pro pickleball as an investor and they then get to see and partake in the parts of it that they enjoy. And like, from a financial perspective, I think we've benchmarked this as, look, there's 20 million people playing every other sport that has 20 million plus people playing golf, tennis, baseball, soccer, basketball, all have multibillion dollar sports properties that sit at the top. I genuinely believe if you were to sort of benchmark this off of that theory and say, hey, how do I just turn doers into viewers? I think pickleball could see itself as a having a ceiling as high as that.
- [22:43]
Guest Host/Interviewer (possibly Vanessa Perdomo or Damian Sassauer)
Really interesting. And I want to talk about the MLP and the pba. You just touched on it. It's the first year that they're coming to that you guys have come together and we'll have the whole season together. Tell us how it's going to be different than it was before.
- [22:55]
Samin Adwani
Yeah. So, you know, the thought last year was, let's just stand this thing up and get it going. Because there was a merger at the beginning of the year. The tours were kind of fighting and there was a tour wars, and we kind of came together literally a year today, actually. And so the thought was, look, there's some shared efficiencies in operating tutorials. Let's put them next to each other. Let's run the PPA one week and then sort of the MLP the week after in the same market. Turns out it was hard to squeeze that much juice, let's say, out of one city. There wasn't that much demand for it. So going into this year, we said, let's bifurcate the seasons. Let's put the tour and have it run fall, spring, you know, August to April. And then let's have MLP own this summer. Because as many people know in sports or who follow it closely, there's not a ton of competition in the summer for team sports. So MLP running April to August actually starts tomorrow. So a little shout out, little plug MLP Orlando kicks off then. It's exciting for us because we then get to build those storylines, build that momentum, and it culminates in the finals in New York City in Central Park. We hope that that condensed season will lend itself to a better viewership product so you can actually stay tuned versus that ebb and flow that we had last year.
- [24:04]
Michael Barr
See, and now I'm gonna mess with Vanessa's head. So this is, this is. I want to bring this conversation up. Could you see Vanessa as. Cause she played just big time soccer when she was at Duquesne. Well, now she's got a busted wheel.
- [24:21]
Guest Host/Interviewer (possibly Vanessa Perdomo or Damian Sassauer)
Yeah, Now I have a broken foot. But let's take that out of the equation.
- [24:25]
Michael Barr
Could Vanessa, could you see yourself playing pro pickleball? Because you're talking about a quarter of a million dollars a year, right?
- [24:34]
Guest Host/Interviewer (possibly Vanessa Perdomo or Damian Sassauer)
I mean, I'll try anything for a quarter million dollars a year. No, I mean, I think it's interesting because I actually, you know, we've done a story on this with our show Next in Sports, and I got to play with Annalee Waters, who's the number one player, 16 year old, you know.
- [24:46]
Damian Sassauer
At the time, playing with Andre Agassi next week.
- [24:48]
Guest Host/Interviewer (possibly Vanessa Perdomo or Damian Sassauer)
Yeah, she, I mean, kicked my butt. So we don't need another explicit there. She kicked my butt. But it was really interesting, you know, seeing someone her age decide to play pickleball instead of tennis. And I think that that's what we need to start seeing more.
- [25:03]
Michael Barr
Right.
- [25:03]
Guest Host/Interviewer (possibly Vanessa Perdomo or Damian Sassauer)
It's the junior players, like you were saying before, they need to pick up pickleball instead of tennis because it is a different sport. And, you know, I think once that is, they see the way. But she, she's leading the way already and she's making really good money. So I, I personally probably couldn't do it now, but maybe a couple years ago, if I started before my 30s, I probably could have.
- [25:26]
Damian Sassauer
Well, Samin, let me ask you this. Annalee Waters, it's rumored she made somewhere on the order of $3 million last year. Right. And now she's taken, smartly, Andre Agassi as her doubles partner. Right. And so talk to us about more of that, about the integration of tennis and pickleball and how that can kind of fuel, you know, all of this interest going forward.
- [25:45]
Samin Adwani
Yeah, I think to date it's been a little bit of like a mini rivalry. Right. Tennis people are like, oh, I don't know about pickleball. Pickleball people are like, let us play on your courts. Come on.
