Javier Herrera: Connecting Polo's Global Community

When Javier Herrera broke his knee playing rugby in Argentina, his doctor gave him two recovery options: ride a bike or ride a horse. That fateful choice led him to discover polo and eventually create PoloLine – transforming how the sport is covered, consumed, and connected across the globe.

In this candid conversation, Javier reveals how he launched polo's first digital media platform during the late 1990s dot-com boom, when he identified a critical gap: polo enthusiasts worldwide had no way to follow tournaments or players without waiting months for magazine coverage. Starting with nothing but determination, he and his business partner Sebastian Amaya began photographing matches in Palm Beach, selling VHS tapes of Argentine tournaments, and gradually building what would become polo's most trusted global news source.

The journey wasn't easy. Javier recounts sleeping at polo clubs in exchange for coverage, scanning physical photographs before digital cameras were affordable, and convincing skeptical players and patrons of the internet's value when most still received tournament draws by fax. What makes his story remarkable is how PoloLine evolved alongside technology – from basic match reports to comprehensive video content, eventually pioneering polo livestreaming years before it became standard practice.

Beyond building a media platform, Javier created the World Polo Tour ranking system that helped standardize tournament importance globally, giving structure to an international sport that previously lacked cohesion. Today, as a consultant for Global Polo TV, he's focused on bringing polo to mainstream audiences through partnerships with ESPN and other networks while maintaining the authenticity that attracted him to the sport.

Whether you're fascinated by entrepreneurship, sports media, or polo's unique culture across Argentina, the US, and Europe, Javier's perspective offers invaluable insights into how passion, vision, and persistence can transform an entire sporting landscape. His story isn't just about polo – it's about seeing opportunity where others don't and building bridges that connect communities across continents.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to Outside the Boards
• 3:41 Meet Javier Herrera: PoloLine Founder
• 8:07 From Rugby to Polo: Javier's Origin Story
• 14:01 The Birth of PoloLine in the Dot-Com Era
• 28:54 How Technology Transformed Polo Media
• 40:32 Global Polo TV and Modern Coverage
• 49:19 The Future of Polo Content and Broadcasting
• 58:59 Comparing Polo Cultures: Argentina vs US
• 1:08:41 Growth Opportunities and Polo's Future

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

You are listening to the Outside the Boards podcast. I'm Daniel Leary. For most of my professional career, I have worked in mainstream sports for some of the world's leading sports organizations and properties and blue chip brands, helping to create award-winning omni-channel marketing campaigns, result-driven sales strategies and impactful brand building initiatives. But all that work doesn't compare to the fun, excitement and challenges I've been fortunate to experience working for the king of all sports, polo. For nearly a decade, I've put my heart and ambition into helping advance the sport of polo. I've made lifelong friendships, met some incredible people, traveled to memorable polo destinations and heard the craziest stories. My goal is to share these people, places and stories with you and provide a unique behind-the-scenes perspective of the game that breaks all the common stereotypes, all while discussing key issues affecting the sport today and the constructive sharing of ideas, insights, solutions and best-case studies for the purpose of advancing polo globally. Every week, I will have honest conversations with polo industry leaders, enthusiasts and awe-inspiring people who make this sport great and fun to be around. I hope, through their knowledge and their unique perspectives, they will motivate and inspire you. Together, we will explore ways you can make small tweaks to boost your polo business, whether you are a club, event, team or player. That will amount to big changes in revenue, participation, attendance and exposure Saddle up. Welcome to Outside the Boards with me, daniel O'Leary. Hi everyone, daniel O'Leary here and welcome to the Season 5 of the Outside the Boards podcast.

Speaker 1: 1:49

On this episode of Outside the Boards, I'm excited to sit down with the true pioneer in polo media, javier Herrera, the founder and driving force behind PoloLine. For more than two decades, javier has been at the forefront of polo journalism, building the sport's most trusted global news platform and fundamentally changing how the game is covered, consumed and connected. Based in Argentina, the heartland of high-goal polo, javier launched PoloLine with a simple but powerful mission to give the sport the consistent, high-quality media coverage it deserves. Since then, polol Line has grown into an international powerhouse, delivering news, match updates, rankings, features and insights to fans and players across every continent. Javier's work has bridged gaps between traditional clubs and modern audiences, between established stars and up-and-coming talent.

Speaker 1: 2:40

Whether he's covering the Argentine Open from Palermo, the Gold Cup in the United Arab Emirates or a grassroots tournament in England, javier brings sharp editorial integrity and a deep passion for the sport. That's impossible to ignore. But what makes his story even more compelling is how he's adapted with the times. Attention spans are short and content is everywhere. Javier has kept PoloLine relevant by leaning into digital tools, video storytelling, multilingual reporting and social media, all while maintaining the quality and credibility that made the platform respected in the first place. Javier isn't just documenting Polo's evolution, he's shaping it by amplifying stories from around the world and giving players, clubs and fans a voice. He's helped make Polo more accessible, visible and connected than ever before. So, without further ado, let's welcome Javier Herrera, founder of PoloLine, to the show. Enjoy.

Speaker 2: 3:41

Hey, we're Rosanna and Alice, the co-founders of Line Up Polo. Before this episode starts, we wanted to introduce you to the platform we've built for the sport we love. Line Up is where modern polo comes together. For club managers, there's a powerful web platform where you can create and publish tournaments, fixtures and teams, and that info instantly appears in the Line Up app, where players, fans and organisers can see everything in one place, From live scoring and team entry to player stats and schedules. We've made it easy to run and follow Polo, Whether you're organizing games or just turning up to watch. Lineup makes Polo more connected, accessible and future-ready. Search for Lineup Polo on the app or Play Store to get started.

Speaker 3: 4:21

Javier Herrera. How are you doing, my friend? How are you Good to talk with you? No, absolutely. It's great to talk to you, my gosh. I've been meaning to connect with you for so long, not just on this podcast, but for other reasons, but finally we got a chance to connect.

Speaker 4: 4:35

I've been following you on your podcast. I love your podcast. It's really, really good.

Speaker 3: 4:40

I really appreciate that. That means a lot to me, for someone who I would identify as a non-polo player. I fell into this industry in interesting circumstances, but I've fallen in love with the people, the places, all that, and there's just a lot to say about the game man, there really is. I can't be any clearer. And it's just fun to bring people like yourself in to have honest conversations about what they feel, where the sport's going, what's doing bad about it.

Speaker 4: 5:11

So, yeah, it's a small community and at the end of the day, we are a big family. You know everybody has their own roles, their own position, but at the end of the day it's a big, big family. And what I found is like traveling all around the world. When you meet someone, in any country, that plays polo, it's like you have an instant connection you know, different from anything else.

