YMCA vs. Wall Street: The Multi-Billion Dollar War Over Local Sports

1 00:00:07,049 - > 00:00:09,839 Welcome to the Private Equity Experience Podcast. 2 00:00:10,109 - > 00:00:13,650 Your backstage pass to the strategies, stories, and secrets 3 00:00:13,859 - > 00:00:16,589 that drive value in the PE universe. 4 00:00:16,920 - > 00:00:20,519 No filters, no fluff, just straight talk and expert 5 00:00:20,519 - > 00:00:24,059 insights to help you navigate the private equity world with 6 00:00:24,065 - > 00:00:24,475 confidence. 7 00:00:25,440 - > 00:00:30,600 And now your hosts, ed Barton, Rory Leaphart, and Emily Sander. 8 00:00:34,259 - > 00:00:35,000 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_1: Are you gonna have one of those 9 00:00:35,000 - > 00:00:37,719 pictures where you're like Jared from Subway, you can stand in 10 00:00:37,719 - > 00:00:39,039 one pant leg of your 11 00:00:39,094 - > 00:00:39,293 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-_1: I, 12 00:00:39,450 - > 00:00:39,960 emily-sander_1_05-20-202: jeans? 13 00:00:40,353 - > 00:00:40,853 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-_1_: I was never 14 00:00:41,078 - > 00:00:42,078 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026_1: He was never that big, no. 15 00:00:42,113 - > 00:00:43,473 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-_: and I won't be that small. 16 00:00:43,673 - > 00:00:44,334 So it's 17 00:00:45,546 - > 00:00:45,917 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: Yeah. 18 00:00:46,326 - > 00:00:46,707 Yeah 19 00:00:47,270 - > 00:00:49,679 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_1: Uh, all right. 20 00:00:49,789 - > 00:00:50,560 Let's see here. 21 00:00:50,560 - > 00:00:53,109 I'm checking our sound. 22 00:00:53,109 - > 00:00:54,070 Check. 23 00:00:54,262 - > 00:00:55,491 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026_15: I think we got a good topic today, 24 00:00:55,491 - > 00:00:56,012 guys 25 00:00:57,070 - > 00:00:58,770 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026: Yeah, so I'm co- we're coming in fresh 26 00:00:58,770 - > 00:01:02,240 because we have kind of agreed what happens if Emily doesn't 27 00:01:02,240 - > 00:01:05,379 know anything coming into the call? 28 00:01:05,427 - > 00:01:05,837 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026: Yeah 29 00:01:06,060 - > 00:01:07,620 emily-sander_1_05-20-202: 'Cause that was kind of where I was at 30 00:01:07,620 - > 00:01:10,420 last episode, and it actually turned out to be a pretty 31 00:01:10,420 - > 00:01:11,420 fruitful discussion. 32 00:01:11,579 - > 00:01:11,980 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: yeah. 33 00:01:12,079 - > 00:01:12,769 Full on 34 00:01:12,879 - > 00:01:14,239 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_1: Um, even though I might have sounded 35 00:01:14,239 - > 00:01:15,689 silly in parts, I'm used to that. 36 00:01:15,780 - > 00:01:15,980 That's 37 00:01:16,030 - > 00:01:17,180 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: Never silly. 38 00:01:17,359 - > 00:01:18,219 Never silly 39 00:01:18,769 - > 00:01:19,849 emily-sander_1_05-20-2: t-t-tee, tee me up. 40 00:01:19,849 - > 00:01:20,430 Tee us up. 41 00:01:20,640 - > 00:01:21,409 Beam me up, Scotty. 42 00:01:21,409 - > 00:01:22,189 What have we got today? 43 00:01:22,298 - > 00:01:24,737 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: Well, once again, in my trolling of 44 00:01:24,737 - > 00:01:31,968 the, you know, news section of, uh, my interwebs feed, um, I 45 00:01:31,968 - > 00:01:35,528 came across this article that is... 46 00:01:35,727 - > 00:01:37,317 I'll read you the article here. 47 00:01:37,317 - > 00:01:41,058 It's, it's, it's, um, it's just, it's just too funny. 48 00:01:41,748 - > 00:01:43,358 Uh, it's very salacious. 49 00:01:43,358 - > 00:01:44,798 Once again, clickbaity. 50 00:01:44,798 - > 00:01:54,224 It was, um- It's basically a How to kick private equity out of 51 00:01:54,224 - > 00:01:57,593 youth sports was essentially the article, uh, by- put out by 52 00:01:57,593 - > 00:02:00,373 Axios, but it's been picked up by all the other news outlets as 53 00:02:00,373 - > 00:02:00,793 well, right? 54 00:02:00,864 - > 00:02:04,694 So, um, the, the thrust of the article was there's a bill 55 00:02:04,754 - > 00:02:09,163 that's been introduced, um, bicameral, meaning both the 56 00:02:09,163 - > 00:02:12,394 House and the Senate have, like, introduced this bill called the 57 00:02:12,394 - > 00:02:14,054 Let Kids Play Act. 58 00:02:14,084 - > 00:02:17,764 So it was introduced by Senator Chris Murphy, uh, and 59 00:02:17,824 - > 00:02:22,424 Representative Chris Deluzio this month, uh, from, you know, 60 00:02:22,424 - > 00:02:27,473 uh, Connecticut and, uh, Pennsylvania respectively. 61 00:02:27,473 - > 00:02:29,843 So definitely blue states. 62 00:02:29,843 - > 00:02:33,394 It's a Democratically in- introduced bill, and it is 63 00:02:33,394 - > 00:02:37,493 effectively trying to get what they term, and they use this 64 00:02:37,493 - > 00:02:41,774 term in the bill, vulture capital private equity out of 65 00:02:41,774 - > 00:02:42,623 youth sports. 66 00:02:43,473 - > 00:02:46,993 So, you know, if you go to read this 30-page bill, they 67 00:02:46,993 - > 00:02:53,354 literally define their version of what vulture capital 68 00:02:53,354 - > 00:02:57,514 investors are and what constitutes a vulture capital 69 00:02:57,514 - > 00:03:01,274 investors, and they go, go further to define what, what is 70 00:03:01,274 - > 00:03:01,883 youth sports. 71 00:03:01,883 - > 00:03:07,604 So to kind of get to the point of the bill as it's been 72 00:03:07,783 - > 00:03:13,883 presented, there is a position that these, these, um, 73 00:03:14,193 - > 00:03:19,424 congressmen take on behalf of whomever that say private equity 74 00:03:19,424 - > 00:03:22,544 ownership of all aspects of youth sports, and we're not 75 00:03:22,544 - > 00:03:24,593 talking about just youth sports teams, we're talking about 76 00:03:24,593 - > 00:03:29,604 leagues, platforms, uh, you know, um, software that governs 77 00:03:29,604 - > 00:03:30,723 it, that kind of th- thing. 78 00:03:31,104 - > 00:03:35,253 They believe that there is a deleterious effect, that's my 79 00:03:35,253 - > 00:03:39,403 word, or b- basically an adverse effect of their ownership in the 80 00:03:39,403 - > 00:03:42,854 form of, like, because consolidation can and will 81 00:03:42,854 - > 00:03:47,864 occur, or, you know, debt is being used to acquire these 82 00:03:48,334 - > 00:03:51,574 youth sports organizations, et cetera, et cetera, that it's 83 00:03:51,574 - > 00:03:53,334 driving up costs in the communities. 84 00:03:53,334 - > 00:03:58,294 And youth sports should be very low cost to, um, you know, to 85 00:03:58,294 - > 00:03:59,243 families and so forth. 86 00:03:59,243 - > 00:04:01,834 So it's like they're, they're, they're basically making a case 87 00:04:01,834 - > 00:04:05,954 that because private equity, in some cases, has ownership of 88 00:04:05,984 - > 00:04:10,794 youth sports, uh, you know, functions or, or, you know, 89 00:04:10,883 - > 00:04:15,243 franchise or whatever, that, like, it's, it's causing expe- 90 00:04:15,373 - > 00:04:17,233 you know, costs to, to rise. 91 00:04:17,233 - > 00:04:21,713 And th- th- there seems to be, uh, a lot of ways that that can 92 00:04:21,713 - > 00:04:23,064 be debunked, and let's just... 93 00:04:23,353 - > 00:04:26,603 And, and in my own research, very little data to support that 94 00:04:26,603 - > 00:04:32,014 notion that PE ownership of youth sports in its many forms, 95 00:04:32,293 - > 00:04:35,163 uh, is causal and not correlation. 96 00:04:35,293 - > 00:04:37,053 So that's kind of it. 97 00:04:37,053 - > 00:04:39,413 That's kind of like the, the background. 98 00:04:39,444 - > 00:04:42,863 I feel, this is my editorial position, is like this is a 99 00:04:42,863 - > 00:04:45,973 performative bill, has no chance in hell of passing. 100 00:04:46,553 - > 00:04:54,675 Um, it, it just seems just too Uh, too, um, too loose, too fast 101 00:04:54,675 - > 00:04:55,004 and loose. 102 00:04:55,004 - > 00:04:56,824 It has no substance to it, in my opinion. 103 00:04:56,894 - > 00:04:59,045 But I thought it was interesting, worth kicking 104 00:04:59,045 - > 00:04:59,495 around. 105 00:05:00,095 - > 00:05:03,935 Um, you know, there's a lot of aspects to it that worth, worth 106 00:05:03,935 - > 00:05:04,274 looking at. 107 00:05:04,274 - > 00:05:07,595 I mean, some of the main, main elements of why they introduced 108 00:05:07,595 - > 00:05:10,694 this bill is because they think it's gonna, you know, reduce 109 00:05:10,694 - > 00:05:12,045 monopolies in sports. 110 00:05:12,204 - > 00:05:15,805 Well, we have the Department of Justice that oversees antitrust 111 00:05:16,165 - > 00:05:19,694 to begin with, so why do you need this kind of legislation to 112 00:05:20,235 - > 00:05:25,745 put another layer of anti, you know, anti-monopoly, um, you 113 00:05:25,745 - > 00:05:26,535 know, governors around? 114 00:05:26,625 - > 00:05:27,074 I don't know. 115 00:05:27,165 - > 00:05:30,925 It just is silly to me, but that's, that - I'm, I'm showing 116 00:05:30,925 - > 00:05:31,384 my cards. 117 00:05:31,384 - > 00:05:33,435 I think it's kinda silly, like really silly. 118 00:05:33,649 - > 00:05:34,100 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026: Okay. 119 00:05:34,149 - > 00:05:36,600 So basically there's this bill, it's 120 00:05:36,783 - > 00:05:37,153 rory-liebhart_1_05-2: Basically, 121 00:05:37,389 - > 00:05:37,639 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026: Play. 122 00:05:38,074 - > 00:05:39,074 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026: It's called Let the Kids Play. 123 00:05:39,283 - > 00:05:39,494 Yeah 124 00:05:39,639 - > 00:05:40,509 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_1: Let the Kids Play. 125 00:05:40,540 - > 00:05:43,019 And so I'm assuming that it's like, just let them play and 126 00:05:43,019 - > 00:05:43,220 don't 127 00:05:43,315 - > 00:05:43,896 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: Yeah. 128 00:05:44,156 - > 00:05:44,665 Yeah. 129 00:05:44,846 - > 00:05:44,946 You 130 00:05:45,129 - > 00:05:45,800 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_1: and like blah, blah, blah. 131 00:05:45,879 - > 00:05:46,459 Just let the kids 132 00:05:46,475 - > 00:05:48,435 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026_: the sacred youth sports is being 133 00:05:48,435 - > 00:05:50,886 damaged by private, big, bad private equity. 