February 14, 2025 • 38 mins
Join hosts Michael Barr, Scarlet Fu and Damian Sassower for a look at some of the latest headlines and stories in the business of sports.
With the Super Bowl behind us, Bloomberg global business of sports reporter Ira Boudway joins to break down the game's record viewership, and how Crypto.com, Kalshi and other non-sports betting companies created loopholes to get in on gaming action for the Big Game.
Then, NASCAR President Steve Phelps previews this Sunday's Daytona 500 and examines the auto racing industry.
Plus, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly discusses the state of the league and how it's making a big international push with its "4 Nations Face-Off".
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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 starting to break into.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
We really appreciate when our owners are actually there, you know,
with us through the journey.
Speaker 4 (00:18):
Teams ours especially have been very intentional to diversify at
all levels.
Speaker 5 (00:22):
Of the company.
Speaker 6 (00:23):
I think we're in the bolden years for the NFL
and college football.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Our demographic reach has continued to expand.
Speaker 4 (00:29):
This is going to be really unlocking the streaming platform
for sports fans.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Sports valuations arising, we'll see when they peak.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
You don't have to be the best in your sport
to make a whole ton of money.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
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 the sports. I'm
Michael Barr, along with my colleague Damian Sas Snauer. Scarlett
Foo would join us later in the show. Coming up,
we talk hockey with NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daily. We'll
talk about how they're bringing some of its stars to
the world stage with a four nation tournament going on now.
Speaker 6 (01:08):
This is an effort by the NHL and the NHL
Players Association to bring back international best on best competition
on a regular basis where the players and our fans
can count on the fact that we will be contesting
kind of world supremacy in hockey.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Plus we'll hear from NASCAR President Steve Phelps.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Yeah, all that and more is on the way on
the Bloomberg Business of Sports. But first, the NFL season
came to a close with a decisive win for the
Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Pers back looking, he is going deep and.
Speaker 6 (01:44):
It is put tons down.
Speaker 7 (01:48):
To see Smith to put Tony spot forty six sure
assum record.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
The game drew in a record TV audience of almost
one hundred and thirty million viewers and also do big
numbers for sportsbooks and for some other companies looking to
cash in on the begame.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Here to take us through all that and plus the
NBA All Star Weekend is Bloomberg Global Business of Sports
reporter Ira Buodway. First of all, Ira, thank you again,
my man for joining us on the Bloomberg Business of Sports.
Speaker 8 (02:19):
Always a pleasure.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Yes, we've always bet on the Super Bowl, even before
we had online gambling, we were betting our pennies and
nickels and quarters. Well we won't be betting pennies anymore,
but nichols and quarters all on the Super Bowl. And
now there's a new way to bet on the Super Bowl.
Can you talk us through that?
Speaker 9 (02:43):
Yeah, So, just before this year's game, in December, Crypto
dot Com came out with swaps trades. So these are
technically done under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. They launched
them in all fifty states, and you're taking a yes
or no position on will the Chiefs win the game basically,
but it works almost exactly like betting on.
Speaker 5 (03:06):
A sports book.
Speaker 9 (03:07):
And after Crypto dot Com did it, the prediction exchange
CALSHI came out with one, and so everyone's waiting to
see whether the CFTC will let them do this, because
if they do, and it's under review now, then really
the floodgates are open for futures exchanges to become fifty
state sports books.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
So Ira, you know, take us through. You know just
how close the Crypto Exchanges lines on the game were
relative to for example, FanDuel or DraftKings. I mean, was
it on was it? Were they on the screws or
like for example, were the Eagles the favorite?
Speaker 9 (03:42):
It? So they move all the time. That's one interesting
thing about them is so I fro live markets, right, Okay, Yeah,
they're live markets and you can sell your position whenever.
So for instance, just as an experiment, during the game,
right before anybody scored, I took out a fifty dollars
guess on the Eagles, and then I just watched and
throughout the game, so it would have paid me. It
(04:04):
did pay me ninety six dollars for winning in the end,
but during the game at different points I could have
cashed out for eighty dollars, eighty five dollars as as
it became apparent that the Eagles were winning. Now, there's
something like this in sports betting where they will offer
you cash outs at different points where you can kind
of capture winnings and not risk losing it. But this
is just a constantly shifting price and you can always
(04:27):
sell your positions. So but yeah, I think roughly speaking
in terms of who was the favorite who was not,
you know, they're following the same forces of the crowd
that sports books are.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Now I want to explain this because it's as a
degenerate gambler. You don't see odds like you say, like say,
for instance, I wanted to make a bet on the Chiefs,
I would have to put up like and I'm just
making it up here, one hundred and ten dollars to
win one hundred. Right, Well, what they're saying is that, okay,
(04:59):
the yes, you pay fifty six dollars on the Chiefs
and we'll pay you one hundred dollars. It's the same thing,
but it makes it simpler for let's let me use
the phrase the non gambler.
Speaker 9 (05:14):
Yeah, I mean, the main difference is that they are
you're not betting against the house and that so there's
a person on the other side of this contract, which
is why it's called the swap, right, and they keep
a little piece of it. The exchange does for the service,
but it's a yes and a no. Right, somebody's on
the other side and they're just arranging this swap. And
(05:34):
so it's slightly different in the mechanics, but effectively, there's odds.
There's a percentage chance implied that your team's gonna win
or lose, and you're gonna, you know, get a payout
depending on if they do or don't so in the end,
if you know the math, it's the same thing.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
I wonder, why do you suppose the big sport books
like vandel and DraftKings don't offer that service or that
ability to you know, basically cash out, you know, before
the game even starts. You know that is that too
complicated for them? Does that take a different type of
algorithm or programming power or is it just about money
and commission dollars? You know it forces you to lose
money and then go back to the well and try
(06:11):
to bet on them another winner. I mean, like I'm
just curious why.
Speaker 9 (06:14):
Yeah, I mean the main difference is so they do.
They do have a thing called cash out, and that
will be the book the fandul or whoever you bet against.
You're betting against the house will say, hey, it looks
like you got a winner here, but you could still
lose it. What if we pay you a partial payout? Now,
they do have that function, but it's kind of up
to them how to turn it on, how often to
offer it. Whereas in these exchanges it's a liquid market.
(06:39):
You can sell your position just like you would in
any portfolio, as long as there's people in there offering
the other side of that price, you know, then you
can do it. So the sportsbooks do have this trick,
it's just not i think, as well understood by the
public and not maybe as commonly used. If you're a trader,
this is a very familiar activity.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
It seems to me like people doing this are more
allowing to do this because there are a lot of
people that are saying, no, gambling is terrible, don't do it. Well,
now it is if you get addicted. But I mean
it's you know, don't do gambling, this and that whatever,
But this sounds more They're selling it like an investment.
(07:21):
That's why I can say it.
Speaker 9 (07:23):
Yeah, I mean they are trying to position it as
not sports betting. I think they're doing that mainly for
regulatory reasons. The states that regulate sports betting don't love
this idea. The sports books that have gain licenses in
the states that regulate sports betting don't love this idea.
And the sports leagues that have worked with the sports
(07:44):
books and the states to come up with the rules
that they can live with don't love this idea because
it's at this point it's very lightly regulated. And so
Crypto dot Com CALCI these exchanges. They want to say,
oh no, no, it's not quite the same thing, but
if you try it, you will see it is very
much the same thing.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
And so how many, I mean you just needed? Were
those the only two that offered this service during the
Super Bowl?
Speaker 9 (08:08):
Yeah, so Crypto dot Com went first, Calshi came out second.
For a brief minute, Robin Hood was going to partner
with Calshi to offer these to some of their approved traders,
but they backed off of that after the CFTC warned
them about it. Uh So, as of the Super Bowl,
it was those two, and I think the expectation is
(08:30):
that others will follow depending on it. Looks like the
timeline is April for the CFTC to say whether or
not they are going to let this go forward. But
if they do, I expect you will see others begin
offering all types of sports futures contracts because it's a
really good way to get people to do prediction markets.
(08:51):
You know, they tend to do the presidential election every
four years and then kind of forget about it in
the general public, whereas sports, you know, year round, and
people aren't well ira.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
You know, if I could see the future, I would
have told you that, you know, Mark laur and Alex
Rodriguez would finally be successful and their bid to take
control of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Talk to us a little
bit about that story. I mean, our friend Alex Rodriguez
is now an NBA owner.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Well, he will be.
