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Power Brokers Mid Atlantic Sports Summit Interview & Preview · Community D.C.

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  Speaker 1: He It's Dennis Blaska for My Heart Sports DC, and
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  Speaker 1: I am very proud to introduce to our entire iHeartMedia
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  Speaker 1: listenership that we are partnering with Jeff Azelouni, who is
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  Speaker 1: the president and CEO of Fusion Sports and Entertainment. And
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  Speaker 1: on Wednesday, December seventeenth, in partnership with iHeartMedia, at the
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  Speaker 1: Willard Hotel in Washington, DC, Fusion is hosting Powerbrokers mid
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  Speaker 1: Atlantic Sports Summit, which will bring the region's most significant
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  Speaker 1: and consequential sports business leaders together. Jeff and I will
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  Speaker 1: talk about what this event is, what it offers, and
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  Speaker 1: how you can purchase tickets to be a part of
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  Speaker 1: this incredible one day event. Well, everybody heard my intro
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  Speaker 1: to the excitement coming up in less than a month
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  Speaker 1: this recording date for a Powerbrokers mid Atlantic Sports Summit,
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  Speaker 1: And Jeff, I know that last time we talked that
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  Speaker 1: things were coming together quite well, but now they're even
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  Speaker 1: bigger and better. I know you've added a post event
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  Speaker 1: that I want to talk with you about. But for
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  Speaker 1: the people that miss the interview last time, I'd love
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  Speaker 1: to give context about not only your background and why
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  Speaker 1: you're doing this, but putting this together because it really
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  Speaker 1: is unique events. So before we do anything, can you
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  Speaker 1: kind of give people context about your background and all
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  Speaker 1: the things that you've done in sports, because your resume
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  Speaker 1: is really incredible.
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  Speaker 2: Well, thank you, Dennis, and again thank you for inviting
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  Speaker 2: me to come back on.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: I've been in these professional sports business for a little
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  Speaker 2: over thirty years.
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  Speaker 3: I'm a Detroit native.
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  Speaker 2: I started my career with the Detroit Red Wings and
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  Speaker 2: Detroit Tigers. Then I moved on and worked for the
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  Speaker 2: Tampa Bay Buccaneers for twelve years. Also ran corporate partnerships
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  Speaker 2: for Manchester United and a few other teams.
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  Speaker 3: Along the way.
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  Speaker 2: I won't bore you with every stage, but I left
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  Speaker 2: the team side of sports a little over a year
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  Speaker 2: ago and I started my own sports consulting business, essentially
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  Speaker 2: using my institutional knowledge to help corporate brands guide them
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  Speaker 2: through the landscape of their sponsorship portfolios and how to
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  Speaker 2: engage with the teams i'm in.
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  Speaker 3: Part of that business that I.
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  Speaker 2: Started also involves curating sports business conferences, and so I
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  Speaker 2: decided to kind of launch a series of regional based conferences,
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  Speaker 2: and the first one being here in Washington, DC, which
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  Speaker 2: is coming up on December the seventeenth at the Willard Hotel.
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  Speaker 2: What's unique about these sports conferences, Dennis, is that the
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  Speaker 2: audience is the corporate community, And although I have great
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  Speaker 2: participation from all the major teams in the market, they're
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  Speaker 2: really speaking to corporate decision makers about sponsorship opportunities, premium hospitality, sports, media,
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  Speaker 2: real estate development. So it's really kind of a unique approach.
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  Speaker 2: The other thing is that they're regional in focus. So
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  Speaker 2: my first one is here in Washington, but I'll be
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  Speaker 2: expanding it with other cities in the near future. Well, first,
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  Speaker 2: let me touch on the market, Dennis, and what's so
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  Speaker 2: unique about the Mid Atlantic region Washington, d C. And Baltimore.
