August 14, 2025 • 41 mins
In this episode of The Deal, Alex Rodriguez and Jason Kelly talk about the state of baseball (including the sorry state of the Yankees) and break down Paramount's massive new deal with the UFC. Then, they speak with Allyson Felix about how she parlayed her legendary track and field career into unexpected activism in the world of business. Felix tells the hosts why it was important for her to stand up for mothers' rights in her fight against Nike and how speaking up – and changing the company's policies – ignited an entrepreneurial zeal to change the business of shoes (via her company Saysh) and talent management (her firm Always Alpha).
You can also watch this interview on the Bloomberg Podcasts YouTube page.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio News.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome back to the Deal. I'm your host, Jason Kelly,
back with my co host Alex Rodriguez. Not just back
in the same room. I love it. We're in the
same room together. You're here in New York. We're in
our fancy studio here at Bloomberg Headquarters. And very excited
about today's episode, a conversation with Alison Felix. But before
we get to that, I want to talk some baseball.
A couple weekends ago, I tuned in. I wanted to
(00:34):
watch the little motorcar racing. I knew you were at
Bristol rain out, so you gotta stretch, You gotta fill
some time, yep. But the best stretching was you and
mister Derek Cheeter, a couple former Yankees, chopping it up
about the state of this team. I live here in
New York. It ain't good, bro.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Yeah, the irony about that. By the way, you give
Major League Baseball Rob Man for a lot of credit.
Tony Clark, the head of a union for Major League Baseball.
These are kind of chances they need to do emerging properties,
as Fox has with Speedway and with Major League baseball
and you had almost one hundred thousand people there. It
was a phenomenal effort. You can't control the weather, so
we'll give them a pass. But as a result of that, Jace,
(01:13):
we had an hour pregame show and that turned into
like two and a half three hours, and we're like,
what are we going to talk about? And of course, inevitably,
the New York teams have been struggling now for about
two and a half months, and you know, the Mets
are somewhere around three hundred and forty million dollars payroll.
The Yankees are hovering writer three hundred plus and the
results are not there. I think both teams in a
(01:33):
weird way have benefited from struggling at the same time,
especially the Mets. Oh my god, because it's still a
Yankees town and the Yankees have been awful and it's
tough to watch right now.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Yeah, I mean, you know, we talk in the show
all the time about obviously the business of sports. We
think about payrolls, we think about investment, we talk to
owners all the time. Meanwhile, out of Milwaukee, our friend
Mark Attanasio, the Brewers are crushing it. They're sub one
hundred million I believe in payroll, and they have the
(02:05):
best record.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
And they do it in a beautiful way. Jason. They
win two ways. They either win the game or you'll
lose the game. But they'll force you to get twenty
seven outs and they'll force you to give them thirty
because they put the ball in play, they take the
extra base. They have an old school manager in Murphy
who has a beautiful story. By the way, he recruited
me when he was at Notre Dame and Arizona State.
Then he went seven years as a bench coach to
(02:28):
Greg Council, who's now got a big contract with the Cubs,
and he's a sixty six year old guy. He calls
it as he sees it, calls his players out and
not saying that's always the best way. But there's an
accountability in Milwaukee that's pretty awesome and that fan base.
I cannot wait hopefully they advance because that's a fun
stadium and it's a great team to cover.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Right and you'll obviously be covering with Fox the playoffs
again this year, so looking forward to that in October.
So I would ask you to put on a different hat,
which is your owner's hat, and when you look at
making these decisions that now you and Mark Lurry have
to make. How do you look at something like, Okay,
you've got these teams led by very smart people. Steve Cohen,
(03:07):
who owns the Mets, is not a dumb guy. He
obviously is very willing to invest. Mark Adnascio also not
a dumb guy. He's investing literally, you know less than
a third of what Steve Cohen is. As you think
about those types of decisions, what do you take away
when you see payroll and performance not being correlated.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Well, for one, it doesn't matter if the Yankees and
Mets of the Dodgers with these huge revenue I mean
the Dodgers are going to do over a billion dollars
in revenue. That is unbelievable. Those are NFL numbers plus right,
that's more than you know ninety percent of NFL teams
are making. So that's that's phenomenal. But the problem is
you can't have contracts that are just dead ducks. And
what I mean by that, you take three contracts with
(03:48):
the New York Yankees. You have Aaron Hicks, Marcus Stroman,
and you have DJ Lemayhew. Those three players make more
money combined than Bryce Harper and Kyle Schuber, who may
be the nationally GUEMBA p for the Phillies. Issus, you're
with forty two home runs. You cannot have that type
of dead money. So all of a sudden salaries around
three hundred million dollars for the Yankees. Now you're it's
really a two twenty. Yeah, So it's a little misleading.
(04:10):
So you got to stay away from the big bombs.
If you look at the Brewers contract, every contract's in
the money, meaning if you're paying a player two million,
he's paying like a five million dollar player. If you're
paying someone five million, they're playing like a ten million
dollar player. The opposite is true for a lot of
the Mets contracts and the Yankee contracts. So you got
to stay away from the big bombs. And then the
other thing is you got to be a contrarian. And
the Brewers are playing like the nineteen eighties Brewers, the
(04:31):
nineteen nineties Brewers. They're valuing contact, they're valuing going deeper
into games, they're valuing catching the ball, putting pressure on
the ball. I mean, this whole concept of you know,
the three outcome resulting that you strike out you walk,
your hit a home run, I think is not only
boring in a bad product, it's just not sustainable. The
other part is when you have pictures like the Yankees
and the Mets that go four and a third, five
(04:53):
and a third, you're asking twelve, thirteen, fourteen outs out
of the bullpen every night. It's just not sustainable. So
I'd like to see the Yankees go back into rewarding pictures,
go into six or seventh inning and having two or
three pitchers closed out the game, not seven pictures. Too
many things can go wrong.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Yeah, the talent management piece of it is so interesting
to me. I was reading a story I believe in
the Wall Street Journal just recently that was talking about
the Tigers, another like unbelievably high performing team, and one
of the things they've talked about was the third base
coach essentially went to the team was like, stop lollygagging
around the bases, go let's go. Like that was literally
(05:28):
the quotes like let's go so when you're on base,
like air on the side of like going for it.
And that didn't just change their run scoring, but it
changed their mentality of like, we're a team that goes
for it. Which I thought was such a fascinating insight
because we can talk about dollars and cents all day long,
but you know this as a player. You know this
is an owner, you know this is an entrepreneur. Part
(05:48):
of it's about motivating the people around you, which I
think is just a fascinating aspect. These are human beings.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
I think that's what said Jason. I think motivated. And
also it's leadership and it's accountability. And we have kids,
both of us kids, and when they were ten years old,
if you say, hey, your curfew's ten o'clock and they
get there at ten thirty every night and nothing happens,
well they're gonna be there at ten thirty eleven by
the time, they'll be there at midnight and nothing's gonna happen.
When someone like jazz and nothing against jazz, he makes
(06:15):
a brutal base run, a mistake, SODA's Wells walks off
the bag in an X rating game with two outs
and he gets tagged for the third out. You have
to come sit on the bench, You have to sit
a point that that type of behavior. We will allow
physical mistakes with the right intentionality, trying to make the
right impact in the game, no problem. Those are rewarded
as long as they're aggressive and they're thoughtful. When you're
(06:36):
just forgetting the outs or you'd make just a bonehead play,
you got to come sit on it maybe a day
or two. And that sends a message to everyone, and
those kind of things are not happening. So I think
sometimes Murphy, we talked about the sixty six year old
manager for the Milwaukee Brewers. He'll sit you on the
bench right Nowah, and that needs to happen more.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Yeah. Interesting. So before we leave baseball, one unfortunate shout
out is your old teammate Mariano rivera old Timers game.
He's out in Sea enter field. I watched the video.
He goes down Tora's achilles brutal.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
You know what it is. We're all getting old, Jason.
This is sad, really sad. But I'll give you a
quick story. When he was forty one years old, we
had seventy five players in Tampa and spring training, seventy
five and that seventy five we're gonna cut down to
twenty five. So essentially fifty go home, twenty five make
the team. And there's really like one or two open spots.
But in the first day you have physicals and he
(07:26):
was number one in like four categories at the age
of forty one from seventy five and most of us
were in our twenties. Yeah I wasn't, but a lot
of these. He was number one in flexibility and he
was number one in vertical jump at forty one years old.
Like he can dunk a basketball like easily at forty one.
And to see him go down on you know, old
timer's day was heartbreaking. I'm going to face some of
(07:47):
them after this. Yeah, see how my guy's doing. He's
the best.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
He is the best, and hopefully he's doing well. There's
an interesting corollary and sort of call ahead to this
week's episode with Alison Felix because we actually talked to
her about the idea of like still get out and
sort of practice your trade. I don't think you're playing
nine innings anymore, and she's not, you know, running the
track like she used to. But you know, it's the mentality,
that's what That's.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
What answer will surprise our listeners.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Yeah, yeah, no, it is. It is pretty good. So
before we get to that, one last really interesting deal
of the week, and in a lot of ways. Is
Mark Shapiro, one of the first people we had on
this show, of course, the president of TKO, longtime ESPN
executive or in six Flags for a while. TKO a massive,
massive deal. Of course, they control both the WWE and
(08:35):
most notably in this case, the UFC. Dana White obviously
the guy behind all of that seven point seven billion
dollar media deal. Eye popping, to say the least in
its you know, enormity, just the figure, but also a
different business model now for the UFC in business with
paramount plus.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
When you look at this deal, Jason, it's really eye
popping because CBS is an American institution and this is
a very very important deal not only for media and sports,
but really for America. And a couple of numbers to
really think about here. Larry Ellison and his son David
Edison acquired this with our friend Jerry Carnell as the
third partner. Those three controls seventy percent of a capital stack,
(09:19):
meaning all major decisions will be made by those three individuals,
which is really good because all three of them are
really smart. The other part that eye popping is they
have seventy million subs. That's about twenty million more than ESPN.
