Elle Duncan Says It’s Too Early to Write Off Netflix Sports

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0:30Hi, everyone. Welcome back to The Deal. I'm Jason Kelly alongside my partner, Alex Rodriguez. All right, Alex, you can't see it from my background here, but just behind me is one of the most beautiful golf courses in the world. It is Harbortown here on Hilton Head Island. It's going to host the RBC Heritage in a couple weeks. And I did not play this course, but I've been playing a lot of golf here. I am on vacation, to be clear. I've been playing a lot of golf. And so if you've heard about crimes committed, it is me murdering the golf ball. I am playing really well right now. But I feel like maybe we could get out and play some golf sometime.

1:07I'm feeling more confident. Well, let me tell you, I am jealous because I have been murdering my mom's food. We had a great Sunday brunch where she just showed off her best Dominican skills as a cook. But it also shows that I'm here at the office in Miami and you're on vacation, which tells you a lot about our economic status in life. Listen, here I am. I'm very committed to the deal. I'm sitting here. I'm not on the golf course right now, notably. And I'm here with you because we're going to be talking with Elle Duncan, which I'm very excited about. She's one of the leading broadcast voices right now and talk about a deal that she did.

1:48She moved to Netflix from ESPN, the worldwide leader in sports. We're both very familiar with that. Netflix has come on so strong in sports, and she's really, it feels like the tip of the spear here. It's an enormous move. I mean, when you think she's the voice in the face of, you know, anchoring ESPN, the most popular show of our generation for over 10 years. And now she's gone to the big, bad Netflix, a trillion-dollar company. And I watched opening day. I watched the pre and post game. There was a lot of opinion, a lot of noise around it. I'm interested to see what she has to say. Her reviews were fantastic, but I also want to talk about Barry Bonds, Albert Pujols, and Anthony Rizzo in the pregame.

2:31Yeah, exactly. There's also this whole matter of how do you balance sort of the love of the game, honor the sport with the spectacle that so many people now expect from sports. You know, live sports, it is the last bastion of things that people actually tune into. Everything else is on demand. Live sports, you want to see it then and there because you want to be a part of these iconic sort of zeitgeist moments. So she is a shepherd for so many of us through that. Notably, she's also done a lot around women's sports. She had a show on ESPN that actually ran on the Disney Plus service called Vibe Check.

3:07I talked to her actually at USC earlier, actually last fall in October about that. And so interested to see what she's going to do with the WNBA, which obviously you have a very, very deep invested interest in. So coming up, Elle Duncan.

3:35Welcome back to The Deal. I'm Jason Kelly alongside Alex Rodriguez and joining us, Elle Duncan. So psyched to have her with us. She is, of course, the sports anchor now for Netflix after a distinguished career at the worldwide leader in sports ESPN. A lot of deals going on in your world, Elle. Great to have you with us. I'm so honored to be here. Love the show. And this is so great. So I love distinguished. That's a that's a nice way of saying, like, she was there for a long time. She's kind of older. So we'll call her distinguished. She's she's an experienced anchor, shall we say. She's seasoned.

4:12She's seasoned. There you go. Season. Well, I mean, fair to say it. We'll get into this a little bit. You saw some things. I saw some things. You did some stuff. So I want to start because, you know, obviously the Netflix deal is the big deal in your career. And it's also a big deal, I think. And I'm not just, you know, going to blow sunshine right off the top, but I will. it was a big hire for them. And obviously people sat up straighter and listened and paid attention when you made that move. What's the business calculus you, Elle Duncan, do to make the move from ESPN to Netflix? Well, it was a business calculus, but also like a personal life calculus.

4:55You know, we all have something that sort of changes us at a cellular level. And that happened to me with a dear friend being diagnosed with cancer. And, you know, sometimes you put things out into the universe. Like, I have everything I ever asked for. Like, I'm doing these properties that I love, and I'm very comfortable, and I'm very happy. But there's still something that feels like it's missing. And for me, it was from the personal side, am I doing things that are so meaningful at work that I can excuse why I'm not there for the meaningful things at home? And I asked myself that question quite a bit, and I just kept coming up with, like, no.

5:30Like, I love what I do, but I think that for a really long time, you guys, and I'm interested to like what you think about this as well. I deemed success as sort of how many things I could be on, how many properties I could acquire, how many things that I could host. And I've gotten to the point in my career, maybe it's because I'm seasoned, that I started deeming success as real success is actually having full authority over what you work on and when you work and how you work. And Netflix gave me this opportunity that I had been pondering and curious about, but really didn't see like a home for that, which is to be incredibly versatile and to show off some of those skills, but also to build something.

