Latest / Best of the NFL Podcast Network / The Season with Peter Schrager: Puck's John Ourand

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The Season with Peter Schrager: Puck's John Ourand · Best of the NFL Podcast Network

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: The Season with Peter Scheger is a production of the
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio. What's Up, everybody, Welcome to
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: the season with Peter Scheger.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: This is the calm before the storm. This is the
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: week after preseason before the regular season. Everyone kind of
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: catches their breath. No, it used to not be this way.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: It used to be you'd make final cuts on Labor
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: Day and then Week one was like in four days later.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: Now they moved from four preseason games to three preseason games.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: They finished the final preseason game. Make your cuts by Tuesday.
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  Speaker 2: You have a full weekend and then you have a
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: full week to prepare for your Week one. Opponents some
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: surprises on cut day. I did. Look, I'm just plugged
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: in with the Rams, anybody. I was a little surprised
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  Speaker 2: they traded twenty four year old linebacker Ernest Jones to
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: the Tennessee Titans. But nothing, you know, with all the
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: contracts that they have to pay eventually, nothing surprised me
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  Speaker 2: at the Rams. I'm sure they have a reason behind
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: that move. Cedee Lamb got his deal. If anything else,
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: are surprised it took so long. It seems like he
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: missed all of training camp. They had this long, you know,
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: drawn out process with it hovering, and then he got
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: his money anyway, and Jerry seemed to be beating his
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: chest a little bit afterwards. But it's like I could
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: have done that when Jefferson got his and you could
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: have had CD at camp all summer. I curiously how
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: he comes out week one having not played with the
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  Speaker 2: rest of the team all summer. All right, So the
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  Speaker 2: question I'm getting the most the last few weeks is
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: what's up with Hassan Reddick and the Jets? And I
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: could tell you it's It's the same answer I had
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: a couple of weeks ago. Nothing's up with Hassan Reddick
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: in the Jets. Right now it is at a stalemate,
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: and the Jets they're not shaken about it. Let me
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  Speaker 2: explain the Jets made a trade and whether it was
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  Speaker 2: ill advised to trade for Hassan Reddick without a contract
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: being done or not. They brought him in, passed his physical,
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  Speaker 2: did a press conference, they haven't seen him in the
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  Speaker 2: building since the players, they're not connected to Hassan Redick
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: the player. They might know he's a good pass rusher,
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: but they're not limited breathing with them every day. Meanwhile,
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  Speaker 2: the Jets have one of the best defensive lines in
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: all of football, and it was showcased this summer in
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: practice and in training camp, but also in the preseason
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  Speaker 2: game where they were so loaded that they ended up
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  Speaker 2: keeping three different undrafted players from this rookie class on
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  Speaker 2: the final fifty three. I'm talking about Leonard Taylor out
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: of Miami, i am talking about Braden McGregor at of Michigan,
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  Speaker 2: and I'm talking about Eric Watts at a Yukon. So
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: now you take those three players, you added the veteran
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: Tac McKinley. You've got Solomon Thomas, You've got Will McDonald,
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  Speaker 2: you got Jermaine Johnson, you got Quinn Williams, you got
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: Javon Kinlaw, and you've got Michael Clemens. And you're telling
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  Speaker 2: me what's going on with Hassan Redick the Jets, maybe
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  Speaker 2: the strength of their team is defensive line. Hassan Reddick
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  Speaker 2: is a wonderful thing to have, but right now the
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: Jets are not shaking in their boots. So for Hassan Redick,
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  Speaker 2: if he's there, amazing, they'll be happy. But they still
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  Speaker 2: feel like they have one of the best offensive lines
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  Speaker 2: in football, and these players they're ready to go to battle.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: I U Trent Williams. These are dragging on as we
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  Speaker 2: record this on a Wednesday morning. I don't know if
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  Speaker 2: either one of those is coming in before the season starts.
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  Speaker 2: Everyone assumes that they will both get done because the
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: Niners do take care of business, and they'll take it
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  Speaker 2: to the wire and they'll just figure it out. Now,
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  Speaker 2: you thinks Tricky though he wants wide receiver won money,
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  Speaker 2: he hasn't budged from that. Although I heard things were
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  Speaker 2: a little closer to a deal, or that conversations have
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  Speaker 2: warmed over the last few days or a few weeks.
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  Speaker 2: I don't see that happening today necessarily unless something major
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  Speaker 2: breaks through. I presented this on on X. All right,
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: this is what we do in the Bill Simmons world.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: But let's just get the TikTok camera on. Here Kaufman,
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: here we go, Here is Eron. Here's what we're doing.
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  Speaker 2: I UK to Pittsburgh has been rumored all off season,
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  Speaker 2: and make sense because Omar Khan has been big you know,
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: big game hunting in this whole off season, something that
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  Speaker 2: the Pittsburgh stirs On technically usually do and you know,
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  Speaker 2: they got Russell Wilson, they got justin fields. They were
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: adding players left and right. They've been moving and shaking.
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  Speaker 2: But I said this last week on X and I'll
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  Speaker 2: say it again, as this deal still hasn't gotten done
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  Speaker 2: between Pittsburgh and San Francisco, and you still has not
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: arrived at San Francisco. I think Washington makes the most
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  Speaker 2: sense if you're looking at a trade partner. Hear me out.
