Speaker 1: Ben Kretel, and it's time for the Cougar Beat getting
the dish from the local reporters that cover Cougar athletics.
Speaker 2: Welcome back Ruger Sports one of three nine ninety eight
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Speaker 3: It is time for little Cougar.
Speaker 2: Beat going to get into the minds the Here from
the voicers that have been covering the BYU Cougar football team,
basketball teams and doing profiles on them. It's going to
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All right, let's get out to the hotline. Welcome in
tad walch of the Desrat News Tat, How the heck
are you?
Speaker 3: Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 4: I'm doing great, Ben, How are you doing great?
Speaker 3: Man?
Speaker 2: All is well in Cougar Country for me. Man, it's
a great football season. It's becoming a great basketball season.
It's the holiday season. I got an attitude of gratitude,
feeling blessed today.
Speaker 3: Man, How that are you? How's the fan?
Speaker 4: That's awesome. It's great where our sons live in Colorado
and we're going out there for Christmas next week. So
things are well.
Speaker 2: Boom shaka laka. I'm glad all is well in your world.
Well you've been you know, Dad, you cover a number
of things. You covered news and for the Church of
Jesus Christ, Lattery Saints. I think you've filed many news
stories over the years for the on the Olympics, NBA Finals,
the Vatican. And you also cover a number of stores
coming out of BYU as it relates to athletics and sports.
And look I caught up with you at the Kilani
Stake press conference, and I thought the article you wrote
was tremendous.
Speaker 3: Mission over Money.
Speaker 2: It's entitled the inside story of Why Klonie Satake chose
b Why you over penn State. What was your thesis
here and what did you delve into in this particular
piece hat.
Speaker 4: Oh great, great, Yeah, that was a really great opportunity
to talk to Kilani, and uh, the idea was just
to show uh that while Kilani wanted was looking for
you know, uh, some some increase in pay, the real
the real thing he was that he is motivated by
his boy's mission. And so the story talks about, uh,
the importance of the school's mission and religious mission to
him and why he wanted to stay. And my favorite
quote in the whole story was when he said football's
cool when the gospel's in it.
Speaker 3: Love that. Yeah, it's uh.
Speaker 2: I feel like Shane Rees's comments, you know, via Keith Vokey,
the VP of Advancement, were quite telling. And I've talked
about this a lot. I used to call Lavelle Edwards
the thirteenth Apostle. You know, he spoke at the devotional
spoke at general conference. He's kind of this extension of
the church. He's the ambassador of b YU and Klane
in many ways. Is that too, Shane Reese, I think
stated that in many ways Colone is the face of BYU,
and that's an academic institution, a spiritual, moral, ethical institution,
as well as an athletic institution. And I thought that
was interesting.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that was I thought that was an extremely telling
set of comments from the president. You know, when he
calls Klannie someone who you couldn't ask for a better
exemplar of the christ centered values for which BAU stands,
that is that is really how church leaders see him,
how university administrators see him, and I think it's how
people see him also in the football world. You know,
he's this great ambassador who can be out. You know
that ESPN loves to show dancing in the end zone
before games for the fans, and who coaches regularly say
after games on broadcasts and in press conferences, in radio appearances,
in media availabilities leading up to games that he's someone
who's genuine and that they have deep respect for. And
I think that kind of ambassadorship is is pretty invaluable
for both the church and the university.
Speaker 3: Yeah, what what is it that you wonder.
Speaker 2: I think we've talked about this before, like you know,
the mission of the church, the mission of bu Yu,
and the mission of BYU athletics and how they all
interweave in ALIGNE give me your your your perspective on
that and what role maybe Killani's playing in those missions
to create alignment between the university and the church.
Speaker 4: Yeah, great question we have. I remember we've talked about that.
We talked about sports being the front porch of a university,
and in this case, Uh, that leads to a window
also to the church. So the church clearly wants people
to understand what its beliefs are, that it stands for
believing in Jesus Christ, believing in kindness, in peacemaking, cooperation,
and Kilane embodies all of those those values and characteristics
and they and you know by U's mission is to
mix faith and reason in every thing that is studied.
As Brigham Young he told UH Carl Carl G. Maser
when he asked him to start the school, you shouldn't
study anything without faith in it. And so to mix
those missions in the classroom would require an athletic program
that mixes those missions on the field and on the court,
and you know BYU now is known for that. I
think especially in the last few years where you had
Jake Retzlaf, a Jewish quarterback and now Bart Bachmeyer a
Catholic quarterback, and the and they say that their faith
has been enhanced while they've been able to attend classes
and play for the Cougars. And that's what Kilani says
is he wants to bring people here who have faith
and help them build on that faith even more while
they're here, whatever that faith may be.
Speaker 2: Tad Waltz des red News here on ESPN the Fan.
I remember Bronco tried to do something similar, but I
don't think he got as much much traction, you know,
and I wonder what changed. I don't know if you
ever covered Bronco men at all, but he called the
student athletes the flag bearers of the university, right, they
were the ones going out and really flag bearing, you know,
the university and has an extensor to that, maybe the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. He started
firesides where it was centered on discipleship.
Speaker 3: I spoke at many of them. We're sang armies of Heliman.
Speaker 2: He got a lot of criticism for from maybe the
more secular side of the media, and I don't know
how much traction really got with the board of trustees.
