Live From The Bloomberg Power Players Summit in LA

Bloomberg Business Weekend iTunes, SoundCloud, or Bloomberg dot com. You can also listen to our radio show at two pm Eastern Time on Bloomberg Radio, or watch us on YouTube. Search Bloomberg, Clovel News, Bloomberg Business Week Live at the Power Players Summit. Now sports we know increasingly crossing over into other areas and gaming, betting, long form content creating and more. In our next guest made his mark on video games and electronic arts, Microsoft Xbox and Stag of America.

We are so delighted to have Peter Moore with us, named Senior Vice president GM of Sports and Live Entertainment at the big game engine maker Unity Technologies just about a year ago, former CE Chief executive of Liverpool Football Club. I feel like we could talk about so many different things. Well, let's talk about Unity. Yeah, what's what's your mission at Unity? Is it all about gaming? Is it? Though I've also

heard about maybe moving into contact creation. It's more than gaming. Unity, who I've known for years being in the gaming business before I went off to Liverpool to do a little bit of traditional sports. UM started off life as a mobile gaming engine and it's really grown under the direction

of leadership of my former Bossity John Ricktello. About six thousand people now forty five officers, and we focus on real time three D bringing things to life and obviously and I'm going to use the metaverse like you gotta go there is he gonna go? Bob Peck of Disney was all in on it on his earnings call this week. Well, we believe, you know that the metaverse everything's going to

be in three dimensions. We're going to interact three dimensionally, either as avatars or go into environments, shopping, sporting events in three dimensionals. And so when how long does it take though to get there? We're still still the ways away from a real time element of it, but we've been working a unity with the UFC, who have been incredible collaborators and we've captured volumetrically to UFC fight is

here in Los Angeles a few months ago. And what this means is that not only can you watch your UFC fight, but then on your smartphone or your tablet, we will deliver to you three D imagery that you can manipulate and interact with. And you know, as a guy that remembers watching football, soccer and black and white, this feels like when color arrived and it just opened

up my world. It was a completely different experience. So I understand it from a perspective of content consumption and perhaps gaming, but from a hardware perspective, what does it look like? And and who owns that space? Who wins there? Well, the hardware it could be via obviously virtual reality. Augmented reality we think plays a role here. When we say augmented reality means that is the Google class back in the y on this table we're here right now, actually

three dimensionally. The Super Bowl could be played out three dimensionally in in what probably looks holographic but instead of

flat imagery, what augmented reality? We all played Pokemon Go, But you have this idea of things that come to life in interesting ways, typically using a smartphone or a tablet to look at them and view with them, and the unity we're doing this, and not not only in gaming, but automotive design, construction, architecture, bringing the world to life, creating digital twins and and getting away from carving clay models for cars and things of that nature, which feels

so archaic now, and and bring that to life in sports is a big deal for us. So sports games, the super Bowl, the metaverse, that's not something unusual maybe in the future, not at all. I think at first you're going to see, for example, the food fighters have got their concert after In VR, you do need the headset um. A lot of people find VR difficult. There's only so much you can tolerate. But ultimately, I think that's the first step in my life. I've been in

video games off and on for twenty five years. And the more you need hardware, they're a little more challenge. Is you talked about Google glass and that when by the wayside is it's hard wearing wearables. I'm getting to play and so you want you want to be able to interact in devices like these laptops we have in front of us without having a bespoke piece of hardware, and that's what we're working on. I think we'll watch boarding events in in on television and we currently do.

Like I'm watching Liverpool a goal is scored. I watched them yesterday, and I go to my tablet and the manipulate that imagery and what we call six degrees of freedom. I want to be in the penalty area when the shot is made. I want to be behind the goalkeeper as he makes the save. And you can do that with volumetric capture. Hey, Peter, for our investor audience, who are the winners here other than unity? I mean, look,

it takes it takes hardware, it takes chips. Yeah, you know, it takes manufacturing in order to bring this to life. But yeah, I mean, and look at the context of course of this question, is Facebook or Metal Platforms Inc. Investors don't think they're the winner right now? I think, you know, I go back to the dial up days of when I was at Sega. We were burning video games somehow with thirty frames second, NFL, NBA, NHL via a dial up modium, and that modem was running a

fifty six K and and it sounds ridiculous. Somehow we got those games until your mom picked up the phone in the other room and then a disaster. You're welcome

to my life because that is what happened. But the dreamcast led the way to say a dreamcast what what the point I'm making is it takes a while, it takes a village in the cases that we're saying real time three D. It's not just Unity, but but camera companies like Cannon and Sony need to build those volumetric capture cameras, Computing companies that delivered networks like Cisco for example, and then the five G s, particularly in North America

are desperate for this content. Um you know, they want to fill that five G pipe verizons A T and T s, the T mobiles of this world. And so what we're doing at Unity is trying to coalesce the entire industry to bring these experiences to sports fans. But do you have a timeline because I do think this is something that my boss I know. But you know there's going to be tons of pressure. And you know we were about Disney like they're all like, but how how is it a five year thing? Is it? Oh? No, no,

we will be delivering. We will be delivered we're working very closely with the UFC. We will be delivering a three D experience that you can go straight to your tablet this calendar year. Now, what that will be is probably a bundle of highlights from a fight. You want to see a particular move, you want to see a kick, you want to see a punch, a tap out. We can take you there. But the goal ultimately is to

get to real time. And we believe and and maybe a couple of years from now, that within three seconds of the action happening, you can actually manipulate the action in real time three D. Alright, gotta ask it Bengals or Rams? You know, I arrived in America and I wanted to learn American football and it was the L A Rams. But that l A Rams was Jim Everett,

Eric Dickison, Henry Ellard, Flipper Anderson. If you're way too your guys and I would go as this white skinned englishman in the Son of Anaheim to the Big A and watch these Rams who got destroyed for a decade by the Forty Nights, but I love and then they moved to St. Louis. I go, what just hous it? So? Rams are Rams? Peter Moore, Jem love this. Thank you so much, Peter Moore, Immunity Technologies. Here on Bloomberg Radio. This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Bloomberg

