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Bloomberg Business of Sports
Warriors Said To Be Valued at $11 Billion; Next 3 Founder Carolyn Tisch Blodgett
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- [00:00]
Carolyn Tish Blodgett
Did you know Tide has been upgraded to provide an even better clean in cold water? Tide is specifically designed to fight any stain you throw at it, even in cold butter. Yep. Chocolate ice cream. Sure thing.
- [00:14]
Vanessa Perdomo
Barbecue sauce. Tide's got you covered.
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Carolyn Tish Blodgett
You don't need to use warm water. Additionally, Tide pods let you confidently fight tough stains with new coldzyme technology. Just remember, if it's gotta be clean, it's gotta be tied. Bloomberg Audio Studios Podcasts Radio news This is the business of sports.
- [00:39]
Randall Williams
Sports are the greatest unscripted show on earth.
- [00:42]
Tom Friend
The next generation of players really grew up with tech and believe in tech.
- [00:46]
Vanessa Perdomo
Your face is your ticket.
- [00:47]
Carolyn Tish Blodgett
Your face is your wallet. Your face is your access to a club.
- [00:50]
Tom Friend
These are such iconic and important buildings for businesses, for fans, Covid was one of the best things that ever happened to golf.
- [00:58]
Randall Williams
NFL is a bulletproof business.
- [01:00]
Tom Friend
Racing's unique because there is absolutely no.
- [01:02]
Carolyn Tish Blodgett
Reason why we can't compete with the guys.
- [01:03]
Randall Williams
Come on, is pro pickleball real? Are people really gonna tune into this?
- [01:07]
Tom Friend
If you're playing Moneyball with a huge.
- [01:09]
Randall Williams
Bag of money, you're gonna be really, really good.
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Carolyn Tish Blodgett
Bloomberg Business of Sports From Bloomberg Radio.
- [01:16]
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.
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Damian Sassauer
I'm Damian Sassauer.
- [01:23]
Vanessa Perdomo
And I'm Vanessa.
- [01:24]
Michael Barr
Coming up on the show, we'll hear from Gotham FC lead owner and governor Carolyn Tish Blodgett.
- [01:31]
Vanessa Perdomo
Blodgett is also CEO and founder of Next3, which her family, the Tisch family, the co owner of the Giants, are using to get into more sports ownership.
- [01:41]
Michael Barr
All that and more straight ahead on the Bloomberg Business of Sports. But we start with some of the big headlines in the sports world, including one involving what could be the most valuable NBA franchise.
- [01:52]
Damian Sassauer
That's right, Michael Barr. This past week, news came out that a minority stake in Golden State Group, the holding company for the warriors, very well could be up for sale. And that stake values the franchise at approximately $11 billion. Ooh.
- [02:06]
Michael Barr
Joining us now to discuss that and more is friend of the show, Bloomberg US Sports business reporter Randall Williams. Randall, welcome to the Bloomberg Business of sports.
- [02:16]
Randall Williams
Thank you for having me as always, Michael Barr.
- [02:18]
Michael Barr
So look, I got a $5bill. We can put some more fives together and maybe we can get a minority stake in the Golden State Group. And this is something that surprised me is that they're the holding company, by the way, the NBA's Golden State warriors up for sale. I didn't know, first of all that they Were supposedly the most valued NBA franchise.
- [02:43]
Randall Williams
Yes. I mean, all of that is driven by, of course, Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and the run that they went on that really revolutionized basketball and the threes that went on. And of course, you have the infrastructure that Joe Laka built out there, and it's resulted in probably one of the most valuable sports conglomerates in the world. And this is just a 5% stake, but you do the math. And the 5% stake of the Golden State group, which, outside of the warriors, includes the Valkyries, it includes their home, the Chase center, it includes the G League team, and probably some other things as well. But a 5% stake could very well go for over $500 million. That's insane.
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Vanessa Perdomo
So that's the interesting thing there, Reynolds. $500 million. So they already have a private equity firm invested.
- [03:23]
Randall Williams
Sure.
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Vanessa Perdomo
So are they looking to get another one? Can you have another one? Or are they looking to sell 1%, 2% at a time?
- [03:30]
Randall Williams
Interesting question. I'm not entirely sure. I mean, yes, ideally they could bring in another private equity group, but this stake comes with some special privileges that I'm not sure a private equity group would be interested in. I think that an individual would like to sit courtside and be able to go into the ownership suite and have a bunch of other luxuries that come with the stake on a board seat on the Golden State Group as well. And so private equity is not involved in the decision making of these organizations. Think that whoever is selling this, which is Citigroup, but the individual who is selling this specifically, will probably be looking for another individual because that's their straight route to cash.
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Damian Sassauer
Well, Randall, we know that, you know, team valuations is squarely in your wheelhouse. And, you know, I get it. You know, the. The warriors are the highest revenue team in the NBA, so, you know, they're right to have a valuation there. But, you know, if you were to parse out, you know, their holdings, the WNBA holdings, you know, the. The G League, everything that they. The Chase Center. Do you think the actual franchise value is still the most expensive in the NBA and commands a premium over, say, the Knicks and the Lakers?
