Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio News.
Speaker 2: Hi.
Speaker 3: Everyone, welcome to the deal. I'm Jason Kelly along with
Speaker 3: my co host Alex Rodriguez. All right, Alex, I feel
Speaker 3: like this is a really special edition kind of paired
Speaker 3: with some of our earlier shows. We're getting deep into
Speaker 3: the media world, not just the media world, the baseball
Speaker 3: media world of New York City sports radio talk show hosts.
Speaker 3: Mike Francessa. You listen to him, You listen to him
Speaker 3: talk about you. So I can't wait to get into
Speaker 3: all that. I mean, you've got to have a lot
Speaker 3: to ask him.
Speaker 4: First of all, a lot like Michael Kay.
Speaker 5: These guys have had Mike Processa on sports radio talk
Speaker 5: over the last three and a half decades, So passionate,
Speaker 5: bigger than life character, and when he has an opinion,
Speaker 5: he's resolute about it with a lot of factions.
Speaker 1: Everyone's going to hear it. All right.
Speaker 3: So before we get to that, you and I both
Speaker 3: sent our college kids back to school, which I don't
Speaker 3: know how it is in your house. That's a big
Speaker 3: moment in my house because everything, like the tone and
Speaker 3: tenor just changes when they leave.
Speaker 5: Bittersweetness for sure, you know, I have one in Michigan
Speaker 5: who's a sophomore this year, and then I send my
Speaker 5: little one to Boston on a you know, little retreat,
Speaker 5: and I miss my girls, you know, dearly as you
Speaker 5: as you do.
Speaker 1: I'm sure, all right.
Speaker 3: So one of the things that does happen when fall
Speaker 3: is upon us is college football's back, which has been
Speaker 3: super exciting to watch. You have to be excited about
Speaker 3: the Miami Hurricanes right now. They're looking really, really good.
Speaker 1: So that's one.
Speaker 3: And then playoff baseball, the NFL so World Series. Playoff baseball.
Speaker 3: You're going to be in LA, You're going to be
Speaker 3: tracking it. How are you feeling about the playoffs upcoming?
Speaker 4: Well, first of.
Speaker 5: All, you know to zoom out Jason's answer your first question.
Speaker 5: I feel great about baseball. I think commission on Manford
Speaker 5: and Tony Clark the head of the union. Obviously Rob Manford,
Speaker 5: the baseball commissioner. He deserves to go to the Hall
Speaker 5: of Fame just for this one change he did alone.
Speaker 4: Is the time clock.
Speaker 5: You've gone from three and a half hours to under
Speaker 5: two or two and change.
Speaker 4: That's been wonderful.
Speaker 5: I'm one probably in the minority, Jason, and where I'm
Speaker 5: incredibly bullish in baseball long term.
Speaker 4: Obviously short term you have some you know, headwinds.
Speaker 5: However, I think you have a perfect storm potentially with
Speaker 5: the World Series that is very much looking like it
Speaker 5: could be a rematch of seventy seven to seventy eight
Speaker 5: World Series.
Speaker 4: Of Yankees Dodgers.
Speaker 5: Now, one of the things that I think Rob Manford
Speaker 5: and Tony Clark, the head of the Union, have an
Speaker 5: opportunity is you have to change the narrative a little bit.
Speaker 5: You can't have the only metrics be ratings because you
Speaker 5: have a competitive disadvantage with Fox. I mean, you have
Speaker 5: NFL at you know, seventeen eighteen games, you have NBA
Speaker 5: eighty two and you're at one sixty two. The conversation
Speaker 5: that we'll be getting out there is the biggest inning eater,
Speaker 5: which means we get more content in our sport consumed
Speaker 5: by fans than any sport around And that conversation should
Speaker 5: be monetized some way, somehow. And then you got to
Speaker 5: jump into you know, can we do a situation where
Speaker 5: you have what HBO does with their show with Hard
Speaker 5: Knocks and all of that, and yeah, look you have Otani,
Speaker 5: you have Judge of so many wonderful stories. But I
Speaker 5: think over the next three to five years, baseball should
Speaker 5: start changing the conversation and really taking the helmets off
Speaker 5: these great players so we can be invested in them,
Speaker 5: so then we can cheer for them.
Speaker 4: And I'll give you another status is going to blow
Speaker 4: you away? You ready for this? Bucking your chin strap, Jason?
Speaker 4: Are you ready?
Speaker 1: All right?
Speaker 5: The Dodgers is my prediction, and we're going to go
Speaker 5: back and visit it. I want you to call me
Speaker 5: on it, so keep me honest. The Dodgers will be
Speaker 5: the first team in professional sports around the globe that
Speaker 5: surpasses the billion dollar revenue mark, and.
