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Bloomberg Business of Sports
WNBA Legend and Future Hall of Famer Candance Parker on New Season
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- [00:01]
Candace Parker
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Candace Parker
Bloomberg Audio Studios Podcasts
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Radio News this is the business of sports.
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Candace Parker
Our aim is always to leverage the
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Raj Bennett
global appeal of football.
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Candace Parker
Having representation in college sports is even more important than pro.
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Raj Bennett
10% of Americans now claim soccer to be their favorite sport.
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Capital One Advertiser
We estimate the youth sports audience has
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Candace Parker
$3 trillion in spending power.
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Raj Bennett
The nature of baseball is it is worldwide and it is global.
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Candace Parker
I'm very happy for the WNBA and how the NBA has embraced them.
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Raj Bennett
Sports bets are not going anywhere and sports betting is only growing.
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Jamie Lynn Sigler
We have a super team running this
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Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
league and this league is here and
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Candace Parker
it's here to stay.
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Adobe/OnDeck/Capital One Advertiser
Bloomberg Business of Sports From Bloomberg Radio
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Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
this is the Bloomberg Business of Sports where we explore the big money issues in the world of sports. I Hi, I'm Vanessa Perdomo Maglione. Michael Barr will be back next week. Miranda Williams is traveling this weekend to see his mom for Mother's Day and give her a big hug. But he did join me in the studio earlier this week. Coming up, we are looking ahead to the World cup with soccer media personality and creator of Men in Blazers network, Raj Bennett. But first, we are talking hoops with a future hall of Famer. This weekend marks the start of the WNBA season after a contentious offseason regarding the CBA that created a lot of uncertainty if this season would start on time. But here we are. This season is officially kicked off on time after a landmark deal was negotiated. And what better way to kick off the W season than to speak to a legend of the game? Earlier this week, Randall and I spoke to none other than Candace Parker. She's leading the WNBA broadcast for Amazon prime this year, part of the league's historic $2.2 billion media rights deal. She talked to us about how prime is elevating the game as well as her thoughts on the CBA and what storylines and teams to watch for this season. Let's take a listen to the conversation with WNBA legend Candace Parker. Candace, thanks so much for joining us in the studio. And tell me about adding that, that last title, hall of Fame.
- [04:03]
Candace Parker
It's surreal. I think you, you, you don't start your career off being like, hey, I want that orange jacket. But when it's all said and done, you know, you prepare to try to go out and give your best, win championships and ride into the sunset. And so to be in the 2026 class, to be in the cool club, you know, I'm really proud of it.
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Randall Williams
Where are you gonna wear this jacket? It's one of those jackets where it's a statement piece.
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Candace Parker
You know, what's so funny is, you know, we talk a lot with my daughter, she's 16, about trusts and, like, all these things about what she would get, you know, and all this stuff. And so she has claimed the orange jacket. So I don't know where I'm gonna wear it, but I know when I'm no longer here, she's gonna have it.
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Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
Damn. She already claimed that one.
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Randall Williams
Yeah.
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Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
Do you start thinking about the fit for hall of Fame?
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Candace Parker
I have a little bit. I'm going to pay homage to my journey a little bit. So. And I think my, my, my boys are going to be there, so we're all going to have like, a, you
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Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
know, matching family vibe.
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Candace Parker
Matching, matching Vibe. Yeah. Yeah, for sure.
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Randall Williams
So why don't we start and talk about what prime is going to bring to WNBA coverage? I think we're entering this new wave of NBA and WNBA media partners, and I wonder, from your perspective, when. What is something that you're looking to stand out on as it pertains to WNBA coverage and broadcasting on Prime?
- [05:19]
Candace Parker
I think that if you look at Thursday Night Football, if you look at, you know, I was a part of the NBA rollout, you know, we definitely want to teach the game. We definitely want to bring entertainment to the game. And I think just being a technology company, just being able to have a studio like we have, be able to have some of the tools and things like that, to be able to teach the viewer about the wnba. So that's the thing I'm most excited about, and doing it in a really cool way. I mean, we have a lot of new fans to the WNBA. We have a lot of OG fans to the WNBA. So being able to do that in year 30, I think is pretty special.
