1
00:00:03,640 --> 00:00:04,519
Speaker 1: Hi, gain everybody.

2
00:00:04,559 --> 00:00:08,119
Speaker 2: I Dan Horde and thanks for downloading the Bengals Booth Podcast.

3
00:00:08,280 --> 00:00:14,520
Speaker 2: The I've been waiting audition as we discussed Thursday's release

4
00:00:14,560 --> 00:00:17,320
Speaker 2: of the NFL schedule with one of the people largely

5
00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:21,919
Speaker 2: responsible for putting it together, the NFL's VP of Broadcast Planning,

6
00:00:22,040 --> 00:00:25,720
Speaker 2: Mike North, plus a pair of one on one conversations

7
00:00:25,720 --> 00:00:30,120
Speaker 2: with two Bengals newcomers, cornerback Sidney Jones the fourth and

8
00:00:30,280 --> 00:00:34,280
Speaker 2: quarterback Trevor Simeon. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to

9
00:00:34,280 --> 00:00:38,720
Speaker 2: you by Alta Fiber, future proof fiber Internet capable of

10
00:00:38,760 --> 00:00:42,159
Speaker 2: delivering multi gigabit speeds designed to take your home, business,

11
00:00:42,159 --> 00:00:45,519
Speaker 2: and community to a new level. Elevate your connection with

12
00:00:46,040 --> 00:00:49,279
Speaker 2: Alta Fiber. Now here's a quick reminder that you can

13
00:00:49,320 --> 00:00:52,360
Speaker 2: have the latest edition of this podcast delivered write to

14
00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:56,120
Speaker 2: your phone, tablet or computer by subscribing wherever you get

15
00:00:56,160 --> 00:01:02,240
Speaker 2: your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since Maons. Cincinnati's Flying

16
00:01:02,320 --> 00:01:06,080
Speaker 2: Pig Marathon took place last weekend, and kudos to everybody

17
00:01:06,080 --> 00:01:09,640
Speaker 2: who managed to cross the finish line despite heavy rain

18
00:01:09,880 --> 00:01:14,440
Speaker 2: and thunder. That includes Evan McPherson's wife Gracie, who ran

19
00:01:14,520 --> 00:01:17,959
Speaker 2: her first marathon, and the Bengals kicker who ran the

20
00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:22,679
Speaker 2: half marathon. In fact, his runner's bib read money.

21
00:01:22,760 --> 00:01:23,000
Speaker 3: Mack.

22
00:01:23,800 --> 00:01:26,480
Speaker 2: My wife Peg is a marathoner who is qualified for

23
00:01:26,760 --> 00:01:30,479
Speaker 2: and run the Boston Marathon eight times. And I am

24
00:01:30,520 --> 00:01:33,440
Speaker 2: truly of the belief that a marathon is the one

25
00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:37,960
Speaker 2: sporting event where every single finisher is a winner. The

26
00:01:38,040 --> 00:01:41,880
Speaker 2: training is brutal, the event itself is brutal, and to

27
00:01:41,959 --> 00:01:44,560
Speaker 2: cross that finish line knowing that you put in the

28
00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:48,760
Speaker 2: time and effort and made it has to be incredibly gratifying.

29
00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:53,240
Speaker 2: So congratulations to last week's finishers, and I hope that

30
00:01:53,400 --> 00:01:58,360
Speaker 2: going downstairs is no longer painful. Now let's get to

31
00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:02,360
Speaker 2: my first guest. Thirty two teams playing seventeen games. There

32
00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:05,720
Speaker 2: are two hundred and seventy two regular season matchups each

33
00:02:05,800 --> 00:02:10,600
Speaker 2: year in the NFL. Putting together a schedule that maximizes

34
00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:16,680
Speaker 2: TV viewership while minimizing competitive imbalance is a complex puzzle.

35
00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:24,080
Speaker 2: In fact, there are approximately one quadrillion possible combinations. That's

36
00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:28,639
Speaker 2: the number one, with fifteen zeros after it. Mike North

37
00:02:28,720 --> 00:02:31,680
Speaker 2: is the NFL's vice president of broadcast Planning, in one

38
00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:34,920
Speaker 2: of the league's top executives in creating the schedule each year.

39
00:02:35,400 --> 00:02:37,520
Speaker 2: He was kind enough to join me on Tuesday night,

40
00:02:37,919 --> 00:02:42,880
Speaker 2: less than forty eight hours before the schedule is released. Mike,

41
00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:45,120
Speaker 2: when you joined me on this podcast last year, you

42
00:02:45,160 --> 00:02:47,959
Speaker 2: said something that made local headlines at the time. The

43
00:02:48,040 --> 00:02:51,360
Speaker 2: quote was, the Bengals will have to get comfortable not

44
00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:56,200
Speaker 2: playing Sunday at one o'clock. Getting primetime games is a

45
00:02:56,200 --> 00:02:59,360
Speaker 2: big deal last year. Now it's assumed by Bengals fans

46
00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:04,560
Speaker 2: Spike market size. Are the Bengals at or near the

47
00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:06,680
Speaker 2: top of the list of the teams that the TV

48
00:03:06,840 --> 00:03:08,239
Speaker 2: networks are clamoring for.

49
00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:11,080
Speaker 1: They are. I mean, there's no toys around it. This

50
00:03:11,160 --> 00:03:15,200
Speaker 1: is a success driven league. And certainly there are legacy

51
00:03:15,400 --> 00:03:19,040
Speaker 1: brands and you know, teams that have national appeal almost

52
00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:25,240
Speaker 1: seemingly regardless of their record. But we all follow teams

53
00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:31,880
Speaker 1: with good records, star quarterbacks, playoff appearances, super Bowl appearances.

54
00:03:31,480 --> 00:03:34,639
Speaker 1: There's there's no question the Bengals are going to find

55
00:03:34,639 --> 00:03:37,640
Speaker 1: themselves in a lot of different windows. Not all the

56
00:03:37,640 --> 00:03:40,480
Speaker 1: games at one o'clock on Sunday, those days are those

57
00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:41,120
Speaker 1: days are over.

58
00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:45,480
Speaker 2: Just so people know for sure, what is the max

59
00:03:45,720 --> 00:03:46,840
Speaker 2: for primetime games?

60
00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:52,000
Speaker 1: A club can be scheduled for six, can be flexed

61
00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:55,160
Speaker 1: into a seventh. We've had Sunday night flex since two

62
00:03:55,160 --> 00:03:57,200
Speaker 1: thousand and seven. Bengals have been on both sides of

63
00:03:57,200 --> 00:04:00,640
Speaker 1: that equation, getting flexed in and getting flexed out. Monday

64
00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:04,160
Speaker 1: night football flexible scheduling starts this year, and you can

65
00:04:04,200 --> 00:04:07,720
Speaker 1: be flexed into a seventh primetime appearance. And then when

66
00:04:07,760 --> 00:04:10,360
Speaker 1: we get to week eighteen, all bets are off. We

67
00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:12,800
Speaker 1: can do whatever we all think is the right thing

68
00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:15,800
Speaker 1: to do as we sequence week eighteen to ensure that

69
00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:21,400
Speaker 1: we have that cascading waterfall of playoff implications from Saturday afternoon,

70
00:04:21,440 --> 00:04:23,600
Speaker 1: in the Saturday night, in the Sunday afternoon, in the

71
00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:28,800
Speaker 1: Sunday night. So you know, quote unquote primetime, it's really

72
00:04:28,880 --> 00:04:30,719
Speaker 1: less about who's playing at night than it is about

73
00:04:30,720 --> 00:04:34,400
Speaker 1: who's playing on something other than Sunday afternoon. So you

74
00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:35,880
Speaker 1: could play on a Monday night, you can play on

75
00:04:35,880 --> 00:04:37,560
Speaker 1: a Sunday night, you can play on a Thursday night,

76
00:04:37,640 --> 00:04:39,599
Speaker 1: you can play on a Saturday afternoon, you can play

77
00:04:39,600 --> 00:04:42,599
Speaker 1: on a Sunday morning at nine thirty am. Technically those

78
00:04:42,600 --> 00:04:46,600
Speaker 1: are all quote unquote primetime appearances. They're just non Sunday

79
00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:49,520
Speaker 1: afternoon appearances. But letter of the law, you can be

80
00:04:49,560 --> 00:04:52,640
Speaker 1: scheduled for six primes flexed into a seventh, and then

81
00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:55,640
Speaker 1: we'll all do whatever we think is right. In week eight, we.

82
00:04:55,640 --> 00:04:58,479
Speaker 2: Are chatting with Mike North, VP of broadcast planning for

83
00:04:58,520 --> 00:05:01,919
Speaker 2: the NFL. The Super Bowl champion Chiefs host the NFL

84
00:05:02,040 --> 00:05:05,400
Speaker 2: kickoff game on Thursday, September seventh. The Bengals have a

85
00:05:05,480 --> 00:05:08,080
Speaker 2: road game this year at Kansas City would obviously be

86
00:05:08,120 --> 00:05:11,520
Speaker 2: a great opener, But the Chiefs have home games against

87
00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:14,440
Speaker 2: Philly that's a Super Bowl rematch. They've got Buffalo at home.

88
00:05:14,520 --> 00:05:17,719
Speaker 2: Their division rivals obviously are at home. Have there ever

89
00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:22,480
Speaker 2: been more enticing choices for that Thursday night opener?

90
00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:25,880
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a great question, Dan, Maybe maybe not. I mean, look,

91
00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:29,880
Speaker 1: it's it's Kansas City, and right now they are musty TV.

92
00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:32,160
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure you, me and nine friends could play

93
00:05:32,240 --> 00:05:33,920
Speaker 1: Kansas City and that would do a pretty good number

94
00:05:34,200 --> 00:05:37,960
Speaker 1: for kickoff. You know, they are musty TV. And to

95
00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:40,680
Speaker 1: that end, you could make an argument that maybe you

96
00:05:40,720 --> 00:05:44,680
Speaker 1: don't need to use a Cincinnati, a Philadelphia a game

97
00:05:44,760 --> 00:05:47,000
Speaker 1: like that in a window where we're all going to

98
00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:49,320
Speaker 1: be so excited for the season to start, you know,

99
00:05:49,440 --> 00:05:51,640
Speaker 1: five months from now or four months from now that

100
00:05:52,040 --> 00:05:54,560
Speaker 1: you know, maybe you don't need your quote unquote best

101
00:05:54,600 --> 00:05:58,839
Speaker 1: asset in that opening window. That's not to say, you know,

102
00:05:58,880 --> 00:06:01,000
Speaker 1: we're gonna put a quote on quote lesser game there.

103
00:06:01,040 --> 00:06:03,280
Speaker 1: But I'm not sure the Chiefs have a lesser game

104
00:06:03,720 --> 00:06:07,040
Speaker 1: on their home schedule. So you mentioned them all, Buffalo, Sincy,

105
00:06:07,160 --> 00:06:10,160
Speaker 1: Philly would all be great. Anybody in that division would

106
00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:14,520
Speaker 1: be fun. I'm intrigued by Chicago and Detroit also coming

107
00:06:14,560 --> 00:06:19,560
Speaker 1: into Kansas City. You know, Chicago was pretty exciting last year.

