Alex Morgan, the recently retired soccer superstar, and her business partner Dan Levy discuss Morgan's recent moves as a partner in the women's sports brand Togethxr and other endeavors. Morgan explains that she wants to help other athletes build wealth and navigate career transitions in a conversation recording during Variety's annual Sports and Entertainment Breakfast, held July 17 in West Hollywood.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome to Strictly Business, Variety's weekly podcast featuring conversations with
industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. I'm
Cynthia Lyttleton, co editor in chief of Variety Today. My
guests are Alex Morgan and Dan Leavey. Alex is a
soccer superstar. She recently retired from her professional career after
(00:28):
two Women's World Cup wins and two Olympic gold medals. Today,
she's a partner in the women's sports platform Together. That's
the company that markets the great T shirt that declares
everybody watches women's sports. Alex also recently became a part
owner of the San Diego Wave, the team that she
previously played for. Dan is her business partner who works
(00:52):
for the Big LA based sports agency Wasserman, and he
works for the unit known as the Collective that is
focused on advancing women's sports. The three of us sat
down on July seventeenth at Variety's annual Sports and Entertainment
Breakfast event held in West Hollywood. Alex and Dan joined
our event the morning after Alex was honored by ESPN
(01:14):
at the sb Awards with its Icon Award. That's where
our conversation starts. Couldn't be two more people that are
more in the thick of what we're trying to really
focus on here today, which is that nexus of sports
media entertainment, and I would add entrepreneurship, which is quite
a you know, which is quite just such a boom.
(01:36):
Right now, we're really going to talk about that, But
let's start with last night. It was a big moment.
Sports Royalty was at the Dolby Theater. Alex, what was
that moment for you, like having receiving the Icon Award
with Diana Tarassi, an incredible fearce WNBA player who just
recently retired as you did, recently from soccer.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Yeah, she had an incredible, really long, extravagant career, lots
of goal medals, WNBA Championship, MVPs. So it was great
to share the stage with her. Also, Dan's wife and
daughter were honored as well. They were up for Best
Team as his wife coaches a UNC women's lacrosse team
and his daughter plays on that team.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
So, oh, we were there celebrating a lot of things.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Awesome.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
Yeah, no, it was really neat. It was a full
circle moment, as you can imagine.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
For me, a lot of applause for you, No.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
Not for me, but oh from me. Yeah, but you know,
seeing Alex at this stage in her career received that
kind of an award, it is just incredible, incredibly gratifying
for me to see how far she's come. And then
to have our daughter and Jenny up there was pretty
neat too.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
It's all in the family. But Alex, I mean again,
looking out at that crowd where you I'm sure you
saw so many familiar faces and stars and you know,
probably people you're a fan of. To get that kind
of recognition for you at this stage of your career,
you're recently retired, you're doing a lot more in business
and media and content incredible advocacy. What was it like
to kind of be in that moment? Was it pretty surreal?
Speaker 4 (03:05):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (03:05):
It was.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
It was really incredible.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
I looked back to ten years ago when Abby Woonbox
stood on that stage with Peyton Manning and Kobe Bryant
and received that Icon Award, and I just looked up
to her for so many years, so to one to
your teammates one for ten years so to or however
many years, so to see her receive that award and
see everyone just applaud her and recognize her in the
way that I did, and then be in that position
(03:28):
ten years later. It was a little bit of a
surreal moment, but it was incredible and brought a lot
of my family along with me, so they got to
enjoy the night as well.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
That's fantastic. Well, let's talk like where do we start.
Let's talk about you are one of four co founders
of a company called Together, the people that make this
fine T shirt. And I will say too, it's a
very good T shirt. It's very well made, good quality.
There you got a good quality T shirt.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
You probably get lots of compliments too, I get.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
I mean, you know, people like at an airport, people
will you know, wave it. I mean, it really is
a conversation starter and it's and it's so good because
it is so true. But you are one of four
co founders of Together, Alex Morgan, Chloe Kim, who is
also an alumni of the sports and entertainment Breakfast Snowboarding
Snowboarding Champ, Simone Manual, and Sue Byrd again names that
(04:21):
don't need much introduction to sports fans. Together it's an
interesting company because you're doing a lot of different things.
But but front and center is representation in women's sports
at all levels, and I love you have it. There's
a there's a there's a slogan on the website that says,
legacy isn't just about wins and losses. You talk about
(04:41):
the ethos and really what what you're trying to do
and how you're going to measure success over time.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Absolutely, Actually, this was an idea that myself and Dan
came to the table to talk about many years ago
and eventually came into us launching the buzsiness in twenty
twenty one. We really wanted to create a community for
FEMA athletes, fans, people around the women's sports just atmosphere
(05:12):
and a real safe space and great community for people
to come together and support women in sport. And so
we've been able to do that over the last four years,
but it was really started as an idea what eight
or nine years ago.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Can you give me a for instance, I'd love to
talk to Dan about setting that up in the business.
