The ROAR Podcast: Jason Wright

The ROAR Podcast: Jason Wright

Most people still frame women's sports as a movement. Jason Wright runs a fund built on the opposite premise — that it's one of the most under-researched and undervalued asset classes in sports. In this episode, Caroline and Adam trace Wright's path from seven years as an NFL running back, through a labor lockout that became his first lesson in sports business, to McKinsey, the President's chair of the Washington Commanders, and now Project Level, the women's sports fund he launched with Melody Hobson at Ariel Investments. The conversation lands squarely where ROAR lives: the intersection of sports, real estate, and revenue. Wright breaks down the thesis driving Project Level — the modernization of men's sports that women's leagues can now draft on, two decades of family spending on girls' youth sports, and the "net-new fan" who never bought a men's ticket. From there the group digs into the economics of purpose-built women's stadiums, using naming rights to lower the cost of capital, and mixed-use districts that can out-earn the team next door. * 00:00 Cold open & a special two-grad format  * 01:15 From NFL running back to franchise president  * 04:15 What Northwestern athletics taught them  * 09:13 NIL, the transfer portal & the leadership question  * 15:30 Why women's sports: the Ariel model & Melody Hobson  * 18:00 The thesis: three tailwinds & the "net-new fan"  * 25:46 Data, AI & closing the capability gap 33:08 Inside the LP base & diversifying the asset class  * 38:45 Purpose-built women's stadiums: the value case  * 43:08 Mixed-use districts & when real estate out-earns the team  * 47:33 The public-funding case for women's venues * 48:11 What's next: leagues, youth sports & sleeper bets GUEST BIO Jason Wright is a managing partner at Project Level, a women's sports investment fund and wholly owned subsidiary of Ariel Investments that he launched alongside Melody Hobson. A Southern California native, Wright played running back at Northwestern before a seven-year NFL career with the Atlanta Falcons, Cleveland Browns, and Arizona Cardinals, where he served as a team captain and NFLPA representative. He earned an MBA from the University of Chicago and became a partner at McKinsey & Company in the firm's Washington, D.C. office, leading a global practice. In 2020 he was named President of the Washington Commanders, where he reset the organization's revenue strategy, rebuilt its season-ticket base, helped oversee the sale of the team, and worked to return the franchise to the RFK site before joining Project Level.

The ROAR Podcast: Amina Bulman, Boston Legacy FC

Most sports executives inherit a brand. Amina Bulman is building one from zero. As Chief Revenue Officer of Boston Legacy FC, Amina is launching a professional women's soccer club in a city that already lives and breathes its teams — with no history to lean on, a fan base that doesn't exist yet, and a permanent home still under construction. In this episode, Adam Grossman traces her unlikely path into sports: a competitive rower who studied political science and economics, expected a career in government, helped stand up the Obama Foundation, and then got a phone call in the spring of 2020 that pulled her into the franchise that had just become the Washington Commanders. Five years and one ninety-year-old rebrand later, she came home to Boston. Amina and Adam dig into what it actually takes to lead through transition — adding value when you're not the expert in the room, the difference between information and insight, and why her first season feels like running two races at once across two very different stadiums. They also get deep into the real estate: why she believes mixed-use is the future of sports venues, how White Stadium and "The Grove" are designed to function as civic assets year-round, and what it will take to turn the women's sports "rocket ship" into lasting cultural staying power. * 00:05 — Welcome to The ROAR Podcast * 00:37 — A circuitous path: rowing, government, and a five-year plan that never happened * 05:06 — Why the sports industry can feel "opaque" from the outside * 06:16 — What the Obama Presidential Center taught her about building a stadium * 07:16 — Leading when you're not the expert in the room * 10:43 — Saying yes to Jason Wright and a franchise in transition * 14:39 — Inside a 90-year-old rebrand * 19:30 — From chief of staff to the external face of the club * 25:35 — Rebranding a zero-year-old club: when unified sentiment raises the stakes * 26:59 — What fans actually wanted: values, experience, community * 29:35 — Information vs. insight: "Who is our fan?" * 31:41 — Two states, two stadiums, one first season * 37:04 — Why mixed-use is the future of sports venues * 40:07 — The Grove: a 365-day revenue engine * 41:37 — Mixed-use for women's sports vs. men's sports * 42:35 — The women's sports rocket ship — and how to keep it climbing * 45:14 — Year-one north star: more eyeballs on the product GUEST BIO Amina Bulman is the Chief Revenue Officer of Boston Legacy FC, where she leads commercial strategy for the new NWSL club — overseeing the launch of its brand, fan base, and revenue operation from the ground up. A Boston native and former competitive rower, she studied political science and economics and began her career in public-sector consulting before helping stand up the Obama Foundation in its earliest days, working across strategy, operations, and civic engagement programming. After earning her MBA, she joined the franchise then known as the Washington Football Team, spending five years through its transformation into the Washington Commanders — starting as chief of staff and expanding into external-facing leadership across communications and community efforts, including the organization's rebrand. She returned to Boston to help launch Boston Legacy FC, where she is focused on brand-building, mixed-use venue development, and growing the audience for women's sports.

