Welcome to a very special episode of Get In. Today we had a short interview with Mike Nichols. He's the head of sponsorship for Group 10001. They are the parent company of Gainbridge. Maybe you know them uh because they're on the side of Gainbridge Fieldhouse where the Pacers and the Fever play. They're also the lead sponsor for the Indianapolis 500.
This is coming out. So, we are recorded this interview right before game three. So, hopefully when you hear this Thursday morning, we're all excited and happy that we are now up two to one. Also, I want to let you guys know for game four, here are a few of my favorite watch parties that I've seen. Wanted to give you three watch parties for Friday, game four, where you can check out the Pacers. So, the first one, head downtown.
If you want to be downtown and really feel the energy, you're going to go to Coach's Tavern. It's kind of right by Tin Roof there. Connor Daly said this. This was his favorite bar downtown. It's a good spot. The next one would be Kilroyce Classic.
You can't go wrong with Kilroyce sports bar. Got to get the bread sticks. It's great. This is the the coolest one that I've come across. Uh Steve Lindsay at the Hangar. They're friends of mine.
They did not pay me to say this. Let me say they did not pay me to say this, but I love this spot. For 30 bucks, you're going to get all you can eat pizza, nacho bar, you get two cocktails. They're going to have Oh my gosh. Welcome raffles and all sorts of a t-shirt cannon launch. They're going to do one of their uh where you hang on the bar challenges.
That's going to be really cool. They literally have like a pull-up bar. I did it once. It's It's kind of hard because they have one of those big oversized pull-up bars. So, go to the hanger. 30 bucks get you all you can eat.
You get two drinks. That I think seems to be the the watch party of watch parties downtown. We're actually going to the game Friday. Uh we're going to be hanging out in there, so it's going to be really fun. You're going to see a wrap-up video, all that stuff. But here is a quick interview.
In the interview with Mike, we talk about all the different areas that Gamebridge sponsors. A little bit about who Gamebridge is. It's not an ad, I promise. Like they didn't pay me either for this, but we talk about who Gamebridge is, why they support uh sports in Indiana, like the Indy500 and the Pacers and the Fever. And we talk about like the last seven-year journey and the ROI as indie cars become more popular, as the Indy500 has become more popular, as the Pacers have been better and the Fever have been better, like what that means for their investment in the community. So, it's a it's a really fun interview.
You're going to enjoy this interview with Mike Nichols, chief of sponsorship strategy, and activation for Group 10001, the parent company of Gainbridge. So, I'm excited to dive into your guys' sponsorship strategy and what it means to have your name on the side of the building where the NBA finals are being hosted. Mike, welcome to the show. Thanks. Appreciate you having me in. Man, this is super exciting.
Okay, so before we started rolling, Mike was giving me a little bit of his backstory. Uh from New Jersey, but now lives down in Daytona Beach, Florida after spending 15 plus years with the LPGA. Yes, that's correct. Heck yeah. Okay, so you went from the event side where you're out there, you know, finding the sponsors, getting the people to, you know, put their their brand activation on the event to now you're working on the brand side. it's been a welcome change uh you know so I was doing that uh as you mentioned was on the event and uh association side for close to 30 years of my career so this was the opportunity to come over and be you know the last three years I've been with uh with gamebridge so an opportunity to be on the other side of the desk and try to take the learnings that I had as somebody who's putting on events knowing what activations work knowing where we could hopefully deliver sponsors at the various events that I was associated with and try to turn those learnings into value for Gainbridge and so during this segment there are like three overarching questions that I want to hit on.
The first one that we're going to get into is how many different events or teams or leagues even do you guys sponsor? The second one is going to be who is Gainbridge? Like I think a lot of people see the Fieldhouse but don't really know what Gainbridge is. And this will not be like a full-on sales pitch for Gamebridge, but we do need to know who the the company behind the brand is. And three, you guys started sponsoring the Fieldhouse six or seven years ago or so. and like knowing the increase in your investment when we draft someone like a Caitlyn Clark, when the Pacers make the finals, when Indie Car and the Indy500's hot.
I just love to see like what you guys like thought you were getting versus like when the teams succeed, what that ends up getting you guys, right? Sound like a plan? Absolutely. Okay, so the first thing we're going to cover is how many of these really cool events or sports teams do you guys sponsor? It it's quite extensive. uh there really is truly no downtime with our portfolio which is uh which is fun and exciting because there's always something something new.
Um so I would say sort of what I would call our tent pole events as you mentioned the uh lead sponsor the Indy500. How long have you guys been uh we've been doing that I believe seven years I think we looked at so you you so seven years you guys have been the lead sponsor. Yes, correct. Oh my god. So you sit there and it's like you're I mean this was three and a half three years ago when you kind of joined the team. They're like did you know a lot about Indie Car then?
living in Daytona Beach, had a son who was a racing enthusiast, right? So, I was not growing up in New Jersey, as you said. That certainly is not part of the culture of New Jersey. NASCAR, Indie Car, etc. isn't, but uh he was a big racing fan and he followed all of it. So, uh by the time I arrived here, I was very familiar with NASCAR, very familiar with Indie Car.
