32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Scott O’Neil: CEO of the New Jersey Devils & Philadelphia 76ers

Episode Date: June 9, 2021

Scott O’Neil has held a number of executive positions in North American sports. He joins Jeff and Elliotte to talk about his new book “Be Where Your Feet Are”, finding stillness in your life, preparing for success as well as failure, the process with the 76ers, how his team is building out initiatives that better […]

uh weird about hockey stuff about fresh tape and things like that and dressing certain ways but welcome to 31 thoughts the podcast jeff merrick alongside elliot friedman the podcast is always brought to you by the gmc sierra at4 elliot today our special guest is the ceo of the new jersey devils also uh ceo of the philadelphia 76ers of the nba, Scott O'Neill. Real interesting guy, real interesting background. Think you're going to enjoy this conversation. Should also point out he is the author of a new book called Be Where Your Feet Are, Seven Principles That Keep You Present, Grounded, and Thriving. From your perch, before we get into the piece here,

what do you think people should know about Scott O'Neill? He's got a really interesting background. He's been at Madison Square Garden. He's now, as you mentioned, with the Devils and 76ers. One of the things we talk about is the process, what they went through on both an on-court and business perspective from the 76ers when they basically scorched the earth. and that is a hotly debated thing you know i love in the interview that the the stuff about lou lamorello i think i think people in in our sport are fascinated by lou lamorello and what he's like and the stories he tells are pretty hilarious the thing that i think about this interview I like is it really veered into different topics, Jeff.

Some very serious and some very light. So I think in this one, there's going to be something for everyone. The one thing that I was curious about with his work with the Devils, and we saw this with the 76ers, and he goes into it in some depth here. Devils and we saw this with the 76ers and he goes into it in some depth here. We've seen teams, just for the sake of this podcast, considering it's hockey, we'll focus on hockey. We've seen some teams start to come together on the ice, but the organization around the team sort of isn't ready for success and the organization scrambles and it costs the team on the ice. Elliot, we've seen this countless times. We don't talk about it a lot, but it does happen, and it happens with some frequency. With the Philadelphia 76ers, this group had a depressed team, a team that couldn't win.

But in that moment and around that time, what they went about is sort of what they're going about in New Jersey right now, creating an environment around the team so when that team is ready to be great, the organization around the team is great as well so there isn't any conflict or friction or there'll be nothing that the organization does that affects negatively what happens on the ice.

I agree with that entirely. When you're in his position, everything that happens reflects on you, whether it's your fault or not. It reflects on you because you're the face. It's funny when, and I say this a lot, but know what you're signing up for. I tell it especially to young journalism students or young reporters, know what you signed up for. There are great rewards, but there are also great risks. And one of the things out there is that when you go into this business, you put yourself out there publicly. Jeff, every mistake you and I make,

everyone sees it. Scott O'Neill, you get the great title, you get all the perks and benefits that go with it, but that also means that everything reflects on you. And I think the best understand that. And it's clear, like there's a point in the interview where he disagrees with one of my theories and he says to me, you should get your facts straight. And the reaction I take from that is, this is a person who has incredible pride in the job that they do and the company that they work with. And I think that's the way it should be. You should be willing to say, hey, I defend what we're thinking and I defend our process. And you know what? I think

the best leaders do that. They admit mistakes whenever they happen. I love that his book talks about failure and how to handle it. I think being a leader is two things, accepting mistakes and blame for them, but to having pride in where you work for and wanting to be the best. And I think in this interview, it shows both of those sides of him. Agree or disagree? Completely agree. Of course, how can you not? And that is a perfect on-ramp here for this conversation. Scott O'Neill, CEO of the New Jersey Devils, on 31 Thoughts, the podcast. Enjoy. Elliot, we're very pleased to be joined by Scott O'Neill.

He is the CEO of the New Jersey Devils, the Philadelphia 76ers, and is the author of Be Where Your Feet Are, Seven Principles to Keep You Present, Grounded, and Thriving. Scott, thanks so much for doing this. How are you today? I am better than I deserve. Happy, healthy. Got one team in the playoffs. One team picked up a number of four overall picks.

