It's @ChrisKamrani on CFB Latest, Private Equity, Cookie Equity, Big 12 + more

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So when the news came down today that Utah Athletics
had locked in a historic private equity deal, I texted porter.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
I said, get me the.

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Best private equity expert you can in the market, so
we can just talk money for about an hour. And
we put Chris Tomrodnie our college football and so it
makes the sure cks Mike is on our college Football
Insider from the Athletic.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Hello, Chris, how are you.

Speaker 3 (00:23):
How we're doing?

Speaker 2 (00:24):
We're good, We're good.

Speaker 3 (00:27):
Busy morning for you, A little bit busy.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Morning drinking through a fire hose.

Speaker 1 (00:31):
Look, we've talked about private equity has been on the way,
and now it's you.

Speaker 3 (00:36):
You've been beating the strimp for a while.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
So you can take a victory lab Well, I'm not
trying to take a victory lap. You called it, well,
I was right everyone else.

Speaker 3 (00:43):
I don't know if you necessarily saw that it was
going to happen in our own backyard kind of first
compared to the rest of the country.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
Well, what was wild? And I talked about this during
the first segment. I had somebody take me to lunch
who four years ago? He said, the number five hundred
million dollars. He said, the idea would be a private
equity firm infusing Utah Athletics with five hundred million dollars
in exchange for like forty nine percent of the overall product.

(01:12):
I don't know what the percentages are. We have to
wait to see what that looks like. But the cash number,
five hundred million dollars is exactly what he said four
years ago. And that's the amount of money that Utah
will have at its disposal to improve.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
Whatever it wants to. Where'd you go to lunch? It's
that little.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
Coffee shop okay, west side by by, like the Gateway.
I should know what it's called. I used to go
there all ordered a latte. Is that pertinent to the conversation?
I like a good latte, So.

Speaker 3 (01:45):
One. I feel like this is a This would be
a big day of week because he has existence in
that world as well as running a sports franchise. So
I'm just, you know, putting a little bird in your ear,
just giving you a little bit of beds up. Okay,
thank you, I was. I have not been on the
ground floor of this since the news broke this morning.

(02:05):
I've been working on other more pertinent things on my end. Luckily,
my colleagues at the Athletic who are much smarter and
more well versed in this. Matt Baker, Justin Williams, Stu Mandel.
These are three of my colleagues who have really kind
of been following the explosion of NIL crowdsource funding when

(02:26):
it comes to you know, universities nationwide and in particular
the potential of private equity getting involved with the Big
ten as we've talked about in the last couple of
months now, that's kind of been a contentious topic for
folks in that conference as well. I was stunned to
see that this, you know, is taking place in our

(02:47):
own backyard. It is fascinating that this guy, this guy
or gal that you went to lunch with four years
ago mentioned the exact same number that it ended up being.
So yeah, I'm excited to interview about this topic.

Speaker 1 (02:59):
Now you're participate this is and you've interviewed me once
and it was terrifies it. I was like, what happened
to my friend Chris Alex Shiner is one of the
co founders of OTROW and he's a partner.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
He was president of the Cleveland Browns. He was senior
VP of the Cowboys and then for a while he
was the point person for Legends Hospitality when my father
was the CEO of Legends, So they've worked together, so
I know there's some familiar familiar airity. Excuse me there.
I'll let my father speak to that. We're gonna get
him on. Taylor Randall's office reached out. He's gonna come

(03:32):
on the show. He caught a flight after essentially kind
of consummating the deal. It's been in the works now
for a number of different months, and I guess there
were a number of different private equity firms that wanted
a part of it. So Alec has experience in pro sports.
And again, if we're going to be grown ups about this,
college sports is now essentially professional sports, definitely on the

(03:54):
football side, right. So look, the good is simple, Christ
that is a little bit more complex, and that comes
down to how much you believe in the operators. And
I don't know enough about Alex Schiner or his partners
to tell you how they will operate this from their side.
How much do you trust Mark Harlan, How much do
you trust Taylor Randall. That's also what it comes down to.

(04:15):
But the good, like usually when private equity firms get
involved with anything, whether it's sports, whether it's restaurants, whether
it's hotels, they buy control. Right, so they say, all right,
Chris CAMARADDI, you run a coffee shop in sugar House.
I'm going to give you two million dollars for you to,
you know, buy some beans or whatever the hell it is,
buy some new espressional machines. Okay, and now I own

(04:38):
fifty one percent of your business. You own forty nine,
which means I get to tell.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
You what to do.

Speaker 1 (04:43):
So typically when they buy into sports teams or businesses,
they buy control.

Speaker 2 (04:47):
They didn't do that here. Okay, so you have seven seats.

Speaker 1 (04:50):
Now as far as the bord of directors go, one
is Marx as the chairman. Three others will belong to
the university, and then Outro gets two seats. And then
there's a seventh seat that will be filled by what
I would perceive to be a businessman here local that
is a Utah football fan, Utah athletics fan, Eccles, Huntsman, Garth.

(05:13):
Those are the names that you'll hear. We don't necessarily
know what it's going to look like. But the good
news is Ultro does not have controlling an interest in
Utah athletics. It still belongs to the university, so that's good.

Speaker 3 (05:25):
My question, and this will be information that will probably
filter out in the months and maybe years to come,
is my understanding is that pe private equity is a
very bottom line business. What does this look like if
Utah football, Utah basketball red rocks, what if they struggle

(05:46):
in the next few years? Like, this is something that
you have to understand that, like when you're getting into
business for hundreds of millions of dollars, this is going
to be a bottom line business, meaning that your investors
are going to want to see wins. I don't want
to see butts in the seats. They're going to want
to see concession stands full, They're going to want to
see jerseys flying off the racks. This is an interesting

(06:09):
kind of position you Tah could find itself in in
the coming years because you're talking about a likely see
change with Kyle Whittingham stepping down. If and when that happens,
we still don't know. Morgan Scalley will be a first
time head coach. Alex Jensen is a first time college
basketball coach. I understand the move because you had to

(06:30):
have a response to what everything else is happening in
the country, especially down south with your guys, O, your
guys out, Cookie Bro. It's different, but it was an inevitability.
And again, I'm just pretty pretty stunned that it happened
in our own backyard first and foremost.

Speaker 1 (06:49):
Yeah, I mean, there have been some other schools that
have had some smaller partnerships.

Speaker 2 (06:53):
This is the first of its kind. Yep.

