WrestleMania, Las Vegas as Sports City, Richmond Flying Squirrels

Summary

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Bloomberg Business of Sports – April 17, 2026

Episode: WrestleMania, Las Vegas as Sports City, Richmond Flying Squirrels

Hosts: Vanessa Perdomo (VP), Randall Williams (RW)
Guests: Sebastian Escobar (SE), Charlotte Flair (CF), Bill Hornbuckle (BH), Lou DiBella (LD)

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Episode Overview

This episode unpacks the flows of big money in sports, offering an inside look at how spectacle, strategy, and real estate power the industry. The hosts break down three timely topics:

• The marketing and business twists at WrestleMania 42, including an interview with WWE superstar Charlotte Flair,
• The meteoric rise of Las Vegas as a premier sports city, featuring an in-depth conversation with MGM Resorts CEO Bill Hornbuckle,
• The business evolution and local impact of minor league baseball, spotlighting the Richmond Flying Squirrels' new stadium with owner Lou DiBella.

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Key Segments & Discussion Points

1. WrestleMania 42: Celebrity Crossovers, Loyal Fans, and the Business Model

[03:25 – 14:32]

Main Insights:

• WrestleMania 42 remains WWE’s financial juggernaut, likened by Randall Williams to “the Super Bowl for wrestling” ([03:50]).
• This year’s event intensifies the use of celebrities (e.g., Logan Paul, Joe Jonas, Twitch streamer iShowspeed, Jelly Roll, Pat McAfee) to reel in broader audiences, but risks alienating WWE’s most dedicated fans who feel sidelined by abrupt storyline shifts.
  • “For many fans, it’s like, why are we just randomly throwing people into the storylines?... They just look at the money.” (RW, [05:07])
• WrestleMania relocated back-to-back years to Las Vegas due to its commercial success—$320 million at Allegiant Stadium last year ([06:40]).
• The current challenge: maintaining the balance between spectacle-driven promotion and the authenticity diehards crave.
  • “They want to promote the product and get non-typical wrestling fans interested, but at the same time they're alienating the actual wrestling fans.” (RW, [06:11])

Interview: Charlotte Flair on Wrestling, Business, and Branching Out

Conversation led by Randall Williams and Sebastian Escobar.

• On Sharing the Spotlight:
  • This year, Charlotte is in a tag team with Alexa Bliss, stepping away from her usual solo spotlight.
  • “It was the first time I went into the Rumble with a friend...if we’re going to Mania, we’re going to do it together.” (CF, [10:02])
• On Wrestling Character & Business Ventures:
  • Charlotte (Ashley) is focusing on business interests and investments, aiming for authenticity and organic partnerships.
  • She became an angel investor in a mental health awareness company, Self Cares for Everyone.
  • Invested in Indian restaurant chains and expresses a desire to own a women's sports franchise.
  • “For the last two years, I would love to invest in a female sports team. I think that would be a big step for me.” (CF, [13:19])
• On Streaming & Audience Connection:
  • Discussed the impact of WWE’s content on Netflix and ESPN and how it enables deeper fan connection.
  • “What WWE Unreal did for my character—the fans had never seen me in that light before, so it allowed me to have that connection with you guys.” (CF, [14:20])

Notable Quotes:

• “The storyline is just like ... they were very good friends and then at one point they just stopped being friends, which is kind of like the culmination of most wrestling storylines.” (RW, [04:19])
• “Having celebrities as part of WrestleMania has always been their thing... but this time it just feels random.” (RW, [05:42])

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2. Las Vegas: From Gambling Hub to Sports Epicenter

[16:45 – 29:16]

Main Insights:

• Las Vegas has transformed over a decade into a world-class sports destination, with the construction of T-Mobile Arena marking a pivotal moment.
• Origins and Process:
  • MGM had long hosted major boxing events but lacked a venue for next-tier, non-boxing spectacles.
  • The process of building and partnering with AEG, and bringing in Bill Foley to anchor the NHL’s Golden Knights, made the T-Mobile Arena venture viable ([17:27]).
  • “We literally said, let’s build it and it will come. We didn’t know what was to come.” (BH, [18:17])

Mount Rushmore of Arena Events ([19:43]):

• The Vegas Golden Knights winning the Stanley Cup.
• The Mayweather-McGregor fight.
• The hosting of major UFC cards and multiple top-grossing events.

Economic & Logistical Impact:

• MGM controls 40% of Las Vegas’ room inventory, making the company integral to every big event.
• “Formula One’s a three-and-a-half-mile track... but the way we worked with the community, the state... gave us the confidence for things like Formula One and the A’s stadium.” (BH, [21:14])
• Las Vegas is able to efficiently host huge events like the Super Bowl due to its compact infrastructure and hospitality experience.
  • “There is no surrounding neighborhoods. Everything’s right down the street ... that works beautifully.” (SE, [23:15])

NBA Expansion & the Streaming Era:

• MGM is all-in on attracting an NBA franchise, with T-Mobile Arena NBA-ready and expansion plans primed ([25:06]).
• “We can be ready sooner than anybody else. We’re prepared to let the team take on general ownership of the arena and step aside... We’d like a seat at the table.” (BH, [25:06])
• Streaming has outmoded older, regionally-shackled broadcast models:
  • “Streaming... took that challenge basically off the table as well.” (BH, [26:28])
• Las Vegas’ visitor-driven economy and streaming flexibility make it an ideal market for franchises seeking national and international exposure.