So, uh but I would say that the one event that did always cut through the clutter in New Jersey was the Indy500. That was always event you watched. I remember being at uh I was a soccer player growing up, so I remember being at Memorial Day soccer tournaments and having the Indy500, you know, propped up with the al with the rabbit ears in the in the back of the car. But um so yeah, huge huge event. And obviously for everybody, all your listeners here locally, uh they they know the magnitude of the event. Um we're also a founding partner of the Miami Grand Prix um on the F1 circuit.
Oh, yeah. So uh yes. So we So you're getting you're double dipping on the racing there for sure. Yes. It's a it's a busy month of May for your listeners who don't know that starts off the the month of May and then obviously the Indy500 concludes the month of May. So that's a busy week for us with not only those two races but all that happens in in at the track in between uh here in Indie.
Uh we're also we sponsor the number 26 of Colton Hera in Indie Car that he carries the he drives the Gamebridge Honda. We're also aligned with Spire Motorsports in NASCAR. So, uh, we have a team that's driven by, uh, Carson Hosavvar, Justin Haley, and, um, Michael McDow are the three drivers. So, you'll see the Gamebridge brand as well as the Delaware Life brand, which we'll talk about in a minute. Uh, across that, we're a sponsor of the Billy Jean King Cup, which is the the World Cup of Women's Tennis. So, it's an annual event.
Your listeners who are tennis fans may familiar the Davis Cup on the men's side. It used to be called the Fed Cup on the women's side, Federation's Cup. That's now the Billy Jeene King Cup presented by Gainbridge. We sponsored the Anukica on the LPGA tour. I'm sure there's something the Anukica. So, it's an LPGA tournament.
Anukica Soren Dam, widely regarded as the the best uh LPJ player, at least of the modern era. Um, so she's the namesake of the tournament, sort of the host. It's in uh Tampa Bay, Florida. So, it's the second to last event of the year on the schedule. It's at a great golf course, Pelican Country Club down there. So, we've been a we've been involved with that.
Actually, our first foray into golf was in 2017 out at the Brickyard. There was the Indie Women in Tech Championship and presented by Gamebridge. And so, that was sort of our first foray into sports, women's sports, etc. And that that event has eventually evolved into to what's now called the Anukica. I think that's I'm sure and then and then obviously everything that's happening at the field at the fieldhouse, right? Everything that's happening at the fieldhouse.
So, when you look at, you know, NASCAR runs 40 some odd weeks a year. So, we have that 40 weekends of the year. Indie Car is in the high teens and those sort of number of weekends and then you got the Pacers, the Fever. So, long story short, we've got something going on all the time. What was the first sports sponsorship partnership that you guys dip your toes into? The first one I would say would be the LPGA tour out at the out at the Brickyard.
So, um and again, we've been involved with the LPGA from 2017 up until today and for years to come as a part of our contract. So that was that was the first foray but uh funny story that is that experience out there with the Brickyard is ultimately what got our CEO Dan Tales interested in Indie Car and uh you know the acquisition of Andredy that took place recently. So all roads in terms of our sports sponsorship lead back to that in a 2017 LPGA event out at the Brickyard, which is that's crazy that an LPGA event took took you guys from like you were a sponsor of the LPGA to becoming the title SP lead sponsor of the Indianapolis 500 like that. All from an LPGA event. Were you the sponsor of the Fieldhouse at that point? No, we weren't.
I think we took over the Fieldhouse. I think we're in our third year with the Fieldhouse now. So right before the reconstruction is when um so we like it was just at the beginning I think uh they sort of announced us as the lead sponsor as the construction was taking place. So it's been three or four years at the the fieldhouse. What was the strategy behind like we're going to be sponsor of a fieldhouse and the Indianapolis 500 and LPGA events and tennis like what was the thought process behind that? A source of community pride like we're we're headquartered here in the community.
Dan Towers, our CEO, he's from Muny, so he's, you know, familiar with the area. So, he's a local, I guess, as as you would say. You know, I think, uh, maybe this is a good opportunity to sort of pivot into sort of what we do because um, so most people have probably not heard of our parent company, which is Group 10,0001. And, uh, we're a 60, but probably nowadays about $65 billion in uh, funds under management. So, it's a massive company that uh, that again, that's sort of the holding company. You may not be familiar with that name.
And what we primarily sell is annuities. So that's, you know, financial product. Not gonna, like you said, I'm not going to bring this show to a screeching halt talking about annuities. Put a put a lump a large sum of this is not financial advice. Large sum of money in up front and it pays you over the course of a time period. Correct.
