caroline:-caroline hyde. this is "bloomberg technology." we are in boston this week, showcasing the innovation, diversity and power of the regional tech economy. we are at boston's historic fenway park. in the next hour, we sit with red sox president sam kennedy and discuss how this local team has become a global phenomenon.

plus reebok is innovating the footwear industry. we speak with the president about how the company is using 3-d technology for its products. the celtics are currently 2-0 in the eastern conference finals. the team heads to cleveland saturday for game three. before, we speak to the celtics president. first, our top story. one of the most iconic landscapes in american sports. 106 years old and counting, home to the fabled boston red sox. i am talking about our home for the next hour, fenway park. from the early days of babe ruth during the iconic home run of the 1975 world series, the 2004 curse breaking championship team, they have seen it all before. now the red sox are half of the game back from their rivals to lead in the american league east.

joining us now, a man who has been with the sox for 50 years and is now their president. sam kennedy, welcome to "bloomberg technology." sam: thanks for being here at fenway. caroline: we are a technology show. talk to us how you can be at the cutting edge of technology with a stadium this old. sam: we need to, because we have lot of young fans coming through the gates and we need to make sure they are connected at all times. whether it is enhanced wi-fi so that people can be connected on their social media counts is something we focus on. the fan experience, people need to be connected to each other. not just at the ballpark, but their friends around the world. major league baseball has spent a lot of money on upgrading technology around ballparks and interacting with fans through their website and social channels. it is really a priority for us as we look to grow the game as

we move into the future. caroline: how do you ensure it is a priority? you sell out games anyway. do you really need to innovate? sam: we do. we don't want to take for granted that people will keep coming through the gates. we have 3 million people come in every year, not just for baseball but concerts, other events, whether it is international soccer games, football, ice hockey in the winter. we do different things to make sure people are coming to fenway through the year, and we are lucky to have such a loyal fan base. caroline: different things like what? sam: different staging events. jay-z and justin timberlake have played here. caroline: that is my favorite. sam: zac brown band and pearl jam will be here this summer. we have done ski jumping, snowboarding, liverpool football club come here, celtic football club come here. we try to bring new and different events to the city of boston. it is great for fenway park and our fans. caroline: important,

cause-and-effect the company that -- important emagin that -- important you mention that, because the liverpool team has an important stake in the company as well. i wonder if that calm you are obsessed with soccer as you guys call it here. sam: john henry, time warner, our owners wanted to make sure it is a great experience for fans, and to win. you are in the professional sports business to win. fortunately, liverpool is playing the champions league finals in about 10 days in kiev, which will be very exciting. it is a passionate fan base, over in liverpool and around the world. we have really learned a lot from international football, as you call it, and we try to bring those traditions to america, to boston, including playing international football games in n fenway park. caroline: congratulations on the

season. it is all about winning, as they say. sam: we still have to go up against the yankees. [laughter] caroline: talk to me about that rivalry. it is so important. how are you trying to get ahead? sam: you have to invest heavily in your baseball operations department. our general manager has done a job of -- has done a great job of fueling a competitive team this year. we are a half game behind the yankees. we have a scouting player development draft, and we are fortunate to have the resources. as many yankee fans know, to invest in the free agency market. we try to do both, and it is hard to keep up with the yankees. they have been our rivals for so long, and it is good for baseball to see both teams at the top of the league in the al east. caroline: you say it is important about investing, spending the money. you have deep pockets.

we have seen many free agents go unsigned until the last minute. does that change the way people are willing to spend money on players? does it make a better place for you if you have deep pockets? sam: it was a slow moving off-season around the league, maybe the red sox were an exception. we invested heavily in free agency and re-signing some existing players. we have one of the highest payrolls, if not the highest payroll in the game. john henry and tom warner continued to invest. we will see. there may have been a time in market conditions what was available, what teams are looking to get under the competitive balance tax threshold. we will see how the next off-season develops. in the three or four years we will see if it is a blip on the radar or a trend as we move forward. caroline: how do you ensure the franchise keeps reaping enough money to invest in the players? sam: you have to be focused on the fan experience. making sure red sox fans, the

