Speaker 1: Sunday Night, Granary Live a little National, Little War on Drugs.
Speaker 1: My next guest will be there, as will I. I've
Speaker 1: got to say, I'm a little bummed out that the
Speaker 1: lineup is what it is.
Speaker 2: As far as who's going first and who's going second?
Speaker 1: Right, because War on Drugs is opening and National is closing?
Speaker 3: Is that correct? That's my understanding.
Speaker 2: Guess that doesn't feel right to me.
Speaker 3: I mean, there'll be a lot of sad dads.
Speaker 1: Either way, and I know what that term means. At
Speaker 1: this point in my life, I do know what sad
Speaker 1: dad means. Aaron Falk, the editor of the sports section
Speaker 1: for the Solid Tribune. Is it look the National has
Speaker 1: been around longer? Is that what it is? It just
Speaker 1: feels like these days war on Drugs is bigger.
Speaker 3: Well, you know, the National, they've collapsed with Phoebe, with Taylor.
Speaker 3: You know there's crossover appeal here, so you know, I
Speaker 3: think they are maybe a step above.
Speaker 1: That's fair, and you know, while we're in this space,
Speaker 1: of course, was it last year when Phoebe came downtown
Speaker 1: or two years ago?
Speaker 3: I don't remember, but I remember that we were the
Speaker 3: oldest people.
Speaker 1: There, A young a very young person came up to
Speaker 1: me and said, hey, aren't you Spence check Its And
Speaker 1: I said yes, and he said, my dad loves you
Speaker 1: at the Phoebe show, So I'm probably in for some
Speaker 1: more of this coming up on Sunday Night.
Speaker 3: In a couple of years, it was like, will be
Speaker 3: didn't you used to be Spencer Jeens? You know?
Speaker 1: And then I already feel that way, but you know,
Speaker 1: what are you gonna do? We're aging hope to see
Speaker 1: you guys on Sunday night. It'll be a great show,
Speaker 1: all right, Aaron. Let's start with a historic week for
Speaker 1: a couple of different reasons, some good, some bad. The
Speaker 1: bad is the capital City said good bye to the
Speaker 1: Bees after thirty years of Smith's Ballpark in almost one
Speaker 1: hundred years of history of minor league baseball in Salt
Speaker 1: Lake City, it now belongs to our friends out south.
Speaker 1: At daybreak went to a couple of games this year.
Speaker 1: Wasn't able to make it out over the weekend. I
Speaker 1: know that you did. We talked to Tony Parks a
Speaker 1: couple of times to promote the games and also to
Speaker 1: recap them. What are your thoughts now that it's official
Speaker 1: the Bees are moving down South?
Speaker 3: Yeah? I mean, I look at it. There are a
Speaker 3: couple of different lenses that I would look at this with,
Speaker 3: and one is like a very personal you know, Salt
Speaker 3: Laker like we you know, we live in you know,
Speaker 3: in the neighborhood roughly, and so you feel a personal
Speaker 3: connection to grew up going to those games. It's nearby.
Speaker 3: There's history there almost one hundred years, like the people
Speaker 3: that have passed through that block, you know, not that stadium,
Speaker 3: exactly what that block. It's kind of an incredible roster
Speaker 3: in terms of of baseball history in Salt Lake City.
Speaker 3: And so to see that go is very sad. And
Speaker 3: then at the same time, I think, you know, if
Speaker 3: you can, if you can get outside of yourself and
Speaker 3: zoom out a little bit and you look at where's
Speaker 3: the growth in the valley. It's on the south end.
Speaker 3: Was I was there. I was in an impossibly long
Speaker 3: beer line on Sunday with you know, thirteen thousand, five
Speaker 3: hundred other people, and a woman came walking through the
Speaker 3: concourse screaming, if you'd all been here every week, this
Speaker 3: wouldn't be happening.
Speaker 2: And you know what, maybe maybe maybe, And.
Speaker 3: So I think, you know, you look at at what
Speaker 3: the Millers have done, and yes it is. It is
Speaker 3: sad for me to see that go. But to move
Speaker 3: out to Daybreak, a younger audience, a different type of audience,
Speaker 3: a smaller stadium, you know it, it may very well
Speaker 3: be what's best for a minor league franchise, particularly if
Speaker 3: they are truly serious about adding major league franchise in downtown. Right.
Speaker 3: And then I think you look at it from a
Speaker 3: Salt Lake City standpoint, in that neighborhood, which is, you know,
Speaker 3: as it's issues just from a socioeconomic standpoint, and to
Speaker 3: go and maybe you know it sounds like the U
Speaker 3: is going to play there next year, but beyond that,
Speaker 3: you know, to have a place that's going to be active,
Speaker 3: it's probably gonna be shops, apartments, whatever. I don't know.
