Speaker 1: It's Night Side with Dan Ray on WVS, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: Good News, good news, good news, good news.
Speaker 3: Dance back tomorrow night, Big Show Tomorrow night with the
Speaker 3: Big Dog returning in the house. Josh Kraft the smartest
Speaker 3: of the Craft brothers. Don't tell Jonathan and Danny. I
Speaker 3: said that, okay, but they might agree with it.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 2: Josh Kraft will be on with Dan Ray tomorrow night
Speaker 2: on Night Side.
Speaker 3: Who is running against Michelle Woo And I'm very happy
Speaker 3: to have Gail colleague cover city Hall for the Herald.
Speaker 2: Boy.
Speaker 3: That is a gig. Gail, that is a gig. I
Speaker 3: mean covering Boston City Hall. First of all, before we
Speaker 3: get into this mayor race, you have to tell me
Speaker 3: what that job is like.
Speaker 5: I mean, it's great. See always something going on.
Speaker 2: That's it.
Speaker 3: You got nothing else, You got no juice, you got nothing,
Speaker 3: no crazy stories.
Speaker 2: I mean you know.
Speaker 3: I mean this which I have of City Hall is
Speaker 3: just all of these Bostonian characters walking around making back
Speaker 3: room deals, chomping on cigars.
Speaker 2: No, that's not it.
Speaker 5: I mean that goes on. I don't think you have
Speaker 5: enough time on the show to get into it.
Speaker 3: Oh believe me, I do, trust me, trust me, I've
Speaker 3: been around long enough.
Speaker 2: I do.
Speaker 3: But I find this race fascinating because, like I've said before,
Speaker 3: I know the crafts.
Speaker 2: I covered them in sports. I like them.
Speaker 3: I like the family. I like what they've done for
Speaker 3: the area. I like Josh Kraft. I like what he's
Speaker 3: done for the area. I don't know Michelle Wou. She's
Speaker 3: obviously very smart. I mean, that's the thing in a
Speaker 3: day and age when we have a president who is well, look,
Speaker 3: I mean, either you're with them or against them. There's
Speaker 3: noe in the middle, but not necessarily known for his
Speaker 3: education or his decorum. You have two people running for
Speaker 3: the office of mayor that have pretty impressive resumes. I mean,
Speaker 3: have we ever had this, I mean we're talking about
Speaker 3: graduate degrees, we're talking about Harvard, We're talking about I mean, nbas.
Speaker 3: Have we ever had candidates with this type of that
Speaker 3: have been disintelligent?
Speaker 5: I mean, from what I've seen so far, this is
Speaker 5: getting off to a fiery start. Both candidates come out
Speaker 5: and came out firing yesterday. They're unconscious at each other verbally.
Speaker 5: So it'll be a good race.
Speaker 2: I think so too.
Speaker 3: But again, the intellect I mean with these two, I
Speaker 3: just generally when I look at Parlato, maybe it's just
Speaker 3: my view of politicians where I go, Okay, this person's
Speaker 3: not very smart. They just like to talk a lot.
Speaker 3: These are very smart people, And I also don't think
Speaker 3: there's a big difference between the two.
Speaker 5: So from what I gathered yesterday with Josh Craft's campaign speech,
Speaker 5: a lot of what he's proposing are things that he
Speaker 5: said the mayor who has failed at so I things
Speaker 5: that he's proposing, like brant control. Those are policies that
Speaker 5: she's tried to pass get passed in the past and
Speaker 5: has run into a roadblock with the legislature. So similar
Speaker 5: seemed to be left leaning Democrats.
Speaker 3: Well yeah, I mean, here's a guy in Josh who
Speaker 3: donated money to Michelle Woo's campaign, I mean in the past.
Speaker 3: So I mean, is there a difference between the two
Speaker 3: or is it simply that Josh is saying the mayor
Speaker 3: hasn't been able to They have the same agenda, but
Speaker 3: the mayor hasn't been able to accomplish it.
Speaker 2: And he can.
Speaker 5: So I think that's what he focused on in his
Speaker 5: speech when he was rolling out his agenda. Just a
Speaker 5: lot of the areas that the mayor has failed to
Speaker 5: get her policies passed. Yeah, so, I mean, I guess
Speaker 5: time will tell whether there's major differences, but right now
Speaker 5: it seems to be going where she hasn't get things done.
Speaker 3: Now, one of the things that just said, as opposed
Speaker 3: to being appointed, he wanted certain board members or select
Speaker 3: people to be elected as opposed to being appoorted appointed?
Speaker 2: Can you explain that?
Speaker 5: Right? So? Right now, the Boston School Committee is an
Speaker 5: appointed school committee by the mayor, and he is a
Speaker 5: Josh Kraft is calling for a partially elected school committee.
Speaker 5: So the mix of appointed and elected members, how.
Speaker 2: Do you do partially?
Speaker 3: Can you? And I don't get that, can't you? Isn't
Speaker 3: it just one of the other? What do you say? Well,
Speaker 3: there are five seats, and two are going to be
Speaker 3: elected by the public, three are going to be appointed
Speaker 3: by the mayor, right so.
Speaker 5: You would have certain members who are appointed, and then
Speaker 5: you would have certain members who are up for election.
Speaker 5: Right now, that's what he's proposing.
Speaker 2: I don't get the point of that. To me, you
Speaker 2: would do one or the other. And here's the other thing.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 3: Maybe in Boston it would be different. But electing for
Speaker 3: school committee? Do people leave it?
