September 4, 2025 • 23 mins
Bloomberg Businessweek Daily is live from Bloomberg Power Players New York. The event brings together some of the most influential voices from the sports business universe to help identify the next wave of disruption that could hit this multi-trillion dollar global industry.
Gary Bettman, Commissioner of the National Hockey League, and Ted Leonsis, Founder, Chairman, Managing Partner & CEO of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, join to discuss the remaking of the fan experience in the streaming era. They are followed by Mike Harrity, Haldeman Family Director of Athletics & Recreation at Dartmouth College and Bloomberg News Higher Education Finance Reporter Janet Lorin, with a pulse-check on the state of college athletics in the name, image and likeness (NIL) era. They speak with Tim Stenovec and Carol Massar on Bloomberg Businessweek Daily.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and
Tim Stenoveek on Bloomberg Radio. We've got an incredible duo
with us right now, Ted leonsa scoder, chairman, managing partner
and CEO of Monumental Sports and Entertainment. Here's a little
bit of what they have. Home to the Wizards, the
Washington Capitals, the Washington Mystics, Capital one Arena, eight teams,
five venues, one media platform, and more. Once again, Monumental
(00:31):
Sports and Entertainment ted with us along with Gary Bedman,
longtime Commissioner of the NHL, former longtime General Council for
the NBA. Both join us here on set at Power Players,
New York. Welcome to both of you.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Great to be with you.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Well, we got a little bit of the panel earlier.
We were able to take some of it and broadcast
it to our audience across YouTube, radio and Bloomberg Originals.
You're up there with Scarlett Food talking about the new
fan experience. You've both been involved in the world of
sports for a long time. A lot has changed streaming, sports, betting,
Nil Carol, which I think is like the backdrop to
(01:05):
everything that's happening here, the role of tech alone. What
is this moment that we're living in right now?
Speaker 4 (01:11):
Well, I think AI is really the next big thing
with sports.
Speaker 5 (01:16):
Oh yes, totally.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
How well, right now we're redoing our building and all
we're talking about is physical AI.
Speaker 5 (01:24):
How do we collect data?
Speaker 4 (01:26):
How do we with three million people to come into
our building? Where are they coming from? How old are they,
who are they married to? How long have they had
the tickets? What are they like when they eat? What
do we what can we do to be anticipatory with
our building? It's not just smart buildings anymore. It's build
(01:47):
the intelligence and the data right into that experience.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
You know, I just want to ask you, Ted, because
you were at AOL in the early days. I mean
this is before you were in sports, you were in technology,
so you understand the space is. Are we in a
moment now that is is like when AOL brought us
the World Wide Web?
Speaker 4 (02:03):
Well, I think the league's it seems like it's been
a long time, but it's been a quick pivot to
go from analog and bricks and mortar and linear distribution
and local to be a global digital power plant if
(02:23):
you will that we look at our teams. Obviously they
have high fan avidity, but it's IP and how do
we digitize everything that we're doing from the start and
distributed over our own channels.
Speaker 5 (02:37):
That's why we bought our RSN.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
Everyone was running out of the burning house. We said,
let's run in. It'll never be a better time to
buy and reinvent the distribution model than there is right now.
Speaker 6 (02:51):
Gary wants you to come in on the role of technology.
I think all of us were watching sports. I love it,
whether it's tennis, whether it's golf, whether it's baseball, the
statistics that hockey. Sorry, sorry, I was getting there.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
I was getting there.
Speaker 6 (03:04):
Sorry, Sorry, Well that's what I wanted to get to, though,
like you know, how fast the puck is going or
something like how much fans love that engagement.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
I'm going to respond to that, but I want to
add on to what head says.
Speaker 6 (03:14):
So you know I have four brothers and growing up
being an ice skating pond that they dug out of
the woods in the back and would play hockey.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
I knew I liked you and your family, but you
grew up with it. Sports tends to focus people at
an instant, at a moment in time, the score of
the game, what's the result. I don't think we're at
a moment of time. I think we're on a journey,
and we've been on a journey for decades. And the
(03:42):
speed limits change on the road, road conditions change, there
are curves, there are hills. But at the end of
the day, it starts with the authenticity of sports and
how important sports are in people's lives, and how it
brings people in communities together, and take has enabled us
to connect better with our fans. So AI we're like
(04:05):
any other consumer business. It's going to help us do
business better, but also it's going to help us make
sure that our games stay true to themselves. It's I
always tell particularly my tech and strategy guys, we're not
going to change the game to make it more tech
(04:26):
savvy or a tech you know favorable. What we're going
to do is use technology to make the game more consumable,
more connected, and so pucking player tracking at hl edge
is a function of that. We're gathering millions of data
points a minute, but it's enabling us to take people
inside the game, maybe even people who don't know the
(04:49):
game and understand it and let them say, wow, that
pup you know, traveled fourteen miles with averaged eighty eight
miles an hour. This player can skate as fast as
thirty five miles an hour, and he's already skated six
miles in this game. This gets people to understand and
feel more connected, and it's going to let us give
(05:10):
them the game on their terms, because with all the
streaming platforms, you're going to be able to sit at
home and decide how you want to watch the game,
not the way we've done it from a linear standpoint
since I was a little kid, and people my age
are used to sitting on the couch and doing it.
