February 2, 2025 • 58 mins
On the program today, we’re joined by Jim Rooney president and CEO of the greater Boston Chamber of Commerce weighs in on the evolving Mayors race. Mark Lev CEO of Boston Common golf talks about the new golf league TGL. Pat Dooling of Dray Drinks talks about the non-alcoholic beverage business. Leo Matlock, chief business officer of BLAST explains the E sports event at the MGM music Hall coming up February 14 through the 16th and finally CEO of Subaru in New England Ernie Boch talks about the auto industry and electric vehicles in the 2025 season.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the New England Business Report with Joe Shortsleeve
and Kim Carrigan, a weekly roundup and discussion of the
top business news impacting our New England economy.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Welcome everybody to the New England Business Report. I'm Kim Kerrigan.
Look what Joe shorts leave. It is Sunday, February, the
second Wow, January is in the books. Joe.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Well, that's good, that's good. I'm okay with that, and
let's keep let's keep marching forward here and eventually the
Red Sox will be playing and all will be right
with the world. You know.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Well, I got a little stat for you here, Yeah,
because it is the first you know me and how
I feel about light and the light. Yeah, when we
were for a bloomberg, I would always.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Keep right, Joe back on our sunshine and I know
when I know.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
So here we are February, shortest month of course of
the year. And today, on this Sunday, the sun rose
at six fifty six a m. It's going to set
at five pm tonight, on February the twenty eighth, the
last day of this month, the sun is going to
rise at six twenty six and it's going to set
(01:02):
at five thirty three, so we gain more time in
the morning.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
That's huge if I have thirty three, because you know lately,
but you do notice it now, don't you do? You
do absolutely as dark. Yeah, it's miserable.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yeah, and you know remember sunset doesn't mean dark, right,
you know. That's what I love. There's that bit of
light before and after. But I'm a morning person, so
for me, that morning part is really really infant.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
I'm with you on that. I was much more a
morning person than an evening person than you, and I
worked both ends of the.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Day and absolutely all right, So there's something to look
forward to. My friends. Also, we want to look forward
to today's show because we've got a good one.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
Boy.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
We're going to start off by talking today with Jim Rooney.
He's the President and CEO of the Boston Chamber of Commerce.
Of course, he's going to be our guest to talk
about what's on the horizon here in twenty twenty five
for the city of Boston as far as he can tell.
But what I'm really excited to talk to him about,
and it's been big news over the last week and
a half, and that's that Josh Kraft has filed papers
(02:05):
and he is running for mayor against Michelle Wu who
has not, by the way, for announced formally announced, right.
I think we know he's an incumbent. She's gonna run. Yeah,
but she has been a little bit busy having a baby.
I'm gonna give her just a little slack there, Joe.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
She's not taking a leave, right, correct, not really, that's
for sure.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Baby was Baby's already been in city hall. So she's
a cute little thing too. Boston's new a sports team
facing its first opponent this past week. You're going, what
are you talking about? It's the Boston Common Golf team.
This is all part of the new tg L that's
a tech infuse league. We're gonna explain to you all
about it if you don't know anything about it. CEO
(02:52):
Mark Love will join us as our guest. It's an
exciting new leave illeague and it's attracting a lot of
big name investors, a lot of big name golfers. So
it's going to be fun to talk to Marv to
Marv to Mark about that new lake.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Yeah. Well, this whole crossover that's going on between you know,
video games and real sports, I mean, it's really fascinating.
And of course they the TGL Golf League. They play
in a warehouse down there in Florida, and I guess
you know now ESPN's tracking the ratings and the whole bit. Anyway,
that'd be a great conversation. We're also going to be
talking with Pat Dueling of Dray Drinks, right and it's
(03:29):
all about dry January and the impact that's having on
well businesses, restaurants, liquor stores across the area. And Pat
is operating two non alcoholic shops, one in Boston one
in Cambridge, and I guess things are going quite well.
Pat Duelings become quite a celebrity absolutely past month. These
(03:50):
in big, big demand for people. And there's a story
in the Boston Globe today written by last actually last Thursday,
it was Dana Gerber writing about the industry and the
non alcoholic industry and how it's doing. And of course
they talked to Pat Duelin, will talk to him as well.
What else we got going on here? Oh, I know
we're going to be talking with the Ernie Bach later
in the program. Ernie's going to be joining us, of course,
(04:13):
and Ernie is, of course the CEO of Subaru New England.
He's a philanthropus, he's a businessman. He's going to weigh
in on what's going on with le Elon Musk and
the electric vehicles and the whole bit.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
With the go ahead, I just just say, Joe, you know,
these are interesting times for the car industry now, the
threat of tariffs and just the many changes that are
going on in the in the world. I'm going to
be very anxious to hear his take.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Yeah. And of course, so we also have Leo Matlock.
You now, he's the business officer for Blast and basically
what that is is you know we talk about TGL golf, Well,
this is E Sports. Boston will be hosting the sixth
Invitational of the mg at the MGM Music Hall in
February the fourteenth, of the sixteenth, a major event. Video
(05:00):
gamers come together. It's a three million dollar perse again,
real people and video games coming together.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
And spending lots of money in our city.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
Spending lots of money in our city. Okay, on the
Sunday morning, as promised, let's bring in the President and
CEO of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, good friend
of the program. Here, the one and only Jim Rooney, Jim,
thank you very much for joining us this Sunday morning.
A lot to talk about since our last conversation. I guess,
(05:28):
you know, first and foremost is probably the mayor's race
in Boston. Josh Craft, I'm told his filed papers there,
and you know, many are sort of saying, well, you know,
he's got to be the business community's candidate. Where where
are you? Where is the business community on Josh Craft's
challenge to Michelle Wu.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
Well, good morning, Joe, Good morning, Kim. Good to catch
up to you as well. You know, I don't think
that you know, well, first of all, let me say this,
it's it's good to have a race or any electively
held position, uh and enables organizations like the Chamber and
(06:10):
the business community and other constituencies too, you know, express
their views about how things are going, what they see
as needing focus going forward. So certainly the Chamber will
do that with respect to economic development, business activity within
the city of Boston, and I'm sure other constituencies will
(06:33):
voice their opinion using the moment of an election to
uh to do that with respect to you know, Josh
Craft certainly has something of a business background, but if
you look at his career, uh, and the Boys and
Girls Club in other ways, Uh, he's also been, you know,
(06:55):
a man of the community. So you know, he's he's
a well rounded fellow. We haven't heard much by way
of public policy positions, so it's hard to it's hard
to see where the business community will fall with respect
to Josh. But he's a good person.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
So, John, I'm kind of trying to weed through what
you're saying here. So, Jim, is he a good candidate?
Is that what you're saying you believe he is.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
Well, he's a good candidate. He knows Boston. He's been
active in Boston. You know, I'm a club kid myself,
and you know I support the Boys and Girls Club.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
And so I mean I know him personally, and I
know that he's a he's a good person. I know
he cares about the city. Uh and you know, as
does Michelle wou And you know that's a fundamental ingredient
for wanting the job. Just a passion and a love
for the city and wanting it to move forward for everybody.
So he brings that to the table. Now, managing a
(07:57):
city and leading a city, uh, you know is another
ingredient that's required. So you know, we'll see what he
has to offer. And I don't think anyone's sort of,
you know, jumping out in either direction yet. He just announced,
as you said.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Uh, with the Chamber will take a position at some point.
Speaker 4 (08:15):
Now, we don't endorse or take a position. We'll have
the candidates in. We have the candidates in four years ago. Yeah,
but we'll have them in for a conversation on business issues.
But yeah, and our buy laws, we don't we don't
raise money or endorse.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Okay, Well, we'll talk about Jim Rooney. He's the president
CEO of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. We've got
a lot of things on our list here, Kim. Let's
talk a little bit about the need for two soccer stadiums,
and of course this whole issue with White Stadium and
efforts by the Will administration to bring in a National
Women's soccer League two of Boston. Uh, what are your
thoughts about the renovation of White Stadium? What are your
(08:52):
thoughts about the need for perhaps two stadiums if we're
talking about one in Everett for the revolution.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
Yeah, well, some who played ball and ran track at
White Stadium many decades ago. I won't I won't tell
you what decade. It was in terrible shape then, and
I'm not a young man, so I think that the
(09:19):
the students of the Boston Public school system deserve better.
So I'm hot and to see that there is an
effort to provide that for those kids and for those
student athletes. Think it is an important part of the
education system. Now with respect to, you know, the Mayor's
(09:41):
deal with the women's soccer program, which, as I understand
how she feels is necessary to to make the improvements
needed to White Stadium. You know, I don't know. What
I do know is that there you said, there's two
(10:01):
soccer stadiums. It seems to make a lot of sense
to me that there's a way to put those two
teams in one stadium and just focus on making White
Stadium a facility for the students. But I'm not deeply
into the numbers or all of the logistics that the
(10:24):
may is considering, but on its faith, with the stadium
being built in of it being what I expect to
be a tremendous facility, I don't see why a women's
soccer team wouldn't want to play there.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
We asked that same question, but did not get any
answers from some representatives from the women's Soccer League. Let
me change gears just a bit, Jim. We've talked about
this before. We talked about it in twenty twenty four,
and it looks like we're going to be talking about
it again. Mayor Wu in twenty twenty four pushing to
increase taxes on commercial properties in the city so that
(11:02):
homeowners would not be facing that same thing. It was defeated.
She's come back out in twenty five and said she's
going to do it again. She's going to push again.
Is this something that she can ultimately get through? And again,
where do your members stand? I have to assume that
right now this is not something they're interested in.
Speaker 4 (11:20):
Oh, we we're disheartened by a new attempt to increase
commercial property taxes in the City of Boston. You know,
the commercial real estate industry post pandemic, is in crisis.
I mean, you don't have to look far to see
(11:42):
twenty three percent vacancy rates, buildings being sold below their
previous market value, the valuations going down. So we're going
to shakeout period in commercial real estate. It's going to
last five or ten years. I don't think there's any
hiding that. So it's clearly not the moment to say, well,
(12:03):
you know, while you're going through that, we're going to
increase your tax rate. You know, I think the biggest
disappointment in this proposal is the refusal to to look
at the spending side of the budget. You know, there
was a hamming on Monday and last Monday, and you
(12:27):
know what we heard is that it's not a spending problem,
it's it's you know that's under control. Well it's not.
The City of Boston has spent at rates well above
inflation for the past five or six years. I mean,
the spending rates have been have been just unsustainable, requiring
(12:48):
us to increase property taxes. And you know the other
thing that does that is disappointing is it creates division
where they shouldn't be, you know, residents of property tax payers,
commercial building owners of property tax payers. At the end
of the day, this is an increase tax, increased property
tax that we all share and then we all pay,
(13:10):
and we should all be united and saying well, let's
look at the spending side. You know, why do you
need all this money? Why is the growth happening in
the city's budget. And you know the attention that this
issue has gotten with respect to well, you know, the
Senator killed it, and the Senate killed it, and you
know who's to blame and dividing commercial property owners and
(13:34):
residential property owners. You know, that's not That's not what's
going on here. What's going on here is that the
city needs to practice fiscal discipline, tighten its belt and
so that the need for these increased property taxes is
not there. And I will say that you know this
is not picking on the City of Boston or or
(13:56):
Michelle wou We have documented the same insistence at the
state level with the governor, with the legislature for the
past two years that we need to live within a budget.
