Welcome back to she Pivots. I'm Carolyn Tish Blodgett. Welcome back to she Pivots, the podcast where we talk with women who dare to pivot out of one career and into something new and explore how their personal lives impacts these decisions. I'm your host, Emily Tish Sussman. Today we're celebrating the start to another Gotham FC season with a candid convo with the one and only Carolyn Tish Blodgett, fearless leader of Gotham FC, next three vengures, mother of three, and of course my sister. So we just came off the home opener this past Sunday and it was such a thrill to be in the stadium again one year in. I wanted to do something that we haven't done before, bring back a she Pivots guests to give us an update. Last season, Carolyn's episodes was one of our top performing episodes. Maybe it's the sisterly bond, or maybe it's her ambitious and inspiring perspective on how she plans to build Gotham FC into a household name. Either way, it was an incredible episode and I knew I wanted to have her back on I've been so lucky to have a front row seat to all the amazing accomplishments of Gotham FC over the past year. From selling a record number of tickets to the inaugural FanFest to becoming the first NWSL team to visit the White House. It's safe to say a lot has changed since we last spoke with Carolyn. So on this episode, we talk about everything from making Gotham FC a legacy team, to breaking through and redefining the cultural narrative around women's sports, to how Carolyn deals with it all personally. Plus she breaks some very exciting news in the world of women's sports. This is an episode you won't want to miss enjoy. Welcome back to Sheep Pivots. I'm Carolyn Tish Blodgett. I am the CEO and founder of Next three and governor of Gotham FC. Welcome back to Sheep Pivots. In fact, this is your second season, your second interview on here, because your interview on she Pivots is one of our most popular episodes of all time. Oh thank you. I feel so honored. Yeah, am I your first second back? Yes? Oh yeah, yeah, you're the first rep. It's like nepotism at its best. When we recorded this episode last year, you were just going into the first season as the operating owner of Gotham FC, and governor is essentially like the president of the team, like the right. So governor means you represent the team at the league. So at the ENDWSL board, there's a board of owners and you're the lead owner there. And what it all means a Gotham is that, yeah, we don't have a CEO, so I'm effectively the CEO. The story that I tell people to try to understand, like at what level it was a surprise that you walked in and ended up operating it and that I ended up doing anything at all? Was that the weekend going in like signed the deal on Wednesday, flew to the championship that the team was in. You got there Thursday, walked off the plane and addressed the team Like, now, in hindsight, like what do you remember about that moment of like literally still had your your glasses on, no contacts, Like what do you remember at that now in hindsight? Yes, so we flew exactly, so we flew to San Diego. I think, yeah, San Diego, you know, took out like a six am flight, so I was like half awake and basically wearing my glasses and not my contacts as the sign to me of like my brain hasn't woken up yet, I really can't talk until my contacts are And so I landed. And actually that's when Tammy, who was the woman that we were buying the team. They were the founders or currently they're the founders. They were the lead owners. We were doing the deal with them. Tammy had been the governor, but then she ran for office, so that so I actually land I landed. I got a text from her saying can you speak, called her in the airport like from the in the uber from the airport at the hotel, and she said, I'm running for office, so you should come in as governor. So that was the first like your change, I was to be alternate governor, so becoming like the league lead, which I don't think I appreciated the difference at that at the time. And then walked into the Team hotel, I'm like, okay, you know, here I am, and the woman who led PR at the time was like, Hi, you know, I'm nice to meet you because we hadn't met yet. Now, no one knew you were coming in right right, because we didn't want anyone. No one at the team knew that we were coming in as new investor, new owners, and except for like I guess, basically the head of finance because she you know, worked on the deal. But besides that, we didn't want the distraction. The GM at you know later in knew about it. There were a few a handful of people that knew about it. So basically we didn't want to cause a distraction, and we kept thinking. We had no idea we were going to end up announcing it right before the championship. Like at any other moment we would have announced it would have there would have been time to have all these conversations. It just you know, deals take a long time, like it just ended up being the day before the championship. So it's particularly odd that like no one even knew this deal. It's not like the team also was actively raising money. So for other teams, like they will see in the press like, oh, the team is raising money, we know there will be a new investor at some point. We just don't know when this was. We didn't know we were going to have a new investor and like, surprise, here you are. So I yeah, So I walked into the hotel. I met this lovely person who said, you know, now time to address the team, and I