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Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
It's something I wanted to ask you about because of the new influx of fans that the WNBA has gotten. Do you take a different approach to broadcasting for WNBA than you do for NBA because of that?
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Candace Parker
Absolutely not. I think that, you know, you have to have the ability to reach the viewer where they're at. And some of the greatest advice I ever got was from Kenny Smith. He said, if you can say one thing and reach the grandma, the casual fan, and the super fan, then you've done your job. And I think we have those three even in the WNBA that's 30 years young. So I think that it's about, you know, trying to figure out what can reach all three of those things and bringing it and bringing the excitement.
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Randall Williams
One of the things that I think has been interesting about your commentary on WNBA is that people think that sometimes you are very harsh on players in terms of, you know, when you are saying, hey, this person could have been better at this. This person could have been better at that. And maybe that's new to WNBA because of the fact that this is an elevated platform, that it is reaching more fans and more viewers. How do you balance saying, like, okay, this player could have been better with potential fans who are like, oh, she's hating.
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Candace Parker
Here's the thing. We've had to protect our game for so long. Like, the world has not been ready for women to do anything but be in the kitchen and doing dishes. Like, that's what the world has wanted women to be. And 30 years later, the WNBA is now not having to fight for its place or seat at the table. And with that comes honesty. I think for so long we've had to uplift and, you know, got the eye of the tiger and, like, this girl is on fire and, like, show all this stuff. And it's like, no, now the game speaks for itself. And so I don't ever want to lie to the fan. I'm not trying to hate. I love coming with facts. And the same thing in the NBA is as if you have an opinion. It doesn't mean that my opinion is the greatest thing ever. It's my opinion. But with that opinion, I like to come with facts. I like to come with stuff that backs it up. I loved being coached by being challenged. I never liked being lied to because to me, the eye in the sky don't lie. Right. Your eyes can't lie in what you're seeing. And so, like I said, I think there's different styles, there's different viewpoints that we're going to bring to Amazon. I mean, you got Cynthia Cooper, that is the originator Swin cast in that early 2000s, me. So, like, we've got a great variety of perspectives, and I think we're going to have a lot of fun debates.
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Randall Williams
I think so, too.
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Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
Yeah, I love that. And one of the things that we're seeing now change a little bit more, be more accepted, because this has always been part of the game, rivalries and intensity and things like that. Is that something you think is more accepted in the players now? Because it goes in between of what Brando was just talking about, how, you know, you want to be as harsh as you can in those times and be real. So, like, when the players are out there being real, do you think it's more accepted into fans now? That's just part of sports.
- [08:45]
Candace Parker
First of all, I don't want to say harsh, because I think honesty sometimes, I agree, construed as harsh. And to me, I think it is actually asking questions, having those, like, lenses in the microscope to look through of, like, what makes success and what. What's wins, what's losses. Would I hold Anthony Edwards to the same standard that I would hold somebody else to? And that's what we've all been fighting for. So to me, I'm excited about the opportunity to have these open, candid conversations to talk about strategy, to talk about on the floor. I think women for so long have played basketball, and it's been everything but basketball. And now we're able to focus on the game and focus on the playing style and all of those things.
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Randall Williams
So now let's talk about, you said, candid conversations there. And I think there were plenty of them for the past 18 months about the collective bargaining agreement. And there was a big celebratory toast at, I believe it was, the WNBA office when they agreed upon things. You see a bunch of different statements from WNBA commissioner Kathy Engelbert and of course, Terry Jackson, who's the executive director of the wnbpa. And I wonder what were your thoughts as this as players in the league were continuing to negotiate and they eventually got to the finish line, what were your thoughts throughout and then when they came to an agreement?
