January 31, 2025 • 39 mins
Join hosts Michael Barr and Damian Sassower for a look at some of the latest headlines and stories in the business of sports. Bloomberg Business of Sports reporter Randall Williams on expected viewership for Super Bowl LIX plus halftime performer Kendrick Lamar’s beef with Drake.
Louise Johnson, CEO of sports and entertainment marketing agency Fuse discusses her recent panel at CES 2025 that focused on the growth of AI technology in sports and entertainment, and how her firm caters to increasing demand for "personalization" among sports content consumers.
Plus, Dallas Cowboys' executive vice president Charlotte Jones and former pro-tennis star John Isner chat about getting into the tennis business with the Ford Center hosting the Dallas Open.
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 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News. This is the Business
of Sports.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
The business of sports can be intimidating or hard for
a starting to break into.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
We really appreciate when our owners are actually there, you know,
with us through the journey.
Speaker 4 (00:19):
Teams ours especially have been very intentional to diversify at
all levels of the company.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
I think we're in bolden years for the NFL and
college football.
Speaker 4 (00:26):
Our demographic reach has continued to explode. This is going
to be really unlocking the streaming platform for sports fans.
Speaker 5 (00:34):
Sports evaluations arising. We'll see when they peak.
Speaker 6 (00:37):
You don't have to be the best in your sports
to make a whole ton of money.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports, where we explore
the big money issues in the world of sports. I'm
Michael Barr along with Damian Sassour. Coming up today. There
may not be any playoff football in Dallas this season,
but the Cowboys are still in the headlines. They've got
a new coach in place, and they're hoping to oversee
the latest installment of the Dallas Open. We'll hear from
(01:10):
Cowboys co owner Charlotte Jones, Anderson and tennis great John
Isner on the big event.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
This is such an incredible sports city and all of
our community just jumps in big to any sport that
actually hits here, and I think John would agree with that.
But for us to be able to turn our football
field into tennis courts was really an exciting opportunity for us,
so we thought why not.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
We'll also talk with FEW CEO Luis Johnson on how
the AI Revolution is poised to shake up the sports world.
All that coming up on the show, But first.
Speaker 5 (01:47):
First Down Playing Mahomes keeps it on an RPO at
the five.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
It's a lead plot.
Speaker 7 (01:51):
He goes out of the ends on their side.
Speaker 8 (01:54):
Touchdown City, Patrick Mahomes.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
It is the home before the storm. As all eyes
turned toward the Big Easy ahead of Super Bowl fifty
nine next weekend, we'll discuss the NFL's pursuit of another
ratings milestone and what the Chiefs and Eagles second Super
Sunday clash in the last three years means for the
league's bottom line. Let's bring in Bloomberg Global Business sports
(02:21):
reporter Rando Williams. Randoh Oh, friend, Welcome back to the
Bloomberg Business of sports.
Speaker 5 (02:28):
I appreciate you a long time to talk.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
I know, man, it's like we got to have you
in more often. We can't wait until just the super
Bowl comes in, which brings me to the first point. Now,
I know there are good news and bad news things here,
but I'm going to start with the ticket prices for
the super Bowl in New Orleans, and they're about, according
to certain services, that thirty seven percent lower. And a
(02:52):
lot of it has to do with the Kansas City
Chiefs fatigue because this is the fifth time out of
six years they've been playing in the super Bowl.
Speaker 5 (03:00):
I would push back on that, and I mean, I
do think that there might be a little fatigue. But
also this is definitely a market based thing. If the
super Bowl is in Los Angeles at Sofa Stadium, if
it's in a newer stadium, and there has half a
billion dollars put into New Orleans as well, but just
the city side of it, and then this is two
superstar teams as well. Like America loves a winner just
(03:20):
as much as they'd love to see a winner lose.
So I think based on the ratings that we'll see,
we'll find out if there truly is Chiefs fatigue. But
I think that's being overstated a little bit because people
hate the Chiefs.
Speaker 7 (03:34):
Well, Randall, I mean, on a year over year basis,
I think it's expected that the prices were going to
go down, right.
Speaker 5 (03:38):
That was Vegas' first year hosting the city.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
We have the.
Speaker 7 (03:40):
Niners, a lot of San Francisco fans, a lot of them. Yeah,
But I mean, but what I'm hearing is this is
kind of reminiscent of what went down during the Patriots dynasty, right,
Like people got sick of Tom Brady winning all the time,
and so I don't know if this is more of
the same. I mean, you're going to have Chois Swift there,
You've got Kendrick Lemore playing at a half time.
Speaker 5 (03:57):
So let me ask you this, let me ask you this. Sure,
did you enjoy watching the Chiefs as a team or
the Patriots as a team more?
Speaker 9 (04:07):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (04:07):
Definitely the Chiefs more, right exactly. So with that in mind,
I would argue that Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid are
a more entertaining watch than what the Patriots. Fair Enough,
when you were watching the Patriots, what I remember about
that time, outside of the pain that they caused me,
was that they would drag some of these games so long,
but the outcome was inevitable. And with the Chiefs, some
(04:29):
of it is the exact same thing, but there is
more of what I would call electricity behind it. And
so with that in mind, yes, I do think that
there are some people who are just like, oh, I'm
tired of Mahomes, I'm tired of that. But the last
time that the Chiefs were in the Super Bowl, one
hundred and twenty three million people watched. The time before
that was one hundred and fifteen million, right, huge numbers,
Huge numbers.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
By the way, it should put what the record is,
one hundred and twenty three point four million. That's last
year's record of viewers. And let's give it up, by
the way, for the AFC Championship game. Yeah, because that's
the most that's ever been at fifty seven point five million.
Speaker 5 (05:08):
Believe it was the second most non watched Super Bowl game,
which is insane. I mean, the Eagles and Commanders had
forty four and thirteen million more people tuned in to
watch the Chiefs Bills game.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
There.
Speaker 5 (05:21):
Look, I hear the fatigue, but the numbers are kind
of saying otherwise, if people are whether they're tuning in
to watch them win or to watch them lose. People
are watching.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Well that's and part of that too is because there
were a lot of Buffalo Bills fans out there. It's like,
come on, bea the James, let's go. And then they
wanted to see the game and it was a very
good game, great game.
Speaker 7 (05:40):
Well, what I've heard actually is you're going to see
a lot more celebrities. You're going to see a lot
more nostalgie. I'm talking about the commercials, the spot So
for example, I heard, and I don't know how true
this is, Helman's Mayonnaise is going to have a spotty
ready for this. They're going to have Billy Crystal and
Meg Ryan recreating the deli scene in when Harry met Sally.
That's what I heard.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
I don't know, I'll have what she I won't wah.
Speaker 7 (06:03):
But then I also heard, I mean, I mean this
is what I also heard.
Speaker 5 (06:06):
I heard meta.
Speaker 7 (06:07):
I heard they're doing, you know something, Chris Hemsworth and
Chris Pratt, you know, Thor and Captain America respectively, something
with I don't know, smart glasses. I mean, I heard,
go Daddy's got a you know a spot that they're taking.
I've heard a lot, you know, I mean, but I
guess you know what they're paying I mean remains to
be seen. I mean eight million dollars for what is it?
Speaker 2 (06:27):
A thirty seconds second spot that is the top ten slots.
But do you have to think?
Speaker 5 (06:32):
Sometimes these advertisements can result in a lot of business
and other times they can be disastrous. So you're taking
a lot of risk. But if you're paying for that,
I mean, I would argue that there are entire marketing
departments who are pitching, oh, we need to pay for this,
we need to pay for this, and if they don't
hit a home run or at least get on base,
it could result in jobs.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Kendrick Lamar is now he has hit he has hit it.
He's the halftime Super Bowl entertainment and all of this
has been He's having a fight with Drake Yes.
Speaker 5 (07:03):
Yes, indeed at.
Speaker 7 (07:03):
Least a pretty good artist to begin with. I love
Kendrick Lamore now, but he is definitely riding high on this.
Speaker 5 (07:12):
I'm also a huge Kendrick Lamar fin When Damn, which
is his third album released. To believe that's his highest
selling first week album. Sometimes the way that the music
industry changes their sales. It's difficult to reach a number
like that again. And I didn't know if he was
ever going to be able to get that high again.
I think he would have released incredible music regardless, but
just the numbers wise, and for him to have three
(07:34):
number ones last year, two of which were aimed at Drake,
another one which came off his latest album GNX, just remarkable.
Speaker 7 (07:42):
Well, talk to us a little bit about exactly what's
going on with not like us, which is is where
he kind of accuses Drake if I'm not mistaken of being.
Speaker 5 (07:49):
The line is trying to strike a chord and it's
probably a minor, certified lover boys, certified pedophiles. There are
all sorts.
Speaker 7 (07:57):
Of differently on the cover, Right, isn't it Drake's Toronto
Home with Raik?