Speaker 4: No?
Speaker 2: Do people even follow it? Would people even know who
Speaker 2: they're voting for?
Speaker 5: I mean that's the argument is that there you would
Speaker 5: foster more engagement if you have school commnies up for election.
Speaker 5: I mean, I would think that there's more engagement from
Speaker 5: parents and on that level. But as far as the
Speaker 5: larger community, I guess that would that would be seen
Speaker 5: with a voter turnout with an election of it if
Speaker 5: it turns out to be he's proposing a de selectioned mayor.
Speaker 3: Do you think the fact that Josh is a billionaire,
Speaker 3: I mean, it's his dad, it's the team. I mean,
Speaker 3: we know Josh had worked at the Boys and Girls Club.
Speaker 3: He is his mother's son, Missus Craft, who was very philanthropic.
Speaker 3: Does that hurt him?
Speaker 1: So?
Speaker 5: He says that it won't. He says that he is
Speaker 5: someone who's very involved with community with the Boys and
Speaker 5: Girls Club. He's also board chair of the organization That's
Speaker 5: Space in Rocks Barry that does community based work. And
Speaker 5: he also played up his position with the New Midland
Speaker 5: Patriots Foundation, which is his family's philanthropic arm. He also
Speaker 5: had a line in his campaign launch that he likes
Speaker 5: to say that he wasn't born on third base, that
Speaker 5: he was born at home with his privileges. Well he
Speaker 5: was yeah, money and his family yeah yeah. So I
Speaker 5: think he's trying to try to take the focus away
Speaker 5: from his family's wealth, and he's saying that he's somebody
Speaker 5: who's been involved with the community, although he does have
Speaker 5: the privilege of being born into, you know, family where
Speaker 5: his father's billionaire.
Speaker 3: Look, I've had coffee with the guy. I've talked to
Speaker 3: people who know him to me, and I don't have
Speaker 3: a horse in the face. I don't live in Boston.
Speaker 3: I'm not going to vote. Michelle Woo was obviously a
Speaker 3: very smart woman and a very accomplished woman. I mean
Speaker 3: she is you can't look look, and but I don't.
Speaker 3: I also think it's tough to get things done when.
Speaker 2: The mayor of Boston.
Speaker 3: I think it's tough to deliver on all your promises
Speaker 3: once you get into the political office.
Speaker 2: But this I can tell you.
Speaker 3: You know, to me, if I'm running Josh's campaign, the
Speaker 3: fact that he worked at the Boys and Girls Club
Speaker 3: and just brought it to a whole new level, and
Speaker 3: from what I've heard, when he's in meetings, brings so
Speaker 3: much to so much to the table with his ideology,
Speaker 3: in his in his strategies. I mean, this guy could
Speaker 3: have been playing polo in West Palm, you know, I
Speaker 3: mean he doesn't. He doesn't have to be, you know,
Speaker 3: working in soup kitchens and going around, you know, to
Speaker 3: the homeless shelters and going into East Boston and building
Speaker 3: up the Boys and Girls club and working in an
Speaker 3: office with four or five other people. You know, he
Speaker 3: doesn't have to do that. To me, that's a plus,
Speaker 3: don't you think?
Speaker 5: Well, I mean that's the way his campaign is is
Speaker 5: is framing his his background is that he could have
Speaker 5: joined if you watched his campaign video that came out
Speaker 5: day before he made his campaign speech, that Josh Kraft
Speaker 5: could have joined his family's business and instead of taking
Speaker 5: the community based route. So they are they are making
Speaker 5: that pitch for him.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, but again, does that mean he'd be
Speaker 3: a better mayor than than Maywoul?
Speaker 2: I don't know, you know, I I I who knows?
Speaker 2: So let's talk.
Speaker 3: So if so, what are the pros of Josh Kraft
Speaker 3: in your opinion? And then we'll get to Maylwu.
Speaker 5: I mean, I would just repeat. What has came in
Speaker 5: is saying so far is that he's saying that he's
Speaker 5: someone who can get things done where the mayor hasn't.
Speaker 5: He's saying that she is zero for three on her
Speaker 5: three of her major campaign promises, and that he would
Speaker 5: succeed where she failed with rent control, and that he's
Speaker 5: someone who's more connected to the community, and that he's
Speaker 5: more willing to listen to people. And he's framed the
Speaker 5: mayor as someone who's a leader who doesn't listen. So
Speaker 5: I think that's I think those are the positives that
Speaker 5: his campaign is pitching. But I mean, I would have
Speaker 5: to keep following through his campaign. I don't really want
Speaker 5: to say what you know, I don't really have a
Speaker 5: thought on what I think his major positives are. Just
Speaker 5: what he's saying.
Speaker 2: Correct, that's what he's saying. I understand you want to
Speaker 2: remain objective.
Speaker 3: I mean rent control and bosh, that's a tough I mean,
Speaker 3: people want to move into the city and pay two
Speaker 3: million dollars for like a thousand square feet in the
Speaker 3: right area. I mean, rank control is a hard thing
Speaker 3: to pass in the city with real estate being so high.
Speaker 5: Correct, right, I mean it's it's something that has encountered
Speaker 5: resistance from landlords who say that, you know, they're hit
Speaker 5: with inflation and that this would further hurt them financially.
Speaker 5: So it's something that the mayor has proposed and that
Speaker 5: he's run into roadblocks in the legislature. Is what her
Speaker 5: argument is, and she've repeated that today on one of
Speaker 5: her podcast appearances, is that it's easier for her opponents
Speaker 5: to make promises, but you know, there's a process that
Speaker 5: you have to go through.
