May 8, 2025 • 42 mins
In this episode of The Deal, Alex Rodriguez and Jason Kelly talk about McLaren Racing’s success at the Miami Grand Prix, with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris finishing first and second on the podium. Then, they speak with Zak Brown about how McLaren Racing came back from the brink of bankruptcy to be a winning team. Brown tells the hosts how he and his drivers deal with media scrutiny, why Netflix and Brad Pitt are crucial to Formula One’s growth, and he turns the tables for a lightning round of questions for A-Rod.
You can also watch this interview on the Bloomberg Podcasts YouTube page.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
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.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
I'm your host, Jason Kelly, alongside my partner Alex Rodriguez.
We are coming to you from Beverly Hills, the Milkon
Global Conference.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Alex, what a scene.
Speaker 4 (00:24):
You sound very fancy with Beverly Hills, and it is
a scene. I've been coming here for about ten years
and this is by far, I think the most productive,
but the busiest, because there's a lot going on in
the world right now.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Is trying to raise capital.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
The world is trying to raise capital, and I think
the world is wrestling with an economy that is far
from certain. I would say it is uncertain. I would
say it is turbulent. We hear that all the time.
Speaker 4 (00:46):
For people.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
They're talking about tariffs, they're talking about global trade, they're
talking about this administration, lots of geopolitics, lots of finance,
stock markets, et cetera. But they're also talking a ton
about sports. You are on an incredible panel. I mean
talk about star Studed tell Us who was on this roster.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
It was really incredible. It was Sam Kennedy, CEO Fenway Sports,
the Great Willow Bay, your buddy Jason Wright was very impressive,
Rich Paul from Clutch Sports, and myself, And it was
an hour, but I could have been there for three
hours because I really enjoyed what everybody else was saying,
and it's such an interesting point. We had a great
(01:25):
jam packed audience and we had a great time.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Yeah, it was really something to sort of see that
collection of people. Jason Wright, of course ran the Washington Commanders.
Now has gone to work with Mellie Hobson. She will
be on an upcoming episode of the Deal in just
a couple of weeks, so stay tuned for that. She
talks all about how her new funded aerial has come together.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
I got to do it.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
I have to say a very cool like check the
box the bucket List interview yesterday.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
And I got to say, you were absolutely amazing. You
did your best work and you were with really two titans.
Then you studied, you've ran them by and I don't
know how you get these people, but you're good.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Jason, Well, thank you. I really appreciate that. It's really fun.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Henry Cravits and George Roberts, who do very very little
together in public, the founders of KKR, came together on stage.
It was a packed house in the International Ballroom, same
stage where they do the Golden Globes. I felt about
as much pressure as if I was going for a
Golden globe to deliver. With those guys, it was super fun.
They talked a lot about their relationship, They talked about
(02:25):
the markets, They talked about throwing off the tag of
being barbarians, which was fascinating. So it was a lot
of fun. The last two days have been crazy, but
the days before that were even crazier because we were
both in Miami. Were recorded a couple episodes, one with
Susie Wolf, who's coming up later on the season, and
she was in town for Formula One the Miami GP.
(02:47):
It has become an unbelievable scene in your hometown.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
You can make an argument that Miami is one of
the hottest cities in the world, and this has become
the biggest of the best, and Formula One it used
to to come compare to the Super Bowl and our
Baso and so many different events. But this thing has
taken over the city in a way I've never seen before.
And you were there, which I was there.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
So I went out on Saturday as a guest of
tom Garfinkel, who has been a guest on the show.
He of course works closely with Stephen Ross. He's the
primary architect of bringing F one to Miami. He put
together an incredible collection of people who were watching this race.
It was an absolute who's who of finance, sports and entertainment.
(03:30):
And they are there because they have to be, they
need to be. All of their peers are there and
what we got to witness was something pretty incredible and
it was all due to the guest on this week's show,
Zach Brown, the CEO of McLaren Racing. One two finish
on the podium for McLaren. They are leading the standings.
This is a guy you and I have both gotten
(03:51):
to know, and we got to catch up with him.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
We had a great conversation.
Speaker 4 (03:56):
Zach Brown, no college degree, no high school degree, and
really one of the best leaders, not only in America
but around the world. And he's one of the most
impressive And I think our audience is really going to
enjoy that podcast.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Yeah, it's a really good interview and a good conversation.
I think in part because what we learn from Zach
is really some key business lessons. He's got an incredible
management challenge on his hand that he goes right into,
which is he has two superstars battling for a championship.
This is a team sport to a point because both
of these guys want to win, and they've each won
(04:29):
already this year. Talked about Oscar Piastre and Lando Norris
and how this season ends. It's going to be good,
we think, but it's a tricky thing for Zach Brown.
He gets into it. So let's get into it with
Zach Brown right here on the Deal. Welcome back to
(04:54):
the Deal. I'm Jason Kelly alongside Alex Rodriguez. So excited
today to have Zach Brown McLaren racing here with me
in studio.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Great to have you here.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Good to be here, good to see everyone.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
All Right, So you are in the midst of such
an interesting industry, but really one of the most interesting
and exciting teams in this sport in Formula One. Specifically,
talk to us about this past year and what it's
felt like you win the Constructors Championship, A real turnaround
(05:26):
from where this team was when you took over.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
What was the key decision.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
People is kind of the best way to summarize it,
but there's obviously a lot that goes into that. When
I started in twenty seventeen, we had our worst year
in the history of McLaren. We were ninth in the championship.
We had none of these beautiful logos. Ninth out of ten,
nine out of ten. That's not very good. It's terrible.
A matter of fact, morale was down huge brand. But
(05:52):
you know, kind of like the Yankees, they expect you
to win, and if you're not winning, the booze are
kind of louder. Then if you're a team no one
cares about, which is both a blessing in some sense
but also a challenge in another. It was just not
a great place, and so I started by trying to
(06:13):
fix the leadership team right everything kind of the buck
starts at the at the top. Got the right people
in place, got everyone row in the same direction, playing
as a as a as a team, because this is
you know, McLaren racing. Fourteen hundred people, about a thousand
of those are on the Formula one team, and getting
everyone building trust, belief, backing each other up. And now
(06:36):
nine years later we're won our first World championship in
twenty six years, which is kind of crazy because when
I grew up watching McLaren they kind of won everything
all the all the time, and we fell far from
behind that. But people, of course, we invested in technology,
we got great sponsors involved, all those things came together.
Two awesome drivers, which I'm sure we'll talk about here. Yeah,
(06:59):
because having two some drivers isn't without its challenges at times.
But it's been a great, great journey and now we're
at the top. Now. The tricky part is managing all
the expectations and trying to stay at the top because
in sport you don't stay on top forever, so enjoy
it why you can.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
And so when you think about where this sport has come,
especially in the United States where we are now, obviously
the drive to survive effect everything that's happening three Grand
Prix here in the United States. What needs to happen
next to sort of, you know, as we say in
the investment business, is you know, sort of consolidate the
games and keep growing.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
What needs to happen.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Well, I think it's kind of that in the sense
of what we're doing is working. So let's keep kind
of incrementally improving, but let's not change the game because
we as a sport, we're winning. I think we have
twenty four races. Now we have demand for more. We
can't do more in a year, So I'm a fan
(07:58):
of let's go to twenty five fixed Grand Prix and
go to eight Grand Prix that rotate every other year,
so you can get some geographic expansion, but not on
an annual basis, because we just these twenty four races
around the world. We just we can't do twenty five.
But at the same time, you don't want to kind
of not grow. I think if I look at North America,
(08:19):
our TV ratings, if you compare it to the big leagues,
here a lot of room for growth. I don't think
we need more than three Grand Prix here. I think
we could have more than three Grand Prix, but that
would come at the expense of getting into India or
South Africa, Korea or some of the other areas I
think we need to expand into. Sponsorship is unbelievable. New
(08:42):
brands coming in, you know every day, the Googles, the
gold Men's, these companies weren't involved in Formula one historically,
so it's very healthy we have. The franchise value is
finally caught on. If you look at these MLB or
NBA or NFL teams, Formula one teams, are you know,
as a franchise owner, are all healthy. So let's keep
(09:06):
doing what we're doing, but let's keep making incremental gains.
You know, the Netflix was amazing for our sport. I
think the Brad Pitt movie coming out in June will
be awesome. I think that will turn a lot more
people onto the sport. And if you look at where
the sport needed to grow from pre Liberty acquiring it,
(09:27):
we didn't have the diversity that we needed. We didn't
have the youth that we needed. We didn't have North America.
You know, arguably if not the most important sports and
commercial marketplace. We didn't have as many women. And now
you look at the audience. You know, I just got
stopped coming in here and it's my women, and it's youth,
and it's diversity. It's North America, you know in New York.
(09:50):
You know, kind of one of my favorite funny stories
as I was staying at a hotel here when Netflix
came out, and I pull up to the hotel and
there's these two buses and fans everywhere. You know, it's
either there's a baseball team or football team. And I
come in and I go upstairs. Sure, I'm gonna go
down to dinner. And I get in the elevator two
guys seven foot three, So it's like, okay, yeah, basketball team,
(10:16):
but I don't follow basketball closely, so I made a
funny joke to the guys, Hey, here for the tennis,
and they kind of laughed to get with that. You're
probably thinking, who is this guy, Let's beat him up,
but they're super nice. Get out of the elevator. Lakers everywhere,
all right, it's the it's the Lakers. And they're going
to the bus and they won't sign for the fans
because they got to get to the bus. But they're
very friendly. Yes, sorry, you got to get to the bus.
