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Mac & Bone Show - Mike Chaudron Interview · Mac & Bone Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: But right now, we've got to talk about the state
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: of college football with our next guest who has a
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: book out there called Agent Confidential. It's an insider's guide
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: to the business of college football. And my God, there's
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: so much business going on in college football. He is
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Mike Sheldron, and he joins us here on the Mac
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: and Bone Show to talk about the wild and wacky
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  Speaker 1: state of college football right now. Mike, we appreciate you
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: coming on, man. How you doing?
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: Hey, good morning, guys. It's really a joy to be
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  Speaker 2: on with you guys. So greetings from the mountain over
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  Speaker 2: in Northeast Tennessee.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: There you go, baby.
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  Speaker 3: Love it, man.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: There you go.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: All right.
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  Speaker 3: Our producer, Finney, very impressed with you off the air,
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: said this guy's an all-time gentleman already.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: Oh, my goodness.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: There you go, man. There you go.
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  Speaker 4: The bar must not be very high.
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: I didn't want to say that. It's really not. But
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  Speaker 3: it was a good couple in the last fight.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, man. So, Mike, I mean, this sport has changed
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: so much with NIL and the portal. I still feel like,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: in a weird way, it has helped college football's on-field
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: product because I do feel like it's balanced the talent
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: out to where I do feel like things are more unpredictable.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: I mean, what do you think about the overall effects
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  Speaker 1: of the NIL-Portal combination?
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  Speaker 2: It's just really interesting, guys. And so the points that
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  Speaker 2: I've been making is, number one, it's still the sport
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  Speaker 2: that we love. We've got the rivalries.
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  Speaker 4: We've got the pageantry.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: We've got everything that is so great about college football.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: But behind the curtain, it's changed. I mean, guys, it's
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  Speaker 2: a $ 15 billion a year business.
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  Speaker 3: It definitely has changed. If you had to pinpoint it
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: down to one thing that plagues this sport the most
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: right now, there's a million problems. But what do you think, Mike,
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: the biggest issue right now is with the sport that
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: if it's not fixed, it could ultimately hurt the bottom
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: line for college football?
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  Speaker 2: Guys, everything leads up to the lack of governance. There
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  Speaker 2: is nobody in control of this sport. You've got the courts.
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  Speaker 2: You've got Congress. You've got conferences, super conferences. There is
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  Speaker 2: no governance. Until we have that in place, we're going
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  Speaker 2: to continue to have the utter chaos that is now.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: Do you think there is– I'm almost laughing as I
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  Speaker 1: ask this question, Mike– but do you think Washington, D.C.,
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  Speaker 1: is the way to go lord knows the the powers
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  Speaker 1: that be in the sport have pushed for that um
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  Speaker 1: the protect college sports act we thought might go for
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: a vote and then it didn't and they went on
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: recess like do you ultimately think dc will get it
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  Speaker 1: done or or are you skeptical of that.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: I'm extremely skeptical of that. There's no way that that
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  Speaker 2: bill gets through. And then if it.
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  Speaker 4: Did get through Congress, I mean, through the Senate, there's
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: no way.
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  Speaker 2: It gets through the House with the AFL-CIO and the
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: black congressional caucus against it.
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  Speaker 4: Congress is not the answer, you guys.
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  Speaker 2: It's going to have to be some sort of self-governance,
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: whatever that looks like.
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  Speaker 3: Who or what do you think is the biggest reason
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  Speaker 3: why college athletics landed here? Do you pinpoint that? to
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  Speaker 3: one specific area? Is it one conference? How did they
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  Speaker 3: land in this spot specifically, do you think, Mike?
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  Speaker 2: I think it really came down to the fact that
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  Speaker 2: it just is such a large business. When you've got
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: this much money involved, that's where it started. So you
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: started with, first of all, coaches leaving suddenly with massive buyouts.
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  Speaker 2: Then you've got NIL and the portal just breaking time.
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: I think that's really what you could look back and
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  Speaker 2: point to as to why we're here now.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: So is it, Mike, like you talk about governance, right?
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: And clearly that's the point. I mean, there are no rules,
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: it feels like, at all. Is it each conference doing
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: it themselves? I mean, I've long thought this sport could
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: use a dang commissioner. I know many other people have
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: thought that. But good luck getting everybody to agree on
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  Speaker 1: who it should be. I mean, it's just, like, where
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: does the governance come from?
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  Speaker 2: You know, that's a great question, guys. I've said recently
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  Speaker 2: that college football is the only billion dollar business where
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  Speaker 2: nobody can tell you who the CEO is. We need
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  Speaker 2: a commissioner. And what I ultimately believe will happen is
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  Speaker 2: I think we are headed for some sort of super
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  Speaker 2: conference that then will create their own governance and take
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  Speaker 2: their ball and go home, be it 48 or 60 teams.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, we might get to a point where Pat
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  Speaker 3: McAfee is a commissioner of college football. That could be
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  Speaker 3: where we're headed eventually down the line.
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  Speaker 4: That would be interesting, that's for sure.
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  Speaker 2: You know, everybody points.
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  Speaker 4: Towards Saban, but, you know, he owns.