But we used to get in.
Speaker 6 (05:28):
Front of my dad and be like, you know, get down,
get down, because good rewinded.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
But if you're a gen Z or a Jena and
you want to focus on a particular player and you
want Dana simultaneously and you want to place a bet,
you're going to be able to do all that and
buy a jersey all at the same time. In addition,
what fucking player tracking has enabled us to do is
use the metaverse. We use animated versions of our game
(05:53):
in real time. We were the first sports league to
do that, and it works really well and it engages
young people and their parents.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
You know, I'm thinking about this all this, and I'm
thinking about the technology and thinking about the investment that's
being made, and it reminds me of the way that
we've seen sports turn into this premium experience now in
the premiumization, this idea of it being a luxury good,
And I'm wondering how you think about that, Ted, and
how you know it's not like you go to the
ball ball Well, I guess ball games are still affordable.
But apart from that, I mean, some tickets just end
(06:26):
up being so expensive. How do you think about that
for your customers.
Speaker 5 (06:30):
Many of us have run big public tech companies, and.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
When you come into sports, you say, oh, the model
is like a software company. We have nothing but blue
chip clients, naming rights, sweet sales, big sponsorships, media deals
with the biggest companies in the world, Amazon and NBC,
(06:58):
Comcast and ESPN, and they pay us over ten years
or longer with escalator. So the model looks just like Salesforce,
dot Com or Oracle. Those are very valuable companies. It's
why they're valued and a multiple of revenues, not a
(07:18):
multiple of ebita. Okay, so that's what's happened.
Speaker 5 (07:22):
To sports teams.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
It's this where six times eight times, ten times twelve
times revenues.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Right.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
But for those of us who came in from public
companies and tech companies that go, we don't have an
R and D budget, think about that.
Speaker 5 (07:38):
We didn't have a CTO.
Speaker 4 (07:41):
We were one of the first teams that I mean,
we made a major high.
Speaker 5 (07:44):
We have software developers. There's like those software.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
Developers in these teams. That's a big part of the pivot. Right,
If you're going to be digitized or die, if you're
going to try to get your products and services out,
build brand and build audience on a global basis, it
all starts with, you know, taking a a pixel and
(08:09):
digitizing it. And we're now you know, I've owned the
team twenty six years. But there's now a lot of
the big markets and more innovative companies that have said, yeah,
we are we're not We're not just a hockey team.
You've got to have the hockey team as the ethos,
you know, for the competition for the fans. But as
(08:30):
a business, these have become big businesses. We're going to
be doing two years from now billion dollars in revenue.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
You were valued at about four billion dollars back in
twenty twenty three with the Victoris.
Speaker 5 (08:40):
Meant we've been valued now close to seven.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
It's big growth in three years.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Good business, it's good bus.
Speaker 5 (08:48):
But we're doing seven and fifty million dollars in revenue.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
But the landscape, and it relates to everything that's going
on with the distribution of content. No matter what platform
you're talking about, sports is the most compelling, most valuable
content and that's what's driving a great values that you're seeing, right.
Speaker 6 (09:08):
Because there's so much stuff out there, But you're right,
people tune in can be something.
Speaker 5 (09:12):
It's it's reality TV.
Speaker 4 (09:14):
I mean it really is, right, But I think one
thing that people miss to the world's in chaos and
it's not going to get more calm. But there's something
about you. You go to a game and you know
it's the puck's going to drop at seven oh six.
(09:35):
You know where the game is going to be televised,
you know where your seats are. The players know if
you make the wrong pass, it's you know it goes
over the blue line. They know what penalties are, there's
referees and while there's people will boom guardrail.
Speaker 5 (09:56):
I'm saying that that there's there's structure, right. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
I was amazed that at the World Cup you have
countries fighting each other, at war with each other, yet
they get on the pitch and it's I know this
line is out of bounds, that this is a boundary.
I think we crave that we want a level playing field,
and you want meritocracy and you want to see how
(10:20):
people can compete.
Speaker 6 (10:22):
And yet politics, geopolitics have played gotten their way into sports.
And I think about the NHL being kind of the
most international and Canadian of all US pro sports, and
yet geopolitics coming from the White House, weather it was
ever trading terror policies.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
We saw that play out, certainly it did during the
Four Nations in February. Canada was playing the US in
two games, including the final game. But what's great about
sports and it transcends geopolitics because sports brings out people's
passion and it brings people together, even if their rivals,
(10:59):
their interest in seeing the game in the outcome, and
even within a particular country. You know, no matter how
diverse a country is on whatever basis, you're figuring out
what the diversity is. People come together, It brings communities together.