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  Speaker 2: Washington trades Johan Dotson, former first round pick, gets a
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  Speaker 2: third round pick, So they lose a first round talent,
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  Speaker 2: a wide receiver, so the old you know, front office
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  Speaker 2: believed he was. They get a third round picks, another
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  Speaker 2: third round pick, they have the second round pick, they
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  Speaker 2: have a first round pick. Adam Peters, the current general
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  Speaker 2: manager of the Washington Commanders first year guy, spent the
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  Speaker 2: last seven years working in San Francisco with John Lynch, Peraguemarte,
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: who runs their salary cap, Brian Hampton. No, those Jed
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  Speaker 2: York very well, those those forty nine ers guys. Guess
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  Speaker 2: where he was when Brandon Yuk was drafted by the
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: forty nine ers. He was in that cockpit, right there,
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  Speaker 2: in that front office with the forty nine Ers. Now
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  Speaker 2: he's with the Commanders. Brandan Nyuk's breakout season as a
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: college football player had thirteen hundred yards. It was the
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  Speaker 2: number one guy at Arizona State. Who is the quarterback,
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  Speaker 2: a young kid named Jayden Daniels. And these two still
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  Speaker 2: have a great relationship, still talk all the time. Ayuk
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  Speaker 2: and Daniels are like brothers. Like that's how close they are.
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  Speaker 2: So from the Commander's side, it makes a lot of sense.
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  Speaker 2: From the forty nine Ers side is where it gets
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  Speaker 2: a little trickier. For the forty nine Ers side, it's like, well,
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  Speaker 2: what are you giving us back? Because the forty nine
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  Speaker 2: Ers are not trading Brendan and Ayuk for like a
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  Speaker 2: wish and a prayer in the future. And yes, they
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  Speaker 2: did draft a wide receiver in the first round and
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: were keep pearsall but to me, it would have to
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: be a talented player. And then also maybe your second
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  Speaker 2: and your third, So give me a defensive lineman and
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  Speaker 2: you're second and the third. Now, a lot of forty
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  Speaker 2: nine Ers fans would come back and say give us
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: Terry McLaurin and your third, or Washington fans would even say,
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  Speaker 2: don't don't do that trade, because then Terry's gonna be upset. Okay,
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  Speaker 2: Terry McLaurin, I don't see going anywhere. I'll put that
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  Speaker 2: out there. Also, I just watched Philadelphia give one receiver money.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: Everyone say what about the other receiver? Well, then they
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  Speaker 2: gave him his money too. Like, if they make this
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  Speaker 2: trade to bring an Ayuk, I don't think it's crazy
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  Speaker 2: that you can then say to Terry McLaurin like, yeah, no,
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  Speaker 2: it's fair. We're gonna we're gonna raise you up. Also,
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  Speaker 2: they have salary cap room. So to me, it's a second,
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  Speaker 2: it's a third. It's a defensive player. You go and
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  Speaker 2: you get Brandon Ayuk, you bring him to Washington, you
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  Speaker 2: pair them up with with his guy, Jayden Daniels. And
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: if you're a forty nine Ers fan, you at least
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: have two draft picks next year, and you got a
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: new defensive player that's gonna be playing, and you just
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  Speaker 2: lost Eric arms Sett in the offseason. That's to me
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  Speaker 2: the trade. That's to me the trade partner. And as
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: I say, all this watch, you's gonna be happy signed
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: an extension with the forty nine Ers and all this
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: will be moot. A couple of things I want to
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  Speaker 2: recap before we bring in our guests who I'm fascinated
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  Speaker 2: to talk to. It's John rand from Puck who's launching
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  Speaker 2: a podcast himself, and I don't understand, or I shouldn
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: say I don't understand. I need someone to dumb down
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: and explain this private equity headline that was kind of
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: buried on NFL dot com at ESPN dot com and
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: Chefter kind of put out a bunch of you know,
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  Speaker 2: posts about it, but like, I need an explanation on
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: what it is. We're gonna have him on. But I
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  Speaker 2: did want to give you a quick recap of my
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  Speaker 2: Saturday night where I got to call the Jets Giants
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  Speaker 2: game with the Iron Eagle. All right, first, how did
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: it come to be? This wasn't some brainstorming session with
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: a thousand executives. I actually did two Jets preseason games
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  Speaker 2: in the twenty nineteen season with Iron Eagle as the
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  Speaker 2: play by play guy and Anthony becked the old tight
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  Speaker 2: end from the Jets, and I was the third guy
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  Speaker 2: in and then Otis Livingston was on the sideline. So
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: basically Beck would come on break down the play, then
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: I would give you color on the players. We had
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: a good dynamic. We went to Atlanta and did a game,
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: and then the Saints were actually playing in New Jersey
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: and I did that game. And what was interesting with
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  Speaker 2: that one was the day Andrew Luck retired. So during
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: the broadcast, Andrew Luck surprises everyone, and I spent the
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: whole second half of the broadcast like on my phone,
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  Speaker 2: like just reporting about a random Indianapolis Colts quarterback, and
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: most jetsmans were like, we don't care anymore about Andrew Luck.
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: I get back to the Jets game, all right. That
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: was that. I also did Rams preseason for one season
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: with Andrew Sicileono and Nate Berlisson, same kind of deal.
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  Speaker 2: I was the third man in. Really enjoyed it. Thought
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: it was fun, but also really cherish my summer weekends
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: in the years that would follow. The Ravens approached me
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: and asked if I wanted to play a role in
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  Speaker 2: their broadcast with of course another player and a play
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: by play guy and being in the booth. The Seahawks
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: approached me and asked me. I said, the thought of
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: me flying from Seattle and back and then doing twenty
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: two different weekends of travel to LA and back, it
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: just doesn't work for me, it doesn't work for my family.
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: So this year, no one really called. It was quiet.
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: I'm barely watching the preseason if I'm being honest, I'm
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: watching the replays on NFL Network like during the week.
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: But like I so cherished these Saturdays Sundays in the
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: summertime because there's really the last ones I get till
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: probably about this. You know, it's definitely to the super Bowl,
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: but with combine and with you know, free agency. So
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: middle of March, I really have my weekends back. So
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  Speaker 2: I hadn't thought about it. And I get a call
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: from Eric Gelfand, who runs the Jets communications department, and
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: Eric says, look, I'm talking with CBS. We really liked
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: having you with Anthony Beck that one year. Would you
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: be willing to do Jets preseason games this year? And
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: I said, I will not do that. I'm not giving
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: up three weekends. I just can't. It's, you know, my
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: one last gas of summer with my family. Again. I
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: know this sounds crazy if you listen to how when
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: you're urt cope, It's like I'm not with my family
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: on the weekends for you know, several several months. So
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: every weekend matters and to me in August like, that's
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: just great time, you know whatever, family time. So I say, no,
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: thank You's all right, Well, we appreciate it. We would
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: have loved it. You and Anthony would have been great.