Can you give me an example of something, something really
concrete that you're doing for women's sports. Is it supporting
young athletes?
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Yeah, So we work with brands to activate in the
women's sports space. We also do a lot of studio
work in either partnership with other media brands or production
companies or doing We just actually signed a deal with
Dear Media to ramp up our podcast categories. So we're
(06:06):
doing And then we are a space where we are
trusted by FEMA athletes and brands within the FEMA athletes,
within the women's sports space because it is a company
built by female athletes and for FEMA athletes, and we
have we want the voice coming from the FEMA athlete
(06:27):
completely unfiltered and uh and because of that, women come
to us when they want to highlight their retirement game.
You know brown as Stewart and her and her wife,
We were able to shoot the birth of their child,
you know, in the hospital room. So uh, it's it's
(06:49):
a lot of FEMA athletes coming to us and wanting
to highlight stories. And there are so many incredible stories
that go unrecognized and unheard and unread in the female
sports space that together is focusing.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
On now interesting twenty twenty one is you know, two
years before the kind of catalyst moment that has that
has activated a lot of what has come in the
last couple of years, which of course the NCAA Women's
Caitlin Clark really you know, getting out there and just
putting up points like people couldn't believe. Dan, what did
you learn in setting this company up again well before
(07:27):
this sort of current wave, What did you learn about
the market for women's sports and where the opportunity was
by helping them put this put this really interesting multifaceted
company together.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
Well, we've been in women's sports for two decades plus,
so I started my career with me and him, so
I go way back. But the reality is the great
thing about Together and Alex was that was during her
peak powers as a player, you know, and a lot
of athletes struggle with trying to figure out how to
(08:01):
manage their career and be the best at what they
do on the field on the court at the same
time put in the time, effort and work to build
their business outside of it. And so for me, it
was just really inspiring to see her take this idea
run with it, but also dedicate the amount of time
(08:22):
and effort that it took for us to go out
and find partners and build this company. So I think
it's it's rare that you have someone who can sort
of do all those things in the middle of you know,
in the prime of their career. But we were able
to We were able to get find some great partners,
and obviously with Sue and Simoon and Chloe, we had
(08:42):
a great group, some of whom are waspering clients too,
which was helpful. But the reality is is that it
was not about Wasserman. It was about Alex's vision, and
I was just being there to help her realize.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
That what do you have benchmarks? Like are you are there?
Are there things that you're looking for in terms of
whether it be salary, whether it be you know, the
amount of time for women's sports on television, which has
grown exponentially in these last twenty four months. What are
you looking for to say in five years time, you know,
this is where we moved the ball. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Well, one of the one of kind of those markers
when we started the company was that women's sports got
four percent of the total attention in the sports landscape,
and we wanted to push that number. It's now sixteen percent.
Next year it might be twenty percent. We need to
keep getting it up to way.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Higher than that.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
But I feel like together is taking it, taking holding,
is taking accountability and making sure that that number continues
to grow. So that's one of the biggest markers for us.
But just looking back, I wanted to also note about
our vision four Together initially was Dan has been in
(09:58):
the women's sports space for over two decades, Like he said,
so there was no other way. There was no better
way to build a business than with him in women's sports.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
He was.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Advocating and representing female athletes before it was cool to
represent female athletes, before women's sports was cool, before it
was a big business. So now seeing where we are
now with Together, seeing the fact that Together is profitable
is a great moment for us in the growth of
this company.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
What would you say, and because I know you were
producing content, you produce the docuseries Surf Girls with Hello Shunshine.
What is your driver that what is driving the profitability?
Profitability after four years, that's pretty impressive.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
Yeah, I think, well, first of all, I think the
main driver is the community. You know, when you have
a community that realizes you show up every day and
it's real and the authenticity is there, I think that's
what you build off of. We caught fire with Watches
women's sports, which meant so many things. Yet it was
(11:05):
such a simple message. So the merch piece of it
was not necessarily front and center to what we were building,
but it ended up being a nice exciting opportunity.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Tell us the origin story of this shirt because it
just sort of it just seemed to me that it
just sort of popped into my social feed and I said,
you know, must have like as soon as I probably
possibly could tell me the origin story of this phrase
in this shirt. I really think that's what happened with
a lot of people.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
And it was a simple phrase that we were you know,
merchandise isn't a big part of our company, but it's
you know, it is in a way a way for
together to continue to create revenue, but also also be
something that can bring the women's sports community together.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
As you say, the community factor.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Yes, So putting that on a T shirt, we just decided,
let's put this on a T shirt, Let's put it
out there, and within twenty four hours we had sold
out all of our inventory. We didn't want to sit
on any inventory, so we didn't we didn't go big
with that.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
Initially, we had to keep ordering.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
We had a hoodie then and eventually Nike came knocking
as they were a long term partner of ours since
the launch of Together, and now Nike is Nike in Together,
working together with the ever everyone watches women's sports T
shirt and they are getting out there globally. So now
(12:29):
I believe if anyone wants to go online and purchase one,
it is available.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Well, that's a pretty good marketing partner in Nike. Dan
tell Us drilled down in terms of you know, and
I don't want to overstate that everything changed in twenty
twenty three, but it was a moment and it did
catalyze a lot of discussion, and it came on a
lot of discussion of parity and gender equity from the
incredible work that you and Diana and others have done.
