WEBVTT

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Well here we are here back not
live to them, so I used to

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say right here, but we are
live with Mike here in the present recording

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this no intro. Today, we're
going to get right into everything. Mike

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Mitchell UFL Insider where Sports Illustrated,
my only plug off the top. If

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you enjoy the work that we do
here, like and subscribe, thumbs up

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the video. We're about one hundred
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two free tickets to the UFL Championship
game. It's looking more and more

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like I am going to be able
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But two free tickets, like and
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We are here today. One week
following the UFL kickoff, I was

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in Arlington, Mike was on the
show. We have Mike Mitchell, Mike,

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we have a ton of listener of
viewers submitted questions. We're going to

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get to all those that have them. All bookmark first and foremost. We

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got week one in the camp what
do you make of everything? Best far

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with UFL? It was a lot
of fun, Like as a fan,

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as somebody who follows these leagues,
rights about him. I enjoyed every one

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of the games. I think,
you know, there were some hiccups here

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and there, but I think overall
it was a lot of exciting plays,

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a lot of players that went viral, a lot of cool finishes, some

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unique aspects of the league. I
think it can only get better from here.

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I enjoyed the broadcast. I've always
been one of my favorite things about

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the USFL broadcast the last couple of
years is I'm a huge Joe Klatt fan,

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big Kurt Man if you guy,
and I like the Fox aspect.

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I know sometimes some people feel that
maybe it's a little too much NFL ish,

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but I think those guys are so
knowledgeable. Joe Clatt is terrific.

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If you're someone who's a casual fan
who doesn't follow these leagues and you actually

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listen to Joe Klatt, he's breaking
down the tendencies of these teams the last

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couple of years. So what Birmingham
likes to do on third down, what

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they typically do on defense, John
Chavis's blitz packages, et cetera. And

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it's just like, if you're a
casual fan, it doesn't know much about

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these leagues. If you're listening to
one of those broadcasts. Klatt can teach

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you a lot, he can get
you a breast of the situation. So

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overall, I like the opening week. I think there's room for growth and

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improvement there and we made it to
this point and I'm glad both these leagues

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have united and hopefully they can build
from this season. It's going to be

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a fun ride. Yeah, I've
done a couple I was on Rob Peterson's

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show today as we record this and
a couple other podcasts this week. I

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think it went about as well as
you could expect, right for a new

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league opening. I mean, obviously
this isn't really you know, it's a

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new league, but it's whatever.
But to me, it just makes sense,

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like this feels like how it should
have been all along. Right,

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if Fox and you know, Redbird
and kind of had all got their act

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together three years ago. You know, you got games on Fox, you

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got games on ESPN, we're promoting
Pat McAfee's talking to the players on Monday.

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It just it feels like this is
kind of the prince that was promised

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here a couple of years ago.
We're getting here, sure, And kudos

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to Ben Fisher, by the way, he had a fantastic article last week

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leading into the Week one of the
UFL's season, where he kind of gave

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background. I mean, this is
stuff that I reported in the past,

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how Fox tried to buy the XFL
out of bankruptcy and Redbird and Danny Garcia

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and Dwayne Johnson kind of beat them
to it, and how you know,

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Ben Fisher, to his credit,
got quotes from Jerry Carr now from I

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believe Tim Reid from Disney, from
Eric Shanks of course with Fox, and

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they talked about they had wished they
had gotten together earlier, sooner, and

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you know, it might have been
a different world. We wouldn't have had

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this particular setup if Fox and Redbird
had just bought the XFL and then waited

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it out and you know, brought
out the league and all that. So

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here we are, you know,
it's the the you know, it's we

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might not have had the Birmingham Stallions
and all this. Who knows what teams

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would have had if they were just
bringing back XFL from the grave again in

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twenty twenty. So I'm glad these
entities are together, you know. Fisher

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also noted something that's very interesting.
I kind of flew over people's heads,

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and that they told him and they
wouldn't lie to him. That Disney has

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partial ownership of this league as well. Now nobodybody knows quite the breakdown,

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but I think that's fascinating to have
Disney, Fox, Redbird, Danny Garcia,

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Dwayne Johnson all as owners of this
league. It begs a lot of

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questions, you know, because in
the past, like these kind of leagues,

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the big thing is like, oh, can we get a TV rights

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deal? But if you're the actual
networks that own the league, there's no

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need for a TV rights steal.
That's your in house league right there.

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It's all about getting sponsorships, you
know, obviously, attendance, selling,

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merchandising, selling off the franchises.
So I mean it kind of eliminates the

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equation of, oh, I hope
the UFL can get fifty million a year

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or forty million a year or whatever
it is, right, And so because

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the networks already own them, so
they're covering all the cost of production and

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paying for the expenses, and so
it's a little bit of a different dynamic.

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Excuse me, If the networks own
the league, we'll get to out.

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So as we talk through attendance ratings, all that today because we have

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questions for all that. It's your
understanding right now. And I know you

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talked about this on the pre show
that we did, you know, thank

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you for calling in for that that
busy Saturday. We're kind of getting through

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this year, and then it feels
like we're on the kind of a two

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year window right now. Right as
we look at attendance everything. We're not

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going to freak out if next week
we dropped, because I'll ask you here

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about you know, TV Ratto,
is that kind of your understanding that we're

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at least Yeah, I've I've had
talks with people directly in the UFL higher

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up, several people, and I
know a lot of them have been kind

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of instructed to like kind of uh
not let loose lips sink ships kind of

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deal. But you know, from
what they told me is that they feel

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like this is a new launching point
for them and then the real test will

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come in twenty twenty five. Their
expectation is that they'll get their footing this

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year. Their expectations are modest,
and that they'll build towards next year.

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And I think, and I've mentioned
this throughout this whole process. Both the

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leagues have merged because I don't think
either side and they'll never say this publicly,

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and I know this to be the
case. They did not see the

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light at the end of the tunnel, and they feel by uniting together,

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by coming together, they can potentially
because the facts are out there for anybody

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wants to see them out. Fox
has been trying to rope in investors into

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the league in solo franchises for going
on now, year number three. They've

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hired. Both Fox and Redbird have
hired prestigious investment firms to raise money.

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They haven't been successful in that end. So I think they're doing this because

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they both they're obviously very bullish about
the concept of running and operating your own

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league. They think the concept is
strong enough. Fox was so impressed with

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the XFL in twenty twenty that's why
they stayed in this spring Pro football game

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with the USFL. So I definitely
think that twenty twenty four is the launching

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points of twenty twenty five. And
then when we get to there, because

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everybody, you know, I speak
to people in even in Canada, I've

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spoken to you know, I've been
on a like you you're with Peterson there.

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I've been on Canadian shows. I've
told to Canadian agents coaches, and

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they asked me, Mike, what
do you think, like do you think

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this is really going to last?
Because everybody's skeptical. You know, nobody

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will be surprised if this doesn't make
it right because we know the history,

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right, the graveyard is littered with
these leagues. But they all asked me

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that I told them this merger has
bought them two years. What happens beyond

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that, we shall see. So
ratings came out this week, you reported,

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and I like to kind of preface, like while we do this,

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because we still live and die by
all this every week, like oh I

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went up two points, it went
down too points, But you know,

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just to kind of I like having
the stage set here, like we have

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a little bit of it of a
runway here. It's not like you know,

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it's got to hit a certain benchmark
here by week three or else this

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thing is kind of falling apart.
But you report the ratings, right,

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we had one point like three high
one point three for the Fox and the

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secondary game on that one point one
and then nine hundred and the eight hundred

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thousand. What was your reactions to
that? And then they all have the

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questions here from the listeners for everything
else. What was your reaction to the

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TV ratings? I know you wrote
about it on Sports Illustrations. Yeah,

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it was a stressful Tuesday morning.
I can't tell you how many messages I

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get from people, what's the ratings, Mike, where the ratings? Where

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the ratings are you gonna report it? I got a couple of messages like

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where you gonna get your ratings from
now? And this whole time I've been

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getting him from Nielsen. And you
know, full disclosure, this is not

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tied in completely, but I used
to be part of a Nielsen home way

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back in the day. It's kind
of a unique science. It's not an

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exact science the way they measure audiences, Like you're responsible if you're a Nielsen

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home, you're responsible for that particular
region. So like if I'm watching,

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I don't know, walking Dead,
all of a sudden, my entire neighborhood

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is registered is watching Walking Dead?
You know, So it's not quite exact

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science. And you know, I'm
a little old school, but there are

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so many different measurements now between streaming
and out of home viewership that's not really

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calculated in So I was that Tuesday
morning was stressful waiting for the numbers from

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Nielsen, from Fox. There are
a lot of great people out there due

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to ratings, you know, Austin
Karp and sports media, watch Sports TV

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ratings, all these guys, and
then and I get those numbers, and

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then I was surprised. When I
got them. I had a feeling because

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even though this is a new entity
and you consider it a new league,

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I see it as a bit of
a carryover from what we've already seen.

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So I was a little bit lukewarm
on how much appeal this would have for

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people watching. And then you throw
on top of the fact that it's Easter

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weekend, and then of course the
heavy competition that's out there now. I

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mean women's basketball has become so popular
now too, that's really changed in the

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last couple of years. And then
of course the NCAA doing what they do,

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and then all the MLB stuff,
et cetera. So the landscape is

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very difficult. So when I saw
the numbers one point one million, one

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point three million, I said,
wow, I said, and you know,

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I had a couple of people in
the UFL reach out to me because

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they read my article Sports Illustrated and
they gave me a little bit of a

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hard time of undershooting them because I
thought they were doing that eight hundred K

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range. So they exceeded. That
doesn't mean I'm like absolutely correct, although

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I had people in the industry who
read me my predictions article and they thought

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I was spot on. So when
I saw the one point one million,

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one point three million, I said, Okay, wow, they did a

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little bit better than I thought they
would. And then the Sunday numbers to

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be impressive too. You've got that
early start in San Antonio, eleven am

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start and they do nearly a million
viewers on that and that's pretty impressive at

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twelve New Eastern to do that.
And then they did seven hundred and you

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know, that game was kind of
slow. Admittedly, the Memphis Houston game,

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it wasn't. It came at the
end. There was a little bit

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of drama involved because the game was
close and there was a chance for Houston

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to steal one. But it wasn't
as sexy as some of the other games.

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But I thought the numbers were very
respectable. What's gonna happen now?

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Is you're going to see the ratings
go down. I think the reason why

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you're going to see the ratings go
down, and I'm sure there'll be plenty

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of narratives out there of how the
league tank and look at so typical and

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all that, but they're running into
a buzz saw this weekend. So again

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I'm very tame in my predictions.
I mean, they're they're going to be

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going up against the final four Women's
Championship. They're going up against WrestleMania too,

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which I find that there's a lot
of fans of these leagues that are

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also fans of the ww in WrestleMania
is a once a year event, it's

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huge, It's two days, you
got the rock wrestling in the main event,

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and so I think those are going
to take those different elements are going

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to take away viewers from the league. The key is going to be the

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follow up once March Madness goes away. Sure there's other leagues, NBA,

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NHL, all that they'll do their
thing, but I think this league,

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because it has so many games on
big network television, will by default when

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the season ends. I guess these
leagues last year, although it wasn't an

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Apples to Apples comparison, they were
what like in that six hundred and seven

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hundred thousand range whatever it was for
the year. I think this league will

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do better just because they have more
big network games, so by default their

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yearly average will be better. And
like they always do, the first week

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is the highest, the championship game
is the highest, and we've seen that.

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To their credit USFL and XFL,
we've seen their highest rated games take

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place the champion at least they're able
to retain some of the audience that they

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have or close to it when their
championship game arrives. So the next few

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weeks are going to be very telling. I think there's gonna they're gonna take

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a little bit of a hit this
coming weekend, but how far of it

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that means to be seen well?
And also like WrestleMania is huge this year

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especially, I mean, you know
some and I've I've been a wrestling fan

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often on my entire life, and
you know, not all wrestling, you

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know, miss seeing a for ad
field area, not all, not all

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WrestleManias are at the same level.
But uh, this has really been built

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into that, especially with the two
day nature of it. Uh, a

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quick follow up and then we'll get
in. Uh. The where you're talking

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about it being a continuation versus like
a new league launching. I think that

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that helps maybe not have as much
of a of a drop next week where

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maybe it's actual generated interest versus like, oh, this is a new league,

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let's go check it out. Like
I think, like, it's not

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like they've been marketing this for ten
years, pushing to this date and everyone

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and then they're going to turn away. Like I think it being a continuation

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might lend a little bit more to
like this is the actually the level of

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people that are invested in that?
Does that make sense? No, Definitely,

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they developed an each audience. So
the question with these leagues is I

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think they have I know there's a
lot of people who are detractors of these

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leagues. I think they've developed a
nice floor. The question with them is

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how far can they get their ceiling? And everybody I've talked to is,

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you know, been and I get
it, has been skeptical about whether or

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not that they can reach a larger
ceiling. And I know the idea of

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these two leagues coming together is let's
own this space together and perhaps we put

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our efforts together and we can reach
that light at the end of the tunnel

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that I was talking about earlier in
the conversation. So I do agree read.

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I think there's a chance. We'll
see what happens with this weekend,

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but I think they've developed. See, this is the cool thing about the

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USFL and the XFL now is you
have established identities with these teams and leagues.

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There is legitimate fan bases for them, and it's like watching a show,

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like season three of a show,
season two of a show. So

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they have like they have identities.
This isn't just some random new league where

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you don't know the players. There
are guys like the Luis prez Is and

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Jordan Tamos. We all know the
Skipholtz is the Bob Stoops there. So

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the audience that's been around for these
leagues the last few years is along for

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the ride. So you got a
dedicated group. May not be as large

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as other sports leagues, but I
think that can stabilize and keep the question

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in the long run is the ceiling
how high can they go? Can they

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get higher? Because we haven't seen
leagues in this space perform like the XFL

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did in twenty twenty even though that
league was getting trash for their ratings.

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But I remember on Twitter where I
would every week post sports ratings comparisons,

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and the XFL was beating a lot
of leagues. I couldn't do that with

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the USFL in twenty twenty two.
I couldn't do that with the XFL in

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twenty twenty three. But I remember
some of my most viewed tweets and my

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little whatever six year run now on
Twitter were those sports. Because a lot

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of people were crapping on the XFL's
ratings. I said, oh yeah,

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so I would put NBA on him, the NHL on ABC, and then

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compared it and it was funny,
you know, like the XFL was beating

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the NFL combine. It was like
the NFL combine. The XFL led into

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the NFL combine and the XFL got
a better rating. And you know,

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I know it's different. I know
it's guys and shorts, I get it

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versus an actual game. But still
right, so so anyhow, but I

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think the ceiling is the key on
this. Have they developed a decent enough

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floor. I think they have a
good product. I think it's a good

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TV product. I think it can
get better, you know, and when

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you put into context too, like
Seattle are like our regional sports is like

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completely bottomed out. Are the network
that carries like the Mariners and the Cracking.

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Like to put into perspective, do
I watch a crack and every week,

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you know, this full blown production, They got big stars doing the

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commentary on that. I think root
average is like thirteen fifteen thousand the game,

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you know, so it's like really
puts in you know, when when

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the XFL pops off one point three
million versus you know, this is not

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that I know that you hate hockey, and I don't hate hockey. I

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don't hate I don't just hockey.
I'm just I'm as football as football gets.

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Over the years, I've become more
of a casual fan of all the

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other leagues, and but football is
the one thing where I'm die hard.

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Yeah. E G wants to know
what has been the league's reaction to radians

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versus expectations, especially given the competition
March start. They're happy. Like I

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said, I got needled a bit
because I said they would do eight hundred

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k and they ended up doing one
point three and one point one million,

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So I got the other couple friends
of mine where it kind of like teased

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me about that. They're happy with
it. You know, are there some

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people within the leagues that maybe feel
that they could have done a little bit

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better. I suppose, but I
haven't communicated with those individuals because the way

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I look at it is they really
you got to understand, like, there

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was a lot of consideration about this
league starting in February or starting the week

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after the Super Bowl, but they
just didn't have time to pull that off.

