01x06 - Big Business

[bunniefuu]

For thousands of years,

we've played sports to hone our skills.

In our pursuit to be faster,

jump higher,

become stronger,

our playgrounds have shaped

the human race.

But in modern times,

play has become a serious business.

After all,

sport is entertainment.

It delights audiences,

and where there is demand,

there is opportunity.

The unstoppable rise of technology

and our human obsession with making money

has turned the games we play

into big business.

You might think

the most profitable game played in Africa

is football.

But in Senegal, that's not true.

Here, the richest athletes learn to fight.

This spectacular Senegalese game

is a cross between boxing and wrestling.

The body is both a weapon and a target.

Whilst ancient Greek wrestlers

fought to please the gods,

these young men fight for glory.

And some serious money.

These Dakar boys dream of being

the next wrestling superhero.

They look up to rising stars like Junior,

who is hoping to be

the first man from his village

to fight his way to the top.

We don't believe

in football. We believe in wrestling.

It is our national sport.

We value it more than any other sports.

We want to become "the king of the arena."

We want to make profit from it

and help others.

We depend on wrestling to build our life.

But to get to the top will be difficult.

At least the rules of the game

are easy to learn.

If your head, bottom,

or back touches the ground,

you're out.

Make no mistake,

this is just practice.

During an actual match,

you're allowed to punch

your opponent in the face

with bare knuckles.

Meanwhile, the National Stadium

is getting ready for a big match.

It was a $50 million gift from China,

securing their influence

in a developing economy

and a foothold in one of

the fastest-growing businesses in Africa.

It is the biggest wrestling stadium

in the world,

and on Fight Night, it will be brimming

with paying spectators, gamblers,

and people selling food and merchandise.

An entire ecosystem of businesses.

No one is keener than the promoter

to make sure

this event runs like clockwork.

Especially as he takes

a 10% cut of ticket sales and merchandise.

Without sponsors,

it is impossible to organize a big fight.

Because tomorrow is easily

going to cost me $100,000.

There is no other country where

you will find wrestling with punching.

You can only find it in Senegal.

It is a tradition that became a business.

Some wrestlers are now

millionaires.

In wrestling, it is all about money.

The wrestlers cost money.

Put "Construction" there, so I can see.

You have to pay the stadium $1,000.

You have to pay for publicity.

Television and radio.

You have to pay for posters.

You have to pay for merchandise.

You have to pay for fuel.

You have to pay all the people

who help organize the event.

Everything is money.

Junior's gym also makes a profit

by having a national star train here.

They're charging spectators

to watch him train.

For Junior, the stakes are high.

It is a great day.

It is a day I like best. I am preparing.

It is a day where I need victory,

and I am working for that.

I need victory.

To win the victory

he's dreamed of since he was a boy,

Junior will need skill, speed, and power.

First prize

is a staggering $15,000,

an astronomical amount

for the average Dakare.

But still, handing out autographs,

attending press conferences,

and keeping up

a relentless training regime is hard work.

I just need victory

next Sunday, just victory.

I would give my life for it.

Today is Junior's big day.

He starts by taking

a mystical good luck bath.

The first of many rituals

surrounding this playground.

The entire neighborhood flock to his home.

If Junior is successful,

he's promised to share his winnings

with the whole community.

To make sure he doesn't let anyone down,

Junior has spent his life savings

on the best potions

and spells money can buy.

At the National Stadium,

the riot police prepare for battle.

The hordes of fans tend to take fights

that don't go their way to heart.

For Junior, the preparation is over.

It's time to see if he can fight his way

into the history books.

While the lion's share

of the prize money

will be taken home

by the winner of each fight,

the medicine men also take a cut.

Which is why they'll do anything

to ensure their magic works.

Sometimes, the medicine men

don't play by the rules.

The man running across

the bottom of the ring

has just poured a potion on the opponent.

It's dirty play,

and the fans don't like it.

This is why the riot police

are always on standby.

The police send

the most aggressive supporters home.

Meanwhile, Junior must keep his focus

and patiently wait his turn.

The man in the red loincloth

is his opponent.

Will Junior's muscles and magic

bring victory or defeat?

The fight is on.

Junior has won

and is now on a path

to become a member of the wealthy elite.