108
00:06:19,640 --> 00:06:23,160
Speaker 1: I know the record doesn't necessarily reflect you know, success,

109
00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:27,200
Speaker 1: and maybe that's not worthy of that window. Detroit was,

110
00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:29,400
Speaker 1: you know, maybe the hottest team in the league last year,

111
00:06:29,440 --> 00:06:31,000
Speaker 1: eight out of the last nine or whatever it was

112
00:06:31,040 --> 00:06:33,080
Speaker 1: the last time we saw them. You know, they win

113
00:06:33,080 --> 00:06:36,480
Speaker 1: in a Lambeau and ruined the Packers season. You know,

114
00:06:36,600 --> 00:06:39,400
Speaker 1: any division games would be interesting, right Herbert and the

115
00:06:39,480 --> 00:06:42,320
Speaker 1: Chargers always play the Chiefs tough. The Raiders have a

116
00:06:42,320 --> 00:06:44,919
Speaker 1: new quarterback, they always play the Chiefs tough. And I

117
00:06:44,920 --> 00:06:47,080
Speaker 1: think everybody's gonna be really intrigued with Denver this year

118
00:06:47,080 --> 00:06:49,039
Speaker 1: when you think about the new coach and can he

119
00:06:49,080 --> 00:06:51,240
Speaker 1: get out of Russell Wilson what we're all used to

120
00:06:51,279 --> 00:06:55,120
Speaker 1: seeing from Russell Wilson. I love the options. I love

121
00:06:55,160 --> 00:06:58,120
Speaker 1: the flexibility. Kind of changed our process a little bit

122
00:06:58,120 --> 00:07:01,120
Speaker 1: as we searched through the you know, infinite Most years,

123
00:07:01,560 --> 00:07:04,000
Speaker 1: to your point, there's one or two pretty obvious options

124
00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:06,040
Speaker 1: for kickoff and then you kind of go from there.

125
00:07:06,520 --> 00:07:07,960
Speaker 1: We kind of did it the other way this year.

126
00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:11,400
Speaker 1: Sometimes when we solved kickoff was almost the last piece

127
00:07:11,440 --> 00:07:13,040
Speaker 1: of the puzzle. There were a lot of good options

128
00:07:13,080 --> 00:07:15,720
Speaker 1: and pretty sure, whatever we choose, we're gonna do.

129
00:07:15,760 --> 00:07:19,760
Speaker 2: Okay, the Bengals have four road games that could at

130
00:07:19,880 --> 00:07:24,280
Speaker 2: least potentially be international games, but I'm guessing those opponents

131
00:07:24,800 --> 00:07:28,720
Speaker 2: don't want to lose home games against Cincinnati. Can teams

132
00:07:28,880 --> 00:07:32,560
Speaker 2: veto certain opponents on the international games, Yeah.

133
00:07:32,360 --> 00:07:36,080
Speaker 1: When a club is selected or designated or volunteers. Forgive me,

134
00:07:36,120 --> 00:07:38,880
Speaker 1: I'm not one hundred percent sure how the sausage gets

135
00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:41,760
Speaker 1: made with an international team. But when a team is

136
00:07:41,880 --> 00:07:46,320
Speaker 1: designated for international play and it's one of their home games, yeah,

137
00:07:46,360 --> 00:07:51,040
Speaker 1: they have some rights and some obligations and some commitments,

138
00:07:51,520 --> 00:07:53,480
Speaker 1: and yeah, they can take a look at their home

139
00:07:53,520 --> 00:07:56,160
Speaker 1: opponents and they can work with an international team. We

140
00:07:56,320 --> 00:07:59,160
Speaker 1: generally don't do division games over there. That's you know,

141
00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:01,320
Speaker 1: from a fans to those are always some of the

142
00:08:01,320 --> 00:08:03,880
Speaker 1: most exciting games of the season. To you know, take

143
00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:06,640
Speaker 1: those and move them overseas might not be exactly the

144
00:08:06,680 --> 00:08:08,080
Speaker 1: right thing to do for the fan base and the

145
00:08:08,120 --> 00:08:11,160
Speaker 1: season ticket members. So generally we don't play the inner

146
00:08:11,280 --> 00:08:14,040
Speaker 1: the division games over there. And then you know, if

147
00:08:14,040 --> 00:08:16,160
Speaker 1: there's one or two really big ones, maybe somebody by

148
00:08:16,240 --> 00:08:19,000
Speaker 1: rotation hasn't been there for a while, you know, or

149
00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:20,880
Speaker 1: maybe he isn't going to be there for another eight years.

150
00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:23,800
Speaker 1: To take that one away from the fans maybe isn't

151
00:08:23,840 --> 00:08:26,080
Speaker 1: the right thing to do. So there's a lot of

152
00:08:26,120 --> 00:08:27,680
Speaker 1: back and forth, a lot of give and take, just

153
00:08:27,680 --> 00:08:29,680
Speaker 1: trying to figure out, you know, how to thread that.

154
00:08:29,800 --> 00:08:31,960
Speaker 1: You know, which of these games make the most sense

155
00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:34,200
Speaker 1: to keep in your home stadium, Which of the ones

156
00:08:34,200 --> 00:08:36,600
Speaker 1: would be really interesting to take overseas. Maybe there's a

157
00:08:36,640 --> 00:08:40,160
Speaker 1: fan base already kind of built in in the UK

158
00:08:40,320 --> 00:08:43,640
Speaker 1: or in Germany for one of your home opponents. But

159
00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:46,360
Speaker 1: you're you're not wrong when you think about, for instance,

160
00:08:46,800 --> 00:08:49,520
Speaker 1: you know, Kansas City and they think about, hey, you know,

161
00:08:49,679 --> 00:08:52,680
Speaker 1: we are hosting Cincinnati this year. You know, on the

162
00:08:52,720 --> 00:08:54,720
Speaker 1: one hand, the Chiefs might say, we'd really love to

163
00:08:54,720 --> 00:08:57,839
Speaker 1: have him here. Then again, you know, all the stuff

164
00:08:57,840 --> 00:08:59,480
Speaker 1: that went on last year with burrow Land, maybe it

165
00:08:59,480 --> 00:09:03,240
Speaker 1: wouldn't be abit thing to get the Bengals in another city.

166
00:09:03,320 --> 00:09:06,880
Speaker 1: So there's a lot of give and take. Look, I

167
00:09:06,880 --> 00:09:09,200
Speaker 1: think the really the smartest way to look at it

168
00:09:09,240 --> 00:09:12,800
Speaker 1: is a game like Cincinnati Kansas City, for instance. That's

169
00:09:12,880 --> 00:09:15,040
Speaker 1: my CTV. I mean, you're talking about one of the

170
00:09:15,080 --> 00:09:17,880
Speaker 1: top five games of the year, and I'm not sure

171
00:09:18,040 --> 00:09:21,720
Speaker 1: nine thirty am in the East six thirty am in

172
00:09:21,760 --> 00:09:24,640
Speaker 1: the Pacific time zone is the right place for us

173
00:09:24,640 --> 00:09:27,360
Speaker 1: to deploy one of our, you know, arguably top games.

174
00:09:27,400 --> 00:09:30,560
Speaker 1: So I'd be surprised if a game like Cincinnati Kansas

175
00:09:30,559 --> 00:09:32,880
Speaker 1: City made its way across the pond. But it would

176
00:09:32,880 --> 00:09:34,240
Speaker 1: be a hell of a statement and it would be

177
00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:37,840
Speaker 1: really fun for our fans over there. But I don't

178
00:09:37,840 --> 00:09:38,880
Speaker 1: don't buy your tickets yet.

179
00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:42,280
Speaker 2: That so, Mike, the last time the Bengals gave up

180
00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:44,920
Speaker 2: a home game to play internationally was a London game

181
00:09:44,960 --> 00:09:47,960
Speaker 2: back in twenty sixteen, so it's been a long time.

182
00:09:48,480 --> 00:09:50,800
Speaker 2: We know they won't lose a home game next year.

183
00:09:50,920 --> 00:09:54,000
Speaker 2: Because they only have eight home games, should we more

184
00:09:54,080 --> 00:09:57,160
Speaker 2: or less expect hosting an international game in a couple

185
00:09:57,240 --> 00:09:59,680
Speaker 2: of years considering the time frame and the fact that

186
00:09:59,679 --> 00:10:02,000
Speaker 2: they'll have nine home games in two years.

187
00:10:02,360 --> 00:10:04,000
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it's certainly gonna come from the AFC.

188
00:10:04,080 --> 00:10:07,640
Speaker 1: We're gonna draw from the AFC for twenty twenty five,

189
00:10:08,320 --> 00:10:11,440
Speaker 1: so they're certainly in the mix. The resolution that the

190
00:10:11,480 --> 00:10:15,320
Speaker 1: ownership pass basically says everybody's gonna give up a home

191
00:10:15,360 --> 00:10:17,679
Speaker 1: game once every eight years, So there's gonna be four

192
00:10:17,720 --> 00:10:21,800
Speaker 1: games a year every eight years. Everybody's gonna give one up.

193
00:10:21,880 --> 00:10:25,000
Speaker 1: So to your point, if you didn't get it, you

194
00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:28,720
Speaker 1: know this year, you're certainly in the mix for twenty five,

195
00:10:28,840 --> 00:10:30,880
Speaker 1: and then if you didn't get it then at some

196
00:10:30,880 --> 00:10:34,120
Speaker 1: point twenty seven, twenty nine. Yeah, it's it's gonna happen.

197
00:10:34,880 --> 00:10:37,439
Speaker 1: A lot of it depends on, you know, where are

198
00:10:37,480 --> 00:10:40,600
Speaker 1: we record wise, where are we with our stars, where

199
00:10:40,600 --> 00:10:44,040
Speaker 1: are we with our international marketing. Some of these international

200
00:10:44,080 --> 00:10:48,640
Speaker 1: cities strangely just you know, kind of adopt NFL teams

201
00:10:48,679 --> 00:10:52,000
Speaker 1: and if all of a sudden, you know, Madrid, Spain

202
00:10:52,200 --> 00:10:55,160
Speaker 1: or wherever else we're considering, seems to be a you

203
00:10:55,200 --> 00:10:58,760
Speaker 1: know Bengals hot spot, then you know, we'd be smart

204
00:10:58,920 --> 00:11:00,439
Speaker 1: to try to make sure we can get a Bengals

205
00:11:00,440 --> 00:11:02,520
Speaker 1: game to them. That's not to say the Bengals wouldn't

206
00:11:02,520 --> 00:11:04,880
Speaker 1: be great in London or Germany or Mexico or anywhere

207
00:11:04,920 --> 00:11:07,520
Speaker 1: else we play, but I think those things kind of

208
00:11:07,520 --> 00:11:10,920
Speaker 1: evolve over time, and our international folks work with our teams,

209
00:11:10,960 --> 00:11:13,280
Speaker 1: and the teams will tell us, the fans will tell us,

210
00:11:13,760 --> 00:11:17,280
Speaker 1: and yeah, look, at some point everybody's gonna go certainly

211
00:11:17,320 --> 00:11:19,640
Speaker 1: once as a home team, but that doesn't prevent them

212
00:11:19,679 --> 00:11:22,480
Speaker 1: from going into visiting team either. So maybe not this year,

213
00:11:22,520 --> 00:11:25,600
Speaker 1: but certainly at some point. Yeah, we'll see some games

214
00:11:25,640 --> 00:11:26,199
Speaker 1: over the pump.

