Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. I honestly believe that part of the equation that wasn't in our control was the mass general public and the business sector not ready for women, not ready for powerful women, not ready for women with big voices who have grand ideas. We didn't have the deep pockets. And before coming here today, I think that's the one thing that kept coming into my head was I had zero dollars that I could be
an owner with. I didn't make money in the beginning playing soccer.
So Alex Brandy Chastain, I mean so many these superlatives around her, two time Olympic gold medalists, two time World Cup winner. If you wanted to find the perfect lens for the past three to four decades of women's soccer, the growth, the missed opportunities, the incredible successes, it's all right.
There for her.
She starts in ninety one on the US women's national team in the very first ever women's World Cup.
They win it.
She gets cut from the team, but comes back from the ninety six Olympics. Then that iconic moment in nineteen ninety nine that sets her on a completely different journey. She is one of those people who transcended her sport. Now she's an owner, and that's what I am most interested. I can't wait to hear the back and forth about player turned owner.
It's a vibe, you know.
Yeah. I mean, if you think about like ninety one ninety nine, we just remember those years were so important an iconic player, as you mentioned. But I'm really interested to see how she transfers her ecosystem, her experience from player to owner, and how she plans to bring value to that franchise.
So Alex, let's keep it in mind. Nineteen ninety nine, it's this huge moment. Everybody's like women's soccer, it's here to stay in the United States. Womh wah, it doesn't happen right. The WSA and WPS, those are the first and second women's soccer leagues in the US. They both folded. So then the NWSL, the National Women's Soccer League, comes along in twenty thirteen. So BFC, that's Brandy's team. They come into the NWSL this year. They're the newest team.
And the twist for them is they're backed by a private equity fund and that's a huge deal.
It's very interesting. I'm intrigued.
I'm going to ask her, like, how did you get this enormous private equity group to invest in team sports, in women's sports. I'm excited and I'm also excited. What is her pitch? What is the value proposition in women's sports? I know I feel very bullish about it. I want to hear from her.
Right, So Sixth Street is the firm that she's a partner with. She and three other former US national team players teamed up with Alan Waxman. Sheryl Sandberg's also in this group. This is a team led by Brandy that could really be the key to US women's soccer from a domestically perspective, having staying power, and that has been elusive to this point, and to your point, women's sports as a growth investment.
You talk about it around your boardroom.
Right, phenomenal phenomena And look, Mark Lazie recently said he finds more growth, more opportunity in women's sports than in men's sport. I think that hasn't really been commercialized. But I think when we look at women's sports, we won't believe where it is in five years versus today.
On this episode of the Deal, Brandy Chastain. So, Brandy, we're very happy here. Let's start if you don't mind introducing yourself and what you're doing these days.
Sure, my name is Brandy Chastain, and I am gosh, I'm not sure how to introduce myself in terms of my title. I'm a co founder of the Bay FC, the newest expansion team in the NWSL. I'm one of four founding women. And I'm born and raised in San Jose, California, which is right in the heart of Silicon Valley and the Bay Area. So that's my secondary title too. I'm a mom and a grandmother and a wife, I guess.
And a pretty good soccer player.
And back in my data, back.
In the day. Well, let's start back in the day.
We're so fascinated by you having I feel like both of us like watch this career that has mirrored soccer in this country. I think we have to start in nineteen ninety nine. That moment that you kicked the winning penalty kick the world changes. What did it do for you as a human but also as a business person.
Well, first and foremost, it made me sleepless for many in many months, but in all seriousness, it gave a visibility to a sport, a team individuals, not just myself that had really been deserving since ninety one when we had the first Women's World Cup in China, and nineteen ninety six was the first time we had the Olympic Games.
So imagine, the Olympics have been around one hundred years and women's soccer is just now getting in in nineteen ninety six, and so I think ninety six was kind of the first boost that we had that gave us the idea and the confidence that we could put a Women's World Cup in massive stadiums from coast to coast, north to south, and FIFA wasn't really interested in that, and so I think there was a big battle for us to show up and to show off what we could do, and that on the business side as well
as the footballing side of things, and so it changed that dynamic for sure. Going forward, we've seen every World Cup now done in this bigger way. I think for me personally, it gave me a platform to stand on so that I could just scream at the top of my lungs about the importance of women's sports, the importance of women and decision making positions. The importance of young girls participating in sports. It created an opportunity for me
to dream of a nonprofit for young girls. So many things changed that day, and in the moment, I didn't know that, not at all, and that was not the intention, which I feel really good about because I think all great things come from organic moments, in genuine moments, and so I'm obviously very proud of what has happened for women in sports and women in general. Host nineteen ninety nine. Yeah.
