April 25, 2025 • 38 mins
Join hosts Michael Barr and Vanessa Perdomo for a look at some of the latest headlines and stories in the business of sports.
The Atlanta Braves, the country’s only publicly traded Major League Baseball team, is facing off against the US tax code in a lonely battle that threatens to cost the franchise millions. Bloomberg News Finance reporter Bill Allison on the Atlanta Brave’s tax-hike battle over player pay.
Then, David Abrams, founding partner of private equity firm Velocity Capital Management, and Unique Sports Group CEO Will Salthouse on Velocity's recently announced investment into USG, a leading football (soccer) talent representation agency based in the UK.
Plus, Matchroom Boxing Chairman Eddie Hearn on the state of the sweet science, his promotion's big event next week in NYC, as well as the emergence of one of the world's top fighter's, Jaron "Boots" Ennis
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.
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We really appreciate when our owners are actually there, you know,
with us through the journey.
Speaker 4 (00:19):
Teams ours especially have been very intentional to diversify at
all levels of the company.
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I think we're in bolden years for the NFL and
college football.
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Our demographic reach has continued to expande.
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This is going to be really unlocking the streaming platform
for sports fans.
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Sports evaluations are rising.
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We'll see when they peak.
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You don't have to be the best in your sport
to make a whole ton of money.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports, where we explore
the big money issues in the world of sports. I'm
Michael Barr, along with Vanessa Bernomo, my colleagues Scarlett Fou
and Damian Sasaur would join us later on in the show.
Coming up, we speak with Matt Troom Boxing chairman Eddie Hearn.
We'll talk about the big fight coming to New York
(01:08):
City on May second, plus get his take on the
state of the.
Speaker 7 (01:12):
Sport just bonkers. The whole thing is bonkers and bizarre.
Speaker 8 (01:16):
But boxing right now, in boxing's really rocketed over MMA
in my opinion, in the last twelve months, and it's
just non stop.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Every single week, plus we'll check in on a leading
sports private equity firm and one of its newest biggest investments.
All that is on the way on the Bloomberg Business
of Sports. But first, they had a lot of Braves.
They are the MLB's only publicly traded club in America
and they could get hit with a huge tax bill.
(01:47):
For more on the unique situation facing the Braves and
what it's trying to do to get out of it,
we welcome Bloomberg's Bill Allison. Bill, Welcome to the Bloomberg
Business of Sports.
Speaker 5 (01:58):
Well, thanks for having me on.
Speaker 7 (02:00):
Appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
You wrote an article recently and it involves the Atlanta Braves.
They are the only publicly traded Major League Baseball team
in America and they have a problem because now they're
facing off against the US tax code and it threatens
to cost the franchise millions. Can you explain what this
is all about.
Speaker 5 (02:20):
There's a provision in the tax code that only applies
to publicly traded companies. And this is something that goes
back to the nineteen nineties, to the when corporate greed
was first becoming an issue. Bill Clinton ran and in
nineteen ninety two promising to end excess executive pay. Obviously
didn't quite do it, but one of the ways that
(02:41):
they tried to do it was by preventing companies from
deducting the salaries of their top executives. And this was
passed in nineteen ninety three. It's been around for years
and years. It's been modified by different times, and most recently,
what they did is they added the top five paid
executive employees, where you know, people who are not like
(03:02):
CEO and chief financial officer and so on. And that's
sort of where the braves come in. Because they're a
publicly traded company. There are pay players ten million, fifteen million,
eighteen million dollars. They give these big contracts so that
they can compete, and suddenly they can't deduct those as
expenses anymore, and that's going to increase their tax bill.
Speaker 9 (03:23):
You know, it's interesting because I could imagine that when
they have, you know, put these bills in place, and
I feel like you mentioned it in your story that
this wasn't really something they thought about that it was
going to affect professional sports teams.
Speaker 5 (03:35):
Yeah, it's really funny. I talked to a lot of
compensation executives or consultants and tax lawyers and kind of
everybody would say at the end of it, I just
can't imagine Congress meant this to apply to a professional
sports team. But you know, the rules are the rules,
and that's kind of how they're written. And the Braves
have hired lobbyists, they're working on Capitol Hill to try
to talk to Congress about this, and but yeah, I mean,
(03:58):
this is very much an un tended consequence of something
that you know, is really designed to raise revenue from
companies that where basically the employees aren't the product. I mean,
if you think about why people go to see the
Atlanta Braves, it's to see Akuna is to see their players,
and that's just like central to everything that they do.
Yet if they're going to get taxed by for it.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
And this is the difference here like a privately owned
team like the New York Mets and Steve Goin that's
why he can pay all this money to Juan Soto
and this and that with seven hundred and sixty five
million dollars over fifteen years. But the Braves, you can't
compete with that. In the Toronto Blue Jays, they are
(04:44):
a publicly traded company, but they really aren't going to
have a problem because, according to the company spokesman, it's
not going to have a meaningful impact from the US
tax provision.
Speaker 5 (04:56):
The Blu Jays have revenues in the you know, they
they're part of a a big conglomerate. It's a big
media company. And one of the things that folks said
about this is is that you know, with tax planning,
you can set things up so that you move losses
around and you can kind of offset these penalties. But
the problem for the Braves is is that, you know,
we're about ninety percent of the revenue comes from the
(05:18):
baseball team. They also own some property and some other things,
but really it's the team that's the business, and so
they don't really have that option where Okay, well, we're
just going to take a huge loss in this division
and that's going to offset what we would owe in
taxes for these player contracts, and so that's really going
to put a straight jacket on the Braves, And you know,
as you said, you know, if you're sitting down with
(05:39):
an agent, you've got to be thinking, you know, well,
I'd love to sign this player, but you know, I've
got to think of the tax implications of it, not
just my normal budgetary implications.
Speaker 9 (05:51):
When we're talking about private companies, like Michael mentioned, they're
the Mets and the Dodgers and the Yankees and all
these teams who spend a ton of money, but they
do have the luxury tax to deal with, right, That's
MLB's tax that they put on them. Is that anywhere comparable?
Like is it kind of playing in the same ballgame,
but just for basically getting taxed by different people.
Speaker 5 (06:12):
I think the difference there is that, yes, you know,
there is a luxury tax on and the Braves have
been I think this is the first year that they've
been under the cap, but they were over it, you know,
the last year's. I mean, they've obviously been a very
successful team. They've won the World Series in twenty twenty one,
series of division championships, their perennial playoff team, and they have,
like you know, they're in the top third of payrolls
(06:33):
and they were over that I think the difference there, though,
is is that this is something that every team has
to contend with, whereas the deductibility of the of the
salaries of their star players is something that they're the
only team that's going to have to deal with this.
This is one extra expense that nobody else in baseball has.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Glad you said, it's more than just baseball, because it
will affect Madison Square Garden Sports. They own the NBA's
Knicks and the NHL's New York Rangers. For some reason,
They're going to fall under this same rule.
Speaker 5 (07:12):
Yeah, it's a publicly traded company which owns the Knicks
and the Rangers, so it'll affect them too. I reached
out to them, they didn't want to talk about it,
they didn't respond to or they basically didn't comment. As
far as I can tell looking at congressional disclosures, they
have not hired lobbyists, so but I'm sure this is
(07:34):
going to be an issue for them. And one of
the problems with the team is that you know that
Madison Square Garden Group and its owner James Dolan and
the Dolan family have a long history of basically getting
special tax breaks and tax deals and that kind of
makes them a little bit more of an unpopular client
(07:55):
in the way that I think that the Braves sort
of are right.
Speaker 9 (07:59):
I wanted to mention in there you obviously talked about
the Braves have hired lobbyists. So what are they trying,
you know, to get the to do.
Speaker 6 (08:09):
I mean we've.
Speaker 9 (08:10):
Spoken kind of about maybe this isn't what Hungers wanted,
you know, with the professional sports teams being a thing.
So are they trying to speak to people there and say, hey,
can you just like amend the law to not include
sports teams or in your in your piece, you mentioned
that you know, both sides of the parties are kind
of for this rule.
Speaker 5 (08:30):
Yeah, so you know, I think that the simplest thing
to do would be if, you know, Congress could write
an exemption and something along the lines of, you know,
this this rule called one sixty two am shall not
apply to a professional sports team or to a corporation
that makes its money from running a professional sports team.
