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Speaker 1: This is the business of sports. Let's talk Super Bowl

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Speaker 1: and Fox Sports guarantee money isn't necessarily guaranteed. One major

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Speaker 1: League soccer runner is leading at fifty million dollar investment,

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Speaker 1: blurring of the lines between sports team owners and the

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Speaker 1: sports gambling space. How high can these valuations go? Evan

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Speaker 1: william off the field, the NBA has never been buzzier,

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Speaker 1: and the leaders in the sports industry Major League Baseball

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Speaker 1: Commission to Rob Manfred Fidy O'Neill is President of Director

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Speaker 1: Consumer in that then the race card driver Elio Castro

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Speaker 1: and Evs Jared Smith, president of Ticketmasters. Bloomberg Business of

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Speaker 1: Sports from Bloomberg Radio. Hello, I'm Edvan, Novie Williams and

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Speaker 1: Michael Barr And this is the Bloomberg Business of Sports

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Speaker 1: podcast where we explore the big money issues in the

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Speaker 1: world of sports. Also joining us today our pal Mike Lynch,

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Speaker 1: And gentlemen, Let's begin with the news that Rob Groundkowski

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Speaker 1: is reunited with Tom Brady and Tampa. Who the what

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Speaker 1: the where the want? Foxboro South going down there, guys.

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Speaker 1: You know a week and a half, two weeks after

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Speaker 1: Tom Brady kind of lit up the sports world at

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Speaker 1: a time when there are no sports happening. His old

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Speaker 1: buddy Rob Gronkowski kind of does the same thing. I

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Speaker 1: think this is. I mean, obviously it's it's probably a

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Speaker 1: good thing for for Tampa Bay. There's a lot of excitement.

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Speaker 1: We'll see what the team actually looks like on the field. Um,

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Speaker 1: but also, you know, at a time when I think

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Speaker 1: a lot of sports fans are sitting at home just

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Speaker 1: wanting news, wanting something to consume, wanting some reason to

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Speaker 1: go to ESPN dot com. Uh, these two guys former

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Speaker 1: Patriots seemed to be consistently delivering it. Mike Lynch, you

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Speaker 1: know you're a Boston guy, kind of what are your

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Speaker 1: thoughts on this trade? Well, this is the one to punch.

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Speaker 1: We got a right hook from Tom Brady on St.

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Speaker 1: Patrick's Day, and we got a left uppercut from Rob

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Speaker 1: Gronkowski yesterday around four fifteen in the afternoon when the

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Speaker 1: news broke, and a lot of people are upset here there.

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Speaker 1: First of all, they've been they haven't gotten over Brady leaving,

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Speaker 1: and now Gronkowski, who they saw as Tom Brady's security

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Speaker 1: blanket for so many years, is now going down to Tampa.

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Speaker 1: The other side of the coin up here are the

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Speaker 1: people as saying, well, he's already retired, he wasn't going

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Speaker 1: to play for the Patriots anyway, and at least they

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Speaker 1: go to fourth round draft pick out for him. But

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Speaker 1: a lot of people think that that wasn't really enough

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Speaker 1: for for the Patriots to get in return. But Gronkowski

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Speaker 1: is a player. We all know how good he is.

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Speaker 1: And now you've tossing him with a lineup with Chris

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Speaker 1: Godwin and Mike Evans, they already have a tight end

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Speaker 1: and O. J. Howard he may be dealt away. Cameron

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Speaker 1: brad the kid out of Harvard's a tight end. And

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Speaker 1: that's a pretty good offense down there they have right now.

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Speaker 1: And I think Brady's gonna be pretty happy. Brady. By

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Speaker 1: the way, the caught working out at a at a

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Speaker 1: public playground. Did you did you see that? They and

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Speaker 1: they did some for park patrol person came over and

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Speaker 1: like it all okay, and I realized who it was

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Speaker 1: that Oh my goodness, I'm really sorry. Looking forward to

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Speaker 1: the season, but you gotta get off the playground right now.

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Speaker 1: The odds for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to win the

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Speaker 1: Super Bowl, I believe in February they were sixty one.

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Speaker 1: You know, after all the Brady stuff goes, they narrowed down.

