February 7, 2025 • 38 mins
Join hosts Michael Barr, Scarlet Fu and Damian Sassower for a look at some of the latest headlines and stories in the business of sports.
Former NFL executive Amy Trask sets the scene ahead of Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans, sharing her thoughts on the Kansas City Chiefs/Philadelphia Eagles rematch, the NFL's prospects for international growth and the latest head coaching hires.
Then, Theresia Gouw, co-founder and managing partner of venture capital firm Acrew Capital and Tom Conaghan, head of the Sports Law Group at McDermott, Will & Emery join to discuss Gouw's recent investment in the Buffalo Bills and what's next for private equity in the NFL.
Plus, we head to Radio Row to hear special conversations from our colleagues, Bloomberg Originals sports correspondent Vanessa Perdomo and Bloomberg US sports business reporter Randall Williams. They speak with: NFL All-Pro edge rusher Myles Garrett, former Dallas Cowboys star Dez Bryant and NFL legend Joe Montana.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News. This is the Business
of Sports.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
The business of sports can be intimidating or hard for
a starting to break into.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
We really appreciate when our owners are actually there, you know,
with us through the journey.
Speaker 4 (00:18):
Teams ours especially have been very intentional to diversify at
all levels.
Speaker 5 (00:22):
Of the company.
Speaker 6 (00:23):
I think we're in bolden years for the NFL and
college football.
Speaker 5 (00:26):
Our demographic reach has continued to explode.
Speaker 4 (00:29):
This is going to be really unlocking the streaming platform
for sports fans.
Speaker 7 (00:34):
Sports evaluations arising.
Speaker 6 (00:36):
We'll see when they peak.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
You don't have to be the best in your sports
to make a whole ton of money.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports where we explore
the big money issues in the world of sports. Michael
Barr along with my colleagues Damian Sasawer and Scarlett Food.
It's a special edition of the show today as we
get ready for the big game on Sunday night, the
Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs will face off in
Super Bowl fifty nine. Will take you down to New
(01:09):
Orleans where our colleagues Jason Kelly, Vanessa Perdomo, and Randall
Williams got to sit down with several big names in
the world of sports. We'll hear some of their conversations,
including one with a guy pretty familiar with playing in
the Big Game Hall of Fame, quarterback Joe Montana.
Speaker 8 (01:27):
I think going international is fun. I mean, we only
went for preseason when I was playing, but I think
playing games for real it's a lot more meaningful than
it's better for the fans of that country.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
All that and more is on a special edition of
The Bloomberg Business of Sports. But first we bring in
a longtime friend of the show, Amy Trask. She's former
CEO of the then Oakland Raiders and she's an analyst
for CBS Sports. Amy, welcome back to the Bloomberg Business
of Sports. Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 9 (01:58):
It is my tremendous honor and great pleasure to do so.
We are big, big, big bloomber of fans in this house.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Oh, thank you, thank you. And you know what, I
remember the last time we talked, we had so much fun.
So I got to ask you again. I'm just going
to give you the easiest question and then we can
get into some more business Super Bowl fifty nine Kansas
City Chiefs or the Philadelphia Eagles.
Speaker 9 (02:26):
Your thoughts, Well, that's not the easiest question, but you
did pitch it slow and easy across the plate, to
use a baseball metaphor. I don't have a prediction, and
the reason for that is these are two very, very
good teams. The matchups are phenomenally interesting. Philadelphia's offensive line
(02:47):
versus Kansas City's defense, two great quarterbacks. Of course, Saquon
is a tremendous addition to the Eagles. I don't have
a prediction. I do have a preference.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
If you would like that, Yes, it is.
Speaker 9 (03:00):
Many will find this strange, given that I spent almost
thirty years with the Raiders, but I want the Chiefs
to win. And there are two reasons. I'm an AFC girl.
I spent my entire career in the NFL in the
AFC with the Raiders, so I always lean AFC. Some
people think it's odd to root for what was my
divisional rival, but my view is that if your divisional
(03:22):
rival wins it all, it shows how good and how
competitive and how hard your division is. The other reason
is a very very sentimental reason. I started my career
with the Raiders in the mid eighties. When I walked
into my first NFL owners meeting, I was the only
woman in that room. And notwithstanding that, when I entered
the league and entered that league meeting, the Raiders in
(03:44):
the league were already embroiled in a very significant business dispute.
One of the very very first people to walk over
and welcome me and offer me his support and encouragement
was Lamar Hunt, the owner of the Chiefs, and Lamar
and his wife Norma, and their son Clark, who now
is in charge of the Chiefs, offered me support and
(04:07):
encouragement throughout my career. So I am for that sentimental
reason as well hoping that the Chiefs win.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
That is a great reason to root for the Chiefs.
And you know that phrase you mentioned, the only woman
in the room. I feel like that's something that you
can apply to when describing so much of your experience
when you're in the front offices of the NFL. We hear,
according to punch Bow, that President Trump will be attending
the Super Bowl this weekend, and we also know that
(04:33):
there's going to be a lot of security efforts just
in general because of the New Year's attack in the
city of New Orleans. I'm curious to get your take
on whether you think there's going to be tension around
DEI issues with Trump now attending the Super Bowl. Roger Goodell,
the commissioner of the NFL, has made it clear that
he thinks DEI has been good for the NFL. We
(04:54):
know that the President feels otherwise about DEI and has
made his points in several instances. I think that that's
going to come to a head.
Speaker 9 (05:01):
I don't know if it will come to a head
on Super Bowl Sunday. My hunch is, you know, I
was going to say, my hunches it won't that everyone
will be focused on the game. But I stopped myself
as I was about to say that, because, as you
well know, nowadays, different topics come up at times we
wouldn't expect them as to the topic you raised. I
(05:23):
owe my entire career to the fact that I worked
for a man who hired without regard to race, or
gender or any other individuality, which has no bearing whatsoever
on whether one can do a job. And I recognize
that not everyone has the good fortune I had to
(05:45):
work for someone like that. I'm asked all the time,
am I excited when a woman is hired. And my
response is what's really going to excite me is when
such things are no longer newsworthy. And the example I
always use is the movie Apollo thirteen. There is that
scene where Ed Harris, well that's the actor, you know,
(06:07):
the character he's playing, walks into a room and there's
a bunch of NASA scientists and engineers around a table,
and he dumps a bucket of pieces and parts onto
that table and he says, using only what is in
front of you, find a way to get those men
back to Earth alive. Do you think anyone on Apollo
thirteen gave a damn what the race, or the religion,
(06:31):
or the gender or any other individuality of the people
around that table was. Of course they didn't. They just
wanted to get home alive. That's what I am hoping
for in our future.
Speaker 10 (06:44):
Amy have a very important question for you. Do you
think that Taylor Swift were right at the Grammys in
honor of Travis Kelcey and the Chiefs. I mean, I'm
thinking she probably did right, but no, no, no, I'm
just seriously, we got to talk about your raiders here,
we got to talk about Chip Kelly talk to about
what's going on in Las Vegas.
Speaker 9 (07:01):
I certainly will, but I want you to know when
you started asking that question, I didn't know you were teasing,
and I thought, Wow, this conversation just took a turn.
And by the way, I do think she wore that
dress in honor of.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
Nothing's accidental, right Amy.
Speaker 9 (07:16):
You know, I'm going with the fact that it was
paying tribute to the Chiefs. I like the hire of
Pete Carroll by the Raiders. I think he brings a maturity,
a stability, and energy and enthusiasm that will be tremendously,
tremendously helpful to the organization. I really do like the heart.
Speaker 10 (07:34):
I want to play for him, right Amy, It just
seems like a different state of mind there now.
Speaker 9 (07:39):
I mean, I watch Pete Carroll and I think, Hell,
I'd run through a block for him. I'd make a
capful for him.
Speaker 10 (07:44):
And by the way, yeah, well it's.
Speaker 9 (07:50):
Because I'm on Bloomberg and I have so much respect
and admiration for all that Bloomberg does in the business world.
I'm going to give you an analogy. Pete Carroll maybe
seventy three. I know what Warren Buffett's ninety four, and
he's doing this just happens.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
I'm going to ask about Roger Goodell, NFL Commissioner, and recently,
at a press conference in New Orleans ahead of Sunday
Super Bowl, he said that, yeah, he wants to reach
eventually sixteen international games a year. What do you think
about that? Can that? Is that a realistic goal?
Speaker 9 (08:29):
You know, I worked closely with Roger for decades. I
maintain a tremnious relationship with him. I have a lot
of respect for all of his business acumen and other things.
You know, I'll note in that regard, I do think
it's realistic. Look, let me do the math for you.
And by the way, every single person in my village
family friends always groans when I say I'm going to
do the math on air, because quite often there's an error.