That was an eye popping number. And if you combine
a couple of those with Peacock and combined they don't
have seventy million. And then the other part that's fascinating
(09:39):
because I have a lot of fans that are UFC fans,
is you may now see UFC fights no more you
have to pay for it, no more pay per view.
You can actually watch it on CBS on Live network TV,
which is pretty cool. So I'm really excited about this.
And to think about it, Mark Shapiro again and Dana
White negotiating a brilliant deal. It is a perfect storm.
(10:00):
Does David Edilson is trying to make a statement like
here we are. We're not just the old CBS. We're
not your daddy's CBS. We're new CBS. We're going to
push the envelope. And they doubled it from five to
fifty to about a billion one per year, massive deal.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Well, and you think about you know, obviously David Ellison
and his dad Larry Elson, incredibly bright, don't sleep on
exactly you mentioned before. Jerry Cardinal create the S network.
He's a team owner. He is so deep into this
and obviously the sky Dance deal for Paramount I think
we really do need to underscore this idea of like
bringing it out from a pretty old school pay per
(10:36):
view paywall and now potentially really juicing subscribers for Paramount Plus.
It's so funny, you know, just anecdotally, my son Henry,
who's twenty one, huge UFC fan, his first reaction was
literally sends me a text, two texts, did you see
this deal? When are we getting Paramount Plus? I mean
those were the and that was it. And so that
(10:58):
is exactly what I think Jerry, Larry and David were imagining,
was all these young UFC fans being like, well, I'm
going wherever it is, and so that sort of subscriber
acquisition they understand. And David Elson said this in a
lot of the presses he was talking about it. The
power of live sports is massive meteor rites. You're very
(11:18):
familiar with this, you know how that's going for all
the major leagues.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Yeah, and a few more things there. Dre said, on
to what you said, I agree with everything you said.
I think what's really powerful about TKO is unlike any
other league, this is truly probably the most global sport
in the world. Outside of soccer. Yeah, I mean they
can go anywhere in UFC. And that's something that Major
League Baseball can be a little jealous of, NBA, NFL everyone, right,
because what the NFL and NBA and Major League Basil's
(11:43):
trying to do. Tkl's already there. So when you think
about subs for paramount, these eyeballs are going to come
from all over the world. That's one point. The other
thing too, that's really important to remember is, Okay, where's
David Ellison going to go next?
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (11:56):
Is he going to go to maybe baseball because that
you know, back in the day used to have baseball.
Can it go to WNBA? What else is it going
to bring as an attraction? Because obviously now they want
to get this subs from seventy to over one hundred million,
and you're only going to do that through live sports,
and I think they understand that.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Well, let's not forget that the NFL is probably gonna
opt out of their current deal and so that's going
to come up for negotiation as well. So watch this
space and obviously if you want to learn more about
Jerry Cardinal and Mark Shapiro and a lot of the
other people we mentioned. Go back into the feed listen
to those episodes. You'll learn about sort of how they think.
All right. Coming up this week on The Deal, Alison Felix.
(12:42):
Welcome back to the Deal. I'm Jason Kelly alongside Alex Rodriguez.
So excited to have with us Alison Felix. She is
seven time gold medals, eleven medals from the Olympics. To
her credit, she's an entrepreneur in many different ways. She
started a shoe company, she started talent company, She's involved
in the LA Olympics. Coming up, We're so excited to
(13:04):
have you, Alison. Thank you so much for being here.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Oh, thank you guys for having me.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
So let me start with sort of a question that
I've been thinking about because there's so many different ways
to go with you. How do you identify yourself at
this point because you do have all of these different
things that you've done, but also things that you're doing,
Like how do you describe yourself to the world.
Speaker 4 (13:24):
I think I always come back to Olympian you know,
it's the starting place, and I believe that that has
allowed me to do so many other things that I'm
really passionate about, and so that leads me to entrepreneur,
and you know, I still it's so passionate about advocating
for women's rights and you know, everything in that lane
as well. But I think Olympian kind of wraps it up.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
And it's funny, Alex. So Alison and I got to
know each other. I was working on a series that
still is going on it at bloombare called power Players,
and I spent a couple days with her in Los
Angeles and we went to our high school and saw
that track it's named after her. And then of course
there's another track named after you, Allison at USC where
you went to college, where Alex and I both spent
(14:08):
a decent amount of time. This was not I mean
I remember sort of being surprised at the time that
you know, you took this up from an athletic perspective,
you know, sort of late in life in the sense
of like you sort of rocked up to high school
and realized you were like generationally fast. You know, as
you look back on those sort of early moments and
as you say you define yourself as an Olympian, does
(14:29):
any of this sort of surprise you that it's all
gone this way?
Speaker 1 (14:34):
I think all of it, all of it has.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
I mean, I just I never, you know, set out
to be a professional athlete like that was not my
family's plan, you know. I think with some Olympians, you know,
there is like this roadmap that they're following and that's
always been the intention. You know, They've started when they
were like three years old and you know, done all
of that. But for me, you know, I stumbled into
the sport and I came in because I was looking
(14:59):
for friend in high school and super shy and introvert.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
So when I look.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
At my path and my journey and where I am today,
there's no parts of it that I would have thought
that this would have happened. But I think, you know,
that's the beauty of life and it taking you to
some places you know you didn't plan.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
So for me, Alison, as an athlete, it was around
my junior year where I kind of went to the
US Olympic team. I looked around and I said, hey,
you know what, I'm pretty good and that gave me
an incredible amount of confidence. When I went back for
my junior year Westminster Christian in Miami. When was that
moment for you that you just said, hey, this is
more than just getting to know friends. I'm actually unique.
(15:41):
I'm a unicorn.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Yeah, I think it was similar for me.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
It was it was my senior year in high school
and I remember I went to my coach was really
great about kind of pushing me, and he had entered
me in this professional race and it was in Mexico
City and we all flew out there, and you know,
for me, I was just excited to compete somewhere, you know,
other than the high school. And so we get there
(16:06):
and I'm just like, Okay, I'm just going to do
the best.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
That I can.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
There were other there were Olympians in the race and
you know, really accomplish you know, women, And.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
I ran that race. I was like in the very
outside lane.
Speaker 4 (16:18):
I don't think anybody knew that I was there, and
I just ran as hard as I could. I remember
crossing the line of like, oh my gosh, nobody passed me,
like I actually won this thing. And I ran the
fastest time in the world at that time. And that
was kind of the shift for me where it was like, oh, okay,
like I have the ability to do something different and
maybe this is going to be bigger than just getting
(16:39):
a scholarship to go to college.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
And Alison, what event was it and what was the time?
Speaker 4 (16:43):
It was the two intermeters and I had ran twenty
to eleven, the high school record at the time.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Wow, that's so interesting too, because Alex, because I know
your story pretty well, I'm hearing echoes too of you know,
your high school coach saying listen, this is what's going
to happen next, this is the roadmap. And it sounds like, Alison,
you were in a position to sort of have people
around you. And we're going to talk about your brother
later on, because he's been so critical in your journey,
(17:10):
especially as a business person, but those people who essentially
said no, you can do this, and then of course
you have to go out and do it, but sort
of having the people who can say this is the direction,
this is the path I see for you is critical.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
I mean because I didn't even know at that point
I had been running track for that was like my
fourth year ever running track, and so I didn't know,
you know, I didn't know the history, I didn't know
the sport, and Alex, I don't know how it was
for you.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
My coach, he was a volunteer coach like he didn't
know either.
Speaker 4 (17:43):
You know, he knew that there was so much potential
there and he saw the talent, but then he really
wanted to help, like surround me with people who were
knowledgeable as I was going out for the next level.
But it was really about the people around me seeing that, Okay,
you have a gift. And I think that's incredible when
somebody can see it in you and believe in you
(18:07):
before you even know yourself. I think that just it
speaks volumes, and I think you want to rise to
the occasion as well, because it's like, well, this person
who has done it before and has all this experience
is telling me that you know this is possible, And yeah,
I feel like that was my experience kind of on
the next level. You know, when I reached the next
(18:27):
coach that I worked with, it was just like, Okay,
if you believe in me, then I know I can
do this.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
And I remember you and I've talked about this a
little bit before, but you know there is this moment
too for you where it's not just like, oh, I
can go out and win races, but I can essentially
do this for a living. I mean, I'm going to
do this as my as my life's work for some
amount of time, What was that moment where you realized, Okay,
there's sort of financial viability. You know, it's like you
(18:54):
didn't come from a huge amount of money, Like there's
some risk involved. But what's the moment where you s see, okay,
like sponsors are showing up, I can actually fund myself
to make a career out of this.
Speaker 4 (19:06):
Yeah, after I ran that time in Mexico City and
you know, I then qualified for the World Championship team
and things started to happen, and then that's when you know,
the sponsor started to come and they started to you know,
talk to my family about, you know, the possibilities of
not going to college. And at that time, there had
never been a track athlete from the US that didn't
(19:28):
go to college and went straight to the pro.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
So that was it felt very risky.