Speaker 3: Okay, Gail Collier is our guest Boston here, Garrett, can
Speaker 3: you stick around for one more segment now, I want
Speaker 3: to talk about Mayri Wu in her campaign. Sure, Okay,
Speaker 3: Gail joins us.
Speaker 4: Next.
Speaker 3: We just talked about I think it's going to be
Speaker 3: fascinating because they're already very.
Speaker 2: Smart people people.
Speaker 3: I think that when it comes to their ideology is
Speaker 3: pretty much the same. Just one is saying that he
Speaker 3: can do it better than her, and they're not afraid
Speaker 3: to go after each other, which should be interesting. We
Speaker 3: will continue the conversation next on WBC's Nightside.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Speaker 1: night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 3: Ed Welcome, back Gary Tangway for Dan roy tonight, and
Speaker 3: Gael Collier is joined us cover City Hall for the
Speaker 3: Boston Herald and maybe somedays she'll write a tell all book.
Speaker 3: Oh if the walls of Boston City Hall could talk.
Speaker 3: Josh Kraft running for mayor against Michelle Wou will join
Speaker 3: Dan Ray on Nightside coming up Tomorrow night, Thursday, February
Speaker 3: February sixth.
Speaker 2: Yes, we know that Gary tomorrow night right here on WBZ.
Speaker 3: That's at nine o'clock, so you can't miss it, and
Speaker 3: you can also check it out on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3: Download it and if you can't listen to it live
Speaker 3: at nine, just go to the iHeart app and you'll
Speaker 3: be able to click it on.
Speaker 2: And listen to it at your convenience. So that should
Speaker 2: be very good.
Speaker 3: All right, let's talk about Meriwoo. So what has she
Speaker 3: done well? What will they focus on as opposed to
Speaker 3: obviously what the Craft campaign is.
Speaker 2: Going to focus on is what she hasn't done well?
Speaker 2: What will her her spiel be?
Speaker 4: Well?
Speaker 5: I think she would folks on, which is interesting because
Speaker 5: this is where Josh Craft is seeing her as being vulnerable.
Speaker 5: But I think she would focus on the strides that
Speaker 5: she's made or that she says she's made with affordable housing,
Speaker 5: building more housing, which is what he's saying, that she
Speaker 5: has developed roadblocks to development. Yeah, so you have that
Speaker 5: back and forth. I I mean, I would think that
Speaker 5: she would focus on just what she's done with helping
Speaker 5: reduce congestion in the city. She's focused on bike lines
Speaker 5: and other area that he sees her as vulnerable, and
Speaker 5: just efforts to make Boston more environmentally friendly with her
Speaker 5: climate initiatives. So I would I would think that she
Speaker 5: would focus on some of those things.
Speaker 3: I have no problem with bike lanes. I have problems
Speaker 3: with bikers.
Speaker 2: It happened to me the other day.
Speaker 3: I'm getting a living off topic, and if I have
Speaker 3: a chance to talk to Joshua meyerwill I will tell
Speaker 3: her this. It's okay to use a bike lane, but
Speaker 3: when a cyclist are you a cyclist?
Speaker 5: By the way, I'm a virtual cyclist. They have an exercise, Okay.
Speaker 3: So I understand, you sit there and you look at
Speaker 3: the pretty screen, and you go through the mountains and
Speaker 3: you know you're gonna be in you know, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 3: you're hand in Hawaii one minute. British Columbia the next
Speaker 3: I got you. So, but I'm driving down the road
Speaker 3: the other day and I'm stopped. So I have a
Speaker 3: cyclist that weaves in and out of the traffic and
Speaker 3: then goes through a red light.
Speaker 2: That's illegal. You can't do it. Which is it? You
Speaker 2: have your own lane? Are you gonna be a car
Speaker 2: or not be a car?
Speaker 3: One or the other. It pisses me off. You have
Speaker 3: the bike lane? Have the bike lanes worked, because to me,
Speaker 3: I don't know if they have. I see a lot
Speaker 3: of congestion. I see a lot of available auto real
Speaker 3: estate that goes to a bike lane that I can
Speaker 3: look at for a half hour and I never see
Speaker 3: it used.
Speaker 5: So I mean, there's certainly something that has caused a
Speaker 5: lot of debate among cyclists and non cyclists. So if
Speaker 5: you're a cyclist, you love them. But if you're someone
Speaker 5: who drives or is trying to get around in a
Speaker 5: different way, you probably don't love them best.
Speaker 3: But the problem is Gale is we can't keep everybody happy.
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, okay, next thing, you know, we're
Speaker 3: gonna have a lane for skateboarders. Okay, let's have a
Speaker 3: lane for skateboarders. Let's do that do we want to
Speaker 3: do that, then we'll have a We already have sidewalks,
Speaker 3: have a lane for skateboards.
Speaker 2: The reality is is that.
Speaker 3: A bike is a vehicle, and uh, you should just
Speaker 3: follow the ruts in the road, rules of the road
Speaker 3: like you do an automobile. That's what they do. They
Speaker 3: follow the rules of the road of the automobile and
Speaker 3: as if they're a pedestrian and galic pisses me off.
Speaker 3: I'm sorry I got off topic. So now getting back
Speaker 3: to the topic at hand, the mayor's race. With what
Speaker 3: Josh is saying, and with the intellect, with the financial
Speaker 3: backing that Josh Kraft has, he's still considered an underdog
Speaker 3: by how much considerable underdog? Is he going to be
Speaker 3: able to make it close?
