29th Annual Milken Institute Global Conference Special: Day Three

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2:16Carol Massar:Catch us live weekdays at noon and 5 p.m. Eastern. On Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app. Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts or watch us live on YouTube. It's Escape from L.A., the final day at Milken, day three, fly-out day as we like to call it in Washington, D.C. President saying that we've got a memo of understanding when it comes to the Strait of Hormuz that will gradually be reopened under this very sketchy framework. It's literally a one pager here, Carol, but the market's not waiting around to find out. No, indeed. And I think we have a great guest also to talk about kind of the region.

2:54Carol Massar:And I think about Israel and their role in all of this. Yes, absolutely. The former Republican congressman, Democratic congressman from the state of Florida, Ted Deutsch, I didn't mean to do that to you, is now CEO of the American Jewish Committee. And it's wonderful to see you here at Milken. It's good to be here. Thanks for being with us on Bloomberg TV and radio. You're engaged in a really important fight against anti-Semitism right now, which I'm looking forward to asking you about. But with this news today, I'm just wondering how you're interpreting this and whether you think we're getting way over our skis on hopes for peace.

3:24Well, most importantly, I chaired the Middle East subcommittee for a while when I was in Congress. And when it comes to Iran, there has always been bipartisan recognition that Iran is the greatest impediment to peace in the region. They violate the human rights of their own people. They export terror in addition to the nuclear program and in addition to the ballistic missiles. So when we look at where this is going, we have to think about all of this together. It has to be comprehensive. So, right, there is now this memo. The question is, where does the memo go? Where is it taking us? And it has to include every piece of this.

4:05Yes, nuclear, top of the list. Iran can't be allowed to have nuclear weapons. This is something that president after president, administrations of both parties have always made clear. But it also has to deal with ballistic missiles and it has to deal with terror proxies and has to deal with with the evil that this regime has represented for so long.

4:22Carol Massar:To be fair, I think folks will say it's existential for Iran. It's existential for Israel. What's going on? What where do you see Israel in this? Could they ultimately block this one pager if certain things aren't happening? Israel's been a little quiet as of late, but I just do wonder how much power they have in blocking any kind of peace accord happening. I think, look, the United States and Israel are close allies and there's cooperation. And it's Israel obviously an important part of an important part of this analysis as an ally of the United States. So, too, are our other allies in the region.

4:56Carol Massar:But I don't think everybody has the same. The U.S.'s goals and Israel's goals, I don't think they're the same. Oh, I think I think I think there are. There are very clear shared goals. If you look at what's transpired, again, we have to zoom out a little bit. In the region, there's this focus on the U.S., Israel, and Iran. The country that's received the largest number of missiles and drone attacks is the United Arab Emirates. And for the UAE and for all of the other countries throughout the region who have been on the receiving end of Iran's aggression, they have a great interest in making sure that whatever this deal looks like means that Iran can have nuclear weapons and that we don't reward them and lift sanctions on and give them the ability to grow their ballistic missile program and to grow the other weapons that they use to be aggressive and threaten.

5:46Well, this is a really important part of the story. When the president says that we're going to hand this over at some point pretty soon to neighbors in the region, we also know that UAE, that Qatar, that Saudi Arabia are going to have to put pressure on Iran to make good on any deal. Is the region prepared for that? Well, I think the region understands because they've experienced what Iranian aggression looks like. And if there's going to be. That would be a new posture for them. It's interesting. We're being here at Milken with the folks who are who have been walking throughout this conference and your focus on markets.

6:23I mean, everyone, I think, can acknowledge that the future in the Middle East is an integrated Middle East where you have the Abraham Accords countries, especially the UAE, Bahrain, Israel, with the United States on one side. And and then Saudi and everyone else who will decide that being on the side of a more integrated region, more prosperity, a stronger future and with Iran on the other side is the way to go. So that means, yes, there's going to be a role that that the region is going to play in making sure that this goes forward. But the United States isn't going to withdraw. In fact, this plan, this memorandum has to it has to be a comprehensive way forward that includes not just talking about these issues, but understanding how each part of this is going to get it done.

7:08Right. Yeah.

7:08Carol Massar:You can put words to paper, but you got to have the actions in place to make it all happen. So let me go back to can Israel block a peace deal? Oh, I don't. I don't. And this is the idea that we went to war here was driven by the president. The president of the United States made the decision to go to war with Iran this time. Israel is an ally, but ultimately the United States is making decisions in consultation with allies about about how this goes forward. And I think that's going to continue. You've seen this in the ongoing conversations he had. he's had with leaders throughout the region. That's how the United States, in working with his allies, should behave.