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Speaker 1: They were seventeen to one or two days ago, I

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Speaker 1: believe now they're down to fourteen to one in some places. Um, Michael,

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Speaker 1: how big a deal do you think this is? Obviously

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Speaker 1: a better team is always better, But just the buzz

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Speaker 1: around the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, they have brand new uniforms.

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Speaker 1: I would imagine we're going to be seeing them if

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Speaker 1: the season does happen, We're gonna be seeing them a

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Speaker 1: lot in some primetime slots. For my money, they just

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Speaker 1: became one of the most interesting, most intriguing NFL storylines

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Speaker 1: of the year, without a question. Without question. Well it

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Speaker 1: goes back to what Mike was saying, and that is,

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Speaker 1: you know, if you are, you know, a Patriots fan,

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Speaker 1: you just got you know, the double punch. I can

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Speaker 1: just imagine as a Detroit Lions fan, Let's say, uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, obviously Barry Sanders retired in his middle of

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Speaker 1: his career and then all of a sudden Sanders shows

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Speaker 1: up in Tampa Bay or something like that, I'd be

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Speaker 1: mad as all get up. So from a Patriots fan,

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Speaker 1: I understand that, uh, as just an NFL fan, I'm

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Speaker 1: with you, Evan. I am intrigued to see what the

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Speaker 1: Patriots are going to do this year. Absolutely, yeah. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I think the Buccaneers become, you know, the team that

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Speaker 1: everybody wants to see. They're gonna be people, I'm sure

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Speaker 1: up in Boston that may be rooting for them not

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Speaker 1: to do very well. I'm sure there's people around the

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Speaker 1: country that just like both Gronk and Brady and want

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Speaker 1: to see them do well. And I think we're gonna

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Speaker 1: be seeing And we talked, you know, the three of

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Speaker 1: us talked about this a couple of weeks ago with Brady.

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Speaker 1: You know, sometimes even if you know the guys are

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Speaker 1: signing are a little bit old and maybe they don't

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Speaker 1: pan out, there is a lot of you know, outside

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Speaker 1: equity you get when you kind of reinvigrate your fan

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Speaker 1: base by showing them that you're willing to make risky moves,

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Speaker 1: that that that put your team on the front page,

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Speaker 1: and to just the attraction alone, just the fact that

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Speaker 1: you're going to be in those primetime slots here, your

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Speaker 1: new uniforms. They're gonna sell more jerseys this year than

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Speaker 1: they would have absolutely if it was still you know,

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Speaker 1: Godwin and Winston as their number one quarterback and their

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Speaker 1: number one you know, receiving option. So you know again

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Speaker 1: that there's there some risk here probably and that these

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Speaker 1: guys are old. Gronkowski hasn't played in in a season

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Speaker 1: and a half. But again, there there's there's a lot

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Speaker 1: of value here to making moves like this that don't

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Speaker 1: exactly show up necessarily in the wind column or the

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Speaker 1: lost column next year. And the super Bowl, as we

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Speaker 1: all know this year, is in Tampa, and no team

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Speaker 1: has ever played in their home field in a super Bowl.

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Speaker 1: So there's so many enticing stories here that are going on.

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Speaker 1: And and the big story appear in Boston is that

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Speaker 1: Foxborough used to be a destination and now it appears

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Speaker 1: to be a jumping off spot. Brady's gone, Gronkowski's gone, uh,

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Speaker 1: Kyle van Noyd left, Jamie Collins left, a bunch of

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Speaker 1: guys went to the Dolphins. Some guys went to the

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Speaker 1: your Detroit Lions, Michael, and and that's a concern here

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Speaker 1: and a lot of people are wondering, you know, has

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Speaker 1: the are people starting to tune out Bill Belichick and

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Speaker 1: they're going someplace elsewhere they think they have a chance

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Speaker 1: to win, but might have a little more fun. I

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Speaker 1: might actually have a chuckle or laugh at too. Bill

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Speaker 1: Belichick his his kind of whold thing has always been

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Speaker 1: he'd rather, you know, get rid of a guy too

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Speaker 1: early than than to hold on to him too late. Um.