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3. Minor League Baseball as a Growing Business: Richmond Flying Squirrels and Carmax Park

[31:14 – 43:42]

Main Insights:

• Lou DiBella recounts the 17-year saga of bringing a new minor league park, Carmax Park, to Richmond.
  • “Three years became five years, became eight years, became 10 years, and now we’re pushing 17. But we are finally opening it.” (LD, [31:48])
• The new stadium is not just for baseball; it’s conceived as a year-round entertainment complex—with concert venues, lounges, and even plans for a winter carnival and ice rink.
  • “My rent in the new ballpark is going to be $3.2 million. So that creates a lot of necessity for revenue generation … we have to think out of the box.” (LD, [32:52])

Economic Impact & Business Model:

• New stadiums are critical drivers of neighborhood revitalization and broader economic development in smaller cities.
  • “They’re becoming pieces of major real estate deals ... the justification for the smaller cities funding a good portion of the ballpark is the economic development that’s going to result from the growth of the neighborhood around that ballpark.” (LD, [36:06])
• Rising costs ($140m+) necessitate more revenue streams beyond baseball, including live events, partnerships, and year-round operation.
• Facilities now rival those in the major leagues, with state-of-the-art amenities for both fans and players.

The Changing Face of Minor & Major League Sports:

• Minor league teams are attracting venture capital and major investors, a sign the space is maturing as a business.
• On Boxing’s Decline and the Influence of Influencers:
  • LD laments boxing’s transition into a niche, streaming-driven industry, its regulatory shortcomings, and the rise of “influencer” matches.
    • “It wasn’t self-policed enough ... the sport definitely faded over the course of the last few decades. It was like a red light district of sports.... Now it’s just guilty.” (LD, [42:30])

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Notable Quotes

• On WWE’s Growth Strategy:
  • “It’s always been about getting big names to bring attention … but this time it just feels random.” (RW, [05:42])
• On Las Vegas’ Sports Boom:
  • “Las Vegas is not a huge market ... but what it does is bring in the world.” (BH, [26:28])
• On Minor League Baseball Becoming Big Business:
  • “People underestimate our importance to the cities we’re in.” (LD, [33:46])
• On Boxing’s Troubled Modern State:
  • “The best don’t fight the best. I don’t even know what this influencer stuff is … I don’t enjoy it, I don’t think it’s high quality combat sports.” (LD, [40:38])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• WrestleMania 42 and WWE business model: [03:25–14:32]
  • Charlotte Flair interview segment: [09:56–14:32]
• Las Vegas: Sports City & MGM CEO Bill Hornbuckle interview: [16:45–29:16]
• Richmond Flying Squirrels & Lou DiBella interview: [31:14–43:42]

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Tone & Style

The tone is candid and conversational, delivered with the expertise and skepticism of industry insiders. The hosts and guests don’t shy away from discussing the friction between tradition and profit, and are frank about the evolving sports landscape—from fan engagement to the economics of stadium-building.

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This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in the business mechanics behind major sports events, city planning around sports franchises, and the often-overlooked economic force of minor league teams.

Transcript

[Vanessa Perdomo]

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[Randall Williams]

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[Randall Williams]

So let's talk about results.

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[Randall Williams]

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[Vanessa Perdomo]

Our aim is always to leverage the

global appeal of football.

[Lou DiBella]

Having representation in college sports is even more important than pro.

[Randall Williams]

10% of Americans now claim soccer to

[Vanessa Perdomo]

be their favorite sport.

We estimate the youth sports audience has $3 trillion in spending power.

[Randall Williams]

The nature of baseball is it is worldwide and it is global.

[Lou DiBella]

I'm very happ for the WNBA and how the NBA has embraced them.

[Randall Williams]

Sports bets are not going anywhere and sports betting is only growing.

[Vanessa Perdomo]

We have a super team running this league and this league is here and

it's here to stay.

Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio

this is the Bloomberg business of sports where we explore the big money issues in the world of sports. I'm Vanessa Pernomo. Michael Barr is out this week, but joining me for this week's show is our friend sports business reporter Randall Williams. Randall's joining me because as you can hear, my voice is in need of some help. And he's here to join me in studio because I just got married and I have a little bit of a rasp to my voice.

Woo.

[Sebastian Escobar]

Congratulations, Vanessa. Coming up today, we'll talk baseball and why minor league teams are small gold mines for cities. Plus, it's the 10 year anniversary of Las Vegas first step into becoming a sports town with the building of T Mobile Arena. We'll talk with MGM Resorts CEO Bill Hornbuckle about his role in getting that done and the growth of sports on the strip.

[Vanessa Perdomo]

But first, it's WrestleMania 42 this weekend and we got a chance to speak with one of the biggest names in the game, Charlotte Flair.

[Sebastian Escobar]

We caught up with Charlotte at the super bowl in San Francisco back in February and our senior broadcast producer and WWE expert Sebastian Escobar stepped in to speak with her.

[Vanessa Perdomo]

Sebastian joins us now to give us a little peek into his conversation with Charlotte. Insights on the big event. Sebastian, WrestleMania is coming up this weekend. What do we need to know about it?

[Randall Williams]

Well, basically it's WWE's biggest event of the year. It's like the super bowl for wrestling to two night show and this is where like all the storylines that culminated throughout the year kind of come together. And this is where like all the championships are decided. This is where like the storylines kind of come together. There's a bow at the end, you know. So for many fans this is like the ultimate show of the shows.

[Sebastian Escobar]

Tell me what people are showing up for. What are the storylines this year?

[Randall Williams]

Well, obviously the, the main championships are the, the undisputed WWE Championship. You have Cody Rhodes, who's current, the current champion, going up against the 14 time champion Randy Orton. He's like a veteran in the game. He's been in it, in, in the company for over 20 years now. And the storyline is just like they were very good friends and then at one point they just stopped being friends which is kind of like culmination of most wrestling storylines. Right. They just like kind of backstab each other and then you had like Pat McAfee who's like an ESPN host, sports host and that he got involved and, but, but it's really confusing the way I'm, I'm, I'm framing it that way is because that's kind of been like the crux of the WrestleMania storylines. It's been very confusing and for a lot of fans, especially hardcore wrestling fans, it's alienating because it's like, why are we just randomly throwing people into the storylines? So now Pat McAfee got thrown into the storyline simply because he called Randy and now he, now he's part of it and got involved. But we all know that it's just because he's part of espn. He's a well known name and TKO works with ESPN and that's how you grab, I guess, the non wrestling fans interested into the product.