215
00:11:26,760 --> 00:11:29,520
Speaker 2: We are visiting with Mike North, the NFL's VP of

216
00:11:29,559 --> 00:11:33,319
Speaker 2: broadcast planning. There are two hundred and seventy two regular

217
00:11:33,400 --> 00:11:36,560
Speaker 2: season NFL games. You often talk about each how each

218
00:11:36,600 --> 00:11:40,480
Speaker 2: one is an asset. How do you determine the value

219
00:11:40,600 --> 00:11:44,200
Speaker 2: of each game? Do you assign it a numerical value?

220
00:11:44,280 --> 00:11:46,960
Speaker 2: Do you give each game a grade? How do you

221
00:11:46,960 --> 00:11:47,679
Speaker 2: go about doing that?

222
00:11:49,200 --> 00:11:53,040
Speaker 1: Uh, it's a part art in part science. You know,

223
00:11:53,600 --> 00:11:55,920
Speaker 1: they I refer to them as assets. They're really not

224
00:11:56,080 --> 00:11:59,400
Speaker 1: like you know, commodities like financial assets. They belong to

225
00:11:59,440 --> 00:12:01,280
Speaker 1: the fans, right and at the end of the day,

226
00:12:01,760 --> 00:12:04,120
Speaker 1: the job is to make sure that the fans get

227
00:12:04,120 --> 00:12:06,480
Speaker 1: to see the games that are most important to them.

228
00:12:06,480 --> 00:12:09,319
Speaker 1: And obviously all seventeen Bengals games are going to be

229
00:12:09,320 --> 00:12:12,240
Speaker 1: the highest rated games from a viewership standpoint in the

230
00:12:12,280 --> 00:12:15,800
Speaker 1: city of Cincinnati. But you know where else do fans

231
00:12:15,880 --> 00:12:18,160
Speaker 1: care about the Bengals? Is it your division opponents? So

232
00:12:18,200 --> 00:12:21,120
Speaker 1: we're starting to build a national brand where heck, even

233
00:12:21,160 --> 00:12:23,640
Speaker 1: in New York, if the Jets are on buy and

234
00:12:23,679 --> 00:12:25,320
Speaker 1: the Giants are on Monday Night and we need to

235
00:12:25,320 --> 00:12:27,880
Speaker 1: pick the right game to put in the number one

236
00:12:27,960 --> 00:12:30,200
Speaker 1: media market in the country at one o'clock, maybe it

237
00:12:30,200 --> 00:12:32,800
Speaker 1: becomes a Bengals game. And so you sort of track

238
00:12:32,880 --> 00:12:35,880
Speaker 1: how the Nielsen ratings and the viewership numbers come in.

239
00:12:35,960 --> 00:12:40,160
Speaker 1: You watch things like you know, fantasy football ownership and

240
00:12:40,280 --> 00:12:45,120
Speaker 1: hats and jersey sales and Instagram followers and secondary ticket

241
00:12:45,200 --> 00:12:50,360
Speaker 1: pricing and you know, legalized sports betting action and all

242
00:12:50,360 --> 00:12:52,600
Speaker 1: the ways that our fans are interacting with us and

243
00:12:52,640 --> 00:12:55,280
Speaker 1: telling us what's important to them. If it were that

244
00:12:55,440 --> 00:12:57,480
Speaker 1: simple to just simply put a number on it, that

245
00:12:57,520 --> 00:13:00,600
Speaker 1: would be great, Dan, I would love that. I'd love

246
00:13:00,640 --> 00:13:02,600
Speaker 1: to try to build that model. I'm not sure it's

247
00:13:02,600 --> 00:13:04,840
Speaker 1: ever quite that simple, but there is a little bit

248
00:13:04,840 --> 00:13:06,320
Speaker 1: of science to it, a little bit of Hey, if

249
00:13:06,360 --> 00:13:10,120
Speaker 1: you have a Bengals game, then you've got the Upper

250
00:13:10,120 --> 00:13:13,720
Speaker 1: Midwest covered regionally on a map for CBS at one o'clock,

251
00:13:13,800 --> 00:13:15,720
Speaker 1: So maybe you don't need a Browns game that day,

252
00:13:15,800 --> 00:13:17,800
Speaker 1: or at least not on the same network. Or if

253
00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:20,720
Speaker 1: you have a Steelers Ravens game, maybe that's not a

254
00:13:20,720 --> 00:13:22,480
Speaker 1: good time for the Bengals to be playing Sunday one.

255
00:13:22,480 --> 00:13:24,600
Speaker 1: Why don't we move the Bengals to four o'clock or

256
00:13:24,600 --> 00:13:26,240
Speaker 1: eight o'clock or Monday, or maybe this is a good

257
00:13:26,240 --> 00:13:28,679
Speaker 1: week for their bye, but their bye has to track

258
00:13:28,720 --> 00:13:30,720
Speaker 1: with their Thursday game, because you don't want it right

259
00:13:30,760 --> 00:13:33,520
Speaker 1: before right after, and you're gonna need those two sort

260
00:13:33,559 --> 00:13:35,480
Speaker 1: of breaks. Want to full buy, one a mini buy,

261
00:13:35,640 --> 00:13:37,960
Speaker 1: so it all kind of ties together. It would be

262
00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:41,320
Speaker 1: great if there were ever one true mathematical formula that

263
00:13:41,320 --> 00:13:43,120
Speaker 1: we could write and just kind of hit the button

264
00:13:43,160 --> 00:13:44,760
Speaker 1: on the computer and walk away for a couple of

265
00:13:44,800 --> 00:13:47,160
Speaker 1: weeks and come back and hey, here's the winner. It's

266
00:13:47,240 --> 00:13:49,720
Speaker 1: never that simple. There's got to be some room for

267
00:13:49,720 --> 00:13:52,600
Speaker 1: the humans to kind of guide the search and say, nope,

268
00:13:52,600 --> 00:13:54,400
Speaker 1: maybe a little more of this than a little less

269
00:13:54,400 --> 00:13:57,880
Speaker 1: of that. Soart part science, but yeah, we're trying to

270
00:13:57,880 --> 00:14:00,640
Speaker 1: build a model where we can sort of actcurreately predict

271
00:14:00,720 --> 00:14:02,400
Speaker 1: what the value of each of these games is to

272
00:14:02,440 --> 00:14:04,840
Speaker 1: our fans, and then make sure that we deploy them strategically.

273
00:14:05,559 --> 00:14:09,319
Speaker 2: We've got some changes to talk about this year. Strictly speaking,

274
00:14:09,880 --> 00:14:14,440
Speaker 2: CBS is no longer the primary home of AFC games,

275
00:14:14,440 --> 00:14:17,520
Speaker 2: and Foxes no longer the primary home of NFC games.

276
00:14:17,559 --> 00:14:20,080
Speaker 2: Is that correct?

277
00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:24,680
Speaker 1: They're no longer the default home of anytime the AFC

278
00:14:24,720 --> 00:14:27,600
Speaker 1: team is on the road. So for decades, anytime an

279
00:14:27,640 --> 00:14:31,040
Speaker 1: AFC team was on the road, that game belonged quote

280
00:14:31,080 --> 00:14:33,600
Speaker 1: unquote to CBS. So then if the league wanted to

281
00:14:33,600 --> 00:14:35,840
Speaker 1: put it in primetime, take it for Sunday night or

282
00:14:35,880 --> 00:14:38,440
Speaker 1: Monday night, then it was kind of taking it away

283
00:14:38,720 --> 00:14:40,560
Speaker 1: from CBS. And you had to manage the number of

284
00:14:40,600 --> 00:14:43,440
Speaker 1: games you took away from CBS and all the kind

285
00:14:43,440 --> 00:14:45,840
Speaker 1: of back and forth with the numbers and the math.

286
00:14:46,240 --> 00:14:48,960
Speaker 1: That part's gone on. Every game is a toss up,

287
00:14:49,200 --> 00:14:52,120
Speaker 1: but CBS is still the primary home of the AFC,

288
00:14:52,160 --> 00:14:55,080
Speaker 1: They're gonna have at least twice as many Bengals games

289
00:14:55,480 --> 00:14:58,920
Speaker 1: than any other partner. So more Bengals games than not

290
00:14:59,520 --> 00:15:03,120
Speaker 1: will be on CBS, more Ravens games, more Steelers games,

291
00:15:03,120 --> 00:15:05,640
Speaker 1: more Chiefs games, more Jets games will be on CBS

292
00:15:05,640 --> 00:15:08,400
Speaker 1: than not. And on the other side, more Cowboys games,

293
00:15:08,400 --> 00:15:11,040
Speaker 1: more Eagles games, more Bears games, more Niners games will

294
00:15:11,040 --> 00:15:13,840
Speaker 1: be on Fox than not. Those are still the primary

295
00:15:13,840 --> 00:15:16,960
Speaker 1: home for at least half their games. But this notion

296
00:15:17,080 --> 00:15:20,360
Speaker 1: of oh, we're taking away this game, that part's gone.

297
00:15:20,600 --> 00:15:22,240
Speaker 1: So every game is a toss up. But when you

298
00:15:22,240 --> 00:15:24,600
Speaker 1: sprinkle them all in, you're still going to see more

299
00:15:24,600 --> 00:15:26,600
Speaker 1: Bengals games on CBS than anywhere else.

300
00:15:27,280 --> 00:15:29,680
Speaker 2: So the NFL passed a rule this year allowing teams

301
00:15:29,680 --> 00:15:33,480
Speaker 2: to play two Thursday games after playing the previous Sunday.

302
00:15:34,240 --> 00:15:37,160
Speaker 2: Is that going to happen to a team or multiple

303
00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:41,120
Speaker 2: teams and how do you handle the inevitable pushback, Well,

304
00:15:41,160 --> 00:15:41,840
Speaker 2: it's gonna happen.

305
00:15:41,880 --> 00:15:44,760
Speaker 1: It's not a new rule. It happened last year. The

306
00:15:44,800 --> 00:15:49,000
Speaker 1: Cowboys and the Titans each played two short week games

307
00:15:49,080 --> 00:15:52,240
Speaker 1: last year. The Cowboys obviously always play on Thanksgiving, and

308
00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:54,520
Speaker 1: they played another short week game later in the season.

309
00:15:54,520 --> 00:15:58,160
Speaker 1: They played the Titans in Week seventeen on a Thursday night,

310
00:15:58,200 --> 00:16:00,040
Speaker 1: and the Titans played a Week ten I think I

311
00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:02,880
Speaker 1: think it was Thursday night game at Lambeau. So you

312
00:16:02,960 --> 00:16:05,760
Speaker 1: had two teams last year playing two short weeks, and

313
00:16:05,840 --> 00:16:08,000
Speaker 1: ownership voted this year to allow for more than that

314
00:16:08,400 --> 00:16:10,800
Speaker 1: to play two short weeks. So yes, you are definitely

315
00:16:10,880 --> 00:16:14,640
Speaker 1: gonna see more than two teams play multiple short weeks.

316
00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:17,520
Speaker 1: The challenge for us is gonna be first and foremost,

317
00:16:17,880 --> 00:16:21,440
Speaker 1: you know, spreading them out, using the two Thursdays and

318
00:16:21,520 --> 00:16:24,480
Speaker 1: the bye week to kind of ensure that the team

319
00:16:24,520 --> 00:16:28,280
Speaker 1: that has the multiple short weeks has multiple rest opportunities.