Speaker 5 (08:01):
Now, let me preface this by saying it isn't just
Kendrick Lamar attacking Drake has said some pretty inflammatory things
that Kendrick Lamar as well, and he also said in
a couple of songs where he says, talk about him
being Drake, talk about him liking young girls, it's got
to be true. What did Kendrick say im not like Us.
He said, Hey, say Drake, I hear you like him young,
(08:24):
So he did what Drake asked him to. On the
last song that Drake released in the feud, he also said,
this Epstein angle is what I expected. So there are
some lines in here that are left up to interpretation.
Drake feels like Universal Music Group by promoting this, by
placing it everywhere, by using what he claims our alleged
schemes to get this song any and everywhere, that this
(08:47):
is defamatory and so whatever the damages that he's seeking.
I mean, you could argue that this is being promoted
at the super Bowl to some degree. So it has
set the stage for quite the interesting thing because does
Kendrick perform not like Us? I would argue that this
is the most anticipated super Bowl halftime press conference ever,
(09:08):
and it's the most anticipated super Bowl halftime set list ever,
because if he performs not like Us, then it's like Wow,
the NFL, Rock Nation, Universal Music Group, Apple Music, and
everyone who's paying to be there is saying like, like,
we don't care about this, And if he doesn't perform it,
then it speaks to somewhat of the fear that's going
(09:30):
to be the narrative that Kendrick and the NFL and
Rock Nation we're afraid to put this out there.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
He's got to play it because I mean, look, this
was in about a week's time. It was the most
streamed song, ninety six million a week streams in a week.
I mean, if you leave like you said, if you
leave it off, is like come on now, man, it's
like this.
Speaker 7 (09:56):
I mean, I mean, but let's think about it for me.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
What are you doing?
Speaker 5 (09:58):
What are you all doing? Sounds like you would play it.
If you're Kendrick, you're playing. Oh my god.
Speaker 7 (10:03):
If I'm Kendrick, I'm definitely trying to play it's whether
or not the NFL allows him to play it. This
is the reality here at UMG Universal. They're Drake's agent.
Speaker 8 (10:11):
Two.
Speaker 7 (10:11):
They're the biggest is A company in the world, right so,
I mean, of course they're going to promote both of
their artists as best they can. But you know, the NFL,
I mean, look, they don't want to run across a
lawsuit here, right Like if the charges that you know,
Drake is leveling on UMG sort of accrue to the
NFL for allowing them to play it in that sort
of an environment. I mean, they could be susceptible as
(10:33):
I don't know. I mean, I'm not a lawyer, but it's.
Speaker 5 (10:36):
It's not out of the realm of reality. This is
what i'd say. I'll also tease that there I do
have a Super Bowl halftime show story coming where you'll
find out if Slash Who cares about performing this. But
I do think if I had to give a prediction,
I do think he performs it.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
You know that I am reading any of this. We're
talking about Nick Sirianni, the head coach for the Philadelphia Eagles,
and Andy Reid, who used to be the head head
coach for the Philadelphia Eagles, and both at one time
in Philadelphia the fans were saying fire them, and now
is like everything has changed at least I hope.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
So.
Speaker 5 (11:12):
Yeah, I mean, it's one of those things where they
love you one day, they hate you the next. As
long as you're getting Super Bowl, getting to the Super Bowl,
having playoff success, they will they'll enjoy you.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Well.
Speaker 7 (11:22):
Look, I mean the one thing I will say is
the Eagles were already ahead of the curve because they
have managed to get the Kansas City Chiefs to wear
white in the super Bowl and they don't wear white
in the Super Bowl. Mahomes doesn't wear white in the
Super Bowl. No, I'm just kidding, but that is true. Look,
I mean, the reality is this. It's one and a
half point spread, forty nine and a half point over
on there. You're talking about, you know, the league's best
(11:43):
defense playing against an icon and Patrick Mahomes five at
the last six years he's been the Super Bowl. I mean,
going for the three peat. It's gonna be awesome.
Speaker 5 (11:51):
There's two things I have left. Number One, you can
come up with whatever data you want. That's for the Eagles,
that's against the Chiefs. Both of these teams are remarkable.
I think the Eagles have a little bit of the
better roster. I think Chiefs have Andy Reid and Patrick
Mahomes and it's gonna be fascinating. The last thing that
I'd say on the UMG and Kendrick and Drake thing
is that Drake has engaged in feuds like this before.
Speaker 9 (12:13):
Now.
Speaker 5 (12:13):
He has never called anyone else, as far as I know,
a pedophile. He's never accused anyone of that. But when
Drake released a song called back to Back years ago
that was aimed at an artist named Meek mil That
song was also nominated for a Grammy. It was also
the theme song in Toronto, so this is not something
that we haven't seen before. And out leave that there.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
My man. Thank you again, Randa Williams, you enlighten us
every day.
Speaker 8 (12:39):
Man.
Speaker 5 (12:39):
I appreciate you all having me and be on the
lookout for that story next week. I think it's going
to be a good one up.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Next, we turn to technologies growing influence on the sports world.
Few CEO Luis Johnson dishes on the latest sports related
innovations from cees in Las Vegas and how artificial intelligence
is set to shake up your sports experience. For my
colleague Damian Sasaur, I'm Michael barn. You're listening to the
Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberger Radio around the world.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports where we explore
the big money issues in the world of sports. I'm
Michael Lebarr. Right now we turn our attention to the
collision of technology and sports in twenty twenty five and
our Bloomberg Originals team of Jason Kelly and Vanessa Perdomo
recently sat down with Luis Johnson, the CEO of Sports
(13:39):
and Entertainment marketing Giant Views, to discuss the changing landscape
of how we actually consume our sports.
Speaker 6 (13:46):
Louise, really good to have you with us. You are
recently back from CEES where everything was on display. I
would love to know what the sports vibe was because
the business of sports, we look at it from all
different aspects, obviously, but technology, artificial intelligence, everything seems to
(14:08):
be just like bubbling up in the sports world. What
did you see, Bessie?
Speaker 9 (14:12):
Thank you so much for having me on your show today.
But yeah, I mean CES was mind blowing. I've never
been before, so it was an incredible experience. I properly
geeked out on all of the exhibitions and the speakers
as well. And I think, you know, taking a step back,
I think Ai was the undisputed star of CES in
(14:32):
twenty twenty five, not only from a sport and fitness perspective,
but just across everything. And I think whether that was
you know, the innovative products from the floor, you know,
the show floor, and from all the speakers, and you know,
the five days of sharecasing, it really was that was
all it was about, and I think it was really interesting. Actually,
I think the actually on the floor section where all
(14:54):
the exhibitors came to show. I think there was this
real trend around sports around personzation but personalization in like
a really useful way. So the tech that I saw,
whether that be you know, the new gem equipment or wearables,
was all around. It's no longer just good enough to
(15:15):
take your data of how many steps you're using. You've
actually then got to use that insight with AI to
make it a personalized plan for you to get fitter.
And I thought that was interesting, and it sort of
throws up the question of whether you know, personal trainers
and instructors become a bit obsolete in the future, because,
(15:35):
as you know, CES is a bit of a It's
a compass to the future, isn't it. It's not a roadmap,
but it's definitely a compass. And I think there are
two really good examples. I'm not sure how much you
saw from CEES that really encapitulates this. And one of
the products was called g Grip.
Speaker 6 (15:50):
This was I'm obsessed with this, obsessed.
Speaker 9 (15:53):
So I think it's sort of talented as the world's
first AI powered Intelligent Golf Club. Actually, you know, this
grip analyzes the way that you swing, and it takes
your speed, the angle, you know, the grip pressure, and
it gives you this instant feedback through the app and
then helps you with like videos and overlays to refine
(16:14):
your technique. So I think it only proves golfers swing,
but also it slightly democratizes the sport as well, so
it's perfect for people starting out who might feel intimidated,
you know, on a golf course or with an instructor.
So I thought that was really interesting. And the second
one I wanted to mention was a product called body
(16:34):
Dot Fitness, and this was around a three D body scanner,
which basically had AI looking at your digital like your
muscular skeletal figure and creating an avatar. I know, crazy,
So it takes all of your dimensions, creates a hyper
realized avatar of you, and then creates those workouts, personalized
(16:58):
workouts so you can visual lies your progress over time,
so you can sit there and go, Okay, well I
need to lose weight, how am I going to do this?
And actually, if I do this training, this is what
I'm going to look like so really helps you, you know,
the person achieve their fitness goals and you know, just
but it makes it much more effective. So that those
are the two I thought, just really encapsulate that goodness
(17:21):
is the personal trainer now not needed. And then I
think the second piece was amazing. A bunch of speakers
and I was really blown away at a caliber of people. Sports, tech, sports,
and obviously esports and gaming was represented incredibly well from
brands talking about you know how they're already using AI
(17:42):
to create better fan experiences, whether that is through AWS
or you know, through formula ones. You're getting like, you know,
better data coming through and you can as a fan
understand that data better. So again, this whole sort of
democratization through AI in sport really came through from those
speakers as well. So yeah, fascinating. I can't wait to
(18:04):
go back next year.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Yeah, yeah, so much to impact there. I mean, there's
so many different elements to it, right in the fitness space,
the fan space, broadcasting. When you know, we're having these conversations,
listening to these conversations, what do you think is the
biggest way it will impact will impact fitness the most,
will impact you know the average person's fitness journey. Will
it impact professional athletes the most? Broadcasting the fan experience?