134 00:05:50,886 - > 00:05:52,115 It's all the tropes, you know? 135 00:05:52,660 - > 00:05:53,189 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026: Okay. 136 00:05:53,430 - > 00:05:55,790 What, what are they defining as youth sports? 137 00:05:55,790 - > 00:05:56,000 Like, is 138 00:05:56,040 - > 00:05:57,149 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: Under 18 139 00:05:57,370 - > 00:05:57,589 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_1: Oh, 140 00:05:58,509 - > 00:06:01,129 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2: leagues and teams and, you know, 141 00:06:01,670 - > 00:06:03,519 anything that touches that basically 142 00:06:04,379 - > 00:06:07,199 emily-sander_1_05-20-202: 'Cause we kinda talked about before how 143 00:06:07,408 - > 00:06:11,495 college sports are turning into a whole big and operation. 144 00:06:11,495 - > 00:06:13,014 This is, this is even younger 145 00:06:13,396 - > 00:06:13,725 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: Yeah. 146 00:06:13,875 - > 00:06:16,156 But, but it's like time is so arbitrary, right? 147 00:06:16,156 - > 00:06:20,065 Like it, it's - I mean, I guess that's the case in, um, anything 148 00:06:20,065 - > 00:06:22,286 that has to do with if you turn 18, then you can do this or 149 00:06:22,286 - > 00:06:22,886 that, whatever. 150 00:06:22,886 - > 00:06:27,586 So, okay, take - put that aside, but it's like, you know, again, 151 00:06:28,216 - > 00:06:28,975 wh-why? 152 00:06:29,745 - > 00:06:29,985 Anyway. 153 00:06:30,074 - > 00:06:31,353 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_: What is the 154 00:06:31,456 - > 00:06:32,966 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2: They're making the claim that private 155 00:06:32,966 - > 00:06:36,406 equity ownership of these leagues, clubs, teams, 156 00:06:36,406 - > 00:06:38,925 tournaments, facilities, rinks, fields, camps, clinics, 157 00:06:38,925 - > 00:06:42,516 registration systems, scheduling software, scoring statistics 158 00:06:42,516 - > 00:06:45,225 platforms, streaming media platforms, biometric and 159 00:06:45,225 - > 00:06:46,365 performance data businesses 160 00:06:46,403 - > 00:06:48,233 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026: doing what? 161 00:06:48,646 - > 00:06:50,346 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026: imp- impacted by private equity 162 00:06:50,346 - > 00:06:54,206 ownership because they're potentially causing higher costs 163 00:06:54,206 - > 00:06:58,855 due to roll-ups that produce monopolies and pricing power and 164 00:06:58,886 - > 00:06:59,305 leverage. 165 00:06:59,324 - > 00:07:00,024 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026: Okay, higher 166 00:07:00,225 - > 00:07:01,295 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-20: Higher costs, yeah. 167 00:07:01,795 - > 00:07:04,906 It couldn't possibly that be the fact that the overall economic 168 00:07:04,906 - > 00:07:08,836 landscape has, has seen a lot of inflation or anything like that. 169 00:07:08,865 - > 00:07:11,146 You know, it couldn't be that this is experiencing the same 170 00:07:11,295 - > 00:07:11,526 thing. 171 00:07:11,593 - > 00:07:12,653 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_1: has a stake in the ground 172 00:07:12,675 - > 00:07:12,946 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026_: do. 173 00:07:12,963 - > 00:07:13,274 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_: this one. 174 00:07:13,355 - > 00:07:15,915 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026: like I yes, yes. 175 00:07:16,314 - > 00:07:16,803 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026: Okay. 176 00:07:16,910 - > 00:07:17,709 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-_: can take, 177 00:07:18,358 - > 00:07:19,168 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026: Take the other side. 178 00:07:19,439 - > 00:07:21,149 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-_: for the, for the purposes of this 179 00:07:21,149 - > 00:07:22,730 discussion, take the other side. 180 00:07:23,329 - > 00:07:26,300 Um, so here's, here's a couple things that I think the bill 181 00:07:26,300 - > 00:07:27,569 does very well. 182 00:07:27,569 - > 00:07:32,430 It does, it does prohibit the sale of biometric information 183 00:07:34,089 - > 00:07:34,889 and collection of... 184 00:07:35,100 - > 00:07:39,819 collection and sale of biometric information of the youth through 185 00:07:39,819 - > 00:07:41,329 to third parties. 186 00:07:41,329 - > 00:07:41,670 So 187 00:07:41,843 - > 00:07:42,004 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026_1: No 188 00:07:42,129 - > 00:07:43,959 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-: kind of blocks, it blocks that piece. 189 00:07:44,399 - > 00:07:47,480 I think the other, the other element here is you do have 190 00:07:48,189 - > 00:07:53,649 circumstances and situations where by leveraging... 191 00:07:53,649 - > 00:07:56,189 So private equity doesn't play in an area where they don't 192 00:07:56,189 - > 00:07:57,860 expect to get a double-digit return. 193 00:07:59,009 - > 00:08:02,889 So that means that there's meat on the bone that's being left on 194 00:08:02,889 - > 00:08:05,459 the bone in, in youth sports. 195 00:08:06,189 - > 00:08:10,560 And right now, the beneficiaries of that meat that's left on the 196 00:08:10,560 - > 00:08:13,939 bone, well, a lot of the youth sports stuff is, you know, small 197 00:08:13,939 - > 00:08:17,540 business and/or not-for-profits. 198 00:08:18,038 - > 00:08:18,377 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2: Correct 199 00:08:19,269 - > 00:08:21,740 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-: your YMCA, your Boys Girls Club, they 200 00:08:21,740 - > 00:08:23,199 handle some of the youth sports stuff. 201 00:08:24,240 - > 00:08:27,029 the fact that they're not kind of in this hyper-competitive, 202 00:08:27,029 - > 00:08:30,870 I'm trying to drive for-profit margin environment, allows them 203 00:08:30,870 - > 00:08:34,429 to leave meat on the bone and, you know, give scholarships to, 204 00:08:34,730 - > 00:08:38,539 you know, to kids that can't, you know, afford it or to, you 205 00:08:38,539 - > 00:08:41,450 know, discount this or provide, you know, opportunities at the 206 00:08:41,450 - > 00:08:42,070 camp for that. 207 00:08:42,070 - > 00:08:45,059 And if you take, if you basically go,"Okay, we're, we're 208 00:08:45,059 - > 00:08:50,700 now putting a profit motive all of this," and it's not a, a 209 00:08:51,539 - > 00:08:54,789 we're gonna try and earn a reasonable profit we're gonna 210 00:08:54,789 - > 00:08:56,210 give back to the community. 211 00:08:56,210 - > 00:08:59,860 We're gonna try and maximize our return because we're a private 212 00:08:59,860 - > 00:09:00,830 equity investor. 213 00:09:00,830 - > 00:09:05,269 That does change the nature of the economics in youth sports 214 00:09:05,269 - > 00:09:09,529 from one of, you know,"Okay, how do we kind of survive and do 215 00:09:09,529 - > 00:09:13,379 well and perpetuate this?" to, "How do we maximize our return 216 00:09:13,379 - > 00:09:15,990 in a three to five-year investment time horizon and flip 217 00:09:15,990 - > 00:09:18,909 this, flip this property out into something else?" 218 00:09:19,320 - > 00:09:22,679 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_15: So what exactly are firms doing? 219 00:09:22,720 - > 00:09:25,960 What are they investing in or scaling or finding efficiencies 220 00:09:26,000 - > 00:09:26,450 in? 221 00:09:26,456 - > 00:09:27,956 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-_: on, Rory hit on a number of the 222 00:09:27,956 - > 00:09:31,096 items, and so I'll, I'll kind of summarize, you know, my, my 223 00:09:31,096 - > 00:09:31,946 understanding as well. 224 00:09:31,946 - > 00:09:35,086 So private equity firms are gonna be able to provide... 225 00:09:35,135 - > 00:09:37,725 Right now they're providing investment in the software. 226 00:09:38,035 - > 00:09:40,225 So you've got scheduling software, you've got tracking 227 00:09:40,225 - > 00:09:42,576 software, you've got software, you know, like when my 228 00:09:42,840 - > 00:09:43,039 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026: Okay, 229 00:09:43,076 - > 00:09:43,365 eddie-the-mooch - has-th: playing 230 00:09:43,408 - > 00:09:44,717 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-20: wasn't around when I was playing 231 00:09:44,717 - > 00:09:45,638 esports for sure. 232 00:09:45,710 - > 00:09:46,629 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_: all, all those 233 00:09:46,878 - > 00:09:47,038 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: Yeah. 234 00:09:47,309 - > 00:09:47,500 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_1: was 235 00:09:47,788 - > 00:09:49,597 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026_: All the things that parents now 236 00:09:49,597 - > 00:09:51,138 really want their kids to have. 237 00:09:51,138 - > 00:09:54,337 Like, they have these fucking li- excuse my language, Little 238 00:09:54,337 - > 00:09:57,217 League games, like basically live stream fed 239 00:09:57,716 - > 00:09:58,035 eddie-the-mooch - has-them: Yeah. 240 00:09:58,048 - > 00:09:58,618 rory-liebhart_1_05-20: families. 241 00:09:58,618 - > 00:09:58,998 Like you 242 00:09:59,166 - > 00:09:59,505 eddie-the-mooch - has-them: Yeah. 243 00:09:59,557 - > 00:10:00,707 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026: it's just that's the way of the 244 00:10:00,707 - > 00:10:01,467 world, so. 245 00:10:01,566 - > 00:10:02,855 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-_1: my mom, when my mom was 246 00:10:02,988 - > 00:10:03,268 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: Yeah. 247 00:10:03,285 - > 00:10:06,135 eddie-the-mooch - has-th: cancer, she would watch my nephew's 248 00:10:06,135 - > 00:10:11,245 games live-streamed on, some third party, some third party 249 00:10:11,245 - > 00:10:12,515 app, and 250 00:10:12,639 - > 00:10:13,210 emily-sander_1_05-20-20: they're like 251 00:10:13,556 - > 00:10:14,255 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-_: and stuff like that. 252 00:10:14,255 - > 00:10:15,985 So again, there's, there's monetization. 253 00:10:16,326 - > 00:10:16,806 Oh, yeah, 254 00:10:17,107 - > 00:10:17,988 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026_: Oh, absolutely. 