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Next year's timeline might be a lot
different than this was, so they

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went right. They went right,
smack right in the middle. Usually what

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we get would like say, the
XFL starting in February the af is although

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the AF didn't get a chance to
finish the deal they did the XFL in

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twenty twenty. But what ends up
happening is by week four, Week five,

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week six, you can afford to
take a hit with your league.

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You know, if you're going directly
against March madness, you're like, all

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right, I'll take our lumps for
a few weeks. They'll go away,

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and then the end of our season
will build up to the playoffs and we'll

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do better then. But to debut
launch this league week one against it,

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right in the heart of it,
right in the wind of the storm,

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so to speak. That's a tough
one. So they were really pleased that

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people I spoke to were really pleased
that they were surprised that the Some people

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were surprised by the numbers. And
they were attendants too, cause, like

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you know, I know, they're
really prideful about how hard they're working.

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And I could see a lot of
the teams are doing fifteen dollars deals and

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all these different deals, and they're
trying to you know, give doing free

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ticket giveaways and all this stuff.
They're really trying to rope in people.

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So they didn't really have a lot
of time to make this work. I

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know we've heard that excuse before,
but I think, you know, the

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true measurement for a lot of this
stuff, the ratings and attendance, is

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really going to come a year from
now. But so far, to answer

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the question, they're please with what
they've seen. Well, especially that second

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00:18:08.079 --> 00:18:11.319
game going up against Kaitlyn Clark and
all that, and that was twelve point

296
00:18:11.400 --> 00:18:15.359
nine million. I mean, it
completely blows the water out of you know,

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everything that's really coming that space before
Adue wants to know what is the

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percent chance speaking of the start,
the percent chance of the twenty twenty five

299
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season starts earlier mid February. Based
on Reid's conversation with Daryl, it feels

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00:18:26.119 --> 00:18:30.920
like it's heading towards that. Yeah, I think the discussion was initially for

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00:18:30.960 --> 00:18:33.680
them to be after the Super Bowl. There are so many arguments for and

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against that. One of the arguments, there's a couple different arguments, Well,

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if you launch after the super Bowl, you don't obviously run into what

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they're running into now, March madness
and all that. You also run into

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00:18:45.119 --> 00:18:48.799
a situation where you're in the dead
of winter where you have more people that

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00:18:48.839 --> 00:18:52.079
are at home, So there's an
argument for that. If your timeline is

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later, you run into the spring
and summer where more families are outside and

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00:18:56.680 --> 00:19:00.839
they're not at home early Saturday afternoons
doing things, you know. So then

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and then, of course agents and
players prefer for their players for their season

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to wrap up before NFL teams have
many camps and all that, so it

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gives it, Like we saw last
year, both leagues have quality talent,

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but the XFL ended up having sixty
nine players that signed with the NFL and

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signed NFL contracts, not counting all
the mini camp invite guys. So sixty

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00:19:23.359 --> 00:19:26.880
nine signed and then forty two signed
on the USFL side, So that's one

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00:19:26.960 --> 00:19:32.279
hundred and eleven players total. So
you can still get a good amount of

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players if your season ends in June
or July, is evidenced by the forty

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00:19:34.359 --> 00:19:40.559
two, but hey, sixty nine, forty two or twenty seven more opportunities

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there. So, so I mean
agents and players want to have a better

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00:19:44.440 --> 00:19:47.839
opportunity to get in the NFL.
You got thirty five players right now from

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the XFL and the USFL, and
twenty twenty three that are currently rostered in

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the NFL. So thirty percent of
the players that signed ended up in the

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league. We'll see if they make
it for next season, but hey,

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they got a job in the NFL. So that's, you know, part

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of the goal of these leagues,
even though they don't want to be as

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straight up developmental league. So as
far as the calendar goes, I think

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they're going to debate it percentage wise, I don't know. You know,

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00:20:08.519 --> 00:20:14.720
it's like I said, there's an
argument for waiting until April. There really

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is, you know, here's the
thing though, if they add more teams,

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they're also like you know, and
I know we don't, well we

330
00:20:22.440 --> 00:20:26.319
watch it. Expansion is expansion has
talked about too much, I know.

331
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But if they add more teams,
that extends your season. So if you

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00:20:30.599 --> 00:20:33.960
have let's just hypothetically, if they
have ten teams next year or twelve or

333
00:20:33.960 --> 00:20:37.400
whatever, that extends your season.
You have more you have more games during

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00:20:37.400 --> 00:20:40.359
the week on television too, you
have five six teams a week on TV

335
00:20:40.519 --> 00:20:45.799
rather than the four that they have
now. But that would theoretically extend your

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00:20:45.799 --> 00:20:48.319
season as well. So maybe if
you start earlier, you can you know,

337
00:20:48.480 --> 00:20:52.160
and made June or something like that. Yeah, because if you add

338
00:20:52.240 --> 00:20:55.519
teams and then yeah, then you're
starting late and then you're going late.

339
00:20:55.519 --> 00:21:00.599
After that, we does a follow
up any time consideration from the leagues now

340
00:21:00.640 --> 00:21:03.680
reverting to the XNFL kickoff now that
the NFL will use it. I know

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00:21:03.680 --> 00:21:06.319
we talked about it a little bit
on the pre show at the end of

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00:21:06.359 --> 00:21:10.279
the stream, but I'm surprised they
didn't about fair I mean, I know

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that we've been practicing in training camp
for four weeks and I'm surprised almost that

344
00:21:12.559 --> 00:21:18.599
they didn't do that. Having watched
the USFL kickoff again now, I Greg

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00:21:18.640 --> 00:21:21.480
parks in a complete breakdown about like
all the gate you know, the given

346
00:21:21.559 --> 00:21:23.000
yards and all of that. Do
you think they move back to that next

347
00:21:23.079 --> 00:21:26.720
year? The XFL style, that's
fascinating. I've been watching the USFL for

348
00:21:26.759 --> 00:21:30.440
a while now, obviously, and
their kickoff is just interesting to me.

349
00:21:30.640 --> 00:21:34.319
Like a returner will have fifteen yards
with what you'll see a return and run

350
00:21:34.359 --> 00:21:37.359
for ten fifteen yards when out a
defender even getting in the picture. You

351
00:21:37.359 --> 00:21:40.960
can argue whether that's a good thing
or not. It's fun to watch returns

352
00:21:40.960 --> 00:21:42.759
like that. You know all that
you saw the opening kickoff of the season,

353
00:21:44.440 --> 00:21:48.559
or Arlington's already in enemy territory.
I think, honestly, I think

354
00:21:48.599 --> 00:21:52.599
the UFL is going to play it
out and watch how it works in the

355
00:21:52.680 --> 00:21:56.640
NFL first before they do an about
face. Because here's the thing, right,

356
00:21:56.000 --> 00:22:00.759
I do think the NFL is going
away from Unfortunately, they're going away

357
00:22:00.759 --> 00:22:03.880
from the traditional kickoff. It's because
of safety. We've seen what they've done.

358
00:22:03.880 --> 00:22:06.880
They newtered the kickoff to begin with, no wedges, none of this

359
00:22:07.240 --> 00:22:10.480
different alignments, et cetera. So
it's not only twenty two percent of kickoffs

360
00:22:10.480 --> 00:22:15.119
are returned, right, and you've
eliminated injuries, but you've eliminated the play.

361
00:22:15.400 --> 00:22:21.000
But I think the NFL is only
signed up for one year with this

362
00:22:21.119 --> 00:22:26.559
kickoff. I'm so fascinated to see
what happens, how NFL teams adapt to

363
00:22:26.599 --> 00:22:30.079
it, how it comes off.
There's gonna be people in the preseason Week

364
00:22:30.119 --> 00:22:33.920
one of the NFL season that are
going to look at this radical looking kickoff

365
00:22:34.160 --> 00:22:37.000
and think this is ridiculous. Just
go back to the old one. There

366
00:22:37.039 --> 00:22:40.799
will be people that go, hey, why don't you just use the UFO

367
00:22:40.880 --> 00:22:42.319
one? That was pretty cool.
They moved the kicker back and they still

368
00:22:42.319 --> 00:22:45.640
get returns, right, So you
get that argument too, right. So

369
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I think if it's not a disaster, you know, because the NFL has

370
00:22:51.400 --> 00:22:53.720
some differences from the XFL kickoff.
Obviously they're trying to paint it as their

371
00:22:53.759 --> 00:22:57.839
own, it's Sam Schwartztein's baby,
but they do have some differences like that,

372
00:22:57.920 --> 00:23:00.440
how many people are up front?
I think it's seven versus nine.

373
00:23:00.480 --> 00:23:07.119
Obviously two returners rather than one,
so there are some Maybe those tweaks will

374
00:23:07.119 --> 00:23:10.359
make the kickoff a little more exciting. I don't know, I know Sam

375
00:23:10.359 --> 00:23:12.920
Schwartze and his team tried a bunch
of those things already, so they try

376
00:23:14.039 --> 00:23:18.480
by fire, I guess. But
if let's just say it's it's crapped on

377
00:23:18.599 --> 00:23:22.559
by the critics. The NFL kickoff
is just nobody's like this is ridiculous.

378
00:23:22.559 --> 00:23:25.680
Go back to the old kickoff.
Then the UFL's be like, hey,

379
00:23:25.920 --> 00:23:29.759
we made the right decision by not
going to that kickoff. But if it's

380
00:23:29.799 --> 00:23:33.880
a smashing success in the NFL and
it's fun and there's a lot of returns

381
00:23:33.880 --> 00:23:37.279
and big plays and you know,
not every place, just you know,

382
00:23:37.359 --> 00:23:40.279
the kickoff in the NFL is like
I'm watching to see how strong. It's

383
00:23:40.279 --> 00:23:42.039
like a like an exhibition watch,
and see how strong the kicker's leg is.

384
00:23:42.039 --> 00:23:45.319
See if you can get it through
the uprights. It's like, you

385
00:23:45.319 --> 00:23:48.319
know, it's like the guys the
returner just walks away as the ball goes

386
00:23:48.319 --> 00:23:49.720
through the end zone. So it's
like it's become a nothing play in the

387
00:23:49.799 --> 00:23:55.640
NFL. So there, I think
they could go back to it, but

388
00:23:55.720 --> 00:23:57.599
I think they're going to react upon
what happens in the NFL. If the

389
00:23:57.720 --> 00:24:03.279
NFL loves the kickoff and they're like
this is it. We're this as far

390
00:24:03.319 --> 00:24:06.559
as we go. This is our
kickoff from here on in. Then I

391
00:24:06.599 --> 00:24:10.079
think other people, not only the
UFL. I think college football will follow

392
00:24:10.160 --> 00:24:11.559
suit. I mean, you got
the European League of Football is doing it.

393
00:24:11.599 --> 00:24:15.400
I think the CFL, who's looking
at it. If it's a smashing

394
00:24:15.400 --> 00:24:18.599
success in the NFL, the CFL
will have it. So you'll have all

395
00:24:18.680 --> 00:24:22.200
levels of football using it. But
first things first, let's see how the

396
00:24:22.319 --> 00:24:25.920
NFL implements it and how it works
in their league. First. Yeah,

397
00:24:26.000 --> 00:24:29.920
if the CFL takes it over,
that that would really be you know,

398
00:24:29.960 --> 00:24:33.559
there's a lestrious of that. Peter
in Texas Peak wants to know what's the

399
00:24:33.559 --> 00:24:37.799
status on selling teams as franchises.
Are there any conversations about what that would

400
00:24:37.839 --> 00:24:41.839
cost or look like? And I
guess to add to that from mine,

401
00:24:41.279 --> 00:24:45.400
you talked about Disney and Fox kind
of owning equity in this right now,

402
00:24:45.440 --> 00:24:48.799
So maybe there's not as like,
okay, we got to sell it tomorrow.

403
00:24:48.880 --> 00:24:52.440
So does that change any of that? And I guess how does any

404
00:24:52.440 --> 00:24:55.279
of that update now that we have
all of this new kind of you know,

405
00:24:55.359 --> 00:24:59.359
mishmash of all this ownership. Yeah, you know, all the markets

406
00:24:59.400 --> 00:25:03.440
they chose, uh, they chose, they chose specific for this merger.

407
00:25:03.480 --> 00:25:08.319
They chose specifically because they have designs
on specific potential investors. I think I've

408
00:25:08.359 --> 00:25:15.720
heard who for the longest time now
that Memphis is a city that they feel

409
00:25:15.200 --> 00:25:21.720
is going to have maybe perhaps the
league's first owner. So that's one of

410
00:25:21.720 --> 00:25:26.960
the things I've heard at Birmingham,
Michigan. There's also like hope there,

411
00:25:26.039 --> 00:25:30.920
like all these teams were chosen specifically, you know, the surviving USFL teams

412
00:25:32.240 --> 00:25:36.119
with the idea of them being sold
off. And I think I've heard a

413
00:25:36.160 --> 00:25:40.599
lot of rumblings about Memphis, so
I wouldn't be Here's the thing, it's

414
00:25:40.759 --> 00:25:45.480
very difficult to get eight good owners. You can get one or two of

415
00:25:45.519 --> 00:25:48.759
them, but you know, but
it's like it's very difficult. So we

416
00:25:48.799 --> 00:25:52.440
saw what happened with the AAF,
so like, you know, it's not

417
00:25:52.640 --> 00:25:56.559
it's not an easy task. But
I think there's a good chance that,

418
00:25:57.279 --> 00:26:00.359
you know, if this league has
success in the next two years, I

419
00:26:00.400 --> 00:26:03.920
think there's a good chance we're going
to see at least one or two of

420
00:26:03.960 --> 00:26:07.720
the franchises sold off to local ownership. You would hope, like why wouldn't

421
00:26:07.720 --> 00:26:10.880
you want to own Saint Louis.
We saw you tweeted it out the BattleHawks

422
00:26:10.920 --> 00:26:15.039
beating out the Cardinals and the ratings, how well they did locally up against

423
00:26:15.119 --> 00:26:18.799
Caitlyn Clark and all that, and
then so why wouldn't you if you're in

424
00:26:18.839 --> 00:26:23.720
Saint Louis consider owning the BattleHawks.
So you know it's and you figure the

425
00:26:23.759 --> 00:26:27.400
Stallions by now, that was the
hope of Fox that somebody in Birmingham would

426
00:26:27.400 --> 00:26:30.400
step up, right, you'd figure, well, see how their attendance is.

427
00:26:30.440 --> 00:26:33.759
It's a crucial week for some of
these teams. The expectations are modest

428
00:26:33.759 --> 00:26:37.640
for attendance, but I think the
threshold for a lot of these teams is

429
00:26:37.720 --> 00:26:41.920
ten k and above to try to
shoot for that. The big thing with

430
00:26:42.000 --> 00:26:48.039
these games too is that you want
and I think they all had good crowds.

431
00:26:48.559 --> 00:26:51.359
I think you want whoever shows up, no matter what the number is,

432
00:26:51.359 --> 00:26:53.720
ten, twelve, fourteen thousand,
You want energized crowds that are into

433
00:26:53.799 --> 00:26:56.000
it. That crowd sounded great in
Michigan. You know, it wasn't the

434
00:26:56.039 --> 00:27:00.079
biggest crowd, and the crowd was
decent. In Houston is considered right.

435
00:27:02.119 --> 00:27:06.240
Their team didn't look very good.
But they I thought the energy level was

436
00:27:06.279 --> 00:27:08.079
good there. San Antonio was pretty
you know, pretty good too. So

437
00:27:08.200 --> 00:27:14.319
I thought, I think that's these
markets how they do if they start to

438
00:27:14.359 --> 00:27:18.400
take off, if they have good
seasons at the gate Birmingham, Memphis,

439
00:27:18.400 --> 00:27:22.079
Michigan improved from last year. I
think there's a chance maybe they can.

440
00:27:22.200 --> 00:27:26.519
I mean, that's the ultimate goal, outside of the NFL stepping in and

441
00:27:26.559 --> 00:27:32.240
funding this league somehow. That's the
ultimate goal is because they centralized it.

