← Bloomberg Business of Sports
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- [00:00]
Capital One Announcer
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- [00:31]
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- [01:59]
Vanessa Perdomo
This is the business of sports.
- [02:01]
Randall Williams
Sports are the greatest unscripted show on earth. The next generation of players is I.
- [02:06]
Cedric Cornelius
Really grew up with tech and believe in tech.
- [02:08]
Vanessa Perdomo
Your face is your ticket. Your face is your wallet. Your face is your access to a club.
- [02:12]
Amy Trask
These are such iconic and important buildings for businesses.
- [02:16]
Randall Williams
For fans, Covid was one of the.
- [02:18]
Cedric Cornelius
Best things that ever happened to golf.
- [02:20]
Randall Williams
The NFL is a bulletproof business.
- [02:22]
Amy Trask
Racing's unique because there is absolutely no reason why we can't compete with the guys.
- [02:26]
Randall Williams
Come on, is pro pickleball real? Are people really gonna tune into this. If you're playing Moneyball with a huge bag of money, you're gonna be really, really good.
- [02:33]
Vanessa Perdomo
Bloomberg Business OF Sports from Bloomberg.
- [02:38]
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.
- [02:44]
Damian Sassauer
I'm Damian Salishauer.
- [02:45]
Vanessa Perdomo
And I'm Vanessa Perdomo.
- [02:46]
Michael Barr
Coming up today, we hear from the chief commercial officer of the Australian Open to check in down under on how the first Grand Slam of the year is setting the tone for tennis.
- [02:57]
Damian Sassauer
That's right, Michael Barr. And later on, we catch up with an old friend of the show, Ms. Amy Trask, CBS analyst, author and former CEO of the then Oakland Raiders, for a look at some of the latest NFL headlines and to preview the big game.
- [03:11]
Michael Barr
All that and more straight ahead on the Bloomberg Business of Sports. But we start with some headlines in the world of golf.
- [03:17]
Vanessa Perdomo
Liv Golf is looking to sell minority stakes in its team for the very first time.
- [03:22]
Michael Barr
And here to drop some knowledge on us is friend of the show. Pretty much all you guys know about this guy and all of his knowledge, Bloomberg US Sports business reporter Randall Williams Rando. Welcome back to the Bloomberg Business of Sports.
- [03:42]
Randall Williams
Michael Barr. Every single time I'm on this, you roll the red carpet out for me in an audio way unlike anything I've ever seen. So it is truly an honor to be here.
- [03:53]
Michael Barr
You rolled a story, Liv Golf planning to sell stakes and franchises for the first time.
- [03:58]
Randall Williams
$300 million per franchise up to $300 million valuation. So the stakes exactly is to be determined. You could have private equity. You could have some more sovereign wealth funds, individuals. You could have family offices. It'll be interesting to see where that nets out. But 300 million is what I've been told.
- [04:16]
Vanessa Perdomo
Has this been a part of the strategy since day one? Do you know, Randall, like, have they always thought, let's sell, you know, stakes in the teams, you know, differently, like.
- [04:25]
Randall Williams
Separately, I think that it was probably an end goal because of the fact that you look at what franchise valuations are doing just across sports, even away from golf. And this is sort of unfamiliar to golf as well in the last couple of years between this and tomorrow sports, of course. But you know, WNBA franchises, mlb, mls, NHL franchise, all of these franchises for the most part are rising. And if you're not, you know, you're gonna have to look at yourself in the mirror and have some tough conversations. So I think Liv Golf is looking at that and saying, like, hey, let's see what we can get on the market.
- [04:55]
Damian Sassauer
Is Liv profitable Not yet.
- [04:59]
Randall Williams
Not yet. With that in mind. And look at that. LIV is calling me now. I'll call them back. You asked if they're profitable. Not yet. And look, this is to be expected because of the fact that, like, LIV started some years ago. And what business do you know that, you know, turns around and immediately is like, oh, we have $500 million in sales. So I think right now where they're at is still building. And it should be the expectation. That should be the expectation in large part, because although Saudi money is coming from this, again, it's going to take some time to turn around and pick up steam. And they only have five events in the US I believe. So with that in mind, I think that it's going to take some time.
- [05:34]
Damian Sassauer
But they are generating cash flow. They are generating revenue now. Yeah.
- [05:37]
Randall Williams
Yes. I don't know the specific numbers, but they do have some money. Okay.