When you look at iconic moments over the last century, I mean, for me, my era was the Regijaction three home run, the World Series again, the Dodgers on three pitches. You look at Montana to Clark, you're in a San Jose person famous pass, and you look at Jordan the way he retarded as Utah. To me, as an American, I felt so much pride, and I just saw that over and over again. My question to you is, I know how I felt. How did that make you feel as an American? But b as really a pioneer in a moment.
I think in the moment, I was so exhausted. Prior to that. We practiced those kicks a lot, and that's normal. As you would in baseball fielding grounders or bunts or whatever. So that's a normal kick. I would have taken a kick in the run of play, but this is special. You're in the World Cup, you're in the Rose Bowl, it's the final game. It's been a bend not break situation between two teams who were so good that either
one could have been Crown Champion. Right before going out to the middle, our assistant coach had come up to me and said, hey, you want to take a penalty. I said, yep, no problem, I got it. Then our head coach comes over, Tony de Chico, and he says, okay, puts his hand on my shoulder and goes, you're going to take a penalty. I said, yep, I talked to Lauren already about it. He goes, okay, good, you're going to take it with your left foot, and then he ran off. So I didn't think about it because I
practiced them and practice no problem. But later after the kick and after everything sort of took a beat. I'd never taken a penalty with my left foot in a game. Wow,
And now we're in the World Cup final. You know it would be like, hey, step up, left handed and hit, so I think in that moment, what I think, what jumps off the page for me is this concept that I try to share every time I have a meeting with a young person on the sports field or in a big group of business people, is that we all have tools, and sometimes we get stuck in using him in the same manner that we always have used them.
But we were so much more than that, and we can really turn those tools into to work in different ways.
I honestly think there's a great just as a fan and a former athlete, I think for viewers and listeners, I think there's a great coach and teaching opportunity. Before your coach has hit it with your left where was from one to ten at your confidence level? And then when he tells you that in real time, what does it do to that number?
Yeah, I think my confidence was ten and it was probably eleven after you said that. And the reason being is again, earlier in my career, I was my position was goalscorer. That's all I woke up thinking about. That's what I went to bed thinking about. After the ninety one World Cup, I was cut from the team and I spent four years away from the national team, and Tony brought me back and he changed my position, and
so I trusted this man and this coach implicitly. So if he said something to me, he was telling me that because he believed that I could do it, and so my confidence was always very high when he put me in uncomfortable positions or an usual moments, And so I think I was exhausted as well, Alex, to be fair, but in all honesty, I think that's the narrative of a coach in a player. Young player's life is so important and if we get that right, people can blossom into just about any I.
Know, we're way Jason, like, it's funny because I'm thinking about my World Series moments.
You've been a little exhausted.
Probably helps because it kind of just you just want to survive and it keeps you in the pocket. If you're not tired, you might be a little bit too energetic and too high.
So that's interesting.
Yeah, And so the expectation for women's soccer just explodes at that point in that media bar and storming to everything that happens after that. What was your expectation for women's soccer as a business.
I have to tell you, I've been in this almost five decades. I've been loving and playing and supporting women's soccer for quite some time, and of course I thought it would be that inflection point to a successful league that would then transform into more driven by business than by just the love and the passion of the game. And that didn't happen. So that was very disappointing at the minimum. Right, so in two thousand and three, when the WUSA shut its doors, we had a chance for reflection.
And reflection is amazing because it allows you to say what you did well, to celebrate those moments, but then to recognize, okay, what didn't go well, and how can we change And if you're really good and you're really invested and you really believe, you can change anything. And I think this as the third iteration of women's soccer,
the NWSL. We've gone through a lot of hardship, and I honestly believe that part of the equation that wasn't in our control was the mass general public and the business sector not ready for women, not ready for powerful women, not ready for women with big voices who have grand ideas. We didn't have the deep pockets and before coming here today. I think that's the one thing that kept coming into my head was I had zero dollars that I could be an owner with. I didn't make money in the
beginning playing soccer. I made some money, and when I say some, it's much less than what they're making now. And I felt like, Okay, I could make a living, but not really great. And I was probably only one of maybe a dozen possibly so I don't think our illusions were two grand at that time. But we felt that how could ninety thousand plus forty million or more people tune in and have this not go somewhere? And
so we've been believers ever since. But it's taken a lot of cajoling and a lot of educating and a lot of believing, and then, you know, finding the right people.
