Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Freddie Coleman on the NFL schedule release, Too many international games (?), Turf vs Grass + more

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Freddie Coleman on the NFL schedule release, Too many international games (?), Turf vs Grass + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

0:04
Speaker 1: You're tuned to the Sean O'Connell Show from the Murdoch
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Speaker 1: Chevrolet Studio of ESPN seven hundred nine one half am.
0:13
Speaker 2: It's all stop. Holy Mama, I'm easy.
0:22
Speaker 1: In fact, was cracky.
0:24
Speaker 2: It's been a long time since I last saw you face.
0:26
Speaker 2: Never forget today out in the States on Crisis File.
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Speaker 1: Welcome an hour number two here on the Sean O'Connell Show.
0:33
Speaker 1: Welcome in Freddy Coleman, one of the best voices in
0:36
Speaker 1: all of sports radio. Man you've heard on ESPN Radio
0:40
Speaker 1: for twenty plus years now, most recently you can catch
0:44
Speaker 1: up with him and Harry Douglas. Freddy Coleman, Welcome to
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Speaker 1: the show. How are you, sir?
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Speaker 2: I'm good, Big John, my friend, how are you.
0:52
Speaker 1: I'm doing all right? Glad to glad to have you
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Speaker 1: on the show today. Uh, there's a lot of different
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Speaker 1: things I want to get into here, if you don't mind.
1:00
Speaker 1: We started the show today talking about as the NFL
1:03
Speaker 1: leaks out its international games ahead of the full schedule release,
1:09
Speaker 1: I'm fascinated by the strategy of expanding internationally for the NFL,
1:14
Speaker 1: of trying to grow the fan base beyond American borders,
1:17
Speaker 1: where of course, the infrastructure, the background. American football is
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Speaker 1: a quintessentially American thing that does not have a lot
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Speaker 1: of I guess local and grassroots growth in other countries.
1:33
Speaker 1: Your thoughts on how just how well this is going
1:36
Speaker 1: or just how much it's going to take for the
1:39
Speaker 1: NFL to grow its international fan base to a degree
1:43
Speaker 1: that makes this many games overseas make sense.
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Speaker 2: Well, the NFL knows what kind of demand is not
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Speaker 2: only here in the United States, Shaan, but also overseas.
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Speaker 2: And we've seen time and tom again, the NFL likes
1:55
Speaker 2: two things, money and power. And when you make more money,
1:59
Speaker 2: you're going to have a lot of power, especially when
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Speaker 2: you're going into hotbeds that are going to be known
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Speaker 2: for soccer or boxing or baseball. The NFL clearly understands
2:08
Speaker 2: what kind of gravy train that they're on, Shane, and
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Speaker 2: that gravy train does not seem to be running out
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Speaker 2: of track anytime soon. So as much as people don't
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Speaker 2: want to see these international games, that believe me, that's
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Speaker 2: not being the ug American. You want to see more
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Speaker 2: of American games here. When that money adopted to be made,
2:23
Speaker 2: that's Yankee capitalism at its finest. Courtesy of the National
2:26
Speaker 2: Football League.
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Speaker 1: You can't argue with that. I mean, it is very
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Speaker 1: much a league that, let's see, the Almighty dollar dictate
2:35
Speaker 1: a lot of what they're doing, and they're the best
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Speaker 1: at it in American sport, at least in gaining those
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Speaker 1: revenues and finding different avenues for those revenues. For the
2:45
Speaker 1: fan bases like my beloved San Francisco forty nine ers
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Speaker 1: that are they're seeing not just one, but multiple games overseas.
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Speaker 1: In your mind, is there any risk that you alienate
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Speaker 1: some of your local fans, some of your domestic fans,
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Speaker 1: and I guess try to make up for that with
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Speaker 1: international fans.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a great question because I'm sure the NFL,
3:09
Speaker 2: the more they probably think about their risk, they look
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Speaker 2: at their bottom line of the almighty dollar, and they're
3:13
Speaker 2: always going to believe that even if you run the
3:16
Speaker 2: risk of alienating fans shown the risk is that those
3:19
Speaker 2: fans are not just going to go away from their
3:21
Speaker 2: football teams, that when their teams play at home, they're
3:24
Speaker 2: going to be there to support them. If one or
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Speaker 2: two people do it, but a hundred other people aren't
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Speaker 2: feeling alienated, then the NFL will take those outs anytime,
3:32
Speaker 2: any given year, any given situation. And believe me, if
3:36
Speaker 2: I had my way, I think you can have international
3:38
Speaker 2: games more in the preseason, but they're not interrupt's getting
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Speaker 2: ready for the regular season. So I don't believe that's
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Speaker 2: a good idea. But they see exactly what kind of
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Speaker 2: foothold they've been able to gain by having international games.