255 00:10:17,988 - > 00:10:18,317 Yeah 256 00:10:18,539 - > 00:10:20,350 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_1: I'm just remembering, like, my home 257 00:10:20,350 - > 00:10:22,940 movies of me playing youth sports and, like, no one 258 00:10:23,059 - > 00:10:23,460 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026_: No. 259 00:10:23,604 - > 00:10:23,754 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-_: Oh, 260 00:10:23,759 - > 00:10:24,029 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026: that. 261 00:10:24,073 - > 00:10:24,274 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-_1_: a whole 262 00:10:24,529 - > 00:10:24,710 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_15: No 263 00:10:24,809 - > 00:10:25,659 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026: This is different. 264 00:10:25,659 - > 00:10:26,059 Yeah 265 00:10:26,299 - > 00:10:26,419 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026: that. 266 00:10:26,543 - > 00:10:28,214 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-_: You have, you have some folks 267 00:10:29,394 - > 00:10:32,193 there's youth camps in the summer where people are spending 268 00:10:32,484 - > 00:10:35,693 tens of thousands of dollars to send their kids to resident 269 00:10:35,693 - > 00:10:38,354 camps for a month to play soccer, to play basketball, to 270 00:10:38,354 - > 00:10:41,594 play football, to learn baseball, to, to do, uh, karate 271 00:10:41,594 - > 00:10:43,583 camps, and that's all would be prohibited. 272 00:10:44,614 - > 00:10:47,614 the private equity investment provides that infrastructure. 273 00:10:47,614 - > 00:10:50,244 Private equity provides significant investment 274 00:10:50,244 - > 00:10:54,344 infrastructure to be able to drive, you know, the, the, you 275 00:10:54,344 - > 00:10:57,413 know, whether that's stadiums and, and, and/or sports 276 00:10:57,413 - > 00:10:59,703 facilities that the not-for-profit... 277 00:10:59,964 - > 00:11:02,004 You know, so maybe they don't invest in the leagues, but they 278 00:11:02,004 - > 00:11:03,953 invest in the infrastructure around the leagues. 279 00:11:04,413 - > 00:11:04,553 And 280 00:11:04,590 - > 00:11:04,740 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026: Okay. 281 00:11:04,960 - > 00:11:05,149 Okay, 282 00:11:05,183 - > 00:11:05,984 eddie-the-mooch - has-the: better infrastructure 283 00:11:06,600 - > 00:11:09,820 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_1: I'm a PE firm and I wanna get into 284 00:11:09,820 - > 00:11:10,450 youth sports. 285 00:11:10,659 - > 00:11:14,870 I'm going to invest in this biometric company that tracks 286 00:11:14,870 - > 00:11:16,830 the biometrics as teams are training. 287 00:11:16,950 - > 00:11:17,210 eddie-the-mooch - has-them: Sure. 288 00:11:17,346 - > 00:11:18,245 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: Data, absolutely. 289 00:11:18,399 - > 00:11:18,620 emily-sander_1_05-20-202: That's an 290 00:11:18,865 - > 00:11:19,176 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026: Yeah 291 00:11:19,350 - > 00:11:19,700 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_1: And then... 292 00:11:20,909 - > 00:11:21,049 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-: and, 293 00:11:21,289 - > 00:11:21,450 emily-sander_1_05-20-202: And... 294 00:11:21,580 - > 00:11:22,929 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-_1_: I was doing that, I'd go,"How am I 295 00:11:22,929 - > 00:11:25,700 capturing the data so..." And I'm predicting whether this 296 00:11:26,039 - > 00:11:28,779 person who's 10, 11, 12 years old is gonna have the right body 297 00:11:28,779 - > 00:11:31,629 composition and is showing the right swing speed and those kind 298 00:11:31,629 - > 00:11:32,389 of things to be a 299 00:11:32,735 - > 00:11:32,855 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: yeah. 300 00:11:32,924 - > 00:11:34,554 Yes 301 00:11:34,730 - > 00:11:36,529 eddie-the-mooch - has-th: athlete six years from now because I'm 302 00:11:36,529 - > 00:11:39,269 capturing all those biometrics and doing a- analysis on it, and 303 00:11:39,269 - > 00:11:42,769 then I have longitudinal data going out for 20 years on these 304 00:11:42,769 - > 00:11:45,460 folks, and I can predict, you know, I can, I can, you know, 305 00:11:45,460 - > 00:11:46,059 kind of predict 306 00:11:46,206 - > 00:11:46,326 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026: Yeah 307 00:11:46,419 - > 00:11:47,639 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-_1: be a success based upon their 308 00:11:47,639 - > 00:11:50,789 physical makeup and size and other characteristics 309 00:11:50,802 - > 00:11:53,412 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-20: thing, like this, this bill tries to 310 00:11:55,721 - > 00:11:56,520 socialize. 311 00:11:56,520 - > 00:12:00,451 Not, uh, that's probably too harsh a term, but like this is a 312 00:12:00,451 - > 00:12:03,140 supply and demand economy. 313 00:12:03,201 - > 00:12:07,421 If, if the product which is now a business, as Ed's like bullet 314 00:12:07,421 - > 00:12:11,071 pointed out elements of that, wasn't in demand by consumers, 315 00:12:11,071 - > 00:12:11,520 i.e. 316 00:12:11,520 - > 00:12:12,500 parents, i.e. 317 00:12:12,500 - > 00:12:13,490 families, i.e. 318 00:12:13,490 - > 00:12:16,530 all this, then that, we wouldn't, th- they wouldn't be 319 00:12:16,530 - > 00:12:17,390 in the space. 320 00:12:17,510 - > 00:12:20,051 Don't think - This is no different than private equity 321 00:12:20,051 - > 00:12:23,711 investing in Champions League soccer or Premier League soccer 322 00:12:23,770 - > 00:12:25,520 or EA Sports or anything like that. 323 00:12:25,520 - > 00:12:26,400 It's just big business. 324 00:12:26,400 - > 00:12:27,510 People are buying the product. 325 00:12:27,510 - > 00:12:29,640 Well, parents are buying the live feed. 326 00:12:29,640 - > 00:12:32,821 Parents are paying for the subscription to their children's 327 00:12:33,230 - > 00:12:37,841 biometric data so that they can then market it to Division I 328 00:12:37,841 - > 00:12:38,841 colleges, things like that. 329 00:12:38,841 - > 00:12:42,801 So if you strip away all of that crap that w- is, was no longer, 330 00:12:42,801 - > 00:12:46,311 wasn't there when we all three were playing sports, private 331 00:12:46,311 - > 00:12:47,480 equity wouldn't be sniffing around. 332 00:12:47,480 - > 00:12:51,910 But because it's been based on demand, become a business itself 333 00:12:51,910 - > 00:12:53,451 that no one seems to want to admit. 334 00:12:53,451 - > 00:12:56,130 They just want to think about the purity of what they believe 335 00:12:56,441 - > 00:12:57,490 sports to be growing up. 336 00:12:57,520 - > 00:12:59,301 But the fact is it's changed. 337 00:12:59,711 - > 00:13:02,051 Like someone's got to finance that, you know? 338 00:13:02,051 - > 00:13:06,321 Is it gonna be a public sector if, if we raise municipal taxes 339 00:13:06,321 - > 00:13:09,910 or if we raise state taxes to be able to fund these programs? 340 00:13:10,480 - > 00:13:12,541 It's y- people are gonna be complaining about it from the 341 00:13:12,541 - > 00:13:13,530 other side, rightfully too. 342 00:13:13,912 - > 00:13:15,611 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-_: no, because those are, those are 343 00:13:15,611 - > 00:13:16,351 common goods. 344 00:13:16,351 - > 00:13:20,032 That's like, that's like your - That's like the, the village 345 00:13:20,032 - > 00:13:20,412 green. 346 00:13:20,412 - > 00:13:21,611 So I mean, the, the... 347 00:13:22,631 - > 00:13:24,981 Actually, that's one of the roles a government should be 348 00:13:24,981 - > 00:13:28,692 playing is going, okay, providing parks, providing 349 00:13:28,789 - > 00:13:29,850 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026: That piece, yes. 350 00:13:29,879 - > 00:13:30,299 Agreed. 351 00:13:30,412 - > 00:13:30,621 eddie-the-mooch - has-them: those 352 00:13:30,710 - > 00:13:31,090 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: Yeah. 353 00:13:31,091 - > 00:13:32,581 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-: And, and again, the government's not 354 00:13:32,581 - > 00:13:35,721 looking at it from a, from a profit motive perspective. 355 00:13:35,721 - > 00:13:41,331 And so again, I, my, my devil's advocate argument, because I 356 00:13:41,331 - > 00:13:45,312 will - I'll give my position, it sneaks through every, every once 357 00:13:45,312 - > 00:13:51,001 in a while anyway, is, is the - There's meat on the bone here 358 00:13:51,001 - > 00:13:54,341 that's being left, and the only reason private equity's playing 359 00:13:54,341 - > 00:13:56,851 is because they can optimize their returns here. 360 00:13:57,221 - > 00:13:58,251 It is big business. 361 00:13:58,251 - > 00:14:02,022 The issue right now is that big business is, is actually a bunch 362 00:14:02,022 - > 00:14:04,892 of small little businesses and not-for-profits that are largely 363 00:14:04,892 - > 00:14:08,111 operating, and it's starting to consolidate. 364 00:14:08,231 - > 00:14:11,802 And with that consolidation is coming the pressure to have 365 00:14:11,841 - > 00:14:12,892 exceptional financial 366 00:14:13,139 - > 00:14:13,519 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026: Yeah 367 00:14:13,851 - > 00:14:16,081 eddie-the-mooch - has-them: which isn't necessarily on the, you 368 00:14:16,081 - > 00:14:18,591 know, kind of the local, the local parks and rec. 369 00:14:18,932 - > 00:14:22,251 And so that, that will eventually start to crowd out 370 00:14:22,292 - > 00:14:23,662 your lower income folks. 371 00:14:23,692 - > 00:14:27,542 It's gonna eventually start to crowd out the kind of the common 372 00:14:27,542 - > 00:14:28,131 use. 373 00:14:28,312 - > 00:14:32,172 So again, you, you build a park that's gonna be for common use, 374 00:14:32,172 - > 00:14:35,751 including like when I'm, the, like I'm old and decrepit and I 375 00:14:35,751 - > 00:14:36,792 can go walk in the park. 376 00:14:36,822 - > 00:14:40,761 But if it's a, if it's a privately held, you know, sports 377 00:14:40,761 - > 00:14:43,861 camp that's owned by Blackstone, I'm - they're not gonna probably 378 00:14:43,861 - > 00:14:45,152 let me go wander around. 379 00:14:45,152 - > 00:14:45,942 And so, I mean, those... 