[Vanessa Perdomo]

So this is the 42nd WrestleMania. They're using big names, other celebrities, random people like Logan Paul to get more people interested in the sport.

[Randall Williams]

Yeah, and Logan Paul is like, at least he's an actual superstar now. And having celebrities as part of WrestleMania has always been like their thing. Like Mr. T was part of the first Wrestlemania. Mike Tyson came on like so using big names to kind of like bring attention to the event has always been part of their marketing and promotion deal. But this time is kind of just feels random. Like Jelly Roll is now part of one of the storylines. The famous Twitch streamer ishowspeed is part of part of their storyline.

[Sebastian Escobar]

Like influencer marketing.

[Randall Williams]

Exactly. And TKO knows that. So they want to like, you know, kind of promote this product and get non typical wrestling fans interested in the product. But at the same time they're alienating the actual wrestling fans.

[Sebastian Escobar]

Right, so it sounds like what you're saying is that you have two categories of fans. You have the fans who are die hards and then you have the fans who are somewhat interested because someone they follow like I show speed or Pat McAfee is like, oh, what are they doing on WWE? Let me tune in. You don't think they found a balance yet?

[Randall Williams]

No, not yet. I think it's because it's just, it's, it's sporadic and I think if you ask many of these die hard wrestling fans, they would probably say the same thing. But TKO right now, they just look at the money. Last year when it was at, in Las Vegas at Allegiant Stadium, they generated over $320 million. That's in Gates, merchandise, promotions and everything. So they saw the money and they were like, you know what, we need to repeat that again. So the first thing mistake that they made was originally WrestleMania. This year was supposed to be in New Orleans and a lot. And it got a lot of people excited about coming back to New Orleans. But then TKO decided, well, you know, it worked so well in Las Vegas last year. Let's just do it again. And for many fans it's like, well, that's not what we're used to. You know, we're used to it being a different city. And you know.

[Vanessa Perdomo]

Well, I'll have you know that one of the great things about WrestleMania this year is that Joe Jonas is going to perform. So everyone has that to look forward to.

[Randall Williams]

So now they bring you a non wrestling fan into the working.

[Vanessa Perdomo]

Yeah. Seb, tell us a little bit about your conversation with Charlotte Flair.

[Randall Williams]

Yeah, so I was able to speak with Charlotte. This was on like the at Radio Row right before the Super Bowl a couple months ago and essentially just had a conversation with her about her Road to WrestleMania. Because Charlotte Flair is one of the biggest names in WWE. She's a 14 time women's champion and she's been in the spotlight almost every single year for this show, of the shows. And we had a little conversation about how this year it's a little different. She's stepping out of the spotlight, a place that she's usually not used to. And now she's sharing the spotlight in a tag team match with her so called best friend, Alexa Bliss.

[Sebastian Escobar]

So called.

[Randall Williams]

So called because I mean, even though they're very good friends, it started at Royal Royal Rumble, which is like the first premium live event before WrestleMania. And it started with them two as the first two opponents going against each other. And Charlotte, well, she kind of eliminated

[Vanessa Perdomo]

Alexa and now they're teammates. So that'll be really interesting. What, so you said this, this time around she's sharing the spotlight with her. What else can we expect from Charlotte in WrestleMania? And what else did you talk about to her about?

[Randall Williams]

Well, in terms of the conversation, we wanted to kind of step, take a step back from Charlotte Flair and focus more on Ashley Flair, which is her real name. Ashley's her real name, her birth name. Charlotte being obviously her character. And one thing that she mentioned was like her desire to get involved with more companies and start investing more in businesses. And we didn't get to it because this happened after our conversation. But a recent thing that she did was become a creative partner and an angel investor into this mental health awareness company called Self Cares for Everyone. It was like her first time becoming an angel investor and like using her money for advocacy. So it's something that she's been trying to branch out with and just kind of focus a little bit less on the wrestling product, something that she's Dedicated to pretty much entire life to. She is the daughter of Ric Flair, who is a very prominent name in the wrestling community.

[Sebastian Escobar]

An all time great.

[Randall Williams]

An all time great. And so she kind of wants to, like, you know, start forging her own path and she thinks that, you know, becoming involved with mental health advocacy is the way to do it.

[Vanessa Perdomo]

So let's take a listen into Sebastian's conversation with WWE Superstar Charlotte Flair.

[Randall Williams]

So tell us a little bit about the. The storyline. What is Charlotte Flair's Road to WrestleMania looking like?

[Charlotte Flair]

So for the Royal Rumble, this. It was the first time I went into the Rumble with a friend, and then I was entrant number one, and then enter number two was my ally of convenience, Alexa Bliss.

[Randall Williams]

That's right.

[Charlotte Flair]

So I had to really choose from either eliminating, you know, my bestie or looking at the WrestleMania sign. But for me, like, our bond is like this. So I chose to like, all right, if we're going to mania, we're going to do it together. So we kind of showed tit for tat. You know, she went for the Sister Abigail. I went for the figure 8. But at the end of the day, it was like, no, let's do this together.

[Randall Williams]

So was her elimination an accident? Was a little.

[Charlotte Flair]

Definitely an accident, yeah. I was trying to eliminate Naya, but Naya grabbed her last second, so.