(18:29):
What do you think we'll see the biggest change in I.
Speaker 9 (18:31):
Think I mean all of the above. I think definitely
the sports, tech and media have definitely led the way.
And I think it was Fox broadcasters who were actually saying, look,
you know, AI has been around for a really long time.
You know, we've been using this technology for you know,
four or five years. There's so much swirl around AI
and sports at the moment because it's the pace, the
(18:51):
speed of the technology is just phenomenal, and that's what's
really accelerating change. But they have been the first people,
you know, to you put overlays into the NFL or
the NFL put overlays into the broadcast so the fan
can see like the player stats and the trajectory of
the game. We know that Amazon have been using that
within their NFL broadcast as well. ESPN Plus and Design
(19:16):
have been using personalized libraries for their fans. So again,
it's been around for a while. It's just accelerating and
becoming more personalized, more higher quality. And I think, you
know I mentioned earlier cross Effect for that production team
and a lot of people talking around. You know, from
(19:36):
a production perspective, you don't have to have all of
these people manually putting in films and data. Now and
looking at an archive and actually, how do you relive
archive footage that actually through AI you can now bring
that to life, restore it, and enable a fan to
you have all of this access to amazing archive footage.
(19:58):
So I think those types of businesses have definitely led
the way, and I think because of that that then
kind of creates new commercial partnership opportunities for brands to
get involved. And I think that's been really interesting for
us when we're talking to our clients, because you know,
rights holders and broadcasters are opening up those commercial partnerships
(20:18):
for brands to come and showcase their AI credentials, and
that's really exciting.
Speaker 6 (20:24):
Give us an example, if you can, or a piece
of advice that you're then giving a company that you're
working with as to how they're going to act differently,
how they're going to spend differently, where they're going to
spend differently based on this new landscape.
Speaker 9 (20:38):
It's such an exciting opportunity, but actually the opportunity has
not been realized by brands so much. And actually think
there was a global survey by PWS and they were
saying that actually, out of five hundred top execs, fifty
nine percent so that they didn't have a GAI strategy yet,
so and they're waiting to see how it pans out.
(21:01):
So actually it's a massive opportunity as a brand, as
a first mover advantage to come in and go, Okay,
well I do want to embrace AI, and how do
I put this into a sports program? But I think
with that you need to try and make sure that
you're being additive and you're augmenting that fan experiencing and
you're not being gimmicky. That came across very strongly at CES.
(21:24):
You know, let's not be gimmicky with AI. You've got
to really augment that fan experience. So I think that's
the first piece that we're trying to advise our clients.
And also the fact that actually the category is changing.
We need to look very closely at how that category
is being opened up because some rights holders are talking
about it as in this is a new AI credit category.
Speaker 5 (21:47):
You can be the.
Speaker 9 (21:48):
Sponsor, the official partner of AI. However, you've got many
brands saying listen, you know, AI is inherent in everything now,
you can't separate that out. And actually, in two to
three years time, you won't really be talking about you know,
a specific AI platform on a handset. It would just
be so natural. So that's the debate that you know,
(22:09):
we're getting into. I think the other piece on that
really is around the responsibility and ethics around sports partnerships
and AI, because if you are using amazing opportunities like
you know, digital personas and deep fake technology and hyper
real avatars of athletes and influencers, then they might get
(22:33):
misinterpreted by that AI and that might be misaligned for
a brand. So therefore we're spending times Yeah, so you
need to spend what we are spending time with sports
lawyers to navigate this new landscape so that we can
be in a position to really you know, advise our
clients how to partner with athletes and influencers take this technology,
(22:56):
but use it in a responsible way.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
Right. That was one of the questions that I had
was how do you make sure that you're you know,
making the fan experience better, you know, giving them new
content and things like that, but also making sure that
they're not cheated out of inorganic experience with their favorite
athletes or with their favorite influencers.
Speaker 9 (23:15):
Yeah, exactly, And I think that's the that's the new
kind of era that we're going into. It's great to
have all this technology, but one, let's use it to
be really useful and not just a fad. And the
second thing is how do we use this in a
way that is a win win for everyone and ethically
right and responsible.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (23:33):
I mean it's interesting too to think about how you know,
the personalization certainly can be a much more effective way
of advertising or connecting a brand with a potential customer.
And so I would imagine brands are thinking about, all right,
how can I use this technology in order to reach
(23:53):
this clearly interested but also you know, not always easy
to reach audience v.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
Yeah, underserved audience for sure.
Speaker 9 (24:05):
Yeah, it's really interesting, and I think particularly with women's
sport as well, because women athletes are much more engaged
in things like social media and technology, there's a really
big opportunity for them to you again, that whole thing
around democratizing the sport and getting more of what you
want from those from those athletes into the fans' hands.
And I think women's sport's really best place to do
(24:25):
that because they want more people to see it, they
want to spend more time with their fans, whether the
male their counterparts on the male side are slightly more
time restrictive, or they're more precious over over what they do.
So I think it's it's a really good way to
try and use technology to get two more people. And interestingly,
I was actually on a panel with Martha Stewart and
(24:47):
she said something really interesting. She said, you know, the
reason that she's being able to be an influencer for
this whole time is that they've constantly adopted technology. So
whether you know it was various different websites back in
the day to podcast now and TikTok and starting to
use innovative technology powered by AI. She said, look, it's there,
(25:10):
you've got to use it. If you don't use it,
then you know, you're wasting an opportunity. And I think
that's I just thought that was really interesting. You know
for an eighty three year old like AI's here, you've
got this technology, use it, will lose it.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
That was Luis Johnson, the CEO of Fuse, with our
Jason Kelly and Vernessa Perdomo and coming up, Jason will
team up with our Bloomberg Dallas Bureau chief Julie Fine
for a conversation with Charlotte Jones Anderson, co owner of
the Dallas Cowboys and former top ten ranked tennis player
John Isner on the return of top flight tennis to
(25:45):
the Big b that's straight ahead on Bloomberg Business of Sports.
You're listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg
Radio around the world.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports where we explore
the big money issues in the world of sports. I'm
Michael Barr. Let's head down to Dallas, Texas right now.
The Cowboys are not in action right now, but they're
in the headlines with a recent introduction of new head
coach Brian Schottenheimer, as well as their hand in bringing
(26:25):
big time tennis to Big d For more, we go
to Bloomberg Original's chief correspondent Jason Kelly and Bloomberg Dallas
Bureau chief Julie Fine, who spoke with Cowboys co owner
and chief brand officer Charlotte Jones Anderson, as well as
longtime former pro player John Isner ahead of the twenty
twenty five Dallas Open.
Speaker 4 (26:46):
This is such an incredible sports city and all of
our community just jumps in big to any sport that
actually hits here, and I think John would agree with that.
But for us to be able to turn our football
into tennis courts was really an exciting opportunity for us
and to really bring some energy and enthusiasm that we
(27:09):
feel like we bring up at the Star and at
our headquarters and into the region of Frisco that we
just knew that our community would be receptive to it,
and we thought we could amp it up and have
a lot of fun doing so. And we've got a
lot of tennis fans walking our halls, so we thought
why not. And we have an incredible partnership with these
(27:30):
guys and we're excited to see our first match.
Speaker 10 (27:33):
So when your approach about this, what made you say yes?
What made the Cowboys say okay, we want to be
involved with this?
Speaker 4 (27:40):
I think the first thing that you look at when
you're analyzing an event of this nature are the people
that are behind it. We're very comfortable in what we
bring to the table, but we also know everything that
we don't know about partnering and being a part of
an event that we may not be as familiar with.
So that was number one. And the second is just
(28:01):
the rise of the energy around around tennis and entertainment
and live event and all of that that it all
kind of was coming together for us to see this
event that has became an NAHP five hundred. So that
gave the upscale to the event that we felt like, Okay,
(28:22):
we can jump on this vandwagon and we think we
can help you take it to another level. And so
a lot of that together really made us think, hey,
we're ready for this and we're excited to give it
a try.
Speaker 6 (28:32):
So John, to that exact point that Charlotte just brought up.
The sort of leveling up, the upscaling here is apparent
not just in the quality of the facilities and whatnot,
but in quality the players on the court, the sort
of magnitude of this event. So why was this the
right time to do that in terms of the business
of tennis?
