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Jamie Dimon in Pennsylvania & Rich Kleiman in “Sports Week” 7/15/26
00:32:04
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and Senator Dave McCormick (R-Pennsylvania) discuss the bank’s $24 million investment in Pennsylvania’s maritime industry. Both Dimon and Sen. McCormick discuss the future of American industry, politics, national security, and AI. Plus, On July 16th, CNBC and Boardroom are bringing their fourth annual Game Plan Summit to Fanatics Fest. Ahead of the summit, longtime sports agent and Boardroom CEO Rich Kleiman discusses his upcoming interview with LeBron James and the many events of what he calls, “sports week in New York.” Jamie Dimon & Sen. Dave McCormick - 04:25 Rich Kleiman - 24:50 In this episode: Rich Kleiman, @richkleiman Joe Kernen, @JoeSquawk Becky Quick, @BeckyQuick Andrew Ross Sorkin, @andrewrsorkin Katie Kramer, @Kramer_Katie
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- [00:00]
Andrew Ross Sorkin
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- [00:28]
Schwab Market Update Host
This episode is brought to you by Schwab Market Update, an original podcast from Charles Schwab. Join host Keith Lansford for this information packed daily market Preview delivered in 10 minutes or less, including projected stock updates, monetary policy decisions and key results and statistics that may impact your trading. Download the latest episode and subscribe@schwab.com Market Update podcast or find Schwab Market Update. Wherever you get your podcasts, bring in show music please.
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Andrew Ross Sorkin
Hi, I'm CNBC producer Katie Kramer. Today on Squawk Pod, J.P. morgan CEO Jamie Dimon on his bank's $24 million investment. Close to home, Pennsylvania's maritime and defense industries.
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Jamie Dimon
And it fits. Kind of what we call the American dream, getting kids skills or all workers skills that they have jobs that could pay 80, 90, $100,000 a year after, you know, a year or two of training. So this, you know, lifts up America
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Andrew Ross Sorkin
and the politician he's working with, David
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Jamie Dimon
McCormick will be a great president, very capable. I love the fact that him and Senator fetterman Talk together, that is democracy.
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Andrew Ross Sorkin
Pennsylvania Senator David McCormick on the convergence of consumer and military tech.
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Senator David McCormick
When you think about the compute power that's needed in the data centers, you think about energy security, you think about drone warfare or robots on the battlefield. All of that's underwritten and underpinned by AI.
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Andrew Ross Sorkin
Plus the sports business boom of this summer's World cup with Boardroom founder Rich
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Rich Kleiman
Kleiman, it's truly captured everybody.
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Andrew Ross Sorkin
The entrepreneur also manages the career of hoops star Kevin Durant, and he sees soccer's potentially bright future.
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Rich Kleiman
This is the chance at the grassroots level to develop young players and to show young players how big this sport is globally.
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Andrew Ross Sorkin
It is Wednesday, July 15, 2026. Squawk Pod begins right now.
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Rich Kleiman
Stand and or buy in three, two, one.
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Joe Kernen
Q. Andrew, good morning. Welcome to Squawk Box right here on CNBC. We're live the NASDAQ market site in Times Square. Manjira Sorkin along with Joe Kern. Becky is on assignment in Omaha. Good morning, Becky. Two hours, the wrong direction in terms of where we are in the morning. So thank you. We're excited to, to get to that interview that you have with Warren Buffett. Dow essentially flat yesterday. That's because the gains by Goldman Sachs offset losses by IBM, which we talked about since that news broke on the broadcast. Goldman up about 9% yesterday, IBM down a whopping 25%. And then take a look at the energy complex. Let's show you where WTI crude sits right now. 80 bucks a barrel. You're looking at Brent at 8541. And then take a look at Treasuries as well. The ten year note sitting just at about 4.6. The two year at 4.2. And we've got a huge lineup today. JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon is going to be with us live with Republican Senator Dave McCormick.
- [03:31]
Andrew Ross Sorkin
Oh, Senator McCormick, yes, of course.
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Rich Kleiman
Who will be joining us in just a little bit.
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Joe Kernen
Good morning, guys. It's great to see both of you.
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Becky Quick
Good morning.
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Andrew Ross Sorkin
By the way, only one hour difference here.
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Joe Kernen
This is all the way on the western end of this time zone.
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Andrew Ross Sorkin
So it's only 5am here. Not too painful. Pretty good.
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Joe Kernen
Gentlemen, we brought you the news.