So, you know, life could be worse. And you forgot to say must-read book. That's right. The must-read. This is a blaze in the sky. This is a Blakey-envision of books. Your life will forever be changed after you crack the spine on this one. Well, Jeff,

Jeff, one thing we should point out is that last night during the draft lottery, if you looked at the books on Tom Fitzgerald's desk underneath, underneath, I believe a coffee mug right on top was a book entitled be where your feet are. So Tom Fitzgerald's reading it. Yes. I mean, Fitzy,

he, we were on our, we have a twice a week call with our, with our top execs and we were on the call and, and he, he flashed the book and said, this might make an appearance tonight during the lottery. So it was good. It's a good man.

So do we consider that a good luck book now? Will we see, will the New Jersey Devils have that on their draft table? They probably will. If it was up to me, they would. You know, there's a lot of ways to go with this conversation. We'll try to get into as many as we can. So there's a lot of ways to go with this conversation. We'll try to get into as many as we can.

It seems to me, just to characterize yourself in your own words, get to know you moment here on the podcast with yourself for people that may not know who you are. It seems as if you're part of a, and this is just from your business point of view, personal who you are is separate, but it seems as if you are very much of a group of business executives that are interested not so much in just the business of business, but how we should live, how we should be better, and how that harmonizes with business. True or

false? That's definitely true. I believe that we are a sum total of the experiences we've had, the people we've met, and who we aspire to be. And I very much have grown up and been so blessed to spend my entire career in and around the sports business and have met incredible people and have also been intellectually curious. I'm as interested in what's happening in the geopolitical space as I am life sciences, technology, business, and certainly kind of human dynamics. You know, Scott, there's a lot of places I want to go with you. There's some stories about you that I've heard that I want to ask you about. Are they positive? They're funny. They're funny. I think you will get a

good laugh. The number one thing I want to talk to you about your book about be where your feet are is that, you know, I failed at several things in my life. Like everyone has, I had a very major public failure, which I'm pretty mentally good, but because I was concerned about the effect it would have on my family, not me, I could handle it myself. I was was concerned about the effect it would have on my family, not me, I could handle it myself. I was more concerned about the effect on my family. It took me a long time to get over it. And, you know, I think if I could go back in time, A, I wouldn't have made the mistake,

but B, I would have tried to pull myself out of it further. And I think this is very good advice, especially now as we're going through a worldwide challenge about how to deal when things don't go well, when despite your best intentions, it doesn't work and you're disappointed, you're crushed, you feel that people look at you differently. And I think those are the most important lessons. So when you talk about how to deal, what are the critical things people have to know? Sure. Well, first of all, I appreciate it. I mean, that's the core essence of Be Where Your Feet Are. I think I just wanted to give a little context before answering. I mean, the first thing is, is we live in this Instagram world. You know,

it's like that Lego guy, everything is awesome. You know that guy? And everything is not awesome. It's awesome on Instagram. It's awesome on Facebook. And I love seeing your families or your daughter scores the winning goal. You know, all these incredible things that are happening in people's lives. And I still want my friends to share them. And I appreciate them. But when you peek behind the curtain, well, look at me, for example.

You say, oh, this guy runs two sports teams. He's been married for 25 years. His daughters are amazing. All that stuff I'm very proud of. But what they might not know is that, you know, I've had foreclosure notices on my house after I ran a company into the ground. And then I was fired from a really public job at the world's most famous arena. And, you know, my best friend took his own life. I've got all these things in my life that are rough. Life is really messy. And it has to be okay. And I think that we have to be vulnerable. And for you too, you have a big platform. And I have a big platform. And so when anyone might identify with one of the things that you've gone through or I've gone through, maybe it makes it better for one person for one day.

So that's the first. But in terms of how you deal with it, my first step is always perspective. And I think oftentimes we're staring smack dab into that tree and we're in the eye of our own storm. And if we just pull the lens back a little bit and understand how fortunate we are, take a few minutes to count the blessings we have in our life. Life gets a little better when you have perspective. And the second piece is you need someone who gives you real feedback. Mine is my wife. But everyone needs somebody in their life that loves them enough to tell them the truth, to tell them when they're off center, off kilter,

not seeing reality or not being the best version of themselves. And then the third thing, which is very hard for me is to find some sort of reflective strength. I mean, I had an executive coach years ago, Tricia Nadoff, who used to tell me to meditate. And I literally, I laughed when I was saying it. I couldn't even sit still for five seconds, let alone meditate for 45 minutes. I've gotten a little bit better as I've gotten older and not everybody can meditate. Not everybody can like engross himself in scripture or prayer or any of that stuff, but you might be able to go for a walk. You might be a person who can sit out, listen to the bird's trip. Like we need some stillness in our life. So I think that's the formula. I want to ask you about preparing for success

