WEBVTT - Inside the Big Ten TV Draft with Scott Dochterman 0:00:02.160 --> 0:00:05.240 Welcome to the solid verbal hell. 0:00:05.080 --> 0:00:08.119 That for me, I'm a man, I'm forty. 0:00:08.240 --> 0:00:10.119 I've heard so many players say, well, I want to 0:00:10.119 --> 0:00:12.080 be happy. You want to be happy for a day? 0:00:12.360 --> 0:00:14.440 Ato Steak, is that woo woom? 0:00:14.920 --> 0:00:20.120 And then and tie. 0:00:20.480 --> 0:00:21.960 Dan, I am not going to lie to you. 0:00:22.079 --> 0:00:27.840 I am elated, elated, Yeah, to be doing this show 0:00:27.880 --> 0:00:30.880 with you today. I am thrilled about this episode. 0:00:31.240 --> 0:00:33.440 I like that it's tickling you right where you need 0:00:33.479 --> 0:00:35.720 to be tickled, scratching you. You're where you're itch and 0:00:36.000 --> 0:00:37.800 bringing on Scott Doctrman. As you know, you've seen the 0:00:37.840 --> 0:00:40.800 title from The Athletic to talk about the Big ten 0:00:41.000 --> 0:00:44.440 TV draft, maybe a little Big ten Playoff stuff as 0:00:44.520 --> 0:00:47.960 the SEC is positioning itself with how it views the 0:00:47.960 --> 0:00:50.519 playoff and the ideas it's looking for to to be 0:00:50.600 --> 0:00:55.600 more solution oriented and the Big ten with Tony Pettiti 0:00:55.680 --> 0:00:59.240 allegedly preferring or at least pitching the auto bid pitch 0:00:59.520 --> 0:01:03.639 for the four plus four plus two plus two. So 0:01:03.720 --> 0:01:06.920 right now we're at twelve four four two two one 0:01:07.000 --> 0:01:08.200 three one three. 0:01:08.280 --> 0:01:08.640 There is it. 0:01:08.640 --> 0:01:09.160 That's how we run. 0:01:09.200 --> 0:01:09.600 Youve got to. 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:11.520 Memorize it then you can get it. I know for 0:01:11.680 --> 0:01:14.680 shot I know Scott's been doing great work over at 0:01:14.680 --> 0:01:18.160 the Athletic. He has written two articles now, you know, 0:01:18.200 --> 0:01:20.600 over the last couple of weeks that have really drawn 0:01:20.640 --> 0:01:23.120 our interests. The first go out and read it. We'll 0:01:23.160 --> 0:01:25.880 link it up in the description here inside the Big 0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:30.680 Tens TV Draft how Fox, NBC and CBS split up 0:01:31.040 --> 0:01:34.080 the twenty twenty five football schedule. So look, we come 0:01:34.120 --> 0:01:36.800 at it from this perspective. We've been talking about the 0:01:36.840 --> 0:01:40.639 TV side of this for generations now, or what feels 0:01:40.680 --> 0:01:41.440 like generations. 0:01:41.760 --> 0:01:43.520 Collash Mooball's a TV show, Colash. 0:01:43.280 --> 0:01:46.119 Football's TV show, love it, hate it, despise it, whatever. 0:01:47.360 --> 0:01:51.800 The fact that they have a draft, a draft to 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:55.600 pick which games are being played when and on which 0:01:55.640 --> 0:01:59.800 network is fascinating, full stop, don't care what you think 0:01:59.840 --> 0:02:02.840 of the fact that they are drafting these games is 0:02:02.880 --> 0:02:05.400 of interest to anybody who grew up in the fantasy 0:02:05.400 --> 0:02:08.360 football era. Yes, I am excited to talk to Scott 0:02:08.720 --> 0:02:11.519 about this and find out what he's learned. Lord knows, 0:02:11.560 --> 0:02:13.760 on this show, we've been drafted all sorts of weird 0:02:13.840 --> 0:02:17.320 things for as far back as we can remember, so 0:02:17.400 --> 0:02:20.240 an actual game draft is definitely of importance. We're going 0:02:20.320 --> 0:02:23.639 to focus a good chunk most of our questions on 0:02:23.720 --> 0:02:27.760 that structure, about it and how it came to fruition, 0:02:27.840 --> 0:02:29.440 all that type of stuff. So we'll get into that 0:02:29.480 --> 0:02:32.520 with Scott here momentarily. He also at time of recording, 0:02:32.520 --> 0:02:37.399 we're recording this on Tuesday afternoon, late morning, he published 