Speaker 3: The city hasn't decided yet, but it's going to be
Speaker 3: active three hundred and sixty nights a year, right, and
Speaker 3: not and not just for baseball season, and not just
Speaker 3: for six days at the time every other week. And
Speaker 3: so I think there there can be good that can
Speaker 3: come out of it.
Speaker 1: Still a bummer, yeah, it is, And I've said this
Speaker 1: ever since the news came down. I mean, we're all
Speaker 1: going to react to news like this based off of
Speaker 1: how it affects us. And the fact that I can
Speaker 1: get dismissed ballpark in ten minutes without traffic is something
Speaker 1: that affects me.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 1: I also go to four or five games a year, right,
Speaker 1: And so ultimately, I wonder what your thoughts are. I've
Speaker 1: never been a daybreak, not one time. I don't like
Speaker 1: going past thirty third. I prefer staying here. But I've
Speaker 1: never been a daybreak one time. I've never been a
Speaker 1: daybreak one time. And I wonder if you believe that
Speaker 1: this new club will be supported in its new home.
Speaker 1: I just don't know enough about the infrastructure kind of
Speaker 1: what it's like.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that it can be. I think it's
Speaker 3: going to be a much younger crowd. It's going to
Speaker 3: be a different crowd right now. It's yes, it is families.
Speaker 3: It's also people looking to get a beer outside, right,
Speaker 3: And I think Daybreak is going to be very heavy
Speaker 3: on family youth. I could say, see, you know, like
Speaker 3: Little League Baseball teams filling that place up a lot.
Speaker 3: It's gonna be a much smaller stadium, right, something like
Speaker 3: eight thousand versus the fifteen thousand it is now, and
Speaker 3: it's gonna be different from what I understand. There's gonna
Speaker 3: be more of a beer garden set up and not
Speaker 3: like you know, it's not gonna be at your seat,
Speaker 3: So families that may feel uncomfortable in a I don't
Speaker 3: know watching someone else drink a beer. I don't know.
Speaker 3: It's not me, but you know, there may be more
Speaker 3: opportunity there. And then you know whatever, the secret Lives
Speaker 3: of Mormon wives crowd that comes from from that corner
Speaker 3: is gonna be there and they're gonna be doing tiktoks
Speaker 3: and they're gonna it's gonna be big. I don't know,
Speaker 3: it could be good.
Speaker 2: Are you aware that I'm related to a couple on
Speaker 2: that show?
Speaker 1: Which one I don't. I will not stay on air.
Speaker 1: We'll leave it off air for now. Okay, I'll tell
Speaker 1: you off air. I have not seen the show, nor
Speaker 1: will I. I'm not gonna see a moment of it.
Speaker 1: But anyway, my head is all over the place with
Speaker 1: that breakdown, avoid the very appearance of evil Aeron.
Speaker 2: So they head on out to daybreak.
Speaker 1: Let's move over here though, because after the Miller's kind
Speaker 1: of announced the plan and it went through the process.
Speaker 1: Steve Starks came in a studio for an hour and
Speaker 1: on air we talked a lot about the plan, and
Speaker 1: then off air he opened up the books and showed
Speaker 1: me like, and they're ready.
Speaker 2: They're ready, you know, shoveling the ground ready.
Speaker 1: I just haven't heard anything recently about if there's progress
Speaker 1: being made, Because to your point, if the endgame of
Speaker 1: moving the B's to daybreak is a ball major League
Speaker 1: ballpark here in Salt Lake City and a Major League
Speaker 1: Baseball team in the Capitol City, I'm all for that,
Speaker 1: But I just what you're understanding of where we're at
Speaker 1: that production.
Speaker 3: We're still ages away from a decision, you know. I mean,
Speaker 3: just looking at at what Rob Manfreend has said about
Speaker 3: Major League Baseball expansion, it's status quo right right. We're
Speaker 3: waiting for I don't know exactly if Major LEAUE Baseball
Speaker 3: will wait until stadiums are built in Tampa and in
Speaker 3: Las Vegas or wherever the A's end up, because it's
Speaker 3: still kind of seems sketchy there. But you know, at
Speaker 3: this point, it sounds like maybe the earliest of whatever
Speaker 3: expansion team is playing, whether that's Nashville here, Portland, wherever.