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Andrew Ross Sorkin
First up today on the podcast, an interesting pairing. Philadelphia's shipbuilding and maritime manufacturing industries got a $24 million boost thanks to America's largest bank. JPMorgan Chase has made a commitment to lending and financing, national security and defense. Right there now we have two guests, one from the U.S. army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, Republican Senator David McCormick. And he's joined by JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon, who sat perched above the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Andrew takes it from here.
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Joe Kernen
I'm going to start with you, Jamie, because I know that you're about to announce well, it's your announcement, so I'll let you do it.
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Jamie Dimon
Well, first of all, welcome everybody, CNBC viewers. Senator McCormick, thank you for doing this. This is a great American effort, you know, and I applaud the center. I'm going to join him later in Carlisle. We're sitting at the Philadelphia Navy Yard where we build ships. They build ships here that won the Revolutionary War, that helped win World War II. And so now you have this, the arsenal of the arsenal of democracy has been reignited and shipbuilding people said couldn't happen. But here you have Hanwha Shipbuilding at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, which is going to be building components for nuclear submarines and major ships. So we're just, we're just aiding here by doing some financing, you know, special kind of financing for Hanwha here. But very importantly, and this people have to Remember, this is like one big complex ecosystem. We're also financing, you know, people. We need 300,000 electricians, welders, etc. To build ships in the next five or 10 years. So we're helping finance people who train people, who will train people here. There's 16,000 workers here. That number may very well double over the next five years as it builds more ships and we build a lot of shipbuilding back to the United States. There's also a whole ecosystem here. I'm going to meet with Rose Industry later. There are probably 100 vendors who help supply all the things that take place here. So we're doing our part to help protect the future of freedom and the future of America.
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Joe Kernen
Jamie, let me just follow up real quick. So this is my understanding it's a $24 million investment, includes an 18, $18 million in loans and investment and then $6 million in philanthropic grants. How do you think about this? Perhaps differently than maybe a traditional loan that the bank might otherwise make. And how does this work in the sort of larger picture of your new focus, I think on infrastructure and defense in this country?
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Jamie Dimon
Yeah, so this, this fits right into it. So we've always done things like this, but, but we, you know, and there's a tax credit financing of a new submarine facility or a new submarine bay to help build some of those things. And the 6 million for training, we do that around the country. In fact, we do that around the world. And it fits kind of what we call the American dream. Getting kids skills or all workers skills that they have jobs that could pay 80, 90, $100,000 a year after a year or two of training. So this lifts up America. It helps build the defense industry. And we didn't talk about it in this press release, but around that we finance Hanwha. We probably financed some of the folks here. I'm sitting at Urban Outfitters headquarters. We help finance Urban Outfitters. So we get involved far beyond just those grants you're talking about here. But this is the Security Resilience Initiative on the road, real time, starting to build more ships in the United States of America. And you know, if you look at America, you know, and Andrew, I can't even overemphasize this if you want the world to be safe and free. For democracy is predicated upon two things. Maintain America's preeminent military strength. And that's pretty. The foundation that has maintained America's economic strength. And that's why we're here. We give it our all. There are a lot of Other people helping. By the way, JPMorgan, just one player in all that.
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Joe Kernen
Senator McCormick, you're hosting a big event. Jamie's on his way there in just a little bit. This is now the second event you've held in the state in terms of, in terms of where this all goes. How much of this is about attracting money into the state from legacy companies? How much of this is about new companies? There's obviously a whole sort of new defense tech space that's opening up around the country.
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Senator David McCormick
Yeah, well, thanks for having me, Andrew, and great, great to hear Jamie and really appreciate his leadership, really in the country of talking about this is a, is a key responsibility not just of defense companies, but of a big financial institution like JP Morgan. What's happening here today is really exciting. This is essentially answering the question of how you achieve peace through strength. What does it mean to retool our industrial base? What does it mean to take advantage of these new technologies to make sure that we can protect those young men and women abroad and keep America safe and secure? So here over the last two days, we have 1300 participants, we have 500 organizations, companies represented, we have 600 C level executives. And the focus is on how do you expand the people at the table and, and do things differently to make sure that our defense industry can evolve to make sure and ensure that we are the strongest military in the world. And so today we're going to announce over $10 billion of investments across 30 different announcements that are going to support 4,000 jobs. But it's much more than that. It's getting everybody aligned on how we achieve this transformation in defense. We have the president of the North American Building Trades here. We have great financiers like Jamie and John Gray. We have all the CEOs of the, of the defense contractors. We have some of the biggest investors in defense tech. That's what it takes. It's a team sport and we need to get all the people at the table to make sure America is strong and safe.