Speaker 8 (28:52):
Well, yeah, so I think the Dallas Open move came
to Dallas. It's spent three years at SMU and they
weren't in credit will host site, but the tournament I
think fortunately for everyone sort of outgrew SMU and the
ATP saw the success that our tournament had. They're at SMU,
and then the capacity of the center court there was
(29:12):
only like twenty five hundred seats, and so they awarded
Dallas and ATP five hundred level sanction. But what comes
with that is minimum amount of seating, minimum amount of
prize money, which was more than the ATP two to
fifty site could could hold. So everything was just kind
of a big, big level up for the tournament and
(29:33):
for the Dallas opened to of course partner with the
Dallas Cowboys brand. I mean, it's an absolute no brainer
for everyone on the tennis side of things and what
the Cowboys can bring operationally, and as far as the
site goes, of course, Ford Center at the Star is
like something I played tennim whole life, played the ATP
Tour for seventeen years. There aren't many facilities like this
(29:57):
at all on the ATP level. And once the players
get here, this is the first year obviously up in Frisco.
Once some players get here and experience all that Frisco
and the Star has to offer, it's going to be amazing.
The players are going to love it, and they're going
to continue, to my mind, going to continue to come
back from many years to come.
Speaker 10 (30:12):
You touched a little bit on the Star and you
talked about having this at the Star. You built this
billion dollars Dallas Cowboys headquarters that has a football field
for Frisco. There's hotels around it, there's restaurants around it.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
When you put.
Speaker 10 (30:29):
The Star there, did you do this thinking, Okay, we
can have other sports here have an event like this one?
Speaker 4 (30:35):
Absolutely, I think we had seen and that was really
our mission with AT and T Stadium, same kind of
concept because we only play there ten days a year,
so in order for that venue to be worthy of
the investment into the venue, you need to keep it occupied.
So what could you a tract beyond our game that
would make that make sense and really build upon the
(30:56):
community and economic impact that the events would actually have
venue would bring into the region. Same thing with the
Star in Frisco, and in that we knew that we
could be out there in practice, but it was also
designed to be a place for high school football, So
we have a partnership there with Frisco for high school football.
But then beyond that, what could we do that would
(31:16):
really make sense in being enticing to the community. So
as you may have seen, the ACMs were there, they're
coming back for their third year in a row. So
that's something that's probably, you know, out of our wheelhouse
American country music. So that's a little bit different than
playing football out there and now here we get to
step into the tennis world. And what is so wonderful,
and John touched on this is you know they're going
(31:39):
to stay at the Omni. They can walk down, which
is a beautiful hotel. They can walk right down to
be on the court, all these amazing restaurants, and the
same for people that actually want to come out there
to watch the matches. There's just something around every corner
that really builds upon the experience. It's not just go
and watch tennis, it's go and have an experience that
(32:00):
is beyond the match itself but connected to the match
so that it promotes the value in the aura and
the ambiance of what's going on.
Speaker 6 (32:08):
So it's interesting to think about America's team and also
think about this American moment in tennis that we're having
right now. John, I mean, you're gonna have some of
the biggest players in the game, many of whom are Americans,
showing a big Foe fritzisciafo Ben Shelton, Taylor Fritz, and
a few others that I'm totally biking on at the moment,
(32:29):
but I'm sure you'll keep me honest. What is this moment? Like,
I mean, you were part of a wave of American players.
This wave coming on is at a pretty I dare say,
precipitous time for a tennis So what does it mean
for the business of tennis?
Speaker 8 (32:43):
Yea, absolutely, Jayson. I think it's the nail on the
head there on the men's side, especially right now, American
min centnis is very attractive. There's two players in the
top ten. Taylor Fritz leads a charge at number four
in the world. The player that you left out as
Tommy Paul, Yes, number nine in the world. I have
so many friends, all my friends that are girls out
(33:04):
there ask me when Tommy's playing. I've been He's easy
on the eyes, so they all know.
Speaker 5 (33:10):
When Tommy's playing.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
I don't know exactly when he's playing.
Speaker 8 (33:12):
When I find out, I'll let him all know.
Speaker 6 (33:15):
And then maybe that's why I was blanking.
Speaker 7 (33:17):
It's like that handsome guy made me.
Speaker 8 (33:20):
So we have two players in the top ten. It's
been a long time since that's been the case. Casper
Rude is the highest ranked European player in the in
the field, he's number five in the world. So three
players in the top ten in the world, all playing
the Dallas Open.
Speaker 10 (33:33):
That's huge, all right?
Speaker 6 (33:35):
So I got to ask the football question, Charlotte. So
let's say a Wall Street analyst where to look at
the Dallas Cowboys. They would look at the success that
Julie just talked about with your brand and the on
field performances uncorrelated. Shall we say how long can that continue?
Speaker 9 (33:53):
Like?
Speaker 6 (33:53):
What what do you need to do? What do you
and your family talk about to really like goose that
on field product?
Speaker 4 (33:59):
That is a commonversation that is twenty four to seven
pretty much year round for the past thirty years. I
mean that certainly is the key focus in every conversation
that we had is how do we produce winning results?
And in that that means what coaches are you picking,
what players have you selected? What is the culture that
is actually created back there? How do you amplify that
(34:22):
and where are the pieces that are missing? Can you
look at yourself and go oh, oh, we should have
gone right when we went left, and how do we
course correct to do that. A lot of that is,
you know, for us, it's like who's the guy under
center and who's going to lead us to the next step.
You don't always find over the decades, when you look back,
you don't always have that guy, and you know, you've
(34:42):
got to build a team around something. And when you
don't have that guy, then how do you build the
team to compensate for that talent skill that might not
be there like it was, you know, five years before.
So it's a moving target for us, but the focus
is always there trying to figure out what's the missing
piece on any given day. You know, it's like this
(35:04):
past year, we went into the year thinking that we
would have a lot of success. We didn't, and then
we had the you know, the injury bug that sidelined
all of our players and we had to rebuild from
you know, from within and grab some people that we
never thought would ever see the field that we were
still learning their names by the end of the season.
And you know, that happens and teams go through that.
(35:27):
But then when you realize you've got your roster back
and starting again. This is the time you got to strike.
So it is all all the focus, all the things.
What do we do to make Dak play better, what
do we do to make our defense jill again? And
how do you create that energy in that culture? And
we think that that we've done that with our new
selection for our head coach.
Speaker 6 (35:45):
Yeah, so just talk a little bit about that because
that's the biggest talent. I mean, aside from the guy
under center, the biggest choice you make is the guy
who's calling the place.
Speaker 4 (35:54):
Now, when you don't have success one season, you have
a choice. You're going to blow everything up? Are you
going to are you trying to hang onto some things
and just feel the things where you know there is
a void? And I think for us it was really
about this is not the time where you blow everything up.
We've got a major investment in our quarterback.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
We believe in him.
Speaker 4 (36:13):
We've got major investment in Ceedee Lamb and we believe
in him. We're about to look at another major investment
and Micah Parsons on the defensive side of the ball.
So you can't afford to go just blow it up.
So you have to have some consistency while still affecting
change where you need it, and we felt that Brian
Schottenhammer did just that because he knows everybody that's back there.
(36:37):
He knows our sore spots, he knows our challenges and
our opportunities, and we felt like that was the best
way to kind of keep some consistency, be prepared to
make the next step forward and make change where he
needs to.
Speaker 10 (36:50):
And in the meantime, with this all going on, now
your practice field is filled with tennis courts.
Speaker 9 (36:56):
Back to the tennis of all this.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
Now you're at least like no one cares about.
Speaker 6 (37:01):
The cowboys right here, come on.
Speaker 7 (37:04):
But every que right I'm in down.
Speaker 9 (37:06):
Everybody cares about the gun.
Speaker 8 (37:08):
The champagne problem. Everyone wants to have is the cowboys
in the Super Bowl and the tennis tournament needing your
facilities and your team meeting the practice. It's not the
case this year. I don't know if all the tennis
people would love that.
Speaker 5 (37:22):
Of course everyone wants cowboys, but I don't know how
that would how.
Speaker 8 (37:24):
That would work out if that would be the case,
but hopefully it can be in the future.
Speaker 6 (37:28):
Before we wrap, I do want to ask one quick
question about the business of tennis. To you, John, and
again like you guys break it down really nicely on
your pod. The question that comes to everyone who loves
the business of tennis is will there be a consolidation
of the tours ATP and w T A w t
A obviously being the women's side, ATP being the men's side.
(37:49):
Is that coming? Should it happen? Like, what's your read
on that.
Speaker 8 (37:52):
I can't say with any certainty if that's going to happen.
I have heard that there's been some momentum there for
a long time, even back when Roger Better was playing.
He was sort of promoting that idea hasn't come to
fruition yet.
Speaker 5 (38:05):
There are a lot of.
Speaker 8 (38:06):
Combined events as it is right now, but the tours
are not necessarily combined. So I think that could be
something that would grow the game as a whole.
Speaker 5 (38:15):
And if something potentially.
Speaker 8 (38:16):
Maybe I think, but the calendar would have to work
out for Dallas to grab a women's event as well
at the same time as the men's event. I think
that's something to shoot for ideally down the road, because
obviously the Ford Center can host that no problem at all.