Exactly. And so historically, the annuity product has been something you've had to buy through a third party. So if you sat down with your financial adviser and he or she said, "Let's look at your portfolio." They may look and say, "Let's put a little bit of that into annuities." it's a traditional, you know, it's going to have a nice uh consistent rate of return for you. Maybe not as volatile as the stock market, but if you want that as a part of your portfolio, let's do that.
So, we have under group 10001, we have a company called Delaware Life that I mentioned sometimes will run in has run in Indie Car as run in NASCAR. We've run that brand out there on occasion. And so, Delaware Life is sort of selling that product B2B. So this is the person from Delaware Life who would sit down with your financial adviser and say hey if you're selling annuities we'd like you to consider Delaware Life. So when you say I'd like an annuity they say how about Delaware Life. So in order to buy an annuity historically you've had to have a financial advisor which means you probably have to have a lot of money because you don't have a financial adviser.
And so Dan Towers our CEO said you know why do you have to have a financial adviser to buy annuities? So what Gambridge is is an opportunity to go direct to consumer. You don't have to have a financial advisor. You don't need a third party. You can just go to gamebridge. com and buy an annuity.
Sort of hadn't been sort of done before. It's a very new opportunity. And so for as little as $1,000, people can buy annuities by going direct to gamebridge. com. So again, at the risk of losing your audience, that's why that's why you'll see Gamebridge out front in the majority of our sponsorships because it's a direct to consumer offering. Whereas Delaware Life, it's more a B2B sale.
On occasion, it's good for us to get that brand out there so that our reps who are out there calling on financial advisors have a little bit of the air cover of having their brand seen. But you'll see Gamebridge on most of our stuff and that's is all that I'm done talking about. But I but at least that sets a you know sort of sets the stage for what we do. So many people have seen Gamebridge Fieldhouse have seen 8500 and like seen Gamebridge's logo. But I would honestly that would be a fun segment of just like asking what people think. I could bet like because of Bridgestone I could bet people think like Gamebridge is a tire, right?
You know, like so now we're clearing it up. Gamebridge is a a financial product, financial services product. Exactly. So if you don't want the volatility of the stock market and want consistent returns, that's Gainbridge. And again, it's uh you know, for as little as $1,000, you can purchase it. We have products right now that are going up against CDs.
So like somebody who wants the who wants sort of the CD sort of stability, but our rate of return right now is three and four times what it is for us. So you can sort of have a CD product. Maybe your daughter is getting married in a couple years and you want to set aside money and say, "Hey, I I can't have the volatility of the stock market, but I want to do this for a couple years." So um so it's a good opportunity for people who are at that place where this sort of financial product makes sense. Yeah. Okay.
Is it a newer brand? Yes. So I would say the brand has been out there about three years. And so I and the other thing too that Dan uh did with our sponsorships is our sponsorship development really preceded really the roll out of the brand because ultimately we're talking about people investing their money with us right so it's not one you don't want to sort of arrive on the scene and be like hey look at us and have it be a company you've never heard of etc. So being in all these places and putting the brand out there, when somebody does get to the point where, hey, I want to buy an annuity. This is a company, you know, they type in the search engine, purchase an annuity.
Gambridge hopefully comes up high in the search engine. They've at least heard of us, right? Like, yeah, they're on the fieldhouse, right? They're on the IND500. They're on the LPGA, they're on NASCAR, right? Correct.
That makes sense. Yes. Um, well, let's talk about this. So, how long have you guys been the lead sponsor of the Indy500? Uh, seven years. So, seven years.
Well, one, have you guys noticed an uptick in popularity of indie car racing in general over the last seven years? Let's say you're you're probably more versed in the last three years since you've been there, but even in the last three years coming out of COVID, have you seen an uptick there? Well, I I would say the one thing that we've definitely seen the uptick with is the recent um again people who aren't in the weeds on it, uh Indie Car has just changed from NBC to Fox this last year. And this isn't to NBC does a great job producing motorsports, but Fox really has leaned in on the production side. They've they've really talked about the drivers and developing the personalities. Didn't they roll out Tom Brady at the Indy500 this year?
Like that's pretty cool. Yes, they, you know, they had all of their Fox personalities there. You know, they had A-Rod there, they had Jeter there, they had um all those guys. What's what's like the the contract length that you sign when you become the lead sponsor of a Yeah, I mean it it varies from sponsorship to sponsorship, you know, sometimes they're three, sometimes five, 10. So, those are sort of the varying things, but we were under contract with Colton on the 26 with Andredy and with the uh with the the race. the move to Fox was not a part of the consider like it just happened within the scope of both of those deals but uh the the viewership year-over-year on the various events that the have been on Fox versus NBC the viewership has been up and I think and it's in large part due to the promotion that Fox has gotten behind it because you know anything that you watch on Fox whether you're on Fox News or watching another sporting event on Fox whatever it might be especially leading up to the Indy500 they were just pounding it on any of the Fox platforms and like for you all when they lift the blackout for like at least for like central Indiana.