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Joe Kernen
Senator, help me with this. When you think about the defense budget on one end, there's been talk for a long time about how do we frankly, you know, hold the line, prevent the, you know, prevent us from spending more money. There's been a long talk about, you know, how technology should be able to do that. This administration spent a lot of time talking to Europe and some of our allies about spending their own money so that we're not spending more money. And yet we are now spending about a 44% increase in terms of Defense spending in this country, what do you think is the, the right number?
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Senator David McCormick
Well, you know, you have to look at it within the context. The one thing the government is responsible for is keeping America safe, keeping our citizens safe. And you have three big factors. One is the world's a dangerous place and getting more dangerous with the rise of China. You have the face of war changing dramatically with drones and AI, and you see that in the battlefields of Ukraine and Iran. And frankly, you have a defense industry that's been lethargic and hasn't kept up. So we do need to increase the size of the pie. And that's why I've supported President Trump's budget proposal and voted for the NDAA yesterday. Unfortunately, that didn't pass because there was opposition from the Democrats. But we also have to reallocate how the dollars are spent within that pie of money. And frankly, we have to do things a lot differently. Most of the companies here are our next generation emerging technologies. Our procurement process in defense has been very slow and it's been very difficult for new entrants to get in. That's changing under President Trump, but we need to accelerate that change. So we need to do both spend more, but spend it differently.
- [11:07]
Joe Kernen
And Jamie, you, Jamie, you've, you've long been warning that some of these skirmishes and wars and other things could tip the balance in terms of the global economy. And yet the market has remained, I would argue, shockingly resilient. We've given your earnings, a lot of other bank earnings have come out. It looks like things are, are going quite well. How do you think about the risk then, in this moment, given all the things that are taking place around the, around the world?
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Jamie Dimon
Yeah. So I, look, I totally support what the Senator just said. I mean, this transcends the economy this year and next year. I mean, national defense is sine quanon and obviously you want to spend it wisely. But when Ukraine got invaded and then you had the terrorist activity in the Middle east and obviously our war in Iran, look, the world learned again, the world's not a safe place. What makes the world a safe place is a American leadership and having the strongest military in the world, which is the way to prevent actual wars from getting worse over time. And so, you know, the Senator mentioned is that these are huge geopolitical risks. We don't know how they're going to affect the economy or when they're going to affect the economy. And yes, the economy seems more resilient, but this is way beyond that. This is about Global security, American security, American leadership and doing it right. And if Senator mentioned it's very important too is policy. We have to give the military more ability to change how they procure things, have more multi year budgeting, you know, we have to prepare like we didn't have enough productive capability to build all the missiles we need. Well, obviously we should have productive capability to turn on if we need double, triple production of missiles. That's going to take a change of budgeting and maybe some legislation through Congress. But these are things we have to do. I'm just thrilled that people see it and they're acting on it. And, and like I said, I wouldn't look at this as a budgetary item, obviously be efficient. I would look at this as a sine of none. This is what you do to protect America, keep it free and safe.
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Joe Kernen
Jamie, when you think though about the broader economy right now and the markets, how much of that is being buoyed do you think by? I mean we talk about I almost, you know, incessantly and yet we also talk about what's happening in Iran. But you know, typically during a situation like that with oil prices up and everything else, you think it'd have a bigger impact but it seems like the piece of it is winning that battle, if you will.
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Jamie Dimon
You know, look, the American economy is hugely complex. I think we spend 4 trillion in capex. You know, AI is 750 billion. It's probably driving it. But when you travel around the world, you know, Andrew, I mean our innovation here is everywhere. It's in manufacturing, is in agriculture, it's in AI. Some of that's being driven by, it's in the medical profession. It's, it's everywhere, you know, itself. When you, the American post, it's going to cure cancers, it's going to reduce deaths on the road and deaths in hospitals, is going to vet new composite materials. It's going to be an unbelievable thing. And like any new technology, there are downsides. You know, planes were misused, drugs are misused. So what we want to do is get the best out of AI. And you know, now you have AI for the first time, you're starting to see it is being deployed deeply in research, medical science, the physical world, the physics world itself. And so there's a lot more to come in AI and you know, we'll see how it plays out. But yes, the world's more resilient. That does not mean, and again this is very important that there's not a tipping point. It just may be a lot Harder to get there. And. And so we just, you know, we should always be cautious about that. But like I said, this. This transcends AI and it transcends anything else. Whether you had a. Or not, we should be having this initiative today. This is what. This is what's important for the future of America.