(10:36):
And I'm walking out with them for the front door,
and these three fans popped out from this group. They go,
can we get your autograph? And they're like, sorry, we're
not signing. No, no, not you, mister Brown love Formula
one And these two guys looked at me like, who
the hell is this guy? And I mean, that was
New York, right, and New York was the last place
in the world that was a Formula one city up
until a few years ago. So it's been awesome for
(10:57):
the sport. So I think we need to keep exposing
people to our sport. And I think that's what Netflix
did is they showed us what goes on behind the scenes.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
Yeah, so Zach from the outside as Americans and I'm
probably the minority in this now because your game has
grown so much.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
Your sport, but it's.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
Quite intimidating from afar right until you get to know,
like Drive for Survive and you start getting into it
a little bit. I've been to a few races and
it's really really exciting. It's a great product. I remember
seeing you and your team in Vegas and it was awesome.
But what is the business model? How do you make money?
What are your largest revenue streams? What are your largest
fixed costs? Explain that for our listeners a little bit
high level.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Yeah, absolutely, So our revenue streams are pretty simple. The
strong majority is commercial sponsorship. Our revenues this year will
be over six hundred million pounds, which is a record
for US, and I believe in in Formula one that's
probably three quarters of our revenue. Then you get effectively
prize money from Formula one and we get paid this
(12:10):
year on last year's results, and then the teams get
the majority, not enough of the majority from the league
and then that's distributed based on how you finished and
some historical prize money if you'd like, So we get
paid that in arrears that goes up or down depending
on the revenue. Formula one generates Formula ones generating the
(12:31):
revenue from broadcast money, sponsorship and promoter fees to put
on the events and the promoters keeping the gate the
grandstand sales. Then of course there's license merchandise. So we
really only kind of have three main revenue streams sponsorship,
Formula one, moneies and then the licensing revenues. And then
(12:53):
we have a cost cap, which is what's driven the
competitiveness in the sport and also so until since Liberty
got involved, and that's that's been a game changer. Last
year we had seven different winners, four different teams that
won multiple races. Never in the history since I followed
(13:14):
the sport have we had that level of competitiveness. And
the problem that we had is before there was a
cost gap, you could spend as much as you could
afford to lose. That was kind of the name of
the game. And when you had a big OEM coming
in who could afford to spend a lot, big manufacturer,
but it was great value for them because of the exposure.
(13:37):
They could just outspend you. And then you get a
discrepancy on the playing field because, especially in our sport
or so dependent upon technology, if you can outstand you
just buy better technology, not just better engineers and more engineers.
Better engineers, more engineers, and so that's now been capped,
(13:59):
and that's given everybody a chance to be competitive, and
the whole grid is now covered by two percent, so
there's not much between the best and the worst. So
the sport's really healthy as an on track product.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
All Right, we're getting into what everybody wants to hear,
which is you have a champagne problem, which is you
alluded to it at the top of the conversation. You
have two awesome drivers. You won the Constructors' Championship, which
is the team championship last year. I have the benefit
of co hosting this show with the superstar who has
some experience being one of a couple superstars on a
(14:35):
team and now is in a position where he has
to manage superstars, So we want to chop it up
on this with you. Alex has some advice, but I'll
ask you, what is the macro approach for you to
managing Landa Norris and Oscar Piastri, who are by all
accounts battling it out for the championship.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Yeah. Absolutely, And I do want to hear what Alex
has to say, because especially when you join the Yankees,
you know there was a couple guys playing the same
position and I'm curious how that kind of played out.
But for us, it's about transparency, communication, fairness, and we're
going to get it wrong, but let's trust each other.
(15:14):
If we get it wrong, it's not going to be
because we tried to get it wrong or we were up.
So you know, when we come into a race weekend,
we sit down with boat drivers on Thursday, here's the
game plan, here's on what car. Because sometimes you do
get into a situation where you're trying to get upgrades
to the track so quickly. Sometimes you can't have and
(15:34):
these are small upgrades both cars with the same stuff.
So what you don't want to do is not tell
one driver and when you do, hey, this guy's getting
the upgrades. This weekend, here's why, or you got them
last time. You kind of keep score. Then on Sunday
after qualifying, so we know what the grid looks like,
(15:55):
we talk and we talk about strategy. Hey, he might
be on a harder tire softer tire. That might mean
this might happen in the race. And so you just
open transparent fair and then give everyone the benefit of
the doubt. And I'm also a big fan of if
something goes wrong, unless you can fix it right then
(16:16):
and there, let's just talk about it on Monday because
in sport, the adrenalins go in, the passions going, and
you can say some stuff that you don't mean, but
you've said it. And even though you can say sorry
on Monday morning, you've said it. So kind of leave
the helmets on and don't let the media because the
(16:37):
media love a good a good fight.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
This is the story of the season.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
And it's and and everyone's kind of waiting for it
to happen. And what we're saying is, hey, it's gonna happen.
It's not if it's gonna happen, it's when it's gonna happen.
But you know what, drivers make mistakes, You can have
two guys racing as hard as they are twenty four races,
someone's gonna get it wrong or driving it. It's not
gonna be intent. It's going to be good, hard racing,
(17:02):
and you know what, it's a mistake. Mistakes happened, So
keep your helmet on. Don't take the bait, because I've
seen in our IndyCar team we had two drivers that
were battling it out last year and one of our
drivers gave a great interview and then at the end
gave a little bit of a sound bite, which was okay,
But then I saw the media go to the other
(17:22):
driver and they went, hey, your teammate just said this,
which was the sound bite. That's not what he said. Luckily,
because our drivers are good guys. And I think kind
of coming back Alex, do we say interviewing people. I
don't think all drivers will play this way, but our
drivers will play this way because of the relationship we have.
And it's like, don't take the bait. And the driver
(17:43):
didn't take the bait because of Hattie, then they would
have gone back to the other driver did and then
you know, next thing, you know, you have a war
of words, and actually it was just been instigated. So
we're ready for it. We're quite relaxed about it, and
we've even said, you know what, we can't wait till
that happens because we think it's going to be a
non event. One's gonna be a bit disappointed and then
can we just move on and get.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Back to racist right?
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Right?
Speaker 2 (18:04):
All right?
Speaker 3 (18:04):
So Alex, come on in here, because you you've been
on the other side of this. You know, you show
up in New York. I mean, I'll name the names.
You show up in New York. You're considered one of
the best shortstops you know, who's ever played the game.
And as Zach said, somebody's playing that position.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
His name is Derek Jeter.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
He's really good at me he's too.
Speaker 4 (18:23):
Yeah, he's pretty damn good.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
So what was it like? I mean, like, what is
it like?
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Because you were I don't know, people can make their
own decisions. You were either Lando or Oscar in this case,
but like, what was it like from your perspective?
Speaker 4 (18:37):
Well, I think it was a perfect storm, just like Zach,
like what you're managing today, right, and you have the
enormous brands that's similar, right, you have you're McLaren brand.
We have the New York Yankees, you have two stars
in their primes, you have a blue chip, legendary owner, right,
George Steinberner. That's the role you're playing, and that's a
(18:59):
great that's pretty good. George was the best. And mister Steinberner,
he set the boundaries from day one. He said, Alex,
if you want to be a Yankee, I can make
that happen. But let's be clear. You're going to be
a third baseman. And I said to mister Steinberner on
a phone call, it was about a seven minute phone call.
I said, I'll do one better for you. If you
ever played me to short, I'll ask for a trade.
(19:19):
That's the deal. I'm the third baseman. Derek's a shortstop.
And Derek and I have had great conversations about this,
you know, twenty years later on how much he respected that.
There was ever one rumor about me wanting to play short.
And I think Zach for me, I got it wrong
the first four years because I always wanted to justify
I was a little bit too chatty for New York
and coming from Seattle in Texas much smaller markets, you
(19:42):
could be chatty and you wouldn't get you know, penalized.
So finally, after four years of a lot of pain
and mistakes on my part and O nine, it all
came together. We kind of put the name of the
the brand and not the names of our last names
at the very front, and we won a title. And
when you win, we all win. And I think one
(20:02):
of the lessons that I learned is learn and keep
the door shut, because to your point, if you leave
it open, the media is going to run with it.
So be very absolute, be very black and white, and
don't justify anything because the media is not your friend.
They're looking for reality TV. And the first four years
I gave them that, and then after that it was
much better.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
You hit the nail on the head there with kind
of don't give them too much because the more you talk,
the more likely you are to say something by accident.
And so actually I think less is more when you're
the profile now that Lando and Oscar and McLaren or
Steinbrenner and Jeter and a Rod like, you want to
talk because you actually just want to kind of explain things.
(20:43):
You know, it's an innocent delivery, but they're waiting for that. Ooh,
I can use that sound bite right there, and then
then you kind of get pissed off, don't you when
you read it? And then I think you do have
to kind of learn by your mistakes. I've done the
same thing, you know, myself over the years many times,
and you know what, I'm going to do it again.