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: About ten days before the start of preseason, Eric calls
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: me again and says, hey, listen, we have a pretty
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: cool opportunity for you. It's it's just you and the booth.
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: It's not actually the Jets Giants game. Specifically, Anthony's moving
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: into a role where he's going to be doing the
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: radio full time with the Jets with Bob was Shoes
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: and cool promotion for him. Great job, that's like a
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: lifetime job. You do that, you do that for thirty years.
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: Great for Anthony instead of us going the ex player route.
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: I've been talking with the CBS local partners and we
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: really liked what you did. A couple of year ago.
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: Would you and I and be one to do Jets Giants?
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: You know the Jets, you knew the Giants? Said absolutely, sorry, kids,
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: absolutely one weekend, one game, no press release, no big
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: push about it. And then I got to work and
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: I think this is my takeaway on this whole thing.
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: I obviously studied the depth chart for both teams, knowing
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: this is going to be the third and fourth rounders.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: But then I also ended up calling folks from the
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: Senior Bowl, calling folks from the UFL, folks from the
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: East West game. I also spoke to both head coaches
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: off the record, spoke to offensive coordinators and defensive coordinators
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: from both teams, at least informally, you know, just texting
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: ended general man, like no one has prepared for a
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: football game like I just prepared for Giants Jets preseason
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: Week three. But there's also this resistance if I have
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: all this information, like I could do forty minutes on
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: Leonard Taylor, the third undrafted out of Miami. But I'm
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: not looking to show off. I'm not looking to just
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: dump data and stats and stories. And I also wanted
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: to make sure that I brought what I bring to
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: this and when I bring to all the podcast appearances
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: I do to that broadcast, which is just banter. I
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: want you to want to hang out with me, I
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: want you to want to sit and talk with me.
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: I just want to tell stories and be a cool hang.
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: And there's no cooler hang than Iron Eagle. So the
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: game starts start talking about that dynamic kickoff. I have
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: my insights, he's got his insights, and then we're just
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: off and running. And Iron and I had an absolute
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: party for three hours while informing, while entertaining, and I'll
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: tell you, Aaron, I didn't use the tellustrator once. I
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: didn't say the word pad level once. We didn't really
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: show many replays and break down how something happened at all. Happened.
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: One time when Adrian Martinez, the third quarterback, like broke
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: a run, I said, watch what he does with his
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: legs here. That was my big analysis. It is not
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: what you're getting anywhere else. And I don't look at
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: that as a weakness. You know, there's been a lot
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: of articles written OFFU announcing, really complimentary one which I appreciated,
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: and there's been like some trend pieces. And Brian Curtis
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: at the press box with Dave Schumaker, they did a
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: whole intro about is it time to have a non
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: ex player, non ex coach in the booth. I would
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: have said yes ten years ago. I don't make the decisions,
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: but I will say this. Our approach to the game
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: is not the same as the ROMO the Akman, the Collinsworth,
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: the Tom Brady as this is gonna be. I also
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: sometimes watch sports TV, and I don't even understand who's
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: who's watching some of these breakdowns and things like I
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: love dan Orlotski breaking down the quarterback stept, but when
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: we get in the weeks talking about the offensive line
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: play like I don't, I don't, I don't know, like
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: I don't. That's not necessarily everybody's cup of tea. And
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: I think most of these broadcasts are trying to teach
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: you how a play happened or instruct you like your
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: high school coach. When my thing was I was going
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: to tell some stories and give me some insight from
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: the front offices. Does that work over a full course
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: of a season. I don't know. Maybe it'd be a
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: major swing in a miss, but it sure worked for
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: a preseason game. In that preseason game in particular, I
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: will say this, I had an absolute blast doing it,
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: and I just wanted to shout out the guys who
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: helped me do it. And that's Iron Eagle, That's that's
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: his great sad guy, Dave Freed, and then Ken Mack,
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: who's the producer at CBS, who actually does iron Eagle
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: in Charles Davis's games during the season and also does
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: the Final Fours. Was unbelievable. It was like Schrager, b you,
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: we're not hiring you to be Brian Baldinger, or we're
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: not hiring you to be Adam Rchiletto, We're not hiring
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: you to be Tony Romo. Just be you. And I was.
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: And we did a full analysis of the wave going
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: on in the crowd. We I gave a full Hassan
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: Reddick update. I mean we did that. I don't think
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: you're getting anywhere else from anyone else. So all those
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: trend pieces, all those wonderful articles written, I read them.
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: Obviously they were very complimentary. It's where you get any
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: compliments from sports media folks, and it meant a lot.
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: And if you tweeted me, ninety nine percent of the
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: tweets were positive, which is so rare. I'll take it,
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: and I gotta say I really enjoyed it. So if
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: it ever gets to happen again, I would be open
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: to talking. And if there's another non ex player or
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: ex coach who gets that opportunity in the booth, I'm
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: here to talk to them and take them through it,
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: because I will say it was really cool to not
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: only get to do it, but to also see the reaction,
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: being like, this is a different kind of broadcast. This
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: feels like just two people talking and wow, imagine that
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: it was cool. I didn't say the word hip drop once.
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: I didn't say I didn't mention the safety blitz whatever
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: terms again not my forte. They knew what they were
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: getting and CBS was I think, pretty happy with what
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: they got. All right, let's get to our guests. Our
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: guest is made the move from Sports Business Journal over
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: to Puck about a year ago, and he immediately has
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: become one of the most influential voices in sports media
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: sports business. He's going to help to cipher whatever this
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: headline was that came out yesterday. John Oran's coming up
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: after this. As I said in the monologue, John Orran
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: is one of the most respected voices in sports media today.