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Becky Quick
Jamie, whenever you're.
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Senator David McCormick
If I could add. If I could add to that.
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Becky Quick
Okay, go ahead. Go ahead, Senator, then.
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Senator David McCormick
Yeah, if I could just. Yeah, if I could just add to that, that when we're here at this Defense and Innovation Summit, AI is underpinning all of this dramatic change. So when you think about the compute power that's needed in the data centers, you think about energy security, you think about drone warfare or robots on the battlefield, all of that's underwritten and underpinned by AI. So this convergence of military technology and commercial technology is more important now than it's ever been, and it's part of the reason we need dramatic reform and innovation, and that's what we're trying to do here today.
- [15:19]
Becky Quick
Okay, Jamie, here we go. It was Davos a couple of years ago. I don't remember what. And I know you remember the quote. I'm just barely a Democrat, so now. That's what you said anymore. Now you got. Look what's happening. I mean, look around you. Think about this. Think about the center of the Democratic Party right now. Would you like to go all the way now and then think about someone like McCormick, who is a Republican. If there's someone from Pennsylvania that's going to be President, don't you think it should probably be this guy at 60 years old or whatever it is? Will you give me that. Will you give me a nod on. On those two facts? Have you made it.
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Jamie Dimon
Have you made the total switch?
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Becky Quick
You made the total switch yet? Have you jumped in? The water's fine. Come on in.
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Jamie Dimon
Yeah, I'm not. I'm not. I'm not doing any of that for you. But I will tell you, David McCormick will be a great president, very capable. I love the fact that him and Senator Fetterman talk together. That is democracy. You kind of work things out. Democracy, by its nature, is compromise. It isn't like one part of the thing just jamming what they believe in the other part. And so I applaud what they're doing. I think it's excellent. And Joe, when I go to dc, you know, we always complain about the people on the, you know, the far left and the far right. When you go to dc, there are a lot of people you know, in the middle, they want to do the right stuff, they want to get policy right. They need help.
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Becky Quick
Center left.
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Jamie Dimon
They need government, they need collaboration. Say it again.
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Becky Quick
Center left. Still, still a Democrat.
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Jamie Dimon
I'm nothing at this point.
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Becky Quick
You're so much. And we love having you on.
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Joe Kernen
Let me ask you a different question, which is we had Alex Karp from Palantir on the broadcast. Obviously plays a huge role in the defense space and sector. I hope maybe you guys had an opportunity to see parts of that interview because it appeared to go viral. He made a couple of really provocative comments, both about how he felt that a lot of the AI LLM companies, large language model companies, effectively were both overcharging their customers to the point that a lot of corporate clients may not be getting the sort of ROI return on investment that they would hope for. But also worries about IP itself in terms of whether some of these large language model makers are effectively collecting prompts from companies and then going into their businesses. And I'm thinking, Jamie, I wanted to get your sort of take on that. He seemed to suggest if we called a bunch of CEOs, at least privately, they, they would express that view. So I wanted to ask you, but I also wanted to ask David McCormick how he thinks about that in the, in the defense space itself in terms of thinking about the role of government. Jamie?
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Jamie Dimon
Yeah, so look, I didn't see that. I did hear about it, but I love Alex Karp's unabashed patriotism and I feel the exact same way. And anyone who doesn't understand that this, this country stands for should really read the history books all over again and stuff like that. So I don't know exactly. His comments were obviously companies are going to be looking at how they spend their money and looking for rois and there's going to be a lot of token management. And I've already seen tons of systems, you know, how people send, you know, queries to the cheapest token, the cheapest thing that's already happening. And that's going to happen with power. It's going to happen with data centers can happen with everything we do. Of course, you've got to have a return on over time. So I would expect the element players know that they have to navigate as they could be negotiated with these big companies. And we are very protective of our data ip. And so, you know, we, and I know there are issues about how it gets distilled out in the marketplace. You know, you should assume that JPMorgan will do everything it can to protect Its own data, its own IP to protect our customers.