0:02:37.440 --> 0:02:41.320 an article today why does the Big Ten want four 0:02:41.360 --> 0:02:44.760 automatic college football playoff bids? The league's case has a 0:02:44.800 --> 0:02:47.240 long history, so we're going to talk about that as well, 0:02:47.320 --> 0:02:50.120 because of course that's very much in the news now 0:02:50.120 --> 0:02:52.799 as well. We've got this public posturing, at least on 0:02:52.840 --> 0:02:55.079 the SEC side, we have heard a whole lot from 0:02:55.120 --> 0:02:57.320 the Big Ten as of late, but we're going to 0:02:57.360 --> 0:03:00.679 get Scott's intel on that front as well, so cover 0:03:00.800 --> 0:03:01.520 those two things. 0:03:01.520 --> 0:03:02.320 At some point we'll have. 0:03:02.320 --> 0:03:04.720 To bring them back to talk specifically about Iowa football. 0:03:05.160 --> 0:03:07.080 But today we're going to focus in a little bit 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:12.080 more on these bigger picture, more national Big Ten related stories. 0:03:12.280 --> 0:03:15.520 We're gonna have to counteract this show that is so 0:03:16.400 --> 0:03:21.280 focused on, you know, corporate interests and the business of 0:03:21.320 --> 0:03:25.160 college football broadcasting behind the scenes, and next week we're 0:03:25.200 --> 0:03:26.960 gonna have to do a show that's just like How 0:03:26.960 --> 0:03:29.560 to Play Left guard with Quentin Nelson, Right, we just 0:03:29.639 --> 0:03:34.360 need to bring balance into the solid verbal ecosystem whatever, 0:03:34.480 --> 0:03:37.280 and not go too far in any one direction. Obviously, 0:03:37.280 --> 0:03:38.920 we're going to do our previews coming up here this 0:03:38.960 --> 0:03:41.400 summer and you know, get into the more fun element 0:03:41.440 --> 0:03:43.040 of all of this. This is very much an early 0:03:43.160 --> 0:03:47.000 June show that we're super excited to do. But yeah, 0:03:47.080 --> 0:03:50.360 I'm gonna need to hear about hand placement from Steve Hutchinson. Right, 0:03:50.360 --> 0:03:53.040 We're gonna need to do something to balance this out. 0:03:53.840 --> 0:03:55.840 Go on out to verballers dot. 0:03:55.640 --> 0:03:58.440 Com if you want to further support what Dan and 0:03:58.680 --> 0:04:04.400 I do. Your bonus episodes, ad free episodes, discord access, 0:04:05.360 --> 0:04:08.880 access to our wonderful community. Oh yeah, overballers again. That's 0:04:08.920 --> 0:04:10.680 v e r B A l l e r s 0:04:10.920 --> 0:04:13.320 dot com. If nothing more, If you like the show, 0:04:13.400 --> 0:04:15.520 hit fall, hit subscribe, if you can leave a star 0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:18.599 rating or review. All of that stuff helps Stan. 0:04:18.640 --> 0:04:20.600 Shall we dive right in and with that, it's our 0:04:20.640 --> 0:04:23.599 pleasure to bring on the athletics Scott Doctorman, who has 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:26.400 written a couple of fascinating pieces, the first of which 0:04:26.440 --> 0:04:28.440 is what truly inspired us to bring him on. But 0:04:28.480 --> 0:04:32.640 then I saw a new piece came out today on Tuesday, 0:04:32.720 --> 0:04:35.560 June third, as we record this about you know, Jim 0:04:35.600 --> 0:04:39.200 Delaney's strategy and the thought of big ten pitching auto 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:41.919 bids and what that may have meant in previous years 0:04:41.920 --> 0:04:44.240 for the college football playoff and what it may not 0:04:44.400 --> 0:04:47.120 have meant. We had Scott on last year in talking 0:04:47.160 --> 0:04:50.640 about the I don't know, it's calamity a good word, ty, 0:04:50.880 --> 0:04:51.359 I think so. 0:04:51.480 --> 0:04:53.440 I mean, we tried to unpack what was going on 0:04:53.480 --> 0:04:57.080 with Iowa's offense, and at that point in time, our 0:04:57.200 --> 0:05:00.080 thinking was, we need to unpack this. We need an 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:03.880 IOWA expert to help us understand not just what took 0:05:03.880 --> 0:05:06.520 place this off season or back then in the twenty 0:05:06.520 --> 0:05:09.520 twenty three season, but just give us the full evolution 0:05:09.640 --> 0:05:10.960 of how we got to this point. 