Hey hey, this is Shaun with the award-winning GoTennis! Podcast powered by Signature Tennis.
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Speaker:And now let's get into our recent conversation with Chris and Patrick of GoVision, providers
Speaker:of the huge fancy LED screens.
Speaker:You see it, basketball, final four events, presidential inaugurations, and even professional
Speaker:level tennis events.
Speaker:Have a listen and let us know what you think.
Speaker:GoVision.
Speaker:I'm excited about that because we are GoTennis.
Speaker:It sounds like we're already in business together.
Speaker:This works out well.
Speaker:Clearly, we call the same marketing team and we got started.
Speaker:Chris Curtis, we appreciate you guys being here.
Speaker:You're here with Patrick and we want to talk to both of you.
Speaker:But I'm going to start with you, Chris and say, GoVision, Chris Curtis, who are you and
Speaker:why do we care?
Speaker:Well, GoVision is one of, when we have some of the most longevity in the video display in
Speaker:sports markets.
Speaker:A couple of things and I think we bring uniquely to the tennis is great background in all other
Speaker:sports.
Speaker:So we're seeing a lot of what happens in golf, basketball and college sports.
Speaker:Although some of that trending stuff we can help bring in here.
Speaker:In addition for the tennis world, we're really, I think the only company in the States that
Speaker:does fixed install and rental gear both at the highest levels.
Speaker:There's install companies that do some rental and there's rental companies that do some
Speaker:install.
Speaker:We're the only one that plays at both levels.
Speaker:So we can help on permanent venue, facility side, and tournament ops or temporary things
Speaker:for that.
Speaker:I think that's a good thing for the tennis market obviously.
Speaker:And we can also service that as well.
Speaker:We have a full service department repair.
Speaker:So we've got all that.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:And you're talking about giant television.
Speaker:Like boil it down to what we're talking about.
Speaker:What do you do?
Speaker:So we were pioneering in the term kind of still gets used jumbo tron, even though that was
Speaker:some of these, some of these brand from the 90s.
Speaker:But we provide portable LED video screens, jumbo trons to major events across sports, music,
Speaker:corporate world.
Speaker:We do a lot in sport.
Speaker:We do a lot of racing.
Speaker:We have a major presence in golf.
Speaker:We do most of the PGA tour, just completed the Ryder Cup for PGA of America, which was the
Speaker:largest temporary installation of LED in North American history.
Speaker:So we're really proud of that one.
Speaker:We do.
Speaker:We do all the NCAA work, major piece of that's the temporary center on the final four.
Speaker:Sports NHL, major like baseball, like they're off site games and those kind of things where
Speaker:they have temporary need.
Speaker:And then we're involved on the stadium side.
Speaker:We do installations have about 300 installations across the country, stadiums, amphitheaters,
Speaker:racetracks, things like that.
Speaker:So that big kind of disc looking thing that hangs in a basketball court with all the displays
Speaker:around it, that's you, right?
Speaker:At the NCAA final four, yes, because they play at the stadium, they don't have that with
Speaker:the court being smaller and focused.
Speaker:This thing has grown.
Speaker:We've been doing it since 2009, but it's grown.
Speaker:It's messy.
Speaker:It's actually bigger than the court because the fans are so one of the things with playing basketball
Speaker:in a stadium, the fans are way spread out.
Speaker:So this gives them, you know, draws them into the action.
Speaker:Now, the thing just has, keep, as a matter of fact, we were just hit some meetings about
Speaker:the one to get bigger still.
Speaker:It's one of our really pride and joy projects for sure.
Speaker:It's fantastic.
Speaker:Now, Bobby, let's bring in some of their uniqueness.
Speaker:You've met Chris before and by before you're talking decades ago.
Speaker:So give us the backstory on you and Chris.
Speaker:Well Chris and I are both alumni of TCU and we are both Lambda guy-alphas.
Speaker:So I was fortunate to meet Chris when I was a freshman going through Rush, sat at a bar
Speaker:with him and talked about, because we had a mutual acclaims.
Speaker:The person who got me to TCU was somebody that Chris was very familiar with, Dr. Bobby
Speaker:Amato.
Speaker:So I had some, a name to drop to get my way into the Lambda Cus and just we hit it off.
Speaker:And as I said, 42 years later, and I think about, we started seeing GoVision everywhere.
Speaker:And I said, "Geez, the only place I was disappointed, I didn't see a big presence in tennis."
Speaker:So I called Chris and I worked with Brad.
Speaker:What was Brad's like?
Speaker:A kid in?
Speaker:Mary, man.
Speaker:Mary, man.
Speaker:Mary, man.
Speaker:And we tried to get tennis.