smartest fans in baseball, are getting a great experience when they come here. they want to enjoy good, competitive baseball and other amenities around the ballpark, whether it is kids getting involved with our virtual reality activity or augmented activity. caroline: so it is tech heavy. sam: it is tech heavy, but you have to balance that with a reminder that sometimes people come to ballparks to be away from the screens. we need to cater to both audiences. we have to realize if we want to grow the game, we have to invest in technology. the next generation is tech savvy. they are on their mobile devices 7, 8, nine hours a day. we need to recognize that and we need to be there. caroline: what would get people on their mobile devices even more is if they can bet on sp orts. we can do that in the u.k.. it looks like your supreme court

might allow it to happen in the united states. how would that change the game? sam: we will see. major league baseball has been proactive in working with state officials to see how it will work. the supreme court said states can decide whether to legalize sports betting. major league baseball has been working with individual states and legislators to see how this will play out. most important for us, we think it is a good thing because there will be regulation of sports betting. there is a massive amount of legal regulation taking place. if the government can regulate that activity, that is a good thing for safety and to make sure the integrity of the game is preserved. we will see what the other benefits may be, whether there is morphing engagement. that has happened around the world, especially international football. it is a bit early to see. the supreme court just ruled earlier this week. but we see it as a positive development. we are watching closely as an individual club. caroline: how will you protect the players?

sam: the players need to be subject to the rules that all of us in baseball will be subject to. you cannot bet on baseball if you are involved with the sport. that is obvious. and i think through greater regulation and monitoring of gambling activity, that will be aided and expanded. major league baseball is all over it. they are working closely with adam silver in the nba and jay monahan on the pga tour to make sure the sports governing bodies are linked and aligned. caroline: should the sport take a cut? sam: i think it is important for the sport to have some kind of integrity fee. there will be a lot of expenses incurred. certainly the intellectual property, the investments that the industry makes to put the content out there. i think that is appropriate, but that is obviously up to the government to decide. caroline: sam, you've been here 15 years in excess of. sam: forever.

[laughter] caroline: what has been your favorite moment sitting in this hollowed ground? sam: i grew up in boston about a mile down the street. my favorite moment was 2005 when i was able to give our 2004 world series ring to my dad. he is a huge red sox fan. that was a very special moment. i had the good fortune to have my career started with the new york yankees, believe it or not, in 1990. caroline: [laughter] sam: yeah -- then i went to the san diego padres. it has been a dream come true to come home and work. best owners in all of professional sports. they have invested heavily in to fenway, as you can tell. it has been magical, and i look forward to the next 50 years. caroline: sam kennedy. i know there are many a fan interested in these conversations. the president of the boston red sox, sam kennedy. a big thank you for letting us forecast in this historic stadium. coming up tomorrow we will sit

down with the reebok president. we cover the company's decision to move its headquarters to right here in boston. if you like bloomberg news, check us out on the radio. you can listen on the radio app, online and on sirius xm. this is bloomberg. ♪

caroline: welcome back to a special edition of "bloomberg technology" here in fenway park in boston. reebok is using 3-d technology to break the mold. bloomberg visited the headquarters to see how it is using proprietary liquid material software and robotics to draw shoes in three

dimensions. >> the footwear industry is seeing a jumpstart in technology. nike's hyper adapt made self lacing shoes a reality. introducedurecraft 3-d printing with comfort. now reebok's liquid factory is making intricate, lightweight designs along with the company's were hurt performed recyclable recyclableany's 100% footwear line. bill mcginnis is head of reebok future. >> fleetwood manufacturing it is a way from getting away from using molds like every other shoe in the market, and draw the bottom of the shoe instead. this is like 3-d printing, only much much faster. >> is an effort to streamline production and keep up with younger consumers. >> the goal is going from making one million pairs of one shoe in one type and hope everyone likes it, and that is the old model,

