September 12, 2025 • 38 mins
Join hosts Michael Barr, Damian Sassower and Vanessa Perdomo for a look at some of the latest headlines and stories in the business of sports.
On this episode, hear from:
- Seth Wickersham, ESPN senior writer and author of the book, "American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback". They discuss how the NFL QB is one of the sports world's most important people and how they've become like American royalty
- Alex Palou, four-time IndyCar Series champion and winner of this year's Indianapolis 500 about the state of racing and his career
- Karl-Anthony Towns, multi-time NBA All Star and New York Knicks star forward on his second second in New York and his business interests outside of basketball live from Bloomberg Power Players New York earlier this month
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
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The next generation of players who really grew up with
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These are such iconic and important buildings for businesses. For fans,
COVID was one of the best things that ever happened
to go.
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The NFL is a bulletproof business.
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Racing is unique because there is absolutely no reason why
we can't compete with the guys.
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Wall It's pro pickleball?
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Real Are people really going to tune into this?
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If you're playing moneyball with a huge bag of money,
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Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 6 (00:46):
This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports, where we explored
the big money issues in the world of sports Michael
Barr along with my colleague Vanessa Berdamo. Coming up on
the show, we hear from New York knick star Ford
Carl Anthony Towns about the next upcoming season and his
ventures off the court in business. Carl Anthony Towns joined
us here at World Headquarters from Bloomberg Power Players, New York. Recently,
(01:10):
we'll hear his conversation from on the stage with Bloomberg
US sports business reporter Ira Budway. We'll also talk a
little racing with four time Indie Car Series champion Alex Polo.
That is on the way on the Bloomberg Business of Sports.
But first, we are now in Week two of the
NFL season, and we are still in the honeymoon stage
(01:33):
with a lot of teams with new regimes and new quarterbacks.
Vanessa and Bloomberg Original's chief correspondent Jason Kelly got a
chance to sit down with ESPN senior writer Seth Wickersham.
He's the author of the new book American King's Biography
of the Quarterback, a book on the mythology surrounding a
(01:54):
football team's most visible player from high school through the
Super Bowl. Let's take a listen to that conversation.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
I've covered the NFL for twenty five years at ESPN,
and if you cover the NFL for ESPN, you cover quarterbacks.
And yet after all this time, I still felt like
that there was a bigger story to tell about what
it's like to live this very unique American life with
these very unique responsibilities, and so what I tried to
(02:23):
do was like a sunrise to sunset, look at quarterbacking
from high school to college to the NFL, and you know,
finally what it's like to be a retired Hall of Famer.
So those are my goals, and those are the things
that I set out to do with it.
Speaker 5 (02:37):
You know, we're talking to you obviously, you know, right
as the NFL season is starting, and you've got a
couple of players who you profile in this book who
are in the mix, both at the college level and
at the pro level, and I'm specifically thinking about Arch
Manning and Caleb Williams. What is your takeaway about the
state of football this season? What have you seen so
(02:58):
far that is reflected in the book or maybe advances
the book even further.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Well, yeah, thank you. So, I mean, first of all, like, yeah,
the historical aspect of it is interesting to me, because
you know, I kind of set out thinking that from
the moment that the forward pass was legalized in college
in nineteen oh six, it would be like a slow
build to the quarterback as a job being mythologized and
celebrated like it is, and in fact, like it almost
(03:24):
took off immediately. It was like there was something about
that moment and what it became in our culture really
kind of culminating in the nineteen forties with with Bob Waterfield,
who is the quarterback of the Rams, and Jane Russell,
who was, you know, a fantastically famous pin up star
and actress that like it almost like held this cultural
(03:44):
place from the moment that it started. And when you
realize that, you realize that people like Joe Namath and
Johnny Unitas kind of came later and helped evolve it
rather than helped launch something. And it's a good segue
to like Arch and Klea, because you know, the hype
is so big with quarterbacks now, and I think that
(04:05):
the way that quarterbacks are handled in our culture to
be a successful one, I think, and this is a
funny answer, but like I think you almost have to
be similar to like a politician or a pop star
or maybe like even a CEO, where you're kind of
in a bubble and you're kind of disconnected from reality
(04:26):
because you have to live in a state where doubt
cannot be allowed to seep in, and so in a
very real way, it's like you're kind of disconnected and
isolated from things that are going on because there's so
much pressure on this job. And when I look at
like Arch Manning, I mean, from the moment that guy
picked up a football, life was going to be different
for him. And right now the hype has outpaced his notoriety,
(04:49):
which is never a great place to be in. But
and he didn't do anything wrong. He's learning how to
be a college quarterback. And with Caleb Williams, it's very similar.
I mean I think that, like, you know, the hype
coming about him was that he was a generational prospect
and while I do think that he's going to be
a good NFL quarterback, you know, he's still learning. And
(05:11):
you know, even though the position was under so much scrutiny,
it's still a job that people have to learn how
to do well. And I think that sometimes that gets.
Speaker 5 (05:20):
Lost and a hard job, a hard job, it's hard.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Yeah, totally.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (05:24):
I think one of the things for me that was
most interesting that it's like kind of a through line
throughout the book and just while we're talking about it,
it's the mentality behind the quarterback from all the different ways, right,
It's the way they get treated from the time they're
in the fifth grade and they pick up their first
ball to high school and they're they're the most popular
kid in high school, to getting everything they want in
(05:45):
college and being treated like, you know, the big man
on the campus, and then that can all change when
they go to NFL and then they're starting to fail
a little bit and taste that for the first time.
But then also on the other side, you just have
all these different things. And one of the other things
that it was really interesting to me too, was the
way that their parents treat them, you know, and this
(06:07):
sort of feeling that maybe from the outside of like
Arch Manning's, you know, bringing up that you kind of
noted at that his family was very different obviously because
they knew what they were doing, but like with Caleb
William's dad, it was very different.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
You know.
Speaker 7 (06:22):
They feel like almost their quarterback dads are like dance moms.
That's what it felt like.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
That's such an astute point because, Okay, there's a couple
of factors at play. Number One, this thing is so
big that if a dad is told by someone, a
coach or a quarterback guru that you know your son's
got your son's special it's like they become nomads in
the desert. I mean they will do anything, and it's
like just hand over their credit card because you know,
(06:51):
they start seeing you know, their kid one day on
stage at the Hall of Fame with a bust and
a gold jacket, and so you have all of these things.
Then you have a high school system and it's like
this Infort this circuit, this industrial complex that is a
multimillion dollar business and glorifies these kids in ways that
(07:14):
happens very young and so it almost becomes like a
Mickey Mouse type of club. So you have that where
it's like these kids are realizing from a very young
age that maybe they're a little special and they're a
little different. And you need that mentality to succeed because,
as we said earlier, like you can't live in reality,
you kind of have to live in a suspended state.
Then you have the dads and the mom sometimes who
(07:34):
are very very controlling and want to help navigate their
kids through a very dangerous space, which is totally understandable.
And then you have a what does where does that
leave these guys if they're not one of the Look,
there are sixteen thousand high school starting quarterbacks in America,
(07:58):
three tops out of you know every couple years end
up making it to the Hall of Fame. So what
if your kid, just by natural selection isn't good enough.
It creates an entire tension and complication to this job
that I really try to explore in there, because I
(08:18):
take this kid, Colin Hurley, he's at LSU right now.
You know, I wrote about him because he wanted to
be the most precocious quarterback maybe that ever existed. I mean,
he wanted to be on the fastest of the fast tracks.
He wanted to be the youngest one to do everything.
And he entered college at LSU, which is one of
the best, you know, football universities in the country, at
(08:40):
age sixteen. But like when he went to college at
age sixteen, his dad was terrified of just a kid
that age being in that setting. And you know, even
though he kind of had gone along with it. And
you know, last January, his son was in a horrible
car accident and almost died. Drove his charger into a tree.
(09:01):
And you know, I write about what it was like
in the ICU because I went and visited him like
that night, and you know, was there for a couple
of days. But it's like it opens up all of
these larger truths that happened to regular people, not just
superstar quarterbacks because of all of these dynamics.
