May 2, 2025 • 38 mins
Join hosts Michael Barr, Damian Sassower and Vanessa Perdomo for a look at some of the latest headlines and stories in the business of sports.
Former New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning is putting together an investment group to bid for a piece of the National Football League team, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Bloomberg US sports business reporter Randall Williams joins to break down Manning's reported bid and who else might be involved.
WNBA star and Las Vegas Aces guard Jewell Loyd joins to talk about her recent acquisition of lending platform Help With My Loan through her single-family office, Loyd & Co., plus her mission-driven financial firm co-founded with her brother, Jarryd Loyd.
Plus, a check in on pickleball's growth with Major League Pickleball commissioner Samin Odhwani.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
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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 start to break into.
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We really appreciate when our owners are actually there, you know,
with us through the journey.
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Teams ours especially have been very intentional to diversify at
all levels of the company. I think we're in the
bolden years for the NFL and college football.
Speaker 5 (00:26):
Our demographic reach has continued to explode.
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This is going to be really unlocking the streaming platform
for sports fans.
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Sports evaluations arising. 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 (00:42):
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 the Damian Saasur Vanessa Perdomo. We'll join
us a bit later on in the show. Coming up,
we'll talk about the WNS Las Vegas Aces and Star
Guard Jewel Lloyd on her family office venture.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
It's not about money, It's really about the impact, healing
and ownership. I think our mission is to really help families, founders,
communities build generational power in our lining up a capital
and purpose.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Plus, we'll hear from the Commissioner Major League Pickleball, Samine
Awani on pickleball's growing popularity. All that and more straight
ahead on the Bloomberg Business of Sports. But first, Eli
Manning is working to put together a bid to buy
a stake in the team he won two Super Bowls
for the New York Giants. Here to take us through
(01:37):
what we know is friend of the show, Bloomberg US
sports business reporter Randal Williams Randall, Welcome back to the
Bloomberg Business of Sports.
Speaker 7 (01:46):
I appreciate you all for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Well, we got a couple of things to talk about,
So I'm going to start first of all with let's
talk about Eli Manning. And now Eli Manning's thinking, Hey,
you know what my old team, I wouldn't mind owning
a piece of that. Tell us about that.
Speaker 6 (02:02):
Yeah, So the Marin Tisch families put a ten percent
stake up for sale. That's that's what the number has
been reported originally about the Sports Business Journal. Eli has
long said, I think it was on CMBC earlier this
year that there was one team that he was going
to own a piece of it was going to be
the Giants. It's sort of a no brainer here that
he's thrown his name and they had to buy at
least a piece of that ten percent.
Speaker 7 (02:24):
Maybe not the full thing, but part of it for sure.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
So talk to us a little bit, Brandal. I mean,
what are the Giants valued out here? Is it something
on the order of what eight billion dollars?
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Is it?
Speaker 4 (02:32):
I mean, so ten percent, eight hundred million, Like, walk
me through the numbers here. I mean like, would Eli
carry a substantial, you know, steak in the team? I mean,
would you have at least you know, some sort of
say and how the team is managed? What are your
thoughts there?
Speaker 6 (02:47):
I think a lot of it is to be determined.
Like if you think about the way that the Miami
Dolphins and Steven Ross were able to get to eight
point one billion, and then Jeffrey Lori and the Eagles
got to eight three and New York is bigger than
both of those. It is just from the market perspective,
I would imagine that the Giants would go for more
than both of those teams, or they at least the
(03:07):
stake would go for both of those teams. In regards
to what Eli and his position within the Giants is
going to be, it really depends on what the mayors
wanting to be. I mean, the Giants obviously haven't had
much success over the last decade. ELI Sureley could come
in and provide some football analysis the same way that
Tom Brady is doing for Mark Davis and the Las
Vegas Raiders.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
I was just going to get into that because now
if this goes through with Eli, he's going to have
the same problem that Tom Brady had because both are
technically in the booth. Well, of course tom Brady, we
know he's in the booth. But Eli and his brother Peyton,
they have the Monday night cast where it's still they're broadcasting.
(03:49):
Are they going to run into problems just like Tom Brady.
Speaker 7 (03:52):
I'm not sure.
Speaker 6 (03:53):
I think that that's a good question, and I think
the NFL will definitely be meeting about it if ELI knows.
If Eli's bidd does go to the point where they
have to approve it. I think that you know, some
of the people that they're talking to on the Manning
cast aren't active players as well as you know, the
people that they're speaking about during the games or most
of the time are playing. So I think it's a
(04:15):
little different. But there might be some owners in the
NFL who look at this and are like, absolutely not,
I want similar rules on Manning.
Speaker 7 (04:22):
Is that there are on Brady. So we'll have to
see in the months to come.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
Well, Manning is obviously very close with Boltamara and the
Tush families. He played for the team for sixteen years.
You know, Randal, do you think that when he goes
to actually sign on the dotted line and take his
stack in the team that he dresses like Chad Powers,
puts on a big mustache, pretends like he's a walk
on at Penn State Universe. No, I'm just but no,
I mean, let's switch gears a little bit. I mean,
it's a great story, but you know, the real story
for me, Michael Barr the Washington Commanders, I mean they
(04:46):
are and getting to play in their own stadium again.
Talk to us a little bit about that, Randall, what's
the word.
Speaker 6 (04:51):
I think that Josh Harris and what he has done
with the team is simply remarkable. From I mean, if
you remember the state of the Commanders just three years ago,
just the worry that at other NFL owners that Roger
Goodell had just because of Dan Snyder, and then Josh
Harris buys the team. They're not very good in year one,
but then you know, he he commits to saying like, Okay,
(05:12):
we're gonna get better. They draft j and Daniels, they
hired Dan Coin, they put a good front office in place,
and you know, they have this miraculous season and you know,
along the way there is stadium talks, like that's the
number one thing on his mind. The product on the
field was taking care of itself, but the stadium thing
was not certain that he was going to be able
to get RFK.
Speaker 7 (05:30):
Stadium, not at all. In fact, that two years later
he has a deal is just insane.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
Well, I mean, think about that, Randall, I mean, Josh Harris,
I mean, you're absolutely right. Roger Goodell, I mean, they
had written it off under the snighter years and then
Roger Goodell and I didn't even know this. He's been
in DC, he's been lobbying the government, you know, for what.
He now to walk me through this because I didn't understand.
So the RFK site was controlled by the federal government
and not DC, and what needed to happen was it
needed to change hands, is that right?
Speaker 6 (05:58):
Yeah, So in December they voted to i think was
Congress voted to shift it from the federal government to DC,
and then Joe Biden, or former President Joe Biden signed
it in on one of his last days in office.
So this was miraculous that this happened. And then of
course you have these months that come. It's some you know,
let's say one hundred and twenty days later and you.
Speaker 7 (06:16):
Have a deal.
Speaker 6 (06:17):
But do you think about the way that other stadiums
and teams and local governments have to make these deals.
It normally doesn't happen this quick. The fact that you know,
the mayor is sitting there, you have Josh Arish, you
have Roger Goodell, who are all committing the you know,
it's three point eight I'm sure it will get to
four billion dollars to a stadium.
Speaker 7 (06:37):
I'm astounded.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
I think that what impressed me the most was, well,
first of all, it came out with the statement, you
know they played until the mid nineteen nineties at the
old RFK, which you know, old man bar I remember that,
you know ingrained in my head. And what impressed me
(06:59):
though was here's Joeve Heisman, and he's making the announcement
on the video, Hey, this is going to happen. And
one of the things that he mentions is that, you know,
we're talking about more than just a new stadium. We're
talking about a food hall and all the other amenities.
Speaker 6 (07:17):
Yeah, the way that the plan is right now, it'll
be the second most expensive stadium ever behind so Far.
And anyone who's been to Sofi sofar is a palace,
and I think this this stadium very well.
Speaker 7 (07:28):
Could be the exact same.
Speaker 6 (07:29):
I mean, what a lot of these owners are looking
at is that if you get a new stadium, you
put a dome on it, and now all of a sudden,
you can host the Super Bowl. And I can assure
you that if Slash, when this stadium gets built, it's
twenty twenty five today twenty thirty five, there might be
as Super Bowl in Washington, d C.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
Well, you know, Randal, now you're there, right, I Mean,
here's what I don't understand. Why only sixty five thousand incapacity? Right?
I mean as in East Rutherford it is in that
life eighty two thousand and eighty three thousand. I mean,
you know, why not go for the you know ann
Arbor one hundred that I mean, like, are those tadums?
Do they not make financial sense? I guess I'm curious
Or is it a size of space issue, or I mean,
is it not big enough to handle that kind of size.
(08:07):
I'm just I'm wondering out loud here, Randall, any thoughts there.
Speaker 7 (08:10):
I think it's more so a cost thing.
Speaker 6 (08:12):
I mean, you want to make sure that the money
you're putting into it is it provides the best experience possible.
And it isn't always a guarantee that the more people
you have, the louder it is, just because you're adding
voices in there. It really depends on like if you
go to a Chiefs game at Arrowhead and you go
to a Packers game, Like the environment of these stadiums
is different because the culture of each team is different
(08:33):
in regards to the Commanders. I think that when you
put four billion dollars or three point eight or three
billion dollars into a stadium and it's going to put
sixty five thousand and it's going to be a state
of the art arena, I'm sure the fans when they
get there are going to lose their mind, not only
because of Jayden Daniels playing, but also because they have
a three billion dollar stadium.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
I'm going to add an addendum to that, and I
think there is another reason why. I'm from the old
Detroit line X era of the Pontiac Silver Nomen. It'd
had about almost eighty ninety thousand seats and a lot
of time maybe more than that, and a lot of
times it didn't sell out, which means if it didn't
sell out, you were not going to get local coverage.
(09:15):
The game had to sell out for that to happen.