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Randall Williams
I do. I do. I think that, look, if you put all three on the market right now, I think the Knicks would probably trade the highest. But as it stands right now, in the 2025, 2026 NBA season, I think the warriors, just based on their success recently, the Lakers won A championship in 2020. That was the pandemic. A good portion of people don't really remember that. We all remember Steph Curry in 2022. We remember them in 15 and 17 and 18. And so I think that in combination with it being right next to Silicon Valley and all of the, the tech infrastructure out there will make it the most valuable. And then of course, there's the Valkyries there, and we can't forget about them and what Joe Lab has done there. I think Sportica valued them as the most expensive and most valuable WNBA franchise. And that goes a long way as well.
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Vanessa Perdomo
I think that's the interesting point there, Randall, is that they, they are technically. Right. The most valued franchise on its own. Right. So that's more than the Lakers that were sold last year for $10 billion. And then you have the arena that the Lakers didn't have. So you have the arena, which is one over a billion dollars, and the Valkyries are $500 million.
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Tom Friend
Yep.
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Vanessa Perdomo
So are they undervalued, actually?
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Randall Williams
So that is a, that's something that I've thought about a lot. Because if the Lakers are valued at 10, let's just say the warriors start at 10. And then you have, of course, like you said, the arena, then you have the, the Valkyries there. That very easily gets to 12 very, very quickly. But I'm not the person selling this, so whoever is buying this will properly evaluate it. And I think that the entire sports industry is looking at the Lakers sales like that's the high benchmark, that's the market no one wants to pass. And this being a 5% stake, we'll see where it ends up valued at. I don't, I can't see a 5% stake reaching a billion dollar price tag at this current moment. Now, maybe in a couple of years from now, if the Warrior is able to continue to build post Steph Curry, maybe it can reach that. But right now we'll have to see.
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Vanessa Perdomo
Feels like the Valkyries are just still part of the. Not really being valued on their own.
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Randall Williams
I think so. I think so. I mean, WNBA is obviously in a completely different juncture with CBA stuff, but they've done an incredible job of building the business over there. Jeff Smith, who we know very, very well, and I think that, you know, they're just waiting for a superstar. And once that happens, if they were to get a Juju Watkins, if they were to get, you know, one of these superstar college basketball players, then I think that the Valkyries would go skyrocket as well.
- [06:51]
Damian Sassauer
Randall, I wonder if we could switch gears a bit here and talk about the Chicago Bears. Obviously, you know, there's been talks with Pritzker, you know, the governor of Illinois, for. For, it seems like years and years and years about the potential for a new stadium. And it seems like we may be getting a little closer to something here. What are your thoughts there?
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Randall Williams
I don't know how close we are. I think that, look, this. This saga has gone on, as you said, for many years. It started downtown. It went to Arlington Heights. There's been proposals from Naperville, Indiana. Now they're talking about going to Indiana. And then, of course, the Chicago Tribune reported that Roger Goodell was touring various sites over the weekend ahead of the playoff game. And so with that in mind, I don't know what the end result is. I don't. I can't imagine that anyone would be happy about the Chicago Bears playing in northwest Indiana. It just doesn't sound right. And then there's pictures going viral on Twitter right now about the. The Bears leaving Soldier Field, which, of course, is the NFL smallest stadium. And that skyline over the city of Chicago, I think does have some meaning, but not to the billionaires if they're trying to build a city and at the cheapest rate as possible.
- [07:53]
Michael Barr
I bluntly thought this was a done deal for the Chicago Bears leaving Soldier Field. But it reading. What's the latest? It looks like this is far from over.
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Randall Williams
They had identified Arlington Heights. Earlier this year, the Bears president, Kevin Warren, had come out and wrote a letter to fans, essentially, and saying, hey, we're leaving Soldier Field. We're going to build this thing in Chicago. And the next thing you know, there's another statement that says, we're exploring things in northwest Indiana because we can't get a deal done. Now, what Pritzker has said is more optimistic than what he's previously said, but I don't know, based on just political standpoint, what the Bears are doing and what the governor's doing and how they're positioning against each other.
- [08:32]
Damian Sassauer
You know, Randall, I wonder how much of this has to do with the fact that, you know, Chicago like, you know, San Francisco and others. It's a gateway city, right? And office, I mean, class A office is probably barely doing okay over there now. I mean, but certainly class B is off the charts. I mean, it's distressed now. So, you know, when you're building these stadiums, you have to think about, you know, mixed use. You have to think about, you know, office, about retail, about entertainment, you know, and all that goes hand in hand with it is Chicago just not a venue, a destination nation that Makes sense from an investment standpoint.
- [09:03]
Randall Williams
There's an argument for it. But my argument against that would be just look at what happened in Kansas City. Kansas City just struck a deal for a dome stadium. And ideally, anytime one of these teams wants to build a dome, they're thinking about ways in which that they can fill the arena in the non NFL season. And for those listening, you have to remember that the NFL season is only guaranteed eight or nine dates a year depending on and that alternates every other season.
