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Best Of: Alex Teodosi, Chicago Sky · The ROAR Podcast

• Brice Clinton: 11 seasons ago, our guest today walked in Chicago sky as an intern. Today he runs every corporate, community and strategic partnership that the franchise touches. And he's done it during the most consequential decade in WNBA history. On this episode, Adam sits down with Alex Tadosi, Vice President of Corporate, Community and Strategic Partnerships for the Chicago sky. Alex had a front row seat. Adam Grossman: to the Roar Podcast. I'm your host Adam Grossman with me today is Alex Tidosi. Alex, welcome to the podcast. Alex Teodosi: Thanks so much for having me today. Happy beer. Adam Grossman: Well, it's good to have you. had a little bit of a false start already, so we're off and running on a good part on the ROAR podcast. But Alex and I have worked together for a long time now. The Chicago Sky, our clients at ROAR are very excited to have Alex on. But we want to start our podcast. We'll get into all the ROAR Chicago Sky and all the obviously amazing work that we're doing together soon. But I want to start with you and your background and how you got to the sky and let our noses Brice Clinton: to a league that's gone from a steady growth to a genuine breakout, and a franchise that's leaned hard into that moment. The Skyhound are heading into their 20th season, the WNBA into its 30th, and a brand new practice facility in Bedford Park opens later this summer. When it's complete, it'll be the largest in the league. Adam and Alex also get into what that growth actually looks like from the partnership side. More national brands at the table, longer-term relationships to protect. Adam Grossman: let our listeners know how you got into the position you're in today. Alex Teodosi: Yeah, absolutely. So I'm fortunate now I've been with this guy. It's gonna be my 11th season and I started all the way back here as an intern. I was pretty fortunate. I was at DePaul University. I had an opportunity to go spend some time with the San Diego Padres and really start to get to learn the ins and outs of the sports industry and specifically corporate partnerships. And so when I returned from that, it really is a specific area of focal point for me. And that's how I landed with the Chicago sky. And like I said, I've been fortunate to be there for the past 10 years. I've grown. Brice Clinton: and a higher bar for the kind of data and storytelling needed to compete with the NFL, NBA, and Major League Baseball teams for the same dollar. Alex talks candidly about the frustration of working from a single source averages and how moving to a multi-source AI-assisted approach has reshaped the conversations he's having with brands. They also dig into something every sports organization is wrestling with right now. How to make it actually operationally work instead of theoretically, and how to build what Alex calls one source of truth across partnerships, tickets, marketing, and community. It's a candid look inside a franchise navigating real growth and what that growth demands from the people doing the work. I'm Bryce Clinton, and this is the Roar Podcast. Alex Teodosi: throughout a few different roles the partnership side. So starting, like I said, as an internship, taking over the activation side, moving into the sales and new to business component. And then of course, now I'm a role as vice president overseeing all corporate ⁓ community strategic partnerships for the team. Adam Grossman: So we'll start a little bit at the end, which I don't normally like to do, but your even just being in the position that you've been in, even since we started working with you, there's been a rapid rise and evolution of the WNBA. So you've been front row, you've seen it from the beginning, ⁓ basically the beginning till now. So A, what was it like, what's it like now? And you know, in terms of demand and interest versus what was it even, you know, a few years ago? ⁓ how had things changed and developed since you've been at this guy. Alex Teodosi: Yeah, absolutely. It's been incredible. And that's been one of the funner aspects of around here and being around here for so long, because I've been able to really see what the growth means, how it impacts the organization and beyond and what this all means for the future. And I know it sounds sometimes a little bit dramatic, but the future of women's sports, right? When started 10 years ago, there was a lot of excitement around it. Don't get me wrong, but In the last couple of years in particular, we have just seen an explosive growth where it is starting to become a much more household name, which as you can imagine, with fans that resonates and gets them more excited and comes, brings them to our building a little bit more. It obviously reverberates back with corporate partner excitement and see the investment being made and they want themselves want to come and be a part of that. So we've definitely had always been growing steadily each year. And again, that this last couple of years has just brought us an enormous boon to the organization and the industry that very appreciative. We believe that these women are world-class athletes and deserve this platform. And I'm grateful that, again, I've been able to play a very, very small component of ushering them along into ⁓ they are today. And obviously, we hope that we can keep this going. And we just celebrated 20 years this past season. The WNBA is going to be celebrating 30 years ⁓ season. ⁓ are huge milestones, especially as it pertains to women professional sports leagues. I want to just keep ushering this new generation forward and keep this going. Adam Grossman: I'd say you play more than a very, very small role. I think don't have to, I said, want you to sell yourself short on this podcast, not that you would in general or on this podcast, but we, you we talk, you talked about being in charge of community strategic partnerships. What does that mean? You know, what does that mean on a day to day basis and how has your day to day changed particularly over the past couple of years? Alex Teodosi: Yeah, of course. So when I say oversee all of our partnerships, obviously we've got a fairly sized staff here and we've got people that oversee our marketing in our community. because of our world of partnerships, we're kind of looked to to help provide that glue, if you will, and that connectivity between, you know, our let's call it our basketball ops or our community side where they're