Huge audiences pay good money

to be absorbed in Junior's dangerous

and thrilling playground.

The enormous stadium

is designed for one thing only,

to make as much money as possible.

The bigger the spectacle,

the bigger the business.

And one playground

that attracts millions of fans worldwide

is motor racing.

An industry

worth billions of dollars.

With, at its center,

a machine that has shaped the human race.

The car.

Developing and racing cars is not cheap,

which is probably why its spiritual home

is one of the most expensive

playgrounds of the world.

The tax paradise, Monaco.

Here, in the millionaires' boys club,

professional driver Stoffel Vandoorne

is practicing his moves.

From his home in Monaco,

he's preparing for the next big race.

And, ultimately, the world title.

He has come a long way.

The very first time

that I jumped in a go-kart,

I was probably four or five years old.

At such a young age, you do it for fun.

It was the speed,

the adrenaline I was getting from it.

And really being

the fastest guy on the circuit

was really motivating me to continue that

and finally managed to make

a professional career out of it.

Recently, Stoffel left Formula One

to compete in its more innovative cousin,

Formula E.

Instead of dirty fossil fuels,

it's electricity that feeds

these racing machines.

If they want to keep making money,

manufacturers must look to the future.

These super-computers on wheels

compete to prove which company

has the fastest, smartest tech.

But it's all for nothing

if the drivers fail to get

their multi-million-dollar machines

over the finish line first.

It's not given to anyone

to become a professional racing driver.

It's not always

the real talents that shine through.

There's a lot of kids out there

that come from a very rich family,

and right now they almost have

a little bit of an advantage

over kids that are coming

from a standard family.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

My family, they're not rich people

that could afford my racing career.

I had to prove myself time and time again.

Hey, one minute.

Radio's open. Radio check.

Radio check, loud and clear.

On this playground,

data is worth much more

than the eye-watering salaries

the drivers receive.

Off we go.

It's the job of the team

to program the cars

to gain the widest of margins

against their competitors.

SSC is 97.7.

And we go green in Mexico City!

Good. Let's go.

Stoffel Vandoorne,

championship leader, is all the way down

The fans aren't just spectating.

Like an interactive computer game,

they can alter the course of the race.

Through their phones,

they can influence the speed of the cars

by giving their favorite driver

a so-called "fan boost."

It's a great way

to guarantee advertisers and investors

that viewers are glued to their seats.

How are your tires? Tire temps okay?

Do one more lap with it.

Stoffel Vandoorne and Alexander Simms,

the championship leaders,

wheel to wheel, nose to tail.

Stoffel Vandoorne to the inside

of Mortara now.

He too is in attack mode.

Car behind has 1% more energy than you,

and Simms is behind you

'cause he has 2% more energy.

Do you know where the gap is?

Yes, one or more behind.

Good job, keep your head in.

Two more laps. Two more laps.

So we need to pull a jet

from the draft unit,

save as much energy as possible.

Stoffel and his team

are leading the race, but then

a small mistake changes everything.

f*ck!

f*cking hell

Oh, that was stupid. f*cking

I don't know if my car is okay.

I don't know if the car is okay.

Yeah, copy that.

Watch out for cars behind.

I'm sorry, guys. Oh, no.

That was an expensive crash.

The entire team is hurt

because of the loss.

The car will need to be fixed.

But more importantly, they lost

their standing in the championships

and their reputation,

which is more than money can buy.

Often by engineers,

we're not even viewed as a driver.

We are viewed as part of the car

that is operating at

the same performance level all the time.

They're so focused on data sometimes

and looking at data traces

that they think we are something

in the car that is never changing,

whilst we are probably

the biggest change within the car.

We have different emotions.

One day you might feel better

than another day.

We are human.

Although this hyper-advanced car

is developed to perform perfectly,

it still has one part

that can be inconsistent,

unpredictable,

and can cost the team a lot of money.

A human being.

No matter how many billions we spend,

nothing can match the engineering

of this highly intelligent,

finely-tuned homing m*ssile.

The Colombian rock dove.

This racing pigeon can accelerate

from one to 60 miles per hour

in just two seconds.

That's quicker than

the fastest cars on the planet.

For many, racing their pigeons

is serious business.

Why?

Because every year,

people from all over the world

gamble millions of dollars

on these quaint races.

