Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio News. Hi everyone, welcome to the Deal. I'm Jason Kelly alongside my partner Alex Rodriguez. Alex. Coming up in just a minute our interview with Keith Dawkins. He's the president of the Harlem Globetrotters and Alex. Keith has a fascinating background. He was a top media executive at Nickelodeon. He did a lot of sports deals there. He worked at First Tea and now this iconic brand. He's got his hands on and huge, huge ambitions. But
before we get to that, I mean talk about fomo. Dude, like watching what unfurled at the Olympics in basketball, tell me what it was like having seen the run up to it, double gold for Team USA Women's and men's. You had very much invested interest in both sides of this.
What are your thoughts?
It was great to see so much talent in one building. It was great to see Adam Silver there, other owners were there. But to see this much talent assembled both on the men and the women, not just the US, but all over the globe. It was really a celebration of basketball, celebration of the NBA and celebration of sports. It was absolutely awesome And the last thing I would say, but it was weird me cheering for Lebron James. Yeah,
and Steph Curry and Kevin Durant. I mean, Steve Kurr did an incredible job at his whole coaching staff getting this team to win because guess what, they have nothing to win, everything to lose.
And I said, totally right, Steph Curry say, this was a relief. Yes it was.
We put him to sleep, but it was a lot of It was a big relief for the US.
And so put on your business hat for me for a second. You know, I was watching it and thinking this has got to be good for both the NBA and the WNA. I mean, we're seeing these players in a different light. We're seeing rivalries in a very different way, you know, to your point, like rivals coming together on the same team. But I mean the men's final, you had two Wolves going against each other.
Didn't you. It was so great.
It was.
Yes, it was Rudy Gobert playing for Frands in the home court France. A boy with that Yeah, that crowd impressive and loud. It was like as loud as Madison Square Garden in the postseason. It was really impressive and passionate, and then of course you know Anthony Edwards and it was so great. But seeing both those guys play. But the other winner there, Jason, was NBC Comcast Peacock. What else is good for business is we had, you know, at the peak, almost twenty three million people watching on
a Saturday afternoon. The numbers were bonkers, great for business and look NBC stepped up.
They're paying an enormous number.
Guess what it could after you pay for a nice new toy to have this payoff of like a little bit of an adveretizer of what the NBA could be for them all over again.
All right, So, having seen it, and I'm sure that you know you're going to have these conversations over the next couple of years, what's your advice to La? I mean, this was like magical for Paris. I mean it's an amazing city, La. You know, in our lifetimes, in modern times, the nineteen eighty four Olympics were unbelievably successful. They really sort of brought the Olympics back. Feels like Paris really
brought the Olympics back. What do you think, La, needs to do like again, like put on your business and sports hat. You know someone who understands spectacle, what do you think they should do.
I think look, Paris, like La is one of the great cities around the world, right, and when you look at you know, the state of California has got like the fifth largest economy in the world, so it's in many ways comparable to a Paris. Paris has the most beautiful canvas anchored by the Eiffel Tower. It's just a beautiful city. The shopping, the entertainment, I mean, it's just phenomenal. The one note I will say Jason is I was there with friends, I was there with family, and Jason,
we've never felt safer. I'm talking about every intersection. You had these incredible young men and women who were law and order. I saw a lot of cheering. I saw a lot of patriotsm from everywhere, but it was done in a respectful manner. I would say that's one because when you don't have safety for families, I think it makes it very hard to enjoy any event. Parents did it beautifully, they were hospitable, So all is good, but La has a tough act to follow.
Yeah, be interesting to see what happens. And I have to say just as a sort of like final note on the Olympics. When we got to I guess it was Monday, you know, Monday evening. My six year old was like, wait, the Olympics aren't on? What about the diving and the running the basketball? I mean, because it had becomes such a staple over those two weeks of all these exciting things, and it reminds you sports, sports are awesome, you know, like it's just like it's just so much fun.