Speaker 4: A big part of that is Otani.
Speaker 1: Totally. Yeah, it was interesting.
Speaker 3: I I was just talking about how baseball does have
Speaker 3: this global opportunity which is sitting right there which to
Speaker 3: compare contrast.
Speaker 1: And I'm with you.
Speaker 3: I think Manfred has done a really good job, especially
Speaker 3: of late, with the things that he's doing with the game.
Speaker 3: The pitchclock, you know, the widening the bases, you know,
Speaker 3: some of the rules, extra innings and whatnot that have
Speaker 3: sped the game up, made it a little more exciting.
Speaker 3: It does feel like baseball is missing a beat that
Speaker 3: the NFL is increasingly aggressive on, that the NBA is
Speaker 3: super aggressive on in terms of really making it a
Speaker 3: global game. And when you think about how popular baseball
Speaker 3: was in this country, it is just as popular, if
Speaker 3: not more so. If you think about Central and South America,
Speaker 3: you think about Asia, as you were just mentioning with Otani,
Speaker 3: think about the you know, the season starting as it
Speaker 3: did in Korea, massive massive fan base. They need to
Speaker 3: be leaning into that more. And part of it is
Speaker 3: just embracing it in a way. Fe and you've had
Speaker 3: a front row seat to this. The NBA has done
Speaker 3: that in a massive way, recruiting from overseas and also
Speaker 3: exporting the product there. So I just I feel like
Speaker 3: baseball needs to and can do more, or otherwise it
Speaker 3: is gonna keep sort of slipping vis a vis some
Speaker 3: of these other big pro leagues.
Speaker 5: And let me add one thing to your great point
Speaker 5: is think about the NBA right, whether it's Steph Curry,
Speaker 5: going back, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, you think about Michael Jordan,
Speaker 5: and take our own player, Anthony Edwards, who just turned
Speaker 5: twenty three. He just finished on Netflix documentary. We know
Speaker 5: more about Anthony Edwards than we know about Aaron Judge
Speaker 5: and Shohei Otani, and there's absolutely.
Speaker 4: No reason for that.
Speaker 5: These guys are world class, historic players, but we need
Speaker 5: to invest in marketing these players and getting to know that.
Speaker 4: And that goes back to the friction.
Speaker 5: Of course, Marvin Miller who started the union, you know,
Speaker 5: many decades ago, and baseball with this.
Speaker 4: Union owners hate each other.
Speaker 5: You've got to come together and build that watermelon as
Speaker 5: big as possible and try to figure out what's a
Speaker 5: better way to split that.
Speaker 3: And to wrap this up. I mean, the product on
Speaker 3: the field is great. So I was toward the end
Speaker 3: of the summer, I was in southern California, as you know,
Speaker 3: we were in LA for the weekend. We literally landed
Speaker 3: and everybody, I felt like we ran into a lax
Speaker 3: was talking about the fact that Shohe Otani had just
Speaker 3: had a walk off Grand Slam, and I mean it
Speaker 3: was like one of those electric moments where you know
Speaker 3: you're in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: If you think about Otani, you think about Aaron Judge.
Speaker 3: These are generational players, and so you really do hope,
Speaker 3: you know, selfishly just for fans, but also selfishly for
Speaker 3: the business of baseball. Otani versus Judge in the World Series.
Speaker 1: I'm in. I'm one hundred percent.
Speaker 5: Is there a better product than watching Otani against Judge,
Speaker 5: Yankees versus Dodgers and Yankee Stadium or Dodgers you pick
Speaker 5: on a beautiful fall night. I mean, I take it
Speaker 5: against football. I'll take it against basketball, take it against soccer.
Speaker 5: There is nothing better. So to your point, the heart,
Speaker 5: this sport's already done. You have a talent, you have
Speaker 5: a great game, you have an incredible history. Now we
Speaker 5: got to do a little bit more storytelling.
Speaker 1: Yes, exactly.
Speaker 3: All right, Well, speaking of storytelling, we know that he's
Speaker 3: a big storyteller. Coming up, sports radio talk show host
Speaker 3: Mike Francessa the legend he's going to tell us, probably
Speaker 3: his take.
Speaker 1: On what's going to happen coming out of the World Series.
Speaker 3: All right, so, Alex, we're bringing in now Mike Francessa,
Speaker 3: a legend, no doubt about it. One of the most successful,
Speaker 3: best known sports radio talk show hosts in American history.
Speaker 1: Mike, Welcome to the deal.