0:05:11.040 --> 0:05:14.120 So with that preamble, Scott, welcome back to the solid verbal. 0:05:14.640 --> 0:05:17.159 Well, I'm thrilled to be here, and at least I 0:05:17.160 --> 0:05:19.159 won't have to talk about the drive for three twenty 0:05:19.200 --> 0:05:19.920 five anymore. 0:05:19.960 --> 0:05:20.599 That's true. 0:05:21.200 --> 0:05:23.120 I think it's over, so I think they'll be a 0:05:23.160 --> 0:05:25.120 little bit better this year. So, by the way, you 0:05:25.200 --> 0:05:28.520 got to talk about other stuff sidebar Fresno State might 0:05:28.520 --> 0:05:31.440 have like the best tight ends coach randomly in the 0:05:31.520 --> 0:05:35.080 country who just shouldn't be an offensive coordinator. Brian Farrence. 0:05:36.560 --> 0:05:39.360 I tell you what, Brian, Yeah, Brian was you know 0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:42.200 Rob Grinkowski and I talked to him about this, said, 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:44.760 Brian Ferrence was the best coach he ever had as 0:05:44.800 --> 0:05:47.440 a tiight ends coach with the Patriots. Taught him how 0:05:47.480 --> 0:05:50.680 to block. Basically described to him, Look, it's like pushing 0:05:50.760 --> 0:05:54.240 a car. That's how we attack the defenders. And he 0:05:54.360 --> 0:05:56.280 learned how to do it and turn him into a 0:05:56.600 --> 0:05:59.760 Hall of Fame blocker as well as receivers. So Brian 0:05:59.839 --> 0:06:02.200 is really good in that area. It's a Peter principle. 0:06:02.279 --> 0:06:04.479 I mean, he's a great offensive line coach. He was 0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:07.200 a very good tight ends coach. I'm sure Fresno State 0:06:07.240 --> 0:06:10.240 will have some great coaches there. Everybody who played under 0:06:10.320 --> 0:06:13.719 him at that position swears buying Sam Laporta, you know, 0:06:14.080 --> 0:06:17.359 all of the above, and it's just calling plays and 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:20.200 designing plays was probably just not his forte. 0:06:20.240 --> 0:06:23.000 Fair enough, Okay, so let's start here. You wrote a 0:06:23.040 --> 0:06:28.320 piece on the Big Tens TV network draft. Obviously, there 0:06:28.320 --> 0:06:32.560 are certain priorities that networks have in terms of, you know, 0:06:32.600 --> 0:06:35.200 getting the first one, two, three, four picks or whatever, 0:06:35.240 --> 0:06:37.440 and there's a certain order of things. There are trades. 0:06:37.520 --> 0:06:42.080 It is truly a fantasy draft with millions upon millions, 0:06:42.120 --> 0:06:46.680 if not more, dollars of implications. Be it headline games 0:06:46.720 --> 0:06:51.200 within the Big Ten, non conference games. Explain to people 0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:56.640 what a TV game draft is in twenty twenty five 0:06:56.800 --> 0:06:59.000 in the Big Ten, all. 0:06:58.960 --> 0:07:03.040 Right, the Big Ten has probably the most unique television 0:07:03.160 --> 0:07:06.120 media partner experience of any of the networks. Now you 0:07:06.160 --> 0:07:09.680 have the SEC that's an ACC mostly is locked in 0:07:09.680 --> 0:07:12.600 with ESPN, say for a couple of games on the 0:07:12.600 --> 0:07:15.920 CW for the ACC. The Big Ten has three major 0:07:15.960 --> 0:07:19.760 linear partners, Fox, which is the priority number one, and 0:07:19.760 --> 0:07:23.240 then kind of an equality relationship with CBS and NBC. 0:07:23.720 --> 0:07:26.520 Fox has leaned into its Big noon kickoff, which has 0:07:26.600 --> 0:07:29.840 aggravated a lot of Ohio State and Penn State fans 0:07:29.880 --> 0:07:34.920 over especially the last few years. But over time CBS 0:07:34.960 --> 0:07:38.680 has moved its SEC on CBS Midday to now the 0:07:38.720 --> 0:07:42.040 Big Ten, and then NBC has carved out its role 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:45.920 as a prime time network for the Big Ten on 0:07:46.080 --> 0:07:50.640 Saturday nights. So the draft process includes those three entities 0:07:50.720 --> 0:07:54.000 plus BTN, which has scattered picks later in the draft, 0:07:54.480 --> 0:07:57.840 and what they do is they agree on a day. 0:07:57.880 --> 0:08:01.920 This year was April thirtieth, and they're all separate. They're 0:08:01.960 --> 0:08:03.760 not in one room. Man, I wish they were in 0:08:03.800 --> 0:08:04.200 one room. 0:08:04.360 --> 0:08:06.520 That'd be so cool in Macau. 0:08:06.960 --> 0:08:11.360 Yeah, you know, I bet if you're you know, NBC 0:08:11.480 --> 0:08:14.400 can say can we stream this on Peacock or you know, Fox, 0:08:14.440 --> 0:08:18.200 can we put this on FS one? Sure, CBS Sports Network. 0:08:18.280 --> 0:08:21.440 I mean, Btn, this would have been great, but uh no, 0:08:21.600 --> 0:08:25.080 they're they're they're different campuses, kind of scattered throughout like 0:08:26.400 --> 0:08:28.760 and it's kind of funny because Fox has like every 0:08:28.800 --> 0:08:30.720 there's like three or four people in each one that 0:08:30.800 --> 0:08:34.439 are in you know, in that are very much intimately 0:08:34.480 --> 0:08:38.280 involved in this process. But like Foxes are on Zoom 0:08:38.320 --> 0:08:42.400 with each other, and then they handle the picks via email. 0:08:42.760 --> 0:08:45.600 So it just sounds so it's almost like the old 0:08:45.679 --> 0:08:48.520 signing day send it through the fax machine thing. It's like, 0:08:48.559 --> 0:08:51.120 we got all this technology and we're doing it through 0:08:51.200 --> 0:08:53.679 email and that. But they said, look, we used to 0:08:53.720 --> 0:08:56.800 do it on a conference call. That got really boring, 0:08:57.520 --> 0:09:00.440 so we decided let's, uh, let's do it this way, 0:09:00.520 --> 0:09:03.640 but still slack channels, at least with a Slack channel, 0:09:03.679 --> 0:09:06.280 you could see so and so is typing, so you're like, okay, 0:09:06.280 --> 0:09:10.720 here we go. But how it's kind of set up 0:09:11.000 --> 0:09:15.360 after that is that the league determines the draft order 0:09:15.800 --> 0:09:18.800 and they place a number with every pick for every 0:09:18.800 --> 0:09:21.040 game going all the way to the end, which I 0:09:21.040 --> 0:09:23.120 think is I want to say, like one hundred and 0:09:23.360 --> 0:09:27.880 twenty three or something to that effect that were available. 0:09:28.000 --> 0:09:31.560 They already pull out the Friday night games and those 0:09:31.600 --> 0:09:34.360 are in a different category, so they've already dispersed them. 0:09:34.840 --> 0:09:38.560 But then when they go from number one, Fox as 0:09:38.640 --> 0:09:43.160 the primary rights holder, has the first three picks. Then 0:09:43.240 --> 0:09:47.760 it goes and then the next four are NBC CBS, 0:09:47.760 --> 0:09:51.040 and it depends on the year, Like last year, NBC 0:09:51.280 --> 0:09:54.640 was five, CBS was four, and NBC made a trade 0:09:54.920 --> 0:09:57.640 to get up to number three, and so there's trades 0:09:57.679 --> 0:10:00.880 that are allowed, so it's kind of cool that way. Yeah, 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:04.400 And then Fox has eight, and then it goes you know, nine, ten, 0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:08.880 and then Fox has eleven. So they sit in this 0:10:09.120 --> 0:10:13.160 their rooms, their war rooms. CBS was at its in 0:10:13.280 --> 0:10:16.600 the conference room, NBC was out in Connecticut at its 0:10:16.640 --> 0:10:21.199 Stanford complex, and then Fox was scattered and then they 0:10:21.240 --> 0:10:24.840 start selecting So with the first three picks, uh, I 0:10:24.840 --> 0:10:27.280 believe it was I know Ohio State Michigan was number one, 0:10:27.320 --> 0:10:30.120 and Ohio State Texas was two, and I believe Ohio 0:10:30.200 --> 0:10:33.400 State Penn State was three for Fox. They're all winners. 