Latest / NFL explained. / Eagles Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Lurie
Transcript
- 0:07Speaker 1: The Season with Peter Schreger's a production of the NFL
- 0:10Speaker 1: in partnership with iHeartRadio. Welcome everybody to the season with
- 0:25Speaker 1: Peter Schreger. I am Peter Schreger. I'm the host of
- 0:27Speaker 1: Good Morning Football Monday to Friday on NFL Network. I
- 0:31Speaker 1: also work on the Fox Studio show Fox NFL Kickoff
- 0:35Speaker 1: on Sundays. And I am beyond excited about our guest today.
- 0:39Speaker 1: You know, there's all these different athletes and players who
- 0:42Speaker 1: are at the Super Bowl and they're working radio row,
- 0:45Speaker 1: and oftentimes they're they're just to you know, enjoy the
- 0:49Speaker 1: week in Arizona. Sometimes they're promoting products, other times they're
- 0:52Speaker 1: promoting their foundation, their causes. I wanted to do something
- 0:55Speaker 1: different this week. I wanted to have a guest that
- 0:58Speaker 1: perhaps no other podcast would have on and it really
- 1:02Speaker 1: was relying on a my relationships around the league. But
- 1:06Speaker 1: all so whether or not the guests would be willing
- 1:09Speaker 1: to do it. Jeffrey Lourie is the CEO and chairman
- 1:14Speaker 1: of the Board of the Philadelphia Eagles. He has been
- 1:17Speaker 1: since he purchased team in nineteen ninety four. Since then,
- 1:22Speaker 1: the Philadelphia Eagles have been to multiple Super Bowls. They
- 1:25Speaker 1: have won one Super Bowl ring and they are back.
- 1:28Speaker 1: You see, Jeffrey Lourie lives in Breeds Eagles football. I
- 1:32Speaker 1: assumed he did, but I didn't know until we spoke.
- 1:34Speaker 1: We recorded this earlier in the week, and I'll tell
- 1:38Speaker 1: you I was blown away with his in depth knowledge
- 1:42Speaker 1: of not only how the roster was built and how
- 1:44Speaker 1: the hirings have gone as these coaches, but also what
- 1:48Speaker 1: makes this team tick, what motivates this group, and what
- 1:51Speaker 1: this team means to the city of Philadelphia. With no
- 1:56Speaker 1: further ado, the man in charge of the Philadelphia Eagles
- 2:00Speaker 1: and the guy that is looking to bring a second
- 2:03Speaker 1: Super Bowl championship to the city of brotherly love to
- 2:06Speaker 1: Jeffrey Lourie, I'm ecstatic to introduce our guests for today's podcast.
- 2:19Speaker 1: In his twenty ninth year as chairman and chief executive
- 2:22Speaker 1: of the Philadelphia Eagles, he is a few days away
- 2:26Speaker 1: from yet another Super Bowl appearance, and he is being
- 2:29Speaker 1: so cool this time to join us now, Jeffrey Loriie,
- 2:32Speaker 1: Welcome to the season with Peter Schreger. Peter, great to
- 2:35Speaker 1: be with you. As always, It is awesome to have
- 2:39Speaker 1: you on here. You just got to Arizona. As we
- 2:42Speaker 1: record this today, what are your initial feelings as you
- 2:46Speaker 1: embark upon another Super Bowl week and another chance to
- 2:50Speaker 1: hoist that Lombardi. You know, it's kind of like, you're
- 2:53Speaker 1: so excited you have a chance to win another world championship,
- 2:56Speaker 1: and you have a chance to lose as well. So
- 2:59Speaker 1: it's it's extraordinary difference. And but you know, I'm struck
- 3:03Speaker 1: by it's like just another game week. There's so much
- 3:07Speaker 1: going on around it. But really I'm like headed to practice,
- 3:11Speaker 1: walk through, team meetings, team barbecue, all that kind of
- 3:16Speaker 1: stuff amidst you know, national and global hoopla. Yeah, you know,
- 3:21Speaker 1: it's a cool thing with this Eagles team because there
- 3:23Speaker 1: is that core. There's seven players who are on the
- 3:25Speaker 1: last Super BOWLD championship team and you got that core
- 3:28Speaker 1: four of you know, Kelsey and Graham and Fletcher Cox
- 3:32Speaker 1: and there's that group. But there's also getting coach and
- 3:36Speaker 1: Lane Johnson, and you got a new coach, got a
- 3:38Speaker 1: new quarterback. I think it's a testament to the business
- 3:41Speaker 1: as a whole that you guys didn't rebuild necessarily. But
- 3:44Speaker 1: this is a different team than the one that was
- 3:46Speaker 1: wearing the underdog masks in Minnesota a few years back. Yeah,
- 3:50Speaker 1: you know, it's it's been different. I'm proud of the
- 3:53Speaker 1: fact that five of the last six seasons we've been
- 3:55Speaker 1: in the playoffs while we try to get better. And
- 3:58Speaker 1: you're right, different coach, different quarterback, but same mentality, same culture,
- 4:04Speaker 1: same approach to building a roster, a lot of similarities,
- 4:09Speaker 1: but it's it's very fulfilling, you know, with a whole
- 4:12Speaker 1: different group and we just want to win it for
- 4:15Speaker 1: our fans, our players, our coaches, everyone in the building.