320
00:16:28,960 --> 00:16:31,440
Speaker 1: You know, you might see a Thursday and week five,

321
00:16:31,600 --> 00:16:34,120
Speaker 1: a bye in week nine, and then another Thursday in

322
00:16:34,160 --> 00:16:36,680
Speaker 1: week fifteen or something like that. Or maybe you see

323
00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:39,440
Speaker 1: a bye in week seven and a Thursday and week

324
00:16:39,480 --> 00:16:42,680
Speaker 1: eleven and another Thursday late in the year. So we're

325
00:16:42,680 --> 00:16:44,480
Speaker 1: gonna try to spread them out. We're gonna try to

326
00:16:44,520 --> 00:16:46,680
Speaker 1: balance it so that no team feels like, hey, that's

327
00:16:46,680 --> 00:16:50,280
Speaker 1: too many short weeks all right in a row. And

328
00:16:50,320 --> 00:16:52,760
Speaker 1: then we're gonna you know, spread them out fairly. If

329
00:16:52,800 --> 00:16:56,200
Speaker 1: you happened to like the Cowboys and the Titans have

330
00:16:56,240 --> 00:16:59,560
Speaker 1: two short weeks last year, probably not our best schedule

331
00:16:59,560 --> 00:17:01,600
Speaker 1: if we give you two short weeks again this year.

332
00:17:02,040 --> 00:17:04,240
Speaker 1: So I wouldn't expect the Cowboys and the Titans to

333
00:17:04,280 --> 00:17:06,800
Speaker 1: have two short weeks. So it'll be a different mix

334
00:17:06,840 --> 00:17:09,639
Speaker 1: of teams. Three, four or five teams maybe that are

335
00:17:09,680 --> 00:17:12,760
Speaker 1: gonna have multiple short weeks, and then see where that goes,

336
00:17:12,800 --> 00:17:16,040
Speaker 1: see what the feedback is, and see if we want

337
00:17:16,040 --> 00:17:19,360
Speaker 1: to adjust that moving forward. But this notion that you know,

338
00:17:19,800 --> 00:17:22,000
Speaker 1: there's a misnomer out there that every team gets a

339
00:17:22,040 --> 00:17:25,280
Speaker 1: primetime game, that that's not the case. That hasn't been

340
00:17:25,320 --> 00:17:28,520
Speaker 1: the case for years, And you know, the commissioner always says,

341
00:17:28,560 --> 00:17:30,960
Speaker 1: you know, you earn your television exposure you play your

342
00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:33,840
Speaker 1: way into primetime. So yeah, I wouldn't be surprised to

343
00:17:33,880 --> 00:17:36,359
Speaker 1: see a couple of teams on Amazon more than once,

344
00:17:36,400 --> 00:17:38,119
Speaker 1: and that probably means a couple of teams not on

345
00:17:38,160 --> 00:17:40,920
Speaker 1: Amazon at all. But if you have a good season,

346
00:17:40,960 --> 00:17:44,000
Speaker 1: if you're playing your way into primetime, there's opportunities, whether

347
00:17:44,040 --> 00:17:47,040
Speaker 1: it's the TVD Saturday Pool or flexible scheduling for Sunday

348
00:17:47,080 --> 00:17:50,000
Speaker 1: night or Monday night there's always ways that we can adjust.

349
00:17:50,080 --> 00:17:52,160
Speaker 1: But yeah, when the schedule comes out in May, you'll

350
00:17:52,200 --> 00:17:56,520
Speaker 1: surely see teams, multiple teams with multiple short weeks for

351
00:17:56,600 --> 00:17:57,240
Speaker 1: the first time.

352
00:17:57,320 --> 00:18:01,000
Speaker 2: Monday night games can be flexed. Moving games from Sunday

353
00:18:01,040 --> 00:18:03,600
Speaker 2: afternoon to Sunday night or vice versa is one thing.

354
00:18:03,840 --> 00:18:07,000
Speaker 2: Changing days of the week is more challenging. What are

355
00:18:07,040 --> 00:18:09,360
Speaker 2: the specifics of Monday night flexing.

356
00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:12,840
Speaker 1: Yeah, the specifics are it's, you know, just like we've

357
00:18:12,880 --> 00:18:15,000
Speaker 1: been doing for Sunday Night since two thousand and six.

358
00:18:15,040 --> 00:18:17,520
Speaker 1: If we see a game, you know, about a month

359
00:18:17,560 --> 00:18:20,280
Speaker 1: out that looks, you know, a little less compelling than

360
00:18:20,280 --> 00:18:22,360
Speaker 1: we hoped when we put it on the schedule in May,

361
00:18:22,640 --> 00:18:25,119
Speaker 1: we'll start talking to those two teams, We'll look at

362
00:18:25,119 --> 00:18:27,000
Speaker 1: the other games that weekend, and we'll see if it

363
00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:29,560
Speaker 1: wouldn't make sense. You know, often what we try to

364
00:18:29,560 --> 00:18:32,600
Speaker 1: do with flexible scheduling is you see a game in

365
00:18:32,680 --> 00:18:35,399
Speaker 1: a one o'clock or a four o'clock window on a

366
00:18:35,440 --> 00:18:38,680
Speaker 1: Sunday afternoon on CBS or Fox, and just by virtue

367
00:18:38,720 --> 00:18:41,000
Speaker 1: of the market sizes and the other games in the window,

368
00:18:41,640 --> 00:18:45,760
Speaker 1: a really good game with playoff implications might only be

369
00:18:45,840 --> 00:18:48,600
Speaker 1: available in fifteen twenty twenty five percent of the country.

370
00:18:48,960 --> 00:18:50,439
Speaker 1: And that's not really fair to those teams that have

371
00:18:50,440 --> 00:18:53,119
Speaker 1: earned additional exposure. And it's not really fear to the

372
00:18:53,160 --> 00:18:56,240
Speaker 1: teams to leave them in primetime if you know they're

373
00:18:56,240 --> 00:19:00,239
Speaker 1: seasons slipping away. There's nothing good, there's nothing fun or

374
00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:02,359
Speaker 1: rewarding about a couple of teams just playing out the

375
00:19:02,359 --> 00:19:06,120
Speaker 1: string in primetime. It's not fair to the fans, it's

376
00:19:06,119 --> 00:19:07,960
Speaker 1: not fair to the television viewers, it's not fair to

377
00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:10,840
Speaker 1: the partners that that's just not what any of us want. So,

378
00:19:12,240 --> 00:19:15,960
Speaker 1: you know, for Sunday Night Flex, we've been pretty judicious.

379
00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:17,960
Speaker 1: One one and a half times a year. Last year

380
00:19:18,040 --> 00:19:19,680
Speaker 1: was a bit of an outlier. I think we had four,

381
00:19:20,320 --> 00:19:23,159
Speaker 1: But most years, you know, Sunday Night is once or

382
00:19:23,160 --> 00:19:27,000
Speaker 1: twice for Monday Night Flex. Understanding the impact of moving,

383
00:19:27,119 --> 00:19:29,080
Speaker 1: you know, teams off days and fans having to change

384
00:19:29,119 --> 00:19:33,679
Speaker 1: the plans, you know, maybe maybe once a year. I

385
00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:35,840
Speaker 1: don't think it's gonna be reckless. I don't think it's

386
00:19:35,840 --> 00:19:38,119
Speaker 1: gonna be cavalier. This wouldn't be about hey, can we

387
00:19:38,160 --> 00:19:41,280
Speaker 1: add one hundred thousand viewers? This would be about hey,

388
00:19:41,280 --> 00:19:43,920
Speaker 1: this game is nowhere near as good as we thought,

389
00:19:44,280 --> 00:19:46,879
Speaker 1: and there's another game that weekend that's just sitting there

390
00:19:47,359 --> 00:19:49,320
Speaker 1: right for the taking. And if we don't move it

391
00:19:49,359 --> 00:19:51,560
Speaker 1: into a better window, most of our fans are gonna

392
00:19:51,560 --> 00:19:53,879
Speaker 1: miss it. And that's probably not what we're trying to

393
00:19:53,880 --> 00:19:57,040
Speaker 1: do either. So hard and fast rules, not yet first

394
00:19:57,040 --> 00:19:58,879
Speaker 1: time we're doing it. I think we'll talk to the teams.

395
00:19:58,880 --> 00:20:00,560
Speaker 1: I think we'll talk to our partners. We'll learn a

396
00:20:00,560 --> 00:20:02,920
Speaker 1: lot this year, even if we don't make any moves,

397
00:20:03,400 --> 00:20:05,320
Speaker 1: we'll learn a lot just about talking to the teams,

398
00:20:05,359 --> 00:20:08,200
Speaker 1: talking to the operations folks. You know, yes, there's a

399
00:20:08,240 --> 00:20:09,840
Speaker 1: lot of people that have to change their plans, but

400
00:20:10,119 --> 00:20:11,800
Speaker 1: you know, so do your guys right. You got to

401
00:20:11,880 --> 00:20:15,520
Speaker 1: change hotels and charters and meeting space and practice schedules.

402
00:20:15,560 --> 00:20:18,160
Speaker 1: And where were they we the week before? And where

403
00:20:18,200 --> 00:20:19,879
Speaker 1: are we the week after? And is it fair to

404
00:20:19,920 --> 00:20:21,520
Speaker 1: put this team now we know a Monday night game

405
00:20:21,560 --> 00:20:23,600
Speaker 1: on the road if the following week they're already scheduled

406
00:20:23,640 --> 00:20:25,679
Speaker 1: for another road game, and you know, those are all

407
00:20:25,680 --> 00:20:26,840
Speaker 1: the things that are going to have to go into

408
00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:29,919
Speaker 1: our decision making. Again, I don't think we'll be reckless.

409
00:20:29,920 --> 00:20:32,800
Speaker 1: I think we'll be pretty judicious. But it's there for

410
00:20:32,840 --> 00:20:34,959
Speaker 1: a reason, and it's really there to, you know, protect

411
00:20:34,960 --> 00:20:36,879
Speaker 1: the teams that maybe are in a national window that

412
00:20:37,320 --> 00:20:40,160
Speaker 1: you know no longer even want to be, and reward

413
00:20:40,200 --> 00:20:42,639
Speaker 1: the teams that have earned themselves some additional exposure.

414
00:20:43,359 --> 00:20:46,119
Speaker 2: You added a Christmas triple header last year when Christmas

415
00:20:46,240 --> 00:20:49,120
Speaker 2: Day fell on a Sunday. It's on a Monday this year.

416
00:20:49,280 --> 00:20:51,240
Speaker 2: Is the Christmas triple header here to stay?

417
00:20:52,400 --> 00:20:54,479
Speaker 1: It's certainly here for another year. I don't know if

418
00:20:54,480 --> 00:20:55,880
Speaker 1: it's here to stay. It's gonna be a tough sell

419
00:20:55,920 --> 00:20:59,480
Speaker 1: on a Tuesday. But for twenty twenty three, yeah, another

420
00:20:59,600 --> 00:21:05,159
Speaker 1: Christmas Day triple header. It'll be uh CBS one o'clock Monday,

421
00:21:05,680 --> 00:21:09,000
Speaker 1: Fox four thirty Monday, and then the regular Monday night

422
00:21:09,200 --> 00:21:12,160
Speaker 1: ESPN game at a fifteen that night. So, yep, another

423
00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:13,440
Speaker 1: Christmas tripleheader this year.