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Speaker 2: And I guarantee you as much money as we've seen
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Speaker 2: the NFL is made from that, it's probably a lot more.
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Speaker 2: They're probably not being honest about their books and how
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Speaker 2: much money they're making from their product and going overseas
4:01
Speaker 2: and being international. So yeah, if you're going to alienate
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Speaker 2: a fan of two, but then you see all that
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Speaker 2: gold going into your pocket, the NFL has shown they're
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Speaker 2: willing to take that risk.
4:11
Speaker 1: One of my least favorite conversations that happens around the
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Speaker 1: NFL every year is talk about the playing surface. Somebody
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Speaker 1: tears an acl or an achilles problem comes up, and
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Speaker 1: players immediately rush to, well, don't have us playing on turf.
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Speaker 1: And as much as I don't like this conversation, I
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Speaker 1: think it's going to be louder this year than it
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Speaker 1: ever has been because the world Cup is coming in
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Speaker 1: and they're giving World Cup soccer players grass in turf
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Speaker 1: NFL stadiums. The NFLPA is like, oh, they can have it,
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Speaker 1: but we can't. How much do you think this is
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Speaker 1: going to aggravate the already aggravating discussion about grass versus.
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Speaker 2: Turf, Well, it should aggravate it, because I know if
4:51
Speaker 2: I'm a player, it's okay that the NFL doesn't care
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Speaker 2: about you. That doesn't mean that you can't raise your
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Speaker 2: voice because you're only going to be as productive for
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Speaker 2: the NFL as long as you're on the football field.
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Speaker 2: And NFL owners are always going to have an adequated
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Speaker 2: notion that will players will adjust and coaches will adjust.
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Speaker 2: What is it going to be best for our fans? Well,
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Speaker 2: I guarantee you playing fans don't want to have these
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Speaker 2: situations or these turf monsters creeping up and then one
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Speaker 2: of your players gets injured and then you're going to
5:18
Speaker 2: need that player to get into the playoffs to be
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Speaker 2: a championship team. As long as they don't believe that
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Speaker 2: there's going to be that kind of cause and effect
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Speaker 2: that's going to harm their product enough where they believe
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Speaker 2: that people are not going to watch football, then they're
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Speaker 2: going to have whatever service they believe is going to
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Speaker 2: be best for them, because not going to be best
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Speaker 2: for the players. There's not one owner, not one general manager,
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Speaker 2: not one team president that's going out there to play football.
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Speaker 2: And you can express your concerns and put them out there,
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Speaker 2: but as long as people are showing up in numbers,
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Speaker 2: record numbers to watch your product goals, showing up in
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Speaker 2: record numbers to see your product in person at football stands,
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Speaker 2: no matter what turf is out there, then they believe
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Speaker 2: that the end justifies the means. They know that players
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Speaker 2: are going to be there, how long they're going to
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Speaker 2: be there. At the NFL as an upper management, they
6:03
Speaker 2: don't care about that. If you're out there in the
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Speaker 2: product that they're each and every Sunday or Monday night
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Speaker 2: or Friday night a Saturday for their fans, that's the
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Speaker 2: only turf they care about, protecting the turf when it
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Speaker 2: comes to their money and when it comes to their power.
6:16
Speaker 1: We haven't had a chance to catch up with you
6:18
Speaker 1: since the NFL Draft happened, and it was a momentous
6:21
Speaker 1: draft here in Salt Lake City. For the first time ever,
6:24
Speaker 1: the University of Utah had two first rounders, both of
6:27
Speaker 1: them happened to play the same position, offensive tackles. One
6:31
Speaker 1: guy top ten, Caleb Blowmo, snuck into the first round
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Speaker 1: as well. But with respect to the draft, was a team.