Speaker 3: 5:37

So 100% agree. And I tell people I said you know, look, the moment you pick up a mallet and you start playing this game, your window and doors to other countries, look, the moment you pick up a mallet and you start playing this game, your window and doors to other countries, cultures and things like that open almost immediately. Yeah, and it is something that is very, very special about this game because, to your point, you can call someone up you don't know them in another country that you've heard from the grapevine or someone introduced you to, and the next thing you know, you have a horse waiting for you, but in some cases, accommodations and a home-cooked meal on top of that. So, so true, yeah, it's uh. We often talk about that quote from Winston Churchill. You know, your handicap is your passport to the world. It couldn't be more true today.

Speaker 4: 6:21

That's one of the best phrases I heard in boyo, by far.

Speaker 3: 6:25

Yeah, and more and more every year. Even though that I've kind of taken a step back from the sport, from running pro polo, still true to this very day.

Speaker 4: 6:33

Yeah, I find out that when you talk about polo, when you say you play polo, it opens doors that it will never happen. If you say that you play football, soccer or any other sport, people have a conception of the sport that is completely different from the rest and the people that play it is like I told you before, it is like family. So you know, that phrase from Winston Churchill is really, really good.

Speaker 3: 7:02

Yeah, javier, I'm excited to have you on here because, you know, I oftentimes I always speak to professionals, active people in the polo world, but you represent a side of the game that I really enjoy, which is, you know, the marketing, the media side of polo and what Polo Line has also done in helping to promote the sport, not just as a means of reporting on the results or upcoming matches, tournaments and what have you, but also being a medium that has created transformative change from the media perspective and the way that people view it and see it and consume it at the end of the day and we'll get into that. But I'm really intrigued to learn about Javier's story, you and yourself and the founding of Polo Line in itself, because you were the first. I think, let's all admit it, you were the first, we were the first in many things, but yeah.

Speaker 3: 7:57

Yeah, tell us about yourself, javier. Where are you originally?

Speaker 4: 7:59

from. I'm from Argentina, buenos Aires. I'm assuming you had played from. I'm from Argentina, buenos Aires, I'm assuming you had played. Basically, I started playing polo. I used to play rugby. I play a lot of rugby and I broke my knee playing rugby and I was doing my physical training to come back to play and, like I have two options I either ride a bike or ride a horse. That's what the doctor told me.

Speaker 4: 8:26

I went to a country club called La Martona, which is between La Martina and what now is La Dolfina and La Natividad. So I started horse riding there just to exercise, and I saw they were playing polo in the back, where now is La Natividad, and I said, let's try this, something different, something new. And once, you know, I played my first chucker. I got hooked, absolutely. It was amazing. That's where, you know, I started playing polo. And then, on the other side, on the business side, I went to do a marketing course in San Francisco. So it was the time where the dot-coms were just starting. Everything was dot-com. Everybody had an idea and they did a dot-com and they wanted to sell it for millions. And that, you know, was that time to sell it for millions. And that, you know was that time, when I came back from san francisco, I talked to the son of who was the manager of the club. Eduardo amaya was the manager of the club and sebastiana amaya, his son, who is my business partner. So we talk about doing something with Polo.

Speaker 4: 9:41

When I came back, I saw that the dot-coms were growing everywhere and there was nothing for Polo and we found out that it was the perfect way to connect what we were talking before, to connect all the Polo circuit, because before that, if you wanted to know what was going on with Polo, you needed to wait six months and there was only one medicine and there was nothing. So we saw a big opportunity to connect the polo world and to give polo, uh, an opportunity to be known. So we first partnered with two other guys and the basic idea they knew about all the internet or the website part, and their idea was to create a website and sell it for millions and our idea was to make a living out of this because we really enjoy and like the polo and we really thought that there was an opportunity there. So we started. You know, we were together for six months and then they just decided to do other sport, leave the polo and with Sebastian, we keep on going with PoloLine, and the first trip that we did was Palm Beach.

Speaker 4: 11:03

We came here to Palm Beach. Kali Garcia was the manager. It was the old Polo Club. Ipc. Npc was not even here yet. We talked to Kali. I remember the Open was in Boca Raton. So I talked to Kali and he gave us a place to stay and in exchange we covered the season. We started taking pictures. There was no videos or anything, just results and pictures and we started from there. That's how it all started. That's the beginning of Polyline.

Speaker 3: 11:43

So was this like you say the dot com? So was this like you say the dot com? So was this like mid 90s, early 90s?

Speaker 4: 11:48

it was the end of the 90s. We started mid 90s, but this was the ending of the 90s. Pololine was like officially in 2000, but we started in 1999, more or less so we're talking like Zuckerberg?

Speaker 3: 12:02

yeah, got it. So there's three of you at that time. Okay, so we're talking like Zuckerberg. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yes, got it. So there's three of you at that time that were pretty much doing everything on your own, from photographs, writing the articles, recaps, and so on and so forth.

Speaker 4: 12:16

When we started PoloLine because the other site was PoloNet it was called. But when we started PoloLine it was just Sebastián and myself and we were doing everything from programming to do the website, taking pictures, uploading the results. It was just us. And I remember the first year that we came here to make money, we did a deal with ESPN Argentina. It's a telesport. It was not ESPN Argentina which is Telesport. It was not ESPN and they sell us the video of the Argentine Open, the VHS, and we brought like a hundred videos and we sold the videos during the season and that's how we lived the first season.

Speaker 3: 13:02

People are going around selling VHS tapes to ESPNn.

Speaker 4: 13:06

Yeah, yeah, I don't know, if you remember, there was a, a cinema here in in wellington where you can eat and watch a movie. So we talked to the owner and one night we we showed the argentine open there and then we put the vhs there to sell, so pretty much that was the beginnings of polo lane yeah, my gosh, it's like you going around selling like a mixtape.

Speaker 3: 13:31

Wow, talk about the art of the hustle man. Yep, we were young we were young I was gonna say, please tell me, you almost did the exact reverse. He took the us opens vhs tape and then shot it down in Argentina.

Speaker 4: 13:46

Yeah, there you go that time. You never know what was going on in England. You didn't know what was going on in the US. You only can see it on a magazine and in pictures. There were very, very few VHS. So everything was starting. How old were you at this time? I was 26, 27,. I want to say yeah, more or less, because I finished university. So I finished university and then I took a year off. I went to England to do some marketing training on a company and I played polo there. Then this is I was around 26, 27 years old.

Speaker 3: 14:31

My gosh, that's a great story. I feel like that's like a story that you know, like Under Armour and how that was created by a guy selling t-shirts out of the back of his van.

Speaker 4: 14:44

If I have to do it all over again, I will choose another sport, not polo, and I will be millionaires now.