- 4:19Speaker 1: I mean, you're just so pumped to try to win
- 4:21Speaker 1: a super Bowl, you know, another one. It's so cool.
- 4:23Speaker 1: And you know, Sirianni comes in and he's this higher
- 4:27Speaker 1: last year where it wasn't a household name to everybody,
- 4:29Speaker 1: But you guys must have seen something in the interview
- 4:31Speaker 1: process down in Florida when you brought him in. What
- 4:33Speaker 1: stuck out from Nick Sirianni's interview with you guys a
- 4:36Speaker 1: couple a couple of years ago now, So you know
- 4:38Speaker 1: a few things. First of all, starts with football, IQ.
- 4:42Speaker 1: I mean you have to be really quick, really sharp,
- 4:45Speaker 1: and really innovative to kind of be considered to be
- 4:49Speaker 1: our head coach and aggressive I mean it has to
- 4:51Speaker 1: fit the mentality of the organization the way we feel
- 4:55Speaker 1: it gives us the best chance of winning. But he
- 4:57Speaker 1: connected like no other. I mean not just with us,
- 5:01Speaker 1: but we could see the way he connects with anyone
- 5:05Speaker 1: around him and include specially players and other coaches. He's strong,
- 5:09Speaker 1: He's has a great combination, and we can see it
- 5:13Speaker 1: in the interview process but also researching it where he's
- 5:17Speaker 1: just very comfortable with himself, Peter, and yet allows himself
- 5:21Speaker 1: to be really strong and very passionate and just smart
- 5:27Speaker 1: and you know, and surrounds himself with excellent coaches and
- 5:32Speaker 1: you know, wants to be the best. And it's been
- 5:35Speaker 1: an incredible season. He's the coach. One thing that you
- 5:38Speaker 1: can never say about the Eagles that they don't have
- 5:40Speaker 1: the resources and the aggressive nature in free agency and
- 5:43Speaker 1: in roster building. You guys added so many key players
- 5:46Speaker 1: this past offseason, whether it be A Hassan Reddick or
- 5:48Speaker 1: an A. J. Brown. And Howie Roseman does get his
- 5:51Speaker 1: flowers and is respected around the league, but that comes
- 5:54Speaker 1: from the top also to say, hey, Howie, go do
- 5:56Speaker 1: what you have to do. Let's make this the best
- 5:58Speaker 1: team we possibly can't what's that relationship with as how
- 6:01Speaker 1: he's been there now twenty years. Well that you know,
- 6:03Speaker 1: Howie is superb first of all and smart, creative, always
- 6:09Speaker 1: trying to figure out how to help make the team better.