Like that has to be another I don't even know. I mean, let's say like 500,000 people or a million people. I don't know what the number is, but like that's an extra incentive of like more people seeing the Gamebridge logo. Yeah, that's huge. How many impressions like at like post Indie 500 when they send you I'm sure they send some type of report of like viewership. How many impressions did Gamebridge get from the Indianapolis 500?
probably it's it's in the millions and I I've the report came and I haven't dug into it but it's crazy. I mean billions. I wouldn't say it's I wouldn't say it's billions, but it's definitely in the in the high millions and um you know it's a part of it, you know, the how the way it's integrated into the broadcast and a lot of it comes from frankly how well Colton's running in the in the 26. And so um a lot of the value that we see from Indie Car week to week as well as obviously with the 500 is is from what uh how well Colton's running. Well, and then let's talk about the Gamebridge Fieldhouse became the the naming got naming rights. Is that how you I don't know how do you say naming rights partner?
You got the naming rights partner three years ago. Yep. Three years ago it was the Pacers and they were all right. Like they're figuring it out, you know, ups and downs, the whole nine yards there. But you also gained this crazy popularity of the Indiana Fever. And when you guys became the naming rights partner, I'm sure that like the fever were in there somewhere, but it probably wasn't that big of a deal.
Correct. It was not a huge when we when we sat down, you know, at the so uh at the end of each year to your point, the the Pacers will sit down with us and say, "Hey, here's sort of the recap and here's the recap of the value that the fever delivered." And so the fever 100% at that point was an afterthought, right? so negligible in in the big picture, but obviously with the arrival of Caitlyn and what's happened with the Fever, it's been off the charts. And then also on the men's side, the difference between the Pacers being a playoff team and not being a playoff team is massive. And is there like a very like just in sponsorship in general?
Like when you guys sign up to be the naming rights partner, is it like, hey, if they make a playoff run, it's going to be x amount more in your sponsorship or is it just like you guys get this much more value because the team's good? Yeah, it really depends on on the deal, but you know, typically minimally you'll you'll be in for whatever the the purchasing of tickets like. So, for example, it's like if we make obviously we're in the finals now, but like along the way to get all your tickets once they advance to an extra round to purchase those tickets is this, you know, next round purchase tickets is this. But it's not like uh oh yeah, by the way, a game bridge fel is going to be on TV this week again like we're going to need another invoice or whatever. That's really cool for you. Like the variability is it's kind of like if when they're hot, you're getting a ton for your money and if they're not, then you're not getting that much for your money, right?
Well, it's the story I love to tell is so, you know, I'm so I was in, you know, golf for the last 30 years and I've got all my buddies who I I went to college in Vermont. So, all of my my friends from college are all in and around the Boston area. And so, I had the sort of the dream job of working in sports, you know, they're lawyers and finance guys and whatever. And I remember they thought I was crazy to they're like, "You're leaving the LPGA to go where?" And I'm like, "I'm going to a company, Group 10001. It's based in Indie.
We sell annuities." And they're like, "You're leaving golf like to do, you know, to do this." And they said again, "But what?" And I'm explaining Gamebridge sort of what I just did with Delaware Life and all that stuff. And it wasn't until the Celtics were playing the Pacers in last year's playoffs that my phone is blowing up and all my buddies are like, "Hey, is is that Gamebridge that's at the is that like is that the company you work for now?" And so so I was like I was like, "Yes, I like I work for a real company."
Like Yeah. and they're like, "Oh, wow. That's cool. We didn't make the the connection." So, it was only when the Celtics came and playing at Gamebridge Fieldhouse that all my buddies in Boston realized I had still had a real job and wasn't uh pretending. Quick boss, you've probably heard us talking about it, but at the end of July, we're headed down to Brown County for the Bourbon and Barbecue Festival.
July 26th. This is a Saturday. So, the Friday night, we're doing our Moontown Bar takeover. We're going to spend $1,000 at the bar. You need to be there. We're staying overnight in Brown County.
We're going to hit this cinnamon roll place. I don't know what the name of it is off the top of my head. We're going to hit there uh for breakfast on Sunday. Maybe hit a little hike. Who knows? And at noon, we are rocking the Bourbon and Barbecq Fest at Hard Truth.
They have four different acts. Oh, bourbon and barbecue tastings and pairings. Bourbon blending and cocktail crafting classes. There's a VIP bourbon and cigar lounge. I mean, come on. Uh I think tickets are start at 10 bucks or if you want to upgrade that, 35 bucks gets you the barbecue sampler pass.