442
00:27:32.279 --> 00:27:34.279
They're all going for the MLS model, and so what they would like to

443
00:27:34.279 --> 00:27:38.359
do is have it centralized, control
costs, and then owners come in and

444
00:27:38.400 --> 00:27:41.960
that takes care of itself. It
was funny. I actually want to pull

445
00:27:42.000 --> 00:27:45.839
that up because one of our listeners
they tagged me in that Saint Louis thing,

446
00:27:45.839 --> 00:27:49.279
and I texted Max I said,
like, has this been shared yet?

447
00:27:49.319 --> 00:27:52.559
Like He's like, oh, yeah, that's been around. I'm like

448
00:27:52.599 --> 00:27:53.559
oh, And I'm like, well, I'll tweet it anyway, just because

449
00:27:53.759 --> 00:27:57.079
and then it ended up a lot
of people haven't seen it yet. So

450
00:27:57.480 --> 00:28:00.920
just let me see if I can't
on let me see if I can share

451
00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:03.400
this, just so we can talk
about it super quick. This is kind

452
00:28:03.400 --> 00:28:08.000
of an an av lib here.
So the TV numbers by the these are

453
00:28:08.039 --> 00:28:11.880
the local ratings right for each of
the team, Saint Louis beating there,

454
00:28:11.000 --> 00:28:15.599
you know the four point five on
that. Are you surprised with the with

455
00:28:15.680 --> 00:28:18.519
the lower numbers here for Birmingham,
which this is your three of them having

456
00:28:18.519 --> 00:28:22.759
the team with two point six,
and then Detroit two point two, and

457
00:28:22.799 --> 00:28:26.240
then Dallas, you know, the
central hub of the UFL with a point

458
00:28:26.279 --> 00:28:29.200
an I know Dallas is hugers a
lot going on. Just any takeaways on

459
00:28:29.240 --> 00:28:32.720
that since that's kind of new infos
since we posted anything. Yeah, I'm

460
00:28:32.720 --> 00:28:37.000
not so obviously not surprised. It
goes without saying Saint Louis's number, Birmingham's

461
00:28:37.079 --> 00:28:40.799
number is okay. I wish it
would be better Detroit. I'm actually surprised.

462
00:28:40.799 --> 00:28:44.039
It's that, to be honest with
you, that they're you know so,

463
00:28:44.279 --> 00:28:47.480
and you would think by now that
Dallas would be a little bit stronger

464
00:28:48.839 --> 00:28:52.319
for four. You know, their
attendants was decent. You were obviously at

465
00:28:52.319 --> 00:28:55.480
that game. I thought I was
a little worried before the game, you

466
00:28:55.480 --> 00:28:56.960
know, seeing some of the photos
that were out there and how the crowd

467
00:28:57.039 --> 00:29:00.759
was potentially going to look and I
think it filled out nicely. Yeah,

468
00:29:00.759 --> 00:29:03.279
those numbers could be a little bit
better. The Dallas number could be better,

469
00:29:03.319 --> 00:29:07.039
the Detroit numbers. Fine, Birmingham
should be a little bit higher.

470
00:29:07.680 --> 00:29:10.319
Saint Louis. It's awesome. I
mean, that's so cool to see.

471
00:29:10.359 --> 00:29:12.960
So I think these some of these, I think some lessons can be learned

472
00:29:12.960 --> 00:29:17.759
here in the future in terms of, like, you know, it's probably

473
00:29:17.839 --> 00:29:21.119
never gonna happen, but I keep
looking at Oakland, which has like no

474
00:29:21.200 --> 00:29:25.839
pro sports teams basically now, especially
with the A's moving today they're going to

475
00:29:25.839 --> 00:29:29.680
be playing in Sacramento. I just
keep thinking to myself, if this league

476
00:29:29.680 --> 00:29:33.599
ever decides to journey a little bit
differently on the calendar and maybe head to

477
00:29:33.640 --> 00:29:37.920
the West a little bit rather than
just be sectioned off there, maybe Oakland

478
00:29:37.960 --> 00:29:41.079
will be in consideration. Because could
you imagine if you had an Oakland UFL

479
00:29:41.119 --> 00:29:44.960
team that entire market there's no baseball
to watch, none of that. And

480
00:29:44.960 --> 00:29:48.839
don't get me wrong, there'll be
some loyalists that still follow the A's,

481
00:29:48.200 --> 00:29:52.240
you know, no doubt, but
it's kind of hard when they abandon your

482
00:29:52.240 --> 00:29:56.039
city. So for Oakland to have
their own football team they lost the Raiders.

483
00:29:56.079 --> 00:29:59.960
I think that's something for the maybe
cost efficient, it's not cost efficient,

484
00:30:00.039 --> 00:30:03.400
I don't know, but that's something
to consider you because you're looking at

485
00:30:03.400 --> 00:30:07.480
the example of Saint Louis and what
happens when you go to a market that's

486
00:30:07.519 --> 00:30:11.119
been shunned by pro football in general, and then you can see how they've

487
00:30:11.119 --> 00:30:15.680
embraced it. And those numbers are
very impressive and they're going to hold up.

488
00:30:15.880 --> 00:30:19.359
Saint Louis is going to do well
all season long. Robert has a

489
00:30:19.440 --> 00:30:22.559
question. You're on Facebook speaking of
attendance. White attendance numbers. Do the

490
00:30:22.559 --> 00:30:26.480
teams need to achieve to be viable? We talked a little bit about that,

491
00:30:26.559 --> 00:30:30.400
but for example, Michigan averages nine
thousand per game. Will they fold

492
00:30:30.440 --> 00:30:36.759
for next season? I don't.
You're running for its field. I mean,

493
00:30:36.920 --> 00:30:40.640
that's the problem you're running. I
mean, you cost a lot and

494
00:30:40.799 --> 00:30:45.039
that's a tough one. That's a
tough one. So I mean, like

495
00:30:45.079 --> 00:30:48.319
I said, for people I've spoken
with, I think their expectations are modest

496
00:30:48.319 --> 00:30:52.440
in terms of attendance. I don't
think they're expecting twenty thousand in every venue.

497
00:30:52.599 --> 00:30:55.279
I don't think that's the expectation there. They'd like to do better than

498
00:30:55.400 --> 00:30:57.599
nine thousand, for sure, But
you got to remember last year, like

499
00:30:57.599 --> 00:31:00.920
I got the figures, but I
was an ab to release it for two

500
00:31:00.960 --> 00:31:03.400
reasons. I could have been a
jerk and released it, but I didn't

501
00:31:03.400 --> 00:31:07.400
want to make the USFL look bad. That's the god honest truth. People

502
00:31:07.400 --> 00:31:11.559
told me not to do that,
but that's I didn't want, you know,

503
00:31:11.759 --> 00:31:14.400
I understand the non Panthers games,
there was like a couple of nine

504
00:31:14.480 --> 00:31:18.720
hundred and eighty nine paid fans kind
of thing, So that's you know.

505
00:31:18.799 --> 00:31:22.680
So I don't think that they're expecting
twenty thousand at for Afield. I would

506
00:31:22.680 --> 00:31:25.359
love if they get to that point. That would be one of success.

507
00:31:25.400 --> 00:31:29.000
Maybe the Panthers beat the Stallions this
week and they start proving that they're one

508
00:31:29.000 --> 00:31:30.920
of the best teams in the league, and they start to take off.

509
00:31:30.960 --> 00:31:34.160
They have one of the coolest helmets
in the history of pro football. They

510
00:31:34.160 --> 00:31:37.559
have great history dating back to the
old USFL. I'd love nothing more than

511
00:31:37.599 --> 00:31:41.440
to see that that team takeoff.
So you never know, maybe maybe that

512
00:31:41.519 --> 00:31:47.599
market takes that team over time.
I don't think there's like a set marker

513
00:31:47.759 --> 00:31:49.759
like last year. If I'm not
mistaken. This is off the top of

514
00:31:49.799 --> 00:31:56.160
my head, but I think the
XFL sold six hundred thousand tickets. I

515
00:31:56.200 --> 00:32:00.480
have to double check that, but
I'm pretty sure that was check but I'm

516
00:32:00.519 --> 00:32:05.160
pretty sure it was in that neighborhood
in terms of how many tickets they sold

517
00:32:05.160 --> 00:32:09.279
for the season. So this league
could do better than that, I have

518
00:32:09.319 --> 00:32:12.519
no doubt about that. And if
you look at if you look at the

519
00:32:13.440 --> 00:32:16.119
because last year you had Orlando,
they had the Vegas situation, Vegas average

520
00:32:16.200 --> 00:32:20.640
like six thousand per game, which
is a miracle that David got that,

521
00:32:21.319 --> 00:32:23.440
all things considered, and then Orlando
was whatever it was, I think nine

522
00:32:23.480 --> 00:32:29.640
thousand or ten thousand thereabouts. The
key is paid attendance, right, so

523
00:32:29.640 --> 00:32:31.440
they give away a lot of tickets
and all that stuff. The key is

524
00:32:31.480 --> 00:32:36.119
like how many paid, So that's
important. I do think these numbers have

525
00:32:36.160 --> 00:32:40.000
to improve in some of these markets, but I think the threshold right now

526
00:32:40.119 --> 00:32:44.359
is like ten thousand and above.
You'd like to do more, you'd like

527
00:32:44.440 --> 00:32:46.799
to build upon that. You like
to do more, obviously, but to

528
00:32:47.079 --> 00:32:51.839
expect all these markets outside of Saint
Louis to all of a sudden be hitting

529
00:32:51.880 --> 00:32:55.359
twenty k by now, Birmingham should
Birmingham is such an awesome team. By

530
00:32:55.440 --> 00:33:00.640
now they should be. They're gonna
They're trying to attempt to win the third

531
00:33:00.680 --> 00:33:04.839
straight championship. That's something that hasn't
happened in pro football since the Packers in

532
00:33:04.880 --> 00:33:07.200
the sixties or the Edmonton Elks in
the late seventies and early eighties. I

533
00:33:07.240 --> 00:33:12.240
know people look at these leagues differently, but it's professional football, so I

534
00:33:12.240 --> 00:33:15.799
mean, so by now Birmingham should
be embracing the team, so you would

535
00:33:15.880 --> 00:33:21.640
hope that they they I have.
My expectation for them is higher than it

536
00:33:21.720 --> 00:33:24.359
is for Saint Michigan or what have
you. I think they should do fourteen

537
00:33:24.440 --> 00:33:30.200
fifteen, sixteen thousand and above.
They shouldn't be in that eight nine,

538
00:33:30.279 --> 00:33:32.880
ten thousand range. In my opinion. These other teams have to build up

539
00:33:32.880 --> 00:33:36.559
a winning tradition and build up their
fan base. I think by now,

540
00:33:36.599 --> 00:33:39.640
Stallions in year three should be doing
better. It's funny because we talk at

541
00:33:39.640 --> 00:33:43.599
tendants and you get there. There
was a CFL guy over the weekend,

542
00:33:43.640 --> 00:33:46.559
you know, posting the average attendants
for all the CFL franchises last year.

543
00:33:46.599 --> 00:33:51.680
It's like it's one hundred and ten
years versus one week here they just just

544
00:33:51.720 --> 00:33:54.000
to be whatever. But because you're
to piggyback off that, and then I

545
00:33:54.039 --> 00:33:59.599
have another question about from Darren hereby
the attendants. You know, you talk

546
00:33:59.640 --> 00:34:01.640
about ownership, We talk about franchise
and ownership, and like, you know,

547
00:34:02.240 --> 00:34:05.319
I have not looked at the scene
charts for this week, and I've

548
00:34:05.319 --> 00:34:07.280
heard Memphis is pretty low. I
know they're running ten dollars ticket sales,

549
00:34:07.320 --> 00:34:12.159
and you want like, but yeah, if I'm buying the Memphis franchise with

550
00:34:12.639 --> 00:34:15.920
you know, forty five hundred paid
attendants six days, like what am I

551
00:34:15.039 --> 00:34:17.639
buying at that point? I know
we talk about TV ratings and all that.

552
00:34:17.679 --> 00:34:21.079
I think it was Ben Fisher that
was on last year with the Sports

553
00:34:21.119 --> 00:34:24.360
Student Business Show was talking about,
you know, you can't evaluate an MLS

554
00:34:24.400 --> 00:34:29.440
franchise that's you know, getting a
million viewers each week the same as you

555
00:34:29.480 --> 00:34:32.159
can you know, USFL franchise because
you have season tickets and you have you

556
00:34:32.159 --> 00:34:36.199
know, hundreds of years you know, the people and then buying the merchandise

557
00:34:36.280 --> 00:34:38.519
and the families and they're passing this
on and kind of the even just like

558
00:34:38.559 --> 00:34:44.360
you're the mental kind of like hold
you have in the communities, and there's

559
00:34:44.360 --> 00:34:46.239
all these other intangibles that go into
it. So I guess, you know,

560
00:34:46.679 --> 00:34:51.079
like if Memphis looks really weak this
weekend in terms of attendance, like

561
00:34:51.599 --> 00:34:53.840
I don't know what you're buying there
in terms of like a franchise. It's

562
00:34:53.880 --> 00:34:59.239
tough too with like football seasons,
because it has to go beyond the ticket

563
00:34:59.280 --> 00:35:01.559
sales in terms of of your revenue
because it's not like, you know,

564
00:35:01.599 --> 00:35:05.920
we've seen baseball games with three,
four, five, six thousand fans,

565
00:35:06.000 --> 00:35:08.159
but they got an eighty one home
games, right, so they can make

566
00:35:08.280 --> 00:35:12.320
up some money along the way there, you know, So they can by

567
00:35:12.360 --> 00:35:15.440
doing that. These teams have five
games, that's it, and then you

568
00:35:15.440 --> 00:35:16.599
know, if they if they get
to the playoffs, maybe they host the

569
00:35:16.639 --> 00:35:22.800
game and maybe get to six or
whatever. But yeah, you have to

570
00:35:22.840 --> 00:35:28.119
be somebody in Memphis that figures,
with my money, with my promotional ability,

571
00:35:28.480 --> 00:35:32.199
I can market this team. Because
the league is not willing for better

572
00:35:32.320 --> 00:35:36.360
for worse. They're not because they
know they can go into the red rather

573
00:35:36.440 --> 00:35:42.000
quickly. They're not willing to go
all out on spending money on promotion and

574
00:35:42.119 --> 00:35:45.719
marketing. So for better for worse, and a lot of leagues in the

575
00:35:45.760 --> 00:35:49.199
past tried this and they ended up, you know, going in the red

576
00:35:49.199 --> 00:35:53.159
immediately. So you're gonna need an
owner that sees the that is bullish on

577
00:35:53.239 --> 00:35:57.840
it, that sees the potential and
goes you know what if I take control

578
00:35:57.880 --> 00:36:01.760
of the show boats will boost attendance. I know exactly what to do in

579
00:36:01.760 --> 00:36:07.119
this market. So you're gonna need
those type of like forward thinking, maybe

580
00:36:07.199 --> 00:36:10.960
egotistical, brave guys that come into
the market because you're not gonna buy already

581
00:36:12.000 --> 00:36:16.639
made smashing success product. You're gonna
need people who are like innovative and can

582
00:36:16.800 --> 00:36:20.920
they feel like they have a handle
in the marketplace and they can benefit from

583
00:36:21.000 --> 00:36:22.719
owning one of these teams, you
know, because yeah, and then like

584
00:36:22.800 --> 00:36:25.880
am I getting a percentage of the
shop sales for that? You know?

585
00:36:25.960 --> 00:36:29.440
Like how does that go in?
I mean there's so many like how does

586
00:36:29.480 --> 00:36:30.599
that go all? When you have
central ownership? I mean, I know

587
00:36:30.719 --> 00:36:35.519
MLS hows all that stuff. Dre
wants to know what do you think is

588
00:36:35.559 --> 00:36:42.519
more important TV numbers or live attendance
numbers? I think TV numbers are more

589
00:36:42.559 --> 00:36:46.320
important because I think the more of
an audience you can build, the more

590
00:36:46.400 --> 00:36:52.679
sponsors you get and the more popular
your product is on television, but your

591
00:36:52.679 --> 00:36:58.559
attendance will improve. So I think
I think that's a very important aspect,

592
00:36:58.880 --> 00:37:04.119
is building up your popularity on television
because you become more visible and then you

593
00:37:04.239 --> 00:37:07.679
sell more tickets so by default,
so I think they go hand in hand.

