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The DiCecco Daily "Training Camp Legends Series:" Catching Up With Former Eagles WR/KR Jeremy Bloom · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

0:09
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome into another episode of the check O Day.
0:12
Speaker 1: It's Andrew dcheco here Eagles beat Reporter Friends sidethebirds dot
0:16
Speaker 1: Com and it's a special edition because I'm joined by
0:20
Speaker 1: two thousand and six fifth round pick of the photoph Eagles,
0:23
Speaker 1: number one forty seven overall. That would be one wide
0:26
Speaker 1: receiver Jeremy Bloom, who's kind enough to carve out a
0:29
Speaker 1: few minutes to take a walk down memory link with me. Jeremy,
0:32
Speaker 1: how you doing.
0:33
Speaker 2: I'm doing great, Andrew, good to see you.
0:35
Speaker 1: Good to see you. So we have a lot to
0:38
Speaker 1: cover in a short amount of time, but I feel
0:41
Speaker 1: it's really important to go back to your two seasons
0:45
Speaker 1: at Colorado. You'ly played two years there and I understand
0:48
Speaker 1: that it had to do with an NCAA roling. Could
0:51
Speaker 1: you explain that a little bit.
0:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I entered the University of Colorado as a
0:56
Speaker 2: freshman and coming off the heels of my first Olympics
1:00
Speaker 2: and being the number one rank skier in the world.
1:02
Speaker 2: So that created a bit of a hiccup for the
1:05
Speaker 2: NCUBLEA because I was compensated through endorsement money, and of
1:08
Speaker 2: course that was not allowed in the NCAA. Back then,
1:11
Speaker 2: So they basically said, you got to pick between football
1:13
Speaker 2: and skiing, and if you want to play football here,
1:16
Speaker 2: you can't have any endorsement for your ski career, which
1:20
Speaker 2: obviously didn't work out too well for me.
1:24
Speaker 1: So in two thousand and six, you participate in the
1:27
Speaker 1: Winter Olympics. How there was a big gap there from
1:30
Speaker 1: your football playing time. How did you stay in shape
1:34
Speaker 1: and how did you prepare for the NFL draft?
1:37
Speaker 2: Well, so, you know, I decided to forego all my sponsorships,
1:41
Speaker 2: so I got to play my freshmen and sophomore year
1:44
Speaker 2: at the University of Colorado, and then I was sort
1:46
Speaker 2: of broke, you know, and I wanted to fund a
1:48
Speaker 2: campaign to get back to my second Olympics in skiing,
1:51
Speaker 2: which would would have been Torino in two thousand and six.
1:54
Speaker 2: And so when I accepted the endorsements, the NCUBA declared
1:57
Speaker 2: me ineligible for my junior and senior season, So I
1:59
Speaker 2: really I focused on skiing exclusively during those two years,
2:05
Speaker 2: and that next year I ended up winning more World
2:09
Speaker 2: Cups than consecutive World Cups than anybody in the history sports.
2:12
Speaker 2: So it was working and I was so you know,
2:14
Speaker 2: sort of focused on skiing hindsight, being twenty twenty, I
2:18
Speaker 2: wish I would have done more football exercises during those
2:21
Speaker 2: two years because when I got drafted to the Eagles
2:24
Speaker 2: and went to a very pass happy Andy Reid offense
2:29
Speaker 2: and a training camp that was pretty brutal. Man, Like,
2:31
Speaker 2: you are sprinting all day every day, and you know,
2:35
Speaker 2: my body just wasn't conditioned for that. That's the reason
2:37
Speaker 2: I tore my hamstring my rookie season in Philly. But
2:40
Speaker 2: you know, look it all worked out in the end,
2:44
Speaker 2: but yeah, that was the reason for that gap.
2:46
Speaker 1: So you alluded to this, but let's get right to it.
2:49
Speaker 1: Your first training camp. What were your initial impressions. Was
2:52
Speaker 1: it everything that you expected or was a little bit
2:53
Speaker 1: more intense?
