August 15, 2025 • 9 mins
Mubadala Citi DC Open chairman and Washington Commanders partner Mark Ein talks professional athlete safety.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ella, what's up.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Hey, how are you, sir?
Speaker 1 (00:03):
I'm doing so good.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Hey, Hey, nice to talk to you too.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
Hey, I was talking about you earlier, so I'm glad
you called. And this will go back a little bit.
I don't know if you were listening. I'm assuming not,
but we were we were talking earlier. There was a
there was a great story that was done talking about
how they were they were they were looking at fanatics
and stalkers in sports, and they said that the sport
(00:28):
that has kind of always been way ahead in terms
of and that's not a good thing by the way
of having of having of having stalkers is women's tennis.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
And they're the whole story that I was reading.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
They were talking about obviously what we've seen with Emma
rat Kanu recently, but it kind of starts and it
goes back talking about Monica Sellis when she when she
got stabbed in all the troubles that that stephie Graff
had to deal with, and then they go on and
they talk about whether it's.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
He guess they did. They went through literally every.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Generation of tennis players till till modern day, and they
were talking about how events and tournaments have really gone
out of their way to step up safety for players,
both men and women, but specifically on the on the
women's side of things, and they talk about how, yes,
it's you know, something like Wimbledon has so much money
(01:25):
or the US Open has so much money where they.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Can go to great lengths.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
So I was talking about what you've done, and I'll
congratulate you.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
I mean, I've never talked to you before, but.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
I'll congratulate you on what you've done with the city
opened and growing that tournament into a major major in quotes,
it's not one of the one of the majors, but
such a big event. But with that, I assume you know,
you know what these tennis players go through. I'm I'm
assuming that part of growing it was also growing security
so that the names that you're bringing in feel comfortable
(01:56):
coming here.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
Yeah, it is a real issue, and we all do
spend a lot of resources to make sure that our
players not only.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Are safe but feel safe.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
We have a really big security force there, and the tours,
the ATP on the men's side and WTA on the
women's side, spend a lot of resources sort of monitoring
all the activity around the world and then slagging people
that aren't allowed on the grounds, and behind the scenes,
(02:30):
there's a huge amount of intelligence sharing, gathering and proactive
work to make people feel safe. You don't fortunately you
don't see it or feel it when you're there, but
it's it's all there, and you're right, you know. Unfortunately
Women's Tenants has had more incidents than others, and in
social media is a big accelerant for all that as well.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Absolutely, and so yeah, no, you're you're right.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
It's it's unfortunate, but you know, I think the players,
I mean, it's interesting and ipreciate the nice words about
our event, and it's really has grown unbelievably in the
six years since we took it over. It's the fifth
biggest tournament in the US and one of only ten
in the world that have men and women together, right,
And one of the things that we've tried to do intentionally,
(03:16):
and it's one of things that our fans consistently saying
people who travel around the world coming too, because they.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Say, is that the players are accessible.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
You know, it's not like they go into a back entrance,
say hang out, like they go through our site and
they you know, they walk around and you know, often
they'll have security, but like we've tried to walk that
balance between.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Making sure they're safe but also you.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
Know, letting them engage with fans, which is.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
A big part of the sport as well.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Hey, Mark, let me ask you this, And and Tyler
brought this up, and I thought it was a great question,
and as somebody who's responsible for the tournament. And they
pointed out in the in the article that I was reading,
and they pointed out in the article that tennis we
get used to, or people get used to, if they're
not massive tennis fans, they get used to they turn
(04:01):
on we'll just use the US Open, right or Wimbledon,
and they see a big stadium with with thousands of
people that are in stands kind of off of the court.