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Speaker 1: Do you think that maybe there's kind of a changing

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Speaker 1: of the tolerance here from from Patriots fans after after

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Speaker 1: the past month, I think that Patriot fans are upset

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Speaker 1: with that, trying to They're trying to figure out who

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Speaker 1: can blame Robert Kraft or Bill Belichick. And now after

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Speaker 1: this latest departure by Rob Gronkowski coming out of retirement

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Speaker 1: and going down to Tampa, I think a lot of

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Speaker 1: the fingers are pointing toward Bill Belichick. But one thing

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Speaker 1: will cure all that the Patriots win their division and

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Speaker 1: go deep into the playoffs. Nobody's going to remember any

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Speaker 1: of this stuff at all. Winning cures all melodies, all

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Speaker 1: ills and all ill will keep in mind too, why

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Speaker 1: Rob Gronkowski retired because you know thirty, I mean, he

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Speaker 1: was just beat up, banged up, and and he gets

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Speaker 1: injured all over the place, and now his body has

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Speaker 1: apparently healed up. You know, when he's not out wrestling,

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Speaker 1: and he apparently he feels like he's ready to go,

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Speaker 1: So we'll see what will happen. One final note on this, Michael,

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Speaker 1: he signed a deal in two thousand, twelve, eight years,

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Speaker 1: fifty six million, and obviously soon after that he became

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Speaker 1: highly underpaid and the Patriots never renegotiated that deal. In fact,

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Speaker 1: the last couple of years, he played that he had

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Speaker 1: an incentive laden because he had missed some games because

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Speaker 1: of injuries, a lot of games incentive laden contract, and

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Speaker 1: he felt like he didn't have he didn't have to

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Speaker 1: go out and prove himself and catch uh five passes

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Speaker 1: to make an extra two million dollars. So there's a

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Speaker 1: lot of bitterness there that have been building with with

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Speaker 1: with Gronkowski for years, and he finally now this is

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Speaker 1: the first time in his life he's had leverage over

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Speaker 1: Bill Belichick and the Patriots, and he exercised it with

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Speaker 1: the move to Tampa Bay. There you go. Let's start

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Speaker 1: some baseball and news that Minor League Baseball will reportedly

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Speaker 1: agreed to contract forty teams. Yeah, so you know, we

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Speaker 1: discussed this back in November when it became clear that

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Speaker 1: this is what Major League Baseball wanted to do. They've

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Speaker 1: been an ongoing negotiations trying to figure out, you know

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Speaker 1: what Minor League base Ball, their deal with Major League Baseball,

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Speaker 1: what that looks like moving forward. And unfortunately, you know,

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Speaker 1: the coronavirus, the shutdown has hit minor league baseball very hard.

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Speaker 1: You know, don't forget that. You know a lot of

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Speaker 1: these teams may be able to rely on their big

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Speaker 1: media contracts if they can hold games without fans, maybe

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Speaker 1: that's a way to stem the difference. Minor league baseball

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Speaker 1: does not have big media contracts. They are a business

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Speaker 1: that is reliant on fans paying to go to games,

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Speaker 1: and unfortunately, uh that is looking less and less likely

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Speaker 1: in the near term future. Uh So, you know, obviously,

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Speaker 1: the negotiations between Minor league Baseball and Major League Baseball

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Speaker 1: look a little bit different now in mid April than

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Speaker 1: they did back in November when Major League Baseball's plan,

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Speaker 1: which was to contract you know, about forty two of

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Speaker 1: the one hundred and sixty two teams, you know, that

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Speaker 1: was you know, greeted with you know, huge, huge fight

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Speaker 1: by my Minor league Baseball. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren

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Speaker 1: got involved. It was an existential threat to their future. Now, unfortunately,

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Speaker 1: it looks like, you know, they may have no choice

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Speaker 1: but to agree to this as part of a wider deal. Uh,

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Speaker 1: Mike Lench. Obviously, you know, minor league baseball in the

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Speaker 1: cities that it's in, you know, can be tremendously popular.

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Speaker 1: It can be a great kind of hook for the community.

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Speaker 1: Do you think the wider baseball community will really feel

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Speaker 1: the difference between you know, a hundred and sixty two

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Speaker 1: affiliated minor league baseball teams in a hundred and twenty

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Speaker 1: affiliated minor league baseball teams. Well, I don't. I don't

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Speaker 1: think in big cities people really will think about it

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Speaker 1: too much. You really have to go up to upstate

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Speaker 1: New York and go out to the Midwest, to Iowa,

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Speaker 1: to Montana, the places where you know, a summer baseball

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Speaker 1: game is a livelihood for a lot of people. Not

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Speaker 1: only are the players on the field, but it employs

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Speaker 1: a lot of people as well, and it provides a

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Speaker 1: great deal of entertainment. Is probably the biggest tourist attraction.

