July 2, 2026 • 32 mins
Lisa Bhathal Merage is very busy cementing Portland’s reputation as the global epicenter of women’s sports. In partnership with her brother Alex and their RAJ Sports venture, Lisa is the owner and governor of the NWSL’s Portland Thorns and the WNBA’s Portland Fire. They came to own both teams under pretty unusual circumstances. The Thorns were in turmoil after their previous owner was ousted and RAJ Sports acquired the W’s latest expansion team after the initial deal fell through- giving them only 15 months to build a franchise from scratch. During Lisa’s tenure, the Thorns and the Fire have maintained some of the highest attendance numbers and most lucrative sponsorship deals in their respective leagues.
In this episode of The Deal, Lisa tells Alex and Jason how running the Thorns and the Fire led her to her purpose. She details the unique challenges of starting an expansion franchise in one league while also running a turnaround effort in another. She also shares how she splits her time as a governor in both the NWSL and the WNBA and how her background in fashion shapes her perspective on women’s sports.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio News.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome back to the DLM Jason Kelly alongside Alex Rodriguez.
Coming up on the show Lisa bethal Mirage. She is
the owner of both The Fire in the WNBA and
The Thorns in the NWSL. But first, I haven't seen
you for a while, Alex. We're all over the place
as usual. You're just back from can How was it
(00:34):
I saw the you know, the sun drenched photos of
you know, per usual. But this has turned into a
massive thing, especially in the sports business world, right, yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
It really has.
Speaker 4 (00:44):
I mean it very much has some of the characteristics
of a milk and conference in La accept as in
France and con and you know, I found it very productive.
This year is my second year that I went. I
just got back and I found the adjustment that I
made was instead of booking myself eighty to ninety percent,
I only booked myself thirty percent and kept seventy percent
(01:05):
fluid for meetings and like strategic you know, showing up
at places. It was so much more productive and impactful
for me, but really really productive.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
And is it like a party scene or a lot
of business scene or sort of like combination of both,
like people just sort of like moving around and bumping
into each other.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
What is it like, It's a bit of a combination.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
I think the first day or two you kind of
use it to wear out some of the jet lag.
And then by day three and four, almost by the
time you're ready to come back, you're you're you're good.
But I would say what's really impressive is you're on
the beach. Is a great scenery. You have great people
showing up. You know you have you had Tatum from
the Celtics, you had Jalen Brown, you had KD Kevin Durant,
(01:50):
and then you have all the cmos from the top
fortune one hundred companies, and then you hear you have
representatives like you know, you have Amazon Prime, you have Netflix,
you have Apple, Disney, and you get a lot of
business done in a short time. You had the folks
from LinkedIn. We went to one of their parties. But
very productive. I highly recommend it. It's hard to get
an invite.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yeah, Well, while you were doing that hard work, I
was doing the hard work of playing golf with Steve
Young last week in Utah.
Speaker 5 (02:17):
This is his.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Annual Forever Young Charity tournament that I've gotten to play
in the past few years.
Speaker 5 (02:22):
He says, Hi had the best time.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
With him, and you know, his whole team. Obviously, for
those listening who haven't heard our episode or watched our
episode with Steve Young from earlier this year, it's one
of our favorites. You know, he just continues to kill it,
both on the private equity side obviously the philanthropic side.
Speaker 5 (02:43):
Such a thoughtful.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Guy, and you know, pulled together a really interesting collection
of folks. You know, a lot of whom he has
deep ties to us, including the head coach from BYU,
the athletic director from BYU. You know, they were all
in attendance and playing golf, the BYU golf team, which
was a little tough for us, you know, sort of
competing in the tournament because I did not have any
(03:04):
of them in my foursome, so not good for my scramble. Anyway,
a really fun time. And God, I love golf. I
love golf so much.
Speaker 5 (03:14):
As you know.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
I'm working this week out of Idaho, not too far
from Sun Valley and catch him and yeah, great golf here.
And you know what's really good for someone like me
and you know, less of an issue for you because
you hit it a mile goes a little further in
the altitude. I'll take it like it's everything I need.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
It's good for the confidence, it's not good, it's very
good for the goverment. One quick follow up, How is
Steve Young's game? What's his handicap?
Speaker 5 (03:39):
I don't know what his handicap is.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
I will say this will not surprise you, And if
I did, I probably wouldn't disclose it because I'm not
sure he would want it. Except he's really good. He's
I'll tell you the best thing about his golf game.
He's a scrambler. So he plays golf like he played football.
I mean, I've also heard that you play golf like
you played baseball, which is.
Speaker 5 (03:58):
You swing out of your shoes and you know, and
then hope for the best.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
You know what, whether I have a seven or birdie,
I have the same attitude. I'm gonna go to the
next one and enjoy.
Speaker 5 (04:07):
It exactly, all right.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Coming up from the show a little bit of a pivot,
We're going to talk a lot about women's sports. Lisa
Pathalmerage such a fascinating figure in the sports world. She's
got two teams in two leagues in the same city
in Portland, Oregon, which is just a mecca for women's sports.
As you know, the NWSL she and her family bought
(04:29):
sort of out of a troubled situation. The owner there
was forced to sell. They picked it up, and then
more recently they've launched the Portland Fire in your league,
the WNBA, and you've seen it up close and personal.
Speaker 5 (04:43):
This is a good team.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
It's a very good team. And she reminds me Lisa.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
Of a little bit of a younger days with Genie Buss,
where her father was obviously doctor Buzz. Lisa's father is
obviously one of the co basically co owners of the
Sacramento Kings. But what I like about her, Jason, when
I send in board meetings with her, is she's dynamic.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
This is a business for them. There's not a hobby like.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
They run like as their principal business. And those owners
that do that you can see the benefits on the
court or on the field, and you're seeing that with
her totally.
Speaker 5 (05:16):
Yeah, that's a really good point.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
She and her brother Alex are sort of the prime
movers in this next generation. And you make a really
good point, which is you know, they went in, their
family went in. Her father, Raj is the alternate governor
for the Sacramento Kings, and so they learned a lot
about the NBA and sort of the basketball ecosystem that
they're very much applying. So let's get into with Lisa
pathal Mirage coming up here on the Deal.
Speaker 5 (05:50):
Welcome back to the Deal.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
I'm Jason Kelly alongside Alex Rodriguez. So excited to have
with us Lisa pathal Mirage. She joins us from Portland,
where she and her family had sort of taken over
the city in terms of sports. Lisa, it's really good
to have you with us.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Thank you so much for having me. Yes, coming in
live here from the global epicenter of women's sports, Portland,
Oregon exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
So tell us about how did this all come about?
How did you, I believe grew up in southern California
Like here you are, literally as we speak to you,
towering over Portland, Oregon.
Speaker 5 (06:25):
How does this happen?
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Oh gosh, it's a long story, but I'll start with
My dad is originally from India, came to the United States,
fell in love with sports, met my mom, who's a
southern California beach girl and grew up in Newport Beach.