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  Speaker 2: It's unlike anywhere else in the country. What is going
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  Speaker 2: to transpire here in the next three to five years
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  Speaker 2: is bigger than any market in the nation. And the
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  Speaker 2: reason why that is is because the scale of things
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  Speaker 2: that are happening in a condensed period of time. Obviously,
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  Speaker 2: there are things happening all over the country. There are
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  Speaker 2: new stadiums being built, major renovations happening with arenas and stadiums,
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  Speaker 2: but here in one place, you have the biggest stadium
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  Speaker 2: development project in the nation. About to take place with
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  Speaker 2: the new Commanders Stadium. Then on top of that you
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  Speaker 2: have monumental sports and entertainment, which is essentially building a
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  Speaker 2: new arena around an old one. This isn't just a
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  Speaker 2: referb over in Baltimore, no less. You have the Ravens
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  Speaker 2: and the Orioles, both in partnership with the States, infusing
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  Speaker 2: hundreds of millions of dollars into their facilities, and not
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  Speaker 2: far down the road you're going to hear news about
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  Speaker 2: the Nationals doing similar things. So all of this is
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  Speaker 2: happening at one time in a market that's one of
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  Speaker 2: the biggest in the country.
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  Speaker 3: It's that pretty massive news that's happening in.
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  Speaker 2: The business, and you ask me about what the focus
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  Speaker 2: is of those developments. You know, the sophistication of facilities
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  Speaker 2: and the way we interact with them has changed so
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  Speaker 2: much over the past few decades. You know, gone are
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  Speaker 2: the days where it's just a bowl with seats in
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  Speaker 2: them and people get a hot dog. The experience is
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  Speaker 2: so sophisticated and it's so targeted different segments of an
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  Speaker 2: audience that buildings are built with a lot of thought
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  Speaker 2: and attention to detail around market segmentation. So what you
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  Speaker 2: see is a lot of the renovations and developments in
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  Speaker 2: the arenas and stadiums are built around premium hospitality experiences
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  Speaker 2: that are divided up in multiple ways to suit every
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  Speaker 2: market need outstanding.
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  Speaker 1: So I don't want to bury the lead anymore. You've
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  Speaker 1: got a great guest speaker list. And also there's going
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  Speaker 1: to be lunch and there's going to be a lot
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  Speaker 1: of things that people are going to experience that day
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  Speaker 1: at the Willard Hotel. So when somebody does purchase a
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  Speaker 1: ticket and folks, we're going to tell you how to
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  Speaker 1: do that. And if you're on the website listening to this,
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  Speaker 1: there are links to that so you can check that out,
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  Speaker 1: see what it's all about, register, get your tickets. But
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  Speaker 1: let's talk about what the day includes, and then let's
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  Speaker 1: go to the guest speakers, because it really is an
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  Speaker 1: amazing list that you compiled.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, it's a really simple layout with the conference because
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  Speaker 2: if you attend, there are no breakout sessions, any choices
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  Speaker 2: to be made like that.
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  Speaker 3: If you have a ticket to.
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  Speaker 2: This event, you'll experience the whole thing, you know, soup
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  Speaker 2: to nuts right from the beginning. The lineup of speakers
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  Speaker 2: is something I'm proud of because you know, when I
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  Speaker 2: approached all the teams, they all were very excited to participate.
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  Speaker 2: So you have the presidents of all the major clubs
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  Speaker 2: in the market. Mark Klaus, the president of the Washington Commanders.
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  Speaker 2: You have Jim Vanstone, the president of Monumental Sports and Entertainment,
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  Speaker 2: which is the Capitals, the Wizards, and the Mystics. Then
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  Speaker 2: you have Sashi Brown, the president of the Ravens, Katie Griggs,
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  Speaker 2: the president of the Baltimore Orioles, and we just recently
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  Speaker 2: announced Kim Stone, who's the president of the Washington spirit
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  Speaker 2: So an incredible lineup of keynote speakers. And that's on
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  Speaker 2: the team side. The other fifty percent, really of the
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  Speaker 2: programming are discussion panels led by panelists from the corporate community,
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  Speaker 2: people that are deeply involved in the sports business, people
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  Speaker 2: that make decisions in sponsorships, in sports media, premium hospitality.
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  Speaker 2: We're going to have a really unique panel about real
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  Speaker 2: estate development around sports anchored districts, which is going to
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  Speaker 2: be a very relevant topic here in Washington and in
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  Speaker 2: Baltimore in the near future.
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  Speaker 3: So the lineup is really exceptional.