Without getting too uncomfly deep into your finances. That's not life changing. Money doesn't come to you after ninety nine, No, not even not close.
I have the work every day, thankfully. Yeah, in a good way. Abby Wombach said it so eloquently. I thought at the SP's when she was standing next to Peyton Manning, if you might remember it, you know, her thing is here. She is standing up as Athlete of the Year and receiving this amazing, impressive award. But tomorrow she got to go to work because the money she made won't sustain her for the rest of her life. And that's what's different.
That's the difference between men and women's sports right now, and we're working diligently every day to show the value. Listen, let's talk about the two buckets. We've got men's professional sports and we've got women's professional sports. And what I think is so fascinating about the business sector is that we know that women spend the majority of money in right, So why is everything I'm pushing in this direction opposite of that? Why don't we go after women in sports?
Why don't we get into women in sports because that's where the money spent. So I think now people have finally woke up to the fact that this is the richest, deepest will of talent, intellect, opportunity that is out there. There's nothing else out there that has as many resources and as many people who can do great things as women's sports.
Yeah, one of the moments, which was obviously critical, was even before nineteen ninety I went to nineteen ninety one and you know that first World Cup and opened a lot of eyes. Could you have imagined in nineteen ninety one, when I believe you got five hundred bucks for winning the World Cup, that's right, no prize money for the for the team, that was just a bonus. I believe that US Soccer paid. Could you have imagined or was it your assumption that, of course one day it would be like this.
Yeah, I think that's a great question. I think in the moment, that's not what we were thinking about, right. We were playing a game that we loved, that made us feel individually accepted, wanted good about ourselves, and that we could collectively come together from all the corners of the United States and create this beautiful harmony on the
field born out of competition. Like I think this is something that is really important in something that I stress all the time that you know, competition for women has historically not been a good thing because there's only been one seat at the table, and so we have to compete against each other, we couldn't support one another. But this team was a beautiful example of how if Alex and I were fighting for the same position, we could
still be great teammates. And we had that, and I think that's why this team and going forward into nineteen ninety nine we were so successful. How critical that is. There's enough out there for all of us and we can support each other in that way, and I think going forward that's that really is going to be a part of the landscape for women's sports. But thinking back to ninety one, you know, we weren't thinking about big contracts. I mean, we were thinking US Soccer needs to do better,
without a doubt. We had great captains in Carlo Overbag, Julie Faudy, Michelle Akers, and we did. We fought for contracts. Honestly, US Soccer. They put our back against the wall in ninety six or ninety five after the World Cup, and basically the players were willing to give up the Olympics, the first ever Olympics in Atlanta, for a better contract,
not for them but for the future. And we stood our ground and we got better, which was still not good enough, but it was a move in the right direction. But ninety one was the first opportunity to display what we were doing on a big scale and for people to look and say, hmm, something is going on. And we could put sixty thousand people in a stadium in Guangzhou, China. Yeah, and put out two great products and have the game be excellent.
So Brandy Jason asked you about ninety nine and that was in the moment that changed things for you. When you take a step back over the last five years, I've seen some real movement and you see Kaitlyn Clark going off, and you do, what are maybe one or two three things that have happened that all of a sudden you have big private equity firms, institutional capital trying to pour money into women's sports.
Yeah. I would say moments like Kaitlyn Clark looking at collegiate women's sports. I think Nebraska held a volleyball game inside of the football stadium and it got ninety thousand people. I mean that moves the needle. I think you look at Women's World Cup again, the US one back to back World Cups twenty fifteen, twenty nineteen. You know how big can this World Cup be? And what is the
potential for selling sponsorships and broadcast rights. It's changed. Honestly, FIFA didn't believe and wasn't interested in women's soccer, but as a vehicle of equity they had to be even though it wasn't equitable in the funds. But we're getting there and that's important. It's still frustrating. There's still opportunity out there to be better. And I think Alex to give you more examples, I think every day we're seeing young girls signing up participating in sports of all kinds.