- 6:12Speaker 1: That's our philosophy. I mean, I think the reason we've
- 6:15Speaker 1: worked so well together and now over twenty years, not
- 6:18Speaker 1: all with him as the GM, but he's been a
- 6:20Speaker 1: key part of what we've been doing is we share
- 6:23Speaker 1: that aggressiveness, that think outside the box mentality, whether it's
- 6:28Speaker 1: helping choose a new head coach or the kind of
- 6:31Speaker 1: players we want, or be aggressive when there's an opportunistic
- 6:35Speaker 1: moment in the marketplace to pounce and try to pick
- 6:39Speaker 1: up the James Bradberry or make the Garner Johnson trade
- 6:42Speaker 1: or aj Brown situation, you know, things like that. And
- 6:46Speaker 1: to me, how he is just ideal for everything we
- 6:50Speaker 1: believe in. He's able to execute it, he's smart, and
- 6:54Speaker 1: he fits the culture of what we've always been which
- 6:58Speaker 1: is don't try to be like you know, everybody else
- 7:00Speaker 1: and try to forge your own way. You're going to
- 7:03Speaker 1: make mistakes along the way, but go for it, and
- 7:07Speaker 1: you know, at the same time, always build for the future.
- 7:10Speaker 1: And that's that's you know, it's not full proof, but
- 7:13Speaker 1: that's the plan. No, And it's scary. People look at
- 7:16Speaker 1: the Eagles future picks and it's like, well, they're still
- 7:18Speaker 1: loaded with the draft, like they still did they didn't
- 7:20Speaker 1: mortgage everything to get what they needed. And I think
- 7:23Speaker 1: that's a lot about forward thinking business planning. You know,
- 7:26Speaker 1: it is interesting. We certainly are loaded with the picks. Also,
- 7:30Speaker 1: the top three picks this year, when you look back
- 7:32Speaker 1: on it, are really more for the future. Except Jordan
- 7:35Speaker 1: Davis has got to play some and he's going to
- 7:37Speaker 1: be a very very good defensive tackle for US. But
- 7:40Speaker 1: Cam Jorgens is sitting there because someday we're going to
- 7:42Speaker 1: lose our Hall of Fame center. Jason Kelsey might be
- 7:45Speaker 1: soon and Nkobe Kob opportunistic and uh you know, terrific
- 7:51Speaker 1: young player and sitting there too. So it's it's kind
- 7:54Speaker 1: of a combination of always trying to maximize what you got,
- 7:58Speaker 1: very opportunistic, I hope, and think outside the box, but
- 8:02Speaker 1: also an eye towards next year the year after. And
- 8:06Speaker 1: certainly that was with Jaalen too. I mean, yeah, you know,
- 8:09Speaker 1: the whole Jaalen thing was this is a quarterback that
- 8:12Speaker 1: is triple threat, big upside and phenomenal character and you
- 8:17Speaker 1: got to be patient, and you know, sometimes it pays off,
- 8:21Speaker 1: sometimes it doesn't. But it was kind of a no
- 8:23Speaker 1: brainer for myself, Howie, and to take the upside opportunity there,
- 8:30Speaker 1: you know, And yeah, it was I know it was
- 8:32Speaker 1: how heavily criticized, But I think one of the keys
- 8:35Speaker 1: to our success is we just do what we think
- 8:38Speaker 1: is right and sometimes we're going to be wrong and
- 8:41Speaker 1: you move on. And you know, Jaalen very special individual
- 8:45Speaker 1: and special quarterback. Yeah, I got to know him personally
- 8:49Speaker 1: just through my job as a reporter when he came
- 8:51Speaker 1: through the draft process and he waited his turn behind Carson.
- 8:55Speaker 1: What did you see in Jalen those early months of
- 8:57Speaker 1: him being in the building that you can kind of
- 8:58Speaker 1: spot weight. This guy's got leadership qualities up and down.
- 9:01Speaker 1: You can see it right away, and you know, nothing
- 9:04Speaker 1: phased him. Yes, he was sitting on the Carson was starting,
- 9:08Speaker 1: but he thought of himself as potentially a star quarterback
- 9:12Speaker 1: in this league. Somebody who even at age twenty two,
- 9:15Speaker 1: felt like he could lead others because he always had Alabama,
- 9:18Speaker 1: Oklahoma and now an NFL team is just a natural,
- 9:22Speaker 1: natural leader and you know, extremely talented. We saw it
- 9:27Speaker 1: in practice at times, but had to all like part
- 9:30Speaker 1: of the process, you know, learn to get better and
- 9:34Speaker 1: attack his weaknesses. And nobody works harder than Jayal And
- 9:38Speaker 1: I will say that you grew up loving sports, Boston sports.