So what's changed, And let's call it the last five
(12:54):
years ten years for women's sports, more dollars have brands
recked nice that there is just so much potential here
versus the you know, extremely high priced compared or in
addition to the extremely high priced sports that are you know,
established on television. What's really changed?
Speaker 4 (13:14):
Yeah, I think well, we've always known that there was
an audience there because we'd have these tempole moments for
years that would capture especially in the United States, but
even globally sort of the hearts and minds of sports fans,
but also society at large.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
World Cup we all remember.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
Absolutely, I mean Brandy and Mia and Jewels and those
guys in ninety nine and then Alex's group, you know,
equal pay and we're winning it. Prior to that, that
had taken so long, but it was every four years.
You know, there's an Olympics every four years. It wasn't
like day in and day out, and so the leagues
went through their struggle, whether it was basketball or soccer
(13:56):
or others. And so we knew that that audience was
there if we could tell the stories, and quite frankly,
people needed to start to invest in it, just like
they did on the men's side for years and lost
lots of money along the way. So and it takes
special people, quite frankly, athletes like Alex, like Abby or Mia,
and you know, Caitlyn came along and was as extraordinary
(14:22):
and that run to two straight national championship games alongside
like some fun rivalries with like an Angel and other
people like it just captured people's attention and brands also
started to realize, like it's good business, and you know,
we have at the collective, we do a lot of
research and analytics and start to like explore what the
(14:43):
women's sports fan and consumer actually looks like. And there's
a lot of buying power there. And I think people
just started to wake up when they really dug into
the numbers that it was going to move the needle
for them as companies. And I also think and alex
was a part of this twenty eleven World Cup, but
(15:03):
that was like social media Twitter, you know, Insta after that,
Like that was a big part of the growth of
women's sports because fans didn't need the networks to show
up every day reminding them that there was women's sports,
Like they could follow their heroes every day on social.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
And people could see writ large that there were enormous
communities and especially because so many women had to leave
the US, there are actually to play in overseas leagues.
There's actually an international audience for a lot of women's sports.
And it's I know, it's been a one big thing
has been that you know, fewer athletes just to make it,
just to make a living, have to do that. There's
(15:42):
more and WNBA players, more women's soccer players that can
stay here because of you know, in no small part
to the work that you did to just raise the
general awareness of gender equity. Before you all started talking
about it, literally a couple of years ago, nobody even
thought that, gee, that why there would be this gigantic differential.
(16:03):
Not that there isn't a differential between women and men's pay,
but it was so it was so egregious in this area,
and it took a lot of guts for you in
the middle of your career, in your prime playing days,
as Dan said, to really stand up and say this
isn't right.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Yeah, we filed a lawsuit against our employer, against US
Soccer in twenty nineteen, in March, we had a World
Cup to play in June.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Raise your hand if you've ever sued your employer. I
have never sued my Blair. I mean, this really is
quite a bit.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
In the middle of trying to win a World championship.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Yeah, it was like another full time job, but I
feel like it bonded us even more. And winning a
World Cup was going to put us on like a
stage and set us apart in a way where you know,
they couldn't close the door, They couldn't quiet us, and
that's exactly what we did. It took until twenty twenty
(16:53):
two for US to sign equal contracts with US Soccer,
So it was it was a long and drawn out fight,
legal battle, but we were committed and I feel like
the effects of that we're still seeing today in and
out of the sport.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
What generally, I know there's a broad question, but what generally,
for the excuse me, the National Women's Soccer League, which
is really taking root, what generally do you feel like
they are you know, obviously being a women's league, but
do you think that they're aware of these issues? Are
they Are they aware that there's a need to continually
kind of raise the bar and get people to get
(17:32):
the women to where the MLS soccer soccer players are.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Yeah, well, I mean there's a lot of aspects to that.
We're looking at the valuations and now you know owners
coming in and paying I don't know what what Bob
and Willow paid for Angel City over to I think.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
The Biger head of Disney and will Obey his wife. Yeah,
the owners are majority owners of the Angel f C Club,
which has had a huge impact here you.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
I want to say it was potentially two hundred or over.
San Diego Wave also coming in over one hundred and
three four or five years ago. Those teams were sold
for two to five million. So you just look at
those numbers and you look at the entry point for
(18:20):
four investors wanting to come in, and I think it's
a lot better of a deal than coming into a
men's league that has been operating for fifty or one
hundred years. We're only in our fifteenth season of the
NWSL and to see the growth just in a short
period of time, So you look at, well, who's the
driving factor of it? It comes back to the players.
