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Mac & Bone Show - Brian Murphy Interview · Mac & Bone Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So let's talk through this with Brian Murphy himself, who
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: joins us here on the Mac and Bone Show. Brian,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: what's going on, man? I really appreciate you joining us
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: on the West Coast Man.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no problem, Thanks thanks for having me guys.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: All right, so where does this stand politically? Is this
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: something that is not going to make its way through completely?
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: This idea to fund the Raleigh baseball stadium? How do
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: you feel? How's that going right now?
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah? So, you know, the it is not going to
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: be in the budget that that's going to be voted
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: on this week up in Raleigh. Okay, but there is
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: a plan, and at least the Senate is backing this
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: plan that would have used public money about five hundred
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: million from the state and then a variety of money
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: from local resources up up in Wake County, sports gambling tax,
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: a special taxing district actually, you know, diverting some of
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: the taxes on players or performers that play at the facility,
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: and that would have funded this one point seven billion
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: dollar stadium in Wake County. And that would have put
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: I think pushed Raleigh right to the front of the
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: line for an expansion team if and when Major League
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: Baseball ever gets around to the siding some cities for
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: an expansion.
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: What's the ballpark situation there in Rawie, what's the where
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: will it go? How much will it cost? Give us
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: the uh, the update on what that may look like there.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, this was you know, this was a plan to
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: fully pay for for a one point seven billion dollar stadium.
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: My understanding was it would not have a retractable roof,
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: but it would be in the same vicinity as Lenovo
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: Center where the Hurricanes play and Carter Finley Stadium where
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: NC State obviously plays football, and that it may be
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: closer to the State Fairgrounds area. And they have created this,
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: you know, sort of special sports and entertainment districts and
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: been able to raise taxes in that district. Uh. You know,
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: people are familiar with the battery around around.
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: Atlanta's Stadium and Atlanta's baseball stadium.
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: This would have been like that. And of course the
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: Hurricanes are supposed to develop the area, all those parking
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: lots around Lenovo Center, so this would have been, you know,
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: another edition to that sort of year round sports from
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: college basketball to hockey to Major League baseball. It doesn't
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: seem like this is going to get in the budget.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: But there is a proposal, and I think it could
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: come up at any time. There's no reason that has
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: to be in the budget. That could be voted on
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: as a standalone bill.
• 2:31
  Speaker 5: All right, So we got to get to the owner.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: You know, the possible owners here, right, Tom Dundon and
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: North Carolina Courage investor Mark Lazry you write about this
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: in the article, have both expressed a desire to bring
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: a franchise to Charlotte separately, Right, So you have these
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: two billionaires. I'm sitting here on the radio in Charlotte saying,
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: David Tepper, why not one more team?
• 2:53
  Speaker 5: Come on, baby, throw your hat into the ring.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: It feels like this is a key thing that we
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: don't have here in Charlotte, right, that you might have options.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: There is the feeling though, that Dundon would be like
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: that Dundon would be the guy that would end up
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: being the lead dog, like if if y'all were to
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: get major League Baseball there.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think you know Tom Dundon obviously,
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: you just want to Stanley Cup with the you know,
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: with the care a lot of Hurricanes. He has deep
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: relationships up there. The guy who runs the business side
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: of the Hurricanes. Used to work in the state legislature
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: for Senator Phil Berger, who's the top Republican in the
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: Senate and clearly has a good relationship with the people
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: who run the Centennial Authority, which you know, uh, the
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: Cintennial Authority oversees Lenovo Center. The Hurricanes run it. The
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: Hurricanes have development rights around it. I mean, Raleigh and
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: the state are already in business with Tom Dundon. Mark
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: Lazari is a guy who used to own part of
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: the Milwaukee Bucks. You know, manages this giant hedge fund
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: or capital fund is invested in teams all over all
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: over the country, including the Baltimore Orioles. So you've got
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: and he said, you know, he told me in a
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: story I reported last week or a couple of weeks ago,
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: that he wants to be invested in Raleigh. That he
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: believes Raleigh is, you know, five to fifteen years from now,
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: Raleigh is a growth city and the place where he
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: wants to kind of put his stake. So, you know,
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: to have two guys say Raleigh is the place I
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: want to be. Obviously, I think you know, moves moves
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: the city kind of ahead of other cities in this
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: pacting order. But of course, you know, all these guys
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: want a stadium, and Raleigh does not have a baseball
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: stadium capable of holding you know, major League Baseball at
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: this point. And my understanding is Charlotte doesn't really either,
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: And so who can finance a stadium? How can you
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: get a stadium built? If you're talking you know, one
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: point seven, let's call it two billion dollars for a stadium.