because it seems as if, listen, this is what your group did with the Philadelphia 76ers specifically. It was a team that was going nowhere, but around that team, you created an environment whereby when this team was going to be successful, the organization was ready for it. And there's a quote that I thought about when I was thinking about this interview with you today, and it's from Isaac Asimov, and he says, the saddest part of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom. And I'm thinking sort of what you guys did with the 76ers. I'm assuming that you're doing same with the New Jersey Devils, that when this team is ready to be a perennial playoff contender, compete for the Stanley Cup, et cetera, the

organization will be ready for it. How do you prepare, in your words, for success? That is a very simple question, complex answer. So we use the phrase 90-point ready and 50-win ready on the NBA side. And so that is your job. I mean, we're trying to increase the curve of success. So in terms of hockey, we're trying to create home ice advantage, if you will. And there are some very simple ways we do that. And the process that we went through in Philadelphia is very similar to the process we're going through in New Jersey. And so there are a lot of parallels, but the sports are very different. How you build a championship teams are very different. The timing is a little different and we're, we're much different in terms of how we communicate them. But our, our formula is

relatively simple. It's first is about people, people, people. It's like, can you attract and retain and develop the most talented people in the world? And we have an incredible, incredible group of people. So from on the business side, from Jake Reynolds to Jillian Frechette to Brian Norman, I mean, this team is, they're for real extraordinary leaders, extraordinary human beings, and are very passionate about building something special. And so I think from that end, we've made some really good strides and we have a long way to go.

And that's the fun part. And on the hockey side, I don't mean to sound so, I'm kind of balanced between sounding as hopeful as I sound, but yet balanced with the results we had this year. But this is the first team that I fell in love with since I've been here. And I've been here eight years. This is a team that plays with youthful exuberance. It has players that I know are going to be here for the long haul. We're starting to build our young core. And if you look at the great teams that have been built over the last couple of decades that I've been in and around this sport, they always start with homegrown talent in that young core. And between Nico, Jack, and Ty, and Blackwood, you start to see Bratt and Wood.

You start to see this core kind of growing up together. Of course, you had some really surprises with Sharon Govich and Kokanen clearly burst onto the scene as a regular NHL player. And Bastion and McLeod are two of my favorites. The most fun fourth line I've ever watched play. So like I said, I don't want to sound like an over-exuberant, youthful fan, naive fan. But boy, do I like the direction we're going? 100%.

Do I appreciate the patience and plan that Fitzy has in place? 100%. Do I know that we'll be playing meaningful games next year? I'm pretty confident we're going to be playing some meaningful games next year. And do we need help? Yes. Do we need to spend more money? Yes. But we have to be careful. It's like, remember, all this talent through the system, I haven't even talked about the guys in our system, you know, Holtz and Mercer and Ball and Foot, et cetera. It's pretty exciting to think about. And we're trying to manage this so that this is an extraordinary team that's competing for a decade, because that's what the franchises that we admire are doing.

And they all had to go through pain to get there. And some of the better teams in the East, as you know, are aging out. And we plan to be that leading edge of the next generation of great teams. And it's going to take discipline and probably a little bit of luck. And it's going to take incredible amount of development, but I'm excited. I mean, just to see the growth of players, it's almost like so many players exploded onto the scene this year. Jack became Jack Hughes, when we drafted. And Nico became our captain. And so I'm excited. I really am. This team is going to be very special. When I think of the process and the one you went through in the NBA, I think from a team play point of view, it was 100% the right call. It allowed you to get some absolute studs and the

Philadelphia 76ers, they're now in the second round of the playoffs and they finished first in the Eastern Conference this year. But I also wonder about it from the business side. Fans stopped going to games. The TV ratings at times were some of the lowest the 76ers had ever seen. And I think some people, because they don't have skin in the game, they don't think about that part of the process. And I always wondered, Scott, from looking at it from a business point of view, you're thinking you're doing the right thing for on the court, but how much stomach do you need and how do you go through that on the business side? Sure. Yeah. I just want to make sure you have your facts right. Because when I walked in here in 2013, team hadn't won 50 games since 2002.