And when you have assets franchises like TED has in Washington,
they make a difference in people's lives, their outreach in
(11:23):
the community, their youth programs using sports to teach young
people life lessons. That's as important as anything else that
we can do in sports, and I think monumental of
what Ted does in Washington is a great example of
being outward facing in the community and making a difference.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
So we helped the White House have the inaugural at
our arena recalled the world's most important arena, and that
same week there was a study out on who is
the most popular and best athlete in Washington sports history
and it's a Russian alex Ovechkin. Right, he broke Wayne
(12:05):
Gretzky's record last year and he is beloved in Washington,
d C. Yesterday we announced the naming rights deal with Coupon,
No South Korean company e commerce company. We're we're global, right,
we are exporting our ip around the world. We have
(12:26):
these icons, these great global brands. Advertisers want to reach
those fans and so you know, it's just ironic.
Speaker 5 (12:36):
Here we are in Washington, d C.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
As I said, I could see the White House, and
while they're churning on on things, sports is the great United.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
And then that poll will also say that you were
the most popular owner.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Let the record show ten did not answer the question.
Speaker 6 (13:00):
To be bother, it's good to hear that. It's good
to hear that that sports really kind of brings people together.
We do see that over and over, gentlemen, Thank you
so much.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Thanks for harding.
Speaker 6 (13:12):
Ted Ley Ownes's founder, chairman Managing Partners ATUO of Monumental
Sports and Entertainment. Gary Bettman, Commissioner of the NHL.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Stay with us. More from Bloomberg Business Week Daily coming
up after this.
Speaker 5 (13:23):
This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Tim
Steneveek on Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
College is under a lot of pressure right now. Just
this afternoon, Northwestern University president and Michael Schill resigned after
a three year tenure marked by controversy over protests on campus,
conflict with the Trump administration over research funding, and a
hazing scandal in its football program. College athletics not immune
to all this pressure either, fair to say, Nil also
(13:50):
known as name image and likeness has completely changed college athletics.
There have also been labor challenges that have come along with.
Speaker 6 (13:57):
This makes it interesting on college campuses. View from one campus,
we have my charity with us Haldeman Family Director of
Athletics and Recreation over at Dartmouth College. Also with us
A Bloomberg News Higher Education finance reporter Janet Lauren, both
here at Power Players, New York, and they were both
up on stage, weren't you. College athletics going through a lot.
(14:18):
We were just talking about the ability for college players
to move around and kind of, you know, find the
best deal. Tell us what it's like to be an
athletic director in today's environment. And you're also a lot
of colleges and administrations, I mean a lot of academic
administrations are also catching the attention of the White House.
So what's it like to do your job?
Speaker 1 (14:39):
YEA, just a few things going on, Just a few things.
First of all, thank you for having me honor to
be here. You know, at Dartmouth and in the IVY League.
We're really distinct as it relates to everything going on
nationally in terms of the House settlement with revenue sharing, name,
image and likeness we have real nil as it was
originally intended. That means an athlete can can you know,
(15:02):
have a sports camp using their name, or be an
entrepreneur and start their own business. But any kind of
pay for play, that's that is not something that we
that's you know, aligned with our values and our presidents
have made it clear in the IVY League that that
is not something that we're going to do.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
So that's an IVY League rule or a art myth rule.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
That's an IVY League role, okay, yep, and voted on
by all the presidents in the IVY League and certainly
supported by the athletic directors. So but having said all that,
you know, we're still very competitive nationally. The Learfield Director's Cup,
which measures postseason success in NCAA Championships, there's a power four.
Those are the top four conferences when you measure that,
we're the fifth. When there was a power five, we
were six. So competing at the national level, and you know,
(15:41):
the sport sports across the across the board has been
a really really shows that we can have the primacy
of academics and also you know, pursue excellence and athletics
and those things are not mutually exclusive.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Does it make our harder to recruit though athletes?
Speaker 1 (15:55):
I think it actually makes it easier in today's world,
and that our value prop is has always been different.
In the IVY League, we do not give athletic scholarships.
It's always been need based financial aid. That has not changed.
So that was a differentiator between scholarships and that, and
now we can we're doubling down on our distinctions. And
what we're finding is as powerful institutions are emphasizing certain sports,
(16:17):
primarily football, basketball, maybe one beyond that, the Olympic sports
are being de emphasized, reduction and scholarships, reduction, opportunities compete
and we're sitting right there to benefit from that, and
we already our coaches are telling me that we already are.
So that's really exciting.
Speaker 7 (16:35):
So take us back to what happened last year with
the men's basketball team. There was a vote of thirteen
to two. I believe it was to unionize and then
they pulled back earlier this year. What was that like
being in the athletic director's chair.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Yeah, there's no playbook for it. You know. When I
took the job and start in July of twenty twenty two.
If you would have told me that Dartmouth men's basketball
was the first union in college athletics history, I would
have called you crazy, but a lot. Dartmouth has a
long history of supporting unions, including student worker unions. We
just fundamentally believe that student athletes are not employees for
many reasons, one of which is one of which is
(17:11):
the athletic endeavor itself we view as an extension of
the educational core mission of Dartmouth, and so our presidency
on Bilock, a phenomenal leader, was public and saying that
we would appeal that all the way up to the
Supreme Court. They did withdraw their their unionization effort right
around New Year's Eve, and I'll note that the team
went on to have the best on court season and
(17:33):
twenty five years after that.
Speaker 5 (17:35):
Pretty impressive.