Speaker 4 (19:32):
You know, it felt like I think people were really
critical of that idea, and it was just me kind
of leaning on my family. And my family didn't really
know either, because you know, we were all new to
the sport. But they were just dedicated parents, you know,
like they would do their homework, they talked to their friends,
and just tried to figure it out. But it was
really at that moment where we started to understand like, oh,
(19:56):
this could be a career. Because for me, I don't
even think I had that understand you know, I had
I understood, you know, the Olympics, but I didn't know that,
you know, people were out here doing this for a living.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
We're going to fast forward a little bit because and
it sounds ridiculous to sort of essentially like YadA YadA,
YadA a bunch of like gold medals in world championships
and things like that, but you did all that, and
there are many great interviews that you've done where people
could learn a lot more about that. But we do
want to talk about sort of the business of Alison
Felix because it is not a straight line. What seems
(20:28):
like the biggest moment probably in your life is you
signed with Nike and then you break up with Nike,
and you know you have this moment where you essentially
have to leave them because they will not pay you
empirically what you're worth. Walk us through that decision. You
go public with this. I know you've told the story
(20:49):
a lot, but like it is, it's critical for people.
I think to understand not just who you are, but
like what you did in the implications of that.
Speaker 4 (20:58):
Yeah, yeah, that moment changed my life. As we've talked
about a little bit before, I'm an introvert. I was
really about just doing my job head down. You know,
I'm here to try to win medals, try to break records.
That's what it's all about. And when I decided to
start a family, and you know, I had been with
Nike for almost a decade at the time, I did
(21:18):
have a lot of fear in that moment because I
had seen what my teammates and my colleagues had been through,
and they had really struggled through motherhood. And what was
happening to a lot of them was their contracts were
being paused once they you know, shared that they were pregnant,
or they would hide a pregnancy and try to get
a new contract. And so I was renegotiating my contract
(21:40):
at the time, and I did not disclose my pregnancy yet,
and my renegotiation was already starting off in a very
bad place.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
The offer was seventy percent less.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
Than what I had been making before, and so that
really amplified my fear. I felt like the same thing
is going to happen to me that it happened to
all of my teammates, and so I did what they did.
You know, I hid my pregnancy, I started to train
in the dark. I did all of these things because
essentially there was no nothing on paper to secure even
(22:12):
this seventy percent less and this drug on for a
really long time. You know, we continued to try to
negotiate and it wasn't going well, and so I really
had this moment where I shifted my ask away from
my concern around the financials to asking for maternal protections.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
And simply what that.
Speaker 4 (22:31):
Means in track and field is that if you go
to the Olympics or you go to World Championships, you
get a bonus, but if you don't, you get a reduction.
And so if you are pregnant or if you just
had a baby, there's nothing in place to protect you.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
And so, you know, what I was looking at.
Speaker 4 (22:50):
Was facing another reduction even on top of the seventy percent,
if I didn't make it back to the World Championships
months after having a baby. You know, it seemed absurd,
and it's what so many women had been facing for
so long, and so that's what.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
I asked for. And actually when I you know.
Speaker 4 (23:09):
Shared that, and you know, I had disclosed my pregnancy,
shared all the things, and they said, okay, you know,
you could have that time to be able to recover.
And I was like, great, that's all I you know,
the money's the money whatever, I can accept that, but
this to me is a non negotiable.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
And so when the.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
Contract came back, I was shocked because there was no
mention of pregnancy, no mention of maternity. And so what
we learned is that they were not willing to tie
this time to be able to recover from giving birth
to maternity. You know, they were willing to do it
for me, but in their words, they said they wanted
to take a case by case basis. And so that's
(23:48):
really what led to you know, writing this op ed
in the New York Times and you know, sharing what
I had been facing in so many of my teammates
and colleagues as well. And that was terrify because you know,
it was everything that was opposite of you know, what
I was about. But I just I deeply believed in
what I was doing and deeply believed that things needed
(24:11):
to change, and came out with.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Op ED and I think it was something like two
two and a half.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
Weeks later that they changed their policy along with other companies,
and today they offer eighteen months of maternal protection for
all their female athletes. And yeah, other companies are standing
on that as well.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
Yeah, it's a huge moment. I mean it's a huge
moment in the history the sport, is a huge moment
in gender equity when it comes to sports. And what's
interesting Alex is then Alison decides to take it a
step further and say, I'm going to start my own company.
I'm going to start my own shoe company, which is
not for the fant of heart, as someone who has
(24:49):
worn a lot of athletic shoes over the course of
his life can attest to. And I know Alex and
I are both interested in this. Talk about that moment
where you decide to start your own company.
Speaker 4 (24:59):
Well you said it perfectly, like I think you don't
know what you're up against. You know, in that moment
you're so passionate and you know this is the next step.
I can't find another sponsor, so you know, I'm talking
to Wes, like, let's.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Do it ourselves.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Wes, your is your brother, sorry, yes, my brother Wes.
Speaker 4 (25:15):
And then we take steps to actually do it, and
it was a huge, huge thing. You know, I think
you almost need that piece of not knowing how hard
this industry is, because had we known, you know, maybe
we don't go into it. But the moment that really
pushed us forward was, you know, I start looking for
(25:36):
another shoe sponsor. I can't find one. And when Wes says,
you know, I think we should do this ourselves.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
What we thought we.
Speaker 4 (25:44):
Were creating was you know, just shoes for me to
wear in the Olympics. But as we you know, did
a deep dive into the industry and we start talking
to people, we learn of this bigger problem, and that
is that shoes weren't being made for women. And so
a shoe is build off of a lass, which is
a mold of a foot, and it's the mold of
a man's foot that has been used to make women's footwear.
(26:07):
And that was the thing that really pushed us forward
and said, you know, this is so much bigger, you
know than me or what I went through. This is
saying it's time for the industry to change. We have
to be making shoes specifically for women, and they can't
be an afterthought and we can't just have this brilliant
marketing that is telling women that they're wearing shoes made
(26:29):
for them when they're really just wearing men's shoes.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
Jason, you mentioned it's never a straight line. Well, that's
so true in my case. In twenty fourteen, I served
a very long suspension for PDUs and during this time,
as I'm thinking I'm the fourth quarter of my career,
I was always thinking and planning life after baseball, and
then I have this kind of giant problem that I
(27:04):
got myself into and that was a very scary, in
daunting time for me because I'm like, well, it's hard
enough to go from athlete to entrepreneur and now I
have this big kind of red mark on me, and
it was very scary. Did you go through that? I mean,
with the op ed, you have this controversy with Nike.
(27:25):
Arguably with all the gold medals you made, your legacy
is going to be you changed and you made a
huge impact for all women, including my daughters, which is incredible.
But did you go through a very scary time of
going like, oh boy, is this the right time? As
you talk with Wes your agent talk us through that
a little bit.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Oh absolutely.
Speaker 4 (27:41):
I mean I'm very interested in your perspective on this
as well. But being an athlete, you know, who is
moving in the space of an entrepreneur, there was so
much imposter syndrome. There was so much feeling of like
do I actually belong here? You know, I'm completely in
a new industry now and I'm raising capital and you know,
(28:02):
I think in one sense it is great being an
athlete and you know, you get every meeting and you
know the doors are opened. But then sometimes you step
into the room.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
And I'm like, is this a meet and greet?
Speaker 4 (28:14):
Or you know, you don't feel like you're being taken seriously,
or the question is, well, who's really gonna run the company?
And so it's fighting all of that, especially you know
as a person of color, as a woman of color,
knowing the statistics around how much you know VC money
is going to us, It's such a small number, and
(28:36):
so it did feel like I'm just fighting against so
much and it just feels like this is so hard,
and it's been hard at so many different kind of levels.
I think it's asking yourself like do you have the
fight still? You know, after all the athletic career, do
you still have the fight to break into something new?
And to me, it was really my why that continued
to push me forward. But did you experience something did
(29:00):
you you know, did you face that imposter syndrome or
was it more of a kind of a natural progression
for you?
Speaker 3 (29:06):
No, there was nothing natural about it. And you know,
I remember how big your story was with Nike and
how proud I was of you, and also as a
man of color and someone who went through a very
very public event. I mean, if you think about it,
it was major League Baseball, it was the New York Yankees,
it was Pdu's I mean, I had every buzzword and
(29:27):
it was a big, big, national, amount global story. And
at the same time, at the heels of that, I'm
trying to introduce myself to the market as an entrepreneur
and how important vital trust is. So I was having
read marks across the board, which created a lot of headwinds,
and I needed to find a way to kind of
never give up, because I think that's what you and
(29:48):
I have as athletes, is we have this ability to
just keep pushing forward no matter how much the odds
are against us, and then I just took it one
step at a time, and I took very very small steps,
but as long as I was moving a little bit
forward every day and rebuild my reputation. And now it's
been you know, eleven years and I'm in a good place.
(30:09):
But it was one of the most challenging things that
I've ever had to endure, and it's made me better
for it. My question for you is you had this
imposter syndrome you mentioned, but you're also an introvert. I'm
a little bit of an introvert until you get to
know me. Hey, Jason thinks I talk too much now,
but we're very good friends.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
When Alex says he's an introvert, I just like, can
you hear my eyes rolling at this?
Speaker 3 (30:33):
But did you feel, Alison, like, how did you introduce
yourself into the business community that sometimes is very scary?
I would say all the time, it's very scary.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
Yeah, for me, it did feel like all the time.