- 9:42Speaker 1: You listen to the Red Sox on your transistor radio
- 9:45Speaker 1: before you went to sleep. Such a passion for sports.
- 9:49Speaker 1: The Eagles situation arises, you get in it. That was
- 9:52Speaker 1: nineteen ninety four. When you look back now on this
- 9:54Speaker 1: time as the chairman of the Eagles, that going back
- 9:58Speaker 1: to those days, did you ever think it would be
- 10:00Speaker 1: as rewarding as it is right now? No, you know,
- 10:02Speaker 1: you're right. I'm you know, incredibly obsessed with sports, all
- 10:05Speaker 1: for major American sports, football number one. But I never
- 10:10Speaker 1: think I don't think I ever realized the camaraderie. That's
- 10:14Speaker 1: that's the thing. I mean players would say it, but
- 10:16Speaker 1: as an owner, the camaraderie you have as building a
- 10:19Speaker 1: football family, you know, for everyone in the building, it's
- 10:24Speaker 1: that that high of bringing everyone together is probably the
- 10:28Speaker 1: greatest thing of all. And yes, you know you're obsessed
- 10:31Speaker 1: with winning. Your ossessed the winning big and yet that
- 10:35Speaker 1: camaraderie you have with the players, the coaches, everyone in
- 10:39Speaker 1: the building, it takes a village. I mean, it's real
- 10:42Speaker 1: and that I cherished the most. Yeah, And as Nick
- 10:47Speaker 1: Sirianni is your current coach, obviously you can't write these scripts.
- 10:51Speaker 1: Coach of the Chiefs is the guy that we all
- 10:52Speaker 1: love in Big Red. When you hired Andy back then
- 10:56Speaker 1: in the late nineties, do you remember those interview processes
- 10:59Speaker 1: and where the Andy Reid hire came to be? Yeah,
- 11:01Speaker 1: I do, And I really remember how unpopular a decision
- 11:05Speaker 1: it was because nobody heard of Andy Reid. Nobody interviewed
- 11:08Speaker 1: Andy Reid except for us. But I had gotten to
- 11:11Speaker 1: know Andy at the Combine, interestingly in the early days
- 11:15Speaker 1: through Mike Holmgren and Railroads and those guys, and uh,
- 11:19Speaker 1: you know, always kind of like hmm heard this guy
- 11:22Speaker 1: was a great leader and kept we wanted an offensive
- 11:26Speaker 1: coach at the time, develop a young quarterback because we
- 11:29Speaker 1: were about to draft one. And you know, just just
- 11:33Speaker 1: you know, first ballot Hall of Fame coach, even better
- 11:36Speaker 1: person and a lot of the things we do today
- 11:40Speaker 1: are instilled by the culture that Andy Reid helped form.
- 11:46Speaker 1: And uh, you know, I love the guy. There's so
- 11:49Speaker 1: many former Eagles people in that Chiefs building and they
- 11:54Speaker 1: all but they all love their time. And like Brett
- 11:56Speaker 1: Beach was raving about it, and Steve Spagnola was raving
- 11:59Speaker 1: about it, and you've got even Eric bi Enemy was
- 12:01Speaker 1: a former player in the nineties with the Eagles. It's
- 12:03Speaker 1: it's an incredible connection between these two teams. Do you
- 12:06Speaker 1: feel as watching these guys in the red and white? Now?
- 12:09Speaker 1: I do. And their president as was a senior executive
- 12:11Speaker 1: with us, and these are all great people. And Spags,
- 12:15Speaker 1: you know, we've stayed in touch. We're both Boston guys.
- 12:17Speaker 1: We've stayed in touch. We've gone to Fenway together, you know,
- 12:20Speaker 1: things like that, and uh yeah, there's that. But you know,
- 12:24Speaker 1: I think they want to absolutely annihilate us in the
- 12:27Speaker 1: Super Bowl and we want to win too, in a big,
- 12:31Speaker 1: big way. And but it's a great, great kind of
- 12:35Speaker 1: It just shows a little bit about the NFL and football.