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Joe Kernen
But are you hearing from other CEOs who are saying we're not, we're not getting the ROI yet on this and either thinking about, you know, I don't
- [19:04]
Jamie Dimon
think, I think you're at very early stages. So you know, obviously a lot of CEOs are talking about what is the return. I. How do you look at the NPV? Should you even look at NPVs sometimes? You know, you're doing some as table stakes, you, you want to do a better job for your customer. You can't look at an NPV or something like that. But everyone's using it, they're going to get better at it. They're all going to navigate it. They all see the cost going up rapidly. So of course we're all going to be rational about it like any other resource we use. And you know, we negotiate with vendors all the time about, you know, what's the value to us and why we want it. And so it's kind of a normal state affairs between companies and their vendors.
- [19:42]
Becky Quick
Jamie, you're almost a trillion dollar company first time I think. Are you following that at all? Were you aware?
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Jamie Dimon
Of course I'm aware, Joe. You don't think I pay attention to the marketplace? Yeah, no, I'm aware of that. I am very proud of that.
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Becky Quick
Are going to be expecting a big party at the those spanking new headquarters if you still here, still here in New York City and don't get the hell out of here.
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Jamie Dimon
Joe, I will invite and I'll invite you, Becky and Andrew.
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Joe Kernen
Okay, we will, we will.
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Becky Quick
In business is good. I mean the overall backdrop is good, isn't it? I mean the market, the stock market, people say, oh, that's the market. It has nothing to do with the real economy. The stock market is the ultimate barometer of, of how we're doing, don't you think?
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Jamie Dimon
Not always joke. Because the stock market sometimes has been dead wrong if you look at 72 to 74. So, but, but I, but I do
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Senator David McCormick
think 55 years for that very.
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Jamie Dimon
Things are very good right now. Companies are growing, earnings drop, employment, unemployment, slow. So for now, you know, it's pretty good.
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Joe Kernen
I'm going to leave it, give it, give the last word to the senator. Senator McCormick, just weigh in on the piece of this. Because the other component part is, you know, you're trying to create more and more jobs in your state and at the same time I think there's a big question about whether AI is going to help or ultimately hurt with that. Where do you land?
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Senator David McCormick
Well, first of all, freedoms forge in World War II was always about, it always has been about the private sector and the government working hand in hand to make sure America is strong. So that's absolutely essential. Listen, this revolution is, this pace of innovation is unlike anything we've ever seen in our lifetimes, maybe in human history. It's essential we win this battle that we maintain supremacy in AI as we, as we think about the dangerous world. We can't have China leading the charge on AI leadership. So the compute power, the energy infrastructure, it's all critical. In Pennsylvania, we have not seen any job loss in the skilled, skilled trades. In fact, as Jamie said earlier, we have huge demand. If you're a, if you're an experienced welder or electrician, we can't get enough of you. We have to have workforce that meets this incredible demand. I'm sure it'll create some, some disruption in the workforce over time, but I think it probably creates a lot more opportunity. And you know, as I said earlier, we have the trades here with us today because we can't be, we can't meet the needs for our changing defense industry and our defense industrial base without these people who can build things. So we're building things again in America. We're building things again in Pennsylvania. Whether it's US Steel or Hanwha or Eli Lilly's new plan in the Lehigh Valley. That's a large part due to the President's policies and it's due to industry and government coming together and say, how can we make sure America wins? America can always win if we're working as a team on these things.
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Joe Kernen
Senator McCormick, want to thank you. Jamie Dimon, want to thank you. Look forward to seeing both of you hopefully in person soon. Thanks again guys.
- [22:43]
Rich Kleiman
Cheese will be next.
- [22:44]
Andrew Ross Sorkin
Coming up on Squawk pod the decision part 45 NBA superstar LeBron James has basketball fans wondering where he will choose to play next season. His 23rd sports manager and entrepreneur Rich Kleiman joins us next.
- [22:59]
Rich Kleiman
He's making decisions now that are based around his family, his quality of life and it's only his decision.
- [23:07]
Schwab Market Update Host
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- [23:40]
Senator David McCormick
Get all the data and complete state by state analysis. See how your state measures up. America's top states for business.
- [23:48]
Schwab Market Update Host
See the full list now@topstates.cnbc.com
- [23:55]
Andrew Ross Sorkin
welcome back. You're listening to Squawk Pod from CNBC. Here's Andrew Roth Sorkin.
