Speaker 1: What the hell is this? What are we?
Speaker 2: What are you playing on a Wednesday afternoon when you
Speaker 2: really only had one one job to.
Speaker 1: Do with the music?
Speaker 2: I did punt on this one to our guest k
Speaker 2: A little fairytale of New York here.
Speaker 1: All right?
Speaker 2: And I'm told that k joins us live from the
Speaker 2: top floor of the New York Times building in Midtown Manhattan?
Speaker 1: Is that true? A fairytale of New York? If you will,
Speaker 1: Big city guy over here, Chris, what's going on? Man?
Speaker 3: Coming? See you? Live at the fifteenth floor, staring out
Speaker 3: at forty first and eight. Big day in the Big Apple.
Speaker 3: Forecast called for rain, not so much rain, but the
Speaker 3: streets are starting to turn blue and orange. And I
Speaker 3: wonder why love hearing that?
Speaker 2: So? As I often say, I like to claim that
Speaker 2: I'm from the right coast, Chris, you are from the
Speaker 2: left coast. How does a left coaster or digest being
Speaker 2: what I've in what I like to call the right coast.
Speaker 3: It is a great question, and I'm glad to know
Speaker 3: that you accurately stated where we each lie on that
Speaker 3: left coast. Best coast is going to be my firm argument.
Speaker 3: But I would just say that being here. I would
Speaker 3: probably summarize it best by saying, like this is America,
Speaker 3: Like this is everything and anything you could possibly need
Speaker 3: to know about this great, beautiful, complicated country is right here,
Speaker 3: distilled into a very small piece of land between a
Speaker 3: bunch of random rivers.
Speaker 2: It's such a great city. Man, I hate to be
Speaker 2: that guy. I miss it so much, and I miss
Speaker 2: it in the spring. Do you find yourself enjoying it?
Speaker 2: Because most people from the left coach coast, which is
Speaker 2: not the best coast, but we will not debate that
Speaker 2: today do not find themselves enjoying the right coast because
Speaker 2: it's a little more claustrophobic, shall we say?
Speaker 1: So, do you find yourself enjoy in the endeavor?
Speaker 3: I do. I very much enjoy it, but unfortunately I
Speaker 3: came at a very bad weather time. It is like
Speaker 3: fifty five and piss and rain off and on. And
Speaker 3: last year when I was out here it was like
Speaker 3: eighty five and perfect, and I was riding the rentable
Speaker 3: e bikes and all this stuff. And now I'm kind
Speaker 3: of like it's late May. Like your city should be
Speaker 3: giving me a little bit of a little bit of
Speaker 3: reason to sweat, you know, should be given me some humidity,
Speaker 3: but instead it's windy, it's rainy, and it's cold. But alas,
Speaker 3: we're not going to complain fair enough.
Speaker 2: One more thing here you referenced these streets are turning
Speaker 2: orange and blue, and there really is not a city
Speaker 2: that celebrates their sports teams and summarily dismisses them if
Speaker 2: we're fair, quite like Manhattan and the surrounding borough.
Speaker 1: So is there a palpable buzz?
Speaker 2: Can you tell that the Knicks are about to play
Speaker 2: in the Eastern Conference Finals?
Speaker 3: The buzz is palpable. And in Times Square where I am,
Speaker 3: people are already walking towards you know, I don't know
Speaker 3: the address off the top of my head, so I apologize,
Speaker 3: but they are walking toward MSG. And I can tell
Speaker 3: you that even just walking up to Central Park last night,
Speaker 3: even Senthya photo, there was a party bus that was
Speaker 3: painted blue and orange in honor of the Knix, and
Speaker 3: there was a basketball hoop on the back, and people
Speaker 3: were screaming into the microphone all sorts of you know,
Speaker 3: celebratory mix information and words that I can't necessarily express
Speaker 3: on air, even though I did mistakingly last week. So
Speaker 3: for that, again, I apologize, But Yes, the city is
Speaker 3: ready for the garden to go nuts.
Speaker 2: The address is very simple. People overthink it. It's four
Speaker 2: Penn Plaza, New York, New York. It is between seventh
Speaker 2: and eight, between West thirty first and West thirty third.
Speaker 1: But the address is four Penn Plaza. Ck. That's all
Speaker 1: it is.
Speaker 3: It's only like an eight minute walk from here. So
Speaker 3: if it stops raining, I might have to walk down
Speaker 3: and go check out some fellow big bombers. You know,
Speaker 3: maybe maybe maybe maybe get on a side talk video.
Speaker 3: Could you imagine me?
