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welcome to Opportunity Matters this is
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Ken Shropshire it's a an exciting Series
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where we've been looking at these ways
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that we can bring about greater access
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to those who don't traditionally have
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access and I'm excited today in this
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episode to talk about the area this near
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and dear to me
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Sports and I mean Sports is kind of this
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this mystical space to think about this
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whole topic because it is the Jackie
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Robinson Trope that most people think
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about is leading America into the state
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that it's in that almost a decade before
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schools were legally desegregated in the
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United States baseball integrates so
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people often think that Sports is the
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space where this can happen most readily
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and so we'll talk about that we'll talk
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about the problems that still exist in
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sport and some of the solutions that
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some to of the uh representatives of two
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of the great leagues in the United
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States uh have have asserted so let me
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introduce the guest formally as I've
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done U throughout this podcast series
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our our first is Javier Gutierrez a
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friend of mine from the
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Arizona uh location also a California
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guy he's the first Latino president and
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CEO in the history of the National
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Hockey League leading the Arizona
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Coyotes Hockey Club and currently the
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only Latino leading a major league
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sports team in this Ro Javier overse all
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business operations strategic planning
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significant organizational decision-
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making and government relations for the
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club previously and could have been on
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some other episodes as well he served as
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managing director at Clear Lake Capital
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group a leading private investment firm
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that oversees 25 billion of
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institutional Capital Javier graduated
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from Harvard College somebody has to go
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there and Stanford law school and for
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two decades built a sterling reputation
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in business investment and finance h
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here thank you for for joining me and
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thanks so much for having me Jonathan
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Bean he is the senior vice president and
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chief diversity and inclusion officer
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began that role with the NFL in 2020 he
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spearheads the League's overarching de
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strategy and implementation and works
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closely with senior leadership to drive
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actionable change throughout the league
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and all 32 clubs over the course of his
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career Jonathan has led companies to
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Foster more inclusive cultures and has
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established himself as a successful
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diversity strategist prior to joining
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the NFL being served as the senior vice
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president of global diversity and
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inclusion for 21st Century Fox Jonathan
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thanks for joining in thank you Ken did
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you ever work for any boring companies
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that you know you no comment
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okay well let let's get underway I mean
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I said you know I want to kind of lay
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the ground work of what's going on uh in
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sports and kind of how we've gotten to
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the place that that we're in um and and
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Javier why don't we start with you and
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and in your unique role as as the first
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Latino in the space and also you didn't
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mention in the intro
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um is is he currently the the well
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certainly one of the first Latino owner
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in the National Hockey League uh is the
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guy that bought the team that convinced
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you to leave
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a more traditional space to to come in
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how's how's this journey been what kinds
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of things uh in terms of equity and
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opportunity did you want to accomplish
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as you came in um and yeah just just
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how's it been just just kind of kind of
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lay lay the groundwork of this this
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journey you've had for where are we now
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year three and a half almost four season
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four if you can believe it okay no okay
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I appreciate this yeah no I appreciate
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it and and um you you know I I I applaud
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everything that you're doing to continue
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to uh be a leader in talking about the
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importance of opportunity and opening
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doors um yeah you know you you you
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mentioned Alex Morel the first Latino
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owner in the history of the National
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Hockey League and and one of the few
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owner majority owners of any
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professional sports team in in the
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history of the professional the the
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major professional teams in in America
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um is a longtime friend uh business
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partner we actually own the largest
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Latino owned bank uh together in in
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California um and and he approached me
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uh shortly after buying the team and and
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he said listen the reason why you should
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do this you need to do this is because
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of the incredible power of sports to
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make a difference and and to make an
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impact and what he said was I want us to
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be a beloved Sports organization I want
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to win but I want us to be beloved and
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really the way you do that is by making
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an impact and making a difference on the
