MLB Legend Alex Rodriguez Reflects on Being "Really Proud" of 'The Deal' Podcast (EXCLUSIVE)

After hanging up his cleats, many assumed MLB legend Alex Rodriguez, better known as A-Rod, would take it easy — but that's far from the truth! The three-time AL MVP is busier than ever, seeing as he runs A-Rod Corp and Slam Corp, is a part-owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx, and scores Emmy wins as a baseball analyst.

Despite a jam-packed schedule, A-Rod demonstrates his relentless work ethic. In fact, in late February 2024, the World Series champion jumped back into podcasting, teaming up with Bloomberg Originals chief correspondent Jason Kelly for the hit Bloomberg business podcast, The Deal.

In an exclusive interview with Distractify, Alex Rodriguez — who joined forces with Lysol Laundry Sanitizer — opened up about his new podcast, sharing the inspiration behind its launch and his aspirations for its future.

A-Rod and Jason Kelly's podcast, The Deal, officially debuted on Feb. 29, 2024, offering a blend of audio and video formats. According to Bloomberg via The Hollywood Reporter, the series sees the hosts dive into the "stories, strategies, and challenges behind some of the biggest business moves made by athletes, entertainers, and executives."

The first season comprises 12 episodes, featuring an impressive roster of celebrity guests such as Michael Strahan, Serena Williams, and New York Yankees icon Derek Jeter.

When asked what inspired him to join the podcast, Alex told Distractify, "When I grew up, we had three major sports in America: Football, basketball, and baseball. And I think today we have a fourth major sport, which is business [in] sports, media, and entertainment."

"I think there's an infatuation with deal-making," A-Rod added. "I can make an argument that young people today want to be as much the next Mark Cuban as they want to be the next Michael Jordan or LeBron James, and that's cool. So, it was the intersection between media, sports, and entertainment."

He continued, "And these are conversations that we were having all the time, but behind closed doors, and to be able to open those doors and let millions of people into the room about how these deals get done, how they get started, [and] how you approach them… It's been quite a big success in Season 1, and we are really looking forward to Season 2 and continuing these conversations for the public."

As previously mentioned, The Deal boasts a star-studded lineup of guests. Naturally, we were curious about how A-Rod and his co-host, Jason, approached selecting guests and topics for discussion — so we asked him!

"We always go through kind of a wish list, and we want to bring in guests that have had, you know, compelling stories," he explained. "We usually don't like stories that just go up and to the right and it's just been a big, long success story."

A-Rod elaborated, "We'd rather have entrepreneurs and business people that have shifted careers, have gone through some ups and downs, have overcome adversity, [so they can] tell our listeners and viewers, 'Lessons learned from those hard times.'"

"And then we've had a very, very high success rate in people that we asked, there's nothing controversial," the 14-time MLB All-Star stated. "It really is about storytelling, inspiring and motivating our viewers."

As for what he hopes to achieve with The Deal, the 10-time Silver Slugger awardee told Distractify that he's "really proud" of his partnership with Bloomberg. He emphasized that the accessibility of the content via Bloomberg TV, YouTube, or any audio streaming service featuring podcasts makes it "really easy to spread the word and inspire people."

A-Rod further disclosed, "The way we can expose business and dealmaking to the next generation is kind of how they get hooked," before revealing his hopes for The Deal: "To inspire, to educate, and to make people smile."