Latest / Bengals Booth Podcast / Bengals Booth Podcast: Next Year
Transcript
- 0:03Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody.
- 0:04Speaker 2: I'm Dan Hord and thanks for downloading The Bengals Booth Podcast.
- 0:08Speaker 2: The next year is gonna be better than this year's edition,
- 0:13Speaker 2: as I discussed this year's schedule with one of the
- 0:15Speaker 2: people most responsible for putting it together, NFL VP of
- 0:20Speaker 2: Broadcast Planning, Mike North. But first a pair of five
- 0:23Speaker 2: minute conversations with one of this year's third round draft picks,
- 0:26Speaker 2: Jermaine Burton and last year's first round draft pick, Miles Murphy.
- 0:31Speaker 2: The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by pay Core,
- 0:34Speaker 2: proud to be the Bengals official hr software provider, by
- 0:38Speaker 2: Alta Fiber future proof fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business,
- 0:42Speaker 2: and community to a new level, and by Kettering Health
- 0:46Speaker 2: the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health is
- 0:49Speaker 2: the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. Now here's a
- 0:53Speaker 2: quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of
- 0:55Speaker 2: this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer
- 0:59Speaker 2: by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest
- 1:03Speaker 2: thing since a steam mop. We have a hardwood floor
- 1:08Speaker 2: in our kitchen and it's always been a pain in
- 1:10Speaker 2: the neck to keep clean until my recent purchase of
- 1:14Speaker 2: the Pure Steam ten one steam mop. You pour in
- 1:18Speaker 2: the water, it heats up in thirty seconds and you
- 1:21Speaker 2: quickly swivel around the room to leave the floor sparkling clean.
- 1:26Speaker 2: It's almost like a zamboni, and it comes with a
- 1:28Speaker 2: couple of reusable cloth pads, so after you clean the floor,
- 1:32Speaker 2: you remove one of those disgusting looking pads and toss
- 1:36Speaker 2: it in the washing machine. So how happy am I
- 1:40Speaker 2: with the purchase of my steam mop. I'll put it
- 1:43Speaker 2: this way, the old five second rule for kids has
- 1:46Speaker 2: been expanded to at least seven seconds in our kitchen.
- 1:51Speaker 1: Now let's get to football.
- 1:53Speaker 2: Since the draft, I've been having fun with this year's
- 1:56Speaker 2: class by asking them five questions specifically for each player.
- 2:01Speaker 2: Among other things, we've learned that first round draft pick
- 2:04Speaker 2: a Marius Mims hasn't surrendered a sack since he was
- 2:08Speaker 2: a junior in high school, and that second round draft
- 2:11Speaker 2: pick Chris Jenkins considers himself a nerd with a comic
- 2:15Speaker 2: book collection. Now time to learn about the first of
- 2:19Speaker 2: two players selected in Round three. Time for five questions
- 2:25Speaker 2: with rookie wide receiver Jermaine Burton. Question number one, you
- 2:29Speaker 2: played for two of the greatest college football programs in
- 2:33Speaker 2: the country, Georgia and Alabama. Tell me the best thing
- 2:37Speaker 2: about playing for each of those schools.
- 2:40Speaker 3: You know, the competitiveness and the environment, hands down, you know,
- 2:46Speaker 3: plan for those you know, particular programs. You know, it
- 2:49Speaker 3: comes with a lot of you know, competition, you know,
- 2:52Speaker 3: passionate players, and really just overall great.
- 2:56Speaker 4: Experience of the game of football from coaching wives as well.
- 2:59Speaker 3: So you know, that's probably the most main thing, is
- 3:02Speaker 3: the competitiveness that I had to go through, all right.
- 3:04Speaker 2: Question two, is there an NFL wide receiver that you
- 3:08Speaker 2: think you are most similar to?
- 3:12Speaker 4: You know, it isn't so many.
- 3:13Speaker 3: It's so many great receivers in the NFL that have
- 3:16Speaker 3: like so many different kind of you know, uh abilities,
- 3:20Speaker 3: And you know, I feel like I can you know,
- 3:22Speaker 3: there's I feel like there's a lot of receivers that
- 3:23Speaker 3: probably do the same thing.
- 3:24Speaker 4: So if I had to pinpoint one.
- 3:26Speaker 1: I probably not.
- 3:27Speaker 3: But I do feel like there are, you know, probably
- 3:29Speaker 3: some great receivers that do some stuff a lot.
- 3:32Speaker 2: I think of you as a taller Steve Smith. Do
- 3:35Speaker 2: you remember Steve Smith. He's played for the Panthers and
- 3:37Speaker 2: the Ravens when I watched your highlights, that's the person
- 3:40Speaker 2: that came to mind really of a player.
- 3:42Speaker 4: No facts that I love that, I love that. I
- 3:45Speaker 4: love that comparison.
- 3:47Speaker 2: All right, Question number three for Jermaine Burke. And we
- 3:49Speaker 2: learned on draft night that you've been working with former
- 3:51Speaker 2: Bengals wide receiver TJ. Gushman Zada for several years and
- 3:54Speaker 2: he has nothing but great things to say about you.
- 3:57Speaker 2: What were some of the biggest things you learned from him,
- 4:00Speaker 2: whether it was on the field or off the field.
- 4:03Speaker 3: You know that no matter what, it's a business, and
- 4:06Speaker 3: you know you have to do your part, you know,
- 4:09Speaker 3: and it's nobody else's fault that you aren't where you
- 4:12Speaker 3: are supposed to be physically and mentally. So you know
- 4:15Speaker 3: that's just the main thing. You know, keep the main thing,
- 4:17Speaker 3: the main thing, and keep working and you know.
- 4:19Speaker 4: Have some fun with it though.
- 4:20Speaker 3: Of course, you know that TJ is a real uh
- 4:23Speaker 3: you know, he's a he's a real funny dude, and
- 4:24Speaker 3: uh but you know he can he can turn it
- 4:26Speaker 3: on that switch and you know it's time to work.
- 4:28Speaker 3: So you know, I'm pretty sure that's what he means
- 4:30Speaker 3: by you know, you can hit that switch and relax
- 4:32Speaker 3: a little bit and you know, be yourself, but at
- 4:34Speaker 3: the same time, never never get too far away from yourself.
- 4:37Speaker 5: Dude.
- 4:37Speaker 2: Know he holds the franchise record for most catches in
- 4:39Speaker 2: a season.
- 4:40Speaker 4: I did not know that.
- 4:42Speaker 1: N'red and twelve.
- 4:43Speaker 4: Geez, I'm gonna talk to him, so he gonna say.