What do you think has changed over the years in
that regard.
Speaker 4: You know, that's such an interesting question because I kind
of raised that with Kilani a little bit and he
pushed back on me because he feels like Lavelle instigated
instituted this really faith based culture in the BA football program,
and Kilani believes it's been unabated since then. Now, Yeah,
I think the Bronco thing is very interesting. I have
interviewed him a few times, covered him a little bit,
and I find him to be a fascinating character and
I you know, I've read his book and I think
he's genuine. But there was something about some members of
the media here in Provo, and I think nationally who
who struggled with the way that he presented the messages.
I think others were fine with it. I think players
from some a lot of players embraced it. I think
a lot of UH fans did uh.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 4: The firesides were incredibly well attended and UH powerful. So
it was just an interesting character study almost in the
way that he related to the media and and they
to him, and that created some of these these interesting narratives.
Some of the ways that he just praised things, I
think for some people were struggle uh uh. I don't
know that I can nail down exactly why. But with
Kilane there's something about his uh humility, the way he
presents himself. I think that seems to make people feel
at ease. Now, he can be a tough guy, but
when when needed, as could level, but he he does
have just this humility and and to have someone like
Deon Sanders talked about him as as genuine and a
close friend, to have you know, the similar feelings from
the Texas Tech coach and and others Joey McGuire and
post game, Yeah, it's really fascinating because he has that
same kind of level of respect across the coaching community
that Lavell had, uh, you know, from from fairly early
in his career, at least by the time the National
Championship had happened, and then thereafter he was in big
positions in the Coaches Association and just well loved. And
I think Kilani's clearly in that same space today.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would totally agree with him.
Speaker 2: I think, you know, it's something that I've talked about
on the show before, and I don't know if we've
ever discussed it, but I think one thing that Lavelle
changed within the program that had temporal and spiritual benefits
nineteen seventy.
Speaker 3: Two when he took over.
Speaker 2: Up to that point, most of the coaches advised the
student athletes to not go on missions and to just
play sport. Lavelle actively forcefully encouraged go serve a mission
and look look at the temporal and spiritual blessings that
came forth from it.
Speaker 3: All I'm saying is it came to.
Speaker 2: Pass, baby, and it came to pass just a lot
of greatness. And I don't know the Gary croten era
all that well, right, I know some of the things
that occurred, some greatness and some some some down down years.
But I do think, uh, you know, Bronco did a
great job. And I do, to your point, believe that
Kilate as he just articulates the message of discipleships, he
does it in such a way that it connects with
us emotionally, mentally, spiritually in a different way than others
have tried to do it. When he talks discipleship and
in in a way and talks about the Church's Christ,
the Lattery Saints, and he bears testimony of the impact
of athletics uh on, Like you know, the university and
the surrounding people that come in contact with it. There's
so many positive fruits that come from and he just
he does a really really, really effective job of of
rallying people around that messaging.
Speaker 3: He's just unique in that way.
Speaker 4: He really is. He just has this incredible personality that
is so genuine about family. You know, when he has
his dad there with him on the sideline at all times.
I mean, you just can't get away from how important
family is to him. Talks about his wife regularly, his kids.
He's family oriented. When he talks about his assistant coaches
and the things that they have, their time commitments and
things like that. He's so so real about his faith.
I mean, his devotional that he gave at BYU in
the spring was a remarkable moment. And through this process
of whether he would stay or go, you know, having
covered that devotional and written about it, I thought I
thought he would stay because the message, the messages that
he has shared with me since I first met him
when he was a freshman in nineteen ninety three through
to that devotional now and beyond his love for this
university and that combination of faith in football here in
Probo is something that you know, it's just in his blood.
And if BYU could make it what he needed it
to be in terms of feeling uh loved and appreciated
and appropriately paid, not at the top of the scale,
but but where it's a good, reasonable place, then then
this is where he's gonna be. He just you know,
I love I love when he talks about the story
about how his dad would drive them up to the
stadium when he was a little boy and they didn't
have money even to get tickets then when they were
much cheaper, and they would sit outside the stadium and
listen to the radio and listen to the roar of
the crowd to know what was happening. And he's that
kind of a b YU fan. So it's pretty remarkable.
Speaker 3: He no, he is, He's very remarkable.
Speaker 2: Tad Walsh uh des Red News here on ESPN The Fan.
You've also recently dropped an article that that focused on LJ.
Speaker 3: Martin, Right, LJ.
Speaker 2: Martin blasting his way towards the top of the list
of BYU workhorse legends. Were you able to sit down
with LJ. What makes him so unique and singular on
and off the football field?
Speaker 4: Would you say, Okay, so this is a great Yeah,
this is a great little story. So I was set
up to talk to LJ the night of the announcement
that Klannie was staying, and the media availability was canceled
that night because of the press conference for Kilanie, and
you know, they had Chase Roberts speak at that and
Tanner Wall. But I didn't get to talk to LJ
for that story. But in that so I asked, you
want to know, I asked for some help to find
a former running back, and Curtis Brown was willing to
talk to me about what it's like to be a
running back at this level. And it was really interesting
to me because he brought this perspective that the Big
twelve is a much more bruising experience than the Mountain
West Conference was for him as a running back. And
Curtis was one of the workhorses back in the day
when he was playing, and he says he talked about
getting beat up, but he said, I'm just amazed by
what Lj's doing because he says, first of all, LJ
is much bigger and stronger and you know, a higher
level recruit and better athlete than I was. But he
but he's also taking a bigger beating because of the
level of competition be what he plays now week in
and week out. And that was really interesting to listen to.
