November 13, 2025 • 50 mins
For nearly 20 years, Karina LeBlanc was known for defending Canada’s net. Now she’s defending the future of women’s sports as EVP of Strategic Growth at RAJ Sports, where she’s helping lead both the Portland Thorns and the new WNBA expansion team, the Portland Fire—which also happens to be Portlands original WNBA team. She joins Laura to talk about playing the long game—creating generational impact, measuring success beyond wins, and why Portland might just be the global epicenter of women’s sports.
03:15 The Impact of Sports on Personal Growth
05:53 Overcoming Challenges and Embracing Failure
12:09 Transitioning to Executive Roles
25:50 The Unique Appeal of Women's Sports
27:42 The Power of Representation and Role Models
31:10 Innovative Partnerships and Community Impact
34:52 The Epicenter of Women's Sports: Portland's Vision
42:09 Personal Reflections and Future Aspirations
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
It was one of those things where when I retired,
it was like now what And I know that passion
and that like for me, it sounds weird, but I
always thought my purpose was to see our flag rise
for the Olympics, and then when that happened, I realized
that that was a platform to my purpose. And my
purpose on this earth is I want to impact people
for the positive. And my lane just happens to be
(00:25):
in women's sports because sports made me who I am today.
Sports in every way, shape or form, the way I think,
the way I breathe. It's a part of me, and
I think it's such an opportunity to change the world
for the better because no matter where you go, if
you drop a ball, people will come.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Welcome back to Courtside, where we break down the business
of women's sports with the people building It's next chapter.
I'm your host, Laura Currenti, and today we're talking about
what it takes to grow not just a team, but
an entire market. My guest is Corine LeBlanc, former pro goalkeeper, olympian,
and now she's the first former professional athlete to transition
to an executive role at RAJ Sports on an effort
(01:05):
to support strategic growth for the NWSL's Portland Thorns and
the WNBA's Portland Fire. She also hosts the Epicenter of
women's sports podcasts in all of her free time. Of course,
we talk about the big growth move she's making, like
reaching new fans, building partnerships that go beyond game day,
and turning the surge of attention on women's sports into
something truly sustainable. Let's get into it with Corina LeBlanc.
(01:26):
I am joined by a woman whose energy even I
cannot match. Coarina LeBlanc is here EVP of Strategic Growth
Development for RAJ Sports, formerly GM of the Portland Thorns.
Concakef had of women's soccer beginning back in July of
twenty eighteen. One of my favorite things on your resume,
by the way, Jersey Girl, Rutgers assistant coach two thousand
and five to two thousand and nine, while also training
(01:48):
with the Canadian national team. Karina Repcannada, five Women's World
Cups at the Olympics in two thousand and eight and
twenty twelve, and two Pan American Games.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Karina, what can't you do? Welcome to the show.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Thank you very intro. Listen for me what I can't do.
There's a lot I can't do. But one of the
things I'm most excited to be on this conversation with
you is you're entering and going through such a beautiful
part of your life. I feel honored to be on
this podcast with you. You're a game changer, you're doing
big things, you're redefining things. And again, I think when
(02:20):
we first met like this, we connect it because it
was like, let's be a part of the conversation of
moving women's sports forward. And you know, what you're doing
is incredible. So it's an honor to be here today.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
It's funny.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
As I was getting ready for this, I was thinking
back to the first time we met, and I'm a
big energy person both externally and I love to feel
it back, and I was like, I gotta know this woman.
We were in San Diego at the NWSL Championship.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
I'm not even remember what year it was. Now we
connected and we're like.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Let's go on a long walk, and I think we
could have talked for three more days if we had
the time. And it was not even about where we
had come from, but more so the ambition of what
we wanted to work towards. Fast forward two three years
later and you're literally taking Portland in the US by.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Storm, or I should say fire. I'm not saying it's
sparked there, but you.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Know it kind of did.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
No.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
I have to say this because we all know when
you're like for eighteen years of my life, right, So,
I was a professional soccer player. I played in and
asked for almost twenty years. I was surrounded by like
minded women who were connected on something bigger than yourself.
And that's what happens when you get to play for
your country. And it was one of those things where
when I retired, it was like, now what And I
(03:36):
know that passion and that like for me, it sounds weird,
but I always thought my purpose was to see our
flag rise for the Olympics, and then when that happened,
I realized that that was a platform to my purpose.
And my purpose on this earth is I want to
impact people for the positive. And my lane just happens
to be in women's sports because sports made me who
I am today. Sports in every way, shape or form,
(03:58):
the way I think, the way I breathe, that's a
part of me and I think it's such an opportunity
to change the world for the better, because no matter
where you go, if you drop a ball, people will come.
It gets us away from the smartphone. Sports is such
an opportunity, and especially for women where if you see
like ninety three to ninety four percent of women see
class FETs in above all played sports. Why Because there's
(04:18):
something ignited inside of you that makes you want to
be part of something bigger than yourself. And I think
that's what life is about.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
I love that. So when did you fall in love
with the game? Take me to Little Karina.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
So Little Karina was shy. Nobody believes this. I couldn't
get me to talk. A group in the Caribbean. Moved
to Canada when I was eight, made my first friend,
and I went to soccer practice. But I watched the
Olympics in television and I remember seeing it at the time.
The person I connected most with was Donovan Bailey. He
(04:50):
was a Canadian. He won them on one hundred meter
and he was Jamaican Canadian. And if I go back
before that, Carl Lewis was also a big thing. But
I saw that moment and I was like, I want
to do that. I want to be an Olympian one day,
and that shifted in me because I was like, I
was willing to do whatever it took to get there.
And so basketball was actually my first love. Okay, soccer
(05:12):
was what I played, but track was what ignited something
in me because you have to see it to believe it.
And I saw something on the Olympics that made me
feel alive and that changed my life.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
I love that. So how the hell do you end
up between the posts as a goalkeeper?
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Well, people, I'm crazy, right, Well, I don't think i'm crazy,
but people think goalkeepers are crazy. I think I'm normal.
So I was super competitive, and because I started playing
soccer late, I was athletic and strong and I scored goals.
But I was getting really pissed off that we were
letting them in and I was like, well, just stop
the ball. And so I played one half on the
front and one half in the back, and I was
(05:48):
good at it. I got called into the national team.
I think we talked about this. I learned a pretty
valuable lesson. When I was fourteen, I got cut. I
was allowed girl who said I want to be an Olympian.
One day I got cut and I was the only
one who got cut. But it taught me such a
powerful lesson at that age that you got to get
comfortable being uncomfortable. And I put fifteen minutes more every
(06:10):
single day before practice or after practice towards just like
wanting to be the best version of myself. And I
say that because you and I were always busy, but
we figured out, like fifteen minutes not too long. Every
single day you put fifteen minutes more towards the person
you want to be, anything could happen. And I got cut.
But then a year and a half later, I was
on the senior national team. While everybody else is trying
(06:32):
to figure out mortgages, I was trying to figure out
like who to take to prom But something was stolen
from me early in my life, and I was like,
I'm gonna go get it. You cannot take this from me.
And I think that obsession towards almost wanting to be
the best version of myself at a young age is
still the obsession I have now. That's why I love
(06:52):
the environment I'm in, I love the people I get
to work with every day, because I think that obsession
of like high performance, that obsession of doing what's never
been done before, that obsession of doing it not for
yourself but for others. I love being in that kind
of environment and that's where I am today.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
I love that so relatable on so many levels when
you start thinking about the application or transitionary skill sets
that we take with us from at whatever level you play,
just having played the game for as long as you
have just a quick sidebar. I had coach Corey Close,
who's the head women's basketball coach at UCLA, on a
couple episodes Love She's phenomenal, and I was talking about
(07:31):
probably the most I had ever been humbled was when
I found myself in a very talk about being comfortable
with being uncomfortable. I got benched in college. I had
never been benched in my life. I don't even know
what that meant. And the level of humility and determining
are you going to come back from this? Do you
have what it takes to come back from this? The
ability to take the skills that I learned and had
(07:52):
a self awareness that knew this wasn't the end, it
was just the next chapter that was arriving. And it
takes a certain level of I don't know, mental space
to be able to say like, this is it, my time?
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Here is up? What comes next?
Speaker 2 (08:06):
And now you couldn't have told nineteen twenty year old
Laura that I'd be here today talking to you in
twenty twenty five about the growth of the game and
the business opportunities and all of those things. But I
think to your point, you have to go through these moments.
And you talked about that C suite percentage and the
common denominators. Most of those women you'll talk to have
gone through failure and they're comfortable with failure and the
(08:27):
ability to pivot bounce. It might not look like you
play again, but you absolutely take it and apply it elsewhere.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
So you're coming in, you bounce back.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
You play for your country, which is there any greater honor?
And I have to imagine, like you went through that moment,
there was a time when you knew it was you
had to hang it up.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Do you remember the feeling, Oh yeah, take me through it.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Well, first of all, you said a couple things I
got to step into. Right. First of all, when you
say failure, failure is like it's the cliche, but you
got to dare to fail greatly every day of your life.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Right, I'm Italian, from New Jersey. I'm the edge over here.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
It's almost like, I think this happened as when you
hung out. I'm starting to talk like a Jersey girl again.
I think for me, one of the most beautiful things
that happened was I started to think about my retirement
way before I retired. And that's the same thing we
talked to like even our players today. After we won
the Olympic medal. Our coach he actually pulled me aside.
(09:23):
I remember we are on a trip to Brazil and
he said, if you think your purpose on this earth
is to kick a soccer ball for a country, I
failed you. And I was like, what, like, my purpose
is I'm the last one signed the autographs, I'm the
one in the crowd, I'm doing all this and it's
so incredible how you always find what you're looking for.
And that led to me understanding that the game was
(09:45):
a platform. I remember we were at a dinner at
an Olympic dinner and it's like the dinner where people
pay a lot of money to sit at your table,
and some of the other athletes are on the stage
with the rock band, and I'm like, who's at my table?
Because I'm like one of those curious people and the
woman next to me and being the COO of UNISEF
Canada and I would eventually end up becoming a UNISEF
(10:05):
Ambassador for Canada. And what happened next change in my life.
I remember going to Honduras in the middle of nowhere,
right I had taken two or three flights, and they're like,
did you read the blue Book? I was like, I've
traveled the world. I didn't read the Blue Book. And
they're like, we've had forty four deaths tonight, they'll be
like a gunman, like all these things. And I was like,
and you're just hearing and it was like I was
already out of the uncomfortable. But on that day I
(10:27):
had to do CNN and all the political stuff. I
did a soccer camp for thirteen and fourteen year old
girls who were putting down their babies. They'd never seen
me play in a World Cup or Olympics. It was
a fact that I showed up. And on that day,
remember I told you I was a shy kid, grew up,
went to Flenn's house and then went to sleep over
the next day in Honduras. Many years later, on the
(10:52):
field on that day a Canadian had donated jerseys, and
that Canadian who donated the jerseys were the jersey of
that soccer club. When I first played soccer full circle
and it hit me I was exactly where it's meant
to be doing. And that started my journey of like, wait,
this game is a platform. And all the failures that
(11:12):
you talk about, all the hardship, all the being told
you're not good enough, all the as a goalkeeper, if
you don't start, you're not probably getting in. All of
that led me to the moment of understanding, like, you
know what, at some point this is going to end,
but I have a responsibility just like you do. Like
I think any woman in these positions right now, we
understand that there's assignment we have to do. And this
(11:33):
is why women's sport right now is just taking off.