- [24:01]
Joe Kernen
Welcome back to Squawk Box. CNBC and Boardroom are bringing the fourth annual Game Plan Summit to Fanatics Fest tomorrow right here in New York. And attendees and panelists will include you ready for this? LeBron James, Dana White, Lindsey Vaughn, Adam Silver, Michael Rubin and so many others. And joining us ahead of all of that is Rich Kleiman, co founder and CEO of Boardroom. And we've been doing this together now. I think we're year four.
- [24:25]
Rich Kleiman
Year four.
- [24:26]
Joe Kernen
First time we're doing it, though, in New York in the midst of Fanatics Fest.
- [24:30]
Rich Kleiman
Yes.
- [24:30]
Joe Kernen
And you've got, dare I say, there's a lot of big interviews. I'm doing a couple biggies. But you've got a biggie. Biggie.
- [24:37]
Rich Kleiman
I got a biggie.
- [24:38]
Joe Kernen
You got LeBron.
- [24:38]
Rich Kleiman
I got LeBron. And I'm very excited. I've known LeBron for two decades now, and I've had the good fortune of interviewing so many incredible people, but I have never had the chance to speak to LeBron.
- [24:49]
Joe Kernen
And in this, in this moment, in this moment, what do we think is going to happen in this moment?
- [24:55]
Rich Kleiman
I honestly don't know.
- [24:56]
Joe Kernen
You're also in the, the management business, in the agenting business.
- [24:59]
Rich Kleiman
Yeah. I wear that hat as well as a manager, obviously, to another superstar and Kevin Durant. But I'll be wearing my media hat tomorrow and I will be asking LeBron a ton. I don't know how much I can push him on where he'll be going. Maybe he'll announce before I even have a chance to speak to him. But, you know, a lot of people are giving him a hard time for how long this is taking, but I think that's the wrong way of looking at it. This guy is in year 23. He's making decisions now that are based around his family, his quality of life, and it's only his decision, and he's got to make the decision.
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Joe Kernen
Okay, so what do you think of it? There's, there's the let's go home story.
- [25:38]
Rich Kleiman
Yeah.
- [25:38]
Joe Kernen
Back to Cleveland.
- [25:39]
Rich Kleiman
Yeah.
- [25:39]
Joe Kernen
It's got a nice little bow on it.
- [25:41]
Rich Kleiman
Yeah. The teams they've been talking about most, which doesn't always mean that that's where
- [25:45]
Joe Kernen
I'm going to try to get a championship with Stephen.
- [25:48]
Becky Quick
Yeah.
- [25:48]
Rich Kleiman
Philadelphia, people have said a lot. Cleveland, the bay, Philadelphia. But.
- [25:52]
Joe Kernen
But as a manager, as somebody who's gone through this process.
- [25:56]
Rich Kleiman
Yeah.
- [25:56]
Joe Kernen
Multiple times.
- [25:57]
Rich Kleiman
Yes.
- [25:58]
Joe Kernen
Take us inside the head of the players and families thinking about a big transition like this, it's.
- [26:05]
Rich Kleiman
Well, this is an interesting one because at what point in his career and his life he's at. You know, I think a lot of times throughout our kind of tenure, Kevin and I, I brought up a lot of the other things that are at play and. But when you're in the midst of your career, from what I've seen, it is a bit of tunnel vision that you are making a decision about basketball first and foremost, at least for Kevin, in LeBron's case, at this point in his life, obviously, where he wants to play basketball has got to be number one. But clearly, when you have grown kids, Right. And you have an entire family, you have to make decisions that are best for everybody. And as you see through Instagram, he's obsessed with the sport of golf, and I don't know how real that is or not, but you can't play much golf in Cleveland in the winter.
- [26:49]
Joe Kernen
How much do you think about, sort of, you been with Kevin? I think thinking about post career, or at least post basketball career for a very long time. Is there. Is there a city at this point for LeBron that you think sets him up any differently?
- [27:05]
Rich Kleiman
No, that I always think is. Is wild when you hear people say that he's going to stay in L. A, or should stay in L. A for his business. As if a billionaire who's built an ecosystem like he has can't operate, that he's got an entire team, an entire company. And I think the beauty of the NBA and how big these stars are, none bigger than LeBron. There's no market that's going to pull from your business opportunities. I mean, for nine months of the year, when LeBron's in whatever city he's playing, it's not like his media company in LA can't continue to operate.
- [27:35]
Joe Kernen
We'll also talk to Adam Silver. I've got an opportunity to speak with him. I'm curious, actually, what you think I should be asking Adam.