And I'm wondering, you know, if you keep it down
the sixty five thousand, you could sell them out easier.
Speaker 7 (09:24):
I think so too.
Speaker 6 (09:25):
But I think that when you have Jayden Daniels leading
your team based on his rookie season alone, I mean,
god willing, he's going to be a superstar quarterback in
the league for another ten to fifteen years, but he's
going to pack out that stadium regardless of what happens.
I don't think they're going to have any trouble. And
Josh Harris, I mean, he's been a wonderful owner for
d C. So if you if you know, things go awry,
(09:46):
in DC and you trust, you have an owner that
you trust to build a team all over again. And
I mean it's truly remarkable what he's done in you know,
seven hundred and thirty days.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
Well, Randal, youah one last thing for audience. I mean,
let's crystallize this. I mean, the project is expected to
create get this, two thousand permanent jobs, another fourteen thousand
jobs during construction, and over thirty years, direct spending on
the project mays to pass fifteen billion dollars for the
DC metro area. So I mean that's pretty unbelievable. And look,
I mean you're absolutely right. I mean, Josh Harris, I
(10:15):
you know a friend of the show, John Fashia, tell
I'm gona shout out to him. He's gonna be busy here, right.
He used to run real estate for Josh Harrison Hu
and Harris Splitzer. So you know, I gotta believe. You know,
there's gonna be a lot of contracts, a lot of
people involved with this. It's gonna be great for the
city DC, right, Randall.
Speaker 7 (10:30):
Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 6 (10:30):
I mean the number one thing that the city of
DC wants is a super Bowl, of course, So you know,
you get a Super Bowl. You get a new stadium
and then you host the Super Bowl. Everybody in DC
is going to be losing their minds.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Yeah, and you mentioned about I know we're starting to
run short of time, but you mentioned about Washington DC
Mayor Muriel Bowser, and she's been pushing for this for
you know, a long time, and like you said, you know,
it's they could have lost the whole thing to Virginia,
but they didn't. And good for them, I mean, because
(11:04):
she really stepped up to the plane in this one
to give the pun.
Speaker 7 (11:07):
Yeah she did. I mean, Harris is committing like two point.
Speaker 6 (11:10):
Seven billion himself, or Harris and the commanders are excuse me,
committing two point seven billion. Then you have the city
of DC that has one point one billion. That's a
lot of money. But if you think about it from
the percentages, that's roughly seventy five percent commanders and twenty
five percent the people of d C. And that's a
good deal for a four billion dollar stadium. A lot
(11:31):
if you think about what Chicago is doing and where
the chiefs are. And I'm sure there's going to be
some other teams that are going to face stadium issues
somewhere down the line.
Speaker 7 (11:40):
This is a great deal.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
Yeah, the only thing I guess I could think about
that might be a negative. But I mean, kudos to Harris.
I mean, if there's anyone who cold figure this out,
it's him. But you know, all of the Washington, DC
based office space right now with the government layoffs after
post Doge, you know, I wonder if that all you know,
maybe that means now's the time right to capitalize in
the fact that real estate's cheap, right, So you know,
Harris Man, kudos to the commanders, I mean, and Jade
(12:02):
and Daniels. I can't wait to see him running it.
And I mean Randall, I mean, correct me if I'm wrong.
But wasn't the turf they were playing on, I forget
the name of the stadium where they've been playing. Wasn't
that like voted the worst to play on by NFL
players like over the past three years or something crazy?
Speaker 6 (12:16):
Yeah, I think it's Northwest Field and Northwest Stadium after
it was renamed from FedEx Field, and it's never been popular.
I mean, you think about some of the things that
have happened there over the past couple of years. Jalen
Hurst is walking into the locker room. The guardrail falls.
You have the pipe that burst, and the team said
it was rainwater. The fans said it was sewage like
that stadium is a dump and they won't be there
(12:36):
too much longer though.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
I forgot all about the guardrail falling down.
Speaker 8 (12:40):
Man.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Yeah, that's oh my get Yeah, you're right man. Thanks
to Bloomberg US sports business reporter Randa Williams for joining
us up. Next, we turned to the world of pick
a ball for Hamian sas Hour. I'm Michael Barr. You're
listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio
around the world.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
This is the.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Bloomberg Business of Sports, where we explore the big money
issues in the world of sports. Michael Barr along with
Vanessa Perdomo. Pickleball is one of the fastest growing sports,
with Major League Pickleball driving around fifty million dollars in
revenue in twenty twenty four, not including revenue generated by
individual teams. Here to talk to us more about the
(13:30):
league and the growth of pickleball, we welcome Major League
Pickleball Commissioner Samine Adwani. Samine welcome to the Bloomberg business
of sports.
Speaker 9 (13:39):
Appreciate shit having me, man tell you what.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Now, see, here's old man Bar coming through. I know
Vanessa's like, oh God, what old sports are you gonna tell? Now.
When pickleball first came out, I'm like, oh, that's cute.
You know, this is a cute little sport. It's like,
I don't know it's going to pick up steam. And
then pickleball said, shut up, Bar, because this thing just
(14:04):
took off, like to the moon.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
That's right, that's right.
Speaker 9 (14:07):
I mean, in some part we've had a lot of
success because so many people are playing, and the question
was always come on, it's pro pickleball real, like, are
people really going to tune into this? And then, like
you said, we're sitting in this office and you clearly
know about the sport. Vanessa clearly knows about the sport.
I'm the commissioner of Major League Pickleball. So it's here,
(14:29):
and I think more than anything else, it's come faster
than any of us anticipated. And a big part of
that has been the fact that we've had influencers and
high profile people really lean in and kind of say, hey,
we believe in this thing too. I used to work
for Kevin Durant. I convinced the guy to buy a
pickleball team and we actually had him out playing. He's
not you know, he might not love that I'm saying
(14:50):
it's not very good, but he got it. He understood
the sort of belief that, hey, it can have old
people and young people and can compete and have a
chance to sort of showcase some of the things that
they loved about team sports grown up.
Speaker 8 (15:05):
I mean, you mentioned KD right, and then it's Lebron
and it's Tom Brady. How how does it happen that way?
And are all those profiles and all those people the
reason why it's been able to grow so fast and
sustain itself.
Speaker 5 (15:19):
I don't know if.
Speaker 9 (15:20):
It's the driver of it growing. I think the real
root of it growing is the amateurs playing and just
the fact that you know, post COVID for all interns
of purposes. You know, pickble didn't exist before the pandemic,
and now it's sort of exploited in this thing.
Speaker 8 (15:33):
Of gym classes. Okay, I had to play in high school.
Speaker 9 (15:38):
No, And I think what's interesting and fun for us
is the people that are leaning in kind of represent
in some ways, the diversity of the demographic that's playing.
Speaker 7 (15:46):
And so when you.
Speaker 9 (15:47):
Have Jewel, Lloyd and Katie and Tom Brady and Gary
Vaynerchek all kind of believing in a thing, it's sort
of representative of what's happening on the court. Where you
can go out with your grandparent or the four of us,
you'll play and within ten minute and it's like we'd
be having a nice competitive match.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
Well to me, and I'll tell you this. You know,
just the fact that my country club up in Gretwich, Connecticut, Tamarack,
is converting two of its tennis courts into pickleball. It
just tells you everything you need to know. And I'm
seeing it everywhere now, you know, riddle me this. You
know what needs to take place in order to get
real buy and from you know, from the youth, from colleges,
from you know, the next generation, so that we can
kind of feed in to a professional pickleball in league.
(16:24):
What are you doing? What efforts are the Pickleball Association
making in order to make that happen.
Speaker 9 (16:28):
So for us, a big focus has been launching our
Junior PPA Tour, and the thought there is look, sometimes
the universities and the NCAA they're kind of like last movers,
Like you got to show them that there's a bunch
of people that want to do this, and then they'll
sanction it right and they'll turn it into sort of
a Division one sport. And so our focus was, look,
we're kind of going faster than anyone anticipated. I mean,
(16:50):
you know, in terms of growth and how quickly the
sport is is sort of taking up you know, participation
at the youth level. And so we said, let's launch
the junior tour and if it turns into you know,
varsity sports, turns into an NCAA Division one sport, great,
that's the outcome that we all want. But we're able
to move at a pace that allows for us to
be able to kind of own and operate that tournament.
And these young kids, it's amazing. They're on their phones
(17:13):
following their tour ranking points. Oh I just beat my friend,
you know, Riley eleven nine and I just jumped him
in the rankings. I mean, it's amazing to see how
into it they've become.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
I'm amazed by how many big name investors and you
were touching off on it earlier. Drake's also in it.
The other Michael Jordan with a B in it is
he's also there. There are a lot of key investors
that have picked up in this sport, and I just
see it growing and growing. Yo.
Speaker 9 (17:44):
And the funny part is you go on Drake's Graham,
He's posted about him playing pick a ball. He plays,
he plays at his place out in the Caribbean, which
is unbelievable. And other really big players Jamie Fox, I
think I had three courts in his backyard in La
hosts high level games. So I think it's one of
those things again where like if you were young and
(18:04):
competitive and you enjoyed that competitive spirit, this is kind
of an outlet for you in a way to do
that you know longer into your life.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
So saman let me ask you this. You know, franchise evaluation.
You know, you hear about all these stars, all these
you know, you know, big high profile names that are
investing in these pickaball teams. But you know, in order
to get to profitability, like what you know, how are
they thinking about this? Like how do you value a
pick a ball team? Like what goes into it? You know,
what's the pay? Like talk walk us through that?
Speaker 9 (18:29):
So the players are earning over thirty million dollars in
aggregate to be a pro pickaball player, So the average
player makes north of two hundred and fifty thousand, and
some people say, well, that's not very good for your
p and l okay, sure, but indulgent me for a second.
