Hello and welcome to the life by Design podcast, brought to you by strategic.

Today I have the privilege of introducing you all to a lifelong friend of mine, Brian Baslow. Hello, Brian.

Aaron, what's going on?

We're we're hanging in there. We're hanging in there. So Brian, just for a little background purposes, graduated from Duke University, he began his professional career with the Cleveland Cavaliers, spent a decade. With the Brooklyn Nets Organization getting all the way to the position of Chief strategy officer, then he worked with on location and NFL company, and now he's the CEO of Concierge Live. I get that.

Right. Life, great life.

Great. Now that now that so very evident fry that your part of your great life is sports. So tell us kind of how you got into the world of professional sports.

Yeah. Thanks. And Aaron, thank you very much for having me. I'm, I'm excited for this. So when I was in college, I was an economics major and a public policy major and looking to pursue most likely a career in finance. And just like I think as I got toward the end of my college years, I was just wanted to at least. Explore how I could marry what is my real passion was in sports. Hey, was there a commercial way? That I can pursue that. So back then, the Internet was alive. But like, yeah, you know, I really tried to pursue, you know, where could one get jobs in sports? How could you do it? So there are a couple of resources that Duke and then just through my own research, I I reached out to a couple of people, mostly in the. NBA at that point. And then ultimately I was invited to a job fair that the NBA put on for. People that were looking for careers in sports, it turned out that, like the vast majority of these careers in sports ended up in sort of a telemarketing position selling season tickets. But I went to this job fair and all the NBA teams you got to meet them, which was super exciting and hear about the the organization and then hear about what opportunities were there. Again, most of them were telemarketing, so I I pursued those and that's how I landed in in Cleveland, they were known. The the basketball, the NBA, the the Cleveland Cavaliers. At that point, the basketball team wasn't wasn't so hot, but they were known for having the best training program and really producing sort of young executives in sports. So. So I I'd never even been to Cleveland before, but I moved there straight from college and so far, so good.

Yeah. And you've been in sports ever since, and I know, obviously, your passion for sports and in basketball started a long time ago. And I've known that personally for probably the better part of our lives. So very cool that you were able to take that passion from a very young age and turn that into your professional.

Yes.

Career. So Cleveland led you to the Brooklyn Nets. I know you spent a long time there, but you had a pretty big responsibility when it comes to the Brooklyn Nets. As chief strategy officer. So just kind of tell people like what that entailed.

Yeah. Thanks for asking. So and it was a really exciting time at the Nets was there for 14 years starting with the New Jersey Nets and then being part of the executive team that moved the Nets from New Jersey to to Brooklyn and building Barkley.

And a new yeah, new arena.

Yeah. Yeah. And that was that was the main, if it is for me wanting to go to that organization from Cleveland and then as far as my day-to-day at a couple of rolls, we had a very big ticket sales. And Hospitality department and probably had over 150 professionals there. So that was a big part of my job of just managing what was at that point probably a $50 million budget of suites and season tickets and individual tickets for all the games, both for the Nets. And for any event like concerts and and and family shows that would happen with the arena. So that was a big part of my job. And then for many years, probably 7 of the 14 years. The executive team was planning for building the building, building Barclay Center in Brooklyn and moving the team there so so that took up a lot of my time as well, and something I, you know, it's funny when you do those projects you you go to, you mentioned, you know, you go to college. And I had been. In sports, particularly in the ticket sales vertical for a long time. Him, but no one really knows how to move A-Team, even though it's happened a lot. So you know you end up. It's like I just. I didn't realize I was going to have to learn about, like gap accounting to like, you know, to to do these things. So there's a lot of these things that.

Yeah. Yeah.

I learned as a life skill. You know, as part of these things where you have this like baseline job and skill set that you really. Know and then. A lot of life is just like you gotta read the manual and just like, ask a bunch of people and kind of.

Yeah.

You know, use a combination of what you really know and some resources you have and take your best guess and and that's how a lot of life and a lot of business gets done.

Sure, sure. What a what a cool transition to be a part of that experience that maybe not everyone in the industry is going to get. And I know from from you know being a friend of yours, it was, it was everything from NBA games to, you know, Disney on Ice like you, you covered all the bases there.

Yes, yes, I was there. I was there a lot. I mean, we probably had 250 to 275 events, so I was, I was at. Barclay, Center most nights.

A lot. A lot. So Fast forward and we'll we'll get to kind of where you are now. Tell us about what concierge live is and how that kind of, you know, moved your career still within the sports industry. But what are you guys doing within that? Industry.

Sure. So concerts live is a software program in the sports vertical. We are a platform for. Large businesses with big ticket portfolios to help manage all of their company owned tickets and hospitality assets. So if you're Chase Bank, if you're General Motors. And you own thousands of tickets that you want your employees to leverage for either taking clients or employee rewards. We are the software system to manage all those, both to give we're a portal for for employees to be able to request the tickets. We're also reporting system for. Like Chase corporate to say, hey, here's all the company wide investments we've made and here's who we took. And here's the return on those assets, so. That's what we.

Do there's probably more of that than the layperson who attends a sporting event really understands, right? There's a lot of company owned and sponsored seats at all these venues.

Yes, there certainly is, and it's particularly concentrated in the premium areas. So the suite areas and the premium seats, you know there's a lot of business developing going on there also just like the literal price tag, certain necessitates that a lot of them are going to be purchased by by corporate.

Sure.

Well, I know we have a whole little mini system here to manage our Utica Comets tickets. So I can only imagine as you have. 10/15/20 venues and seats and various locations at different sports. It's a it's a lot to handle. So very cool, very unique way for you to pivot from your previous experience to leverage that and now a software company. But in the same vertical as you said.

Yeah, that's how life goes sometimes.

Awesome. Well, thanks for sharing that. Let's forward to kind of what we wanted to talk. About today you. Work in a lot of different sports now, not just basketball. And with that, I know you've you've gotten into the world of Professional Golf. You were at The Players Championship early this year and you are talking to us live from Augusta, is that correct?

Yes.

Awesome. Awesome. So Brian's down in the Masters universe and just for kind of background, you've been to this event before, right? You've been to the masters a couple times.

I have, I've I've been both just as a fan and I've been a couple of times through through business perspective as well. So it is truly and I've had, I've had the good fortune both again personally and and for business reasons going to a lot of events. And there's very few events as special as as the Masters.

Yeah, I was going to say, I know you've been to the Super Bowl, you've been to big college basketball games this, this one's right up there and it's a it's worth all the prestige and and admiration that it gets correct.

It really is. I mean, the actual experience of being there is truly special. There are three or four or five places where you just, you get in there and it's. Just like wow. And you can. It is a feeling, Aaron, that it's it's just really hard to describe. And. And Augusta National is definitely one of those. I'm just like, I can't believe I'm here. It is as special as it as it looks like on TV. And I can just, there's this feeling in the air. Another part of it also though is like. I think the masters is uniquely like challenging to figure out how to get there and I think.

That's where we're headed, yeah.

So once once you're able to sort of cross the Rubicon and get there, I think there's an even higher sense of appreciation.

Yeah. And that kind of fast forwards to what we want to talk about here, right? So I've never been to the masters. I know some people have figured it out. Let's kind of use your ticket sales and ticket world expertise. Sure, when it comes to getting the masters, most of us have heard of the lottery, right. I go online, I sign up and maybe I get a a chance to go to a practice round. And if I'm really, really lucky. Somehow I get to maybe go to one of the actual live rounds is is that is that as simple as it is to you know? Is it just a simple lottery like, hey, try your luck and if you get lucky you should go.

Yeah, I mean there there's, there's there's, there's a couple of different entry points. The one that's most popular is the lottery or the most known about is the lottery. And hundreds of thousands of people. Just try to enter the lottery every single year there is and, and admittedly, and they do a great job of this. Augusta National does a pretty good job. Of. There's not a ton of information behind the curtain about how many people are actually putting putting themselves in the lottery. What are the chances of actually getting them? But you know from from the best educated guesses that people are making in the industry, the chances are pretty low. I think there's there's certainly there's a ton of applicants. There's not that many tickets and people's best estimates are it's a little under 1% chance of actually getting there. So that's that's one entry point. I encourage everybody to give a shot. What? Do you have to lose?

Yeah, you might as well. Nothing to lose, right? Just sign up. And there's no loyalty, right. If you do it year over year, it's it's it's random.

Every year. Right. OK. Yeah, I believe so. And then and then the second thing is they are starting to develop commercial products that are a little bit more accessible, just comes at a price they have a. Who? An incredible new club called the Map and Flag Club. That is. It's a hospitality area in Augusta and connected to that is your access to the course as well. And that is something one can purchase. They can purchase directly from the map and flag. Subbing from the Masters, it's not inexpensive.

Yeah, it's probably a premium experience at a premium price, I would imagine.

That that's exactly right. But this was just developed two years ago. And again, it's kind of the first public way to be able to sort of make a direct transaction and not be part of the lottery. The other sort of very fabled area, it's called berkmans. I would say Berkmans is the highest of the high end at Augusta National.

This is kind of the the VIP within the VIP that is the way I've heard of Berkmans.

Yes, Aaron. And like the crowd, there is truly unlike any others. I mean, the people that you would be with at berkmans would be like. CEOs of massive Fortune 100 companies, ex presidents like the the celebrities, I mean that is the most refined group that exists. The hospitality is incredible there. You can imagine the food and drink and access you get there. But it is really elevated by just. Like the of of truly the people, the crowd that's there is truly the who's who of anywhere you'll ever go.

So so if masters is top of your great life moment, you've worked your whole life and you're willing to spend the dollars that's you want to get to Berkman's is that kind. The ultimate.

You do, I think map and flag Aaron is the only one that you can truly just like go on the Internet and purchase berkmans is another sort of black box of just like people get there. But how you get there is is a bit of a challenge, yeah.

Yeah, you gotta get. Not sure. OK, let's let's shift and then you know, I know there is there, is there a secondary market for masters tickets, obviously a little bit, I mean what how does that work? Getting is that even something you want to get involved in or is it kind of too? Or should we be careful there?

It's a great question there and your your timing is pretty appropriate. So yes, there is a secondary market for it. There's been a secondary market sort of for any event, couple things to note with the master is 1, the vast majority of tickets are not a ticket with a bar code. Typically the secondary market is made-up of these badges that they originally. Give to residents in Augusta and other different stakeholders that have some that are somehow tethered to Augusta National. And then there's been this sort of aggregation of these assets and then reselling them. By professional resellers so. Like when you. Go on any any sort of marketplace and probably buy them. Your chances are pretty good that that it's going to work out. But I would say the the, the likelihood of of any sort of fraud or any sort of problems on the secondary market with the masters is much higher than if you're just buying tickets to a Nets game which is a clean. Transaction with a barcoded ticket that you usually get instantly. This has many more manual steps and many more middle men in between should exist.

Yeah. You gotta get to Augusta. You gotta get this physical badge somehow and. You might be talking to someone that doesn't exist, or, as you know, doesn't even have the badge because of cyber fraud and things like that.

And listen it it listen. The vast majority of those transactions are successful, but there's just there, there's a larger margin of error and you know most people aren't just in Augusta. You know, just happen to be in the neighborhood. So like, you've already really invested yourself to get there.

Work, yeah. On plane ticket. Car. Yeah. Yeah, it's a. It's a big, big.

Oftentimes rented a house and then and then just to to finish that part of it, though I think there is a clear. AM. Relationship with this new map and flag product that they've built, I think Augusta National is going to continue to build more official premium products. And I and I do think they're they're making an effort to really crack down on the reselling of either tickets or individual badges and there's been. Lots of articles this week about the confiscation of these badges more than ever. So I mean and and it's really apropos, meaning like there was just this week typically on the secondary market, if you're trying to purchase, you know, tickets for around, it'll typically cost around 3:00 to. $4000 per day to go to the masters, which is an incredible amount of money to begin. I on Thursday, it went from being $7500 just for that day to $10,000 to you literally could not purchase one, which is almost unheard of for any event and and I and the masters I think were confiscating enough badges and I think the, the, the market, the sports marketplaces were getting so nervous that they wouldn't be able to fulfill. Orders that they they just took inventory off the marketplace. Like we are on the cutting edge, Aaron of the masters, this podcast is on the cutting.

I'm like.

Edge right now.

This is it, of of movement in the masters, taking market, strategic Great Life Podcast is on the cutting edge. Let's let's let's go. So. So let's wrap it up with you know, we talked to a lot of people. About what? What are their? What is their great life look. Like and oftentimes that's like, what does my retirement look like? How do I wanna spend time with my family? I wanna go on vacation. But yeah, a lot of people have masters on their bucket list. Anyone who's a golf fan. And just because of the prestige of the event. So in summary, best practice where people would be. Yeah. Put your name on the lottery. And if you get lucky, probably take advantage of it because you're. Not going to come around there again. And then two would be save up and planned because there's going to be some new offerings directly from Augusta where you can kind of guarantee your spot. Is that correct? Yeah. And just thanks for sharing your story about, you know, your passion in sports from an early age to your professional career to this very specific moment and event that you're at and looks like we got some really timely cutting edge news to wrap up our podcast with. So Brian, thank you so much for taking some time. I'll ask you one last question that you you you said it earlier, but just confirming. Getting to the masters, if you get the chance, it's worth it, right? No brainer. OK, good. Thank you so much for your time. Great to talk to you, Brian.

Have a great one. Thanks for your time.