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: Well that they've also got to get a team, which
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: is probably going to be somewhere around three billion dollars.
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: So it's a pretty heavy investment. And if you don't
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: have somebody with five billion dollars or the ability to
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: put together five billion dollars, that, how are you going
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: to get How was anybody in North Carolina going to
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: get a team?
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: Ryan?
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: Well?
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: How much your fans in Raleigh clamoring for baseball? Is
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: it a big pleasure that the majority wanting?
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: Is?
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: What's the fan view of this?
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's hard to tell.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: I mean, you know, until you have a team, it's
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: hard to know, you know, what the interest is. I
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: think seeing what the Hurricanes did, seeing that, you know,
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: two hundred thousand people showed up for a parade seeing
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: that they were selling out watch parties at Lenovo Center
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: when when the Hurricanes were playing in Las Vegas and
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: and they were, you know, nineteen thousand people in the stadium,
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: another ten thousand outside of the stadium, watch parties all
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: around the city with thousands more. I think there's a
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: feeling like that Rolly's kind of ready for this. You know,
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: Rolly only has one professional team on like Charlotte, which
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: has you know, two of the Big Four plus Major
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: League Soccer. So there's a sense I think in Raleigh that,
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: like the times now right, the city is growing, the
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: city is ready for this. We only have one other team.
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: But you know, is it enough to pack thirty five
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: to forty thousand seeds stadium eighty one times a year?
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: I think it is an open question.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: The last thing I want to ask Brian Murphy WRL.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: Check out WRL dot com the article about you know,
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: Riley's push and the political aspect of this, the ownership
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: groups and potential ownership groups and all that stuff. Do
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: folks in Raleigh like do who do they look at
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: as their rivals for this? I've seen it reported by
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: some baseball insiders, the Major League Baseball would ideally pick
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: at east coast city and a West coast expansion city,
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: and Nashville gets a lot of hype as fast as
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: that city is growing. We and Charlotte would love to
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: be in the mix. We get mentioned in all these
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: articles because of how fast Charlotte's grow into the Fortune
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: five hundred companies are here and things like that are
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: success with other pro sports. But man, no one has
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: stepped up and said, I, you know, I got tons
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: of money, I want a team in Charlotte. Who do
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: people and Raleigh view as their competition? Is Charlotte even
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: viewed as that or or no.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: I think most people think Nashville. And look they're basing
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: this on all those national reports that Nashville, you know,
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: is the is the leader on the East coast or
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: the leader in the you know, this side of the country.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: As far as getting a team, I think, you know,
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: one of the issues for Charlotte is there.
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: The city and is putting six hundred and.
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: Fifty million dollars into the Bank of America repairs, and
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: so you know where where you're going to find another
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: six hundred and fifty million or more to help build
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: you know, a.
• 7:32
  Speaker 4: Baseball stadium, and then the fact that no owner.
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: Has stepped up, So I think most people think Nashville.
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: I think the real question is what do the Atlanta
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: Braves want or what are the Baltimore Orioles or Washington
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: Nationals want or Saint Louis Cardinals, Like how close to
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: their territory are you willing to go? Like is Nashville
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: going to reach opposition from Saint Louis or is Charlotte
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: going to have opposition from the Braves. It's the team
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: owners that vote on this eventually, you know, when we
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: get down to it. So they're all going to be
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: protecting their own territory. I think that's going to play
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: a role. Do they want to go to Montreal, you
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: know and get into the Canadian market? I think there's
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: a lot of questions, and I mean Major legue baseball
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: may not even play in the twenty twenty seventh season.
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: There may be a lockout, so like all this might
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: get pushed off a couple of years. So it's just
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: it's really fascinating. But and the fact that Raley is
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: not going to pass it, you know, the state legislature
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: is not going to pass us and the budget I
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: think opens questions about whether Raleigh is really a contender
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: at this point as well.
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: Right, as a Yankee fan, I'm root for the lockout
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: right now to happen as quick as possible.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: If you're rooting for that what city. The Mets fan
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: on the show rooting for literally the league to be
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: a polisher, he's rooting for basketball season, all right, Brian,
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: good stuff here, good stuff. I wish you were writing
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: an article about Charlotte has the big push. They have
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: the backers, they've got a you know, the Senate folks talking.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: But that's good education for us here for interest in
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: sports fans. Thanks for coming on and doing it early
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: in the morning.
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: Man.
• 9:01
  Speaker 5: Appreciate you, brother.
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks for sell those Charlotte billionaires to get on it.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: Man, I'm trying to We know one, all right, man,
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: Appreciate you.
• 9:12
  Speaker 5: That is Brian Murphy W R. E. L.