What you're able to do when you allow them to
earn that high of a living is they're able to
do it full time. And so all of a sudden,
(18:50):
our one hundred and fifty professional players are able to
host camps and clinics and do appearances and come out
to twenty twenty five tournaments years. We're traveling all around
the country. So the thesis was if we let these
players do it full time, it in turn will benefit
the pro game, So your valuations enfranchise point. The unique
structure with US is we operate kind of two distinct brands.
(19:11):
We have Major League Pickaball, which is the team format,
and then we have the PPA Tour, which is the
tour format kind of like golf, tennis, et cetera. As
an investor, you get both, so you get a chance
to sort of have a part in the upside of
pro pickleball as a whole. I think we're going to
learn more and more. Is the tour format that works,
is the team format that works? Is in both that work,
and we'll get that one plus one equals three. But
(19:33):
we're excited about the fact that people are all in
on pro pickleball as an investor and they then get
to see and partake and kind of the parts of
it that they enjoy and like. From a financial perspective,
I think we've benchmarked this is Look, there's twenty million
people playing Every other sport that has twenty million plus
people playing golf, tennis, baseball, soccer, basketball, all have multi
(19:56):
billion dollar sports properties that sit at the top. So
I genuinely believe if you were to sort of benchmark
this off of that theory and say, hey, how do
I just turn doers into viewers, I think pick a
ball could see itself as having a ceiling as high
as that.
Speaker 8 (20:11):
Really interesting, And I want to talk about the MLP
and the PBA. You just touched on it. It's the
first year that they're coming to that you guys have
come together and we'll have the whole season together. Tell
us how it's going to be different than it was before.
Speaker 9 (20:23):
Yeah, So you know, the thought last year was let's
just stand this thing up and get it going, because
there was a merger at the beginning of the year,
the tours were kind of fighting and there was a
tour wars and we kind of came together literally a
year ago today actually, and so the thought was, look,
there's some shared efficiencies in operating two tours. Let's put
them next to each other. Let's run the PPA one
(20:44):
week and then sort of MLP the week after in
the same market. Turns out it was hard to squeeze
that much juice, let's say, out of one city. There
wasn't that much demand for it. So going into this year,
we said, let's bifurcate the seasons. Let's put the tour
and have it run fall spring, you know, August to April,
and then let's have MLP owned the summer because, as
many people know in sports or follow it closely, there's
(21:06):
not a ton of competition in the summer for team sports.
So MLP running April to August actually starts tomorrow. So
a little shout out, little plug MLP Orlando kicks off then,
and it's exciting for us because we then get to
build those storylines, build sort of that momentum and it
culminates in the finals in New York City in Central Park.
And so we hope that that condensed season will kind
(21:26):
of lend itself to a better viewership product. You can
actually stay tuned versus that EBB and flow that we
had last year.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
See, and now I'm going to mess with Vanessa's head.
So this is I want to bring this conversation up.
Could you see Vanessa as could she played just big
time soccer when she was at Duquane. Well, now she's
got a busted wheel.
Speaker 8 (21:49):
Yeah, now I have a broken flood. But let's take
that out of the equation.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Yeah, could Vanessa, could you see yourself playing pro pickleball?
Because you're talking to about a quarter of a million
dollars a year, right.
Speaker 8 (22:02):
I mean I'll try anything for a quarter a million
dollars a year. No, I mean I think it's interesting
because I actually, you know, we've done a story on
this with our show Next in Sports, and I got
to play with Annelie Waters, who is the number one
player sixteen year old you know at the time, sixteen
She I mean kicked my butt, So we don't need
another explicit there, she kicked my butt. But it was
(22:23):
really interesting, you know, seeing someone her age decide to
play pickleball instead of tennis, and I think that that's
what we need to start seeing more. Right, it's the
junior players, like you were saying before, they need to
pick up pickleball instead of tennis because it is a
different sport. And you know, I think once that is
they see the way. But she she's leading the way already,
(22:44):
and she's making really good money. So I personally probably
couldn't do it now, but maybe a couple of years ago,
if I started before my thirties, I probably could.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Well.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
I mean, let me let me ask you this, Anna
Lee Waters. It's a rumored she made somewhere on the
order of three million dollars last right, and now she's
taken smartly andre Agasiezra Dupples partner, right, And so talk
to us about more of that, about the integration of
tennis and pickleball and how that can kind of fuel
you know, all of this interest going forward.
Speaker 9 (23:13):
Yeah, I think today it's been a little bit of
like a mini rivalry. Right, Tennis people are like, I
don't know about pickleball. Pickaball people are like, let us
play on your courts exactly. And I actually think long
term that's like a really naive view to take, because
it could be super synergistic. Like just think no farther
than where we are today. Right the US Open facility
is effectively empty forty nine weeks out of the year.
(23:35):
The idea that we could bring pickleball to that event,
excuse me, that venue and sort of participate in everything
that's amazing that they've built with the stadiums and the
facilities and all of that great stuff. I do think
there's a long term opportunity for us to be synergistic.
And even tomorrow when our season kicks off in Orlando,
we're at the USTA National Center in Orlando. We've they've
built eight to ten permanent pickleball courts, and so I
(23:57):
do believe that we need to get better at sort
of being more synergistic versus having this sort of pseudo rivalry.
To your point about this, tennis stars Jeanie Bouchard, Jack Sock,
Donald young Andre Agassi have all kind of come over
to pickleball and are playing full time, and someone like
Andre it's sort of extending his competitive career, which is great,
and him getting to pair with Annlie Waters. I think
(24:19):
they're just doing it for this one tournament because I'm
sure Analie couldn't probably drag him to the gold, you know,
like she can and some other tournaments, But for this
one it should be really exciting.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
Now, one thing about pickleball that I like, if you
want to buy a team, you want to try to
buy an NFL team, good luck because unless you have
a Damien Sasaur money getting on a half, but you
could buy a team for about ten million dollars, which
is very reasonable.
Speaker 9 (24:44):
Yeah, and I do think that's been a big reason
why we've seen some investors really kind of lean in because,
like you said, it's what the Celtics hold for six
point one billion dollars. I mean, how many people have
six point one you know, ready to dish out for
a sports franchise. So if you go downstream now you're
talking about NWSL, WNBA, Major League pickaball and the asset
(25:06):
allocation and the dollars that you have to put towards,
it is a bit more reasonable. And oh, by the way,
the asset class of sports, as you guys know well,
is super hot. I think the other part for us
that's been attractive for investors like Drake and Michael George.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
It's asset light.
Speaker 9 (25:20):
You don't need to do a ton We take on
a lot of the operating. We sign the players, so
you get to do the fun stuff. You get to
be GM coach. Oh, hey I want to pick up
this player. Oh I'm going to go for Annaalie Waters
in the draft. And you get to kind of be
the hype person and sell sponsorship and market the team
that you want. And I do think that's kind of
made it a little bit of a nicer on ramp
for those that are kind of coming into sports.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Thanks to Samine Adwani, Commissioner of Major League Pickleball Up. Next,
we turn to the WNBA and speak with Las Vegas
ass guard Jewel Lloyd about her business venture, Lloyd and Company.
For Vanessa Bernomo. I'm Michael Bard. You're listening too the
Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio around the world.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
Thanks for joining us on the Bloomberg Business of Sports,
where we explore the big money issues in the world
of sports. Michael barr And, along with Damian Sassauer and
Vanessa Perdumo. Jewel Lloyd has plenty of success on the
basketball court as a two time WNBA Champion winning guard
for the Las Vegas Aces. She also co founded a
(26:31):
conviction based financial firm, Lloyd and Company, and she's here
now to talk to us about the venture and her
career in business. Jeel Lloyd, Welcome to the Bloomberg Business
of Sports. Co founder of Lloyd and Company. And you
have something that I really think is very cool and
it's what you started a business, and it's I wonder
(26:55):
why it took so long. It's called help with mid Loan.
Can you explain what that's all about.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
Yeah, honestly, the whole idea and the concept really came
about when I was actually trying to get a loan
part for myself to buy a home and I realized
how hard and the struggle I was to really do
that and the concept of just.
Speaker 5 (27:14):
Knowing you know that I you know who I was,
and you're having it just a difficult time. People looked
at me and said, like, are you old enough to
buy home?
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Like one to buy home?
Speaker 5 (27:24):
And you know, like do you want to buy home
in the suburbs?
Speaker 3 (27:27):
Like what if you do like what do you do?
What do your parents do? And all the questions. I
was like, why is it this hard? I don't understand,
Like I have the money I have, you know, I
want to buy my first home, Like why are you
making this so difficult? And so after going through that process,
I called my brother, I'm like this, there has to
be a better way for people, not just me, but
for a lot of people to find ways to live
their dreams, get their dreams, start their dreams. There has
(27:49):
to be so kind of looking to that concept and
understanding that we were able to acquire help with my loans.
And basically it's a it's a fintech platform. Just to
mix it really easy small business to access capital and
on a scale. So by doing that, you've already seen
the change of understanding how to acquire you know, ownership.
Speaker 5 (28:12):
But also I think the best thing about it is
that you're never going to hear no.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
And that's something that I love to hear because so
many times you go people go in to try to
start you know, reality, and it really hits that you're.
Speaker 5 (28:23):
Not going to be able to get that loan.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
Sometimes you can and get meetings to actually even acquire
the understanding of what that is and so having helped
my loans has really changed a lot.
Speaker 5 (28:34):
And the fact that we're able to bring it to Chicago.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
And have people work and give opportunities to, you know,
people who can't find jobs or want to get into
the fintech world, it's been a really great and amazing opportunity.
Speaker 8 (28:46):
Dull I love that story because obviously that has that
personal aspect to you know, you have that personal connection
to it. And that's the whole idea right behind starting
a family office, right because you you have the financial
side of it, but you really have your own personal
ethos that you're able to put into it. It's not
just about making money, it's about what you want it
to be. So tell us more about the ethos and
(29:08):
the mission behind Lloyd and Company.