Speaker:It's GoVision into more tennis.
Speaker:But Chris is being humble too.
Speaker:They've also done inaugurations.
Speaker:I mean, GoVision has been, you guys did Obama, you did Bush.
Speaker:They've been more than just sports.
Speaker:So it was just fascinating to me and I just wanted to see the presence in tennis.
Speaker:So I tried to push him in that direction.
Speaker:We came close a few times, but I think you were in the US open shortly right around that time
Speaker:as well.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So for five years, we did the US open temporary because they did it temporary until when they
Speaker:re-did Arthur Ashe and the rest of it, they put in permanent stuff.
Speaker:But we did that for five years.
Speaker:Temperate of the big board, you know, over the out front where the fan thing was and that
Speaker:octagon and the fan thing and then in all the in-court stuff.
Speaker:And we've done some other, the ATP tournaments over time.
Speaker:And then we have finally started to get a foothold in tennis.
Speaker:Patrick can touch on that one.
Speaker:We're ready.
Speaker:And this will be the last story I tell you.
Speaker:And I tried to leverage it.
Speaker:My daughter's looking at UGA and some of these apartment complexes literally have jumbo
Speaker:trams on their rooftops and we went to a couple that didn't.
Speaker:And I was like, well, I know the guy who can get you one of these.
Speaker:So I changed room for my daughter.
Speaker:We can help you not with this.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So Patrick, how do we get you guys into tennis?
Speaker:What does that relationship look like?
Speaker:What is that side of the industry, the media and the giant televisions and things?
Speaker:Talk to me about that.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So it's a great question because I'm over the sports entertainment division, you know,
Speaker:like Chris said, NCAA ESPN.
Speaker:But you know, wanting to grow, you know, where in different verticals, that to me seemed
Speaker:like one of the biggest opportunities.
Speaker:We have, you know, done a little tennis before.
Speaker:But what we did about a year, a year and a half ago, we kind of teamed up with a Creonet.
Speaker:And they're the sports data and streaming provider and all the ATWTA tournaments.
Speaker:And so they had a foothold in most of those tournaments to where, you know, that would be
Speaker:our end to get our LED and, you know, AV solutions in there.
Speaker:And so we did that USTA tour last year, you know, the smaller tour that they got like 16 or
Speaker:17 tournaments, but it was just small boards.
Speaker:Then this year in 25, we've really, you know, kind of gotten a foothold more traction than
Speaker:the some of the 500 events, 50 events.
Speaker:And you know, that's kind of our main goal is to grow that vertical to more like we do in
Speaker:golf.
Speaker:Because, you know, golf, kind of like Chris said, has a, you know, we cover 75% of the LPGA
Speaker:or PGA and all the LPGA.
Speaker:So the goal here for us is to bring that fan engagement, everything else to these tournaments
Speaker:and kind of grow, you know, along with it.
Speaker:So that's kind of the main objective here.
Speaker:And we've got a good partner in Creonet and that's kind of how our foot got in the door
Speaker:there.
Speaker:So Creonet is a partner because they're doing the technology platforms and solution for
Speaker:sport.
Speaker:What's the difference between what they do and what you do?
Speaker:How do you get together?
Speaker:They're working on, I can't, no, they're just trying to do their path.
Speaker:They're working, you know, their core thing is the streaming piece, but they also then
Speaker:are participating in ticketing and infrastructure and those kind of things where we're given
Speaker:them another service to add to their portfolio so that they can come in full service and the
Speaker:content and the screens, you know, a big part of any sport and the availability is obviously
Speaker:TV visible signage.
Speaker:And that's important to them for their streaming broadcast side.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:Because most of this is a giant television show, meaning what I see on television is what
Speaker:the advertisers are really concerned about.
Speaker:What happens in person is fun, but the fans are also just part of the television shows.
Speaker:That's our picture.
Speaker:Is that is actually what's going on?
Speaker:I believe that is definitely became the case about it now.
Speaker:I like it.
Speaker:I like it because I'm an old school sports guy.
Speaker:That's reality.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And going to a baseball game used to be the way that I would have guessed the baseball teams
Speaker:made some money is people came to your game and they paid for the ticket to they bought
Speaker:a cook.
Speaker:But Bobby tells me all the time.
Speaker:It's like, no, no, it's not about that.
Speaker:It's about the television production.
Speaker:Then that sells the advertising.
Speaker:Because that's how your whole system scales.
Speaker:That's how you can get to millions of viewers instead of just the 20,000 to come to your
Speaker:game.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:Without it out.
Speaker:That's why you see, you know, baseball backdrop, the backstops always end digital because
Speaker:that's on TV.
Speaker:tremendous.
