Live from the US Open Tennis Championships

You can also listen to our radio show at two pm Eastern Time on Bloomberg Radio, or watch us on YouTube search Bloomberg Global News. Well. Earlier this year, our Bloomberg team reported on how college athletes were finally cashing in on their name, image and likeness, and our next guest has some thoughts on that. Yeah, let's bring in Richard Kent, legal counsel and marketing consultant at SUNIL. It

stands for student Athlete, Name, Image and Likeness. He's also the author of Inside Women's Basketball and Inside of the U s Open. He's here with us on site at the US Open. Richard, How are you great to join you guys? Yeah, it's great to have you here. I want to get to Suneil in just a minute, but first I want to talk to some of the action that we're seeing so far here at the Open. Uh. Some big names are here, but some big names aren't here.

Djokovic and Roger Federer. Roger Federer is my guy. He's my guy. Okay. He hasn't played in one Grand Slam this year. He has not. He's playing in the Labor Cup in two weeks, which is in London. He's gonna play at Basel, which is his hometown tournament, in October. He may play the World Finals this year. But I'm told I don't know how good the information is. All four majors next year, a pre limb teach major, like

in the US Open. It would be Cincinnati, I would think, and the Labor Cup once again, which is gonna be in Vancouver, Vancouver, I believe, and then retire. I'm told that's possible in Bosl. So if you think that this one, I mean, this is obviously a big one for Serena, imagine this next year if it's Federer final. You know, I had that conversation with two people yesterday and and I keep going back and forth on the noise and

all that stuff. I still think since she's an American, Serena will be a little louder, a little more boisterous. The Serena the crowd just you could see it and feel it, all right, yeah, I mean the federal crowd. Those are the two, you know, Serena Federer, Federer Serena. But those would be the two biggest retirements for sure.

How do you think about though this kind of I hate to say older generation, because these individuals have been playing tennis for decades now at this point are not really that old, but they are for the game, right, we're thinking about the next generation. How do you see it? And how do you think about who's coming up and who are the players to watch? I think tennis is healthy. I think Nick Karrios is an unbelievable talent. He probably has a better served than to all the people we

just mentioned. Um. I think he can do Wonders. I really like Madison Keys a lot. Wait hold on, but Kiros is not on the court. Is not what one would say is a good example for sportsmanship correctly correctly I mean, in fact, yesterday gotten a lot of trouble. He got in some trouble yesterday. I mean, everything is relative in terms of a lot of trouble. But he did. I watched the video. It wasn't pretty. It was not pretty, but that's probably Listen. What did he do for those

who didn't excuse me? Spit towards uh, you know at one point and it was totally caught on camera and then a lot of f bombs, no other way to put it. I think that when he gets a major an, he will under his belt. I think you'll see a different demean maturation. I think so. I think that would be the maturation process. Yeah, Timmy used to swear a lot when you started out in journalism, or so I heard. Actually, intendant,

I mean tennis, tennis just messes with your head. I was a college a tennis my whole life, college player, and it's really one of those sports that the intensity, you know, it really messes with your head. It's just you just you out there. So let's talk about what you do with the Neil Sure. We My partner and I, Jason Belzer, who's a lawyer in New Jersey, recognized about a year before the U. S. Supreme Court decided nine nothing,

think about it. Nine nothing they couldn't decide that today's Thursday, nine nothing, but they decided nine nothing that student athletes are gonna have rights. They have the right to get paid. College coaches like Nick Saban make twelve million year. Coach k who has you know, retired at Duke, was making nine million a year, and Mark Emritt, who did next to nothing as the n C Double A president, was

making three point five million. So Brett Kavanaugh, when he was skewing the n C Double A lawyer, I listened to the argument on c SPAN. As a matter of fact, he was just apoplectic about this. And he's a guy I actually kind of remembered, or maybe I'm making it up in my head, that played JB basketball at Yale. So he's got a sports background. So that makes it more sympathetic or sensitivity, if you will, to this issue.

I mean, I don't disagree. I mean, these colleges and universities between the sports rights right for all the streaming services are broadcast, they're making tons of money off of all of this, and then you have the athletes who are actually the reason why they're all making money. Well, let's take Carol arch Manning. Okay, arch Manning steps on the University of Texas at Austin's campus in September, a

year from now. The number that I'm hearing between ten and fifteen millions that he's gonna be paid, not not an alum sum check pay for players. Taboo. There's thirty eight states that have legislation. By the way, I'm working with Centator Mansion's office and tub not. I haven't worked at Tubberville, but he's co sponsoring yet on federal he

was a coach at Arburn of course. Yeah. Uh, and and they want very much for there would be federal legislation for uniformity purposes, so that University of valid so that Alabama does not trump no, no pun intended. Let's say Michigan because they have a more Alabama is a

very liberal and I l policy. We'll just think about the rich teams, right or whether it's baseball or whatever, right, that have had really deep pockets, right, And there's been kind of some rules to make sure that it's much more even in terms of the playing field, right, in terms of biding for for players, and you shouldn't be like that on the college level. Yeah, but there's never

gonna be a salary cap with college athletics. There's been eight to ten lawsuits that have been brought since the Austin decision, and each time the court decided in favor of the student athletes. So there's no I don't see a cap coming. Okay, really quick, thirty seconds. What would you say to someone who says, Okay, I'm worried about the purity of college athletics. Now I'm worried about the purity of college athletics as well. What was under the table once is now on the table? And is it

totally pure? No, we try to make it pure at Sunil, But listen, we we can't police everything that's going on at every school that we're doing business with. How do you police? At twenty seconds? Hopefully the n C double A will finally uh step in and do something, have an enforcement arm that's looking at this thing instead of completely abdicating, which is what it did. Yeah, I mean, does it feel like it's just a matter of time that there's going to be something that goes wrong? We're

in the wild West right now. Those those are the words I use with everybody, So I don't Will there be a point in time? Yes, if we're sitting here. In three years, I think it'll be fully regulated. So glad you stop by. I'm glad you have me. Yeah, Richard Can't Legal council, marketing consultant at SNIL, author of Inside Women's Baseball Basketball, Yes, and Inside the US Open. Right, you're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and