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: This past year, he took his talents like Lebron did
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: to the Heat, he took it to Puck where he
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: rides it twice weekly newsletter that is appointment reading for
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: anyone in sports media, anyone in sports business. It's called
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: the Varsity and Trust me. Everyone in our industry gets
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: that newsletter, reads it, looks for the bold print and
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: enjoys the Andrew marshand in the beginning. And today when
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: it's Wednesday in August, he is launching a new podcast
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: with Puck and it's called The Varsity. His first guest
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: is an unlikely media mobile, but a guy who has
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: been dominating in our space, Peyton Manning. So go check
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: that out where we listen to podcasts. But I was
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: gonna have John on regardless about some of the news
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: that came out in the NFL yesterday. John Rand Welcome
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: to the season with Peter Schriger.
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: Peter, you asked me to come on the pod. I'm
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: coming in a heartbeat. I think this is my inaugural
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: visit on the podcast. So this is a big deal
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: for me.
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: This is this is a a little success story in
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: itself the NFL. As a part of my deal with
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: Good Morning Football about a year ago, said just do
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: a podcast like let's figure it out with iHeart and last,
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: and it's made news and we're taking off and it's
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: one the NFL podcast right now. And one of the
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: top NFL stories came out yesterday and I am not
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: well versed in some of the stuff that's going on
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: in the fine So the headline was now involved in
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: NFL ownership. Immediately, I clushed my propose and thought of
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: John Marra and Mike Brown and some of the or
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: traditional owners of the and said, well, what the hell
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: does that mean? Because I don't need private equity in
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: my NFL, but I mean cold not to worry. This
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: is a good thing for the NFL. And break it
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: down for us, private equity in the NFL the first
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: and why is unique story, Peter is great news.
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: These billionaire owners are going to get richer. I mean,
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: that's essentially what the story is. I don't think that.
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: The way I see this is that fans aren't going
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: to notice a difference, and so when people are saying,
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: don't worry about this, everything's going to kind of continue on.
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: That's what That's what we're going to see. It was
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: overwhelmingly supported by ownership thirty one to one, uh the
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: Cincinnati Bengals incidentally, they were the only descending vote on this.
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: And what it basically what a big what is happening
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: right now is that the valuations of the teams are
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: increasing at such an to such an extent that rich
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: guys can't afford to buy teams anymore. They can't just
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: cut a check and write the team you had. You know,
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: in my hometown in Washington, the Commanders just sold for
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: more than six billion dollars. And that's after our former
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: owner spent a quarter century making the worst decisions and
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: for the team and making it you know somehow they
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: they he went from buying it for you know, just
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: just around a billion and a little bit less than
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: a billion, and then selling it for six billion after
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: running it into the ground for twenty five years. So
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: the the the valuations and how much the teams are
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: worth are growing so much that the NFL is looking
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: to private equity to help supplement a lot of these
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: a lot of these purchases being the NFL. They didn't
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: just jump into this. The NFL is the last of
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: all the leagues to do it, and of all the
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: big leagues to do it. You have the NBA, MLB,
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: the NHL, MLS, the Women's soccer league as well. They
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: allow private equity to take up to thirty percent stakes
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: in the leagues. The NFL is keeping it at ten
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: right now, although all of my sources say it's almost
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: certain that that's going to go up to thirty within
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: a couple of years. And what the NFL was doing
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: was looking at these other leagues, seeing how private equity
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: was affecting affecting those leagues, how those leagues were run,
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: how those teams were run, and realizing that the private
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: the private equity that was coming in wasn't really making
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: any change. They weren't making any changes to how the
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: teams will run. Or all I was doing was sort
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: of helping these these rich owners were from being too
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: cash strapped with teams that were worth so much, so
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: they waited, they looked at it, and I think that's
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: what more than I think, I'm pretty certain that's what
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: we're going to see. What the NFL is a lot
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: of nothing coming out of this other than the riche
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: owners getting a lot richer.
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: Okay, So traditionally, to go back, the NFL held off
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: because they're like, we're unique. We're a club of thirty two.
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: It's just us thirty two owners. And even those owners
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: can have minority owners. But what's the difference between having
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: per se example, the Pittsburgh Steelers have minority owners. You know,
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: Thomas Toll was a minority owner. David Tepper was a
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: minority owner. What's the difference between having those guys and
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: then private equity? The word pe that everyone kind of says, oh,
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: here comes private equity. What's the difference between being a
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: minority owner with a lot of money and then a
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: private equity firm.
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: I think what the NFL is going to tell you
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: is that there's going to be no difference.
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: And judging by what's happened at those other leagues that
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: I mentioned, it doesn't look like there really is going
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: to be any any difference with it. There is a
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: big fear. Look, I come from newspapers, you know, I
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: saw you've seen what happens when private equity comes in
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: with it with the promise of a lot of money
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: and uh and and and and making things better, and
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: then they come and slash and burn and because because
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: private equity wants to make money out of it, and
• 22:36
  Speaker 3: so they're going to come in see the inefficiencies, you know,
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: cut where they can.
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: The stakes that they're taking are not that high, so
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: they for for private equity companies. Look, it's a good investment,
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: of course, I mentioned the Commanders earlier. It's it's definitely
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: a good investment, but it is a vanity play. You know,
• 22:54
  Speaker 3: these some of these private equity owners would love to
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: have an ownership stake, get that box for the games
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: on Sunday and and uh bring their clients to it.
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: So I think that there, you know, there's not much
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: of a difference. It's just the access to much more
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: cash and making it a lot easier for owners to
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: define that as well.
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: Again, this is rudimentary questions. I love having you on.