380 00:14:45,942 - > 00:14:50,422 There's things like that that I think the, the private equity 381 00:14:50,422 - > 00:14:54,221 getting into everything, the only reason they get into 382 00:14:54,221 - > 00:14:56,572 something is'cause there's return left on the, there's 383 00:14:56,572 - > 00:14:58,792 return left on the floor and they're gonna pick it up, and 384 00:14:58,792 - > 00:15:01,682 that return right now is going back to the, the youth athletes 385 00:15:01,682 - > 00:15:04,422 or their families in the community, and they're picking 386 00:15:04,422 - > 00:15:07,172 it up, and they're gonna stuff it into the pocket of their 387 00:15:07,172 - > 00:15:08,072 limited partners 388 00:15:08,669 - > 00:15:09,070 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: Yeah. 389 00:15:09,240 - > 00:15:11,539 I mean, definitely understand that. 390 00:15:11,615 - > 00:15:12,495 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-: they really need? 391 00:15:13,940 - > 00:15:15,529 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: Well, everyone's talking about this 392 00:15:15,529 - > 00:15:18,389 from the, the standpoint of cost inflation, things like that. 393 00:15:18,389 - > 00:15:22,179 And yes, and make no mistake, PE or any private investor is gonna 394 00:15:22,179 - > 00:15:24,019 try to make as much profit as they can. 395 00:15:24,019 - > 00:15:27,470 But one thing that is not talked about is maybe some of these 396 00:15:27,840 - > 00:15:30,259 areas where PE is investing are completely mismanaged. 397 00:15:30,259 - > 00:15:31,539 We talk about that in our book. 398 00:15:31,539 - > 00:15:33,620 Operating leverage is a thing. 399 00:15:33,669 - > 00:15:37,090 If something's mismanaged, you are leaving meat on the bone in 400 00:15:37,090 - > 00:15:40,600 that way for some professional team to come in and optimize, as 401 00:15:40,600 - > 00:15:40,830 you said. 402 00:15:41,039 - > 00:15:45,080 So yeah, maybe, maybe there's some price inflation, but maybe 403 00:15:45,080 - > 00:15:47,830 there's also some optimization on the way these things are run. 404 00:15:47,940 - > 00:15:48,470 Who knows? 405 00:15:48,990 - > 00:15:50,889 You know, like that's just as possible 406 00:15:52,129 - > 00:15:53,710 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026: Okay, so I'm still trying to get to 407 00:15:53,710 - > 00:15:54,450 first base here. 408 00:15:54,450 - > 00:15:56,409 So we got PE firms 409 00:15:56,480 - > 00:15:57,120 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-: what you did there. 410 00:15:57,120 - > 00:15:57,679 That was good. 411 00:15:57,840 - > 00:15:58,539 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026: There we go. 412 00:15:58,539 - > 00:15:59,220 Here we go. 413 00:15:59,220 - > 00:16:03,169 We got PE firms and they're saying,"Look, this is a thing. 414 00:16:03,330 - > 00:16:05,559 People are asking for the thing, and they're willing to pay money 415 00:16:05,559 - > 00:16:08,250 for the thing," and the people currently doing the thing are 416 00:16:08,250 - > 00:16:11,950 like your YMCAs and your kind of mom and pop, like,"We're just 417 00:16:11,950 - > 00:16:14,659 gonna try to do this for the c- community." It's like this is 418 00:16:14,659 - > 00:16:15,549 ripe for the picking. 419 00:16:15,549 - > 00:16:18,450 So they're coming in and going, "We can do this better," 420 00:16:18,580 - > 00:16:19,009 basically. 421 00:16:19,009 - > 00:16:21,960 "We can do this much better than you can." And so right now we're 422 00:16:21,960 - > 00:16:23,159 in the flush of that. 423 00:16:24,019 - > 00:16:24,399 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026: Yeah 424 00:16:25,190 - > 00:16:27,350 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_1: the ar- argument against that, which 425 00:16:27,350 - > 00:16:31,190 this bill is proposing, is saying,"Hey, you come in there, 426 00:16:31,429 - > 00:16:37,100 and there's gonna be a tipping point where you get so driven 427 00:16:37,100 - > 00:16:39,940 and money hungry that you're gonna destroy the, 428 00:16:40,115 - > 00:16:40,375 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-_: Yes 429 00:16:40,899 - > 00:16:41,159 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_1: the 430 00:16:41,690 - > 00:16:43,279 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2: That's, that's what they're getting at, 431 00:16:43,279 - > 00:16:47,970 but they're putting it under the auspices of it's going to create 432 00:16:47,970 - > 00:16:51,250 more costs and make it less affordable for everybody. 433 00:16:51,480 - > 00:16:56,129 So you, you know, the, the answer in this case here to, to 434 00:16:56,750 - > 00:17:01,659 the legislators is like, you know, it can't be okay if 90% of 435 00:17:01,659 - > 00:17:03,639 the people can afford it, but 10% can't. 436 00:17:03,669 - > 00:17:04,940 Everybody has to be able to afford it. 437 00:17:04,940 - > 00:17:06,519 Like, that's what youth sports is supposed to be for 438 00:17:06,614 - > 00:17:07,493 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-_1_: I was about to say, 439 00:17:07,609 - > 00:17:07,789 rory-liebhart_1_05-20: everyone. 440 00:17:07,819 - > 00:17:09,109 It's a, it's a noble way to, 441 00:17:09,200 - > 00:17:13,289 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_15: so in a 442 00:17:13,299 - > 00:17:15,180 eddie-the-mooch - has-t: reality, That's, that's - There should 443 00:17:15,180 - > 00:17:18,359 be, there should be a baseline of youth sports participation 444 00:17:18,390 - > 00:17:21,779 'cause it creates better citizens, it creates folks who 445 00:17:21,779 - > 00:17:22,940 are better business people. 446 00:17:23,799 - > 00:17:26,490 from my seat, and I think I've told you both, like one of the 447 00:17:26,490 - > 00:17:29,380 things I look for is I look less for like where did you go to 448 00:17:29,718 - > 00:17:29,978 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: Yeah. 449 00:17:30,019 - > 00:17:30,220 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-: more 450 00:17:30,428 - > 00:17:30,488 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: Yeah. 451 00:17:30,730 - > 00:17:31,390 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-_: did you play team 452 00:17:31,698 - > 00:17:32,367 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026: I've 453 00:17:32,579 - > 00:17:33,769 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-_1: If you played team sports, you 454 00:17:33,769 - > 00:17:34,119 know, 455 00:17:34,278 - > 00:17:35,647 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026: been in the armed forces, you know? 456 00:17:35,708 - > 00:17:35,988 Yeah. 457 00:17:36,130 - > 00:17:37,569 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-_1: to have a role and what your role 458 00:17:37,569 - > 00:17:39,450 needs to be and how to play well with others. 459 00:17:39,450 - > 00:17:42,500 And if you, and if you don't, if you never played team sports, 460 00:17:42,500 - > 00:17:44,799 then you're pro- you may not fit well on my team. 461 00:17:45,246 - > 00:17:46,625 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: Yeah, I agree 462 00:17:46,759 - > 00:17:48,319 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-_1: so again, this, this is one where 463 00:17:48,319 - > 00:17:52,299 if, if you squeeze out folks who are at the lower end of the 464 00:17:52,299 - > 00:17:55,890 economic scale, we remove their ability to be able to have 465 00:17:55,890 - > 00:17:59,549 economic mobility up the income scale because we're taking those 466 00:17:59,549 - > 00:17:59,980 skills 467 00:18:00,013 - > 00:18:00,263 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: Yeah. 468 00:18:00,619 - > 00:18:01,470 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-_1: as a youth away 469 00:18:01,920 - > 00:18:02,339 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_: real example 470 00:18:02,344 - > 00:18:03,824 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026_1: do you address income inequality 471 00:18:03,824 - > 00:18:04,703 across the board? 472 00:18:04,703 - > 00:18:07,644 This is a tiny symptom of a bigger, bigger problem, you 473 00:18:07,644 - > 00:18:07,913 know? 474 00:18:08,403 - > 00:18:08,884 Like 475 00:18:09,240 - > 00:18:10,619 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_: what they're saying is like, okay, 476 00:18:10,619 - > 00:18:12,259 biometric data, let's just... 477 00:18:12,309 - > 00:18:13,559 L- um, this is a stupid example. 478 00:18:13,589 - > 00:18:16,579 If YMCA was putting those sensors out and saying,"Hey, 479 00:18:16,579 - > 00:18:18,500 guys, come and play at our practice or our thing. 480 00:18:18,750 - > 00:18:22,430 We're gonna give you these biometrics," like distributed to 481 00:18:22,430 - > 00:18:23,130 everyone. 482 00:18:23,930 - > 00:18:27,809 PE comes in there, does their efficiencies, makes it all fancy 483 00:18:27,809 - > 00:18:30,380 bells and whistles, and it's like a really nice, and then th- 484 00:18:30,450 - > 00:18:32,700 therefore expensive biometric tracker. 485 00:18:33,059 - > 00:18:36,470 Then certain people who would've gotten it at YMCA can no longer 486 00:18:36,470 - > 00:18:36,799 get it. 487 00:18:36,869 - > 00:18:37,609 Is that what they're saying? 488 00:18:37,826 - > 00:18:39,175 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-_1_: I think there's elements, I think 489 00:18:39,175 - > 00:18:39,996 there's elements to that. 490 00:18:39,996 - > 00:18:43,355 That's actually one that's more likely where the, the parent and 491 00:18:43,355 - > 00:18:45,115 the kid are gonna get it for free. 492 00:18:45,486 - > 00:18:49,496 And the YMCA, the private equity guys are aggregating that data 493 00:18:49,496 - > 00:18:52,215 and then selling that data to like a, 494 00:18:52,630 - > 00:18:53,039 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026: Yeah 495 00:18:53,365 - > 00:18:54,425 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-_: who then sells additional 496 00:18:54,425 - > 00:18:56,976 information to Division I colleges to go do their NIL 497 00:18:57,162 - > 00:18:57,541 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: Yeah. 498 00:18:57,571 - > 00:18:58,092 Yeah. 499 00:18:58,362 - > 00:18:59,662 Dude, spot on. 500 00:18:59,882 - > 00:19:00,031 Yeah 501 00:19:00,586 - > 00:19:01,955 eddie-the-mooch - has-them: where I think it's gonna impact your 502 00:19:01,955 - > 00:19:06,675 lower income individuals is the private equity folks are going 503 00:19:06,675 - > 00:19:07,165 to... 504 00:19:07,586 - > 00:19:09,125 They need to put big money to work. 505 00:19:09,435 - > 00:19:10,665 Not little money, big money. 