- 7 minutes ago
As Gotham FC’s governor and lead owner, Carolyn Tisch Blodgett is capitalizing on the moment: she’s turning a championship soccer club into a breakout New York brand with the reach, relevance, and staying power to lead the next era of sports.
Tisch Blodgett shared her approach to investing in women’s athletics, including leveraging fandoms and AI technologies, as part of Business Insider’s The Long Play.
Interviewed by Nathan McAlone, Business Insider’s deputy editor covering media and advertising, Tisch Blodgett said that her marketing background has been valuable for building a strategy in the business of sports.
Tisch Blodgett shared her approach to investing in women’s athletics, including leveraging fandoms and AI technologies, as part of Business Insider’s The Long Play.
Interviewed by Nathan McAlone, Business Insider’s deputy editor covering media and advertising, Tisch Blodgett said that her marketing background has been valuable for building a strategy in the business of sports.
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TechTranscript
00:05Carolyn, thank you so much for being here. I wanted to start things off. Women's sports
00:10have been on a phenomenal upswing in the three years that you've owned the team. What do you
00:15think needs to happen to sustain that growth? Is there anything you're particularly excited about
00:20in that aspect or worried about? Yeah, thank you for having me. Excited to be here. So I actually,
00:27let's start with what the world looked like when we bought the team. So we're about to come up on
00:33the three anniversary. So we bought this team three years ago. It was clear there was a great product,
00:38although we were a losing team then. We've been much more successful on the field. Yeah, not so much
00:42now. But we knew there was a great product on the field. Some of the best players in the world
00:45played
00:46here. But our attendance was really low. There were about 4,000 people that came to games. So there
00:52was clear that the people that came really liked it, but it was very small. The second kind of aspect
00:58we looked at was what was the investment in this league? What was the investment in women's sports
01:03at this point? At the time, again, this is only three years ago, 99% of investments in sports went
01:10to the men's game. Literally 1% went to women's. Again, not so long ago. And then the last part
01:16that we
01:17looked at was around the infrastructure. What was the team? How was the team set up? And the team had
01:22no business office. So there was one marketing person. She lived in Virginia. There was one PR
01:28person. She lived in Florida. No business office. The soccer team, the soccer side was training on the
01:35Red Bulls, kind of the side of the Red Bulls Academy field, which is, if you don't know soccer
01:40academy is the young boys. So we're sharing this field with 16 year old boys. We don't have an office.
01:45And so
01:46they're working out of a trailer next to the academy fields, basically when it worked for Red Bulls.
01:51Fast forward to now, as you mentioned, thank you for mentioning city fields. So we hosted our first
01:57ever game in New York City, sold out city fields, 42,000 people broke the New York women's sports
02:03record. From an investment perspective, the last team sold in our league was to the Haslam's who bought
02:12the rights to the Columbus team at 205 million dollars. So they spent 205 million dollars just
02:18to have the right to build a team in Columbus. And from an infrastructure perspective, we now have an
02:23office. People work in New York that work for the team. But more importantly, we're building our own
02:28practice facility for the first time. So we, for the first time in Gotham's history, we will have a
02:34dedicated practice facility, custom built for our team, for the women's team, which is just completely
02:40different than where we were before. So that's just what it looked like over the last three years.
02:46I would say the statistic that kind of anchors so much of what we do is with all that investment,
02:52with all that growth, all that's really done is kind of get us to baseline of what men's teams have
02:58had
02:58for so long. Like, it shouldn't be revolutionary to sit on a stage and say, like, we actually control
03:04when we can practice. We actually have a business team that gets to go to an office every day. And
03:10so we're really just getting to baseline. And from a fan development perspective, only in our, when we
03:16had our city field game, so 42,000 people showed up on a Wednesday night to come watch Gotham, we
03:22only
03:22had 3% awareness in our market. So we were able to break a women's sports record with 3%
03:29of the market
03:29even knowing that we exist. And so if you think about what the next three years look like, what the
03:34next 15 years look like, there is just so much room to grow. Yeah. And so I think that one,
03:40one thing that
03:40you bring up is, um, that room for growth. You come from a marketing background, you ran marketing for
03:46Peloton. And, uh, I just wonder where are the opportunities that you see from a marketing
03:52perspective, either that you've already implemented or that you feel like are in the future that can
03:56help you break into culture in the way that you're talking about? Yeah. Um, so I guess I'll answer
04:02that a few ways. Maybe I'll start on the Peloton side. So when I ran marketing at Peloton kind of
04:06in,
04:06in its growth period, uh, what was really clear really quickly was that when people said, you know,
04:13oh, I love my Peloton. I love Peloton. I love, I'm in love with, with the brand. What they really
04:18meant
04:18was they were in love with the instructors. And so our role is like stars, who was your favorite?
