Benoit Perrier: Leading the Chantilly Polo Legacy

Where heritage meets innovation, Chantilly Polo Club stands as Europe's premier polo destination just minutes from Paris. Managing Director Benoit Perrier takes us behind the scenes of this remarkable venue, revealing how a visionary approach has transformed a 30-year-old club into an international powerhouse.

With nine immaculate fields, 400 permanent stables, and the capacity to host over 1,400 horses during peak events, Chantilly's scale is impressive. But what truly sets this club apart is its philosophy – making polo accessible while maintaining its prestige. "It's a park open to everyone who loves horses," explains Perrier, highlighting their free-access policy for spectators that removes barriers between the sport and potential fans.

The conversation unveils Chantilly's innovative approaches to player development, from their pioneering "paddock polo" format (played three-on-three with arena balls) to their comprehensive pony polo program that introduces children as young as six to the sport. This structured pathway creates a sustainable pipeline of talent while addressing one of polo's greatest challenges – bringing new players into the fold.

Perhaps most fascinating is Chantilly's strategic location within a historic equestrian ecosystem. Situated just five kilometers from one of France's premier horse racing facilities, the club benefits from generations of horse expertise and over 300 kilometers of training tracks in the surrounding forest. This proximity allows Chantilly to repurpose retired racehorses for polo, giving these magnificent animals second careers.

The episode also explores Chantilly's impressive event portfolio, including their flagship French Open tournament that attracts top international talent, and their recent Paris Games Polo Challenge that celebrated polo's Olympic heritage during the 2024 Paris Games. Looking ahead, Perrier shares exciting plans for Europe's largest arena polo facility and the upcoming 30th anniversary celebrations.

For players, clubs, and polo enthusiasts alike, this conversation offers valuable insights into sustainable growth, effective marketing strategies, and community engagement that can elevate the sport globally. Whether you're fascinated by p

Chapters

• 0:00 Introducing Outside the Boards
• 3:26 Benoit Perrier: Chantilly's Polo Visionary
• 6:47 Early Polo Beginnings
• 16:48 Chantilly Polo Club's Origins
• 27:57 Horses, Racing and Polo Culture
• 34:14 Accessibility and Player Development
• 51:18 Marketing and Media Strategy
• 1:07:35 Sponsorship and Partnerships
• 1:19:23 Future Vision and Arena Development

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 Season 5 of the Outside the Boards podcast.

Speaker 1: 1:49

On this episode of Outside the Boards, I'm honored to welcome a true international voice in polo, benoit Perrier, managing Director of the Chantilly Polo Club and one of the sport's most thoughtful strategists and global connectors. Based just outside Paris, chantilly is not only one of Europe's most iconic polo venues, but also a cultural and competitive hub where tradition meets forward-thinking vision, and Benoit is at the heart of it all. With a background that blends business acumen, multilingual diplomacy and an unwavering commitment to the sport, benoit has helped elevate Chantilly Polo Club into a world-class destination for players, horses and spectators alike. The club hosts dozens of tournaments each year, from grassroots competitions to prestigious international events, and under Benoit's leadership, it's become a model for how polo clubs can thrive by combining heritage with innovation.

Speaker 1: 2:41

But Benoit's impact doesn't stop at the club gates. As a global polo ambassador, he's played a pivotal role in growing the game across Europe and beyond, connecting federations, building partnerships and championing sustainability, diversity and a long-term player development. His approach is both strategic and deeply personal, rooted in a lifelong love for horses, sport and the community that surrounds them. And a lifelong love for horses, sport and the community that surrounds them. Whether he's organizing the French Open, mentoring young players or working with international partners to shape the future of polo, benoit brings a sense of clarity and calm leadership that is as rare as it is necessary. So, without further ado, let's welcome Benoit Perrier of the Chantilly Polo Club to the show. Enjoy hey, where is Anne? And Alice Perrier of the Chantley Polo Club to the show.

Speaker 2: 3:25

Enjoy. 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 publish tournaments, fixtures and teams. And that info instantly appears in the lineup app where players, fans and organizers 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 1: 4:06

Benoit Perrier, how are you doing, man? Very well, very well, and you, I'm doing great. I'm so excited to have you as part of this podcast series. Chanty Polo Club has been on my mind for a few years, especially going into the Paris Games, and you guys have been a very recognizable club on the international stage of polo.

Speaker 3: 4:29

Yeah, thank you. We have a good team, we have good partners, good players at the club and on good tournaments, on good fields. So this combination to have a good team working every day is one of the main components with the polo field. And then you need to have partners who believe in your club and to follow us and to support us and to have teams coming at the club, to have members who want to invest in the club, to become shareholders. So it's a whole combination. It's really important to have this full combination, to have a club who can improve and offer a large rank of services and facilities to any polo passionate.

Speaker 1: 5:19

And then that's one of the reasons why I've been so interested in having you on, because part of my job is, you know, I always identify and keep aware of a lot of the teams, the players, the clubs who I feel like from a commercial standpoint, from a branding and marketing standpoint, are just doing it right and doing it very, very well in telling, just not advertising and promoting the sport of polo, but in alignment with demographics, the polo's affinity to you know, obviously it's.

Speaker 1: 5:54

I know it's more of a luxury sport but a more affluent sport, but I think you guys do a good job of just making it accessible and promoting it to everyone. There's a little bit of notoriety, I think, the fact that you guys are in France the Paris Games were just there, so that just amplifies the attention that polo and your club is getting. So I'm thrilled to have you on because I love talking to those individuals who are responsible for their clubs from overseas. Is this an opportunity for clubs in the United States and elsewhere to take key points and best case studies back home with them that they can ultimately amplify their properties and organizations as well? But before we get into the Chanchi Polo Club obviously you're the commercial and events director there and done a fantastic job. I've heard your name tossed around among many of Polo's trailblazers and leaders here back home in the US, but before we get into that, I'm always eager to learn about how you got into Polo.

Speaker 3: 6:57

Yeah, the first thing how we started Polo. Well, I started Polo thanks to my father. It's a funny story. We were a family in horse breeding for racing horse racing and my father one of the clients and friends of my father asked him to go to buy some polo horses in Paris to bring them close to Switzerland because he wanted to start to play polo. So my father went to Paris, went to a different place where you can find polo horses, and bought two horses for his friends and he bought one for him at the same time. So, bring him back.

Speaker 3: 7:42

And we're living in Lyon, very close to Lyon, in the Beaujolais, my father used to have a horse breeding place with three stallions, 30 mares for horse racing. So we start to have this horse. He start to take some polo lesson and step by step he become addicted. So soon we get some other friends coming at the house, at the farm and step by step we end with 50 horses, polo horses at the farm and 50 friends coming every weekend to enjoy, to play Polo. But it was very like we call Polo Campo, very friendly, no, professional.

Speaker 3: 8:26

Even the fields in was not very flat at that time. One of the field was going up and going down. Another one was going down and going up, so it was just very amateur. So I learned polo in that atmosphere was riding a little bit and I really started to ride and to play a little bit with some of the friends. I was 12 years old that's when I started to play polo. So it was very family polo, family friends, no competition, no professional. Really that's the start of the. Not professional really was at the start of the. Because all the polo, my polo stories, is through my father who was building his, his life after 40 years old now you mentioned that he, when he was out purchasing polo horses, he bought one for himself.