The thing that I wanted to talk to LJ about
was what it's like to get pushed around in those
piles because again, those big bodies, that wasn't a thing
that was done as much when Curtis Brown was playing, right,
and now to have you know, nine hundred twelve hundred
and fifteen hundred pound of the people pushing you and
falling on top of you at the end of plays,
that's got to take take a toll as well.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no doubt about. LJ is a unique player, man.
Speaker 2: He's a big, big, extremely like just fleet of foot
and just great body control, running back, runs behind his
pads and has great vision and he's a great he's
a great human off the field too, like we caught
up with him yesterday on our show and just a
great human, just raised well and his story to BYU
was very unique. So Tad what else you got cooking
for us at the Desertight News. What are you going
to be working on? What are you going to be
publishing here shortly in the days to come. I know
you're going to be taking some vak, which is well deserved.
Speaker 4: Yeah, great question. So I have also done a little
bit of basketball. I wrote a big profile of AJ
debantsa a couple of weeks ago, went out and covered
the game in Boston and went back to the the academy,
the school that he went to kind of junior high
early high school year, and that really helped me tell
a story that's kind of focused through his parents a
little bit, Ace and Chelsea. So that's something that I
hope people will still want to go back and read.
And in the coming days, I've got a story coming
about what I'm going to call the AJ Effect, and
that is how how immediately after he committed to BYU,
Chris Burgess and you know the rest of the staff
there in the basketball program in the athletic department started
talking with ESPN and others about the schedule that they
would play this year and how you know, AJ affected
that schedule and allowed So you know, to me, there's
two two premises. One is AJ allowed b Yu to
schedule bigger competition, better competition, and two, b Yu had
an obligation to AJ to do that when he decided
to come here. And so those are the things I'm
going to explore.
Speaker 3: And that's love that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I appreciate these profiles. And look, I have debates
sometimes with individuals about whether or not byo Athletics is
an ambassadorial tool for good to introduce people to the
fruits of the faith.
Speaker 3: What would you be your conclusion on that?
Speaker 2: Right when you're interacting with these not LDS players, but
then also as they go out and represent and bring
them you on university, what would you be your conclusion
or conversation about that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's an interesting question. So yeah, I did recently
publish a story too about BYU's ice cream diplomacy where
they hand out the ice creams to the opposing fans
at the end of the first quarter of football games,
and how that is literally one in the same program
as the food drive tailgate parties that they do at
away games and the way they try and tie into
some of the good that's being done in those areas.
And to me, that's a way that helps create an
even more clear message about what it is that that
BA football players are supposed to represent and to become
while they're at school and playing for the university, but
also then in the community in the future. And that
was one reason why it was fun to talk to
Curtis Brown, because here's a guy who's living in Fresno,
California and coaching sixth grade kids in football and working
in the pharmaceutical sales industry and is a good representative
of the things that BYU values and wants to feed
the world with. And so I think all of those
things do combine to help provide ways for the church
to show what its mission is, display it in real
lives and in real impacts, and I think it I
think people are seeing that, especially as Boy's profile is
raised in the Big twelve and in these big seasons,
that football and basketball are.
Speaker 2: Having tad best way to support you What you do,
how you do it?
Speaker 4: For all of our listeners, Yeah, come to desert at
dot com, download the app, sign up for my weekly
newsletter about called Church Beat, about the Church of Jesus
Christ and the Latter day Saints and what's happened that week.
I always have an interesting, hopefully take on something that's
been going on in the news around the church. And
I would love to see you in all those avenues.
Speaker 3: Love it, Tad. We appreciate you.
Speaker 2: Love talking with you about these topics, from sports to
spirituality and the mission of the church. I love that
I can chat with you about this not all I
like to discuss those things with me.
Speaker 3: I appreciate that you do.
Speaker 4: Hey, I sure do.
Speaker 1: Ben.
Speaker 4: I look forward to seeing you again and talking with
you again.
Speaker 5: Thanks.
Speaker 2: You have happy holidays, Mary Christ missus Joytim with your
family out there in Colorado. We'll chat with you against soon.
That's Tad Elch ladies and gentlemen. That cougar beet was
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Speaker 3: Today, let's go to break, don't go one to wear.
Speaker 2: Another faux segment coming up next, Josh for long KSL
dot Com Utah b writer, I want to discuss the
new private equity deal executed by the University of Utah
It's athletic department and the key players, the key components
of this deal that we need to know that up next,
this is Cougar Sports on one O three nine ninety
eight point three ES.
Speaker 1: But Cougar's opponents and rivals right now, I need to
know the faux segment on Cougar Sports with Benkreteler.
Speaker 2: Welcome Back of your Sports one of three, nine ninety
eight point three ESPN. The Phantom diffruital broadcasting from our
band er Wild Studios Batterwell dot Com. This band together Builder,
We'll save our money on taxes at the end of
the year. Banterwealth combines forces with your CPA to UH
to make sure you're not giving all your money on
Uncle Sam. Invest with the best and build your wealth
at Batterwealth Batterwealth dot com. It is stuff for another
faux segment, UH slash Little Collins Football segment and We're
gonna get to know what's going on up on the
hill the Uh, the University of Utah has executed one
of a kind, first of its guide private equity deal.
