August 1, 2025 • 41 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.
The former football player who fatally shot four people and himself in Midtown Manhattan claimed to have a poorly understood brain disease, putting a renewed focus on the link between head injuries in sports and irreversible brain damage. Shane Tamura was targeting the National Football League’s headquarters when he entered 345 Park Avenue, a skyscraper that’s also home to offices of private equity giant Blackstone Inc. and consultant KPMG. One NFL employee was injured in the shooting.
In 2015, the league reached a $765 million settlement with over 4,500 players who claimed in a lawsuit that the NFL had hidden the dangers of concussions. The league denied any wrongdoing. Years after the settlement, the NFL is still grappling with issues related to head injuries. Bloomberg US sports business reporter Randall Williams joins to discuss his reporting on the aftermath of the shooting and why getting answers on CTE has proven so difficult for the NFL.
Also on this week's show:
- Bloomberg News global business reporter Ira Boudway on the WNBA's growth
- Morgan Shaw Parker, President and Chief Operating Officer for the WNBA's Atlanta Dream about her team's recent success and growth.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News. This is the business
of sports.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
The business of sports can be intimidating or hard for
a starting to break into.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
We really appreciate when our owners are actually there, you know,
with us through the journey.
Speaker 4 (00:18):
Teams ours especially have been very intentional to diversify at
all levels of the company.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
I think we're in bolden years for the NFL and
college football.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Our demographic reach has continued to explode.
Speaker 5 (00:29):
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.
Speaker 7 (00:36):
You don't have to be the best in your sports
to make a whole ton of money.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 7 (00:46):
This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports where we explore
the big money issues in the world of sports. Michael
Barr along with my colleagues Damian Sasaur and Vanessa Berdomo.
Coming up on the show, we'll talk WNBA with Atlanta
Dream President and chief operating Officer Morgan Shaw Parker.
Speaker 5 (01:03):
We don't bet on women here. We invest in them
because when you bet on something, you expect that you
might lose your money. We really invest because we expect
a return.
Speaker 7 (01:12):
All that and more is on the way on the
Bloomberg Business of Sports. But first we have to talk
through a story that is still reverberating around at where
offices here in New York City. On Monday evening, a
gunman opened fire in a Manhattan office building, killing four people,
wounding another. The investigation into the gunman found that he
(01:32):
was targeting the NFL's New York offices, putting the league
at the center of a national tragedy. Bloomberg US sports
business reporter Randa Williams has done reporting on this and
joins us now to discuss the fallout for the NFL.
We all know what has happened in the news. A
former football player he played in high school. He walked
(01:56):
into a midtown Manhattan office fatally shot for people, and
he has claimed to have a poorly understood brain disease CTE.
Now the headquarters three forty five Park Avenue. That's the
same home as the NFL headquarters, which is why he
went there in the first place, which gets down to
(02:21):
the topic of your article. Why is it so hard
to get answers about CTE?
Speaker 6 (02:26):
Well, number one is that it can only be diagnosed
after someone is dead, and I mean just a really
tragic incident. I think about our office, I think about
offices in general. Dozens of sports offices that I've been to,
they all have a security officer there, and I'm sure
that there's someone in that vicinity is armed, but you
(02:48):
just don't anticipate someone's going to walk in with an
assault rifle and do what this person.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
Did, Randall, What is you know, the NFL's role now,
Like obviously people have talked to them about this in
the past, that's come up a lot esctially, you know,
in the last like ten years or so. But now
when it gets brought up again like this, do they
have to do more research again? Is it on them
now to address this situation?
Speaker 6 (03:13):
I don't necessarily think so. I think that it shines
an unfortunate light on the NFL and CTE, and I
think that's well documented about you know, the settlement and
things like that, and of course in recent years you
remember too at Taga Bailois history with concussions. Concussions are
always going to be a part of the NFL's history
and they will be going forward. The NFL has done
(03:33):
a bunch to try to improve its policies, to create technology,
different helmets at different positions to help with this. But
of course, when someone is angry and they do what
this person did and drive across the country to enact violence,
it does make the NFL look a certain way about Oh, like,
what is the NFL's history with concussions? And I think
(03:54):
it's complicated, but you know, they have tried to improve
from where they were, and I think that effort is valid.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Randall the shooter Shene Tomorrow, I mean, he didn't play
for the NFL, But I wonder if you could, for
an audience, just give us a quick history about that
settlement that was reached back in twenty fifteen. I think
it was seven hundred and sixty five million, And you know,
I remember some of the plaintiffs like Tony Dorsett and
Jim McMahon, and you know, looking back, was that a
sufficient settlement in your opinion?
Speaker 6 (04:27):
I think they're still paying out a lot of that money.
So I do think that and even the amount of
money that these families and people are receiving is life
changing for a lot of them. It starts at five
hundred thousand, it can go all the way up two
millions of dollars, and so I do think that it
is changing. But of course there's no amount of money
that can change a condition in somebody, right, And so
(04:49):
in that aspect, I do think that, yes, it's a
good thing that these people are receiving families. But of
course the other side of that is how many lives
have been lost along the way because of the fact
that they weren't able to get help that in this case,
the NFL allegedly denied a lot of people that ignored
the symptoms of concussions. And of course I say allegedly,
but with the settlement in mind, like it's good that
(05:11):
they're getting help. I just think about all of the
families of the past who lost someone, and I hope that,
you know, the money helps change things for their future.
Speaker 7 (05:20):
ESPN used to have a segment called he Got Jacked Up,
and in fact, they talked about it in the movie
Concussion YEP, which was about CTE, and I recommend people
go back and look at that movie again. And I
want to just bring some notes to you. One of
(05:41):
the players who had CTE and he's failing. He goes
to Dave Doerson and he's like, help, me, man, help me.
What people forgot and I remember doing this story is
that Dave Dowerson as well committed suicide and he asked,
please look at my brain for ct and sure enough
(06:01):
he had CTE. Right.
Speaker 6 (06:03):
Yeah, I think this person, Shane Tamora, him shooting himself
in the chest, in my opinion, is not a coincidence.
One of the texts that I receive in the hours after,
because the crazy thing. I'll paint the picture of my day.
Of course I leave work, and I mean I had
a crazy day because I had dropped my keys on
I think sixtieth and first I drop, I go pick
(06:25):
them back up there were there, and then I get
back to my apartment, and of course I see the
news that a shooting has occurred, and at that point
in time you have I'll paint a picture of the
three forty five park after anyone who's never been there.
But you walk in and depending on which entrance you
go into, the building on one of the sides looks
like an empty basement and the other side is a
(06:45):
much more policy side of the building, and there is
a security guard and then they send you up to
I believe it's the fifth or sixth floor.
Speaker 7 (06:51):
That the NFL is on.
Speaker 6 (06:52):
And after or as this was going on, I texted
someone and they said, you know he was he was
went to thirty third floor and he could not get
to the sixth floor. Or maybe he you know, with
investigation still going on. But he's a button push away
and a key cart swipe away from ending up on
the NFL's floor. And it's crazy to think, and just
(07:14):
such a tragic incident for the people who lost lives,
the officer, the Blackstone executive, and the two other lives
that were lost. He's literally a button push away from
many more lives loss. Of course, of course, it's it's
crazy to think about it. And I think in large
part football is a violent, violent sport. The head to
(07:34):
head contact injuries. I think about two is injury all
the time because of course his head hits the ground,
and then you watch the lead up to that, you know,
the games afterwards where his head slams the ground and
he gets up and he's stumbling, and so this concussion
in CTE dilemma is going to be something for a
long time. It doesn't matter how much technology you developed.
The nature of the sport is violence, and I think
(07:58):
the athletes and the NFL owner accept that, and they
accept the risks of it.
Speaker 5 (08:02):
I think that's the interesting part there.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
I mean, you know, as an athlete, you have to
go through even in high school and college, you go
through concussion protocols. And I've actually had teammates who I
feel like in college they're more willing to tell you
to stop playing than they are at the professional level
because now there's money on the line. In college, they
used to tell people, actually, you've had too many concussions.
(08:27):
You are done, you cannot play any more. And this
is soccer, you know, with heading the ball and whatever
it is, right, But in the NFL it just feels like,
and not just the NFL, but at a professional level,
they don't really have the same you know, we're cutting
you off. It's really on the athlete themselves. And we
saw Andrew Lock kind of take himself out of the
(08:47):
game at a young age because he didn't want to
get injured anymore. Right, So does there need to be
more of that telling players that they are done and
that they can't continue.
Speaker 6 (08:58):
I think that's a collectively bargained thing between I mean,
not just the NFL, but all sports period.
Speaker 7 (09:03):
Is that, you know, is.
Speaker 6 (09:05):
There a point in time where your head injuries are
so traumatic that you just don't you can't play anymore.
But the bigger issue in two his case specifically, and
the reason I bring him up, is because he had
just signed a huge contract, and of course there are
injury guarantees involved, but in two is a.
Speaker 7 (09:20):
Large, a larger.
Speaker 6 (09:23):
Macro picture of this. But imagine you're not him, and
you're someone who's on a rookie contract, You're a fifth
round draft pick, and you get two concussions in a year,
and they're telling you we don't think you should play,
But you've also just changed the course of your family history.