So we're onto something. And I think everybody on the outside, those people who were uncomfortable maybe in women's sports, are now finding interest. They're finding that it's valid and that they want to be involved.
I think transparency has been one of the things that have actually helped women's sports and the trajectory of it. And i'd say what I mean, when you look at the ESPN numbers, for example, we can now see them the audience, the viewers can see them and daily almost weekly, right, And when you look at the final four last year,
what was comparable was the viewership and the ratings. Yeah, but I'll tell you what wasn't comparable is how the media companies value and what they pay or don't pay for women's sports and the reason why we're so bullish at a corp and women's sports, and of course we own the timbules and the basketball links. And now we're looking at a third sport, a second sport in women, a third sport to own in the world of women's sports, which we're very excited about.
And I would even take that example that you gave about the basketball and go just go all the way down to the size of the weight room, the fact that the women had like twenty weights literally and the men had a five thousand square foot gym basically in the hotel. So even when your organization like the NCAA doesn't support you in the way, even though the numbers are even, it begs a lot of questions like what is going on? Why are we so afraid of this environment?
I can't tell you. Is it a gender thing? Is it a sporting thing.
I do think there's a rewiring of the brain that has to happen. Is not as zero some game. I actually make a different argument that the more you compliment and reward women, the better is for sports. And when everything rises, all bolts rise. It's not like women get more, we get less.
Is that right?
I don't see it that way.
One of the things that you alluded to, Brandy and in that post ninety nine era with the WUSA and then the subsequent league before the NWSL. I mean, if you look at it from a pure business perspective, there's essentially no sustained investment. We were talking about this. You think about the links the WNBA, they're twenty six years in. Why didn't people stick with it longer?
I can't answer that because I wasn't the ownership group. But I think what I would assert is that it was a passion play. It was my kids are playing, we love it, we want to be a part of it, we want to help grow it. I think at that time, Alex, to your point, it was if you exist, then there is less, and we don't want that to grow. So I think there was an actual tamping down of the interest on it. Major League Soccer has been around for
a long time. They are supporting a group that I work with and women in soccer who are trying to make soccer opportunities accessible for more women and marginalized groups. And Major League Soccer is supporting our career fair So that is phenomenal, but it's taken a long time for us to coexist in a way that I've always said, it's soccer baseball doesn't have a natural competitor, right, does
not have a natural competitor. It's a traditional American sport, and for us, I think soccer did feel slightly threatened at times because of women's soccer instead of seeing it like you saw, which is, Hey, we're going to do soccer together. We're going to make it so great it's going to be undeniable. We are the world's lead eating sport by far. There's nothing out there that compares to us, So why wouldn't we raise this boat to be on this level?
And so during that period of under investment and candidly the failure of leagues, what does that feel like from your perspective as someone who has devoted her life to the sport you're playing and then ultimately coaching, What are you seeing and what does that disconnect feel like as you're kind of looking around, probably like mildly bewildered.
Well, I think there's two sides to this. I think there is great opportunity and I think there is, of course disappointment. And on the disappointment side, it's just how I how can I do a better job of sharing and making other people see the value of this, And you know, we thought for a long time we had done that, and we had broadcasted this the biggest game in the world for women's sports at the time, and
we still weren't getting that traction. And again to your point, Alex about you know, listen, people need to be rewired. I think what's been happening in business for so long is the way we do things right, that's the culture. We've already been doing it like this. It's been successful. Don't tell us how to do what we do when that's not what we're interested in. What we're interested in is growing opportunity.
Coming up, we discuss Brandy's transition from being a world class player to being a team owner, plus how six streets investment in her team BAFC potentially shifts the future not just for women soccer but all of sports.
Impostsandom. Is there something there for you that when you walk into an owner's room with all these smart people, private equity, institutional capital, is there any imposter syndom for you as an athlete?
I would say that there's a level of understanding who I am. I don't have an MBA, I don't have a private equity firm, but I know this game and I know the segment and I understand the history, and so I'm valuable. So in that way, I'm not pretending to be someone i'm not, and I'm open to learning and growing. So I'm not afraid to go into those meetings. But I'm also willing to say, hey, can you say that again, Let's talk this over, let's find a better way.