7:46Carol Massar:So that's a no? I'm just curious, because I do think there has been reporting about what Israel needs to get out of this versus the U.S. There's been a lot of reporting about the president wanting to get out of this war already. He's kind of done with it. Yeah. Well, but again, I think we're not quite sure what the mission was, to be fair, if you walk through the what we're trying to what we everyone is trying to get out of this. There's a shared desire, a shared goal of making sure that Iran can never have nuclear weapons. Again, that's not just this administration and the government in Israel.

8:20This is this country, Israel, and all of the players in the region. And it goes back throughout American history, administration, administration, back to 1979 since the regime. They can't have nuclear weapons. That's a shared goal. The ballistic missiles, the terror proxies. if you look at where we are now, since October 7th, with Hamas and Hezbollah and the Houthis having now been exposed as these Iranian proxies and confronted, everyone has a shared interest in front of that going forward.

8:51Carol Massar:It makes me wonder then, is North Korea next? Because nobody wants them to have nuclear weapons. And I know that's not necessarily your role. No, no, that's actually a really important point, because that's exactly the point. We can't allow, we, the United States, the world can't allow a situation where we get to the the point where we wake up one morning and suddenly Iran has nuclear weapons, then we're in the same kind of position that we're in with North Korea. Well, let's bring it home with some pretty troubling findings that you have brought from the American Jewish Committee. 86 % of Jewish Americans feel anti-Semitism has increased in the U.S.

9:2463 % of the general population, whereas nearly half of all young American Jews say they have been personal targets of anti-Semitism just in the last year. What is going on in this country? Is that being influenced by geopolitics? Well, there are those who want to use geopolitics to somehow... I mean, you look at the attack in Michigan that was fortunately thwarted. But the idea that something that's happening 6 ,000 miles away somehow justifies an attack on the Jewish community here is outrageous. So it's not... But what's provoking this? Well, what's provoking... Look, you have to take a step back, first of all.

10:02And the anti-Semitism isn't new. It's been around for thousands of years. And what we've seen over the past two and a half years, what we've seen since October 7th, is this explosion of anti-Semitism around the world, violent attacks on Jews. It's been just about a year exactly since Sarah Milgram and Yaron Lashinsky were murdered outside of an AJC event in Washington, D.C., by someone who was radicalized online. I think we have to, if we're going to confront this issue, we have to deal with the toxic information flow on social media that has taken the conspiracy theories. Antisemitism is a conspiracy theory.

10:42It's a hatred of Jews. And it uses whatever is happening at the time to help spread the hatred and the venom. And that's what we've seen. It also means, though, I just have to say, antisemitism is never just about the Jewish community. It always suggests that there's something, there's a deeper problem at a time of rising polarization when political violence sadly is accepted. This is what we have to confront together.

11:08Carol Massar:Ted, that's where I wanted to go. LGBTQ community, the Muslim community. I just feel like there is no tolerance for just if you're different than me. Men and women have had, you know, like there's just been, but why? How do we fix this? You, you know, served in Congress. Like, how do we fix this? And just got about 45, 60 seconds. Fix the world in a minute. For 30 seconds. First of all, at the. Do you know what I'm saying? I do. And I'm going to I'm going to go back because we all have we all have responsibility. The social media companies cannot become algorithmic hate machines. And that's what's happening.

11:42And then that leads to decisions being made by individuals and by politicians who think that what they see on there is what they somehow ought to emulate. What and then that often leads to the violence that we've also seen in the real world. We have to confront this. again here at milken this is not just social media companies it's not just about enforcing their community standards there's business risk for them they have to do the right thing i have

12:04Carol Massar:to say people coming up to me like hey did you know that post like that was just that that's all false i'm like yeah over and over um pleasure thank you for joining thanks so much of course of course ceo of american jewish committee ted deutch former representative in congress stay with us on balance of power we'll have much more coming up after this Support for the show comes from Public. Lately, it feels like there are two types of investing platforms. Some are traditional brokerages that haven't changed much in decades, and others feel less like investing and more like a game. Public is positioned differently.

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15:22Carol Massar:You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch us live weekdays at noon and 5 p.m. Eastern on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app. You can also listen live on Amazon Alexa from our flagship New York station. Just say, Alexa, play Bloomberg 1130. I want to jump in right to our next two guests because they just are at a panel. The Legacy Play, How Global Sport Shaps Cities, Economies, and Culture. And we think about so many things that bring communities together. And sports is certainly one. So delighted to have. We've got a star here. There's about to be two stars.

16:00Two stars.

16:00Carol Massar:Breezy Johnson, U.S. Olympic gold medicine, world champion, of course, skiing. We all know who she is. She's here with us. So excited you're here. Yeah. Just got in here, right? Yeah, just last night. Just last night. Okay. And she's, you're awake. We're not, I don't know about us. Trisha Worthington is with us, Chief Revenue and Philanthropic Officer at US Ski and Snowboard. Thank you guys for being with us. Where to begin? You come to Milken. Joe and I keep talking about sports. There's a ton of money in sports. A lot of pressure, though, on every sport to make sure that they are generating revenue.