You now are tasked with figuring out do I continue
to play and endanger my life by potentially getting another
(09:43):
concussion developing CTE long term, or do I retire and
live maybe a much longer and healthier life. And I
can tell you there are a lot of athletes who
are grappling with this because of the money involved.
Speaker 7 (09:57):
Right exactly, Let's think about.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Just t a step back. You know, there's been a
lot of investigative reporting on CTE. I'm talking ESPNS outside
the lines, you know, thirty for thirty did the sayout
the League of denial. You know, the question I have is,
you know, I'm reading your article here, I'm reading about
some of the medical like pTau or whatever they, you know,
and I realized just how little I know about it.
And you know, my question for you is this, like
(10:20):
is awareness really there? And you know, like to your point,
you know, I get it. You know, it's a financial
decision in the case, and a very big one in
the case of many of these professional athletes. But you know,
is the education there for high schoolers, for amateur athletes
to really understand the risks and what I guess they
should be doing is yeah.
Speaker 6 (10:39):
It is, but it isn't at I think Vanessa's point
is a very good one because at a younger age,
people want to protect young people. But when you're an adult,
I think, I mean, you're not going to see a
concussion advertisement like, hey, you know, you accept the risk
of this because that's anti business. However, at the same time,
I think that as people get older, like you look
(11:01):
at an example like Tuo. We're on Monday Night football,
and of course you see like when Tua hit the ground,
his fingers are doing all sorts of things when he's
when you know, his brain hits it and then his
fingers look crazy, but it doesn't stop it. Like you,
the season continues and until what's going to happen evidently
is that you're going to see something like that again, unfortunately,
(11:23):
and it's going to raise awareness again. But people are
still going to play the game. Now at a youth level,
I think that parents and administrators are more likely to
stop these things because they don't want to end up
in a lawsuit, they don't want to get in trouble.
But once you're on the professional stage, as we have
already noted, the stakes are different because they're monetary.
Speaker 7 (11:42):
I want to go back to what you had mentioned,
Damien about Junior Seau. The family was part of a lawsuit. Fact,
it was a seven hundred and sixty five million dollar
lawsuit about ten years ago with over forty five hundred players.
By the way, in case people aren't familiar, Junior Seo
committed suicide in twenty twelve. One of the plaintiffs also
(12:05):
in this those former Cowboys running back Tony dor set
yep and I saw that game where he got hit
so hard in the head it knocked his helmet askew,
and back then it was like how you feeling, and
it's like, I'm going to shake it off, and I
think he went back in the game. Today, that would
(12:26):
not happen, It wouldn't.
Speaker 6 (12:27):
I mean, the NFL's concussion protocols are very very good.
I mean, if you suffer a concussion in the game,
you're going to miss not only the rest of the game,
and you're probably going to miss the game after that
and potentially the game after that as well. But back then,
I mean, I think about ray Lewis, I think about
Luke Keikley, I think about players who literally used to
fly all over the field and grant and now even
(12:48):
so on the penalty side of things, you lead with
that helmet. It's a fifteen yard penalty and much of
the fans criticism of the league is that you're taking
away the contact. But the reality is the NFL is
trying to protect players, and the players sometimes don't like
it either, because then you have lower extremity injuries where
someone instead of you know, going towards the chest, they're
diving towards the legs. That results in an aclchair, mclchair, meniscus,
(13:09):
things like that. But at the end of the day,
the nature of how they're trying to play football is changing.
And I'm sure both of you, all three of us
can can speak to, all four of us can speak to.
This is that football has gotten a little bit safer,
but the nature of the sport is still violent. There
are still incredibly hard hits and the consequences of them
(13:29):
don't change. Like if you get hit hard in the
eighties and nineties, the consequence is that they're going to
send you back in the game.
Speaker 7 (13:35):
But the correlation is.
Speaker 6 (13:36):
That you still have the possibility of developing CTE from
playing football. There's no way of like, oh, eighties nineties,
here's a difference. You're playing football. Your head's gonna get hit,
and there's a possibility of this condition.
Speaker 7 (13:50):
Remember the Rinaldo Namaya hit. He went up the middle,
and I mean he got clobbered. Today that would be
a penalty in fact, to go by what you were saying, Hey, listen,
back in the day, they taught you put your helmet
down and charge with you ahead, put your helmet on
his chest. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (14:08):
That's the last thing I'll say is that the biggest
thing that I'm wondering going forward, is how this change
is security? Not only are sports offices, but it's sports
events going forward, like at the Super Bowl. Vanessa, I'm
sure you can speak to this as well, but more
securities than I've ever seen. You have guys standing on
vehicles that I've only seen in movies, roadblocks even of
course that had to do with the tragedy on January first,
(14:29):
to New Orleans as well. But going forward, what do
NFL league meetings look like, What do the NBA Board
of Governors meetings look like? What do the MLS is
and the MLB's Winter League meetings look like? Because you
want to protect these people, and you don't know how
many individuals like Shane Tamara are out there, and these
are things that are highly broadcasted because of the fact
that these meetings change rules. There's contracts that are contracts,
(14:52):
trades that are strucking these things. And so with that
in mind, what does it look like going forward? How
much are these sports leagues going to emphasize security now
that the strategy has happened.
Speaker 7 (15:02):
Randall, I wish we could have brought you in for
a much more happier topic, but this is something that
needed to be discussed and you are all over it.
Our thanks to Bloomberg US sports business reporter Randa Williams
for joining us today. Up next, we turned to the
w NBA for Damian Sasauer and Vanessa Perdomo. I'm Michael Barner.
You're listening to Bloomberg Business of Sports the Bloomberger Radio
(15:25):
around the world.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 7 (15:34):
This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports, where we explore
the big money issues in the world of sports. I'm
Michael barr along with Damian Sasauer and Vanessa Perdomo. On
the way, We've got Morgan Shaw Parker. She's president and
chief operating officer for the w NBA's at Atlanta dream
lakreem no readbound. Alisha Great, what a year she is
(15:55):
having a career high end Points and the creams Dry.
We'll talk to her about the growth of the league
and her team in particular. That is up next. But
joining us now to talk a little bit about the
state of the WNBA is Bloomberg News Global Business reporter
Ira Budway. Ira, welcome back to the Bloomberg Business of Sports.
Speaker 8 (16:16):
Good to be here.
Speaker 7 (16:17):
You wrote a great article it's on the WNBA's Caitlin Clark,
and the effect is now the Aripple effect as you
call it. When she missed five games due to a
quad injury, early TV ratings tanked. Can you go more
into Clark's impact on the business of the WNBA and
(16:38):
her impact.
Speaker 8 (16:39):
Yeah, it's been very interesting because obviously last season, her
rookie year, was all about what is the Kaitlin Clark effect?
And it was noticeable, it was big. It was basically
the most reliable and significant kind of single player impact
that we've seen since Tiger Woods and Golf. And this
year it's kind of been because she has been injured
(17:01):
so much. It's sort of offered this sort of real
world experiment in the league with and without her, And
what we've seen is that, yes, ratings suffer when she's
not there, but the baseline is much higher than it
used to be. I think the best probably example is
the All Star Game. You know, they got two point
two million viewers this year she was injured. That's less
(17:24):
than last year when she played. It was a record
three point four million last year, but the two point
two million is the second most ever for that game.
So the bar you know, it's the idea I think
was all these new fans arrive as Caitlin Clark fans,
and then they discover the Fisa Collier and the Lynx
(17:46):
and Asia Wilson and the Aces and Sabrina and esqu
and the Liberty, and they stick around and they become
WNBA fans, They become Fever fans, they become fans in
a broader way. I think that premise is holding. So
we're sort of seeing the ripple effect out from It's
not just Caitlin Clark. It's it's really a move. It's
a broader based rise for the league.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
What do you think, you know, Paige Beckers has to
do with that as well? Is it the other newcomers
coming along?
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Is them?
Speaker 4 (18:16):
You know, people paying attention to all those other people,
Paige Beckers and Nourice all that or is like you said,
is it the Nofasa Colliers and Kelsey Plum and all
these other people that they're realizing are there for the
first time.
Speaker 8 (18:30):
You know, it's a good question. They're very fortunate that
the pipeline didn't just kind of stop Clark. Paige Beckers
in her own right is a pretty big deal and
Juji Watkins coming up behind, and you have some young
players that are the players the leagues getting into right, Angel.
Speaker 7 (18:47):
Reese, that rivalry obviously was a jeopardy question. That's how big?
Speaker 8 (18:52):
Yeah, but you know, and so it's that momentum is
building and then you just have some some super teams too.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
You know.
Speaker 8 (19:01):
The liberty are just a phenomenon on their own. You're
basically watching all of the things that make mainstream sports
leagues work come into play for the WNBA in a
big way. Now they are just a part of the
conversation in sports. They are on the ticker, they are
in the Sports Center roundup, they are on social media,
(19:23):
for better and for worse.
Speaker 7 (19:24):
They have all of.
Speaker 8 (19:25):
The noise and the hype and the revenue that comes
and the conflict that comes with, you know, getting into
the big time Hira.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Last October, the WNBA Players Union voted to opt out
of their current CBA their collective bargaining agreement two years early.
Speaker 7 (19:40):
Right, are we gonna have.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
A lockout here if they don't agree to a deal
in the next few months? I mean, is there a
possibility that we could see a workstoppage to that effect?