Speaker 5 (09:19):
Yeah, and it's a great segue to where I wanted
to go next, seth, which is this nil era which
has radically changed the economics of the business. I mean
maybe in one of the most profound ways that we've
all seen during our lifetimes when it comes to an
economic change in sports. Obviously that was part of what
(09:40):
was driving Colin Hurley. It's a huge aspect of the
Arch Manning story, It's a huge art aspect of the
Williams story, and it continue. So when you think about
a Carson Beck choosing to go to Miami rather than
going pro, what does the new economics of the college
game mean for the role of the pro quarterback going forward?
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Man, that is a great question. I think, Look, I
think it is general Well, look, I think generally speaking,
it's positive because I believe that American teenagers and college
students were the only people in the world who were
(10:23):
not allowed to cash in on their name, image and
likeness and be able to play like you know, the
sport that they were so good at doing. I believe
that that was true, and it was because of these
NCAA rules, which you know, were horrifically outdated, you know.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
And so.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
The college game I think that, like the college game
is kind of a mess right now because it's essentially
pro football, which is what it's kind of been for
a long time, but there's no structure and so how
they sort that out is going to take some time. Now,
what does it mean for college quarterbacks entering the NFL. Well,
I mean, I think there's two things. Number one is
that I think that for the best, hopefully it allows them.
(11:08):
You know, they entered the NFL with a little bit
more of a financial cushion, and you know, they're maybe
more exposed to some of the aspects of pro football
that they wouldn't have been otherwise because they were so
sheltered in college. And so I think that, like, look,
the truth, Look, this is a book about American ambition
and a book about American fame, and fame warps people.
(11:30):
And I think that like the earlier they can be
exposed to that and kind of get used to it,
maybe the better it is for them in the NFL.
You know, how does it, How does it play out
in terms of their ability to have a cohesive college experience.
I mean that's a whole other question. Yeah, maybe they
(11:50):
want that, maybe they don't. Yeah, yeah, I mean Tom
Brady talks about it, you know. And Brady is funny
because I mean we graduated high school in college the
same year. But you know, he he can sound very
much like a back in my day type of guy
because he took so much pride in being broken in
college and having fixed himself and how it gave him
(12:12):
the self confidence to go into the NFL and exploit
the chance that he had. And I think that, like
he has a point when he says that if you
can just transfer after two months, if you don't like
what's going on there at your college, there might be
a cost to that, even if there's also a benefit.
Speaker 6 (12:31):
That's ESPN senior writer Seth Wickersham speaking with Vanessa and
friend of the show Jason Kelly about Seth's new book,
American King's Biography of the Quarterback Up. Next, we turned
to racing, and here from forward time in the Car
Series Champion Alex Plot with Vanessa Verdomo. I'm Michael L.
Barr you're listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports Bloomberg
(12:54):
Radio around the world.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 6 (13:05):
Now, let's talk a little racing. Joining us now is
Alex Polo. He's a four time IndyCar Series champion and
winner of this year's Indianapolis five hundred. He made history
as the first Spaniard to win both an IndyCar title
and the Indy five hundred. Alex, Welcome to the Bloomberg
Business of Sports.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Thank you, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 6 (13:27):
Oh my goodness. Let's put it this way. When you
win eight times on the circuit, and you have fourteen
top fives and you beat your second place opponent in
the standings to win the championship by almost two hundred points, Yeah,
I think I see why. You have four Indie titles
(13:48):
and the last three you won in a row.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Yeah, it's been incredible. Honestly, I cannot really believe it.
Sometimes I still pinch myself because it's been crazy couple
of years, honestly, but this one has been super special.
Like winning my first n five hundred, winning eight races
and a championship the same year, it's just been incredible.
Speaker 7 (14:10):
Alex tell us about this year and how is different
after winning the five hundred, and obviously you've won championships before,
but something's different when you get that Indy five hundred
title win. Tell us about that and how it was
different for the rest of the season. Do you go
into a different stratosphere of people knowing who you are,
knowing your name and all that.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
I mean the five hundred, So for people that don't know,
it's our super Bowl, it's our biggest race by far.
We have over three hundred and fifty thousand people at
the racetrack that day, just that day, So it's when
you win there in front of so many people, with
all the pressure that you have, with how hard it
is to win that race. It's like an endurance and
(14:50):
a spring race at the same time, like five hundred
miles to two hundred laps. So the feeling there was so emotional,
like seeing people, my mechanics, my engineers crib because they've
been waiting so long to get it. And also for me,
like just winning that race was amazing. So I won
three IndyCar championships before winning the Indy five hundred, but
(15:13):
the exposure I got after winning that race was a
lot bigger, like something that never felt before. So to
top it off with another championship at the end of
the year has been surreal.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
Yeah, amazing.
Speaker 6 (15:26):
You're on a champion's list. I want people to understand
you're going to surpass AJ Foyd has seven, Scott Dixon six,
you have four, tied with Mario Andretti, Dario fran Kitty
and Sebastian Bordet all at four and man you got
years ago. Man, just blow everybody out of the place.
(15:49):
What is it like. You've been racing in IndyCar for
six years and you have accomplished this.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
It's crazy to think. It's crazy when I look back
and the amount of success my team, chipen As Racing
and I had in such a short period of time.
I think it's it's tough. It's tough to continuously have
the best team around you. It's tough to have that
confidence to be a littlely better than your competitors on
(16:16):
track and to have that little bit of luck that
you need sometimes on all sports. But we're going to
continue pushing. I mean, obviously the target is to get
more to try and and surpass those guys that you
said which is very tough, tough work. Those guys are legends.
My teammate Scott Dixon, as you said, he has six
(16:37):
INDI Car championships and it's very tough, like he has
done it over twenty years. I think that maintaining the
momentum and the speed and everything you need to continue
to win races and championships over fifteen twenty years is very,
very tough.
Speaker 7 (16:52):
Yeah, it's unbelievable. But like after winning the NDY five
hundred same year, winning a championship and then three back
to backs, you know all of that, what is the
motivation that keeps you going for the next few years?
Is it winning? Like, is it surpassing those numbers? Is
that sort passing those legends that it's going to keep
you going, or what's this next motivation that you're gonna
have going into the next year.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
Not really, I mean, I love it. I would love
to have the option to hopefully get six or seven
or eight. But what really motivates me is when we
start the next season in twenty twenty six, everybody's going
to have zero points.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
So everybody starts from zero. Although we've won this year,
that doesn't matter. Like people don't my team, we don't
really care about that. I mean we're super happy, but
I mean like that, that's a pass. So we need
to focus on scoring as many wins and as many
points as possible to try and get that twenty six
(17:46):
championship and then move on. That's what motivates us is
working on those cars, working on putting together cars that
are a little bit faster than everybody on my side
is going a little bit further on like driving wise,
like just breaking that little bit later, a little bit
better than what we did the last day or last
year or last race. So, yeah, that's a motivation you race.
Speaker 6 (18:09):
As you mentioned for chip Ganassi, what is it like
when you have a chief who used to be behind
the wheel?
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Oh, it's it's great. I mean it's so I've raised
I started racing in Europe. Obviously, I've raised for many
different team owners. I raised in Japan for a couple
of years, so I've seen a lot of different team owners,
and honestly, it's a lot easier when the team owner
it's a driver, it has been a driver, or it's
still driving. Just because he and the stands he's on
(18:38):
the driver's side. He knows what we need. What we
need is all the tools to try and go out
and win, which that's like all the all the resources,
all our partners, like all the best mechanics, the best engineers.
That's what we need to go out and race. So yeah,
Chip is an awesome guy. He says that he likes winners.
That's all he cares about. He only cares about winning
(19:01):
all the race. He doesn't really care.
Speaker 6 (19:03):
It's like an NFL coach who used to be a player.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Yeah, exactly. I think it just helps to like I
understand and to maybe push for what's more important.
Speaker 7 (19:13):
I'm glad you had brought up your previous experience in
racing in Europe and racing in Japan and things like that.