We'll see if it passes, see if everything's kosher, et cetera.
But it's pretty monumental.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 2: The first domino of private equity has fallen, and it's
right here in the state of Utah. We're gonna get
to know what's happening up in Salt Lake City from
a an insight here Momentarily. It's gonna be brought to
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Speaker 3: Let's get out to the hotline. Welcome in my.
Speaker 2: Good friend, Josh FURLONGKSL dot com, University of Utah insider, Josh.
Speaker 3: How you living do it well?
Speaker 6: How are you ben doing?
Speaker 3: Awesome?
Speaker 2: Man? How crazy has the last well seventy two hours
been for you?
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's been it's been wild. I mean, this is
one of those things where you know, as a sports
reporter you're not really well versed in like private equity
or anything like that, and so it's like it's a
learning curve and everything that way. But I think, you know,
you pick up things along the way and you try
to make most of it, but it's it's crazy. I mean,
I think this is the new evolution of the NCAA,
and we're going to see a lot of this, right, Like,
we're going to see a lot of differences this way,
and we're going to be much more well versed in
business side of things instead of just what's happening on
the field or on the court. So it's it's interesting though, No.
Speaker 3: Lo, what have you learned through this process? Right?
Speaker 2: You're an inquisitive soul. That's why you became a journalist.
You like to ask questions, You like to learn about
all manner of things. Obviously sports things are what you
love the most. But what have you learned in this process?
With the private equity deal executed this week?
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean I think a lot of people hear
private equity and they get scared, right and admittedly like, well,
what that last year when Brett Ormart kind of broached
the subject of potentially having private equity for the Big twelve.
I mean, I think you hear that and there's negative
connotations about how they're just going to come in and
they're going to gut everything and you know it's not
going to work out this this deal. You know, I've
learned that's a little bit different. And then look, I'm
the last person to understand all the nuances of what
what private equity is or anything that way. But at
the same time, I think what they're doing here is
they're trying to more build you know, investments for high
end donors people that want to be able to promote
the university, want to be able to be heavily invested,
and you know, I think you hear a lot of
a lot of people donors especially who are kind of
frustrated with the process. Right, you throw in a bunch
of cash that goes to players and there's no real
guarantee that it actually goes to them or that they stay,
and so there's kind of like some burnout with with
donors in the sense of giving cash. And so I
think it's it's one of those situations now where you're
investing in an actual company and using those funds to
be able to help some of this stuff. So I
think there's there's advantages there. You know, that has opportunities
where you can get more support from the donors where
they're putting in a lot more. You know, I think
a lot of people also see the five hundred million
dollar figure that's being thrown out of that's all coming
from the private equity firm, and in reality, a lot
of this is coming from donors. They're putting in their investment.
They want to get that piece of the University of
Uta athletics department, that kind of stuff, and so it's
just kind of like a group effort, so to speak,
to kind of make it work. So, look, there's still risk.
Any business venture is gonna have risk, and I think
we won't know about that until you know, five seven
years from now. But I think it seems like they're
trying to go about it the right way. It's just
it's hard enough, right, anytime you get an upfront cash,
it's hard to know what that's going to do for
for an entity that that you know, this is a
new realm.
Speaker 2: For strategically, who who gets to uh decide where the
influx of cash is going to?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 2: Obviously, you have n I L, you have operations, you
have personnel. Is it going to be kind of the
board that sits over the Utah brand Sports.
Speaker 3: In ll the LLC?
Speaker 2: Is it going to be that board of trustees which
is made up of the donors and made up of
some administrator a d obviously, Mark Harlan, do we know
what the board of trustees for the brand is going
to look like?
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean it'll definitely be made up of a
compilation of that. They have, you know, people that will
be a part of the athletics department, you know, the
actual brands and entertainment company. You'll have four donors I
believe it was, and then I think it's two or
one and one of of some capacity of outro capital,
and so there's there's going to be a wide makeup
of it. But at the end of the day, the
university owns the controlling interests. They're the majority shareholder, and
so they're going to have the decision making abilities there.
Now with that, you know, they'd be stupid not to
listen to some of the expertise that a lot of
these sports that you know, the Ultra Capital has because
they have been in this in this realm. They you know,
they've managed the Dallas Cowboys, they've managed the Cleveland Browns,
they've managed some F one stuff, So they have understanding
of like what it takes to be able to whether
it be facility upgrades or sponsorship ideas on what to
do for athletes. You know, all of those things are
going to be taken into account. But at the end
of the day, the university itself has controlling interests, and
so I don't know how that's necessarily going to be
manifest through the board. I don't know if it's you know,
the four people or the what ever gets a majority share.
I would assume just simply because there's one member of
Ultra Capital on there, and there's eight other members of
the board that are donors in the university. But there's
just a simple majority that way. But I think there's
there's enough installation or mitigation that they feel like they
can they can still have the controlling interest while still
listening to kind of what these guys want to do
to help the brand.
Speaker 2: Josh forlong KSL dot com uti Utes Insider here on
your Utah ESPN radio network.
Speaker 3: Josh is this.