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Speaker 1: Was there a team or a couple of teams that
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Speaker 1: you thought did the best that utilized their draft capital
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Speaker 1: in a way that's actually going to mean a lot
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Speaker 1: for them this upcoming season.
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Speaker 2: Well, I'll give you a team off the bat. I
6:51
Speaker 2: thought the New York Giants had a terrific draft because
6:54
Speaker 2: anybody that looked at John Harball, you know that they're
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Speaker 2: going to get the best possible people that were going
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Speaker 2: to help. And they got an outstanding linebacker, pass rusher,
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Speaker 2: do it all guy in Argill Reese the fifth pick
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Speaker 2: out of Ohio State. Then they got Francis Mano and
7:06
Speaker 2: an offensive tackled out of Miami at the ten pick.
7:09
Speaker 2: And you love when the guy says about their quarterback,
7:12
Speaker 2: Jackson Dart, I will die for you. I thought we
7:14
Speaker 2: were watching Necessary Roughness part too when he said that
7:17
Speaker 2: Draft night involve in the our sensive tackle for Miami.
7:20
Speaker 2: But I love what the Gihants were able to do.
7:22
Speaker 2: I like the Cowboys are able to get. You get
7:24
Speaker 2: kleob downs in safety. All of a sudden, he's gonna
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Speaker 2: be one of your leaders on defense, can make plays
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Speaker 2: at all three levels of your defense. And then later
7:30
Speaker 2: on the first round you get Malachi Lawrence out of
7:32
Speaker 2: UCF and edge rusher you need in the division, which
7:35
Speaker 2: you got to deal with Dalen Hurts twice a year,
7:38
Speaker 2: Jackson Dard twice a year, and then also Jackson Jay
7:41
Speaker 2: Dangs twice here and the Watchington commanders. You need those
7:43
Speaker 2: guys coming off the corner one hundred miles an hour
7:45
Speaker 2: that can get after the quarterback. I think the best
7:48
Speaker 2: pick that a lot of people did not talk about
7:50
Speaker 2: enough was Kansas City getting Manster Delaney out of LSU
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Speaker 2: a cornerback. They always have been really good, not just
7:55
Speaker 2: finding cornerbacks in the draft, but finding all pro cornerbacks.
7:58
Speaker 2: They don't want to pay them, not what they want
8:00
Speaker 2: to do, but they find those guys on defense, and
8:02
Speaker 2: now stevespac Noble can get back to being a kind
8:04
Speaker 2: of defensive coordinator where you can pressure the quarterback knowing
8:07
Speaker 2: you got to shut down corner on the outside. A
8:09
Speaker 2: lot of times I never have winners and losers in
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Speaker 2: the job. I look at who to able to job
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Speaker 2: based on need, and I thought those three teams, that
8:16
Speaker 2: Giants and the Cowboys in Kansas City did a really
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Speaker 2: good job of that.
8:20
Speaker 1: Freddie Coleman, ESPN Radio or guests for just another couple
8:22
Speaker 1: of minutes here on the Sean O'Connell show. We're very
8:26
Speaker 1: much a college football market here in Salt Lake City
8:29
Speaker 1: with Utah BYU is back on the national scene, and
8:34
Speaker 1: now there's a lot of conversation is college football in
8:36
Speaker 1: that world? The changes accelerate at a breakneck speed. And
8:41
Speaker 1: we've only been in an expanded college football playoff for
8:44
Speaker 1: a short time, but it looks like that's going to
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Speaker 1: grow again. And now the recommendation is going to leap
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Speaker 1: frog over a sixteen team format, and it looks like
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Speaker 1: twenty four is the most likely direction that the eventual
8:57
Speaker 1: college football playoff expansion is a settle on what do
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Speaker 1: you make of a twenty four team playoff? Reddy Coleman, Well.
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Speaker 2: I guess I'm not surprised, Sean. And here's why, because
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Speaker 2: I go back to the pandemic in twenty twenty, when
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Speaker 2: so many university athletic officials were getting fur load and
9:14
Speaker 2: they had to find a way to mix and match
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Speaker 2: that money that was not going to be there from
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Speaker 2: the games that generate that kind of revenue for college football.
