Speaker 1: Hi, gain everybody.
Speaker 2: I Dan Horde and thanks for downloading the Bengals Booth Podcast.
Speaker 2: The I've been waiting audition as we discussed Thursday's release
Speaker 2: of the NFL schedule with one of the people largely
Speaker 2: responsible for putting it together, the NFL's VP of Broadcast Planning,
Speaker 2: Mike North, plus a pair of one on one conversations
Speaker 2: with two Bengals newcomers, cornerback Sidney Jones the fourth and
Speaker 2: quarterback Trevor Simeon. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to
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Speaker 2: your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since Maons. Cincinnati's Flying
Speaker 2: Pig Marathon took place last weekend, and kudos to everybody
Speaker 2: who managed to cross the finish line despite heavy rain
Speaker 2: and thunder. That includes Evan McPherson's wife Gracie, who ran
Speaker 2: her first marathon, and the Bengals kicker who ran the
Speaker 2: half marathon. In fact, his runner's bib read money.
Speaker 3: Mack.
Speaker 2: My wife Peg is a marathoner who is qualified for
Speaker 2: and run the Boston Marathon eight times. And I am
Speaker 2: truly of the belief that a marathon is the one
Speaker 2: sporting event where every single finisher is a winner. The
Speaker 2: training is brutal, the event itself is brutal, and to
Speaker 2: cross that finish line knowing that you put in the
Speaker 2: time and effort and made it has to be incredibly gratifying.
Speaker 2: So congratulations to last week's finishers, and I hope that
Speaker 2: going downstairs is no longer painful. Now let's get to
Speaker 2: my first guest. Thirty two teams playing seventeen games. There
Speaker 2: are two hundred and seventy two regular season matchups each
Speaker 2: year in the NFL. Putting together a schedule that maximizes
Speaker 2: TV viewership while minimizing competitive imbalance is a complex puzzle.
Speaker 2: In fact, there are approximately one quadrillion possible combinations. That's
Speaker 2: the number one, with fifteen zeros after it. Mike North
Speaker 2: is the NFL's vice president of broadcast Planning, in one
Speaker 2: of the league's top executives in creating the schedule each year.
Speaker 2: He was kind enough to join me on Tuesday night,
Speaker 2: less than forty eight hours before the schedule is released. Mike,
Speaker 2: when you joined me on this podcast last year, you
Speaker 2: said something that made local headlines at the time. The
Speaker 2: quote was, the Bengals will have to get comfortable not
Speaker 2: playing Sunday at one o'clock. Getting primetime games is a
Speaker 2: big deal last year. Now it's assumed by Bengals fans
Speaker 2: Spike market size. Are the Bengals at or near the
Speaker 2: top of the list of the teams that the TV
Speaker 2: networks are clamoring for.
Speaker 1: They are. I mean, there's no toys around it. This
Speaker 1: is a success driven league. And certainly there are legacy
Speaker 1: brands and you know, teams that have national appeal almost
Speaker 1: seemingly regardless of their record. But we all follow teams
Speaker 1: with good records, star quarterbacks, playoff appearances, super Bowl appearances.
Speaker 1: There's there's no question the Bengals are going to find
Speaker 1: themselves in a lot of different windows. Not all the
Speaker 1: games at one o'clock on Sunday, those days are those
Speaker 1: days are over.
Speaker 2: Just so people know for sure, what is the max
Speaker 2: for primetime games?
Speaker 1: A club can be scheduled for six, can be flexed
Speaker 1: into a seventh. We've had Sunday night flex since two
Speaker 1: thousand and seven. Bengals have been on both sides of
Speaker 1: that equation, getting flexed in and getting flexed out. Monday
Speaker 1: night football flexible scheduling starts this year, and you can
Speaker 1: be flexed into a seventh primetime appearance. And then when
Speaker 1: we get to week eighteen, all bets are off. We
Speaker 1: can do whatever we all think is the right thing
Speaker 1: to do as we sequence week eighteen to ensure that
Speaker 1: we have that cascading waterfall of playoff implications from Saturday afternoon,
Speaker 1: in the Saturday night, in the Sunday afternoon, in the
Speaker 1: Sunday night. So you know, quote unquote primetime, it's really
Speaker 1: less about who's playing at night than it is about
Speaker 1: who's playing on something other than Sunday afternoon. So you
Speaker 1: could play on a Monday night, you can play on
Speaker 1: a Sunday night, you can play on a Thursday night,
Speaker 1: you can play on a Saturday afternoon, you can play
Speaker 1: on a Sunday morning at nine thirty am. Technically those
Speaker 1: are all quote unquote primetime appearances. They're just non Sunday
Speaker 1: afternoon appearances. But letter of the law, you can be
Speaker 1: scheduled for six primes flexed into a seventh, and then
Speaker 1: we'll all do whatever we think is right. In week eight, we.
Speaker 2: Are chatting with Mike North, VP of broadcast planning for
Speaker 2: the NFL. The Super Bowl champion Chiefs host the NFL
Speaker 2: kickoff game on Thursday, September seventh. The Bengals have a
Speaker 2: road game this year at Kansas City would obviously be
Speaker 2: a great opener, But the Chiefs have home games against
Speaker 2: Philly that's a Super Bowl rematch. They've got Buffalo at home.
Speaker 2: Their division rivals obviously are at home. Have there ever
Speaker 2: been more enticing choices for that Thursday night opener?
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a great question, Dan, Maybe maybe not. I mean, look,
Speaker 1: it's it's Kansas City, and right now they are musty TV.
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure you, me and nine friends could play
Speaker 1: Kansas City and that would do a pretty good number
Speaker 1: for kickoff. You know, they are musty TV. And to
Speaker 1: that end, you could make an argument that maybe you
Speaker 1: don't need to use a Cincinnati, a Philadelphia a game
Speaker 1: like that in a window where we're all going to
Speaker 1: be so excited for the season to start, you know,
Speaker 1: five months from now or four months from now that
Speaker 1: you know, maybe you don't need your quote unquote best
Speaker 1: asset in that opening window. That's not to say, you know,
Speaker 1: we're gonna put a quote on quote lesser game there.