But they don't know that there's a practice court, you know,
twenty yards from there where you can literally you could
literally like hold a ball for them, or that there's
there's other matches that are taking place a much smaller
(04:24):
courts that that are similar to what you would just
find in neighborhoods. Because you have so many players that
are trying to play to whittle everything down, and so
people don't see those courts. But one of the beauties
is is that you can go see tennis players up
close and have, like you said, that that accessibility to
them and be up close and really really see the
(04:46):
game from from from essentially a court side seat that
you may not be able to get into one of
the bigger ones. How do you how do you balance
offering that experience to somebody but still having the the
the safety and the protection that's needed.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
Yeah, well, what you just said is a big part
of the reason people love tennis events. I mean, one
of the interesting things is when we took over, eighteen
percent of the tickets were sold to like season ticket
hold people who buy the whole tournament. This year, we're
up to eighty percent, and we've already people renewed. We've
already half fifty five percent of the tickets for next
(05:25):
year's tournament are already sold.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
And the only reason I bring that.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
Up is because what's happened is to exactly the point
you make people basically just make a week of it,
you know, and they make full days of it. Like
that's the other thing about tennis. It's not one two
hour game or you know game, it's or even a
match you can go.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
We started eleven, it goes till ten.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
At night, and so people literally just make a week
of it because you'll watch matches in the stadium, but
then you'll go watch the practice courts, and then you'll
go grab food in our food hall or grab a
tequila margaritaen.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Or tequila bar.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
And that it is the whole nature of the event
and why people love these events and travel around the
world because it's it's like a carnival. It's like a festival,
and we've really added a ton on the food and
beverage and venue side, so even when you're not watching tennis,
it's fun.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
But a big part of that experience is.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
Yeah, going and literally pressing your nose against the fence,
watching players practice or watching them play doubles on our
smaller third court, like in front of a thousand people,
like you know, Emma and Nick Kirios.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
We're playing on.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
Our thousand person court, all on reserve seats.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
You could literally go sit.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
In the front row, right, and that is part of
what people love. And look once they're on the court,
it's all I mean, the courts, the practice courts are
all very well guarded and look I think we feel
really good about where we are. As you said, tennis
has more issues than others, but there's still, thank.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
God, few and far between.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
You know, they really are very very infrequent, but we
want them. You know, we want the players to be
in to feel safe because I'll tell.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
You being able to be and I listen, I love tennis.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
I do the It's one thing to watch, you know,
whether you know it's Sheldon or Fritz or somebody serve
a ball one hundred and twenty five, one hundred and
thirty one hundred and thirty five forty miles an hour.
To see that in person and realize somebody is going
to return that. To see that in person is I mean,
it's amazing to see.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
I mean that's the thing I always tell people is
if you haven't watched tennis in person, and exactly to
what you said, like you go if you don't have
a great you know, if you're not at front rowand stadium,
go to the practice court, go watch and play doubles
on a cycle. Whether you don't even have to watch
top ten players, anyone in that tournament is doing things
that you can't believe people can do, and you really
(07:47):
need to experience tennis a plus. I'll tell you interestingly,
two years ago Kad came to the tournament to watch Francis.
He had never been to a tennis match, and now
he's hooked. You know, he went to the US Open.
He came back this year.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
And there's so.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Many examples of that of people who've never actually seen
it and then they come and they see it up
close and they're just in awe of what these players
are doing. And the other thing I say is just
the level of exertion for an entire point. I mean,
every point is an all out sprint. And then oftentimes
you know, they're out there in our tournament for three hours.
In a Grand Slam, it could be four.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Or five hours. It's pretty spectacular what these athletes do.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Are you going to go up to the US Open?
I know, like mixed double starts next week and then
the tournament will get going.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Yeah, do you go?
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Do you go up for the tournament?
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (08:33):
And I've been involved. I was on the board of
the USTA that the governing body that owns it, and
I'm still an advisor to the board, so I'm I'm
still really involved.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
In that event.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
In in in certain ways, and I love it, and.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
You know it's it's a it's a really spectacular event.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
So I'll be there a bunch over that time if
you if you want to chat again, I'll call Animal
Douc Dennis anytime.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Oh you know what, you'll be like my I'll make
you wear an Elliott in the Morning shirt.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
They'll love that at the US Open. Yeah, exactly. We'll
get that done, all right.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
Dude.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Hey, Mark, it's very nice to talk to you. I
appreciate you calling in man.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Yeah, you tail A big fan of you guys.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
You got very kind. Appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
All right, Hold tight one second, Mark, hold on one second.
