Shooting for success in Canadian basketball

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[00:00] SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Canada's podcast.
[00:05] SPEAKER_01: Hello, I'm Mario Toneguzi with Calgary's podcast on Canada's podcast network.
[00:11] SPEAKER_01: Joining me today is Jason Rebero, who is vice chairman and president of Calgary Surge.
[00:17] SPEAKER_01: A new franchise in the Canadian Elite Basketball League here in Calgary.
[00:23] SPEAKER_01: Thanks for joining us today, Jason.
[00:26] SPEAKER_00: Thanks, Mario.
[00:27] SPEAKER_00: Happy to be here.
[00:28] SPEAKER_01: All right, let's talk about this.
[00:31] SPEAKER_01: New franchise for Calgary, another sports team for the city.
[00:36] SPEAKER_01: Tell me what led to this and you and your partner bringing this team to the city.
[00:44] SPEAKER_00: Well, it's a long story, but I'll distill it.
[00:48] SPEAKER_00: You know, my partner in this venture, Usman, to hear Judd,
[00:52] SPEAKER_00: and I, you know, have been friends for a few years.
[00:54] SPEAKER_00: His brother was best man at brother-in-law was best man at my wedding.
[00:59] SPEAKER_00: And we've been talking over a number of years about what we could do to help the city.
[01:04] SPEAKER_00: And we've done that individually, him being a successful entrepreneur,
[01:09] SPEAKER_00: myself being in public policy and economic development and a whole host of issues on boards as well.
[01:16] SPEAKER_00: But what we eventually realized was that, you know, there would be an opportunity
[01:21] SPEAKER_00: where we could potentially do something together where, you know,
[01:24] SPEAKER_00: sort of my interest in sports and economic development and his interest on the operational
[01:29] SPEAKER_00: business side and the franchise side with someday meet.
[01:32] SPEAKER_00: And so we talked about philanthropy.
[01:33] SPEAKER_00: We talked about youth and above all else, we knew that we shared each other's values.
[01:37] SPEAKER_00: And then when we heard that the wealth franchise was moving to Calgary,
[01:42] SPEAKER_00: the story goes, I think I screen shot at the press release.
[01:45] SPEAKER_00: I texted him and I said, we're doing this and he said, yet we're doing it.
[01:49] SPEAKER_00: Now, obviously it's a bit of an oversimplification, but we did a lot of due diligence
[01:53] SPEAKER_00: and work with our partners at the league.
[01:56] SPEAKER_00: They were fantastic to work with and let us to announcement and a successful one of that.
[02:02] SPEAKER_00: You know, the line I use is probably a thousand ways that launching a sports franchise
[02:07] SPEAKER_00: and a brand can go wrong and probably only one or two right.
[02:10] SPEAKER_00: And due to the strength of our partners in the league and certainly our front office,
[02:14] SPEAKER_00: I'm proud to say that we got it right.
[02:16] SPEAKER_01: So tell me a little bit about your sports background then or sports interest
[02:22] SPEAKER_01: and then the why behind this.
[02:25] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so you know, both of us, I think, grew up playing sports.
[02:28] SPEAKER_00: And I think for different reasons, I think had a relationship with sport that was close.
[02:35] SPEAKER_00: At our press conference, Usman talked about the fact that, you know, he's the eldest of eight,
[02:40] SPEAKER_00: family didn't have a lot of money.
[02:42] SPEAKER_00: And so the sports that they were given to play are the games that they were given to play,
[02:45] SPEAKER_00: where ones were obviously there wasn't a big access barrier in terms of cost.
[02:49] SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, a ball and a hoop.
[02:52] SPEAKER_00: And that's all you really need.
[02:54] SPEAKER_00: For me, you know, growing up playing sports extensively.
[02:59] SPEAKER_00: It was always in the back of my mind, never on the business side.
[03:02] SPEAKER_00: But I just knew the power that sport could provide.
[03:05] SPEAKER_00: And when you're a kid, you know, all alone, you've been knocked around a couple of times.
