A-Rod Bought the Timberwolves at the Worst Possible Time. Here Is Why It Worked.

**Alex Rodriguez** (0:00)
I don't care where you went to school, I don't care who your family is, I'm gonna do business with you for two reasons. If I trust you, and I like you, and don't overthink it, right? Of course you have to have a good product and all of that. But assuming that everyone has a good product, if I like you and I trust you, I'm gonna do business with you.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:21)
17-year-old me in Bowie, Maryland, in Prince George's County, who woke up, and all he did all day, every day, was either think or play or train for baseball, and aspired to be like my contemporary, Alex Rodriguez from Westminster Christian High School, cannot believe that I get to sit here. I scraped for every bit of information that I could. I knew his whole life story and was absolutely fascinated and continue to be to this day. So when I had the opportunity to moderate this panel, it took me about one second to say yes.
It's great to be here with you.

**Alex Rodriguez** (1:03)
Great to be here. Hello, everyone.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:06)
For my money, the most excited I've gotten about professional sports, at least since I was a little kid, in the last 25 years were those Red Sox Yankees games.
There was nothing more exciting than Pedro on the Hill. And man, the time went by so slowly, just waiting for those games to start. What many of you may not know is Alex Rodriguez, the mortal enemy of the Red Sox for those series, was actually traded to the Red Sox in 2003, I think it was. He was traded and the trade got dequeued, and he ends up on the Yankees and the rest is history. But my question after that long preamble is, Alex, last week on PolyMarket, a digital asset prediction market, you had a 13% probability of being the next manager of the Boston Red Sox.

**Alex Rodriguez** (2:00)
Really?

**SPEAKER_2** (2:01)
True story. And today, you're back down to 1%. So there was some rumor there. Do you want to break news here at Consensus? Are you in the running to be the manager of the Boston Red Sox?

**Alex Rodriguez** (2:12)
PolyMarkets are wrong. We know that now.
Now, there's no chance of that. Although, you know, Sam Kennedy is a good buddy, and they've done a terrific job. I mean, to think that the Red Sox went almost 90 years without winning a title and four over the last 20 is pretty awesome.

**SPEAKER_2** (2:28)
What was that like to be in those series, those games? Could you feel how important it was to people like me who love competition, love sport? Did it feel like, holy crap, this is something special?

**Alex Rodriguez** (2:39)
Yeah, you felt it. I mean, you feel it in the moment. I mean, whether it's for us who grew up here in Miami, Florida State against Florida or Lakers, Celtics back in the day, there is some magic in the air. What people don't realize in 2004, I hate to talk about 4 because that's the year we were up 3-0 and they came back and beat us. There was 40 to 45 million people watching game six and seven. I mean, those are great NFL numbers and that was just the ALCS. So there was a heat around it. Tickets would go for 10, 15, $20,000 right at Fenway Park. It was just, you felt the gravity of the moment. And although last year we had a great World Series where we had 53 million people watch, when you include domestically Canada and Japan because of Otani, it was a great World Series. And I hope, I think this is the most important, a little bit here, Tom, going a little bit off sidebar.
The single most important year in baseball history is this year. Because the CBA, the Collective Bargaining Agreement, is due.
That means that on December 1st, there is no collective bargaining, which puts the league on a threat to walk away and have a work stoppage, which would be an absolute bloodbath.

**SPEAKER_2** (3:52)
I want to switch, I want to ultimately progress into your business career because I'm fascinated by your success there. But very topical.
I've become a bit of an NBA nut in my older age and have followed the Minnesota Timberwolves this year. Those of you who aren't aware, Alex owns the Minnesota Timberwolves. Really important game tonight and Alex is going to head to the game against the Spurs, Game 2 in San Antonio. Just tell us, what's it been like to be an NBA owner after your long baseball career?

**Alex Rodriguez** (4:25)