But she was a lifelong athlete and they ended up
starting a business in the fashion industry. Our family business
when I was growing up was actually women's swimwear and
(06:49):
I came on board after college graduation graduation from USC
with my brother Alex, and we worked in the family business.
Started at the bottom, worked our way and we were
there for about twenty years. We took the company global,
we took it digital, and then we ended up selling
the business to private equity. And at that time, as
(07:11):
a family, we knew we wanted to make an investment
in sports, so we looked into different opportunities and we
eventually landed on an opportunity with the Sacramento Kings with
the Vivak Ranadive led group and my dad, Braj came
in as alternate governor and vice chair and my brother
(07:32):
Alex sat on the executive board. And that was about
fourteen years ago. So at that time, after we sold
the business, we were invested the Kings. My brother and
I we have a hard time sitting still, so we
decided to launch another business called Revitate, which is an
investment platform focused on real estate and the sports ecosystem,
(07:55):
and I think, as Eddie us being in the sports world, See,
when you're in that world, a lot of opportunity comes
across your desk and you look at different deals. And
at that time it was we'd been hearing a lot
about women's sports, and I kind of think that being
in the fashion industry, my husband calls my superpower, the
(08:17):
fact that I could smell trends before they happen, smell
things before they happen, and you know, people were calling
it a moment in women's sports, and we thought of
it as the rise of women's sports. So, long story short,
this Portland Thorns deck came across our desk in the
NWSL and I came out to Portland to check it out.
(08:40):
And as we started looking into it and I came
for a game and it was shocking and mesmerizing. It
was what I call the magic of Portland. The fan
base here is incredible. They're insatiable, they love their sports.
The women's sports rival the men's sports in this city.
(09:00):
So we absolutely fell in love with the city and
the fan base and the fact that the Thorns had
three NWSL championships and we're winning, you know, basically on
and off the pitch, and that became kind of our
first opportunity in Portland.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
So, Lisa, I want to take you back and disclaimer here.
Roger and I are partners and we sit on the
same board with the NBA and I sit on the
board with the en the WNBA. Your father's lovely and
a really charming man. But take me back to Newport Beach.
You're sitting there with your family. You're sitting there with
your mom who's from Newport, and you buy this team
(09:37):
in twenty thirteen with Vivek. How is the conversation around
dinners like this is exciting dad? Or we put on
our marbles on one A. Could you ever forecast it
that twenty twenty six the league has grown to where
it has today as a global media.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Platform with regard to the NBA.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
Correct NBA, Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
For us, you know, we looked at a few different opportunities.
We kind of landed on the NBA as the league
that we wanted to invest in at that time, and
you know that was for a few reasons. We saw
the growth trajectory in the NBA have a huge opportunity,
especially with media deals and a lot of things happening
in the NBA, so we thought it was the right
(10:17):
investment for us. We had a couple stop starts with
other teams, and we actually came very close to investing
in the New Orleans Pelicans, but it didn't work out.
And then David Stearns said, my dad, Raj, wait, I
have something for you. I have something that I know
is going to be a good fit for you. And
that was how we wound up in Sacramento, which is
(10:39):
really nice. I have to say, It's only an hour
flight from Orange County, California, where we live. So we
joked that we could fly to a King's game faster
than we could drive to LA to see the Clippers
or the Lakers.
Speaker 5 (10:50):
And so there is this.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
You know, the other sort of big decision you make
is around women's sports, specifically. I want to come back
to the in a second, but since we're talking about basketball,
the expansion, the growth of the w has been unbelievable.
You know, take us through that deal and how that
transaction happens, because expansion has been has been all the rage.
(11:15):
But this happened very quickly as I understand it.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Yes, it did you know we were working on closing
our Portland Thorns deal and then we frankly read into
newspaper when we saw that the WNBA was about to
get Portland an expansion franchise, and something happened with the
potential owner there, and the league didn't know that we
were in Portland, so we let them know, Hey, you know,
(11:39):
it hasn't closed yet, but we're investing the Thorns. We're
going to be building a performance center here. We're investing
in the city. And yes, we went through a process
and I think the stars aligned because we are the
only ownership group to have both teams with the Portland
Thorns and the NWS well and the Portland Fire and
(12:01):
the WNBA. And with regard to the NBA, the WNBA,
that was another you know, the WNBA has been around
for thirty years. This is obviously the thirty year anniversary,
but it was another sport that we saw and you know,
we saw it back when Caitlin Clark was in college
and this bubble was starting to rise, and I think,
(12:22):
you know, social media really became the opportunity for a
lot of these female athletes to have their platform and
to grow, and so we were seeing this uprising, and
we were very, very excited about the opportunity to invest
in a WNBA franchise.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Sticking with the sort of like fast timetable, you also
had to turn that pretty fast to get them onto
the court, right, it wasn't you know, because now we're
seeing with the w and keep me honest here, both
of you. You know, it's like you have two three
you know, some cases like a little more years to
sort of get it all up and running. You guys
had less than two, right, like fourteen fifteen months?
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Yes, I think it was fifteen months exactly that we had.
And you know we had a team three weeks before
we went onto the court. Yeah, I mean starting with
the Thorns. When we closed the sale of the Thorns
on January fourth, twenty twenty four, we had a coach,
we had players, we had technical staff, and that was it.
(13:20):
And we did a transition agreement with the Timbers who
previously owned the Thorns. The Timbers in the MLS slowly
transitioning different departments over. So the first thing we did
on that side was we hired a president of business operations,
and then through the course of the next nine months,
we built out the ticketing department, the sponsorship department, the
marketing department, hr IT Legal, and then with a fire,
(13:46):
we had a little bit of a head start with
some of the back office, whether it's like finance or
hr Legal, but we had to do the same thing.
So we started with a President of operations. We actually
had a VP of People Culture who is over both
organizations and she is amazing, but we hired a president
(14:07):
business operations and then we started again. We started building
out the departments and hired Vonya, our GM on the
Fire side, and took the time that we needed to
kind of build out the technical staff on the Fire
basketball operation side.
Speaker 4 (14:24):
So, Lisa, when you think about your sports portfolio, there's
a lot of chat in the marketplace and Jason and
I have heard it from different guests about is there
a bubble in sports? I guess my question to you
is do these teams continue to rise in value?
Speaker 2 (14:37):
What are your thoughts?
Speaker 1 (14:39):
I think the teams will continue to rise in value.
I think women's sports is still very young and is growing.
We're so excited and happy that the Valkyries just hit
the billion dollar valuation, and as you've seen the acceleration
and growth and the valuations is incredible, but there's a
lot of work to do. And I mean, Alex you
know from your involvement with the Links, but women's sports
(15:04):
is not the same as men's sports, And of course
there's the topic of pay, but there's also the topic
of revenue streams and how we have to I still
feel like we have to work harder, faster, longer, better
and stronger to have kind of the same output that
the men's major leagues have.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
I specifically have covered the NWSL pretty closely. It has
been a fascinating journey, to say the least, and candidly,
and you guys were a force for good on the
back end of some really difficult times for the NWSL.