Quick Takes Tim Stenovic on Bloomberg Radio. Well, our next guest is participating in a panel at today's Bloomberg Power Player Summit. It's on the modern athlete, looking at the bigger role that athletes are really playing in our world. So so great to have with us. Our next guest, Yeah, Carle Lloyd is joining us. She's a two time FIFA World Cup champion, member of the U S women's national soccer team, two time Olympic old medalists. The list continues

to go on and on. Carly, how are you? I'm great, Sonny California. Can't complain coming from New Jersey. We care. Well, how do you think about this holistically right now? I mean in terms of where you are in your career, uh, and in terms of just where we are as a society when it comes to h P one sports. Uh. Well, newly freshly retired. So it's been a couple of months. Um, I retired in November, finished up then and so now I'm in the space of, you know, what what do

I do after sport? I played soccer for thirty four years of my life, seventeen years professionally, and uh, you know, I don't think any moment can prepare you for this moment. But I think what I did during my career and throughout the course of my career, I set myself up nicely to retire, and I'm at peace with that decision. And now it's about building, continuing to build my brand and uh continuing to just you know, break barriers within

the woman's uh game. And I think we're in a really great space to to just keep empowering so many other women and uh the sport, the sports growing tremendously. I want to talk to you about that. But when did you first start playing? I first started playing at the age of five. Wow, did you like it? Right away? I loved it. My parents signed me up for you know, multiple different whets. Um. I swam, played softball, basketball, I

actually uh did skiing as well. They put they my parents put us in ski school and then they went off and skied on their own and enjoyed that. So I did so many different sports and I really believe that that has helped shaped who I am as a person and player to this day. But you know, when my mom signed me up for dance and piano, um, I screamed and cried going to practice, and I didn't

with soccer. So I think that was a very good indication that I was interested in that when it came to sports growing up, though, at what point did you realize that you were special when it came to soccer. I think a lot of other people saw the talent uh in me and and just noticed that I was different from a lot of other players. Um I loved it, you know, that was that was my biggest thing. Is I just loved playing and and you know they really say for love of the game. It was it was

for love of the game. Um and and I think you know, for me, the earning point was watching Women's World Cup team play in the US. I got to go to game, and for me, that was that was a real big moment um that changed my life because I looked out onto that field watching from the stands and I knew that that was what I wanted to do. So those women helped inspire me, and now I'm helping

to inspire so many other generations coming up. The pipeline talked to us about that, because it's not easy for women in lots of different industries and certainly not in sports, and you know the inequities that are out there. I'd like to think it's getting better, but you tell me, because you've seen it front and center. I'd like to say that we're at a stage where we can just kind of rest in our laurels, but that's not the case. I feel like it's just this constant evolution of continuing

to push and break these barriers. The women before me, uh did it as well. When I first came onto the team in two thousand and five, they were fighting for guaranteed contracts so they didn't didn't have to work anywhere. They were fighting for health insurance for pregnancy leave, um. And I just get, you know, two checks from playing in two games and coming out of college, and I'm

thinking this is amazing, um. But I didn't realize the magnitude of what they were fighting for, and that laid the foundation for myself for you know, all all my teammates that I played for, and now we're doing the same for this next generation coming in does name image, likeness and the ability for now college athletes, Like, does that help in terms of giving women maybe some more power, like, because I think there's now a time where brands are like you can have a lot of sway over a

lot of consumers that are out there, and and I just wonder does that help in the fight? I think it does help. Um. You know, I was recently talking with a you know, a field hockey player who's going to college who lives in our area, and um, she's nationally ranked like number one field hockey player in the country. Um. And and she just wants to play right, but they have the opportunity to to build a brand. And and what I told her was just be all fen tick.

You know. I built my brand off of just being authentic, true to myself. It all happened organically. Um. But that's the best way to go because I think now you're you're gonna see you know, all of these young players, um get innudated with so many opportunities, and it's like you can't just pick everything that comes your way. UM. And I think that that is really going to be the key, is just being smart with the decisions that

they're making. UM and really dive deep and figure out what type of brand they want to be and represent. How do you think the role of an athlete changed in society during your career? And I asked that not just as we're seeing athletes increasingly become investors, but also increasingly takes stands off the field for political causes. It's been huge. I've had sort of the best of both worlds,

UM and different worlds. Two thousand five to about two thousand ten, there was really no social media presence at all, you know, I just played soccer, focused on that and that was it. Once two thousand ten two thousand eleven World Cup hit, Uh, that's when I joined Twitter and social media became very prevalent. And now you have all these opportunities to build your brand and have opportunities to you know, make posts for for you know, money, and

sign on with different endorsements. So I think it's just really uh, you know, a unique space to be in. UM. You know, it's not something that I would you know, recommend people just you know doing right away. I mean, I think it just you have to be really smart, you have to be diligent about it. You have to figure out what you're really passionate about and and the way you want your brand to go. I think that's

the most important thing. Um. You know, you don't want to just a quick hit of something just because you think you're gonna earn a few bucks. Um. And I've just kind of built this brand over time. But it's been you know, it's been incredible to have the platform to be able to voice concerns about different, uh, you know, different things going on in the world on and off

the field. And do you feel like you have freedom to do to say what you want without any kind of repercussions or is there always a little bit of management and balance in that? Um? You know, I don't. I don't think you necessarily do UM for me as a player. When I was playing, my social media portrayed motivational quotes, uh me playing me, training, working hard, and that's what I wanted to be about. You know, I

I kind of kept my private life separate. Um, people didn't really see a whole glimpse of, you know, what what life is like. But that was intentional. Right, Yeah, you're absolutely absolutely And now you know, I'm I'm sharing a little bit more. I've got some nieces I kind of post them and um, but yeah, it's if you know what I'm thinking, and we're thinking politics and we're thinking with the Olympics, like this has been a tricky, very tricky game I think for athletes, and I just think,

you know, you guys are are role models. Um, And I think increasingly the public fans look to all of you and some don't want politics and sports. I think they think it's a break, but others expected. So I just wonder how you manage that. Yeah, I try to stay positive. I think that's that's the most important thing for me, is just living a very authentic, positive life, shedding light on different failures success. Um, how hard it is to be the best at something in the world.