Bloomberg Takes Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. Well, some headlines yesterday the U s f D A okay, the Omicron COVID nineteen booster vaccines from Maderna, and the Fizer BioNTech combination. So it made me think, Tim, Okay, do I now have to go get another shot? That's a really good question because you just had COVID, you know, a few months ago. So we have a perfect guest to help

answer that question. Dr David Dowdy is infectious as he's epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School Public Health that is supported by Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies. Dr Dawdy joins us this afternoon on the phone from Baltimore, Dr Dowdy, How should we figure this out? I mean, I actually for people who have been listening all week,

this is my first day back at the office. I did go to the office today, but the first day I was allowed out because I was quarantine for eleven days. UM, I'm probably still testing positive. I don't know. But do I go care as Carol moves away from me? Do I go and out and get this uh this booster now that it's available, or do I have to wait a few months? Yeah, yeah, so so great question, Thanks

so much for having me UM. And the answer depends on on who you are and your you know, your immune system, UM, if if you have a weaker immune system, UM, older, et cetera, I would prioritize getting the booster. UM. Maybe not within a month of getting infected, but you know, after after GT two or something like that. UM, if you're if you're healthy, UM, you know, you can probably

wait for a little bit. It's probably not a bad idea to wait for for two to three months until after UM, you know, after your body kind of recovers and resets and and it's ready for another, uh, you know, another dose. I guess, yeah, I think I'll have to wait a little bit. Hey, Dr Daddy, how should we

be thinking about these boosters? Because if you were talking to me, you know, two years ago, the beginning of my own infectious disease epidemiology career on Twitter, uh, at the beginning of the pandemic, UM, I would say, Okay, well, the vaccine is supposed to prevent us from actually getting

sick or getting infected by these things. But what we've learned over the last year and a half is that as different variants have emerged, the vaccine wasn't necessarily due what a lot of us thought it would do, right, prevent us from actually getting COVID and even getting sick. But I didn't go to the hospital. You go to the hospital, thank you, exactly right. We didn't go to the

the hospital, and we weren't very sick. In the greater scheme of things, is this booster going to prevent us from getting infected or is it going to prevent us from getting very sick? Yeah? No, I well I think you've you've put it exactly right. Um. These these vaccines, even the initial vaccines, are very effective at preventing us from getting very sick. UM. But they're not effective at all against getting infected. I think that the idea is that this new shot will for a period of a

few months at least um provide some protection against infection. UM. And so the idea is that if you get this booster now, it will give you at least a few months of protection against infection, and maybe that will be enough to get us through whatever winter surge may or may not be coming. I mean, do we need to be thinking about this, um Dr Dowdy as as the flu, Like, can we equate it with Okay, I'd like to get a flu shot, but I don't feel like I have to get a flu shot every year. I do it

because I think I do get it. I do, but I'm just saying I'm always like, well, if I miss it, I'm just going to get the flu. Is that we're we're getting to with the COVID, the COVID with COVID and COVID variants. Yeah, So once again, I would kind of say, this depends a little bit on your your

underlying immune system and those around you. Right, So, if you're again a generally young and healthy person, it's probably not not unreasonable to think of this kind of like a flu shot, but for people who are older, who have compromised immune systems, and their family members and people who come into contact with them. This is not just the flu um and I think you we have to to be a little bit more cautious still, but Dr Daddy Carroll brings up a really good point, and it's

the idea of treating this akin to the flu. And you know, not everybody gets a flu shot. In fact, I believe the latest day they say that it's not even don't end up getting the flu shot. Uh, are you worried that people aren't gonna get this booster? They have kind of maybe fatigue. After all, not everybody got or even close to everybody got the most recent booster. Yeah. Well, I think I think it's a given that not everybody's

gonna get this booster. I think this is really about, um, you know, trying to plug as many small holes as possible.

Recognize that no one thing is going to be a silver bullet, right and so um you know, if we if we can get thirty forty of the population to get this booster and to have that protection for a few months against getting infected with most recent variants, then then that might be enough to to take the edge off of um whatever we're going to see this winner say Dr Daddy twenty seconds, Are you still thinking about COVID? Are you thinking about the next virus that really takes

us down just very quickly? Uh? Still thinking about COVID. I think it's a little too early to think about the next virus. But um, but yeah, I think well, to see what's the future, hold fingers crossed. Dr David Dowdy over at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Infectious Disease epidemiologist. This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. Well. The new issue of Bloomberg Business Week it is out.

This week's remarks in the magazine also happened to be the issue's cover story. It gets into President Biden's sweeping package of student debt relief, and as Bloomberg Opinion editor Ramash Ratnesssar writes, how the bailout doesn't address the fundamental

problem of really what's going on? Let's get more from her mass joining us on the phone from our Washington d C Bureau he's a member of the editorial board covering National Security, education and immigration, a former State Department official and public diplomacy, and the author of Tear Down This Wall, a City of President, and the speech that ended the War. Much great to have you with us

this afternoon. UM, I've been thinking a lot about this. Uh. You know, this decision came last week and it created a lot of tension, I think online there was a lot of debate about it. And one thing that I've been thinking about, and I'm so glad that you wrote about this, is the fact that it doesn't fix the problem at its core, which is that education in the

