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Bloomberg Business of Sports
Indy 500, The 'Double', First Women's Sports Franchise to Hit $1 Billion
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- [00:00]
Capital One Announcer
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Katherine Legg
the business of sports.
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Capital One Announcer
Our aim is always to leverage the
- [02:06]
Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
global appeal of football.
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Doug Boles
Having representation in college sports is even more important than pro. 10% of Americans now claim soccer to be their favorite sport.
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Katherine Legg
We estimate the youth sports audience has
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Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
$3 trillion in spending power.
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Doug Boles
The nature of baseball is it is worldwide and it I'm very happy for
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Michael Barr
the WNBA and how the NBA has embraced them.
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Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
Sportsbooks are not going anywhere and sports
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Doug Boles
betting is only growing.
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Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
We have a super team running this
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league and this league is here and it's here to stay.
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Cincinnati Insurance Announcer
Bloomberg Business of Sports From Bloomberg Radio,
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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.
- [02:46]
Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
I'm Vanessa Perdomo Maglione.
- [02:48]
Randall Williams
And I'm Randall Williams.
- [02:49]
Michael Barr
Coming up, we'll talk about the big racing weekend with the Indy 500, the Canadian Grand Prix and the Coca Cola 601 driver who is looking to make history by being the first woman to attempt the racing double. But the racing world is still in shock and saddened by the news that two time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch has died at age 41. Busch's family said that he was hospitalized just days before he was to compete at Charlotte Motor Speedway with a severe illness. The NASCAR family, including Richard Childress Racing and NASCAR issued a joint statement saying Busch was a rare talent and a future hall of famer who will be deeply missed.
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Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
And then later on we are going to speak to the president of the first billion dollar women's sports franchise in history. That's straight ahead on the Bloomberg Business of Sports.
- [03:38]
Randall Williams
But first, let's tap into arguably the center of racing in May and also the hometown of my fiance, Indianapolis. We are joined by IndyCar President Doug Boles who is going to give us some Insight on the 110th running of the Indianapolis 500.
- [03:53]
Michael Barr
Doug, welcome to the Bloomberg Business of Sports.
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Doug Boles
Well, thanks for having me. And it is, it is a great day, great weekend coming up when you get to see all kinds of racing around the globe. And for us gearheads, it is a pretty special day.
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Michael Barr
Now I know obviously the big one you got the Indy 500 this year is a little different because we motorheads and gearheads, we were used to having Monaco early in the morning, then we would go to Indy and then we would go to the Coca Cola 600. But now that we have the Canadian Grand Prix weaved in there, you know, it's a little bit of a viewing thing. But of course, the big one is the Indy 500. Tell us more about the 110th running. My gosh, 110th running of the Indianapolis 500.
- [04:41]
Doug Boles
You know, it's pretty funny you say 110th running every time we say it. I find it hard to believe that we're at 110 runnings of this amazing, amazing race. You know, it started in 1911. And you know, you think about the reason this place was built was to test, you know, the new technology of the day. And it was really about business. You know, it's about growing the automotive industry and certainly in Indiana, but in the US as much as anything. And it's turned in to be a huge economic driver for the state of Indiana. It's over a Billion dollars of economic impact this facility and in part this race put on and this year 110 runnings and we're going to sell out the grandstands. I have sold out the grandstands this year though. There literally will be over 350,000 people on property, second largest city in the state of Indiana, right here in the racetrack on race day. It's been a pretty great year and we're just excited to just continue to keep the engine that drives at least motorsport on the IndyCar side, keep that thing running smoothly and hopefully we have a great race.
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Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
It is something so cool about motorsports that 350,000 fans can all gather together. I mean that's so unique to racing. Doug, tell me about how you guys have done this with the grandstands. Now this is the second year in a row that it's sold out, but last year marked the first time that it happened since 2016. What were you able to do to heighten attendance over these last few years?
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Doug Boles
Well, at the end of the day it really comes down to just our fans passion for the sport and the passion for the speedway. They just continue to come back and more importantly they continue to bring people back. But really over the last call it 15 years as we were leading into the hundredth running of the Indianapolis 500, we sort of changed the way that we market. For a long period of time, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indy 500 didn't really do a lot of marketing or promotion. They just opened the gates up and people just continued to come back. And I think we view it as a 365 day a year job to make sure people know that this event is taking place. And frankly the strength of the IndyCar Series that runs the seven to 18 races this year, 16 of them outside of this market. The IndyCar Series health and momentum has really helped also drive the excitement for the Indy 500. So for a period of time, the event, the 500 and maybe the series didn't work directly together. And I think now we found a way to just help each other, the series and the speedway grow. So I think it's a combination of things. But at the end of the day it's really about the fans passion for Memorial Day weekend Sunday showing up at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for an Indy 500.