We sent a letter up two years ago saying that
state spending was unsustainable, and they brought it back within inflation.
So you know, this is something that government at all
(14:20):
levels just has to get the message that both the
business community and residence want accountability in spending.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
All right, Well, there's never enough time. He's Jim Rooney.
He's the president's CEO of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce.
A lot of issues impacting the business community and the city,
and of course we'll continue to have Jim join us
on of the New England Business Support as frequently as
we can. Coming up next, we're going to talk a
little bit about well Dry January. I know we're in February.
What did Dry January do to the liquor business?
Speaker 1 (14:55):
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and Kim will be right back.
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Speaker 2 (17:10):
Welcome back everyone. It's great to have you with us
this morning. You may not be aware, but Boston has
a new sports team. It's the Boston Common Golf Team
which plays as part of TGL League. It includes indoors
simulated golf course and some really big names in the
golf world. The president and the CEO of the Boston
(17:31):
Common Golf Team, Mark Love, is our guest this morning.
Market It's great to have.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
You with us.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
It's the team is actually owned by Fenway Sports Group.
And by the way, you're the head of Fenway Sports Management.
That's the marketing and sponsorship arm of Fenway Sports Group.
Congratulations on this new team playing the first round this
past week. Tell everybody about Boston Common Golf for those
who maybe don't know exactly what it is.
Speaker 9 (17:57):
I well, thank you and thank you for having me.
Can I appreciate it well. Boston Common Golf is a
team that is playing in a league of indoor simulated
golf league called TGL. CGL was co founded by Rowy,
Mount Bloy and Tiger Woods, and it's a partnership with
EGA Tour and the players that are participating in the league,
(18:18):
the twenty fourth players. We play a about a month
and a half long season and two months long season
actually at a facility called the Silfire Center, which is
in tom Beach Gardens, Florida. That is it's hard to
really describe it without seeing it, but it's a blend
of technology and real golf, virtually real golf. The players
(18:42):
hit into a simulator that is about six stories high
by about fifty fifty feet wide, and when they get
inside of fifty yards of the green, they actually go
to the other end of the building where there's a
twenty thousand square sot green complex that's built on a
rotating turntable where they actually hit real chip shots in
(19:03):
real puts.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
Into a hole.
Speaker 9 (19:06):
There are six teams in the league, Boston, New York, Atlanta,
Jupiter Links, The Bay Golf Club which is from San Francisco,
and Los Angeles Golf Club, and each team is comprised
of four three PGA Tour players. Boston Common Golf's team
is led by Rory McElroy and there are other three
players are New England's On Kegan Bradley, Adam Scott and
(19:30):
Deckie Baciamo. We play the league their fifteen regular season
matches the Beach. Each team plays five and there's a
semi final and a final and a champion will will
be will be selected the end of March del thereof
who said we played our first match this past Monday
(19:51):
against the Tiger was the Jupiter wins Teamsunately, we didn't
come out on so off it will They really close
exciting match that went into for time and had another
million people watching on ESPN and in undout thirty countries
around the world. So we're off to an exciting start.
Speaker 7 (20:11):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Okay, we're talking with Mark Levy is the CEO of
Boston Common Golf, which is of course a part of
t g L Golf League, and I play at in
a warehouse down there in Florida. You know, you know,
Mark is fascinated by some of the demographic research that's
showing up already. H And basically the demo of whoever
watching ESPN, who's watching this, you know, part simulated golf.
(20:33):
They're younger than the fans for the NFL, MLB and
NHL tell us about that.
Speaker 4 (20:38):
Yeah, that's you.
Speaker 9 (20:39):
Know, we anticipated that the viewership was kew younger, just
given the sort of the technological piece of this, but
you know, we've been really pleasantly surprised through four matches.
You're right, the average age of the viewers is fifty
one years old only the NBA, from all the major sports,
only the NBA. He was younger at fifty years old.
(21:02):
And within that that deviance about forty five percent of
them adults eighteen to be team to forty forty nine.
I think, so it's a very desirable young demo. I
think the foundination of the as I said, the technology
and fused nature of this and sports betting is very
much a part of TBL was attracted day on the audience.
(21:26):
So it was very very pleasant, pleasantly surprised, and it
feels as though that, you know, where we've established a
trends now through four different four matches of pacifty match season.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
Mark.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
What's the hopes for the future of this league? What
do you guys you know see coming I know right
now you said, I believe you said there's five teams
that are playing five major metropolitan areas, but all being
done in Florida. What can this ultimately mean.
Speaker 9 (21:53):
Ultimately there's six games in the league, they all play
at the venue in Florida. I think, you know, while
the well, we haven't sort of that does specifically what
the future is I believed in sayings on the successful
fact at the sign, you know, we live in vision
stand here at some point over the next step of years.
And I think along with that, you know, opportunities to
(22:16):
build venus like the cel other areas around the countrytive
I think, work in the fact that one of the
distant New York and why of the time it isn't
words because where its live here and it's a short
you know, twenty mint Glide somewhere most England lives. They
get to the to the buildings, so that really works
with their with their travel schedule. But pain of that,
(22:38):
there has been some discussion about looking at these you know,
the parts of the country, Las Vegas being you know,
potential city, Texas, you know, southern California. But that's that's
last in the future a little bit. I think right
now our focus is really not no building, building the brands,
building believing and building you know, affinity between the cities,
(23:00):
and the teams that are representing them. You know, we
like to follow the marketing talent and versus a marketing opportunity.
But although we're playing in a league with the team
for the bust and never plays this Kintry an apt
bust and so we have to get very creative as
relays to connecting the region such as sports you know,
as you guys know bust and such as sports thirsty.
Speaker 10 (23:23):
The region.
Speaker 9 (23:24):
Their teams work out for us to really build that
usentity between our players and getting in that area.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
You know, Mark, I'm really curious and you've mentioned it
already mentioned that this idea came from Tiger Tiger and
Rory McElroy. But tell us about the inception and at
some point these guys are what they're sitting there going,
you know what we should do? We play simulated golf
and a warehouse and try to sell it to Yes, Ben,
I mean, tell us where this came from.
Speaker 9 (23:52):
Well, you know that there's another person in the mix
of His name is Mike McCary, who is the CEO
of the league. And Mike came from a television background.
It was the president of the Golf Channel and had
a lot of experience, has had a lot of experience
producing golf, and I think, you know, it's his vision.
And then the people had the conversation with Tiger and
(24:15):
Rory to present the golf in a different way. You know,
it's understating it to call it a warehouse. It's a
big you know, technology, seventy million dollars in building, so
it's it's got a lot of a lot to it.
But you know, the notion of creating the golf ball
indoors where fans could come and they literally watched Tiger
(24:38):
Woods in every shot instead of having the leap frog
on a golf course from all the whole and looks
through you know, probably ten rows of fans around the
t bosses and around the greens. And then from a
television perspective, you know, what we're basically playing is a
sound stage. It's a television studio, and you know, to
have the ability to show every out live, every every
(25:02):
everych other play that's nothing is untaped away was really
compelling and in bite size, bite size video format, if
you will. So that was that was the reception of it.
And when Mike kind of came up with this idea,
you know, he knew he wasn't going to be able
to do it a loan, so he went to Tiger,
He went to Rory, he got there buy in. They
(25:23):
went to the PGA Tour because this is intended to
be very complementary to the PBA Tour as opposed to adversarial.
It fits very well into the players schedule as it
relates to these matches generally being played on Monday or
Tuesday nights. Players you know, then go and play the
outdoor tournaments on Thursdays to Sundays. So that's really how
(25:45):
it how it came about, and you know, it's a
work in progress. We'd like to say we're kind of
building the plane as with flying it. If you were
watching match one two, watch the first match in January seventh,
and you watched our match this past Monday night, you
would have seen a lot of improvements and a lot
of refinements to this broadcast that is really making it better.
Speaker 4 (26:04):
And better with the match.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Well, Mark, listen, it's exciting and we thank you so
much for jumping on and sharing some information about it.
We hope that eventually, Joe, it would be fun if
one of these big matches could be played right here
in Boston. I think it'd be a really fun they say.
The atmosphere is just awesome, lots of music and lots
of young people. All right, Still come in your way.
Dry January may be over for a lot of people,
(26:28):
but living without alcohol, or at least limiting it, well,
that might be a lifestyle for many. Our next guest
is banking on that you're listening to the New England
Business Report.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
Kim and Joe will explore more business news that impacts
our New England economy when they return.
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Speaker 3 (27:41):
Fin And welcome back to the New England Business Report. Yes, folks,
it's February. On this Sunday morning of February the second.
Of course, this is the part of the program where
Kim I look at other business news that's happening around
(28:03):
and the impacts it's having on our economy. And of course, Kim,
we've been talking a lot about dry January, and of
course January is over, we're now moving into February. But
there was an article on the Globe last Thursday written
by Dana Gerber, and it talks about the impact that
dry January is having on the liquor industry and apparently
(28:24):
it's somewhat significant, although you know, you look at their
stats in the three or four percent range, but that
adds up when you figure out, you know, all the
other headwinds these industries are facing. Let's say Dana talks
to people who says, basically, in the Boston area, many
package store proprietors say the increasingly popular month long booze
break has become a sobering nip to their bottom lines.
(28:49):
From December of twenty twenty three to January twenty twenty four,
liquor sales fell from six point one billion to five
point nine billion. Okay, I mean, the interesting thing here
is that on the other side of the coin is
these non alcoholic drinks. And Kim, have you had the Athletica?
Speaker 2 (29:05):
I have, Actually, I have had Athletica, which is not bad.
By the way. I'm not a real big fan of
the non alcoholic drinks, but I have had Athletica.
Speaker 4 (29:16):
And I know that.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
We have a guest that's coming up who owns these
stores that only sell non alcoholic beverages. And I have
had some of the wine, and I have to tell
you it's very good. Really, yes it is. And he's
going to explain it's not grape juice. And he's going
to explain to you, I believe how I.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
Don't know if I've had that. I've had the Athletica,
and then that does you know? They do alright with that,
and the stores are pretty happy, I guess with the sales.
But yeah, let's bring in the guy at the center
of the dry January phenomenon, and also as we move
into February his store. See how sales are doing there.
He's a Pat Dueling of Dre Drinks. Well, let's get started.
(29:59):
We've got Pat Dueling on the phone right now. Pat.
First of all, congratulations on opening up your second store
there in Cambridge. I believe it is you already have
one in Boston or do I have that backwards?
Speaker 10 (30:10):
Yeah?
Speaker 11 (30:10):
No, absolutely right, Thank you, appreciate it. Great to be
here and happy to be talking about this topic near
and dear to our heart. As we sort of expand
and Trey story. We did have the first four in
the South End open in twenty twenty three and just
at the end of twenty twenty four open or second
in Central Square Cambridge.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
All right, well, tell us what's going on with the
non alcoholic marketplace at this point? And you know, where
did this come from? And where's it going?
Speaker 11 (30:34):
Big, big question, you know, one we could talk for
hours about. But you know, I think, you know, bringing
it to the personal maybe start. You know, I launched
a out of a personal decision of quit drinking about
three years ago. I was a twenty twenty one, and
it turns out I wasn't alone. You know, there has
been a huge title shift I think in drinking habits
among lots of different populations, but certainly one that's been
(30:57):
going on for a while and I think accelerated post COVID.
There was big spike and alcohol consumption in the US
and the early days of COVID, and I think, you know,
pretty quickly after that people took a renewed look at
their health and habits and have since declined alcohol consumption
in the in the US. And that's pretty broad based.
(31:18):
So it's you know, beer, wine, spirits, it's across almost
every age group. It's it's a pretty broad based trend
of decline in consumption. And you know, obviously you know
company that is that, you know, the products they're consuming,
and so obviously, as you know, the traditional alcoholic beverages
have been somewhat on the decline. People have looked for
(31:41):
alternatives to that, and kind of around the same time,
you know, I would say, and you know, maybe five
plus years ago, there began a boom in really great
non alcoholic alternatives. All of us know kind of you know,
decades ago, the story of you know, o duals and
some of the originals and the beer side of things.
(32:02):
But really, I think people who are outside the industry
probably don't realize just how many products have expanded and grown.
And now there's you know, thousands of great products across
you know, not only beer but wine, you know, the spirits,
things like Jim Healer Rum, lots of interesting alternative cocktails,
and so you've kind of had this big confluence of
people's habits shifting at the same time, you know, an
(32:24):
uptick in really great alternatives that can sort of provide
that same kind of complex adult leverage experiences without the alcohol,
and and it's caused the non industry to really explode.
So we're obviously part of it in dre But you know, overall,
the industry has been growing, depending on how you look
at it, you know, twenty five thirty plus percent a
year for the last at least four or five years.
(32:48):
That's obviously on a small base, so it's still a
drop of the bucket compared to you know, the alcohol industry.
But alcohol is declining, while while this industry is up
pretty pretty massively, and certainly I see a pretty break
future for it continuing going forward. But I'll pause there.
I sort of set themouseful, but lots of directions we
can go with the industry.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
Pat Dueling is our guest. He owns DRE both in
the South End and now over in Cambridge. So Pat,
we're a business show, so we take a lot of
interest in the whole idea of how profitable this kind
of business can be. I mean, it looks like to
me it must be doing pretty well because you've you've
stepped out and opened a second location. What are your
(33:30):
sales after January as compared to January or when is
the time of year when you see the best and
the most sales.
Speaker 11 (33:38):
Yeah, you know, January is great obviously, you know everyone
knows dry January, you know, which is sort of just
wrapped up. It's a time that's probably two to three
times a normal month of sales for us. So it
is a pretty big increase, and we think it's great
because it's kind of a time when there's a lot
of marketing.
Speaker 10 (33:54):
In space and people just get introduced to us, you know.
Speaker 11 (33:57):
Often for the first time, and make and decisions around
how they're going to spend the rest of the year. Obviously,
it doesn't that doesn't continue all year long, so it
goes back to a more normal level the rest of
the year. But I say, the good news is that
that normal level has continued to go up every year
and and so you know, it's it's not a fall off.
There's there's sort of plenty of business there the rest
of the year to support the stores and and our
(34:19):
other channels as well. So yeah, it's definitely small, but
growing rapidly. We have the advantage of being kind of
the only dedicated concept in the Boston area, which which
which always helps. And there's a lot of competition with
other channels, but we think there's some unique advantages to
kind of being a dedicated concept in the space.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
Yeah, Pat, give us the winners. I'd like to. Okay,
so what's your number one non alcoholic beer and and
what's that? What's a red or a white wine? A
non alcoholic wine? Who are the winners? What are the
best sellers there?
Speaker 11 (34:48):
Yeah, a lot of a lot of great stuff. You know,
it's it's it's hard to pick one. I mean, I say,
in the beer space, it's interesting because everybody knows Athletic
it's a it's a tremendous brand that's built a great business.
They're kind of semi local out of Connecticut, and you know,
we certainly sell plenty of athletics, but they've expanded to
broad channels, and so we find that smaller craft beer brewers,
whether that be you know, somebody local like a notch
(35:10):
brewery that does great craft beers but makes some good
on alcoholics, or you know, even like a Woodland Farms.
It's a great beer out of Kittery, Maine, that dedicated
non out who were there. We've got a couple of
great varieties that don't show up everywhere else, and so
we sell the big ones, but also small ones. And
then from a wine standpoint, I love, you know, personally,
(35:32):
I love the great craft makers in traditional wine regions
like Napa, Sonoma. We sell a lot of a brain
called sov s ov I. That's a great story of
a husband and wife team that we're all great, not
regular wine makers that ported all that technology over to
creating great b alcoholized wines. And they make red swhites
and everything in between. So it's hard to pick favorites,
(35:54):
but you know, those will probably be a couple of
my top names.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
Talk to us about what Dray stands for sure, Yeah,
so dre uh.
Speaker 11 (36:04):
You know, in terms of a brand, uh, it's a
traditional wagon used for transporting alcohol, so horse drawn carriage
with beer barrels on it. I personally am from Saint Louis,
Missouri and grew up with the Anheuser Bush Clydesdales as
a backdrop to a lot of things, and so we
took inspiration from that of the classic wagon, but we
(36:26):
wanted to flip it on its head to mean being
on the wagon. And so we use a lot of
terminology around get on the wagon with dre and and
and what have you and and so a lot of
the brand branding is around that. It's a fun, vibrant
brand that's inclusive. Part of the getting on the wagon
is just the idea that lots of people are making
this choice to go non alcoholic or reduced consumption and
(36:47):
and so you're you're kind of building community, you know,
you're not alone and making that decision. And yeah, it's
you know, I think we stand for a lot of things,
but probably the primary one is just being there for
people on that journey as they get on the wagon
and sort of giving them a helping hand with products
and community and lots of other resources as they as
they reduce.
Speaker 3 (37:06):
All right, well he's Pat Dueling of Dre Drinks. We
do appreciate you joining us this Sunday morning on the
New England Business Report. Kim.
Speaker 2 (37:13):
Now, we all know, Joe that Boston is one of
the great sports cities in America. There's no two ways
about that. And now that incredible competitive spirit is bringing
one of esport's biggest annual events to the MGM Grand
Music Hall later this month. And we are joined by
Leo Mattlocke. He's the chief business officer of Blast, the
organization behind the six Invitational, and that's coming. As I
(37:37):
said in February, Leo, great to have you with us
this morning. Talk to us a little bit about what
is the sixth Invitational.
Speaker 12 (37:44):
It's a pleasure to be with you now and we
can be more excited to bring the sixth Invitational to
Boston for the very first time. So what is the
sixth Invitational? The sixth Invitational is the pinnacle of the
Blast Rainbow six Esports calendar. Rainbow six is one of
the biggest computer games in the world and it's a
(38:04):
really ten close, action packed game, which means some people
play it very competitively all around the world, and the
Sixth Invitational is where the very best players and the
very biggest team fly in from all around the world,
in this case to Boston at the MGM grant to
compete so we can finally find out who is the
(38:24):
best team of the year. So in February twenty five,
we will crown the sixth Invitational champions and we'll finally
have the answer to that question of who's been the
best team of the year. So, you know, Boston's an
amazing city for sports. So this is the equivalent of
finding out, you know, who is winning, the equivalent of
the super Bowl of the World Series, but in the
(38:45):
computer game Rainbow six all r.
Speaker 3 (38:47):
Yeah, because I understand that there are some three million
dollars in prizes. Here talking with Leo Matt Locke about
the Sixth Invitational at MGM Music Halls February fourteenth, I
believe through the sixteenth paint a picture for our listeners
if you could, Leo, what's going on in this room
at the MGM. Who's there? Do you have fans? I
(39:07):
know you have the participants paid a picture for us.
Speaker 12 (39:10):
Yeah. The MGM Music Call is a beautiful venue, just
by Fenway Park, probably a bit more known for some
fantastic concert. What we'll be bringing is using that fantastic space,
building out a beautiful stage and environment. The stage will
have some amazing smographics and lights and production that people
would expect from an amazing entertainment show, sport, music, whatever else.
(39:34):
But it will have ten computers on it with ten
chairs separated into two banks of five because it's five
people per team playing on that computer, and these teams
will take turns playing against each other through a series
of competition until we have a great final on the
Sunday with the final two teams at those computers competing
(39:56):
on a keyboard a mouse in front of about three
thousand people each day is what we've managed to pack
in there. We could have probably sold more, but yeah,
we're sold out at about three thousand each day, and
so they'll be those fans cheering, getting to meet the
players after and before the matches, meet all the broadcast talent,
and having a great time in the gaming community watching
(40:17):
an amazing event, watching these teams compete for that three
million dollar prize port the champion will win a million
dollars themselves, and then we'll have about thirty million live
views around the world, so people will be tuning in
from all around the world watching this as we broadcast live,
and that number of cumuli people will cumulatively will get
to about thirty million over the over the week.
Speaker 2 (40:41):
Leo, my understanding is me Boston was certainly a part
of being sure that this happened here in the Boston area,
and I can understand why BLAST is forecasting some twenty
million dollars added to the economy here as a result
of this e sports event. Obviously, there are a lot
(41:01):
of people who are very interested in sports, that's.
Speaker 12 (41:06):
Right, and you know, Blast, we've made a business out
of tapping into that zech guide that are the millions
of people that play games, the millions of people that
watch people playing games, and the millions of people to
watch peop played sports, which is the competitive, regulated or
competitions of people playing games. So we've been really fortunate,
and if they're listening, we're exceptionally grateful, truth for your
(41:28):
support and partnership. To the folks that meet Boston, they
understood that this was an amazing way to Boston is
already on the map, but it's an amazing way to
put Boston on the map of the city that embraces
new events, technology, new communities, and maybe reach an audience
that maybe wouldn't have considered going to Boston or holiday
or spending a weekend or a week there, attract them
(41:51):
in with this great event, track more people to the city,
talk about the city, and promote what Boston has to
offer as a destination and what it's all about. All
the MIDI into people tuning in around the world. So
I think it's a great collaboration between us where we
get an amazing hope. We get to bring this world
famous event to a fantastic city, and then they get
(42:11):
to promote what Boston is all about, and we give
them a bit of our air time to sort of
communicate what that is and make sure we spend time
with the players to see the best of what Boston's
got to offer.
Speaker 11 (42:21):
And so that yeah, through this great.
Speaker 12 (42:23):
Event, we can all need Boston.
Speaker 3 (42:26):
In that same vain Leo, I'm just curious. It seems
like most of this competition outside of this these dates,
takes place online, So why do you need an in
person event? Why do we need to bring these gamers
to Boston. I mean, this all takes place online.
Speaker 12 (42:42):
Right, Yeah, so all the qualifiers, this is the big championship.
How do people get there. We've got leagues all around
the world, so there'll be teams. There's an American league,
the Brazilian league, there's a league in Europe, there's a
league in Japan. So all these teams are competing in
their home reach, in their home territory to get to
each other, to get the best couple of teams from
(43:02):
each region, who then jet into Boston to compete against
each other live in person. So there's two reasons for that.
One is exciting and one is technical. I'll start with
the technical. If you're in Japan and you're playing against
the team who's based in America, the servers are going
to put one team at a disadvantage because of lag,
and we haven't quite worked out how to send that information,
(43:25):
so mainly around the world, so everyone's playing on the
same lequal footing. The second is excitement. I think we
can remembering COVID when we were watching sports teams play
without fans in the arena. It was the same thing,
not the same thing, right, You get people into an arena,
thousands of fans screaming the lights, the action, the competitive
nature that you know, the players are look at each
(43:46):
other in the eyeballs when one team wins, one team loses.
They make amazing plays. There's more pressure, you know, and
they're competing for that three million dollar prize, Paul, those
a million dollars on the line at the end of
the match. Doing that in person, think is what it's
all about. That tension adds to it as the excitement,
and you know, thousands of people want to come and
watch these things. So it's great business for us to
(44:08):
be able to make sure our event Doctor mcldo and
Fantastic play right Boston. We've got a great host, we've
got great sponsors. We can sell a bunch of tickets
and merch and that, so we can make a business
out of that as well. I think it works for everybody.
Speaker 4 (44:21):
Well.
Speaker 2 (44:22):
It is a very exciting event that's coming to Boston
February fourteenth through the sixteenth. Unfortunately it sounds like it's
sold out, but you can certainly see it online. It's
going to be there at the MGM Grand Thank you
Leo so much for being a part of the show.
Coming up next a the Year Ahead in the Car industry.
Ready back, Junior will be our guest.
Speaker 1 (44:45):
You are listening to the New England Business Report on
the Voice of Boston WRKO six 't eighty. Joe and
Kim will be right back.
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Speaker 6 (45:56):
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Speaker 3 (47:06):
Welcome back to the New England Business Report on this
Sunday morning, February the second. As promised, we saved the
best for last. Yeah, he's the CEO of Subaru of
New England. We all know his name. He's Ernie back Junior.
He's a businessman, he's a philanthropist and he's a friend
of this program. Ernie A. Welcome to the program. And
(47:28):
you know, I've been taking a lot about you and
what's been happening here with the new administration down there
in Washington, d C. And my question has to do
with electric vehicles. It's you know, here here is this
new administration with close ties to Elon Musk and yet
at the same time there are movements to take away
incentives for electric vehicles. So I'm I'm really confused. What's
(47:52):
going on with electric vehicles in this new administration? What
are you saying.
Speaker 10 (47:56):
Okay, all right, and it is confusing, but if you
walk through it, it will start to make sense. Okay,
last year, seven point five percent of vehicles were electric,
seven point five percent of the total market, so they're
(48:18):
not exactly popular. And those that are selling electric vehicles
are not really selling them. They're giving them away and
the people get the government incentive, so it's been not
really being sold. Everybody's losing money on the vehicle itself,
(48:42):
including Mosque. He's making a fortune on tax credits. So
the government has stopped the federal mandate, which is deciding
what you and I can drive. The government should never
decide what we should drive. They shouldn't decide a lot
of things. So the taking away of the incentives will
(49:06):
be good because it will be now raw. Who really
wants to buy an EV? And it's terrible that the
manufacturers can't make a profit on them. That's where it stands,
So I think I think it's going to be good.
And Musk for the first time. Last year is less
(49:28):
than fifty percent of all EV sales. At one point
on your show, I think I told you, I think
it was almost seventy percent of all EV sales. Will
must now he's less than fifty, so it's not going
to level out.
Speaker 2 (49:43):
In fact, I heard this morning that Tesla missed its
numbers in the last quarter, so they've had sort of
a tough time.
Speaker 10 (49:52):
Yes, there was a little bit of a dip with
the election, people being unsure sure this and that, and
then that rental car I think was hurt by a
bunch of Teslas and it ended up not working for them,
so they were dumping them on the open market.
Speaker 4 (50:08):
That hurt.
Speaker 2 (50:09):
Also, are you talk to us a little bit about
direct sales models and what that's going to mean for
car dealerships.
Speaker 10 (50:17):
Well, the direct sales model is not a great idea.
The franchised autosystem that the US has is really the
best way to sell vehicles. Tesla is direct, but they
have to go from state to state to get that
approved because of the franchise lots. Tesla is a very
(50:42):
unusual manufacturer. I don't have a problem with them going
direct because of how they're leading with technology, but other
manufacturers they're trying to do, like not a lot of vehicles,
they're trying to disrupt the system. Eventually, if they do go,
it's gonna you know, between service and taking care of
(51:03):
the customers. It'll be a nightmare. I just bought a
I just bought a cyber truck. I went through the
whole process of buying the truck online. It was extremely unusual.
I wasn't happy with the process, but the process was
the process, you know, buying it from a baseless entity
(51:26):
is I don't know, it's just not it's not the same.
Speaker 3 (51:31):
Talking with Ernie Bock Junior. Of course we know Ernie
well and uh he is a CEO of Subaru of
New England, you know, in the same vein here as
we talk about this like direct sales model. Uh, there's
also this this new generation of kids who aren't necessarily
buying cars. It's it's all about Uber and ride shares
(51:51):
and is that biting into the bottom line?
Speaker 10 (51:55):
Ernie Well that you know, that's interesting. Not only are
they not buying, they not getting the license. Until later
on my generation, at sixteen and a half to the day,
we were at the R and V trying to get
a learners permit. My daughter didn't get her license until
she was twenty. So yeah, they don't They don't look
(52:21):
at the vehicle the way previous generations have looked at vehicles,
which is freedom. I was growing up a car meant freedom.
Then it's what TEPCARDI want is cool?
Speaker 4 (52:35):
Can you do this? Can you do that?
Speaker 10 (52:37):
And they already have the freedom, they can already call
uber or lyft or whatever. So is it biting into it?
I don't think so. I don't think so. That the
industry last year did fifteen point eight five million vehicles,
which was an increase from two thousand and three. Now
(52:58):
we call that the star seasonally adjusted annual rate. So
last year it was fifteen point a five and the
experts is saying it's going to be about sixteen two,
sixteen three, four twenty five, so it will go up.
Speaker 2 (53:14):
So having said that, let's take a look at Obviously,
we have a new administration in Washington, lots of talks
about tariffs. What kind of impact could tariffs have on
the car industry and would it be sustainable?
Speaker 10 (53:29):
It's tariffs are tariffs are sword?
Speaker 4 (53:33):
They're a sword.
Speaker 10 (53:35):
I mean, look what happened with Columbia when they when
they when President and Trump started talking about tariffs. Tariffs
are a sword. They will adjust the market the way
we want it and will be used probably in the
end sparingly because deals will be made. I mean, so
(53:57):
Porsha Porscha thinking about cars in America. Now, that's incredible.
Speaker 2 (54:04):
So you feel like if there, if there are tariffs,
the impact will be pretty minimal on UHR industry.
Speaker 10 (54:10):
Absolutely, maybe maybe like at first, but they're sword there there,
they're way of getting what we want.
Speaker 3 (54:19):
Talking with Ernie Buck Junior, Ernie, you know you're somebody
who has a ten mile view of the auto industry,
and I'm curious is who do you see as as
in moving to twenty twenty five here, who are the
winners so far? Who are the standouts, what are the
what are the trends? I mean, who's buying what these days?
Speaker 10 (54:36):
Okay, the last year, for the first time in a
long time, General Motors beat Toyota, first time in a
long time. Toyota had some some production issues, but but
over the last ten years it's Toyota and Honda. They're
the winners of the volume. That the McDonald's of the
(54:57):
auto industry. And then you have the Koreansayankia coming up fast,
making the Japanese nervous. But in the you know, that's
what Toyota does. Almost fifty percent hybrid sales in America
almost fifty percent hybrid. People want hybrids, they want they
(55:19):
want ice cars internally combustion engines or hybrids. The the
EV is still lacking, but the Koreans are coming in
with an incredible breadth of models and they're just they're
just they're coming on strong. But in the corner, in
the corner. Now, as you recall we talked about hybrid,
(55:42):
I mean hydrogen. Hydrogen I think will hit the market
in twenty six or twenty seven.
Speaker 2 (55:52):
Going who's going to bring that forth first?
Speaker 10 (55:55):
Probably BMW and Toyota.
Speaker 3 (56:00):
There are a lot of people say, you know, hydrants
is not the way to go. You are not that person,
You are the one who says hydrogen is the right Why.
Speaker 10 (56:06):
Would they possibly say that.
Speaker 3 (56:09):
I guess because they look they look like the EV
set up and they say evs. You can't get chargers
for evs, And they say hydros hydrogen, that infrastructure is
even weaker.
Speaker 10 (56:18):
Well, but here's the thing, here's the thing. Picture this.
You've got a hydrogen tank in your garage, and the
hydrogen man comes and delivers you hydrogen and you put
it in your tank and then it's much much longer
range than electric and then in the future, in the future,
(56:43):
you're going to be driving and pulling hydrogen out of
the air. Out of the air, You're going to be
so it's it's you'll never have to stop it at
any sort of station.
Speaker 3 (56:57):
All right, we can look forward to that. All right, Hey, listen,
we appreciate you taking time on the Sunday morning to
chat with the journey. Of course he's Ernie back, the
CEO of Subaru of New England.
Speaker 2 (57:08):
Well, Joe, that's going to do it for this first
Sunday in February Groundhog Day, by the way, So happy
that everybody could be with us, and we hope you
can join us again next week. Now, this is really interesting, Joe.
I'm excited about this. Former colleague of yours and mine
we wor her at WBZ TV, Kerrie Conley is going
to be our guest now. Carrie transitioned from being a
(57:29):
news anchor to a business owner and she is enjoying
some really great success. She owns one location of an
exercise studio, about to open a second.
Speaker 3 (57:39):
So we're going to a wonderful lady. Have known her
for years and always the bubbly one of the big
smile when she walked into the room. Yeah, I'm looking
forward to that.