Speaker 4 (30:45):
At the beginning, it was it was just so new
and so uncomfortable, you know, going into so many rooms.
You know, I'm used to being the only at a
lot of different points in my life, but I found
it particularly hard in this space. Yes, I think that
I had to remind myself that I did belong and
(31:06):
so many things that allowed me to be successful on
the track are the same things that will allow me
to be successful in this new area. They might all
be called something different in business, but I know how
to work hard, I know how to do something, you know,
be the best in the world at something. And I
just have to translate those skills and the perseverance and
(31:29):
the dedication to me that has been the part that
has served me the most, because you know, in business
there's so many ups and downs, and it's about you know,
really coming back and not being afraid. I think that's
the thing that has been at the core. As you know,
I've filled a million times on the track and it
doesn't shake me. And so it's like, Okay, can I
(31:51):
come back and I put the pieces together and can
we keep doing this?
Speaker 2 (31:54):
I sure.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
One quick advice that my good friend and mentor, Magic
Johnson taught me many many years ago. He said, Alex,
you know, whether it's you, Alison, myself, when we go
into a meeting, we can take every meeting and will
be very successful. Taking meetings, however, usually ends up with
a picture and assigned autographs and that's it. He goes.
When you get into those meetings, it's your job to
(32:17):
stay in those meetings. And how you stay in those
meetings is you have to have a world class team.
It can't just be Magic Johnson. It has to be
pat Riley, James Worthy, Kareem Kobe. You have to go
in there with a team that's worthy of winning championships
in the world of business. And that's one of the
greatest lessons I've learned. And as I thought about building
my team and building my company, the one thing that
(32:38):
you and I can do is we are pretty good
at recruiting great talent is identifying it and then how
do you bring them on board to sharing your vision
to go and build this great company that you want
to build. And yeah, so I passed it along with
you because it served me so well as an entrepreneur.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
I appreciate that. That's incredible advice.
Speaker 4 (32:57):
And I'm so grateful for you, know you, for Magic,
for Serena, for athletes who have been in this space
and who have been really transparent about their journeys. Because
it is a difficult road. I think you know, it's
hard enough to deal with retirement. But then you know,
when you have these really ambitious goals to be successful
(33:21):
in business as well, to be able to look at
people who have done it, it's very helpful and to
me it's been refreshing, you know, I feel like in
sports it is so competitive sometimes, you know, in the
world of business, I have found it really refreshing to
be able to connect with people who want to see
you win and want to help you. And I think,
you know, coming back to team that is everything. And
(33:44):
we've all been a part of some incredible teams and
knowing how to build them and how to be a
team player, you know, is definitely so relevant in this
in this new world.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
Well, and that's a really nice and natural segue into
always Alpha. Walk us through the decision to create the
talent management firm. Also, I believe you partnered with your
brother Wes on that and some other folks, so walk
us through that.
Speaker 4 (34:09):
Yeah, absolutely, I think you know, it comes back to
when you don't see something in the world that you
feel should exist, creating it and not being afraid to
do so. And I think creating Sage first really helped
me to see.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
That that's possible.
Speaker 4 (34:24):
And so Wes my brother, he's a couple of years
older than me. He represented me for the majority of
my career as an agent, and he, you know, built
a really great boutique agency that really focused on Olympians.
And when I got to kind of the end of
my competing years, I was kind of having these conversations
(34:45):
with Wes, was like, I wish I could do this again.
I feel like I learned so much, and women's sports
as you know, having incredible momentum. I was just like,
I feel like it would be so incredible to be
able to put all of this knowledge to use. And
that's really where the idea of Always Alpha came from.
It was, you know, saying, we want to create an
(35:06):
agency that is fully focused on women's sports. Like we
are all in on women's sports. It's not about you know,
we can sign you know, this male athlete and you
know that's going to take care of the bills, and
it's we're all in. And so our firm is fully
focused on women's sports. We really are kind of modeled
off the entertainment industry where we are a management firm
(35:29):
and we can also you know, work with others, but
really representing female athletes and the ability to build their
business on the field of play and off the field
as well. And so you know, when people have come
to me athletes and asked me, you know, how was
I able to do this or that, you know, really
being able to point them into the direction and say, well,
(35:51):
we bring the best people in the world to build
your business out and to really walk this journey with
you and create what you want to create. And it's
not this cookie cutter kind of model that comes from
some of your more traditional, larger agencies.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
It's funny, as we start to sort of wind down
a little bit, there's one big topic that I want
to sort of end and sort of go back to
where we began, which is you're an Olympian. That is
how you identify yourself. And now you know, in three years,
you know, almost exactly three years from now, your hometown,
Los Angeles, is going to host the Summer Olympic Games.
(36:26):
You've stayed deeply involved in the Olympics. You were recently
inducted into the US Olympic and Paralympic Hall of Fame.
You're deeply involved in the organizing committee to bring and
put on a successful games there in Los Angeles from
a business person's perspective, because now that's the hat you wear.
What are your sort of biggest visions What are the
(36:46):
biggest challenges for bringing the Olympics successfully to LA.
Speaker 4 (36:50):
Well, first, I'm so excited that the Olympics are coming
to LA. I think it's incredible. But yeah, I'm wearing
a different hat this time. I'm an IOC member, I
said on the LA twenty eight board. I think, you know,
the big challenge is looking at this from a standpoint
of it's almost looking like a world championship in every
sport happening every single day. That is a massive, you know, undertaking,
(37:11):
and so a lot will happen between now in twenty
twenty eight and being a Angelino. We know like the
excellence that happens here in the environment, so I think
that'll be incredible. But I think it's just making sure
that everything works seamlessly, and that's a big task. You know,
everything from athletes having the best you know, experience facilities
(37:34):
able to have their best performances, to all of the
moving about of so many people coming to the city,
all of it working together.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
What's it going to be like for you being a
host rather than a participant.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
I think it's going to be different.
Speaker 4 (37:51):
You know. The one thing that I wished, you know,
my whole career was to be able to have a
home game. So I think there's nothing, you know, like
that experience, and so I'm really excited for the American
athletes who are going to be able to have that
home field advantage, and so I think it'll be incredible
to be able to support. You know, I'm looking forward
to bringing my own kids, letting them experience it. There's
(38:14):
nothing like seeing the Olympics up close, and so for Angelinos,
for you know, so much the world that will be here,
I'm looking forward to the impact that that will have.
I think there will be a lot of new fans
for a lot of different sports. I think we have
the ability to really leave a legacy here in Los
Angeles and with the people here, and as we send
(38:35):
people back home as well, how they will be touched
and moved by the games.
Speaker 3 (38:40):
I get asked all the time, Alex, do you ever
get back in the batting cage? And my answer is like, no,
I don't. I do love the game and I miss
the game, But do you ever go out in the
track and just kind of do like some workouts, some sprints,
PI metrics. Do you miss it?
Speaker 1 (38:56):
I do miss it? And I do. You know, it
is what I know best.
Speaker 4 (39:01):
And so as far as like workout wise, I know
what I'm doing on a track.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
And I also feel like I have to stay a
bit ready.
Speaker 4 (39:09):
My daughter is you know, you know, she's I'm starting
to see you know, we were at the beach the
other day, and you know, how to raise her, I
had to like let her know what, There's.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
Not going to be any winning of anybody else around
here for quite some time.
Speaker 4 (39:23):
So I got to make sure that I'm able to, like,
you know, when someone challenges me, that I can deliver.
Speaker 5 (39:29):
I love my God, all right.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
So we end every episode with a lightning round. It's
five questions. We'll bounce it back and forth. The only
advice is just the first thing that comes to your mind.
So I'll start and then Alex will pick up. Are
you ready?
Speaker 1 (39:55):
Okay, let's do it?
Speaker 2 (39:56):
Okay, all right? What's the best piece of advice you've
ever receeend on deal making or business?
Speaker 4 (40:03):
You don't have to know it all. You don't have
to be the smartest person in the room.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
Who's your dream deal making partner?
Speaker 2 (40:10):
Melody Hobson Former guests, O the deal. We'd love to
see that, which see? Do you want to see win
a championship more than.
Speaker 1 (40:16):
Any the Lakers?
Speaker 3 (40:20):
What's your hype song before you go into a big
meet or negotiation?
Speaker 1 (40:27):
Oh, I gotta start using it? Okay, So that's Beyonce.
I'm a divay. Ever attract me? But I like that.
Speaker 4 (40:32):
I think you know, before I go into my like
my board meetings. Now I gotta, I gotta start playing it.
Speaker 2 (40:38):
It's a good one, all right. And finally, what's your
advice for someone listening who wants a career like yours?
Fully knowing that no one's ever going to have a
career exactly like yours, But what would your advice be?
Speaker 4 (40:49):
You don't have to wait for a perfect moment to
start something to do something different, Just do it, put
that first step forward, and do you deeply believe in something,
go after it.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
Alison Felix, I was so excited when I knew that
this was happening. It's so great to reconnect with you.
Thank you for your good humor and wisdom, and it
was really a treat, So thank you for your time.
Speaker 1 (41:12):
So nice to talk to you, Jason. So good to
see you, Alex.
Speaker 3 (41:15):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (41:15):
Thanks. The Deal is hosted by Alex Rodriguez and me
Jason Kelly. This episode was made by Anamazarakus, Stacey Wong,
and Lizzie Phillip. Amy Keen is our editor and Will
Connelly is our video editor. Our theme music is made
(41:36):
by Blake Maples. Our executive producers are Kelly Leferrier, Ashley Hoenig,
and Brendan Nenham. Sage Bauman is the head of Bloomberg Podcast.
