Behind NBC's Olympic Boom with Mike Tirico

Pitbull gets his own stadium there might be worms in the food in Paris and broadcasting Legend Mike too joins Today's Show it's Wednesday August 7th I'm your guest host for one final time John shames and this is front office sports [Music] today Charles Barkley isn't leaving Turner in fact he's officially un retiring from the media earlier this month Barkley threatened to walk away from Turner if they refused to pay the roughly $147 million left on his contract but something has changed in a Tuesday statement Barkley said quote I love my TNT Sports family my number one priority has been and always will be our people and keeping everyone together for as long as possible seems as though Sir Charles is here to stay although we can't say the same for Inside the NBA Mondo plantis has broken the record for pole vating one that previously belonged to himself in fact he holds the records for the top nine highest pole volts recorded in history breaking the record by a single centimeter each time coincidentally there's a $50,000 bonus every time someone breaks the pole vaulting record so perhaps there is a method behind to plant this madness Harrison bucker became the highest paid kicker in NFL history on Monday agreeing to a 4-year 25.6 Mill million dollar extension with the Kansas City Chiefs bucker has been a large Conversation Piece this offseason first for controversial comments he made regarding gender roles and then more recently for his expected role change under the NFL's new kickoff rules it looks like Turner is losing its NBA rights but don't worry sports fans the Savannah bananas are here to take the association's place the bananas also known as the greatest show in sports are an exhibition baseball team who motto is Fun First Tuesday Warner bro's Discovery announced that true TV would be adding five consecutive weeks of Friday night bananas baseball in August and September Pitbull stadium is coming soon Tuesday Morning the pop artist announced a new deal worth $1.2 million per season to change fiu's stadium name to his own Pitbull is from Miami and is substantially involved in the City Sports culture as a part of the deal he will also be named the official entrepreneur of FIU Athletics one day after a Belgian swimmer withdrew from her Olympic event due to eoli a British swimmer now alleges he found worms in his food Adam py who won silver for the UK in the 100 meter breast stroke said quote it's just not good enough the standard we're looking at the best of the bests in the world and we're feeding them not the best [Music] despite reports of questionable conditions for the athletes the Olympics have been a huge success from a media perspective fos reporter Mike McCarthy got to hear from the man at the center of it all in a conversation with the legendary Mike too let's take a listen to that now Mike how you doing Mike great to speak to you again same here how you do good enjoying your work from Paris fantastic thank you appreciate that yeah I mean it's gotten a huge reaction back here um you know we were just uh we were just talking about it Chris and I you know ratings are up everybody's tuning in why do you think these games have are hit hitting so much that are being so successful yeah you know we we've done a lot of meetings had a lot of planning and a lot of conversation and this is what I think we all envisioned and we're hoping I think we were hoping that one no Co plus two Paris would give the game's a little boost and it's been a big boost and it's not just here it's globally but when you think about covid and no fans in the stands it takes us back to watching the NFL games when there were no fans in the stands and it just lacked atmosphere even with some enhanced audio playing in the background wasn't the same right and this is the same feel to it um and I think that on top of this is such a unique approach for our whole city I mean every time every day I should say there is some iconic venue right in the middle of a great event that hasn't happened before in the history of the games and I've said several times Paris is one of two things you've either never been here and you can't wait to get here or you've been here and you can't wait to get back and I think when people are seeing that at home that just makes you feel like I want to see what's going on there so a whole combination of things but I think this has been the right boost at the right time for the Olympic Games yeah the visuals incredible I'll give you an example right now I'm on our set and I'm overlooking where the opening ceremony finished and right now they're having this Champions plaza where the public gets in for free and they can celebrate the medal winners and Novak jokovic just came out and there were about 8,000 people who waited in the 80s son who see Novak jokovic hear him talk a couple of times and walk around in his gold medal right so that's a great energy right you can almost hear in the background and that has been I think a lot of fuel for us as we do these long days every day and this is a fun experience that we've never had before so I hope that it's coming through the TV for everybody back home we can't be here it it certainly is Mike I want to ask you about the challenge of double shifting I mean you're in the afternoons then you're the prime time host how how do you do that uh not much sleep but that's okay you know you remind yourself every day that you get to host the Olympics and and you get through um I'll tell you what the hardest three hours are for me every day it's the three hours in between you come off the early show which is evenings here in Paris and then it's a couple of hours