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ice in terms of rebuilding a franchise
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from the ground up uh via the draft you
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know we have a a historic number of
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draft picks in the NHL uh on the
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business side you know we've been at the
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Forefront of putting our games over the
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air for free we've been at the Forefront
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of really bringing that bridge to growth
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cohorts of young female diverse
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techsavvy and Purpose Driven and using
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content and actually fashion and
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merchandise you know we have one of the
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first fashion design
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working with us that created a jersey
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that their players actually wear during
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games I I definitely want to come back
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and and you you struck an issue that I
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think is very important the power that
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you have with the franchise to provide
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opportunities in the community but I
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want but I want to get get Jonathan in
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for a moment be before we do that the
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the NFL has has been uh Stellar in
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addressing you know one of the issues
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the way we used to think about diversity
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in sports was I this idea of of playing
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the game who's not playing
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and the issue was the closer you were to
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the ball the less likely you were to be
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a person of color so there were no black
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quarterbacks now that issue that issue
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is is addressed what what are the big
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issues with with with the National
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Football League now and and and the big
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successes too yeah Ken thanks for that
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and and and also Javier congratulations
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on on the success that you explained and
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and we hope to see that in in all the
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industry and and hopefully we will uh
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sooner rather than later for us uh as it
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pertains you know it always goes to the
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top and we we certainly want to increase
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our diverse
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ownership uh in the organization right
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now we really have one
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primary uh owner who happens to be
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diverse and that's shod KH um you know
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we also um Kim Pula certainly uh is is a
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critical piece as well but shodon is the
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solo primary owner who happens to be
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diverse and and he's been an owner for
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quite a while um that has been something
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that has been one of the biggest
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priorities of the league obviously when
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you look at at numbers and you look at
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um how expensive it is to own a club uh
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that certainly does uh uh lower the
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numbers uh a little bit but I certainly
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think that there's a lot of people like
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Jose Feliciano who who I have met and
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who think I think he's awesome uh that
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there are people out there one thing
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that we have done is we've been very
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intentional on our efforts to really um
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attract more diverse ownership and and I
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think what's important is we want the
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primary ownership but we also want those
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limited partners as well and we've had
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two clubs that have been for sale over
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the last couple years uh the first one
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being the Denver Broncos and the second
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one being the most recent one is the
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Washington commanders and in both cases
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you see significant diverse ownership
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with Melody Hobson condo rice and Sir
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Lewis Hamilton uh with the Broncos and I
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think the biggest diverse owner um with
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Magic Johnson and others at the
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Washington commanders and and before
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that process even started for both of
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those clubs we made a statement and and
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um where we said as people are putting
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together organizations are putting
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together together their offers for a
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club uh we will see it very favorably
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for there to be diverse ownership as a
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part of that overall package and
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proposal um just making it very clear
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that that is something that we are
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looking for and hoping for uh going
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forward and and we've been able to see
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that I mean one thing too that is of
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course important and I think can you
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mention that is ownership of course at
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the very top is is very critical but
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also these other roles the head coach
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role roles the G general manager roles
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the president roles and we have seen
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some good progress in some of those
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areas in particular for with President
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uh in August of 2020 Jason Wright was
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the first uh African-American president
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in the history of the National Football
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League today we have five
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African-American presidents uh at the
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league and we feel very proud about that
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um we also have uh one of them being uh
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Sandra Douglas Morgan who uh who really
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it's it's it's it's amazing as a black
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woman the first person in that role too
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um so we are seeing some nice
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Improvement there we look at general
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manager we have more diverse uh general
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managers that we've had in the history
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of the league with nine eight of which
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who happen to be African-American and
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that doesn't include the two Who
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currently are interims right now and
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Jojo and champ at the at the um
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uh at the Las Vegas Raiders and and and
