00:00Well, they said in the statement that they want to get a proper valuation on these things.
00:03MSG, as a company, is valued at $7 billion.
00:06Sportico, Forbes, CNBC all estimate the Knicks and the Rangers combined are much larger than that.
00:12You're talking about the Knicks being a 10, potentially the Rangers probably at 3 to 4.
00:16And so that combined is anywhere between $13 to $14 billion, I think.
00:20When you're thinking about these assets, they are very huge, and they want to get a proper valuation on them.
00:25Isn't there generally speaking, though, when you think about that,
00:28whether you're thinking about the Atlanta Braves, which is also publicly traded,
00:31that they do, in fact, trade at a discount to private market value?
00:35But I guess the Dolans are thinking not this much of a discount?
00:38Yeah, I think so.
00:39I mean, look, the Knicks are, I believe, the third most valuable team, depending on who you ask.
00:43Really? In the NBA?
00:45I think if both the Warriors and the Lakers were up for sale again, they might trade for higher.
00:50But there would be a strong, strong market.
00:53And the Rangers as well, because they do play it.
00:55Yeah, so, Alexis, they're like the Toronto Maple Leafs.
00:58They're like the third most valuable franchise.
00:59Which is crazy when you think about the fact that both the Knicks and the Rangers haven't won a championship
01:04in years.
01:05And the Knicks, and we're talking about 1973.
01:07I was a toddler.
01:08What's going on?
01:09So what would they be worth, you know, if they actually went out and won a championship?
01:12I think that there is a championship surge as part of it.
01:17You'll probably see it with the Seahawks, which are expected to trade later this year.
01:21Give us a number.
01:22On the Seahawks, I would guess at minimum $8 billion.
01:26At maximum $10.
01:28That would be my guess on the Seahawks.
01:30And the reason that these assets trade for so large is because there's not that many of them.
01:34You're talking about a New York-based market.
01:36And so with that in mind, anybody who wants to own a sports franchise, it's almost a once-in-a
01:40-lifetime opportunity.
01:41The Knicks, whoever were to buy them, if they were for sale, would probably not be up for sale for
01:46another 50 years.
01:47You know what's another once-in-a-lifetime opportunity?
01:48To see them live.
01:49Because these ticket prices are out of control.
01:52Oh, here we go.
01:53You're not wrong.
01:54So I guess if they spin off, we're still not going to get cheaper tickets, are we?
01:58Sports are a luxury experience right now.
01:59Gone are the days where you can just be like, oh, I want to go to a Knicks game and
02:02walk in.
02:03Now you sort of have to plan for it.
02:05We had the head of sports investment banking at Goldman Sachs yesterday in on the Bloomberg Intelligence program.
02:10Good old day and days.
02:11Yep, and he did a great job.
02:12But he was saying there's institutional investor money out there, Tom, that is looking to invest in professional sports franchises.
02:19They now view it as an asset class, not as like a trophy property.
02:23It's stocks, bonds, and sports teams.
02:27Excuse me, it sounds like David Rubenstein.
02:29Yes, exactly.
02:30Absolutely.
02:31I mean, you look at the Knicks, they have Silver Lake as one of their investors, or Madison Square Garden
02:35has Silver Lake.
02:36You look across sports, and private equity is increasingly buying more stakes because they are seeing these media rights fees
02:42continue to rise.
02:43You're seeing sports franchise valuations continue to rise.
02:46Years ago, the Knicks were probably worth between $2 billion to $3 billion.
02:49Today, they're valued at $10 billion.
02:51When I think these private investment firms are looking at this, they're like, okay, well, if this is turning over
02:55so many times over again, of course I would like to be in the dance.
02:59Private equity.
03:00We've seen private equity in the NFL.
03:02Of course.
03:03Will we see that in other sports, do you think?
03:05It's all over.
03:05The NFL was the last to add the rules.
03:07The NBA has had private equity for years, so has the NHL, the MLB, and I believe the MLS as
03:13well.
03:13I mean, it used to be a sport for, if you're a millionaire, you own a sports team.
03:18Right.
03:18Now it's billionaire.
03:20Sure.