594
00:37:07.719 --> 00:37:09.480
I think the big thing with these
football leagues is they have to figure

595
00:37:09.480 --> 00:37:13.480
out and you know, Jerry Carnell, I've seen him, you know,

596
00:37:13.559 --> 00:37:16.920
listen to him speak on many different
forums. He's talked about, you know,

597
00:37:17.199 --> 00:37:21.599
monetizing, how do you monetize the
fan base when they're not at the

598
00:37:21.639 --> 00:37:24.920
games? And that's a big That's
the thing that these leagues haven't quite figured

599
00:37:24.920 --> 00:37:30.000
out yet, whether it be through
fantasy, gambling, merchandising, So they

600
00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:32.199
haven't quite figured out like how do
we because you have to be able and

601
00:37:32.239 --> 00:37:36.840
for a football league to be successful
make a lot of money, you have

602
00:37:36.960 --> 00:37:39.920
to be able to profit off of
beyond just a three hour window that your

603
00:37:39.960 --> 00:37:44.119
game is on. That's where they
need to figure out. They need to

604
00:37:44.119 --> 00:37:46.960
build up their revenue streams. So
they're all important. Each one of these

605
00:37:47.960 --> 00:37:52.199
things is important. Sponsorships, but
I would say if I had to lean

606
00:37:52.280 --> 00:37:55.760
one way, or the other.
I think the ratings are a little more

607
00:37:55.760 --> 00:38:00.599
important than the attendance. I think
your ratings. It's funny how it works.

608
00:38:00.599 --> 00:38:02.199
So I think your ratings improve too
if people turn on the TV and

609
00:38:02.239 --> 00:38:06.159
they see people in the tendance,
right, because then they see it's a

610
00:38:06.159 --> 00:38:07.679
hot product, and this is interesting
and let me watch it, and this

611
00:38:07.760 --> 00:38:12.280
crowd is awesome, and look how
amped up they are, and it enhances

612
00:38:12.320 --> 00:38:16.239
the game. That's what the USFL, unfortunately they have so many great elements

613
00:38:16.239 --> 00:38:21.119
of the league lacked. Is their
games had artificial energy with the piped in,

614
00:38:21.360 --> 00:38:23.079
crowd noise and all that. And
you know, if you flipped it

615
00:38:23.159 --> 00:38:25.079
on, you go, oh my
god, nobody's had these games. It's

616
00:38:25.079 --> 00:38:29.519
like so and then you would just
change, you know, so anyhow,

617
00:38:29.880 --> 00:38:32.000
so they kind of all work hand
in hand, but I would lean towards

618
00:38:32.079 --> 00:38:37.199
the TV ratings. Something just got
it in my mind. Did you watch

619
00:38:37.280 --> 00:38:39.199
I was traveling. Did you watch
the UFL today? I'm looking here on

620
00:38:39.239 --> 00:38:44.119
the ESPN. I got about twelve
thousand viewers on the ESPN YouTube channel talking

621
00:38:44.119 --> 00:38:47.239
about you know, destroyingsbu and kind
of all that stuff. Did you watch

622
00:38:47.280 --> 00:38:51.920
that? I did watch it.
You know, there are aspects of that

623
00:38:52.000 --> 00:38:54.280
show that you know. It's very
sleek looking. I like Scooby. I'm

624
00:38:54.280 --> 00:38:58.199
a fan of Daniel Dop. I've
listened to him with the field Yates do

625
00:38:58.360 --> 00:39:02.559
fantasy football. They try to do
an interactive thing with the fans. I

626
00:39:02.679 --> 00:39:07.719
think there's a great gem of an
idea there. It looks sleek, very

627
00:39:07.719 --> 00:39:13.320
professional. I don't think they're quite
hitting on it. It's trying to be

628
00:39:13.440 --> 00:39:16.280
hip and you know, the guys
are walking around with the pads and all

629
00:39:16.360 --> 00:39:21.320
that, and they're doing and I
think this show, if it finds its

630
00:39:21.400 --> 00:39:25.039
groove, it can be very formidable. It's very up to date, leaning

631
00:39:25.039 --> 00:39:30.159
into technology, interactivity with fans.
I love the concept of it. Like

632
00:39:30.159 --> 00:39:31.639
I said, I like the people
that are working on the show. I

633
00:39:31.719 --> 00:39:36.239
did see it. I thought it
was good. I just my expectation level.

634
00:39:36.280 --> 00:39:39.000
I think it could be so much
better than what it is. I

635
00:39:39.039 --> 00:39:43.800
mean, it has potential. I
think it could be a very entertaining show.

636
00:39:44.119 --> 00:39:45.920
They'll have guests and stuff and that'll
help. I think they need a

637
00:39:45.920 --> 00:39:51.880
little bit more of exclusive access with
like players and coaches and all that,

638
00:39:51.920 --> 00:39:53.400
which we get a lot of.
We take it for granted. Now I've

639
00:39:53.440 --> 00:39:58.519
been watching the XFL and the USFL. We take for granted all this access.

640
00:39:58.559 --> 00:40:00.639
It's ridiculous. We never see this
during NFL games. Like I was

641
00:40:00.679 --> 00:40:04.719
watching. I just wrote an article, Defender's article, and I watched Reggie

642
00:40:04.760 --> 00:40:09.800
Barlow was ripping on Brandon Smith because
Brandon Smith was on the sideline saying,

643
00:40:09.800 --> 00:40:13.119
you're not throwing me the ball.
You're not throwing me the ball. They

644
00:40:13.199 --> 00:40:15.199
draw up a play on third down
for me. He drops it and the

645
00:40:15.280 --> 00:40:19.960
DC has to punt the football.
And then Reggie Barlow's on screen saying,

646
00:40:20.679 --> 00:40:22.480
you beg for the ball, We
throw it to you and you drop it.

647
00:40:22.639 --> 00:40:25.000
Good going, you know that kind
of deal. I'm like, wow,

648
00:40:27.000 --> 00:40:30.400
that stuff you just don't. I
know, the NFL films does some

649
00:40:30.440 --> 00:40:34.000
great work and then after the fact
you see some stuff, but some of

650
00:40:34.039 --> 00:40:37.519
it you have to question how much
of it is cleaned up for television and

651
00:40:37.639 --> 00:40:39.599
how much is you know, like
they make sure we don't hear any read

652
00:40:39.760 --> 00:40:45.360
call somebody jerker an asshole, so
that kind of thing. So but but

653
00:40:45.559 --> 00:40:49.320
I think there's some of that element
that I think the UFL Today Show can

654
00:40:49.360 --> 00:40:53.719
benefit from, you know, the
extra added access, and I think it's

655
00:40:53.760 --> 00:40:57.960
a working like the league sometimes in
some respects, it's a work in progress.

656
00:40:58.000 --> 00:40:59.920
I think it can be better.
I like what they do. I

657
00:41:00.119 --> 00:41:02.440
did watch it. It's available out
there. They need to do a better

658
00:41:02.519 --> 00:41:06.480
job of promoting that it's coming up. I like the whole idea, like,

659
00:41:07.039 --> 00:41:08.519
uh, you know, they're like
like a high I like the idea

660
00:41:08.519 --> 00:41:12.840
of a highlight show after the fact, you know, and and like bringing

661
00:41:12.880 --> 00:41:15.920
some personality and some flair to it, with some cool post game reactions,

662
00:41:15.920 --> 00:41:20.679
some news, you know, and
would I think there's potential there for it

663
00:41:20.679 --> 00:41:22.920
to be better than it is right
now. As is, It's okay.

664
00:41:22.000 --> 00:41:25.079
I enjoyed it last year. There's
nothing wrong with it. But I just

665
00:41:25.079 --> 00:41:28.760
think it can be so much better
than it is. Yeah, it's just

666
00:41:28.760 --> 00:41:31.000
like you were talking, just ways
to exist outside of just a Saturday Sunday.

667
00:41:31.039 --> 00:41:32.840
I mean, I know they do
it on Sunday and that makes it,

668
00:41:32.880 --> 00:41:35.800
you know, do the kind of
post game, but you know,

669
00:41:36.320 --> 00:41:39.079
except for like these coaches media calls
and I know, like Tayomu had the

670
00:41:39.119 --> 00:41:43.039
thing they send out today that you
could download, like you know, trying

671
00:41:43.039 --> 00:41:45.239
to keep this league in the zeitgeys
during the week right now, is you

672
00:41:45.280 --> 00:41:47.519
know, it's always kind of the
problem, and I think the CFL has

673
00:41:47.559 --> 00:41:51.679
an issue with that. Sometimes I
will say, like, really a job

674
00:41:51.679 --> 00:41:54.719
with the YouTube channel. I mean, the XFL went as well, posting

675
00:41:54.719 --> 00:41:58.159
clips and everything. I thought they've
done a good job in terms of,

676
00:41:58.239 --> 00:42:00.559
like, you know, being able
to catch up and do all that,

677
00:42:00.599 --> 00:42:02.559
even if the one of them is
like the super kind of destroyings kicks or

678
00:42:02.599 --> 00:42:06.639
whatever. I thought that that was
kind of funny. Yeah, that's another

679
00:42:06.679 --> 00:42:07.480
thing. There's so many hard working
people in the league. I thought it

680
00:42:07.519 --> 00:42:10.920
was an impressive week on social media
for the weekend, especially in comparison to

681
00:42:12.000 --> 00:42:14.519
last year. I thought they did
a very good job because last year you'd

682
00:42:14.559 --> 00:42:17.960
go an hour an hour and a
half, Like, come on, man,

683
00:42:19.199 --> 00:42:21.079
you've had all these cool plays.
You're just like, I know,

684
00:42:21.159 --> 00:42:23.519
I'm seeing it. But the point
is you have to put it out there,

685
00:42:23.960 --> 00:42:27.079
and then you know, you have
to show those highlights. So it's

686
00:42:27.119 --> 00:42:29.840
a part of the viewing experience.
Now you get the phone in your hand.

687
00:42:29.880 --> 00:42:32.360
You're doing it for people who don't
have access to TVV anyway. But

688
00:42:32.519 --> 00:42:36.000
I thought they did a very good
job with social media. They're doing a

689
00:42:36.000 --> 00:42:38.280
good job on their YouTube channel.
A much better job than they did last

690
00:42:38.360 --> 00:42:42.559
year. There's areas for improvement.
What you have to do is you have

691
00:42:42.639 --> 00:42:45.559
to put yourself in the shoes of
a fan whenever you're doing any of these

692
00:42:45.599 --> 00:42:47.760
things, and you have to say, Okay, as a fan, when

693
00:42:47.800 --> 00:42:52.239
I watch the NFL, what do
I want from a postgame show? And

694
00:42:52.440 --> 00:42:55.519
write that down? What do I
like from their post game show? Write

695
00:42:55.519 --> 00:42:59.679
that down? What are they missing? So? And then I think you

696
00:42:59.719 --> 00:43:01.079
needed that. You need to do
that. What do I do? Like

697
00:43:01.360 --> 00:43:06.119
the XFL social media teams, these
special teams, they have to if they're

698
00:43:06.239 --> 00:43:07.280
NFL fans, they have to sit
there and go what do I do On

699
00:43:07.360 --> 00:43:10.440
Sunday mornings when NFL games are about
ready to go about an hour and a

700
00:43:10.480 --> 00:43:14.519
half, they have a routine of
going to see the inactives. Every team

701
00:43:14.559 --> 00:43:16.480
post them. Why can't we do
that? So? I mean, every

702
00:43:16.480 --> 00:43:21.159
team posts their injury report every day. So it's not a bad thing to

703
00:43:21.239 --> 00:43:24.320
copy. Uh, I had the
NFL. There's some things right, because

704
00:43:24.320 --> 00:43:28.360
there's stuff they don't do right the
NFL, and you could see it in

705
00:43:28.360 --> 00:43:31.320
the UFL. Because the UFL,
with the transparency, with the review all

706
00:43:31.360 --> 00:43:34.800
that stuff, it's ahead of the
game, with the technology they use,

707
00:43:34.840 --> 00:43:37.800
with the first down marker, that's
way ahead of the game. The access

708
00:43:37.840 --> 00:43:42.199
they give the UFL XFL USFL have
given you on the sidelines with players,

709
00:43:42.440 --> 00:43:45.480
that's I don't know if we'll ever
see that in the NFL, like players

710
00:43:45.480 --> 00:43:47.039
be an interview during the game.
It's so cool. I think it's cool.

711
00:43:47.079 --> 00:43:50.840
I know a lot of people,
traditionals don't like it. I think

712
00:43:51.239 --> 00:43:53.039
you don't always get great moments,
I know, but I think it's cool

713
00:43:53.039 --> 00:43:57.199
that write after somebody makes a big
player or you know. The crazy thing

714
00:43:57.280 --> 00:44:00.119
is they didn't really the old school
XFL would have went to Genie Delance and

715
00:44:00.159 --> 00:44:02.400
would have went right in his face
and said, why'd you spin on that

716
00:44:02.440 --> 00:44:06.719
player? And they would and that
would have made for the heck of television.

717
00:44:06.719 --> 00:44:08.760
But I guess they avoided that.
They kind of interviewed destroying. But

718
00:44:09.599 --> 00:44:15.559
I mean, hey, it's part
of the game. So anyway, He's

719
00:44:15.719 --> 00:44:16.960
right, I got a lot of
it, like heat on that. I'm

720
00:44:17.000 --> 00:44:22.920
like you, if you like,
what's his name, dal Hey de la

721
00:44:22.000 --> 00:44:25.719
Hey Donald Donald, I'm like,
if you, it's fine. I just

722
00:44:27.199 --> 00:44:30.239
I don't Well, here's the thing
with here's the thing with him, and

723
00:44:30.320 --> 00:44:32.599
I get it. I give him
total credit for building up the social media

724
00:44:32.639 --> 00:44:35.960
deal that he's built up. That's
awesome. I would never be able to

725
00:44:36.000 --> 00:44:37.559
do that. I don't know how
he did it. Good for him.

726
00:44:37.679 --> 00:44:39.519
I know he got in trouble for
it in college football, so that's kind

727
00:44:39.559 --> 00:44:42.760
of the world has changed a lot
now with the NIL, so I think

728
00:44:42.800 --> 00:44:45.599
it's cool that he came out the
other side. I think it's also kind

729
00:44:45.599 --> 00:44:47.239
of cool. I know he's with
the Toronto Argonauts on their practice roster a

730
00:44:47.280 --> 00:44:51.960
few years back. I think it's
cool that he's getting in an opportunity.

731
00:44:52.440 --> 00:44:54.800
He's got to deliver when he's given
the opportunity. He didn't do very much,

732
00:44:55.840 --> 00:44:59.400
and I know they they're building him
up because he has a following.

733
00:44:59.519 --> 00:45:02.159
I get it. But when he
gets the chance, he's got to deliver.

734
00:45:02.360 --> 00:45:06.760
Now, he didn't have to do
anything in that game for the Brahmas,

735
00:45:06.800 --> 00:45:10.920
who had a great debut. But
under that new regime. But but

736
00:45:12.119 --> 00:45:15.159
we'll see, he's got to come
through. He's getting a golden opportunity.

737
00:45:15.159 --> 00:45:17.679
You got a golden ticket here,
league's given him. It helps him that

738
00:45:17.719 --> 00:45:22.960
he's got that social deal, that
he's got that popularity it's an interesting story.

739
00:45:23.559 --> 00:45:27.760
But if he falters, you know, I mean, you know,

740
00:45:27.880 --> 00:45:31.000
then he's got to produce when he's
given the chance to make field goals and

741
00:45:31.079 --> 00:45:34.960
to help his team win. He's
got to come through otherwise. It's good.

742
00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:37.880
There are gonna be people who think
of it as a publicity stunt until

743
00:45:37.920 --> 00:45:43.079
I'll prove it otherwise. So we've
avoided asking this question. Here we go.