- 12:37Speaker 1: You can be very close and respectful and feel it throughout,
- 12:44Speaker 1: yet you want to beat that other team. You want
- 12:46Speaker 1: to win, so you want to win. This is about
- 12:48Speaker 1: winning another Super Bowl championship and for them too, so
- 12:51Speaker 1: uh yeah, and Andy's formidable, I mean, offensive mastermind, as
- 12:56Speaker 1: I said, first ballot Hall of Famer. And yet you know,
- 13:00Speaker 1: we've got a great young coach and great young coaching
- 13:02Speaker 1: staff and you know, real good roster, and so do they.
- 13:08Speaker 1: So it's it's a great sunday I think for the
- 13:11Speaker 1: NFL to have these two teams. Yeah, they get along,
- 13:14Speaker 1: but they're not going to get along on the field. No,
- 13:16Speaker 1: there's no, there's not gonna be any nostalgia for Matt
- 13:18Speaker 1: Naggie's Eagles days when he's drawing up place here zero zero. Um,
- 13:25Speaker 1: your Sunday, any other Super Bowl, you might go to
- 13:28Speaker 1: the Commissioner's party, NFL honors, and then when you are
- 13:33Speaker 1: the participating team, what is that day like? Well, huh,
- 13:38Speaker 1: hopefully you didn't have to take some pill to fall
- 13:40Speaker 1: asleep the night before, you know, that's that's uh, I
- 13:45Speaker 1: guess you know. It's it's this weird combination of tremendous
- 13:50Speaker 1: excitement and you're filled with anxiety, and so you know, oh,
- 13:55Speaker 1: we've got a little visitor here. Who we got, who
- 13:58Speaker 1: we got? Syndey come over? Yeah it's okay, Um, yeah,
- 14:04Speaker 1: this is this is this is the work from home.
- 14:06Speaker 1: Let's go special. Bring her right over then, the official
- 14:09Speaker 1: dog of the Eagles. When you know what she thinks
- 14:11Speaker 1: she's a dog, she's actually yeah, she's a teddy bear.
- 14:16Speaker 1: Oh my, she is a teddy bearne Sydney like Sydney, Australia. Oh, Sydney,
- 14:24Speaker 1: I love it. Like. Okay, she's Sydney. You're gorgeous. She's
- 14:28Speaker 1: she thinks she's a dog, but she's she's like a
- 14:31Speaker 1: pet teddy bear. That's one of the most beautiful dogs
- 14:34Speaker 1: I've ever seen. Sydney. She's awesome. Do you run the
- 14:37Speaker 1: forty in Sydney? Six for six? Not bad? She's she's
- 14:42Speaker 1: a possession receiver. That's it. Great chasing right over the right.
- 14:51Speaker 1: We can do this interview with Peter. That's Peter. Yeah,
- 14:53Speaker 1: just hang in okay, Sydney, Okay, sorry, it's a Super
- 14:57Speaker 1: Bowl Sunday. You got all get there, ball kicks off
- 15:01Speaker 1: where you at? What's the situation. I know yet Bradley
- 15:03Speaker 1: Cooper in the in the sweet last time, but I
- 15:05Speaker 1: don't know. Super Bowl might be difference. No, no, he
- 15:07Speaker 1: probably he might be there someday. Okay, okay, a long yeah,
- 15:11Speaker 1: I mean, you don't have too many people. I'm someone
- 15:13Speaker 1: as those that know that sit with the even regular season,
- 15:17Speaker 1: other than halftime and pregame, I don't talk. I'm like,
- 15:20Speaker 1: I am so I don't want to dine, and every play,
- 15:26Speaker 1: you know, and it's like every play is crucial, and
- 15:30Speaker 1: the regular season too. I mean it's not like but
- 15:33Speaker 1: the super Bowl it's heightened. And um, all I can
- 15:36Speaker 1: say is you're just so wound up and excited but nervous,
- 15:40Speaker 1: and you want to you want to win so bad
- 15:44Speaker 1: that you just you know, you become like this automaton
- 15:47Speaker 1: because you're so focused. You can't really talk to anybody.