You know that we have so many things, Jason, that are dividing us right now, and that this is the one thing, you know, sports and music that brings us together in the most beautiful way. I was spending some time with Del Curry, you know, STEP's father. He was there with his wife and just watching him the generations, thinking about the ninety two team with Jordan and Barkie and Bird and Magic.
It was really special.
All right.
So coming up, we're gonna talk with Keith Dawkins, the Harlem Globe Charters. I want to ask you before we get into the conversation with him, where the Globe Chrotters something you watch going up? Because I have like some very distinct memories of like watching them on TV Sweet Lou Dunbar, like the whole thing, talk about sort of patriotism an Americana, Like they've been around for a long time.
Look, I was a huge fan growing up. And then the weekends.
Remember we only had four or five channels and Globe had Best right when Globetrotters came on, it was a deal as a must watch TV at home with the family, order pizza and kind of sit around. I am surprised that the NBA doesn't own them, or one of these big leads takes them on, or perhaps someone like Disney doesn't own them because it's so family oriented.
I don't know. I'm super excited to talk to Keith.
I'm excited to see he's got an incredible background and to really unpack how he thinks about a brand that's been around for almost one hundred years. Yeah, I'm psyched up for this one.
Coming up. Keith Dawkins, the president of the Harlem Globetrotters. All right, here we go, really psyched to have with us. Keith Dawkins. He is the president of the Harlem Globetrotters. He's all decked out. He's ready to rock. Keith, Welcome
to the show. First of all, let's talk about the Globetrotters, because when you think about like iconic American brands, this is a brand that's been around for almost one hundred years when you were first approached about this job, Like, what was your relationship with the Globetrotters.
First of all, thanks for having me on. I appreciate anytime someone wants, you know, me to come on and talk about the Globe Shotters. I just I appreciate that tremendously. It was an awesome fall day. I was kind of minding my own business and this recruiter reached out and we talked for a bit, and then she kind of presented the idea of the Harlem Globe Shrotters. I had visibility into the brand frow standpoint of I knew some
former leadership there from my past Nickelodeon life. But really what kind of moved me was, you know, the eight year old in me grew up on the Globe Chotters. So the many things that on the list of things that we grew up on. Yeah, you have these moments, and all of us have these moments, and these in our careers where you're like, really like the Harlem Globetrotters, this thing when the world was simpler, and it was
no Internet. We're old enough, right, No internet, no YouTube, no nothing, right, a handful of channels to watch, and there was Metal Lark and there was Curly Neil and there was just one on the screen. And I were telling my wife. I was like, I got to chase this down. She was like, wait, but you're still busy with some other thing. I'm like, listen, these opportunities only come around to you a handful of times or never.
And so it was really the eight year old of me kind of was responding to it initially, but then it's also like, oh wait, wait, I have this media entertainment career, and I have this point of view on what I think this thing can be and should be, and where you go that they'll have me, We're going to get after it, and here we are.
So then Keith, the eight year old you then comes together with the experienced media executive you, and so what does he think when he thinks about the possibility Because I got to say I hadn't thought about the Globetrotters in quite some time, which may be part of the problem. So what did you discover there?