[Randall Williams]

That's right. That's right. And there was a bit of an elimination with Lash Legend. Yeah, she's a big up and comer. How would you describe.

[Charlotte Flair]

I'm excited to see what she does. I was a fan of hers while she was in nxt. I think she's changed a little bit now that she's aligned with Nya, but she's going to do big things. And she actually had the most eliminations of the Royal Rumble.

[Randall Williams]

That's right.

[Charlotte Flair]

In Riyadh.

[Sebastian Escobar]

Yeah.

[Randall Williams]

Yeah. A powerhouse to be reckoned with.

[Bill Hornbuckle]

Powerhouses.

[Charlotte Flair]

I might have lasted the longest, though.

[Randall Williams]

You're the Iron Woman of the Royal Rumble for sure. So, Charlotte, you've been in WWE now for over a decade. I have you mentioned a little bit about connecting with the fans, kind of transforming your character just a little, a little bit creatively. So how's that process going for you? How would you describe it?

[Charlotte Flair]

So I actually think 2025 was probably the most. Most character development I've had in a long time. You know, Lexi, Alexa is so popular where I've always been so dedicated. What's the word? Decorated or respected to see the pair. Like, I brought her to the dance, but she opened Me up to the fans. It's been such a unique pairing. I'm just grateful for it and to have the opportunity to step away from the title scene and be in the tag team title scene. And when I held up that title at SummerSlam, it actually felt like I was holding up a world title. So it's been great.

[Randall Williams]

That's fantastic.

[Charlotte Flair]

I'm excited to see what 202026 brings.

[Randall Williams]

So WrestleMania, perhaps another title shot, maybe

[Charlotte Flair]

in the picture, perhaps the tag titles or Intercontinental.

[Randall Williams]

There's always the us. There's everything. All right, so stay tuned for that many opportunities. Exactly. So, Charlotte, we are Bloomberg. This is the business of sports. Want to talk a little bit about a business that you've partnered with in the past? That's Rockford, your eminence designer Julie Rings.

[Vanessa Perdomo]

Yes.

[Randall Williams]

So tell us a little bit about the creative process of hooking up with them and if there's anything in the future that you're interested in partnering with.

[Charlotte Flair]

Yeah, for me, it's always been what feels organic or real. So I love my jewelry. My dad and I bond over watches. So the collab with Rockford felt very easy, felt very natural. I've invested it in an Indian chain of restaurants because I love the Indian culture. Chai Pani, which their. The second brand will be Bhatwali. There's a few pop ups right now. I have another venture in the making, but it's kind of like one of those things that once they happen, like, you don't want to talk about it until it's happened.

[Randall Williams]

Okay.

[Charlotte Flair]

But just venturing out what that looks

[Randall Williams]

like and it's entrepreneurial, like, is that in the, in the. In the works? Do you want to invest in more companies?

[Charlotte Flair]

I really like for the last two years would love to invest in a female sports team. I think that would be like a big step for me.

[Randall Williams]

Yeah, that's become very prominent.

[Charlotte Flair]

Very prominent.

[Vanessa Perdomo]

Yeah.

[Randall Williams]

Anything, any specific sports leagues?

[Charlotte Flair]

Whether you're thinking about basketball team or a women's soccer team, those are two that I've actually looked at. But I think that would be incredible, especially with what women's sports are doing right now. Seen what the WNBA did this year?

[Randall Williams]

Yes. So, yeah, it's growing exponentially. So it's definitely a time to get in there.

[Charlotte Flair]

And you know how I feel about the women's division in wwe.

[Randall Williams]

Right, right. I mean, you brought it up to a big level worldwide. So Charlotte, you know, WWE's premium live events recently moved to ESPN. You had Netflix original content shout out to WWE. Unreal. The success of season one. Now we have season two. So from your perspective, perspective as one of the top performers, like, how do you see these moves of, like, different streaming services probably shaping audience perspective? Like, do you think it fragments the audience or it brings different audiences?

[Charlotte Flair]

So I can only speak for myself, but what WWE Unreal did for my character, the fans had never seen me in that light before, so it allowed me to have that connection with you guys. So I'm grateful for the show.

[Sebastian Escobar]

Our thanks is to Sebastian Escobar for joining us and sharing that conversation he had with WWE legend Charlotte Flair. He's a senior producer for Bloomberg Radio. Up next, the CEO of MGM Resorts on the growth of Las Vegas as a sports city.

[Vanessa Perdomo]

I'm Vanessa Perdomo with Randall Williams. You're listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio around the world.

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[Vanessa Perdomo]

This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.

This is the Bloomberg Business of. Welcome back to the World of Sports, where we explore the big money Issues in the world of sports. I'm Vanessa Perdomo. Michael Barr is off this week, but I am joined by Bloomberg's Randall Williams.

[Sebastian Escobar]

Las Vegas is one of the premier sports cities in the US actively working over the last 10 years to establish itself with major franchises hosting big events like the super bowl and their own race on the Formula one circuit. This all started with the build of T Mobile Arena 10 years ago.

[Vanessa Perdomo]

Here to talk about the momentum that created for the city is MGM Resorts CEO Bill Hornbuckle. So let's just get into it because as you know, Randall has covered this story a lot. The growing epicenter of sports in Las Vegas. So tell us how it all started 10 years ago at the T Mobile Arena.