Speaker 1 (06:55):
Now it's the first of several that are going to unfold.
In fact, the guy who took me to lunch actually
said he was hearing Ohio State was going to be
first to the table. Ohio State reported a thirty seven
million dollar debt last year, Colorado twenty seven million dollars
in debt. So I think it's safe to assume and
surmise a bit that this deal does indicate that there
was some debt up on the hill that we haven't

(07:15):
heard about.

Speaker 2 (07:16):
We didn't know about it.

Speaker 1 (07:16):
I don't know about their P and L or their
I haven't seen their financials, but I wouldn't be surprised
if there was some debt up there they needed service.

Speaker 3 (07:23):
In twenty twenty five, there are more athletic departments and
universities in debt across the country than there are. I mean,
if you just if you just went through a fiscal
year like read of most public universities, more often than
not you would find folks who are in the black
or in the red.

Speaker 2 (07:40):
What is it? You know it would be in the red.

Speaker 1 (07:42):
Okay, But to your point that we cannot escape and
there's I'm not I want to be clear, I'm not
trying to spin this. I'm trying to tell people to
walk back from the edge because not all private equity
is created equal.

Speaker 3 (07:53):
Wait, are people mad that this is happening?

Speaker 2 (07:54):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (07:54):
People are panicked, like, oh, it's the beginning of the end, Like, oh,
they debt.

Speaker 3 (07:59):
The beginning of the end of what it used to
be and that's been over for five years. Agreed, But
I think this could be viewed as an official exclamation
mark to that to that era.

Speaker 1 (08:14):
If you are still holding on to any sanctity of amateurism,
then you're the problem.

Speaker 3 (08:17):
And yeah, and that's on you. Agreed, It's time it's
time to grow up. I absolutely agree. My my interest
with this also aligns with if it's five if it
is five hundred million dollars, where is that money going
to Is it going to coaching contracts, roster retention, stadium upgrades,
facility upgrades. Five hundred million is a lot of money.

(08:41):
And granted, I'm sure they're not going to get it
all at one time unless you know otherwise like that,
this is stuff that we will probably need to find
out in the weeks and months to come. But how
is Utah going to utilize all this money to best
compete in this new landscape?

Speaker 1 (08:59):
Yeah, when Taylor's in studio, I'm gonna ask him all
these questions and hopefully he's willing to give us all
the answers. But again going back to the point that
we cannot escape from. These guys are sharks. All of
them are sharks. And there's an undeniable reality.

Speaker 2 (09:12):
When you say.

Speaker 3 (09:13):
Sharks, I'm flipping it on you, like you you know
these you know, out of these folks. So you say, sharks,
what do you mean?

Speaker 2 (09:17):
Well, I'll get there.

Speaker 1 (09:18):
But the undeniable reality, according to these reports, their exit
plan is in five to seven years. Okay, So whether
it's Utah Football or Hilton Hotels or Hooters restaurants, like
whatever it is, whatever you're investing in, Chicken, Chicken sandwich easy,
Jim Halpert, whatever you're investing in, if you have an
exit strategy that is in five to seven years, if

(09:39):
you're a private equity firm, you are expecting probably at
least eight percent return, at least that in five to
seven years. So the point that you made about well,
what happens if you taught football suddenly is on hard times?
What happens if we can't get people to the Huntsman Center,
what happens if like all of those points are very
very fair, because as you outlined, the bottom line for

(09:59):
all these guys is they're in this to make money.
They're not in this because they love Utah athletics. They're
not in this because they love the Sugar Bowl in
two thousand and eight. They don't give a rip about
any of that. They give a rip about one thing,
and that is the return they're going to see in
five to seven years. We can't escape that. To your point,
and what I mean by sharks is they are in
this to pad their already well padded bank accounts so

(10:22):
they can buy their fifth yacht or their fourth mansion
on Long Island. These are just rich capitalists, dude, That's
what they are.

Speaker 3 (10:28):
So in the PE world, we call it an off ramp. Okay,
I just want you to know, I'm it's called an
off And I understand that these guys are not smashing
bird Ficklan tape.

Speaker 2 (10:38):
I get correct, correct, I get that.

Speaker 3 (10:40):
And if we do the math, eight percent of five
hundred million in the next five to seven years is
forty million dollars.

Speaker 2 (10:46):
Yeah, fine of money.

Speaker 1 (10:47):
Yeah, and probably that's the low end of what they're
expecting to get.

Speaker 2 (10:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (10:50):
No, And I absolutely agree. So lots of questions need answers.
I'm with you on the if if you are worried
about the sanctity and the moral high ground of what
college athletics represents, you are.

Speaker 2 (11:08):
You're far behind. Yeah, I'm sorry.

Speaker 3 (11:10):
Yeah, it change happens, it's it's it can be disheartening
for a lot of people. I get that. My fear
is this only lengthens the disparity between folks who can
now afford to go to these games versus working class
people who can no longer afford to take their son

(11:33):
and daughter. And this is not specific to Utah, granted
that this is something that we have an issue with
in this country across the board. At the pro and
college level. These types of entertainment venues and spectacles are
now being tailored to the uber wealthy, to the lows folks,
to the folks who maybe don't want to eat nachos

(11:56):
and hot dogs, but who would prefer bond me pork sliders.
And you know that I crush bond Me pork slide.

Speaker 2 (12:02):
Who doesn't?

Speaker 3 (12:03):
But I don't know if I'm if I'm crushing them
at football games or you know, basketball games or whatever.
I mean, this is very low hanging fruit. And it's
a bit of a segue. But with the World Cup
draw being announced last week, started looking at tickets. You know,
my dad's ring Iran. Want to go watch Iran play.
They have a great draw. Two games in LA one

(12:25):
in Seattle.

Speaker 1 (12:26):
I honed it on that because of you. I'm like,
I wonder if my guy's going to go.

Speaker 3 (12:29):
The cheapest ticket for any Iran New Zealand World Cup
game in LA how much? Right now? Upper upper deck?

Speaker 1 (12:37):
I haven't looked at prices, but the way you're asking it,
I'm gonna guess two grand.

Speaker 2 (12:41):
Well, no, it's six hundred dollars. That's still ridiculous.

Speaker 3 (12:44):
But lower bowls two grand, there's one seam step up
for that game forty thousand dollars.

Speaker 1 (12:50):
So for Iran New Zealand respect, it's a bangera respect.

Speaker 2 (12:54):
That's so fine.