Speaker 2: I was chatting with someone yesterday that is well familiar
with private equity said, look like one of the reasons
why they're doing this is because the state legislator has
like has legislature has cut funds to the state run
institutions and and and that may impact athletics and athletic departments.
Speaker 3: Uh have you seen that? Have you heard that?
Speaker 2: Why why they're going down this path there at the
University of Utah.
Speaker 6: I mean, I think it's a compilation of things, right,
Whether it's one solitary thing, I don't think that's the case.
I think there's just a combination of factors here where one,
you know, the University of Utah suddenly has to throw
out twenty million dollars in cash for revenue share. You know,
that's money that you're not necessarily accounting for in the past.
You can't just suddenly make up twenty million dollars in
the budget without cutting certain things or different things that way.
So there's there's that component where you're trying to just
survive and make it work. And so you've got that,
but then it's also just trying to position Utah as
an institution for whatever the next realm of whether it
be realignment or you know, consolidation.
Speaker 4: That is right.
Speaker 6: I know a lot of people will look at this
and say, oh, it's the big ten. They're trying to
go for the big ten. Maybe maybe, but I think
it's really just kind of trying to position themselves in
a way where if they don't answer the call right now,
they face the risk of just not being able to
have the funds to be able to operate. Do you
then have to cut you know, softball, do you have
to cut volleyball? Do you have to cut certain that
try to stay afloat? And that's just not really something
that the university wants to do. So it's this is
kind of a bigger hitcher, so to speak, in terms
of kind of trying to maximize their potential while still
preparing for what that next round could be going to.
There's still no guarantee, right, Like, there's no guarantee that
Utah will be caught up in you know, a Super
League or or whatever that may be. It's it's more
just kind of preparing for the institution right now, giving
them the money they need to operate, and then being
able to have capital in the future should they need it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a crazy time in the college football world.
The landscape is ever changing, and I think it's phenomenal
that Utah is being so aggressive in this venture. A
lot of people like you know that have reached out
to me say, hey, well, how does this work. You
have a for profit entity that's taking the brand of
the University of Utah. You have you know, state funds
and taxis and student fees that kind of booy up
the athletic department typically along with their TV revenues and
other things. Like I don't see all the funnels that
go into a traditional athletic department, but I can't. I
don't know what the last fiscal you know, twenty twenty three,
what the revenue generated was within the Utah Athletic Department,
but I imagine it was anywhere from.
Speaker 3: One hundred and thirty to hundred and fifty million.
Speaker 2: Do you know that number, by the by chance, the
last number that you got for revenue generation for the
US Department of Education at the University of Utah.
Speaker 6: I have a spreadsheet with it all. I mean, if
I remember right before they had their Comcast issue last year,
the last year where they kind of got it all together,
it was somewhere I'm going to be totally way off,
but yeah, it's it's definitely over one hundred million and
trying to be. But that's you know, taking into account
everything without taking the expenditures and everything in that way.
So it's it's up there, but then you have to
take in everything else, and you know, you're operating Before
this Comcast piasco, they were operating it anywhere between two
to four million to surplus. So it's it's different, right,
I mean, it's it's hard to know exactly what that's
going to be. But then you know, we haven't even
seen the twenty million figure come into that knowing that
that's going to essentially be a huge deficit for the program.
Speaker 3: Yep, yep, no doubt about it.
Speaker 2: It's uh, it's intriguing from a Title nine standpoint, right.
So it's like, if this is a for profit entity,
you know, how how are scholarships allocated?
Speaker 3: And how is I guess you.
Speaker 2: Know, how does that impact He's typically football subsidizes all
the other Olympic sports, right, so any revenue generated within
football and basketball, maybe the profit generating or the profit
retaining entities, you know, they subsidize the other Olympic sports.
Speaker 3: How is that gonna work out?
Speaker 6: Yeah, there shouldn't. There shouldn't be any change per se,
because they still have to have the you know, the
the regulations of the NCAA. If they try to change anything,
then they can't even be a member of the NCAAA.
So they've gone through a lot of these different things
to make sure that they're compliant, that they're withholding that
you know, there's you know, at least based on the
way that they present it to the presented it excuse me,
to the board, there was no desire to at Olympic sports.
There's no desire to cut women sports. If anything, they
felt like just can bolster that more and give them
more support in that. So it's you know, they still
have to be compliant at all that they still have
to fill out that NCAA regulation form where you account
for all your funds and different things that way, and
so from my understanding, there shouldn't be any change with that.
But I'm sure they could divvy up a little bit
more money to certain areas. You know, there's always going
to be that Title nine component as part of this,
but I don't think the Title nine requirement requires that that.
You know, volleyball needs to get the exact same payment
that a football player does, right, So I think there's
there's that element of it. I think it's more just
giving the same access and an ability which won't change
just because they've got a for profit company.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Andrew Peterson here, I just have a question for
you concerning the basketball team, how this might affect them.
I've always thought that Utah utah falling off in basketball
has always felt a little bit weird to me. Do
you think this deal helps Utah be able to invest
in basketball, get competitive in the Big twelve, and get
back to where they used to be as a really
good basketball program.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean I think that has to be right.
Like if you go sit here and you sign, let's
just assume it's five hundred million, let's you know, if
you get that and you're not seeing a noticeable increase
in kind of being able to attract good talent, what's
the point. I mean, obviously there's a bigger point to that. Like,
I think we can all understand that. But I think
if you're not going out there and trying to attract
the top talent and trying to bring in guys that
are going to help your program, it feels like a waste.