looking for more strategic partnerships that aren't necessarily always driven by cash sponsors for ⁓ marketing impressions and engagements and things like that. So the strategic component just kind of naturally falls in my world, even if it's not necessarily our one to one, because at the end of the day, you know, my what's in the best interest of the organization, of course, is also what's in the best interest of corporate partnerships. And so those are two symbiotic relationships that the organization is forcing. Right. We will also flourish from a partnership perspective. So that's why I think we get brought into a lot more just beyond corporate. Obviously, community partnerships are very close to corporate. They're just more focused on the community initiatives. So work really closely with our head of foundation, Avi's story on those components. it makes things, again, a little bit more uniform. It allows us to be a little bit more nimble and efficient and keep things under one umbrella as much as possible. So that's why those things will fall under my purview, including even our TV deal and our radio deal, just to make sure that everything is in use. ⁓ Adam Grossman: Yeah, I know I keep asking about this because I think it's something that people are interested in. It's just how has it changed, right? Particularly over the past couple of years. Like how is that like what are you dealing with? And, obviously money's falling from the sky now for this, you know, no pun intended or definitely pun intended that money's falling the sky from corporate partnership perspective. But somewhat joking aside, like what how has it been different? What have the conversations been like? What brands see? You know, obviously there are many brands who are looking to get involved with this guy specifically, the WBA more broadly. What's been, how has your day to day and your kind of outreach to brands, how has that changed? Alex Teodosi: Yeah, absolutely. Now, I would say I would love to say that money is guys, right? They're hopefully going to get there. No, will say right. And I would be naive not to admit that. But certainly brands are more interested. Right. And so when you're outreaching and having conversations, I have absolutely noticed the difference between my first couple of years versus now where brands are a little bit more, you know, looking to meet with us and looking to engage with us in conversations and learn more about the team and what we've got going on and explore opportunities that fast that I will say, know, night and day difference between now and 10 years ago. So there's no denying that. But at the same time, it doesn't mean that these brands are just, you know, falling over themselves to get involved, right? That's why I think we're so appreciative that we've had a lot of longstanding partners here at the Sky in my 10 years. I've got a lot of partners that have been with us all 10 years. And I think That is why we're so grateful to maintaining those relationships and we make it a priority to keep them, right? Especially as valuations and things like that are on the rise. We really, really value the relationships we've built over the past 10 to 20 years. And so those components are just the challenges that you kind of go with as we embrace this new era. But again, it's still... We have to go through the motions, the process, find the right brands, the right fits for us, go through the whole ordeal of seeing how this is a potential fit for them, how this plays into their objectives and their goals. So that has changed. I guess the biggest thing again is that they're just a little bit more willing to come to table and entertain the conversation with us, which in ways is all you can really ask for, right? It's just the opportunity to be heard and opportunity to be ⁓ in of the decision makers and picking what we've got going on. Cause like I say, and I'll say it till I'm blue in the face. We have a world-class operation here. Our team is fantastic, and they really do pay attention that any of the other sports teams in the leagues get. Adam Grossman: Yeah, and I can obviously personally vouch for the world-class operation, but what does that mean? Where is this guy as an organization, as an operation, as a business? just because of the tailwinds for the WNBA, but obviously even explicitly you guys idiosyncratically, ⁓ Where you now? And ⁓ where that journey over the past couple of years and several years taken you as a business? Alex Teodosi: Yeah, of course. I think we've always had this mantra of continuing to grow, continuing to put out the best possible within the means of our scope, whether it's on the court, off the court, providing amenities and whatnot for our players. So think that's ⁓ to the organization. It's always been a focal point for ownership. ⁓ and senior leadership on down. And I think that not changed. It's continued in its evolution, right? We have a new CBA that many people saw was signed a few months ago, and as you can imagine, it's part of that, right? ⁓ offerings and what we're doing as an organization continue to evolve and continue to grow. Like I said again, not to be repetitive, right? We believe these players are world-class. They need to have world-class amenities, which is why we're super excited, for example, ⁓ to releasing our practice facility ⁓ later this summer. ⁓ It'll a dedicated space for them for the first time in franchise history. We'll have 365, 24-7 access to the building in ways that maybe you expect for professional athletes, but we've not been able to offer previously. So those types of things really show the enormous growth, the enormous investment that the team continues to make back in itself. And I think from that perspective, that allows us to then fuel those in other departments like partnerships and tickets and community and marketing. It allows us to all really grow at the same pace and together. which I think is very important, right? Because if one side is growing while the others are not, you know, in the grand scheme of things, how does that really make sense? But I think this organization has always, know, empowered and prided itself on, you know, the high tideways that raises all, and we see what's going on in the court, how does that affect it in the community, how does that affect it from a partnership perspective, and ticketing, marketing, and game ops, and entertainment, and all those types of things. ⁓ We're excited, we're hopeful here on the 20th and opening night, people will see a new