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Randall Williams
So we mentioned the Indianapolis 500 grandstand selling out. I have a culture question for you because it seems like racing culture has never been bigger in America. Specifically even outside of IndyCar. You think about F1, you think about NASCAR and Chicago Street Race. And I wonder if you have felt the culture of racing in America shift over the last few years.
- [07:38]
Doug Boles
You know, definitely. And I think one of the fears that sport in general had, but certainly motorsport, live events had, was none of us really knew what sport would look like on the backside of 2020. And there was some concern that when we get back out of 2020, that people will be so used to doing everything at home that live events would. Would be a thing of the past or at least struggle. And we found that that's right. Really been the opposite. And so we've really focused on, you know, how do you make that experience at a live event that you can't get when you're at home? So it's really important for us to focus on that live event. And then I. The one thing I've seen that's really changed the culture around here as much as anything is just youth. Seeing young people, young adults who are embracing live events, where prior to 2020, it just felt a lot older in terms of the people in the, in the grandstands and the people that were around here so focused on youth, has really, you know, has really changed the way that sport and in particular racing operates.
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Michael Barr
Last year was the first year of the media rights agreement between Fox and IndyCar. Once again this year it will air on Fox. Take us over the year to year ratings for IndyCar. I know they had to be up big time.
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Doug Boles
Yeah, Our ratings in 2025 versus previous years were significantly up across the board. We had some record, record highs in certain events. The Indy 500, for example, had the highest rating that it's had in a couple of decades. In fact, for the first time since the early 2000s, the Indy 500 was the most watched motorsport event in America, even more than the Daytona 500, which is something that we hadn't seen in, like I said, a couple of decades. So that was. The growth has been pretty strong. What really was strong though, and I think what we're most encouraged about was our growth in, in the 18 to 34 category. One of the things that motorsport in general has struggled with was how do you gain the momentum in that youth category, in that young adult category? You know, part of it may be because of drive to survive in Formula one and people getting interested in the personalities behind the sport. So I think that set a great foundation or jumping off platform for many of us. But what we were encouraged with the most is not necessarily that all of the ratings were up. But then in that critical 18 to 34 age group, our ratings were significantly better. And we've seen the same thing this year. We've come out of the box with a new schedule where the IndyCar Series started three races in a row last year. We had big gaps between it. That's helped drive some significant ratings, you know, almost 30% up as we go into this year's Indianapolis 500 just with really strong, strong events. And again, that. That young market tends to be helping help and drive that for us.
- [10:21]
Michael Barr
We're talking with Doug bowles, president of IndyCar and this year's grand marshal of the 500, Kaitlin Clark. Gee, I wonder who she is. Tell us more about that.
- [10:33]
Doug Boles
It's funny, you know, when the Fever drafted Caitlin Clark, it didn't take but maybe 30 seconds for race fans to be saying, hey, you got to get Caitlin Clark to the Indianapolis 500. She needs to drive the pace car, she needs to wave the green flag, all those different things. And we have such a great relationship with Pacer Sports and Entertainment, who own the Fever. And together we just decided that the most important thing Caitlin Clark could do is just get acclimated to the WNBA and certainly the Fever. And her main job was to go win games with the Fever. So we agreed together to just let her get used to playing for the Fever and let the Fever really establish the relationship with her. So we've stayed in touch over the last couple of years. So this is the first year where I think we've, we and the Pacers folks felt it was the right time to bring her out here. So it's exciting to have her, you know, and the other place where we're excited to have coach Kurt Signetti, you know, the IU national championship football team is going to drive the pace car. So having both of those huge profile sports figures part of our event is really special. But finally getting Caitlin here, I know for a lot of our fans is a really big deal. So we're looking forward to hosting her on Sunday.
- [11:44]
Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
I mean, talk about gaining fans, you know, with the 1834 year old, I'm sure she's going to help out with that as well. You know, she's really, really popular. Doug, one of the other things I wanted to talk about when we were talking about, you know, the Fox and how they've come in and done with the meteorites, but also last year they acquired one third of Penn State Entertainment, which includes an E car and the Indianapolis Winter Speedway. Can you tell us about the strategy behind that? Bringing them on as a partner in that way.
