October 31, 2025 • 45 mins
Live from the annual espnW Women + Sports Summit, Sarah is joined by Ilana Kloss, CEO of Billie Jean King enterprises, Kara Nortman, Managing Partner of Monarch Collective and Co-Founder of Angel City FC, and Fielding Jamieson, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Tipt Ventures. The quartet gathered to discuss investing in women’s sports, the challenges of being in the business of sport, and the importance of making room at the table. Plus, planned chaos, the status quo is nearly upon us, and winter is coming.
SHOW NOTES:
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Read Ben Pickman’s story for The Athletic about what to expect if the CBA deadline passes here
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The full class of inductees to the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame is here
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A guide to NWSL decision day is here
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Listen to the full conversation between Malaika Andrews and Ilona Maher here
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Watch Fish’s full response to Elizabeth Eddy here
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Leave us a voicemail at 872-204-5070 or send us a note at goodgame@wondermedianetwork.com
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Follow Sarah on social! Bluesky: @sarahspain.com Instagram: @Spain2323Follow producer Alex Azzi! Bluesky: @byalexazzi.bsky.social Instagram: @AzziArtwork
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we've had
more than enough tricks this year. Frankly, it's been one
long spooky season since January twentieth, so we're sticking with
treats tonight and none of that fun size shit. We
deserve the big bars this year. It's Friday, October thirty.
First Happy Halloween slices on today's show. Will be bringing
(00:21):
you a panel I hosted at the espnW Summit this
week featuring Alana Class, the CEO of Billy Jean King Enterprises,
Kara Nortman, the managing partner of Monarch Collective and co
founder of Angels CITYFC, and Fielding Jamison, the co founder
and managing partner of Tipped Ventures.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
We discussed investing.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
In women's sports, the power of mentorship, the challenges of
being in the business of sport, and the importance of
inviting more women to sit at the table, plus planned chaos.
The status quo is nearly upon us, and winter is coming.
It's all coming up right after this Welcome Back slices.
(00:59):
Here's what you need to know today. Let's start with
the NWSL where the end of the regular season has arrived.
Decision Day is upon US On Sunday, all fourteen teams
will play their final game, with nearly every team.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Kicking off at the same time.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
There is one game, the Kansas City Current and San
Diego Wave that will begin at three pm Eastern, but
the other six games will all get underway at five.
In soccer, it's actually a tradition for every Decision Day
game to start at the same time, but it's likely
that the broadcast plan played a role in the one game.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
That's an outlier here.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
As that early casey San Diego game will be broadcast
nationally on ESPN. No matter the kickoff time, there's a
lot at stake in every one of these games. While
the number one Kansas City Current and number two Washington
Spirit have already locked up the top two seeds in
the playoffs, the rest of the playoff bracket is wide open.
Both San Diego and Portland, for example, have already clinched
playoff spots, but they could finish as high as third
(01:54):
or as low as eighth, depending on how things pan out.
And even more important than seeding is just getting in racing.
Louisville and the North Carolina Courage will be playing for
the eighth and final playoff spot. Racing, currently in eighth,
will be in with a win against AFC. The ninth
ranked Courage, meanwhile, will need to both win their own
game against Gotham and see Racing draw or lose. It
(02:15):
should be a fun and very chaotic couple hours of soccer,
so get out those second and third and fourth screens.
ESPN will air boat that CAC San Diego game plus
the North Carolina Gotham game, while the rest will all
be available via the free NWSL plus app, which is
designed to let you split your screen to watch four
games at one time.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
More soccer.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
The US women's national team concluded its international window with
a six nil blowout win over New Zealand on Wednesday
night in Kansas City, Missouri. Ema Sears led the way
with the hat trick, Katerina Macario recorded a brace, and
Rose Leavell added a tally. Lavell, who wore the captain's
arm band for just the fourth time in her career,
was very much the veteran of the group, with her
(02:56):
one hundred and fourteenth international appearance that more than Trump's.
The rest of the starting lineup seventy seven combined caps. Meantime,
Sears hat trick came exactly one year and two days
after her first national team call up, and while the
racing forward had just one international goal to her name
heading into Wednesday night, that trio of Tally's was a
reminder of why she's become a regular in Emma Hayes rotation.
(03:18):
The US women's national team will reconvene in a month
for the team's final matches of the year, both against
Italy and both in Florida. They'll play on November twenty
eighth in Orlando and again on December first in Fort Lauderdale.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
To the WNBA and.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
WELP, it's October thirty first, but as of this recording
on the thirtieth, there's no new CBA and it seems
extremely unlikely that a deal is going.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
To get made today. So what happens next?
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Well, On Tuesday, the WNBA offered w players a thirty
day extension to continue working toward a new collective bargaining agreement.
A source told the SPN the players might be willing
to consider an extension quote unquote under the right circumstances,
but they feel quote those circuit ccumstances do.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Not yet exist end quote now.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
While it's still possible that the two sides will agree
to that extension. Even if they don't, there won't necessarily
be an automatic work stoppage comes Saturday. Friend of the Show,
Ben Pickman lays it all out in a story for
The Athletic, explaining that the sides would just enter a
period of status quo, which would keep the current working
conditions in place and allow athletes to enter team facilities
and receive medical benefits. Pickman goes on to explain, quote,
(04:26):
players could elect to strike if a contract is not
in place, though it's not required. While they would not
immediately miss games with a strike this fall, since the
season is over, the decision to strike now would cut
off formal communication between players and their team coaches and executives,
and it could create a relational rift. The league could
choose to lock out players, which would prevent them from
training or receiving medical treatment at team facilities, among other changes.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
End quote.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
We'll link to Ben's story in the show notes More hoops.
Candice Parker was elected to join the Women's Basketball Hall
of Fame on Thursday, in her first year of eligibility.
During her legendary career, Parker led Tennessee to back to
back NCAA titles in two thousand and seven and two
thousand and eight. A few months later, she became the
first and still only player to win WNBA Rookie of
(05:11):
the Year and MVP honors in the same year. During
her sixteen year w career, Parker went on to win
three titles, another MVP award, and ten.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
All Star selections.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Other newly elected members include two time WNBA MVP Elena Deladon,
Minnesota Links coach Cheryl Reeve, and NBA analyst Doris Burke.
We'll link to the fullest of honorees in the show notes.
The class will be inducted in June twenty twenty six
at the Tennessee Theatre in Knoxville to Athletes Unlimited. It
was announced this week that Athletes Unlimited has agreed to
(05:43):
a three year broadcast rights extension with the ESPN. As
part of the deal, ESPN platforms will broadcast more than
fifty Athletes Unlimited Softball League games each year, and ABC
will broadcast at least the AUSL Championship Series game next year,
marking the first time women's pro softball will air on
network television in the US. As part of the deal,
(06:03):
all AU basketball and volleyball games will be available on
ESPNU or ESPN Plus. To tennis, the WTA Finals get
underway on Saturday in Riod, Saudi Arabia. The top eight
singles players and top eight doubles teams qualified for the tournament,
which is the last event of the year on the
WTA calendar. World number one Arena Sabalanka leads the field
(06:25):
of eight women, and for the first time in twenty years,
four American women qualified to compete in women's singles at
the finals, led by number three Coco Golf, number four
Amanda Anisimova, Number five Madison Keys, and number six Jessica Pagula.
Because of the small field just eight entries, the tournament
uses a unique format with two groups of four competing
(06:45):
in a round robin tournament. The top two in each
group will then qualify for the semi finals, and the
winners of those matches move on to the final. Finally,
this past Wednesday marked exactly one hundred days until the
Winter Olympics. The twenty twenty six Mala Cortina Games officially
open on Friday, February sixth, and Team Good Game will
(07:05):
be in Italy producer Alex and I will both be
in the boot to bring you all the amazing stories
from the Games. And Alex was actually at this week's
Team USA summit in NYC to interview Olympic and Paralympic
hopefuls and get all caught up on the storylines, rule changes,
even some Italian geography. We are so excited to bring
you all the content she collected in the coming weeks,
(07:27):
and we are so excited to bring you along with
us to the Games come February. Now I just need
to learn a little bit of Italian.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Slices.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
You might hear in my voice that I had a
big week here in Ohi, California for the espnW summit.
It was another fantastic few days of panels featuring big
Hollywood names like Boston Legacy owner Elizabeth Banks, basketball batties
like Dja Carrington, college stars like Nijerie Kennedy and Madison Skinner,
top exacs like Jess Smith, and musician Maren Morris, who
(07:58):
I got to sit down with to interview and then
watch dazzle us with a performance. It was incredible and
as I mentioned in a previous show, the great Alona
mar was here too. Unfortunately I was unable to trap
her in a room for a private chat. She's quick,
but I did really enjoy her conversation with Malika Andrews
for the summit. Here's a little taste of the wisdom
and the laughs she provided.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
All of that visibility, all of that energy.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
It's led to a place that very few athletes period,
let alone female athletes, have gotten too.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
She's been to the Dancing with the Stars finals, y'all.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
She has a dang barbie, right, She's been in major campaigns.
Speaker 5 (08:35):
This is a Sports Illustrated cover model, right. So what's
it been like to.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
See the world respond to you in a way that
goes beyond sports?
Speaker 6 (08:46):
I love it. I think I love I wouldn't do
this if I didn't like attention, and I like it.
I put myself out there too for people to notice me.
Speaker 7 (08:59):
Were my brand for my sport.
Speaker 6 (09:00):
But I've always loved it. It's interesting, though, because a
lot of people sometimes don't even know me as a
rugby player.
Speaker 7 (09:08):
They know me as like an influencer.
Speaker 6 (09:10):
I was recently at an event and I'm around a
lot of influencers, and I always put people I like
I'm alone, I'm a rugby player, all right, first and foremost.
But it's interesting, like it doesn't matter so much what
I do on the field.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
I mean, I don't think many people in you can.
Speaker 6 (09:23):
Even say who like the top rugby player in the
world is, but you can say who the TikTok rugby
girl is. It's that's where I was like, Man, I'm
working so hard in the field to be like the best,
yet the actually the off the field is what's making
me more money. So it's kind of that balance there,
and I just found it to be like I want
to be the best, but also I want to live
a comfortable life. And that's where I saw the social
(09:45):
media helping me.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
Does that bother you when you walk into a room
and people say hello alone of the influencer.
Speaker 7 (09:50):
Yeah, but it's just the way it is.
Speaker 6 (09:52):
People aren't watching rugby.
Speaker 7 (09:53):
Like they should.
Speaker 6 (09:54):
We're getting there, but they're not focused on rugby, and
so for me, it's helping me end rugby by being
the influencer and like kind of micro dosing rugby in
the world.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
We'll link to that full combo in the show notes,
and plenty more on the espnW summit after Dark Later
in the show plus when we come back my live
panel on investment.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
In women's sports from the summit stick around.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
This is the Women at the Helm panel, and these
bios are a little long, but I wanted to make
sure y'all really had a scope for where these women
are coming from and why they are going to be
your north star when you're looking at the business of
women's sport investing in everything else. So we're going to
start with the co founder and managing partner of Tipped
Ventures and early stage investment platform, reshaping the sports economy
(10:41):
by investing in businesses that unlock growth through women. Previously,
she spearheaded innovation initiatives at NBCUniversal, Comcast and RGA Ventures,
and served as the managing director of the Trailblazer Ventures Studio,
the first venture studio dedicated to investing at the intersection
of women in sports. Former captain of the Yale lacrosse team.