A good pigeon has the characteristic

that it can fly home

as quickly as possible.

Fly quickly from point A to point B.

And that's all they have to do.

My grandfather,

great-grandfather, father, uncles

In our region, we're one

of the biggest pigeon racing families.

We're very well positioned in the market.

Foreigners try to buy the top pigeons

and sell their offspring

in their own country.

They say we are

the cradle of the pigeon sport.

A lot of money is involved.

And China is

the market leader at the moment.

These athletes are

worth more than their weight in gold.

Recently, a racing pigeon was sold

to a Chinese buyer for $1.8 million.

Hello.

- Hello.

- Everything okay?

Yes.

You see the one flight here?

Mr. Green acts as a middleman

for a wealthy gambler

who sees pigeon racing

as an attractive investment.

Successful birds can earn their owners

millions in prize money

over their six-year lifespan.

So let's hope they perform good,

uh, on the birds' national race.

I mean, it's a big race for us,

so everyone needs good luck.

Yeah, of course.

So we will see

what the national race will bring us.

- Yeah.

- Light some candles and pray.

That's all we need.

Today marks

the most important race of the year.

All the pigeon handlers

in this tiny region are bringing

their best specimens

to the starting line in France.

With prize money over $100,000 at stake,

there is tension in the air.

The owners of a winning bird

can sell it for a huge sum at auction.

Many humble pigeon racers have

retired from the sport as millionaires.

But that's far from guaranteed.

The game has totally changed.

I recently got an offer

to sell my entire dovecote.

Roof included?

No, only the pigeons.

I could keep them

until the end of the year.

But I have to train two Chinese guys.

100,000 euros. That's a lot, right?

I'll take a bet on myself.

Pigeon racing

begins with a single starting point,

but it has a thousand finish lines.

Each bird is transported 300 miles away.

Then all they have to do

is find their way home.

Technology plays a major part

in this modern playground.

Ankle tags will tell the judges

the exact time

the birds cross the finish line.

Train, put them

in the basket, head to the site,

let them out, they come home.

And the results will prove

which ones are good or bad.

Release!

The birds will fly

from France back to Belgium,

traveling for over four hours.

It's a grueling race,

and of the 18,000 birds taking part,

only one bird from the flock can win.

For its owner, fortune awaits.

We have 82 pigeons in today's match.

It would be a disaster for us

if the pigeons end up in bad weather.

And that a lot of pigeons are lost.

And you don't want that.

Then you run the risk

of losing your top athletes.

Hello, everyone. Welcome to my chat room.

Today the pigeons were released early.

At about seven o'clock Belgian time.

So the pigeons should be here

any minute now.

Online,

thousands of gamblers are watching

the livestream of the race,

desperate to know if their pigeon will win

and make them some money today.

Go, go, go!

Come on.

Number one and two

of my old ones made it back home.

That's what I needed.

The commercial side runs the show.

It's just that simple.

Money follows money.

It's going to happen.

So you have to adjust to it.

And it's that simple.

- Does he see me now?

- Yeah.

The first arrival

is out of seven,

Junior with the mother

of Mississippi Girl.

We score points now.

That's all we need.

Are you happy with this or not?

Are you gonna fire me?

- No.

- You can do the job. Okay?

Lazy b*stard!

- I will go to China.

- It's sent.

Jelle's prize pigeons

performed well.

His birds finished in the top ten,

earning him and his partners

a decent share of the prize money.

$30,000.

Pigeons.

What exactly is it, a pigeon?

It just flies around.

But pigeon racing has given

quite a few families a better life.

I know that.

I mean, financially.

For centuries, we have

interacted with the natural world

to create all kinds of games,

but even nature has its boundaries.

Until recently, games we have played

were bound by the rules of this earth,

but not anymore.

These days,

the only limit to our playgrounds,

and the profit we can make from them,

is our imaginations.

And it's all thanks

to this magic ingredient.

Silicon.

Mined from rock

that makes up the earth's crust,

these tiny things are

the most powerful technology

humankind has ever invented

and are responsible for creating

the greatest wealth

the world has ever seen.

When it comes to creating playgrounds,

there are no limits.