- [25:53]
Vanessa Perdomo
No one can.
- [25:56]
Samin Adwani
That's like a really naive view to take because it could be super synergistic. Just think, no farther than where we are today. The US Open facility is effectively empty 49 weeks out of the year. The idea that we could bring pickleball to that event. Excuse me, that venue, and sort of participate in everything that's amazing that they've built with the stadiums and the facilities and all of that great stuff. I do think there's a long term opportunity for us to be synergistic. And even tomorrow, when our season kicks off in Orlando, we're at the USTA national center in Orlando, they've built eight to ten permanent pickleball courts. And so I do believe that we need to get better at sort of being more synergistic versus having this sort of pseudo rivalry. To your point about this, tennis stars Jeannie Bouchard, Jack Sock, Donald Young, Andre Agassi have all kind of come over to pickleball and are playing full time. And someone like Andre is sort of extending his competitive career, which is great. And him getting to pair with Annalee Waters, I think they're just doing it for this one tournament because I'm sure Annalee couldn't probably drag him to the gold, you know, like she can in some of our other tournaments. But for this one, it should be really exciting.
- [26:59]
Michael Barr
Now, one thing about pickleball that I like, if you want to buy a team, you want to try to buy an NFL team, good luck, because unless you have Damian Sassauer money, it ain't going to happen. But you could buy a team for about $10 million, which is very reasonable.
- [27:15]
Samin Adwani
Yeah. And I do think that's been a big reason why we've seen some investors really kind of lean in. Because like you said, it's what the Celtics sold for $6.1 billion. I mean, how many people have 6.1 ready to dish out for a sports franchise? And so if you go downstream now you're talking about nwsl, wnba, Major league pickleball, and the asset allocation and the dollars that you have to put towards it is a bit more reasonable. And, oh, by the way, the asset class of sports, as you guys know well, is super high. I think the other part for us that's been attractive for investors like Drake and Michael B. Jordan, it's asset light. You don't need to do a ton. We take on a lot of the operating. We sign the players. You get to do the fun stuff. You get to be gm, coach. Oh, hey, I want to pick up this player. I'm going to go for Analie Waters in the draft. And you get to kind of be the hype person and sell sponsorship and market the team that you want. And I do think that's kind of made it a little bit of a nicer on ramp for those that are kind of coming into sports.
- [28:12]
Michael Barr
Thanks to Samin Adwani, commissioner of Major League pickleball. Up next, we turn to the WNBA and speak with Las Vegas ASUS guard Jewel Lloyd about her business venture, Lloyd and Company. For Vanessa Perdomo. I'm Michael Barr. You're listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio. Around the world.
- [28:34]
Samin Adwani
There are two kinds of people in the world People who think about climate change and people who are doing something about it. On the Zero podcast we talk to both kinds of people. People you've heard of like Bill Gates.
- [28:45]
Jewel Lloyd
I'm looking at what the world has.
- [28:47]
Damian Sassauer
To do to get to zero, not.
- [28:50]
Tom Keene
Using climate as a moral crusade and.
- [28:52]
Samin Adwani
The creative minds you haven't heard of yet. It is serious stuff, but never doom and gloom. I am Akshay Tarati. Listen to Zero every Thursday from Bloomberg Podcasts on Apple, Spotify or anywhere else you get your podcasts.
- [29:05]
Vanessa Perdomo
This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Rad.
- [29:11]
Michael Barr
Thanks for joining us on the Bloomberg Business of Sports where we explore the big money issues in the world of sports. I'm Michael Barr along with Damien Sassower and Vanessa Perdomo. Jewel Lloyd has plenty of success on the basketball court as a two time WNBA champion winning guard for the Las Vegas Aces. She also co founded a conviction based financial Firm, Lloyd & Co. And she's here now to talk to us about the venture and her career in business. Jewel Lloyd, welcome to the Bloomberg Business of sports. Co founder of Lloyd & Co. And you have something that I really think is very cool and it's what you started a business and I wonder why it took so long. It's called help with my loan. Can you explain what that's all about?