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: Is this okay? So say, is there like a yearly
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: return on an NFL team, like where you get like
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: an envelope or you get it? Or is it you
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: only make your money if the team is flipped like
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: Washington where Snyder after all those years sold it for
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: six hundred percent whatever it was worth when he brought it.
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: But like, is it an investment or is it just
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: a vanity play? Like do these with the private equity
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: see in a return on investment on any given season
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: just being a part of the deal.
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: No, it's it's an investment still, even if they're not
• 23:47
  Speaker 3: getting you know, yearly returns on it. I mean they're
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: they're they're putting their money into something that they think,
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: and I think is going to grow. I mean, there's
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: no there's no sign that these franchise valuations have hit
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: a ceiling or that the ceiling is anywhere close, even
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: though you know, we're talking about valuations of the Cowboys
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: being you know, I think Supportico had them at like
• 24:12
  Speaker 3: ten billion dollars, setting in an all time record. So
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: the and that's the thing about private equity is they
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: can come in and then they can sell out to
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: sell their steak, So they can sell their steak at
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: any time, and when they sell their stake, that's where
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: they really see their return. They're not going to see
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: a return on a year over year basis.
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: One of the parts of the articles that I've read
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: that it's like they kind of vetted which private equity
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: is allowed to invest, so there's almost like a gatekeeper
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: to that as well. Right, it's only certain private equity
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: companies can get involved. There's been a select number that
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: can have the option to invest.
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's where the NFL's great. I mean, the NFL,
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: it seems.
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: Like they're like, all right, you can't, but you can't.
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: We know where your money's coming from. But I'm not
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: doing the work on that wildcard. It does seem interesting
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: that that was kind of buried there as well. And
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: one of them, cool enough, Curtis Martin's a big part
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: of which is a former player, which I thought was
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: really neat.
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and not only that the NFL approved these, Uh
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: it's only a handful of private equity companies, but then
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: the owners still can come out and have to vote
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: and ratify it once once they get in there. And
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: another interesting uh angle of this is a private equity
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: company can invest in more than one team, So it's
• 25:35
  Speaker 3: not like they, you know, go and say, okay, we
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: want to go with.
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: The Bills across sports or across the NFL. So you
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: could a private equity firm could have a ten percent
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: take in the Bills and the Saints if they wanted.
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: That's okay.
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: Apparently so up to like six teams, I think it
• 25:49
  Speaker 3: is and uh, and so that's another sort of interesting
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: wrinkle that shows that this is much more of an
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: investment play where for some of these private equity companies.
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. Okay, I'm now going to shift focus to your
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: podcast real quick, because because you've got the newsletter, you
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: and Marshand had a great podcast that I listened to weekly.
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: I was often or twice I was the big guest,
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: which was a big get, which was a very honorable
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: spot to be in. But now with Puck, with those
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: guys who are doing tremendous work in the new media
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: space and his appointment reading in Washington and politics and
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: Hollywood and now sports with you, what is the podcast
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: and what are you trying to get out of that? Uh?
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: Well, the podcast is it's going to come out twice
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: a week and on Wednesday, I'm basically going to try
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: to recreate what we did with the Marshan Podcast, which
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: is I'm going to bring on somebody where We're going
• 26:44
  Speaker 3: to talk about two maybe three topics that that are
• 26:47
  Speaker 3: affecting the sports the sports business mainly sports media, but
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: the sports business every uh every week. And then I'm
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: trying to get uh, you know, the big get and
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: and make that my my Sunday interview. So uh uh
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: we launched on Wednesday and we got Peyton Manning and
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: pay Manning's no matter how you look at him, he's
• 27:09
  Speaker 3: a big get and getting him sort of to talk
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: about his vision of media and and why he made
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: the decisions that he made in his post playing career
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: and we put that out on Wednesday. Our big get
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: Sunday is going to come this Sunday. I sat down
• 27:27
  Speaker 3: yesterday with Jimmy Pataro and up in Crystal, Connecticut. He's,
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: of course the head of ESPN, and really just just
• 27:36
  Speaker 3: talk to him for about forty five minutes just on
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: the future of media and hearing him talk about you know,
• 27:41
  Speaker 3: where things are going and ESPN Flagship, which is there
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: directed consumer service that they're launching next year, and of
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: course venue Spoolu, which was the ill fated streaming service
• 27:55
  Speaker 3: that the ESPN was trying to launch with Turner and
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: with Warner Brothers Discovery and with Fox and that that
• 28:05
  Speaker 3: was a fascinating confer station. Kathy Engelbert, the w NBA commissioner,
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: is another one that's gonna that We're gonna have the
• 28:12
  Speaker 3: following Sunday. So, uh, we're getting started with the bang.
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: It's going to be a lot of fun too. And
• 28:17
  Speaker 3: why are we doing it? I just had a lot
• 28:19
  Speaker 3: of fun doing it with Marshan.
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think why there's an audience for it?
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: I think there is too.
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, let me ask Pataro because I could go we
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: could do a whole other you know, forty minutes on
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: this or off this. But is he bullish on the
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: future of sports media? I know there was a huge
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: bubble with rights and there's been an expanded but like
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: you know, we've also seen the sports media business see
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: some layoffs, seen some seeing some busting of some companies,
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: and we have seen in the case of you know,
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: Warner Brothers Discovery actually saying you know what, we're not
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: going to pay that money and we're not going to
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: you know, go to that level to keep the NBA. Like,
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: where's the future of sports business? As far as you said,
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: see fully bullish on it or is he saying there
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: might be a little step back in the with the recession,
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: with whatever else is going on with the way that
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: these rights fees are going.