Speaker 3 (12:54):
Yeah yeah, So my my worry is that once again
this is widening the scope of folks who are able
to buy box seats, to buy what do we call
them sweets? Sweets you know.

Speaker 2 (13:10):
I get it.

Speaker 3 (13:11):
Yeah, those are the folks that are going to historically
fund your programs. Does that change now this is something
nass Taylor. Does this change your pricing model? Does this
allow you to not even necessarily price gouge the way
previous universities felt like they had to in order to
keep up. Does having a five hundred million dollar fiscal
infusion allow you to maybe tone it down when it

(13:34):
comes to pricing because you no longer are really, you know,
looking towards those big donor names that you've mentioned to say, like,
we have to keep these folks happy and in order
they're going to cut more checks for us.

Speaker 2 (13:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (13:46):
I mean there are typically two playbooks when it comes
to a private equity merger, right, and one is to
actually lower expenses, meaning do you move your merchandise to
and this will come in tariffs now coming to play, like,
will you know you've moved the factory that makes Utah

(14:09):
Athletics gear to Vietnam now right, So it's just cheaper, right,
So things like that, there is a playbook that would
be lower costs. The more likely playbook, as you outlined,
is again we have to keep in mind a porter
real quick, Will you hop on the mic and remind
Chris what the golden rule is that we adhere to
on the drive.

Speaker 2 (14:29):
The man with the gold makes the rules.

Speaker 1 (14:30):
That's the golden rule, Chris, we follow it on the drive. Okay,
So we have to keep in mind the man with
the gold makes the rules. And even though outro will
not have the controlling stakes, they are giving you five
hundred million dollars, they're gonna want to say in what's
going on here? And again, keep it in mind that
in five to seven years their exit plan will include
a healthy return. The more likely, thank you. The more
likely scenario is, as we've outlined, five hundred million dollars

(14:55):
to infuse your teams with talent is a good thing.
Five hundred million dollars to pay player the way that
Texas Tech and BYU can pay players, right, now is
a good thing. Improving facilities, improving the experience. The consumer
experience will look and feel different pretty quickly. So what
does that mean on the other side, that you are
going to be asked to be to pay more for

(15:15):
your consumer experience tickets, food and bev merch, parking, whatever
the consumer experience involves. Now with UTA Athletics, chances are
will be more expensive where you tailgate, the lots that
you pay for to tailgate, They're probably going to come
up with some sort of consumer experience that involves licensing
and suites, and you'll be asked to pay more for those.

(15:37):
If you're a corporate sponsor right now at the University
of Utah, just get ready for the phone call that says, hey,
you paid us two hundred grand for a presence at
the stadium, a signage or whatever. That's now four hundred grand.
So anything around UTA Athletics, the more likely playbook that
this private equity firm is going to demand is everything

(15:58):
gets more expensive.

Speaker 3 (15:59):
Corner bakery, cafe, parking lot off Guardsman way.

Speaker 2 (16:03):
Right, Yeah, one hundred percent, all of it there.

Speaker 3 (16:06):
Yeah, it's it's totally understandable. But simultaneously a little troubling
in my mind to see where this could potentially go.
But if anything, I think this turns up the heat
on everybody within the athletic department in terms of if
results don't happen, you're going to have to answer that bell,

(16:27):
maybe a little quicker than in years past. You're like,
you're talking about a school that traditionally has given leeway
to its its coaches to kind of persevere and trudge
through tough years to get through the other side. And
more often than not they do, especially in football. But
what does this mean for Morgan Scaley when he takes over?

(16:48):
What does this mean for Alex Jensen and his you know,
shiny four or five year contract whatever he signed last year.

Speaker 2 (16:54):
These are questions that will need to be answered because.

Speaker 3 (16:57):
If you cannot, you weren't able to get butts in
the seats at the Huntsman Center before. What do you
do now? How do you do it now?

Speaker 2 (17:04):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (17:05):
If if, if you have this five hundred million dollar
marker on your back, If Utah football starts two and
four next year and people start bailing.

Speaker 1 (17:17):
Yeah no, And your point about the basketball side is
well taken, which is why I am I have to
be led to believe. And I want to be very clear,
there's so much of this that still needs to be reported.
There's so much of this that needs to be uncovered.
But based off of your point of the problemat nature
of getting people to go to basketball games, this has
to be so heavily laced in football.

Speaker 2 (17:39):
And you know, I was talking to Dave.

Speaker 1 (17:40):
About this, our guy from America First Credit Union, and
you know this, Live TV rights in college football have
been on an upboard trajectory for twenty five years.

Speaker 2 (17:49):
That's not slowing down.

Speaker 1 (17:50):
That has to be the biggest portion of what these
private equity guys see to make sure their investment is safe.
Not like hey can we get five hundred more people
to go watch the basketball team. It's like, Okay, what
does the Big twelve's TV network deal look like right now?

Speaker 2 (18:05):
And what will it look like in.

Speaker 1 (18:06):
Five years when they renegotiate, And is there a chance
Utah gets the call for the Big Ten. I'm not
saying that that's going to happen if Utah gets the
Big Ten invite. These guys have made money hand over fist,
So I wonder if Taylor and Mark talking to the
outro guys said, Look, we actually believe in two to

(18:27):
three years there will be a seismic shift and either
we're going to the Big ten or this pro model
that will manifest will include us, and if that happens,
the valuation for Utah football will supersede two to three
billion dollars because of how valuable all the properties will be.

Speaker 3 (18:43):
My guess would be that Big twelve Commissioner brett Or
Mark is happy about this too, because he's been beating
that drum in terms of being innovative and taking steps
that other universities haven't taken in the past, starting with
his you know, taking taking games overseas, uh, you know,
partnering with the WWE, all this stuff. He's he's been

(19:06):
pretty brash about about being innovative. So the fact that
one of his schools has done this and the fact
that others will likely follow will be able to put
a feather in his cap, so to speak. But uh, yeah,
it's it's an I don't can we call it a
gamble or is it who bye by everybody? Or is
it a maybe distilled down to just a interesting business decision?

Speaker 2 (19:29):
No?