Speaker 9 (09:14):
Presumably they still have to get over the hurdle of
getting approval from the rest of the NBA owners. They
need twenty three out of the group to approve them,
but I think that is expected to happen. So yeah,
they bought the team back in twenty twenty one, but
it was this step wise transaction that they arranged with
the owner, Glenn Taylor, where they were going to do
it in installments, and it got hung up in March
(09:37):
of last year when they were supposed to make the
payments that would put them into majority control and make
them the control owners of the team. Taylor said, sorry,
you didn't meet the terms of the contract. Deals off,
you're still a minority owner, but you're not going to
be able to take over and a Rod and Mark
Laurie said, actually no, we're entitled to an extension. We've
(09:58):
got the funding in place. So it went to a
mediator as the as the purchase agreement stipulated, they couldn't
get a solution in mediation, it went to arbitration, and
then just recently the three panel arbitrators said, uh a,
Rod and Laurie had in fact met the terms and
are entitled to close the transaction. And so that's what
we expect to happen. And so yeah, they should be
(10:20):
the new Timberwolve's owners very soon.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Well see, you know what, I have to pivot a
little bit here on you and I got to look,
you know, a little bit south of Minnesota, quite a
bit south. I got to look down to Texas, to
the Dallas Mavericks, right, who have you know a new
kind of ownership in these sort of postmark Cuban era.
And at the trade deadline, he did something really really,
really really interesting, didn't they. They's traded away a twenty
five year old five time All star in Luca Dontrich
(10:44):
to the Los Angeles Leakers without even letting other teams
bid for him. I mean, what goes on with I
mean like these owners, I mean, do we can we
can we just talk to Alex Rodriguez please and make
sure he at least calls the Knicks first, if he's
going to offer up somebody like that, I mean, I mean,
this is I mean what it goes on, you know,
behind the scenes as you head into the trade deadline.
These owners, I mean, talk to us about your thoughts there.
(11:06):
I mean, what are people talking about?
Speaker 9 (11:08):
Yeah, I mean that was a really shocking deal. It's
so shocking that you you know, now I've launched.
Speaker 10 (11:13):
Dozens of conspiracy theories about why they might have done it,
such as such as they really want to move to
Las Vegas, where you know, the Adelson family have a
lot of connections at home, and so they were trying.
Speaker 9 (11:26):
To pull a Major League This is the plot of
Major League, by the way. That is so you know,
I think the deal was so shocking that people are
searching for explanations. I think probably it comes down to
the Mavericks ownership and management didn't want to pay Luca
because they don't believe he's committed and that he's never
going to do that last bit that he needs to
(11:47):
do that they want him to do, and so they
shipped him. Now, there's a lot of reasons you could
say that was a really bad decision, and you're right,
they didn't shop him around a lot ahead of time.
They didn't maybe get the best price for him. I
think that had to do with the fact that they
knew that this couldn't get out, that he was on
the trading block, that basically you know, there'd be mutiny
(12:08):
in their fan base.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Well this is I know, we got to go. But
I mean I don't see a problem of the other
NBA owners, you know, not okaying this. Forgive the double
negative because if we're talking about a Rod and we're
talking about Mark LORI, who's going to say no to this?
Speaker 9 (12:26):
Yeah, I know I expected to go through. I mean,
I think there was maybe some notion that if Taylor
wanted to rally opposition. He's a very long term owner.
I think he does have allies among other NBA owners,
and maybe he would have been able to, you know,
scum up the works. But it sounds like he's not
going to try to do that, and I think barring that,
(12:47):
there's no reason why.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Oh thanks to Ira wood Way for joining us. He's
Bloomberg Global Business sub sports reporter. Up next, we talked
with NASCAR for my colleague Damien Sassawer. I'm Michael Barr
listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio
around the world.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports, where we explore
the big money issues in the world of sports. Michael Barr,
along with my colleague Damian Sasawer Scarlet Fu will join
us later in the show. We have on the line
Steve Phelps, President of NASCAR, the National Association for Stock
car Auto Racing. Mister Phelps, thank you for joining us.
(13:35):
From an old, old NASCAR fan, welcome to the Bloomberg
Business of Sports.
Speaker 8 (13:41):
Thrilled to be here and appreciate your fandom.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
I was a fan back in the day when they
you know, we go back with you know, when I
was like about four or five, and you know, back
then they came on wide World of Sports. When you
wanted to see the Daytona five hundred, you had to
wait because it didn't have it live yet. And then
(14:06):
when they decided to broadcast it live, and this even
before Flag to Flag ABC was starting to broadcast it live,
people got excited. And then nineteen seventy nine CBS brought
flag to flag coverage of the Daytona five hundred and
old Geezer Bar remembers all of that, and my goodness,
(14:29):
it's like this sport has come a long way.
Speaker 8 (14:32):
Sir, well, I'll take that as a compliment.
Speaker 7 (14:37):
I think you're right. I believe that we were doing
some really cool things. The race product on the track
is argably the best it's ever been. We had three
of our closest finishes in history, our single closest three
wide finish and Atlanta last year, and that headed into
what is always terrific racing at the Daytona five hundred.
(14:59):
So super excited about, you know, kind of where we
are today and very optimistic about what the future of
this sport looks like.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Mister Phelps. We're going to get into that dyto in
a five hundred in just a minute. But you know,
you're only the fifth individual to be the president of
NASCAR since its inception in nineteen forty eight. And what
you've done, I mean Fox, NBC, Amazon, Prime, TNT, I
mean these seven year partnerships that you've developed under your stewardship.
I mean, can you talk to our audience a little
(15:29):
bit about all the work you've done in preparing for
where NASCAR is today and what its future looked like.
Speaker 7 (15:36):
Yeah, I think, you know, we're really excited about all
of our new media partners. So obviously Fox and NBC
are back from the ten year deal we did with
them that concluded at the end of twenty four. But
to add Amazon, a pure streamer, and then you know
the TNT and Max, which is obviously a combination of
cable and streaming, and then the CW for all of
(16:01):
our Infinity Series for those thirty three races, I just
think it is certainly a little more fragmentation, and we'll
accept that. But I think it was really important for
us to make sure that we had a mix of broadcast,
cable and streaming, which is exactly what we have. And
I would suggest that with these world class media partners,
(16:25):
that the promotion of NASCAR is probably going to be,
you know, at its height, and that to me is
really really important. So you had two media companies that
wanted to come back, which is terrific, says a lot
about what we've done over the past five or six years,
and then you have these three new entities coming in
(16:45):
that we're also thrilled to come to NASCAR and.
Speaker 8 (16:49):
Be part of what it is that we're doing.
Speaker 7 (16:51):
So Yeah, we're very bullish, excited about about the media
partners and so much more.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Can I bring up all also that this is the
sixty seventh running of the Daytona five hundred, and we
go back. Lee Petty won the first one and ever
since you've had a lot of exciting races at Daytona
and now the so called clash used to be at Daytona.
(17:19):
But over the past weekend you guys went back to
your roots and you went to Bowman Gray Stadium to
hold the clash. Can you tell us more about that?
Speaker 8 (17:30):
Yeah, I think it was a nod back.
Speaker 7 (17:31):
So for three years we did the clash at the
Coliseum out in LA which was terrific, but I think
it had run its course.
Speaker 8 (17:41):
That's an important marketplace for us.
Speaker 7 (17:43):
We'll be back in southern California, hopefully as soon as
twenty twenty six. What that looks like, I'm not prepared
to talk about at this point, but it's important. But
we did want to do a nod to kind of
our history and our roots in Bowman Gray Stadium is
a special place, so we created a relationship, you know,
(18:04):
with the city and the folks that held the lease
and so now we have assumed that lease for the
next you know, roughly thirty years. So but the you
talked to the competitors, whether it's drivers or crew or
every single person that was there in that sold out stadium,
and it was electric. A little bit chilly, but it
(18:25):
was electric and just hard nose short track racing. Some
tempers flared, you know, it was I think it was
a nod you know, to you know, short track racing
in our history, and I think that's important. And you know,
no determination, you know, when we're going, if we're going
to go back, when we're going to go back. But
(18:46):
I would say that the industry was thrilled that we
were there and it worked right. So we had a sellout,
sold out crowd. The rating was really good, significantly up
from last year. So those things are all good. Yeah,
So it's you know, hope springs are turnament, if you will,
for for everyone.
