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A
This episode sponsored by Jace Medical. It's 11pm the pharmacy is closed and you need meds now. That's exactly why Jace Medical helps you prepare before emergencies happen. With the Jace case from Jace Medical, you can get 10 emergency medications and treatment options for over 50 infections shipped to your home after an online physician evaluation. Whether you're traveling abroad, stuck during a storm or dealing with a fast moving infection, Jace Medical helps you have medication on hand. When it matches. Go to jace medical@jace.com that's J-A-E.com join the thousands who trust Jace Medical and get your Jace case now at j a s e.com Bloomberg Audio Studios podcasts,
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radio news and this is Bloomberg Deals. Bloomberg Deals Senior reporter Michelle Davis still with us and she's been following the latest deals in the sports industry. And Michelle, there's a big one out there.
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C
That's right, Romaine. The world of sports has become a multitrillion dollar industry and teams continue to change hands at huge valuations. Earlier today, news broke that Josh Kushner and Disney's Bob Iger are buying the L A lakers for reportedly $12.5 billion in what will be the biggest deal ever for a sports team. They're buying the iconic basketball team from Guggenheim CEO Mark Walter and his $10 billion purchase of the team last year held the previous record for most ever paid. Compare that to the Seattle Seahawks which were just sold in a deal reportedly valued at more than 9 billion. To put this all into context, today came out with its annual US Rankings with the Cowboys, Rams, Giants and Warriors topping the list. Beyond the US this week, reports surface that Jeff Bezos and other investors are close to buying a piece of Liverpool Football Club from the owner of the Boston Red Sox. The minority stake would value the English soccer team at about $8 billion. And this would be Bezos his first foray into sports ownership. And with so much excitement around Life Sports, the question now is where will the money go from here remain?
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B
All right, well, Michelle, I think we have two people who can answer that better than. And that brings us to this week's investment committee where we take you into the boardroom debates in real time. And joining us right now is George Pyne, the CEO and founder of Bruin Capital. And also joining us is Kara Norton, co founder of Angel City Football Club and co founder of the Monarch Collective. Great to have both of you here. And Carol, I got to start with you because obviously you've made a big investment in a WNBA franchise team at what was then considered a Pretty eye popping value. I just got to get your thoughts here on the latest news about the Loss Angeles Lakers, a deal potentially valued at $12 billion, the most ever for a single sports franchise.
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D
Well, I think it, I mean it speaks to the uniqueness of these assets. Right? They're scarce assets. It's one of the few things we do in life that makes us feel human these days, gathering in person to watch these games. The Lakers are obviously an iconic franchise, the team I grew up watching as well. But I mean, it is really interesting, right? It sold, I believe a year ago for $10 billion. So it's gone up quite a bit in even a year. But I think in some ways we look at these experiences as almost like unique ip and no one knows that better than Bob Iger given his years running Disney and Los Angeles obviously is one of the biggest markets in the world. So I think it shows the fundamentals of the strongest sports teams and leagues will continue to drive kind of outcomes for a long period of time.
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Well, George, I want to bring you into this conversation because obviously the value of these teams goes beyond just what they put on the court or the field. It's the whole ecosystem around it. And of course, when you see a guy like Bob Iger associated, your first thought is, okay, there's going to be a big media business, bigger than what the Lakers already have, probably crop. Because that's going to crop up if this deal goes through.
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E
All right. And you're seeing sports really further differentiate itself in terms of entertainment. Entertainment streaming has been commoditized because there's so much to choose from. And then when you think about artificial intelligence, entertainment's being disrupted by artificial intelligence, sports will be enhanced. So sports has real tailwinds right now that it's never really had before. And you're seeing it in the valuations and of course it's a very safe investment. So if you're looking to put investments into sports teams, they're safe, they're predictable and they performed over a long period
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B
of time with that performance. No concerns about that performance maybe slowing down at all. Is this just, this is just the future that we're in right now where sports is everything?
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E
Well, I just think sports is pretty predictable and again, when it's separating. Right, right. Because entertainment is less special. So there are very few things that bring together hundreds of millions. In the case of 1.5 to 2 billion people for the World cup, very few things can bring people together like that unifying. So it's an incredible platform that's really separating from everything else.
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B
And Carol, I do want to talk about this idea of just how much sports has brought out here in the U.S. obviously, it's NBA, NFL, MLB, and of course, maybe the NHL to a smaller degree. But we've seen the proliferation, first of men's soccer, now with women's soccer and your involvement there, the wnba, which is now really starting to see some significant gains in valuations, and then a lot of niche sports that are, you know, suddenly not niche anymore. How far does this go?