- [12:08]
Doug Boles
Yeah, it's an interesting one. You know, we were excited to have them as a broadcast partner. And they obviously, we just talked about the numbers and just the promotional strength that they've brought to the brand, to the, to the NTT IndyCar series as well as to some of our drivers, you know, beginning to build them into superstars. Whether it's Pato Award or Alex Palou or Joseph Newgarden. It really makes a lot of sense there. And then about a half, halfway through the season last year, the folks at Fox and Penske Entertainment said, is there a way that, you know, this relationship could be even stronger? And that's, that's really where, where the minority ownership component came. Obviously, Roger Pinsky doesn't need an owner. Wasn't our partner, wasn't looking for one, but this one felt natural. And so we got to a point where, where it made sense. What I can tell you has changed the most for us with that we're great operators. We are at Penske Entertainment. We're great at putting on events, we're great at building things. We're okay at marketing, but what we aren't is, what we aren't is great at marketing. And that's where I think you bring somebody like Fox in and they're in the boardroom now with us, you can have conversations with them that you wouldn't, you might not have with just a traditional television broadcast partner. And I can tell you that our team is on the phone with somebody from Fox every day. Not just talking about the broadcast side, but how do we grow the sport? The number of times that I'm talking to Eric Shanks, the president of Fox or our team is about ideas and ways to get creative to grow the sport. That's where I think you'll see the long term benefit of the relationship is just that they, they look at events through a different lens. We look through it primarily, you know, operating and putting on a great event and then sort of marketing it. They look at market everything and then sort of put on the event. So when you marry those two together, I think we're going to, we're going to be really strong and that's just going to continue to allow the sport to grow.
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Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
That was IndyCar President Doug Bolz.
- [13:58]
Michael Barr
Up next, you'll hear our interview with Kathryn Legge, who is going to be the first woman to attempt the racing double this weekend. We spoke with Kathryn before the news about Kyle Busch. That is straight ahead on the Bloomberg Business of Sports for Vanessa Perdomo Maglione and Randall Williams. I'm Michael Barr. You're listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports Bloomberg Radio around the world
- [14:23]
Katherine Legg
brought
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Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
to you by the Capital One Savor Card. With the Capital One Savor Card, you earn unlimited 3% cash back at grocery stores and on dining, entertainment and popular streaming services.
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Katherine Legg
That's unlimited cash back on ordering takeout
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Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
from home or unlimited cash back on tickets to concerts and games. So grab a bite, grab a seat and earn unlimited 3% cash back on food and fun with the Capital One Saver Card. Capital One what's in your wallet? Terms apply. See capitalone.com for details.
- [14:53]
IBM Representative
The thing about AI for business it may not automatically fit the way your business works. At IBM, we've seen this firsthand. But by embedding AI across hr, IT and procurement processes, we've reduced costs by millions, slash repetitive tasks, and freed thousands of hours for strategic work. Now we're helping companies get smarter by putting AI where it actually pays off, deep in the work that moves the business. Let's create smarter Business.
- [15:22]
Chase for Business Announcer
IBM Running a small business takes everything you've got. But with Chase for Business, you're not alone. They bring together local support and a broad range of resources to more than 7 million customers with a deep understanding of your day to day needs. They provide products and guidance built to help you thrive right now. Earn $500 when you open a new Chase Business Complete Checking Account for new business checking customers with qualifying activities. Offer expires June 18, 2026. Chase business complete Checking has the flexible tools you need to accept payments, make deposits and manage your finances with confidence. Learn more@chase.com PodcastBizOffer Chase make more of what's yours Fees may apply to Chase Business Complete checking accounts. The $500 offer is available for new business checking accounts with qualifying activities through June 18, 2026. Eligibility and qualification requirements must be met. Additional restrictions may apply. Please speak with a business banker for more information. JPMorgan Chase Bank NA member FDIC this
- [16:24]
Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
- [16:29]
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.
- [16:35]
Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
I'm Vanessa Perdot Maglion.
- [16:36]
Randall Williams
And I'm Randall Williams.
- [16:38]
Michael Barr
We are talking about racing today ahead of one of the biggest race weekends of the year, the Indianapolis 500. We are joined now by Katherine Legg, who will be racing in her fifth Indianapolis 500 this weekend.
- [16:52]
Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
But Michael, she won't just be running the Indy 500. She's going to be attempting the double by racing the Indy 500 and then heading to North Carolina to race in the Coca Cola 600 on the same day.
