SBJ's Austin Karp, Bret McCormick, and Josh Carpenter discuss their takeaways from Day 1 of AXS Drive in Frisco, Texas. The trio discuss thier trip to Cosm, as well as the discussion with the Jones family.
SBJ Morning Buzzcast
SBJ Morning Buzzcast: September 18, 2024
(upbeat music) - Rise and shine. This is your morning buzz cast for Wednesday, September 18th. I'm Austin Carb. Here at the Access Drive Conference in Frisco, Texas, we're at the Star, the Cowboy's headquarters. It was a great day one of panels and information and experiences as well. We finished day one with a visit to the Cosm Dallas facility. We have written a lot about this particular venue, a lot has been written, but you really cannot understand what is going on at this facility until you go and experience it. I have SBJ's facility writer, Brett McCormick this morning, as well as SBJ golf rider, Josh Carpenter. Brett, what was your biggest takeaway from the Cosm facility? - Yeah, we have all seen the viral videos of the big screen, you know, the like IMAX theater looking screen. And that was like as good as advertised. I mean, that was really impressive, kind of like mind boggling at first. But I was really struck by the food as well. The food was extremely good, like better than any I've had in any of the arena or stadium tours that we do where, you know, concessionaires and others will like really kind of like roll out the red carpet. I mean, the food was very good. The drinks were really good. I thought the service was great. And, you know, I think that'll be an interesting part of its business moving forward is, you know, having this high end offering that is elevated, it's above like a Buffalo Wild Wings. Josh, what did you think? - Yeah, I mean, Cosm for me was kind of the highlight of the day from a golf perspective. You know, we sat there, we watched some of the sports they displayed on the big screen. Your typical stick and ball sports, right? They showed some NBA finals. They showed some college football. We've all seen the viral videos of the Texas, Michigan game from a few weeks back. And from a golf perspective, you sit there and you think well, golf is logistically pretty tough. And can they do this with golf? And, you know, talking with Jeb afterwards, he says that yes, he really likes the idea of golf at Cosm. They have a deal with ESPN. What does ESPN carry? They carry the PGA Championship. They also carry the Masters. He loves the idea of being able to put a viewer, you know, an attendee at a Cosm facility on a men corner, at the 12th hole, you know, on the 11th green. That's a view that, you know, for a lot of us in the golf industry, we've been to Augusta, National, plenty of times. But for, you know, general fans across the country, it's not very easy to get into Augusta National. And so it's pretty interesting to think about that as an avenue as some of these fans can get had access that they wouldn't ordinarily get. I enjoyed looking across the room when they were showing the presentation, the different sports, whether it was NBA or UFC or college football, and seeing the faces of the sports business executives in that room. These weren't just like run-of-the-mill fans. These are people that have seen the latest cutting-edge things. Everybody, most people had their phones out, or their jaws were dropped at the experience that Cosm was able to offer. And a lot of teams, a lot of facility owners, a lot of everybody in this business are gonna go back to their respective companies and be like, "This thing is legit. That was my biggest takeaway. We've seen the reaction from the people at this event." - Yeah, especially as a part of the mixed use development, like it's a really smart little anchor off of a, off of this issue. - Yeah, this episode was at a mixed use demand just outside of Frisco. I think it's in Colley, Texas. They have the one at Hollywood Park in Inglewood. They've announced the one that's gonna be at Centennial Yards in Atlanta. They said there are at least three projects that are gonna be announced soon. Didn't mention the markets there, but they're probably big cities, big mixed use developments. This sort of facility makes a lot of sense there. But outside of the visit to Cosm, we obviously had a lot of information, a lot of sessions here on day one. We covered mixed use develops, we covered AI, a lot on the ticketing side. - Rhett, what was your biggest takeaway from the sessions in day one? - Yeah, the mixed use development session that a moderated with, I mean, that was a really good group, like Fran Weld, David Karlock, Russell Silvers, and Todd Glickman. All of them are either doing projects or have done major projects. And you know, it's just interesting to hear how they think about, you know, it's like more of this, the venue is moving beyond just the venue. You know, it's becoming more part of the city. And I think that's like got a lot of interesting fallout that, you know, is gonna result from that and make these places like much more integral in communities and less of just like a stadium and a, you know, ocean or parking that, you know, you only go to it for one reason. And so that was interesting to hear them talk about that 'cause that's four people that are like deeply ingrained in that. - Yeah, Russell talked about that, you know, when they launched LA Live, I think in 2008, was it? - It was in 1999, yeah. - Well, anyway, from the earliest days of LA Live, he said their people, their sponsors, their partners were pushing them on like kind of your dark days, right? What do you do when the events, not there? They've been, so they've been talking about that for years. David talked about like, what is, you know, their mixed use area and Richmond around the flying squirrels, dude. - That industry. - Yeah, I'm in district. You know, what does that look like on an Easter Sunday, right? On those holidays where there's nothing else going on. So I think that's something that's on a lot of people's lives. - A lot of teams, a lot of places doing that. It was really interesting to hear. I loved hearing about some of the