Speaker 6 (17:36):
Well, so, what is the greatest challenge for you today
when it comes to college sports?
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (17:42):
For us, you know, we're always thinking about how do
we best deliver on the promise that we make to
the recruits who come to our institution. You know, Dartmous
mission is to attract the whitest swath of really motivated
you know, students and send them off into the world
as responsible leaders, and we play a key role in that.
(18:03):
So we have thirty five varsity sports, we have over
nine hundred varsity athletes. They're roughly twenty two percent of
the undergraduate enrollment at Dartmouth. So I wake up every
day thinking about how do we better support them to
strive for their aspirations and help support their holistic development
as students, as people, as athletes. And I know that
sounds really lofty, but everything we do from driving revenue philanthropy.
(18:27):
We landed the biggest gift in dart athletics history from
the Lewinstein family two years ago. All that goes back
into supporting their health, wellness and overall development.
Speaker 7 (18:34):
So earlier in the conference today, we were talking with
some athletic directors who are writing very big checks to
their students. Could you talk a little bit about the
difference in what's going on on your end where you
have to approve or you have to attest to nils
that are two thousand dollars short.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
And I just want to clarify for everyone, Janet Jenet,
what you're saying is these the school they're actually the
ones that are funding these.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Athletes, right, they have to pony up.
Speaker 7 (19:04):
Okay, if you're at a power for a conference twenty
point five million dollars a year.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Two athletes, Okay, sorry, go ahead, We do not. But
what I'll say is we have a variety of rules
that ensure that the presidential direct the president's are a
presidents have directed that there is no pay for play.
So with that, yes, every deal two thousand dollars and above,
I review personally to evaluate that. And also we attest
(19:30):
as athletic directors that we are not in any way
directly or indirectly, you know, asking a donor alum to
give money to somebody as a recruited inducement or if
they want to go in the transfer portal, as a
retention inducement. So so we're and it's really the spirit
of it that that we as ads have all really
committed to in our conversations because I believe our distinction
(19:52):
is a strength in today's world women's sports.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Yeah, what's changed?
Speaker 6 (19:58):
I mean, we feel like there's been such an explode,
getting a lot more attention. Yeah, the media rites a viewership,
certainly on a professional level, but for you guys, in
terms of college sports.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
It's exciting. It's so exciting. Mean though, well, I'll tell
you I was at Notre Dame when when women's basketball
won a national championship, and I saw how it mobilized
that community in a way that I hadn't seen before
in my then twenty years in college athletics. It's amazing.
Here what I'm mostly concerned about, Yes, that is all true.
And also as the power for the revenue sharing happens,
(20:28):
there will be the emphasis on Olympic sports, which would
include both men's and women's sports. But so when you're
focused on football, maybe men's and women's basketball to be
de emphasis on the swimmings, the tennis is, the golfs,
the you know and so on. So that's an advantage.
Speaker 6 (20:42):
It isn't being committed that coming in for those Olympic sports.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
And I think you know a lot of presidents in
athletic orcus have been public about sharing that that's a
reality of that they're they need to pay you know,
some sec an sec Schoo announced, for example, eighty five
percent of their twenty point five million was going to football.
The other fifteen percent was split amongst basketballs and maybe
one other sports. So the opportunity for us in a
broad based program in the IVY League, which we believe
(21:07):
strongly in, is that we'll always have those opportunities for them.
We're not cutting sports. We're we're very committed to the
broad based program and that includes women's sports. As a
as a father of two daughters fifteen and twelve, who
were gymnasts and soccer players, it's really exciting.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
I just can't believe it's so different at the IVY
League versus I know, and we still compete at national level,
don't forget that. Yeah, we're still lining up and winning.
And it's also just completely different in just a few years.
I mean, this was all unheard of. A lot of
it was happening. Look, a lot of this was happening,
was it.
Speaker 8 (21:38):
I I went to a party at here we go, Yeah,
like at a car dealership owner's house during a tournament,
and saw a lot of players from a basketball team there.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
This was all before nil and it was like they're like, oh, yeah,
they just hang out, you know. It was like an
official sort of like I don't know if they were
getting a car, but they were very comfortable and they
knew him very well and like he wasn't a part
of the school. It was very interesting. Let's just say that.
Speaker 6 (22:07):
Just last questions, So do you when you think about
your career and I know you obviously sound like you
like where you're at, but with that shape, you do
you want to stay kind of being an athletic director
within the ivy league community because it does seem a
little bit more pure.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Well, well said, I appreciate the question. I love it here.
My family loves it here. We have a fantastic presidency
on Bylock. The trustees are very supportive of what we're doing.
Speaker 6 (22:29):
I think also to be president of my alma ma oh.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
Barnard, yes, oh, so you know how great she is.
She's incredible and a huge sportsman. I believes in the
power of athletics. And what I'd say is, I have
a lot of friends who are power for athletic directors
and I'm right where I would I would I'd love
to be during this time.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
That's so interesting game, I really.
Speaker 5 (22:48):
Is okay, good stuff.