[Bill Hornbuckle]

Nice to talk to you guys both and Vanessa, really, if you think about it, it went back before that. T Mobile obviously just hit its 10th anniversary. But the bottom line to the sports story is for us, particularly at mgm, you know, we always had the Grand Garden arena, and it was for decades the home of some of the world's best championship fights. When you think about Tyson and Oscar De La Hoya, et cetera, et cetera. So we knew sports, we knew the arena business. We all wanted to grow the scale because Grand Garden sets up basically for about 12 to 13,000 depending on the event. And it wasn't large enough to get us into the next tier. And we thought that was important for programming not only around sports, but around entertainment, et cetera. We looked to try to grow Grant Garden. It got stuck in infrastructure being too small and the surroundings around it, parking garages, etc, didn't make it impossible. And so when we bought Mandalay Bay, we thought about potentially placing it there. And then ultimately over time came to an understanding with AEG that we would run the programming and we'd be the operating part partner. They and us would be co investors. And we eventually brought Bill Foley on with the Golden Knights, which a little bit of a different story. But we also ended up moving it from Mandalay to where it sits today, which at one point was the corporate center and the center. We built City center on it. And so for us, you know, we literally said, let's build it and it will come. And we didn't know what was to come. We certainly didn't think hockey. The arena was originally built to be NBA ready and was built to be NBA ready, but we, you know, really didn't have sights in the NBA team, nor, nor a hockey team. And, and lo and behold, thankfully Bill Foley showed up. And you know what that was all about how that worked that first year. Obviously, following the tragedy of 10 1. It pulled the community together in a way that it just hadn't been pulled together before for. And so it was very exciting for us. And our basic belief went back to we believed in sports. We knew what it did for Las Vegas. From there, it proved that Las Vegas could be a sports town. And then a bunch of other stuff, as you know, fell from that tree.

[Sebastian Escobar]

Following up on what Vanessa said, I wonder, there have been so many different events. UFC cards, NHL games and other things as well. What are your Mount Rushmore events that have taken place at T Mobile Arena?

[Bill Hornbuckle]

Look, I think obviously the Stanley cup would have to be Mount Rushmore, and obviously we won it two years ago. And that was special for the community, for the team and for all of us. I think we had a Mayweather McGregor fight in the early days, and so the ability, you know, T Mobile for the first eight years of its existence was top five in terms of gross receipts. I think it was number one one year, number two a year thereafter. And it wasn't the number of events it arguably was, the scale of events and the quality of those events. And so those are probably a couple that rise to that occasion. You know, we've had all kinds of other things, but those are probably the two that most notably stand out. We've had some amazing UFC fights. You know, T Mobile is the home of ufc, which is great. We, we do four fights a year, they're guaranteed, and everyone sneak something else in. And so, you know, it's worked and worked well for us.

[Vanessa Perdomo]

Well, Bill, I'm curious, obviously, as you are the home of UFC and Vegas is very well known as a combat sport hub. But over the years, as of their sports have come into play, Formula one, hosting Super Bowls, things like that, how has that changed the overall business, even if you aren't directly hosting those events, but how does it change the overall business for you guys at MGM Resorts?

[Bill Hornbuckle]

A great question. Look, and it has. When you own 40% of the room inventory in the city, it's kind of hard. What happens in Las Vegas happens at MGM Resorts and vice versa. And so we took that philosophy. Obviously, we couldn't put Allegiance Stadium on our site anywhere, but the fact that it's literally in our back door was important. Obviously, Formula One's a three and a half mile track, so we couldn't put it. But the way we worked with the community, the way we worked with the state, you know, when originally there were the Raiders, which was kind of being fostered through the Las Vegas sands. And Sheldon Allison fell apart. We and the convention center got behind the idea of, wait a minute before this just goes away. Is there not a way to really make this happen? We didn't want to own the team. We don't need to own the team. We just wanted to make sure the activity took place. And so we did something that hadn't been done in a dozen years in any other community. We got behind it with state money in a meaningful way, created a stadium authority that now owns that stadium as well as a piece of the A's. And we began to make these things happen as Allegiant came into play. You know, we programmed it originally for 24 events. Obviously the football, you would know UNLV games and some other activity. It did like 46 or 47 events. The first year was wildly successful. And it gave us the confidence then to things like Formula one, with same energy, the same group. Clearly it gave us the confidence and we're excited by where ultimately the A's have ended up. And so for us, particularly at resorts where we kind of dominate the south end of Las Vegas Boulevard, you've got Allegiant, you have the new A stadium, you've got T Mobile. We have this golden triangle of activity and sports all within a mile of each other. And the convenience of it all is been amazing. I think it's one of the reasons we've gotten the super bowl back so quickly. Logistics, the way the town can accommodate a hundred thousand people easily, the airport location, etc. Etc.

[Sebastian Escobar]

Bill, I'm going to interrupt you right here and say that Las Vegas was a wonderful super bowl host city. It was fabulous. And I'm not saying that because I enjoy Vegas. I'm saying that from a journalist perspective of walking around, of taking Ubers, of being able to make all these different events. We just did time in San Francisco and Vanessa and I have gone to to several other super bowl cities and they all have their own distinct hosting style, but obviously it depends on the municipality and where the, the local surrounding neighborhoods are. In Vegas, there is no surrounding neighborhoods. Everything's right down the street. And I think that works beautifully.

[Bill Hornbuckle]

Yeah, it's like with Mandalay Bay set up right there to be the, the host hotel. Logistically, there's no better place. And I think the NFL has recognized that. And look, here's what, and I think you know this about Allegiant and particularly the Raiders story. 53% of those seat licenses, they sold 60,000 seat licenses. Which, by the way, was 2x what we had originally programmed to out of towners. And so, you know, guy in Chicago buys a seat license, he gets season tickets, he maybe comes twice, three times a year, and the balance go out to visiting teams. And so when you go to a game there, it's fascinating.

[Sebastian Escobar]

We're here with Bill Hornbuckle, MGM Resort CEO. Bill, now let's look toward the future, because it's been well established that T Mobile arena is one of the signature arenas across the nation. I mean, with all the UFC events and of course, the Golden Knights being there and so many other things. But there's something happening right now in basketball with Vegas being on the cusp of potentially getting an NBA expansion team. I've spoken to Bill Foley about this. He has said he's going to raise his hand. He has an ownership group that includes people that can buy him 10 to 15 times over. Again, where does MGM stand in all of this with T Mobile being a potential arena for an NBA expansion team?