Speaker:About the same same scores tables in basketball.
Speaker:They're on TV.
Speaker:They're tremendous.
Speaker:Now don't really know when you watch, but you'll see them because they're just there.
Speaker:And that's why you see all the teams are pushing their actual team further, further down
Speaker:the bench, right?
Speaker:Because they're making that that streak of that scores table.
Speaker:Love it for TV visible signing.
Speaker:And tennis sets up perfect for it, obviously.
Speaker:That's right.
Speaker:That's why it's happening.
Speaker:I was going to kind of compare so like, you know, when you're watching college football
Speaker:in the end zones, they always have the LED in the end zones.
Speaker:The field goes, the punts, you know, the cameras directly on it.
Speaker:And you'll see them turn two or three, you know, brands, advertising at the time on that.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So Bobby, is this similar to what I think some of the tournaments are doing now, the tennis
Speaker:tournaments where they've got the wall in the back.
Speaker:But now it's basically just a giant LED screen that says, "Great shot."
Speaker:Like, is that what we're talking about here?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I mean, they would know more.
Speaker:I think the technology goes even further.
Speaker:I think that you superimpose your screen, if like, because I know like the stadiums have
Speaker:started to install their own, but it used to be, you can superimpose on the wall too.
Speaker:I mean, I think you could put an ad on a tennis court that would only be seen to the television
Speaker:public.
Speaker:So yeah, that's absolutely.
Speaker:Yeah, digital insertion, for sure.
Speaker:I mean, and like you said, it's an HL with their, you know, chip, you know, within those
Speaker:boards.
Speaker:So when you're watching a NHL hockey game, but you see stuff going around the boards constantly,
Speaker:but it's not there in stadium.
Speaker:They can't see it, you know, from the spectator side.
Speaker:Because I wondered about that with the soccer games I'm watching.
Speaker:You're like, "That guy just ran right through that display ad."
Speaker:Like, he didn't even know it was there.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Only I can see it.
Speaker:I think the US Open did that this year where they were, they had something that looked like
Speaker:it was on the court, the Ralph Lauren logo or whatever it was.
Speaker:But it wasn't actually there because it was different the next, like after the changeover,
Speaker:they changed it to something else.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And that technology's gotten better so you don't have that go lower, it looks like they
Speaker:run across to logo on the court.
Speaker:They go across the logo on the court.
Speaker:That's like this black logo, like it used to, for sure.
Speaker:Oh, that makes a lot of sense.
Speaker:So how do we get you into, you guys don't do small time tennis events like Bobby's, oh,
Speaker:I'm sure I'm putting words in your mouth, Bobby.
Speaker:How do we get you to come down and be part of our event?
Speaker:Like if we got an event with a couple hundred people, that's not in your world.
Speaker:You're looking at tens of thousands, giant stadiums, world class kind of stuff.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You know, cost, cost effective distance probably going to be pretty tough to do.
Speaker:Yeah, but there are groups like, I know you were one time the Georgia professional tennis
Speaker:group.
Speaker:Like we do TGA, which is Texas golf association.
Speaker:They have about seven or eight championships over the course of the year, junior, senior,
Speaker:you know, all those things.
Speaker:And so we have a package with them that goes out, provides scoring and has the leader board
Speaker:and has sponsor messages on it.
Speaker:So tying things together like that, you can.
Speaker:The core grass roots is probably not, not our spot, right?
Speaker:And as Patrick said, we're doing the USDA tour.
Speaker:We're doing a lot of 125 and 250 and creep into 500 and, you know, we plan to get to the
Speaker:big guys for sure.
Speaker:And there's a lot more to it to it.
Speaker:You know, the other thing to shine is there's all kinds of other things you're seeing now.
Speaker:Media, media backdrops are big for us.
Speaker:The Daffer boards, you know, in a lot of sports, the entries, you know, like the, the open
Speaker:head, they came out that door.
Speaker:Well, there's another screen behind there, right?
Speaker:And we've done that in a couple terms for Kereodent where the entry opens like that.
Speaker:They call us an Austin this year.
Speaker:So they come out board board actually open.
Speaker:And the player comes out through that tunnel there, closes up.
Speaker:So I'm thinking so Bobby every time he comes out over the court for his tennis lessons,
Speaker:like, he's got the flashing out.
Speaker:Anything, anything could be done.
Speaker:We don't say no.
Speaker:I'm just, you know, digital black drops for podcasters are actually a big part of where we're
Speaker:going because of the TV set.
Speaker:So, huh.
Speaker:So we can, we can upgrade my, my say, yeah, we need something, we need something for
Speaker:Bobby for sure at some point.