Speaker 1: But I'm not sure the Chiefs have a lesser game
Speaker 1: on their home schedule. So you mentioned them all, Buffalo, Sincy,
Speaker 1: Philly would all be great. Anybody in that division would
Speaker 1: be fun. I'm intrigued by Chicago and Detroit also coming
Speaker 1: into Kansas City. You know, Chicago was pretty exciting last year.
Speaker 1: I know the record doesn't necessarily reflect you know, success,
Speaker 1: and maybe that's not worthy of that window. Detroit was,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe the hottest team in the league last year,
Speaker 1: eight out of the last nine or whatever it was
Speaker 1: the last time we saw them. You know, they win
Speaker 1: in a Lambeau and ruined the Packers season. You know,
Speaker 1: any division games would be interesting, right Herbert and the
Speaker 1: Chargers always play the Chiefs tough. The Raiders have a
Speaker 1: new quarterback, they always play the Chiefs tough. And I
Speaker 1: think everybody's gonna be really intrigued with Denver this year
Speaker 1: when you think about the new coach and can he
Speaker 1: get out of Russell Wilson what we're all used to
Speaker 1: seeing from Russell Wilson. I love the options. I love
Speaker 1: the flexibility. Kind of changed our process a little bit
Speaker 1: as we searched through the you know, infinite Most years,
Speaker 1: to your point, there's one or two pretty obvious options
Speaker 1: for kickoff and then you kind of go from there.
Speaker 1: We kind of did it the other way this year.
Speaker 1: Sometimes when we solved kickoff was almost the last piece
Speaker 1: of the puzzle. There were a lot of good options
Speaker 1: and pretty sure, whatever we choose, we're gonna do.
Speaker 2: Okay, the Bengals have four road games that could at
Speaker 2: least potentially be international games, but I'm guessing those opponents
Speaker 2: don't want to lose home games against Cincinnati. Can teams
Speaker 2: veto certain opponents on the international games, Yeah.
Speaker 1: When a club is selected or designated or volunteers. Forgive me,
Speaker 1: I'm not one hundred percent sure how the sausage gets
Speaker 1: made with an international team. But when a team is
Speaker 1: designated for international play and it's one of their home games, yeah,
Speaker 1: they have some rights and some obligations and some commitments,
Speaker 1: and yeah, they can take a look at their home
Speaker 1: opponents and they can work with an international team. We
Speaker 1: generally don't do division games over there. That's you know,
Speaker 1: from a fans to those are always some of the
Speaker 1: most exciting games of the season. To you know, take
Speaker 1: those and move them overseas might not be exactly the
Speaker 1: right thing to do for the fan base and the
Speaker 1: season ticket members. So generally we don't play the inner
Speaker 1: the division games over there. And then you know, if
Speaker 1: there's one or two really big ones, maybe somebody by
Speaker 1: rotation hasn't been there for a while, you know, or
Speaker 1: maybe he isn't going to be there for another eight years.
Speaker 1: To take that one away from the fans maybe isn't
Speaker 1: the right thing to do. So there's a lot of
Speaker 1: back and forth, a lot of give and take, just
Speaker 1: trying to figure out, you know, how to thread that.
Speaker 1: You know, which of these games make the most sense
Speaker 1: to keep in your home stadium, Which of the ones
Speaker 1: would be really interesting to take overseas. Maybe there's a
Speaker 1: fan base already kind of built in in the UK
Speaker 1: or in Germany for one of your home opponents. But
Speaker 1: you're you're not wrong when you think about, for instance,
Speaker 1: you know, Kansas City and they think about, hey, you know,
Speaker 1: we are hosting Cincinnati this year. You know, on the
Speaker 1: one hand, the Chiefs might say, we'd really love to
Speaker 1: have him here. Then again, you know, all the stuff
Speaker 1: that went on last year with burrow Land, maybe it
Speaker 1: wouldn't be abit thing to get the Bengals in another city.
Speaker 1: So there's a lot of give and take. Look, I
Speaker 1: think the really the smartest way to look at it
Speaker 1: is a game like Cincinnati Kansas City, for instance. That's
Speaker 1: my CTV. I mean, you're talking about one of the
Speaker 1: top five games of the year, and I'm not sure
Speaker 1: nine thirty am in the East six thirty am in
Speaker 1: the Pacific time zone is the right place for us
Speaker 1: to deploy one of our, you know, arguably top games.
Speaker 1: So I'd be surprised if a game like Cincinnati Kansas
Speaker 1: City made its way across the pond. But it would
Speaker 1: be a hell of a statement and it would be
Speaker 1: really fun for our fans over there. But I don't
Speaker 1: don't buy your tickets yet.
Speaker 2: That so, Mike, the last time the Bengals gave up
Speaker 2: a home game to play internationally was a London game
Speaker 2: back in twenty sixteen, so it's been a long time.
Speaker 2: We know they won't lose a home game next year.
Speaker 2: Because they only have eight home games, should we more
Speaker 2: or less expect hosting an international game in a couple
Speaker 2: of years considering the time frame and the fact that
Speaker 2: they'll have nine home games in two years.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it's certainly gonna come from the AFC.
Speaker 1: We're gonna draw from the AFC for twenty twenty five,
Speaker 1: so they're certainly in the mix. The resolution that the
Speaker 1: ownership pass basically says everybody's gonna give up a home
Speaker 1: game once every eight years, So there's gonna be four
Speaker 1: games a year every eight years. Everybody's gonna give one up.
Speaker 1: So to your point, if you didn't get it, you
Speaker 1: know this year, you're certainly in the mix for twenty five,
Speaker 1: and then if you didn't get it then at some
Speaker 1: point twenty seven, twenty nine. Yeah, it's it's gonna happen.
Speaker 1: A lot of it depends on, you know, where are
Speaker 1: we record wise, where are we with our stars, where
Speaker 1: are we with our international marketing. Some of these international
Speaker 1: cities strangely just you know, kind of adopt NFL teams
Speaker 1: and if all of a sudden, you know, Madrid, Spain
Speaker 1: or wherever else we're considering, seems to be a you
Speaker 1: know Bengals hot spot, then you know, we'd be smart
Speaker 1: to try to make sure we can get a Bengals
Speaker 1: game to them. That's not to say the Bengals wouldn't
Speaker 1: be great in London or Germany or Mexico or anywhere
Speaker 1: else we play, but I think those things kind of
Speaker 1: evolve over time, and our international folks work with our teams,
Speaker 1: and the teams will tell us, the fans will tell us,
Speaker 1: and yeah, look, at some point everybody's gonna go certainly
Speaker 1: once as a home team, but that doesn't prevent them
Speaker 1: from going into visiting team either. So maybe not this year,
Speaker 1: but certainly at some point. Yeah, we'll see some games
Speaker 1: over the pump.