But we'll see if the tours do merge there's going
to be potentially some involvement with them in our sport.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
Our Thanks to Jason Kelly and Julie Fine for that
interview with Charlotte Jones Anderson and John Isner. Thank you
for joining us. Tune in again next week for the
latest on the stories moving big old money world of sports.
You've been listening to The Bloomberg Business of Sports from
Bloomberg Radio around the world.
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News. This is the Business
of Sports.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
The business of sports can be intimidating or hard for
a starting to break into.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
We really appreciate when our owners are actually there, you know,
with us through the journey.
Speaker 4 (00:19):
Teams ours especially have been very intentional to diversify at
all levels of the company.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
I think we're in bolden years for the NFL and
college football.
Speaker 4 (00:26):
Our demographic reach has continued to explode. This is going
to be really unlocking the streaming platform for sports fans.
Speaker 5 (00:34):
Sports evaluations arising. We'll see when they peak.
Speaker 6 (00:37):
You don't have to be the best in your sports
to make a whole ton of money.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports, where we explore
the big money issues in the world of sports. I'm
Michael Barr along with Damian Sassour. Coming up today. There
may not be any playoff football in Dallas this season,
but the Cowboys are still in the headlines. They've got
a new coach in place, and they're hoping to oversee
the latest installment of the Dallas Open. We'll hear from
(01:10):
Cowboys co owner Charlotte Jones, Anderson and tennis great John
Isner on the big event.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
This is such an incredible sports city and all of
our community just jumps in big to any sport that
actually hits here, and I think John would agree with that.
But for us to be able to turn our football
field into tennis courts was really an exciting opportunity for us,
so we thought why not.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
We'll also talk with FEW CEO Luis Johnson on how
the AI Revolution is poised to shake up the sports world.
All that coming up on the show, But first.
Speaker 5 (01:47):
First Down Playing Mahomes keeps it on an RPO at
the five.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
It's a lead plot.
Speaker 7 (01:51):
He goes out of the ends on their side.
Speaker 8 (01:54):
Touchdown City, Patrick Mahomes.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
It is the home before the storm. As all eyes
turned toward the Big Easy ahead of Super Bowl fifty
nine next weekend, we'll discuss the NFL's pursuit of another
ratings milestone and what the Chiefs and Eagles second Super
Sunday clash in the last three years means for the
league's bottom line. Let's bring in Bloomberg Global Business sports
(02:21):
reporter Rando Williams. Randoh Oh, friend, Welcome back to the
Bloomberg Business of sports.
Speaker 5 (02:28):
I appreciate you a long time to talk.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
I know, man, it's like we got to have you
in more often. We can't wait until just the super
Bowl comes in, which brings me to the first point. Now,
I know there are good news and bad news things here,
but I'm going to start with the ticket prices for
the super Bowl in New Orleans, and they're about, according
to certain services, that thirty seven percent lower. And a
(02:52):
lot of it has to do with the Kansas City
Chiefs fatigue because this is the fifth time out of
six years they've been playing in the super Bowl.
Speaker 5 (03:00):
I would push back on that, and I mean, I
do think that there might be a little fatigue. But
also this is definitely a market based thing. If the
super Bowl is in Los Angeles at Sofa Stadium, if
it's in a newer stadium, and there has half a
billion dollars put into New Orleans as well, but just
the city side of it, and then this is two
superstar teams as well. Like America loves a winner just
(03:20):
as much as they'd love to see a winner lose.
So I think based on the ratings that we'll see,
we'll find out if there truly is Chiefs fatigue. But
I think that's being overstated a little bit because people
hate the Chiefs.
Speaker 7 (03:34):
Well, Randall, I mean, on a year over year basis,
I think it's expected that the prices were going to
go down, right.
Speaker 5 (03:38):
That was Vegas' first year hosting the city.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
We have the.
Speaker 7 (03:40):
Niners, a lot of San Francisco fans, a lot of them. Yeah,
But I mean, but what I'm hearing is this is
kind of reminiscent of what went down during the Patriots dynasty, right,
Like people got sick of Tom Brady winning all the time,
and so I don't know if this is more of
the same. I mean, you're going to have Chois Swift there,
You've got Kendrick Lemore playing at a half time.
Speaker 5 (03:57):
So let me ask you this, let me ask you this. Sure,
did you enjoy watching the Chiefs as a team or
the Patriots as a team more?
Speaker 9 (04:07):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (04:07):
Definitely the Chiefs more, right exactly. So with that in mind,
I would argue that Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid are
a more entertaining watch than what the Patriots. Fair Enough,
when you were watching the Patriots, what I remember about
that time, outside of the pain that they caused me,
was that they would drag some of these games so long,
but the outcome was inevitable. And with the Chiefs, some
(04:29):
of it is the exact same thing, but there is
more of what I would call electricity behind it. And
so with that in mind, yes, I do think that
there are some people who are just like, oh, I'm
tired of Mahomes, I'm tired of that. But the last
time that the Chiefs were in the Super Bowl, one
hundred and twenty three million people watched. The time before
that was one hundred and fifteen million, right, huge numbers,
Huge numbers.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
By the way, it should put what the record is,
one hundred and twenty three point four million. That's last
year's record of viewers. And let's give it up, by
the way, for the AFC Championship game. Yeah, because that's
the most that's ever been at fifty seven point five million.
Speaker 5 (05:08):
Believe it was the second most non watched Super Bowl game,
which is insane. I mean, the Eagles and Commanders had
forty four and thirteen million more people tuned in to
watch the Chiefs Bills game.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
There.
Speaker 5 (05:21):
Look, I hear the fatigue, but the numbers are kind
of saying otherwise, if people are whether they're tuning in
to watch them win or to watch them lose. People
are watching.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Well that's and part of that too is because there
were a lot of Buffalo Bills fans out there. It's like,
come on, bea the James, let's go. And then they
wanted to see the game and it was a very
good game, great game.
Speaker 7 (05:40):
Well, what I've heard actually is you're going to see
a lot more celebrities. You're going to see a lot
more nostalgie. I'm talking about the commercials, the spot So
for example, I heard, and I don't know how true
this is, Helman's Mayonnaise is going to have a spotty
ready for this. They're going to have Billy Crystal and
Meg Ryan recreating the deli scene in when Harry met Sally.
That's what I heard.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
I don't know, I'll have what she I won't wah.
Speaker 7 (06:03):
But then I also heard, I mean, I mean this
is what I also heard.
Speaker 5 (06:06):
I heard meta.
Speaker 7 (06:07):
I heard they're doing, you know something, Chris Hemsworth and
Chris Pratt, you know, Thor and Captain America respectively, something
with I don't know, smart glasses. I mean, I heard,
go Daddy's got a you know a spot that they're taking.
I've heard a lot, you know, I mean, but I
guess you know what they're paying I mean remains to
be seen. I mean eight million dollars for what is it?
Speaker 2 (06:27):
A thirty seconds second spot that is the top ten slots.
But do you have to think?
Speaker 5 (06:32):
Sometimes these advertisements can result in a lot of business
and other times they can be disastrous. So you're taking
a lot of risk. But if you're paying for that,
I mean, I would argue that there are entire marketing
departments who are pitching, oh, we need to pay for this,
we need to pay for this, and if they don't
hit a home run or at least get on base,
it could result in jobs.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Kendrick Lamar is now he has hit he has hit it.
He's the halftime Super Bowl entertainment and all of this
has been He's having a fight with Drake Yes.
Speaker 5 (07:03):
Yes, indeed at.
Speaker 7 (07:03):
Least a pretty good artist to begin with. I love
Kendrick Lamore now, but he is definitely riding high on this.
Speaker 5 (07:12):
I'm also a huge Kendrick Lamar fin When Damn, which
is his third album released. To believe that's his highest
selling first week album. Sometimes the way that the music
industry changes their sales. It's difficult to reach a number
like that again. And I didn't know if he was
ever going to be able to get that high again.
I think he would have released incredible music regardless, but
just the numbers wise, and for him to have three
(07:34):
number ones last year, two of which were aimed at Drake,
another one which came off his latest album GNX, just remarkable.
Speaker 7 (07:42):
Well, talk to us a little bit about exactly what's
going on with not like us, which is is where
he kind of accuses Drake if I'm not mistaken of being.
Speaker 5 (07:49):
The line is trying to strike a chord and it's
probably a minor, certified lover boys, certified pedophiles. There are
all sorts.
Speaker 7 (07:57):
Of differently on the cover, Right, isn't it Drake's Toronto
Home with Raik?
Speaker 5 (08:01):
Now, let me preface this by saying it isn't just
Kendrick Lamar attacking Drake has said some pretty inflammatory things
that Kendrick Lamar as well, and he also said in
a couple of songs where he says, talk about him
being Drake, talk about him liking young girls, it's got
to be true. What did Kendrick say im not like Us.
He said, Hey, say Drake, I hear you like him young,
(08:24):
So he did what Drake asked him to. On the
last song that Drake released in the feud, he also said,
this Epstein angle is what I expected. So there are
some lines in here that are left up to interpretation.