and now we are moving to smaller batches. 10,000 instead of 100,000. as you get tighter and tighter, you get closer and closer to custom. >> how is that a benefit to reebok? what are the benefits of new manufacturing? >> you can react faster. you can react more quickly to consumers. >> reebok is not alone. parent company adidas, and rivals nike and under armour have also moved into the 3-d printed sneaker game. but reebok's liquid factory material is proprietary. the process uses computer software and robotics to draw shoes in three dimensions. >> we are faster than the old model now. each bottom unit takes a couple of minutes to put together, all automated. >> adidas bought reebok in for 2006 $3.8 billion, then in 2010, began a turnaround to reposition it as a fitness brand by signing a partnership with crossfit.

but reebok today is the one unit that remains unprofitable. still, adidas says it is committed to the future of reebok, and moved its headquarters from the boston suburbs to downtown this year. >> the spirit of the company has changed dramatically. i mean, we were always an established shoe brand. moving down here, being in the excitement of this district has the place feeling like a startup. >> it does feel like a startup, breathing new life into the classic white leather sneaker. bloomberg, boston. caroline: joining us to discuss reebok's strategy with technology, we are joined by matt o'toole, reebok president. you feel like a startup being in downtown boston. how do you ensure that is the case your innovative? -- case you are innovating?

>> i think one of the things we wanted to do is change the dynamic we were in by moving into the city. we moved into the heart of a thriving innovation district in boston. we occupy 25% of a one million square-foot facility. the rest of the building houses 128 startups. our goal has been to inject life through innovation and connecting with the amazing things happening in boston now. caroline: do you think it is working? what are the innovations at the moment? journey set up on this of rethinking the process of making shoes, allowing us to do things that have not been possible before. as the segment just showed, liquid factory is kind of a crowning achievement. it not only changes the process where we can produce a shoe literally in seconds by pouring it, but make one of, so a shoe that fits your cushioning needs, your stride.

this is something we just don't have the ability to do. what you see in customization is colors, materials, style, but from performance point of view, this is a big step forward. caroline: customization is where the consumer is clamoring. what is sentiment like? do you feel like this is a good time to be in fashion? matt: the consumer is moving quicker than ever. the consumer is digital savvy. they know what they want and they want it right away. this innovation gives us the opportunity to do that. the other big thing is the customer is also focused on the environment, sustainability. comeer innovation that has out on our process focused has been cototn and corn. -- has been cotton and corn. how do we make shoes entirely out of things that grow, so that they can become biodegradable? today, every athletic shoe is made of some petroleum product. it cannot biodegrade in a short period of time. so how can we push that

envelope? we start the cotton and corn things that grow initiative. caroline: what people also love is boutique workouts. spending a bit of money on themselves. last time we spoke, you were really focusing on crossfit and the gym. do you feel you own that market as much as you should? matt: i think it is such an important focus. there is a lot of talk about the need for people to move, but there's not a lot of things keeping people coming back. what we've found is that the secret sauce has been communities. whether it is crossfit, or a spin class, when you have a community that is keeping you engaged and ensuring you are there for the next class, that works. that are the kinds of partnerships we are focused on. caroline: any other ones you are looking for? matt: it is a relay, a team event, 1200 people taking place in an eight 100 mile race.

it is a great bonding event in what would normally be a solitary event. caroline: therefore as you look for these partnerships to ensure that you get repeat business, how is your business? revenues were declining in the previous quarter. but your owner, adidas, is committed to you. how are you turning this around? matt: good news for us is in 2018, the u.s. market will be back to growth. we have seen good momentum and the rest of the world. from a profitability perspective, we have built our margins by 400 basis points. the trend is right. we are in the middle of a four-year turnaround, and it ultimately comes back to us delivering on our strategy, to refocus on our business -- on our fitness beginnings. we started as a women's fitness brand with the first ever women's fitness shoe in the early 1980's. over the last few years we recommitted ourselves to being outstanding in fitness, running, training, being a brand that

