Topics from the discussion include Caitlin Clark & the Olympic team, women’s sports in the Bay Area, season ticket member deposits, San Francisco housing prices, use of AI & more
Following are excerpts from the unofficial transcript of a CNBC exclusive interview with Bay FC CEO Brady Stewart & Golden State Valkyries GM Ohemaa Nyanin from CNBC’s SF Summer Event hosted at the network’s San Francisco Bureau at 1 Market yesterday, Tuesday, June 25. Here is a link to photos from the event.
All references must be sourced to CNBC.
NYANIN ON SEASON TICKET MEMBER DEPOSITS
BRADY STEWART: How many season ticket member deposits do you already have?
OHEMAA NYANIN: Can I say that number out loud?
DEIRDRE BOSA: I know you have thousands—
NYANIN: Can I say it out loud? Yes? 13.5 plus. (13,500)
STEWART: That’s incredible.
BOSA: What’s the capacity of the Chase Center?
NYANIN: 18.. (18,000).
NYANIN ON CAITLIN CLARK & OLYMPIC TEAM
NYANIN: What I will say is to be an Olympian is really, really, really hard. To talk about somebody not making the team more than the people who have made the team and their stories, I believe that there’s a story in each of the athletes that have made the team. So whether she would have made the team or is not on the team, for me is not the story to tell. It’s the story of the 12 athletes, some first time Olympians, some who have dedicated their entire adolescence to getting to this moment, they’ve worked really, really hard not to say that Caitlin hasn’t worked hard, she’s just worked hard in a different capacity, I would say. So in declining to answer the question directly, I will – I think the story remains to be seen.
NYANIN ON EXPANSION TEAM
NYANIN: This is the first expansion team since 2008. So there’s going to be a lot of pressure on them. And so just balancing the pressure, the external pressure, and then the internal pressure, and then the storytelling and all of that, I think will be a really exciting challenge.
NYANIN ON STORYTELLING
NYANIN: The storytelling of how you got into tech is just as important as being in tech and I think the conversations and synergies between sports and tech aren’t that far off. And so for me personally, and I can speak on behalf of our business team, we’re just super excited to hear your stories. Our athletes are so elite at their craft and you all are so elite at your craft – so how can we be elite together and how can we bridge the gap? Because the gap isn’t as wide as we think it is.
STEWART ON WOMEN’S TEAM IN THE BAY AREA
STEWART: I think when I realized that it was more than a moment was actually several years ago. I was at the Angel City home opener, which is the Women’s Professional Soccer Team in LA and I was standing there, the stadium was packed. The stadium was rocking. The fans were already kitted out in Angel City gear. And I was thinking myself like this has sprung fully formed, right? This is not emerging. This is here. This is this moment. And then when I heard that we were going to have a women’s team here in the Bay Area, I said I have got to be a part of this. I want to get on this train and ride it.
STEWART ON BUILDING A TEAM
STEWART: Here in women’s sports, what we’re trying to do now we’re in sports, right? We’re not trying to get people to buy more stuff. We’re trying to create lifelong fandom. We’re trying to create an incredible experience. We’re trying to create love, really. And that’s a higher calling, in my opinion. And I think where that sits heavy on me is that we need to get this right. We need to prove out the business. We need to prove that we’re filling the stadium with fans. We need to get big sponsorships. We need to sell our merch. We need to create this business cycle so that this moment only becomes amplified, and it feels like a big responsibility.
STEWART ON SAN FRANCISCO HOUSING PRICES
STEWART: I will say housing prices for the players is a concern, and so that’s the challenge, which is unique in sports to have players concerned about housing prices. But from a doom loop perspective, I feel like that narrative is breaking up a little.
STEWART ON AI
STEWART: For us the next frontier is evolving into AI. And so using that to market to our season ticket member base on renewals continue to grow and expand that using AI for personalization and building out those one to one relationships with all of our fans. We got a lot of them. We can’t talk to them all directly, but we can use AI to personalize that. So that’s where we’re pushing.