Speaker 2: You you should, man, I bet it's a spectacle, like
Speaker 2: I mean, they haven't seen in twenty five years. If
Speaker 2: you have an opportunity, you should walk down and check
Speaker 2: it out.
Speaker 1: It's your respect.
Speaker 2: It's not quite you know, like what it's like outside
Speaker 2: Delta Center when the Jazz are playing in the playoffs,
Speaker 2: which is also fun.
Speaker 1: It's just different in that city.
Speaker 3: And the people watching is as a plus as it gets,
Speaker 3: which is something that I love to specialize in.
Speaker 1: Yes, it is.
Speaker 2: What are you doing there, young man? I know you're
Speaker 2: not there for the Nick game? What are you doing
Speaker 2: in midtown Manhattan?
Speaker 3: Once a year, our college football staff has a big
Speaker 3: annual summit is what you say in big time business
Speaker 3: wig parlance. So where the staffers are getting together to
Speaker 3: talk about the year that was and the year that
Speaker 3: lies ahead, and you know, just getting to see lots
Speaker 3: of close friends and be the least smart person in
Speaker 3: the room.
Speaker 2: So that's that's a group of college football heavy hitters
Speaker 2: on the media side of things.
Speaker 1: I know you're not a name dropper, but who are
Speaker 1: in those rooms?
Speaker 3: Oh, you know, the great Stu Mandel, Bruce Feldman, Chris Vanini,
Speaker 3: David Euban, the list goes on and on. We've we've
Speaker 3: had a very strong college football staff over the years,
Speaker 3: and we've had some people move on to other endeavors.
Speaker 3: I mean, once upon a time you had the the
Speaker 3: Nicole auerbacks and now Ari Wasserman's who are now at
Speaker 3: other publications. But we still have some heavy hitters. And
Speaker 3: again I'm not even in the ninth spot. I'm the
Speaker 3: utility man on the bench.
Speaker 2: Well that's uh, I don't believe that's true. But I'll
Speaker 2: allow your feigned humility on the program today. But let
Speaker 2: me take advantage of this. What what are some of
Speaker 2: the if you would care to share? I know these
Speaker 2: are closed doors meetings with the athletic college football staff.
Speaker 2: What are some of the big time college football storylines
Speaker 2: and topics that are being bantered about in a room
Speaker 2: such as that.
Speaker 3: Well, as you can imagine the house settlement that appears
Speaker 3: to be close to being done, We've been waiting for
Speaker 3: this ruling for a long time. One of my best
Speaker 3: and favorite colleagues, Justin Williams, is the man who's been
Speaker 3: tasked with sifting through these documents ad nauseum for the
Speaker 3: last year plus and getting to know sources at the
Speaker 3: you know, the law, the judicial, you know, collegiate, all
Speaker 3: these levels that are necessary that you need to learn
Speaker 3: to try to distill this down into something that is
Speaker 3: tangibly easy to digest. He does a way better job
Speaker 3: than I ever could. We all make a joke that
Speaker 3: we decided to get into this business to cover college football,
Speaker 3: and we, in a weird way, turned out we had
Speaker 3: to learn how to cover the court system in real time.
Speaker 3: So lots of you know, house settlement stuff, the state
Speaker 3: of nil transfer portal, lots of things that you could
Speaker 3: easily imagine, and then you know, the interesting storylines this
Speaker 3: upcoming season. You know, you can't get into a meeting
Speaker 3: about college football without talking about Deon Sanders or Bill
Speaker 3: Belichick at UNC or is Ohio State going to repeat
Speaker 3: lots of very you know, typical things. But it's just
Speaker 3: nice to be able to get together with colleagues once
Speaker 3: a year and just kind of shoot the breeze.
Speaker 2: So I mean, let's start with probably the hottest topic.
Speaker 2: Can you conform or deny that Bill Belichick and Jordan
Speaker 2: Hudson are engaged?
Speaker 3: Oh? I cannot confirm that.
Speaker 1: How much was that? How much was that topic Dan
Speaker 1: died about today?
Speaker 3: I didn't hear much about it, just because I think
Speaker 3: we've been broken up into into different groups. But I
Speaker 3: can guarantee you there will be reported very fascinating stories
Speaker 3: on the topic of Bill Belichick at North Carolina at
Speaker 3: the in the coming weeks and months.
Speaker 1: Fair enough, Fair enough?