Speaker 1 (19:30):
No, So I'm trying to think and we'll catch a
break and we'll get we'll continue to pack this coming up.
On the other side, I I just knowing the way
these dudes operate, you know, and knowing that this deal
has been negotiated for months now. I can't see OTRO
looking at this as a gamble. They have to be
viewing it as a very sound investment. I think if

(19:52):
there's risk, it's on the other side. I think that
if there's risk, it's on the side of the University
of Utah, because you can't spend it any other way.
If you're taking five hundred million dollars, things are going
to change. They just are. So what sort of faith
do you have in the community here that when the
email inevitably starts spilling into the season ticket holder saying, oh,
by the way, thirty percent up charge next year, how

(20:15):
many people say yes? And how many people say I can't.
I have budgetary limitations. These tickets were already expensive. I
cannot afford to do what you're asking. If there's some
sort of pushback from this community saying I cannot invest
in your athletic department because I just don't have the money,
that's where it gets sticky.

Speaker 2 (20:33):
And then you bring into the other side of this.

Speaker 1 (20:35):
Where according to both The Athletic and Yahoo Ross Dellinger,
they are making opportunities for people to buy into this
to invest with them, right, so you can actually write
a check for I don't know million bucks and you
can get some shares. And that's what it does if
you have the scratch, because they're starting in a separate
LLC which is for profit. And if these reports are correct,

(20:59):
you know, Chris comra utah lum, maybe you get an
email say hey, you got extra mill Well, if you do,
send it over and then you get I don't know
how many other how many shares or pieces of equity
in this new product, you know, this project, and in
five to seven years when we exit, you get paid, right.
And so is there enough money coming in in that
direction to make up for the fact that you might

(21:20):
lose a lot of your season ticket holders who can't
afford the up charge that's coming their way.

Speaker 2 (21:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (21:24):
To me, it ultimately boils down to what we've been
talking about on this show since it started. Is to me,
ninety five percent of fans just want to be able
to root for a product on the field that's awesome,
and they want to be able to brag to their
friends who root for other teams and say my team's
cooler than yours, and they want to be able to
go to a stadium and say I'm paying this money

(21:45):
so I can watch this awesome team play. Now it's
time to deliver. I don't think. I don't think there's
any I don't I think the days of wiggle room
are vast Yeah, are vastly diminishing.

Speaker 2 (21:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (21:56):
So to answer your question, I don't feel like, you know,
OUTRO would take this partnership if they felt like there
was tremendous risk. I do think if there's risk, it's
on the other side. But we'll get back to this.
Chris actually was able to talk to Cookie Bro and
there's an angle here where if you're a BYU booster,
are you looking at what Utah just did in saying,
wait a second, I'm not getting ROI I just donated

(22:16):
to the school, and what could that mean.

Speaker 2 (22:18):
We'll get to that.

Speaker 1 (22:18):
But my guy Dave from America First Credit Union is
live in studio.

Speaker 2 (22:22):
A lot of money conversation on the show today.

Speaker 1 (22:24):
But this is good money because we want to get
your money working for you. So make the switch from
your branch or your bank to America First Credit Union,
But Dave, we'll start here. America First Credit Union, the
Charitable Foundation, the thirty first annual Warm the Souls for Kids.

Speaker 2 (22:38):
What do we have going on? Let's get Dave's mike on.
There you go. Sorry, good.

Speaker 4 (22:43):
We're taking a break from the money and seeing how
we can give back to our community. Spence when we
after we were in business for fifty years, we thought
we need to do something else for our community, and
so we formed the Community Assistance Program, where we identified
programs that needed some support. We've started to create our
own programs, but we've been involved with community support for
quite some time. Our Charitable Foundation is deeply involved in

(23:08):
helping those communities that are just maybe struggling, and we
focus on things like food, clothing, shelter, safety, education, those
types of things that everybody might experience at some point.
So this is our thirty first year of doing the
Warm the Soul's program. Warm the Soules really is just
a way for us to provide a new pair of
shoes to underprivileged children. And these are kids that have

(23:32):
never had new shoes before, and we had an awesome experience.
You mentioned John Kimball being on the show there on
today he was at this opportunity. We were in America
First Field. We partner with RSL and the Royals, and
we bust over an entire elementary school. Five hundred and
almost fifty kids came over and they were able to

(23:52):
have a tour of the stadium, get some lunch, and
then be outfitted with a new pair of shoes. And
we see these kids that are like, I've never had
these before and straighten your toes out. Well, that's not
how I wear my shoes. It is now, and they
were just floating and there was John right there along
with other you know, executives and players and representatives from
America First tie in these shoes on these kids and

(24:15):
just to see the smiles come to their faces, the
joy they were jumping and bouncing and running faster and
jumping higher, and it was just such a cool experience.
Last year we donated over four thousand pairs of shoes
to forty eight different schools and organizations across where we
do our business. And our goal this year is just
to ensure that no kid gets left behind. And so
it's one of those heartwarming holiday traditions that we just love.

Speaker 1 (24:38):
So tell me why you decided to go this route shoes,
what motivated to just kind of hone in on this angle.

Speaker 4 (24:45):
Yeah, shoes are important. You know you don't think about
shoes at least I didn't. I mean I thought of
new pair of shoes, but that was just one pair
of shoes of many that I had in the closet.
These are kids that wear hand me downs. These are
kids that maybe wear their parents' shoes, and if they
don't have shoes to wear, then they're not going to
go to school. When they don't go to school, they're
not learning. Or when they go to school with holes
in their in their shoes, they get picked on, they

(25:07):
get made fun of, and it just does not set
that kid off for success. And that's where that's where
kids spend most of their time is in school. And
so if we can improve that experience for them by
a simple pair of shoes, lifting their spirits, giving them
some self confidence, boosting them arale, it's so good. And
these are athletic shoes because you know, it's not only

(25:27):
walking to school, but it's also participating in gym and
the extracurricular activities they.

Speaker 2 (25:32):
Might be involved in.

Speaker 4 (25:34):
Or after school activities, and so you know, we we'd
love to be able to provide this opportunity and that's
why we engage the community. We have a QR code.
If you're not a member of America First, you can
scan that QR code on our website and donate. If
you are a member, you can bring in a donation
to a branch, or you can make an online donation
through mobile or online banking. And this year we're also

(25:57):
allowing tangible donations as well. If members want to bring
in a new pair of athletic shoes, will accept those
and add those to the shoes that we're providing for
these kids. So we found that shoes make a difference.

Speaker 1 (26:08):
So it started November first, but we have until December
thirty first. As Dave reference, you can go into any
branch Chris Camaradi live in studio. Just jam into some
Dave on a Tuesday. No big deal, satellite thumbs up,
thumbs down, up, all the way up, big satellite guy. Absolutely,
it's not really a deep track.