Speaker:If you want slamming cast on Monday nights, monitor and patents living room is a go vision.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:You have to look at that.
Speaker:I'm disappointed with you because I think it plays into even round, not rather robbers,
Speaker:but programs and stuff like that.
Speaker:If you do exhibitions because you're getting more bang for your buck for your sponsor too.
Speaker:And that's always going to be a tough thing when you're just doing a one off event.
Speaker:How do you maximize the sponsor experience because it's not over a week or a two week period?
Speaker:Again, tennis has always thought a little bit according to the bottom bottom line.
Speaker:That was my thing.
Speaker:It was like, guys, you add this, you're adding an enhancement.
Speaker:And we went back and forth with the Atlanta tournament and we were so successful it went
Speaker:to Dallas.
Speaker:The top to beat Jerry Jones.
Speaker:The except on the field.
Speaker:Did I say that out loud?
Speaker:The without a doubt.
Speaker:And you know, you're seeing more of that higher level paddle ball, which not on TV ones,
Speaker:but just state championships and stuff.
Speaker:We're seeing dashed her boards and baseline boards going in just to give the sponsoring
Speaker:increase.
Speaker:Here's the other thing.
Speaker:Everybody's after the holy grail of a younger audience.
Speaker:So our children have no idea of going to an event without a video screen.
Speaker:So you're trying to attract people to something and want to look bigger time.
Speaker:It's one of the steps you can take to look bigger time and give your sponsors a better
Speaker:feel to and your participants.
Speaker:You pay attention to everybody.
Speaker:A better experience.
Speaker:I was guilty.
Speaker:I went to a Falcons game last year and I watched the Dawn Television screen the entire game.
Speaker:It's hard not to.
Speaker:It's hard not to.
Speaker:You know, you get you trained.
Speaker:You get the replays, which you always want to see the replays.
Speaker:And you keep them.
Speaker:I'm here.
Speaker:I could look down at the field and I'm spending the whole time in Mercedes-Benz looking
Speaker:up.
Speaker:So, you know, but again, considering tennis has got a real youth problem.
Speaker:Another good avenue to pursue to get the youth more interested in the game.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And then you got to entertain them.
Speaker:It's just like the colleges are putting in on screens.
Speaker:They're nice tennis facilities for sure.
Speaker:That type stuff.
Speaker:You know, it's interesting you talked about the game and so you realize that the whole sort
Speaker:of genesis of the everywhere in the last 20 years.
Speaker:I mean, before that, I got in this business in the early 90s.
Speaker:And at that point, there were screens in any stadiums.
Speaker:Well, the last time I said Cowboys played in a Super Bowl, I built a temporary screen in
Speaker:the stadium.
Speaker:Think about that.
Speaker:Like, are kids like that?
Speaker:This is the way it's always been.
Speaker:The cost and such, bringing it down to the high school levels and everything else.
Speaker:Yeah, but are affordable than you think?
Speaker:I still think that we can make a big impact because on the fan engagement side of it, it's
Speaker:like big new and kick off.
Speaker:We made around it them a little bit and they were really wanting to get the fan engagement
Speaker:more.
Speaker:And I think you can translate that over to any vertical where there's tennis, golf, whatever.
Speaker:There's a lot of creative ideas you can do with digital.
Speaker:And I think that's one of the biggest things.
Speaker:I know you guys work with kids a lot.
Speaker:But when you're getting them in these lower level tournaments, 125 to go on to watch it,
Speaker:you had more fan engagement side.
Speaker:Things they could do and interact with.
Speaker:I think that just kind of gets more and more involvement and enthusiasm.
Speaker:Well, sticking with that, Patrick, what does that look like fan engagement?
Speaker:Because we use some of these terms sometimes and they're like, okay, great.
Speaker:What does that even mean?
Speaker:Can you give me some examples if we go into a tennis tournament?
Speaker:And I said, all right, Patrick, you're in charge of fan engagement.
Speaker:Pretend unlimited budget, of course, right?
Speaker:So unlimited budget, you're in charge of fan engagement.
Speaker:We're Bobby's fan for it.
Speaker:Don't worry about it.
Speaker:Thank you, Bobby.
Speaker:Fan engagement.
Speaker:What's that going to look like?
Speaker:Well, it would be, if you're coming into the tournament and we can build any size, any
Speaker:shape, think of our module, Ellie, these as Legos.
Speaker:So we can build anything where they could come in and you could have an interactive where
Speaker:all the players are going through it and you can take pictures or you can show quick lessons,
Speaker:what you need to do on serving or just anything like that.
Speaker:It's just making the fan you want to sit there and watch it and look at it and not walk away.