- [17:03]
Randall Williams
Kaplan will be the first woman to ever attempt a double, which has only been attempted by five drivers in history and only completed once.
- [17:11]
Michael Barr
Kathryn Legg joins us now to talk about the historic feat. Kathryn, welcome to the Bloomberg Business of sports. You are about to make history.
- [17:20]
Katherine Legg
Yeah, crazy, right? When they said, did I want to run the double? I mean, doing one or the other is a huge deal in itself. You know, not many people get the opportunity to be part of the Indy 500, let alone five times. And then not many people get to race in NASCAR cup, let alone do the Coke 600. And so the opportunity to do either would have been huge in and itself. But then they said, why don't we do both on the same day and do the double like Kyle Larson did? And I was like, why not? That sounds great. And then after I committed to it, I was thinking about it, and I was thinking, oh, that's quite a lot. What I've let myself in for. Why. Why did I say yes to this? But I honestly think it's going to be an epic, awesome day that, you know, I share with my partners in Elf cosmetics. GM and Chevrolet have been wonderful trying to get everything set up. And I'm obviously in a. In a Chevy on both the indie side and the NASCAR side. And then we've got the new Air Club, who are, like, doing all the logistics of getting me from one place to the other. And so it's kind of like an adventure. It's kind of like Catherine's own Amazing Race.
- [18:37]
Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
No, it really is. I feel like it has to be. And that's why I want to talk a little bit about. Can you give us a little bit more of the detail for people who don't know all of the logistics that go behind that. How. How does your day look on Sunday?
- [18:50]
Katherine Legg
Oh, goodness. So I actually said to them, oh, hey, you know, don't tell me. Just tell me where I got to be. I don't want to stress about it. I'm gonna be fine. And then literally a couple of hours later, I was like, hey, how are we getting to the helicopter? How are we doing this? And so, knowing me and my OCD kind of control freaky ways, they gave me all the details. And so we're very fortunate that we have new Air Club on board, and they're helping us to organize golf carts to, obviously, GM vehicles. We have Chevy truck ready to take me from the golf cart to the Helicopter to the plane to the helicopter to the go cart to, to drive it in. Yeah.
- [19:34]
Doug Boles
So when did I know we haven't
- [19:36]
Katherine Legg
got like a food part?
- [19:38]
Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
I was just going to ask, when do you eat? I was just going to ask that.
- [19:43]
Katherine Legg
There's a training facility in Indiana, in Charlotte, called pitfit, and they specialize in race car drivers and pit crew and things like that. And I've been working with them on and off for 20 years, my career. And I texted Jim Leo, the owner, and I was like, hey, what do I do here? Is it like when I go to the Iron man and I'm gonna do goos and gummies and that kind of thing, baby food even, but I have to decide what I want to eat on the plane in between. So like a recovery meal and you get out the car and you feel physically sick, right? Because all the G force and the heat and everything else. So it's got to be something that's gentle on my stomach. I'm gonna have an IV and the plane and so yeah, lots of, lots of moving parts.
- [20:29]
Randall Williams
So you mentioned the GS that you feel in a race car. And I was in Vegas a couple years ago and rode in one. And I don't understand how you all do this, but I do wonder physically, is there a difference that you feel between the Indy car and a nascar?
- [20:44]
Katherine Legg
Yeah, absolutely. Very different class. It's almost like a different sport.
- [20:48]
Michael Barr
Wow.
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Katherine Legg
So the IndyCar your sat relatively horizontally in the car. Your feet are at the same level as your bum, basically, and it's all core and upper body because you're not using the brakes or, you know, it's, it's hard on you, the steering's heavy, it's hard on your shoulders, hard on your chest, forearms. Because of the like, the repetitive nature of it. It's not really heavy doing it once, but when you have to do 500 miles worth, then it becomes like you're doing it a thousand times, right. And I just, it just takes it out of you. And then you get in the NASCAR and it's hot, it's over 130 degrees and you're fighting with the car and it's moving around and the center pressure is heavy and it's rolling around and you're, you've got tire degradation and all these things. So it's like two totally different sports. And the. I think the NASCAR will be the one that wears you out in terms of. Heart rate will be higher, but it's less strength based. So I just need to, I Need to start carving up yesterday really.