And for $75, you get all the VIP access. It's going to be awesome. We're going to be down there. I think I'm taking like our whole staff and a bunch of my friends are all coming down. So, come hang out with us. Check our website at get indian.
com and you'll see an article that we wrote about our whole itinerary and trip to Brown County. You can buy all your tickets, reserve your place, and uh and make sure you're down there. We'll see you at the end of July, July 25th, 26th for an unforgettable celebration of bourbon barbecue and great times. We'll see you there. this year with the Fever getting all but one of their games on national television, right? So before they probably, you know, you might might have been in one of the local RSNs or whatever on occasion, but for every but every game but one of theirs to be on national TV, all of the home games on national TV, that's, you know, exposure that's off the charts relative to what it was.
pre-drafting Caitlin Clark like you talked about it was kind of like they probably talked about it in your end of the year wrap-up meeting or whatever but like definitely not top of mind as this that first season came out like what were you guys what was that recap meeting like then you can't compare right cuz it's exponential you know the they were probably opening up the field you know the the fieldhouse 30 minutes before games you know because you were only getting a couple thousand people into the games now it's you know 15,000 people that are in there and they got to open up 90 minutes beforehand just to get everybody through the gates It's It's incredible. Like, let's just say we use hypotheticals here, right? Hypotheticals. If you were in a five-year deal or a six-year deal with the Pacer Sports and Entertainment, and they draft Caitlyn Clark and like, do they come back at the end of the year and are like, "Hey, by the way, like now your sponsorship's worth x amount."
Is it like, "Hey, we'll get right on the next contract." Or do you try to like negotiate and be like, "Here's a fair rate because now we're getting a billion views or whatever." Right. Well, it's uh let's just say that I was glad that we were in a contract already. So, we were already under contract, but any of those but any of those fever sponsors who might not have been under contract, so let's just say like Jersey patch or any of those sort of folks, you know, they once their renewal comes up, you know, they're going to definitely see an increase, which is warranted, right? Because it's like if it's like, hey, you're now 10 times more people are viewing this product, you know, so it's just a matter of whether you get they the fever su successful in getting all of that 10x.
Imagine, imagine being like, let's say three years ago, you signed like a five-year deal with the Fever, like a local place. Like mom and pop's pizza shop is like the jersey patch for the Fever. It's like a 50 grand a year or whatever deal. And then they draft Kayla Clark and they get a billion views on their jerseys and and they get the the the return invoice like at the end of the contract and it's like, yeah, that same jersey buy is going to be like $5 million for the next year, right? Like I mean they literally got I think that they said the Fever their social media got more views uh Caitlyn Clark's first year than any other sports property. Isn't that crazy?
We had Alison Barber on. Oh yeah, sure. Sure. And she talked about like they got over a billion views on social media content. Like that's crazy. the the most interesting uh in the in the recap that you were talking about, the most interesting thing is that the Fever in terms of merchandise, game day merchandise sales were second only to the Golden State Warriors.
So they were second in merchandise sales across the entire So if you put the NBA and the WNBA, you take all those teams, whatever that is, 50 some odd teams of all those teams, more than the Knicks, more than the Celtics, more than the OKC, whatever, the Fever were number two in game day merchandise sales. It's crazy. I mean, it's crazy. So, and that's awesome for you all. But this is what you why you get rewarded when you're a community partner of Indianapolis. become the naming rights partner early on early on enough and then when good things start to happen, you get to reap the benefits of that and the rewards and like the brand impressions and all that cool stuff.
But it's like just the same had the team's not panned out or the team's not been good, it's like you still sit there every day and you have the suite and you do all the things and if the arena's empty like you still want to fill your seats. So I like it. I think it's cool to get to see the rewards when the team pays off because they need the sponsors. They need the community partners to buy in, especially when they're at their lowest. Yeah. Well, and and surely when the teams aren't playing well and aren't delivering, the team's not coming to give you a refund, right?
So, like you're So, so like it's like if it's if the fever, you know, prior to Caitlyn arriving, weren't delivering a lot of value. It's just like, hey, that's the deal. So, like it's hard to say when you come back and say, okay, now we're making a lot of money. It's like, well, again, to your point, we were there when it wasn't the hottest thing, so we're, you know, we're benefiting now. But again, I think it all evens out. Yeah.
And then so you're obviously not from Indiana and you're from the East Coast, now live in Florida. Like what were your thoughts on Indianapolis on the Indy500 on the Pacers and the Fever and all this stuff before you got into our ecosystem 3 years ago? During that journey of my career journey moving around, I lived in Grand Rapids, Michigan for 5 years. My wife is from South Bend. She's actually from Michigan, but the a town just across the board, uh, Edwardsburg. Oh.
Oh, there we go. So, uh, yeah, just across the border. So, you know, uh, sp have spent a lot of time here in the Midwest. You know, those five years. From there, I moved to, uh, Dayton, Ohio. So, I lived in Dayton, Ohio.