- 4:46Speaker 1: But he was like, oh yeah, that was nothing.
- 4:51Speaker 2: On his way to a Pro Bowl. He was one
- 4:52Speaker 2: hell of a player. Question number four for Jermaine Burton,
- 4:55Speaker 2: who is your all time favorite athlete in any sport
- 5:00Speaker 2: and why?
- 5:02Speaker 4: I probably said Kobe Bryant.
- 5:04Speaker 3: I would say Kobe because you know his passion and
- 5:07Speaker 3: his aggression and you know the way he worked, and
- 5:10Speaker 3: you know, I just feel like it's really unmatched.
- 5:13Speaker 4: And uh, I love his energy.
- 5:14Speaker 2: You know.
- 5:15Speaker 4: You know it's back when it was the USA, it
- 5:18Speaker 4: was USA versus.
- 5:19Speaker 3: I forgot what it was. Wherever Paugasa is from, they went,
- 5:22Speaker 3: he went against their country. And you know, Pakastan and
- 5:25Speaker 3: the Kobe are really great friends, you know, almost best friends.
- 5:28Speaker 4: They played on the Lakers together, you know, real close.
- 5:30Speaker 3: And I was watching a documentary and Kobe said, first play,
- 5:34Speaker 3: I'm running.
- 5:35Speaker 4: Through Paul his chest and like they were. Everybody was like,
- 5:37Speaker 4: how are you doing?
- 5:37Speaker 3: That's your homeboy, like that's your like this and that,
- 5:39Speaker 3: and he was like nah, like like you set the
- 5:41Speaker 3: tone and you know, first play he actually did that.
- 5:44Speaker 3: So with that kind of like set up. Uh, I
- 5:46Speaker 3: don't know, it just it's got different with me. And
- 5:49Speaker 3: you know, I really respected that, and because you know
- 5:51Speaker 3: the fact that Paul didn't even take it like oh
- 5:53Speaker 3: just I mean it was like nah, he's Kobe is
- 5:56Speaker 3: on like you know, so the real competition there and
- 5:58Speaker 3: the competitiveness and the agression uh, with that Kobe had.
- 6:01Speaker 2: You know, as a California kid, how devastating was it
- 6:05Speaker 2: when Kobe passed.
- 6:08Speaker 4: It's kind of crazy, honestly.
- 6:10Speaker 3: Uh, you know, just looking up to him and you know,
- 6:14Speaker 3: always seeing things about him, and you know, it's just
- 6:17Speaker 3: it hit me. S it hit It was so random
- 6:19Speaker 3: and it was just so weird that I didn't know
- 6:22Speaker 3: how to react for so long. But you know, I
- 6:27Speaker 3: I don't know, it was just it was something that
- 6:28Speaker 3: just didn't see.
- 6:29Speaker 1: It right with me.
- 6:29Speaker 2: It was weird, alright. Fifth and final question for Jermaine Burton.
- 6:33Speaker 2: Tell us something about you that not many people know.
- 6:39Speaker 4: You know, I love space, into astrology, and I believe in.
- 6:43Speaker 2: Aliens a triple crown. So how into space? I mean,
- 6:51Speaker 2: they're you know, there are obviously efforts to send people
- 6:54Speaker 2: to send you know, regular Joe's into space. Is that
- 6:57Speaker 2: something you dream of doing someday?
- 6:59Speaker 3: Yes, ultimately a bucket list, you know, cross off that
- 7:03Speaker 3: I would love to you.
- 7:04Speaker 4: Know, eventually hopefully have the ability to. But yeah, that's
- 7:09Speaker 4: that is something I would be dout for.
- 7:11Speaker 2: All right, Well, you believe in aliens. He kind of
- 7:13Speaker 2: looked like one on the football field. It's great to
- 7:16Speaker 2: have you in Cincinnati. Appreciate the time that's sluck going forward.
- 7:19Speaker 4: Thank you, boss man. I appreciate you.
- 7:21Speaker 1: For what it's worth.
- 7:22Speaker 2: I think Jermaine has looked extremely impressive in his first
- 7:25Speaker 2: few practices, and since Jamar Chase and t Higgins have
- 7:28Speaker 2: not taken part in this voluntary phase, Burton has been
- 7:32Speaker 2: one of the leading.
- 7:33Speaker 1: Targets for Joe Burrow.
- 7:35Speaker 2: Speaking of looking impressive, I posted some video on Twitter
- 7:38Speaker 2: recently of Miles Murphy hitting a sled that got a
- 7:42Speaker 2: lot of attention because he looks like a monster. It
- 7:45Speaker 2: provided a reminder for why the twenty two year old
- 7:48Speaker 2: was a first round pick. And when I caught up
- 7:50Speaker 2: with Miles recently, we started our conversation by reminiscing about
- 7:54Speaker 2: his draft experience last year.
- 7:58Speaker 1: Maybe in the morning.
- 8:01Speaker 5: Fifty people at my drab party, so it was and
- 8:04Speaker 5: it was all like close friends, family, extended family, neighbors.
- 8:09Speaker 5: So I was really I was literally just enjoying their company.
- 8:12Speaker 5: It was a it was a part of the whole night,
- 8:14Speaker 5: So I was, I was, I was enjoying the company.
- 8:17Speaker 1: And then phone rang got around close.
- 8:22Speaker 5: To midnight, so it was it was.
- 8:24Speaker 2: It was a fun night because one hundred and fifty
- 8:27Speaker 2: people make it more stressful for you.
- 8:29Speaker 1: At one point.
- 8:30Speaker 5: At one point, yeah, because I was like, this is
- 8:33Speaker 5: a little bit longer than I expected. But phone, phone eventual,
- 8:36Speaker 5: pune eventually rang, and I would say, but everybody was excited,
- 8:40Speaker 5: called everybody on stage, So it was it was a
- 8:42Speaker 5: fun night for sure.
- 8:43Speaker 2: We're visiting with Miles Murphy. Tell me about your off season.
- 8:46Speaker 2: What have you done for fun? What have you done
- 8:48Speaker 2: to get better?
- 8:48Speaker 5: Okay, right after this season, went back home to Atlanta,
- 8:51Speaker 5: just to When I first went home to Atlanta for
- 8:54Speaker 5: about a week or so, I did absolutely nothing. I
- 8:58Speaker 5: just wanted to enjoy my family, but then again, it's
- 9:01Speaker 5: hard for me to sit still.
- 9:02Speaker 1: So I admitted.