And that's what I want my message to be. Just in the last minute that we have with you. What can your fans expect from you in this next phase of your career? You know, this next phase, I'm going to continue to build my brand. I I run my own Seal ten uh soccer clinics. UM, my husband started my merchandise store online that um, you know, we're we're continuing to build up and I don't know, you know,

ownerships of teams is kind of enticing to me. Staying involved with the game, you know, part of FIFA, part of US Soccer, men and Women's World Cup. So I'm definitely leaving the game on the fields, but off the field, I'm going to remain, uh, you know, heavily involved. I like Carly Lloyd team owner. That sounds kind of nice. Carly,

Thank you so much. Good luck with it. This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio, Data and sports playing a bigger role in how sports content is being delivered today, increasingly giving fans a much more customized experience. So with more on this, let's bring in Nagy Good. He's former NFL linebacker played for the Buccaneers, the Eagles, the Colts,

the Jaguars, winning a Super Bowl ring. When playing with the Eagles and Super Bowl fifty two, Tim and I were like, just okay, so I gotta tell you just you know, during the break, I saw this ring. I saw this ring. Nagi actually let me hold his Super Bowl ring. I've never seen one in the flesh before. Thank you for that. Thank you. By the way, that thing is big, Hey, bring some energy. It really does, it definitely does. We should point out you're also co

founder in chief of fan engagement at vp oh. It's a social platform brands, advertisers to connect with things. How are you phenomenal? Well? How tell us abtructive? We have been UM working together right now, still continuing to build vp O and UM. We have a really big initiative right now with h B c U s UM actually have a closer relationship of HBCUs. My brother went there and play with guys like Darius Leonard. Um played against

guys like Justin Durant. And right now we have initiative to establish ownership of data and empowerment as data through campaigns, through sponsorships, through traditional forms of media and advertisement with our new technology capability, I feel like ownership of data. Yes, that is like the big cahuna. I feel like in the world right because there's so much out there? How do you do that? Because there's the I mean you're gonna have to pull from other sources, right yeah, well

not necessarily. Our Our tour, which is nice is that we are additive. UM. It's why the Eagles joined them with this. Jeffrey very equity owner and we partner with a few teams because what we do is all additive. We take with the fans and the users like to see and we show them more and in the ownership of data and the sponsors participating with marketing marketing, influencers and influencer marketing with the players, we give them them

the ability to see that data. So you have our tool, You're able to see that data, You're able to see those interactions, and it empowers the player to put out better content with the team and the strategically aligns every organization. What's the problem that the VPO saw that needed to be solved. What was the white space there that hadn't

been filled yet? Yeah, So Jonathan A. Mecca and nin Grant, our partners, we saw a space in sports to where athletes were put on this platform to speak out and to engage with people, but they didn't understand what they were doing. They didn't understand the reach of that. Which platform social media? Any platform, We're talking Instagram, We're talking Twitter, yes,

book and talking to any platforms. I mean we even talked about that, Like we do a lot of stuff, but it's like you're always trying to find out like

what's the most productive way to do it exactly. And the one thing that we see on platform the platform with especially like what HBC used the resources of things they need um in the sports in general, where we saw VPO solving a big problem them was we connect every user to every entity and monetize all the possible futures that what they do in digital sports and media, so would help an athlete understand Okay, well if they post this on TikTok, it has a reach like this

and monetization possibility like this versus Instagram versus you know, Twitter. So the best thing about our technology is that you can see it on every platform. So we integrated right now with Team Mobile laps and we're integrated with sports leagues where everyone are the mobile apps playing ball with you.

They're trying to write because you know, because you know, their data is their data, and that's so valuable to them, so they want to choose what they actually hold on too and what they actually show yes, and this is why this is why VPO has been additive, because not only do they see that, but they also see additional data of when a user of fan interacts specifically with an influencer so very important, you know right now, especially

with women's sports and the actual accountability of what what athletes are doing in social media. Um, the cool thing about what we can do is that we can actually monetize and we can pull in those fans that they engage with, you know, whether it's the one person from your hometown or if it's a million fans around the world. And you talk about sports like the Olympics, you talk about you know, unconventional sports, gymnastics obviously everybody knows it

wasn't unconventional. Take that personal. I'm just kidding, where's your super Bowl right right now? I don't have fun I don't have my go ahead. But yes, yes, yes, and we you know the fact that we can actually allow the enable the capabilities of a user to interact and engage righting in and there and actually find out more information, more data or a purchase a link to additional information and one fans actually see that no one loves pop ups,

No one likes pop ups. Our technology is seamless, and we can actually integrate this with video, which is really really compelling because you watch a sport. How many times do you watch a game and you said, I like what that guy has on or right now. The NFL does a phenomenal job. Is they take pictures of everybody. You're walking through the pregame tunnel. I try to wear my pre game outfit. This is when I picked off Tom Brady. You know, shouts out to the go look

pretty good Thursday night football. But uh yeah, you know, you take you take different engaging Yes, and it works and and you actually get the engagement fan from what we call a pool instead of a push, and um, it's been really compelling and um, everybody likes to see what more, what they like to see more of what's been the growth of the platform? Oh, the growth of

the platform has been huge. Um, We've grown the fan base and audience and the engagement of the audience and the the Jaguars are actually number one most time spent on site with our technology capabilities because we were able to link every fan, every draft pick. We were able to link the new era hats that they had and the story of the player. How many guys do you come into the league you don't know the stories of

the players. We're able to link their personal stories via Twitter, via Instagram to that direct photo or video, So why are you looking at that player? Get to find out more information about what he's about, what he stands for. My cleats my Cause is a big initiative that we want to get into this year with having the ability to directly link from team content to auction off cleeks for causes charities Loopus, breast cancer awareness, stuff like that.