Speaker 2: My pleasure. Hey, Ron, how are you.
Speaker 6: I'm doing great, Mike, Great to see you, as always.
Speaker 2: My pleasure.
Speaker 1: All right, So let's start there.
Speaker 3: Mike what do you remember about first hearing about and
Speaker 3: meeting Alex Rodriguez.
Speaker 2: You know, the Mike and the Man show had already
Speaker 2: started before er came up. But Ayrod was a very
Speaker 2: savvy player, even when he was in Seattle. And he
Speaker 2: actually came and visited our show at spring training one time,
Speaker 2: and we were like completely mystified and surprised because that's
Speaker 2: very unusual for an out of town player, especially a
Speaker 2: young one, to kind of seek us out. And he
Speaker 2: came and introduced himself to us, and we were like
Speaker 2: shocked by that, And he came on the show, and
Speaker 2: then he had a habit of coming on the show
Speaker 2: a lot, and then obviously as the years went on,
Speaker 2: he and I developed a friendship. Then eventually, obviously his
Speaker 2: career led to the Yankees after the stint in Texas,
Speaker 2: and all those years he would be a visitor on
Speaker 2: the show a couple of times a year, he'd be
Speaker 2: a guest. He became kind of a regular, and obviously
Speaker 2: when he came to New York, it blossomed from there
Speaker 2: and we've always maintained a close relationship.
Speaker 1: So Alex, what prompted you to do that in the
Speaker 1: first place.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Well, look the thing about Mike, and I'm lucky
Speaker 5: to call him a friend today and a big fan,
Speaker 5: but I get upset with him sometimes because you know,
Speaker 5: he's got the perfect hair, he's got a house he's
Speaker 5: in I think Cornelius Vanderbilder.
Speaker 6: John T.
Speaker 2: Rockerrock get Off. It is about as big as your
Speaker 2: garage when are you a kid.
Speaker 5: And so you know, I was a fan Jason way
Speaker 5: before I was a major league baseball player, and I
Speaker 5: was fortunate to play for almost a quarter of a century.
Speaker 5: But with Mike, he's such an integral part and has
Speaker 5: been of the fabric.
Speaker 6: Of New York sports, New York period. So anyways, Mike
Speaker 6: is awesome. I don't think there'll ever be another one
Speaker 6: like Mike.
Speaker 2: Prosessa listen Ad has been a big Stuft for a
Speaker 2: very long time. And the Mic and the Marydog Show was,
Speaker 2: you know, hit the ground running and became a sensation.
Speaker 2: It really did. And we were together for twenty years,
Speaker 2: so we were in a big place for a long time.
Speaker 2: So we had a lot of players, but he was
Speaker 2: one that was always connected to us. So that's really
Speaker 2: how it started. And then a Ron obviously had just
Speaker 2: not been one who was shied away from the line light.
Speaker 2: Through the years, he seemed to find the spotlight now
Speaker 2: and again, as we all know.
Speaker 3: Really well, I want to dig into the Mike and
Speaker 3: the mad Dog era, but I would love to go
Speaker 3: back just a little further if we could, because it's funny.
Speaker 3: Alex and I talk about this all the time because
Speaker 3: I have something of a dream job.
Speaker 1: Alex has obviously had a dream job.
Speaker 3: You have a dream job, But like there are a
Speaker 3: lot of kids who have dreams of being who you are,
Speaker 3: How does.
Speaker 1: This start for you?
Speaker 3: Like are you listening to the radio as a kid
Speaker 3: and saying I can do that?
Speaker 1: Like, what's the origin story here?
Speaker 2: Okay, like every other kid. When I was a kid,
Speaker 2: I grew up and I wanted to play center field
Speaker 2: for the Yankees. Okay, I wasn't good enough. Okay, I
Speaker 2: love baseball. I like to play baseball. But that's everybody's
Speaker 2: dream when they are kids. And I did not grow
Speaker 2: up wanting to be a broadcaster. But I did always
Speaker 2: have a fascination and a very much an attachments to
Speaker 2: sports and to the game since I was a little boy.
Speaker 2: I've just always devoured everything. When I was a little kid.
Speaker 2: I used to stop this on the school bus a
Speaker 2: block from school and buy the newspapers when I was
Speaker 2: in second grade and read them in the classroom. I
Speaker 2: paid eight cents for the daily news in those days,
Speaker 2: so I did it from a very young age. What
Speaker 2: happened was my first real break was well. ESPN wanted
Speaker 2: to hid me, but I wound up going to CBS
Speaker 2: and I became Brent Musburger's right hand man, his information guy.
Speaker 2: At a very young age, I worked on the NFL Today.