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  Speaker 1: Jeff, there are so many touch points with all the
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  Speaker 1: guests that you mentioned about the different avenues and buckets
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  Speaker 1: that come with pro and amateur sports, and whether it's
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  Speaker 1: a building and whether it's hospitality, which I love to
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  Speaker 1: talk to you about because that seems to be in
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  Speaker 1: the news with not only the new stateiuments being built,
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  Speaker 1: but the experience that they want to have fans go
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  Speaker 1: and get at a game or an event. With that said,
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  Speaker 1: when you put this together the idea of the Sports Summit,
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  Speaker 1: what kind of person were you gearing this ad like,
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  Speaker 1: who would you like to attend, get excited about this
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  Speaker 1: and who will get the most out of it.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, the people in the room are primarily going to
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  Speaker 2: be those in the corporate community that make major decisions
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  Speaker 2: for their companies through marketing perspective, sales engagement with clients.
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  Speaker 2: So when I look at the lineup of people that
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  Speaker 2: have registered so far, as primarily chief executive officers, chief
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  Speaker 2: revenue officers, chief marketing officers, heads of marketing, heads of operations,
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  Speaker 2: people that engage directly with their client base.
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  Speaker 1: One other thing I wanted to talk to you about
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  Speaker 1: that'll be addressed at the conference is the sports media
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  Speaker 1: when it comes to sports business, And I know that's
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  Speaker 1: a real large, giant thing we're talking about, because there's television,
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  Speaker 1: there's radio, there's digital, there's social media, and then of
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  Speaker 1: course the in game experience. But with that said, the
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  Speaker 1: business of sports, I mean there's so many websites, there's
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  Speaker 1: so many companies covering it now. I mean, it really
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  Speaker 1: is a big business because we're seeing the sports contracts
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  Speaker 1: with the stream services that are in the billions of dollars,
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  Speaker 1: and I know ownerships are getting involved in this. It
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  Speaker 1: really is an incredible over the last decade, and I
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  Speaker 1: know you've been a part of it. How it's growing
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  Speaker 1: on Mentally, can you talk a little bit about the
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  Speaker 1: business of sports.
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  Speaker 2: There are multiple factors that influence the value of teams
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  Speaker 2: and how the industry is rising. The biggest by far
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  Speaker 2: are the value of media, which you have seen happen
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  Speaker 2: in the past I would say decade or so, is
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  Speaker 2: a major shift in how we consume our sports. It's
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  Speaker 2: fascinating because you know, back in the day, let's say
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  Speaker 2: thirty years or so ago, your options were network television
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  Speaker 2: essentially the Big Three, and regionalized sports that were on
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  Speaker 2: linear channels or through cable networks. But today that evolution
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  Speaker 2: has been taking shape and growing in different directions. So
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  Speaker 2: obviously direct to consumer offerings through streaming platforms, entities like
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  Speaker 2: Disney and Netflix, Prime through Amazon, all of these avenues
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  Speaker 2: are growing and they're creating greater value to the leagues
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  Speaker 2: because of the kind of contracts the leagues are negotiating
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  Speaker 2: with these entities. All of that causes the rise and
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  Speaker 2: value of clubs. There are other factors, but the media
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  Speaker 2: landscape is the thing that has the biggest influence on that.
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  Speaker 2: On a regional basis, however, that has caused a major
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  Speaker 2: rift in the business because regional sports networks that always
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  Speaker 2: existed on cable channels or cable networks have been affected
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  Speaker 2: significantly by cord cutting. So people are consuming sports on
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  Speaker 2: a regional basis in a very different way. The interesting
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  Speaker 2: thing is here in this market in Washington, DC, you
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  Speaker 2: have an entity like Monumental Sports Network, which is owned
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  Speaker 2: by Monumental Sports and Entertainment Ted Leonsis and his investors
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  Speaker 2: are very contrariant because they're going all in on their network.
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  Speaker 2: They're having tremendous success because they have the scale through
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  Speaker 2: multiple teams to accomplish that. So it's fascinating evolution to watch.
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  Speaker 2: It's going to continue to happen because the one value
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  Speaker 2: in media today more than anything is live sports.