2:55
Speaker 2: I mean, it was a pinch me moment on every
2:58
Speaker 2: level of being honestly, you know, I've I always dreamed
3:01
Speaker 2: about playing in the NFL, and you know, five ft
3:04
Speaker 2: nine hundred and seventy pound guys don't typically make it there,
3:07
Speaker 2: and so just to be in the locker room with
3:09
Speaker 2: Donovan McNabb and Brian Dawkins and Brian Westbrook and just
3:13
Speaker 2: an incredibly talented team. It was the year after t
3:16
Speaker 2: O left with his famous sit ups in the in
3:18
Speaker 2: the driveway, but no, it was. It was incredible. And
3:23
Speaker 2: to be coached by Andy Reid, who's, you know, if
3:25
Speaker 2: not the best coach ever, certainly top top three. And
3:29
Speaker 2: to be immersed into a city that I had deep
3:31
Speaker 2: family connections to. My dad grew up in Villanova and
3:35
Speaker 2: went to Lower Marion High School, and so you know,
3:38
Speaker 2: it was just a It was a dream come true
3:40
Speaker 2: on on on every level and certainly taught me if
3:43
Speaker 2: I didn't know otherwise what hard work was. Those training
3:46
Speaker 2: camps at Lehigh were as hard of you know, some
3:50
Speaker 2: of the hardest things I've ever done before. But yeah,
3:53
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, it was. It was an incredible
3:55
Speaker 2: time in Philly. Obviously, I wish I would have had
3:58
Speaker 2: more success on the field, and I wish I could
4:00
Speaker 2: have figured out a way to stay healthy on one hand,
4:03
Speaker 2: But on the other hand, I'm sort of glad I
4:05
Speaker 2: only last three years in the NFL. Those guys are
4:07
Speaker 2: big and fast, and like I kind of like thank
4:11
Speaker 2: my lucky stars at this phase of life that I
4:14
Speaker 2: didn't have a long career.
4:16
Speaker 1: Now you mentioned your father, Larry, he is from Villanova, Pennsylvania.
4:19
Speaker 1: Did he brief you at all on what to expect
4:22
Speaker 1: from the Philadelphia fan base.
4:24
Speaker 2: He did, and I can tell you I had no
4:26
Speaker 2: idea going into it what what it was truly like
4:29
Speaker 2: being from Colorado, but you know, you've never met it.
4:34
Speaker 2: You know, a more passionate group of people about a team.
4:38
Speaker 2: And that's a great thing. And it can play out
4:42
Speaker 2: in spectacular ways if you're winning, and it could be
4:45
Speaker 2: pretty disastrous if you're losing. If you're losing.
4:49
Speaker 1: What are your takeaways from Lehigh? It's a story pastime
4:54
Speaker 1: a lot of you. You'll hear a lot of people
4:55
Speaker 1: talk about the old days when the Eagles would go
4:58
Speaker 1: to Lehigh. What were your takeaways from that?
5:00
Speaker 2: I mean two a day practices, you know, like like
5:03
Speaker 2: they used to be with with you know, not a
5:06
Speaker 2: lot of thinking about the players, you know, health and
5:08
Speaker 2: and all that type of stuff. They they really were brutal.
5:11
Speaker 2: And you know, I think I'm fairly qualified to say that,
5:14
Speaker 2: you know, being an Olympic athlete in an entirely different
5:16
Speaker 2: sport and you know, understanding what hard work is required
5:19
Speaker 2: to be the best in the world. Yeah, they they
5:22
Speaker 2: were brutal. Man especially I think for receivers because you
5:25
Speaker 2: were literally I mean, you're you're pushing your body the max.
5:27
Speaker 2: You're you're one hundred percent all day every day, you know,
5:31
Speaker 2: running and putting a lot of toll on on your bodies.