Speaker 1: 9:21

Had he been playing polo before that, or just is this? Hey, let me give this a try.

Speaker 3: 9:26

He's a good rider. He's a good rider, so he starts like that. And then he went to take some lessons at the time with my care family, which is a very important family in polo in Paris, brought some friends with him and they start like that. I mean, at that time I remember very well because we the first competition we have organized when I was maybe around 14 years old was French Championship Paddock Polo. Paddock Polo is three against three on the small field, on grass, easy to organize, to play for everyone. It's fun. You play with the arena ball and it was funny because these friends Organized to play for everyone. It's fun.

Speaker 3: 10:08

You play with the arena ball and it was funny because these friends, this group of friends, they start to promote it. Because they went to Paris, they ask what we can do to develop polo. Well, maybe you can do that competition. So they start to develop it. And the first competition was organized 5,000 people coming to Lyon to see polo. And that was crazy because polo was not even show at that time except Paris. Very limited number of clubs in France and very exclusive in Paris. So that's the beginning of the story.

Speaker 1: 10:36

You mentioned something interesting. You mentioned that it wasn't arena polo, but it was something on a smaller scale and you played with an arena ball. You had a name for it. What did you call it? It's called paddock polo.

Speaker 3: 10:48

Paddock polo, okay, and that's a very easy way to start polo in a club in a funny way. Not arena on grass, except if arena now is becoming a real important topic for polo in the world, because water can be an issue in the future. So we have to have different way and we have to think about to have different facility already in all the case.

Speaker 1: 11:15

How was the venue set up for paddock polo? Was it kind of like an arena setting in a way where it was still on grass?

Speaker 3: 11:21

Not on grass. On grass In one normal field you can do two. Paddock polo field. Okay, more or less. You take a normal standard polo field and in that standard polo field you can do two.

Speaker 1: 11:34

Was it three on three instead of four on four?

Speaker 3: 11:36

Yeah, you do three against three. Okay, because the peephole is easy to watch, very easy to watch.

Speaker 1: 11:41

I know we diverted a little bit, but um uh, simon wilson from urban polo out in new zealand, I feel like, has a version of that. It's in between what you described an arena polo, because the goal ends are open so you can ride through, but the sides of the field they're like arena. There there's walls up and they play with an arena ball. So, yeah, no, it's that. That's. That's clever. I have not seen anything. I mean, we call it, like you know, stick and ball fields, which temporarily are smaller fields for the most part. But that's just trying to whack it around and what have you.

Speaker 3: 12:15

That's a good opportunity for clubs when you want to start to have a polo season on grass and you don't have the capacity to invest in a real polo field and you want to start good first step for polo club. On the polo manager, we want to start with not a big investment, to start to create a number of people, to have fun, to create new, new polo players, easy to start. Of course, polo on a real field, four against four, is the best of the best, but with polo you can have a lot of fun and people are looking for fun. They're not all want to be in the top league. We need to have the top league. We need to have top players. We need also to have this base of polo players and they need to have fun. They need to enjoy and to have fun.

Speaker 1: 13:06

What you described, I think, is another, another alternative. It's an alternative to outdoor. It's an alternative to arena to make use of a space to make polo accessible, especially for amateurs and new beginners.

Speaker 3: 13:17

At the end of the day, so yeah, and you know how many stories we heard about polo clubs where people argue and so even they cannot be four against four. So it's a good way to start, easy way and you can have a polo school and it's not very complicated that's great.

Speaker 1: 13:35

I know we might revisit that as we continue to talk, but I just want to get back to you and your father. And what have you? And you said that you got your start in polo at the age of 12. Were you riding before that at any time or any other equestrian discipline? Were you on track to become a jockey?

Speaker 3: 13:53

No, no, I was not very attracted by horses. I was riding when I was very, very young, like six, seven years old, and then I had an accident and I stopped to ride. For at least four years and a half. I started to be confident, to be back on the saddle, thanks to polo.

Speaker 1: 14:13

What kind of injury did you have? Was it related to polo no?

Speaker 3: 14:16

I was riding and I had the horse a bit crazy, so bad fall, that's all but just more shock than really injured.

Speaker 1: 14:27

Did you advance at all? You know how did you play competitively. You know deserves there a certain handicap that you reached at some sort of point.

Speaker 3: 14:35

I was never considering polo as a professional play. I reached two goals on the gap, but I was studying and I went to work in different topics. And then I was more goals on the gap, but I was studying and I went to work in different topics. And then I was more working on the organization and the polo management and looking for sponsors, organizing events around polo than trying to play as a professional. So I didn't have a career like a polo professional player. That means to buy horses, try to sell myself to different. I was with playing who wants to play and I was on to have fun with friends and they were helping me a little bit. I played with good friends as they were supporting me by rating me some horses, but never been like to do a career like a polo professional.

Speaker 1: 15:32

How long have you been in the business of polo?

Speaker 3: 15:35

I was working a few years with Patrick Guerin Hermès when I just finished my studies, patrick was having the idea of Patrick Gormes. He's a founder of Chantilly Polo Club, the one who asked my father to come to Chantilly to develop the club. I was just ending my studies and Patrick was looking for a few people to help him to be the assistant to develop, to receive and to host the Polo World Championship in 2004 at Chantilly. So it was a two years project. So I started to work like 2003, 2004 on it. Then I did another year to help to develop all events and then I went to work in different topics. I went to work in event business in Paris and on publishing and I came back a few years later to work back for Chantilly Polo Club. So now it's like 14 years that I'm working at the club and the club was founded when Around what time? Founded in 1995 on the first season on grass 1996.

Speaker 1: 16:53

Okay, got it, and so you were kind of brought in to really make significant change in terms of the Polo Club's future commercialization and its events.

Speaker 3: 17:02

I've seen all the development at the club for the last 30 years. I mean, uh and I was in polo before that in uh, we're breeding horses, schooling horses at the farm and, um, I mean, I always been with. Polo for me was more hobbies and a job, yeah, but with the time you have to become more and more professional in what you're doing and the club is growing up. So you need to to grow up also in your way to organize and to to improve and to be better every year in the the way to organize polo, because at the end it's a lot of money invested by polo players to play high goal polo, medium goal, low goal. So you really have to give your best to host and receive international and local members at the Chanté Polo Club. Mm-hmm. Now, when you came into de Chantilly is a very protected location. It's a donation of the last lord of Chantilly to the state through the French Academy at the end of the 19th century, so surrounded by forest. There is a very, very, very important horse culture with horse racing, the K3N show and the horse museum at Chantilly and also the Polo Chantilly Polo Club. The jumping Patrick, guérand Hermès came at Chantilly at the beginning because the best riders for jumping were based in Chantilly.

Speaker 3: 19:10

It's a very special location. It's stunning. Yeah, honestly, I love that place. It's beautiful, it's green. We're surrounded by the history of the last centuries, the last centuries, the last past centuries. It's funny because even in 1920, they were playing polo after war they were playing polo very close to the club because La Vercine, the team of the Rothschild family, was based here. So there is a location close to the club. It used to be the polo field for the Rothschild family. They were playing competition. Churchill came here. You find different pieces of the history, not only polo, but also the history of France, on that special location.

