Why the Smartest Money in the World is Betting on Human Connection - And What That Means for Your Team

Bog Iger and Joshua Kushner just paid $12.5 billion for the LA Lakers. Not an AI company. Not a tech platform. Not a data business. A basketball team.

And here's the detail that caught my attention. The deal was made through an arm of Kushner's investment company that specifically focuses on businesses it believes will not be significantly disrupted by artificial intelligence. Read that again. One of the most connected venture capitalists in the world - a man swimming in AI investment opportunities - chose to put his money into a live, in-person, human experience. Because he believes that's where the real value is.

What the Billionaires Know That Most Businesses Don't

The sports franchise market is booming. The Boston Celtics sold for $6.1 billion. The Seattle Seahawks went for $9.6 billion. Jeff Bezos just joined a group by buying a stake in Liverpool Football Club. These aren't sentimental purchases. These are calculated investments made by some of the sharpest financial minds in the world.

And what they're betting on is the same thing. Live. Human. In-person. Irreplaceable. As one expert put it in a recent New York Times piece on the Lakers deal - "The eyeballs, the influence, the bringing communities together is really hard to replicate, because everything is so fragmented now." Fragmented is the poignant word here - In a world of infinite content, infinite distraction, and infinite AI-generated everything, the things that bring people genuinely together in the same place at the same time are becoming more valuable - not less. The AI Paradox Here's the irony that nobody talks about enough. The same people building and funding AI are the ones investing most heavily in human experiences. They're not anti-AI. But they understand something that most businesses haven't caught up with yet. AI can write your emails. AI can analyse your data. AI can automate your processes. But AI cannot replicate the feeling of your team racing through the streets of London together. It cannot recreate the moment the quietest person in the room wins the whole game show. It cannot manufacture the conversation that happens between two colleagues who've never properly spoken before - sparked by a shared challenge on a scavenger hunt in Manchester. Those moments are human. They always will be. What This Means for Your Team. Screen time is at an all-time high. Remote and hybrid working has made genuine human connection rarer and more valuable than ever. And the research is detailed - teams that connect in person perform better, stay longer, and feel more engaged with the work they're doing. The billionaires buying sports teams know this. They're betting billions on it. Your team doesn't need a $12.5 billion franchise. They need a day where they're genuinely together - away from their screens, away from their desks and in an experience that reminds them why they like working with each other. That's what we build at Get Together Events. The Bottom Line When the people building the AI revolution are investing their own money in live, human, in-person experiences - that's a signal worth paying attention to. The future isn't screens instead of people. It's screens and people. And the companies that understand the difference - that invest in genuine human connection alongside their technology - will be the ones with the teams that actually want to show up. Ready to invest in your team's human connection? Get in touch today, and we'll come back to you soon - with ideas built around your team, your city and your people. Enquire Now