Speaker 6 (22:50):
Thank you both of you.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (22:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (22:53):
Mike Party, he's huld him in family Director of Athletics
and Recreation PG. No yeah, no, Why does he say
PGA of America.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
It's that he's a Darmit. I wish I could play. Also, Jennel,
it's been a long day.
Speaker 6 (23:08):
Thank you, good luck at you playing.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Appreciate it, Yeah, really appreciate it.
Speaker 6 (23:11):
Green Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
M
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and
Tim Stenoveek on Bloomberg Radio. We've got an incredible duo
with us right now, Ted leonsa scoder, chairman, managing partner
and CEO of Monumental Sports and Entertainment. Here's a little
bit of what they have. Home to the Wizards, the
Washington Capitals, the Washington Mystics, Capital one Arena, eight teams,
five venues, one media platform, and more. Once again, Monumental
(00:31):
Sports and Entertainment ted with us along with Gary Bedman,
longtime Commissioner of the NHL, former longtime General Council for
the NBA. Both join us here on set at Power Players,
New York. Welcome to both of you.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Great to be with you.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Well, we got a little bit of the panel earlier.
We were able to take some of it and broadcast
it to our audience across YouTube, radio and Bloomberg Originals.
You're up there with Scarlett Food talking about the new
fan experience. You've both been involved in the world of
sports for a long time. A lot has changed streaming, sports, betting,
Nil Carol, which I think is like the backdrop to
(01:05):
everything that's happening here, the role of tech alone. What
is this moment that we're living in right now?
Speaker 4 (01:11):
Well, I think AI is really the next big thing
with sports.
Speaker 5 (01:16):
Oh yes, totally.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
How well, right now we're redoing our building and all
we're talking about is physical AI.
Speaker 5 (01:24):
How do we collect data?
Speaker 4 (01:26):
How do we with three million people to come into
our building? Where are they coming from? How old are they,
who are they married to? How long have they had
the tickets? What are they like when they eat? What
do we what can we do to be anticipatory with
our building? It's not just smart buildings anymore. It's build
(01:47):
the intelligence and the data right into that experience.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
You know, I just want to ask you, Ted, because
you were at AOL in the early days. I mean
this is before you were in sports, you were in technology,
so you understand the space is. Are we in a
moment now that is is like when AOL brought us
the World Wide Web?
Speaker 4 (02:03):
Well, I think the league's it seems like it's been
a long time, but it's been a quick pivot to
go from analog and bricks and mortar and linear distribution
and local to be a global digital power plant if
(02:23):
you will that we look at our teams. Obviously they
have high fan avidity, but it's IP and how do
we digitize everything that we're doing from the start and
distributed over our own channels.
Speaker 5 (02:37):
That's why we bought our RSN.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
Everyone was running out of the burning house. We said,
let's run in. It'll never be a better time to
buy and reinvent the distribution model than there is right now.
Speaker 6 (02:51):
Gary wants you to come in on the role of technology.
I think all of us were watching sports. I love it,
whether it's tennis, whether it's golf, whether it's baseball, the
statistics that hockey. Sorry, sorry, I was getting there.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
I was getting there.
Speaker 6 (03:04):
Sorry, Sorry, Well that's what I wanted to get to, though,
like you know, how fast the puck is going or
something like how much fans love that engagement.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
I'm going to respond to that, but I want to
add on to what head says.
Speaker 6 (03:14):
So you know I have four brothers and growing up
being an ice skating pond that they dug out of
the woods in the back and would play hockey.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
I knew I liked you and your family, but you
grew up with it. Sports tends to focus people at
an instant, at a moment in time, the score of
the game, what's the result. I don't think we're at
a moment of time. I think we're on a journey,
and we've been on a journey for decades. And the
(03:42):
speed limits change on the road, road conditions change, there
are curves, there are hills. But at the end of
the day, it starts with the authenticity of sports and
how important sports are in people's lives, and how it
brings people in communities together, and take has enabled us
to connect better with our fans. So AI we're like
(04:05):
any other consumer business. It's going to help us do
business better, but also it's going to help us make
sure that our games stay true to themselves. It's I
always tell particularly my tech and strategy guys, we're not
going to change the game to make it more tech
(04:26):
savvy or a tech you know favorable. What we're going
to do is use technology to make the game more consumable,
more connected, and so pucking player tracking at hl edge
is a function of that. We're gathering millions of data
points a minute, but it's enabling us to take people
inside the game, maybe even people who don't know the
(04:49):
game and understand it and let them say, wow, that
pup you know, traveled fourteen miles with averaged eighty eight
miles an hour. This player can skate as fast as
thirty five miles an hour, and he's already skated six
miles in this game. This gets people to understand and
feel more connected, and it's going to let us give
(05:10):
them the game on their terms, because with all the
streaming platforms, you're going to be able to sit at
home and decide how you want to watch the game,
not the way we've done it from a linear standpoint
since I was a little kid, and people my age
are used to sitting on the couch and doing it.
But we used to get in.