- [09:58]
Candace Parker
Well, agreement had to get done, right? There's so much momentum, there's so many things that were going in the right direction that it would have been a disservice to, first and foremost, the fans and I mean, as a whole, the owners as well as, or, sorry, board of governors as well as the players. And so with that being said, a deal had to get done. And I think that we all understand in negotiations it goes slow and then it just rapidly speeds up. And that's exactly what happened. Got it done right on time. To be able to roll into the season and not miss any action, I think on both sides gained a lot of ground, I think from the player standpoint, you know, standing on what we wanted to be able to then go into the next round of CBA talks in a few years and be able to have some ground and some ability to gain momentum throughout the cba.
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Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
Was there at any point during those conversations, watching from the outside or talking to players that you thought there might be a work stoppage at all?
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Candace Parker
It would just lose so much if that were to happen. So I know on both sides they didn't want that to happen. And when that's the commonality, usually things get done.
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Randall Williams
So one of the things that I think is interesting about the CBA is this big, dramatic pay increase for all parties. For the wnba, they have a new media rights deal, which of course is Amazon is a part of. They have expansion done. And I wonder what you think the next phase of the W looks like, because WNBA commissioner Kathy Engelbart mapped it out very clearly. It was going to be media rights, collective bargaining, and then expansion, the exact same thing that's sort of happening in the NBA as it pertains to Vegas and Seattle and their expansion process. What do you think is the next step for the W now that we've had these landmark Agreements with. Where do you think it goes next?
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Candace Parker
Well, what I hope is that there's some sort of break off from being a part of the NBA's media rights deal. I think that there was a study done that 96% of sports on television is male going forward. Do you think that's going to go up or down? I personally think it's going to go down because of the many outlets you look at. You know, the NBA's partnerships in terms of meteorites deals went from two, basically, to now splitting into three. And so with that being said, there's more outlets, there's more ability to have, you know, to be able to watch what you want. This generation is watching what they want to watch on television now because it's on a tablet. And so that's what I think it's so special about the streaming element is you're able to really watch what you want to watch when you want to watch it. And so that, I think is going to be the next step in the WNBA is doing a great job of having that proof point.
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Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
Do you think it's something that we'll see? Completely separate wnba, they break off completely from the NBA. Is that something you'd want?
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Candace Parker
I don't know if that's going to happen just because of the value. And if you're a businessman, you're a businessman for a reason, and you've owned 50% of the WNBA for this long, you're not going to get rid of that. So I think that there's going to be some nudging and some decisions that are going to have to be made in order to have growth for the WNBA on its own, on an ownership
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Randall Williams
level and at an executive level, specifically with the wnba. One of the interesting things that's happening over the last couple of years is the accelerated growth of ownership groups and their wealth. I mean, we've seen Sportico valuations, CNBC valuations recently, and of course, many, many announcements about practice facilities, about this increase in investment. And I wonder from your perspective, what makes a good owner from a player's perspective, because we hear, oh, you know, this person's putting in this amount of money and this person's putting in that amount of money. But then when the season starts, sometimes players are like, this is not good enough, despite the numbers that are being reported.
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Candace Parker
Well, I think there are a couple that are first of their kind. You think about, you know, what Mark Davis has done with the Las Vegas Aces, having the practice facility that's the first women's only practice facility, what that has done for their franchise, then Matt Ishbia and of course Clara Wu Sai. So I think those three owners really spearheaded the growth of the other stuff, right? Yes, you want to pay increase, but you also have to have the support and the investment to succeed. And that comes along with having sports medicine. It comes along with having state of the art facilities and things like that. And so that to me is what the most important thing is. And then others have to follow suit because if you want to win then you got to have all this stuff otherwise you're not going to attract free agents and stuff like that. So yeah, I'm excited where the league is and I think it's going to be an exciting season.
- [14:48]
Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
There was so much to speak to Candace about. We had to continue. So stick around. We have more with Parker on what's next for the WNBA For Randall Williams, I'm Vanessa Pernomo Maglione. You're listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio around the world.
- [15:03]
Candace Parker
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- [16:38]
Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports. We explore the big money issues in the world of sports. I'm Vanessa Perdomo Maglion. Michael Barr is back next week. We're talking with future hall of Famer and WNBA legend Candace Parker. Parker spent most of her career traveling back and forth between playing in the WNBA and overseas where they were given private jets, private drivers and paid seven figure salaries while back in the US Conditions weren't even close. Now, under a new cba, players are getting the treatment they've been fighting for. So let's dive back into our conversation with Parker, starting with her thoughts on how far the league has come and where they still need to go.