That's a school that's near Cornell. It's not as good,
(11:02):
but it's close. She serves on the board of USA Lacrosse,
YO Lacrosse, and the Westminster Alumni Association.
Speaker 7 (11:08):
She's a little Yankee and a little y'all.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
It's fielding Jamison up Next, she is a pioneering leader
in sports, business and social impact. As the CEO of
Billy Jing King Enterprises, she spearheads business initiatives, oversees strategic partnerships,
and works closely with global brand, sports organizations and advocacy
groups to advance equality and opportunity in sports and beyond.
She's a key figure in the ownership groups of the
(11:32):
La Dodgers, the Angel City FC Club, and she's the
co founder of the Billygan King Foundation and chair of
the board of Billy Jing King Cup Limited. She's on
the advisory board of the PWHL Professional Women's Hockey League,
on the board of the Elton John Aids Foundation, and
on the board of the Women's Sports Foundation. Oh and
she's a former number one in the world in women's doubles,
a former US Open doubles champ, and she's in the
(11:54):
National and International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. She might
own the Dodgers, but she's a South African who's calls
baseball slow cricket.
Speaker 7 (12:01):
It's Alana Claus.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Finally, she's the managing partner of Monarch Collective, the first
investment platform exclusively dedicated to investing in women's Sports, a
co founder of Angel City FC, and a founding member
of All Rise, a VC led nonprofit dedicated to increased
diversity and funders and founders. Previously, she was a managing
partner at Upfront Ventures, and before that IAC she served
on the board of IC's mobile technology incubator Hatch Labs,
(12:25):
where she incubated Tinder in the seed round, so anyone
who got laid.
Speaker 7 (12:29):
Because of her you could say thank you.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
She also advised the US Women's National Soccer Team Players
Association during their pay equity fight. Princeton Undergrad also a
fine institution if you don't get into Cornell Stanford MBA,
NYA Graham Lover and Burning Man Alum, It's Karen Nortman.
Speaker 7 (12:46):
Should we start with Burning Man?
Speaker 8 (12:47):
Care?
Speaker 1 (12:48):
What's the thing you most remember or anything you remember?
Speaker 3 (12:51):
Well?
Speaker 9 (12:52):
As I entered the latter years of my forties, I
realized I had been grinding for like thirty years and
it was time to play, Okay, and so I remembered
I love to dance, So we'll do that later.
Speaker 7 (13:06):
Too, perfect at the dance party later tonight.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
We'll get some more details, okay, on the Burning Men experiment, Alana,
I want to start with you, not just because holy shit, guys,
Alana Class is.
Speaker 7 (13:17):
Here the queen. Yes woo.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
She loves to stand behind Billy Jean, but Billy Jean
dreams it and Alana actually makes it happen. So this
is the queen right here. You've got ownership in men's
and women's pro sports teams. I want to ask what
the biggest difference you still see in the work you're
doing on those sides, whether that's infrastructure, the people at
the top, any of that.
Speaker 10 (13:41):
Well, first of all, it's great to be here. Thanks
for that introduction. I almost needed a nap during it,
but thank you. I want to take you on the
road with me. You know, I think that the biggest
difference obviously in women's sports that you're always feeling like
you have to prove yourself and that the investment comes
or used to come for very short term, where when
(14:03):
people look to invest in men's sports, I think they're
looking at a much longer runway.
Speaker 5 (14:08):
That's definitely changing now because.
Speaker 10 (14:10):
There are more women billionaires at the table and investing.
But it is a boys club, but that's changing, and
I think, you know, we just want people to do
when they look at an investment to give it the
same scope, right, so the same amount of time, the
same amount of emotional and financial investment, not just write
(14:34):
the check. So it's also the team that you put
behind it. But it is changing, but we definitely still
have work to do.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
You get approached for investments across so many different leagues
and spaces. I wonder if you find when you're being
pitched or when you're going through the decks, do you
think that the right level of sophistication is there in
women's sports? Are the right people in charge or do
we still need to work towards getting the level of
expertise at the top to be able to handle the
level investment now coming in.
Speaker 10 (15:01):
Well, I do think, you know, we need pe investment.
I think people say, well, now all of this money
is coming in in private equity, and is that good
for women's sports or not. I think it is good
because what comes with that is experience and knowledge and relationships.
(15:21):
Of course, the vision has to align with trying to
build something for the long term. And you know, I
have to say that Billy, Jana and I have been
incredibly fortunate. We found that person in Mark Walter who
invested in the PWHL where the investment was the same
kind of investment whether it was men or women, and
(15:44):
it also was driven by players.
Speaker 5 (15:47):
And so I.
Speaker 10 (15:48):
Think we need the expertise, We need the money. It
doesn't matter where it comes from, as long as it's
mission aligned.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Yeah, Kara, you've made a habit of combining your funding withing,
So not just investing in spaces, but sticking around to
share your expertise, advising the company or the team or
the league that you're partnering with. Why do you think
that's so important at this stage of women's sports growth?
Speaker 9 (16:11):
Yeah, Well, look to put the markets in perspective, the
women's sports market is probably three to three and a
half billion dollar market. The men's sports market is estimated
to be close to a half a trillion. So women's
sports in a way is like an emerging market. It
feels a lot like venture did to me when I
started or tech in the late nineties. Now tech is everything,
but back then no one was paying attention.
Speaker 5 (16:31):
And so.
Speaker 9 (16:34):
We how many teams have like real p and ls, right,
and you're starting from zero, you're starting from five million,
ten million. The best teams are doing thirty to fifty million.
The best men's teams are doing, you know, a north
of a billion dollars in revenue. So we believe that
just traditional financial structuring is not sufficient to build excellence.
This is the time global brands will be built. We
(16:55):
don't necessarily know who's going to be Real Madrid or
the Warriors or the Cowboys, and so at Monarch we
show up everyone on the team's next operator.
Speaker 11 (17:04):
We primarily hire X operators. In a way, we're more like.
Speaker 9 (17:07):
A company that structures, and we view ourselves as like
change agent capital and look at hey, how can we
bring in sponsors, what's your pricing strategy, how are you
building a supporters group, do you have a real mission vision, etc.
And how do you know and can you really articulate it?
And so the hands on approach to these sorts of
things that this phase helps you build real community and
(17:29):
real p and ls.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Well, And I think it's super important because to Alana's
point of course, we want that money and the stability
that comes with big, big, big money, but you also
need to know that the people that are investing and
at the top are invested in women's sports, making sure
that the culture is right, making sure that the athlete
is centered, and that can be lost a little bit
when you start to outsource to folks that are really
just from the men's space and have a little toy
(17:51):
over here. And so having advisors in place, having folks
who know the space to make sure that money goes
to the right places and in the right spaces is necessary.
Speaker 9 (18:00):
Yeah, And I mean I just add in, I think, listen,
at the end of the day, it's all about passion,
purpose and extraordinary talent, right, but the extraordinary talent is
disproportionately locked away in places most people don't know, and
I think many people just settle for the way it
was done.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
Right.
Speaker 11 (18:15):
I like to listen to eight mile.
Speaker 9 (18:17):
Like some people go the extra mile, We go the
extra eight miles, but truly, like where is the passive
talent at teams? And we will spend time talking to
them to say, hey, if you do this sport in
this country or if Monarch's doing it, they know how
closely we vet our partners and our partners vet us,
because like you can get extraordinary people in who aren't
standard issue out of just running X team for X
(18:38):
number of years, who can drive really different, disproportionate outcomes,
and it's building that grassroots talent network.
Speaker 11 (18:45):
That's like critically important.
Speaker 10 (18:47):
I think also the big difference now is that people
like Karen Fielding and myself have a seat at the
table and a voice, not just a seat of voice,
and so I think that's hugely important.
Speaker 5 (19:00):
But the sports business is difficult, it's hard, it's hard work.
Speaker 10 (19:04):
It doesn't matter whether it's men's a women's sports. Making
money is hard work, so you need all the visions aligned.
But having a voice and seen at the table now
many male a woman not doing that and that's exciting.
Speaker 11 (19:18):
Yeah, and she got us the seat.
Speaker 7 (19:19):
Well that's you got us the seat. So I wanted
to get to his Fielding.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
You have said you are not here today without BJK
Enterprises tell us more.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (19:30):
Look, we at tiped invest in what we call the
sports economy, so we don't invest in leagues and teams.
We right alongside Kara and we are investing in all
of the businesses that surround and make up sport. That
thesis was first tested with BJKE in twenty twenty two
when I came out and said I think women are
the biggest growth opportunity in sport, and all of the
(19:52):
people in venture Capital.
Speaker 7 (19:53):
Where I work.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
We're like, not sure about that, right, this is pre
Kaitlyn Clark Free Taylor Swift. We really had some of
the audience numbers on the WNBA to actually show the
growth that was happening, and Billy and Alana came in
and helped support us Allegian Park Ventures our JA Ventures.
We make these nine incredible investments in twenty twenty two
(20:15):
and that portfolio ended up doing quite well, and that
really served as the reason that my co founder, Amy
Galani and I spun out and we actually to your
point of being at the table, we had to build
our own table. People were not investing and still aren't
in this space. We were the only ones who were
focused on the sports economy or sports tech investing with
a gender lens and so without that support, without frankly
(20:38):
Billy's you know.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Work her entire life.
Speaker 4 (20:41):
That's the only reason I was a college athlete, right,
So I think so much of it does go back
to the work that that organization has done.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
I want to touch quickly so everyone understands what you
mean by investing in the space outside of teams and leagues,
Because we were just talking about this at the table
for me one of the biggest steps in continuing to
grow women's sports. Obviously I'm biased, but content on my
show Good Game with Sarahs, which everyone should subscribe to
ye on your phone, we do scores in addition to
(21:06):
stake stats, stories and stars. What are the actual pieces
of information that the media industrial complex should be telling
us about women every day and only tell us about men?
And how does that get people to keep coming back
and buying merchant, showing up to games and so shoulder programming,
pre and post game content, websites, shows, podcasts, those are
all really important to drive people to the things that
they're putting their money in. So for you, where else
(21:27):
do you see and want to invest that you think
needs to grow along with the investment in the leagues.
Speaker 4 (21:32):
Absolutely, we love the media and content space. I spent
years of my career Comcast NBC Universal. I think media
is incredibly critical to the growth of women's sports. So
that is certainly an area we are very excited about,
both on the traditional side as well as the new
side of media. So looking at YouTube for example, and
the growth that we're seeing there, and we're looking at
you Jen Alpha and Jen Beta, which kind of stinks
(21:54):
Ghos Jen Beta I've co compared to Jen Alphai.