Caitlin Clark being injured. That probably doesn't help the Players
Association all that much given the given where we are
in the negotiations.
Speaker 7 (19:57):
Am I wrong?
Speaker 8 (19:58):
Yeah, it's in interesting. I mean, I think what the
players would say is, look, you just added three teams
at a two hundred and fifty million dollar feet, which
is like five times what the expansion tee feet used
to be. You just sign media deals for two hundred
million dollars a year, which is about four or five
six times what you used to be pulling in. All
(20:19):
the metrics point upwards, you know, with or without Caitlin Clark,
So you're going to need to pay us our share.
But Yeah, to answer the first question, I think it
everybody seems to think that the league and the players
are not very close right now, that there's not a
lot of trust between them, and that the distance between
(20:40):
what the players are demanding and what the league is
prepared to offer is very wide. Now, these things ten
have a way of, you know, as you get closer
deadlines kind of spur action, and I think everybody understands
how damaging it would be you take something that has
this momentum that we're talking about that but it's new
(21:01):
still I think that it has broken out in this way.
If you just to this typical fan, I don't know
that they're going to dig into the details. They're just
going to go, oh, this went away. They can't agree,
they're squabbling, Oh well, right, And I think it's a
real risk there that you take that momentum and you
squander it. So I don't know if maybe cooler heads
(21:21):
prevail here, but at the moment, it looks like when
this deadline approaches at the end of October, they're not
going to be able to come to an agreement.
Speaker 7 (21:29):
I want to expand more on that about the three
teams that are going to join Detroit, Philly and Cleveland.
And as you mentioned, the expansion fee was two hundred
and fifty million dollars. It used to be fifty million dollars.
Doesn't that give some leverage to the players union? Yeah.
Speaker 8 (21:50):
I mean it's the oldest fight in sports in the
sense that you look at things like franchise values and
you say this is going up, right, we need more.
You look at things like media rights deals and you
say this is going up. We need our share, and
then teams turn around and say, we're not actually making
a profit right, and that's been the fight. The league
is basically said, when we're profitable, we can do revenue
(22:12):
sharing in the way that you typically see in professional
sports in this country. The WNBA isn't there yet in
terms of just contractually at the moment, they don't have
the kind of split that they don't have any sort
of promised share of revenue and so you know, it's
it's more of just a structured scale, and I think
(22:33):
that's what they want to get to, and that's what
the fight is over.
Speaker 7 (22:37):
And you know, it's kind.
Speaker 8 (22:38):
Of like who do you believe? And you know, there
were reports that the league as a whole is still
losing tens of millions of dollars a year just on
a sort of profit and loss basis, But that's hard
to square with the fact that media companies and investors
seem very bullish on its future and are willing to
put real money into it at rates that we've not
(23:00):
seen before.
Speaker 4 (23:02):
I right, it's interesting because I feel like, you know,
and correct me if I'm wrong, But the w is
having to, you know, prove that their profitability.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Like you said, you know, when.
Speaker 4 (23:12):
We'll be when we're profitable, then we'll do revenue sharing
and all that, but did all of the other leagues, like,
did the NBA have to do this? Did the NFL
have to do this?
Speaker 2 (23:19):
To MLB?
Speaker 4 (23:20):
Did they all have to prove profitability before the payers
the players starting getting paid like fairly, that's.
Speaker 8 (23:28):
A good question whether revenue sharing broadly, you know, I
had to you had to have profitability first. I don't
think so. You know, I'm sure every league's story is different.
But what's weird with the WNBA is that it is
a it's a co property with the NBA still right,
It's equity is owned in part by every NBA owner.
(23:51):
It's equity is also owned by a group of investors
who invested in the league as a whole, and its
equity is owned by each franchise owner. So it's a
it's a slightly different basket of stakeholders. And the commissioner
Engelbert Kathin Engelbert is she works for Adam Silver. You know,
in the end, he is going to have final say,
(24:11):
as he did on media deals, and so it's just
I think a little bit more complicated trying to get
everybody on the same page.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
So that's a really really interesting point that Kathy Engelbert, who,
by the way, used to be she was the first
female CEO for Deloitte, you know, she'd been there for
thirty three years. And you know, but it's not her call.
It's Adam Silver's call. And I think that's the interesting
point here because I keep like, I was like, wait,
why why is it so contentious? You know, is why
is Kathy Engelbert, you know, driving such a hard bargain?
(24:41):
But I guess you're right. It's it's the owners and
they're represented first and foremost by Adam Silver.
Speaker 8 (24:46):
Yeah, I mean, I think Engelbert is leading on this,
and I think her recommendations and her you know, she'll
be the one doing the day to day negotiating, the
face the face of the negotiations with a WNBA. But
she does work for Adam Silver, and you know, I
think the and ultimately Adam Silver and Engelbert, they work
(25:06):
for the owners. Yeah, And so this is just a
you know, it's a it's a very interesting version of
a very old fight, which is, yeah, these properties are
worth a lot, but we also we spend most of
our money on our costs.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Well, I were you say these properties are worth a
lot let's contextualize that for our audience, right, I mean,
when the Golden State Valkyries joined the league, they paid
a fifteen million dollars you know, initiation fee.
Speaker 7 (25:29):
Right.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia have been approved to join by
twenty thirty and they are paying an expansion fee of
two hundred and fifty million dollars each. I mean, so
if that's just representative of the growth of the league,
one would think and assume that, however, these negotiations go,
women basketball players, professional basketball players are going to be
(25:50):
paid a lot more money and have a much bigger
stake in the success of the league going forward. Would
you not agree with that?
Speaker 8 (25:55):
Yeah, their pay is going to go up, assuming they
can get a deal done. I think the question is
going to be whether they can sort of make it
where their pay goes up commensurate with the leagues with
the expansion of revenue for the league. And it is
interesting even those prices for those expansion fees for those
three new teams. If you look at our friends at
Sportico did their annual evaluations, They've got the Valkyries, who
(26:16):
are the newest team, worth five hundred million, which is
pretty wild to think about, you know, an expansion team
in a women's sport with evaluation like that after so
little time, you know, so, I think the players are
definitely in a position to point to a lot of
numbers and say, you know, this is built on our work,
(26:38):
and this is built on our celebrity and our skill
and our talent, and we want a bigger share.
Speaker 7 (26:44):
This is hinging on the fact that a lot of
the WNBA teams are connected to NBA teams, obviously with
Detroit and the Pistons, and then this expansion and going on.
What will it take for a w NBA team to
(27:05):
be totally independent of any NBA team?
Speaker 8 (27:09):
I mean right now, it's just structurally they aren't, right.
Every NBA owner owns a little piece of the WNBA
and so they would have to restructure the whole setup
of the league. Just the cap table would have to
be rearranged for them to be independent. And they seem
to be maintaining this, you know model that has been
(27:29):
working pretty well for them, which is you take the
brand equity of a w NBA team, a w or
an NBA team, an NBA city, You take the facilities
of an NBA team, You take the expertise in front
office of an NBA at least on the on the
business side of an NBA team, and you marry it
with a WNBA franchise and it just it makes sense right.
(27:50):
The scheduling lines up. This is the whole sort of
premise of the league in the first place. But I
do think you reach a point maybe where that becomes
limiting for the WNBA. But I think that's a conversation
further down the road.
Speaker 7 (28:02):
Our thanks to Bloomberg News Global business reporter Ira Boodweyh
for joining us stick around. We've got more w NBA
up next for Damian Sasaur and Vanessa Perdomo. I'm Michael Barr.
This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberger Radio.
Around the world.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 7 (28:26):
Thanks for joining us on the Bloomberg Business of Sports,
where we explore the big money issues in the world
of sports. I'm talking big. I'm Michael Barr along with
Damian Sasaur and Vanessa Perdomo. Joining us now is Morgan
Shaw Parker. She's President and chief operating officer of the
WNBA's Atlanta Dream. The Dream They're on their way to
(28:47):
a third straight playoff appearance, and Morgan is here to
talk to us about the team's growth trajectory as the
erro continues to point up for the WNBA. Morgan Shaw Parker,
Welcome to the Bloomberg Business of Sports.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
Well, thank you so much for having me. What a
pleasure to be here today.
Speaker 7 (29:05):
The Atlanta Dream. You guys made the playoffs the last
two seasons and a lot of it has to do
with GM Dan Padover. Can you go more into Padover's
impact on the team.
Speaker 5 (29:18):
Yes, I have the good fortune of being able to
be attached at the hip with Dan Padover. He really
manages the basketball side of the business on the court,
and I managed the business side. But you know, Padover
is a two time WNBA Executive of the Year.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
He came on board basically at the.
Speaker 5 (29:37):
Exact same time that I did, right after new ownership
took over in twenty twenty one, and has really transformed
this organization on the basketball front to be a powerhouse
on the court. We have just brought on a new
head coach in Carl simesco this year and elevated the
capacity of what this team is able to accomplish and
(29:59):
maximize is what we are getting out of our young
core and add a few amazing players to the roster
this year.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
And so you're absolutely right.
Speaker 5 (30:09):
Part of what we have seen, not only in the
growth of the business, is also the growth on the
court and what our athletes have been able to do.
How we've been able to be yet again a playoff contender,
but in a really different way this year. It's exciting.
It's an exciting brand of basketball to watch.