Speaker 5 (29:11):
Yeah, Lord and Company.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
My brother and I started it together, and really it's
not about money. It's really about the impact, healing and ownership.
I think our mission is to really help families, founders, communities,
build generational power and the lining of a capital and purpose.
And so that's kind of been our mission and that's
really what it's all about, and that's how we are raised,
that's how we go about our thing. And I think
when you don't make it about the actual tangible money aspect,
(29:35):
you actually make it about impact or really actually change
your mindset, because now you're affecting the hearts and minds
of people, not just the financial statement.
Speaker 4 (29:42):
And I said, did you know Jewel is a pro
pickaball player?
Speaker 7 (29:45):
Did you know that?
Speaker 4 (29:45):
And by the way, she's also an investor in the
Miami pick a Ball Club. And you know, maybe jew
I can ask you this, why do pick a ball
players get paid more than WNBA athletes? I mean, talk
to us a little bit about what is going wrong
in the WNBA right now and how we're going to
change that.
Speaker 5 (30:01):
You know, I kind of have a different mindset of
that and that question. And I love pickaball. Yes, being
an owner, being a part of.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
The ownership group in Miami Pickaball League has been an amazing,
fantastic I love the sport.
Speaker 5 (30:11):
I think it's super dynamic.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
I think it's just a cooler way to just meet people,
but also it's very inclusive, and I think that's been
the biggest shift is Obviously COVID helped a lot too, right,
I really boomed after that, But I think that's a
bit a big shift, and yes, the money is a
little different, but I also think it's just different opportunities
as well. You know, you can play all year round,
it's now it's international, So I think that just had
(30:35):
a lot of more eyes on it. But compared Toba,
like we're reever supposed to be. The shift is happening
and the league's getting better, the marketing is coming around,
and so it's just opportunities.
Speaker 5 (30:44):
You know. I don't see one better than the other, honestly,
I mean I play both.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
I love both sports, I love both communities, both organizations,
the business expects of both, and both companies are honestly
in the ghost stage. So it's cool to see different
trajectories on both because as a business person you want
to see that, like what's the shift, what's the wave, like,
what's going on?
Speaker 5 (31:01):
And that's kind of look at both leagues.
Speaker 4 (31:03):
Well, Joe, let me ask you this, then, what's the
pickleball competition like in Las Vegas? I mean you just
moved from Seattle. I mean, talk to us a little
bit about what we have in store for the Las
Vegas Aces this year.
Speaker 5 (31:13):
Yeah, No, I'm super excited to be here in Vegas.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
I haven't spent that much time actually in Vegas besides
it playing here as a visitor. So now being said
and having a home base here, it has been really awesome.
And you know, I have a pickball place Chicken and
Pickle not too far from my stay, so I always
ride by, like scoping out of the competition, like who's
over there today? Like, you know, I'm kind of always
curious about that. But no, I think all in all,
(31:36):
it's a fresh new start for me in my career. Yeah, yeah,
off and on the court. So I'm super excited. I'm
ready to really embrace this community.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
I want to talk about a disability that you are
helping to bring attention to. And I had no idea
until I was reading this that you had this, that
you have dyslexia and you are working hard to improve
lives children who have learning disabilities like that. Tell us
about that, about the dyslexic advantage and eye.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
To eye, Yeah, you know, it's I guess growing up,
you don't really we didn't really talk about it. Having
a learned disability was kind of like a quote unquote
bad thing, right.
Speaker 5 (32:15):
It was like a stigma, and we didn't really know
what it was then talk about it.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
Definitely not in sports, it wasn't really brought up, and uh,
you know, for me.
Speaker 5 (32:22):
Not having someone who necessarily looked like.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
Me or had the same struggles I had, it was
just like this, I felt like I was the only one.
I felt like, oh my gosh.
Speaker 9 (32:32):
Right.
Speaker 3 (32:32):
And so as you kind of go through your journey,
you realize that the more you share your story, the
more it actually helps you heal it and then also
impact people around it.
Speaker 5 (32:40):
And so it's been fascinating to find, you know.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
Working with eye to eye and bringing more awareness to it,
but finding other ways to learn understanding that you're everyone
is one on one and that one's special and having
you know, a disability doesn't stop you from being who
you are, being a human. I think that's really important definitely,
because as an athlete, people sometimes only see you as
an athlete. They beget messure human that you had daily struggles, issues, concerns,
(33:03):
feeling all those things. And so this kind of allowed
me to find another way to be vulnerable with my
fans and find different communities to really embrace me and
my story and my journey.
Speaker 5 (33:13):
That's great.
Speaker 8 (33:14):
I mean, clearly you're doing a lot there in that space,
and again what you're doing with with your family office
as well, really balancing the personal and and you know,
your career as well. I have to talk we had.
We talked about pickball, We talked a little about the
W We're going to get to it a little bit more.
But speaking of other leagues, we had to talk about Unrivaled.
It just wrapped up the you know, the inaugural season
(33:37):
you played in. It is one of the first, you know,
times we're really seeing a league like this off season
in the US. You've played overseas in Turkey, Spain, and China.
Tell us about playing off season in the US and
just the experience that unrival was.
Speaker 5 (33:53):
No, it's it's definitely a great experience.
Speaker 3 (33:55):
You know, obviously being stateside helps a lot, just from family,
your lifestyle. It's you know, you're familiar with it, and
I think that makes it a lot more comfortable. And
I think that was really cool about arrivals that you
actually were being able to be an owner.
Speaker 5 (34:08):
I'm really big on that.
Speaker 3 (34:09):
Obviously, that's why we heard talking about business and sports,
right but I love that aspect because I love ownership
and understand how that works and understand the other side
of how to really grow something from the ground up,
and so we have that mindset on top of playing
with some of the great players in the world. I
brought a different atmosphere, different fan group. It's a little
bit different obviually playing around three full court, but it
(34:30):
was fun and obviously everyone gotten through the season healthy
and it was really cool. So it's really you know,
I think it's dynamic, and it definitely sparked a lot
of conversation around the women's sports jull.
Speaker 4 (34:42):
I know you hate hearing about it by now, but
Caitlin Clark, Paige Becker is the new crop of talent
that's coming into the w n B A leave save
nothing for the Lloyd Stewart Bird Championship Corps that you know,
rounded Seattle for all those years. But you know, talk
to us a little bit about, you know, the transition,
about the evolution of this new generation of talent, and
you know, what are your thoughts as we kind of enter,
(35:02):
you know, into the sort of year two or whatever
we're in now of Caitlyn Clark and and and and
what can what can fans expect here?
Speaker 3 (35:08):
No, I mean, this new generation of basketball players it's
it's it's awesome, it really is. If you're a cran
of basketball any capacity, you love this. This is what
you want to see. It's just the growth of the game,
the growth of players, confidence, movement, the strategy of coaching,
the schemes, all those things. It's just remarkable and that's
what we want. And so I love basketball. I love
(35:29):
watching Even my nephew, who you know, is like eleven,
I go and watch these games. I'm like blown away, right,
So it's like, all the totality of basketball is really good.
And so to have anything that's this new, fresh, new drama,
new storylines, that's what that's what really pushes sports and
that's what people want.
Speaker 5 (35:48):
It's so it's been really great to just see that.
Speaker 3 (35:49):
And you know, I'm really excited for the women's game
and even college you know, I think it starts there too.
Is it's been a shift in women's sports there too,
and so many great athletes are put in the work
and time to just work on their craft.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
And you are also the franchise owner of a smoothie King,
which we all know manufacturer's time. What is it like
when you are a franchise owner trying to make it
in today's world.
Speaker 5 (36:14):
You know, for me, it's really about the people. I
really value the people.
Speaker 3 (36:20):
So going to Smoothy King and seeing my staff and
all those things, I'm like, this is awesome.
Speaker 5 (36:24):
You know, I love smoothie So it kind of worked
out too. It's a healthy lifestyle.
Speaker 3 (36:30):
Yeah, you know, I understand the business, understand the smoothie,
I understand location, and I'm like, why not, right, And
so having that mindset has been great and it's something
I really enjoy, and it's really for the community.
Speaker 5 (36:40):
I really got involved because it was right where I
grew up.
Speaker 3 (36:42):
It's really local, and I'm able to work with the school,
Bridges School, which is probably ten mes away from the
Smoothy King, so kids with and people with the learning
disabilities and they come and work at the Smoothie King.
Speaker 5 (36:54):
So it's just so like heartwarming and.
Speaker 3 (36:56):
Awesome that I'm able to give back and also provide
the service and business to the community. So I love
I love the whole aspect. And that's actually why I
also bought a farm the same reason. Like it's just
like I just love having that two combination combo of
learning the business, help the community, giving back, and then
actually like trying to leave a LEXI behind it.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
See here's your here's your logo. I got it for you. Vanessa.
If like me, you want to ring, just come on
down the Smoothie King.
Speaker 5 (37:24):
Who Michael, I like the Just.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
Call me Darren Stevens. That's all right, that is good.
Speaker 8 (37:32):
No, I like.
Speaker 4 (37:33):
I like that.
Speaker 3 (37:34):
We've done our shirt selling some proceeds for it.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
Jewe Lloyd, co founder of Lloyd and Company. And oh yeah,
she's a two time w NBA champion and and oh yeah,
she has won three times the All w n B
A and six time All Star and also twenty fifteen
Rookie of the.
Speaker 8 (37:53):
Year gold medalist.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
Yeah, you know she knows.
Speaker 5 (38:02):
Thank you so muchting there. No, I appreciate you guys. Now,
this has been a blast.
Speaker 3 (38:06):
I really do appreciate the time. And you know, we'll
check in a couple of six months to see the updates.
So we'll write it out here.