US is so expensive. Yeah, that's exactly right. I mean, you know, I don't want to understate, UM, you know, the impact that loan forgiveness is going to have for you know, a lot of Americans. You know, particularly you know the people who um, you know, we're on pell grants, received pell grants. So these are low middle income UH students you know, who are in many cases going to see their their debts completely wiped out. That's life changing

for a lot of them. But you know, the the underlying issue remains, which is, UM, we have a system in which you know, in order to have a good paying career. UM. You know, people feel they need to go to college, whether that's two years for four years, UM. And for an increasing number of those people full UM, the gains of going to college UM just don't match the costs of doing so. And that's what's putting them in a position where they are leaving with debt that

they can't repay. UM and UM, you know that's what caused us bigger crisis. So forgiving debt, it's going to help some people, it doesn't really solve the problem. You're preaching to the choir. I gotta tell you, Tim and I talked about this all the time. He's got a little one, I've got a daughter who's just starting your sophomore year in college. I am blown away by what the cost of college is the range, and I look at some of the numbers in your story, UM, remission,

I'm like, what schools are you talking about? Because most of the schools that we've looked at were starting it from sixty POL all the way up to UM and even so called one. But even public schools kind of your top tier, it's dollars easily. So how do we how did we get here? Because schools say, we'll wait a minute, We've got to attract teachers, we've got to attract facilities. I want my daughter to learn. I don't really care if it's the newest gym that she's playing in. Yeah. Well,

you know, there are a lot of factors. UM. You know there is UM very certainly, there's been under investment in public institutions really beginning with the Great Recession. UM, and the bargain has flipped. Whereas government for a long time basically picked up most of the tab of the cost of college UM. Now that's been basically um uh

flipped over to families. UM and UM. The student loan system exacerbates the problem because basically it provides a subsidy to institutions and removes any incentive for them to lower tuition so that people can afford it. Because you can just take out federal student loans at the federal government cover um and UM institutions. You know, colleges don't really

have to have no skin in the game. UM. And what we have seen, yes, but in order to attract um uh students, UM, they have invested a lot of money and UM, you know, improving the student experience and amenities facilities, not necessarily instruction and research UM. And that's all UM contributed to driving up these costs to the levels that we're seeing. Yeah, the food at my college was really good, was it? Oh? Yeah? And like my parents were like, this is ridiculous, Like why why why

is this food so good? Well, it wouldn't I will say, you know, taking my daughter back this week and they you know, built out a new facility and they're doing a lot of work. And part of me was like, oh, this is great that they're investing, you know, uh in the school. But I also just you know, what's the justification for tuition costs and college costs you know, outpacing inflation by a mile? Yeah, I mean basically, you know, out paying virtually every other service in our economy, you know.

I think one thing that's important to point out is that for UM students who attend the most selective colleges UM. So these are colleges that that except less than fift of applicants UM. But it's a very small percentage of the overall student population. The return on investment over your lifetime is still pretty good. It's still probably gonna be worth your while if you get a degree from one of those institutions. The problem is they that's not where

most people are going to school. And UM, what you have is the vast majority of Americans who are going to colleges in programs UM that just are not delivering that return. And even worse, a lot of a third of people who enroll in college never get their degree to begin with UM. And it's really that cohort that UM is sort of the at the heart of the

crisis of of student loan that we'll re mestion. What I really like about your piece is that it ends on you know, I don't necessarily want to say optimistic, because there's a lot that has to get done for this to improve. But the word you use as aspirational. And let's say that members of Congress got along with one another and that everyone's on the same page when it came to higher education, and they had the ability.

But I guess my my real question is, you know, if you could wave a magic wand and fix this, what would that look like. What's that aspirational element that you thought you write about. You know, I think the big thing that needs to happen if there needs me more innovation in the system. UM. Consumers need more choices. The old traditional UM model is just not working for enough students and so UM, you know, we are way

behind other countries when it terms it comes to apprentice ships. UM. You know, work based training programs, UM, the kinds of things that give people an alternative to having to go to you know, four year universities try to get a bachelor's degree of unclear value. UM. We need more uh post secondary programs that are really geared towards giving people's skills that they can take to the marketplace right like

they do in Europe. I always kid everybody Remesh when I'm on air, but I'm I'm like, I remember, uh my Plumber, I talked about this all the dip Plumber electrics and I can't remember. But I had so many, so many investments in real estate, like retired early was just making so much money. And as a society we don't value but why not, because um, they make good living and and they're highly skilled. Rights have gotten so much more expensive. It's remarkable, mesh, UM really thoughtful story.

And I feel like one that we've got to figure out a better way in terms of what this cost from rotten Sorry, he's editor of Bloomberg Opinion and joining us on the phone from our bureau in the nation's capital. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week Carol Master and Tim stinebec. We are live from Flushing Meadows, New York at US Open, and you're listening to Bloomberg Radio. It's gonna cost you

three million dollars to send your kids to school. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stenovic on Bloomberg Radio. Alright, Yes, indeed,

Bloomberg Business Week. We're live at the US Open, UH and the Billy Gy and King Nashville Tennis Center here in Queen's It's really a mecca for tennis fans, you know, that one that continues to evolve to support the player and fan experience, and tim that often means renovations and building and new in Our next guest understands that process

really well. Yes, said David Off, his founding partner at david Off, Hutcher and Citron LLLP, also chair of their Government relations proud just having worked on major development projects in New York City, he was an administrative assistant to New York Mayor John Lindsay for seven years, said here with us on site at the US Open, said, how are you? I'm great, this is a fantastic day to be here. Do you come every year? I'm sorry? Do you come every year? Every year? I have a box