I actually had come to the first race of the
season this year in Saint Pete. It was my first
time coming to an IndyCar race, so I was just
trying to like take in everything and taking the differences
that I saw there that I've seen a Formula One
races and things like that, and I found that one
(19:34):
of the things that I thought was the most different
was this access that fans have to you guys, being
able to be right behind the paddock, Like it's just
a different culture I guess between like Formula one is
global and European and all of those things. And I
don't know if this is very American that we're like
we need to be right there. I mean, you guys
are just passing right by everyone. I'm like scooters and
(19:56):
stuff like that. Like, what do you think about the
level of access fans have and the difference between American
and European style.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
I mean, you can outfit it what you get in IndyCar,
Like you can get right to the cars, like you
can not touch them, but you can be right there,
especially not mine, please, but you can be right there
seeing what the mechanics do, how they work, just the
drivers as well, and see how the personalities are. Not
(20:25):
only on TV. I think it's very tough on IndyCar
and all motorsports series that you cannot really see our
faces while we drive. We have that helmet on and
we're on that race car. But you can get super
close to us at every single race. That makes IndyCars
so special for us. Sometimes drivers is tough because it
takes us like twenty to thirty minutes to get to
(20:46):
the car because there's so many people, especially at street
courses like you wear in Sampede. But it makes it
super fun and super special also for drivers to get
that atmosphere, to get that energy from that those fans
that are chain for you, chain for your team or
just for IndyCar in general.
Speaker 6 (21:03):
Yeah, safety in IndyCar racing, it has come a long
way just in a few years, especially with the aeroscreen.
Can you tell us more about safety in the IndyCar today.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Yeah, I mean it's honestly, it's I'm super lucky to
be driving in this era of IndyCar. The safety has
evolved so much over the years, but especially now. We
introduced the aeroscreen we believe five years ago now in
twenty twenty, and that just basically protects us from the ovals.
(21:33):
Like we raised a lot of ovals at the Indianapolis
Motor Speed where we're getting speech of two hundred and
forty miles an hour. So when there's pieces from other
cars and they fly towards you and you're going two
hundred and forty miles an hour, that's dangerous. So getting
the cars that we have now, the safety that we
have now allows us just to be safe and just
(21:56):
to be secure and just to be ready for the
next couple of even if something happens.
Speaker 7 (22:01):
Yeah, it feels like that can't believe it didn't exist
exists before.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Yeah, now you look back at the other pictures and
you're like, oh, there's something missing, right.
Speaker 4 (22:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
When God introduced, everybody was the opposite, was like, well,
why do you put a screen on a car on
a single seat car? But now it makes total sense.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (22:20):
Yeah. One of the other things that you've seen in
these last couple of years, it's being an IndyCar that
have changed the most for you. I mean, now there's
a new broadcast partner with Fox. Has that brought a
new viewership or anything like that. One of the biggest
changes you've seen one.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
So, I entered IndyCar in twenty twenty and it was
a bit bad timing obviously with COVID and so on.
But what I've seen the past two years, I would
say it's just the young audience that we have, like
very young people, men and women that are coming to
a racetrack and just to enjoying the races. We used
(22:53):
to have, the fans that have been following IndyCar or
motorsport for a long time, twenty thirty years. But now
we get a lot of young people, and I think
it's just feeling like all those race tracks you saw
in Sampede that it was a lot of people, a
lot of energy, and everybody's just going there to have
a great time, enjoy some racing, and yeah, just hang
(23:15):
out with friends.
Speaker 6 (23:16):
My oldest son and I'm proud to say, you think
I'm a motorhead. My oldest son, I taught him, well,
he adores racing. He's a native Detroiter, so when you
guys racing Detroit, he's always there. And I told him,
I said, listen, Alex Blow, I'm going to talk to him.
And he said, don't ask a stupid question. So in
(23:40):
honor of that, how did the bricks taste?
Speaker 4 (23:43):
Man?
Speaker 6 (23:43):
When you.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Well, you've done a very good job with your son.
But honestly, yeah, that's one of the traditions that we
get to do with the five hundred, is you get
the milk after winning to celebrate instead of champagne, and
then you get to Christ the kissed the bricks on
the front stretch, and honestly, I mean they taste like
the Obviously that was we had what we had there,
(24:10):
but one funny thing was that I was doing it
with my wife and my daughter. I have a twenty
month old daughter, and thank you, And we told her
just kiss the bricks, and she was looking at us,
like what you've been telling me. You've been telling me
all the time not to watch the ground or take.
Speaker 7 (24:30):
Anything outside is icky, and now I have to do.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Yeah, but we have great pictures.
Speaker 7 (24:35):
Yeah, and you've talked about being a father kind of
has changed your style of racing a little bit of
the driver you are. Tell us a little bit about that.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Yeah, I mean, it's it's been crazy to think that
I'm add and she's already like twenty month old, but
it changed my life completely, Like now I have to
worry about somebody else, not just me, but the fact
of just getting home after a hard day or a
long day or a bad race, whatever, and seeing her smile.
(25:05):
She doesn't really care about what's going on. She only
wants to play with you. She wants to have a
great time with you, and she wants to be with you.
And that's been the best thing that ever happened to me.
And it's been pushing me to just work a little
bit harder, to like push myself even more and to
try and chase chase those speaktors make her brown.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
Yeah Yeah.
Speaker 6 (25:26):
Our thanks to four time IndyCar Series Champion and Indy
five hundred winner Alex Polow for joining us up. Next,
we hear from New York Knicks star forward Carl Anthony
Towns when he joined us here at Bloomberg World Headquarters
for Power Players, New York. For Vanessa Perdomo. I'm Michael Barr.
You're listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports and Bloomberg
(25:48):
Radio around the world.
Speaker 5 (25:54):
This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 6 (25:59):
Thanks for joining us on the Bloomberg Business of Sports,
where we explore the big money issues in the world
of sports, Michael Barr. Earlier this month, Bloomberg World Headquarters
in New York hosted Power Players. It's an annual event
bringing together some of the biggest players and executives in
the sports world to talk about what's next in the industry.
(26:19):
Our friend Jason Kelly is executive producer and always gets
great names. New York Knicks star ford Carl Anthony Towns
was here and he spoke with Bloomberg US sports business
reporter Ira Budway on stage about joining the Knicks, looking
ahead to another big season, and some of what he's
(26:40):
up to off the court. Let's listen in.
Speaker 4 (26:42):
So, you've had ten years for nine years in Minnesota.
Last fall you come to the Knicks basketball wise, how
did that experience compare your time with the Knicks last season?
Two very good teams.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
Yeah, no, I've been blessed to be in a situation
where both teams found success and to be part of
the success of both organizations that haven't seen that type
of success in so long. There's nothing short of a blessing.
So to be in a situation now where you come
from Minnesota, you come to New York and then you
(27:14):
see the garden, you stepping there and you've see you
feel yourself with the history of the game. Patrick you went,
Bernard King, John Starks, you just you know, you feel
the history. And to be part of that history now
is it's something that as a child here growing up
in the Tri State in New Jersey, being a big
Next fan growing up, it was it was a special moment.
Speaker 4 (27:35):
This coming season you got a new coach. Yep, last season,
you're almost there. Yeah, you're gonna go all the way
this year is I think what the crowd wants.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
I mean, the plan every year is all the way there.
So everyone's ringing chasing, so we're doing nothing that I
think all the other twenty nineteens ain't saying the same thing.
Speaker 4 (27:52):
The East looks pretty open right now.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
I gotta say, you know, they said that last year too.
They said that last year, and I think the East
proved itself to be where the competition against the whole
league for a conference that was told to be weak
in the standards of NBA, we uh, we showed out
and the playoffs showed how competitive the East is and
also uh in the finals, Uh, you know, we showed
(28:16):
how great the East is as.
Speaker 4 (28:18):
Well, cause you mentioned this is kind of a homecoming
as well.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Yeah, yeah, what is that like.
Speaker 4 (28:24):
Being back in the Tri state area you grew up
in Jersey? Is it how many ticket requests or you deal.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
A whole lot of nightly bass? You don't know, you
could imagine everyone in here. It's it's it's up there. Yeah,
But it's a blessing, like I said, to be able
to be back home. You know, see my family. One
of the biggest things for me when I got here
was being able to have my grandmother actually see me
play basketball. She doesn't get a a many chances to
(28:51):
uh leave Jersey to see me play in Minnesota, so
it's for it to be a a car ride or
a train ride over to MSG. It's a it's special,
especially when you get to have that moment many times.
You know. I never thought of my career that I
would have my grandmother at so many of my games.