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Candace Parker
I think first, for a long period of time there were so many, even businesses that limited what female athletes could do. And now we're seeing those chains kind of come off and them believing in the brand of female athletes. And why wouldn't you believe in women? First of all, we're the ones that are buying stuff in the household. Second of all, we're the ones that are selling it. And so I think just in general, everybody understanding that that's where the real growth happens.
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Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
And on that, like on the salaries being, you know, averaging now around 600,000 and you know, minimum salaries going up a lot, do you think that players now won't have to go overseas? It'll change the quality of play we'll see on the floor because they're coming
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Candace Parker
in more fresh, 100%. I mean, there's an entire two or three generations of players that played 12 months a year. I mean, I, I played from October to April and then from April to October in the wnba. And now you're going to see the ability to have the player development, to have the facilities, to have the strength and conditioning to get your body right, to have an off season, to actually improve. So I think the game in itself is going to benefit from it.
- [18:25]
Randall Williams
Let's talk about the game now.
- [18:27]
Candace Parker
Okay, Bet.
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Randall Williams
What storylines are you watching for this season?
- [18:32]
Candace Parker
Well, I always think it's really interesting whenever you're trying to repeat and especially I love dynasties because I think there's a different mentality that you have with a dynasty. The Aces quietly made a lot of huge moves in free agency that I don't think are being talked about enough. Kennedy, Carter, to me I'm like, they, they let the Aces get Kennedy Carter, which is insane, her coming off the bench. I mean, they quietly signed back their core. And a lot of the WNBA is about familiarity, playing with someone having a style of play. And so with that being said, I mean, the Aces to me is Aces and everybody else, I also think it's deep seated in rivalries. So you talk about, you know, New York Aces. Is Phoenix in the Aces brewing rivalry? There's a lot of question marks. Is Atlanta going to be really good? Can you play the two bigs, um, together? What is Ryan Howard going to do in this season now with Alicia? Like, how are they going to get over the hump? So I think there's just a number of exciting topics, you know, to talk about.
- [19:38]
Randall Williams
Sure.
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Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
We're speaking with WNBA legend Candace Parker. When you're looking at the field, like you said, it's Aces and everyone else. But when you're looking at the field, if you were a free agent this year, as a lot of players were, who would you have been looking to sign with? Who do you think you would have fit in with and who do you think you know, would have been a great.
- [19:56]
Candace Parker
That's a great for you. That's a great question. I really like what they're doing in Toronto just from scratch. I know Sandy Brandello is a G in this league in terms of like she's been in this league for 20 something years, played in the league now coaching, has won championships with two separate franchises. So she knows what it takes. So Toronto is an interesting, intriguing spot. You know, I mean, I think the excitement around just in terms of the people, but also the style of play. I know they're going to play. Marina Mabry can't go under Brittany Sykes, one of the best two way players in the league and is really settling into her role. I mean, they've signed, they put together in the expansion draft. Like I just like all the moves that they've made from ground zero. So I'm not saying I would play there. That would be an intriguing place if you're a Freeman.
- [20:44]
Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
Well, I think that's interesting as we're talking about expansion. You know, I wanted to get your take on that because obviously the Golden State back race came in. They made this insane splash last year. Like we said, like CNBC is rating them about $1 billion in valuation. So do you think these new teams, Toronto and Portland can come in with that same sort of. And have the same sort of, you know, impact?
- [21:05]
Candace Parker
It's so interesting because I think it is, you know, time. I think it is like, obviously your team, but it's also like, place and the Valkyries coming in in Silicon Valley kind of help that out a little bit. And having Lake as your owner being able to. And he didn't cut and paste. It wasn't like what works for Golden State now works for Valkyries. They did it strategically and they drafted well in the expansion draft. So I think they overachieved and they kind of set the bar now, like, being the first. A lot of people are going to try to follow, but it doesn't mean that that's going to be the case. So you have to make the right hires. Everybody's got to be on the. On the same page. So I'm excited to see what Toronto and Portland do from a standpoint because the Valkyries already got off to a great start because they made the playoffs in their first year. That's probably not the expectation for Portland and in Toronto, I don't think it's
- [21:59]
Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
an expectation for any expansion team to make the playoffs at all.