506 00:19:11,026 - > 00:19:12,925 So they're, how are they gonna put big money to work? 507 00:19:13,135 - > 00:19:13,326 It's 508 00:19:13,445 - > 00:19:13,753 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: money 509 00:19:13,965 - > 00:19:14,556 eddie-the-mooch - ha: facilities. 510 00:19:14,556 - > 00:19:15,955 It's the real estate side of this. 511 00:19:15,955 - > 00:19:16,205 It's 512 00:19:16,394 - > 00:19:16,434 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026: Sure. 513 00:19:16,576 - > 00:19:17,036 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-: it's the, 514 00:19:17,335 - > 00:19:18,055 emily-sander_1_05-20-: Stadiums? 515 00:19:18,145 - > 00:19:20,645 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-: the, it's the fields, it's the 516 00:19:21,056 - > 00:19:21,786 facilities. 517 00:19:21,786 - > 00:19:24,816 So it's, you know, we're gonna, instead of the town building a 518 00:19:24,816 - > 00:19:28,496 new football stadium, it's gonna be private equity backed for 519 00:19:28,496 - > 00:19:29,326 youth sports. 520 00:19:30,516 - > 00:19:33,536 it's gonna be, or it's gonna be a, you know, a golf course 521 00:19:33,536 - > 00:19:35,905 that's private equity backed for youth sports, or it's gonna be, 522 00:19:35,905 - > 00:19:38,625 so it's gonna be private equity backed, not, not community 523 00:19:38,625 - > 00:19:39,006 backed. 524 00:19:39,965 - > 00:19:42,726 the, you know, so again, you, you wanna go use tennis courts, 525 00:19:42,726 - > 00:19:44,336 it's gonna be private tennis courts. 526 00:19:44,336 - > 00:19:47,685 You're not gonna have public parks because private equity's 527 00:19:47,685 - > 00:19:50,316 gonna have kinda hoovered up a bunch of 528 00:19:50,324 - > 00:19:51,003 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: Yeah, you create 529 00:19:51,046 - > 00:19:51,455 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-: that real 530 00:19:51,473 - > 00:19:54,223 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2: private clubs and leagues and so yeah, 531 00:19:54,223 - > 00:19:56,324 if you can't pay to play, then you're left behind. 532 00:19:56,355 - > 00:19:57,556 eddie-the-mooch - has-the: You're gonna lose out, so what's gonna 533 00:19:57,556 - > 00:20:00,236 happen is they're gonna go,"Hey, we've got..." And I'll use a 534 00:20:00,236 - > 00:20:01,306 camp as an example. 535 00:20:01,306 - > 00:20:03,806 You've got the camps that are like the elite soccer camp. 536 00:20:03,865 - > 00:20:06,605 It's$10,000, three weeks, and whatever. 537 00:20:07,026 - > 00:20:14,405 Well, that's competing with the local YMCA camp, the, or Boys 538 00:20:14,405 - > 00:20:15,365 and Girls Clubs camp. 539 00:20:15,405 - > 00:20:18,605 And so what's gonna happen is the folks who can afford it, the 540 00:20:18,605 - > 00:20:20,395 ones who have the money, the ones who... 541 00:20:20,395 - > 00:20:24,036 So you're gonna be taking folks the, away from the ability of 542 00:20:24,036 - > 00:20:27,105 the underprivileged, underprivileged children to 543 00:20:27,105 - > 00:20:30,675 participate in camps against folks who are, you know, 544 00:20:30,675 - > 00:20:35,395 potentially of a, of a similar, similar class of player because 545 00:20:35,395 - > 00:20:37,066 you've got more players in that pool. 546 00:20:37,066 - > 00:20:40,026 Instead, these folks are gonna float away off to this elite 547 00:20:40,026 - > 00:20:42,895 camp, and you're gonna leave folks who otherwise would really 548 00:20:42,895 - > 00:20:44,266 benefit from two things. 549 00:20:44,266 - > 00:20:48,355 One, interaction with, with other children who have, are of 550 00:20:48,465 - > 00:20:51,056 different backgrounds, and two, which is probably the most 551 00:20:51,056 - > 00:20:54,796 important thing, and two, the inability to play against other 552 00:20:54,796 - > 00:20:57,736 players who might challenge them to improve their skill set 553 00:20:57,736 - > 00:21:01,546 better because these other players have affor- can afford 554 00:21:01,546 - > 00:21:04,895 to go off to the private equity backed sports camp and spend 555 00:21:04,895 - > 00:21:07,056 $10,000 for their three weeks, while these poor 556 00:21:07,074 - > 00:21:07,134 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026: Yeah 557 00:21:07,675 - > 00:21:09,925 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-: have to pay 60 bucks for the week 558 00:21:09,925 - > 00:21:13,226 for, you know, the, the, uh, YMCA camp. 559 00:21:13,682 - > 00:21:15,001 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: Yeah, but that's already happening. 560 00:21:15,071 - > 00:21:17,211 I mean, like that, that's already a f- a, a 561 00:21:17,448 - > 00:21:17,617 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-_: And it's 562 00:21:17,741 - > 00:21:18,051 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026: fact 563 00:21:18,167 - > 00:21:19,607 eddie-the-mooch - has-them: worse with the, with the Bentley 564 00:21:19,607 - > 00:21:20,438 drivers doing it 565 00:21:20,500 - > 00:21:23,009 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: Well, I mean, no different than 566 00:21:23,009 - > 00:21:25,509 private school versus public education too in that regard. 567 00:21:25,509 - > 00:21:26,769 And so how does, uh, you know, how 568 00:21:26,836 - > 00:21:28,086 eddie-the-mooch - has-them: Yeah, and that's, and that's all - We 569 00:21:28,086 - > 00:21:29,566 could go all day long on that 570 00:21:29,587 - > 00:21:30,028 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026_15: I know. 571 00:21:30,256 - > 00:21:31,185 eddie-the-mooch - has-the: that's also, you know, those 572 00:21:31,268 - > 00:21:32,647 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026_15: I guess that's where I come out on 573 00:21:32,647 - > 00:21:33,018 it is 574 00:21:33,066 - > 00:21:33,496 eddie-the-mooch - has-th: schools 575 00:21:34,048 - > 00:21:36,778 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026_: you know, I think a lot of the 576 00:21:36,778 - > 00:21:41,028 points that can be made are, are, I mean, especially the 577 00:21:41,407 - > 00:21:44,057 element of just accessibility. 578 00:21:44,057 - > 00:21:46,498 That, but that doesn't need to be dealt with through this 579 00:21:46,498 - > 00:21:47,347 particular legislation. 580 00:21:47,347 - > 00:21:49,837 That can be dealt with through other grant programs and other 581 00:21:49,837 - > 00:21:52,077 things like that, that people could have access to. 582 00:21:52,077 - > 00:21:54,988 Maybe that's, maybe that's contributed in a different way. 583 00:21:54,988 - > 00:21:59,288 But I just feel like this legislation, how do you, how do 584 00:21:59,288 - > 00:22:04,327 you, how do you s- how do you facilitate innovation on the c- 585 00:22:04,528 - > 00:22:07,188 and on the part of like software developers to say,"Oh, well, I 586 00:22:07,188 - > 00:22:10,637 build something that the public needs," or like the, the, the 587 00:22:10,637 - > 00:22:13,968 consumer needs, but,"Oh, I can't take on private money because, 588 00:22:13,998 - > 00:22:17,637 you know, this, this leg- legislation." So that and just 589 00:22:17,637 - > 00:22:18,057 other 590 00:22:18,163 - > 00:22:19,653 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-_1: on vulture capital money either. 591 00:22:19,653 - > 00:22:20,413 It's defined 592 00:22:21,256 - > 00:22:22,145 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026: Yes, it is defined. 593 00:22:22,145 - > 00:22:22,635 You're right. 594 00:22:22,635 - > 00:22:23,115 You're right. 595 00:22:23,115 - > 00:22:23,865 It is defined. 596 00:22:23,865 - > 00:22:27,086 But if you take on any debt to finance it, that's pretty big. 597 00:22:28,056 - > 00:22:31,516 Like, that's a pretty big, uh, you know, a, a, a qualifier. 598 00:22:31,546 - > 00:22:32,405 But, um 599 00:22:32,444 - > 00:22:34,515 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_1: How does the bill propose getting 600 00:22:34,634 - > 00:22:36,494 vulture capital, in quotes, out? 601 00:22:36,765 - > 00:22:38,795 Do they have a,"Here's how we're going to do this"? 602 00:22:38,837 - > 00:22:40,327 rory-liebhart_1_05-20: Actually, that's a really good question. 603 00:22:40,417 - > 00:22:42,788 Um, not only is this a forward-looking bill, but it's 604 00:22:42,788 - > 00:22:44,268 actually retroactive. 605 00:22:44,298 - > 00:22:45,407 So it would basically, 606 00:22:45,414 - > 00:22:45,994 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_1: Oh. 607 00:22:46,528 - > 00:22:48,387 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026: one, one of the two, which is to say 608 00:22:48,468 - > 00:22:51,117 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-: Part 609 00:22:51,587 - > 00:22:53,728 rory-liebhart_1_05-20: investor, you can't invest in the space, 610 00:22:53,728 - > 00:22:54,708 which is still broadly defined. 611 00:22:54,708 - > 00:22:57,458 So this thing would at minimum get completely watered down or 612 00:22:57,458 - > 00:22:58,387 really narrowed. 613 00:22:59,018 - > 00:23:03,038 But going, looking backwards, if, you know, you have to go if, 614 00:23:03,198 - > 00:23:06,958 if I think it's two years back or you have to... 615 00:23:07,258 - > 00:23:07,728 No, excuse me. 616 00:23:07,917 - > 00:23:11,337 If you are a defined vulture capital investor in any of these 617 00:23:11,788 - > 00:23:14,577 areas that are defining as youth sports, then you have two years 618 00:23:14,577 - > 00:23:15,768 to divest your position. 619 00:23:16,788 - > 00:23:21,448 Otherwise, there's personal liability, uh, to you and 620 00:23:22,218 - > 00:23:24,228 there's other, let's see, other 621 00:23:24,345 - > 00:23:25,704 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_15: So they're defining vulture capital 622 00:23:25,704 - > 00:23:26,785 as anything with debt? 623 00:23:28,054 - > 00:23:31,963 rory-liebhart_1_05-: Consolidate any vulture practices include 624 00:23:31,963 - > 00:23:33,894 consolidation roll-up strategies. 625 00:23:34,314 - > 00:23:38,233 So Ed is a vulture capitalist in what he does with, with CPA 626 00:23:38,233 - > 00:23:38,743 firms. 627 00:23:40,164 - > 00:23:40,454 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026: Okay. 628 00:23:40,593 - > 00:23:42,492 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026: Debt loading, whatever that means. 629 00:23:42,532 - > 00:23:44,782 Adding debt, using debt, who knows? 630 00:23:44,873 - > 00:23:49,173 Uh, asset stripping, junk fees, predatory contracts. 