And then for the initiative for hbc use, UM, we see the gap that you know has been you know forwarded to the opportunities that haven't been forwarded to him and the resources that can be there. And by giving the HBCUs are really leg up in the African American community, we can give them the opportunity to ownership data. Talk to us about that. I do feel like with with Brian flores Is lawsuit and stuff, we're just talking about a lot of people coming out and talking about the

lack of diversity within the NFL, specifically, UM, racism. What's been your experience and what are your thoughts on this? So my personal experience, UM, I am legacy, So I've had the privilege of understanding the game from my father's standpoint of view. UM, he was an Eagle as well, so it was pretty cool to be in that same environment. And um, I think the game does need to be more diverse. I'm from the standpoint of, you know, where all the family, the locker room is one of the

most diverse things. We've always had exceptional conversations no matter where they are. I mean, there's guys on our team, I play with, you know, America, Sutamas, I've played with white plaque. Um, you know, and the fact that that diversity needs to be seen more. It can be seen more at a coaching at a front office level, and I think that the NFL is doing a good job of trying to integrate it. But certain things that is

doing a good job. So you think about the lack of you know, black coaches, coaches, black owners, black owners, black owners, black coaches. You know, there's needs to be more. There needs to be more. There needs to be diversity because seventy percent of our athletes are you know, sitting in my same situation, are same ethnicity. And I think that the NFL is doing a better job at trying to push towards the initiative. Is it happening, not as fast as we wanted to, But I think that as

the game continues to grow. I think that these things will naturally happen and is where we're excited with VPO because the world is becoming digital and the stories that need to be told from the platforms. What we can do to add to the interactions from a diverse group of fans. You can make it diverse, right automatically on that platform, make it diverse. And really we can give resources and tools to the h b c U s and to the guys. Like I said, my brother went

to HBCU. It was really intriguing to go to West Virginia while he was going to HBCU because if we used to have the arguments and like, oh I get this, I get that, and you know, I got to really see My brother came out. He graduated a couple of years before I did. With Kendall Lankford justin Durant, guys that played for a long time. The talent is there now, the reaches where we're talking about what the NFL needs to do a better job up and they've stepped up.

They've done the hbc U combine. But I really think that having tools like what we have and then actually exposing more people, it definitely helps really quick. Bengals are rams really really quick. I love the rams D line, so that's why I think they'll win. But I'm a Bengals Joe Burrow, Ohio. Yeah, all right, there we go on the fence. Answer if I ever heard. Thank you so much, good luck with everything. So good to see again, NASA.

Good everybody, Thank you. This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. Bloomberg Business You're live at the Bloomberg Power Players Summit in Beverly Hills. Politics and polarizing issues definitely coming up here at the event. It just came up in some of our conversation and in keeping with that, in the new issue of Bloomberg Business Week, a story about how voters are fed up with COVID and turning against present

buying the Democrat. Yeah, it's a story bout Josh Green, national correspondent for Bloomberg Business Week. He joins us right now live on the phone from Washington, d C. Joel Weber eder It. Bloomberg Business Week is on the access line from Brooklyn. Joel, I gotta tell you over the last week or so it has felt like there's been a sea change at least when it comes to policy decisions by states around the country for masking for mandates, and it follows I think serious for rustration from voters

Democrats and Republicans alike. Yeah, this was it felt like the week that everything really changed and and uh it felt like for me that like an individual level, but then backdrop was the country and uh, you know, democratic state after Democrats states sort of walking back some of the mass restrictions, UM, and it signaled something else that

I thought was really important. And Josh basically made this the heart of the story, which is, despite those those rollbacks, Uh, the Biden administration is still kind of in this and he quotes somebody who said this in this emergency mode while the public is sort of ready to move on UM. And as Josh lays out, this will have potentially huge,

huge implications for mid terms. And that was he wrote this when we published it, And and then the inflation numbers, the CPI stuff came out yesterday, which obviously a different topic but but also not good for the Biden camp. So so Josh talked to us more about that, just severity between what what the Biden administration wants to do

versus what the where the public's heart is that? Yeah, you know, I think what's interesting is that when Biden got elected and came in initially, he got a lot of favorable responses and public polls because he was so rigoroated about about COVID restrictions, UH and trying to contain the virus um, you know, it, to differentiate himself, I

think from Donald Trump and his presidency. And yet what's happened over the last year or so is the public opinions has shifted, and especially in the last couple of weeks, shifted really dramatically on COVID against the idea that people want to continue with these strict masks and vaccine mandates, um, the sort of things that have really dominated American life

over the last year and a half. Um. What's interesting is that if you look at public opinion and and and pulling cross tabs, you can see the shift across all groups. It's not just Republicans, it's not just anti bactors, and everybody sort of arrived at the same point. And yet, as you point out, Joel, the Biden White House is still sort of stuck in uh. In April one doesn't

want to have to move. And there was literally a rebellion this week by five or six Democratic governors who said, you know what, if the White House isn't gonna lead on this, we're just gonna go ahead on our own and begin removing some of these mask mandates, which started to happen. Yeah, yeah, I was gonna say that that started to happen, Josh. And and now we've got some

some drumbeats about Ukraine in the background. The other thing that I was just wondering about, we have a moment here in the not so distant future where Biden will have a State of the Union that that would happen on on on March one. Do you think he waits that he can wait that long before he addresses it, or or do you think that there's something that has to happen more immediately. You know, I really don't think

he can't. It was funny when I started doing reporting for this piece about a week ago, none of this had really exploded yet, and a couple of people up on Capitol Hill, Republicans and Democrats, pointed to the March first State of the Union as potentially a pivotal moment because they said, you know, he's going to get out there Biden is and try and claim that things are

going in the right direction. But if he's speaking to a half empty chamber, uh, and everybody's wearing a mask, it's really gonna be hard to sort of push the idea that things are going back to normal. Um. And as I said earlier, it's clear and clear that people

