Dustin Heise 0:00

Thanks so much for taking some time today, Brett. Can't thank you enough and know how precious your time is. And you know, just to get some quality time together to have a chat around where we're going with the business of sport and where you've continued to be able to be a leader and innovator in that particular space. But if I may, just introduce today's guest is Brett M. Johnson, CEO of Benevolent Capital and chairman of Rhode Island FC and Centerville Bank Stadium, with investments spanning global football clubs like Ipswich Town FC and a portfolio at the intersection of sport, real estate, and community development. He's built a career around using sport as a catalyst for long-term value and connection. Thanks so much, Brett. And uh those words are extremely meaningful, especially for me. And I know so many listeners that you know try and drive and draw inspiration around the vision that you've continued to build and create. Do you mind just sharing a little bit about how you got here today and how you continue to lead within uh the space that you do?

Brett Johnson 0:58

Yeah, uh thank you, Dustin. It's a real honor to spend some time with you and certainly grateful to anyone and everyone who might be listening. Yeah, I view my arc in sort of sports as an asset class. It was almost accidental in the sense that my first epiphany came in 2014 when I recognized that there was not a major league soccer franchise in Phoenix, Arizona. And that, as I describe it, that entrepreneurial epiphany, like I think about that spark has now led in no particular order, but I I founded with my current partner, I founded Phoenix Rising, which is the USL team in that market. And you for your listeners, USL is the league that kind of plays right below Major League Soccer, United Soccer League. At the time, the pathway to Major League Soccer was coming through the USL. So uh from Phoenix, from the success with Phoenix, and again, for your listeners who kind of followed the beautiful game, Didier Drogba, my partner ended up recruiting Didier Drogwa, one of the greatest players of all time, to join our ownership group and complete his career with us. And we built a stadium in a great location in a short period of time, and we attracted the attention of the largest pension fund in the state of Arizona, which ultimately led to a partnership where we acquired Ipswich Town. And again, for those that don't follow the sport closely, Ipswich Town is based in England in a prior life. It was one of the most prominent clubs in the world. It won the Premier League, it won the FA Cup, it won the Champions League. But under the Darwinian nature of foreign football, where you have promotion and relegation, we bought the club when it was sitting in the third level of English football and candidly kind of staring down the barrel of a potential relegation down to League Two, the fourth level, when we bought it. And we've had an incredible run with that franchise, including you're catching me at a good time. We just about a week ago secured promotion back up to the Premier League. And then you mentioned Rhode Island. I spent a lot of time. That's been a real passion project for me. Another USL club, and we built a $140 million stadium. So for an expansion team in a minor league to build that stadium, uh, there were a lot of firsts associated with that. And so with total humility, it's come a long way in a relatively short period of time. And and and Kennedy, I couldn't be more excited about what, if you will, the next 10 years is going to bring it up.

Dustin Heise 3:25

Oh, yeah. Well, I can't wait to just keep digging in here, Brett. I mean, again, that's uh what a heck of a start. But hey, when did you first realize sport could be a unifying force, you know, beyond the game itself? Of course, you've been able to have the vision and and know, again, as you said, sport is an asset class and how to continue to build towards that. But where within the vision, you know, we're able to see that, hey, this is even bigger than just the business, because that's, you know, you're able to get super passionate around that, but you can also have an impact on people's lives through this beautiful game, as you say.

Brett Johnson 3:59

Yeah, I so I studied in England as an undergraduate. I went, I went to a school on the East Coast called Brown University, but I was studying in London for a semester, and I went to an arsenal game at the old stadium at Highbury. And that was a special experience and kind of gave me, as I describe it, a front row seat to the religion by which everyone reveres the other football, meaning soccer. And then I lived in London for five years and I traveled all around the world. This was in my late 20s, and I started recognizing that sport, soccer specifically, was like the ultimate icebreaker. Basically, anytime I was looking to connect with someone almost anywhere in the world, I would bring up football, the other football. And I would find within 10 minutes, more often than not, we'd find some commonality or just, you know, have a deeper connection with each other. And again, as a fairly young person who's trying to kind of navigate business environments both sort of near and far, it was always nice to kind of make that connection. So ultimately I parlayed that to when I came back to the States, I started recognizing over time Americans would appreciate the beautiful game. And I thought the men and women in America would women have always been fantastic, but I kind of have a thesis that at some point the American men will get their act together and have a world-class team. I don't think it's going to happen this summer, but but I could still hope, if you will.

Dustin Heise 5:22

Yeah, well, we've both got an incredible opportunity in front of us. And then there is no greater opportunity to connect. The broadcast and the ability for football to be able to connect to the globe. There's not another program or sport or anything that people connect to, even more so than the Olympic Games themselves. It is the most highly viewed spectator sport program on the planet, and arguably the most highly viewed spectator venue on the planet. You know, you've seen both business turnarounds and and team building at scale. What lessons has translated most for you from one to the other, from business to team building at scale?