6:14You know, I didn't know that I wanted to be a builder until this Netflix opportunity came around to like recognize that we're sort of flying the plane while we build it. it's easy to be successful when you have all of the creature comforts i mean my producer my last day was my producer of my audition at espn right the consistency like yeah like all of those things um that really led to my success at espn the people behind the scenes that poured into me but the the consistency i found i wondered if i could could grow and evolve and be a better broadcaster if i really had to build this thing from scratch and you know i had an opportunity to to scratch that curiosity itch.

6:55Oh, I love that. And I really enjoyed working with you at ESPN, even though it was brief while I did Sunday Night Baseball. I always admired the way you performed on camera, but also the way you comported yourself and your reputation second to none. You went from ESPN to the big content creator, you know, trillion dollar company, Netflix. Ten years at ESPN or so, how does that happen? Is that your agent call you and say, hey, hey, there might be an opportunity. Give me a call. It's urgent. Or is this something that brews for a couple of years that you thought this opportunity may be coming? Yeah, it actually was.

7:28It was divine timing. You all know this, too. In our respective industries, they're very small. And the good thing about and I appreciate you saying that, Alex, about how I comport myself. I've always been a very adamant believer that this is such a small industry and you need to really, really build great culture, be a great person to work with, because when all things are equal, if the talent level's the same, if the money's the same, they're going to choose the person that's better to work with. And I was fortunate enough to have worked with a woman at ESPN who left after 25 years, Kate Jackson, to take this big role on at Netflix as they were growing their sports.

8:04And so it was Kate. Like Kate kind of threw out like a, would love to chat with you about, you know, Netflix. And at first I was like, I mean, of course I'll chat with Kate. That's my girl. And like, I respect her, but like, come on, I'm not going to leave ESPN. Like, Like, you're crazy, right? Like, not for a company that at that point only had a handful of sports properties. You know, it felt like retirement to me. Like, I was like, I want more time, but I don't want, like, all the time. Like, I do still want to work. And so we just had, you know, conversations about what it looked like about the future of Netflix sports.

8:35And then when I was in my non-exclusive and negotiating window, Netflix came in, you know, with a really, really strong offer. They knew that work-life balance was important. They knew that versatility, opportunity and creativity was important, that I could expand my role beyond sports, that I could do things like Skyscraper Live or, you know, maybe host a red carpet at the Actor Awards, just all the things that were interesting to me. And that's really how they came. So it was months of introspection that this deal was going to come. And I spent a lot of time navigating that, a lot of therapy, a lot of asking questions to people that I love that know me.

9:12But ultimately, when it came down to making the decision, I felt really good about it when it was time.

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9:54All right. And so there's no, you know, sort of small way to get into something like this. They're going to throw you right in. And they do. Skyscraper Live, you mentioned, which was a spectacle beyond. and then you get into Alex's business of Major League Baseball, opening night, Yankees, Giants, broadcast live on Netflix. What was your feeling going into it? How did it feel on the day? Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, going in, your biggest concern is, okay, I don't know any of these people on this desk that I'm going to be sitting with, right? So it's trying very quickly to have a rapport with people that you don't know and build trust, right?

10:33The host, like the most important thing a host can do is build trust on their desk. I got your back. I want you to be in a position to win. I kept joking, like, consider me your hitting coach. I just want you to hit home runs. Wherever you want the ball is exactly where I'm going to put it for you. And chemistry. I mean, you know, when you don't know somebody, it's hard to have chemistry in front of 190 countries. And on top of that, Barry Bonds and Anthony Rizzo had never done TV before. But after I spent like a day with them and we went to dinner and we had breakfast and we did a rehearsal, like, I actually felt a lot more comfortable about where we were.

11:06I'm not going to lie. Like going in, I was like, give us a lot of grace, give us a lot of grace. But I do think that like it was so much better than I expected in terms of all of those things that I laid out, meeting someone the day before and trying to have, you know, these like high level conversations that weren't so inside baseball because that's not what Netflix wanted. Right. Like we were supposed to be here for the baseball curious. and I think that we executed the plan that we sought out to execute. Were there some wrinkles and some things that we would probably do differently? Yes. Like, message received on the promos.

11:40We will not do as many promos. But I do think that, like, the goal overall for Netflix was to be really ambitious, eventize this thing, use people from the Netflix ecosystem, make it feel really big, hence the trolleys and the cabs and all that, and just make it feel like a major event. And I think that we succeeded at that. I'm so interested in this. Of course, I was watching because I'm an enormous fan of baseball. I also like to watch what my competition is doing. Yeah. And look, I don't care about the noise. I've played in New York. I'm used to noise. I'm a huge fan of Kevin Burkhart. Not only as a performer, a talent and a human being, there's no one better.