[Bill Hornbuckle]

Look, we've been long in this pursuit. I think you know that we hosted the NBA game at the NBA, the all star game back in 07. We've hosted USA basketball. We've hosted the summer league. We brought the Aces here. We owned that team for a couple years before we sold to Mark, probably too quickly, but that's a different discussion. We're all in on Adam. We're all in on the NBA. We think T Mobile is ripe. I think we can be ready sooner than anybody else. We're prepared to let the team take on general ownership of the arena and step aside. Not completely. We'd like a seat at the table, and we're prepared to invest in T Mobile to bring it to both the new NBA standard and frankly, to a different place, both commercially from a marketing perspective and ultimately a facilities perspective.

[Vanessa Perdomo]

Bill, how would you anticipate, you know, if the NBA comes to Las Vegas, as everyone's hoping and anticipating that it will, that now every major league will have a team within Las Vegas, Whereas that's so recent, so new, only really having the first team less than about 10 years ago. How do you anticipate that change? And how has Vegas changed as a sports city, going from really having combat sports hosting events here and there to having four actual major franchises call the city of home?

[Bill Hornbuckle]

A couple of things change, obviously, with the passage of PASPA in 2018 in sports betting. It gave not only the leagues, but the NC2A. I think, you know, we're going to host the college football Championship game. We just literally last weekend had frozen four here, we've got the final four coming here. And so with the passing of paspa, it gave the green light for professional sports and colleges to come to Las Vegas and host their most prestigious events as well as their teams. Las Vegas is, look, it's not a huge market in the context of Metros, probably like number 27 or something along that line, but what it does is what I was talking about earlier. It brings in the world. And so the idea of visitor crowds being the economics and the commercial piece of it are very much a part in how this all works here. The other piece of it, because regional TV has had become a less and less play in all of these sports streaming we don't need to worry about, we're blocked by la, Phoenix or Salt Lake. There's a streaming environment that away it goes. And so it took that challenge basically off the table as well. And so if somebody loves the Raiders, it doesn't matter where they are, they can stream the game and they don't have to worry about the regional TV having it or blacking it out, that type of thing. And so you put all that together with our desire to want to do this, our appetite for high end experiences for our customers, our combining it with our BetMGM product so that we can expose those people to all of this activity. It's been pretty compelling obviously for everyone who's come.

[Sebastian Escobar]

All right, last one for you, Bill. I want to ask about the future of T Mobile Arena. Again, let's just say that an NBA team. Well, I'll ask a two sided question. What does the future of T Mobile arena look like with an NBA team there or potentially without one? Because there are investors who have said I know T Mobile's over there, but I want my own stadium. I don't want to partner with anybody. I want to put two and a half or $3 billion or maybe it's $2 billion of my own money to have my own arena. What does the future of T Mobile arena look like with an NBA team and without it?

[Bill Hornbuckle]

Well, let me, let me talk about with. First and foremost we can be ready early and they're partnering with in our case a comp. Got 38,000 hotel rooms, 55 million in a database and an activity case around suites and high end and luxury and sports. With BetMGM that's extremely compelling for any new owner. And so we hope and believe we can get to the finish line on that and make a really compelling case for not only a new owner but the league to say yeah, let's go forward and do this if, if we don't and it ends up down the street. While disappointed, you'll still see us continue to invest in T Mobile. The general notion that an NBA team would come Las Vegas is still going to work to our better.

[Vanessa Perdomo]

That was MGM Resorts CEO Bill Hornbuckle.

[Sebastian Escobar]

Up next, we speak with legendary boxing promoter Lou DiBella, who has turned his eye to minor league baseball.

[Vanessa Perdomo]

I'm Vanessa Perdomo with Randall Williams. You're listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio around the world.

This sports spotlight is brought to you by Capital One Saver Cart, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports. Did you know that in January of this year, Flag Football was officially added to to the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women program, a step toward giving the sport NCAA championship status. Flag Football will make its Olympic debut at LA 2028. Earn unlimited 3% cash back on dining, entertainment and at grocery stores with the Saver card from Capital One. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. See capitalone.com for details. Financial growth begins long before the first investment. It comes from understanding what you're building toward, what's at stake, and what success looks like for you. At Oppenheimer, we bring bold thinking, guided by the full strength of our expertise to put capital to work building and protecting wealth that lasts generations. Put the power of Oppenheimer thinking to work for you. Wealth management, capital markets, investment banking.

[Jacob Goldstein]

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[Vanessa Perdomo]

O.com this is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.

Thanks for joining us on the Bloomberg Business of Sports, where we explore the big money issues in the world of sports. I'm Vanessa Perdomo. Michael Barr is off this week and I am joined by Bloomberg reporter Randall Williams.

[Sebastian Escobar]

Our next guest is Lou DiBella. He's well known for his career in boxing, spending 10 years leading programming for HBO Sports before starting his own promotional firm. However, he's turned his eye to a totally different venture, now owning minor league baseball teams.

[Vanessa Perdomo]

He's the owner of the Richmond Flying Squirrels, who just opened their new home, Carmax park, for the start of the season. We spoke to Lou a few days ahead of their opening day on April 7th.