looking feel for the Chicago sky and a continued evolution of what our brand has been over the past 20 years. Adam Grossman: Yeah, I'm glad you brought up the practice facility. I think that's a really good indicator of the growth of the business, the growth of the operation. Can you talk more? know, obviously it is coming online. Practice facilities have been ⁓ something that a lot of WNBA teams have prioritized getting the facilities right, getting the day to day practice for world class athletes. So can you talk about, you know, ⁓ would a decision to move forward with that and B, ⁓ has the practice facility come online and what's the response been from the players? Alex Teodosi: Yeah, like I said, it was one of those things that it became a necessity, really, especially if you look now, think every WNBA team, maybe Sans 1 has announced a practice facility or an intention to do so. And so you see it now, it just started to become the norm. When we had announced ours a couple of years ago, it was trying to be ahead of the curve. And we're fortunate in our facility, when it'll be complete, we'll be the largest in the WNBA as of now. I think it's going to change with some of the other renderings. that have been put out. But again, I think it goes to the organization is always trying to be at the forefront of these things and always trying to lead by example and do the right things for our players. And this is going to be exactly that, right? Them having their own space in their own dedicated areas. It should improve the product that we put on the court. It should improve their experience. And again, that should reverberate throughout the rest of the organization and how we deal with our players and how they're interacting with fans and things of that nature. So all of these things are ⁓ the right step or another step, if you will, in the right direction. of continuing to evolve our products so that again, you feel that in other areas and goes back to the community and all those types of things as well. So the practice facility, we're very excited about it. It's gonna be great. The folks in Bedford Park have been fantastic partners with us. We're just really looking forward to getting in there and getting settled. Adam Grossman: Yeah, and speaking of evolution of the team and a silky segue to talk about what everybody's here, I'm sure to listen to is your relationship with Roar and the evolution of using data and analytics from a partnership perspective. one of the things, again, all joking aside is one of the things that we really have talked about and talked about repeatedly is the evolution and use of data within the organization. Clearly, that's something, one of the reasons you reached out, but. I obviously know from my perspective why you guys reached out and how we've helped, but from your perspective, what was the original need and desire to reach out to a company like Roar to help you guys from a corporate partnership and beyond perspective? Alex Teodosi: Yeah, absolutely. goes along the lines of a lot of what we've been talking about so far in that, again, as the organization was growing and as our numbers were evolving and the opportunities that we were seeking were growing with larger and more national brands, right? We just didn't feel like we had all the tools necessary at our disposal to be able to answer and drive some of these conversations forward in the manner that we now believe we can and should and all those types of things. And so for me, what really stood out is, and I won't quite use the name, doing some reports for a potential prospect that I just was racking my brain and using our averages and our standard numbers. And I just felt like there has to be a better way, right? We make investments into asset tracking and all these different databases. And yet, you know, I'm still kind of pulling the numbers from this source and this and the numbers aren't talking to each other. The story isn't being told properly. And I think that was one of the biggest frustrations expressed to you is that, we get these numbers and I They just don't really tell a story and they don't always line up and they're very singular in source. And so, you know, the big, big kind of component for us when it came to you was, hey, how do we start to make sure all the numbers are talking and all the numbers are valid and all the numbers are legitimate. But B, how do we bring this together now and actually start to tell the story of what a fan profile looks like? What does our demographic look like? ⁓ is our audience doing? What are their purchasing patterns? All those types of things, because that allows us to go back to these brands and be very, very more ⁓ much more ⁓ much more direct, much more elaborative with what we're able to put in front of them. These numbers now are very backed, they're very concrete. And I think from that perspective, that gives us a little bit more validity with brands. And so when we were starting to ask for more dollars or you're trying to position larger, ⁓ scalable assets, those numbers, they don't fall into a gray, they start to become black and white, right? And as partners evaluate these types of things, if the numbers are there and the numbers are sound, they are much more willing to make the investment or get involved versus if the numbers don't speak for themselves when they go back on the back end, that's their first issue. So me getting into a place where we could provide numbers and resources and data and all those types of things that we could stand behind and a brand could really evaluate, that was the first most necessary step for us to take if we were going to start competing with some of the higher leagues and organizations and things of that nature from a partnership perspective. Adam Grossman: So you mentioned right now just about competing. So what does the competing look like now and what's been the success and what have been the metrics? Obviously, Roar is a very metric numbers-driven company. We want to hear what the success of metrics look like on your end. That was a very direct question. know. Alex Teodosi: ⁓ Absolutely. know, we, ⁓ most of our partnership proposals and the conversations these days, we are doing models evaluation work directly with work, right? So ⁓ able to go back with pretty much every conversation with a very direct line of, hey, this is why we're where we are. This is what we're proposing that helps fill your goals, your objectives, your issues, your challenges, whatever this is. And we