Additional support from Rachel Carnivale and Elena Los Angeles. Thanks
so much for listening to the Deal. If you have
a minute, subscribe, rate and review our show. It'll help
other listeners find us. I'm Jason Kelly. See you next week.
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio News.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome back to the Deal. I'm your host, Jason Kelly,
back with my co host Alex Rodriguez. Not just back
in the same room. I love it. We're in the
same room together. You're here in New York. We're in
our fancy studio here at Bloomberg Headquarters. And very excited
about today's episode, a conversation with Alison Felix. But before
we get to that, I want to talk some baseball.
A couple weekends ago, I tuned in. I wanted to
(00:34):
watch the little motorcar racing. I knew you were at
Bristol rain out, so you gotta stretch, You gotta fill
some time, yep. But the best stretching was you and
mister Derek Cheeter, a couple former Yankees, chopping it up
about the state of this team. I live here in
New York. It ain't good, bro.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Yeah, the irony about that. By the way, you give
Major League Baseball Rob Man for a lot of credit.
Tony Clark, the head of a union for Major League Baseball.
These are kind of chances they need to do emerging properties,
as Fox has with Speedway and with Major League baseball
and you had almost one hundred thousand people there. It
was a phenomenal effort. You can't control the weather, so
we'll give them a pass. But as a result of that, Jace,
(01:13):
we had an hour pregame show and that turned into
like two and a half three hours, and we're like,
what are we going to talk about? And of course, inevitably,
the New York teams have been struggling now for about
two and a half months, and you know, the Mets
are somewhere around three hundred and forty million dollars payroll.
The Yankees are hovering writer three hundred plus and the
results are not there. I think both teams in a
(01:33):
weird way have benefited from struggling at the same time,
especially the Mets. Oh my god, because it's still a
Yankees town and the Yankees have been awful and it's
tough to watch right now.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Yeah, I mean, you know, we talk in the show
all the time about obviously the business of sports. We
think about payrolls, we think about investment, we talk to
owners all the time. Meanwhile, out of Milwaukee, our friend
Mark Attanasio, the Brewers are crushing it. They're sub one
hundred million I believe in payroll, and they have the
(02:05):
best record.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
And they do it in a beautiful way. Jason. They
win two ways. They either win the game or you'll
lose the game. But they'll force you to get twenty
seven outs and they'll force you to give them thirty
because they put the ball in play, they take the
extra base. They have an old school manager in Murphy
who has a beautiful story. By the way, he recruited
me when he was at Notre Dame and Arizona State.
Then he went seven years as a bench coach to
(02:28):
Greg Council, who's now got a big contract with the Cubs,
and he's a sixty six year old guy. He calls
it as he sees it, calls his players out and
not saying that's always the best way. But there's an
accountability in Milwaukee that's pretty awesome and that fan base.
I cannot wait hopefully they advance because that's a fun
stadium and it's a great team to cover.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Right and you'll obviously be covering with Fox the playoffs
again this year, so looking forward to that in October.
So I would ask you to put on a different hat,
which is your owner's hat, and when you look at
making these decisions that now you and Mark Lurry have
to make. How do you look at something like, Okay,
you've got these teams led by very smart people. Steve Cohen,
(03:07):
who owns the Mets, is not a dumb guy. He
obviously is very willing to invest. Mark Adnascio also not
a dumb guy. He's investing literally, you know less than
a third of what Steve Cohen is. As you think
about those types of decisions, what do you take away
when you see payroll and performance not being correlated.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Well, for one, it doesn't matter if the Yankees and
Mets of the Dodgers with these huge revenue I mean
the Dodgers are going to do over a billion dollars
in revenue. That is unbelievable. Those are NFL numbers plus right,
that's more than you know ninety percent of NFL teams
are making. So that's that's phenomenal. But the problem is
you can't have contracts that are just dead ducks. And
what I mean by that, you take three contracts with
(03:48):
the New York Yankees. You have Aaron Hicks, Marcus Stroman,
and you have DJ Lemayhew. Those three players make more
money combined than Bryce Harper and Kyle Schuber, who may
be the nationally GUEMBA p for the Phillies. Issus, you're
with forty two home runs. You cannot have that type
of dead money. So all of a sudden salaries around
three hundred million dollars for the Yankees. Now you're it's
really a two twenty. Yeah, So it's a little misleading.
(04:10):
So you got to stay away from the big bombs.
If you look at the Brewers contract, every contract's in
the money, meaning if you're paying a player two million,
he's paying like a five million dollar player. If you're
paying someone five million, they're playing like a ten million
dollar player. The opposite is true for a lot of
the Mets contracts and the Yankee contracts. So you got
to stay away from the big bombs. And then the
other thing is you got to be a contrarian. And
the Brewers are playing like the nineteen eighties Brewers, the
(04:31):
nineteen nineties Brewers. They're valuing contact, they're valuing going deeper
into games, they're valuing catching the ball, putting pressure on
the ball. I mean, this whole concept of you know,
the three outcome resulting that you strike out you walk,
your hit a home run, I think is not only
boring in a bad product, it's just not sustainable. The
other part is when you have pictures like the Yankees
and the Mets that go four and a third, five
(04:53):
and a third, you're asking twelve, thirteen, fourteen outs out
of the bullpen every night. It's just not sustainable. So
I'd like to see the Yankees go back into rewarding pictures,
go into six or seventh inning and having two or
three pitchers closed out the game, not seven pictures. Too
many things can go wrong.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Yeah, the talent management piece of it is so interesting
to me. I was reading a story I believe in
the Wall Street Journal just recently that was talking about
the Tigers, another like unbelievably high performing team, and one
of the things they've talked about was the third base
coach essentially went to the team was like, stop lollygagging
around the bases, go let's go. Like that was literally
(05:28):
the quotes like let's go so when you're on base,
like air on the side of like going for it.
And that didn't just change their run scoring, but it
changed their mentality of like, we're a team that goes
for it. Which I thought was such a fascinating insight
because we can talk about dollars and cents all day long,
but you know this as a player. You know this
is an owner, you know this is an entrepreneur. Part
(05:48):
of it's about motivating the people around you, which I
think is just a fascinating aspect. These are human beings.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
I think that's what said Jason. I think motivated. And
also it's leadership and it's accountability. And we have kids,
both of us kids, and when they were ten years old,
if you say, hey, your curfew's ten o'clock and they
get there at ten thirty every night and nothing happens,
well they're gonna be there at ten thirty eleven by
the time, they'll be there at midnight and nothing's gonna happen.
When someone like jazz and nothing against jazz, he makes
(06:15):
a brutal base run, a mistake, SODA's Wells walks off
the bag in an X rating game with two outs
and he gets tagged for the third out. You have
to come sit on the bench, You have to sit
a point that that type of behavior. We will allow
physical mistakes with the right intentionality, trying to make the
right impact in the game, no problem. Those are rewarded
as long as they're aggressive and they're thoughtful. When you're
(06:36):
just forgetting the outs or you'd make just a bonehead play,
you got to come sit on it maybe a day
or two. And that sends a message to everyone, and
those kind of things are not happening. So I think
sometimes Murphy, we talked about the sixty six year old
manager for the Milwaukee Brewers. He'll sit you on the
bench right Nowah, and that needs to happen more.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Yeah. Interesting. So before we leave baseball, one unfortunate shout
out is your old teammate Mariano rivera old Timers game.
He's out in Sea enter field. I watched the video.
He goes down Tora's achilles brutal.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
You know what it is. We're all getting old, Jason.
This is sad, really sad. But I'll give you a
quick story. When he was forty one years old, we
had seventy five players in Tampa and spring training, seventy
five and that seventy five we're gonna cut down to
twenty five. So essentially fifty go home, twenty five make
the team. And there's really like one or two open spots.
But in the first day you have physicals and he
(07:26):
was number one in like four categories at the age
of forty one from seventy five and most of us
were in our twenties. Yeah I wasn't, but a lot
of these. He was number one in flexibility and he
was number one in vertical jump at forty one years old.
Like he can dunk a basketball like easily at forty one.
And to see him go down on you know, old
timer's day was heartbreaking. I'm going to face some of
(07:47):
them after this. Yeah, see how my guy's doing. He's
the best.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
He is the best, and hopefully he's doing well. There's
an interesting corollary and sort of call ahead to this
week's episode with Alison Felix because we actually talked to
her about the idea of like still get out and
sort of practice your trade. I don't think you're playing
nine innings anymore, and she's not, you know, running the
track like she used to. But you know, it's the mentality,
that's what That's.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
What answer will surprise our listeners.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Yeah, yeah, no, it is. It is pretty good. So
before we get to that, one last really interesting deal
of the week, and in a lot of ways. Is
Mark Shapiro, one of the first people we had on
this show, of course, the president of TKO, longtime ESPN
executive or in six Flags for a while. TKO a massive,
massive deal. Of course, they control both the WWE and
(08:35):
most notably in this case, the UFC. Dana White obviously
the guy behind all of that seven point seven billion
dollar media deal. Eye popping, to say the least in
its you know, enormity, just the figure, but also a
different business model now for the UFC in business with
paramount plus.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
When you look at this deal, Jason, it's really eye
popping because CBS is an American institution and this is
a very very important deal not only for media and sports,
but really for America. And a couple of numbers to
really think about here. Larry Ellison and his son David
Edison acquired this with our friend Jerry Carnell as the
third partner. Those three controls seventy percent of a capital stack,
(09:19):
meaning all major decisions will be made by those three individuals,
which is really good because all three of them are
really smart. The other part that eye popping is they
have seventy million subs. That's about twenty million more than ESPN.
