Season 26, Episode 01 - Shaun Boyce, Bobby Schindler
Summary
In this conversation, Shaun Boyce and Bobby Schindler speak with Chris Curtis and Patrick Carlile from GoVision about their innovative contributions to the sports industry, particularly in video display technology. They discuss GoVision's unique position in the market, their expansion into tennis, and the importance of fan engagement through technology. The conversation also touches on the future of tennis, the role of betting in sports, and how to enhance the spectator experience at events.
Full YouTube Video:
Chris' King of Tennis Answer: (if no link here, please refresh your download or check YouTube)
Patricks' King of Tennis Answer: (if no link here, please refresh your download or check YouTube)
About Chris and Patrick and GoVision: https://govisionxp.com/about/
Keywords
GoVision, sports technology, tennis, fan engagement, LED screens, sports broadcasting, betting in sports, event production, spectator experience, digital signage
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Hey hey, this is Shaun with the award-winning GoTennis! Podcast powered by Signature Tennis.
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Speaker:We would love to earn your five-star reviews.
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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