want them to. I don't really think that that that's gonna be feasible for Biden to sort of continue on this path when prominent members of his own party are breaking with his administration and breaking with his stance and the CDC stance on the virus and saying, listen, you know, we can see this omicron way of going away. Uh. We're listening to voters here who are fed up with

the ever changing rules and the school closures. You know, we're gonna begin to learn to accept life with endemic COVID and kind of do the best we can adjusting to that going forward. I think this is gonna be a case where the buying administration follows rather than leads, on whatever the United States is evolving. COVID policy winds

up being over the next couple of weeks. I do wonder to um, Josh, does it matter who was in the White House that if we were still in this, well, we are still in this situation it was a Republican president, if it was just a different situation, that the public would be turney against the administration no matter what, because they're just tired of this. You know, it's it's possible. But I mean Republicans all along have been more cavalier and less willing to um, you know, comply with with

mask and vaccine mandates. I think what's so striking about what's just happened over the last week or so is that these are by and large democratic governors moving against the Democratic White House. I think it's less an issue of partisan ideology and more a matter of Look, these are politicians, and they listen to voters in their district. And you know, any parent of a kada twelve students who's had to deal with school closures and mask mandates for going on two years now, we'll tell you that.

You know, the system is not working and everybody is sort of fed up. I think we kind of hit our our collective national boiling point over the last week or so, and that's really what we're seeing play out in the news right now. So how do you explain then, uh, the disparity between the widespread fear Josh that still exists with contract with contracting COVID and pushback by those same people.

You know, it's it's a great question because if you look at these public pull numbers, as you said, you know, fully half of people are still afraid of getting COVID. What's changed when when I when I speak to polsters, is that vaccinated America has sort of grudgingly recognized that there is going to be a core segment of people who refuse to get the vaccine um that's large enough that we're really never going to eliminate COVID. It's it's going to be an ongoing presence in our lives in

some way shape with him. And so, you know, in a way, you could say the anti bactors have kind of won that stair down, and so what a majority of Americans wanted to I would move on find the best way to live with COVID and sort of remove a lot of these emergency provisions and lockdowns and find a way to normalize American life al right, guys, thank you so much. Really appreciate it and check it out of the new issue. Joshua Green along with the editor

of Business Week, Jill Webber. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. We're love at the Power Player's Summit in Beverly Hills, and I've got to say I'm already in love with our next guest because he complimented my shoes. Like score. Dickerson is in the house. Played eleven seasons in the NFL. Uh inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. His NFL single season rushing records set back

in four Still there. He's got a new book act called Watch My Smoke, and he's getting ready to be part of a panel and n f T. So we've got so much to talk about again. Loving the shoe comments. I love that you. Seriously, it's not about you. I don't know. I didn't be okay, what did you tell me that you got? I gotta shoe problem. That's why I got a shoe problem until I have like twolfs right now, I got I got a problem. How's your golf games? It's golf, it's up and down, and so

let's put it like that. Um, so much to talk about. Um we Do you want to talk about your book? You must start there. Do you want to talk about n F T? Whatever you want to talk about. I want to talk about you book because you were signing right next to us and people were lining up. Um, what did you want to write this? Well, um, you know, my kids have always told me that's just such a

great storytelling. You know what you think, because I can think about taking my kids, my my my youngest daughter to school, and she said, make up, I want to hear a story about a horse. So I make up a story like ten minutes about a horse. I want to hear a hunted house today, satday, a hunted house, you know. And I've just always been great telling stories. And my story is so interesting. I didn't you know, you didn't never think because it's your story. But everybody

I know said Eric man, that's such interesting. Your life is interesting. And people don't know a lot about your life, like a lot of people know. I was legally adopted, you know, by my great great hunt. You know, my mother had me when she was fifteen and she raised my mother also. So it's just a lot in my book that that people don't know. They think they know what, they really don't know. Why now though, Well, what is it about right now in this moment that we're facing,

not just with sports in the NFL, but as a society. Well, you know, we started this book really about fifteen years ago, kind of a phase of it. A friend of mine was a writer and he did poetry and I you and uh he said, okay, man, let me write to me. I want to write a book. I said, okay. So he's I'm gonna come stay with your month and do some drafts. He did some drafts and then kind of the middle of it he died. He got killed on the fire. So you know, I kind of forgot about it.

And then later, um, like fifteen years later, my friend Gustavo same thing. You know. He started he said, Man, if your life is so interesting, I like to, like, I want to find your right into a book. I said, okay, I said, you know, went through this and like showing the drafts I had before and started talking to different writers. And I talked to two other writers, and you know, I think I think as a person, you want the book to sound like you, So I want to forget.

One guy wrote something and I read it draft and I want to and he said one of my words are like oh godle I'm like, oh, that's another way I signed. That doesn't sound like me. And so then a guy you found this guy Greg Handling, and Gregg made the book. When I said when I read the drapt like, oh this is me. This is sounds just like my words. And really, I think because it came later,

it just came at the right time. I mean, I didn't plan on it coming out with all the stuff that's going on, right it just came out at the right time. And it really did. It wasn't like a plan like I'm won't drop it, you know, at this time with everything going on, But it just kind of worked out like that. You know. I think about and I am going to go to racism and diversity and

inclusion because I think about Black Wall Street. I am Florida, and I think a lot of individuals are in this country that that has not been a part of our history. And you realize you're not telling American history unless you tell it all, and you tell it all accurately, and it's control, like there's been a lot of control of the narrative of so much and incorrectly. So wow, you know you say that give me cold chill saying it

because I know it's true. I mean, And and because my table I was born, my mother was born who adopted me, was born in nineteen o four. And she telled me Eric, he says, she's something you don't You don't know the things that I've seen. She said, I've seen things that you wouldn't even believe, you know, because she was born in that in that in that time. And she said, you know, I know the evil things that the white man does, you know. And I'm like,