744
00:45:43.519 --> 00:45:46.039
Pip wants to know, Mike,
what are your thoughts on adding teams

745
00:45:46.079 --> 00:45:49.880
after year one? How many teams
should they add? What are you gonna

746
00:45:50.119 --> 00:45:52.960
you gotta touch on it, Yeah, yeah, sure, sure, absolutely

747
00:45:52.360 --> 00:45:59.639
the expansion, they discussed having ten
teams, and then I'm not surprised,

748
00:45:59.679 --> 00:46:02.360
I know that is a big controversy
on this. I'm not going into this

749
00:46:02.400 --> 00:46:07.079
season, going into this season.
I'm sorry. Yes, they discussed having

750
00:46:07.079 --> 00:46:09.800
ten teams. They came close a
couple occasions. They decided upon eight for

751
00:46:09.880 --> 00:46:14.360
this year, then revisited for next
year. So I think there's a good

752
00:46:14.480 --> 00:46:19.320
chance, I would say better than
fifty to fifty that we get two new

753
00:46:19.400 --> 00:46:24.679
teams in the league next season.
It doesn't mean now there was some controversy

754
00:46:24.719 --> 00:46:29.039
attached to this because you know,
the recent trademarks, the Ohio Bulldogs,

755
00:46:29.360 --> 00:46:34.400
the Nashville Tuners. I do know
that if there wasn't a merger, that

756
00:46:34.440 --> 00:46:39.400
the Vegas Vipers were either either headed
to Nashville or to Arizona. So make

757
00:46:39.480 --> 00:46:43.440
of that what you will. Whether
they would have been the Nashville Vipers or

758
00:46:43.480 --> 00:46:50.000
the Nashville Tuners, who knows.
But but I don't know with that,

759
00:46:50.119 --> 00:46:53.039
is there history not that I can
recall. I maybe like that is a

760
00:46:53.119 --> 00:46:57.960
terrible thing. The only way I'd
sign off on that is if you tell

761
00:46:58.000 --> 00:47:01.559
me right now they have a Nashville
owner that wants that crazy name. If

762
00:47:01.559 --> 00:47:04.880
you tell me right now they I'll
say, Okay, yeah, his money's

763
00:47:04.920 --> 00:47:07.920
good, right, Okay, sure, Tuners it is. I don't know.

764
00:47:08.039 --> 00:47:12.280
I mean the Jousers is the greatest
spring football league of all time.

765
00:47:12.320 --> 00:47:16.519
I mean, maybe I could get
I'm changing I'm changing the there you go.

766
00:47:16.559 --> 00:47:20.079
You never know. Maybe the logo
you can do the like the tune

767
00:47:20.079 --> 00:47:22.400
thing somehow it looks kind of cool. I don't know. Fork. I

768
00:47:22.400 --> 00:47:27.800
imagine like a tuning fork, right, and we're to make it like right?

769
00:47:28.320 --> 00:47:30.360
It could work. It could grow
on you. I mean, there's

770
00:47:30.360 --> 00:47:31.559
a lot of the origin behind a
lot of these pro football names. I

771
00:47:31.559 --> 00:47:35.239
mean, the Packers are meat packers, they would name they didn't have any

772
00:47:35.239 --> 00:47:38.760
money that franchise, so they named
it after the meat packers right there locally,

773
00:47:38.800 --> 00:47:43.519
so they needed somebody to fund the
team, So Packers it is so

774
00:47:43.559 --> 00:47:46.480
anyhow, but maybe you never know. But Nashville and Ohio. I do

775
00:47:46.639 --> 00:47:51.400
know that the idea was for Vipers
need to go to Nashville Arizona, and

776
00:47:51.440 --> 00:47:55.039
I do know that, Uh,
I can't just missed the cut, so

777
00:47:58.239 --> 00:48:02.480
tuning for it. It looks pretty
good. That might work. I don't

778
00:48:02.480 --> 00:48:07.119
know you can sell me on it
because I'm like big on like it almost

779
00:48:07.159 --> 00:48:10.960
has like a trident look to it
a little bit so anyhow, but but

780
00:48:12.119 --> 00:48:15.280
yeah, I do think this league
is gonna go. I you know,

781
00:48:15.639 --> 00:48:21.119
barring them, there's like if they
have a horrible year at the gate and

782
00:48:21.159 --> 00:48:23.800
their ratings are very bad and things
collapse, I could totally And they don't

783
00:48:23.840 --> 00:48:28.360
have a good championship rating and they
don't do very well as far as sponsorships

784
00:48:28.360 --> 00:48:30.760
and all that. Let's say the
year is a disaster, which I don't

785
00:48:30.760 --> 00:48:32.960
think it'll be, but let's just
say it's just completely craters it doesn't they

786
00:48:32.960 --> 00:48:37.159
don't do very well, then it's
possible that they decided let's just stay with

787
00:48:37.199 --> 00:48:42.000
eight teams again. But I really
think that they came so close, and

788
00:48:42.119 --> 00:48:44.320
you know, people were telling me, hey, they can't and would be

789
00:48:44.360 --> 00:48:46.639
a part of this right that,
and that they would have ten teams.

790
00:48:46.840 --> 00:48:52.159
When they decided on eight, Ohio
was on the chopping block. So I

791
00:48:52.239 --> 00:48:55.280
do, and I'm a huge supporter
of you know, i'd like to see

792
00:48:55.320 --> 00:48:59.280
him in Columbus, but anywhere in
Ohio. I think it's an awesome football

793
00:48:59.320 --> 00:49:01.679
play, So I think that would
be very cool. So I think we're

794
00:49:01.719 --> 00:49:06.559
gonna get I think we're gonna get
two new teams. That's a hook too.

795
00:49:06.800 --> 00:49:08.519
By the way, I think they
almost kind of have to do that.

796
00:49:08.559 --> 00:49:13.440
They need a new hook for twenty
twenty five. Not just hey,

797
00:49:13.480 --> 00:49:15.519
we're coming back for season two of
the UFL. I mean that's cool,

798
00:49:15.599 --> 00:49:20.280
right, But I think the hook
is we're gonna have to We're gonna add

799
00:49:20.320 --> 00:49:23.199
on two teams. We'll have five
weekly games. Well, I think that

800
00:49:23.199 --> 00:49:27.920
would be pretty cool. I think
the fans wanted. Fans always want expansion.

801
00:49:28.239 --> 00:49:30.559
It just has to be done the
right way. The right choices have

802
00:49:30.639 --> 00:49:35.119
to be made. So, but
I honestly think I honestly think we're gonna

803
00:49:35.119 --> 00:49:38.599
add at least two teams next year. I thought that hurt the USFL going

804
00:49:38.639 --> 00:49:43.480
into season too, that the biggest
stories were, Okay, Memphis is playing

805
00:49:43.480 --> 00:49:46.480
in Memphis and Michigan's playing in Michigan. But I think that wasn't enough,

806
00:49:46.519 --> 00:49:49.599
like you said, to get like
casual fans like, oh man, they're

807
00:49:49.639 --> 00:49:52.960
adding two new teams, and like, I mean, you know, I

808
00:49:52.960 --> 00:49:55.119
don't know what. There's a non
zero number of people that you know,

809
00:49:55.159 --> 00:49:59.840
supported the Michigan Panthers more when they
were in Michigan. It was not right

810
00:50:00.280 --> 00:50:02.199
now that they're here, like now
I'm allway, And there's always gonna be

811
00:50:02.239 --> 00:50:06.800
people unhappy, right because, like
let's say they choose this hypothetically, they

812
00:50:06.880 --> 00:50:08.159
choose Ohio and Nashville, there's gonna
be a bunch of people that go,

813
00:50:08.199 --> 00:50:10.199
why didn't you go to San Diego, Why didn't you go to Oakland?

814
00:50:10.400 --> 00:50:13.719
How come you don't have any in
New York Northeast teams? Why don't you

815
00:50:13.760 --> 00:50:15.960
bring back the mall Ers or the
Stars or the generals or the dragons or

816
00:50:15.960 --> 00:50:20.360
whatever. So there'll never be people
that are fully happy, but I would

817
00:50:20.400 --> 00:50:22.159
be happy if you added two more
teams. That means more players, more

818
00:50:22.239 --> 00:50:27.400
jobs, more games. So I'm
all for it if they can. I

819
00:50:27.440 --> 00:50:30.079
think they need to have a good
season this year, and like I said,

820
00:50:30.079 --> 00:50:34.440
not not have an awful year at
the gate awful year in the ratings,

821
00:50:34.440 --> 00:50:36.679
because if they do that, they'll
come back for next year, but

822
00:50:36.960 --> 00:50:40.239
they'll be limping into it. Eugene
had this might be a quick one because

823
00:50:40.239 --> 00:50:44.239
we I thought we had. He
wants to know any plans on flex scheduling

824
00:50:44.320 --> 00:50:45.880
now that we had a little bit. Didn't we have flex last year where

825
00:50:45.880 --> 00:50:50.719
we shifted time slots a little bit? Yeah, yeah, I and they

826
00:50:50.760 --> 00:50:52.519
do that during the season. I
think that's a very good idea, especially

827
00:50:52.559 --> 00:50:55.280
as you get you know you have
I'd have to look at the schedule,

828
00:50:55.320 --> 00:50:59.079
but it's a very good question.
I think as you get towards the end

829
00:50:59.079 --> 00:51:00.719
of the year, I don't know
what the playoff picture looks like. I

830
00:51:00.719 --> 00:51:06.639
think you need to flex your best
games into primetime or into the windows,

831
00:51:06.679 --> 00:51:08.679
the ABC Fox windows. Fortunately the
league has whatever it is, thirty one

832
00:51:08.760 --> 00:51:12.840
games on both those, But you
know, you might have two teams that

833
00:51:12.880 --> 00:51:15.800
are out of it and they might
have like the primetime game on Fox,

834
00:51:15.840 --> 00:51:20.960
and you know, I would like
to if possible, I would like to

835
00:51:21.000 --> 00:51:22.800
do that. So I think they
did do that. They announced ahead of

836
00:51:22.840 --> 00:51:27.000
time during the XFL season. Oh, by the way, we're moving this

837
00:51:27.079 --> 00:51:29.800
game to this time and this game
to that time. So I think that's

838
00:51:30.000 --> 00:51:34.719
possible for this season. I think
you want to Ideally, you want to

839
00:51:34.760 --> 00:51:37.119
wait towards, like towards the end
of the year, when you get into

840
00:51:37.119 --> 00:51:40.480
those final few weeks of the season
before you start, because I think everybody's

841
00:51:40.480 --> 00:51:44.519
still alive until you get to like
week eight, Week nine, week ten.

842
00:51:44.559 --> 00:51:45.760
And last year was crazy. We
had three four and six teams make

843
00:51:45.800 --> 00:51:50.280
the playoffs in these two leagues.
You know, yeah, because I it

844
00:51:50.320 --> 00:51:52.800
was like one of them was a
c dragging game because I remember, like

845
00:51:52.840 --> 00:51:53.800
we got the email and I was
like, you know, because we had

846
00:51:53.840 --> 00:51:55.679
tickets, So I, oh,
this game is going to be you know

847
00:51:55.719 --> 00:52:00.519
whatever time. Now, Mirror Twin
wants to know. I know all Fantasy

848
00:52:00.559 --> 00:52:01.960
is doing their thing. I'm in
the league and it's begins. So far.

849
00:52:02.320 --> 00:52:07.639
Plans have a UFL ESPN partnership for
Fantasy to get some more fans involved.

850
00:52:07.679 --> 00:52:08.639
I mean, I know, we
had Daryl Johnson on, We've been

851
00:52:08.679 --> 00:52:12.800
talking injury report to kind of all
that stud but just trying to like it

852
00:52:12.920 --> 00:52:15.639
just feels to me like they never
really grasped this. And I we had

853
00:52:15.679 --> 00:52:20.519
Airic eger On and Javon On and
the pre show, like I would literally

854
00:52:20.639 --> 00:52:23.840
hire if Fox doesn't have this,
like hire someone to do like fantasy dfs

855
00:52:23.840 --> 00:52:27.400
like brain trust for one of these
leagues. But what do you make of

856
00:52:27.440 --> 00:52:30.159
this? And I'm trying to get
these fans in. Yeah, it's very

857
00:52:30.199 --> 00:52:32.039
old world thinking that they're not up
on top of this. You know,

858
00:52:32.079 --> 00:52:37.840
as far as fantasy football goes,
I haven't heard a thing. I've reached

859
00:52:37.880 --> 00:52:39.559
I've actually reached out, I've asked, I haven't heard. Hey, we

860
00:52:39.599 --> 00:52:43.079
plan on doing this this next year. We plan on doing this. I

861
00:52:43.119 --> 00:52:47.000
think they just want to maybe develop
partnerships with the popular DFS sites or what

862
00:52:47.119 --> 00:52:52.519
have you. I could only imagine
how successful their app would be if they

863
00:52:52.639 --> 00:52:58.159
had how much traffic they would get
if they actually had fantasy football on their

864
00:52:58.159 --> 00:53:02.239
own app. Everybody would sign up. So it's and if they had injury

865
00:53:02.280 --> 00:53:06.559
reports on there, if they had
all that, you can get the transactions

866
00:53:06.559 --> 00:53:07.559
on there. If they had all
that on there, you would get people

867
00:53:07.559 --> 00:53:12.880
every day checking that multiple time today, multiple time. Yeah, you have

868
00:53:12.920 --> 00:53:15.480
to. You have to think about
it, like again, put your shoes

869
00:53:15.519 --> 00:53:17.679
and put yourself in the shoes of
an NFL fan. What do NFL fans

870
00:53:17.719 --> 00:53:21.960
do? And that's what I do
during the week. I play fantasy football

871
00:53:22.360 --> 00:53:24.639
and I pay attention to every team's
injury reports, and I do all that

872
00:53:24.679 --> 00:53:29.840
stuff and it's immersive. It's part
of the process of being You can't wait

873
00:53:29.840 --> 00:53:31.480
for that first practice report, you
can't wait for that first injury report.

874
00:53:31.559 --> 00:53:35.840
I'm not even a gambler. I
pay attention to the lines too, the

875
00:53:35.920 --> 00:53:38.320
over, the under. It's kind
of like so that's all part of it,

876
00:53:38.400 --> 00:53:44.400
and I have Unfortunately, these leagues
have yet to get it right.

877
00:53:45.280 --> 00:53:49.679
You know, from the AF on
down. They haven't delved into it or

878
00:53:49.719 --> 00:53:52.639
figured this aspect out. If they
they need to get some hire someone to

879
00:53:52.679 --> 00:53:58.000
do it for them, because it
just seems like an old world thinking kind

880
00:53:58.039 --> 00:54:01.840
of deal where they don't understand that
Jerry Cardinals not picking up running backs from

881
00:54:01.840 --> 00:54:07.400
the Cardinals. I'm very unlikely that
Danny Garcia is making trades in her fantasy

882
00:54:07.480 --> 00:54:09.159
league. So they have no knowledge
of it. They don't understand the worth,

883
00:54:09.159 --> 00:54:15.440
and they just do not get it. They don't understand how fantasy There

884
00:54:15.519 --> 00:54:17.639
was a time, you know,
Peter King was just retired. He wrote

885
00:54:17.639 --> 00:54:22.280
an article for Sports Illustrated where you
know, ten ways to save a boring

886
00:54:22.440 --> 00:54:25.079
NFL. And so there was a
time, and I remember in the early

887
00:54:25.159 --> 00:54:28.960
nineties, there was a time when
the NFL was considered boring. And I

888
00:54:29.039 --> 00:54:32.559
really think that fantasy football was a
big reason why the NFL started to become

889
00:54:32.599 --> 00:54:37.840
the monster that it is, because
it just made people in their markets fans

890
00:54:37.840 --> 00:54:43.920
of every team and show interest in
every game and so and then that's like

891
00:54:43.960 --> 00:54:45.400
where we're at. It's a red
zone and all these channels. All that

892
00:54:45.400 --> 00:54:49.960
stuff is fun when you're playing fantasy
football. Good lord, stressful, but

893
00:54:50.039 --> 00:54:53.039
fun well. And also, you
know, even if the game is lost

894
00:54:53.159 --> 00:54:57.159
or you know, it's not a
competitive game anymore, it gives you a

895
00:54:57.159 --> 00:55:00.039
reason to kind of watch all that
stuff, you know, because I I

896
00:55:00.039 --> 00:55:01.599
remember, like the you know,
they even try to talk about it.