- [30:03]
Jewel Lloyd
Yeah, honestly, the whole idea and the concept really came about when I was actually trying to get a loan for myself to buy a home. And I realized how hard and the struggle I was to really do that. And the concept of just knowing, you know, that I, you know, who I was and you know, having just a difficult time, people looked at me and said like, are you old enough to buy a home? Like you want to buy a home? And you know, like, do you want to buy a home in the suburbs? Like, like what have you do? Like what do you do? What do your parents do? And all the questions I was like, why is it this hard? I don't understand. Like, I have the money, I have, you know, I want to buy my first home. Like, why are you making this so difficult? And so after going through that process, I called my brother. I'm like this, there has to be a better way for people, not just me, but for a lot of people to find ways to live their dreams, get their dreams, start their dreams. There has to be so kind of looking to that concept and understanding that we were able to to acquire help with my loans. And basically it's a, it's a fintech platform which makes it a really Easy small business to access capital and on a scale. So by doing that, you're already seeing the change of understanding how to acquire ownership. But also I think the best thing about it is that you're never going to hear no. And that's something that I love to hear because so many times people go in to try to start reality and the rally hits that you're not going to be able to get that loan. Sometimes you can't even get meetings to actually even acquire the understanding of what that is. And so having held my loans has really changed a lot. And the fact that we're able to bring it to Chicago and have people work and give opportunities to, you know, people who can't find jobs or want to get into the fintech world, it's been a really great and amazing opportunity.
- [31:48]
Guest Host/Interviewer (possibly Vanessa Perdomo or Damian Sassauer)
Joel, I love that story because obviously that has that personal aspect to it. You know, you have that personal connection to it. And that's the whole idea right behind starting a family office. Right. And because you, you have the financial side of it, but you really have your own personal ethos that you're able to put into it. It's not just about making money, it's about what you want it to be. So tell us more about the ethos and the mission behind Lloyd and Company.
- [32:12]
Jewel Lloyd
Yeah, Lloyd and Company, my brother and I started together and really it's not about money. It's really about the impact, healing and ownership. I think our mission is to really help families, founders communities build generational power and aligning that with capital and purpose. And so that's kind of been our mission and that's really what it's all about. And that's how we were raised. That's how we go about our thing. And I think that when you don't make it about the actual tangible money aspect, you actually make it about impact. It really actually changes your mindset because now you're affecting the hearts and minds of people, not just the financial statement.
- [32:44]
Damian Sassauer
Vanessa, did you know Jewel is a pro pickleball player? Did you know that? And by the way, she's also an investor in the Miami pickleball club. And you know, maybe Jewel, I can ask you this. Why do pickleball players get paid more than WNBA athletes? I mean, talk to us a little bit about what is going wrong in the WNBA right now and how we're going to change that.
- [33:02]
Jewel Lloyd
You know, I kind of have a different mindset of that and I question and I love pickleball. Yes. Being an owner, being a part of the ownership Group in Miami. Pickleball league has been amazing, fantastic. I love the sport. I think it's super dynamic. I think it's just a cool way to just meet people, but also it's very inclusive. And I think that's been the biggest shift is obviously, Covid helped a lot, too.
- [33:23]
Samin Adwani
Right.
- [33:23]
Jewel Lloyd
It got really boomed after that. But I think that's a big shift. And, yes, the money is a little different, but I also think it's just different opportunities as well. You know, you could play all year round. It's. It's. It's now. It's international. So I think that just has a lot of more eyes on it. But compared to wba, like, we're. We're right where we're supposed to be. The shift is happening, and the league's getting better. The marketing is coming around, and so it's just opportunity, you know, I don't see one better than the other, honestly. I mean, I play both. I love both sports. I love both communities, both organizations, the business experts of both. And both companies are honestly in the go stage. So it's cool to see different trajectories on both, because as a business person, you want to see that, like, what's the shift? Like, what's the wave? Like, what's going on? And that's kind of how I look at both leagues.
- [34:05]
Damian Sassauer
Well, Jewel, let me ask you this, then. What's the pickleball competition like in Las Vegas? I mean, you just moved from Seattle. I mean, talk to us a little bit about what we have in store for the Las Vegas Aces this year.