Speaker 8 (19:04):
When they unpacking Daytona.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
I swear the Bowman Gray race. I thought I was
saw a Hudson hornet out there. But man, that was
nice to bring back the roots. I'm sorry, Damon, Damien.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
Go ahead, Well, well, mister Phelps, I mean, let's go there, right,
it is Daytona five hundred time, and you know, I
know we want to focus on the big guys Bush Hamlin, Legano,
but Byron bel Chastin, these young bucks are making a
challenge here. No, I mean talk to us about the
future of NASCAR.
Speaker 8 (19:31):
Yeah, I think it's really cool.
Speaker 7 (19:32):
I mean if you consider, you know, past champions that
we've had over the last you know, five or six years.
Speaker 8 (19:39):
Joey Logano has been in the sport for a long time.
But he's not old.
Speaker 7 (19:44):
I mean, I don't know what he is, thirty four
to thirty five years old. He'll be driving for another
decade most likely. But you think of the guys like
Ross Chastain, or you think about Chase Elliott, or like
Kyle Larson. Is arguably the best driver people would say
on the planet.
Speaker 8 (20:00):
Right.
Speaker 7 (20:00):
He can race anything anywhere, anytime. He's going to do
the double again this year with the well he didn't
do the double last year. He only did one segment
of the double, which was the Indy five hundred. But
then to come back for the Coke six hundred and
see him do that, I think it's going to be
a really cool thing. He is the opportunity to win
him both legitimately.
Speaker 8 (20:22):
But I'm the young drivers are.
Speaker 7 (20:24):
Making a name, you know, the Bubble Wallaces and the
Daniel Suarezes, and those guys are bursting onto the scenes.
And we've got all this crop of really amazing young
drivers in our Exfinity series, in our Craftsman Truck Series,
and going up through our through the Arches series. So
having all that pipeline of young talent is great. And
(20:46):
I think what we're doing from a content perspective, our
content for this year is going to be bigger, bolder,
and better than it's ever been. And we've invested significant
dollars in our new productions facility. We need to make
sure that we are continuing to make stars of our drivers,
and the way to do that is through better content,
better distribution, a more varied distribution. And that's exactly what
(21:10):
we're doing.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
I want to bring up you talk about drivers, and
I guess there's a new rule, and please educate me
on it. I guess I'm gonna call it the world
Class Drivers rule. And you could have an Alio Castra
Nevis and get a spot in the Daytona five hundred.
It would kind of be like what the old provisionals
(21:34):
used to be can ex.
Speaker 8 (21:38):
Sure.
Speaker 7 (21:39):
So it's a new rule for this particular event. Whether
we tweak it in their future, I don't know. But
for this event, Castor Nevis will be in the field.
So he is either going to earn his way in
or he'll have essentially a provisional that will allow him
to race. But he will race in the Great American
Race on Fox on Sunday.
Speaker 8 (22:01):
And I think that's a really cool thing.
Speaker 7 (22:03):
You know, we are always open to ways to help
promote the sport. You know, he is a world class
driver who is has gone through all the necessary things
to prove that he should be in this field, because
it's always safety first and from there it's promotion. So
he has passed the plans for our competition folks and
(22:27):
our officials to make sure that he is worthy to
be in the race and he's not a danger to
others in the race, and he won't be.
Speaker 8 (22:35):
I think that's really exciting.
Speaker 7 (22:36):
And you know, I think they'll this you know kind
of rule, this new piece that's coming into effect. I
think we'll have some really cool opportunities for us, both
later in this year but also in years forward.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
I'd love to ask you this question. I mean, look,
obviously F one gets a lot of the headlines, right,
and I'm sure you hear this all the time. How
is Formula one impacted your strategy? How is it impacting NASCAR?
But you know, I just have to highlight for our audience.
You know, just look at twenty twenty four, right, three
of the top seven closest finishes in Cup history. Right,
eighteen different winners from ten organizations, the most green flag
(23:10):
passes for the lead since two thousand and five. You know,
the concept of parody of real competition, certainly in race
car driving, it's a real deal. I mean you look
at the NFL relative to Major League Baseball and the NBA.
I mean it's a concept of you know, anybody can
win on any given Sunday. You know, it holds, you know,
for the viewing audience. And I'm curious, is that by design?
(23:32):
Is that is that part of your planet, NASCAR, to
keep things, to keep a level playing field, so to speak.
Speaker 7 (23:39):
Yeah, I think it's really important. You know, what fans
want is great racing. So they want close, competitive, side
by side racing with passing. So of all those different
stats that you just threw out there. I think the
number of green flag passes throughout the field or green
flag passes for the lead. To me, that's really cool
(23:59):
because that really embodies what it means to have great racing.
The fact that we had eighteen different winners from ten
different organizations and anyone can win on any given Sunday.
Speaker 8 (24:10):
I think that's really cool.
Speaker 7 (24:12):
Right, So, if I'm a race fan of a particular
driver or a particular race team, I know that might
and it's so hard to win in NASCAR, but I
know my driver is a shot. So again, when the
green flag drops this weekend, literally anyone in the field
can win. And I think we saw, you know, we
had a one car team win in you know with
(24:34):
Roocky Stenhouse Junior.
Speaker 8 (24:36):
I mean that's just a really cool story.
Speaker 7 (24:40):
And maybe a powerhouse team will win, like a Hendrick
Motorsports or a Penske or Gibbs, but maybe it'll be
trackouts with you know, Chastaining or Suarez or.
Speaker 8 (24:48):
SPG right, And I just think, to me, that's so cool.
Speaker 7 (24:52):
And this race is you know, three plus hours of
just wide open racing and you know, trying to stay
out of the chaos that can happen, you know, with
Big Rex here at a facility like this, in this
type of racing, it's a it's you know, I would
say five parts skill and one part luck, and maybe
(25:17):
I don't have those percentages exactly correct, But you have
to have a little luck as part of this as well.
Speaker 8 (25:22):
You certainly need to be talented.
Speaker 7 (25:24):
I certainly couldn't be in there, nor would I don't
don't have the talent.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Our thanks to NASCAR President Steve Phelps for joining us up. Next,
we turn to hockey and how the NHL is making
an international push with a special Ford Nation tournament for
my colleague Damien Sassaur. I'm Michael Barr. You're listening to
the Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio around the world.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
Thanks for joining us on the Bloomberg Business of Sports,
where we explore the big money issues in the world
of sports. Michael Barr, along with my colleagues Scarlett Fu
and Damian Sassauer. The NHL is looking to grow internationally
with a first of its kind multi nation tournament featuring
NHL stars. It's called the Four Nations Face Off. And
(26:23):
it's being broadcast all around the world to fans in
more than two hundred countries and territories. Here to talk
to us about it and the state of the league
is NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daily. Bill, Welcome to the
Bloomberg Business of Sports.
Speaker 5 (26:38):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Well now, the NHL, it's right now. There's so many
topics to talk about, but right now you guys are
in the middle. I guess you want to call it
a tournament. Is that the best way to describe it?
Where you have four countries and they're all playing for
the bragging rights and trying to win one the United States?
(27:02):
Can you tell us more about that?
Speaker 5 (27:05):
Sure?
Speaker 6 (27:06):
And I would call it an d season tournament. This
February time period is new for us in terms of
operating our own international best on best competition tournaments.
Speaker 8 (27:19):
We have a property.
Speaker 6 (27:22):
Known as the World Cup of Hockey, which we're going
to bring back in twenty twenty eight. That tournament has
typically been played in the fall time period, and we
want to make it consistent, so we're bringing to the
February time period, which we'll match it up with the
winter Olympic window that typically happens every four years. So
(27:46):
this is an effort by the NHL and the NHL
Players Association to bring back international best on best competition
on a regular basis where the players and our fans
can count on the fact that we will be contesting
kind of world supremacy and hockey every two years.
Speaker 5 (28:06):
This is an odd one.