(21:04):
I'm just gonna hopefully try and do it less frequently.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
Yeah, and I'm you know, my fall up, Zach is
I mean, this is I think unique to motorsport. You
know that you would have this situation, and so I
do wonder as a CEO making business decisions around this,
this is this is the card cards you've been dealt,
(21:27):
you know. I think those of us who you know,
like the business of Formula one, certainly liberty media would
probably say, yeah, this is a feature, not a bug,
you know, like you're welcome. So how do you how
do you approach it as someone running this business? Are
there different decisions you make around sponsorship, around you know, appearances,
like what what do you do to sort of I
(21:48):
guess maximize this this moment?
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Yeah, I think it's it's interesting. What's never really been
done before that I can remember, is two drivers competing
for the World champion ship in the same team, right
and it not ending in tiers. That's the reality. Andrea Stella,
who's our team principal, who's responsible for the performance of
the Formal one team, does an amazing job. And PK
(22:12):
Mansel Tiers, Rosberg, Hamilton Tiars Cena prost Tiers like I
can't remember the last time there weren't tiers. But we're
gonna we're gonna be different and we're we're on it.
And I think I'm a believer in you know, right
now we're on on top, but I don't want us
(22:33):
to act too much differently because I also recognize there
will be It's not if, it's it's when now. I
hope when we're not on top, we're a second or third,
not not ninth. I'd like to think we're on top
of things now, but I also don't ever want to,
like with our our sponsor partners, be like we're the
hottest team and foremore on right now and we're gonna
(22:54):
charge a premium, because the first thing's gonna happen is
the minute we're not the hottest team in Formula One,
there we go like, well wait a minute. So I
want to be kind of consistent I don't want us
to change our personality if you'd like and be like,
you know, we're the big guys on the block now,
and have some humility about what we're doing, and keep
(23:17):
our feet on the ground. It wasn't that long ago
we were ninth in the championship. Enjoy the moment, bring
everyone along the for the journey. I mean, one of
the reasons why you know this orange that we call
Papaya is our team. I thought was dark and exclusive
when I joined, and I wanted us to be warm
and inclusive, and a lot of that is our drivers
(23:39):
and I just I remember the first race I went to.
I was ten years old, Long Beach Grand Prix, nineteen
eighty one. You guys all have the same experience in
various sports. The impression it made on me, I remember
it like it was yesterday. I remember the first racing
driver that I met, I got his autograph, And I
also remember over the years, every athlete I've met that
(24:01):
wasn't so nice. And so I want to make sure
we're nice guys one hundred percent of the time. You know,
to stop for ninety eight percent of the fans, that's
not good enough. And we're fortunate. The drivers we have
are great guys. I've never seen them not stop for
sign a photo or take take a picture. Because at
the end of the day, we're in the sport and
(24:22):
entertainment business, and some of the people in our sport go, well,
it's not entertainment. I was like, well, wait a minute,
it's my time off. I'm buying a ticket to go
watch something, or I'm sitting on my couch and watch it.
How's that not entertaining very definition of it. It's totally
so we need to be entertaining for our fans and
not lose sight of the fact that all of our
(24:43):
number one customer is the fan. Without a fan, we
don't have countries that want to hold races without fans,
we don't have sponsors. So when you see some of
the drivers in Formula one kind of not appreciate the fans,
how did they think they get paid it the end
of the day. And so I think it's just very
(25:03):
important for us all to be fan focused. And so
the more I can expose the fan base to McLaren
and our cool drivers, and the better off we are.
And it feels good. I remember the the you know,
the impressions. It's left on me.
Speaker 4 (25:17):
Yeah, so Jason mentioned Zach early. He alluded to how
busy you are, and you're one of the busiest guys
in the world, but yet you're traveling the world. You're
(25:38):
doing a great job managing your defending championship team. You
answer emails like in seconds, and you're hit me on
what's pp at all hours of the night. I do
the same thing right back to you. What does a
typical Monday Tuesday look like for Zach Brown?
Speaker 1 (25:51):
They're all flat out? Is probably the only common aspect.
I've always believed I'm not the smartest guy in the room,
but if I can be the hardest working guy in
the room, that I can get a little bit of
a head start. And I love what I do. It
doesn't feel like a job, right, I mean, you're playing
baseball for the Yankees. I mean, okay, I know it's
(26:12):
a job, but you know what, I love that job
and I'm going racing for a living. You know, it
wasn't long ago I was playing with little hot wheels cars.
I kind of I'm just playing with the bigger versions
now and so I love it. And it doesn't mean
I mean it's unbelievably hard. There's a immense amount of pressure.
It's not easy, it's not always fun, but ninety five
percent of the time it's great, and so I get
(26:34):
up every day and every day is kind of a
new adventure. I think. My view is I work for
the race team. The racing team doesn't work for me.
So my job as manager, if you'd like, is how
do I get the best out of all the players
on the field in the factory? What do you need?
Do you need direction, do you need more resources, do
(26:54):
you need more employees? Whatever it may be. So I'm
constantly going to trying to figure out what does everybody need?
What are my sponsors need? How can I deliver on that?
So I'm constantly trying to give everyone in our ecosystem
what they need to get the most out of their
time at McLaren. And you know, two hundred and seventy
(27:15):
nights a year on the road, so travel like a lunatic.
I'm at the racetrack. I raced four or five times
a year. I raced this past weekend, so probably not
healthy that on my weekend off from being at the racetrack,
I went back to the racetrack and I love it.
Speaker 4 (27:30):
You know, I got a chance to drive, actually sit
in the back for a race. We did one lap.
It was the scariest thing I've ever done in my life.
I thought I was dead. I did forte in hell.
Mary's a lot of prayers in baseball. Wish you could
have a camera just like you could for the drivers,
so people at home can say, how are they even?
You can't even see the ball when it's coming in
one hundred miles an hour.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
It's you know, I've been and I'm sure you've done
the same. Alex play professional with a professional golfer, Yeah,
sit courd side in an NBA. The professionals are just
at a level that until you kind of see it,
you go, you know, when I'm golfing, I'm like, I'm
trying to go that way. Yeah, when you're playing with
(28:12):
Justin Rose or Rory and been fortunate to play, I'm
trying to go that way. But land it there put
some backspin on it because I and it's like, yeah,
what is going? And they just professionals in sports see
the game, play the game unlike a way you can
really appreciate it until you're close up and then it's
just like, wow.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Yeah, So it's interesting Zach.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
You know you alluded to this with with your great
story about you know, being in an elevator and sort
of seeing what Formula one became. I do wonder for
you what it's been like in how you've managed essentially,
and again I may pose this question my co hosts
as well, like becoming really famous. I mean you walk
through the Bloomberg and people are asking for selfies. I've
(28:56):
seen this happen with other team principles. You know, there
aren't a lot of team principles and CEOs who get
stopped for selfies, but like you and Toto and Gunther
when he was a team principal at Gunther Steiner all
gets up, what was that transition like for you? How
do you manage it and still sort of maintain your
(29:17):
sort of job and your management responsibilities.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Well, it's part of the job, yeah, because you know,
the fans they can't control when they bump into you,
and the fans are ninety nine out of one hundred
times really gracious, really nice, other than maybe when they
get ahold of you on social media. That kind of
challenges that goes kind of more to one out of
one hundred. But putting that aside, Alex is for people
(29:44):
who are just listening and they're excited to see you. Yeah,
and so I think, you know, if you're going to
be in the public spotlight, you kind of can't turn
it on and off. It is what it is. And
you know, so I always stop for fe photos and
you know, people are excited and cheering for McLaren this
weekend and in airports, and so you do have to
(30:06):
kind of raise your awareness. Security is something that you
need to think a little bit about, which is unfortunate
but as the reality. But you know, I've always felt
that way on my own mind, so I think it's
part of it. It comes back to the entertainment aspect.
I've seen some celebrities over the years that we all
(30:29):
have that are you know, kind of I'm not working
right now. It's like, dude, you signed up to be
in the public spotlight. Yeah, you're working. There could be
times it's a bit more inconvenient if you like. I mean,
it can be a little bit strange when you're in
the bathroom and someone wants to take a selfie. That's
you know, i'd wait. But I also remember when I
(30:51):
was a fan waiting to meet the the Alexes of
the world. I was the guy waiting at the ballpark,
got there early, figured out where the players park the car.
I wanted their you know, autographed, and so I get it.
I was there, and it comes back to I remember
what impression it made on me, and so you know,
it's changed things, but I'm good with it.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
Yeah, how have you dealt with that, Alex? I don't
know if we've ever talked about it on the show.
Speaker 4 (31:17):
No, we haven't, Jason. But you know, for me, that
process mindset was shaped early in my career because they
say you never want to meet your heroes, but in
my case, it was wonderful that I met my heroes.
I mean, from Michael Jordan to Cayle Ripken, Keith Hernandez
Magic Johnson. They were all honestly ten out of ten.
And I told myself when I was a teenager boy,
(31:37):
if I ever was that famous, I want to be
like Magic. I want to be like Michael. I want
to be like cay Ripkin. But early in my career
it's flipped Jason. To answer your question more specifically, I
thought the media was a nuance, like something you had
to deal with but I thought they were against me
right as of my you know, because you in New
York you want to play defense against the media, and
then the fan base was something you had to kind
(31:58):
of dance around to get some privacy. Today is completely flipped.