Speaker 2: What do you think?
Speaker 5: I mean? I think that's what makes it interesting is
Speaker 5: that he's someone who's considered to be a potentially formadal
Speaker 5: opponent to the mayor. But it is Boston. No incumbent
Speaker 5: mayor has lost since nineteen forty nine in Boston, and uh,
Speaker 5: the mayor right now has considerable campaigns on She's over
Speaker 5: one point seven million. She is someone who's considered to
Speaker 5: be popular as a progressive. So I think that, you know,
Speaker 5: he certainly has a lot of resources, he has connections
Speaker 5: to the community through his connection with the Boys and
Speaker 5: Girls Club, and it'll I think it'll be interesting. I
Speaker 5: can't say for sure, like what the percentage is that
Speaker 5: he is an underdog or how he will do, but
Speaker 5: I think that he's someone who could preside to challenge
Speaker 5: and if he didn't think that, I don't think he
Speaker 5: would be running.
Speaker 2: Well, here's what I think.
Speaker 3: This is the way I look at it as again,
Speaker 3: as a suburbanite from the outside looking in, I think
Speaker 3: Joshua about the same age.
Speaker 2: I think.
Speaker 3: I also feel as if if he's going to run,
Speaker 3: he's going to do it now, at this point in
Speaker 3: time of his life, right, So I think that's the
Speaker 3: driving force. Maybe Dan, I'm sure we'll ask him about that.
Speaker 3: Why are you running now tomorrow night at nine right
Speaker 3: here on WBC. I'm sure they'll do that then, So
Speaker 3: you have I think that's what's driving the timing. I
Speaker 3: don't think people are necessarily pissed off at Michelle wou
Speaker 3: that's the issue. I mean they are. I mean, she's
Speaker 3: very likable. When I see her on the news, I
Speaker 3: go I like her. I would like to be your friend.
Speaker 2: She seems to.
Speaker 3: And let's face you, when it comes down to electability,
Speaker 3: it comes down a likable you know. I mean people
Speaker 3: say they vote on the issues. They don't vote on
Speaker 3: the issues.
Speaker 2: They vote on.
Speaker 3: I like that person better. That's really good. That's how
Speaker 3: people get elected. Right now, the country, the country likes
Speaker 3: Trump better everything he says, he lies all the time.
Speaker 3: It doesn't matter. People just like him better for whatever reason.
Speaker 3: For some reason, he brings comfort to the country, and
Speaker 3: that's why they elected him.
Speaker 2: It's not going to be an issue thing.
Speaker 3: So I think the challenge that Josh has is it's
Speaker 3: not like people are like trying to ouse Michelle wou.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 5: I mean, I yeah, it's definitely how you see it.
Speaker 5: If you're a supporter, don't. I don't think you see
Speaker 5: it that way. I would think I think that Josh
Speaker 5: Kraft is running a campaign based on vulnerabilities that he
Speaker 5: sees there. But I think certainly, you know, I was
Speaker 5: at an event that the mayor was out the other day,
Speaker 5: and she was very well received in a senior center
Speaker 5: in Dorchester that was located near where Craft made his
Speaker 5: campaign's future earlier. The day. So she's she's definitely well
Speaker 5: received in the community spaces from more than at her events.
Speaker 3: I'm going to put you on the spot. I don't
Speaker 3: know if you know this, but when it comes to
Speaker 3: municipal races in Boston, what does the voter turnout like?
Speaker 5: It's it was low in the last race.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's the thing. People are so damn apathetic. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I mean, maybe maybe this will fire them up because
Speaker 3: obviously they're tossing I don't want to say tossing bombs
Speaker 3: at each other, but I mean Michelle Mayor wu came out, man,
Speaker 3: she did not hold back on Josh. She came out,
Speaker 3: and there it's I would say it's a highly intellectual
Speaker 3: boxing match. It's a highly intellectual verbal boxing matches. What
Speaker 3: we have between those two.
Speaker 2: Is there going to be a debate?
Speaker 5: There hasn't been one scheduled yet, but I would I
Speaker 5: would think there was at least one debate in the least.
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm telling you, if I'm any of the
Speaker 3: local television stations, I want that debate because I mean,
Speaker 3: what do you think that would be a pretty cool debate?
Speaker 2: I mean, those what's that I'm sorry?
Speaker 1: What?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 5: And I think what you're getting at is, judging from
Speaker 5: the follies, stay throughout each other yesterday, probably be very
Speaker 5: good debate.
Speaker 2: It'd be fantastic because it would also be smart.
Speaker 3: You know, it would be it would be funny, it
Speaker 3: would be there would be some sarcasm, but they're also
Speaker 3: two smart people. I mean, it's just not like we've
Speaker 3: seen in the presidential race tossing insults and making making
Speaker 3: I almost swore there, but almost making stuff up. You know,
Speaker 3: it would be a good debate. Well, listen, I really
Speaker 3: appreciate you coming on, Gail. Good luck at the Harrows
Speaker 3: they had my friends over there. Good luck covering city Hall.
Speaker 3: And maybe someday you'll write a tell all book on
Speaker 3: what goes on behind the doors of city Hall and
Speaker 3: we'll have you on to talk about it.
Speaker 5: Okay, great, Thanks for having Gail.
Speaker 2: Take care.