Speaker 1: 20:03

Yeah, well, you also mentioned the ties with military as well, and that's a very strong connection here in the United States is that often people forget that Polo played a critical and important piece of training Calvary officers and forces in battle, and Polo was used to do that and people often forget about that key piece to it. So it's it's nice that you you touch on that, because oftentimes in my conversations with people when we talk about the history polo especially going pre-world war, that sort of thing it's often talked about that, that strong connection between them you, you're totally right about that.

Speaker 3: 20:42

I mean, polo has been a sport thanks to the army, thanks to the British army. First the sport was existing on the format with thanks to the Marajah and the Persian Empire was going through the centuries. But Europeans, they really start to play polo thanks to the British who brought back from India the sport of. The Erlingham Polo Association is the first polo federation is the first one.

Speaker 1: 21:16

Now going back to your club. In comparison to other clubs on an international level, you guys have to be one of the biggest. I mean you guys have nine fields, is that right?

Speaker 3: 21:28

Yeah, we have nine fields, eight polo fields and one stick and ball field.

Speaker 1: 21:34

Okay, and then. How many horses for stabling do you have?

Speaker 3: 21:38

We have at the club 400 stables plus a lot of paddocks, and then we are building temporary stables and the quantity of temporary stable depends on the request of the teams. Actually, we are at the start of the season on the grass and we have 360 stable temporary stable in addition to all of the 400. September is really the second big spot of the year after June. May, june until mid of July is the high season for us, and then September, and September is the French Open. We host in September around 1,400 horses at the club.

Speaker 1: 22:21

Wow, that's incredible In terms of the size of your polo club in comparison to others internationally, you guys have to be one of the biggest. I mean, do you feel like you can put an 18 golf course on your property?

Speaker 3: 22:33

I mean, the organization is done to be very flexible. The organization is designed with a lot of flexibility to build or to take off quickly, to adapt or logistic according to the number of horses.

Speaker 3: 22:50

But for having that, you need to have very good providers. You need to have a good team for the logistic aspect. That means you need to have suppliers, this capacity to have trucks to bring the equipment, to have the staff to go and come back. That's very important. Don't have the logistics. We cannot welcome so many teams for the logistic aspect of the stabling and the food and the process to maintain stable during two months, three months, three weeks.

Speaker 1: 23:22

Are you guys in the business of breeding and training horses as well?

Speaker 3: 23:27

We don't breed. We breed a few ones. My father and I, we are partners. We have horses for renting another company than we have and we breed a little bit because it's one of the passion of my father to breed. So we do a few ones. But what we do is we are schooling Polo horses. So as we have the horse racing facility very close, we school horse racing to Polo. But you have a lot of players who breed like one or two mares and some other professionals are trying to do in a more important way, in Normandy, for example. So it's important to have, I think, to have some breeding actors for polo.

Speaker 3: 24:18

Argentina is Argentina still the best and they do that very, very well. You cannot compete, but you can have a production of polar horses in europe. They do in america, they do in england, they do in europe. Uh, so now if you are a good rider you can do it. You need time. And what is inconvenient? In Chantilly during the winter we have a special program that for professionals. Come with young horses at the club. We do a special rate, winter rate, to help them. We invoice them at cost. They have a good way to have an infrastructure. They can play during the winter with the green horses and it's a good help for the club because it makes more players during the winter and we can organize more practices. And they help us also for some polo tournament school or polo tournament on arena.

Speaker 3: 25:22

About the polo school. Polo school is a About the polo school. Polo school is a big issue for the clubs because it takes time to have polo players To achieve the process to become a polo player. You don't become a polo player like that. It takes time. It takes time. You need trainings, you need to have checkers, you need to go step by step to move on to improve your polo skill, so you don't become a polo player in one year.

Speaker 1: 25:53

I can attest to that, that's for sure.

Speaker 3: 25:55

So if you, want to have a regular time. If you don't have a full time capacity to play during the whole year, it takes like four or five years before to really have your full capacity to play polo.

Speaker 1: 26:08

What is your season? Between what times of year are you guys most active?

Speaker 3: 26:12

We start in April and we end October. Okay, August we just play practice, because most of the teams are going to play on the coast summer polo, so they go to Deauville, La Bolle, Saint-Tropez For France. Some of them, some of the teams go to Soto Grande in Spain also. So we just play practice and some trainings during August. But we are also preparing the high season of September. So that means everyone is preparing and working on the fields to be ready for September.

Speaker 1: 26:51

That's a pretty long season, but that's great though.

Speaker 3: 26:56

We play around 50 tournaments per year, so it's like around 500 games per season on grass.

Speaker 1: 27:02

Wow, that's impressive. That just demonstrates your size of your venue in itself. One question I had was you mentioned that the race course is not that far from you.

Speaker 3: 27:14

Yeah, it's very close. I mean we are not based in Chantilly specifically, we are just five kilometers from Chantilly Center. Chantilly you have a racetrack and that's for every polo player in the world. If you come to shanti you have to play at shanti polo club, but also you have to go to ride in the forest of shanti, because it's really something amazing and impressive to gallop on the lion's track in front of the castle, because they have more than 300 kilometers of race line inside the forest. Oh wow, maintain every day to train, because more than 2000 horses are trained every day in the forest of Chantilly and the Eagle Center. You have in La Morlaix also a huge training horse training facility and the Forest of Chantilly plus another location close to Chantilly also where you have, so it's one of the biggest centers in France for horse racing.

Speaker 1: 28:20

It sounds, just the efficiencies, the benefits of being close to that enterprise, if you will, or that ecosystem. It sounds like it's really shaped your polo club as well, or benefited from that horse racing culture that's out there.

Speaker 3: 28:35

Well, one of the founding members of Chantilly Polo Club is André Fabre, and André Fabre is the top of the top for horse racing in France for more than 30 years. So we have a link with the horse racing. We do events with them, with the horse racing community. We are part of the program to protect horses from horse racing. We are part of the program Odola de Peace, which is a program who helps the horses from horse sport.

Speaker 1: 29:07

It's great to hear that, because here in Chicago we used to have the Arlington Racetrack, which was owned by the same group that owns Churchill Downs, and it closed its doors I think three or four years ago, I believe, shortly after COVID, and it was really devastating to, I believe, the horse community here, because you can go to certain suburbs that have private pastures and what have you and you see unpainted fencing and not used by horses anymore whatsoever. I always thought about combining our efforts and seeing if the polo community and the horse racing community could join up in any sort of way. That unfortunately can't happen anymore, but that was a sad day when Arlington Racetrack closed its doors and the whole entire field now the whole entire racetrack has been demolished. So it's great that you have that long history and that even connection between two different disciplines of equestrian sports right in your backyard. It's a cool way how to take advantages of audiences. Disciplines in the equine world, yeah, so I applaud you guys. I never knew that you had that strong a connection in your area.

Speaker 3: 30:26

So no, it's very important, very important. And I mean we do also have another part of with all the forest you can do also arcenting in the forest, which is interesting about the ground, because initially the noble, they were hunting a lot in shanti, because the location is very sandy, so that means the ground is very, not sandy, uh, so you in the forest. That's why the forest has been designed that way it's for hunting during the year for the nobles, and that tradition has been maintained and so so you still have we call it equipage, who does hunting, or hunting in Chantilly, and it's part also of the history and it's part of also why the forest has been designed that way.

Speaker 1: 31:18

It sounds like an incredible destination.

Speaker 3: 31:20

Even the polo ground here. That's why we have fields that are very sandy, so even if it's raining a lot, we can play. That's good.

Speaker 1: 31:30

The opposite is kind of here, Becomes a bit of a soggy mess. So, Peri, the racehorse, the club, it sounds as though there's a lot of luxury, elitism, things like that. Obviously, that comes with our sport and what have you? Would you say your club is highly accessible when it comes to people who are looking to get involved in the sport, play the sport or attend your matches and audience. Is your club accessible? Is it a cheap ticket to get to? I would not say it's a cheap ticket.

Speaker 3: 32:05

I would say the philosophy of the club is to be a park open to everyone who love horses and would like to come and play polo. The vision of Patrick and the vision of the members of the Chantilly Hip Hop Club and the president of the club, arnaud Chenevert, is really to have a location where everyone can play polo. Of course, polo. If you want to take a polo lesson, I mean you come, you take a private polo lesson. It's 170 euros, so everyone can afford that. Normally. Okay, to live an experience with polo, it's possible.

Speaker 3: 32:47

The thing is, if you want to play tournaments, if you want to play competitive polo, it has so many aspects. You have your request to have good horses. You have a request to have a good organization. You have a request to have a good organization. You have a request. You need so many criteria to be ready to play good polo, to play high goal polo, to have a polo team, to put a polo team together on the field. It's not easy. First, you need to be brave to play polo. You need to ride well, you need to be a good team player. You need to have good horses with you. I mean it takes time, takes time so you can come and discover. You can watch polo at shanti polo club. It's not a place with clothes. You can come and watch. You can come walk around the field see some polo games.

Speaker 1: 33:41

It's open and when you say open to like spectators, is it for free? I mean, obviously you have certain VIP experience, you always have.

Speaker 3: 33:50

VIP package for the finals. On the main days you have special events for polo players. But people who want to come to see attend to a polo match is in free access.

Speaker 1: 34:03

Wow See, that's great. To a polo match is in free access. Wow See, that's great. I think outside of getting involved and playing the sport of polo, your pricing is in comparison.

Speaker 3: 34:11

Here in the US I've seen, especially here in the Chicago polo community, there is another aspect and I didn't mention to you, and this is very important the best French polo players, they all start by pony polo. So if you want to have a good polo club, you need to have a pony polo club. So describe what that is. You need to have Shetland small ponies for starting polo when you are six, seven years old, okay, and then they play tournaments, they have fun, they train and when they are ready they go on the horse.

Speaker 3: 34:48

But in Europe we do that way. I mean this is a step. Step one is by the ponies and you go on the horse. In Argentina they have this very specific horse, very creosal between a pony and a horse, and they already have another step. They are very small compared to ponies. So that's important to have that type of services with a polo pony school and a teacher who can organize trainings for the kids and they have fun. And when they start to have, let's say, 9, 10, 11, and they're ready to go on the horse, they go on the horse and they train on the horse.

Speaker 1: 35:30

You kind of mentioned two things which I find very fascinating. One, the pony polo school, which I've always just seen. I never knew that. I thought it was just kind of a playful exhibition thing that I've seen people do. But it's an actual strategy to invite younger, a lot younger six-year-olds you mentioned into the game with very ease and accessibility on playing an actual pony, not horse. And then the other was the mention of paddock polo, which I also found incredibly fascinating as well. Are those two things that you mentioned? Are those common in Europe when it comes to polo? Is it seen elsewhere in other countries in Europe?

Speaker 3: 36:11

I don't see it in the rest of Europe. In France the thing in France you have the French Polo Federation which is in charge to develop polo, and you have the French Equestrian Federation which is in charge to develop equestrian activities. If you want to develop pony polo, you need to pass through the French Equestrian Federation because they have access. Today the federation Equestrian Federation is 1 million people, so if you want to have more people trying to play for fun, you need to go through the Equestrian Center to create a base of people interested by polo. Of course you will sell more polo stick helmet, knee pad, boots. You will be maybe not sell more horses because they will maybe not go to buy horses to play on on the grass after. And if you have young people with some extra skills, they can come to play. You will have this sponsoring aspect of teams.

Speaker 3: 37:18

When they see young people, they try to help, because it's always good to give access to and to help young players to become. Maybe, if they are so passionate, they want to become professional. But so there, you have to help them to go through the step to become professional. Actually, it's very difficult for young french players to become professional because you see so many kids are coming from argentina now. It was not the case 10 years ago, but now you have all this new generation of polo family in argentina. They're already at 13, 14, 15 years old. They already play as a professional around the world. So you cannot compare, because they're already to play 20 goals or more and they're trained on the Rota polo. They already have another step in advance of the other countries about that.

Speaker 1: 38:13

How many active polo playing members do you have?

Speaker 3: 38:18

In France we have polo communities through the Polo Federation. It's not very huge. I mean we're talking about 900 people. Let's say 38% of the polo license are with Chantilly Polo Club.

Speaker 1: 38:33

Okay, considering the size of the country and probably the number of polo clubs, it probably is still an impressive number regardless.

Speaker 3: 38:39

Well, I mean, we should have the same numbers in England at least, but even in USA. I don't know what are the numbers now in USA, but it's still a big gap between the equestrian world and polo world. Oh yeah, 100%.

Speaker 1: 38:54

No, absolutely. And that's the thing. Like you know, you need a lot of space to have polo, and even the clubs here in Chicago, they're all relatively spread out. They are 45 minutes outside the city. I mean, it's amazing that that's still relatively close to a major metropolitan market.

Speaker 3: 39:11

We have a team coming from Chicago, Las Brisas, from Larry Ashbrook.

Speaker 1: 39:17

Yeah, no to market.

Speaker 3: 39:18

We have a team coming from chicago. Let's breeze us from larry ashbrook. Yeah, no, larry ashbrook, absolutely no. Yeah, he's a real polo fan and he loves to come to play to shanti every year, like two, three weeks. So we are very lucky to to have that team and very happy to welcome that team here at the club no, that's great.

Speaker 1: 39:33

He's the next generation that is coming through Chicago Polo. There's a number of individuals who have retired from the game, even most recently, that were incredibly active in building the Chicago Polo community.

Speaker 3: 39:47

They are doing a lot for Polo in Chicago, really a lot.

Speaker 1: 39:51

Well, hopefully we can have you here. I think there's a lot of best cases we can adopt.

Speaker 3: 39:55

We go to send some players, because in Virginia they organized this year in August they organized a celebration for Lafayette. So we will send in Virginia some French military polo player to play with their American officers, that's fantastic, that's fantastic, that's fantastic.

Speaker 3: 40:15

I hope I will go to USAF in August. I went to see this winter in Florida to visit Michael Prince from US Polo Association because we did a fantastic event last year with them and polo in America is so big, so big. I mean what is happening in Wellington, the U Polo Center, all the facility. It's very, very inclusive.

Speaker 1: 40:42

So you bring up a great topic and I've always been curious as to how did the Paris Polo Challenge kind of come about? What's the story there? When did that seed or that idea get planted and how was it formed?

Speaker 3: 40:57

Well, we had the chance to discuss with Michael Prince and US Polo Association to develop the project. They are partners of Shanti Polo Club and they are partners of the French Open and the Polo Nation Cup. They follow us and they support us a lot, doing a lot of things with us, and we have the same dream and same vision to do something during the olympics. And it's really when, when we discussed with michael, where michael said, yeah, we have to do something, and michael came with the idea of the paris game polish challenge and that was the beginning of the story. Then we're in contact with the Federation, with Carluccio, to organize a concept and they were supporting us also. So we quickly we developed the concept and the idea was to develop and to celebrate polo during the Olympics in Paris.

Speaker 1: 41:50

Was it tied at all to the French Olympic Association or the IOC? Was it tied to any of those groups, as kind of just a exhibition to the Games itself?

Speaker 3: 42:04

I mean the concept was to develop an event during the Olympics Okay, to celebrate together the polo community, first, to celebrate that polo is back during the Olympics in Paris, because 100 years ago in Paris, in 1924, they were organizing the Olympics with polo. So that was a way to celebrate that event happening 100 years ago and also to put the light on the sport and to celebrate also by a game between France and USA, so a test match. That's why we did Paris Games Polo Challenge and obviously it was a monster success. The US Polo Association did so much. I mean by developing that project with plenty of ideas and bringing. It was good for Polo, was good for France, was good for USA, was very positive for Chantilly to have all these seven together. No, it was a great time, a lot of work, but with a super team. You know, I learned a lot, I think, for the audience listening, you know when I learned a lot.

Speaker 1: 43:15

I learned a lot, I think, for the audience listening. You know polo was an olympic sport at one time. It was and to this day, you know, granted, the logistics of having to continue to be an olympic sport are significant. I think the one thing also that the audience should know is how truly international polo is as a sport. I mean it's everywhere, in majority of developed countries throughout the world and that should go completely unnoticed because, as Churchill mentioned, you know, your polo handicap is your passport to the world. That is 100%, absolutely true and it's much bigger than what people know and it takes just a little bit of a Google search to show the breadth and how big polo is actually in the world. Not a lot of people playing it, but it's far bigger than I think people realize.

Speaker 3: 44:11

Yes, in the aspect of traveling and discovering culture and opening doors. Polo is a fantastic passport If you play and you find friends around the world because you don't play polo to show that you play polo. If you like polo, you play. It's an addiction. So that's the first thing. So you are a polo fanatic or you are not. And all the people who like the sport, they really like the sport. They don't come to play just to show themselves on the field. That's my point of view. The one who is coming just for the show disappears after one or two years.

Speaker 3: 44:49

Honestly, it's a big chance to have today in the polo world community to have a brand like US Polo Association who can promote the sport to develop like what they did with ESPN. That's why it's very important to have a and you are very lucky to have this brand in USA Very strong, developing a lot of programs to support the polo, and that's very important for the sport. Yeah, I mean the federation structures, the sport, the clubs. They are creating the life around polo. So you need to support the club. Actually, they are the one who are doing an extreme job because they have to organize the fields to prepare the season, to form the new players, to develop and attract teams traveling.

Speaker 3: 45:45

It's a number of tasks and we have to find sponsors to help us, because it's very difficult to maintain the finance of a polo club. To be a break event is already a challenge. All the clubs, because it's very difficult to maintain the finance of a polo club. To be a break event is already a challenge. All the clubs. You always have the sponsors and you have also what we call MECEN, which is investing in the clubs because they are a fan of polo and they're supporting the development of polo. But it's a very, very fragile balance. You understand that. And so because if you have just polo players, you don't have clubs, you don't have polo, and we see in europe polo is in some location, is totally ending, disappear, because the clubs are too fragile and so become very difficult in some location in europe to find a club where to play.

Speaker 1: 46:35

So maybe the future is to have a big spot where you can have all the facilities necessary to play polo club could be in just the extensions, bringing new players on to the professional side, public events, the list goes on in terms of what the model of a polo club can be and to work towards. And you're right, any polo club for that matter, is incredibly fragile. You know, polo is not a recession-proof sport by any means whatsoever. I've seen clubs and polo individuals and teams go down for various reasons across the board, but you guys have clearly set the bar. I mean it is pretty amazing what you guys can do and we can talk about this probably for another hour. Yeah, it's really impressive. But even what you guys do for your members Pony Club even from a marketing and commercialized standpoint, you seem to do very, very well.

Speaker 3: 47:42

A club is because you have shareholders and the shareholders are pro players. So that's very important to have and the player invests in the club and you need to have professionals taking care about the logistics, organization of the club and to promote it. But it's a combination. It's a work between members or shareholders who are participating in the polo life of the club with professionals who are totally dedicated to the development of the club. So the problem is not all the locations where you can do that, because it's very difficult to have this balance.

Speaker 3: 48:17

For example, in Wellington, most of the places are very private, yeah, and they have their own infrastructure to receive a few players or host a team or two teams on their location. And then you have the US Polo Center, which is a fantastic tools center for polo to develop and to organize competition and to receive the big event of the federation, us Polo. You need that combination and for us today in Europe, we are at the middle of Europe because Paris is close to the airport, so it's very easy to travel. To come to Chantilly Polo Club, let's say, if you work in Switzerland, in Geneva, you take the flight, you arrive 20 minutes after going out of the airport you're at the polo field.

Speaker 1: 49:07

My gosh. I didn't know that you guys were that close. You're in a better position than I've been at Oak Brook.

Speaker 3: 49:13

Yeah, so we are very lucky to be very close from an international airport where you can come from all over the world. So we have some players. They take a plane in the morning, they come to play the game, they go back to work after.

Speaker 1: 49:28

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Speaker 1: 51:10

And now back to the interview. Stay tuned, stay refreshed and stay curious. Benoit, we need to take this conversation another step further, because I really want to get into the details of the Polo Club's branding, marketing and even the sponsorship, because you guys do it incredibly well. So I want to extend this conversation into a part two with you to really kind of dig deep, because I think there's a lot to be learned from you when it comes to how to position yourself as a brand, the messaging and what have you endemic to the polo culture and what have you and you do that very, very well. And there's also an added element in terms of sponsorship and commercializing yourself and the partners that you work with and why you guys do it so well. What are the benefits that you're providing them? What do your sponsors see the most attractiveness, what are your value propositions? Things like that, and I wanted to take the time to extend this conversation into part two to really talk about those things. How does that sound to you?

Speaker 3: 52:21

The first thing is we have the main event that we organize and we try every year to create also special events to celebrate polo. When we can, the Olympic Games, we celebrate polo. We are trying to celebrate polo with the Arena Polo World Championship coming soon to USA this year. So by that we go to try to develop new tools at the club by having the biggest facility, arena facility in Europe, which will be a new project ready for July during the playoff arena. So we always try to find every year Next year is the birthday of the club. We will celebrate 30 years of polo activities at Chantilly 27,. We will organize our arena polo world championship at Chantilly Polo Club.

Speaker 3: 53:13

So we always try to find a way to come with activities, news for the season, to create new events, new tournaments and to promote it. For example, the French Open is our biggest event every year but it's 20 years of work to arrive to that. I mean we start in 2001 the first edition and next year we celebrate the 25th edition. Yeah so, french Open, 16 goals, 16 teams that's a real success. So we're talking about events that can attract partners the Polo Nation Cup in June, with the concept of 12 teams representing their countries. Clubs or teams named with the flag of a country seems very interesting and we always try also to mix besides that to offer a large rank of tournaments at the same time. We create enough teams to have a polo event with plenty of teams. So we always have different leagues in the same time. During the same time we do ladies tournament. This year during the Nation Cup, we do the ladies and polo Nation Cup, we do the mini polo Nation Cup for the junior under 13 years old and we do the same for the French Open with the women French Open now for more than 13 years and the mini French Open. So we try to work with the teams. We have a president actually really having a vision of the marketing of the club, to promote the club, to brand more the club, to develop more event at the club. So we always try to do nice events besides polo. You have a gala dinner to have an asado, always with some chic, to create something different from others. We did one year a dinner on the boat, everyone in black tie, with the club, the players and the teams. We did last year at the Castel of Chantilly, inside the gallery of the paintings, a beautiful dinner, everyone in black tie.

Speaker 3: 55:21

So we're trying to have a certain level corresponding to the sport and we are also investing a lot in all the polo media. We do a lot with PoloLine streaming all the games. We have a media package, we have a media deal on partnership with all the Polo Media because the first thing is to exist on the Polo World community Checker app very important. Click Polo very important. Polo Times, erlingam Magazine, polo Plus 10, polo Hub. You're also different other media very interesting for the Polo community. And we have also just inside the team we're working on all the aspects of the social media, working on the communication tools. We try we have a press agency who is in charge of the club. We have an agency in charge of creating all the visual and to do all the promotion tools.

Speaker 3: 56:23

So it's not just two, three person working together, it's a lot of people involved and most of these people they all have a link with Polo because they all play Polo more or less. So we don't have the capacity to pay suppliers full price. We try to involve the polo community where everyone can come with some support, knowledge, asset to help us to develop the sport and to develop the communication and to come with ideas to develop the Polo Club. And then for the sponsors, for the partners. We are very flexible on the way to discuss with them and to open them the way, what they want.

Speaker 3: 57:05

We're trying to always listen carefully. What are the expectations, what are the goals they want to achieve by coming to Polo and to create a long-term partnership. We're not here to take the money of the partner. We're trying to create a long story with them, to develop not just a partnership. They are more than partners. They are part of the club. Moet Chandon is a long partnership with them. We did so well because we were organizing events with them. We do the apparel of the polos. After the game we create an event and that was an idea of our president. With Richard Malle we're doing a lot with them because they were organizing the show Arrégance and we're hosting an event during the elegant show here. So we're trying to find an interaction, not only what we give you exposure, we're trying to interact, like we were doing with michael prince on shannon, on the team of us polar association. The same for me. They're not sponsors, they're partners and they're a member of Club.

Speaker 1: 58:12

Well, was there a time where you kind of were tasked to really change the image or the brand of the club to make it more internationally visible?

Speaker 3: 58:24

Well, the thing is about the visibility of the club is because also the founder of the club, Patrick Guérin Hermès, was having a vision and a tremendous anticipation of the future of the club. So the first thing is, quickly, he was trying and he was inviting and was very successful, inviting international teams to come to visit the facility of Chantilly. We host wonderful event with Maradja of Jodhpur. We have received players from all over the world and this was really in the beginning of the start of the club. Immediately, that type of invitation was putting the light on Shanti's from the start Already having a vision of by being everywhere in the world, Having the connection and the spirit to know what is to host people and what to welcome international players at the club. He creates a DNA of the club by marking us all the people working around him to have that vision of to be open to the world, to create project, to always not to be afraid to create and launch international exchange, to work on that direction.

Speaker 3: 59:44

I think that's part of the dna of the club, to be open to the world and that was very dynamic and well, his vision was to go to organize the polo world cup in 2004. So I mean the club was not even eight years old. When you start like that, you cannot think small. No, the vision of the club is to have international facility to create international connection, friendship and exchange with people from all over the world. And then, after we're working a lot on the last past 10 years, we have a huge development on the communication to invest more in the communication, to brand more the club, not just to do events but trying to brand the club through the media, the Polo media, through all the opportunities we can have to create a visibility of the Shanti Polo Club around the world. We have really increased the interaction with the media and the investment in the media over the last 10 years.

Speaker 1: 1:00:54

No, that's great investment in the media over the last 10 years. No, that's great because, looking at your website right now, you have a slew of Polo Media Partners, from Polo Line, click Polo Hurlingham, polo Times, polo 10, global Polo TV, the Chukar app. The list goes on and on, and it sounds, though, that really aligns with your owner's vision, into a large part of his brand. Dna is to be an international brand in itself and to positioning itself largely through connections with the polo media, which clearly has worked for you. There's no doubt about it, yeah.

Speaker 3: 1:01:26

Yeah, no, it's working, because it's also the facility of the club are working on that way. That means we have nine fees, we provide a lot of services. You have a lot of horses at the club fields. We provide a lot of services. We have a lot of horses at the club, so it's a lot of energy moving.

Speaker 3: 1:01:39

Yeah, I believe in that DNA of international connection to have this vision of the world of Patrick and also to have a club with really families, members from all over the world who are coming to play at the club. It's very important to have high goals. It pushes the club to organize more events, to organize top events, to welcome the teams, to put up all the conditions to welcome international polo teams at the club. So it's about the branding of the club, the position of the club and the service provided by the club. And we have this last past years working with the energy of our new president, Arnaud Chenervar, who is also putting a lot of energy in that club by new ideas, new services and to be more efficient, not just to be a polo club, just to provide you an experience of a way of life.

Speaker 1: 1:02:40

So you raise a good point in how many things have to work in unison, together and parallel with each other to be successful as a club. And, given your size, it's not just your brand image but backing that brand image up. So, being a quality polo facility for international polo, high goal polo, backing that up with all of the media connections that you have and constant communications, you're not letting anything slip through the cracks, clearly. But also what I found interesting is you're constantly innovating too.

Speaker 3: 1:03:12

It's a lot of work. I mean, all the teams working for the club have to work every day on that, to make that creation of offering a super service and to be ready to welcome all the teams. It's part of the job and we learn. Every year we learn new things. That's also the good thing. We're not feeling that we are perfect. We are trying to improve every year on the to listen expectation, to be open to new ideas, to adapt, to be very flexible. We, the teams, know are they vested in wanting to contribute to the club's brand DNA.

Speaker 1: 1:04:00

Are they doing things themselves to amplify the club's visibility?

Speaker 3: 1:04:05

It's always good to have teams because they give you more exposure to the tournaments, but also to have top players coming to the club. You also give another level to the tournament. French open rise up a lot with the venue of the top players at chantilly polo club in the last past seven years. I mean we have the chance to receive nico pierrez. We have the chance to receive Nico Pires. We had the chance to receive Rita Castagnola Bartó, who won with the Lions the French Open. Rita came twice. We started on the right-hand side. Every year now we have for the French Open, we have between 10 and 14 top players of the Argentine Open at the club, a real adding value to the tournament.

Speaker 1: 1:04:53

You're absolutely right. I wish sometimes, even in my role with the Oakbrook Polo Club now and then we would have players that were fantastic when it came to marketing their image, their presence at the club tournaments and so on and so forth. Some didn't but had every opportunity could, and even the clubs themselves. Some did a very good job, or there weren't that vested or they didn't have the bandwidth, or just they weren't knowledgeable on how to best market themselves, because the club can only do so much and the players and the teams themselves can really amplify that the club's marketing activities.

Speaker 1: 1:05:34

At the end of the day Like in the US, I'll be honest, like you can name probably as many as five teams on your hand that do it so, so well in terms of marketing and as a result of that, they're really driving attention to their tournament and club's activities, like the National Polo Center. Here Teams like Lafayette is a big, visible one Allegrea, freddie Mannix, la Delfina, valiente they do such a phenomenal job of marketing who they are. So I applaud that you have a collective of teams that amplify that message. That's rare, I want to say it's rare.

Speaker 3: 1:06:13

Also, what is very interesting is to see the polo has changed so much in the last five years. With so many horses bought in Argentina, so many players, good players coming out, it's becoming every year more and more competitive. Yeah, very interesting also to see all the images of all the rides, all the play, changing a lot in the last past five years.

Speaker 1: 1:06:39

You mentioned also something that the club does. It sounds as though that you're constantly innovating all the time, whether it be from the brand side to marketing, communications televising and live streaming the sport. Communications televising and live streaming the sport. Are there things that the club is doing that you feel no one else is doing or you're trying to do?

Speaker 3: 1:07:01

No, I don't think that we are in the clubs coming with new ideas. Yes, but all the clubs who have big facilities. They need to create activities and to create activity to innovate. You have to bring new concept to to give appetite to people to play, to participate, to sponsor, to participate. So you need to create concept and to work on it and to invest on it to attract players to come with teams, because depends on the activity of the club.

Speaker 3: 1:07:32

But a club like Shanti we have, 50% of the incomes are coming from the stabling horses based at the club. We need to have a lot of horses at the club. We have 25% depending on the green fee. That means the tournament teams have to register and then after the race is membership event catering polo school. The rest of the 25% More or less. That's the numbers, so depending some clubs don't have any horses at the club. You come, you play and you go out. Different concept here. So every club has its own structure. Some clubs are so far away of everything that they need. You come, you stay one week. You cannot come with your horses because it's a location for pleasure, relax, to enjoy a special place and play by playing polo. If I was, a team.

Speaker 1: 1:08:29

What is something about your club that would entice me to want to play there during your season? Like? What are some of the attributes that like Larry Ashbrook here in Chicago? What is so motivating for him to want to go there and play in a beautiful place like theirs? Like? What is the selling point?

Speaker 3: 1:08:46

Well, it's difficult to talk for Larry because I'm not him, but I have the pleasure to discuss with him and we say that for Larry. He likes the club, he likes the spirit of Shanti, he likes the location, the fields, he loves the clubhouse with a little garden, with a nice garden, and it's really a place and we have an Argentine cook and people like to be in the garden and to relax after the games to discuss about everything. So it's a place and it's very special for him. The first time he came it was because we organized an international cup for the clubs. Then he came for the National Cup, the Polo National Cup, interested by supporting that type of tournaments, and then after you come, you participate and you have fun.

Speaker 3: 1:09:39

I think he appreciates a lot to come to France. He likes the location because it's quite beautiful around Chantilly. You have a nice forest, you have a beautiful castle, you have a beautiful history, a nice forest, you have a beautiful castle, you have a history, beautiful farms from the 17th, 15th, 14th century. Even some buildings are even older than that. So it's like an atmosphere between playing polo in a place surrounded by history. Also, it's interesting, it's close to Paris, so if you want to do something in Paris. It's very close. And also the advantage, I think, it's well located. We are very close from the airport, so you come and if you have to stay 10 days, you can even go to work to London or to Switzerland or to Germany and come back to play. It's easy, we don't lose time by traveling Okay.

Speaker 1: 1:10:32

So you have it all. I mean location, proximity to travel, which makes it very easy for international travelers and businessmen and women. Your voice went up when you said the clubhouse. If you're a polo club, you have to have a good clubhouse. You have to have a place where people can congregate, eat, enjoy. We need to have a good clubhouse.

Speaker 3: 1:10:52

You have to have a place where people can congregate, eat, enjoy. We need to have a place where, after the long day we have, when you have 10 games in the day, you come back to the bar and you have a beer or a cup of champagne and to discuss about the games and what was happening on the horses. Don't forget that all the people playing polo, they are fanatic, really addicted about the sport and they love the sport. Yeah, you don't come to play to shanty just to show, because you are in shanty. You come because you are a real sport man, like the sport, you like the horses, you like the life of the stable. We sometimes forget about that.

Speaker 1: 1:11:29

It's we are, do you have a lot of events where the general public can come and see polo?

Speaker 3: 1:11:36

It's an open place so people come to watch when they want because it's very open. It's like a big park open to the public. So you have a lot of people coming to do some sport around the field and they see a polo game. At the same time, families are coming to see some polo match. We communicate on the main tournaments and we do communication around us. I mean next week we have a nice event which is called Omal Cup Rally d'Omal. I mean 4,000 people will come that weekend, that Sunday, because they come for the cars. We have collision cars, we have a rally starting from the club and they come back at the end of the morning. It's a real event. A lot of people are coming to see it and it's part of the DNA of the club. Also, it's like we started that event 10 years ago with a group called Omal Club and now it's a real big success. I mean they're doing a fantastic job. So it's also try to find a way to develop project around the club and the club is part of the life locally.

Speaker 1: 1:12:43

You make easy for them to come and enjoy polo. You make it accessible to the point of where it's free. You know, drive in, watch a game sort of thing. It's not this exclusive or elusive thing to watch. You make it highly accessible to the general public.

Speaker 3: 1:12:58

When you have an event with VIP, well, we need to create a special place for the VIP on a special event. We have special events for polo players besides this open space, but the location is not closed everywhere. It's important to understand that Chantilly Pirog Club is part of the Domaine de Chantilly. The Domaine de Chantilly is the donation of the Duc d'Aumale to the French Academy. The last lord of Chantilly was the Duc d'Aumale and the Duc d'Aumale did a donation to the French Academy at the end of the 19th century. So Chantilly Book Club is part of this donation. We rent a part of the land given to the French Academy. It's part of the huge location with forest, castle, horse museum, a lot of properties surrounding Chantanti. It's quite unique.

Speaker 1: 1:13:55

It's something I always tell polo clubs to do, especially if there's something that is accessible to the public is to be a part of their communities, other public activities, whether it be sports parks, things like that. So in the US we have a lot of chambers of commerce, we have tourism bureaus and organizations like that that help amplify your property to the greater public and celebrate you as part of their sports heritage, for example. It sounds like you're highly ingrained into that system locally, which is great it really is. Sometimes I don't think people really do enough to make those political or community inroads at all. I wanted to, real quick, to kind of focus a little bit on sponsorship. You know you guys seem to do also very, very well in attracting high level luxury brands, affordable luxury brands as well. Part of it is that you have very high level tournaments and activities for the people to enjoy. What do you offer your sponsors at the end of the day? What makes them so attracted to your club?

Speaker 3: 1:15:10

makes them so attracted to your club. Well, the first thing is, if you become a partner of the French Open, you become partner the whole year of the club, the whole season. If you become partner of this event, which is for the top event we have at the club, you are part during the whole year in the communication of the club. We always do a mix of communication, of action that we do in communication and also VIP event during the tournaments, and that's mean we create package on inside that package we put different things. It's important to the sponsor have a Polo experience and inside that Polo experience you can also propose polo initiation for the guest, not just to come to a gala dinner in a special place in Chantilly or in Paris, to create an action, not just to come and to watch polo but also to try to play polo, try to see something beside polo. So it's not just a question to, and then after you have all the marketing, then we organize. We always try to create a visual for each big tournament of the club with a nice marketing. So all that part it can be attractive.

Speaker 3: 1:16:27

It's difficult to find a sponsor. It's very difficult, yeah, especially in Polo, because in Polo today you become a Polo partner because you want to have an adding value in terms of images. But sponsors now are looking for what they call return on investment. Okay, a car company, let's say, invests 50,000 euros in that event, and how many cars did I sell at the end of the event? But they want to know that. That's what they want to know. I put one euro. How many euros I did with that one euro? So it changed a little bit because all the polo places around the world are not in the same location with the same public. When you go to, let's say, in Argentina, in Buenos Aires, or when you go to Dubai, or when you go to London, or when you go to Shanti, when you go to Samurais, it's always a different setup. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:17:25

No, you're right, it is different depending upon what continent or country you're in. It is different depending upon what continent or country you're in. It is different. And Polo doesn't have a huge media presence in the eyes of, like television, for example, those departments of major brands and so on and so forth who would ultimately spend on some of those deals don't, and in this case we're falling more on the event itself, the activities, the brand visibility, the on-site activation, the activities, the brand visibility, the onsite activation, and so on and so forth.

Speaker 1: 1:17:54

But I think you did mention something that I think is important, though is beyond the public events, the visibility, tournament entitlements, you are doing something from a hospitality perspective, no doubt about it, with events. You also are really involving lessons and clinics as part of these relationships as well, maybe taking that a step further and doing employee workshops in related to polo. I'm not sure that I don't really see all that often. Sometimes people treat polo clinics and lessons very separately from the club. You seem to be integrating them with some of these partnerships that you have. We have a polo school at the club. You seem to be integrating them with some of these partnerships that you have, we have a polo school at the club we have seven teachers who are dedicated to teach polo.

Speaker 3: 1:18:39

It's part of the club. It's not some activities with external inside the club and we changed a lot of politics about the polo school the last past three years. We're making a lot of politics about the polo school in the last past three years. We're making a lot of new efforts. We have a logo for the polo school. We're trying to do tournaments for the polo school members. We have a manager only for the polo school who is taking care of the registration. So it's getting better and better in the way to improve everything.

Speaker 1: 1:19:10

Now. Is there anything that you want to share that the club is doing, that you are going to be announcing in the near future? Is there something exciting that is coming to the club over the course of the next year or next few years?

Speaker 3: 1:19:24

The main challenge we're working on it's to create an arena for the ground at the club. That's a big investment for this year to be ready to organize the Arena Polo World Championship in 2027. So that's a big challenge. 2026 is a celebration of the birthday of the club 30 years already. It's flying so fast and we're very happy to keep on the partnership with the US Polo Association, with Michael Prince, shannon, all the teams. They are doing so great to support us and to be with us. So this year we do another test match with Brazil France-Brazil at the club. And so it's all that little step, very good sign for the future. The arena will be fantastic because it's really another facility with a special ground, like the one in Versailles, and it will be the biggest arena field in Europe.

Speaker 1: 1:20:21

That's incredible, man. You guys, you have a lot on your plate.

Speaker 3: 1:20:25

We want to have the same technology for the irrigation. That means the water is coming by the ground. For the irrigation that means the water is coming by the ground. You control what is happening in the texture of the ground to have the perfect ground for Even if you are not choosing to play, but to train the horses properly on a good surface. With the perfect ground, it's a pleasure for someone who is riding, cooling the horse. It's also an excellent asset for our club. So we need to keep on to work on projects and on new investments and we want to improve the club. Of course, all the improvements need to find new members who want to invest in the club and that's also part of the strategy of the club to keep on and to find new investors to come at Chantilly and we have the possibility also to create new polo fields. So project we have, project we have. We don't miss. We are not missing project.

Speaker 1: 1:21:23

No, you're constantly innovating, as I encourage all clubs to do, constantly setting the bar for yourself, pushing where the sport can go, where it can't go, uncovering new opportunities. So I applaud you for doing that. And only 30 years, I mean, I feel like that's young in comparison to a lot of the clubs here in the United States, for sure, and your guys are rock stars when it comes to it. So I applaud you.

Speaker 3: 1:21:47

If we are rock stars, it's thanks to the members of Chantilly who believe in the club and they keep on. That's the most important thing, especially Patrick, who is watching us from the top, from the sky.

Speaker 1: 1:22:02

Well, I applaud you guys. I really do. I can't wait to take a visit out there. I know Paris is on our short list and you can definitely count on me swinging on by as part of my visit.

Speaker 3: 1:22:13

Daniel, I hope you can come in September, if you can this year to see the French Open Would be great.

Speaker 1: 1:22:21

Yeah, oh, that's a good excuse. I bet it's beautiful in September, october out there.

Speaker 3: 1:22:26

No, we'll be very happy to welcome you. September is a big show for us 16 teams coming, top players, good games to watch and, if you want to come the weekend of the final, you will have a fantastic gala dinner at the Great Stable and also the day of the final. You can see the semi-final and finals in three days.

Speaker 1: 1:22:47

Wonderful, wonderful. Well, I got the merchandise shop open up in your website, so I plan on making some purchases and probably wear your gear around my hometown in Park Ridge, Illinois.

Speaker 3: 1:22:57

Well, also the part of the project we do. We have a pro shop inside the club, so we're really working on that, also with Blackhound, who is one of the partners of the pro shop. Yeah, yeah yeah, wonderful, so no, no, it's very important to come and to see by yourself.

Speaker 1: 1:23:14

No, absolutely, I'm in. I'm in. You've sold me big time. So, benoit, I can't thank you enough for taking the time. I encourage anyone to visit their website. Go to the French Open this September. There's a lot to mirror and learn from a club like this that there's a lot to mirror and learn from a club like this that it's constantly innovating, marketing themselves in a great way.

Speaker 3: 1:23:34

Everyone is welcome and anyone who wants to come to play to Chantilly is welcome. It's a club with a team who is waiting for everyone.

Speaker 1: 1:23:42

Yeah no doubt about it. No doubt about it. Well, thank you again, bonoix. I appreciate it. You have a fantastic season, have a great summer. I know we'll be in touch and we'll be chatting very shortly, and I hope to make my way out there this September. We wait for you.

Speaker 3: 1:23:57

All the best, thank you. Bye-bye, daniel, bye-bye, thank you.

Speaker 1: 1:24:03

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, no-transcript 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. Our heartfelt thanks to our season sponsor, hive 2.0, for helping bring outside the boards to life.

Speaker 1: 1:25:30

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