motivates people to move. caroline: but it was the training and running that led declines in the previous quarter. what is turning the u.s. around, then you harness that you can ensure has trodden the same path internationally? matt: the consumer is looking for authentic stories that are relevant not only to today, but fit the brand's dna. a rich we have such history of classics. the fitness proposition is making a difference. caroline: what about your owner, ? they say there is no sale at the time. would it matter to you if you were sold? matt: it is very helpful for us to be part of such a powerful global company, whether from a digital or distribution prescription in many markets around the world. our ceo, who has been on the job for almost two years, took a look at the portfolio companies of the business, has exited

committed thatns our business strategy complements adidas very well. caroline: how do you think you will continue to span out? it is clearly fiercely competitive when it comes to the shoes you look at wearing at the gym. matt: it is technology. we have to deliver what is new and what is next to the consumer. our things like pump. our float ride shoe was awarded with its new cushioning system. we have to say -- we have to stay ahead on the technology side. caroline: we will come back and hear from you in the future. thank you very much indeed. that was the remark president. -- reebok president. later in the show, celtics rising. the other legendary boston sports team on the cusp of the nba finals. our chat with the celtics president. this is bloomberg. ♪

caroline: now to a few headlines grabbing our attention. goldman sachs says tesla may need $10 billion in funding by 2020. that is to pay for the electric carmaker's operations, new production, and an unlikely expansion into china. tesla's ceo elon musk has been cutting costs to avoid having to raise capital this year. toshiba has gotten regulatory approval from china for the sale of its memory chip business,

clearing the way for the $18 billion deal with bain capital. the deal had previously missed earlier deadlines for clearance as the company waited for chinese antitrust authorities to make a decision. its online grocer struck first deal in the u.s. kroger agreed to buy a high a 5% stake in the company for its exclusive technology of distributing groceries. that is in the wake of its whole foods deal last year. they also hope to open 20 robotic warehouses in the coming years. in march walmart announced to expand its home delivery service to more than 100 metro areas this year, with delivery handled by services such as uber. coming up, we talked to rich gotham, president of the boston celtics, as his team looks to continue its stunning playoff run. that is next, and this is bloomberg.

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caroline: welcome back to "bloomberg technology." coming to you from the home of the red sox at historic fenway park. for now, we turn our gaze to boston's other legendary team in the midst of a stunning playoff run, the boston celtics. say they weren't supposed to get this far, especially missing their two best players. but the celtics are just two wins away from another nba finals appearance. and they're doing it while beating lebron james and the cleveland cavaliers. joining me now, one of the chief architects of this amazing run, rich gotham, the president of the boston celtics. welcome to "bloomberg technology

", rich. rich: thank you for having me. i like your office. [laughter] caroline: it is a nice setting for today. what a historic run. how do you feel about the next games. ? is continuing to defy expectations. cleveland is not going to go down without a real fight. i expect to have two really difficult games. i would like to get at least one. if we get both of them, i would feel really good about that. our team is on a nice roll. we are playing with a lot of confidence. caroline: what is behind the confidence? rich: i think it is a lot of things coming together. this team has a special vibe and special culture all year long. they are really resilient. i think the coach instills a lot of the leaf in the to bring out the best -- a lot of belief in

them to bring out the best in the individual guys. we had to see that talent surface. tatum haverown and shown what they can on the stage, have grown into those roles. i think it is a lot of things coming together at once. caroline: when you are missing two of your top players, how does that affect the franchise? how does that affect business? rich: it really hasn't affected business this year, we have been on quite a roll without them fortunately. the nba is a story driven league. kyrie irving, one of the biggest names in all sports. but the celtics are great brand, we are one of the truly global sport brands. i think we have a bit of a recession-proof quality to us. because we've got such a large, global, loyal following. so the team doesn't tend to go

up and down as much, or the business performance does not twist as much as the win and loss records. caroline: it is about stoking loyalty and keeping the fans engaged. the nba is on a roll with one billion viewers internationally. how do you harness that? how do you use technology to engage with an enormous fan base? rich: we are running great trends right now with the nba. it is a global sport. has appeal with young people, digitally savvy people, it is a game that can be played by both genders, nonviolent sport. a lot of trends going in our favor. probably the biggest trend is the explosion of content digitally globally. used to be followed a team in your state or your city, now, we have fans all over the world. we have more facebook followers in the philippines than we have in the greater boston area. [laughter]