have the number of the data to back that up. I think it's made us much more. Right. I think in the past, like I referenced, we've struggled sometimes when talking to brands who perhaps are doing things with NFL teams or NBA teams, and LB teams. And they just have a certain expectation of data or what they're receiving from those leagues and teams that then they're able to repurpose, utilize on their own right, go back on their own system, run their own formula and come back to us. We again, to use averages holistically across the board, it's not very effective. Right. It's what we had. and what we could work with. And it worked for many years. you know, companies have shifted. And I know we're to get into a little bit of AI and some of those types of things. But, you know, that's really where people now with those types of things at their disposal, it's becoming more black and white. That's why I say if the numbers are there, they're very happy to entertain you in the conversation. If the numbers are not there, it's a point stop. Let's not waste anybody's time. This doesn't make sense for us. And so given that that's where the world has really been going over the past couple of years, and especially right now, you have to be able to, you know, keep up, right? And if that's what we need, that's what we need. And if we don't have it, how can we compete? So say compete, and it's not that we feel we're always competing directly with the NFL or the MLB or the NBA teams, but competing in a sense of if they're presenting things in a certain way that we're just nowhere near able to do so, I don't think it's for us to then expect that we're going to yield anywhere near the type of results that they're going to given that we don't have those types of things in place. So getting them in place, ⁓ already given us sort of like that All right, now we're moving more towards a level playing field. And as things continue growing, hopefully we can continue trending to where these other leagues and teams are. Adam Grossman: Yeah, and I know that that's exactly right. said very eloquently and I appreciate everything that you said so far in terms of competing. do results look like? We don't have to get into specific numbers, but what are we talking about? ⁓ you're talking about competing with NBA NFL teams and you're talking about competing in the marketplace, what do metrics and results look like for you guys now? Alex Teodosi: Yeah, that's a great question. I think for us, right, it's different for everybody. It's unique for everybody, right? Because at the end of the day, you have to run your numbers and your situation and what you have to work with. And that ultimately is what you can deem the successful or not successful, right? If you compare it to an NFL team in terms of revenue, it's probably kind of a great idea. So you have to be also a realist in terms of where the organization is and all those types of things and what this looks like. But again, with that being said, ⁓ do feel like there are ways that you can quantify where, again, if you're landing partnerships that are national brands that maybe deals you typically haven't landed in the past, ⁓ a lot of it is the data and things that you're going through with them, I think there's a pretty obvious connection that you can make that, again, as I said, right, now that you're able to actually speak. the language a little bit more accurately now that you're able to provide a little bit more background and context to the ask and what it is that you're doing, right? All of sudden, this seems like a much more sound investment and makes much more sense for us. So we're not looking to compete with the NFL. I mean, that's not exactly what I mean. But again, I don't want to lose opportunities because we're not able to answer the questions that they have that typically they're able to get those questions answered. And that's why I think that's that's what Roar has given us, right? The ability to speak the talk that sometimes the folks that are making these evaluations from a media buy and an ad buy perspective are really looking at the numbers. And if we can't give them the answers they need, it's easy for them to walk away and move on. Adam Grossman: Yeah, and I'll even just say from my perspective, obviously being partner with you guys in this process, particularly on the data-driven process, it really is, when you're talking about this is the level of sophistication that, ⁓ you said, NBA, NFL, we're even not putting the dollar amounts aside, which have been substantial. And we've seen ⁓ partnerships get done at deal levels that you and I are both happy with. And I think that's very impressive. But I think it is the expectations exactly what you said. If you're talking to national brands, you're talking to brands who are used to a certain level of sophistication, you need to have that level of sophistication there that you're presenting. And Sky, obviously not to pat myself on the back, which I'm doing both on the video if you can't see it, so I can make that audible. But it really is to make it so you can compete. There is a level, the WNBA teams have world-class players, they have world-class operations, they need world-class data, world-class support, world-class technology. And that's what we're providing, our expectation. And that's, I think, your expectation of us. that what you wanted, and that's what you needed. And putting that all together is something that I think we've both found to be very valuable for how we've moved this forward. You mentioned artificial intelligence and insights and numbers and narrative. One way the data and one way we've been able to drive this partnership forward is both narratives from data and the speed at which we're leveraging narratives and number. So let's start with the narrative side of it first. One of the things we changed during our process together ⁓ to move to a more AI-driven insight process. How have you and the sky been able to adopt and use AI insights as part of the conversations that having that were your AI-driven insights ⁓ combined expertise, experience, and data? How has that helped to move the conversation forward for you guys with certain partnerships? Alex Teodosi: Yeah, absolutely. And AI is interesting, right? Because it's one of those words that you can use so freely and cover so many things. And it's just like, AI, right? But I think for us, right, ⁓ again, one of those things where you don't want to be left behind. I there's a of good things about AI. I