• 29:14
  Speaker 3: Well, he's bullish about it, but he's also very clear
• 29:18
  Speaker 3: eyed about all of the changes that are happening with
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: with sports, especially with ESPN, and I think we saw
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: that with the NBA deal and the UH and Warner
• 29:28
  Speaker 3: Brothers Discovery. I've been writing about cord cutting for a
• 29:32
  Speaker 3: decade now, and the cable industry is it's continued, and
• 29:35
  Speaker 3: that means CNT and ESPN, they continue to lose subscribers
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: at such a big rate, and so somebody like Jimmy
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: Pataro has to figure out, Okay, we have this declining
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: asset over here that's still so big and powerful of
• 29:48
  Speaker 3: ESPN the channel. What can we do to take that great,
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: big brand of ESPN start to stream and can and
• 29:57
  Speaker 3: and compete maybe a little bit more with you know,
• 29:59
  Speaker 3: the Netflix of the world, and and uh and and
• 30:03
  Speaker 3: move forward that way. And so we're at a sort
• 30:05
  Speaker 3: of a pivotal point right now where are things are
• 30:08
  Speaker 3: going to start to change pretty wildly. And so of
• 30:12
  Speaker 3: course he says he's bullish, and I do believe he's bullish,
• 30:15
  Speaker 3: but there are a lot of risky maneuvers that are
• 30:20
  Speaker 3: being taken over the next couple of years that's going
• 30:23
  Speaker 3: to really determine how we all watch sports going forward.
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: And let's be honest, Amazon, Apple, these are trillion dollar
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: companies that don't need sports necessarily, which when you look
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: at a Disney or Warner Brothers or a Fox or
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: a Paramount, it's like, no, sports is the lifeblood. So
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: it's a lot of these leagues too have to decide like, well, yes,
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: we can get in bed with the big eyes, but
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: where are we long term with them? And are we
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: still the apples of their eye. It's actually a really
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: interesting dynamic, and the money has to make sense from
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: both sides.
• 30:57
  Speaker 3: But that's totally true, because if you're advising a league,
• 31:01
  Speaker 3: I would say, whatever you do, do not get into
• 31:04
  Speaker 3: bed with Amazon. That's a like you said, a three
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: trillion dollar company that could decide they could they could
• 31:12
  Speaker 3: have a management change and somebody could say, why are
• 31:14
  Speaker 3: we doing video and sports, Let's get out of it,
• 31:16
  Speaker 3: and they'll get out of it and it won't hurt
• 31:19
  Speaker 3: the stock price at all. Could you imagine if Disney said, Okay,
• 31:23
  Speaker 3: we're getting out of sports, or if we're getting out
• 31:27
  Speaker 3: of sports, their whole life depends on sports. Yeah, that's
• 31:31
  Speaker 3: absolutely a true dynamic. There's the promise of money, and
• 31:35
  Speaker 3: the promise of growth and the promise of the future,
• 31:38
  Speaker 3: and then there's the comfort of being with somebody who
• 31:43
  Speaker 3: exists because of you.
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: Basically, yeah, let me give you three quick, rapid fire
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: random NFL sports media questions and then we'll wrap this.
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: I so appreciate you taking the time, especially on launch
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: day for your podcast. This year, the NFL is adding
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: in a new element to broadcasts where the sideline reporter
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: or the people up in the with MU sure how
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: they're gonna do it. It's going to speak in game
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: with either the head coach, the offensive coordinator, the defensive coordinator,
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: the special teams coordinator. The NFL wants to create more
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: access for the fans than it is. Uh fan of
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: this or not a fan of this. As someone who
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: has been watching it in the NBA and baseball for many.
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: Years, I'm gonna this. I'm the worst guest here because
• 32:29
  Speaker 3: I'm not going to give you a good answer.
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 32:32
  Speaker 3: If there's a good sideline reporter that knows somebody that's
• 32:36
  Speaker 3: going to be able to open up and and present
• 32:39
  Speaker 3: a good interview, I am totally a fan of it.
• 32:42
  Speaker 3: Why wouldn't you want to hear like, oh, you know what,
• 32:45
  Speaker 3: we tried. We tried to do this and it didn't work,
• 32:47
  Speaker 3: and now we're going Uh. Unfortunately, the coaches are generally
• 32:55
  Speaker 3: uh uh, they're not going to open up. We haven't
• 32:58
  Speaker 3: seen them open up yet. And I just want to
• 32:59
  Speaker 3: see the play on the field. That's all I'm That's
• 33:01
  Speaker 3: all I'm focused on. So it's it's totally dependent on
• 33:05
  Speaker 3: people in the on the sideline reporters, knowing who to
• 33:09
  Speaker 3: go to, asking the right questions and getting the right responses.
• 33:13
  Speaker 3: If we can get that, yeah, absolutely, I want more access.
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: All right, let me go in on this one, because
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: of course my podcast, I'll make it all about me.
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: A couple of years ago, I did a Saturday game
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: on NFL Network, Bills versus Dolphins up in Buffalo, bad weather,
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: They're throwing snowballs, the whole thing, And at halftime we
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: had one of these and it was myself and Mike McDaniel,
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: and it was an interview that was off the rails.
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: McDaniel was incredible. He was alive and hilarious, and he
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: did great banter back and forth with me. I've known
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: him for ten years. We had a blast and it
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: went viral and it more people remembered that interview than
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: the actual game itself. Now is that great? Probably not
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: for the overall product of the NFL football, But in
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: that moment, it was pretty cool to see Mike's personality.
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: I would argue guys like him Sean Payton McVeigh like,
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: I think it's pretty cool to have this.
• 34:05
  Speaker 3: Yes, yes, yeah, totally. But all of a sudden you're
• 34:08
  Speaker 3: running up to Belichick.
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: I guess.
• 34:13
  Speaker 3: That would be fun in its own right as well,
• 34:15
  Speaker 3: But it totally depends on people like you, the relate
• 34:19
  Speaker 3: relationships that you have and the getting the people to
• 34:23
  Speaker 3: open up. If if you can't, then boy, that's a
• 34:25
  Speaker 3: Is there anything more terrible than some of the sideline
• 34:29
  Speaker 3: interviews where they.