(08:54):
I mean, I think you could word it, you know,
could word in a way that it's very limited. Obviously
that might make the teams, you know, we're Yeah, I
seriously don't think there's any corporation that would go to
the expense and paying billions of dollars for a team
just to save money on the compensation when you're talking
(09:16):
about these big multinational conglomerates that this is supposed to
apply to. But it would get the Braves off the
hook in that sense for the taxes, and you would
think that that's sort of the kind of thing that
you know, you would be able to do. But again,
this is this is Congress, which is not the most
functional organization on earth. So you know, it's I think
(09:40):
is questionable whether that's going to happen or not.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Yeah, I was just going to ask that it's the
principle of what you're saying is there. But the chances
of this happening, I don't know how it's going to
go through in.
Speaker 5 (09:54):
This Congress exactly. And when you think about everything that
the Trump administration has propos everything from reducing taxes on
tips and Social Security benefits, and it's a whole host
of things that they've promised, and you know, the you know,
while it's very important to the Braves and Braves fans,
(10:16):
you know, I'm wondering just how important an issue in
Congress it's going to be that, you know, the payroll
of of a baseball team, the deductibility of it compared
to all of these other issues.
Speaker 9 (10:28):
I guess that's fair, right for sure, And while they're
still playing well, it doesn't seem like it would matter
to them at the current moment. But when we're talking
about you said signing free agents and things like that,
is is something is a creative way for something to
get around that? Adopting a show hey Otani sort of
(10:48):
a model where they sign a free agent but delay
some of the contracts so that maybe not everyone is
being hit in the same year.
Speaker 6 (10:57):
Is that?
Speaker 9 (10:58):
Is that a creative way to get around it? So
if this goes into effect, how do they you know,
get there?
Speaker 5 (11:06):
So that's you know, that's a good question. There used
to be an loophole in this rule where if you
were paying people based on performance rather than you know,
basically an incentive laden contract, that that wouldn't be taxable.
But the problem there is which player is going to say, well,
(11:28):
I'm going to take an incentive based contract rather than
a guaranteed contract. I mean, there's you know, I think
and of course that exemption no longer exists, so you know,
among the things they could do. They could try to
take the team private. I mean, that would be one
way to get out of this. You know, it's really
just because they're publicly traded that they're subject to this.
Another option would be, you know, and I think that
(11:53):
that's I'm sorry, that's really the only option that that
they have unless Congress acts to do something to get
them out of And of course the other option, the
last option, is they could trim back their sales and
not pay their players as much and you know, and basically,
you know, assume that they're going to be paying these taxes.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Bloomberg campaign finance reporter Bill Allison on his recent story
on the Atlanta Braves, always dropping some knowledge on us,
we appreciated. Thank you, Bill, Thank you both. Our thanks
to Bloomberg's Bill Allison for joining us up. Next, we
turn to private equity and a big new investment from
a leading sports private equity firm, or Vanessa Perdomo. I'm
(12:38):
Michael Barm. You're listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports
from Bloomberger Radio around the world.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
This is Bloomberg Business Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
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 Scarlett fu and Damian Sasauur Vanessa Perdomo,
will be back later in the show. Velocity Capital Management
is a top private equity firm with a big focus
on sports. It just announced a new strategic investment in
(13:24):
Unique Sports Group, a top five ranked UK based football
talent representation agency. For more on the investment, the growth
of sports in the private equity world, and of course soccer,
we welcome David Abram's co founder and managing partner at
Velocity Capital Management, and Will Saldhause, CEO at Unique Sports Group.
(13:45):
David and Will, welcome to the Bloomberg Business of Sports.
Speaker 10 (13:48):
Thanks Mike, Thank you David.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
I'm going to start with you because with Velocity Capital Management,
you guys are a private equity firm when it comes
to acquiring sports teams, and you guys have been in
the business for sixty years, but especially now, you guys
are like biscuits, honey and butter. You guys are a
hot commodity.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
That's a great combination, biscuits, honey and butter. I'm gonna
have to try that. It's definitely an active time for us.
I think, as we've talked about, you know, we've chosen
to not focus on investing in sports teams, but the
activity in the broader ecosystem continues.
Speaker 10 (14:25):
To be, you know, very active. And you know, our.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
Partnership with Will and Unique Sports Group you know, goes
back three years and is a transaction we're excited to
talk to you about.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
So Will, let's bring you into this conversation and talk
to us a little bit about what Unique Sports Group
does and why it fits in to a private equity
ownership model where there can be synergies and other points
of commonalities between the different parts and Velocity's holdings.
Speaker 11 (14:56):
Well, first I'll answer the first question, which is what
we do. Obviously, we represent footballers you call it soccer players.
We mainly that involves contraction, negotiation and negotiating their contract
between clubs. And I started on that journey eighteen years
(15:16):
ago by representing a friend and soon became a player
in the space of lower league football where I saw
a gap in the market, players that weren't represented, given
given a voice pretty much, where a lot of people
overlooked them and went straight to the top league. I
looked at what did you call in baseball, be called
(15:38):
the minor leagues, right, So I was scouted the minor
leagues and found some players that really came through and
shot through those leagues to the premier league, and I
kind of rode the way for them, and that's where
unique Sports is today.
Speaker 6 (15:52):
Obviously, we used I think a different type of strategy.
Speaker 11 (15:56):
At that time, which was data, which now is obviously
very evident right the way through soccer and football. But
I did that on my own by buying the local
newspaper at the time and making my own data on
the games, and waiting outside players lounges and waiting outside
training grounds and meeting.
Speaker 6 (16:14):
Up with guys and saying, look, could I give you
a voice?
Speaker 11 (16:16):
Could I go and speak to some of these clubs
on your behalf, because I think you're an undermarket product.
And I was very lucky that I got in front
of guys who had elite talent and they gave me
the opportunity and we really never looked back from there.
Since then, we've built i'd say the largest independent football
agency in the world, with a level of clients that
we've got on transfer market, the values, the number of
(16:39):
agents the number of transactions in the UK market. To
answer the second question, where there's a Velocity and David's
team fit into that, we are now on a journey
where we've grown the business organically. We were looking for
a partner that had the same vision really about unique
as what we did, which was, look, this is a
business that can really they've got something special. It's something
(17:02):
that can go into a global structure with other verticals.
And as soon as I sat down with David and
the Velocity team, it was really clear to me that
these guys just they had exactly the same vision as
I did for where we wanted to go. And I
had various approaches that I'd kind of batted off over
the eighteen years from major sport management or entertainment businesses,
(17:25):
and for one reason or another, we didn't.
Speaker 6 (17:27):
Do those deals.
Speaker 11 (17:28):
And it's obviously going to pay dividends now because we've
we've now got our same principles, but now we've got
more firepower as such.
Speaker 6 (17:35):
To go into the market and look at agents like.
Speaker 11 (17:39):
Myself who are independent and giving them a home and
a platform that they wouldn't have otherwise.
Speaker 4 (17:45):
The needs of the business and the dynamics of the
business are intact regardless of what may be happening politically
in the US or overseas in Europe. But I wonder
how much the economic uncertainty that is really come across
over the last three four weeks has affected the negotiations
(18:07):
or the timing of this deal. Did that come into
play at all?
Speaker 1 (18:11):
David?
Speaker 3 (18:12):
Well, well, I'll turn over the question of you first
on how you view tariffs, and then I'll talk a
little bit about our perspective.
Speaker 11 (18:19):
Yeah, but there's no tariffs on football, so there's but
there's a lot of uncertainty and people are nervous and
they don't want to commit to anything, right.
Speaker 10 (18:29):
Yeah, Charlyn I had. That's Will's famous line. So he
was from an investment perspective.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
One of the very exciting aspects of Unique is it's
incredible foundational business in the Premier League. The Premier League
by far has the largest global media rights deal and
continues to grow internationally. The value of the international media
rights deal for the Premier League is significantly larger than
(18:59):
all the other European football leagues put together, right, and
so irrespective of the economic environment, these are long term
meteorites deals that means clubs will have a very consistent
revenue stream, and our perspective is as capital flows in
to acquire teams and to grow their commercial operations, it's
(19:20):
critical to be successful on the field, and Unique is
effectively a partner to owners of professional football clubs on
putting the best players on.
Speaker 10 (19:31):
The field so they can you know, succeed. So we didn't.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Obviously the economic environment is something that we're watching, you know,
as a private equity firm, but it did not have
a direct impact on you know, the final structure and
pricing of the deal.
Speaker 12 (19:46):
The Premier League this transfer window, if my numbers are right,
and for our audience, three hundred and seventy million pounds
spent during the winter window, is that right?
Speaker 7 (19:54):
Talk to us a little bit.
Speaker 12 (19:55):
About how you approach these transfer windows, how does it work.