And as a former player, what are one or two three things that you've learned as an athlete and a player that you wish owners did for you. Then now you're thinking about doing for your players to bring value and make it a better experience.
Well, I have to say there's one that stands out above the rest that in men's sports, nobody will talk about. Safety of the player has been the priority. And I think if you looked to ross the board in business, in sports or otherwise, safety has always been an issue for women. Whether that's safety of speaking out, whether that's safety being by yourself, whether that's walking to your car at night. You know, whatever it is, safety is important.
You know, what is the culture of the environment and do they support women. I'm going to say full stop, safety is far and wide the most important.
And clearly that's at the core has been at the court of the discussion around the NWSL. Yes, this is a league that almost became the third failure right because of gruesome for lack of a better term, very widespread scandal across the league that led to the commissioner, you know, stepping down. I have to think something starts to form in your head. Conversations are happening. Take us back to that moment, right, I.
Think as those things are happening, obviously your head goes right to the players and how could this happen? Because as guardians or stewards of the game, my generation, how didn't we change this? You know, how did we let this happen? So I think there's a little bit of responsibility. Then I think the thoughts go to how do we make it better? And what kind of influence can I, as an individual have or my collective group of ninety nine ers have, And when Angel City was coming to town, myself,
Ali Wagner, Daniel Slayton, Leslie Osbourne, the other four hours. Yeah, Oh I like that. Okay, I will say you said it first, but I might have to go forward with that. You know, we said what we have a historical significance in women's soccer here, and yet we don't have a team. We have to do something. All of a sudden started the gears churning a little bit harder and faster and reaching out to people. And ultimately, when we met some good business folks, they said, you know, money will be
the least of your worries. I chuckled because I'm like a decade older than these other three, thinking money's always been the problem, right, always been the problem for us because either we get it and we don't know how to spend it. And the league actually historically did not invite private equity to the table. And so we're game changers a little bit in that way. And that's a
good thing, right. We're getting ourselves to look at ourselves and say why and answer that why question and then move forward to how can we then change the landscape altogether and make our league even better? And so that conversation started happening right away.
So Sixth Street you got to think, well, if they're looking at other data and they're looking in data room potential and forecasting, and they're investing our viewers and listeners should be is there something we should be investing in. But how does Brandy in the court for as Jason tagged, you guys, how do you get on the table with six st every but it wants to get on the table with them?
Why you how'd you make that pitch?
Yeah?
Great question, and I'm not sure I know all the parts, but I think being locals was very important. We had other relationships with the likes of Cheryl Samberg, who obviously we know her from a different space, but just you know, a woman in business. I think also, and honestly, at the grassroots level, kids playing soccer. Alan Waxman's kids are involved in you soccer.
Alan Waxman, the co founder and CEO of.
Sorry, I appreciate that, and I think they're also they have investments in international professional leagues and so they understand the game and to your point about data, they see how that's driving a lot of significant monetary decisions and valuations. And so now is the right time?
And is it fair to say, Brandy that as you guys start talking about this and you sit with Ellen and the sixth Street team, it's got to feel different the types of questions they're asking than WUSA days and subsequent I mean, did it feel different in terms of their approach.
Well, there's no even comparing what has happened before with what is happening now, So it's almost a moot point. We don't need to discuss it because it's it's so insignificant what we were doing back then, with the exception of the fact that we were still doing what we believe for women's soccer was the right thing, which was putting it out into the mass public in a professional landscape.
And like many other innovations, the first time doesn't usually sure and in the final product, so it was necessary for WUSA and WPS to exist before. But no sitting in in a board room with sixth Street and going through sheet after sheet of you know, necessary information and to your point about you know how the data is driving everything and really how even to pick players and
to line up players. And as a old school person like I have to fight data every now and again because I know with my eye I can tell you what I see and what I know to be valuable. But in the bigger market scheme six streets excellence will rise above and allow us to make some good decisions based upon things that we didn't have access to in the past.
And I mean, I think it's worth pointing out. I mean, you're sitting in you know, owners meetings all the time, Alex. I mean, this notion is radical. A private equity firm coming in. It's the first time in US sports history that an institutional investor has been the majority owner. This
has never happened in the NBA, NFL, MLBA elsewhere. I have to think, I mean, I'm turning that, I'm turning Pew for a second, But I mean that must feel radical to you from the outside in and has the potential to change how sports investment overall happens.