don't think there's a lot of things that need to still be sort of held through AI. But I think what we have seen at least, right, is the scale and the speed to help with some of these reports to help. digest some of them and help tell the story and summarize some of these types of things. Right. That's where I think we're really seeing a really positive trend with the A.I. and what we're able to kind of do with from there. Because as you're aware, we have a lot of conversations and things we're trying to get out the door. So we do keep that. I'm pretty busy. ⁓ But, you know, I think that gives us a different avenue and a different approach that, again, the more efficient we can be, the more nimble we can be. Because at the end of the day, you Adam Grossman: Yeah. Alex Teodosi: to the questions you have to give them what they're looking for and all those types of things but you can do it in one day versus seven days right it I would be hard-pressed to tell you that that can't be beneficial to you right I think you have a great conversation with somebody and if you take too long to do all these things you start to lose that momentum right it's like ⁓ what was that conversation about again I don't you know it's starting to lose the the you know the connectivity there so The faster we can work, the faster we can get these things in front of them to get them to evaluate, to get them excited to them, take it to their senior leadership or whatever that might look like. As we know, these are usually not short term processes, right? These usually take quite a bit of time. So the more that we can get in front of them at an efficient pace, I think that naturally just sets us all up for more success. I might not be a direct correlation of like you get this out in three days versus seven days. 40 % more likely to get it on, which we can maybe dive in deeper one day on something like that. But I'd have to imagine at least at just a high level, right, getting things out a little bit faster, especially based on relation to when you actually had the conversation. ⁓ think that's ⁓ immense advantage to have, and that's what I think AI is helping in those areas, taking off some of the groundwork, some of the summarization work, some of the work to help with what this looks like and summarizing it. think that's been very Adam Grossman: Yeah, and I think that's the idea is that there's a lot of hurry up and wait as somebody who's been both of us now have been in sponsorship and partnership sales for a long period of time. There is a lot of hurry up and wait and you do want to deliver insights and data and information when people are asking for it. You don't necessarily know when that could be and there could be stretches of time where you need information, stretches of time where you don't, but the ability to do it and do it quickly and to summarize the information. And I'll just say even as somebody who has worked with data and, you know, for a very long, much longer than I'd like to admit probably at this point, but worked with data information insights, particularly around partnership, the ability to create data-driven insights quickly in ways that resonate with senior decision makers and executives. Because at the end of the day, they want to know how is this going to impact my business? And what we're presenting is not only how it impacts from more traditional brand metrics or impressions perspective, but tying that back into audience and revenue generation and engagement rates and sentiment and you know, even potentially topic analysis and doing all these different things and looking at players and looking at owned and earned media content. And we want to look at this holistic universe. But if you're looking at this large universe, that can be a large universe of information to look at. So that's where we have really found AI to be. Look, here's our models. Here's what we're doing. Here's all the information. Now highlight the key points that are really valuable for decision makers and create narratives that will resonate with these senior executives. both in the sales process, but also as they're evaluating the success of those partnerships on an ongoing basis. And that's something, know, we've really worked with you guys on to make that something that's actionable, real, and tangible to your point about AI. AI, you know, that's a question we often get is, you know, how can you leverage AI even from you guys, right? Even from the sky, we said, you know, how can we leverage AI? How can we leverage, you know, all the cool stuff that AI can do, which we can talk about a little bit, but... more, it's like, do we make this actionable? the relationship with this guy, we've made that actionable. And I think you guys have really done an excellent job in taking ⁓ insights, delivering the information that you need, and driving the success that you guys have been able to achieve. So no question there. I'm just more of a on what we've been doing. ⁓ Alex Teodosi: I'm back here because it's coming from you guys. So no, again, it's been good. It's been very helpful from that perspective. And again, you never want to get left too far behind on these types of things. And so we asked the question because it's like, we don't really know how can we best purpose utilize this stuff and use this to our advantage. I would say credit to you all, you've helped us find the right balance, at least to start on how we can effectively use this and then kind of help our day to day. Adam Grossman: Yeah, and one of things that, you know, from not being left behind in AI is we have released the Smart District as a Service or Smart DOS platform. So this is a platform that does directly impact partnerships, but it integrates multiple different data sources so that you can really understand your fans, both the fans you have within your first party data sets, particularly, you know, everything that you guys are collecting internally, but adding in new information, you know, on an expanded universe of fans that doesn't necessarily directly or always directly interact with this guy. ⁓ The reason we're bringing all this up in the context of AI is AI has made this much more possible, much more easily done, and much more something that we can now operate and make something that's more easily usable, ⁓ think, ⁓ digestible from your perspective. So first question comes, adding this extra data, ⁓ adding beyond what you mentioned, averages and looking at different data sets. But what we've really tried to prioritize, and