Speaker 3 (26:25):
It's a fringe track. Fringe track, right, It's one where
at minute eight you kind of feel like, Okay, we
can do this for another eight minutes, you know, and
then minute sixteen you're like, oh, there it is.

Speaker 1 (26:38):
Yeah, yeah, No, you have to stick with the three
bridges exact, and they really take it home at the end.
You know, I'm not telling you anything you don't know,
all right. Of course, the majority of today's show will
be about this piece of news that came out earlier
today with the University of Utah entering into what could
be a five hundred million dollar equity partnership with Otro
Capital out of Manhattan, out of New York. U shared

(27:01):
ownership of a for profit entity. That's very important to
keep in mind to operate athletics, namely football, basketball, and gymnastics.
You talked to Cookie Bro. You were able to get
my guy. Took Bro that he is my guy.

Speaker 3 (27:14):
I thought about you.

Speaker 2 (27:15):
Did you?

Speaker 1 (27:16):
Did you share my joke that if a cookie came
to human form, he would look that's what that's what
a human cookie looks like.

Speaker 3 (27:22):
I did not, Because I'm a I'm a professional journalist.
Have to remain I have to remain with some some
semblance of standards. And you can't fault somebody who's going
out of their way to talk to you. Yes, that's
not necessarily a way to you know, improve your your
your persona as a professional journalist.

Speaker 1 (27:42):
But I thought of you, Do you feel like you
give me the same respect you gave Cookie Brower?

Speaker 3 (27:46):
Well, yeah, you're a journalist.

Speaker 1 (27:48):
I'm more of an entertainer. That's why I can make jokes. Okay,
So I can make jokes because you know about pe
I do. Yeah, I do off ramps as we've been over.
But one angle here is if it's Jason what's his name,
Jason McCaw mcgow and if you're Jason McGowan, if you're
Ryan Smith, if you're Danny Ainge, if you're any of
the names that have been linked to donating money to BYU,

(28:09):
it's a different setup.

Speaker 2 (28:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (28:11):
So what Utah has announced is the potential of an Eccles,
a huntsman, a garf or whoever the rich folk are
around here that want to invest in the Utah Athletics essentially.
And look, I need to be careful here because I
don't know if this is how it is articulated. But
my guess would be, hey, instead of just donating to
the Crimson Collective, you can invest with us with outros.

(28:35):
You can invest in this product and then you can
make some money on the back end, so you can
own a piece of what we're doing with BYU.

Speaker 2 (28:42):
That's not how it's working.

Speaker 1 (28:43):
Whether it's Jason o' ryan or Danny, they're just donating
to the school because they love the school, because they
love athletics, and they want to see BYU thrive in
the message of the LEDs Church to move forward. I
just wonder how this news would be met down there.
Do you think anybody's going, wait a second, let's figure
out way where our powerful rich donors can actually own
a piece of what we do.

Speaker 3 (29:04):
I don't know, because the powerful rich donors at BYU,
I think across the board just have more money combined
than those like Yeah, they might not even take off.
They operate in the bees billions. And these are individuals
and I think you know, there might be one or
two of those associated with Utah. BYU has quite a few.

(29:27):
And not to mention, I think they kind of have
the ultimate in state Trump card if they want to
use it. Is they are funded by a religious institution
that has a ton of money.

Speaker 2 (29:39):
I think they're doing all right with their investments.

Speaker 3 (29:42):
And if we learned anything within the last week, the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints does care
about BYU athletics in the in the wake of retaining
Kolani Sataki, after we were told for years that church
doesn't you know, isn't that involved in in BYU and
doesn't necessarily work about you know, the athletic department and

(30:03):
how it kind of represents itself as one of the
flagship for public facing members of the church. Anyways, I
don't necessarily think this is a you know, press the alarm,
five alarm fire type deal for b YU just because
they're they're I think they're two totally different fan bases,

(30:25):
donor bases. You're talking about one that has a billion
dollar cookie industry. You're talking about one who a dude
who owns two professional sports franchises in this in this state.
I would assume that you'll eventually see something like this
at every school.

Speaker 2 (30:44):
I don't. I don't.

Speaker 3 (30:45):
I don't think that in the wake of last week
and BYU puffing its chest and saying we were able
to spend money and Retan Kalani and everybody came together.
I don't think that's diminished. I don't think the glow
is faded. And I don't think the glow is faded
because they lost to Texas Tech. But seeing that, I
don't think necessarily takes a win out of their sales.

Speaker 1 (31:02):
I agree with you, and I think the bigger point,
if you're byus, you don't need this model.

Speaker 2 (31:08):
Utah needed it. Yep. If we're honest, Utah needed it.

Speaker 1 (31:11):
And I think where a lot of people are panicking today,
if you're a ute fan, you really should look at
this with somewhat of a positive light, because the question
has been like, well, wait a second, who's our Cody Campbell,
Who's our Ryan Smith?

Speaker 2 (31:24):
Who's our cookie bro?

Speaker 1 (31:25):
And while I feel like there have been a lot
of UTAH donors and boosters that don't go to social
media to say, hey, look at me, I'm going to
pay a fine that wasn't real on their Twitter accounts
and be a little front facing about that.

Speaker 3 (31:37):
Are are you going after? Are you going after the
cookie guy?

Speaker 1 (31:40):
I think a lot of them just are fine operating
behind the scenes. But again, I cannot read this announcement
any other way than it was out of necessity. I
do believe it is an inevitability and we're going to
hear more deals like this, but I think to your
point about BYU, they might suspect we don't need to
do this, like we're fine with what we have.

Speaker 3 (31:58):
You have a problem with Jason mc and saying he'd
pay for the storming the first trap was a little
wist man. He actually didn't end up having to pay
for it because the Big twelve rescinded the fact.

Speaker 2 (32:10):
That's why I wasn't even right.

Speaker 3 (32:13):
But he paid for a lot of in state school
lunch debt for kids who.

Speaker 2 (32:18):
Which is awesome. So shout out cookie bro Okay, thank you?

Speaker 1 (32:22):
Did he sent out a video of him sending the
check in or just curious.

Speaker 3 (32:26):
One thing that you need to ask Taylor about is
does how does this affect the Crimson Collective? Does the
Crimson Collective still even exist? Absolutely, because in the wake
of the house settlement the summer, a lot of collectives
at schools basically just they were like, we don't we
don't necessarily need to be part of the equation anymore.