Yeah, so I looked at it as and this is the conversation I was having with my boss now right when they were interviewing me for this process. I said, listen, whether it's me or somebody else, I hope you're thinking about a few things. I go. One, give this one hundred year anniversary coming up right in twenty twenty, six hundred years old. I go. I hope someone's playing against that. Now I go too. I'm not trying to call the
baby ugly. I go, but you have I believe. I still believe this multiple generations, probably to maybe three that you've missed along the way. Because the Globe Charms were operating as a tour only. The only way that you would touch and feel and connect with the brand is to show up at one of its twenty and fifty tour stops around North America another one hundred and fifty
tour stops around the rest of the planet Earth. And as the world was evolving content creation, licensing, and consumer products, digital social media, the list goes on the Globe Chores were nay, those spaces. So if you just use my house as an example of a twenty three year old and I assume to be twenty year old. It's like we are sports playing content consuming media entertainment executive, like every device is here in the house. It's like the
Globe charters didn't exist. And so for me, it's you have to have a sensor urgency around There is some forty five to fifty five year old decision maker at filling the blank company on planet Earth who has an affinity for the brand. That's a potential deal memo to be done with them around any of those categories. I would say, but if you wait another twenty to thirty years for the generation that you missed, I go, this brand that I love and we love could be like
dead and arrival already. So that's a sense of urgency I have around it. It's like, one, how do we kind of jumpstart this almost on hundred year old startup and create some activity around it down not thinking of
ourselves as only a tour. We're not a toll. We're a beloved global intellectual property and we should be swimming down all the pathways where the audience resides, this big, giant addressable audience, right and thinking about those audience through research and data, and you know we have the kids and parenthetically families. Right, So that's the one you can monetize today and tomorrow. By that, I mean they could show up at one of our tour stops as an
eight year old fall in love with the brand. Right, you're monetizing today, but you're also screaming the next generation a fan for tomorrow, that eighteen to thirty four year old. You know. My overly used example of them is like, you know, I'll be at the gym working out and someone has like a death Row record shirt on them, Like what do you know about shuld Knight or what do you know about like you see this with kids? Right, they have Nirvana, Swagon, they have different things that they
grew up with. Right, that's an affinity, right, we should be connected with them and then to our crowd or microwd. As to sayle age myself, it was like there's a doc series on Netflix on Amazon around Michael Jackson, around the Beatles, around whoever it is, Right, where's the globectoms content? Right?
So if you start hitting on all of those cylinders and all of those audiences, right, the rise and tide raises all boats, and then we're relevant for not only today but for next another hundred years.
Keith, I love where you're going with that, And Jason and I spent a lot of time talking about sports like boxing and baseball that have lost their ways a little bit, but it should be coming back because long term they have this incredible brand just like yours. Now, on the business side of this, bring us a little bit to the Hershin Group, the holding company that brought
you in. Talk to us a little about what was the pitch to you when you think about enterprise, when you think about scale, when you think about revenues, how do they think about it compared to how you thought about it and what finally made you guys together and what can it be in five years?
Opinion?
So great question. I'll go back probably a step before that, there was a private equity company Shamrock. You just still own the Globetrotters. And then twenty thirteen Hershan acquired the Globe Trotters and they owned Silver Dollar City, Dollywood, aquariums and theme parks all over the country and that's the core of their business. So in acquiring Globe Strotters, they thought, Okay, we know this business of sell you a ticket at an average ticket price, bring you into an area, sell
your merchandise, and that makes sense. All those destinations are also family destinations. Globe Charters is a family idea that makes sense. But then it's like, well, wait a minute, glob Charters is more than that as an idea, and that was probably the struggle of some of the past Globe Charters. How do we make this more than just
come in by a ticket? Right? And then again COVID was probably the best and the worst thing that happened for the organization because they really shined the spotlight up. That is a vulnerable position to have our business solely about live event only, and this thing happened out of nowhere shut the entire business down. Now, the beauty of the alignment to Hershen though, is if you work there. At its core, their whole thing is about bringing families
together and creating memories. What's repeating, right, And they talk about love as like, you know love earning our guests and loving our employees and loving our customers. So there's like a moral, soulful compass that's part of the Hershon family. The reason why that's important is because that's like the essence of the Globcharters, Right, So I haven't run into anyone yets like Harlem Glochatters. They make me feel terrible about life. It's either hallm Glochatter's I love them they
get into their stories, or harm Lovechize. I haven't heard about them in a minute.
Huh.