Speaker 6 (28:08):
Because we're having in twenty twenty five and our players
will be participating in the Winter Olympics in Milano next
year in twenty twenty six. But from there we would
hope to stage the World Cup of Hockey in twenty
twenty eight, go to the Olympics in twenty thirty, another
World Cup of Hockey in twenty thirty two, Olympics in
(28:30):
twenty thirty four, and you get the pictures. So that's
what we're trying to do. We're super excited. We haven't
had international best on best competition in our sport and
with our players since twenty sixteen, so we're very excited
about this.
Speaker 4 (28:48):
Tournament and the players are as well. You mentioned battling
it out for world supremacy, but there's only four nations involved, Canada,
the US, Finland and Sweden. The Czech Republic is absent
and of course, Russia is not represented because of rules
from the IHL, the International Ice Hockey League, that prohibits
Russia from participating in team sports. Why those four countries.
Speaker 5 (29:12):
Well, they do.
Speaker 6 (29:13):
They are major contributors to the talent in our league.
I think if you look at the four countries, they
make up eighty four percent of our player population, which
is a big number obviously, and what we're excited about,
particularly in this tournament is obviously European player participation in
the National Hockey League has been growing, and this year
(29:36):
having this competition, it's probably the deepest, most talented tournament
that we've ever been able to stage. It would be
ideal if we could have eight teams or more in
the tournament, but we were dealing with kind of some
logistical realities, including the Russian aggression in Ukraine working a
(29:57):
little bit against us expanding the format for this year.
But I do expect that, you know, it'll be an
expanded format for our World Cup of Hockey tournaments in
the future.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
Bill, I'd love to know how we got here. I mean,
let's be clear. Next year is the Winter Olympics. There's
a lot going on, you know, the NHL's participating, I
believe for the first time since twenty fourteen. How are
you building up to that participation. What does the Winter
Olympics mean to the NHL.
Speaker 6 (30:22):
Well, I think it's an opportunity. It's an opportunity for
greater exposure. You know, there's probably no bigger platform for
sports in the world than the the Olympic Games. It's
something that is very, very meaningful and important to our players,
(30:42):
and we've heard them on that subject. It's something we've
covered in collective arguing and quite frankly, we're totally on
board with in the sense that you know, the increased
exposure will bring increased popularity of the game and that's
good for business. So I think all of it working
together will be very beneficial to the National Hockey League
(31:05):
in our business.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Well, we were talking about this before we went on
the air, so I got to bring in the elephant
that's in the room. And since President Trump announced that
he was going to put twenty five percent tariffs on Canada,
let's say that many Canadians are not happy when American
(31:31):
teams are there, and you hear it express sometimes during
the national anthem for the United States. Can you tell
us the situation that's going on right now, and is
that starting to ebb away?
Speaker 6 (31:46):
Well, I think it's obviously an unfortunate situation. I don't
think anybody likes when anthems are booed or disrespected in
any way, and certainly we'll count ourselves among that group.
We've been monitoring the situation since since events started to transpire.
I do think it's ebbing a little bit. I you know,
(32:09):
our experience just this past week in Montreal was positive
experience with two American teams playing there. So I hope
that that will continue, you know, and you know, sports
sport is a way of breaking down barriers and bringing
people closer together, and we hope that this tournament can
(32:32):
help help.
Speaker 5 (32:33):
Do that for sure.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
Bill.
Speaker 4 (32:35):
One thing about this in season tournament, the Four Nations Tournament,
is that it takes the place of the All Star
Break in the All Star Game, and some observers say
that this is kind of a potential solution to addressing
the problem of fans losing interest in All Star games overall,
not just in hockey, but we are seeing fewer people
(32:55):
tune into the All Star Game for baseball, or the
NBA or the Pro Bowl for football. Why do you
think that is? What is it about the All Star
Game that's kind of losing traction with sports fans?
Speaker 5 (33:06):
That's a great.
Speaker 6 (33:06):
Question, and I think we're all challenged with trying to
come up with creative formats that make compelling All Star weekends,
and I think it's more the experience that we're trying
to create to bring fans closer to the players and
kind of see them as people. So, you know, I
(33:29):
guess what I'd say is obviously, and it translates to
our sport in particular, which is hard hitting and very
passionate in how hard the players are competing. All Star
format doesn't allow that really to take place all that much,
and I think that's true in all sports. It's less
(33:52):
competitive than the actual product that we sell on a
nightly basis.
Speaker 5 (33:57):
So for us, we haven't given up on All Start weekend.
Speaker 6 (34:00):
I think our fans continue to enjoy it and it
has a place in the NHL calendar. Obviously, we're not
playing it this year, but we do anticipate or we
are playing it next year before the Winter Olympics actually
has a sendoff of them to the Winter Olympics, so
it's really on the leagues, and our league in particular,
(34:21):
to make it a worthwhile, useful, enjoyable experience for the fans,
because that's what All Star really is about.
Speaker 3 (34:28):
Well, I wonder if you could, just for our audience,
you know, take us through the financial incentive that's in
place for the players in the tournament. I mean, you
know a lot of these tournaments, these in season tournaments,
there's economics involved, right, that gets the players to play
to their utmost best. And in this case, I mean,
my goodness, you're going to need some incentives to get
Austin Matthews, Alexander Barcuff and Victor Headman to knock off
the Connective Sidney Crosby and the Canadians, right, So talk
(34:50):
to us a little bit about what's in it for
the players.
Speaker 6 (34:53):
Well, what I'll say is that the players, and they're
not donating their time, but in essence, they're donating their
time for this tournament because it's so important for them
to participate. There is a there is a prize fee
made available for each winning player on the winning team,
and all the players receive an appearance fee for participating
(35:17):
in this tournament. But when I in relation to what
they earn on a yearly basis as their annual salaries.
Speaker 5 (35:23):
It's very nominal.
Speaker 6 (35:25):
So we're doing this together because we think it's great
for the sport, because the players enjoy doing it, and
because everybody wants to compete for their country, and that's
really what's driving the desire to participate in this event.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
You are the first ever deputy commissioner of the NHL,
and Commissioner Gary Bettman appointed you tell what is it like?
I mean you? Is it cool to use the phrase
you are mister Betman's right hand man.
Speaker 6 (35:58):
You can say it, others have said it. Look, I'll
start by just saying I love my job.
Speaker 5 (36:04):
I love what I do. I love coming to work
every day.
Speaker 6 (36:07):
The diversity of issues that we deal with on a
daily basis is very compelling, fun to do. Not all
of it's good, but it's a challenge and it's something
I've enjoyed doing at Gary's side. You know, I think
(36:28):
I was made deputy commissioner in two thousand and five.
I've been with the league for almost thirty years now,
so it's.
Speaker 5 (36:35):
Like home for me.
Speaker 4 (36:37):
Before we let you go, Bill, I wanted to get
your thoughts on as a league executive. What you thought
about the Super Bowl? What do you take away from
the NFL playoffs that culminates in the Super Bowl. And
I'm sure that as a league executive you look at
how other leagues host their big profile events and high
profile events and try to extract some learnings from that.
(36:58):
What kind of learnings can any shall take from what
the NFL does.
Speaker 6 (37:03):
I start by saying, it's an event that's on a
scale that really no one ever really experiences other than
by going to the Super Bowl.
Speaker 5 (37:11):
I have been fortunate enough.
Speaker 6 (37:13):
I used to be a lawyer in private practice, did
some work for the NFL. I have good relationships inside
the NFL. I'm fortunate enough to attend kind of most
of the Super Bowls, and I make it a vacation
for myself. But it's on a different scale. Is really
the answer to your question, you know, I talk about
(37:34):
the importance of US and other sports leagues kind of
building the experience, the fan experience around our All Star games.
I think the NFL obviously does the same thing and
has ramped up that fan experience over the course of
time I've been going. I think we all are kind
of charged with doing the exact same thing. Maybe on
(37:54):
a somewhat smaller scale.
Speaker 5 (37:56):
It's an impressive operation.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
Bill Daily, Deputy Commissioner of the nash Hockey League. He
is cool as ice. See what I did see? They
play hockey on me. Yeah, I know, mister Daily. Thank you,
sir for talking with us on the Bloomberg Business of Sports.