Speaker 3: It's not gonna until twenty thirty points, right, We got
Speaker 3: a pretty big gap here.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And it's funny because Gary Bettman said the same thing
Speaker 1: about hockey expansion, and so I was off operating off
Speaker 1: the premise like, Okay, Ryan wants hockey, Millers want baseball.
Speaker 1: We're probably looking at twenty eight, twenty nine to thirty
Speaker 1: for both. That's what makes the hockey thing so crazy,
Speaker 1: because this is not an expansion team. It's a relocation.
Speaker 1: It's literally historic. We chatted with Bell. She's lovely, she's
Speaker 1: very good. You've hired a new b rider for the trip.
Speaker 1: We've seen a couple of preseason games, couple of power
Speaker 1: play goals, a couple of power play kills. We saw
Speaker 1: in interference with a goaltender, which is like off sides
Speaker 1: in soccer. You only know it when you're trained to
Speaker 1: see it. It'll it's okay, you'll catch up. What are
Speaker 1: your thoughts?
Speaker 2: Hockey's here?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm I'm I'm I am learning. So I've got
Speaker 3: a really good friend here. Yeah, so I'm learning the
Speaker 3: higher Belfraser is good.
Speaker 2: For me because she knows a lot more about it
Speaker 2: than I do.
Speaker 3: And so I'm I'm learning through this process as well,
Speaker 3: but I've been encouraged by the excitement around. I think
Speaker 3: the interesting thing right now for me is, you know,
Speaker 3: just kind of being around the gateway and the arena
Speaker 3: the other night when when that game and I wasn't there,
Speaker 3: but you see so many different jerseys, you know, Bruins
Speaker 3: jerseys and Golden Knights jerseys, all these things, and I'm
Speaker 3: wondering how long before you know it's Utah hockey fans
Speaker 3: and not Utah hockey. Good point, Yeah, and that that's
Speaker 3: right now. It feels a little bit more like people
Speaker 3: are die hard for the sport and they're they're coming
Speaker 3: in and showing up versus having, you know, the team
Speaker 3: to really coalesce around. Given the season ticket deposits that
Speaker 3: we've heard about and everything like that, I suspect that's
Speaker 3: going to happen once you know things, once the lamp
Speaker 3: lights for real, there you go. I believe the electric.
Speaker 2: Look at you bell has been a good influence.
Speaker 3: I like this, but yeah, right now, right now, it
Speaker 3: still feels like I feel like people are just kind
Speaker 3: of putting their toe with sure.
Speaker 1: Sure now the sweaters are pretty clean though they are, Yeah,
Speaker 1: they are a lot of a lot of excitement around
Speaker 1: town about the sweaters.
Speaker 3: That's what I'm hearing. Yeah, and I don't actually I'm
Speaker 3: a fan. I mean, I you know, get nice and clean.
Speaker 3: Uh keep it simple for see.
Speaker 1: I have your Twitter pulled up. I haven't seen any
Speaker 1: tweets about how clean the sweaters are. Uh, yeah, they're
Speaker 1: not there.
Speaker 3: I've been I've been liking them. You can't see the likes.
Speaker 2: Can you not? Did you want to take away? Take
Speaker 2: away the likes?
Speaker 3: You can like? You just can't see it.
Speaker 2: I didn't know that.
Speaker 3: I protect a few people.
Speaker 2: That's good news for a few.
Speaker 3: People in our market.
Speaker 2: There's no doubt about that.
Speaker 1: All right, let's do a little We'll do a little
Speaker 1: jazz because I do have a well, we're gonna end
Speaker 1: with mostly college football after this. From my vantage point,
Speaker 1: this is as low of an excitement level as I
Speaker 1: can remember, like ever about it jazz season.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: I wonder if the hockey team will be able to
Speaker 1: capitalize on that. Look, they're under one umbrella, so it's
Speaker 1: not like you're stealing business from one cut.
Speaker 2: It's the same company, it's the same ownership group.
Speaker 1: Do you think there's gonna be a dynamic and look,
Speaker 1: one of the great things about sports, one of the
Speaker 1: things we love about sports, it's why we watch, is
Speaker 1: you never.
Speaker 2: Know what's gonna happen.
Speaker 1: Could Cody Williams pop in a way that no one's
Speaker 1: Maybe I'm not excited to watch the Patti Millster U
Speaker 1: Banks pick and roll seven times in the third quarter,
Speaker 1: Like it's just not there. And I wonder if you
Speaker 1: think the hockey club will benefit off of what I
Speaker 1: perceived to be a very low level of excitement for
Speaker 1: pro basketball in our market.