04:23Uh, uh, well, no favorites. Okay. Okay. Um, personally, now that I don't work there anymore,
04:29Robin's classes are the ones that I take the most, um, who, but I love them all. Um, so what
04:34we
04:34realized, um, really early on with, with Peloton was your relationship with the product, your relationship
04:40with the brand was really with the instructor and you felt it was such an intimate relationship.
04:45They're in your living room with you. You know, you're crying on the bike with them.
04:48You're experiencing the highs and lows with them. And so our job as marketers was not just to build
04:54the Peloton brand, but really to build the Peloton brand through building the instructor's brands.
04:59And so we, we went kind of deep on letting each of them understand who each of their personalities were,
05:06what made them tick, what resonated with them. And then that was how we were going to have Peloton grow.
05:10So if you think about sports today, so much of people's relationships with their favorite sports
05:17teams is through the players. Think about like a Patrick Mahomes has a bigger following than the
05:23Kansas city chiefs. Alex Morgan in women's soccer has close to 10 million followers. She played for
05:28the San Diego wave who has 300,000 followers. And so fandom really for so many people is through players
05:34now. And that's something we think about a lot at Gotham. As we continue to grow,
05:38we have some of the best players in the world that play for Gotham, players that have won World Cups,
05:44won Olympics. And so for us to continue to build their brands and make them culturally relevant
05:49has a halo back to Gotham. How do you, yeah, that's really interesting because it doesn't
05:54automatically translate that someone who's amazing on the field is going to have the same cultural
05:59impact as someone. You know, there can be differences in how they break out into the culture. So are there
06:05specific things you're doing to try to foster individual players or more just effort? How do
06:11you, how do you kind of think about that as an owner helping them become, you know, not just stars
06:15on the
06:16field, but off the field as well? Yeah, I think it's, first of all, it has to be so individual
06:20to every
06:21player. Some players shine on the field and have no interest in speaking to media or ever doing anything
06:27on social media and that's okay. Others, um, you know, we, to, to me, New York playing in the New
06:33York market is our advantage. And so we have an opportunity for players that are interested
06:37is really bring them into New York culture. So we've had players star in, have cameos in Broadway
06:43shows. We've had players be front row at fashion week. We've had players at the Met Gala. And so
06:49understanding how we can kind of bring the players that, that it resonates to her and that feel
06:54authentic to bring them into the culture of New York is an area that's been really successful for
06:59us. I would say the kind of biggest example of that is the world cup. So world cup was in
07:06our,
07:06obviously the world cup was all over the country, world cup finals in our backyard. Um, we wanted,
07:12that was going, we knew that was going to be the cultural moment of the summer. We play in New
07:17York.
07:18We wanted to be a part of that. And so that game that we talked about that we played at
07:22Citi Field,
07:22the reason it was on a Wednesday night is because the finals was that Sunday.
07:26And so our bet was everyone around the world is descending on New York, uh, for the world cup
07:33final. We want Gotham to be a part of it. And so we are going to quite literally show up
07:38in that
07:38cultural moment. And then are there, I'm always curious about how, um, how people, the, the metrics
07:46that people pay attention to, people running businesses. Is there, I know that you mentioned,
07:50um, kind of like a market awareness, but is there any particular North star metric that you're really
07:56focused on or a set of metrics that you're using to judge whether, um, whether you're succeeding in
08:03kind of breaking through? Yeah. Um, so certainly we look at kind of all metrics across the marketing
08:09funnel. So we're looking at awareness, we're looking at potential interest. Then obviously we're
08:14looking at conversion. Do people come to games? Do they come back? I would say the metric that has been
08:19kind of our North star and really was again, a page from the Peloton playbook is our net promoter
08:24score. So after every game we pull, we send out a survey to every person that attended essentially
08:30saying, you know, what did you like it? Would you recommend it to a friend? And our net promoter score
08:35is some of the highest numbers, whether we win or lose some of the highest numbers I've seen in,
08:41not just in sports, in really all of consumer products. We are right. We are higher than Apple
08:47and just very large tech companies. Um, and so we under, so to me, that is the clear metric of,
08:54okay, well people don't know about us, but when they do know about us and it's hard,
08:58the barrier to get to us, to our game is high. And maybe we'll talk about that after, but once
09:03you're
09:03there, you have an incredible experience and you tell your friends and you want to come back.