- 9:03Speaker 5: I immediately flew out to Arizona for all of February
- 9:06Speaker 5: that's some training, and started working out, and then came
- 9:10Speaker 5: back to Atlanta for March. Up until now, just really
- 9:14Speaker 5: just working and putting on, putting on muscles, because about
- 9:17Speaker 5: to say, I was just saying, like my routine every
- 9:19Speaker 5: all season is buke up, put on muscle, and then once.
- 9:22Speaker 1: We get close to the season, lean out.
- 9:25Speaker 5: Because right now, right now I'm sitting at around like
- 9:27Speaker 5: two seventy eight to eighty, but I always get down
- 9:29Speaker 5: to about two seventy three to seventy two.
- 9:32Speaker 2: Right before the season, going into the draft, you're trying
- 9:34Speaker 2: to win the Olympics essentially fastest time you can have
- 9:37Speaker 2: win all these tests. Now that you've had an experience
- 9:40Speaker 2: of playing a season in the NFL, does it change
- 9:43Speaker 2: where you say, all right, strength is what I need
- 9:46Speaker 2: or whatever quality there might be.
- 9:51Speaker 5: I will say there are two types of conditions. There's
- 9:55Speaker 5: a combine condition and there's football condition. I was in
- 10:00Speaker 5: great combined condition a year ago now, but not in
- 10:06Speaker 5: good football condition for sure. So I feel like right
- 10:08Speaker 5: now I'm in really good football condition.
- 10:10Speaker 1: By saying endurance is great, strength is there.
- 10:14Speaker 5: So I feel like my preparation for this upcoming season
- 10:17Speaker 5: is much better than it was last year.
- 10:20Speaker 2: How did you feel about your game and the final
- 10:23Speaker 2: game of the season versus the beginning of your rookie year?
- 10:25Speaker 1: How did you grow?
- 10:28Speaker 5: I was a lot more comfortable, to say the least, honestly,
- 10:30Speaker 5: because I knew one what to expect. The big I
- 10:34Speaker 5: feel like the biggest mental difference from college now is
- 10:38Speaker 5: the playbook.
- 10:39Speaker 1: Is a little bit easier, but the on field.
- 10:42Speaker 5: In game adjustments when the crowd is extremely loud is
- 10:45Speaker 5: a lot more difficult.
- 10:47Speaker 4: That's that's that's the biggest.
- 10:48Speaker 1: Game change in my opinion.
- 10:50Speaker 5: Towards the end of the season, I was not thinking,
- 10:53Speaker 5: not thinking for a linebackers, but I was like predicting
- 10:57Speaker 5: and like knowing what they.
- 10:58Speaker 1: Were already going to say, what the adjustment was.
- 11:00Speaker 5: So I was Ozma's definitely moving faster and just knowing
- 11:03Speaker 5: wants to do, Norman to expect from from outside of
- 11:07Speaker 5: the ball in the off line, and just like I
- 11:11Speaker 5: always always start a playing when it came to the
- 11:13Speaker 5: pass rushing, especially so to the second half of.
- 11:15Speaker 2: The season, Bengals added Sheldon Rankins to your musician group.
- 11:19Speaker 1: How much do you know about him? I know he
- 11:22Speaker 1: played with Tray early on when he was at.
- 11:23Speaker 5: The Saints and was at the well at the Texans
- 11:26Speaker 5: actually did very well there. It's also it's a little
- 11:28Speaker 5: bit of this film. I love the way he passed
- 11:30Speaker 5: rushes just from the inside, So I feel like he's
- 11:31Speaker 5: gonna add more pressure to what we already have on
- 11:36Speaker 5: the inside.
- 11:36Speaker 4: So I feel it'll be a good addition.
- 11:38Speaker 2: When you have a guy like that that's great and
- 11:40Speaker 2: rushing from the inside, How much does it help you?
- 11:43Speaker 2: Coming from the edge.
- 11:44Speaker 5: Helps a lot, by to say, even like even like
- 11:47Speaker 5: with a big Reader last year, although all people say
- 11:50Speaker 5: he's not not a pass rusher, sure he still gets
- 11:54Speaker 5: double teamed and that takes a lot of pressure off
- 11:56Speaker 5: of us. So really having just a really good interior
- 12:00Speaker 5: force in there helps.
- 12:03Speaker 4: To edge guys because that's just more one on one,
- 12:06Speaker 4: one on one opportunities.
- 12:08Speaker 5: Less slides to us, so it's less for us to
- 12:12Speaker 5: worry about.
- 12:12Speaker 2: Honestly, how will you miss DJ Reader personally?
- 12:15Speaker 5: Really, just his vibe in the locker room about to
- 12:17Speaker 5: say his uh, his vibles felt every every time he
- 12:21Speaker 5: walked to the locker room. But uh, you know we
- 12:24Speaker 5: I texted him as soon as I got the news
- 12:26Speaker 5: that he was going to Detroit say congratulations, and he
- 12:31Speaker 5: you know, he's just obvious, just a great guy.
- 12:33Speaker 1: You guys know.
- 12:33Speaker 5: Also, I'm about to say he his vibe was just
- 12:36Speaker 5: felt always always had good energy, always cracking jokes. So
- 12:40Speaker 5: I'm pretty sure that's how everyone will remember him.
- 12:42Speaker 1: Appreciate your time. Great to say.
- 12:44Speaker 4: Sure.
- 12:45Speaker 2: As I mentioned, Miles is still only twenty two years old.
- 12:49Speaker 2: In fact, he's younger than eight of the ten players
- 12:52Speaker 2: the Bengals drafted this year. The only two picks who
- 12:55Speaker 2: are younger are first rounder a Marius Mems and sixth
- 12:59Speaker 2: rounder Cedric Johnson. The Bengals Booth podcast is brought to
- 13:02Speaker 2: you by pay Corps, Proud to be the Bengals official
- 13:05Speaker 2: HR software provider, by Alta Fiber future proof Fiber Internet
- 13:10Speaker 2: designed to elevate your home, business, and community to a
- 13:12Speaker 2: new level, and by Kettering Health the best care for
- 13:16Speaker 2: the best fans. Kettering Health is the official healthcare provider.
- 13:20Speaker 1: Of the Bengals.
- 13:22Speaker 2: Mike North is the NFL's vice president of Broadcast Planning
- 13:26Speaker 2: and one of the league's top executives in creating the
- 13:29Speaker 2: schedule each year. He joined me this week for an
- 13:32Speaker 2: in depth look at the Bengals schedule and included some
- 13:36Speaker 2: possible hints for things we might expect in the near future. Mike,
- 13:41Speaker 2: the NFL had some great options for the NFL Kickoff
- 13:45Speaker 2: game this year, involving the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas
- 13:48Speaker 2: City Chiefs. She chose a rematch of the AFC Championship game,
- 13:52Speaker 2: Baltimore facing Kansas City. But I was surprised that you
- 13:55Speaker 2: followed that by having the Bengals Chiefs in Week two.