And for her to be able to not only see
me play, but last year to see such a historical
(29:12):
run by us, and for her to be part of
that moment and to feel the excitement and love the
fans have showed all of us on a team, it
was special.
Speaker 4 (29:22):
It's also I think you know, off the court, New
York is a center of finance, media, fashion. I wonder
for you, has that open doors? I mean, obviously NBA
all started a lot of doors open anyway, but has
there been any sort of new things you've done or
new things you pursued because you're in this New York market,
(29:42):
you know.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
Like you said, and being in the New York market
opens up a lot of new doors. And for me
to have so many different business business ventures and to
be able to beat so many new people, and to
be able to be educated more on different businesses, different ideas,
and to be part of the culture every day, you know,
not from a phone, not from a FaceTime, but the
(30:05):
actually here part of the culture every single day, and
of the business. It's a It's been great for me
as a as a as like you said, as a
brand and also as a businessman. Has helped me find
different ways to uh impact my family.
Speaker 4 (30:18):
That actually leads to my next question. I think the
flip side of the New York market is the scrutiny.
Everything is back page of the post. You got stephen
A Smith, you got social media.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
I think stephen A is not the only one.
Speaker 4 (30:31):
Yeah, exactly, but has how has how we manage that difference?
So I gotta believe it's different than than Minnesota. The
sort of the level of scrutiny.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
The scrutiny is different. I mean, it's it's been something
I've dealt with my whole career. When you're the number
one pick, there's a lot of expectations and there's a
standard that you are put on. And for me, I've
been always thinking of the biggest critic of me as
me uh, not stephen A, not anyone on any media network.
It's always been myself. I focused on myself, trying to
(31:01):
be the best version of myself every day, not only
as a basketball player. I know that's what gets the
most attention. Of what I do gets the most attention,
and not who I am, even though who I am
is more importantly than what I do. And I just
continue to find myself trying to be a better man,
be a better be a better son, while being the
best athlete I could be. And that's just the truth
(31:23):
at all. And I've had those standards for so long
that when I got to New York, I've always been
used to that scrutiny, and I've been used to having
to perform at a high level every single day. And
nothing has changed since I got here. I've been just
focused on the work, focused on every day showing the
best version of myself.
Speaker 4 (31:43):
Did you have to adjust your your own social media
habits you're.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
Reading I'm not big on social Yeah, it's it's been
the healthiest thing to do, I feel for me, you know,
obviously for branding business, you know, social media is a
huge aspect of that and the world we all live
and now it's a very technologically driven world, but I've
been more focused on just me, you know, just taking
(32:07):
care of you know, my family, taking care of my
personal life, and taking care of my job and being
the best version of that. I'm not the big biggest
social media person, so it's been actually a blessing in
this way.
Speaker 4 (32:19):
What comes next for you, I mean, you've got a
long way to go. I think this is year eleven
for you. But you must have put some thought into
what you wanna do when your playing days are done.
What you wanna do with I think something like four
hundred million in career earnings at this point, and what
do you plan to do with that in your in
your uh post playing days.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
I've thought about it, you know whatever, you know, doing
so many charitable works, especially in the Dominican Republic, Black
in my mother's home country, and having some businesses right now,
investments that are doing amazing, and uh, you know, I'm
proud of the success I've had off the court in business,
and you know, I do think about those things. I
(32:59):
do think about setting up my future because like you said,
you know, you get to the point you the future
comes up pretty quick. But for everyone I talk to
especially young kids. They always ask me, what's your best
piece of advice. It's always sustained the present. Continue to
take care of the present. The future will take care
of itself. And if I continue to do that, continue
to put myself in the best positions possible, continue to
(33:21):
do what I do between those lines and Nasion Square Garden,
and like I said in the beginning, continue to work
on me as a man, as a person. I think
in the future I'll find myself in the right positions
for that next step of life.
Speaker 4 (33:34):
Right. Also on the social justice coalition in the League. Yeah,
you got an award for that actually recently, but I
appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
Yeah, that's right. What are your priorities there is?
Speaker 4 (33:46):
Where is your focus?
Speaker 2 (33:48):
Inspire change? Inspired change? And I think you know in
doing that, you realize how immensely difficult it is to
get something through Congress. But to be able to be
part of the George Floyd Acton to be able to
do so many things that I've been able to be
a part of and to inspire change and effect change
(34:08):
is it's something that I could It's one of the
most proudest moments I've had to be able to take
care of not only cause you know with the Vice
President VPA, you look to take care of the players,
but to be able to take care of the country
and men of color has been something special and you
feel that the.
Speaker 4 (34:25):
League is right there with you in that.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Yes, very much. You know, anyone who doesn't know the
Social Justice Coalition is being able to help affect change
socially in the world. And Adam Silver's on every single zoom,
so he is part of the He's part of it.
The NBA is fully on board with inspiring change and
helping the next generation and all walks of life in
(34:48):
the world. And I think that we've done an amazing
job of continuously working with Congress finding different ways to help.
And a lot of owners as well are on the team.
So some of your favorite owners if you're not a
Knicks fan, which would be crazy being this room and
not be but if you aren't, you some of the
biggest owners in the game and MBA are part of
this coalition as well, and we find ourselves working hand
(35:10):
in hand with each other to take care of the
next generation into generation of.
Speaker 4 (35:13):
Now we mentioned the sort of new opportunities that might
come with being in new York. Does it change the
relationship with like you've been with Nike since you came
in the league, Gatorade, it's a long standing relationship viewers.
Being a Nicked. Is it changed the conversation with them
in terms of what your campaigns are, what they want
you to do, what they Well?
Speaker 2 (35:34):
I think, first off, they've been amazing partners right with
me and I couldn't have acts for better partners since
day one stepping into the league, Nike and Gatorade of
treating me with nothing but love, and they've shown so
much respect for the work I put in so used
testament to them, and I think being in New York
it gives me the chance to give more eyeballs to
their brands, you know, and be able to show the
(35:56):
world more why they have had so much faith in me.
And you know, I've been blessed, especially last year to
repay that faith with great results for them.
Speaker 4 (36:04):
Right, how we're going to see what are you going
to be wearing? I'm like, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
We'll have to see October twenty second, y'all'll find out.
Speaker 4 (36:15):
So talking again, just to go back to kind of
your post playing days, is that something that you think
a lot about at this point, or you're just like
you said, you're in you know, I think I give
it a thought.
Speaker 2 (36:27):
But like I said, I continue to worry about the present, right,
I continue to worry about the present. It will always
take care of the future. It's been my philosophy since
day one. Never get ahead and never take take the shortcut.
Always continue to put the work in right. I think
that for me, if I continue to just stay in
the present, it's been great for my career, it's been
great for business, and I think if I continue to
(36:47):
do that, I'll put myself in the right position.
Speaker 4 (36:49):
Right is it for you? How much are you kind
of day to day looking at you mentioned you've had
some businesses that work well, Like how much of that
is in your Is that mostly stock that in the
off season where you're putting.
Speaker 2 (37:04):
No, I think it's all your thing. I think, you know,
business never stops, especially in New York. So just me,
I'm just always continuing to find ways to, you know,
find that one percent. How can I get better? How
can I level up today? How can I improve my
family's life? You know? And I think that for me
that never changes.
Speaker 6 (37:22):
You know.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
Obviously the main focus is always basketball. It's always going
to be that I put the time in. But if
you want anything bad enough in life, you'll put the
work in and you'll find time to make it happen.
So that's all I've been doing, just finding the time,
you know, being diligent and purposeful with my schedule and
finding different ways I can find time to make everything
(37:43):
happen in my life.
Speaker 6 (37:44):
It's a big cat. New York Knicks All Star forward
Carl Anthony Towns on stage with Bloomberg US sports business
reporter Ira Budway from Bloomberg Power Players, New York. If
you want to hear more from power Players, check out
the Bloomberg Business of Sports podcast. One of our most
recent editions has several conversations from the event, including with
(38:06):
two time w NBA champion and four time Olympic gold
medalist Sylvia Fols and Aries Management co founder and CEO
Michael R. Rugetti. Check it out now wherever you get
your podcast and subscribe so you never miss a new episode.