Speaker 2: All right, Chris, My guess is I don't even know
Speaker 2: if you've seen this, but because it's a big news
Speaker 2: here locally, I do need to ask you about it,
Speaker 2: and if you want to punt until you can look
Speaker 2: into it a little bit more, I totally understand. But
Speaker 2: according to the Salt Lake Tribune, our friends of the trib,
Speaker 2: Kevin Reynolds, and I don't know Jessica Shrifles. Is that correct?
Speaker 2: I mean, okay, so Jessica Shrifles, Kevin Reynolds. This was
Speaker 2: posted ten minutes before I cracked this microphone today BYU
Speaker 2: quarterback Jake Rhetz. Laugh has been accused of sexual assault
Speaker 2: in a new civil suit. Okay, so he has not
Speaker 2: been criminally charged. And this alleged incident happened in twenty
Speaker 2: twenty three. Jake had just transferred from Riverside in California,
Speaker 2: so he was very new on campus. And look, everybody
Speaker 2: has due process, well everyone should, but let's leave that aside.
Speaker 1: So we'll kind of see how this plays out.
Speaker 2: Have you had a chance to dig into this, and
Speaker 2: if so, what are your thoughts on the news that
Speaker 2: broke about hour and a half ago today?
Speaker 3: This is literally the first time hearing about it. All right, Well,
Speaker 3: I apologize to you and your staff. We've been in
Speaker 3: a closed door meeting just talking about story ideas for
Speaker 3: the upcoming college football season. So this was basically the
Speaker 3: last thing I was expecting you to tell me. So
Speaker 3: I'm going to have to get into my best punt
Speaker 3: formation and fire away.
Speaker 1: All right, fair enough, fair enough? So sltrip dot com.
Speaker 2: For our listeners that are just maybe hopping in your car,
Speaker 2: starting your commute home or what have you streaming online
Speaker 2: go to sltrip dot com.
Speaker 1: It's all over the socials.
Speaker 2: You know, ultimately, Chris, when it comes to a situation
Speaker 2: like this, we'll move away from the specifics because you
Speaker 2: are not familiar with it and talk about more of
Speaker 2: a macro viewpoint. You know, b YU as a track
Speaker 2: record of having zero tolerance for anything like this, and
Speaker 2: you know, again I'm being very careful here, Jake deserves
Speaker 2: do process.
Speaker 1: This is not a criminal charge.
Speaker 2: It is a civil suit, and trying to be analogous
Speaker 2: with any other situation feels a little up to sp
Speaker 2: The Brandon Davies situation come to mind. Brandon was not
Speaker 2: charged with a crime, nor was he sued. But that
Speaker 2: was a really good basketball team that had a chance
Speaker 2: to maybe even win a national championship with for debt,
Speaker 2: and they suspended him for the NCAA tournament. BYU is
Speaker 2: a team that most people have ranked in their top
Speaker 2: ten top fifteen range and thought to maybe have a
Speaker 2: really really good chance to have an excellent season. Based
Speaker 2: off of your understanding and knowledge of the way that
Speaker 2: BYU works. I mean, this feels like something that they're
Speaker 2: not going to mess around with. And like I said,
Speaker 2: due process is needed, so we'll give the space for it.
Speaker 2: But your thoughts on what could potentially go down with
Speaker 2: BYU and how they're going to kind of traverse this space.
Speaker 2: And obviously Brian Santiago is a new ad, has a
Speaker 2: new list of things to take care of.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a tricky, complex situation, and my guess would
Speaker 3: be that the University, Brian Santiago, the Athletic Department, they're
Speaker 3: all going to say that they're going to let the
Speaker 3: judicial process play out. I don't know for sure, do
Speaker 3: you know, Spence, if the if the core or if
Speaker 3: the case filing was filed today.
Speaker 1: It was filed today according to the Trip.
Speaker 3: Yes, So this is obviously very brand new information for
Speaker 3: everybody if it's just been today, and they're going to
Speaker 3: have to my guess would be that they're going to
Speaker 3: be very tight lipped about it, and they're going to
Speaker 3: say that they're going to let the judicial process play out.
Speaker 3: And honestly, I think that's the right thing to do.
Speaker 3: And when it comes to the nature of things like this,
Speaker 3: it is irresponsible to really speculate on, you know, how
Speaker 3: certain outcomes may come about, especially considering the sensitive nature
Speaker 3: of it. But you know you're right. Historically BYU has
Speaker 3: had a fairly strict policy when it comes to off
Speaker 3: the field incidents or you know, allegations of the nature.
Speaker 3: I don't have a great answer for you right now,
Speaker 3: just because I don't know the specifics, like I said,
Speaker 3: and it is unfortunately just way too sensitive of a
Speaker 3: topic for me to try to pontificate upon. So I apologize.
