Podcast Alert: Pat Dimon – Front Office Sports Studios & A Frame Productions

Transcript

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Pat Dimon: [00:00:00] This doc space just opened up everyone’s eyes to these athletes in these teams, in these leagues behind the scenes, and there’s just so much richness there, and so much more than you get on the broadcast and it just exploded. Welcome to

Umar Hussain: Navigating Sports Media, a special edition of the Navigating Sports Business podcast.

I’m your guest host Umar Hussain. I recently joined the Navigate as Head of Media after working for Disney, ESPN, Comcast NBCU, and the NBA. It isn’t as simple as turning on your TV anymore, and I’m excited to share a new perspective as I interview some of the most influential leaders in sports media.

Today on navigating Sports business, we’re joined by Pat Dimon an Emmy award-winning [00:01:00] filmmaker and industry veteran who’s shaping the next chapter of sports storytelling. Pat is leading the newly launched front office sports studios, a joint venture with Bright North Studios where he’s overseeing production across scripted, unscripted studio shows and branded projects.

Thanks for joining us, Pat. Thanks for having me. Happy to be here. Just to give the, the audience how excited I’m about this. Like you’ve worked on some of the coolest shows in the sports docuseries space, including full swing, uh, in the, in 100 days to Indie. You’ve touched it all. It’s been really, uh, amazing to see your work come across on platforms like Netflix, and you’ve worked for over two decades in the space starting with HBO Sports.

And like I mentioned, working with Netflix Paramount and now under this new partnership with Front Office Sports, I imagine even more doors are opening for you. Can you give us in the audience a little bit of where you’ve been and where [00:02:00] you are now?

Pat Dimon: Yeah, so as you mentioned,

Umar Hussain: Sounds like a job interview question.

I apologize for that.

Pat Dimon: Where do we start now? Yeah, like you mentioned, um. A little bit of background. I was kind of lucky enough to, right outta college, I got an internship with NBC Sports and then was able to parlay that in and move right into the sports space. And so yeah, right outta school I went to the, I was at NBC Sports and that was there for three or four years and then.

I had a, uh, I moved to Aspen, Colorado where I, I led a kind of local television station. Uh, it was really great. It was kind of lifestyle sport, real estate. Kind of broadened my horizons a little bit and then lucky enough moved back to New York and started my career at HBO Sports for nine years. And then when HBO had ended, you alluded to, I was lucky enough to be brought on to direct and show run, uh, full swing for Netflix.

And so. That was [00:03:00] the last three or four years, three seasons of Full Swing. And then lucky enough kind of joined the Redbird IMI group with, uh, Jeff Zucker and the front office sports guys. And so, um, yeah, A-Frame is my production company and then we linked up with, with the front office sports guys and launched front office sports studios.

And that’s, uh, where we are today.

Umar Hussain: That’s awesome. You mentioned you, you started in Aspen and that’s a little bit of a call back to where how you and I met, obviously working on the X Games project together and you know, you have seen the power of sports storytelling and what it has done for people with IP that isn’t necessarily as large as the NFL.

I mean, you were at HBO Sports and you’ve seen probably how Hard Knocks was just even greater for the NFL and made that brand stronger. How have you seen the sports docuseries space, I guess without using Drive to Survive as the the big case in point example, ’cause we’ve seen what [00:04:00] it’s done for Formula One, but how has the sports docuseries, from your perspective, transformed from a,

an entertainment asset to now helping prop up and build up bigger businesses. What is your take on that and have you seen that kind of play out?

Pat Dimon: Listen, I mean, I, I was a huge fan of the docu sports space coming up, watching, you know, HBO and, and kind of the, the 24/7 world. And that’s, you know, luckily I was, I was lucky enough to work in that space, but I grew up watching it before working at HBO.