Speaker 2: We are visiting with Mike North, the NFL's VP of
Speaker 2: broadcast planning. There are two hundred and seventy two regular
Speaker 2: season NFL games. You often talk about each how each
Speaker 2: one is an asset. How do you determine the value
Speaker 2: of each game? Do you assign it a numerical value?
Speaker 2: Do you give each game a grade? How do you
Speaker 2: go about doing that?
Speaker 1: Uh, it's a part art in part science. You know,
Speaker 1: they I refer to them as assets. They're really not
Speaker 1: like you know, commodities like financial assets. They belong to
Speaker 1: the fans, right and at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: the job is to make sure that the fans get
Speaker 1: to see the games that are most important to them.
Speaker 1: And obviously all seventeen Bengals games are going to be
Speaker 1: the highest rated games from a viewership standpoint in the
Speaker 1: city of Cincinnati. But you know where else do fans
Speaker 1: care about the Bengals? Is it your division opponents? So
Speaker 1: we're starting to build a national brand where heck, even
Speaker 1: in New York, if the Jets are on buy and
Speaker 1: the Giants are on Monday Night and we need to
Speaker 1: pick the right game to put in the number one
Speaker 1: media market in the country at one o'clock, maybe it
Speaker 1: becomes a Bengals game. And so you sort of track
Speaker 1: how the Nielsen ratings and the viewership numbers come in.
Speaker 1: You watch things like you know, fantasy football ownership and
Speaker 1: hats and jersey sales and Instagram followers and secondary ticket
Speaker 1: pricing and you know, legalized sports betting action and all
Speaker 1: the ways that our fans are interacting with us and
Speaker 1: telling us what's important to them. If it were that
Speaker 1: simple to just simply put a number on it, that
Speaker 1: would be great, Dan, I would love that. I'd love
Speaker 1: to try to build that model. I'm not sure it's
Speaker 1: ever quite that simple, but there is a little bit
Speaker 1: of science to it, a little bit of Hey, if
Speaker 1: you have a Bengals game, then you've got the Upper
Speaker 1: Midwest covered regionally on a map for CBS at one o'clock,
Speaker 1: So maybe you don't need a Browns game that day,
Speaker 1: or at least not on the same network. Or if
Speaker 1: you have a Steelers Ravens game, maybe that's not a
Speaker 1: good time for the Bengals to be playing Sunday one.
Speaker 1: Why don't we move the Bengals to four o'clock or
Speaker 1: eight o'clock or Monday, or maybe this is a good
Speaker 1: week for their bye, but their bye has to track
Speaker 1: with their Thursday game, because you don't want it right
Speaker 1: before right after, and you're gonna need those two sort
Speaker 1: of breaks. Want to full buy, one a mini buy,
Speaker 1: so it all kind of ties together. It would be
Speaker 1: great if there were ever one true mathematical formula that
Speaker 1: we could write and just kind of hit the button
Speaker 1: on the computer and walk away for a couple of
Speaker 1: weeks and come back and hey, here's the winner. It's
Speaker 1: never that simple. There's got to be some room for
Speaker 1: the humans to kind of guide the search and say, nope,
Speaker 1: maybe a little more of this than a little less
Speaker 1: of that. Soart part science, but yeah, we're trying to
Speaker 1: build a model where we can sort of actcurreately predict
Speaker 1: what the value of each of these games is to
Speaker 1: our fans, and then make sure that we deploy them strategically.
Speaker 2: We've got some changes to talk about this year. Strictly speaking,
Speaker 2: CBS is no longer the primary home of AFC games,
Speaker 2: and Foxes no longer the primary home of NFC games.
Speaker 2: Is that correct?
Speaker 1: They're no longer the default home of anytime the AFC
Speaker 1: team is on the road. So for decades, anytime an
Speaker 1: AFC team was on the road, that game belonged quote
Speaker 1: unquote to CBS. So then if the league wanted to
Speaker 1: put it in primetime, take it for Sunday night or
Speaker 1: Monday night, then it was kind of taking it away
Speaker 1: from CBS. And you had to manage the number of
Speaker 1: games you took away from CBS and all the kind
Speaker 1: of back and forth with the numbers and the math.
Speaker 1: That part's gone on. Every game is a toss up,
Speaker 1: but CBS is still the primary home of the AFC,
Speaker 1: They're gonna have at least twice as many Bengals games
Speaker 1: than any other partner. So more Bengals games than not
Speaker 1: will be on CBS, more Ravens games, more Steelers games,
Speaker 1: more Chiefs games, more Jets games will be on CBS
Speaker 1: than not. And on the other side, more Cowboys games,
Speaker 1: more Eagles games, more Bears games, more Niners games will
Speaker 1: be on Fox than not. Those are still the primary
Speaker 1: home for at least half their games. But this notion
Speaker 1: of oh, we're taking away this game, that part's gone.
Speaker 1: So every game is a toss up. But when you
Speaker 1: sprinkle them all in, you're still going to see more
Speaker 1: Bengals games on CBS than anywhere else.
Speaker 2: So the NFL passed a rule this year allowing teams
Speaker 2: to play two Thursday games after playing the previous Sunday.
Speaker 2: Is that going to happen to a team or multiple
Speaker 2: teams and how do you handle the inevitable pushback, Well,
Speaker 2: it's gonna happen.
Speaker 1: It's not a new rule. It happened last year. The
Speaker 1: Cowboys and the Titans each played two short week games
Speaker 1: last year. The Cowboys obviously always play on Thanksgiving, and
Speaker 1: they played another short week game later in the season.
Speaker 1: They played the Titans in Week seventeen on a Thursday night,
Speaker 1: and the Titans played a Week ten I think I
Speaker 1: think it was Thursday night game at Lambeau. So you
Speaker 1: had two teams last year playing two short weeks, and
Speaker 1: ownership voted this year to allow for more than that
Speaker 1: to play two short weeks. So yes, you are definitely
Speaker 1: gonna see more than two teams play multiple short weeks.