even today, we just... delivered some information for you guys that leveraged three different data sets about a specific type of company and who are their customers and how does that overlap with SkyFan. So from your perspective, what do all these additional data sets like? How have you been able to use them and expanding the universe of SkyFans beyond just what you're tracking on a first party basis? What does that mean to you and how are you able to operationalize that and drive success? Alex Teodosi: Yeah. So I think a pretty kind of straightforward answer. I think when you have a better understanding of your audience, you have a better understanding of what the core audience that your prospect or partner is looking for. If you have a better understanding of ⁓ whole picture, right? I just think you can deliver the assets, the activations that much more effectively. Right. So ⁓ one of those things where how could it not help? Right. Just having a better understanding of your audience and their audience and all those types of things. mean, you're able to be much more direct. You're able to be much more focused focused on what it is that you're trying to put together. So, again, at a very, very high level, I mean, how could it not help? That's what we've experienced. Right. It's just we have a better understanding of everybody and anyone that comes to our ecosystem and things of that nature. Sometimes a little crazy how you can pull some of these data points of people's purchasing patterns and things like that. ⁓ But it's extremely helpful, right? Because if you understand where your audience is shopping and what they're doing next, and you're able to go back to a prospect and explain to them how they can come in and capture this market share and what they're looking for and ⁓ show ⁓ numbers of what this might look like, right? It makes it a really, really compelling story to want to get involved and invest in this because ⁓ put aside the doing the right thing and women's sports and all that. mean, this we have strong numbers to support our assets. We have very, know, growing fan bases that are diehard fans that want to support our organizations and our partners that are supporting the sky and the WNBA. And so when you have all those data and they all kind of come together and you're able to tell the story, it just becomes that much more compelling that we want the company, the brand to think, why would we not do this? Right. This is a, this is a slam dunk for us. This is a great fit for us. We need to figure this out. We have to give them the tools to kind of arrive there. We can't always hope that they're going to come to us and love what we're doing and love the sky and everything about it. And you know, Let's let money fall from the sky, right? Yes, we would love that. But no, we have to go to them and we have to show them why this makes sense. And that's what the numbers, that's the advantage they give us. Adam Grossman: Yeah, and you mentioned some of the different data sets, some of the data sets that we use with the sky, that we use with all of our different clients, or potentially our credit card transaction data, foot traffic data, so who's coming to the venue, geospatial data, where they are, building out potentially different personas and what those look like, looking at what's called social behavioral data, what other accounts are people following on social media, using clickstream data. analyzing from a mobile and ⁓ web browser perspective, so where people are going on social media, where are they searching for the sky, are they streaming sky content, are they following sky players. So if we can aggregate, you know, all, and we also append that with survey data, we have different survey partners that we're working with now. So if you can append that with your first party data, which is, you know, first party data is data, like you said, that you're collecting. So, What we have done is aggregated zero, first, second, and third party data. So we've taken all this different data, put it together to do exactly what Alex said, right? Is to make it as simple as possible for a decision maker to say, our customer is a fan of the sky. This is what they're doing. This is why they're interested. This is why they're interested in the sky, the sky's players, the sky's activation, social media content, the sky's digital media content, whatever content the sky is creating. translating that into what does that mean to my business and to my organization? And I think that you guys have been very effective in creating, know, obviously we're providing data as a narratives, it wouldn't be successful without you guys, right? There's you have to have, you're having the conversation, you're having the day to day ⁓ interactions, and you're the ones who are making this happen, right? Making this into a reality. So from your perspective, again, this is so fundamentally different. I know we keep asking and saying like brands are looking for this, but ⁓ like, when you're presenting this information, do you see kind of the light bulb go on? Do you see like, ⁓ I see what you guys are doing. I really do see the business case now. Have you seen a step change in that perspective of achieving that goal of, not necessarily just doing well by doing good, you're doing well by doing good because this is good for your business and now I can clearly see why it's good for Alex Teodosi: Absolutely. And again, right with the way that we're doing things now, the numbers that we're providing are very backed, right? As opposed to just saying averages and this and that and coming up with whole numbers. And we have very, very, would speak more to this very, very specific ways, right? Of how we're getting these numbers. And you spoke a little bit about the multi-platforms that we're using, which I think is so crucial because nowadays everybody has something it seems like and they go back on their end and they're running the numbers on their channel. And it's like, Hey, Adam Grossman: That's it. Alex Teodosi: Since we're using three, four five different resources to compile our number, it just gives us a better attempt at being a little bit more holistic in our numbers versus you take one from one brand, another brand has this other brand has this valuation. The numbers start to get a little bit scattered all over the place. We're using multiple sources and multiple reference points to develop our numbers so we can sit there very confidently and say, look, you might have some different