Speaker 3: 14:50

So then, what was the reception then, especially in Palm Beach and in Argentina?

Speaker 4: 14:55

Well, it was funny the first year. It was like who are these guys? You know, we know some of the people because Sebastian'sathers used to play Jairo Polo and we play with some of the guys that were playing there at the moment. So we kind of know the people but we don't know the whole you know circuit. So at the beginning was like what are these guys doing? What is this? What is internet? They were clueless but they see that it was something good. They didn't know where to see it because most of the people that you know I don't even know if the morning line was there, but they find out. You know about what was going on by fax. You know the morning light. They send a fax. The first morning lights went out on a fax, not even on an email or an Instagram. So internet was something that was completely new for everybody. Also, the internet speed, you can imagine, was super, super slow. You know you have to connect, so it wasn't as accessible as now that you have it on your phone.

Speaker 4: 16:12

But the people were really good with us. Like the first year, we're what are these guys doing? The second year is ah, these guys again. And the third year is guys, you need to come to my club and cover my season because you know we want to be part of the circle. What I find out is that we were the only ones when we first started, and if it wasn't there on Polyline, nobody knows what was going on. So a lot of people start calling us to cover their event. So that was when we, you know, we really really started to grow. Our main income was not advertising. Our main income at the time was the clubs that invite us to go and cover their tournaments.

Speaker 3: 16:55

Okay, so they're paying you a fee to cover? Yes, so you mentioned that you weren't the only one. Do you recall who might be some of the other people that you were competing against, or was there really no competition at all?

Speaker 4: 17:09

There was no competition. No, no, it was us and Luis Garrahan with his magazine. Then in England was PQ magazine, polo Quarterly magazine. We bought Polo Quarterly. We bought PQ. Later on we bought PQ. So at pq. Later on we bought pq. So at the beginning it was just us. There was nobody there, so we were the only ones. So, yeah, it was a good time it's also pretty risky.

Speaker 3: 17:38

I mean, again, you're in a sport that's very niche, yes, and just the motivation that you have to keep behind it to again in year three get the folks from other clubs interested enough to pay you to cover their tournament. Not everyone would do that. I mean, some people might even given up after the first year at that time those kind of things.

Speaker 4: 17:59

I started to be honest, I started thinking afterwards when I got married and got a family. But at that time it was just, it was fun, it was flying all over the world going to the best places playing polo. So we always were update with the technology and update with what was going on and how this was changing and evolving fast. But we we never really did a marketing plan say, OK, we can make this much money in Polo. It was more for the lifestyle than you know the money that you can make.

Speaker 3: 18:35

Yeah Well also. I mean, at the end of the day, the equity that you're creating around building content is pretty substantial. When, would you say, you hit that really pivotal moment? Was it in that third year where those clubs were requesting you to kind of cover, or was there something even more than just the trajectory of what you guys were doing just booged?

Speaker 4: 18:58

well, what really boomed us was the technology. When, you know, internet started being faster and more accessible to everybody. That's what it boom. Okay, that I will say. That is a the main thing, and of course, the other one was the claps. But because, okay, first of all is you.

Speaker 4: 19:21

You know the technology, but if you think about the clubs, there's still no TV. You know very, very little TV. So we're talking about the normal polo club, not the top events. Yeah, so there is no TV. And if there is no TV, the sponsors, they're not great.

Speaker 4: 19:42

So the main income of the polo clubs are the patrons and the players. So what they want was the patrons to go there, have a good time and come back next year, and the only ones promoting that and showing that it was us. So that for me, was the big break, or the big thing. You know the clubs trying to show. You know how good the fields are. What are the new developments that they were doing in the clubs? The tournaments, to know. And also, you want to go and play a tournament that is published.

Speaker 4: 20:18

If you go and play a tournament and nobody sees you, it's not the same. There is a lot of that in Poland. So a tournament that is well promoted, that is well covered and everybody sees that you play there, that's what everybody wants to play. That on one side and then on the other side. I remember one day one of the top players came and said thank you, because of the interview you did me, I got a job, and that also made me think like, oh okay, so that also generates a lot of income or revenue in polo. The regular ways of income in other sport don't apply to polo. It's different.

Speaker 3: 21:03

You know that other sport don't apply to polo. It's different. You know that when I got into the sport with the uspa was around 2013 and I remember my this is I think it was the first or second where the folks matt baker and polo development at that time introduced me to, you know, drone technology and how it ultimately covered the sport and how the umpires started using it, and it was not even dabbled with yet on any of our NBC airings or I don't even take the live stream at that point. But that convinced me right there, almost on the second day of the job, that this is going to be fun and that was 2013. And I feel like from that year maybe as few years maybe before I got the trajectory of polo content live streaming started to happen. Um, yeah, because obviously global polo would eventually be created. You can guys like mike ferrero with chucker tv, mac baker with polo channel, the folks over at Polo Cam they all started with us because we created Polo Line TV way before the technology was there.

Speaker 4: 22:14

After the website, we understand that we needed to cover all the medias. You know that, the sponsor, they just need to come to us and you know. Then we have the website, the magazine and the TV. Tv was something different. For that point we bought PQ magazine. So we have the magazine, we have the website and we try really hard to put Polo on TV. We do ESPN USA, eurosport in Europe, espn Argentina only wanted to do the Open.

Speaker 4: 22:49

So we find out that there was no place for Polo on TV at that time and the videos were starting to come online. And I say, okay, this is a great platform for that. It's a niche, it will be shown on TV. So we started with PoloLine TV. We partnered with Polo Channel I can't remember what it was called and then we did something with Mike Ferreira. We also started with PoloCam. That's the first ever game. Was PoloCam? I remember we met with Greg in UK. He was filming the games for the teams. We met him through John Horswell and John said he has all the games. Why don't you put it online? And that's the first time we put something. It was not live streaming, but we put the games online. So those were the beginnings.

Speaker 3: 23:46

No's great. I mean it was fun to be, uh, the ground up with some of that stuff, just to be experimenting with televising and live streaming, with all the different camera angles and drawings, how to do this successfully and cost effectively, which was really hard to do. People coming in there and say, like, how do we film this with such a huge pitch? Yeah, it was fascinating, but I love the challenge they presented. It always excites me sometimes thinking about my involvement with that and what ultimately became Global Polo TV. On that aspect of working with Mike Ferrara and Chukar TV and sitting down with those guys constantly brainstorming how do we do this, how do we do this collectively, with so many people in the pot, you know, trying to do all the same thing and develop all their own content was always thrilling, so it's always exciting to see where it has come today, today, you know, today like Chunker TV or CTV, how they call today.

Speaker 4: 24:46

They have a TV studio. That is amazing. It's like you know it could be compared to any TV studio. The cameras, equipment is amazing. So how everything evolves and what you are able to do now with the live stream is amazing. It wasn't possible to do it before or it was very expensive for a sport that don't have many people that will pay to watch. So it was challenging. It was very challenging.

Speaker 3: 25:16

What would you say, would pull the line today. And so what? 30 years? Right now coming up, this is 25 years. Yes, it's going to be 25. What would you say were your biggest milestones as a company?

Speaker 4: 25:31

Well, for me always, the first season was when I always remember coming here with nothing and you know everything we needed to do. We bought the first digital camera because before that, I remember, we started in Argentina. Before that, there was a famous photographer called Melito in Argentina it's kind of Snoopy here and he gave us the paper pictures. We need to scan the pictures and put it online. So the first year we came here we bought a digital camera which was like a very, very tiny little camera and you can only take pictures when the horse just run by through you and it was a lot of social pictures.

Speaker 4: 26:23

That, for me, was one of the first milestones. You know that was big. The second one, I'll say at a certain point it was open, free, the content was free for everybody, and then we closed the content and you needed to pay. So that was huge also. And then the other ones. I would say when we started PoloLine TV, that was huge also because it created a completely new business. Actually, now PoloLine and PoloLine TV are two separate companies, so that created a whole new business. So probably those were the main things. Yeah, milestone.

Speaker 3: 27:05

What were your biggest challenges? Were there. Was there ever a time in running your business where something was either one far too difficult or scary? At one point Was the company going to go under competition in the marketplace, Anything? That was the most challenging part of the whole past 25 years.

Speaker 4: 27:24

The most challenging part at the beginning was always the cost. You know, because to do a good product you need good equipment. You do good technology and in Polo you didn't have the number. So you can do it if you have 100,000 people, a million people, watching you and paying. Your audience is more than 100,000 or more than a million people, but Polo people is very small. There are more people in Wellington that play pickleball than people that play Polo all around the world. So it's challenging.

Speaker 4: 28:06

So that was like the main challenge. That's why we we went for like the route of getting very high-end sponsors. You know, paying to access. You needed to pay to access to polo line. So that was, for me, the first big challenge that we had. And then the other one I'll say is is now, is the competition is like before you can only find out what was going on if you go to polo line. Now you open instagram, facebook and everybody's a reporter, like from the grooms to the players, to the people they hire exclusively at the club to promote and cover. So you have a lot of competition, a lot of competition.

Speaker 4: 28:55

And the other thing I found was in a moment we deal directly with the headquarters, like Rolex, Cartier, land Rover. We went once a year to Switzerland, to London. We have a meeting and we have an arrangement for the entire year. And when everything the social media and everything start growing, they say, okay, we're not doing Polo anymore, but Audi England is doing so. You need to go and talk to Audi in England. And then Cartier was not doing Polo anymore globally, but Cartier Suisse is doing so. That also was very challenging, you know, to start looking into all the local brands and not deal internationally or with the headquarters anymore. That also was complicated.

Speaker 3: 29:46

Now I see that you are involved, either PoloLine or yourself, with Global Polo TV. Is that correct? Correct? Yes, so what do you do with them? Are you a consultant, or how does that all work out?

Speaker 4: 29:58

Yeah, I'm a consultant with them, david Cummings. We like all the international events. We work with Global Polo and we produce the games for them the World Cup in Australia, we do FIP European, also in England, we did the Westchester. So we had a long relationship with David Cummings especially, long relationship with David Cameron especially. And when I came to Palm Beach, when we started Polar Line TV, one of the first places was Palm Beach, wellington and and we discussed how the USPA was and where the USPA wanted to go, the platform, the livestream, global Polo. And we had an idea to create the platform, global Polo platform, and to put everything in there, not only the games, the content and everything. So that was the plan.

Speaker 4: 30:55

But things changed afterwards and David retired and now you know the plan changed a little bit. David was bringing together the sport and the brand. Okay. So the idea of having a strong platform with Global Polo was that we can promote polo but also promote the lifestyle, promote the brand and everything on our platform. But when David left, the sport part went back to the sport and we only focus on the lifestyle part. So we make an agreement with ESPN, eurosport and Bainsport. So basically we produce all the shows for outside the polo world. So we do the big finals, we do the CB Whitney Gold Cup, us Open, women's Open, the intercollegiate finals and we do an international event for ESPN and also we have our breakaway show. We have six more shows that also goes on the ESPN platform, bain Sport and Eurosport. So, yeah, we are now, with Global Polo, focusing on getting the polo outside the polo world, getting the polo to the world.

Speaker 3: 32:14

How do you do that with Polo Line TV? Mean, are you guys synthetically in competition with each other, or are there synergies?

Speaker 4: 32:20

No, no, there are synergies. Me personally, I sold. That's why I was saying PoloLine and PoloLine TV are two separate companies. I sold my shares on PoloLine when I started working or, you know, consulting with you on Polo. So I sold all my shares from PoloLine TV. When the USP, us Polo sponsors the Gold Cup in England and PoloLine films that we do also. We sponsor the French Open, sauterrande, dubai, all the international events. Pololine film the content and they send content to us.

Speaker 3: 32:58

All right, no, makes sense. What do you see as the future of Polo content or Polo on TV? From your perspective of where things are going, that's a good question.

Speaker 3: 33:10

I mean just in the past 10 years. I mean, all right, you've seen Global Polo develop from David Cummings' vision, who has had an amazing vision of where Polo and Polo should be. I totally get it At some point you're just going to have to retire for the game and what you're doing, but he was a true visionary. Even the conversations I've had separately have been fantastic and I hope he'll be a guest on his podcast as well. But seeing Polo even Chukka TV I remember when Chukka TV you can get it on Roku, for example, so it had that easy access application on your TV, on your smart TV to get it has always been valuable.

Speaker 4: 33:49

My main idea when we started with the global Polo platform is be accessible to everybody on an app or you can. You can watch it on tv, but yeah, followed by obviously the live stream.

Speaker 3: 34:02

You know, at that time when I was around, we had it on nbc television. Obviously it was pre-taped air. I think that still goes on with espn, but uh, it's broader in terms of the number of events now poloo events that are televised. So it's come a long way in 10 years.

Speaker 4: 34:19

It's come a long way and we need to give a recognition, big recognition, to Shannon Stilson, michael Prince, because we didn't imagine that we can do this. Taking Polo where it is now on TV and having so many people watching it was unthinkable before. Before this, you needed to buy the airtime to put the US Open, so it was costing us a fortune to buy the airtime and just to put the US Open final. Now we have 12 shows year round, not only on ESPN but on all the major networks around the world, and we have millions and millions of people watching polo. So that's the future. If you ask me that's the future.