424
00:21:13,680 --> 00:21:16,439
Speaker 2: You have added a Black Friday game this year. Do

425
00:21:16,520 --> 00:21:19,439
Speaker 2: you consider it important to have a quote unquote glamorous

426
00:21:19,480 --> 00:21:23,960
Speaker 2: matchup to get that game off to an impressive ratings start? Yeah?

427
00:21:24,160 --> 00:21:27,399
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, the simple answers, Yes, I think we

428
00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:30,600
Speaker 1: will try to thread that needle, find that right game.

429
00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:33,760
Speaker 1: It's another short week, so you might, you know, have

430
00:21:33,840 --> 00:21:36,320
Speaker 1: to find the team playing. You know, like we said,

431
00:21:36,400 --> 00:21:39,040
Speaker 1: multiple short weeks, maybe playing on a Friday is a

432
00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:43,160
Speaker 1: little less onerous than playing on two Thursdays. But yeah,

433
00:21:43,200 --> 00:21:45,520
Speaker 1: the simple answer is, I think we're gonna test it

434
00:21:45,560 --> 00:21:47,480
Speaker 1: out see if our fans are interested. You know, it's

435
00:21:47,520 --> 00:21:51,720
Speaker 1: not a holiday for everybody, but you know, it's a

436
00:21:51,760 --> 00:21:53,960
Speaker 1: traditional sports day. There's always a lot of sports on

437
00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:57,000
Speaker 1: television that day, and I think an NFL game kind

438
00:21:57,040 --> 00:21:59,760
Speaker 1: of in the afternoon, right there might be a great

439
00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:02,960
Speaker 1: inuation for us for a really fun weekend. You've got

440
00:22:02,960 --> 00:22:06,240
Speaker 1: the three games on Thursday, now on Friday, big games

441
00:22:06,240 --> 00:22:08,480
Speaker 1: on Sunday, another one on Monday. That's a really fun

442
00:22:08,480 --> 00:22:10,439
Speaker 1: weekend of football and it kind of you know, kicks

443
00:22:10,480 --> 00:22:12,679
Speaker 1: off the you know run to the playoffs and the

444
00:22:12,760 --> 00:22:14,680
Speaker 1: and the final quarter of the season, if you will,

445
00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:17,760
Speaker 1: And yeah, I would. I would expect there to be

446
00:22:18,280 --> 00:22:20,840
Speaker 1: you know, maybe not the A plus game, but certainly

447
00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:23,760
Speaker 1: a game that that sounds like a football game for

448
00:22:23,800 --> 00:22:24,480
Speaker 1: Black Friday.

449
00:22:24,960 --> 00:22:28,439
Speaker 2: Last year, the Bengals and Bills obviously had the Monday

450
00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:31,560
Speaker 2: night game that was halted because of Jamar Hamblin's collapse.

451
00:22:32,400 --> 00:22:34,960
Speaker 2: Is there any sort of make good on that from

452
00:22:34,960 --> 00:22:38,240
Speaker 2: the NFL's perspective, whether it's to the media partner ESPN

453
00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:42,560
Speaker 2: or to the teams, any repercussions of following that game.

454
00:22:42,920 --> 00:22:45,520
Speaker 1: Look, there's always conversations going on with the teams, with

455
00:22:45,560 --> 00:22:48,600
Speaker 1: the networks, with all of our partners. There was a

456
00:22:48,600 --> 00:22:50,399
Speaker 1: lot of discussion. You'll remember this. There was a lot

457
00:22:50,440 --> 00:22:52,879
Speaker 1: of discussion last year about should we have finished that

458
00:22:52,920 --> 00:22:56,479
Speaker 1: game and finished you know, for the twenty twenty two season.

459
00:22:57,359 --> 00:23:00,520
Speaker 1: It ended up having you know, pretty significant playoff imp cations.

460
00:23:00,520 --> 00:23:03,959
Speaker 1: It would have been interesting how we decided to you know,

461
00:23:04,160 --> 00:23:06,639
Speaker 1: thread that needle. There was a lot of talk about

462
00:23:06,920 --> 00:23:09,280
Speaker 1: should we let everybody finish the season week eighteen and

463
00:23:09,280 --> 00:23:11,600
Speaker 1: then everybody take a break and the Bengals and the

464
00:23:11,600 --> 00:23:14,120
Speaker 1: Bills come back in week nineteen and kind of finish

465
00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:17,360
Speaker 1: pick up where they left off. There were those who

466
00:23:17,400 --> 00:23:20,600
Speaker 1: thought maybe that would be a little too traumatic, maybe

467
00:23:21,200 --> 00:23:23,439
Speaker 1: a little bit triggering, to actually literally go back to

468
00:23:23,520 --> 00:23:25,320
Speaker 1: that spot in the second quarter and pick it up

469
00:23:25,359 --> 00:23:30,120
Speaker 1: right after Damar had had his incident. You know, as

470
00:23:30,119 --> 00:23:31,959
Speaker 1: it turned out, we were only talking about the two

471
00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:34,719
Speaker 1: in the three seed, and you know, call it karma,

472
00:23:34,800 --> 00:23:37,720
Speaker 1: call it poetic justice. But you know, the Bengals getting

473
00:23:37,720 --> 00:23:41,160
Speaker 1: that win and moving on in the playoffs probably put

474
00:23:41,160 --> 00:23:43,679
Speaker 1: an end to anything that we were gonna, you know,

475
00:23:43,840 --> 00:23:47,119
Speaker 1: think about. Obviously hopeful that DeMar continues to recover, and

476
00:23:47,960 --> 00:23:50,000
Speaker 1: my goodness, this yere seems like he may be playing again,

477
00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:52,160
Speaker 1: maybe even as soon as this year, which is a miracle.

478
00:23:53,480 --> 00:23:55,760
Speaker 1: But surely that the fact that they play again this year,

479
00:23:55,800 --> 00:23:58,760
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a story. And again perfect example of

480
00:23:58,800 --> 00:24:01,040
Speaker 1: you know, call them assets, call them what you will,

481
00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:03,520
Speaker 1: We're probably not doing our jobs. If you put that

482
00:24:03,560 --> 00:24:05,479
Speaker 1: game on a Sunday at one o'clock and it's only

483
00:24:05,520 --> 00:24:07,639
Speaker 1: available in twenty percent of the country, and it's got

484
00:24:07,760 --> 00:24:10,040
Speaker 1: a Cowboys game and a Steelers game and a Chiefs

485
00:24:10,040 --> 00:24:12,560
Speaker 1: game around it, that's a game that everybody's going to

486
00:24:12,600 --> 00:24:15,040
Speaker 1: be interested in. So I think it's a pretty safe

487
00:24:15,119 --> 00:24:17,520
Speaker 1: bet that that game is going to find itself in

488
00:24:17,560 --> 00:24:19,680
Speaker 1: a national window when the schedule comes out.

489
00:24:20,240 --> 00:24:24,080
Speaker 2: The Cincinnati Reds are home on the NFL's opening weekend.

490
00:24:24,160 --> 00:24:26,520
Speaker 2: Years ago, it seemed like the Bengals never opened the

491
00:24:26,560 --> 00:24:29,280
Speaker 2: season at home. If the Reds were home, does that

492
00:24:29,359 --> 00:24:31,840
Speaker 2: have any impact in this day and age.

493
00:24:31,800 --> 00:24:34,800
Speaker 1: Sure, Yeah, no question. I mean, look like we said,

494
00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:37,080
Speaker 1: it's part art and part science. I'm sure the world

495
00:24:37,119 --> 00:24:39,840
Speaker 1: would keep spinning if we went ahead and scheduled a

496
00:24:39,880 --> 00:24:42,120
Speaker 1: Bengals game at the exact same time as a Reds game.

497
00:24:42,160 --> 00:24:45,199
Speaker 1: But that's not in our best interest. That's not in

498
00:24:45,200 --> 00:24:48,000
Speaker 1: the city of Cincinnati's best interest. I'm sure the you know,

499
00:24:48,119 --> 00:24:52,320
Speaker 1: police force probably wouldn't appreciate all those people downtown. You know.

500
00:24:52,359 --> 00:24:54,760
Speaker 1: I know we've done it for a preseason game, right

501
00:24:54,840 --> 00:24:56,840
Speaker 1: maybe like a game in the afternoon and a game

502
00:24:56,880 --> 00:24:58,600
Speaker 1: at night, and you can make a really fun sports

503
00:24:58,680 --> 00:25:02,320
Speaker 1: day out of it. But I would not expect the

504
00:25:02,359 --> 00:25:04,600
Speaker 1: Bengals and the Reds to be playing at the same time,

505
00:25:04,760 --> 00:25:07,680
Speaker 1: at least as it pertains to the Reds regular season schedule.

506
00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:11,399
Speaker 1: You know, will work around the Reds as best we

507
00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:13,400
Speaker 1: can weeks one, two, three, and four, when at least

508
00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:16,560
Speaker 1: the red schedule is known. Weeks five, six, seven, eight,

509
00:25:16,880 --> 00:25:19,600
Speaker 1: the Red schedule is not known. We have no idea

510
00:25:19,640 --> 00:25:21,880
Speaker 1: which these baseball teams are going to be in playoffs.

511
00:25:21,920 --> 00:25:24,439
Speaker 1: We have enough trouble guessing which NFL teams are going

512
00:25:24,520 --> 00:25:27,000
Speaker 1: to be in the playoff chase, so you know, we

513
00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:30,080
Speaker 1: may find ourselves one of these Octobers where we might

514
00:25:30,119 --> 00:25:31,960
Speaker 1: have to do a Bengals in a Reds doubleheader, and

515
00:25:31,960 --> 00:25:34,199
Speaker 1: I'm sure we'll work with the city. We'll work with

516
00:25:34,920 --> 00:25:37,879
Speaker 1: our friends at the Major League Baseball and try to

517
00:25:37,880 --> 00:25:40,360
Speaker 1: make sure that everybody can you know, have a good

518
00:25:40,400 --> 00:25:43,439
Speaker 1: experience with it. But yeah, whether it's you know, fans

519
00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:50,200
Speaker 1: having to choose, media, having to cover downtown footprint, traffic, congestion, police, whatever,

520
00:25:50,240 --> 00:25:53,320
Speaker 1: it is probably not our best schedule if we have

521
00:25:53,400 --> 00:25:55,440
Speaker 1: to have the Reds and Bengals playing at the same time.

522
00:25:55,520 --> 00:25:58,200
Speaker 1: So we'll avoid it in the regular season. Regular season

523
00:25:58,200 --> 00:26:01,600
Speaker 1: for baseball. Once you know, the Reds make the playoffs,

524
00:26:01,640 --> 00:26:03,440
Speaker 1: well we might have to have a conversation and figure

525
00:26:03,440 --> 00:26:05,320
Speaker 1: out the right way to handle, you know, a Sunday

526
00:26:05,359 --> 00:26:07,600
Speaker 1: in October if both teams are playing at home.