That was an eye popping number. And if you combine
a couple of those with Peacock and combined they don't
have seventy million. And then the other part that's fascinating
(09:39):
because I have a lot of fans that are UFC fans,
is you may now see UFC fights no more you
have to pay for it, no more pay per view.
You can actually watch it on CBS on Live network TV,
which is pretty cool. So I'm really excited about this.
And to think about it, Mark Shapiro again and Dana
White negotiating a brilliant deal. It is a perfect storm.
(10:00):
Does David Edilson is trying to make a statement like
here we are. We're not just the old CBS. We're
not your daddy's CBS. We're new CBS. We're going to
push the envelope. And they doubled it from five to
fifty to about a billion one per year, massive deal.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Well, and you think about you know, obviously David Ellison
and his dad Larry Elson, incredibly bright, don't sleep on
exactly you mentioned before. Jerry Cardinal create the S network.
He's a team owner. He is so deep into this
and obviously the sky Dance deal for Paramount I think
we really do need to underscore this idea of like
bringing it out from a pretty old school pay per
(10:36):
view paywall and now potentially really juicing subscribers for Paramount Plus.
It's so funny, you know, just anecdotally, my son Henry,
who's twenty one, huge UFC fan, his first reaction was
literally sends me a text, two texts, did you see
this deal? When are we getting Paramount Plus? I mean
those were the and that was it. And so that
(10:58):
is exactly what I think Jerry, Larry and David were imagining,
was all these young UFC fans being like, well, I'm
going wherever it is, and so that sort of subscriber
acquisition they understand. And David Elson said this in a
lot of the presses he was talking about it. The
power of live sports is massive meteor rites. You're very
(11:18):
familiar with this, you know how that's going for all
the major leagues.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Yeah, and a few more things there. Dre said, on
to what you said, I agree with everything you said.
I think what's really powerful about TKO is unlike any
other league, this is truly probably the most global sport
in the world. Outside of soccer. Yeah, I mean they
can go anywhere in UFC. And that's something that Major
League Baseball can be a little jealous of, NBA, NFL everyone, right,
because what the NFL and NBA and Major League Basil's
(11:43):
trying to do. Tkl's already there. So when you think
about subs for paramount, these eyeballs are going to come
from all over the world. That's one point. The other
thing too, that's really important to remember is, Okay, where's
David Ellison going to go next?
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (11:56):
Is he going to go to maybe baseball because that
you know, back in the day used to have baseball.
Can it go to WNBA? What else is it going
to bring as an attraction? Because obviously now they want
to get this subs from seventy to over one hundred million,
and you're only going to do that through live sports,
and I think they understand that.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Well, let's not forget that the NFL is probably gonna
opt out of their current deal and so that's going
to come up for negotiation as well. So watch this
space and obviously if you want to learn more about
Jerry Cardinal and Mark Shapiro and a lot of the
other people we mentioned. Go back into the feed listen
to those episodes. You'll learn about sort of how they think.
All right. Coming up this week on The Deal, Alison Felix.
(12:42):
Welcome back to the Deal. I'm Jason Kelly alongside Alex Rodriguez.
So excited to have with us Alison Felix. She is
seven time gold medals, eleven medals from the Olympics. To
her credit, she's an entrepreneur in many different ways. She
started a shoe company, she started talent company, She's involved
in the LA Olympics. Coming up, We're so excited to
(13:04):
have you, Alison. Thank you so much for being here.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Oh, thank you guys for having me.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
So let me start with sort of a question that
I've been thinking about because there's so many different ways
to go with you. How do you identify yourself at
this point because you do have all of these different
things that you've done, but also things that you're doing,
Like how do you describe yourself to the world.
Speaker 4 (13:24):
I think I always come back to Olympian you know,
it's the starting place, and I believe that that has
allowed me to do so many other things that I'm
really passionate about, and so that leads me to entrepreneur,
and you know, I still it's so passionate about advocating
for women's rights and you know, everything in that lane
as well. But I think Olympian kind of wraps it up.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
And it's funny, Alex. So Alison and I got to
know each other. I was working on a series that
still is going on it at bloombare called power Players,
and I spent a couple days with her in Los
Angeles and we went to our high school and saw
that track it's named after her. And then of course
there's another track named after you, Allison at USC where
you went to college, where Alex and I both spent
(14:08):
a decent amount of time. This was not I mean
I remember sort of being surprised at the time that
you know, you took this up from an athletic perspective,
you know, sort of late in life in the sense
of like you sort of rocked up to high school
and realized you were like generationally fast. You know, as
you look back on those sort of early moments and
as you say you define yourself as an Olympian, does
(14:29):
any of this sort of surprise you that it's all
gone this way?
Speaker 1 (14:34):
I think all of it, all of it has.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
I mean, I just I never, you know, set out
to be a professional athlete like that was not my
family's plan, you know. I think with some Olympians, you know,
there is like this roadmap that they're following and that's
always been the intention. You know, They've started when they
were like three years old and you know, done all
of that. But for me, you know, I stumbled into
the sport and I came in because I was looking
(14:59):
for friend in high school and super shy and introvert.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
So when I look.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
At my path and my journey and where I am today,
there's no parts of it that I would have thought
that this would have happened. But I think, you know,
that's the beauty of life and it taking you to
some places you know you didn't plan.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
So for me, Alison, as an athlete, it was around
my junior year where I kind of went to the
US Olympic team. I looked around and I said, hey,
you know what, I'm pretty good and that gave me
an incredible amount of confidence. When I went back for
my junior year Westminster Christian in Miami. When was that
moment for you that you just said, hey, this is
more than just getting to know friends. I'm actually unique.
(15:41):
I'm a unicorn.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Yeah, I think it was similar for me.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
It was it was my senior year in high school
and I remember I went to my coach was really
great about kind of pushing me, and he had entered
me in this professional race and it was in Mexico
City and we all flew out there, and you know,
for me, I was just excited to compete somewhere, you know,
other than the high school. And so we get there
(16:06):
and I'm just like, Okay, I'm just going to do
the best.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
That I can.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
There were other there were Olympians in the race and
you know, really accomplish you know, women, And.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
I ran that race. I was like in the very
outside lane.
Speaker 4 (16:18):
I don't think anybody knew that I was there, and
I just ran as hard as I could. I remember
crossing the line of like, oh my gosh, nobody passed me,
like I actually won this thing. And I ran the
fastest time in the world at that time. And that
was kind of the shift for me where it was like, oh, okay,
like I have the ability to do something different and
maybe this is going to be bigger than just getting
(16:39):
a scholarship to go to college.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
And Alison, what event was it and what was the time?
Speaker 4 (16:43):
It was the two intermeters and I had ran twenty
to eleven, the high school record at the time.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Wow, that's so interesting too, because Alex, because I know
your story pretty well, I'm hearing echoes too of you know,
your high school coach saying listen, this is what's going
to happen next, this is the roadmap. And it sounds like, Alison,
you were in a position to sort of have people
around you. And we're going to talk about your brother
later on, because he's been so critical in your journey,
(17:10):
especially as a business person, but those people who essentially
said no, you can do this, and then of course
you have to go out and do it, but sort
of having the people who can say this is the direction,
this is the path I see for you is critical.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
I mean because I didn't even know at that point
I had been running track for that was like my
fourth year ever running track, and so I didn't know,
you know, I didn't know the history, I didn't know
the sport, and Alex, I don't know how it was
for you.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
My coach, he was a volunteer coach like he didn't
know either.
Speaker 4 (17:43):
You know, he knew that there was so much potential
there and he saw the talent, but then he really
wanted to help, like surround me with people who were
knowledgeable as I was going out for the next level.
But it was really about the people around me seeing that, Okay,
you have a gift. And I think that's incredible when
somebody can see it in you and believe in you
(18:07):
before you even know yourself. I think that just it
speaks volumes, and I think you want to rise to
the occasion as well, because it's like, well, this person
who has done it before and has all this experience
is telling me that you know this is possible, And yeah,
I feel like that was my experience kind of on
the next level. You know, when I reached the next
(18:27):
coach that I worked with, it was just like, Okay,
if you believe in me, then I know I can
do this.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
And I remember you and I've talked about this a
little bit before, but you know there is this moment
too for you where it's not just like, oh, I
can go out and win races, but I can essentially
do this for a living. I mean, I'm going to
do this as my as my life's work for some
amount of time, What was that moment where you realized, Okay,
there's sort of financial viability. You know, it's like you
(18:54):
didn't come from a huge amount of money, Like there's
some risk involved. But what's the moment where you s see, okay,
like sponsors are showing up, I can actually fund myself
to make a career out of this.
Speaker 4 (19:06):
Yeah, after I ran that time in Mexico City and
you know, I then qualified for the World Championship team
and things started to happen, and then that's when you know,
the sponsor started to come and they started to you know,
talk to my family about, you know, the possibilities of
not going to college. And at that time, there had
never been a track athlete from the US that didn't
(19:28):
go to college and went straight to the pro.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
So that was it felt very risky.