Speaker 4 (30:27):
It's definitely a good year for you guys on the court,
but off the corps also, I want to talk about
all the things that's what we're seeing, the growth of
the WN obviously the Atlanta Dream and the Dream recently signed,
you know, the first seven figure partnership with cash App.
Can you tell us more about the commercial partnerships and
how that landscape has changed over just the four years,
(30:49):
you know, four or five years you've been in the
organization from twenty twenty one to twenty twenty five.
Speaker 5 (30:53):
I mean, so much has changed in that time.
Speaker 4 (30:55):
So how has it changed from your side of the
desk for the commercial partnerships.
Speaker 5 (31:00):
You're absolutely right, it has been a really interesting ride
and part of the reason that I proactively chose to
jump off from the NFL and a great career, there
is the opportunity to build, and we really were in
our infancy four years ago when new ownership came on
board in twenty twenty one, we were at a state
of the league where a lot of partnerships were really
(31:24):
used to offset costs in these organizations, and rightfully so,
we were a relatively young league. What we've seen over
the last four to five years is exponential growth, but
with a change in trajectory, specifically with the Atlanta Dream,
going from an ownership group that was really divesting of
(31:45):
the team in twenty twenty one to an ownership group
with Larry Gottesteiner at the Helm, Suzanne Abaron Renee Montgomery,
an ownership group that really is all about investing. We
talk a lot about the fact that we don't bet
on women here. We invest in them, because when you
bet on something, you expect.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
That you might lose your money.
Speaker 5 (32:03):
We really invest because we expect a return, and we
have seen nothing short of a return in every single.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
Year of new ownership.
Speaker 5 (32:12):
But you've got to really look at it from a
long term perspective, and I think what we're seeing now.
As we've seen exponential growth not only in ticket sales,
in partnerships coming on board in the number of staff,
we're seeing the partnership model change too. And what's really
(32:32):
interesting is having come from my trajectory in women's excuse me,
in men's sports. On the NFL side, I was with
Nike for ten years. What's so interesting about this is
that we almost have to break the traditional model. And
it doesn't mean that we're against a traditional sponsorship model,
a traditional partnership model, but we really have to start
to understand, first of all, how are these female athletes different,
(32:56):
How are women different, How has the game change, how
is fandom evolving?
Speaker 2 (33:03):
And how are.
Speaker 5 (33:04):
Partners choosing to invest where they can see a return
as well.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
And it's been.
Speaker 5 (33:09):
Really cool to transform this organization into one that is
revenue driving year over year over year instead of just
trying to keep an organization afloat because it's the right
thing to do, which you know, perhaps was you know
what it was years ago, you know, for good, bad
or indifferent. You know, like I said, we are still
a very young league, and so I think the changes
(33:31):
we're going to continue to see and specifically as you
asked on the partnership side, I mean, we've got a
seven figure deal that's already on the books, We've got
multiple additional ones coming this year, and you know, we
are definitely going to be investing in a lot of
other things and having a lot of other partners investing
in US in very creative ways.
Speaker 3 (33:52):
Well, Morgan, Michael and I are not surprised at all
about your success with the Atlanta Dream. I mean you
mentioned the Atlanta Falcons, your role as the chief marketing
officer at the Arthur and Blank Sports and Entertainment firm,
and as well, I think you're the first vice president,
female vice president of football communications for an NFL franchise.
But I do want to focus on your role working
for a small sneaker company up in Beaverton, Oregon, where
(34:14):
you represented Nike with all of their Olympics. I'm talking owaight,
Beijing twenty ten, Vancouver twenty sixteen, Rio. You know, we've
got another, We've got a World Cup coming to the
US next year. We've got the Olympics coming to LA
in the not too distant future. You know, what role
do you see the WNBA and the Atlanta Dream playing
as you know, women's basketball kind of takes hold in
(34:36):
the Olympics. I mean, you know, how would you position
the Atlanta Dream and your team to sort of benefit
from all the buzz that's going to go side by
side with that.
Speaker 5 (34:45):
Well, you know what, it's a great question, and I
could not be more excited about the World Cup coming here.
I sit on the Sports Council for the City of Atlanta,
and it has been really a privilege being a part
of a group of sports organizations with the Braves, the Hawks,
various brands, the city itself, the Falcons United, all working
(35:11):
to bring such a massive event here and putting out
a bid for Atlanta, and so, you know, to be
a part of that has been absolutely incredible. But what's
really cool. You know, I spent ten years at Nike
and working in various divisions. You know, you mentioned some
of the Olympic opportunities that I had a chance to lead,
(35:32):
you know, the Super Bowls as well, you know college
partnerships as well, and you know, so many of those
were massive in scale. But when you think about taking
a women's sports organization like the Atlanta Dream and plugging
us into the existing fandom and excitement, you know, you've
got to find creative ways to do that. And what's
(35:54):
cool about Atlanta is and I don't know if you
know this, but the we.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
Call oursel No, I'm just kidding it.
Speaker 5 (36:00):
Well, yeah, the traffic in the airport. Yeah, we're not
here to talk about that, but it's real. But hey,
you know it and you love it, right, it is real.
But there's so much more to offer. But one of
the coolest things that we have the opportunity to do
is really build something special continuing from the nineteen ninety
(36:21):
six Olympics and that gold medal shot with that specific
team and you remember the team, you know, cover a
Sports illustrated that gold medal shot that took place literally
in a spot and I know the exact spot where
that gold medal shot was taken. It was the Georgia
Dome at the time, which, as you know, was imploded.
We built Mercedes Benz Stadium when I was over there.
(36:43):
I came in at the tail end of that when
I joined the Falcons and ended up being the CMO
of the stadium and the Falcons. But the gold medal
shot for the women's USA team took place right in
that home depot backyard outside of Mercedes Benz Stadium, and
see you think about what happened and how the WNBA
took off from there. We call Atlanta the birthplace of
(37:08):
the WNBA, and so when you really think about that
and you start to own that, then you start to
look at, well, man, what could this possibly be when
we insert the dream conversation and the WNBA conversation into
something like a World Cup, something like an international sporting
(37:28):
event coming to this city and making sure that Atlanta, which,
as you know, Atlanta influences everything. I'll steal that line
from my friends over at AIE, but it.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
Really is true. You know.
Speaker 5 (37:38):
We hold that near and dear, and it's something that
I am excited about. We're building towards next year, but
we're also looking well beyond that. We are working on
building a training facility, which we have not announced yet
but soon to be. So hopefully I'll be talking to
you again soon about all of that, and looking to
figure out where our long term arena home will be
(37:58):
as well, because, as you know, we are busting at
the seams in Gateway Arena right now, which is not
a bad problem.
Speaker 7 (38:03):
To have, all right, I have to have some fun
because I'm built that way. You gotta explain to me
swag surfing. The you guys started this tradition, the dream,
and it spread to the entire w n b A.
It started with fast life youngsters and he created this.
(38:27):
I'm going to play a bit of the song. See
we're swagging right now. Man. It's like it's you guys
started a tradition that is going through the NBA and
all through many other sports as well. Ken you comment
(38:50):
on that salute to you guys, Well, you.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
Know what we do it special over here in Atlanta.
We've got our own swag.
Speaker 5 (38:58):
When you really am brace the culture of Atlanta, you know,
I got to go back to the fact that we
are sitting in the heart of literally what I call
the most diverse city on the planet, and you know,
by statistics that may or may not be correct, but
literally one of the most diverse cities on the planet.
And swagsurfing, ironically was wildly popular. What was it three
(39:26):
in Kansas City? How great is that? And so I
can't take credit for that, But what's so interesting is
Atlanta has kind of adopted that environment of you know,
our games really are like a cookout. It's like you're
sharing a plate of food with your friends. You're you know,
have a little bit of a club atmosphere, but it's
(39:47):
still family friendly and you kind of want to throw
your arms around each other and just start moving. And
swagsurf really brings that out of people. And our arena
is wild when swags are happens.
Speaker 2 (39:59):
I mean last night it was.
Speaker 5 (40:01):
Nuts the whole You know, you've got thousands of people
doing that at once, and it really has now taken
off in the WNBA.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
But the thing about.
Speaker 5 (40:08):
Coming to Atlanta four years ago is coming to the
dream four years ago is we knew that we had
to embrace the culture. And to do that here in Atlanta,
you have to sit down and you got to listen.
You've got to really understand it. You've got to really
dig in and make sure that your experience, your fan experience,
represents the city that you seek to serve. And you know,
(40:30):
you've got to really lean in in the energy that
is coming in the building. And when you get it
right and it happens in the arena and everybody's singing
and everybody's moving, there is absolutely nothing like I don't
think anybody else does as good a job as we do.
But that's just you know, I'm drinking my own kool aid.
Speaker 7 (40:48):
Too, So well, listen, I got a brag on you guys,
the Dream. They sold out every home game in twenty
twenty four, and you're on pace to sell out all
twenty two games in twenty twenty five. Tickets generally rained
from eleven dollars to three hundred and seventy four dollars.
That's the floor seats, and that's a big bargain because
if you try to get floor seats for the next
(41:09):
court side, it's three thousand dollars one day that your
price is going to go up. And I wouldn't blame
you one bit because you guys have a great product.