Speaker 2 (32:43):
Some have.

Speaker 3 (32:45):
But another interesting part of this whole thing is the CSC,
the College Sports Commission. Nil go, how is something like
this going to affect quote unquote the cap that may
or may not be you know, in force, everything is
a moving target because nobody is in charge of anything,
right And to your point, this is something that Utah

(33:07):
needed in order to compete with the with the blue bloods. Again,
I don't know how many answers will get in the
short term because we'll have to see how they go
through various transfer portal cycles, recruiting cycles, how much what
their budget is in terms of spending on actual football, basketball,

(33:29):
women's basketball, gymnastics rosters. Is that stuff's going to be interesting,
and they're a public institution, so eventually that those numbers
I think will be made public.

Speaker 1 (33:38):
The other angle here, because we've been discussing you know,
according to the reports, it's football, it's basketball, and it's gymnastics.

Speaker 2 (33:46):
Right.

Speaker 1 (33:46):
So the good news is because again we're going to
continue to repeat the bottom line that these guys OTRO,
the new partner's new private equity group that has now
partnered with the University of Utah, are expecting in five
to seven years to exit with a lot of money
as a result of what they're giving now. So because
they simply operate off the bottom line and what's profitable

(34:07):
and what isn't and how do we make what isn't profitable, profitable.
The fact that they didn't include these other sports does
not make them a line item.

Speaker 2 (34:14):
Meaning when these guys come to the.

Speaker 1 (34:16):
Table, would hope, well, it can't because it's not part
of it. So when these guys come to the table,
like if you included soccer and softball and track and
field in this partnership, they'd sit down and say, it
doesn't make money no more. But what this allows is football, basketball, gymnastics,
and this money to bankroll the other sports that aren't
revenue generators.

Speaker 2 (34:37):
So that's a good that's piece of good news like that.

Speaker 1 (34:40):
I think a lot of people have assumed, in the
wake of all of this capital being infused into college athletics,
it will be at the expense of the products that
don't make money, because that's how private equity works well.

Speaker 3 (34:51):
And if you remember, there was an unfortunate kind of
operating in tandem of during the peak COVID pandemic, a
lot of of universities across the nation decided to cut
a lot of these non revenue generating sports because seasons
were altered, they basically couldn't play. The debt was piling

(35:11):
up within athletic departments and universities nationwide. I mean, I
don't know if you remember, but Stanford cut a bunch
of or tried to cut a bunch of, you know,
sports that were not revenue generating sports. But at a
school like Stanford, you're always churning out Olympians. You're in
all of these very small Olympic sports. It happened at
a handful of schools. If you're Utah, if you're if

(35:34):
you're an alumnus who played you know, baseball, if you're
an alumna who played softball, this is I would I
would imagine this is good news because you don't we
can't lose sight. And this is definitely me high horsing
it right now. Like, yes, basketball, football, and even at
a school like Utah, gymnastics make money and I get that,

(35:57):
but like that's not all is Like I got my
start as a beat writer at the Daily Utah Chronicle
covering track and field in two thousand and seven. Yeah,
that was my job and to go to track practice
every day. So like in a world where track doesn't
exist at school like Utah, I might not have a

(36:17):
job and I might not get to where I'm at
right now. Like there's a trickle down effect that like
not only impacts folks student athletes, coaches, but you know
a significant amount of members in the community as well.

Speaker 1 (36:29):
And I think the angle that you're bringing up is
one of the things that a lot of people are
a little bit worried about as far as you know,
losing the things that make collegiate athletics special, just the ability,
like not everybody plays football, not even plays basketball or gymnastics, Like,
you want the ability if your kid is a cross
country athlete, or if your kid's a softball player, soccer player,

(36:50):
you want him to potentially be able to do that
in college at the University of Utah.

Speaker 2 (36:53):
You don't want everything to go away.

Speaker 1 (36:55):
And again, as we explore the dangers of the future,
if you read the tea leaves, with all this money
coming in, there is a chance that the people that
are writing the checks will only want to back the
things that generate revenue because that up to the bottom line,
and therefore they'll be able to exit with a lot
of money. So when I read that portion of this agreement,
I actually took it as tremendous good news that if

(37:16):
you are a fan of Utah soccer or Utah Baseball
or shout out bethlinearity the legend certainly a friend of
the program.

Speaker 2 (37:26):
By the way, Yep, it appears that you're in good hands.

Speaker 1 (37:29):
You're safe, You are not in danger of being cut,
even though you don't generate revenue for both the institution
and now your new private equity partners.

Speaker 3 (37:36):
And I would assume that you're also able to maintain
enough healthy, viable financial options through your boosters that if
you need, if you need, folks to donate to those
sports specifically in the NIL landscape, because it's it's not
like baseball players aren't getting paid in college baseball, right,

(37:59):
The best team in college baseball last year LSU. You
paid a lot of money for that team.

Speaker 2 (38:02):
Yeah. Yeah, So it's like, if you.

Speaker 3 (38:04):
Want to remain competitive, you're still going to have to
find a way to pay your players, even in those
sports that aren't necessarily revenue generating.

Speaker 2 (38:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (38:10):
And a lot of that comes down to the magic
bullet of like a Cody Campbell saying, ya, go pay
a million bucks for that softball pitcher and we'll go
to the College World Series. You need somebody that you know,
like a Dale Murphy type who loves baseball. Who who
can call these people and say, look, I want to
buy into this, but my five million dollars goes to
the baseball program, right Otherwise the majority of this revenue

(38:31):
will go to the sports that generate revenue. But because
there's enough revenue that's generated in cash infusion, if you're
not on the revenue generating side, does appear that you're safe.
But I wonder one of the things that I think
is a little bit well, A it's fluid, and B
it's kind of unknown.

Speaker 2 (38:47):
So on one side.

Speaker 1 (38:49):
You have the ability to partner with UTAH and OTRO.
You can buy into the project, you can buy equity
into it, you can buy shares or whatever it is,
and then when the exit happens, you have the ability
to make money on the other side, So there will
be a portion of our community that already has been
asked or will be given the opportunity to have a

(39:09):
partnership in that direction. But what I don't know the
answer to is the portion of our community that's not
in that group that gets the email that your season
tickets are now thirty percent more.

Speaker 2 (39:20):
Oh you like the tailgate, Well it cost I don't
even know.