Speaker 6 (05:28):
Front of my dad and be like, you know, get down,
get down, because good rewinded.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
But if you're a gen Z or a Jena and
you want to focus on a particular player and you
want Dana simultaneously and you want to place a bet,
you're going to be able to do all that and
buy a jersey all at the same time. In addition,
what fucking player tracking has enabled us to do is
use the metaverse. We use animated versions of our game
(05:53):
in real time. We were the first sports league to
do that, and it works really well and it engages
young people and their parents.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
You know, I'm thinking about this all this, and I'm
thinking about the technology and thinking about the investment that's
being made, and it reminds me of the way that
we've seen sports turn into this premium experience now in
the premiumization, this idea of it being a luxury good,
And I'm wondering how you think about that, Ted, and
how you know it's not like you go to the
ball ball Well, I guess ball games are still affordable.
But apart from that, I mean, some tickets just end
(06:26):
up being so expensive. How do you think about that
for your customers.
Speaker 5 (06:30):
Many of us have run big public tech companies, and.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
When you come into sports, you say, oh, the model
is like a software company. We have nothing but blue
chip clients, naming rights, sweet sales, big sponsorships, media deals
with the biggest companies in the world, Amazon and NBC,
(06:58):
Comcast and ESPN, and they pay us over ten years
or longer with escalator. So the model looks just like Salesforce,
dot Com or Oracle. Those are very valuable companies. It's
why they're valued and a multiple of revenues, not a
(07:18):
multiple of ebita. Okay, so that's what's happened.
Speaker 5 (07:22):
To sports teams.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
It's this where six times eight times, ten times twelve
times revenues.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Right.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
But for those of us who came in from public
companies and tech companies that go, we don't have an
R and D budget, think about that.
Speaker 5 (07:38):
We didn't have a CTO.
Speaker 4 (07:41):
We were one of the first teams that I mean,
we made a major high.
Speaker 5 (07:44):
We have software developers. There's like those software.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
Developers in these teams. That's a big part of the pivot. Right,
If you're going to be digitized or die, if you're
going to try to get your products and services out,
build brand and build audience on a global basis, it
all starts with, you know, taking a a pixel and
(08:09):
digitizing it. And we're now you know, I've owned the
team twenty six years. But there's now a lot of
the big markets and more innovative companies that have said, yeah,
we are we're not We're not just a hockey team.
You've got to have the hockey team as the ethos,
you know, for the competition for the fans. But as
(08:30):
a business, these have become big businesses. We're going to
be doing two years from now billion dollars in revenue.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
You were valued at about four billion dollars back in
twenty twenty three with the Victoris.
Speaker 5 (08:40):
Meant we've been valued now close to seven.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
It's big growth in three years.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Good business, it's good bus.
Speaker 5 (08:48):
But we're doing seven and fifty million dollars in revenue.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
But the landscape, and it relates to everything that's going
on with the distribution of content. No matter what platform
you're talking about, sports is the most compelling, most valuable
content and that's what's driving a great values that you're seeing, right.
Speaker 6 (09:08):
Because there's so much stuff out there, But you're right,
people tune in can be something.
Speaker 5 (09:12):
It's it's reality TV.
Speaker 4 (09:14):
I mean it really is, right, But I think one
thing that people miss to the world's in chaos and
it's not going to get more calm. But there's something
about you. You go to a game and you know
it's the puck's going to drop at seven oh six.
(09:35):
You know where the game is going to be televised,
you know where your seats are. The players know if
you make the wrong pass, it's you know it goes
over the blue line. They know what penalties are, there's
referees and while there's people will boom guardrail.
Speaker 5 (09:56):
I'm saying that that there's there's structure, right. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
I was amazed that at the World Cup you have
countries fighting each other, at war with each other, yet
they get on the pitch and it's I know this
line is out of bounds, that this is a boundary.
I think we crave that we want a level playing field,
and you want meritocracy and you want to see how
(10:20):
people can compete.
Speaker 6 (10:22):
And yet politics, geopolitics have played gotten their way into sports.
And I think about the NHL being kind of the
most international and Canadian of all US pro sports, and
yet geopolitics coming from the White House, weather it was
ever trading terror policies.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
We saw that play out, certainly it did during the
Four Nations in February. Canada was playing the US in
two games, including the final game. But what's great about
sports and it transcends geopolitics because sports brings out people's
passion and it brings people together, even if their rivals,
(10:59):
their interest in seeing the game in the outcome, and
even within a particular country. You know, no matter how
diverse a country is on whatever basis, you're figuring out
what the diversity is. People come together, It brings communities together.
And when you have assets franchises like TED has in Washington,
they make a difference in people's lives, their outreach in
(11:23):
the community, their youth programs using sports to teach young
people life lessons. That's as important as anything else that
we can do in sports, and I think monumental of
what Ted does in Washington is a great example of
being outward facing in the community and making a difference.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
So we helped the White House have the inaugural at
our arena recalled the world's most important arena, and that
same week there was a study out on who is
the most popular and best athlete in Washington sports history
and it's a Russian alex Ovechkin. Right, he broke Wayne
(12:05):
Gretzky's record last year and he is beloved in Washington,
d C. Yesterday we announced the naming rights deal with Coupon,
No South Korean company e commerce company. We're we're global, right,
we are exporting our ip around the world. We have
(12:26):
these icons, these great global brands. Advertisers want to reach
those fans and so you know, it's just ironic.