- 15:51Speaker 1: So it's it's enjoyable that you're there, but you don't
- 15:54Speaker 1: feel the enjoyment, uh, every any moment while you're there.
- 15:58Speaker 1: It's a funny thing. When did it crystallize for you
- 16:01Speaker 1: the last time around? Was it the sack and the strip?
- 16:03Speaker 1: Was it the parade? Were so and Beachie sacked Brady?
- 16:07Speaker 1: We got the ball? I thought, well, we've got a
- 16:10Speaker 1: chance to win this, you know, finally special not Philly special.
- 16:15Speaker 1: I love that, but no, and we practiced that in
- 16:17Speaker 1: the lobby, so we like had to keep that one special. Um,
- 16:21Speaker 1: So you know, I think it was obviously the ball
- 16:24Speaker 1: dropped in the end zone. You couldn't we couldn't sack
- 16:26Speaker 1: Brady on the hill. Mary really wanted to sack him
- 16:29Speaker 1: there he got away, Gronk had a free release. I
- 16:33Speaker 1: was like, oh my god, this is not happening. Is
- 16:35Speaker 1: it where they're gonna, you know, score and then get
- 16:37Speaker 1: a two pointer and the ball dropped and it was like,
- 16:42Speaker 1: oh my god, we just won the Super Bowl. And
- 16:44Speaker 1: so that's that's the moment. When the ball dropped. I
- 16:47Speaker 1: had to look at the time clock to make sure
- 16:50Speaker 1: zero seconds left, uh you know, and realized it and
- 16:54Speaker 1: oh my god, I think it was with my son
- 16:56Speaker 1: hugged him and whoever else was there, my mom was there,
- 17:00Speaker 1: and uh you know, and then the parade just culminated.
- 17:04Speaker 1: These fans, as you know, phil fans, Philly fans are
- 17:09Speaker 1: the most passionate and wonderful. Eagles fans are just, you know, unbelievable.
- 17:14Speaker 1: We sometimes feel like even away games, they're almost like home.
- 17:18Speaker 1: Oh yes, so it's it's a wow And yeah, I
- 17:23Speaker 1: mean so it really probably was. The ball dropped, looked
- 17:26Speaker 1: at the clock zero seconds left, and then oh my god,
- 17:29Speaker 1: we won the Super Bowl, and the parade of course,
- 17:32Speaker 1: was just the culmination. We're in the ice cold in
- 17:34Speaker 1: Minnesota when that's all happens, and I'm I'm saying there
- 17:38Speaker 1: as person member of the media, and because it was
- 17:40Speaker 1: so cold, we couldn't go out on the street and
- 17:42Speaker 1: get a car, get a cab, get a taxi. You
- 17:44Speaker 1: get to walk those corridors in Minnesota and the echoes
- 17:48Speaker 1: of the Eagles chants. Yeah. Still I still have goosebumps
- 17:52Speaker 1: of it because it's in nineteen sixty and you had
- 17:54Speaker 1: great grandfather, grandfather, father son, four generations of Eagles fans
- 17:59Speaker 1: just channing fly Eagles fly for a two mile walk together.