Speaker 4 (19:32):
You know, it felt like I think people were really
critical of that idea, and it was just me kind
of leaning on my family. And my family didn't really
know either, because you know, we were all new to
the sport. But they were just dedicated parents, you know,
like they would do their homework, they talked to their friends,
and just tried to figure it out. But it was
really at that moment where we started to understand like, oh,
(19:56):
this could be a career. Because for me, I don't
even think I had that understand you know, I had
I understood, you know, the Olympics, but I didn't know that,
you know, people were out here doing this for a living.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
We're going to fast forward a little bit because and
it sounds ridiculous to sort of essentially like YadA YadA,
YadA a bunch of like gold medals in world championships
and things like that, but you did all that, and
there are many great interviews that you've done where people
could learn a lot more about that. But we do
want to talk about sort of the business of Alison
Felix because it is not a straight line. What seems
(20:28):
like the biggest moment probably in your life is you
signed with Nike and then you break up with Nike,
and you know you have this moment where you essentially
have to leave them because they will not pay you
empirically what you're worth. Walk us through that decision. You
go public with this. I know you've told the story
(20:49):
a lot, but like it is, it's critical for people.
I think to understand not just who you are, but
like what you did in the implications of that.
Speaker 4 (20:58):
Yeah, yeah, that moment changed my life. As we've talked
about a little bit before, I'm an introvert. I was
really about just doing my job head down. You know,
I'm here to try to win medals, try to break records.
That's what it's all about. And when I decided to
start a family, and you know, I had been with
Nike for almost a decade at the time, I did
(21:18):
have a lot of fear in that moment because I
had seen what my teammates and my colleagues had been through,
and they had really struggled through motherhood. And what was
happening to a lot of them was their contracts were
being paused once they you know, shared that they were pregnant,
or they would hide a pregnancy and try to get
a new contract. And so I was renegotiating my contract
(21:40):
at the time, and I did not disclose my pregnancy yet,
and my renegotiation was already starting off in a very
bad place.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
The offer was seventy percent less.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
Than what I had been making before, and so that
really amplified my fear. I felt like the same thing
is going to happen to me that it happened to
all of my teammates, and so I did what they did.
You know, I hid my pregnancy, I started to train
in the dark. I did all of these things because
essentially there was no nothing on paper to secure even
(22:12):
this seventy percent less and this drug on for a
really long time. You know, we continued to try to
negotiate and it wasn't going well, and so I really
had this moment where I shifted my ask away from
my concern around the financials to asking for maternal protections.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
And simply what that.
Speaker 4 (22:31):
Means in track and field is that if you go
to the Olympics or you go to World Championships, you
get a bonus, but if you don't, you get a reduction.
And so if you are pregnant or if you just
had a baby, there's nothing in place to protect you.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
And so, you know, what I was looking at.
Speaker 4 (22:50):
Was facing another reduction even on top of the seventy percent,
if I didn't make it back to the World Championships
months after having a baby. You know, it seemed absurd,
and it's what so many women had been facing for
so long, and so that's what.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
I asked for. And actually when I you know.
Speaker 4 (23:09):
Shared that, and you know, I had disclosed my pregnancy,
shared all the things, and they said, okay, you know,
you could have that time to be able to recover.
And I was like, great, that's all I you know,
the money's the money whatever, I can accept that, but
this to me is a non negotiable.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
And so when the.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
Contract came back, I was shocked because there was no
mention of pregnancy, no mention of maternity. And so what
we learned is that they were not willing to tie
this time to be able to recover from giving birth
to maternity. You know, they were willing to do it
for me, but in their words, they said they wanted
to take a case by case basis. And so that's
(23:48):
really what led to you know, writing this op ed
in the New York Times and you know, sharing what
I had been facing in so many of my teammates
and colleagues as well. And that was terrify because you know,
it was everything that was opposite of you know, what
I was about. But I just I deeply believed in
what I was doing and deeply believed that things needed
(24:11):
to change, and came out with.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Op ED and I think it was something like two
two and a half.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
Weeks later that they changed their policy along with other companies,
and today they offer eighteen months of maternal protection for
all their female athletes. And yeah, other companies are standing
on that as well.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
Yeah, it's a huge moment. I mean it's a huge
moment in the history the sport, is a huge moment
in gender equity when it comes to sports. And what's
interesting Alex is then Alison decides to take it a
step further and say, I'm going to start my own company.
I'm going to start my own shoe company, which is
not for the fant of heart, as someone who has
(24:49):
worn a lot of athletic shoes over the course of
his life can attest to. And I know Alex and
I are both interested in this. Talk about that moment
where you decide to start your own company.
Speaker 4 (24:59):
Well you said it perfectly, like I think you don't
know what you're up against. You know, in that moment
you're so passionate and you know this is the next step.
I can't find another sponsor, so you know, I'm talking
to Wes, like, let's.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Do it ourselves.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Wes, your is your brother, sorry, yes, my brother Wes.
Speaker 4 (25:15):
And then we take steps to actually do it, and
it was a huge, huge thing. You know, I think
you almost need that piece of not knowing how hard
this industry is, because had we known, you know, maybe
we don't go into it. But the moment that really
pushed us forward was, you know, I start looking for
(25:36):
another shoe sponsor. I can't find one. And when Wes says,
you know, I think we should do this ourselves.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
What we thought we.
Speaker 4 (25:44):
Were creating was you know, just shoes for me to
wear in the Olympics. But as we you know, did
a deep dive into the industry and we start talking
to people, we learn of this bigger problem, and that
is that shoes weren't being made for women. And so
a shoe is build off of a lass, which is
a mold of a foot, and it's the mold of
a man's foot that has been used to make women's footwear.
(26:07):
And that was the thing that really pushed us forward
and said, you know, this is so much bigger, you
know than me or what I went through. This is
saying it's time for the industry to change. We have
to be making shoes specifically for women, and they can't
be an afterthought and we can't just have this brilliant
marketing that is telling women that they're wearing shoes made
(26:29):
for them when they're really just wearing men's shoes.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
Jason, you mentioned it's never a straight line. Well, that's
so true in my case. In twenty fourteen, I served
a very long suspension for PDUs and during this time,
as I'm thinking I'm the fourth quarter of my career,
I was always thinking and planning life after baseball, and
then I have this kind of giant problem that I
(27:04):
got myself into and that was a very scary, in
daunting time for me because I'm like, well, it's hard
enough to go from athlete to entrepreneur and now I
have this big kind of red mark on me, and
it was very scary. Did you go through that? I mean,
with the op ed, you have this controversy with Nike.
(27:25):
Arguably with all the gold medals you made, your legacy
is going to be you changed and you made a
huge impact for all women, including my daughters, which is incredible.
But did you go through a very scary time of
going like, oh boy, is this the right time? As
you talk with Wes your agent talk us through that
a little bit.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Oh absolutely.
Speaker 4 (27:41):
I mean I'm very interested in your perspective on this
as well. But being an athlete, you know, who is
moving in the space of an entrepreneur, there was so
much imposter syndrome. There was so much feeling of like
do I actually belong here? You know, I'm completely in
a new industry now and I'm raising capital and you know,
(28:02):
I think in one sense it is great being an
athlete and you know, you get every meeting and you
know the doors are opened. But then sometimes you step
into the room.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
And I'm like, is this a meet and greet?
Speaker 4 (28:14):
Or you know, you don't feel like you're being taken seriously,
or the question is, well, who's really gonna run the company?
And so it's fighting all of that, especially you know
as a person of color, as a woman of color,
knowing the statistics around how much you know VC money
is going to us, It's such a small number, and
(28:36):
so it did feel like I'm just fighting against so
much and it just feels like this is so hard,
and it's been hard at so many different kind of levels.
I think it's asking yourself like do you have the
fight still? You know, after all the athletic career, do
you still have the fight to break into something new?
And to me, it was really my why that continued
to push me forward. But did you experience something did
(29:00):
you you know, did you face that imposter syndrome or
was it more of a kind of a natural progression
for you?
Speaker 3 (29:06):
No, there was nothing natural about it. And you know,
I remember how big your story was with Nike and
how proud I was of you, and also as a
man of color and someone who went through a very
very public event. I mean, if you think about it,
it was major League Baseball, it was the New York Yankees,
it was Pdu's I mean, I had every buzzword and
(29:27):
it was a big, big, national, amount global story. And
at the same time, at the heels of that, I'm
trying to introduce myself to the market as an entrepreneur
and how important vital trust is. So I was having
read marks across the board, which created a lot of headwinds,
and I needed to find a way to kind of
never give up, because I think that's what you and
(29:48):
I have as athletes, is we have this ability to
just keep pushing forward no matter how much the odds
are against us, and then I just took it one
step at a time, and I took very very small steps,
but as long as I was moving a little bit
forward every day and rebuild my reputation. And now it's
been you know, eleven years and I'm in a good place.
(30:09):
But it was one of the most challenging things that
I've ever had to endure, and it's made me better
for it. My question for you is you had this
imposter syndrome you mentioned, but you're also an introvert. I'm
a little bit of an introvert until you get to
know me. Hey, Jason thinks I talk too much now,
but we're very good friends.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
When Alex says he's an introvert, I just like, can
you hear my eyes rolling at this?
Speaker 3 (30:33):
But did you feel, Alison, like, how did you introduce
yourself into the business community that sometimes is very scary?
I would say all the time, it's very scary.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
Yeah, for me, it did feel like all the time.
Speaker 4 (30:45):
At the beginning, it was it was just so new
and so uncomfortable, you know, going into so many rooms.