We were a cap team and we were 8, 9, 10 team at best. And from a business metrics, we were last in the league in season tickets. We were last in sponsorship revenue and we were among the dwellers in TD ratings. And we had two first round picks over the next five years. And as my dad called me when I got the job, he said, son, even you can't fall off of this floor. So, you know, there was nowhere to go but up. And as we look forward, so the story that you're telling is actually not true. We actually increased season tickets. Ratings flatlined, as you'd expect with a team that went from a mediocre team to a

28, 18, 10, 17 win season out of 82 games, of course. But our season tickets, man, by that year when we won 28 games on the second time, everything was going through the moon and it was the place to be. And we created a movement. That's the big difference. This wasn't about marketing. I said, this is a movement. We are building And we created a movement. That's the big difference. This wasn't about marketing. I said, this is a movement. Like we are building, we lost a generation of fans because of the inability for us to put a team on the court that people cared about. We had hit the worst part of sports. And that's when you become irrelevant.

When they love you, you're good. When they hate you, you're still good. You still have that passion. When you become irrelevant, you have a problem. And that's where that team, that the 76ers were. And now it was argued that we were team number five behind our MLS team, the Philadelphia Union at the time. And you could argue that we were one or two now with or ahead of the Philadelphia Eagles, of the NFL. So this has been kind of an incredibly dramatic turnaround.

The amazing part is this team has never been out of the second round. We got swept in the first round of playoffs last year. So this is a story that we're trying to write on the court, but the business story has been written. I mean, this is the greatest turnaround that I've ever seen in this business. And I expect similar results on the hockey side. You know, I am curious about what owning the 76ers has meant to also owning the New Jersey Devils. And the one thing that I keep coming back to is this question. Do you think that since this group owns the Philadelphia 76ers, that this organization is uniquely positioned, we'll put it that way, uniquely positioned for the social justice space right now in hockey? Oh, for sure. I mean, we have the DNA anyway. Josh Harris, David Blitzer,

Michael Rubin, me, we are all so passionate about values that matter, equality. We've been considered leaders in the space, which is wonderful, but we're more focused on how do we actually make an impact and a difference in the world? Two programs that can easily be replicable by any organization. One is we have a Buy Black program where we take five minority-owned businesses in Newark and five minority-owned businesses in Philadelphia, and we give them free sponsorships. Now And these are small businesses. And what a great opportunity. So you get signage, you get social media presence,

and that's great. But we're also leaning in and we're giving some accounting help and we're providing some legal help and providing some marketing and branding guidance. And so it's been an incredible platform. Doesn't cost us much. The only thing it costs is time.

And it's an easy platform for teams to jump on and do. The other initiative we have going, which I'm really proud of, is diversity spending. Like when you look at the money you're spending and you do an audit, you know, sadly, most of the businesses that we're spending money with on the vendor side are white businesses, white-owned businesses, which is fine. We just want to represent, better represent the communities that we live, work and play in. And so we have a very aggressive initiative to make sure that our vendor spending is much more balanced. So there's two like really simple programs. We've pledged $20 million to black and brown communities. We just acquired a theater in Jersey City, New Jersey. And a lot of what attracted the mayor of the city and the governor of the state to us was we're very focused on impacting communities that could

use a little help. And we've been gifted with these platforms and they're wonderful. Like working for a team, it is the greatest gig in the world. It truly is. Anybody who played a sport growing up, you get the thrill of the win and the loss like you did back when you were a kid. But the gift is that this is a platform for good and a platform for change. And we have an opportunity now to take that, leverage it, and make a difference. And it's as fulfilling a thing I do as anything in my life. Let me follow that up with something that I hope you're open to talking about because it's a private thing amongst your group. And that is a lot of the video calls that you do with staff. And you'll have Elton Brand on the calls. PK Subban, I know, has been on the calls before. What can you share about what happens on those internal calls where people like Brand and Subban are involved? Sure. When it comes to just generally our calls, we love to have access for our team to our coaches, our players, our GMs, because this is a family, has been, will be,

and always will be. We are working tirelessly to make the experience for our players a world-class experience in Philadelphia and Newark. And we do with our coaching staff, our trainers, our health and wellness folks, our ticket sales reps, our marketing people, and everybody in between, we want to make sure that we are one, we're a family. And so the opportunity to bring big stars into the mix, to have a ticket sales rep talk to P.K. Subban or Lindy Ruff or Tom Fitzgerald or Elton Brand or Doc Rivers or Ben Simmons, it's awesome. During the days of social unrest in the U.S., we were very fortunate to have a black general manager, a black head coach,