(18:42):
They're the ones grinding, playing, creating the product on the field,
drawing the ten twenty thirty thousand fans. So naturally you
look at salaries. They have to go up or players
are going to find elsewhere to play. They're going to
go to Europe or wherever it is to find the
best compensation, to find the best value that they deserve.
(19:03):
So that's been something that I had fought for as
a player. Now as an investor in the San Diego Wave,
I'm on the other side of it, per se. But
but but seeing it from a player's perspective, I know
exactly I can give valuable you know, advice and information
(19:26):
to ownership groups about where the player's perspective lies and
how to keep our best talent here in the US
and how to keep the end to be sell the
best league in the world.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
I'd love your perspective on because because yes, Alex, you
just recently became a part owner of the San Diego Wave,
one of the National Women's Soccer League major teams, and
that to me that that's got to be, like, you know,
for a team that you used to play for, that's
got to be a little bit like Lucille Ball being
under contract at r KO and then twenty years later
(19:57):
coming back and buying the studio. Pretty cool. But I'd
love to, you know, talk about sort of the entrepreneurial
opportunities that are available and including team ownership, which for
years it's much more common now, but for years was
utterly unattainable for male athletes, let alone let alone female athletes.
What has change to allow that to happen.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
Well, I think that the value in the business has changed,
and I think you also have real stars who have
business acumen because they've been forced to really dig in
and build their own businesses along the way, and I
think that's super exciting. I sort of touched on it before,
(20:40):
but like Alex has always been incredibly involved and excited
to do the work off the field without it affecting
what she was doing on it. And so that goes
also to sort of your next career too. You know,
you can't start planning or talking about out what's next
(21:01):
after you retire. You know, that had to happen a
few years ago when we didn't know when it was
going to happen, but we knew that at some point
it would, so understanding like where the areas of opportunity are,
what's exciting to her and to her peers, and certainly
investing in either other companies that care about your sport
(21:22):
or women's sports, or health and wellness or whatever it
may be. Or actually the league was something certainly on
our radar, and it was exciting to kind of look
ahead and put the pieces together potentially.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
And again for you to take all that expertise and
channel it now in a different way to not only
helping to bring a team together and to help their performance,
but also you know, grow a business that's got to
be pretty exciting. And I just want to say, by
the way, Alex also has two young kids, including a
three month old.
Speaker 4 (21:52):
Yeah, well there's the mom thing too, the mom thing
the most important thing, right.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Yes, absolutely got to to two nights away from the kids.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
So I'm well rested.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Yes, p's break let me. I mean, we talked about
the San Diego wave. Let's talk about the Alex Morgan Foundation,
which is on top of everything else we've talked about.
You have a philanthropic effort. What is your area of
focus for that and where do you see the need
for that kind of impact.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Over the last three or four years, me and Dan
started talking about building out my foundation. What was important
to me. Dan has a lot of experience with helping
me build her foundation and helping her throughout the last ten.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
Fifteen years, twenty five, twenty.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Five years, so he was a perfect person to go
to and say, Okay, let's dig into really what you're
passionate about, how we want to activate moving to San.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
Diego three or four years ago.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
And being a part of the wave, knowing the long
term goal was to eventually be a part of the
wave in a business aspect, which I was able to
do over the last couple of months with investment. We
started the Alex Morgan Foundation about to UH two years
ago now, and UH it has three pillars. The first
(23:13):
pillars focuses on sports equity and then we go into
creating opportunity and confidence for girls using sport as a platform.
And the last one, I'm you know that's near and
dear to my heart, is supporting supporting moms, new moms
in particular when moms are at their most you know,
vulnerable stage and need way more resources and support than
(23:37):
we are given, you know, both you know, with work
and at home, so to be able to activate in
the community. One of the last, one of the most
recent campaigns that we did was our Coaching Moms initiative
where we identified moms who coach at universities around the
(23:58):
country and helped get them a child's.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
Care grant or yea, a grant to be.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Able to use that for childcare just as a little
support for them and creating awareness to moms that are
you know, working day in and day out. And Dan's wife,
Jenny is actually the perfect example of it, and she
I believe had it gave birth and was back on
(24:28):
the field coaching within to within ten days, and that's
after a C section and strapped with your son on
her chest.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
But yeah, she's a beast.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
So we took a lot of advice from Jenny in
creating that campaign. But that's something that we've activated in
San Diego and then gone nationwide with a Coaching Mom's initiative.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
I think, I mean, it's just the level of activity
and what you've been able to accomplish in a short
time with your business, with your foundation. It's absolutely incredible.
Really really thank thank you as a sports fan, I
thank you for your work. As a woman, I thank
you for your work, and I really also thank you
for taking the time for this conversation.
