Mark, does that affect and influence how you run the club compared to, say, how you'd run a franchise in America? And c- for those not in your world, can you give us examples?

Yeah, so first of all, I'm not, I'm not in the contr- I mean, the, the, the team is run terrifically well by a group of executives affiliated, um, with actually the San Francisco 49ers.

Um, they do, they do a great job, and I'm not, um, in the weeds with them on that one.

But we talk a lot and I, and I see it.

And well, it does, it does have a huge implication on how you run the team because when you're relegated you lose £200 million of revenue over two years, and then when you come back in you get that back.

And so when you're in that zone, it's a lot harder to make the long-t- to have long-term planning the way you do in an American traditional sports franchise because you have this revenue uncertainty both, both ways.

Now, we had a great season last year.

... or whether it was to the World Cup, and we'll say, "The prices are just too high." How do you balance the actual price of tickets versus the revenues that you get from other streams of advertising and beyond from just having the most eyeballs possible?

Like, when did you, when did you first realize that this is, this is a path that you wanted to take, and r- and why did you decide to, to take it?

Yeah.

So it, it started where you started the conversation.

I grew up in the DC area, in Chevy Chase, Maryland, and when I was a young boy growing up, the highlights of my life were being a ball kid at the tennis tournament and going to the football games with my dad, and the greatest memories of my childhood were sitting in s- section 320, row five, seats 19 and 20 with my dad, watching that team.

And I, I just had these memories of what that meant to me, what it meant to my friends, what it meant to our whole city and our community.

So I left DC for a while and worked in New York on Wall Street and worked on the West Coast in venture capital, went to business school, and I came back to DC right after business school at a young firm called The Carlyle Group, which was only 30 people and $100 million of capital under management.

Obviously, now it's one of the biggest investment management firms in the world.

I hope that this is pinned on some- something other than media revenue."

So talk about these big men's matches tonight.

Yeah, I mean, that's the thing.

So one of the things is we went from a 48 draw on the men's side to a 32 this year.

So to get into the main draw, you have to be top 47 in the world, which means effectively the first round is like starting in the third round of a Grand Slam, which starts with 128 players, right? So some of these first round matches, and I've been reading social media from the tennis world, Really amazing.

Like Alex Diminar against Stefano Sitsikas in the first round.

You know, the Tommy Paul match was great.

And the other one that's going to be unbelievable at 1230 on a sideboard is Rafael Hodar against Arthur Fiske.

It was a good hangout.

It's, it's huge, isn't it, behind the scenes just to run a tournament, to get it, uh, operationally ready to go so that, uh, obviously everyone can have a great week, the fan experience, the player experience, and there's a lot that goes into making it all work, Mark.

Yeah, I mean, you, um...

That, that's, that's exactly right.

You talked about the rejuvenation of this historic event that was started in 1969 by a group of people including Arthur Ashe, and it's always been an important tennis event.

But the, the experience for fans and players had not become, had become not what it w- it should be for event of this level.

So we took it over seven years ago and, um, have made massive investments in both the player and the fan experience, and it's been extraordinary to see what's happened.

Our player field is extraordinary.

... uh, back on tennis.

What about here in the US?

You know, it's, it's a great question, Kevin.

Um, the events here are all thriving.

The US Open is the biggest tennis event in the world.

It thrives.

Our event is thriving.

You know, I, [laughs] I wish we had more tickets to sell.

How do you think this summer will sort of manifest, you know, moving forward on itself?

It's, uh, it's huge, isn't it, behind the scenes just to run a tournament, to get it, uh, operationally ready to go so that, uh, obviously everyone can have a great week, the fan experience, uh, the player experience, and there's a lot that goes into making it all work, Mark.

Yeah, I mean, you, um ...

That, and that's, that's exactly right.

You talked about the rejuvenation of this historic event that was started in 1969 by A group of people, including Arthur Ashe, and it's always been an important tennis event, but the, the experience for fans and players had not become, had become not what it w- it should be for an event of this level.

So we took it over seven years ago and, um, have made massive investments in both the player and the fan experience, and it's been extraordinary to see what's happened.

Our player field is extraordinary.

Um, we've sold out every ticket since 2019, and people, not just in Washington but around the country and around the world now really love this event.

... uh, back on tennis.

W- what's gonna be different this year from previous years?

Yeah, so we always are trying to elevate the fan experience, so in courts right behind me.

First year we're doing LED signage, and we didn't just do the back walls, we did the back walls, the side wall, the whole ring on the lower wall, but also we did the second level.

And, you know, this is a public facility, so it doesn't have any infrastructure.

We have to build it all.

But I think that's gonna be really exciting and great here, and we're gonna have some really great activations on the LED boards.

Um, one of the things we've leaned into so much, which has been a huge contributor to the success of the event, is the food and, and beverage experience that we have here.

What, what are you doing for doubles this year?

What's the latest?

Well, we think we're gonna build one of the great stadiums anywhere in the world.

I mean, it really is gonna be spectacular, and it's at the old RFK Stadium site, which when we bought the team was always the dream, was to always get back to RFK.

And fortunately, we were able to secure that site, and now we're really trying to build something super special.

You know what, really one of the things that I love the most about the things I get to do is how sports brings people together.

Nothing else brings people together at scale like sports and music.

The, the amazing thing about a world-class venue like we're gonna bring, build, is that it, it'll provide that for both sports and music and all kinds of live events, and it's gonna be something that will be a big part of our community and our nation for decades.

I read here, "Castle's making its largest talent investment in 20-plus years to lead the shift towards unified managed security for commercial real estate." That, that suggests to me when we have conversations every day about AI upending the, the workforce for- for- forever, that you have to be bullish on, on work and bullish on commercial real estate, the whole thing.

Let's get

it.

I've, I've, I've heard, I've heard she's, she's making a comeback.

Um, she was unbelievable by the way.

I watched her match, her doubles match, uh, in England and gosh, just like she never missed a beat.

But, um, Fingers crossed.

Let's see.

It's crazy.

Let's get

them both.

I've, I've, I've heard, I've heard she's, she's making a comeback.

She was unbelievable by the way.

I watched her match, her doubles match, uh, in England and gosh, just like she never missed a beat.

But, um, Fingers crossed.

Let's see.

It's crazy.