Speaker 2: I wrote Jimmy the Greek Syndicate a column when I
Speaker 2: was very young. I worked for him. I did the
Speaker 2: NFL Today for years. I wrote Jimmy the Greek's column
Speaker 2: three times a week when I was eighteen. I actually
Speaker 2: inherited it from Pete x Holm. As a matter of fact,
Speaker 2: it was one of the brilliant sports writers of all time,
Speaker 2: who was a guy who was a little bit of
Speaker 2: a mentor to me, who died very young. So I
Speaker 2: got involved, and he is really the way I got
Speaker 2: into sports. Talok, it's very strange, who worked at ESPN
Speaker 2: for many years. You might know him as a divine albino.
Speaker 2: He's a legendary figure in sports. He was at Rolling Stone,
Speaker 2: but then he became the guy who ran Inside Sports magazine.
Speaker 2: I did some work for Inside Sports magazine. Well, Inside
Speaker 2: Sports Magazine went out and John was looking to do something,
Speaker 2: so he said, Hey, I'm going to pitch Random House
Speaker 2: on a book. You write the college let Pete Axlm
Speaker 2: write the pros. So he did a book called Inside
Speaker 2: Football for Random House for a couple of years eighty
Speaker 2: four eighty five. I was a lowman on a totem
Speaker 2: pole because Axel was already the guy who was the
Speaker 2: commerce for Newsweek. He was a legendary writer. He was
Speaker 2: a lot older than me. He was twenty years older
Speaker 2: than me. So I was the lowman on a totem pole.
Speaker 2: I had to do all the interviews at the radio
Speaker 2: stations to promote the book. When I would go to
Speaker 2: promote the book, I'd sit in there and they'd interview me,
Speaker 2: and I'd walk out of the room and I swear
Speaker 2: I'm not going to mention any names. I'd walk out
Speaker 2: and say, hey, I could be better than that guy
Speaker 2: right now, I mean, and I was like, you gotta
Speaker 2: be kidding me. I could do this blindfolded better than
Speaker 2: that guy. Okay, well I thought about that. And then
Speaker 2: during the eighty six playoffs, so I'm driving and I'm
Speaker 2: listening to ten fifty country music AM station in New
Speaker 2: York WHN ten to fifty AM. They had the met
Speaker 2: games and they go to commercial with what they call
Speaker 2: a bump and it says sports Radio ten fifty, and
Speaker 2: I'm like, what what is sports radio ten fifty? So
Speaker 2: I investigate. I find out they're going to start an
Speaker 2: all sports station next July. They're gonna flip the station
Speaker 2: from country music. They had been bought by a company
Speaker 2: called M's Broadcasting at Indianapolis, and they're gonna start an
Speaker 2: all sports station. So I write them a letter. I
Speaker 2: asked them for an interview. They bring me in. They say,
Speaker 2: why would someone who works for CBS Sports Network Television
Speaker 2: want to work as a radio producer. I said, I
Speaker 2: don't want to be a radio producer. I said, I
Speaker 2: want to have a sports talk show. They said, oh no,
Speaker 2: we're bringing in the biggest guys in the country, the
Speaker 2: biggest guys. Ever. You wouldn't have a chance ever to
Speaker 2: have a show here. I said, give me a chance,
Speaker 2: and they said no. They said it's overqualified to be
Speaker 2: a producer. They said no once, they said no twice.
Speaker 2: I know one of the producers. I work with him
Speaker 2: at Gillett. I'll call him, he calls them. They gave
Speaker 2: me a weekend tryout that led to a weekend show,
Speaker 2: which led to me stepping in on Thanksgiving for Pete Franklin,
Speaker 2: which led to me going the afternoon drive and being
Speaker 2: there for thirty.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, that's incredible. So I mean, Alex, there's
Speaker 3: the lesson shoot your shot.
Speaker 5: So Mike, I want to go back a little bit
Speaker 5: before the weekend gig because obviously you're a voracious reader.
Speaker 5: The fact that you were behind the newspaper eight cents
Speaker 5: and second greatest incredible.
Speaker 6: I've never heard that. Was it your father? Was it
Speaker 6: your mother?
Speaker 5: Was it your grandpa? That you can hold court because
Speaker 5: you do have a gift from God that when you speak,
Speaker 5: you're able to land your points clearly and concisely.
Speaker 6: How and where the hell did you get that from?
Speaker 2: I've never really spent a lot of time on this.