And that does it for this edition of the Bloomberg
Business of Sports. For my colleagues Namian Sasaur and Vanessa Berdomo,
(38:28):
I'm Michael Barr, Thanks for joining us. Tune in again
next week for the latest on the stories moving big
old money in the world of sports. You're listening to
the Bloomberg Business of Sports Bloomberg Radio around the world.
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
This is the Business of Sports.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Sports are the greatest unscripted show owner.
Speaker 4 (00:14):
The next generation of players who really grew up with
tech and believe in tech.
Speaker 5 (00:17):
Your face is your ticket, your face is your wallet,
your face is your access to a club.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
These are such iconic and important buildings for businesses. For fans,
COVID was one of the best things that ever happened
to go.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
The NFL is a bulletproof business.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Racing is unique because there is absolutely no reason why
we can't compete with the guys.
Speaker 6 (00:35):
Wall It's pro pickleball?
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Real Are people really going to tune into this?
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If you're playing moneyball with a huge bag of money,
you're going to be really, really good.
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Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 6 (00:46):
This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports, where we explored
the big money issues in the world of sports Michael
Barr along with my colleague Vanessa Berdamo. Coming up on
the show, we hear from New York knick star Ford
Carl Anthony Towns about the next upcoming season and his
ventures off the court in business. Carl Anthony Towns joined
us here at World Headquarters from Bloomberg Power Players, New York. Recently,
(01:10):
we'll hear his conversation from on the stage with Bloomberg
US sports business reporter Ira Budway. We'll also talk a
little racing with four time Indie Car Series champion Alex Polo.
That is on the way on the Bloomberg Business of Sports.
But first, we are now in Week two of the
NFL season, and we are still in the honeymoon stage
(01:33):
with a lot of teams with new regimes and new quarterbacks.
Vanessa and Bloomberg Original's chief correspondent Jason Kelly got a
chance to sit down with ESPN senior writer Seth Wickersham.
He's the author of the new book American King's Biography
of the Quarterback, a book on the mythology surrounding a
(01:54):
football team's most visible player from high school through the
Super Bowl. Let's take a listen to that conversation.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
I've covered the NFL for twenty five years at ESPN,
and if you cover the NFL for ESPN, you cover quarterbacks.
And yet after all this time, I still felt like
that there was a bigger story to tell about what
it's like to live this very unique American life with
these very unique responsibilities, and so what I tried to
(02:23):
do was like a sunrise to sunset, look at quarterbacking
from high school to college to the NFL, and you know,
finally what it's like to be a retired Hall of Famer.
So those are my goals, and those are the things
that I set out to do with it.
Speaker 5 (02:37):
You know, we're talking to you obviously, you know, right
as the NFL season is starting, and you've got a
couple of players who you profile in this book who
are in the mix, both at the college level and
at the pro level, and I'm specifically thinking about Arch
Manning and Caleb Williams. What is your takeaway about the
state of football this season? What have you seen so
(02:58):
far that is reflected in the book or maybe advances
the book even further.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Well, yeah, thank you. So, I mean, first of all, like, yeah,
the historical aspect of it is interesting to me, because
you know, I kind of set out thinking that from
the moment that the forward pass was legalized in college
in nineteen oh six, it would be like a slow
build to the quarterback as a job being mythologized and
celebrated like it is, and in fact, like it almost
(03:24):
took off immediately. It was like there was something about
that moment and what it became in our culture really
kind of culminating in the nineteen forties with with Bob Waterfield,
who is the quarterback of the Rams, and Jane Russell,
who was, you know, a fantastically famous pin up star
and actress that like it almost like held this cultural
(03:44):
place from the moment that it started. And when you
realize that, you realize that people like Joe Namath and
Johnny Unitas kind of came later and helped evolve it
rather than helped launch something. And it's a good segue
to like Arch and Klea, because you know, the hype
is so big with quarterbacks now, and I think that
(04:05):
the way that quarterbacks are handled in our culture to
be a successful one, I think, and this is a
funny answer, but like I think you almost have to
be similar to like a politician or a pop star
or maybe like even a CEO, where you're kind of
in a bubble and you're kind of disconnected from reality
(04:26):
because you have to live in a state where doubt
cannot be allowed to seep in, and so in a
very real way, it's like you're kind of disconnected and
isolated from things that are going on because there's so
much pressure on this job. And when I look at
like Arch Manning, I mean, from the moment that guy
picked up a football, life was going to be different
for him. And right now the hype has outpaced his notoriety,
(04:49):
which is never a great place to be in. But
and he didn't do anything wrong. He's learning how to
be a college quarterback. And with Caleb Williams, it's very similar.
I mean I think that, like, you know, the hype
coming about him was that he was a generational prospect
and while I do think that he's going to be
a good NFL quarterback, you know, he's still learning. And
(05:11):
you know, even though the position was under so much scrutiny,
it's still a job that people have to learn how
to do well. And I think that sometimes that gets.
Speaker 5 (05:20):
Lost and a hard job, a hard job, it's hard.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Yeah, totally.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (05:24):
I think one of the things for me that was
most interesting that it's like kind of a through line
throughout the book and just while we're talking about it,
it's the mentality behind the quarterback from all the different ways, right,
It's the way they get treated from the time they're
in the fifth grade and they pick up their first
ball to high school and they're they're the most popular
kid in high school, to getting everything they want in
(05:45):
college and being treated like, you know, the big man
on the campus, and then that can all change when
they go to NFL and then they're starting to fail
a little bit and taste that for the first time.
But then also on the other side, you just have
all these different things. And one of the other things
that it was really interesting to me too, was the
way that their parents treat them, you know, and this
(06:07):
sort of feeling that maybe from the outside of like
Arch Manning's, you know, bringing up that you kind of
noted at that his family was very different obviously because
they knew what they were doing, but like with Caleb
William's dad, it was very different.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
You know.
Speaker 7 (06:22):
They feel like almost their quarterback dads are like dance moms.
That's what it felt like.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
That's such an astute point because, Okay, there's a couple
of factors at play. Number One, this thing is so
big that if a dad is told by someone, a
coach or a quarterback guru that you know your son's
got your son's special it's like they become nomads in
the desert. I mean they will do anything, and it's
like just hand over their credit card because you know,
(06:51):
they start seeing you know, their kid one day on
stage at the Hall of Fame with a bust and
a gold jacket, and so you have all of these things.
Then you have a high school system and it's like
this Infort this circuit, this industrial complex that is a
multimillion dollar business and glorifies these kids in ways that
(07:14):
happens very young and so it almost becomes like a
Mickey Mouse type of club. So you have that where
it's like these kids are realizing from a very young
age that maybe they're a little special and they're a
little different. And you need that mentality to succeed because,
as we said earlier, like you can't live in reality,
you kind of have to live in a suspended state.
Then you have the dads and the mom sometimes who
(07:34):
are very very controlling and want to help navigate their
kids through a very dangerous space, which is totally understandable.
And then you have a what does where does that
leave these guys if they're not one of the Look,
there are sixteen thousand high school starting quarterbacks in America,
(07:58):
three tops out of you know every couple years end
up making it to the Hall of Fame. So what
if your kid, just by natural selection isn't good enough.
It creates an entire tension and complication to this job
that I really try to explore in there, because I
(08:18):
take this kid, Colin Hurley, he's at LSU right now.
You know, I wrote about him because he wanted to
be the most precocious quarterback maybe that ever existed. I mean,
he wanted to be on the fastest of the fast tracks.
He wanted to be the youngest one to do everything.
And he entered college at LSU, which is one of
the best, you know, football universities in the country, at
(08:40):
age sixteen. But like when he went to college at
age sixteen, his dad was terrified of just a kid
that age being in that setting. And you know, even
though he kind of had gone along with it. And
you know, last January, his son was in a horrible
car accident and almost died. Drove his charger into a tree.
(09:01):
And you know, I write about what it was like
in the ICU because I went and visited him like
that night, and you know, was there for a couple
of days. But it's like it opens up all of
these larger truths that happened to regular people, not just
superstar quarterbacks because of all of these dynamics.
Speaker 5 (09:19):
Yeah, and it's a great segue to where I wanted
to go next, seth, which is this nil era which
has radically changed the economics of the business. I mean
maybe in one of the most profound ways that we've
all seen during our lifetimes when it comes to an
economic change in sports. Obviously that was part of what
(09:40):
was driving Colin Hurley. It's a huge aspect of the
Arch Manning story, It's a huge art aspect of the
Williams story, and it continue. So when you think about
a Carson Beck choosing to go to Miami rather than
going pro, what does the new economics of the college
game mean for the role of the pro quarterback going forward?