Yeah, that's the opportunity. People come to the Glowtarter's game and they're rooting. There's no booing of referees, there's no bad behavior that it brings everything. So that alignment to the parent company then aligns around the vision of how do we scale this out? Now there was a vulnerability in that way and we're doing this model. So how do we think about content distribution? How do we think about and that we're able to bring it back TV
for the first time in forty years? Right, how do we think about our residency this residency in American dream? How do we think about live broadcasts? Oh, in the eighteenth we're going to do a live broadcast for the first time in forty years. How do we think about our consumer products and our licensing mesity? You know, there's
no retail presence for the Globe shot US historically right. Oh, but now we're in Zara and we've been in the lids and now we're signed with IMG as a global retail partner, so there was no interference on the parent company around. Everyone believed we have this germ of an awesome thing. It's weird to call it a germ because it's ninety eight years old, right, but it's how do we scale this and bring it out to the mess?
So tell us about this residency because that's also a new thing. And I mean, if you live in the New York area, you've driven by American Dream and its various iterations. Tell us about making that deal, how it came about, and sort of what the contours of it are.
Yeah, you know, I love when these type of deals happen. It's not dissimilar from our relationship with Hirst for the show that we did. And what I mean by that is, I'm literally sitting in my house on a Wednesday, NBA TV is on. I'm watching this high school national championship game called the Throne and it was being held in an American Dream. I'm like, that's interesting. Do their relationship with MVPA and then person on the team on our team
was there. He's texting me. He's like, hey, you're like, I am watching this. He goes, I'm talking to the ownership group and they want to meet with you. Can you come tomorrows. I can't come tomorrow, I'll come Friday. So I go down there two days later after this thing, and again, like my departners, they're like, we are not a mall. We are a family destination that brings people
together for live events. They have big aspirations for that, retail dining, all types of things like I'm familiar with you for my nickelodeon days we shot stuff at Mall of America that the ownership group we shot a show with Nick Cannon in there. So I'm like, I get it. And I'm like, you know what, We've talked a lot about a residency. I see that court that you guys have in there, But well, if you just hunker down in here for let's say ten days, and they're like,
what would that look like? You know, we can do some doubleheader games, you can do some single game, we can do skills clinics, we could bring merchandise in. We can do a pop up shop. If we do a pop up shobby and we just talked this out walking them all and they showed me a thing. I'm like, okay, I got it. Let's think about this. So it was like a conversation where we were structuring out the basic underpinnings of what the deal really, what the offering to
the consumer would look like. The deal kind of yea wraps around that. And this was in March or April May, right, and we were off to the races. Oh yeah, man. This was text on a Wednesday conversation on a Friday meeting in the spring. Outline that up. I was like, I'll get back you. Guys want to throw paper over to us, You want to throw paper over you. They're like, we'll flip it over to you. They flipped the deal of it over to us. And I was like, okay.
We were back and forth around that, because that's where all all the all the war is, right. But if people are aligned, do you want to call your a writer, Alex.
Alex Okay, yeah, Alex fin right.
I mean you've been through this at a higher level in your career, right, Like we're like, oh yeah, we want you here at the Yankees, we want you here to Seattle. I want you bri that's the alignment. The dogfights on the in between right on the what the contractual is. But that's just part of the healthy thing.
And there was no aniposity with that, right. And then we got there and unbeknownst to me, I wouldn't even think about this at the time, Like when we started really digging through, it's like, oh my gosh, wait, this isn't just a residency. It's no sports team has ever done a residency, right iry to have a first no Globe, I'm like, wait, wait, now we're on this something different. And then seeing the outreach of press and people who want to talk about this, right, and that's really exciting.
Yeah, and Keith, I love this because I can see you guys being in Las Vegas with a residency and I would love to watch you with my daughters.
Right.
But you know, it's funny when you think about you have something that is so unique is brand recognition, right, And of course I play for the New York Yankees, one of the most recognizable sports brands around the globe. But when I think about Globe Strotters, I immediately think about Disney. When you think about what F one did with Netflix, is there an opportunity to do something behind the scenes, a documentary of some sort.
Absolutely, you're making me spots. You bring up a few things. So to the last thing you just said, Yes, we have a development slate now twenty five to thirty five projects lated Globe huts by the way, and some generals on there, and they run the gamut from short form, long form, docs, animated series. They're every content type for every category because that's important, right, And we're having conversations with streamers or with the kid facing services and that
big addressable audience. So yes, there's an opportunity and we're actively out there in conversation and physic Some of the stuff has been public again, the show with Herst that's public. We struck a deal with Imagine Entertainment for a docuseries that's public. We have a show called Seatures of the City that we're bringing to Aspire TV. It's all about, you know, the globe charts. When they're traveling around the globe,
what is that like for them? How do they show up in those places, how do they learn language, how do they eat food? How do they shot right? So again, the amount of storytelling that's both legacy type stuff and very current work is right for the pickens there for us, so we have a developments life that goes with that.
The thing you had me smiling about it is, yeah, there are a handful of franchises, even if you're a fan of those sports or not, or or even beyond sports Yankees, Cowboys, Manchester United, right, And I'd like the globe starts kind of sit on that set just of brand awareness and recognition, and we see it when we show up around the globe in various forms, right, and also because of basketball that sport, I'd like to think we contributed that. But the globalization that sport you see
in the Olympics. There was a time that the US would just roll out the balls like we are beating all you by forty and now every team has NBA players on it, Canada, France, I mean the list goes up right, the gender neutrality to plenty of your daughters, boys and girls can play the sport, right, that's the beauty of baseball as well, baseball and softball. So that allows everyone under the tent. It allows us to really be thoughtful then about how we're roll in this product
around the globe. You know, we just announced a Asia tour that will be in November, and we're excited to That's what the same partners that we do our Australia and New Zealand tour with and Australia were there every other year. As fast as we're going to sale is as fast as we sold out, we break a record every other year that we're there. Basketball being played in Asia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Japan will be a part of that mix.
You know, we're really excited not just about the touring component, but we think about some of those countries little much in particular, think about what we start to do with lyceninger and merchandise and yeah, content creation and various things. It's really excarning time.
I think with the Globe charters, you mentioned the players and it was fun for me to you know, doing some research on this, like looking at the various players. Obviously you have some legacy players who are involved in management and ambassador ties up. I have sort of a dumb question, except I think a lot of people might have this ques how do you become a Globe trotter?
Like like how does that happen?
Well? I have an answer to that, and then I thought you were going to go to a different place, so I'll go to as well. So listen, we have tryouts that happened in the fall, just like any other organization would kind of have tryouts. We have recruiters that are all over the globe seeking out talent. So all the places that the NBA and g League and all throughout Europe and Souflayer like, we have the fingers on
the pulse of all of those players and talent. Now, I do think part of the problem or off phrases an opportunity, and I'm going to use a player that we signed last year, a Lexis Morris, as an example of this. So Lexis Morris was on LSUS National championship team two years ago, second round pick. The WNBA draft is one hundred and forty four slots there, so a lot of those second round picks just do not make comped to WU. She was league scoring the national championship
team a lot right last thirty years. A player of that caliber is not thinking about the Holland Globe charters. That's one of the things on her list, right. I do think again, the unintended consequences. I think the Britney Grinder moment helped a lot of different organizations out. Listen, Oh, let me really think you're yep, do I want to travel that far for what? What other possibilities is that?
Right?
And so I just want people to the Globe chartters, men and women. I want them to be on their list of Listen, we can compensate you like you can be compensating in the WNBA or the g League. By the way, we're also going to open up some other opportunities for you. Could be in our show on NBC holl Globe Chatters. Play it forward. Oh, let's talk about the licensing deals that we're doing through IMG. You can be a part of that. It's like, wait and when those players are to go away in a minute, maybe
this is interesting. Now I'm twenty three years old. I want to travel the globe. I want to see the world. I want to be exposed to different cultures and languages.
Right.
I want to have pr opportunities and content opportunities and digital social opportunities amplify my brand that way. Being part of this legendary thing, the HOLLO Globe Charter, so part of this work that we're doing to amplify and scale the brand should also be about attracting new talent into
the organization right through our tryapp and recruitment process. And where I thought you were going to go is there was a time in which when people were like, they knew who are stars were our metal large and Curly Neils or Lynette Woods or Sweetlue Dunbars. Now they're like, who are your stars? Yeah, and lits seny at the end of the day. You know, the beauty of the Yankees as an example, is those stripes are the stars,
but they also have stars and the stars. But the Yankees had that logo the stripes are the stars, right, So right now we might be a kind to that where this is a star. But boy, when you can marry the two and start to have your Bernie Williams or Jeters, your Alex Urgrie, the list goes on right to those stars, then brands are with winning with excellence.
So that's what we're trying to We're not winning national championships, but can we align our stars to the magnitude of the brand, amplify the excellence and to the point of alex And that's something to scale, Keith.
As you're speaking, I'm kind of thinking because It's such an exciting opportunity with your set of skills coming from media and to where the world. I mean, it's coming right into your circle of competence. But when you talk about marrying the two, I'm wondering. You know, Jason and I have a friend Massage who's the CEO of Toronto Raptors, and he's doing incredible work with Africa. And Adam Silver is a big supporter. Barack Obama's a big supporter, say Michelle.
My question is I'm wondering, is is there a potential partnership with you in the NBA that when we do stuff in Africa or even Asia, could you guys go right before you know we play right? For example, we played out in the Middle East, we played at the Dallas Mavericks. Why not put the Globetrotters right in front of the NBA game And again, it benefits both sides. But I just see an incredible opportunity with your brand, especially India, Africa places like that as well.
Yeah, I agree with you wholeheartedly that. You know what I love about the Nasmith Hall of Fame is that it celebrates your overall contribution to the game of basketball. I'll tell you have a high school coach in there, you have international coaches, you have everyone kind of in there, right versus Listen, I love the NFL and campum. I
think that's very specific. I bring that up to say, you know, from the days of you know, most high profile maybe to Ken Big Matumbo players like Yaka Dare and others who were coming out of the African that when I was in the eighties and you were seeing this growth of this idea, right to think about strategically partnering in a way that us the NBA, G League, WNBA. This is all about growth of the game and opportunities
for people right in different parts of the country. Not all those folks are be NBA players or Google chards or whatever. But think about what you've done for education, Think what you've done for grassroots. Think we you've done for very CSR initiatives, right, Education, Health and wellness, community empowerment are our pillars, right, and think about how powerful that could be for us to come together around some very specific assignments right that are shared work. Right. So yes,
I think that's a phenomenal opportunity. We could set up some tour stops, partner around clinic work, think about how to bring sponsors in it. How do we leave merchandise and stuff behind for kids who were like, wait, I want to grow this game just like any other sport, but I didn't have a ball. There's all types of things we can do where we can bring our self less goals together while still having our selfish goals benefit
from it. So I'm all in on that. And by the way, if you guys want to help me, kind of have some conversations round as we brought you up.
It's my favorite thing. Deal's happening on the deal this, this is the dream. So Keith, I do want to ask you about your pre globetritter's career and how that
you know sort of informs you in this job. I mean, Alex and I were talking about this before we got on with you, and I mean, honestly, if you're casting this job, obviously I can understand why the recruiter called you and what you got this job because you know, looking at even what your portfolio was at Viacom and specifically Nickelodeon, and you know in those sports partnerships that you over saw there, can you tell us like one thing or a couple of things that you did or
saw in your Viacom Nickelodeon days that you're like, oh, okay, well this is an easy like one to one or I know how.
To do this and now I'm doing it at the lobe tritters.