With some perspective, I realized that without fans, you don't
have a sport, you don't have a team. We're really
kind of working for them, even though we're not a
public company at least us you is as close as
public as you can be. And then the media is
(32:18):
a great conduit to our fan base. And you've seen
it in you know, Drive to Survive your f one show,
and you've seen it with content that NBA's provided MLB.
It's an incredible important part of our business and that
has switched.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
You must have had an even bigger challenge though, because
while you know, okay, I'm known on Netflix Flix, when
you came to the Yankees, that was more like royalty
level of publicity. Right with me. They just want to
know what's going on on the track with you. They
want to know what's going on in the field, what's
off the field, what restaurant were you at. They wanted
to know kind of about your twenty four to seven
(32:55):
and that I would imagine is a higher degree of
frustration or annoyance when it's like, look, this isn't about
a fan coming up asking for an autograph. This is
about you trying to dive into my personal life. And
I fortunately haven't had to deal with that.
Speaker 4 (33:11):
Yeah, Zach, you're spot on it. And there was three things,
and I played in New York for almost fifteen years,
there was three things that did religiously every morning three
sixty five twenty four seven when I woke up, I
put out the New York Post and I would look
at the front page, I'm not there, look at the
back page, I'm not there. And then you look at
page six. It was a trifecta. If you made it
(33:31):
clear on those three it's a good day. You lived
to see the end of the day.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
And the problem was those three pages weren't about how
you hit last night, right. I mean, they wanted something
a little bit more gossipy than that. So I think
that gets frustrating because they can kind of start to
shape your image in a way that's not accurate. I've
met so many people that I didn't know, so I
had an impression which I was formed because of what
(34:00):
I've read, and then you meet him, I'm like, man,
that guy couldn't be totally opposite, more misunderstood. And so
you've learned to give everyone the kind of I want
to get to know the person and not kind of
just believe what I read.
Speaker 4 (34:13):
And Zach, one of the one of the head fakes
that I've seen athletes do is they make a mistake
to the media and then the journalist does his job,
he writes a story, and then the athlete gets mad
at the media member, and you got to realize, wait
a minute, they got a job to do. You made
a mistake, correct the mistake. Do it less is more
applied to what you're talking about, Zach, And don't get
(34:34):
mad at the reporter. So that that's another dynamic that
is so easy to blame the reporter. Not look in
the mirror and say, Okay, how did I make a
mistake here? I got to do a better job managing
my my look.
Speaker 3 (34:44):
At Alex defending journalists, this is like I feel like
my work here is done, Like this is.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
This is just I don't know what a moment.
Speaker 3 (34:54):
So we're going to get to our lightning round in
in just a minute, because I know you got to go,
but you know, I want to ask you, you know,
sort of in the spirit of the deal. You know,
you've you've somewhat quietly, sort of really built under McLaren
racing like an empire. You know, you talked about Formula One,
you talked about Indy. You know, you're going back to Lamon,
(35:15):
You're doing a little racing yourself, Like what's next for
the business. You know, this is a booming sport right now.
You know, I have to think you're leaning into other opportunities.
Are they motor sports related? Are there other sports you're
interested in? We're in such an you know again, we're
in such an interesting moment of growth in the sports ecosystem.
(35:35):
Where do you see opportunity?
Speaker 1 (35:36):
Yeah, I think you know, we've only won one World
championship in the last twenty six years, so I think
we're we're far from tick. That's that's Sharon. So obviously,
you know, as a sports team, it's all about winning
and trying to win. So we are the only racing
team I've ever won the Triple Crown, which is the
Indy five hundred, the twenty four hours Lamont and Monaco.
(35:57):
No team has ever done that in the same era,
same year. We're now competing or going to be competing
in all three of those series the Lamas Series in
twenty twenty seven, so it would be pretty cool to
do something that's never been done before. That can be
a jeopardy question twenty years from now. So I think
we all have an aspect of looking back and what's
(36:18):
kind of the legacy you can create because you can't
rewrite the record books, so a lot of winning left
still to do in all three series. That's first foremost.
We're looking at a few different ways that we could
maybe extend our brand into maybe some other sporting equipment,
you know, golf, scheme, tennis, those are some you know
(36:42):
sports that are using aerodynamics, using materials that are premium.
There's you know a lot of our sponsors are also
in golf. So I think if there was a you know,
Ferrari has the Ferrari World theme park in n Abu Dhabi,
and then you've seen Porsche's got the Porsche of Towers.
So but we're a racing team first and foremost. But
(37:03):
if there's from a business point of view, a few
areas that we might be able to extend our brand
that would be of interest to us. But I think
it's kind of let's stay let's stay focused. If you're
a baseball team, don't try and be a football team. Right,
You're a baseball team, and we're a racing team, and
I like the three racing series that we're in the
three biggest forms of motor racing. We've not won the
(37:25):
Indy five hundred since nineteen seventy six, So that's a
focus before we think about doing anything anything.
Speaker 2 (37:31):
Else, Alex, anything else for we moved to lightning rounds.
Speaker 4 (37:45):
No, I think we're ready.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
Right, let's do it all right, So five questions.
Speaker 3 (37:49):
We'll bounce it back and forth and just you know,
say whatever comes to your mind. All right, Zach Brown,
what's the best piece of advice you've received on deal
making your business?
Speaker 1 (37:58):
Don't make the same mistake twice.
Speaker 4 (38:01):
Who's your dream deal making partner?
Speaker 1 (38:05):
Oh? Good question. I think that have to be Roger Penske. Oh,
Rogers great one.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
One.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
We got to get him on the show. Roger's awesome
that we both pitched him on it. And I think
he's gonna do it all right.
Speaker 1 (38:18):
That he travels like two hundred and seventy one days
a year. He can't keep up with that guy.
Speaker 3 (38:21):
He's he's unbelievable. All right, what's the most nervous you've
ever been?
Speaker 1 (38:26):
I mean usually the start of the race, but I
would say Abu Dhabi last year when we won the championship,
because Saturday qualifying was perfect, first and second, the Ferrari
was seventeenth. Turn one max for stopping takes out Oscar,
Oscar's last Charles has an unbelievable start. He's eight, Charles
Leclair Leclaire, and all of a sudden, I saw our
(38:48):
championship going away. Lando had to win that race to
win the championship, and so that was the longest two
hours of my life. So I'd say that was the
most nervous.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
Yeah, it's right there.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
It's for two hours too. I don't mind nervous like
the start of the race. It's over nervous getting up
to the bat, but kind of like once the picture
winds up. It all this was two hours.
Speaker 4 (39:13):
So what's your hype song before you walk into a
big meeting or negotiation.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
Oh, that's a good question. I don't really have a
hype song. Snoop Dogg's pretty cool, dude. I kind of
like rap high energy, so that you know the guys
that are doing kind of classical musical on the grid.
I kind of like the adrenal government.
Speaker 3 (39:31):
All right, So what's your advice for someone listening who
wants a career like yours?
Speaker 1 (39:36):
Everyone says hard work, but it's amazing how many people
don't actually do it and then just get in experience
and networking. And I sometimes have people come in and
they're they're big aspirations, which are great, but they kind
of want to start there as opposed to work their
way up. So I think it's just get experience, get
to know people, and follow your passion. That's all I've
(39:59):
ever done. I didn't kind of this wasn't my plan.
I just knew I wanted to be in racing my
entire life, and I've just worked really hard and I've
been fortunate to land where I am. Can I do
two for a run?
Speaker 2 (40:12):
Yeah? Yeah, all right for it?
Speaker 1 (40:13):
All right?
Speaker 2 (40:14):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (40:14):
Toughest pitcher you ever faced.
Speaker 4 (40:18):
I would say nineteen ninety nine Pedro Martinez. He can
do it all. He had three perfect pitches, a fast
bought one hundred ninety one mine hour slider and bugs
bunny change up.
Speaker 1 (40:30):
Okay, Pedro is unbelievable. I guess he had also the
inside pitch if he felt you might take him along,
so that would be his fourth pitch. And then who's
the best hitter you played with?
Speaker 4 (40:42):
Boy, that's such a great question. I would say the
best right handed hitter I ever played with was Edgar Martinez,
who's in the Hall of Fame and probably the best
complete right handed hitter. And there's so many. I would
say Manny Ramirez awesome.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
And the last one, who's your favorite ballplayer growing up?
Like they didn't play with, but like who's your idol?
Speaker 4 (41:04):
Well, I had three, and they all had to do
with media because these as you remember when we were kids,
you know, there was the three big station at w
R where you watch the Mets. You had TBS where
you watched the Braves, and then you had WGN where
you watched the Cups. And so therefore it was Dale Murphy,
Keith Hernandez from the Mets, and I love Darryl.
Speaker 1 (41:24):
Darryl Strawberry is awesome, except I'm a Cardinals guy, so
so Keith Hernandez from the Cardinals. But I know not
on the same channel.
Speaker 4 (41:30):
Yeah, yeah, right, and of course cal Ripken because he
was a tall, short step Yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:34):
He was amazing, all right, Zach, Great, thanks for having
me on. Thanks thanks guys, Thank you Zach.
Speaker 3 (41:47):
The Deal is hosted by Alex Rodriguez and me Jason Kelly.
This episode was made by Anamazarakus, Stacy Wong, and Lizzie Phillip.