Brett Johnson 6:05

Yeah, good question. I mean, I I always view, regardless of sort of the vertical, if you will, like I spent a lot of time on sports, but it always comes down to the people involved with it. And I've been very fortunate with the clubs that I've been involved with, you know, from Phoenix to Ipswich to Rhode Island. We've won now eight trophies in eight years, which is incredible. But I I take no, I'm not responsible for winning any of those trophies. I don't make technical decisions. I never will make technical decisions. But if I've either either been lucky or good, or a combination of both, I'm I've been pretty good at finding great people to surround myself with. And, you know, the CEO of Ipswich is a guy by the name of Mark Ashton. I met Mark when he was CEO of Bristol City and kind of recognized that I thought if I ever got involved with English football, I wanted him to run any club that I'd be a part of. And good news was he agreed and kind of took the leap when we acquired Ipswich. And then anyway, a long way of my saying that any endeavor, it always comes down to the who. You've got to get the right people. And if you don't, then you've got to make those changes. And those are kind of the decisions that ultimately I feel responsible for.

Dustin Heise 7:14

Absolutely. When you guys are considering the building of a club or making a contribution or becoming that ownership, how do you construct or deconstruct to be able to see what the people are that you're going to need in that particular sport, sport business, et cetera? Do you guys look at it from both? And I'm sure it is both, but I'm going to ask it from a two perspective. Do you look at it from how you're ultimately going to win and then how the business can serve being able to win? Or do you look at as an investment perspective, winning is also, or predominantly is the ability to generate the revenues and then the the return on those revenues and success of both is generally a succeeding outcome. How do you guys look into that on any of the teams that you continue to participate in?

Brett Johnson 8:02

Yeah, win winning is important. Anyone who says otherwise is probably lying. Spot on. But the reality is I I kind of always view, if you will, for lack of a better analogy, you know, what's on the front of the jersey is a lot more important than the name on the back of the jersey. In other words, the club is a community asset. The team is a community asset. And so, you know, I view myself as as a stakeholder who needs to invest in the asset to ideally make it something that, as I describe it, on and off the pitch that people are proud of. And so, you know, winning's important, but you also have to invest in the right people, the right culture. You know, the amount of investment we've made in Ipswich in terms of improving the stadium, the training ground, and then you start to see the economic flywheel of other investments that come. Yep. From the time I first visited Ipswich to I was there, you know, a little over a week ago, there's been a transformation economically, as you would expect. You know, we've been promoted now twice to the Premier League, and just in terms of shops and hotels and pubs, etc. But you know, Ipswich is a very different asset. It's a 150-year-old club, if you will, compare it to my Rhode Island, which is a startup. You know, Rhode Island, we built this stadium. We took fallow, Brownfield, underutilized prime real estate and converted it, you know, built a stadium, and now we're going to build housing around it. And the amount of jobs that we've created in a part of the state that was losing jobs, was losing it, lost its baseball team, it lost its hospital, it lost its biggest employer, Hasbro Corporation, picked up and left to Massachusetts. So with humility, I'm very proud of what we've been able to do by bringing the stadium, building it, by bringing anchoring it with this professional soccer team. And now a year on, we just celebrated the one-year anniversary of the stadium. We've had seven different professional sports leagues come and play in the stadium. We've had two collegiate teams, Brown, where I went URI. The success of it, we've clearly established the stadium as a sport and entertainment sort of capital for not only Rhode Island. I don't I'd go so far as to say southern New England.

Dustin Heise 10:09

I love that. I'm not trying to sound naive in this question. What do you prefer? The startup or the 150-year-old brand that you're able to continue to construct. Oh, I love it. But yeah, I'd love to hear your thoughts on that. And then I'm going to dig into either one of the whatever way.

Brett Johnson 10:26

It's such a good question. I mean, the reality is it's almost like asking which one of my kids I love more.

Dustin Heise 10:30

Yeah, sure. Yeah.

Brett Johnson 10:32

It's like I love them all. I love them all equally in different ways. You know, I I say it all the time: being a part of Ipswich, the pride that I have to be associated with that club and the resurgence of the club, again, as I like to say, on and off the pitch and the global fan base, that's almost impossible to describe. It's just an honor to be to serve that club and to serve that global fan base. And I just, with total humility, just uh work very hard to do whatever I can in whatever small way to contribute to its success. But on a relative basis, I'm far more, I'm the principal owner of Rhode Island. Like the blood, sweat, and tears of what it took to build that stadium and to launch that team, none of it, as I say, is for the faint of heart. Like it requires, they're so different. Like Ipswich, if I never got involved with Ipswich, it would still, you know, it would it would still be a prominent club in England with a great stadium, with a great fan base. Like, but if it wasn't for, if you will, my vision and commitment, both from a personal perspective and a financial perspective, Rhode Island wouldn't exist. The Rhode Island's team and stadium wouldn't exist. And so there's a a different sort of pride associated with that. Um but but all all of them bring great joy, if you will.