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Candace Parker
Usually you're in the cellar.
- [22:03]
Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
Yeah.
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Randall Williams
Wrapping up here, looking forward. One of the things that I think is hanging over the league's head on the business side and on the executive side is Adam Silver. And both Kathy Engelbert were asked about her future with the league. And from your perspective, someone who played with her, someone who had a lot of conversations with her, what is she like and what has she meant to the league over the course of her history since she's been hired?
- [22:29]
Candace Parker
So I think just when she came in, you know, I think the tremendous amount of growth and we've got to give that credit, obviously, we got to give it credit to. Usually leagues start to take off 30, 30 years in. And the WNBA, I think, was being judged way too early.
- [22:44]
Randall Williams
I grew up in a different era than like the NFL and the NBA and the mlb. And so many of these other leagues existed when there wasn't social media when you were reading newspapers about it. And the WNBA is one of the first leagues alongside the mls. They grew up in the age of social media where it was like, oh, look, look, look. And I think that unfortunately there were fans who just looked at it in a cynical way and.
- [23:07]
Candace Parker
Yeah, but it also gave the power to the players to be able to tell your story.
- [23:09]
Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
That's true.
- [23:10]
Candace Parker
That's why we're sitting where we're at right now is because of Nil, because these players were coming in with these names behind these different, you know, colleges in the backing and then losing momentum when they got to the WNBA because of the platform. Now that's not the case. And I think a lot of it did have to do with the growth, the growing pains. I think Kathy coming in and, you know, you know, negotiating, basically two CBAs that have all gone and trended upward. There's positives. You know, obviously there's been talk about relationship element of things. And I think in this today's age, you want to be led with relationship.
- [23:48]
Raj Bennett
Yep.
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Candace Parker
And, you know, I think she could be better in establishing those relationships and making sure that everyone's on the same page as a leader, that's your responsibility.
- [24:00]
Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
Do you think that, let's say she does eventually move on before the next cba. What would another leader need to come in and really do. Do you think they establish the relationships first right away? Like, what needs to happen from a WNBA leader?
- [24:15]
Candace Parker
Well, I've been so impressed with the NBA and I think the NBA has such an advantage because you see their faces, the camera's up close, you know their stories. But you have, you. You have to want empower the people that you're going to be working with. And I say with, in commissioner, you are working with the players, you're not working against them. So I think just in terms of understanding that that's the. That's what you have to set. But I think the NBA also has done a great job of the brotherhood of the NBA. Like, you see the Anthony Edwards seeing Oscar Robertson sitting courtside going up and giving him dap. You see Allen Iverson showing up. So, like, you have to create that. You have to want to go back. You have to empower players to want to go back. And I think that's how you grow the game. So, you know, that's forefront is creating like that sisterhood and creating, you know, that family.
- [25:09]
Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
Do you feel like the legacy players don't feel as welcome in the wnba?
- [25:14]
Candace Parker
No, that's not what I'm saying. I think in terms of anytime you're going through growth, obviously it's first and foremost what's on the court. Right. But now with this growth that we have, we have the opportunity to tell stories and, you know, to uplift. I mean, to me, I think it also takes those past players. You think about Bill Russell and how much he was just like a part of the game and someone that really drove it forward, both off of. Off of the court in what he did in his activism, but also on the court and what he did in winning 10 rings. And so with that being said I think it's a responsibility of all of us to be able to continue to uplift the game because we love it. I mean, I love the WNBA. I love, I loved it when I was 11 years old when it started and it was surreal that I got to play in it for as long as I did.