So, I'm very familiar with the dancing around. You've been dancing around the Hoosier State. Exactly. So, um, but I do remember we, uh, we spent uh, the Millennium uh, New Year's Eve here at, you know, might have been Conco Fieldhouse, Bankers. I don't know what it was, but in 2000, uh, that's where my wife and I went to. That's where we spent our New Year's Eve.
John Melanchamp had a, you know, December 31, 1999 concert. And so that's what we did. I think it would have been Market Square Arena still. Okay. 99 or like right in that time. Well, actually, I lied because 99 might have been Market Square and then they built the new one.
I believe 2000 or like open the new cuz Reggie and that team uh the 2000 team that made uh the finals there they were the first year in the new fieldhouse. I believe someone out there that's going to know way more about Pacers history than I am could correct me in the comments, please. But I think that's the when the transition was 99 to 2000, right? Pretty cool. Yeah. So, long story short, I'm very familiar with the Midwest.
Has spent a lot of time in Indie. Again, living in Grand Rapids. I sort of felt like Grand Rapids was a sort of like a smaller version of Indianapolis. Just a great town, great community. Um, a community where people are invested in events when they come to the community. I see a lot of similarities between my time in Grand Rapids where I was running a champions tour event and being here in Indie.
The way uh India has been able to attract, you know, major events and, you know, obviously the Big 10 football championship regularly. The the folks at ISC have just gotten the swim trials back for 2028. That was an amazing event. This is a community that clearly rallies around events when they come. And so, um, you know, even with, you know, the NBA All-Star game, everybody at the Pacers said, "We want this to be the best All-Star game ever." WNBA All-Star game.
We want this to be the the best All-Star game ever. So, you know, this is a town that when you have the opportunity to showcase itself nationally, everybody buys in and that's been uh super cool to be a part of. Even though I don't live here full-time, I spent a lot of time here. When was your first Indy500? Three years ago. So, it was after like there were actually fans in attendance.
Yes. Yes. So, one of the first it was a real one. Yes. Correct. Okay.
So, you walk in there for the first time and you experience that. How would you sell the Indy500 to your friends that live in Boston? When when you tell people that it's the biggest single day sporting event in the world, people don't they're like, "Well, no, the Super Bowl." And it's like, "No, the Super Bowl has 75,000 people. This has four times as many people as the Super Bowl, right? There's 300,000 whatever people.
But what's really cool is, you know, in order to beat all the traffic that everybody here is very familiar with, we board buses at 7 a. m. and uh ride in and we get we have the good fortune of having the top floor of the pagotas where we entertain everybody. It's fantastic. So you and I literally have the opposite Indy500 experiences. Okay.
So my whole shtick, this was like what led me to start a media company last year. I started putting out content. I went on this mission to become the first car in the infield of the Indy500. So I bought this old Dodge truck 1986. I we flipped it off of Facebook Marketplace. I sold sponsorship on it and I made a video that like I got in line at 9:00 p.
m. the night before and I made all these videos and I gave away everything for free in the infield of the Indy500. And that literally we like got a million views on our content during that time and I like quit my job the next week and I've been hosting the podcast and doing all the stuff since. But what's fun about this is I'm in turn three doing our stuff there and you're on the top floor of the pigota. But here we are in the studio together, right? Exactly.
Exactly. But I I mean and you can appreciate this. So as the first car in, you can appreciate where I was going with the story. So it's eerie when you arrive, right? Cuz you know, we get in and you go upstairs in the top floor of the go and you go out on the deck and there's nobody there, right? Like it's just these bleachers and then it's like and then all of a sudden it's like, you know, you're inside for a little bit and then 2 or 3 hours later you look and there's 300 and you're like, where did these people like 9:30 9:30 10:00 in the morning?
You like look out and you're just like, oh my gosh, I see people everywhere of all walks of life. Yes, absolutely. Oh my gosh. Have you been down in the infield before? Uh oh yeah, for sure. I have not.
I've not done the snake pit, you know. I think I think I've well outgrown the snake pit. it was a different era for uh for me. When you tell it to your friends and you're like, "Guys, you need to come do this." Like, "You need to come to the Indy500." Like, what's the feedback that you like?
They're like, "Yeah, sure, whatever." Well, it's, you know, again, it's it's probably a little bit of us all being Northeasterners. It's not something we we none of us grew up around racing. So, um, but again, I think it's a buck for even my non, you know, racing motorsports friends. It's it's a bucket list event, right? just what that's why the ratings are you know whatever nine million people watch it every year because it's just sort of Americana and it's amazing and you just have to be there like I I can't explain it to people but like when you're there there's just an energy absolutely it's like when you're like playoff basketball I noticed it gamebridge Fieldhouse in the playoffs like I go to a decent amount of the regular season games and they're fun and it's great and it's exciting but like a regular season NBA game like doesn't matter that much right but playoffs gamebridge field that that place is rocking How many games have you do you go to a decent amount of games?