Speaker 2 (38:12):
And hey, thank you for my colleagues, Damian Sasaur and
Vanessa Perdomo. I'm Michael Barr. Now, if you missed any
of our conversation today, listen on demand with the Bloomberg
Business of Sports podcast. Subscribe now on your favorite podcast
platform so you never missed an episode. Tune in again
next week for the latest on the stories moving big
(38:33):
old money in the world of sports. You're listening to
the 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 start 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 of the company. I think we're in the
bolden years for the NFL and college football.
Speaker 5 (00:26):
Our demographic reach has continued to explode.
Speaker 6 (00:29):
This is going to be really unlocking the streaming platform
for sports fans.
Speaker 7 (00:34):
Sports evaluations arising. We'll see when they peak.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
You don't have to be the best in your sport
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 the Damian Saasur Vanessa Perdomo. We'll join
us a bit later on in the show. Coming up,
we'll talk about the WNS Las Vegas Aces and Star
Guard Jewel Lloyd on her family office venture.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
It's not about money, It's really about the impact, healing
and ownership. I think our mission is to really help families, founders,
communities build generational power in our lining up a capital
and purpose.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Plus, we'll hear from the Commissioner Major League Pickleball, Samine
Awani on pickleball's growing popularity. All that and more straight
ahead on the Bloomberg Business of Sports. But first, Eli
Manning is working to put together a bid to buy
a stake in the team he won two Super Bowls
for the New York Giants. Here to take us through
(01:37):
what we know is friend of the show, Bloomberg US
sports business reporter Randal Williams Randall, Welcome back to the
Bloomberg Business of Sports.
Speaker 7 (01:46):
I appreciate you all for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Well, we got a couple of things to talk about,
So I'm going to start first of all with let's
talk about Eli Manning. And now Eli Manning's thinking, Hey,
you know what my old team, I wouldn't mind owning
a piece of that. Tell us about that.
Speaker 6 (02:02):
Yeah, So the Marin Tisch families put a ten percent
stake up for sale. That's that's what the number has
been reported originally about the Sports Business Journal. Eli has
long said, I think it was on CMBC earlier this
year that there was one team that he was going
to own a piece of it was going to be
the Giants. It's sort of a no brainer here that
he's thrown his name and they had to buy at
least a piece of that ten percent.
Speaker 7 (02:24):
Maybe not the full thing, but part of it for sure.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
So talk to us a little bit, Brandal. I mean,
what are the Giants valued out here? Is it something
on the order of what eight billion dollars?
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Is it?
Speaker 4 (02:32):
I mean, so ten percent, eight hundred million, Like, walk
me through the numbers here. I mean like, would Eli
carry a substantial, you know, steak in the team? I mean,
would you have at least you know, some sort of
say and how the team is managed? What are your
thoughts there?
Speaker 6 (02:47):
I think a lot of it is to be determined.
Like if you think about the way that the Miami
Dolphins and Steven Ross were able to get to eight
point one billion, and then Jeffrey Lori and the Eagles
got to eight three and New York is bigger than
both of those. It is just from the market perspective,
I would imagine that the Giants would go for more
than both of those teams, or they at least the
(03:07):
stake would go for both of those teams. In regards
to what Eli and his position within the Giants is
going to be, it really depends on what the mayors
wanting to be. I mean, the Giants obviously haven't had
much success over the last decade. ELI Sureley could come
in and provide some football analysis the same way that
Tom Brady is doing for Mark Davis and the Las
Vegas Raiders.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
I was just going to get into that because now
if this goes through with Eli, he's going to have
the same problem that Tom Brady had because both are
technically in the booth. Well, of course tom Brady, we
know he's in the booth. But Eli and his brother Peyton,
they have the Monday night cast where it's still they're broadcasting.
(03:49):
Are they going to run into problems just like Tom Brady.
Speaker 7 (03:52):
I'm not sure.
Speaker 6 (03:53):
I think that that's a good question, and I think
the NFL will definitely be meeting about it if ELI knows.
If Eli's bidd does go to the point where they
have to approve it. I think that you know, some
of the people that they're talking to on the Manning
cast aren't active players as well as you know, the
people that they're speaking about during the games or most
of the time are playing. So I think it's a
(04:15):
little different. But there might be some owners in the
NFL who look at this and are like, absolutely not,
I want similar rules on Manning.
Speaker 7 (04:22):
Is that there are on Brady. So we'll have to
see in the months to come.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
Well, Manning is obviously very close with Boltamara and the
Tush families. He played for the team for sixteen years.
You know, Randal, do you think that when he goes
to actually sign on the dotted line and take his
stack in the team that he dresses like Chad Powers,
puts on a big mustache, pretends like he's a walk
on at Penn State Universe. No, I'm just but no,
I mean, let's switch gears a little bit. I mean,
it's a great story, but you know, the real story
for me, Michael Barr the Washington Commanders, I mean they
(04:46):
are and getting to play in their own stadium again.
Talk to us a little bit about that, Randall, what's
the word.
Speaker 6 (04:51):
I think that Josh Harris and what he has done
with the team is simply remarkable. From I mean, if
you remember the state of the Commanders just three years ago,
just the worry that at other NFL owners that Roger
Goodell had just because of Dan Snyder, and then Josh
Harris buys the team. They're not very good in year one,
but then you know, he he commits to saying like, Okay,
(05:12):
we're gonna get better. They draft j and Daniels, they
hired Dan Coin, they put a good front office in place,
and you know, they have this miraculous season and you know,
along the way there is stadium talks, like that's the
number one thing on his mind. The product on the
field was taking care of itself, but the stadium thing
was not certain that he was going to be able
to get RFK.
Speaker 7 (05:30):
Stadium, not at all. In fact, that two years later
he has a deal is just insane.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
Well, I mean, think about that, Randall, I mean, Josh Harris,
I mean, you're absolutely right. Roger Goodell, I mean, they
had written it off under the snighter years and then
Roger Goodell and I didn't even know this. He's been
in DC, he's been lobbying the government, you know, for what.
He now to walk me through this because I didn't understand.
So the RFK site was controlled by the federal government
and not DC, and what needed to happen was it
needed to change hands, is that right?
Speaker 6 (05:58):
Yeah, So in December they voted to i think was
Congress voted to shift it from the federal government to DC,
and then Joe Biden, or former President Joe Biden signed
it in on one of his last days in office.
So this was miraculous that this happened. And then of
course you have these months that come. It's some you know,
let's say one hundred and twenty days later and you.
Speaker 7 (06:16):
Have a deal.
Speaker 6 (06:17):
But do you think about the way that other stadiums
and teams and local governments have to make these deals.
It normally doesn't happen this quick. The fact that you know,
the mayor is sitting there, you have Josh Arish, you
have Roger Goodell, who are all committing the you know,
it's three point eight I'm sure it will get to
four billion dollars to a stadium.
Speaker 7 (06:37):
I'm astounded.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
I think that what impressed me the most was, well,
first of all, it came out with the statement, you
know they played until the mid nineteen nineties at the
old RFK, which you know, old man bar I remember that,
you know ingrained in my head. And what impressed me
(06:59):
though was here's Joeve Heisman, and he's making the announcement
on the video, Hey, this is going to happen. And
one of the things that he mentions is that, you know,
we're talking about more than just a new stadium. We're
talking about a food hall and all the other amenities.
Speaker 6 (07:17):
Yeah, the way that the plan is right now, it'll
be the second most expensive stadium ever behind so Far.
And anyone who's been to Sofi sofar is a palace,
and I think this this stadium very well.
Speaker 7 (07:28):
Could be the exact same.
Speaker 6 (07:29):
I mean, what a lot of these owners are looking
at is that if you get a new stadium, you
put a dome on it, and now all of a sudden,
you can host the Super Bowl. And I can assure
you that if Slash, when this stadium gets built, it's
twenty twenty five today twenty thirty five, there might be
as Super Bowl in Washington, d C.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
Well, you know, Randal, now you're there, right, I Mean,
here's what I don't understand. Why only sixty five thousand incapacity? Right?
I mean as in East Rutherford it is in that
life eighty two thousand and eighty three thousand. I mean,
you know, why not go for the you know ann
Arbor one hundred that I mean, like, are those tadums?
Do they not make financial sense? I guess I'm curious
Or is it a size of space issue, or I mean,
is it not big enough to handle that kind of size.
(08:07):
I'm just I'm wondering out loud here, Randall, any thoughts there.
Speaker 7 (08:10):
I think it's more so a cost thing.
Speaker 6 (08:12):
I mean, you want to make sure that the money
you're putting into it is it provides the best experience possible.
And it isn't always a guarantee that the more people
you have, the louder it is, just because you're adding
voices in there. It really depends on like if you
go to a Chiefs game at Arrowhead and you go
to a Packers game, Like the environment of these stadiums
is different because the culture of each team is different
(08:33):
in regards to the Commanders. I think that when you
put four billion dollars or three point eight or three
billion dollars into a stadium and it's going to put
sixty five thousand and it's going to be a state
of the art arena, I'm sure the fans when they
get there are going to lose their mind, not only
because of Jayden Daniels playing, but also because they have
a three billion dollar stadium.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
I'm going to add an addendum to that, and I
think there is another reason why. I'm from the old
Detroit line X era of the Pontiac Silver Nomen. It'd
had about almost eighty ninety thousand seats and a lot
of time maybe more than that, and a lot of
times it didn't sell out, which means if it didn't
sell out, you were not going to get local coverage.
(09:15):
The game had to sell out for that to happen.
And I'm wondering, you know, if you keep it down
the sixty five thousand, you could sell them out easier.
Speaker 7 (09:24):
I think so too.
Speaker 6 (09:25):
But I think that when you have Jayden Daniels leading
your team based on his rookie season alone, I mean,
god willing, he's going to be a superstar quarterback in
the league for another ten to fifteen years, but he's
going to pack out that stadium regardless of what happens.