Speaker 3: Gail Collins joining us here for the Austin Harold talking
Speaker 3: about the mayor race between Josh Craft and Mayor Michelle
Speaker 3: wou And she hasn't officially announced it, but I think
Speaker 3: she's got it right by the way she's been digging
Speaker 3: at Josh. I. You know, Boston politics is always fun
Speaker 3: when you take a look at the mayor's and the
Speaker 3: politicians that we've had in this city just from pure entertainment,
Speaker 3: going back to Tip O'Neil.
Speaker 2: Just you know, Bill Woller was a great speaker. I
Speaker 2: mean just.
Speaker 3: And even I know some people look at some of
Speaker 3: the Boston politicians is.
Speaker 2: Maybe not the most above board.
Speaker 3: Individuals, but generally they're funny and they can talk, and
Speaker 3: they can they can be very entertaining, and I think
Speaker 3: we're going to have an entertaining race between these two.
Speaker 3: All Right'm gonna switch gears working the super Bowl.
Speaker 2: How about this?
Speaker 3: Some students from Nichols College are at the super Bowl working.
Speaker 3: Now that's a course I want to take. We will
Speaker 3: talk to their professor. Coming up next on night Side
Speaker 3: on WBZ.
Speaker 1: It's Night Side on WBZ, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 3: Okay, welcome back, Gary and for Dana Knightside again tomorrow
Speaker 3: night nine o'clock.
Speaker 2: Josh Kraft running.
Speaker 3: From mayor against Mayor Michelle Woo will be joining Dan
Speaker 3: Ray in a camp miss interview right here on WBZ
Speaker 3: and just Heart Dan talking about it. If you miss
Speaker 3: it at nine, just go to the iHeart ad go
Speaker 3: to night Side, punch it in your phone. Thank you
Speaker 3: Nightside on Demand, Rob helping me out. I just punched
Speaker 3: Knightside of pops up by Nightside on Demand and you
Speaker 3: can listen to that interview, so they'll have that tomorrow night.
Speaker 2: Okay. Joining us right now from New Orleans is.
Speaker 3: A Nickel College professor, Christopher Steele, and he's got a
Speaker 3: group of students that have gone down to the Super
Speaker 3: Bowl to work as part of the NFL host committee.
Speaker 3: Professor Streeter, I said Steele. I meant, Streeter, Chris, how
Speaker 3: are you welcome to Night's Side?
Speaker 4: Doing great? Thanks so much for having right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, how's it going down there?
Speaker 4: It's so far, so good. Where we've made it safely.
Speaker 4: We're we're settled into our what we term is our
Speaker 4: super Bowl mansion that we've rented, and we're in the
Speaker 4: trenches here with the NFL and our first night.
Speaker 3: All right, first night, we'll see how many kids break curfew.
Speaker 3: Talk to me tomorrow and bedcheck. Anyways, I've been to
Speaker 3: nine Super Bowls. Not bragging, even though it does sound
Speaker 3: like I'm bragging. I'm good. I don't need to go
Speaker 3: to another one. I'm good.
Speaker 2: It's a zoo, it is Mayhem, and you know, By.
Speaker 3: The time I got like to the eighth or night,
Speaker 3: I was like, oh my god, this is just I
Speaker 3: got to get out of here. What is it like
Speaker 3: for the kids? And tell us about this program and
Speaker 3: how this came about.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't think you couldn't You couldn't have said
Speaker 4: it any better. It's mayhem, it's it's it's chaos. But
Speaker 4: you know, it's a celebration of sport and it's a
Speaker 4: elevation of sport in America. And uh, you know, we
Speaker 4: live in a country where we're able to to run
Speaker 4: these events, and uh, the Louisiana State Police and the
Speaker 4: local law enforcement have done a great job. Given the
Speaker 4: New Year's Eve, h New Year's tragedy, they've done a
Speaker 4: wonderful job of really making the place feel safe and secure.
Speaker 4: And there's a there's a huge presence and lots of
Speaker 4: checkpoints and barriers and uh so yeah, you know it
Speaker 4: is it is a controlled chaos. But uh but uh,
Speaker 4: you know, a horrific thing to be a part of,
Speaker 4: in particularly obviously for our students.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so what do you want these students to learn?
Speaker 3: And what is there major like sports management or travel
Speaker 3: and leisure recreation. What do they need to get out
Speaker 3: of this and what exactly are they doing for jobs?
Speaker 4: Uh, yeah, all great questions. They're all sport management majors
Speaker 4: at in our Sport Management and department at Nichols. You know,
Speaker 4: the big picture is to really to inspire them, to
Speaker 4: show them that this industry we call sport, there's so
Speaker 4: many options, there's there's so many possibilities for them. And
Speaker 4: really the idea for me big pictures for them to
Speaker 4: walk away just feeling inspired and excited about their potential
Speaker 4: for future in sport and to work in the industry.
Speaker 4: To a three credit class, so they're earning some credits. They're
Speaker 4: being paid by the NFL at the same time, so
Speaker 4: they're earning a few bucks. We'll work about fifty hours
Speaker 4: for the NFL this week, wow, and the week leading
Speaker 4: up to the super Bowl. Right now, for example, we're
Speaker 4: working what's called the Super Bowl Experience, which is a
Speaker 4: huge fan festival here in downtown New Orleans, and we
Speaker 4: do a variety of jobs. We run all of the
Speaker 4: activation events for the fans, and there's autograph booths and
Speaker 4: signings and a variety of jobs that they assign us
Speaker 4: when we arrive for each of our shifts and ultimately,
Speaker 4: you know, the short term is to put theory into practice.