Speaker 2: I think most of my audience knows it. My father
Speaker 2: left when I was very young. I never saw him again,
Speaker 2: so we grow up fatherless. My mother had to work
Speaker 2: my older brother took me to games a couple of
Speaker 2: times when I was we didn't have money to go
Speaker 2: to games or anything. I had to work most of
Speaker 2: my time since I was like nine years old to help,
Speaker 2: you know, put some you know, food on the table.
Speaker 2: I always had a knack for this stuff when I
Speaker 2: was young. It wasn't like anybody taught me. I taught myself.
Speaker 2: I've been lucky enough to have a lot of people
Speaker 2: I've met through the years who have been very good
Speaker 2: at teaching me different things. I spent a lot of
Speaker 2: years working with Arab Passeigan, who was a football wizard
Speaker 2: at CBS. Musburger was a guy I learned a lot
Speaker 2: from When I was young. Bill pass Els and I
Speaker 2: have always been very very close, So I've learned a
Speaker 2: lot of football from those guys. I got a chance
Speaker 2: to spend a lot of time around Bob Knight, I
Speaker 2: learned basketball. I think I've spent time around. I've been
Speaker 2: lucky to spend it around a lot of people who
Speaker 2: helped teach me the games the right way and put
Speaker 2: a lot of pressure on me to learn it the
Speaker 2: right way. So I think that was just thing positive.
Speaker 3: And so, Mike, how do you get together with Chris Russo,
Speaker 3: what's the mad dog Mike meet cute story?
Speaker 2: Oh, shotgun marriage? It was. So, here's what happens. I'm
Speaker 2: filling in for Pete Franklin, who has been ill. He
Speaker 2: had a three year contract. He came from Cleveland. He
Speaker 2: never caught on in New York. So they're going to
Speaker 2: move on now. Was the time when I'm filling in
Speaker 2: for him over the summer, I didn't realize I was
Speaker 2: doing really well in the ratings. I wasn't cognizant and
Speaker 2: small enough yet savvy enough to understand the ratings. I
Speaker 2: hadn't been the business long enough. If I did, it
Speaker 2: could have been a different because I might have implied
Speaker 2: some pressure, which I didn't think I had the ability
Speaker 2: to do that. I thought I had to just do
Speaker 2: what they said. They called me in at the time.
Speaker 2: Dog is doing really well. He's catching on what I
Speaker 2: am miss. He's got a little bit of a following.
Speaker 2: They called me and said, you know what, we're not
Speaker 2: getting a new Pete Franklin in September. We're going to
Speaker 2: put you in Afternoon Drive. I'm like, great, this is great.
Speaker 2: You won't regret it. And they said we have the
Speaker 2: show Mike and the Mad Dog, and I said, no way,
Speaker 2: no way. In the Afternoon Drive. I don't want to
Speaker 2: work with mad Dog, I said, I don't even like
Speaker 2: mad Dog. I want to work, I said, I've only
Speaker 2: heard him a couple of times. I want to I'm
Speaker 2: a solo act. I don't want to work with anybody.
Speaker 2: They said, either you work with Dog in the afternoon
Speaker 2: in ten days, or you don't go to Afternoon Drive.
Speaker 2: Your call. I'm like, I didn't think I had any leverage.
Speaker 2: I didn't realize they did. I go home, make a decision.
Speaker 2: I'll do it. He obviously doesn't want to do it either,
Speaker 2: but decides we'll both do it. A lot of people
Speaker 2: thought it was a big mistake. They're not gonna mesh.
Speaker 2: It's not gonna work. Well. It starts off and we
Speaker 2: hate each other and we are trying to one up
Speaker 2: each other, and we're fighting and we're screaming, and the
Speaker 2: show is awful, and the program director calls me and says,
Speaker 2: you know, the general manager, you didn't want this show.
Speaker 2: I just didn't believe in this show. I'm gonna get
Speaker 2: fired because of the show. This was my great idea,
Speaker 2: and you guys are blowing it. I'm telling you we'll
Speaker 2: take both of you down with me because you know what,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna get fired do something. So we go back.
Speaker 2: Nothing's working. I come up with a gimmick called Dog
Speaker 2: Date Afternoon I was married, Dog was single. He bought
Speaker 2: into it. It became a sensation. Now at the same time,
Speaker 2: the first book comes out, the rating book. Rating books
Speaker 2: are at that time, they're every three months. In radio,
Speaker 2: before that was just trends. The first rating period comes out,
Speaker 2: the first trend, and we go from eleventh to third.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: And then the book comes out and second and people
Speaker 2: are like, who were saying, we wouldn't have finished fifteenth?
Speaker 2: A sports show would never work in afternoon drive. No
Speaker 2: one could ever do a full time sports show in
Speaker 2: New York and get away with it. We're now number two,
Speaker 2: and we know now we're not going anywhere. Within six months,
Speaker 2: we're in number one by four points.