I was a kid, I've never seen that. So it's like she would tell me something like I said that that can happen, but it but it really does. And and so you know, it's it's it's sad that they hide stuff. I'm like, hey, if you're gonna tell it, tell the whole story, you know, to that point, tell the story of what you saw in the NFL and what you experienced in the NFL, or maybe even go

back earlier in college. You know, I'll go back with me, and the media never kind of saw and I just started college because you know, as a young kid coming out of Seeley, Texas, two thousand people, black kid, I was a number one recruiting the whole nation. It was me, John Elway and Marino top three and so um I went, you know, got got got, I was recruited by everyone. Went to s m U and make us long story

show up. My first year, I struggled. I mean, I was a kid, you know, and I from a small town, and I don't get the writer of the road that they should take my scholarship because I'm a bust. You know. I was a bust. And I had my friend Craig James, the white kid. He played the biggest school, and he was doing better than I was. But I mean that's just how it was. I wouldn't I wouldn't really ready

for college. And so as time went on, I just saw kind of things that they would say about me that wasn't fair, you know, And when especially when when I got to the Rams and and and then I got drafted, and you know, I had to some of the hold outs, and it wasn't about people think it's always about the money. The money. It wasn't about that. I just wanted to be treated family. That's what it on. It was get example, Elway was the first pick. I

was the second pick. Always making a million dollars. I'm making a hundred fifty thousand. That's kind of that that that that that's wrong and and and people, that's why, that's why I'm glad I did this book because I wanted people to get to know me because my mother it really hurt her because I didn't like reading arts and my coach, my high school, my college coach told me, son, don't jump. You'll read articles because one minute they hate you, the next manute they love you. So I never read

artists articles because of that. And my mother would read just Eric, you say, this isn't your son, this isn't this is the man that the kid I raised. I know you better than this. And so that's the thing that I think that really was frustrating when you when you had no no way out. Like now the players have Instagram, Facebook, you know, they can tell their story. We had no story. I mean, the writers write it, and people said, oh, it's gotta be true, It's gotta

be true. A matter of fact, Just the other day, I was with a guy and he heard him talking about the player. I wanta say the player's name, and he said, oh, man, I head. He said, he's asking my friend bomb Cities and asked so, I said, I said, so, have you ever met the guy? I said? He said no. I said, so, do you know your friends? Botot your friends? He said no, I don't know. And I said, you're taking his word. He said, yeah, that's wrong. I said that,

that's right. I said that. And it's a lot of that. I mean, it's a lot of that in the NFL. Look, the NFL is with the NFL is. I'll say, I'm glad I played in the the national film. What does that mean? What does that mean? It's it's a big entity that you really can't you can't control it. I mean, it's it's gonna do what it does, and it does a lot of It's done a lot of good. I like it.

It's done a lot of good. It's done a lot of bad too, And I think the bad is it hide stuff and it doesn't come out until it's caught. It's like they have this phrase that we are we are family. We are family, and the players like We're not no family, you know. We treat us like dogs, you know, but the players are family because we know what it's like to be out there on the field. Are are you optimistic that the NFL can get to a point where you don't feel that way about the organization.

I don't think it happened in my lifetime. Just being honest, I don't. I mean nothing to being honest about that. I had dinner with my friend Clyde Drexler, you know, NBA basketball player, and I said, claud I said, like, I said, y'all, you're in the basketball y'all. I said, I put my hand y'all even right here. He said, oh no, the basketball players up here and the owners are down there. You know we we said we control the narrative because you know, different different he said, you know,

our contracts are guarantee, we have a voice. We vote. Weren't to hold out. We hold out and the NFL players they they can stick together? Is the owners also, because right, I mean, you've the NFL, but they can't necessarily they can tell the owners with you just so much, right, yeah, they when they own the league owners on the league, I mean, and that's what a lot of players are afraid of You'd be surprised how many guys that don't want to speak up against the NFL because they're afraid

that it's all man and billionnails man. But you know, but you know, you know, the thing is, I gotta I gotta give the ladies credit, the women. The women are the ones who take care of our broken bodies. After all over when we have no health care, we have no we have no insurance, and the women are like stuck, like I'm stuck with this guy that he's not the same guy that I'm married. I mean, he's

he's he's broken and I need some help. And I feel bad for because a lot of times, like you talked to the wives and I was like, I'm I'm with it, I want to do it, and then I'm not sure. You know, I'm a little afraid. It's a

tough game. And you think about there are a few players who go on to either be you know, commentators on networks or great investors and companies, but there's the bulk of the team, the players, They really have a tough They have a tough time because you know, to say that, I guess the one of the main thing is the pension is really bad in the National and now it might be better for the current players. I'll give you a quick story. A matter of fact, this

was about twelve years ago. Twelve thirteen years ago, my friend Deacon Jones, I went to the hospital of Business book this way way before he passed away, and I said that all day we talked lad and he said, Eric is what's what did you What did you take your pension? I said, you know, I don't take my

pension yet, it's how do I think? I was forty nine in town, so thinking I'm always Eric any old Yet he's I'm old, So he says, he said, I said, Deacon, so you tell you said yeah, he said, you know my pension is, Eric, my pension is two hundred and fifty dollars a month. What am I gonna do with That's exactly what he said. He said, I take it because I don't want them to have it. So, I mean, that is that's the struggle, you know, with with with

the National Football League or the owners or whatever. It's just not it's not an evil even playing ground. What would you tell current NFL players or what do you tell current NFL players about life after the NFL. I say this much in the NFL has done a good job about a lot better job of kind of preparing guys for life after the NFL, because for us, they didn't, you know, you play football, and because playing the National Football League is like you're making money one day and

all of a sudden you might get hurting boom. It's like a wall. You just stop, no more pay checks. I would tell these guys, and I tell a lot of guys, said, man, look, if you're making that ten fifteen, I say, if you don't know anything about finance, get you someone that really does. Not little pookie over here, a little eddie, No, you get you somebody that really knows finance. And I'm telling if not, just put that money in a in a place, in a bank or

or institution. Just let it sit there, just if you want to say, Okay, I want to do something crazy. I'm gonna take to three million dollars. I'm gonna be done with that. But that bulk, you keep that bulk over there, because after a while, when you retire, you go back. Man. I got a nest egg over here, I think, I mean, And I would say, don't get in something that you don't know nothing about. That a guy has a great idea, because nine times out of ten that does not work. It sounds too good to

be true. Probably I'm guessing rams that's a good guess. That's you think. I tell you you're gonna be at the game. No, I'm not going to the game. I'm gonna watch it from home. You know, I'm pulling for my football team. I think that this is what I think at the game go. I think I mean Cincinnati they deserve to be there. You know, they deserve to be there because because because because you know, they won.