Speaker 7 (21:57):
I don't have enough problems with young men.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
We have a whole bunch of other gen Betata.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
Yeah, so that's a thing, and so that's an area
that we like a lot. But as we look at
the you know, women's sports space grow all the way
from the youth to the pro, we also need to
make sure that those athletes have the right gear, for example,
that are made for them right. We invested in the
first soccer cleave made for the women's foot, the first
soccer clean I'm sure a lot of people grew up
here playing cleated sports.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
You thought you were buying shoes that were made for
your foot. You're not.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
And so we invest in a company, I to Sports,
that created the first cleave for women's soccer. And so
that's that's a really exciting space performance. I played lacrosse.
We've got women who are playing in men's pads now
because they pads, but the pets don't fit, so.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
They're cutting them and tailoring them.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
And so we're still at the very beginning of this
in terms of the growth and the dollars. And while
we love all of the dollars going in at the
league and team level. We also need to make sure
that we are investing in the ecosystem around it so
those leagues and teams can continue to be successful and
have what they need both from an athlete operator, fan, parent,
youth player experience.
Speaker 10 (23:00):
Yeah, Sarah, the one thing I want to say about media.
Speaker 5 (23:03):
I think there are a lot of.
Speaker 10 (23:05):
Agents, leagues, team owners here and I think all the
new outlets are phenomenal, including your podcast. But I would
just really encourage anyone who connects to athletes to encourage
them to do media because everyone else can tell your story,
but only you can tell your story in a way
(23:26):
that is super authentic. So you really want to be
talking to the media in ouraday. The media we're our friends.
If they didn't tell our story, nobody knew what we
were doing. That's changed a lot, and everybody has their
own platform, but please encourage athletes to tell their own
story and look at the media as people who are
(23:49):
going to help grow grow the space.
Speaker 7 (23:51):
I think that a huge leasure in women's sports.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
There's unfortunately we had to be cheerleaders for so long
that now when critics arrive, there is this acrimonious relationship
that shouldn't be there. Correct, As long as the journalists
are being fair, there will be criticism in sport.
Speaker 7 (24:05):
That's how sport works.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
But you can work with journalists to tell your story
and to be fair about how you're playing, whether it's
god or bad on a given day, if they're fair
about it. You know, Car, You've talked about how when
you got started in the tech world there were really
no mentors like Ilana and Billy Jean. Why did that
matter and how do you feel differently about your role
now as there are more women coming into this investment
in women's sports space.
Speaker 9 (24:27):
Yeah, I mean, I mean so, first of all, I
also was a D one athlete and had no idea
that I had Alana and Billy to thank for it.
And you know how many women here played a sport
in high school or college Like raise your hand, right,
I mean, so the stats all show how critically important.
So I did have mentors, but it was like my
crew coach, who I'm still close to and still coaches
(24:48):
at Princeton tied with Cornell for sure. Yeah, for sure,
it's more about at least for me, I mean, because
I definitely had some incredible male mentors.
Speaker 11 (25:00):
But I mean, here's the like.
Speaker 9 (25:02):
I think it's more about, like, can you see yourself
in the world. For me, I was always looking for
actually Angel Cities. Maybe the first time, I was like,
there is no example, and I had we had to
sort of like figure out how to get our first
nine hundred thousand dollars because there was no example. But
I was always looking at like is there someone like
me to know I could do it? And like the
(25:24):
weird example I would give you is when I was
an analyst at Morgan Stanley straight out of college.
Speaker 11 (25:29):
I would read the style section of the New York Times.
That's not weird but clearly, but I.
Speaker 9 (25:36):
Would read the wedding section to see if women like
me got married because I was a total workaholic. I
loved doing what I do, and I like would read
it looking for examples. And so I think it's more
like you know what we say at Angel City, and
it resonates as strongly with fourteen year old boys as
it does with fourteen year old girls, And I think
that surprises their parents. My fourteen year old son wants
(25:57):
to have his birthday party at Angel City. It like
blows their mind. You meet your biases in women's sports,
we all have them. But I think what I think
about is I never grew up thinking I even dreaming
it was possible to be president of the United States
or a professional athlete. I didn't even allow my and
I have a pretty strong growth mindset. And now every now, now,
(26:17):
with what we have politically and with what we have
in professional sports, every young girl gets to grow up
with that dream, and that dream isn't as important for
where they get.
Speaker 5 (26:27):
There, but for how broadly they're.
Speaker 11 (26:29):
Going to create their dreams for the rest of their lives.
Speaker 9 (26:31):
And with Julian and Natalie, I got those role models.
They just happened to be my peers.
Speaker 7 (26:36):
We're still working on that first one.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
When I was a kid, I said, if there hadn't
been a female president by the time I got old enough,
I would step up and let's do it.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
Sarah, take care. Are you making a political.
Speaker 7 (26:48):
I'll be Sarah's chief of staff.
Speaker 10 (26:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
I used to think my deficiencies and finance and geography
were a problem, but now I'm well aware.
Speaker 7 (26:55):
You don't need to know shit about anything high. It's
shoving on.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Alana.
Speaker 7 (27:03):
Your mentors were all men. You had to know the
right people.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
You had to be in the right rooms, you had
to create the right relationships, You had to get enough
power and influence before you could try to change things
if you saw things that weren't the way you wanted
them to be. How have you and billaging as a
team sort of figured out how to work with folks
who have different principles or values, because I think there
is a little bit of that now too, where you
got to get the right people to be on board,
(27:27):
but they're not always aligned politically, culturally, socially.
Speaker 5 (27:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 10 (27:31):
Well, I mean I think also just to follow up
on what Caro said, you do have to see it
to be it. And so a lot of the things
that I think Billy, Gina and I get behind are really,
you know, showing the world that anybody can be what
they want to be and every little girl should be
able to have the same dreams as their brothers. So
(27:51):
that's just a basic principle I think for us. Interestingly enough,
whenever we go to a meeting or we're meeting somebody
knew our first question is do you have daughters? And
we always had much greater success if the CEO for
who for the most part was a white male had
a daughter because he understood that you know, maybe he
(28:12):
would want the same opportunities for his daughters as he
would for his son. And I think for us, you know,
the investment is one thing, but their purpose and passion
has to align. And it's difficult because when you're young,
if someone offers you money and you don't have money,
it's hard to say no. But I think with experience
(28:36):
and wisdom, now you know, we're able to say, you
know what, this isn't the right fit if it doesn't
really align with our values, which always are about equal
access and opportunity. But it does have to be seen
from the scope of business, and that's critical because I
(28:56):
think for Billy Jean, a lot of people don't realize
that she invested as an owner and a business person
from day one. I mean, when there weren't tournaments to play,
she and her former husband Larry King, not that Larry King,
for those you know, there was no where to play
(29:16):
and so they had to build the infrastructure. So I
think for us now it's really about taking our knowledge
and visibility to really putting in true investment, and then
how can we make sure that our investments you know,
have impact globally and can also scale.
Speaker 4 (29:36):
Can I tag onto that? Because I think what's so
exciting for us is because of that work. For so long,
we've been in a space where we have been convincing
people that women should get this investment, that women's sports matter,
that things like this matter. And Al hit on it
earlier last night when she said we are here, we
are done, like, we don't need to convince anyone. And
I think that's been really free for me as we
(29:58):
think about investors and LPs to say, I don't need
to get on the phone and convince you of this space. Now,
I need to convince you of our strategy. I need
you to convince convince you that we're the right people
to do this in our background, but in terms of
women's role in the sport economy, we now have the data,
we now have the facts, and at that point, if
we're on a call and we're starting to hear a
(30:19):
lot of negativity, we'll just end the call and say, listen,
you know sounds like it's not for you, thanks so much.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
And when you hit back with that, then.
Speaker 4 (30:27):
All of a sudden, everyone's like, well, WHOA, I didn't
say that now like I'm interested, right, But and so
that's been interesting. But I think that that's a really
nice it's because of all of this work that has
gone in that we're now at that point, which is,
you know, a tipping point and a play on what
we called our fund even because we're finally there and
we're not in that convincing game anymore.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
Well, in fielding, I know you talk about how important
it is for you to look around and find women
who have not yet invested or don't feel comfortable in
the space and welcoming the men. What are you doing
to make it so that more women and are willing
to do what some consider a risk or to take
on the risky behavior of.
Speaker 7 (31:06):
Putting your money somewhere and seeing if it flies.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (31:11):
First thing we do is we do not speak in acronyms.
I think that that can often be very intimidating in
the finance world.
Speaker 7 (31:17):
Thank you, you're welcome, and I thank you forgetting that
P and L was products and licensing like five years ago.
Speaker 4 (31:24):
It's like P and L are iderator, you know, and
it's and I think sometimes you don't have that training,
you immediately feel like, oh, this person really like knows
what they're talking about, and women tend to retreat a
little bit. So that has been a major point that
we make with any LP that we meet or potential
investor we meet with, and and look, we really try
(31:45):
to explain to them like, this is not scary, this
is not hard. You're a very competent person or woman,
and let us talk to you about how you can
think about your portfolio of investing and the idea that
you can what is good can live alongside what is profitable.
I stole that line from Billions, and I think that
(32:05):
that is so true, right, you can you don't have
to feel bad about making money, and you can invest
in a space that you inherently understand that you know
that you get excited about.
Speaker 3 (32:16):
And so we're saying, come on learn.
Speaker 4 (32:18):
We meet with our investors, the amount of investors that
we meet with on a weekly basis, to walk them
through how we think about an investment, to walk them
through our fund structure, to really like have them learn
and feel like they're a part of it.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
And that's I think different than normal venture capital.
Speaker 4 (32:33):
When we got started, we asked a male person in
the space, like you know, we took him through our pitch,
and he was like, you know, you should absolutely take
out the part that you want your investors to be
part of this, like you don't ever want to hear
from your investors. And we're like, this is where women
just do it differently. We do, and why wouldn't we
lean on those experiences that they've had and that's been
super beneficial for us?
Speaker 11 (32:52):
Can I jump in with a quick point? I totally agree.
Speaker 9 (32:55):
I think the one thing that's interesting about sports versus
where I used to like exist in like cybersecurity and
deep tech stuff is that everyone comes into sports thinking
they're an expert, or at least thinking they can grasp
it pretty quickly.
Speaker 7 (33:07):
Every man, well.
Speaker 9 (33:08):
Everyone, right, Like it's it's the nice thing about sports, right,
I mean, like anyone can grasp it fairly quickly at
a basic level. And so there may be so I think,
and now there's a lot of capital rushing into women's sports,
which is generally great, but I think actually it's like
it's looking it's like anything, right, It's like, how do
you become a virtuoso athlete who plays in the WNBA
(33:31):
or wins doubles titles?
Speaker 11 (33:34):
You're really really, really good.
Speaker 9 (33:36):
And so like understanding really kind of the strategy and
the discipline around what that particular investor is particularly good at.
I mean at Monarch, we are the first pool of capital.
We are operational in the hands on but we also
have been doing it way before it was cool and
with exceptional ten X people, And so what we've gotten
(33:57):
to do is we're the first call and we try.
Speaker 11 (33:59):
To help every everyone and educate everyone.
Speaker 9 (34:01):
But what it also means is we don't We're very,
very thoughtful and have a very strict set of criteria
and narrow lens of where we invest to have impact
drive outcomes in a way where many people just kind
of settle for what falls on their lap versus being proactive,
thesis driven, stakeholder driven.