Right, It changes everything and is radical in one sense, but it's really a validation. But to Brandy's point about some of the things I did as you, we fight data sometimes because data is important, but it's not the gospel. It's a guide, not a gospel, right, And the three things we've did that we're not really p and l builders.
Where we build an owner's lounge because we wanted to cast a net to have people like yourself and Jason come in where we can mark and I can visit and spend time with people.
Locker room. The importance of locker room.
We want players come in early and leaving late, so create casting a net that's really friendly environment for players. We know the difference between a great locker room and a poor locker room. And then thirdly a family room. And then they said, why family room, where's the p and L. I said, it's a single most important asset our players and their partners. The reason I know is my girls were raised in the Yankee Locke family room,
so it is important. And happy partner, happy player. And that's really three things that were really contrarian to numbers but really have paid tremendous dividends to our players and it shows.
In our record.
Yeah, and I think some things you can't put on paper, right, You can't. You can't quantify it, Yeah, you can't. And I think peace of mind, safety, health, and wholeness are aspects of the game that without those things, batting averages go down, errors go up, you don't win penance, and fans don't buy your merchandise and they don't buy tickets, and.
So anxiety anxiety revenue goes down.
Brandy Alex mentioned earlier sort of you know confidence level. I'm going to turn that question a little bit to you now as an owner, it feels like something important is happening with the NWSL. You know, you look at the numbers alone, fifty three million dollar expansion fee that you guys paid record one hundred and twenty five million dollars. You're investing into this team. That's setting a new standard for other teams that are going to come into the league.
Boston is coming in. I believe that a year or two after you guys do what is your confidence level as an owner that this time it's going to work, that this time is different.
Well, I think now we can look back over ten years, like you're talking about, like what are the data points over the last ten years, and we've seen it growing. We now have an ownership in Kansas City who is built the first ever women's sports specific stadium that's unbelievable, that will preview in Kansas City this season. We have more teams than we've ever had, We've had larger media buys than we've ever had in the past. Players from around the world, the best players around the world are
coming to the NWSL. Coaches from around the world are coming to our league. So what started out as obviously a young girl's dream is now manifesting itself in a proper business forum and we get to now again expand
what women's soccer can do. And I'm very excited about that because I want to change FIFA at the same time as we're changing the landscape here in America about traditional sports, like that's radical baseball, of course, traditional American sport, American football, traditional American sport, basketball, traditional American sport, women's soccer, traditional American sport. So bullish on making that a part of the landscape, Like you can't say American sport without
saying women's soccer. I think that's critical to the future. For me.
It is this fascinating moment for the global game, right. You know, we came out of a World Cup, which was quite disappointing for those of us who are US fans and fans and former players who have been at the pinnacle. How do you hold on to that? I mean, the world is to your point about the American game, world's catching up.
It's interesting though, I'm going to say everybody's saying the world is catching up. The world has been ahead of us in soccer since inception of the game, so we really I think caught early momentum because we were very fortunate to live and be in the United States of America with Title nine blessing Sabilityjan King and the generation of women who fought so hard and those lawmakers who enacted Title nine in nineteen seventy two, because that changed
the landscape. That allowed federally funded money to be spread across the board and to get an education meant that you could also play sports. Now, not everybody was in compliance, so it didn't work perfectly in the beginning, but now it's changing. And now we have so many women who are graduating as doctors and lawyers and whatever else that they want while also playing sports. The world isn't catching
up to us. We have thrust ourselves into the soccer landscape in a way that nobody else could in the world interesting and we did it really well because I think of what is so special about our country. What is so special about our country is we have people that are sitting right here together that look completely different. We come from different places. We may have our history or our heritage, may have spoke different languages. But they came to America and they brought their best parts, and
they worked hard. They became successful and now the community grew. And the way we saw soccer at the beginning for women was we like what Spain's doing, We're like what Japan's doing, Brazil, England, Norway, and we put it all together and we were unafraid to say that and we liked how that was kind of this melting pot of things. We are still new to soccer in our country compared to the world. We just found a way to do it better in the beginning, and now we have to be able to sustain that right.
So how do you do that?