- [05:40]
Michael Barr
But the thing now is that they're trying to do it under star golfers. And just recently, Brooks Koepka said, hey, I'm going to go back to the pga. So that seems to be a problem.
- [05:53]
Randall Williams
For Liv in some way. I think if you think of golf, you think of the PGA Tour just because they've been successful, they're the oldest. They have had the most popular golfers historically. And so when LIV came in offering these boatloads of cash, there was a lot of golfers who were like, look, this seems like a fun opportunity. I get to travel the world. I get to explore these opportunities. And now some of these golfers who have traveled the world who have done this new format, they're looking back and like, you know, this isn't for me anymore. And so they, you know, the PGA Tour. And look, transparently, there is a war of words going on between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour. And the PGA Tour has been very, very aggressive, and they're offering people to come back. So there are people who are experimenting with LIV and then going back and being like, you know, Liv isn't for me. At the same time, Liv is also signing a lot of new golfers where the people that are established and some newer golfers as well, that are going into the. Used to go into the PGA Tour are now turning around and saying, you know what? I want to go on a world tour. And so they choose LIV Golf. And so you'll read the headlines that say, hey, this person is leaving LIV Golf. This person is leaving LIV Golf. But the bigger headlines about the people that are choosing LIV Golf aren't covered as much I think that it is a problem, but I think that if the LIV golfers perform well, then it won't be.
- [07:10]
Vanessa Perdomo
I think that's interesting because it brings up this conversation that's really interesting to me is have they done what they set out to do?
- [07:18]
Randall Williams
I think yes, in some aspect, because of the fact that the business is still growing. I think that, again, when you're at this startup stage, and they're not exactly the way that I would define a startup, but from a golf perspective, whenever you have a billion dollars to have a startup, I don't know. But when you're at the startup stage and you're new and you're trying to bring people to market both, you know, from a consumer perspective on a TV screen and then from an event perspective, you have to have the names. You have to have something that brings people together. And I think that from that perspective, it still exists. It's still happening. They're still growing. They're still announcing things. They still have partnerships. They just announced Rolex yesterday. So there are brands that want to align themselves with LIV Golf. It's just a longevity thing. How long can they survive? What happens if. If more golfers leave and head back to the PGA Tour? That remains to be seen.
- [08:09]
Damian Sassauer
Well, I think, you know, Vanessa brings up a really, really good point. Your response is spot on. You know, did they accomplish what they set out to do? What was the goal of live golf? Was it to make money? Was it to earn a profit?
- [08:19]
Randall Williams
Let's go back. Let's go back. Originally, I think it's three years ago now. There was this merger that was supposed to happen, and now nobody knows what's happening. You hear golfers saying, you know, I don't think it's ever going to happen. You hear LIV golfers who are saying, you know, whatever, I don't know. And no one in the golf world knows if the PGA Tour and LIV Golf are ever going to complete this merger, whatever terms that they agree to, whether it be an investment, whether it be, you know, the PGA Tour picking up some live golf events, no one knows what is going to happen because we're three years and running. And can you imagine an NFL team sale that was happening that was three years on the market? Like, the closest thing that I can even think about was either the Pat Boland Broncos that sold and the Dan Snyder commanders, but those both of those issues were completely separate. You had an estate issue, and then, Lord knows, all the things that was happening with the commanders. This is literally just an agreement that they can't agree to it. Felt like they had a handshake agreement, and then things changed, and now they're.
- [09:16]
Vanessa Perdomo
Back to the drawing board, though almost negate that. Like, does it almost say, yeah, we're not even looking at that anymore because now we're looking for outside money.
- [09:24]
Randall Williams
We're, you know, everyone you ask says something different. If you ask different people around golf, people will say, like, we're not interested in a partnership at all. And then you have some people that are saying, you know, these talks are continuing. So truthfully, I don't know if there is ever going to be something that's going to happen. And. And to truly unite the golf world, as fans would say, has it been.
- [09:45]
Michael Barr
Shattered the golf world in general, ever since LIV came on the scene?
- [09:50]
Randall Williams
I would say so. I think that golf needed some advancement, and LIV pushed the PGA Tour to get to where they're at right now. That you have the PGA Tour enterprises, you have Brian roll up doing a bunch of different things. LIV Golf, I would say, is directly or indirectly responsible for the advancements of the PGA Tour. The PGA Tour was not in peril before LIV golf arrived. That's a fact. And then you have Tomorrow Sports, which has a bunch of other things that are coming from their league. So golf needed some innovation, and I think LIV golf is starting that now. On the opposite end of that, you do have an old guard of golfers and people who have, you know, been in the PGA Tour system who really enjoy that style of golf that are like, okay, you pushed us far enough. Now you can go away. And I think that's what we're seeing with live golf is that they're being pushed away because people are like, all right, you accomplished their goal. Now get the hell out of here.