Speaker 3: I'm with you there on the excitement level. I saw
Speaker 3: the email come out that you know, preseasons here, Ryan Smith,
Speaker 3: Danny Ainge are talking to the press on Friday, and
Speaker 3: I'm like, what do I care about right now? And
Speaker 3: it's long term. Everything is long term. I agree with you. You know,
Speaker 3: can Keyante take another step? What is Cody william There
Speaker 3: are questions to be answered, but man, you got to
Speaker 3: be kind of a die hard to really care about
Speaker 3: those questions immediately, And so I agree with you. I
Speaker 3: don't think, you know, I think if the Jazz were
Speaker 3: a playoff team, then there's gonna be people that are
Speaker 3: diehard Jazz fans. They don't give their attention to anything else,
Speaker 3: maybe just sort of out of curiosity. I think you're
Speaker 3: a sports fan in the Salt Lake market and football
Speaker 3: ends and you're watching a bad jazz team, and you go,
Speaker 3: what's going on with this other thing that I hear
Speaker 3: that is winning? I think there. I think it is
Speaker 3: an opening for the Utah Hockey Club to steal a
Speaker 3: little bit of a momentum that they might not have
Speaker 3: had otherwise.
Speaker 2: So you bring up a really good point.
Speaker 1: And I've honestly always wondered this, because you know, when
Speaker 1: you're in when you get in the business, the industry,
Speaker 1: as they say, you have to become a little bit
Speaker 1: agnostic about cheering. And it probably took me to if
Speaker 1: I'm honest, it probably took me too long doing this
Speaker 1: to realize that. I think I'm much better at it
Speaker 1: now that I don't care about. I hate to say that,
Speaker 1: but if a team that I cheer for loses, I
Speaker 1: have a sandwich and go to bed and I don't
Speaker 1: think about it again. And when I was younger, it
Speaker 1: was different. I had more emotional ties. It's different when
Speaker 1: you're raised and it's the family business and you know
Speaker 1: you're cheering literally with your heart and soul because it's
Speaker 1: what your family relies on to live. But as you
Speaker 1: move out of that, you do wonder, at least I do,
Speaker 1: how many of our citizens here in the community who
Speaker 1: enjoy sports just want to go see the jazz and
Speaker 1: they don't care if it's Keyante or if it's Donovan Mitchell.
Speaker 2: Like, how many ultimate.
Speaker 1: Die hards out there are upset with lack of direction
Speaker 1: and how many people just want.
Speaker 2: To go to a damn game. I honestly don't know
Speaker 2: the answer to that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think. I think if you have been through
Speaker 3: a period of jazz success, you know, at different points
Speaker 3: in your life, whether you are somebody you know, if
Speaker 3: you're we're around to watch watch the finals runs, if
Speaker 3: you were around to watch you know, Darren and Carlos,
Speaker 3: if you were around to watch this this Donovan Rudy era.
Speaker 3: I think maybe, I think there are people out there
Speaker 3: that will have enough good memories that you know, hey,
Speaker 3: this is this is my team. I'm here through thick
Speaker 3: and thin whatever. I think. Casuals, sure, I mean, maybe
Speaker 3: they're go because you want to get you want to
Speaker 3: get some jade dogs and and and hang out with
Speaker 3: your friends. For sure, one night for one game. But
Speaker 3: I think there's a ton of young kids who already
Speaker 3: have a hard time getting into sports the way that
Speaker 3: we have had sports in our life growing up. They're
Speaker 3: watching highlights on YouTube and they're not really paying attention
Speaker 3: that if you don't have a winner like you're you're
Speaker 3: not connecting with with that younger generation, and so I
Speaker 3: think that's that's sort of the misopportunity. But I think
Speaker 3: if you are somebody that's that's been through it, you
Speaker 3: can probably endure a couple of bad years here. We're
Speaker 3: nice fans, We are nice people, nice fans, and people
Speaker 3: will swallow it for a little while. But if you're
Speaker 3: if you haven't had it before, you're not going to
Speaker 3: be a twelve year old kid that goes to the
Speaker 3: Delta Center for the first time watch the Jazz get
Speaker 3: blown out by fifty and think this is it for me,
Speaker 3: This is where I want to be.
Speaker 1: Right And that's the danger of having a rebuild go
Speaker 1: more than a few years. And to be fair to
Speaker 1: Xanak and age and everybody else, most rebuilts go more
Speaker 1: than a few years.
Speaker 2: We just haven't had those happen here very often.
Speaker 1: And I suppose, because there's there's this general feel like
Speaker 1: if I'm watching an NBA show or if I'm listening
Speaker 1: to an NBA podcast, there's just this general feel. And
Speaker 1: Jason Kidd actually set it out loud a couple of
Speaker 1: years ago during a MAVs playoff run when he said,
Speaker 1: you guys don't get it. We're millionaires cheering for each other.