I think you just saw the power of sports and athletes and the stories outside of the field and it really just blew everyone’s mind because everyone was just so used to seeing, you know, basically on field or as soon as the kickoff and then the final whistle blew. You saw the players coaches walk off the field or where, whatever it might be, and then this, this doc space just opened up,[00:05:00]

everyone’s eyes to, you know, these athletes and these teams and these leagues behind the scenes, and there’s just so much richness there and so much more than you get, you know, on the broadcast. And it just exploded. I’m lucky enough to work in it, but even before working in it, I was a fan of it and I immediately, when I saw it, I just knew this is what I wanna work in and this is what I want to do.

And it’s completely transformed the, the sports landscape and the sports media landscape the better, in my opinion.

Umar Hussain: Yeah. And, and if I were to ask you what’s the secret sauce to why certain sports docuseries work or why others don’t, you know, the, there’s a reason Drive to Survive, uh, had the success that it did.

The reason Full Swing has done what it’s done, and at the same time, I could name off hundreds of sports docusires that I scroll when I’m going through the various different apps on my Apple TV that, I watch five for five or 10 minutes and they don’t work. And here at Navigate [00:06:00] we find ourselves advising a lot of our clients who are sports IP holders, who are looking for ways beyond live TV to serve their fans, but also grow new audiences.

Could you speak a little to like, what is that secret sauce from your perspective?

Pat Dimon: I think with any genre kind of format, medium, you know, once somethings successful, obviously. It tends to get flooded, which is fine. And I think that gives a lot of opportunity. And, and, and that’s great. You know, you have to have buy-in from the athletes and the leagues and everyone that’s involved.

That’s a, that’s kind of a, you know, a given, a starter. And then it’s really, I think the people, and there’s so many talented directors and producers and editors and everyone that work on these shows. I think it’s really about in the field, having the trust and the ability to really get inside the kind of life and the mind and the [00:07:00] world of whoever your subject is, um, in the most truthful way you can.

And that is a lot easier said than done. That takes a lot of honesty and, and a lot of openness, both on the production side and on the subject and the talent side. Once you gather and shoot and everything in the field, I think it, then it really becomes. How do you put it all together in the edit in a, again, truthful way, an entertaining way, you know your story arc and it’s not very linear and just, okay, here’s who this person is, here’s how they did in the game, and here’s how they felt afterwards.

You know what I mean? It’s how do you kind of change up either the, the timeline or, or add some sort of stylistic element, you know? That to me is what kind of separates the great ones is that they, you know, you don’t really wanna have as a, as a producer or director or showrunner, you know, you don’t wanna spin someone else’s story, but you should [00:08:00] have a perspective or a, or a way or style that you wanna tell that story that is interesting.

You know what I mean? And so I think. The places and the shows that have that take and, and, and put it together slick or sad or cool, dramatic or, you know, it’s fun and uplifting and, and it hits those kind of peaks and valleys. Those, to me, are the ones that just really stand out. And I think you really need, you know, buy in again from the beginning, but then from the kind of producing side, it’s how do you touch all those bases?

Umar Hussain: Yeah, absolutely. And I, and I imagine, like you said, it, it depended so much on the level of talent from your producers or from your directors, from your cameramen, and then the establishing and building that trust. Could you speak a little bit to, like how you went about from the beginning to probably post-production for full swing?

What was your approach?

Pat Dimon: I think, yeah, in the beginning, like I said I personally just like to work in that. As soon as we start a [00:09:00] show, I will go and immediately kind of be the, the initial contact, the, the face of the show that I, I go and whomever we’re working with, league team athlete and you know, the supporting cast of, of people in that world.

You know, I just go and introduce myself and I say, you know, thank you so much. You know, I know this is kind of. In all honesty, you’re really kind of intruding on on this world because everyone has the right to their own private life. These are generally, you know, either professional athletes or collegiate, or even if they’re just amateur folks.

Everyone has the right to privacy and everyone has the right to have their own life. So, you know, I like to just kind of lay out on the line. I have a family, I have a father. I’m a human being that respects privacy. So, you know, I just wanna be very upfront that. Thank you for, for trusting us to tell your story, and I promise you that I will tell the, the truthful side of, of everything that we kind of [00:10:00] capture with you and tell kind of the most honest what we feel is, is the most honest story that you’re portraying to us.