literally said to her, can I go put my contacts in? But they're like, you don't know me, but I really need my contacts and I'm going to speak. And I was still wearing, you know, the one Gotham sweatshirt I had that I had been wearing on the plane. Was wearing that and it was so intimidating. And I actually now, I feel like I've addressed the team so many times, but I still get so intimidated every time. I don't know why I'm talking about this now, but every time I do, I still like get kind of butterflies in my stomach of like, okay, better say something good. The thing that you were afterwards, like you texted me and Mom and you're like, okay, I can't believe I just spoke to the team. I totally blacked out. I hope they liked it. I can think of ten more things I would have said, but it's with some version of like great job, like yeah, just so happy to be here, right, and they were probably all shocked. Yes, I think so. I mean, I still have no idea. I think they were at number one of just a yeah, we didn't know this was happening. Number two, I don't remember I talked to this last time, but there was god knows what I said. I'm sure it was not particularly articulate. But so many of the players came over who now that I didn't know who they were. I knew who they their names were. I worked very hard. I'm memorizing the roster on the way there, but I didn't have the contact of like the contributions many of them had made to the league, like Mana Shim and mccaus or Boni, and so so many of them came over to me and you know, gave me a hug and said, we're so HAPPI you're here. And that was really the first time I registered. I don't think I registered the real magnitude of, you know, the work, but I registered the magnitude of what it meant for us to come in as new owners. And you know, when we looked at the investment opportunity to begin with, and we looked at a couple other teams in the end of herself first, and it was really through the lens of an investment. It was really, you know, we we do see the tailwinds, you know, towards women's sports. We think this is going to end up. We are, you know, legacy New York owners. There's a lot we could we could add, but I didn't really appreciate. Like our family, our grandfather bought into the Giants thirty I really always say I should know what the year is. I don't know, thirty some odd years ago, and he brought like New York business to the NFL. We now for thirty somewhad years have not made another investment into another team. And the team we chose as a family to invest in was the women's soccer team here. It wasn't men's basketball, it wasn't men's baseball, you know, fill in the blank and all those things. And that was such a statement to the team, the players, the league in general that I don't think I appreciated like the ramifications of that. Yeah, when you walked in to sit in the studio today, we had to move the tissue box out of the way and we were joking about how guests often cry on this show, but you describing having Monashim come over, having the calls or Bony come over, like now I'm going to cry because now I also have the context for how much they mean, like to the league, to women's sports in general, and have also now become friends. They are such incredible people. Like I think we've just gotten to know so much more about how strong they are, how their positivity has kept them moving forward, like how much they've done to make a difference. Like when I think about the fact that they came over to you, like that mattered a lot, Like that really mattered. So when we first came in, and I think probably last year when I sat here, I talked about why that the importance of treating this as an investment, and you know, again, I could share all the reasons why on a piece of paper this made sense. And I still continually talk about it as investment because it's critical for people to understand that women's sports is a good investment and that brands should be part of it, and media partners should be a part of it, fans should be a part of it. But what I was speaking to the player leadership council for this year's team a week or so ago, and one of the things I said to them is I think they didn't tell me this, but this is what I think that when I say that for players like that, they don't like it, may lose the human the human piece of it, which to your point is so important and so one hundred percent. We run this as a business. We will continue to run this as a business, and it's critical for the growth of women's sports to run it as a business. We also, I think that you know, a year and a half in really, I think have a deeper all of us have a deeper understanding of the human piece of it too. Of like, these women have given so much to this league. You hear these stories of like it was, you know, when Lynn Williams talks about making ten thousand dollars as a professional athlete and changing in the bathrooms and not having a locker room to change, and like these women have been that have been a part of this league for a long time, have been through so much and the league is still has so much more room to go to be what it should be. But it's really the league has been built on their backs. And I'm so indebted to everyone that has like been on this journey before we got there, so that it was even interesting to us or even like on our radar screen to come in as new owners, right, you know, I think about in this week, I also interviewed Michelle Betos. We're going to have an episode