What started as a late-night FaceTime from a friend at a chaotic hockey game in Breckenridge, Colorado turned into one of the most unexpected sports business stories you'll hear.

Rick Batenburg — venture capitalist, cannabis entrepreneur, and self-described "Jackie Moon of Breckenridge" — built the Breckenridge Vipers from scratch eleven years ago with 35 people in the stands, purely because he wasn't ready to stop playing real hockey. In this conversation, Rick breaks down the counterintuitive economics of owning a sports team, why the only way this works is if you stop trying to make money at it, and how a semi-pro hockey league in ski towns is quietly doing something the NHL never could.

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 — Intro

00:48 — The FaceTime that started it all

02:21 — What is the Mountain Hockey League?

04:21 — Rick's playing career & the Merrill Lynch detour

07:34 — From throwaway exhibition to owning the league

09:31 — 35 fans, no sponsors & years of losing money

10:54 — How COVID forced Rick to take over the league

13:01 — Rick's VC background & "The Clear" cannabis brand

17:46 — The real economics: $500K through the P&L, break-even is the goal

19:47 — What owning a team teaches you about the NHL

23:57 — "The end game? More hockey."

29:05 — How to build a fan base for a brand-new sports property

33:37 — What hockey in Breckenridge looked like before the Vipers

37:00 — How the league serves grassroots hockey in ways the NHL can't

38:18 — Why real stakes make people care (even without money on the line)

41:46 — Outro