Yeah, I think in no particular order. It's like everything from my entire media entertainment life. Well, we'll just be hyper focused on that Viacom run. Right with Nickelodeon. We're talking about the audience twenty four to seven. It's consumer, consumer, consumer, consumer, consumer, the audience. Right, Everything is about content and how do we market to and ratings and research. So everything's about
the consumer. And so I'm a big believer if you stop, we can get into minutia around conversations inside the buildings in it. If you're not talking about that audience, you're going to lose them, if you don't know who they are, if you don't have some of them. So one, that's a big part of trainings. I'm thinking about that two
competitive sets. Sometimes we get narrow on what we think of the competitive set right where MB when we talk about like what a NASCAR whatever is doing, and I'm like, listen, a family of four making whatever they're making fifty eight thousand dollars a year, are making choices? Am I getting that new streaming service because so and so is a baseball fan that has Apple? Will wait a minute, so and so's my kid's birthday. They want the new XBO Hold on a second song? Is about to go to college?
Or we got to buy a formula. That's your competitive set everything, So how are you cutting through all that clutter and all that noise to even get on their list of the choices of things they're gonna do. Three. I am not a dismisser of like any new thing that comes around, like, ah, that's just trash. That YouTube. Everything to me is like wait, what is that over there? You dismissed it today? It's eating your lunch tomorrow. Who's that new rookie you've just gone? And seeah, I'm an
eight year vet. You're gonna be sitting on that bench in a year or losing your job or move to a different position. So understanding audience, everyone's in my competitive set. And then with that, this was the Nickelodeon thing. And this is probably like the Yankees where there's a bar that's there. It's like we're Nickelodeon and we are here to be number one all the time. Yeah, they're not
that anymore. But while that's a pressure cooker idea, I love that idea of like, oh, that's what we're here to do. Yes, that's what we're here to do. Are you on board with that? At the time, I was too young and too dumb to know that I wouldn't be uphoard with that. But I like that idea, right, just like setting a high standard, and I enjoy being in those environments. So for me kind of coming to the organization like we're the Harlem glow Chocks and this is what I think the bar should be for us.
This is what it was back then. When people said they loved it, they're like, we saw you on TV. We were on a Scooby Doo lunchbox, your own the wild world of sports. You maybe feel a certain way. I never even saw you on tour, but Betterlock Lendon was a star and it's awesome. How do we get back to that, Well, these are the things that we need to do, and it's not gonna be easy getting there, right, But that's setting a new bar and setting a new vision for that and then we're gonna chase it, but
what's our audience. Oh, we don't know anything about the oarth. Okay, we're gona get smart about them, right, who's their competitive set? I didn't even thought about that question. Okay, we need to get smart about that. At the end of the day. Then it's about people in process. Though we're gonna win a world series, do you have the people in the clubhouse to do that? We don't, or we do? Or we do? And how do we nurture so people in process make this whole thing happen. So it's exciting.
Yeah, and storyteller, and I mean that's that's part of your consumer and content story, right.
Yeah.
Why are we still talking about Babe Ruth a thousand years later? Right? Right? Because there was something magical about that dude, not just his performance at his bar, and we're still chasing his records. But then it becomes what was that thing? Anthony Hopkins says on the show West, when truth becomes legend? Print the legend, Right, It's like the truth of him is and I think he's just a legend. And there's storytelling after that that never stops. And here we are still today talking about it.
Right, and how it made us feel right right.
We all remember those moments in sports, whether it was Montana to Clark or it goes through Bugner's legs the Mets win it. I mean, they give you the chills. Fucking Joe Buck will see you tomorrow night after Kirby Pucket's home running by six.
Pretty awesome stuff. We love sports, No, we love Listen Steph. It's like Steph Curry, I don't know, person like, yeah, didn't you just finish off? And then he does this magic in the Olympics. I'm like, is this guy kidding me?
It's stuff that makes you smile.
Yeah, he just set another bar for the fact. So it's in the storytelling that comes out of it, and that's why sports is awesome. It brings us together, we stop all of our nonsense. And by the way, that's a marketable, scalable, revenue gendering idea around sports in its power.
