Bradley Tusk and I Talk Prediction Markets and College Sports
I also reflect on why sports and politics are deeply intertwined
Last week I went on Bradley Tusk’s podcast.
Bradley’s best known for his work with Uber. In 2011, when Uber was still a young startup, Travis Kalanick hired Bradley as their first political advisor to help legalize ride-sharing and beat back regulatory resistance from taxi unions and city governments. Uber couldn’t afford to pay Bradley’s consulting fee, so they offered him equity instead of cash.
Bradley turned that success into Tusk Venture Partners – and he’s helped all types of companies navigate tough regulatory landscapes, from FanDuel to Coinbase to Lemonade.
I first learned about Bradley in college. Back then I was a government major, spent most of my time writing for the school newspaper, and actually wanted to work in politics. I read Bradley’s book “The Fixer” and was struck by the idea that a political advisor could fundamentally alter a tech company’s trajectory. That wasn’t obvious at the time.
Fast forward ten years. I reached out to Bradley, we had a great zoom talking about prediction markets, and we decided to record a podcast together.
Here was my biggest reflection…
The sports industry and politics are closely intertwined.
With prediction markets, we’re seeing sports betting activity shift from state-regulated gaming platforms like DraftKings to nationally-regulated financial exchanges like Kalshi. Prediction market companies need help navigating CFTC and/or state OSB licenses, and also winning over the American public.
With college sports, NIL is breaking athletic departments’ budgets, and collective bargaining and conference realignment are both hot-button topics. Conference commissioners and athletic directors need help positioning themselves for the future.
With pro sports, every major league is looking to grow its international business. For example the NBA is planning to launch a European league, and they’ll need help convincing European cities to approve massive stadium renovations.
With fitness, wearables companies are walking a tightrope between consumer wellness gadgets and regulated medical devices. For example Whoop and the FDA have jabbed back and forth over how its Blood Pressure Insights feature should be regulated.
What’s the throughline between all these topics?
Sports have a massive cultural influence on society. Consumers (i.e. voters) want to weigh in on these issues, so they often get put under a massive political microscope.
Consumers don’t often think about how the CFTC treats oil derivatives, but they sure do care how the CFTC treats sports betting.
Consumers don’t often think about how much their governor allocates to the state university system, but they sure do care whether their favorite team makes the College Football Playoff.
That’s why sports and politics are so intertwined, and why political advisors like Bradley can be so valuable.
Anyways, I had a blast doing Bradley’s podcast. We dove into prediction markets, college sports and my path into the sports industry.
Give the podcast a listen!