Speaker 1: I'm like, dude, I know, but don't say that A
Speaker 1: was lifting right. And you do get peeks behind the
Speaker 1: curtain every once in a while when Kevin Durant says, hey,
Speaker 1: nobody ever thinks about the fans, just so you know.
Speaker 1: So there is this general feel like these guys are
Speaker 1: fat and happy. How he stay hungry when you're well fed,
Speaker 1: and they don't really give a rip about anything other
Speaker 1: than their P and L statements, which are really healthy,
Speaker 1: and the fans keep showing up. I wonder if you
Speaker 1: think that stops at some point. As far as that
Speaker 1: building being full, it was full every I was probably
Speaker 1: there ten times last year was full every time.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I was just talking about that with Andy Larsen
Speaker 3: and staff yesterday, and and you know, you look at
Speaker 3: the start of last season, there was there was the
Speaker 3: idea of hope right at the very start of last season,
Speaker 3: and so it makes sense that that you have that
Speaker 3: going in. Things don't work out, it doesn't, you know,
Speaker 3: it turns it's worse than you expected. But it's still
Speaker 3: full after the All Star break, after the trade deadline.
Speaker 3: Is is a bit surprising. I mean, I my first
Speaker 3: year covering the Jazz was twenty thirteen. It's twenty five
Speaker 3: win team. There were a lot of green seats, you know,
Speaker 3: Like I, I do think it does stop at a
Speaker 3: certain point. You can't you can't rely on, you know,
Speaker 3: on the past for forever, particularly when there are other
Speaker 3: opportunities to spend your dollars. He was good, b YU
Speaker 3: looks better than expected. RSL may maybe maybe a Cup contender, okay,
Speaker 3: and and the hockey club right, So so yeah, I do.
Speaker 3: I would expect that at some point this year the
Speaker 3: sellout streak ends.
Speaker 2: I think that's probably accurate.
Speaker 1: But there's a lot of trucks and Tesla's, as Camaradie
Speaker 1: likes to say, that make their way up from the
Speaker 1: South to make sure that thing is jam pack.
Speaker 2: That's you brought him up.
Speaker 1: So let's do a little bit on RSL. Before we
Speaker 1: end with college football, I was on TV with your guy,
Speaker 1: Dave Fox, one of your mentors. We all look up
Speaker 1: to Dave for a number of reasons, and he asked
Speaker 1: me last night, are you more confident in them making
Speaker 1: a deep Cup run now than you were a month ago?
Speaker 2: And I said no, not as there was a month ago.
Speaker 1: Because remember they went fifteen games unbeaten, fifteen matches unbeaten.
Speaker 2: Pardon me, they made a bunch of changes, kind of
Speaker 2: seem to be figuring it out.
Speaker 1: I think the keeper situation is going to stop them
Speaker 1: from winning anything special. That's kind of where I'm at.
Speaker 1: But I love playoff soccer, fall soccer. I think we'll
Speaker 1: get a home match. What are you expecting from RSL
Speaker 1: the rest of the way.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm with you. I mean, I thought after you
Speaker 3: sell Gomez, like there's going to be a natural dip
Speaker 3: just in terms of energy, in terms of other people.
Speaker 3: It seems like these editions have done enough offensively to
Speaker 3: maybe give you hope that, like you can go out
Speaker 3: and win a playoff game or two or whatever. But yeah,
Speaker 3: I mean, I think at this point it's not gonna
Speaker 3: surprise me to see McMath back in goal. And I
Speaker 3: I think, you know, Beaver's maybe maybe has a bright
Speaker 3: future looks a bit skeittish right now. Yes, McMath has
Speaker 3: made a number of errors that were probably unforgivable to some.
Speaker 3: But he's gonna be your best bet to win at
Speaker 3: this point, and I mean at this and you gotta
Speaker 3: have you gotta have your defense step up three to three.
Speaker 3: The other night is uh, that's that's a sad ending.
Speaker 3: Yeah like that.
Speaker 1: Well, I'll tell you what if it's McMath between the pipes.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna get on Twitter. I gotta see some
Speaker 1: of those tweets flying man, because some people get really
Speaker 1: upset with it. All right, we'll move over with a
Speaker 1: few minutes last to college football. Now let me start here. You,
Speaker 1: I'm a true aggie. You are an aggie aggie. You
Speaker 1: are an alump. I did not do this mooching so
Speaker 1: we I don't know what that means. We both have
Speaker 1: different ties and realistinity to our good friends up and
Speaker 1: Logan for different reasons. How does it feel that you
Speaker 1: are an alumni of a pac twelve school? Congrat Utah State.