631 00:23:49,173 - > 00:23:53,573 Again, these are all left a lot to be defined for sure. 632 00:23:53,982 - > 00:23:56,282 Exclusive participation requirements, this is what Ed 633 00:23:56,282 - > 00:23:58,192 speaks to, you know, things like that. 634 00:23:58,663 - > 00:24:01,482 Monetization of player bi- player data biometrics. 635 00:24:01,482 - > 00:24:04,623 Those last two bullet points, exclusive participation 636 00:24:04,623 - > 00:24:07,742 requirements and monetization of data biometrics, th- th- I would 637 00:24:07,742 - > 00:24:10,903 be cool with a bill that ha- that spoke to these two things 638 00:24:11,323 - > 00:24:12,063 generally. 639 00:24:12,333 - > 00:24:16,593 Uh, but the o- the rest of it is just seems very broad to me, I 640 00:24:16,593 - > 00:24:17,063 guess. 641 00:24:17,173 - > 00:24:17,452 You know? 642 00:24:17,452 - > 00:24:19,153 And so like what kind of precedent are you setting? 643 00:24:19,153 - > 00:24:20,932 Like, okay, e-sports is out. 644 00:24:20,932 - > 00:24:25,762 Well, you know, w- what other areas is, is private equity 645 00:24:25,762 - > 00:24:27,393 going to be pushed out of and why? 646 00:24:27,583 - > 00:24:27,883 You know? 647 00:24:28,772 - > 00:24:29,063 So 648 00:24:29,519 - > 00:24:31,160 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_1: Are you guys of the thought that, 649 00:24:31,990 - > 00:24:35,279 hey, if this bill were trying to let the kids play and actually 650 00:24:35,279 - > 00:24:39,359 doing it in a way that made sense, you would be for that? 651 00:24:39,359 - > 00:24:40,460 Or like, no. 652 00:24:40,839 - > 00:24:42,670 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-_: Um, uh, uh, so it depends. 653 00:24:43,390 - > 00:24:46,490 depends on whether you're asking me to continue to play the role 654 00:24:46,490 - > 00:24:47,369 that I've been playing, 655 00:24:47,432 - > 00:24:49,372 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: Doing very well, by the way. 656 00:24:49,662 - > 00:24:49,801 Yeah 657 00:24:49,960 - > 00:24:50,509 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-: this bill. 658 00:24:50,509 - > 00:24:50,880 Well, that's good. 659 00:24:50,880 - > 00:24:52,849 As a trained attorney, I'm capable 660 00:24:52,852 - > 00:24:53,071 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: Yeah. 661 00:24:53,380 - > 00:24:53,599 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-: both 662 00:24:53,701 - > 00:24:54,721 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026_: No, exactly. 663 00:24:54,890 - > 00:24:55,349 eddie-the-mooch - has-t: argument 664 00:24:55,392 - > 00:24:56,571 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: right person to take the devil's 665 00:24:56,571 - > 00:24:57,711 advocate on this one for sure. 666 00:24:57,741 - > 00:24:58,051 Not me 667 00:24:58,877 - > 00:25:00,018 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-_: you know, it, it, so... 668 00:25:00,508 - > 00:25:04,278 But if you're asking me personally, that's a, you might 669 00:25:04,278 - > 00:25:07,087 get a, you might get a, a differently nuanced answer 670 00:25:07,819 - > 00:25:09,049 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_15: me the real Ed, the 671 00:25:09,180 - > 00:25:11,980 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026_15: I remember, probably 15 years ago, 672 00:25:12,509 - > 00:25:15,329 some question in some meeting came up, and it was kind of an 673 00:25:15,329 - > 00:25:20,039 asinine question, and Ed's response is,"I'm a capitalist." 674 00:25:21,049 - > 00:25:23,390 It was, it was answering something of like, you know, 675 00:25:23,710 - > 00:25:25,670 this or that, you know, do we do this or that? 676 00:25:26,029 - > 00:25:27,579 It was like,"I'm a fucking capitalist. 677 00:25:27,630 - > 00:25:31,589 We do what, what, what - where there's demand in an economic 678 00:25:31,589 - > 00:25:32,660 way," basically was the answer. 679 00:25:32,799 - > 00:25:35,990 So I, I, I assume that that's where his position is here 680 00:25:36,478 - > 00:25:37,917 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-_1: so what Ed would, what Ed would 681 00:25:37,917 - > 00:25:38,397 tell you as 682 00:25:38,653 - > 00:25:39,933 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-20: Unless he's become a socialist. 683 00:25:40,167 - > 00:25:41,548 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-: what the real Ed says 684 00:25:41,772 - > 00:25:42,692 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026_: The real, 685 00:25:43,259 - > 00:25:43,750 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_: real 686 00:25:43,772 - > 00:25:44,333 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: Eddie B 687 00:25:44,917 - > 00:25:45,268 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-_1: is the, 688 00:25:45,400 - > 00:25:45,910 emily-sander_1_05-20-202: please stand 689 00:25:46,278 - > 00:25:46,337 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-_: the 690 00:25:46,650 - > 00:25:46,710 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_1: up. 691 00:25:46,768 - > 00:25:47,468 eddie-the-mooch - has-them: drive this. 692 00:25:47,798 - > 00:25:48,137 I am a 693 00:25:48,147 - > 00:25:51,117 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026_15: I said 694 00:25:51,147 - > 00:25:51,327 eddie-the-mooch - has-them: it... 695 00:25:52,127 - > 00:25:56,228 The tough part will be if PE pushes too hard, the 696 00:25:56,228 - > 00:25:59,248 not-for-profits will come back in and, and eat them for lunch 697 00:25:59,248 - > 00:26:01,478 because you have, you don't have a profit motive. 698 00:26:02,288 - > 00:26:03,518 the market will control. 699 00:26:04,518 - > 00:26:07,367 at the end of the day, these guys can't ring-fence the entire 700 00:26:07,367 - > 00:26:10,417 thing in such a way that you'd be able to screw 701 00:26:10,582 - > 00:26:11,281 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2: Exactly 702 00:26:12,028 - > 00:26:13,778 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-_: The actually private equity, and I 703 00:26:13,778 - > 00:26:16,827 started, I ended up down this road and I had to veer myself 704 00:26:16,827 - > 00:26:20,008 back, but they actually will provide the capital necessary to 705 00:26:20,008 - > 00:26:21,667 get some of this stuff off the ground. 706 00:26:22,097 - > 00:26:26,438 But if they get too piggy, competition will come in just 707 00:26:26,438 - > 00:26:27,357 like it should. 708 00:26:27,567 - > 00:26:31,438 Where you run into problems with private equity now sports is in 709 00:26:31,438 - > 00:26:35,357 college, where the NCAA and the, and the NAIA have kind of 710 00:26:35,417 - > 00:26:38,228 created a monopoly or an oligopolistic environment so you 711 00:26:38,228 - > 00:26:42,538 can't compete, where you've got the NFL, Major League Baseball, 712 00:26:42,538 - > 00:26:44,807 and other leagues where you can't compete because they've 713 00:26:44,807 - > 00:26:48,438 created an oligopoly of franchise environment, and where 714 00:26:48,438 - > 00:26:52,657 you've got natural difficult barriers to entry, whether 715 00:26:52,657 - > 00:26:55,218 they're regulatory, which is, you know, the, the typical 716 00:26:55,218 - > 00:26:55,798 private equity. 717 00:26:55,798 - > 00:26:56,528 We've talked about this. 718 00:26:56,528 - > 00:27:00,067 Typical private equity is like, how can I, how can I put rents 719 00:27:00,067 - > 00:27:00,438 in? 720 00:27:00,548 - > 00:27:03,387 Uh, rents being the economic rent, not, you know, 721 00:27:03,496 - > 00:27:03,806 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026: Yeah 722 00:27:03,928 - > 00:27:04,617 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-_: for the apartment. 723 00:27:04,807 - > 00:27:08,268 How can I put rents in with regulations so that I'm 724 00:27:08,268 - > 00:27:11,448 protected and it's difficult for competitors to come in? 725 00:27:11,670 - > 00:27:12,150 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-20: Mm-hmm 726 00:27:12,238 - > 00:27:13,798 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-_1: So how do I make it difficult for 727 00:27:13,798 - > 00:27:17,448 competitors by making the barriers to entry high get free 728 00:27:17,448 - > 00:27:19,127 rent on this from the government? 729 00:27:19,468 - > 00:27:22,557 And so the immediate thing I would look at, I looked at this 730 00:27:22,557 - > 00:27:26,617 and said,"Oh, I wonder if this is retroactive." Now, they did 731 00:27:26,617 - > 00:27:31,417 say it was retroactive, but first thought was some private 732 00:27:31,417 - > 00:27:33,548 equity firm probably shot this thing forward. 733 00:27:33,548 - > 00:27:35,968 These guys run it up the flagpole and, because they've 734 00:27:35,968 - > 00:27:38,188 made an investment and they're like,"Okay, we wanna ring-fence 735 00:27:38,188 - > 00:27:40,958 our, our ability." there's no need for it. 736 00:27:41,627 - > 00:27:44,377 matter of fact, I would actually argue things like the biometrics 737 00:27:44,377 - > 00:27:47,218 and, and, you know, those elements, I could get my head 738 00:27:47,218 - > 00:27:49,288 ar- I could even get my head around that with the right 739 00:27:49,288 - > 00:27:52,798 privacy laws, and I think those privacy laws already exist. 740 00:27:52,798 - > 00:27:59,268 Going to Rory's initial comment, is just perfor- performative BS 741 00:27:59,877 - > 00:28:01,417 to try and get some headlines, 742 00:28:01,765 - > 00:28:02,045 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026: Okay. 743 00:28:03,387 - > 00:28:03,917 eddie-the-mooch - has-them: there you go. 744 00:28:03,968 - > 00:28:05,448 You asked for the real Ed, you got it. 745 00:28:06,375 - > 00:28:08,365 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_15: So you mentioned there might be a 746 00:28:08,365 - > 00:28:11,345 backlash from the competitors, similar to our fishing 747 00:28:11,654 - > 00:28:14,664 discussion, where it's like, "Hey, we can come in and be the 748 00:28:14,664 - > 00:28:16,974 boutique, high quality 749 00:28:17,910 - > 00:28:18,180 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: Yeah. 750 00:28:18,404 - > 00:28:20,315 emily-sander_1_05-20: supplier." In this case, it's like, look, 751 00:28:20,355 - > 00:28:21,484 you don't want that... 752 00:28:22,194 - > 00:28:25,505 kind of like, um, you know the movie Dodgeball, where they walk 753 00:28:25,505 - > 00:28:27,065 into the gym that Ben Stiller is in? 754 00:28:27,065 - > 00:28:29,775 It's like this pristine, like all the modern equipment, and 755 00:28:29,775 - > 00:28:32,434 it's all jazzy and like salesy, and then they walk into like the 756 00:28:32,434 - > 00:28:34,765 other gym, and it's like,"This is the real gym. 757 00:28:34,914 - > 00:28:35,775 You can still get a good 758 00:28:36,147 - > 00:28:36,538 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: Yeah. 759 00:28:37,028 - > 00:28:38,968 Prison, you can get a good workout in too. 760 00:28:39,268 - > 00:28:39,528 Yeah. 761 00:28:40,607 - > 00:28:42,298 Uh, I, I 762 00:28:42,484 - > 00:28:43,785 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_: Body weight workout. 