- [26:04]
Randall Williams
Two more when are we going to get more WNBA content on streaming platforms? We see so much NBA stuff when you think about Court of Gold, which is the Olympics. We have so many different documentaries. And one of the things that I've wondered for a long time is in the midst of this wave of growth, we haven't seen that much behind the scenes stuff outside of the things that are put on YouTube and occasionally on ESPN. Can we get something on Prime? Are we going to get, get anything like that?
- [26:31]
Candace Parker
Big bosses hopefully are listening, but at the same time, I think it's the access element of what people want to see, you know, and, and I think that being in a position to have the access to what goes into making these players great, you know, the, the future definitely wants to, to, to have access to that.
- [26:50]
Randall Williams
Pick your WNBA champion putting you on the spot.
- [26:53]
Candace Parker
I mean, I'll take you taking the field or you taking aces?
- [26:57]
Randall Williams
I'm taking aces.
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Candace Parker
Okay. Same.
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Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
I'm gonna take the field as a lawyer, Liberty fan.
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Candace Parker
You taking a field. I like that. Okay, so it's us. Ok. All right.
- [27:07]
Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
We're going to check back in at the end of the season.
- [27:09]
Candace Parker
Appreciate you.
- [27:11]
Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
Our thanks to WNBA legend almost hall of Famer Candace Parker. Up next, we turn to soccer. Just over a month until the 2026 World Cup. The anticipation is growing. So we will speak to the founder of the Men in Blazers network, Raj Bennett. That's straight ahead on the Bloomberg Business of Sports For Randall Williams, I'm Vanessa Perdomo Maglione. You're listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio around the world,
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Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
Thanks for joining the Bloomberg Business of Sports where we explore the big money issues in the world of sports. I'm Vanessa Perdomo Maglione. Michael Barr and Randall Williams will be back next week. As a former soccer player, I am beyond excited for the World cup this year, but I recently spoke with someone who might be more excited than I am, Raj Bennett, who is the founder of the Men in Blazers Network, which is one of the biggest independently run soccer media networks. But he didn't just create Men in Blazers. He released a book this year dedicated to his experience watching the World cup called We Are the World Cup, A Personal History of the World's Greatest Soccer Sporting Event. So I think that says it all. He is so excited for the World cup he wrote the book about how much he loves it. Let's listen to the conversation I had with author and founder of Men in Blazers, Raj Bennett. Raj, thanks so much for joining the Bloomberg Business of Sports. It's so great to have you on Vanessa.
- [30:05]
Raj Bennett
It's honestly a joy to be here.
- [30:06]
Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
We have to get into it. First things first, we're 100 days out from the World Cup 2026. What are your feelings right now?
- [30:15]
Candace Parker
Do you think we're ready for Depends who we is?
- [30:20]
Raj Bennett
Vanessa I can say I can only speak for myself. Instead of 330 million Americans. I can say I'm very ready for it. Yeah, I started to be ready for this in 1994, the day the last men's World cup finished in this nation. You know, I've dedicated my life to trying to watch the game grow, take deep, deep roots. World cup to World Cup 94 was meant to make America an instant football loving nation. We joke at men in blazers media network. You know, it's always soccer, America's sport of the future, as it has been since 1972. But in football, men's and women's has actually had an inexorable rise since 1994 and 2026. This men's world cup is going to be the moment when it stops being the sport of the future. It's very much seen as sport of the present. And I can't wait.
- [31:10]
Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
Ooh, that's really interesting. So I want to get into into that with you because you just released a book called we are the World Cup A personal history of the world's greatest sporting event. And also men and blazers just released a study called Soccer's Coming Home that has all this data about how the US Is growing. Right. So let's get into the book first, which accounts all of these different. Your, your personal account of all of the World Cups you've experienced. And you had just moved to the US in 94. When, when 94 World cup was coming here and kind of talked about how it wasn't, you know, anything here. You know, it was, in fact, you said, you put it that it was the 67th ranked sporting event.
- [31:51]
Candace Parker
Right.
- [31:51]
Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
Spectator event.
- [31:52]
Raj Bennett
Yeah. And I think tractor pulling was, was 66 behind.
- [31:56]
Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
Tractor pulling, was that something very good. Really jarring for you when you came over, did you know that when you had come over that it was not popular here?