not to mention nba fans in 400 million china. we get 20 million video views a month from content that the boston celtics produces here in boston and pushes through all of our channels out globally. that more than anything has fueled the growth of the nba. our players are really savvy in terms of using the digital technology and social media. caroline: two brand themselves. rich: exactly. they are the first generation of digital natives. all that is feeding the bigger macro trend. not only television ratings going up, but streaming going up without detracting from television ratings. so it has really been a great story. and we are really reaching that the to get 18 to 34 group, young people who tend to be distracted by technology, or so

you think. rown by have g that group. caroline: making betting is legal in the u.k.. it may soon become legal here. h whatow that -- how would that affect the game? rich: it has been happening in the shadows, so i'm not sure how it changes things when and if it comes to light. i think that at the celtics, we don't have a fully formed point of the u.s. this stage. we are taking our cue from the nba who has been looking at this issue for a while. they believe that there should be some amount of federal regulation and state regulation. caroline: a cut? rich: that remains to be seen. i haven't given much thought to the trickle down economics of that. we are right now and in the middle of the season is we are playing some big games. we don't have much time to focus on anything but the next game. caroline: focusing on the next game is all about training and

practice. talk to was not only about the td garden arena, but the practice arena. rich: yes, we are embarking on an new practice with somebody the idea to have a state-of-the-art athlete performance center. we are building this out to accomplish that goal and hopefully that will give us a competitive advantage. it is all about getting athletes to their peak performance, and strength and conditioning, rest and recovery, nutrition and first and foremost, injury-prevention, which is the interesting area to apply technology. because you need a lot of data to be able to crunch a lot of big data. and we are partnering with ge , who also has the badge on our jersey to better predict when player injury might occur. aroline: we are going to speak to a company all about helping

players by collecting data. how about the players, with they like to monetize their data in any way? rich: that is subject to player consent. those things have to be collectively bargained between the league and the players. we haven't really thought about what to do with the player information, other than to help them stay healthy and be at peak performance. you can imagine with that kind of data, there are a lot of implications and a lot of different ways for fans to engage with the game. such as how many miles they run during a game, their heartbeat, fans,we won't let out to but stuff one day you can imagine would be very interesting. caroline: what should we be looking for on that day, one someone who knows the business and knows the team? rich: i think for the game, we second have to be ready for them to come out and give us everything they have. if we can hang close early in the game, i will feel good. i think we have a shot to beat them.

that is what i will look for going into that game, and it will be really indicative of how it will go. caroline: we are all going to be viewing. thank you very much indeed. wonderful to have you here. president of the boston celtics. now, youtube is getting ready to launch its new music service as soon as next week. on may 22, youtube will spin its music service off its youtube red offering. or will be two versions, one paid and one ad supported, which will include -- which will background listening and download. this allows youtube to compete with the likes of spotify when it comes to music streaming. in the world of wearable technology, woop has become a standout with professional athletes and tech leaders such as jack dorsey. we will speak to the ceo next. coming up later in the show, legalized sports betting is no longer for places like las vegas.

we look at how it will impact the online gambling world. this is bloomberg. ♪

caroline: welcome back to a special edition of "bloomberg technology," from boston's fenway park. those at the top of their game rely on health data for insights

into performance. startup whoop manages to collect an amazing amount of data with its wearable devices and they have gained a lot of fans and investors from the tech and sports world around the way. for more, let's bring in will ahmed, ceo of whoop. plenty of athletes using whoop, but now i can have a membership. talk about the product. will: we just launched yesterday the whoop membership which will bring this technology focused on human performance, to a much larger audience. with it you will get the hardware, the whoop strap, measuring data times per second, 500 it will give you feedback on exercise and recovery and sleep good big exercise -- recovery and sleep. big focus on exercise. there will be weekly reports on analytics. there will be a whole membership

services where you can get additional feedback on your information. and you will be part of a community which includes professional athletes. caroline: who are the athletes that use the product? will: you're going to have to find out on the community, but we work with professional athletes across every professional sports league. approved to be worn in major league baseball. it has been a great year in the nba. we do a lot of work with the military, olympians. our technology was grounded out to the best athletes in the world. caroline: what can we see in terms of the monetization of such data? when you have the best athletes in the world using it, are they able to use that data not only to see their recovery at peak, in onso to let the world some of their secrets and start selling that data?