763 00:28:44,268 - > 00:28:45,978 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026_: I - Yeah, here's - I just... 764 00:28:47,198 - > 00:28:51,367 It's a funny one because how do you tell a parent that's like, 765 00:28:51,367 - > 00:28:51,647 "You know what? 766 00:28:51,647 - > 00:28:55,698 I've really gotten used to this awesome software that I can 767 00:28:55,698 - > 00:29:00,448 watch while I'm sitting at my desk at 8:00 p- 7:30 PM at the 768 00:29:00,448 - > 00:29:03,607 law firm I work at because I work 70 hours a week and I can't 769 00:29:03,607 - > 00:29:04,728 go to my kid's ball game. 770 00:29:04,728 - > 00:29:06,298 I'm gonna have it on in the background while I'm 771 00:29:06,984 - > 00:29:07,164 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_: It's a 772 00:29:07,178 - > 00:29:07,567 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: doing work." 773 00:29:07,644 - > 00:29:08,295 emily-sander_1_05-2: discussion, by 774 00:29:08,347 - > 00:29:08,778 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-20: right? 775 00:29:08,778 - > 00:29:09,008 Yep. 776 00:29:09,208 - > 00:29:09,617 Yep. 777 00:29:09,758 - > 00:29:15,907 So you're telling me that, you know, the, the PE group that 778 00:29:15,938 - > 00:29:20,657 owns this needs to sell this, this asset, and the YMCA is 779 00:29:20,657 - > 00:29:22,857 gonna go ahead and buy it, and they're gonna be able to do just 780 00:29:22,857 - > 00:29:26,768 as well with it as like, as the, uh, software group that's... 781 00:29:27,258 - > 00:29:29,557 I, I just, I - No, it's not gonna happen. 782 00:29:29,708 - > 00:29:33,107 Like, we've become such a consumer society that the 783 00:29:33,107 - > 00:29:36,248 conveniences that are afforded by private enterprise 784 00:29:36,928 - > 00:29:40,367 technologically, which are always backed by either 785 00:29:40,367 - > 00:29:45,008 bootstrap or private equity or, or venture or whatever, it's... 786 00:29:46,178 - > 00:29:46,928 That's where we are. 787 00:29:46,958 - > 00:29:49,827 The, the supply and demand, the consumer wants what the product 788 00:29:49,827 - > 00:29:50,397 is. 789 00:29:50,597 - > 00:29:53,107 Otherwise PE wouldn't be in it because no one would buy it, you 790 00:29:53,107 - > 00:29:53,357 know? 791 00:29:53,680 - > 00:29:53,980 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_1: You have a 792 00:29:54,347 - > 00:29:54,548 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: Yeah. 793 00:29:54,839 - > 00:29:56,440 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026: Like, you can go to the YMCA thing and 794 00:29:56,440 - > 00:29:57,099 you can go to the, 795 00:29:57,367 - > 00:29:59,038 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026_: But the thing to solve for is making 796 00:29:59,038 - > 00:30:02,488 sure that, yes, there is not a, uh, there's not a greater divide 797 00:30:02,928 - > 00:30:07,077 for communities and access to play in these, in these leagues 798 00:30:07,077 - > 00:30:09,438 and stuff like to give a, get a shot and all that stuff, and... 799 00:30:10,488 - > 00:30:11,718 But is this the way to solve it? 800 00:30:11,758 - > 00:30:14,538 I don't think it is, you know, th- through this legislation, 801 00:30:15,008 - > 00:30:15,498 for example. 802 00:30:16,640 - > 00:30:18,339 emily-sander_1_05-20-202: 'Cause in previous pods, you yourself, 803 00:30:18,339 - > 00:30:22,660 Big Rigs, have said, love my college football. 804 00:30:22,933 - > 00:30:23,473 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026_15: I do. 805 00:30:23,650 - > 00:30:24,069 emily-sander_1_05-20-: football. 806 00:30:24,069 - > 00:30:27,390 Don't turn that into a whole business and rigmarole." 807 00:30:27,462 - > 00:30:29,202 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: Yeah, but I'm also the same sucker 808 00:30:29,202 - > 00:30:32,663 that's still buying tickets, still listen to the podcasts, 809 00:30:32,663 - > 00:30:37,553 which are throwing tons of basically DraftKings and 810 00:30:37,553 - > 00:30:39,563 gambling ads at me, you know? 811 00:30:39,563 - > 00:30:41,252 So somebody's making a lot of money. 812 00:30:41,502 - > 00:30:45,073 But y- you know, so I, I don't have, uh, I don't take a stand 813 00:30:45,073 - > 00:30:49,182 as much to say like I'm not willing to what it's become. 814 00:30:49,182 - > 00:30:50,663 It just is what it is, you know? 815 00:30:50,692 - > 00:30:52,643 So I don't know. 816 00:30:52,643 - > 00:30:53,512 I'm a, I'm a consumer 817 00:30:53,730 - > 00:30:56,819 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_: PE - just for like thought experiment 818 00:30:56,819 - > 00:31:02,210 purposes, if PE was like,"We're gonna optimize preschool da- 819 00:31:02,210 - > 00:31:05,390 daycare sports," would that be like bridge too far? 820 00:31:05,390 - > 00:31:09,200 Or be like,"Hey, if there's a demand for the little toddlers, 821 00:31:09,410 - > 00:31:10,880 then have at it." 822 00:31:11,218 - > 00:31:11,278 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: Yeah. 823 00:31:11,837 - > 00:31:14,508 I mean, if we're okay with PE being involved in, with 824 00:31:14,508 - > 00:31:17,837 healthcare, which is literally life and death for people, then 825 00:31:18,837 - > 00:31:19,988 education, sure. 826 00:31:20,188 - > 00:31:20,597 You know? 827 00:31:21,057 - > 00:31:22,107 Montessori, sure. 828 00:31:22,157 - > 00:31:24,897 I mean, it's all private anyway, so like a lot of that stuff's 829 00:31:24,897 - > 00:31:27,127 private, private, it's just not private equity backed. 830 00:31:27,268 - > 00:31:30,907 But who's to say, like some rich family that owns it isn't doing 831 00:31:30,907 - > 00:31:32,228 the same stuff with it, you know? 832 00:31:33,650 - > 00:31:35,670 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_15: If we're, if they are being 833 00:31:35,769 - > 00:31:37,900 performative with this bill, will 834 00:31:37,976 - > 00:31:39,195 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-20: should have looked up whether these 835 00:31:39,195 - > 00:31:42,266 two, like, congressmen are actually up for re-election this 836 00:31:42,266 - > 00:31:42,925 year or some shit like that 837 00:31:43,140 - > 00:31:44,220 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_150: I mean, we're talking about it 838 00:31:44,220 - > 00:31:45,190 though, so it is, 839 00:31:45,877 - > 00:31:46,988 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026_: For sure. 840 00:31:47,538 - > 00:31:47,807 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-: Yeah 841 00:31:49,467 - > 00:31:49,817 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: Yeah. 842 00:31:50,156 - > 00:31:50,467 Yeah 843 00:31:51,579 - > 00:31:52,849 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_1: But if their goal is like create 844 00:31:52,849 - > 00:31:54,170 this conversation, we're having this 845 00:31:54,198 - > 00:31:55,938 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026_: Oh, it, it, it totally gripped me. 846 00:31:55,938 - > 00:31:57,718 I was like,"What are we - What? 847 00:31:57,718 - > 00:31:59,647 Are you serious about this?" Like, I, I, I, I am. 848 00:31:59,839 - > 00:32:01,009 emily-sander_1_05-20-202: You're so susceptible to those 849 00:32:01,009 - > 00:32:01,440 clickbait 850 00:32:01,758 - > 00:32:02,538 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026_1: I, am. 851 00:32:02,579 - > 00:32:02,759 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_: like 852 00:32:02,778 - > 00:32:03,397 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: They, got me. 853 00:32:03,397 - > 00:32:04,627 They got my algorithm figured out. 854 00:32:04,627 - > 00:32:06,498 And then immediately after I read it, that's when I sent it 855 00:32:06,498 - > 00:32:06,968 to you guys. 856 00:32:06,968 - > 00:32:09,428 I was like,"This is something we're gonna talk about,"'cause 857 00:32:10,087 - > 00:32:10,488 it just, 858 00:32:10,650 - > 00:32:11,019 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026: Yeah. 859 00:32:11,488 - > 00:32:15,117 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026: But, you know, this is just one bill 860 00:32:15,117 - > 00:32:18,367 of many, many that are just head scratchers to whomever's looking 861 00:32:18,367 - > 00:32:18,867 at them, you know? 862 00:32:18,897 - > 00:32:20,768 So this just happened to be private equity based, so 863 00:32:22,660 - > 00:32:24,650 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_: It's an interesting kind of social 864 00:32:24,650 - > 00:32:28,769 question though,'cause I mean, as Ed was mentioning, youth 865 00:32:28,769 - > 00:32:32,089 sports, that's a formative time in someone's life. 866 00:32:32,119 - > 00:32:32,250 I 867 00:32:32,278 - > 00:32:32,748 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026_1: It sure is. 868 00:32:33,000 - > 00:32:34,680 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_1: and soccer, and that absolutely 869 00:32:34,779 - > 00:32:38,579 formed me and the teams and coaches and and camps that I 870 00:32:38,579 - > 00:32:39,960 went to, like absolutely. 871 00:32:40,276 - > 00:32:40,645 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026: Yeah 872 00:32:40,726 - > 00:32:42,306 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-: Man, I, I played all of them really 873 00:32:42,306 - > 00:32:42,826 poorly. 874 00:32:45,825 - > 00:32:48,035 I was good for two points and five personal fouls for 875 00:32:48,035 - > 00:32:48,654 basketball 876 00:32:50,416 - > 00:32:50,777 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: Yeah. 877 00:32:50,777 - > 00:32:53,416 I mean, that's - Yeah, it is. 878 00:32:53,416 - > 00:32:59,497 It's - And you, I, you know, y- wanting to keep things 879 00:32:59,497 - > 00:33:03,326 affordable for people, all people, and accessibility to all 880 00:33:03,326 - > 00:33:06,467 people, that's - Who wouldn't want that, literally? 