- [32:05]
Raj Bennett
I mean, look, I came to the United States under the lure of everything that was great about this nation from the perspective of a kid growing up in Liverpool, which was Public Enemies albums, John Hughes movies, the Chicago Bears super bowl winning team. And I came over here and America had everything that it promised me. All of that energy, all of that excitement, all of that chaos. And the one thing that was missing was football. And the World cup was kicking off almost as soon as I arrived in Chicago. And it was amazing watching. There was, I think it was a study that came out, I write about it in the book a few weeks before the World cup that very proudly announced 0% of Americans care that the World Cup's coming here. And there was chaos and there was fear this thing's going to be a disaster. It turned out to be the biggest World cup of all time still to this day. And it Was amazing, but it was like a circus that came and left town. I remember very quickly afterwards the team I support in England, Everton, like the New York Mets of Liverpool, were in a very big game. I had 365 cable channels in Chicago. None of them showed the game. I had to phone my dad, have him hold the phone against the radio in Liverpool to follow along. And that's the baseline from what we've come come from and what I've watched. And this is what the book tells the story of is World cup to World cup with the arrival particularly of first cable television and then streaming. The confluence of the Internet connecting people in Los Angeles to Liverpool or in Minnesota to Manchester United as closely as if they live right by the stadium. And the EA Sports FIFA game, which sensitized an entire young generation to the stars of football, the teams, the Star wars cantina of leagues, everything has changed. And so World cup to World cup, we've seen America slowly instead of overnight, as I said, become a proper football loving nation.
- [34:00]
Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
And that's the interesting thing, right, because I think even this year is touted as like you had said, it's not the world, it's not the sport of the future anymore. It's going to be now of the present. But at the time, in 94, there was also a feeling of this is going to change. You know, we're going to become a soccer nation. And obviously the MLS came around a couple of years after. It was information coming a couple of years after, but it didn't really happen. So why do you think it's going to happen this time?
- [34:27]
Raj Bennett
I mean, number one, it has happened. I want to be clear. You know, the Economist just came out with a study of America's favorite sports and soccer came third. I was on, I was telling you this before we came on. I was on Alex Rodriguez's show yesterday and he kept talking about soccer as if it was like some distant foreign, you know, an object on another planet. And I said, I don't mean to be rude, a rod, but like, and come on to your own show and tell you you're a flat Earther. And believe me, the world is now round. We know it's round. But 10% of Americans now claim football to be their soccer, you know, men's and women's to be their, their favorite sports. An enormous number. Baseball came in at 9%, much to erod shagrin. So number one, we are a proper football loving nation. Obviously the NFL towers over everything. The NBA is sandwiched in between, but it's a number one, it has already happened. The audience is incredibly young. There's data that shows that by 2030. And I think this is its beauty. And this is why, by the way, from a commercial perspective, this is why brands are pouring into football to soccer. By 2030, the U.S. soccer fan base will be the perfect mirror to American society and all of its glorious diversity. So through football, you can touch anybody. When the brands realize that and they've realized that en masse, the biggest brands in the world, they're all, oh my Lord, this thing, we can do anything with it. You know, we can speak to. We did a study that you mentioned at the top. 27% of our listeners have become so obsessed with the Premier League that they fly over to the, to England once a year at least to go and watch the Premier League team they love play football live. And in that person, that's an enormous number for the travel business, an enormous number of Americans. So number one, football is as I, you know, I tried to outline the drivers as to why that is, is very much part of the fabric. I think part of the reason it's hidden is because it is so young. You know, our audience at Men in Blazers media Network is 18 to 24. But when you kind of push out, I do a show Morning Joe and Tom Brucha once cut me off early. I write about this in the book Cut me off as soon as I started. He said, whoa, whoa, whoa. Why are we talking about soccer in America when we play baseball? And I couldn't get a word in edgeways. Two years later I was on again with Brokar and he said, whoa, whoa, whoa. I was like, oh my God, please Tom, let me finish. And he goes, I used to hate soccer, but now I go with my son in laws every Christmas. We go together. We, we watch five games and I fly coach, which was like his great kind of like. And I was like, and I'll tell you when we have broker, even when we have broker, as a football fan in the United States, I think we've got everybody.