Speaker 5 (38:11):
Thank you for having us guys.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
And thank you for joining us. For my colleague Scarlett
Foo and Damian Sasaur. I'm Michael Barr. Tune in again
next week for the latest on the stories moving big
money in the world of sports, and don't forget to
catch our podcast on all your podcast platforms. 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 starting to break into.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
We really appreciate when our owners are actually there, you know,
with us through the journey.
Speaker 4 (00:18):
Teams ours especially have been very intentional to diversify at
all levels.
Speaker 5 (00:22):
Of the company.
Speaker 6 (00:23):
I think we're in the bolden years for the NFL
and college football.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Our demographic reach has continued to expand.
Speaker 4 (00:29):
This is going to be really unlocking the streaming platform
for sports fans.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Sports valuations arising, we'll see when they peak.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
You don't have to be the best in your sport
to make a whole ton of money.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
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 the sports. I'm
Michael Barr, along with my colleague Damian Sas Snauer. Scarlett
Foo would join us later in the show. Coming up,
we talk hockey with NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daily. We'll
talk about how they're bringing some of its stars to
the world stage with a four nation tournament going on now.
Speaker 6 (01:08):
This is an effort by the NHL and the NHL
Players Association to bring back international best on best competition
on a regular basis where the players and our fans
can count on the fact that we will be contesting
kind of world supremacy in hockey.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Plus we'll hear from NASCAR President Steve Phelps.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Yeah, all that and more is on the way on
the Bloomberg Business of Sports. But first, the NFL season
came to a close with a decisive win for the
Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Pers back looking, he is going deep and.
Speaker 6 (01:44):
It is put tons down.
Speaker 7 (01:48):
To see Smith to put Tony spot forty six sure
assum record.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
The game drew in a record TV audience of almost
one hundred and thirty million viewers and also do big
numbers for sportsbooks and for some other companies looking to
cash in on the begame.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Here to take us through all that and plus the
NBA All Star Weekend is Bloomberg Global Business of Sports
reporter Ira Buodway. First of all, Ira, thank you again,
my man for joining us on the Bloomberg Business of Sports.
Speaker 8 (02:19):
Always a pleasure.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Yes, we've always bet on the Super Bowl, even before
we had online gambling, we were betting our pennies and
nickels and quarters. Well we won't be betting pennies anymore,
but nichols and quarters all on the Super Bowl. And
now there's a new way to bet on the Super Bowl.
Can you talk us through that?
Speaker 9 (02:43):
Yeah, So, just before this year's game, in December, Crypto
dot Com came out with swaps trades. So these are
technically done under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. They launched
them in all fifty states, and you're taking a yes
or no position on will the Chiefs win the game basically,
but it works almost exactly like betting on.
Speaker 5 (03:06):
A sports book.
Speaker 9 (03:07):
And after Crypto dot Com did it, the prediction exchange
CALSHI came out with one, and so everyone's waiting to
see whether the CFTC will let them do this, because
if they do, and it's under review now, then really
the floodgates are open for futures exchanges to become fifty
state sports books.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
So Ira, you know, take us through. You know just
how close the Crypto Exchanges lines on the game were
relative to for example, FanDuel or DraftKings. I mean, was
it on was it? Were they on the screws or
like for example, were the Eagles the favorite?
Speaker 9 (03:42):
It? So they move all the time. That's one interesting
thing about them is so I fro live markets, right, Okay, Yeah,
they're live markets and you can sell your position whenever.
So for instance, just as an experiment, during the game,
right before anybody scored, I took out a fifty dollars
guess on the Eagles, and then I just watched and
throughout the game, so it would have paid me. It
(04:04):
did pay me ninety six dollars for winning in the end,
but during the game at different points I could have
cashed out for eighty dollars, eighty five dollars as as
it became apparent that the Eagles were winning. Now, there's
something like this in sports betting where they will offer
you cash outs at different points where you can kind
of capture winnings and not risk losing it. But this
is just a constantly shifting price and you can always
(04:27):
sell your positions. So but yeah, I think roughly speaking
in terms of who was the favorite who was not,
you know, they're following the same forces of the crowd
that sports books are.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Now I want to explain this because it's as a
degenerate gambler. You don't see odds like you say, like say,
for instance, I wanted to make a bet on the Chiefs,
I would have to put up like and I'm just
making it up here, one hundred and ten dollars to
win one hundred. Right, Well, what they're saying is that, okay,
(04:59):
the yes, you pay fifty six dollars on the Chiefs
and we'll pay you one hundred dollars. It's the same thing,
but it makes it simpler for let's let me use
the phrase the non gambler.
Speaker 9 (05:14):
Yeah, I mean, the main difference is that they are
you're not betting against the house and that so there's
a person on the other side of this contract, which
is why it's called the swap, right, and they keep
a little piece of it. The exchange does for the service,
but it's a yes and a no. Right, somebody's on
the other side and they're just arranging this swap. And
(05:34):
so it's slightly different in the mechanics, but effectively, there's odds.
There's a percentage chance implied that your team's gonna win
or lose, and you're gonna, you know, get a payout
depending on if they do or don't so in the end,
if you know the math, it's the same thing.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
I wonder, why do you suppose the big sport books
like vandel and DraftKings don't offer that service or that
ability to you know, basically cash out, you know, before
the game even starts. You know that is that too
complicated for them? Does that take a different type of
algorithm or programming power or is it just about money
and commission dollars? You know it forces you to lose
money and then go back to the well and try
(06:11):
to bet on them another winner. I mean, like I'm
just curious why.
Speaker 9 (06:14):
Yeah, I mean the main difference is so they do.
They do have a thing called cash out, and that
will be the book the fandul or whoever you bet against.
You're betting against the house will say, hey, it looks
like you got a winner here, but you could still
lose it. What if we pay you a partial payout? Now,
they do have that function, but it's kind of up
to them how to turn it on, how often to
offer it. Whereas in these exchanges it's a liquid market.
(06:39):
You can sell your position just like you would in
any portfolio, as long as there's people in there offering
the other side of that price, you know, then you
can do it. So the sportsbooks do have this trick,
it's just not i think, as well understood by the
public and not maybe as commonly used. If you're a trader,
this is a very familiar activity.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
It seems to me like people doing this are more
allowing to do this because there are a lot of
people that are saying, no, gambling is terrible, don't do it. Well,
now it is if you get addicted. But I mean
it's you know, don't do gambling, this and that whatever,
But this sounds more They're selling it like an investment.
(07:21):
That's why I can say it.
Speaker 9 (07:23):
Yeah, I mean they are trying to position it as
not sports betting. I think they're doing that mainly for
regulatory reasons. The states that regulate sports betting don't love
this idea. The sports books that have gain licenses in
the states that regulate sports betting don't love this idea.
And the sports leagues that have worked with the sports
(07:44):
books and the states to come up with the rules
that they can live with don't love this idea because
it's at this point it's very lightly regulated. And so
Crypto dot Com CALCI these exchanges. They want to say,
oh no, no, it's not quite the same thing, but
if you try it, you will see it is very
much the same thing.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
And so how many, I mean you just needed? Were
those the only two that offered this service during the
Super Bowl?
Speaker 9 (08:08):
Yeah, so Crypto dot Com went first, Calshi came out second.
For a brief minute, Robin Hood was going to partner
with Calshi to offer these to some of their approved traders,
but they backed off of that after the CFTC warned
them about it. Uh So, as of the Super Bowl,
it was those two, and I think the expectation is
(08:30):
that others will follow depending on it. Looks like the
timeline is April for the CFTC to say whether or
not they are going to let this go forward. But
if they do, I expect you will see others begin
offering all types of sports futures contracts because it's a
really good way to get people to do prediction markets.
(08:51):
You know, they tend to do the presidential election every
four years and then kind of forget about it in
the general public, whereas sports, you know, year round, and
people aren't well ira.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
You know, if I could see the future, I would
have told you that, you know, Mark laur and Alex
Rodriguez would finally be successful and their bid to take
control of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Talk to us a little
bit about that story. I mean, our friend Alex Rodriguez
is now an NBA owner.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Well, he will be.