Speaker:And I think Chris, what is it where you want three different, where anyway you look, you
Speaker:school that digital, to come in and engage.
Speaker:And that's because that's the generation.
Speaker:Also, all sports and tennis included as trouble get them to come live because it's better
Speaker:on TV.
Speaker:Well, what's what's better on TV replays, the statistical stuff, right?
Speaker:So for the fan in the arena or in the court, stadium court, to get to see the same statistical
Speaker:type of information ball speed and things that you're watching, that engage them in the
Speaker:match, right?
Speaker:I mean, I've even found myself guilty as you go to football game and now you're wondering
Speaker:what stats are, right?
Speaker:So, and stuff.
Speaker:I think that whole engagement in the arena and again, fanfests, welcome centers, things
Speaker:like that.
Speaker:Yeah, and it's the information like real time, right Chris?
Speaker:I mean, they can do betting real time.
Speaker:You know, with that end of the boom, where I'm going to bet on this next serve, it's going
Speaker:to be over 100.
Speaker:You know, they can just boom.
Speaker:That's what I brought these guys on.
Speaker:Nice for me.
Speaker:So I think it's so in the seat, I've got a little up, down button, up on the right, down
Speaker:on the bottom.
Speaker:And I can just go over and under back and forth and just spend my whole life savings.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I'm sure you guys know that tennis is one of the most bad on this.
Speaker:And they can get on that.
Speaker:Really?
Speaker:As we got into that, that really surprised me.
Speaker:Because we, you know, and that goes back to speed of data and so forth, obviously, and
Speaker:tennis is facing golf golf stun the same thing because of real time betting state towards
Speaker:legal.
Speaker:There's real time betting golf, right?
Speaker:So you can have no latency to the reporting of whether they made the putter not.
Speaker:So it's real interesting.
Speaker:That's right, wrong or otherwise.
Speaker:That's where the world's gone.
Speaker:Well, and is that so is that an individual sport versus team sport from a dad from a betting
Speaker:point of view?
Speaker:No.
Speaker:And as in golf are more drawn to betting than some of the team sports.
Speaker:Or I honestly don't know that I didn't I don't think they necessarily are.
Speaker:I think the real time because the real time exists and everything now, you know, who could
Speaker:win the second half?
Speaker:Are they going to like it?
Speaker:But all you can go to are they going to score on this drive when they take over on a
Speaker:drive?
Speaker:And so I mean, there's all real time out there.
Speaker:The tennis thing I found really interesting.
Speaker:It's probably anyone I learned that.
Speaker:And I don't know if that's because there's a proliferation of available matches because
Speaker:they get a webcast stuff from all around the world.
Speaker:Well, there's no offseason.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:That's just the truth there.
Speaker:There's really no offseason in tennis.
Speaker:So yeah, you're right all over the world.
Speaker:We might not be playing here, but I'm sure there's a clay core tournament in South America
Speaker:going on.
Speaker:So people can get points.
Speaker:So yeah.
Speaker:And then you know, I asked that what we got involved with the webcast side.
Speaker:I can't imagine that somebody's watching the 1800th versus the 1700th 50th person on Wednesday,
Speaker:morning 11 other in their parents and they're like, oh, you would be surprised.
Speaker:And that's where the whole that part came out, right?
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:You might have a problem if it's Wednesday morning at 9 a.m. and you're watching tennis somewhere
Speaker:else in bed.
Speaker:You know what I'm saying?
Speaker:I'm really tennis expert like you get those if you listening.
Speaker:If you're watching it, it's a Wednesday morning, make call a professional, right?
Speaker:But I think in tennis as well, you probably also have no shortage of people that need the
Speaker:money.
Speaker:Like Bobby made the joke saying they keep getting caught too.
Speaker:It's like guys, just that have some fun.
Speaker:Do your thing.
Speaker:If you got a problem, yeah, fix it.
Speaker:But this whole like I'm going to pay you to take a dive in tennis thing.
Speaker:They keep getting caught with this stuff and it's just not good.
Speaker:I know we got a little off track from fancy LED Legos, but it's also an entertaining conversation
Speaker:to say, okay, what does this look like in the tennis world to get information from somebody
Speaker:like you guys that have said, hey, we've we've looked into this a little bit and we've seen
Speaker:an interesting response.
Speaker:I didn't know tennis was the most bad upon sport in the world and I could have my own
Speaker:theories just to one of the most.
Speaker:There's one of the most.
Speaker:There's another one you can imagine.
Speaker:But ball, it's not arc football.
Speaker:It's just a volume of sport.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So here, back to the in stadium type stuff.
Speaker:So right or cup, we just did you know huge crowds.
Speaker:Right or cups of hard event to see because there's only four groups.