All right, it is time for the lightning round. We're going to go through this quick, right, keep it tight, Keith, just whatever jumps to your mind. All right, what's the best deal you've ever made?
I'll just go most recent. Putting the glow tids back on TV for the first time in forty years. It happened fast, and it's been magical in terms of not only what's done straight to the audience, but also to the business community.
What's the best piece of advice you've received on deal making or business?
I had a meeting with the Maras at the Giants. He's like, we'd like to do deals with like my partners, where you just stick the deal memo in the drawer after a while and you don't have to look at it again. So it was about the alignment to the types of people that you do work with.
What's the worst advice you've ever been given?
You know, never burner bridge is an interesting piece of advice because I struggled with that for years. It was like, wait, there becomes a time where it's like, listen, you need to maintain relations, but then this your own sense of self, your own integrity, your own person your own value system, and you know it might be like, you know, one of you guys like he's not my dude, I'm going to distance myself from them. Is that burning a bridge?
I don't know. We have a moral compass, we have our values, and so I think there's times like, if you're not aligned to being loving and treating people right and blah bah blah, I don't have any time for you. So that's always been a check you want about about not burning bridges.
I can relate what's your hype song before.
You go into a big meeting or negotiations.
Lately it's been a lot of you know, jay Z's allowed me to reintroduce myself by Davis.
Oh, I like that.
Yeah, So that's usually.
It's I mean, that's kind of perfect for the globetrutterers, right it is.
Yeah, So that's the one I played all time, both for me and the globehals. The other one that we don't play as much, but you know it's ls don't call to comeback. I've been here for years. They both. Yeah, go, I like it.
Yeah right, that's really good. All right, So what's your advice for someone listening who wants a career like yours, which I have to say is a very cool career.
So I was asked this question a couple of times recently, and HERM Edwards coach was like, you know, it's not your skill, it's your will. That one just sticks with me for a few reasons. You know, one I was having this conversation about my grandmother, who's not with us anymore. But I'm like, how is this black woman born in nineteen eighteen, nineteen nineteen and this segregated Jim Crow South and all of that means navigate from there gets up
to Ridgard, New Jersey. She's a restaurant owner. She was like a pillar of the community. She started two scholarships, organization and listen, she was a bright bulb. But her will, in her spirit, there's nothing like it, right. So just being around that awesome force all the time, for me, it's like, I think this thing is about your will, right.
And then when I look at athletes who I just admired over the years, as much as I love Ali, my favorite thing is seeing them get knocked down by Joe Fraser because it was like Arthur McKenney was like pointing, show to the neutral corner, look back to the floor to count, and Ali was up. I'm like, that's your will, right.
So I just think, you know, part of it is like be intellectually curious, say why not me dream big all of those things right, and get after it with humility and please and thank you and show up and work hard every day. But your will is going to be tested, and so find ways to have stamina. And I think they need to. Who do you surround yourself with then, right? Who just kind of fuels it? It
doesn't attract it from you. So that's my family, that's different friends that's working out, that's good people in my life. But you have to find a way to build up your reservoir. And I think this will thing. It takes you far in life.
Mm hm, Well, we have loved getting to know you a little bit, Kate. Can't wait for our pass across again. Thank you so much for the time. Congrats on the residency. I think I speak for Alex when I say, you know as lifelong fans were psyched this is back.
Appreciate the time. Can't wait to have you eyes out of games and figure out ways to work with each other in the future.
That'd be awesome. God bless Keith. Keep it up, my man.
Thank you.
The Deal is hosted by Alex Rodriguez and me Jason Kelly. This episode was made by Stacy Wong, Annamazarakus, Lizzie Phillip, and Victor Eveees. Our theme music was made by Blake Maples. Our executive producers are Kelly Laferrier, Ashley Honig, and Brendan Newnham. Sage Bauman is the head of Bloomberg Podcasts. Additional support from Rachel Scaramzzino and Elena So Los Angeles. Thanks for listening to the deal. If you have a minute, please subscribe, rate, and.
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