Speaker 2: No, you're you're right, and I mean, the last thing
Speaker 2: I'll say on this now we'll move on, is for
Speaker 2: the idiots online taking victory lapse because you cheer for
Speaker 2: a different football team, like put the phone away. You
Speaker 2: don't need to tweet, like, let's there's a victim, alleged
Speaker 2: victim who is potentially involved here that probably has gone
Speaker 2: through something traumatic that none of us fully understand, So
Speaker 2: you don't have to tweet, put the phones away, move on,
Speaker 2: and we will now move on.
Speaker 1: There's no comfortable way of doing that.
Speaker 2: But let me ask you this, so you reference the
Speaker 2: conversations you're having in the rooms about the house v
Speaker 2: ncaa settlement which I don't know, maybe two months ago
Speaker 2: felt like it was imminent and now it feels like
Speaker 2: it might be far away and continues to be far
Speaker 2: away based off of some of the state by state
Speaker 2: legislation that has been passed to protect member institutions from
Speaker 2: the very settlement that you've been waiting for.
Speaker 1: So, what are some of.
Speaker 2: The conversations you guys are having about where we're at
Speaker 2: or House B NC double A and what do you
Speaker 2: think the latest kind of sounds like right now?
Speaker 3: Yeah, you basically took the answer right out of my mouth,
Speaker 3: man Like. It is so ironic that every time they
Speaker 3: seem to make, you know, a few steps forward, you
Speaker 3: take a few extra steps back. The fact that states
Speaker 3: are getting involved on this at a level individually that
Speaker 3: could potentially make the kind of the blanket result that
Speaker 3: much more easy for everybody is very on brand for
Speaker 3: the state of college athletics, for college football, and dealing
Speaker 3: with the NC double A as a whole. If and
Speaker 3: when this settlement gets done, it's going to be extremely
Speaker 3: important for everybody to get their ducks in a row. Obviously,
Speaker 3: but the fact that these states, I think Tennessee, maybe Kentucky,
Speaker 3: a couple other, if I'm not mistaken, are starting to
Speaker 3: try to dig their clause into this. The fact that
Speaker 3: they can make it that much more arduous and basically
Speaker 3: muddy the waters. It is very unfortunate because I feel
Speaker 3: like we're so close to having something like tangible to
Speaker 3: be like, Okay, twenty point five million dollars is going
Speaker 3: to go to each member institution and they will be
Speaker 3: able to basically delineate that whatever way they want to,
Speaker 3: whichever program they want, and we can go from there.
Speaker 3: But like I said, things aren't done easily in this realm,
Speaker 3: and I think a lot of it honestly, Spence is
Speaker 3: like I think people trying to capitalize on a murky situation. Anyways,
Speaker 3: some people are probably trying to come off as you know,
Speaker 3: pseudo want to be saviors, whether that's talking about individual
Speaker 3: state legislators or just other people as a whole. The
Speaker 3: sooner this gets done or it is for everybody, because
Speaker 3: once this gets done, then we can finally get onto
Speaker 3: the bigger point of view, and that is, how is
Speaker 3: this twenty point five million dollars going to be basically
Speaker 3: chopped up and split up between each you know, major
Speaker 3: division one university across the country, and then at that time,
Speaker 3: hopefully for public institutions, we'll be able to get a
Speaker 3: program by program breakdown and you'll get an actual, like
Speaker 3: real life way to correctly decipher what these guys are
Speaker 3: doing and why they're doing it. And the fact that
Speaker 3: we haven't been able to get there yet is very frustrating,
Speaker 3: and the fact that we could potentially be waiting even
Speaker 3: longer is even more frustrating than that.
Speaker 2: So on May first, Bill Lee shout out Bill Lee,
Speaker 2: who's the governor of Tennessee. He signed a six page
Speaker 2: state bill bill number five thirty six, and Ross Dellinger
Speaker 2: was able to get the details, and it paves the
Speaker 2: way for the state schools at Tennessee, which of course
Speaker 2: University of Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Memphis, et cetera, and their affiliated
Speaker 2: collectives to break house settlement related rules and prevents college
Speaker 2: sports quote New Enforcement entity from penalizing those schools. So
Speaker 2: what the officials from the Power for Conferences have done
Speaker 2: in response is they're circulating a draft of what's called
Speaker 2: a groundbreaking and a first of its kind document intended
Speaker 2: to prevent universities from using state laws to violate new
Speaker 2: enforcement rules and essentially require schools to waive their right
Speaker 2: to pursue legal challenges against the new enforcement entity, which
Speaker 2: is known as the College Sports Commission. So you combine
Speaker 2: that with what happened in February where power conferences simply
Speaker 2: are seeking more control over NCAA championships, namely March Madness
Speaker 2: men's and women's basketball tournaments, and obviously the CFP.