- [21:56]
Michael Barr
We're talking with Katherine Legg, race car driver, competing with AJ Ford Racing in the Indianapolis 500. And I want people to understand this is, forgive me for putting it this way, this is a dangerous business. It is. Katherine, you are currently 27th on the grid. You qualified at 229.456 miles an hour. That's about five miles faster than what they do on i80 here in New Jersey. But the thing that puts it in my mind is that this past week we had a big practice crash. Alex Rossi, Pedo Award and Romain Grosjean. It was a clean week up until that. Take us through what it's like to compete in Indianapolis racing, especially with the man on the pole, Alex, blue 232.24 miles an hour on the pole. This, this is dangerous, folks.
- [23:03]
Katherine Legg
Yeah, it is dangerous. But in the same breath they've made massive strides at trying to make it less dangerous. You know, they've got safer barriers now, the cars are stronger. There is no escaping the fact you're doing 230 odd miles an hour average, right? You're turning into turn one at 243 or whatever it may be. So yeah, it's dangerous. Everything should be going in the same direction, unlike driving and you do,
- [23:30]
Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
but
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Katherine Legg
it's, it's just one of those things you have a real healthy respect for, but you don't think about in any way, shape or form and you do your best to be as smart and minim minimize the mistakes. But some things can happen and you can get taken out. Look at the Alex Rossi crash, right? So he spins mid corner turn to, and then the people behind him can't avoid the carnage and end up crashing as well. So something like that can happen and it's through no fault of your own, you're out of the race, hopefully uninjured. And same goes for Charlotte. I mean there are some massive NASCAR crashes as well. And it's unfortunate byproduct of this sport that we love so much. I just, I hope that you know that it's going to minimize the, the risk by all these advances in modern day medicine that we have to make sure that when we hit a safer barrier, we don't get concussions and things like that. Hopefully. I mean they're just working wonders to do it. But it is fast and it is dangerous and that's why we all love it so much. Or one of the many reasons.
- [24:40]
Michael Barr
Now I want to add more to expand on that. You qualified 27th on the grid. But because of that big practice crash, are you going to be able now to move up on the grid because will some of these guys have to go to their backup cars?
- [24:56]
Katherine Legg
Yeah, I'm not sure really. I know that a couple of people got excluded from post qualifying technical infringements, so I think we move up one spot and then I don't know what the rule is with regards to going to the backup car. I think, I think they should be okay, but I'm not sure, honestly. There were only 33 cars attempting to qualify this year and so all 33 got in. Where you qualified is less relevant than in previous years because we got rained out on day one and so the, the qualifying sort of got condensed into day two. So whether I'm P20 or P30, it doesn't make too much difference to the start of my day. Um, although I will say my plan is to start the race conservatively. Watch, learn, figure out how everybody else is driving, um, and sort of move forward. It's 500 miles, it's a long race, you've got a lot of time to move forward. So I feel a lot less pressure being back in 26 or wherever it is that I'll end up starting.
- [26:02]
Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
Catherine Elf is going to be. Elf Cosmetics is going to be with you. You know, they're your sponsor and they're going to be with you for through both races. Tell us about having a sponsor like that who's, you know, going to take you through this whole day, who really supports you like that and is. They're really supportive of women in sports.
- [26:19]
Right.
- [26:21]
Katherine Legg
So Elf Cosmetics are amazing. Their ethos is honestly incredible. They, I'm super proud to represent them as a brand because of their products being amazing, but also because of the values and what they stand for. And I was actually four years ago we got connected and I was the first sports person that they had on deck, so to say. And after me, along came the likes of Billy Jane King, who's just amazing,
- [26:50]
Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
you know, just a random name there, Legend.
- [26:55]
Katherine Legg
Legend, right. And Elf have always been about empowering legendary females and just empowerment in general, in all honesty. And so the fact that I'm the only woman in both series and I'm the first woman to attempt this and everything is, kind of underlines what they believe in the, you know, some barriers. There are only perceived barriers, they're not actual barriers. And you can do anything that you set your mind to if you want it enough. And so I think the me trying to strive to do these things and, and having a partner who believes in me and believes in the possibilities is it's not to be cliche, but it is empowering, right? Without them, I wouldn't be doing this. Without me, they wouldn't be doing it. So why not? I mean, they changed the face of racing in my opinion. Two years ago we had Pink Elf cosmetics car and they were the first beauty brand cosmetics company to sponsor in major racing, whether that's open wheel or NASCAR or anything. They were the first. There have been others that have kind of jumped on the bandwagon and come along since, but they were the first and they said we're going to do a pink car. I said, no, we're not. I don't want, I don't want to be the girl in the pink car because I spent the entirety of my career just wanting to fit in and just wanting to be one another driver and not pointing out the fact that I am a girl.