I think you have to have the right people. I think people matter, and again I think that's a diverse approach, not just gender, not just color. We have to have voices that come from all over and we have to be comfortable in that. To me, that gives confidence to an organization. If you are diverse, you have a chance to grow in ways that institutions or organizations just can't. They can't understand.
You know, One thing that I'm curious about is where you look to for inspiration.
And I might turn this.
On you in the second Alex Do because obviously playing a different sport from the sport you're now an owner in where do you get inspiration as you think about building this new team.
Well, Number one, I'm inspired by every environment I'm in. But I think again, we're in Silicon Valley. The ideation and the innovation that happens here changes the world, and we want to be a leader globally in changing the way women's soccer, women's football is consumed, celebrated, shared, viewed, and we want to come up with radical ideas. I think the word radical today is probably what we're most interested in. Being different, you know us for you know,
we've been different our whole lives. People have always asked us like why are you playing this game? Like what's driving you to stay in this lane? And I think we just saw something different and we've always been different. So we have a chance to work with some executives at the Warriors or the Giants or the forty nine ers, and we value their experiences. We should absolutely sit down and listen. And they're like, Okay, how does that help us? And I think we can help each other.
I would imagine that those conversations are a lot easier in twenty twenty three, twenty twenty four than they were twenty years ago.
Yeah, I think there's a lot of education that's gone around the world about the sport. I think, you know, we're pretty fortunate that we participated in the Olympic Games. Obviously, everybody values the Olympics in a different way than they
do professional leagues. The ninety nine ers were a collective of trailblazers, to be honest with you, you know, we had a leader in Mia Hamm who was thrust into the spotlight and carried herself so humbly and so honestly and so team first that it just endeared people to what it is that we were doing. And it wasn't even big at that time. So you know what's happening now, Just you know, think about how we've been spinning those wheels for so long. We finally got the traction and
to make a bigger difference is really phenomenal. Again, it all comes down to the people and the culture that we want to create for every single person who sets foot into our stadium or onto the training ground, or into the locker room, into the boardroom, is that they're valued, they're respected, that they have something to contribute to the outcome, and that they also will be leaders at some.
Point and Brandy as an owner player, Churn owner, what has been the biggest surprise, if any, And is there any owners out there that you're looking at, studying and basically trying to learn from.
Well, I'm trying to learn from everybody. I'm as naive as a new day like I might know. This is not my specialty. I think there's Again, We're very fortunate that we have started with Sixth Street and that we have this opportunity with this institutional capital to march forward in a big way, and that I think right there sets the foundation for the type of group we can
be and team we can be. I talked to a lot of fans, I mean people stop me everywhere dog park, the golf club, and they're like, we are so excited about your team. And then I asked them why, you know, tell me why, and they're like, we haven't seen it before and we want to be a part of it, and we can't afford something else. We grew up playing the game. It reminds me of my childhood. I mean, so many reasons people want to be involved, and Brady, there's.
A lot of athletes out there that are listening to you that you're their role model. What surprises have you seen that surprise you? That was surprised them as players, not as owners.
Honestly, it's everything for me right now. You know, we took our team down to Santa Barbara and we stayed in the most beautiful place. Like the thought of that happening for women's soccer was never in my never. I would never think about that. But they deserve it, and so we should do that the opportunity. Julie Foudy used
to say this all the time. We'd come into the hotel and we'd have like one of those big conference rooms for the buffet breakfast or the buffet lunch, and it was the same old stuff and not great, and she'd just like say, can I just have cheddar cheese?
Please?
Just give me cheddar cheese, you know instead of like, you know.
The white cheese fits the American you.
Know, like that would have made things so much better, right, So it's little things.
Yeah, I'll tell you from personal experience, Jason and Brandy, I will tell you that I played for almost twenty three years in the major leagues with three teams, Seattle, Texas and the Yankees, and I took a lot of things for granted. I mean life in the major leagues was outstanding. I mean, you show up locker room, you have all type of food, all type of cheese, white yellow, plenty of cheddar.
You show up and you have clean uniforms.
You go on the charter, you fly to a team, you stay at a beautiful hotel, you have per DM, you have all these things.
And I never thought once like, how does this all happen? How does the train run?
Right?
And now being on the other side as an owner, you realize all the work and all the people and all the commitment that takes to keep that train move and it's been pretty, uh an educational process for me.