Dustin Heise 11:49

No, for sure. I love the way you answered because you know, of course, you love both. It is like choosing your kids. I I I agree with that because they're both extremely meaningful and blood, sweat, and tears into both, and both have an incredible impact. As you go through the process for both of those assets, but let's dig in on on uh Rhode Island. Did you start with the initial vision of what was possible from an incredible piece of real estate and what you could do within the community to have a broader impact and then ensure that you could build a sport product that could also win and inspire? Or how did you go through that process? And and do you mind just you know sharing a little bit about that process? Is I think so many people and so many listeners can appreciate there's no perfect way, but there was Brett Johnson's approach to doing it. And I think we can learn from from that and you know, probably you know, take pieces of of how we can do that in our own organizations, sport businesses, and otherwise, if you don't mind sharing a little bit, Brett.

Brett Johnson 12:43

No, I love it. Um thank you for the opportunity to kind of discuss it. So there was a baseball team, a minor league baseball team. It was a triple A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. They were called the Pawtucket Red Sox, or eventually referred to as the Pawsox. And in 2018, some local owners were trying to get a stadium deal done. They couldn't, and they picked the team up and moved it across the state to Massachusetts. And you know, the punchline, Dustin, is I find that offensive. I can't stand when I see sports teams pick up and leave communities because I feel that they are the asset of the community. Respect. So I took that motivation, if you will. I took, I, and I decided to do something about it. And I was very quick to kind of again put my entrepreneurial hat on. I called USL, I called the league up and I asked who owned the rights to the Rhode Island market. No one at the time owned it, so I effectively wired money to the league and I bought the Rhode Island rights for United Soccer League. I shortly thereafter flew into Rhode Island. I met with the then governor, I met with the mayor of Pawtucket, and I said, Look, I've got experience. I have a Phoenix team. I've been, I went to Brown University, so I've got connections to Rhode Island. And, you know, they were very quick. They were pushing to try to get me to play in the baseball stadium, take it over. And I said, Look, you got a geometrical problem because a baseball is a diamond and you know, soccer is a rectangle. I said, putting that aside, what you really have is a stadium problem because 80 years ago that stadium might have been the best location in Rhode Island. Today it's not. And nothing will ever change that. And I have a, I say all the time when I write my book on professional sports, it'll be the shortest book ever. It's called Location, Location, Location. That's it. And so, in short, I told the governor, I had looked at the map and I saw some prime real estate on the river right off the highway that was still in Pawtucket. And I said, look, if we can make this parcel work, that's where I want to build the stadium. And then I also want to build the real estate around the stadium and uh create a lot of jobs. And and so anyway, so it's it's great now looking back in hindsight, and I can kind of exhale and I can declare a mini victory on it. And I'll never, there's no finish line with it. Oh, that's right. Absolutely.

unknown 15:08

Yeah.

Brett Johnson 15:09

Like we we work, we earn our, we earn, you know, we earn it every single day. Like there's no there's no off day. You have to, you're only as good as your last game, you're only as good as your last fan experience. But again, as I like to say with humility, the stadium's doing well, the team has been doing well, the jobs that it's creating, the economic impact, the television exposure, the you know, Rhode Island is now literally on the sporting map, especially for for football, meaning soccer. And it and you know, in the past, there wasn't a lot of things that people would draw people's attention to Rhode Island. And I again, this is a great source of pride in terms of what the stadium's doing and what the team, teams plural, that are playing there are doing.

Dustin Heise 15:50

Well, you know, Brett, just thanks for sharing and being willing to dig into that. It just lands so well, especially for myself or you know, some of the listeners that, you know, for us here at Canada Snowboard, the vision was to build the world-leading snowboard nation. And how do we construct that around you know, a very similar approach to making sure that we've got the right people and the right values and holding ourselves accountable to those values and then building that community, you know, nationwide to be able to continue to get to you know our version of that? We've got so far to go to continue to get there, and the destination of North Star is consistent, but you can't have an off day. You're you're you're just spot on. Was there a moment in your career where you had to, you know, bet on a long-term vision that others didn't fully see?