I've handed for him. I guess thirty some ideas. Baby, how do we get a box? Okay, that's what I thought you were going. You don't know this year, Well, this year goes to Serena. You know, every every once in a while, something comes along like a Serena and it just blows at out of the water. Zon. Did you think thirty years ago, when you were negotiating the construction of Arthur Ash Stadium, that you would have an

event that the US Open would be like this? That's someone I mean, look, Serena was she was playing them sheable years. Yeah, you know, it's it's interesting. I was sitting in my box and um, I saying, I want to represent this organization. That's it's going to be. This is the biggest things have happened in New York. UM And at that time Dame Hnklins was mayor UM and

he wanted the stadium. That Dave was an incredible tennis enthusiast and really back young tennis players, particularly black young tennis players and uh and they will talk about leaving the city because they didn't have a big enough facility of the US Open, and um, I said, I gotta

get involved, and I made a couple of goals. That was fortunate and they retained me in my firm and we spent the next three years getting the permissions because it's it's interesting, this is park land and anything that happens in park Land requires the community board involvement, this borough president, the city council, the legislature, and the governor. Because you're alienating an alienating park property, it has to

go through the state legislature. None of this was here. Well, no, the the just the one, the really armstrong us there. But it was all about Author ash Um. There were a lot of the sixteen courts. Now you can't remember forty eight weeks out of the year, average people, juniors, scenes are using these best courts in the world. So it's a fantastic th but they needed more room. So it was it was a negotiation. It was three years. Part of it was what we're seeing here today. All

these people out here were just have day passes. It was required that they would have a minimum day passes for people who can't afford the seats in the stadium. UM and UM, if I can, I'd love to tell you a story about Author Ash. So we had to go to the four community planning boards that UH circle and involved with the Flesher Metal Corona Park. UM and author as said, he wanted to come and convinced them that was the right thing to put this stadium here

in this park. UH. And he told the story of him growing up in Richmond, Virginia, where he was playing in the public park and he was mentored he would never have been able to be who he was in tennis, UM had it not been for a public park. And when he won the US Open at the west Side Tennis Center in Forest Hills in sixty seven, he couldn't be a member that club. So he won the Open at a club that he couldn't be a member of it.

And he would tell that story of this kid growing up and anybody who had any doubts that this facility belonged in this park at that ended it it was incredible and he's such a gentleman. And to be here in the stadium named after him, seeing Serena playing at last night, you know, I gotta tell you it's thrilled. And it is the best deal of any any arena in the country, the money that comes to the city with no expense of the city. I want to make sure I understand this. Arthur Ash died in Yes, so

this was this, that's planning for this? Was that long ago? Yes, it was. No, he didn't die in any Yeah. David Dankles is man from toe and it was his like final act that this science and it was author was out there already suffering. But you couldn't tell um and um. It means in fact, he made me a lot of memories of being there. But so the question was that I ever think would be like this. I never doubted it would be incredible, that I think would be multi incredible.

So you talk about three three years of negotiations three So was there What was the most difficult part of that? I can only imagine because major cities are very protective of their park land space, as they should be, right because that it is open to all communities and it's

just important to have this open space. What was the toughest negotiating point the toughest, and it was the craziest because there was definitely a group on the board of the U s t A that didn't think that you New York audience was the forum for the US Open talking about Atlanta. Were talking about Chicago certainly not New York um. And you know, they didn't like who sat in the bleaches, whatever, whatever the whatever the reasons were, and they wanted to leave. There were any excuse to leave.

So the issue then became the flyovers, the planes that land at the Gladia a stones throw from this a tennis stadium. Now, I happened to be a pilot too of my pilot's license, and I know a lot about flying, and I kept saying, we who nobody, this isn't a big issue, uh, But they said, this is a big issue. So at the time Al the Mottel was the United States Senator, he actually held up the appointment of the head of the f a A, which the Senate has the right to do, until they agreed that the planes

would not fly over during the tournament. And the the interesting thing is that it was a Merril election Giuliani was running aided the stadium, aided Dinkins obviously, and said that this he said, just a lot of history that said that this, this would this would be a safety factor anybody who flies and was any about planes, when the guy in the tower tells you where to fly, you fly, and and and he and he said, this

is going to cost the city money. And the deal was that if there were five uh and incidents in one hour where a plane would fly where it wasn't an emergency, where they not following the rules of the tower, that then there was a fine or an abatement of the rant that it couldn't happen. And I remember that was the biggest. The US Open brings in a ton of money in the city, doesn't it. The last assessments I heard was about seven hundred million dollars come in

for the two weeks of UM the open. And the money said, pointing at the gate, the money that spent at the restaurants, the money that's spent in hotels, u ubi's, ams, etcetera. UM, this city gets a piece of everything. That was a negotiation and get a piece of the um tele is your money. The piece of the was that the negotiation from day one. Yeah, that was fond of the deal and that was one of the reasons that you know, that held up a little bit because it was a

big money thing. But uh in you know, it was important to the U. S t A. Uh how much they gave away, but would a lot of money and it was certainly worth it. Uh. And today, looking and it's been sent by many, looking at any stadium in the country, this is the most profitable to any municipality without a hot any hard money being put in. That's remarkable because the tournament is two weeks a year exactly. So how did that so? It's so much better than

football stadiums and other parts of the country. Yes, and if you look at what they paid, they have all their maintenance is taken off like um city field, Yankee dam whatever. Of course they take it off your rent. This is a net net least us TA runs it fifty two weeks a year. They closed it down for the four weeks a week after week after the tournament, a week before week after pay for everything all year round.