we were very fortunate to have a black general manager, a black head coach, and PK Subban, who is a global icon and superstar. And so what a gift to have strong men who have experienced racism in their life, come on and provide and lead three back-to-back-to-back sessions, 90-minute sessions, where our Black and Brown employees were detailing their experiences with racism growing up. And what an education for those of us who are white to listen and learn and ask questions. And in times, it was really emotional. So there are times when it matters most that we had our greatest stars in our constellation of stars show up and lead. And other times we bring them on and we talk about their favorite hockey moments or their draft night or what it's like to be drafted. You know, we do all that stuff because it's fun. But the moments that matter, man, it's been pretty special. And I think having that type of access, working in

a culture where we truly know each other as people, care about each other as people, that's what it's all about. Okay. Why did Lou Lamorello throw you out of his office twice? You know, I just talked to Lou yesterday to wish him luck in the series against the Bruins.

I love him. He's a mentor and friend of mine. Will be for a long time. But I was a young, young executive. And, you know, if you know me as confident now, you should have seen me back then. So Lou had just taken over the Nets. So it was a funky time.

It's like the Nets and Devils and Yankees were somewhat merged. And so Lou had taken over the Nets. And so I was working at the NBA League office at the time, and my boss, David Stern, said, get over to New Jersey. He never said anything nicely, but he said, get over to New Jersey and tell them what the heck's going on. So I was like, okay. So I reached out to Lou's office office and fortunate enough to get a meeting two

days later. I waited outside his office in this awful, uncomfortable chair. It was at the Meadowlands at the time, Continental Arena, I think it was named. I don't think it was IZOD yet. So 45 minutes, I'm waiting, I'm tapping my foot. And I mentioned before, I can't sit still. So I'm like getting up and pacing around. I come back, for two minutes get up pace around so i walk in his office he looks at me he's like who are you and i was like well you know i'm scott o'neill he's like who sent you here stern david stern i'm like yep the commissioner sent me here um he's like well next time come back and wear a tie and i said i go are you are you serious he's like get out i'm like okie doke so so i get back to my office.

My phone rings. And it was the dreaded 8300 extension, which was David Stern. And I pick up the phone already with a cold sweat on my brow, knowing that I was going to get the thrashing. And he's like, how does it go? I said, I don't know. You wouldn't let me in. He's like, why not?

I was like, I didn't have a time. He's like, well, put a time and get back there. It's like, this is awesome. I was like, I didn't have a time. He's like, well, put a time to get back there. You know, it's like, this is awesome. So like, I'm like, like toggling between two Titans as like a young, aspiring executive.

So two weeks later, he invites me back. I beg my way back. However you want to, however you want to remember the story. And so I go back in same deal. I'm sitting in an uncomfortable chair, pacing around his office. I finally get let in and he's sitting behind his desk. He throws a book at me and says, "'Don't come back until you read this." And I catch the book, I look down

and it's Vince Lombardi. I was like, so I have to go and read this now? He's like, out. So I leave, I get in the car, I go back to New York, same 8,300 calls, same routine. He's like, well, read the book. You know, I was like, anyway. So then it's funny.

Like I went back a third time. And this time I asked to take the now commissioner, Adam Silver, and Bernie Mullen, who's my longtime boss, good friend, both amazing friends of mine now. And I'm in the car and I'm a low man on the totem pole. I'm like 30 years old. And so I had written notes. You know. I've written up notes. I was like, here's what I think we should say. Because I said to Stern, I'm like, I don't think you should send me back there by myself. I don't think he cares about me. I don't think he has any respect for what I'm going to say. And so he's like, will Adam go with you? I'm like, I can ask him. He's like, well, get out of there. I can deal with this whole thing. So I grabbed my boss and Adam.

We're in the car over there. And so I prepared these notes for these guys, like three pages of notes. Here's what I would say. Here's what I would leave. Here are the questions I would ask. Here's how I'd tee it up. Because that's what I did for the NBA. I was a consultant for the team.