- 14:00Speaker 2: You can make the case that those are Kansas City's
- 14:02Speaker 2: top two home games of the year. Why did you
- 14:04Speaker 2: decide to start the season with those two?
- 14:07Speaker 1: Yeah, let me take your second question first. We actually
- 14:10Speaker 1: kind of backed in to kickoff. We actually had CINCYKSE
- 14:14Speaker 1: kind of earmarked from the very beginning as a CBS
- 14:17Speaker 1: four to twenty five Eastern Time doubleheader, obviously one of
- 14:20Speaker 1: the biggest games in the AFC last season, probably was
- 14:24Speaker 1: the biggest game in the AFC at least going in
- 14:27Speaker 1: so a year ago at this time, Bengals Chiefs with
- 14:30Speaker 1: the whole you know, Burrowhead and all that kind of stuff.
- 14:33Speaker 1: That was CBS's actually really their top ask of the
- 14:36Speaker 1: scheduling team was cincykse tell the AFC story, you know,
- 14:41Speaker 1: where the network of the AFC and the schedule makers decided,
- 14:44Speaker 1: you know, it would be fun SINCYKC in Week seventeen.
- 14:47Speaker 1: Wouldn't that be great? All the way at the end
- 14:49Speaker 1: of the season, Burrow and mahomes for the one seed
- 14:51Speaker 1: in the AFC that didn't quite work out the way
- 14:54Speaker 1: we had envisioned, so kind of thought it through this
- 14:57Speaker 1: year and thinking about if we are going to do
- 14:59Speaker 1: Cincy case on the CBS again, and it was a
- 15:01Speaker 1: candidate for Sunday Night, for Monday Night, for Thursday night,
- 15:04Speaker 1: for Black Friday, for Kickoff. A lot of good homes
- 15:06Speaker 1: for that game, obviously, But once we kind of came
- 15:08Speaker 1: around to putting it up back on CBS in a
- 15:10Speaker 1: double header window, felt like we probably should put that
- 15:13Speaker 1: one in early since we ran it late last year
- 15:15Speaker 1: and maybe by the time we got to it wasn't
- 15:17Speaker 1: what we hoped for, So put that one in early.
- 15:20Speaker 1: Then that takes Cincinnati out of the mix for Kickoff,
- 15:23Speaker 1: and then you look at the rest of Kansas City's
- 15:25Speaker 1: potential home opponents, and to your point, any one of
- 15:27Speaker 1: them would have worked. There was a lot of conversation
- 15:30Speaker 1: about Houston and kind of run on the Detroit angle back.
- 15:33Speaker 1: They were kind of new on the national scene a
- 15:36Speaker 1: year ago, they were frisky at the end of the
- 15:38Speaker 1: previous season and had earned that national exposure. So maybe
- 15:43Speaker 1: a bit of a flyer, if you will, on Detroit
- 15:45Speaker 1: as kickoff for last year, maybe Houston fit that bill
- 15:49Speaker 1: for this year. But when you see what we did
- 15:51Speaker 1: down there at the bottom of the schedule with the
- 15:52Speaker 1: Christmas round robin the Saturday to Wednesday, that's how we
- 15:55Speaker 1: decided to use Houston. We decided to use Vegas for
- 15:59Speaker 1: Black Friday. We decided to use the Chargers both ends
- 16:02Speaker 1: of the Chargers games in National Windows doubleheader and Sunday Night,
- 16:06Speaker 1: So we kind of came back all the way around
- 16:08Speaker 1: to Baltimore for kickoff, and that one ended up being
- 16:10Speaker 1: really the book end of It's going to be a
- 16:12Speaker 1: really fun first weekend of the season.
- 16:14Speaker 2: I love all these puzzle pieces. As you alluded to,
- 16:17Speaker 2: the Game seven of the Week seventeen matchup between the
- 16:20Speaker 2: Bengals and Chiefs last year didn't work out as intended.
- 16:22Speaker 2: Because of Joe Burrow's wrist injury. How closely has the
- 16:26Speaker 2: NFL been following his progress before determining how many high
- 16:31Speaker 2: profile window games the Bengals get this year.
- 16:34Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, look, we're trying to watch everybody, right,
- 16:36Speaker 1: and you think about all the quarterbacks coming back from injury,
- 16:39Speaker 1: and also some of the quarterbacks coming out of college, Like,
- 16:42Speaker 1: what do any of us know? It's May. We'll see
- 16:44Speaker 1: what happens by the time the season rolls around September.
- 16:46Speaker 1: But watching closely really is the answer. And hopeful that
- 16:51Speaker 1: all these quarterbacks, whether it's Aaron Rodgers or Joe Burrow
- 16:53Speaker 1: or Justin Herbert or any of these guys coming back
- 16:56Speaker 1: from injury, hopefully they're healthy week one. From the best
- 16:59Speaker 1: of our intel, we think they're gonna be ready to
- 17:01Speaker 1: go at training camp, and I know the fans are
- 17:02Speaker 1: looking forward to seeing them right and early in the season.
- 17:05Speaker 1: So that's why you see them in national windows early
- 17:07Speaker 1: like that.
- 17:08Speaker 2: So the Bengals open the season at home, the Cincinnati
- 17:11Speaker 2: Reds are on the road. Historically, that lines up pretty consistently.
- 17:16Speaker 2: If the Reds are home, the Bengals are on the road.
- 17:19Speaker 2: If it's the opposite. The Bengals are at home. Is
- 17:21Speaker 2: it that simple from the NFL's perspective, Yeah, I mean.
- 17:24Speaker 1: It's not as simple as saying, because the Reds are
- 17:26Speaker 1: on the road, the Bengals must be home. But if
- 17:28Speaker 1: the Reds are at home, we know that putting a
- 17:31Speaker 1: Bengals home game there creates a little extra tension, a
- 17:33Speaker 1: little extra trouble with the parking lots, with the police,
- 17:36Speaker 1: with the municipal services, with the downtown traffic. So as
- 17:39Speaker 1: best we can, we try to avoid having them both
- 17:42Speaker 1: play at the same time. But I know Downtown has
- 17:44Speaker 1: handled multiple big events at times, and I'm pretty sure
- 17:48Speaker 1: you played Bengals and Reds games at the same time,
- 17:51Speaker 1: maybe one in the afternoon and one and night. So
- 17:53Speaker 1: we know it can be done. But again, as we
- 17:55Speaker 1: sit here in May and we start this process, our
- 17:58Speaker 1: best schedule probably doesn't create those conflex unless we really
- 18:01Speaker 1: need to.
- 18:02Speaker 2: Our guest is Mike North, the NFL's VP of broadcast Planning.
- 18:06Speaker 2: I know the NFL does what it can to try
- 18:09Speaker 2: to make things as equitable as possible, but here is
- 18:12Speaker 2: a small gripe from a Bengals perspective. The Bengals play
- 18:15Speaker 2: a road game in Baltimore in primetime on Thursday, November seventh.
- 18:20Speaker 2: It's the third straight year they've played a road game
- 18:23Speaker 2: in Baltimore in primetime. It's the second straight year they've
- 18:26Speaker 2: played a road game on Thursday night in Baltimore. Yeah,
- 18:30Speaker 2: do you try to avoid streaks like that?
- 18:32Speaker 1: You know, a streak of three years in a row.
- 18:35Speaker 1: Obviously not something that's fatal to any finished schedule. I'll
- 18:38Speaker 1: also tell you, like the travel right, a trip to
- 18:41Speaker 1: Baltimore for a short week playing a division opponent that
- 18:43Speaker 1: you know pretty well. I don't think that's one that
- 18:46Speaker 1: we would say, hey, that's completely unfair, we shouldn't do that.
- 18:49Speaker 1: But after conversations such as these and hearing from enough
- 18:51Speaker 1: Bengals fans and coaches and general managers, yeah, I imagine
- 18:55Speaker 1: that's something we'll probably keep an eye on for next season.
- 18:57Speaker 1: The challenge for us, as you know, is we play
- 18:59Speaker 1: all those division games down there in the final week
- 19:01Speaker 1: of the season, and it felt like for years it
- 19:04Speaker 1: was Bengals Ravens in Week seventeen for probably five years
- 19:07Speaker 1: in a row, it felt like, so trying to move
- 19:09Speaker 1: that series that's as it's become, you know, so much
- 19:12Speaker 1: more impactful nationally. You know, can you get both of
- 19:14Speaker 1: those games up into the middle of the season where
- 19:16Speaker 1: fans can watch them, because you do run the risk
- 19:18Speaker 1: wait until week eighteen of Hey, by the time we
- 19:20Speaker 1: get there, as one or both teams clinched, has one
- 19:23Speaker 1: or both teams been eliminated? So like the idea of
- 19:25Speaker 1: playing both of those in the middle of the season
- 19:27Speaker 1: so fans can catch them both with playoff implications. You're
- 19:30Speaker 1: probably not wrong, probably due for the next time those
- 19:32Speaker 1: two teams play each other in primetime, that game should
- 19:35Speaker 1: probably be in sidency.
- 19:36Speaker 2: All Right, there you go, fans, there's something to look
- 19:38Speaker 2: forward to it.
- 19:39Speaker 1: Well, we heard too.
- 19:41Speaker 2: So the Bengals have a couple of interesting stretches in
- 19:44Speaker 2: terms of how many games they play and how many days.
- 19:47Speaker 2: Let's start in November, They've got a stretch where they
- 19:49Speaker 2: play one game in twenty three days. Then in December
- 19:54Speaker 2: they played three games and eleven days. Did the first
- 19:58Speaker 2: part factor into the second part?
- 20:01Speaker 1: They do kind of stack on each other, if you know.
- 20:03Speaker 1: I haven't heard specifically from anybody at the Bengals, but
- 20:06Speaker 1: I think that what week twelve by, I think that
- 20:08Speaker 1: Week twelve by probably feels pretty good to the coaching
- 20:11Speaker 1: staff because you know they're obviously thinking about playing deep
- 20:13Speaker 1: into January, and you've also got the two short weeks
- 20:16Speaker 1: as you mentioned, So that's two kind of mini buys,
- 20:18Speaker 1: and what we're thinking about for the teams with multiple
- 20:20Speaker 1: short weeks, it's spacing out those mini buys from the
- 20:24Speaker 1: full by and make sure there's three good rest periods
- 20:28Speaker 1: for the team over the course of the season. Yeah,
- 20:31Speaker 1: the three and eleven days is tough. Not the only
- 20:32Speaker 1: team to be hit with that stretch. I think there's
- 20:35Speaker 1: six teams, maybe seven, that are facing a similar kind
- 20:38Speaker 1: of Monday, Sunday, Thursday or at the end there, like
- 20:40Speaker 1: we mentioned on the Christmas round robin Sunday, Saturday, Wednesday.
- 20:44Speaker 1: That's just the nature of the beast right now is
- 20:45Speaker 1: we've got more prime time games obviously everybody playing or
- 20:50Speaker 1: at least more Thursday night games, if not everybody playing well,
- 20:52Speaker 1: and that means some teams are playing multiples and so
- 20:55Speaker 1: you do run into that stretch, and it's the kind
- 20:56Speaker 1: of thing we'll keep an eye on from a player
- 20:58Speaker 1: health and safety standpoint, from a players and coaches preparation standpoint,
- 21:02Speaker 1: and really from a fans standpoint and adjusts moving forward
- 21:05Speaker 1: if we need to.
- 21:06Speaker 3: So.
- 21:06Speaker 2: One of the first things that we all tend to
- 21:08Speaker 2: look at when the schedule comes out, of the number
- 21:10Speaker 2: of primetime games the Bengals play in five, they also
- 21:14Speaker 2: have three late afternoon games on Sunday. From the NFL standpoint,
- 21:18Speaker 2: are those games just as quote unquote prestigious?
- 21:21Speaker 1: Yeah, very much so, very much so. In fact, you
- 21:24Speaker 1: could make a case maybe even slightly more so most weekends.
- 21:28Speaker 1: The Sunday four thirty Eastern time window, that's the most
- 21:31Speaker 1: watched window for the NFL most weekends. So you're talking
- 21:35Speaker 1: about an average of twenty five, twenty six, twenty eight
- 21:37Speaker 1: million watching at four point thirty in the afternoon on
- 21:39Speaker 1: a Sunday. That tells you you know what the league
- 21:42Speaker 1: thinks about these teams when they put them into those windows.
