Three Things I Learned From George Pyne

George Pyne has emerged as a quiet force at the intersection of sports and business. Through Bruin Capital, he's investing in the booming ecosystem around teams, leagues and media. His path to creating Bruin in 2015 led him through a start in real estate and top posts at NASCAR and IMG, working for legendary leaders including Bill France and Ted Forstmann. During this week's episode of The Deal, George shared a lot about what he learned from that pair, and how those lessons shaped his leadership and decision-making style. He also gave us some predictions on what happens next in a world of sports flush with money. Here's a few things we learned during our conversation.

Winning isn't everything.?

Pyne noted that he came from a family of athletes, and he himself played football at 美国布朗大学 . His background and his own experience showed him that the thing he feared most was failure, and that animated a lot of his approach, not just for his own career decisions, but also as he pursued new deals. "I never really cared about winning," he says. "but I never wanted to lose."

Understand risk.?

Not wanting to lose set him up to take on board a key guiding principle from Forstmann, a legendary private equity investor. Students of Wall Street history will remember the colorful Forstmann, who died in 2011 of brain cancer, as a key figure in the fight for RJR Nabisco (the legendary takeover battle, ultimately won by KKR, was memorialized in the book "Barbarians at the Gates"). "What I really learned from him is the risk/reward ratio," George says. "What's the upside? What's the downside? And if it's worth it, you go for it." George told us he uses that construct as a parent, especially when his kids are making big decisions. Notably, his son Drew is a highly successful athlete in his own right, having played quarterback for the University of Notre Dame , and currently playing for the University of Missouri.

Pro sports are facing disruption from new money.

"Capital's going to change the game," George says. With private equity coming into the NFL (it's already in the NBA and other major leagues), every ownership group needs to have a plan on what it's going to spend and where that money's going to come from. Like last week's guest, Adena Friedman , George talks about his business in terms of offense and defense and having the right money strategy is critical. With the new fund players coming in, any ownership group has to have what he calls a "defensive capital plan" to weather the new competitive landscape.

You can hear these lessons and more by listening to The Deal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also tune into the video companion on Bloomberg Originals and on Bloomberg TV. https://link.podtrac.com/0sn3i9w8