12:20He's incredible. And he really, we call him Magic Johnson, right? Because he teases up, he passes the ball so well. and he tries to make us all look well. When it comes to what Netflix, I think it was a net-net win. Of course, are there going to be noise? Yes. But as you know, sports and broadcasting is all about reps. I'm intrigued to know, what was your thoughts about Barry? I thought he looked incredible on TV. And I think you and him made this really, really big. But, you know, Anthony, Pujols, but maybe starting with Barry, what were your thoughts? I thought Netflix absolutely nailed it. I mean, listen, it would have been a great pickup if this opening day was in New York, but it was in San Francisco.

13:01Like he is the giant. And it's the 25th anniversary of him setting the single season home run record. He has not done TV. We all know how much he does not like media. He doesn't like talking to them, let alone being a part of them. And so I just thought like we were waiting with bated breath. We'd been working on Barry. Like we got to have Barry Bonds and like, you know, we will find someone if it isn't Barry, that's going to be great. and of the ilk and that we'll have the resume. But man, Barry Bonds opening day, first time ever, just a single game on opening day and on Netflix, like we've got to have Barry Bonds.

13:33And I thought he was great. You know, we asked Barry to be exactly who he was, which was anecdotal. Talk about his time, talk about his legacy, talk about the baseball that he remembers, put himself in these situations. You know, what was opening day like for you? We didn't get into the conversation about, you know, what was it like watching your dad at opening day at Candlestick Park, to which he responded, I was never there for my dad. I just loved Willie Mays, right? Like his godfather. So it was just, I think he was, for a guy who, you know, had never done television before, I thought he was fantastic.

14:05Same with Rizzo. You know, his sit down with Aaron was so good. Could I have done that interview? Sure, I could have done that interview. Am I best friends and former teammates with Aaron Judge? No. And I think that's the unique perspective that each of them brought. You know, Albert bringing his managerial experience. How timely was that for the ABS conversation, considering what happened to his Dominican team? Like, I think everybody just really owned their roles incredibly well. But yeah, Barry, I thought, was great. The fans did not stop chanting Hall of Famer the entire broadcast. They love Barry frickin' Bonds.

14:38And so I thought it was great. And then I just loved seeing somebody who is, you know, arguably one of the greatest baseball players of all time. And to see him kind of as a rookie, you know, like learning and taking feedback and asking for feedback, like it just was really cool. I'm like, who am I to tell Barry Bonds anything? But this is my lane, so let me help, you know, and that was really, really cool. Barry is the greatest to have ever done it. Hard stop. I mean, he is so good. I wrote him a nice long note and I told him how proud I was of him making this decision. I wrote to him and told him, I told you you would be good.

15:14I've been telling you this for 10 years. First of all, he's the best. Yeah. He looks great. He sounds great. He's a baseball savant. Yes. And anything that comes out of his mouth, it's like Einstein talking about, you know, what he used to talk about. Yeah, relativity. Yeah. Yeah. I thought net net. It was a huge win, especially to get you and Barry on that on that thing. I pass it to you, Jason. Thanks, Alex. And so, Elle, how do you, given that what you said earlier about, you know, this is for the baseball curious, how do you balance this notion of being true to the game, being true to America's pastime with the need, desire to eventize this, to make it a global product?

16:00Like, what's your process for sort of building at this point going forward? I think that there is feedback that's constructive. Constructive feedback is there was too many promos. And let me tell you, that message was received. You know, constructive criticism is like that score bug. I couldn't read it. All good. Not fixable during a game. Totally fixable now. We will fix that moving forward. We didn't have the benefit of spring training games to test market that, right? Like we didn't have the benefit of like, we don't have the benefit of some of these legacy broadcasts of going, that didn't work.

16:29We'll fix it for next week. And building momentum, right? Like we're going to disappear again until the Home Run Derby. So I think there's feedback that's really constructive and Netflix listens. It's not like Netflix is like, blah, blah, blah. We're doing it our way. We don't care. They listen because like membership happiness is really high on their list. They want to make sure their members are happy. But you guys, the feedback that to me is just like not helpful in the way that it's going to help our broadcast is just saying things like it was just so Netflixy. It is Netflix. It's Netflix.

16:58And like we told you that, like we have made no qualms about what we're trying to do. what we're aiming to do and who we are. Like, this is who we are. And yes, there are things that we're going to fix and we're going to work on because, again, we're building this plate. But like, this is like akin to you going to a Mexican restaurant and being pissed off that they don't have chicken fingers. They literally advertise that it's a Mexican restaurant. Like, that's on you if you thought you were going to come here and get barbecue. I'm sorry. Like, that's not on us. You know, the idea that like baseball purists, you know, wouldn't like it.

17:30My mother is a baseball purists. She's the only person I know that will watch all 162 games of the Braves this year. Like she is a ultimate stan. But you guys, my mom would have watched opening day if they had broadcasted on the moon because she loves baseball. This was for people that were maybe logging onto Netflix to watch Bridgerton or Love is Blind or, you know, a TV show, saw that it was opening day and said, all right, like, I'll watch. And so, yes, if Jey Uso didn't make sense to you, you know, baseball purists, that's cool. My seven-year-old freaking loved it. They loved that Jey Uso was on that broadcast.

