 Welcome back. This is Jeff Rick here from the Cube. We're out at Stanford Stadium for the San Jose earthquakes versus the LA Galaxy the California Classico and I'm here with rich Fidesco Senior Director of Business Intelligence rich. Thanks for thanks for spending a few minutes with us. Thanks for having me appreciate it Awesome. So what rich is working on which we thought was pretty interesting We know the audience is really interested in this Bitcoin right a lot of talk about Bitcoin It's a lot of speculation about Bitcoin. What's Bitcoin people doing crazy back alley stuff with Bitcoin? But here what can you buy with Bitcoin from the earthquake? You can buy any merchandise you want You have you know, we partner with Coinbase So anybody that has Bitcoin, they can just download the Coinbase wallet from there They just go to our merch stand here pick out whatever they want And it's a really simple and probably like one-minute transactions Just feel it really similar to credit cards and whatnot We have a tablet that we just punch in the amounts and from there all you're doing is scanning your phone with the encrypted Bitcoin amount and With the push of a button you send the Bitcoin to us and we send the receipt and there you go You have your merchandise with Bitcoin. So talk a little bit about this initiative I don't know that I've ever heard anyone taking Bitcoin at the stadium and I'm a huge sports fan I go to a lot of games. So did this where did this come from was it initiated from the fan base? Was it some innovation internally? What kind of made this happen? It was a combination I mean for us, I mean Dave Cavill our president, you know, really interested He understands and as an organization we understand we're in Silicon Valley, you know, this is the hub this is the incubator for technology and Bitcoin is obviously an interesting piece to that and you know, I know that in Palo Alto here There's coffee shops to take Bitcoin and whatnot and it just you know, we talked to Coinbase who you know Kind of brought it to our attention that it was a relatively easy transaction And we were we partnered with them and they've been a great partner with us to you know, make it a seamless Easy opportunity for our fans and you know, we've done it We did it a month ago at our last home game We had 15 to 20 transactions and we have a ton of people taking signs of you know, we accept Bitcoin and stuff So there's definitely, you know a lot of interest and a lot of curiosity So it's been it's been great so far and we're interested to see where it's gonna go and the new stadium You know the opportunities there. Yes One of the things why we like to have in the earthquakes is because you guys are so progressive, right 15 to 20 transactions Probably didn't cover the cost of putting the systems in but it's innovation. It's excitement. It changes the flavor people like it Absolutely, I mean, I think that it right now. Yeah, you're seeing 15 to 20 transactions We haven't really you know promoted it too much but we think there's an opportunity for to continue to grow and It is an interesting thing and another thing for our fans to you know, try out and you know Just get a taste of and in a real-world transactions, you know people to hear about Bitcoin We're kind of educating our fan base a little bit and they're educating us in regards to if they want to do it or not Yeah, so talk a little bit about the transaction itself because most of the buzz or a lot of the buzz about Bitcoin is about the way that the Price moves and fluctuates and is it a speculation vehicle and what's going on? How do you work with that? You know, I just want to buy a $20 hat or $100 jersey. How does that work? Well, it's pretty simple. I mean you buy the Bitcoin and you know right now They're trading for like $550 or something like that. You can buy partial things But you go on download the Coinbase app you can buy Bitcoin via Coinbase and then from there you You know during the time that you're buying it, you know the day of purchase There's a dollar a figure assigned to it So on our end all we're doing is is using the Coinbase merchant app We're just typing in the price of the actual merchandise and it's then generating the actual price in Bitcoin And from there the the fan is scanning it And then they accept that this is how much it costs and this is the Bitcoin equivalent And then it transfers to us and for us it because of Coinbase, you know, they're actually the intermediary as the earthquakes We don't really want to you know deal with the fluctuating market as much So the Coinbase allows it to immediately at that point of transaction deposit into our bank account in the cash Equivalent that we sold our merchandise in so we can make sure the $20 hat is you know We're getting $20 and not you know waiting and you know the next day and all of a sudden it's you know Maybe dropped a little bit or you know, it'd be nice to went up But if it goes down we don't want to you know worry about the fluctuating market right right so rich your title senior director business intelligence So I want to shift gears a little bit away from Bitcoin and talk about some of the other business intelligence initiatives that you guys are doing to Help the fan experience to help run the the organization from the team perspective or from the business perspective What are some of the initiatives and things you guys are working on well? I mean for us. I mean we're obviously big data, you know really looking at all the analytics across the board we've over the last year we've implemented implemented a new CRM system Microsoft Dynamics and Used other software, you know our ticketing system tickets comm along with you know pulling in different Marketing initiatives that all you know we want everything to talk to each other So we can get