Speaker 11 (19:58):
What we're dealing with right now is kind of the
floating period, which you'd call where clubs are looking at
who they're going to take and obviously at the moment
we're speaking to many people and finding out it's required.
We call it requirements, and there will be a requirement
which will be a certain type of profile for each
position which a club will or a manager and a
(20:21):
recruitment team will work out what that requirement is in
regards to what is it the general requirement of each
player in each position and what do they want from
that player, and then off the back of that, then
the names will start to move in the next few months,
and then as we get into the transfer window opening,
and then it starts to get manic because obviously clubs
(20:44):
go after their first targets. A lot of other clubs
are obviously on the same first target. Then a club
misses the first target, they're working on the second, and
so on, so forth. And as we move down the
transfer windown, when you get into the last week, that's
when complete bedlam and mayhem sets in, when people realize
that they're not got their fifth or sixth or even
(21:04):
their eighth target, and they're literally running around thinking we
need to fill positions. And that's where obviously the workload
steps up for an agent right the way through the TRANSFORDO.
But look, clubs from when I started eighteen years ago
a far more organized and they're far more efficient than
they've ever been.
Speaker 6 (21:23):
At recruitment and have a bigger team, and.
Speaker 11 (21:26):
They're a lot more strategic, whereas eighteen going back right
the way through, they weren't as organized, weren't as strategic,
and wouldn't have as many people in the recruitment department.
Speaker 6 (21:38):
Obviously, now we've got so many different tools that have
come into the.
Speaker 11 (21:42):
Game that have made it a lot more innovation.
Speaker 6 (21:45):
Especially in recruitment.
Speaker 11 (21:47):
It's been completely dynamic over the last four or five
years to how it used to be. The moneyball, which
you'd see, which you're probably aware of, is very evident
within the Premier League.
Speaker 6 (21:57):
You know that concept.
Speaker 12 (21:58):
Are you seeing greater competition for sound investments in the
space or are you able to uncover more unique sports groups?
Are there opportunities about.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
There certainly are a lot of firms that are focusing
on this broader ecosystem. What we try to say is
we stick to what we do and what we know best,
which is being a very operationally focused private equity firm
and partnering with fantastic founders and management teams. And I
think the difference in a lot of the organizations that
(22:28):
have come on the air and that you talk to
is they're either focusing on investing in sports teams, which
we don't do. Some cases, they're just very passive minority
investors in someone else's business and we.
Speaker 10 (22:40):
Don't do either of those.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
We are a very active partner and that was an
important part of how Will and I organize the structure.
Speaker 10 (22:49):
He didn't want us capital and.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
No, we're running out of time. One source of money
is out there, and that's from Saudi Arabia. They just
recently announced that they were going to invest a lot
of money in boxing and bring it back to the
level of the old Don King era. How much of
competition is that when you're dealing with that much money
(23:12):
that is out there for you games.
Speaker 11 (23:14):
I think Saudi, as you've seen obviously, have the World
Cup approaching in I think it's ten years. I think
if you look at what they're doing right the way
through sport, they're here to stay. They're not just going
investing in talent as far as players, they're actually investing
in infrastructure, sporting directors' CEOs and now stadium's training grounds.
Speaker 6 (23:38):
They're taking it very seriously, and it's the first one
to say they're here to stay for the long term.
And it will take time.
Speaker 11 (23:45):
It's going to take time in their national team to
see the changes and see the improvement. But I think
in the next five to six years you'll see how
strong the league has been. I think each year it's
going to improve and look me personally spending a lot
of time in that market. Obviously, I just broken the
deal in January which is the largest transfer deal of
(24:08):
John Duran from Aston Villa, who's who's a young player
at twenty one, who decided that he wanted to go
and plan right Nowo's team and drive it forward. And
I know he's enjoying it. So it shows the intent
from that of where they want to go. But I
think I don't want to get away. I want to
try and get away from that. They're not just buying
(24:28):
players that they are investing in infrastructure and investing in
really experienced people to drive to drive everything forward. And
I think I would say watch this space to where
it can go, and I can see it being one
of the top three top four leagues in world football.
Speaker 6 (24:46):
And it's quite exciting to be.
Speaker 11 (24:48):
Involved and speaking to owners and teams who are at
a stage of building and that's where obviously, from my
experience over the last eighteen years, it's been great because
we've been able to go in and advise in a
consultancy capacity in a few places of our views on
how things are in the outside world with football.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
You know our thanks to both David Abrams and William
Salthouse for joining us. David is co founder and managing
partner at Velocity Capital Management and he is also former
CIO of Harris Blitzer's Sports and Entertainment and Will is
CEO at Unique Sports Group. Up next, we turned to boxing.
Big match coming up to the Big Apple next week
(25:31):
for my colleague Scarlett fu and Damian Sasauer. I'm Michael Barr.
Stay tuned for more of the Bloomberg Business of Sports
from Bloomberg Radio around the world.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Thanks for joining us on the Bloomberg Business of Sports,
where we explore the big money issues in the world
of sports. I'm Michael Barr along with my colleagues day
me In Sassaur and Vanessa Perdomo. There is a big
fight coming to the Big Apple on Friday May second.
Ryan Garcia makes a long way to return to the
ring against Raleigh Romero and here to get us excited
(26:14):
about the bout. See what I did there, plus do
a pulse check on the state of the world of boxing.
We welcome Totty Hernese, chairman of Matchroom Boxing. Addie, welcome
to the Bloomberg Business of Sports.
Speaker 7 (26:27):
Thanks for having me. Guys.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
Well, boxing it's making a big comeback, and I say
that because just recently Saudi Arabia and the boxing body
over there, they're putting a lot of money into boxing
to bring it back to the level of the Don
King era. Your thoughts about that, first she got Saudi
Arabia putting their money into it and boxing coming around,
(26:53):
playing big time with Muhammad Ali in the era that
I remember it very well as an old man.
Speaker 8 (26:59):
Your thought, Yeah, I mean I think boxing, to be
honest with you, is it's always hot. You know, every
business is cyclical, every sport is cyclical, and for many,
many years people have talked about, you know, boxings dying,
Boxing's broke, and I think it couldn't have been further
from the truth. Globally, the sport exists with the huge
(27:20):
commercial presence, but of course when Saudi Arabia comes along
with ambition and a lot of money as well and
starts making some of the big fights, it lifts the
entire ecosystem of the sport of boxing globally, and we've
seen that, you know, and we've seen huge fights in
read We've seen those huge fights in America. In Britain,
(27:41):
you know, we had Anthony Joshua ninety five thousand fighting
Daniel Dubois last September. This weekend we have been against
U Bank sixty five thousand. I mean, boxing's red hot.
And obviously now with like you said, the influx of
the Saudi Arabia investment, there's huge opportunities for everybody.
Speaker 12 (27:59):
What's dig into it, Daddy, I mean Tartanham, you know,
April twenty six kind of been Chris Eubank and then
I think in New York City Michael Barmy second, Ryan
Garcia against Riley Romero. I mean talked us a little
bit some of these matchups. I mean, it is peak primetime.
Speaker 8 (28:11):
Here is it night, Eddie, Yeah, I mean it's really
interesting the difference of the dynamics of the event. So
next weekend's a wild one. On Friday night, there's a
Ring Magazine event in New York. Now it's not a
Madison Square Garden, it's not the Barkley Center. It's in
the middle of Times Square. Get Out only with a
(28:32):
couple one hundred people, you know, Ring Magazine, Turkula, Shape.
Speaker 7 (28:35):
Match Room, Golden Boy.
Speaker 8 (28:36):
We are shutting down Times Square for this kind of
historic one off event that features Ryan Garcia against Rody Romero,
Devin Hainey against Ramirez, and tier Fimo Lopez against Barbosa,
kind of all of these real big young stars of
the sport. And if that wasn't enough, twenty four hours later,
(28:57):
Canelo Alvarez will fight for the first time in We
had Snaudi Arabia on the Saturday night early Sunday morning
and really had prime time for the American audience on
Cinco de Mayo.
Speaker 7 (29:08):
So it just bonkers. The whole thing is bonkers and bizarre.
Speaker 8 (29:12):
But boxing right now, in boxing's really you know, rocketed
over MMA in my opinion, in the last twelve months,
and it's just NonStop every single week.
Speaker 9 (29:22):
That is somewhat of a heart take, But I feel
like you did lay out some really good groundwork to
prove your point there. I want to talk a little
bit more about Ryan Garcia. You know, this is you know,
his first fight back after being suspended, and really he
was America's biggest or one of, you know, the biggest
top stars in boxing. Before that all happened, you really
made a name for himself on social media and things
(29:43):
like that. So do you think like him having a
comeback is great for the sport of boxing or is
it really a personal journey to get him back up top.