0:10:34.679 --> 0:10:39.240 Then four this year was NBC took Oregon Penn State, 0:10:40.000 --> 0:10:42.000 and then CBS was a little more coy with who 0:10:42.000 --> 0:10:43.120 it picked because it is. 0:10:43.120 --> 0:10:46.520 That an alternating four. Do CBS and NBC alternate by 0:10:46.520 --> 0:10:47.920 the year who gets that fourth pep? 0:10:48.000 --> 0:10:51.800 Yeah, okay, yeah, because like last year, it was CBS 0:10:51.800 --> 0:10:55.600 that had four and which caused NBC to jump up 0:10:55.600 --> 0:11:02.800 to five because it wanted it. It wanted Oregon Ohio State, right, 0:11:03.120 --> 0:11:06.480 and so it felt like that CBS would grab them, 0:11:07.120 --> 0:11:10.160 so instead they went ahead and jumped up there, CBA 0:11:10.320 --> 0:11:13.040 or Fox fell down to five and still got what 0:11:13.120 --> 0:11:18.280 it wanted, which was it was Ohio State, Penn State. 0:11:18.440 --> 0:11:22.079 So you know then and they already picked Michigan, Texas 0:11:22.120 --> 0:11:26.640 and Ohio State Michigan. So it's fascinating how that works. 0:11:26.679 --> 0:11:29.120 And then there's so much strategy involved that I can 0:11:29.120 --> 0:11:31.360 get into, but I'll kind of turn it over to 0:11:31.360 --> 0:11:33.599 you guys to see what questions you have about. 0:11:33.360 --> 0:11:37.920 This, Oh yeah, fair enough. So okay, let's let's go there. Strategically, Obviously, 0:11:37.920 --> 0:11:42.720 people are going to easily understand why Fox would prioritize 0:11:42.760 --> 0:11:46.200 Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Oregon. You know, take your 0:11:46.200 --> 0:11:48.840 pick of the huge schools that have played in huge games, 0:11:48.840 --> 0:11:54.280 that have huge followings, that have are proven ratings. Clydesdale's 0:11:55.040 --> 0:11:57.840 is a ratings. Clydesdale a term in the TV industry. 0:11:57.840 --> 0:11:58.680 I think it is now. 0:11:58.960 --> 0:12:00.640 I think it is now. 0:12:01.640 --> 0:12:04.800 So strategically you understand where that comes from. What's the 0:12:04.840 --> 0:12:09.040 second level of strategy. Is it just all merit based 0:12:09.160 --> 0:12:11.120 or is it week based? Is it you talked about 0:12:11.160 --> 0:12:13.760 in your column, like looking at what SEC and Big 0:12:13.800 --> 0:12:16.640 twelve and ACC games are and like even though this 0:12:16.840 --> 0:12:19.680 you know USC Notre Dame game looks appealing, it there's 0:12:19.679 --> 0:12:21.720 a good chance it's going to be up against you know, Alabama, 0:12:21.840 --> 0:12:25.800 LSU or something. So from what you could decipher, what 0:12:25.880 --> 0:12:28.800 were the second tier strategies of the networks. 0:12:29.120 --> 0:12:32.280 Okay, I'll start with let's go go with NBC. They're 0:12:32.320 --> 0:12:34.080 kind of the easiest one to read here, and that 0:12:34.200 --> 0:12:37.120 is that NBC also has a contract with Notre Dame 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:39.040 and it's an entering. It's thirty fifth year in that 0:12:39.520 --> 0:12:42.679 treasures that one. It wants them both to be mutually 0:12:42.720 --> 0:12:45.880 beneficial and feed off one of an another. Now, the 0:12:46.240 --> 0:12:49.640 one thing that they're looking at is okay, they got 0:12:49.640 --> 0:12:52.320 a contract where they could put three Notre Dame games 0:12:52.320 --> 0:12:56.400 in prime time. Which ones matter and which ones do 0:12:56.440 --> 0:12:59.800 they feel will do the best there? And also on 0:13:00.280 --> 0:13:03.720 weeks will they matter against the Big Ten? And say, 0:13:03.960 --> 0:13:06.040 I mean, the first one was the most obvious one, 0:13:06.040 --> 0:13:09.280 and that was Texas A and M at Notre Dame 0:13:10.040 --> 0:13:14.000 because that was a garbage game day for the Big Ten. 