So that’s how I like to start off. Every project is just, immediately introduced myself, who I am. I will always be available and around and, but you know, we are really gonna spend a lot of time together and it’s gonna, you know, there are gonna be high points and there are gonna be, you know, what might just be monotonous daily things and there are gonna be some low points.

So, you know, we’re gonna capture all that. So I like to just really lay it all out in the beginning and I hope that my kind of credits and my. I hope my personality and, and I like to be honest with people and I hope that comes across as, okay, I hope this guy is, is trustworthy and, and, and he can tell a really good story.

And so that where it, that’s where it all starts for me. And then on the post side, a lot of it is really, I mean, the beauty of unscripted documentary work is. You never know what you’re gonna get. You, you know, you have no idea who’s [00:11:00] gonna win a certain match or someone gets injured or you know, something happens at home or there’s a change in personality.

You just have to be nimble in the field. And then you kind of go and work with your, with your post team and, and really dive into, Hey, this is what you have, you know, how do we tell this story in the most compelling way? And then that’s where all the kind of. Editors and and story producers on those specific stories will really craft a great storyline.

And then they’ll come to me and we’ll, we’ll talk it all out. So it’s really just this kind of crazy puzzle that you put together. And that’s kind of the beauty of documentary work is that you have what you have and you have to make it work.

Umar Hussain: I imagine the iceberg meme when you guys are out there filming an entire season following multiple characters.

What percentage of what gets on screen? If it’s what? 4, 5, 6, 8 episodes? It’s about eight hours. Right. But how much footage have you shot [00:12:00] and then how much time beyond even just the footage you shot, have you put into this single documentary?

Pat Dimon: Yeah, I mean, with you shaking your head. Yeah. I mean with, I don’t know how it works.

I mean, I know how it works on the shows that I’ve worked on, and I can imagine on many other projects you’re filming anywhere from a few hundred hours to a few thousand hours for every final kind of hour of television that goes on screen. So tens of 20, 30,000 hours of footage you’re working with in the edit, um, you know, whatever that percentage comes, breaks down to be.

But yeah, like you said, it is very much what you see on screen. So much hits the cutting room floor. But again, it’s that puzzle of you hate to see things not make it to the final version because there’s usually so much goodness there. But again, you have to make, you have to make decisions on what you think is really kind of the most compelling story.

Um, and listen, there’s no right and wrong answer. It’s, it’s very much a subjective [00:13:00] craft, and you might like a version of something that someone else doesn’t like. It’s really what everyone comes together with and thinks is really the best version.

Umar Hussain: And we’ve talked a little bit about the sport docuseries space, but you’ve also taken on kind of this more expansive role with front office sports and probably jumping into different formats.

Front office sports as a journalism organization started as that obviously expanding. Now with the skill sets you’ve brought on or with the front office sports studios, are there other formats or types of content that you are. Got your eye on that inspires you or maybe perhaps do stuff a little bit differently instead of just a full slate, season slate documentary or a documentary feature length film.

Pat Dimon: I think it’s great that there’s, there is a space for short for, I guess short form that is maybe five to seven minutes, or seven to 10 minutes, you know, under, you know, call it 10 to 15 minutes [00:14:00] that that’s really. Awesome. And it’s really great. And I think with the front office sports studios we are now, we are definitely in that space of, of, call it five to 10 minutes or, you know, five to 15 minutes that you can really tell an amazing, you know, maybe it’s not the, the whole story, but a really great snippet of a story in that timeframe that is really amazing to me.

I, I’m new to that space. We did a great piece with, with Bobby Bonilla, with Front Office Sports on Bobby Bonilla Day, which I’m sure a lot of people are familiar with, you know, it’s been told a thousand times, but, you know, we were with Bobby and at his house and it was just a really different way to tell his story in a short form that still kind of is entertaining and gets the point across.