with her, who was our goalkeeper and is now one of our goalkeeping coaches, and she was talking about the same thing of the growth of the league. That what she said is that Mandy Freeman, who's been on our team since before it was Gotham. She said that Mandy didn't have showers at the training facility, and now this week we're taking Mandy in to meet the editor and cheap of book. Amazing. I love that to think about that growth and someone like Mandy. I'm so glad you brought her up because so she's now on our leadership council and it's just incredible to have her perspective as exactly like she has seen the league at the bottom, you know, at the beginning, and has been with this and to stayed devoted to a team through what I can't imagine the lows are to now be sitting here saying like you flew us to Spain as the first NWSL team who has ever done preseason internationally like that, Like what an incredible experience, and like these are the great things about it, and these are the things that could be better next year. And so to have that perspective is in valuable to us as as still relatively new owners in the league. This is a perfect segue into what is your perspective now a year in? Like what worked? What are you thinking about differently? What had you potentially thought as like a big growth place that now maybe you'll put energy into a different place, Like what surprised you about places of growth? So one of the things I often talk about with our team is we want to be the an iconic global sports franchise. And the thinking behind that actually came from work at the Giants. So when I was working with the Giants, my team and ext three and I were working with the Giants about potentially launching in Germany and taking having NFL marketing rights in Germany, and so we were talking about doing some research on what does it mean to be a global brand and who are the you know, who are the big global brands, what do they look like, what do they how do they act? And that was I think we hadn't even looked at the Gotham investment yet. I think of I'm getting my timing right. But what we saw there was that was our first moment to realize there's no women's team on that list, and it was just it was just this we again, we don't have a thesis around women's sports, but it was this moment to say, like, wait a second, we're talking about at Manchester United, A Dallas Cowboys, New England Patriots, New York Giants. There's no women's team on that list, and it's going it's going to happen, Like there's enough tailwinds to say there is going to it is inevitable that there will be a women's team on that list. And when you think about, okay, so who would be the right one to be on the list, Well, the number one sport globally is soccer. The number one, like fean market is the US. So then you're talking about basically New York or LA, and you know, decide if you're from New York or LA, which you think is going to be the market, so that you know fast forward to Gotham, we set our vision on we want to be an iconic global sports franchise and if that's the goal, so then you back into okay, so what are the what does it look like to be an iconic global sports franchise? What do those teams do? And number one, they win and they win a lot, and so our goals on the business on the soccer side were about winning, and so we you know, and as to think about the last year, So we came off the twenty three championship, we added a ton of new free agents to that roster, and we succeeded. We we were I think we were the top. We had the most points we'd ever had as a as a team. We had the top finish in terms of standings of any of the teams that have been in the playoffs. The year before, our goalkeeper won goal Keeper of the Year. We had a bunch of players I think six that won Olympic gold medals. So we had an incredibly successful season on the soccer side. As we thought about, so then what does that look like, you know, year two? How do we build on that? One thing that was clear to us is that we were so focused on we never want you never want to be a team that wins like trades. Winning this year like gambles your future to win this year. And so we've talked about what does it mean to be a winner every year and like what are the things you need to do to be to be a sustainable winner? And so one of the things we thought about is how do you bring in new talent? And the NWSL is the first league in the US to get rid of their college draft, and so how do you bring in young new talent if you don't have a draft? And right now, so we have I want to say, five rookies on our team, and if there had been a college draft, probably all five would have been first round picks. And so our GM, our soccer team, did an incredible job building those relationships, recruiting those new players in to say like, okay, how do you win? You bring in top talent, We're going to go like there's a new system in place, there's no rules, We're going to go figure out how to do it. So I'd point to that. The other piece on the soccer side I would focus. I would think about is we spent a lot of time talking about it kind of internally, what our mission is, what our values that we want to live by, what our vision is, for the team. And that work has come about because when you think about, you know, do you to go back to the Giants for a second? When a player you know gets drafted and says like I always dreamed of being a New York Giant, or I just I want to be a part of the Giants, what are they