16:32Carol Massar:Trisha, let me start with you. Tell us what you guys are doing, how easy it is, how hard. You're all competing with dollars. Or dollars, I should say. Absolutely. Yeah, we have two main avenues of revenue at US Ski and Snowboard, and that is primarily private giving as well as corporate partnership. And both are really equally supporting these athletes. Everything we raise through those two avenues support their training, their traveling, their coaching, everything they need to get to the level that Breezy did in Italy. Well, it's incredible to have you here and wonderful to meet you. You're a hero for a lot of folks who watched you in action.

17:15And I'm wondering what kind of a reception you're getting here today because you're a draw and you help. You're an ambassador for this message, right? What kind of reaction are you hearing from those who are holding the dollars at Milken? Yeah, I mean, it's really such an honor to be here. I think, you know, I would say I'm not one of the most well-known athletes right now. But, you know, once the gold starts shining around, then people are definitely like, you have B.B. Johnson. But that starts the conversation in itself, doesn't it? Exactly. Exactly, yeah. I think, you know, winning an Olympic gold medal, I don't think I really even could comprehend the value of it to the American public.

17:52I think we as athletes, we work our whole lives for it. But I think, you know, there's a lot of pieces that need to come together. ski racing in particular is very much you know it's i think more similar to a formula one operation than like what most people would expect from an olympic operation and we're trying to do that on a very small budget so you know for everything to come together at the right time once every four

18:13Carol Massar:years is definitely a challenge mean and mean can make you extreme like i totally see it play out breezy talk to us about after winning the medal like what does that mean in terms of sponsorships do all of a sudden is the phone ringing like crazy give us an idea of how that changes things Yeah, it definitely changes things, although it's slow, right? So as athletes, I would say most of our income comes from four main revenue sources. For Alpine athletes, you have your helmet sponsor, your title sponsor. We're lucky enough to work with Stiefel on the US ski team, and they work with me personally.

18:44They're a great company, and they're super invested in skiing and also expanding our appearance globally, which is super important for sponsorships. Then you have your sort of NIL deals, your Instagram deals, things like that. It's a small piece of the pie, and I feel like it's somewhat getting smaller as the market gets larger with NCAA athletes, etc. Then you have your endemic sponsors, your equipment sponsors, things like that. That's sort of holding pretty steady, I would say, but with inflation, I would say somewhat decreasing. and then you have your appearance fees, your conferences that you speak at, your keynote speeches that you do.

19:23So that obviously has grown a lot. Some of the deals that I've had are definitely growing. And then obviously you make more from your endemic sponsors through bonuses and things like that around the Olympics. But I would say, yeah, it's an ever-changing landscape for sure. And especially with, you know, NCAA and those pieces, it's definitely evolving. So, Tricia, how do you grow a sport that for many people is not accessible and is known, at least, for having a high barrier of entry? How do you make this accessible to more Americans?

19:57Carol Massar:Yeah, I think doing a good job on the corporate sponsorship side and having those corporate partners help us raise awareness for the athletes because we are such a small sport. So we work with big brands like Stiefel that Breezy mentioned, but also Visa, Toyota, J.Crew, all exposing us to audiences that aren't endemic necessarily to the sport. So that would be a key part of that. I feel like the last couple of years, you know, hallelujah, you know, women and sports are getting some recognition. They're getting the broadcast audience. I do feel like there is a shift going on in a big way. investors want to invest not just in men's teams they want to invest in women's teams tell me about let me start with you yeah you know what you are seeing specifically yeah i mean our women are killing it right now you know breezy lindsey in case anybody forgot women are the strongest women's moguls team in the world and so because there's so much hype around women's sports, it is attracting corporate partners to the team.

21:06Carol Massar:And so, you know, it's definitely helping us grow that area of our support to a much bigger, you know, size than it has been traditionally. I want to ask you, I just want to ask Breezy the same question, like how, because you started doing this when you were how old? And what you've seen, your trajectory of how kind of the acceptance of women in sports, the success of women in sports. Yeah. I mean, I would say that in many ways, I think social media has changed the landscape Because in the ability for everybody to tell their story, I think people have realized that women have just as compelling of stories as men do.

21:39And I think that has, you know, exploded online, the ability for women to market themselves. I mean, you know, I think in terms of marketing, you often are talking about a form of investment, right? And I think people are now seeing that investing in women's sports through marketing is, you know, that is an undervalued asset right now. And so to invest in it is, you know, a much better return. Whereas I think with men's sports, yes, there's great return on it. But also, you know, people already have it's not undervalued in the same way that women's sports is. Really interesting. Just lastly, then, what would be your advice to a young person living in the middle of the country without a lot of disposable income who wants to do what you did?