- [10:40]
Vanessa Perdomo
So that is the interesting goal that I was talking about. And it's like, their goal was, let's make golf more fun. Let's bring in a new audience whose goal?
- [10:48]
Michael Barr
Their.
- [10:49]
Damian Sassauer
Their goal. You keep saying there, and I. And I have to. I'm jump in here and tell you the answer is, who owns liv? It's the public investment fund of Saudi Arabia. Yes, it's the Saudi government. Right. So from their perspective, did LIV achieve their national goals? Their goals? That is a question not for me to answer here, but that's the question that you're asking, really. Right. And think about Saudi Arabia and the advancements, their people, their economy, their culture. If you've been to Riyadh lately, I mean, you don't have to where Burk is everywhere. I mean, there's so much that has happened to that country, and a lot of it. I'm not gonna tie it back to obviously live, but definitely put the Saudi Arabian sports market on the map. And so from that perspective, maybe that, that, that kind of. Maybe that maybe that was their goal all along.
- [11:33]
Randall Williams
So I'd say with that in mind, look at what's happening with boxing and mma. Yeah, a lot of the boxing events have gone to Saudi Arabia, and it has changed boxing. Like, if you. We just had Eddie Hearn in here, we had Dana White in here not too long ago on Bloomberg tv. And both of them has said, like, you know, Turkey, Al Shayk is transformative because of the money that he can provide to these things. Now that same money is being distributed with live golf as well. But golf is a different world. Yeah, boxing and the boxing language and the golf language are two completely different things. And you think about the entities that exist in these worlds. There are dozens of boxing entities. There is the PGA Tour, and the PGA Tour is the superpower. So is live. Does live golf have superpowers? Absolutely. But it's the new superhero on the block. And with that in mind, you know, the old superhero and the new superhero are not getting along. They're not seeing eye to eye. We thought this was going to be a dynamic duo, and now it looks like they're. They're fighting.
- [12:26]
Michael Barr
Now. I'm surprised Liv changed their tournament format because it used to be just 54 holes, three rounds, then they went to four rounds, 72 holes.
- [12:36]
Randall Williams
Why they would like to qualify for the world golf rankings and so that their golfers can now golf in the four majors. And it's as simple as that.
- [12:45]
Vanessa Perdomo
So the interesting thing about this story and about them selling the stakes is that it's at $300 million, as we had noted earlier, but they want to be at a billion. Did they have a set time frame that they wanted their teams to be at a billion? Were they happy about this current $300 million valuation?
- [13:01]
Randall Williams
Well, we'll both laugh when we say this because everybody does have a valuation aspiration. And the phrase that I've heard is long term aspiration. Now, what is long term? Depends on who you ask. I. I think that 200 to 300 million in five years is great. If you compare that to other sports leagues franchises is it's lower than some of the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS. But it's on par with WNBA. And WNBA has existed for 30 years. I'm sure that this is on par with NWSL franchises or at least some of them in five years time. So I think that it's good if you ask me now, if you ask some bankers, you ask some lawyers, they might tell you something different. They might tell them no, you know, they're ahead of schedule. They might tell them they're behind the schedule. Now. $1 billion valuation is a long road to go because we've already noted in the conversation revenue, profitability, all of these things are, I think investors are going to want to keep in mind, heading.
- [13:55]
Vanessa Perdomo
Towards the future and what's their current biggest driver of revenue?
- [13:58]
Randall Williams
I'll have to ask them. I would have to guess off the top of my head. You have to think about the same way that other leagues work. Media deals, global sponsorships, attendance. All of those things I think are driving. And they do have some great, great sponsors. I think they have multiple TV deals. I mentioned Rolex. I can't remember them all of the top of my head, but more than enough to be like, wow, this is legitimate. Rolex doesn't partner with just anybody.
- [14:25]
Vanessa Perdomo
Always grateful for our friend Bloomberg US Sports business reporter Randall Williams for dropping by.