I am tickled to death to talk with you. Our
thanks to Morganshaw Parker for joining us. She's president and
COO of the WNBA's Atlanta Dream. And that does it
(41:30):
for this edition of The Bloomberg Business of Sports. For
my colleagues Damian Sassauer and Vanessa Perdomo, I'm Michael Barr.
Thank you for joining us. Tune in again next week
for the latest on the stories moving big old money
in the world of sports and don't forget to catch
our podcast on all your podcast platforms. You are listening
to the Bloomberg Business of Sports Bloomberg Radio around the world.
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News. This is the business
of sports.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
The business of sports can be intimidating or hard for
a starting to break into.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
We really appreciate when our owners are actually there, you know,
with us through the journey.
Speaker 4 (00:18):
Teams ours especially have been very intentional to diversify at
all levels of the company.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
I think we're in bolden years for the NFL and
college football.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Our demographic reach has continued to explode.
Speaker 5 (00:29):
This is going to be really unlocking the streaming platform
for sports fans.
Speaker 6 (00:34):
Sports evaluations arising, we'll see when they peak.
Speaker 7 (00:36):
You don't have to be the best in your sports
to make a whole ton of money.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 7 (00:46):
This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports where we explore
the big money issues in the world of sports. Michael
Barr along with my colleagues Damian Sasaur and Vanessa Berdomo.
Coming up on the show, we'll talk WNBA with Atlanta
Dream President and chief operating Officer Morgan Shaw Parker.
Speaker 5 (01:03):
We don't bet on women here. We invest in them
because when you bet on something, you expect that you
might lose your money. We really invest because we expect
a return.
Speaker 7 (01:12):
All that and more is on the way on the
Bloomberg Business of Sports. But first we have to talk
through a story that is still reverberating around at where
offices here in New York City. On Monday evening, a
gunman opened fire in a Manhattan office building, killing four people,
wounding another. The investigation into the gunman found that he
(01:32):
was targeting the NFL's New York offices, putting the league
at the center of a national tragedy. Bloomberg US sports
business reporter Randa Williams has done reporting on this and
joins us now to discuss the fallout for the NFL.
We all know what has happened in the news. A
former football player he played in high school. He walked
(01:56):
into a midtown Manhattan office fatally shot for people, and
he has claimed to have a poorly understood brain disease CTE.
Now the headquarters three forty five Park Avenue. That's the
same home as the NFL headquarters, which is why he
went there in the first place, which gets down to
(02:21):
the topic of your article. Why is it so hard
to get answers about CTE?
Speaker 6 (02:26):
Well, number one is that it can only be diagnosed
after someone is dead, and I mean just a really
tragic incident. I think about our office, I think about
offices in general. Dozens of sports offices that I've been to,
they all have a security officer there, and I'm sure
that there's someone in that vicinity is armed, but you
(02:48):
just don't anticipate someone's going to walk in with an
assault rifle and do what this person.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
Did, Randall, What is you know, the NFL's role now,
Like obviously people have talked to them about this in
the past, that's come up a lot esctially, you know,
in the last like ten years or so. But now
when it gets brought up again like this, do they
have to do more research again? Is it on them
now to address this situation?
Speaker 6 (03:13):
I don't necessarily think so. I think that it shines
an unfortunate light on the NFL and CTE, and I
think that's well documented about you know, the settlement and
things like that, and of course in recent years you
remember too at Taga Bailois history with concussions. Concussions are
always going to be a part of the NFL's history
and they will be going forward. The NFL has done
(03:33):
a bunch to try to improve its policies, to create technology,
different helmets at different positions to help with this. But
of course, when someone is angry and they do what
this person did and drive across the country to enact violence,
it does make the NFL look a certain way about Oh, like,
what is the NFL's history with concussions? And I think
(03:54):
it's complicated, but you know, they have tried to improve
from where they were, and I think that effort is valid.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Randall the shooter Shene Tomorrow, I mean, he didn't play
for the NFL, But I wonder if you could, for
an audience, just give us a quick history about that
settlement that was reached back in twenty fifteen. I think
it was seven hundred and sixty five million, And you know,
I remember some of the plaintiffs like Tony Dorsett and
Jim McMahon, and you know, looking back, was that a
sufficient settlement in your opinion?
Speaker 6 (04:27):
I think they're still paying out a lot of that money.
So I do think that and even the amount of
money that these families and people are receiving is life
changing for a lot of them. It starts at five
hundred thousand, it can go all the way up two
millions of dollars, and so I do think that it
is changing. But of course there's no amount of money
that can change a condition in somebody, right, And so
(04:49):
in that aspect, I do think that, yes, it's a
good thing that these people are receiving families. But of
course the other side of that is how many lives
have been lost along the way because of the fact
that they weren't able to get help that in this case,
the NFL allegedly denied a lot of people that ignored
the symptoms of concussions. And of course I say allegedly,
but with the settlement in mind, like it's good that
(05:11):
they're getting help. I just think about all of the
families of the past who lost someone, and I hope that,
you know, the money helps change things for their future.
Speaker 7 (05:20):
ESPN used to have a segment called he Got Jacked Up,
and in fact, they talked about it in the movie
Concussion YEP, which was about CTE, and I recommend people
go back and look at that movie again. And I
want to just bring some notes to you. One of
(05:41):
the players who had CTE and he's failing. He goes
to Dave Doerson and he's like, help, me, man, help me.
What people forgot and I remember doing this story is
that Dave Dowerson as well committed suicide and he asked,
please look at my brain for ct and sure enough
(06:01):
he had CTE. Right.
Speaker 6 (06:03):
Yeah, I think this person, Shane Tamora, him shooting himself
in the chest, in my opinion, is not a coincidence.
One of the texts that I receive in the hours after,
because the crazy thing. I'll paint the picture of my day.
Of course I leave work, and I mean I had
a crazy day because I had dropped my keys on
I think sixtieth and first I drop, I go pick
(06:25):
them back up there were there, and then I get
back to my apartment, and of course I see the
news that a shooting has occurred, and at that point
in time you have I'll paint a picture of the
three forty five park after anyone who's never been there.
But you walk in and depending on which entrance you
go into, the building on one of the sides looks
like an empty basement and the other side is a
(06:45):
much more policy side of the building, and there is
a security guard and then they send you up to
I believe it's the fifth or sixth floor.
Speaker 7 (06:51):
That the NFL is on.
Speaker 6 (06:52):
And after or as this was going on, I texted
someone and they said, you know he was he was
went to thirty third floor and he could not get
to the sixth floor. Or maybe he you know, with
investigation still going on. But he's a button push away
and a key cart swipe away from ending up on
the NFL's floor. And it's crazy to think, and just
(07:14):
such a tragic incident for the people who lost lives,
the officer, the Blackstone executive, and the two other lives
that were lost. He's literally a button push away from
many more lives loss. Of course, of course, it's it's
crazy to think about it. And I think in large
part football is a violent, violent sport. The head to
(07:34):
head contact injuries. I think about two is injury all
the time because of course his head hits the ground,
and then you watch the lead up to that, you know,
the games afterwards where his head slams the ground and
he gets up and he's stumbling, and so this concussion
in CTE dilemma is going to be something for a
long time. It doesn't matter how much technology you developed.
The nature of the sport is violence, and I think
(07:58):
the athletes and the NFL owner accept that, and they
accept the risks of it.
Speaker 5 (08:02):
I think that's the interesting part there.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
I mean, you know, as an athlete, you have to
go through even in high school and college, you go
through concussion protocols. And I've actually had teammates who I
feel like in college they're more willing to tell you
to stop playing than they are at the professional level
because now there's money on the line. In college, they
used to tell people, actually, you've had too many concussions.
(08:27):
You are done, you cannot play any more. And this
is soccer, you know, with heading the ball and whatever
it is, right, But in the NFL it just feels like,
and not just the NFL, but at a professional level,
they don't really have the same you know, we're cutting
you off. It's really on the athlete themselves. And we
saw Andrew Lock kind of take himself out of the
(08:47):
game at a young age because he didn't want to
get injured anymore. Right, So does there need to be
more of that telling players that they are done and
that they can't continue.
Speaker 6 (08:58):
I think that's a collectively bargained thing between I mean,
not just the NFL, but all sports period.
Speaker 7 (09:03):
Is that, you know, is.
Speaker 6 (09:05):
There a point in time where your head injuries are
so traumatic that you just don't you can't play anymore.
But the bigger issue in two his case specifically, and
the reason I bring him up, is because he had
just signed a huge contract, and of course there are
injury guarantees involved, but in two is a.
Speaker 7 (09:20):
Large, a larger.
Speaker 6 (09:23):
Macro picture of this. But imagine you're not him, and
you're someone who's on a rookie contract, You're a fifth
round draft pick, and you get two concussions in a year,
and they're telling you we don't think you should play,
But you've also just changed the course of your family history.
You now are tasked with figuring out do I continue
to play and endanger my life by potentially getting another
(09:43):
concussion developing CTE long term, or do I retire and
live maybe a much longer and healthier life. And I
can tell you there are a lot of athletes who
are grappling with this because of the money involved.
Speaker 7 (09:57):
Right exactly, Let's think about.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Just t a step back. You know, there's been a
lot of investigative reporting on CTE. I'm talking ESPNS outside
the lines, you know, thirty for thirty did the sayout
the League of denial. You know, the question I have is,
you know, I'm reading your article here, I'm reading about
some of the medical like pTau or whatever they, you know,
and I realized just how little I know about it.