[03:09] SPEAKER_00: Again, sometimes all you have is that big patch of grass
[03:13] SPEAKER_00: and that hoop and that ball and eight hours go by and you find some escapism.
[03:18] SPEAKER_00: And so it was meaningful for me in that way.
[03:20] SPEAKER_00: And then obviously, I think in Calgary, he's been sponsoring teams and sending people to games.
[03:26] SPEAKER_00: In Calgary for me, you know, I'm in the board of sport Calgary.
[03:30] SPEAKER_00: You know, it was a big part of standing up the active city collective with tribes,
[03:34] SPEAKER_00: which is tried to, I think, promote the active economy.
[03:36] SPEAKER_00: And just how much revenue is generated to our local economy from sport and recreation.
[03:43] SPEAKER_00: And then thirdly have been, you know, centrally involved in conversations about,
[03:46] SPEAKER_00: you know, the future of sport and our economy through the lens of bidding for another game
[03:50] SPEAKER_00: and renewing our 88 legacy.
[03:53] SPEAKER_00: And so for both of us, I don't think we ever saw ourselves getting into the sports business.
[03:57] SPEAKER_00: But once we learned more about the offering that the Canadian elite basketball presented,
[04:01] SPEAKER_00: which is community-minded, entertainment-focused,
[04:04] SPEAKER_00: and certainly has all the basketball pieces in place,
[04:07] SPEAKER_00: we felt the uniquely positioned as well given my background and broadcasting
[04:11] SPEAKER_00: and a lot of other things that said, you know, this is an odd sort of mix.
[04:16] SPEAKER_00: We don't look, you know, the way that a traditional professional sports ownership group does.
[04:21] SPEAKER_00: But I think those are all the reasons why this was compelling for us to do.
[04:25] SPEAKER_00: And the response has just been overwhelmingly positive, so good validations so far.
[04:30] SPEAKER_01: So tell me where the name surge came from and the meaning that you hope to convey,
[04:35] SPEAKER_01: I guess, the people with that name.
[04:38] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so when we had, you know, first gone on this journey,
[04:42] SPEAKER_00: you know, the last thing we were thinking of was what was the name?
[04:44] SPEAKER_00: We were just figuring out the fundamentals of the business and how the market would
[04:48] SPEAKER_00: would receive it. And so the the the league had undergone a very broad grassroots
[04:55] SPEAKER_00: online naming campaign. And so as those results would trickle in, I would look, and there was
[05:00] SPEAKER_00: certainly, I think, you know, and this is not a surprise, being the energy capital of Canada,
[05:04] SPEAKER_00: there was a central theme around energy. And what I think was interesting to
[05:11] SPEAKER_00: a small and I was, how do we make that more of a wink than a very sort of hammer driven
[05:18] SPEAKER_00: proposal? And how do we differentiate ourselves from from the market? And so in conversations with
[05:23] SPEAKER_00: the league, the story goes and this was said at our press conference, there was another ownership
[05:28] SPEAKER_00: group that was bidding for the team. And they mentioned the name. And when it was determined that
[05:34] SPEAKER_00: we were going to be the group that actually went and brought this investment forward, they said,
[05:39] SPEAKER_00: why don't we can we tell those guys the name? And we think it's a maybe it's a good name. And it
[05:42] SPEAKER_00: played off of all of the grassroots engagement that we had seen in the online campaign. So they
[05:46] SPEAKER_00: said, in typical Calgary fashion, they said, of course, let them know the name. No problem. We're
[05:51] SPEAKER_00: here to support them. And so that name was surge. I didn't want it to be literal as well. I
[05:57] SPEAKER_00: didn't want it to be, you know, a version of a red hawk and we're called the red hawks. I like that
[06:02] SPEAKER_00: was subtle and and a little bit more of more than just an item. And then I thought we started to
[06:09] SPEAKER_00: think about, well, what is a surge? You know, it's a fourth quarter surge at the end of the game.
[06:13] SPEAKER_00: Is you hear that all the time? The surge of momentum, an uprising, an overwhelming feeling of
[06:21] SPEAKER_00: emotion, a surge of emotion. And down the line, I went and I said, that's pretty good. And I know
[06:27] SPEAKER_00: to take a good idea when I get it. And here we are. So here's the curious thing. Tell me
[06:35] SPEAKER_01: where what you see as are there any differences in running a sports team and a sports franchise
[06:45] SPEAKER_01: as a business and then running Jason's widgets retail store? Yeah, I think like we're learning in
[06:55] SPEAKER_00: the marketplace that every sector right now has to be dynamic. Things are changing at such a fast
[07:02] SPEAKER_00: clip that you can't sort of rest on your laurels of this is how the sports business is done. This is
[07:07] SPEAKER_00: how the energy business is done. They're changing so quickly and you have to keep pace with what the
[07:13] SPEAKER_00: fundamentals are. And so what we've sort of trained our eyes on are, yeah, you know, certainly there's
[07:18] SPEAKER_00: some good establishments business principles that we're bringing to this. But where is sports heading?
[07:24] SPEAKER_00: And what is differentiating the very, very successful teams from those that are lagging?
[07:30] SPEAKER_00: And I think for me, it's twofold. Number one is the drifting of professional sports, especially
[07:38] SPEAKER_00: again, this is a high quality product. CBL is a partner with Canada basketball, the FIVA sent
[07:44] SPEAKER_00: nine players to the NBA last year. So this is no joke. Quality's there. But it understood and why
[07:50] SPEAKER_00: we're so proud to partner with them. They understood that sports was drifting into the lens of
[07:54] SPEAKER_00: entertainment. And so you have a game that is fast paced faster than the NBA. It ends on a basket
[08:00] SPEAKER_00: with a target score. So it's no fouling for the last two minutes and you Peter out a game.
[08:05] SPEAKER_00: And music plays the entire time other than an injuries or stoppage. So that's a very, very
[08:12] SPEAKER_00: different proposal. And so we wanted to make sure that if we were coming into that business,
[08:17] SPEAKER_00: we understood where it was trending and where we could provide value, especially as young guys.
[08:23] SPEAKER_00: And then the second fold is, how do we make sure that we're putting out a high quality offering?
[08:28] SPEAKER_00: In a market where we have established really, really thoughtful, great sports franchises that have
[08:34] SPEAKER_00: been really, really successful. And so we know that we're standing on the shoulders of giants here.
[08:38] SPEAKER_00: We're listening. We want to be part of the ecosystem. We don't want to, you know,
[08:43] SPEAKER_00: not to play a pun on our logo, but ruffle any feathers. We know that there's a way that we can
[08:48] SPEAKER_00: support the entire ecosystem here and learn from established players in the market. And I think
[08:53] SPEAKER_00: that balance of a little bit of our chip on our shoulder with the young underdog guys, but also
[08:58] SPEAKER_00: staying really close to folks that have done this and been successful in the market for a number
[09:01] SPEAKER_00: of years is what's going to make the difference for us. You know, I'm curious. You're
[09:06] SPEAKER_01: mentioned, you know, the music throughout and all that stuff. It just reminds me of how,
[09:11] SPEAKER_01: you know, you flip back in time, years and years and years ago. And you go to McMahon Stadium for
[09:17] SPEAKER_01: a football game and stamps game that you sit there and you watch the game, right? Same thing with
[09:21] SPEAKER_01: the flames at the Saddle dome, but over the years and with other sports teams as well in the city
[09:30] SPEAKER_01: that entertainment aspect of being in the venue has emerged as part and parcel of what a game is,
[09:39] SPEAKER_01: right? And why do you think that's happened in sports over the years? And it's everywhere you go.
[09:45] SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter what city you're at, really. Yeah, no, it's pretty astute way of putting it. I
[09:50] SPEAKER_00: think part of it is that, you know, different sports become vehicles for different things. And I
[09:55] SPEAKER_00: think predominantly in the conversation around basketball, it's been the conduit to fashion.