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Speaker 2: And I said, Okay, I wonder how long's it's going
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Speaker 2: to take before they expand the playoff and bring that
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Speaker 2: kind of money back to college football. Well I got
9:28
Speaker 2: my answer. Not even ten years later. We're going to
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Speaker 2: have an expanded playoff where they are hell bent on
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Speaker 2: getting that the twenty four teams, I think sixteen is
9:36
Speaker 2: the right number. But they're seeing so much of that
9:39
Speaker 2: out there with the big TV contracts that college football
9:41
Speaker 2: had signed with ESPN and ABC and NBC and CBS
9:46
Speaker 2: and Fox Sports and ESPN Plus and Fox Sports won
9:49
Speaker 2: all those kind of parameters out there to bring their
9:52
Speaker 2: product no matter where you are to root for your
9:54
Speaker 2: favorite football team. And with that kind of extra attention
9:58
Speaker 2: and also increase viewership, it's going to bring what money
10:01
Speaker 2: to the table more money to the table. And I
10:04
Speaker 2: wonder how they be able to try to recapt the
10:05
Speaker 2: lost revenue. They've been able to figure that out that
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Speaker 2: people want college football playoff and they want to see
10:09
Speaker 2: the playoffs on TV, which means that more is going
10:12
Speaker 2: to be better for them. I think twenty four is
10:14
Speaker 2: too much. I think you go to twelve to sixteen
10:16
Speaker 2: and you keep it right there. But if the money
10:19
Speaker 2: and the returns come in, and that's going to be there,
10:22
Speaker 2: what have we seen time and time again, Sean? If
10:24
Speaker 2: some is good, more is going to be better, Bigger
10:26
Speaker 2: and bigger and better. Especially the power conferences, the SEC
10:30
Speaker 2: and the Big Ten, they want more of that pot
10:32
Speaker 2: than anybody else. And right now those two leagues are
10:35
Speaker 2: ruling college football on and up the football field.
10:38
Speaker 1: They absolutely are, and we unfortunately have to watch that
10:41
Speaker 1: through the Big twelve lens because that's where our local
10:44
Speaker 1: teams are, at least for now. And you know, the
10:48
Speaker 1: arms race is not one that Utah and BYU are
10:51
Speaker 1: winning right now. The rush towards greater revenues is not
10:56
Speaker 1: favoring the Big twelve conference right now. And the gap
10:59
Speaker 1: between the halves in the Big Ten and the SEC
11:02
Speaker 1: and the have nots or they have lessons continues to grow.
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Speaker 1: Is there any way to close it besides you know,
11:10
Speaker 1: getting an invite to the Big Ten or the SEC
11:12
Speaker 1: or another tear down and restructure to super conferences or
11:17
Speaker 1: something like that. Is there anything that can save the
11:20
Speaker 1: Big Twelve and the ACC, and not just the top
11:23
Speaker 1: brands in those conferences, but the rank and file.
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Speaker 2: Well, I think the Big Twelve is most savable because
11:29
Speaker 2: they're better league not just in basketball, but also in
11:31
Speaker 2: football and even in baseball. You can make that key
11:34
Speaker 2: to the Big Twelve. As did a fantastic job that
11:36
Speaker 2: looked like this league was going to go by the
11:38
Speaker 2: way of discoing the Dinosaur about four years ago. They've
11:41
Speaker 2: done a really good job revamping, getting the right kind
11:43
Speaker 2: of partners in the right kind of teams athletic department
11:46
Speaker 2: in their league to make them more than solvent. The
11:48
Speaker 2: ACC is a different story because they're not even a
11:51
Speaker 2: terrific basketball conference anymore, and that's been their foundation of
11:54
Speaker 2: any kind of success. I think the Big Twelve more
11:57
Speaker 2: than stable as a conference that they can have a
11:59
Speaker 2: seat at the Big Boys. They're not going to have
12:01
Speaker 2: as many seats in plates compared to the Big Ten
12:03
Speaker 2: and also the SEC, but they're not going to be
12:06
Speaker 2: left behind in the dust because of the kind of
12:08
Speaker 2: quality programs they having their big money sports and they're
12:11
Speaker 2: making big money with those programs, even if it's by
12:13
Speaker 2: you and Utah kind of feeling lost in that shuffle.
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Speaker 2: I think the more and more the Big Twelve ke's
12:18
Speaker 2: having better competition and having those seats and doing well
12:21
Speaker 2: in the collegewall playoff for the NCUA tournament, then they
12:24
Speaker 2: would be hard to ignore. The ACC I worry about
12:26
Speaker 2: a little bit, especially in football because even if they
12:29
Speaker 2: get one of two teams in Marten or not, they
12:31
Speaker 2: lose in the first round of the nca either tournament
12:34
Speaker 2: and basketball, but definitely in football, the Big Toe at
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Speaker 2: least has teams that can make a run of two
12:39
Speaker 2: and bring more revenue to the league when it comes
12:41
Speaker 2: to collegewell playoff. Yeah, they're not going to be anywhere
12:43
Speaker 2: near the Big ten of the SCC, but I think
12:45
Speaker 2: it's all said and done, the Big Toe will be
12:46
Speaker 2: more than just fine, more than people want to admit,
12:49
Speaker 2: or more than one of people and even think about
12:50
Speaker 2: regarding a terrific league, no matter what sport that is
12:53
Speaker 2: in the Big Twelve.
12:55
Speaker 1: I'm going to ask you an unfair question here before
12:56
Speaker 1: we let you go, Freddy. The World Cup begins in
13:00
Speaker 1: North America. American host cities. A US men's national team.
13:05
Speaker 1: That's a question mark on how well they can really
13:09
Speaker 1: do and make a run in this tournament. When we
13:12
Speaker 1: look back a couple of months from now on this
13:15
Speaker 1: World Cup, how are we going to be processing it.
13:20
Speaker 2: Well, that's a really good question because there's always what
13:22
Speaker 2: I like to call that group of death where you
13:25
Speaker 2: look at those teams Cities sell Man, oh Man, I'm
13:27
Speaker 2: glad I'm not in that group. If you look at
13:29
Speaker 2: the United States, they're in the group with Canada, bot Herds,
13:33
Speaker 2: Cavona and also Paraguay. So that's a pretty not easy draw.
13:37
Speaker 2: But each and the other draw that I've been able
13:39
Speaker 2: to see, for example, the Group D draw Australia Turkey
13:41
Speaker 2: Journey cures out, good luck with that. The group have
13:44
Speaker 2: draw in Netherlands, Japan, Ivycos, Ecuador, good luck with that.
13:47
Speaker 2: I think the United States, having that home field advantage,
13:50
Speaker 2: will be making a decent mind. I think they get
13:52
Speaker 2: to the round of thirty two, but then they may
13:54
Speaker 2: run into a team like Belgium who's going to be
13:56
Speaker 2: really good. They may run into team like the Netherlands
13:58
Speaker 2: who's really going to be good. I think the most
14:00
Speaker 2: important thing is that we're going to look back to
14:02
Speaker 2: the World Cup of twenty twenty six, and it should
14:04
Speaker 2: be what's talked about on the pitch and not outside
14:06
Speaker 2: of the pitch, because too many for us are trying
14:08
Speaker 2: to make sure that they have their attention to their
14:10
Speaker 2: agenda at the expense of the World Cup. Hopefully that
14:13
Speaker 2: will not be the case. That fans won't be compromised,
14:15
Speaker 2: fans will be exercised, but more importantly, Sean, hopefully the
14:18
Speaker 2: game won't be exercise because the game is supposed to
14:21
Speaker 2: be the thing and all that others outside of that
14:24
Speaker 2: needs to stay on the outside and not let that
14:26
Speaker 2: effect on the inside.
14:28
Speaker 1: Well, said Freddy. We'll be watching closely. We'll be listening
14:32
Speaker 1: to Freddy Coleman. Tell our guy Harry, we said hello
14:35
Speaker 1: and thanks for joining us today.
14:37
Speaker 2: My pleasure shard. They can be well, my friend will
14:39
Speaker 2: do it again soon.
14:41
Speaker 1: That's Freddy Coleman really truly is one of the best
14:44
Speaker 1: in the business on sports talk radio. He did solo
14:46
Speaker 1: work for a very long time. He and Harry Douglas
14:50
Speaker 1: have a great show on ESPN Radio. We're lucky to
14:52
Speaker 1: grab him.