Yeah, I've been to I would say I think uh I've been to went to a couple playoff games last year've gone to a couple playoff games this year and it's it's incred to your point like during the regular season and we you know we have a suite as you would expect and you barely watch the game admittedly you know you're spending more time entertaining customers and doing all of that kind of stuff. Oh, are we winning? Okay, we're good. We're winning or we're not winning or whatever. But every like every point everybody's just in there is hanging on every single point. The place is full.
Everybody's got their shirts on. It's just an incredible energy. Yeah, the shirt. I love the shirts. I can only imagine being one. These have been away games where Tyrese has been so clutch.
But like I just could only imagine like one of those at home like like when he hops up on the scorers table like being in there like oh that place has to be I'm excited. I'm going game four which is going to be super fun. When you guys think about all the sports sponsorships that you have like what's your favorite one for you personally? It probably is the Indy500. just because that's again of all of the sponsorships that we have, that's the one that I remember as a kid. It's so aspirational.
Probably never even considered that I'd ever even go, right? So, um it's just amazing. And uh you know, it's it's a global sporting event, right? like it's like to up until I guess this next year where it's going to be Canada, but it was if you're a motorsports enthusiast, the F1 started in Monaco and that, you know, then you watch the Monaco race and then you watch the Indy500 and then the Charlotte 600 in uh uh or the Coke 600 in Charlotte or whatever. So, um but it just the fact that it's truly the center of the motor I mean the motorsports ecosystem that day is really incredible. I have to ask, when you're the when you are the lead sponsor of the Indy500, I'm sure they pull out all the bells and whistles and all the cool stuff, is there like one singular activation or thing you get access to as the lead sponsor that you're just like, I can't believe we get to do this?
I don't necessarily get to do it, but uh I know that uh on occasion we've had some of our guests down in the that it's like the groove, right? So like where the um scoring pylon is, there's like a groove where you can sit in the groove as the cars are going past. So you've got pit road on one side and then the racetrack on the other and there's like a little sort of space in between. And so we've had some folks uh down in there. So I've not personally done it, but that would be I mean pretty cool on the opening lap to have the cars go whipping by and you're just literally on the wall there cuz it's like a lot of people get access to like go in the pits and do all that stuff. Like that's pretty cool.
Like it's really cool. I love it. But imagine being out in front of that, like right by the pylon. Oh my gosh, that has to be so cool. Amazing. Well, we've come to the end of the segment.
I really appreciate you coming on and sharing. I think it's awesome to see Indiana companies that are successful and doing big things. You said 650 billion dollars of assets under management. 65 billion. 65 billion of assets under management. I think that's incredible.
Um, and it's cool that you guys give back and are like, not even give back, but you're just like part of the community, you know? know it's like I think that you think of national events like you could probably go put your gamebridge on the Staples Center or whatever you know or I guess it would not be called the Staple Center but but to support local teams especially to three years ago for the Pacers and the Fever, seven years ago for the Indy500 and then to be able to ride the highs as the teams are both cooking as the Indy500 just continues to rise in popularity. I think it's so so cool. I've loved learning more about it. I've loved learning more about the the company behind the brand. Everyone knows Gamebridge Fieldhouse, but really what is Gamebridge, right?
So, it's been cool to learn that. The final thing I do want to ask is when you come to Indianapolis, is there something that you're the most excited about? Like a place you're excited to go or a hidden gem, per se? When I come to town, I usually try to build it around some event. So, you know, obviously the finals are in town right now. So, we actually today out at our headquarters, we're doing a a wall a little bit to your giving back to the community.
We're doing a wall build with Habitat for Humanity. So we have 300 employees coming out uh trying to give back to the community in a philanthropic effort. And so it it kicks off what we call a 10001 hours of impact which is our employee volunteerism initiative trying to couple with the thousand hours of volunteersism over the course of like 60 days. So I think what I enjoy the most about my job maybe not exactly what you're asking is the way that we're you able to use our sports sponsorships to engage employees, reach out into the community and hopefully you know leave the community in a better place than we found it. I love that. I think that that's really special.
So, two parts to this question. One, a lot of hooers venture to Florida for whether it be spring break or snowboarding in the winter. If they are in Daytona Beach, is there a spot they have to go to? There's a place called The Sellar. The Sellar. It's a restaurant that's in the basement of sort of an oldish building, but it, you know, it's one of those places that seats like 16 people or something like that.
And you know, legend has it that Grover Cleveland or like presidents and stuff like that. I I don't know if it's Grover Cleveland, but like presidents of that era have what if it's not Grover Cleveland? Like what a pull. Like if it if it is Grover Cleveland, even more impressive. But uh yeah, there's a place called The Seller and it's it's off the beaten path. It's hard to get a reservation at, but that uh to me is sort of like one of the coolest un Yeah.