- [28:36]
Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
That was professional race car driver Katherine Legg.
- [28:38]
Randall Williams
Up next, we are looking to the WNBA and the team who was able to be the first woman's franchise ever valued at $1 billion.
- [28:47]
Michael Barr
That's straight ahead on the Bloomberg Business of Sports. I'm Michael Barr with Vanessa Perdomo Maglione and Miranda Williams. You are listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports, Bloomberg Radio around the world.
- [29:00]
Capital One Announcer
This sports spotlight is brought to you by Capital One. Capital One offers no fees or minimums on checking accounts. Did you know that USC great and two time WNBA champ Lisa Leslie was the first player to dunk in the WNBA in July of 2002? In her second season with the LA Sparks, Leslie gathered an outlet pass and threw it down in the open court to make history. Capital One what's in your wallet? Terms apply. See capitalone.com bankguy for details. Capital One NA member FDIC running a
- [29:31]
Chase for Business Announcer
small business takes everything you've got. But with Chase for Business, you're not alone. They bring together local support and a broad range of resources to more than 7 million customers with a deep understanding of your day to day needs. They provide products and guidance built to help you thrive right now. Earn $500 when you open a new Chase Business Complete Checking account for new Business Checking customers with qualifying activ. Offer Expires June 18, 2026 Chase Business Complete Checking has the flexible tools you need to accept payments, make deposits and manage your finances with confidence. Learn more@chase.com PodcastBizOffer Chase make more of what's yours Fees may apply to Chase Business Complete checking accounts. The $500 offer is available for new business checking accounts with qualifying activities through June 18, 2026. Eligibility and qualification requirements must be met. Additional restrictions may apply. Please speak with a Business Banker for more information. JPMorgan Chase Bank NA member, FDIC and pause really quick.
- [30:32]
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- [31:32]
Katherine Legg
this
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Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
- [31:37]
Michael Barr
Thanks for joining us on the Bloomberg Business of Sports Wig Sports. For the big money issues in the world of sports, I'm Michael Barr.
- [31:42]
Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
I'm Vanessa Perdello Maglio.
- [31:44]
Randall Williams
And I'm Randall Williams.
- [31:45]
Michael Barr
The Golden State Valkyries have become the first women's sports franchise in history to be valued at a whopping $1 billion.
- [31:53]
Randall Williams
The Valkyries came into the WNBA last year as the first expansion franchise in the league since 2008, and they came in with a strong plan. Vanessa, you recently spoke with team president Jeff Smith about their historical start.
- [32:07]
Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
That's right.
- [32:07]
And this is something we've been monitoring really closely. Who is going to be the first team to reach that billion dollar number? And it came quicker than people imagine. Jess and I spoke about that and how owner Joe Lacob set the tone by believing in women's basketball before the WNBA even existed.
- [32:22]
Michael Barr
Let's take a listen to Vanessa's conversation with Golden State Valkyries President Jess Smith.
- [32:27]
Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
So, $1 billion valuation. Tell me what it was like when you first heard the number.
- [32:33]
I mean, for us, just we're full of pride. Like this has been a moment that everybody's been looking to women's sports to achieve, and the fact that we have a chance to usher that in means a lot to us. But we're also. There's like two facets to that mindset. One is we're actually just important to be excited to be one of those teams. Right. And we feel like that's on the horizon to come here. And we're like the first. But that doesn't really matter. What matters is the continued growth. And what matters is, you know, the continued investment in the business case pouring into women's sports, which also equates to the great outcomes on the court. And the second piece of that is the continued growth of just the wnba. Right. And we are certainly at the helm of that in coming in and building this team and having the fan base that we do and the outcomes that we've had. But we also know it's just starting. You know, when you look at the new cba, which gives us that long term stability, you also look at the growth it's going to provide in future years. So we have the opportunity to play more games beginning next year. You know, if everybody agrees on that, we start to look at things like international fandom and exposure and you know, where the league's going to help lead us there. But like we're going to lead our brand in those spaces too. And this media deal, this media deal is a very big deal and not only because of the financial component that kicks in this year that folks have been talking about, but because of the visibility, the opportunity to create more fandom in more places to funnel into this league. And of course we want to funnel them into Belkries fans, but for us it's exciting and we're prideful in it, but it's not something that we feel like is a checked box in any way. It's the beginning of a new era in the next number of years when people won't even remember that there were ever stats kind of waiting for us to get there. It's just something that's normal.