- [09:24]
Damian Sassauer
The tax situation is quite different down south. I mean, you know, we know that Illinois, especially Chicago, they've been bankrupt before. So you know, they obviously the tax situation there's probably a little bit more prohibitive.
- [09:35]
Randall Williams
And so if you're in the Midwest and you're, you have an open air stadium, you can't book a Taylor Swift, you can't book for Vanessa Jonas Brothers, oh Lord no, you can't book a Beyonce or a Kendrick Lamar and sza because in this, those, the summertime are the only time those shows can happen. But if you're a SOFI stadium and if you are Mercedes Benz stadium, then in your away games you absolutely can sell out those tour dates. And so with that in mind, the Bears and so many other teams are beginning to think about dome stadiums because they want to maximize their revenue. And they're trying to pitch these to local municipalities and saying, hey, this is good for the city, this is good for our state. We're going to create so many different jobs and so many different opportunities. And Governor Pritzker is looking at it and he's like, look, I hear you, but the taxpayers, they don't.
- [10:20]
Vanessa Perdomo
What do you think Randall is the most desirable job right now? Because there's a lot of openings.
- [10:26]
Randall Williams
The Baltimore Ravens, I think they are in super bowl contending position with again, another owner who's very, very stable. And I think Baltimore and, and Pittsburgh sort of resemble each other in some ways. They're like cousins and bitter rivals because of the, the division rivalry there. But with that in mind, like you have Lamar Jackson and when you have an MVP quarterback, then that's going to put you in position to win. Now of course he's competing against some tough talent there. I think Pittsburgh is always tough. And if the Cincinnati Bengals can ever get anything together, then Joe Burrow is a tough, is a tall task to go against twice a year as well. But you can't rule out coaching Lamar Jackson. They've been to the AFC Championship game outside of this year. They've been in the playoffs every single year. And so if I was on the coaching market, then I would be raising my hand to go to Baltimore.
- [11:11]
Damian Sassauer
I get that the Ravens are kind of positioned to win now with Lamar Jackson and what have you, but you know, up front their offense and defensive line look pretty damn stuffed this year. And the Giants are young and an up and coming team with some draft picks. So, you know, if you're a coach looking to plant your end, I think, you know, if you're a Tomlin, you can really command from certain franchises control over, you know, everything from the draft on down. So, you know, I hear you, but.
- [11:35]
Randall Williams
I, I also believe that in Jackson Dart is an incredible talent, but at the same point in time it's everyone can have a really good rookie year. And when you look at what C.J. stroud did, you look at Jaden Daniels this year. Obviously Jaden got hurt. But with that in mind, John Harbaugh I think would bring validity to an organization that has lacked it for many years and it would be great for Jackson Dart. But what does Jackson Dart look like year two and what does the contract situation look like? They did not fire their gm who seemingly started this whole thing by signing Daniel Jones instead of Saquon, which again sent the Giants into purgatory for a number of years. And so John Harbaugh I think brings the CEO feel to the Giants. But going up against the Cowboys and Dak Prescott and Eagles and Jalen hurts and so much talent in these organizations, I wouldn't be raising my hand to compete in the NFC East.
- [12:19]
Damian Sassauer
You know, there's a lot of other teams that are basically, I mean, you know, you know, like the Dolphins, you know, like who some of these guys who are left over. I mean, what is it going to be? Chris Shula coaching the Dolphins?
- [12:28]
Tom Friend
I mean, maybe.
- [12:29]
Randall Williams
Look, the Dolphins situation in particular is fascinating to me because what is always said about the Dolphins is that it is a resort football team, that they have incredible facilities and you never want to leave and all that. But the Dolphins also haven't had a memorable season recently in a very long time. And Tua is openly talking about leaving. He has a huge dead cap hit. What is his trading value? 2nd, 3rd, 4th round pick? For a guy who went in the top five a couple years ago, that is a hard situation to inherit. And I think Sean Payton went to, when he was hired at the Broncos inherited something similar because Russell Wilson was there. But Sean Payton is probably one of one. So finding another Sean Payton in Miami is going to be difficult.
- [13:06]
Vanessa Perdomo
Our thanks to our friend Bloomberg US Sports Business reporter Randall Williams for joining us.
- [13:11]
Michael Barr
Up next, we turn to the high stakes negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement in the WNBA for Damian Sassauer and Vanessa Pomo. I'm Michael Barr. You are listening to the Bloomberg business of sports from Bloomberg Radio around the world.
- [13:29]
Tom Friend
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- [13:51]
Damian Sassauer
Dead Man's Wire directed by Gus Van Sant.
- [13:54]
Tom Friend
Written by Austin Kogny.
- [13:55]
Damian Sassauer
Rated R under 17, not admitted without parents. Now playing only in theaters.
- [13:59]
Randall Williams
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- [14:15]
Carolyn Tish Blodgett
This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
- [14:21]
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.