[10:03] SPEAKER_00: It's been, you know, even when you look at the, when I was growing up and watching the,
[10:08] SPEAKER_00: the NBA commissioner chastising players about dress code, right? And you had Alan Iverson and all
[10:14] SPEAKER_00: these guys that were breaking the dress code was because they were sort of bending the line around
[10:18] SPEAKER_00: what was going to be fashionable. And now they've entered into a really good place. And now these
[10:22] SPEAKER_00: guys are fashion icons. You have the music side is part and parcel with the game in a way that I
[10:28] SPEAKER_00: don't know any other places. And then you have that melding of art and graffiti art and street art.
[10:34] SPEAKER_00: And it's a whole cultural dynamic that I think is best encapsulated by basketball and other sports
[10:39] SPEAKER_00: are now recognizing that they need to play a little bit of catch up. And so there are sports that
[10:44] SPEAKER_00: do it well. There are sports that don't. There are sports that rely on the league to do it.
[10:48] SPEAKER_00: Versus I think in basketball, the players are coming from this place of this is how they live
[10:52] SPEAKER_00: their lives. They live in the realm of fashion. They live in the realm of music. They live in the
[10:55] SPEAKER_00: realm of culture and the game embodies that. And I think for us as being part of the business is
[11:02] SPEAKER_00: to get out of the way of that to harness it and make sure it's a central part of the offering
[11:06] SPEAKER_00: that we're providing because I don't want just the game to be a barrier for you to come.
[11:11] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you're not heavy into knowing the players and everything like that. And you know that
[11:14] SPEAKER_00: you're going to get up and you're going to move around and you're going to see a bunch of people
[11:18] SPEAKER_00: and they're going to be listening to music. And it's music that you and your friends no matter
[11:22] SPEAKER_00: what corner the city you come from are listening to. Or if you're just a person that you don't understand
[11:27] SPEAKER_00: that realm, but you're going to come and you're going to see these kids dancing and moving and shaking
[11:31] SPEAKER_00: it's more than basketball. That's when we'll know we've done our job because I think that
[11:36] SPEAKER_00: and I said this a while ago, if we're just a basketball team, I think we can be reasonably
[11:41] SPEAKER_00: successful. I think it's an underserved part of the market. I think the demand is there. The
[11:45] SPEAKER_00: demographics are shifting fine. But to be more than basketball is what's going to make this last
[11:50] SPEAKER_00: and make this go and that's what we're committed to. You don't think there's an unversaturation of
[11:58] SPEAKER_01: in the city. You know, we've got obviously a professional hockey baseball, a professional hockey
[12:05] SPEAKER_01: version football, you know, lacrosse, junior hockey, universities, you go down the list,
[12:14] SPEAKER_01: there's a lot going on, right? No fear that there's not enough audience there to carry you through.
[12:23] SPEAKER_00: No, and I think there's two reasons why. Number one is we play in the summer. I think it's a very
[12:29] SPEAKER_00: distinct sort of time marker where certain other teams are off cycle or just coming on and just
[12:37] SPEAKER_00: coming off. So I think we're better served by that. Number two, I think that there's nothing that
[12:43] SPEAKER_00: it precludes you. If you're talking about 10 or 11 home games right now, obviously I think
[12:46] SPEAKER_00: as the league grows, we'll get to more. I don't know that there's going to be much that precludes you
[12:50] SPEAKER_00: from going to this game and going to that game. You know, I lived in Toronto for a number of years
[12:55] SPEAKER_00: and it didn't matter. Like I was going to a TFC game, I was going to a Leafs game, I was going to
[13:00] SPEAKER_00: a Raptors game and obviously I think that's, you know, Toronto's quite pricey. I think in Calgary,
[13:05] SPEAKER_00: we're in an advantage where, you know, you can go to all three of those games at the major level
[13:10] SPEAKER_00: and the minor level and it's not going to break the bank in the same way. And so it did break my
[13:14] SPEAKER_00: bank when I was a young 20-something year old and going all these games and scalping tickets and
[13:19] SPEAKER_00: whatnot and it adds up. And so I think if we were going to be facing cost variation of that
[13:26] SPEAKER_00: perspective, then I think you would start to see some churn. But if we can all sort of frame our
[13:30] SPEAKER_00: offering, whether it's the cavalry, whether it's us, whether it's the flames, et cetera, around
[13:36] SPEAKER_00: being affordable, solving for some barriers as we're committed to doing. But knowing where each
[13:41] SPEAKER_00: of us fits in the market, I don't think it's oversaturated. People have been waiting. As soon as the
[13:49] SPEAKER_00: country, and I remember when they launched, being in the GTA, they've been waiting and they've
[13:55] SPEAKER_00: been watching and they've been wondering when some version of that experience will come to Calgary,
[14:01] SPEAKER_00: tier, and we're going to make sure it's here to stay. What do you think that Raptors' victory,
[14:07] SPEAKER_01: the NBA championship a few years back, did for the sport in this country?
[14:14] SPEAKER_00: It's hard to quantify, right? It's such a cultural moment, I don't even know that it settled
[14:23] SPEAKER_00: in, really, because it happened so quick and Kauai came and then Kauai left and we've just kind of
[14:28] SPEAKER_00: gone back. But I think the central thesis was even before we had won. We were one of the league's
[14:34] SPEAKER_00: best teams. We were one of the league's best entertainment experiences in terms of bringing
[14:41] SPEAKER_00: Drake on as a global ambassador, opening up that public square and Maple Leaf square and turning
[14:46] SPEAKER_00: into Jurassic Park and Maple Leaf square like that. Those types of things changed. I think the
[14:52] SPEAKER_00: zeitgeist of sports in this country even before a win. I was there. I was there at these games,
[14:59] SPEAKER_00: et cetera, at real sports right next door and seeing what was happening. We knew all my friends
[15:04] SPEAKER_00: that I knew something is happening in this city. And I think for us, it's just to create that moment.
[15:10] SPEAKER_00: If there's a lesson to take away, it's not just the championship. It's not just having a Kauai
[15:14] SPEAKER_00: or a Kauai Allowery that's here for years. It's about they created an energy and that energy
[15:20] SPEAKER_00: encapsulated people from all walks of life are Raptors fans. There's no there's no this typical
[15:26] SPEAKER_00: Raptors fan. It's it's everywhere. Number one, number two, they they understood that it was a vehicle
[15:33] SPEAKER_00: for more than just the basketball side, the fashion side, the music side and entertainment side.
[15:37] SPEAKER_00: And then number three, they had a front office that was committed to excellence. And you know,
[15:43] SPEAKER_00: I look at the guy like Messiah and that's that's that's the model, right? So if we're going to be
[15:47] SPEAKER_00: successful, that's the level of excellence we have to instill from our game, the experience,
[15:52] SPEAKER_00: from our volunteers all the way up. And I think we understand the the Kauai community enough
[15:58] SPEAKER_00: to make sure that we're going to this on very steady footing. We're going to make some stakes.
[16:02] SPEAKER_00: Everyone does and I've assured our team that as we do, we're going to learn from them. But but we know
[16:06] SPEAKER_00: Calgary and I think that's the biggest advantage that we have of we can play attention to the trends.
[16:11] SPEAKER_00: I think they'll meet in the middle and we'll have a great chance of success in this in this city.
[16:16] SPEAKER_01: So let's talk about the two of you are behind this this franchise. First of all, tell me a little
[16:23] SPEAKER_01: bit more or tell our listeners a little bit more of usman and what he does.
[16:29] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so this one is the president and CEO of the chirp group. And so he's a restaurant
[16:36] SPEAKER_00: here that owns a number of McDonald's throughout the southern Alberta region. It's one of the largest
[16:42] SPEAKER_00: employers of young people in this province. And I think more than that, I think he's found a novel
[16:48] SPEAKER_00: way to to operate his business where he's achieving some economies of scale through chirp to be able
[16:53] SPEAKER_00: to manage all of these different restaurants. You know, 20 some odd restaurants is a lot to manage
[16:58] SPEAKER_00: as you can imagine, but he's figured out that business. He's been a successful entrepreneur
[17:03] SPEAKER_00: from from very early in his life. And I think he's he's learned all of the hard knocks on the
[17:09] SPEAKER_00: operational side to understand what's what's really needed on the ground. And I think that where we
[17:15] SPEAKER_00: where we complement one another is, you know, where I had to find opportunities to be entrepreneurial.
[17:23] SPEAKER_00: In my career in research and in economic development and management consulting, where I was
[17:29] SPEAKER_00: consulting with clients around the world before I worked for Cal Reconomic Development,
[17:33] SPEAKER_00: was I had to find those ways to be entrepreneur, but at the same point in time, I got a broad macro lens
[17:39] SPEAKER_00: of what what's going on in business and public policy all around the world over and particularly
[17:44] SPEAKER_00: in this market. And so where I think we really mesh is an understanding of what the other is good at.
[17:50] SPEAKER_00: We're going to make the other better in the particular realms that we're going to need to be
[17:54] SPEAKER_00: better at. But we just feel uniquely very positioned to do this together. And as I've said to him
[18:00] SPEAKER_00: privately and I've said publicly, I could not imagine doing this with anyone, but him we didn't need
[18:06] SPEAKER_00: to do this, but we wanted to do this together because it was something for the city, it was for
[18:10] SPEAKER_00: community. And we felt uniquely positioned to be able to bring this to to the people in a way that
[18:15] SPEAKER_01: it's going to be successful. Let's talk about that, the impact on the city. You know, and you
[18:21] SPEAKER_01: mentioned that you were at Cal Reconomic Development for a while there. Tell me what a sports franchise
[18:31] SPEAKER_01: means and the economic impact a sports franchise has on a city. I think it's critical for a number of
[18:42] SPEAKER_00: reasons, but I'll focus on the ones that are so specific here than other examples. And you know,
[18:51] SPEAKER_00: this is not a typical example of a big conglomerate ownership group that is launching an entity. It's
[18:57] SPEAKER_00: about two people that are very dedicated to the city that know the city really, really well
[19:01] SPEAKER_00: that are standing this up. And you've seen that from the reaction to the launch has been
[19:06] SPEAKER_00: overwhelmingly positive. And that doesn't happen a whole heck of a lot. So I think what it means
[19:12] SPEAKER_00: from an economic development perspective is a couple full. Number one is we're playing out of
[19:16] SPEAKER_00: wind sport event center. And there's been a number of documented studies about the overall economic
[19:22] SPEAKER_00: impact of that facility to the city of Calgary in the region. In terms of hosting events, we're
[19:28] SPEAKER_00: going to be one of the first offerings in there to play out of the wind sport event center, which
[19:32] SPEAKER_00: has now been transitioned to a kind of year round facility, which is very different from those
[19:36] SPEAKER_00: specific winter sport focus that they've had for a number of years. And so we're going to be a big
[19:41] SPEAKER_00: part, hopefully, of their success and vice versa. And then secondly, I made this point when we
[19:46] SPEAKER_00: launched when we have a conversation with our entrepreneurs, our businesses large and small.
[19:54] SPEAKER_00: And these games are going to be broadcast across the country internationally around the world.
[20:00] SPEAKER_00: What company names are going to be staring back at viewers from Calgary? And as we talk about
[20:04] SPEAKER_00: building a new economy as we talk about putting a fresh face on Calgary, as we talk about getting
[20:09] SPEAKER_00: through this kind of transition period. And I think bottling up all of the energy that we're seeing in
[20:15] SPEAKER_00: unicorns and venture capital records, et cetera, we want to be an attractor and an ambassador for
[20:22] SPEAKER_00: what's going on in this city. And so I've said to them, not only what company names are going to be
[20:27] SPEAKER_00: staring back at folks, but who are the people that are going to be watching these games? Who are
[20:31] SPEAKER_00: the people that are going to be attending? Who are the people going to be looking at their smartphones?
[20:33] SPEAKER_00: It's that demographic specific to the CBL, which is your mid-20s, your late-20s,
[20:40] SPEAKER_00: your early-30s prime working years. If talent, attraction, and retention is one of the biggest
[20:46] SPEAKER_00: considerations for the city, this is the demographic you've been waiting for. The young,
[20:50] SPEAKER_00: diverse, committed people you want to keep in the city, or the ones you want to poach from the rest
[20:56] SPEAKER_00: of the country, apparently Alberta is calling as I've heard recently. So this is another sort of
[21:01] SPEAKER_00: tool in the toolkit to say, you know, we've got ProBaskable here, right? And so that's where I think
[21:06] SPEAKER_00: we're very confident that we can be an attractor, and especially given our work championing
[21:11] SPEAKER_00: these companies for so many years and helping them grow and helping them scale and having that
[21:15] SPEAKER_00: relationship. That's where we think this can be a bit of an economic development play, as well as
[21:21] SPEAKER_00: just the private business that's going to be putting out a high premium product. We want this
[21:26] SPEAKER_01: to be bigger than that. Yeah, and you know, when you talk about economic development and
[21:33] SPEAKER_01: attracting people, I'm just wondering from your perspective, as a business here,
[21:44] SPEAKER_01: what would you say, what do you tell people out there, beyond the borders of Calgary, right?
[21:53] SPEAKER_01: And even Alberta about why the why of Calgary? Why is it a good idea to set up a business here
[22:02] SPEAKER_01: via sports franchise, via the tech company, you name it.
[22:07] SPEAKER_00: Okay, dust off my talking points from my CD days. No, but you know, the truth of the matter is
[22:14] SPEAKER_00: and then folks at Calgary, you know, I mean, development will tell you this. I didn't have any
[22:17] SPEAKER_00: talking points. What I told them was the straight goods and the straight goods are, I could show you
[22:23] SPEAKER_00: every single statistic that shows how competitive being in Calgary, living in Calgary is.
[22:30] SPEAKER_00: If you were to just blank out the names and looked at the fundamentals around tax implication,
[22:35] SPEAKER_00: around your over your growth on investment interaction, if I were to look at the average wage,
[22:42] SPEAKER_00: overall the average salary, you know, all of these different things. Calgary is one of the best places
[22:48] SPEAKER_00: in the entire country, let alone country. But if you look at, you know,
[22:52] SPEAKER_00: livability rankings like that economist ranking, it's one of the best places in the world.
[22:56] SPEAKER_00: So maybe that's not doing enough damage with people in terms of making them convinced that
[23:02] SPEAKER_00: Calgary is the place to come. So why are we sort of shoveling more facts and figures down,
[23:06] SPEAKER_00: they know all that or maybe they don't believe it or they don't feel it right here. And so I sort
[23:12] SPEAKER_00: of tucked those all away and I just said, hey, those are there if you need it. But let me paint
[23:16] SPEAKER_00: a vision for you of where Calgary is going. Of Calgary's young, we're attracting an
[23:22] SPEAKER_00: Alberta, this high rate of inter-provincial migration. And they don't remember all of these
[23:27] SPEAKER_00: touch points and battles we've had internally and government changes and they don't know any of that.
[23:32] SPEAKER_00: This is just a beautiful place where no one's going to bug them and they can raise their family
[23:36] SPEAKER_00: affordably and have a home and live their lives. And what can we do to bring joy and entertainment
[23:41] SPEAKER_00: and culture, which is one of the things I think Calgary's always been kind of challenged with,
[23:46] SPEAKER_00: is what is there to do on a Friday night. And I think that's where we feel very confident in saying,
[23:52] SPEAKER_00: you come to one of these games with your sports fan or not, you're going to come out, you know,
[23:56] SPEAKER_00: if you go pre-dinner, post-dinner, whatever the case may be on the way to the after party,
[24:01] SPEAKER_00: this is going to be one of these staples that you can bring in. And so for all the people around
[24:06] SPEAKER_00: the borders, I say to them, you know, here's the fundamentals. This just makes good fiscal
[24:10] SPEAKER_00: sense, business sense, et cetera. But I can tell you that there are people who are out here just
[24:14] SPEAKER_00: working. They're building businesses, they're building companies and maybe they don't have,
[24:19] SPEAKER_00: you know, a sort of on-ramp into promoting this in a way that disrupts perceptions over a number
[24:25] SPEAKER_00: of years because they're too busy working. So if you want a job, if you want to launch a business
[24:29] SPEAKER_00: and you want great people that are going to be your customers, if you want a wonderful community
[24:33] SPEAKER_00: that's going to welcome you with open arms no matter where you come from, this is the place.
[24:37] SPEAKER_00: And if you don't believe me, I did that. My wife did that. And I was here only to do my PhD in four
[24:43] SPEAKER_00: years or whatever. And I've been here for eight. So that's, and we had our son here, and we got
[24:48] SPEAKER_00: married here, et cetera. So I'm the proof of this. I grew up, I'm in Toronto, and I left Toronto to
[24:53] SPEAKER_00: come here and I ain't going back. That's where people start to say, well, that's something I could
[24:59] SPEAKER_00: feel. That's not more facts and figures. And I think we have to have, we do that a conversation
[25:04] SPEAKER_00: at a time. We do that an investment or an announcement like this at a time. And eventually,
[25:09] SPEAKER_00: there becomes this tipping point where there's just too much going on. And people just feel it
[25:13] SPEAKER_00: versus being told through some sort of top-down way or campaign.
[25:17] SPEAKER_01: What do you think last question I have for you? What do you think is going to be your biggest
[25:22] SPEAKER_01: challenge in this venture?
[25:27] SPEAKER_00: I think that the biggest challenge is something that we've already addressed. And hopefully,
[25:32] SPEAKER_00: we can execute on it. But the biggest challenge that we've said from the front is that we need
[25:38] SPEAKER_00: community support. That if this is going to be able to go with the clip that we think it is,
[25:42] SPEAKER_00: and I'm going to repeat again, the support from the community and dedicated fans up front
[25:51] SPEAKER_00: has surpassed our expectations. So whatever we thought, we were a little bit antsy, but our
[25:57] SPEAKER_00: nervous about has kind of been solved for. But going ahead, the central thesis has been,
[26:03] SPEAKER_00: this requires community support. And whether that's on the corporate side or whether that's
[26:09] SPEAKER_00: an energy that exists in all four corners of the city where I see the merch being
[26:13] SPEAKER_00: being wrapped by kids down the street where I see people coming to our games. And I know
[26:21] SPEAKER_00: that we're pulling from all four quadrants of the city, not just one near and around one sport.
[26:26] SPEAKER_00: If this lives and breathes there, that's the challenge that we have ahead. And every move we make
[26:30] SPEAKER_00: from now until the first game is played at the end of May, we need to ensure it's by building
[26:35] SPEAKER_00: in community support, being inclusive, welcoming them into the party. And whatever piece of this
[26:40] SPEAKER_00: people want to own, if they're creative, they just wants to reinterpret our logo and
[26:43] SPEAKER_00: post it online, go ahead. If you're someone that wants to volunteer in some capacity as we do
[26:49] SPEAKER_00: community activations and all four quadrants, great, sign up on the website and you come in,
[26:54] SPEAKER_00: we'll figure out a way to use you. That is going to be the key to our success. But for any sports
[26:58] SPEAKER_00: franchise, that's probably the biggest challenge that they have. So we're recognizing it upfront.
[27:04] SPEAKER_00: We think that we can, we can deal with it and do time and we're excited for the journey ahead.
[27:09] SPEAKER_01: All right, super. Thanks Jason for joining us today.
[27:12] SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much, Mario. All right, that was Jason Rivera, who is Vice Chairman and President
[27:18] SPEAKER_01: of the Calgary Surge of the Canadian Elite Basketball League. I'm Mario Toneguzi with Calgary's
[27:25] SPEAKER_01: podcast on Canada's podcast network. Thanks for joining us today.