And you know, my question for you is this, like
(10:20):
is awareness really there? And you know, like to your point,
you know, I get it. You know, it's a financial
decision in the case, and a very big one in
the case of many of these professional athletes. But you know,
is the education there for high schoolers, for amateur athletes
to really understand the risks and what I guess they
should be doing is yeah.
Speaker 6 (10:39):
It is, but it isn't at I think Vanessa's point
is a very good one because at a younger age,
people want to protect young people. But when you're an adult,
I think, I mean, you're not going to see a
concussion advertisement like, hey, you know, you accept the risk
of this because that's anti business. However, at the same time,
I think that as people get older, like you look
(11:01):
at an example like Tuo. We're on Monday Night football,
and of course you see like when Tua hit the ground,
his fingers are doing all sorts of things when he's
when you know, his brain hits it and then his
fingers look crazy, but it doesn't stop it. Like you,
the season continues and until what's going to happen evidently
is that you're going to see something like that again, unfortunately,
(11:23):
and it's going to raise awareness again. But people are
still going to play the game. Now at a youth level,
I think that parents and administrators are more likely to
stop these things because they don't want to end up
in a lawsuit, they don't want to get in trouble.
But once you're on the professional stage, as we have
already noted, the stakes are different because they're monetary.
Speaker 7 (11:42):
I want to go back to what you had mentioned,
Damien about Junior Seau. The family was part of a lawsuit. Fact,
it was a seven hundred and sixty five million dollar
lawsuit about ten years ago with over forty five hundred players.
By the way, in case people aren't familiar, Junior Seo
committed suicide in twenty twelve. One of the plaintiffs also
(12:05):
in this those former Cowboys running back Tony dor set
yep and I saw that game where he got hit
so hard in the head it knocked his helmet askew,
and back then it was like how you feeling, and
it's like, I'm going to shake it off, and I
think he went back in the game. Today, that would
(12:26):
not happen, It wouldn't.
Speaker 6 (12:27):
I mean, the NFL's concussion protocols are very very good.
I mean, if you suffer a concussion in the game,
you're going to miss not only the rest of the game,
and you're probably going to miss the game after that
and potentially the game after that as well. But back then,
I mean, I think about ray Lewis, I think about
Luke Keikley, I think about players who literally used to
fly all over the field and grant and now even
(12:48):
so on the penalty side of things, you lead with
that helmet. It's a fifteen yard penalty and much of
the fans criticism of the league is that you're taking
away the contact. But the reality is the NFL is
trying to protect players, and the players sometimes don't like
it either, because then you have lower extremity injuries where
someone instead of you know, going towards the chest, they're
diving towards the legs. That results in an aclchair, mclchair, meniscus,
(13:09):
things like that. But at the end of the day,
the nature of how they're trying to play football is changing.
And I'm sure both of you, all three of us
can can speak to, all four of us can speak to.
This is that football has gotten a little bit safer,
but the nature of the sport is still violent. There
are still incredibly hard hits and the consequences of them
(13:29):
don't change. Like if you get hit hard in the
eighties and nineties, the consequence is that they're going to
send you back in the game.
Speaker 7 (13:35):
But the correlation is.
Speaker 6 (13:36):
That you still have the possibility of developing CTE from
playing football. There's no way of like, oh, eighties nineties,
here's a difference. You're playing football. Your head's gonna get hit,
and there's a possibility of this condition.
Speaker 7 (13:50):
Remember the Rinaldo Namaya hit. He went up the middle,
and I mean he got clobbered. Today that would be
a penalty in fact, to go by what you were saying, Hey, listen,
back in the day, they taught you put your helmet
down and charge with you ahead, put your helmet on
his chest. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (14:08):
That's the last thing I'll say is that the biggest
thing that I'm wondering going forward, is how this change
is security? Not only are sports offices, but it's sports
events going forward, like at the Super Bowl. Vanessa, I'm
sure you can speak to this as well, but more
securities than I've ever seen. You have guys standing on
vehicles that I've only seen in movies, roadblocks even of
course that had to do with the tragedy on January first,
(14:29):
to New Orleans as well. But going forward, what do
NFL league meetings look like, What do the NBA Board
of Governors meetings look like? What do the MLS is
and the MLB's Winter League meetings look like? Because you
want to protect these people, and you don't know how
many individuals like Shane Tamara are out there, and these
are things that are highly broadcasted because of the fact
that these meetings change rules. There's contracts that are contracts,
(14:52):
trades that are strucking these things. And so with that
in mind, what does it look like going forward? How
much are these sports leagues going to emphasize security now
that the strategy has happened.
Speaker 7 (15:02):
Randall, I wish we could have brought you in for
a much more happier topic, but this is something that
needed to be discussed and you are all over it.
Our thanks to Bloomberg US sports business reporter Randa Williams
for joining us today. Up next, we turned to the
w NBA for Damian Sasauer and Vanessa Perdomo. I'm Michael Barner.
You're listening to Bloomberg Business of Sports the Bloomberger Radio
(15:25):
around the world.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 7 (15:34):
This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports, where we explore
the big money issues in the world of sports. I'm
Michael barr along with Damian Sasauer and Vanessa Perdomo. On
the way, We've got Morgan Shaw Parker. She's president and
chief operating officer for the w NBA's at Atlanta dream
lakreem no readbound. Alisha Great, what a year she is
(15:55):
having a career high end Points and the creams Dry.
We'll talk to her about the growth of the league
and her team in particular. That is up next. But
joining us now to talk a little bit about the
state of the WNBA is Bloomberg News Global Business reporter
Ira Budway. Ira, welcome back to the Bloomberg Business of Sports.
Speaker 8 (16:16):
Good to be here.
Speaker 7 (16:17):
You wrote a great article it's on the WNBA's Caitlin Clark,
and the effect is now the Aripple effect as you
call it. When she missed five games due to a
quad injury, early TV ratings tanked. Can you go more
into Clark's impact on the business of the WNBA and
(16:38):
her impact.
Speaker 8 (16:39):
Yeah, it's been very interesting because obviously last season, her
rookie year, was all about what is the Kaitlin Clark effect?
And it was noticeable, it was big. It was basically
the most reliable and significant kind of single player impact
that we've seen since Tiger Woods and Golf. And this
year it's kind of been because she has been injured
(17:01):
so much. It's sort of offered this sort of real
world experiment in the league with and without her, And
what we've seen is that, yes, ratings suffer when she's
not there, but the baseline is much higher than it
used to be. I think the best probably example is
the All Star Game. You know, they got two point
two million viewers this year she was injured. That's less
(17:24):
than last year when she played. It was a record
three point four million last year, but the two point
two million is the second most ever for that game.
So the bar you know, it's the idea I think
was all these new fans arrive as Caitlin Clark fans,
and then they discover the Fisa Collier and the Lynx
(17:46):
and Asia Wilson and the Aces and Sabrina and esqu
and the Liberty, and they stick around and they become
WNBA fans, They become Fever fans, they become fans in
a broader way. I think that premise is holding. So
we're sort of seeing the ripple effect out from It's
not just Caitlin Clark. It's it's really a move. It's
a broader based rise for the league.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
What do you think, you know, Paige Beckers has to
do with that as well? Is it the other newcomers
coming along?
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Is them?
Speaker 4 (18:16):
You know, people paying attention to all those other people,
Paige Beckers and Nourice all that or is like you said,
is it the Nofasa Colliers and Kelsey Plum and all
these other people that they're realizing are there for the
first time.
Speaker 8 (18:30):
You know, it's a good question. They're very fortunate that
the pipeline didn't just kind of stop Clark. Paige Beckers
in her own right is a pretty big deal and
Juji Watkins coming up behind, and you have some young
players that are the players the leagues getting into right, Angel.
Speaker 7 (18:47):
Reese, that rivalry obviously was a jeopardy question. That's how big?
Speaker 8 (18:52):
Yeah, but you know, and so it's that momentum is
building and then you just have some some super teams too.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
You know.
Speaker 8 (19:01):
The liberty are just a phenomenon on their own. You're
basically watching all of the things that make mainstream sports
leagues work come into play for the WNBA in a
big way. Now they are just a part of the
conversation in sports. They are on the ticker, they are
in the Sports Center roundup, they are on social media,
(19:23):
for better and for worse.
Speaker 7 (19:24):
They have all of.
Speaker 8 (19:25):
The noise and the hype and the revenue that comes
and the conflict that comes with, you know, getting into
the big time Hira.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Last October, the WNBA Players Union voted to opt out
of their current CBA their collective bargaining agreement two years early.
Speaker 7 (19:40):
Right, are we gonna have.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
A lockout here if they don't agree to a deal
in the next few months? I mean, is there a
possibility that we could see a workstoppage to that effect?
Caitlin Clark being injured. That probably doesn't help the Players
Association all that much given the given where we are
in the negotiations.
Speaker 7 (19:57):
Am I wrong?
Speaker 8 (19:58):
Yeah, it's in interesting. I mean, I think what the
players would say is, look, you just added three teams
at a two hundred and fifty million dollar feet, which
is like five times what the expansion tee feet used
to be. You just sign media deals for two hundred
million dollars a year, which is about four or five
six times what you used to be pulling in. All
(20:19):
the metrics point upwards, you know, with or without Caitlin Clark,
So you're going to need to pay us our share.