Speaker 2 (57:46):
Yeah, absolutely so we're going to hear how she made
that transition and hear more about that successful business. That's
all coming up on Sunday at eight am on the
New England Business Report. Right here on WRKO, the Voice
of Boston AM six 't eighty
This is the New England Business Report with Joe Shortsleeve
and Kim Carrigan, a weekly roundup and discussion of the
top business news impacting our New England economy.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Welcome everybody to the New England Business Report. I'm Kim Kerrigan.
Look what Joe shorts leave. It is Sunday, February, the
second Wow, January is in the books. Joe.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Well, that's good, that's good. I'm okay with that, and
let's keep let's keep marching forward here and eventually the
Red Sox will be playing and all will be right
with the world. You know.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Well, I got a little stat for you here, Yeah,
because it is the first you know me and how
I feel about light and the light. Yeah, when we
were for a bloomberg, I would always.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Keep right, Joe back on our sunshine and I know
when I know.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
So here we are February, shortest month of course of
the year. And today, on this Sunday, the sun rose
at six fifty six a m. It's going to set
at five pm tonight, on February the twenty eighth, the
last day of this month, the sun is going to
rise at six twenty six and it's going to set
(01:02):
at five thirty three, so we gain more time in
the morning.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
That's huge if I have thirty three, because you know lately,
but you do notice it now, don't you do? You
do absolutely as dark. Yeah, it's miserable.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yeah, and you know remember sunset doesn't mean dark, right,
you know. That's what I love. There's that bit of
light before and after. But I'm a morning person, so
for me, that morning part is really really infant.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
I'm with you on that. I was much more a
morning person than an evening person than you, and I
worked both ends of the.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Day and absolutely all right, So there's something to look
forward to. My friends. Also, we want to look forward
to today's show because we've got a good one.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
Boy.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
We're going to start off by talking today with Jim Rooney.
He's the President and CEO of the Boston Chamber of Commerce.
Of course, he's going to be our guest to talk
about what's on the horizon here in twenty twenty five
for the city of Boston as far as he can tell.
But what I'm really excited to talk to him about,
and it's been big news over the last week and
a half, and that's that Josh Kraft has filed papers
(02:05):
and he is running for mayor against Michelle Wu who
has not, by the way, for announced formally announced, right.
I think we know he's an incumbent. She's gonna run. Yeah,
but she has been a little bit busy having a baby.
I'm gonna give her just a little slack there, Joe.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
She's not taking a leave, right, correct, not really, that's
for sure.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Baby was Baby's already been in city hall. So she's
a cute little thing too. Boston's new a sports team
facing its first opponent this past week. You're going, what
are you talking about? It's the Boston Common Golf team.
This is all part of the new tg L that's
a tech infuse league. We're gonna explain to you all
about it if you don't know anything about it. CEO
(02:52):
Mark Love will join us as our guest. It's an
exciting new leave illeague and it's attracting a lot of
big name investors, a lot of big name golfers. So
it's going to be fun to talk to Marv to
Marv to Mark about that new lake.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Yeah. Well, this whole crossover that's going on between you know,
video games and real sports, I mean, it's really fascinating.
And of course they the TGL Golf League. They play
in a warehouse down there in Florida, and I guess
you know now ESPN's tracking the ratings and the whole bit. Anyway,
that'd be a great conversation. We're also going to be
talking with Pat Dueling of Dray Drinks, right and it's
(03:29):
all about dry January and the impact that's having on
well businesses, restaurants, liquor stores across the area. And Pat
is operating two non alcoholic shops, one in Boston one
in Cambridge, and I guess things are going quite well.
Pat Duelings become quite a celebrity absolutely past month. These
(03:50):
in big, big demand for people. And there's a story
in the Boston Globe today written by last actually last Thursday,
it was Dana Gerber writing about the industry and the
non alcoholic industry and how it's doing. And of course
they talked to Pat Duelin, will talk to him as well.
What else we got going on here? Oh, I know
we're going to be talking with the Ernie Bach later
in the program. Ernie's going to be joining us, of course,
(04:13):
and Ernie is, of course the CEO of Subaru New England.
He's a philanthropus, he's a businessman. He's going to weigh
in on what's going on with le Elon Musk and
the electric vehicles and the whole bit.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
With the go ahead, I just just say, Joe, you know,
these are interesting times for the car industry now, the
threat of tariffs and just the many changes that are
going on in the in the world. I'm going to
be very anxious to hear his take.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Yeah. And of course, so we also have Leo Matlock.
You now, he's the business officer for Blast and basically
what that is is you know we talk about TGL golf, Well,
this is E Sports. Boston will be hosting the sixth
Invitational of the mg at the MGM Music Hall in
February the fourteenth, of the sixteenth, a major event. Video
(05:00):
gamers come together. It's a three million dollar perse again,
real people and video games coming together.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
And spending lots of money in our city.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
Spending lots of money in our city. Okay, on the
Sunday morning, as promised, let's bring in the President and
CEO of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, good friend
of the program. Here, the one and only Jim Rooney, Jim,
thank you very much for joining us this Sunday morning.
A lot to talk about since our last conversation. I guess,
(05:28):
you know, first and foremost is probably the mayor's race
in Boston. Josh Craft, I'm told his filed papers there,
and you know, many are sort of saying, well, you know,
he's got to be the business community's candidate. Where where
are you? Where is the business community on Josh Craft's
challenge to Michelle Wu.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
Well, good morning, Joe, Good morning, Kim. Good to catch
up to you as well. You know, I don't think
that you know, well, first of all, let me say this,
it's it's good to have a race or any electively
held position, uh and enables organizations like the Chamber and
(06:10):
the business community and other constituencies too, you know, express
their views about how things are going, what they see
as needing focus going forward. So certainly the Chamber will
do that with respect to economic development, business activity within
the city of Boston, and I'm sure other constituencies will
(06:33):
voice their opinion using the moment of an election to
uh to do that with respect to you know, Josh
Craft certainly has something of a business background, but if
you look at his career, uh, and the Boys and
Girls Club in other ways, Uh, he's also been, you know,
(06:55):
a man of the community. So you know, he's he's
a well rounded fellow. We haven't heard much by way
of public policy positions, so it's hard to it's hard
to see where the business community will fall with respect
to Josh. But he's a good person.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
So, John, I'm kind of trying to weed through what
you're saying here. So, Jim, is he a good candidate?
Is that what you're saying you believe he is.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
Well, he's a good candidate. He knows Boston. He's been
active in Boston. You know, I'm a club kid myself,
and you know I support the Boys and Girls Club.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
And so I mean I know him personally, and I
know that he's a he's a good person. I know
he cares about the city. Uh and you know, as
does Michelle wou And you know that's a fundamental ingredient
for wanting the job. Just a passion and a love
for the city and wanting it to move forward for everybody.
So he brings that to the table. Now, managing a
(07:57):
city and leading a city, uh, you know is another
ingredient that's required. So you know, we'll see what he
has to offer. And I don't think anyone's sort of,
you know, jumping out in either direction yet. He just announced,
as you said.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Uh, with the Chamber will take a position at some point.
Speaker 4 (08:15):
Now, we don't endorse or take a position. We'll have
the candidates in. We have the candidates in four years ago. Yeah,
but we'll have them in for a conversation on business issues.
But yeah, and our buy laws, we don't we don't
raise money or endorse.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Okay, Well, we'll talk about Jim Rooney. He's the president
CEO of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. We've got
a lot of things on our list here, Kim. Let's
talk a little bit about the need for two soccer stadiums,
and of course this whole issue with White Stadium and
efforts by the Will administration to bring in a National
Women's soccer League two of Boston. Uh, what are your
thoughts about the renovation of White Stadium? What are your
(08:52):
thoughts about the need for perhaps two stadiums if we're
talking about one in Everett for the revolution.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
Yeah, well, some who played ball and ran track at
White Stadium many decades ago. I won't I won't tell
you what decade. It was in terrible shape then, and
I'm not a young man, so I think that the
(09:19):
the students of the Boston Public school system deserve better.
So I'm hot and to see that there is an
effort to provide that for those kids and for those
student athletes. Think it is an important part of the
education system. Now with respect to, you know, the Mayor's
(09:41):
deal with the women's soccer program, which, as I understand
how she feels is necessary to to make the improvements
needed to White Stadium. You know, I don't know. What
I do know is that there you said, there's two
(10:01):
soccer stadiums. It seems to make a lot of sense
to me that there's a way to put those two
teams in one stadium and just focus on making White
Stadium a facility for the students. But I'm not deeply
into the numbers or all of the logistics that the
(10:24):
may is considering, but on its faith, with the stadium
being built in of it being what I expect to
be a tremendous facility, I don't see why a women's
soccer team wouldn't want to play there.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
We asked that same question, but did not get any
answers from some representatives from the women's Soccer League. Let
me change gears just a bit, Jim. We've talked about
this before. We talked about it in twenty twenty four,
and it looks like we're going to be talking about
it again. Mayor Wu in twenty twenty four pushing to
increase taxes on commercial properties in the city so that
(11:02):
homeowners would not be facing that same thing. It was defeated.
She's come back out in twenty five and said she's
going to do it again. She's going to push again.
Is this something that she can ultimately get through? And again,
where do your members stand? I have to assume that
right now this is not something they're interested in.
Speaker 4 (11:20):
Oh, we we're disheartened by a new attempt to increase
commercial property taxes in the City of Boston. You know,
the commercial real estate industry post pandemic, is in crisis.
I mean, you don't have to look far to see
(11:42):
twenty three percent vacancy rates, buildings being sold below their
previous market value, the valuations going down. So we're going
to shakeout period in commercial real estate. It's going to
last five or ten years. I don't think there's any
hiding that. So it's clearly not the moment to say, well,
(12:03):
you know, while you're going through that, we're going to
increase your tax rate. You know, I think the biggest
disappointment in this proposal is the refusal to to look
at the spending side of the budget. You know, there
was a hamming on Monday and last Monday, and you
(12:27):
know what we heard is that it's not a spending problem,
it's it's you know that's under control. Well it's not.
The City of Boston has spent at rates well above
inflation for the past five or six years. I mean,
the spending rates have been have been just unsustainable, requiring
(12:48):
us to increase property taxes. And you know the other
thing that does that is disappointing is it creates division
where they shouldn't be, you know, residents of property tax payers,
commercial building owners of property tax payers. At the end
of the day, this is an increase tax, increased property
tax that we all share and then we all pay,
(13:10):
and we should all be united and saying well, let's
look at the spending side. You know, why do you
need all this money? Why is the growth happening in
the city's budget. And you know the attention that this
issue has gotten with respect to well, you know, the
Senator killed it, and the Senate killed it, and you
know who's to blame and dividing commercial property owners and
(13:34):
residential property owners. You know, that's not That's not what's
going on here. What's going on here is that the
city needs to practice fiscal discipline, tighten its belt and
so that the need for these increased property taxes is
not there. And I will say that you know this
is not picking on the City of Boston or or
(13:56):
Michelle wou We have documented the same insistence at the
state level with the governor, with the legislature for the
past two years that we need to live within a budget.