I don't think they're going to have any trouble. And
Josh Harris, I mean, he's been a wonderful owner for
d C. So if you if you know, things go awry,
(09:46):
in DC and you trust, you have an owner that
you trust to build a team all over again. And
I mean it's truly remarkable what he's done in you know,
seven hundred and thirty days.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
Well, Randal, youah one last thing for audience. I mean,
let's crystallize this. I mean, the project is expected to
create get this, two thousand permanent jobs, another fourteen thousand
jobs during construction, and over thirty years, direct spending on
the project mays to pass fifteen billion dollars for the
DC metro area. So I mean that's pretty unbelievable. And look,
I mean you're absolutely right. I mean, Josh Harris, I
(10:15):
you know a friend of the show, John Fashia, tell
I'm gona shout out to him. He's gonna be busy here, right.
He used to run real estate for Josh Harrison Hu
and Harris Splitzer. So you know, I gotta believe. You know,
there's gonna be a lot of contracts, a lot of
people involved with this. It's gonna be great for the
city DC, right, Randall.
Speaker 7 (10:30):
Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 6 (10:30):
I mean the number one thing that the city of
DC wants is a super Bowl, of course, So you know,
you get a Super Bowl. You get a new stadium
and then you host the Super Bowl. Everybody in DC
is going to be losing their minds.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Yeah, and you mentioned about I know we're starting to
run short of time, but you mentioned about Washington DC
Mayor Muriel Bowser, and she's been pushing for this for
you know, a long time, and like you said, you know,
it's they could have lost the whole thing to Virginia,
but they didn't. And good for them, I mean, because
(11:04):
she really stepped up to the plane in this one
to give the pun.
Speaker 7 (11:07):
Yeah she did. I mean, Harris is committing like two point.
Speaker 6 (11:10):
Seven billion himself, or Harris and the commanders are excuse me,
committing two point seven billion. Then you have the city
of DC that has one point one billion. That's a
lot of money. But if you think about it from
the percentages, that's roughly seventy five percent commanders and twenty
five percent the people of d C. And that's a
good deal for a four billion dollar stadium. A lot
(11:31):
if you think about what Chicago is doing and where
the chiefs are. And I'm sure there's going to be
some other teams that are going to face stadium issues
somewhere down the line.
Speaker 7 (11:40):
This is a great deal.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
Yeah, the only thing I guess I could think about
that might be a negative. But I mean, kudos to Harris.
I mean, if there's anyone who cold figure this out,
it's him. But you know, all of the Washington, DC
based office space right now with the government layoffs after
post Doge, you know, I wonder if that all you know,
maybe that means now's the time right to capitalize in
the fact that real estate's cheap, right, So you know,
Harris Man, kudos to the commanders, I mean, and Jade
(12:02):
and Daniels. I can't wait to see him running it.
And I mean Randall, I mean, correct me if I'm wrong.
But wasn't the turf they were playing on, I forget
the name of the stadium where they've been playing. Wasn't
that like voted the worst to play on by NFL
players like over the past three years or something crazy?
Speaker 6 (12:16):
Yeah, I think it's Northwest Field and Northwest Stadium after
it was renamed from FedEx Field, and it's never been popular.
I mean, you think about some of the things that
have happened there over the past couple of years. Jalen
Hurst is walking into the locker room. The guardrail falls.
You have the pipe that burst, and the team said
it was rainwater. The fans said it was sewage like
that stadium is a dump and they won't be there
(12:36):
too much longer though.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
I forgot all about the guardrail falling down.
Speaker 8 (12:40):
Man.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Yeah, that's oh my get Yeah, you're right man. Thanks
to Bloomberg US sports business reporter Randa Williams for joining
us up. Next, we turned to the world of pick
a ball for Hamian sas Hour. I'm Michael Barr. You're
listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio
around the world.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
This is the.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Bloomberg Business of Sports, where we explore the big money
issues in the world of sports. Michael Barr along with
Vanessa Perdomo. Pickleball is one of the fastest growing sports,
with Major League Pickleball driving around fifty million dollars in
revenue in twenty twenty four, not including revenue generated by
individual teams. Here to talk to us more about the
(13:30):
league and the growth of pickleball, we welcome Major League
Pickleball Commissioner Samine Adwani. Samine welcome to the Bloomberg business
of sports.
Speaker 9 (13:39):
Appreciate shit having me, man tell you what.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Now, see, here's old man Bar coming through. I know
Vanessa's like, oh God, what old sports are you gonna tell? Now.
When pickleball first came out, I'm like, oh, that's cute.
You know, this is a cute little sport. It's like,
I don't know it's going to pick up steam. And
then pickleball said, shut up, Bar, because this thing just
(14:04):
took off, like to the moon.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
That's right, that's right.
Speaker 9 (14:07):
I mean, in some part we've had a lot of
success because so many people are playing, and the question
was always come on, it's pro pickleball real, like, are
people really going to tune into this? And then, like
you said, we're sitting in this office and you clearly
know about the sport. Vanessa clearly knows about the sport.
I'm the commissioner of Major League Pickleball. So it's here,
(14:29):
and I think more than anything else, it's come faster
than any of us anticipated. And a big part of
that has been the fact that we've had influencers and
high profile people really lean in and kind of say, hey,
we believe in this thing too. I used to work
for Kevin Durant. I convinced the guy to buy a
pickleball team and we actually had him out playing. He's
not you know, he might not love that I'm saying
(14:50):
it's not very good, but he got it. He understood
the sort of belief that, hey, it can have old
people and young people and can compete and have a
chance to sort of showcase some of the things that
they loved about team sports grown up.
Speaker 8 (15:05):
I mean, you mentioned KD right, and then it's Lebron
and it's Tom Brady. How how does it happen that way?
And are all those profiles and all those people the
reason why it's been able to grow so fast and
sustain itself.
Speaker 5 (15:19):
I don't know if.
Speaker 9 (15:20):
It's the driver of it growing. I think the real
root of it growing is the amateurs playing and just
the fact that you know, post COVID for all interns
of purposes. You know, pickble didn't exist before the pandemic,
and now it's sort of exploited in this thing.
Speaker 8 (15:33):
Of gym classes. Okay, I had to play in high school.
Speaker 9 (15:38):
No, And I think what's interesting and fun for us
is the people that are leaning in kind of represent
in some ways, the diversity of the demographic that's playing.
Speaker 7 (15:46):
And so when you.
Speaker 9 (15:47):
Have Jewel, Lloyd and Katie and Tom Brady and Gary
Vaynerchek all kind of believing in a thing, it's sort
of representative of what's happening on the court. Where you
can go out with your grandparent or the four of us,
you'll play and within ten minute and it's like we'd
be having a nice competitive match.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
Well to me, and I'll tell you this. You know,
just the fact that my country club up in Gretwich, Connecticut, Tamarack,
is converting two of its tennis courts into pickleball. It
just tells you everything you need to know. And I'm
seeing it everywhere now, you know, riddle me this. You
know what needs to take place in order to get
real buy and from you know, from the youth, from colleges,
from you know, the next generation, so that we can
kind of feed in to a professional pickleball in league.
(16:24):
What are you doing? What efforts are the Pickleball Association
making in order to make that happen.
Speaker 9 (16:28):
So for us, a big focus has been launching our
Junior PPA Tour, and the thought there is look, sometimes
the universities and the NCAA they're kind of like last movers,
Like you got to show them that there's a bunch
of people that want to do this, and then they'll
sanction it right and they'll turn it into sort of
a Division one sport. And so our focus was, look,
we're kind of going faster than anyone anticipated. I mean,
(16:50):
you know, in terms of growth and how quickly the
sport is is sort of taking up you know, participation
at the youth level. And so we said, let's launch
the junior tour and if it turns into you know,
varsity sports, turns into an NCAA Division one sport, great,
that's the outcome that we all want. But we're able
to move at a pace that allows for us to
be able to kind of own and operate that tournament.
And these young kids, it's amazing. They're on their phones
(17:13):
following their tour ranking points. Oh I just beat my friend,
you know, Riley eleven nine and I just jumped him
in the rankings. I mean, it's amazing to see how
into it they've become.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
I'm amazed by how many big name investors and you
were touching off on it earlier. Drake's also in it.
The other Michael Jordan with a B in it is
he's also there. There are a lot of key investors
that have picked up in this sport, and I just
see it growing and growing. Yo.
Speaker 9 (17:44):
And the funny part is you go on Drake's Graham,
He's posted about him playing pick a ball. He plays,
he plays at his place out in the Caribbean, which
is unbelievable. And other really big players Jamie Fox, I
think I had three courts in his backyard in La
hosts high level games. So I think it's one of
those things again where like if you were young and
(18:04):
competitive and you enjoyed that competitive spirit, this is kind
of an outlet for you in a way to do
that you know longer into your life.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
So saman let me ask you this. You know, franchise evaluation.
You know, you hear about all these stars, all these
you know, you know, big high profile names that are
investing in these pickaball teams. But you know, in order
to get to profitability, like what you know, how are
they thinking about this? Like how do you value a
pick a ball team? Like what goes into it? You know,
what's the pay? Like talk walk us through that?
Speaker 9 (18:29):
So the players are earning over thirty million dollars in
aggregate to be a pro pickaball player, So the average
player makes north of two hundred and fifty thousand, and
some people say, well, that's not very good for your
p and l okay, sure, but indulgent me for a second.
What you're able to do when you allow them to
earn that high of a living is they're able to
do it full time. And so all of a sudden,
(18:50):
our one hundred and fifty professional players are able to
host camps and clinics and do appearances and come out
to twenty twenty five tournaments years. We're traveling all around
the country. So the thesis was if we let these
players do it full time, it in turn will benefit
the pro game, So your valuations enfranchise point. The unique
structure with US is we operate kind of two distinct brands.
