July 8, 2025 • 12 mins
BSE Global, the parent company of the NBA's Brooklyn Nets, the WNBA's New York Liberty, as well as their home arena, Barclays Center, has built a business model across sports, entertainment, hospitality and media. The company believes that its array of multiple businesses enables it to enjoy operational leverage and extract cross-functional synergies.
Sam Zussman, CEO of BSE Global, explains how Brooklyn's unique culture and history make it the ideal home base for the "experiential" powerhouse. Sam speaks with Tim Stenovec, Emily Graffeo and Randall Williams on Bloomberg Businessweek Daily.
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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 Bloomberg BusinessWeek
with Carol Masser and Tim Steneveek on Bloomberg Radio Well.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
The WNBA, known as the w to Fans, announced plans
to expand eighteen teams by twenty thirty, adding Philadelphia, Detroit,
and Cleveland to the previously announced Portland and Toronto teams
which begin at play next year. The expansion builds on
several seasons of dramatic growth and comes at a time
sports teams have been getting acquired for record breaking and
(00:34):
eye popping amounts. So let's talk about sports and entertainment
and hospitality. We've got Sam Zusman with us. He's CEO
of Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment. It is the parent company
of the NBA's Brooklyn Nets, the WNBA's New York Liberty,
and their home arena at the Barkley Center. We're also
joined by Randall Williams. He's a familiar voice and face
(00:57):
to all of you. He's Bloomberg News Global Business of
Sports reporter. Both of them join us here in the
Bloomberg Interactive Brokers Studio. Sam, I want to start with you.
I think you know the brand Brooklyn is something that
you are leaning into big time here with the Brooklyn Nets,
also of course with the New York Liberty with the
Barkley Center. But I think people outside of New York
(01:18):
might be surprised to find that the Barkley Center. Basketball
is a big part of it, but it's not the
biggest part of it by any means. Sort of break
down the share of what comes from basketball versus what
comes from everything else that the Barkley Center does.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Yeah, so thank you for that, Tim So. Barkley Center
is a real entertainment mecca. We are open roughly one
hundred and ninety nights a year. We do somewhere around
seventy five to eighty concerts a year. Brooklyn Nets games
(01:56):
around into fourties Liberty games in the twenties. We are
the third highest grossing arena in the world. And it's
not just about the content, it's also about how we
do it. Our goal at Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment is
to create bold and unique experiences, the Brooklyn Way meaning
(02:20):
Brooklyn DNA.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
Right.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
If you sort of think about what Brooklyn stands for globally,
not just nationally, for creativity, for a relentless hustle for authenticity,
for diversity. We represent about one hundred and fifty different cultures,
and so we want to make sure that when you
come to an experience at Barclay Center, whether it's a
(02:44):
concert or a game, you have a unique DNA Brooklyn
DNA based experience that might be different from the experience
you would have with the same game played at a
different arena or the same concert played at a different arena.
And we manifest that with food, with service, with ancillary entertainment,
(03:06):
with how the venue is and the fan experience. The
audience experience is sort of first, then we manifest that.
Speaker 5 (03:15):
So, Sam, one of the things you mentioned was culture,
and the reason I bring that up is because obviously
New York City has a lot of it, but Madison
Square Garden in particular has been open for since nineteen
sixty eight. The Barclay Center opened, I believe in twenty
eleven or twenty twelve. You built culture in fifteen years
to become the third excuse me, third highest grossing stadium
(03:36):
arena in the world. What went into that.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
So the work and division of a lot of people
that came before me. But I would say it's focus
first and foremost, But secondarily and maybe first is a
lot of long term thinking. So we are I consider
us and the ownership group to be long term builders.
(04:03):
Everything that we do is with the long term goal.
We're focused on building generational fandom. We're focused on building
the experience, the service that we provide, the training that
we put in, the selection of vendors, the selection of entertainment,
(04:23):
the selection of concerts. If you look at Barkley Center,
it is only to your point, opened in twenty twelve.
It is only thirteen years old, and we've already embarked
on a set of arena renovations with over one hundred
and fifty million dollars over four years. And we've opened
(04:46):
several new clubs that you told me that Crown Club Club,
Crown Club is my favorite. Yeah, and look, Crown Club
literally is first and you in its experience, a chef
restaurant with unparalleled wine list, where people come in and
(05:10):
they're having the time of their life.
Speaker 5 (05:12):
You know before for some people who don't even go
to the game, they just go to the Crown Club
and sit down there the entire time.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
I think, bring me to the club.
Speaker 5 (05:20):
He's your guy, not me. He's your guy, there a
follow up to the renovations. We're seeing this age of
sports teams who have to renovate these stadiums and the
cost of that continues to go up. You guys obviously
got out ahead of that. Why is that important to say, hey,
we're gonna put money into this even though the stadium
is less than fifteen years old. You know, there's a
(05:40):
world where the Py family could have waited twenty years
down the line and be like, Okay, now's the time.