09:08And so that's been kind of our North star as we've built out Gotham. The reason I said,
09:13I kind of paused on, do they come back? Is the other thing we hear in our surveys,
09:18uh, is an accessibility challenge. So right now we play our games in New Jersey, in Harrison, New Jersey.
09:25Um, again, people come to our games, they have an amazing time and then they kind of pause on the,
09:31am I going to come back? Because it is challenging to get to, it's a little bit of a schlep.
09:35Yes. Um,
09:36and there's not great public transportation, you know, the list goes on. And so we announced this
09:40summer that we will be moving to the new soccer stadium being built in Queens called Etihad Park.
09:47Uh, it is going to be a world-class state of the art, gorgeous soccer specific stadium,
09:53New York city's first ever soccer stadium. But I would say the thing that got us most excited
09:58is that it's on the New York city public transportation system. And so we know that so
10:03many people, it opens us up to a much broader audience, but even ones within it are going
10:08to be able to get there. And that's kind of the second part is like the net promoter score.
10:13Do people want to come? Do they want to come back? And are we making it accessible for them to
10:17come
10:17back? Totally. Uh, switching gears a little, I want to talk a little bit about the, uh, the giants.
10:21This has been quite a topsy turvy season, uh, and you've been in the room. So I, I, what have
10:26you seen
10:27about how coach John Harbaugh has handled the quarterback change behind the scenes? Is there anything that,
10:32you know, we might not know, um, any takeaways there? Well, I'm definitely not going to be the
10:37one to break any, any news on that. Um, I would say, you know, I think what we, what we
10:42think about
10:42when we're either at the giants or when we're growing Gotham is, um, you know, leading from the
10:47front and you never know what a season when you, if you think about what the beginning of a season
10:51into an end of the season, you have no idea how to predict what that's going to look like. For
10:55Gotham,
10:56we started our season in London playing at the first ever basically club world cup. We, um,
11:03we, uh, spent a month in Spain preparing for it. Uh, and then we lost in the first game to
11:10Corinthians,
11:10a team in Brazil that we honestly thought we were going to beat. Um, we're now fast forward. That was
11:15probably our lowest where then we went to Mexico in the middle. We are now sitting at the top of
11:20the
11:20table as, as the, you said before. And so being able, I think for any leader to be able to
11:26kind
11:26of manage the highs are a little easier to manage, but manage those lows. And I think what you've seen
11:31with the giants is an ability to, you know, acknowledge how low it is to lose your quarterback,
11:36to lose two captains in six days, but then also to be able to come out stronger and say, we
11:42know we
11:42can still win this division. We know we can still be a playoff team. How are we going to all
11:46rally
11:47around kind of the next man up? Yeah. Beyond just the wins and losses on the field, you've spoken
11:51about how within the giants org, you've been on the lookout for things that can be cutting edge,
11:56um, for the team. On a broad level, I'm curious where you see the biggest opportunities for
12:01innovation in the NFL are. So the NFL, um, a number of years ago, uh, put out a statistic that
12:09is again,
12:10very much how we think about in all of our portfolio companies about the importance of participation
12:14and how that leads to fandom. So you are for a person is four times as likely to be a
12:20fan of a sport
12:21if they've played that sport. And so you see for the NFL as tackle football has declined, they didn't
12:27just kind of sit back. They said, we want to lean in and we're going to create something called flag
12:31football,
12:32which is now a top 10 sport for girls around the country. And so to me, I think that's just
12:38an example.
