Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
All Right, Alex, we spent a lot of time in Miami, but now you're in my hometown, the atl at a place that's really special to me, Georgia Tech.
My dad went here.
This was the first team that I was a fan of.
This is such a special place, and being here on campus, I'm in awe. I mean, just the size of it, the fact that it sits right in the middle of this great corporate market in Atlanta, great academic institution, great athletic.
Jabatt is leaning into all of that because he's going to be a primary architect of what college sports looks like going forward.
He's got the goods.
I mean, he played soccer at the University of North Carolina, he worked with Nick Saban at the University of Alabama, and he is a prolific fundraiser.
Can't wait.
Welcome everyone, Welcome Jay Batt, thank you.
Welcome to Atlanta, ay Ron.
I know your hometown, baby.
My hometown.
I love it and you know, probably a more welcoming audience than you would get at maybe Truest Park.
Maybe not as bad as fan Way.
Yeah that's true. Okay, it's all relative it's all relative.
I like the Braves, So welcome everyone to this live recording of the Deal. We are very, very excited to be here. And it's an interesting process when we think about this show because we're trying to dive into this intersection of business, sports, and culture. In fact, I was told earlier that I too often refer to it as the white hot center of sports, business and culture. But it was interesting to think about, all right, who do we want to talk to in Atlanta? Who do we
don't want to talk to about college sports? And no one is at that aforementioned white hot center more than you, God bless you. There's a lot going on. We're going to get into all of that. Also, something that happens a lot in our show is I go through the normal process, you know, we work through representatives and it's like, all right, who do I know who knows Jay Batt?
All right, let's get to him, Let's let's get the ask. And then this guy it's like, oh, yeah, I have.
A teammate from the two thousand and nine World Series team who went to Georgia Tech.
I'm just gonna text him.
And so you did, Mark to Shera and that's how you guys get connected.
So tell me about that.
Yeah, well, Mark tix Shera who went to Georgia Tech recently got his degree, which I'm so proud of him. One of my favorite teammates of all time. And he introduced us and we had a nice conversation. But you know, when you think about Mark tx Shara, when you think about value proposition about Georgia Tech, my question Jay, is is he the prototypical athlete that you have now competitive advantage in this landscape?
Yeah?
Absolutely, I think you know, part of what makes Georgia Tech so special is it's this unique opportunity to go pro and whatever sport you want to be in. But also after that, the value of Georgia Tech degree, the connection to alumni, the ability to be here in Atlanta is huge and you mentioned Mark. Mark to share is
the perfect example of that. Right as we're going through this changing landscape, somebody with a pro background like Mark is an incredible advocate for us on campus as we're dealing with our administration other things that we're working through. Mark's been a tremendous friend and ally for us.
All right, So one of our favorite topics to talk about and I will take this moment up top to shout out my parents or in the in the audience that is Nevia Kelly.
Who also went to Georgia Tech.
That's right, my dad went to Georgia Tech.
So I like took Alex all around Tech campus today like Dragon around.
We went on the field at Bobby Dodd lifelong dream accomplished.
But my dad and I talk all the time about the state of college sports. I mean, like every phone conversation we have, there's some new development.
You're hyper aware of those. How do you.
Even begin to understand and where to go next? Like what's the thought process for you?
Yeah, so that's a fairly loaded question.
I would say that you've got to start with what's still the same, right, and then I'll talk about what's changing. But what's still the same is we still have great kids, we have great coaches. We're still attached to really, really incredible academic institutions. And I can speak firsthand at Georgia Tech. Our kids still go to class and get degrees, and they're doing the same degrees that you got, and they still we say graduate now not got out. The student
athletes that we deal with, they're still student athletes. What's changing is this sort of overlay of the changing business of college athletics. And I think it's important that we talk about whether it's arranging our staff right where we were one of the first folks to go out and hire what amounts to a general manager. We've got the proliferation of agents, right, our student athletes, many of them have agents. Well, there needs to be a person to
deal with that. Right, we're going to have these rev share paym to be paid the student athletes. You've got to have a business operation right on your internal side to handle that. And Cherz heck, you've got to have a whole bunch of legal help to manage that. So organizing your athletic department for that, and then I think just the talent you have to surround yourself with. Right, it's not the same as it was ten or fifteen
years ago. Whether it's the athletic director chair needing more business acumen and more ability to manage a larger budget. All that's really important still anchored in the fact that college athletics is essential to the fabric of higher education. It's essential to what it means, not for student athletes only, but for every student. I think you know that there's such value to the overall student experience to what college athletics springs.
So Rick Patino recently said, I don't know if some of you folks saw. I was shocked. He said, we're not going to look at one high school student or recruit this year. Now they get the money, right, but they're not going to have with you had in North Carolina where you had a Georgetown, the mae, the growth. I mean, you guys, remember when you were in college it was four years Today, you show up there as a free agent when you're twenty three, twenty four, How
do you ad defend against that? And how do you play office being an institution with an academic background like Georgia Tech.
Yeah, so I would say, you know, as we move into the next era of intercoclegian athletics, this revenue share of post house settlement.
This is that just a reminder, right, I mean, this is the House settlement that is that is going to dictate that colleges have to share revenue with their athletes?
Right?
Is that the simplest way, how would you put it most simply?
I think it's the simplest way to explain it.
There's two tranches, right, There's a two point eight billion dollar settlement for back damages for student athletes, and then there's the forward facing, which is, you know, the ability to create some structure and stability for revenue sharing.
And moving forward.
Yeah, but as those two things kind of move forward, I think there's going to be less and less separation across the overall landscape as far as you know what one student athlete a certain profile might be from given institution to the other. As there's a new revenue sharing number, that's you know, kind of ubiquitous across all of the institutions.
And I think a high academic institution like Georgia Tech in a thriving major metro like Atlanta, where real third party in IL deals will be highly valued and available with an alumni network that will make a difference when you finish, that's going to go back to being important. Right.
We spend all kinds of time recruiting great coaches, right surrounding our student athletes with great call them life skills for a long time total person program, but those sort of support mechanisms and then great coaches and good facilities that makes a difference. You know if there was a time there where maybe that didn't factor as much. You saw institutions pause facility projects, right, You saw folks say, hey, we're not going to go and hire some new coach,
We're going to make an investment in NIL. As we move into the next era, some of that spread's going to kind of tighten up. And I think what you will see is we're going to go back to place that an opportunity to come to George too graduate.
With that degree.
That's going to matter more than maybe it has in the past three four five years.
So it sounds a little bit like you're going to have your ncaa collective bargaining agreement that we have in the pros to just bring some structure around it.
It will be that the house settlement will be the opportunity to create a stable way in which we can provide even more to the student athletes. Frankly, I think it's really important that we say that this house settlement, but it also creates stability, It creates fairness, it creates the ability to manage for long term stability for the student athletes.
As we look forward, one of your additional responsibilities, as it were, is you're going to be one of ten athletic directors I believe across the entire country who post house settlement is really going to be charged with architecting this new landscape. How do you ensure that the Georgia Tech model is successful? But that also other colleges who may not have this academic profile or who don't have the benefit of being in a city like Atlanta, Like, how did they win as well?
You know?
I think that's what makes college athletics great is that it's institutions all across the country with a bunch of different profiles. We have a bunch of really smart people in that room. We have a bunch of really committed people in that room who've been working really, really hard. Not today, not tomorrow, We've been working for months to
lay out the groundwork. And I think the desired outcome of that is, let's have something that's stable, Let's have something that's clear, Let's have something that we can operate within going forward. That will provide us that clarity instability for student athletes to gain more. At the end of the day, there's never been a better time to be.
A student athlete.
I can say that from firsthand experience. Right, there's never been a better time. At the end of the day, they'll be you know, we'll have this repshare pool. We'll have the ability for student athletes in an organized system to earn third party nil deals.
There'll be more scholarships, right.
You see headlines all the time of athletic departments adding huge amounts of scholarships and opportunities.
Right.
And we'll continue to offer all the benefits that we always have, right, whether it's the medical coverage, whether it's the academic support, all those parts and pieces that go with it. They're just gonna be on top of all those things that we've already been doing.
And so I think.
That's probably the biggest takeaway, right, is we're building that system. And listen, like, it's a bunch to figure out and a bunch to sort through, but I think we're building something that is sustainable.
All Right, We're gonna do some role playing, okay, because I took Alex over to Tech and he walked around.
This guy's eyes were his biggest saucers.
We go into the baseball field, of course, you know, we're taking photos, we're talking to the coach, we're doing all that I'm telling you right now, if you approach this guy and like, hey, you want to come play baseball at Georgia Techi, got some eligibility, I.
Would have to pay him. Yeah, let's go.
So let's do it.
Like, what are you going to say to him to get him to come to Tech over Miami?
You know, I think it goes back to what exactly what we talked about of Listen, I think no one needs to be naive enough to think that in the future revenue sharing is going to play part of that. Right, So that's certainly part of the discussion. But the most important part about that is going to be about fit. It's going to be about future. It's going to be about what we're going to do to help you achieve
your dreams and grow. And then I think the end, you know, we talk a lot about it Georgia Tech. This isn't a four year proposition. Certainly in the transfer portal era maybe it's not. But you are going to finish and get that degree, and that's a forty year win. At the end of the day, that above and beyond part that's going to be the differentiator.
And so I'm looking at March Madness right now, and then we're sort of convening around this idea. And the transfer portal has radically changed the talent flow among teams. And you know, we talk a lot in the show about talent. How do you keep those students? And is that as much of a challenge as it seems like from the outside, it's.
A fair question.
I think retention of your roster is an all the time thing. And you know, whether it's the transfer portals open or not, you've got to be proactive. You've got to find different ways to add value, and you've got to be in the game. And I think that's something on the Georgia tech front we have been really active in.
Right.
I think anytime you look at any sort of business, zoom out from college athletics right, you go through a period of massive change. Two things are important. You're well capitalized and you've got really smart people You've invested in that talent to negotiate for whatever that marginal increases you can bring. And so we brought an individual from the Chicago Bears on board back in December to help us manage through the football portal and oversee our revenue sharing enterprise.
We're in the process of bringing on an individual to help on the basketball fronts one for men and for women, by the way, because I think they're both really important, and particularly the women's game cantinues to grow at leaps and bounds. You've got to find really intentional ways to retain that talent.
One of the things you have to do is recruit and raise capital. For sure, what are some of the things that you've done and continue to do that you can share with our group and our listeners that they can take home, Because everyone at some point has to raise capital or recruit great talent, and you've done both.
Well, that's kind of you to say.
I think the most important thing is the and everybody has their own different way about it, right, but I think the most important thing is to value and constantly work on genuine relationships. I think it's often forgotten that my value prop or my business plan is so good that of course someone's going to buy this or invest in this, or give us money because my goodness, we're winning games or we want to win games, or whatever
it might be. People give to people, People invest in people, and so being available being part of that investing in those relationships so that when the time comes for that ask. It's not the thing you've heard of him, right, Like, it's it's important to be there so that that genuine relationship I've found to be huge.
So talk a little bit on that point of fundraising.
Jay, Any good college president is going to tell you that one of the best and easiest ways to find a donor's heart is through sports. Yeah, and yet that doesn't see it's not universally shared. It sounds like, and I was talking to Coach Key about this this morning, he and you and the president of Georgia Tech are totally aligned. How do you make sure that it stays that way? And what happens if it doesn't.
Alignment institutionally is the most important thing that you can have in an athletic department. So the kind of vision and the emphasis from your institution's president is the most important thing. President hel Cabrera here at Georgia Tech, he's one of the most pragmatic, visionary leaders you could you could ever want as an athletic director. But that athletic director, you know, working with the president, you're governing board down
to your coaches. That alignment's huge and it's not just your president, right it's the overall academic kind of the entire community. Part of it is it has to be valuable to every student, not just to your student athletes.
Right.
The role of college athletics has to be a part of the overall institution. And you know, I've talked a
lot about that. Relationships are built on shared experiences, right, And so part of the role I think college athletics plays an institutional life cycle is think about all those memories you had from college, Right, I remember when I can't tell you how many fundraising conversations start with I remember the miracle on Techwood when Georgia Tech beat Florida State and we blocked the punt, and we you know that shared experience ties together alums to the institution, right,
And a lot of times that engagement doesn't just necessarily end on the athletics front.
Right.
We think I've raised I can, I don't know how much over my career, but a lot of them those gifts are often starting points to what that scholarship that you give in the school of Business where you graduated from, becomes and to your point about creating value. That's the way you create values. Those donor relationships that go beyond.
And then the other part is the most important market Georgia text being done in our labs, in our classrooms, our researchers gt R. I that's the most important work, right. But at the end of the day, the way that we were able to share that publicly is through the athletic story that we tell. Whether it's the simple spot that's in the game. You know, we won awesome aer Lingus Classic right in the summer, we're in Ireland, we go to Dublin, Florida State, last second kick, win the game.
It's awesome Week zero Week zero essentially the only game in town. Right.
Interestingly, right, there's I don't know three or four million people that watched that game, which was awesome, but there were We had two billion on social media within one day.
Two billion. There is nothing that we can do.
There's no investment on the institutional front that can tell our story better than that. And I think you know President Caberra, he fully embraces that, invests in that, and that's what's got his positions so well right to move forward into this new era.
And so when you think about a lot of that change, Jay, you know, one of the things that is just front and center. Is this whole notion of conference realignment. Sure you have experienced it firsthand with some maybe unexpected new members of your conference who are nowhere near the Atlantic coast. I'm thinking about, you know, SMU, I'm thinking about Stanford and cal Where do we go on that and what happens?
What's the right thing to happen from your perspective.
That's a great question. First and foremost.
We've got to keep the kids in mind, right, and so whereever we go with that, we have to be sure that we're supporting them through all that. Rich And I'll tell you, I think the ACC did a really good job recruiting members that made sense from a institutional profile commitment to athletics.
Right.
Those are long plane flights. I did one to LA and back last week to watch our women compete at UCLA. But we're taking those steps to support them through it. As far as the conference realignment landscape, listen, I can only speak about the AEC because that's what we're in.