- 18:02Speaker 1: I could cry. It is one of the most beautiful
- 18:04Speaker 1: moments I've had in my career. I can only imagine
- 18:06Speaker 1: in the reward it felt for you seeing those Eagles
- 18:08Speaker 1: fans finally. Yeah, to be able to fulfill everyone's dreams
- 18:11Speaker 1: like that, including our own, it was unbelievable. Today, it's funny,
- 18:15Speaker 1: it's been four plus years, almost five, and I still
- 18:18Speaker 1: get people who come up to me crying, you know,
- 18:22Speaker 1: grown men, grown women, um crying, And I know why
- 18:26Speaker 1: they're crying because it's happened so many times. But then
- 18:29Speaker 1: see it come up. I know what you're about to say,
- 18:34Speaker 1: you know, and it's it's very rewarding. Uh, and hopefully
- 18:37Speaker 1: we can get another one. Yeah. Look, I'm not gonna
- 18:40Speaker 1: take up any more of your time, but I think
- 18:42Speaker 1: there's more to the Eagles than just the football. I
- 18:44Speaker 1: think what you guys do with autism and autism research
- 18:47Speaker 1: is incredible. If you can take just a moment, I
- 18:49Speaker 1: know it's a cause that's close to you, and also
- 18:51Speaker 1: the organization as a whole, the work that you guys
- 18:53Speaker 1: do in that field. So, Peter, you know, we've established
- 18:56Speaker 1: Eagles Autism Foundation about five years ago and we've we've
- 19:00Speaker 1: tried to make the Eagles as synonymous with autism as
- 19:04Speaker 1: we can. It's the fastest growing developmental disorder, one in
- 19:08Speaker 1: forty something births in the United States across the globe,
- 19:11Speaker 1: and you know, my brother is autistic. And we've established
- 19:15Speaker 1: this foundation that's based on real dynamic research to try
- 19:20Speaker 1: to make a huge difference, and it's been wildly successful.
- 19:23Speaker 1: In our end zone and all of our home games,
- 19:26Speaker 1: whenever there's a field goal, a touchdown, anything going on,
- 19:29Speaker 1: it's Eagles Autism Foundation, and it's created it's sort of
- 19:33Speaker 1: an amazing global fundraising. At the same time, scientists are
- 19:37Speaker 1: attracted to everything we're trying to do and very proud
- 19:41Speaker 1: of it. It's it's going to continue to grow, but
- 19:44Speaker 1: it's it's a chance to leverage a sports team with
- 19:47Speaker 1: a condition. It's not just a foundation. It's autism and
- 19:52Speaker 1: it's it's been you know, it's both rewarding, but the
- 19:55Speaker 1: potential of it is spectacular and we just we just
- 20:00Speaker 1: want to make a difference. And so yeah, Eagles and autism,
- 20:03Speaker 1: you'll see it. It's it's synonymous. Twenty million dollar in
- 20:06Speaker 1: research in five years is an incredible number to any cause,
- 20:10Speaker 1: but this one's so unique to the Eagles. And yeah,
- 20:13Speaker 1: you know, I tell this story. I remember meeting Jordan
- 20:15Speaker 1: by A Latta as part of the international player pathway
- 20:18Speaker 1: before the draft. He came on our show Good Morning Football.
- 20:21Speaker 1: I said, this is some young man. Let's fast forward
- 20:23Speaker 1: all this time. He's a star, He's a fixture. But
- 20:27Speaker 1: the amount of fans that we get who watch our
- 20:29Speaker 1: show because of the Eagles and my Alatta from Australia
- 20:33Speaker 1: and New Zealand is something I never imagined. That is
- 20:37Speaker 1: a real thing. The international fan base around this Eagles.
- 20:39Speaker 1: Do you feel it, do you guys sent it? I
- 20:41Speaker 1: do feel it. And Jordan is I mean quite a guy,
- 20:44Speaker 1: great young player, a great singer and he's mass singer, yeah,
- 20:50Speaker 1: mass singer and Christmas album with the offensive lineman. I
- 20:54Speaker 1: mean amazing, great guy, young and his fan base is
- 21:00Speaker 1: all of Australia. I think, um, not because of him,
- 21:04Speaker 1: but our dog. You just met our Teddy bearrys So
- 21:06Speaker 1: his name, his name Sydney same spelling, actually named him
- 21:10Speaker 1: because the night I thought of the name was the
- 21:12Speaker 1: night Sydney partier died and he was one of my
- 21:14Speaker 1: favorite actors of all time. Wow and so and then
- 21:17Speaker 1: I love the city Sydney if you ever been up
- 21:19Speaker 1: the great optimistic, upbeat Sydney city. And Jordan played for
- 21:24Speaker 1: a Sydney team and that's how we kind of initials.
- 21:29Speaker 1: You got it. So, yeah, he's he's awesome and you
- 21:34Speaker 1: know the country doesn't quite know him yet in the US,
- 21:36Speaker 1: but they will. He's very special. Yeah. And closing, your
- 21:42Speaker 1: message to Eagles fans who are either gearing up to
- 21:44Speaker 1: come to Arizona or they're ordering their wings and pizza
- 21:46Speaker 1: and right to have another all time day, what's your
- 21:48Speaker 1: message to them? As we head towards Super Bowl Sunday.