Yeah, I think also to that point, and I'm glad that you said that, because from our perspective we didn't experience something like that to that degree. But I think the thing again that we noticed as a team in ninety nine specifically, and why this group is so special about we all have to contribute to the outcome, right, And it doesn't matter if you're serving the food, or you're picking up the balls, or you're cleaning up after yourself.
You know the amount of gratitude that you have for this opportunity and the people around you is paramount to anything. Doesn't matter what your job is. If you're the center back or the goalkeeper, you could still pick up the balls, you can still move the goal, you can still say thank you very much for the meal that's just been served.
And I think that awareness of the humanity that happens around professional sports and my dedication and my deliberate shout out to my team and other teams in the NWSL is we have to have a connection to the people who come to our stadiums and they have to feel
like this belongs to them. That is what will happen here, and I hope that that happens everywhere because Alex, I know that people would love to be next to you, they'd love to get close to you, to get your autograph or to look you in the eye, and you just smile and then I mean that was me as
a kid. I was waiting right here in San Jose, California for George Best to come out from the Santose Earthquakes locker room and for me to be able to get a picture or to have an autograph, and most times it didn't happen, and I went away like Okay, maybe next time, you know, Like I was enthusiastic about it,
but it never happened. I when our games were done or practices were done and I had an opportunity to engage with fans, That's always a priority because at the end of the day, without them, an empty stadium means nothing.
All right, Brandy, So you have a lot of young athletes fans from all over the world. A lot of people want to be like you. They want to be a great Hall of Fame type player like you. They want to have abs like you.
Hey, that was a long time ago, my friend, I got a big jacket on.
An owner like you and follow your lead. How can someone who's out there, who's young, middle age, older, how can they be more like you?
First, I think the number one important thing to remind these people is that be your best self, right. Trying to be somebody else will never work. You have to be yourself. You have to invest time, you know, invest your time and know your craft, and to be humble while doing it because it will. As it did for me, my whole career was not this straight line ascension to Olympic gold medals and World Cup championships. You know, I
was injured. I had two ACL reconstructions. I was out of the sport for two and a half years injured, I was on the team, I was cut from the team, I was brought back, change position. So I would say it's important to be yourself, to invest time in yourself, to understand that you will make mistakes and you will fall down, but you're going to be fine. You're going to get up and you're going to go after it. Be kind, be kind, and know that no one's perfect.
And my mom, she gave me a saying when I was a kid, when things weren't going well, when I was injured and out of collegiate soccer for like I said those two and a half years, she said, Brandy, find your yes. People are going to tell you no, and that is okay. Don't be afraid to ask the question. So that's what I would say to people, you know, find your yes. It won't always come easy, it won't always come in the way that maybe you've dreamt it, but it's out there and you can do it.
I'm that well.
This has just been such a pleasure. Thank you for having us in your town. Best of luck with the season with the team.
What a treat for both of us. Thank you well.
I would love to invite you to come to one of our games, if you wouldn't mind say last you tell me the date and I will give you the ticket.
All right, Thank you so much. And likewise to Minnesota, thank you, Timbos and the Links.
Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
The Deal is a production from Bloomberg Podcasts and Bloomberg Originals. The Deals hosted by Alex Rodriguez and Jason Kelly. Our producers are Victory Veyz and Lizzie Phillipp. Our story editor is Sir Dartha Mohonta. Our system producer is Stacy Wong. Blake Maple is our sound engineer. Rubab Chakir is our creative director. Our direction is from Jacqueline Kessler. Original music by Blake Maples, casting by Dave Warren. Our managing editor
is David Ravella. Our executive producers r s Age Bauman, Jason Kelly, Adam Kamiski, Kelly Laferrier, Ashley Hoenig, Trey Shallihorn, Kyle Kramer, and Andrew Barden. Additional support from Rachel Scarmuzino, Elena Los Angeles Vanessa Perdomo and Anna Masaakis. David Dimingez is our director of photography. Our camera operators are David Nicholson and Paul Overstrom. Alex Diacanis is our video editor. Our gaffer is Peter Dendrinos, our grip is Alex Ajayi,
and our production assistant is Maya Dstapons. You can also watch The Deal on Bloomberg Originals on YouTube and Bloomberg Television. Subscribe to the Deal wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening.