let's bring in our friends of pivot Megan rapino and Sue B are legendary athletes Olympic Champions and have been dubbed by GQ the most beloved power couple in sports how many of them there are but anyway they're also hosts of the new VOX media podcast a touch more welcome to the family Megan and Sue hi thanks for having us how's it going how's the podcasting going we are just learning on the Fly it's fun though we're like figuring it out yeah all right so let me it's let's start with that the show was originally launched on Instagram during Co explain explain what you are doing here with the podcast first well yeah it started you know I guess one addition of it which was just we were in the pandemic stuck in our apartment what something we could do together that would be fun so we decided to go on IG live like every Saturday at whatever time 7 o'clock we were drinking we were having fun we were talking about current events all the things um and then fast forward a couple years somebody was like hey would you guys want to do live shows so they're like all right let's try to do that and then it kind of morphed into what it is now as a podcast which is definitely more women's sports spent you know we culture politics fashion all the things meet women's sports and we're just kind of figuring out from there yeah shooting from the hip on a lot it's kind of fun yeah did you feel like everyone has a podcast you have to kind honestly that's probably what kept us out of it for so long was that everybody has podcast like oh we don't want to be that I can't tell you how many people will just randomly say like oh man does everyone have to have a podcast now and now I'm like we do too but listen to Ari soe uh you are of course a WNBA Legend having played with the Seattle Storm for 19 Seasons that's an astonishing uh thing but though wmba is having a remarkable season with record viewership and attendance thanks in large part to Rookies like Caitlyn Clark and Angel ree who's now out um uh for this uh for the season after an injury I just love your assessment of of what they should be doing to build the enthusiasm in mind and Megan I'd love you to jump in uh because it's Sports how to get people to do more Sports the New York Liberty has seen 130% year-over-year increase in season ticket membership they've raised their prices as as have a number of WNBA teams um and I also want to mention Sue joined the ownership group for the Seattle Storm earlier this year why don't you start Sue sure um I mean my answer to this question is that we already did it we already did it the the product on the floor has never been better it has continued to be kind of like the rock of the league throughout the the course of my career and then now so that part you know check that box I think the businesses obviously we get a lot of help from the MBA but now each individual team's business is being run with the future in mind right not just how we're going to get by this year so things have been the foundation has been built for for many many years and now what you're seeing is we finally through all the work we've done yes in the last 28 years which is the league existence but also more so in the last like four or five years now we're at this point where the way I like to look at it we have crossed this imaginary line of celebrity that usually male athletes automatically cross the minute they're drafted the minute they play for some reason the WNBA was held back we know those reasons a lot of them end with an ism and so now that we've crossed that line you're seeing that people are looking at us differently they're looking at the league differently when they get offered WNBA tickets you know not just celebrities general you know people in general but when they get offered now it's like oh yeah let me check that out where it used to be like eh is it worth it so somehow we have crossed that line and now that we're on the other side I just imagine business is going to continue to Boom the only thing that we talk about a lot is wanting people whether it's corporate partnership um networks um you name it they we want them to look at our potential we've gotten to that point like we've proven it we're here we've done the thing we've done the thing without your support now imagine what it would look like if we had your support so people can see our potential that's where the business is going to take off in another Direction so Megan if you could come because I think probably the same thing that's happening with soccer and other things but talk about that invisible line of celebrity and what it does like what what do you think has happened is it because say you your your team did so well or people were looking at women's sports in general though they don't separ they separate out men's sports pretty easily I mean I think it's a a combination of a lot of things but I think just in general the sort of changing tied in the the country even I mean even through the pandemic obviously the wnba's work and getting Reverend waro and Senator warno um elected but it's also like I honestly feel like the people with the money and we normally know who those people are ran out of excuses or things that they could sort of blame on not investing in in women's sports and now all of them are like flocking you know like it's like Bob Iger bought into um you know the team in Angel City FC so I feel like it's like we can't say that it's not fun anymore we can't say that like everyone's gay and we don't like that anymore like being overtly racist isn't really that cool anymore and so I feel like in a lot of ways it just kind of like crossed this threshold I think social media was a big part of that players could get their own stories out different ways to disseminate media I think that increased TV viewership increased you know um investment from not only existing ownership groups but new ownership groups coming in and it's actually like okay fine we'll stop discriminating like we'll just see how the business goes to your point about the you know the sort of potential men get invested on potential and what they might do eventually all the time that's sort of the Baseline for women it's like you have to do the thing catch lightning in the bottle Scott this is more a question made for both of you and bring Sue in I think it's different leagues or different sports as asset classes some are increasing in value some are decreasing in value outside of the WNBA or football where you both are going to have a bias what sports as you look across the landscape or What leagues do you think are increasing the most in value and also decreasing the most in value I've heard the NFL has an aging problem for example or its viewers are aging any thoughts on which assets are increasing or decreasing I think it's I mean I I feel like in male Sports honestly the the screw has been turned and is being turned to milk every little last thing and they're thinking okay can we get augmented reality obviously the betting has been huge but yeah I mean I I think all women's sports is is on the up because it's been so underinvested in and there's such a um an investment Gap there's there's so much room to grow across media platforms live platform like all of it um I mean the NFL just seems to rake in money but I I just have to believe at some point like that's just going to run out I mean at some points like we're it's not going to be okay that you know however many percentage of the players have brain Dam that's just feels like unsustainable yeah often times when I think of this question not not worded the way you worded it I'm I'll look at the NFL the NBA whatever it is and I'll be like what's going to take this down or what's going to decrease this value or what's going to change player salary we keep waiting and it doesn't happen it do I don't think it I actually don't think it will I think just to Megan's Point other assets are going to grow and reach those levels hopefully yeah okay let me change the topic we talk a lot on show about the negative impact of social media on kids and teens but it's an issue for athletes as well um you recently talked in the podcast about the trolls that athletes face Megan said the negativity shouldn't be the default but it is um do you think the you're you guys are very active on social media do you think the pros outweigh the cons when it comes to athletes on social media and talk a little bit about how you use it yourself I feel like I use it as a way to express myself I'm not really looking to get anything like back from it necessarily whether it's comments or whatever but but you're Megan's unique in that yeah I am very unique in that and I was also like I came to it a little bit older I feel like my brain wasn't like formed around it like kids are now I really like feel for them it's so like woven into the fabric of their upbringing and their like social understanding of of how to be and it's really difficult um I always just suggest athletes like don't get in your comments like be in the real world like you have people around you friends family advisers all the things like stay in that world but also I understand that sometimes that's like impossible to do but it's kind of a hellscape in there yeah it's a it's a fake place with real consequence and so I think you always have to have some sort of balance in that and and when you whenever you feel as an individual the way Megan was wording it whenever you feel like that balance is out of whack you got to find a way to reenter it um because I do think again coming from the lens of a of a of a woman's athlete in this country um especially a basketball player especially with the WNBA it has 100% helped us grow it has helped individuals have Brands it has helped us get messages out is it it has helped us bring awareness to certain things without it I don't know if the league is where it is right now so it's hard for me to say that it's a bad thing but then also it's a cesspool so you have to find that balance and that is the the tricky part I feel like that's where I'm hopeful that every I don't know eight-year-old right now is taking they have like a it's like Social Studies English social media but it's also like I find it really frustrating like there's and you guys talk about this all the time this is well known like the the media companies and the internet companies have done almost nothing to stop what they know is happening and now it's like yeah I mean cat's kind of out of the back like how do you roll back whether it's Bots or trolls or just like the the sort of devolving of conversation or decorum or Norm or like kindness that is now just the norm on the internet like the norm is just to like whatever kind of Quip you can get back whatever kind of like little negative thing that someone can type whether it's a fan or someone on social media whatever it is like that seems the default but it's like where's their responsibility just so always fascinated or I should say I don't understand and think it's a bad idea when couples go into business together I feel as if it's putting all your eggs in one basket thanks yeah the eggs were already there I guess the question is a lot of people do it and it works out really well for a lot of people do you have any best practices or rules to try and maintain the health of the business and your personal relationship given that you're obviously just so involved with each other you know during work hours and nonwork hours well we fig yeah we're figuring out on the Fly um we talk about a lot of our business stuff with our couples therapists and uh I'm sure in our individual therapy as well I know I do it comes up um we have really great people that work with us and we're we're trying it like who it could go up in flames and if it does we're going to pull this clip and be like Scott was right and it could all just like come shattering down but I feel like I don't know we're also enjoying it and it's fun and we get to talk about something that we really love in women's sports which is something obviously we both played and you know it's such a big part of our relationship and we're just we're just out here giving it a away yeah I think the time management of it all is is maybe the most difficult um like when are we working when are we not cuz a lot of Our Lives is what you're seeing on this podcast like this is what we talk about in our day-to-day lives so it's at times it's like okay when do we shut this off when are we just chilling when are we because that's the only time for me personally I'm just telling you this for the first time that's the only time me personally where it gets blurry or kind of like oh I don't want to talk about this right now we just talked about it for the last 12 hours yeah but then simultaneously this is you're what you see right now is like this is it this is our lives we just happen to have a camera and a microphone in front of our faves and in front of our faces but then at the same time as athletes our whole lives have been that so this isn't like a new Dynamic anyway uh thank you so much Megan rapino and suburb uh if you want to hear more expert analysis of the business of sports from Megan and Sue check out a touch more