But you're out ahead of this. Why is that.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
It is because we're long term thinkers, and it is
because we're audience and fan focused.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
Right. So, just to give you an example, we.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Have taken two levels of suites and we've turned them
over into bullfacing clubs. Where the reason we did that
was not the utilization. The reason we did that is
that we notice that the consumption pattern and the preference
(06:19):
of the audience has shifted. People like less to run
from their seats to buy something and run back and
miss the game and so on. There are there are
folks who come in.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
Look, when you look at overall, how.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
You experience a concert or a game, it's an experience.
It's it's it's it's entertainment. And so if you can
offer somebody the opportunity to come into a club with
several hundred people, to be able to eat, drink, take
that food to your seat, watch the show or watch
the game, go back and forth, be with your friends,
(06:59):
entertain your c it's a very different experience than buying
a ticket and sitting in a seat. And so what
we've observed is this is the trend, this is.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
What people want.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
We've done primary research, we spoke to people, and so
we want to give that experience to people. And we
have not invested. We're not doing this because things are
getting gold, because we want to give things a facelift.
We're doing this because we want to satisfy the patterns
of what we hear people are wanting. And we believe
(07:30):
in the notion of keeping everything fresh, of being being
leaders and thought and entertainment. And we're putting our we're
putting our money, you know, to work.
Speaker 6 (07:43):
I want to talk about the growth of women's basketball
and the WNBA. Randall had pointed out to Tim and
I that the Liberty were ranked the second most valuable
WNBA team four hundred and fifty million at least by Sportico.
Is it possible to get to one billion? And what
would that look like? Talk about like how we've gotten
here and where we're going.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
I think it's not just possible. I think it's highly likely.
Speaker 5 (08:09):
You think there's a race to get there.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
Look, we're in sports. There's always a race, right the Look,
we don't, But I would say this.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
The race is to win another championship, to be a dynasty,
to give fans a great experience, to have the best players,
to take care of our players and so on. That's
that's what the race is. Not to the valuation. You
also don't dictate the valuation. The valuation comes because you
(08:44):
do all these things right. But yes, I do think
that it will happen. I think it is you know,
famous last words, But it feels to me like it's
straight down the fairway when I look at I joined
the company three years ago. I have seen the average
out go from two thousand so much different times years ago,
(09:05):
from two thousand to a sellout. I have seen. You know,
I won't I won't labor all the all the key
performance indicators, but attendance, ticket ticket prices, season ticket holders, sponsorships,
every single metric has gone up tens of percentages a year,
(09:31):
and when you are at the arena, it's palatable. A
liberty game is loud, it is a party. It is
a fun experience. Everyone is invested and there are some
things that you could you could just see, you can
you can feel.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
We're speaking with Sam's usman, you know, Brooklyn Sports and
Entertainment also joining us Randall Williams, Bloomberg News Global Business
of a sports reporter, Sam, how is the consumer doing
right now based on ticket sales? Are you seeing any weakness,
any lack of demand in different events due to concerns
that the consumer has about parting with discretionary income. I mean,
(10:08):
there's nothing essentially more discretionary than what we're talking about here.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Yeah, you know, it's interesting we are we're in the
experience economy, right Like when you think of people buying
products and services, they do that in order to save
time in order to gain efficiency.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
For us, it's the opposite. For us.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
People are giving us their time and giving us their
money in order to in order to gain an experience.
And so it's quite interesting. It's in good times that
people want to do it, and it's actually in tough
times that people want to do that as well. And
so look, I don't exactly I can't exactly measure the macro,
(10:49):
but I can tell you in the micro. If we
look at attendance in concerts, it is it is stronger
than ever. If you look at attend in Brooklyn Nets
and New York Liberty Games, we are in the high
ninety percentage. You know, when you look at discretionary purchases
(11:11):
off merchandise or food and beverage and so on, if
you look at ticket prices, if I only had those
to go.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
By, I would.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Tell you that the economy is doing great.
Speaker 4 (11:23):
See.
Speaker 5 (11:23):
And one of the things that both you and Emily
mentioned was the growth of the WNBA. And I'm going
to ask you about these CBA negotiats that negotiations that
are going on, and I don't know if you can
answer that, but the players have said they want better salaries,
better benefits, increase retirement, all of these things. We haven't
heard much from the league. So from your vantage point,
what do you think is a fair deal from both sides,
(11:44):
Because you know these CBA negotiations go on once every
decade and.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
We only have twenty seconds.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Yeah, Well, I won't use that because I that is
actually a topic that I that I should refrain from.