Amy Keen is our editor and Will Connelly is our
video editor.
Speaker 2 (41:58):
Our theme music is.
Speaker 3 (41:59):
Made by Blake Maples. Our executive producers are Kelly Leferrier,
Ashley Hoenig, and Brenda Newham. 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
(42:19):
you next week.
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio News.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome back to the Deal.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
I'm your host, Jason Kelly, alongside my partner Alex Rodriguez.
We are coming to you from Beverly Hills, the Milkon
Global Conference.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Alex, what a scene.
Speaker 4 (00:24):
You sound very fancy with Beverly Hills, and it is
a scene. I've been coming here for about ten years
and this is by far, I think the most productive,
but the busiest, because there's a lot going on in
the world right now.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Is trying to raise capital.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
The world is trying to raise capital, and I think
the world is wrestling with an economy that is far
from certain. I would say it is uncertain. I would
say it is turbulent. We hear that all the time.
Speaker 4 (00:46):
For people.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
They're talking about tariffs, they're talking about global trade, they're
talking about this administration, lots of geopolitics, lots of finance,
stock markets, et cetera. But they're also talking a ton
about sports. You are on an incredible panel. I mean
talk about star Studed tell Us who was on this roster.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
It was really incredible. It was Sam Kennedy, CEO Fenway Sports,
the Great Willow Bay, your buddy Jason Wright was very impressive,
Rich Paul from Clutch Sports, and myself, And it was
an hour, but I could have been there for three
hours because I really enjoyed what everybody else was saying,
and it's such an interesting point. We had a great
(01:25):
jam packed audience and we had a great time.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Yeah, it was really something to sort of see that
collection of people. Jason Wright, of course ran the Washington Commanders.
Now has gone to work with Mellie Hobson. She will
be on an upcoming episode of the Deal in just
a couple of weeks, so stay tuned for that. She
talks all about how her new funded aerial has come together.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
I got to do it.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
I have to say a very cool like check the
box the bucket List interview yesterday.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
And I got to say, you were absolutely amazing. You
did your best work and you were with really two titans.
Then you studied, you've ran them by and I don't
know how you get these people, but you're good.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Jason, Well, thank you. I really appreciate that. It's really fun.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Henry Cravits and George Roberts, who do very very little
together in public, the founders of KKR, came together on stage.
It was a packed house in the International Ballroom, same
stage where they do the Golden Globes. I felt about
as much pressure as if I was going for a
Golden globe to deliver. With those guys, it was super fun.
They talked a lot about their relationship, They talked about
(02:25):
the markets, They talked about throwing off the tag of
being barbarians, which was fascinating. So it was a lot
of fun. The last two days have been crazy, but
the days before that were even crazier because we were
both in Miami. Were recorded a couple episodes, one with
Susie Wolf, who's coming up later on the season, and
she was in town for Formula One the Miami GP.
(02:47):
It has become an unbelievable scene in your hometown.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
You can make an argument that Miami is one of
the hottest cities in the world, and this has become
the biggest of the best, and Formula One it used
to to come compare to the Super Bowl and our
Baso and so many different events. But this thing has
taken over the city in a way I've never seen before.
And you were there, which I was there.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
So I went out on Saturday as a guest of
tom Garfinkel, who has been a guest on the show.
He of course works closely with Stephen Ross. He's the
primary architect of bringing F one to Miami. He put
together an incredible collection of people who were watching this race.
It was an absolute who's who of finance, sports and entertainment.
(03:30):
And they are there because they have to be, they
need to be. All of their peers are there and
what we got to witness was something pretty incredible and
it was all due to the guest on this week's show,
Zach Brown, the CEO of McLaren Racing. One two finish
on the podium for McLaren. They are leading the standings.
This is a guy you and I have both gotten
(03:51):
to know, and we got to catch up with him.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
We had a great conversation.
Speaker 4 (03:56):
Zach Brown, no college degree, no high school degree, and
really one of the best leaders, not only in America
but around the world. And he's one of the most
impressive And I think our audience is really going to
enjoy that podcast.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Yeah, it's a really good interview and a good conversation.
I think in part because what we learn from Zach
is really some key business lessons. He's got an incredible
management challenge on his hand that he goes right into,
which is he has two superstars battling for a championship.
This is a team sport to a point because both
of these guys want to win, and they've each won
(04:29):
already this year. Talked about Oscar Piastre and Lando Norris
and how this season ends. It's going to be good,
we think, but it's a tricky thing for Zach Brown.
He gets into it. So let's get into it with
Zach Brown right here on the Deal. Welcome back to
(04:54):
the Deal. I'm Jason Kelly alongside Alex Rodriguez. So excited
today to have Zach Brown McLaren racing here with me
in studio.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Great to have you here.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Good to be here, good to see everyone.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
All Right, So you are in the midst of such
an interesting industry, but really one of the most interesting
and exciting teams in this sport in Formula One. Specifically,
talk to us about this past year and what it's
felt like you win the Constructors Championship, A real turnaround
(05:26):
from where this team was when you took over.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
What was the key decision.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
People is kind of the best way to summarize it,
but there's obviously a lot that goes into that. When
I started in twenty seventeen, we had our worst year
in the history of McLaren. We were ninth in the championship.
We had none of these beautiful logos. Ninth out of ten,
nine out of ten. That's not very good. It's terrible.
A matter of fact, morale was down huge brand. But
(05:52):
you know, kind of like the Yankees, they expect you
to win, and if you're not winning, the booze are
kind of louder. Then if you're a team no one
cares about, which is both a blessing in some sense
but also a challenge in another. It was just not
a great place, and so I started by trying to
(06:13):
fix the leadership team right everything kind of the buck
starts at the at the top. Got the right people
in place, got everyone row in the same direction, playing
as a as a as a team, because this is
you know, McLaren racing. Fourteen hundred people, about a thousand
of those are on the Formula one team, and getting
everyone building trust, belief, backing each other up. And now
(06:36):
nine years later we're won our first World championship in
twenty six years, which is kind of crazy because when
I grew up watching McLaren they kind of won everything
all the all the time, and we fell far from
behind that. But people, of course, we invested in technology,
we got great sponsors involved, all those things came together.
Two awesome drivers, which I'm sure we'll talk about here. Yeah,
(06:59):
because having two some drivers isn't without its challenges at times.
But it's been a great, great journey and now we're
at the top. Now. The tricky part is managing all
the expectations and trying to stay at the top because
in sport you don't stay on top forever, so enjoy
it why you can.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
And so when you think about where this sport has come,
especially in the United States where we are now, obviously
the drive to survive effect everything that's happening three Grand
Prix here in the United States. What needs to happen
next to sort of, you know, as we say in
the investment business, is you know, sort of consolidate the
games and keep growing.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
What needs to happen.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Well, I think it's kind of that in the sense
of what we're doing is working. So let's keep kind
of incrementally improving, but let's not change the game because
we as a sport, we're winning. I think we have
twenty four races. Now we have demand for more. We
can't do more in a year, So I'm a fan
(07:58):
of let's go to twenty five fixed Grand Prix and
go to eight Grand Prix that rotate every other year,
so you can get some geographic expansion, but not on
an annual basis, because we just these twenty four races
around the world. We just we can't do twenty five.
But at the same time, you don't want to kind
of not grow. I think if I look at North America,
(08:19):
our TV ratings, if you compare it to the big leagues,
here a lot of room for growth. I don't think
we need more than three Grand Prix here. I think
we could have more than three Grand Prix, but that
would come at the expense of getting into India or
South Africa, Korea or some of the other areas I
think we need to expand into. Sponsorship is unbelievable. New
(08:42):
brands coming in, you know every day, the Googles, the
gold Men's, these companies weren't involved in Formula one historically,
so it's very healthy we have. The franchise value is
finally caught on. If you look at these MLB or
NBA or NFL teams, Formula one teams, are you know,
as a franchise owner, are all healthy. So let's keep
(09:06):
doing what we're doing, but let's keep making incremental gains.
You know, the Netflix was amazing for our sport. I
think the Brad Pitt movie coming out in June will
be awesome. I think that will turn a lot more
people onto the sport. And if you look at where
the sport needed to grow from pre Liberty acquiring it,
(09:27):
we didn't have the diversity that we needed. We didn't
have the youth that we needed. We didn't have North America.
You know, arguably if not the most important sports and
commercial marketplace. We didn't have as many women. And now
you look at the audience. You know, I just got
stopped coming in here and it's my women, and it's youth,
and it's diversity. It's North America, you know in New York.
(09:50):
You know, kind of one of my favorite funny stories
as I was staying at a hotel here when Netflix
came out, and I pull up to the hotel and
there's these two buses and fans everywhere. You know, it's
either there's a baseball team or football team. And I
come in and I go upstairs. Sure, I'm gonna go
down to dinner. And I get in the elevator two
guys seven foot three, So it's like, okay, yeah, basketball team,
(10:16):
but I don't follow basketball closely, so I made a
funny joke to the guys, Hey, here for the tennis,
and they kind of laughed to get with that. You're
probably thinking, who is this guy, Let's beat him up,
but they're super nice. Get out of the elevator. Lakers everywhere,
all right, it's the it's the Lakers. And they're going
to the bus and they won't sign for the fans
because they got to get to the bus. But they're
very friendly. Yes, sorry, you got to get to the bus.