Speaker:Screens have became a big part of it.
Speaker:We had screens on the driving range and on the practice day, we're showing the full track
Speaker:man on the driving range.
Speaker:So the ball speed and the distance and Bryson D. Shambo's up there in the whole crowd.
Speaker:Just like encouraging him on and he's totally into it to see like how far he can hit at you.
Speaker:Which by the way, it was like 383 or something.
Speaker:So you know, it's it's that otherwise you've just got guys on a driving range hit malls,
Speaker:right?
Speaker:And tennis you've got downtime between matches and warmups and all that.
Speaker:There's a lot of opportunity to entertain the crowd for sure.
Speaker:And yeah, you're seeing it at the upper levels for sure, right?
Speaker:I mean, that's the opens became an entertainment.
Speaker:So Bobby, how do we translate this into the tennis world?
Speaker:What does it look like?
Speaker:Is this pickle ball like pickle balls have it's 15 minutes?
Speaker:Do we need giant pickle ball screens or we don't want to talk about it?
Speaker:I did.
Speaker:You know, pickle ball.
Speaker:There's a great Facebook another story.
Speaker:I'm sorry guys.
Speaker:Facebook yesterday.
Speaker:Beautiful girl hitting against a wall with beautiful strokes.
Speaker:Next picture is a fat guy and no shirt on and tight short.
Speaker:And you need some same wall.
Speaker:It's like, yeah, that pretty much sums up my feeling between.
Speaker:There, that was a perfect Facebook moment.
Speaker:So I, and again, these gentlemen would know more.
Speaker:My first one, you know, when I would make the introduction, trying to get to, it was always
Speaker:the short-sightedness of bringing something like this and making it a production.
Speaker:And you know, I was very fortunate when I was going to grad school just learning because
Speaker:we were in a transitional period as well in the 90s as far as how you would mark it.
Speaker:Going away from marketing single entities like signage to packages.
Speaker:And I think this is another one of those moments where we're now marketing an experience.
Speaker:From the moment you walk in, it wouldn't be cool to give the fan the experience of walking
Speaker:in the stadium.
Speaker:One of the things about going to the US Open week one especially is the ability to go to
Speaker:the practice courts and watch the players where they're so close.
Speaker:Why isn't their screen?
Speaker:So you can watch the practice courts as well and feel like this is what this person looks
Speaker:like when they're a little more relaxed, a little more engaging.
Speaker:And I think that would help tennis because tennis has an interaction problem.
Speaker:We can't reach out and touch these guys in gaps.
Speaker:So I think that would help a lot tennis to make these people more human to see them more.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:You didn't think I'd be that deep with that one Sean, huh?
Speaker:You were.
Speaker:I wasn't sure they're just looking at you like, I don't even know what to say to that.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:We're in.
Speaker:Where do we sign up?
Speaker:You know, but you know, to not go back to the pickleball, the paddle ball is also doing
Speaker:a really good job of like, you know, if you want to pickleball or paddle ball at all,
Speaker:like on TV, you know, they're producing an entertainment deal like like all sports sort
Speaker:of reddit, like a long term sports like tennis, redd into the sort of old garden going,
Speaker:well, you know, we're a tennis match.
Speaker:We're not an entertainment figure.
Speaker:I like work rodeo.
Speaker:The gentleman who ran it forever is like, we're a rodeo.
Speaker:We're not going to have entertainment.
Speaker:Guess what?
Speaker:They have concerts now because you have to respond to your audience, right?
Speaker:And I think those do or rackets, sports are doing a pretty good job of engaging the audience.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And they're not as entertaining from a TV is tennis would be, obviously.
Speaker:Yeah, and we actually did the reserve Miami paddle in January.
Speaker:Now that's pretty poshy.
Speaker:I mean, I got to admit, you know, they have the helicopters coming in and bringing in,
Speaker:you know, the celebrity guests and everything.
Speaker:You know, that is something they had full LED all the way around and just really cool player
Speaker:intro, you know, coming out to be introduced.
Speaker:So can you do the, can you do see through LED?
Speaker:It's like, yeah.
Speaker:So a petal court, right?
Speaker:The petal court where the court itself then can switch from transparent to showing me
Speaker:something both sides or one side.
Speaker:Can you do that?
Speaker:Yeah, there's technology that you can do that with.
Speaker:Yeah, Bonnie.
Speaker:Come to our guy, I'll text us.
Speaker:We've got someone.
Speaker:Yeah, we've got something on the back wall.
Speaker:Okay, because I've, I've always wanted that.
Speaker:I've always wanted that television just to become a window.
Speaker:Like, why can't I just see through that?