We're all understanding the assignment we have to This is
the opportunity. This is not a moment, as everybody says,
this is a movement, but we all have our lanes
and if we all collectively come together right now, people
are going to see exactly what they're seeing every single
day right now. They're seeing viewerships going up, they're seeing
stadiums being packed, they' seeing athletes get paid. So many
(11:54):
of this comes because everybody's playing their part, and then
everyone understands that the moment is now. So going back
to your question forty minutes ago, I still thinking about
retirement three years before I retired. But it was people
seen in me what I didn't see myself that have
led me to where I am today.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
So you end up in a front office position, which
in very short order has become so much bigger than
a GM role in the front office for the Thorns.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
How did it shape out?
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Were there quick observations for you in terms of where
new skills needed to be developed, or perhaps insights that
you had that you recognize. Good thing former players sitting
in this position, because you're missing the forest through the trees,
take me through that. Because you were one of the first,
if you look at in the professional women's sports leagues
here in the United States, that made that transition and
has stayed in the front offices since retiring. I can
(12:43):
count on my hand the amount of successful transitions in
that capacity.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Well, I'll be honest with you, the GM position I
actually didn't want. I was at the time head of
women's football for Conca Calf And so for those of
you who don't know Conca Caff are the forty one
countries of North America, Central America and all the Cribbean countries.
And the little girl in the Caribbean who didn't even
know she had an athletic body. That person was who
(13:08):
I went and took that job for. Because of all
the Cribbean countries, they're like, oh, great job. I was like, no,
but there's a million little means in that country and
here's the opportunity to really matter. And so for me
at that time, I was like, this is my purpose.
And then I came back to Portland because Portland had
gone through some headlines that were not great, and I
(13:29):
truly believed the Portland Thorns of the club that changed
the trajectory of women's soccer, not only in the sky.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
I've never seen a fan base like that, but truly,
kudos to you because it has to be one of
the anchors of women's sports.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
I'm not even just talking in the US. I had
never seen that globally.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
No, and that's why I think even then I was like,
we got to get you in because there's one thing
to see it on TV, but there's another thing to
be there, and that's why I went back to Portland
because literally it was one of those things where I
remember my first day walking out on that field having
been blessed to play in World Cups and Olympics, and
still to this day, I have just bumps because our
(14:05):
fan base, if you come, they do not They're not like, hey.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
The horse pt fc C.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
It's so.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
But like it's personal to the city. I love that
you said. I think this was the club that set
that standard and for me as it was going through
some stuff. For me, I was kind of on the
international scene. You know, I'd gone through some stuff. I know,
I don't know if it's that, but black women are
three times more likely to go through issues. June childbirth,
(14:35):
I had heart failure, and again you talk about failure,
but that failure, as people say, going through that changed
me because you really have to sit and reflect in life,
like what am I doing? And I remember being that
because then again I had three weeks away from my
newborn three weeks which was a very hard thing, and
(14:55):
I was like, I want my life to matter. And
I remember having a conversation my husband and I were
living in the Bahamas at the time. I don't think
many people moved from the Bahamas to Portland, but I
was living Bahamas at the time, and we're like, this
could be where that transition of knowing what the players
are feeling, that transition of knowing how important this community
(15:16):
was our fan base, that transition of like that GM
world wasn't like my dream, but I think it was
one of those things you got to take a chance
and a leaf on yourself and surround yourself with the
right people. And I had people around me who helped me,
but I didn't love the position. It wasn't like for me,
you see me, I'm like, oh, I want to change
the world. I want to bring light to things, and
(15:38):
to go into a situation where things were harder and
darker and there was just like what is the light
at the end? And I continue to try to be
the light. That was three years that was really really
hard for me, but I come out learning so much.
I came out loving the city even more. And then
we have a new ownership group and I think this
is one of the things that why I love my
(15:59):
job is I remember sitting with them and having a
conversation of what's next. And one of the things they
said is, like, you know, it's when you find people
that you trust and that people who like have that journey,
that have that unique skill set. You find something that
kind of fits their strengths. And that's why I tease
(16:19):
because our managing director, Mike Whitehead, he's the one, and
then our ownership group. For me, I'm not that person,
but I get to use my voice and I now
get to be part of a sport of basketball that
I love. But most important, I get to talk about
the city and this club that change your trajectory women's
football or soccer. And then on the WNBA side, we
(16:40):
have over fourteen thousand season deposits. Fourteen thousand season deposits.
How many seats, Well it's going to be Modu Center,
so twenty thousand. So one of the things that really
impresses me is how this city shows up for women
is just a different conversation.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Yeah, I want to get into it. Let's pivots you
transition to the RAJ group. You got this word growth
in your title, which I don't know anything is more apropos,
But how are you defining growth in this next chapter?
As you move to more of this holding company position,
where now you are overseeing a portfolio of brands as
opposed to a singular role within an organization.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
What does growth mean to you in this capacity?
Speaker 1 (17:23):
RAJ Sports is the only ownership group that has both
NWSL and the WNBA team. So most cities have an
NWSL team and a WNBA team. You mean in terms
of ownership having that ownership, they are the only one
to have both. But then what does growth look like.
We're building a practice facility one hundred and fifty million
dollars plus where it will be a building, first building
(17:43):
that you and I will walk into that's built for
women because Lisa bethl Mirage. One of the biggest things
she said, so we have an ownership group of Lisa
and Alex Bathol brother and sister. One of the things
when they were building that facility, they said, well, let's
make it for women. Let's build it for women. So
when you walk through from everything from the aesthetics and
it's not just the building, but it's inside. If six
(18:05):
percent of data is focused on women's sports, I mean
sports science right now, already in that building, you're going
to have basketball and soccer. So you walk in it'll
be in the like Olympic village, right, so the athletes
will get to break bread together. And I always tell
the story of like at the Olympics, I could continue
to eat with my teammates or on the right with
Suwena and Venus. I was like, I'm going to sit
(18:27):
down and have lunch with these two and right away,
it's not that they knew who I was. Right away,
you start a conversation there and you start talking about
the one percents, So athletes will eat and break bread together.
Then there'll be the soccer area and then the basketball
are and in between is that innovation space. And if
I just said six percent already, you're going to have
the best of basketball, the best of soccer, exchanging ideas,
(18:49):
trying to think of innovative ways to move forward, a
performance focus that has never been done before. So when
you start talking about what are we doing differently, we're
doing differently of like we're trying to reinvent what's normal.
We don't have to copy and paste what the men
have done. We actually have the athletes there telling to us,
talking to us, And I think that's one of the
things of I love about my transition is that I
(19:11):
can now sit and have conversation with the athletes who
finally they don't just have to be the coach, they
have the opportunity, they don't just have to go into TV.
They can actually start to think on the business side.
And you talk about growth, like every day I'm learning
because now, I mean, we just came from doing a
WNBA event. I'm sitting there. I've always loved the WNBA,
(19:33):
but now I'm talking with our GM and having conversations
of how she just wants to like do things differently,
do things in a different way of thinking, not just
copy and paste. And so for me, the growth of
it is like when you put all these minds together,
what are we going to be able to do in
a city where like literally the city this is the
(19:55):
inspiration for the city. They support women's sports, Like I'll
go to dinner and they're like, you know, they just
it's something innate. There's an energy in the city, and
I think that's why we're calling ourselves the global episode
of women's Sports.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Well, I'm also a big fan of Jenny Wyn who's
been on the show and what she's done at the
Sports BRA. So you talk about growth, not just in
terms of what you're building and training and performance and
certainly game day, et cetera, but also the cottage businesses
industries that are emerging around the game that are enhancing
the experience, growing the fandom. I don't know that there's
a city that rivals Portland in that capacity, at least
that I've been to. Obviously, the Thorns have been a stronghold.
(20:46):
You take the court next season, yep.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Once we figure out the CBA and expansion and all
that fun stuff.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
That's a different episode.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
But talk to me about the supercharging, right because I
do think what's interesting and I can speak to this
from a business perspective in terms of where the dollars
are flowing commercially, basketball has leapfrogged every other sport in
this country tenfold. So you've already got a strong anchor
in the Thorns, which I imagine is consistent and finds incremental
pockets of growth. Now you're about to supercharge the city
with the hottest asset in arguably sports period, which is
(21:18):
women's basketball.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
Forget your soccer hat for a second.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
If somebody's now playing this executive role and has played
at all different levels, how do you take something like
that literally fire and make sure that you're building something
that isn't just for the short term of it all,
but really thinking about longevity.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
This performance center included.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Yeah, I think it's one of the biggest things we
want to do is I think our lane is the
innovation space, right that is the performance center, but then
even our GM Varna, that's where she sees the biggest leap.
Like if you look at I'll talk as a former
athlete from both sides, if you look as an athlete,
when we actually start studying the women's body, when we
actually start studying what's possible for a female athlete, there
(21:58):
has not been enough data on that, but I think
it's looking at where can we kind of nail our lane.
And I know I'm not supposed to talk about soccer,
but I think that's what our differentiator is. We're actually
not just looking at one sport. You look at soccer,
soccer's done great, But the WNBA in our city, you
go outside to the parks, that's what they're playing in
(22:19):
the backyard as well, and so looking at that and
really looking at what we're actually able to gain. Right now,
we're looking and going for the front of the jersey
and whatnot. We've got some of the big brands like
Brand Live, We've got Alaska. I mean, you're talking about
the business of sports and the thorn side. We have
a six hundred percent increase WNBA. We're trying to just
make sure we keep going with that. And how do
(22:39):
we differentiate ourselves from the LAS and from the New
York's is what I'm talking about having both.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
How are you pitching because you don't have a big
media market. Portland's not a big media market, big sports market. Yeah,
so how are you competing because you know, it's very
easy to say, well, look at the numbers, but how
do you quantify what Portland needs off paper?
Speaker 1 (22:58):
We're the only company to do what's never been done before,
and we're doing it with two of the biggest sports
and one in a market that's a mid tier market
that continues to perform above what people expect consistently. And
we expect that on the fireside as well too. And
like I just said, look at the season ticket deposits.
We announced the name and then we open up, We're like, hey,
just come to the park. Was packed?
Speaker 3 (23:19):
Yea.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Our city's not showing up and Portland doesn't see themselves
and that's why the Portland Seattle rivalry is huge. Portland
does not see themselves as that small tier market. I
think why. One of the reasons it's a big river
is because everyone talks about Seattle. But yeah, in Portland,
we're like, how can we keep eat in Seattle? Right?
So we don't see ourselves as small And that's.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
With you out in front. I don't think anybody's talking
about small energy.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
That's what I'm talking about. Like, if you look at
what we continue to do, and we respect the bigger cities,
but we're doing what nobody else has done. And when
you're trying to lead the way in a space where
we do hope in the future, there are other cities
that do this. We're not just having conversations about one club.
We're having Yes, there's the fire and the Thorns have
(24:01):
their own conversations. We do things differently, but there's also
a collective element that for brands are attractive in a
way of like, you get access to a lot more
athletes with us, you get access and then even as
an athlete, it's also being connected. And again, I know
I keep saying this on the idea of something bigger
than yourselves. How often do you get to go to
work where you can literally change the game of women's sports.