(08:52):
But even I can do this math. Thirty two divided
in half is sixteen. So as long as there are
thirty two teams, and I don't see expansion in the future,
certainly not in the near future, sixteen can work.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
Do you think they'll increase a number of games played
in order to accommodate this international schedule?
Speaker 9 (09:10):
I think the number of games will be increased to
eighteen at some point. I think that's the case, whether
they go to sixteen International Games or not. Look, going
back to the doing the math thing, I like eighteen
rather than seventeen, just because then the math is easier
to do when it comes to calculating win loss records.
(09:31):
I do think we'll see eighteen.
Speaker 10 (09:33):
You know, Amy, the the NFL coaching council is in
full swing. We know about Aaron Glen to the Jets,
Schottenheimer to the Cowboys. You know John Cruden, you know,
I mean he was the one who was originally brought
in to coach the Raiders to give them stability. And
you know, my question is what about him? What about
coach Mike McCarthy, what about what's to happened with Bill Belichick,
(09:53):
you know, going to North Carolina and leaving the NFL behind.
I mean some of these older coaches, I mean, is
there still room for them in the well?
Speaker 9 (10:00):
I certainly don't think age should be the limitation, and
the Raiders just demonstrated that with the hiring of Pete Carroll.
Will those men end up back in the league. I
don't know the answer to that. I wouldn't be surprised
if some of them did. As to the John Gruden issue,
there's so much focus on who leaked the emails, why
(10:21):
they were leaked. I have a view as to who
leaked them. I have a view as to why they
were leaked. But it's disappointing to me that so many
focus on the emails rather than focusing on the content
of those emails. Those emails contained racist, homophobic, misogynistic comments,
and a team that were to hire John Back has
(10:44):
to realize that in so doing that sounds a message
within the organization.
Speaker 10 (10:49):
Amy, how do you defend Patrick Mahomes? And let me
ask you, let me put some context around this. I mean,
he's an amazing player. I mean he's tough enough to
defend as it is, but you know, with the reps
and the lack of replay and I don't want to
say flops, but yeah, flops.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
How do you.
Speaker 10 (11:03):
Defend, as the Philadelphia Eagles defense Patrick Mahomes in the
Super Bowl?
Speaker 9 (11:08):
Well, the words of Aretha Franklin come to mind, say
a little prayer. He is extraordinarily hard to defend. I
do not buy into the the refs have the fix in.
There's a conspiracy.
Speaker 6 (11:23):
They're trying.
Speaker 9 (11:27):
I don't buy into that at all. And by the way,
he did apologize for what he did on the sideline
during a pre game. You know, there's Handlan's razor. Never
attribute to mendacity that which can be explained by error
or by mistake. And yes, I'm toning down Handlan's razor
a bit. I don't think the fix is in for
(11:48):
the Chiefs at all. Now, how do you defend against
Patrick Mahomes. That's where I will go back to Aretha Franklin.
You've got to find a way to keep him as
contained as possible, and that's very, very hard to do.
But the Eagles have a terrific defense, and look at
it on the other side as well, the Chiefs have
(12:09):
to do that with respect to Jalen Hurts. So I'm
excited to see what Spagnola has in mind in that regard.
I think he's the best defensive coordinator in the league.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Our thanks to Amy Trask for joining us. She's the
former CEO for the then Oakland Raiders, currently an analyst
for CBS Sports, and author of the book You Negotiate
Like a Girl. Up next on this special Big Game
edition of The Bloomberg Business of Sports. We'll talk with
two people about private equity stakes in a team that
(12:38):
just fell shy of the Big Game this year, for
my colleagues Damien Sassauer and Scarlett Fum Michael Barr. You're
listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports Bloomberg Radio around
the world.
Speaker 8 (12:53):
Right.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports where we explored
the big money issues in the world of sports on
Michael Barr along with my colleague Damian Sasauer. It is
a special Big Game edition of the show today as
we get ready for the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City
Chiefs to face off in Super Bowl fifty nine. Our
colleagues from Bloomberg Originals and across our Bloomberg newsroom went
(13:27):
down to New Orleans this week. We'll hear some of
their conversation later on in the program, including with NFL
Hall of Famer Joe Montana. Before we get there, we
turned to a franchise that had big Super Bowl dreams
this year but just fell short whole season for Buffalo.
Speaker 6 (13:46):
On the line, here there come. He just desperately throws
it up in the air. And complete kincaid.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Was right there, while superstar quarterback Josh Allen and the
Buffalo Bills are licking their wounds for fall short against
the Chiefs again this year. Overall, the errow is pointing
up for the franchise, and on the business side, a
lot of investors are excited about the bills prospects. Joining
us now are Teresa Gal and Tom Conahead. Teresa is
(14:15):
a co founder and managing partner a venture capital firm,
A Crew Capital, and Tom is head of the capital
markets group at McDermott, Will and Emery. A Crew is
among the firms to make a private equity investment in
those Buffalo Bills. They're both here to talk about the
Bills and private equity in the NFL and more. Teresa, Tom,
(14:37):
Welcome to the Bloomberg Business of Sports.
Speaker 11 (14:39):
Thank you for having us.
Speaker 5 (14:40):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
You got some coin in the Buffalo Bills. Teresa, I'll
start with you tell us a bit about that.
Speaker 11 (14:47):
So the investment in the Bills is in some ways
the realization of a childhood dream and also in some
ways not that different from my day job of twenty
five years, which is being a minority investor. Sure in
tech companies. Obviously, this is different in my hometown football team.
So it was when the opportunity arose uh and I
(15:09):
was able to chat with the Pagoula family. I just
I couldn't pass it up. It's something that has been
important to my family since since I was a small
kid and my parents and I immigrated to the Buffalo area.
Dad was seasoned ticket holder and raised me and my
sister to be Bill's fans. He even used math to
(15:32):
use football to teach my sister math. So Andre Reid
was number eighty three, and so she learned addition and subtraction,
but also multiplication eight times three. I use that myself
with my own kids to build the third generation of
Bill's Mafia and my family by asking the kids questions
like how many different ways can you get to nine
(15:52):
in a football game? Oh?
Speaker 2 (15:54):
See, this is.
Speaker 10 (15:57):
Andre Bruce Smith.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
You you did because I'm I'm a big NASCAR fan
and my oldest son who loves Nascar two when he
was little, That's how I taught him numbers. I said,
what number is that? That's for sweet Daddy, that's Ritchie Petty.
I'm like, yeah, boy, that's the way to do it.
I'm proud of you.
Speaker 6 (16:21):
Man well to me.
Speaker 10 (16:21):
So let's take a step back for our audience. You're
the co founder and managing partner of a Crew Capital.
You're a Stanford, You're Brown, you're engineering, You're an MBA.
You know, you have sat on boards for so many
tech companies and now here you're an owner of the
Buffalo Bills. You know, talk to us a little bit
about that process, how you got there, what was it like.
Speaker 11 (16:40):
So the process in some ways is very parallel to
my day job, right, which is when I heard about
the opportunity that the Poula family was thinking of bringing
on minority investors, and my day job as being a
minority investor. So oftentimes the key thing is finding a
connection to the majority owner, in this case Terry and
(17:02):
his family, and then making your case for why you
are passionate about the company, in this case the Bills,
but also what you can bring to the group, understanding
that you're going to be just a minority owner, so
not get in the way, but add value when asked
(17:22):
in appropriate way. So that in that way, that was
the same. Now, the part that was different in this
world I had over to Tom is you know I've
had the good fortune to be involved in several multi
billion dollar IPOs and public companies from Trulia to Facebook
in the early days. And I got to say, the
(17:44):
legal process in becoming a minority owner in the NFL, Uh, you.
Speaker 10 (17:49):
Know, it's a.
Speaker 6 (17:52):
It's a lot.
Speaker 11 (17:52):
I spent a lot more time with Tom than I
have with other of my attorneys.
Speaker 10 (17:56):
Well, Tom, let's bring in Tom co, head of the
Capital Markets Group at MCDNERHM Will and Emery talked to
us about what that data room must have looked, like
what level of transparency. I mean, did Teresa have to
I mean, did they go back to her early years,
like when she was two six months old? I mean,
what did they need to do? What diligence did they require.
Speaker 5 (18:14):
Let's put it this way, damn. Like the professional sports leagues,
the NFL is not alone cares deeply about who their
owners are, right, It's really central to their mission, Like
what is the mission of the league? Protect the product
on the field, make sure you never alienate your fans
or lose their trust. And that starts with knowing who
your owners are in every team. Right, So of course
(18:35):
they asked a lot of detailed questions. They wanted to
know a lot of things about Teresa her other investments,
and Teresa had to produce a lot of information to
satisfy them for sure.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Well, Tom, and I want to get more into that,
you know, because I want to buy a share of
the Detroit Lions. Yes, I do. Really, I love my Alliance, so.
Speaker 11 (18:56):
I was hoping for Alliance Bill super Bowl, Oh my eye.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Will always We're going to go off in another direction, Tom,
what questions are they going to ask? And they're going
to ask me about that embarrassing spoon thing.