Speaker 11 (34:20):
And I always like to say, it's really like, what are.
Speaker 9 (34:23):
You dreaming about or what's waking you up at two
in the morning. And I think it's easy to think
you're good and we should settle for nothing less than great.
And I think women, you know, women will be disproportionately
great because we live and breathe it. But then none
of us would be here without great men who have
a different risk profile. As more and more women are
(34:44):
learning how to lean into it. And I learned that
from Alan and Billy.
Speaker 11 (34:47):
I mean they were investor.
Speaker 9 (34:48):
They are investors at Angel City and they are you know,
investors and advisors at Monarch.
Speaker 11 (34:53):
And I have tell Alana all the time.
Speaker 9 (34:55):
She doesn't realize how much like Teddy Roosevelt compete in
the arena you're in wisdom I get from Milana to
not be so idealistic that you know, people come along
when they come along, but if they write big checks
and they're decent humans, you take them.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
Okay, we're running our time here, so I want to
do a quick speed round of a couple of things
I really want to get to. So a lot of
specific things you're looking at when you're diving deep into
the process.
Speaker 7 (35:20):
What scares you away?
Speaker 10 (35:23):
Nothing really scares me, you know, to be honest, because
I think you have to engage and have a conversation.
And I never look at it as failure. Always look
at it feedback. So for me, you know, build a relationship.
It might not work this time, your values might not
be aligned, but you never know what's going to happen
(35:44):
a few years down the road. So our culture at
Billy Jinking Enterprises is build relationships and always learn and
don't take anything personally.
Speaker 5 (35:53):
It's feedback, it's not failure.
Speaker 7 (35:55):
Yeah, fielding wire no is important.
Speaker 3 (35:57):
Actually, yeah, you have to be able to say no.
I mean when we what about you.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
Getting a know when you're trying to work with someone
and they're coming to you, what are are you getting
good reasons for their reticence to be involved?
Speaker 4 (36:09):
Asking people for money is just an interesting game and
it can be really personal, and I think for us
we take that like, don't you know, don't take the
know as a negative, right, It's just feedback.
Speaker 3 (36:21):
It's just not the time.
Speaker 4 (36:21):
You just have to get really comfortable in the know
because for all those nos, and you're going to get
a great yes, right, so you kind of have to
kiss a lot of frogs sometimes to get to the
prince yes, yes, and you know. And so I think
that we just we do not take those nos personally
and we just have to shrug it off. And I
think being an athlete has really taught me the ability
to just stand up and go all right on to
(36:42):
the next and sometimes that's a back to back meeting.
Speaker 5 (36:44):
For me, that's huge.
Speaker 10 (36:45):
But the first thing the Lei Jean taught me which
I'll share with you. No means they just don't have
enough information.
Speaker 7 (36:53):
So there we go.
Speaker 10 (36:55):
Don't take a know as the end, take it as
the beginning of a relationship and trying to change things.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
Cara, how does long term planning factor into your investments
when you're looking at a new opportunity, how far ahead
are you looking to make sure that it's worth your
time and money.
Speaker 9 (37:10):
Well, we look at the most mature part of the ecosystem,
so we're looking to have real impact in the first
five years. But we're long term holders, so we believe
in the long term, you know, kind of accretion and
value creation. Everything we get involved in is are probably
things that you would want to have in your portfolio
for thirty years.
Speaker 11 (37:28):
If you just look at like the NBA and the eighties, right,
you had tape delay.
Speaker 9 (37:33):
The Celtics were half full when they won championships and
it fundamentally changed with players like their equivalent of Caitlin
Clark and Angel Rees, et cetera.
Speaker 11 (37:41):
So we really look at.
Speaker 9 (37:42):
Building real p and ls in real businesses, like the
way to get the world to pay attention is to
have commercial success with different kinds of people who also
will make different decisions, maybe even just on the margin.
Who they hire, how they're partnering with sponsors, you know,
are they doing something to activate community? But like, we
win by building big businesses with new kinds of people
(38:04):
who we want to make money for.
Speaker 11 (38:05):
Like, that's how we win.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
Okay, last question for all of you is somebody here
in this it's not a room field yard loan is
interested in getting involved in this, but isn't sure how
and where to start fielding.
Speaker 7 (38:16):
What's your best advice? Come talk to me, Okay, give
her your money?
Speaker 10 (38:20):
Okay, Alana, Well, we get a lot of calls, and
I've bet.
Speaker 5 (38:26):
We're always willing to help.
Speaker 10 (38:27):
I think the best thing that we have and have
built over the years is relationship capital, and so all
of you build it. But I encourage all of us
to help each other. Right, we all stand on the
shoulders of the generations that came before us, and we
need there's enough room for everyone at the table. But
we'll always take your call.
Speaker 11 (38:48):
Everyone who's here is in sports.
Speaker 9 (38:50):
So it's like, how do you get more involved and
how do you set yourself up for success? Having this
conversation here and makeup today? Look at what your superpower
is what is your zone of genius. And then in
the build relationships with people who will go the extra
mile to bring you into the best things and create
incentive structures that don't exist out there at the right time.
But don't try to be something you're not. Be who
(39:11):
you are, do it extraordinarily well and make like three
new friends who might actually be able to pay it
back to you. And I think, I mean it's and
then take risk when it comes. When Julie, Natalie and
I started Angel City, I thought it was crazy and
it took forever to get capital and we only got
it very little, less than a million dollars three weeks
before COVID, and no one had done what we had
(39:31):
done before, and we just stuck our head down and
just kind of kept.
Speaker 11 (39:34):
Doing it more. It was very risky at the time.
Speaker 9 (39:37):
That may happen for you, and everyone will tell you
it's a terrible idea, you know, and just like, lean
in and do it and don't be afraid to fail
if you really.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
Believe in it, If you really believe in a lot
of times you got to be able know a lot
less about it than you do, and yet you give them.
Speaker 9 (39:52):
Be obsessed over many many years. It's not just showing
up and tweeting and saying you've done something. It's like,
what have you actually done with your feet and your
sweat and the people over many years?
Speaker 11 (40:03):
And that's due diligencible.
Speaker 5 (40:04):
So do that and have passion.
Speaker 10 (40:07):
Have what you do, I mean passion, And I think
sometimes taking the road less traveled is also okay. But
mentor everyone, let's try to lift everyone up up because
there's a lot of white space that's available for women
and you all deserve to be at the table.
Speaker 9 (40:25):
And I want to give a shout out Angel City
team over there, right they made it happen. You know,
they're all everywhere now and still at Angel City. But
like find friends and community like that and keep them close.
Speaker 1 (40:36):
You could tell these ladies have a lot to say,
so talk to them later, find them and ask them
for advice and ask them to get involved. Ask a
Fielding about Yale, ask Alana about South Africa, and ask
care about enneagrams.
Speaker 11 (40:48):
Yeah, Anya gram seven, Thank you ladies.
Speaker 5 (40:52):
A shout out to the very bit.
Speaker 1 (40:55):
Thanks again to Alana, Kara and Fielding for taking the time.
We got to take another break when we come back.
A Phishtail.
Speaker 2 (41:07):
Welcome Back.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
Slaics wanted to follow up on the continued fallout from
Angel City player Elizabeth Eddies op ed in The New
York Post. You remember she called for the NWSL to
adopt quote unquote a clear standard for gender eligibility in
the league, proposing that all players must be born with
ovaries or that players submit to an sry gene test. Effectively,
she's seeking to ban trans and intersex players. On Thursday,
(41:30):
Angel CITYFC released a statement that said, quote in response
to an op ed published on October twenty seventh, we
want to make clear that while we respect the right
for an individual to express their opinion, it does not
reflect the opinion of an entire organization. Since our founding,
Angel City has remained committed to equity, inclusion, and belonging.
These principles will always guide how we show up for
(41:52):
our team, fans, and community.
Speaker 2 (41:54):
End quote.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
In addition, a former producer and reporter for Angel City's
content team now a content creator an advocate who posts
under the name uncle Fish, posted a response on Instagram.
Speaker 2 (42:05):
Take a listen.
Speaker 12 (42:06):
Two weeks ago, you damn me asking to talk. There
was no context. Life's been full, so it slipped my mind,
and then this week I saw your article in the
New York Post calling for stricter policy around gender in
the NWSL, and suddenly I had a feeling this is
what it was about.
Speaker 7 (42:20):
So here my.
Speaker 12 (42:21):
Notes, better late than ever.
Speaker 8 (42:23):
First, there's a photo of you in your Angel City
kit with a caption Angel City FC star Elizabeth Eddie
is calling on the NASL, and that framing matters because
it ties your very personal opinion to a club in
a community who were not a part of that conversation. Next,
you wrote we're all in this together, and then intentionally
use an image of Barbara Banda, a CIS woman already
targeted for her gender.
Speaker 2 (42:43):
That's not togetherness.
Speaker 8 (42:44):
That's harm, and that's what happens when we call for
standards without understanding the full complexity of sex and gender.
Speaker 1 (42:50):
We'll link to Fish's video in the show notes, and
we're going to update you on some more responses from
around the league next week. We love that you're listening slices,
but we want you to get in the game every
day too, So here's our good game play of the day.
Speaker 2 (43:02):
Watch Decision Day this weekend.
Speaker 1 (43:04):
It's only the second time in NWSL history that every
team in the league has played on the final day.
Will it be chaotic, absolutely? Will you understand the real
time implications as they unfold? Probably not? But will you
remember watching most definitely. We'll link to a decision day
guide at the show notes so you can get prepped. Also,
keep sending us those women's sports Halloween costumes.
Speaker 2 (43:27):
We love to see them.
Speaker 1 (43:28):
We always love to hear from you, so hit us
up on email good game at wondermedianetwork dot com or
leave us a voicemail at eight seven two two o
four fifty seventy and.
Speaker 2 (43:36):
Don't forget to subscribe. Rate and review.
Speaker 1 (43:38):
It's easy watch when in doubt, dance it out, rating
ten out of ten Sweaty House Party Vibes review. Every year,
for the last couple of years, the second night of
the espnW summit has concluded with a full on rager.
L Duncan and her favorite Atlanta DJ DJ Technology take
over and get the whole crowd of athletes, more marketers,
(44:00):
and execs to let loose and dance till they drop.
Highlights from this year well AUSL Commissioner Kim Eng getting
crazy to footloose, L dropping it down to Nicki minaj
the whole dance floor, swag surfing, and of course your
girl had to bring out her favorite party trick, So
I dropped down into the splits chugged in spiked beer.
Speaker 2 (44:19):
You know, work, professionalism class, Grace.
Speaker 1 (44:25):
I can't recommend enough a night of dancing, sweating, and
letting loose with friends and strangers. We all need a
really healthy outlet right now for stress, sadness, and anger.
Speaker 2 (44:35):
And dancing is a hell of a drug.
Speaker 1 (44:38):
Now it's your turn, y'all rate and review, Thanks for listening,
See you next week. Good Game Alana, Kara and Fielding,
Good Game, l and DJ Technology, Few Whoppers, malted milk
ooh the Worst. Good Game with Sarah Spain is an
iHeart women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports
(44:59):
and Entertainment. You can find us on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever.
