Bloomberg Business of Sports

Latest Episodes:

Peloton and At-Home Fitness are Thriving, Virtually (Podcast) Jul 01, 2020

Show notes

With most gyms and fitness studios still shuttered, the fitness business -- like so many industries -- has been radically disrupted. To makes sense of it, Jason Kelly and Mike Lynch turn to Goldman Sachs's Aarti Kapoor, one of the top investment bankers across the wellness and exercise landscape. It's a reunion of sorts for Jason and Aarti, who was featured prominently in his 2016 book, "Sweat Equity: Inside the New Economy of Mind and Body." She talks about how the pandemic acclerated digitally delivered fitness, the crisis's role in focusing us all on nutrition and sleep, and which studios will survive this shutdown.

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Nocera on college football, the NBA's bubble strategy Jun 29, 2020

Show notes

Our pal, Bloomberg Opinion columnist (plus bestselling author and podcaster extraordinaire) Joe Nocera stops by to talk about the prospects for a college football season and why the door may be closing for a fall as we're used to. Plus, he tells us why he's bullish on the NBA's chances to get back to work late next month.

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A Conversation with LeBron James and Maverick Carter (PODCAST) Jun 25, 2020

Show notes

On the eve of the pandemic, LeBron James and Maverick Carter -- lifelong friends from Akron who became business partners -- cut their biggest deal yet: a $100 million investment to create The SpringHill Co., a Nike-Disney-Patagonia hybrid. They want to change the way content is made, and consumed by the world. In an exclusive interview, James and Carter go deep with Jason Kelly about Black Lives Matter, Colin Kaepernick, and changing society by changing who's in the conversation.

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The WNBA's Chief Has a Plan to Play, and to Push for Equality (PODCAST) Jun 24, 2020

Show notes

Cathy Engelbert unwittingly spent decades training for this moment. A dual-sport Division I athlete, she spent a career at Deloitte, ultimately becoming its CEO, before taking the top job at the WNBA last year. In conversation with Jason Kelly and Mike Lynch, Engelbert talks about how she held a draft during the crisis, the plans for a restart and what the "player first" mentality means to the WNBA.

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From WBNA to VC: Alana Beard Talks Reality Check (Podcast) Jun 22, 2020

Show notes

Former WNBA Champion and Four-time All-Star Alana Beard says her new job is a lot like being a rookie again. After 16 years in the league, she's moved to Silicon Valley and the world of venture capital and it's competitive in a very different way. She talks with Jason Kelly and Mike Lynch about her early business ventures (including a pizza joint) and reckoning as a Black woman with what may be a monumental moment in racial justice.

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The MLS is back and DC United is Ready (Podcast) Jun 19, 2020

Show notes

Jason Levien, who once led the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies, is all in on soccer these days. After buying a stake in MLS club DC United, he was able to deliver a brand new soccer-specific facility in the nation's capital, resisting the easier move to the suburbs. He sits down with Jason Kelly and Mike Lynch to talk about how he got the stadium got built, the effect Covid-19 has had across his business and how a summer tournament in Orlando may be the moment soccer in America has been waiting for.

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Making a Spectator-less US Open ‘Something Special’ Jun 18, 2020

Show notes

You'll be able to hear a tennis ball drop in Flushing Meadows this Labor Day, as the U.S. Open will go ahead, but no fans on site. USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center chief operating officer Danny Zausner joins Jason Kelly and Mike Lynch to discuss how a major event on the tennis (and New York) calendar will look and feel. Zausner also talks about the economic implications of a spectator-less tournament, broadcast innovations and sponsors, and what the players can expect when they arrive in Queens.

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Will Trump Save the Baseball Season? (Podcast) Jun 17, 2020

Show notes

Bloomberg Opinion's Jonathan Bernstein ponders the idea of President Trump taking action to solve the off-the-field drama between MLB and its players union to bring back America's pastime. We'll discuss his latest column, the current state of negotiations and which team he's rooting for once we get back to the diamond.

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Pro Golfer Billy Andrade Shakes off the Quarantine Rust (Podcast) Jun 15, 2020

Show notes

Billy Andrade went two months without touching a club, but he's back on the course in his Atlanta neighborhood, getting ready for the Champions Tour to resume later this summer. Andrade joins Jason Kelly and Mike Lynch to discuss the state of sports amid the Covid-19 crisis, learning from the PGA's restart, his charitable work bringing golf to under-served communities and how TV taught him how to have more fun playing the game. Plus, Jason and Mike take him back to the early 90s, when he burst onto the scene as one of the most thoughtful and fun players on the Tour, and discuss the differences between golf fans in his native Northeast and his adopted South.

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PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan On Getting Back to Golf (PODCAST) Jun 12, 2020

Show notes

The sports world continues to react and adapt as calls for social justice echo across the world. NASCAR announced earlier this week that it will ban the Confederate flag throughout its organization. One driver has already announced his plans to retire from the sport over the news. Bloomberg TV's Erik Schatzker stops by to discuss his interview with Apollo's Josh Harris, after it was disclosed he was weighing a bid for the NY Mets. We also talk with PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan about the tours return to play in Texas this weekend, the steps they’ve taken to ensure participants' safety and diversity outreach within the golf community.

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