- 21:44Speaker 1: The prime time is special, no question about it. The
- 21:47Speaker 1: fans obviously pay attention under the light, it's a little
- 21:49Speaker 1: more buzz. The players love it because they know the
- 21:51Speaker 1: other players in the league are watching. So primetime is
- 21:55Speaker 1: still special. But we shouldn't dismiss the fact that those
- 21:57Speaker 1: Sunday afternoon for twenty five Eastern time windows still the
- 22:01Speaker 1: NFL's most viewed windows still our biggest windows. So as
- 22:04Speaker 1: you count up primes, you really should like you to
- 22:06Speaker 1: Dan count those four to twenty five games as well.
- 22:08Speaker 1: They're true national games most weekends.
- 22:11Speaker 2: The Bengals were a candidate for one international game this year.
- 22:14Speaker 2: They were eligible at least to go to Germany to
- 22:16Speaker 2: take on the Panthers. He went with the New York
- 22:18Speaker 2: Giants instead. Were the Bengals a team that Carolina wanted
- 22:23Speaker 2: to keep on its true home schedule.
- 22:27Speaker 1: You know, you'd have to ask the Panthers that they
- 22:29Speaker 1: don't get that right. They were still adjusting whether or
- 22:33Speaker 1: not we should be sending division games overseas. We've done
- 22:35Speaker 1: it a couple of times. I think Indian Jacksonville played.
- 22:38Speaker 1: I believe the Jets and Dolphins played. But most teams
- 22:41Speaker 1: are not eager to take those division games out of
- 22:44Speaker 1: their home stadiums. And it's interesting because sometimes the visiting
- 22:47Speaker 1: team says, yes, it's an extra long trip. Like we said,
- 22:50Speaker 1: those division games are usually pretty close together. You know,
- 22:53Speaker 1: nobody's volunteering for that, you know, eight hour flight for
- 22:56Speaker 1: what could have been a one and a half hour flight.
- 22:58Speaker 1: But to play a division on a neutral field instead
- 23:01Speaker 1: of in their building. You know, there's definitely teams I
- 23:03Speaker 1: think would be up for that. So each team does
- 23:06Speaker 1: get to have some influence over whether or not a
- 23:08Speaker 1: division game can go abroad, and then they get one
- 23:10Speaker 1: game each year that they can actually you know, throw
- 23:12Speaker 1: their bodies over and say that one's got to stay here.
- 23:15Speaker 1: So to your point, the Bengals were a candidate. We
- 23:17Speaker 1: talk to the Bengals about, hey, if you do go,
- 23:20Speaker 1: how do you want to handle that in terms of
- 23:21Speaker 1: the week before the week after do you want the buy?
- 23:24Speaker 1: Knowing Germany always kind of falls in that mid November,
- 23:27Speaker 1: most teams are eager to take their buy coming back
- 23:29Speaker 1: from that trip. But you're starting to see, and I
- 23:31Speaker 1: know the Bengals saw it. You know, these European trips
- 23:34Speaker 1: are becoming a lot more routine. Fans you know, accept
- 23:38Speaker 1: them as really just another game, and the players and
- 23:40Speaker 1: the coaching staff do as well. More often than not,
- 23:43Speaker 1: the teams go over kind of Friday Saturday right before,
- 23:46Speaker 1: stay in their routine, come home, and then play a
- 23:48Speaker 1: home game. They don't even take their buys most of
- 23:50Speaker 1: the time anymore. So really it's just another game at
- 23:53Speaker 1: this point, And I think our teams have gotten into
- 23:55Speaker 1: a really good routine. The Bengals weren't selected this year,
- 23:58Speaker 1: but they'll surely be in the mix really kind of
- 24:01Speaker 1: every year moving forward. I think we've said it like
- 24:03Speaker 1: we're looking at seven, maybe eight international games a year.
- 24:06Speaker 1: That's half the league that's going to be playing somewhere
- 24:08Speaker 1: other than domestically. It's going to fall repeatedly over and
- 24:12Speaker 1: over again, you know, if not on the same teams,
- 24:14Speaker 1: like all kind of bad luck. If you will, moves
- 24:17Speaker 1: around a little bit and everybody will, everybody will pay
- 24:20Speaker 1: their dues.
- 24:21Speaker 2: Let's specifically look at next year. The Bengals have the
- 24:24Speaker 2: extra home game. They've not given up a home game
- 24:27Speaker 2: to play internationally since twenty sixteen. It seems to me
- 24:32Speaker 2: that it's probably a pretty strong likelihood that the Bengals
- 24:35Speaker 2: will play an international game somewhere.
- 24:37Speaker 1: Is that safe to say? It's good deductive reasoning. I'm
- 24:40Speaker 1: not sure we've locked in next year. Let's you know,
- 24:43Speaker 1: still catching our breath from this year. But I've met
- 24:46Speaker 1: several times with our international group and they have not
- 24:48Speaker 1: just you know, a one or a two year look ahead,
- 24:50Speaker 1: but they've really got you know, five, six, eight year
- 24:53Speaker 1: look ahead, and they are talking about some wild places.
- 24:55Speaker 1: They're talking about Dubai, they're talking about Asia there, talking
- 25:00Speaker 1: about different places in South America, more countries in Europe.
- 25:03Speaker 1: You know, as we build out more and more games, Yeah,
- 25:06Speaker 1: everybody's gonna you know, take one of their rotation by rotation,
- 25:10Speaker 1: Like you said, once every I think it was once
- 25:12Speaker 1: every eight years and now we're kind of down to
- 25:14Speaker 1: once every four. So the more we play, the more
- 25:17Speaker 1: teams we're gonna need to go over you know, maybe
- 25:19Speaker 1: multiple times. I don't know one hundred percent if the
- 25:22Speaker 1: Bengals are on the list, but they're surely on the
- 25:24Speaker 1: short list for twenty twenty five.
- 25:26Speaker 2: The city of Cincinnati has a strong German heritage. Would
- 25:30Speaker 2: that factor in at all in determining whether Cincinnati should
- 25:34Speaker 2: play there?
- 25:35Speaker 1: Sure? Sure, I think we're looking at, you know, not
- 25:38Speaker 1: just the fans here in the States, but also the
- 25:41Speaker 1: fans in those other markets. And you saw it a
- 25:43Speaker 1: little bit with Kansas City last year when they had
- 25:46Speaker 1: you know what, one hundred thousand fans walking to the
- 25:48Speaker 1: stadium like that. If there is a fan base for
- 25:52Speaker 1: the Bengals in Dubai or Germany or Brazil, we'll surely
- 25:57Speaker 1: want to make sure that those fans get a chance
- 25:59Speaker 1: to see the team, you know, their favorite teams. So yeah,
- 26:01Speaker 1: factors into everything. It's never as simple as because of
- 26:04Speaker 1: this than that. As you can imagine two hundred excuse me,
- 26:08Speaker 1: two hundred and seventy two piece jigsaw puzzle can't satisfy everybody.