But Yeah, to answer the first question, I think it
everybody seems to think that the league and the players
are not very close right now, that there's not a
lot of trust between them, and that the distance between
(20:40):
what the players are demanding and what the league is
prepared to offer is very wide. Now, these things ten
have a way of, you know, as you get closer
deadlines kind of spur action, and I think everybody understands
how damaging it would be you take something that has
this momentum that we're talking about that but it's new
(21:01):
still I think that it has broken out in this way.
If you just to this typical fan, I don't know
that they're going to dig into the details. They're just
going to go, oh, this went away. They can't agree,
they're squabbling, Oh well, right, And I think it's a
real risk there that you take that momentum and you
squander it. So I don't know if maybe cooler heads
(21:21):
prevail here, but at the moment, it looks like when
this deadline approaches at the end of October, they're not
going to be able to come to an agreement.
Speaker 7 (21:29):
I want to expand more on that about the three
teams that are going to join Detroit, Philly and Cleveland.
And as you mentioned, the expansion fee was two hundred
and fifty million dollars. It used to be fifty million dollars.
Doesn't that give some leverage to the players union? Yeah.
Speaker 8 (21:50):
I mean it's the oldest fight in sports in the
sense that you look at things like franchise values and
you say this is going up, right, we need more.
You look at things like media rights deals and you
say this is going up. We need our share, and
then teams turn around and say, we're not actually making
a profit right, and that's been the fight. The league
is basically said, when we're profitable, we can do revenue
(22:12):
sharing in the way that you typically see in professional
sports in this country. The WNBA isn't there yet in
terms of just contractually at the moment, they don't have
the kind of split that they don't have any sort
of promised share of revenue and so you know, it's
it's more of just a structured scale, and I think
(22:33):
that's what they want to get to, and that's what
the fight is over.
Speaker 7 (22:37):
And you know, it's kind.
Speaker 8 (22:38):
Of like who do you believe? And you know, there
were reports that the league as a whole is still
losing tens of millions of dollars a year just on
a sort of profit and loss basis, But that's hard
to square with the fact that media companies and investors
seem very bullish on its future and are willing to
put real money into it at rates that we've not
(23:00):
seen before.
Speaker 4 (23:02):
I right, it's interesting because I feel like, you know,
and correct me if I'm wrong, But the w is
having to, you know, prove that their profitability.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Like you said, you know, when.
Speaker 4 (23:12):
We'll be when we're profitable, then we'll do revenue sharing
and all that, but did all of the other leagues, like,
did the NBA have to do this? Did the NFL
have to do this?
Speaker 2 (23:19):
To MLB?
Speaker 4 (23:20):
Did they all have to prove profitability before the payers
the players starting getting paid like fairly, that's.
Speaker 8 (23:28):
A good question whether revenue sharing broadly, you know, I
had to you had to have profitability first. I don't
think so. You know, I'm sure every league's story is different.
But what's weird with the WNBA is that it is
a it's a co property with the NBA still right,
It's equity is owned in part by every NBA owner.
(23:51):
It's equity is also owned by a group of investors
who invested in the league as a whole, and its
equity is owned by each franchise owner. So it's a
it's a slightly different basket of stakeholders. And the commissioner
Engelbert Kathin Engelbert is she works for Adam Silver. You know,
in the end, he is going to have final say,
(24:11):
as he did on media deals, and so it's just
I think a little bit more complicated trying to get
everybody on the same page.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
So that's a really really interesting point that Kathy Engelbert, who,
by the way, used to be she was the first
female CEO for Deloitte, you know, she'd been there for
thirty three years. And you know, but it's not her call.
It's Adam Silver's call. And I think that's the interesting
point here because I keep like, I was like, wait,
why why is it so contentious? You know, is why
is Kathy Engelbert, you know, driving such a hard bargain?
(24:41):
But I guess you're right. It's it's the owners and
they're represented first and foremost by Adam Silver.
Speaker 8 (24:46):
Yeah, I mean, I think Engelbert is leading on this,
and I think her recommendations and her you know, she'll
be the one doing the day to day negotiating, the
face the face of the negotiations with a WNBA. But
she does work for Adam Silver, and you know, I
think the and ultimately Adam Silver and Engelbert, they work
(25:06):
for the owners. Yeah, And so this is just a
you know, it's a it's a very interesting version of
a very old fight, which is, yeah, these properties are
worth a lot, but we also we spend most of
our money on our costs.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Well, I were you say these properties are worth a
lot let's contextualize that for our audience, right, I mean,
when the Golden State Valkyries joined the league, they paid
a fifteen million dollars you know, initiation fee.
Speaker 7 (25:29):
Right.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia have been approved to join by
twenty thirty and they are paying an expansion fee of
two hundred and fifty million dollars each. I mean, so
if that's just representative of the growth of the league,
one would think and assume that, however, these negotiations go,
women basketball players, professional basketball players are going to be
(25:50):
paid a lot more money and have a much bigger
stake in the success of the league going forward. Would
you not agree with that?
Speaker 8 (25:55):
Yeah, their pay is going to go up, assuming they
can get a deal done. I think the question is
going to be whether they can sort of make it
where their pay goes up commensurate with the leagues with
the expansion of revenue for the league. And it is
interesting even those prices for those expansion fees for those
three new teams. If you look at our friends at
Sportico did their annual evaluations, They've got the Valkyries, who
(26:16):
are the newest team, worth five hundred million, which is
pretty wild to think about, you know, an expansion team
in a women's sport with evaluation like that after so
little time, you know, so, I think the players are
definitely in a position to point to a lot of
numbers and say, you know, this is built on our work,
(26:38):
and this is built on our celebrity and our skill
and our talent, and we want a bigger share.
Speaker 7 (26:44):
This is hinging on the fact that a lot of
the WNBA teams are connected to NBA teams, obviously with
Detroit and the Pistons, and then this expansion and going on.
What will it take for a w NBA team to
(27:05):
be totally independent of any NBA team?
Speaker 8 (27:09):
I mean right now, it's just structurally they aren't, right.
Every NBA owner owns a little piece of the WNBA
and so they would have to restructure the whole setup
of the league. Just the cap table would have to
be rearranged for them to be independent. And they seem
to be maintaining this, you know model that has been
(27:29):
working pretty well for them, which is you take the
brand equity of a w NBA team, a w or
an NBA team, an NBA city, You take the facilities
of an NBA team, You take the expertise in front
office of an NBA at least on the on the
business side of an NBA team, and you marry it
with a WNBA franchise and it just it makes sense right.
(27:50):
The scheduling lines up. This is the whole sort of
premise of the league in the first place. But I
do think you reach a point maybe where that becomes
limiting for the WNBA. But I think that's a conversation
further down the road.
Speaker 7 (28:02):
Our thanks to Bloomberg News Global business reporter Ira Boodweyh
for joining us stick around. We've got more w NBA
up next for Damian Sasaur and Vanessa Perdomo. I'm Michael Barr.
This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberger Radio.
Around the world.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 7 (28:26):
Thanks for joining us on the Bloomberg Business of Sports,
where we explore the big money issues in the world
of sports. I'm talking big. I'm Michael Barr along with
Damian Sasaur and Vanessa Perdomo. Joining us now is Morgan
Shaw Parker. She's President and chief operating officer of the
WNBA's Atlanta Dream. The Dream They're on their way to
(28:47):
a third straight playoff appearance, and Morgan is here to
talk to us about the team's growth trajectory as the
erro continues to point up for the WNBA. Morgan Shaw Parker,
Welcome to the Bloomberg Business of Sports.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
Well, thank you so much for having me. What a
pleasure to be here today.
Speaker 7 (29:05):
The Atlanta Dream. You guys made the playoffs the last
two seasons and a lot of it has to do
with GM Dan Padover. Can you go more into Padover's
impact on the team.
Speaker 5 (29:18):
Yes, I have the good fortune of being able to
be attached at the hip with Dan Padover. He really
manages the basketball side of the business on the court,
and I managed the business side. But you know, Padover
is a two time WNBA Executive of the Year.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
He came on board basically at the.
Speaker 5 (29:37):
Exact same time that I did, right after new ownership
took over in twenty twenty one, and has really transformed
this organization on the basketball front to be a powerhouse
on the court. We have just brought on a new
head coach in Carl simesco this year and elevated the
capacity of what this team is able to accomplish and
(29:59):
maximize is what we are getting out of our young
core and add a few amazing players to the roster
this year.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
And so you're absolutely right.
Speaker 5 (30:09):
Part of what we have seen, not only in the
growth of the business, is also the growth on the
court and what our athletes have been able to do.
How we've been able to be yet again a playoff contender,
but in a really different way this year. It's exciting.
It's an exciting brand of basketball to watch.
Speaker 4 (30:27):
It's definitely a good year for you guys on the court,
but off the corps also, I want to talk about
all the things that's what we're seeing, the growth of
the WN obviously the Atlanta Dream and the Dream recently signed,
you know, the first seven figure partnership with cash App.
Can you tell us more about the commercial partnerships and
how that landscape has changed over just the four years,
(30:49):
you know, four or five years you've been in the
organization from twenty twenty one to twenty twenty five.