Speaker 3: You know, I've been watching this and I don't really
Speaker 3: know how anybody feels about it. I think I think
Speaker 3: people feel I think Aggie fans feel better about it
Speaker 3: on the level of yes, the PAC twelve has more
Speaker 3: prestige than the Mountain West brand, right, at least did
Speaker 3: once upon a time. I think if you look at
Speaker 3: who who is in the PAC twelve and who is
Speaker 3: out of the PAC twelve, even if you were just
Speaker 3: looking at you know, these are the Mountain West extras, right,
Speaker 3: it is the best part of the Mountain West that
Speaker 3: is now in the PAC twelve versus you know what
Speaker 3: is remains in the Mountain West. So I think you're
Speaker 3: you're probably feeling better that way. However, like, how could
Speaker 3: you not get to a situation where you don't just
Speaker 3: dissolve this thing, save save your war chest of one
Speaker 3: hundred and fifty million dollars or whatever, and figure out
Speaker 3: a way to merge it, like or if you're going
Speaker 3: to do this, and I know maybe you know, Uta
Speaker 3: States burned from whatever whatever we called it, they called
Speaker 3: it once more time, the plan when by U and
Speaker 3: uh when independent, this was all this was all supposed
Speaker 3: to happen, right, So yes, Utah State was burned, yeah,
Speaker 3: once upon a time. So maybe they just feel like, hey,
Speaker 3: let's get to higher ground and figure it out. But
Speaker 3: how do you not all come together figure out a
Speaker 3: way at this point? And then it is not what
Speaker 3: I'm you know, I'm not anti Mountain West, but figure
Speaker 3: out a way to dissolve the Mountain West and keep
Speaker 3: your money.
Speaker 1: It's it's a really good point, and I actually think
Speaker 1: part of that's still on the table if reasonable minds
Speaker 1: can come together. But now there are lawsuits being filed.
Speaker 1: Now they're banging heads with each other.
Speaker 2: I just can't.
Speaker 1: Believe, like, whoever gets college football right will be an
Speaker 1: absolute hero because it is such a great product with
Speaker 1: no leadership.
Speaker 2: Nobody, everyone's asleep at the wheel.
Speaker 1: Yet it is a multi billion dollar business every year
Speaker 1: without a CEO or without like a sound own business
Speaker 1: planner structure in place. You know, the quarterback leaves NLV today,
Speaker 1: that's an undefeated G five team. A lot of people
Speaker 1: think they can go to the CFP. He's like, where's
Speaker 1: my one hundred k? The head coach is like, I
Speaker 1: didn't say that we were going to give you that.
Speaker 1: He's like, wait, the assistant did.
Speaker 2: And he leaves. He's their starting quarterback and he just leaves.
Speaker 3: It's an insane thing. And this is where I have
Speaker 3: a lot of like mixed feelings on the future of
Speaker 3: nil and like how best to handle this? But you know,
Speaker 3: we're talking about He's like, ohere's my one hundred thousand dollars,
Speaker 3: And then the report I saw was like, we're talking
Speaker 3: about three thousand dollars a month. So there's a gigantic
Speaker 3: gap in between like a lot of these numbers that
Speaker 3: are being thrown out there and what we think and
Speaker 3: maybe what's actually being hitting bank accounts here in certain places.
Speaker 3: But I mean, you know, so the initial feeling is
Speaker 3: where are the guardrails who enforces this? There needs to
Speaker 3: be strict rules, but that doesn't happen in the real world.
Speaker 3: If you have a contract for one hundred thousand dollars,
Speaker 3: and unless you are the Mountain West in the fact,
Speaker 3: you you know you have something that's enforceable to get
Speaker 3: your hundred thousand dollars right, But there's just so many
Speaker 3: backroom deals here that why is an ink on paper
Speaker 3: for your one hundred k before you before you take
Speaker 3: a snap?
Speaker 2: That's the bottom line.
Speaker 1: Matthew Sluka is his name, and according to Sluca and
Speaker 1: his agent, Marcus Cramarti, an assistant coach, gave him a
Speaker 1: verbal promise that was quote, come play here and we'll
Speaker 1: pay you one hundred thousand dollars. Kids, get it in writing, okay,
Speaker 1: just whatever it is, get it in writing.
Speaker 3: Do whatever you have to do is put us ten
Speaker 3: k to be here for this hit.
Speaker 2: Porter Falk was promised ten k. Do you have his Venmo?