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: Say no, they're all just one word and then you
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: just yeah, And especially during the NBA games, and you're like,
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: there's an actual game going on in a smaller box,
• 34:37
  Speaker 2: why are we listening to this ladder? Yeah? Second one,
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: I was at the Fox Seminar which was out in
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: California about a month ago, and I had this new
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: colleague and we had the most passionate forty five minute
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: conversation himself and I about the new rules and how
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: it affects quarterbacks. And this guy was so dialed in
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: that I walked away being like I was transfixed with
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: every word he said. That guy's name is Tom Brady.
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: I am very bullish on Tom Brady the broadcaster. What
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: have you heard from my FI colleagues? Because I have
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: not been in any of these practice games that he's
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: been doing with Burkhart, and I know you've got sources
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: all over that building.
• 35:12
  Speaker 3: Uh. Tom, Well, the thing about Tom Brady is that
• 35:16
  Speaker 3: he sees the game differently than anybody else. As you
• 35:20
  Speaker 3: just described, He's used to talking in short bursts because
• 35:26
  Speaker 3: he's a quarterback. He has to call a play and
• 35:28
  Speaker 3: what's a play clock at?
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: Now? You know that?
• 35:30
  Speaker 3: And he has to call play before that that runs out.
• 35:34
  Speaker 3: He's a he's a television star. He know, he knows
• 35:38
  Speaker 3: how to present himself. I am, I haven't gotten Fox
• 35:42
  Speaker 3: has been locked down that there's they have I have.
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: I mean, I'm being honest with you. I'm I've been
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: there twenty years. I Am like they're got I Detective Burkhart,
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: I'm like, give me something. He's like, it's been great,
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: Like there has been nothing leaking from Zaeger, nothing leaking
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: from Shank Like it is science and Ruso don't talk
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: about it. It's like, let's just a veili a week
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: one because it's going to blow you away. I don't know.
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: That's how I look at it.
• 36:04
  Speaker 3: I think they're scared to leak it because because I look,
• 36:07
  Speaker 3: I've been covering this this beat for thirty years. I'm
• 36:10
  Speaker 3: deep into Fox, and I get the same problem, like, oh, Yeah,
• 36:13
  Speaker 3: he's great. You're gonna love him. I think he's gonna
• 36:17
  Speaker 3: be really good. I would be really shocked if he
• 36:19
  Speaker 3: doesn't come in. I think he's gonna be one of
• 36:21
  Speaker 3: these analysts that you're gonna that, uh, you're he's just gonna,
• 36:26
  Speaker 3: like I said, he sees his game differently, and he's
• 36:28
  Speaker 3: gonna be able to explain it in a white way.
• 36:30
  Speaker 3: That's gonna make me just like look and enjoy the
• 36:34
  Speaker 3: game differently. Okay, A quick complaint though, uh yeah, please.
• 36:42
  Speaker 3: By the way, I know I should get Sunday ticket,
• 36:44
  Speaker 3: but I live in d C. I have to watch
• 36:46
  Speaker 3: the Commanders and the Bucks instead of Tom Brady's opening
• 36:51
  Speaker 3: game The Browns.
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: And Window command Yes, in DC, let me tell you
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: about let me tell you a little thing about this
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: jade and Daniels, and I think you're gonna be just
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: fine watching Jadeen Daniels. I have been very bullish on him.
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: I have him as my number one breakout player of
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: the year. I think you guys in DC are going
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: to be blown away with what you're getting. Don't You
• 37:10
  Speaker 2: don't need to watch the Browns Cowboys Week one. You'll
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: get your Brady eventually, all Right, my last one here
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: as as we wrap it's it's obviously the year after
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: Taylor Swift entered our our football lexicon and they brought
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: the results in the effects of the Taylor Swift was
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: that a one year wonder does this thing drift off
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: the second year where it is truly America's past time
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: and we're going to see huger ratings this season.
• 37:38
  Speaker 3: We're going to see a pretty significant ratings drop this season. Uh,
• 37:44
  Speaker 3: the the election historically has taken viewers away from the NFL.
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: You would think that they is their numbers like every
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: four years, the November and December, November and October ratings
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: are down because we were watching like MSNBC.
• 37:57
  Speaker 3: And not every not every year, but that's that's the
• 38:00
  Speaker 3: general trend that happens.
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: That's interesting.
• 38:03
  Speaker 3: There's also uh, well it's podcast. So I'm going to
• 38:07
  Speaker 3: go inside baseball here. Last year there was the writers
• 38:10
  Speaker 3: strike and so because of the writer's strike, ABC had
• 38:14
  Speaker 3: nothing to put on on its schedule. So the NFL
• 38:18
  Speaker 3: is allowed into simulcast. So all of a sudden, you're
• 38:21
  Speaker 3: not gonna you're not gonna have all of those games
• 38:25
  Speaker 3: on a broadcast network, getting all of those ratings points
• 38:29
  Speaker 3: uh and it was being simulcast, so almost certainly you're
• 38:33
  Speaker 3: going to see a ratings drop. Your question, though, was
• 38:35
  Speaker 3: about the Taylor Swift and as long as uh Kelsey
• 38:39
  Speaker 3: remains on the Chiefs and as long as they remained dating,
• 38:43
  Speaker 3: I would expect that that that it's I think that
• 38:48
  Speaker 3: the people that I talked to say that Taylor Swift
• 38:52
  Speaker 3: was responsible for, you know, a little bit of the bump.
• 38:55
  Speaker 3: It's not as massive as as some people have ever reported,
• 38:59
  Speaker 3: but I would think that that bump would exist as
• 39:02
  Speaker 3: long as they date and as long as he plays a.