- [14:26]
Damian Sassauer
I'm Damian Sassauer.
- [14:27]
Vanessa Perdomo
And I'm Vanessa Perdomo.
- [14:28]
Michael Barr
We still do not have a deal between the WNBA players and the WNBA on a new collective bargaining agreement putting the upcoming season at risk.
- [14:38]
Damian Sassauer
Here to break down the latest is not just anyone's friend. It's Tom Friend. He's a basketball staff reporter for the Sports Business Journal.
- [14:45]
Vanessa Perdomo
Tom, welcome to the Bloomberg business of sports.
- [14:47]
Tom Friend
Thanks for having me. Appreciate it.
- [14:49]
Michael Barr
WNBA deadline expired. No deal. What happens if there is no deal as the season continues?
- [15:00]
Tom Friend
Well, you know, they have a little time. I don't think the players are panicking yet. They're dug in. This is their best opportunity ever to do a deal. I mean, the league is at its highest peak with Caitlin Clark and all the players around Angel Wilson, all the players who played great, the TV contracts, everything. So this is their time. They're well aware of it. They've taken deals in the past to hear them talk, people in the, in the union talk. They've taken deals in the past because they want to keep the league going. They want to keep the league, you know, going. You know, they want to do their best to help the league but now they want to help themselves and so dig in because this is going to go a While I think if the players, they want to get it done by February 1st, but I don't know if that's realistic. Really, it boils down to very small. If you really boil it down, it's revenue pie. You know, the players want 30% of revenue. You know, they want revenue as the league grows. They want that revenue as the league grows. The union's number, even though it says they're more at 70% net revenue, it's really about 15% gross revenue. So you're talking about a 15% difference. On the surface, you could think that that's something they could bridge and get down, but they're dug in and I don't think it's going to end anytime soon. That's just my personal opinion, Tom.
- [16:19]
Vanessa Perdomo
I mean, it's interesting that you say that, right? Because February 1st, the players probably say that, thinking it feels long, a while away. And then every single time a deadline or has passed they haven't had a deal. Feels like they're very far away on this. Right. Like you said, how come in this instance they chose to operate in good faith instead of calling for the strike, that they voted yes, that they would do if they. If they felt like it needed to come to that. How come they're operating in good faith right now instead of doing that?
- [16:48]
Tom Friend
Because they want to deal, they want to play basketball. I mean, I think that's the one thing. And if you start striking, it gets acrom more acrimonious than it already is. It is kind of acrimonious.
- [16:56]
Randall Williams
If you.
- [16:56]
Tom Friend
If I've gotten the back and forth, it's pretty bad. But the players are going to strike more than the league is going to lock them out. I don't think Adam Silver, I know that. I'm pretty certain that he does not want to draw a hard line right now. And as he's taking it, you know, just being hard on these women, I don't think he wants to do it. I think he has good relationships with them. I don't think they want to have a lockout. So it's going to come down to whether the players are going to strike. I think you're right. Why aren't they doing it now? They're going to. If this doesn't get done by, I'd say March 1st or mid February, I think that's probably more likely. There's time the season doesn't start. You know, they don't go to training camp until March or I think April, actually. Usually the league wants to move it up to March, but the season doesn't start till May. So there is a little time here. But I, I think the union is bracing for the league to say, hey, if you don't do a deal soon, the season is delayed. They're going to start. They expect they're going to hear threats. The other thing is you have two new expansion teams, the Portland Fire and the Toronto Tempo. You never heard of them probably, but they're coming. These are the next two teams that are coming this year. There needs to be an expansion draft. There are over 100 players in this league that are free agents. So you have free agency to do, you have an expansion draft to do. You have teams that are forming for the first time. There's lots of business to be done and there's a moratorium now. There'll be no free agency until this gets done. So I don't know when it, when it just starts wrapping up here because there's a lot to do.
- [18:28]
Damian Sassauer
This is what's interesting to me, right, because Kathy Engelbert, she represents the wnba, right? And she obviously, you know, I guess what I'm saying is you have the haves and you have the have nots. And so who does she represent in these? You know what I mean? Like, you probably have some of these smaller teams that can't offset the losses from a lockout. And they probably going to, you know, be more inclined to do a deal along the lines of what you're discussing with the 30%. And then you have, you're right, the, you know, the Valkyries and the Fever and teams that can basically wait them out. Right. I mean, is that. I mean, it just seems so interesting, like what must be going on inside, you know, the WNBA inside, you know, the war room between Silver and Anglebert. Like, where do they really stand with this? It sounds to me like they're going to wait them out.
- [19:10]
Tom Friend
Yeah, you mentioned Silver and Angle, but that's a really good dynamic there because Angle Bird has really not really much power. I think. I think the best thing that would happen to these whole negotiations and I don't want anybody to lose their job. But if Kathy Engelbert was exited earlier, I think that would help it. I think there's not a lot of trust between the union and the league and, and it's nothing to get. You know, Kathy's a very strong leader. She's. She's built the business has gone scarboroughed since she's been the commissioner. But the lack of trust, there's been a numbers. I'm not going to go through them all. But there's been a lack of trust there. And so Adam is really pulling the strings behind the scenes, and it's just a question of how far he wants to go.
