00:00Chris, talk to us about the rationale, the explanation for owning soccer clubs.
00:05I look at the return on the fund, the performance so far this year, and it's trailing the S&P
00:12500.
00:13So a lot of times people say they want to own sports because it provides an uncorrelated performance with the
00:20broader market.
00:21But in this case, it's trailing the S&P 500.
00:26Yeah, well, that's right.
00:27I mean, we're looking to maximize long-term performance.
00:30I do think that sports assets are unto themselves.
00:35Over time, actually, they have compounded at a rate greater than the S&P 500 in the mid-teens over
00:40the last 10 years.
00:41And there are many reasons that wealthy people buy sports teams, some of its ego, but they are great storers
00:47of value.
00:48They're inflation indexed.
00:49They are somewhat economically resilient and we think AI resilient.
00:55Let me ask you a question.
00:56If we're looking at these soccer clubs, and I have a friend who's really into it, but generally speaking, I
01:02think the reason America is so into the World Cup is because it's easy to understand, right?
01:07It's got all the countries, all the best players, and the stakes are really high.
01:11But when you think about regular soccer and all these different leagues, it's just not that easy to get into.
01:18The players are dispersed.
01:20Do you need soccer to be sold to America more, like the way the World Cup is, for some of
01:26these clubs to make more money?
01:27Or is that not necessary?
01:28They can do very well even without the casual fan like me.
01:32Well, I think the hope and the belief is that this World Cup, which is taking place in among the
01:38richest markets in the world of North America, will drive interest more globally in the sport.
01:43And there are actually 35 or so publicly traded sports assets, teams, and leagues.
01:51Most of them are soccer clubs that trade very lightly in Europe.
01:55And this is a very efficient way to access those clubs.
02:00And those clubs have traded in the private market at about half the multiple of most U.S. teams.
02:06And they're going to need money.
02:08You look at some of the pitches in Europe.
02:11They're very old.
02:12They don't maximize attendance.
02:13And so we think those clubs are going to need to raise capital here in the U.S. to fund
02:17that construction.
02:19And so you'll see some uplistings and some increase in valuations in that respect.
02:25But, yeah, listen, it's the biggest sport in the world.
02:27The World Cup final will draw probably 10 times what the Super Bowl has drawn.
02:34So it's a big deal.
02:35And we think it's at least a moderate catalyst for this fund.
02:39All right.
02:40I want to ask you about one of the holdings in Goals at GOLS, and that is Comcast.
02:45Of course, Comcast is a distributor of a lot of the World Cup games through Telemundo, but also just involved
02:51in the sports ecosystem.
02:52The company came out with news today that it is going to split up its businesses and basically spin off
02:57the broadcast side along with Telemundo and the theme parks and then, of course, keep its broadband operations separate.
03:04What does that mean for how you position Comcast within your portfolio?
03:09Yeah, so when I started here at Cabelli 23, almost 24 years ago, I started as a media analyst.
03:15And so I've been covering this company for a very long time.
03:18Comcast's acquisition of NBC in 2009 was seen as a great deal.
03:21Still think, in retrospect, it was a very good deal.
03:23They paid a great price to GE for it.
03:26But the world has changed.
03:27And so not a huge surprise that they're separating the broadband assets from the content assets.
03:33We own into the fund because NBC is part of the sports ecosystem, both because of their rights to the
03:41NFL and other sports, and, of course, because of their rights to the Olympics.
03:45So that's why you own it here.
03:46As far as the deal goes itself, we do think it will be value surfacing for this company, which trades
03:53at a very cheap multiple all by itself.
03:54And this should increase the strategic possibilities for both sides of the house.
04:00I don't think anything happens immediately on the content side, but do expect further consolidation amongst broadband companies.
04:05Well, Chris, I am curious.
04:07I mean, taking a look at the statement from the company, Comcast shareholders will have shares in both businesses.
04:13And, you know, I know it's early days, but do you plan to hang on to shares of both companies?
04:18Or is there one that you would, you know, prioritize over the other?
04:22Well, speaking more broadly, of course, across all of our funds, we'll have to look at where the valuation goes.
04:30But specifically with regard to goals, you know, we do want to see some true alignment with sports assets, sports
04:38interests.
04:39So, you know, broadband doesn't fit quite as well.
04:42But we do own a number of companies in the broader sports ecosystem, including venues, ticketing companies and media partners.
04:51So that would fit well here.
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