- 21:51Speaker 1: We're in it to win it. We're gonna go for
- 21:53Speaker 1: it all. We got a real good team. So to
- 21:55Speaker 1: the Chiefs, we highly respect them. We hope we can
- 21:59Speaker 1: bring another Super Bowl home to our amazing fans. Jeffrey Lourie,
- 22:03Speaker 1: I appreciate you taking the time and what must be
- 22:05Speaker 1: a very busy week, you're joining our podcast. It means
- 22:07Speaker 1: a lot and UH as always, good luck and thank
- 22:10Speaker 1: you for all you do for the league and all
- 22:12Speaker 1: all you do for all the different causes that are
- 22:13Speaker 1: so close to you. Yeah, Peter, thank you very much.
- 22:15Speaker 1: Great to be on good Luck. Tell you what, it
- 22:24Speaker 1: was a pleasure speaking with Jeffrey Lorie. U great, great
- 22:28Speaker 1: magnetism to him and truly a great man to be
- 22:34Speaker 1: at the forefront of a lot of causes, but also
- 22:36Speaker 1: the Philadelphia Eagles. But the highlights to me was getting
- 22:38Speaker 1: a chance to see Sydney the Dog. Aaron Kaufman, you're
- 22:41Speaker 1: my producer, Aaron. When Sydney the Dog jumps up on
- 22:45Speaker 1: Jeffrey Lorie's lap and engages with us, were you in
- 22:48Speaker 1: agreement with me? That might be the most beautiful dog
- 22:50Speaker 1: you've ever seen in your life. Hey, yeah, that was
- 22:51Speaker 1: a pretty dog. That was good dog. Are you a
- 22:54Speaker 1: dog guy? You are loved dogs, grew up with dogs? Allergic?
- 22:57Speaker 1: What kind of dog was Sydney? I don't I'm not like,
- 23:00Speaker 1: I don't I know him, but uh, some kind of
- 23:02Speaker 1: midsized poodle mix. I think the hair is very poodlee gorgeous,
- 23:07Speaker 1: gorgeous dog named after Sidney Potier, which I thought was
- 23:12Speaker 1: pretty cool. The Eagles are in good hands, Aaron, would
- 23:17Speaker 1: you agree? Like incredibly impressive and if I'm a player,
- 23:20Speaker 1: I would love to play for that dude. Yeah, yeah,
- 23:22Speaker 1: I mean he was all in on like his rookies
- 23:26Speaker 1: and and you know, like it seemed like he was
- 23:29Speaker 1: so invested in everyone on the team, just like how
- 23:32Speaker 1: he talks about Jalen Hurts and everything was really optimistic
- 23:36Speaker 1: and promising, and like, I loved hearing an owner speak
- 23:39Speaker 1: about their teammates like that. It was great, very rare
- 23:42Speaker 1: we get owners on a podcast. So I do want
- 23:45Speaker 1: to thank the Eagles for help setting that up, and
- 23:49Speaker 1: of course I want to thank Jeffrey Lorie for taking
- 23:52Speaker 1: some time. I also want to thank you Aaron Kaufman.
- 23:54Speaker 1: I want to thank Jason English. I want to thank
- 23:56Speaker 1: Matt Schneider at the NFL. I want to thank Jason
- 23:59Speaker 1: Kleinman at the NFL, Meredith Batton at the NFL, and
- 24:02Speaker 1: Jack Rudd who does our music here. Jeffrey Lorie awesome,
- 24:08Speaker 1: awesome interview, and I am so excited to see he
- 24:12Speaker 1: and Clark Hunt go head to head in a Super Bowl.
- 24:14Speaker 1: Two of the best teams in football and two of
- 24:16Speaker 1: the best run organizations Chiefs versus Eagles. Guys are almost there.
- 24:48Speaker 1: The Season with Peter Schrager is a production of the
- 24:51Speaker 1: NFL and partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
- 24:55Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts.