Oklahoma City Celebrates First NBA Title

0:28This is the business of sports. tune into this. If you're playing money ball with a huge bag of money, you're going to be really, really good. Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio. This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports, where we explore the big money issues in the world of sports. I'm Michael Barr, along with my colleagues Damian Sassauer and Vanessa Perdomo. Coming up on the show, we'll celebrate the newest NBA champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder. We'll talk about what the big win means for the city with Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt. Being a championship city is an attainment of sports immortality.

1:04It's just, it's such a game changer for our city. We've got that and more on the way on the Bloomberg Business of Sports, and we start with Bloomberg U.S. Sports Business Reporter Randall Williams, who is here to take us through those finals and some of the other big headlines lately in basketball, including that big, big, big, big, big, big, big announcement from last week about the Lakers sale and more. Hi, Randall Williams. You just sounded like a teacher when you get in trouble or get caught doing something. But good to see you too, Mr. Barr. And thank you for having me. Man, there's a lot of stuff that is jumping off, especially recently.

1:44There's so many ways to go in the NBA here. But let's talk about one of the biggest stories in the NBA that has happened in the past several days. The Lakers. You know, this used to be a bus family production, and now this is about to change. Tell us about it. Yeah, Mark Walter has bought a majority stake in the Lakers to be valued at$10 billion. It is a high mark that I don't see anybody passing for a very long time, very long being maybe five to ten years. Wow. Mark Walter is obviously the owner of the Dodgers. If you are an L.A. native, if you're a Lakers fan, this is a great sign. So wait a second.

2:22and I just have to go back. You don't think that every team, like the Dallas Cowboys, who are valued at$10.1 billion as of last year by Sportico, that all those valuations don't explode to the upside off the back of it? I do think that they will be valued at more, but I think as far as a control sale, this is going to be the high mark for a bit. Interesting. I think if the Seahawks were put up for sale tomorrow, I don't know that they would go for$10. I think they might go for$7 or$8, but$10 is high. $10 is high. The question is, how do you get to$10 And after Mark Walters invested into the team four years ago for a valuation of$5 billion, they don't own their arena.

2:58They didn't win a new championship. How do you double your valuation in four years then? I think it's all in brand value and media, of course. They have a new media deal that hasn't kicked in yet. It'll kick in next year. But the Lakers are one of the biggest brands in the world, period. And in sports, they're a top three sports brand. And there are some people who would say they're the number one sports brand ahead of both the Yankees and the Cowboys. Now, I don't know about that, and I'll leave that up to debate, but the Lakers are top three. And with that in mind, you think about how many sports franchises have been relevant for 50 years.

3:31And I'm not talking about like, oh, yeah, they won back in the day, and I remember those good old days. The Celtics are sort of like that. The Celtics won a gazillion championships 60 years ago, and then they've won two in the last 25 years. The Lakers have won championships in every single decade over the past 50 years, I believe, all the way back to the 80s, 90s, and then, of course, the 2000s and 2010s as well. And so when you're thinking about that, as well as the amount of superstars they've had, like if you ever played NBA 2K before and you look at the all-time Lakers team, it's Magic, Kobe, James Worthy, Shaq, and Kareem.

4:07That doesn't even include LeBron and now Luka and so many other stellar players who just pack out arenas and there aren't that many franchises in the NBA or in the NFL or in the MLB who can say, no matter who's here, we're going to sell out. Now, by the way, we've got to talk about something else. The ratings for Game 7 of this past NBA Finals. ESPN was happy with Game 7. About 16.4 million viewers, according to Nielsen data, watched the Thunder in Game 7 go on to win. Now, the games before that, a little shaky. And I think part of that. Historically, wow. Yeah. I think part of it is because they thought OKC was going to win hands down.

4:55Why do you all think ratings are low? I'm interested. People thought OKC was just going to run away with it. You know, nobody expected any drama from the Indiana Pacers. And all of a sudden, here we go. And it's like people are thinking, man, I should have been watching game five and game six. Well, I did hear that the game one was like 9 million, and that was like the lowest since like the 80s or something like that. I don't know if that's true or not. I mean, Randall? It's been a – the game one and two ratings were low, but I would say this to the ratings conversation is that, yes, ratings are low.

5:26I think that there's blame to place everywhere. If I ask you where Tyrese Halliburton went to school, do you know? No, I don't. Okay, he went to Iowa State. That's something that if you watch the games, and I don't know whether you did or you didn't. But that's something that should be talked about all throughout these playoffs is the journey that these players go through. And that's not discussed as much on the broadcast anymore. We have trades happening in the middle of the NBA Finals. And Kevin Durant is a marvelous player. But that never happened a decade ago where trades were happening in the middle of this thing.

5:58And it takes away the attention. And also there's blame to place on media as well. ESPN did not treat the NBA Finals like the NBA Finals. I think from top to bottom the broadcast was average. Stephen A is an incredible talent. But a lot of times who he's paired with and the conversation they're having does not make you excited for the game. When someone says, I'm not excited about going to Oklahoma City to watch this game, and you're a fan listening to that, of course you don't want to come. And so I think it's two things. It's storytelling around the league. How do you uplift these superstars?

6:30If you take away the storytelling, it's also from the brand perspective. How many Converse advertisements did you see for Shea Gildress Alexander or Tyrese Halliburton, who debuted his new signature shoe? You didn't see any. But a decade ago, if this was LeBron, if this was KD, if this was Kobe, Nike would have for sure had signature sneaker commercials. My favorite commercials of all time are the LeBron and Kobe puppets. Yeah. But no, we don't see that branding anymore. And so if you don't see the branding, if you're a kid watching this, what makes you want to continue to tune into this when the broadcasters act like they don't want to be there, when you don't know anything about the players and the brands aren't promoting it?

7:11I don't think it's helping. So I guess, I mean, not the point fingers, but it's ESPN's fault then, right? I mean, let's be clear. And look, I mean, you must be really upset that ESPN just bought the PLL, the Premier La Crosse League, because, look, I didn't think there was something that much wrong with the broadcast. I just think, quite honestly, it was a hangover after some of the semifinal and quarterfinal matches. I think the Knicks— I do. I'm back to differ. I think this was a really good finals that— It was a great finals. If Halliburton doesn't tear his Achilles or rupture his Achilles, who knows how that game goes?

7:42He came out firing. But, again, if you don't—if both the NBA and its media partners, partners plural, and corporate partners, do not act like the finals are the most magnificent event in the world, then people won't. If the Super Bowl this year features the Buffalo Bills and the Green Bay Packers, two small market teams, I guarantee you the NFL is going to be storytelling around this as if this is the greatest Super Bowl of all time. And it could be a 13-3 game. We've seen things like that happen. But again, if you don't act like it, then people don't believe it. And that's what's happening right now.

8:20By the way, I should add, the entire series, it averaged 10.3 million viewers per game. That's the least since 2021. That goes to the face of the NBA conversation. And that's really where it goes back to. And I feel like one of the things that we're seeing in the draft, and we're seeing all these MVP conversations, all that is the conversations around international players. And should they be the face of the NBA? And people feel like they shouldn't be. Why does that matter? and do people really need to put that aside? First of all, it doesn't matter. I think that people love good basketball regardless, but having an international face is so new for the league.

9:02I mean, you think about the most popular players in the last three finals have all been international stars. Joker, most popular. Luka is more popular than both Tatum and Brown. And then this year, of course, you have SGA. However, if you don't, again, if you don't market it like that, if you're not ready to embrace it, and if the Americans aren't succeeding. We were reminded that America is still dominant in the basketball forum, of course, with the 2024 Olympics. There's no guarantee that that's going to happen in 2028 in L.A. I would argue that I wouldn't be surprised if they lost in 2028 in L.A.

9:36because of the fact that the old guard will be gone. We've watched LeBron and KD carry Team USA for a decade and a half now. But again, this new guard is coming up. People don't know that much about them. But if you've watched the NBA, I mean, the last seven MVPs have all been international players. You now have an international championship in some aspect with Shea winning it. And you had one two years ago with Joker. So this is a reoccurring theme. And I think the NBA is going to get better at this. They're going to have to challenge ESPN to stop defecating on their game. But, you know, I'm serious.

10:13If you watch the NFL coverage versus the NBA coverage, the NFL coverage is so much more in-depth. And the games are different. I'm not saying that they're not different. If you watch NFL Live, you watch NBA Today. And also, this is due to the fact that the seasons are different. The NFL game is much more condensed. And so ESPN's coverage naturally and basketball coverage naturally leans into the drama. But when it's playoff time, the drama is over. The drama has to be on the court. because as we've seen over the past decade, drama is going to happen in June and July, regardless whether you're talking about it in May or April or even January.

10:51But if you're talking about it in the midst of your playoffs, people are going to be like, yeah, the playoffs, but oh boy, I can't wait for free agency to happen. Speaking of drama, now by the way, the NBA draft, first round, Cooper flag, Dallas Mavericks, yeah, surprise. Crazy. No. But the one that caught me for drama, Danny Wolfe. He was picked 27th overall by the Brooklyn Nets. And then you see the shot of his mother crying. And then you see the shot of him crying. And then there's a shot of me crying because I thought that was one of the most touching things when you're talking about sports.

11:29I think that this NBA draft and watching it, I saw more tears and just more emotional moments than I've seen in a long time. And that was beautiful to see. Not a lot of drama. I think the Mavericks part of it is incredibly fascinating. Just the last 12 months of the Mavericks, I'd say 18 months, even with Cuban selling to the Adelson family, it's going to need a documentary someday. It doesn't matter if they win or lose. But just the fact that a team sold, they traded the biggest superstar, arguably in the franchise history. I think Luka's a bit more popular than Dirk. And then you draft the number one pick again.

12:09And just the chances of that are crazy. But again, NBA draft, very emotional night. I thought it was a great and fun thing to watch. Randall Williams, I love you, man. Thank you for coming and joining us on the Bloomberg Business Sports. Appreciate you for having me as always. Our thanks to Randall Williams for joining us. He's Bloomberg U.S. Sports Business Reporter. Up next, we take a break from basketball and turn to the gridiron. We'll talk with someone who is working on bringing the latest tech and AI to Gillette Stadium. For my colleagues Damien Tassauer and Vanessa Bernomo, I'm Michael Barr.

12:45You are listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio around the world. This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio. This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports where we explore the big money issues in the world of sports. I'm Michael Barr, along with Damian Sassauer. The Kraft Group is going all in on AI across their businesses, and that includes the New England Patriots and their home venue, Gillette Stadium. In April, the Kraft Group announced a new partnership with NWN, North America's largest AI-powered technology solutions provider. And here to talk to us about the partnership and other tech innovations that could come to Gillette is Michael Israel.

13:33He's Chief Information and Technology Officer for the Kraft Group. Michael, welcome to the Bloomberg Business of Sports. Thank you for having me. One thing you guys are dabbling in, it involves AI-powered technology solutions, and you guys are working with it. Can you tell us about that and the impact that's having on the sport, on sports in general? Sure. Yeah, well, sports in general. So we started with AI-based technology at the stadium a couple of years ago. Really where we started with is video anomaly detection and using standard security camera footage, intercepting that footage and detecting real-time what's happening in the stadium.

14:18So if someone leaves a bag behind, if a concession line is long, if a garbage can's overflowing, detecting that and creating action associated with that. So if a concession line is long, do we need more cashiers? If a garbage can's overflowing, automatically dispatching custodial staff. So using video that would normally just go unused to create actionary items and enhance our guest experiences as they're coming in. Moving forward, we're looking at things like facial recognition for entry, for concession purchasing, where it's tied to a digital wallet. So if you walk up and you opt in, if you walk up to an entry line, it will see your face shred your ticket.

15:02If you walk up to a concession stand, I want a cheeseburger or a beer or fries. It checks your ID, hits your credit card, hits our loyalty system, and you're off and going. So looking at speed of transaction, enhanced customer service, really new ways to make your experience at the stadium better. Mike, let's talk about the Razor. I mean, as a New York Jets fan, that's one of my least favorite places to be, Foxborough, New England. But nevertheless, I have to ask you about how your technology is going to change the fan experience at the Blade. I mean, I am hearing some wonderful things about what you're doing.

15:37You're overhauling the entire IT infrastructure. I mean, talk to us about what's going on up there. Well, we're essentially taking, you know, our stadium is now a little over 20 years old and technology was stagnant, really refreshing the entire technology stack across the stadium with the folks over at NWN helping us rebuild our stack. but again, create more engaging experiences. So IPTV, putting unique video content into our suites, into our concourses, so that based on where you are, you may be seeing different things, but really enhanced experiences so that it's better than being at home. You're also involved with, I guess, training facilities and applying the applications to help keep players informed and engaged.

16:31Tell us about that. Correct. Our new training facility is being built as we speak. We'll be coming live next April. We'll have new draft rooms. We'll have new content spaces. So WebEx platforms in all of our meeting rooms, locations within weight rooms, training facilities where folks can go. What's my schedule for the day? What specific plans do I have? When's our next meal time? but in our conference rooms, having the ability to control everything from the lights, from the blinds, from the content on the screens, right from our common Cisco touchpads. So, Michael, you know, we have a pretty sophisticated audience here at the Bloomberg Business of Sports.

17:13And, you know, it's not just about sports. I mean, the Kraft Group is the holding company for 100 different portfolio companies like venture, P.E., direct investments, you name it. I mean, the Rand Whitney container company, I mean, all of that stuff. Talk to us about how these different verticals, what you're doing with them, how AI, how your technology is enhancing the productivity across the board. Sure. So we have right now in excess of 75 different AI-based use cases that are being evaluated. So it could be something as simple in sports as automatically transcribing press conferences as they happen, or going into our manufacturing facilities, looking at a tractor trailer as it comes into our facility and monitoring when it enters, how long is it in a docking bay, how long does it take to unload that tractor, And when does it leave our facility?

18:04And comparing that to our invoices as they come in and saying, hey, that truck wasn't here an hour and a half. We have it documented of only 38 minutes for an unload. That's resulting in a decrease in our expenses. Monitoring how raw materials are getting loaded onto our conveyor belts to make sure they're being loaded in a sequential order. or looking at, in our manufacturing facility in Worcester, Massachusetts, what's the proper sequencing of box manufacturing orders so that we have the least amount of waste coming out of that machine so that we can get the most out of a roll of paper? All of these pieces are looking at how we do business historically and how can we use AI to change that in the future, enhance our operations, reduce costs, reduce complexity.

18:52You know, Michael, the impact of technology on sports It's really just, I mean, today, I mean, just for example, I mean, the fact that Amazon, Apple and Netflix are now airing, you know, you know, NFL games as opposed to, you know, Disney and Warner Brothers and things like that, you know. But it extends beyond that, right? It extends to, you know, esports, for example. It extends to sports betting. And, you know, I just want to ask you about, you know, some of the features you're going to be implementing within, you know, Gillette Stadium. You know, how do they take advantage of the$100 billion in revenue that the sports betting globally, the sports global sports betting market has generated in 2024 alone?

19:26I mean, are there are there designs to sort of capture a bit of that? There's gambling going on. I'm shocked. Well, there's there's no official gambling going on from our perspective. We have some sponsors who are there. But when folks are here at the stadium, I have to make sure I have enough bandwidth to support whatever they're looking to do. And we will look at, you know, on a typical game day, we have 60 ,000 people in the stadium. We will have in excess of 45 ,000 to 50 ,000 unique clients on our Wi-Fi network. And we monitor the applications that they're using. And yes, it's the Yahoo and the Instagrams and those types of pieces.

20:04But the sports betting apps are gaining and gaining. So we have to make sure we have enough bandwidth to support whatever they're doing in real time. if they want to make a bet on the fourth quarter on what's going to happen, they don't want to wait. They don't want to see an hourglass. They want real responsive networks. And we have that and we continue to evolve and make it faster, make it better. You know, in the fan experience, it's not just about football, right? I mean, it's also about, you know, concerts. It's about, you know, all the other stuff that goes on, you know, at Gillette Stadium.

20:32Talk to us a little bit about, you know, what you're doing there, how you're capturing, you know, a greater, I guess, percentage of the fan engagement experience, as it were. I mean, talk to us about, you know, how you make going to a Phish concert, for example, even more enjoyable than it already is. You love Phish, don't you? I am a Phish head. Well, it's, you know, the challenge goes from concert to concert. When you see, like, for example, several years ago, we had Taylor Swift. We had 215 ,000 guests in the facility over three days. when we're sitting, when I'm sitting walking in the stadium and there's 60 ,000 guests in, but I hear on my radio that there's 70 ,000 unique people on Wi-Fi.