The Compounding Effect: Start Times, Districts, and the AI Land Grab

This week it's just the three of us. Brice, Adam, and Caroline step out from behind the guest chair for a wide-ranging conversation on the stories moving sports business right now — and the single idea tying them together: compounding effects. One small change is almost never just one change. We start with Major League Baseball's quiet race to beat 7 PM, and why moving first pitch earlier is far more than a scheduling tweak — it reshapes who can attend, how long they stay, and how much they spend. From there the conversation widens to the mixed-use districts replacing the mall as America's gathering place (and how that model is cascading down to minor league, youth, and even high school facilities), the "land grab" of AI companies pouring into sports sponsorship, and what it actually takes to turn an AI partnership into something operational — including a look inside SmartDaaS, the Smart District as a Service platform powered by ROAR. Where sports, real estate, and revenue converge — in one conversation. * 00:00 — Catching up: the rebrand, Caroline's hosting, and the community throughline * 03:20 — Beating 7 PM: why moving first pitch earlier is more than a tweak * 06:47 — The counterintuitive case for the suburban family (end times, not start times) * 10:14 — Compounding effects: one small change, many revenue streams * 16:33 — From ballpark to district: malls, gathering places, and mixed-use * 18:18 — Why games ran late, and how streaming and the RSN decline reset the math * 22:00 — Pitch clock, ABS, and turning rule changes into partnership assets * 24:16 — Cascading down: minor league, youth, and high school sports real estate * 29:24 — The sports AI land grab and "business-backed" partnerships * 38:13 — Enterprise risk, top-of-funnel attention, and Oracle Red Bull Racing * 41:05 — Inside SmartDaaS: making AI actionable for sports, real estate, and revenue * 46:34 — What's ahead for The Roar Podcast

The ROAR Podcast: George Barrios

Adam Grossman sits down with George Barrios — former Chief Financial & Strategy Officer and Co-President of WWE, co-founder of ISOS Capital, board member and investor in Global Sport Group, and author of the new book Sometimes Wrong, But Never in Doubt. George helped take WWE from a company worth less than a billion dollars to a valuation north of nine billion, architected its merger with UFC, and — alongside his longtime partner Michelle Wilson — wrote a playbook that reframed how the sports industry thinks about intellectual property, content, and the fight for a fan's time. In this wide-ranging conversation, he unpacks the WWE Network gamble, the "swamp of despair" that forged an 18-year partnership, getting fired in 2020, the triumphant return to negotiate the UFC deal, and why he believes AI is foundational technology on the scale of the integrated circuit — not the internet. Chapters * (00:00) Welcome & introductions Adam welcomes George to the show and sets the table for the conversation. * (00:58) A "not so long" career — Time Warner to WWE to ISOS George traces the arc: early finance, management, and strategy roles at Time Warner, HBO, and the New York Times Company, the move to WWE, and the founding of ISOS Capital and Global Sport Group. * (03:55) The book — Sometimes Wrong, But Never in Doubt Where the title came from, the Harvard-surgeon origin story, and why confidence rooted in preparation isn't the same as bravado. * (08:41) The IP unlock: it's not sport, it's live The 12–18 months of consumer research and first-principles thinking that led to repositioning WWE around live, tribal, passionate, multi-generational content — and the "content factory" strategy. * (09:22) Launching the WWE Network Cannibalizing a hugely profitable pay-per-view business to build an SVOD service for the most passionate fans — the criticism, the cannibalization fears, and the climb past two million subscribers. * (13:03) Working with Vince McMahon What it was actually like — not the loud TV persona, but a stoic who was hard to read — and selling him on "killing the baby" of the pay-per-view business he created. * (19:13) The "swamp of despair" The emotional journey of doing something big: naysayers, public-market pressure, and the three-to-four-year wait for the economics to manifest. * (22:49) The Michelle Wilson partnership How two high-powered executives built an 18-year partnership, why the co-CEO model is so hard, and the Venn diagram of intellect, integrity, and energy. * (30:40) Getting fired — January 2020 The wind-down with Vince, the decision to leave, the abrupt ending, and the stock drop that followed. * (39:05) The dinner, the call, and the return Reconnecting with Vince in 2020, the 2023 phone call to bring back "the A team," and rejoining the board. * (43:06) Architecting the UFC merger The strategic process, the conviction around scale ("one plus one is more than two"), and why the deal has looked better every day since. * (48:22) What "data-driven" really means The difference between dabbling in data and doing the hard work — cross-platform content measurement, data engineering vs. analysis, and building the infrastructure from scratch * (51:51) Closing question: Artificial intelligence Why George thinks AI is foundational like the integrated circuit, the danger of "dabbling," sports' competitive moat, and the discipline of not duct-taping AI onto an old business model. * (55:35) Where to find the book & wrap-up

The ROAR Podcast: Everett Sands, Lendistry

The conversation covers Everett Sands' career journey, Lendistry mission, partnerships in women's sports, Lendistry's role in capital deployment, connecting women's sports and community development, using data to evaluate partnerships, supporting small businesses in sports and entertainment districts, and leadership priorities. Key takeaways include mission-driven finance, access to capital, and impact investing. Takeaways * Mission-driven finance * Access to capital * Impact investing Chapters * 00:00 Career Journey and Lendistry's Mission * 19:20 Supporting Small Businesses in Sports and Entertainment Districts * 37:19 Leadership and Priorities