really saying? There's no you know, coaches come, coaches go, gms come, gms go. What they're really there's something about like the identity of the team that they want to be a part of. And Gotham is new, so we didn't really know what that identity was. So a lot of the work we've been doing in the off season is to say, like what is our identity? You know, when some new player is saying like do I want to come to Gotham? Do I not question maybe around you know, do I like the coach, do like the GM door like they're playing style, but also like do I want to be a part of that identity? And that's been a lot of the work we've been doing in the off season. So what is the identity? Well, it's still working progress, it's still working on it. I'd say one of the kind of key pieces that we've been kind of a shift in how we've been thinking. Is you know, as I said before, this kind of iconic global sports franchise idea. Our original mission was about being the best some version of like being the best women's soccer team. And the more we kind of noodled on the language, the more we realize, like we actually don't want to be the best women's soccer team. You know, as I said before, we want to be the best. We want to be the one of the best brands period. We want people to walk down the street in Paris, London, Beijing, you name it, wearing a Gotham shirt and like if you ask them who are you know, starting eleven, they would say, what are you talking about? Like they have an association just like the Yankees, just like the Knicks, all these great brands do with just you're a great brand you want to be a part of. And so I think a lot of our work around our mission vision was actually just like setting the ambition higher and saying, again, it's not enough to be the best NWSL team, but you know we should that is on the road to it, but we want to be one of the best in the world. After a quick break, we talk about just how one becomes the best team in the world and the savvy plans Carolyn has to make it happen more soon. When we left off, Carolyn was laying out Gotham FC's ambitious plans to become the best in the world. But what does that mean and more importantly, how do we make it happen? So, as I said, you know, when you look at the best brands in the world, they win and because they win, so that's kind of the core product on the field. Then you think about what is the rest of the product. And they have a great, really strong fan base, partly because the fan experience is so good. And so last year we were really focused on saying, okay, we know the ninety minutes of soccer is going to be good because we have a great team, what is the rest of the fan in game experience? What is the rest of the fan in game experience like? And so we implement We created a fan fest, so it's no longer ninety minutes of soccer, it's two hours of soccer. You come early, you get your face painted, you listen to live music, have a drink. So that was sort of, you know, idea one, But most importantly, what we needed to do was to understand what was good, what was bad, you know, what would we need to keep, what we need to throw away. And so this is where my tech background and my team's tech background is helpful, because we implemented something that is pervasive in the tech world and no one's ever heard of in the sports world, which is a net promoter score. And when you say that your team, it's because you brought a lot of your top talent over from Peloton and they built out from there. Yes, exactly. So our chief business officer at Gotham is someone named Ryan Dillon who was worked with me at Pelton. Laura Petro runs marketing at Gotham, also worked with me at Pelton. So we have a sort of, you know, best of Peloton influence at Gotham, which has actually been really helpful because we also have a ton of great people on our staff that come from the sports world, and so we've tried to you know, I think overall, there is no path that we're following, and so we're trying to kind of take the best of the sports world, take what works well at other teams, and also take the best of the tech World and kind of bring the two together. So net promoter score, what it's basically saying is did you like it? Would you come back? Is the idea, and what we saw good news. People really like it and really want to come back. So our net promoter score has been in the eighties the whole season, which just to be to take a step back. If you don't know net promoter score, it's a score of one hundred to negative one hundred. So having a score of a zero is actually not a bad score. It means people are neutral, some people really liked it, some people didn't. To have a score of eighty means it's almost unheard of. I mean, these are like the best brands in the world have like sixty, you did seventy? What was the context of Like Apple's is like sixty or something around this. I didn't look at it before, so I can't remember exactly, but it's like, yeah, like sixty. Probably Starbucks also probably around there are like beloved brands. If you ask any ten year old who have spent a lot of time with they will tell you these are beloved brands and they're at a sixty. I mean, so what we're seeing is almost universally, people come to a game, you know, they they may have heard of it, not heard of it before, and they are having a fantastic experience and they want to come back. And more importantly, I think for us, because we are not you know, resting our laurels and saying we're done here, is when they