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Speaker 1: And some of these, some of these cities, uh, in

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Speaker 1: very small towns and and that's a shame, and it's

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Speaker 1: a tradition you know, I keep thinking of the cornfield

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Speaker 1: out in Iowa every time I look at this story.

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Speaker 1: That's what I think of. I think Old Orchard Beach

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Speaker 1: up in Maine, where people go and just flock to

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Speaker 1: the ballpark, and and all the creative, uh marketing people

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Speaker 1: who have these gimmicks to bring people to the games

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Speaker 1: that you know that that's some of the most creative

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Speaker 1: minds and in all of sports. So I think it's

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Speaker 1: a huge economic impact on those towns directly, and that's

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Speaker 1: why we're seeing so many congressmen congresswomen in the United

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Speaker 1: States senators getting involved to try to try to save

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Speaker 1: some of these uh, these teams. It's a shame, yeah,

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Speaker 1: and there's a lot that still needs to be worked out. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: it sounds like there may be a plan to leave,

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Speaker 1: you know, these forty two teams that maybe lose their affiliation.

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Speaker 1: Maybe there's some kind of system where they can continue

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Speaker 1: to offer baseball in an independent fashion and maybe get

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Speaker 1: supported in some way, um by kind of the rest

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Speaker 1: of the baseball establishment. But this has been a fight,

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Speaker 1: as we said, that has been going on for a

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Speaker 1: very long time between minor league baseball and major league baseball.

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Speaker 1: You know, MLB wants better facilities, they want maybe less travel.

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Speaker 1: I know a number of MLB owners want fewer minor

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Speaker 1: league teams. Obviously it's a little bit cheaper for them

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Speaker 1: if they've got you know, less than six or seven

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Speaker 1: um and then you know, Minor league Baseball owners right now,

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Speaker 1: they just want stability. Michael Barr. You know, given the

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Speaker 1: fact that all this is happening right now, they're losing,

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Speaker 1: you know, the main way that they make money. You know,

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Speaker 1: the calculus for them, I think has changed a little bit.

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Speaker 1: There is a criticism out there that that the Major

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Speaker 1: League Baseball maybe using this virus, this pandemic kind of

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Speaker 1: the economic fallout of it, to get through to kind

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Speaker 1: of force through an agenda that they already wanted. Uh

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Speaker 1: do we think that there's some validity there? Do we?

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Speaker 1: Or do we think that this is just kind of

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Speaker 1: what happens when you know, economic turmoil hits everybody. I

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Speaker 1: was just gonna say that we were talking about this,

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Speaker 1: like you said about, you know, several months ago before

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Speaker 1: the coronavirus even hit the US. Now what has happened,

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Speaker 1: and I believe that the coronavirus has become the catalyst

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Speaker 1: for major League Baseball to get rid of some of

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Speaker 1: the minor league teams, and what's sad about this? And

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Speaker 1: and Mike had said it also, once these teams go,

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Speaker 1: the odds are totally against them that they will ever

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Speaker 1: come back again. Uh. And if it does, it's going

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Speaker 1: to take a long time for them to the regroup

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Speaker 1: and start all over again. That's what's really sad about it.

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Speaker 1: And and quite frankly, some of the best times I've

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Speaker 1: ever had watching a baseball game was watching a minor

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Speaker 1: league team. I enjoy, you know, the little goofy games

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Speaker 1: that they play with the fans and this and that

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Speaker 1: whatever to get the spirit up. Uh. You I mean

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Speaker 1: sheep beer. Who doesn't like sheep beer? But but I

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Speaker 1: mean you have you know, the food is reasonable, everything

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Speaker 1: about it. Uh, it was very nice at a minor

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Speaker 1: league game, and you could take your whole family and

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Speaker 1: enjoy it. And unfortunately this is going to dry up.