12:38It's by the way, something we think about a lot of Gotham is we, there are all these kids around
12:43the country playing soccer. How do we translate that into fandom at home for so long? Kids played
12:48soccer on a Sunday morning and then they went home and watched the NFL because there was nothing,
12:52you know, there wasn't a great professional product to go watch at home. But I think for the NFL,
12:57they've done a really great job of kind of understanding their history, their legacy. Uh, you know,
13:03there are season tickets and the giants being passed down from generation to generation,
13:07but also thinking about, okay, if we know we need people to be playing, to be a fan,
13:12we're going to invest in flag so that we continue to grow that fandom. Yeah. What about, what about
13:17an international as well? That's a place where it is harder because not as many people grow up playing
13:22it. Do you see opportunities in international? If so, how, um, what do you think could move the needle
13:28there? Yeah, I think, so when I think about, you know, the giants, again, they just celebrated their
13:33hundredth year anniversary. Um, the history, the legacy are so core to who the giants are and what
13:38their brand is. And a sports fan today in 2026 looks different than a sports fan did maybe a
13:45hundred years ago. And so opportunities, as I said, you know, in flag number one, but number two,
13:50international, um, in a more diverse audience in a younger audience, I think international, that is
13:57kind of the opportunity in front of us as the giants and as the NFL overall, you're not going to
14:02continue. There just isn't enough room to continue to grow in the U S only. You have to be thinking
14:08about international growth too. And I think the NFL has done a great job leaning into that. Yeah.
14:12And so you, uh, I believe you wrote your college and business school application essays about working
14:18for the giants. Is that, is that correct? Well, I wrote my college, that's, you've really done your
14:22homework. I wrote my, this is a long time ago. Um, I wrote my college essay about three generations of
14:26women bonding over football. Ah, okay. And then I wrote my business school application about,
14:31uh, yes, working at the giants. So that just makes me curious. Um, would, would you want to run the
14:38giant someday? Is that something that you've discussed with your family? It's not what I'm
14:42focused on right now. Um, uh, the giants, you know, as I've said here, as I said before, the giants,
14:49um, we've been co, our families and co-owners of the giants for the last 30 years. Uh, we have
14:54a tremendous
14:54partnership with Ameras. Um, and we are incredibly excited both about what the, what the history of
15:01the giants have been and also what the opportunity is to continue to grow. And so, um, if you were
15:05to
15:06write some sort of personal application essay today, um, what do you think, what would be the focus of
15:11it? Oh, that's a good question. Um, I would probably write about, um, what the next 30 years of women's
15:22sports looks like. Uh, when I was applying to college and I wrote it, the reason that it was
15:27an interesting essay, I think, cause they took me, um, to talk about three generations of women bonding
15:32over football is because it didn't exist. There were no role models. There were no, it was unique
15:37to say that three generations of women spent every Sunday at a giants game. Now, when I think about,
15:43um, what we're building at Gotham, what were, what all of women, what we're building in women's sports,
15:48uh, that looks really different. A young girl can say, it's not actually that interesting to say
15:53three generations of women bonding over football. It's not as interesting to say three generations
15:57of women bonding over sports because it has been so prevalent. And so I, you know, as I think about
16:02what the future of sports looks like, I think you'll have less panels like this saying, wow, let's talk
16:07about the future of women's sports because it will be women's sports will just be another kind of chapter
16:12in all of sports. Yeah. Yeah. Um, with you bringing up family, it just made me think of you're involved
16:18in, in so many ventures. I mean, so many ventures, it's hard even to list all of them out, honestly.
16:24But, um, I'm just wondering, like, I know that you're, um, you're raising a family right now and
16:28do you have any advice for other, um, other working parents who are juggling a ton of responsibilities,
16:34um, raising kids in the city? Um, I don't know if you had any thoughts on that. Yeah. Um,
16:40you know, I don't have a silver bullet answer. Uh, I don't think anyone does. I don't think anyone
16:45does. Yes. If you find it, please tell me. Um, I think for me, what's been most, uh, I guess,
16:51impact. So I, I guess I take my role as the leader of, of the teams that I, that I
16:56lead seriously.
16:57And so I understand that anything I, I'm kind of setting the example from the beginning. And so for me,
17:02what's worked the best is to integrate my family in as much as possible. So I was just telling you
17:07backstage when Gotham was on our run last year. Um, my family came to Kansas City for the quarter
17:13final game. They came to Orlando for the semifinal game. They were at the championship when we won.