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: Lot of It's anecdotal, right like you here, Like you know,
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: obviously I talk to everyone. I'm a dad myself, and
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: it'd be like, you know, my daughter never cared and
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: now she's twelve and she's watching Chiefs football on four
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: point thirty on Sunday, watching Tracy Wolfson and you know,
• 39:19
  Speaker 2: Nance and Romo every week and she would have never
• 39:21
  Speaker 2: wanted to, but she's doing it in pursuits of seeing
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: Taylor Swift. That's real, right, Like, that's a real anecdote,
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: and I think people have shared that. The question is
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: is there a halo effect of Oh I came into
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: watching football because I wanted to see Taylor Swift. But
• 39:36
  Speaker 2: now I'm going to watch Saints versus Eagles on a
• 39:39
  Speaker 2: Sunday because I don't know. I don't know if that
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: exists if you're not a hardcore fan, or if you're
• 39:43
  Speaker 2: not a football fan at all.
• 39:44
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I have daughters that wanted to tune in to
• 39:47
  Speaker 3: see if Taylor was at the actual game, and I
• 39:51
  Speaker 3: couldn't care less about what was happening on the field.
• 39:53
  Speaker 3: So yeah, I didn't raise that. I didn't raise that, right, Peter.
• 39:58
  Speaker 2: No, that's okay, that's okay. Your oriol your Oriel. Can
• 40:02
  Speaker 2: we talk? Can we talk about my O's let's go.
• 40:05
  Speaker 2: I just I see it going one way here. As
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: you know, my wife's family is all Baltimore. They're Orioles
• 40:11
  Speaker 2: fans through and through, Ravens fans, Colts fans before that,
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: and my father in law, David was just lamenting me.
• 40:17
  Speaker 2: I don't even watch baseball anymore, and he's just lamenting
• 40:19
  Speaker 2: to me, like five starting pitchers all in the DL
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: three aren't coming back. You're Yankee. I'm like, I'm not.
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: They're not my Yankees. He's like, whatever, New York's Yankees.
• 40:26
  Speaker 2: I'm like, all right, go on, So you could either
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: be positive or negative right now. I'm Dunner Henderson and
• 40:31
  Speaker 2: the boys.
• 40:31
  Speaker 3: Oh, I'm old. I'm totally positive. All of my friends
• 40:34
  Speaker 3: are like your father in law, like they're just like, oh,
• 40:37
  Speaker 3: we're not gonna win. After the last twenty five years,
• 40:40
  Speaker 3: we're playing meaningful baseball in September, Like, who can't love this?
• 40:45
  Speaker 3: I we're not set up to win the World Series
• 40:48
  Speaker 3: this year, but we have a great, fun, young team
• 40:51
  Speaker 3: that's so much fun to watch. So I'm still in
• 40:55
  Speaker 3: the honeymoon phase with watching good baseball, so I'm okay
• 40:59
  Speaker 3: with it, even though I don't think they're gonna win.
• 41:01
  Speaker 2: My son is seven turning eight in October, and he
• 41:04
  Speaker 2: thinks the funniest thing is He's says to me, I
• 41:07
  Speaker 2: like two teams, the Orioles and whoever's playing the Yankees.
• 41:09
  Speaker 2: I'm like, that's not cool fun. So we're raising them
• 41:12
  Speaker 2: right in our house for him.
• 41:13
  Speaker 3: All Right, we have a good young team. The worlds
• 41:15
  Speaker 3: are going to be good for a long time.
• 41:17
  Speaker 2: I know, I know, I know. All right, John, good
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: luck with the podcast. Love reading your stuff, and I
• 41:23
  Speaker 2: so appreciate you coming on to help decipher that private
• 41:26
  Speaker 2: equity situation here in the NFL on my show. So
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: appreciate it and have an amazing week and enjoy the
• 41:31
  Speaker 2: start of the nflc.
• 41:31
  Speaker 3: Hey, thanks for having me on.
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: This is great.
• 41:33
  Speaker 3: Really enjoyed it.
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: That's awesome. You're the man, all right, Thanks John. John's great.
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: I think he's, you know, a leader in his field.
• 41:47
  Speaker 2: He's been doing it for many years. Say he's been
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: getting scoops at Fox for thirty years, and I believe it.
• 41:52
  Speaker 2: I find out stuff from him before I read the
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: press releases or we hear it from the old companies
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: I work at. So John has dialed in love talking
• 42:00
  Speaker 2: to him and that private equity thing, all right, So
• 42:02
  Speaker 2: don't be scared. Your team isn't being bought by you know,
• 42:05
  Speaker 2: Robert Barry or whatever you're worried about. When you see
• 42:07
  Speaker 2: that headline, I was nervous. I like it when it's
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: just like family owned or here's a guy who bought
• 42:11
  Speaker 2: the team with his hard earned money and not just
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: major corporation coming in and buying it. But it seems
• 42:16
  Speaker 2: like John's right ten percent as a maximum is not
• 42:20
  Speaker 2: taking over a majority of the ownership. So that's cool.
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: That he deciphered that for us Aerin. We've got a
• 42:26
  Speaker 2: couple of days left, and then next week I'll do
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: all my predictions on the pod. We'll break them all down.
• 42:30
  Speaker 2: I think we're gonna do everything but my Superwole prediction,
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: and then we'll do a Superwol Prediction special episode. But
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: I'll be in Los Angeles for Good Morning Football. Back
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: on the road. We'll get rocking. I so appreciate everybody listening.
• 42:42
  Speaker 2: Good Morning Football is on Monday to Friday. I'll be
• 42:45
  Speaker 2: back on next week and then every day after that,
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: and then I'll be on Fox NFL Kickoff on Sundays,
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: and we'll be doing this pod throughout the season. We'll
• 42:52
  Speaker 2: bring you a good guest just like John Moraan, Aaron
• 42:55
  Speaker 2: wall Kaufman, Peter Schrager for Jason English, for the entire
• 42:57
  Speaker 2: iHeart team and the folks out in the West Coast
• 43:00
  Speaker 2: with NFL Media till next week. Let's Go.
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: The Season with Peter Schrager is a production of the
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: NFL and partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: your podcasts.