897
00:55:01.599 --> 00:55:06.519
This weekend wasn't a great weekend for
me to do like commentator analysis because the

898
00:55:06.559 --> 00:55:08.079
one game we were in the press
box. Two of the games I was

899
00:55:08.079 --> 00:55:10.960
at bars and I was watching on
the airplane the other one. But you

900
00:55:12.039 --> 00:55:14.480
know, they're like, oh,
they kicked the field goal. Well,

901
00:55:14.519 --> 00:55:16.639
if you're betting the over on this
game, like you're a happy camper,

902
00:55:16.679 --> 00:55:21.960
I'm like, yeah, like I
don't know sports betting at all. I

903
00:55:22.039 --> 00:55:23.039
was just on the podcast and they're
like, hey, like, what are

904
00:55:23.079 --> 00:55:27.000
your prop bets for the weekend.
I'm like, I, you were asking

905
00:55:27.000 --> 00:55:30.400
the wrong homie for that one.
But like, even I understand that there

906
00:55:30.400 --> 00:55:34.440
is such a large portion of that
they would they would just watch the games

907
00:55:34.519 --> 00:55:36.880
just to bet and play on them. They even if they don't even care

908
00:55:36.920 --> 00:55:39.039
about the league at all. You
know what's funny. I had a tweet

909
00:55:39.159 --> 00:55:45.039
last week. I bring up his
name, Matty Fresh put out like the

910
00:55:45.079 --> 00:55:47.719
lines, So I went ahead and
I replied to it and I gave whatever,

911
00:55:49.199 --> 00:55:51.559
like who I thought my the favorites
were, And it only had like

912
00:55:51.559 --> 00:55:54.119
four likes to tweet. I was
thinking on nobody even noticed. I said,

913
00:55:54.119 --> 00:55:59.760
I like Michigan and San Antonio's home
underdogs, and I take Memphis out

914
00:55:59.840 --> 00:56:04.400
right obviously taking Birmingham. I didn't
think anybody saw out or cared about it.

915
00:56:04.440 --> 00:56:06.519
You know how mean people reached out
to me and said, wow,

916
00:56:06.559 --> 00:56:08.719
Mike, you know so much.
How did you know this was gonna happen?

917
00:56:08.840 --> 00:56:13.159
I'm like what. And people who
are into this are asking me my

918
00:56:13.280 --> 00:56:17.639
opinions on dfs, They're asking my
opinions on prop bets, on spreads all

919
00:56:17.679 --> 00:56:22.719
that, and so I got lucky
because sometimes you're completely off. But I

920
00:56:22.760 --> 00:56:27.159
had a feeling about those teams covering. I had no idea Jake Bates was

921
00:56:27.159 --> 00:56:30.119
going to kick a sixty four year
field goal. I knew San Antonio was

922
00:56:30.159 --> 00:56:31.400
going to be better than people were
making them out to be. And I

923
00:56:31.480 --> 00:56:35.679
knew DC, especially early in the
season is when I have struggles. They

924
00:56:35.719 --> 00:56:40.199
lost too many big time players,
so it to not affect them so anyhow,

925
00:56:40.280 --> 00:56:45.239
But there are people. My point
is to say, there are people

926
00:56:45.320 --> 00:56:49.599
out there that are so into this
stuff and that they're waiting for you to

927
00:56:49.639 --> 00:56:52.239
provide this, and when they don't, they turn away from your league.

928
00:56:52.800 --> 00:56:57.679
So it's unfortunate. They just haven't
quite None of these leagues can figure it

929
00:56:57.679 --> 00:57:00.079
out. I don't know if it's
just older people that are just older generation

930
00:57:00.199 --> 00:57:04.880
that don't understand it. They don't
they don't get it, but they don't

931
00:57:04.960 --> 00:57:07.719
understand, Like you just have to
pay attention, Like you have to pay

932
00:57:07.760 --> 00:57:13.960
attention to what the what happens during
an NFL season, Like how immersed fans

933
00:57:14.000 --> 00:57:20.119
are. That's how you monetize your
fan base when they're not at the games.

934
00:57:20.519 --> 00:57:24.119
You have entire TV shows on you
know, NFL network now, Like

935
00:57:24.519 --> 00:57:28.920
I watched f I Network a lot
RP Good Morning Football right now while they

936
00:57:28.960 --> 00:57:30.320
haven't figure out what the heck's going
on with that, but like they have

937
00:57:30.559 --> 00:57:35.800
entire programs, hour long program like
getting your fancies out of the lineup,

938
00:57:36.079 --> 00:57:38.599
Like you know, it's it's such
a stupid thing, but it is.

939
00:57:38.679 --> 00:57:43.599
It is. It's the world is
invested in this now. I mean,

940
00:57:43.639 --> 00:57:46.480
I don't get it. I just
don't. I can't justify playing. You

941
00:57:46.519 --> 00:57:50.800
know, Dorothy would divorce me.
But like it's such a thing that,

942
00:57:50.880 --> 00:57:53.440
like you said, for them not
to understand, and my last point,

943
00:57:53.599 --> 00:57:58.639
and then when you don't provide the
stuff, then these markets dry up,

944
00:57:58.719 --> 00:58:00.960
right Because I remember USFL Season one. I'd have people on every week because

945
00:58:00.960 --> 00:58:04.360
I'm like, oh, shoot,
these are guys that actually know all the

946
00:58:04.360 --> 00:58:07.159
football on their top because they got
to know all this. And you get

947
00:58:07.159 --> 00:58:08.519
to week eight nine, and they're
like, yeah, we went from having

948
00:58:08.519 --> 00:58:13.760
a one hundred thousand dollars pot to
ten thousand dollars pot. However it works

949
00:58:13.800 --> 00:58:17.320
because they're like, there's not enough
interest to justify doing that. It's unfortunate.

950
00:58:17.559 --> 00:58:21.239
And that's the thing. That's the
thing with the NFL. Has fantasy

951
00:58:21.239 --> 00:58:23.960
football and gambling have turned casual fans
that hey, I'll check out the NFL

952
00:58:24.000 --> 00:58:29.960
game when it's on Sunday to every
day fans twenty four hours of day fans

953
00:58:30.039 --> 00:58:34.480
like they're completely bought in, and
so it's a big part of it.

954
00:58:34.480 --> 00:58:37.920
It's huge, and that information is
free to give out. They just I'm

955
00:58:38.039 --> 00:58:44.159
hoping that one day that they'll actually
they'll have someone who comes to them and

956
00:58:44.239 --> 00:58:49.360
pitches them on it that has experienced
in the field and that can help them,

957
00:58:49.840 --> 00:58:52.480
you know, join the year twenty
twenty four, because they're really way

958
00:58:52.519 --> 00:58:59.519
behind on that, so they haven't
they don't understand how much interest and traffic

959
00:58:59.599 --> 00:59:04.679
that will drive if they do it. Yeah, I have eight guys that

960
00:59:04.800 --> 00:59:07.639
have been on my podcast in the
last six months with you know and and

961
00:59:07.719 --> 00:59:12.039
a harpyt and be able to revolutionize
that. It's just it's crazy. Sorry,

962
00:59:12.840 --> 00:59:15.119
it's all good, but it's the
truth. It's just like and then

963
00:59:15.159 --> 00:59:17.079
the people who are like the Matthew
Berryes of the world, who I respect

964
00:59:17.119 --> 00:59:21.239
the field Yates, all these people
that Daniel Dopp was doing. He knows

965
00:59:21.280 --> 00:59:24.159
all about fantasy football. You you
would he has good opinions too in that

966
00:59:24.239 --> 00:59:29.599
area in the NFL, Stefania Bells, these people would have more interest in

967
00:59:29.639 --> 00:59:35.360
the UFL if you actually had straight
up fantasy football. And so you know,

968
00:59:36.719 --> 00:59:39.599
one day, I don't know,
uh, we got this will be

969
00:59:39.760 --> 00:59:43.760
rapid for this is actual football that
we'll talk here, rapid fire here.

970
00:59:43.800 --> 00:59:45.079
There's multiple ones in years, so
we'll kind of rapid fire this. And

971
00:59:45.119 --> 00:59:49.440
then I have a final round out
question here. We'll do Federal here,

972
00:59:49.719 --> 00:59:52.800
Federal here, Hill I can't even
speak, No Friar wants to know.

973
00:59:52.960 --> 00:59:59.519
First question, Houston really that bad? Yes, here's the thing. Here's

974
00:59:59.559 --> 01:00:01.679
the thing though, that what what
will keep them in games this year?

975
01:00:01.840 --> 01:00:10.800
If Mark Thompson's head's on correctly and
he's healthy and that defense we saw ye

976
01:00:12.280 --> 01:00:15.639
if I'll tell you that because they
have a chance. Mark Thompson's the best

977
01:00:15.679 --> 01:00:19.199
running back in the league, and
they have defense is really good. Their

978
01:00:19.199 --> 01:00:22.679
offense put him in bad spots in
Week one. Memphis is so much more

979
01:00:22.719 --> 01:00:24.920
talented overall than they are, they
still had a chance in that game.

980
01:00:25.000 --> 01:00:30.119
So Houston is bad. But if
this makes any sense, they can be

981
01:00:30.159 --> 01:00:34.840
a competitive bad until they get the
quarterback position correctly and figure that out.

982
01:00:35.159 --> 01:00:37.800
They're gonna have a hard time stacking
up against case cookus in Memphis. Obviously,

983
01:00:37.880 --> 01:00:43.280
Birmingham with you know, Matt corral
and so, and Michigan now with

984
01:00:43.320 --> 01:00:46.079
their defense. So we'll see what
happens with d J. Priory. But

985
01:00:47.039 --> 01:00:51.960
Houston is that bad because they can't
right now stack up at quarterback until they

986
01:00:51.960 --> 01:00:55.239
figure that out. But I do
think they can be competitive every week because

987
01:00:55.320 --> 01:01:00.519
they do have the makings of a
like the top notch run game and a

988
01:01:00.599 --> 01:01:06.880
really good defense. And how did
the Rothers get so good? Who?

989
01:01:07.239 --> 01:01:09.880
They got forty one new players?
They got a fifty player roster. They

990
01:01:09.920 --> 01:01:15.039
got forty one new players. And
it's not just roughnecks from last year.

991
01:01:15.280 --> 01:01:17.119
Yeah, they got a healthy John
Trey Kirklan. That kind of helps.

992
01:01:17.159 --> 01:01:22.760
But if you notice some of their
new imports, like Anthony McFarland right this

993
01:01:22.760 --> 01:01:25.239
this these guys, you know you
got to give Mark lily Bridge credit.

994
01:01:25.280 --> 01:01:30.000
You could see a lot of like
recent Marquis Stevenson wide receiver, slot receiver,

995
01:01:30.280 --> 01:01:34.360
six round pick of the Buffalo Bills. Mark lily Bridge Bridge did a

996
01:01:34.440 --> 01:01:37.679
very good job putting that roster together, and I think a lot of people

997
01:01:37.679 --> 01:01:40.360
were overlooking what he did and they
kept thinking about last year's promise. They

998
01:01:40.360 --> 01:01:45.239
only have nine players and the ones
they brought back from last year, Delante

999
01:01:45.280 --> 01:01:49.639
Scott, Alise Mac those guys are
really freaking good, so you want to

1000
01:01:49.639 --> 01:01:52.039
bring those guys back. So I
think, how San Antonio, you don't

1001
01:01:52.079 --> 01:01:55.159
see that very often in a football
team. I know there's a lot of

1002
01:01:55.159 --> 01:02:00.159
turnover in the NFL, but like
forty one out of fifty new players,

1003
01:02:00.079 --> 01:02:07.599
that's that's quite the makeover. Will
cook as thrive with the show Boats if

1004
01:02:07.599 --> 01:02:12.880
he could stay alive, you know, Like I I admire his toughness.

1005
01:02:12.920 --> 01:02:15.159
You know, he stays in the
pocket up until the last second, and

1006
01:02:15.280 --> 01:02:19.639
it makes me worry about him staying
healthy because he waits. I love the

1007
01:02:19.679 --> 01:02:22.920
fact that. And you know you
heard the announcers there like a logan Bill

1008
01:02:22.960 --> 01:02:24.760
was so impressed with Cookis. I
think this is their first time like calling

1009
01:02:24.800 --> 01:02:28.280
the game with him. I know
they've heard of him, knew about him,

1010
01:02:28.320 --> 01:02:30.960
but you know, I was like, yeah, you guys are learning

1011
01:02:30.960 --> 01:02:34.480
for the first time. How tough
this kid is. I think Cookis is

1012
01:02:34.519 --> 01:02:40.079
like the one team one quarterback that
I trust overtaking Birmingham in the USFL Conference.

1013
01:02:40.559 --> 01:02:45.039
If he can stay healthy, Memphis
has a very talented roster. Got

1014
01:02:45.039 --> 01:02:50.000
to remember case Cookis was and that
first Stallions championship when he left the game

1015
01:02:50.079 --> 01:02:52.159
unfortunately right before his wedding, would
have broke his leg or whatever. They

1016
01:02:52.360 --> 01:02:55.320
the Stars are winning that game when
he left, and then it kind of

1017
01:02:55.480 --> 01:03:00.280
craziness whatever was kJ Costello and Alex
McGoo battling it out. Both starting quarterbacks

1018
01:03:00.280 --> 01:03:07.039
got hurt. Stallions came out on
top. But Cookis is good a good

1019
01:03:07.079 --> 01:03:10.760
quarterback if they you know, they
kind of slept walk through that game last

1020
01:03:10.760 --> 01:03:15.519
week. But I think Memphis is
a chance to be better. I remember

1021
01:03:15.559 --> 01:03:19.199
getting yelled at because I wasn't at
the USFL Championship game that season. That's

1022
01:03:19.199 --> 01:03:22.320
where I was working. I think
four weddings in five days or whatever it

1023
01:03:22.360 --> 01:03:27.039
was. That was always fun.
What is the issue with DC? They

1024
01:03:27.079 --> 01:03:30.480
lost their three biggest stars, so
think about it. In any sport,

1025
01:03:30.679 --> 01:03:34.079
doesn't matter if it's football or any
sport. If you lose your three best

1026
01:03:34.079 --> 01:03:37.119
players. If you take any team
in sports and just take your three best

1027
01:03:37.119 --> 01:03:40.000
players off of it, you're gonna
have an issue. So I mean,

1028
01:03:40.000 --> 01:03:45.559
there's no disrespect to Jordan Tamu,
who I had a decent Week one.

1029
01:03:45.639 --> 01:03:47.559
He was actually victimized. I think
that five drops DC. He threw two

1030
01:03:47.599 --> 01:03:52.119
touchdown passes that were negated because the
penalties. Mister Delance, see you later,

1031
01:03:52.159 --> 01:03:57.960
sir, so I think they had
the lost two of the wide receivers

1032
01:03:58.039 --> 01:04:00.599
in the NFL, and Chris Blair
Lucky Accent were fourth and fifth in the

1033
01:04:00.840 --> 01:04:05.159
in the XFL in receiving. Their
yards per catch were ridiculous. They produced

1034
01:04:05.159 --> 01:04:09.199
so many big plays. Teams tried
to put eight men in the box to

1035
01:04:09.239 --> 01:04:12.760
stop Abram Smith and they paid for
it dearly. When they did that,

1036
01:04:13.280 --> 01:04:18.320
it was difficult to defend against the
defenders. So Abram Smith is a huge

1037
01:04:18.400 --> 01:04:25.320
loss and until somebody steps up.
I think the Kiki qt pickup was a

1038
01:04:25.320 --> 01:04:28.840
good one. Yet he should have
two touchdowns last week. I think Brandon

1039
01:04:28.840 --> 01:04:31.239
Smith has to play better this week. Ty Scott had a nice debut.