Speaker 1 (39:23):
We'll just say, it cost twenty thousand last year, it
costs fifty thousand this year. What will be the response
of that portion of our community, because I do think
that's a portion that needs to be serviced and taken
care of. And when it comes to the shark nature
of this stuff, they're fine feasting on the people. And
if you don't want to be a part of it, sorry,
if you can't afford it, we're just going to kick
you aside.

Speaker 3 (39:43):
So I should have sent you this story earlier last month,
my colleague Matt Baker and.

Speaker 2 (39:49):
I shout out.

Speaker 3 (39:49):
Mainly Matt did a story on the rising cost of
college athletics for fans. But Matt is based in Florida.
He covers Florida, Floria State, MI. And we told it
through the lens of Florida State fan who her name
was Ann, retired school teacher, like eighty three years old.
It's been going to games for like sixty years, and

(40:11):
she's priced out and like her kids, who are in
their fifties and sixties, were like, mom loves the seminoles
more than anybody in the world. We can't afford to
do this anymore. So not only can you potentially and
I'm not saying this is going to happen at Utah,
but when you potentially price out one family member, you
can price out an entire family. Like, generations are affected

(40:34):
by this stuff because kids are kids who are lucky
enough to grow up going to games or watching games
on TV, want to continue to be involved with their fandom,
whether it be in person or on TV. How are
those folks affected when the bottom line comes? That's what
I mentioned earlier last segment, Like you have to not
necessarily play Kate to the folks who are eating the

(40:59):
bond mesel. And I understand that you have to because
those are the folks that are paying money for the
expensive seats and help you, you know, get out of
the red not the blamere you go, you got it.
But there are how many how many seats at Recycle
Stadium now.

Speaker 2 (41:14):
Like forty eighth like something like that. Yeah, how many of.

Speaker 3 (41:16):
Those folks are not doing the BONDI sliders the majority
of them?

Speaker 2 (41:21):
Yeah, you know, the other piece of danger here.

Speaker 1 (41:23):
And I again I want to be clear, I'm not
saying this is going to happen, but we have to
kind of discuss all the layers here and the other possibilities.
I can promise you that when it comes to these
new partners, when it comes to Outro Capital, that Alex
Shiner isn't back in Manhattan wondering what the experience of
the MUST looks like.

Speaker 2 (41:43):
They don't give a rip.

Speaker 1 (41:44):
There's a chance the student section is also approached differently.
There's a chance that they're moved, and there's a chance
that they're asked to pay a lot more than they're
being paid right now for the tickets. Your private equity
partner isn't concerned about how the MUST looks on television.
They'll look at that section when they're watching a Utah
football game and say, how much are we charging them?

Speaker 3 (42:03):
Third down jump?

Speaker 1 (42:04):
Third down jump? And how much can we up charge them?
And what's that line look like? Because we want them there,
but we also want them to pay more money. And
then what do the students say if suddenly the student
deal just goes away.

Speaker 2 (42:16):
So that's a possibility.

Speaker 3 (42:18):
So you're doing a really good job of last segment.
You said the world is an ending, but right now
you're also painting it like, oh it could potentially be
a little ikey.

Speaker 1 (42:28):
Well, there's good to this, and there's potential danger and.

Speaker 3 (42:31):
The truth always lies somewhere where.

Speaker 2 (42:33):
In the middle.

Speaker 1 (42:33):
And I'll continue to say that your consumer experience is
going to look different and you are going to be
asked to pay more for your consumer experience. If you
want an example, when's the last time you went to
a jazz game?

Speaker 2 (42:45):
Okay?

Speaker 1 (42:45):
So Ryan Smith his private equity partners, they come over,
they take over from the Millers, and initially it's like, well,
we're not going to change much.

Speaker 2 (42:52):
They change everything.

Speaker 1 (42:53):
They changed the building, they changed the team, they change
the personnel. So are you enjoying the jazz experience? Maybe
you enjoy the new building, maybe you enjoy the new suites,
maybe you enjoy.

Speaker 2 (43:04):
The upgraded food.

Speaker 1 (43:05):
The team sucks, Okay, So like things are going to
change when new ownership and new money is involved. And
I don't know what that looks like for Utah yet.
Only time will tell.

Speaker 3 (43:13):
But at least it's the Delta Center and not.

Speaker 2 (43:16):
The Delta cent It is the Delta Center.

Speaker 1 (43:19):
Yeah, I mean, look, corporate sponsorships will change, Like the
feel around the stadium is going to change.

Speaker 2 (43:25):
Things are going to be different. I'm not running from that.

Speaker 3 (43:28):
Well and again all of this, I mean you can
distill this down to the results will matter now more
than ever because people are not going to pay an
arm and a leg to go watch a team that
either can't run the ball or can't stop the run,
or is not playing a you know, enticing brand of

(43:49):
football on either side of the ball. This is just
not gonna happen. Like lived here a long time, I've
seen sports fans leave Utah when Utah's bad. I've seen
them leave by you when they're bad, and they've left
the Jazz when they're bad. You got to prove it
to them. This is this is This is not a
state that's just going to show up for the sake
of showing up. It is just not And I don't

(44:10):
blame them.

Speaker 2 (44:11):
Yeah, no, you're right. Irrelevant Fact of the day.

Speaker 1 (44:14):
Aleb Scheider, the partner and co founder of Otro Capital,
went to the same high.

Speaker 2 (44:18):
School as Kobe Bryant. There you go, Lower Marion.

Speaker 3 (44:22):
It means I think we know somebody else who went
to I don't.

Speaker 2 (44:24):
Think we do.

Speaker 1 (44:25):
But all right, last thing, Chris Uh, Texas Tech's best team,
the Big Twelve have been all year.

Speaker 2 (44:31):
Were you surprised to see them just curb stomp BYU?

Speaker 3 (44:34):
Hey, the game was uglier than by you played. And
I'm not making excuses because Texas Tech is the superior team,
they have the superior defense. BYU's defense played phenomenally in
both those games. They did despite having the score being
so one sided. Like I think my colleague Chris Vanini

(44:56):
at some point in the third or fourth quarter said,
out of ten red zone trips that Texas Tech had
against BYU and the two games that they've played, they'd
scored two touchdowns and that was before like the third
and fourth turnover, So maybe they maybe that changed. But
you're taking a true freshman quarterback against one of the
best defenses in the country, and as soon as Bear

(45:16):
got hurt, as soon as he rolled his ankle, it
was over. Because you're not You're not going to put
in McKay Hillstead, who's seen not zero minutes this year
against you know, a front four that has four future
pros on it. It is what it is, Like, I'm
going to I'm going to give Clark Lely, Vanderbilt head coach,
a whole lot of flowers praise. He said, you we

(45:38):
only have one person to one team to blame for
being left out of the playoff. That's us because we
lost the teams. We lost the games that we should
have won. If they would have beat Alabama, they would
have been in. If b YU would have beat Texas
Tech one time, they would.