Speaker 8 (29:52):
Yeah, I mean I think that obviously, everything that happened
to him, he made mistakes, and you know, I think
psychologically he you know, had pretty much I think some
kind of mental and emotional breakdown en route. You know,
you saw his antics across social media, which is wild
really and it was sad to watch, you know, such
a great young fighter and personality and a great looking
(30:13):
kid just kind of unfold and unravel on social media
in front of your eyes. So I think that it's
good to see him back in the sport. You know,
he's served his band and he's ready to return, and
he's an exciting fighter, and you know, he's the kind
of young fighter that's going to invigorate that younger audience.
And that's as is a lot of the fighters on
the Times Square show.
Speaker 7 (30:34):
Next week, I want to talk.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
More about Ryan Garcia and what happened to him. According
to the New York State Athletic commission he failed a
drug test, so then the fight that he was in
was ruled a no contest with HAINI. Now the thing
of it is, I wonder if the punishment was too much,
(30:57):
because first of all, he got suspended for a year,
and then he had to pay a ten thousand dollars fine,
and then the one point one million dollars that he
made the commission rule that was going to the promoter.
I just want to get your thoughts. I mean, it's
it's unfortunate what happened. I'm just wondering your thoughts about
(31:19):
the punishment in general.
Speaker 8 (31:22):
Yeah, I mean, the promoters for the event were Golden Boy.
It's quite a bizarre thing for the money to go
back to the promoters. It's quite bizarre and unique. But
you know, I think in terms of the fine, we
have to really take a strict stance on performance enhancing
drugs within the sport. You know, there's always the element
of fighters that do get unlucky, and sometimes there is
cat contamination that can affect testing results. But nine times
(31:45):
out of ten, the fighter is generally guilty or the
team is guilty of some kind of cheating. So Ryan
protests his innocence. I guess we'll never know, But at
the same time, we have to make the sport as
clean and safe as possible. So if that crime was
in the un UK UK had the UK Anti Doping
Agency probably would have banned him a minimum of two years.
Speaker 7 (32:06):
So one year I think, you.
Speaker 8 (32:08):
Know, was fairly light in the respect of Ryan getting
himself right and returning to the sport. So you know,
one of the problems was he failed his drugstest the
day before the fight and on the night of the fight,
and you don't get those results back for a couple
of weeks after, so effectively he went into the fight
with those substances in his body, which of course is
(32:30):
an unfair advantage, it would seem, And in turn, the
New York State Athletic Commission ruled that it was a
no contest, So although Devin Haney lost on the night,
he actually remains undefeated. It is actually a wild turn
of events across the board. But I feel as though
it was handled correctly.
Speaker 10 (32:47):
Andy.
Speaker 12 (32:47):
I know you've been in the business like your whole life,
I mean, going back to your father, Barry Hearn, I
mean you've been the bathroom specifically since two thousand, So
promoting one fighter and losing him to another promoter. I
mean this happens all the time. And the reason I
ask is because Schakure Stevenson twenty three and Oh eleven KOs.
Speaker 7 (33:02):
Is he still going to fight to Peter?
Speaker 8 (33:03):
Yes, he finds a paid in July to what we're
just so you know that you fight deal with him. Okay,
he's the final fight of our deal. So again, I
hopefully it can be extended.
Speaker 7 (33:11):
But so let's talk.
Speaker 10 (33:12):
About Chachristie Ivenson.
Speaker 12 (33:13):
I mean he's got a fight coming up in July
with Williams of Peter thirty three and Oh twenty seven KOs.
Both are undefeated, kind of risking all to face a Peter.
What are your thoughts there? I mean it's going to
be obviously an awesome fight, but if he doesn't perform, well,
I mean I'll bets are off.
Speaker 7 (33:27):
No, yeah, I mean it's a great fight.
Speaker 8 (33:28):
I think Shaquez Stephenson is the best lightweight in the world,
and you know he's twenty seven years of age, he's
a three division world champion.
Speaker 7 (33:35):
But more importantly, he's in a great fight with Zapaida.
Speaker 8 (33:37):
It will be another Ring Magazine card in New York
on July twelfth, and I think he's a perfect fight
for Shakur to really make a statement and then I think,
go on and fight Sorry, Javonta Davis. I think that's
one of the best fights in American boxing. But certainly
he's a paider, a tough opponent, a dangerous opponent, and
it'll be part of a huge night on July twelfth.
Speaker 9 (33:58):
So one of the other things, you know, I want
to talk about you you got to it a little bit,
you know, when we were talking about having the fight
in Times Square, and you know, all of that excitement
sounds really incredible. A lot of the fights who have
coming up our New York, London and places like that,
and it doesn't seem like Saudi Arabia is on the
map as of right now. And a couple of your
(34:20):
more recent fights. Talk to me a little bit about
spreading the love between other places other than just having
every fight in Vegas and Saudi Arabia.
Speaker 8 (34:28):
Yeah, I mean, I think we're the only global promotional
company in the world. So we stage over thirty of
enty year globally. So we just had a show in Sydney,
we had a show in Quebec, in Canada, we had
a show in Mexico recently, We're in Atlantic City last week,
We're in London this week, so we're all over the world.
Speaker 7 (34:48):
In terms of the Middle East, it's quite cyclical.
Speaker 8 (34:52):
Read Season happens between October and March. Obviously, the weather
is a lot kinder to the fans during that per
it as well, so it's reasonably quiet throughout those summer months.
And then as we approach I mean, Canelo Alvoriz fights
in Read next weekend, and then after that we'll be
back in Read in October for the start of what
(35:13):
they call read Season, which is kind of like their
big commercial calendar for major sporting, music, arts events. And yeah,
our big focus at Matrim is, like I said, just
to be that number one global promotional company. All other
promotional companies just kind of tend to operate in their
respective markets, but we do it week in week out
all over the world.
Speaker 12 (35:32):
Pronessa, can you imagine Eddie's travel schedule. I mean, this
is just bunkers, I know, And I mean you're bouncing
from times onto time zone and it's not just any
times on These are like ten hour flips, you know.
Speaker 10 (35:44):
So it's like we where you are exactly.
Speaker 12 (35:46):
So last question I have for you, Eddie. I mean, look,
you know the sport of boxing, right obviously, MMA, the
influence all of that good stuff, you know, talk to
us a little bit about it, you know. I mean,
do you still see it as you know, a benefit
to the sport. Do you see those two sports coming together?
And also if you could just tell you know just
a little you know, you know Michael Barry, he likes
to gamble on sports, and you know he's kind of
(36:07):
looking for you. He's just curious. You know, he got
some bouts coming up.
Speaker 10 (36:10):
You know, what do you like here?
Speaker 7 (36:11):
What's going on?
Speaker 2 (36:12):
Boots on the ground, boots on the ground. What if
I do here?
Speaker 8 (36:16):
Yeah, I think, like I said earlier, all sports is cyclical,
and I think this is a very hot period for boxing.
Speaker 7 (36:22):
MMA has been hot for years.
Speaker 8 (36:23):
UFC is a fantastic business, But right now I think
they're lacking star power if I'm honest, and you know
the time of keabeeb and you know, Connin McGregor and
these kind of standout big names, I think they're just
going through a little bit of a you know, maybe
a little bit of a development period for those younger
fighters coming through, And in the meantime, it seems like
all the narrative for fight sports and digital conversations seems
(36:46):
to be around boxing, which is a nice change, you know.
And I'm sure MMA will be back, but right now
I think boxing is hotter than ever and it seems
to be controlling a lot of those conversations, you know,
between sports rights holders executives, but more important online And
as I said, those digital conversations.
Speaker 2 (37:04):
Could Garcia win a match room top fighter Jared boots innis.
Speaker 8 (37:13):
For me, Jaron Boots andys he's kind of our number
one fighter in America. I think he's a pound for
pound great fighter. I think he's a future pound for
pound star. And Brian Garcier is exciting, you know. He's
he's temperamental, he's a little bit out there sometimes, but
he's dangerous, he's fast, he's dangerous, and he's great to
(37:34):
watch as well. So I think Jaron Ennis against Ryan Garcia,
he's actually a fight that could be one of the
biggest in American boxing.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
Well, let's hope. I've got money itching in my pocket, man.
Speaker 7 (37:45):
I mean, thank you, thank.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
You, thank you, Eddie hearn See, I'm giving up all
my Secrets, chairman of Matt Room Boxing. Thank you again, sir.