Now there's most more components that go into it than
just the people on the court. I mean, I think
anybody that's gone to the University of Utah basketball games
realizes it's a still environment. Like there's just not engaging
and entertaining situation there. I mean, back in kind of
the good days of Larry Kristovac, you know, they had
floor court projections, they had you know a lot of entertainment,
things were moving and just as a fun environment, whereas
now it's just kind of a Stelle product. And that's
on the court as well as the entertainment, and so
I think it's it's trying to upgrade a lot of
those types of things as well, where you're now bringing
in a partner that understands how to bring entertainment to people.
And if you can get that, I think then that
starts attracting people, right. I mean, I think bi used
done a phenomenal job of that of being able to
attract people because of a great product, but also because
it's just a it's a show.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 6: If you're a kid like my kids love to go
to basketball games, if they go to that, they're going
to be excited beyond just what they get from what
they see on the court. And so I think it
kind of goes hand in hand in this situation. You've
got to be able to increase the entertainment value as
a product, but then you've got to do that in
the in house stuff as well. So you know this,
you know, if they don't do any of that, then yeah,
this is an major failure on that regard, and you'd
have to wonder if Utah is ever really going to
take basketball seriously at that point.
Speaker 2: Josh Furlong KSL dot com here on ESPN, the Fan,
Utah Youtue Inside or writing for KSL dot com. Uh,
you know, piggybacking off the basketball conversation one of the
biggest issues. I mean, my wife's a ute. I've gone
to many games at the Huntsman Center. It's a really
tough parking situation. It's hard to get people there to
the games.
Speaker 3: Obviously.
Speaker 2: When do you think some sort of renovation, some sort
of move could happen for the arena and a change
on the venue or access to the venue, anything that
could be executed on that front, and how soon?
Speaker 6: Yeah, you know, I had some conversations with somebody the
other day on that and they said there's still really
you know, maybe they don't know the full plans, but
they said there's still really no clear direction on when
they're going to break around, right. I think, you know,
for some people, they're still trying to determine a spot.
I believe the university already has a spot picked out,
but whether that happens sooner than later remains to be seen.
I mean, I know the university is undertaking a lot
of different changes to try to make sure a lot
of that stuff works. They want to create kind of
like an entertainment district where all of the athletics are
kind of in the same area. So the belief would
be that the new Huntsman Center, whatever it's called, would
be closer to right Eco Stadium. You could create a
whole bunch of entertainment there and do that. So, you know,
I don't think we're we're going to see anything quick.
But at the same time, with this infusion of cash,
maybe that speeds things up a little bit, allows them
to kind of move forward and start breaking ground. But yeah,
I mean like they're still they're still running the same
way with what they've got, and so I think you're
in the middle of trying to manage that will, still
trying to, you know, prepare for the future and make
a better product. But you can only dump so much
cash into a product that's going to be raised in
a few years, you know what I mean. I think
they're still kind of figuring that part out, but I
think you'll see probably that move faster along now that
they have the money.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Josh, is this the way of the future in
your opinion? Knowing what you know, learning what you've learned,
do you feel like you know a majority of athletic
departments around the country are going to go down this path.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean I think you know, whether this is
the exact path that everybody will go remains to be seen,
But I think you're going to see a lot of this, right.
I think you'll have a lot more people intrigued because
Utah has signed the deal. I think somebody was waiting
to be the first, right, Like, this is not like
Utah was the first to ever consider private equity, but
I think this is going to be the way that
you kind of have to fund college athletics. Right. There's
probably better ways to do it, but barring collective bargaining
or barring you know, much more structure to be able
to equalize or at least create you know, the structure. Essentially,
you know, you're gonna have to find these outside avenues
to be able to increase revenue and increase funds because
it's just an arms race that's either going to break
or people are just going to continue to find new
ways to be able to bring in money.
Speaker 2: So what are the risks, like, as you've asked questions,
what are the true risks here?
Speaker 3: Uh?
Speaker 2: And what are the what's the potential fallout if there is,
if this is a failed venture, we're not talking about
we're talking about bankruptcy of of of an entity that
just reverts back to its old ways within the within
the school, you know what I mean, Like.
Speaker 3: Is there a bailout?
Speaker 2: Is it too big to fail type of deal like
the car industry or any other uh, you know, big
big business, et cetera that is booed up by taxpayers.
Speaker 3: What's what's the risk here?
Speaker 6: And that's and that's where I'm still really curious kind
of what what that is. Right when they talk about
exit strategy, UTAH says that they own everything and they
have the controlling interest of that. So you know, if
Outra Capital isn't you know, pulling their weight, so to speak,
or things aren't going well, you know they can they
can remove them or whatever that may be. May mean
obviously they're going to have to pay them out, so
at the very least you're going to be in debt
to what you owe them, if that has to be
an early situation. But I don't know that there's necessarily
I don't want to call it a failure, right because
I think there's obviously failure opportunities. But I think because
you have a donor base that is going to be
buying into this. It's more can it be sustainable?
Speaker 4: Right?