Drake feels like Universal Music Group by promoting this, by
placing it everywhere, by using what he claims our alleged
schemes to get this song any and everywhere, that this
(08:47):
is defamatory and so whatever the damages that he's seeking.
I mean, you could argue that this is being promoted
at the super Bowl to some degree. So it has
set the stage for quite the interesting thing because does
Kendrick perform not like Us? I would argue that this
is the most anticipated super Bowl halftime press conference ever,
(09:08):
and it's the most anticipated super Bowl halftime set list ever,
because if he performs not like Us, then it's like Wow,
the NFL, Rock Nation, Universal Music Group, Apple Music, and
everyone who's paying to be there is saying like, like,
we don't care about this, And if he doesn't perform it,
then it speaks to somewhat of the fear that's going
(09:30):
to be the narrative that Kendrick and the NFL and
Rock Nation we're afraid to put this out there.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
He's got to play it because I mean, look, this
was in about a week's time. It was the most
streamed song, ninety six million a week streams in a week.
I mean, if you leave like you said, if you
leave it off, is like come on now, man, it's
like this.
Speaker 7 (09:56):
I mean, I mean, but let's think about it for me.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
What are you doing?
Speaker 5 (09:58):
What are you all doing? Sounds like you would play it.
If you're Kendrick, you're playing. Oh my god.
Speaker 7 (10:03):
If I'm Kendrick, I'm definitely trying to play it's whether
or not the NFL allows him to play it. This
is the reality here at UMG Universal. They're Drake's agent.
Speaker 8 (10:11):
Two.
Speaker 7 (10:11):
They're the biggest is A company in the world, right so,
I mean, of course they're going to promote both of
their artists as best they can. But you know, the NFL,
I mean, look, they don't want to run across a
lawsuit here, right Like if the charges that you know,
Drake is leveling on UMG sort of accrue to the
NFL for allowing them to play it in that sort
of an environment. I mean, they could be susceptible as
(10:33):
I don't know. I mean, I'm not a lawyer, but it's.
Speaker 5 (10:36):
It's not out of the realm of reality. This is
what i'd say. I'll also tease that there I do
have a Super Bowl halftime show story coming where you'll
find out if Slash Who cares about performing this. But
I do think if I had to give a prediction,
I do think he performs it.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
You know that I am reading any of this. We're
talking about Nick Sirianni, the head coach for the Philadelphia Eagles,
and Andy Reid, who used to be the head head
coach for the Philadelphia Eagles, and both at one time
in Philadelphia the fans were saying fire them, and now
is like everything has changed at least I hope.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
So.
Speaker 5 (11:12):
Yeah, I mean, it's one of those things where they
love you one day, they hate you the next. As
long as you're getting Super Bowl, getting to the Super Bowl,
having playoff success, they will they'll enjoy you.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Well.
Speaker 7 (11:22):
Look, I mean the one thing I will say is
the Eagles were already ahead of the curve because they
have managed to get the Kansas City Chiefs to wear
white in the super Bowl and they don't wear white
in the Super Bowl. Mahomes doesn't wear white in the
Super Bowl. No, I'm just kidding, but that is true. Look,
I mean, the reality is this. It's one and a
half point spread, forty nine and a half point over
on there. You're talking about, you know, the league's best
(11:43):
defense playing against an icon and Patrick Mahomes five at
the last six years he's been the Super Bowl. I mean,
going for the three peat. It's gonna be awesome.
Speaker 5 (11:51):
There's two things I have left. Number One, you can
come up with whatever data you want. That's for the Eagles,
that's against the Chiefs. Both of these teams are remarkable.
I think the Eagles have a little bit of the
better roster. I think Chiefs have Andy Reid and Patrick
Mahomes and it's gonna be fascinating. The last thing that
I'd say on the UMG and Kendrick and Drake thing
is that Drake has engaged in feuds like this before.
Speaker 9 (12:13):
Now.
Speaker 5 (12:13):
He has never called anyone else, as far as I know,
a pedophile. He's never accused anyone of that. But when
Drake released a song called back to Back years ago
that was aimed at an artist named Meek mil That
song was also nominated for a Grammy. It was also
the theme song in Toronto, so this is not something
that we haven't seen before. And out leave that there.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
My man. Thank you again, Randa Williams, you enlighten us
every day.
Speaker 8 (12:39):
Man.
Speaker 5 (12:39):
I appreciate you all having me and be on the
lookout for that story next week. I think it's going
to be a good one up.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Next, we turn to technologies growing influence on the sports world.
Few CEO Luis Johnson dishes on the latest sports related
innovations from cees in Las Vegas and how artificial intelligence
is set to shake up your sports experience. For my
colleague Damian Sasaur, I'm Michael barn. You're listening to the
Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberger Radio around the world.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports where we explore
the big money issues in the world of sports. I'm
Michael Lebarr. Right now we turn our attention to the
collision of technology and sports in twenty twenty five and
our Bloomberg Originals team of Jason Kelly and Vanessa Perdomo
recently sat down with Luis Johnson, the CEO of Sports
(13:39):
and Entertainment marketing Giant Views, to discuss the changing landscape
of how we actually consume our sports.
Speaker 6 (13:46):
Louise, really good to have you with us. You are
recently back from CEES where everything was on display. I
would love to know what the sports vibe was because
the business of sports, we look at it from all
different aspects, obviously, but technology, artificial intelligence, everything seems to
(14:08):
be just like bubbling up in the sports world. What
did you see, Bessie?
Speaker 9 (14:12):
Thank you so much for having me on your show today.
But yeah, I mean CES was mind blowing. I've never
been before, so it was an incredible experience. I properly
geeked out on all of the exhibitions and the speakers
as well. And I think, you know, taking a step back,
I think Ai was the undisputed star of CES in
(14:32):
twenty twenty five, not only from a sport and fitness perspective,
but just across everything. And I think whether that was
you know, the innovative products from the floor, you know,
the show floor, and from all the speakers, and you know,
the five days of sharecasing, it really was that was
all it was about, and I think it was really interesting. Actually,
I think the actually on the floor section where all
(14:54):
the exhibitors came to show. I think there was this
real trend around sports around personzation but personalization in like
a really useful way. So the tech that I saw,
whether that be you know, the new gem equipment or wearables,
was all around. It's no longer just good enough to
(15:15):
take your data of how many steps you're using. You've
actually then got to use that insight with AI to
make it a personalized plan for you to get fitter.
And I thought that was interesting, and it sort of
throws up the question of whether you know, personal trainers
and instructors become a bit obsolete in the future, because,
(15:35):
as you know, CES is a bit of a It's
a compass to the future, isn't it. It's not a roadmap,
but it's definitely a compass. And I think there are
two really good examples. I'm not sure how much you
saw from CEES that really encapitulates this. And one of
the products was called g Grip.
Speaker 6 (15:50):
This was I'm obsessed with this, obsessed.
Speaker 9 (15:53):
So I think it's sort of talented as the world's
first AI powered Intelligent Golf Club. Actually, you know, this
grip analyzes the way that you swing, and it takes
your speed, the angle, you know, the grip pressure, and
it gives you this instant feedback through the app and
then helps you with like videos and overlays to refine
(16:14):
your technique. So I think it only proves golfers swing,
but also it slightly democratizes the sport as well, so
it's perfect for people starting out who might feel intimidated,
you know, on a golf course or with an instructor.
So I thought that was really interesting. And the second
one I wanted to mention was a product called body
(16:34):
Dot Fitness, and this was around a three D body scanner,
which basically had AI looking at your digital like your
muscular skeletal figure and creating an avatar. I know, crazy,
So it takes all of your dimensions, creates a hyper
realized avatar of you, and then creates those workouts, personalized
(16:58):
workouts so you can visual lies your progress over time,
so you can sit there and go, Okay, well I
need to lose weight, how am I going to do this?
And actually, if I do this training, this is what
I'm going to look like so really helps you, you know,
the person achieve their fitness goals and you know, just
but it makes it much more effective. So that those
are the two I thought, just really encapsulate that goodness
(17:21):
is the personal trainer now not needed. And then I
think the second piece was amazing. A bunch of speakers
and I was really blown away at a caliber of people. Sports, tech, sports,
and obviously esports and gaming was represented incredibly well from
brands talking about you know how they're already using AI
(17:42):
to create better fan experiences, whether that is through AWS
or you know, through formula ones. You're getting like, you know,
better data coming through and you can as a fan
understand that data better. So again, this whole sort of
democratization through AI in sport really came through from those
speakers as well. So yeah, fascinating. I can't wait to
(18:04):
go back next year.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Yeah, yeah, so much to impact there. I mean, there's
so many different elements to it, right in the fitness space,
the fan space, broadcasting. When you know, we're having these conversations,
listening to these conversations, what do you think is the
biggest way it will impact will impact fitness the most,
will impact you know the average person's fitness journey. Will
it impact professional athletes the most? Broadcasting the fan experience?
(18:29):
What do you think we'll see the biggest change in I.