Speaker 7 (37:54):
Thank you guys, Hey, thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
For my colleagues Damien Sassaur, Vanessa Brodomo and Fou, I'm
Michael Barr. Make sure to subscribe to The Bloomberg Business
of Sports podcasts. Find it down on Apple, Spotify and
all your favorite podcast platforms. Tune in again next week
for the latest on the stories moving big money in
the world of sports. You're listening to The Bloomberg Business
(38:17):
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 (00:19):
Teams ours especially have been very intentional to diversify at
all levels of the company.
Speaker 5 (00:23):
I think we're in bolden years for the NFL and
college football.
Speaker 6 (00:27):
Our demographic reach has continued to expande.
Speaker 4 (00:30):
This is going to be really unlocking the streaming platform
for sports fans.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Sports evaluations are rising.
Speaker 7 (00:36):
We'll see when they peak.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
You don't have to be the best in your sport
to make a whole ton of money.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports, where we explore
the big money issues in the world of sports. I'm
Michael Barr, along with Vanessa Bernomo, my colleagues Scarlett Fou
and Damian Sasaur would join us later on in the show.
Coming up, we speak with Matt Troom Boxing chairman Eddie Hearn.
We'll talk about the big fight coming to New York
(01:08):
City on May second, plus get his take on the
state of the.
Speaker 7 (01:12):
Sport just bonkers. The whole thing is bonkers and bizarre.
Speaker 8 (01:16):
But boxing right now, in boxing's really rocketed over MMA
in my opinion, in the last twelve months, and it's
just non stop.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Every single week, plus we'll check in on a leading
sports private equity firm and one of its newest biggest investments.
All that is on the way on the Bloomberg Business
of Sports. But first, they had a lot of Braves.
They are the MLB's only publicly traded club in America
and they could get hit with a huge tax bill.
(01:47):
For more on the unique situation facing the Braves and
what it's trying to do to get out of it,
we welcome Bloomberg's Bill Allison. Bill, Welcome to the Bloomberg
Business of Sports.
Speaker 5 (01:58):
Well, thanks for having me on.
Speaker 7 (02:00):
Appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
You wrote an article recently and it involves the Atlanta Braves.
They are the only publicly traded Major League Baseball team
in America and they have a problem because now they're
facing off against the US tax code and it threatens
to cost the franchise millions. Can you explain what this
is all about.
Speaker 5 (02:20):
There's a provision in the tax code that only applies
to publicly traded companies. And this is something that goes
back to the nineteen nineties, to the when corporate greed
was first becoming an issue. Bill Clinton ran and in
nineteen ninety two promising to end excess executive pay. Obviously
didn't quite do it, but one of the ways that
(02:41):
they tried to do it was by preventing companies from
deducting the salaries of their top executives. And this was
passed in nineteen ninety three. It's been around for years
and years. It's been modified by different times, and most recently,
what they did is they added the top five paid
executive employees, where you know, people who are not like
(03:02):
CEO and chief financial officer and so on. And that's
sort of where the braves come in. Because they're a
publicly traded company. There are pay players ten million, fifteen million,
eighteen million dollars. They give these big contracts so that
they can compete, and suddenly they can't deduct those as
expenses anymore, and that's going to increase their tax bill.
Speaker 9 (03:23):
You know, it's interesting because I could imagine that when
they have, you know, put these bills in place, and
I feel like you mentioned it in your story that
this wasn't really something they thought about that it was
going to affect professional sports teams.
Speaker 5 (03:35):
Yeah, it's really funny. I talked to a lot of
compensation executives or consultants and tax lawyers and kind of
everybody would say at the end of it, I just
can't imagine Congress meant this to apply to a professional
sports team. But you know, the rules are the rules,
and that's kind of how they're written. And the Braves
have hired lobbyists, they're working on Capitol Hill to try
to talk to Congress about this, and but yeah, I mean,
(03:58):
this is very much an un tended consequence of something
that you know, is really designed to raise revenue from
companies that where basically the employees aren't the product. I mean,
if you think about why people go to see the
Atlanta Braves, it's to see Akuna is to see their players,
and that's just like central to everything that they do.
Yet if they're going to get taxed by for it.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
And this is the difference here like a privately owned
team like the New York Mets and Steve Goin that's
why he can pay all this money to Juan Soto
and this and that with seven hundred and sixty five
million dollars over fifteen years. But the Braves, you can't
compete with that. In the Toronto Blue Jays, they are
(04:44):
a publicly traded company, but they really aren't going to
have a problem because, according to the company spokesman, it's
not going to have a meaningful impact from the US
tax provision.
Speaker 5 (04:56):
The Blu Jays have revenues in the you know, they
they're part of a a big conglomerate. It's a big
media company. And one of the things that folks said
about this is is that you know, with tax planning,
you can set things up so that you move losses
around and you can kind of offset these penalties. But
the problem for the Braves is is that, you know,
we're about ninety percent of the revenue comes from the
(05:18):
baseball team. They also own some property and some other things,
but really it's the team that's the business, and so
they don't really have that option where Okay, well, we're
just going to take a huge loss in this division
and that's going to offset what we would owe in
taxes for these player contracts, and so that's really going
to put a straight jacket on the Braves, And you know,
as you said, you know, if you're sitting down with
(05:39):
an agent, you've got to be thinking, you know, well,
I'd love to sign this player, but you know, I've
got to think of the tax implications of it, not
just my normal budgetary implications.
Speaker 9 (05:51):
When we're talking about private companies, like Michael mentioned, they're
the Mets and the Dodgers and the Yankees and all
these teams who spend a ton of money, but they
do have the luxury tax to deal with, right, That's
MLB's tax that they put on them. Is that anywhere comparable?
Like is it kind of playing in the same ballgame,
but just for basically getting taxed by different people.
Speaker 5 (06:12):
I think the difference there is that, yes, you know,
there is a luxury tax on and the Braves have
been I think this is the first year that they've
been under the cap, but they were over it, you know,
the last year's. I mean, they've obviously been a very
successful team. They've won the World Series in twenty twenty one,
series of division championships, their perennial playoff team, and they have,
like you know, they're in the top third of payrolls
(06:33):
and they were over that I think the difference there, though,
is is that this is something that every team has
to contend with, whereas the deductibility of the of the
salaries of their star players is something that they're the
only team that's going to have to deal with this.
This is one extra expense that nobody else in baseball has.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Glad you said, it's more than just baseball, because it
will affect Madison Square Garden Sports. They own the NBA's
Knicks and the NHL's New York Rangers. For some reason,
They're going to fall under this same rule.
Speaker 5 (07:12):
Yeah, it's a publicly traded company which owns the Knicks
and the Rangers, so it'll affect them too. I reached
out to them, they didn't want to talk about it,
they didn't respond to or they basically didn't comment. As
far as I can tell looking at congressional disclosures, they
have not hired lobbyists, so but I'm sure this is
(07:34):
going to be an issue for them. And one of
the problems with the team is that you know that
Madison Square Garden Group and its owner James Dolan and
the Dolan family have a long history of basically getting
special tax breaks and tax deals and that kind of
makes them a little bit more of an unpopular client
(07:55):
in the way that I think that the Braves sort
of are right.
Speaker 9 (07:59):
I wanted to mention in there you obviously talked about
the Braves have hired lobbyists. So what are they trying,
you know, to get the to do.
Speaker 6 (08:09):
I mean we've.
Speaker 9 (08:10):
Spoken kind of about maybe this isn't what Hungers wanted,
you know, with the professional sports teams being a thing.
So are they trying to speak to people there and say, hey,
can you just like amend the law to not include
sports teams or in your in your piece, you mentioned
that you know, both sides of the parties are kind
of for this rule.
Speaker 5 (08:30):
Yeah, so you know, I think that the simplest thing
to do would be if, you know, Congress could write
an exemption and something along the lines of, you know,
this this rule called one sixty two am shall not
apply to a professional sports team or to a corporation
that makes its money from running a professional sports team.
(08:54):
I mean, I think you could word it, you know,
could word in a way that it's very limited. Obviously
that might make the teams, you know, we're Yeah, I
seriously don't think there's any corporation that would go to
the expense and paying billions of dollars for a team
just to save money on the compensation when you're talking
(09:16):
about these big multinational conglomerates that this is supposed to
apply to. But it would get the Braves off the
hook in that sense for the taxes, and you would
think that that's sort of the kind of thing that
you know, you would be able to do. But again,
this is this is Congress, which is not the most
functional organization on earth. So you know, it's I think
(09:40):
is questionable whether that's going to happen or not.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Yeah, I was just going to ask that it's the
principle of what you're saying is there. But the chances
of this happening, I don't know how it's going to
go through in.