City gets a piece of everything. Could you ever kind of replicate this just real quickly, just got about twenty seconds too much greed in the industry. This is one that's you mean, the swartz industry. Yeah, that's interesting. UM to hear that. UM said, thank you so much, really appreciate it. Uh, favorite player. Real quick, No, that was real quick, said David, founding partner of David Off, Hutcher

and Citroen. Joining us here at the US Open. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. So, Tim, we're gonna just take a step back from the US Open for just a moment because I don't know if you remember, we used to talk about Dink's double income no kids, young couples didn't have kids, both were working, how much

disposable income AD and so on and so on. Well, in two tight, we've got kind of a take on that perhaps, and it's a Bloomberg story about how US women who stay single and don't have kids getting richer. Yeah. Molly Smith is economics editor for Bloomberg New She's with US site right now at the US Open. She's actually a little secret taking the day off and just spending the day at the US Open. But we we saw her. We know that she wrote this story. It's a really

good story. So we wanted to, you know, get her to take a break from her vacation day to come hang out with us because she loves tennis. Play tennis. Do before we get to your story, Malle, this is what your third day that you're taking off to be at the US Open, third in a row. I can sleep here. You should tell your boss that you're working today though, because you're on Bloomberg Radio talking about your economics. Okay, so you can hear me, alright, So so tell us

about what's going on with women. So I was really inspired to write this story by many of my friends who lived this lifestyle. They're in their early forties. Uh, some of them are divorced, some never married and have just never really wanted children. That's never been part of their life's vision. And I wanted to just bring some

real justice and service to that topic. I think a lot of women when they say they don't want to have kids, are kind of judged and looked to have like oh, weird, like why and it's very you know, it's almost thought of as like a shameful decision that's wrong with you. Right exactly. And they really take pride in this that this is that's just not the lights that they wanted. There's nothing wrong with it, and they

have advanced in their careers. They own at least one or multiple homes, including including apartments in New York City, and they're doing amazing personally and professionally. Let's talk about a couple of those women that you profile in here. Ashley Marrero is one of them, and an Ad Dixon actually a woman I used to work with earlier in my career. I was surprised to see her picture in

this story. Um, what did they tell you about their choices and how it's sort of given them this freedom to kind of drop everything and just go off to Alaska or something exactly. Yeah, and they have a group of like twenty five friends who are just like this. It's really incredible to see. And for Ashley, Um, she was married when she was in her early twenties, and I think she just felt very held back by it.

There were so many things that she wanted to go out and do, but didn't feel like her marriage really gave her that freedom and opportunity to do it, like to get up and do do these trips or go by the beach house. Um. And with Anna, I think it was this sim idea that just kids were never part of her plan. Um, she's you know, like I had a partner for a lot of her life, but it's just not interested in raising children. And it's very

happy and resolute in that decision. Well, it was it a case of yes, they thought they would get married, didn't have kids and do that whole thing and it just didn't work out. Or is it that it wasn't a driving force from the get go? I think they I think so they thought more about like marriage could be in the picture, but less so kids. And actually even says to this day that if she were to meet somebody and get pregnant tomorrow, that she would have

the child. But it just hasn't been something that she's actively pursued on her own. And especially since she's not in a committed relationship right now to she has her eggs frozen, is she really going to act on that when there's you know, no one right now who's seriously in the pictures. That's just not part of her plan. You know. It's interesting because Tim and I talked about with a lot of our gas about equality between women

and men, just basic equality in the workforce. And I'm always kind of like, as long as women have kids, they're never gonna have the equality because physically they're gonna be out of the workforce. They're going to be looked at differently, even if they go home for just a week and they go back to work. And I do wonder so financially, these women who have either made the choice or whatever, they really are financially wealthier than maybe

if they had gone a different route with kids. I mean, it's hard to imagine how they like, how it wouldn't be right. I mean, Ashley, for her job, is on the road a lot. She's a sales rep for a medical device company, so she's in the o r. She's with patients, traveling around to meet doctors, and she owns a one bedroom in the West village. But if she had a child, she'd probably need a living help, Like I mean, like to do that on just her income

would still definitely be challenging. The other part of the story, too, has to do with how expense of it is to raise kids. Look at the opportunities that these women have financially because they don't have to put money in a nine they're not paying for daycare. And it's just in the US, and you write about this, birthrates and are declining and people are having kids later in life. Is

there a lesson in here for policymakers. I mean, it's it's so mind boggling to me about how this like it's just there aren't a systems in place in the US to really support parents. I mean, how much of I'm sure you guys have talked about it with all of the controversy around the overturning of the road decision, and that the US is like the only wealthy country that doesn't guarantee paid leave to new parents, that it's challenging and it's honestly like for so many people whose

jobs don't afford that, it's it's un really unattainable. I love the kind of subline on this is foregoing marriage and parent and has a bigger payoff for American women and men. So even men who don't get married and have kids, women are finding a bigger payoff, that's right. Yeah. The St. Louis Fed research showed that single women without children had an average of sixty five thousand dollars in netsuits in net Worth while as single men with our kids.

Tell us about the response that you've gotten after writing this. I mean, I saw Anna share this on LinkedIn and so many comments and likes. It's been overwhelming. I think what's I've really appreciated is the response that Ashley and Anna have gotten and how many women have reached out to them and said, Hi, I'm at this similar point in my life. I'm trying to come to terms with it. Can I talk to you? And that's really just a

beautiful thing to hear. Well, it's incredible reporting and and again you know it's choice right and and being able to do it, but you look at the financial impact. Hey, we're gonna talk about the Serena effect, as in Serena Williams because man a huge audience student in on Monday night to watch what could have been the last singles match of her decorated career. We know it's not. And then we've got doubles with Serena and Venus tonight, and

then Serena is going to keep on playing. Yeah, Friday night it's expected to be and did you see the tickets for that? Try to get one ticket. It's over four Bucks. I got a badge that gets me, and so I'm not worried about ticket prices. Over four isn't going to get you very good seats him, it's not. I think four thousand is gonna be a lot better. I also want to bring in Martin Paris, US consumer reporter at Bloomberg News, joining us on the phone from