- [14:30]
Michael Barr
He is so knowledgeable. Up next we hear from the Chief Commercial Officer of Tennis Australia, Cedric Cornelius. I'm Michael Barr with Vanessa Bradomo and Damian Sassauer. You are listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio around the world.
- [14:50]
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Cedric Cornelius
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Randall Williams
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Cedric Cornelius
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Amy Trask
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- [15:49]
Randall Williams
Get the best in finance, investment and economics with the Bloomberg podcast channel on.
- [15:54]
Michael Barr
YouTube we are seeing stocks rise around the world.
- [15:57]
Randall Williams
Record revenue out of Apple, Big tech dominating our headlines. We've got inflation moderating. I'm Tom Keene Inviting you to watch and listen to the best analysis on business and investment. Visit the Bloomberg podcast channel on YouTube to hear from the smartest names on Wall street. Just head to YouTube and search Bloomberg podcasts today.
- [16:20]
Vanessa Perdomo
This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
- [16:25]
Michael Barr
This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports where we explain explore the big money issues in the world of sports. I'm Michael Barr.
- [16:31]
Damian Sassauer
I'm Damian Sassauer.
- [16:32]
Vanessa Perdomo
And I'm Vanessa Perdemo.
- [16:33]
Damian Sassauer
The Australian Open is wrapping up this weekend and Vanessa got a chance to talk with one of the executives behind the scenes, one of those executives that helps to put the tournament together.
- [16:45]
Vanessa Perdomo
Yes. I got a chance to speak with Cedric Cornelius. He's Chief Commercial Officer of Tennis Australia. And you guys weren't able to join me on this because of the time difference. I was speaking to him in the future. You know, it was the next day for him. It was the end of our day, but it was, it was really cool. So, you know, when you're listening to the interview, just also picture that you're not in the frozen tundra of New York or anywhere on the east coast and you're in Melbourne, Australia right now.
- [17:10]
Michael Barr
In the future, what did you, like, get a DeLorean? What, what, what's happening?
- [17:15]
Vanessa Perdomo
If only because I would go to the summer for us, but it is the summer for them right now. You know, we spoke about how this tournament kicks off the entire calendar for tennis and how they really, you know, innovate this tournament that's been around for over a hundred years. So let's take a listen to a portion of my one on one conversation with Tennis Australia Chief Commercial Officer Cedric Cornelius. How would you describe the 2026 Australian Open? How would you categorize it?
- [17:41]
Cedric Cornelius
Well, it's been going great. Thank you for having me. The Australian Open has been going really, really strongly. We've had record crowds up to today and beautiful weather. So the vibes are really good here. And how would I characterize it? I think the best way to characterize this train Open is the nickname it's received in the public. It's called the Happy Slam. And one of the reasons why it's called the Happy Slam is because we built this enormous festival on top of the tennis. And so the tennis is great and tennis fans love watching the tennis that we offer. But there's so much more to do. There's really something for everyone at the Australian Open with the, the festival that we build for kids, with music, with food, with now, we've added beauty, gaming, and so we build this huge, this huge entertainment park, actually, that, that resonates with a lot of fans. And so we are now tracking to beating our, our record from last year. Last year we had 1.2 million fans through the gates and we're on track to beat that. So exciting times.
- [18:55]
Vanessa Perdomo
That's really amazing and it's interesting and it brings me to the point of, obviously, the Australian Open has this really long legacy. It's been around for over 120 years. Right. But when you have a tournament that's so long and everlasting, how do you innovate that while also toeing this line of the history and the legacy of it all?
- [19:16]
Cedric Cornelius
Yeah, well, for us, it's really been at the core of everything we do. Innovation. We're constantly trying to do things better. We force ourselves to start from scratch as well. We, we want to change a majority of what's available at the Australian Open every year. And so the main thing that we do is really, really listen to fans. We listen to fans feedback, we, we watch how they interact with our content. And every year we try to fine tune, but also we try to be one step ahead and think about what the next generation of fans will want to have. And so some of the last examples in the recent years is we've seen that some of the fans wanted to interact with tennis differently. They didn't want to sit in a seat and watch two hours of tennis on the go. And so we've put a bar on one of the courts, and so now we have a courtside bar where people can listen to a dj, have a drink while at the same time watching the tennis. We've activated an alternative entertainment zone last year called Top Court, where we have music, pickleball, gaming, and where we hosting Shake Shack this year. Shake Shack is not available in Australia, but it is available at the Australian Open. So we constantly try to understand what would resonate with fans and how can we do better.