Sprint whether it's taping or getting caught up on the rundown what we're doing and get ready for the American Prime Time show uh that three hours couldn't happen without the best people starting with Molly Solomon Rob Highland was producing who uh attach to the hip with me at the hip with me since he does Sunday Night Football with us uh our great research team Jake Abraham's is a research who works with us on Sunday Night Football he knows exactly what I'm looking for and as soon as I get off the set he gets me completely up to speed on where we are for the prime time show so the the team has been amazing working together but uh for me personally you know it's somewhere around 6:00 a.m. get to sleep wake up around 10:30 or so and start a series of Groundhogs Day over and over again but uh the adrenaline of the Olympics couple good cups of coffee a day keep you going these Olympics have been really star studded uh talk about working with people like Snoop and pton Manning well I mean it's every day in my career that I walk out I get to sit next to Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart's doing highlights with Snoop and I'm kind of working around them it's totally different and it's totally awesome um I think I knew Mike that the Olympics have such a broad reach culturally for the US for Generations right going back the generation we grew up but this has really cemented it for me like Martha Stewart loves the Olympics Snoop Dogg loves the Olympics Alex Cooper loves the Olympics right so to be around all those people you mentioned pton I me pton had so much fun talking to the athletes along the way in preparation for the opening ceremony Kelly Clarkson same deal so um I've loved that part of it I am passionate about sports Sports has been my professional life but I love music I love politics I love entertainment all that stuff and so to get a chance to be in a role where you know everybody uh on the couch can range from Martha Stewart to a gold medalist I'm sure we'll talk to Executives who are involved with all that is is fun it's it's a great test of your range of interest and skills and you know it's the only time this ever happens for us professionally to get um a run like this I I had said to someone I think this was last month or so um you know you never get a chance to host 17 straight nights of Prime Time network TV in America uh and the Olympic host gets to do that every two years it's such a cool assignment and I love the fact that we've expanded it to really make it not just sports but the cultural event that the Olympics truly are Mike you talked about our generation you know me you Chris we grew up watching and admiring these Iron Man announcers who did multiple Sports Stockton enur cell gouty Shankle uh and to me you seem to be the last of that breed uh you know who could do four or five different sports plus the Derby and all this other stuff for your network what is your take on that did you uh emulate those guys growing up did you did you study them the real Idol in the business for me growing up in New York was Marv Albert and I would watch Marv call Nick and Rangers games on the radio in between doing the 6 and 11 o'clock newscast on wnbc the NBC affiliate in New York and then on the weekend mark would do boxing at Raw state prison or mark would host the baseball pregame show or Marv would call the NFL right and the template of being a sports caster to me was you just did everything right and the people you mentioned who were like that as well in the host chair Jim McKay Bob CSUS those were the other people that I looked up to so to have this opportunity was something that I was not striving for but understood that was a possibility but then when I was at ESPN you had to come across every Sports so during the 90s it was the conversion in hockey and college basketball and college football so I think that versatility was if you will foundationally laid into my Approach from watching the guys who I idolized growing up and then practically when I started at ESPN because of that Sports Center experience you never knew what highlight was going to come across Destiny just want to make sure you did it the right way and it's just continued as I've kind of grown professionally and I'm lucky that I'm at a place where I get to do that it keeps me engaged it keeps me enthused about what the next challenges and I'm still a sports fan I love my job Mike I love that we get to wake up watch the best athletes in the world get to tell their story uh that still gets me motivated to work every day and I just feel very lucky that I've been in a position to be able to do those things that you only dream of as a kid talk about the lineage of of following Olympic hosts like McKay and Bob um you know who were so famous and and so great at it and do you expect to you know share any screen time with Bob during these Olympics because I know he's in Paris yeah uh that would be great for me you know my my connection with Bob goes back to Syracuse I was the recipient of the first Bob Costa scholarship as Bob started his philanthropy at Syracuse uh I was chosen as the first recipient of that scholarship so I got to meet him in the late 1980s so I've really known Bob for almost 35 years and he's been nothing but great along the way and uh you know if there's anything I'm proudest of uh regarding this job and hosting the Olympics it's that uh let's see the last CBS Olympics was in 98 I believe so from 2000 on every Olympics game The Prime Time host has been to Syracuse Al wow Bob to me love I love that fact and I'm so proud of that because I love my school um as much as anything so there's there's that part of the job um I got