- 26:12Speaker 1: But yeah, those are the kind of things we take
- 26:13Speaker 1: into account as we're looking, like we said, four six,
- 26:15Speaker 1: eight years down the road.
- 26:17Speaker 2: A couple more questions from Mike North, the NFL's VP
- 26:19Speaker 2: of broadcast planning. NFL games are coming to Netflix on
- 26:22Speaker 2: Christmas Day. Are we reaching the saturation point with streaming
- 26:27Speaker 2: platforms or is that going to continue to grow?
- 26:29Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a good question. I think the NFL is
- 26:32Speaker 1: kind of, you know, thinking that we fish where the
- 26:34Speaker 1: fish are, and you know, maybe not you and me, Dan,
- 26:36Speaker 1: but our kids are certainly using those streaming platforms just
- 26:41Speaker 1: like any other television station. You know, when we grew
- 26:43Speaker 1: up and you were clicking through the channels, it was two, five,
- 26:46Speaker 1: seven nine, And now when they flip through the channels,
- 26:48Speaker 1: it's Netflix, Hulu, Apple TV paramount. Plus they don't bat
- 26:53Speaker 1: an eye at the streaming services and you're starting to
- 26:56Speaker 1: see as we play more of these games on these services,
- 26:58Speaker 1: the viewership is approaching, you know, broadcast television levels. You
- 27:02Speaker 1: think about that Wildcard game last year on Peacock that
- 27:04Speaker 1: got twenty three twenty four million viewers. That's comparable to
- 27:07Speaker 1: what NBC did in that window of the previous season.
- 27:10Speaker 1: So as those platforms become viable outlets for our games,
- 27:15Speaker 1: as those platforms are eager to get into business with
- 27:18Speaker 1: the National Football League. That's probably the amazing thing about
- 27:20Speaker 1: what happened with Christmas this year. It actually happened the
- 27:23Speaker 1: other way. We decided to play on Christmas. We decided
- 27:26Speaker 1: these four games, and they were kind of on the schedule,
- 27:29Speaker 1: or at least on a mock schedule for probably a
- 27:32Speaker 1: few weeks before they then went out to the partners
- 27:34Speaker 1: and Hans Schroeder and the business team actually went out
- 27:37Speaker 1: and started trying to find a broadcast home for these games.
- 27:40Speaker 1: So we'd kind of already chosen the games, chosen the
- 27:43Speaker 1: four teams in the round robin. Then they went out
- 27:45Speaker 1: to the partners and said, yep, we're gonna be able
- 27:47Speaker 1: to find a way to play on Wednesday. Are you interested?
- 27:50Speaker 1: And thankfully everybody was, including somebody with whom we hadn't
- 27:53Speaker 1: really been in business before, in Netflix, at least for
- 27:55Speaker 1: live games. We've obviously got you know, some other stuff
- 27:58Speaker 1: going on with them with quarterback and receivers, so they've
- 28:00Speaker 1: kind of felt like they have an NFL fan base
- 28:03Speaker 1: kind of already built in. And when you think about
- 28:05Speaker 1: the global implication the global rights deal here one partner,
- 28:09Speaker 1: one sports league, one event, truly global rights, you start
- 28:13Speaker 1: thinking about, you know, how can we reach an audience
- 28:15Speaker 1: that we never could reach before. So that's something that
- 28:18Speaker 1: streaming services bring, whether it's Amazon or Peacocker or Netflix,
- 28:22Speaker 1: and I'm sure something will continue to look at. But
- 28:23Speaker 1: the overwhelming majority of the games are going to remain
- 28:26Speaker 1: on over the air television. That's the you know, NFL's
- 28:29Speaker 1: bread and butter. That's where we've been forever. That's where
- 28:31Speaker 1: the vast majority of our fans find us. And as
- 28:34Speaker 1: you know, even if you are on a streaming service
- 28:36Speaker 1: for one of your games, the game is still available
- 28:38Speaker 1: on free over the air television in the whole markets
- 28:40Speaker 1: of the competing teams. I doubt that will ever go away.
- 28:44Speaker 2: I don't know how many millions of people subscribe to Netflix,
- 28:48Speaker 2: but it seems.
- 28:48Speaker 1: Two hundred and sixty million world.
- 28:50Speaker 2: Will go to sixty million worldwide. I was going to say,
- 28:53Speaker 2: it seems to me that most of the people I
- 28:55Speaker 2: know have Netflix. Did you get less pushback Netflix than
- 29:01Speaker 2: Peacock or some of the other streaming services?
- 29:04Speaker 1: You know for those who you know just want to
- 29:06Speaker 1: kind of howl at the wind and say, how could
- 29:07Speaker 1: you do this? Like the answers no. But practically speaking,
- 29:11Speaker 1: you know, I always go back. I think about you know, what,
- 29:14Speaker 1: was it late eighties when the NFL went to ESPN
- 29:16Speaker 1: for the first time, so the first time they took
- 29:18Speaker 1: games off of free over the air television put it
- 29:21Speaker 1: on a pay service. We went to ESPN with a
- 29:24Speaker 1: half package of Sunday night games at that time, and
- 29:26Speaker 1: I think ESPN was in fifteen million homes. So talk
- 29:30Speaker 1: about a risk, Talk about a calculated gamble for the NFL.
- 29:33Speaker 1: Then we went to Amazon for Thursday Night Football a
- 29:36Speaker 1: couple of years ago, they were in like one hundred
- 29:38Speaker 1: and fifty million homes. Now you think about Netflix globally
- 29:41Speaker 1: two hundred and sixty million homes. Like we said, you fish,
- 29:44Speaker 1: where the fish are, that's where the people are ingesting
- 29:47Speaker 1: their content. That's where the fans are interacting with the
- 29:49Speaker 1: National Football League, and especially, like we said, kind of
- 29:52Speaker 1: like that younger audience. You know, you and I are
- 29:54Speaker 1: going to find the games if we get some help
- 29:55Speaker 1: from our kids. But the kids are interacting with the
- 29:58Speaker 1: games on those platforms, we've got to make sure the
- 30:00Speaker 1: content is there for them there.
- 30:02Speaker 2: So you shared at the beginning of this conversation that
- 30:05Speaker 2: last year Bengals Chiefs coming up back to back AFC
- 30:08Speaker 2: Championship games was one of the most desired games from
- 30:12Speaker 2: your TV partners. How about this year, What were the
- 30:15Speaker 2: games that the TV network spot over this year?