- [20:36]
Vanessa Perdomo
Pickleball. That's interesting. I mean, are you guys the only ones in tennis embracing the sport of pickleball?
- [20:44]
Cedric Cornelius
Yeah, we are. Look, we're embracing all alternative formats of the game. We were investing heavily in Padel. We are participating in pickleball. We'll have a pickleball slam at the Australian Open, actually. So we think it's great. They are great additions to the game. They bring new fans to our events, but they also bring new players to our tennis clubs. And so we think that there's a real way to build on that innovation, build on that growth, attract new audiences. And really share the great content that we have.
- [21:21]
Vanessa Perdomo
I think that's really interesting and I think it's interesting that you're using in that way, right, to grow and build new audiences. Tell me more about how that coincides with the entertainment aspect of it all and, and what you guys have built in that space over the last few years. Like you were saying, do they coincide? Is it because of the, the audience that enjoys these alternative forms, these quicker forms of content and in the new audience that really wanted those sorts of things available at the tournament, do you think?
- [21:54]
Cedric Cornelius
Yeah, absolutely. Look, we have, we have to two big mantras. One is creating leading and innovative fan and partner experiences. So we're constantly thinking about our partners and our fans. What's new, how do we lead. And we're also trying to deliver the most watched and digitally consumed event. Those are really the two big mantras. And so when we think about innovation, anything that can grow our reach, enhance the experiences of our fans, be it fans that are coming to the event on the ground or fans that are watching off site, we're constantly finding new ways to engage them. And so this could be through new assets on site. You know, I've talked about top court, I've talked about building a bar on court. This year we have a three story beauty bar. So we're thinking about those on site activations, but we're also thinking about the off site fan and what, what's new that they can engage with in how can we increase the engagement of existing fans or how can we reach new audiences? This year, for example, we've launched the one point Slam. It has gone viral. It's something we tested last year on a small scale and we did realize that on a one point format, pros, even the best pros can choke and amateurs have a chance of winning a point against the pro. And finding that out and finding how entertaining that was, we realized it could be, it could be a lever to get new fans interested in tennis because it's a completely new, completely new format. Last year in terms of innovating the content for offside fans, last year we put a coach's pod on the court. So instead of having the coaches in the stands, they're now on the court. And so we have this now very intimate moment that we can share with the fans between a fan, between a coach and a player on the court, which gave us some memorable footage last year when, when Andy Murray was coaching Novak Djokovic. And you know, that created two legends on the court talking to each other. So it's all about really trying to find new content, new assets, both on site and off site that will resonate with fans.
- [24:07]
Vanessa Perdomo
Super interesting. Sounds like you guys are really leading the way when it comes to trying new things and innovating. We're speaking with Cedric Cornelius, Chief Commercial Officer at Tennis Australia. You know, one of the things, Cedric, when I talk to leaders and executives of teams, governing bodies, what have you, is, you know, trying to get new fans is oftentimes about creating more awareness. But as the Australian Open, I mean, you're one of the biggest tournaments, one of the biggest sporting events really, in the world and on the entire sports calendar annually. So what are the things that you look to to grow business, to grow revenue? Because I could imagine awareness isn't really the problem for you guys.
- [24:46]
Cedric Cornelius
Awareness is strong, obviously, but there's always ways to reach new fans and to grow our reach. And here we work really hand in hand with our partners, both our broadcast partners and our brand partners. With our broadcast partners, we work very hard with them to grow the coverage, but also to have them show. The Australian Open is broadcasted in every single country in the world. And so we can work hard with our broadcast and say, can you display what festival we're building on top of the tennis? Can you show that amazing festival to the world and show how much that is part of our brand? With our brand partners, we also work with them on leveraging their reach and their networks. And so when our brand partners are global brands and they talk about us, they associate with us around the world through their networks, that really grows engagement. We have some of our brand partners, for example, organize amateur tennis events in specific regions in the world with the AO brand associated with it. And that really creates a. An additional lever of reach for us.
- [25:55]
Vanessa Perdomo
Really interesting. And when we're talking about broadcasting, you know, a lot's been made online recently about the fact that ESPN decided to move some of the Australian Open matches behind an extra paywall called ESPN plus. Are you worried about that at all? You know, about this affecting viewership, about overall eyes and engagement from the US Audience?
- [26:16]
Cedric Cornelius
We are constantly working with all of our broadcasters. Absolutely. The viewership and the availability of the content is. Is really essential to us. So we're always trying with our broadcasters to try to reach as many audiences as possible. The alternative way we do that as well is we also work very hard on our own channels. We've significantly accelerated our social media content in the past years. We've added additional feeds, we've added new content that we manage through our own channels like the Blue Zone, where we try to show every single key moment of every day through our, our own channels, our app, our social channels. So there's a real focus on making sure that we grow our content and that content gets to more audiences.
- [27:04]
Vanessa Perdomo
Lastly, as we wrap up here, Cedric, what is the most what excites you right now about the business of tennis, about the future of tennis? What is the most exciting thing for you right now?
- [27:13]
Cedric Cornelius
It's the same thing as what excites our fans is we are constantly wondering about what's next. We, we are already on sale for Australian Open 2027 and we are already looking at what's new for Australian Open 2027, but we're also already looking at 2028. And so while, while we deliver an amazing AO26 with all its innovations, you know, we've, we've gone to two story bars, we've gone to three story beauty bars. We've, we've built a high line that walks around the various outside courts for fans to see the, the game in a different way. Where our fans are wondering what, what will the Australian Open bring next year? And we're working on that. And that's the most exciting beat for us.
- [27:55]
Vanessa Perdomo
That was my conversation with Cedric Cornelius, Chief Commercial Officer of Tennis Australia.
- [27:59]
Michael Barr
Up next, we speak with Amy Tracker, analyst for CBS Sports, author of youf Negotiate Like a Girl and former CEO of the Oakland Raiders to talk a Little Football. That is straight ahead on the Bloomberg Business of Sports. For Damien Sassour and Vanessa Perdomo, I'm Michael Barr. You are listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports Bloomberg Radio around the world.
- [28:24]
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- [28:52]
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Vanessa Perdomo
This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
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Michael Barr
Thanks for joining us on the Bloomberg Business of Sports, where we explore the big money issue in the world of sports. I'm Michael Barr.
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Damian Sassauer
I'm Damien Sassauer.
- [29:34]
Vanessa Perdomo
And I'm Vanessa Pomo.
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Michael Barr
The big game, code name super bowl is next weekend between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks. But before we get there, we have got a ton of NFL headlines to break down.
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Damian Sassauer
That's right, Michael Barr. We're not going to quiz Amy on the super bowl alone, though. We're going to ask her about what on earth happened with the hall of Fame voting around Bill Belichick. We're going to ask her about the Jets. We're going to ask her about, my goodness, Mike Vrabel, Sam Darnold and the rest. I mean, I'm looking forward to it.
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Vanessa Perdomo
Here joining us now to discuss all things NFL is Amy Trask. She's an analyst for CBS Sports, author of you Negotiate Like a Girl and former CEO of the then Oakland Raiders.
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Michael Barr
Amy, welcome back to the Bloomberg Business of Sports. So you know what the initial question is going to be? You've got the Patriots, you've got the Seahawks. Who's going to win it? Because I got to win some.
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Amy Trask
And you know what my answer is going to be to that question? I don't know. It is going to be a good, good, good matchup between two well coached, good teams. And the answer is I don't know who will win. And I think that's the fun part. There's no clear cut winner in my view.
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Vanessa Perdomo
Amy. Well, speaking of the Patriots, news just came out that Bill Belichick is not a first round hall of Fame ballot. He didn't get picked. Tell us your reaction on that. It seems pretty, pretty unbelievable.
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Amy Trask
Well, I'll try to do it without using the exact words I used such that you all don't get in trouble with my exact, you know, I'll say, what the heck, that'll be a better way to say it because clearly, clearly he is deserving of the hall of Fame. And look, sometimes it takes a while. It really does. You know, I worked for someone I believe deserved the hall of Fame well before he was elected, Al Davis. It took, I think six times. Bill should get in. I think he should have gotten in this year. I do believe he will get in.
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Damian Sassauer
Well, Amy, after the Seahawks beat the dreaded Patriots, you know, we're going to shift our focus to your former club, the Raiders, the Las Vegas Raiders, who own the first pick in the NFL draft. Talk to us a Little bit about the thought of having Fernando Mendoza leading your former club.