Speaker 9 (09:14):
Presumably they still have to get over the hurdle of
getting approval from the rest of the NBA owners. They
need twenty three out of the group to approve them,
but I think that is expected to happen. So yeah,
they bought the team back in twenty twenty one, but
it was this step wise transaction that they arranged with
the owner, Glenn Taylor, where they were going to do
it in installments, and it got hung up in March
(09:37):
of last year when they were supposed to make the
payments that would put them into majority control and make
them the control owners of the team. Taylor said, sorry,
you didn't meet the terms of the contract. Deals off,
you're still a minority owner, but you're not going to
be able to take over and a Rod and Mark
Laurie said, actually no, we're entitled to an extension. We've
(09:58):
got the funding in place. So it went to a
mediator as the as the purchase agreement stipulated, they couldn't
get a solution in mediation, it went to arbitration, and
then just recently the three panel arbitrators said, uh a,
Rod and Laurie had in fact met the terms and
are entitled to close the transaction. And so that's what
we expect to happen. And so yeah, they should be
(10:20):
the new Timberwolve's owners very soon.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Well see, you know what, I have to pivot a
little bit here on you and I got to look,
you know, a little bit south of Minnesota, quite a
bit south. I got to look down to Texas, to
the Dallas Mavericks, right, who have you know a new
kind of ownership in these sort of postmark Cuban era.
And at the trade deadline, he did something really really,
really really interesting, didn't they. They's traded away a twenty
five year old five time All star in Luca Dontrich
(10:44):
to the Los Angeles Leakers without even letting other teams
bid for him. I mean, what goes on with I
mean like these owners, I mean, do we can we
can we just talk to Alex Rodriguez please and make
sure he at least calls the Knicks first, if he's
going to offer up somebody like that, I mean, I mean,
this is I mean what it goes on, you know,
behind the scenes as you head into the trade deadline.
These owners, I mean, talk to us about your thoughts there.
(11:06):
I mean, what are people talking about?
Speaker 9 (11:08):
Yeah, I mean that was a really shocking deal. It's
so shocking that you you know, now I've launched.
Speaker 10 (11:13):
Dozens of conspiracy theories about why they might have done it,
such as such as they really want to move to
Las Vegas, where you know, the Adelson family have a
lot of connections at home, and so they were trying.
Speaker 9 (11:26):
To pull a Major League This is the plot of
Major League, by the way. That is so you know,
I think the deal was so shocking that people are
searching for explanations. I think probably it comes down to
the Mavericks ownership and management didn't want to pay Luca
because they don't believe he's committed and that he's never
going to do that last bit that he needs to
(11:47):
do that they want him to do, and so they
shipped him. Now, there's a lot of reasons you could
say that was a really bad decision, and you're right,
they didn't shop him around a lot ahead of time.
They didn't maybe get the best price for him. I
think that had to do with the fact that they
knew that this couldn't get out, that he was on
the trading block, that basically you know, there'd be mutiny
(12:08):
in their fan base.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Well this is I know, we got to go. But
I mean I don't see a problem of the other
NBA owners, you know, not okaying this. Forgive the double
negative because if we're talking about a Rod and we're
talking about Mark LORI, who's going to say no to this?
Speaker 9 (12:26):
Yeah, I know I expected to go through. I mean,
I think there was maybe some notion that if Taylor
wanted to rally opposition. He's a very long term owner.
I think he does have allies among other NBA owners,
and maybe he would have been able to, you know,
scum up the works. But it sounds like he's not
going to try to do that, and I think barring that,
(12:47):
there's no reason why.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Oh thanks to Ira wood Way for joining us. He's
Bloomberg Global Business sub sports reporter. Up next, we talked
with NASCAR for my colleague Damien Sassawer. I'm Michael Barr
listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio
around the world.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports, where we explore
the big money issues in the world of sports. Michael Barr,
along with my colleague Damian Sasawer Scarlet Fu will join
us later in the show. We have on the line
Steve Phelps, President of NASCAR, the National Association for Stock
car Auto Racing. Mister Phelps, thank you for joining us.
(13:35):
From an old, old NASCAR fan, welcome to the Bloomberg
Business of Sports.
Speaker 8 (13:41):
Thrilled to be here and appreciate your fandom.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
I was a fan back in the day when they
you know, we go back with you know, when I
was like about four or five, and you know, back
then they came on wide World of Sports. When you
wanted to see the Daytona five hundred, you had to
wait because it didn't have it live yet. And then
(14:06):
when they decided to broadcast it live, and this even
before Flag to Flag ABC was starting to broadcast it live,
people got excited. And then nineteen seventy nine CBS brought
flag to flag coverage of the Daytona five hundred and
old Geezer Bar remembers all of that, and my goodness,
(14:29):
it's like this sport has come a long way.
Speaker 8 (14:32):
Sir, well, I'll take that as a compliment.
Speaker 7 (14:37):
I think you're right. I believe that we were doing
some really cool things. The race product on the track
is argably the best it's ever been. We had three
of our closest finishes in history, our single closest three
wide finish and Atlanta last year, and that headed into
what is always terrific racing at the Daytona five hundred.
(14:59):
So super excited about, you know, kind of where we
are today and very optimistic about what the future of
this sport looks like.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Mister Phelps. We're going to get into that dyto in
a five hundred in just a minute. But you know,
you're only the fifth individual to be the president of
NASCAR since its inception in nineteen forty eight. And what
you've done, I mean Fox, NBC, Amazon, Prime, TNT, I
mean these seven year partnerships that you've developed under your stewardship.
I mean, can you talk to our audience a little
(15:29):
bit about all the work you've done in preparing for
where NASCAR is today and what its future looked like.
Speaker 7 (15:36):
Yeah, I think, you know, we're really excited about all
of our new media partners. So obviously Fox and NBC
are back from the ten year deal we did with
them that concluded at the end of twenty four. But
to add Amazon, a pure streamer, and then you know
the TNT and Max, which is obviously a combination of
cable and streaming, and then the CW for all of
(16:01):
our Infinity Series for those thirty three races, I just
think it is certainly a little more fragmentation, and we'll
accept that. But I think it was really important for
us to make sure that we had a mix of broadcast,
cable and streaming, which is exactly what we have. And
I would suggest that with these world class media partners,
(16:25):
that the promotion of NASCAR is probably going to be,
you know, at its height, and that to me is
really really important. So you had two media companies that
wanted to come back, which is terrific, says a lot
about what we've done over the past five or six years,
and then you have these three new entities coming in
(16:45):
that we're also thrilled to come to NASCAR and.
Speaker 8 (16:49):
Be part of what it is that we're doing.
Speaker 7 (16:51):
So Yeah, we're very bullish, excited about about the media
partners and so much more.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Can I bring up all also that this is the
sixty seventh running of the Daytona five hundred, and we
go back. Lee Petty won the first one and ever
since you've had a lot of exciting races at Daytona
and now the so called clash used to be at Daytona.
(17:19):
But over the past weekend you guys went back to
your roots and you went to Bowman Gray Stadium to
hold the clash. Can you tell us more about that?
Speaker 8 (17:30):
Yeah, I think it was a nod back.
Speaker 7 (17:31):
So for three years we did the clash at the
Coliseum out in LA which was terrific, but I think
it had run its course.
Speaker 8 (17:41):
That's an important marketplace for us.
Speaker 7 (17:43):
We'll be back in southern California, hopefully as soon as
twenty twenty six. What that looks like, I'm not prepared
to talk about at this point, but it's important. But
we did want to do a nod to kind of
our history and our roots in Bowman Gray Stadium is
a special place, so we created a relationship, you know,
(18:04):
with the city and the folks that held the lease
and so now we have assumed that lease for the
next you know, roughly thirty years. So but the you
talked to the competitors, whether it's drivers or crew or
every single person that was there in that sold out stadium,
and it was electric. A little bit chilly, but it
(18:25):
was electric and just hard nose short track racing. Some
tempers flared, you know, it was I think it was
a nod you know, to you know, short track racing
in our history, and I think that's important. And you know,
no determination, you know, when we're going, if we're going
to go back, when we're going to go back. But
(18:46):
I would say that the industry was thrilled that we
were there and it worked right. So we had a sellout,
sold out crowd. The rating was really good, significantly up
from last year. So those things are all good. Yeah,
So it's you know, hope springs are turnament, if you will,
for for everyone.