Speaker 4: So in the classroom before we travel, we study the
Speaker 4: economics of the Super Bowl, sponsorship, advertisements, pride of Country,
Speaker 4: the emergence of the halftime show, a variety of things
Speaker 4: super Bowl related and sport related in our country. And
Speaker 4: the idea here is to put it into practice a
Speaker 4: little bit for them and we, Nicholas, we call that
Speaker 4: experiential learning.
Speaker 2: Well, I agree one hundred percent with it.
Speaker 3: I todd On Emerson over the past year, and whenever
Speaker 3: I had an opportunity to bring in speakers or to
Speaker 3: promote hands on learning.
Speaker 2: That's the only way you can do it. You can
Speaker 2: only do so much out of a book.
Speaker 3: I mean, I was able even to take some students
Speaker 3: into a production truck, you know, of an NBA game
Speaker 3: because some of them wanted to be directors. So I said,
Speaker 3: all right, well let's get to it. Let's go in
Speaker 3: and see what you need to do. Because theory is great,
Speaker 3: but you need to be able to put that theory
Speaker 3: in action. And the people that I have met that
Speaker 3: work in sports management or sports marketing and what I'm
Speaker 3: going to basically in the sports arena, which is really
Speaker 3: entertainment now. I mean, Chris, it has become so huge,
Speaker 3: so massive, there's so much money in sports that it's
Speaker 3: also when when it comes to the media, the NFL
Speaker 3: has its own media arm. You know, before it was
Speaker 3: always like, well the Globe and the Herald, they go
Speaker 3: cover the Patriots and that's it. That's not the case anymore.
Speaker 3: I mean, the NFL is just this trillion dollar industry,
Speaker 3: and especially with social media and with the way we communicate,
Speaker 3: there are now more opportunities for people to get involved
Speaker 3: in sports management than ever before.
Speaker 2: I would write, I mean the numbers must back that
Speaker 2: up absolutely.
Speaker 4: Social media has has certainly grown exponentially in the last
Speaker 4: twenty years, and there's a variety of opportunities for students.
Speaker 4: And that's their world, that's the world that they've grown
Speaker 4: up in, and so it's second nature to them. And
Speaker 4: the idea is to channel that knowledge and channel that
Speaker 4: energy into a more sport focused direction. Joke that you know,
Speaker 4: God used to own Sundays, but now the NFL does,
Speaker 4: and the other's there. My argument might be that the
Speaker 4: NFL owns all seventies of the week now in our country,
Speaker 4: and but you know, there's a tremendous opportunities for students,
Speaker 4: and it's my job to expose them to some of
Speaker 4: those wonderful opportunities.
Speaker 3: Well, i'll tell you the NFL right now, I think
Speaker 3: blows away the Olympics, and at one point in time
Speaker 3: it was all about the Olympics. I think internationally, it's soccer.
Speaker 3: It's the World Cup, and it's the Super Bowl. That's it.
Speaker 3: Those are the two big kahunas. I keep hearing that
Speaker 3: soccer is still number one, or European football. I don't
Speaker 3: know if you haven't any numbers on that, but that
Speaker 3: seems to be the case.
Speaker 4: Well, it's certainly the world's most popular sport outside of America.
Speaker 4: It's the global reach of the sport of soccer is significant.
Speaker 4: NASCAR is actually the number one rated spectator sport in
Speaker 4: terms of actual fan attendance. But I think in terms
Speaker 4: of popularity and branding, the NFL has done such a
Speaker 4: magnificent job of branding their league so that it's visible
Speaker 4: year round. I mean, they have events that run literally
Speaker 4: year round that fans tune into. So even in the offseason,
Speaker 4: we have the Draft and the Pro Bowl and the
Speaker 4: different awards ceremonies and the Hall of Fame inductions, and
Speaker 4: it's a twelve month out of the year branding machine
Speaker 4: and they've they've mastered it and continue to master it.
Speaker 3: Nickel College professor Chris Steelers with us, Doctor Chris Steele,
Speaker 3: Chris Streeter, god Man tangle, you're having a bad night. Anyways,
Speaker 3: We're going to continue to talk to Chris from New Orleans.
Speaker 3: Get some more thoughts on how it feels he feels
Speaker 3: about the Big Game, the impact, the gambling, the economics,
Speaker 3: and should the Super Bowl just be held in New
Speaker 3: Orleans every year. That's all coming up on wbz's Night Side.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan ray Mine from the Window World
Speaker 1: Nightside Studios on WBZ Indio.
Speaker 3: From Nichols College, doctor Chris Streeter is with us talking
Speaker 3: about what I think is a terrific program where he
Speaker 3: has taken his students down of the Super Bowl and
Speaker 3: they get hands on experience, boots on the ground working
Speaker 3: with the NFL, experience working with the NFL as a business,
Speaker 3: not being there in fans. And one of the things
Speaker 3: Chris is that I can tell your students is that
Speaker 3: when you work in sports, it's not a job, it's
Speaker 3: a career.
Speaker 2: It's something you love.
Speaker 3: You don't look at the clock, you don't punch the clock,
Speaker 3: and when you start out you don't make any money,
Speaker 3: but you do it because you absolutely love it. And
Speaker 3: that's why I think it's terrific with what you're doing.
Speaker 3: So now let's get into some of the details down
Speaker 3: there on what's happening and just your thoughts on the
Speaker 3: economics of the super Bowl. What does has it continued
Speaker 3: to increase what a super Bowl can do for a city,
Speaker 3: has it had any negative impact at all? Or does
Speaker 3: it just continue to have a city Moorlands just make
Speaker 3: more and more money.