Let me get you that shirt.
Ella, what's up.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Hey, how are you, sir?
Speaker 1 (00:03):
I'm doing so good.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Hey, Hey, nice to talk to you too.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
Hey, I was talking about you earlier, so I'm glad
you called. And this will go back a little bit.
I don't know if you were listening. I'm assuming not,
but we were we were talking earlier. There was a
there was a great story that was done talking about
how they were they were they were looking at fanatics
and stalkers in sports, and they said that the sport
(00:28):
that has kind of always been way ahead in terms
of and that's not a good thing by the way
of having of having of having stalkers is women's tennis.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
And they're the whole story that I was reading.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
They were talking about obviously what we've seen with Emma
rat Kanu recently, but it kind of starts and it
goes back talking about Monica Sellis when she when she
got stabbed in all the troubles that that stephie Graff
had to deal with, and then they go on and
they talk about whether it's.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
He guess they did. They went through literally every.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Generation of tennis players till till modern day, and they
were talking about how events and tournaments have really gone
out of their way to step up safety for players,
both men and women, but specifically on the on the
women's side of things, and they talk about how, yes,
it's you know, something like Wimbledon has so much money
(01:25):
or the US Open has so much money where they.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Can go to great lengths.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
So I was talking about what you've done, and I'll
congratulate you.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
I mean, I've never talked to you before, but.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
I'll congratulate you on what you've done with the city
opened and growing that tournament into a major major in quotes,
it's not one of the one of the majors, but
such a big event. But with that, I assume you know,
you know what these tennis players go through. I'm I'm
assuming that part of growing it was also growing security
so that the names that you're bringing in feel comfortable
(01:56):
coming here.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
Yeah, it is a real issue, and we all do
spend a lot of resources to make sure that our
players not only.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Are safe but feel safe.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
We have a really big security force there, and the tours,
the ATP on the men's side and WTA on the
women's side, spend a lot of resources sort of monitoring
all the activity around the world and then slagging people
that aren't allowed on the grounds, and behind the scenes,
(02:30):
there's a huge amount of intelligence sharing, gathering and proactive
work to make people feel safe. You don't fortunately you
don't see it or feel it when you're there, but
it's it's all there, and you're right, you know. Unfortunately
Women's Tenants has had more incidents than others, and in
social media is a big accelerant for all that as well.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Absolutely, and so yeah, no, you're you're right.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
It's it's unfortunate, but you know, I think the players,
I mean, it's interesting and ipreciate the nice words about
our event, and it's really has grown unbelievably in the
six years since we took it over. It's the fifth
biggest tournament in the US and one of only ten
in the world that have men and women together, right,
And one of the things that we've tried to do intentionally,
(03:16):
and it's one of things that our fans consistently saying
people who travel around the world coming too, because they.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Say, is that the players are accessible.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
You know, it's not like they go into a back entrance,
say hang out, like they go through our site and
they you know, they walk around and you know, often
they'll have security, but like we've tried to walk that
balance between.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Making sure they're safe but also you.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
Know, letting them engage with fans, which is.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
A big part of the sport as well.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Hey, Mark, let me ask you this, And and Tyler
brought this up, and I thought it was a great question,
and as somebody who's responsible for the tournament. And they
pointed out in the in the article that I was reading,
and they pointed out in the article that tennis we
get used to, or people get used to, if they're
not massive tennis fans, they get used to they turn
(04:01):
on we'll just use the US Open, right or Wimbledon,
and they see a big stadium with with thousands of
people that are in stands kind of off of the court.