It's an active negotiation, and so I think we should
let the professionals negotiat her on the table.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
A good place to end at Sam's usman CEO of
Brooklyn Sports Entertainment, Randall Williams, Bloomberg News Global Business of
Sports reporter. This is BusinessWeek
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News. This is Bloomberg BusinessWeek
with Carol Masser and Tim Steneveek on Bloomberg Radio Well.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
The WNBA, known as the w to Fans, announced plans
to expand eighteen teams by twenty thirty, adding Philadelphia, Detroit,
and Cleveland to the previously announced Portland and Toronto teams
which begin at play next year. The expansion builds on
several seasons of dramatic growth and comes at a time
sports teams have been getting acquired for record breaking and
(00:34):
eye popping amounts. So let's talk about sports and entertainment
and hospitality. We've got Sam Zusman with us. He's CEO
of Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment. It is the parent company
of the NBA's Brooklyn Nets, the WNBA's New York Liberty,
and their home arena at the Barkley Center. We're also
joined by Randall Williams. He's a familiar voice and face
(00:57):
to all of you. He's Bloomberg News Global Business of
Sports reporter. Both of them join us here in the
Bloomberg Interactive Brokers Studio. Sam, I want to start with you.
I think you know the brand Brooklyn is something that
you are leaning into big time here with the Brooklyn Nets,
also of course with the New York Liberty with the
Barkley Center. But I think people outside of New York
(01:18):
might be surprised to find that the Barkley Center. Basketball
is a big part of it, but it's not the
biggest part of it by any means. Sort of break
down the share of what comes from basketball versus what
comes from everything else that the Barkley Center does.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Yeah, so thank you for that, Tim So. Barkley Center
is a real entertainment mecca. We are open roughly one
hundred and ninety nights a year. We do somewhere around
seventy five to eighty concerts a year. Brooklyn Nets games
(01:56):
around into fourties Liberty games in the twenties. We are
the third highest grossing arena in the world. And it's
not just about the content, it's also about how we
do it. Our goal at Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment is
to create bold and unique experiences, the Brooklyn Way meaning
(02:20):
Brooklyn DNA.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
Right.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
If you sort of think about what Brooklyn stands for globally,
not just nationally, for creativity, for a relentless hustle for authenticity,
for diversity. We represent about one hundred and fifty different cultures,
and so we want to make sure that when you
come to an experience at Barclay Center, whether it's a
(02:44):
concert or a game, you have a unique DNA Brooklyn
DNA based experience that might be different from the experience
you would have with the same game played at a
different arena or the same concert played at a different arena.
And we manifest that with food, with service, with ancillary entertainment,
(03:06):
with how the venue is and the fan experience. The
audience experience is sort of first, then we manifest that.
Speaker 5 (03:15):
So, Sam, one of the things you mentioned was culture,
and the reason I bring that up is because obviously
New York City has a lot of it, but Madison
Square Garden in particular has been open for since nineteen
sixty eight. The Barclay Center opened, I believe in twenty
eleven or twenty twelve. You built culture in fifteen years
to become the third excuse me, third highest grossing stadium
(03:36):
arena in the world. What went into that.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
So the work and division of a lot of people
that came before me. But I would say it's focus
first and foremost, But secondarily and maybe first is a
lot of long term thinking. So we are I consider
us and the ownership group to be long term builders.
(04:03):
Everything that we do is with the long term goal.
We're focused on building generational fandom. We're focused on building
the experience, the service that we provide, the training that
we put in, the selection of vendors, the selection of entertainment,
(04:23):
the selection of concerts. If you look at Barkley Center,
it is only to your point, opened in twenty twelve.
It is only thirteen years old, and we've already embarked
on a set of arena renovations with over one hundred
and fifty million dollars over four years. And we've opened
(04:46):
several new clubs that you told me that Crown Club Club,
Crown Club is my favorite. Yeah, and look, Crown Club
literally is first and you in its experience, a chef
restaurant with unparalleled wine list, where people come in and
(05:10):
they're having the time of their life.
Speaker 5 (05:12):
You know before for some people who don't even go
to the game, they just go to the Crown Club
and sit down there the entire time.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
I think, bring me to the club.
Speaker 5 (05:20):
He's your guy, not me. He's your guy, there a
follow up to the renovations. We're seeing this age of
sports teams who have to renovate these stadiums and the
cost of that continues to go up. You guys obviously
got out ahead of that. Why is that important to say, hey,
we're gonna put money into this even though the stadium
is less than fifteen years old. You know, there's a
(05:40):
world where the Py family could have waited twenty years
down the line and be like, Okay, now's the time.