Speaker 2 (45:03):
You get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (45:04):
Production by Wonder Media Network, our producers are alex Azzie Grace, Lynch,
Taylor Williamson, and Lucy Jones. Our executive producers are Christina Everett,
Jesse Katz, Jenny.
Speaker 2 (45:14):
Kaplan, and Emily Rutterer.
Speaker 1 (45:15):
Our editors are Emily rudder Britney Martinez and Gianna Palmer.
Production assistants from Avery LOFTUS and I'm Your Host Sarah
Spain
Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we've had
more than enough tricks this year. Frankly, it's been one
long spooky season since January twentieth, so we're sticking with
treats tonight and none of that fun size shit. We
deserve the big bars this year. It's Friday, October thirty.
First Happy Halloween slices on today's show. Will be bringing
(00:21):
you a panel I hosted at the espnW Summit this
week featuring Alana Class, the CEO of Billy Jean King Enterprises,
Kara Nortman, the managing partner of Monarch Collective and co
founder of Angels CITYFC, and Fielding Jamison, the co founder
and managing partner of Tipped Ventures.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
We discussed investing.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
In women's sports, the power of mentorship, the challenges of
being in the business of sport, and the importance of
inviting more women to sit at the table, plus planned chaos.
The status quo is nearly upon us, and winter is coming.
It's all coming up right after this Welcome Back slices.
(00:59):
Here's what you need to know today. Let's start with
the NWSL where the end of the regular season has arrived.
Decision Day is upon US On Sunday, all fourteen teams
will play their final game, with nearly every team.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Kicking off at the same time.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
There is one game, the Kansas City Current and San
Diego Wave that will begin at three pm Eastern, but
the other six games will all get underway at five.
In soccer, it's actually a tradition for every Decision Day
game to start at the same time, but it's likely
that the broadcast plan played a role in the one game.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
That's an outlier here.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
As that early casey San Diego game will be broadcast
nationally on ESPN. No matter the kickoff time, there's a
lot at stake in every one of these games. While
the number one Kansas City Current and number two Washington
Spirit have already locked up the top two seeds in
the playoffs, the rest of the playoff bracket is wide open.
Both San Diego and Portland, for example, have already clinched
playoff spots, but they could finish as high as third
(01:54):
or as low as eighth, depending on how things pan out.
And even more important than seeding is just getting in racing.
Louisville and the North Carolina Courage will be playing for
the eighth and final playoff spot. Racing, currently in eighth,
will be in with a win against AFC. The ninth
ranked Courage, meanwhile, will need to both win their own
game against Gotham and see Racing draw or lose. It
(02:15):
should be a fun and very chaotic couple hours of soccer,
so get out those second and third and fourth screens.
ESPN will air boat that CAC San Diego game plus
the North Carolina Gotham game, while the rest will all
be available via the free NWSL plus app, which is
designed to let you split your screen to watch four
games at one time.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
More soccer.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
The US women's national team concluded its international window with
a six nil blowout win over New Zealand on Wednesday
night in Kansas City, Missouri. Ema Sears led the way
with the hat trick, Katerina Macario recorded a brace, and
Rose Leavell added a tally. Lavell, who wore the captain's
arm band for just the fourth time in her career,
was very much the veteran of the group, with her
(02:56):
one hundred and fourteenth international appearance that more than Trump's.
The rest of the starting lineup seventy seven combined caps. Meantime,
Sears hat trick came exactly one year and two days
after her first national team call up, and while the
racing forward had just one international goal to her name
heading into Wednesday night, that trio of Tally's was a
reminder of why she's become a regular in Emma Hayes rotation.
(03:18):
The US women's national team will reconvene in a month
for the team's final matches of the year, both against
Italy and both in Florida. They'll play on November twenty
eighth in Orlando and again on December first in Fort Lauderdale.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
To the WNBA and.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
WELP, it's October thirty first, but as of this recording
on the thirtieth, there's no new CBA and it seems
extremely unlikely that a deal is going.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
To get made today. So what happens next?
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Well, On Tuesday, the WNBA offered w players a thirty
day extension to continue working toward a new collective bargaining agreement.
A source told the SPN the players might be willing
to consider an extension quote unquote under the right circumstances,
but they feel quote those circuit ccumstances do.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Not yet exist end quote now.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
While it's still possible that the two sides will agree
to that extension. Even if they don't, there won't necessarily
be an automatic work stoppage comes Saturday. Friend of the Show,
Ben Pickman lays it all out in a story for
The Athletic, explaining that the sides would just enter a
period of status quo, which would keep the current working
conditions in place and allow athletes to enter team facilities
and receive medical benefits. Pickman goes on to explain, quote,
(04:26):
players could elect to strike if a contract is not
in place, though it's not required. While they would not
immediately miss games with a strike this fall, since the
season is over, the decision to strike now would cut
off formal communication between players and their team coaches and executives,
and it could create a relational rift. The league could
choose to lock out players, which would prevent them from
training or receiving medical treatment at team facilities, among other changes.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
End quote.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
We'll link to Ben's story in the show notes More hoops.
Candice Parker was elected to join the Women's Basketball Hall
of Fame on Thursday, in her first year of eligibility.
During her legendary career, Parker led Tennessee to back to
back NCAA titles in two thousand and seven and two
thousand and eight. A few months later, she became the
first and still only player to win WNBA Rookie of
(05:11):
the Year and MVP honors in the same year. During
her sixteen year w career, Parker went on to win
three titles, another MVP award, and ten.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
All Star selections.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Other newly elected members include two time WNBA MVP Elena Deladon,
Minnesota Links coach Cheryl Reeve, and NBA analyst Doris Burke.
We'll link to the fullest of honorees in the show notes.
The class will be inducted in June twenty twenty six
at the Tennessee Theatre in Knoxville to Athletes Unlimited. It
was announced this week that Athletes Unlimited has agreed to
(05:43):
a three year broadcast rights extension with the ESPN. As
part of the deal, ESPN platforms will broadcast more than
fifty Athletes Unlimited Softball League games each year, and ABC
will broadcast at least the AUSL Championship Series game next year,
marking the first time women's pro softball will air on
network television in the US. As part of the deal,
(06:03):
all AU basketball and volleyball games will be available on
ESPNU or ESPN Plus. To tennis, the WTA Finals get
underway on Saturday in Riod, Saudi Arabia. The top eight
singles players and top eight doubles teams qualified for the tournament,
which is the last event of the year on the
WTA calendar. World number one Arena Sabalanka leads the field
(06:25):
of eight women, and for the first time in twenty years,
four American women qualified to compete in women's singles at
the finals, led by number three Coco Golf, number four
Amanda Anisimova, Number five Madison Keys, and number six Jessica Pagula.
Because of the small field just eight entries, the tournament
uses a unique format with two groups of four competing
(06:45):
in a round robin tournament. The top two in each
group will then qualify for the semi finals, and the
winners of those matches move on to the final. Finally,
this past Wednesday marked exactly one hundred days until the
Winter Olympics. The twenty twenty six Mala Cortina Games officially
open on Friday, February sixth, and Team Good Game will
(07:05):
be in Italy producer Alex and I will both be
in the boot to bring you all the amazing stories
from the Games. And Alex was actually at this week's
Team USA summit in NYC to interview Olympic and Paralympic
hopefuls and get all caught up on the storylines, rule changes,
even some Italian geography. We are so excited to bring
you all the content she collected in the coming weeks,
(07:27):
and we are so excited to bring you along with
us to the Games come February. Now I just need
to learn a little bit of Italian.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Slices.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
You might hear in my voice that I had a
big week here in Ohi, California for the espnW summit.
It was another fantastic few days of panels featuring big
Hollywood names like Boston Legacy owner Elizabeth Banks, basketball batties
like Dja Carrington, college stars like Nijerie Kennedy and Madison Skinner,
top exacs like Jess Smith, and musician Maren Morris, who
(07:58):
I got to sit down with to interview and then
watch dazzle us with a performance. It was incredible and
as I mentioned in a previous show, the great Alona
mar was here too. Unfortunately I was unable to trap
her in a room for a private chat. She's quick,
but I did really enjoy her conversation with Malika Andrews
for the summit. Here's a little taste of the wisdom
and the laughs she provided.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
All of that visibility, all of that energy.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
It's led to a place that very few athletes period,
let alone female athletes, have gotten too.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
She's been to the Dancing with the Stars finals, y'all.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
She has a dang barbie, right, She's been in major campaigns.
Speaker 5 (08:35):
This is a Sports Illustrated cover model, right. So what's
it been like to.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
See the world respond to you in a way that
goes beyond sports?
Speaker 6 (08:46):
I love it. I think I love I wouldn't do
this if I didn't like attention, and I like it.
I put myself out there too for people to notice me.
Speaker 7 (08:59):
Were my brand for my sport.
Speaker 6 (09:00):
But I've always loved it. It's interesting, though, because a
lot of people sometimes don't even know me as a
rugby player.
Speaker 7 (09:08):
They know me as like an influencer.
Speaker 6 (09:10):
I was recently at an event and I'm around a
lot of influencers, and I always put people I like
I'm alone, I'm a rugby player, all right, first and foremost.
But it's interesting, like it doesn't matter so much what
I do on the field.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
I mean, I don't think many people in you can.
Speaker 6 (09:23):
Even say who like the top rugby player in the
world is, but you can say who the TikTok rugby
girl is. It's that's where I was like, Man, I'm
working so hard in the field to be like the best,
yet the actually the off the field is what's making
me more money. So it's kind of that balance there,
and I just found it to be like I want
to be the best, but also I want to live
a comfortable life. And that's where I saw the social
(09:45):
media helping me.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
Does that bother you when you walk into a room
and people say hello alone of the influencer.
Speaker 7 (09:50):
Yeah, but it's just the way it is.
Speaker 6 (09:52):
People aren't watching rugby.
Speaker 7 (09:53):
Like they should.
Speaker 6 (09:54):
We're getting there, but they're not focused on rugby, and
so for me, it's helping me end rugby by being
the influencer and like kind of micro dosing rugby in
the world.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
We'll link to that full combo in the show notes,
and plenty more on the espnW summit after Dark Later
in the show plus when we come back my live
panel on investment.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
In women's sports from the summit stick around.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
This is the Women at the Helm panel, and these
bios are a little long, but I wanted to make
sure y'all really had a scope for where these women
are coming from and why they are going to be
your north star when you're looking at the business of
women's sport investing in everything else. So we're going to
start with the co founder and managing partner of Tipped
Ventures and early stage investment platform, reshaping the sports economy
(10:41):
by investing in businesses that unlock growth through women. Previously,
she spearheaded innovation initiatives at NBCUniversal, Comcast and RGA Ventures,
and served as the managing director of the Trailblazer Ventures Studio,
the first venture studio dedicated to investing at the intersection
of women in sports. Former captain of the Yale lacrosse team.
That's a school that's near Cornell. It's not as good,
(11:02):
but it's close. She serves on the board of USA Lacrosse,
YO Lacrosse, and the Westminster Alumni Association.