[Lou DiBella]

We're about to open Carmax Park. Actually, we're doing a dry run with a concert to just see how the ballpark handles. 5,000 people will be the first time we use any of the concessions or anything in the park. Opening day is April 6th. It's been a long time coming. It took 16 years to get this ballpark built. We moved to Richmond almost 17 years ago, actually, with the promise of a new ballpark within three years. And three years became five years, became eight years, became 10 years, and now we're pushing 17. But we are finally opening it. We. We. We built it ourselves. The city provided us with a big chunk of the money by bonding this development area, the diamond district, where the ballpark is going to be. And we took the responsibility of building it and eating the overages. You know, it's probably going to be more like $140 million ballpark.

[Sebastian Escobar]

How excited are you about both of these events? I mean, you said 17 years is a long time coming for any stadium that's being built. I imagine that it's either relief or joy or somewhere in between. How are you feeling about all of that? This?

[Lou DiBella]

I mean, I've never worked on any deal for 15, 16, 17 years of my life. I think I would have been one depressed person if I didn't get this ballpark built. But it is the feeling of accomplishment at this point. It took a very, very, very long time and a lot of politics, you know, navigating a whole lot of politics in Richmond, but we got it done. I think it's going to be like, I really do think it's going to be a trophy ballpark for all of minor league baseball. I don't think there are many parks that have opened that are going to be what we are. And part of it is necessitated by the big expense and making your ballpark more of an entertainment complex. My rent in the old ballpark was somewhere around a quarter million dollars. My rent in the new ballpark is going to be $3.2 million. So that creates a lot of necessity for revenue generation. And you have to start to think, you have to think a little bit out of the box. And it's not about just baseball any longer. We're going to be one of the biggest concert venues in Richmond. Richmond doesn't have an indoor coliseum, has an amphitheater. We're going to be have the most capacity of any, any building in Richmond for a concert. We also put our lounge, Atlantic Union Bank Lounge, which is our club during games, was really designed and wired for, you know, 2026, state of the art audiovisual. And the room is really more of a nightclub than it is a baseball VIP room. That room is going to be all year round programmed for music, comedy, you know, we're bringing in a lot of entertainment related events. We're working now on a winter carnival in the ballpark. That'll put a skating rink outdoors with a, with a slide and basically the ballpark will be turned into holiday land. We have a lot of big plans because we have to generate a lot of revenue. Look, our last year was our 16th year in what should have been three years in the diamond, which was a dilapidated like monstrosity of an old ballpark. And we never thought we would have to be there for that length of time. But it was interesting when we closed the park down last September. Our last series, our last six or seven game series set an all time record for, for double A attendance. That gives me great hope for what I'm going to be able to do in the new park. You know, we have the support of Richmond. You know, I think we are the sports team in town. We are the, one of the centers of the whole town. The ballpark. There's one of the hottest neighborhoods in all of Virginia called Scott's Edition, which has grown out to right about where our ballpark is. And our ballpark is really going to be the impetus for development in that, that what they call the Diamond District. They talked about a 2.2 billion dollar development over the next 10 years. I think it's going to be a little bit more organic than that. Minor league teams are becoming much bigger business and you see real estate professionals and venture capitalists and venture capital funds investing in minor league baseball now. You know, you have diamond baseball owning nearly 50 teams and now you have competition for them. With a lot more venture capital money coming in, people underestimate our importance to the cities we're in.

[Vanessa Perdomo]

I think that's a really interesting point, you know. And can you tell us a little bit more about the economic impact that minor league baseball teams bring in, especially into those smaller markets.

[Lou DiBella]

Richmond for a minor league market is probably one of the bigger ones. There's a lot of public benefit from having a baseball team. But now when you're looking at stadiums that cost over $100 million, you're looking 120 million, 130 million 140 million, 150 million. They're becoming pieces of major real estate deals in smaller markets and cities. Where. Where the ballpark. The justification for the smaller cities funding a good portion of the ballpark is the economic development that's going to result from the growth of the neighborhood around that ballpark. MLB came in when they took over minor league baseball and the expectations on, you know, developing better facilities, more major league facilities, newer facilities. They want player development to be very similar on a minor league level, as it is for a young player coming up to the major. So, you know, the ballparks have become far more expensive. It's a much greater effort to get them built. It requires usually a combination of. Of public and private money. Now, sure, you know, it's. It's way bigger business than it ever was before, and I guess that's sort of expected as all of sports becomes bigger business.

[Sebastian Escobar]

Give us the lay of the land of what's going to be in this new stadium. A lot of times when we're writing on things like this, they talk about, oh, we're adding a nice roof, we are adding new locker rooms. There's going to be 2,000 restrooms. What's going to make this stadium special for both the fans and the players that are playing in it?

[Lou DiBella]

Well, the players are going to be blown away because the locker rooms are sensational. It looks like you're walking into a major league stadium, basically. The amenities, the VIP clubs. The amenities. We have a home plate club, you know. Right. Similar to the kind of home plate club you have at Yankee Stadium. Atlantic Union Bank Lounge, as I said, is like a real state of the art, 800, 900 capacity, you know, entertainment room. We have green rooms for concerts. You know, we have office space sufficient for both our team, but also for VCU to play in the, in the ballpark. If we get our, our deal together with them and get that done. You know, the old ballpark, we did tremendously well over the course of those 16 years in terms of attendance. We were constantly at the, at the top of Double A. In fact, we were in the top 10 of all of minor league baseball, including Triple A. But we had very little ability to capitalize on the number of people we're bringing in by generating revenue because the ballpark was simply insufficient for points of concession sales. It was antiquated 20 years ago. It was very difficult for us to maximize the potential of the building. I think knowing what we lacked in the old building gave me a roadmap for knowing what I needed to build in the new one.

[Vanessa Perdomo]

Lou, I'm curious. From the time that this was, you know, becoming in place and from now, how much have the plans of the stadium changed? How much have changed of what you were going to be putting into the stadium? Because, I mean, if you did build it 10 years ago, it probably would have looked a lot different. You would probably would have had to put different things in it at the time, and it's probably a little bit more innovative now. So how did it change over these 17 years that you've been planning it?