But they don't know that there's a practice court, you know,
twenty yards from there where you can literally you could
literally like hold a ball for them, or that there's
there's other matches that are taking place a much smaller
(04:24):
courts that that are similar to what you would just
find in neighborhoods. Because you have so many players that
are trying to play to whittle everything down, and so
people don't see those courts. But one of the beauties
is is that you can go see tennis players up
close and have, like you said, that that accessibility to
them and be up close and really really see the
(04:46):
game from from from essentially a court side seat that
you may not be able to get into one of
the bigger ones. How do you how do you balance
offering that experience to somebody but still having the the
the safety and the protection that's needed.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
Yeah, well, what you just said is a big part
of the reason people love tennis events. I mean, one
of the interesting things is when we took over, eighteen
percent of the tickets were sold to like season ticket
hold people who buy the whole tournament. This year, we're
up to eighty percent, and we've already people renewed. We've
already half fifty five percent of the tickets for next
(05:25):
year's tournament are already sold.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
And the only reason I bring that.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
Up is because what's happened is to exactly the point
you make people basically just make a week of it,
you know, and they make full days of it. Like
that's the other thing about tennis. It's not one two
hour game or you know game, it's or even a
match you can go.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
We started eleven, it goes till ten.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
At night, and so people literally just make a week
of it because you'll watch matches in the stadium, but
then you'll go watch the practice courts, and then you'll
go grab food in our food hall or grab a
tequila margaritaen.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Or tequila bar.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
And that it is the whole nature of the event
and why people love these events and travel around the
world because it's it's like a carnival. It's like a festival,
and we've really added a ton on the food and
beverage and venue side, so even when you're not watching tennis,
it's fun.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
But a big part of that experience is.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
Yeah, going and literally pressing your nose against the fence,
watching players practice or watching them play doubles on our
smaller third court, like in front of a thousand people,
like you know, Emma and Nick Kirios.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
We're playing on.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
Our thousand person court, all on reserve seats.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
You could literally go sit.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
In the front row, right, and that is part of
what people love. And look once they're on the court,
it's all I mean, the courts, the practice courts are
all very well guarded and look I think we feel
really good about where we are. As you said, tennis
has more issues than others, but there's still, thank.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
God, few and far between.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
You know, they really are very very infrequent, but we
want them. You know, we want the players to be
in to feel safe because I'll tell.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
You being able to be and I listen, I love tennis.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
I do the It's one thing to watch, you know,
whether you know it's Sheldon or Fritz or somebody serve
a ball one hundred and twenty five, one hundred and
thirty one hundred and thirty five forty miles an hour.
To see that in person and realize somebody is going
to return that. To see that in person is I mean,
it's amazing to see.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
I mean that's the thing I always tell people is
if you haven't watched tennis in person, and exactly to
what you said, like you go if you don't have
a great you know, if you're not at front rowand stadium,
go to the practice court, go watch and play doubles
on a cycle. Whether you don't even have to watch
top ten players, anyone in that tournament is doing things
that you can't believe people can do, and you really
(07:47):
need to experience tennis a plus. I'll tell you interestingly,
two years ago Kad came to the tournament to watch Francis.
He had never been to a tennis match, and now
he's hooked. You know, he went to the US Open.
He came back this year.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
And there's so.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Many examples of that of people who've never actually seen
it and then they come and they see it up
close and they're just in awe of what these players
are doing. And the other thing I say is just
the level of exertion for an entire point. I mean,
every point is an all out sprint. And then oftentimes
you know, they're out there in our tournament for three hours.
In a Grand Slam, it could be four.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Or five hours. It's pretty spectacular what these athletes do.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Are you going to go up to the US Open?
I know, like mixed double starts next week and then
the tournament will get going.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Yeah, do you go?
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Do you go up for the tournament?
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (08:33):
And I've been involved. I was on the board of
the USTA that the governing body that owns it, and
I'm still an advisor to the board, so I'm I'm
still really involved.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
In that event.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
In in in certain ways, and I love it, and.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
You know it's it's a it's a really spectacular event.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
So I'll be there a bunch over that time if
you if you want to chat again, I'll call Animal
Douc Dennis anytime.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Oh you know what, you'll be like my I'll make
you wear an Elliott in the Morning shirt.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
They'll love that at the US Open. Yeah, exactly. We'll
get that done, all right.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
Dude.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Hey, Mark, it's very nice to talk to you. I
appreciate you calling in man.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Yeah, you tail A big fan of you guys.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
You got very kind. Appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
All right, Hold tight one second, Mark, hold on one second.
Let me get you that shirt.
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