Speaker 7 (11:08):
She's a little Yankee and a little y'all.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
It's fielding Jamison up Next, she is a pioneering leader
in sports, business and social impact. As the CEO of
Billy Jing King Enterprises, she spearheads business initiatives, oversees strategic partnerships,
and works closely with global brand, sports organizations and advocacy
groups to advance equality and opportunity in sports and beyond.
She's a key figure in the ownership groups of the
(11:32):
La Dodgers, the Angel City FC Club, and she's the
co founder of the Billygan King Foundation and chair of
the board of Billy Jing King Cup Limited. She's on
the advisory board of the PWHL Professional Women's Hockey League,
on the board of the Elton John Aids Foundation, and
on the board of the Women's Sports Foundation. Oh and
she's a former number one in the world in women's doubles,
a former US Open doubles champ, and she's in the
(11:54):
National and International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. She might
own the Dodgers, but she's a South African who's calls
baseball slow cricket.
Speaker 7 (12:01):
It's Alana Claus.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Finally, she's the managing partner of Monarch Collective, the first
investment platform exclusively dedicated to investing in women's Sports, a
co founder of Angel City FC, and a founding member
of All Rise, a VC led nonprofit dedicated to increased
diversity and funders and founders. Previously, she was a managing
partner at Upfront Ventures, and before that IAC she served
on the board of IC's mobile technology incubator Hatch Labs,
(12:25):
where she incubated Tinder in the seed round, so anyone
who got laid.
Speaker 7 (12:29):
Because of her you could say thank you.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
She also advised the US Women's National Soccer Team Players
Association during their pay equity fight. Princeton Undergrad also a
fine institution if you don't get into Cornell Stanford MBA,
NYA Graham Lover and Burning Man Alum, It's Karen Nortman.
Speaker 7 (12:46):
Should we start with Burning Man?
Speaker 8 (12:47):
Care?
Speaker 1 (12:48):
What's the thing you most remember or anything you remember?
Speaker 3 (12:51):
Well?
Speaker 9 (12:52):
As I entered the latter years of my forties, I
realized I had been grinding for like thirty years and
it was time to play, Okay, and so I remembered
I love to dance, So we'll do that later.
Speaker 7 (13:06):
Too, perfect at the dance party later tonight.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
We'll get some more details, okay, on the Burning Men experiment, Alana,
I want to start with you, not just because holy shit, guys,
Alana Class is.
Speaker 7 (13:17):
Here the queen. Yes woo.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
She loves to stand behind Billy Jean, but Billy Jean
dreams it and Alana actually makes it happen. So this
is the queen right here. You've got ownership in men's
and women's pro sports teams. I want to ask what
the biggest difference you still see in the work you're
doing on those sides, whether that's infrastructure, the people at
the top, any of that.
Speaker 10 (13:41):
Well, first of all, it's great to be here. Thanks
for that introduction. I almost needed a nap during it,
but thank you. I want to take you on the
road with me. You know, I think that the biggest
difference obviously in women's sports that you're always feeling like
you have to prove yourself and that the investment comes
or used to come for very short term, where when
(14:03):
people look to invest in men's sports, I think they're
looking at a much longer runway.
Speaker 5 (14:08):
That's definitely changing now because.
Speaker 10 (14:10):
There are more women billionaires at the table and investing.
But it is a boys club, but that's changing, and
I think, you know, we just want people to do
when they look at an investment to give it the
same scope, right, so the same amount of time, the
same amount of emotional and financial investment, not just write
(14:34):
the check. So it's also the team that you put
behind it. But it is changing, but we definitely still
have work to do.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
You get approached for investments across so many different leagues
and spaces. I wonder if you find when you're being
pitched or when you're going through the decks, do you
think that the right level of sophistication is there in
women's sports? Are the right people in charge or do
we still need to work towards getting the level of
expertise at the top to be able to handle the
level investment now coming in.
Speaker 10 (15:01):
Well, I do think, you know, we need pe investment.
I think people say, well, now all of this money
is coming in in private equity, and is that good
for women's sports or not. I think it is good
because what comes with that is experience and knowledge and relationships.
(15:21):
Of course, the vision has to align with trying to
build something for the long term. And you know, I
have to say that Billy, Jana and I have been
incredibly fortunate. We found that person in Mark Walter who
invested in the PWHL where the investment was the same
kind of investment whether it was men or women, and
(15:44):
it also was driven by players.
Speaker 5 (15:47):
And so I.
Speaker 10 (15:48):
Think we need the expertise, We need the money. It
doesn't matter where it comes from, as long as it's
mission aligned.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Yeah, Kara, you've made a habit of combining your funding withing,
So not just investing in spaces, but sticking around to
share your expertise, advising the company or the team or
the league that you're partnering with. Why do you think
that's so important at this stage of women's sports growth?
Speaker 9 (16:11):
Yeah, Well, look to put the markets in perspective, the
women's sports market is probably three to three and a
half billion dollar market. The men's sports market is estimated
to be close to a half a trillion. So women's
sports in a way is like an emerging market. It
feels a lot like venture did to me when I
started or tech in the late nineties. Now tech is everything,
but back then no one was paying attention.
Speaker 5 (16:31):
And so.
Speaker 9 (16:34):
We how many teams have like real p and ls, right,
and you're starting from zero, you're starting from five million,
ten million. The best teams are doing thirty to fifty million.
The best men's teams are doing, you know, a north
of a billion dollars in revenue. So we believe that
just traditional financial structuring is not sufficient to build excellence.
This is the time global brands will be built. We
(16:55):
don't necessarily know who's going to be Real Madrid or
the Warriors or the Cowboys, and so at Monarch we
show up everyone on the team's next operator.
Speaker 11 (17:04):
We primarily hire X operators. In a way, we're more like.
Speaker 9 (17:07):
A company that structures, and we view ourselves as like
change agent capital and look at hey, how can we
bring in sponsors, what's your pricing strategy, how are you
building a supporters group, do you have a real mission vision, etc.
And how do you know and can you really articulate it?
And so the hands on approach to these sorts of
things that this phase helps you build real community and
(17:29):
real p and ls.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Well, And I think it's super important because to Alana's
point of course, we want that money and the stability
that comes with big, big, big money, but you also
need to know that the people that are investing and
at the top are invested in women's sports, making sure
that the culture is right, making sure that the athlete
is centered, and that can be lost a little bit
when you start to outsource to folks that are really
just from the men's space and have a little toy
(17:51):
over here. And so having advisors in place, having folks
who know the space to make sure that money goes
to the right places and in the right spaces is necessary.
Speaker 9 (18:00):
Yeah, And I mean I just add in, I think, listen,
at the end of the day, it's all about passion,
purpose and extraordinary talent, right, but the extraordinary talent is
disproportionately locked away in places most people don't know, and
I think many people just settle for the way it
was done.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
Right.
Speaker 11 (18:15):
I like to listen to eight mile.
Speaker 9 (18:17):
Like some people go the extra mile, We go the
extra eight miles, but truly, like where is the passive
talent at teams? And we will spend time talking to
them to say, hey, if you do this sport in
this country or if Monarch's doing it, they know how
closely we vet our partners and our partners vet us,
because like you can get extraordinary people in who aren't
standard issue out of just running X team for X
(18:38):
number of years, who can drive really different, disproportionate outcomes,
and it's building that grassroots talent network.
Speaker 11 (18:45):
That's like critically important.
Speaker 10 (18:47):
I think also the big difference now is that people
like Karen Fielding and myself have a seat at the
table and a voice, not just a seat of voice,
and so I think that's hugely important.
Speaker 5 (19:00):
But the sports business is difficult, it's hard, it's hard work.
Speaker 10 (19:04):
It doesn't matter whether it's men's a women's sports. Making
money is hard work, so you need all the visions aligned.
But having a voice and seen at the table now
many male a woman not doing that and that's exciting.
Speaker 11 (19:18):
Yeah, and she got us the seat.
Speaker 7 (19:19):
Well that's you got us the seat. So I wanted
to get to his Fielding.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
You have said you are not here today without BJK
Enterprises tell us more.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (19:30):
Look, we at tiped invest in what we call the
sports economy, so we don't invest in leagues and teams.
We right alongside Kara and we are investing in all
of the businesses that surround and make up sport. That
thesis was first tested with BJKE in twenty twenty two
when I came out and said I think women are
the biggest growth opportunity in sport, and all of the
(19:52):
people in venture Capital.
Speaker 7 (19:53):
Where I work.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
We're like, not sure about that, right, this is pre
Kaitlyn Clark Free Taylor Swift. We really had some of
the audience numbers on the WNBA to actually show the
growth that was happening, and Billy and Alana came in
and helped support us Allegian Park Ventures our JA Ventures.
We make these nine incredible investments in twenty twenty two
(20:15):
and that portfolio ended up doing quite well, and that
really served as the reason that my co founder, Amy
Galani and I spun out and we actually to your
point of being at the table, we had to build
our own table. People were not investing and still aren't
in this space. We were the only ones who were
focused on the sports economy or sports tech investing with
a gender lens and so without that support, without frankly
(20:38):
Billy's you know.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Work her entire life.
Speaker 4 (20:41):
That's the only reason I was a college athlete, right,
So I think so much of it does go back
to the work that that organization has done.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
I want to touch quickly so everyone understands what you
mean by investing in the space outside of teams and leagues,
Because we were just talking about this at the table
for me one of the biggest steps in continuing to
grow women's sports. Obviously I'm biased, but content on my
show Good Game with Sarahs, which everyone should subscribe to
ye on your phone, we do scores in addition to
(21:06):
stake stats, stories and stars. What are the actual pieces
of information that the media industrial complex should be telling
us about women every day and only tell us about men?
And how does that get people to keep coming back
and buying merchant, showing up to games and so shoulder programming,
pre and post game content, websites, shows, podcasts, those are
all really important to drive people to the things that
they're putting their money in. So for you, where else
(21:27):
do you see and want to invest that you think
needs to grow along with the investment in the leagues.
Speaker 4 (21:32):
Absolutely, we love the media and content space. I spent
years of my career Comcast NBC Universal. I think media
is incredibly critical to the growth of women's sports. So
that is certainly an area we are very excited about,
both on the traditional side as well as the new
side of media. So looking at YouTube for example, and
the growth that we're seeing there, and we're looking at
you Jen Alpha and Jen Beta, which kind of stinks
(21:54):
Ghos Jen Beta I've co compared to Jen Alphai.
Speaker 7 (21:57):
I don't have enough problems with young men.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
We have a whole bunch of other gen Betata.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
Yeah, so that's a thing, and so that's an area
that we like a lot. But as we look at
the you know, women's sports space grow all the way
from the youth to the pro, we also need to
make sure that those athletes have the right gear, for example,
that are made for them right. We invested in the
first soccer cleave made for the women's foot, the first
soccer clean I'm sure a lot of people grew up
here playing cleated sports.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
You thought you were buying shoes that were made for
your foot. You're not.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
And so we invest in a company, I to Sports,
that created the first cleave for women's soccer. And so
that's that's a really exciting space performance. I played lacrosse.