Speaker 1: All of this.
Speaker 2: Feels like we are moving towards the shift where power conferences,
Speaker 2: not the NCUBA, will control policing athlete compensation, and that's
Speaker 2: not surprising anybody, Chris.
Speaker 1: But what we're moving into.
Speaker 2: Now is the haves are now fighting amongst each other,
Speaker 2: where some of the schools that exist in states that
Speaker 2: are passing bills that literally say you do not have
Speaker 2: to follow the guidelines that are given to you when
Speaker 2: the House free NCUBA is actually settled. They're now being
Speaker 2: warned by the P four institutions that you're not allowed
Speaker 2: to use state rules to circumvent the actual rules that
Speaker 2: are in place when the settlement comes down. Like somehow
Speaker 2: they've managed to make it more convoluted. When it seemed
Speaker 2: like we were inching closer and closer to the finish line.
Speaker 3: Okay, I'm in your city and I'm going to draw
Speaker 3: the most perfect analogy possible severance.
Speaker 1: I can feel it.
Speaker 3: You knew it, You knew it. You We have to
Speaker 3: we have to we have to figure out which conference
Speaker 3: is Connor. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know which conferences shive,
Speaker 3: Which conference is the eldest boy? Like that's that is
Speaker 3: what it feels like. And it makes sense because there
Speaker 3: is meat on the bone for the powers that be
Speaker 3: to try to grab power, and a lot of it
Speaker 3: is grand standing and I get that. But again, until
Speaker 3: there is a set, you know, firm, firm set of
Speaker 3: rules in place, people are going to try to capitalize
Speaker 3: on the quote unquote wild west of college athletics. So
Speaker 3: the fact that the big boys are infighting now and
Speaker 3: are going to do their best to potentially try to
Speaker 3: police the stuff makes a ton of sense because why
Speaker 3: wouldn't they Because they know that they can throw their
Speaker 3: weight around, because they know, at the end of the
Speaker 3: day of their brands are the things that shoulder the
Speaker 3: load in college athletics. They know their brands are the
Speaker 3: things that drive money when it comes to TV rights
Speaker 3: and meteorites and all of these things. This is the
Speaker 3: reality of where we are right now, and it's going
Speaker 3: to stay that way for a while until we get
Speaker 3: some sort if we ever get that, if we ever
Speaker 3: get to the point that somebody is going to draw
Speaker 3: a line in the sand and say this is how
Speaker 3: you operate within the confine of the rules. Otherwise these
Speaker 3: guys are going to throw their weight around.
Speaker 1: All right, I'm gonna try to do this. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: try to do this.
Speaker 2: Are we Are we allowed to include wom's gams in
Speaker 2: the conversation or does it have to be the kids?
Speaker 3: I think it's got to be the Core four.
Speaker 2: Okay, Well, because Shiv is married to Tom, they're the SEC.
Speaker 2: They have the power. I'm going to say Logan Roy
Speaker 2: is Mark Emerate no longer with us. Let's see here,
Speaker 2: I'm going to say Connor Roy is.
Speaker 1: The PAC twelve. Okay, I'm gonna say he's the PAC twelve.
Speaker 1: Just hanging out.
Speaker 3: How dare you you wrote off? You wrote off this
Speaker 3: presidential campaign before it even started.
Speaker 2: Let's see, we'll make uh, We're gonna make Kendall the
Speaker 2: big ten because you know, the oldest boy, you cannot
Speaker 2: deny the power. But ultimately he's not the SEC. So
Speaker 2: We're gonna give that to Shiv. We'll make let's see, we'll.
Speaker 3: Make Roman is the Big twelve is a great fit.
Speaker 2: We'll go Roman Big twelve. Okay, and let's see that leaves.
Speaker 2: We'll make cousin Greg the ACC. No one really cares
Speaker 2: about him with they're.
Speaker 3: Fuck great, great, great move. I mean, dude, I don't know, man.
Speaker 3: This is sports talk radio, Edita Pecks. I'm not even
Speaker 3: being funny either. This is and I'm on the fifteenth floor.
Speaker 3: You know, the city is alive. There's an ambulance driving
Speaker 3: right by right now, like this is as real as
Speaker 3: a kids.
Speaker 2: We need to get a little succession soundtrack. We need
Speaker 2: the piano in the background. We need get we need
Speaker 2: to get that done. Okay, So there we go. So
Speaker 2: Roman's the Big twelve, Shiv is the SEC. We're giving
Speaker 2: Kendall the Big ten. We're given. We're giving conn Or
Speaker 2: the Pac twelve, and we'll make cousin Greg the ACC.
Speaker 2: And again Logan is Mark Emert because he's dead and
Speaker 2: doesn't matter anymore.
Speaker 3: You said it, not me.
Speaker 1: That all works.
Speaker 2: Oh goodness, gracious, all right, let's move over to what
Speaker 2: are we doing? What is going on today? I'm no,
Speaker 2: it's wonderful, it's great, it's great. All right, let's move
Speaker 2: over here. So I'm sure you guys discussed this today,
Speaker 2: and I'm honestly conflicted because you cannot debate that the
Speaker 2: best football is not played in the Big ten of
Speaker 2: the SEC consistently. It does not mean that there couldn't
Speaker 2: be a Clemson or a Florida State, or a Utah
Speaker 2: or a Texas Tech or whatever that rises up, and
Speaker 2: it belongs in the ranks of the College Football League
Speaker 2: from time to time. But the expanded sixteen team CFP
Speaker 2: proposal includes four auto bids four SHIV, four auto bids
Speaker 2: for Kendall, two auto bids for Roman, two auto bids
Speaker 2: for cousin Greg, one auto bid for our guy Connor Roy,
Speaker 2: and the Group of six. So again, this is a
Speaker 2: proposal that gives half of the sixteen team auto bids.
Speaker 2: I wonder how many people are like, what the hell
Speaker 2: are they talking about? This is a proposal to give
Speaker 2: sixteen like half of the sixteen auto bids to the
Speaker 2: Big ten of the SEC, two auto bids to the
Speaker 2: Big twelve, and the ACC one auto bid to the
Speaker 2: Group of six, and then three at large bids and
Speaker 2: then ultimately that's how you land on the number sixteen.
Speaker 1: Apparently there's there's a lot of pushback on this.
Speaker 2: But again I'm conflicted because at some point there's the
Speaker 2: conversation about the Big ten and the SEC taking their
Speaker 2: ball and doing.
Speaker 1: Their own thing. Anyway, how do you think this plays out?
Speaker 2: What are some of the conversational pieces you guys are
Speaker 2: having about the proposal on the table to expand this
Speaker 2: thing to sixteen.
Speaker 3: Well, I think what we've talked about and what everybody
Speaker 3: realizes is that there may never be an endpoint to
Speaker 3: this thing. I think it could be a moving target.
Speaker 3: It could be twelve, it could be fourteen, it could
Speaker 3: be sixteen, depending on the success each year, depending on
Speaker 3: the amount of money they make with media rights deals
Speaker 3: and on campus home games. You never know, man, Like,
Speaker 3: never in any sense of reality did we think one
Speaker 3: day we would leave the BCS system behind for you know,
Speaker 3: a four team playoff. And never in you know, nobody
Speaker 3: in their right mind ever thought it would go to twelve,
Speaker 3: And here we are already talking about it expanding again. Don't.
Speaker 3: I don't personally have an issue with the Big ten
Speaker 3: and the SEC getting the bulk of the auto bids
Speaker 3: mainly because they feature the best teams in the country.
Speaker 3: And if you're talking about it, logically, even the most
Speaker 3: casual of fans want to tune in to watch potentially
Speaker 3: dominant teams that they don't really want to root for. Now,
Speaker 3: that isn't great for a market like ours, where we
Speaker 3: have a couple of Cinderellas who want to dance once
Speaker 3: every decade or so. But if you think about it,
Speaker 3: when was the last time a non on Big ten
Speaker 3: or SEC team won a national title? And we can
Speaker 3: take Clemson that like Clemson is the answer, but like,
Speaker 3: when was the last time a non Big Ten, non SEC,
Speaker 3: non Clemson team won a national title? I honestly couldn't
Speaker 3: even tell you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And that's what makes it complex, because we're in
Speaker 2: Big twelve countries, so we can yell as loud as
Speaker 2: we possibly can, as we can yell as loud as
Speaker 2: we want to, but it doesn't change the fact that
Speaker 2: the majority of the blue bloods in college football exists
Speaker 2: in the Big ten and in the SEC.
Speaker 1: Does it feel like to you that we are.
Speaker 2: Still moving into a world where college football win the
Speaker 2: dust settles will look a lot like pro football, or
Speaker 2: to your point, will this just be an ever living
Speaker 2: organism that changes kind of year by year.