17:17Um, and that I think has enabled the, I'm talking about Gotham, has enabled the whole staff to feel
17:23like they can show up as their full selves too. Um, after almost all of our Gotham games,
17:28at the end of the game, you'll see my kids running on the field. You'll see the coaches,
17:33kids running on the field. You'll see the players, kids often now running on the field.
17:36Um, it's kind of like a Gotham daycare happening at 10 o'clock at night on the field. But, um,
17:41I think
17:41for, for all of us to understand that we are both parents and employees and leaders all at the same
17:47time. And so the more we can integrate that into our lives, you know, the more successful we are.
17:52Some of our, we have a few players, um, on Gotham that played in Europe before they came to Gotham.
17:57And they have remarked that, uh, when they played in Europe, it felt like they, it was like they had
18:02kids, but it was just sort of not meant to be seen. And they would go on these road trips
18:06and they
18:06weren't with their families. And, um, it really felt in conflict. And for us, our, our players, spouses
18:12often come on the road with them. They bring their families with them. And it, they've said,
18:16they just feels like they can bring their whole selves because they, uh, that is who they are.
18:21And we want them to be a part of us. Do you think it's more on the, the culture
18:25that you've built around that business or is it particular programs that you've instituted that
18:29make, make them feel that way? Or is it more just like an overall kind of, kind of feeling of
18:33that
18:33being acceptable or encouraged? Yeah, I think it's both. And certainly the fact that the team is
18:39allowed to, you know, that I think there are probably some rules around, yes, we allow families to travel
18:43with them. Um, so I'd say kind of at the base level, you need the programming, but I also think
18:49you need to walk the walk. I think if I showed up to every game and pretended like my kids
18:54didn't
18:54exist and, you know, no, no children were around, I think players might not feel as comfortable. But
18:59understanding that, um, our goalie on our team, my six year old is truly obsessed with our goalie. And,
19:05you know, after every game, when we won the championship, everyone's like cheering and screaming.
19:09And he like ran over to her, like, I'm here to celebrate with you. You know, I think just
19:14understanding that like they, they see it, they feel it every day. And so I think that is a culture
19:19set from the top. Totally, totally. Um, you know, one, one thing that's been a hot topic in sports
19:25kind of writ large is, um, you know, what role gambling should play, um, across different sports. I'm, I'm
19:31curious what, uh, what you think about that? What do you think about the status quo right now? What role
19:38do you
19:38see gambling playing in sports, uh, in, in your ideal world? Yeah, I think it's a good question.
19:45Um, you know, I think what the NFL, um, they've probably been the most conservative in every,
19:49in every decision, you know, um, as they've opened up to other things, I would say, um,
19:54I think what they've done, uh, probably the best is study it, understand it, and then kind of slowly
19:59walk into it. Um, we have not, uh, in the NWSL, we don't have, there is, we don't have any
20:05partnerships
20:05with, um, sports betting or, um, anything in that area right now. It's something we've looked at,
20:11but we really want to understand it, not only from a, obviously, commercial perspective. There's
20:15a fan engagement piece. Obviously, it's clear that people watch and, and engage in sports more when
20:20sports betting is there, but there's also a player piece of it, and what is, how does that change the
20:24dynamics for the players? So it's something that we'll continue to look at. What do you, what would
20:28you say would make you, like, interested or not interested? Like, what factors are, are you weighing
20:33in that if you said you've, you've looked at partnerships but ultimately didn't? So I think
20:37understanding the fan engagement piece, I would say is probably the, yeah, if, um, does it make
20:43people want to engage in the sport more? Can it be done safely? But then again, I think the player
20:48piece of it is real. I was, um, speaking at, uh, something the other week with, uh, the woman who
20:53runs the PA
20:54for the WNBA and her perspective, obviously I'm not, I have not been a player in a league, but her
20:59perspective is it, um, it puts a lot of pressure on players and they get a lot of hate, um,
21:04online,
21:05uh, when they miss a shot, when they, you know, you saw Cam Scadaboo not score that touchdown at the
21:09end and people were trolling him online for that. And so I think you just need to understand kind of
21:14the impact, not just on the, the business side, but on the whole ecosystem. Going to your days at
21:21Peloton, uh, you know, when I think about Peloton, it was riding this big upward wave kind of when
21:26you were there. It also reminds me of the current AI boom of this like wave. And I'm wondering if
21:32you,
21:32um, you have any lessons from being in somewhere on that kind of upswing, um, for people who are
21:38in the AI space right now, any, any kind of things that you reflect on being, being part of that?
21:44Uh, yeah, that is a good question. Um, well, I'd like to say we were creating that wave, not riding
21:49the wave, but yes, I will answer the question. Yes. Um, so I guess for us at Peloton, it always
21:56came down to, is the product something that we think will change people's lives for the better?
22:04Um, and can we create a community around it? And that was always kind of our anchoring point.
22:10We were not the first indoor cycling bike. Many people had created bikes before. Um, there was an
22:17entire home fitness industry that was pretty sleepy. And in fact, why most investors passed
22:21on Peloton is cause they saw it as just another indoor cycling bike, um, or indoor bike. And so
22:27for us, it was really about, um, you know, when I, and when I say the product, I don't just
22:32mean the
22:32bike, I mean the content, the instructors, the media, like everything around it. And then really,
22:38you know, can you build a community around it? Is this something that people will rally around?
22:42And so obviously AI is a little bit different. I don't know that everyone's rallying around an AI,
22:48um, community. However, um, really thinking about, you know, in once this becomes like,
22:53if you get to a point where you're like, okay, we imagine there's total awareness. What is the
22:58adoption going to be? What, how are we impacting communities of people? That's how I would think
23:02about it. Got it. Got it. And then, I mean, speaking of AI, it's obviously front and center in the
23:07broader
23:07economic discourse. I know that sports is kind of one of those areas where people think it's less
23:12prevalent, but on the back end and surely, uh, in many ways there, there are applications. Are there
23:17ways that you're using AI within your organizations, um, either the teams or in your investing? I'm just
23:24curious. Yeah, we're very much thinking about it. Um, I don't, I would say we are in the early,
23:29early days, but if you think about part of what has been difficult for women's sports for so long is
23:35you didn't really have, uh, the business, the revenue was not high enough to really justify
23:41building out an entire business team and like the business model just didn't really work.
23:46You can imagine a world in which, cause there's a lot of parts of a sports team that are just
23:50expensive to operate. It's expensive to operate a stadium. It's expensive to operate a ticketing team,
23:54expensive to operate a marketing team. If AI can make you more efficient, um, that totally changes
24:01where women's sports can go. Um, as we think about our challenge in moving stadiums and building
24:06awareness, um, if we can't, it's New York is too expensive of a market to just blanket awareness,
24:12try to reach every person everywhere. But we know we've done consumer segmentation work. We know
24:18who is most likely to become a Gotham fan. If AI can help us go find that more efficiently,
24:24that helps us build a business in a way that we couldn't necessarily before. And then obviously on the
24:29soccer side, again, we're kind of early days, but we continue to think about, um, as we build our
24:34roster, as we think through a salary cap, how can AI make us more efficient at identifying what's going
24:40to really work for Gotham? So right now you've seen probably the most effective use on, on targeting for
24:45marketing. Would that be fair or in terms of re understanding who the, who the fans are? So I would
24:51say, right, that's kind of what we'd like to get to. We haven't done that yet. Um, I would say
24:55what we've done
24:56so far is actually more on the post market, uh, on the post game surveys. So that used to be,
25:01we have a two person, most sports teams, I think at this point have a pretty large data and analytics
25:06team. Again, we're small, we're scrappy. We're trying to make or do what we have. So we have two
25:10people for them to be able, but, but, uh, fan feedback is incredibly important to me. It's how
25:15we run our organization. So for them to be able to get all that feedback after every game, synthesize it,
25:22shared across the business, it makes the whole business smarter and it makes every person in
25:27the organization understand what we're building towards in a much more efficient way. Got it.
25:32Got it. And what about for the giants? Any, anything in particular there or similar?