- 30:18Speaker 1: Yeah, well, there's no fight, right. They all make us
- 30:20Speaker 1: their list at the beginning of the process and they
- 30:22Speaker 1: say here's the game we'd really love to see, and
- 30:24Speaker 1: then it's up to the scheduling makers and the commissioner
- 30:27Speaker 1: to really figure out how to dole out all those
- 30:29Speaker 1: top games to everybody. So you know, nobody gets everything.
- 30:32Speaker 1: Everybody gets something. I would tell you since CKC is
- 30:35Speaker 1: still at the top of that list, you know, not
- 30:38Speaker 1: that we got robbed, but you know it wasn't quite
- 30:40Speaker 1: what we hoped for for last season, so kind of
- 30:43Speaker 1: run it back this year. Do that one nice and
- 30:45Speaker 1: early Buffalo, cac Dallas sanfran They play each other, you know,
- 30:50Speaker 1: no more than you know once every three years, more
- 30:52Speaker 1: often than not. And those are obviously two of our
- 30:53Speaker 1: iconic brands. And certainly anytime you get a Super Bowl rematch,
- 30:57Speaker 1: We've been fortunate enough with the expanded season and how
- 31:00Speaker 1: you get those extra that seventeenth game and it's a
- 31:03Speaker 1: one versus one. We wandered into a super Bowl rematch
- 31:06Speaker 1: each of the last couple of years. So you think
- 31:08Speaker 1: about that, Philly, Casey. Last year, we did it on
- 31:11Speaker 1: a Monday night game, and I remember one of the
- 31:13Speaker 1: ESPN executives texted us that day that afternoon telling us
- 31:17Speaker 1: it felt like a Super Bowl. So any kind of
- 31:19Speaker 1: Super Bowl rematch Casey Sanford this year, we're going to
- 31:22Speaker 1: do it in the afternoon on Fox, like we said,
- 31:24Speaker 1: probably going to be the most watched game maybe the
- 31:27Speaker 1: whole season outside of Thanksgiving and Christmas. So you put
- 31:30Speaker 1: that big, kind of mussy TV game four thirty in
- 31:32Speaker 1: the afternoon on Sunday. With any luck, you know, you
- 31:35Speaker 1: get the home team playing at one o'clock. Everybody watches
- 31:37Speaker 1: like we've been doing for decades, you get the big
- 31:39Speaker 1: game at four o'clock, and then if we guessed right,
- 31:42Speaker 1: that Sunday night game kind of hour seven, eight to
- 31:44Speaker 1: nine of NFL Football, and hopefully a good Thursday night
- 31:47Speaker 1: game to start the week and a good Monday night
- 31:49Speaker 1: game the end the week. That's a lot of mouths
- 31:51Speaker 1: to feed every weekend of the year. But you know, thankfully,
- 31:53Speaker 1: our fans have shown us that they'll find us wherever
- 31:55Speaker 1: we put the games. And you know, even if our
- 31:58Speaker 1: storyline anticipation wasn't right here in May, it's the beauty
- 32:01Speaker 1: of this league. Right If somebody's down, that just means
- 32:03Speaker 1: somebody else's up. So if we guessed wrong on a
- 32:06Speaker 1: primetime game, that's where flexible scheduling kicks in and maybe
- 32:09Speaker 1: another Bengals game find its way into primetime if you
- 32:11Speaker 1: guys are playing for stuff down stretch.
- 32:14Speaker 2: When the schedule came out, we all looked at it,
- 32:16Speaker 2: specifically through a Bengals lens. From your perspective, what were
- 32:20Speaker 2: some of the biggest challenges, some of the most interesting
- 32:22Speaker 2: things that came about from this year's schedule.
- 32:25Speaker 1: Yeah, certainly Wednesday was a new one on me, But
- 32:28Speaker 1: like I said, we kind of figured it out relatively
- 32:30Speaker 1: early in the process, how to at least get those
- 32:32Speaker 1: four teams playing that Sunday, Saturday Wednesday cadence. The real
- 32:36Speaker 1: challenge we found was week seventeen in a vacuum. You're
- 32:40Speaker 1: talking about two games on a Wednesday, still, a regular
- 32:42Speaker 1: Amazon game on Thursday, three games on Saturday. NFL Network
- 32:46Speaker 1: we always play those late season Saturdays in December, a
- 32:49Speaker 1: Sunday night and a Monday night. That's an awful lot
- 32:52Speaker 1: of games that are not being played on Sunday afternoon.
- 32:54Speaker 1: So I think one of the real challenges we're facing
- 32:56Speaker 1: this year and really looking forward, is kind of slicing
- 33:00Speaker 1: this pie thinner and thinner more games off to primetime,
- 33:03Speaker 1: whether it's you know, Thursday nights or Black Friday or
- 33:07Speaker 1: now Wednesdays, or nine thirty am London games or side
- 33:10Speaker 1: by side Monday night games. And that's just an awful
- 33:13Speaker 1: lot of places for games to go other than Sunday afternoon.
- 33:17Speaker 1: And when you and I grew up watching football Sunday afternoon,
- 33:19Speaker 1: there was probably ten twelve games most Sunday afternoons. You
- 33:23Speaker 1: either played in the afternoon on Sunday or you played
- 33:26Speaker 1: Sunday night. That was kind of it. A couple of
- 33:27Speaker 1: Thanksgiving games Monday nights came about in the late seventies
- 33:31Speaker 1: or early seventies, I should say, I think the real
- 33:34Speaker 1: challenge for us this year and moving forward is, you know,
- 33:36Speaker 1: thinning out the pool of games for Sunday afternoon for
- 33:39Speaker 1: CBS and Fox and making sure you know, you can't
- 33:42Speaker 1: just take all the best games, put them in primetime
- 33:44Speaker 1: and not leave you know, quality and quantity behind for
- 33:47Speaker 1: Sunday afternoons. So managing our way around what the Sunday
- 33:50Speaker 1: afternoons look like between CBS and Fox, that's been one
- 33:53Speaker 1: of the real challenges for us.
- 33:55Speaker 2: Mike, I always enjoy these conversations. I know you get
- 33:58Speaker 2: a lot of requests to do podcasts like this. Thanks
- 34:00Speaker 2: so much for making time for us, and now look
- 34:02Speaker 2: forward to doing it again next year.
- 34:04Speaker 1: Good to see you Dan anytime. Thanks for having me.
- 34:07Speaker 2: That's going to do it for This episode of the
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- 34:38Speaker 2: find us. I'm Dan Hord, and thanks for listening to
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