Speaker 6: Can this be something where you can continue to move
forward with it without just kind of middling along? Like
there has to be some sort of increase in revenue
to be able to make sure this works. And so
if you're just getting a bunch of cash, you're going
to eventually be in debt to that count, you know,
to that you know firm, and can you get donors
to pay that out? Can you get different things that way?
I don't know that there's going to be some buyout, right,
I mean I could be wrong, But at the same time,
I don't know the full capacity of that, you know,
with my limited financial understanding to know what the true
fallout would be in this situation, especially since they are
a minority order, especially since you know a majority of
that is coming from from the donors. So your guess
is as good as mine, you know. I wish I
was better equipped to answer that question, but I think
they feel like they've mitigated most of those risks with
the way they've written it. But yeah, I mean, if
this is a situation where you have to turn to
tax dollars and everything else. Yeah, that's that's a big disaster,
and that's a that's a huge risk that now opens
the university up too much further scrutiny.
Speaker 2: What's the overall vibe right now with the football program,
with this deal getting done, going to a bowl.
Speaker 3: Game in Vegas and having a what I want to
say it was.
Speaker 2: A top forty or forty five class in college football
in the colleg football recruiting world.
Speaker 3: What's the vibe right now?
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean I think it's positive. I think the
fact that you can bring back your two quarterbacks and
have them paired together, bringing back a core of the players,
or at least that's what we can right now, I
think there's there's a positive vibe that Utah can continue
this trajectory moving forward to the next year. They're recruiting class.
They didn't need to go heavy because they have a
lot of freshmen that contributed this year, or at least
younger players, and so it's really just kind of capitalizing
on what they did this year and trying to move
forward for next year. So, you know, I'm really fascinated
to see if there's any bowl opt outs. I would
assume there's at least one considering Spencer finals of a
first round pick potentially, you know, I have to believe
that at least the core of this team will play
together and play in Vegas and try to use that
as another jumping off point to next year. But that
remains to be seen. So I think overall the general
vibe is good. We're still waiting to hear on Kyle
Whittingham and his future, so I think that that has
some you know, it kind of limits exactly what the
full vibe can be. But I think there's still positivity
going into next year.
Speaker 2: Josh for a long ladies and gentlemen, best way to
support you, what you do, how you do it, Josh.
Speaker 6: For all of our listeners, Yeah, you can just go
to KSL dot com read my stuff there, or do
you can come visit my twitter feed Jafer KSL chat
with me that way. You know, I have a podcast
all those kinds of things, so any and I'll appreciate it,
but I appreciate being able to come on your show
and be able to talk about these things.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a new wave, man.
Speaker 2: I think it's incredible that Utah was the first to
jump into it. It's something that everyone's been very flirtatious about.
It's kind of taking hold of the new cycle in
the off seasons, whether it's conference commissioners or athletic deporms
eights discussing it, but UTAH finding a way to be
the first to jump into it. Can't wait to watch
out it all it all turns out. I'm sure we're
going to learn more about it in the days and weeks.
Com Is there any do you think there's any chance
at the state legislature sometime somehow tries to put a
kibosh on this.
Speaker 6: I mean, I know there was you know, I can't
remember blanket on the legislator's name who kind of not
really upset on X about this. But my understanding is
is that UTAH has worked and with the legislature or
at least interested members of the party to be able
to have an understanding of what this is. So like, sure,
there's always a chance that the legislature can come in
and kind of usurp their power, but I think they've
had enough conversations going along. They're not doing this blindly, right,
Like you're not going this far along signing private equity,
doing all these things without talking to the NCAA, without
talking to the legislature, the governor, those types of things.
So you know, I think everything is kosher, Everything is okay.
It's just a matter of kind of finalizing everything.
Speaker 3: Can't wait to see what happens.
Speaker 2: Josh. Appreciate your brother great inside. As always, we invite
everyone to follow you on x and check out your
podcast as well as read all your content ATKSL dot com.
Speaker 3: Thanks so much, Josh.
Speaker 6: Thanks, I appreciate.
Speaker 3: It all right.
Speaker 2: There you have it, Josh for a long ladies and gentlemen,
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Don't go anywhere. This is Cougar Sports on one of three,
nine ninety eight point three, and you.
Speaker 1: Are listening to Cougar Sports with Ben Krettle, and it's
time for a Cougar Insider report. Now, let's get that
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Speaker 3: All right, let's get into a cougar in side report.
Speaker 2: So the Pop Tarts Bowl Director of Marketing and Communication
Sam Gardner discussed Notre Dame declining to play in the game.
I don't know if you saw this SoundBite, Ronald the
three man Weaver, but I'm gonna send it over to
you so we can play for all of Kugarnation.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 2: Pop Tarts Bowl Director of Marketing and Communication, Sam Gardner
discussing what happened, why it happened Notre Dame declining to
play in the Pop Tarts Bowl. It would have been Gloria's.
It would have been great, It would have been fantastic.
It would have been the best consolation prize in college
football history for BYU. And this not getting into the CFP,
but playing in Orlando versus Notre Dame.
Speaker 3: Let's get to it.
Speaker 7: We can only pick from the teams that are available
to us. So once we were given that the teams,
you know that there's there's only so much we can do.
And then we took the team that we wanted out
of that pool. You know, Notre Dame obviously had a
great season, and then you know they made a decision
regarding their postseason that affected not just the Pop Tarts
Bowl but every other bowl. And you know it's hard
to fault them for that. You know, it's an emotional
moment and you know they they did what was best
for their program. And then you know, that's kind of
that We're really excited about the magic we've got.