Speaker 5 (12:36):
Here we are in Washington, d C.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
As I said, I could see the White House, and
while they're churning on on things, sports is the great United.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
And then that poll will also say that you were
the most popular owner.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Let the record show ten did not answer the question.
Speaker 6 (13:00):
To be bother, it's good to hear that. It's good
to hear that that sports really kind of brings people together.
We do see that over and over, gentlemen, Thank you
so much.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Thanks for harding.
Speaker 6 (13:12):
Ted Ley Ownes's founder, chairman Managing Partners ATUO of Monumental
Sports and Entertainment. Gary Bettman, Commissioner of the NHL.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Stay with us. More from Bloomberg Business Week Daily coming
up after this.
Speaker 5 (13:23):
This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Tim
Steneveek on Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
College is under a lot of pressure right now. Just
this afternoon, Northwestern University president and Michael Schill resigned after
a three year tenure marked by controversy over protests on campus,
conflict with the Trump administration over research funding, and a
hazing scandal in its football program. College athletics not immune
to all this pressure either, fair to say, Nil also
(13:50):
known as name image and likeness has completely changed college athletics.
There have also been labor challenges that have come along with.
Speaker 6 (13:57):
This makes it interesting on college campuses. View from one campus,
we have my charity with us Haldeman Family Director of
Athletics and Recreation over at Dartmouth College. Also with us
A Bloomberg News Higher Education finance reporter Janet Lauren, both
here at Power Players, New York, and they were both
up on stage, weren't you. College athletics going through a lot.
(14:18):
We were just talking about the ability for college players
to move around and kind of, you know, find the
best deal. Tell us what it's like to be an
athletic director in today's environment. And you're also a lot
of colleges and administrations, I mean a lot of academic
administrations are also catching the attention of the White House.
So what's it like to do your job?
Speaker 1 (14:39):
YEA, just a few things going on, Just a few things.
First of all, thank you for having me honor to
be here. You know, at Dartmouth and in the IVY League.
We're really distinct as it relates to everything going on
nationally in terms of the House settlement with revenue sharing, name,
image and likeness we have real nil as it was
originally intended. That means an athlete can can you know,
(15:02):
have a sports camp using their name, or be an
entrepreneur and start their own business. But any kind of
pay for play, that's that is not something that we
that's you know, aligned with our values and our presidents
have made it clear in the IVY League that that
is not something that we're going to do.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
So that's an IVY League rule or a art myth rule.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
That's an IVY League role, okay, yep, and voted on
by all the presidents in the IVY League and certainly
supported by the athletic directors. So but having said all that,
you know, we're still very competitive nationally. The Learfield Director's Cup,
which measures postseason success in NCAA Championships, there's a power four.
Those are the top four conferences when you measure that,
we're the fifth. When there was a power five, we
were six. So competing at the national level, and you know,
(15:41):
the sport sports across the across the board has been
a really really shows that we can have the primacy
of academics and also you know, pursue excellence and athletics
and those things are not mutually exclusive.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Does it make our harder to recruit though athletes?
Speaker 1 (15:55):
I think it actually makes it easier in today's world,
and that our value prop is has always been different.
In the IVY League, we do not give athletic scholarships.
It's always been need based financial aid. That has not changed.
So that was a differentiator between scholarships and that, and
now we can we're doubling down on our distinctions. And
what we're finding is as powerful institutions are emphasizing certain sports,
(16:17):
primarily football, basketball, maybe one beyond that, the Olympic sports
are being de emphasized, reduction and scholarships, reduction, opportunities compete
and we're sitting right there to benefit from that, and
we already our coaches are telling me that we already are.
So that's really exciting.
Speaker 7 (16:35):
So take us back to what happened last year with
the men's basketball team. There was a vote of thirteen
to two. I believe it was to unionize and then
they pulled back earlier this year. What was that like
being in the athletic director's chair.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Yeah, there's no playbook for it. You know. When I
took the job and start in July of twenty twenty two.
If you would have told me that Dartmouth men's basketball
was the first union in college athletics history, I would
have called you crazy, but a lot. Dartmouth has a
long history of supporting unions, including student worker unions. We
just fundamentally believe that student athletes are not employees for
many reasons, one of which is one of which is
(17:11):
the athletic endeavor itself we view as an extension of
the educational core mission of Dartmouth, and so our presidency
on Bilock, a phenomenal leader, was public and saying that
we would appeal that all the way up to the
Supreme Court. They did withdraw their their unionization effort right
around New Year's Eve, and I'll note that the team
went on to have the best on court season and
(17:33):
twenty five years after that.
Speaker 5 (17:35):
Pretty impressive.
Speaker 6 (17:36):
Well, so, what is the greatest challenge for you today
when it comes to college sports?
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (17:42):
For us, you know, we're always thinking about how do
we best deliver on the promise that we make to
the recruits who come to our institution. You know, Dartmous
mission is to attract the whitest swath of really motivated
you know, students and send them off into the world
as responsible leaders, and we play a key role in that.