527
00:26:07,960 --> 00:26:10,520
Speaker 2: Will be a good issue for the Cincinnati Yeah, fan

528
00:26:10,640 --> 00:26:13,600
Speaker 2: base to have. All right, final question for you, Mike,

529
00:26:13,640 --> 00:26:15,280
Speaker 2: I appreciate your time. This is a bit of a

530
00:26:15,320 --> 00:26:19,480
Speaker 2: curve ball. Last year's Super Bowl drew a record for

531
00:26:19,560 --> 00:26:22,159
Speaker 2: most total viewers. More than one hundred and fifteen million

532
00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:26,119
Speaker 2: people watch the Super Bowl, but the highest share for

533
00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:30,480
Speaker 2: a Super Bowl game is Super Bowl sixteen Bengals and

534
00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:35,120
Speaker 2: forty nine Ers. With changes in TV viewership. Is that

535
00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:38,399
Speaker 2: record considered impossible to break?

536
00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:45,000
Speaker 1: Good question. I'll never stay impossible, because you know, we

537
00:26:45,080 --> 00:26:48,600
Speaker 1: may well find ourselves one day with you know, the

538
00:26:48,600 --> 00:26:51,679
Speaker 1: best storyline we could imagine, whatever that is in a

539
00:26:51,720 --> 00:26:54,760
Speaker 1: super Bowl. So I'll never say never. But your point

540
00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:57,600
Speaker 1: is valid. When when we talk about, you know, share,

541
00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:02,320
Speaker 1: what you're talking about is people watching television. How many

542
00:27:02,320 --> 00:27:06,240
Speaker 1: were watching you know, that one program. You know when

543
00:27:06,280 --> 00:27:08,000
Speaker 1: we grew up Dan and they were what three four

544
00:27:08,119 --> 00:27:11,240
Speaker 1: channels right, So on the television, you didn't have that

545
00:27:11,320 --> 00:27:13,840
Speaker 1: many choices. And if you're watching television, you were probably

546
00:27:13,920 --> 00:27:17,040
Speaker 1: watching whatever the big event was. You know. Now our

547
00:27:17,119 --> 00:27:20,399
Speaker 1: kids are growing up with hundreds, hundreds, hundreds of channels

548
00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:22,240
Speaker 1: and they don't even have to just go to the

549
00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:25,720
Speaker 1: television to ingest their media. They can follow other things,

550
00:27:25,720 --> 00:27:29,760
Speaker 1: including the super Bowl online. So is that share number safe?

551
00:27:30,040 --> 00:27:32,800
Speaker 1: It probably is. There's just so many options out there,

552
00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:37,359
Speaker 1: so many different, you know, outlets for entertainment. I think

553
00:27:37,400 --> 00:27:40,440
Speaker 1: if anybody were interested in watching the super Bowl, they'd

554
00:27:40,440 --> 00:27:42,560
Speaker 1: be watching the super Bowl. It's not like anybody you

555
00:27:42,600 --> 00:27:45,239
Speaker 1: know forgot the super Bowl was on, you know, all

556
00:27:45,280 --> 00:27:47,960
Speaker 1: the promotion in the marketing and whatever. You think is

557
00:27:48,040 --> 00:27:51,479
Speaker 1: helping drive viewership at least in the regular season, probably

558
00:27:51,480 --> 00:27:54,200
Speaker 1: not necessary at super Bowl time. So those who want

559
00:27:54,240 --> 00:27:56,080
Speaker 1: to watch will watch, you know. It's part of the

560
00:27:56,080 --> 00:27:58,439
Speaker 1: reason why we've you know, changed it into more of

561
00:27:58,520 --> 00:28:00,639
Speaker 1: a you know, family friendly event, if you will. And

562
00:28:00,680 --> 00:28:03,439
Speaker 1: whether it's you know, pregame or the halftime show or

563
00:28:03,720 --> 00:28:05,720
Speaker 1: whatever it is that goes into the Super Bowl. Now,

564
00:28:05,720 --> 00:28:08,639
Speaker 1: hopefully there's something for everybody. Hopefully anybody who wants to

565
00:28:08,680 --> 00:28:11,800
Speaker 1: watch can watch it. But you're probably right. My guess

566
00:28:11,800 --> 00:28:13,800
Speaker 1: would be that share record is safe.

567
00:28:14,480 --> 00:28:17,280
Speaker 2: The outcome of Super Bowl sixteen was not what we desired,

568
00:28:17,280 --> 00:28:19,800
Speaker 2: but it's nice to have the record for the greatest

569
00:28:19,800 --> 00:28:21,480
Speaker 2: super Bowl TV share of all time?

570
00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:24,679
Speaker 1: Wasn't it? Also? Wasn't that game also played during like

571
00:28:24,760 --> 00:28:25,720
Speaker 1: an ice storm.

572
00:28:26,119 --> 00:28:30,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, Pontiac Silver Dome with horrific weather that is.

573
00:28:30,840 --> 00:28:33,679
Speaker 1: So nobody could leave their homes. They were trapped and

574
00:28:33,720 --> 00:28:36,120
Speaker 1: there were only three or four television channels. I mean,

575
00:28:36,119 --> 00:28:38,320
Speaker 1: I guess that's how you said a record. If we

576
00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:41,160
Speaker 1: ever find ourselves with you know, a real you know

577
00:28:41,280 --> 00:28:44,600
Speaker 1: blizzard across all fifty states and all the you know

578
00:28:44,680 --> 00:28:48,280
Speaker 1: internet goes out and you know, all the television channels

579
00:28:48,280 --> 00:28:50,800
Speaker 1: go dark except for a couple maybe we could threaten

580
00:28:50,840 --> 00:28:55,280
Speaker 1: that share record, but I think it's probably safe. Mike.

581
00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:57,880
Speaker 2: I can't imagine how busy you are right now, so

582
00:28:58,040 --> 00:29:00,000
Speaker 2: for you to do this less than forty eight hours

583
00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:05,320
Speaker 2: before the release show on TV, I'm really grateful. I

584
00:29:05,360 --> 00:29:08,320
Speaker 2: know my audience loves hearing your insight, and I look

585
00:29:08,360 --> 00:29:09,920
Speaker 2: forward to doing it again with you at this time

586
00:29:09,920 --> 00:29:10,360
Speaker 2: next year.

587
00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:12,760
Speaker 1: Yeah, I always happy to talk about it. I'm still,

588
00:29:12,840 --> 00:29:16,040
Speaker 1: you know, marvel humbled that people are so interested and

589
00:29:16,760 --> 00:29:18,960
Speaker 1: it's become a, you know, one of the tenth pole

590
00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:21,600
Speaker 1: events of the NFL season schedule release. It didn't used

591
00:29:21,600 --> 00:29:23,120
Speaker 1: to be, right, It used to just kind of sneak

592
00:29:23,160 --> 00:29:25,760
Speaker 1: out a little stealth, kind of under the radar on

593
00:29:25,840 --> 00:29:29,000
Speaker 1: a you know, random Thursday in April. But the fact

594
00:29:29,040 --> 00:29:32,280
Speaker 1: that everybody's so interested now, you know, hopefully justifies all

595
00:29:32,280 --> 00:29:34,520
Speaker 1: the hard work that the team puts in. We're we're

596
00:29:34,560 --> 00:29:38,160
Speaker 1: really lucky, We're really grateful. We've got an incredible staff

597
00:29:38,160 --> 00:29:40,920
Speaker 1: that really do give you know, twenty four to seven

598
00:29:41,160 --> 00:29:44,480
Speaker 1: for a good ten or twelve weeks here. This thing

599
00:29:44,520 --> 00:29:48,520
Speaker 1: couldn't happen without folks like Annie Bo's and Charlotte Carey

600
00:29:48,520 --> 00:29:51,920
Speaker 1: and Blake Jones and Lucy Popco and well, we're really,

601
00:29:51,920 --> 00:29:54,600
Speaker 1: really fortunate that everybody works so hard and cares so much,

602
00:29:54,640 --> 00:29:57,479
Speaker 1: and really looking forward to the schedule getting out there

603
00:29:57,520 --> 00:29:59,960
Speaker 1: and hearing everybody's reactions. I know it won't all be posled,

604
00:30:00,840 --> 00:30:02,200
Speaker 1: but like you when we were looking and I were

605
00:30:02,200 --> 00:30:05,320
Speaker 1: saying right before we came on, you know, nobody gets everything.

606
00:30:05,520 --> 00:30:09,040
Speaker 1: Everybody gets something. Nobody's ever going to be perfectly happy

607
00:30:09,080 --> 00:30:12,560
Speaker 1: with their schedule, but hopefully in the sense that anybody's disappointed,

608
00:30:12,600 --> 00:30:15,080
Speaker 1: you know, hopefully it's just a little bit, and hopefully

609
00:30:15,080 --> 00:30:17,400
Speaker 1: it's pretty evenly across all thirty two teams and all

610
00:30:17,440 --> 00:30:20,200
Speaker 1: of our media partners. And then the season will start

611
00:30:20,240 --> 00:30:22,680
Speaker 1: and best laid plans right out the window. We'll see

612
00:30:22,720 --> 00:30:25,640
Speaker 1: what storylines emerge. And like we said, these games belong

613
00:30:25,680 --> 00:30:27,200
Speaker 1: to our fans, and we'll make sure that we can

614
00:30:27,240 --> 00:30:29,160
Speaker 1: move them around as best we can in as fair

615
00:30:29,240 --> 00:30:31,360
Speaker 1: way as we can to make sure that everybody can

616
00:30:31,360 --> 00:30:32,600
Speaker 1: watch the ones they want to watch.

617
00:30:34,080 --> 00:30:37,120
Speaker 2: The schedule release is set for eight o'clock on Thursday,

618
00:30:37,200 --> 00:30:40,680
Speaker 2: with separate shows on the NFL Network and ESPN two.

619
00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:44,200
Speaker 2: The Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you by pay Corps.

620
00:30:44,280 --> 00:30:47,880
Speaker 2: More than twenty nine thousand customers trust Paycrep to help

621
00:30:47,920 --> 00:30:52,160
Speaker 2: them recruit, pay, engage and retain employees. Learn more at

622
00:30:52,200 --> 00:30:57,240
Speaker 2: paycorp dot com and by Bengals Picks and Ultimate Bengals.

623
00:30:57,440 --> 00:30:59,920
Speaker 2: They're free to play with tickets and side merchandise up

624
00:31:00,080 --> 00:31:04,640
Speaker 2: for grabs. Find both inside the Bengals app. The Bengals

625
00:31:04,640 --> 00:31:08,160
Speaker 2: signed three free agents this offseason who already have Super

626
00:31:08,200 --> 00:31:11,800
Speaker 2: Bowl rings. One is Orlando Brown, who won a ring

627
00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:15,040
Speaker 2: last year with the Chiefs. The others are cornerback Sydney

628
00:31:15,120 --> 00:31:17,640
Speaker 2: Jones the fourth, who was a rookie with the Eagles

629
00:31:17,640 --> 00:31:21,680
Speaker 2: back in twenty seventeen when they beat the Patriots, and

630
00:31:22,120 --> 00:31:25,160
Speaker 2: quarterback Trevor Simeon, who is a rookie of the Broncos

631
00:31:25,160 --> 00:31:29,600
Speaker 2: in twenty fifteen when they beat the Panthers. Brian Callahan

632
00:31:29,720 --> 00:31:33,200
Speaker 2: was on Denver's coaching staff at the time. Sidney Jones

633
00:31:33,360 --> 00:31:37,440
Speaker 2: fourth is a former Washington Husky whose teammates there included

634
00:31:37,480 --> 00:31:40,760
Speaker 2: current Bengals Jake Browning and Drew Sample. He's played for

635
00:31:40,880 --> 00:31:44,080
Speaker 2: four NFL teams over the last six seasons, and he

636
00:31:44,120 --> 00:31:48,560
Speaker 2: turns twenty seven. In a couple of weeks. Our first

637
00:31:48,600 --> 00:31:51,040
Speaker 2: opportunity to visit with Sidney Jones, one of the newest

638
00:31:51,040 --> 00:31:53,640
Speaker 2: Bengals after signing, is a free agent this offseason. What

639
00:31:53,840 --> 00:31:56,960
Speaker 2: appealed to you about coming to Cincinnati.