Speaker 4: Yeah, great questions. I don't I think the positive certainly
Speaker 4: far outweigh the negatives. There is a myth that the
Speaker 4: super Bowl generates hundreds of millions of dollars for host cities,
Speaker 4: and there is some truth to that, but you know,
Speaker 4: the flip side of that is a lot of that
Speaker 4: money leaves. So if you talk to an economist, they're
Speaker 4: going to say that hundreds of million dollars probably is inaccurate,
Speaker 4: although that's typically what what gets reported. Now, there is
Speaker 4: obviously some economic benefits to the area with the influx
Speaker 4: of people, but again Conversely, money that's being spent here
Speaker 4: during the super Bowl week may be displaced because that
Speaker 4: money may have been spent elsewhere, or the money that
Speaker 4: is spent here goes back to corporate headquarters somewhere in
Speaker 4: another part of the country, and so it doesn't end
Speaker 4: up staying here in New Orleans anyway. But the benefits
Speaker 4: far outweigh the negatives. This is New Orleans eleventh time
Speaker 4: hosting the super Bowl, and so clearly they see value
Speaker 4: in it.
Speaker 2: Should New Orleans host the Super Bowl every year? Because
Speaker 2: I think it should.
Speaker 4: It's a pretty cool city. We had an opportunity here
Speaker 4: today to drive through the French Quarter and to see
Speaker 4: it during the day because we arrived pretty much in
Speaker 4: darkness last night. And it's it's another planet. It's in
Speaker 4: a good way. It's you know, and they do it.
Speaker 4: They do a really good job. There is there is
Speaker 4: something to be said about Southern hospitality.
Speaker 2: People here. That's what they do. Very friendly.
Speaker 3: I mean, because they they want to. They basically host
Speaker 3: a Super Bowl three hundred and sixty five days a year.
Speaker 3: They are set up to do it. They do it
Speaker 3: better than anybody else. Now I have been to God,
Speaker 3: I've lost track I was in Indianapolis, I was in
Speaker 3: Houston twice. Jacksonville what a disaster. I don't know if
Speaker 3: you remember when they had the Super Bowl bull in Jacksonville.
Speaker 3: But in order for the Jags to improve their stadium,
Speaker 3: which is a talk about putting perfume on a pig, right,
Speaker 3: they send us to Jacksonville and they said we're going
Speaker 3: to bring in They didn't have enough hotels. They did
Speaker 3: not have enough hotels. I mean, if you're telling me
Speaker 3: you could put a Super Bowl in Jacksonville, why not
Speaker 3: put it in Springfield for Christ's sake?
Speaker 2: Or Providence. That's what you're talking about. And Providence is
Speaker 2: a great city.
Speaker 3: I'm not gonna at all, but that's the type of
Speaker 3: size you're seeing jackson Plus, the food in Providence is phenomenal.
Speaker 3: The food in Jacksonville sucked. I was literally with my
Speaker 3: camera crew and the restaurant ran out of food. They
Speaker 3: ran out of food in Jacksonville. I couldn't believe it.
Speaker 4: An how certainly, Yeah, the infrastructure certainly is an important component.
Speaker 4: You know, we have a sport event management class in
Speaker 4: our program and here at Nichols, and we spend a
Speaker 4: lot of time talking about the logistics of how to
Speaker 4: run an event, and the event itself. The actual sport
Speaker 4: is almost secondary because if the infrastructure for the event
Speaker 4: isn't in place, as you mentioned, it has the potential
Speaker 4: to be disastrous.
Speaker 3: Oh, the game is secondary because the game just runs itself. Well,
Speaker 3: you know when the game starts. I mean, that's what
Speaker 3: people that's what people who have worked all week just collapse.
Speaker 2: You know that.
Speaker 3: Now, Indy wasn't bad, the Indy, but but they didn't
Speaker 3: have enough restaurants. The facility in Indy was phenomenal. I
Speaker 3: mean the fieldhouse they had there. That was an unbelievable stadium.
Speaker 3: That was a great place. That was that that was tremendous.
Speaker 3: Atlanta Atlanta was and Atlanta wasn't great, but it should be.
Speaker 3: It just should be in New Orleans. Vi yea Detroit.
Speaker 3: Thank god I didn't have to go to Detroit. That's
Speaker 3: the last place I wanted to go. I'll tell you
Speaker 3: that right now.
Speaker 4: When we've run the program four times, We've done Miami
Speaker 4: two years ago, we were in Phoenix. Last year we
Speaker 4: brought students to Vegas, and of course this year in
Speaker 4: New Orleans. The Phoenix and Vegas trips were both really
Speaker 4: well run. The challenge with Phoenix is the fan festivals
Speaker 4: were in downtown Phoenix, and then of course the stadium
Speaker 4: events are in Glendale, fifteen miles away, and so logistically
Speaker 4: that was a little bit of a challenge last year
Speaker 4: in Vegas for our students, everything was in one place.
Speaker 4: The entire campus of the super Bowl, the whole sports gape,
Speaker 4: the area surrounding Allegiant Stadium was all part of Vegas.
Speaker 4: But interestingly enough, it almost didn't feel last year that
Speaker 4: the Super Bowl was anything special in Vegas because it
Speaker 4: was like, it's just another event, but it's another bright
Speaker 4: light among many, and so that was an interesting dynamic
Speaker 4: to our experience last year.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Phoenix, when you're when you're in Vegas, you have
Speaker 3: a lot of competition.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, it's.