Part of the reason that the team came for sale
was some bad behavior and bad things that happened with
(15:45):
that franchise that was reflective of things going on across
the league. You know, the NWSL has had its own journey.
The WNBA had a separate one, you know, sort of
a slow burned your earlier point over.
Speaker 5 (15:58):
Now thirty years.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
What do you take from each that you apply to
the other, Because yes, they're women's sports, but these are
obviously very different sports, different leagues different setups in the
sense that is very long, very long prologued.
Speaker 5 (16:15):
Sorry, but just sort of setting the stage here.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
You know, the INWSL is completely independent of the MLS,
whereas the WNBA is part of the NBA or you know,
partially owned by the NBA.
Speaker 5 (16:28):
Take us through sort of.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
How you toggle back and forth and what you take
from each that informs the other.
Speaker 5 (16:34):
Well.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
I think for us, we're still newer with the WNBA,
so we're still learning kind of the governance around how
WNBA interacts with the NBA. But the WNBA has been
around for thirty years and the NWSL will celebrate fifteen
years next year, so they both are not emerging sports leagues.
They're still both I think in the growth phase. I
(16:56):
would say WNBA starting to transition out of that growth phase.
But for us, down at kind of the team operations level,
we keep things separate, but we think that having both
teams under one umbrella is our superpower. We are going
to be opening in just a couple months the Kaiser
(17:16):
Permanente Performance Center in Hillsboro, a suburb of Portland, and
that will be the first and only professional dual women's
sport performance center in the world. It will be just
under one hundred thousand square feed and we were very
thoughtful with how we built this out. Each team has
completely their separate areas with regard to their dressing rooms,
(17:39):
their recovery areas. However, we were thoughtful in having two
areas that are kind of cross pollinaid. One of them
is the fitness center, the gym, where we have about
six thousand square feet between indoor and outdoor space, and
then the dining room. And we purposely wanted the players
to be able to interact, to learn from each other,
(18:00):
to build bonds, to support each other. But what we
have found is that are like our gms uh Vanya
on the fireside and Jeff on the thorn side, they
talk daily there. You know, it goes back to sometimes
it's lonely at the top, but they have this dialogue
where they're like, did you deal with this?
Speaker 5 (18:17):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (18:17):
What did you? How did you solve this? I actually
have a meeting with them this week where we're going
through recovery modalities and we're trying to figure out what
can we do to kind of cross pollinate and learn
from each other. Even though they're different sports, we're still
dealing with female athletes and there's only you know, six
percent of medical research done on women. So it's truly
an opportunity for us in the future.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
And I know this is something that Alex thinks that
Alex Rodriguez thinks a lot about.
Speaker 5 (18:43):
Not to be confused with their.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Brother, but the idea of the fans and one of
the things that I hear consistently as I talk to
you know, your fellow owners, especially across the NWSL, is
there are there are two fan bases that consistently rise
above in the NWSL. Washington spirit is one and Portland
(19:08):
is the other. That it is like the atmosphere, the commitment,
what is that? What is that about? And then how
do you sustain it? And how do you feed that
knowing that it's there.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Yeah, I think it's interesting on the Thorn side because
it's an established fan base and we have traditionally led
the league. I think we have ten seasons under a
belt of leading the league with season attendance. Even this year,
I think we're over nineteen thousand as our average attendance,
which is just incredible if you think of women's sports.
(19:41):
So we've kind of looked into it and we think
a few things, and this is probably why we go
back to saying that we're just cementing Portland as the
global epicenter of women's sports. Women's sports are authentic to
the community. It was in the night when I started researching.
It was in the nineteen seventies that the first LPGA
tournament was here in Portland. And maybe it's the counterculture
(20:03):
that happens here, but it's a very very passionate sports
fan base, especially for women. The other thing is that
we're in the global head quoters for Nike and the
North American headquarters for Adidas. So people that live in
Portland and the surrounding areas, they live and breathe sports,
and I think they see things that are very forward
(20:25):
thinking as well. So you know, with women's sports rising,
it's been this way for many years here. And you know, heck,
we just had our Portland Fire season opener with over
nineteen thousand I think it was like nineteen thousand, three
hundred and thirty five attendees completely sold out for our
opening game, and going into the night, we thought we
(20:45):
were going to have about seventeen thousand, and we were
like sold out. It was incredible. It was packed. It
was rocking. I think we've just learned that for us,
we really take the standpoint of hiring the best people
for the job and letting them do that. We don't
claim to be experts. I say that any day. You know.
I love soccer, I love basketball, But we're hiring people
(21:09):
who are really good at what they do, and we
believe in giving them the space in the room to
really run with what they do. On the fireside. We
hired Vanya and she was very passionate about hiring our coach,
Alex Sarama, who is a leader in CLA. And it
is just fascinating to watch what goes on in practice.
(21:30):
The other day I was there and he had players
shooting free throws in socks, just all kinds of creative
things and they're laughing and they're smiling and they're having
a great time.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
You talked about some of the experience that you guys
had with the family business in terms of you know,
digitizing it and globalizing it. Where are you spending your time,
especially as you get deeper and deeper into this broadening
portfolio As we've talked about, there.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Are two areas where I'm really spending my time I
think the first is maybe it's coming from the fashion industry,
but I am very focused on creating lifestyle brands out
of both the Fire and the Thorns, and I think
you could see that with our branding for the Fire.
It's very different than what you see in sports. And
you know, our goal there is to have people who
(22:15):
are wearing the Portland Fire merch and maybe it doesn't
even say Portland Fire, but people know what the icon
is and it creates a lifestyle brand. I think as women,
we are very multifaceted, and I think you know a
lot of our players also like art and music and
fashion and food and culture. So it's how can we
integrate that all into creating lifestyle brands here in Portland
(22:37):
for both the Fire and the Thorns. And the other
area is my work and my service on the Board
of Governors, as Alex knows, you know, just getting started
on the WNBA side, but on the NWSL side then
I chair our Commercial committee and I'm also on the
Strategic Planning Committee, so I spend a lot of time
on that. On the NWSL side, we're going to be
(22:59):
kicking off work for a twenty twenty eight media deal
shortly and it is fun and exciting to have a
seat at the table and help shape the future of
women's sports. I frankly call it my purpose. You know,
I'm here for a reason, and it's to do what
I can to help move women's sports forward. And I
(23:20):
can do that by having a seat at the table.
Speaker 5 (23:32):
So let's talk about it.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
You brought out something really interesting and important about, you know,
sort of media deals. So let's talk about the NWOSL
because it was massive, historic, forty x what it was
in the previous deal, lots of different platforms.
Speaker 5 (23:48):
More visibility.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
The next one is arguably even more important because it
has to sort of cement this viewership, this fandom.