numbers, but We're not pulling this from one source. We're pulling this from multiple sources to give this to you. So we feel very confident and very comfortable with what we're putting forth from you. And I think that level right there, the ability to stand behind what you're seeing and have factual points and other things besides just, yeah, we took the average, we multiplied it by 22 times. That's how many people are gonna see it. It's a very loose number, right? It does not account for, call it 100 different factors, right? ⁓ ⁓ So all those types of things really play into it. And I just feel that when you're speaking a little bit more eloquently, got numbers and things to support a little bit more. I think the validity and the way that they interpret your data, the way they take your data, they give it a little bit more weight it versus, this is great, we're just gonna take it back now, pop it in our system and we'll come back to you. I think looking at our numbers and they're understanding a little bit more. Okay, I see where they got to, I see what they're trying to do here. Here's where we are, but we're in the ballpark now because we are using multiple sources to develop our numbers. Adam Grossman: And one of the things we prioritize is SmartDOS has been, lot of our work is obviously you're in partnerships and that's your area of focus, but we're rolling and have rolled out SmartDOS across multiple different teams and groups within the organization. we don't, understanding your fan can have multiple ripple effects. It can ripple into ticket sales, marketing, fan engagement, premium, hospitality, food and beverage, merchandise, content creation. what we're starting to do that process, but that's always something we've thought about in terms of how can we impact other parts of the organization. I think having a connected organization can be really helpful. I know we're relatively early stage in that part of the process, but can you tell us, your thought process in connecting the different parts of the organization, and B, how ⁓ and I, in particular, but the organization as a whole, potentially see smart dots rippling through or impacting different parts of the organization. Alex Teodosi: Yeah, absolutely. you and I had talked to you about some of these data and these concerns and these questions, ⁓ think a big part of it as well is, again, we were very fractured. Some of the times we need to go pull some data from tickets and sometimes we need to go talk to marketing and we need to ⁓ out to the league. It just, they're all over the place, right? And so again, as you're trying to compile this stuff, I think everyone's using different numbers. I think everyone's telling different stories and as an organization, right? I don't think that's the best interest for us, right? I think we should all be using the same numbers. There should be one truth. And that was the line that you kind of spit out at me that resonated really strongly with me was this one truth, right? Because yes, I'm selling the partnerships and that's our world, but how are we telling this story and who are we marketing to? And how are we selling tickets and who are we selling tickets to, right? And if we understand what this all looks like, we understand the fan profile. We understand who is coming to Sky Games or who's likely to purchase and all those types of things come together. All of a sudden, think again, we're in unison, right? We're all together. We're all working on a unified front from this perspective. Those numbers that that tickets has, they're important to me, right? They impact what I'm doing. They might not be one to one. OK, great. Every single stat and thing that tickets has is applicable to me. But again, I'm selling the audience, right? I'm selling who is actually coming to the games and watching and viewing and listening and all those types of things. And so the audience is extremely important components. So better understanding them is good for marketing, it's good for us, it's good for tickets, right? It resonates and reverberates throughout the organization. And so for me, when we started this path, yes, my focus, my purpose was of course on partnerships, given that's what's going to affect me in a day to day, but very quickly in the conversations with you and starting to understand what this was going to look like, kind of said, hey, we need everybody involved because everybody's going to benefit from this. Everybody should be giving their information, their data to build this out. because if we can get to that one truth, everybody can access this, then we're across the board. We have a very, very clear and direct understanding of what we're trying to do, who we're going after, and how we're gonna get there. And I think that's invaluable. Adam Grossman: I totally agree and I think in particular, understanding the fan is really important. That's really what we've made a commitment to, is really understanding the fan. If you can understand the fan, you can really do the things that you've just articulated and that's to your point, creating one source of truth and we're doing that in multiple different ways. We're your data and your data set and saying what other things of your known fans within your ⁓ what other things are they doing and vice versa. What are fans that you don't know about, what are they doing? But if you're saying like, you're talking about it, it's one of the questions that we asked, one of the questions your team asks is what is the demographic of a Chicago Sky fan? Well, that's demographic of which fans, right? Which part of your fan base? You're talking about your ticket sales, you're talking about potentially on social media, you're talking about people who are coming to the venue, or you're talking about people who are making transactions, and creating a weighted approach to say this is holistically in a weighted, ⁓ using weighted average, what the demographics of Sky fans are. ⁓ We talked previously is, in the past there have been even just the male female portions and ratio of your fan base ⁓ somewhat of a loaded question, right? is, ⁓ the expectation is that ⁓ a lot of ways there are a ton of female fans, but there's also a ton of male fans that are following this guy. And we wanted to make sure we accurately reflected the male and female fan base when you're talking to corporate partners, but also talking from a marketing, from a ticketing, from a premium, from a hospitality. All of those things require understanding who the fan