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Amy Trask
Well, he certainly is a very, very exciting player. I'm a Cal grad, so I watched him when he was at Cal, I watched him at Indiana. I just watched him in the national championship. He is an exciting, exciting player for a lot of reasons. If the Raiders believe that he is the answer at quarterback, that he is the long term solution, that he is the right quarterback for them, then by all means use that pick on Fernando Mendoza. If, however, they have any doubts whatsoever, and I don't know if they do, well, then they can and they should explore what they can do with that first pick. Again, if they believe he's the man, take them. But if they are at all dubious, at all concerned and they can take that first pick in the draft and turn it into multiple picks and perhaps multiple picks plus multiple players, that's something to be considered.
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Michael Barr
We're talking with Amy Trask, analyst for CBS Sports, also author of you Negotiate Like a Girl and former CEO of the Oakland Raiders. And there have been a lot of coaching changes this year. Probably one of the biggest ones, you got John Harbaugh going to the New York Giants. What do you think about the picture of just coaches galore all over the place?
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Amy Trask
Well, you're absolutely right. There have been a lot of changes in all instances except for one, the one being Mike Tomlin who resigned. All the other coaches were terminated. And this reminds me in many regards, the coaching search, that is reminds me of the game we played as kids, musical chairs. And I don't know about you, but that game stressed me out because there might only be six chairs for seven of us running in a circle around that chair, those chairs. And if the music stopped and you didn't have a chair, you were out. That game really stressed me out. We don't need to go into that. However, I will tell you that this.
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Vanessa Perdomo
Coach at that game, just saying, are you?
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Amy Trask
And it didn't stress you out at all.
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Vanessa Perdomo
I'm just the most competitive person on earth.
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Amy Trask
Did you elbow people out of the way a little bit maybe? Oh yeah.
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Vanessa Perdomo
It's just you linger around the top chair.
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Randall Williams
Right.
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Amy Trask
But that's what this coaching search reminds me of. You've got 10 teams looking for coaches. You mentioned Harbaugh being let go by the Ravens, McDermott being fired by the Bills. And those are good coaches. We'll see. You know, Harbaugh to the Giants, I think that's a step up for the Giants. I think he is a very good head coach. We'll see if McDermott lands somewhere. Query whether Sean McDermott will end up in one of those spots. Although it has been rumored he may wish to take a season off. I had wondered whether Tomlin might be interested in one of the openings, but he also is not looking at to come back this year, year or maybe at all. So we'll see how it unfolds.
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Damian Sassauer
Well, Amy, I think it's right for Mike Tomlins to take a year off. He wants to wait for the jets to open up their head coaching spot in 2027. But Amy, truthfully, I mean, you think it's not just these head coaching changes and that's why I bring up the jets, right? I mean, they have a staff they need to fill and you know, what, what are the chances of, you know, some McDermott or some of these, you know, former head coaches winding up being a coordinator for an NFL club in the 2026 season?
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Amy Trask
I, I think that some may, I don't think they all will. I think there's some who will say no. I'd rather sit it out. But you know, you mentioned all the openings at all the teams and in that regard I'll, I'll note something that the Pittsburgh Steelers do that I think was tremendous on their part. When Tomlin left, they had an entire staff of coaches and we see that other, you know, they, they had not immediately settled on Mike McCarthy. They took a bit of time. It is always possible when you bring in a new head coach that that head coach is not going to want to retain all or perhaps any of your assistants. Now, we don't know what Mike McCarthy is going to do in all instances because if they had maintained as they well could have, that those coaches could not look anywhere else for lateral moves, then when the new head coach came in, if they were fired, a lot of the openings would have been gone. So had the Steelers said, nope, you can't go anywhere until we bring in a new head coach. If that coach fired them, they would have been very, very limited in their options. So I think the Steelers did right by all their assistant coaches.
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Vanessa Perdomo
Amy, one of the things I'm curious about is for the Raiders having the having to hire a new head coach and having the first round draft pick. There's a lot going on in the front office at one time. Is that a little chaotic or is it exciting, do you think? Like, would you be excited at the thought of having to do all of that? It start fresh or is it a lot to think about, do you think?
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Amy Trask
Well, I think it can be exciting if you are going to bring in, if they're going to use that first round pick on Mendoza, you can bring in a quarterback now and you can pair him with a head coach, you can pair him with an offensive coordinator, you can pair him with a quarterback coach and best position him to be his best. But there's other issues within the Raider organization that have got to be resolved. My understanding is that there needs to be clearer, more open, robust communication throughout the organization.