will: yes, you recently saw the court ruling on the supreme court on gambling. i think it is a way that the players can start monetizing their health data. our membership with the nfl players association was grounded on this being able to provide the data from the best athletes in the world to the fans. it was only 30 years ago that professional athletes started lifting weights. now, you can't go to a hotel in america that doesn't have a gym. a lot of that story came out of professional athletes, and was brought to the masses. i see the same thing happening with recovery and with sleep you where you will learn from the best athletes how to recover and sleep properly. caroline: i think what is really interesting is you don't only have athletes but also fortune 500 ceos. what are the things they're learning from their data? will: much in the same way that you need to prepare for a game and be at the top of your

performance as a professional athlete, we are working with performance executives who want to perform in their daily lives. a lot of it comes down to recovery and sleep, but also other things you are doing in your life. things like meditation, can that help? diet, can that help? going to is that hurt? we work on them on how they can deal with jetlagg to see how it can minimize the effect of what the effect it has on their body. caroline: does that include changing times of flights? will: yes exercise , appropriately, thinking about early you get into a city in order to recover properly, a lot of that is the work that we did originally with professional athletes. as a general rule, whoop kicks this information we have learned from the professional athletes, ad we use that information to larger audience. caroline: what went into it? who are you having to employ for

this sort of innovation? will: the most important thing data. granularity of the 100 megabytes of data from one person per day, it is much more granular than anything else in the market. this is not doing phone calls or calling an uber, it is collecting information that can help you perform at a higher level. caroline: what do you think the next innovation is, is it more granularity? is it more types of data within your body? will: we will continue to invest in our hardware and our data. i think you're going to see a lot more approaches coming in that regard. the flexibility in particular to wear the technology throughout body. i think the technology will disappear and think that analytic some of the backbone of what you need to improve, will keep driving you. caroline: will it be on your clothes? when you say that it will disappear? will: will have to see, there is a lot to come. caroline: how do you look to

broaden the base in terms of membership? you are charging a relatively expensive upfront fee. it is a cheap monthly basis. where would you like to be in the marketplace? will: whoop membership is $30 a month, the equivalent of one fitness class a month. turn, you are getting a 24/7 coach on your body. so how do you make the most of that one fitness class? in a lot of cases, people are spending $100 per training session with their trainer. whoop will help you get more benefit from that trainer, and in time can augment the trainer as well. $30 a month seems quite affordable for the service we are providing. mind you, historically we have torged anywhere from $1000 $2000 per athlete at the professional level. so we have seen a great response in the last 24 hours to this offering. and we are growing fast, so it is exciting.

caroline: what is a great start? you just said you had a great pickup. what is that? a night to remember? will: we mean that a lot of people are buying the product or end are excited about it. we don't expose the numbers publicly because we are private company, but it is an exciting moment for us as a company. caroline: we will come back when you can tell us a few of those numbers. thank you very much indeed, the ceo of whoop. to jason we talked --bins on how t supremehe on how the supreme court sports betting ruling could change the landscape. this is bloomberg. ♪

caroline: welcome back to "bloomberg technology," coming at you from the home of the red sox, historic fenway park. the supreme court ruled on monday that states can legalize sports betting.