Speaker 4 (25:07):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Thank you everyone. Thanks thanks for listening. Be sure to
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We love to hear from listeners. Please go to Variety
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Business newsletter, and don't forget to tune in next week
(25:28):
for another episode of Strictly Business.
Welcome to Strictly Business, Variety's weekly podcast featuring conversations with
industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. I'm
Cynthia Lyttleton, co editor in chief of Variety Today. My
guests are Alex Morgan and Dan Leavey. Alex is a
soccer superstar. She recently retired from her professional career after
(00:28):
two Women's World Cup wins and two Olympic gold medals. Today,
she's a partner in the women's sports platform Together. That's
the company that markets the great T shirt that declares
everybody watches women's sports. Alex also recently became a part
owner of the San Diego Wave, the team that she
previously played for. Dan is her business partner who works
(00:52):
for the Big LA based sports agency Wasserman, and he
works for the unit known as the Collective that is
focused on advancing women's sports. The three of us sat
down on July seventeenth at Variety's annual Sports and Entertainment
Breakfast event held in West Hollywood. Alex and Dan joined
our event the morning after Alex was honored by ESPN
(01:14):
at the sb Awards with its Icon Award. That's where
our conversation starts. Couldn't be two more people that are
more in the thick of what we're trying to really
focus on here today, which is that nexus of sports
media entertainment, and I would add entrepreneurship, which is quite
a you know, which is quite just such a boom.
(01:36):
Right now, we're really going to talk about that, But
let's start with last night. It was a big moment.
Sports Royalty was at the Dolby Theater. Alex, what was
that moment for you, like having receiving the Icon Award
with Diana Tarassi, an incredible fearce WNBA player who just
recently retired as you did, recently from soccer.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Yeah, she had an incredible, really long, extravagant career, lots
of goal medals, WNBA Championship, MVPs. So it was great
to share the stage with her. Also, Dan's wife and
daughter were honored as well. They were up for Best
Team as his wife coaches a UNC women's lacrosse team
and his daughter plays on that team.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
So, oh, we were there celebrating a lot of things.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Awesome.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
Yeah, no, it was really neat. It was a full
circle moment, as you can imagine.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
For me, a lot of applause for you, No.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
Not for me, but oh from me. Yeah, but you know,
seeing Alex at this stage in her career received that
kind of an award, it is just incredible, incredibly gratifying
for me to see how far she's come. And then
to have our daughter and Jenny up there was pretty
neat too.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
It's all in the family. But Alex, I mean again,
looking out at that crowd where you I'm sure you
saw so many familiar faces and stars and you know,
probably people you're a fan of. To get that kind
of recognition for you at this stage of your career,
you're recently retired, you're doing a lot more in business
and media and content incredible advocacy. What was it like
to kind of be in that moment? Was it pretty surreal?
Speaker 4 (03:05):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (03:05):
It was.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
It was really incredible.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
I looked back to ten years ago when Abby Woonbox
stood on that stage with Peyton Manning and Kobe Bryant
and received that Icon Award, and I just looked up
to her for so many years, so to one to
your teammates one for ten years so to or however
many years, so to see her receive that award and
see everyone just applaud her and recognize her in the
way that I did, and then be in that position
(03:28):
ten years later. It was a little bit of a
surreal moment, but it was incredible and brought a lot
of my family along with me, so they got to
enjoy the night as well.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
That's fantastic. Well, let's talk like where do we start.
Let's talk about you are one of four co founders
of a company called Together, the people that make this
fine T shirt. And I will say too, it's a
very good T shirt. It's very well made, good quality.
There you got a good quality T shirt.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
You probably get lots of compliments too, I get.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
I mean, you know, people like at an airport, people
will you know, wave it. I mean, it really is
a conversation starter and it's and it's so good because
it is so true. But you are one of four
co founders of Together, Alex Morgan, Chloe Kim, who is
also an alumni of the sports and entertainment Breakfast Snowboarding
Snowboarding Champ, Simone Manual, and Sue Byrd again names that
(04:21):
don't need much introduction to sports fans. Together it's an
interesting company because you're doing a lot of different things.
But but front and center is representation in women's sports
at all levels, and I love you have it. There's
a there's a there's a slogan on the website that says,
legacy isn't just about wins and losses. You talk about
(04:41):
the ethos and really what what you're trying to do
and how you're going to measure success over time.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Absolutely, Actually, this was an idea that myself and Dan
came to the table to talk about many years ago
and eventually came into us launching the buzsiness in twenty
twenty one. We really wanted to create a community for
FEMA athletes, fans, people around the women's sports just atmosphere
(05:12):
and a real safe space and great community for people
to come together and support women in sport. And so
we've been able to do that over the last four years,
but it was really started as an idea what eight
or nine years ago.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Can you give me a for instance, I'd love to
talk to Dan about setting that up in the business.
Can you give me an example of something, something really
concrete that you're doing for women's sports. Is it supporting
young athletes?