Speaker 3: I believe it's going to be the latter. I think
Speaker 3: the fact that they've the powers that be have been
Speaker 3: proven year in and year out that they can change the game,
Speaker 3: they can move the goalpost, they can do it differently
Speaker 3: and still make more money. It behooves them to be
Speaker 3: able to maintain that flexibility rather than kind of putting
Speaker 3: themselves in a box so I could be proven wrong
Speaker 3: and it eventually one day they could be, you know,
Speaker 3: deciding to do that super league model that has been
Speaker 3: bandied about for a long time. But I think at
Speaker 3: least in the very near future, it doesn't really benefit
Speaker 3: them to constrain themselves that way because they've been proven
Speaker 3: time to time again that they can make more money
Speaker 3: even though changes can come.
Speaker 2: Is the New York Times building somewhere where you find
Speaker 2: that it's a nice safe space where you don't have
Speaker 2: to pretend that you like Hamilton.
Speaker 3: Well, I find it a safe space to pretend that
Speaker 3: I don't like college football, because until people figure that out,
Speaker 3: I have the ruises up. Man.
Speaker 1: See, the problem.
Speaker 2: The problem with these interviews is now I'm just thinking
Speaker 2: about succession quotes that are just bouncing around in my mind.
Speaker 2: All right, Chris, before we set you loose, we'll let
Speaker 2: you get back to what you have going on. I
Speaker 2: still can't believe this conversation with the direction it did,
Speaker 2: but you know, that's what makes it fun. I'm quite
Speaker 2: sure you did not have a chance to listen to
Speaker 2: the gaffer himself, Pablo Maschuni on the program yesterday.
Speaker 3: Yes, I was on a Delta flight to JFK, so apologies,
Speaker 3: I was not able to.
Speaker 2: Did you watch anything on the plane? How did you
Speaker 2: How did you pass the five hour flight?
Speaker 3: I took a little bit of a fake nap, closed
Speaker 3: my eyes for about an hour, and then watched a film.
Speaker 1: Would you share the care? Would you care to share
Speaker 1: which film you watch?
Speaker 3: It's called The Bike Riders. It's a film with with
Speaker 3: Tom Hardy and a couple other very handsome looking gentlemen.
Speaker 3: It's about a motorcycle club in Chicago in the sixties.
Speaker 3: I enjoyed it b plus interesting.
Speaker 1: I'll check it out.
Speaker 2: So, Pablo, and this took three or four different follow
Speaker 2: up questions where I definitely was blaboring the point because
Speaker 2: the fact of the matter, Chris, is this like, once
Speaker 2: upon a time in MLS, you didn't have to be
Speaker 2: labored to point about economic confusion in your club. You
Speaker 2: didn't have to spend twenty thirty forty million whatever it is.
Speaker 2: Hence two thousand and nine our guys lift the trophy
Speaker 2: beating David Beckham and Landon Donovan, you know, with that
Speaker 2: club with Javier and Kyle and Nicky in the whole group. Well,
Speaker 2: MLS is not on the level of the NBA or
Speaker 2: the NFL, but it's grown to the point where it's
Speaker 2: no longer even an option to build a club without
Speaker 2: economic confusion. If you want to build a winner, and
Speaker 2: if you want to be competitive, if you want to
Speaker 2: be unserious about competing and simply develop young players and
Speaker 2: then move them on for a premium so you can
Speaker 2: satisfy your investors, you can do that. But that's such
Speaker 2: an unserious approach, and that is what we've kind of
Speaker 2: experienced over the past little bit, and I think it's
Speaker 2: kind a lot of people off guard. Pablo yesterday dropped
Speaker 2: a bit of a bomb on the program. It's a
Speaker 2: little breaking news, accidental journalism that he was told this
Speaker 2: week by the New ownership group that they are no
Speaker 2: longer interested in selling any of their young players, namely
Speaker 2: Diego Luna, who rumors flying that he might be gone
Speaker 2: during the summer transfer Windo. Now, look if a La
Speaker 2: Liga club or Bundesliga or EPL or whatever, if any
Speaker 2: club in Europe calls Kurt Schmidt and says we will
Speaker 2: pay you twenty five or thirty million dollars for Diego Luna,
Speaker 2: I get it. But what do you make of what
Speaker 2: I perceive to be a really massive change of direction
Speaker 2: and ethos by the Miller family now that they've taken
Speaker 2: taken over in forming Pablo in the front office. They're
Speaker 2: not interested in this ethos of developing as a you know,
Speaker 2: developing players as a club and then moving them on.