Speaker 2: Can my assistant?
Speaker 1: Oh okay, get in writing ten k for a beer
Speaker 1: bar hit would be phenomenal.
Speaker 2: All right, let's move over here.
Speaker 1: So you know, I've been pretty honest about my opinion
Speaker 1: on the lack of information coming from the University of
Speaker 1: Utah about their quarterback situation. However, I'm also an adult
Speaker 1: and I understand what the deal is. And Intel Intel
Speaker 1: coach Wig gets that email from the Big twelve that says, hey,
Speaker 1: you got a report. Okay, we're making everybody report Thursday night,
Speaker 1: Friday morning, whatever it is, kind of like the NFL does.
Speaker 2: Until that happens.
Speaker 1: And by the way, let's pause here, that will happen
Speaker 1: all of these sports. Now, college football is not as
Speaker 1: front facing about being in bed with gambling companies as
Speaker 1: the NFL is. The NFL, you turn on a game
Speaker 1: and you can get live odds while the game is
Speaker 1: going on. They give you a QR code to ruin
Speaker 1: your life if you're prone to a lot of dopamine
Speaker 1: hits with no reward. I don't love where we're at
Speaker 1: as far as these sports being in bed with the
Speaker 1: gambling companies. But because they're in bed with the gambling companies,
Speaker 1: who your starting quarterback is is information that's worth hundreds
Speaker 1: of millions of dollars, So at some point the mandate
Speaker 1: will come in.
Speaker 2: Until it does, Coach Wit is under.
Speaker 1: No obligation to tell me or you or anybody else
Speaker 1: who is starting quarterback is.
Speaker 2: So I understand why.
Speaker 1: Here's aaron. What makes it different this year, in my opinion,
Speaker 1: well last year as well. If the reports are true,
Speaker 1: the Cameron Rising is being paid seven figures to play
Speaker 1: quarterback for the University of Utah, and a lot of
Speaker 1: that money comes from season ticket holders, boosters and alumni.
Speaker 2: The community is going to want.
Speaker 1: To see him play football now. My opinion is he's
Speaker 1: hurt and he'll be back when he's healthy. I honestly
Speaker 1: don't know, but there is this general feeling of here
Speaker 1: we go again with the Utes.
Speaker 2: This year what are your thoughts?
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, I think it is. I mean I heard you,
Speaker 3: you know before before the break say you're expecting Isaac
Speaker 3: under center unless thon until you see Cam under there. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I think that's a reasonable position to take at this point, right,
Speaker 3: you know, I'm curious. I mean, I'm mixed on what
Speaker 3: the fans rode versus what the boosters are rowed, and
Speaker 3: also what the boosters will be willing to pony up
Speaker 3: next time when you know, when it's Isaac Wilson's turn
Speaker 3: for one hundred or for a million dollars or whatever, Like,
Speaker 3: is there that same level of desire if you feel
Speaker 3: like maybe you didn't get you know, the truth out
Speaker 3: of somebody on this and I you know, obviously it's
Speaker 3: different this year, and that this is a you know,
Speaker 3: this was an injury. We saw that happened. You know,
Speaker 3: it's not like he was hiding a knee injury for
Speaker 3: you know, in the off season or whatever. Right, Like,
Speaker 3: but I'm very interested in what people are, what the
Speaker 3: value is of this quarterback or of a position or
Speaker 3: what you know, an nil contract if you're going to
Speaker 3: be preserved this way, right, Like, who who do you
Speaker 3: owe the who do you owe that's giving you this money?
Speaker 3: And that's that's where I'm really stuck right now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And ultimately it will go the way of the pros,
Speaker 1: where they'll unionize and collectively bargain and then we can
Speaker 1: have a conversation about whether or not let's just say
Speaker 1: can makes a million bucks this year, is that guaranteed
Speaker 1: money like it is in the NBA in Major League
Speaker 1: Baseball and is growing towards that in the NFL? Or
Speaker 1: do you put stipulations on it? Like if you're a
Speaker 1: business and you decide you want to pay Cameron Rising
Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty grand this year to play football,
Speaker 1: because you're allowed to do that via nil and he
Speaker 1: doesn't play in any games, You're just kind of like, well,
Speaker 1: what did I pay it? Like, unless they collectively bargain
Speaker 1: and they make all these contracts guaranteed, then it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1: But guaranteed contracts, in a way I think, have kind
Speaker 1: of ruined the NBA because of the load management stuff.
Speaker 2: It's complicated.
Speaker 1: But until they have the ability to collectively bargain after
Speaker 1: they unionize, all of these questions.