But it’s a, it’s a format that I am new to, but it’s, it’s really. Really fun and cool because you gotta really dig into [00:15:00] what’s the kind of point and the story we’re telling, and how are we telling it in a quote unquote shortened format.

Umar Hussain: I’m always so fascinated with Hollywood and then larger Hollywood getting into sports and entertainment on how many times can the same story be retold or told differently?

There’s just, there’s an art to it. Exactly how you say, and the Bobby Bonilla story where, you know, for me that story is, is a New York Mets pitcher who’s did this very unique contract at the time that has continually gotten him paid. I, you know, better than I do, but like, I think it’s, it’s still going. Or if not has a few years left.

He deferred his contract into payments so that he’s like, you know, still getting paid out. Now you see Shohei Ohtani and other players taking deals like that, and Bobby Bonilla kind of paved the path in that. And they’re sure there’s economic reasons, but there’s a sports story to be told. And you created a short form, uh, content series around it, picking the right stories for the right format.

Is there an art [00:16:00] that like, you guys choose for that? I’d imagine it’s just, is there enough meat on the bone to do a full docuseries or this is better served for short form? I may have answered the question for you. I apologize, but am I right there?

Pat Dimon: Yeah, so

listen, there can be. A moment in time, you can do a full series on a single game or a, or a, you know.

I know like again, yes, there is, it’s based on kind of what everyone thinks. Is there enough meat on the bone there for an extended feature, for a multi-part series? If it’s done well and it’s done right, you can really. Make something out of a single game that is, is compelling enough that, you know, people may have not looked at it that way.

You know, for example, I guess. Yeah, like the Bobby Bonilla story’s been told a bunch, but the reality is he was that kind of the original kind of OG of deferred payments, which has now become, it’s really [00:17:00] become almost, and maybe not commonplace, but you know, Bobby was, you know, people probably when he took that deferred payment however many years ago.

People might have looked at him like, is this a good idea? And now it’s common and Bobby looks like a genius. So, um, for that particular project, it was, it was perfect to kind of have Bobby explain that to the viewer of why he did it. Clearly it worked out for him. And now you, like you said, you have Shohei and you have all these, you know, these big athletes taking deferred, um, contracts and he looks like a genius.

But yeah, in the bigger picture, I think when we’re looking at possible opportunities, we take a look at what’s a general kind of layout of how much do we think this story can really fill? Because the reality is when something’s too long. There’s nothing really worse than when you’re kind of, uh, this should have been, you know, going, this should have been 30 minute, you know, you’re sitting there and you’re like, all [00:18:00] right, when are we cut into the chase here?

So there’s really nothing worse than anything being too long. So you’re not kind of dragging a viewer through what you feel is, you know, a little bit boring.

Umar Hussain: Yeah, absolutely. And, and like speaking of like the new formats and like stuff like Bobby, that opens like new doors and. And you know, I, I am always amazed how many OJ documentaries come out year over year.

It’s just like the gift that keeps on giving for Hollywood. But are there any other sports stories that you are itching to kind of tell Any format, any storyline, anything specific? Uh, you, you never know. They may be listening here. Is there like a short list of, of dream projects?

Pat Dimon: I kind of came up, I mentioned earlier, you know, I was lucky enough to get an internship at NBC Sports and we, my first job was, uh, it was the NBC Do Action Sports tour.

I came up, I was a big, like, surfer and, and skier. So I, I kind of, I mean I, I played traditional sports through, uh, I was a [00:19:00] baseball player in college, but I played traditional sports growing up. I had a love for both, obviously, the kind of ball and stick traditional sports. Um, but I also loved the outdoor action, call it sports.

So I have a soft spot kind of in my heart for films like, uh, you know, Free Solo. Uh, you know, obviously that’s kind of not, climbing’s not a, a core sport, but everybody saw that it was masterfully done by, by Jimmy, and I think that opened up everybody’s eyes to. The only athletes in the world aren’t soccer, hockey, basketball, baseball, football.

You know, there are some really incredible, there’s endless, incredible stories out there. And I worked on, on real sports with Bryant Gumbel for years, and there were so many stories there, you know, that were only the average, I think it was 12 to 14 minutes, and you watch ’em. You’re saying to yourself, how is this not a full like feature length film?

This is insane. This is so captivating. These characters are amazing. This world’s ridiculous. What these people, what they’re doing is incredible. So to answer your question, I have a soft spot in [00:20:00] my heart for the, you know, not just the ball and stick sports, but but the kind of outdoor, uh, action sports. So I have a few kind of athletes and worlds that I wanna work in.

Without giving it away, we’re, you know, we’re working on right now. But, um, I think anything to answer your question, I am anything. I thought

Umar Hussain: you were gonna give us an exclusive there, Pat.

Pat Dimon: I know. Yeah. But I will gimme, gimme a few weeks. All right. I think, listen, I love great characters, great stories, and,

I’m a sucker for like great lo locations as far as can we go to the Alps? Can we go shoot in Hawaii? Like we did that, you know, this Kelly Slater project for HBO, we spent a month on the north shore of Hawaii. I don’t think anyone would argue that’s an incredible location to be at for, you know, filming a, a childhood hero of yours.

Um, you know, but we filmed in the a, we did a great piece at HBO on kind of the behind the scenes of [00:21:00] action sports athletes filming. Filming the camera people, men and women filming the action. You know, the job of the actual camera operator is almost just as if not more dangerous than the athlete themselves because they’re obviously manning a camera while skiing a thousand miles an hour, you know, whatever they’re doing.

So we spent weeks in the Alps and in the mountains. So I’m a sucker for great locations and great and great characters, and I don’t care what sport it is, you know, that’s what kind of gets my juices flowing.

Umar Hussain: That’s awesome.

Pat Dimon: Well,

Umar Hussain: I, I would love to do a little role playing exercise. Yeah. And this is really like, let’s pretend you are a president of a major league baseball team or an athletic director of a collegiate athletic department, and

I’m looking where I should invest my money or my resources or time to help build my brand out. And one of those things I’ve been tasked or [00:22:00] wanting to look at is non-live content. What would you first look at or think of to do given where, where the industry is right now?

Pat Dimon: I think I would say lean into your

athletes, and I don’t, and I don’t mean your star quarterback or your, you know, your point guard or you know, I mean, they can obviously be those characters. But are there really great stories on your, on your place kicker, on your coach, on your assistant coach? You know, I am a, I’m a sucker for not the obvious, so I would say was in the doc space, and I’m saying this, obviously I’m biased, but lean into the doc space, you know, and then the kind of,

whether it’s embedded or it, you know, it’s in like an all access we call an embedded series, or it’s a nostalgia, it’s a look back and you, your, your school has an, or your team has an amazing history. Tell that history, but tell it in a really creative, you know, different way, you know, and I would say fully lean into that, but, and if you’re [00:23:00] gonna lean into the, the kind of embedded all access shows that we do really think about.

What are your interesting storylines beyond just your big name, you know, your big name players, what else is really there that is going to kind of invoke this holy moly kind of reaction from the viewer? Because that, as we’ve all seen, is everyone’s gonna, you know, watch quarterback or, uh, you know, the last dance.

Everyone wants to see Michael Jordan. Everyone wants to see these star athletes and those shows are, are great and amazing, but a lot of the best. In my opinion, a lot of the best moments and scenes and, and takeaways from those shows and other shows are, oh my, did you see that scene with the, you know, with the random security guard or with the assistant coach and their family at home?

Those are the moments where, and those are the scenes that are, that really push those to [00:24:00] just better than your kind of generic follow doc. Those are the, oh my god moments.

Umar Hussain: I love that. I mean, my favorite moment from the last dance was the quarter scene that has become a meme, right? With the security guard to exactly your point.

And I think some of the most successful docuseries on Netflix or others are like cheer, right? There’s no name athletes. It’s a cheer team. I think a collegiate cheer team. And that’s been one of the most successful follow vetted docuseries stories. So for, I like where you’re going there because that’s an answer that can apply for.