You know, I'm used to being the only at a
lot of different points in my life, but I found
it particularly hard in this space. Yes, I think that
I had to remind myself that I did belong and
(31:06):
so many things that allowed me to be successful on
the track are the same things that will allow me
to be successful in this new area. They might all
be called something different in business, but I know how
to work hard, I know how to do something, you know,
be the best in the world at something. And I
just have to translate those skills and the perseverance and
(31:29):
the dedication to me that has been the part that
has served me the most, because you know, in business
there's so many ups and downs, and it's about you know,
really coming back and not being afraid. I think that's
the thing that has been at the core. As you know,
I've filled a million times on the track and it
doesn't shake me. And so it's like, Okay, can I
(31:51):
come back and I put the pieces together and can
we keep doing this?
Speaker 2 (31:54):
I sure.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
One quick advice that my good friend and mentor, Magic
Johnson taught me many many years ago. He said, Alex,
you know, whether it's you, Alison, myself, when we go
into a meeting, we can take every meeting and will
be very successful. Taking meetings, however, usually ends up with
a picture and assigned autographs and that's it. He goes.
When you get into those meetings, it's your job to
(32:17):
stay in those meetings. And how you stay in those
meetings is you have to have a world class team.
It can't just be Magic Johnson. It has to be
pat Riley, James Worthy, Kareem Kobe. You have to go
in there with a team that's worthy of winning championships
in the world of business. And that's one of the
greatest lessons I've learned. And as I thought about building
my team and building my company, the one thing that
(32:38):
you and I can do is we are pretty good
at recruiting great talent is identifying it and then how
do you bring them on board to sharing your vision
to go and build this great company that you want
to build. And yeah, so I passed it along with
you because it served me so well as an entrepreneur.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
I appreciate that. That's incredible advice.
Speaker 4 (32:57):
And I'm so grateful for you, know you, for Magic,
for Serena, for athletes who have been in this space
and who have been really transparent about their journeys. Because
it is a difficult road. I think you know, it's
hard enough to deal with retirement. But then you know,
when you have these really ambitious goals to be successful
(33:21):
in business as well, to be able to look at
people who have done it, it's very helpful and to
me it's been refreshing, you know, I feel like in
sports it is so competitive sometimes, you know, in the
world of business, I have found it really refreshing to
be able to connect with people who want to see
you win and want to help you. And I think,
you know, coming back to team that is everything. And
(33:44):
we've all been a part of some incredible teams and
knowing how to build them and how to be a
team player, you know, is definitely so relevant in this
in this new world.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
Well, and that's a really nice and natural segue into
always Alpha. Walk us through the decision to create the
talent management firm. Also, I believe you partnered with your
brother Wes on that and some other folks, so walk
us through that.
Speaker 4 (34:09):
Yeah, absolutely, I think you know, it comes back to
when you don't see something in the world that you
feel should exist, creating it and not being afraid to
do so. And I think creating Sage first really helped
me to see.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
That that's possible.
Speaker 4 (34:24):
And so Wes my brother, he's a couple of years
older than me. He represented me for the majority of
my career as an agent, and he, you know, built
a really great boutique agency that really focused on Olympians.
And when I got to kind of the end of
my competing years, I was kind of having these conversations
(34:45):
with Wes, was like, I wish I could do this again.
I feel like I learned so much, and women's sports
as you know, having incredible momentum. I was just like,
I feel like it would be so incredible to be
able to put all of this knowledge to use. And
that's really where the idea of Always Alpha came from.
It was, you know, saying, we want to create an
(35:06):
agency that is fully focused on women's sports. Like we
are all in on women's sports. It's not about you know,
we can sign you know, this male athlete and you
know that's going to take care of the bills, and
it's we're all in. And so our firm is fully
focused on women's sports. We really are kind of modeled
off the entertainment industry where we are a management firm
(35:29):
and we can also you know, work with others, but
really representing female athletes and the ability to build their
business on the field of play and off the field
as well. And so you know, when people have come
to me athletes and asked me, you know, how was
I able to do this or that, you know, really
being able to point them into the direction and say, well,
(35:51):
we bring the best people in the world to build
your business out and to really walk this journey with
you and create what you want to create. And it's
not this cookie cutter kind of model that comes from
some of your more traditional, larger agencies.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
It's funny, as we start to sort of wind down
a little bit, there's one big topic that I want
to sort of end and sort of go back to
where we began, which is you're an Olympian. That is
how you identify yourself. And now you know, in three years,
you know, almost exactly three years from now, your hometown,
Los Angeles, is going to host the Summer Olympic Games.
(36:26):
You've stayed deeply involved in the Olympics. You were recently
inducted into the US Olympic and Paralympic Hall of Fame.
You're deeply involved in the organizing committee to bring and
put on a successful games there in Los Angeles from
a business person's perspective, because now that's the hat you wear.
What are your sort of biggest visions What are the
(36:46):
biggest challenges for bringing the Olympics successfully to LA.
Speaker 4 (36:50):
Well, first, I'm so excited that the Olympics are coming
to LA. I think it's incredible. But yeah, I'm wearing
a different hat this time. I'm an IOC member, I
said on the LA twenty eight board. I think, you know,
the big challenge is looking at this from a standpoint
of it's almost looking like a world championship in every
sport happening every single day. That is a massive, you know, undertaking,
(37:11):
and so a lot will happen between now in twenty
twenty eight and being a Angelino. We know like the
excellence that happens here in the environment, so I think
that'll be incredible. But I think it's just making sure
that everything works seamlessly, and that's a big task. You know,
everything from athletes having the best you know, experience facilities
(37:34):
able to have their best performances, to all of the
moving about of so many people coming to the city,
all of it working together.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
What's it going to be like for you being a
host rather than a participant.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
I think it's going to be different.
Speaker 4 (37:51):
You know. The one thing that I wished, you know,
my whole career was to be able to have a
home game. So I think there's nothing, you know, like
that experience, and so I'm really excited for the American
athletes who are going to be able to have that
home field advantage, and so I think it'll be incredible
to be able to support. You know, I'm looking forward
to bringing my own kids, letting them experience it. There's
(38:14):
nothing like seeing the Olympics up close, and so for Angelinos,
for you know, so much the world that will be here,
I'm looking forward to the impact that that will have.
I think there will be a lot of new fans
for a lot of different sports. I think we have
the ability to really leave a legacy here in Los
Angeles and with the people here, and as we send
(38:35):
people back home as well, how they will be touched
and moved by the games.
Speaker 3 (38:40):
I get asked all the time, Alex, do you ever
get back in the batting cage? And my answer is like, no,
I don't. I do love the game and I miss
the game, But do you ever go out in the
track and just kind of do like some workouts, some sprints,
PI metrics. Do you miss it?
Speaker 1 (38:56):
I do miss it? And I do. You know, it
is what I know best.
Speaker 4 (39:01):
And so as far as like workout wise, I know
what I'm doing on a track.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
And I also feel like I have to stay a
bit ready.
Speaker 4 (39:09):
My daughter is you know, you know, she's I'm starting
to see you know, we were at the beach the
other day, and you know, how to raise her, I
had to like let her know what, There's.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
Not going to be any winning of anybody else around
here for quite some time.
Speaker 4 (39:23):
So I got to make sure that I'm able to, like,
you know, when someone challenges me, that I can deliver.
Speaker 5 (39:29):
I love my God, all right.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
So we end every episode with a lightning round. It's
five questions. We'll bounce it back and forth. The only
advice is just the first thing that comes to your mind.
So I'll start and then Alex will pick up. Are
you ready?
Speaker 1 (39:55):
Okay, let's do it?
Speaker 2 (39:56):
Okay, all right? What's the best piece of advice you've
ever receeend on deal making or business?
Speaker 4 (40:03):
You don't have to know it all. You don't have
to be the smartest person in the room.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
Who's your dream deal making partner?
Speaker 2 (40:10):
Melody Hobson Former guests, O the deal. We'd love to
see that, which see? Do you want to see win
a championship more than.
Speaker 1 (40:16):
Any the Lakers?
Speaker 3 (40:20):
What's your hype song before you go into a big
meet or negotiation?
Speaker 1 (40:27):
Oh, I gotta start using it? Okay, So that's Beyonce.
I'm a divay. Ever attract me? But I like that.
Speaker 4 (40:32):
I think you know, before I go into my like
my board meetings. Now I gotta, I gotta start playing it.
Speaker 2 (40:38):
It's a good one, all right. And finally, what's your
advice for someone listening who wants a career like yours?
Fully knowing that no one's ever going to have a
career exactly like yours, But what would your advice be?
Speaker 4 (40:49):
You don't have to wait for a perfect moment to
start something to do something different, Just do it, put
that first step forward, and do you deeply believe in something,
go after it.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
Alison Felix, I was so excited when I knew that
this was happening. It's so great to reconnect with you.
Thank you for your good humor and wisdom, and it
was really a treat, So thank you for your time.
Speaker 1 (41:12):
So nice to talk to you, Jason. So good to
see you, Alex.
Speaker 3 (41:15):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (41:15):
Thanks. The Deal is hosted by Alex Rodriguez and me
Jason Kelly. This episode was made by Anamazarakus, Stacey Wong,
and Lizzie Phillip. Amy Keen is our editor and Will
Connelly is our video editor. Our theme music is made
(41:36):
by Blake Maples. Our executive producers are Kelly Leferrier, Ashley Hoenig,
and Brendan Nenham. Sage Bauman is the head of Bloomberg Podcast.
Additional support from Rachel Carnivale and Elena Los Angeles. Thanks
so much for listening to the Deal. If you have
a minute, subscribe, rate and review our show. It'll help
other listeners find us. I'm Jason Kelly. See you next week.
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