We've recently been really innovative, right, We've gone to unequal revenue distribution based on on field success and TV viewership, and so part of what you can do, Jason, is you can be intentional about how you organize and arrange different things. Right, We'll play our Georgia game for football on a Friday afternoon.
Right.
Last year we played that game on a Friday evening in Athens, eight overtimes. It's not painful or anything. At the end of that we had nine million people watch that game.
Right.
Part of why that happened is that we intentionally organize work with our partners in Athens to say, hey, we should do that game on a Friday night. ABC picks it up.
Part of that is.
Being intentional about how do you organize that schedule? What are you doing on that front to create value?
Yeah, Jack, it's incredible. I mean, this's my head is spinning because I don't know. I mean, this is not what I grew up with. I remember, back in the day, you had a guy like herschel Walkerm dating myself a little bit. But he went to Georgia and you knew what high school came from. He's going to be there for at least three years. You know who the coach was going to be, you know which conference, you know what. Now you don't know anything. I guess my question is
and this is something that I'm struggling with. I'm a parent of two daughters and one is a software at Michigan. One of the junior in high school. And I'm thinking, if if someone like you showed up at my house, I love that they get to share in the economics, that's always great.
What I don't love.
Is no commitment, no loyalty, and option education. How do we give them the resources or make them earn the resources, but also give them the chores that make this country great, like the fact that you got to work for it.
Well, I think you know, part of what will be great as we move into this next era of college athletics is student athletes are going to have more and more opportunity to earn that third party nil Right, There'll be financial gain and benefit that go with that, and so that part will be enhanced outs. I think it's important.
But you know, part of that, I think what makes higher education college athletics great is you do still get even if the window gets compressed, Right, even if the window gets compressed and maybe somebody transfers, you still get all those intrinsic values of resiliency. Right, you fail on a stage in front of thousands of people. You know
that way better than I do. Right, You have the ability to be a great teammate, teamwork, all those parts and pieces that go with what does college athletics do?
Even if it gets microwaved right at times.
But as many stories as there are of student athletes that leave, there's just as many as the ones that stick it out right, And so it's our job in college athletics to build those environments that's port the kids to make those good decisions, to see the value in the higher education part of the equation. Listen, again, not going to be naive enough to not say there's part of it that's going to come down to what's the rev share and all the other parts.
That work with it.
But that's our job, and that's when when I come to see you guys. You know, we'll send the coaches first, but at the end of the day, I think it's important we talk as much about that as anything.
All Right, you ready forrapping?
Ready?
All right, let's do it?
All right?
So the only rule is keep it tight. Okay, I'll start and then I'll still thick up. What's one word to describe your deal making style?
Direct? What's more important to your gut or data both.
Who's your dream deal making partner?
Nick Saban? Oh, good one.
What's the best piece of advice you ever received on deal making or business?
Always be honest.
What's the worst advice you've been given?
Do the rapid fire question thing?
You can only watch one sport for the rest of your life? Which one is it?
A football? Guy? American football? American football? All right?
Good, it's a global show. And to clarify it, yeah, and you played talker.
What team do you want to see win a championship more than any Well?
I mean.
That's the best question. Yeah, yeah, all right.
What's your advice someone listening who wants to have a career.
Just like yours.
You gotta do it for the right reason, right, You gotta love the enterprise. Don't do it to end up in one of these chairs. Do it because you love the enterprise. You love helping student athletes.
All right, Well, this has been a huge, huge amount of fun. I've been waiting for a long time for us to come to Atlanta together, and you've.
Never been happier.
By the way, I know your parents, Georgia, maybe mom cook for your little southern.
I had a great day.
Have you never seen a smile much? Now?
I had a great day, and I'm so happy to be here with both of you. And it's great to be able to say on stage on our on our podcast to Hell with Georgia, thank you.
I love it, thank you, Thank you guys so much. We really appreciate it.
The Deal is a production from Bloomberg Podcasts and Bloomberg Originals. The Deal is hosted by Alex Rodriguez and Jason Kelly. The show was produced by Anamazarakus, Lizzie Phillip, and Stacey Wong. Original music and engineering by Blake Maples. David E. Ravella is our managing editor. Our executive producers are Jason Kelly, Brendan Francis, Newnham, Jordan Oppland, Trey Shallowhorn, Andrew Barden, Kelly Leferrier,
and Ashley Hoenig. Sage Bauman is our Head of Podcasts Special thanks to Rachel Carnivali, Elena Los Angeles, Nick Silva, Zach Aberman and Allied Productions. Rubob Shakir is our creative director. Art direction is from Jacqueline Kessler. Joshua Devaux is our director of Photography Camera Operation by Joel Adrian. Listen to the Deal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also tune into the video Companion
on Bloomberg Originals and on Bloomberg TV. Thanks for listening.