Lalit Modi

And oh, guess what? Major League Baseball does not have central media rights. The Dodgers have their own TV deal in Los Angeles, which is by far the most valuable thing.

And oh, guess what? Major League Baseball does not have central media rights. The Dodgers have their own TV deal in Los Angeles, which is by far the most valuable thing.

in the sport so they've got the funding as you said the access to capital to do this and of course they're going to win the world series it's a big problem yep why would anyone tune in to watch that totally i mean sure then you've got also the separate problem with baseball of 162 games like who cares about a game on a wednesday night in the middle of the summer

in the sport so they've got the funding as you said the access to capital to do this and of course they're going to win the world series it's a big problem yep why would anyone tune in to watch that totally i mean sure then you've got also the separate problem with baseball of 162 games like who cares about a game on a wednesday night in the middle of the summer

Right. I mean, that's just such a stark example. You've got one team that has 3x the annual salary payroll of the other team. Like, there's just no way. Yep. Spring training is more compelling than the regular season. At least spring training is fun. And I say this as somebody who deeply loves baseball, but... Okay, so that's at least state-of-the-art in the big North American sports leagues.

Right. I mean, that's just such a stark example. You've got one team that has 3x the annual salary payroll of the other team. Like, there's just no way. Yep. Spring training is more compelling than the regular season. At least spring training is fun. And I say this as somebody who deeply loves baseball, but... Okay, so that's at least state-of-the-art in the big North American sports leagues.

As I said, before the IPL comes along, NFL is the gold standard. I mean, they are the true any-given Sunday league. Not true in any of the other North American leagues. European soccer is even worse. It's a very, very small number of teams in La Liga or Bundesliga or English Premier League that are winning soccer.

As I said, before the IPL comes along, NFL is the gold standard. I mean, they are the true any-given Sunday league. Not true in any of the other North American leagues. European soccer is even worse. It's a very, very small number of teams in La Liga or Bundesliga or English Premier League that are winning soccer.

Right. That is the ultimate disincentive to investment and ownership in a league. You definitely don't want that. Yes. Okay. So Lollet comes up with this incredibly brilliant idea and says, you know what? Instead of having a salary cap, I've got something that I think might work even better.

Right. That is the ultimate disincentive to investment and ownership in a league. You definitely don't want that. Yes. Okay. So Lollet comes up with this incredibly brilliant idea and says, you know what? Instead of having a salary cap, I've got something that I think might work even better.

All these auctions that I keep running for all these media rights and sponsorships and everything, they work really, really, really well because they collapse everything down to a super clear one time in the moment transaction. And I can set the guardrails for minimum maximum.

All these auctions that I keep running for all these media rights and sponsorships and everything, they work really, really, really well because they collapse everything down to a super clear one time in the moment transaction. And I can set the guardrails for minimum maximum.

I'm trying to remember. There's some episode we did recently where we referred to either the company or the founder as a value maximization pioneer.

I'm trying to remember. There's some episode we did recently where we referred to either the company or the founder as a value maximization pioneer.

Value capture pioneer, yeah. Lalit Modi is a value maximization pioneer.

Value capture pioneer, yeah. Lalit Modi is a value maximization pioneer.

Ah, Qualcomm. So here's Lalit's quote on how the auction comes about. I got the idea of the player auction because our family company had a partnership with Sotheby's Auction House in India, where you offer the item to the highest bidder. What's wrong with that? Great transparency. I also knew it would be the talk of the town. Extremely controversial. That was a central part of my strategy.

Ah, Qualcomm. So here's Lalit's quote on how the auction comes about. I got the idea of the player auction because our family company had a partnership with Sotheby's Auction House in India, where you offer the item to the highest bidder. What's wrong with that? Great transparency. I also knew it would be the talk of the town. Extremely controversial. That was a central part of my strategy.

And then he says in a different quote, our number one pillar, I would call it the pillar of the IPL, was that we needed to have a department called controversy. And controversy allows us to get front page news. If you're controversial, good or bad, doesn't matter. As long as people talk about us, they hate us. They like us. Great. No problem. They want to talk about us. Let them talk about us.

And then he says in a different quote, our number one pillar, I would call it the pillar of the IPL, was that we needed to have a department called controversy. And controversy allows us to get front page news. If you're controversial, good or bad, doesn't matter. As long as people talk about us, they hate us. They like us. Great. No problem. They want to talk about us. Let them talk about us.