Speaker 5 (24:00):
And really exposure.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
You've seen what's happened with the w What does the
NWSL need to do? Like, what's on your mind as
you think about this next slide of media, especially given
how topsy turvy the overall media world does.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Yeah, I mean I think for us, I think we
were one of the first leagues that had an assortment
we'll say, of media platforms where the streaming is. But
I frankly think that's the future. I think we're going
to see more of that because people don't just watch
one channel anymore. They get their information from everything from
different streaming to their phone. With regard to the NWSL,
(24:36):
the forty times was a little bit of an anomaly.
I know the WNBA had closer to six, and we'll
see what the best that the league can do. But
it is really important because, as you know, that number
relates to everything from if we could provide charters for
our players, which we may or may not be able
to do, to you know, where salaries come in in
(24:58):
the next CBA negotiations.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
As you think about that, and I know we have
to be careful about talking about numbers and all of
that because you're both governors, But I mean, I know
you've thought a lot about this, Alex in terms of
like how are you how do you maximize the revenue
side of the in your case, the Links versus the
versus the Wolves, and sort of taking advantage of all
(25:20):
the elements that are there. And I know you're thinking
about media all the time. I just wondered your thoughts there.
Speaker 4 (25:25):
What I will say is our situations are a little
bit different. Like, unlike the Timberwolves the Links, we walked
into an incredible franchise that has a Hall of Fame
coach and has four championship banners. We have an iconic
player and the feature Collier, and we have a Rabbit
fan base that is just like religious, like a cult
about their team, which is lucky for us. Our biggest
(25:48):
asset are players, and I think we can do even
a better job of showing them off to the world.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
And we're currently talking about.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
Our local media rights deal, which is a conversation for
another podcast. But I do think about this all the time,
and I'm constantly thinking about ideas of how do we
enhance the brand of.
Speaker 5 (26:08):
The Links and Lisa, what have you seen?
Speaker 2 (26:11):
I'm glad Alex brought that up and he went exactly
where I was hoping you could go.
Speaker 5 (26:14):
We've been doing this for.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
A while, but you know, how do you think about
this sort of like shoulder programming? And you know a
lot of the things that the NBA has been so
successful at. The NFL obviously has been very successful as well.
We've seen the appetite that for women's sports, but maybe
not the execution as much. Is that something that needs
to happen at the team level. Is it something that
(26:36):
has to happen at the lead like how does that
work in your estimation?
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Well, for us, we're actually doing it ourselves. We launched
announced last month that we launched Rose City Sports Net
and we launched that locally here in Portland in conjunction
with Fox twelve and Grade Media. So we have the
only women's dedicated locals broadcast in the country and they
(27:03):
will cover local games. They will stream them free for
both Thorns and Fire that are available, and then for us,
that's an opportunity with Shoulder content, so we'll have interviews
with coach and pre and post game. And we have
a podcast that was launched last year called Episode of
Women's Sports with Creena LeBlanc where she interviews different people,
(27:23):
some in Portland and some outside of Portland, but kind
of showing what we're doing and building here as well.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
One thing that has come up sort of on the
edge of this conversation, and you started with it, Lisa,
is this notion of the ecosystem around sports, especially as
it relates to real estate. That's where Alex got his
start in investing. You guys are pursuing this, whether it's
with the dedicated facility, the training facility, but I think
(27:52):
it's more than that, as well, help us understand how
real estate fits into the broader investment thesis here.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
Yeah, actually, real estate is probably where we started also
because when I was growing up in we had our
family business. My parents were real estate investors, and when
we invest in the Sacramento Kings, then we, as you know,
as part of the holding company, developed Golden One Center
and Doco, which is a surrounding retail area that has retail,
(28:22):
restaurant hospitality, and that led actually to the start of
Alex Bethal and my business Revitate, which I said was
focused on real estate. So back in twenty seventeen, there
were three bipartisan pages in the tax bill and they
were focused on what are called opportunity zones, and those
are areas that are designated by the state as desperately
(28:46):
needing revitalization but not necessarily having the funding to do so.
And so it's a tax tool that encourages private investment
into opportunity zones. And we found out that that area
of downtown Sacramento was an opportunity zone, and with the timing,
we didn't get to take advantage of any of the
great tax benefits, but we saw firsthand the social impact
(29:08):
it created. It was the spark that revitalized downtown Sacramento.
It created jobs both in construction and then afterwards and
really became the catalyst for what is now a very
robust downtown economy. So that has been something we I
think we're on our fifth fund with Revitate, and in
the future we will be focusing a bit more on
(29:30):
sports adjacent real estate because we know how to do
this and we know how to invested opportunity zone areas.
Up until this point, I think we've invested into over
two and a half billion dollars with the worth of
real estate across the country in twenty six different properties,
primarily in secondary markets.
Speaker 5 (29:48):
Alex, I think you need to be talking to these
but thals.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
I mean, I know you're like, I'm very impressiate, Like
I was going to say that this is actually speaking
your language in a way that I don't. I'm not
sure we've had a guest on this show who's talked
about the real estate and sports intersection quite that specifically.
Speaker 4 (30:09):
I agree, and also having the fashion components seen around
corners and I've learned a lot.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
We have obviously been keepy and eye on everything that
you're doing. The Thorns deal was obviously such a banner
deal in NWSL, and I think a fascinating indicator of
where that league is going.
Speaker 5 (30:29):
You know, we've had a number of your fellow owners
on this.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
Podcast, whether it's Carolyn Budget, will Obey, Karen Nortman and
a number of others, and Alan Waxman just recently Brandy
Chestin and I forgive this because I'm in the Bay,
but it is amazing to think about sort of that league.
And I'm guessing you've seen just a real upping of
the ante in terms of the ambition around the around
(30:56):
the ownership group, but around the governor's table.
Speaker 5 (30:59):
Is that fair? Have you seen that?
Speaker 1 (31:01):
Yeah, In the past two years that we've been involved
with the WNWSL, we have seen a change in ownership
and really top level people who come from sports backgrounds
or finance like Alan does that are pushing things forward.
It's a very very exciting time of growth for both
the NWSL and the WNBA, and we're just really excited
(31:22):
to be part of it.
Speaker 5 (31:23):
Well.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
And obviously with Willow, you've got because you're a trojan, right,
you know, you've got the USC connection, friendly rivals, you know,
and certainly rivals on the pitch with the Angel City, and.
Speaker 5 (31:33):
I know everybody envies, everybody.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Envies your fan base, So good luck on the thorns,
good luck on the fire. And now you've got a
new rival and partner in Alex Rodriguez.
Speaker 5 (31:44):
This is great.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Yes, we're against each other on the pitch of the court,
but happy to be serving together on the board of Governors.
All right.
Speaker 5 (31:53):
Good to spend some time with you.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
Thank you so much, Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
The Deal is a production from Bloomberg Podcasts and Bloomberg Originals.
The Deal is hosted by Alex Rodriguez and me Jason Kelly.
