Steve Young has created a playbook for so many athletes looking to make their way in business and spends a lot of his time paying it forward. HGGC, the private equity firm he started in 2007 with Rich Lawson, currently has an AUM above $10 billion. He also happens to be one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game of football.

In this episode of The Deal, Alex Rodriguez and Jason Kelly hit the road to talk to Steve Young at his Palo Alto office. Steve shares why making a clean break from football was one of the best decisions he’s made in his career, why he considers himself “highly fireable” and how he built a fund with a spirit of abundance. He also shares some stories about Roger Staubach, Bill Walsh and his dad, Grit Young.

You can also watch this interview on YouTube.

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Kara Nortman bets big on women’s sports, and it’s paying off. She is the co-owner of Angel City FC, an NWSL team with a $335 million valuation. She is also the managing partner of Monarch Collective, the first investment platform exclusively dedicated to women’s sports. Monarch is now investing a $250 million fund with a stake in three NWSL teams and a European football club. In March, Monarch acquired a minority stake in Cleveland’s WNBA expansion team, becoming the first private equity firm to invest in the league.

In this episode of The Deal, Kara breaks down for Alex and Jason how Monarch became the first private equity firm approved to invest in the WNBA and why they chose Cleveland as their team. She also explains why she considers this moment the “third inning” of women’s sports investment and why she is willing to waste time with the right people. Kara also breaks down her belief that the key to derisking women’s sports is putting butts in seats.

You can also watch this interview on the Bloomberg Podcasts YouTube page.

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NBA fans, you’re about to see a whole lot more of Kenny Beecham. The founder of basketball media brand Enjoy Basketball first broke through in 2011 streaming NBA 2k games on Twitch. Since then, he has built a YouTube channel with over 700,000 followers, hosted altcasts on NBA TV and ESPN and interviewed Adam Silver. In October 2025, Kenny and Enjoy signed their biggest deal yet: a partnership with NBC Sports to produce original NBA programming, the network’s first partnership with a creator-led media company.

In this episode of The Deal, Kenny tells Jason and Alex why his appeal is based in the fact that he is “just a guy from Chicago.” He also shares how a cold email and getting stranded in a blizzard helped him close the deal with NBC. Kenny also explains how the YouTube “Adpocalypse” helped him build a basketball media juggernaut, how Allen Iverson changed the culture of basketball and why a show about NBA wives and girlfriends is such a hit.

You can also watch this interview on the Bloomberg Podcasts YouTube page.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.