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  Speaker 3: It's the one thing that people love and consume.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's one of the few things I think
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  Speaker 1: people like me watch actually live and nothing else. Everything's
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  Speaker 1: now DVR in this world because we're moving so quickly
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  Speaker 1: and there are so many choices out there. Before I
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  Speaker 1: get some final thoughts from you on the series, kind
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  Speaker 1: of recap what we talked about with the guest and
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  Speaker 1: what everybody will get at the Willard Hotel in Washington,
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  Speaker 1: d C. On December seventeenth. I just want to make
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  Speaker 1: sure that everybody knows about the website, how to register,
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  Speaker 1: how to get tickets, and also we should mention at
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  Speaker 1: the time of this taping you also added a post event,
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  Speaker 1: which is really exciting. Can you talk about that first.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely, Dennis.
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  Speaker 2: We just announced a partnership with Monumental Sports and Entertainment,
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  Speaker 2: so everybody that attends the events will also after the
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  Speaker 2: event attend a post a reception at Capital One Arena.
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  Speaker 2: This will be a private reception and that will include
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  Speaker 2: great food and beverage and kind of an exclusive tour
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  Speaker 2: of the arena and all the incredible changes that are
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  Speaker 2: going on over there, some of which that are publicly
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  Speaker 2: facing today, a lot of which are still in developments
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  Speaker 2: because some people may not realize that Capital One Arena
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  Speaker 2: is going through a three year phased redevelopment. So that's
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  Speaker 2: going to be exciting experience for people who are really
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  Speaker 2: keen on learning about what's happening in the sports space.
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  Speaker 2: To get an inside look of what it looks like
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  Speaker 2: back of house over at Capitol One Arena, right.
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  Speaker 1: And it's hard and it's already underway, and if anybody's
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  Speaker 1: seen the renderings, please look it up because it is
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  Speaker 1: going to look gorgeous down there.
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  Speaker 3: Now. It's pretty amazing.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, already the things that are live and accessible
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  Speaker 2: to the public are incredible.
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  Speaker 3: But that's just the preview of what's the.
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  Speaker 1: All right, So let's tell people how they can register.
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  Speaker 1: Let's remind them about the dates, the times, your guest speakers,
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  Speaker 1: and how to get tickets, and of course the website.
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  Speaker 3: Jeff, Yes, absolutely.
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  Speaker 2: The event is Wednesday, December seventeenth at the Willard Intercontinental
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  Speaker 2: Hotel downtown DC, right next to the White House. It's
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  Speaker 2: the nicest hotel in the city, so it's a fabulous setting.
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  Speaker 2: To get tickets, you can go on powerbrokersevents dot com.
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  Speaker 2: That's powerbrokersevents dot com. If you buy a ticket and register,
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  Speaker 2: you'll attend the whole events. There are no choices to
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  Speaker 2: make on breakout sessions or anything like that. We'll have keynotes,
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  Speaker 2: conversations with the presidents of the Washington Commanders, the Baltimore Orioles,
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  Speaker 2: Monumental Sports and Entertainment, the Baltimore Ravens, and the Washington
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  Speaker 2: Spirit So heck of a lineup of keynotes. In addition
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  Speaker 2: to that, we'll have a number of discussion panels from
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  Speaker 2: leaders in the corporate community about sponsorship, about media, sports,
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  Speaker 2: anchored real estate development, and a variety of other topics,
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  Speaker 2: as well as fantastic food and great networking.
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  Speaker 1: And not too embarrassed Jeff, but I know how hard
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  Speaker 1: he's worked on this inaugural event, and it is herculean
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  Speaker 1: that he's put this together because the names are epic,
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  Speaker 1: the topics are going to be great, and it really
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  Speaker 1: is going to be a great inaugural event. So I
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  Speaker 1: couldn't be more stoked for you, Jeff and your team,
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  Speaker 1: So thank you again for your time. We're looking forward
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  Speaker 1: to once again participating and being partners with you in this,
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  Speaker 1: but thank you so much. Continued success, really looking forward
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  Speaker 1: to this.
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  Speaker 3: Thanks for inviting me back. Dennis