1040
01:04:31.280 --> 01:04:34.599
His first game with the Defenders.
I think that this team, you know,

1041
01:04:35.400 --> 01:04:39.039
they got a wake up call and
they got a huge game coming up

1042
01:04:39.159 --> 01:04:44.679
on Sunday against Houston. You know
that might be ugly. Both those teams

1043
01:04:44.760 --> 01:04:47.760
only scored twelve points a piece last
week. So DC's got a lot of

1044
01:04:47.760 --> 01:04:54.519
pressure to keep their undefeated streak intact
in DC and to get their mojo back

1045
01:04:54.559 --> 01:04:57.280
because they kind of lost it in
that championship game to Arlington. That was

1046
01:04:57.320 --> 01:05:00.360
a game they shouldn't have lost,
and then they you know, San Antonio

1047
01:05:00.440 --> 01:05:04.760
was two steps ahead of them physically
and mentally. Last week. Does the

1048
01:05:04.840 --> 01:05:10.400
league go through Birmingham. I predicted
the Stillings and win the whole thing,

1049
01:05:10.400 --> 01:05:13.760
So I'm obviously bullish on them.
I have a lot of respect for Skip

1050
01:05:13.760 --> 01:05:15.960
Holtz. It's kind of interesting.
They have thirteen players from that twenty twenty

1051
01:05:16.039 --> 01:05:18.960
two championship team, so they got
a lot of big leaders from that.

1052
01:05:19.039 --> 01:05:24.000
They're trying to win their third straight
championship. That staff is very good.

1053
01:05:24.119 --> 01:05:30.639
Continuity helps. They're the team to
beat until proven otherwise, until proven,

1054
01:05:30.800 --> 01:05:33.480
they're the Kings of the Spring.
So until proven otherwise, until they're knocked

1055
01:05:33.480 --> 01:05:39.400
off the throne, you got to
respect the ring. Was Saint Louis lost

1056
01:05:39.519 --> 01:05:42.039
just bad luck or was there something
else they could have done to win.

1057
01:05:42.840 --> 01:05:45.599
I don't know. Saint Louis kind
of deserved to lose that game. It's

1058
01:05:45.760 --> 01:05:48.480
kind of crazy. They lost on
a sixty four yard field goal. They

1059
01:05:48.480 --> 01:05:51.400
were thoroughly outplayed at the line of
scrimmage. They did not play well.

1060
01:05:51.440 --> 01:05:57.480
Anthony Beck was ticked off after that
game because they just did not they just

1061
01:05:57.480 --> 01:06:01.280
stay. They did their performance.
They're better overall than Michigan on paper,

1062
01:06:01.360 --> 01:06:05.199
clearly have a better offense. They
missed opportunities. A g mcchaernon missed a

1063
01:06:05.199 --> 01:06:10.320
wide open touchdown down the field.
They just were sloppy in that game.

1064
01:06:10.400 --> 01:06:12.639
And I think, you know,
last year they got away with that.

1065
01:06:12.639 --> 01:06:15.760
They played some games like against San
Antonio where they were you know, outplayed

1066
01:06:15.760 --> 01:06:18.280
for three quarters and a half and
then finally way to pull that off in

1067
01:06:18.320 --> 01:06:20.840
the end. And they almost did
the same thing in Week one. A

1068
01:06:20.840 --> 01:06:25.480
lot of pressure on Saint Louis too. They got a huge game coming up

1069
01:06:25.480 --> 01:06:27.840
with Arlington. One of those two
teams is going to be zero to two

1070
01:06:27.920 --> 01:06:30.880
when the smoke settles on Week two. I don't think it was bad luck.

1071
01:06:31.039 --> 01:06:35.360
I think, I know that's hard
to say what a team of opposing

1072
01:06:35.360 --> 01:06:41.320
team kicks a kick sixty four yards
twice, but they kind of the football

1073
01:06:41.360 --> 01:06:44.880
gods were like, well, you
guys don't deserve this one. So so

1074
01:06:45.119 --> 01:06:47.760
I think they kind of Saint Louis
and Saint Louis had won last week,

1075
01:06:47.800 --> 01:06:50.880
they would have stole that one because
they really didn't play very well, and

1076
01:06:51.000 --> 01:06:54.880
Michigan kept you know, EG Perry
turning the ball over in the red zone

1077
01:06:54.960 --> 01:06:59.800
kind of kept Saint Louis alive to
make that little Marcel eate Men come back

1078
01:07:00.239 --> 01:07:02.639
end. And then the final one
to bounce off or bounce off of that

1079
01:07:03.039 --> 01:07:10.199
Panthers contender is question mark who.
That defense is really good. They're running

1080
01:07:10.199 --> 01:07:13.760
back. They're like Houston in a
way because they have a big time running

1081
01:07:13.760 --> 01:07:16.320
back in West Hills and they have
a big time defense. The question is

1082
01:07:16.480 --> 01:07:19.840
the quarterback is kind of spunky,
like he's a good runner and he's tough

1083
01:07:19.880 --> 01:07:24.480
EJ. Perry, but he can't
play like he did last week. I

1084
01:07:25.920 --> 01:07:30.639
Michigan has the moxie to him if
that quarterback can straighten out, and you

1085
01:07:30.679 --> 01:07:32.559
know, and their offensive line played
okay. Although Saint Louis. I think

1086
01:07:32.599 --> 01:07:36.039
kind of won that battle the line
of scrimmage. Michigan has a chance.

1087
01:07:36.239 --> 01:07:39.440
They'll They'll be in every game.
They'll be in every game they have.

1088
01:07:39.519 --> 01:07:42.360
E J. Perry's got to play
better though, otherwise. You know,

1089
01:07:42.480 --> 01:07:45.480
if they stun Birmingham this week,
I think you got no choice but to

1090
01:07:45.519 --> 01:07:48.719
respect them. You know, if
they go to two and oho and they

1091
01:07:48.760 --> 01:07:54.159
beat Saint Louis and Birmingham and back
to back weeks and stop those offenses,

1092
01:07:54.199 --> 01:07:57.079
then you have to like tip your
cap and say that, you know,

1093
01:07:57.360 --> 01:08:01.159
the Michigan's for real, especially on
defense. And then bobus went here before

1094
01:08:01.159 --> 01:08:06.360
the last do you like the UFL
USFL you XFL the whole conference, keeping

1095
01:08:06.400 --> 01:08:10.480
track of all the wins and all
that. I'm not surprised by it.

1096
01:08:10.519 --> 01:08:13.280
You knew this would be a part
of this whole thing. I get it.

1097
01:08:14.199 --> 01:08:15.560
Part of me, like I try
to look at things from every different

1098
01:08:15.640 --> 01:08:19.920
angle. You know, these I
get the argument that these two leagues,

1099
01:08:19.920 --> 01:08:23.760
they should be united. We got
to stop this crazy pickering we've been doing

1100
01:08:23.800 --> 01:08:26.920
the last few years. I think
there's a bit of a complex on the

1101
01:08:27.039 --> 01:08:30.680
USFL fans side. I kind of
understand it. A little bit because their

1102
01:08:31.359 --> 01:08:35.680
games had no fans in attendance,
they had the fake piped in crowd noise.

1103
01:08:35.760 --> 01:08:40.039
People. A lot of people were
loyalists to the XFL league in twenty

1104
01:08:40.119 --> 01:08:42.600
twenty and they were like, you
know, just waiting for the XFL to

1105
01:08:42.640 --> 01:08:47.880
come back. So the USFL fan
has felt like disrespected. So of course

1106
01:08:47.920 --> 01:08:51.399
they're going to hang their hat on. You know, hey, we're just

1107
01:08:51.439 --> 01:08:55.039
as good as that league because people
are telling them, like, you know,

1108
01:08:55.119 --> 01:08:58.199
the XFL has more fans, they
have fans, organic fans, and

1109
01:08:58.239 --> 01:09:00.840
attendance. The XFL had more players
in the NFL. So they hear all

1110
01:09:00.880 --> 01:09:04.399
this talk. It's just one mind
you Now, it's just one week,

1111
01:09:04.880 --> 01:09:09.439
right, So I know, Birmingham
beat who I think is the fifth best

1112
01:09:09.479 --> 01:09:13.720
team in the XFL last year because
Seattle was better than Arlington last year.

1113
01:09:13.880 --> 01:09:17.479
DC was obviously better than Arlington last
year. Saint Louis they didn't make the

1114
01:09:17.479 --> 01:09:19.640
playoffs with their seven and three,
they were better. And even the Houston

1115
01:09:19.680 --> 01:09:23.960
Roughnecks, who falter at the end
of the season, they were better overall

1116
01:09:24.079 --> 01:09:27.359
than Arlington. They just onto won
two games at the end. So it

1117
01:09:27.439 --> 01:09:30.199
got a sixty four yardfield goal from
Bates and you got Birmingham beating the fifth

1118
01:09:30.199 --> 01:09:33.119
best team from the XFL last year. I know they were the champs,

1119
01:09:33.159 --> 01:09:38.600
but they weren't the best team in
the XFL. So it's just two games.

1120
01:09:38.680 --> 01:09:41.279
You know, it doesn't end after
this, But I think there's a

1121
01:09:41.399 --> 01:09:47.079
chip on the USFL loyalist side because
they felt like they were being belittled or

1122
01:09:47.119 --> 01:09:51.760
treated as if they didn't count or
if their league was inferior. That maybe

1123
01:09:51.800 --> 01:09:55.800
people won't like it, but that
tribalism is going to be a part of

1124
01:09:55.800 --> 01:10:00.199
this. If there was social media
back in the sixties, NFL fans back

1125
01:10:00.199 --> 01:10:03.560
then, we're crapping all over.
AFL fans took call in that league a

1126
01:10:03.600 --> 01:10:06.600
gimmicky league. And then so when
the AFL came up with Joe Namath and

1127
01:10:06.640 --> 01:10:11.119
beat them finally that it was like
a badge of honor. In the nineties,

1128
01:10:11.159 --> 01:10:14.199
I remember the NFC used to win
it. It felt like every single

1129
01:10:14.239 --> 01:10:17.600
Super Bowl. So I used to
remember the discourse back then where NFC fans

1130
01:10:17.600 --> 01:10:21.119
were just saying the AFC shouldn't even
be a part of our league because the

1131
01:10:21.119 --> 01:10:24.399
Bills get to the Super Bowl,
Broncos get to Super Bowl. They're not

1132
01:10:24.399 --> 01:10:27.000
going to win it anyway. It's
all about the Niners, the Cowboys,

1133
01:10:27.159 --> 01:10:30.720
Washington, the Giants who won multiple
Super Bowls. So world changed a lot

1134
01:10:30.840 --> 01:10:34.680
in the next decade or so.
But so this tribalism that I get the

1135
01:10:34.760 --> 01:10:41.640
people on one side that are enjoying
it. I get the people that don't

1136
01:10:41.680 --> 01:10:44.800
like it and don't think it's necessary. I hear the arguments. I'm not

1137
01:10:44.840 --> 01:10:46.960
surprised by it, though, if
you didn't see this coming. The league's

1138
01:10:47.000 --> 01:10:51.039
playing into it too. They could
have easily not named the conferences, but

1139
01:10:51.159 --> 01:10:56.479
they're playing into it as well.
It's a storyline for twenty twenty four moving

1140
01:10:56.520 --> 01:11:00.319
forward, we'll see. I just
I'll say this a little, just my

1141
01:11:00.399 --> 01:11:02.680
little thoughts here, this deep into
the podcast. I don't know if I've

1142
01:11:02.680 --> 01:11:08.439
ever really talked about how it's so
interesting to me, Like you're talking about

1143
01:11:08.439 --> 01:11:12.520
the USFL fans and all that.
I to me, it's like the XFL

1144
01:11:12.640 --> 01:11:15.119
was around and I was a fan, right, we weren't doing any of

1145
01:11:15.199 --> 01:11:17.239
this stuff. You know, Paul
and I went just to DC. It

1146
01:11:17.399 --> 01:11:19.800
just has fun, I mean,
just to go drink and have fun and

1147
01:11:19.840 --> 01:11:23.680
hang out, you know, you
know, had a great time. And

1148
01:11:23.720 --> 01:11:26.319
then when it went away and people
were sad, and then it's like,

1149
01:11:26.359 --> 01:11:29.520
well, maybe it's going to come
back. And I felt like even through

1150
01:11:29.800 --> 01:11:32.000
you know, like the spring leagues
of it all and the fan coatil football

1151
01:11:32.079 --> 01:11:35.000
and even the flirtation with the CFL, you know, I think a lot

1152
01:11:35.039 --> 01:11:38.279
of us like, we're kind of
waiting for the XFL to come back,

1153
01:11:38.319 --> 01:11:41.159
waiting for the XFL, and then
yeah, when the USFL came, you

1154
01:11:41.239 --> 01:11:44.560
got a lot of people that went
all in on that league that they to

1155
01:11:44.560 --> 01:11:47.079
me, it felt like you're not
patient, or you're trying to take this

1156
01:11:47.159 --> 01:11:50.520
hot shot. That's kind of we're
upstarting in this kind of gap in the

1157
01:11:50.520 --> 01:11:54.800
marketplace right now. And you know, you have the USFL podcast, you

1158
01:11:54.840 --> 01:11:57.479
know, all the the USFL,
the media group, whatever, the those

1159
01:11:57.479 --> 01:11:59.640
guys called, you know, all
the avatars and I kind of all that

1160
01:11:59.640 --> 01:12:02.880
stuff. Like then the XFL came
back and kind of showed maybe how it's

1161
01:12:02.920 --> 01:12:06.720
really done, and yeah, I
get that inferiority a little bit of that.

1162
01:12:06.800 --> 01:12:11.279
I mean, at least that's my
take is like you you kind of

1163
01:12:11.359 --> 01:12:14.560
jumped off the wagon here at the
one stop when we with the rest of

1164
01:12:14.640 --> 01:12:16.319
us got to all the way to
Oregon, on the Oregon Trail or whatever.

1165
01:12:16.359 --> 01:12:20.640
If that makes sense. Now you're
trying to I always care. I

1166
01:12:20.680 --> 01:12:24.319
get it. Yeah, I get
it. Read you know. Here's the

1167
01:12:24.359 --> 01:12:28.079
thing, Like, I remember when
the AAF came out in twenty nineteen and

1168
01:12:28.119 --> 01:12:30.680
the XFL had announced that they were
coming out in the AF beat them to

1169
01:12:30.720 --> 01:12:34.640
the marketplace. This is back when
I used to actually frequent message boards.