(10:36):
And I'm walking out with them for the front door,
and these three fans popped out from this group. They go,
can we get your autograph? And they're like, sorry, we're
not signing. No, no, not you, mister Brown love Formula
one And these two guys looked at me like, who
the hell is this guy? And I mean, that was
New York, right, and New York was the last place
in the world that was a Formula one city up
until a few years ago. So it's been awesome for
(10:57):
the sport. So I think we need to keep exposing
people to our sport. And I think that's what Netflix
did is they showed us what goes on behind the scenes.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
Yeah, so Zach from the outside as Americans and I'm
probably the minority in this now because your game has
grown so much.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
Your sport, but it's.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
Quite intimidating from afar right until you get to know,
like Drive for Survive and you start getting into it
a little bit. I've been to a few races and
it's really really exciting. It's a great product. I remember
seeing you and your team in Vegas and it was awesome.
But what is the business model? How do you make money?
What are your largest revenue streams? What are your largest
fixed costs? Explain that for our listeners a little bit
high level.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Yeah, absolutely, So our revenue streams are pretty simple. The
strong majority is commercial sponsorship. Our revenues this year will
be over six hundred million pounds, which is a record
for US, and I believe in in Formula one that's
probably three quarters of our revenue. Then you get effectively
prize money from Formula one and we get paid this
(12:10):
year on last year's results, and then the teams get
the majority, not enough of the majority from the league
and then that's distributed based on how you finished and
some historical prize money if you'd like, So we get
paid that in arrears that goes up or down depending
on the revenue. Formula one generates Formula ones generating the
(12:31):
revenue from broadcast money, sponsorship and promoter fees to put
on the events and the promoters keeping the gate the
grandstand sales. Then of course there's license merchandise. So we
really only kind of have three main revenue streams sponsorship,
Formula one, moneies and then the licensing revenues. And then
(12:53):
we have a cost cap, which is what's driven the
competitiveness in the sport and also so until since Liberty
got involved, and that's that's been a game changer. Last
year we had seven different winners, four different teams that
won multiple races. Never in the history since I followed
(13:14):
the sport have we had that level of competitiveness. And
the problem that we had is before there was a
cost gap, you could spend as much as you could
afford to lose. That was kind of the name of
the game. And when you had a big OEM coming
in who could afford to spend a lot, big manufacturer,
but it was great value for them because of the exposure.
(13:37):
They could just outspend you. And then you get a
discrepancy on the playing field because, especially in our sport
or so dependent upon technology, if you can outstand you
just buy better technology, not just better engineers and more engineers.
Better engineers, more engineers, and so that's now been capped,
(13:59):
and that's given everybody a chance to be competitive, and
the whole grid is now covered by two percent, so
there's not much between the best and the worst. So
the sport's really healthy as an on track product.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
All Right, we're getting into what everybody wants to hear,
which is you have a champagne problem, which is you
alluded to it at the top of the conversation. You
have two awesome drivers. You won the Constructors' Championship, which
is the team championship last year. I have the benefit
of co hosting this show with the superstar who has
some experience being one of a couple superstars on a
(14:35):
team and now is in a position where he has
to manage superstars, So we want to chop it up
on this with you. Alex has some advice, but I'll
ask you, what is the macro approach for you to
managing Landa Norris and Oscar Piastri, who are by all
accounts battling it out for the championship.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Yeah. Absolutely, And I do want to hear what Alex
has to say, because especially when you join the Yankees,
you know there was a couple guys playing the same
position and I'm curious how that kind of played out.
But for us, it's about transparency, communication, fairness, and we're
going to get it wrong, but let's trust each other.
(15:14):
If we get it wrong, it's not going to be
because we tried to get it wrong or we were up.
So you know, when we come into a race weekend,
we sit down with boat drivers on Thursday, here's the
game plan, here's on what car. Because sometimes you do
get into a situation where you're trying to get upgrades
to the track so quickly. Sometimes you can't have and
(15:34):
these are small upgrades both cars with the same stuff.
So what you don't want to do is not tell
one driver and when you do, hey, this guy's getting
the upgrades. This weekend, here's why, or you got them
last time. You kind of keep score. Then on Sunday
after qualifying, so we know what the grid looks like,
(15:55):
we talk and we talk about strategy. Hey, he might
be on a harder tire softer tire. That might mean
this might happen in the race. And so you just
open transparent fair and then give everyone the benefit of
the doubt. And I'm also a big fan of if
something goes wrong, unless you can fix it right then
(16:16):
and there, let's just talk about it on Monday because
in sport, the adrenalins go in, the passions going, and
you can say some stuff that you don't mean, but
you've said it. And even though you can say sorry
on Monday morning, you've said it. So kind of leave
the helmets on and don't let the media because the
(16:37):
media love a good a good fight.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
This is the story of the season.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
And it's and and everyone's kind of waiting for it
to happen. And what we're saying is, hey, it's gonna happen.
It's not if it's gonna happen, it's when it's gonna happen.
But you know what, drivers make mistakes, You can have
two guys racing as hard as they are twenty four races,
someone's gonna get it wrong or driving it. It's not
gonna be intent. It's going to be good, hard racing,
(17:02):
and you know what, it's a mistake. Mistakes happened, So
keep your helmet on. Don't take the bait, because I've
seen in our IndyCar team we had two drivers that
were battling it out last year and one of our
drivers gave a great interview and then at the end
gave a little bit of a sound bite, which was okay,
But then I saw the media go to the other
(17:22):
driver and they went, hey, your teammate just said this,
which was the sound bite. That's not what he said. Luckily,
because our drivers are good guys. And I think kind
of coming back Alex, do we say interviewing people. I
don't think all drivers will play this way, but our
drivers will play this way because of the relationship we have.
And it's like, don't take the bait. And the driver
(17:43):
didn't take the bait because of Hattie, then they would
have gone back to the other driver did and then
you know, next thing, you know, you have a war
of words, and actually it was just been instigated. So
we're ready for it. We're quite relaxed about it, and
we've even said, you know what, we can't wait till
that happens because we think it's going to be a
non event. One's gonna be a bit disappointed and then
can we just move on and get.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Back to racist right?
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Right?
Speaker 2 (18:04):
All right?
Speaker 3 (18:04):
So Alex, come on in here, because you you've been
on the other side of this. You know, you show
up in New York. I mean, I'll name the names.
You show up in New York. You're considered one of
the best shortstops you know, who's ever played the game.
And as Zach said, somebody's playing that position.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
His name is Derek Jeter.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
He's really good at me he's too.
Speaker 4 (18:23):
Yeah, he's pretty damn good.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
So what was it like? I mean, like, what is
it like?
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Because you were I don't know, people can make their
own decisions. You were either Lando or Oscar in this case,
but like, what was it like from your perspective?
Speaker 4 (18:37):
Well, I think it was a perfect storm, just like Zach,
like what you're managing today, right, and you have the
enormous brands that's similar, right, you have you're McLaren brand.
We have the New York Yankees, you have two stars
in their primes, you have a blue chip, legendary owner, right,
George Steinberner. That's the role you're playing, and that's a
(18:59):
great that's pretty good. George was the best. And mister Steinberner,
he set the boundaries from day one. He said, Alex,
if you want to be a Yankee, I can make
that happen. But let's be clear. You're going to be
a third baseman. And I said to mister Steinberner on
a phone call, it was about a seven minute phone call.
I said, I'll do one better for you. If you
ever played me to short, I'll ask for a trade.
(19:19):
That's the deal. I'm the third baseman. Derek's a shortstop.
And Derek and I have had great conversations about this,
you know, twenty years later on how much he respected that.
There was ever one rumor about me wanting to play short.
And I think Zach for me, I got it wrong
the first four years because I always wanted to justify
I was a little bit too chatty for New York
and coming from Seattle in Texas much smaller markets, you
(19:42):
could be chatty and you wouldn't get you know, penalized.
So finally, after four years of a lot of pain
and mistakes on my part and O nine, it all
came together. We kind of put the name of the
the brand and not the names of our last names
at the very front, and we won a title. And
when you win, we all win. And I think one
(20:02):
of the lessons that I learned is learn and keep
the door shut, because to your point, if you leave
it open, the media is going to run with it.
So be very absolute, be very black and white, and
don't justify anything because the media is not your friend.
They're looking for reality TV. And the first four years
I gave them that, and then after that it was
much better.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
You hit the nail on the head there with kind
of don't give them too much because the more you talk,
the more likely you are to say something by accident.
And so actually I think less is more when you're
the profile now that Lando and Oscar and McLaren or
Steinbrenner and Jeter and a Rod like, you want to
talk because you actually just want to kind of explain things.
(20:43):
You know, it's an innocent delivery, but they're waiting for that. Ooh,
I can use that sound bite right there, and then
then you kind of get pissed off, don't you when
you read it? And then I think you do have
to kind of learn by your mistakes. I've done the
same thing, you know, myself over the years many times,
and you know what, I'm going to do it again.
(21:04):
I'm just gonna hopefully try and do it less frequently.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
Yeah, and I'm you know, my fall up, Zach is
I mean, this is I think unique to motorsport. You
know that you would have this situation, and so I
do wonder as a CEO making business decisions around this,
this is this is the card cards you've been dealt,
(21:27):
you know. I think those of us who you know,
like the business of Formula one, certainly liberty media would
probably say, yeah, this is a feature, not a bug,
you know, like you're welcome. So how do you how
do you approach it as someone running this business? Are
there different decisions you make around sponsorship, around you know, appearances,
like what what do you do to sort of I
(21:48):
guess maximize this this moment?