(24:26):
How often do you get to go to work and
you're not just selling one brand, but you're selling two.
But at the end of the day, you're selling female
athletes being boldly authentically themselves. How often do you get
to go to work and let me put on the
former athlete side, sit down and sit across from another
lead athlete and be like, what else are you doing
in your world that helps you keep going higher? So
(24:47):
you say, what is our pitch? Our pitch is like,
we're doing something that's never been done before, and we're
doing it collectively. You and I know this, Laura. The
reason why we connected is that we've been walking through
like kind of being the crazy ones. Right.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
People are just like those kind of.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
But at some point when crazy comes together, things happen
that have never ever been done before. And I think
that's one of the things that excites us is even
when like our HR people of culture, they're recruiting staff, right,
they're trying to go out there and get people to
work for the fire too. But what we found is
people are excited to work for the fire, but they're
(25:23):
also just as excited to do something that's never been
done before and have a person next to them even ticketing. Yeah,
it's just it sounds simple, but if you find the
right people who understand the importance of the work we're
trying to do. That's why when you walk into our office,
there's a vibe, there's an electricity, there's a we get
(25:44):
to do this, and you can't go anywhere else and
find that in this country or in North America.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
What I love about what you're talking about too, and
I know I push it a little bit on it's
not a big media market, but women's sports inherently isn't
a reach game. It won't be for quite some time
until we get to parody on media coverage. There's so
many different things you could go down that are still
at a big discrepancy in terms of parody around scalability.
But what it does deliver is an inherent engaged audience
(26:12):
that you cannot compare to the men's side.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
The delivery.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
You talk about those fourteen thousand tickets, I'll be curious
to know what the crossover is between If I'm a
Portland Thorn's fan, and you may already have this data.
Do I convert to a Portland fire fan. I'm just
a Portland women's sports fan.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
But you already know, Like you look at the WNBA,
sixty percent are men, right when you look at.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
We're over indexing right now on more men than women
are fantom woman sports.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
So it's actually not as many as you think. We
have less population. But again, what happens is becomes contagious
when you go to a parking Portland. This happened to me,
like it's happened several times. The first time it happened
and went and I saw these thirteen and fourteen yer
Oh boys. They were in female jerseys. None of them
had sisters. There's something to be said. And I think
this is what's electrified for us, is that if you
(27:00):
think of that leadership stat we talked about, we're actually
shaping the future generation by having these two clubs in
the city because the young boys are going in just
knowing that women they're looking up and they're like, oh
my god, I'm obsessed with Sophia Wilson. I'm obsessed with
Raylan Turner, I'm obsessed with Olivia Moultrie. I'm obsessed with
Jesse Fleming. These are young boys and they're proud of it.
(27:21):
So when you look at that and for us, what's
exciting is that it's part of the solution of what
we're going through. Not only just important, but I think
nationwide globally.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Well, thirteen to seventeen year old boys vandom girl one
hundred and thirty percent of the WNBA this past season,
thirteen to seven year old.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Boys because it's on the television and in their feeds. Exactly.
You got to see it to believe it. And for me,
for the longest time, I always used to think we've
got to put females on there, so young girls, which
at the end of the day, that is a very
important aspect to Like I was a young black girl,
I needed to see somebody look like me for me
(27:56):
to think I could do anything. And then now you
talk about it, you have women in these positions. It
does not fall lightly on me that I am a
black woman in this position. I look at it as
what an opportunity because when I go out to my community,
they're seeing like, oh my god, you did this as
an athlete and then wait, what now?
Speaker 3 (28:17):
Yeah, executive.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Yeah, they're not just seeing what's possible for them in
the athlete world. They're seeing what's possible them in an
executive world. They're going to for science and understanding, Hey,
I can be a science person and I can get
into performance of women's sports. I think there's so many things.
When we start telling the stories of the women who
are doing these big things, I think we forget to
(28:39):
understand the impact is not just on women. It is
on the young boys. It is on the next generation.
And that's why my five year old like literally, she's like, Mommy,
I'm going to be a professional soccer player and a
professional basketball player and I'm going to train in that
building of yours. And I'm like, I'm like, it's my building.
Now She's like, yeah, it's like it's not my building, honey.
But again, it's just like you build it, it will come.
(29:02):
Was impossible a year exactly. And it's not just young
boys and girls, So the crossover isn't as much. But
I think what it is is that people they want
that feeling of doing something that matters and that's personal
to Portland our fan base. This matters that we are
stewards to them. But This matters beyond just the wins
(29:22):
and losses. It matters because of the meaning of what
we're building.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
One hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
So here's a challenge, right, and this is something I
navigate every day in my position. There's a lot of
marketers who listen to this show. They have to quantify
the passion. It's a very unique value proposition. You've got
all of sport under one roof. That also means you've
got a lot of data under one roof. But when
you start thinking about bringing partners on board, whether it's fashion, tech, entertainment,
(29:48):
I mean, you name it. You rattled off a few
that are already engaged in your portfolio. If there's anybody
who's going to sell me on the qualitative value, I'm
talking to her.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
How are you thinking about backing that up with numbers?
Speaker 1 (30:02):
I mean, if you look at some of the numbers,
what is it, one hundred trillion of money will be
available thirty trillion in the next five years?
Speaker 3 (30:12):
Oh right, in terms of what women control.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Yeah, so they're gonna end up buying a lot of this, right.
I'll go specific to some of our brands. Most recently
we did with Bobby, the world's biggest baby shower and
that looked like flashes and okay, yeah whatever. We had
Sophia Wilson and then we had another teammate of hers.
We had nine million impressions, which for our instance is
(30:36):
a big thing. But what we realized is that what
happens then our audience goes and buys Bobby. As you
know in the research, like people will engage in the brand,
they'll research the brand and they'll purchase the brand. Same
thing with the Laska Airlines. The Laska Airlines, especially in
our area, they decided to pull from a male sport
to come into us. They've seen a return because how
(30:57):
they're actually in our market. They did a love letter
to Portland. They said a love let of Portland and
Portland fell in love. All of a sudden, Portant is
obsessed with the Lasca Airlines in our market. It's a
bit of a different thing. They personalized it to us.
But most importantly, going back to data data in our space,
brands want to have access to these athletes. They want
(31:18):
to have access to what they're doing. They want to
have access to like how they think. And in most
of our sponsorships, you go with the big things, but
the most important thing they kind of focus on is
how's it actually impacting the athlete. We're building this practice facility,
We're asking the athletes about the practice facility. We're doing
a lot of different things, but we're putting the athlete
at first, and I'm trying to give you the answer,
but I'm just trying to also give the post examples
(31:41):
of like how we are personalizing this to make sure
that the brands don't They could go to the Big five,
but if they come to us, it's going to be unique.
It's a compass. We're doing it together. We're building it together.
We're not just saying, hey, you can have an athlete
sign a couple aug your eyes. We're doing things in
a way that's intense and we sit down with them,
like even locally we're with one of our bank's key bank.
(32:04):
One of the biggest things for them is community. How
do we dive into that community that we see front
and center every day on TV. How do we dive
into actually making them feel better? So it's not just
like one big thing, it's more intentional of how do
we make these partnerships have meaning and not just be
a check Because for us in Portland, it's not relevant,
but we want to do it in a way that
(32:26):
brand feels the value, that brand feels a connection to
being in Portland rather than going to Seattle, Vegas and
on some of the other bigger brands.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
I love those examples.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
I've just pulled some research for a project I'm working
on in women's sports fans, two point three times more
likely that a fan will convert when a female athlete
endorses or supports their product versus any other creator influencer
in the market. So you know, you're not just talking
obviously about the city, what's on the front of the jersey,
but I also have to imagine the players in the
(32:57):
community and what you've created important. I certainly know on
the Thorntson you run off a ton of those players earlier.
Just what they mean to the city and that type
of rabbit fandom that I do think is unique to Portland.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
So one more thing, I wanted you just said something
here there, because I think it's so important that we
understand that it's not like we've always done it this way.
We have to do it the unique way, and like
to your point, we know that if people see it
in the front of the Jersey. They're more likely to engage,
they'll research, they'll purchase, and we know that gen Z
they want that authenticity. I'm saying those things because you
(33:30):
said that. But for us, we can't go out and
say you're going to get as much exposure as in
New York or as an LA. What you're going to
have is being on the front of us because we
will get exposure on TV with our games on national television,
but we'll get that authenticity. And I think that's just
where I think women's sports I shouldn't just say us,
because I think you know this all too well as well.
(33:50):
Women's sports is really diving into the authenticity of a
brand and then making sure that people will buy it
because it means that you made a choice instead of
going to baseball or football. You made a choice. And
at the time some may say it's still say it's
a risk. I don't think so at all.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
But you made a numbers. I would say it's not.
The numbers would say it's a very smart business decision.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
But we still have to sit there and have these
conversations where big brands don't still don't think so, and
you and I know that, and you sit there and
you're like, how, But again, if you're fighting that way
with the brand, the brand's not for you, because you
know what, there's going to be other brands who are like,
you know what, I need the engagement, and engagement is
a big thing I need. People will engage the research
and they'll buy. That's the answer. And then also to
(34:34):
your point, I think what you're going to is that
then you got to flip it into the community aspect
of things.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
So let's talk about the education piece.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
Because as much as you're local, you're also telling me
you're the epicenter of women's sports. And you just hosted
your first which I know won't be your last, conference
that brought together stakeholders, yes, local to Portland, but also
national and global. Why did you decide to do that?
And as much as I felt your energy through the
screen because I caught some of the clips, I wasn't
(35:15):
able to be there in person, what were the takeaways?
Speaker 3 (35:18):
Take me through it?
Speaker 1 (35:19):
Yeah, So we did four days where we.
Speaker 3 (35:21):
Did just no small feet by the way, it was fun.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
On the first day at a game, we played Yuara
Weds so we played a Japanese team with our academy.
The city got the community got to see that. Then
we did a WNBA fireside chat because we just announced
the brand. And then we summoned at Nike, which was
the big one because I think that's where I keep
talking with the invasion space, but that's where I think
we really moved the doll. I mean, we had some
(35:46):
great speakers from Don Stay, we had Elliott the CEO
of Nike. We had Lisa and Alex, We had a
lot of big speakers. We had Sylvia Fowls, Shannon Box,
Carl Lewis, Elizabeth Lindsay from Wassaman. There was a lot
of big name but I think having all of those,
what shocked most people is the panel we did for innovation.
(36:07):
And I keep saying that because I think everybody talks
about brands and all that things. There's not enough conversations
about how do we help athletes play longer, how do
we make sure there's less ACL tiers, how do we
make sure we really do this study in the women's
athlete And so in that conversation, people were wowed because
they were like, huh, I hear so much about all
(36:27):
these things, but I never hear about this big gap
in the space of women in performance and so it
was an incredible four days. And I think why we
call ourselves the epicenter because everybody keeps saying, like, where
does that come from?
Speaker 2 (36:39):
I mean, I just gare the epicenter. So wherever you
are is where it's going.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
Well, you look at it. We've got the biggest brands.
We've got Nike, Adidas, we've got everybody. Their headquarters are
in Portland, right, There's nobody that can touch our community
and fan base. And I respect every other city because
a lot of them have come in when they start
and they're like, hey, we just want to mar and watch.