new technology. I had not really heard much about misapplied sciences and what they are doing with this parallel reality experience. They've tried it at some airport, it's at Intuit Dome. I heard a lot about Intuit Dome across a number of sessions. Everyone's really impressed and the people that have seen it, love it, and the people that haven't want to go see it. - Yeah, and parallel reality is one of the first things of where you're giving your face to the Intuit Dome and the Clippers and you're getting something back for it. And while it may not. - It's got a very minority port. - Yeah, it may not be the biggest deal, but like you can see your name and the building is essentially like talking to you. And it's kind of like the first time you're getting something in return for giving them your data. And I think that's what teams and leagues and venues are gonna have to start doing more of as you know, it has to be an exchange. And so far it's been kind of like, trust us. And you know, I think we're moving to a point where, you know, there needs to start being some delivery of like, you know, interesting, personalized, unique experiences. And that's something that parallel reality can do. - Brett, you and I on the buzz cast yesterday also talked about how I was very much looking forward. Even as a Giants fan, listening to the Jones family talk about their experience being around a team with their dad, Jerry. You had Steven, you had Charlie, you had Jerry Jr. Just sharing what it was like growing up with their dad from the time he bought the team, the roles that they've had with the team, what they have done and will be doing, 'cause they are co-owners of the team that's in their title, how the club's gonna move forward, what their vision of the team is going to be. I love that they were sharing family stories and you know, just generally what they are paying attention to in sports business. But Josh, we got a big one tonight. We're checking out another important facility that's in your area, the headquarters for the PGA of America. What should people be paying attention to when we go out there? Yeah, you know, I haven't been out there yet, Austin, but obviously a lot of, you know, it's kind of a time of transition for the PGA. Obviously they moved from Florida to Frisco. In the last few years you have Seth Wall transitioning out as CEO, I would expect they'd have a new CEO coming in sometime in the relatively near future. T-Mobile signed a big sponsorship deal with the PGA of America late last year. We saw them integrating really heavily around both the PGA championship in May, the KPMG women's PGA championship later in the summer. T-Mobile really heavily involved at that PGA headquarters. Brett, I know you were out there a few days ago, right? So what can people kind of kind of expect? Yeah, they're gonna be told a couple times that this is the home of the PGA of America and not the PGA tour. That was underscored to me. Right, if we could make that clear, to everyone listening to this podcast, that's my biggest grab in golf. Yeah, people confuse those too. Yeah, it's one of the tests to get higher to SPGA as if you can delineate between those. And also there was a lot of technology. I was kind of surprised by how much technology was there. On the teaching side and coaching side, I mean they can track, I mean, literally seemingly everything about you. And then on the kind of like corporate events hosting side, they have like a lot of top golf like capabilities, where they can really gamify lessons and things like that. So, it's pretty versatile. And these were two buildings. This was the headquarters and then the coaching facility, which is like right around the corner from it. So I think people will be surprised by that. Golf has not always been associated with being high tech. I also saw some hydraulic activated undulating greens, which I'm thinking maybe is what they're doing at the TGL. So we'll have to ask them what we're there. Yeah, it kind of goes back to what we talked about earlier. Those mixed use areas of what they're doing on non-game days, obviously in golf is a little bit different. But everything that they're doing at the PGA, like they lean heavily into the teaching side of things, right? Yeah, helping people learn the game. Like that's huge, the VGA of America. You know, they're gonna have some major championships. They've already helped some senior majors out there, PGA Frisco, some other majors. I believe the KPMG Women's PGA Championship is there next year. Yes, and then the PGA Championship in '27. Yeah, so really leaning heavily into that area, can't wait to get out there and see what they have to offer. Yeah, can't wait to see that facility in terms of some of the content on day two. I'm looking forward to a panel. I'm gonna be hosting with Chad Hutchinson from Arkdose Partners. Arkdose, obviously hot and heavy in the PE space. I think the only PE firm out there that's approved across all five big North American leagues, they've been rumored to be helping the Dolphins with an investment for Stephen Ross, valuing the team potentially at 7 billion. I wanna learn about the experiences that they've had across other leagues and how they're now gonna bring that to NFL teams that they may be helping out. And also because like I'm writing a lot every day, feels like 365 days a year about ratings. And we have a panel looking at, you know, getting beyond traditional revenue streams. You have teams like the Dallas Stars that are launching a streaming only platform. And you have other teams that are just trying to get different things out there, whether it's the Indiana fever or the Cavaliers, Texas Rangers. So we're gonna hear from a couple of teams and how they're moving forward amid this shifting media landscape. So for SBJ's Brett McCormick and Josh Carpenter, I'm Austin Karp. This has been your buzz cast for Wednesday, September 8th. Hope everyone has a great day. We're again, we're at the Access Drive Conference in Frisco, Texas. We will talk to you all tomorrow. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)