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Yeah, I think it's it's interesting. What's never really been
done before that I can remember, is two drivers competing
for the World champion ship in the same team, right
and it not ending in tiers. That's the reality. Andrea Stella,
who's our team principal, who's responsible for the performance of
the Formal one team, does an amazing job. And PK
(22:12):
Mansel Tiers, Rosberg, Hamilton Tiars Cena prost Tiers like I
can't remember the last time there weren't tiers. But we're
gonna we're gonna be different and we're we're on it.
And I think I'm a believer in you know, right
now we're on on top, but I don't want us
(22:33):
to act too much differently because I also recognize there
will be It's not if, it's it's when now. I
hope when we're not on top, we're a second or third,
not not ninth. I'd like to think we're on top
of things now, but I also don't ever want to,
like with our our sponsor partners, be like we're the
hottest team and foremore on right now and we're gonna
(22:54):
charge a premium, because the first thing's gonna happen is
the minute we're not the hottest team in Formula One,
there we go like, well wait a minute. So I
want to be kind of consistent I don't want us
to change our personality if you'd like and be like,
you know, we're the big guys on the block now,
and have some humility about what we're doing, and keep
(23:17):
our feet on the ground. It wasn't that long ago
we were ninth in the championship. Enjoy the moment, bring
everyone along the for the journey. I mean, one of
the reasons why you know this orange that we call
Papaya is our team. I thought was dark and exclusive
when I joined, and I wanted us to be warm
and inclusive, and a lot of that is our drivers
(23:39):
and I just I remember the first race I went to.
I was ten years old, Long Beach Grand Prix, nineteen
eighty one. You guys all have the same experience in
various sports. The impression it made on me, I remember
it like it was yesterday. I remember the first racing
driver that I met, I got his autograph, And I
also remember over the years, every athlete I've met that
(24:01):
wasn't so nice. And so I want to make sure
we're nice guys one hundred percent of the time. You know,
to stop for ninety eight percent of the fans, that's
not good enough. And we're fortunate. The drivers we have
are great guys. I've never seen them not stop for
sign a photo or take take a picture. Because at
the end of the day, we're in the sport and
(24:22):
entertainment business, and some of the people in our sport go, well,
it's not entertainment. I was like, well, wait a minute,
it's my time off. I'm buying a ticket to go
watch something, or I'm sitting on my couch and watch it.
How's that not entertaining very definition of it. It's totally
so we need to be entertaining for our fans and
not lose sight of the fact that all of our
(24:43):
number one customer is the fan. Without a fan, we
don't have countries that want to hold races without fans,
we don't have sponsors. So when you see some of
the drivers in Formula one kind of not appreciate the fans,
how did they think they get paid it the end
of the day. And so I think it's just very
(25:03):
important for us all to be fan focused. And so
the more I can expose the fan base to McLaren
and our cool drivers, and the better off we are.
And it feels good. I remember the the you know,
the impressions. It's left on me.
Speaker 4 (25:17):
Yeah, so Jason mentioned Zach early. He alluded to how
busy you are, and you're one of the busiest guys
in the world, but yet you're traveling the world. You're
(25:38):
doing a great job managing your defending championship team. You
answer emails like in seconds, and you're hit me on
what's pp at all hours of the night. I do
the same thing right back to you. What does a
typical Monday Tuesday look like for Zach Brown?
Speaker 1 (25:51):
They're all flat out? Is probably the only common aspect.
I've always believed I'm not the smartest guy in the room,
but if I can be the hardest working guy in
the room, that I can get a little bit of
a head start. And I love what I do. It
doesn't feel like a job, right, I mean, you're playing
baseball for the Yankees. I mean, okay, I know it's
(26:12):
a job, but you know what, I love that job
and I'm going racing for a living. You know, it
wasn't long ago I was playing with little hot wheels cars.
I kind of I'm just playing with the bigger versions
now and so I love it. And it doesn't mean
I mean it's unbelievably hard. There's a immense amount of pressure.
It's not easy, it's not always fun, but ninety five
percent of the time it's great, and so I get
(26:34):
up every day and every day is kind of a
new adventure. I think. My view is I work for
the race team. The racing team doesn't work for me.
So my job as manager, if you'd like, is how
do I get the best out of all the players
on the field in the factory? What do you need?
Do you need direction, do you need more resources, do
(26:54):
you need more employees? Whatever it may be. So I'm
constantly going to trying to figure out what does everybody need?
What are my sponsors need? How can I deliver on that?
So I'm constantly trying to give everyone in our ecosystem
what they need to get the most out of their
time at McLaren. And you know, two hundred and seventy
(27:15):
nights a year on the road, so travel like a lunatic.
I'm at the racetrack. I raced four or five times
a year. I raced this past weekend, so probably not
healthy that on my weekend off from being at the racetrack,
I went back to the racetrack and I love it.
Speaker 4 (27:30):
You know, I got a chance to drive, actually sit
in the back for a race. We did one lap.
It was the scariest thing I've ever done in my life.
I thought I was dead. I did forte in hell.
Mary's a lot of prayers in baseball. Wish you could
have a camera just like you could for the drivers,
so people at home can say, how are they even?
You can't even see the ball when it's coming in
one hundred miles an hour.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
It's you know, I've been and I'm sure you've done
the same. Alex play professional with a professional golfer, Yeah,
sit courd side in an NBA. The professionals are just
at a level that until you kind of see it,
you go, you know, when I'm golfing, I'm like, I'm
trying to go that way. Yeah, when you're playing with
(28:12):
Justin Rose or Rory and been fortunate to play, I'm
trying to go that way. But land it there put
some backspin on it because I and it's like, yeah,
what is going? And they just professionals in sports see
the game, play the game unlike a way you can
really appreciate it until you're close up and then it's
just like, wow.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Yeah, So it's interesting Zach.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
You know you alluded to this with with your great
story about you know, being in an elevator and sort
of seeing what Formula one became. I do wonder for
you what it's been like in how you've managed essentially,
and again I may pose this question my co hosts
as well, like becoming really famous. I mean you walk
through the Bloomberg and people are asking for selfies. I've
(28:56):
seen this happen with other team principles. You know, there
aren't a lot of team principles and CEOs who get
stopped for selfies, but like you and Toto and Gunther
when he was a team principal at Gunther Steiner all
gets up, what was that transition like for you? How
do you manage it and still sort of maintain your
(29:17):
sort of job and your management responsibilities.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Well, it's part of the job, yeah, because you know,
the fans they can't control when they bump into you,
and the fans are ninety nine out of one hundred
times really gracious, really nice, other than maybe when they
get ahold of you on social media. That kind of
challenges that goes kind of more to one out of
one hundred. But putting that aside, Alex is for people
(29:44):
who are just listening and they're excited to see you. Yeah,
and so I think, you know, if you're going to
be in the public spotlight, you kind of can't turn
it on and off. It is what it is. And
you know, so I always stop for fe photos and
you know, people are excited and cheering for McLaren this
weekend and in airports, and so you do have to
(30:06):
kind of raise your awareness. Security is something that you
need to think a little bit about, which is unfortunate
but as the reality. But you know, I've always felt
that way on my own mind, so I think it's
part of it. It comes back to the entertainment aspect.
I've seen some celebrities over the years that we all
(30:29):
have that are you know, kind of I'm not working
right now. It's like, dude, you signed up to be
in the public spotlight. Yeah, you're working. There could be
times it's a bit more inconvenient if you like. I mean,
it can be a little bit strange when you're in
the bathroom and someone wants to take a selfie. That's
you know, i'd wait. But I also remember when I
(30:51):
was a fan waiting to meet the the Alexes of
the world. I was the guy waiting at the ballpark,
got there early, figured out where the players park the car.
I wanted their you know, autographed, and so I get it.
I was there, and it comes back to I remember
what impression it made on me, and so you know,
it's changed things, but I'm good with it.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
Yeah, how have you dealt with that, Alex? I don't
know if we've ever talked about it on the show.
Speaker 4 (31:17):
No, we haven't, Jason. But you know, for me, that
process mindset was shaped early in my career because they
say you never want to meet your heroes, but in
my case, it was wonderful that I met my heroes.
I mean, from Michael Jordan to Cayle Ripken, Keith Hernandez
Magic Johnson. They were all honestly ten out of ten.
And I told myself when I was a teenager boy,
(31:37):
if I ever was that famous, I want to be
like Magic. I want to be like Michael. I want
to be like cay Ripkin. But early in my career
it's flipped Jason. To answer your question more specifically, I
thought the media was a nuance, like something you had
to deal with but I thought they were against me
right as of my you know, because you in New
York you want to play defense against the media, and
then the fan base was something you had to kind
(31:58):
of dance around to get some privacy. Today is completely flipped.
With some perspective, I realized that without fans, you don't
have a sport, you don't have a team. We're really
kind of working for them, even though we're not a
public company at least us you is as close as
public as you can be. And then the media is
(32:18):
a great conduit to our fan base. And you've seen
it in you know, Drive to Survive your f one show,
and you've seen it with content that NBA's provided MLB.