640
00:31:57,000 --> 00:32:01,800
Speaker 4: Playoff team, playoff caliber team, super Bowl opportunity. It's a great,

641
00:32:01,920 --> 00:32:06,000
Speaker 4: great team, great organization. Heard many, many great things about

642
00:32:06,040 --> 00:32:08,560
Speaker 4: this place, so definitely decided to step in the building

643
00:32:08,560 --> 00:32:09,200
Speaker 4: to contribute.

644
00:32:09,800 --> 00:32:13,560
Speaker 2: The Bengals mentioned when they signed you they had great

645
00:32:13,600 --> 00:32:16,160
Speaker 2: reports going back to when you came out of college

646
00:32:16,160 --> 00:32:19,360
Speaker 2: and were drafted in the second round. Did they indicate

647
00:32:19,400 --> 00:32:21,040
Speaker 2: to you that you are a player that they've been

648
00:32:21,040 --> 00:32:22,160
Speaker 2: following for a long time.

649
00:32:22,800 --> 00:32:26,680
Speaker 4: Actually, Uh, before I signed with Vegas last year, they

650
00:32:26,720 --> 00:32:28,400
Speaker 4: got a hold of me. You wanted me to come here,

651
00:32:29,280 --> 00:32:31,400
Speaker 4: but at that point I already committed to Vegas. So

652
00:32:31,520 --> 00:32:33,920
Speaker 4: it's cause like kind of kind of one of those deals.

653
00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:37,160
Speaker 4: I couldn't, you know, break that promise, but it all

654
00:32:37,240 --> 00:32:40,239
Speaker 4: ended up working out, coming coming back full circle. So uh,

655
00:32:40,480 --> 00:32:41,479
Speaker 4: definitely grateful for that.

656
00:32:42,200 --> 00:32:45,040
Speaker 2: Looking at the roster, Chita bea Wuche is coming back

657
00:32:45,080 --> 00:32:47,440
Speaker 2: from his torn ac all everything looks good. They expect

658
00:32:47,480 --> 00:32:49,600
Speaker 2: him to be good to go for Week one. Cam

659
00:32:49,640 --> 00:32:52,160
Speaker 2: Taylor Britt had a very good rookie year, but that

660
00:32:52,320 --> 00:32:54,480
Speaker 2: leaves a lot of snaps for somebody to play on

661
00:32:54,520 --> 00:32:56,560
Speaker 2: the outside at corner. Do you see yourself having a

662
00:32:56,600 --> 00:32:57,360
Speaker 2: significant role?

663
00:32:57,760 --> 00:33:00,280
Speaker 4: Uh, definitely, that's that's always my mentality. All is my

664
00:33:00,360 --> 00:33:03,200
Speaker 4: goal to come in and contribute and do whatever it

665
00:33:03,240 --> 00:33:04,320
Speaker 4: takes for this team to win.

666
00:33:05,080 --> 00:33:07,080
Speaker 2: Tell me a little bit about how you feel about

667
00:33:07,120 --> 00:33:09,680
Speaker 2: your NFL career today, because it looks to me like

668
00:33:09,720 --> 00:33:13,120
Speaker 2: when you've been healthy, you've played well, but staying healthy

669
00:33:13,320 --> 00:33:14,440
Speaker 2: has been the challenge.

670
00:33:14,960 --> 00:33:17,600
Speaker 4: Definitely, an injury is part of the game. You know,

671
00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:22,760
Speaker 4: They're definitely unfortunate. They come at weird times and you

672
00:33:22,800 --> 00:33:24,880
Speaker 4: hope you do everything you can to avoid them. But

673
00:33:24,960 --> 00:33:27,040
Speaker 4: sometimes it's just it's just part of the game and

674
00:33:27,040 --> 00:33:30,160
Speaker 4: it happens. But definitely, when I'm healthy, I know what

675
00:33:30,280 --> 00:33:31,480
Speaker 4: type of caliber player I am.

676
00:33:31,800 --> 00:33:33,640
Speaker 2: For visiting the Sidney Jones, what do you think you

677
00:33:33,640 --> 00:33:34,600
Speaker 2: bring to the table here?

678
00:33:35,920 --> 00:33:43,560
Speaker 4: I bring uh physicality, ball skills, competitive nature, Uh, just

679
00:33:43,560 --> 00:33:45,720
Speaker 4: just everything you're looking for in a football player. I

680
00:33:45,720 --> 00:33:47,880
Speaker 4: think I'm all around, all around, versutil player.

681
00:33:48,160 --> 00:33:50,160
Speaker 2: Did you know anybody here? You got any friends in

682
00:33:50,200 --> 00:33:50,800
Speaker 2: this locker room?

683
00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:52,040
Speaker 1: Jake Browning.

684
00:33:53,200 --> 00:33:57,560
Speaker 4: Drew Simple, you dub guys, I know chiad be Woza

685
00:33:58,600 --> 00:34:01,040
Speaker 4: Little Pac twelve love you played a Colorado up? I

686
00:34:01,200 --> 00:34:05,560
Speaker 4: was that you dubh Who else? Irwin?

687
00:34:05,800 --> 00:34:06,920
Speaker 1: We go way back with it.

688
00:34:07,160 --> 00:34:09,399
Speaker 4: He he doesn't remember me because we used to play

689
00:34:09,440 --> 00:34:13,600
Speaker 4: seven or seven against each other in SoCal He didn't

690
00:34:13,600 --> 00:34:14,320
Speaker 4: he didn't remember me.

691
00:34:14,400 --> 00:34:16,680
Speaker 1: We played against each other at Stanford.

692
00:34:16,800 --> 00:34:20,359
Speaker 4: When I was a U dub two. Uh, that might

693
00:34:20,400 --> 00:34:21,600
Speaker 4: be about it.

694
00:34:21,640 --> 00:34:24,640
Speaker 2: Does Trenton Irwin really not remember you? Or did you

695
00:34:24,680 --> 00:34:27,400
Speaker 2: shut him down so that he is claiming not to remember?

696
00:34:27,480 --> 00:34:29,040
Speaker 2: You never know?

697
00:34:29,360 --> 00:34:29,960
Speaker 1: You never know?

698
00:34:30,280 --> 00:34:32,600
Speaker 4: He got me. I think he used to get out

699
00:34:32,640 --> 00:34:34,960
Speaker 4: for me in high school a little bit, but I

700
00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:37,960
Speaker 4: got after him in college a little bit, so you know,

701
00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:39,040
Speaker 4: a little good trade off.

702
00:34:39,480 --> 00:34:42,879
Speaker 2: How did those Washington guys help? Did they share any

703
00:34:42,920 --> 00:34:44,640
Speaker 2: insight about playing for this team and.

704
00:34:44,600 --> 00:34:45,160
Speaker 1: In this city?

705
00:34:45,440 --> 00:34:48,320
Speaker 4: They say, you'll love it, So let's I trust those guys.

706
00:34:48,560 --> 00:34:53,160
Speaker 2: So what was your impression of the Bengals as a

707
00:34:53,200 --> 00:34:55,759
Speaker 2: player around another team? Looking at how this team has

708
00:34:56,160 --> 00:34:59,480
Speaker 2: you know, grown and become a contender in recent years. O,

709
00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:00,759
Speaker 2: It's great to see.

710
00:35:00,880 --> 00:35:05,239
Speaker 4: I love I love looking at teams and seeing their

711
00:35:05,280 --> 00:35:09,279
Speaker 4: growth and seeing you know, they came from necessarily in

712
00:35:09,320 --> 00:35:12,040
Speaker 4: a non competitive spot to going to a competitive spot,

713
00:35:12,040 --> 00:35:15,439
Speaker 4: and then that's something I really enjoy, uh something about

714
00:35:15,440 --> 00:35:17,879
Speaker 4: my personality. I'll take pride in like just building something

715
00:35:17,880 --> 00:35:19,640
Speaker 4: and wanting to be a part of growth.

716
00:35:20,640 --> 00:35:22,799
Speaker 1: We kind of my time at UDAL was kind of

717
00:35:22,840 --> 00:35:23,080
Speaker 1: like that.

718
00:35:23,120 --> 00:35:26,960
Speaker 4: We're just kind of you know, base, baseline, average, whatever.

719
00:35:27,200 --> 00:35:29,280
Speaker 4: And I feel like I was a part of something

720
00:35:29,320 --> 00:35:32,239
Speaker 4: that grew and and and took it over so that

721
00:35:32,360 --> 00:35:35,080
Speaker 4: we didn't win a national championship, but we finished them

722
00:35:35,160 --> 00:35:37,799
Speaker 4: or fourth in the country, got to the playoffs, and

723
00:35:37,840 --> 00:35:40,279
Speaker 4: I felt like I was part of that growth and

724
00:35:40,320 --> 00:35:43,719
Speaker 4: that whole project of building that. So, uh just I

725
00:35:43,760 --> 00:35:46,759
Speaker 4: love seeing that wherever it's, whatever sport is in.

726
00:35:47,120 --> 00:35:47,880
Speaker 1: I love sports.

727
00:35:47,880 --> 00:35:52,080
Speaker 4: So just watching watching a player or organization kind of

728
00:35:52,120 --> 00:35:56,520
Speaker 4: take uh take its growth and take its course has

729
00:35:56,560 --> 00:35:58,080
Speaker 4: been a good thing to watch.

730
00:35:59,120 --> 00:36:02,400
Speaker 2: It's just a young secondary, especially after the departures of

731
00:36:02,480 --> 00:36:04,960
Speaker 2: Jesse Bates and Von Bell. Do you think your leadership

732
00:36:05,000 --> 00:36:06,719
Speaker 2: is going to be significant.

733
00:36:07,520 --> 00:36:12,680
Speaker 4: Along with Tudo, along with Mike Hilton and Mike t

734
00:36:14,120 --> 00:36:17,840
Speaker 4: I think my experience, I have a lot of experience

735
00:36:17,920 --> 00:36:21,360
Speaker 4: and can shed a lot of knowledge and wherever I

736
00:36:21,440 --> 00:36:23,279
Speaker 4: sit in and as you know, as I grow with

737
00:36:23,320 --> 00:36:25,719
Speaker 4: the team and get comfortable and build trust with the guys,

738
00:36:25,760 --> 00:36:27,200
Speaker 4: I definitely think that will be valuable.