San Francisco. Molly, I want to start with you because you wrote about the cost associated with the US Open. Everything is more expensive, but there's this different effect happening this year, the Serena effect. Talk about ticket prices because

they're off the charts. Yeah, it's really just reflected in the matches that, of course Serena might be playing in, which have been the so far Monday, Wednesday Night and now Friday night UM sessions at ASH, which are just I mean, I don't think there's an empty seat in that whole stadium. There's twenty five thousand seats in there. There's no way one is untaken. UM and uh and yeah, she's been playing tonight with her sister Vena's and the

doubles remarkable. There's never been a doubles matches early on the tournament on ASH under the lights. All right, Martine, come on in on this. I'm thinking about getting a honeyed US as soon as we're done with this. What's it gonna set me back? Oh my god? Well, it's a kemp expense this year. Um it's costing a stiff twenty two dollars per drink. But I understand you get to keep the souvenir cups. Is that right, Molly? That's correct, And you can either get a regular drink on the

rocks or a frozen one. Oh my god. So no refill though for less money definitely okay. But but Bartine, this is going up. I mean, we we're having some fun about the impact of Serena, and it's certainly impacting ticket sales and the cost of it and certain those matches, no doubt about it. But I mean, inflation is hitting the U s open just like it's hitting the rest

of the world. Yeah, double goods in inflation, that's right. Yeah, it's pretty remarkable seeing this, Martine, because it's an expensive event to begin with. You know, food costs a lot here, um In, the hotels are more expensive around here. To talk a little bit about just you know, we talked to UMU siddhab Doff David Doff earlier about the economic of X hundreds of millions of dollars that come to

New York City. Martine, what are some of the other costs that you found that have gone up in relation to the US Open. Yeah, well, we talked to the US Tennis Association and they told us that they were seeing an increase in fair food costs in the fifteen twenty percent range, but that they were trying not to increase prices to tend the s by more than ten

percent wherever possible. UM. We had also inquired around about hotel costs in the area, and um, some were reporting rate hikes of five percent depending on the day and who's playing. Um. So, yeah, it took the US Open just like it's hit every other part of the economy. And what's the average ticket costing? Well, uh, it really depends on what round. Okay, I'm sorry, yeah, Martin, what did you hear? Hones? Sorry? I checked him the same

time this morning and they were saying that. Um. Following Serena's when last night, the lowest price beefs on their resell or website went from three hundred and twenty one dollars to four hundred and thirty five dollars this morning. So him, you weren't far off about the getting in uh on a four hundred dollar ticket? You went on that one? Um, the most expensive piece went from about

seven thousands, nine thousand dollars on game time. Okay, what about celebrities here, Molly, have you seen any walking around? I see a lot of them on TV when they're watching, and it seems like the Serena matches are the place to be seen, whether you're a former president or a very famous golfer. I mean, I personally have not seen them. I think their tickets are, um, you know, like a routine just described in a different bracket and mine are.

They have a different entrance maybe, but you do have you do fund when you go in to watch a match? Where do you go? Ahead, come on in? Oh. I was just gonna tell you guys. I mean most of the celebrities are sitting in Serena's sas you know, they

were there by invitation, like Tiger. But I just wrote an article overnight actually went live at one am because I was counting us all the celebrities UM at the game last night, and you know, So who was there, Sintiah, Jared Leto, Laverne Coft who was mistaken from Beyonce, Bella and Gigi Hadid the arm Warwick and a wind Tour, Hugh Jasmine, Queen Latifa Um and sich Lee among many others.

So yeah, it's been a star studded occasion. The most fascinating I found was the fact that Bill Clinton showed up with Dr Ruth Westheimer. So don't don't you wish you were a fly on the wall next to the two of them, and just the conversation, Oh my god. And actually in the article I'd posted last night, Um, I have the video the two of them. You know, I was talking among themselves as things teered on Serena. So yeah, well you can feel the excitement, right Molly

walking around. Oh, it's been thrilling in The celebrities to me are more of the tennis players have probably no one else knows who these people are. So I've been very entertained sitting with Molly. She's like with that's so and so player, that's so and so player. I want to picture Martin Paris, us consumer reporter at Bloomberg News, and of course Molly Smith she's our economics editor here at Bloomberg. Thank you. This is Bloomberg Business Week with

Carol Messer and Bloomberg Quick Takes. Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio, our next guest. We can only imagine how busy she's been, because I'm sure it's been NonStop. I want to bring her in, don't want to bring her in. Kirston Corio is us T Chief Commercial Officer. She's on site here at the US Open with us. It's good to have you with us. How are you It's great to be here with you, guys. How are you doing? Though? I mean, this is like, this is what you work toward all year.

It is I mean, we work forty nine weeks of the year to produce these three weeks, and it's it's awesome. It's super gratifying to see it come together. But the most gratifying things just to see these thrilled fans. These fans are so thrilled. They're having the best time. They're having lots of honey deuce is. I have not yet, but I said, as soon as it's five o'clock, it's honey deuce time. Kirsten. I am floored at the crowd here.

Having done this pre pandemic for several years, this is not the crowd I would normally see when we were doing this, and let's say it was always a big crowd. But it's early in right from the series. I am amazed. It is packed. It is jammed. I mean we I think you may have seen we set records for opening night attendance. We set another record I think it was last night's attendance, and we'll do that several times more through It's just we we don't have enough room at

the end for everybody that wants to come. It's awesome. I know, it's remarkable. Tickets for Friday Night like the worst tickets that you can get four four hundred dollars. When I looked this morning, it was over and I don't set that price, to be clear, that's what I want to know. Those are people reselling there too, so it's sold out. So this is our all resellers. This

is all well. Friday Night in particular has every session has been well sold for a while, even well before Serena announced that this may be her last ornament, in her last her last go so, but for Friday Night in particular, in every session that she wins, and people then speculate that she'll then play in the next one. Even before the schedule comes out, we see what we call that's the get in price. We see that double she wins the match last night, Friday night doubles, even

though people don't know that she's playing Friday night. They don't yet know if she's going to play Friday day or night. They're just speculating, And once that schedule comes out, it's skyrockets even more. It's nuts. And if you looked at the courtside seats, if you try to buy a courtside seat, a resale seat, they're they're close to ten thousand dollars apiece. When are those what? What is the what is the actual price though before they're resold for

a see it like that. Well, we dynamically invariably priced our tickets, so every session is priced differently in the same price code, and then given demand factors, we may change prices um multiple times in a in a given day um based on who's playing, demands what based on demand factors and what we're seeing What what sessions are really resonating with people? Which ones are they really willing to come out and pay more for and which ones might be softer and might need to be even a

little bit lesser priced. So we do that for our primary tickets. The U s t A Does that for our own primary tickets. But at this point, what we're seeing in terms of getting price for both the cheapest ticket and then the best ticket or the best seat in the house, that's not our price. That is resellers prices.