We've got women who are playing in men's pads now
because they pads, but the pets don't fit, so.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
They're cutting them and tailoring them.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
And so we're still at the very beginning of this
in terms of the growth and the dollars. And while
we love all of the dollars going in at the
league and team level. We also need to make sure
that we are investing in the ecosystem around it so
those leagues and teams can continue to be successful and
have what they need both from an athlete operator, fan, parent,
youth player experience.
Speaker 10 (23:00):
Yeah, Sarah, the one thing I want to say about media.
Speaker 5 (23:03):
I think there are a lot of.
Speaker 10 (23:05):
Agents, leagues, team owners here and I think all the
new outlets are phenomenal, including your podcast. But I would
just really encourage anyone who connects to athletes to encourage
them to do media because everyone else can tell your story,
but only you can tell your story in a way
(23:26):
that is super authentic. So you really want to be
talking to the media in ouraday. The media we're our friends.
If they didn't tell our story, nobody knew what we
were doing. That's changed a lot, and everybody has their
own platform, but please encourage athletes to tell their own
story and look at the media as people who are
(23:49):
going to help grow grow the space.
Speaker 7 (23:51):
I think that a huge leasure in women's sports.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
There's unfortunately we had to be cheerleaders for so long
that now when critics arrive, there is this acrimonious relationship
that shouldn't be there. Correct, As long as the journalists
are being fair, there will be criticism in sport.
Speaker 7 (24:05):
That's how sport works.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
But you can work with journalists to tell your story
and to be fair about how you're playing, whether it's
god or bad on a given day, if they're fair
about it. You know, Car, You've talked about how when
you got started in the tech world there were really
no mentors like Ilana and Billy Jean. Why did that
matter and how do you feel differently about your role
now as there are more women coming into this investment
in women's sports space.
Speaker 9 (24:27):
Yeah, I mean, I mean so, first of all, I
also was a D one athlete and had no idea
that I had Alana and Billy to thank for it.
And you know how many women here played a sport
in high school or college Like raise your hand, right,
I mean, so the stats all show how critically important.
So I did have mentors, but it was like my
crew coach, who I'm still close to and still coaches
(24:48):
at Princeton tied with Cornell for sure. Yeah, for sure,
it's more about at least for me, I mean, because
I definitely had some incredible male mentors.
Speaker 11 (25:00):
But I mean, here's the like.
Speaker 9 (25:02):
I think it's more about, like, can you see yourself
in the world. For me, I was always looking for
actually Angel Cities. Maybe the first time, I was like,
there is no example, and I had we had to
sort of like figure out how to get our first
nine hundred thousand dollars because there was no example. But
I was always looking at like is there someone like
me to know I could do it? And like the
(25:24):
weird example I would give you is when I was
an analyst at Morgan Stanley straight out of college.
Speaker 11 (25:29):
I would read the style section of the New York Times.
That's not weird but clearly, but I.
Speaker 9 (25:36):
Would read the wedding section to see if women like
me got married because I was a total workaholic. I
loved doing what I do, and I like would read
it looking for examples. And so I think it's more
like you know what we say at Angel City, and
it resonates as strongly with fourteen year old boys as
it does with fourteen year old girls, And I think
that surprises their parents. My fourteen year old son wants
(25:57):
to have his birthday party at Angel City. It like
blows their mind. You meet your biases in women's sports,
we all have them. But I think what I think
about is I never grew up thinking I even dreaming
it was possible to be president of the United States
or a professional athlete. I didn't even allow my and
I have a pretty strong growth mindset. And now every now, now,
(26:17):
with what we have politically and with what we have
in professional sports, every young girl gets to grow up
with that dream, and that dream isn't as important for
where they get.
Speaker 5 (26:27):
There, but for how broadly they're.
Speaker 11 (26:29):
Going to create their dreams for the rest of their lives.
Speaker 9 (26:31):
And with Julian and Natalie, I got those role models.
They just happened to be my peers.
Speaker 7 (26:36):
We're still working on that first one.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
When I was a kid, I said, if there hadn't
been a female president by the time I got old enough,
I would step up and let's do it.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
Sarah, take care. Are you making a political.
Speaker 7 (26:48):
I'll be Sarah's chief of staff.
Speaker 10 (26:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
I used to think my deficiencies and finance and geography
were a problem, but now I'm well aware.
Speaker 7 (26:55):
You don't need to know shit about anything high. It's
shoving on.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Alana.
Speaker 7 (27:03):
Your mentors were all men. You had to know the
right people.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
You had to be in the right rooms, you had
to create the right relationships, You had to get enough
power and influence before you could try to change things
if you saw things that weren't the way you wanted
them to be. How have you and billaging as a
team sort of figured out how to work with folks
who have different principles or values, because I think there
is a little bit of that now too, where you
got to get the right people to be on board,
(27:27):
but they're not always aligned politically, culturally, socially.
Speaker 5 (27:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 10 (27:31):
Well, I mean I think also just to follow up
on what Caro said, you do have to see it
to be it. And so a lot of the things
that I think Billy, Gina and I get behind are really,
you know, showing the world that anybody can be what
they want to be and every little girl should be
able to have the same dreams as their brothers. So
(27:51):
that's just a basic principle I think for us. Interestingly enough,
whenever we go to a meeting or we're meeting somebody
knew our first question is do you have daughters? And
we always had much greater success if the CEO for
who for the most part was a white male had
a daughter because he understood that you know, maybe he
(28:12):
would want the same opportunities for his daughters as he
would for his son. And I think for us, you know,
the investment is one thing, but their purpose and passion
has to align. And it's difficult because when you're young,
if someone offers you money and you don't have money,
it's hard to say no. But I think with experience
(28:36):
and wisdom, now you know, we're able to say, you
know what, this isn't the right fit if it doesn't
really align with our values, which always are about equal
access and opportunity. But it does have to be seen
from the scope of business, and that's critical because I
(28:56):
think for Billy Jean, a lot of people don't realize
that she invested as an owner and a business person
from day one. I mean, when there weren't tournaments to play,
she and her former husband Larry King, not that Larry King,
for those you know, there was no where to play
(29:16):
and so they had to build the infrastructure. So I
think for us now it's really about taking our knowledge
and visibility to really putting in true investment, and then
how can we make sure that our investments you know,
have impact globally and can also scale.
Speaker 4 (29:36):
Can I tag onto that? Because I think what's so
exciting for us is because of that work. For so long,
we've been in a space where we have been convincing
people that women should get this investment, that women's sports matter,
that things like this matter. And Al hit on it
earlier last night when she said we are here, we
are done, like, we don't need to convince anyone. And
I think that's been really free for me as we
(29:58):
think about investors and LPs to say, I don't need
to get on the phone and convince you of this space. Now,
I need to convince you of our strategy. I need
you to convince convince you that we're the right people
to do this in our background, but in terms of
women's role in the sport economy, we now have the data,
we now have the facts, and at that point, if
we're on a call and we're starting to hear a
(30:19):
lot of negativity, we'll just end the call and say, listen,
you know sounds like it's not for you, thanks so much.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
And when you hit back with that, then.
Speaker 4 (30:27):
All of a sudden, everyone's like, well, WHOA, I didn't
say that now like I'm interested, right, But and so
that's been interesting. But I think that that's a really
nice it's because of all of this work that has
gone in that we're now at that point, which is,
you know, a tipping point and a play on what
we called our fund even because we're finally there and
we're not in that convincing game anymore.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
Well, in fielding, I know you talk about how important
it is for you to look around and find women
who have not yet invested or don't feel comfortable in
the space and welcoming the men. What are you doing
to make it so that more women and are willing
to do what some consider a risk or to take
on the risky behavior of.
Speaker 7 (31:06):
Putting your money somewhere and seeing if it flies.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (31:11):
First thing we do is we do not speak in acronyms.
I think that that can often be very intimidating in
the finance world.
Speaker 7 (31:17):
Thank you, you're welcome, and I thank you forgetting that
P and L was products and licensing like five years ago.
Speaker 4 (31:24):
It's like P and L are iderator, you know, and
it's and I think sometimes you don't have that training,
you immediately feel like, oh, this person really like knows
what they're talking about, and women tend to retreat a
little bit. So that has been a major point that
we make with any LP that we meet or potential
investor we meet with, and and look, we really try
(31:45):
to explain to them like, this is not scary, this
is not hard. You're a very competent person or woman,
and let us talk to you about how you can
think about your portfolio of investing and the idea that
you can what is good can live alongside what is profitable.
I stole that line from Billions, and I think that
(32:05):
that is so true, right, you can you don't have
to feel bad about making money, and you can invest
in a space that you inherently understand that you know
that you get excited about.
Speaker 3 (32:16):
And so we're saying, come on learn.
Speaker 4 (32:18):
We meet with our investors, the amount of investors that
we meet with on a weekly basis, to walk them
through how we think about an investment, to walk them
through our fund structure, to really like have them learn
and feel like they're a part of it.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
And that's I think different than normal venture capital.
Speaker 4 (32:33):
When we got started, we asked a male person in
the space, like you know, we took him through our pitch,
and he was like, you know, you should absolutely take
out the part that you want your investors to be
part of this, like you don't ever want to hear
from your investors. And we're like, this is where women
just do it differently. We do, and why wouldn't we
lean on those experiences that they've had and that's been
super beneficial for us?
Speaker 11 (32:52):
Can I jump in with a quick point? I totally agree.
Speaker 9 (32:55):
I think the one thing that's interesting about sports versus
where I used to like exist in like cybersecurity and
deep tech stuff is that everyone comes into sports thinking
they're an expert, or at least thinking they can grasp
it pretty quickly.
Speaker 7 (33:07):
Every man, well.
Speaker 9 (33:08):
Everyone, right, Like it's it's the nice thing about sports, right,
I mean, like anyone can grasp it fairly quickly at
a basic level. And so there may be so I think,
and now there's a lot of capital rushing into women's sports,
which is generally great, but I think actually it's like
it's looking it's like anything, right, It's like, how do
you become a virtuoso athlete who plays in the WNBA
(33:31):
or wins doubles titles?
Speaker 11 (33:34):
You're really really, really good.
Speaker 9 (33:36):
And so like understanding really kind of the strategy and
the discipline around what that particular investor is particularly good at.
I mean at Monarch, we are the first pool of capital.
We are operational in the hands on but we also
have been doing it way before it was cool and
with exceptional ten X people, And so what we've gotten
(33:57):
to do is we're the first call and we try.
Speaker 11 (33:59):
To help every everyone and educate everyone.
Speaker 9 (34:01):
But what it also means is we don't We're very,
very thoughtful and have a very strict set of criteria
and narrow lens of where we invest to have impact
drive outcomes in a way where many people just kind
of settle for what falls on their lap versus being proactive,
thesis driven, stakeholder driven.
Speaker 11 (34:20):
And I always like to say, it's really like, what are.
Speaker 9 (34:23):
You dreaming about or what's waking you up at two
in the morning. And I think it's easy to think
you're good and we should settle for nothing less than great.
And I think women, you know, women will be disproportionately
great because we live and breathe it. But then none
of us would be here without great men who have
a different risk profile. As more and more women are
(34:44):
learning how to lean into it. And I learned that
from Alan and Billy.
Speaker 11 (34:47):
I mean they were investor.
Speaker 9 (34:48):
They are investors at Angel City and they are you know,
investors and advisors at Monarch.