- [19:46]
Vanessa Perdomo
Tom, I think that's an interesting point. You brought it up earlier about Adam Silver having a good relationship with the players and him not wanting to, you know, bar them out of this league. But at the same time, if he does have to step in and the players have called for him to step in, the reports are that he has stepped into these negotiations because Kathy Ungebert couldn't get it done. So if he does step in and they do, eventually the two sides come to a deal, but it is less seen, less favorable for the players if the players do end up kind of giving in to the league. And does that, does that then, you know, put any sort of smudge on Adam Silver's reputation with the players, with the WNBA in, in that way if he negotiates a deal that, that they feel isn't fair to them?
- [20:29]
Tom Friend
Well, you're right. Adam values his relationship with these players very much. He values his relationship with all the NBA players as well. He is that kind of owner where, you know, he comes from the David Stern mold, where he really wants that relationship. David Stern's relationship with Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Chris Paul, you know, over the years, Adam has a great relationship with Chris Paul and these kind of players. Andre Iguodala, he's had a, he's very values relationships. So I think that's important to him. I don't think they're going to bury this season. I think eventually it will get done. I think the players are not going to give as easily as the, as the league thinks. And that's what I'm trying to say. I think that there has to be an olive branch somewhere. I don't think Adam's legacy or his, his image with the players will change any. I think he, he will only step in if, if he's asked to. He's not really in the meetings right now, but I just think that eventually that they'll get it done. I just think that the players are going to make it hard on them. I don't think they're going to give in this time. I think they have unrivaled, which is this three on three league. There's 54 players getting paid there. You have Project B. It's an international F1 style league starting in November of 26. They already announced their first tour stop in Japan and Tokyo in March. Of 27. I mean these players are going to have options. They have a little leverage too. I mean they don't have to go to the NBA, WNBA and make money. There's, there's, there's leagues overseas. There's, you know, they can, they can dig in and do this. Now from their brand standpoint, you know, Caitlin Clark will be fine, but some of the other ones need it, need to, need the games to be played. So I just think that eventually this will get wrapped up. But I don't think Adam, I don't think he's going to knock him out. Let's just put it like that. He does care that much. You know, you make a great point. He cares to the point that I don't think he wants that relationship soiled.
- [22:17]
Michael Barr
We're talking with Tom Friend, basketball staff reporter for Sports Business Journal and by the way, Sports Business Journal partner with Bloomberg through our new subscription bundle which gives readers access to both Bloomberg's business reporting and sbj's industry leading sports coverage. I don't mean to sound like gloom and doom and I know we're running out of time unfortunately, but if a strike comes, that is a killer to the wnba. And I think back to the strike years ago with Major League Baseball and it took a while for them to get the momentum back.
- [22:53]
Damian Sassauer
Still really having recovered from that.
- [22:54]
Michael Barr
Yeah.
- [22:56]
Tom Friend
I will say that the players will have the public on their side. This is my opinion. I think that this, these players have been underpaid. The league hasn't been taken seriously for a lot of years now. It is, it's amazing. These games are appointment viewing for me where they weren't before. I'm just speaking for myself and I'm a big basketball fan so I think that public sentiment is going to be on the player's side. I think the league probably knows that. I don't think they're being a reasonable, unreasonable. They're asking for 50% of the revenue. They're asking for 30%. There's some dynamics to that. The other thing is that on the, on the team side, you know, the, the players, the league saying they're going to lose 700 million if they accept this 30% revenue. And the union says, well, you have expansion fees coming. But these expansion fees are not as big as they. People think they're not paid all at once. They're paid over time and they're not as big as the union maybe thinks. So it's hard if you dissect it all. Yes, it's fair with the NBA is saying. WNBA is saying. But when you bore it all down, public sentiment is going to be on the players. I think I'm right on that. Maybe you guys disagree with me, but I think it is.
- [24:08]
Vanessa Perdomo
I definitely agree with you on that for sure.
- [24:11]
Tom Friend
And I think that when you look back at that baseball strike, the players were the villains, right? I mean, they were all villains. You know, everybody was every. Everybody was villains.
- [24:20]
Vanessa Perdomo
That was, that was the millionaires versus billionaires argument. This is not. This is not that. These players are not millionaires, only a handful. And that's not because of their basketball on the court.
- [24:30]
Tom Friend
Right. It's their brand. And so I think that that's going to change the way this goes. I don't think it's going to be a long term. I think the. I don't think it's going to ruin the day. It's going to ruin it. You're right. I mean, the WNBA is at its peak. Why would you mess with the momentum? And I think that the league has said that in their statements, they played out, said, you know, we didn't reach a deal. This, that's deadline. We don't. We want to capitalize on the momentum. And I think they all do. And I think that's why there's going to get a deal. There's going to be a deal. They don't want to ruin this. You make a great point. I don't think they do.