Big brands or even small brands who necessarily don’t have that national IP or that general ip. Mm-hmm. To draw a huge audience. I think, like you said, successful docuseries access is a big thing, but like others will chase. LeBron James or Stephen Curry and their stories have been told and told, and you can tell ’em and tell ’em in great ways and they’ll always be there.

But it’s maybe those like uncovering those gems, which you’ve kind of [00:25:00] specialized at. Is there a moment in any one of your series, and I keep pointing back to Full Swing because it’s just one that’s done so well and there’s great personalities in there. You’ve got big name golfers and up and coming golfers, but is there.

A scene that you point to on your portfolio that you particularly loved filming that, uh, that was something maybe you didn’t expect or that prob perhaps captured the cultural zeitgeist that you didn’t expect it to?

Pat Dimon: Yeah. I think with, I’ll give you kind of two versions. I mean, I think with Full Swing, last season was pretty outrageous just because there was a lot of.

What you wouldn’t expect from the golf world. I mean, the Scottie Scheffler incident was surprising, um, sad, but surprising from the golf world, which everyone normally thinks is very kind of, you know, run, you know, it’s your basic kind of vanilla. Everything goes well. Everything’s, you know, hunky dory, you know, the Scottie incident, uh, [00:26:00] kind of the Rory News, the kind of overarching LIV storyline with the PGA, myself, the crew and the show, we were always.

Waiting, is there gonna be news? Is is, you know, is something gonna break? And that adds a very kind of interesting angle to, okay, are we just covering who won the tournament? What of our, what surprises of Rory and Scottie and then all the top golfers. Did they not do well? Did they do well? Fine. You know that, that’s obviously in the show and that’s, and that you need to have that in there.

But what else is there going on that you didn’t, that no one really knew? Like anything could happen at any moment? And those were some. That was a really, you know, intense time and, and, and luckily everything kind of worked out for everyone involved there. But, you know, those were really intense moments that no one could have predicted.

You know, we had no idea any of that was gonna happen.

Umar Hussain: And so. He, by the way, he played it off so well in Happy Gilmore [00:27:00] 2. He like really leaned into all of that and, and that was, he kind of owned his own moment and captured his own narrative there, which, you know, I think is probably an element of your storytelling too.

Pat Dimon: Yeah. I mean, I listen the, I I have nothing but love and respect for, uh, for Scottie and Rory. I mean, they’re beyond professional and they’re great people. Those were kind of, well, on the Rory side, that’s a private, kind of a private matter on the Scottie side, it was just a. Unfortunate series of events, but they’re such professionals and they handled it perfectly and, and you know, they were great with us.

And so I have nothing but respect and, and and love for those guys. Are you

Umar Hussain: just kind of in those instances when you’re filming and stuff is breaking live or stuff’s happening and as a filmmaker I can only imagine like the moral questions that you’re going, the ethical questions you’re going through and it’s.

What’s, I mean, I imagine a part of it is like take a step back, but you also are like, crap, this is an amazing story. How do you operate in those times?

Pat Dimon: Yeah. It’s really, it goes back to [00:28:00] my initial comment of my immediate conversation with whomever we’re working with is, listen, life is more important than television.

You know, so. If you need a beat or you need a moment and I’m there with you or a crew’s there with, you immediately tell us to, hey, I need a minute. Give us a beat. A thousand percent no questions asked. We’re outta your hair. You know, life is, life happens and real things happen that are beyond television.

If there’s tough things going on in life, but let’s say someone had a, a rough round or a rough game, whatever, something might happen. Where is that? Our team does a really good job about towing that line of. And you kind of read the room as much as you, as much as you can. But yeah, there are some really tough moments and you have to know where to, where to pull back, stay in a little bit, and kind of have that producer hat on in your head of, okay, this person might be going through a tough time right now.