don't have a great experience, we can point to exactly what it was about it that wasn't great. So we often hear you know, transportation issues where our STATEI where we play is on the path, and the path is great when it comes, but sometimes it'll be late, doesn't always run that often on a weekend. So we know very clearly, you know, we want to go talk to New Jersey Transit. We want to talk about adding more trains so that they come more frequently. Like we know exactly what it is that people are that is detracting from their experience and we can work on that. Can you talk about you said, you know, like you pull from tech and you can pull from all these different backgrounds. One of the interesting places that you've seen this, as you say, you know, we're forging a new path is at the league level in the NWSL that you are now one of the more tenured owners, which must be a wild experience. I mean, these are people who are coming in with like massive backgrounds and portfolios and ownerships in other leagues, yet is wild to think about. So, yeah, we came in in November twenty three, so a year and change ago, and we're definitely one of the most tenured owners at this point. So there has just been tremendous change and kind of turnover of ownership throughout the league. So and everyone coming in, I don't want to speak for everyone, but I think I can generalize it. Anyone coming in now I think is eyes wide open to both the investment level that is required for us to do what we need to do as a league, but also what the opportunity is. I think, you know, I'd love to Seity and say our vision for Gotham is unique to be one of the best brands in the world. I think most owners are probably sitting there saying we want to be one of the best brands in the world. And that's a real change for the league. So that is raising the bar for everyone across the league, which which I think is great and needed in terms of the different experiences that As I think about the other owners that have joined recently, it really is kind of best in class at what they do all bringing those experiences to the league, so that so we can really create the best league in the world because we can say, you know, Mark Wilf, owner of Minnesota Vikings, how do you do things? You know, as we're talking about whatever topic, how do they do things at the NFL. David Blitzer, you own in the NBA, how do they do things in the NBA? Lisa bethal who just they own the Portland team. They just became the expansion franchise for the WNBA. So we now have the front row seat there where you know, as we think about our next media deal, is there anyone you would rather have on your board than will Obey who's incredible and happens to be married to Bob Eiger. I mean there we just have this Melody Hobson, who just we met with, who just came in at Denver. Every new owner that has come in brings such an interesting and different perspective that it really feels like, you know, we all feel very comfortable saying this is how it's done. It, you know, fill in the blank, league or company that I've been a part of. But you know, there's no roadmap. We can do it however we want to do it, and that's allowed us, i think, to make decisions that are potentially different than other leagues would make. And you have some news to break about the NWSL board. There's been a real vote of confidence in you. Yes, So I just became the chairwoman of the Executive Committee of the NWSL. Congratulations, What does that mean? That's a good question. So the Executive Committee of the league is it's kind of like the Commissioner's first phone call, so you know, when it sets the direction of the league. It deals with issues like governance and you know, what do we want to be focused on? What are our priorities? Reviews the commissioner. So that's kind of the Executive Committee in general. It's like, you know, when something goes wrong, who do I call? It's the executive Committee. Now we whit hold that down to the chairperson of the Executive Committee. So I would say, kind of first and foremost, it's that it's like, you know, if Jessica Berman, the Commissioner, needs something, she calls me. It's it's the sort of like go between between the board and the commissioner, so owner, other owners and other teams if they're dealing with an issue with the league or have questions about something, they will call me kind of as a first line of defense. And then what I found the most interest, So that all kind of happens, it's a lot of time. But then what I found most interesting is there's a committee called the Strategic Committee, which is the chairperson of each of the other committees. So it's the person who runs the Finance committee, the person who runs the commercial committee, expansion, sporting, and myself, And so that's the sort of through between Like we may sit the Sporting committee may sit and talk about you know what, or the commercial committee may sit and say, what do we want the next media deal to look like? But then the Sporting Committee may say, like, oh, that actually impacts us in a way that you may not be thinking about, so let me tell you what I think about it. The expansion committee may say, oh, wait, as we're thinking about new teams, like this is what we should be thinking about. So it's sort of kind of you're getting each aspect. The league is so multifaceted, you're getting each aspect of the league all together in one room, and that's been really interesting. Definitely a lot of work. I