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Speaker 1: You're right, And you know, as you said, kind of

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Speaker 1: how hard it is if you go independent, how hard

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Speaker 1: it is to make the difference. They're keep in mind

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Speaker 1: that minor league baseball teams on the whole are not

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Speaker 1: responsible for paying their players. That is something that happens

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Speaker 1: at the big club level, you know, So once you

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Speaker 1: go independent, once you now have to pay your players

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Speaker 1: as well, think about just the way that changes the

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Speaker 1: entire economic calculus of what you're doing. So no question

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Speaker 1: if we end up with forty two fewer affiliated teams,

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Speaker 1: even if those teams go independent in some semi affiliated way,

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Speaker 1: we'll see what that looks like. But no question that

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Speaker 1: it once you go independent, you know, it becomes a

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Speaker 1: whole different business ball game for you. Uh pun not

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Speaker 1: intended there. Finally, let's talk about this week's main event,

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Speaker 1: the NFL Draft, and oh Nelly, Keith Jackson would say

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Speaker 1: they have had some technical problems as they were running

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Speaker 1: some dry runs through this for the Thursday draft. I'm

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Speaker 1: gonna tell you how bad it is. My Detroit Lions.

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Speaker 1: They runted an RV and they parked it right by

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Speaker 1: Roger Goodill's driveway with an I T through on it,

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Speaker 1: just to say, look, if you need some help, sir,

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Speaker 1: we're going to help you out because we don't want

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Speaker 1: any communication problems. We're third in the draft. We we

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Speaker 1: need this. I am very excited about this draft for

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Speaker 1: a lot of reasons. And and Michael we talked with

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Speaker 1: Michelle McKenna, who's the c i O of the NFL

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Speaker 1: last week about a lot of the technology stuff that's

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Speaker 1: going into this, uh the idea of a hundred and

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Speaker 1: eighty different streams, from having every coach and every GM

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Speaker 1: in their own homes, through other team personnel, coaches, college coaches,

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Speaker 1: fifty eight different prospects who had to set up their

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Speaker 1: own camera system within their own homes. All of this,

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Speaker 1: I think it's such an impressive undertaking, um and I

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Speaker 1: think there's a chance that it ends up going really,

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Speaker 1: really well. And there's also, unfortunately I think a chance

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Speaker 1: where it becomes a lot harder or maybe a bit

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Speaker 1: more difficult uh that than people are hoping. But no

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Speaker 1: matter what I say personally, I say kudos to the NFL,

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Speaker 1: Kudos to nf ON Network and ESPN for for biting

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Speaker 1: off what seems like a very very difficult thing to do,

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Speaker 1: and I can't wait to see how it turns out.

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Speaker 1: Can you imagine your Joe Burrow and FedEx package arrives

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Speaker 1: at your house with a tripod, some lights, a couple

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Speaker 1: of iPhones and there's an instruction manual there and you

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Speaker 1: put it together and going Holy what is going on here?

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Speaker 1: I don't, yeah exactly. And I worked in television. I

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Speaker 1: still work in television for forty years. And if Mike

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Speaker 1: cameraman said to me, Mike turned the camera on, I

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Speaker 1: was still would not know which one of those little

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Speaker 1: levels on the side to put on. So I can

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Speaker 1: only imagine all these people trying to set everything up.

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Speaker 1: You know, the camera could be horizontal when it's supposed

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Speaker 1: to be vertical. And but the fun part's gonna about

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Speaker 1: this is gonna be you know, the NFL drafts had

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Speaker 1: been a little bit sanitized with that that sort of

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Speaker 1: waiting room back there and every with everyone handing out

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Speaker 1: the hats when they come up on the stage, and

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Speaker 1: then it was all it was. It was pretty much

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Speaker 1: the same. There's gonna be a lot more spontaneity to this,

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Speaker 1: I think, sitting in in family rooms with with with

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Speaker 1: loved ones around you, or maybe some college teammates or something,

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Speaker 1: and and it's gonna be something that that we only

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Speaker 1: saw with with a surprise draft that wasn't invited to

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Speaker 1: wherever the draft was being held. So I think I

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Speaker 1: agree with both of you guys. I'm really looking forward

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Speaker 1: to this a because it's something to watch. But b

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Speaker 1: it's it's something that it's different and it has never

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Speaker 1: happened before. And and I think it's it's it's gonna

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Speaker 1: be good. It's gonna be it's unrehearsed, it's it's gonna

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Speaker 1: be unvarnished, and it's gonna be a little bit different

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Speaker 1: than what we've seen in years past with the Uh

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Speaker 1: you know, it's almost a scripted draft. Player gets the

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Speaker 1: name announced, hugs the family member, puts on the cap,

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Speaker 1: watch up the stage, shakes the commissioner's hand, holds up

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Speaker 1: the jersey, and then goes to the side and does

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Speaker 1: an interview. This is gonna be so much different than

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Speaker 1: that one thing you won't be seeing out there as well.