And you look at other brands like Angel City, they're
doing a great job, Kansas City, they're doing a great
(37:03):
job too. But come spend a day at Providence Park.
Come spend a day in front of the fire. When
we get this popping, it's different. And then I think
one of the biggest things we're talking about is that
that event that actually brings people together to listen and
not just feel raraw, but to have takeaways to go
back and figure out how to learn. And I think
(37:25):
for me, the biggest thing I realize is that in
that room, when you looked at in the audience, nobody
was on their phones, which I think you and I
know is a big feat. Everybody was taking in, everybody
was learning, and I think there needs to be more
conversations around the performance aspect of things. And it is
a bit nerdy, but if you ask a former athlete
(37:45):
or a current athlete or people who've lived it, that's
the part. We've got to really start pushing the needle
on athletes.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
They want professional training environments because that yields business.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
And you've got to create the space for them to
feel that. Yes there's the stadiums and all those things,
but you got to start with the athlete first, and
where do they spend most of their time at the
performance center. So when you look at that and you
start to think around the lines of like silly things
like showers. Not everybody wants the shower coming down here.
(38:17):
The female probably wants to wear the shower cap or
maybe like all these little things. But it's also like
making them feel like they have a place that they
belong to. Exactly what you said, twelve thousand square feet,
twelve thousand square feet is a good thing.
Speaker 3 (38:32):
They're going to have the block performance center. According to
your daughter can't.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
Make this about me.
Speaker 3 (38:37):
I know, even my girl, but you know your daughter
said it's a blog performance center.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
But I think it's like just the simple fact of like,
create a space where these women feel like they belong,
Create a space where they can feel alive, where can
they can be themselves, where they can see themselves in it.
Create a space for them. And that's what this is.
And when you create it for them, there's things that
are going to happen in there that you and I
even though we're talking today or like when we're having
(39:05):
our executive calls, because I mean again, think of the
executive calls. You've got two presidents right who are running
their companies. You've got gms, You've got people who are
leading the space. But then all of a sudden you
put all those brains together.
Speaker 3 (39:19):
That's a brain trust. Yeah, one hundred percent. That alone
is a differentiator, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (39:24):
And that's happening often. And you have an ownership group
that's like, listen, we can be The goal is to
be the best soccer franchise. The goal is to be
the best basketball, but the goal is better than best.
It's impact that's measurable. It's gaining things where you and
I are going to I'm going to walk into that
building and probably cry because the younger athlete version of
(39:45):
myself would never have seen this. My daughter's going to
walk and think it's normal because that's our generation.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
Obviously, you talk about impact that's measurable, and I think
that's one of the things that women's sports has skirted
because it has looked at his charity so you don't
need to put numbers against it.
Speaker 3 (40:00):
Charitable donation. Obviously, that is changing.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
We know that big investments, your facilities, what north of
one hundred million dollars. RAJ Sports Group is also a business.
You're expecting returns based on these investments. What does success
look like at the end of the day, beyond the impact,
beyond the community growth, you're talking to somebody that's got
to write a check. Beyond the strategic and impactful nature
of it, what are you expecting to deliver on? Are
(40:25):
there things that you guys sit around and say, we've
got to change what KPIs look like because the model's different.
Speaker 1 (40:30):
From as simple as athletes lasting longer to athletes having
a place to be when they're done. I'm going to
put on the athlete answer first. We're a place where
athletes will go and they'll be like, I can live
hearing because I see all of me in every part
of me, my entire life and career. I mean, soon enough,
we're going to see the first billion dollar franchise, right.
Speaker 3 (40:51):
Oh, it's coming, Yeah, it's coming.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
We want to be a part of that conversation. Why not.
We want to also make sure we actually make a
dent with data, with analytics, with KPIs in this performer space.
We want to be the leaders in that space. I mean,
on the soccer Sidey of Kansas City, who has created
a stadium, a phenomenal brand in what they've done, But
that's one. On the WNB side, you got the liberty,
(41:16):
You've got all these things, but no one's done it together.
So what we can actually do together, I'll let least
an Alyx talk about the actual objectives. I want to
give them that respect. But we want to be that
top tier. We want to be that company that did it.
We want to be the company that led the way.
And I'm talking in dollars and cents. Wise, nobody is
(41:36):
even thinking about Portland when he comes to sponsorships. But
I said it on the thorn side six hundred percent increase.
I'll just stop right there, right on the fire side.
We're going to continue to do these things, but we
have to continue to do these things in a way
that is strategic, where we've redefined we have an evaluation
(41:59):
that is close to the billion, but we also do
it in a way where a little town like Portland
is on a global map that nobody ever even saw coming.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
Do you ever sit down at night with yourself and
think back to the little girl who showed up in
Canada at eight and turned ons that I want to
be at the Olympics and can't believe what you're a
part of.
Speaker 3 (42:19):
Do you ever take a beat?
Speaker 1 (42:20):
I do? I think my biggest beat is probably my daughter.
When I look at her at age five, what she
thinks is possible I could never even have dreamt of.
And I think, for me, my why is everything I
do is her? Every conversation I have is her. I
(42:44):
pretend she's right or listening to me. I think of her,
and I think of her generation. And you talk about
why do I do this? Maybe I should think about
my eight year old self and I can have a
moment like whenever I'm doing work, with my foundation. Maybe
that's when I think of it. But I think of
my five year old daughter and creating through whatever impact
(43:04):
I can have, creating a world that is better for her,
creating a world which she doesn't have to go through
the things I went through. She doesn't have to find
the difficulty like I did, Like I never really fit in,
Like growing up as a black woman in soccer, I
didn't really fit in. I became loud because my father
(43:25):
said to me, never make the fact that you're a
black woman be two strikes against you. So I decided
I was gonna walk into a room and I was
gonna let you know who I was. That confidence came
from sports, So as long as my daughter wants to
play sports, I'm gonna love it. She doesn't have to,
but I know that it's going to instill in her
a sense of confidence and belief and work hard yet
(43:46):
still being humble because sports humbles you. It gives her
all the tools to be successful. So I don't really
sit and think about and maybe that's crazy. I don't
think about the eight year old version of me. I
think about my five year old daughter and what can
I do in my time in this earth? And not
even this position, but who I am, so that her
life and her pathway is easier than it was for me,
(44:08):
because on paper I may have accomplished things. But I'm
telling you that's why I said, I'm so excited for
this next chapter. For you, the biggest and best thing
better than winning an Olympic medal, better than winning a championship,
better than all of that, is her and the fact
that right now she actually believes in things that are
(44:31):
insanely crazy because of what she gets access to. When
you can give access to young women in sport, access
to their role models who are boldly and authentically being themselves,
access to being after the game, running around in a
soccer field or playing around a basketball court where they
(44:52):
hand her a basketball and be like, hey, this is
how you shoot. Access to that belief and that power
and what's possible in her. That's that's why do what
I do. That's why I say to you, you have no
idea the chapter you're about to enter, and man for
this error, you probably would have entered it. But I'm
telling you, Laura, if you think you were driven human
(45:13):
being before, just wait till you give birth to your
child and you hold your child and the moment you
hold it, you're going to laugh and be like, man,
it's a whole different meaning because you're not doing anything
for yourself anymore. Yeah, you're doing it for someone else.
Speaker 2 (45:30):
I so appreciate you sharing that, and I know it's
deeply personal. And you know, I remember when I first
met you at one of the first I'll never forget
you talking. You wear a pink blazer a lot, and
you shared with me that I wear this because you're
going to know when I walk in the room. And
I know you're talking about fitting in, but Kreta, you
were never meant to fit in.
Speaker 3 (45:47):
This is all about standing out.
Speaker 2 (45:50):
And you know, I'm five weeks away from having a daughter,
and it hadn't hit me till it literally hit me
in the face. I was on a panel at the
Nasdaq a couple of weeks back talking about the purpose,
and for so many panels and conversations is easy for
me to get up because I've done the work, I
understand the math talking about the implications, and I started
sharing this talk track.
Speaker 3 (46:11):
I know it very well.
Speaker 2 (46:12):
At this point, which is the numbers you alluded to,
ninety percent of women in the c suite have played
sports at some point fifty percent Collegiately, forty five percent
of girls are dropping out. Why are they dropping out?
Largely due to body confidence issues? What impacts body confidence issues?
Media advertising and marketing? What business do I work in
media advertising and marketing. There's a sense of obligation responsibility
to change that narrative. And then I really wanted to
(46:34):
understand the social and economic impact of what that drop
off meant. And as I'm on this panel, I'm rattling
off these new numbers that I've learned. The UK commissioned
to study that said the impact of economic earnings that
were lost and a woman's lifetime was roughly thirty thousand pounds.
So you flip that to the US and you convert
that number, it's forty six hundred dollars US dollars lost
(46:58):
per person by dropping out. As I'm saying that I
was getting kicked in the ribs and losing my breath,
my child was moving around inside. I realize, I'm like,
that means that my daughter could be part of missing
out on X because of a system that failed her. Well,
(47:19):
you don't have to go far of a stretch to
understand this. Is not just about dollars and cents, And
that is why I believe, no matter how many times
we're running up a ninety degree incline with a boulder
on our back to make this thing happen, I will
do it day in and day out until we're at
the mountaintop.
Speaker 1 (47:39):
And I will be right there doing it with you.
Speaker 4 (47:41):
In your pig blazer, in my big blazer, because I
think one of the most inspiring things about you is
your relentless pursuit of excellence. I appreciate that sports, That's
exactly it, and that's why we got to surround ourselves
with people are never in competition with each other, like
(48:02):
what's meant for you is meant for you, what's meant
for me has meant for me.
Speaker 1 (48:05):
And the fact that if they look at the passion
and the reason and the why that we want to
do this, it's not even about us in that mountaintop.
I think there's so many incredible women and men who
are our allies because we both are married to incredible human.
Speaker 3 (48:22):
Beings, incredible allies.
Speaker 1 (48:24):
Like they these men are like, hey, we're just gonna
let you shine. But it's also understanding, like that's what's
exciting about the future is what's possible is none of
us know what's gonna happen, but there's a belief, a
relentless belief that we know it's going to be bigger
than we can even imagine because finally the world's starting
(48:46):
to see it. Finally the world is starting to see it,
and it's a beautiful thing.
Speaker 2 (48:51):
Well, I don't talking ifs, I talk and wins, And
I'm telling you right now, once that Portland Fire team
comes online with you in the back driving it, I
have no doubt what will become an expansion team will
be one of the most talked about women's sports, not
just basketball teams, but franchises run by somebody who played soccer.
Speaker 1 (49:09):
Basketball was my first love, I know for.
Speaker 2 (49:11):
All of that and more, Karina LeBlanc, I am cheering
you on every step of the way. Thank you for
making the time and imparting your energy and wisdom for
our audience. I can't wait to bring my daughter to
come play with yours.
Speaker 1 (49:22):
Oh, I can't wait. They're going to be a little
little spicy ones, aren't they.
Speaker 2 (49:27):
The different type of rap pack is a whole different energy.
Speaker 1 (49:30):
Thanks appreciate you.
Speaker 3 (49:32):
I appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (49:33):
Good luck and I can't wait to see what comes next.