Speaker 11 (34:53):
And I have tell Alana all the time.
Speaker 9 (34:55):
She doesn't realize how much like Teddy Roosevelt compete in
the arena you're in wisdom I get from Milana to
not be so idealistic that you know, people come along
when they come along, but if they write big checks
and they're decent humans, you take them.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
Okay, we're running our time here, so I want to
do a quick speed round of a couple of things
I really want to get to. So a lot of
specific things you're looking at when you're diving deep into
the process.
Speaker 7 (35:20):
What scares you away?
Speaker 10 (35:23):
Nothing really scares me, you know, to be honest, because
I think you have to engage and have a conversation.
And I never look at it as failure. Always look
at it feedback. So for me, you know, build a relationship.
It might not work this time, your values might not
be aligned, but you never know what's going to happen
(35:44):
a few years down the road. So our culture at
Billy Jinking Enterprises is build relationships and always learn and
don't take anything personally.
Speaker 5 (35:53):
It's feedback, it's not failure.
Speaker 7 (35:55):
Yeah, fielding wire no is important.
Speaker 3 (35:57):
Actually, yeah, you have to be able to say no.
I mean when we what about you.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
Getting a know when you're trying to work with someone
and they're coming to you, what are are you getting
good reasons for their reticence to be involved?
Speaker 4 (36:09):
Asking people for money is just an interesting game and
it can be really personal, and I think for us
we take that like, don't you know, don't take the
know as a negative, right, It's just feedback.
Speaker 3 (36:21):
It's just not the time.
Speaker 4 (36:21):
You just have to get really comfortable in the know
because for all those nos, and you're going to get
a great yes, right, so you kind of have to
kiss a lot of frogs sometimes to get to the
prince yes, yes, and you know. And so I think
that we just we do not take those nos personally
and we just have to shrug it off. And I
think being an athlete has really taught me the ability
to just stand up and go all right on to
(36:42):
the next and sometimes that's a back to back meeting.
Speaker 5 (36:44):
For me, that's huge.
Speaker 10 (36:45):
But the first thing the Lei Jean taught me which
I'll share with you. No means they just don't have
enough information.
Speaker 7 (36:53):
So there we go.
Speaker 10 (36:55):
Don't take a know as the end, take it as
the beginning of a relationship and trying to change things.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
Cara, how does long term planning factor into your investments
when you're looking at a new opportunity, how far ahead
are you looking to make sure that it's worth your
time and money.
Speaker 9 (37:10):
Well, we look at the most mature part of the ecosystem,
so we're looking to have real impact in the first
five years. But we're long term holders, so we believe
in the long term, you know, kind of accretion and
value creation. Everything we get involved in is are probably
things that you would want to have in your portfolio
for thirty years.
Speaker 11 (37:28):
If you just look at like the NBA and the eighties, right,
you had tape delay.
Speaker 9 (37:33):
The Celtics were half full when they won championships and
it fundamentally changed with players like their equivalent of Caitlin
Clark and Angel Rees, et cetera.
Speaker 11 (37:41):
So we really look at.
Speaker 9 (37:42):
Building real p and ls in real businesses, like the
way to get the world to pay attention is to
have commercial success with different kinds of people who also
will make different decisions, maybe even just on the margin.
Who they hire, how they're partnering with sponsors, you know,
are they doing something to activate community? But like, we
win by building big businesses with new kinds of people
(38:04):
who we want to make money for.
Speaker 11 (38:05):
Like, that's how we win.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
Okay, last question for all of you is somebody here
in this it's not a room field yard loan is
interested in getting involved in this, but isn't sure how
and where to start fielding.
Speaker 7 (38:16):
What's your best advice? Come talk to me, Okay, give
her your money?
Speaker 10 (38:20):
Okay, Alana, Well, we get a lot of calls, and
I've bet.
Speaker 5 (38:26):
We're always willing to help.
Speaker 10 (38:27):
I think the best thing that we have and have
built over the years is relationship capital, and so all
of you build it. But I encourage all of us
to help each other. Right, we all stand on the
shoulders of the generations that came before us, and we
need there's enough room for everyone at the table. But
we'll always take your call.
Speaker 11 (38:48):
Everyone who's here is in sports.
Speaker 9 (38:50):
So it's like, how do you get more involved and
how do you set yourself up for success? Having this
conversation here and makeup today? Look at what your superpower
is what is your zone of genius. And then in
the build relationships with people who will go the extra
mile to bring you into the best things and create
incentive structures that don't exist out there at the right time.
But don't try to be something you're not. Be who
(39:11):
you are, do it extraordinarily well and make like three
new friends who might actually be able to pay it
back to you. And I think, I mean it's and
then take risk when it comes. When Julie, Natalie and
I started Angel City, I thought it was crazy and
it took forever to get capital and we only got
it very little, less than a million dollars three weeks
before COVID, and no one had done what we had
(39:31):
done before, and we just stuck our head down and
just kind of kept.
Speaker 11 (39:34):
Doing it more. It was very risky at the time.
Speaker 9 (39:37):
That may happen for you, and everyone will tell you
it's a terrible idea, you know, and just like, lean
in and do it and don't be afraid to fail
if you really.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
Believe in it, If you really believe in a lot
of times you got to be able know a lot
less about it than you do, and yet you give them.
Speaker 9 (39:52):
Be obsessed over many many years. It's not just showing
up and tweeting and saying you've done something. It's like,
what have you actually done with your feet and your
sweat and the people over many years?
Speaker 11 (40:03):
And that's due diligencible.
Speaker 5 (40:04):
So do that and have passion.
Speaker 10 (40:07):
Have what you do, I mean passion, And I think
sometimes taking the road less traveled is also okay. But
mentor everyone, let's try to lift everyone up up because
there's a lot of white space that's available for women
and you all deserve to be at the table.
Speaker 9 (40:25):
And I want to give a shout out Angel City
team over there, right they made it happen. You know,
they're all everywhere now and still at Angel City. But
like find friends and community like that and keep them close.
Speaker 1 (40:36):
You could tell these ladies have a lot to say,
so talk to them later, find them and ask them
for advice and ask them to get involved. Ask a
Fielding about Yale, ask Alana about South Africa, and ask
care about enneagrams.
Speaker 11 (40:48):
Yeah, Anya gram seven, Thank you ladies.
Speaker 5 (40:52):
A shout out to the very bit.
Speaker 1 (40:55):
Thanks again to Alana, Kara and Fielding for taking the time.
We got to take another break when we come back.
A Phishtail.
Speaker 2 (41:07):
Welcome Back.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
Slaics wanted to follow up on the continued fallout from
Angel City player Elizabeth Eddies op ed in The New
York Post. You remember she called for the NWSL to
adopt quote unquote a clear standard for gender eligibility in
the league, proposing that all players must be born with
ovaries or that players submit to an sry gene test. Effectively,
she's seeking to ban trans and intersex players. On Thursday,
(41:30):
Angel CITYFC released a statement that said, quote in response
to an op ed published on October twenty seventh, we
want to make clear that while we respect the right
for an individual to express their opinion, it does not
reflect the opinion of an entire organization. Since our founding,
Angel City has remained committed to equity, inclusion, and belonging.
These principles will always guide how we show up for
(41:52):
our team, fans, and community.
Speaker 2 (41:54):
End quote.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
In addition, a former producer and reporter for Angel City's
content team now a content creator an advocate who posts
under the name uncle Fish, posted a response on Instagram.
Speaker 2 (42:05):
Take a listen.
Speaker 12 (42:06):
Two weeks ago, you damn me asking to talk. There
was no context. Life's been full, so it slipped my mind,
and then this week I saw your article in the
New York Post calling for stricter policy around gender in
the NWSL, and suddenly I had a feeling this is
what it was about.
Speaker 7 (42:20):
So here my.
Speaker 12 (42:21):
Notes, better late than ever.
Speaker 8 (42:23):
First, there's a photo of you in your Angel City
kit with a caption Angel City FC star Elizabeth Eddie
is calling on the NASL, and that framing matters because
it ties your very personal opinion to a club in
a community who were not a part of that conversation. Next,
you wrote we're all in this together, and then intentionally
use an image of Barbara Banda, a CIS woman already
targeted for her gender.
Speaker 2 (42:43):
That's not togetherness.
Speaker 8 (42:44):
That's harm, and that's what happens when we call for
standards without understanding the full complexity of sex and gender.
Speaker 1 (42:50):
We'll link to Fish's video in the show notes, and
we're going to update you on some more responses from
around the league next week. We love that you're listening slices,
but we want you to get in the game every
day too, So here's our good game play of the day.
Speaker 2 (43:02):
Watch Decision Day this weekend.
Speaker 1 (43:04):
It's only the second time in NWSL history that every
team in the league has played on the final day.
Will it be chaotic, absolutely? Will you understand the real
time implications as they unfold? Probably not? But will you
remember watching most definitely. We'll link to a decision day
guide at the show notes so you can get prepped. Also,
keep sending us those women's sports Halloween costumes.
Speaker 2 (43:27):
We love to see them.
Speaker 1 (43:28):
We always love to hear from you, so hit us
up on email good game at wondermedianetwork dot com or
leave us a voicemail at eight seven two two o
four fifty seventy and.
Speaker 2 (43:36):
Don't forget to subscribe. Rate and review.
Speaker 1 (43:38):
It's easy watch when in doubt, dance it out, rating
ten out of ten Sweaty House Party Vibes review. Every year,
for the last couple of years, the second night of
the espnW summit has concluded with a full on rager.
L Duncan and her favorite Atlanta DJ DJ Technology take
over and get the whole crowd of athletes, more marketers,
(44:00):
and execs to let loose and dance till they drop.
Highlights from this year well AUSL Commissioner Kim Eng getting
crazy to footloose, L dropping it down to Nicki minaj
the whole dance floor, swag surfing, and of course your
girl had to bring out her favorite party trick, So
I dropped down into the splits chugged in spiked beer.
Speaker 2 (44:19):
You know, work, professionalism class, Grace.
Speaker 1 (44:25):
I can't recommend enough a night of dancing, sweating, and
letting loose with friends and strangers. We all need a
really healthy outlet right now for stress, sadness, and anger.
Speaker 2 (44:35):
And dancing is a hell of a drug.
Speaker 1 (44:38):
Now it's your turn, y'all rate and review, Thanks for listening,
See you next week. Good Game Alana, Kara and Fielding,
Good Game, l and DJ Technology, Few Whoppers, malted milk
ooh the Worst. Good Game with Sarah Spain is an
iHeart women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports
(44:59):
and Entertainment. You can find us on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever.
Speaker 2 (45:03):
You get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (45:04):
Production by Wonder Media Network, our producers are alex Azzie Grace, Lynch,
Taylor Williamson, and Lucy Jones. Our executive producers are Christina Everett,
Jesse Katz, Jenny.
Speaker 2 (45:14):
Kaplan, and Emily Rutterer.
Speaker 1 (45:15):
Our editors are Emily rudder Britney Martinez and Gianna Palmer.
Production assistants from Avery LOFTUS and I'm Your Host Sarah
Spain
Host
Sarah Spain
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