So I would go in. In particular, when new people took over their teams, I would go in and kind of run them through a, here's a to-don't list, effectively. And here's a to-do list. And here's an evaluation of your organization. And here's some recommendations, et cetera. So we're in the car and I was like, okay, like you guys have this, right? Like, yep, we got it. So we sit down, Lou says, you know, Bernie and they had known each other way back from the Providence days. And Bernie's like, Adam, Adam's like, Scott. I'm like, you guys gotta be kidding

me. So here I am about to get slaughtered. So I go into my pitch because I know the organization very well. I used to work there at the Nats. I started as a marketing assistant. So I knew the players, knew the organization. So I go into my like hardcore. Here's what I found. Here's what I think we need to do. And I went through and he was putting me to – I mean he put me on the hot seat.

And I was going. I was holding my own, doing my thing. So I went down, I had to hear the 10 things I would change tomorrow. I did a whole, this whole little thing. And so he's like, are you done? And I was like, yes, I am. You know, figuring I was going to get thrown out for a third time. Why not?

Third time's a charm. And he goes and he opens his board. He had this big like covered board. He opens it up. Everything that I had walked him through, he had written down on the board before I walked in there. So that is a good lesson on so many fronts. One is never underestimate the great Lou Lamorello in business, in hockey, as a friend. He's one of the great human beings in the sport of hockey.

And I've cherished my friendship with him and hope to have a statue of him outside the Prudential Center at some point. He's that good. I mean, he's the Vince Lombardi of hockey. He's the great of the greats as a human being and as a hockey executive and a friend. So that's one. Two, whenever you go into his office,

you better put a tie on. You better have read something from Vince Lombardi and you better be prepared. But that's funny you know that. One of my all-time favorite people. I got two more quick ones for you. Number one, how many Madison Square Garden executives can Adam Graves pin against the boards at the same time? No.

All right. So I, I listen, I am a basketball junkie. Okay. I think hockey is the greatest live sport in the history of the world, but I grew up skating a little bit of pond hockey on Chadwick Lake in Newburgh,

New York, but no skill at all. None. Okay. Good hands. They say, but, but moves but moves like a sloth on the ice, if you can imagine, a sloth in skates. So the first thing I did when I got to MSG was like, hey, when do we play hoop? And they're like, we don't play. This is Madison Square Garden. I go,

what we do now? So for the first six months, I was getting my regular hoop runs in on the court. Now, I'm a New York kid. So on the court, Madison Square Garden was kind of a dream. And while I didn't have any legs, even then my mouth, I'm a world-class shit talker, world-class. And so the hockey guys started giving me a hard time. Oh, you're a basketball guy. I said, no, I'm not a basketball guy. I love hockey. And they're like, well, can we play on the ice?

I was like, yeah. And so if there were a fifth line, I don't think I would have been on that. Okay. For the games. But we did have like Ron Duque played played adam gravy played i mean it was kind of unbelievable and then a lot of guys that i played with were college hockey players so real hockey players and i'm not but we had like there was a group of us that couldn't play and play and i would be on that group and adam graves is like you ever hit anybody no i was like no he's

like take a run at me and i literally i skated as fast as i can which is slow and tried to put him into the board and i bounced off like a like a super ball like remember you were a kid you had a super ball and you throw it against the wall yes that was me and adam grace is the nicest human being in the history of the world i don't know if you know baby at all but literally yeah i mean i mean it's almost like you cannot believe when you first meet him you can't believe that someone can be that authentic and that wonderful and that nice um on the ice not so much so i bounced him off him like a super bowl and i was running my mouth the whole time which wasn't a great idea and then at one point the puck went into the corner of course took me 20 minutes to skate over there and i felt pressure on my body like i've never felt before. And I felt like I was pinned to the glass,

almost like a bad sitcom where your face is like against the glass. And it felt like an hour. It was probably a minute, but it was way too long. So he had me and two other guys pinned and immobilized for way too long, but not a fun night. That's for sure. And here's my last one. Ifris drury was kidnapped and replaced by you would anybody be able to tell the difference oh drew yeah he was our captain uh when i was with the rangers you know there aren't too many people that have been with been around kind of big market big revenue teams and small market uh lower revenue teams like I have. So it's kind of fun to think back on those memories. And Chris was, Drew was a elite, elite leader and a wonderful human being. When I was at games, I would either be asked if I was Chris Drury or if I was his brother. I mean,

it was almost painful. I took it as a great compliment. Scott, both professionally and if you're comfortable personally, what makes you nervous? What makes me nervous? Any kind of technology uncertainty. So logging onto this podcast, I hadn't used this platform before, cold sweat. Getting in the car, I'm an awful driver. I'm not as bad as my daughters. By the way, I don't know if you know this, but my daughters are such bad drivers that the insurance company called and said, we are not willing to carry you anymore. Oh, wow. And I said, there has to be some price we can pay.