25:37Yeah, I think still, again, early days, but we are part of, um, when we started next,
25:42when I started next three, the, which is my company, the idea was to really be at the forefront
25:48of where sports is going. Um, and so we actually have built a relationship with open AI. We're
25:54hosting some executives from the giants and, and Gotham and many others in a few weeks for them to
25:58start to understand how they can use it. So hopefully more to come. And, um, and you mentioned
26:04next three, your, uh, your, your investing company. I, uh, I wanted to know what, do you have a particular
26:11philosophy, investing philosophy for it? How do you evaluate different opportunities? You, you've invested in,
26:16uh, you know, a fair number of different types of sports. So just wondering if you had any sort
26:20of overarching thoughts on that. Yeah. So when we started next three, I didn't set out to start an
26:26investment fund. The idea was my family's co-owned the New York giants for the last 30 years.
26:32The giants look very different 30 years from when my grandfather bought half the team to now,
26:36what is the next 30 years going to look like? Can we help? Can we not only have a front
26:41row seat so
26:42that we're smarter investors or smarter owners of the giants, but also can we help shape what that
26:46looks like? And so for us, it really, it's kind of back to what the Gotham thesis was, which is,
26:52is there product market fit? Is there a reason that there is disruption today? And can we build a
26:58community around it? And so when I look at, uh, I'm going to use, let's say our, we are investors
27:04in
27:05a company called tomorrow sports, which is a new golf league called TGL. Um, our bet there was golf
27:12continues to people, there continues to be interesting golf. Participation is at an all
27:16time high. People continue to be interested in and fans of the sport. But if you think about the media
27:21product, it's really not built for 2026. It is many hours long over the course of a whole weekend.
27:28And so is there a better way? And, uh, the founders of tomorrow sports thought, yes,
27:33and started this company called TGL, which was really a, it's a combination of outdoor and indoor,
27:38uh, or it's all in a stadium, but live and digital. Um, and it's really made for TV. It's two
27:44hours long.
27:44It's on ESPN, uh, in prime time. And so that was an investment that I would say that's kind of
27:50an
27:50example of the type of investment that we're excited about where it is again, clear product market fit.
27:55They have some of the best stars in golf. Um, but there was a reason for it to be disrupted
27:59now.
28:00And I'd say just the last part is we always think about, um, what is our reason for being on
28:05the cap
28:06table? If they're looking, if the company is just looking for capital, if they're just looking for
28:10kind of a silent investor, we're probably not the right investors, not that silent. Um, we're typically
28:17looking at where we can add strategic value. Okay, great. And, uh, we only have a little time left.
28:22So I have a few little lightning round questions. Um, so you're, you're a pescatarian and, uh,
28:28I wondered if you had any favorite stadium food. I know you're at a lot of, at a lot of
28:33stadiums.
28:33Any, any go-tos? Um, that's a really good question. I eat a lot of meals in stadiums.
28:39Yeah. Um, well, um, usually the cheese plate really does it for me. Although I will say
28:45the candy bar too. It's usually cheese to candy. Okay. Got it. Um, also, uh, you know, you,
28:51you've taken a look at a lot of investments. Are there any hot sports people might not have heard
28:55of? What is the next pickleball that's going to break out into the public consciousness?
29:00That's a good question. We have not invested in pickleball. No, no, no.
29:03Um, our latest investment is in something called SailGP, which is a sailing kind of like that,
29:08which I'm going to F1, the F1 of sailing. So I'd say sailing. Sailing. Nice. Um,
29:13do you have a particular brand that you think is really doing women's sports, right?
29:18Hmm. So many, um, I'll just say three of our brands. Okay. CarMax. Yeah.
29:24Uh, bet on Gotham, bet on women's sports before anyone else did and are now clearly seeing the
29:28return on investment. Dove, uh, supports a lot of our community work, uh, called Keeper in the Game,
29:33Keeping Girls Playing Sports. Bank of America just became our sponsor, um, and supporting our community
29:39program called Elevate Play, keeping kids, expanding access to soccer. And do you have a particular,
29:44um, sports business icon who you're not related to? Um, oh gosh, that's a good question.
29:52Um, so I would say our NWSL board kind of has the icons of sports, I would say. Um, Mark
30:00Wilf,
30:01uh, Alan Waxman, um, the hair, uh, Harris Blitzer. They're all kind of in our ecosystem. So I'd say
30:08some of them. All right. Well, thank you so much for chatting and, um, thank you all.
30:12Thank you. Thank you.
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