Speaker 2: Will be up in the air.
Speaker 1: We have a big day tomorrow, like one of the
Speaker 1: ironies of this SLUCAS stuff at UNLV is. On Thursday,
Speaker 1: the NCAA, the P four conferences and their attorneys must
Speaker 1: file a brief in the House anti trust Settlements, and
Speaker 1: we're hoping to get a little closer and closer to
Speaker 1: that being finally ironed out with the direct revenue sharing
Speaker 1: and the schools being able to pay.
Speaker 2: But that's not even done yet.
Speaker 1: And until that's done, we're going to see the quarterback
Speaker 1: from ULV bounce. We're going to see kids not feel
Speaker 1: like they need to step up and play if they're
Speaker 1: being paid, because right now nobody seems to know which
Speaker 1: way is up or which.
Speaker 2: Way is down. I don't know how it's gonna unfold.
Speaker 3: Yeah, my kids aren' getting their braces. I mean, right
Speaker 3: on this. You know. Again, if if it's you know,
Speaker 3: I think you know, unionizing is definitely the thing that's
Speaker 3: that's going to happen and probably be the best outcome
Speaker 3: for for athletes and frankly most parties involved, sure, because otherwise,
Speaker 3: if you have a congressional you know, intervention or it's
Speaker 3: the NCAA, there's still going to be a squeeze. We're
Speaker 3: still you're still not going to get like a truly
Speaker 3: fair outcome for your workers, your players, if if it's
Speaker 3: the billionaires in charge of it making making those decisions.
Speaker 2: One hundred percent.
Speaker 1: So you know, I believe we're high speed ahead to
Speaker 1: the day where college football is leaving the n CUBA
Speaker 1: to become its own governing body with a commissioner. But
Speaker 1: that's still a few a few years off. All right,
Speaker 1: final thing and then we'll set you loose to to
Speaker 1: get back to it. What are you willing to say
Speaker 1: today about b yu's four and oh start man Conference contender?
Speaker 2: Better than we thought? Like, what's what's the take as
Speaker 2: of today?
Speaker 3: Yeah? For me, better than we thought? Uh, Conference contender
Speaker 3: feels that that feels like a big step. That was
Speaker 3: an outstanding game filled with a lot of incredible things
Speaker 3: that you probably can't replicate on a weekly basis. I
Speaker 3: mean to get those three takeaways to give Rett's laugh
Speaker 3: short fields three times in short order like that, that's
Speaker 3: that is the best possible outcome for a guy who
Speaker 3: was coming in maybe having a little bit of issues
Speaker 3: with with turnovers things like that. A punt return that's
Speaker 3: gonna be you know, it's a play of the year
Speaker 3: that you're you know, certainly can't bank on that anymore.
Speaker 3: And and then you have a surprise in in Moa
Speaker 3: coming out and running people over that just probably nobody
Speaker 3: had on scouting report right, and so a great win.
Speaker 3: I think they can beat Baylor. I think that. I
Speaker 3: think maybe a good thing for v y U. Now
Speaker 3: is the last time I remember, like any hype is
Speaker 3: is that big Baylor win in Provo a couple of
Speaker 3: years ago, and there's there's excitement when you go to
Speaker 3: Oregon smoke yeah and every all the airs out. So
Speaker 3: I think even if you even if they lose the Baylor,
Speaker 3: it's gonna feel You're gonna feel much better than you
Speaker 3: did a couple of years ago. So there's a chance
Speaker 3: to rebound, to get back on track. But I Conference
Speaker 3: Contender feels really like a really far.
Speaker 1: Stepithy, Yeah, I'm not there yet either, Very impressed. Happy
Speaker 1: for Klanni and those guys for sure to see the start.
Speaker 1: Dare we get weird and talk about an undefeated Holy
Speaker 1: War November the ninth in Salt Lake. It's always better
Speaker 1: when they're both good erin it's always better when they're
Speaker 1: both good.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's good for it's good for the schools,
Speaker 3: it's good for the fan basis, as much as they
Speaker 3: pretend they don't like it, it's good for us. I mean,
Speaker 3: let's let's have that.
Speaker 2: Let's self serve me media, let's be the top of
Speaker 2: the power ringing. I love it, man, all right?
Speaker 1: How can people go support the good folks at the
Speaker 1: Solid Tribune, Hey.
Speaker 3: Sl trip dot com, slash Sports. We appreciate everybody who
Speaker 3: read subscribes. We could not exist without all of you.
Speaker 1: Woke all right, man, good to see it. We'll chat
Speaker 1: to you, okay, all right. The Great Aaron Falk