03:21And even then, Stevie Cohen, the wealthiest owner in Major League Baseball individually, is being outgunned by this consortium of
03:29investors in Los Angeles for the Dodgers.
03:31Yeah, and I think a good way to look at this is thinking about the Seahawks sale.
03:35Let's say that they do sell for, at minimum, $8 billion.
03:39Well, in NFL rules state, you have to have 30% of that overall valuation in cash.
03:44So that's, at minimum, $2.5 billion.
03:47There's not that many people in the world who can write that check.
03:49That check cannot come from private equity.
03:51You can use private equity to add on to that to get to the $8 billion number after the discount,
03:57but it's a lot of money to buy these sports franchises, and the pool of people who can buy these
04:02teams is getting smaller.
04:03All right, you were out in the Bay Area for the Super Bowl.
04:08I mean, 6-0 going into the third quarter, but still 125 million people tuned in.
04:15I mean, this is the juggernaut, no signs of slowing down, right?
04:19Yeah, it is.
04:19The NFL is a booming business, unlike any other.
04:22When you have two teams, Seahawks and the Patriots, who, you know, Boston is a big market, but Seattle is
04:28a mid-sized market, and they attract that number.
04:30Of course, Roger Goodell wants to rip up the media deal and go get some more money.
04:34Randall Williams, with his definitive in U.S. sports and the finance of it as well, just absolutely owns a
04:40high ground on all this back and forth.
04:44You went to Hampton University.
04:48My father beat into me that you read Tom Boswell and the Baltimore Sun and the Washington Post.
04:56Randall Williams, on the elimination of the venerable sports desk of the Washington Post, discussed.
05:04Yeah, I had some friends who were actually out there with me on the Super Bowl trip who were at
05:09Roger Goodell's press conference, and they got the news there.
05:11And it's a travesty.
05:12I mean, you think about just the things that have occurred in Washington, D.C. over the last five years
05:17with the commander's sale before that, the ownership of Dan Snyder, NFL owners essentially forcing him out, alongside the coverage
05:25of just Washington, D.C. as a whole.
05:27That's some of the larger stories.
05:29But talk about the Wizards and when they were thinking about moving.
05:32To think about the Washington Post without a sports desk is insane.
05:35You're a money loser because I went down to Washington Post yesterday.
05:38I literally did this, folks.
05:39I counted 12 articles of Washington Post substance international politics and that.
05:46And the next article was, here's the three ways to eat a cheese pizza.
05:51Yeah, it's ridiculous.
05:52That's what we're substituting for the legacy of Sally Jenkins and Tom Boswell.
05:57It's ridiculous.
05:58I think that the Baltimore banner had announced that they are going to be hiring some people to cover D
06:03.C., and I think that that's good.
06:04But to imagine the Washington Post without a sports desk is unfathomable.
06:08Who was your hero?
06:09You're at Hampton.
06:10Okay, you're a kid.
06:11Who was your hero in sports writing?
06:13I would say Bill Roden.
06:14Bill Roden, who was at the New York Times for many, many years.
06:17And to think about even the New York Times and what they have done.
06:20They have no sports, actually.
06:21They bought the athletic.
06:22They have.
06:23And there are still sports writers here and there that dabble, but they bought the athletic.
06:27And that is essentially their substitute.
06:29The Washington Post did not buy anything.
06:30They just cut jobs.
06:31I have in my closet at home a fancy leather briefcase, what would you expect, from years ago.
06:38And in it is a folded up globe of Buster Olney, excuse me, maybe at Times, Buster Olney's classic article
06:46on Pedro Martinez getting older.
06:49That's what we're losing is people like Olney and others.
06:54George Will's, you know, away from it maybe and all that.
06:57This has been great.
06:58Can you, like, do less American Express?
07:02Reto just emailed in Keeper of the Amex and said, tell Randall to slow it down.
07:08I don't even think I would crack top 50 in the company.
07:11Why are you looking at me?
07:13Why are you going to Canada, U.S. in two days in Italy?
07:16I'm not.
07:17See, you hear he's trying to set me up.
07:19He's trying to get me on the flight out of there.
07:21You can take my place.
07:22You can take my place.
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