Speaker 5 (09:54):
This Congress exactly. And when you think about everything that
the Trump administration has propos everything from reducing taxes on
tips and Social Security benefits, and it's a whole host
of things that they've promised, and you know, the you know,
while it's very important to the Braves and Braves fans,
(10:16):
you know, I'm wondering just how important an issue in
Congress it's going to be that, you know, the payroll
of of a baseball team, the deductibility of it compared
to all of these other issues.
Speaker 9 (10:28):
I guess that's fair, right for sure, And while they're
still playing well, it doesn't seem like it would matter
to them at the current moment. But when we're talking
about you said signing free agents and things like that,
is is something is a creative way for something to
get around that? Adopting a show hey Otani sort of
(10:48):
a model where they sign a free agent but delay
some of the contracts so that maybe not everyone is
being hit in the same year.
Speaker 6 (10:57):
Is that?
Speaker 9 (10:58):
Is that a creative way to get around it? So
if this goes into effect, how do they you know,
get there?
Speaker 5 (11:06):
So that's you know, that's a good question. There used
to be an loophole in this rule where if you
were paying people based on performance rather than you know,
basically an incentive laden contract, that that wouldn't be taxable.
But the problem there is which player is going to say, well,
(11:28):
I'm going to take an incentive based contract rather than
a guaranteed contract. I mean, there's you know, I think
and of course that exemption no longer exists, so you know,
among the things they could do. They could try to
take the team private. I mean, that would be one
way to get out of this. You know, it's really
just because they're publicly traded that they're subject to this.
Another option would be, you know, and I think that
(11:53):
that's I'm sorry, that's really the only option that that
they have unless Congress acts to do something to get
them out of And of course the other option, the
last option, is they could trim back their sales and
not pay their players as much and you know, and basically,
you know, assume that they're going to be paying these taxes.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Bloomberg campaign finance reporter Bill Allison on his recent story
on the Atlanta Braves, always dropping some knowledge on us,
we appreciated. Thank you, Bill, Thank you both. Our thanks
to Bloomberg's Bill Allison for joining us up. Next, we
turn to private equity and a big new investment from
a leading sports private equity firm, or Vanessa Perdomo. I'm
(12:38):
Michael Barm. You're listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports
from Bloomberger Radio around the world.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
This is Bloomberg Business Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
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 Scarlett fu and Damian Sasauur Vanessa Perdomo,
will be back later in the show. Velocity Capital Management
is a top private equity firm with a big focus
on sports. It just announced a new strategic investment in
(13:24):
Unique Sports Group, a top five ranked UK based football
talent representation agency. For more on the investment, the growth
of sports in the private equity world, and of course soccer,
we welcome David Abram's co founder and managing partner at
Velocity Capital Management, and Will Saldhause, CEO at Unique Sports Group.
(13:45):
David and Will, welcome to the Bloomberg Business of Sports.
Speaker 10 (13:48):
Thanks Mike, Thank you David.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
I'm going to start with you because with Velocity Capital Management,
you guys are a private equity firm when it comes
to acquiring sports teams, and you guys have been in
the business for sixty years, but especially now, you guys
are like biscuits, honey and butter. You guys are a
hot commodity.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
That's a great combination, biscuits, honey and butter. I'm gonna
have to try that. It's definitely an active time for us.
I think, as we've talked about, you know, we've chosen
to not focus on investing in sports teams, but the
activity in the broader ecosystem continues.
Speaker 10 (14:25):
To be, you know, very active. And you know, our.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
Partnership with Will and Unique Sports Group you know, goes
back three years and is a transaction we're excited to
talk to you about.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
So Will, let's bring you into this conversation and talk
to us a little bit about what Unique Sports Group
does and why it fits in to a private equity
ownership model where there can be synergies and other points
of commonalities between the different parts and Velocity's holdings.
Speaker 11 (14:56):
Well, first I'll answer the first question, which is what
we do. Obviously, we represent footballers you call it soccer players.
We mainly that involves contraction, negotiation and negotiating their contract
between clubs. And I started on that journey eighteen years
(15:16):
ago by representing a friend and soon became a player
in the space of lower league football where I saw
a gap in the market, players that weren't represented, given
given a voice pretty much, where a lot of people
overlooked them and went straight to the top league. I
looked at what did you call in baseball, be called
(15:38):
the minor leagues, right, So I was scouted the minor
leagues and found some players that really came through and
shot through those leagues to the premier league, and I
kind of rode the way for them, and that's where
unique Sports is today.
Speaker 6 (15:52):
Obviously, we used I think a different type of strategy.
Speaker 11 (15:56):
At that time, which was data, which now is obviously
very evident right the way through soccer and football. But
I did that on my own by buying the local
newspaper at the time and making my own data on
the games, and waiting outside players lounges and waiting outside
training grounds and meeting.
Speaker 6 (16:14):
Up with guys and saying, look, could I give you
a voice?
Speaker 11 (16:16):
Could I go and speak to some of these clubs
on your behalf, because I think you're an undermarket product.
And I was very lucky that I got in front
of guys who had elite talent and they gave me
the opportunity and we really never looked back from there.
Since then, we've built i'd say the largest independent football
agency in the world, with a level of clients that
we've got on transfer market, the values, the number of
(16:39):
agents the number of transactions in the UK market. To
answer the second question, where there's a Velocity and David's
team fit into that, we are now on a journey
where we've grown the business organically. We were looking for
a partner that had the same vision really about unique
as what we did, which was, look, this is a
business that can really they've got something special. It's something
(17:02):
that can go into a global structure with other verticals.
And as soon as I sat down with David and
the Velocity team, it was really clear to me that
these guys just they had exactly the same vision as
I did for where we wanted to go. And I
had various approaches that I'd kind of batted off over
the eighteen years from major sport management or entertainment businesses,
(17:25):
and for one reason or another, we didn't.
Speaker 6 (17:27):
Do those deals.
Speaker 11 (17:28):
And it's obviously going to pay dividends now because we've
we've now got our same principles, but now we've got
more firepower as such.
Speaker 6 (17:35):
To go into the market and look at agents like.
Speaker 11 (17:39):
Myself who are independent and giving them a home and
a platform that they wouldn't have otherwise.
Speaker 4 (17:45):
The needs of the business and the dynamics of the
business are intact regardless of what may be happening politically
in the US or overseas in Europe. But I wonder
how much the economic uncertainty that is really come across
over the last three four weeks has affected the negotiations
(18:07):
or the timing of this deal. Did that come into
play at all?
Speaker 1 (18:11):
David?
Speaker 3 (18:12):
Well, well, I'll turn over the question of you first
on how you view tariffs, and then I'll talk a
little bit about our perspective.
Speaker 11 (18:19):
Yeah, but there's no tariffs on football, so there's but
there's a lot of uncertainty and people are nervous and
they don't want to commit to anything, right.
Speaker 10 (18:29):
Yeah, Charlyn I had. That's Will's famous line. So he
was from an investment perspective.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
One of the very exciting aspects of Unique is it's
incredible foundational business in the Premier League. The Premier League
by far has the largest global media rights deal and
continues to grow internationally. The value of the international media
rights deal for the Premier League is significantly larger than
(18:59):
all the other European football leagues put together, right, and
so irrespective of the economic environment, these are long term
meteorites deals that means clubs will have a very consistent
revenue stream, and our perspective is as capital flows in
to acquire teams and to grow their commercial operations, it's
(19:20):
critical to be successful on the field, and Unique is
effectively a partner to owners of professional football clubs on
putting the best players on.
Speaker 10 (19:31):
The field so they can you know, succeed. So we didn't.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Obviously the economic environment is something that we're watching, you know,
as a private equity firm, but it did not have
a direct impact on you know, the final structure and
pricing of the deal.
Speaker 12 (19:46):
The Premier League this transfer window, if my numbers are right,
and for our audience, three hundred and seventy million pounds
spent during the winter window, is that right?
Speaker 7 (19:54):
Talk to us a little bit.
Speaker 12 (19:55):
About how you approach these transfer windows, how does it work.
Speaker 11 (19:58):
What we're dealing with right now is kind of the
floating period, which you'd call where clubs are looking at
who they're going to take and obviously at the moment
we're speaking to many people and finding out it's required.