Speaker 5 (19:10):
I think you'll be okay with that, Michael. Really, what
they're concerned about are, you know, conflicts of interests? Right
that the leagues Again, they want to make sure that
the fans trust the product on the field and that
the level of competition is accurate, right, and that everyone's
operating on a level playing field. So they want to
(19:30):
know that the owners in the various ownership groups don't
have interests that might either in fact or in appearance,
create some conflict of interest.
Speaker 6 (19:40):
Right.
Speaker 5 (19:40):
There are salary caps, so they want to know that
owners don't have other outside relationships with players that might
be arguable arguably and runs around salary caps, and they
want to know that the owners don't have investments in
industries that might either in fact or in appearance, you know,
eight drama for the league, right, they want to avoid
(20:02):
any ownership drama and keep all the eyeballs on the
product on the field, and that's what the league's mission is.
Speaker 10 (20:08):
Teresa, you are the co founder of Aspect Ventures. You're
a treasurer Brown University. I mean, you're a Forbes one
hundred top one hundred on every list you can ever imagine.
You probably still sit on a lot of other boards.
How do you have time also to be a passive
investor in the in the bills? I mean, what's the
ask on you from a time perspective?
Speaker 2 (20:28):
When you're a Buffalo's bills?
Speaker 6 (20:30):
You're not passive.
Speaker 11 (20:34):
The fair point. So the great thing about it is
that it doesn't have any specific requirement unlike my day job,
where you know, I'm making an investment and I'm asked
to be on a board.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
It's really more.
Speaker 4 (20:51):
People.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
You know.
Speaker 11 (20:51):
The ask is have the financial wherewithal and pass all
of the requirements to be accepted into the group and
then be there as a resource to the the other owners,
the other minority owners. We also brought in one of
the first private equity investment groups in Arctose in the NFL,
and obviously to the Pagoula family and then to the
(21:13):
to the one Bills Drive leadership, to Pete Welly and
the others. But it's really more, Hey, they know we're fans,
they know what are other areas of expertise are, and
then they will they ask us from time to time
to do certain things. So I had a call recently
with somebody who's looking to grow the Bills data analytics
team because in my day job of investing in tech
(21:33):
companies and so, but that's really more like I want
to do it. Oh great, I can be helpful there.
I'm you know, I wish I, you know, could catch
up fourth and five, but that's not going to happen.
So you got to find ways where you can add.
So it's really just that's really what it is, winding
finding ways to be helpful when asked, Well.
Speaker 10 (21:51):
Let me ask you this, because you know, I'm not
a venture investor in the tech sector, right, and I
would imagine that some of these businesses that you've invested
in started as a project of passion, right, And so
what you're saying to me, and it's kind of interesting,
is you didn't invest in the Buffalo Bills to get
an ROI. You know, you invested because it's a passion
for you. And I wonder, is that very different than
(22:12):
what you've done in your history.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
It's a great question.
Speaker 11 (22:16):
It's actually very similar because in my startups they are
often three people, four people. So the initial investment interest
to learn more is because of the passion, the passion
of the founders in this case, the passion of the team,
but also Bill's mafia obviously near and dear to my heart.
(22:38):
But when I actually pull the trigger after going through
the diligence sign, the veritable check, that has to be
a financial ROI investment. And it was the same here
as some of the things we already spoke about with
regards to the entrance of private equity into the NFL
for franchises as minority owners, and even just recently I
(23:01):
think you guys were talking about in one of your
last podcasts. I mean, the viewership for NFL has never
been higher in our crazy media twenty four to seven world.
And you know, my Bills set a record in the
Ravens game, right, and then again in the Chiefs game
from a viewership perspective, So to me, it starts with passion,
(23:24):
but the diligence piece always has to look to me
like a good investment.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Well, and when I asked Tom as well on this,
because the Bills New York Governor Kathy Hokl is trying
to put a deal together to get a whole brand
new stadium, going take us through how that impacts trying
to be a minority investor in a team like the
(23:48):
Buffalo Bills.
Speaker 5 (23:50):
Well, certainly, like any investment, you're going to do diligence
on your target, on the business. And what's more important
to any team than where they play their games?
Speaker 8 (23:58):
Right.
Speaker 5 (23:59):
Focus and professional sports, not just the NFL right now
on all team owners is on their venues. Right, There's
been a lot of movement towards taking your arena or
your stadium from just a place that people go to
eight to ten times a year if you're an NFL team,
to a year round destination. And so everybody in professional sports,
especially the NFL, is focusing on upgrading their venues. And
(24:22):
that was certainly part of Teresa's calculus when she made
this investment, that the Bills are keeping up and going
to be having great venues in the future.
Speaker 10 (24:31):
Well, Tom McDermott, you know this isn't your first you
know kind of rodeo. You know, you've been involved in
other you know, I'm sure sports team, the Major League
Baseball MLS, you know, I'm looking NBA, National Hockey League,
You've done it all. How did this process differ from
some of those other processes? Like, how did the NFL
handle this where they on their game?
Speaker 2 (24:50):
Is this new for them?
Speaker 6 (24:51):
I mean it was new?
Speaker 5 (24:52):
I mean it was new. I mean everyone read that
the NFL owners opened up their doors to private equity
back in August, but this was act the first, if
not the second, well probably we'll call it the first.
The Miami deal and the Buffalo Bills deal were effectively
on the same timetable, so it was the first time
that the NFL was actually doing a live deal with
a pe investor.
Speaker 6 (25:12):
So it was new.
Speaker 5 (25:13):
So there was some you know, novelty to the transaction
from the NFL's perspective.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Our thanks to Teresa Gal, co founder and managing partner
at a Crew Capital, and Tom kind of hand of
the capital markets group at McDermott, Will and Emery for
joining us. Up next, we take you to New Orleans
and Radio Row for a few special conversations ahead of
a big game for my colleague Damian Sasaur. I'm Michael Lebar.
(25:39):
You're listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports or the
Bloomberg Radio around the world.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Thanks for joining us on the Bloomberg Business of Sports,
where we explored the big money issues in the world
of sports. It's Michael Barr. It's a special Big Game
edition of the show today as we look ahead to
Super Bowl fifty nine between the Chiefs and the Eagles.
It's a rematch of the Big Game from just a
few years ago where the Chiefs beat the Eagles thirty
eight thirty five. In twenty twenty three, Homes in trouble,
(26:18):
gets away, Mahomes racing with the batags on all.
Speaker 6 (26:22):
Inside of the twenty. He's taken down somehow.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Patrick Mahomes hurts.
Speaker 6 (26:33):
As all day. Now some rushers come. I'm gonna throw
it as foe as his arm contaken.
Speaker 8 (26:37):
With his weeow short and the Kansas City Chiefs have
won Super Bowl fifty seven.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Some of our colleagues went down to New Orleans this
week and rubbed shoulders with some of the biggest names
in sports. Bloomberg Original Sports correspondent Vanessa Perdomo caught up
with former Dallas Cowboys star Dez Bryant at Radio Row
and they talked about some of the late his trends
in football, including nil and his involvement in sports betting.
(27:04):
Let's take a listen.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
I guess I grew up playing sports all my life.
I love basketball, you know, so that's kind of where
you know, you know, I start and stop. You know,
I feel like I'm you know, make I don have
made good plays and good money.
Speaker 6 (27:20):
And also I'm also in the biding community.
Speaker 12 (27:24):
So for you, you know, obviously when you're not able
to be in it as a as a player, do
you think that there's some sort of way the sports
books or maybe you know, the league can try and
get current players involved, maybe even just getting them on
the back end of plays.
Speaker 6 (27:38):
Give them a piece, Yeah, give them a piece.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
You know.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
At the end of the day, I think it's going
to be more excitement for the fans, you know, for
the players. We just got to find a way to
where just to where it all makes sense. I got
ideas right now that I want to share, but I'm
giving them to fanatics, and you know they're gonna.
Speaker 6 (27:57):
Come say, try try and get these ideas, you feel me.
Speaker 13 (28:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 12 (28:02):
So another thing that you know you weren't able to
get in on when you were playing is nil in.
Speaker 6 (28:06):
College, I would have broke the bank.
Speaker 12 (28:08):
Yeah yeah, So how would you have navigated the system?
Speaker 3 (28:12):
I mean, I think I'm a natural. I have a
natural business mind. You know, before I even understood what
it was, just the way I thought, you know, I
wanted to have my own brand. One of one of
the guys I looked up to the most was MJ.
Before I even, like I said, before I even understood
what the brand was, I did understand that Jumpman logo
(28:35):
was different from that check And when I thought of
the Jumpman, I just thought of MJ.