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Yeah, So we work with brands to activate in the
women's sports space. We also do a lot of studio
work in either partnership with other media brands or production
companies or doing We just actually signed a deal with
Dear Media to ramp up our podcast categories. So we're
(06:06):
doing And then we are a space where we are
trusted by FEMA athletes and brands within the FEMA athletes,
within the women's sports space because it is a company
built by female athletes and for FEMA athletes, and we
have we want the voice coming from the FEMA athlete
(06:27):
completely unfiltered and uh and because of that, women come
to us when they want to highlight their retirement game.
You know brown as Stewart and her and her wife,
We were able to shoot the birth of their child,
you know, in the hospital room. So uh, it's it's
(06:49):
a lot of FEMA athletes coming to us and wanting
to highlight stories. And there are so many incredible stories
that go unrecognized and unheard and unread in the female
sports space that together is focusing.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
On now interesting twenty twenty one is you know, two
years before the kind of catalyst moment that has that
has activated a lot of what has come in the
last couple of years, which of course the NCAA Women's
Caitlin Clark really you know, getting out there and just
putting up points like people couldn't believe. Dan, what did
you learn in setting this company up again well before
(07:27):
this sort of current wave, What did you learn about
the market for women's sports and where the opportunity was
by helping them put this put this really interesting multifaceted
company together.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
Well, we've been in women's sports for two decades plus,
so I started my career with me and him, so
I go way back. But the reality is the great
thing about Together and Alex was that was during her
peak powers as a player, you know, and a lot
of athletes struggle with trying to figure out how to
(08:01):
manage their career and be the best at what they
do on the field on the court at the same
time put in the time, effort and work to build
their business outside of it. And so for me, it
was just really inspiring to see her take this idea
run with it, but also dedicate the amount of time
(08:22):
and effort that it took for us to go out
and find partners and build this company. So I think
it's it's rare that you have someone who can sort
of do all those things in the middle of you know,
in the prime of their career. But we were able
to We were able to get find some great partners,
and obviously with Sue and Simoon and Chloe, we had
(08:42):
a great group, some of whom are waspering clients too,
which was helpful. But the reality is is that it
was not about Wasserman. It was about Alex's vision, and
I was just being there to help her realize.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
That what do you have benchmarks? Like are you are there?
Are there things that you're looking for in terms of
whether it be salary, whether it be you know, the
amount of time for women's sports on television, which has
grown exponentially in these last twenty four months. What are
you looking for to say in five years time, you know,
this is where we moved the ball. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Well, one of the one of kind of those markers
when we started the company was that women's sports got
four percent of the total attention in the sports landscape,
and we wanted to push that number. It's now sixteen percent.
Next year it might be twenty percent. We need to
keep getting it up to way.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Higher than that.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
But I feel like together is taking it, taking holding,
is taking accountability and making sure that that number continues
to grow. So that's one of the biggest markers for us.
But just looking back, I wanted to also note about
our vision four Together initially was Dan has been in
(09:58):
the women's sports space for over two decades, Like he said,
so there was no other way. There was no better
way to build a business than with him in women's sports.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
He was.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Advocating and representing female athletes before it was cool to
represent female athletes, before women's sports was cool, before it
was a big business. So now seeing where we are
now with Together, seeing the fact that Together is profitable
is a great moment for us in the growth of
this company.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
What would you say, and because I know you were
producing content, you produce the docuseries Surf Girls with Hello Shunshine.
What is your driver that what is driving the profitability?
Profitability after four years, that's pretty impressive.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
Yeah, I think, well, first of all, I think the
main driver is the community. You know, when you have
a community that realizes you show up every day and
it's real and the authenticity is there, I think that's
what you build off of. We caught fire with Watches
women's sports, which meant so many things. Yet it was
(11:05):
such a simple message. So the merch piece of it
was not necessarily front and center to what we were building,
but it ended up being a nice exciting opportunity.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Tell us the origin story of this shirt because it
just sort of it just seemed to me that it
just sort of popped into my social feed and I said,
you know, must have like as soon as I probably
possibly could tell me the origin story of this phrase
in this shirt. I really think that's what happened with
a lot of people.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
And it was a simple phrase that we were you know,
merchandise isn't a big part of our company, but it's
you know, it is in a way a way for
together to continue to create revenue, but also also be
something that can bring the women's sports community together.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
As you say, the community factor.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Yes, So putting that on a T shirt, we just decided,
let's put this on a T shirt, Let's put it
out there, and within twenty four hours we had sold
out all of our inventory. We didn't want to sit
on any inventory, so we didn't we didn't go big
with that.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
Initially, we had to keep ordering.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
We had a hoodie then and eventually Nike came knocking
as they were a long term partner of ours since
the launch of Together, and now Nike is Nike in Together,
working together with the ever everyone watches women's sports T
shirt and they are getting out there globally. So now
(12:29):
I believe if anyone wants to go online and purchase one,
it is available.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Well, that's a pretty good marketing partner in Nike. Dan
tell Us drilled down in terms of you know, and
I don't want to overstate that everything changed in twenty
twenty three, but it was a moment and it did
catalyze a lot of discussion, and it came on a
lot of discussion of parity and gender equity from the
incredible work that you and Diana and others have done.