18:07And so I think, like, you know, again, not everything is going to be a success. Sometimes we're going to take really big swings and we're going to freaking whiff. Sometimes we're going to be Giancarlo Stanton, right? Like, the man will strike out, but he will also hit bumps. And so I think that's kind of always our aim is to just be really, really big. Make it a spectacle, make it feel big. And like, that's just what you're going to get. So like that kind of stuff is not going to change. We're still going to find ways to use people from our Netflix universe. You're telling me that any of those companies wouldn't have loved to have had Jason Bateman doing the seventh inning stretch or have, you know what I mean?

18:41That kind of stuff is just sort of like not helpful in the sense of like, we're going to be Netflix. And we've told you that from the beginning. But the feedback about real logistical things, things that we could do better, camera angles or whatnot, like that's stuff that they're on. And they hear it, they receive it. And like those things will be fixed next time. But to say things like it was just Netflix-y. Yeah, it was. Look, El, the other side of that as a baseball lover from day one is that, how about this? We're so fortunate, the game of baseball, to have a company like Netflix that is in market cap now is over a trillion dollars that's actually interested in a baseball property.

19:21That's another way of looking at it. And, you know, Jason and I were talking a little bit offline that the one thing we cannot run away from is the landscape of media is changing and it's changing in a big way. You know, the days of where I used to watch the Mets at home and W.O.R. with, you know, Ralph Kiner and Tim McCarver. Those days are over with Kiner's Corner. I'm dating myself a little bit. The truth is, yeah, that was I went back. I went way back. I believe the kids would say that's an unk moment.

19:52So let's cut to where we are today in 2026. The New York Yankees are going to be in 162 game season in 10 different platforms. And the average fan is going to pay around$1 ,000, which is an incredible amount of money. My mom gets so frustrated because like your mom, she watches the Yankees every game. She calls me, where can I find these games? Where is it? Where is it, right? So I guess my question to you is now that you're on that side of call it cool TV, Netflix, how is the process compared to legacy media? The process, the way you produce a show. Take our fans behind the scenes of maybe what is the difference between that and your legacy media with ESPN?

20:36Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, you guys touched on it a little bit in that like ESPN has been around for 50 years and they've been doing incredible television for a very long time. They have cornered the market on great broadcasts, on live events. Like that's what they do in the sports world, right? And so you really like you can tinker with that a little bit, but the blueprint is there. It exists. It's a tried and true blueprint that has predated anything that you will be on as a host, right? And like I said, you can go and put your funk on it. And certainly I did and was given some leeway to do that, which is great.

21:04But it's a well-oiled machine. I think a lot of companies, especially really established ones, don't want to take super huge swings because you don't want to piss off your loyal demographic or the people that have come to expect something from your brand. The cool thing with Netflix is that like, you know, they don't have an established brand yet with Netflix sports. And so they just are kind of like, let's try. Let's see. You know, and like if we if it's a big whiff and we like fail very publicly, all good. Like they think like a tech company, to be real. You know, where it's like, if you're not failing, you're not trying, like, make it bigger, you know, let's see.

21:42And if it doesn't work, we'll pivot. And if it works, then great, we nailed it. But I think that's what's different is that they're okay with trying things and owning whatever the conversation is afterwards. And that's really cool as a creative because you don't have as many roadblocks. I definitely threw some ideas out that they were like, okay, that can't happen because of timing, but like, love that you're bringing these ideas. And so I think that's what's cool is that because There is no blueprint. Like we've never done opening day before. So it's like, let's try this, you know, and like and then we'll have some data points.

22:12That's all life is, right, is data points like, OK, I received some information. Now I maybe would make a different decision based on this or that. But they don't mind. They don't want to just like status quo. They don't want to just do a rinse and repeat of all of the other broadcasts that you see. They could they could just cosplay as Fox or ESPN or whatever. But that's not what they're interested in doing. And that's not why they got into live sports, you know, and that's really cool. One of the things that I really appreciated from watching the event opening night, it was so awesome to see baseball at Netflix, just high level, just from a positive point of view.

22:43But really, the adults in the room were you and Matt Vazgurgeon, the play-by-play during the game. And then Netflix decided to go with five rookies, right? With Pence and CeCe for the game, Sabathia. And then obviously Pujols, Rizzo, and Barry. I thought it was a great chance. And is there room for improvement? Yes. But I appreciate the big swing for the fences. Yeah, I mean, like, A-Rod, you're one of the greatest baseball players of all time. And I would love to imagine what it looked like for you in your first game and the things that you would tell young A-Rod, right? Like, about where your career would go and all those things.