We call it requirements, and there will be a requirement
which will be a certain type of profile for each
position which a club will or a manager and a
(20:21):
recruitment team will work out what that requirement is in
regards to what is it the general requirement of each
player in each position and what do they want from
that player, and then off the back of that, then
the names will start to move in the next few months,
and then as we get into the transfer window opening,
and then it starts to get manic because obviously clubs
(20:44):
go after their first targets. A lot of other clubs
are obviously on the same first target. Then a club
misses the first target, they're working on the second, and
so on, so forth. And as we move down the
transfer windown, when you get into the last week, that's
when complete bedlam and mayhem sets in, when people realize
that they're not got their fifth or sixth or even
(21:04):
their eighth target, and they're literally running around thinking we
need to fill positions. And that's where obviously the workload
steps up for an agent right the way through the TRANSFORDO.
But look, clubs from when I started eighteen years ago
a far more organized and they're far more efficient than
they've ever been.
Speaker 6 (21:23):
At recruitment and have a bigger team, and.
Speaker 11 (21:26):
They're a lot more strategic, whereas eighteen going back right
the way through, they weren't as organized, weren't as strategic,
and wouldn't have as many people in the recruitment department.
Speaker 6 (21:38):
Obviously, now we've got so many different tools that have
come into the.
Speaker 11 (21:42):
Game that have made it a lot more innovation.
Speaker 6 (21:45):
Especially in recruitment.
Speaker 11 (21:47):
It's been completely dynamic over the last four or five
years to how it used to be. The moneyball, which
you'd see, which you're probably aware of, is very evident
within the Premier League.
Speaker 6 (21:57):
You know that concept.
Speaker 12 (21:58):
Are you seeing greater competition for sound investments in the
space or are you able to uncover more unique sports groups?
Are there opportunities about.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
There certainly are a lot of firms that are focusing
on this broader ecosystem. What we try to say is
we stick to what we do and what we know best,
which is being a very operationally focused private equity firm
and partnering with fantastic founders and management teams. And I
think the difference in a lot of the organizations that
(22:28):
have come on the air and that you talk to
is they're either focusing on investing in sports teams, which
we don't do. Some cases, they're just very passive minority
investors in someone else's business and we.
Speaker 10 (22:40):
Don't do either of those.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
We are a very active partner and that was an
important part of how Will and I organize the structure.
Speaker 10 (22:49):
He didn't want us capital and.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
No, we're running out of time. One source of money
is out there, and that's from Saudi Arabia. They just
recently announced that they were going to invest a lot
of money in boxing and bring it back to the
level of the old Don King era. How much of
competition is that when you're dealing with that much money
(23:12):
that is out there for you games.
Speaker 11 (23:14):
I think Saudi, as you've seen obviously, have the World
Cup approaching in I think it's ten years. I think
if you look at what they're doing right the way
through sport, they're here to stay. They're not just going
investing in talent as far as players, they're actually investing
in infrastructure, sporting directors' CEOs and now stadium's training grounds.
Speaker 6 (23:38):
They're taking it very seriously, and it's the first one
to say they're here to stay for the long term.
And it will take time.
Speaker 11 (23:45):
It's going to take time in their national team to
see the changes and see the improvement. But I think
in the next five to six years you'll see how
strong the league has been. I think each year it's
going to improve and look me personally spending a lot
of time in that market. Obviously, I just broken the
deal in January which is the largest transfer deal of
(24:08):
John Duran from Aston Villa, who's who's a young player
at twenty one, who decided that he wanted to go
and plan right Nowo's team and drive it forward. And
I know he's enjoying it. So it shows the intent
from that of where they want to go. But I
think I don't want to get away. I want to
try and get away from that. They're not just buying
(24:28):
players that they are investing in infrastructure and investing in
really experienced people to drive to drive everything forward. And
I think I would say watch this space to where
it can go, and I can see it being one
of the top three top four leagues in world football.
Speaker 6 (24:46):
And it's quite exciting to be.
Speaker 11 (24:48):
Involved and speaking to owners and teams who are at
a stage of building and that's where obviously, from my
experience over the last eighteen years, it's been great because
we've been able to go in and advise in a
consultancy capacity in a few places of our views on
how things are in the outside world with football.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
You know our thanks to both David Abrams and William
Salthouse for joining us. David is co founder and managing
partner at Velocity Capital Management and he is also former
CIO of Harris Blitzer's Sports and Entertainment and Will is
CEO at Unique Sports Group. Up next, we turned to boxing.
Big match coming up to the Big Apple next week
(25:31):
for my colleague Scarlett fu and Damian Sasauer. I'm Michael Barr.
Stay tuned for more of the Bloomberg Business of Sports
from Bloomberg Radio around the world.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Thanks for joining us on the Bloomberg Business of Sports,
where we explore the big money issues in the world
of sports. I'm Michael Barr along with my colleagues day
me In Sassaur and Vanessa Perdomo. There is a big
fight coming to the Big Apple on Friday May second.
Ryan Garcia makes a long way to return to the
ring against Raleigh Romero and here to get us excited
(26:14):
about the bout. See what I did there, plus do
a pulse check on the state of the world of boxing.
We welcome Totty Hernese, chairman of Matchroom Boxing. Addie, welcome
to the Bloomberg Business of Sports.
Speaker 7 (26:27):
Thanks for having me. Guys.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
Well, boxing it's making a big comeback, and I say
that because just recently Saudi Arabia and the boxing body
over there, they're putting a lot of money into boxing
to bring it back to the level of the Don
King era. Your thoughts about that, first she got Saudi
Arabia putting their money into it and boxing coming around,
(26:53):
playing big time with Muhammad Ali in the era that
I remember it very well as an old man.
Speaker 8 (26:59):
Your thought, Yeah, I mean I think boxing, to be
honest with you, is it's always hot. You know, every
business is cyclical, every sport is cyclical, and for many,
many years people have talked about, you know, boxings dying,
Boxing's broke, and I think it couldn't have been further
from the truth. Globally, the sport exists with the huge
(27:20):
commercial presence, but of course when Saudi Arabia comes along
with ambition and a lot of money as well and
starts making some of the big fights, it lifts the
entire ecosystem of the sport of boxing globally, and we've
seen that, you know, and we've seen huge fights in
read We've seen those huge fights in America. In Britain,
(27:41):
you know, we had Anthony Joshua ninety five thousand fighting
Daniel Dubois last September. This weekend we have been against
U Bank sixty five thousand. I mean, boxing's red hot.
And obviously now with like you said, the influx of
the Saudi Arabia investment, there's huge opportunities for everybody.
Speaker 12 (27:59):
What's dig into it, Daddy, I mean Tartanham, you know,
April twenty six kind of been Chris Eubank and then
I think in New York City Michael Barmy second, Ryan
Garcia against Riley Romero. I mean talked us a little
bit some of these matchups. I mean, it is peak primetime.
Speaker 8 (28:11):
Here is it night, Eddie, Yeah, I mean it's really
interesting the difference of the dynamics of the event. So
next weekend's a wild one. On Friday night, there's a
Ring Magazine event in New York. Now it's not a
Madison Square Garden, it's not the Barkley Center. It's in
the middle of Times Square. Get Out only with a
(28:32):
couple one hundred people, you know, Ring Magazine, Turkula, Shape.
Speaker 7 (28:35):
Match Room, Golden Boy.
Speaker 8 (28:36):
We are shutting down Times Square for this kind of
historic one off event that features Ryan Garcia against Rody Romero,
Devin Hainey against Ramirez, and tier Fimo Lopez against Barbosa,
kind of all of these real big young stars of
the sport. And if that wasn't enough, twenty four hours later,
(28:57):
Canelo Alvarez will fight for the first time in We
had Snaudi Arabia on the Saturday night early Sunday morning
and really had prime time for the American audience on
Cinco de Mayo.
Speaker 7 (29:08):
So it just bonkers. The whole thing is bonkers and bizarre.
Speaker 8 (29:12):
But boxing right now, in boxing's really you know, rocketed
over MMA in my opinion, in the last twelve months,
and it's just NonStop every single week.
Speaker 9 (29:22):
That is somewhat of a heart take, But I feel
like you did lay out some really good groundwork to
prove your point there. I want to talk a little
bit more about Ryan Garcia. You know, this is you know,
his first fight back after being suspended, and really he
was America's biggest or one of, you know, the biggest
top stars in boxing. Before that all happened, you really
made a name for himself on social media and things
(29:43):
like that. So do you think like him having a
comeback is great for the sport of boxing or is
it really a personal journey to get him back up top.
Speaker 8 (29:52):
Yeah, I mean I think that obviously, everything that happened
to him, he made mistakes, and you know, I think
psychologically he you know, had pretty much I think some
kind of mental and emotional breakdown en route. You know,
you saw his antics across social media, which is wild
really and it was sad to watch, you know, such
a great young fighter and personality and a great looking
(30:13):
kid just kind of unfold and unravel on social media
in front of your eyes. So I think that it's
good to see him back in the sport. You know,
he's served his band and he's ready to return, and
he's an exciting fighter, and you know, he's the kind
of young fighter that's going to invigorate that younger audience.