- [34:15]
Jewel Lloyd
Yeah, no, I'm super excited to be here in Vegas. I haven't spent that much time actually in Vegas besides just playing here as a visitor. So now being set and having a home base here has been really awesome. And, you know, I have a pickleball place, Chicken and pickle, not too far from where I stay. So I always drive by, like, scoping out the competition, like, who's over there today? Like, you know, I'm kind of always curious about that. But, no, I think all in all, it's a fresh new start for me and my career. Yeah. Off and on the court. So I'm super excited. I'm ready to really embrace this community.
- [34:46]
Michael Barr
I want to talk about a disability that you are helping to bring attention to. And I had no idea until. Until I was reading this that you have dyslexia and you are working hard to improve lives of children who have learning disabilities like that. Tell us about that, about the dyslexic. Advantage and Eye to Eye.
- [35:08]
Jewel Lloyd
Yeah, you know, it's. I guess growing up, you don't really. You didn't really talk about it. Having a learning disability was kind of like a quote unquote, bad thing. Right. It was like a stigma, and we didn't really know what it was and talk about it. Definitely not in sports. It wasn't really brought up. And, you know, for me, not having someone who necessarily looked like me or had the same struggles I had, it was just like I felt like I was the only one. I felt like, oh, my gosh. Right. And so as you kind of go through your journey, you realize that the more you share your story, the more it actually helps you heal it and then also impact people around it. And so it's been fascinating to find, you know, working with Eye to Eye and bringing more awareness to it, but finding other ways to learn, understanding that everyone is one of one and everyone's special. And having, you know, a disability doesn't stop you from being who you are or being a human. I think that's really important, definitely, because as an athlete, people sometimes only see you as an athlete. They forget that you're human, that you have daily struggles, issues, concerns, feelings, all those things. And so this kind of allowed me to find another way to be vulnerable with my fans and find different communities to really embrace me and my story and my journey.
- [36:15]
Guest Host/Interviewer (possibly Vanessa Perdomo or Damian Sassauer)
That's great. I mean, clearly you're doing a lot there in that space. And again, what you're doing with. With your family office as well, really balancing the personal and, you know, your career as well. I have to talk. We had. We talked about Pickle. We talked a little about the W. We're going to get to it a little bit more. But speaking of other leagues, we had to talk about unrivaled. It just wrapped up the, you know, the inaugural season you played in. It is one of the first, you know, times we're really seeing a league like this off season in the US You've played overseas in Turkey, Spain and China. Tell us about playing off season in the US and just the experience that unrivaled.
- [36:55]
Jewel Lloyd
No, it's definitely a great experience. You know, obviously, being stateside helps a lot. Just from family, your lifestyle. It's, you know, you're familiar with it. I think that makes it a lot more comfortable. And I think that was really cool about arrival is that you actually were being able to be an owner. I'm really big on that. Obviously, that's why we're here talking about Business and sports. Right. But I love that aspect because I love ownership and understanding how that works and understanding the other side of how to really grow something from the ground up. And so you have that mindset on top of playing with some of the great players in the world. I brought a different atmosphere, different fan group. It's a little bit different, obviously, playing three round, three full court, but it was fun and obviously everyone got through the season healthy and it was really cool. So it's really, you know, I think it's dynamic and it definitely sparked a lot of conversation around women's sports jewel.
- [37:43]
Damian Sassauer
I know you hate hearing about it by now, but Caitlin Clark, Paige Beckers, the new crop of talent that's coming into the wnba, save nothing for the Lloyd Stewart Bird championship core that, you know, rounded Seattle for all those years. But, you know, talk to us a little bit about, you know, the transition, about the evolution of this new generation of talent and, you know, what are your thoughts as we kind of enter, you know, into this sort of year two or whatever we're in now of Caitlin Clark and what can fans expect here?