Speaker 6 (28:41):
You know, I was like, Man, I want that.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
That's former Dallas Cowboys star Dez Bryant with Vanessa Perdomo
from Radio Row in New Orleans. Earlier this week. Bloomberg
US sports business reporter Randa Williams was there too, and
got a chance to talk with a current football star
who was looking beyond the big game and toward joining
a new team in the future. Cleveland Brown's edge Miles
(29:05):
Garrett recently made his desire to play for a new
team public. Let's listen in on his conversation about what
could be next for him with Randall Williams.
Speaker 7 (29:16):
I want to ask you. You requested a trade. You
don't need to get into details. You've been talking to
every other show about that. But when you're considering market,
you have a lot of endorsements, a lot of different
business opportunities. Do you think about state taxes, things like
that when you put in a trade request? Or is
it all about winning right now?
Speaker 13 (29:31):
It's all about winning. I mean that stuff will be
looked into afterward. Know, something becomes a little bit more
solid or tangible, but that's just doing research on know
wherever is next home base. But no, just focus on
winning and have an opportunity to go into the playoffs
and win.
Speaker 6 (29:48):
Now, let's talk about Cleveland a little bit.
Speaker 7 (29:49):
Talk about what the city has meant to You've been
there for a long time, You've worn that number ninety.
Speaker 6 (29:53):
Five Jersey forever.
Speaker 7 (29:55):
What has the city meant to you over your course
of being there?
Speaker 13 (29:59):
I mean, really become a second home for me. I've
loved my time there being part of the community, you know,
giving back, and uh, it's it's really become a part
of my family. Sure, I've loved my loved my time
and uh, you know it's it's it's been. It's been invaluable,
no learning, learning to be somewhere else, so far away
(30:22):
from home. You know, a lot of a lot of
different variables and new things, and it really helped my
journey into becoming a man professional how to the joy
of working with a lot of great people and meeting
a lot of great people. And you know, North Northeast
Ohios will always remain special for me.
Speaker 7 (30:38):
On the money side of things, I wonder have you
begun to think about what the next phase of your
career looks like. I know you're gonna you're thinking about championship,
where you're going next, But when you do eventually have
to hang up your cleats and working in office like
me or the people too are right or do something
along those lines, whether you're in a broadcasting booth, what
does the next phase of Miles Garrett look like?
Speaker 6 (30:57):
Have you thought about that you.
Speaker 13 (30:58):
Will only look like an office definitely not it won't
look like a broadcasting booth. No broadcasting, definitely not. You
might get me for like a special guest appearance on
one night only.
Speaker 6 (31:09):
Sure, you know.
Speaker 13 (31:11):
I want to, you know, focus on the things that
I've always loved doing. No photography, maybe being you know,
a Waldoff shooter I've always wanted to work with, not geo.
Maybe doing uh know some uh no sports myself, no
shooting different uh sports of different no great arenas, or
you know, continue working on some some literature, whether it's poetry,
(31:34):
uh short stories even uh some things I've working on currently,
which is like a a horror story about what and
get too deep into that, I will say it. It
kind of it deals with uh, you know, the anxiety
(31:54):
of moving away from from home for the first time.
They'll be come don stepping into that role of being
a and no going into college, but also no suffering
from from the pressures of being an athlete and different
different conditions that come with that.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
That's current Cleveland Brown star Miles Garrett speaking with our
own Randa Williams from New Orleans ahead of the Big Game.
NFL Hall of Famer and four time Super Bowl champion
quarterback Joe Montana was also there, and Vanessa Brudomo got
a chance to talk with him about the state of
the league and touched on what he thinks about the
(32:32):
NFL increasing its presence internationally. Let's listen to some of
their conversation.
Speaker 12 (32:38):
Next Super Bowls in San Francisco. Are you mentally preparing
for that one already?
Speaker 8 (32:42):
Uh? Yeah. The last time it was there was fun
and it's you like to go visit places like New
Orleans and in New York and LA and everywhere else
they have it. But it's fun when it's in the
Bay Area. You don't have to fight traffic in the airport.
Speaker 6 (32:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 12 (33:00):
I can imagine you're a little busy though, doing all
the press and all that stuff that you have to do.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (33:05):
I stay busy through you know, a good portion of it,
you know, from Thursday. A little bit slower towards the
end of the week. But it's always it's always fun
to come here. You run into some old people and
you all tell the same old lies.
Speaker 12 (33:19):
Yeah. It does seem like the fraternity walking around radio
up for sure. So the NFL is thinking about going
to an eighteen game season, How do you what do
you think about that?
Speaker 8 (33:31):
I think it's okay as long as they shorten the
preseason games. Nobody likes the preseason games. I think the
preseason games are more for a test of you know,
the younger guys that are the draftees and some teams
that you made traded for during the off season.
Speaker 6 (33:49):
But yeah, I think it's okay.
Speaker 8 (33:52):
I mean, you're going to play that many games anyway,
but if they can shorten and keep that to the
first part to a minimum, I think it would be fine.
Everybody likes playing for.
Speaker 12 (34:02):
Real, right, Yeah, so the preseason games getting rid of
them wouldn't be super consequentially, you feel like to get
prepared for the season, No, I.
Speaker 8 (34:11):
Think you know nowadays, even when I was still with
the Chiefs, we we would go down and practice again.
Our facility, our summer workout was near the what's near
the actually the Saints, and so we would go down
and scrimmage them in the pre while we were getting
ready for training camp. So I think there's ways to
(34:32):
get around doing that and timing things up. And everybody
will have the same problem.
Speaker 12 (34:36):
As long as you're prepared going into the season.
Speaker 8 (34:38):
Yes, it'll be it'll be an advantage for some veteran teams.
Speaker 12 (34:42):
But that's fair, yeah, for sure. So the other thing
that the NFL is doing is adding a lot more
international games. We've seen that Australia got added. I mean,
that's that's quiet far away for travel.
Speaker 8 (34:53):
My friend already called me, Hey, are you coming to
tell the NFL to bring you down here?
Speaker 2 (35:01):
Leah?
Speaker 6 (35:01):
He's on So I saw you.
Speaker 12 (35:05):
You're excited about it? Is that not like as a
former player, what about if you were playing in those games?
Speaker 8 (35:09):
Well, they were going to take them down there plenty
of time ahead, it would be my guess. And I
think going international is fun. I mean we only went
for preseason when when I was playing, But I think
playing games for real, it's a lot more meaningful than
it's better for the fans of that country.
Speaker 12 (35:27):
Do you think do you see how global the game
of football has gotten since there's been more international football now?
Speaker 8 (35:34):
Oh yeah, oh yeah. And I think that has been
what the NFL realized was that's been the biggest downfall,
was that they didn't try to go global earlier.
Speaker 12 (35:43):
One of the things that we're seeing on the global
stage also is now that flag football has gotten added
to the Olympics for twenty twenty eight. What do you
think about that being added to the Olympics. Do you
think it's going to do even more for the NFL
and just football in general.
Speaker 8 (35:55):
I think that definitely would do more for football in general.
Is an Olympics sport? Who knows. I mean there's all
kind of crazy things in there. Yeah, right, so, but
it'll be fun for people to watch. It's always exciting,
balls always getting thrown around. They will help teach people
what football really is about.
Speaker 12 (36:15):
It remains to be seen if NFL players are going
to be able to play in it, or we're going
to want to play in it. Would you have played,
I mean Olympians a different title?
Speaker 6 (36:23):
Yeah, first, just.
Speaker 8 (36:24):
Think it's I think it's a little different than like
the NBA and all that. It's still a physical game
in the NBA, but I think that the what the
guys are making these days, I don't think the owners
will want to have them running around playing flag football
for the Olympics.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
That's fair.
Speaker 12 (36:44):
So what it is going to do is a lot
for women's flag football, right and now we're seeing that
as a big, big step.
Speaker 8 (36:50):
Yeah, you see that more and more everywhere that flag
is coming up instead of padded football stays to a
certain age, and I think that's fun. I think early
on for kids, pads are okay. I always say, because
when they're really little, it's like bunch, Paul right, nobody. Yeah,
they all go in a bunch, and then they all
fall down.
Speaker 12 (37:08):
You're not reading the playbook.
Speaker 8 (37:10):
And then what happens is when when one guy gets
all of a sudden, there's one or two guys that
grow faster than others, and that's when the game becomes difficult,
I think for kids in the contact side of it.
So yeah, I'm all for it and whatever. You know,
early on pads and then go the flags.
Speaker 12 (37:28):
Yeah, And last week got to ask, are you picking
your former team?
Speaker 1 (37:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 8 (37:32):
I got to it's hard to be. It's hard to
bet against them. I think everybody likes to see Philly win,
but it's hard to begin bet against the Jeez.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
That's NFL legend. Joe Montana speaking with our Vanessa Perdomo
this week from New Orleans on Radio Row. And that
does it for this special Big Game edition of The
Bloomberg Business of Sports. For my colleagues Damian Sasauur and
Scarlett Fou, I'm Michael Barr Special thanks to Bloomberg original
sports correspondent for US A Predomo, Thank you, and Bloomberg
(38:02):
US sports business reporter Randall Williams for their work down
in New Orleans and the crew that went down that'sh. Sebastian.