(19:11):
We have Major League Pickaball, which is the team format,
and then we have the PPA Tour, which is the
tour format kind of like golf, tennis, et cetera. As
an investor, you get both, so you get a chance
to sort of have a part in the upside of
pro pickleball as a whole. I think we're going to
learn more and more. Is the tour format that works,
is the team format that works? Is in both that work,
and we'll get that one plus one equals three. But
(19:33):
we're excited about the fact that people are all in
on pro pickleball as an investor and they then get
to see and partake and kind of the parts of
it that they enjoy and like. From a financial perspective,
I think we've benchmarked this is Look, there's twenty million
people playing Every other sport that has twenty million plus
people playing golf, tennis, baseball, soccer, basketball, all have multi
(19:56):
billion dollar sports properties that sit at the top. So
I genuinely believe if you were to sort of benchmark
this off of that theory and say, hey, how do
I just turn doers into viewers, I think pick a
ball could see itself as having a ceiling as high
as that.
Speaker 8 (20:11):
Really interesting, And I want to talk about the MLP
and the PBA. You just touched on it. It's the
first year that they're coming to that you guys have
come together and we'll have the whole season together. Tell
us how it's going to be different than it was before.
Speaker 9 (20:23):
Yeah, So you know, the thought last year was let's
just stand this thing up and get it going, because
there was a merger at the beginning of the year,
the tours were kind of fighting and there was a
tour wars and we kind of came together literally a
year ago today actually, and so the thought was, look,
there's some shared efficiencies in operating two tours. Let's put
them next to each other. Let's run the PPA one
(20:44):
week and then sort of MLP the week after in
the same market. Turns out it was hard to squeeze
that much juice, let's say, out of one city. There
wasn't that much demand for it. So going into this year,
we said, let's bifurcate the seasons. Let's put the tour
and have it run fall spring, you know, August to April,
and then let's have MLP owned the summer because, as
many people know in sports or follow it closely, there's
(21:06):
not a ton of competition in the summer for team sports.
So MLP running April to August actually starts tomorrow. So
a little shout out, little plug MLP Orlando kicks off then,
and it's exciting for us because we then get to
build those storylines, build sort of that momentum and it
culminates in the finals in New York City in Central Park.
And so we hope that that condensed season will kind
(21:26):
of lend itself to a better viewership product. You can
actually stay tuned versus that EBB and flow that we
had last year.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
See, and now I'm going to mess with Vanessa's head.
So this is I want to bring this conversation up.
Could you see Vanessa as could she played just big
time soccer when she was at Duquane. Well, now she's
got a busted wheel.
Speaker 8 (21:49):
Yeah, now I have a broken flood. But let's take
that out of the equation.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Yeah, could Vanessa, could you see yourself playing pro pickleball?
Because you're talking to about a quarter of a million
dollars a year, right.
Speaker 8 (22:02):
I mean I'll try anything for a quarter a million
dollars a year. No, I mean I think it's interesting
because I actually, you know, we've done a story on
this with our show Next in Sports, and I got
to play with Annelie Waters, who is the number one
player sixteen year old you know at the time, sixteen
She I mean kicked my butt, So we don't need
another explicit there, she kicked my butt. But it was
(22:23):
really interesting, you know, seeing someone her age decide to
play pickleball instead of tennis, and I think that that's
what we need to start seeing more. Right, it's the
junior players, like you were saying before, they need to
pick up pickleball instead of tennis because it is a
different sport. And you know, I think once that is
they see the way. But she she's leading the way already,
(22:44):
and she's making really good money. So I personally probably
couldn't do it now, but maybe a couple of years ago,
if I started before my thirties, I probably could.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Well.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
I mean, let me let me ask you this, Anna
Lee Waters. It's a rumored she made somewhere on the
order of three million dollars last right, and now she's
taken smartly andre Agasiezra Dupples partner, right, And so talk
to us about more of that, about the integration of
tennis and pickleball and how that can kind of fuel
you know, all of this interest going forward.
Speaker 9 (23:13):
Yeah, I think today it's been a little bit of
like a mini rivalry. Right, Tennis people are like, I
don't know about pickleball. Pickaball people are like, let us
play on your courts exactly. And I actually think long
term that's like a really naive view to take, because
it could be super synergistic. Like just think no farther
than where we are today. Right the US Open facility
is effectively empty forty nine weeks out of the year.
(23:35):
The idea that we could bring pickleball to that event,
excuse me, that venue and sort of participate in everything
that's amazing that they've built with the stadiums and the
facilities and all of that great stuff. I do think
there's a long term opportunity for us to be synergistic.
And even tomorrow when our season kicks off in Orlando,
we're at the USTA National Center in Orlando. We've they've
built eight to ten permanent pickleball courts, and so I
(23:57):
do believe that we need to get better at sort
of being more synergistic versus having this sort of pseudo rivalry.
To your point about this, tennis stars Jeanie Bouchard, Jack Sock,
Donald young Andre Agassi have all kind of come over
to pickleball and are playing full time, and someone like
Andre it's sort of extending his competitive career, which is great,
and him getting to pair with Annlie Waters. I think
(24:19):
they're just doing it for this one tournament because I'm
sure Analie couldn't probably drag him to the gold, you know,
like she can and some other tournaments, But for this
one it should be really exciting.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
Now, one thing about pickleball that I like, if you
want to buy a team, you want to try to
buy an NFL team, good luck because unless you have
a Damien Sasaur money getting on a half, but you
could buy a team for about ten million dollars, which
is very reasonable.
Speaker 9 (24:44):
Yeah, and I do think that's been a big reason
why we've seen some investors really kind of lean in because,
like you said, it's what the Celtics hold for six
point one billion dollars. I mean, how many people have
six point one you know, ready to dish out for
a sports franchise. So if you go downstream now you're
talking about NWSL, WNBA, Major League pickaball and the asset
(25:06):
allocation and the dollars that you have to put towards,
it is a bit more reasonable. And oh, by the way,
the asset class of sports, as you guys know well,
is super hot. I think the other part for us
that's been attractive for investors like Drake and Michael George.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
It's asset light.
Speaker 9 (25:20):
You don't need to do a ton We take on
a lot of the operating. We sign the players, so
you get to do the fun stuff. You get to
be GM coach. Oh, hey I want to pick up
this player. Oh I'm going to go for Annaalie Waters
in the draft. And you get to kind of be
the hype person and sell sponsorship and market the team
that you want. And I do think that's kind of
made it a little bit of a nicer on ramp
for those that are kind of coming into sports.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Thanks to Samine Adwani, Commissioner of Major League Pickleball Up. Next,
we turn to the WNBA and speak with Las Vegas
ass guard Jewel Lloyd about her business venture, Lloyd and Company.
For Vanessa Bernomo. I'm Michael Bard. You're listening too the
Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio around the world.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
Thanks for joining us on the Bloomberg Business of Sports,
where we explore the big money issues in the world
of sports. Michael barr And, along with Damian Sassauer and
Vanessa Perdumo. Jewel Lloyd has plenty of success on the
basketball court as a two time WNBA Champion winning guard
for the Las Vegas Aces. She also co founded a
(26:31):
conviction based financial firm, Lloyd and Company, and she's here
now to talk to us about the venture and her
career in business. Jeel Lloyd, Welcome to the Bloomberg Business
of Sports. Co founder of Lloyd and Company. And you
have something that I really think is very cool and
it's what you started a business, and it's I wonder
(26:55):
why it took so long. It's called help with mid Loan.
Can you explain what that's all about.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
Yeah, honestly, the whole idea and the concept really came
about when I was actually trying to get a loan
part for myself to buy a home and I realized
how hard and the struggle I was to really do
that and the concept of just.
Speaker 5 (27:14):
Knowing you know that I you know who I was,
and you're having it just a difficult time. People looked
at me and said, like, are you old enough to
buy home?
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Like one to buy home?
Speaker 5 (27:24):
And you know, like do you want to buy home
in the suburbs?
Speaker 3 (27:27):
Like what if you do like what do you do?
What do your parents do? And all the questions. I
was like, why is it this hard? I don't understand,
Like I have the money I have, you know, I
want to buy my first home, Like why are you
making this so difficult? And so after going through that process,
I called my brother, I'm like this, there has to
be a better way for people, not just me, but
for a lot of people to find ways to live
their dreams, get their dreams, start their dreams. There has
(27:49):
to be so kind of looking to that concept and
understanding that we were able to acquire help with my loans.
And basically it's a it's a fintech platform. Just to
mix it really easy small business to access capital and
on a scale. So by doing that, you've already seen
the change of understanding how to acquire you know, ownership.
Speaker 5 (28:12):
But also I think the best thing about it is
that you're never going to hear no.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
And that's something that I love to hear because so
many times you go people go in to try to
start you know, reality, and it really hits that you're.
Speaker 5 (28:23):
Not going to be able to get that loan.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
Sometimes you can and get meetings to actually even acquire
the understanding of what that is and so having helped
my loans has really changed a lot.
Speaker 5 (28:34):
And the fact that we're able to bring it to Chicago.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
And have people work and give opportunities to, you know,
people who can't find jobs or want to get into
the fintech world, it's been a really great and amazing opportunity.
Speaker 8 (28:46):
Dull I love that story because obviously that has that
personal aspect to you know, you have that personal connection
to it. And that's the whole idea right behind starting
a family office, right because you you have the financial
side of it, but you really have your own personal
ethos that you're able to put into it. It's not
just about making money, it's about what you want it
to be. So tell us more about the ethos and
(29:08):
the mission behind Lloyd and Company.
Speaker 5 (29:11):
Yeah, Lord and Company.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
My brother and I started it together, and really it's
not about money. It's really about the impact, healing and ownership.
I think our mission is to really help families, founders, communities,
build generational power and the lining of a capital and purpose.