So what's changed, And let's call it the last five
(12:54):
years ten years for women's sports, more dollars have brands
recked nice that there is just so much potential here
versus the you know, extremely high priced compared or in
addition to the extremely high priced sports that are you know,
established on television. What's really changed?
Speaker 4 (13:14):
Yeah, I think well, we've always known that there was
an audience there because we'd have these tempole moments for
years that would capture especially in the United States, but
even globally sort of the hearts and minds of sports fans,
but also society at large.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
World Cup we all remember.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
Absolutely, I mean Brandy and Mia and Jewels and those
guys in ninety nine and then Alex's group, you know,
equal pay and we're winning it. Prior to that, that
had taken so long, but it was every four years.
You know, there's an Olympics every four years. It wasn't
like day in and day out, and so the leagues
went through their struggle, whether it was basketball or soccer
(13:56):
or others. And so we knew that that audience was
there if we could tell the stories, and quite frankly,
people needed to start to invest in it, just like
they did on the men's side for years and lost
lots of money along the way. So and it takes
special people, quite frankly, athletes like Alex, like Abby or Mia,
and you know, Caitlyn came along and was as extraordinary
(14:22):
and that run to two straight national championship games alongside
like some fun rivalries with like an Angel and other
people like it just captured people's attention and brands also
started to realize, like it's good business, and you know,
we have at the collective, we do a lot of
research and analytics and start to like explore what the
(14:43):
women's sports fan and consumer actually looks like. And there's
a lot of buying power there. And I think people
just started to wake up when they really dug into
the numbers that it was going to move the needle
for them as companies. And I also think and alex
was a part of this twenty eleven World Cup, but
(15:03):
that was like social media Twitter, you know, Insta after that,
Like that was a big part of the growth of
women's sports because fans didn't need the networks to show
up every day reminding them that there was women's sports,
Like they could follow their heroes every day on social.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
And people could see writ large that there were enormous
communities and especially because so many women had to leave
the US, there are actually to play in overseas leagues.
There's actually an international audience for a lot of women's sports.
And it's I know, it's been a one big thing
has been that you know, fewer athletes just to make it,
just to make a living, have to do that. There's
(15:42):
more and WNBA players, more women's soccer players that can
stay here because of you know, in no small part
to the work that you did to just raise the
general awareness of gender equity. Before you all started talking
about it, literally a couple of years ago, nobody even
thought that, gee, that why there would be this gigantic differential.
(16:03):
Not that there isn't a differential between women and men's pay,
but it was so it was so egregious in this area,
and it took a lot of guts for you in
the middle of your career, in your prime playing days,
as Dan said, to really stand up and say this
isn't right.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Yeah, we filed a lawsuit against our employer, against US
Soccer in twenty nineteen, in March, we had a World
Cup to play in June.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Raise your hand if you've ever sued your employer. I
have never sued my Blair. I mean, this really is
quite a bit.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
In the middle of trying to win a World championship.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Yeah, it was like another full time job, but I
feel like it bonded us even more. And winning a
World Cup was going to put us on like a
stage and set us apart in a way where you know,
they couldn't close the door, They couldn't quiet us, and
that's exactly what we did. It took until twenty twenty
(16:53):
two for US to sign equal contracts with US Soccer,
So it was it was a long and drawn out fight,
legal battle, but we were committed and I feel like
the effects of that we're still seeing today in and
out of the sport.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
What generally, I know there's a broad question, but what generally,
for the excuse me, the National Women's Soccer League, which
is really taking root, what generally do you feel like
they are you know, obviously being a women's league, but
do you think that they're aware of these issues? Are
they Are they aware that there's a need to continually
kind of raise the bar and get people to get
(17:32):
the women to where the MLS soccer soccer players are.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Yeah, well, I mean there's a lot of aspects to that.
We're looking at the valuations and now you know owners
coming in and paying I don't know what what Bob
and Willow paid for Angel City over to I think.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
The Biger head of Disney and will Obey his wife. Yeah,
the owners are majority owners of the Angel f C Club,
which has had a huge impact here you.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
I want to say it was potentially two hundred or over.
San Diego Wave also coming in over one hundred and
three four or five years ago. Those teams were sold
for two to five million. So you just look at
those numbers and you look at the entry point for
(18:20):
four investors wanting to come in, and I think it's
a lot better of a deal than coming into a
men's league that has been operating for fifty or one
hundred years. We're only in our fifteenth season of the
NWSL and to see the growth just in a short
period of time, So you look at, well, who's the
driving factor of it? It comes back to the players.