Thank you and thanks for joining us and enjoy the game.
Tune in again next week for the latest on the
stories moving big money in the world of sports, and
don't forget to catch our podcast on all your podcast platforms.
(38:24):
You're listening to Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio
around the world.
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News. This is the Business
of Sports.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
The business of sports can be intimidating or hard for
a starting to break into.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
We really appreciate when our owners are actually there, you know,
with us through the journey.
Speaker 4 (00:18):
Teams ours especially have been very intentional to diversify at
all levels.
Speaker 5 (00:22):
Of the company.
Speaker 6 (00:23):
I think we're in bolden years for the NFL and
college football.
Speaker 5 (00:26):
Our demographic reach has continued to explode.
Speaker 4 (00:29):
This is going to be really unlocking the streaming platform
for sports fans.
Speaker 7 (00:34):
Sports evaluations arising.
Speaker 6 (00:36):
We'll see when they peak.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
You don't have to be the best in your sports
to make a whole ton of money.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports where we explore
the big money issues in the world of sports. Michael
Barr along with my colleagues Damian Sasawer and Scarlett Food.
It's a special edition of the show today as we
get ready for the big game on Sunday night, the
Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs will face off in
Super Bowl fifty nine. Will take you down to New
(01:09):
Orleans where our colleagues Jason Kelly, Vanessa Perdomo, and Randall
Williams got to sit down with several big names in
the world of sports. We'll hear some of their conversations,
including one with a guy pretty familiar with playing in
the Big Game Hall of Fame, quarterback Joe Montana.
Speaker 8 (01:27):
I think going international is fun. I mean, we only
went for preseason when I was playing, but I think
playing games for real it's a lot more meaningful than
it's better for the fans of that country.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
All that and more is on a special edition of
The Bloomberg Business of Sports. But first we bring in
a longtime friend of the show, Amy Trask. She's former
CEO of the then Oakland Raiders and she's an analyst
for CBS Sports. Amy, welcome back to the Bloomberg Business
of Sports. Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 9 (01:58):
It is my tremendous honor and great pleasure to do so.
We are big, big, big bloomber of fans in this house.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Oh, thank you, thank you. And you know what, I
remember the last time we talked, we had so much fun.
So I got to ask you again. I'm just going
to give you the easiest question and then we can
get into some more business Super Bowl fifty nine Kansas
City Chiefs or the Philadelphia Eagles.
Speaker 9 (02:26):
Your thoughts, Well, that's not the easiest question, but you
did pitch it slow and easy across the plate, to
use a baseball metaphor. I don't have a prediction, and
the reason for that is these are two very, very
good teams. The matchups are phenomenally interesting. Philadelphia's offensive line
(02:47):
versus Kansas City's defense, two great quarterbacks. Of course, Saquon
is a tremendous addition to the Eagles. I don't have
a prediction. I do have a preference.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
If you would like that, Yes, it is.
Speaker 9 (03:00):
Many will find this strange, given that I spent almost
thirty years with the Raiders, but I want the Chiefs
to win. And there are two reasons. I'm an AFC girl.
I spent my entire career in the NFL in the
AFC with the Raiders, so I always lean AFC. Some
people think it's odd to root for what was my
divisional rival, but my view is that if your divisional
(03:22):
rival wins it all, it shows how good and how
competitive and how hard your division is. The other reason
is a very very sentimental reason. I started my career
with the Raiders in the mid eighties. When I walked
into my first NFL owners meeting, I was the only
woman in that room. And notwithstanding that, when I entered
the league and entered that league meeting, the Raiders in
(03:44):
the league were already embroiled in a very significant business dispute.
One of the very very first people to walk over
and welcome me and offer me his support and encouragement
was Lamar Hunt, the owner of the Chiefs, and Lamar
and his wife Norma, and their son Clark, who now
is in charge of the Chiefs, offered me support and
(04:07):
encouragement throughout my career. So I am for that sentimental
reason as well hoping that the Chiefs win.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
That is a great reason to root for the Chiefs.
And you know that phrase you mentioned, the only woman
in the room. I feel like that's something that you
can apply to when describing so much of your experience
when you're in the front offices of the NFL. We hear,
according to punch Bow, that President Trump will be attending
the Super Bowl this weekend, and we also know that
(04:33):
there's going to be a lot of security efforts just
in general because of the New Year's attack in the
city of New Orleans. I'm curious to get your take
on whether you think there's going to be tension around
DEI issues with Trump now attending the Super Bowl. Roger Goodell,
the commissioner of the NFL, has made it clear that
he thinks DEI has been good for the NFL. We
(04:54):
know that the President feels otherwise about DEI and has
made his points in several instances. I think that that's
going to come to a head.
Speaker 9 (05:01):
I don't know if it will come to a head
on Super Bowl Sunday. My hunch is, you know, I
was going to say, my hunches it won't that everyone
will be focused on the game. But I stopped myself
as I was about to say that, because, as you
well know, nowadays, different topics come up at times we
wouldn't expect them as to the topic you raised. I
(05:23):
owe my entire career to the fact that I worked
for a man who hired without regard to race, or
gender or any other individuality, which has no bearing whatsoever
on whether one can do a job. And I recognize
that not everyone has the good fortune I had to
(05:45):
work for someone like that. I'm asked all the time,
am I excited when a woman is hired. And my
response is what's really going to excite me is when
such things are no longer newsworthy. And the example I
always use is the movie Apollo thirteen. There is that
scene where Ed Harris, well that's the actor, you know,
(06:07):
the character he's playing, walks into a room and there's
a bunch of NASA scientists and engineers around a table,
and he dumps a bucket of pieces and parts onto
that table and he says, using only what is in
front of you, find a way to get those men
back to Earth alive. Do you think anyone on Apollo
thirteen gave a damn what the race, or the religion,
(06:31):
or the gender or any other individuality of the people
around that table was. Of course they didn't. They just
wanted to get home alive. That's what I am hoping
for in our future.
Speaker 10 (06:44):
Amy have a very important question for you. Do you
think that Taylor Swift were right at the Grammys in
honor of Travis Kelcey and the Chiefs. I mean, I'm
thinking she probably did right, but no, no, no, I'm
just seriously, we got to talk about your raiders here,
we got to talk about Chip Kelly talk to about
what's going on in Las Vegas.
Speaker 9 (07:01):
I certainly will, but I want you to know when
you started asking that question, I didn't know you were teasing,
and I thought, Wow, this conversation just took a turn.
And by the way, I do think she wore that
dress in honor of.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
Nothing's accidental, right Amy.
Speaker 9 (07:16):
You know, I'm going with the fact that it was
paying tribute to the Chiefs. I like the hire of
Pete Carroll by the Raiders. I think he brings a maturity,
a stability, and energy and enthusiasm that will be tremendously,
tremendously helpful to the organization. I really do like the heart.
Speaker 10 (07:34):
I want to play for him, right Amy, It just
seems like a different state of mind there now.
Speaker 9 (07:39):
I mean, I watch Pete Carroll and I think, Hell,
I'd run through a block for him. I'd make a
capful for him.
Speaker 10 (07:44):
And by the way, yeah, well it's.
Speaker 9 (07:50):
Because I'm on Bloomberg and I have so much respect
and admiration for all that Bloomberg does in the business world.
I'm going to give you an analogy. Pete Carroll maybe
seventy three. I know what Warren Buffett's ninety four, and
he's doing this just happens.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
I'm going to ask about Roger Goodell, NFL Commissioner, and recently,
at a press conference in New Orleans ahead of Sunday
Super Bowl, he said that, yeah, he wants to reach
eventually sixteen international games a year. What do you think
about that? Can that? Is that a realistic goal?
Speaker 9 (08:29):
You know, I worked closely with Roger for decades. I
maintain a tremnious relationship with him. I have a lot
of respect for all of his business acumen and other things.
You know, I'll note in that regard, I do think
it's realistic. Look, let me do the math for you.
And by the way, every single person in my village
family friends always groans when I say I'm going to
do the math on air, because quite often there's an error.
(08:52):
But even I can do this math. Thirty two divided
in half is sixteen. So as long as there are
thirty two teams, and I don't see expansion in the future,
certainly not in the near future, sixteen can work.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
Do you think they'll increase a number of games played
in order to accommodate this international schedule?
Speaker 9 (09:10):
I think the number of games will be increased to
eighteen at some point. I think that's the case, whether
they go to sixteen International Games or not. Look, going
back to the doing the math thing, I like eighteen
rather than seventeen, just because then the math is easier
to do when it comes to calculating win loss records.
(09:31):
I do think we'll see eighteen.