Speaker 1: The challenge for us is gonna be first and foremost,
Speaker 1: you know, spreading them out, using the two Thursdays and
Speaker 1: the bye week to kind of ensure that the team
Speaker 1: that has the multiple short weeks has multiple rest opportunities.
Speaker 1: You know, you might see a Thursday and week five,
Speaker 1: a bye in week nine, and then another Thursday in
Speaker 1: week fifteen or something like that. Or maybe you see
Speaker 1: a bye in week seven and a Thursday and week
Speaker 1: eleven and another Thursday late in the year. So we're
Speaker 1: gonna try to spread them out. We're gonna try to
Speaker 1: balance it so that no team feels like, hey, that's
Speaker 1: too many short weeks all right in a row. And
Speaker 1: then we're gonna you know, spread them out fairly. If
Speaker 1: you happened to like the Cowboys and the Titans have
Speaker 1: two short weeks last year, probably not our best schedule
Speaker 1: if we give you two short weeks again this year.
Speaker 1: So I wouldn't expect the Cowboys and the Titans to
Speaker 1: have two short weeks. So it'll be a different mix
Speaker 1: of teams. Three, four or five teams maybe that are
Speaker 1: gonna have multiple short weeks, and then see where that goes,
Speaker 1: see what the feedback is, and see if we want
Speaker 1: to adjust that moving forward. But this notion that you know,
Speaker 1: there's a misnomer out there that every team gets a
Speaker 1: primetime game, that that's not the case. That hasn't been
Speaker 1: the case for years, And you know, the commissioner always says,
Speaker 1: you know, you earn your television exposure you play your
Speaker 1: way into primetime. So yeah, I wouldn't be surprised to
Speaker 1: see a couple of teams on Amazon more than once,
Speaker 1: and that probably means a couple of teams not on
Speaker 1: Amazon at all. But if you have a good season,
Speaker 1: if you're playing your way into primetime, there's opportunities, whether
Speaker 1: it's the TVD Saturday Pool or flexible scheduling for Sunday
Speaker 1: night or Monday night there's always ways that we can adjust.
Speaker 1: But yeah, when the schedule comes out in May, you'll
Speaker 1: surely see teams, multiple teams with multiple short weeks for
Speaker 1: the first time.
Speaker 2: Monday night games can be flexed. Moving games from Sunday
Speaker 2: afternoon to Sunday night or vice versa is one thing.
Speaker 2: Changing days of the week is more challenging. What are
Speaker 2: the specifics of Monday night flexing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the specifics are it's, you know, just like we've
Speaker 1: been doing for Sunday Night since two thousand and six.
Speaker 1: If we see a game, you know, about a month
Speaker 1: out that looks, you know, a little less compelling than
Speaker 1: we hoped when we put it on the schedule in May,
Speaker 1: we'll start talking to those two teams, We'll look at
Speaker 1: the other games that weekend, and we'll see if it
Speaker 1: wouldn't make sense. You know, often what we try to
Speaker 1: do with flexible scheduling is you see a game in
Speaker 1: a one o'clock or a four o'clock window on a
Speaker 1: Sunday afternoon on CBS or Fox, and just by virtue
Speaker 1: of the market sizes and the other games in the window,
Speaker 1: a really good game with playoff implications might only be
Speaker 1: available in fifteen twenty twenty five percent of the country.
Speaker 1: And that's not really fair to those teams that have
Speaker 1: earned additional exposure. And it's not really fear to the
Speaker 1: teams to leave them in primetime if you know they're
Speaker 1: seasons slipping away. There's nothing good, there's nothing fun or
Speaker 1: rewarding about a couple of teams just playing out the
Speaker 1: string in primetime. It's not fair to the fans, it's
Speaker 1: not fair to the television viewers, it's not fair to
Speaker 1: the partners that that's just not what any of us want. So,
Speaker 1: you know, for Sunday Night Flex, we've been pretty judicious.
Speaker 1: One one and a half times a year. Last year
Speaker 1: was a bit of an outlier. I think we had four,
Speaker 1: But most years, you know, Sunday Night is once or
Speaker 1: twice for Monday Night Flex. Understanding the impact of moving,
Speaker 1: you know, teams off days and fans having to change
Speaker 1: the plans, you know, maybe maybe once a year. I
Speaker 1: don't think it's gonna be reckless. I don't think it's
Speaker 1: gonna be cavalier. This wouldn't be about hey, can we
Speaker 1: add one hundred thousand viewers? This would be about hey,
Speaker 1: this game is nowhere near as good as we thought,
Speaker 1: and there's another game that weekend that's just sitting there
Speaker 1: right for the taking. And if we don't move it
Speaker 1: into a better window, most of our fans are gonna
Speaker 1: miss it. And that's probably not what we're trying to
Speaker 1: do either. So hard and fast rules, not yet first
Speaker 1: time we're doing it. I think we'll talk to the teams.
Speaker 1: I think we'll talk to our partners. We'll learn a
Speaker 1: lot this year, even if we don't make any moves,
Speaker 1: we'll learn a lot just about talking to the teams,
Speaker 1: talking to the operations folks. You know, yes, there's a
Speaker 1: lot of people that have to change their plans, but
Speaker 1: you know, so do your guys right. You got to
Speaker 1: change hotels and charters and meeting space and practice schedules.
Speaker 1: And where were they we the week before? And where
Speaker 1: are we the week after? And is it fair to
Speaker 1: put this team now we know a Monday night game
Speaker 1: on the road if the following week they're already scheduled
Speaker 1: for another road game, and you know, those are all
Speaker 1: the things that are going to have to go into
Speaker 1: our decision making. Again, I don't think we'll be reckless.
Speaker 1: I think we'll be pretty judicious. But it's there for
Speaker 1: a reason, and it's really there to, you know, protect
Speaker 1: the teams that maybe are in a national window that
Speaker 1: you know no longer even want to be, and reward
Speaker 1: the teams that have earned themselves some additional exposure.
Speaker 2: You added a Christmas triple header last year when Christmas
Speaker 2: Day fell on a Sunday. It's on a Monday this year.