- [38:10]
Jewel Lloyd
No, I mean, this new generation of basketball players, it's awesome. It really is. If you're a fan of basketball in any capacity, you love this. This is what you want to see. It's just the growth of the game, the growth of players, confidence movement, the strategy of coaching, the schemes, all things, it's just remarkable. And that's what we want. And so I love basketball. I love watching even my nephew who you know is like 11, I go and watch this game, I'm like blown away, right? So it's like all totality of basketball is really good. And so to have anything that's as new, fresh, new drama, new storylines, that's what, that's what really pushes sports and that's what people want. And so it's been really great to just see that. And, you know, I'm really excited for the women's game and even college, you know, I think it starts there too. It's been a shift in women's sports there too, and, and so many great athletes are putting in the work and time to just work on their craft.
- [39:01]
Michael Barr
And you are also the franchise owner of a Smoothie King, which we all know manufactures tires.
- [39:07]
Damian Sassauer
There we go.
- [39:09]
Michael Barr
What is it like when you are a franchise owner trying to make it in today's world?
- [39:16]
Jewel Lloyd
You know, for me, it's really about the people. I really value the people. So going to Smoothie King and seeing my staff and all those things I'm like, this is awesome. You know, I love smoothies. So it kind of worked out too. It's a healthy lifestyle, so it is.
- [39:30]
Damian Sassauer
Michael Barr.
- [39:32]
Samin Adwani
Yeah.
- [39:32]
Jewel Lloyd
You know, I understand the business, I understand the smoothie, I understand location. So I'm like, why not, right? And so having that mindset has been great and it's something I really enjoy and it's really for the community. I really got involved because it was right where I grew up. It's really local and I'm able to work with the school, Bridges School, which is probably 10 minutes away from the Smoothie King. So kids with, and people with learning disabilities and they come and work at Smoothie King. So it's just, it's just so like heartwarming and all awesome that I'm able to give back and also provide a service and business to the community. So I love, I love the whole aspect and that's actually why I also bought a farm. The same reason. Like, it's just like, I just love having that two combination combo of learning the business, helping the community, giving back and then actually like trying to leave a legacy behind it.
- [40:16]
Michael Barr
See, here's your, here's your logo. I got it for you. Vanessa. If like me, you want a ring, just come on down to Smoothie King. Woo.
- [40:27]
Guest Host/Interviewer (possibly Vanessa Perdomo or Damian Sassauer)
Bars, Michael Barr.
- [40:29]
Jewel Lloyd
I love the bars.
- [40:30]
Michael Barr
Just call me Darren Stephens. That's all right. That's good.
- [40:34]
Jewel Lloyd
No, I like, I like that. We'll get on our shirt and we'll sell it and get some proceeds for it.
- [40:40]
Michael Barr
Jewel Lloyd, co founder of Lloyd and company and oh yeah, she's a two time WNBA champion and oh yeah, she has won three times the All WNBA and six time All Star and also 20, 2015 rookie of the year gold medalist also. Yeah, you know a few of those. She knows what she's doing. Chill. Thank you so much.
- [41:05]
Jewel Lloyd
No, I appreciate it guys. No, this has been a blast. I really do appreciate the time and you know, we'll, we'll check in in a couple, six months to see the update. So we'll, we'll ride it out here.
- [41:14]
Michael Barr
And hey, thank you for my colleagues Damien Sassauer and Vanessa Perdomo. I'm Michael Barr. Now if you missed any of our conversation today, listen on demand with the Bloomberg Business of Sports podcast. Subscribe now on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an episode. Tune in again next week for the latest on the stories moving big old money in the world of sports. You're listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio. Around the world foreign.
- [41:54]
Tom Keene
This is Tom Keene inviting you to join me for the Bloomberg Surveillance Podcast. It's about making you smarter each and every business day. We bring you a recap of what happened overnight in Europe and Asia, the day's economic data and complete coverage of the US Market open. We covered stocks, bonds, commodities, currencies, even crypto. All the information you need to excel. Bloomberg Surveillance also brings you the analysis behind the headlines. We do that with lengthy conversations with our expert guests, the smartest names in economics, finance, investment and international relations. We do all this live each and every weekday, then bring you the best analysis in our daily podcast search for Bloomberg surveillance on YouTube, Apple, Spotify or anywhere else you listen on the east coast, listen at lunch and on the west coast when you wake up. That's the Bloomberg Surveillance Podcast with me, Tom Keene, along with Paul Sweeney and Lisa Mateo. Subscribe today wherever you get your podcasts.