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Speaker 1: I know the NFL obviously does a lot to protect

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Speaker 1: its partners. It's sent out some instructions for these guys

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Speaker 1: about what logos can be allowed to be seen, which

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Speaker 1: ones can't. I believe you know, some some players even

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Speaker 1: got welcome kits that have some products like Pepsi products

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Speaker 1: or Freedom Lay products, Mars candy, those are all NFL sponsors.

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Speaker 1: Those will be allowed to be displayed. Uh. There there's

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Speaker 1: a lot going on right now. Kind of from a

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Speaker 1: business standpoint to to make sure that and we'll see

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Speaker 1: if all fifty eight of these prospects adhere to it

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Speaker 1: um because there's also an opportunity and I would not

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Speaker 1: be shocked if there is some kind of guerrilla marketing

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Speaker 1: campaign done at some point where some guys sitting in

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Speaker 1: his you know, couch, the money he gets drafted on,

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Speaker 1: zips his sweatshirt and he's got you know, some some

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Speaker 1: brand that is not in the NFL partner affiliated on it.

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Speaker 1: But I do think there's gonna be some interesting There's

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Speaker 1: there's some interesting business exposure for brands as well as

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Speaker 1: a result of again not having everybody in a green room,

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Speaker 1: walking across the stage and hugging Roger Goodell, but rather

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Speaker 1: you know them in the comforts of their own homes

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Speaker 1: around around their family. Can I can I admit a

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Speaker 1: little guilty thing that it's in the back of my

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Speaker 1: mind now of course, because we talked to Michelle last

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Speaker 1: week and I want to see this go off very well.

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Speaker 1: You know, I wanted to go very well, but there's

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Speaker 1: a little side of me. Well, let me put it

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Speaker 1: this way, if something does go wrong. You ever seen

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Speaker 1: those sketches where they're during the news and they bring

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Speaker 1: the puppy on from the Humane Society or something on

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Speaker 1: the set. There's a little side of me that just

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Speaker 1: wants to see the puppy p on the set, and

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Speaker 1: I just want to see what would happen if this

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Speaker 1: thing just goes to pieces and smithereens is like, Oh

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Speaker 1: my goodness, so that I'm not gonna lie. I gotta

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Speaker 1: I gotta watch this is. I gotta see how in

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Speaker 1: the world they're gonna put this together. I'm sorry, it's

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Speaker 1: it's I'm I'm the devil. I can't. I mean, I

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Speaker 1: want to see this. I want to see what's gonna happen.

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Speaker 1: I'm also very I'm also very intrigued to see what

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Speaker 1: the ratings numbers are like. You know, we discussed on

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Speaker 1: Monday what we thought kind of the Last Dance the

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Speaker 1: Michael Jordan, the first two episodes of that documentary might get.

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Speaker 1: They ended up, you know, averaging six point one million viewers,

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Speaker 1: which is a big number, a lot, a lot more

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Speaker 1: than a lot of people expected. The w NBA draft

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Speaker 1: on ESPN last week did very well. I think it

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Speaker 1: was the best or second best uh w NBA draft

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Speaker 1: they've ever had obviously not not as much sports competition

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Speaker 1: as there usually is. I think this might see a

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Speaker 1: very big number for ESPN and NFL Network at a

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Speaker 1: time when you know, all sports media networks need to

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Speaker 1: attract people to their TV sets. This is the Bloomberg

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Speaker 1: Business of Sports podcast on Michael Barr along with Mike

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Speaker 1: Lynch and Evan W. Williams. We're here each and every Monday,

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Speaker 1: Wednesday and Thursday exploring the world of money in sports.

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Speaker 1: Join us again. At the end of the week, We're

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Speaker 1: speaking with NBA agent Happy Walters. We're gonna chat all

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Speaker 1: about what NBA players are doing right now in their downtime,

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Speaker 1: and also what we were discussing on Monday, the challenges

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Speaker 1: to the n c A system, if we may see

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Speaker 1: more elite high school prospects doing things other than college basketball,

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Speaker 1: and some up to the Bloomberg Business of Sports show

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Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts. M