Georgina Bloomberg on Bringing Equestrian Competition to the Masses
*By Jacqueline Corba*
The world's top equestrians gathered in New York over the weekend for the inaugural Riders Masters Cup, a team competition featuring five riders representing the United States and five riders from Europe.
"To do it here was a dream come true," said Georgina Bloomberg, a professional equestrian on Team USA. "Anytime you can do a competition in our home city ー it's really amazing for us." Bloomberg, 35, was born in New York and is the younger daughter of former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
The hometown advantage didn't ultimately help the Americans, who lost 8-7. Unlike other events in the three-city, international Longines Masters series, the Rider Cup is a team competition . Bloomberg said the final result was disappointing, but she said the national team format of the competition helps make equestrian more accessible to spectators, and can help grow the sport's appeal.
"You see great access to riders there," said Bloomberg. "You won't see better competition than the masters."
The four-day Longines Masters of New York event took place at the Nassau Coliseum in Long Island, about 30 miles from Manhattan.
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/georgina-bloomberg-on-equestrian-as-a-spectator-sport).
Brandon Marcello, National College Football Reporter for 247Sports, breaks down each of the two semifinal matchups and explains why the smart money is on the two SEC teams.
Sponsored by BetMGM
Mark Drumheller, betting analyst for Yahoo Sportsbook and The Sharp App, dives into an icy matchup between the Vikings and Packers, as well as other must-watch games including a potential trap in Baltimore.
Sponsored by BetMGM
Trysta Krick, Host of 'BetMGM Tonight' helps clear up a very crowded playoff picture by making selections for Week 17's top games while pointing to to an AFC West matchup for her lock of the week.
Sponsored by BetMGM
Trysta Krick and Mark Drumheller give viewers their winning picks ahead of Week 17 of the NFL season, while Brandon Marcello dissects each of the College Football Playoff semifinal matchups.
Sponsored by BetMGM
The National Women's Soccer League is partnering with Voyager Digital as its first-ever cryptocurrency brokerage in a multi-year deal. Marla Messing, interim CEO of the NWSL, and Steve Ehrlich, CEO of Voyager Digital, joined Cheddar to discuss benefitting the league and educating players and fans as a way of democratizing cryptocurrency. Messing explained that the players themselves will own half the assets as part of how the deal is structured. "My hope is, just in terms of the expectations of crypto over the long term, that I hope a lot of them are able to just let it sit there," she said. "And that one day this will be a nice retirement account for them."
Barstool Sports CEO Erika Nardini joined Cheddar's Kristen Scholer to discuss plans for the future even as COVID-19 upended Barstool's sponsorship of the Arizona Bowl featuring the Boise State Broncos and the Central Michigan Chippewas due to the spreading omicron variant. "In our case as a company, coronavirus has been a big boom for us," she noted. "We've been able to create a lot of new programming, launch a lot of different personalities, and frankly take share from traditional media, and that's what we've done the entire pandemic." While she admitted to taking a hit on the canceled Bowl game, live events aren't completely off the table for Barstool in 2022. Nardini also talked about potential sports betting expansion following its partnership with Penn National Gaming.