Speaker 4: 35:06

I see it divided. It should be all together but it's divided. So I see it on one side is the part we're doing with Global Polo that is taking the sport to the bigger audience. We put in the finals and our breakaway shows, and that is only going to grow because ESPN is asking for more content, bainsport wants more content and every time we talk to the big networks they're happy with what we are doing and they want more. So that's one part and the way I see it is growing a lot on that sense. And then on the other side, that is the sports side. I don't know. I have my own idea. I don't know exactly what the HPA wants to do, but for me, the live stream is a great platform for the polo community and it's a great platform for the clubs, you know, to give the clubs an opportunity to promote their event, to help their sponsors, to show what they're doing, to be part of the community. So that, for me, is something great.

Speaker 3: 36:19

So there's a top-down and bottom-up approach. I mean, the bottom-up approach is like you got to appease to certain audiences and although the primary audience that the USPA has appeased to is its members and those are active playing members at the same time who do see the value in the live stream where Global Polo TV is more of a top-down, where it's appeasing to a large audience, a non-polo player, and inviting them into our world, if you will. So the narrative, the messaging, even the storytelling can be slightly different. It's sometimes you know the argument I have with people who watch the Netflix series. Sometimes I tell them I'm like, look, there's truth to that. But Netflix series sometimes I tell them I'm like, look, there's truth to that, but also remember the audience that it's trying to portray to.

Speaker 4: 37:00

That's a good example and I have my own opinion about that, but you know that's a good example because I watched the show and I finished watching the show and I said I don't know if this is going to help Polo. I don't know if this is good for Polo. And I talked to all the Polo people. We this is going to help Polo. I don't know if this is good for Polo. And I talked to all the Polo people we even do a poll on PoloLine to see what people were thinking and the Polo people were not very happy. But then I talked to all the people outside Polo and it was amazing. They all watched it. There was a lot of people asking me about Timiduta or La Fete team.

Speaker 3: 37:36

So I don't know it about Timiduta or La Fete team, so I don't know. It's a great conversation because I had the exact same thing. Everyone in Polo didn't like it. I can see it from their perspective because I wish it wasn't five episodes. I said I'm like I kind of want to wish it was eight or 10, because it might have been able to capture some of the things that the Polo community wanted to see more of. Like could have you had a breakaway episode that talked about more uh, polo all throughout the united states and that whole culture. You know, yeah, and you know you have a small window to do certain things. But the non-polo people so my old world of being in mainstream sports they enjoyed it and they said I didn't know it was that dangerous. I didn't know. How is Bob Narvis doing? Is he okay?

Speaker 4: 38:24

You know, whatever happened to that, they're looking to things that we overlook because for us it's normal. On that side, on that part, it was a big opportunity to show, because Netflix is a great platform, so it was a good opportunity to show the sport to everybody.

Speaker 1: 38:44

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Speaker 1: 39:19

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Speaker 3: 40:32

You know I was interviewed for like three hours for that thing and there was a lot of things I wish were in it but weren't. Yeah, Because I, like I did answers to their questions about, you know, the dangerous side, the humanization of the horse and its meaning and its importance, and the overall culture of the game that people misperceive. They think it's all about champagne, sun dresses and seersucker and it's like it's not. And I said, what attracted me to the game is I'm hanging out with my best buddies drinking a Corona or a Coors banquet beer on the back of a flatbed pickup truck having a barbecue after there's two's two realities and the polo player is so used to the college sports tailgater than the glitzy side of things. But I get that.

Speaker 4: 41:27

We have to embrace that it's not going away, especially in the us we have to embrace that and I like that word because, yeah, that sells, it does New memberships or a product that sells and it's also part of the polo. You know, it's also part of the polo. The Sunday games are like that. Then you come and see any game during the week and it's completely different, but the Sunday game is like that and people have fun and they have a good time and they enjoy polo and they go back home and say this was great.

Speaker 3: 42:04

So yeah, yeah I will tell you that, coming from the world of sponsorship, is is an appeal to. On the luxury side, yeah, people have larger discretionary income to play the sport. It's incredibly expensive and things like that. But I will tell you you're probably going to see more BMWs in a parking lot than you are going to see Rolls Royces so affordable luxury. You should be all over this thing. And even some of the brands that you wouldn't think that polo was attractive, like Coors Light beer.

Speaker 3: 42:40

Some of the blue-collar brands that are out there also appeal to this sport and I can build a pretty easy case as to why a blue-collar brand that appeals to just the general market can easily take interest in a sport of polo. And just because it's expensive, it's incredibly accessible. Interest in the sport of polo. And just because it's expensive, it's incredibly accessible. You know it doesn't take that expensive ticket to get in, to roll up your car and enjoy a polo event. That's how it's played predominantly in the United States. That's how you experience it. You know Palm Beach is one area. I mean it's right next to Mar-a-Lago, so you can imagine the demographic and culture there. But come up to Bintan country in Wisconsin and Chicago, it's different.

Speaker 4: 43:22

I agree. One of the other things that you know it's an endless discussion because I'm on the arena committee also, so we talk a lot with Robin Sanchez which also will be great for your show to have her and the difference between arena polo and the normal polo. So arena polo has and now you see Nacho Figueras and Adolfito trying to do an international circuit, but arena polo has more options to get to the wider audience than the regular polo because the fields are smaller. You can build a field anywhere. You need less horses. There's a lot of benefits.

Speaker 4: 44:02

But we need to sit down as an organization the whole USPA and say, okay, guys, where do we want to go? What do we want? So there is not a right answer because there is not an objective. We don't have an objective as an organization. So if the objective is grow the sport, so let's do arena polo. If the objective is to sell more shirts, let's do polo. But I think that is what is missing to know exactly where are we going, what are the objectives, what we want to achieve, and depending on on that, there are different ways of doing things. Because for me, arena polo is a great show, it's a great spectacle. You can put that on tv. You can do a circuit on tv. So, yes, but it's more compared to rodeo or stuff like that. Yeah, and the other one, the, the grass polo, is more high-end. I don't know.

Speaker 3: 44:58

Yeah, outdoor polo, the green grasses, it looks cleaner. I mean it's, yeah, but you're right. I mean there is almost caters to audiences and yeah, the smaller field, the arenas, it's more accessible.

Speaker 4: 45:08

Half of the USPA members are arena members. The main entrance to polo is through arena, either for school or the local arena places. There are more people getting into polo because of arena than regular polo. Then they can grow into polo.

Speaker 3: 45:26

I had a really fascinating conversation with Chip Campbell in my last season. It was my last interview that I had and we were talking about how do we imprint polo on people that might take it up later in life, and I was always curious as to all the people that, let's say, played polo in their youth, let's say from 18 and younger. How many of those people had the propensity to pick up the sport, let's say, in their 30s and 40s they returned to it. I would really be curious because I have an affinity to horse riding in general. I started riding when I was 10.