0:13:14.080 --> 0:13:16.840 There was nothing of value. They had two Big Ten 0:13:16.920 --> 0:13:21.000 games and the only other game that was even Power 0:13:21.040 --> 0:13:24.679 five matchup was Alabama at Alabama Wisconsin and that was 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:28.000 and then that goes to ESPN anyway, so they had 0:13:28.040 --> 0:13:31.160 their pick of nothing. So they said, this is easy. 0:13:31.400 --> 0:13:35.480 We got Marquee matchup, good weekend. We're going to take 0:13:35.520 --> 0:13:39.760 this and then deprioritize the Big Ten that week. And 0:13:39.840 --> 0:13:44.200 so they ended up moving like they picked two games 0:13:44.240 --> 0:13:48.040 for Peacock as opposed to Big NBC, and one of 0:13:48.080 --> 0:13:52.360 them was Ohio State Ohio at Ohio State. So you 0:13:52.400 --> 0:13:54.320 get you know, you get you're gonna get ratings no 0:13:54.400 --> 0:13:57.880 matter what because it's Ohio state. But it's it's Ohio. 0:13:58.000 --> 0:14:01.880 So the strategy for them is, Okay, which weeks are 0:14:02.640 --> 0:14:05.760 ratings gold for the Big Ten that we want to prioritize, 0:14:05.760 --> 0:14:09.000 which ones are devalued with Notre Dame. So that all 0:14:09.040 --> 0:14:11.960 of this is strategy that they started looking at back 0:14:11.960 --> 0:14:14.559 in December. Okay, here's the Big Ten schedule, here's Notre 0:14:14.600 --> 0:14:16.920 Dame schedule. How does this all fit and kind of 0:14:16.920 --> 0:14:19.800 make that work? And then which you know, and a 0:14:19.880 --> 0:14:22.400 couple of times then they can move like a Big 0:14:22.440 --> 0:14:25.480 Ten game to the midday on NBC and feed into 0:14:25.480 --> 0:14:28.720 the Notre Dame game. But they also aren't going to 0:14:28.720 --> 0:14:31.600 make that the priority, say number two overall, when you 0:14:31.640 --> 0:14:34.280 can have a really good primetime game and another week 0:14:34.360 --> 0:14:38.720 or two with Fox. It's a little different because they 0:14:38.720 --> 0:14:43.080 have baseball commitments. And so that's what kept them from 0:14:43.120 --> 0:14:47.080 having Friday games in late October last year. I don't 0:14:47.080 --> 0:14:49.360 know if you recall, they opened the World Series on 0:14:49.360 --> 0:14:52.520 a Friday night, Yankees Dodgers, and it was in LA. 0:14:52.600 --> 0:14:54.440 So it's perfect for them. I mean, they couldn't get 0:14:54.560 --> 0:14:57.640 gotten better because the USC Rutgers right after that with 0:14:57.680 --> 0:15:01.360 like a eleven pm easter and time kickoff, which was 0:15:02.080 --> 0:15:04.520 when you think about it, just how how horrible can 0:15:04.520 --> 0:15:07.120 you treat one of your teams to make them go 0:15:07.400 --> 0:15:09.240 all the way across the country and kick off at 0:15:09.280 --> 0:15:12.640 like eleven o'clock at night. But they did. That didn't 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:15.320 happen this year, and two games two weeks were completely 0:15:15.320 --> 0:15:18.760 wiped out. But in the big picture, they all look 0:15:18.880 --> 0:15:21.680 at what other events are going on? How do we 0:15:21.720 --> 0:15:26.240 structure this around? The SEC is obviously one that they 0:15:26.400 --> 0:15:30.560 really weigh into, you know, like you know, one weekend 0:15:30.720 --> 0:15:35.760 that NBC really was focused on was the twenty seventh 0:15:35.840 --> 0:15:39.160 of September, which was the Oregon Penn State Game. Now 0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:41.720 it's probably going to go against Alabama Georgia. I know 0:15:41.960 --> 0:15:43.960 the time hasn't been set, but that's going to be 0:15:44.000 --> 0:15:48.160 a really you know, crazy competition as to who gets 0:15:48.280 --> 0:15:51.280 you know what kind of viewership. But they wanted to 0:15:51.280 --> 0:15:55.000 build that as a holistically as a big NBC weekend. 