to work with Jim McKay at the end of my abc days uh his his ABC days to start of mine got to work three or four British opens with him and sit with him and talk about Munich and talk about hosting the Olympics never thinking it would be something in my life I was just a curious young Sports cast after getting started so uh not only have I been blessed enough to follow quote unquote follow those guys as Prime Time host for multiple Olympic games but I worked with both of them and uh what a treat and they're the best they're the Mount Rushmore of doing this job and there's no doubt that some of what I've watched growing up as a kid and then as an adult watching Bob some of that hopefully sensibility curiosity and communication is deep inside of how we do the job maybe not the moment to moment execution of it but you know I I've seen how the job is done by the best and just try to make sure that I'm doing my best for our Network to look as good as those guys did for their networks back in the day has it given you any advice uh in Paris Bob was great when we uh when uh when it was announced I was taking over which was I guess February 20 17 I was gonna host the first one for me which is p Young Chang uh you know B Bob's advice was very simple and made a ton of sense was just to you know rely on the great people who are here and the foundation of the NBC Olympics unit that was built by diig everol and Jim Bell was in charge at the time that I took over and now Molly Solomon has done just the greatest job of helping assumption looks like here in the 2020s uh that's an unbelievable system and it's a system that getes you a chance to do your job uh and succeed at just being the point guard and uh Bob's probably best advice was to just rely on this great group and I have and uh I'm thankful every day that I've got some smart people who are creative and just as passionate helping direct us uh hopefully in the right place for the audience every day that's what Scott Hansen told me the other day he's like hey I'm an Olympic rookie so I'm just going to put myself in their hands by the way you know I I won't mention that Hansen and sicilan are also Syracuse guys so our and and no we Eagle calling the hoop so our little uh I think and Jason nap who's been calling swimming and Bill sping we've got like I think eight or nine Syracuse guys on for post in the afternoon we got our little orange orange Olympic crew uh well represented here which is uh which is pretty special for us because we all have the Fondest Memories of not just our time there but all wanting to be like Bob and here we all are covering the Olympics which is so darn cool look Mike I know you don't have a lot of time I'm just want to end with another huge story that people are excited about which is the NBA returning to NBC people have such fond memories of the NBA on NBC GES and is there anybody who'd be a dream analyst for you to to work with I just want to get day 11 of the Olympics and and then our preseason NFL game and then Sunday night week one uh fortunately it's down the road uh but obviously for the company to be involved in the NBA is a thrill for all of us for me personally my last I guess my last 14 years at ESPN and ABC uh involved calling the NBA hosting Studio shows calling the final are hosting the finals I think with six or seven times I I I love the league I've remained a fan so uh to be involved with it again for us all of us and for me personally is something I'm excited about but there's so much time between now and then that you know Rick cordella and Sam flood and our leadership I'm sure will come up with their ideas of what they'd like me to do and people and all that stuff I have not asked my wife and kids to change the ringtone when I called the round ball Rock just yet I might hold off on that for a year give it time but uh man we to to get the official news while we're were over here um getting ready to start these Olympics that was a thrill for all of us and we are uh super excited about what this summer has been and going forward not just with the NBA but all these projects like Sunday Night Football and the Olympics as well well Mike thanks for your time from Paris really appreciate it Chris thank you have a great day Mike thank you [Music] last weekend fos hosted huddle in the Hamptons Gathering some of the biggest players in the business of sports and unleashing them on the pickle ball court but before that we got to hear from some of the former athletes who have become major players off the field too let's listen in to how mij Pur Marcus coulston and W o'lay are changing what it means to be an athlete investor first up from our friends at UBS it's w ogun who is with the sports and entertainment industry group at UBS bring it up bring it up just gonna hide this other mic that I don't think we need okay next up from the nwsl and she made this year's Olympic team it's mij purse give it up for [Applause] mij and finally our very exciting addition to the panel it's Marcus coulston who you will certainly know from the Saints Marcus is now doing an athlete focused VC fund that we will hear all about all right guys thank you so much for being here mij we're going to get into what everyone is doing in business I want to give everyone a chance to tell the crowd what they're up to but I got to start with this we are lucky enough to have you here but it's unfortunate for you you made this year's usw NT the Olympic team you're not at the Olympics what happened oh we didn't we didn't go over this yesterday um I I tore my ACL earlier this year um which was unfortunate but um God is good and it's blessing in disguise tell us how you've been recovering and spending