Speaker 3: 46:04

Polo was never introduced to me, but I fell in love with horses. I sensed the value and the responsibilities and bravery and skills in our youth and it got me thinking that. You know, the camp that I learned to ride was in Northern Wisconsin and I always thought to myself had they put polo as part of that equine curriculum? And they start kids off riding as early as eight years old, all right and then go through about like 14, 15. Had they done that and you know, between that time thousands of kids would have gone through that camp. Now that I'm 40, would any of those kids that I went to camp with had picked up the sport later in life, when they had that discretionary income to lease, own or continue the sport in some sort of fashion, it would be an interesting project in my opinion.

Speaker 4: 46:55

The answer is very simple. It would be an interesting project, in my opinion. The answer is very simple when you leave school, you need to buy your own horses, have your own grooms, take care of your horses, play your club fees and dues. If you want to play in a bigger tournament, you need to hire a professional. It's impossible Unless you have money or you come from a polo family or a polo money family.

Speaker 4: 47:16

That, for me, is not letting the sport grow. Let's say you play polo at school, you know. You say, ah, this is good. And you, you know, at school they give you everything. Great, you get out of school and you want to keep playing polo.

Speaker 4: 47:32

Okay, there is a club where I go and pay any number, but an accessible number. Okay, I pay this much per month and they take care of everything. I just go there with my boots, my mallet and my helmet and I always have four horses for me to play checkers and I play checkers. I can keep playing polo for an accessible fee. I don't need to worry about horses, I don't need to worry about grooms or anything. I just pay my monthly fee and play polo. And then, if I have more money or if I want to grow.

Speaker 4: 48:05

Yeah, you have all the possibilities. But at least you know there is an option where you pay something that is not crazy and especially it's not so much the money, it's the organization. Polo takes a lot of organization, especially here in the US. If you're not organized, it's impossible to play polo here. So if there are clubs that will provide that, I think that would be amazing for polo, like if you can just go and pay a monthly fee and the club will take care of everything. That would be amazing for polo. If you can just go and pay a monthly fee and the club will take care of everything, that would be great.

Speaker 3: 48:41

Yeah, love, 100%, 100% From your eyes. Where do you see the next biggest opportunity with polo? Where do you think where you like to see specifically how the sport is marketed? Where would you like to see it go from here, from where it is, because you played a big role with global polo, its development, its expansion. What's the next step? You need another netflix series.

Speaker 4: 49:08

I mean there are a lot of discussions. There are some big news coming up that I don't know if I can tell them, but on our side at least, we're looking for having constant events, like the TV networks, they don't want the final, they don't want one off, they want to have continuity. They want to have a tournament this month and then another tournament, and so I see it going that way is whatever we did up to here. Grow it. So instead of showing just the 12 finals, maybe we show more games on the networks.

Speaker 3: 49:47

So the frequency of polo and the progression of a tournament, exactly, and you're watching March Madness. At the end of the day, you have X, y and Z number of rounds and you see the progression of what begins and ends. Just to build that overall hype.

Speaker 4: 50:01

You need to be able to follow. You know like the best example is the Formula One that you have a lot of racing car companies and you have a lot of pilots and they change every year, so it's very difficult to follow up. But this is the step we up. But you have continuity. You have all the circuits, you have all the races. So the race in Miami is different from the race in I don't know Brazil, but it's still the same circuit. So something like that, like you know where we can have a circuit, where we can unify the international circuit. And then it makes sense because you follow the players all around the world all year long, so they can be competing in the US or in England, but you follow the players.

Speaker 3: 50:52

So you have a great concept here because, technically, golf does that. You have a great concept here because, technically, golf does that and golf does that because you have the European tour, you have the PGA, you have the Asian tour. All of them have their designated. However, each one of them has kind. The British Open Is there, like you said, is there a circuit of the biggest tournaments with the highest propensity that the same players or teams are all going to participate, and it kind of covers a whole entire year. I think that's plausible, I do.

Speaker 4: 51:34

The future for me? Yes, and if someone can do it, it's Michael Prince and US Polo ESSN. Nobody else can do that, because we are the main sponsor of all the biggest tournaments around the world.

Speaker 3: 51:47

Yeah, well, and look at it historically, historically, even when you look at other sports, a lot of this innovation comes from its sponsor, okay, or a sponsor out of nowhere. You can tie that back to, let's say, skateboarding okay, if it wasn't for skateboarding. Let's say inline skating and the creation of the x games. That was largely responsible for two brands mountain dew and vans. Yeah, the shoe company, like that was a trajectory. They put that stuff on the map because of their investment into the game.

Speaker 3: 52:22

And you could say the same thing about ocean racing, for example. Where would ocean racing be without Oracle? Oracle, exactly, and there's others. And it's a great case study from you know, sponsorship and marketing is, yes, us Polo ASSN has carved out its sport for them and they're the primary subsidizer. Let's be honest. No, no, it's true. Yeah, so it's been done before, and I think US Polo ASSN is seeking something that the playbook has been made and has shown to be successful. But the one risk is that if something were to happen to US Polo ASSN, then is there anyone to pick up the torch, or has it been built enough to carry the torch onto itself?

Speaker 4: 53:13

But once you create the base, it's like the X Games. Now the X Games they can do it by themselves. They don't need Montendieu or they don't need Pulse, they are a big enough name. So I think this could be the same case.

Speaker 4: 53:29

One of the things that we created and this is interesting when we go around the world, you, you know, covering tournaments and going to the best clubs is that when a sponsor came, they say I'm sponsoring polo and for them it was exactly the same to sponsor the gold cup in england or tournament in a ranch in buenos aires. So they don't understand. There was no standard of what is good, what is bad. They have no idea, they just console polo. Yeah, so we get together with the main polo clubs and we created the World Polo Tour. So that was a ranking of the best tournaments, the best clubs, and winning that gives you points to a ranking of players. So that was huge because a lot of people and nowadays they use the World Polo Tour to understand which is the main circuit, which are the main tournaments, who are the best players of the year, who are the best players. And that's probably one of the other milestones I forgot to mention, because that was huge. That for us was really huge.

Speaker 3: 54:40

And the World Polar Tour still exists today. I mean, I think I'm on its website right now, so you still have an important educational tool to inform people. This is where the biggest these are the biggest players, these are the biggest tournaments. It was funny.

Speaker 4: 54:52

I have complaints. But some players that they come in and say they're not giving me my visa because I'm not in the ranking. Really, yes, what do you want me to do? I say no, nothing, just tell that you know it's not an official ranking. I say, yeah, it's not an official ranking, but if you're not in the ranking, you're not one of the best players. So it's funny, because they use that for the visas. Really, oh my gosh, people pay attention to that.