Speaker 2: Didn't want to go too far into it, but that
was his thoughts there. Look, Notre Dame has every right
to just say, peace, we out, we ain't got to
play bowl games.
Speaker 3: What Notre Dame has done?
Speaker 2: Okay, they have decided that they didn't want They don't
want anyone piggybacking off their brand and making money off
of them.
Speaker 3: That's why, to a certain degree that they're independent right now.
Speaker 2: They have their ACC deal with six games, and they
have their Olympic sports there as well. They're ticked off
at the ACC, they're ticked off at the College Footballlayoff Committee,
they're kicked off at ESPN, and they want to make
everybody pay right now. Well, this be a repercussion because
the college football world is doesn't like the fact that
Notre Dame wields so much power and they're pushing them.
One of the reasons why I believe that Notre Dame
was pushed out of the CFP is because yes, their
strength of schedule, Yes, their strength of record, because they
lost two games, all those things, but they want them
in a conference. They can't continue to just operate solo.
They can't continue to do that. Even though guys early
on in this period I mentioned earlier this week, the
reason why Notre Dame went in depending in the first
place is because so much anti Catholicism discrimination.
Speaker 3: That's what it was.
Speaker 2: I brought it up when JFK was nominated as the
President of the United States, like there was a lot
of anti Catholic people out there. No, like, I know,
this is a long time ago. I'm just reading books.
I'm just looking up stuff on the interwebs and finding
all manner of data that supports them. Like it's pretty crazy.
The KKK was live, if they couldn't go out and
discriminate against certain racists, certain people, they'd go to the
Catholics and they discriminate against them in a certain area. Anyway,
that all being said, like, there's a reason why Notre
Dame became a chip on their shoulder fighting Irish. They're fighting. Furthermore,
you know anything about the Irish anyway, anything about the
Irish coming from overseas.
Speaker 3: Man, they were discriminated against Man. They had, they had
a rough start.
Speaker 2: They had a rough start.
Speaker 7: Man.
Speaker 2: You think you think like every like everyone needs everyone's
probably Mormon has been discriminated against. The Irish have been
discriminated against Latinos, after African American. There's been a lot
of discrimination out there for since the fall of Man. Okay,
that's all I'm saying. And the Irish had a pretty
tough too anyway. That all being said, there's a reason
why the Notre Dame fighting Irish have a chip on
their shoulder, and why they being independent in the first place,
and why they are continually in that culture. They've built
a great brand. They're a good football program. Are they
an elite football program? Some would say the brand is elite,
but the football product has not been elite.
Speaker 3: They've been great, but not elite. I think they're they're great.
They're a great football program, no doubt about it.
Speaker 2: So they have every right to decline it I think
they may be humbled and they may be a bit
hungry because everyone found out about this deal that Notre
Dame has with the college football playoff now going forward,
that if they're in the top twelve, thirteen, fourteen, that
they're gonna get into the colleg football Playoff no matter
what as a at large bit. So that's in place now.
Eighties around the country, if you haven't heard, are now
potentially freezing scheduling with Notre Dame. So they're gonna say, oh,
you got the sweetheart deal. Well you ain't playing us.
Why would we play you. We don't need your money,
We don't want your money. So Notre Dame is saying,
you're not going to piggyback off us and make money
off of us. Well, now others are saying, well, we
don't want your money. Anyways, you can go into a
relevancy during independence.
Speaker 3: We'll see how good your strength the schedule is.
Speaker 5: Well, Notre Dame is messing around and finding out. We
won't say what with that. The word that you know
really goes in that phrase. They're messing around and finding out.
The thing that I that stood out to me is
the pop tart, the pop tarts guy.
Speaker 3: He did.
Speaker 5: He said he didn't want to get too far into it,
which is probably what Notre Dame's athletic director should have
done when they declined things when when they got left out.
But instead he went on all these shows and he
started complaining. The best thing that you can do when
you make an emotional decision that backfires in your face
is put the shovel down. But he he just kept
digging and and he's fine, and everyone's finding out what
Notre Dame is all about. Notre Dame didn't play anybody
this year, and when they did, they lost, and Notre
Dame's got to live with that. But they can't, so
they're throwing a fit, and now others around the country
are looking at them, going, why are we playing you in.
Speaker 3: The first place?
Speaker 5: Why should we give you any resume at all and
let you take our money that we could have if
you don't take our spot in the college football playoff
because you have a deal with a college football playoff
committee that we don't like. Why would we give you
that opportunity?
Speaker 3: Make Notre Dame join a conference.
Speaker 5: I think that's the best move for college football as
a whole.
Speaker 3: Because you said it.
Speaker 5: Notre Dame's got an elite brand, they've got great football teams.
Speaker 3: Put them in a conference. I would love to see
a Notre Dame on.
Speaker 5: A championship Saturday, for say a Big ten or an
ACC championship.
Speaker 3: That'd be fun to watch.
Speaker 5: Make them join a conference instead of letting them get
by on playing the worst schedules in football and then
slide into the playoff.
Speaker 2: It's a unique situation. It's a singular one, no doubt
for Notre Dame. They may be messing around and finding
out real soon where they're at in this college football landscape.
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