Speaker 2: Is the Christmas triple header here to stay?
Speaker 1: It's certainly here for another year. I don't know if
Speaker 1: it's here to stay. It's gonna be a tough sell
Speaker 1: on a Tuesday. But for twenty twenty three, yeah, another
Speaker 1: Christmas Day triple header. It'll be uh CBS one o'clock Monday,
Speaker 1: Fox four thirty Monday, and then the regular Monday night
Speaker 1: ESPN game at a fifteen that night. So, yep, another
Speaker 1: Christmas tripleheader this year.
Speaker 2: You have added a Black Friday game this year. Do
Speaker 2: you consider it important to have a quote unquote glamorous
Speaker 2: matchup to get that game off to an impressive ratings start? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, the simple answers, Yes, I think we
Speaker 1: will try to thread that needle, find that right game.
Speaker 1: It's another short week, so you might, you know, have
Speaker 1: to find the team playing. You know, like we said,
Speaker 1: multiple short weeks, maybe playing on a Friday is a
Speaker 1: little less onerous than playing on two Thursdays. But yeah,
Speaker 1: the simple answer is, I think we're gonna test it
Speaker 1: out see if our fans are interested. You know, it's
Speaker 1: not a holiday for everybody, but you know, it's a
Speaker 1: traditional sports day. There's always a lot of sports on
Speaker 1: television that day, and I think an NFL game kind
Speaker 1: of in the afternoon, right there might be a great
Speaker 1: inuation for us for a really fun weekend. You've got
Speaker 1: the three games on Thursday, now on Friday, big games
Speaker 1: on Sunday, another one on Monday. That's a really fun
Speaker 1: weekend of football and it kind of you know, kicks
Speaker 1: off the you know run to the playoffs and the
Speaker 1: and the final quarter of the season, if you will,
Speaker 1: And yeah, I would. I would expect there to be
Speaker 1: you know, maybe not the A plus game, but certainly
Speaker 1: a game that that sounds like a football game for
Speaker 1: Black Friday.
Speaker 2: Last year, the Bengals and Bills obviously had the Monday
Speaker 2: night game that was halted because of Jamar Hamblin's collapse.
Speaker 2: Is there any sort of make good on that from
Speaker 2: the NFL's perspective, whether it's to the media partner ESPN
Speaker 2: or to the teams, any repercussions of following that game.
Speaker 1: Look, there's always conversations going on with the teams, with
Speaker 1: the networks, with all of our partners. There was a
Speaker 1: lot of discussion. You'll remember this. There was a lot
Speaker 1: of discussion last year about should we have finished that
Speaker 1: game and finished you know, for the twenty twenty two season.
Speaker 1: It ended up having you know, pretty significant playoff imp cations.
Speaker 1: It would have been interesting how we decided to you know,
Speaker 1: thread that needle. There was a lot of talk about
Speaker 1: should we let everybody finish the season week eighteen and
Speaker 1: then everybody take a break and the Bengals and the
Speaker 1: Bills come back in week nineteen and kind of finish
Speaker 1: pick up where they left off. There were those who
Speaker 1: thought maybe that would be a little too traumatic, maybe
Speaker 1: a little bit triggering, to actually literally go back to
Speaker 1: that spot in the second quarter and pick it up
Speaker 1: right after Damar had had his incident. You know, as
Speaker 1: it turned out, we were only talking about the two
Speaker 1: in the three seed, and you know, call it karma,
Speaker 1: call it poetic justice. But you know, the Bengals getting
Speaker 1: that win and moving on in the playoffs probably put
Speaker 1: an end to anything that we were gonna, you know,
Speaker 1: think about. Obviously hopeful that DeMar continues to recover, and
Speaker 1: my goodness, this yere seems like he may be playing again,
Speaker 1: maybe even as soon as this year, which is a miracle.
Speaker 1: But surely that the fact that they play again this year,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a story. And again perfect example of
Speaker 1: you know, call them assets, call them what you will,
Speaker 1: We're probably not doing our jobs. If you put that
Speaker 1: game on a Sunday at one o'clock and it's only
Speaker 1: available in twenty percent of the country, and it's got
Speaker 1: a Cowboys game and a Steelers game and a Chiefs
Speaker 1: game around it, that's a game that everybody's going to
Speaker 1: be interested in. So I think it's a pretty safe
Speaker 1: bet that that game is going to find itself in
Speaker 1: a national window when the schedule comes out.
Speaker 2: The Cincinnati Reds are home on the NFL's opening weekend.
Speaker 2: Years ago, it seemed like the Bengals never opened the
Speaker 2: season at home. If the Reds were home, does that
Speaker 2: have any impact in this day and age.
Speaker 1: Sure, Yeah, no question. I mean, look like we said,
Speaker 1: it's part art and part science. I'm sure the world
Speaker 1: would keep spinning if we went ahead and scheduled a
Speaker 1: Bengals game at the exact same time as a Reds game.
Speaker 1: But that's not in our best interest. That's not in
Speaker 1: the city of Cincinnati's best interest. I'm sure the you know,
Speaker 1: police force probably wouldn't appreciate all those people downtown. You know.
Speaker 1: I know we've done it for a preseason game, right
Speaker 1: maybe like a game in the afternoon and a game
Speaker 1: at night, and you can make a really fun sports
Speaker 1: day out of it. But I would not expect the
Speaker 1: Bengals and the Reds to be playing at the same time,
Speaker 1: at least as it pertains to the Reds regular season schedule.
Speaker 1: You know, will work around the Reds as best we
Speaker 1: can weeks one, two, three, and four, when at least
Speaker 1: the red schedule is known. Weeks five, six, seven, eight,
Speaker 1: the Red schedule is not known. We have no idea
Speaker 1: which these baseball teams are going to be in playoffs.
Speaker 1: We have enough trouble guessing which NFL teams are going
Speaker 1: to be in the playoff chase, so you know, we
Speaker 1: may find ourselves one of these Octobers where we might
Speaker 1: have to do a Bengals in a Reds doubleheader, and
Speaker 1: I'm sure we'll work with the city. We'll work with
Speaker 1: our friends at the Major League Baseball and try to
Speaker 1: make sure that everybody can you know, have a good
Speaker 1: experience with it. But yeah, whether it's you know, fans
Speaker 1: having to choose, media, having to cover downtown footprint, traffic, congestion, police, whatever,
Speaker 1: it is probably not our best schedule if we have
Speaker 1: to have the Reds and Bengals playing at the same time.