- [24:59]
Michael Barr
I got to end on this because any man who has written the book the Chicken Runs at Midnight, you know, I love him. Tell me quickly about that book.
- [25:09]
Tom Friend
Well, the Chicken Runs at Midnight is a true story about the. Well, let me go through it. There is a baseball coach then for the Pittsburgh Pirates, who. His daughter was dying of a brain tumor and she saw him coach third base. He's cupping his hands, talking to the runners at second base. Hey, get off. Get off the base. And she says, dad, what were you saying to the runners? Because she couldn't see from the stands, she couldn't hear. She goes, dad, what were you saying? The chicken runs at midnight. And everybody laughed like, why are you saying the chicken runs? What is that? And no one knew what it meant. It became a family mantra. And she dies of brain cancer. And then five years later, he's the third base coach for the Florida Marlins. They're in the World Series. They had a second baseman named Craig Counsel, who you may have heard of. He's the Cubs manager. And back then he was a young player and he looked like a chicken the way he held his bat and the family used to nickname him the Chicken Man. And it just so happens in the Game 7, the World Series against the Indians, he's on third base and he scores the winning run. And the father, who never knew what the chicken runs midnight meant, well, he scored the winning run at midnight. And so it's a true story. The kid who they nicknamed the chicken, scored the winning run at midnight. And five years later they found out sort of this dying daughter's premonition, the chicken runs at midnight. Wow. So that's the book that I wrote. It's, it's a, it's a faith based book, but you know, it's on. It's about baseball and spirit and family. So that's what we wrote.
- [26:33]
Vanessa Perdomo
Our thanks to Sports Business Journal basketball staff reporter Tom Friend for joining us. Sports Business Journal has partnered with Bloomberg through our new subscription bundle which gives readers access to Bloomberg's business reporting and sbj's industry leading sports coverage.
- [26:46]
Michael Barr
Up next, we stick with women's sports and hear a special one on one conversation with our own Vanessa Perdomo and Carolyn Tish Blodgett, Lead Owner and Governor of Gotham FC and founder and CEO CEO of Next3. For Damien Sassower and Vanessa Perdomo, I'm Michael Barr. You are listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports, Bloomberg Radio around the world. If you're the purchasing manager at a manufacturing plant, you know having a trusted.
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Michael Barr
That's why hands down, you count on Grainger for auto reordering with on time restocks, your team will have the cut resistant gloves they need at the start of their shift and you can end.
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Your day knowing they've got safety well in hand.
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Damian Sassauer
Bloomberg Radio is on Amazon Alexa. Get live business news 24 hours a day. Anywhere you have an Alexa device, just say Alexa play. Bloomberg Radio, this is Bloomberg Business of.
- [27:57]
Carolyn Tish Blodgett
Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
- [28:01]
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.
- [28:08]
Vanessa Perdomo
And I'm Vanessa Perdomo. Earlier this week I had the pleasure of sitting down with Carolyn Tish Blodgett. She's lead owner and Governor of Gotham FC and founder and CEO of Next3, a sports focused venture capital firm.
- [28:20]
Michael Barr
Let's hear a portion of that conversation now. It's Vanessa Bernomo with Next3 founder and CEO Carolyn Tish Blodgett.
- [28:28]
Vanessa Perdomo
We're so happy to have you right off of winning a. Your second championship in three years. We've talked about this. We had you on right after you won the first one. Now it's the second one. How's it, how's it feel second time around?
- [28:41]
Carolyn Tish Blodgett
Honestly, better. I think the more time we spend with this team, I think the, the more we appreciate just how difficult it is to win. You know, I think what our, the soccer side of our team has built, our general manager, Yael Averbush west, our coach, they've create, truly created a winning culture, a winning team. And I don't take lightly how much goes into that.
- [29:03]
Vanessa Perdomo
Yeah, I mean, it's. Right. You said it's hard to win two times in three years. It just, it doesn't really happen very often. So it's amazing to see, especially in such a, such a young league, to have two of those 13 titles. I think it is. I mean, about that. Yeah, that's really incredible. So now the team, because you guys won, you're off to London very soon for a Champions Cup. Tell us about that.
- [29:27]
Carolyn Tish Blodgett
Yes. So we obviously. So what we won was the National Women's Soccer League Championship. Championship. So that's our league championship. Obviously, soccer is a global sport, a global game. So we are participating in the first ever Women's Champions cup, which is basically, if you think about on the men's side, there's the club World Cup. The best clubs around the world all compete to be the best club in the world. We are representing North America, Central America at CONCACAF in that tournament. So we are competing to be the best team in the world.
- [29:58]
Vanessa Perdomo
I mean, what kind of title is that? What kind of title is that when you, if you actually were able to capture it? What kind of meaning does this tournament have, do you think?