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Man, that is a great question. I think, Look, I
think it is general Well, look, I think generally speaking,
it's positive because I believe that American teenagers and college
students were the only people in the world who were
(10:23):
not allowed to cash in on their name, image and
likeness and be able to play like you know, the
sport that they were so good at doing. I believe
that that was true, and it was because of these
NCAA rules, which you know, were horrifically outdated, you know.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
And so.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
The college game I think that, like the college game
is kind of a mess right now because it's essentially
pro football, which is what it's kind of been for
a long time, but there's no structure and so how
they sort that out is going to take some time. Now,
what does it mean for college quarterbacks entering the NFL. Well,
I mean, I think there's two things. Number one is
that I think that for the best, hopefully it allows them.
(11:08):
You know, they entered the NFL with a little bit
more of a financial cushion, and you know, they're maybe
more exposed to some of the aspects of pro football
that they wouldn't have been otherwise because they were so
sheltered in college. And so I think that, like, look,
the truth, Look, this is a book about American ambition
and a book about American fame, and fame warps people.
(11:30):
And I think that like the earlier they can be
exposed to that and kind of get used to it,
maybe the better it is for them in the NFL.
You know, how does it, How does it play out
in terms of their ability to have a cohesive college experience.
I mean that's a whole other question. Yeah, maybe they
(11:50):
want that, maybe they don't. Yeah, yeah, I mean Tom
Brady talks about it, you know. And Brady is funny
because I mean we graduated high school in college the
same year. But you know, he he can sound very
much like a back in my day type of guy
because he took so much pride in being broken in
college and having fixed himself and how it gave him
(12:12):
the self confidence to go into the NFL and exploit
the chance that he had. And I think that, like
he has a point when he says that if you
can just transfer after two months, if you don't like
what's going on there at your college, there might be
a cost to that, even if there's also a benefit.
Speaker 6 (12:31):
That's ESPN senior writer Seth Wickersham speaking with Vanessa and
friend of the show Jason Kelly about Seth's new book,
American King's Biography of the Quarterback Up. Next, we turned
to racing, and here from forward time in the Car
Series Champion Alex Plot with Vanessa Verdomo. I'm Michael L.
Barr you're listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports Bloomberg
(12:54):
Radio around the world.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 6 (13:05):
Now, let's talk a little racing. Joining us now is
Alex Polo. He's a four time IndyCar Series champion and
winner of this year's Indianapolis five hundred. He made history
as the first Spaniard to win both an IndyCar title
and the Indy five hundred. Alex, Welcome to the Bloomberg
Business of Sports.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Thank you, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 6 (13:27):
Oh my goodness. Let's put it this way. When you
win eight times on the circuit, and you have fourteen
top fives and you beat your second place opponent in
the standings to win the championship by almost two hundred points, Yeah,
I think I see why. You have four Indie titles
(13:48):
and the last three you won in a row.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Yeah, it's been incredible. Honestly, I cannot really believe it.
Sometimes I still pinch myself because it's been crazy couple
of years, honestly, but this one has been super special.
Like winning my first n five hundred, winning eight races
and a championship the same year, it's just been incredible.
Speaker 7 (14:10):
Alex tell us about this year and how is different
after winning the five hundred, and obviously you've won championships before,
but something's different when you get that Indy five hundred
title win. Tell us about that and how it was
different for the rest of the season. Do you go
into a different stratosphere of people knowing who you are,
knowing your name and all that.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
I mean the five hundred, So for people that don't know,
it's our super Bowl, it's our biggest race by far.
We have over three hundred and fifty thousand people at
the racetrack that day, just that day, So it's when
you win there in front of so many people, with
all the pressure that you have, with how hard it
is to win that race. It's like an endurance and
(14:50):
a spring race at the same time, like five hundred
miles to two hundred laps. So the feeling there was so emotional,
like seeing people, my mechanics, my engineers crib because they've
been waiting so long to get it. And also for me,
like just winning that race was amazing. So I won
three IndyCar championships before winning the Indy five hundred, but
(15:13):
the exposure I got after winning that race was a
lot bigger, like something that never felt before. So to
top it off with another championship at the end of
the year has been surreal.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
Yeah, amazing.
Speaker 6 (15:26):
You're on a champion's list. I want people to understand
you're going to surpass AJ Foyd has seven, Scott Dixon six,
you have four, tied with Mario Andretti, Dario fran Kitty
and Sebastian Bordet all at four and man you got
years ago. Man, just blow everybody out of the place.
(15:49):
What is it like. You've been racing in IndyCar for
six years and you have accomplished this.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
It's crazy to think. It's crazy when I look back
and the amount of success my team, chipen As Racing
and I had in such a short period of time.
I think it's it's tough. It's tough to continuously have
the best team around you. It's tough to have that
confidence to be a littlely better than your competitors on
(16:16):
track and to have that little bit of luck that
you need sometimes on all sports. But we're going to
continue pushing. I mean, obviously the target is to get
more to try and and surpass those guys that you
said which is very tough, tough work. Those guys are legends.
My teammate Scott Dixon, as you said, he has six
(16:37):
INDI Car championships and it's very tough, like he has
done it over twenty years. I think that maintaining the
momentum and the speed and everything you need to continue
to win races and championships over fifteen twenty years is very,
very tough.
Speaker 7 (16:52):
Yeah, it's unbelievable. But like after winning the NDY five
hundred same year, winning a championship and then three back
to backs, you know all of that, what is the
motivation that keeps you going for the next few years?
Is it winning? Like, is it surpassing those numbers? Is
that sort passing those legends that it's going to keep
you going, or what's this next motivation that you're gonna
have going into the next year.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
Not really, I mean, I love it. I would love
to have the option to hopefully get six or seven
or eight. But what really motivates me is when we
start the next season in twenty twenty six, everybody's going
to have zero points.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
So everybody starts from zero. Although we've won this year,
that doesn't matter. Like people don't my team, we don't
really care about that. I mean we're super happy, but
I mean like that, that's a pass. So we need
to focus on scoring as many wins and as many
points as possible to try and get that twenty six
(17:46):
championship and then move on. That's what motivates us is
working on those cars, working on putting together cars that
are a little bit faster than everybody on my side
is going a little bit further on like driving wise,
like just breaking that little bit later, a little bit
better than what we did the last day or last
year or last race. So, yeah, that's a motivation you race.
Speaker 6 (18:09):
As you mentioned for chip Ganassi, what is it like
when you have a chief who used to be behind
the wheel?
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Oh, it's it's great. I mean it's so I've raised
I started racing in Europe. Obviously, I've raised for many
different team owners. I raised in Japan for a couple
of years, so I've seen a lot of different team owners,
and honestly, it's a lot easier when the team owner
it's a driver, it has been a driver, or it's
still driving. Just because he and the stands he's on
(18:38):
the driver's side. He knows what we need. What we
need is all the tools to try and go out
and win, which that's like all the all the resources,
all our partners, like all the best mechanics, the best engineers.
That's what we need to go out and race. So yeah,
Chip is an awesome guy. He says that he likes winners.
That's all he cares about. He only cares about winning
(19:01):
all the race. He doesn't really care.
Speaker 6 (19:03):
It's like an NFL coach who used to be a player.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Yeah, exactly. I think it just helps to like I
understand and to maybe push for what's more important.
Speaker 7 (19:13):
I'm glad you had brought up your previous experience in
racing in Europe and racing in Japan and things like that.