I'm your host Laura Krenti, founder and CEO of Deep
Blue Sports and Entertainment. Our executive producer is Jesse Katz,
and this show is produced by Ryan Martz along with
associate producers Meredith Barnes and Rachel Zuckerman. Courtside is an
iHeart Women's Sports production and partnership with Deep Blue Sports
(49:54):
and Entertainment. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you get your podcast Want more, follow, rate and
review court Side wherever you get your podcasts, and stay
in the game by following us on social media at
Iheartwomen's Sports, and don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter.
Speaker 3 (50:12):
In the show notes, thanks for listening. We'll see you
next time. Court Side
It was one of those things where when I retired,
it was like now what And I know that passion
and that like for me, it sounds weird, but I
always thought my purpose was to see our flag rise
for the Olympics, and then when that happened, I realized
that that was a platform to my purpose. And my
purpose on this earth is I want to impact people
for the positive. And my lane just happens to be
(00:25):
in women's sports because sports made me who I am today.
Sports in every way, shape or form, the way I think,
the way I breathe. It's a part of me, and
I think it's such an opportunity to change the world
for the better because no matter where you go, if
you drop a ball, people will come.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Welcome back to Courtside, where we break down the business
of women's sports with the people building It's next chapter.
I'm your host, Laura Currenti, and today we're talking about
what it takes to grow not just a team, but
an entire market. My guest is Corine LeBlanc, former pro goalkeeper, olympian,
and now she's the first former professional athlete to transition
to an executive role at RAJ Sports on an effort
(01:05):
to support strategic growth for the NWSL's Portland Thorns and
the WNBA's Portland Fire. She also hosts the Epicenter of
women's sports podcasts in all of her free time. Of course,
we talk about the big growth move she's making, like
reaching new fans, building partnerships that go beyond game day,
and turning the surge of attention on women's sports into
something truly sustainable. Let's get into it with Corina LeBlanc.
(01:26):
I am joined by a woman whose energy even I
cannot match. Coarina LeBlanc is here EVP of Strategic Growth
Development for RAJ Sports, formerly GM of the Portland Thorns.
Concakef had of women's soccer beginning back in July of
twenty eighteen. One of my favorite things on your resume,
by the way, Jersey Girl, Rutgers assistant coach two thousand
and five to two thousand and nine, while also training
(01:48):
with the Canadian national team. Karina Repcannada, five Women's World
Cups at the Olympics in two thousand and eight and
twenty twelve, and two Pan American Games.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Karina, what can't you do? Welcome to the show.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Thank you very intro. Listen for me what I can't do.
There's a lot I can't do. But one of the
things I'm most excited to be on this conversation with
you is you're entering and going through such a beautiful
part of your life. I feel honored to be on
this podcast with you. You're a game changer, you're doing
big things, you're redefining things. And again, I think when
(02:20):
we first met like this, we connect it because it
was like, let's be a part of the conversation of
moving women's sports forward. And you know, what you're doing
is incredible. So it's an honor to be here today.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
It's funny.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
As I was getting ready for this, I was thinking
back to the first time we met, and I'm a
big energy person both externally and I love to feel
it back, and I was like, I gotta know this woman.
We were in San Diego at the NWSL Championship.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
I'm not even remember what year it was. Now we
connected and we're like.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Let's go on a long walk, and I think we
could have talked for three more days if we had
the time. And it was not even about where we
had come from, but more so the ambition of what
we wanted to work towards. Fast forward two three years
later and you're literally taking Portland in the US by.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Storm, or I should say fire. I'm not saying it's
sparked there, but you.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Know it kind of did.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
No.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
I have to say this because we all know when
you're like for eighteen years of my life, right, So,
I was a professional soccer player. I played in and
asked for almost twenty years. I was surrounded by like
minded women who were connected on something bigger than yourself.
And that's what happens when you get to play for
your country. And it was one of those things where
when I retired, it was like, now what And I
(03:36):
know that passion and that like for me, it sounds weird,
but I always thought my purpose was to see our
flag rise for the Olympics, and then when that happened,
I realized that that was a platform to my purpose.
And my purpose on this earth is I want to
impact people for the positive. And my lane just happens
to be in women's sports because sports made me who
I am today. Sports in every way, shape or form,
(03:58):
the way I think, the way I breathe, that's a
part of me and I think it's such an opportunity
to change the world for the better, because no matter
where you go, if you drop a ball, people will come.
It gets us away from the smartphone. Sports is such
an opportunity, and especially for women where if you see
like ninety three to ninety four percent of women see
class FETs in above all played sports. Why Because there's
(04:18):
something ignited inside of you that makes you want to
be part of something bigger than yourself. And I think
that's what life is about.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
I love that. So when did you fall in love
with the game? Take me to Little Karina.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
So Little Karina was shy. Nobody believes this. I couldn't
get me to talk. A group in the Caribbean. Moved
to Canada when I was eight, made my first friend,
and I went to soccer practice. But I watched the
Olympics in television and I remember seeing it at the time.
The person I connected most with was Donovan Bailey. He
(04:50):
was a Canadian. He won them on one hundred meter
and he was Jamaican Canadian. And if I go back
before that, Carl Lewis was also a big thing. But
I saw that moment and I was like, I want
to do that. I want to be an Olympian one day,
and that shifted in me because I was like, I
was willing to do whatever it took to get there.
And so basketball was actually my first love. Okay, soccer
(05:12):
was what I played, but track was what ignited something
in me because you have to see it to believe it.
And I saw something on the Olympics that made me
feel alive and that changed my life.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
I love that. So how the hell do you end
up between the posts as a goalkeeper?
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Well, people, I'm crazy, right, Well, I don't think i'm crazy,
but people think goalkeepers are crazy. I think I'm normal.
So I was super competitive, and because I started playing
soccer late, I was athletic and strong and I scored goals.
But I was getting really pissed off that we were
letting them in and I was like, well, just stop
the ball. And so I played one half on the
front and one half in the back, and I was
(05:48):
good at it. I got called into the national team.
I think we talked about this. I learned a pretty
valuable lesson. When I was fourteen, I got cut. I
was allowed girl who said I want to be an Olympian.
One day I got cut and I was the only
one who got cut. But it taught me such a
powerful lesson at that age that you got to get
comfortable being uncomfortable. And I put fifteen minutes more every
(06:10):
single day before practice or after practice towards just like
wanting to be the best version of myself. And I
say that because you and I were always busy, but
we figured out, like fifteen minutes not too long. Every
single day you put fifteen minutes more towards the person
you want to be, anything could happen. And I got cut.
But then a year and a half later, I was
on the senior national team. While everybody else is trying
(06:32):
to figure out mortgages, I was trying to figure out
like who to take to prom But something was stolen
from me early in my life, and I was like,
I'm gonna go get it. You cannot take this from me.
And I think that obsession towards almost wanting to be
the best version of myself at a young age is
still the obsession I have now. That's why I love
(06:52):
the environment I'm in, I love the people I get
to work with every day, because I think that obsession
of like high performance, that obsession of doing what's never
been done before, that obsession of doing it not for
yourself but for others. I love being in that kind
of environment and that's where I am today.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
I love that so relatable on so many levels when
you start thinking about the application or transitionary skill sets
that we take with us from at whatever level you play,
just having played the game for as long as you
have just a quick sidebar. I had coach Corey Close,
who's the head women's basketball coach at UCLA, on a
couple episodes Love She's phenomenal, and I was talking about
(07:31):
probably the most I had ever been humbled was when
I found myself in a very talk about being comfortable
with being uncomfortable. I got benched in college. I had
never been benched in my life. I don't even know
what that meant. And the level of humility and determining
are you going to come back from this? Do you
have what it takes to come back from this? The
ability to take the skills that I learned and had
(07:52):
a self awareness that knew this wasn't the end, it
was just the next chapter that was arriving. And it
takes a certain level of I don't know, mental space
to be able to say like, this is it, my time?
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Here is up? What comes next?
Speaker 2 (08:06):
And now you couldn't have told nineteen twenty year old
Laura that I'd be here today talking to you in
twenty twenty five about the growth of the game and
the business opportunities and all of those things. But I
think to your point, you have to go through these moments.
And you talked about that C suite percentage and the
common denominators. Most of those women you'll talk to have
gone through failure and they're comfortable with failure and the
(08:27):
ability to pivot bounce. It might not look like you
play again, but you absolutely take it and apply it elsewhere.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
So you're coming in, you bounce back.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
You play for your country, which is there any greater honor?
And I have to imagine, like you went through that moment,
there was a time when you knew it was you
had to hang it up.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Do you remember the feeling, Oh yeah, take me through it.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Well, first of all, you said a couple things I
got to step into. Right. First of all, when you
say failure, failure is like it's the cliche, but you
got to dare to fail greatly every day of your life.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Right, I'm Italian, from New Jersey. I'm the edge over here.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
It's almost like, I think this happened as when you
hung out. I'm starting to talk like a Jersey girl again.
I think for me, one of the most beautiful things
that happened was I started to think about my retirement
way before I retired. And that's the same thing we
talked to like even our players today. After we won
the Olympic medal. Our coach he actually pulled me aside.
(09:23):
I remember we are on a trip to Brazil and
he said, if you think your purpose on this earth
is to kick a soccer ball for a country, I
failed you. And I was like, what, like, my purpose
is I'm the last one signed the autographs, I'm the
one in the crowd, I'm doing all this and it's
so incredible how you always find what you're looking for.
And that led to me understanding that the game was
(09:45):
a platform. I remember we were at a dinner at
an Olympic dinner and it's like the dinner where people
pay a lot of money to sit at your table,
and some of the other athletes are on the stage
with the rock band, and I'm like, who's at my table?
Because I'm like one of those curious people and the
woman next to me and being the COO of UNISEF
Canada and I would eventually end up becoming a UNISEF
(10:05):
Ambassador for Canada. And what happened next change in my life.
I remember going to Honduras in the middle of nowhere,
right I had taken two or three flights, and they're like,
did you read the blue Book? I was like, I've
traveled the world. I didn't read the Blue Book. And
they're like, we've had forty four deaths tonight, they'll be
like a gunman, like all these things. And I was like,
and you're just hearing and it was like I was
already out of the uncomfortable. But on that day I
(10:27):
had to do CNN and all the political stuff. I
did a soccer camp for thirteen and fourteen year old
girls who were putting down their babies. They'd never seen
me play in a World Cup or Olympics. It was
a fact that I showed up. And on that day,
remember I told you I was a shy kid, grew up,
went to Flenn's house and then went to sleep over
the next day in Honduras. Many years later, on the
(10:52):
field on that day a Canadian had donated jerseys, and
that Canadian who donated the jerseys were the jersey of
that soccer club. When I first played soccer full circle
and it hit me I was exactly where it's meant
to be doing. And that started my journey of like, wait,
this game is a platform. And all the failures that
(11:12):
you talk about, all the hardship, all the being told
you're not good enough, all the as a goalkeeper, if
you don't start, you're not probably getting in. All of
that led me to the moment of understanding, like, you
know what, at some point this is going to end,
but I have a responsibility just like you do. Like
I think any woman in these positions right now, we
understand that there's assignment we have to do. And this
(11:33):
is why women's sport right now is just taking off.