- [30:06]
Carolyn Tish Blodgett
So we talk a lot about wanting to be the first global women's sports brand that starts with the product on the field. You can't be a big global brand if your product isn't there, if you're not winning. So, you know, I've joked with our general manager often of that was our intent, that was our vision was to be a big, global, first ever global women's sports brand. They really sped that up by winning so much. So, you know, I think it's really a first step on that journey and it's really a moment to introduce our brand. Not, you know, we've been very focused on introducing our brand, our product to the New York area. This is our chance to really introduce it to the world.
- [30:43]
Vanessa Perdomo
I Think that's an interesting point there. And obviously, like you said, you want to be a global women's sports team and a huge brand globally. But how. What else can you do to get onto other stages? Is it other friendlies? I know you've played friendlies before, right? In other places. But how do you grow the brand beyond just the US beyond just New York, New Jersey?
- [31:04]
Carolyn Tish Blodgett
I think being. Being the best and being able to be in these tournaments. So we were in the. We won the first ever CONCACAF Women's tournament last year. That's what got us entry into this FIFA tournament. We will be in that. We will be in the semifinals and hopefully championship of that in May. We will participate in that again in the fall. So because we've been winning so much within our league, we have the opportunity to participate on the global scale. And so what that does for us as a brand is to say when there are soccer fans all over the world saying, you know, I play soccer, you know, as a kid, or I'm just a casual fan of soccer when I'm looking for a team to follow, you are. Gotham is going to be in the mix because of what we've been able to do on the field.
- [31:47]
Vanessa Perdomo
Now, there's obviously tons of other. There are leagues in these. In these global markets. Obviously, that's. You're going to be competing against, but how do you compete against them for fans in their own markets?
- [31:59]
Carolyn Tish Blodgett
Yeah, it's a really good question. So when we think about building fandom, a lot of it starts with players and telling storytelling around our players and their stories. I used to run marketing at Peloton, and the model we had there was to really build the instructors into household names. We think about that with Gotham and we think about how do we get, you know, in the US Many people know who Rose Lavelle is, but do people know who she is globally? And we'll be playing in England. Jess Carter is one of our players. She plays for the English national team. Does everyone in England realize that Jess Carter, you know, a national hero for just one in the Euros, did that she plays for Gotham. And so really spotlighting our players and helping to tell those stories and realize, wait, if I want to go watch Jess Carter, I want to go watch Anne Katrine Berger, who plays for Germany, help them win a bronze medal at the Olympics? I have to watch Gotham and become a fan of Gotham because of that.
- [32:51]
Vanessa Perdomo
A stare as well. Right?
- [32:52]
Carolyn Tish Blodgett
I mean, I didn't talk about. Exactly.
- [32:54]
Vanessa Perdomo
I can't imagine, you know, like the global reach and Obviously you'll see that more as the tournament, you know, happens in the next couple of weeks. But the, the reach and the play the stars that you do have, you have the U.S. women's National Team stars, but like you had mentioned, you have Esther, who is one of the most globally recognized women's sport, women's soccer players in the world. What kind of fever you're going to get from, from that kind of an environment over there in Europe.
- [33:18]
Carolyn Tish Blodgett
We're really excited. I think we don't know what to expect. We'll be playing in Arsenal's home stadium. So I assume there's going to be a lot of Arsenal fans, but we know our players have these really strong fan bases at home too. So I do hope there's a lot of Spanish fans rooting for Esther as well. Same with Jess, same with, with Ann. So I think we really will see a global fan base there. Showing up for Gotham, obviously a lot.
- [33:40]
Vanessa Perdomo
In the last few months has been talked about about players going overseas and competing for talent in these pools. Now being in this tournament, how important do you think it is? Are you putting any importance on winning? Being able to show that the nwsl, that Gotham is the best, the best league in the world. Do you feel any sort of pressure there?
- [34:00]
Carolyn Tish Blodgett
Yeah, very much so. We want to win. Yeah. If the question is do you want to win? The answer is yes. Yes. I think, you know, we often we feel at the end of yourself that we're the best league in the world and we compete for global talent. This is an opportunity, I think, for Gotham to represent the NWSL on the global stage and show what it means to be a part of the nwsl. Obviously, you know, if we don't win, I don't think that means that like the answer is we're not the best league in the world, but I think we, we are competing with the best teams in the world in part of the best in, in the best leagues in the world. And I think you'll see that on display at this tournament.
- [34:33]
Vanessa Perdomo
One of the things that been put into place now because of everything that's going on with players salaries rising and you know, just the global game rising, more people investing overseas and things like that is the new high Impact player rule. Can you tell us a little bit about that and how you feel like it can actually help the nwsl?
- [34:52]
Carolyn Tish Blodgett
Yeah, absolutely. So the high Impact Player rule. So there is the US are, the NWSL has a salary cap which is much more similar to other US leagues but different than other soccer leagues.
- [35:05]
Vanessa Perdomo
It's not, it's not new for us in the US it's not a foreign concept, but it is foreign concept for football in general.