We sent a letter up two years ago saying that
state spending was unsustainable, and they brought it back within inflation.
So you know, this is something that government at all
(14:20):
levels just has to get the message that both the
business community and residence want accountability in spending.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
All right, Well, there's never enough time. He's Jim Rooney.
He's the president's CEO of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce.
A lot of issues impacting the business community and the city,
and of course we'll continue to have Jim join us
on of the New England Business Support as frequently as
we can. Coming up next, we're going to talk a
little bit about well Dry January. I know we're in February.
What did Dry January do to the liquor business?
Speaker 1 (14:55):
You are listening to the New England Business Report on
the Voice of Boston w RKO six 't eighty. Joe
and Kim will be right back.
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Speaker 2 (17:10):
Welcome back everyone. It's great to have you with us
this morning. You may not be aware, but Boston has
a new sports team. It's the Boston Common Golf Team
which plays as part of TGL League. It includes indoors
simulated golf course and some really big names in the
golf world. The president and the CEO of the Boston
(17:31):
Common Golf Team, Mark Love, is our guest this morning.
Market It's great to have.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
You with us.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
It's the team is actually owned by Fenway Sports Group.
And by the way, you're the head of Fenway Sports Management.
That's the marketing and sponsorship arm of Fenway Sports Group.
Congratulations on this new team playing the first round this
past week. Tell everybody about Boston Common Golf for those
who maybe don't know exactly what it is.
Speaker 9 (17:57):
I well, thank you and thank you for having me.
Can I appreciate it well. Boston Common Golf is a
team that is playing in a league of indoor simulated
golf league called TGL. CGL was co founded by Rowy,
Mount Bloy and Tiger Woods, and it's a partnership with
EGA Tour and the players that are participating in the league,
(18:18):
the twenty fourth players. We play a about a month
and a half long season and two months long season
actually at a facility called the Silfire Center, which is
in tom Beach Gardens, Florida. That is it's hard to
really describe it without seeing it, but it's a blend
of technology and real golf, virtually real golf. The players
(18:42):
hit into a simulator that is about six stories high
by about fifty fifty feet wide, and when they get
inside of fifty yards of the green, they actually go
to the other end of the building where there's a
twenty thousand square sot green complex that's built on a
rotating turntable where they actually hit real chip shots in
(19:03):
real puts.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
Into a hole.
Speaker 9 (19:06):
There are six teams in the league, Boston, New York, Atlanta,
Jupiter Links, The Bay Golf Club which is from San Francisco,
and Los Angeles Golf Club, and each team is comprised
of four three PGA Tour players. Boston Common Golf's team
is led by Rory McElroy and there are other three
players are New England's On Kegan Bradley, Adam Scott and
(19:30):
Deckie Baciamo. We play the league their fifteen regular season
matches the Beach. Each team plays five and there's a
semi final and a final and a champion will will
be will be selected the end of March del thereof
who said we played our first match this past Monday
(19:51):
against the Tiger was the Jupiter wins Teamsunately, we didn't
come out on so off it will They really close
exciting match that went into for time and had another
million people watching on ESPN and in undout thirty countries
around the world. So we're off to an exciting start.
Speaker 7 (20:11):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Okay, we're talking with Mark Levy is the CEO of
Boston Common Golf, which is of course a part of
t g L Golf League, and I play at in
a warehouse down there in Florida. You know, you know,
Mark is fascinated by some of the demographic research that's
showing up already. H And basically the demo of whoever
watching ESPN, who's watching this, you know, part simulated golf.
(20:33):
They're younger than the fans for the NFL, MLB and
NHL tell us about that.
Speaker 4 (20:38):
Yeah, that's you.
Speaker 9 (20:39):
Know, we anticipated that the viewership was kew younger, just
given the sort of the technological piece of this, but
you know, we've been really pleasantly surprised through four matches.
You're right, the average age of the viewers is fifty
one years old only the NBA, from all the major sports,
only the NBA. He was younger at fifty years old.
(21:02):
And within that that deviance about forty five percent of
them adults eighteen to be team to forty forty nine.
I think, so it's a very desirable young demo. I
think the foundination of the as I said, the technology
and fused nature of this and sports betting is very
much a part of TBL was attracted day on the audience.
(21:26):
So it was very very pleasant, pleasantly surprised, and it
feels as though that, you know, where we've established a
trends now through four different four matches of pacifty match season.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
Mark.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
What's the hopes for the future of this league? What
do you guys you know see coming I know right
now you said, I believe you said there's five teams
that are playing five major metropolitan areas, but all being
done in Florida. What can this ultimately mean.
Speaker 9 (21:53):
Ultimately there's six games in the league, they all play
at the venue in Florida. I think, you know, while
the well, we haven't sort of that does specifically what
the future is I believed in sayings on the successful
fact at the sign, you know, we live in vision
stand here at some point over the next step of years.
And I think along with that, you know, opportunities to
(22:16):
build venus like the cel other areas around the countrytive
I think, work in the fact that one of the
distant New York and why of the time it isn't
words because where its live here and it's a short
you know, twenty mint Glide somewhere most England lives. They
get to the to the buildings, so that really works
with their with their travel schedule. But pain of that,
(22:38):
there has been some discussion about looking at these you know,
the parts of the country, Las Vegas being you know,
potential city, Texas, you know, southern California. But that's that's
last in the future a little bit. I think right
now our focus is really not no building, building the brands,
building believing and building you know, affinity between the cities,
(23:00):
and the teams that are representing them. You know, we
like to follow the marketing talent and versus a marketing opportunity.
But although we're playing in a league with the team
for the bust and never plays this Kintry an apt
bust and so we have to get very creative as
relays to connecting the region such as sports you know,
as you guys know bust and such as sports thirsty.
Speaker 10 (23:23):
The region.
Speaker 9 (23:24):
Their teams work out for us to really build that
usentity between our players and getting in that area.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
You know, Mark, I'm really curious and you've mentioned it
already mentioned that this idea came from Tiger Tiger and
Rory McElroy. But tell us about the inception and at
some point these guys are what they're sitting there going,
you know what we should do? We play simulated golf
and a warehouse and try to sell it to Yes, Ben,
I mean, tell us where this came from.
Speaker 9 (23:52):
Well, you know that there's another person in the mix
of His name is Mike McCary, who is the CEO
of the league. And Mike came from a television background.
It was the president of the Golf Channel and had
a lot of experience, has had a lot of experience
producing golf, and I think, you know, it's his vision.
And then the people had the conversation with Tiger and
(24:15):
Rory to present the golf in a different way. You know,
it's understating it to call it a warehouse. It's a
big you know, technology, seventy million dollars in building, so
it's it's got a lot of a lot to it.
But you know, the notion of creating the golf ball
indoors where fans could come and they literally watched Tiger
(24:38):
Woods in every shot instead of having the leap frog
on a golf course from all the whole and looks
through you know, probably ten rows of fans around the
t bosses and around the greens. And then from a
television perspective, you know, what we're basically playing is a
sound stage. It's a television studio, and you know, to
have the ability to show every out live, every every
(25:02):
everych other play that's nothing is untaped away was really
compelling and in bite size, bite size video format, if
you will. So that was that was the reception of it.
And when Mike kind of came up with this idea,
you know, he knew he wasn't going to be able
to do it a loan, so he went to Tiger,
He went to Rory, he got there buy in. They
(25:23):
went to the PGA Tour because this is intended to
be very complementary to the PBA Tour as opposed to adversarial.
It fits very well into the players schedule as it
relates to these matches generally being played on Monday or
Tuesday nights. Players you know, then go and play the
outdoor tournaments on Thursdays to Sundays. So that's really how
(25:45):
it how it came about, and you know, it's a
work in progress. We'd like to say we're kind of
building the plane as with flying it. If you were
watching match one two, watch the first match in January seventh,
and you watched our match this past Monday night, you
would have seen a lot of improvements and a lot
of refinements to this broadcast that is really making it better.
Speaker 4 (26:04):
And better with the match.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Well, Mark, listen, it's exciting and we thank you so
much for jumping on and sharing some information about it.
We hope that eventually, Joe, it would be fun if
one of these big matches could be played right here
in Boston. I think it'd be a really fun they say.
The atmosphere is just awesome, lots of music and lots
of young people. All right, Still come in your way.
Dry January may be over for a lot of people,
(26:28):
but living without alcohol, or at least limiting it, well,
that might be a lifestyle for many. Our next guest
is banking on that you're listening to the New England
Business Report.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
Kim and Joe will explore more business news that impacts
our New England economy when they return.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
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Speaker 3 (27:41):
Fin And welcome back to the New England Business Report. Yes, folks,
it's February. On this Sunday morning of February the second.
Of course, this is the part of the program where
Kim I look at other business news that's happening around
(28:03):
and the impacts it's having on our economy. And of course, Kim,
we've been talking a lot about dry January, and of
course January is over, we're now moving into February. But
there was an article on the Globe last Thursday written
by Dana Gerber, and it talks about the impact that
dry January is having on the liquor industry and apparently
(28:24):
it's somewhat significant, although you know, you look at their
stats in the three or four percent range, but that
adds up when you figure out, you know, all the
other headwinds these industries are facing. Let's say Dana talks
to people who says, basically, in the Boston area, many
package store proprietors say the increasingly popular month long booze
break has become a sobering nip to their bottom lines.
(28:49):
From December of twenty twenty three to January twenty twenty four,
liquor sales fell from six point one billion to five
point nine billion. Okay, I mean, the interesting thing here
is that on the other side of the coin is
these non alcoholic drinks. And Kim, have you had the Athletica?
Speaker 2 (29:05):
I have, Actually, I have had Athletica, which is not bad.
By the way. I'm not a real big fan of
the non alcoholic drinks, but I have had Athletica.
Speaker 4 (29:16):
And I know that.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
We have a guest that's coming up who owns these
stores that only sell non alcoholic beverages. And I have
had some of the wine, and I have to tell
you it's very good. Really, yes it is. And he's
going to explain it's not grape juice. And he's going
to explain to you, I believe how I.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
Don't know if I've had that. I've had the Athletica,
and then that does you know? They do alright with that,
and the stores are pretty happy, I guess with the sales.
But yeah, let's bring in the guy at the center
of the dry January phenomenon, and also as we move
into February his store. See how sales are doing there.
He's a Pat Dueling of Dre Drinks. Well, let's get started.
(29:59):
We've got Pat Dueling on the phone right now. Pat.
First of all, congratulations on opening up your second store
there in Cambridge. I believe it is you already have
one in Boston or do I have that backwards?
Speaker 10 (30:10):
Yeah?