Speaker 10 (09:33):
You know, Amy, the the NFL coaching council is in
full swing. We know about Aaron Glen to the Jets,
Schottenheimer to the Cowboys. You know John Cruden, you know,
I mean he was the one who was originally brought
in to coach the Raiders to give them stability. And
you know, my question is what about him? What about
coach Mike McCarthy, what about what's to happened with Bill Belichick,
(09:53):
you know, going to North Carolina and leaving the NFL behind.
I mean some of these older coaches, I mean, is
there still room for them in the well?
Speaker 9 (10:00):
I certainly don't think age should be the limitation, and
the Raiders just demonstrated that with the hiring of Pete Carroll.
Will those men end up back in the league. I
don't know the answer to that. I wouldn't be surprised
if some of them did. As to the John Gruden issue,
there's so much focus on who leaked the emails, why
(10:21):
they were leaked. I have a view as to who
leaked them. I have a view as to why they
were leaked. But it's disappointing to me that so many
focus on the emails rather than focusing on the content
of those emails. Those emails contained racist, homophobic, misogynistic comments,
and a team that were to hire John Back has
(10:44):
to realize that in so doing that sounds a message
within the organization.
Speaker 10 (10:49):
Amy, how do you defend Patrick Mahomes? And let me
ask you, let me put some context around this. I mean,
he's an amazing player. I mean he's tough enough to
defend as it is, but you know, with the reps
and the lack of replay and I don't want to
say flops, but yeah, flops.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
How do you.
Speaker 10 (11:03):
Defend, as the Philadelphia Eagles defense Patrick Mahomes in the
Super Bowl?
Speaker 9 (11:08):
Well, the words of Aretha Franklin come to mind, say
a little prayer. He is extraordinarily hard to defend. I
do not buy into the the refs have the fix in.
There's a conspiracy.
Speaker 6 (11:23):
They're trying.
Speaker 9 (11:27):
I don't buy into that at all. And by the way,
he did apologize for what he did on the sideline
during a pre game. You know, there's Handlan's razor. Never
attribute to mendacity that which can be explained by error
or by mistake. And yes, I'm toning down Handlan's razor
a bit. I don't think the fix is in for
(11:48):
the Chiefs at all. Now, how do you defend against
Patrick Mahomes. That's where I will go back to Aretha Franklin.
You've got to find a way to keep him as
contained as possible, and that's very, very hard to do.
But the Eagles have a terrific defense, and look at
it on the other side as well, the Chiefs have
(12:09):
to do that with respect to Jalen Hurts. So I'm
excited to see what Spagnola has in mind in that regard.
I think he's the best defensive coordinator in the league.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Our thanks to Amy Trask for joining us. She's the
former CEO for the then Oakland Raiders, currently an analyst
for CBS Sports, and author of the book You Negotiate
Like a Girl. Up next on this special Big Game
edition of The Bloomberg Business of Sports. We'll talk with
two people about private equity stakes in a team that
(12:38):
just fell shy of the Big Game this year, for
my colleagues Damien Sassauer and Scarlett Fum Michael Barr. You're
listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports Bloomberg Radio around
the world.
Speaker 8 (12:53):
Right.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports where we explored
the big money issues in the world of sports on
Michael Barr along with my colleague Damian Sasauer. It is
a special Big Game edition of the show today as
we get ready for the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City
Chiefs to face off in Super Bowl fifty nine. Our
colleagues from Bloomberg Originals and across our Bloomberg newsroom went
(13:27):
down to New Orleans this week. We'll hear some of
their conversation later on in the program, including with NFL
Hall of Famer Joe Montana. Before we get there, we
turned to a franchise that had big Super Bowl dreams
this year but just fell short whole season for Buffalo.
Speaker 6 (13:46):
On the line, here there come. He just desperately throws
it up in the air. And complete kincaid.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Was right there, while superstar quarterback Josh Allen and the
Buffalo Bills are licking their wounds for fall short against
the Chiefs again this year. Overall, the errow is pointing
up for the franchise, and on the business side, a
lot of investors are excited about the bills prospects. Joining
us now are Teresa Gal and Tom Conahead. Teresa is
(14:15):
a co founder and managing partner a venture capital firm,
A Crew Capital, and Tom is head of the capital
markets group at McDermott, Will and Emery. A Crew is
among the firms to make a private equity investment in
those Buffalo Bills. They're both here to talk about the
Bills and private equity in the NFL and more. Teresa, Tom,
(14:37):
Welcome to the Bloomberg Business of Sports.
Speaker 11 (14:39):
Thank you for having us.
Speaker 5 (14:40):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
You got some coin in the Buffalo Bills. Teresa, I'll
start with you tell us a bit about that.
Speaker 11 (14:47):
So the investment in the Bills is in some ways
the realization of a childhood dream and also in some
ways not that different from my day job of twenty
five years, which is being a minority investor. Sure in
tech companies. Obviously, this is different in my hometown football team.
So it was when the opportunity arose uh and I
(15:09):
was able to chat with the Pagoula family. I just
I couldn't pass it up. It's something that has been
important to my family since since I was a small
kid and my parents and I immigrated to the Buffalo area.
Dad was seasoned ticket holder and raised me and my
sister to be Bill's fans. He even used math to
(15:32):
use football to teach my sister math. So Andre Reid
was number eighty three, and so she learned addition and subtraction,
but also multiplication eight times three. I use that myself
with my own kids to build the third generation of
Bill's Mafia and my family by asking the kids questions
like how many different ways can you get to nine
(15:52):
in a football game? Oh?
Speaker 2 (15:54):
See, this is.
Speaker 10 (15:57):
Andre Bruce Smith.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
You you did because I'm I'm a big NASCAR fan
and my oldest son who loves Nascar two when he
was little, That's how I taught him numbers. I said,
what number is that? That's for sweet Daddy, that's Ritchie Petty.
I'm like, yeah, boy, that's the way to do it.
I'm proud of you.
Speaker 6 (16:21):
Man well to me.
Speaker 10 (16:21):
So let's take a step back for our audience. You're
the co founder and managing partner of a Crew Capital.
You're a Stanford, You're Brown, you're engineering, You're an MBA.
You know, you have sat on boards for so many
tech companies and now here you're an owner of the
Buffalo Bills. You know, talk to us a little bit
about that process, how you got there, what was it like.
Speaker 11 (16:40):
So the process in some ways is very parallel to
my day job, right, which is when I heard about
the opportunity that the Poula family was thinking of bringing
on minority investors, and my day job as being a
minority investor. So oftentimes the key thing is finding a
connection to the majority owner, in this case Terry and
(17:02):
his family, and then making your case for why you
are passionate about the company, in this case the Bills,
but also what you can bring to the group, understanding
that you're going to be just a minority owner, so
not get in the way, but add value when asked
(17:22):
in appropriate way. So that in that way, that was
the same. Now, the part that was different in this
world I had over to Tom is you know I've
had the good fortune to be involved in several multi
billion dollar IPOs and public companies from Trulia to Facebook
in the early days. And I got to say, the
(17:44):
legal process in becoming a minority owner in the NFL, Uh, you.
Speaker 10 (17:49):
Know, it's a.
Speaker 6 (17:52):
It's a lot.
Speaker 11 (17:52):
I spent a lot more time with Tom than I
have with other of my attorneys.
Speaker 10 (17:56):
Well, Tom, let's bring in Tom co, head of the
Capital Markets Group at MCDNERHM Will and Emery talked to
us about what that data room must have looked, like
what level of transparency. I mean, did Teresa have to
I mean, did they go back to her early years,
like when she was two six months old? I mean,
what did they need to do? What diligence did they require.
Speaker 5 (18:14):
Let's put it this way, damn. Like the professional sports leagues,
the NFL is not alone cares deeply about who their
owners are, right, It's really central to their mission, Like
what is the mission of the league? Protect the product
on the field, make sure you never alienate your fans
or lose their trust. And that starts with knowing who
your owners are in every team. Right, So of course
(18:35):
they asked a lot of detailed questions. They wanted to
know a lot of things about Teresa her other investments,
and Teresa had to produce a lot of information to
satisfy them for sure.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Well, Tom, and I want to get more into that,
you know, because I want to buy a share of
the Detroit Lions. Yes, I do. Really, I love my Alliance, so.
Speaker 11 (18:56):
I was hoping for Alliance Bill super Bowl, Oh my eye.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Will always We're going to go off in another direction, Tom,
what questions are they going to ask? And they're going
to ask me about that embarrassing spoon thing.
Speaker 5 (19:10):
I think you'll be okay with that, Michael. Really, what
they're concerned about are, you know, conflicts of interests? Right
that the leagues Again, they want to make sure that
the fans trust the product on the field and that
the level of competition is accurate, right, and that everyone's
operating on a level playing field. So they want to
(19:30):
know that the owners in the various ownership groups don't
have interests that might either in fact or in appearance,
create some conflict of interest.