Speaker 6: Wow.
Speaker 2: And we knew that no matter what we did. What
Speaker 2: we both did was rip up our contracts and get
Speaker 2: new deals. And we realized that despite all our issues,
Speaker 2: that we were stuck together. And we were stuck together
Speaker 2: for twenty years. And you know why. It works so well.
Speaker 2: You know why it's the best sports stock show of
Speaker 2: all time by a mile, because you had two guys
Speaker 2: who understood how to work together and play off each other,
Speaker 2: but both thought they were better individually and alone than
Speaker 2: they were together their whole careers.
Speaker 1: Wow, So do you still feel that way?
Speaker 6: Yep.
Speaker 2: Now listen, he's still working twenty years later, doing really well.
Speaker 2: I was number one the rest of my life after
Speaker 2: he left, for the rest of my years, and that
Speaker 2: was about when he left. I worked eleven straight years
Speaker 2: and was number one the whole time. So I think
Speaker 2: we both proved a point and we were right together,
Speaker 2: and we were great apart. And the reason why we
Speaker 2: were so great together is because we're great apart.
Speaker 7: Yeah, and so what was it like when you did
Speaker 7: split up?
Speaker 1: What was that weird for you? Like? How did you
Speaker 1: very weird job?
Speaker 2: So the show? Now he left and they were really
Speaker 2: mad at him for leaving. Now, remember the station had
Speaker 2: just had had the same afternoon and morning drive for
Speaker 2: eighteen years, number one billing station in America many years.
Speaker 2: I am is in the morning, Mike and Amans are
Speaker 2: going the afternoon, the most accessible station in the country.
Speaker 2: They never had to think about anything for eighteen years
Speaker 2: and now Dog leaves, So now what they've had for
Speaker 2: all these years is gone. So did I feel pressure? Enormous,
Speaker 2: enormous pressure that a lot of people said I was
Speaker 2: not going to make it, it was not going to
Speaker 2: be the same. And I actually did better in the ratings,
Speaker 2: which I was very proud of. But I have to
Speaker 2: tell you, I really was worried. I have to admit,
Speaker 2: because I was like, if I fail, I'm never going
Speaker 2: to forgive myself and never hear the end of it.
Speaker 2: But didn't happen.
Speaker 5: So, Mike, I want to go back to what you said,
Speaker 5: which is really interesting, like the amount of pressure Mad
Speaker 5: Dog leaves.
Speaker 6: Now you're like a one man show.
Speaker 5: How much different was the preparation where you're one solo
Speaker 5: act for multiple hours versus being with Mad Dog with
Speaker 5: a co pilot.
Speaker 2: The preparation wasn't different, but the show is completely different. Well,
Speaker 2: because when you have a two man show, you had
Speaker 2: to realize early on that we sat down at the beginning,
Speaker 2: a lot of stuff has to be thought out when
Speaker 2: you're a two man show. Like we sat down early
Speaker 2: on and I said to the producer, Hey, everybody's gonna
Speaker 2: always ask me because they think I'm the sports guy.
Speaker 2: They're gonna ask me every question. We need to have
Speaker 2: Dog answer the phones. I'm not gonna answer the phones
Speaker 2: so that they talked to Dog first. Otherwise they're not
Speaker 2: gonna talk to him. So we have to have him.
Speaker 2: So what people don't realize is you have to have
Speaker 2: a division of labor to make those work. Twenty years,
Speaker 2: Mike and the Mad Dog, I never opened the show
Speaker 2: or close the show. You listen to two man shows,
Speaker 2: they'll be good night, good night, good night, good night,
Speaker 2: five times good night because they each want to say
Speaker 2: good night or hello. I never ever said hello, and
Speaker 2: I never ever said goodbye, and I never once welcomed
Speaker 2: in a phone call. In twenty years.
Speaker 5: Wow, and I've watched probably as many show as anybody.
Speaker 6: I've never noticed that as.
Speaker 2: A st No one knows that because we had to
Speaker 2: have a division of labor.
Speaker 3: Mike, if you think about decisions like that, like how
Speaker 3: much of it is instinct, how much of it is
Speaker 3: just learning from doing? Help us understand the the Mike
Speaker 3: Francesa's secret sauce here.
Speaker 2: All right, listen. It was my job to plan the
Speaker 2: show every day and that I would say, here's what
Speaker 2: we're gonna open with, here's what the story today is,
Speaker 2: here's where we're gonna go. Okay. Now, some days he
Speaker 2: might have an idea, and I'm not saying we wouldn't
Speaker 2: open with that, but most times that was my job, okay.