Speaker 1: So we'll avoid it in the regular season. Regular season
Speaker 1: for baseball. Once you know, the Reds make the playoffs,
Speaker 1: well we might have to have a conversation and figure
Speaker 1: out the right way to handle, you know, a Sunday
Speaker 1: in October if both teams are playing at home.
Speaker 2: Will be a good issue for the Cincinnati Yeah, fan
Speaker 2: base to have. All right, final question for you, Mike,
Speaker 2: I appreciate your time. This is a bit of a
Speaker 2: curve ball. Last year's Super Bowl drew a record for
Speaker 2: most total viewers. More than one hundred and fifteen million
Speaker 2: people watch the Super Bowl, but the highest share for
Speaker 2: a Super Bowl game is Super Bowl sixteen Bengals and
Speaker 2: forty nine Ers. With changes in TV viewership. Is that
Speaker 2: record considered impossible to break?
Speaker 1: Good question. I'll never stay impossible, because you know, we
Speaker 1: may well find ourselves one day with you know, the
Speaker 1: best storyline we could imagine, whatever that is in a
Speaker 1: super Bowl. So I'll never say never. But your point
Speaker 1: is valid. When when we talk about, you know, share,
Speaker 1: what you're talking about is people watching television. How many
Speaker 1: were watching you know, that one program. You know when
Speaker 1: we grew up Dan and they were what three four
Speaker 1: channels right, So on the television, you didn't have that
Speaker 1: many choices. And if you're watching television, you were probably
Speaker 1: watching whatever the big event was. You know. Now our
Speaker 1: kids are growing up with hundreds, hundreds, hundreds of channels
Speaker 1: and they don't even have to just go to the
Speaker 1: television to ingest their media. They can follow other things,
Speaker 1: including the super Bowl online. So is that share number safe?
Speaker 1: It probably is. There's just so many options out there,
Speaker 1: so many different, you know, outlets for entertainment. I think
Speaker 1: if anybody were interested in watching the super Bowl, they'd
Speaker 1: be watching the super Bowl. It's not like anybody you
Speaker 1: know forgot the super Bowl was on, you know, all
Speaker 1: the promotion in the marketing and whatever. You think is
Speaker 1: helping drive viewership at least in the regular season, probably
Speaker 1: not necessary at super Bowl time. So those who want
Speaker 1: to watch will watch, you know. It's part of the
Speaker 1: reason why we've you know, changed it into more of
Speaker 1: a you know, family friendly event, if you will. And
Speaker 1: whether it's you know, pregame or the halftime show or
Speaker 1: whatever it is that goes into the Super Bowl. Now,
Speaker 1: hopefully there's something for everybody. Hopefully anybody who wants to
Speaker 1: watch can watch it. But you're probably right. My guess
Speaker 1: would be that share record is safe.
Speaker 2: The outcome of Super Bowl sixteen was not what we desired,
Speaker 2: but it's nice to have the record for the greatest
Speaker 2: super Bowl TV share of all time?
Speaker 1: Wasn't it? Also? Wasn't that game also played during like
Speaker 1: an ice storm.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Pontiac Silver Dome with horrific weather that is.
Speaker 1: So nobody could leave their homes. They were trapped and
Speaker 1: there were only three or four television channels. I mean,
Speaker 1: I guess that's how you said a record. If we
Speaker 1: ever find ourselves with you know, a real you know
Speaker 1: blizzard across all fifty states and all the you know
Speaker 1: internet goes out and you know, all the television channels
Speaker 1: go dark except for a couple maybe we could threaten
Speaker 1: that share record, but I think it's probably safe. Mike.
Speaker 2: I can't imagine how busy you are right now, so
Speaker 2: for you to do this less than forty eight hours
Speaker 2: before the release show on TV, I'm really grateful. I
Speaker 2: know my audience loves hearing your insight, and I look
Speaker 2: forward to doing it again with you at this time
Speaker 2: next year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I always happy to talk about it. I'm still,
Speaker 1: you know, marvel humbled that people are so interested and
Speaker 1: it's become a, you know, one of the tenth pole
Speaker 1: events of the NFL season schedule release. It didn't used
Speaker 1: to be, right, It used to just kind of sneak
Speaker 1: out a little stealth, kind of under the radar on
Speaker 1: a you know, random Thursday in April. But the fact
Speaker 1: that everybody's so interested now, you know, hopefully justifies all
Speaker 1: the hard work that the team puts in. We're we're
Speaker 1: really lucky, We're really grateful. We've got an incredible staff
Speaker 1: that really do give you know, twenty four to seven
Speaker 1: for a good ten or twelve weeks here. This thing
Speaker 1: couldn't happen without folks like Annie Bo's and Charlotte Carey
Speaker 1: and Blake Jones and Lucy Popco and well, we're really,
Speaker 1: really fortunate that everybody works so hard and cares so much,
Speaker 1: and really looking forward to the schedule getting out there
Speaker 1: and hearing everybody's reactions. I know it won't all be posled,
Speaker 1: but like you when we were looking and I were
Speaker 1: saying right before we came on, you know, nobody gets everything.
Speaker 1: Everybody gets something. Nobody's ever going to be perfectly happy
Speaker 1: with their schedule, but hopefully in the sense that anybody's disappointed,
Speaker 1: you know, hopefully it's just a little bit, and hopefully
Speaker 1: it's pretty evenly across all thirty two teams and all
Speaker 1: of our media partners. And then the season will start
Speaker 1: and best laid plans right out the window. We'll see
Speaker 1: what storylines emerge. And like we said, these games belong
Speaker 1: to our fans, and we'll make sure that we can
Speaker 1: move them around as best we can in as fair
Speaker 1: way as we can to make sure that everybody can
Speaker 1: watch the ones they want to watch.
Speaker 2: The schedule release is set for eight o'clock on Thursday,
Speaker 2: with separate shows on the NFL Network and ESPN two.
Speaker 2: The Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you by pay Corps.