I actually had come to the first race of the
season this year in Saint Pete. It was my first
time coming to an IndyCar race, so I was just
trying to like take in everything and taking the differences
that I saw there that I've seen a Formula One
races and things like that, and I found that one
(19:34):
of the things that I thought was the most different
was this access that fans have to you guys, being
able to be right behind the paddock, Like it's just
a different culture I guess between like Formula one is
global and European and all of those things. And I
don't know if this is very American that we're like
we need to be right there. I mean, you guys
are just passing right by everyone. I'm like scooters and
(19:56):
stuff like that. Like, what do you think about the
level of access fans have and the difference between American
and European style.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
I mean, you can outfit it what you get in IndyCar,
Like you can get right to the cars, like you
can not touch them, but you can be right there,
especially not mine, please, but you can be right there
seeing what the mechanics do, how they work, just the
drivers as well, and see how the personalities are. Not
(20:25):
only on TV. I think it's very tough on IndyCar
and all motorsports series that you cannot really see our
faces while we drive. We have that helmet on and
we're on that race car. But you can get super
close to us at every single race. That makes IndyCars
so special for us. Sometimes drivers is tough because it
takes us like twenty to thirty minutes to get to
(20:46):
the car because there's so many people, especially at street
courses like you wear in Sampede. But it makes it
super fun and super special also for drivers to get
that atmosphere, to get that energy from that those fans
that are chain for you, chain for your team or
just for IndyCar in general.
Speaker 6 (21:03):
Yeah, safety in IndyCar racing, it has come a long
way just in a few years, especially with the aeroscreen.
Can you tell us more about safety in the IndyCar today.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Yeah, I mean it's honestly, it's I'm super lucky to
be driving in this era of IndyCar. The safety has
evolved so much over the years, but especially now. We
introduced the aeroscreen we believe five years ago now in
twenty twenty, and that just basically protects us from the ovals.
(21:33):
Like we raised a lot of ovals at the Indianapolis
Motor Speed where we're getting speech of two hundred and
forty miles an hour. So when there's pieces from other
cars and they fly towards you and you're going two
hundred and forty miles an hour, that's dangerous. So getting
the cars that we have now, the safety that we
have now allows us just to be safe and just
(21:56):
to be secure and just to be ready for the
next couple of even if something happens.
Speaker 7 (22:01):
Yeah, it feels like that can't believe it didn't exist
exists before.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Yeah, now you look back at the other pictures and
you're like, oh, there's something missing, right.
Speaker 4 (22:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
When God introduced, everybody was the opposite, was like, well,
why do you put a screen on a car on
a single seat car? But now it makes total sense.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (22:20):
Yeah. One of the other things that you've seen in
these last couple of years, it's being an IndyCar that
have changed the most for you. I mean, now there's
a new broadcast partner with Fox. Has that brought a
new viewership or anything like that. One of the biggest
changes you've seen one.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
So, I entered IndyCar in twenty twenty and it was
a bit bad timing obviously with COVID and so on.
But what I've seen the past two years, I would
say it's just the young audience that we have, like
very young people, men and women that are coming to
a racetrack and just to enjoying the races. We used
(22:53):
to have, the fans that have been following IndyCar or
motorsport for a long time, twenty thirty years. But now
we get a lot of young people, and I think
it's just feeling like all those race tracks you saw
in Sampede that it was a lot of people, a
lot of energy, and everybody's just going there to have
a great time, enjoy some racing, and yeah, just hang
(23:15):
out with friends.
Speaker 6 (23:16):
My oldest son and I'm proud to say, you think
I'm a motorhead. My oldest son, I taught him, well,
he adores racing. He's a native Detroiter, so when you
guys racing Detroit, he's always there. And I told him,
I said, listen, Alex Blow, I'm going to talk to him.
And he said, don't ask a stupid question. So in
(23:40):
honor of that, how did the bricks taste?
Speaker 4 (23:43):
Man?
Speaker 6 (23:43):
When you.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Well, you've done a very good job with your son.
But honestly, yeah, that's one of the traditions that we
get to do with the five hundred, is you get
the milk after winning to celebrate instead of champagne, and
then you get to Christ the kissed the bricks on
the front stretch, and honestly, I mean they taste like
the Obviously that was we had what we had there,
(24:10):
but one funny thing was that I was doing it
with my wife and my daughter. I have a twenty
month old daughter, and thank you, And we told her
just kiss the bricks, and she was looking at us,
like what you've been telling me. You've been telling me
all the time not to watch the ground or take.
Speaker 7 (24:30):
Anything outside is icky, and now I have to do.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Yeah, but we have great pictures.
Speaker 7 (24:35):
Yeah, and you've talked about being a father kind of
has changed your style of racing a little bit of
the driver you are. Tell us a little bit about that.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Yeah, I mean, it's it's been crazy to think that
I'm add and she's already like twenty month old, but
it changed my life completely, Like now I have to
worry about somebody else, not just me, but the fact
of just getting home after a hard day or a
long day or a bad race, whatever, and seeing her smile.
(25:05):
She doesn't really care about what's going on. She only
wants to play with you. She wants to have a
great time with you, and she wants to be with you.
And that's been the best thing that ever happened to me.
And it's been pushing me to just work a little
bit harder, to like push myself even more and to
try and chase chase those speaktors make her brown.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
Yeah Yeah.
Speaker 6 (25:26):
Our thanks to four time IndyCar Series Champion and Indy
five hundred winner Alex Polow for joining us up. Next,
we hear from New York Knicks star forward Carl Anthony
Towns when he joined us here at Bloomberg World Headquarters
for Power Players, New York. For Vanessa Perdomo. I'm Michael Barr.
You're listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports and Bloomberg
(25:48):
Radio around the world.
Speaker 5 (25:54):
This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 6 (25:59):
Thanks for joining us on the Bloomberg Business of Sports,
where we explore the big money issues in the world
of sports, Michael Barr. Earlier this month, Bloomberg World Headquarters
in New York hosted Power Players. It's an annual event
bringing together some of the biggest players and executives in
the sports world to talk about what's next in the industry.
(26:19):
Our friend Jason Kelly is executive producer and always gets
great names. New York Knicks star ford Carl Anthony Towns
was here and he spoke with Bloomberg US sports business
reporter Ira Budway on stage about joining the Knicks, looking
ahead to another big season, and some of what he's
(26:40):
up to off the court. Let's listen in.
Speaker 4 (26:42):
So, you've had ten years for nine years in Minnesota.
Last fall you come to the Knicks basketball wise, how
did that experience compare your time with the Knicks last season?
Two very good teams.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
Yeah, no, I've been blessed to be in a situation
where both teams found success and to be part of
the success of both organizations that haven't seen that type
of success in so long. There's nothing short of a blessing.
So to be in a situation now where you come
from Minnesota, you come to New York and then you
(27:14):
see the garden, you stepping there and you've see you
feel yourself with the history of the game. Patrick you went,
Bernard King, John Starks, you just you know, you feel
the history. And to be part of that history now
is it's something that as a child here growing up
in the Tri State in New Jersey, being a big
Next fan growing up, it was it was a special moment.
Speaker 4 (27:35):
This coming season you got a new coach. Yep, last season,
you're almost there. Yeah, you're gonna go all the way
this year is I think what the crowd wants.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
I mean, the plan every year is all the way there.
So everyone's ringing chasing, so we're doing nothing that I
think all the other twenty nineteens ain't saying the same thing.
Speaker 4 (27:52):
The East looks pretty open right now.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
I gotta say, you know, they said that last year too.
They said that last year, and I think the East
proved itself to be where the competition against the whole
league for a conference that was told to be weak
in the standards of NBA, we uh, we showed out
and the playoffs showed how competitive the East is and
also uh in the finals, Uh, you know, we showed
(28:16):
how great the East is as.
Speaker 4 (28:18):
Well, cause you mentioned this is kind of a homecoming
as well.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Yeah, yeah, what is that like.
Speaker 4 (28:24):
Being back in the Tri state area you grew up
in Jersey? Is it how many ticket requests or you deal.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
A whole lot of nightly bass? You don't know, you
could imagine everyone in here. It's it's it's up there. Yeah,
But it's a blessing, like I said, to be able
to be back home. You know, see my family. One
of the biggest things for me when I got here
was being able to have my grandmother actually see me
play basketball. She doesn't get a a many chances to
(28:51):
uh leave Jersey to see me play in Minnesota, so
it's for it to be a a car ride or
a train ride over to MSG. It's a it's special,
especially when you get to have that moment many times.
You know. I never thought of my career that I
would have my grandmother at so many of my games.
And for her to be able to not only see
me play, but last year to see such a historical
(29:12):
run by us, and for her to be part of
that moment and to feel the excitement and love the
fans have showed all of us on a team, it
was special.