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  Speaker 2: Car dealerships now and he's on ESPN. He's not going
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  Speaker 2: to do it. But, you know, I think that Tony
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  Speaker 2: Petitti or Greg Sankey are certainly the people that would
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: rise to the top there, particularly Petitti.
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: One interesting thing that you do on the Agent Confidential podcast,
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  Speaker 3: wherever podcasts are found, you do something called the Buyout
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  Speaker 3: Island Index, a weekly ranking of the college football coaches
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  Speaker 3: facing the most pressure, tracking who's moving up, who's moving down.
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  Speaker 3: And I think in the ACC, we have a couple people.
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  Speaker 3: Mike Norvell's been living on Buyout Island for a while now.
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  Speaker 3: But Dabo Sweeney, what's the buyout situation for him if
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  Speaker 3: Clemson decided that it was time?
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: We do have a new index releasing today. So, yes,
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  Speaker 4: Dabo will be making an appearance on that. And, you know,
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  Speaker 4: looking at Dabo's contract is pretty interesting. His buyout after
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: the season is $ 60 million. But if they fire him
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  Speaker 4: during the season, it's $ 57 million.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: That cracks me up.
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  Speaker 4: It's unreal.
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  Speaker 2: But, you know, I think Dabo has earned the right
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  Speaker 2: to leave on his own terms because of his legacy. But, guys,
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: the game is passing by.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's one of those where it's like, I don't
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  Speaker 1: know if they are going to pay that money, and
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  Speaker 1: I don't know if they want to just run him
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  Speaker 1: the heck out, but I don't think they'd be mad
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  Speaker 1: if he kind of came to the conclusion himself that
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  Speaker 1: this is not for me. The Norvell thing. So what
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  Speaker 1: happens with Norvell? I mean, can Florida State, I think
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  Speaker 1: it's over a $ 50 million buyout. Is that right? And
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  Speaker 1: how are they going to afford that if they can't
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  Speaker 1: even afford to keep the lights on at the stadium? Yeah.
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: Travis and I were texting last night doing DMs on X,
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  Speaker 4: and I was kind of saying the same thing.
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  Speaker 2: Look, Florida State's athletic budget is $ 480 million in the red, guys. So,
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: I mean, another $ 50 million just takes it to over
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  Speaker 2: half a billion. But I think the Natives are restless
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: enough at Florida State that Norvell's waiting for the boat
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  Speaker 2: to pull up to the ferry to buy out Ireland.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: He's probably the first one gone this year.
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  Speaker 3: Is there anybody else on that list to monitor that
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  Speaker 3: you're seeing right now with their buyout situations?
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: You know, I think, you know, Bill Belichick made a
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  Speaker 2: very high appearance on the buyout island index a couple
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: of weeks ago and riding it a little bit. But
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  Speaker 2: that's still just a train wreck. I mean, I was
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: listening to everything you guys are talking about it today.
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  Speaker 2: So I think he's very high up there. And then
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: Shane Beamer.
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  Speaker 4: In South Carolina, he's going to need to perform this year.
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: Uh-oh, I hit close to home there, Mike.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: Bo, you were not wanting your guy. After a 57-0 win, Bo,
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  Speaker 1: you didn't want your guy to be named. I was
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: nodding about Dabo and Belichick and Norval. My own guy
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  Speaker 1: got brought up in there.
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  Speaker 4: Hey, look, there's nothing better than a game in Columbia.
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  Speaker 2: I watched them beat my Crimson Tide in 2010 like
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  Speaker 2: a drum. So it's a great environment. But, you know,
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  Speaker 2: this should be the year in Columbia. I don't pick games,
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  Speaker 2: but boy, he's going to have to deliver.
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  Speaker 1: All right, man.
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  Speaker 3: I don't disagree.
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  Speaker 2: Hey, it is.
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  Speaker 1: It's a very interesting conversation. Your book covers it. You've
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: got a podcast that covers it as well, Aging Confidential.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: Let everybody know where to find. You've got Buyout Island,
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: which I'm very intrigued by now. I need to check
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  Speaker 1: this out weekly. We don't want to be there, though.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: We don't want to be on Buyout Island. Although, if
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  Speaker 1: they paid us to not work, why do I think
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  Speaker 1: we wouldn't get $ 50 million?
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  Speaker 2: It's a great place to be when the numbers are
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  Speaker 2: big enough, guys.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: That's true. Our numbers wouldn't be very big.
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: No, no.
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  Speaker 1: My wife would say, get off the island and go
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: find a new job.
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  Speaker 3: My buyout's $ 23.
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  Speaker 1: All right, so tell everybody where to get all your content,
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: where to find everything.
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  Speaker 2: Confidential the book is on amazon you can get it
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  Speaker 2: in kindle paperback or um on audible which i did
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: myself so you find it there and then on all
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: the social media channels faux jimmy sexton is the handle
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: and you can get my podcast i i'm on x
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  Speaker 2: a lot facebook ig the whole thing we're just having
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  Speaker 2: a blast with all of this you guys.
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  Speaker 1: All right man uh best of luck to it we
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: appreciate you hanging out with us man thanks so much
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: loved
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  Speaker 2: It guys thank you so much for having me