Speaker 1: They want to build something for the long haul.
Speaker 3: Well, this is a multi layered conversation, and if we
Speaker 3: take Diego as the prime example, it kind of makes
Speaker 3: sense because if you haven't had that twenty to thirty
Speaker 3: million dollar offer yet, unless he goes on to score
Speaker 3: twenty goals and have fifteen assists, maybe you're gonna get
Speaker 3: an offer from Aliga at Mcki's team in the ten
Speaker 3: to fifteen million dollar range. But is Diego Luna worth
Speaker 3: that much to you as a club? I would argue yes,
Speaker 3: especially considering where you are with the state of the
Speaker 3: franchise and the roster as a whole. There are some
Speaker 3: decent bones beyond Diego Luna. I know, you know a
Speaker 3: Mecca and Ellie is a potential MLS you know, All
Speaker 3: eleven caliber player, and there are some nice bit pieces,
Speaker 3: but Diego Luna is a pretty damn good starting off point.
Speaker 3: If you want to say, like, this is the guy
Speaker 3: we want to build our team around. And maybe I'm
Speaker 3: gonna get lazy here and I'm going to do the
Speaker 3: sports radio thing and say, like, does it make sense
Speaker 3: to compare having a Diego Luna to a Donovan Mitchell
Speaker 3: type figure perhaps in the MLS RSL soccer realm. I
Speaker 3: don't think it's that far off. If you talk about
Speaker 3: a young, dynamic, very you know, tantalizing player that has
Speaker 3: captivated the heart and soul of your fan base, that
Speaker 3: has been through the ringer in the last five years,
Speaker 3: if he wants to stay and you can pay him
Speaker 3: the wages that he will eventually deserve if his star
Speaker 3: continues to climb, then it makes sense to build around him.
Speaker 3: Now their problem isn't you know, the potentially ditching that ethos.
Speaker 3: Their problem is is they have to figure out that
Speaker 3: the new ethos is going out and spending a lot
Speaker 3: of money, more money than RSL historically ever has. And
Speaker 3: I know last year they sold Andra Skomas for reported
Speaker 3: twelve to fourteen million and the Barajas Kid went to
Speaker 3: achieve us for like four to five. But really, if
Speaker 3: you think about it, in the annals of RSL history,
Speaker 3: those are really kind of the two big transfers. RSEL
Speaker 3: hasn't really developed any other players, at least especially out
Speaker 3: of their academy system, that have gone on to become
Speaker 3: big time purchases from clubs overseas or I'm a continent.
Speaker 3: So great on you on you know, getting Pablo to
Speaker 3: divulge some accidental journalism. I know that's your your secret superpower,
Speaker 3: but it's listen, man, this summer is going to be
Speaker 3: big and they regardless, I think RFL is kind of
Speaker 3: firmly out of the playoff spot. I think they've already
Speaker 3: lost more games so far this year than they have
Speaker 3: than they did in the entirety of twenty twenty four.
Speaker 3: But if if the Millers say they want to hold
Speaker 3: onto players and not sell them. That's great, but you
Speaker 3: have to be willing to spend a whole lot of
Speaker 3: money to bring in players as good or better than
Speaker 3: Diago Luna. If you want to prove to your fan
Speaker 3: base you're serious about winning. There it is.
Speaker 2: Had to do it, had to do it. I really
Speaker 2: don't know what's my favorite? Which one is? My favorite?
Speaker 1: Ship?
Speaker 2: Is the SEC rules? If I'm on yuh? Roman is
Speaker 2: the Big twelve is incredible? But you know Connor is
Speaker 2: the Pac twelve seems to work? Yeah, do you have
Speaker 2: a favorite? Before I set you this?
Speaker 3: Connor is the pack full? For sure? An independent you know,
Speaker 3: living off the grid on the West coast, you know
Speaker 3: Connor living in that New Mexico you know mansion you
Speaker 3: know north of Santa Fe. It just plays that hits
Speaker 3: for me the most.
Speaker 1: Give me a Nixon six k.
Speaker 3: Are are we are? We are? We are? We worried
Speaker 3: about what Tyres Haliburton and Miles Turner can do in
Speaker 3: the pick and roll? Are we worried about?
Speaker 1: Look at you? Look at you? We are not? But
Speaker 1: I appreciate the ball breakdown? All right?
Speaker 2: Let me know if you need any restaurant Rex. I'm
Speaker 2: sure you're well taken care of, save travels. Thanks for
Speaker 2: the time, Bud, appreciate you. Chris com Roddie from The
Speaker 2: Athletic Got Lou says it always does