Bloomberg Business of Sports

Jason Kelly, Michael Barr and Mike Lynch discuss the latest in the business of sports, including how a shorts-clad foursome of actual pros and quarterbacks put on the most-watched golf game in history. The Match II was a delight to starved sports fans around the world. We also discuss the NHL’s 24 team, two-city restart plan along with the protracted, controversial negotiations between Major Leagu...

Two decades of building a business at the nexus of technology and fitness have taught Rick Stollmeyer a lot, but nothing prepared him, or his customers for what the pandemic has wrought. He sees a world where a quarter of boutique studios go out of business, and also a population that values health and wellness more than ever. In a wide-ranging conversation with Jason Kelly, he talks about everyth...

Sheltering in place means not going out to work. It also means not going to work out. So how does fitness come back? Limited hours, expanded sanitation, personal protective equipment… getting fit is going to look a lot different, at the club, and in your home. We talk with two of the largest names in industry, Planet Fitness CEO Chris Rondeau and Equinox Executive Chairman Harvey Spevak. Plus our...

Jason Kelly sits down with Bloomberg Opinion Columnist Joe Nocera to talk NCAA athletics and the reopening of educational intuitions. He's the host of megahit soon to be a movie podcast The Shrink Next Door, Author, Indentured: The Battle to End the Exploitation of College Athletes, Also "All The Devils are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis" and many other books. Joe tells us why he...

With Major League Baseball inching toward something resembling a season, we check in with agent Rachel Luba to see how top players are taking stock of their options. Luba’s been a notable disruptor in the world of representation -- her deft handling of Trevor Bauer’s $17.5 million contract with the Reds brought her notice, as did her certification as the only female MLBPA agent. She talked with Ja...

He negotiated a contract with Sammy Sosa and helped grow AOL into a juggernaut. Now Donn Davis -- a co-founder of private equity firm Revolution Growth with his old boss Steve Case -- is the chairman of the Professional Fighters League, as well as a backer of an e-sports team and a media investor. He tells Jason Kelly, Michael Barr and Mike Lynch how the PFL is working through its hiatus and its p...

Jason Kelly, Michael Barr and Mike Lynch discuss the latest in the business of sports, including the negotiations behind getting baseball back on the diamond. MLB owners and the players union are at odds over, you guessed it, money. Is it a question of economics, fairness, or patriotism? Also: the trials and tribulations of the sports agent in the age of coronavirus as Endeavor falters, and why Ge...

Eben Novy-Williams, Jason Kelly and Mike Lynch discuss a host of issues related to the business of sports, including new developments in Zion Williamson's legal battle with his one-time marketing agent. New filings have added to the suspicion around the former Duke star's adherence to NCAA rules, and is also reigniting a broader conversation around college athletes and their compensation while in...

Jamie Reigle, CEO of Formula E, joins Eben Novy-Williams, Michael Barr and Jason Kelly to discuss how the electric car racing circuit is handling the cancellation of events due to the coronavirus pandemic. Formula E held a handful of races earlier this year before its season was put on hold. In the meantime, the circuit has been organizing virtual races with drivers and celebrities. A long-time sp...

Eben Novy-Williams and Michael Barr are joined by Bloomberg’s New York City bureau chief Jason Kelly to discuss a host of issues related to the business of sports, including an NFL memo to all 32 teams laying out its refund policy should the 2020 season be disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic. The league will allow fans a full refund, or future credit, for any game that is cancelled or held without...

Eben Novy-Williams and Michael Barr are joined by Bloomberg’s New York City bureau chief Jason Kelly to discuss a host of issues related to the business of sports, including details about how the NFL’s Miami Dolphins may change Hard Rock Stadium to have it ready for fans this fall. The plan includes specific entrance times on tickets, and a new sequence for emptying the stadium, row by row, to avo...

Angela Ruggiero, co-founder and CEO of Sports Innovation Lab, joins Eben Novy-Williams, Michael Barr and Mike Lynch to discuss how leagues and teams should re-think their engagement with their fans. Ruggiero works a number of the biggest brands in sports, and discusses not only how teams should be using technology to reach fans during lockdowns, but also how they can use the quiet period to ready...