1170
01:12:35.119 --> 01:12:40.159
I remember AF fans talking crap about
the XFL. I remember them saying,

1171
01:12:40.239 --> 01:12:43.479
I remember them saying, the XFL
visick Man again, it's going to be

1172
01:12:43.520 --> 01:12:47.119
a gimmicky lead. We already beat
you to marketplace. They foolishly thought they

1173
01:12:47.159 --> 01:12:49.920
had a relationship with the NFL because
they were in an NFL network and they

1174
01:12:49.920 --> 01:12:54.439
were you know, Eversol was selling
that Charlie eversoll. So there were a

1175
01:12:54.439 --> 01:12:58.199
lot of AF fans trash talking XFL
fans saying, your league is not better

1176
01:12:58.239 --> 01:13:00.680
than ours were with the NFL,
et cetera. We're on CBS, what

1177
01:13:00.720 --> 01:13:03.359
networks are you gonna have? Fitzig
Man's an idiot, There's gonna be a

1178
01:13:03.359 --> 01:13:08.239
gimmicky league all that. Look how
stupid the XFL was in two thousand and

1179
01:13:08.279 --> 01:13:13.279
one. So there was tribalism during
that And then and then there were fans

1180
01:13:13.279 --> 01:13:15.920
on the XFL side they're saying,
the AF is not any good, no

1181
01:13:15.079 --> 01:13:18.720
kickoff, you have no good rules, your league plays off full, et

1182
01:13:18.760 --> 01:13:21.800
cetera, et cetera, And we're
gonna actually have fans, We're gonna have

1183
01:13:21.880 --> 01:13:26.760
energy all that. So I get
it. What I find funny too,

1184
01:13:26.800 --> 01:13:30.199
with like the USFL is that,
like there are USFL loyalists that didn't even

1185
01:13:30.239 --> 01:13:34.840
watch the XFL twenty twenty. There
are USFL fans that don't know that the

1186
01:13:35.640 --> 01:13:43.359
overtime shootout XFL twenty twenty, the
tiered extra points XFL twenty twenty, the

1187
01:13:43.399 --> 01:13:48.239
clock rules XFL twenty twenty, like
all this stuff, the existence of x

1188
01:13:48.319 --> 01:13:51.399
it's funny how it work. But
the existence of the XFL in twenty twenty

1189
01:13:53.159 --> 01:13:56.760
is what led to the USFL,
you know. So it's like so and

1190
01:13:56.800 --> 01:14:00.560
then a lot of the rules that
you see, So there's it's definitely that

1191
01:14:00.600 --> 01:14:05.039
tribalism. Some people like it,
some people don't. It's gonna be a

1192
01:14:05.079 --> 01:14:11.760
thing. I think in Week three
there's uh, there's no outside of conference

1193
01:14:11.800 --> 01:14:14.920
games. But this week we got
two of them. We got the Memphis

1194
01:14:15.000 --> 01:14:21.159
and San Antonio, right, and
then they got technically another USFL versus XFL

1195
01:14:21.199 --> 01:14:25.840
game with the Roughnecks, which is
really the gamblers against the defenders. So

1196
01:14:26.640 --> 01:14:30.079
hey, if it gives YUSEFL four
and oh you'll definitely hear it. The

1197
01:14:30.079 --> 01:14:32.600
birdies will chirp the ones that are
on that side. That kind of like

1198
01:14:32.680 --> 01:14:36.039
I want to say, I told
you so. I told you either were

1199
01:14:36.239 --> 01:14:42.000
as good or better than you.
We were always better than you. You

1200
01:14:42.039 --> 01:14:45.319
can't really even if somehow the XFL
conference teams win this weekend and it's too

1201
01:14:45.439 --> 01:14:50.840
too, you can't really claim superiority. It's gonna be a thing until there's

1202
01:14:50.880 --> 01:14:56.119
a champion crowned, so you can. You can because right now half the

1203
01:14:56.159 --> 01:15:00.720
team's undefeated and half the team is
winless. So you know, I mean,

1204
01:15:00.800 --> 01:15:02.640
like so if one side feels like
they'll never win a game, the

1205
01:15:02.640 --> 01:15:04.760
other side feels like they're never going
to lose. But that's you know,

1206
01:15:04.840 --> 01:15:09.640
after one week, you can't really
declare anything. But if there's anybody who's

1207
01:15:09.720 --> 01:15:16.399
questioning, who was questioning the quality
USFL, they're mistaken to think that it

1208
01:15:16.439 --> 01:15:21.560
was like a vastly inferior league because
there are quality teams and quality players.

1209
01:15:21.560 --> 01:15:25.920
We're getting these super charged up teams
now too, with all these teams that

1210
01:15:26.079 --> 01:15:30.960
unfortunately didn't survive. Last question,
and this is the theme of the episode,

1211
01:15:30.119 --> 01:15:32.600
we might as well actually ask this
question on here. This is from

1212
01:15:32.600 --> 01:15:42.199
Reid and Seattle here. Uh will
UFL's extreme makeover save string football? Hmmm?

1213
01:15:43.319 --> 01:15:46.880
Yes, it's enough. Yes,
I think so, you know,

1214
01:15:47.039 --> 01:15:50.119
I I think this is our best
chance. You know, the first article

1215
01:15:50.159 --> 01:15:55.319
I wrote about in Sports Illustrated as
far as the UFL goes is you know

1216
01:15:55.479 --> 01:16:00.439
that. I feel that if this
doesn't work unless the NFL does their own

1217
01:16:00.479 --> 01:16:02.760
league, which I'm old enough to
remember when they tried that and they had

1218
01:16:02.840 --> 01:16:05.840
teams in Canada and all over the
world and in the United States, San

1219
01:16:05.880 --> 01:16:11.600
Antonio, et cetera, and didn't
work for them. Unless the NFL decides

1220
01:16:11.640 --> 01:16:15.600
to do it, I think this
is your last viable chance. Because the

1221
01:16:15.680 --> 01:16:20.159
look at the networks that are involved, it's extremely expensive to run these leagues.

1222
01:16:20.720 --> 01:16:24.159
I think this is I think what
this is. This league is going

1223
01:16:24.199 --> 01:16:27.359
to be around for a while,
so I think this is it. Will

1224
01:16:27.399 --> 01:16:30.159
there be somebody who tries to partner
up with CBS or something like that and

1225
01:16:30.199 --> 01:16:32.960
try to sneak into it or when
not. But I think this is your

1226
01:16:33.039 --> 01:16:40.119
last viable shot to make spring pro
football. And uh, I think I

1227
01:16:40.159 --> 01:16:43.000
think I think they're gonna be all
right. I actually think if as long

1228
01:16:43.000 --> 01:16:45.520
as these owners are fine with like, here's the thing, like, uh,

1229
01:16:45.600 --> 01:16:49.479
they want to make a lot of
money. So if they got to

1230
01:16:49.479 --> 01:16:53.840
have that mindset where they're gonna hit
a if they're okay with getting on base,

1231
01:16:53.960 --> 01:16:57.199
maybe hitting a double rather than hitting
a home run or a grand Slam,

1232
01:16:57.279 --> 01:16:59.560
then this will be around. If
they throw their arms in the air

1233
01:16:59.560 --> 01:17:01.399
after two years and say, you
know what, I don't think this concepts

1234
01:17:01.399 --> 01:17:05.079
ever going to be the home run
we thought it was then then So I

1235
01:17:05.119 --> 01:17:11.199
think there's this story has a lot
of chapters left to be told. I

1236
01:17:11.239 --> 01:17:16.319
think I agree with you. I
think that expectations have been tempered, right,

1237
01:17:16.359 --> 01:17:18.760
I think egos have been checked.
I think there was a lot of

1238
01:17:19.520 --> 01:17:24.680
you know, I think this you
know though, it's like coming together as

1239
01:17:24.680 --> 01:17:27.279
a merger or not as mergers like
a marriage, or like you know,

1240
01:17:27.319 --> 01:17:29.640
when you got to work with someone
in class you don't really like and you

1241
01:17:29.680 --> 01:17:31.000
got to like, hey, we
got to settle our differences here and kind

1242
01:17:31.000 --> 01:17:33.479
of make this work for the you
know, for the common group or the

1243
01:17:33.520 --> 01:17:38.680
common you know, good of whatever. I bought what Darryl said Daryl Johnson

1244
01:17:38.680 --> 01:17:42.520
when he said, we realized we
need to like practice what we preach basically

1245
01:17:42.600 --> 01:17:45.119
like this, we're if we're in
it for the players, we need to

1246
01:17:45.119 --> 01:17:47.520
set them up for the best success, right, and that's coming together and

1247
01:17:47.600 --> 01:17:50.920
kind of you know, lowering,
you know, not not fighting right,

1248
01:17:51.000 --> 01:17:54.880
kind of coming together. I buy
that. I take that that they really

1249
01:17:54.880 --> 01:17:57.239
looked, took a hard look in
the mirror and said, if we're trying

1250
01:17:57.239 --> 01:18:00.039
to do this for the player,
we need to figure this out. And

1251
01:18:00.199 --> 01:18:02.560
I like the united aspect of it. I like them coming together, joining

1252
01:18:02.560 --> 01:18:05.960
forces. And look, the fan
bases eventually are going to join forces too,

1253
01:18:05.960 --> 01:18:12.000
because when we get into the UFL
offseason, we're all going to be

1254
01:18:12.079 --> 01:18:15.600
celebrating all the guys who sign NFL
teams like it'd be something they had one

1255
01:18:15.640 --> 01:18:20.359
hundred and eleven players from the XFL
USFL signed NFL contracts. We'll all be

1256
01:18:20.439 --> 01:18:25.560
happy when we see John drey Kirkling
back in the NFL, Matt carrall back

1257
01:18:25.560 --> 01:18:28.920
in the NFL, all that kind
of stuff, because it's a validation of

1258
01:18:28.920 --> 01:18:32.159
the league itself. So they have
one hundred and twenty players sign I can't.

1259
01:18:32.239 --> 01:18:36.199
You know, it's not that you
need to use the NFL name to

1260
01:18:36.520 --> 01:18:43.119
show the value of this league,
but it does help that you know the

1261
01:18:43.159 --> 01:18:46.560
success rate of players. You hope
that like this there are some superstars that

1262
01:18:46.560 --> 01:18:49.800
come out of this league. It
helps show the value because right now we've

1263
01:18:49.800 --> 01:18:54.479
seen people with their opinions out there. They don't think there's anything special about

1264
01:18:54.520 --> 01:18:59.600
the UFL, like SIMS and all
that for Pro football talk talking about like

1265
01:18:59.600 --> 01:19:00.920
how this legues not special. They
don't have special players, so they do

1266
01:19:01.039 --> 01:19:05.079
need to deliver on special players.
But I think there's a definitely need for

1267
01:19:05.159 --> 01:19:08.520
this kind of league, and I
like the fact that they've united and I

1268
01:19:08.560 --> 01:19:12.399
think they can make this work.
They're fiscally responsible. The question is can

1269
01:19:12.439 --> 01:19:17.920
they do enough things correctly to capitalize
and to open up revenue streams. It's

1270
01:19:17.960 --> 01:19:23.600
the same thing I ask about the
CFL. So you know you I want

1271
01:19:23.640 --> 01:19:26.000
I root for that. I root
for these leagues. There's no doubt I

1272
01:19:26.039 --> 01:19:28.520
have no I'm not a fan of
any one of these teams. I don't

1273
01:19:28.520 --> 01:19:30.399
care who wins and loses. The
games. Uh, that's a good thing

1274
01:19:30.479 --> 01:19:33.079
kind of for me as far as
it being a media member, Uh,

1275
01:19:33.199 --> 01:19:35.960
because they don't have to be a
fanboy. I'm I'm a fan though.

1276
01:19:35.960 --> 01:19:39.600
However, for this league, nobody
has to root for the NFL. They're

1277
01:19:39.600 --> 01:19:43.680
going to be around forever and ever
and ever. I'm rooting for this league

1278
01:19:44.000 --> 01:19:46.439
to make it to finally be the
league that makes it and succeed, just

1279
01:19:46.479 --> 01:19:51.199
the way I root for the CFL
to stay afloat and and get through the

1280
01:19:51.239 --> 01:19:58.199
hard times and adversity and to evolve
because that's such a tremendous football league and

1281
01:19:58.439 --> 01:20:01.840
so so anyway, that's just my
thoughts on you know though, when we

1282
01:20:01.880 --> 01:20:05.520
started getting players signed to these leagues, it's going to be the The USFL

1283
01:20:05.600 --> 01:20:13.439
conference had X number of players.
So that's so funny. Yeah, but

1284
01:20:13.560 --> 01:20:15.920
you know that's true. You got
a point, You got a point.

1285
01:20:15.079 --> 01:20:18.760
I mean, sure, the Stallions
will lead the way. We saw that,

1286
01:20:18.840 --> 01:20:23.520
like the Stallions and the and the
the battle Hawks had a ton of

1287
01:20:23.560 --> 01:20:26.439
signings. I felt bad for all
the other USFL teams. It's like the

1288
01:20:26.479 --> 01:20:29.319
Stallions had a bunch of signings and
then all the other us so we got

1289
01:20:29.319 --> 01:20:32.079
three, we got two I got
four and then the stallions are like we

1290
01:20:32.119 --> 01:20:34.800
got nineteen, you know, so
it's like, you know, it's like,

1291
01:20:34.960 --> 01:20:39.439
well anyway, but yes, Read, you're right, You're right.

1292
01:20:39.479 --> 01:20:42.840
I totally forgot that angle. Yeah, with that, we'll put it pin

1293
01:20:42.960 --> 01:20:45.840
in it. I appreciate it.
Mike Our twenty minutes here. Check out

1294
01:20:45.880 --> 01:20:48.760
Mike's work on Sports Illustrated. We're
getting all that website stuff figured out.

1295
01:20:48.800 --> 01:20:53.399
But follow Mike on Twitter, post
everything on there. Same with Anthony Miller,

1296
01:20:53.439 --> 01:20:55.880
all the work that he does both
you guys, writing, covering all

1297
01:20:55.880 --> 01:20:58.920
that stuff. And again Anthony was
with us for the pre show, for

1298
01:20:58.960 --> 01:21:01.479
the kickoff and doing all that stuff. So I really appreciate that. Like

1299
01:21:01.640 --> 01:21:08.800
and subscribe, you know, gets
the thirty five hundred subscribers. Eventually,

1300
01:21:08.880 --> 01:21:11.680
eventually I'll be done talking about this, like anything else you want to say,

1301
01:21:11.920 --> 01:21:15.600
Yeah, congratulations Read like, uh, you've left the mark of positive

1302
01:21:15.640 --> 01:21:20.119
one on this space with your podcast
and everything else. You have great guests

1303
01:21:20.159 --> 01:21:24.239
on the show. You've done such
a great job covering these leagues over the

1304
01:21:24.279 --> 01:21:29.000
years, all the great guests you
have on. Appreciate you and what you

1305
01:21:29.119 --> 01:21:32.359
do in this space and what you've
done and hopefully you get to that mark

1306
01:21:32.399 --> 01:21:36.520
you want to get to in terms
of subscribers and everything else. But I

1307
01:21:36.880 --> 01:21:41.079
appreciate what you've done. You know, and and you know, and like

1308
01:21:41.159 --> 01:21:45.000
I think, like your name sometimes
could be a detriment. Uh, Mark

1309
01:21:45.039 --> 01:21:49.079
Cast. I've been when people call
you Mark Cast. It's yeah, it's

1310
01:21:49.119 --> 01:21:53.079
a terrible name because I don't think
it does your show justice. You know,

1311
01:21:53.199 --> 01:21:56.039
it's stuck now, it's the brand. There's no turning back at this

1312
01:21:56.119 --> 01:22:00.560
point. There's a I can't get
into it. I was gonna into something

1313
01:22:00.600 --> 01:22:02.520
else here, but I gotta let
it go. Maybe yeah, you will

1314
01:22:02.520 --> 01:22:05.439
talk out there, but I once
again read thanks for having me on.

1315
01:22:05.520 --> 01:22:10.239
I really appreciate it. Thanks to
everybody out there who took the one hour

1316
01:22:10.279 --> 01:22:13.399
and twenty plus minutes to listen to
what I got to say, And thank

1317
01:22:13.399 --> 01:22:15.439
you for reading my work and checking
me out of Sports Illustrated. Shout out

1318
01:22:15.680 --> 01:22:19.560
to Casey Seger and Arc Garcia,
who do tremendous work at Sports Illustrated.

1319
01:22:21.239 --> 01:22:25.279
They're just great editors. So I
just want to say that, Yeah,

1320
01:22:25.319 --> 01:22:27.279
No, it meant a lot,
thank you for all that. Yeah.

1321
01:22:27.279 --> 01:22:30.520
When Evan and I were at Texas
Live the Friday night of the kickoff,

1322
01:22:30.520 --> 01:22:33.520
we were having dinner and you know, one of the league higher ups came

1323
01:22:33.600 --> 01:22:36.239
up. I saw this person in
the thing. I go, oh,

1324
01:22:36.279 --> 01:22:40.159
that's you know, they're here.
Came over and said hi to us,

1325
01:22:40.199 --> 01:22:42.520
and hi to Evan and I.
So I appreciated that meant a lot,

1326
01:22:42.600 --> 01:22:44.199
taking the time to come to me, you know, like, hey,

1327
01:22:44.439 --> 01:22:45.840
read, it's good to see here. And then again at the at the

1328
01:22:45.960 --> 01:22:48.039
kickoff, they said, you know, Hope, are you coming out of

1329
01:22:48.000 --> 01:22:50.359
toe anymore events? Hope to see
you out here. So you know,

1330
01:22:50.520 --> 01:22:54.520
I mean, I think it's the
beer, but at least they can make

1331
01:22:54.600 --> 01:22:57.600
them spot me from across the room. So I appreciate it, like and

1332
01:22:57.640 --> 01:23:00.000
subscribe We'll see you next time,
and thank you.