The show is produced by Stacy Wong. Our senior producers
are Alexis HoTT and Anamazarakis. Original music by Blake Maples.
Our booker is Paige Keffer. Our executive producers are Amy Keen,
(32:22):
Kelly Lefier, and Ashley Zingaro. Special thanks to Rachel Carnivale,
Elena So Los Angeles and Nick Silva. You can also
watch this episode on The Deal on YouTube. Subscribe to
The Deal and leave us a review wherever you get
your podcasts. It helps other people find the show. Thanks
for listening.
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio News.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome back to the DLM Jason Kelly alongside Alex Rodriguez.
Coming up on the show Lisa bethal Mirage. She is
the owner of both The Fire in the WNBA and
The Thorns in the NWSL. But first, I haven't seen
you for a while, Alex. We're all over the place
as usual. You're just back from can How was it
(00:34):
I saw the you know, the sun drenched photos of
you know, per usual. But this has turned into a
massive thing, especially in the sports business world, right, yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
It really has.
Speaker 4 (00:44):
I mean it very much has some of the characteristics
of a milk and conference in La accept as in
France and con and you know, I found it very productive.
This year is my second year that I went. I
just got back and I found the adjustment that I
made was instead of booking myself eighty to ninety percent,
I only booked myself thirty percent and kept seventy percent
(01:05):
fluid for meetings and like strategic you know, showing up
at places. It was so much more productive and impactful
for me, but really really productive.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
And is it like a party scene or a lot
of business scene or sort of like combination of both,
like people just sort of like moving around and bumping
into each other.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
What is it like, It's a bit of a combination.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
I think the first day or two you kind of
use it to wear out some of the jet lag.
And then by day three and four, almost by the
time you're ready to come back, you're you're you're good.
But I would say what's really impressive is you're on
the beach. Is a great scenery. You have great people
showing up. You know you have you had Tatum from
the Celtics, you had Jalen Brown, you had KD Kevin Durant,
(01:50):
and then you have all the cmos from the top
fortune one hundred companies, and then you hear you have
representatives like you know, you have Amazon Prime, you have Netflix,
you have Apple, Disney, and you get a lot of
business done in a short time. You had the folks
from LinkedIn. We went to one of their parties. But
very productive. I highly recommend it. It's hard to get
an invite.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yeah, Well, while you were doing that hard work, I
was doing the hard work of playing golf with Steve
Young last week in Utah.
Speaker 5 (02:17):
This is his.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Annual Forever Young Charity tournament that I've gotten to play
in the past few years.
Speaker 5 (02:22):
He says, Hi had the best time.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
With him, and you know, his whole team. Obviously, for
those listening who haven't heard our episode or watched our
episode with Steve Young from earlier this year, it's one
of our favorites. You know, he just continues to kill it,
both on the private equity side obviously the philanthropic side.
Speaker 5 (02:43):
Such a thoughtful.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Guy, and you know, pulled together a really interesting collection
of folks. You know, a lot of whom he has
deep ties to us, including the head coach from BYU,
the athletic director from BYU. You know, they were all
in attendance and playing golf, the BYU golf team, which
was a little tough for us, you know, sort of
competing in the tournament because I did not have any
(03:04):
of them in my foursome, so not good for my scramble. Anyway,
a really fun time. And God, I love golf. I
love golf so much.
Speaker 5 (03:14):
As you know.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
I'm working this week out of Idaho, not too far
from Sun Valley and catch him and yeah, great golf here.
And you know what's really good for someone like me
and you know, less of an issue for you because
you hit it a mile goes a little further in
the altitude. I'll take it like it's everything I need.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
It's good for the confidence, it's not good, it's very
good for the goverment. One quick follow up, How is
Steve Young's game? What's his handicap?
Speaker 5 (03:39):
I don't know what his handicap is.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
I will say this will not surprise you, And if
I did, I probably wouldn't disclose it because I'm not
sure he would want it. Except he's really good. He's
I'll tell you the best thing about his golf game.
He's a scrambler. So he plays golf like he played football.
I mean, I've also heard that you play golf like
you played baseball, which is.
Speaker 5 (03:58):
You swing out of your shoes and you know, and
then hope for the best.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
You know what, whether I have a seven or birdie,
I have the same attitude. I'm gonna go to the
next one and enjoy.
Speaker 5 (04:07):
It exactly, all right.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Coming up from the show a little bit of a pivot,
We're going to talk a lot about women's sports. Lisa
Pathalmerage such a fascinating figure in the sports world. She's
got two teams in two leagues in the same city
in Portland, Oregon, which is just a mecca for women's sports.
As you know, the NWSL she and her family bought
(04:29):
sort of out of a troubled situation. The owner there
was forced to sell. They picked it up, and then
more recently they've launched the Portland Fire in your league,
the WNBA, and you've seen it up close and personal.
Speaker 5 (04:43):
This is a good team.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
It's a very good team. And she reminds me Lisa.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
Of a little bit of a younger days with Genie Buss,
where her father was obviously doctor Buzz. Lisa's father is
obviously one of the co basically co owners of the
Sacramento Kings. But what I like about her, Jason, when
I send in board meetings with her, is she's dynamic.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
This is a business for them. There's not a hobby like.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
They run like as their principal business. And those owners
that do that you can see the benefits on the
court or on the field, and you're seeing that with
her totally.
Speaker 5 (05:16):
Yeah, that's a really good point.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
She and her brother Alex are sort of the prime
movers in this next generation. And you make a really
good point, which is you know, they went in, their
family went in. Her father, Raj is the alternate governor
for the Sacramento Kings, and so they learned a lot
about the NBA and sort of the basketball ecosystem that
they're very much applying. So let's get into with Lisa
pathal Mirage coming up here on the Deal.
Speaker 5 (05:50):
Welcome back to the Deal.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
I'm Jason Kelly alongside Alex Rodriguez. So excited to have
with us Lisa pathal Mirage. She joins us from Portland,
where she and her family had sort of taken over
the city in terms of sports. Lisa, it's really good
to have you with us.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Thank you so much for having me. Yes, coming in
live here from the global epicenter of women's sports, Portland,
Oregon exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
So tell us about how did this all come about?
How did you, I believe grew up in southern California
Like here you are, literally as we speak to you,
towering over Portland, Oregon.
Speaker 5 (06:25):
How does this happen?
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Oh gosh, it's a long story, but I'll start with
My dad is originally from India, came to the United States,
fell in love with sports, met my mom, who's a
southern California beach girl and grew up in Newport Beach.
But she was a lifelong athlete and they ended up
starting a business in the fashion industry. Our family business
when I was growing up was actually women's swimwear and
(06:49):
I came on board after college graduation graduation from USC
with my brother Alex, and we worked in the family business.