Speaker 6 (19:40):
Right.
Speaker 5 (19:40):
There are salary caps, so they want to know that
owners don't have other outside relationships with players that might
be arguable arguably and runs around salary caps, and they
want to know that the owners don't have investments in
industries that might either in fact or in appearance, you know,
eight drama for the league, right, they want to avoid
(20:02):
any ownership drama and keep all the eyeballs on the
product on the field, and that's what the league's mission is.
Speaker 10 (20:08):
Teresa, you are the co founder of Aspect Ventures. You're
a treasurer Brown University. I mean, you're a Forbes one
hundred top one hundred on every list you can ever imagine.
You probably still sit on a lot of other boards.
How do you have time also to be a passive
investor in the in the bills? I mean, what's the
ask on you from a time perspective?
Speaker 2 (20:28):
When you're a Buffalo's bills?
Speaker 6 (20:30):
You're not passive.
Speaker 11 (20:34):
The fair point. So the great thing about it is
that it doesn't have any specific requirement unlike my day job,
where you know, I'm making an investment and I'm asked
to be on a board.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
It's really more.
Speaker 4 (20:51):
People.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
You know.
Speaker 11 (20:51):
The ask is have the financial wherewithal and pass all
of the requirements to be accepted into the group and
then be there as a resource to the the other owners,
the other minority owners. We also brought in one of
the first private equity investment groups in Arctose in the NFL,
and obviously to the Pagoula family and then to the
(21:13):
to the one Bills Drive leadership, to Pete Welly and
the others. But it's really more, Hey, they know we're fans,
they know what are other areas of expertise are, and
then they will they ask us from time to time
to do certain things. So I had a call recently
with somebody who's looking to grow the Bills data analytics
team because in my day job of investing in tech
(21:33):
companies and so, but that's really more like I want
to do it. Oh great, I can be helpful there.
I'm you know, I wish I, you know, could catch
up fourth and five, but that's not going to happen.
So you got to find ways where you can add.
So it's really just that's really what it is, winding
finding ways to be helpful when asked, Well.
Speaker 10 (21:51):
Let me ask you this, because you know, I'm not
a venture investor in the tech sector, right, and I
would imagine that some of these businesses that you've invested
in started as a project of passion, right, And so
what you're saying to me, and it's kind of interesting,
is you didn't invest in the Buffalo Bills to get
an ROI. You know, you invested because it's a passion
for you. And I wonder, is that very different than
(22:12):
what you've done in your history.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
It's a great question.
Speaker 11 (22:16):
It's actually very similar because in my startups they are
often three people, four people. So the initial investment interest
to learn more is because of the passion, the passion
of the founders in this case, the passion of the team,
but also Bill's mafia obviously near and dear to my heart.
(22:38):
But when I actually pull the trigger after going through
the diligence sign, the veritable check, that has to be
a financial ROI investment. And it was the same here
as some of the things we already spoke about with
regards to the entrance of private equity into the NFL
for franchises as minority owners, and even just recently I
(23:01):
think you guys were talking about in one of your
last podcasts. I mean, the viewership for NFL has never
been higher in our crazy media twenty four to seven world.
And you know, my Bills set a record in the
Ravens game, right, and then again in the Chiefs game
from a viewership perspective, So to me, it starts with passion,
(23:24):
but the diligence piece always has to look to me
like a good investment.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Well, and when I asked Tom as well on this,
because the Bills New York Governor Kathy Hokl is trying
to put a deal together to get a whole brand
new stadium, going take us through how that impacts trying
to be a minority investor in a team like the
(23:48):
Buffalo Bills.
Speaker 5 (23:50):
Well, certainly, like any investment, you're going to do diligence
on your target, on the business. And what's more important
to any team than where they play their games?
Speaker 8 (23:58):
Right.
Speaker 5 (23:59):
Focus and professional sports, not just the NFL right now
on all team owners is on their venues. Right, There's
been a lot of movement towards taking your arena or
your stadium from just a place that people go to
eight to ten times a year if you're an NFL team,
to a year round destination. And so everybody in professional sports,
especially the NFL, is focusing on upgrading their venues. And
(24:22):
that was certainly part of Teresa's calculus when she made
this investment, that the Bills are keeping up and going
to be having great venues in the future.
Speaker 10 (24:31):
Well, Tom McDermott, you know this isn't your first you
know kind of rodeo. You know, you've been involved in
other you know, I'm sure sports team, the Major League
Baseball MLS, you know, I'm looking NBA, National Hockey League,
You've done it all. How did this process differ from
some of those other processes? Like, how did the NFL
handle this where they on their game?
Speaker 2 (24:50):
Is this new for them?
Speaker 6 (24:51):
I mean it was new?
Speaker 5 (24:52):
I mean it was new. I mean everyone read that
the NFL owners opened up their doors to private equity
back in August, but this was act the first, if
not the second, well probably we'll call it the first.
The Miami deal and the Buffalo Bills deal were effectively
on the same timetable, so it was the first time
that the NFL was actually doing a live deal with
a pe investor.
Speaker 6 (25:12):
So it was new.
Speaker 5 (25:13):
So there was some you know, novelty to the transaction
from the NFL's perspective.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Our thanks to Teresa Gal, co founder and managing partner
at a Crew Capital, and Tom kind of hand of
the capital markets group at McDermott, Will and Emery for
joining us. Up next, we take you to New Orleans
and Radio Row for a few special conversations ahead of
a big game for my colleague Damian Sasaur. I'm Michael Lebar.
(25:39):
You're listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports or the
Bloomberg Radio around the world.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Thanks for joining us on the Bloomberg Business of Sports,
where we explored the big money issues in the world
of sports. It's Michael Barr. It's a special Big Game
edition of the show today as we look ahead to
Super Bowl fifty nine between the Chiefs and the Eagles.
It's a rematch of the Big Game from just a
few years ago where the Chiefs beat the Eagles thirty
eight thirty five. In twenty twenty three, Homes in trouble,
(26:18):
gets away, Mahomes racing with the batags on all.
Speaker 6 (26:22):
Inside of the twenty. He's taken down somehow.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Patrick Mahomes hurts.
Speaker 6 (26:33):
As all day. Now some rushers come. I'm gonna throw
it as foe as his arm contaken.
Speaker 8 (26:37):
With his weeow short and the Kansas City Chiefs have
won Super Bowl fifty seven.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Some of our colleagues went down to New Orleans this
week and rubbed shoulders with some of the biggest names
in sports. Bloomberg Original Sports correspondent Vanessa Perdomo caught up
with former Dallas Cowboys star Dez Bryant at Radio Row
and they talked about some of the late his trends
in football, including nil and his involvement in sports betting.
(27:04):
Let's take a listen.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
I guess I grew up playing sports all my life.
I love basketball, you know, so that's kind of where
you know, you know, I start and stop. You know,
I feel like I'm you know, make I don have
made good plays and good money.
Speaker 6 (27:20):
And also I'm also in the biding community.
Speaker 12 (27:24):
So for you, you know, obviously when you're not able
to be in it as a as a player, do
you think that there's some sort of way the sports
books or maybe you know, the league can try and
get current players involved, maybe even just getting them on
the back end of plays.
Speaker 6 (27:38):
Give them a piece, Yeah, give them a piece.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
You know.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
At the end of the day, I think it's going
to be more excitement for the fans, you know, for
the players. We just got to find a way to
where just to where it all makes sense. I got
ideas right now that I want to share, but I'm
giving them to fanatics, and you know they're gonna.
Speaker 6 (27:57):
Come say, try try and get these ideas, you feel me.
Speaker 13 (28:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 12 (28:02):
So another thing that you know you weren't able to
get in on when you were playing is nil in.
Speaker 6 (28:06):
College, I would have broke the bank.
Speaker 12 (28:08):
Yeah yeah, So how would you have navigated the system?
Speaker 3 (28:12):
I mean, I think I'm a natural. I have a
natural business mind. You know, before I even understood what
it was, just the way I thought, you know, I
wanted to have my own brand. One of one of
the guys I looked up to the most was MJ.
Before I even, like I said, before I even understood
what the brand was, I did understand that Jumpman logo
(28:35):
was different from that check And when I thought of
the Jumpman, I just thought of MJ.
Speaker 6 (28:41):
You know, I was like, Man, I want that.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
That's former Dallas Cowboys star Dez Bryant with Vanessa Perdomo
from Radio Row in New Orleans. Earlier this week. Bloomberg
US sports business reporter Randa Williams was there too, and
got a chance to talk with a current football star
who was looking beyond the big game and toward joining
a new team in the future. Cleveland Brown's edge Miles
(29:05):
Garrett recently made his desire to play for a new
team public. Let's listen in on his conversation about what
could be next for him with Randall Williams.