It is estimated that

the e-sport marketplace

will soon be worth $1.8 billion,

and the mecca of e-sports is here,

in Seoul, South Korea.

World-renowned gaming team

Gen. G is preparing for a match

with its arch rival, T1.

This game is more than a matter

of winning prize money.

It's about defending their pride.

Everyone in the mid will die.

Their mid's coming up.

That guy was there all along.

I am going to die.

Bloodthirster

I'll go with infinity sword to k*ll him.

Why didn't you get the dragon?

Does this guy have ultimate?

Orianna has no ultimate.

Go to the three-way, guys!

Let's go to the three-way in the front.

Let's go get the dragon.

Their chosen game is League of Legends.

League of Legends

is a five-on-five game.

You can get stronger

by k*lling the opponent.

You have to destroy their buildings.

My position is

to hunt after awful-looking creatures.

And make money to buy items.

Other players have to get rid

of cute-looking minions

and battle with the opponents.

Go get that guy.

Hey, guys, get this guy.

k*ll it.

Look at this, Brendan.

These e-athletes

might be in their early twenties,

but they play

in the Champion League of gaming.

Mordekaiser is winning.

Here, top players

can easily retire before they hit 30.

If you're a tier-one player, um,

you know, let's say you're an A-player,

uh, you're commanding

at least a million dollars, right?

A-plus-plus-type players,

you're talking about

multiples of that, right?

Are you rich?

I am rich.

To be honest,

I receive too much money for my age,

and it doesn't feel realistic.

I don't even know how I should spend it.

I spend at least

ten hours per day practicing.

Being tired

has become part of my life.

Even if I feel tired

there is nothing I can do about it.

I just live with it.

The Gen. G players

share an apartment in downtown Seoul.

Here, they game from the crack of dawn

until late at night.

Sleep gets in the way.

All that matters is winning.

Welcome, everybody,

to another day of the LCK,

but not any old day.

It is T1 up against Gen. G,

and this is a very big day

for both of them.

I can't wait.

It's gonna be so good,

and it's always Gen. G and T1

Today is the LCK Summer Playoffs.

If they win, they will earn

a place on the global stage that is

the League of Legends World Championship.

Our reputation depends on how well I do.

So I feel responsible for that.

I feel that I cannot lose.

I have to just do well

without any excuses.

I cannot make any mistakes.

So here we go. We're in game number one.

Gen. G versus T1. Here we go, once again.

He's got a Stopwatch,

but it's a Stopwatch in a dream.

They'll be dreaming about game two.

Uh-oh, Teddy's got a red buff,

and Oner's just running on in.

He's still trying to go for the k*ll,

but everybody's got a Stopwatch,

it feels like, in this meta.

For some reason, Oner can't k*ll anybody,

and it's because of this damn Stopwatch.

And now Life comes in, zones them away

They're there in the mouth of the tunnel.

Look at Ruler!

He nearly dies to two Mystic Shots.

And there you go!

Just die.

Can you come here?

Twisted Fate Ult. Twisted Fate Stun.

down everybody. Life is gonna try it.

So much for your combo!

They don't have anything

against Teddy in this game. Nothing!

As T1 are gonna take down the Nexus

and they will make it

to the finals of the LCK

Incredible and a

gut-wrenching loss for Gen.G.

Yeah.

T1.

You gotta feel for the guys

on Gen. G,

but, I mean, T1 came

to play tonight, that's for sure.

Jungmin, you can be

more confident when you are playing.

I think you remember too.

I already told him.

Isn't this a team game?

Right, it's a team game.

For generations,

play has helped us experiment

and learn about the real world.

But now you can earn huge sums

by conquering a fantasy game.

Have we lost touch?

When our favorite games

are dominated by big businesses,

it's easy to lose track of why

we started playing in the first place.

Some playgrounds

are worth billions of dollars,

not just for the fighters,

players, and drivers,

but for the gamblers,

the investors, the food sellers,

the medicine men, and the fans.

It's big business.

But even in the midst

of all that moneymaking

lie the ancient ingredients of play.

I have to keep going.

Because play is much more

than a money-making pastime.

It's essential medicine

for our bodies, our minds.

It's what makes us human beings.

It's never too late

to return to our playgrounds.

Because no matter who you are,

where you are born,

or what you look like,

we humans will always love to play.