this time recovery has been fantastic it actually gave me an opportunity to work on the offseason which is um my company and a show that premieres this season um in correspondence with the Indie brell playoffs so I'm excited to tell you more about that but um it's been good thank you for asking love talking about what athletes are doing in Media streaming element how you guys are going to distribute that show so we'll get into that uh W can you tell everyone about what it is you do at UBS and and the work with athletes man there a lot of things that I do but I think more importantly one working with our athletes and our entertainers um Mak sure that our advisers have the information need to put our athletes in a best position to build their legacies right so for us it's you know if you look at our UBS logo is the keys and I love that logo for us because it's we're giving the keys to our our clients more importantly but then also our our advisors are equipped with the keys to help our clients think about life after sports right because those 15 minutes of fame are just 15 minutes and if we are able to plan right do the right things get around right people give them the right advice um those 15 minutes are able to expand to a real Legacy so for us at UBS that and and creating legacies for our client is is what I'm doing right now there's so much there with uh what I often call the new playbook for athlete investing and we can kind of talk about that in a sec but Marcus uh talk about choosing to go into venture capital and how you start up an athlete Focus fund it's uh a very different kind of thing and it's also a very long-term play you got to be patient yeah absolutely so so this this trip um is is kind of a round trip for me I've been in VC um even while I was playing I was a an active angel investor tried my hand at launching the fund back in 2017 2018 um you know in the Gap in between um you know just getting out into into the world gaining more experience um you know as an executive coach consultant and just wearing a bunch of different hats and when I got the opportunity to kind of circle back around to to this this opportunity here um it was one that as you mentioned the landscape has kind of shifted a little bit uh you're starting to see more and more athletes get involved in businesses and different ways and you know for me the timing just felt right with with everything that's happening with within sport uh the business support is changing evolving the role of the athlete within business is changing and evolving uh it just felt like a really opportune time to launch a platform that was really focused on Sports really focused on growth stage Sports opportunities and really putting putting athletes at the Forefront um you know and being able to drive this model so uh you know a lot of time it's it's it's really just you know matching up the opportunity with the timing and and I think we're we're in a really unique uh space and time right now to be able to do something like this what have you been investing in in the past what do you want to invest in with the new fund uh as an individual I I've kind of focused on that intersection of sports and business uh some health and health and wellness uh was in the Cannabis space for a while on the international scene um but with it within the fund we're really focused on the value chain of sports uh when you think about and when when we typically hear about sports investment it's it's at the big five leagues it's you know it's it's MLS it's it's NFL NBA uh but we know that there are a ton of opportunities um that that you know make up the value chain make up all of the companies that make Sports what it is you know from you know sports medicine to you know Payment Processing to technologies that are that are you know fueling performance we we see opportunities in in the entire value chain and and really being able to bring that value chain together as an opportunity to build a portfolio um that's what we're really excited about right now love that so we've talked about investing talked about athletes planning and investing let's talk about media a little bit mijch uh give everyone a little bit if they haven't seen about the show the doy series which has already been filmed what's the distribution plan what's the hope and the goal with that first show from your company yeah so the offseason is a docu series reality television show um it's the first of its kind I call it a new genre that comes out premieres this season uh at the end of the Inver season so come October November um and it's premiering on Twitter which is really unconventional but intentional at the same time uh the idea behind that was to go to we had a lot of conversations with a bunch of networks the Netflix the H HBO but the subscription model isn't the best thing for a product that you want to reach too many people and that you need people to see who don't already know about it so the idea was how can we get the maximum number of eyeballs on something that nobody knows what it is so we decided to go through Twitter and along with my show they are launching a new tab a video tab which will be on your app and a new TV app so will be on your televisions as well very cool and your goal as we discussed with the company this is just the first offering from the offseason is kind of twofold bringing more attention on women's sports Fair say but also of course the nwsl the national women's soccer league uh tell us a little bit about kind of that effort and uh you are an nwsl Champion uh talk to us about you know how you think the league has gained more eyeballs what still needs to happen in in the near future to get more