think when Jessica and I had a lot of conversations about it before I accepted it, and I think ultimately what made it feel like the right use of my time is I think at this point, you know, year two, season two into Gotham, I think we understand what it's going to take for us to be successful, and we are, you know, a long way away from doing that. But I think we we know, you know, to your question, before we know what's working, we know it's not we know where we want to go, but every team is only going to be as successful as the league is, and so spending you know, more time thinking about what do we want this league to be and how will this league continue to compete for talent and continue to compete for eyeballs? And are we telling the right stories as a league, Like that's really what's going to make all of us successful. And so that's why it felt like a good use of time. When we come back, we chat about the new Amazon docu series For the Win, which features Gotham FC and a behind the scenes look at their visit to the White House. Stay tuned. Okay, let's talk about sports and culture. So it's funny when you do interviews and you talk about, like why you looked at Gotham as the growth opportunity, like the biggest growth opportunity to end up as the biggest growth opportunity, it's that women's sports hadn't really hit culture, which now seems a year and a half later like a dinosaur idea. But how do we fully enter culture, Like how do we how do we make I mean, you did that so well at Peloton, how do we do that now so that the NWSL even hits WNBA status or bigger. So I do feel like we are in step one of this right now with this documentary outright, in our docuseries out right now. So you know, if you think about why people watch sports, obviously there's you know, the live element, there's the you know, you don't know what's going to happen element in a world of like everything being scripted. But the other piece of why you watch is the stories. It's the storylines, and so this docu so maybe I should take a step back that there is a docuseries right now on Amazon Prime which follows the final four teams in the playoffs last year and kind of through the championship, and hopefully everyone will watch it. It's called for the win, It's called for the win. Thank you on Amazon Prime. Everyone gets it. Everyone gets it. You could watch it. It's great. So but I think what you see in that is so you'll see in it that Gotham loses in penalty kicks in the semi finals, just trud It was gut wrenching, truly gut wrenching. But you know, you can imagine if you're a sports fan, losing in penalty gigs in a semi finals is gut wrenching, period. Losing in a semifinals in penalty kicks. Once you've gotten to know the players and you understand what's on the line for them, and you understand the dynamics between the team and you know who's playing for what, it's just you're so much more invested in it. And so storylines are kind of the reason people show up for sports. But we as you know, owners and as teams need to go tell those stories. And so something like having a docuseries on Prime right now is kind of step one, I would say to being a part of culture. It's obviously, you know, not the end, but but very much step one. Another piece, you know, let's say, kind of borrowed from the pelts On playbook has been the focus on stars and helping players turn into We very much saw that at Peloton that when people said that they were a fan of they would say like, oh my god, I love Peloton and then they jump right to like I love Ali or I love Robin or Cody. And so with Gotham, we very much see that, you know, I love Gotham like I would go anywhere for Rose Level or you know, I can't wait for Midge to get back on the pitch because she tore a cel last year. So it is on us to tell those stories of our players and to really elevate them. And there's so many interesting stories to tell, and I think we've we've done a good job of that. We were going to continue to do more of that. So part of this, in this last year of you leading the team in many more ways that you thought you were going to, is that you have also become much more public than you ever intended to be, which you're handling very well. Thank you, Thank you for working on it. But what has that been like for you. So again, when we first came into this, the opportunity to invest in Gotham, it was very much as an investment, and I didn't really appreciate Again, we looked at a vestment, we decided it was a good investment. We made it, you know, the end, or so we thought, I guess the end. I didn't really appreciate what it would mean for me to become one of the faces of women's sports. And I was actually just speaking at a sports conference last weekend at MIT, and after my panel, there were a bunch of people waiting to talk to me after and I start talking to people and there's like fifteen of them young women saying like, oh my god, I've always wanted to They would go to MIT Sloan, they go to Harvard Business Foe, where I went like, I've always dreamed of working in women's sports. And I was like, you did. Like when I didn't go to HBS that long ago, there was no I don't know, there was no conversations around whose path is women's sports? And so one of the things that you know, again has been sort of an unintended consequence, but a positive one has been this this feeling that I think I can help represent what does it mean to work in women's sports and you can actually dream about working in a