Speaker 2: More than twenty nine thousand customers trust Paycrep to help
Speaker 2: them recruit, pay, engage and retain employees. Learn more at
Speaker 2: paycorp dot com and by Bengals Picks and Ultimate Bengals.
Speaker 2: They're free to play with tickets and side merchandise up
Speaker 2: for grabs. Find both inside the Bengals app. The Bengals
Speaker 2: signed three free agents this offseason who already have Super
Speaker 2: Bowl rings. One is Orlando Brown, who won a ring
Speaker 2: last year with the Chiefs. The others are cornerback Sydney
Speaker 2: Jones the fourth, who was a rookie with the Eagles
Speaker 2: back in twenty seventeen when they beat the Patriots, and
Speaker 2: quarterback Trevor Simeon, who is a rookie of the Broncos
Speaker 2: in twenty fifteen when they beat the Panthers. Brian Callahan
Speaker 2: was on Denver's coaching staff at the time. Sidney Jones
Speaker 2: fourth is a former Washington Husky whose teammates there included
Speaker 2: current Bengals Jake Browning and Drew Sample. He's played for
Speaker 2: four NFL teams over the last six seasons, and he
Speaker 2: turns twenty seven. In a couple of weeks. Our first
Speaker 2: opportunity to visit with Sidney Jones, one of the newest
Speaker 2: Bengals after signing, is a free agent this offseason. What
Speaker 2: appealed to you about coming to Cincinnati.
Speaker 4: Playoff team, playoff caliber team, super Bowl opportunity. It's a great,
Speaker 4: great team, great organization. Heard many, many great things about
Speaker 4: this place, so definitely decided to step in the building
Speaker 4: to contribute.
Speaker 2: The Bengals mentioned when they signed you they had great
Speaker 2: reports going back to when you came out of college
Speaker 2: and were drafted in the second round. Did they indicate
Speaker 2: to you that you are a player that they've been
Speaker 2: following for a long time.
Speaker 4: Actually, Uh, before I signed with Vegas last year, they
Speaker 4: got a hold of me. You wanted me to come here,
Speaker 4: but at that point I already committed to Vegas. So
Speaker 4: it's cause like kind of kind of one of those deals.
Speaker 4: I couldn't, you know, break that promise, but it all
Speaker 4: ended up working out, coming coming back full circle. So uh,
Speaker 4: definitely grateful for that.
Speaker 2: Looking at the roster, Chita bea Wuche is coming back
Speaker 2: from his torn ac all everything looks good. They expect
Speaker 2: him to be good to go for Week one. Cam
Speaker 2: Taylor Britt had a very good rookie year, but that
Speaker 2: leaves a lot of snaps for somebody to play on
Speaker 2: the outside at corner. Do you see yourself having a
Speaker 2: significant role?
Speaker 4: Uh, definitely, that's that's always my mentality. All is my
Speaker 4: goal to come in and contribute and do whatever it
Speaker 4: takes for this team to win.
Speaker 2: Tell me a little bit about how you feel about
Speaker 2: your NFL career today, because it looks to me like
Speaker 2: when you've been healthy, you've played well, but staying healthy
Speaker 2: has been the challenge.
Speaker 4: Definitely, an injury is part of the game. You know,
Speaker 4: They're definitely unfortunate. They come at weird times and you
Speaker 4: hope you do everything you can to avoid them. But
Speaker 4: sometimes it's just it's just part of the game and
Speaker 4: it happens. But definitely, when I'm healthy, I know what
Speaker 4: type of caliber player I am.
Speaker 2: For visiting the Sidney Jones, what do you think you
Speaker 2: bring to the table here?
Speaker 4: I bring uh physicality, ball skills, competitive nature, Uh, just
Speaker 4: just everything you're looking for in a football player. I
Speaker 4: think I'm all around, all around, versutil player.
Speaker 2: Did you know anybody here? You got any friends in
Speaker 2: this locker room?
Speaker 1: Jake Browning.
Speaker 4: Drew Simple, you dub guys, I know chiad be Woza
Speaker 4: Little Pac twelve love you played a Colorado up? I
Speaker 4: was that you dubh Who else? Irwin?
Speaker 1: We go way back with it.
Speaker 4: He he doesn't remember me because we used to play
Speaker 4: seven or seven against each other in SoCal He didn't
Speaker 4: he didn't remember me.
Speaker 1: We played against each other at Stanford.
Speaker 4: When I was a U dub two. Uh, that might
Speaker 4: be about it.
Speaker 2: Does Trenton Irwin really not remember you? Or did you
Speaker 2: shut him down so that he is claiming not to remember?
Speaker 2: You never know?
Speaker 1: You never know?
Speaker 4: He got me. I think he used to get out
Speaker 4: for me in high school a little bit, but I
Speaker 4: got after him in college a little bit, so you know,
Speaker 4: a little good trade off.
Speaker 2: How did those Washington guys help? Did they share any
Speaker 2: insight about playing for this team and.
Speaker 1: In this city?
Speaker 4: They say, you'll love it, So let's I trust those guys.
Speaker 2: So what was your impression of the Bengals as a
Speaker 2: player around another team? Looking at how this team has
Speaker 2: you know, grown and become a contender in recent years. O,
Speaker 2: It's great to see.
Speaker 4: I love I love looking at teams and seeing their
Speaker 4: growth and seeing you know, they came from necessarily in
Speaker 4: a non competitive spot to going to a competitive spot,
Speaker 4: and then that's something I really enjoy, uh something about
Speaker 4: my personality. I'll take pride in like just building something
Speaker 4: and wanting to be a part of growth.
Speaker 1: We kind of my time at UDAL was kind of
Speaker 1: like that.
Speaker 4: We're just kind of you know, base, baseline, average, whatever.
Speaker 4: And I feel like I was a part of something
Speaker 4: that grew and and and took it over so that
Speaker 4: we didn't win a national championship, but we finished them
Speaker 4: or fourth in the country, got to the playoffs, and
Speaker 4: I felt like I was part of that growth and
Speaker 4: that whole project of building that. So, uh just I
Speaker 4: love seeing that wherever it's, whatever sport is in.
Speaker 1: I love sports.
Speaker 4: So just watching watching a player or organization kind of
Speaker 4: take uh take its growth and take its course has
Speaker 4: been a good thing to watch.