We’ve got [00:29:00] plenty of footage to tell this moment. You know, let’s give them some space. You know, it’s, and then you’re always kind of. Feeling that line out, and that’s just, it’s a difficult, it’s probably, yes, it’s, it’s, it’s probably the hardest part of, of filming documentaries for any documentary sport.

You know, that, that the hardest part is really knowing, hey, where is the respect line here? Where is the, the line? Never want to cross that line into, okay, we are invading somebody’s space and this is gone beyond kind of entertainment.

Umar Hussain: I’ve got a, I’ve got a brilliant idea you can run with for a docuseries or your next content.

It’s the documentary, the behind the scenes documentary about the behind the scenes documentary. Exactly. Like, uh, like the Disaster Artist. Just to see like how you guys are working in these moments where it’s like, this guy’s going through something fairly difficult, perhaps personally or on the court or on the on the grass that.

And they’re hyper competitive [00:30:00] individuals, super focused to their craft, just doing what they’re, what they’re paid to do and, and they’re super vulnerable, but like them to see how Pat is having to manage this person or this dialogue. I foresee like a great sports documentary or, or even a mockumentary about that, that that would be super fun.

I can’t imagine how you guys do it. Uh, it’s uh, it’s super impressive what we see on screen. Do your work translates super well and it’s, I think why you guys are some of the best.

Pat Dimon: Yeah, it’s a very, uh. You’d see a lot of sweating and slow backup for me as, as it, as it becomes more, more, more intense. You see me sort of fade into the bushes like, uh, you know,

Umar Hussain: yeah.

The Homer Simpsons meme,

Pat Dimon: right? That’s me all the time. Homer Simpson. I’m just slowly please.

Umar Hussain: That is amazing. That is awesome. I’d love to keep chatting with you, but we only have a finite of time and I want to get to our rapid fire questions so [00:31:00] you know the format. 32nd answers each. No hard rules. It won’t ding you if you go a little bit longer or have something more interesting to say.

Yeah. But we wanna make it quick and fun. Yeah. Uh, for, for the listener. So person, first question, person you’d dream of collaborating with.

Pat Dimon: I’m gonna go off. I’m gonna go outside of sports. I’m a big music fan. I am a big Pearl Jam fan, so I’m gonna go with Eddie Vedder.

Umar Hussain: I know your answer to this question, but I’m gonna ask it and I know you’re gonna go in a different direction, but coffee shop or nature Walk for a creative inspiration.

Pat Dimon: I’m a nature guy. Maybe not a walk, maybe a run or a ski or a surf.

Umar Hussain: I thought you’d say surf right off the bat. There you go. Yeah, there you go. What’s the, uh, most cinematic city you’ve filmed in? Oh, I’m a city guy, but I’m gonna go location. European Alps. Cool. Favorite sports docuseries that isn’t yours.

Pat Dimon: All right, I’m gonna go [00:32:00] with an obvious and then a less obvious.

My boy Jason made last dance. I gotta go with last dances up there for recent, current, recent all time Hoop dreams.

Umar Hussain: Okay, nice. Last one here. Pat Diamon is on the electric chair. He did something to some athlete, uh, that has gotten him into this position while filming. What’s your last meal?

Pat Dimon: Last meal?

Umar Hussain: Yeah.

Not the last dance. What’s your last meal?

Pat Dimon: Yeah, I think I gotta go. A good slice of pizza From where? I think, uh, I think so. Oof.

That’s tough. Uh, I’m a Jersey guy, so I’m gonna go with Star Tavern in East Orange, New Jersey if you haven’t been there. You got Star Taverns East. Where is it? It’s, uh, it’s in East Orange, New Jersey.

It’s, uh, east Orange, New Jersey. All right. I gotta put that on my list. Shout out to, yeah, to Star Tavern. If you haven’t been there. It’s uh, [00:33:00] it’s an OG spot. You have to go ahead. I gotta go with that.

Umar Hussain: Amazing. Well, Pat, thank you so much for joining us on Navigating Sports Business. Have a great day, and stay well.

Thank you. Appreciate you having me.