5:34
Speaker 2: So look, I think you know, the memories from Lehigh
5:37
Speaker 2: weren't that pleasant if I'm being if I'm being open,
5:40
Speaker 2: just because it was. It was tough, and it was
5:43
Speaker 2: very competitive, very hot, very humid. But I will say
5:46
Speaker 2: it was it was awesome to see the fans show
5:48
Speaker 2: up in Lee High like every day a practice. We
5:51
Speaker 2: had thousands of passionate fans literally chearing us on, which
5:54
Speaker 2: was cool.
5:55
Speaker 1: Now, also in your draft class was Jason Levant was
5:58
Speaker 1: were you guys roommates during your time at Lehigh?
6:02
Speaker 2: We weren't roommates, but we are very close friends. Uh,
6:05
Speaker 2: you know, love jay Von and you know, was was
6:07
Speaker 2: just so happy for him the amount of success that
6:10
Speaker 2: that he had, uh and and what he did to
6:12
Speaker 2: contribute to to Eagles Nation. But uh, yeah, Hank Basket
6:16
Speaker 2: was in that class. If if you remember Hank and
6:20
Speaker 2: a more Gaither and you know a bunch of other
6:23
Speaker 2: uh you know guys that it was fun. It was
6:25
Speaker 2: a fun, classy part.
6:26
Speaker 1: Of Now I'm sure Andy sort of Taylor's his approach
6:31
Speaker 1: to every player, what was his approach with you and
6:34
Speaker 1: and to that extent wide receivers. Coach David Cohen Cully.
6:38
Speaker 2: I love Cully. Cully is a character, man. I honestly,
6:41
Speaker 2: I spent way more time with Culley than than Coach Reid,
6:44
Speaker 2: and I never really felt like I got to know
6:46
Speaker 2: Coach read that well. And that's probably true for I
6:49
Speaker 2: think for most players. He I would describe him a
6:52
Speaker 2: bit more introverted than extroverted. And having been able to
6:55
Speaker 2: play for Mike Tomlin who's very extroverted, and and Andy Reid,
6:58
Speaker 2: who I think is much more interested. I don't know, man,
7:01
Speaker 2: I didn't really get a chance to know him. He
7:03
Speaker 2: wouldn't say much during team meetings. Then you spend a
7:05
Speaker 2: lot of time with your coordinators. Marty morning Wig was
7:08
Speaker 2: IOC when when I was there, and Kully and just
7:11
Speaker 2: a great, great group. But you know, Mike Tomlin just
7:14
Speaker 2: sort of seeing the difference between Andy Reid and Mike
7:16
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, he was much more outgoing and
7:19
Speaker 2: outspoken and more of that team leader in in a
7:22
Speaker 2: locker room than than Coach Reid was.
7:26
Speaker 1: Going into the summer of two thousand and six. I'm
7:29
Speaker 1: not sure if you were aware of this, but there
7:30
Speaker 1: was a lot of buzz surrounding you. Did you feel
7:34
Speaker 1: that when you got to training camp?
7:38
Speaker 2: You know I did feel it. I was, you know,
7:40
Speaker 2: coming off a good campaign at the Olympics and you know,
7:42
Speaker 2: being a three time world champion and you know, two
7:44
Speaker 2: time Olympics skier. I understood what that would entail. But
7:48
Speaker 2: I really tried to do my best to keep a
7:50
Speaker 2: low profile because it's tough to be a rookie on
7:51
Speaker 2: a team, and you know, you really want to earn
7:54
Speaker 2: your stripes, not not inherit them, you know, coming coming in.
7:58
Speaker 2: But you know, when I was put on ir because
8:00
Speaker 2: I you know, I tore my hamstring. I worked incredibly
8:02
Speaker 2: hard that that offseason and and had a great mini camp,
8:06
Speaker 2: was coming into training camp, you know, really really with
8:09
Speaker 2: a lot of momentum, and you know, unfortunately, you know,
8:12
Speaker 2: suffered another injury. Broke my toe against the Ravens in
8:17
Speaker 2: that preseason game and at that point, hamstring torn, broken toe,
8:22
Speaker 2: like it just wasn't meant to be, man, And that's
8:25
Speaker 2: that's sort of what I was how I was feeling
8:27
Speaker 2: and thinking, and you know, grateful, for the Steelers to
8:29
Speaker 2: give me another opportunity, but for whatever reason, just couldn't
8:33
Speaker 2: couldn't stay healthy.