And so that's kind of been our mission and that's
really what it's all about, and that's how we are raised,
that's how we go about our thing. And I think
when you don't make it about the actual tangible money aspect,
(29:35):
you actually make it about impact or really actually change
your mindset, because now you're affecting the hearts and minds
of people, not just the financial statement.
Speaker 4 (29:42):
And I said, did you know Jewel is a pro
pickaball player?
Speaker 7 (29:45):
Did you know that?
Speaker 4 (29:45):
And by the way, she's also an investor in the
Miami pick a Ball Club. And you know, maybe jew
I can ask you this, why do pick a ball
players get paid more than WNBA athletes? I mean, talk
to us a little bit about what is going wrong
in the WNBA right now and how we're going to
change that.
Speaker 5 (30:01):
You know, I kind of have a different mindset of
that and that question. And I love pickaball. Yes, being
an owner, being a part of.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
The ownership group in Miami Pickaball League has been an amazing,
fantastic I love the sport.
Speaker 5 (30:11):
I think it's super dynamic.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
I think it's just a cooler way to just meet people,
but also it's very inclusive, and I think that's been
the biggest shift is Obviously COVID helped a lot too, right,
I really boomed after that, But I think that's a
bit a big shift, and yes, the money is a
little different, but I also think it's just different opportunities
as well. You know, you can play all year round,
it's now it's international, So I think that just had
(30:35):
a lot of more eyes on it. But compared Toba,
like we're reever supposed to be. The shift is happening
and the league's getting better, the marketing is coming around,
and so it's just opportunities.
Speaker 5 (30:44):
You know. I don't see one better than the other, honestly,
I mean I play both.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
I love both sports, I love both communities, both organizations,
the business expects of both, and both companies are honestly
in the ghost stage. So it's cool to see different
trajectories on both because as a business person you want
to see that, like what's the shift, what's the wave, like,
what's going on?
Speaker 5 (31:01):
And that's kind of look at both leagues.
Speaker 4 (31:03):
Well, Joe, let me ask you this, then, what's the
pickleball competition like in Las Vegas? I mean you just
moved from Seattle. I mean, talk to us a little
bit about what we have in store for the Las
Vegas Aces this year.
Speaker 5 (31:13):
Yeah, No, I'm super excited to be here in Vegas.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
I haven't spent that much time actually in Vegas besides
it playing here as a visitor. So now being said
and having a home base here, it has been really awesome.
And you know, I have a pickball place Chicken and
Pickle not too far from my stay, so I always
ride by, like scoping out of the competition, like who's
over there today? Like, you know, I'm kind of always
curious about that. But no, I think all in all,
(31:36):
it's a fresh new start for me in my career. Yeah, yeah,
off and on the court. So I'm super excited. I'm
ready to really embrace this community.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
I want to talk about a disability that you are
helping to bring attention to. And I had no idea
until I was reading this that you had this, that
you have dyslexia and you are working hard to improve
lives children who have learning disabilities like that. Tell us
about that, about the dyslexic advantage and eye.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
To eye, Yeah, you know, it's I guess growing up,
you don't really we didn't really talk about it. Having
a learned disability was kind of like a quote unquote
bad thing, right.
Speaker 5 (32:15):
It was like a stigma, and we didn't really know
what it was then talk about it.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
Definitely not in sports, it wasn't really brought up, and uh,
you know, for me.
Speaker 5 (32:22):
Not having someone who necessarily looked like.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
Me or had the same struggles I had, it was
just like this, I felt like I was the only one.
I felt like, oh my gosh.
Speaker 9 (32:32):
Right.
Speaker 3 (32:32):
And so as you kind of go through your journey,
you realize that the more you share your story, the
more it actually helps you heal it and then also
impact people around it.
Speaker 5 (32:40):
And so it's been fascinating to find, you know.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
Working with eye to eye and bringing more awareness to it,
but finding other ways to learn understanding that you're everyone
is one on one and that one's special and having
you know, a disability doesn't stop you from being who
you are, being a human. I think that's really important definitely,
because as an athlete, people sometimes only see you as
an athlete. They beget messure human that you had daily struggles, issues, concerns,
(33:03):
feeling all those things. And so this kind of allowed
me to find another way to be vulnerable with my
fans and find different communities to really embrace me and
my story and my journey.
Speaker 5 (33:13):
That's great.
Speaker 8 (33:14):
I mean, clearly you're doing a lot there in that space,
and again what you're doing with with your family office
as well, really balancing the personal and and you know,
your career as well. I have to talk we had.
We talked about pickball, We talked a little about the
W We're going to get to it a little bit more.
But speaking of other leagues, we had to talk about Unrivaled.
It just wrapped up the you know, the inaugural season
(33:37):
you played in. It is one of the first, you know,
times we're really seeing a league like this off season
in the US. You've played overseas in Turkey, Spain, and China.
Tell us about playing off season in the US and
just the experience that unrival was.
Speaker 5 (33:53):
No, it's it's definitely a great experience.
Speaker 3 (33:55):
You know, obviously being stateside helps a lot, just from family,
your lifestyle. It's you know, you're familiar with it, and
I think that makes it a lot more comfortable. And
I think that was really cool about arrivals that you
actually were being able to be an owner.
Speaker 5 (34:08):
I'm really big on that.
Speaker 3 (34:09):
Obviously, that's why we heard talking about business and sports,
right but I love that aspect because I love ownership
and understand how that works and understand the other side
of how to really grow something from the ground up,
and so we have that mindset on top of playing
with some of the great players in the world. I
brought a different atmosphere, different fan group. It's a little
bit different obviually playing around three full court, but it
(34:30):
was fun and obviously everyone gotten through the season healthy
and it was really cool. So it's really you know,
I think it's dynamic, and it definitely sparked a lot
of conversation around the women's sports jull.
Speaker 4 (34:42):
I know you hate hearing about it by now, but
Caitlin Clark, Paige Becker is the new crop of talent
that's coming into the w n B A leave save
nothing for the Lloyd Stewart Bird Championship Corps that you know,
rounded Seattle for all those years. But you know, talk
to us a little bit about, you know, the transition,
about the evolution of this new generation of talent, and
you know, what are your thoughts as we kind of enter,
(35:02):
you know, into the sort of year two or whatever
we're in now of Caitlyn Clark and and and and
what can what can fans expect here?
Speaker 3 (35:08):
No, I mean, this new generation of basketball players it's
it's it's awesome, it really is. If you're a cran
of basketball any capacity, you love this. This is what
you want to see. It's just the growth of the game,
the growth of players, confidence, movement, the strategy of coaching,
the schemes, all those things. It's just remarkable and that's
what we want. And so I love basketball. I love
(35:29):
watching Even my nephew, who you know, is like eleven,
I go and watch these games. I'm like blown away, right,
So it's like, all the totality of basketball is really good.
And so to have anything that's this new, fresh, new drama,
new storylines, that's what that's what really pushes sports and
that's what people want.
Speaker 5 (35:48):
It's so it's been really great to just see that.
Speaker 3 (35:49):
And you know, I'm really excited for the women's game
and even college you know, I think it starts there too.
Is it's been a shift in women's sports there too,
and so many great athletes are put in the work
and time to just work on their craft.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
And you are also the franchise owner of a smoothie King,
which we all know manufacturer's time. What is it like
when you are a franchise owner trying to make it
in today's world.
Speaker 5 (36:14):
You know, for me, it's really about the people. I
really value the people.
Speaker 3 (36:20):
So going to Smoothy King and seeing my staff and
all those things, I'm like, this is awesome.
Speaker 5 (36:24):
You know, I love smoothie So it kind of worked
out too. It's a healthy lifestyle.
Speaker 3 (36:30):
Yeah, you know, I understand the business, understand the smoothie,
I understand location, and I'm like, why not, right, And
so having that mindset has been great and it's something
I really enjoy, and it's really for the community.
Speaker 5 (36:40):
I really got involved because it was right where I
grew up.
Speaker 3 (36:42):
It's really local, and I'm able to work with the school,
Bridges School, which is probably ten mes away from the
Smoothy King, so kids with and people with the learning
disabilities and they come and work at the Smoothie King.
Speaker 5 (36:54):
So it's just so like heartwarming and.
Speaker 3 (36:56):
Awesome that I'm able to give back and also provide
the service and business to the community. So I love
I love the whole aspect. And that's actually why I
also bought a farm the same reason. Like it's just
like I just love having that two combination combo of
learning the business, help the community, giving back, and then
actually like trying to leave a LEXI behind it.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
See here's your here's your logo. I got it for you. Vanessa.
If like me, you want to ring, just come on
down the Smoothie King.
Speaker 5 (37:24):
Who Michael, I like the Just.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
Call me Darren Stevens. That's all right, that is good.
Speaker 8 (37:32):
No, I like.
Speaker 4 (37:33):
I like that.
Speaker 3 (37:34):
We've done our shirt selling some proceeds for it.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
Jewe Lloyd, co founder of Lloyd and Company. And oh yeah,
she's a two time w NBA champion and and oh yeah,
she has won three times the All w n B
A and six time All Star and also twenty fifteen
Rookie of the.
Speaker 8 (37:53):
Year gold medalist.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
Yeah, you know she knows.
Speaker 5 (38:02):
Thank you so muchting there. No, I appreciate you guys. Now,
this has been a blast.
Speaker 3 (38:06):
I really do appreciate the time. And you know, we'll
check in a couple of six months to see the updates.
So we'll write it out here.
Speaker 2 (38:12):
And hey, thank you for my colleagues, Damian Sasaur and
Vanessa Perdomo. I'm Michael Barr. Now, if you missed any
of our conversation today, listen on demand with the Bloomberg
Business of Sports podcast. Subscribe now on your favorite podcast
platform so you never missed an episode. Tune in again
next week for the latest on the stories moving big
(38:33):
old money in the world of sports. You're listening to
the Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio around the world.
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