Speaker 8 (19:04):
When they unpacking Daytona.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
I swear the Bowman Gray race. I thought I was
saw a Hudson hornet out there. But man, that was
nice to bring back the roots. I'm sorry, Damon, Damien.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
Go ahead, Well, well, mister Phelps, I mean, let's go there, right,
it is Daytona five hundred time, and you know, I
know we want to focus on the big guys Bush Hamlin, Legano,
but Byron bel Chastin, these young bucks are making a
challenge here. No, I mean talk to us about the
future of NASCAR.
Speaker 8 (19:31):
Yeah, I think it's really cool.
Speaker 7 (19:32):
I mean if you consider, you know, past champions that
we've had over the last you know, five or six years.
Speaker 8 (19:39):
Joey Logano has been in the sport for a long time.
But he's not old.
Speaker 7 (19:44):
I mean, I don't know what he is, thirty four
to thirty five years old. He'll be driving for another
decade most likely. But you think of the guys like
Ross Chastain, or you think about Chase Elliott, or like
Kyle Larson. Is arguably the best driver people would say
on the planet.
Speaker 8 (20:00):
Right.
Speaker 7 (20:00):
He can race anything anywhere, anytime. He's going to do
the double again this year with the well he didn't
do the double last year. He only did one segment
of the double, which was the Indy five hundred. But
then to come back for the Coke six hundred and
see him do that, I think it's going to be
a really cool thing. He is the opportunity to win
him both legitimately.
Speaker 8 (20:22):
But I'm the young drivers are.
Speaker 7 (20:24):
Making a name, you know, the Bubble Wallaces and the
Daniel Suarezes, and those guys are bursting onto the scenes.
And we've got all this crop of really amazing young
drivers in our Exfinity series, in our Craftsman Truck Series,
and going up through our through the Arches series. So
having all that pipeline of young talent is great. And
(20:46):
I think what we're doing from a content perspective, our
content for this year is going to be bigger, bolder,
and better than it's ever been. And we've invested significant
dollars in our new productions facility. We need to make
sure that we are continuing to make stars of our drivers,
and the way to do that is through better content,
better distribution, a more varied distribution. And that's exactly what
(21:10):
we're doing.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
I want to bring up you talk about drivers, and
I guess there's a new rule, and please educate me
on it. I guess I'm gonna call it the world
Class Drivers rule. And you could have an Alio Castra
Nevis and get a spot in the Daytona five hundred.
It would kind of be like what the old provisionals
(21:34):
used to be can ex.
Speaker 8 (21:38):
Sure.
Speaker 7 (21:39):
So it's a new rule for this particular event. Whether
we tweak it in their future, I don't know. But
for this event, Castor Nevis will be in the field.
So he is either going to earn his way in
or he'll have essentially a provisional that will allow him
to race. But he will race in the Great American
Race on Fox on Sunday.
Speaker 8 (22:01):
And I think that's a really cool thing.
Speaker 7 (22:03):
You know, we are always open to ways to help
promote the sport. You know, he is a world class
driver who is has gone through all the necessary things
to prove that he should be in this field, because
it's always safety first and from there it's promotion. So
he has passed the plans for our competition folks and
(22:27):
our officials to make sure that he is worthy to
be in the race and he's not a danger to
others in the race, and he won't be.
Speaker 8 (22:35):
I think that's really exciting.
Speaker 7 (22:36):
And you know, I think they'll this you know kind
of rule, this new piece that's coming into effect. I
think we'll have some really cool opportunities for us, both
later in this year but also in years forward.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
I'd love to ask you this question. I mean, look,
obviously F one gets a lot of the headlines, right,
and I'm sure you hear this all the time. How
is Formula one impacted your strategy? How is it impacting NASCAR?
But you know, I just have to highlight for our audience.
You know, just look at twenty twenty four, right, three
of the top seven closest finishes in Cup history. Right,
eighteen different winners from ten organizations, the most green flag
(23:10):
passes for the lead since two thousand and five. You know,
the concept of parody of real competition, certainly in race
car driving, it's a real deal. I mean you look
at the NFL relative to Major League Baseball and the NBA.
I mean it's a concept of you know, anybody can
win on any given Sunday. You know, it holds, you know,
for the viewing audience. And I'm curious, is that by design?
(23:32):
Is that is that part of your planet, NASCAR, to
keep things, to keep a level playing field, so to speak.
Speaker 7 (23:39):
Yeah, I think it's really important. You know, what fans
want is great racing. So they want close, competitive, side
by side racing with passing. So of all those different
stats that you just threw out there. I think the
number of green flag passes throughout the field or green
flag passes for the lead. To me, that's really cool
(23:59):
because that really embodies what it means to have great racing.
The fact that we had eighteen different winners from ten
different organizations and anyone can win on any given Sunday.
Speaker 8 (24:10):
I think that's really cool.
Speaker 7 (24:12):
Right, So, if I'm a race fan of a particular
driver or a particular race team, I know that might
and it's so hard to win in NASCAR, but I
know my driver is a shot. So again, when the
green flag drops this weekend, literally anyone in the field
can win. And I think we saw, you know, we
had a one car team win in you know with
(24:34):
Roocky Stenhouse Junior.
Speaker 8 (24:36):
I mean that's just a really cool story.
Speaker 7 (24:40):
And maybe a powerhouse team will win, like a Hendrick
Motorsports or a Penske or Gibbs, but maybe it'll be
trackouts with you know, Chastaining or Suarez or.
Speaker 8 (24:48):
SPG right, And I just think, to me, that's so cool.
Speaker 7 (24:52):
And this race is you know, three plus hours of
just wide open racing and you know, trying to stay
out of the chaos that can happen, you know, with
Big Rex here at a facility like this, in this
type of racing, it's a it's you know, I would
say five parts skill and one part luck, and maybe
(25:17):
I don't have those percentages exactly correct, But you have
to have a little luck as part of this as well.
Speaker 8 (25:22):
You certainly need to be talented.
Speaker 7 (25:24):
I certainly couldn't be in there, nor would I don't
don't have the talent.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Our thanks to NASCAR President Steve Phelps for joining us up. Next,
we turn to hockey and how the NHL is making
an international push with a special Ford Nation tournament for
my colleague Damien Sassaur. I'm Michael Barr. You're listening to
the Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio around the world.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
Thanks for joining us on the Bloomberg Business of Sports,
where we explore the big money issues in the world
of sports. Michael Barr, along with my colleagues Scarlett Fu
and Damian Sassauer. The NHL is looking to grow internationally
with a first of its kind multi nation tournament featuring
NHL stars. It's called the Four Nations Face Off. And
(26:23):
it's being broadcast all around the world to fans in
more than two hundred countries and territories. Here to talk
to us about it and the state of the league
is NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daily. Bill, Welcome to the
Bloomberg Business of Sports.
Speaker 5 (26:38):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Well now, the NHL, it's right now. There's so many
topics to talk about, but right now you guys are
in the middle. I guess you want to call it
a tournament. Is that the best way to describe it?
Where you have four countries and they're all playing for
the bragging rights and trying to win one the United States?
(27:02):
Can you tell us more about that?
Speaker 5 (27:05):
Sure?
Speaker 6 (27:06):
And I would call it an d season tournament. This
February time period is new for us in terms of
operating our own international best on best competition tournaments.
Speaker 8 (27:19):
We have a property.
Speaker 6 (27:22):
Known as the World Cup of Hockey, which we're going
to bring back in twenty twenty eight. That tournament has
typically been played in the fall time period, and we
want to make it consistent, so we're bringing to the
February time period, which we'll match it up with the
winter Olympic window that typically happens every four years. So
(27:46):
this is an effort by the NHL and the NHL
Players Association to bring back international best on best competition
on a regular basis where the players and our fans
can count on the fact that we will be contesting
kind of world supremacy and hockey every two years.
Speaker 5 (28:06):
This is an odd one.
Speaker 6 (28:08):
Because we're having in twenty twenty five and our players
will be participating in the Winter Olympics in Milano next
year in twenty twenty six. But from there we would
hope to stage the World Cup of Hockey in twenty
twenty eight, go to the Olympics in twenty thirty, another
World Cup of Hockey in twenty thirty two, Olympics in
(28:30):
twenty thirty four, and you get the pictures. So that's
what we're trying to do. We're super excited. We haven't
had international best on best competition in our sport and
with our players since twenty sixteen, so we're very excited
about this.