8:35
Speaker 1: Not not to revisit it, but do you remember how
8:38
Speaker 1: you tour your hamstring that summer?
8:40
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I definitely do. Is at the end of practice,
8:44
Speaker 2: returning the kickoff, and you know, body really tired, you know,
8:47
Speaker 2: and and and again, like hadn't played football in two years,
8:51
Speaker 2: muscle muscles weren't really conditioned for those long practices. And
8:54
Speaker 2: I was just returning a kickoff and I went to
8:56
Speaker 2: go make a move, make a cut, and I just
8:58
Speaker 2: felt that thing like go immediately, and I just fell
9:01
Speaker 2: to the ground. And you know, I had never had
9:04
Speaker 2: a hamstring injury. And you know the problem with hamstring
9:07
Speaker 2: injuries is you never know when you're healthy, so you
9:11
Speaker 2: always I always went back to practice too early, like
9:14
Speaker 2: oh yeah, it feels good, feels good, And then you'd sprint,
9:16
Speaker 2: you'd turn it on and it would go again, and
9:18
Speaker 2: it would go again. And this probably happened gosh, I
9:21
Speaker 2: want to say five or six times. And it's unfortunately
9:24
Speaker 2: one of those injuries, especially if you're a speed guy,
9:27
Speaker 2: you sort of have to put it on the shelf.
9:28
Speaker 2: If I would have done anything differently, I would have
9:30
Speaker 2: shelfed it, like for you know, that whole offseason. I
9:34
Speaker 2: just would have shelfed it and got healthy. But it's
9:36
Speaker 2: a tricky injury to navigate.
9:38
Speaker 1: Now, you already came into training camp having competed at
9:41
Speaker 1: the highest level, but I understand that football is unique.
9:44
Speaker 1: Did you feel any kind of pressure even internally going
9:48
Speaker 1: into your first camp?
9:50
Speaker 2: Well, I mean you always feel pressure. In the end.
9:51
Speaker 2: It's it's the NFL. Like, if you're not feeling pressure,
9:54
Speaker 2: you know, I better check your heartbeat. You know, it's
9:57
Speaker 2: got to be one of the most, if not the
9:59
Speaker 2: most competitive leagues in the world. I mean there's only
10:01
Speaker 2: fifty two guys on a roster, what three thousand guys
10:04
Speaker 2: across the league, and you have tens of millions of
10:07
Speaker 2: people kids all around this country trying, you know, the
10:10
Speaker 2: best athletes in this country play football. I mean, there's
10:14
Speaker 2: been a lot of commentary about the World Cup soccer.
10:16
Speaker 2: I mean you're seeing that kid from from Norway excel.
10:20
Speaker 2: He's basically a middle linebacker and he'd probably be an
10:22
Speaker 2: average middle linebacker. Like if you took all the dbs
10:26
Speaker 2: and the receivers and the middle linebackers. You've took the
10:29
Speaker 2: hours in their life that they played football and you
10:31
Speaker 2: put them into soccer. We dominate. Like it wouldn't even
10:34
Speaker 2: be fun to watch the World Cup in my opinion,
10:36
Speaker 2: because I think the US would dominate that. So the
10:38
Speaker 2: NFL is so incredibly competitive, and you look at the
10:40
Speaker 2: college sort of feeding ground for talent coming up through
10:44
Speaker 2: the draft, and yeah, you feel a ton of pressure.
10:47
Speaker 2: And you see that revolving door. I mean, you'll go
10:49
Speaker 2: into your locker room on a Tuesday and your buddy
10:53
Speaker 2: next to you, the locker's totally cleaned out and he's gone.
10:56
Speaker 2: You didn't even know it, Like it's just you sort
10:58
Speaker 2: of realize that pretty quickly that it is a revolving door,
11:01
Speaker 2: and you got to do You got to show up
11:03
Speaker 2: well in meetings and on the field and all the
11:06
Speaker 2: things if you're going to remain in the league.