Started at the bottom, worked our way and we were
there for about twenty years. We took the company global,
we took it digital, and then we ended up selling
the business to private equity. And at that time, as
(07:11):
a family, we knew we wanted to make an investment
in sports, so we looked into different opportunities and we
eventually landed on an opportunity with the Sacramento Kings with
the Vivak Ranadive led group and my dad, Braj came
in as alternate governor and vice chair and my brother
(07:32):
Alex sat on the executive board. And that was about
fourteen years ago. So at that time, after we sold
the business, we were invested the Kings. My brother and
I we have a hard time sitting still, so we
decided to launch another business called Revitate, which is an
investment platform focused on real estate and the sports ecosystem,
(07:55):
and I think, as Eddie us being in the sports world, See,
when you're in that world, a lot of opportunity comes
across your desk and you look at different deals. And
at that time it was we'd been hearing a lot
about women's sports, and I kind of think that being
in the fashion industry, my husband calls my superpower, the
(08:17):
fact that I could smell trends before they happen, smell
things before they happen, and you know, people were calling
it a moment in women's sports, and we thought of
it as the rise of women's sports. So, long story short,
this Portland Thorns deck came across our desk in the
NWSL and I came out to Portland to check it out.
(08:40):
And as we started looking into it and I came
for a game and it was shocking and mesmerizing. It
was what I call the magic of Portland. The fan
base here is incredible. They're insatiable, they love their sports.
The women's sports rival the men's sports in this city.
(09:00):
So we absolutely fell in love with the city and
the fan base and the fact that the Thorns had
three NWSL championships and we're winning, you know, basically on
and off the pitch, and that became kind of our
first opportunity in Portland.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
So, Lisa, I want to take you back and disclaimer here.
Roger and I are partners and we sit on the
same board with the NBA and I sit on the
board with the en the WNBA. Your father's lovely and
a really charming man. But take me back to Newport Beach.
You're sitting there with your family. You're sitting there with
your mom who's from Newport, and you buy this team
(09:37):
in twenty thirteen with Vivek. How is the conversation around
dinners like this is exciting dad? Or we put on
our marbles on one A. Could you ever forecast it
that twenty twenty six the league has grown to where
it has today as a global media.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Platform with regard to the NBA.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
Correct NBA, Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
For us, you know, we looked at a few different opportunities.
We kind of landed on the NBA as the league
that we wanted to invest in at that time, and
you know that was for a few reasons. We saw
the growth trajectory in the NBA have a huge opportunity,
especially with media deals and a lot of things happening
in the NBA, so we thought it was the right
(10:17):
investment for us. We had a couple stop starts with
other teams, and we actually came very close to investing
in the New Orleans Pelicans, but it didn't work out.
And then David Stearns said, my dad, Raj, wait, I
have something for you. I have something that I know
is going to be a good fit for you. And
that was how we wound up in Sacramento, which is
(10:39):
really nice. I have to say, It's only an hour
flight from Orange County, California, where we live. So we
joked that we could fly to a King's game faster
than we could drive to LA to see the Clippers
or the Lakers.
Speaker 5 (10:50):
And so there is this.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
You know, the other sort of big decision you make
is around women's sports, specifically. I want to come back
to the in a second, but since we're talking about basketball,
the expansion, the growth of the w has been unbelievable.
You know, take us through that deal and how that
transaction happens, because expansion has been has been all the rage.
(11:15):
But this happened very quickly as I understand it.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Yes, it did you know we were working on closing
our Portland Thorns deal and then we frankly read into
newspaper when we saw that the WNBA was about to
get Portland an expansion franchise, and something happened with the
potential owner there, and the league didn't know that we
were in Portland, so we let them know, Hey, you know,
(11:39):
it hasn't closed yet, but we're investing the Thorns. We're
going to be building a performance center here. We're investing
in the city. And yes, we went through a process
and I think the stars aligned because we are the
only ownership group to have both teams with the Portland
Thorns and the NWS well and the Portland Fire and
(12:01):
the WNBA. And with regard to the NBA, the WNBA,
that was another you know, the WNBA has been around
for thirty years. This is obviously the thirty year anniversary,
but it was another sport that we saw and you know,
we saw it back when Caitlin Clark was in college
and this bubble was starting to rise, and I think,
(12:22):
you know, social media really became the opportunity for a
lot of these female athletes to have their platform and
to grow, and so we were seeing this uprising, and
we were very, very excited about the opportunity to invest
in a WNBA franchise.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Sticking with the sort of like fast timetable, you also
had to turn that pretty fast to get them onto
the court, right, it wasn't you know, because now we're
seeing with the w and keep me honest here, both
of you. You know, it's like you have two three
you know, some cases like a little more years to
sort of get it all up and running. You guys
had less than two, right, like fourteen fifteen months?
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Yes, I think it was fifteen months exactly that we had.
And you know we had a team three weeks before
we went onto the court. Yeah, I mean starting with
the Thorns. When we closed the sale of the Thorns
on January fourth, twenty twenty four, we had a coach,
we had players, we had technical staff, and that was it.
(13:20):
And we did a transition agreement with the Timbers who
previously owned the Thorns. The Timbers in the MLS slowly
transitioning different departments over. So the first thing we did
on that side was we hired a president of business operations,
and then through the course of the next nine months,
we built out the ticketing department, the sponsorship department, the
marketing department, hr IT Legal, and then with a fire,
(13:46):
we had a little bit of a head start with
some of the back office, whether it's like finance or
hr Legal, but we had to do the same thing.
So we started with a President of operations. We actually
had a VP of People Culture who is over both
organizations and she is amazing, but we hired a president
(14:07):
business operations and then we started again. We started building
out the departments and hired Vonya, our GM on the
Fire side, and took the time that we needed to
kind of build out the technical staff on the Fire
basketball operation side.
Speaker 4 (14:24):
So, Lisa, when you think about your sports portfolio, there's
a lot of chat in the marketplace and Jason and
I have heard it from different guests about is there
a bubble in sports? I guess my question to you
is do these teams continue to rise in value?
Speaker 2 (14:37):
What are your thoughts?
Speaker 1 (14:39):
I think the teams will continue to rise in value.
I think women's sports is still very young and is growing.
We're so excited and happy that the Valkyries just hit
the billion dollar valuation, and as you've seen the acceleration
and growth and the valuations is incredible, but there's a
lot of work to do. And I mean, Alex you
know from your involvement with the Links, but women's sports
(15:04):
is not the same as men's sports, And of course
there's the topic of pay, but there's also the topic
of revenue streams and how we have to I still
feel like we have to work harder, faster, longer, better
and stronger to have kind of the same output that
the men's major leagues have.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
I specifically have covered the NWSL pretty closely. It has
been a fascinating journey, to say the least, and candidly,
and you guys were a force for good on the
back end of some really difficult times for the NWSL.
Part of the reason that the team came for sale
was some bad behavior and bad things that happened with
(15:45):
that franchise that was reflective of things going on across
the league. You know, the NWSL has had its own journey.
The WNBA had a separate one, you know, sort of
a slow burned your earlier point over.