Speaker 7 (29:16):
I want to ask you. You requested a trade. You
don't need to get into details. You've been talking to
every other show about that. But when you're considering market,
you have a lot of endorsements, a lot of different
business opportunities. Do you think about state taxes, things like
that when you put in a trade request? Or is
it all about winning right now?
Speaker 13 (29:31):
It's all about winning. I mean that stuff will be
looked into afterward. Know, something becomes a little bit more
solid or tangible, but that's just doing research on know
wherever is next home base. But no, just focus on
winning and have an opportunity to go into the playoffs
and win.
Speaker 6 (29:48):
Now, let's talk about Cleveland a little bit.
Speaker 7 (29:49):
Talk about what the city has meant to You've been
there for a long time, You've worn that number ninety.
Speaker 6 (29:53):
Five Jersey forever.
Speaker 7 (29:55):
What has the city meant to you over your course
of being there?
Speaker 13 (29:59):
I mean, really become a second home for me. I've
loved my time there being part of the community, you know,
giving back, and uh, it's it's really become a part
of my family. Sure, I've loved my loved my time
and uh, you know it's it's it's been. It's been invaluable,
no learning, learning to be somewhere else, so far away
(30:22):
from home. You know, a lot of a lot of
different variables and new things, and it really helped my
journey into becoming a man professional how to the joy
of working with a lot of great people and meeting
a lot of great people. And you know, North Northeast
Ohios will always remain special for me.
Speaker 7 (30:38):
On the money side of things, I wonder have you
begun to think about what the next phase of your
career looks like. I know you're gonna you're thinking about championship,
where you're going next, But when you do eventually have
to hang up your cleats and working in office like
me or the people too are right or do something
along those lines, whether you're in a broadcasting booth, what
does the next phase of Miles Garrett look like?
Speaker 6 (30:57):
Have you thought about that you.
Speaker 13 (30:58):
Will only look like an office definitely not it won't
look like a broadcasting booth. No broadcasting, definitely not. You
might get me for like a special guest appearance on
one night only.
Speaker 6 (31:09):
Sure, you know.
Speaker 13 (31:11):
I want to, you know, focus on the things that
I've always loved doing. No photography, maybe being you know,
a Waldoff shooter I've always wanted to work with, not geo.
Maybe doing uh know some uh no sports myself, no
shooting different uh sports of different no great arenas, or
you know, continue working on some some literature, whether it's poetry,
(31:34):
uh short stories even uh some things I've working on currently,
which is like a a horror story about what and
get too deep into that, I will say it. It
kind of it deals with uh, you know, the anxiety
(31:54):
of moving away from from home for the first time.
They'll be come don stepping into that role of being
a and no going into college, but also no suffering
from from the pressures of being an athlete and different
different conditions that come with that.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
That's current Cleveland Brown star Miles Garrett speaking with our
own Randa Williams from New Orleans ahead of the Big Game.
NFL Hall of Famer and four time Super Bowl champion
quarterback Joe Montana was also there, and Vanessa Brudomo got
a chance to talk with him about the state of
the league and touched on what he thinks about the
(32:32):
NFL increasing its presence internationally. Let's listen to some of
their conversation.
Speaker 12 (32:38):
Next Super Bowls in San Francisco. Are you mentally preparing
for that one already?
Speaker 8 (32:42):
Uh? Yeah. The last time it was there was fun
and it's you like to go visit places like New
Orleans and in New York and LA and everywhere else
they have it. But it's fun when it's in the
Bay Area. You don't have to fight traffic in the airport.
Speaker 6 (32:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 12 (33:00):
I can imagine you're a little busy though, doing all
the press and all that stuff that you have to do.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (33:05):
I stay busy through you know, a good portion of it,
you know, from Thursday. A little bit slower towards the
end of the week. But it's always it's always fun
to come here. You run into some old people and
you all tell the same old lies.
Speaker 12 (33:19):
Yeah. It does seem like the fraternity walking around radio
up for sure. So the NFL is thinking about going
to an eighteen game season, How do you what do
you think about that?
Speaker 8 (33:31):
I think it's okay as long as they shorten the
preseason games. Nobody likes the preseason games. I think the
preseason games are more for a test of you know,
the younger guys that are the draftees and some teams
that you made traded for during the off season.
Speaker 6 (33:49):
But yeah, I think it's okay.
Speaker 8 (33:52):
I mean, you're going to play that many games anyway,
but if they can shorten and keep that to the
first part to a minimum, I think it would be fine.
Everybody likes playing for.
Speaker 12 (34:02):
Real, right, Yeah, so the preseason games getting rid of
them wouldn't be super consequentially, you feel like to get
prepared for the season, No, I.
Speaker 8 (34:11):
Think you know nowadays, even when I was still with
the Chiefs, we we would go down and practice again.
Our facility, our summer workout was near the what's near
the actually the Saints, and so we would go down
and scrimmage them in the pre while we were getting
ready for training camp. So I think there's ways to
(34:32):
get around doing that and timing things up. And everybody
will have the same problem.
Speaker 12 (34:36):
As long as you're prepared going into the season.
Speaker 8 (34:38):
Yes, it'll be it'll be an advantage for some veteran teams.
Speaker 12 (34:42):
But that's fair, yeah, for sure. So the other thing
that the NFL is doing is adding a lot more
international games. We've seen that Australia got added. I mean,
that's that's quiet far away for travel.
Speaker 8 (34:53):
My friend already called me, Hey, are you coming to
tell the NFL to bring you down here?
Speaker 2 (35:01):
Leah?
Speaker 6 (35:01):
He's on So I saw you.
Speaker 12 (35:05):
You're excited about it? Is that not like as a
former player, what about if you were playing in those games?
Speaker 8 (35:09):
Well, they were going to take them down there plenty
of time ahead, it would be my guess. And I
think going international is fun. I mean we only went
for preseason when when I was playing, But I think
playing games for real, it's a lot more meaningful than
it's better for the fans of that country.
Speaker 12 (35:27):
Do you think do you see how global the game
of football has gotten since there's been more international football now?
Speaker 8 (35:34):
Oh yeah, oh yeah. And I think that has been
what the NFL realized was that's been the biggest downfall,
was that they didn't try to go global earlier.
Speaker 12 (35:43):
One of the things that we're seeing on the global
stage also is now that flag football has gotten added
to the Olympics for twenty twenty eight. What do you
think about that being added to the Olympics. Do you
think it's going to do even more for the NFL
and just football in general.
Speaker 8 (35:55):
I think that definitely would do more for football in general.
Is an Olympics sport? Who knows. I mean there's all
kind of crazy things in there. Yeah, right, so, but
it'll be fun for people to watch. It's always exciting,
balls always getting thrown around. They will help teach people
what football really is about.
Speaker 12 (36:15):
It remains to be seen if NFL players are going
to be able to play in it, or we're going
to want to play in it. Would you have played,
I mean Olympians a different title?
Speaker 6 (36:23):
Yeah, first, just.
Speaker 8 (36:24):
Think it's I think it's a little different than like
the NBA and all that. It's still a physical game
in the NBA, but I think that the what the
guys are making these days, I don't think the owners
will want to have them running around playing flag football
for the Olympics.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
That's fair.
Speaker 12 (36:44):
So what it is going to do is a lot
for women's flag football, right and now we're seeing that
as a big, big step.
Speaker 8 (36:50):
Yeah, you see that more and more everywhere that flag
is coming up instead of padded football stays to a
certain age, and I think that's fun. I think early
on for kids, pads are okay. I always say, because
when they're really little, it's like bunch, Paul right, nobody. Yeah,
they all go in a bunch, and then they all
fall down.
Speaker 12 (37:08):
You're not reading the playbook.
Speaker 8 (37:10):
And then what happens is when when one guy gets
all of a sudden, there's one or two guys that
grow faster than others, and that's when the game becomes difficult,
I think for kids in the contact side of it.
So yeah, I'm all for it and whatever. You know,
early on pads and then go the flags.
Speaker 12 (37:28):
Yeah, And last week got to ask, are you picking
your former team?
Speaker 1 (37:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 8 (37:32):
I got to it's hard to be. It's hard to
bet against them. I think everybody likes to see Philly win,
but it's hard to begin bet against the Jeez.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
That's NFL legend. Joe Montana speaking with our Vanessa Perdomo
this week from New Orleans on Radio Row. And that
does it for this special Big Game edition of The
Bloomberg Business of Sports. For my colleagues Damian Sasauur and
Scarlett Fou, I'm Michael Barr Special thanks to Bloomberg original
sports correspondent for US A Predomo, Thank you, and Bloomberg
(38:02):
US sports business reporter Randall Williams for their work down
in New Orleans and the crew that went down that'sh. Sebastian.
Thank you and thanks for joining us and enjoy the game.
Tune in again next week for the latest on the
stories moving big money in the world of sports, and
don't forget to catch our podcast on all your podcast platforms.
(38:24):
You're listening to Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio
around the world.
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