people hip to the nwsl yeah so the purpose of the show is to reform the way in which women and Sport are marketed and consumed and as well as the athletes themselves I've always felt that the indiv sell as well as the way that women's sports in general is marketed has been really derivative of men's sports so I I play I play in a women's soccer league but everything is modeled after the European schedule we call our uniforms kits instead of just like a jersey um and it's the same thing with the MLS we copy their structure and their game plans and we try to go into the same markets that they do um and so the idea of doing the offseason was trying to take a step back and look at the product that we have which is completely different in completely different audience and say what's the correct way to Market this and for me I felt you needed to tell stories because for men for whatever reason you guys can just like profit off of like performance and statistics I I always talk about how my dad to a baseball game and it'll be like man hit ball and got to base and he'll be like yes this is great but but me I need to know who the man is and like why he's there and what his story is to be interested in it so the idea of taking all of these athletes who are Elite high level so good at their Sport and then peeling back this lens and showing this is what they actually go through this is their story and allowing people to get to know those personalities and those narratives was the perfect way to kind of Reform the way that we're marketed man that's awesome there's so much there uh W as we talk about sort of talking to athletes both recently retired and still playing because I feel like one shift in this whole model is everyone is thinking about these things much much sooner you know it used to be oh I got to prepare for my second life now it's the minute you start I mean mij you're so young and you're launching this show already and and the athletes are doing it while they're still playing um you said something interesting to me on our on our pre-chat about even that there are things that athletes didn't used to have to think about estate planning I mean things that they are asking about and planning for much sooner in their career yeah I think I mean one I think you know M touched on it a little bit at the end of the day athletes are realized ing that they're more than just athletes I mean just look at us up on this stage the ability for us to transition and use our skills and our hard work and our dedication to uh pivot into any career we want to and I think athletes are understanding that they're Brands right their businesses and we look at them at UBS as businessmen and business women um a lot of times when we do talk to our our clients we don't look at them as athletes we look at them as a client that has a a short period of time in in in professional world but we're looking at the long scale and looking at their brands how do we build again what I said earlier their legacy so for us because the athletes are making a ton of money um early especially with nil now it's imperative that they surround themselves with competent advisors not just your mom or your brother or somebody that knows somebody and Uncle which the way in the past um now it's time to really sit down with the experts like a UBS and some of our you know our competitors but um that have reputable um reputations that uh match our clients when I was in coming up in the NFL I wasn't sure who to talk to I didn't know that I should be in meetings with advisers from UBS right because my mom knew a guy and I trusted that guy right now that being said I think the athletes are realizing that trust is good but it's time to start verifying and what you're seeing now a lot of athletes are verifying by surrounding themselves with individuals especially individuals hand as audience but then also with with firms like UBS and making sure that uh we dot our eyes and we cross our tees and that's the biggest difference that I'm seeing with a lot of our athletes we're not in that box anymore and um you're seeing even with through covid um markets sports and entertainment is almost a bulletproof industry everybody wants to entertained no matter the time the date the structure athletes and sports entertainment will be needed and we just hope that when uh our clients and our prospects needs us UBS will be there to answer that call when you say athletes are are the new brands now I mean yeah a couple weeks ago the New York Times style section the front page said athletes are the new everything I thought that Nails it uh I want to ask both mij and Marcus you know it's funny W mentions it used to be like your cousin or your uncle would be in your ear and that was a very common you know that was an old used to be an easy Sports Business Media story was about you know investing gone wrong or the athlete invested in a friend's business and it went wrong but there is you know not a downside but there's a risk to being a current or former pro athlete who's out there saying I've got money to invest I mean what uh challenges have you guys already faced or tried to navigate when it comes to uh making the right decisions and and not being you know exploited I think the one of the first challenges is especially when you talk about investing um deal flow is however anyone can get to you right so um deal flow has never really been a challenge for for folks that that are visible it's it's quality deal flow and it's how can you how can you vet really early on the companies that not just are they good companies but are they good companies for me my portfolio and where I'm going um you know to to W's point I think