[Lou DiBella]

Well, I mean, they had no idea basically, where we were even going to be located for a while. The nature of the deal kept changing through three different mayoral administrations. At one point, they were going to move the team to an area called Shock o Bottom, and the ballpark did not wind up going there. It became clear that the best location for the new park was probably within a stone's throw of the old part. I mean, at one point, when we first were conceptualizing the park, they believed the park could be built for 60, 70, $80 million. Things changed over the course of 16 years. So 60 and 70 became 130, 140. Small cities, particularly, only have so much tolerance for pain. And, you know, they were concerned about. They understood that the prices of everything are going up rapidly, and in construction, we're going up rapidly. The last few years, it was clear that there were concerns in the city about whether they would be able to build for the money that they were going, you know, that they had bonded the neighborhood of 115 to $120 million. And then when it became clear that they didn't have confidence that they could do that, I had to make a decision almost in minutes at the offices of Major League Baseball to say, if you're that concerned about building it and you're too worried to do it, give me the money. I'll build it, and if I go over budget, I'll fund it. And that's what we did.

[Sebastian Escobar]

Lou, what do you make of boxing, considering that you used to run HBS Sports, which arguably had the largest presence in boxing for any of the promotions that are out there?

[Lou DiBella]

Look, HBO got out of boxing. Showtime got out of boxing. Boxing migrated off of paid television. It's now a thing of mostly streaming services. It's become far more of a niche sport. I don't even know what Jake Paul is. To me, it's not boxing. I don't enjoy it. I don't like it. I've made my exit from the sport without Announcing anything formally. Yeah, I love boxing. It was my second favorite sport after baseball my whole life. But what boxing is now is not the boxing that I grew up with. It's not the era of the Four Kings. There's no Hagler, Hearns, Leonard or Duran. The best don't fight the best. I don't even know what this influencer stuff is. I don't enjoy it. I don't think it's high quality combat sports.

[Sebastian Escobar]

Why do you think it keeps happening, these fights? Floyd and, and Tyson and Jake Paul

[Lou DiBella]

and when I ask this question, Mike Tyson was 58 years old, right? Has not in good health, has arthritis and right before he fought Jake Paul was taken off a plane and hospitalized and no one ever got any kind of information about what his medicals were before the fight. How does the 58 year old man get licensed in the state of Texas to fight a guy in his 20s in a professional boxing match? It's like absurd. It's not anything I want to be part of. Bring me minor league baseball, like let me go to a ballpark, I don't need this and I just don't enjoy it. I don't enjoy what sport has become. I also think that a red carpet's been laid out for tko, probably given the political climate in the country right now where Dana and Nick Khan and the TKO people are extraordinarily close to Trump and Jared Kushner. The funding for Dana's new boxing efforts in Zufa is coming from the Arab world, certainly Saudi Arabia.

[Vanessa Perdomo]

Do you think there's a way to fix it? How do you fix the sport of boxing in your eyes?

[Lou DiBella]

You can't. I mean, I think it's Eddie Hearn. You know, I admire the fact Eddie's trying to create some opposition and competition for Dana and those guys. But here's the reality. Eddie, myself, Bob Arum, we failed the sport. I mean, we made a lot of money, but the sport definitely faded over the course of the last few decades. It wasn't self policed enough by the people that were making money in it. We, we never got our stuff together with respect to making sure judging was sound and fair. We have constantly, you know, boxing is riddled with controversy and most of them are legitimate controversies. You know, it's like a red light district of sports. It always has been in years past and decades past. That lawlessness, that wild west nature made it fun. It was actually a guilty pleasure. Now, now it's just guilty. Now it's not a guilty pleasure anymore. It's just guilty look, I don't even really enjoy it. I worry about the lack of health and safety. I'm in the hall of Fame. I wouldn't own baseball teams if I didn't have the success I had in television and boxing. The sports sort of lost me a little bit. Like my heart isn't in it anymore.

[Vanessa Perdomo]

Yeah, absolutely.

That was Lou DiBella, the owner of the Richmond Flying Squirrels.

[Sebastian Escobar]

That's it for today. Thanks for joining us. Tune in again next week for the latest on the stories moving big money in the world of sports.

[Vanessa Perdomo]

And don't forget to catch our podcast on all your podcast platforms. And go to bloomberg.com to subscribe to the Bloomberg Business of Sports newsletter to stay up to date on all our juicy insights.

[Sebastian Escobar]

You're listening to Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio around the world.

[Vanessa Perdomo]

This sports spotlight is brought to you by Capital One Capital One offers no fees or minimums on checking accounts. Did you know that USC great and two time WNBA champ Lisa Leslie was the first player to dunk in the WNBA? In July of 2002? In her second season with the LA Sparks, Leslie gathered an outlet pass and threw it down in the open court to make history. Capital One what's in your wallet? Terms apply. See capitalone.com bankguy for details. Capital One NA Member FDIC this is

[Jacob Goldstein]

Jacob Goldstein from what's yous Problem? When you buy business software from lots of vendors, the costs add up and it gets complicated and confusing. Odoo solves this. It's a single company that sells a suite of enterprise apps that handles everything from accounting to inventory to sales. Odoo is all connected on a single platform in a simple and affordable way. You can save money without missing out on the features you need. Check out [e-mail] that's o d o o dot com.

[Sebastian Escobar]

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[Lou DiBella]

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[Sebastian Escobar]

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[Sebastian Escobar]

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[Jacob Goldstein]

But they don't need to know that.

[Lou DiBella]

And the best part?

[Jacob Goldstein]

You won't have to buy gas at all.

[Lou DiBella]

The way forward is Electric. Explore EVs that fit your life life at electricforall. Org.