Speaker 3: 55:26

They're kind of digging themselves into a hole when you do it unintentionally. When it comes to securing the visa, I've had to do that work on my end before for some of the players that came through Chicago. That's never come up before. No, but if you see, the World Pool Tour.

Speaker 4: 55:37

I've had to do that work on my end before for some of the players that came through Chicago and that's never come up before. Yeah no, but if you see, the World Pool Tour is just gathering the best tournaments and just giving points, and you know, anyone can do it. We just do it to reflect who was the best player of the year which won the best tournaments of the moment. It's just showing what is out there.

Speaker 3: 55:59

Polo has been your career, your entire life, with the obsession of your stint in rugby which I love, by the way, because I love hearing that, okay, someone did some type of crazy-ass sport prior to being in polo, so they have a bit of a screw loose, which makes total sense, because you kind of have to have a screw loose to play polo. Yeah.

Speaker 4: 56:19

I used to surf, snowboarding and skateboard you know what I think?

Speaker 3: 56:24

it was this past year that I learned that awful Cabo Yasso was a surfer. I'm like what the hell. Totally makes sense, though. Totally makes sense. I learned to surf, but his father was but the question I was going to ask is with the World Polo Tour and everything so you've had a whole career in polo what drives you every day to continue to put your heart and soul and life into this game? Because I can imagine that at some point it probably frustrated your children and your wife.

Speaker 4: 56:57

Yeah, yes, I don't know. Nowadays it's a lifestyle, because it was getting my wife very frustrated. She came with me to one tournament in Deauville and I was taking pictures and I needed to talk to the sponsors of the tournament. So I said you know, you think you can take the pictures. Well, I have this meeting because they only can do it now. So I say no, I don't know. She was afraid. Anyway, long story short, she started taking pictures and now is one of the best polo photographers. So now it's a lifestyle for the whole family.

Speaker 4: 57:40

Do you have children playing? I have two daughters, one, the youngest one, she did play. She played kids polo. She wants to play and I don't want her to play. So let's see, maybe she will, maybe she don't. She's young, she's 11. So she's thick and bold and every time she has an opportunity she plays kids tournaments. The other one, no, the other one likes more music and art. So yeah, not so much the sport, but you know it's a lifestyle for a family and also because there is a lot of things to do. Polo still is a very amateur sport. It's a very, very amateur sport and there is a lot of room to convert this sport into a professional sport and I think that for me is my main thing to keep on going. There is a lot of things to do and a lot of opportunities and I think we have still a long way to go in the sport to put it out there.

Speaker 3: 58:44

I'm just really impressed that there's still a group of people out there that are continuously motivated, with very little upside it's one of those high risk, high reward situations and they keep on investing in themselves, trying to create positive and transformative change in the sport constantly, whether it's yourself, people like Shannon Stillson, mike Ferreira, the DMZs, the girls from Line Up Polo, for example, who are doing things, and they're so motivated and setting aside just a lot of their personal time, money to bring polo to the masses or connect polo in a way to other mainstream sports where people can understand. And I think that's amazing that people are continuing to have that motivation and drive, because I think we all see the light at the end of the tunnel. It might be dim, but it's there. It's there.

Speaker 4: 59:49

It's definitely there. It's definitely an opportunity, but, as you say, it's a lot of effort and sometimes it's too high risk. The polo is too high risk.

Speaker 3: 1:00:00

It is and, look, it's not a recession-proof sport. Anything can disrupt the sport, from a person, club, tournament or anything like that kind of going down from its participation. So I think we all acknowledge that it sucks. Yes, but one question I did have from you being that you're from Argentina. Yes, and so I'm assuming that you go back and forth from Argentina All the time. Yes, okay, so what do you see as kind of the biggest differences in gameplay and even culture from one country to the other, including England?

Speaker 4: 1:00:37

Yeah, there are three very different places for polo markets, for polo Argentina. The best example is me. I saw that they were playing polo and at the end, at the back of the polo club the country club actually and I just get there, say, can I play polo? Yes, you can. It was easy, accessible. You have a lot of people playing, it's easy, accessible. It's more like a sport. In Argentina, it's more like a family tradition, it's easy to access and you have a lot of places to play polo. You have a lot of horses and accessible. You need people to play polo and you need fields to play polo. So Argentina is full of fields and full of horses and full of people that play polo. So that makes it super easy and we have a culture of polo. We have Palermo in the middle of the city. So, no matter what, you don't know anything about polo, but you know that. You know, in November is polo there and we have the best polo in the world and it's culture in Argentina.

Speaker 4: 1:01:50

So here I would say polo is more for the elite. If you don't have money, it's difficult to play polo. So that would be a very, very strong barrier because the only way you can access polo is through school or with money. There is no other way to access the sport. So that put it in a very different category. England is a mix of Argentina and a mix of USA, because of course it's expensive and to play polo and good polo in England is very expensive, but you still have the clubs where you know maybe you have one or two horses and they let you run, and I think you have more clubs and you have a more rural culture in England, so that makes it more accessible. So England for me would be a mix of the two.

Speaker 3: 1:02:48

It's a great topic because oftentimes it does come up in conversations. Why is it more popular here than over here in the US? Why are there more Tengolers who are Argentine than there are in the US? And once you apply cultural, social, economics and financial barriers and things like that and just overall accessibility, that really comes to light. But there's a lot of other examples where other sports have the same problem and it's like hockey, for example.

Speaker 3: 1:03:19

Hockey in the US is not an urban sport, it's much suburban and much more in northern states than Canada and places like that. And then also there's a financial barrier because the discretionary income to afford the equipment and get out hockey rinks and so on and so forth is expensive. Soccer is another example. It's versus, let's say, say, basketball, which is more of an urban sport. It's a concrete game rather than open fields and grass. So there are a lot of examples that you can touch on from other sports. It's not an anomaly for polo. It's not because you can point to the same problems that exist elsewhere. It's a matter of just plugging those holes, if you can, to see if there's a way to boost that participation or viewership, whatever it might be. So yeah, I mean it's a fascinating discussion.

Speaker 4: 1:04:13

Especially with polo. You need to play good horses with good players, good tournament, good fields, good players, good tournament, good fields. And you only get that not easy but accessible in Argentina. Here you play good horses, good players, good polo, good fields. If you play the gauntlet, you only have like three months a year. You know there are some more tournaments, but the level of excellence is the gauntlet. In Argentina it's year-round and there are a lot of tournaments. So a lot of clubs and a lot of tournaments where you have good fields, good horses, good players and constant polo, year-round polo. So it's difficult to compete against that.

Speaker 3: 1:05:00

Yeah, you could get away with it in the US US and some of the mid-states in terms of like year round Go ahead.