It's an incredible important part of our business and that
has switched.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
You must have had an even bigger challenge though, because
while you know, okay, I'm known on Netflix Flix, when
you came to the Yankees, that was more like royalty
level of publicity. Right with me. They just want to
know what's going on on the track with you. They
want to know what's going on in the field, what's
off the field, what restaurant were you at. They wanted
to know kind of about your twenty four to seven
(32:55):
and that I would imagine is a higher degree of
frustration or annoyance when it's like, look, this isn't about
a fan coming up asking for an autograph. This is
about you trying to dive into my personal life. And
I fortunately haven't had to deal with that.
Speaker 4 (33:11):
Yeah, Zach, you're spot on it. And there was three things,
and I played in New York for almost fifteen years,
there was three things that did religiously every morning three
sixty five twenty four seven when I woke up, I
put out the New York Post and I would look
at the front page, I'm not there, look at the
back page, I'm not there. And then you look at
page six. It was a trifecta. If you made it
(33:31):
clear on those three it's a good day. You lived
to see the end of the day.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
And the problem was those three pages weren't about how
you hit last night, right. I mean, they wanted something
a little bit more gossipy than that. So I think
that gets frustrating because they can kind of start to
shape your image in a way that's not accurate. I've
met so many people that I didn't know, so I
had an impression which I was formed because of what
(34:00):
I've read, and then you meet him, I'm like, man,
that guy couldn't be totally opposite, more misunderstood. And so
you've learned to give everyone the kind of I want
to get to know the person and not kind of
just believe what I read.
Speaker 4 (34:13):
And Zach, one of the one of the head fakes
that I've seen athletes do is they make a mistake
to the media and then the journalist does his job,
he writes a story, and then the athlete gets mad
at the media member, and you got to realize, wait
a minute, they got a job to do. You made
a mistake, correct the mistake. Do it less is more
applied to what you're talking about, Zach, And don't get
(34:34):
mad at the reporter. So that that's another dynamic that
is so easy to blame the reporter. Not look in
the mirror and say, Okay, how did I make a
mistake here? I got to do a better job managing
my my look.
Speaker 3 (34:44):
At Alex defending journalists, this is like I feel like
my work here is done, Like this is.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
This is just I don't know what a moment.
Speaker 3 (34:54):
So we're going to get to our lightning round in
in just a minute, because I know you got to go,
but you know, I want to ask you, you know,
sort of in the spirit of the deal. You know,
you've you've somewhat quietly, sort of really built under McLaren
racing like an empire. You know, you talked about Formula One,
you talked about Indy. You know, you're going back to Lamon,
(35:15):
You're doing a little racing yourself, Like what's next for
the business. You know, this is a booming sport right now.
You know, I have to think you're leaning into other opportunities.
Are they motor sports related? Are there other sports you're
interested in? We're in such an you know again, we're
in such an interesting moment of growth in the sports ecosystem.
(35:35):
Where do you see opportunity?
Speaker 1 (35:36):
Yeah, I think you know, we've only won one World
championship in the last twenty six years, so I think
we're we're far from tick. That's that's Sharon. So obviously,
you know, as a sports team, it's all about winning
and trying to win. So we are the only racing
team I've ever won the Triple Crown, which is the
Indy five hundred, the twenty four hours Lamont and Monaco.
(35:57):
No team has ever done that in the same era,
same year. We're now competing or going to be competing
in all three of those series the Lamas Series in
twenty twenty seven, so it would be pretty cool to
do something that's never been done before. That can be
a jeopardy question twenty years from now. So I think
we all have an aspect of looking back and what's
(36:18):
kind of the legacy you can create because you can't
rewrite the record books, so a lot of winning left
still to do in all three series. That's first foremost.
We're looking at a few different ways that we could
maybe extend our brand into maybe some other sporting equipment,
you know, golf, scheme, tennis, those are some you know
(36:42):
sports that are using aerodynamics, using materials that are premium.
There's you know a lot of our sponsors are also
in golf. So I think if there was a you know,
Ferrari has the Ferrari World theme park in n Abu Dhabi,
and then you've seen Porsche's got the Porsche of Towers.
So but we're a racing team first and foremost. But
(37:03):
if there's from a business point of view, a few
areas that we might be able to extend our brand
that would be of interest to us. But I think
it's kind of let's stay let's stay focused. If you're
a baseball team, don't try and be a football team. Right,
You're a baseball team, and we're a racing team, and
I like the three racing series that we're in the
three biggest forms of motor racing. We've not won the
(37:25):
Indy five hundred since nineteen seventy six, So that's a
focus before we think about doing anything anything.
Speaker 2 (37:31):
Else, Alex, anything else for we moved to lightning rounds.
Speaker 4 (37:45):
No, I think we're ready.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
Right, let's do it all right, So five questions.
Speaker 3 (37:49):
We'll bounce it back and forth and just you know,
say whatever comes to your mind. All right, Zach Brown,
what's the best piece of advice you've received on deal
making your business?
Speaker 1 (37:58):
Don't make the same mistake twice.
Speaker 4 (38:01):
Who's your dream deal making partner?
Speaker 1 (38:05):
Oh? Good question. I think that have to be Roger Penske. Oh,
Rogers great one.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
One.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
We got to get him on the show. Roger's awesome
that we both pitched him on it. And I think
he's gonna do it all right.
Speaker 1 (38:18):
That he travels like two hundred and seventy one days
a year. He can't keep up with that guy.
Speaker 3 (38:21):
He's he's unbelievable. All right, what's the most nervous you've
ever been?
Speaker 1 (38:26):
I mean usually the start of the race, but I
would say Abu Dhabi last year when we won the championship,
because Saturday qualifying was perfect, first and second, the Ferrari
was seventeenth. Turn one max for stopping takes out Oscar,
Oscar's last Charles has an unbelievable start. He's eight, Charles
Leclair Leclaire, and all of a sudden, I saw our
(38:48):
championship going away. Lando had to win that race to
win the championship, and so that was the longest two
hours of my life. So I'd say that was the
most nervous.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
Yeah, it's right there.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
It's for two hours too. I don't mind nervous like
the start of the race. It's over nervous getting up
to the bat, but kind of like once the picture
winds up. It all this was two hours.
Speaker 4 (39:13):
So what's your hype song before you walk into a
big meeting or negotiation.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
Oh, that's a good question. I don't really have a
hype song. Snoop Dogg's pretty cool, dude. I kind of
like rap high energy, so that you know the guys
that are doing kind of classical musical on the grid.
I kind of like the adrenal government.
Speaker 3 (39:31):
All right, So what's your advice for someone listening who
wants a career like yours?
Speaker 1 (39:36):
Everyone says hard work, but it's amazing how many people
don't actually do it and then just get in experience
and networking. And I sometimes have people come in and
they're they're big aspirations, which are great, but they kind
of want to start there as opposed to work their
way up. So I think it's just get experience, get
to know people, and follow your passion. That's all I've
(39:59):
ever done. I didn't kind of this wasn't my plan.
I just knew I wanted to be in racing my
entire life, and I've just worked really hard and I've
been fortunate to land where I am. Can I do
two for a run?
Speaker 2 (40:12):
Yeah? Yeah, all right for it?
Speaker 1 (40:13):
All right?
Speaker 2 (40:14):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (40:14):
Toughest pitcher you ever faced.
Speaker 4 (40:18):
I would say nineteen ninety nine Pedro Martinez. He can
do it all. He had three perfect pitches, a fast
bought one hundred ninety one mine hour slider and bugs
bunny change up.
Speaker 1 (40:30):
Okay, Pedro is unbelievable. I guess he had also the
inside pitch if he felt you might take him along,
so that would be his fourth pitch. And then who's
the best hitter you played with?
Speaker 4 (40:42):
Boy, that's such a great question. I would say the
best right handed hitter I ever played with was Edgar Martinez,
who's in the Hall of Fame and probably the best
complete right handed hitter. And there's so many. I would
say Manny Ramirez awesome.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
And the last one, who's your favorite ballplayer growing up?
Like they didn't play with, but like who's your idol?
Speaker 4 (41:04):
Well, I had three, and they all had to do
with media because these as you remember when we were kids,
you know, there was the three big station at w
R where you watch the Mets. You had TBS where
you watched the Braves, and then you had WGN where
you watched the Cups. And so therefore it was Dale Murphy,
Keith Hernandez from the Mets, and I love Darryl.
Speaker 1 (41:24):
Darryl Strawberry is awesome, except I'm a Cardinals guy, so
so Keith Hernandez from the Cardinals. But I know not
on the same channel.
Speaker 4 (41:30):
Yeah, yeah, right, and of course cal Ripken because he
was a tall, short step Yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:34):
He was amazing, all right, Zach, Great, thanks for having
me on. Thanks thanks guys, Thank you Zach.
Speaker 3 (41:47):
The Deal is hosted by Alex Rodriguez and me Jason Kelly.
This episode was made by Anamazarakus, Stacy Wong, and Lizzie Phillip.
Amy Keen is our editor and Will Connelly is our
video editor.
Speaker 2 (41:58):
Our theme music is.
Speaker 3 (41:59):
Made by Blake Maples. Our executive producers are Kelly Leferrier,
Ashley Hoenig, and Brenda Newham. 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
(42:19):
you next week.
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com