that has been big news for our next guest and his company, draft king. an online website that lets users bet on weekly prizes. the ceo estimate that americans spend about $150 billion illegally through offshore venues. we caught up with him earlier this week to get his thoughts. >> we have a full product we have been working on for almost a year. we are very excited to bring that to market and we are looking forward to having sports betting come this fall. caroline: you have really lined yourself up to take advantage of this? jason: we did make a bet. to opportunity was too great not be prepared. even though we did not know the outcome, we felt the upside was so great we had to be ready for it. the day that we heard that the court had picked up the case, within 24 hours, we were off to a strategy planning session and off to the races on working on the product.

caroline: what about the states off to the races? we hear new jersey will be going swiftly, but where do you see the rest of the state starting to enact this and make it legal, to start betting on sports? jason: several have already passed laws, including pennsylvania, west virginia and new york. my guess is, although i don't know, they will probably try to make sure their regulations are issued and ready for nfl season. i think the other states still in session are considering the bills for legalized sports betting, you will probably see a handful of those now that the court has landed -- you will see them working on those getting for the nfl season as well. caroline: how do you keep fans engaged? jason: a lot of what we have built already is pretty applicable, from the compliance systems to the the ai systems, that target the sports affinity and data, a lot of it is just reproducing for sports betting. the product of sports betting itself will require some work to

make sure that we're the best in the market. we think we are going to have a competitive product day one. it is a lot of innovation. what you are looking at today is not going to be whether products look like four years from now. so it will have to work hard, but we have the advantage of a lot of technology that we have already built for fantasy sports that can be repurposed for sports betting. caroline: and a lot of that technology was built right here in boston, massachusetts. what about the state of massachusetts? there is not much talk of them embracing this gambling on sports. do you think they should? jason: well, just yesterday there were coming from the governor bigger and -- governor indicatinghe speaker that this is something they wanted to look at. i think massachusetts has proven itself in a number of areas to be very much a hub of technology. i think there is a real opportunity for them to take ownership of the sports technology space. hopefully with us being one of

the leading faces of that to hel p sports technology companies find a home. caroline: have you built an ecosystem to a certain extent? you have a lot of talent based here. has it brought other competitors to your front door? jason: it has certainly helped. i see a lot of startups here, and our a lot of companies we work with talk about potentially opening a boston office. i think it is helped, but really it is more about policy makers being very aggressive. i think here a great example of an opportunity to do the same thing. there will be early movers -- new york and others in the area. it is important for massachusetts to stay competitive. caroline: you're talking about artificial intelligence being something you have already adopted. what other technologies are you looking at? jason: a lot of what we do is just so similar, the things i mentioned from taking payments, customer acquisition. a lot of that sounds like a it doesn't have a huge technology underpinning but it does.

there is a lot of work to be done to process tens of thousands of payment transactions per minute in the moments before an nfl game starts, when everybody is trying to get their deposits in. on the customer acquisitions side, when we were running on dozens of different mobile networks, running across many channels on and off-line, having a data environment tracking systems in place -- there is a lot of underlying technology we have built in those areas, and we are always adding to that as well. it is something always changing, so we have to keep up-to-date. caroline: what about the going public? do you see that within the next year or two? jason: we will have to see how quickly the sports betting market develops. we feel like if there is enough traction and stability for us to be a public company, then that is something we will look at. i think we are at least a couple years away. caroline: until not couple of years, what is the focus now? is it talent? every ceo tells me it is the war of talent. where do you really apply your time? jason: talent is very important.

we are always looking for great talent, especially when you're entering a new vertical you have , to help you in that. we have made several hires in that area. we are also focused on billing a technology platform that is scalable among a number of different verticals. we homebrewing our -- we home brewed our fantasy technology, and the goal is to do the same with sports betting. we went to make sure we have the best technology platform out there, and i think we have a very talented group of engineers, and they are all getting educated on this as well. and also continuing to work with policymakers. not just here in massachusetts, but in a way that allows for innovation and allows for good product for consumers. caroline: that was our conversation with draft came's -- draft king's ceo jason robbins. tomorrow we will be at the headquarters of mass challenge, a startup accelerator making a big impact here on the city.

that is all for now from boston's fenway park. this is bloomberg. ♪ mom, dad, can we talk?

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