11:08
Speaker 1: Because your background is so unique. Did you get a
11:10
Speaker 1: lot of questions from teammates with regard to skiing and
11:13
Speaker 1: things like that. Did you get any ribbing from teammates.
11:17
Speaker 2: You always get ribbing, for sure, especially when you're on
11:21
Speaker 2: covers of magazines and things like that. But I would
11:25
Speaker 2: say there's this common mutual respect amongst most athletes and Olympians,
11:30
Speaker 2: Like a lot of athletes just wish they could be
11:32
Speaker 2: an Olympic athlete. It's cool to represent your country, and
11:35
Speaker 2: so I think most of the questions like, man, what
11:37
Speaker 2: is it like to be an Olympian and all that stuff,
11:39
Speaker 2: And it's cool to NOACI flag football coming as an
11:42
Speaker 2: Olympic sport in LA And it'll be interesting to see
11:45
Speaker 2: are there any current or former NFL players that actually
11:49
Speaker 2: play on those teams.
11:50
Speaker 1: I'm curious to hear your perspective on this, Jeremy. In retrospect,
11:53
Speaker 1: do you feel in any way that your skiing background
11:57
Speaker 1: took away some mobility on the football field when you
12:00
Speaker 1: were going through training camp?
12:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know for sure. Like mentally, I felt like
12:05
Speaker 2: the two helped each other because I never had a
12:08
Speaker 2: mental offseason. I was competing in skiing through the winter
12:10
Speaker 2: and then I was right there in training camp, so
12:12
Speaker 2: I'd never had an off season mentally, which I thought
12:15
Speaker 2: was helpful. Physically, they're two incredibly different sports. I mean,
12:19
Speaker 2: there's a reason there's only one person that's ever skied
12:21
Speaker 2: in the Olympics and play in the NFL, like and
12:23
Speaker 2: and it's it's it's you know, it's it's incredibly a
12:26
Speaker 2: unique export sport if you think about it this way,
12:29
Speaker 2: Like in football, especially for a receiver, you need a
12:32
Speaker 2: ton of ankle flexibility and strength to be able to
12:34
Speaker 2: make people miss and get in and out of brakes
12:36
Speaker 2: and cuts and things like that. And in skiing you're
12:39
Speaker 2: essentially putting a cast on your ankle, which does not
12:41
Speaker 2: help for flexibility or strength. The ski boot is essentially
12:45
Speaker 2: a tight cast. And so you know, there's a lot
12:47
Speaker 2: of things that I think I would have gained if
12:50
Speaker 2: I was a one sport athlete, if all I did
12:53
Speaker 2: was play football, or all I did was was ski
12:56
Speaker 2: And I think there's a there's a good case to
12:58
Speaker 2: be made that I would have been better at that
13:01
Speaker 2: sport if that's all I did. But in all candor
13:04
Speaker 2: and transparency and honesty, I wouldn't trade the experiences that
13:09
Speaker 2: I had with both for being the Michael Jordan of
13:13
Speaker 2: basketball or the Tom Brady of football. To me, that
13:17
Speaker 2: was really less important than getting to experience a team
13:20
Speaker 2: sport at the highest level getting to experience an individual
13:23
Speaker 2: sport at the highest level. Of course, I had, you know,
13:26
Speaker 2: more success on the global station skiing than I did
13:28
Speaker 2: obviously in football. But those relationships, those experiences, I wouldn't
13:32
Speaker 2: have traded those, traded those, and I'm just really grateful
13:34
Speaker 2: that I was able to experience the highest level in
13:36
Speaker 2: both those sports.
13:38
Speaker 1: At one point, did you decide you were done with
13:40
Speaker 1: football and you were going to move on to the
13:42
Speaker 1: next days of your life.