- [35:11]
Carolyn Tish Blodgett
Exactly, exactly. And I think that's the balance for the end of your cell is we are a US based league so things like salary cap make sense. We are also competing for global talent. So the high impact. The idea of the high impact player rule is that certain players that are really globally recognized stars will. You'll be able to pay them beyond what is currently allocated in the salary cap. The idea behind it is that again we are competing for global talent. So it is. There is a recognition that certain stars will command more than our current salary caps can pay can afford. And we want to be the best league in the world. We want to continue to have them. And the idea is that we can continue to pull some of those best stars here while also growing the business side of the league. So you know, to, to back to what I said before around stars really driving talent, stars drive viewership and so continuing to have some of the best stars in the world playing in this league we think is a win for our league competitively keeps the best stars here and also helps to continue to grow viewership. Yeah.
- [36:16]
Vanessa Perdomo
Can you that balance between growing the revenue, growing the business and being able to play to be able to pay players what they deserve. How hard is that to walk in such a new league?
- [36:29]
Carolyn Tish Blodgett
Yeah, I think it's a really good question and a fair question and one we face every day at the league. Players should be thrilled and excited to show up and play in the end of your cell every day. That takes a certain level of salary and we need this to be a viable business that investors will continue to invest in and so continuing to strike that balance of paying players what they deserve, what they, what they want and what they could get elsewhere. And also making this a sustainable business is something we're very focused on.
- [37:04]
Vanessa Perdomo
How do you capitalize on winning this championship, winning two out of three years? How do you continue to grow the business based on the success you've had on the field?
- [37:14]
Carolyn Tish Blodgett
Yeah, that. So we, we've talked about on, on our, at our team like you always need to be championship ready. And I think our business team embraced that fully this year. We started planning our. So in 2023. I think we talked about this at the time the team won the championship and we didn't have a celebration and.
- [37:33]
Vanessa Perdomo
You know, we haven't even touched on that yet.
- [37:35]
Carolyn Tish Blodgett
I can't believe we haven't.
- [37:36]
Vanessa Perdomo
The parade finally happened. I'm, I'm so excited. Please continue. But I'm really excited that, that the team actually got their celebration this time.
- [37:44]
Carolyn Tish Blodgett
Thank you. Well, we, the, our team worked incredibly hard on that. So I appreciate you saying that. So 2023, the team did not have a celebration and it was a real, honestly, failure on me. Failure of the team that we just, we. I think the team didn't think they were going to win and then won and was like, oh, wait, how do you plan a celebration? Turns out you can't plan a celebration in 24 hours. So we started planning in August, before we made the playoffs, before we knew anything of what was going to happen in our postseason. We said we want to celebrate. We want. This team deserves to be celebrated and it deserves to be celebrated in the exact same way that a men's team would be celebrated. So we said if we win, and we will do everything we can to support the team to, to win, we are going to celebrate them like the New York Giants, like the New York. I don't know if the jets have ever won it. Maybe they have. Anyway, we'll turn out the Knicks, whoever else has won, the Yankees. We are going to celebrate them with a Canyon of Heroes parade in the. At City hall the exact same way that all the men's teams have. So we have. We were absolutely ready to go. And it's pretty amazing. We won the championship on Saturday night in San Jose. We had thousands of people lined up to greet our players and to be a part of our City hall celebration Monday morning.
- [38:58]
Vanessa Perdomo
Amazing. And it was hard though, right, because it's Thanksgiving Day week. Right. So that there was a little bit of a challenge of trying to. You can't do one a parade necessarily.
- [39:07]
Carolyn Tish Blodgett
Exactly. I'm glad you said that. Yes. So I caught myself. I shouldn't have called it. Technically it wasn't a parade. It was a like walk down the Wall street or something like that because. Yes, exactly. It's Thanksgiving week. So you're not. New York City doesn't allow any other parades to happen that week. And not to get really in the weeds, but all of the play. Many of our players play for their national teams. They all had to leave for their national team duties that afternoon. So we had about a two hour window to make something work Monday morning, which we did. And it was great. And again, the celebration that this team deserved and a lesson I think for our business team has taken away is like, we will always be championship ready no matter what is happening on the field.
- [39:45]
Vanessa Perdomo
That's a portion of my conversation with Carolyn Tishblaget. She's lead owner and governor of Gotham fc, as well as NWSL Board member and Chair of the NWSL Executive Committee. She's also founder and CEO of sports venture capital firm Next3.
- [39:59]
Michael Barr
And just like that, that does it for this edition of the Bloomberg Business of Sports. If you missed anything, check it out now on Demand. It's available on Apple, Spotify, the Bloomberg Business, Apple, and all your favorite podcast platforms. For my colleagues Damian Sassour and Vanessa Perdomo, I'm Michael Barr.
- [40:18]
Vanessa Perdomo
Tune in again next week for the latest on the stories moving big money in the world of sports.
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Michael Barr
You are listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports Bloomberg Radio around the world.
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Vanessa Perdomo
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Carolyn Tish Blodgett
Data if it's stuck in different silos. If it's scattered across the cloud on prem and with your apps, then it's hard to access, hard to work with, and increasingly expensive.
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