Speaker 4 (29:22):
It's also I think you know, off the court, New
York is a center of finance, media, fashion. I wonder
for you, has that open doors? I mean, obviously NBA
all started a lot of doors open anyway, but has
there been any sort of new things you've done or
new things you pursued because you're in this New York market,
(29:42):
you know.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
Like you said, and being in the New York market
opens up a lot of new doors. And for me
to have so many different business business ventures and to
be able to beat so many new people, and to
be able to be educated more on different businesses, different ideas,
and to be part of the culture every day, you know,
not from a phone, not from a FaceTime, but the
(30:05):
actually here part of the culture every single day, and
of the business. It's a It's been great for me
as a as a as like you said, as a
brand and also as a businessman. Has helped me find
different ways to uh impact my family.
Speaker 4 (30:18):
That actually leads to my next question. I think the
flip side of the New York market is the scrutiny.
Everything is back page of the post. You got stephen
A Smith, you got social media.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
I think stephen A is not the only one.
Speaker 4 (30:31):
Yeah, exactly, but has how has how we manage that difference?
So I gotta believe it's different than than Minnesota. The
sort of the level of scrutiny.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
The scrutiny is different. I mean, it's it's been something
I've dealt with my whole career. When you're the number
one pick, there's a lot of expectations and there's a
standard that you are put on. And for me, I've
been always thinking of the biggest critic of me as
me uh, not stephen A, not anyone on any media network.
It's always been myself. I focused on myself, trying to
(31:01):
be the best version of myself every day, not only
as a basketball player. I know that's what gets the
most attention. Of what I do gets the most attention,
and not who I am, even though who I am
is more importantly than what I do. And I just
continue to find myself trying to be a better man,
be a better be a better son, while being the
best athlete I could be. And that's just the truth
(31:23):
at all. And I've had those standards for so long
that when I got to New York, I've always been
used to that scrutiny, and I've been used to having
to perform at a high level every single day. And
nothing has changed since I got here. I've been just
focused on the work, focused on every day showing the
best version of myself.
Speaker 4 (31:43):
Did you have to adjust your your own social media
habits you're.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
Reading I'm not big on social Yeah, it's it's been
the healthiest thing to do, I feel for me, you know,
obviously for branding business, you know, social media is a
huge aspect of that and the world we all live
and now it's a very technologically driven world, but I've
been more focused on just me, you know, just taking
(32:07):
care of you know, my family, taking care of my
personal life, and taking care of my job and being
the best version of that. I'm not the big biggest
social media person, so it's been actually a blessing in
this way.
Speaker 4 (32:19):
What comes next for you, I mean, you've got a
long way to go. I think this is year eleven
for you. But you must have put some thought into
what you wanna do when your playing days are done.
What you wanna do with I think something like four
hundred million in career earnings at this point, and what
do you plan to do with that in your in
your uh post playing days.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
I've thought about it, you know whatever, you know, doing
so many charitable works, especially in the Dominican Republic, Black
in my mother's home country, and having some businesses right now,
investments that are doing amazing, and uh, you know, I'm
proud of the success I've had off the court in business,
and you know, I do think about those things. I
(32:59):
do think about setting up my future because like you said,
you know, you get to the point you the future
comes up pretty quick. But for everyone I talk to
especially young kids. They always ask me, what's your best
piece of advice. It's always sustained the present. Continue to
take care of the present. The future will take care
of itself. And if I continue to do that, continue
to put myself in the best positions possible, continue to
(33:21):
do what I do between those lines and Nasion Square Garden,
and like I said in the beginning, continue to work
on me as a man, as a person. I think
in the future I'll find myself in the right positions
for that next step of life.
Speaker 4 (33:34):
Right. Also on the social justice coalition in the League. Yeah,
you got an award for that actually recently, but I
appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
Yeah, that's right. What are your priorities there is?
Speaker 4 (33:46):
Where is your focus?
Speaker 2 (33:48):
Inspire change? Inspired change? And I think you know in
doing that, you realize how immensely difficult it is to
get something through Congress. But to be able to be
part of the George Floyd Acton to be able to
do so many things that I've been able to be
a part of and to inspire change and effect change
(34:08):
is it's something that I could It's one of the
most proudest moments I've had to be able to take
care of not only cause you know with the Vice
President VPA, you look to take care of the players,
but to be able to take care of the country
and men of color has been something special and you
feel that the.
Speaker 4 (34:25):
League is right there with you in that.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Yes, very much. You know, anyone who doesn't know the
Social Justice Coalition is being able to help affect change
socially in the world. And Adam Silver's on every single zoom,
so he is part of the He's part of it.
The NBA is fully on board with inspiring change and
helping the next generation and all walks of life in
(34:48):
the world. And I think that we've done an amazing
job of continuously working with Congress finding different ways to help.
And a lot of owners as well are on the team.
So some of your favorite owners if you're not a
Knicks fan, which would be crazy being this room and
not be but if you aren't, you some of the
biggest owners in the game and MBA are part of
this coalition as well, and we find ourselves working hand
(35:10):
in hand with each other to take care of the
next generation into generation of.
Speaker 4 (35:13):
Now we mentioned the sort of new opportunities that might
come with being in new York. Does it change the
relationship with like you've been with Nike since you came
in the league, Gatorade, it's a long standing relationship viewers.
Being a Nicked. Is it changed the conversation with them
in terms of what your campaigns are, what they want
you to do, what they Well?
Speaker 2 (35:34):
I think, first off, they've been amazing partners right with
me and I couldn't have acts for better partners since
day one stepping into the league, Nike and Gatorade of
treating me with nothing but love, and they've shown so
much respect for the work I put in so used
testament to them, and I think being in New York
it gives me the chance to give more eyeballs to
their brands, you know, and be able to show the
(35:56):
world more why they have had so much faith in me.
And you know, I've been blessed, especially last year to
repay that faith with great results for them.
Speaker 4 (36:04):
Right, how we're going to see what are you going
to be wearing? I'm like, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
We'll have to see October twenty second, y'all'll find out.
Speaker 4 (36:15):
So talking again, just to go back to kind of
your post playing days, is that something that you think
a lot about at this point, or you're just like
you said, you're in you know, I think I give
it a thought.
Speaker 2 (36:27):
But like I said, I continue to worry about the present, right,
I continue to worry about the present. It will always
take care of the future. It's been my philosophy since
day one. Never get ahead and never take take the shortcut.
Always continue to put the work in right. I think
that for me, if I continue to just stay in
the present, it's been great for my career, it's been
great for business, and I think if I continue to
(36:47):
do that, I'll put myself in the right position.
Speaker 4 (36:49):
Right is it for you? How much are you kind
of day to day looking at you mentioned you've had
some businesses that work well, Like how much of that
is in your Is that mostly stock that in the
off season where you're putting.
Speaker 2 (37:04):
No, I think it's all your thing. I think, you know,
business never stops, especially in New York. So just me,
I'm just always continuing to find ways to, you know,
find that one percent. How can I get better? How
can I level up today? How can I improve my
family's life? You know? And I think that for me
that never changes.
Speaker 6 (37:22):
You know.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
Obviously the main focus is always basketball. It's always going
to be that I put the time in. But if
you want anything bad enough in life, you'll put the
work in and you'll find time to make it happen.
So that's all I've been doing, just finding the time,
you know, being diligent and purposeful with my schedule and
finding different ways I can find time to make everything
(37:43):
happen in my life.
Speaker 6 (37:44):
It's a big cat. New York Knicks All Star forward
Carl Anthony Towns on stage with Bloomberg US sports business
reporter Ira Budway from Bloomberg Power Players, New York. If
you want to hear more from power Players, check out
the Bloomberg Business of Sports podcast. One of our most
recent editions has several conversations from the event, including with
(38:06):
two time w NBA champion and four time Olympic gold
medalist Sylvia Fols and Aries Management co founder and CEO
Michael R. Rugetti. Check it out now wherever you get
your podcast and subscribe so you never miss a new episode.
And that does it for this edition of the Bloomberg
Business of Sports. For my colleagues Namian Sasaur and Vanessa Berdomo,
(38:28):
I'm Michael Barr, Thanks for joining us. Tune in again
next week for the latest on the stories moving big
old money in the world of sports. You're listening to
the Bloomberg Business of Sports Bloomberg Radio around the world.
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