13:44
Speaker 2: It was definitely in Pittsburgh. When I was released for
13:47
Speaker 2: the second time in three years, I had an opportunity
13:51
Speaker 2: to go to the practice squad in Tampa Bay, and
13:54
Speaker 2: I'm coming off of, you know, torn hamstring, a broken toe,
13:58
Speaker 2: and besides that a pretty you know, enjoyable experience. And
14:02
Speaker 2: I always told myself that I was never going to
14:04
Speaker 2: be one of those athletes that just stuck around and
14:07
Speaker 2: when my time had come, like it was going to
14:09
Speaker 2: be my time and I'm going to go climb a
14:10
Speaker 2: new mountain. And I just determined at that point, it's no,
14:14
Speaker 2: I'm not going to go to a practice squad. You know,
14:16
Speaker 2: I think all signs and signals are saying to move
14:18
Speaker 2: on with your life and go try something different. And
14:20
Speaker 2: so I listened to those voices and I left, and
14:23
Speaker 2: I got into tech and started an enterprise software company
14:26
Speaker 2: of all things. I didn't even know how to code.
14:28
Speaker 2: And it was an incredible ten year journey, you know,
14:31
Speaker 2: building and growing that company. Ultimately to exit. The company
14:34
Speaker 2: was acquired in twenty twenty one by a private equity
14:37
Speaker 2: firm ount of Boston. But yeah, it was another fun journey,
14:40
Speaker 2: very similar to sports. Just dive into the deep end,
14:43
Speaker 2: sink or swim and a bit of a game of survival.
14:46
Speaker 2: And but yeah, it was fun to sort of, you know,
14:48
Speaker 2: sharpen my teeth in a totally different area.
14:50
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Speaker 1: You kind of alluded to it earlier in our conversation, Jeremy,
15:53
Speaker 1: but what was your welcome to the NFL.
15:55
Speaker 2: Moment getting hit over the middle again? It's I guess
16:00
Speaker 2: it was the Ravens in my first preseason game. You know,
16:04
Speaker 2: the biggest difference between returning a punt in college and
16:08
Speaker 2: returning a punt in the NFL is not necessarily the
16:11
Speaker 2: speed guys, the dbs, the lighter they're all quick. In
16:14
Speaker 2: big time college football, it's the lineman, it's the linebackers,
16:18
Speaker 2: it's the defensive ends. They are so much faster and
16:22
Speaker 2: more nimble and quick and smart than you find in college.
16:27
Speaker 2: I mean, I would watch I was withck Brodrick Broderick Bunkley,
16:31
Speaker 2: who I think was the first round draft pick in
16:33
Speaker 2: my draft class, huge guy like Florida State three. I
16:37
Speaker 2: mean he did the agility ladder like a linebacker in
16:41
Speaker 2: the in college or a dB in college. And those
16:44
Speaker 2: guys are so fast and so nimble, and they it
16:46
Speaker 2: really hurts when they hit you. So getting hit by
16:49
Speaker 2: one of those big guys that was meaningly fast than
16:51
Speaker 2: anybody I'd ever seen in college was definitely like you
16:54
Speaker 2: sure you want to stay in this leg? You say,
16:55
Speaker 2: you sure? This is what you want to do for
16:57
Speaker 2: a living. Now?
16:59
Speaker 1: You after football went into a lot of really interesting ventures.
17:05
Speaker 1: And if I'm correct on this, you were a DJ
17:08
Speaker 1: at MTV.
17:11
Speaker 2: That was actually before football. That was like MTV Beach
17:14
Speaker 2: House Days, that was after my first Olympics. I wasn't
17:17
Speaker 2: a DJ. I was what's called a VJ, which is
17:20
Speaker 2: like a host like a Carson Daily for you know,
17:23
Speaker 2: one of the Beach House shows, which was which was
17:25
Speaker 2: just pure fun and you know, didn't take that one
17:28
Speaker 2: too seriously.
17:30
Speaker 1: And were you also on a dating show? Is that right?
17:32
Speaker 2: Yeah? It was called The Choice, which turns out to
17:35
Speaker 2: be a bad choice for me to say yes too.