881 00:33:06,467 - > 00:33:09,707 Like, I don't, I can't imagine somebody that objectively says, 882 00:33:09,747 - > 00:33:12,517 "No, I, I want - I don't want that. 883 00:33:12,547 - > 00:33:14,757 I want, I want, I want exclusivity. 884 00:33:14,757 - > 00:33:17,027 I want all..." People don't think that way, but it's just 885 00:33:17,027 - > 00:33:23,473 like they're- If you wanna tackle the big stuff, tackle 886 00:33:23,503 - > 00:33:25,983 income inequality to begin with, I guess, in some way. 887 00:33:25,983 - > 00:33:27,653 But I don't, I don't have the answer to that 888 00:33:27,733 - > 00:33:29,223 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-_: You wanna tackle income inequality? 889 00:33:29,223 - > 00:33:29,294 It 890 00:33:29,503 - > 00:33:31,044 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026_1: we might need about six years of 891 00:33:31,044 - > 00:33:31,753 podcast. 892 00:33:31,753 - > 00:33:32,084 Yeah. 893 00:33:32,544 - > 00:33:32,804 Yeah. 894 00:33:33,354 - > 00:33:35,354 And not me as an expert, for sure. 895 00:33:35,864 - > 00:33:36,084 So 896 00:33:36,289 - > 00:33:37,710 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_1: the real Ed would just start 897 00:33:37,710 - > 00:33:38,609 speaking and not stop 898 00:33:38,653 - > 00:33:40,344 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026: This is one where I would actually 899 00:33:40,344 - > 00:33:43,364 just wanna listen to Ed talk and go pine on, because I think 900 00:33:43,364 - > 00:33:45,753 there's so much to talk about on that subject. 901 00:33:45,753 - > 00:33:48,653 And, but again, it's like, what, what is the - Can anyone 902 00:33:48,653 - > 00:33:50,933 actually agree on what the causal factors are on that? 903 00:33:51,693 - > 00:33:54,653 Then, then you try to kind of address it. 904 00:33:54,884 - > 00:33:55,743 So I don't know. 905 00:33:55,953 - > 00:33:58,294 That would be a future pod. 906 00:33:58,619 - > 00:33:59,440 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_15: it sounds like we're coming down, 907 00:33:59,440 - > 00:34:01,019 like in this pocket of the world, 908 00:34:01,112 - > 00:34:01,241 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: Yeah. 909 00:34:01,241 - > 00:34:01,682 Yeah. 910 00:34:02,089 - > 00:34:03,549 emily-sander_1_05-20-20: they're doing good things in the market, 911 00:34:03,549 - > 00:34:04,809 and it just kind of is what it is. 912 00:34:04,990 - > 00:34:05,740 The market will, 913 00:34:06,109 - > 00:34:06,490 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: Yeah. 914 00:34:07,109 - > 00:34:07,349 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_: tell 915 00:34:07,619 - > 00:34:07,930 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026: Yeah 916 00:34:08,300 - > 00:34:11,190 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_15: if a successful endeavor or not. 917 00:34:11,327 - > 00:34:12,938 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026_: and you, you do wonder if this bill 918 00:34:12,938 - > 00:34:17,077 comes up if sort of general inflation isn't what it is, or 919 00:34:17,077 - > 00:34:19,938 just general affordability relative to incomes isn't what 920 00:34:19,938 - > 00:34:20,197 it is. 921 00:34:20,197 - > 00:34:22,887 You didn't see this come up in 2020 when everyone was making a 922 00:34:22,887 - > 00:34:26,137 ton of money and inflation was really low and access to credit 923 00:34:26,137 - > 00:34:26,938 was super easy. 924 00:34:27,018 - > 00:34:28,228 Like this, this is 925 00:34:28,260 - > 00:34:28,630 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026: Yeah. 926 00:34:28,737 - > 00:34:30,068 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026: this is just symbolic of where we're 927 00:34:30,068 - > 00:34:30,367 at. 928 00:34:30,367 - > 00:34:33,128 Everyone's - If it's not this, it's the gas prices, right? 929 00:34:33,177 - > 00:34:36,708 Like that's what people think about is like my kids, my gas, 930 00:34:37,018 - > 00:34:38,057 you know, those things. 931 00:34:38,057 - > 00:34:40,177 Like it's, it's... 932 00:34:40,199 - > 00:34:41,449 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_1: gas to get my kids to 933 00:34:41,708 - > 00:34:42,277 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026: Yes. 934 00:34:42,429 - > 00:34:42,840 emily-sander_1_05-20-202: sports 935 00:34:42,938 - > 00:34:43,228 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: Yeah. 936 00:34:43,639 - > 00:34:43,789 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_1: and 937 00:34:43,938 - > 00:34:44,027 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: Yeah. 938 00:34:44,268 - > 00:34:47,297 Or my job's being replaced by AI, so, you know, I have to go 939 00:34:47,297 - > 00:34:48,038 find another job. 940 00:34:48,038 - > 00:34:50,418 Job market sucks, you know, even though unemployment's still 941 00:34:50,418 - > 00:34:50,858 pretty low. 942 00:34:50,887 - > 00:34:53,677 It's just, it's just a really weird time right now, straight 943 00:34:53,677 - > 00:34:53,898 up. 944 00:34:54,170 - > 00:34:54,409 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_: Hmm. 945 00:34:54,527 - > 00:34:54,887 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026_1: So 946 00:34:55,239 - > 00:34:56,840 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_1: Ed, would you send your kids to 947 00:34:57,719 - > 00:34:58,610 private equity camp 948 00:34:59,253 - > 00:35:00,693 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026_15: A private equity camp 949 00:35:01,076 - > 00:35:01,985 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-_1_: I would send them to private 950 00:35:02,244 - > 00:35:02,634 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026: Yeah 951 00:35:03,615 - > 00:35:04,956 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-_1: I, I, I don't know if they would 952 00:35:04,956 - > 00:35:07,585 make it through private equity camp. 953 00:35:07,655 - > 00:35:10,246 Uh, neither one of them would wanna go to private equity camp, 954 00:35:10,396 - > 00:35:12,916 but I certainly would send them to private equity camp, 955 00:35:13,307 - > 00:35:13,597 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: Yeah. 956 00:35:14,077 - > 00:35:14,367 Yeah. 957 00:35:16,018 - > 00:35:17,257 I'd send them to LP camp, 958 00:35:17,579 - > 00:35:18,230 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_: YMCA 959 00:35:18,427 - > 00:35:18,938 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026: fund camp 960 00:35:20,079 - > 00:35:20,369 emily-sander_1_05-20-202: Sorry. 961 00:35:20,456 - > 00:35:22,476 eddie-the-mooch - has-them: Well, it's, I, I mean, the w- I will 962 00:35:22,476 - > 00:35:26,056 say this, like, for youth sports, my, my youngest daughter 963 00:35:26,985 - > 00:35:28,775 is - she loves youth sports. 964 00:35:28,775 - > 00:35:31,865 She loves sports, and she's got all of her dad's athletic 965 00:35:31,865 - > 00:35:35,956 ability, and, you know, but she loves it, and she will just... 966 00:35:36,275 - > 00:35:38,045 She'll play and play and play and play and play. 967 00:35:38,175 - > 00:35:38,235 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026: Yeah 968 00:35:38,666 - > 00:35:40,286 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-_: And the, you know, at the end of the 969 00:35:40,286 - > 00:35:43,476 day, I'm glad that she was in a position to be able to do that, 970 00:35:43,755 - > 00:35:47,215 you know, both, you know, basically her entire, her entire 971 00:35:47,215 - > 00:35:49,905 youth life'cause it's about to come to a screeching halt, I 972 00:35:49,905 - > 00:35:52,436 think, as she moves into college, um, just like it did 973 00:35:52,436 - > 00:35:53,056 for her dad. 974 00:35:53,085 - > 00:35:54,746 And, you know, that's gonna be the... 975 00:35:55,945 - > 00:35:58,695 But it, it's, it's such an important part of everyone's 976 00:35:58,735 - > 00:35:59,945 life that I do think that, 977 00:36:00,052 - > 00:36:00,371 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026: Yeah 978 00:36:00,476 - > 00:36:02,056 eddie-the-mooch - has-them-_: you know, access is important, but I 979 00:36:02,056 - > 00:36:05,005 do think access is available, and I don't think private 980 00:36:05,005 - > 00:36:06,155 equity's gonna screw that up. 981 00:36:06,496 - > 00:36:08,905 As a matter of fact, I think they may improve it by improving 982 00:36:08,905 - > 00:36:13,335 facilities and other things and, and mo-monetizing, like you 983 00:36:13,335 - > 00:36:15,925 said, Rory, monetizing some things and then providing 984 00:36:15,925 - > 00:36:17,385 efficiencies that might not be there today 985 00:36:18,978 - > 00:36:19,389 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_1: All right. 986 00:36:19,699 - > 00:36:20,338 There you go. 987 00:36:20,728 - > 00:36:23,329 Listener, drop in the comments what you think about this, where 988 00:36:23,329 - > 00:36:26,938 you would send your kid, to the YMCA or private equity school. 989 00:36:27,099 - > 00:36:30,688 We - I'm interested to hear, what, uh, what folks are 990 00:36:30,688 - > 00:36:32,778 thinking about when they hear about this article. 991 00:36:32,909 - > 00:36:34,268 But very cool. 992 00:36:34,268 - > 00:36:36,108 Big Riggs, thank you for finding another 993 00:36:36,309 - > 00:36:36,769 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-202: Yeah. 994 00:36:36,829 - > 00:36:38,148 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_1: are very esoteric, 995 00:36:38,340 - > 00:36:38,746 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026: Yeah 996 00:36:39,009 - > 00:36:41,369 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026: niche things that pop up in your feed 997 00:36:41,369 - > 00:36:42,318 and they just grab you. 998 00:36:42,349 - > 00:36:42,728 They know how to 999 00:36:42,773 - > 00:36:43,204 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026: They do. 1000 00:36:43,298 - > 00:36:43,579 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_15: so 1001 00:36:43,583 - > 00:36:43,873 rory-liebhart_1_05-20-2026_: do. 1002 00:36:43,873 - > 00:36:44,284 Yep. 1003 00:36:44,324 - > 00:36:44,514 Yep. 1004 00:36:44,543 - > 00:36:44,994 Thanks, man 1005 00:36:45,838 - > 00:36:46,278 emily-sander_1_05-20-2026_1: All right. 1006 00:36:46,548 - > 00:36:47,369 Thanks, Big Riggs. 1007 00:36:47,648 - > 00:36:48,409 Thanks, Ed. 1008 00:36:48,565 - > 00:36:49,581 eddie-the-mooch - has-th: Thanks, Sam 1009 00:36:54,527 - > 00:36:57,532 If you enjoyed today's episode, please like, share and subscribe 1010 00:36:57,532 - > 00:36:59,181 wherever you get your podcasts.