- [34:13]
Yeah, I love that you said that too because it's this thing. It's not something team really is like looking at aspiring to all the time. But because of that historical moment and because it's raises the bar for women's sports overall, like you said, people have been waiting for the summer to happen. We had done a report last year where, you know, Joe Lacop had said at NBA meetings a couple of years ago, this is going to be sooner than people think. You know, he was kind of telling the future on his own franchise there. What was the conversation like with him? Was there any celebration, you know, with him or within the franchise at all? Not because, again, not because this was something you were striving to, but because There is still that historic element to it.
- [34:55]
I think, for us, like, if you look back, even when we launched the brand, what we've shared is this is always bigger than Golden State, and we take that responsibility really seriously, too. And so in this moment, the celebration was truly just an acknowledgement of what it took to get here. And I think we acknowledge that it's not just us getting here and then creating this. Right. The W's been around for 30 years. Women's sports, you know, itself has been building really diligently for decades. And we wouldn't have the opportunity to have this outcome with all of those that came before us to then take advantage of the opportunity now to build the business our way. But there was acknowledgement. You know, we had. I sent a really nice note to our team. You know, we got together and circled up and talked about what this meant. From the moment that we started hiring folks, you know, five of us, six of us, we now have over 70 dedicated employees at the Valkyries. We kept saying that our business outcomes would equate to better outcomes for our players. And this is what that is. It's going to continue to spur investment into this league and other women's sports organizations and female athletes as well. And that acknowledgement and pride company wide is unmatched. It's definitely something that we will take with us. Joe himself actually invested in women's sports before this. The San Jose Lasers he was an owner of before the WNBA existed.
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He's been a real believer in women's.
- [36:08]
Yeah. And so. And. And by the way, incredible. Like, his knowledge base is incredible of these athletes. And so for him, this feels really full circle. You know, that investment didn't go very well for him from a financial standpoint. You've. He's talked about that and now to be able to be a part of ushering in this new wave of expansion for the WNBA and see the way that our fans have really rallied around what this is, is just really affirming, I think, for him.
- [36:32]
I want to talk a little bit more about, like, how you grow, like you said, you know, before. But we did have Candace Parker on the show a little bit ago, and she was talking about how she's really excited to see what the other franchises, you know, the new expansion franchises come in and do this year, but did know I don't expect them to have, you know, the year that the Valkyries did, because that's not really the expectation for anyone. How were you guys able to do that in your inaugural year? In a way, In a way that was really unique to you.
- [37:00]
That's exactly right. It's unique to us. You know, from building our brand to building the connective tissue, to watching Ohema and Natalie build the encore product, it's always been about building around the Bay Area, about building around innovation, how we treat people, and really harnessing that into the brand that is the Valkyries. That, yes, is Bay Area based. But for us, we hope, you know, is acknowledged nationwide and internationally too. And so for us, it really is intentionality. You know, we have moved really slowly the right way around the big decisions that we've made. This Valkyries Violet that you see that, you know, floods the Bay Area streets often. That was a big decision for us. We were from that very moment, unapologetic and who we were going to be, not quiet about who we were going to be and what we are going to build. And we talk to our fans in those moments too. And I think that has really paid dividends for us because we're never making executive decisions without thinking about, okay, how does this impact our community? Are they going to like the way that this is happening? Is this something that builds a better tomorrow? How does this impact our players? How does it impact the wnba? And that connection from Ohema, Natalie, and myself, I think is something that has just led us to a really great place of connection. And then the other piece of that is the Golden State connection. We did get a chance to come into an organization that has a reputation of being Golden State. And people understand when you're a part of Golden State, that that means you are going to work to be the best at every single thing that you do and to do things the right way. And so we had a little bit of the culture roadmapped out and then the ability to build within that with the support of an ownership group like we have.
- [38:32]
Yeah. And when I did, though, when I did go to a game, it was. When we talked about it, we were walking around the Chase Center. It was really intentional, though. You could see the warrior side, you could see the Valkyrie side. They work together, but still, still really intentionally, Valkyries is its own entity. Can you talk a little bit about that and how having them together is great, like you said, bringing them into a culture that understands, but at the same time building something on its own made it so successful.
- [38:58]
Yeah, I mean, there's. There's. That's exactly right. And I love that you have. Have had a chance to walk with us and, like, see all of that firsthand, because there is a very Specific feeling to it. Right. I think first the importance of building our own brand is that in our own experience is one. We are serving a completely different fan base often. And we're also curating a fan base from step one. I think people have always assumed that the audience is pretty duplicative when in actuality, when you look at the teams like us and others that share a venue, it's not as duplicative as you would think. For instance, our 12,000 season ticket holders this year, 8% crossover to the Warriors. So same ownership, same everything. And.