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Damian Sassauer
We're talking to Amy Trask, analyst for CBS Sports, author of you Negotiate Like a Girl and former CEO of the Oakland Raiders. Amy, just one last question. Shifting back to Super Bowl 60 here, Sam Darnold's resumption, I mean, or is it Mike Vrabel perhaps becoming the first, you know, player coach to win, to win his Super Bowls? I mean, or is it Drake May, the rookie? I mean, talk to us a little bit about the storyline surrounding the super bowl and what really has your attention here?
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Amy Trask
Well, you brought up two that have my attention. All three do. But I'll put aside Drake May for one moment because, you know, he certainly is a story in and of himself. But I am so glad you referenced Sam Darnold. If there is a lesson from, for every single one of us to take from that you may not succeed and then again, you may not succeed and then you may not succeed and then you may not succeed and then you may, to use a baseball analogy, just hit it out of the park. In other words, you don't always succeed the first or in his case, the second or the third or the fourth time you are given an opportunity to do so. But that doesn't mean you should stop trying and you should stop working. And he has been best positioned to be his best. And you know, I have no personal stake if you will or interest if you will in the Seahawks or in Sam, other than I think it's a great message not only for kids but for all of us grownups as well. If we don't succeed initially, keep trying and look at what you can accomplish. As to Rabel, you know, he was fired by a team that has not yet solved the situation at head coach. And remember, remember when we were all dating way back when or maybe some are still dating now. Remember that old adage, it's not you, it's me. It's not about you, it's about me. That's that old breakup line, right?
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Michael Barr
I had a nickel for every time I heard that.
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Damian Sassauer
What I was going to say, Amy, you know, you Know, with all the Sam Darnold talk, it just makes me think about, you know, back in the 2019 season, if he didn't catch mononucleosis before the season started, it might very well be the jets in the super bowl right now. I mean, it's just.
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Amy Trask
I'm thinking you kind of love the Jets. You know, we're having a few Jet moments. But, you know, as to Vrabel, he could look at his former team that fired him, I think, not two, two seasons or so ago and say, it wasn't me, it was you, because look what I'm doing now in New England. So I think both the Vrabel story and the Darnold story are just really terrific lessons again, not only for kids, but for all of us that keep trying, keep working, and you can succeed. And I'm sorry about your Jets.
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Michael Barr
I know we're pretty much running out of time, but. But there is one question I have to ask about the referees this season because I have seen some calls where it's like, really? Did you miss that call? Or that's a fumble or that's a catch. It's what can the league do? Are they going to have to, like, make intense instant replay here? What can they do?
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Amy Trask
Well, I'll answer that quickly, but in three different ways. Number one, and I said this throughout my career, for almost 30 years in the NFL. I say it to this day, I think the most important thing in a officiating is consistency. If it's DPI in one game, it's DPI in another game. If it's holding in one game, it's holding in another game. You want consistency. I think one thing the league can do better than it does right now, transparency. Help people understand what was done, why it was done. If there was an error as to errors, they're going to happen. You have a game where very, very large men are moving very, very, very quickly, sometimes obstructing or hampering the view of the officials. Could you use technology to help in that regard? Yes, you can. You also have to balance that against the time it will take to do so. But the number one goal should be consistency and then aim for transparency.
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Michael Barr
By the way, tune in next year for Super Bowl 61 when the Detroit Lions will. Nope. Nothing. Never mind.
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Amy Trask
You know what? I again, my Cal background is coming out. I will root for Jared Goff no matter what.
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Michael Barr
Doggone tooting, Amy Trask. I knew I liked you for many reasons. Analyst for CBS Sports, author of youf Negotiate Like a Girl and former CEO of the Oakland Raiders, Amy, old friend of the show. Thank you again for joining us on the Bloomberg Business episode.
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Amy Trask
Always an honor and a pleasure to do so. Thank you guys very much.
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Vanessa Perdomo
Our thanks to Amy Trask, analyst for CBS Sports, author of youf Negotiate Like a Girl, and former CEO of the then Oakland Raiders.
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Michael Barr
What happens to the time that does it for this edition of the Bloomberg Business of Sports? Tune in again next week for the latest on the stories moving big old money in the world of sports.
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Vanessa Perdomo
And don't forget to catch our podcast on all your podcast platforms. And make sure to subscribe to the Bloomberg Business of Sports newsletter to stay up to date on the most interesting storylines popping up across the industry.
- [41:55]
Michael Barr
You are listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports, Bloomberg Radio around the world.
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Randall Williams
Stay with us.
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Damian Sassauer
Today's top stories and global business headlines are coming up right now.