- [27:43]
Rich Kleiman
I think I'd love to learn more about how Adam approached the tanking changes that he made. Obviously, I'd love to hear more about NBA Europe, we've talked in the past, both very bullish on NBA Europe. And I think overall, just to talk to Adam about expansion. You've heard a lot of rumblings around Seattle, Vegas, but I think you should get into those three things. We're talking to Jimmy Bataro, Kathy Engelbert, Dana White. I'd love to talk, talk to Dana Post, White House and get his real feel for how he thought that went and, and what the business kind of economic fallout from that was.
- [28:20]
Joe Kernen
By the way, in terms of ownership back to NBA Vegas. There's going to be a lot of folks trying, trying to get in there right now. The big one, though, that everyone's focused on, I think, is Bob Iger and Josh Kushner.
- [28:32]
Rich Kleiman
Yeah, that's a powerful duo, right?
- [28:35]
Becky Quick
Yeah.
- [28:35]
Rich Kleiman
I mean, people have also been talking about Seattle. I mean, I think Seattle is just as exciting. Obviously, Vegas you've seen over the last five, six years has become an incredible sports town. But bringing back a team and a brand like the Seattle SuperSonics is also exciting. I'll tell you, when Kevin is on the road still to this day, and he only played one year in Seattle, you'll see fans in the crowd wearing his number 35 Seattle Supersonics jersey.
- [28:59]
Joe Kernen
I want to talk also about. We are in the middle of the World cup finals on Friday. On Sunday, rather. Do you think this changes the whole game of soccer in America?
- [29:09]
Rich Kleiman
I do. I think this is interesting. I was skeptical a bit. I don't know why. Maybe I was naive to think about the impact that it would have. It's truly captured everybody. I'm glued into it. I know laymans that are not soccer fans are glued into it. If it has an impact on the MLS is a different question. I do believe it will. I think it's going to be important for the league to really focus on stars and storylines. We talk about that a lot, but without that, it's impossible to hang on to something. Plus, unfortunately, the MLS does not have the best players in the world the way that we're watching right now with the World Cup.
- [29:50]
Becky Quick
They're playing each other.
- [29:52]
Rich Kleiman
No, it's true. And these are cities in America with real fan bases.
- [29:55]
Becky Quick
It was usm, but was our team really ready for primetime? And I watch them. I was hoping for them. But when I any of those teams that I now, I mean, I saw Spain, France, I could not believe.
- [30:08]
Jamie Dimon
Yeah.
- [30:08]
Rich Kleiman
The level of play.
- [30:09]
Becky Quick
The level of play. And I don't think the US was going to beat any of those teams. Really.
- [30:13]
Rich Kleiman
No. But I mean, I think the US making the knockout round, you know, it's
- [30:17]
Becky Quick
good, it's good, but we didn't need that watching. I finally closely watched Messi play and,
- [30:24]
Rich Kleiman
oh, my God, the Argentina comeback was incredible.
- [30:26]
Becky Quick
That's what I saw.
- [30:28]
Rich Kleiman
That this is the chance at the grassroots level, though, for us to develop young players and to show young players how big this sport is globally, and then try to keep them here. Because the model in the MLS a lot is you develop these players and you transfer them, but at some point, hopefully these young players stay in this league. But for the sport in general, I think it's been incredible. And then next summer is the Women's World cup, and we do have the best players in the world playing here in the women's league.
- [30:55]
Joe Kernen
And then throw into this sort of New York mix. You got ESPs going on.
- [30:59]
Rich Kleiman
We got ESPs. I'm also going to shout out Gotham FC playing their first ever game in Queens today. The women's soccer team. We've got. My conference. Our conference. Sorry, correct me. Our conference.
- [31:10]
Joe Kernen
Our conference.
- [31:11]
Rich Kleiman
That was out of line.
- [31:12]
Joe Kernen
We're all good together.
- [31:13]
Rich Kleiman
We're all good.
- [31:13]
Joe Kernen
We're good. And we. And by the way, we also got
- [31:16]
Rich Kleiman
Fanatics Fest, World Final WWE Saturday. And of course, both Fanatics Fest is the platform in which I think all of this came together. And I think that's Michael's genius. I mean, Fanatics Fest has converged the entire sports world now. This is Sports Week in New York City. You have the Time Awards that are happening on Thursday. I saw Novak Djokovic's Doc is being released. I mean, the way everybody's looking at this week is it's truly like.