is. Exactly. And we've talked to, you know, obviously multiple people within the organization about that. And I think that's been very helpful. we are, you know, actually both of us have somewhat of a deadline here. So we're getting towards the end of the podcast. One of the questions we normally ask, and we've spent a lot of time on this, is how are you thinking about using AI? What I think is more interesting given we've talked about that is senior leadership's expectation of the organization in terms of its use of AI. How are they thinking about it? How are they it, particularly both given our specific context of the work we're doing, but just more holistically, as organizations are thinking about AI and the impact of AI as the W is thinking about the AI, thinking about What's been your of strategic imperatives your C-suite executives in terms of what you're thinking about how to use and deploy artificial intelligence? Alex Teodosi: Yeah. And again, it's one of those things that AI, right? What does that mean? Your day goes into so many things these days. mean, your email's got it. Your search, everything has got AI in it now, right? So I think there wasn't necessarily a specific mandate from senior leadership or ownership on terms of AI, but it was more so what are we doing with AI so that we are not playing catch up or being left in the dust with something that is clearly Adam Grossman: Yeah. Alex Teodosi: kind of taking over, right? it's a, look at some of the companies and the valuations and things with AI, I mean, it's absolutely exploded, right? So it's reached a level now where it cannot be ignored, right? I think it's one of those things where we're still, and that's a big part of our partnership with you, which is why we love working with you guys, is we kind of lean on you too, right? For some of the things of, hey, how can we start to use AI insight? And I think I brought you that exact question and said, hey, we want to make sure that this is part of what we're doing. And you're like, yeah. Got an answer for you. Let me show you this to you and how this is going to work. So I think too, it's one of those things that it's a beast, right? And if you don't have the right strategic partners like we do with with Roar, that it might be difficult for you to figure out how do I best utilize this or perhaps become some of those things where it's such a behemoth that you just you don't quite know how to interact with it. And I feel like that's probably where a lot of people are right now. They're either full throttle. into the world of AI and you can tell because on their website and things like that, they've got chat boxes and you're like, okay, this company is doing it. And then there's a lot of companies, I'm sure, that are like, where do we start? Right? And I think for us, we just didn't want to be in the ladder camp. I don't know that with AI, we're quite at the absolute forefront and AI is integrated throughout our entire organization. We're certainly not there. But again, with steps like we do with our partnership. we are trying to make sure that AI is on the forefront, that we are thinking about this and we're being strategic and using it to our benefit so that we're not in a situation where we get left in the dust and then everyone else is using AI. So tricky question for sure, a great question. And I think like probably many others, we're in that boat of still evolving, evaluating and trying to figure out the best possible mechanisms to implement AI and use it for our team. Adam Grossman: Yeah, and one of things we're trying to focus on with you guys and with our clients more generally is a purpose-built solution for sports and entertainment. You one of questions we get a lot is what's difference between Claw, ChatGPT, Gemini, whatever an out-of-the-box solution is from a large language model perspective what you guys are doing at Roar. we focus on is actually similar to what you said, is like, how do we make this operational for sports? Sports and entertainment, and particularly sports properties, have specific use cases that they're to build this for. Out-of-the-box solutions do not work. They need to be combining numbers and narrative. They need to be combining insight generation. You need to know what's going on. You need to be able to communicate that to all internal and external stakeholders. And to your point, this is not just in sports, arguably particularly in sports, is exactly what you said, not everybody is using AI or know what it means or knows how, how to make it operational. So that's what we're doing. You know, you guys obviously have been part of our journey in terms of how we're implementing AI and creating all the different AI buzzwords and how you can use it. But it really is like you right. Having partners roar or otherwise who can help you in that journey is something we would highly recommend. Obviously we're doing that with you in the sky and we're doing that with other folks that we work with, but we really want to make sure that. I think it really is important to consider purpose-built technologies and actually go to, a non-AI technology answer is what is the end state? What are the benefits? What are we actually trying to achieve? From our perspective, we're trying to help you guys make more money, try to help you better engage with your fans, try to ⁓ to continue to build out the brand. Those are all core business objectives, AI or not, that AI should empower and enable. And that's something ⁓ very happy to work with you guys on. And we're very excited to see the success that we've had to date. And obviously, we're going to continue to build on that as we continue to grow our work together and continue to deploy the SmartDots platform across the organization. ⁓ Alex Teodosi: Yeah, no, absolutely. I think you wrapped it up perfectly. And I echo those sentiments. We've obviously loved working with you all and excited to see the evolution of our partnership and for us to continue hopefully celebrating some successes together. But so far, so great. And we're very appreciative for all the work that you and team do for us. Adam Grossman: As I tell my students, flattery will get you everywhere. So appreciate that. Alex, thanks for joining the Roar podcast. It was great to have you on and looking forward to having you on again to talk about even more success that we had in the past year. Alex Teodosi: I Of course, Adam, thank you very much for having me. It's my pleasure and I look forward to being back soon. Thank you again.