Speaker 5 (30:53):
I mean, so much has changed in that time.
Speaker 4 (30:55):
So how has it changed from your side of the
desk for the commercial partnerships.
Speaker 5 (31:00):
You're absolutely right, it has been a really interesting ride
and part of the reason that I proactively chose to
jump off from the NFL and a great career, there
is the opportunity to build, and we really were in
our infancy four years ago when new ownership came on
board in twenty twenty one, we were at a state
of the league where a lot of partnerships were really
(31:24):
used to offset costs in these organizations, and rightfully so,
we were a relatively young league. What we've seen over
the last four to five years is exponential growth, but
with a change in trajectory, specifically with the Atlanta Dream,
going from an ownership group that was really divesting of
(31:45):
the team in twenty twenty one to an ownership group
with Larry Gottesteiner at the Helm, Suzanne Abaron Renee Montgomery,
an ownership group that really is all about investing. We
talk a lot about the fact that we don't bet
on women here. We invest in them, because when you
bet on something, you expect.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
That you might lose your money.
Speaker 5 (32:03):
We really invest because we expect a return, and we
have seen nothing short of a return in every single.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
Year of new ownership.
Speaker 5 (32:12):
But you've got to really look at it from a
long term perspective, and I think what we're seeing now.
As we've seen exponential growth not only in ticket sales,
in partnerships coming on board in the number of staff,
we're seeing the partnership model change too. And what's really
(32:32):
interesting is having come from my trajectory in women's excuse me,
in men's sports. On the NFL side, I was with
Nike for ten years. What's so interesting about this is
that we almost have to break the traditional model. And
it doesn't mean that we're against a traditional sponsorship model,
a traditional partnership model, but we really have to start
to understand, first of all, how are these female athletes different,
(32:56):
How are women different, How has the game change, how
is fandom evolving?
Speaker 2 (33:03):
And how are.
Speaker 5 (33:04):
Partners choosing to invest where they can see a return
as well.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
And it's been.
Speaker 5 (33:09):
Really cool to transform this organization into one that is
revenue driving year over year over year instead of just
trying to keep an organization afloat because it's the right
thing to do, which you know, perhaps was you know
what it was years ago, you know, for good, bad
or indifferent. You know, like I said, we are still
a very young league, and so I think the changes
(33:31):
we're going to continue to see and specifically as you
asked on the partnership side, I mean, we've got a
seven figure deal that's already on the books, We've got
multiple additional ones coming this year, and you know, we
are definitely going to be investing in a lot of
other things and having a lot of other partners investing
in US in very creative ways.
Speaker 3 (33:52):
Well, Morgan, Michael and I are not surprised at all
about your success with the Atlanta Dream. I mean you
mentioned the Atlanta Falcons, your role as the chief marketing
officer at the Arthur and Blank Sports and Entertainment firm,
and as well, I think you're the first vice president,
female vice president of football communications for an NFL franchise.
But I do want to focus on your role working
for a small sneaker company up in Beaverton, Oregon, where
(34:14):
you represented Nike with all of their Olympics. I'm talking owaight,
Beijing twenty ten, Vancouver twenty sixteen, Rio. You know, we've
got another, We've got a World Cup coming to the
US next year. We've got the Olympics coming to LA
in the not too distant future. You know, what role
do you see the WNBA and the Atlanta Dream playing
as you know, women's basketball kind of takes hold in
(34:36):
the Olympics. I mean, you know, how would you position
the Atlanta Dream and your team to sort of benefit
from all the buzz that's going to go side by
side with that.
Speaker 5 (34:45):
Well, you know what, it's a great question, and I
could not be more excited about the World Cup coming here.
I sit on the Sports Council for the City of Atlanta,
and it has been really a privilege being a part
of a group of sports organizations with the Braves, the Hawks,
various brands, the city itself, the Falcons United, all working
(35:11):
to bring such a massive event here and putting out
a bid for Atlanta, and so, you know, to be
a part of that has been absolutely incredible. But what's
really cool. You know, I spent ten years at Nike
and working in various divisions. You know, you mentioned some
of the Olympic opportunities that I had a chance to lead,
(35:32):
you know, the Super Bowls as well, you know college
partnerships as well, and you know, so many of those
were massive in scale. But when you think about taking
a women's sports organization like the Atlanta Dream and plugging
us into the existing fandom and excitement, you know, you've
got to find creative ways to do that. And what's
(35:54):
cool about Atlanta is and I don't know if you
know this, but the we.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
Call oursel No, I'm just kidding it.
Speaker 5 (36:00):
Well, yeah, the traffic in the airport. Yeah, we're not
here to talk about that, but it's real. But hey,
you know it and you love it, right, it is real.
But there's so much more to offer. But one of
the coolest things that we have the opportunity to do
is really build something special continuing from the nineteen ninety
(36:21):
six Olympics and that gold medal shot with that specific
team and you remember the team, you know, cover a
Sports illustrated that gold medal shot that took place literally
in a spot and I know the exact spot where
that gold medal shot was taken. It was the Georgia
Dome at the time, which, as you know, was imploded.
We built Mercedes Benz Stadium when I was over there.
(36:43):
I came in at the tail end of that when
I joined the Falcons and ended up being the CMO
of the stadium and the Falcons. But the gold medal
shot for the women's USA team took place right in
that home depot backyard outside of Mercedes Benz Stadium, and
see you think about what happened and how the WNBA
took off from there. We call Atlanta the birthplace of
(37:08):
the WNBA, and so when you really think about that
and you start to own that, then you start to
look at, well, man, what could this possibly be when
we insert the dream conversation and the WNBA conversation into
something like a World Cup, something like an international sporting
(37:28):
event coming to this city and making sure that Atlanta, which,
as you know, Atlanta influences everything. I'll steal that line
from my friends over at AIE, but it.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
Really is true. You know.
Speaker 5 (37:38):
We hold that near and dear, and it's something that
I am excited about. We're building towards next year, but
we're also looking well beyond that. We are working on
building a training facility, which we have not announced yet
but soon to be. So hopefully I'll be talking to
you again soon about all of that, and looking to
figure out where our long term arena home will be
(37:58):
as well, because, as you know, we are busting at
the seams in Gateway Arena right now, which is not
a bad problem.
Speaker 7 (38:03):
To have, all right, I have to have some fun
because I'm built that way. You gotta explain to me
swag surfing. The you guys started this tradition, the dream,
and it spread to the entire w n b A.
It started with fast life youngsters and he created this.
(38:27):
I'm going to play a bit of the song. See
we're swagging right now. Man. It's like it's you guys
started a tradition that is going through the NBA and
all through many other sports as well. Ken you comment
(38:50):
on that salute to you guys, Well, you.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
Know what we do it special over here in Atlanta.
We've got our own swag.
Speaker 5 (38:58):
When you really am brace the culture of Atlanta, you know,
I got to go back to the fact that we
are sitting in the heart of literally what I call
the most diverse city on the planet, and you know,
by statistics that may or may not be correct, but
literally one of the most diverse cities on the planet.
And swagsurfing, ironically was wildly popular. What was it three
(39:26):
in Kansas City? How great is that? And so I
can't take credit for that, But what's so interesting is
Atlanta has kind of adopted that environment of you know,
our games really are like a cookout. It's like you're
sharing a plate of food with your friends. You're you know,
have a little bit of a club atmosphere, but it's
(39:47):
still family friendly and you kind of want to throw
your arms around each other and just start moving. And
swagsurf really brings that out of people. And our arena
is wild when swags are happens.
Speaker 2 (39:59):
I mean last night it was.
Speaker 5 (40:01):
Nuts the whole You know, you've got thousands of people
doing that at once, and it really has now taken
off in the WNBA.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
But the thing about.
Speaker 5 (40:08):
Coming to Atlanta four years ago is coming to the
dream four years ago is we knew that we had
to embrace the culture. And to do that here in Atlanta,
you have to sit down and you got to listen.
You've got to really understand it. You've got to really
dig in and make sure that your experience, your fan experience,
represents the city that you seek to serve. And you know,
(40:30):
you've got to really lean in in the energy that
is coming in the building. And when you get it
right and it happens in the arena and everybody's singing
and everybody's moving, there is absolutely nothing like I don't
think anybody else does as good a job as we do.
But that's just you know, I'm drinking my own kool aid.
Speaker 7 (40:48):
Too, So well, listen, I got a brag on you guys,
the Dream. They sold out every home game in twenty
twenty four, and you're on pace to sell out all
twenty two games in twenty twenty five. Tickets generally rained
from eleven dollars to three hundred and seventy four dollars.
That's the floor seats, and that's a big bargain because
if you try to get floor seats for the next
(41:09):
court side, it's three thousand dollars one day that your
price is going to go up. And I wouldn't blame
you one bit because you guys have a great product.
I am tickled to death to talk with you. Our
thanks to Morganshaw Parker for joining us. She's president and
COO of the WNBA's Atlanta Dream. And that does it
(41:30):
for this edition of The Bloomberg Business of Sports. For
my colleagues Damian Sassauer and Vanessa Perdomo, I'm Michael Barr.
Thank you for joining us. Tune in again next week
for the latest on the stories moving big old money
in the world of sports and don't forget to catch
our podcast on all your podcast platforms. You are listening
to the Bloomberg Business of Sports Bloomberg Radio around the world.
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