Speaker 4: 1:05:07

But also the other thing is like, if you look to the normal polo player in Argentina, the US, we're probably similar. But if you look to the people that live out of polo, that's where we make the difference and those are the people that then are going to go up and get to 10 goals, and that doesn't happen here. Here, I don't know there is no continuation, it's very little, like high goal players that they have sons and the sons play polo and they continue. There are very few cases here. The sons play polo and they continue with. There are very few cases here. And in Argentina. It's like with five families in Pilar and five families in Cañuelas, you have only polo and those are the people that are going to grow up to be tango polo players. You don't have that here. You get to polo late, or you get to polo through school and then it's difficult for you to continue.

Speaker 3: 1:06:07

So, yeah, that that's the difficult part where do you see, globally, the most growth? In polo. Are there other countries that are investing? You see more patrons, more players, just just investment in general. Other countries out there?

Speaker 4: 1:06:25

No, it's funny because I see that the polo is growing. Maybe it's not growing the high gold. The high gold is getting more and more expensive, so that is not going to grow, it's always going to stay the same. But I do see it growing a lot in the medium and the low goal, especially in Argentina. The Argentine Polo Association did a really good job in promoting the low goal tournaments and medium goal tournaments to play competitive and to play professionally and to have the opportunity to the final of the tournament to be in Pilar or to be in Palermo. That was great Around the world. I think probably this is the same case, not growing that much, but I see growing the low goal, the medium goal. I see it growing and that is a big opportunity.

Speaker 3: 1:07:20

Well, that's great because I see and this is probably from US Polo, assn but I do see a lot of growth. Or just maybe it's because they're just producing more content and so they're just getting smarter around social media and things like that. But in India, united Arab Emirates and areas like that I'm trying to think of the desert polo event that Richard Mills is a part of and the investment that's going around there I'm hoping to have them on this podcast too, by the way, and it's hopefully in the near future.

Speaker 4: 1:07:49

Yeah, yeah, New projects. There's a lot of new projects that they have polo as a reference, like the Alula case, or even the polo in Dubai is a proper tournament, but it started with exhibition games. Now they have a proper circuit. Egypt, Azerbaijan there is a lot of places where they use polo to get visibility for tourism. So I see that a lot. But the problem with that is I don't know if the polo is going to stay there and grow or it's just an event. You know, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3: 1:08:32

And I love those exhibition events that are out there, like snow polo, beach polo. I do it's good.

Speaker 4: 1:08:38

It's good for visibility and it's good, and it's good fun to play also.

Speaker 3: 1:08:42

So yeah, whether the horses like it, I'm not really quite sure, but yeah, it is made for an appeal. There is an attraction to it. I've been to it. There are a lot of fun, yeah, yeah, so no question about it. But my gosh honey, I feel like we can go on forever and ever and ever again.

Speaker 3: 1:08:59

I had one point I forgot that we were actually recording a podcast, but I really appreciate you taking the time with me today, be my pleasure and spending over an hour. I feel as though we might have to do a part two Because I feel like there might be topics that we didn't touch base on, but it was really exciting to hear the story of Polo Line. What you're doing for the sport now and just talking about just what has happened in the last 25 years since PoloLine was founded, in the trajectory and the accomplishments and the milestones that we talked about today, is really, really neat. We've come a long way. We've come a long way. There's still more to come, yes, and I wish you continued success and hopefully we get a chance to work together on a professional level. Absolutely, but keep on grinding it out, man. Don't retire anytime soon, okay, we still need you.

Speaker 4: 1:09:49

I won't, man, I don't plan to do that.

Speaker 3: 1:09:51

Thank you, Javier. Thank you so much for taking the time and again, all the best to you, your family and everyone down in Palm Beach. And I know that season is going to be coming to a quick close pretty soon and I'm assuming that you're back down to Argentina, when are you off to immediately after the US season?

Speaker 4: 1:10:09

I will probably go back to Argentina and probably this year go to England also, okay, Well, hopefully our paths will cross.

Speaker 3: 1:10:19

I did get a chance to work for some of your guys with polo line up here in chicago. Yes, I sure did before. So yeah, we need to do more of that.

Speaker 4: 1:10:28

See, we need to do more events, more club events, more give the opportunity to the clubs to have exposure on a bigger platform, either global polo or the uspa polo network. But but I think that is something the sports and most of the clubs need.

Speaker 3: 1:10:46

Yeah, well, I also got to give a lot of credit to clubs too, because they have come a long way too. I feel like in the past five years alone, some of these clubs have had aha moments and really getting their social media, their content, together. I think programs like Kavanaugh and ai and things like that will make things easier for people and getting their message and story out there. So, um, I gotta applaud some of the clubs. I feel like when I was educating them when I was in the uspa 10 years ago, it was like sometimes talking to a wall. I feel as though they they kind of are starting to solve that for themselves and that's just Welcome to my work.

Speaker 3: 1:11:25

Alright, Javier. Well, I want you to enjoy your weekend. Happy St Patrick's Day.

Speaker 2: 1:11:29

Yeah, I'm no Larry, so I'm Irish, so I won't be, able to get out to the world and go on Ireland.

Speaker 3: 1:11:41

You have it on your blood, I do. I do. Well, everyone's Irish on St Patrick's Day, including yourself, so you can go to New York's pub and have a Guinness in my honor.

Speaker 4: 1:11:52

I will have one on your honor. Absolutely, I'll take you where I'm at.

Speaker 3: 1:11:55

All right, I'm Slip. I'm here to thank you again and talk soon. Thank you, man. Good and talk soon. Thank you, man, thanks.

Speaker 1: 1:12:04

In 2012, the founders of Outside the Boards witnessed their first polo match and were stunned by the sport's beauty and brutality. Few sports, if any, have these combined qualities. The sport's grace, intensity and warlike imagery create a shock and awe viewing experience like none other. Combine this with the sport's party-like atmosphere and lifestyle and you have a recipe for success. Today, the sport has yet to witness its full potential. The industry is fragmented, riddled with politics and inexperience. Outside the Boards was purposely designed to change all that and bring clarity to the sport by introducing best practices, insights, trends and consulting services to industry stakeholders and interested brands so that they can reach their marketing potential and better navigate the sport. Whether you're a club seeking custom sponsorship and marketing solutions or simply looking for strategic advice, we encourage you to contact us today or subscribe to gain access to industry insights. Visit us at OutsideTheBoardscom or to learn more, or email us at info at OutsideTheBoardscom. Let's change the game, and that's a wrap for today's episode. A heartfelt thanks to our season sponsor, hive 2.0, for helping bring outside the boys to life.

Speaker 1: 1:13:33

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Speaker 1: 1:14:17

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