Speaker 4 (28:48):
Tournament and the players are as well. You mentioned battling
it out for world supremacy, but there's only four nations involved, Canada,
the US, Finland and Sweden. The Czech Republic is absent
and of course, Russia is not represented because of rules
from the IHL, the International Ice Hockey League, that prohibits
Russia from participating in team sports. Why those four countries.
Speaker 5 (29:12):
Well, they do.
Speaker 6 (29:13):
They are major contributors to the talent in our league.
I think if you look at the four countries, they
make up eighty four percent of our player population, which
is a big number obviously, and what we're excited about,
particularly in this tournament is obviously European player participation in
the National Hockey League has been growing, and this year
(29:36):
having this competition, it's probably the deepest, most talented tournament
that we've ever been able to stage. It would be
ideal if we could have eight teams or more in
the tournament, but we were dealing with kind of some
logistical realities, including the Russian aggression in Ukraine working a
(29:57):
little bit against us expanding the format for this year.
But I do expect that, you know, it'll be an
expanded format for our World Cup of Hockey tournaments in
the future.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
Bill, I'd love to know how we got here. I mean,
let's be clear. Next year is the Winter Olympics. There's
a lot going on, you know, the NHL's participating, I
believe for the first time since twenty fourteen. How are
you building up to that participation. What does the Winter
Olympics mean to the NHL.
Speaker 6 (30:22):
Well, I think it's an opportunity. It's an opportunity for
greater exposure. You know, there's probably no bigger platform for
sports in the world than the the Olympic Games. It's
something that is very, very meaningful and important to our players,
(30:42):
and we've heard them on that subject. It's something we've
covered in collective arguing and quite frankly, we're totally on
board with in the sense that you know, the increased
exposure will bring increased popularity of the game and that's
good for business. So I think all of it working
together will be very beneficial to the National Hockey League
(31:05):
in our business.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Well, we were talking about this before we went on
the air, so I got to bring in the elephant
that's in the room. And since President Trump announced that
he was going to put twenty five percent tariffs on Canada,
let's say that many Canadians are not happy when American
(31:31):
teams are there, and you hear it express sometimes during
the national anthem for the United States. Can you tell
us the situation that's going on right now, and is
that starting to ebb away?
Speaker 6 (31:46):
Well, I think it's obviously an unfortunate situation. I don't
think anybody likes when anthems are booed or disrespected in
any way, and certainly we'll count ourselves among that group.
We've been monitoring the situation since since events started to transpire.
I do think it's ebbing a little bit. I you know,
(32:09):
our experience just this past week in Montreal was positive
experience with two American teams playing there. So I hope
that that will continue, you know, and you know, sports
sport is a way of breaking down barriers and bringing
people closer together, and we hope that this tournament can
(32:32):
help help.
Speaker 5 (32:33):
Do that for sure.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
Bill.
Speaker 4 (32:35):
One thing about this in season tournament, the Four Nations Tournament,
is that it takes the place of the All Star
Break in the All Star Game, and some observers say
that this is kind of a potential solution to addressing
the problem of fans losing interest in All Star games overall,
not just in hockey, but we are seeing fewer people
(32:55):
tune into the All Star Game for baseball, or the
NBA or the Pro Bowl for football. Why do you
think that is? What is it about the All Star
Game that's kind of losing traction with sports fans?
Speaker 5 (33:06):
That's a great.
Speaker 6 (33:06):
Question, and I think we're all challenged with trying to
come up with creative formats that make compelling All Star weekends,
and I think it's more the experience that we're trying
to create to bring fans closer to the players and
kind of see them as people. So, you know, I
(33:29):
guess what I'd say is obviously, and it translates to
our sport in particular, which is hard hitting and very
passionate in how hard the players are competing. All Star
format doesn't allow that really to take place all that much,
and I think that's true in all sports. It's less
(33:52):
competitive than the actual product that we sell on a
nightly basis.
Speaker 5 (33:57):
So for us, we haven't given up on All Start weekend.
Speaker 6 (34:00):
I think our fans continue to enjoy it and it
has a place in the NHL calendar. Obviously, we're not
playing it this year, but we do anticipate or we
are playing it next year before the Winter Olympics actually
has a sendoff of them to the Winter Olympics, so
it's really on the leagues, and our league in particular,
(34:21):
to make it a worthwhile, useful, enjoyable experience for the fans,
because that's what All Star really is about.
Speaker 3 (34:28):
Well, I wonder if you could, just for our audience,
you know, take us through the financial incentive that's in
place for the players in the tournament. I mean, you
know a lot of these tournaments, these in season tournaments,
there's economics involved, right, that gets the players to play
to their utmost best. And in this case, I mean,
my goodness, you're going to need some incentives to get
Austin Matthews, Alexander Barcuff and Victor Headman to knock off
the Connective Sidney Crosby and the Canadians, right, So talk
(34:50):
to us a little bit about what's in it for
the players.
Speaker 6 (34:53):
Well, what I'll say is that the players, and they're
not donating their time, but in essence, they're donating their
time for this tournament because it's so important for them
to participate. There is a there is a prize fee
made available for each winning player on the winning team,
and all the players receive an appearance fee for participating
(35:17):
in this tournament. But when I in relation to what
they earn on a yearly basis as their annual salaries.
Speaker 5 (35:23):
It's very nominal.
Speaker 6 (35:25):
So we're doing this together because we think it's great
for the sport, because the players enjoy doing it, and
because everybody wants to compete for their country, and that's
really what's driving the desire to participate in this event.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
You are the first ever deputy commissioner of the NHL,
and Commissioner Gary Bettman appointed you tell what is it like?
I mean you? Is it cool to use the phrase
you are mister Betman's right hand man.
Speaker 6 (35:58):
You can say it, others have said it. Look, I'll
start by just saying I love my job.
Speaker 5 (36:04):
I love what I do. I love coming to work
every day.
Speaker 6 (36:07):
The diversity of issues that we deal with on a
daily basis is very compelling, fun to do. Not all
of it's good, but it's a challenge and it's something
I've enjoyed doing at Gary's side. You know, I think
(36:28):
I was made deputy commissioner in two thousand and five.
I've been with the league for almost thirty years now,
so it's.
Speaker 5 (36:35):
Like home for me.
Speaker 4 (36:37):
Before we let you go, Bill, I wanted to get
your thoughts on as a league executive. What you thought
about the Super Bowl? What do you take away from
the NFL playoffs that culminates in the Super Bowl. And
I'm sure that as a league executive you look at
how other leagues host their big profile events and high
profile events and try to extract some learnings from that.
(36:58):
What kind of learnings can any shall take from what
the NFL does.
Speaker 6 (37:03):
I start by saying, it's an event that's on a
scale that really no one ever really experiences other than
by going to the Super Bowl.
Speaker 5 (37:11):
I have been fortunate enough.
Speaker 6 (37:13):
I used to be a lawyer in private practice, did
some work for the NFL. I have good relationships inside
the NFL. I'm fortunate enough to attend kind of most
of the Super Bowls, and I make it a vacation
for myself. But it's on a different scale. Is really
the answer to your question, you know, I talk about
(37:34):
the importance of US and other sports leagues kind of
building the experience, the fan experience around our All Star games.
I think the NFL obviously does the same thing and
has ramped up that fan experience over the course of
time I've been going. I think we all are kind
of charged with doing the exact same thing. Maybe on
(37:54):
a somewhat smaller scale.
Speaker 5 (37:56):
It's an impressive operation.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
Bill Daily, Deputy Commissioner of the nash Hockey League. He
is cool as ice. See what I did see? They
play hockey on me. Yeah, I know, mister Daily. Thank you,
sir for talking with us on the Bloomberg Business of Sports.
Speaker 5 (38:11):
Thank you for having us guys.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
And thank you for joining us. For my colleague Scarlett
Foo and Damian Sasaur. I'm Michael Barr. Tune in again
next week for the latest on the stories moving big
money in the world of sports, and don't forget to
catch our podcast on all your podcast platforms. You're listening
to The Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio around
the world.
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