Investing in Sports: Building A Better Fan Experience

Until just a few months ago, the Los Angeles Clippers played home games at crypto.comarena in downtown LA. We

were in a building that had 2 other, you know, major sports teams that were playing at the same time as we were, another basketball team and an NHL hockey team.

That's Clippers president of business operations, Gillian Zucker. The hockey team, the LA Kings. And the other basketball team, it was the LA Lakers.

And so we were the 3rd tenant in the building. You get the dates that are remaining. That's nobody's fault, but it was just the reality of what it was like to be the Clippers in that building.

This meant the Clippers played dates that weren't favorable for the team, its players, or its fans.

We played a lot of day games. We played a lot of Monday nights. We played a lot of holidays that were difficult. We had more difficult road schedules and road trips. We had more back to backs than other teams. And as a result of it, we were at a competitive disadvantage, and we were at a financial disadvantage. So when you think about being in somebody else's building, you're paying rent to them. They're keeping the suite revenue. They have competing sponsors to you. All of those things go away when you have a place that's all your own. This

is investing in sports, a 4 part series from the Goldman Sachs Exchanges podcast about the changing dynamics at the intersection of sports and finance. I'm Nicole Polan Ross. I lead the private wealth management business for the New York region at Goldman Sachs, And I also head our sports and entertainment offering for Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management. The LA Clippers just kicked off the NBA season in their brand new home, the Intuit Dome. At $2,400,000,000, it's the most expensive arena in the world and part of a trend of new sports entertainment complexes that offer much more for fans

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium has Michelin star level dining, and you can go and have a multi course wine paired meal before a match.

On this episode, we're looking at what it takes to build these stadiums and arenas of the future. We'll hear from Gillian Zucker about designing a new facility with Clippers fans top of mind.