Speaker 3: Even you like if you have heavyweight fights there, you
Speaker 3: know you're competing with Adele who's in residency down the
Speaker 3: street or whoever at that particular time. But Vegas, like
Speaker 3: New Orleans, is probably set up for it. I forgot.
Speaker 3: I was in Phoenix for a couple of them, and
Speaker 3: it was a pain in the ass. I listen to me,
Speaker 3: I'm decently being a whiny media member. Having a lot
Speaker 3: of activities in Phoenix and having me to go out
Speaker 3: to the facility fifty miles away as a real pain
Speaker 3: in the neck. But I'll tell you what, that stadium
Speaker 3: in Phoenix in Glendale was amazing, I mean amazing.
Speaker 4: Sure, yeah, sure, State Farm it is amazing. And Allegiance
Speaker 4: last year was amazing. And we'll be at the Superdome
Speaker 4: tomorrow for some training and some work over there, and
Speaker 4: so we're the students and I are really looking forward
Speaker 4: to that.
Speaker 2: How does gambling enter into your curriculum?
Speaker 4: You know, I, personally, as a sport management college for
Speaker 4: I don't touch a whole lot on it. I I
Speaker 4: just I'm not convinced on the value of it. I
Speaker 4: am not convinced on the benefit for it in our society,
Speaker 4: and so I don't spend a lot of time talking
Speaker 4: about it in our curriculum. Inevitably, I will probably expand
Speaker 4: on it in future semesters, but right now, we we
Speaker 4: gloss over it. We talk a little bit about it
Speaker 4: in our discussion about fan engagement, in our discussion about economics. Uh,
Speaker 4: it obviously and inevitably comes up and as part of
Speaker 4: those discussions. But I just I'm not. On a personal note,
Speaker 4: I'm just not sure the value of the gambling industry,
Speaker 4: and especially dealing with with young adults and college students,
Speaker 4: and you know, a click of the button can get
Speaker 4: them in big trouble these days, and and and and
Speaker 4: so that's for me. It's it's touchy territory that I
Speaker 4: don't dive in to a whole heck of a lot.
Speaker 3: Well, I think your position is admirable, but as it's
Speaker 3: here and there's nothing we can do about it, I
Speaker 3: agree with everything you said. But my first day of
Speaker 3: class at Everson, a young man who raised his hand
Speaker 3: asked me if I thought a certain wide receiver would
Speaker 3: have more than fifty eight yards and two touchdowns this
Speaker 3: weekend because he was on DraftKings right first day of class. Okay,
Speaker 3: and that's what I realized. It's here, and I brought
Speaker 3: in some people from DraftKings. The one thing I could
Speaker 3: tell you is that if you're in the media, you
Speaker 3: need to know it. You need to know it. It's everywhere.
Speaker 3: If you're in the media, you have to understand how
Speaker 3: it works. You have to went because I had my
Speaker 3: students go through I said, tell me in one day,
Speaker 3: write down everything that you consume when it comes to sports,
Speaker 3: and it was you know, podcasts and DraftKings. There's those
Speaker 3: shipment I mean draft and they just consume it constantly.
Speaker 3: One of the reasons, Like on a Sunday I said, okay,
Speaker 3: I want you guys to have a diary.
Speaker 2: What did you do for football? Well, they watched their
Speaker 2: favorite team.
Speaker 3: They watched the Patriots for one game, then they watched
Speaker 3: the second game. Because they're putting money on it. I mean,
Speaker 3: it's here. You're absolutely right. It's a slippery slope, dude.
Speaker 3: It is a slippery slope, but it's here. And if
Speaker 3: you're in the business, you have to understand it. That's
Speaker 3: the problem. Like, that's the problem you're in is you
Speaker 3: don't want to encourage it.
Speaker 2: But if you're going to be in the sports business, because.
Speaker 3: How the NFL, I mean everybody's in and everybody's in
Speaker 3: on it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Ultimately, it is a business and DraftKings is a
Speaker 4: company and the NFL is a company ultimately at the
Speaker 4: end of the day, and it's about revenue generation and
Speaker 4: you know, but it comes back to the idea of
Speaker 4: entertainment that you mentioned earlier. You know, sport certainly is entertainment.
Speaker 4: And the million dollar question is what is the balance
Speaker 4: between enjoying sport for sport and then being a loyal
Speaker 4: fan just to be a loyal fan and versus I'm
Speaker 4: a loyal fan if there's some money involved.
Speaker 2: I'll tell you, Chris.
Speaker 3: That ended with fantasy because when I would sit there
Speaker 3: and watch a game and then somebody would say, Oh,
Speaker 3: my team's losing, ooh, but my fantasy guy is winning,
Speaker 3: I was like, Okay, it's over Barmageddon. Listening to Jordan Orleans,
Speaker 3: doctor Chris Streeter Christia was a camera guy. I worked
Speaker 3: with a Channel fifty six one hundred years ago, so
Speaker 3: I apologize.
Speaker 4: That's okay. He sounds terrific.
Speaker 3: Oh the best, great guy, Doctor Chris Streeter Nichols College. Congratulations.
Speaker 3: I hope you guys have a great time. You're on
Speaker 3: the right track. Experience, experience, experience, and have a good time.
Speaker 3: Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 2: I appreciate it. Thank you. Okay.
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Speaker 3: wbz's Nightside