We're all understanding the assignment we have to This is
the opportunity. This is not a moment, as everybody says,
this is a movement, but we all have our lanes
and if we all collectively come together right now, people
are going to see exactly what they're seeing every single
day right now. They're seeing viewerships going up, they're seeing
stadiums being packed, they' seeing athletes get paid. So many
(11:54):
of this comes because everybody's playing their part, and then
everyone understands that the moment is now. So going back
to your question forty minutes ago, I still thinking about
retirement three years before I retired. But it was people
seen in me what I didn't see myself that have
led me to where I am today.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
So you end up in a front office position, which
in very short order has become so much bigger than
a GM role in the front office for the Thorns.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
How did it shape out?
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Were there quick observations for you in terms of where
new skills needed to be developed, or perhaps insights that
you had that you recognize. Good thing former players sitting
in this position, because you're missing the forest through the trees,
take me through that. Because you were one of the first,
if you look at in the professional women's sports leagues
here in the United States, that made that transition and
has stayed in the front offices since retiring. I can
(12:43):
count on my hand the amount of successful transitions in
that capacity.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Well, I'll be honest with you, the GM position I
actually didn't want. I was at the time head of
women's football for Conca Calf And so for those of
you who don't know Conca Caff are the forty one
countries of North America, Central America and all the Cribbean countries.
And the little girl in the Caribbean who didn't even
know she had an athletic body. That person was who
(13:08):
I went and took that job for. Because of all
the Cribbean countries, they're like, oh, great job. I was like, no,
but there's a million little means in that country and
here's the opportunity to really matter. And so for me
at that time, I was like, this is my purpose.
And then I came back to Portland because Portland had
gone through some headlines that were not great, and I
(13:29):
truly believed the Portland Thorns of the club that changed
the trajectory of women's soccer, not only in the sky.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
I've never seen a fan base like that, but truly,
kudos to you because it has to be one of
the anchors of women's sports.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
I'm not even just talking in the US. I had
never seen that globally.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
No, and that's why I think even then I was like,
we got to get you in because there's one thing
to see it on TV, but there's another thing to
be there, and that's why I went back to Portland
because literally it was one of those things where I
remember my first day walking out on that field having
been blessed to play in World Cups and Olympics, and
still to this day, I have just bumps because our
(14:05):
fan base, if you come, they do not They're not like, hey.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
The horse pt fc C.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
It's so.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
But like it's personal to the city. I love that
you said. I think this was the club that set
that standard and for me as it was going through
some stuff. For me, I was kind of on the
international scene. You know, I'd gone through some stuff. I know,
I don't know if it's that, but black women are
three times more likely to go through issues. June childbirth,
(14:35):
I had heart failure, and again you talk about failure,
but that failure, as people say, going through that changed
me because you really have to sit and reflect in life,
like what am I doing? And I remember being that
because then again I had three weeks away from my
newborn three weeks which was a very hard thing, and
(14:55):
I was like, I want my life to matter. And
I remember having a conversation my husband and I were
living in the Bahamas at the time. I don't think
many people moved from the Bahamas to Portland, but I
was living Bahamas at the time, and we're like, this
could be where that transition of knowing what the players
are feeling, that transition of knowing how important this community
(15:16):
was our fan base, that transition of like that GM
world wasn't like my dream, but I think it was
one of those things you got to take a chance
and a leaf on yourself and surround yourself with the
right people. And I had people around me who helped me,
but I didn't love the position. It wasn't like for me,
you see me, I'm like, oh, I want to change
the world. I want to bring light to things, and
(15:38):
to go into a situation where things were harder and
darker and there was just like what is the light
at the end? And I continue to try to be
the light. That was three years that was really really
hard for me, but I come out learning so much.
I came out loving the city even more. And then
we have a new ownership group and I think this
is one of the things that why I love my
(15:59):
job is I remember sitting with them and having a
conversation of what's next. And one of the things they
said is, like, you know, it's when you find people
that you trust and that people who like have that journey,
that have that unique skill set. You find something that
kind of fits their strengths. And that's why I tease
(16:19):
because our managing director, Mike Whitehead, he's the one, and
then our ownership group. For me, I'm not that person,
but I get to use my voice and I now
get to be part of a sport of basketball that
I love. But most important, I get to talk about
the city and this club that change your trajectory women's
football or soccer. And then on the WNBA side, we
(16:40):
have over fourteen thousand season deposits. Fourteen thousand season deposits.
How many seats, Well it's going to be Modu Center,
so twenty thousand. So one of the things that really
impresses me is how this city shows up for women
is just a different conversation.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Yeah, I want to get into it. Let's pivots you
transition to the RAJ group. You got this word growth
in your title, which I don't know anything is more apropos,
But how are you defining growth in this next chapter?
As you move to more of this holding company position,
where now you are overseeing a portfolio of brands as
opposed to a singular role within an organization.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
What does growth mean to you in this capacity?
Speaker 1 (17:23):
RAJ Sports is the only ownership group that has both
NWSL and the WNBA team. So most cities have an
NWSL team and a WNBA team. You mean in terms
of ownership having that ownership, they are the only one
to have both. But then what does growth look like.
We're building a practice facility one hundred and fifty million
dollars plus where it will be a building, first building
(17:43):
that you and I will walk into that's built for
women because Lisa bethl Mirage. One of the biggest things
she said, so we have an ownership group of Lisa
and Alex Bathol brother and sister. One of the things
when they were building that facility, they said, well, let's
make it for women. Let's build it for women. So
when you walk through from everything from the aesthetics and
it's not just the building, but it's inside. If six
(18:05):
percent of data is focused on women's sports, I mean
sports science right now, already in that building, you're going
to have basketball and soccer. So you walk in it'll
be in the like Olympic village, right, so the athletes
will get to break bread together. And I always tell
the story of like at the Olympics, I could continue
to eat with my teammates or on the right with
Suwena and Venus. I was like, I'm going to sit
(18:27):
down and have lunch with these two and right away,
it's not that they knew who I was. Right away,
you start a conversation there and you start talking about
the one percents, So athletes will eat and break bread together.
Then there'll be the soccer area and then the basketball
are and in between is that innovation space. And if
I just said six percent already, you're going to have
the best of basketball, the best of soccer, exchanging ideas,
(18:49):
trying to think of innovative ways to move forward, a
performance focus that has never been done before. So when
you start talking about what are we doing differently, we're
doing differently of like we're trying to reinvent what's normal.
We don't have to copy and paste what the men
have done. We actually have the athletes there telling to us,
talking to us, And I think that's one of the
things of I love about my transition is that I
(19:11):
can now sit and have conversation with the athletes who
finally they don't just have to be the coach, they
have the opportunity, they don't just have to go into TV.
They can actually start to think on the business side.
And you talk about growth, like every day I'm learning
because now, I mean, we just came from doing a
WNBA event. I'm sitting there. I've always loved the WNBA,
(19:33):
but now I'm talking with our GM and having conversations
of how she just wants to like do things differently,
do things in a different way of thinking, not just
copy and paste. And so for me, the growth of
it is like when you put all these minds together,
what are we going to be able to do in
a city where like literally the city this is the
(19:55):
inspiration for the city. They support women's sports, Like I'll
go to dinner and they're like, you know, they just
it's something innate. There's an energy in the city, and
I think that's why we're calling ourselves the global episode
of women's Sports.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Well, I'm also a big fan of Jenny Wyn who's
been on the show and what she's done at the
Sports BRA. So you talk about growth, not just in
terms of what you're building and training and performance and
certainly game day, et cetera, but also the cottage businesses
industries that are emerging around the game that are enhancing
the experience, growing the fandom. I don't know that there's
a city that rivals Portland in that capacity, at least
that I've been to. Obviously, the Thorns have been a stronghold.
(20:46):
You take the court next season, yep.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Once we figure out the CBA and expansion and all
that fun stuff.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
That's a different episode.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
But talk to me about the supercharging, right because I
do think what's interesting and I can speak to this
from a business perspective in terms of where the dollars
are flowing commercially, basketball has leapfrogged every other sport in
this country tenfold. So you've already got a strong anchor
in the Thorns, which I imagine is consistent and finds incremental
pockets of growth. Now you're about to supercharge the city
with the hottest asset in arguably sports period, which is
(21:18):
women's basketball.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
Forget your soccer hat for a second.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
If somebody's now playing this executive role and has played
at all different levels, how do you take something like
that literally fire and make sure that you're building something
that isn't just for the short term of it all,
but really thinking about longevity.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
This performance center included.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Yeah, I think it's one of the biggest things we
want to do is I think our lane is the
innovation space, right that is the performance center, but then
even our GM Varna, that's where she sees the biggest leap.
Like if you look at I'll talk as a former
athlete from both sides, if you look as an athlete,
when we actually start studying the women's body, when we
actually start studying what's possible for a female athlete, there
(21:58):
has not been enough data on that, but I think
it's looking at where can we kind of nail our lane.
And I know I'm not supposed to talk about soccer,
but I think that's what our differentiator is. We're actually
not just looking at one sport. You look at soccer,
soccer's done great, But the WNBA in our city, you
go outside to the parks, that's what they're playing in
(22:19):
the backyard as well, and so looking at that and
really looking at what we're actually able to gain. Right now,
we're looking and going for the front of the jersey
and whatnot. We've got some of the big brands like
Brand Live, We've got Alaska. I mean, you're talking about
the business of sports and the thorn side. We have
a six hundred percent increase WNBA. We're trying to just
make sure we keep going with that. And how do
(22:39):
we differentiate ourselves from the LAS and from the New
York's is what I'm talking about having both.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
How are you pitching because you don't have a big
media market. Portland's not a big media market, big sports market. Yeah,
so how are you competing because you know, it's very
easy to say, well, look at the numbers, but how
do you quantify what Portland needs off paper?
Speaker 1 (22:58):
We're the only company to do what's never been done before,
and we're doing it with two of the biggest sports
and one in a market that's a mid tier market
that continues to perform above what people expect consistently. And
we expect that on the fireside as well too. And
like I just said, look at the season ticket deposits.
We announced the name and then we open up, We're like, hey,
just come to the park. Was packed?
Speaker 3 (23:19):
Yea.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Our city's not showing up and Portland doesn't see themselves
and that's why the Portland Seattle rivalry is huge. Portland
does not see themselves as that small tier market. I
think why. One of the reasons it's a big river
is because everyone talks about Seattle. But yeah, in Portland,
we're like, how can we keep eat in Seattle? Right?
So we don't see ourselves as small And that's.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
With you out in front. I don't think anybody's talking
about small energy.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
That's what I'm talking about. Like, if you look at
what we continue to do, and we respect the bigger cities,
but we're doing what nobody else has done. And when
you're trying to lead the way in a space where
we do hope in the future, there are other cities
that do this. We're not just having conversations about one club.
We're having Yes, there's the fire and the Thorns have
(24:01):
their own conversations. We do things differently, but there's also
a collective element that for brands are attractive in a
way of like, you get access to a lot more
athletes with us, you get access and then even as
an athlete, it's also being connected. And again, I know
I keep saying this on the idea of something bigger
than yourselves. How often do you get to go to
work where you can literally change the game of women's sports.
(24:26):
How often do you get to go to work and
you're not just selling one brand, but you're selling two.