But I gotta say this too, I look back. I'm like, they lost to the Browns twice and I called the Browns the clowns. And you know we used to call the Bengals the Bungles. So the Bengals are there, but they deserve to be there. Now. I really believe this, And I said this on TV this morning that if we don't turn the ball one time, I said, this will be I ute to say that. I think it'll be a blowout because I think we just we have that much mortality. I mean veteran players, not saying that

they're not ready for this game. It's a young quarterback. I mean, he reminds me a lot of my friend Dan Marino went in his second year, never went back again. But I said, I mean the Rams are then the perfect perfect position at home for their own fans to win a Super Bowl and bring it back to l A. I have. There's a lot of turnovers. I just want a good game. I think I just want a good game. I just want a good game. Well, thank you again, love the shoe comment, love everything, um your book, watch

my smoke. Eric Dickerson, so timely in terms of the conversations, be well, thank yeah. But you let me drive? No, no, no, please ravels. I want to drive. Good. Question is the drive to the clothes well up on Blueberg Radio? All right, everybody just got about twenty minutes, a little bit under

eighteen minutes left in today's trading session. But as Charlie mentioned, pretty much every new arrow lows of the day concerns about tensions between Russia and certainly expectations or the possibility of an invasion into Ukraine, and that is certainly freaked out investors on this Friday. So let's see what Rebecca Corbyn has to say. She's founder and CEO at the strategic consultancy and research firm Corby Advisors, joining us once

again on the phone from Farmington, Connecticut. Rebecca, you know, prior to today, it looked like we might see right, some gains for the week tim overall. Um, Rebecca, how do you put into context a day like today? Well? Hello, how are you? Sarah? And sim You know, I think this is part of the course for earnings. Um. You know, if you think about where we were in the third quarter heading into the third quarter, and I had to take you back there because investors sentiment was getting, um

the pep it. You know, we saw bullish sentiment highest level of bullish sentiment in our second quarter survey. Heading into the third quarter, investor started expressing concern around inflation, supply chain really coming home to Ruth with regard to performance. But executives had a you know, terrific um communication and talked a lot about them and talk a lot about drown backlog. Still addressed the concerns. But what it did was it actually made investors feel a lot more confident

heading into this earning season. And as we've seen, the guide for Q one very tough se The SMP five hundred already have given a negative guide. And while the year with strong a lot of discussion around back uploads, what about when it comes to consumer sentiment and the data that we got this morning declining further in early February to a fresh decade low. This is views about

personal finances deteriorate because of intensifying inflation. Intensifying inflation concerns Rebecca, I'm wondering how that manifests itself in corporate earnings, how it manifests itself. Uh As consumers of course power this economy absolutely. You know, this is just that low um movie that's playing in slow motion and you can see the fall and you know happening, but it's not going to be this you know kind of kaboom where everything just goes up at once. But this is really a

market that is time. These are strings that are very very taught. You think about the supply chain, do you think about inflation? Remember the first time that we identified concern with regard to inflation was in the fourth quarter of twenty so this this play has been playing out for a year now and with its supply chain, and

what's very interesting is that the entire market. UH, trade has really been on demand, business demand, consumer demand, and again the guys that companies have provided, UH, there's very little room for error on the demand side, and that

is what we're watching. So if if that's the case, then what's the big risk right now that our audience needs to know about that they need to understand well, the big rest is that this playing field that we've been on UM has been COVID, which we all understand and have been navigating through that corporate We've done really well with regardsman creation, manages supply chains. It is what it is, exacts, but the company is executive or managing

the best that they can. The new player in the room is now interesting, and that is the biggest thing you should be focused on because that is going to have a significant path and far reaching impath on so many sectors, so many companies. We can't even begin to process the fallout. And you know, both strengths as well as weaknesses with regard to what we'll see when when the FED increases weight. You know, I love what you said, Rebecca about strings are very taught, and I think that's

so true. Like you know, when you're distressed out and someone could do the smallest thing and it just turns you makes you crazy. And that's really it feels like the market environment right now is that investors are taught. You know, there's just so many issues that could kind of not go right. A misstep on global monetary policy. Um, now we have geopolitical concerns and what that means for the global economy. There's just there's political you know, continued

wrangling in the US. So there's a lot out there to try and figure out. You know what that overall recalibration. I keep using it over and over again because I think it's the right word to be using. We just don't know what that post pandemic world is like as all of the easy stimulus gets backed off. You know, what is the real growth scenario? What is the real inflation you know scenario. There's just you know, how many people really ultimately come back to work. There's just so

much we just don't know. This is this is so true, and um again, you know, we don't know what's going to happen when interest rate rais and and all of these companies and everyone quite frankly has been passing on passing on cloth so obviously the consumer. So there's the whole series of dominan no effects that has to happen. Again, this doesn't happen overnight. This whole thing that is wrapped around the axles very tightly test unwind and so we'll

see that play out. And again, you know, I just look at Trent and I say, well, what are the things that are going well for us? Demand? Right, record, backlog, demand, um how much? And that, by the way, capex is still very strong, so you know, everybody is supportive of the demand environment. Companies are still spending. In fact, in CAPEX plan type increased over one, so there's still a