Speaker 2: And we always had an idea. We always knew where
Speaker 2: we were gonna go. But there were days where the
Speaker 2: show was slow, where we say we need to turn
Speaker 2: this over because it was flat, or I'd say come
Speaker 2: not a commercial and say follow me. If I said
Speaker 2: follow me, he could follow me. Unbelievably. He knew how
Speaker 2: to play the clown. I knew how to reel them
Speaker 2: out like a fishing rod. I would cast them out
Speaker 2: and reel them in. I would cast them out and
Speaker 2: reel them in. I would cast them out and make
Speaker 2: them nuts and have them go crazy. I would let
Speaker 2: them out, reel them in. That was my job.
Speaker 3: So Alex mentioned that, you know, now we find you
Speaker 3: on a platform wherever, obviously very familiar with the podcasting platform.
Speaker 3: How has that transition been for you?
Speaker 1: How?
Speaker 3: How is it the same, how is it different? And
Speaker 3: how do you approach it?
Speaker 2: It's not any different. I don't approach it any differently,
Speaker 2: except it's not Paul eccentric. It is top eccentric.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: So during football season, I love this. I will do
Speaker 2: a Wednesday live show and this year they've now created
Speaker 2: for me the Mike Francesc Channel on YouTube, so I
Speaker 2: have my own channel now. Also, I've been doing a
Speaker 2: lot of audio, but I'm going to do a lot
Speaker 2: of video too, and I'll have a huge audience and
Speaker 2: they'll listen to it. Some will stay up and watch it.
Speaker 2: Others well brand it Monday morning as the taking the
Speaker 2: train or wherever, or listening in their car. You know,
Speaker 2: this is now very different from the old days because
Speaker 2: now it's appointment radio. You can listen to anything anytime
Speaker 2: you want, which is something you didn't have. You know,
Speaker 2: in the old days, no one people would wait in
Speaker 2: their car and tell me they changed their lunch hour
Speaker 2: from twelve to one to one to two so that
Speaker 2: they could hear the open of the show.
Speaker 5: Hey, Mike, I love the fact that you have a
Speaker 5: video element, and for someone who's heard you as much
Speaker 5: as anyone. But Jason, let me bring you behind the
Speaker 5: scenes a little bit on Mike and I's relationship.
Speaker 6: You know, when my partner and I Mark Laurie.
Speaker 5: We're pursuing the Mets, and thank goodness that Steve con
Speaker 5: won that deal because we're very happy with the Timberloves.
Speaker 6: But as we were pursuing that, it was it was
Speaker 6: a very long.
Speaker 5: Entiresome process, probably seven eight months along those and that
Speaker 5: was around COVID. I would tick in with Mike all
Speaker 5: the time because no one knows that fan base better
Speaker 5: than Mike.
Speaker 6: Princessa period story, and when he was giving me this.
Speaker 5: Advice, I quickly found out, I'm like this guy, Mike
Speaker 5: Prosessa could be an incredible asset to Mark and I
Speaker 5: and I was going to offer from a huge job
Speaker 5: with us with the Matt's huge I don't know if
Speaker 5: it would have taken it, but I'm surprised, Mike that
Speaker 5: more people in ownership management haven't approached you to dig
Speaker 5: into your your rolodex, the way you think about sports,
Speaker 5: connecting with the fan base, and your knowledge of sports.
Speaker 6: I know football, but baseballs, because what I heard your
Speaker 6: most is what I know most.
Speaker 5: Anyone besides us that was kind of thinking about bringing
Speaker 5: you into the front office, and that's something.
Speaker 6: You would consider.
Speaker 2: I have to tell you a couple of ownership groups
Speaker 2: called me up about different things. One called me up
Speaker 2: and asked me what the big that happened? Once? You
Speaker 2: know that when you talked about that, I told you
Speaker 2: about a couple of the ownership groups that I knew
Speaker 2: were doing what because a couple of them had called me.
Speaker 2: You actually know a couple of the other guys. Obviously
Speaker 2: we don't need to say the names. But there were
Speaker 2: a lot of people in on the met thing. But
Speaker 2: you know, I like business, I like the stock market.
Speaker 2: I like business. I've always managed my own affairs. I
Speaker 2: haven't had an agent. I manage my own affairs. Once
Speaker 2: in a while, I use Mike Levine, who runs CAAA.
Speaker 2: If I have a big deal, like bringing Mike Levine,
Speaker 2: who's a friend of mine, to do it. But otherwise
Speaker 2: I do it myself. I did my last four or
Speaker 2: five FAAN contracts with myself and Milk Commerson. I did
Speaker 2: it myself with Lessman invest and with Melcomerson, myself. No agent. Wow.