And they said, not with us. So yeah, three crashes and several tickets later. They're lovely ladies, but not their strong point. But when I'm driving, I get anxious if I don't know where i'm going but but not too much else um and the final one if commissioner gary bettman called you this afternoon and said scott we're giving you the ability to change one thing in hockey what would it be and you you can't answer, by Gary, I'm the commissioner. Actually, you could. That would be even funnier.

One thing. I would love us to have teams in Europe. If I could do one thing, I think that this is an incredibly global game. I think that the thought of some of these players going to go home late in their career would be freaking incredible. I think it would create an incredible platform for growth and change. And I think that the global growth of this game would be really fun to explore on a different, on a different continent. That is an answer I didn't expect, but do you know if anyone's, I mean,

once upon a time, like early nineties, I still have like pro formers kicking around here when the NHL investigated the idea of, you know, London and Paris. And I think Lisbon might even be one of them as well. Just sort of, you know, put the thermometer in the marketplace to see what that might be like. Do you know if anyone's actually pursued that in any significant way?

I don't know. I mean, you asked me to dream, right? I mean, this is Gary Bettman calling me and asking me if I could change one thing. So no, it wouldn't be London or Paris or Lisbon either. But there are so many great hockey cities and hockey countries in Europe. But no, I don't know if it's been explored. But I have so much love and respect for this game. I want more people to see it up close and personally.

I think the gap, it's the one sport where the gap between the live experience and television is the widest. And I want to close that gap. I mean, I'm sure there's some things we can do on the broadcast front, social media. And I think the league's doing an incredible job getting players more comfortable, engaging with fans in a different way. The new TV deal has been wonderful. The league is growing. All that stuff's positive, but I think it'd be fun to explore. Be Where Your Feet Are is the book. Our guest has been Scott O'Neill, CEO of the Devils and the Philadelphia 76ers.

Scott, thanks so much for doing this. Much appreciated. I appreciate you guys. Wish you the best of luck and hope to see you soon. Thanks very much, Scott. See y'all. Okay, a couple of things there. One, I like how, and you know, every organization has, you know,

mottos and sayings and mantras and stuff. I love the idea of being 90 point ready. What can we do to be 90 point ready? What can we do to be 50 win ready? It's just something that I think is a real positive thing for your entire group when you have that in the back of your mind. And I'll tell you what, Frej, I would be a very poor lawyer. You know why? Because lawyers are always told never ask questions you don't know the answer to.

I had no idea that that was going to be his answer when I said, what would you change about hockey? I had no idea he was going to go down the European route. I don't know if we've talked about this on the podcast before, but I agree with him. I think eventually, I don't think anytime soon, certainly not in a pandemic, but that is where the NHL is going to head. I don't know when they're going to get there. I know bill daly probably has enough folders on his desk right now to even contemplate dealing with uh with something significant for the nhl in europe is is folly but i think that that's where this game is headed anyway what did you think of that answer well first of all i'm not surprised that you'd be a terrible lawyer that's that's number one just the worst put it this way if i was going to the electric chair

jeff you would not be the guy i'd pick based on what just happened here That's number one. Just the worst. Put it this way. If I was going to the electric chair, Jeff, you would not be the guy I'd pick based on what just happened here. Sidebar, Your Honor. Oh, yeah. My guy's guilty. Like, look, just give me a soft landing as much as possible. I don't want to get tied in with this guy. I'm making 300 an hour.

Like, I'm good. I'm good. You know, like I said, I really liked the interview. He was blunt. He was honest. The Lamorello stuff, like I said, that was just my favorite. That's great. Adam Graves pinning three people to the boards at once.

You know, the stuff you asked about the Zoom meetings, the in-person Zoom or the Zoom meetings for staff, I thought that was really good. You know, the one thing I'm kind of thinking about right now that I'd wish I'd asked him, because I think a lot of people on the podcast would have been interested in it is what's the future of office work. But I always think it's a good interview when you look back and you say, I damn,

I wish I'd gone to this instead of, Oh boy, we went five, 10 minutes too long. So I liked him. I thought he was really good. Really impressed. And we wish him best of luck with the book as well.

And best of luck at the draft where New Jersey will select fourth. Bye.