Brett Johnson 16:36

Yeah, I look my Phoenix club, my original club, I bought a USL franchise that was in the market called Arizona United. We lost our lease in a stadium that was in a great location, and I had to move the team an hour outside of our core fan base. And and the punchline was like the wheels came off the business. I couldn't sell tickets, I couldn't raise capital. But the I had at the time I had an asset in that the USL club, Arizona United, that that I owned, effectively owned the rights to Major League Soccer in the Phoenix market at that time. USL and MLS were partners with each other. And so Phoenix was the biggest market without an MLS team. So I parlayed that goodwill to bring in new partners, most of whom were based in Phoenix, including a guy by the name of Bear K Backay, who I partnered up with him on everything, Ipswich and a host of other sports-anchored endeavors that we do now. Anyway, so it was a long way of my saying, I say it all the time, you know, I I've had two very distinct arcs in my career. I used to run a fairly sizable global computer accessory company. And we sold that business over 20 years ago. And then since then, I've really been far more entrepreneurial. And I think if you want to be an entrepreneur, I don't think there's a higher few things that I would call a higher calling than being an entrepreneur. I feel really blessed to do what I do and who I get to do it with. But I think, if you will, the universe or God will challenge you if you want to be an entrepreneur. There's there's almost no entrepreneur I've ever come across that doesn't have a story where their back was against the wall, they were over-levered, and they're kind of a hair's breadth away from having to call it quits. And if you can trade through that, and all of a sudden it's like the universe says, okay, we're gonna allow you to be an entrepreneur. And so I feel very fortunate, but there were a lot on nights where I had the proverbial primal screams where I was so over-leveraged, and I have my back against the wall, and I'm just really grateful and very humble to be standing here today and kind of have traded through it. And again, it's I can't declare victory. I still, you know, I still have so many ventures that constantly require attention, require capital. But again, I think I'm far better at dealing with the adversity because of what I went through in Phoenix, it gave me the strength and the experience and the confidence to deal with some tough days in Rhode Island. So they all kind of build on itself. And I think without Phoenix, I'm not quite sure I could have gotten through everything in Rhode Island. So it's just a way of saying that I look back on all of it. I don't want to go through any of the arcs of it again because they weren't easy, but I'm very proud of the fact to have traded through them, if you will.

Dustin Heise 19:22

Incredibly inspiring, Brett. Thank you so much for sharing and and you know, for your vulnerability of sharing. And yes, every entrepreneur absolutely who has gone through and chewed the glass to be able to still be standing there in front of any one of us today with versions of success, and we ultimately know like it never ends. But uh it's uh also with gratitude that that you're you know willing to share that story and you know for people to continue to build and be inspired by that. Thank you for that. When you look at the future of sports ownership, what role do you believe community and culture will play in defining success as we continue to look ahead?

Brett Johnson 20:01

I feel it's such an exciting time in terms of sports as an asset class and what you're focusing on. Like there's so many emerging sports or, you know, and and want to be kind of careful in terms of how I thread all of it, but there's so many sports that are or you know, not the mainstream, not like Americ, not American football, not American baseball. Like it used to be 12 years ago when I was trying to raise money for a minor league soccer team, that that was kind of like that was not an easy lift. Like most family offices, most institutional capital, it was like a hard no. Like where I feel like it shifted today is families want to be invest in this asset class, in this broader asset class. And so I think the pool of capital has never been better. And again, I think what you guys are doing, I think what I'm doing, and I and you can take you know, women's sports, volleyball, you could take pickleball, I mean Padel, like there's there's you could take sale GP. There's so many, it's it's inspiring to see how many different sports and how many different geographies, men and women, boys and girls, in terms of the attention to it. And I think for a lot of reasons, the world needs sport more than ever. Yep. You need the connectivity that comes from it. And it's not just the social and economic impact of what a uh what the right sport or asset does, but it's basically just people need connectivity to each other, and you get that from sport. Nothing unites two strangers quicker than an affinity for the same team or same asset or same sport.

Dustin Heise 21:40

Couldn't agree more. I don't think there's a medium that isn't able to make that kind of impact. You know, I know there's incredible opportunity in the arts and music and and whatnot, but not that stands the test of time, day in and day out in the same community that's there for you every single day, that's able to make sure that it's got a place for you to run on a field. or you know get on snow and slide down a hill. It's uh you know there for each and every one of us. Brett, I cannot thank you enough for the time together today and just uh know that this conversation landed extremely well. And I'd love to do it again if uh if you're up for that and and continue to build on this together.

Brett Johnson 22:18

It's a real honor. I appreciate it and uh really impressed with if you will your approach in terms of kind of digging deep on this and so appreciate it and I appreciate all your listeners' time you know for as I say for anything that I ever say about what I'm blessed to do. But welcome more time with each other and if you're in Southern California please let me know. We'll you know lunch on me. So amazing man. Yeah thanks so much. What a pleasure onward and upward and good luck with all your endeavors and let's I look forward to keeping in touch.

Dustin Heise 22:43

Yeah likewise thanks so much Brett yeah let's both keep moving in the right direction for sure. Yeah