Speaker 3: All right, So as we start to wrap up here, Mike,
Speaker 3: I got to ask you, what do you think is
Speaker 3: the most compelling sports story in New York?
Speaker 1: Right now? You know it better than anyone like, what's.
Speaker 3: The story that just either like needs to be told
Speaker 3: more or has really just gripped your attention?
Speaker 2: All right, we have actually right now in New York
Speaker 2: a very juicy time. So we have. If I if
Speaker 2: you had asked me this eighteen months ago, I would
Speaker 2: have said nothing. But now I will give you three. Okay, okay.
Speaker 2: Number one, without any question is Aaron Rodgers and the Jets. Now,
Speaker 2: Aaron Rodgers is from Mars Okay. As a person, He's
Speaker 2: from Mars Okay or Jupiter. I'm not sure which one.
Speaker 2: But let me say this, in all my years of
Speaker 2: watching football, he might be the most talented quarterback I've
Speaker 2: ever seen. I didn't say the winning is. I didn't
Speaker 2: say the clutches. I said the most talented. And he
Speaker 2: is the most accurate pastor I've ever seen. I think
Speaker 2: he has a lot left. I think the Jets if
Speaker 2: he and the left tackle stay healthy and the coach
Speaker 2: doesn't screw it up, and I think the coach is
Speaker 2: a real detriment, I believe they could have a great season,
Speaker 2: and I'm talking about a super season.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: Number two, the Knicks are fascinating. For so long, the
Speaker 2: Knicks rivaled the Mets and the Jets. All three of
Speaker 2: them could screw up a one car funeral. Okay, they've
Speaker 2: all He's been able to do that, and now they
Speaker 2: have done nothing wrong and they are on the verge.
Speaker 2: They got very lucky with Brunson because listen, I've always
Speaker 2: been a Villanova guy, and I loved the Villanova teams.
Speaker 2: I loved Brunson. I thought he could play in the league.
Speaker 2: I thought he could be a starter in the league.
Speaker 2: I never thought he could be anything like this in
Speaker 2: the league. Ever, no one did. Now they have a
Speaker 2: team that is on the verge of being a championship contender,
Speaker 2: and they have made no wrong moves. They are one
Speaker 2: move away, and then the third one is tied into
Speaker 2: both teams. It's the future of Soto. I'm telling you,
Speaker 2: I don't see how writing him a six hundred million
Speaker 2: dollars check, and I don't see him taking a dollar
Speaker 2: less than five point fifty And would judge there, how
Speaker 2: do you give him two hundred and fifty million less
Speaker 2: than Soto? And Soto there and the Mets flurking. I
Speaker 2: think the Sodo thing is going to be fascinating, absolutely fascinating.
Speaker 2: The missive overachieved. Just the fact that they're playing important
Speaker 2: games is better than anybody thought. The Yankees are not
Speaker 2: that good because to be honest, I've been a five
Speaker 2: hundred team since June first, and I don't think they're
Speaker 2: gonna make the World Series. And then the sobo thing
Speaker 2: is gonna be fascinating, absolutely fascinating, because I think Hal
Speaker 2: has a budget more than he has a design on
Speaker 2: another championship, Mike.
Speaker 5: And that to your point, just to add insult to injury,
Speaker 5: the representative of US.
Speaker 2: You know, he's gonna start his five hundred million dollars.
Speaker 5: Oh man, he's looking down a townty deal for seven
Speaker 5: hundred million, and he's gonna.
Speaker 2: Say hey, and the pressure and the pressure from the
Speaker 2: Play Association is going to be enormous.
Speaker 3: Massive, absolutely absolutely Well Mike, you have been incredibly gracious
Speaker 3: with your time.
Speaker 1: We really really appreciate it. Thank you so much, Thank.
Speaker 6: You, Thank you the best. Thank you, buddy, Thank you.
Speaker 3: The Deal is hosted by Alex Rodriguez and me Jason Kelly.
Speaker 3: This episode was made by Stacey Wong, Annamazarakus, Lizzie Phillip,
Speaker 3: and Victor Eveez. Our theme music was made by Blake Maples.
Speaker 3: Our executive producers are Kelly Laferrier, Ashley Honig, and Brendan Newnham.
Speaker 3: Sage Bauman is the head of Bloomberg Podcasts. Additional support
Speaker 3: from Rachel Scaramzzino and Elena Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to the deal.
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Speaker 1: I'm Jason Kelly. See you next week.