But at the end of the day, you're selling female
athletes being boldly authentically themselves. How often do you get
to go to work and let me put on the
former athlete side, sit down and sit across from another
lead athlete and be like, what else are you doing
in your world that helps you keep going higher? So
(24:47):
you say, what is our pitch? Our pitch is like,
we're doing something that's never been done before, and we're
doing it collectively. You and I know this, Laura. The
reason why we connected is that we've been walking through
like kind of being the crazy ones. Right.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
People are just like those kind of.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
But at some point when crazy comes together, things happen
that have never ever been done before. And I think
that's one of the things that excites us is even
when like our HR people of culture, they're recruiting staff, right,
they're trying to go out there and get people to
work for the fire too. But what we found is
people are excited to work for the fire, but they're
(25:23):
also just as excited to do something that's never been
done before and have a person next to them even ticketing. Yeah,
it's just it sounds simple, but if you find the
right people who understand the importance of the work we're
trying to do. That's why when you walk into our office,
there's a vibe, there's an electricity, there's a we get
(25:44):
to do this, and you can't go anywhere else and
find that in this country or in North America.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
What I love about what you're talking about too, and
I know I push it a little bit on it's
not a big media market, but women's sports inherently isn't
a reach game. It won't be for quite some time
until we get to parody on media coverage. There's so
many different things you could go down that are still
at a big discrepancy in terms of parody around scalability.
But what it does deliver is an inherent engaged audience
(26:12):
that you cannot compare to the men's side.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
The delivery.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
You talk about those fourteen thousand tickets, I'll be curious
to know what the crossover is between If I'm a
Portland Thorn's fan, and you may already have this data.
Do I convert to a Portland fire fan. I'm just
a Portland women's sports fan.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
But you already know, Like you look at the WNBA,
sixty percent are men, right when you look at.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
We're over indexing right now on more men than women
are fantom woman sports.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
So it's actually not as many as you think. We
have less population. But again, what happens is becomes contagious
when you go to a parking Portland. This happened to me,
like it's happened several times. The first time it happened
and went and I saw these thirteen and fourteen yer
Oh boys. They were in female jerseys. None of them
had sisters. There's something to be said. And I think
this is what's electrified for us, is that if you
(27:00):
think of that leadership stat we talked about, we're actually
shaping the future generation by having these two clubs in
the city because the young boys are going in just
knowing that women they're looking up and they're like, oh
my god, I'm obsessed with Sophia Wilson. I'm obsessed with
Raylan Turner, I'm obsessed with Olivia Moultrie. I'm obsessed with
Jesse Fleming. These are young boys and they're proud of it.
(27:21):
So when you look at that and for us, what's
exciting is that it's part of the solution of what
we're going through. Not only just important, but I think
nationwide globally.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Well, thirteen to seventeen year old boys vandom girl one
hundred and thirty percent of the WNBA this past season,
thirteen to seven year old.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Boys because it's on the television and in their feeds. Exactly.
You got to see it to believe it. And for me,
for the longest time, I always used to think we've
got to put females on there, so young girls, which
at the end of the day, that is a very
important aspect to Like I was a young black girl,
I needed to see somebody look like me for me
(27:56):
to think I could do anything. And then now you
talk about it, you have women in these positions. It
does not fall lightly on me that I am a
black woman in this position. I look at it as
what an opportunity because when I go out to my community,
they're seeing like, oh my god, you did this as
an athlete and then wait, what now?
Speaker 3 (28:17):
Yeah, executive.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Yeah, they're not just seeing what's possible for them in
the athlete world. They're seeing what's possible them in an
executive world. They're going to for science and understanding, Hey,
I can be a science person and I can get
into performance of women's sports. I think there's so many things.
When we start telling the stories of the women who
are doing these big things, I think we forget to
(28:39):
understand the impact is not just on women. It is
on the young boys. It is on the next generation.
And that's why my five year old like literally, she's like, Mommy,
I'm going to be a professional soccer player and a
professional basketball player and I'm going to train in that
building of yours. And I'm like, I'm like, it's my building.
Now She's like, yeah, it's like it's not my building, honey.
But again, it's just like you build it, it will come.
(29:02):
Was impossible a year exactly. And it's not just young
boys and girls, So the crossover isn't as much. But
I think what it is is that people they want
that feeling of doing something that matters and that's personal
to Portland our fan base. This matters that we are
stewards to them. But This matters beyond just the wins
(29:22):
and losses. It matters because of the meaning of what
we're building.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
One hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
So here's a challenge, right, and this is something I
navigate every day in my position. There's a lot of
marketers who listen to this show. They have to quantify
the passion. It's a very unique value proposition. You've got
all of sport under one roof. That also means you've
got a lot of data under one roof. But when
you start thinking about bringing partners on board, whether it's fashion, tech, entertainment,
(29:48):
I mean, you name it. You rattled off a few
that are already engaged in your portfolio. If there's anybody
who's going to sell me on the qualitative value, I'm
talking to her.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
How are you thinking about backing that up with numbers?
Speaker 1 (30:02):
I mean, if you look at some of the numbers,
what is it, one hundred trillion of money will be
available thirty trillion in the next five years?
Speaker 3 (30:12):
Oh right, in terms of what women control.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Yeah, so they're gonna end up buying a lot of this, right.
I'll go specific to some of our brands. Most recently
we did with Bobby, the world's biggest baby shower and
that looked like flashes and okay, yeah whatever. We had
Sophia Wilson and then we had another teammate of hers.
We had nine million impressions, which for our instance is
(30:36):
a big thing. But what we realized is that what
happens then our audience goes and buys Bobby. As you
know in the research, like people will engage in the brand,
they'll research the brand and they'll purchase the brand. Same
thing with the Laska Airlines. The Laska Airlines, especially in
our area, they decided to pull from a male sport
to come into us. They've seen a return because how
(30:57):
they're actually in our market. They did a love letter
to Portland. They said a love let of Portland and
Portland fell in love. All of a sudden, Portant is
obsessed with the Lasca Airlines in our market. It's a
bit of a different thing. They personalized it to us.
But most importantly, going back to data data in our space,
brands want to have access to these athletes. They want
(31:18):
to have access to what they're doing. They want to
have access to like how they think. And in most
of our sponsorships, you go with the big things, but
the most important thing they kind of focus on is
how's it actually impacting the athlete. We're building this practice facility,
We're asking the athletes about the practice facility. We're doing
a lot of different things, but we're putting the athlete
at first, and I'm trying to give you the answer,
but I'm just trying to also give the post examples
(31:41):
of like how we are personalizing this to make sure
that the brands don't They could go to the Big five,
but if they come to us, it's going to be unique.
It's a compass. We're doing it together. We're building it together.
We're not just saying, hey, you can have an athlete
sign a couple aug your eyes. We're doing things in
a way that's intense and we sit down with them,
like even locally we're with one of our bank's key bank.
(32:04):
One of the biggest things for them is community. How
do we dive into that community that we see front
and center every day on TV. How do we dive
into actually making them feel better? So it's not just
like one big thing, it's more intentional of how do
we make these partnerships have meaning and not just be
a check Because for us in Portland, it's not relevant,
but we want to do it in a way that
(32:26):
brand feels the value, that brand feels a connection to
being in Portland rather than going to Seattle, Vegas and
on some of the other bigger brands.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
I love those examples.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
I've just pulled some research for a project I'm working
on in women's sports fans, two point three times more
likely that a fan will convert when a female athlete
endorses or supports their product versus any other creator influencer
in the market. So you know, you're not just talking
obviously about the city, what's on the front of the jersey,
but I also have to imagine the players in the
(32:57):
community and what you've created important. I certainly know on
the Thorntson you run off a ton of those players earlier.
Just what they mean to the city and that type
of rabbit fandom that I do think is unique to Portland.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
So one more thing, I wanted you just said something
here there, because I think it's so important that we
understand that it's not like we've always done it this way.
We have to do it the unique way, and like
to your point, we know that if people see it
in the front of the Jersey. They're more likely to engage,
they'll research, they'll purchase, and we know that gen Z
they want that authenticity. I'm saying those things because you
(33:30):
said that. But for us, we can't go out and
say you're going to get as much exposure as in
New York or as an LA. What you're going to
have is being on the front of us because we
will get exposure on TV with our games on national television,
but we'll get that authenticity. And I think that's just
where I think women's sports I shouldn't just say us,
because I think you know this all too well as well.
(33:50):
Women's sports is really diving into the authenticity of a
brand and then making sure that people will buy it
because it means that you made a choice instead of
going to baseball or football. You made a choice. And
at the time some may say it's still say it's
a risk. I don't think so at all.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
But you made a numbers. I would say it's not.
The numbers would say it's a very smart business decision.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
But we still have to sit there and have these
conversations where big brands don't still don't think so, and
you and I know that, and you sit there and
you're like, how, But again, if you're fighting that way
with the brand, the brand's not for you, because you
know what, there's going to be other brands who are like,
you know what, I need the engagement, and engagement is
a big thing I need. People will engage the research
and they'll buy. That's the answer. And then also to
(34:34):
your point, I think what you're going to is that
then you got to flip it into the community aspect
of things.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
So let's talk about the education piece.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
Because as much as you're local, you're also telling me
you're the epicenter of women's sports. And you just hosted
your first which I know won't be your last, conference
that brought together stakeholders, yes, local to Portland, but also
national and global. Why did you decide to do that?
And as much as I felt your energy through the
screen because I caught some of the clips, I wasn't
(35:15):
able to be there in person, what were the takeaways?
Speaker 3 (35:18):
Take me through it?
Speaker 1 (35:19):
Yeah, So we did four days where we.
Speaker 3 (35:21):
Did just no small feet by the way, it was fun.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
On the first day at a game, we played Yuara
Weds so we played a Japanese team with our academy.
The city got the community got to see that. Then
we did a WNBA fireside chat because we just announced
the brand. And then we summoned at Nike, which was
the big one because I think that's where I keep
talking with the invasion space, but that's where I think
we really moved the doll. I mean, we had some
(35:46):
great speakers from Don Stay, we had Elliott the CEO
of Nike. We had Lisa and Alex, We had a
lot of big speakers. We had Sylvia Fowls, Shannon Box,
Carl Lewis, Elizabeth Lindsay from Wassaman. There was a lot
of big name but I think having all of those,
what shocked most people is the panel we did for innovation.
(36:07):
And I keep saying that because I think everybody talks
about brands and all that things. There's not enough conversations
about how do we help athletes play longer, how do
we make sure there's less ACL tiers, how do we
make sure we really do this study in the women's
athlete And so in that conversation, people were wowed because
they were like, huh, I hear so much about all
(36:27):
these things, but I never hear about this big gap
in the space of women in performance and so it
was an incredible four days. And I think why we
call ourselves the epicenter because everybody keeps saying, like, where
does that come from?
Speaker 2 (36:39):
I mean, I just gare the epicenter. So wherever you
are is where it's going.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
Well, you look at it. We've got the biggest brands.
We've got Nike, Adidas, we've got everybody. Their headquarters are
in Portland, right, There's nobody that can touch our community
and fan base. And I respect every other city because
a lot of them have come in when they start
and they're like, hey, we just want to mar and watch.
And you look at other brands like Angel City, they're
doing a great job, Kansas City, they're doing a great
(37:03):
job too. But come spend a day at Providence Park.