lot of capital being put into the economy. However, when I look at that was a thing that's really the juggernaut on the positive side, and all of the other headwinds including inflation, supply chain talk, consumers, interest rates, etcetera. Those trends don't they don't net out. And the demand train has been going for a very long time. And the thing about demand, backlog and cap acts, it can

evaporate overnight. People can get concerns and worried about the negative headlines and what's happening and consumer and they can pull that lever very quickly, which becomes a vacuum, potential

vacuum in the economy. And that's really what we're concerned about and what we will be looking for are when companies really start to change their behaviors around if the demand starts this often, we're going to be looking for cost setting initiatives, and we're going to be looking for layoffs, and and there in lies the perfect storm right when you start to compound this situation with layoffs of people who have been feeling very good about the economy, is

very good about the jobs market, and have been spending very strongly. This is Charlie Pellett and just very curious about market reactions steep losses. Right now as we head toward the closing bell, We've got roughly ten aduts to go before the bell closes here in New York. What are you telling your clients to do right now? Given all that we're seeing with financial markets. What a week. It's been a losing week. Just seems like investors are getting whips on every day. Yeah, well, I'll tell you

something about investors. When we headed into this earning season, there were two factors that we identified that were misperceptions from investors. One is that they looked at supply chain um as less of a concern quarter of a quarter survey over survey. And second is they were not including the omocron effect and the level of absentee ism in financials, and that impacted fourth quarter, it is going to impact

first quarter. What we've been telling our clients is we should be we should be thinking about these clauds on the horizon. While demand is still very strong. We need to really start managing expenses, and we need to be prepared for vicissitudes in the market. And companies and our viewers should be listening to companies that are strong execute ers, that are cycle tested, that make decisions with agility around

changes in the economic environment. Those are strong best. All right, Well, it raises the question too, as you listened to the earnings calls, how pleased have you been about what companies are saying about the future outlook, especially with all of the inflation news that we've got. Obviously the inflation, uh the specific inflation number has not been on the conference calls,

but the overall inflation picture. What are companies saying and should you be concerned companies are still looking at a strong two soft Q one in general UM, and that's overly generalizing, but generally Q one is impacted by absentee ism. Inflation. Supply chain which most executives leave will ease at some point, especially with the interest rate hikes, that will create new problems. And I would say that UM. For me, as somebody who has followed the markets for over twenty years, I'm

I'm more skeptic. I'm more of a skeptic. I don't see how we work our way out of this necessarily, And it's a lot of the culmination of many years coming together, many factors in this kind of what I call the supercycled growth that we're seeing. That really started when companies started to put their money to work back in July of twenty and we saw that come through

to fruition. And here we are, so to Julie's point, we need to recalibrate, and we're going to recalibrate and companies are going to gently communicate that to the market over several quarters and we'll see how that works. Hopefully there's a soft landing. Yeah. And Rebecca, when you say your skeptical this year's returns, I don't think anybody is forecasting that we will have a better year than last year. Will well, let me ask you, will it wind up

being a positive year for the SMPI index. That's a great question. You know. I'm not I'm not gonna I'm not gonna hang myself on that one. I've learned many many times not to call these markets because strange things have then. But what I will tell you is what we saw in one is likely not repeatable. Fair enough, that said, because you know that we've been inviting you back on December thirty December thirty one and playing the clip where he had predicted the markets would be doing

X for this year. That said, the current tensions that we are seeing over Ukraine short term blip, should investors be reacting to what we're seeing? Well, I think it all just adds to the concern with regard to again the trends. There's a lot more headwinds, challenges, serious negatives out there, and of course the market is going to react to that. And you know, quite frankly, we have to bifurcate the markets because you know, we work with

institutional investors, either professional investors. Then we have the retail we have the general public with regard to the markets. Heading into this earning season, our institutional investors were expecting Recus that was already priced in, right, But any time we have these of overarching headlines, the generalist market, the ets, you know, the program trading is going to react to that news. And listen, you've got to be in it to win it. Over the long term. We don't get

a lot of market corrections. Take the opportunity if we do get one and invest in it. Yeah, so many major issues hanging over the market. I mentioned Ukraine clearly that's a big one. Rising energy prices, inflation, and it is. But where does all of this leave the Federal Reserve? Because it just seems in just a matter of weeks we have gone from a number of increase interest rate increases seven some people are saying, but I think perhaps the bigger story there is now chatter about a fifty

basis point hike. Yes, and you know, like the Fed, let's see he's into it. Let's see what one basis point hike does before we start to really unravel this. That's my concern is that we're going to go into this not eyes wide open, and there are so many strings. You know, you kind of light that up and the whole entire market lights up because it's all inter related.

And we really have to be thoughtful, I believe going in with these interest rascally because we haven't had one in so many years, and we've got just all of this perfect storm waiting to happen. And that is that that is a lever that we're not used to. Again, it's going to create a lot of volatility. Um. There's there's going to be more fallout when the rate does happen, even though we've been talking about it, because that's just

the way the markets react. But again, companies are have gotten very strong since the Great Financial Crisis of navigating through challenges. I mean it's been that way, one after the other after the other, and they've been pretty successful. And what would you consider the likelihood if any UH to be for a fifty basis point rate increase at the next meeting? But the better question, how would the market react? Oh? I think the market would react quite

frankly negatively. Um. Even though it's priced in, I think the market is still going to go through the Oh so it's real. UM. And again you think about what that has an impact on balance sheets, and balance sheets are very strong for a lot of companies. But that

just puts it into perspective. And you know, for investors, they're looking at companies with two times netde to even up the companies that are above that really when they when we go into an interest rate rate environment Alright, Rebecca, we gotta leave it there. I want to thank you so much for joining us here on Bloomberg Business Week.

Thanks for listening to Bloomberg Business Week. Download the podcast on iTunes, soundcrowd, or Bloomberg dot com, and you can also listen to our radio show at two pm Eastern on Bloomberg Radio, or watch us on YouTube search Bloomberg Global News