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also the Los Angeles Chargers uh and and
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I think you know obviously we're still
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working on that head coach issue and
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we're going to continue to do so but we
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feel very confident that we'll see
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change there let me ask and jav I do
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want to come back to the the business
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impact question in the community but but
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but Jonathan reminds me of uh an
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important issue that that that you you
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two can discuss in a way that that kind
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of none of the other areas have had uh
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as much opportunity to do and that and
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that is uh women's access in in
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leadership uh in your respective leagues
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where it there aren't women playing the
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game in in your leagues and how that
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balances with this this one always um
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you know the puzzle when I talk about
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this in class is we've got men who have
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played the game that have difficulty
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getting in some of these positions
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sometimes how do we balance that against
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the idea that that we need to have women
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in these positions too and one person
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that we were talking to uh in the
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entertainment industry said you know my
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focus is on on black people and getting
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black black people in I guess part of
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the the question is I throw all these
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issues in at once you how do how do we
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get the the Focus right this whole idea
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of diversity is there a proper mix are
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we sometime somehow negatively impacting
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one group if we focus you know women's
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month as AO or Latino history month or
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Black History Month how do how do we do
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the balance in this this this whole
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space that is one thing that I have
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realized especially in the role that
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I've been in for almost three and a half
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years now at the National Football
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League is you cannot make the kind of
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transformational change in a particular
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area without also making the change in
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another area which will support each
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other and and I'll be direct about that
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if we're talking about us doing a better
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job of having more diversity in
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particular with uh African-Americans and
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Latinos and and Asians and in areas of
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leadership um you're not going to get
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that leadership without also driving
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more inclusivity and diversity and
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diverse representation with women and
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it's interesting because there is um
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there there are there is someone who I
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do a lot of work with and is um and and
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is a player and it was interesting there
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was a comment that was said to
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me that was there was a clear
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change in the culture and the
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environment of the clubs that he worked
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with when women were on
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staff and that was with so with other
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aspects of diversity like people of
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color that got better and more inclusive
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with women on
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staff and vice
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versa so one thing drives the other
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interesting um there is no need to say
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I'm going to lock in on one thing and
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then leave the others behind it is the
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commitment to all of it holistically
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which drives the Improvement in those
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areas um so I so just to be direct I
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don't think that we are going to get the
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progress that we need in particular with
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particular groups whether they be black
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groups Latino groups and others without
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also having that progress and in
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particular with women women will drive
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that increased Pro progress for us
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Javier I think that's a really good
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point Jonathan that one thing will
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actually exponentially impact something
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else I I'll I'll add a kind of a
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slightly uh different point to this
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which is we ask ourselves constantly
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what what's what is the goal right what
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is the end goal so number one one of the
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goals is we want to be a best-in-class
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business operation and business
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organization and if you don't have have
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diverse voices especially if you don't
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have female voices you're not going to
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make the best decisions they're just
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they're they're going to be impacted
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you're going to not have the full
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perspective the full Viewpoint um you
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know full insight as an organization so
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so it starts with if we want to be the
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best business let's bring the best
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people and that includes bringing the
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best amount of and the highest amount of
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perspective to make the best decisions
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number two as an organization and as a
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business what do we want to do we we are
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consumer business very high-profile
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consumer business so what do those
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consumers look like in in particular
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what is the growth a look like in the
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consumer Market in America it's young
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female diverse techsavvy and purpos
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griven I constantly talk about those
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growth cohort so we want to a bridge to
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those growth cohorts which by the way is
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one of the key value propositions that
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we offer to our partners right our Media