Speaker 5 (15:58):
Now thirty years.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
What do you take from each that you apply to
the other, Because yes, they're women's sports, but these are
obviously very different sports, different leagues different setups in the
sense that is very long, very long prologued.
Speaker 5 (16:15):
Sorry, but just sort of setting the stage here.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
You know, the INWSL is completely independent of the MLS,
whereas the WNBA is part of the NBA or you know,
partially owned by the NBA.
Speaker 5 (16:28):
Take us through sort of.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
How you toggle back and forth and what you take
from each that informs the other.
Speaker 5 (16:34):
Well.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
I think for us, we're still newer with the WNBA,
so we're still learning kind of the governance around how
WNBA interacts with the NBA. But the WNBA has been
around for thirty years and the NWSL will celebrate fifteen
years next year, so they both are not emerging sports leagues.
They're still both I think in the growth phase. I
(16:56):
would say WNBA starting to transition out of that growth phase.
But for us, down at kind of the team operations level,
we keep things separate, but we think that having both
teams under one umbrella is our superpower. We are going
to be opening in just a couple months the Kaiser
(17:16):
Permanente Performance Center in Hillsboro, a suburb of Portland, and
that will be the first and only professional dual women's
sport performance center in the world. It will be just
under one hundred thousand square feed and we were very
thoughtful with how we built this out. Each team has
completely their separate areas with regard to their dressing rooms,
(17:39):
their recovery areas. However, we were thoughtful in having two
areas that are kind of cross pollinaid. One of them
is the fitness center, the gym, where we have about
six thousand square feet between indoor and outdoor space, and
then the dining room. And we purposely wanted the players
to be able to interact, to learn from each other,
(18:00):
to build bonds, to support each other. But what we
have found is that are like our gms uh Vanya
on the fireside and Jeff on the thorn side, they
talk daily there. You know, it goes back to sometimes
it's lonely at the top, but they have this dialogue
where they're like, did you deal with this?
Speaker 5 (18:17):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (18:17):
What did you? How did you solve this? I actually
have a meeting with them this week where we're going
through recovery modalities and we're trying to figure out what
can we do to kind of cross pollinate and learn
from each other. Even though they're different sports, we're still
dealing with female athletes and there's only you know, six
percent of medical research done on women. So it's truly
an opportunity for us in the future.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
And I know this is something that Alex thinks that
Alex Rodriguez thinks a lot about.
Speaker 5 (18:43):
Not to be confused with their.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Brother, but the idea of the fans and one of
the things that I hear consistently as I talk to
you know, your fellow owners, especially across the NWSL, is
there are there are two fan bases that consistently rise
above in the NWSL. Washington spirit is one and Portland
(19:08):
is the other. That it is like the atmosphere, the commitment,
what is that? What is that about? And then how
do you sustain it? And how do you feed that
knowing that it's there.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Yeah, I think it's interesting on the Thorn side because
it's an established fan base and we have traditionally led
the league. I think we have ten seasons under a
belt of leading the league with season attendance. Even this year,
I think we're over nineteen thousand as our average attendance,
which is just incredible if you think of women's sports.
(19:41):
So we've kind of looked into it and we think
a few things, and this is probably why we go
back to saying that we're just cementing Portland as the
global epicenter of women's sports. Women's sports are authentic to
the community. It was in the night when I started researching.
It was in the nineteen seventies that the first LPGA
tournament was here in Portland. And maybe it's the counterculture
(20:03):
that happens here, but it's a very very passionate sports
fan base, especially for women. The other thing is that
we're in the global head quoters for Nike and the
North American headquarters for Adidas. So people that live in
Portland and the surrounding areas, they live and breathe sports,
and I think they see things that are very forward
(20:25):
thinking as well. So you know, with women's sports rising,
it's been this way for many years here. And you know, heck,
we just had our Portland Fire season opener with over
nineteen thousand I think it was like nineteen thousand, three
hundred and thirty five attendees completely sold out for our
opening game, and going into the night, we thought we
(20:45):
were going to have about seventeen thousand, and we were
like sold out. It was incredible. It was packed. It
was rocking. I think we've just learned that for us,
we really take the standpoint of hiring the best people
for the job and letting them do that. We don't
claim to be experts. I say that any day. You know.
I love soccer, I love basketball, But we're hiring people
(21:09):
who are really good at what they do, and we
believe in giving them the space in the room to
really run with what they do. On the fireside. We
hired Vanya and she was very passionate about hiring our coach,
Alex Sarama, who is a leader in CLA. And it
is just fascinating to watch what goes on in practice.
(21:30):
The other day I was there and he had players
shooting free throws in socks, just all kinds of creative
things and they're laughing and they're smiling and they're having
a great time.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
You talked about some of the experience that you guys
had with the family business in terms of you know,
digitizing it and globalizing it. Where are you spending your time,
especially as you get deeper and deeper into this broadening
portfolio As we've talked about, there.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Are two areas where I'm really spending my time I
think the first is maybe it's coming from the fashion industry,
but I am very focused on creating lifestyle brands out
of both the Fire and the Thorns, and I think
you could see that with our branding for the Fire.
It's very different than what you see in sports. And
you know, our goal there is to have people who
(22:15):
are wearing the Portland Fire merch and maybe it doesn't
even say Portland Fire, but people know what the icon
is and it creates a lifestyle brand. I think as women,
we are very multifaceted, and I think you know a
lot of our players also like art and music and
fashion and food and culture. So it's how can we
integrate that all into creating lifestyle brands here in Portland
(22:37):
for both the Fire and the Thorns. And the other
area is my work and my service on the Board
of Governors, as Alex knows, you know, just getting started
on the WNBA side, but on the NWSL side then
I chair our Commercial committee and I'm also on the
Strategic Planning Committee, so I spend a lot of time
on that. On the NWSL side, we're going to be
(22:59):
kicking off work for a twenty twenty eight media deal
shortly and it is fun and exciting to have a
seat at the table and help shape the future of
women's sports. I frankly call it my purpose. You know,
I'm here for a reason, and it's to do what
I can to help move women's sports forward. And I
(23:20):
can do that by having a seat at the table.
Speaker 5 (23:32):
So let's talk about it.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
You brought out something really interesting and important about, you know,
sort of media deals. So let's talk about the NWOSL
because it was massive, historic, forty x what it was
in the previous deal, lots of different platforms.
Speaker 5 (23:48):
More visibility.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
The next one is arguably even more important because it
has to sort of cement this viewership, this fandom.
Speaker 5 (24:00):
And really exposure.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
You've seen what's happened with the w What does the
NWSL need to do? Like, what's on your mind as
you think about this next slide of media, especially given
how topsy turvy the overall media world does.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Yeah, I mean I think for us, I think we
were one of the first leagues that had an assortment
we'll say, of media platforms where the streaming is. But
I frankly think that's the future. I think we're going
to see more of that because people don't just watch
one channel anymore. They get their information from everything from
different streaming to their phone. With regard to the NWSL,
(24:36):
the forty times was a little bit of an anomaly.