Come spend a day in front of the fire. When
we get this popping, it's different. And then I think
one of the biggest things we're talking about is that
that event that actually brings people together to listen and
not just feel raraw, but to have takeaways to go
back and figure out how to learn. And I think
(37:25):
for me, the biggest thing I realize is that in
that room, when you looked at in the audience, nobody
was on their phones, which I think you and I
know is a big feat. Everybody was taking in, everybody
was learning, and I think there needs to be more
conversations around the performance aspect of things. And it is
a bit nerdy, but if you ask a former athlete
(37:45):
or a current athlete or people who've lived it, that's
the part. We've got to really start pushing the needle
on athletes.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
They want professional training environments because that yields business.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
And you've got to create the space for them to
feel that. Yes there's the stadiums and all those things,
but you got to start with the athlete first, and
where do they spend most of their time at the
performance center. So when you look at that and you
start to think around the lines of like silly things
like showers. Not everybody wants the shower coming down here.
(38:17):
The female probably wants to wear the shower cap or
maybe like all these little things. But it's also like
making them feel like they have a place that they
belong to. Exactly what you said, twelve thousand square feet,
twelve thousand square feet is a good thing.
Speaker 3 (38:32):
They're going to have the block performance center. According to
your daughter can't.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
Make this about me.
Speaker 3 (38:37):
I know, even my girl, but you know your daughter
said it's a blog performance center.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
But I think it's like just the simple fact of like,
create a space where these women feel like they belong,
Create a space where they can feel alive, where can
they can be themselves, where they can see themselves in it.
Create a space for them. And that's what this is.
And when you create it for them, there's things that
are going to happen in there that you and I
even though we're talking today or like when we're having
(39:05):
our executive calls, because I mean again, think of the
executive calls. You've got two presidents right who are running
their companies. You've got gms, You've got people who are
leading the space. But then all of a sudden you
put all those brains together.
Speaker 3 (39:19):
That's a brain trust. Yeah, one hundred percent. That alone
is a differentiator, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (39:24):
And that's happening often. And you have an ownership group
that's like, listen, we can be The goal is to
be the best soccer franchise. The goal is to be
the best basketball, but the goal is better than best.
It's impact that's measurable. It's gaining things where you and
I are going to I'm going to walk into that
building and probably cry because the younger athlete version of
(39:45):
myself would never have seen this. My daughter's going to
walk and think it's normal because that's our generation.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
Obviously, you talk about impact that's measurable, and I think
that's one of the things that women's sports has skirted
because it has looked at his charity so you don't
need to put numbers against it.
Speaker 3 (40:00):
Charitable donation. Obviously, that is changing.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
We know that big investments, your facilities, what north of
one hundred million dollars. RAJ Sports Group is also a business.
You're expecting returns based on these investments. What does success
look like at the end of the day, beyond the impact,
beyond the community growth, you're talking to somebody that's got
to write a check. Beyond the strategic and impactful nature
of it, what are you expecting to deliver on? Are
(40:25):
there things that you guys sit around and say, we've
got to change what KPIs look like because the model's different.
Speaker 1 (40:30):
From as simple as athletes lasting longer to athletes having
a place to be when they're done. I'm going to
put on the athlete answer first. We're a place where
athletes will go and they'll be like, I can live
hearing because I see all of me in every part
of me, my entire life and career. I mean, soon enough,
we're going to see the first billion dollar franchise, right.
Speaker 3 (40:51):
Oh, it's coming, Yeah, it's coming.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
We want to be a part of that conversation. Why not.
We want to also make sure we actually make a
dent with data, with analytics, with KPIs in this performer space.
We want to be the leaders in that space. I mean,
on the soccer Sidey of Kansas City, who has created
a stadium, a phenomenal brand in what they've done, But
that's one. On the WNB side, you got the liberty,
(41:16):
You've got all these things, but no one's done it together.
So what we can actually do together, I'll let least
an Alyx talk about the actual objectives. I want to
give them that respect. But we want to be that
top tier. We want to be that company that did it.
We want to be the company that led the way.
And I'm talking in dollars and cents. Wise, nobody is
(41:36):
even thinking about Portland when he comes to sponsorships. But
I said it on the thorn side six hundred percent increase.
I'll just stop right there, right on the fire side.
We're going to continue to do these things, but we
have to continue to do these things in a way
that is strategic, where we've redefined we have an evaluation
(41:59):
that is close to the billion, but we also do
it in a way where a little town like Portland
is on a global map that nobody ever even saw coming.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
Do you ever sit down at night with yourself and
think back to the little girl who showed up in
Canada at eight and turned ons that I want to
be at the Olympics and can't believe what you're a
part of.
Speaker 3 (42:19):
Do you ever take a beat?
Speaker 1 (42:20):
I do? I think my biggest beat is probably my daughter.
When I look at her at age five, what she
thinks is possible I could never even have dreamt of.
And I think, for me, my why is everything I
do is her? Every conversation I have is her. I
(42:44):
pretend she's right or listening to me. I think of her,
and I think of her generation. And you talk about
why do I do this? Maybe I should think about
my eight year old self and I can have a
moment like whenever I'm doing work, with my foundation. Maybe
that's when I think of it. But I think of
my five year old daughter and creating through whatever impact
(43:04):
I can have, creating a world that is better for her,
creating a world which she doesn't have to go through
the things I went through. She doesn't have to find
the difficulty like I did, Like I never really fit in,
Like growing up as a black woman in soccer, I
didn't really fit in. I became loud because my father
(43:25):
said to me, never make the fact that you're a
black woman be two strikes against you. So I decided
I was gonna walk into a room and I was
gonna let you know who I was. That confidence came
from sports, So as long as my daughter wants to
play sports, I'm gonna love it. She doesn't have to,
but I know that it's going to instill in her
a sense of confidence and belief and work hard yet
(43:46):
still being humble because sports humbles you. It gives her
all the tools to be successful. So I don't really
sit and think about and maybe that's crazy. I don't
think about the eight year old version of me. I
think about my five year old daughter and what can
I do in my time in this earth? And not
even this position, but who I am, so that her
life and her pathway is easier than it was for me,
(44:08):
because on paper I may have accomplished things. But I'm
telling you that's why I said, I'm so excited for
this next chapter. For you, the biggest and best thing
better than winning an Olympic medal, better than winning a championship,
better than all of that, is her and the fact
that right now she actually believes in things that are
(44:31):
insanely crazy because of what she gets access to. When
you can give access to young women in sport, access
to their role models who are boldly and authentically being themselves,
access to being after the game, running around in a
soccer field or playing around a basketball court where they
(44:52):
hand her a basketball and be like, hey, this is
how you shoot. Access to that belief and that power
and what's possible in her. That's that's why do what
I do. That's why I say to you, you have no
idea the chapter you're about to enter, and man for
this error, you probably would have entered it. But I'm
telling you, Laura, if you think you were driven human
(45:13):
being before, just wait till you give birth to your
child and you hold your child and the moment you
hold it, you're going to laugh and be like, man,
it's a whole different meaning because you're not doing anything
for yourself anymore. Yeah, you're doing it for someone else.
Speaker 2 (45:30):
I so appreciate you sharing that, and I know it's
deeply personal. And you know, I remember when I first
met you at one of the first I'll never forget
you talking. You wear a pink blazer a lot, and
you shared with me that I wear this because you're
going to know when I walk in the room. And
I know you're talking about fitting in, but Kreta, you
were never meant to fit in.
Speaker 3 (45:47):
This is all about standing out.
Speaker 2 (45:50):
And you know, I'm five weeks away from having a daughter,
and it hadn't hit me till it literally hit me
in the face. I was on a panel at the
Nasdaq a couple of weeks back talking about the purpose,
and for so many panels and conversations is easy for
me to get up because I've done the work, I
understand the math talking about the implications, and I started
sharing this talk track.
Speaker 3 (46:11):
I know it very well.
Speaker 2 (46:12):
At this point, which is the numbers you alluded to,
ninety percent of women in the c suite have played
sports at some point fifty percent Collegiately, forty five percent
of girls are dropping out. Why are they dropping out?
Largely due to body confidence issues? What impacts body confidence issues?
Media advertising and marketing? What business do I work in
media advertising and marketing. There's a sense of obligation responsibility
to change that narrative. And then I really wanted to
(46:34):
understand the social and economic impact of what that drop
off meant. And as I'm on this panel, I'm rattling
off these new numbers that I've learned. The UK commissioned
to study that said the impact of economic earnings that
were lost and a woman's lifetime was roughly thirty thousand pounds.
So you flip that to the US and you convert
that number, it's forty six hundred dollars US dollars lost
(46:58):
per person by dropping out. As I'm saying that I
was getting kicked in the ribs and losing my breath,
my child was moving around inside. I realize, I'm like,
that means that my daughter could be part of missing
out on X because of a system that failed her. Well,
(47:19):
you don't have to go far of a stretch to
understand this. Is not just about dollars and cents, And
that is why I believe, no matter how many times
we're running up a ninety degree incline with a boulder
on our back to make this thing happen, I will
do it day in and day out until we're at
the mountaintop.
Speaker 1 (47:39):
And I will be right there doing it with you.
Speaker 4 (47:41):
In your pig blazer, in my big blazer, because I
think one of the most inspiring things about you is
your relentless pursuit of excellence. I appreciate that sports, That's
exactly it, and that's why we got to surround ourselves
with people are never in competition with each other, like
(48:02):
what's meant for you is meant for you, what's meant
for me has meant for me.
Speaker 1 (48:05):
And the fact that if they look at the passion
and the reason and the why that we want to
do this, it's not even about us in that mountaintop.
I think there's so many incredible women and men who
are our allies because we both are married to incredible human.
Speaker 3 (48:22):
Beings, incredible allies.
Speaker 1 (48:24):
Like they these men are like, hey, we're just gonna
let you shine. But it's also understanding, like that's what's
exciting about the future is what's possible is none of
us know what's gonna happen, but there's a belief, a
relentless belief that we know it's going to be bigger
than we can even imagine because finally the world's starting
(48:46):
to see it. Finally the world is starting to see it,
and it's a beautiful thing.
Speaker 2 (48:51):
Well, I don't talking ifs, I talk and wins, And
I'm telling you right now, once that Portland Fire team
comes online with you in the back driving it, I
have no doubt what will become an expansion team will
be one of the most talked about women's sports, not
just basketball teams, but franchises run by somebody who played soccer.
Speaker 1 (49:09):
Basketball was my first love, I know for.
Speaker 2 (49:11):
All of that and more, Karina LeBlanc, I am cheering
you on every step of the way. Thank you for
making the time and imparting your energy and wisdom for
our audience. I can't wait to bring my daughter to
come play with yours.
Speaker 1 (49:22):
Oh, I can't wait. They're going to be a little
little spicy ones, aren't they.
Speaker 2 (49:27):
The different type of rap pack is a whole different energy.
Speaker 1 (49:30):
Thanks appreciate you.
Speaker 3 (49:32):
I appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (49:33):
Good luck and I can't wait to see what comes next.
I'm your host Laura Krenti, founder and CEO of Deep
Blue Sports and Entertainment. Our executive producer is Jesse Katz,
and this show is produced by Ryan Martz along with
associate producers Meredith Barnes and Rachel Zuckerman. Courtside is an
iHeart Women's Sports production and partnership with Deep Blue Sports
(49:54):
and Entertainment. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you get your podcast Want more, follow, rate and
review court Side wherever you get your podcasts, and stay
in the game by following us on social media at
Iheartwomen's Sports, and don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter.
Speaker 3 (50:12):
In the show notes, thanks for listening. We'll see you
next time. Court Side
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