(18:03):
So we have thirty five varsity sports, we have over
nine hundred varsity athletes. They're roughly twenty two percent of
the undergraduate enrollment at Dartmouth. So I wake up every
day thinking about how do we better support them to
strive for their aspirations and help support their holistic development
as students, as people, as athletes. And I know that
sounds really lofty, but everything we do from driving revenue philanthropy.
(18:27):
We landed the biggest gift in dart athletics history from
the Lewinstein family two years ago. All that goes back
into supporting their health, wellness and overall development.
Speaker 7 (18:34):
So earlier in the conference today, we were talking with
some athletic directors who are writing very big checks to
their students. Could you talk a little bit about the
difference in what's going on on your end where you
have to approve or you have to attest to nils
that are two thousand dollars short.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
And I just want to clarify for everyone, Janet Jenet,
what you're saying is these the school they're actually the
ones that are funding these.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Athletes, right, they have to pony up.
Speaker 7 (19:04):
Okay, if you're at a power for a conference twenty
point five million dollars a year.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Two athletes, Okay, sorry, go ahead, We do not. But
what I'll say is we have a variety of rules
that ensure that the presidential direct the president's are a
presidents have directed that there is no pay for play.
So with that, yes, every deal two thousand dollars and above,
I review personally to evaluate that. And also we attest
(19:30):
as athletic directors that we are not in any way
directly or indirectly, you know, asking a donor alum to
give money to somebody as a recruited inducement or if
they want to go in the transfer portal, as a
retention inducement. So so we're and it's really the spirit
of it that that we as ads have all really
committed to in our conversations because I believe our distinction
(19:52):
is a strength in today's world women's sports.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Yeah, what's changed?
Speaker 6 (19:58):
I mean, we feel like there's been such an explode,
getting a lot more attention. Yeah, the media rites a viewership,
certainly on a professional level, but for you guys, in
terms of college sports.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
It's exciting. It's so exciting. Mean though, well, I'll tell
you I was at Notre Dame when when women's basketball
won a national championship, and I saw how it mobilized
that community in a way that I hadn't seen before
in my then twenty years in college athletics. It's amazing.
Here what I'm mostly concerned about, Yes, that is all true.
And also as the power for the revenue sharing happens,
(20:28):
there will be the emphasis on Olympic sports, which would
include both men's and women's sports. But so when you're
focused on football, maybe men's and women's basketball to be
de emphasis on the swimmings, the tennis is, the golfs,
the you know and so on. So that's an advantage.
Speaker 6 (20:42):
It isn't being committed that coming in for those Olympic sports.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
And I think you know a lot of presidents in
athletic orcus have been public about sharing that that's a
reality of that they're they need to pay you know,
some sec an sec Schoo announced, for example, eighty five
percent of their twenty point five million was going to football.
The other fifteen percent was split amongst basketballs and maybe
one other sports. So the opportunity for us in a
broad based program in the IVY League, which we believe
(21:07):
strongly in, is that we'll always have those opportunities for them.
We're not cutting sports. We're we're very committed to the
broad based program and that includes women's sports. As a
as a father of two daughters fifteen and twelve, who
were gymnasts and soccer players, it's really exciting.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
I just can't believe it's so different at the IVY
League versus I know, and we still compete at national level,
don't forget that. Yeah, we're still lining up and winning.
And it's also just completely different in just a few years.
I mean, this was all unheard of. A lot of
it was happening. Look, a lot of this was happening,
was it.
Speaker 8 (21:38):
I I went to a party at here we go, Yeah,
like at a car dealership owner's house during a tournament,
and saw a lot of players from a basketball team there.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
This was all before nil and it was like they're like, oh, yeah,
they just hang out, you know. It was like an
official sort of like I don't know if they were
getting a car, but they were very comfortable and they
knew him very well and like he wasn't a part
of the school. It was very interesting. Let's just say that.
Speaker 6 (22:07):
Just last questions, So do you when you think about
your career and I know you obviously sound like you
like where you're at, but with that shape, you do
you want to stay kind of being an athletic director
within the ivy league community because it does seem a
little bit more pure.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Well, well said, I appreciate the question. I love it here.
My family loves it here. We have a fantastic presidency
on Bylock. The trustees are very supportive of what we're doing.
Speaker 6 (22:29):
I think also to be president of my alma ma oh.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
Barnard, yes, oh, so you know how great she is.
She's incredible and a huge sportsman. I believes in the
power of athletics. And what I'd say is, I have
a lot of friends who are power for athletic directors
and I'm right where I would I would I'd love
to be during this time.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
That's so interesting game, I really.
Speaker 5 (22:48):
Is okay, good stuff.
Speaker 6 (22:50):
Thank you both of you.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (22:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (22:53):
Mike Party, he's huld him in family Director of Athletics
and Recreation PG. No yeah, no, Why does he say
PGA of America.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
It's that he's a Darmit. I wish I could play. Also, Jennel,
it's been a long day.
Speaker 6 (23:08):
Thank you, good luck at you playing.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Appreciate it, Yeah, really appreciate it.
Speaker 6 (23:11):
Green Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
M
Hosts And Creators
Tim Stenovec
Carol Massar
Popular Podcasts
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.