(18:42):
They're the ones grinding, playing, creating the product on the field,
drawing the ten twenty thirty thousand fans. So naturally you
look at salaries. They have to go up or players
are going to find elsewhere to play. They're going to
go to Europe or wherever it is to find the
best compensation, to find the best value that they deserve.
(19:03):
So that's been something that I had fought for as
a player. Now as an investor in the San Diego Wave,
I'm on the other side of it, per se. But
but but seeing it from a player's perspective, I know
exactly I can give valuable you know, advice and information
(19:26):
to ownership groups about where the player's perspective lies and
how to keep our best talent here in the US
and how to keep the end to be sell the
best league in the world.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
I'd love your perspective on because because yes, Alex, you
just recently became a part owner of the San Diego Wave,
one of the National Women's Soccer League major teams, and
that to me that that's got to be, like, you know,
for a team that you used to play for, that's
got to be a little bit like Lucille Ball being
under contract at r KO and then twenty years later
(19:57):
coming back and buying the studio. Pretty cool. But I'd
love to, you know, talk about sort of the entrepreneurial
opportunities that are available and including team ownership, which for
years it's much more common now, but for years was
utterly unattainable for male athletes, let alone let alone female athletes.
What has change to allow that to happen.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
Well, I think that the value in the business has changed,
and I think you also have real stars who have
business acumen because they've been forced to really dig in
and build their own businesses along the way, and I
think that's super exciting. I sort of touched on it before,
(20:40):
but like Alex has always been incredibly involved and excited
to do the work off the field without it affecting
what she was doing on it. And so that goes
also to sort of your next career too. You know,
you can't start planning or talking about out what's next
(21:01):
after you retire. You know, that had to happen a
few years ago when we didn't know when it was
going to happen, but we knew that at some point
it would, so understanding like where the areas of opportunity are,
what's exciting to her and to her peers, and certainly
investing in either other companies that care about your sport
(21:22):
or women's sports, or health and wellness or whatever it
may be. Or actually the league was something certainly on
our radar, and it was exciting to kind of look
ahead and put the pieces together potentially.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
And again for you to take all that expertise and
channel it now in a different way to not only
helping to bring a team together and to help their performance,
but also you know, grow a business that's got to
be pretty exciting. And I just want to say, by
the way, Alex also has two young kids, including a
three month old.
Speaker 4 (21:52):
Yeah, well there's the mom thing too, the mom thing
the most important thing, right.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Yes, absolutely got to to two nights away from the kids.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
So I'm well rested.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Yes, p's break let me. I mean, we talked about
the San Diego wave. Let's talk about the Alex Morgan Foundation,
which is on top of everything else we've talked about.
You have a philanthropic effort. What is your area of
focus for that and where do you see the need
for that kind of impact.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Over the last three or four years, me and Dan
started talking about building out my foundation. What was important
to me. Dan has a lot of experience with helping
me build her foundation and helping her throughout the last ten.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
Fifteen years, twenty five, twenty.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Five years, so he was a perfect person to go
to and say, Okay, let's dig into really what you're
passionate about, how we want to activate moving to San.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
Diego three or four years ago.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
And being a part of the wave, knowing the long
term goal was to eventually be a part of the
wave in a business aspect, which I was able to
do over the last couple of months with investment. We
started the Alex Morgan Foundation about to UH two years
ago now, and UH it has three pillars. The first
(23:13):
pillars focuses on sports equity and then we go into
creating opportunity and confidence for girls using sport as a platform.
And the last one, I'm you know that's near and
dear to my heart, is supporting supporting moms, new moms
in particular when moms are at their most you know,
vulnerable stage and need way more resources and support than
(23:37):
we are given, you know, both you know, with work
and at home, so to be able to activate in
the community. One of the last, one of the most
recent campaigns that we did was our Coaching Moms initiative
where we identified moms who coach at universities around the
(23:58):
country and helped get them a child's.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
Care grant or yea, a grant to be.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Able to use that for childcare just as a little
support for them and creating awareness to moms that are
you know, working day in and day out. And Dan's wife,
Jenny is actually the perfect example of it, and she
I believe had it gave birth and was back on
(24:28):
the field coaching within to within ten days, and that's
after a C section and strapped with your son on
her chest.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
But yeah, she's a beast.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
So we took a lot of advice from Jenny in
creating that campaign. But that's something that we've activated in
San Diego and then gone nationwide with a Coaching Mom's initiative.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
I think, I mean, it's just the level of activity
and what you've been able to accomplish in a short
time with your business, with your foundation. It's absolutely incredible.
Really really thank thank you as a sports fan, I
thank you for your work. As a woman, I thank
you for your work, and I really also thank you
for taking the time for this conversation.
Speaker 4 (25:07):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Thank you everyone. Thanks thanks for listening. Be sure to
leave us a review at the podcast platform of your choice.
We love to hear from listeners. Please go to Variety
dot com and sign up for the free weekly Strictly
Business newsletter, and don't forget to tune in next week
(25:28):
for another episode of Strictly Business.
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