17:37
Speaker 2: But it was like if you've ever seen that the
17:42
Speaker 2: show the voice where you're like not looking at the
17:45
Speaker 2: musician and you can turn your chair if you like
17:47
Speaker 2: what you're here, you hear the same producer that created
17:51
Speaker 2: that show created the choice, and you would date somebody
17:55
Speaker 2: by just hearing and asking them questions and then you
17:58
Speaker 2: turn the chair and see what they actually look like.
18:00
Speaker 2: But again, that was like lighthearted fun. You know, didn't
18:03
Speaker 2: really take that one too serious. And at a phase
18:05
Speaker 2: of my life when I was single, so said, why
18:07
Speaker 2: not go have some fun on the show.
18:09
Speaker 1: How DoD just want to even become a contestant for that?
18:14
Speaker 2: I don't know. They reached out to me and said, hey,
18:16
Speaker 2: we think you'd be a good fit. Are you interested?
18:18
Speaker 2: And said I said, sure, I got some time.
18:21
Speaker 1: Well let's bring it current because what you're doing right
18:24
Speaker 1: now I think is very fascinating. I would love to
18:26
Speaker 1: hear a little bit more about it. You're a CEO
18:29
Speaker 1: of the X Games. What led you to that path
18:32
Speaker 1: and can you talk a little bit about what that
18:34
Speaker 1: job entails?
18:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean definitely, you know, sports led me to
18:38
Speaker 2: this job. I was a freestyle mogul skier, which is
18:41
Speaker 2: very adjacent to the X Games action sports, and so
18:44
Speaker 2: I know from an athlete perspective what it takes. And then,
18:46
Speaker 2: as I mentioned, when I left Sports. I started an
18:49
Speaker 2: enterprise software company, so I sort of understood after building
18:53
Speaker 2: that company for ten years what it takes to create
18:55
Speaker 2: value and build a successful product and a successful company.
19:00
Speaker 2: And then you know, after selling that company to Audex,
19:02
Speaker 2: it was a nine figure exit, so it was a
19:03
Speaker 2: great exit for the team. And working inside of private
19:06
Speaker 2: equity for three years as a CEO, I was hired
19:09
Speaker 2: to run the X Games and the X Games is
19:12
Speaker 2: owned by private equity now MSP Sports Capital, which owned
19:15
Speaker 2: the McLaren F one team and a big part of
19:17
Speaker 2: the Phoenix Suns and a bunch of pres soccer teams.
19:19
Speaker 2: So really great group of people who understand how to
19:22
Speaker 2: drive value in sports. And so yeah, I was hired
19:25
Speaker 2: about a year and a half ago to build a
19:28
Speaker 2: league inside of Action Sports, the first league ever inside
19:30
Speaker 2: of Action Sports called the Moonpay X Games League, and
19:32
Speaker 2: it's four different teams in the summer, four different teams
19:34
Speaker 2: in the winter. All these teams are individually owned, so
19:38
Speaker 2: we sold all these teams. They went through a draft
19:40
Speaker 2: five men, five women, Sam Paulo, Tokyo, New York and
19:44
Speaker 2: LA or the summer summer squads. We're in the mix
19:46
Speaker 2: of our season right now. Season. Stop three's in a
19:48
Speaker 2: couple of weeks in New Orleans where we'll crown the
19:51
Speaker 2: first ever league champion and handover a check for a
19:54
Speaker 2: half a million bucks. But it's gone great, man like,
19:56
Speaker 2: it's getting adopted. We're putting big ratings on TV show.
20:00
Speaker 2: In fact, the ASPAX Games was the most rated highly
20:02
Speaker 2: rated TV TV show at the X Games in seven years.
20:07
Speaker 2: And you know, we're feeling really good about you know,
20:09
Speaker 2: building building action sports back up to be bigger than
20:12
Speaker 2: they ever have been before. And obviously it pulls at
20:15
Speaker 2: my heartstrings because I love these sports. You know, it's
20:18
Speaker 2: a skiing and snowboarding in the winter and skateboarding and
20:21
Speaker 2: BMX and moto in the summer. So it's a it's
20:24
Speaker 2: a fun gig.