- [37:08]
Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
Yeah. When you know, you've obviously seen it since day one here. When did you see the biggest change, do you think?
- [37:16]
Raj Bennett
I mean the wake up point for me. And when I thought about creating what turned into the Men in Blazers Media Network, which covers, you know, Premier League champions league with one platform. We have a women's platform, the women's game, which is really surging right now as a women's game surging. We've just launched a Hispanic facing second, third generation platform Called Vamos. The. The catalyst for that for me was 2006 during the World Cup. And again, I tell the story in the book. I was watching England take the field, ESPN adjust. It was one of the first years. They put everything, every game live. It was a big investment, you. But they'd taken over a lot of their baseball commentators, which was a choice and they weren't, let's say, I think they'd watched about as many previous games of football as some of the, you know, the American non football fans watching for the first time. And England took the field. And the commentator said. And these words changed my life in many ways. The commentator said, the world's most famous footballer, Charlie Beckham, takes the field. And I screamed at my television like, you. You just got. I screamed at the television. I was like, whoa. If only they had someone who knew what they were talking about covering this sport. It would go massive overnight. And my wife, God bless her, she just like, why don't you do it, love? And I was like, great. And I will. So I think that moment, you know, I called up espn, I was like, why do you not have people who. And the person I spoke to was just like, we don't have anyone. They say genuinely. And I realized in that moment, it was like covering football in the United States in an authentic, serious, joyful, meaningful, informed way. It was like finding beachside property that hadn't been developed accredit espn. They turned around and were like, you guys, you should do it. And they said, you know, next World cup. The new podcast technology. You have a podcast? We didn't know what a podcast was. It felt like we were talking into two cans. But the rise of digital technology is another side of the business. Story of this is that what podcasting and then digital technology allowed us to do was to very cheaply, very affordably, very intimately connect this massive audience which existed but had never really been brought together, and build what turned into the men in Blazers media network.
- [39:40]
Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
Wow, that's really amazing. And I mean, and the thing that's interesting, and you pointed out too, in the soccer's coming home study is it's still kind of heavily English Premier League, right? And I love how you kind of put it. It's the. The only thing in the US that people are fans of that isn't the number one league doesn't exist in the US Right? It exists overseas. Tell me more about that. And is that okay? Is that okay for the mls, you know, to have the EPL be the number one, like, league of fans?
- [40:10]
Raj Bennett
In the of us fans, this is a confusing reality. You got to remember mls, which has come on so fast so far in its like what 30 years of existence gave these other leagues 120, 130 year start. So the English football is, is so you know, the history, the authenticity, the commercial muscle that it has is made it the world leader. And because Americans love the best, you know, they've gravitated towards it also. Another nuanced part of the conversation is MLS has to go in prime time up against every other major sporting enterprise. It's very hard to find that bandwidth. The Premier League broadcast seven o', clock, eight o', clock, nine o' clock in the morning. It's got no competition and it's bizarrely by counter programming primetime, it's found it's air, it's it's room to breathe to connect to a hungry American audience. NBC starting to broadcast it in a really serious, really quite brilliant way with Rebecca Lowe as the host. In 2013 was a game changer. They made every game available. And by the way, not just NBC, but there's now there's no better place to cover football. That kid me who had to phone his dad to follow his team on the telephone, there's no better place to watch more football live than you. I can watch more football live from New York City than I can even from England. And it's just led to this incredible
- [41:43]
Vanessa Perdomo Maglione
surge that was Founder of Men in Blazers and author of We Are the World Cup Raj Bennett that's it for today. Thanks for joining. Tune in again next week for the latest on the stories moving big money in the world of sports. And don't forget to catch our podcast on all your podcast platforms and and go to bloomberg.com to subscribe to the Bloomberg Business of Sports newsletter to stay up to date on all our juicy insights. You're listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio around the world. Stay with us. Today's top stories and global business headlines are coming up. Right now.
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