Speaker 9 (18:31):
Think I mean all of the above. I think definitely
the sports, tech and media have definitely led the way.
And I think it was Fox broadcasters who were actually saying, look,
you know, AI has been around for a really long time.
You know, we've been using this technology for you know,
four or five years. There's so much swirl around AI
and sports at the moment because it's the pace, the
(18:51):
speed of the technology is just phenomenal, and that's what's
really accelerating change. But they have been the first people,
you know, to you put overlays into the NFL or
the NFL put overlays into the broadcast so the fan
can see like the player stats and the trajectory of
the game. We know that Amazon have been using that
within their NFL broadcast as well. ESPN Plus and Design
(19:16):
have been using personalized libraries for their fans. So again,
it's been around for a while. It's just accelerating and
becoming more personalized, more higher quality. And I think, you
know I mentioned earlier cross Effect for that production team
and a lot of people talking around. You know, from
(19:36):
a production perspective, you don't have to have all of
these people manually putting in films and data. Now and
looking at an archive and actually, how do you relive
archive footage that actually through AI you can now bring
that to life, restore it, and enable a fan to
you have all of this access to amazing archive footage.
(19:58):
So I think those types of businesses have definitely led
the way, and I think because of that that then
kind of creates new commercial partnership opportunities for brands to
get involved. And I think that's been really interesting for
us when we're talking to our clients, because you know,
rights holders and broadcasters are opening up those commercial partnerships
(20:18):
for brands to come and showcase their AI credentials, and
that's really exciting.
Speaker 6 (20:24):
Give us an example, if you can, or a piece
of advice that you're then giving a company that you're
working with as to how they're going to act differently,
how they're going to spend differently, where they're going to
spend differently based on this new landscape.
Speaker 9 (20:38):
It's such an exciting opportunity, but actually the opportunity has
not been realized by brands so much. And actually think
there was a global survey by PWS and they were
saying that actually, out of five hundred top execs, fifty
nine percent so that they didn't have a GAI strategy yet,
so and they're waiting to see how it pans out.
(21:01):
So actually it's a massive opportunity as a brand, as
a first mover advantage to come in and go, Okay,
well I do want to embrace AI, and how do
I put this into a sports program? But I think
with that you need to try and make sure that
you're being additive and you're augmenting that fan experiencing and
you're not being gimmicky. That came across very strongly at CES.
(21:24):
You know, let's not be gimmicky with AI. You've got
to really augment that fan experience. So I think that's
the first piece that we're trying to advise our clients.
And also the fact that actually the category is changing.
We need to look very closely at how that category
is being opened up because some rights holders are talking
about it as in this is a new AI credit category.
Speaker 5 (21:47):
You can be the.
Speaker 9 (21:48):
Sponsor, the official partner of AI. However, you've got many
brands saying listen, you know, AI is inherent in everything now,
you can't separate that out. And actually, in two to
three years time, you won't really be talking about you know,
a specific AI platform on a handset. It would just
be so natural. So that's the debate that you know,
(22:09):
we're getting into. I think the other piece on that
really is around the responsibility and ethics around sports partnerships
and AI, because if you are using amazing opportunities like
you know, digital personas and deep fake technology and hyper
real avatars of athletes and influencers, then they might get
(22:33):
misinterpreted by that AI and that might be misaligned for
a brand. So therefore we're spending times Yeah, so you
need to spend what we are spending time with sports
lawyers to navigate this new landscape so that we can
be in a position to really you know, advise our
clients how to partner with athletes and influencers take this technology,
(22:56):
but use it in a responsible way.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
Right. That was one of the questions that I had
was how do you make sure that you're you know,
making the fan experience better, you know, giving them new
content and things like that, but also making sure that
they're not cheated out of inorganic experience with their favorite
athletes or with their favorite influencers.
Speaker 9 (23:15):
Yeah, exactly, And I think that's the that's the new
kind of era that we're going into. It's great to
have all this technology, but one, let's use it to
be really useful and not just a fad. And the
second thing is how do we use this in a
way that is a win win for everyone and ethically
right and responsible.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (23:33):
I mean it's interesting too to think about how you know,
the personalization certainly can be a much more effective way
of advertising or connecting a brand with a potential customer.
And so I would imagine brands are thinking about, all right,
how can I use this technology in order to reach
(23:53):
this clearly interested but also you know, not always easy
to reach audience v.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
Yeah, underserved audience for sure.
Speaker 9 (24:05):
Yeah, it's really interesting, and I think particularly with women's
sport as well, because women athletes are much more engaged
in things like social media and technology, there's a really
big opportunity for them to you again, that whole thing
around democratizing the sport and getting more of what you
want from those from those athletes into the fans' hands.
And I think women's sport's really best place to do
(24:25):
that because they want more people to see it, they
want to spend more time with their fans, whether the
male their counterparts on the male side are slightly more
time restrictive, or they're more precious over over what they do.
So I think it's it's a really good way to
try and use technology to get two more people. And interestingly,
I was actually on a panel with Martha Stewart and
(24:47):
she said something really interesting. She said, you know, the
reason that she's being able to be an influencer for
this whole time is that they've constantly adopted technology. So
whether you know it was various different websites back in
the day to podcast now and TikTok and starting to
use innovative technology powered by AI. She said, look, it's there,
(25:10):
you've got to use it. If you don't use it,
then you know, you're wasting an opportunity. And I think
that's I just thought that was really interesting. You know
for an eighty three year old like AI's here, you've
got this technology, use it, will lose it.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
That was Luis Johnson, the CEO of Fuse, with our
Jason Kelly and Vernessa Perdomo and coming up, Jason will
team up with our Bloomberg Dallas Bureau chief Julie Fine
for a conversation with Charlotte Jones Anderson, co owner of
the Dallas Cowboys and former top ten ranked tennis player
John Isner on the return of top flight tennis to
(25:45):
the Big b that's straight ahead on Bloomberg Business of Sports.
You're listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg
Radio around the world.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports where we explore
the big money issues in the world of sports. I'm
Michael Barr. Let's head down to Dallas, Texas right now.
The Cowboys are not in action right now, but they're
in the headlines with a recent introduction of new head
coach Brian Schottenheimer, as well as their hand in bringing
(26:25):
big time tennis to Big d For more, we go
to Bloomberg Original's chief correspondent Jason Kelly and Bloomberg Dallas
Bureau chief Julie Fine, who spoke with Cowboys co owner
and chief brand officer Charlotte Jones Anderson, as well as
longtime former pro player John Isner ahead of the twenty
twenty five Dallas Open.
Speaker 4 (26:46):
This is such an incredible sports city and all of
our community just jumps in big to any sport that
actually hits here, and I think John would agree with that.
But for us to be able to turn our football
into tennis courts was really an exciting opportunity for us
and to really bring some energy and enthusiasm that we
(27:09):
feel like we bring up at the Star and at
our headquarters and into the region of Frisco that we
just knew that our community would be receptive to it,
and we thought we could amp it up and have
a lot of fun doing so. And we've got a
lot of tennis fans walking our halls, so we thought
why not. And we have an incredible partnership with these
(27:30):
guys and we're excited to see our first match.
Speaker 10 (27:33):
So when your approach about this, what made you say yes?
What made the Cowboys say okay, we want to be
involved with this?
Speaker 4 (27:40):
I think the first thing that you look at when
you're analyzing an event of this nature are the people
that are behind it. We're very comfortable in what we
bring to the table, but we also know everything that
we don't know about partnering and being a part of
an event that we may not be as familiar with.
So that was number one. And the second is just
(28:01):
the rise of the energy around around tennis and entertainment
and live event and all of that that it all
kind of was coming together for us to see this
event that has became an NAHP five hundred. So that
gave the upscale to the event that we felt like, Okay,
(28:22):
we can jump on this vandwagon and we think we
can help you take it to another level. And so
a lot of that together really made us think, hey,
we're ready for this and we're excited to give it
a try.
Speaker 6 (28:32):
So John, to that exact point that Charlotte just brought up.
The sort of leveling up, the upscaling here is apparent
not just in the quality of the facilities and whatnot,
but in quality the players on the court, the sort
of magnitude of this event. So why was this the
right time to do that in terms of the business
of tennis?
Speaker 8 (28:52):
Well, yeah, so I think the Dallas Open move came
to Dallas. It's spent three years at SMU and they
weren't in credit will host site, but the tournament I
think fortunately for everyone sort of outgrew SMU and the
ATP saw the success that our tournament had. They're at SMU,
and then the capacity of the center court there was
(29:12):
only like twenty five hundred seats, and so they awarded
Dallas and ATP five hundred level sanction. But what comes
with that is minimum amount of seating, minimum amount of
prize money, which was more than the ATP two to
fifty site could could hold. So everything was just kind
of a big, big level up for the tournament and
(29:33):
for the Dallas opened to of course partner with the
Dallas Cowboys brand. I mean, it's an absolute no brainer
for everyone on the tennis side of things and what
the Cowboys can bring operationally, and as far as the
site goes, of course, Ford Center at the Star is
like something I played tennim whole life, played the ATP
Tour for seventeen years. There aren't many facilities like this
(29:57):
at all on the ATP level. And once the players
get here, this is the first year obviously up in Frisco.