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D
Yeah, well, I mean, Monarch was the first pool of capital exclusively focus on women's sports. And so we only look at women's sports. And I would say the kind of the market growth is disproportionately aggregating to a handful of sports and a full of leagues. So I think it's really important to note that these assets are very predictable, uncorrelated. There's this unique. You know, the downside is protected by franchise value and the upside can be very significant, but it isn't. Not, not all sports teams and leagues were created equal. So very quickly, the sports, women's sports market wasn't measured when we started Angel City in 2019. And three years ago, Deloitte measured it for the first time at a half a billion, and then more recently at 3 billion, whereas the men's markets, a half a trillion. So that, though, is going disproportionately to women's football or soccer between, you know, here in Europe, women's basketball in the United States, tennis, golf, and then beyond that, the risk profile changes rather significantly.
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B
Give me a sense, though, Cara, too. I mean, we're just coming off of the World Cup. The Women's World cup is coming up. I mean, we've seen the boost, particularly here in the United States, of interest in international football, if you will, coming out of these major events every four years. Is this going to be one of those events, particularly not for this year, but for the Women's World cup to actually maybe give a further boost to the NWSL and Major League Soccer?
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D
I'm like a giddy kid right now, to be honest. I mean, I think obviously I'm spending my life on. On this topic, but football or soccer? Both women's and men's, I think, you know, is, is. Is a joy creator and a purpose creator. And so returns are there, but also joy is there, but I would say 100%, yes. MLS and NWSL are meaningfully up. We're preparing for Brazil next year and World Cup 31 in the United States. And I think what you've seen across the board is interest kind of surge. One quick note. The U.S. women's National Team got 25 million viewers in 2015 for their final in Vancouver, which is pretty similar to what the men's team got this time around, but yet people are paying a bit more attention to it. And so I think the key thing to note is what where is like how are the stadiums, the viewership, the fan experience, the ability to connect on an ongoing basis, set up and the infrastructure is now there. So it's the world's most popular sport and I think you're going to see it explode.
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B
Well, George, talk a little bit more about that infrastructure as well because you heavily invest in kind of, I guess, what's on the periphery of the field. Not necessarily the players and the teams, but all the things they depend on to actually pull those games off.
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E
And those services are more important, important and more expansive. So they could be stadiums. We own companies that put the field in, they also light the field. So it's a wide array. And those services become more important to investors because they need to get returns on their investment. So it's broader, international. You know, we operate in 103 countries. And so these services, you know, best in class are important to make the fan experience better, but also make the investment better for the, for the owners.
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B
I think it's interesting both you and Kara have kind of kicked in the door in a lot of ways. Her being kind of the first P investment in the wnba, you creating the first kind of sports only sports dedicated P E fund here. Are there still doors out there though maybe that still need to be kicked in?
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E
Well, I think so. I think even, you know, when you look at what the Yankees did this week with Apollo, which was a combination of credit and debt, and I think when you look at 6th street in the Aries, you know, the credit side of sports is still relatively, relatively new in terms of its conservatism. So I think you're. What you're seeing is a very dynamic industry rolling out all kinds of different applications in terms of investment opportunities.
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B
Well, I want to get your thoughts on that as well because now that we see the leagues embracing private capital a little bit more to an extent, do you anticipate that we will continue to maybe see that grow, meaning what the league will allow in terms of percent ownership of, of limited partners and outside investors?
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D
I mean, I think, I think, you know, in some ways I describe women's sports leagues as, as like if you were going to rebuild democracy right now, studying a democracy that's been in place for 250 years. What would you do? What would you replicate? What would you change? So I think you're going to continue to see, I mean, women's sports, we have five teams now. We're investors in five teams in two countries and two sports and one rights based business. And you're seeing leagues innovate in very different ways, where in some cases they're pulling in best practices and in other cases they're leading and doing things differently. In women's sports, we have a kind of a different set of opportunities which is really operationalizing and bringing in excellence on the talent side, partnering with brands to launch in new ways. Right. Beauty brands are coming in for the first time, etc. And then building infrastructure. And that's accelerated, I think, much faster than it has in many sports. So it's a little bit of both best practices and where are we setting the stage and doing unique things that men's sports maybe hasn't tried yet?
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All right, unfortunately, you got to go this conversation way too short. That is our investment committee today. Karen Norton, co founder of Angel City Football Club and founder of the Monarch Collective, and George Pyne, CEO and founder of Bruin Capital.
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