What happens with celebrities. And we know, like a lot of people were at I guess in Serena's boxes what we had heard and stuff, But how does it work for celebrities because we were kind of we we did a whole story at Bloomberg just about the celebrities who they're cheering her on. But it's kind of one of the fun things of I feel like watching Matches two is also just checking out who's in the crowd. It's crazy.

How does that work? Can I ask, oh, there's a whole baseball or inside well baseball is a good way to put it, because we're right next door to to City Field, and and uh, you know, there are some Mets players that have really enjoyed coming out to watch and by the way that's reciprocal. We've had players players here that have loved going to see the Mets games earlier this week too. But for the celebrity, it's a

whole process. Um, we get them from many different angles. Obviously, Serena has her own, uh, you know, her own list of celebrities that come out for her. You mentioned Tiger Woods was in the box last night. Um, And so she comes with her own list, and we do our best to satisfy the ticket demand from her camp and from the other players camp, for every player's camp every time they play, but her list happens to include many

more celebrities than most do. And and for those that don't have to play in a long time, well, those that don't have their own personal relationship with Serena or her family, we get those through our you know, our pr team works it seems like around the clock to try to satisfy the demand that comes in and we place them as best we can, and sometimes, unfortunately we have to say no. Unfortunately we have to say sometimes there's no more room at the end to put you.

That's what I wanted to ask for those of us who are just you know, normal people who we're we're told no, you're telling me that celebrities also get knows as well. It can happen. We do our best to ensure it doesn't happen, but sometimes we just physically run out of space. Who doesn't do you want to make? Who? Who has to tell the celebrities? Oh, thank belly, that is not in my in my job description, not yet. Hey, um, what happens next year if Serena's not playing, if this

is indeed her last major? You know, I think we worried about this for for a long time, the changing of the guard. You know, what happens to the generation after the big four of the men are gone. Serena and Venus are no longer playing. And we got a little glimpse of that last year where we didn't have many marquee players that are really household names, and we ended up with this fairy tale story with this qualifier

and Emiado Kanu from from the UK. She qualified for the tournament and became women's singles champion, and she was a sensation in New York and as was her opponent, the runner up, Layla Fernandez. So you know, I think people begin to know and love the next generation anyway, as they would with any other sport. And these young personalities captivate people in the way that the Big four did, but they just have to get to know them. Um, when did you start planning for this one? Is it? Really?

Literally like when this is over, you start for the next year. We're all ready planning for and we have been for a while. Certain things you just can't accomplish in in the time span that we want, so we need longer, longer runway. But I think list is already quite long. But as we get in the tournament, we realize certain things that we want to change, added, tost added to the list. So it's more than a year. It's really more than a year that we're planning for

the subsequent here's us open. I mean, take us into how the sausage is made, Like what how do you add it to the list for already this year? Uh? In some cases it's more staff, more staff to satisfy the demand and to to really client servicing across the board, whether those clients or ticket ticket holders or hospitality clients

or broadcast partners rights holders that are on site. Um, in some cases it's really just you know, how do we satisfy the extraordinary premium demand with more premium products that enable people to come out and have like a bucket list kind of experience with their clients or or employees. Um So it runs a gamut depending on the department where in you said more staff labor. Has that been tough for you guys, just like everybody else terms of

finding all the people that you want and need. You know, I don't think it's really that. I think it's more. We mentioned at the start how many people are here and how many people want to be here, and and that's true across the board. It's not just our fans, but it's also our rights holders are global rights holders from across the world. We've got more here than we've had in many, many years, and uh, you know, we we just want to ensure that we have more people,

more bandwidth to help service the various stakeholders and clients. Players. We've got players that have come up with their friends and family and entourages and ways that they haven't in years because people couldn't travel, international travel was restricted, And how do we better service them and take care of their friends and families and in in ways that enable everyone to get access. Does it feel like the pandemics over which sure does as we were surrounded by people.

Kirstin Courio Chi, Commercial Officer at U S t A is still with us on site at the open Um. You do a lot of stuff here and we've talked about in terms of ticketing, UM hospitality, but you've taken on a new role of chief commercial officer. So what does that mean and what does it mean to kind of market the U. S t O t A, which I feel like has such a well known brand um

tell us top of mind for you. So it also includes our corporate partners UM you know, who are our true partners and ensuring that we have an opportunity to deliver this event in such a spectacular way for the fans.

We can see it from where we sit here here right now, but there's spectacular activations across the grounds that our partners bring for the fans as well as events like UM you know, our fans are our partners are activating in different ways, whether it's the American Express Fan Experience that's a beautiful, awesome experience that I highly recommend that you should go through our partners a chase or have done the Chase sound check that they brought D

n C. Joe Jonas's band that performed last Friday night to cap off the end of fan week, and that was free and open to the public, and so they really enhance the event and enable us to bring it to just such a higher level. Um, do you have a million corporate sponsors? You're like, we want to be part of this. We we have many that are interested. We are selective in in who we partner with, and and you know, you can you can look around and see who our partners are that really aligned really nicely

with us. We are such we have such an attractive audience, both those that are physically on site and those that are global around the world to to any corporate sponsor. Really we're very gender neutral, We're very diverse. If you look around our our our crowd and you and you watch the tennis, it's a very diverse crowd. It's just a very attractive audience for partners to reach. And our

broadcast rights holders were global. You know, we're in we're broadcasting over two hundred countries and territories around the world. And while we're here in the US and we're celebrating a US icon and in Serena williams um our. Our players come from all over the world, and our fans are are from all over the world, and and our global rights holder partners enable us to do that in

the various territories and regions. So all that becomes part of the purview and part of the privilege to to work on those relationships and ensure that we deliver as best we can for them and for the fans around

the world. I have to change this up to it a little bit because as you were talking, I look over your shoulder, Kirston, and I see some of the best tennis players in the world walking in and out of the media center, but also just walking amongst fans here being escorted to their play their games, you know, their matches with what they're going to play to their courts.