I know the WNBA had closer to six, and we'll
see what the best that the league can do. But
it is really important because, as you know, that number
relates to everything from if we could provide charters for
our players, which we may or may not be able
to do, to you know, where salaries come in in
(24:58):
the next CBA negotiations.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
As you think about that, and I know we have
to be careful about talking about numbers and all of
that because you're both governors, But I mean, I know
you've thought a lot about this, Alex in terms of
like how are you how do you maximize the revenue
side of the in your case, the Links versus the
versus the Wolves, and sort of taking advantage of all
(25:20):
the elements that are there. And I know you're thinking
about media all the time. I just wondered your thoughts there.
Speaker 4 (25:25):
What I will say is our situations are a little
bit different. Like, unlike the Timberwolves the Links, we walked
into an incredible franchise that has a Hall of Fame
coach and has four championship banners. We have an iconic
player and the feature Collier, and we have a Rabbit
fan base that is just like religious, like a cult
about their team, which is lucky for us. Our biggest
(25:48):
asset are players, and I think we can do even
a better job of showing them off to the world.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
And we're currently talking about.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
Our local media rights deal, which is a conversation for
another podcast. But I do think about this all the time,
and I'm constantly thinking about ideas of how do we
enhance the brand of.
Speaker 5 (26:08):
The Links and Lisa, what have you seen?
Speaker 2 (26:11):
I'm glad Alex brought that up and he went exactly
where I was hoping you could go.
Speaker 5 (26:14):
We've been doing this for.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
A while, but you know, how do you think about
this sort of like shoulder programming? And you know a
lot of the things that the NBA has been so
successful at. The NFL obviously has been very successful as well.
We've seen the appetite that for women's sports, but maybe
not the execution as much. Is that something that needs
to happen at the team level. Is it something that
(26:36):
has to happen at the lead like how does that
work in your estimation?
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Well, for us, we're actually doing it ourselves. We launched
announced last month that we launched Rose City Sports Net
and we launched that locally here in Portland in conjunction
with Fox twelve and Grade Media. So we have the
only women's dedicated locals broadcast in the country and they
(27:03):
will cover local games. They will stream them free for
both Thorns and Fire that are available, and then for us,
that's an opportunity with Shoulder content, so we'll have interviews
with coach and pre and post game. And we have
a podcast that was launched last year called Episode of
Women's Sports with Creena LeBlanc where she interviews different people,
(27:23):
some in Portland and some outside of Portland, but kind
of showing what we're doing and building here as well.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
One thing that has come up sort of on the
edge of this conversation, and you started with it, Lisa,
is this notion of the ecosystem around sports, especially as
it relates to real estate. That's where Alex got his
start in investing. You guys are pursuing this, whether it's
with the dedicated facility, the training facility, but I think
(27:52):
it's more than that, as well, help us understand how
real estate fits into the broader investment thesis here.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
Yeah, actually, real estate is probably where we started also
because when I was growing up in we had our
family business. My parents were real estate investors, and when
we invest in the Sacramento Kings, then we, as you know,
as part of the holding company, developed Golden One Center
and Doco, which is a surrounding retail area that has retail,
(28:22):
restaurant hospitality, and that led actually to the start of
Alex Bethal and my business Revitate, which I said was
focused on real estate. So back in twenty seventeen, there
were three bipartisan pages in the tax bill and they
were focused on what are called opportunity zones, and those
are areas that are designated by the state as desperately
(28:46):
needing revitalization but not necessarily having the funding to do so.
And so it's a tax tool that encourages private investment
into opportunity zones. And we found out that that area
of downtown Sacramento was an opportunity zone, and with the timing,
we didn't get to take advantage of any of the
great tax benefits, but we saw firsthand the social impact
(29:08):
it created. It was the spark that revitalized downtown Sacramento.
It created jobs both in construction and then afterwards and
really became the catalyst for what is now a very
robust downtown economy. So that has been something we I
think we're on our fifth fund with Revitate, and in
the future we will be focusing a bit more on
(29:30):
sports adjacent real estate because we know how to do
this and we know how to invested opportunity zone areas.
Up until this point, I think we've invested into over
two and a half billion dollars with the worth of
real estate across the country in twenty six different properties,
primarily in secondary markets.
Speaker 5 (29:48):
Alex, I think you need to be talking to these
but thals.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
I mean, I know you're like, I'm very impressiate, Like
I was going to say that this is actually speaking
your language in a way that I don't. I'm not
sure we've had a guest on this show who's talked
about the real estate and sports intersection quite that specifically.
Speaker 4 (30:09):
I agree, and also having the fashion components seen around
corners and I've learned a lot.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
We have obviously been keepy and eye on everything that
you're doing. The Thorns deal was obviously such a banner
deal in NWSL, and I think a fascinating indicator of
where that league is going.
Speaker 5 (30:29):
You know, we've had a number of your fellow owners
on this.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
Podcast, whether it's Carolyn Budget, will Obey, Karen Nortman and
a number of others, and Alan Waxman just recently Brandy
Chestin and I forgive this because I'm in the Bay,
but it is amazing to think about sort of that league.
And I'm guessing you've seen just a real upping of
the ante in terms of the ambition around the around
(30:56):
the ownership group, but around the governor's table.
Speaker 5 (30:59):
Is that fair? Have you seen that?
Speaker 1 (31:01):
Yeah, In the past two years that we've been involved
with the WNWSL, we have seen a change in ownership
and really top level people who come from sports backgrounds
or finance like Alan does that are pushing things forward.
It's a very very exciting time of growth for both
the NWSL and the WNBA, and we're just really excited
(31:22):
to be part of it.
Speaker 5 (31:23):
Well.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
And obviously with Willow, you've got because you're a trojan, right,
you know, you've got the USC connection, friendly rivals, you know,
and certainly rivals on the pitch with the Angel City, and.
Speaker 5 (31:33):
I know everybody envies, everybody.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Envies your fan base, So good luck on the thorns,
good luck on the fire. And now you've got a
new rival and partner in Alex Rodriguez.
Speaker 5 (31:44):
This is great.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Yes, we're against each other on the pitch of the court,
but happy to be serving together on the board of Governors.
All right.
Speaker 5 (31:53):
Good to spend some time with you.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
Thank you so much, Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
The Deal is a production from Bloomberg Podcasts and Bloomberg Originals.
The Deal is hosted by Alex Rodriguez and me Jason Kelly.
The show is produced by Stacy Wong. Our senior producers
are Alexis HoTT and Anamazarakis. Original music by Blake Maples.
Our booker is Paige Keffer. Our executive producers are Amy Keen,
(32:22):
Kelly Lefier, and Ashley Zingaro. Special thanks to Rachel Carnivale,
Elena So Los Angeles and Nick Silva. You can also
watch this episode on The Deal on YouTube. Subscribe to
The Deal and leave us a review wherever you get
your podcasts. It helps other people find the show. Thanks
for listening.
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