a full picture of the fan what they're doing and then as an organization understanding it you know the full picture of cost and Profits, you know everything going into one on the fan side We're for next year at the new stadium We're going to be launching a new stadium app, which we hope will be a great leap forward for our fans We're really pushing mobile ticketing so that you know the hub of that will be allowing our season ticket holders and our People who buy on the web to start out with allow them to you know Literally have their mobile phone and that's all they need they can you know using we're partnering with parking Panda So people can buy their parking reserve their parking using their phone And then actually have it right there so an attendant can scan it then they can walk into the stadium or go to that You know as they're walking in their ticket will pop up They'll be able to scan their ticket and then inside will have more the murky will have some personal notifications or some Geo fencing type things to again help fans understand where things are and Potentially do some other things as well geo fencing. I haven't geofencing. There's a new one So I just want we'll kind of follow up on that talk about the innovation of the company What is it about the earthquakes and how do you foster an environment where you can really drive this kind of innovation? What's kind of the secret? What's the process? Why do you guys continue to try to stay out on that cutting edge? You know it's a top-down, you know, you know Dave came in our president and he he laid it out there He says that you know he told us, you know, we're going we're in Silicon Valley You know, there's a lot of other great ballparks out there. I mean the Giants of AT&T Park Obviously Levi's is going to open up, you know in August We're actually going to be the first event there. We hope to be there with you. Yeah, that'd be great But you know like it was it's important for us, you know to connect to the community in the community here in Silicon Valley is you know innovation technology Centric and so, you know, that was the initiative put out there and we are trying to follow through and listen to the fans You know at our current stadium, which isn't a great isn't great But we're even doing you know, we have mobile, you know A lot of people to buy food and merchandise on their on their phone to get it delivered to them at games So that was you know, we really understood that we our fans are our tech savvy and they want this and for us to be You know good business people and to you know, make sure our fans keep coming back We have to feed that and keep pushing the envelope and that's it's critical for us as an organization And is he charging you with like a signing 10% of your time to do something new? Are you, you know? Corousing the league, I mean, you know talk about kind of down in the weeds How do you keep coming up with with new things? Is it huge huge steps forward? Are you just continuing innovation? A lot of the honesty Dave Has amazing connections. He was here. You know, he's a Stanford grad. We're in Silicon Valley There's so many startups and Dave is on so many different boards. He's constantly getting all these different startups and you know Organizations that really want to push technology, you know coming to him And then what ends up happening is he'll then kind of direct them to me and I sit down with you know 10, you know, I'm on the phone or in-person meetings with you know, like 10 or 15 of these probably a week and You know trying to understand Realistically, is there an opportunity? How far along are they? You know, we love being beta clients for different opportunities because you know It's it's an opportunity to learn from from people that really want to you know Do it and push forward and also, you know, it's a good it's costly for us We doesn't cost us very much, you know to be in to help them. So for us, you know We you know, we're really constantly talking to these startups and in understanding what people are pushing Oh, like they're telling us what our fan are what the crowd and what people want innovation wise And so from there, I'm kind of sifting through and seeing realistically what might make sense for the organization what might not and You know from that we've we've gotten these different opportunities the the order which is the the seat You know ordering at your seat and whatnot different things in our app that we'll be doing You know, I mentioned to you offencing. There's there's other You know things out there as well I mean, we're gonna be working with Nomi, which is another you know company that does mobile and things as well So like it really is I mean a lot of connections a lot of people just Telling us hey here's different options for you and us sitting down and seeing if they make sense and trying to work with Them because a lot of them have good ideas and some of them are going places and for those that are we want to be a Yeah, that's great, and and I'm sure some percentage of those things, you know wash out or it doesn't work out But really a great, you know kind of culture of innovation to listen take the call here with people have to say and give it a try Now we love interacting and talking learning So it's been it's been great in you know, and we Anybody else out there that has these great ideas. We're always looking for him. Awesome. Awesome So rich for desko. Thanks for stopping by at the Cube tell us a little bit about Bitcoin Greg's buying the camera. He's gonna buy a hat I know he's got some Bitcoin burning a hole in his pocket senior director of business intelligence Good luck tonight and we look forward hoping to see it leave eyes and then at the new stadium. I guess in March, right? Absolutely. All right. Thanks a lot. All right. Take care