having the right advisors around you is key um in in that in that Journey but I but I also think we're seeing a shift where athletes are taking a more active role within within their own ecosystem um you know there was a point in time where it was kind of a stigma to be able to play your sport on the field and you were kind of looked down upon for doing stuff off the field right you're not focused or or you know the main thing is not the main thing but I think athletes are are really starting starting to reposition themselves and understand that they can do two things at one time and I think the more we're seeing athletes become active become you know leaders within their ecosystem not just clients Partners within their e ecosystem not just clients um I think that Evolution will continue and ultimately to to your point like I wouldn't say we're everything but we we can do a lot and the the the ability to kind of have these nuance convers ation around yes I'm an athlete I can catch a ball really well I can run routes I can make plays on the field but it doesn't Define what interests me off the field and you're starting to see people really follow those those interests whether it be media uh whether it be technology whether it be um you know these other industries that you're starting to see athletes really really you know stake a claim in um I think that evolution is just going to continue and the more people that do it the more people are going to see it and you know with nil coming along we're going to start seeing people make that transition FAS faster and faster quicker and quicker and um you know I think with that with that that trajectory I think the sky is the limit for what athletes can do in the business world yeah I really agree with you and I actually think that being an athlete is probably one of the only professions where your ability to do something really well also somehow suggests that you have an inability to do so many other things unwell um but to answer your your other question it would probably just be Financial literacy and prioritizing that my dad's a stock broker so I feel like I grew up with that as a priority so yeah no I'd also listen I'll add on that I think the education part of it is is huge and then two the fact that the world not just athletes you know say they have the money but the world sees it right anytime your favorite athlete signs a new contract it's on the front page of the New York Times of the USA Today and for us as athletes the uh it's not just our local community or our local ecosystem like it was in the past like your mom may have wanted you to open up a salon or an uncle wanted you now to uh open up a a gas station um or a laundry mat to make some some cash flow now you're seeing these corporations and and these funds coming at these athletes because they see the capital and again like I said in the past even during trying times these contracts are still being signed so these corporations look at these athletes as guaranteed money that's going to continue to flow and for us like Mitch said it's it's huge for us as an industry to educate these athletes as they're going hold their hands through the process and then hopefully uh build the Legacy that I always talk about man this is great I I always feel like we only get to barely scratch the surface we're almost up here but I am certainly going to Hound all three of these guys to do individual interviews with us at fos so check the site soon let's wrap this way uh I've got three great speakers here so I want to quick quick lightning round okay we're going to do two questions in the lightning round first up can you name a couple pro athletes current or former that you personally really look to and think are doing it right when it comes to business decisions start oh man so obviously we have confidentiality at UBS but I think we have a ton that I work with that are doing amazing um we got the right advisers but for me for public knowledge I think a guy like Shaquille O'Neil is doing an amazing job I was just talking earlier today about uh with uh constant who's here Deion Sanders actually has done an amazing job with his brand and what he's doing so light lightning around uh Simone biles and Jason Kelsey I go Ryan ni and what he's doing with next uh next Legacy love that good lightning round answers next question we've talked about so many different areas we've said athletes are the new everything their brands they're doing all kinds of different things as we gaze into our crystal ball in the next five to 10 years which specific area is most interesting to each of you right now whether it's a business category uh a certain type of venture I'll say just just the athlete business model is is intriguing to me because it keeps changing right it it started as endorser it's become investor um entrepreneur so so that athlete business model evolution is is interesting to me okay um I think the ownership I think the next step is athletes now becoming owners they we'll see with the Las Vegas basketball team that there's probably going to be a prominent NBA player that's going to be the majority owner of that team so I would say ownership of of n i mean of U professional teams feel free to break some news if you haven't no not here not today I'm going to I'm going to cop out and jump on the ownership that was a good answer that's all we've got for today and all I've got as your guest host thank you to everyone who has tuned in over the past week as I filled in for the very talented Owen po Dexter who will be back tomorrow make sure to let a friend know regularly scheduled programming is back this has been front office sports today we'll talk tomorrow