Speaker 11 (30:10):
No, absolutely right, Thank you, appreciate it. Great to be
here and happy to be talking about this topic near
and dear to our heart. As we sort of expand
and Trey story. We did have the first four in
the South End open in twenty twenty three and just
at the end of twenty twenty four open or second
in Central Square Cambridge.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
All right, well, tell us what's going on with the
non alcoholic marketplace at this point? And you know, where
did this come from? And where's it going?
Speaker 11 (30:34):
Big, big question, you know, one we could talk for
hours about. But you know, I think, you know, bringing
it to the personal maybe start. You know, I launched
a out of a personal decision of quit drinking about
three years ago. I was a twenty twenty one, and
it turns out I wasn't alone. You know, there has
been a huge title shift I think in drinking habits
among lots of different populations, but certainly one that's been
(30:57):
going on for a while and I think accelerated post COVID.
There was big spike and alcohol consumption in the US
and the early days of COVID, and I think, you know,
pretty quickly after that people took a renewed look at
their health and habits and have since declined alcohol consumption
in the in the US. And that's pretty broad based.
(31:18):
So it's you know, beer, wine, spirits, it's across almost
every age group. It's it's a pretty broad based trend
of decline in consumption. And you know, obviously you know
company that is that, you know, the products they're consuming,
and so obviously, as you know, the traditional alcoholic beverages
have been somewhat on the decline. People have looked for
(31:41):
alternatives to that, and kind of around the same time,
you know, I would say, and you know, maybe five
plus years ago, there began a boom in really great
non alcoholic alternatives. All of us know kind of you know,
decades ago, the story of you know, o duals and
some of the originals and the beer side of things.
(32:02):
But really, I think people who are outside the industry
probably don't realize just how many products have expanded and grown.
And now there's you know, thousands of great products across
you know, not only beer but wine, you know, the spirits,
things like Jim Healer Rum, lots of interesting alternative cocktails,
and so you've kind of had this big confluence of
people's habits shifting at the same time, you know, an
(32:24):
uptick in really great alternatives that can sort of provide
that same kind of complex adult leverage experiences without the alcohol,
and and it's caused the non industry to really explode.
So we're obviously part of it in dre But you know, overall,
the industry has been growing, depending on how you look
at it, you know, twenty five thirty plus percent a
year for the last at least four or five years.
(32:48):
That's obviously on a small base, so it's still a
drop of the bucket compared to you know, the alcohol industry.
But alcohol is declining, while while this industry is up
pretty pretty massively, and certainly I see a pretty break
future for it continuing going forward. But I'll pause there.
I sort of set themouseful, but lots of directions we
can go with the industry.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
Pat Dueling is our guest. He owns DRE both in
the South End and now over in Cambridge. So Pat,
we're a business show, so we take a lot of
interest in the whole idea of how profitable this kind
of business can be. I mean, it looks like to
me it must be doing pretty well because you've you've
stepped out and opened a second location. What are your
(33:30):
sales after January as compared to January or when is
the time of year when you see the best and
the most sales.
Speaker 11 (33:38):
Yeah, you know, January is great obviously, you know everyone
knows dry January, you know, which is sort of just
wrapped up. It's a time that's probably two to three
times a normal month of sales for us. So it
is a pretty big increase, and we think it's great
because it's kind of a time when there's a lot
of marketing.
Speaker 10 (33:54):
In space and people just get introduced to us, you know.
Speaker 11 (33:57):
Often for the first time, and make and decisions around
how they're going to spend the rest of the year. Obviously,
it doesn't that doesn't continue all year long, so it
goes back to a more normal level the rest of
the year. But I say, the good news is that
that normal level has continued to go up every year
and and so you know, it's it's not a fall off.
There's there's sort of plenty of business there the rest
of the year to support the stores and and our
(34:19):
other channels as well. So yeah, it's definitely small, but
growing rapidly. We have the advantage of being kind of
the only dedicated concept in the Boston area, which which
which always helps. And there's a lot of competition with
other channels, but we think there's some unique advantages to
kind of being a dedicated concept in the space.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
Yeah, Pat, give us the winners. I'd like to. Okay,
so what's your number one non alcoholic beer and and
what's that? What's a red or a white wine? A
non alcoholic wine? Who are the winners? What are the
best sellers there?
Speaker 11 (34:48):
Yeah, a lot of a lot of great stuff. You know,
it's it's it's hard to pick one. I mean, I say,
in the beer space, it's interesting because everybody knows Athletic
it's a it's a tremendous brand that's built a great business.
They're kind of semi local out of Connecticut, and you know,
we certainly sell plenty of athletics, but they've expanded to
broad channels, and so we find that smaller craft beer brewers,
whether that be you know, somebody local like a notch
(35:10):
brewery that does great craft beers but makes some good
on alcoholics, or you know, even like a Woodland Farms.
It's a great beer out of Kittery, Maine, that dedicated
non out who were there. We've got a couple of
great varieties that don't show up everywhere else, and so
we sell the big ones, but also small ones. And
then from a wine standpoint, I love, you know, personally,
(35:32):
I love the great craft makers in traditional wine regions
like Napa, Sonoma. We sell a lot of a brain
called sov s ov I. That's a great story of
a husband and wife team that we're all great, not
regular wine makers that ported all that technology over to
creating great b alcoholized wines. And they make red swhites
and everything in between. So it's hard to pick favorites,
(35:54):
but you know, those will probably be a couple of
my top names.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
Talk to us about what Dray stands for sure, Yeah,
so dre uh.
Speaker 11 (36:04):
You know, in terms of a brand, uh, it's a
traditional wagon used for transporting alcohol, so horse drawn carriage
with beer barrels on it. I personally am from Saint Louis,
Missouri and grew up with the Anheuser Bush Clydesdales as
a backdrop to a lot of things, and so we
took inspiration from that of the classic wagon, but we
(36:26):
wanted to flip it on its head to mean being
on the wagon. And so we use a lot of
terminology around get on the wagon with dre and and
and what have you and and so a lot of
the brand branding is around that. It's a fun, vibrant
brand that's inclusive. Part of the getting on the wagon
is just the idea that lots of people are making
this choice to go non alcoholic or reduced consumption and
(36:47):
and so you're you're kind of building community, you know,
you're not alone and making that decision. And yeah, it's
you know, I think we stand for a lot of things,
but probably the primary one is just being there for
people on that journey as they get on the wagon
and sort of giving them a helping hand with products
and community and lots of other resources as they as
they reduce.
Speaker 3 (37:06):
All right, well he's Pat Dueling of Dre Drinks. We
do appreciate you joining us this Sunday morning on the
New England Business Report. Kim.
Speaker 2 (37:13):
Now, we all know, Joe that Boston is one of
the great sports cities in America. There's no two ways
about that. And now that incredible competitive spirit is bringing
one of esport's biggest annual events to the MGM Grand
Music Hall later this month. And we are joined by
Leo Mattlocke. He's the chief business officer of Blast, the
organization behind the six Invitational, and that's coming. As I
(37:37):
said in February, Leo, great to have you with us
this morning. Talk to us a little bit about what
is the sixth Invitational.
Speaker 12 (37:44):
It's a pleasure to be with you now and we
can be more excited to bring the sixth Invitational to
Boston for the very first time. So what is the
sixth Invitational? The sixth Invitational is the pinnacle of the
Blast Rainbow six Esports calendar. Rainbow six is one of
the biggest computer games in the world and it's a
(38:04):
really ten close, action packed game, which means some people
play it very competitively all around the world, and the
Sixth Invitational is where the very best players and the
very biggest team fly in from all around the world,
in this case to Boston at the MGM grant to
compete so we can finally find out who is the
(38:24):
best team of the year. So in February twenty five,
we will crown the sixth Invitational champions and we'll finally
have the answer to that question of who's been the
best team of the year. So, you know, Boston's an
amazing city for sports. So this is the equivalent of
finding out, you know, who is winning, the equivalent of
the super Bowl of the World Series, but in the
(38:45):
computer game Rainbow six all r.
Speaker 3 (38:47):
Yeah, because I understand that there are some three million
dollars in prizes. Here talking with Leo Matt Locke about
the Sixth Invitational at MGM Music Halls February fourteenth, I
believe through the sixteenth paint a picture for our listeners
if you could, Leo, what's going on in this room
at the MGM. Who's there? Do you have fans? I
(39:07):
know you have the participants paid a picture for us.
Speaker 12 (39:10):
Yeah. The MGM Music Call is a beautiful venue, just
by Fenway Park, probably a bit more known for some
fantastic concert. What we'll be bringing is using that fantastic space,
building out a beautiful stage and environment. The stage will
have some amazing smographics and lights and production that people
would expect from an amazing entertainment show, sport, music, whatever else.
(39:34):
But it will have ten computers on it with ten
chairs separated into two banks of five because it's five
people per team playing on that computer, and these teams
will take turns playing against each other through a series
of competition until we have a great final on the
Sunday with the final two teams at those computers competing
(39:56):
on a keyboard a mouse in front of about three
thousand people each day is what we've managed to pack
in there. We could have probably sold more, but yeah,
we're sold out at about three thousand each day, and
so they'll be those fans cheering, getting to meet the
players after and before the matches, meet all the broadcast talent,
and having a great time in the gaming community watching
(40:17):
an amazing event, watching these teams compete for that three
million dollar prize port the champion will win a million
dollars themselves, and then we'll have about thirty million live
views around the world, so people will be tuning in
from all around the world watching this as we broadcast live,
and that number of cumuli people will cumulatively will get
to about thirty million over the over the week.
Speaker 2 (40:41):
Leo, my understanding is me Boston was certainly a part
of being sure that this happened here in the Boston area,
and I can understand why BLAST is forecasting some twenty
million dollars added to the economy here as a result
of this e sports event. Obviously, there are a lot
(41:01):
of people who are very interested in sports, that's.
Speaker 12 (41:06):
Right, and you know, Blast, we've made a business out
of tapping into that zech guide that are the millions
of people that play games, the millions of people that
watch people playing games, and the millions of people to
watch peop played sports, which is the competitive, regulated or
competitions of people playing games. So we've been really fortunate,
and if they're listening, we're exceptionally grateful, truth for your
(41:28):
support and partnership. To the folks that meet Boston, they
understood that this was an amazing way to Boston is
already on the map, but it's an amazing way to
put Boston on the map of the city that embraces
new events, technology, new communities, and maybe reach an audience
that maybe wouldn't have considered going to Boston or holiday
or spending a weekend or a week there, attract them
(41:51):
in with this great event, track more people to the city,
talk about the city, and promote what Boston has to
offer as a destination and what it's all about. All
the MIDI into people tuning in around the world. So
I think it's a great collaboration between us where we
get an amazing hope. We get to bring this world
famous event to a fantastic city, and then they get
(42:11):
to promote what Boston is all about, and we give
them a bit of our air time to sort of
communicate what that is and make sure we spend time
with the players to see the best of what Boston's
got to offer.
Speaker 11 (42:21):
And so that yeah, through this great.