739
00:36:28,360 --> 00:36:31,960
Speaker 2: Jones will wear the number twenty four in Cincinnati. The

740
00:36:31,960 --> 00:36:34,719
Speaker 2: Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you by Kettering Health,

741
00:36:34,760 --> 00:36:37,560
Speaker 2: the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. With more than

742
00:36:37,560 --> 00:36:40,840
Speaker 2: one hundred and twenty care facilities and fifteen hundred care providers,

743
00:36:41,080 --> 00:36:44,720
Speaker 2: Kettering Health is committed to guiding you to your best health.

744
00:36:45,120 --> 00:36:50,320
Speaker 2: Visit ketteringhealth dot org to learn more. Up Next recently

745
00:36:50,360 --> 00:36:54,440
Speaker 2: signed quarterback Trevor Simeon, who will compete with Jake Browning

746
00:36:54,520 --> 00:36:57,759
Speaker 2: to be Joe burrows backup. Simeon is thirty one years

747
00:36:57,760 --> 00:37:00,520
Speaker 2: old and has started a total of thirty in the

748
00:37:00,640 --> 00:37:05,000
Speaker 2: NFL for the Broncos, Jets, Saints, and Bears. In fact,

749
00:37:05,320 --> 00:37:09,960
Speaker 2: his best NFL start statistically was against the Bengals because

750
00:37:09,960 --> 00:37:12,240
Speaker 2: he threw for three hundred and twelve yards and four

751
00:37:12,360 --> 00:37:16,480
Speaker 2: touchdowns in a win at Peycorp Stadium in twenty sixteen.

752
00:37:17,920 --> 00:37:20,520
Speaker 2: First day in a new place, describe this feeling. I

753
00:37:20,520 --> 00:37:22,040
Speaker 2: know you've been through it a few times before.

754
00:37:22,239 --> 00:37:24,640
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's good. It's exciting to get to meet everybody,

755
00:37:24,719 --> 00:37:26,839
Speaker 3: meet my teammates and get a lay of the land.

756
00:37:26,920 --> 00:37:29,359
Speaker 3: So two hours in so far, so.

757
00:37:29,360 --> 00:37:31,800
Speaker 2: Go who did you know? If anybody?

758
00:37:34,160 --> 00:37:39,760
Speaker 3: Not really anybody you know? I know, no Cali, James

759
00:37:39,760 --> 00:37:43,200
Speaker 3: Casey I played with in Denver for a little bit.

760
00:37:43,920 --> 00:37:46,400
Speaker 3: But yeah, just getting to know everybody, shaking hands and

761
00:37:47,360 --> 00:37:48,560
Speaker 3: trying to learn everybody's.

762
00:37:48,280 --> 00:37:51,160
Speaker 2: Names, presenting with Trevor Simmy and based on everything I've read,

763
00:37:51,160 --> 00:37:53,399
Speaker 2: you and Brian Kellen have a great relationship.

764
00:37:53,719 --> 00:37:58,040
Speaker 3: Yeah, CALLI was my assistant coach quarterback coach in my

765
00:37:58,120 --> 00:38:01,239
Speaker 3: rookie year, and we had a Greg Napp uh and

766
00:38:01,280 --> 00:38:03,480
Speaker 3: obviously Peyton was in there in brock Oswiler. So we

767
00:38:03,520 --> 00:38:05,560
Speaker 3: had a good group. And you know, you're something about

768
00:38:05,560 --> 00:38:08,360
Speaker 3: your first year. You allus remember that that kind of closeness.

769
00:38:08,640 --> 00:38:12,279
Speaker 2: Did you get the sense that Brian really sold you,

770
00:38:12,360 --> 00:38:15,440
Speaker 2: for lack of a better expression, to Zach and to ownership,

771
00:38:15,440 --> 00:38:17,680
Speaker 2: as this guy would be the perfect fit on our roster.

772
00:38:18,120 --> 00:38:18,439
Speaker 1: I hope.

773
00:38:18,480 --> 00:38:22,200
Speaker 3: So I don't know, yeah, I hope. So you know

774
00:38:22,239 --> 00:38:25,080
Speaker 3: we've kept in touch, you know, via text over the

775
00:38:25,160 --> 00:38:29,080
Speaker 3: last several years. But uh, yeah, I thought it was

776
00:38:29,239 --> 00:38:31,240
Speaker 3: it was a cool opportunity to link up with somebody

777
00:38:32,560 --> 00:38:35,160
Speaker 3: that I had crossed over with before, and obviously, you know,

778
00:38:35,200 --> 00:38:36,479
Speaker 3: I just want to be on a good team with

779
00:38:36,600 --> 00:38:37,320
Speaker 3: some good coaches.

780
00:38:37,400 --> 00:38:41,480
Speaker 2: So years probably fly by. When you're playing in the NFL.

781
00:38:41,560 --> 00:38:46,160
Speaker 2: You've gone from young starter now to experienced mentor. Is

782
00:38:46,200 --> 00:38:48,360
Speaker 2: that difficult to process?

783
00:38:49,520 --> 00:38:50,000
Speaker 1: Yeah? I don't.

784
00:38:50,280 --> 00:38:53,000
Speaker 3: I try not to process it now minute. You know,

785
00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:55,520
Speaker 3: every once in a while you kind of figuring out

786
00:38:55,560 --> 00:39:00,279
Speaker 3: what what uh? What's what's transpired? But you know, I'm

787
00:39:00,280 --> 00:39:02,480
Speaker 3: thankful for every every bit of it, every team I've

788
00:39:02,480 --> 00:39:05,520
Speaker 3: been on, every coach, every teammate. It's it's been a

789
00:39:05,520 --> 00:39:07,839
Speaker 3: fun ride. So excited to keep it going.

790
00:39:08,440 --> 00:39:11,279
Speaker 2: The quarterback fraternity is an interesting one. What have been

791
00:39:11,320 --> 00:39:13,120
Speaker 2: your impressions of Joe Burrow from AFAR.

792
00:39:14,080 --> 00:39:16,120
Speaker 3: I love watching him play. I think he's, you know,

793
00:39:16,160 --> 00:39:19,080
Speaker 3: it is a terrific football player, and you know, as

794
00:39:19,120 --> 00:39:22,160
Speaker 3: a quarterback, you certainly appreciate, you know, a couple the

795
00:39:22,160 --> 00:39:24,480
Speaker 3: top handful of guys watching him play on TV, and

796
00:39:24,520 --> 00:39:26,480
Speaker 3: he's he's a guy that you know, I will certainly

797
00:39:26,560 --> 00:39:28,600
Speaker 3: stop what I'm doing and watch a ball game.

798
00:39:28,440 --> 00:39:31,800
Speaker 2: For anything in particular standout, Yeah, I think.

799
00:39:31,640 --> 00:39:34,400
Speaker 3: He's I think he's just got a great feel for

800
00:39:34,440 --> 00:39:37,560
Speaker 3: passing the football. You know, I think, uh, sorts of

801
00:39:37,880 --> 00:39:42,719
Speaker 3: anticipation they can make obviously every throw and there's a

802
00:39:42,760 --> 00:39:45,319
Speaker 3: little bit of creativity in there too. So just a

803
00:39:45,320 --> 00:39:46,040
Speaker 3: fun guy to watch.

804
00:39:46,480 --> 00:39:49,720
Speaker 2: Where does your four touchdown game against the Bengals stack

805
00:39:50,239 --> 00:39:54,560
Speaker 2: is one of your favorite NFL highlights? Uh?

806
00:39:54,600 --> 00:39:56,640
Speaker 3: You know, it's up there. It's fun. It's fun. I've

807
00:39:56,640 --> 00:40:00,120
Speaker 3: always enjoyed winning on the road, so I think all

808
00:40:00,120 --> 00:40:02,600
Speaker 3: the road winds I've had in my career are definitely

809
00:40:02,680 --> 00:40:07,239
Speaker 3: up there. But yeah, it's it's fun looking back at it.

810
00:40:07,360 --> 00:40:09,320
Speaker 3: Cool to be here now playing on the home side.

811
00:40:09,760 --> 00:40:11,920
Speaker 2: You've got a Super Bowl ring, correct.

812
00:40:11,680 --> 00:40:14,000
Speaker 3: Yeah, I like to get another one.

813
00:40:14,600 --> 00:40:16,360
Speaker 2: We would like you to get another one. I was

814
00:40:16,440 --> 00:40:18,960
Speaker 2: just talking to Sydney Jones, the fourth who's new this year.

815
00:40:19,000 --> 00:40:22,480
Speaker 2: He has one as a rookie with the Eagles. When

816
00:40:22,480 --> 00:40:25,279
Speaker 2: you've been on a team that's done that, how much

817
00:40:25,320 --> 00:40:27,279
Speaker 2: is it what your appetite to be part of it again?

818
00:40:28,600 --> 00:40:31,600
Speaker 3: Huge? You know? And I was. It was my rookie

819
00:40:31,680 --> 00:40:34,759
Speaker 3: year too, so I was so spoiled in that sense. Uh,

820
00:40:35,800 --> 00:40:38,440
Speaker 3: And it is. It's it's a totally different feeling, and

821
00:40:38,480 --> 00:40:41,200
Speaker 3: it's it's something that you know, when you go through

822
00:40:41,239 --> 00:40:43,319
Speaker 3: the first time, you're like, well, maybe maybe I get

823
00:40:43,360 --> 00:40:45,360
Speaker 3: back again, and you're trying to not take it for granted,

824
00:40:46,880 --> 00:40:48,600
Speaker 3: but kind of seeing what it what it took, and

825
00:40:48,640 --> 00:40:52,040
Speaker 3: what the team looked like, and you know, got to

826
00:40:52,040 --> 00:40:53,799
Speaker 3: get a ball to bounce your your way a few

827
00:40:53,840 --> 00:40:57,560
Speaker 3: times and you got a really freaking good team. So yeah,

828
00:40:57,800 --> 00:40:59,600
Speaker 3: looking looking forward to trying to do it this year.

829
00:41:00,960 --> 00:41:04,480
Speaker 2: Simeon will wear the number nineteen in a Bengals uniform.

830
00:41:05,040 --> 00:41:06,680
Speaker 2: That's going to do it. For this episode of The

831
00:41:06,719 --> 00:41:09,480
Speaker 2: Bengals Booth podcast brought to you by Kettering Health, the

832
00:41:09,520 --> 00:41:13,520
Speaker 2: official healthcare provider of the Bengals, by Bengals Picks and

833
00:41:13,680 --> 00:41:16,760
Speaker 2: Ultimate Bengals. They're free to play with tickets and signed

834
00:41:16,760 --> 00:41:20,640
Speaker 2: merchandise up for grabs by pay Core, the official HR

835
00:41:20,760 --> 00:41:25,480
Speaker 2: software provider of the Bengals, and by Alta Fiber future

836
00:41:25,560 --> 00:41:30,399
Speaker 2: Proof Fiber Internet elevate your connection with Alta Fiber. If

837
00:41:30,440 --> 00:41:33,160
Speaker 2: you haven't done so already, please subscribe to this podcast

838
00:41:33,200 --> 00:41:34,680
Speaker 2: and if you have a minute, give it a rating

839
00:41:35,040 --> 00:41:39,080
Speaker 2: or share a comment that helps more Bengals fans find us.

840
00:41:39,480 --> 00:41:42,320
Speaker 2: I'm Dan Horn and thanks for listening to The Bengals

841
00:41:42,360 --> 00:41:48,240
Speaker 2: Booth podcast