But you're out ahead of this. Why is that.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
It is because we're long term thinkers, and it is
because we're audience and fan focused.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
Right. So, just to give you an example, we.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Have taken two levels of suites and we've turned them
over into bullfacing clubs. Where the reason we did that
was not the utilization. The reason we did that is
that we notice that the consumption pattern and the preference
(06:19):
of the audience has shifted. People like less to run
from their seats to buy something and run back and
miss the game and so on. There are there are
folks who come in.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
Look, when you look at overall, how.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
You experience a concert or a game, it's an experience.
It's it's it's it's entertainment. And so if you can
offer somebody the opportunity to come into a club with
several hundred people, to be able to eat, drink, take
that food to your seat, watch the show or watch
the game, go back and forth, be with your friends,
(06:59):
entertain your c it's a very different experience than buying
a ticket and sitting in a seat. And so what
we've observed is this is the trend, this is.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
What people want.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
We've done primary research, we spoke to people, and so
we want to give that experience to people. And we
have not invested. We're not doing this because things are
getting gold, because we want to give things a facelift.
We're doing this because we want to satisfy the patterns
of what we hear people are wanting. And we believe
(07:30):
in the notion of keeping everything fresh, of being being
leaders and thought and entertainment. And we're putting our we're
putting our money, you know, to work.
Speaker 6 (07:43):
I want to talk about the growth of women's basketball
and the WNBA. Randall had pointed out to Tim and
I that the Liberty were ranked the second most valuable
WNBA team four hundred and fifty million at least by Sportico.
Is it possible to get to one billion? And what
would that look like? Talk about like how we've gotten
here and where we're going.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
I think it's not just possible. I think it's highly likely.
Speaker 5 (08:09):
You think there's a race to get there.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
Look, we're in sports. There's always a race, right the Look,
we don't, But I would say this.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
The race is to win another championship, to be a dynasty,
to give fans a great experience, to have the best players,
to take care of our players and so on. That's
that's what the race is. Not to the valuation. You
also don't dictate the valuation. The valuation comes because you
(08:44):
do all these things right. But yes, I do think
that it will happen. I think it is you know,
famous last words, But it feels to me like it's
straight down the fairway when I look at I joined
the company three years ago. I have seen the average
out go from two thousand so much different times years ago,
(09:05):
from two thousand to a sellout. I have seen. You know,
I won't I won't labor all the all the key
performance indicators, but attendance, ticket ticket prices, season ticket holders, sponsorships,
every single metric has gone up tens of percentages a year,
(09:31):
and when you are at the arena, it's palatable. A
liberty game is loud, it is a party. It is
a fun experience. Everyone is invested and there are some
things that you could you could just see, you can
you can feel.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
We're speaking with Sam's usman, you know, Brooklyn Sports and
Entertainment also joining us Randall Williams, Bloomberg News Global Business
of a sports reporter, Sam, how is the consumer doing
right now based on ticket sales? Are you seeing any weakness,
any lack of demand in different events due to concerns
that the consumer has about parting with discretionary income. I mean,
(10:08):
there's nothing essentially more discretionary than what we're talking about here.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Yeah, you know, it's interesting we are we're in the
experience economy, right Like when you think of people buying
products and services, they do that in order to save
time in order to gain efficiency.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
For us, it's the opposite. For us.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
People are giving us their time and giving us their
money in order to in order to gain an experience.
And so it's quite interesting. It's in good times that
people want to do it, and it's actually in tough
times that people want to do that as well. And
so look, I don't exactly I can't exactly measure the macro,
(10:49):
but I can tell you in the micro. If we
look at attendance in concerts, it is it is stronger
than ever. If you look at attend in Brooklyn Nets
and New York Liberty Games, we are in the high
ninety percentage. You know, when you look at discretionary purchases
(11:11):
off merchandise or food and beverage and so on, if
you look at ticket prices, if I only had those
to go.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
By, I would.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Tell you that the economy is doing great.
Speaker 4 (11:23):
See.
Speaker 5 (11:23):
And one of the things that both you and Emily
mentioned was the growth of the WNBA. And I'm going
to ask you about these CBA negotiats that negotiations that
are going on, and I don't know if you can
answer that, but the players have said they want better salaries,
better benefits, increase retirement, all of these things. We haven't
heard much from the league. So from your vantage point,
what do you think is a fair deal from both sides,
(11:44):
Because you know these CBA negotiations go on once every
decade and.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
We only have twenty seconds.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Yeah, Well, I won't use that because I that is
actually a topic that I that I should refrain from.
It's an active negotiation, and so I think we should
let the professionals negotiat her on the table.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
A good place to end at Sam's usman CEO of
Brooklyn Sports Entertainment, Randall Williams, Bloomberg News Global Business of
Sports reporter. This is BusinessWeek
Hosts And Creators
Tim Stenovec
Carol Massar
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