Speaker:Why can't it become nothing?
Speaker:And I understand technology is limited and we're just now getting there.
Speaker:But I'm picturing a paddle court with the outside being able to show a replay or basically
Speaker:being able to become the screen rather than just a clear glass aquarium for former tennis
Speaker:players.
Speaker:Yeah, and Chris, I think that's the glam, is that what we call the glam product?
Speaker:Yeah, that we have.
Speaker:So there's several iterations.
Speaker:The awesome stuff that's transparent and if that pole transparency, like couldn't watch
Speaker:it match currently, but there's, there's, there's other, there's actually failed now that
Speaker:goes on Windows.
Speaker:And then turn on the TV itself.
Speaker:Okay, I mean, which will be on your wall, which will be on your wall someday, too.
Speaker:I was going to say, send me a link.
Speaker:I will place an order.
Speaker:Again, as long as we get Bobby to pay for it.
Speaker:Now, all right.
Speaker:Bobby, you got anything else for these guys before I hit him with King of Tennis or in this
Speaker:case, maybe King of Sports?
Speaker:Just, just at a curiosity, do you work with racket X last year?
Speaker:Down in Miami and they're going to be a four-legged couple.
Speaker:They do, they do racket sports, X-O.
Speaker:And I know, you know, and this is the difference again, just to reiterate the tennis in the new
Speaker:guys business.
Speaker:New guys are coming in this.
Speaker:So you have a lot of brand strongest establish themselves.
Speaker:And they will spend more money than tennis will right now.
Speaker:And you know, because everybody's trying to establish themselves as the brand.
Speaker:So pick a ball and paddle.
Speaker:Do have a lot of fresh money coming in and they're smart using it.
Speaker:Again, another reason for tennis to look at this and say, hey, it is working.
Speaker:Getting these sports off the ground.
Speaker:You imagine if the sport that really gave birth to all these other sports and is playing
Speaker:being played at an ungodly level right now, more appreciation to the players that are
Speaker:actually playing tennis.
Speaker:Because it's phenomenal what's going on on the court.
Speaker:How do we make it where people get to see it even up more up close and more personal?
Speaker:Yeah, I think, I think racket X is a great combination and a conversation to have because
Speaker:they're doing some really unique things, especially with that specific event.
Speaker:So we'll definitely make that connection.
Speaker:Yeah, we'd welcome that.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Yeah, I think that's good.
Speaker:Oh, Patrick, Chris, anything else you guys, you have any announcements?
Speaker:I always just kind of give the offer say, is there anything exciting coming up?
Speaker:Anything you guys want to talk about before I ask our final question?
Speaker:We've got a lot of things.
Speaker:We're just trying to get them in order.
Speaker:The other thing, Patrick, like we do game day and that.
Speaker:So we're working now with technology that's the touch screen.
Speaker:So when they go to the side field next year and game day, they'll be touch screening stuff
Speaker:on that field.
Speaker:You see that works, do it on a monitor right now this year.
Speaker:Stuff like that.
Speaker:Some fun stuff coming that way.
Speaker:Obviously, Feast and other things come into the US is again, good thing for our business.
Speaker:But really, tennis is one of our, I'm not just saying that because we're on here today,
Speaker:it's a very much a target deal for us right now.
Speaker:So we appreciate your help and thoughts and your knowledge and we'd love to talk to the
Speaker:racket X people for sure.
Speaker:Yeah, we'll definitely make all the connections.
Speaker:So I want to, I'm going to start with you, Chris.
Speaker:And because I think you have a tennis specific answer for this, but we have our King of
Speaker:Tennis question and then Patrick, I'm going to open it up and you can be all sports if you
Speaker:want, which we've never actually asked the question that way, but I'm sure you'll have something
Speaker:interesting for us.
Speaker:So let me start with Chris and just say Chris, if you were King of tennis, is there anything
Speaker:and this is for the whole world or just the US from any vantage point, if you were King
Speaker:of tennis, is there anything you would do or change?
Speaker:Well, I think, you know, coming from a not strong background, but at least some knowledge
Speaker:point of watching.
Speaker:And I think this is probably whoever is King of tennis is trying the same thing, but more
Speaker:broadcast exposure and then how do you create the broadcast to draw the person to the
Speaker:event because if you haven't seen tennis at bias level, it's kind of, it's a little bit
Speaker:like hockey.
Speaker:It's not as TV friendly, you don't realize the true speed of what's going on there.
Speaker:So I think the number one is more broadcast exposure, but maybe that broadcast that makes
Speaker:it attractive that you're going to come out and see these guys girls play.
Speaker:That's my one.