And that's as is a lot of the fighters on
the Times Square show.
Speaker 7 (30:34):
Next week, I want to talk.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
More about Ryan Garcia and what happened to him. According
to the New York State Athletic commission he failed a
drug test, so then the fight that he was in
was ruled a no contest with HAINI. Now the thing
of it is, I wonder if the punishment was too much,
(30:57):
because first of all, he got suspended for a year,
and then he had to pay a ten thousand dollars fine,
and then the one point one million dollars that he
made the commission rule that was going to the promoter.
I just want to get your thoughts. I mean, it's
it's unfortunate what happened. I'm just wondering your thoughts about
(31:19):
the punishment in general.
Speaker 8 (31:22):
Yeah, I mean, the promoters for the event were Golden Boy.
It's quite a bizarre thing for the money to go
back to the promoters. It's quite bizarre and unique. But
you know, I think in terms of the fine, we
have to really take a strict stance on performance enhancing
drugs within the sport. You know, there's always the element
of fighters that do get unlucky, and sometimes there is
cat contamination that can affect testing results. But nine times
(31:45):
out of ten, the fighter is generally guilty or the
team is guilty of some kind of cheating. So Ryan
protests his innocence. I guess we'll never know, But at
the same time, we have to make the sport as
clean and safe as possible. So if that crime was
in the un UK UK had the UK Anti Doping
Agency probably would have banned him a minimum of two years.
Speaker 7 (32:06):
So one year I think, you.
Speaker 8 (32:08):
Know, was fairly light in the respect of Ryan getting
himself right and returning to the sport. So you know,
one of the problems was he failed his drugstest the
day before the fight and on the night of the fight,
and you don't get those results back for a couple
of weeks after, so effectively he went into the fight
with those substances in his body, which of course is
(32:30):
an unfair advantage, it would seem, And in turn, the
New York State Athletic Commission ruled that it was a
no contest, So although Devin Haney lost on the night,
he actually remains undefeated. It is actually a wild turn
of events across the board. But I feel as though
it was handled correctly.
Speaker 10 (32:47):
Andy.
Speaker 12 (32:47):
I know you've been in the business like your whole life,
I mean, going back to your father, Barry Hearn, I
mean you've been the bathroom specifically since two thousand, So
promoting one fighter and losing him to another promoter. I
mean this happens all the time. And the reason I
ask is because Schakure Stevenson twenty three and Oh eleven KOs.
Speaker 7 (33:02):
Is he still going to fight to Peter?
Speaker 8 (33:03):
Yes, he finds a paid in July to what we're
just so you know that you fight deal with him. Okay,
he's the final fight of our deal. So again, I
hopefully it can be extended.
Speaker 7 (33:11):
But so let's talk.
Speaker 10 (33:12):
About Chachristie Ivenson.
Speaker 12 (33:13):
I mean he's got a fight coming up in July
with Williams of Peter thirty three and Oh twenty seven KOs.
Both are undefeated, kind of risking all to face a Peter.
What are your thoughts there? I mean it's going to
be obviously an awesome fight, but if he doesn't perform, well,
I mean I'll bets are off.
Speaker 7 (33:27):
No, yeah, I mean it's a great fight.
Speaker 8 (33:28):
I think Shaquez Stephenson is the best lightweight in the world,
and you know he's twenty seven years of age, he's
a three division world champion.
Speaker 7 (33:35):
But more importantly, he's in a great fight with Zapaida.
Speaker 8 (33:37):
It will be another Ring Magazine card in New York
on July twelfth, and I think he's a perfect fight
for Shakur to really make a statement and then I think,
go on and fight Sorry, Javonta Davis. I think that's
one of the best fights in American boxing. But certainly
he's a paider, a tough opponent, a dangerous opponent, and
it'll be part of a huge night on July twelfth.
Speaker 9 (33:58):
So one of the other things, you know, I want
to talk about you you got to it a little bit,
you know, when we were talking about having the fight
in Times Square, and you know, all of that excitement
sounds really incredible. A lot of the fights who have
coming up our New York, London and places like that,
and it doesn't seem like Saudi Arabia is on the
map as of right now. And a couple of your
(34:20):
more recent fights. Talk to me a little bit about
spreading the love between other places other than just having
every fight in Vegas and Saudi Arabia.
Speaker 8 (34:28):
Yeah, I mean, I think we're the only global promotional
company in the world. So we stage over thirty of
enty year globally. So we just had a show in Sydney,
we had a show in Quebec, in Canada, we had
a show in Mexico recently, We're in Atlantic City last week,
We're in London this week, so we're all over the world.
Speaker 7 (34:48):
In terms of the Middle East, it's quite cyclical.
Speaker 8 (34:52):
Read Season happens between October and March. Obviously, the weather
is a lot kinder to the fans during that per
it as well, so it's reasonably quiet throughout those summer months.
And then as we approach I mean, Canelo Alvoriz fights
in Read next weekend, and then after that we'll be
back in Read in October for the start of what
(35:13):
they call read Season, which is kind of like their
big commercial calendar for major sporting, music, arts events. And yeah,
our big focus at Matrim is, like I said, just
to be that number one global promotional company. All other
promotional companies just kind of tend to operate in their
respective markets, but we do it week in week out
all over the world.
Speaker 12 (35:32):
Pronessa, can you imagine Eddie's travel schedule. I mean, this
is just bunkers, I know, And I mean you're bouncing
from times onto time zone and it's not just any
times on These are like ten hour flips, you know.
Speaker 10 (35:44):
So it's like we where you are exactly.
Speaker 12 (35:46):
So last question I have for you, Eddie. I mean, look,
you know the sport of boxing, right obviously, MMA, the
influence all of that good stuff, you know, talk to
us a little bit about it, you know. I mean,
do you still see it as you know, a benefit
to the sport. Do you see those two sports coming together?
And also if you could just tell you know just
a little you know, you know Michael Barry, he likes
to gamble on sports, and you know he's kind of
(36:07):
looking for you. He's just curious. You know, he got
some bouts coming up.
Speaker 10 (36:10):
You know, what do you like here?
Speaker 7 (36:11):
What's going on?
Speaker 2 (36:12):
Boots on the ground, boots on the ground. What if
I do here?
Speaker 8 (36:16):
Yeah, I think, like I said earlier, all sports is cyclical,
and I think this is a very hot period for boxing.
Speaker 7 (36:22):
MMA has been hot for years.
Speaker 8 (36:23):
UFC is a fantastic business, But right now I think
they're lacking star power if I'm honest, and you know
the time of keabeeb and you know, Connin McGregor and
these kind of standout big names, I think they're just
going through a little bit of a you know, maybe
a little bit of a development period for those younger
fighters coming through, And in the meantime, it seems like
all the narrative for fight sports and digital conversations seems
(36:46):
to be around boxing, which is a nice change, you know.
And I'm sure MMA will be back, but right now
I think boxing is hotter than ever and it seems
to be controlling a lot of those conversations, you know,
between sports rights holders executives, but more important online And
as I said, those digital conversations.
Speaker 2 (37:04):
Could Garcia win a match room top fighter Jared boots innis.
Speaker 8 (37:13):
For me, Jaron Boots andys he's kind of our number
one fighter in America. I think he's a pound for
pound great fighter. I think he's a future pound for
pound star. And Brian Garcier is exciting, you know. He's
he's temperamental, he's a little bit out there sometimes, but
he's dangerous, he's fast, he's dangerous, and he's great to
(37:34):
watch as well. So I think Jaron Ennis against Ryan Garcia,
he's actually a fight that could be one of the
biggest in American boxing.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
Well, let's hope. I've got money itching in my pocket, man.
Speaker 7 (37:45):
I mean, thank you, thank.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
You, thank you, Eddie hearn See, I'm giving up all
my Secrets, chairman of Matt Room Boxing. Thank you again, sir.
Speaker 7 (37:54):
Thank you guys, Hey, thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
For my colleagues Damien Sassaur, Vanessa Brodomo and Fou, I'm
Michael Barr. Make sure to subscribe to The Bloomberg Business
of Sports podcasts. Find it down on Apple, Spotify and
all your favorite podcast platforms. Tune in again next week
for the latest on the stories moving big money in
the world of sports. You're listening to The Bloomberg Business
(38:17):
of Sports from Bloomberg Radio around the world.
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