20:25
Speaker 1: Now that seems like quite an undertaking. How do you
20:27
Speaker 1: even go about establishing a team? What are the early
20:30
Speaker 1: stages of that? Do you work with other people and
20:33
Speaker 1: collaborate on that?
20:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, when I when I first got to the X Games,
20:37
Speaker 2: the idea was cool, but there was no execution of
20:40
Speaker 2: that idea. And turns out how you build a league
20:43
Speaker 2: is actually pretty complicated. And and so one of the
20:46
Speaker 2: first hires I made was Annie Lacash who came from
20:49
Speaker 2: the w NBA. She was like the number two at
20:51
Speaker 2: the w n b A, reporting directly to Kathy, the commissioner.
20:54
Speaker 2: And I tasked Anny with building out the operating system
20:58
Speaker 2: for our league, everything from how to ree agencies work,
21:00
Speaker 2: how does free agency work, how does the draft work,
21:02
Speaker 2: how it contracts, all these types of things. And she
21:04
Speaker 2: she's done a really great job inside of the league
21:07
Speaker 2: office building the framework for that league. But then you
21:11
Speaker 2: sort of have to surround yourself with great talent. Brought
21:13
Speaker 2: in the CMO from Nike and beats By, Dre brought
21:15
Speaker 2: in A had a revenue from the World Surf League
21:18
Speaker 2: and previous you know before that ESPN and and NBC.
21:22
Speaker 2: So just really build out a good court team around
21:25
Speaker 2: the business and around this league to go build it out.
21:29
Speaker 2: And I think it's the probably the biggest reason why
21:31
Speaker 2: why we're having such early success.
21:34
Speaker 1: You mentioned New Orleans. Do you also have Tokyo on
21:36
Speaker 1: the horizon? Is that coming up?
21:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, we just finished Tokyo, So I just got back
21:40
Speaker 2: in a couple of days ago, and that event went
21:43
Speaker 2: went great. Just outside of Tokyo, in a town called Chiba.
21:47
Speaker 2: We had thousands of people show up and we'll put
21:49
Speaker 2: that on ESPN and ABC this weekend. But another great event,
21:53
Speaker 2: and you know, in Sacramento or Kickoff, we broke an
21:56
Speaker 2: attendance record of fifty two thousand people went through the gates.
21:59
Speaker 2: That was the most highly attended X Games post COVID.
22:02
Speaker 2: So yeah, we're feeling good, making progress.
22:06
Speaker 1: And where can those listening and watching find out more
22:08
Speaker 1: information on that?
22:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, X game x games dot com is a great
22:12
Speaker 2: place to learn about the league and follow the athletes,
22:15
Speaker 2: and of course all of our events are on the
22:16
Speaker 2: networks of ESPN and ABC, which will be on TV
22:21
Speaker 2: this weekend with Japan and then live in New Orleans
22:24
Speaker 2: at the end of the month.
22:25
Speaker 1: That's awesome, man, what a story. What a story. And Jeremy,
22:29
Speaker 1: I appreciate you carving out some time and talking about everything,
22:33
Speaker 1: and man, it's really exciting what you're what you're doing
22:36
Speaker 1: right now.
22:37
Speaker 2: Thank you. Andrew really really appreciated my time as part
22:41
Speaker 2: of Eagles Nation. I wish I could have contributed to
22:45
Speaker 2: the success of the team a bit more for the fans,
22:48
Speaker 2: but you know, I always look back at that moment
22:51
Speaker 2: read very fondly, and it's been you know, just an
22:53
Speaker 2: honor to be able to wear the green and represent
22:57
Speaker 2: the bird. So Go Eagles. I'm a lifelong fan now
23:00
Speaker 2: and cheer for the team and appreciate you having me on.
23:03
Speaker 1: Absolutely Well, that's gonna do it for this episode of
23:06
Speaker 1: The Checko Daily for Jeremy Bloom. I'm Andrew Dcheco and
23:10
Speaker 1: I'll catch you all on the next one.