Speaker:And then the second, you know, at a more grassroots level, I think tennis has to figure out how it
Speaker:capitalizes on the participation level in pickleball or at least study the growth of what's
Speaker:going on there.
Speaker:They can't just act like it's a non factor.
Speaker:So I think that that participation, taking how you attach to that, I think, is interesting.
Speaker:I agree.
Speaker:I like it.
Speaker:All right, Patrick, I'm going to zoom out a little bit for you.
Speaker:So it doesn't have to be tennis.
Speaker:So if you were King of tennis or sports in general, I know you guys come from the entertainment
Speaker:side.
Speaker:So it usually has to do with your expertise, but any answer is acceptable.
Speaker:King of sports, anything you would do or change?
Speaker:Well, I actually did my homework and it was, I wanted to be King of tennis.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:And what that would take.
Speaker:And of course, that's, you know, I would love to totally just dominate the, all the levels
Speaker:here in the US, you know, the 1000s, the 500, and increased more and more scope and fan
Speaker:engagement ideas with them.
Speaker:And what I've seen, you know, because we do the Dallas Open, the 500 and then the DC 500,
Speaker:and I'm working on those, they've increased more scope again this year.
Speaker:And not just outside the stadiums and everything for the fan engagement, but also inside, to
Speaker:where even the court two and court three are having LED around it.
Speaker:So they're starting to drive that more to where it's now that maybe more sponsorship or
Speaker:branding, but, you know, there's still going to be breakways and TVs because like in the hospitality
Speaker:areas at DC.
Speaker:They had the practice courts up on the TVs in there.
Speaker:So you could sit there and watch the players, you know, out there on the practice court.
Speaker:And I'm going to reiterate a little bit what Chris said because I've gone to both of these.
Speaker:And those athletes are phenomenal.
Speaker:So they've, they need to show that it's spooky that some five foot six little girl can knock
Speaker:the ball the way they do and the way they move.
Speaker:So to get to get more of the fans looking at that's where we'll drive them out, you know, to
Speaker:the tournaments.
Speaker:I think it's huge.
Speaker:But we're starting to explore looking internationally.
Speaker:You know, we're not a big international.
Speaker:We do some stuff, but I think this is an opportunity for us to look more international for tennis.
Speaker:And that's just, that's more personally for me because, you know, if I'm key in tennis,
Speaker:I want to own, but at the end of the day, it's, I know I keep going back to it, but I think
Speaker:the more fan engagement you can get via on TV or in person, I kind of have like this live
Speaker:concept that it gets a little, you know, crazy when a point scored in the LED just goes
Speaker:off with all these great graphics and cool stuff, you know, but not live where you're throwing
Speaker:the beer cans and everything else.
Speaker:But I think there's just a lot of creative ways that, you know, that the AB, you know, especially
Speaker:the LED side can, can make it more attractive when, whether it's in the tennis or the paddle
Speaker:or the pickle, you know, I think the digital is a great platform to, to get it to grow.
Speaker:Not in either of those answers surprised you.
Speaker:I love the one in such a bright up.
Speaker:So this is strictly hypothetical.
Speaker:Did you get your screens to a small island, let's say in the British Virgin Island?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:It'd be a big pro-am tennis event.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Keeping in mind that I'd have to be a part of the crew.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Back to that in.
Speaker:You could do that.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:And then it didn't do that.
Speaker:Now it's kind of, I mean, as we had an opportunity with, uh, the Emperor to play pro-global.
Speaker:So they had a paddle in St. Mark's that they had, I had a two week time period to get this
Speaker:all done.
Speaker:And we were ready to go.
Speaker:We've got our container ready.
Speaker:Had it all ready to go, but some of the big guys backed out and so we didn't get to do it.
Speaker:But to answer your question, I've got to because Chris is here.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:We can do whatever you want.
Speaker:It just happens to be my little favorite place in the world.
Speaker:So you'd probably even get a good price on that bill and a lot of crew.
Speaker:It would be interesting.
Speaker:Well, guys, I'm impressed that we, we doing the homework.
Speaker:No one go to 250 and a 500 is.
Speaker:Thank you for showing.
Speaker:We got tennis love here right out the bat.
Speaker:So thanks a lot for that.
Speaker:And Chris, great seeing you.
Speaker:Good to see you, Bobby.
Speaker:Nice to meet you, Sean.
Speaker:Thanks so much for having us.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Thank you very much.
Speaker:Appreciate your time.
Speaker:We'll check back when Patrick is King of tennis in a year or two.
Speaker:That's good.
Speaker:I'm a mincharch.
Speaker:I like it.
Speaker:Remember the little guys, Patrick.
Speaker:Just remember the little guys.
Speaker:Well, there you have it.
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