0:15:55.160 --> 0:15:57.720 They have the Ryder Cup and they wanted the Ryder 0:15:57.720 --> 0:16:01.080 Cup to lead into that, and then on Sunday night 0:16:01.120 --> 0:16:05.120 they have Dallas screen Bay NFL game, so they figure, wow, 0:16:05.200 --> 0:16:07.720 we could really make this a big NBC weekend and 0:16:07.720 --> 0:16:10.040 build everything around it. So that was part of their strategy, 0:16:10.440 --> 0:16:14.240 and then the Big Ten stays out of it, but 0:16:14.320 --> 0:16:16.760 they kind of nudge some things around, and that was 0:16:16.840 --> 0:16:19.000 one where they thought, you know, this might be a 0:16:19.040 --> 0:16:22.560 good one for NBC. You know, we're not gonna say Fox, 0:16:22.640 --> 0:16:24.960 don't take it, but you know it'd be kind of 0:16:25.040 --> 0:16:29.640 cool if you left it lifted for NBC on this one. 0:16:30.040 --> 0:16:34.280 There are some strategies though, for Fox that are complicated 0:16:34.320 --> 0:16:37.480 because of the noon kickoff window, they can't have West 0:16:37.520 --> 0:16:41.880 Coast games there, so they're stuck, and they get stuck 0:16:42.000 --> 0:16:45.240 from time to time. We saw that last year where 0:16:45.280 --> 0:16:49.560 there was a really bad weekend in early November where 0:16:50.000 --> 0:16:52.360 maybe the best game or the second best game went 0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:54.440 to Friday night that they had. I think it was 0:16:54.520 --> 0:16:57.200 Iowa Ucla, which tells you what kind of weekend it 0:16:57.200 --> 0:17:01.080 was when we are all good. CBS had the number 0:17:01.120 --> 0:17:05.879 one pick and NBC had a Notre Dame game, and 0:17:05.960 --> 0:17:08.200 there was like two other games on the West coast. Oh, 0:17:08.320 --> 0:17:10.760 I know it was it was a Penn State. Washington 0:17:11.119 --> 0:17:14.119 was Penn State wanted that's wide out so badly that 0:17:14.119 --> 0:17:16.760 they were willing to go to Peacock for it, and 0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:20.280 at night, which prevented that, CBS had the first pick, 0:17:20.320 --> 0:17:23.199 and it was Michigan Indiana. And then there was another 0:17:23.240 --> 0:17:25.679 West Coast game, so they for Big Noon they had 0:17:25.720 --> 0:17:30.040 their choice of Rutgers Minnesota or Ohio State Perdue. And 0:17:30.080 --> 0:17:33.240 they're like, well, we're going to go Ohio State because 0:17:33.240 --> 0:17:35.440 it's Ohio State. You can play scrimmage there and get 0:17:35.440 --> 0:17:37.920 better rings than probably the other game. And and then 0:17:38.920 --> 0:17:40.840 you know, when Ohio State fans got mad, it's like, well, 0:17:40.880 --> 0:17:43.359 what are you supposed to do here? Right? And so 0:17:43.480 --> 0:17:45.399 though they're kind of hemmed in on some of this, 0:17:45.560 --> 0:17:49.720 but but they do have, you know, some strategic ideas. 0:17:49.760 --> 0:17:53.360 And then CBS is more about kind of looking across 0:17:53.400 --> 0:17:55.960 at the SEC. They know they're going to go up 0:17:55.960 --> 0:17:58.879 against a decent SEC game, but you know they also 0:17:58.920 --> 0:18:02.000 want to, you know, try to build around whatever they 0:18:02.119 --> 0:18:03.320 do on the weekend as well. 0:18:03.640 --> 0:18:07.760 I mean, I'm getting such big fantasy draft vibes from 0:18:07.760 --> 0:18:10.520 this whole thing. I'm giggling like an idiot over here 0:18:10.600 --> 0:18:12.800 because it reminds me of drafts that I had back 0:18:12.840 --> 0:18:15.800 in like two thousand and five. I can only imagine 0:18:15.800 --> 0:18:18.320 what that's like, waiting for the email to come in, 0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:20.919 trying to then plot what your next move is. 0:18:21.200 --> 0:18:21.920 Was there anything that. 0:18:22.000 --> 0:18:25.840 Surprised you, Like I heard email as the primary medium 0:18:25.840 --> 0:18:29.480 for this that surprised me. You reported the story, Are 0:18:29.480 --> 0:18:32.080 there any other items of note that