- [31:42]
Joe Kernen
And you think this is going to become like, Sports Week, like Fashion Week and the, you know, second week.
- [31:47]
Rich Kleiman
I think it has. I think it has already. I think it has already. And I think we should continue to do our conference during this week.
- [31:55]
Becky Quick
Do you agree?
- [31:55]
Joe Kernen
I 100% agree.
- [31:56]
Becky Quick
You said my conference. So facile. So.
- [31:59]
Rich Kleiman
So that was. I said that was outline. So I said it was out of line.
- [32:02]
Becky Quick
Well, you realized.
- [32:03]
Rich Kleiman
Oh, my God, it's actually our conference. Are you coming to your conference? I know you're not coming. You're not coming.
- [32:10]
Becky Quick
When is it?
- [32:11]
Rich Kleiman
This is ridiculous. I'm here promoting it. It's tomorrow.
- [32:14]
Andrew Ross Sorkin
Mic.
- [32:14]
Joe Kernen
Turn on my mic.
- [32:16]
Senator David McCormick
I'm coming.
- [32:16]
Rich Kleiman
Turn on the mic.
- [32:18]
Joe Kernen
Becky's coming. I'm coming back.
- [32:23]
Becky Quick
I know.
- [32:24]
Rich Kleiman
You can gamble on it.
- [32:25]
Becky Quick
I was going to. I was going to use the New Jersey excuse, but you can Gamble.
- [32:29]
Joe Kernen
We're going to gamble on the couch.
- [32:30]
Becky Quick
Cal.
- [32:30]
Joe Kernen
She's going to be betting on what everybody's saying at, at the, at the event.
- [32:34]
Becky Quick
Money in my account because I, I haven't gotten a soccer.
- [32:37]
Rich Kleiman
You know what? I'll comp your ticket and I'll give you some gambling money.
- [32:40]
Joe Kernen
Oh, my goodness. That's a step two.
- [32:44]
Rich Kleiman
I only need $50. I know you're not a big player.
- [32:47]
Becky Quick
$50 last me a couple months.
- [32:49]
Joe Kernen
Becky Quick in Omaha. Save us, okay?
- [32:55]
Schwab Market Update Host
Hey, Fidelity. Can I get a second opinion on
- [32:58]
Rich Kleiman
stocks in the Fidelity app?
- [33:00]
Andrew Ross Sorkin
With Fidelity, it's easy to get an outside opinion from independent experts in a single score. And then when you're ready, trade US stocks and ETFs with no commissions.
- [33:11]
Rich Kleiman
That's right.
- [33:12]
Andrew Ross Sorkin
I am always right.
- [33:13]
Jamie Dimon
Investing involves risk, including risk of loss.
- [33:15]
Senator David McCormick
$0 commission does not apply to customers designated by Fidelity as a professional equity trader. A limited number of ETFs are subject
- [33:20]
Jamie Dimon
to a service fee of $100.
- [33:21]
Senator David McCormick
See details@fidelity.com commissions Fidelity Brokerage Services, LLC member NYSE SIPC which are America's top states for business. Get all the data and complete state by state analysis. See how your state measures up America's
- [33:35]
Schwab Market Update Host
top States for business. See the full list now@topstates cnbc.com
- [33:44]
Andrew Ross Sorkin
that is Squawk Pod for today. Thanks for listening. SquawkBox is hosted by Joe Kernan, Becky Quick and Andrew Ross Sorkin. Tune in weekday mornings on cnbc starting at 6 Eastern. Or get the best of our TV show in this easy to listen to podcast. And we have a bonus podcast for you today. Becky's full conversation with Warren Buffett, one of the world's most successful investors, is out as a special standalone pod. If you follow or subscribe to Squawkpod already, that episode will be right in your feed. Listen, share, tell us what you think. And that's all today. Have a good Wednesday. We'll meet you right back here tomorrow.
- [34:20]
Joe Kernen
We are clear. Thanks, guys.
- [34:23]
Becky Quick
Thank you so much.
- [34:31]
Schwab Market Update Host
This episode is brought to you by Schwab Market Update, an original podcast from Charles Schwab. Join host Keith Lansford for this information packed daily market Preview delivered in 10 minutes or less, including projected stock updates, monetary policy decisions and key results and statistics that may impact your trading. Download the latest episode and subscribe@schwab.com MarketUpdatePodcast or find Schwab Market Update. Wherever you get your podcasts.