And I think to myself, what other sporting event do you have access to let literally come here to watch and encounter the best people in that sport in the entire world. It's pretty extraordinary, and you're seeing that now in the middle of the first week of the main draw. Last week during the fan week, we're open and free to the public where there's the qualifying tournament. But there's also all the top pros are practicing freely across the courts,

including an Arthur Ash Stadium. So we have something called the fan passs free to register for and and the Ash Experience where people could show that fan pass and come in and sit in the first row courtside in Arthur ash Stadium where they may never ever have a chance to sit there in their lifetime and see those players up close and personal. And people are actually applauding for points that they're playing in practice. And the players stay and they signed autographs, they signed the ball, as

they signed the hats. They're really free and loose during that fan week, and it's it's just an extraordinary opportunity. And you're right, it's the the ability to get close to global superstars in a sport is not something that fans are offered every day, regardless of the sport. By the way, they're carrying their own tennis racket they do, yes, they're carrying their big bag. And Serena Williams carries her own tennis racket bag, which is wonderful to see. Well.

And then speaking of fans, like as you look at the crowd first of all, I love that the US Open is an international crowd. I love that I see kids all over the space of all ages and stuff. So how do you think about that from a marketing perspective as well? Our mission is to grow and develop the game of tennis in the United States, and we

want tennis to look like America. And it's so gratifying to see the fandom here really look like a microcosm, you know, a cross section of America, and um, you know, the kids tremend this amount of kids during fan week, also during the main draw of every age and and there's something here for all of them. Aside from the tennis. It's just a spectacular experience. It's a festival in the ground. Sometimes we say it's a food and wine festival with tennis on the side. Can we talk about the food

and wine? Like, how do you I mean that is part of experience. I mean it's just so fun. Like I know, when we get done, like we go up and either have a drink or something. But it's just wonderful. It's like a lot of fun, and it's great food, great drinks, great food, great drinks. How do you think about that too? And and feeding and and and being here for the whole crowd that's here. I mean it's

a lot of people. It's a ton of people. Well, Danny's auser and his team do a fabulous job of feeding everyone here and not just feeding them, but feeding them in a way that they are thrilled about it, and they talk about it's all their friends and family. But the Honeydeus is iconic. I think we will sell over a couple of hundred thousand of them Bucks of pop. But whence the last time you got a cocktail in New York City and paid twenty dollars and had a

beautiful commemorative cup to take away with you. That's right, last time I was at the US Open that which actually, I mean that was years ago that I got that. So this has been happening for a long time. Okay, the next generation of American tennis players, perhaps we see Serena Williams play in her last major this time around. We don't know for sure, who are the youngest American tennis players that we need to have on our radar? Oh wow, I'm definitely not the player development pro here um,

oh wow? Or maybe talk a little bit about the development pipeline because as we do get to a point where we've seen so what they've what the Williams sisters

have done for their sport has been so much. Well, this is where you and I were talking before we got going about Chris Everett, because there was a piece on CBS and it was just what I love about the U s t A. And I know we've had an ongoing conversation over the last few years that you do think about kids who maybe don't have access to tennis, and UM, whether it's Chris Everett or someone else who's getting out to communities and making sure that kids who

might not have the option to get a racket in their hands, they're making sure that they do have that. That's what's incredible about this organization. It is and and that's the mission, right, that's UM. That piece was amazing and it's and it's all for how do we get more kids to uh lead a healthier lifestyle and get access to not just tennis, but after school programs and underserved communities that they can be safe, they can be learning, they can do homework, they can play tennis and learn

the game. And the n j t l S and National junior tennis and learning program is all about that, and I am definitely not the expert on that topic. I would be happy to to set you up with those that are. I'm sure. I mean, I'm sure that pipeline must be pretty robust and uh. But look at the same time, what the Williams sisters have done to their sport, They've inspired multiple generations. All right, So what do you hope that someone who comes to the US

Open this year walks away with. I hope they walk away and say where can I play tennis? And when can I play? And who wants to play with me? I hope they're inspired to play tennis, because I know when I was a kid, every time I came here, that's the first thing I wanted to do. And I remember even one night going home and finding a court that had lights the same night playing uh. And I hope they tell all their friends that they had an absolutely fabulous time and that they have to come to

the US Open. There are a lot of sporting events that I've been to that I don't always think is an event. This is an event, but it's just so it just feeds into so many different things between the tournaments that you see, the food, the wine, the experience. Uh, it's incredible. I am like blown away. It's great. It's great. Good luck, Thank you so much. Some rest somewhere we'll try, all right, Creston Courier. She's chief commercial officer of U S. T A. That's a wrap for us for our first day.

We're gonna be back here tomorrow. That's pretty cool. Yeah, I know, it's quite cool. It's really makes some tennis. Drink some honey Jesus. Yeah, we're gonna get the Williams tonight. Williams sister's playing. Um, you are listening and watching Bloomberg Radio. Thanks for listening to Bloomberg Business Week. Download the podcast on iTunes, SoundCloud, 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. Sarah to Bloomberg Global News