place like women's sports. So that part, I think, I feel like I have been able to kind of elevate the entire business of it. But I would say the kind of that adds pressure. I think for me it adds part like I feel like, you know, I'm an over prepare anyway, but I feel particularly like if I'm going to be on this panel with a bunch of people talking about their investment in F one and their investment in you know, LAFC and all these other men's sports, and like if I'm there representing women's sports, I better do a great job and have people realize like this is something you can invest in. Yeah, people, I mean ask me all the time while you're like, why isn't you know one? I want I want to learn what Carolyn's doing and she's such a role model, like I want to see more of it. Can I talk to her? And I'm like just very busy. And then last week when we were relaunching this season of the podcast in DC, a bunch of people came up to me and They're like, well, I assume that Carolin's headlining Forbes next week for as Women conference next week, And I was like the one in Abu Dhabi. First all, I wasn't invited. Second of all, I'm intimidated by the idea. But the follow up was that Carolyn should be headlining every conference right now, like every like you should be speaking everywhere, Like why isn't she And my answer was, well, she's really busy. Yeah, like you're really a worker. And then also still trying to protect your kids are still young, like still trying to protect some of that time. So like, how have you been thinking about I mean knowing you like you don't really think about how to become the face of it, like you just work, But do you think about trying to make that more of the way you spend your time or it's not that phase right now. No, I do feel like I'm still there. I am. I'm a worker, like I am in it. We don't have a CEO like that is I spend a lot of time with our general manager. I spend a lot of time with our CBO Ryan, So I'm and now at the league, so I'm very much in it. So I would say number one, I just you know that is my number one focus is the work. Number two, well, I don't want to put in that order. Let me start with my number one rarity is my kids and protecting that time. I do feel like as they've gotten older, it's funny like I'll travel for work. I try not do that much, but I'll go through like leaps and bounds to get home so that I'm only gone like one night, not two nights, or two nights not three nights, and pinelpe my daughter who's about to be ten, like when I'll say like, okay, I'm getting on like the four thirty flight tomorrow morning and then like the eleven pm flight home, and she was like, why do just stay over? I'm like, oh, I'm trying to get home for bedtime and she's like, We're good. Like I think as they've gotten older, I think they appreciate not only you know that I work, but also like that what I am building and that they see. You know, they might not understand like this is a unique moment in time and this is not forever, but I think they do start to understand, like even they have memories at this point, so like the idea of what they saw, what Gotham looked like. They were actually the first time I went to a game, I brought THEO, my middle one to see, like, you know, do we want to do this? Do we not want to do it? And so that was you know, two years ago probably and like for what the stands looked like and the experience was like from then to now, they feel the difference, They see the difference, and so I think they as much as I am mostly saying no to things like going Abu Dhabi because I want to be with my kids, they also do appreciate that I'm really building something. What do you hear back from your kids? Like I can see how proud they are of you, Like they stand on the sidelines when you do post game announcements, like they're so proud, But like, how do you feel that reflected back to you? That's a really good question. I think they So I do feel like, you know, I feel like, you know, kids don't say that much, so like they're not giving me like a whole you know, poem on like what you've done. But I do I feel it. I feel like I watch I think I watched them watch me and see like this is something I'm proud of, and I've tried really hard to not make it feel like a burden. Like, you know, anytime there's a Gotham game, a'll you know, I'll say to my kids, like you don't go to your friend's birthday party, go to your soccer game, Like this is not this is how I've chosen to spend my time, but it doesn't need to be how you've chosen to spend your time. And I think the biggest way I, you know, feel their support is that nine times out of ten they choose the Gotham game and they do want to be a part of it. And you know, I took Pinelpe to the opening of the docu saries the other night, and you know, I said, like, you don't have to go, you know, this is just this is meant to be a treat, but like if you want to come with me to work for the afternoon and go be a part of it, you know, come, And obviously she wanted to. And so maybe that was about example because that was fun. But you know, I think they want to be a part of it. And that's the biggest sign that I see that they recognize that this is something bigger because they have a choice, they can do something else, and like this is where they want to spend their time. But I think that's ultimately what sports are about, is that it's about family traditions, it's about I also that it's say funny you were saying about like the people love it