Speaker 12 (42:23):
Event, we can all need Boston.
Speaker 3 (42:26):
In that same vain Leo, I'm just curious. It seems
like most of this competition outside of this these dates,
takes place online, So why do you need an in
person event? Why do we need to bring these gamers
to Boston. I mean, this all takes place online.
Speaker 12 (42:42):
Right, Yeah, so all the qualifiers, this is the big championship.
How do people get there. We've got leagues all around
the world, so there'll be teams. There's an American league,
the Brazilian league, there's a league in Europe, there's a
league in Japan. So all these teams are competing in
their home reach, in their home territory to get to
each other, to get the best couple of teams from
(43:02):
each region, who then jet into Boston to compete against
each other live in person. So there's two reasons for that.
One is exciting and one is technical. I'll start with
the technical. If you're in Japan and you're playing against
the team who's based in America, the servers are going
to put one team at a disadvantage because of lag,
and we haven't quite worked out how to send that information,
(43:25):
so mainly around the world, so everyone's playing on the
same lequal footing. The second is excitement. I think we
can remembering COVID when we were watching sports teams play
without fans in the arena. It was the same thing,
not the same thing, right, You get people into an arena,
thousands of fans screaming the lights, the action, the competitive
nature that you know, the players are look at each
(43:46):
other in the eyeballs when one team wins, one team loses.
They make amazing plays. There's more pressure, you know, and
they're competing for that three million dollar prize, Paul, those
a million dollars on the line at the end of
the match. Doing that in person, think is what it's
all about. That tension adds to it as the excitement,
and you know, thousands of people want to come and
watch these things. So it's great business for us to
(44:08):
be able to make sure our event Doctor mcldo and
Fantastic play right Boston. We've got a great host, we've
got great sponsors. We can sell a bunch of tickets
and merch and that, so we can make a business
out of that as well. I think it works for everybody.
Speaker 4 (44:21):
Well.
Speaker 2 (44:22):
It is a very exciting event that's coming to Boston
February fourteenth through the sixteenth. Unfortunately it sounds like it's
sold out, but you can certainly see it online. It's
going to be there at the MGM Grand Thank you
Leo so much for being a part of the show.
Coming up next a the Year Ahead in the Car industry.
Ready back, Junior will be our guest.
Speaker 1 (44:45):
You are listening to the New England Business Report on
the Voice of Boston WRKO six 't eighty. Joe and
Kim will be right back.
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Speaker 6 (45:56):
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Speaker 1 (46:54):
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Speaker 3 (47:06):
Welcome back to the New England Business Report on this
Sunday morning, February the second. As promised, we saved the
best for last. Yeah, he's the CEO of Subaru of
New England. We all know his name. He's Ernie back Junior.
He's a businessman, he's a philanthropist and he's a friend
of this program. Ernie A. Welcome to the program. And
(47:28):
you know, I've been taking a lot about you and
what's been happening here with the new administration down there
in Washington, d C. And my question has to do
with electric vehicles. It's you know, here here is this
new administration with close ties to Elon Musk and yet
at the same time there are movements to take away
incentives for electric vehicles. So I'm I'm really confused. What's
(47:52):
going on with electric vehicles in this new administration? What
are you saying.
Speaker 10 (47:56):
Okay, all right, and it is confusing, but if you
walk through it, it will start to make sense. Okay,
last year, seven point five percent of vehicles were electric,
seven point five percent of the total market, so they're
(48:18):
not exactly popular. And those that are selling electric vehicles
are not really selling them. They're giving them away and
the people get the government incentive, so it's been not
really being sold. Everybody's losing money on the vehicle itself,
(48:42):
including Mosque. He's making a fortune on tax credits. So
the government has stopped the federal mandate, which is deciding
what you and I can drive. The government should never
decide what we should drive. They shouldn't decide a lot
of things. So the taking away of the incentives will
(49:06):
be good because it will be now raw. Who really
wants to buy an EV? And it's terrible that the
manufacturers can't make a profit on them. That's where it stands,
So I think I think it's going to be good.
And Musk for the first time. Last year is less
(49:28):
than fifty percent of all EV sales. At one point
on your show, I think I told you, I think
it was almost seventy percent of all EV sales. Will
must now he's less than fifty, so it's not going
to level out.
Speaker 2 (49:43):
In fact, I heard this morning that Tesla missed its
numbers in the last quarter, so they've had sort of
a tough time.
Speaker 10 (49:52):
Yes, there was a little bit of a dip with
the election, people being unsure sure this and that, and
then that rental car I think was hurt by a
bunch of Teslas and it ended up not working for them,
so they were dumping them on the open market.
Speaker 4 (50:08):
That hurt.
Speaker 2 (50:09):
Also, are you talk to us a little bit about
direct sales models and what that's going to mean for
car dealerships.
Speaker 10 (50:17):
Well, the direct sales model is not a great idea.
The franchised autosystem that the US has is really the
best way to sell vehicles. Tesla is direct, but they
have to go from state to state to get that
approved because of the franchise lots. Tesla is a very
(50:42):
unusual manufacturer. I don't have a problem with them going
direct because of how they're leading with technology, but other
manufacturers they're trying to do, like not a lot of vehicles,
they're trying to disrupt the system. Eventually, if they do go,
it's gonna you know, between service and taking care of
(51:03):
the customers. It'll be a nightmare. I just bought a
I just bought a cyber truck. I went through the
whole process of buying the truck online. It was extremely unusual.
I wasn't happy with the process, but the process was
the process, you know, buying it from a baseless entity
(51:26):
is I don't know, it's just not it's not the same.
Speaker 3 (51:31):
Talking with Ernie Bock Junior. Of course we know Ernie
well and uh he is a CEO of Subaru of
New England, you know, in the same vein here as
we talk about this like direct sales model. Uh, there's
also this this new generation of kids who aren't necessarily
buying cars. It's it's all about Uber and ride shares
(51:51):
and is that biting into the bottom line?
Speaker 10 (51:55):
Ernie Well that you know, that's interesting. Not only are
they not buying, they not getting the license. Until later
on my generation, at sixteen and a half to the day,
we were at the R and V trying to get
a learners permit. My daughter didn't get her license until
she was twenty. So yeah, they don't They don't look
(52:21):
at the vehicle the way previous generations have looked at vehicles,
which is freedom. I was growing up a car meant freedom.
Then it's what TEPCARDI want is cool?
Speaker 4 (52:35):
Can you do this? Can you do that?
Speaker 10 (52:37):
And they already have the freedom, they can already call
uber or lyft or whatever. So is it biting into it?
I don't think so. I don't think so. That the
industry last year did fifteen point eight five million vehicles,
which was an increase from two thousand and three. Now
(52:58):
we call that the star seasonally adjusted annual rate. So
last year it was fifteen point a five and the
experts is saying it's going to be about sixteen two,
sixteen three, four twenty five, so it will go up.
Speaker 2 (53:14):
So having said that, let's take a look at Obviously,
we have a new administration in Washington, lots of talks
about tariffs. What kind of impact could tariffs have on
the car industry and would it be sustainable?
Speaker 10 (53:29):
It's tariffs are tariffs are sword?
Speaker 4 (53:33):
They're a sword.
Speaker 10 (53:35):
I mean, look what happened with Columbia when they when
they when President and Trump started talking about tariffs. Tariffs
are a sword. They will adjust the market the way
we want it and will be used probably in the
end sparingly because deals will be made. I mean, so
(53:57):
Porsha Porscha thinking about cars in America. Now, that's incredible.
Speaker 2 (54:04):
So you feel like if there, if there are tariffs,
the impact will be pretty minimal on UHR industry.
Speaker 10 (54:10):
Absolutely, maybe maybe like at first, but they're sword there there,
they're way of getting what we want.
Speaker 3 (54:19):
Talking with Ernie Buck Junior, Ernie, you know you're somebody
who has a ten mile view of the auto industry,
and I'm curious is who do you see as as
in moving to twenty twenty five here, who are the
winners so far? Who are the standouts, what are the
what are the trends? I mean, who's buying what these days?
Speaker 10 (54:36):
Okay, the last year, for the first time in a
long time, General Motors beat Toyota, first time in a
long time. Toyota had some some production issues, but but
over the last ten years it's Toyota and Honda. They're
the winners of the volume. That the McDonald's of the
(54:57):
auto industry. And then you have the Koreansayankia coming up fast,
making the Japanese nervous. But in the you know, that's
what Toyota does. Almost fifty percent hybrid sales in America
almost fifty percent hybrid. People want hybrids, they want they
(55:19):
want ice cars internally combustion engines or hybrids. The the
EV is still lacking, but the Koreans are coming in
with an incredible breadth of models and they're just they're
just they're coming on strong. But in the corner, in
the corner. Now, as you recall we talked about hybrid,
(55:42):
I mean hydrogen. Hydrogen I think will hit the market
in twenty six or twenty seven.
Speaker 2 (55:52):
Going who's going to bring that forth first?
Speaker 10 (55:55):
Probably BMW and Toyota.
Speaker 3 (56:00):
There are a lot of people say, you know, hydrants
is not the way to go. You are not that person,
You are the one who says hydrogen is the right Why.
Speaker 10 (56:06):
Would they possibly say that.
Speaker 3 (56:09):
I guess because they look they look like the EV
set up and they say evs. You can't get chargers
for evs, And they say hydros hydrogen, that infrastructure is
even weaker.
Speaker 10 (56:18):
Well, but here's the thing, here's the thing. Picture this.
You've got a hydrogen tank in your garage, and the
hydrogen man comes and delivers you hydrogen and you put
it in your tank and then it's much much longer
range than electric and then in the future, in the future,
(56:43):
you're going to be driving and pulling hydrogen out of
the air. Out of the air, You're going to be
so it's it's you'll never have to stop it at
any sort of station.
Speaker 3 (56:57):
All right, we can look forward to that. All right, Hey, listen,
we appreciate you taking time on the Sunday morning to
chat with the journey. Of course he's Ernie back, the
CEO of Subaru of New England.
Speaker 2 (57:08):
Well, Joe, that's going to do it for this first
Sunday in February Groundhog Day, by the way, So happy
that everybody could be with us, and we hope you
can join us again next week. Now, this is really interesting, Joe.
I'm excited about this. Former colleague of yours and mine
we wor her at WBZ TV, Kerrie Conley is going
to be our guest now. Carrie transitioned from being a
(57:29):
news anchor to a business owner and she is enjoying
some really great success. She owns one location of an
exercise studio, about to open a second.
Speaker 3 (57:39):
So we're going to a wonderful lady. Have known her
for years and always the bubbly one of the big
smile when she walked into the room. Yeah, I'm looking
forward to that.
Speaker 2 (57:46):
Yeah, absolutely so we're going to hear how she made
that transition and hear more about that successful business. That's
all coming up on Sunday at eight am on the
New England Business Report. Right here on WRKO, the Voice
of Boston AM six 't eighty
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