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Partners our business partners uh from a
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business perspective if we want to be a
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bridge to those growth cohorts you
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really need those folks in the seat
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giving you that type of perspective of
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attracting that because a monolithic
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Viewpoint will not get you the
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understanding or at least the openness
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of understanding how to capture those
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growth cohorts and I don't ascribe to
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this theory that you know only an
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African-American can sit in that seat in
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order you help you attract other
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African-Americans or the
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African-American Market that's not what
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I'm saying what I'm saying is having
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them in the seat as Jonathan alluded to
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creates a culture in an environment in
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which you're asking and you're open to
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saying are we capturing all the distinct
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perspectives that we need as an
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organization and are we capturing the
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distinct and unique approaches in order
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to capture those growth cohorts so so I
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want to say you you guys have have been
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the ideal as I as I've been thinking
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about the series
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that in terms of this broad issue that's
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that's been on my mind uh and it's been
00:16:43
on my mind a lot because of the issues
00:16:45
that have been raised recently with
00:16:48
anti-Semitism and
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islamophobia my response to a lot of
00:16:52
people has been the best Professionals
00:16:54
in this space are always trying to think
00:16:57
about everybody and always are trying to
00:16:59
figure out how do you include everyone
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and how do you make sure there's not
00:17:03
bias going against anyone and the best
00:17:06
professionals are always saying too
00:17:08
there's not a universal approach for
00:17:10
each group I I need to do whatever it is
00:17:14
I need to do to address these issues and
00:17:16
I need to constantly stay stay on top of
00:17:18
these issues so I'm I'm not I'm not
00:17:20
dragging you guys in with my my view
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viewpoint but I it it's it's one that
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that uh I I think people that are being
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critical of the work in the space need
00:17:29
to have a better understanding of what
00:17:31
what the true professionals do so the
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the one the one last area I want to
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cover we've got uh about uh three
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minutes left is this area of of business
00:17:41
opportunities that that a league that
00:17:44
that a franchise can provide to people
00:17:46
that don't normally have access to do
00:17:49
business wi with with a league or or
00:17:51
team uh Jonathan why you why don't you
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take a a minute and then Javier I'll ask
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you to kind of close out with with a a
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last minute on on the kinds of things
00:17:59
that are available the kinds of things a
00:18:01
can you are doing and El can
00:18:03
do yeah Ken absolutely this piece is
00:18:07
really critical um you look at the NHL
00:18:09
you look at the NFL huge organizations
00:18:12
multi-billion dollar organizations um
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very profitable organizations very
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connected to the fan base organizations
00:18:20
and more and more becoming Global uh
00:18:23
with that said uh we need to just as we
00:18:28
need to have diversity and
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representation um uh in terms of our
00:18:34
employees we need to have diversity in
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terms of the organizations and
00:18:38
businesses that we're working with and
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share the pie um we wouldn't be who we
00:18:43
are today without all of these
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communities that we're talking about and
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so for us we're really really focused
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and and made it a huge priority around
00:18:53
increasing the number of diverse vendors
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that we work with and when we say that
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it's not just just in one particular
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space uh events is critical marketing's
00:19:02
critical um B uh banking's critical
00:19:06
Finance um we've actually had a lot of
00:19:08
success in that area uh n working with
00:19:11
the national black Bank Foundation uh
00:19:13
with a Ashley uh and and Ashley Bell and
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others um but we believe that and and
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this is not only at the league office
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but also at the clubs is you have to in
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order for us to get better have better
00:19:27
Solutions uh have the best Partners
00:19:29
working with us we have to have a
00:19:31
diverse lens and be very focused on
00:19:34
bringing in a variety of different
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people from different backgrounds and
00:19:38
organizations that can service in a
00:19:40
variety of different ways so that's
00:19:42
critical for us we've been working on
00:19:43
that uh very hard for two plus years uh
00:19:48
specifically and and there's still a lot
00:19:50
more work to to get done but we're doing
00:19:53
some good work there Javier in in the
00:19:55
last minute what's what's the what kinds
00:19:58
of things have you guys been doing yeah
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no I'll Echo everything that Jonathan
00:20:03
said I don't want to repeat it because
00:20:04
it's it's absolutely true right like
00:20:06
these are drivers of economic activity
00:20:09
especially in local communities and it
00:20:11
it goes beyond just game day it's you
00:20:14
know content and and Merchandising and
00:20:17
and our licensing and so it's it goes
00:20:19
beyond that equality health is a local
00:20:21
Health Organization here that really
00:20:23
targets the lower income primarily
00:20:26
Latino African-American community uh in
00:20:28
in greater Phoenix area they came to us
00:20:31
to actually sign up and sponsor the
00:20:33
largest street hockey program in the NHL
00:20:37
in Arizona by the way and why because
00:20:39
they knew that that was their Target and
00:20:42
they were trying to make Health Care
00:20:45
accessible and and really break down
00:20:48
walls and barriers around the issues of
00:20:50
Health Care why not do it with an
00:20:53
organization that can help them do that
00:20:55
in a very unique way because that
00:20:56
organization is focused on that just
00:20:58
like we're trying to make hockey
00:21:00
accessible through street hockey how
00:21:02
that's how we're trying to Target these
00:21:04
growth in diverse uh segments they
00:21:06
wanted to align with that so it's it's
00:21:08
not just seeing it as bringing them into
00:21:11
the supply chain and procurement it's
00:21:13
also being that resource for those
00:21:16
Enterprises to then also make that
00:21:18
difference in the community and so for
00:21:20
me that's that's the power that we have
00:21:24
to combine our platforms our voices our
00:21:27
impact
00:21:28
with the business opportunities that
00:21:31
make sense for the league for the team
00:21:33
for our partners for the community um as
00:21:36
much as these are the right things that
00:21:38
we are doing Ken they're the right
00:21:41
business decisions and that's what
00:21:43
bothers me whenever there's critique I
00:21:45
go great give me a critique as to why
00:21:48
this is not a good business decision as
00:21:51
as a as a business guy as a private
00:21:53
Equity guy tell me why this is not a
00:21:55
good business decision because I can
00:21:57
tell you why it is Javier that that
00:22:00
that's a great uh point to to end on the
00:22:03
idea of this whole Space the idea of
00:22:07
looking for opportunities and the idea
00:22:09
that it can be positively business
00:22:11
impactful if you do it the right way so
00:22:13
thank you both thank you Jonathan thank
00:22:15
you Javier for joining us on Opportunity
00:22:19
[Music]
00:22:22
Matters I'm farita Griffith managing
00:22:25
director for the Wharton Coalition for
00:22:27
equity and opportun
00:22:28
in partnership with Wharton Works led by
00:22:30
Professor Damon Phillips Business
00:22:32
Roundtable and second chance business
00:22:34
Coalition we're bringing together
00:22:36
Business Leaders academics State leaders
00:22:39
and Justice impacted communities for
00:22:41
discussions on creating Pathways to
00:22:43
sustainable employment for individuals
00:22:45
who are formally incarcerated to learn
00:22:47
more and register go to
00:22:50
ceo. Warton
00:22:53
do.edu