21:11How can that be? Well, you have a TikTok challenge in your parking lot, 10 ,000 fans that are in your parking lot. That's something you don't plan for. So what we do is look and saying, hey, we need to make sure we're prepared for what comes tomorrow. We have FIFA World Cup coming to our stadium next summer. we're in we're preparing now for that influx of seven matches and the amount of bandwidth that we're going to need the amount of stand-up pop-up retail and concession locations enhancing our tvs enhancing our ip tv frameworks this is all stuff that is not stagnant it doesn't sit still we have to make sure we are a step ahead of what our fans are expecting and what my business is asking of us.

21:55Our thanks to Michael Israel for joining us. He's chief information and technology officer for the Kraft Group. Sticking with football, the latest episode of The Deal with Alex Rodriguez and Jason Kelly, featuring a conversation with two titans, legendary coach Bill Belichick and Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio. Those two know a lot about winning and success. Let's take a listen to a portion of that conversation. Bill, you've played for multiple owners. No need to mention names. That's not important. What is important is from your experience and your lens, what makes a good owner, good management team to support what you do on the field?

22:33Well, again, I think it starts with what Ray just said is what are your goals? What are your goals? Is it the bottom line? Is it financial? Is it championships? And you've been a player and I'm sure that you felt like as a player, you wanted a path to a championship. And when something got in the way of that path, you wanted it removed. Yeah. Whatever it happened to be, whether it's travel or, you know, personnel or the way something was handled, that it affected your performance as a player. And I would say those two don't necessarily align, you know, financial success and on the field success.

23:13There could be a tradeoff there that I think as an owner, you'll have to make a decision as to, you know, what... So you probably want the best of both, but ultimately, which one is the driving force? And it's probably like that in a lot of businesses. What are your goals? And if goals are truly winning, you know as a player that you want to remove every obstacle that could be in the way of a manager or a player of achieving his winning goals. Financially, that could be expensive. So, Ray, it's interesting. Over the years of covering Wall Street and investing for Bloomberg, I got to watch you build this firm.

23:51And part of one of the underlying principles, I believe, is this notion of innovation and always sort of changing and evolving. And both of you, and we'll get to Coach in a second, have sort of pushed into new markets. How do you think about that? How do you think about innovation? What are the principles underlying how you go on and build into something new? I don't know if it's much thinking about it as much as feeling it. You know, you feel the excitement, you feel the pull. You know, one of the principles that he's phrased so well, and I also, is being comfortable being uncomfortable. Okay.

24:32Or I might say also the reverse. I'm sometimes uncomfortable if I'm comfortable. Okay. Okay. That's just a little taste, a little sample of the latest episode of The Deal with Alex Rodriguez and Jason Kelly, featuring Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio and legendary NFL coach and now UNC football coach Bill Belichick. Go to Bloomberg.com to learn more and catch the full episode. Up next, back to basketball. We celebrate the Oklahoma City Thunders NBA Finals win with OKC Mayor David Holt. I'm Michael Barr. You're listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio around the world.

25:15This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio. Thanks for joining us on the Bloomberg Business of Sports where we explore the big money issues in the world of sports. I'm Michael Barr along with Damian Sassauer and Vanessa Burnomo. The Oklahoma City Thunder are NBA champions and superstar Shea Gilius-Alexander at its final MVP to his resume in the same season. It's one of the most impressive single seasons for an NBA player in history. Here he is, just after the win. It's hard to believe that I'm part of that group. It's hard to even fathom that I'm that type of basketball player sometimes.

25:55As a kid, you dream, and every kid dreams, but you don't ever really know if it's going to come true. And I'm just glad and happy that my dreams have been able to come true. And that's a thank you to everyone that's been in my corner that's helped me get here. I wouldn't be able to have done without them. They know exactly who they are. So, yeah, it's a win for the family. SSGA speaking to reporters after the Thunder won big for Oklahoma City. Joining us now is the mayor, the winning town, OKC Mayor, David Holt. David, congratulations and welcome to the Bloomberg Business of Sports. Yeah, thank you for having me.