Eben Novy-Williams and Michael Barr are joined by longtime Boston radio personality Mike Lynch to discuss a host of issues related to the business of sports, including a new report that many English Premier League players are wary of the efforts to restart games. Here in the U.S. President Donald Trump's White House has been speaking often with executives from the major leagues and tours, but we'v...

Eben Novy-Williams and Michael Barr are joined by longtime Boston radio personality Mike Lynch to discuss a host of issues related to the business of sports, including lessons from Taiwan's top professional baseball league, which just finished the first week of its regular season. The teams in Taiwan are playing in empty stadiums, with mannequins, rock music and robot drummers helping enhance the...

NBA agent Happy Walters joins Eben Novy-Williams, Michael Barr and Mike Lynch to discuss a host of issues related to the business of sports, including the growing trend of elite high school players eschewing the NCAA for more lucrative pro offers. RJ Hampton, one of Walters's clients, chose to play in New Zealand last year and made over $1 million in salary and sponsorships. Co-founder and CEO of...

Eben Novy-Williams and Michael Barr are joined by longtime Boston radio personality Mike Lynch to discuss a host of issues related to the business of sports, including Rob Gronkowski's surprise return to the NFL. The five-time Pro Bowl tight end will be reuniting with quarterback Tom Brady with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The news made the NFL once again the center of the sports world during a slow...

Eben Novy-Williams and Michael Barr are joined by longtime Boston radio personality Mike Lynch to discuss a host of issues related to the business of sports, including this weekend's debut of ESPN's new documentary about Michael Jordan, "The Last Dance." ESPN sped up production of the 10-part series so that it could fill some of the programming void left by the absence of live sports, and the show...

Michelle McKenna, the NFL's Chief Information Officer, joins Eben Novy-Williams and Michael Barr to discuss a host of issues related to the business of sports, including next week's NFL Draft, which will be conducted and broadcast digitally. Featuring over a 100 different feeds from NFL coaches, GMs, fans and prospects, the draft telecast will be a totally unique experience for those participating...

Eben Novy-Williams and Michael Barr discuss a host of issues related to the business of sports, including plans by some sports teams in Asia and Europe to put mannequins in their stands as replacements for fans. Germany soccer club Borussia Monchengladbach is letting fans buy cardboard cutouts with their own photos, to show their support from afar. The efforts serve two purposes -- to keep fans en...

ben Novy-Williams and Michael Barr discuss a host of issues related to the business of sports, including the XFL shuttering operations after less than one full season. The professional football league launched this year by Vince McMahon got about halfway through its inaugural season before it stopped playing games due to the coronavirus outbreak. It was hit doubly by the virus -- with games being...

Danny Zausner, COO of the facility that hosts the U.S. Open tennis tournament, joins Eben Novy-Williams and Michael Barr to discuss a host of issues related to the business of sports, including how different parts of the National Tennis Center are being used in New York City's fight against the coronavirus outbreak. One of the venue's main stadiums is being used to package meals, and an indoor tra...

Eben Novy-Williams and Michael Barr are joined by longtime Boston radio personality Mike Lynch to discuss a host of issues related to the business of sports, including the UFC's decision to host an event in two weeks on tribal land in California. Like many in the sports world, UFC is likely feeling financial pressure to host events in some capacity so that viewers can watch them from their couches...

Eben Novy-Williams and Michael Barr are joined by longtime Boston radio personality Mike Lynch to discuss a host of issues related to the business of sports, including this weekend's conference call between President Donald Trump and the commissioners of the country's largest sports leagues. According to the White House and reporting from ESPN, Trump told them he wanted to have fans back in stadiu...

Complexity Gaming co-founder and CEO Jason Lake joins Eben Novy-Williams and Michael Barr to discuss a host of issues related to the business of sports, including how esports is able to continue holding matches while the rest of the global sports calendar has ground to a halt. Part-owned by Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, Complexity Gaming is based out of the Cowboys' massive real estate develop...

Eben Novy-Williams and Michael Barr discuss a host of issues related to the business of sports, including the NFL's announcement of broadcast partners for its two additional playoff games this season. One of the games, a Sunday afternoon game awarded to CBS, will also be broadcast live on ViacomCBS-owned Nickelodeon in a youth-centric telecast. Also talked about is sports-streaming startup DAZN's...