I mean, you have to be a local to know this place exists, but again, it's sort of like nationally recognized, but you also have to be a local. Okay, look up the seller in Daytona Beach. Uh, I will give a shout out to uh Nancy and Chris Heep live in Jimmy Buffet's Margaritavville in Daytona. They're my friend's parents and when we go down and visit them, I'm going to recommend, hey, we got to go to the seller. Absolutely. Make sure you plan ahead so they get a reservation.
Exactly. And then the opposite of that, is there a place that when you come to town in Indianapolis that you like can't wait to get to? Going to be cliche, but St. Elmo's is is a great experience. So, I wish I had a more interesting answer than that, but just but just the just the sort of the experience of that. And I would I should also say that uh I love what the the Pacers have built over there at Commissions Row.
That's a very cool uh venue to sort of pregame before, you know, have a nice dinner over there before you head into the fieldhouse. What is Indiana known for broadly? Like what when people from outside of the state think about Indiana, what do they think of? I would say the hospitality to me that's what I mean that's certainly what I what I feel like. And I also think that that's a a Midwest thing in general, especially for somebody who's coming from New Jersey, which I would say we're probably not particularly known for that. But uh I always I always say that uh when I so when I moved to the Midwest, so I'd lived in New Jersey.
I I lived in Miami for a little bit before I moved to Grand Rapids. And you know, people from Grand Rapids would ask me, they would say like, "Why is everybody from New Jersey so mean?" And I said, "Well, look at it this I said, I feel like maybe the people from New York and New Jersey are like baseline normal and then everybody around here is just exceedingly nice. So that's the way I look at it. But I would say yeah, you guys aren't mean. You're just normal and we're just very very you're very nice.
So I would say certainly the hospitality and like I said with with these big events that comes through, everybody takes so much pride in making sure that it they that you guys roll out the red carpet and do everything. So, um, you know, and even just when I come in for, um, you know, meeting with the the team that's, uh, our sponsorship team that's based here. I mean, it's just everybody's just always in a good mood and it's it's just a great fun it's a fun place to visit. For sure. I love it. Yeah.
Mike, thank you so much for coming on and and sharing and telling us all about h how gamebridge is getting plugged into both the Indiana community with the Indy500 and with Gamebridge Fieldhouse as well as what you said women's tennis, LPGA, like all these really cool NASCAR like all these great events. I think it's so cool. Uh and I'm excited to see as uh as I mean obviously the Pacers win win the title and the Fever then go get theirs and then Indy500 next year just like Gamebridge gaining in popularity. I think it's so cool. So, I really appreciate you coming on and sharing the story. Thanks for having me in.
I thought that was a fascinating interview with Mike Nichols. I think that it's really cool how much Gainbridge invests into sport. I can only imagine the number that they invest into sports to be the lead sponsor of the Indy500 and Gainbridge Fieldhouse. It has to be astronomical. Maybe we can get them on a little get in sponsorship. I might have to send him an email in a couple days.
You probably saw the op ed that Mayor David Holt of Oklahoma City wrote in the Indie Star. I made a video about this last week, I believe. This dude is beloved. He's the only politician that I've ever seen where people will get in the comments on TikTok and rave about how awesome he is. Run for president, run for governor, run for this, run for Dave, save the world. Like, he is crazy.
Like, crazy awesome. So, I made that video. He commented on it, liked it, followed me, and then I was DMing him saying like, "Dude, what kind of like cult following do you have out in Oklahoma City? Uh, I got to get you on the podcast." So Monday, we're releasing an exclusive interview with Dave Holt, Mayor Dave Holt of Oklahoma City. It's going to be phenomenal.
We've got 30 minutes on the books. We're going to talk about So his op-ed article 30 years ago, Indianapolis won the United Airlines contract that then forced Oklahoma City to re-evaluate themselves and look in the mirror and that if it weren't for Indianapolis, Oklahoma City wouldn't be where it is today. They wouldn't have put an emphasis on sports. their big thing. I mean, maybe you saw them challenge uh our mayor to uh like a bet through the playoffs and they wagered uh a game for the College Softball World Series, Whitewater rafting where they're going to host the Olympics in 2028 and their a dinner at their illustrious Cattleman Steakhouse. And I was like, dude, come on.
Fever game, two-seater at the Indy500, and dinner at St. Elmo. Definitely way better of a reward than that. No offense, Dave, but we're going to bring him on. We're going to chat all the things of of his tenure with uh Oklahoma City as the mayor. He has like 50,000 maybe 40,000 followers on Instagram.
Like people love this guy and it's clear that he cares about Oklahoma City and his article was super respectful. So I'm excited to dive in. Tune back in Monday morning. We're dropping an exclusive interview with Mayor Dave Holt all about just these finals. Hopefully at that point it's 3-1 Pacers and everyone's excited and I get to kind of like rev it in a little bit. And if it's not, it's going to be an interesting interview.
We'll see you on