Once some players get here and experience all that Frisco
and the Star has to offer, it's going to be amazing.
The players are going to love it, and they're going
to continue, to my mind, going to continue to come
back from many years to come.
Speaker 10 (30:12):
You touched a little bit on the Star and you
talked about having this at the Star. You built this
billion dollars Dallas Cowboys headquarters that has a football field
for Frisco. There's hotels around it, there's restaurants around it.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
When you put.
Speaker 10 (30:29):
The Star there, did you do this thinking, Okay, we
can have other sports here have an event like this one?
Speaker 4 (30:35):
Absolutely, I think we had seen and that was really
our mission with AT and T Stadium, same kind of
concept because we only play there ten days a year,
so in order for that venue to be worthy of
the investment into the venue, you need to keep it occupied.
So what could you a tract beyond our game that
would make that make sense and really build upon the
(30:56):
community and economic impact that the events would actually have
venue would bring into the region. Same thing with the
Star in Frisco, and in that we knew that we
could be out there in practice, but it was also
designed to be a place for high school football, So
we have a partnership there with Frisco for high school football.
But then beyond that, what could we do that would
(31:16):
really make sense in being enticing to the community. So
as you may have seen, the ACMs were there, they're
coming back for their third year in a row. So
that's something that's probably, you know, out of our wheelhouse
American country music. So that's a little bit different than
playing football out there and now here we get to
step into the tennis world. And what is so wonderful,
and John touched on this is you know they're going
(31:39):
to stay at the Omni. They can walk down, which
is a beautiful hotel. They can walk right down to
be on the court, all these amazing restaurants, and the
same for people that actually want to come out there
to watch the matches. There's just something around every corner
that really builds upon the experience. It's not just go
and watch tennis, it's go and have an experience that
(32:00):
is beyond the match itself but connected to the match
so that it promotes the value in the aura and
the ambiance of what's going on.
Speaker 6 (32:08):
So it's interesting to think about America's team and also
think about this American moment in tennis that we're having
right now. John, I mean, you're gonna have some of
the biggest players in the game, many of whom are Americans,
showing a big Foe fritzisciafo Ben Shelton, Taylor Fritz, and
a few others that I'm totally biking on at the moment,
(32:29):
but I'm sure you'll keep me honest. What is this moment? Like,
I mean, you were part of a wave of American players.
This wave coming on is at a pretty I dare say,
precipitous time for a tennis So what does it mean
for the business of tennis?
Speaker 8 (32:43):
Yea, absolutely, Jayson. I think it's the nail on the
head there on the men's side, especially right now, American
min centnis is very attractive. There's two players in the
top ten. Taylor Fritz leads a charge at number four
in the world. The player that you left out as
Tommy Paul, Yes, number nine in the world. I have
so many friends, all my friends that are girls out
(33:04):
there ask me when Tommy's playing. I've been He's easy
on the eyes, so they all know.
Speaker 5 (33:10):
When Tommy's playing.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
I don't know exactly when he's playing.
Speaker 8 (33:12):
When I find out, I'll let him all know.
Speaker 6 (33:15):
And then maybe that's why I was blanking.
Speaker 7 (33:17):
It's like that handsome guy made me.
Speaker 8 (33:20):
So we have two players in the top ten. It's
been a long time since that's been the case. Casper
Rude is the highest ranked European player in the in
the field, he's number five in the world. So three
players in the top ten in the world, all playing
the Dallas Open.
Speaker 10 (33:33):
That's huge, all right?
Speaker 6 (33:35):
So I got to ask the football question, Charlotte. So
let's say a Wall Street analyst where to look at
the Dallas Cowboys. They would look at the success that
Julie just talked about with your brand and the on
field performances uncorrelated. Shall we say how long can that continue?
Speaker 9 (33:53):
Like?
Speaker 6 (33:53):
What what do you need to do? What do you
and your family talk about to really like goose that
on field product?
Speaker 4 (33:59):
That is a commonversation that is twenty four to seven
pretty much year round for the past thirty years. I
mean that certainly is the key focus in every conversation
that we had is how do we produce winning results?
And in that that means what coaches are you picking,
what players have you selected? What is the culture that
is actually created back there? How do you amplify that
(34:22):
and where are the pieces that are missing? Can you
look at yourself and go oh, oh, we should have
gone right when we went left, and how do we
course correct to do that. A lot of that is,
you know, for us, it's like who's the guy under
center and who's going to lead us to the next step.
You don't always find over the decades, when you look back,
you don't always have that guy, and you know, you've
(34:42):
got to build a team around something. And when you
don't have that guy, then how do you build the
team to compensate for that talent skill that might not
be there like it was, you know, five years before.
So it's a moving target for us, but the focus
is always there trying to figure out what's the missing
piece on any given day. You know, it's like this
(35:04):
past year, we went into the year thinking that we
would have a lot of success. We didn't, and then
we had the you know, the injury bug that sidelined
all of our players and we had to rebuild from
you know, from within and grab some people that we
never thought would ever see the field that we were
still learning their names by the end of the season.
And you know, that happens and teams go through that.
(35:27):
But then when you realize you've got your roster back
and starting again. This is the time you got to strike.
So it is all all the focus, all the things.
What do we do to make Dak play better, what
do we do to make our defense jill again? And
how do you create that energy in that culture? And
we think that that we've done that with our new
selection for our head coach.
Speaker 6 (35:45):
Yeah, so just talk a little bit about that because
that's the biggest talent. I mean, aside from the guy
under center, the biggest choice you make is the guy
who's calling the place.
Speaker 4 (35:54):
Now, when you don't have success one season, you have
a choice. You're going to blow everything up? Are you
going to are you trying to hang onto some things
and just feel the things where you know there is
a void? And I think for us it was really
about this is not the time where you blow everything up.
We've got a major investment in our quarterback.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
We believe in him.
Speaker 4 (36:13):
We've got major investment in Ceedee Lamb and we believe
in him. We're about to look at another major investment
and Micah Parsons on the defensive side of the ball.
So you can't afford to go just blow it up.
So you have to have some consistency while still affecting
change where you need it, and we felt that Brian
Schottenhammer did just that because he knows everybody that's back there.
(36:37):
He knows our sore spots, he knows our challenges and
our opportunities, and we felt like that was the best
way to kind of keep some consistency, be prepared to
make the next step forward and make change where he
needs to.
Speaker 10 (36:50):
And in the meantime, with this all going on, now
your practice field is filled with tennis courts.
Speaker 9 (36:56):
Back to the tennis of all this.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
Now you're at least like no one cares about.
Speaker 6 (37:01):
The cowboys right here, come on.
Speaker 7 (37:04):
But every que right I'm in down.
Speaker 9 (37:06):
Everybody cares about the gun.
Speaker 8 (37:08):
The champagne problem. Everyone wants to have is the cowboys
in the Super Bowl and the tennis tournament needing your
facilities and your team meeting the practice. It's not the
case this year. I don't know if all the tennis
people would love that.
Speaker 5 (37:22):
Of course everyone wants cowboys, but I don't know how
that would how.
Speaker 8 (37:24):
That would work out if that would be the case,
but hopefully it can be in the future.
Speaker 6 (37:28):
Before we wrap, I do want to ask one quick
question about the business of tennis. To you, John, and
again like you guys break it down really nicely on
your pod. The question that comes to everyone who loves
the business of tennis is will there be a consolidation
of the tours ATP and w T A w t
A obviously being the women's side, ATP being the men's side.
(37:49):
Is that coming? Should it happen? Like, what's your read
on that.
Speaker 8 (37:52):
I can't say with any certainty if that's going to happen.
I have heard that there's been some momentum there for
a long time, even back when Roger Better was playing.
He was sort of promoting that idea hasn't come to
fruition yet.
Speaker 5 (38:05):
There are a lot of.
Speaker 8 (38:06):
Combined events as it is right now, but the tours
are not necessarily combined. So I think that could be
something that would grow the game as a whole.
Speaker 5 (38:15):
And if something potentially.
Speaker 8 (38:16):
Maybe I think, but the calendar would have to work
out for Dallas to grab a women's event as well
at the same time as the men's event. I think
that's something to shoot for ideally down the road, because
obviously the Ford Center can host that no problem at all.
But we'll see if the tours do merge there's going
to be potentially some involvement with them in our sport.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
Our Thanks to Jason Kelly and Julie Fine for that
interview with Charlotte Jones Anderson and John Isner. Thank you
for joining us. Tune in again next week for the
latest on the stories moving big old money world of sports.
You've been listening to The Bloomberg Business of Sports from
Bloomberg Radio around the world.
Popular Podcasts
40s and Free Agents: NFL Draft Season
Daniel Jeremiah of Move the Sticks and Gregg Rosenthal of NFL Daily join forces to break down every team's needs this offseason.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.