- [39:38]
But it's not just women and men. Like it's not just women sports fans, right?
- [39:43]
Yeah, our fan base is 50% male. Right. But there are different consumers buying season tickets and choosing this as their primary sports, you know, entity to, to be a part of. But where Golden State has shown leadership is I think allowing us to build on our own and making sure that we're relentless about building Valkyries outcomes, which is what you're seeing. We have a thing 30 person ticketing team, we've got an incredible corporate partnerships team, we've got our own marketing, content, social media, etc. But we do have the infrastructure of Golden State. But more importantly the leadership of how we came into the fold. You know, when we were purchased and, and started to emerge, everything was branded Warriors. We had the Warrior Shop, where you know that, that sits inside Chase center, you can shop for merchandise. You had the warriors foundation which had done incredible work. So you know, since this ownership group had the team and then you had the Warriors Warriors Sports Academy which was the largest in the NBA. And as we came to the table, it was really the responsibility and understanding that we have to make space for everyone to thrive when we're together as well. And so all of those entities and our company was actually rebranded Golden State. So that seems really simple. But when you think about what that shows everyone, it shows us on the same platform, at the same level. So for Valkyries games, you know, you're going into Golden State shop. And by the way, on warriors games, you, you can still buy Valkyries games or Valkyries merchandise. Right. And for the foundation, you know, we're not trying to compete in any way. We are understanding that through our foundation we're doing great work. And sometimes that's brand warriors and sometimes that's branded Valkyries, depending on what that looks like. But most importantly for us is that youth academy, what we've actually done is combined forces and all the jerseys are reversible. So if a youth is playing in A basketball camp or in a league, you know, that we're a partner in, they get a jersey that's Valkyries on one side and warriors on the other. And what does that mean to an 8 year old boy or girl? That means that they're looking at Veronica Burton and Gabby Williams just like they're looking at Steph and Draymond. And they will see no difference between the organizations and how that's going to impact our society. From that idolization of these athletes and then attending a sold out Chase center is so much deeper than business outcomes. So I think Golden State has just done such a great job of making space for us the right way and yet allowing this organization to stay focused on, you know, we are on a different growth trajectory. We're a startup, right? We made it through year one, but make no mistake, like there's going to be another leaps and bounds this year. You know, the opportunity that exists in this league and with these fan, this fan base and we have to make sure we're catering to that with the specific staff that we need to hire for this moment in time.
- [42:12]
Let's talk about that Getting into year two, we're speaking with Jess Smith, president of the Golden State Valkyries. So year one, you're going in, you're building a new thing, a brand new thing. Now you're going to year two. It was not the easiest off season, right. With the CBA negotiations going on. Tell me how you were able to build into year two with all that going on, but everything you learned from year one as well.
- [42:32]
Well, the reality is I'm already building for year three. So first and foremost, we are a little bit ahead of just what we're thinking about and we have to be. And then you're, of course, you're adding in the reactive, you know, things that happen this season into those plans. I keep saying to everyone, we won't really have a marketing plan if we win the championship because the marketing plan would just be we won the championship, but all the business outcomes we are starting now. And for us, you know, two things were true this last off season. One is that the CBA was incredibly important and a focal point for a long period of time that needed to focus on growth and get it right. Right. You know, there was a lot of, you know, questions out there. What does this feel like for you? What does this mean? Are you guys fearful of this? Have you stalled anything? And the answer was no. We had full confidence in this getting done. Now when it got done was up to the players. Association and the league, but we really trusted that they needed to take the time to do it. Well. If you look back five years and forward five years, it's a really difficult task to look at a table together and say, how are we going to build this? To make sure that we are sustaining and growing the league at a rapid rate and that the players are a key part of that. So we're really proud of how everything came to be, but we never took our foot off the gas.
- [43:42]
That was Golden State Valkyries president Jess Smith.
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Michael Barr
That is it for today. Ooh, I gotta go now. Run to the television set. Thanks for joining us. Tune in again next week for the latest on the stories moving big money in the world of sports.
- [43:54]
Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
And don't forget to catch our podcast on all your podcast platforms. And go to bloomberg.com to subscribe to the Bloomberg Business of Sports newsletter to stay up to date on all our juicy insights.
- [44:04]
Michael Barr
You're listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio around the world.
- [44:13]
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