surprised you? 0:18:32.400 --> 0:18:35.040 Yeah, that part did too, because you think of all 0:18:35.080 --> 0:18:38.760 the wet bays. You know, we're communicating. Everybody else's communicating 0:18:38.760 --> 0:18:40.639 face to face, and you'd think that they'd have it, 0:18:41.640 --> 0:18:43.520 you know, in some sort of fashion that way. Now 0:18:43.520 --> 0:18:45.880 we're going to go email. That was a little strange, 0:18:46.280 --> 0:18:48.800 you know, but you know it's like, well, what are 0:18:48.800 --> 0:18:50.680 you going to text each other? I guess that'd probably 0:18:50.760 --> 0:18:55.480 be even easier. But they all kind of had their 0:18:55.520 --> 0:18:58.440 little funny moments talking about it. One was like, it's 0:18:58.600 --> 0:19:02.399 you know, there's no chimes that go no, you know, 0:19:02.440 --> 0:19:05.960 here's the or anything like that. One of the things 0:19:05.960 --> 0:19:07.600 that I talked about I didn't quite get in the 0:19:07.640 --> 0:19:10.160 story that I thought was really interesting. I said, were 0:19:10.160 --> 0:19:13.800 there ever any moments where you were like, yes, we 0:19:13.920 --> 0:19:16.959 got this game, or oh man, we just we were 0:19:17.000 --> 0:19:17.800 waiting on that one. 0:19:17.960 --> 0:19:19.480 Can't believe they sell to us. 0:19:19.600 --> 0:19:22.880 Yeah. Yeah, we all do that in fantasy football every year. 0:19:22.920 --> 0:19:27.560 You're like, oh, god, one, you know, and they're like, yeah, absolutely, 0:19:27.720 --> 0:19:32.280 and they're like, you know, our stomach's churning, we're sweating, 0:19:32.359 --> 0:19:34.399 we're you know, and then it comes to us and 0:19:34.440 --> 0:19:37.479 we yell and then we don't if we don't get it. 0:19:37.560 --> 0:19:39.520 We we were really frustrated visibly. 0:19:39.680 --> 0:19:42.199 Is there a time limit, by the way on the picks? Like, 0:19:42.280 --> 0:19:44.880 did they have to send an email within twenty minutes? 0:19:44.960 --> 0:19:46.160 There was nothing, no limit. 0:19:46.840 --> 0:19:50.400 No, there's no countdown, there's no clock, I asked. I said, 0:19:50.400 --> 0:19:54.000 it's insane, but busted like Minnesota did to be back 0:19:54.040 --> 0:19:55.600 in the you know, ten twenty years. 0:19:55.480 --> 0:19:58.720 Agoah, you should be forced to auto draft Rutgers Minnesota 0:19:58.880 --> 0:20:01.600 if the pick isn't in like drafting the wrong Adrian 0:20:01.680 --> 0:20:03.120 Peterson from the Bears. 0:20:03.960 --> 0:20:06.760 Yeah, an all time troll of a move. 0:20:07.119 --> 0:20:07.320 Yeah. 0:20:07.640 --> 0:20:09.679 The other thing I wanted to ask Scott, like to 0:20:09.760 --> 0:20:14.680 that end, did you hear anything of there being a 0:20:14.760 --> 0:20:19.080 particular game that was selected earlier than expected? Is so 0:20:19.200 --> 0:20:21.280 called reach because we all do that in fantasy football 0:20:21.320 --> 0:20:22.800 as well. Right, there's a guy that you're kind of 0:20:22.800 --> 0:20:27.800 fixated on for whatever reason, Bondie, Like sometimes at defies logic. 0:20:27.800 --> 0:20:30.359 Were there any of those or is just like cold 0:20:30.400 --> 0:20:32.880 hard numbers that are driving these decisions. 0:20:34.320 --> 0:20:38.920 There wasn't anything like that. And here's why, because once 0:20:38.960 --> 0:20:43.000 you get past the big games, they draft weekends, right, 0:20:43.119 --> 0:20:47.480 So let's that and that's where they actually do their 0:20:47.520 --> 0:20:50.760 best work. Probably because anybody can say, well, yeah, we 0:20:50.800 --> 0:20:55.080 want Texas and Ohio State or we want Oregon Penn State. 0:20:55.119 --> 0:20:56.880 I mean that makes sense. You know, you get wide 0:20:56.880 --> 0:20:59.760 out in Happy Valley, two teams played for the championship. 0:21:00.040 --> 0:21:02.280 You know that's going to sell like crazy. But then 0:21:02.320 --> 0:21:05.120 you start to get into some other weeks where we're 0:21:05.160 --> 0:21:07.400