Speaker 2 (45:50):
Have been in.

Speaker 3 (45:51):
If Utah would have beat BYU or Texas Tech would
have been in.

Speaker 2 (45:54):
No, you're not wrong.

Speaker 3 (45:55):
Let's we need to stop casting the blame elsewhere. Man,
grow up? Who are these people? I have to teach
my three year old and how to lose and these
guys can't figure out a way to do it and
they're making millions of dollars?

Speaker 1 (46:07):
Come on, yeah, we always want someone to blame. K Well,
look you traverse the space beautifully. Your succession binge watching
paid off to be able to speak the financial language.

Speaker 2 (46:17):
Thanks for the time, man.

Speaker 3 (46:18):
I was going to send you the jiff of it's inappropriate, I'll.

Speaker 2 (46:24):
Send it to me.

Speaker 1 (46:24):
Just remember I'm on there live until six all right,
before we catch goodbye, Chris, before we catch a break,
My guy Dave America First Credit Union live in studio.
Is all of this financial conversation are your eyes glossing over?

Speaker 2 (46:37):
Is this is boring for you?

Speaker 3 (46:38):
No?

Speaker 4 (46:39):
This is intriguing. You know, I'm a Utah fan. I
love the Crimson just it's it's heartwarming to know, but
it's it makes me uneasy. I think it's fair, you know.
I mean when you think about if there's an eight
percent return, it's five hundred and forty million dollars.

Speaker 2 (46:55):
They got a bible to give back.

Speaker 4 (46:56):
Yeah, and if they're out in five to seven years,
how's that stuff all going to work? So it's intriguing
to me to see how it's going to work. But yeah,
it's about dollars. Yeah, and that's a that's a tough
prospect for our community.

Speaker 1 (47:08):
I think I wonder, since you're a Utah fan, let
me ask you this question. Would your consumer experience change
when you're watching your college football team and you realize
that essentially they're just professional athletes wearing the Utah red
that you love as opposed to Alex Smith or Brian Johnson.

Speaker 2 (47:27):
You know that you knew they were here for three
or four years.

Speaker 1 (47:29):
I love Utah football and now you're more or less
watching mercenaries just wearing the colors that you cheer for.

Speaker 2 (47:34):
Does that change the experience? It does?

Speaker 4 (47:37):
I think I think for me personally, what's changed sports
for me is probably nil and fantasy.

Speaker 2 (47:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (47:44):
I grew up cheering for a team, cheering for a color,
cheering for a squad, cheering for everybody, and now it
seems to be more about individuals and so that's changed
it for me. And so the jersey that you get
could be obsolete in a year. Yeah, yeah, it's unfortunate.

Speaker 1 (47:59):
We'll dig back into this, but it's Tuesday today, but
we're going to talk about Fridays, America First Fridays.

Speaker 2 (48:05):
Dave tell us about it.

Speaker 4 (48:06):
Oh, this is something that we started this year, Spence,
that is really a great deal for sports fans. You
know when we talk about the cost of sports and
what it takes to have a family experience, we dialed
into that and said, how can we help lift and
so we have great partners with Utah Mammoth and the
Utah Jazz to help improve that experience. So we have
these America First Fridays where the first Friday of every

(48:29):
month we launch a new deal and we're so grateful
for the Mammoth and Jazz for helping us do this.
So last Friday we launched a great deal where we
can get some exclusive offers and exclusive deals for a
Mammoth game, this Mammoth game. You can enjoy this deal

(48:50):
if you're a member of America First. It's not for
the general public, and so this is a member deal only,
but you can get single goal view tickets to watch
Utah Mammoth go head to head again the Winnipeg Jets
on December twenty first. Yes, what an awesome Christmas present
that you could give your kids when you just need
a deal and you want to go see you know,
go see the Mammoth play.

Speaker 2 (49:08):
So tusks up for that one. Very nice.

Speaker 1 (49:10):
And then as far as the jazz side of things,
you also released a new Jazz debit card that's very
handsome as well.

Speaker 4 (49:16):
Yeah, oh that's a pretty card. Yeah, this is our
second purple card. I believe this is our fifth Affinity
card that we've done.

Speaker 2 (49:23):
But it's pretty. It's really nice and pretty.

Speaker 4 (49:25):
And so yeah, the Jazz are also on board with
offering these exclusive America First member deals and so you
can get some you can get some tickets. One of
those offers was already played on Sunday, December seventh against
the Oklahoma City Thunder. So there's two more games that
you can get some deals on for the December fifteenth

(49:46):
against the Dallas Mavericks and then December twentieth against the
Orlando Magic. And so these are fantastic offers that you
get when you're a member of America First. In addition
to those ticket offers, and it'll be different every month,
this month, you can also enter to win a two
hundred and fifty dollars team gift card, Team store gift cards,

(50:07):
a lot of money Christmas on the way. Yeah, we'll
get your jersey, go get you some team merch. That's
pretty awesome. So we're excited for this. Become a member
of America First, watch out for those deals. The next
deals coming up on January sixth, so it's always that
first Friday of the month.

Speaker 2 (50:22):
Why is it good to be a member?

Speaker 1 (50:23):
Simple question for you, Dave, Why is it good to
be a member of America First Credit Union.

Speaker 4 (50:27):
Yeah, we strive to provide the very best products and
services to help you out financially. But beyond the financial
security and stability, we want to provide you with a
sense of trust in who you do your finances with.
And that's what we strive to do. That's what we've
strived to do for the last eighty six years. Is
to provide some of that financial stability. In addition to that,
we look for ways where we can benefit the community.

(50:49):
We benefit you, we benefit your kids, We benefit through
you know, we talked about the worm the souls, but
also food donations, backpack donations. We do this awesome scholarship
program all throughout the year where we're benefiting kids that
are just awesome and it makes them strive to be better.
It helps them look for ways that they can give
back to their community, be a leader, be studious, and

(51:11):
improve their situation life so that they're going to be
set in their employment, in their careers. And so it's
great to be a part of that, and we welcome
anybody to come and be a part of America First