for the storylines. Like I will often say, like I'm like as a shorthand, I'm like, hey, yes, sports is men's gossip. It is totally. Yes, sports is what brings people together. I think in our family, you know, the Giants was the thing that brought us to people together. I wrote my college essay about our three generations of women bonding over football and moms like popcorn, you know, dropping behind her. And I think for our kids, obviously they have the Giants and you know that's a part of their family connection. And so is Gotham. And you know, when I my little one, Alexander will his like favorite if I've gone to one of the New Jersey offices that I go to either the Giants or Gotham, and I come home, he'll always say, like, you're wearing your fancy clothes today. But then he'll say, you know which office did you go to? And I'll say, and then he always asks, like who's your favorite team? The Giants or Gotham, And it's his like go to bedtime, Like I can't go to bed until you answer the question, you know, is it the Giants or is it Gotham? And obviously don't as because no child is better than the other, But I would say the idea that you know, in his mind they're equivalent, and like, of course, you know, half a dozen of one, six of the other. You know, some days I like Gotham, some days I like the Giants. And so I think for their generation, they are growing up with a lot of sports games to go to number one, but number two, they're really seeing them as the same and equal or maybe equal not the same, And I think that is I'm hoping part of what we're building in this ambition to take it back to the beginning, like the ambition around creating one of the best brands in the world and not kind of putting ourselves in the box of women's sports. Is in this next generation. I the hope and I see it playing out it with our kids is that they're just seen as the same, Like I like Gotham, you like, maybe LAFC, I like the Giants, you like this women the Spirit, and maybe those brands don't mean I think, but basically like alternating between men's brands and women's brands and not seeing it as it's like, oh, this is my women's team that I like, and this is my men's team that I like. Yeah, at my kids' school, they wear uniforms, but Friday is dressed down day, and I'd say, you know, a third of the boys wear Gotham like every Friday dress down day because they all wear jerseys and so they all wear their teams and they like they just love it, like they love to be able to follow it. And again like with this generation, like they don't know that they're not supposed to be as dedicated, Like they are just as dedicated because the competition is there, the athletes are there, the storylines are there, like it has it all you'll see it all in for the wom exactly. You know, the early kind of days of women's sports, people talked about it as a charity and it was sort of like, oh, you should go to a women's sports team because like you have a daughter, and that's what's good for the women, like let's support them, But it wasn't to your point around like, no, these are professional athletes. These are the best athletes in the world at what they do. There's an intense game to watch. Sports. Sports brings people together, there are traditions there, it's a great fan experience. That's why you're going, not because you like feel sorry for the women. And I think in a younger generation they're not coming with that baggage. So they can just show up because it's a great game. Okay, Now that our listeners are so hyped up and so excited to see the rest of this season, what can they do? How can they engage? Okay, well, number one, watch if I have not sold you on the docu series, I don't know what will download for the win on Amazon Prime. Show up to our games. You know, as I said, this is we are still in the building phase. I think you know we are making a commitment to be a part of it because we think we know that this can be something great. We want everyone to be a part of it. So home opener March twenty third, and then a long list of games after that. You can find the schedule online and follow us on social You know, however, it is that you want to engage with it. We want you to engage in it because it's such a great product and brand. Okay, thank you, Kat, thanks for coming on again. This is fine for your swan song of she Pivots exactly your final and She's out. I'm done. Carolyn is still championing GOTHAMFC and women's sports as a whole. Gotham plays nearly every weekend, so be sure to follow them on Instagram at GOTHAMFC to stay up to date on how to watch the games, and if you're in the New York area, grab your friends and come see us at a game. I can't say enough good things. The soccer is good, the merch is good, the vibes are great. So get your tickets and I'll see you there. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening to this episode of she Pivots. I hope you enjoyed it, and if you did, leave us a rating and tell your friends about us. To learn more about our guests, follow us on Instagram at she Pivots the Podcast, or sign up for our newsletter where you can get exclusive behind the scenes content. On our website at she Pivots thepodcast dot Com special thanks to the She Pivots team, Executive producer only Eda Vlosk, Associate producer and social media connoisseur Hannah Cousins, Research director Christine Dickinson, Events and Logistics coordinator Madeline Snovac, and audio editor and mixer Nina pollock I endorse Cheap Pisits