Speaker 2: It's just a young secondary, especially after the departures of
Speaker 2: Jesse Bates and Von Bell. Do you think your leadership
Speaker 2: is going to be significant.
Speaker 4: Along with Tudo, along with Mike Hilton and Mike t
Speaker 4: I think my experience, I have a lot of experience
Speaker 4: and can shed a lot of knowledge and wherever I
Speaker 4: sit in and as you know, as I grow with
Speaker 4: the team and get comfortable and build trust with the guys,
Speaker 4: I definitely think that will be valuable.
Speaker 2: Jones will wear the number twenty four in Cincinnati. The
Speaker 2: Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you by Kettering Health,
Speaker 2: the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. With more than
Speaker 2: one hundred and twenty care facilities and fifteen hundred care providers,
Speaker 2: Kettering Health is committed to guiding you to your best health.
Speaker 2: Visit ketteringhealth dot org to learn more. Up Next recently
Speaker 2: signed quarterback Trevor Simeon, who will compete with Jake Browning
Speaker 2: to be Joe burrows backup. Simeon is thirty one years
Speaker 2: old and has started a total of thirty in the
Speaker 2: NFL for the Broncos, Jets, Saints, and Bears. In fact,
Speaker 2: his best NFL start statistically was against the Bengals because
Speaker 2: he threw for three hundred and twelve yards and four
Speaker 2: touchdowns in a win at Peycorp Stadium in twenty sixteen.
Speaker 2: First day in a new place, describe this feeling. I
Speaker 2: know you've been through it a few times before.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's good. It's exciting to get to meet everybody,
Speaker 3: meet my teammates and get a lay of the land.
Speaker 3: So two hours in so far, so.
Speaker 2: Go who did you know? If anybody?
Speaker 3: Not really anybody you know? I know, no Cali, James
Speaker 3: Casey I played with in Denver for a little bit.
Speaker 3: But yeah, just getting to know everybody, shaking hands and
Speaker 3: trying to learn everybody's.
Speaker 2: Names, presenting with Trevor Simmy and based on everything I've read,
Speaker 2: you and Brian Kellen have a great relationship.
Speaker 3: Yeah, CALLI was my assistant coach quarterback coach in my
Speaker 3: rookie year, and we had a Greg Napp uh and
Speaker 3: obviously Peyton was in there in brock Oswiler. So we
Speaker 3: had a good group. And you know, you're something about
Speaker 3: your first year. You allus remember that that kind of closeness.
Speaker 2: Did you get the sense that Brian really sold you,
Speaker 2: for lack of a better expression, to Zach and to ownership,
Speaker 2: as this guy would be the perfect fit on our roster.
Speaker 1: I hope.
Speaker 3: So I don't know, yeah, I hope. So you know
Speaker 3: we've kept in touch, you know, via text over the
Speaker 3: last several years. But uh, yeah, I thought it was
Speaker 3: it was a cool opportunity to link up with somebody
Speaker 3: that I had crossed over with before, and obviously, you know,
Speaker 3: I just want to be on a good team with
Speaker 3: some good coaches.
Speaker 2: So years probably fly by. When you're playing in the NFL.
Speaker 2: You've gone from young starter now to experienced mentor. Is
Speaker 2: that difficult to process?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I don't.
Speaker 3: I try not to process it now minute. You know,
Speaker 3: every once in a while you kind of figuring out
Speaker 3: what what uh? What's what's transpired? But you know, I'm
Speaker 3: thankful for every every bit of it, every team I've
Speaker 3: been on, every coach, every teammate. It's it's been a
Speaker 3: fun ride. So excited to keep it going.
Speaker 2: The quarterback fraternity is an interesting one. What have been
Speaker 2: your impressions of Joe Burrow from AFAR.
Speaker 3: I love watching him play. I think he's, you know,
Speaker 3: it is a terrific football player, and you know, as
Speaker 3: a quarterback, you certainly appreciate, you know, a couple the
Speaker 3: top handful of guys watching him play on TV, and
Speaker 3: he's he's a guy that you know, I will certainly
Speaker 3: stop what I'm doing and watch a ball game.
Speaker 2: For anything in particular standout, Yeah, I think.
Speaker 3: He's I think he's just got a great feel for
Speaker 3: passing the football. You know, I think, uh, sorts of
Speaker 3: anticipation they can make obviously every throw and there's a
Speaker 3: little bit of creativity in there too. So just a
Speaker 3: fun guy to watch.
Speaker 2: Where does your four touchdown game against the Bengals stack
Speaker 2: is one of your favorite NFL highlights? Uh?
Speaker 3: You know, it's up there. It's fun. It's fun. I've
Speaker 3: always enjoyed winning on the road, so I think all
Speaker 3: the road winds I've had in my career are definitely
Speaker 3: up there. But yeah, it's it's fun looking back at it.
Speaker 3: Cool to be here now playing on the home side.
Speaker 2: You've got a Super Bowl ring, correct.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I like to get another one.
Speaker 2: We would like you to get another one. I was
Speaker 2: just talking to Sydney Jones, the fourth who's new this year.
Speaker 2: He has one as a rookie with the Eagles. When
Speaker 2: you've been on a team that's done that, how much
Speaker 2: is it what your appetite to be part of it again?
Speaker 3: Huge? You know? And I was. It was my rookie
Speaker 3: year too, so I was so spoiled in that sense. Uh,
Speaker 3: And it is. It's it's a totally different feeling, and
Speaker 3: it's it's something that you know, when you go through
Speaker 3: the first time, you're like, well, maybe maybe I get
Speaker 3: back again, and you're trying to not take it for granted,
Speaker 3: but kind of seeing what it what it took, and
Speaker 3: what the team looked like, and you know, got to
Speaker 3: get a ball to bounce your your way a few
Speaker 3: times and you got a really freaking good team. So yeah,
Speaker 3: looking looking forward to trying to do it this year.
Speaker 2: Simeon will wear the number nineteen in a Bengals uniform.
Speaker 2: That's going to do it. For this episode of The
Speaker 2: Bengals Booth podcast brought to you by Kettering Health, the
Speaker 2: official healthcare provider of the Bengals, by Bengals Picks and
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Speaker 2: I'm Dan Horn and thanks for listening to The Bengals
Speaker 2: Booth podcast