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Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio. Hi everyone,

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Speaker 1: I'm Jason Kelley, and I'm Mike Lynch and I'm Michael

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Speaker 1: bar And this is the Bloomberg Business of Sports podcast

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

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Speaker 1: of sports. So, guys, were at a really interesting point

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Speaker 1: in the sports calendar year. I feel like made more

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Speaker 1: interesting by the fact that things that we're supposed to

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Speaker 1: happen last year now happening this year. Things that just

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Speaker 1: finished up that should have been finished a long time ago.

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Speaker 1: And so we take stock of all of that and

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Speaker 1: a lot of changes coming up as we think about

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Speaker 1: the fall and college football and a new economic landscape

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Speaker 1: for that. So lots to dig into as we begin

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Speaker 1: the week. Um, let's start with the Olympics if we can.

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Speaker 1: I don't know about you, guys, but I feel like

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Speaker 1: I'm reflecting a little bit of the national zeitgeist and

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Speaker 1: maybe the global zeitgeist and saying, oh, yeah, the the

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Speaker 1: Olympics are happening. Cool, I'll read up on it. I guess.

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Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's just not capturing the imagination lynching.

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Speaker 1: And I'm sure I'm not alone in this, and you

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Speaker 1: guys probably experienced the same thing. It was the number

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Speaker 1: one question I was asked over the weekend, do you

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Speaker 1: have any interests lynching and watching the Olympics? Have you

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Speaker 1: watched in the Olympics that you watched the opening ceremonies

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Speaker 1: And I said, you know, I don't have any interest.

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Speaker 1: I did, out of curiosity tune into the opening ceremonies,

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Speaker 1: basically to see how many countries I've never heard of before,

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Speaker 1: and I just I wanted to see the United States

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Speaker 1: team come in, but it took so long for them

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Speaker 1: to get into the arena that I just shut it off.

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Speaker 1: Beautiful weather. It's the end of July and the last

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Speaker 1: thing that me or anyone else is going to do

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Speaker 1: is probably sit on the couch and watch the Olympics.

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Speaker 1: And the numbers reflected, yeah, and so far. How much

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Speaker 1: do you think it's about lack of star power, lack

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Speaker 1: of storylines, sort of off rhythm. I mean, it's this

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Speaker 1: was supposed to happen a year ago. We're all pretty

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Speaker 1: well trained as sports, sports fans for the aidence of

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Speaker 1: when the Olympics, the World Cup, all these things happen.

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Speaker 1: What what do you think is driving and what's driving

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Speaker 1: it for you. I think part of it is simply

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Speaker 1: of the time difference. Tokyo is thirteen hours ahead, when

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Speaker 1: back in the day when you watched the Olympics, everything

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Speaker 1: was comprised in the prime time viewing, so you know,

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Speaker 1: And what Lynchy was saying is like, Okay, you you

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Speaker 1: had your fun in the daytime, and then in the

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Speaker 1: night he came and you watched the Olympics. And now

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Speaker 1: it's being live streamed in the morning and people quite

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Speaker 1: frankly throughout the day they they've got stuff to do,

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Speaker 1: They're they're gonna go and and do other things. So

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Speaker 1: and I think that's part of the problem. And to

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Speaker 1: be honest, and I'm sorry, I'm not I'm not any sport.

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Speaker 1: I admire and and the athleticism involved, but it's hard

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Speaker 1: for me to get into skateboarding. I mean, you know,

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Speaker 1: but I don't know if that's for the younger crowd

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Speaker 1: or what it is. Yeah, I mean, I will tell you.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I think the point about the broadcast and

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Speaker 1: the timing is well taken. I think part of it

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Speaker 1: is is that there is a sense, of course with

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Speaker 1: the Internet, that you kind of know everything that's happened

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Speaker 1: and so when you're tuning in, if you've been paying

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Speaker 1: it all attention to Twitter, ESPN dot com or any

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Speaker 1: other social media or news source, you kind of know

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Speaker 1: what what's happened already. And so, you know, I tuned

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Speaker 1: in on Saturday, for instance, to see a little bit

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Speaker 1: of the women's US women's national team on playing soccer,

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Speaker 1: in part because they had lost to Sweden that was

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Speaker 1: a huge upset. They're you know, trying to make good

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Speaker 1: against New Zealand. Already knew what was going to happen,

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Speaker 1: and so you know, you watch as you guys know,

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Speaker 1: you watch very differently and candidly, more distractedly if you

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Speaker 1: already know the outcome. And so I tuned in, I

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Speaker 1: was like, well, I know this is this is gonna

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Speaker 1: end up six one. I wonder when they're going to

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Speaker 1: score the goals, you know. So it's just there. There's

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Speaker 1: a little bit of that. I will also say, I

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Speaker 1: think it's a an odd time for an American viewer,

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Speaker 1: or an odd experience to the American viewer viewer, that

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Speaker 1: a lot of our teams and a lot of our

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Speaker 1: athletes are coming in second. Katie Ladecki uh losing the

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Speaker 1: gold medal winning silver, of course, but you know, she

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Speaker 1: was obviously a heavy favorite in anything that she does.

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Speaker 1: You know, one of the most decorated Olympians of all time.

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Speaker 1: You know, she came in second in her first event.

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Speaker 1: She's gonna win some gold medals. I think it's safe

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Speaker 1: to say Team USA, we're gonna talk about the NBA

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Speaker 1: in the second. I mean, that's a debacle. I mean

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Speaker 1: that this is an unraveling of a team that was

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Speaker 1: once you know, the US men's basketball team. You go

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Speaker 1: back to the dream team and whatnot we've talked about

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Speaker 1: on this show before. You know, and and even the

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Speaker 1: women's gymnastics team, which you know probably will will end

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Speaker 1: up fine and Simone Biles will end up winning more

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Speaker 1: and more gold. But you know they you know, they

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Speaker 1: came out losing to um Russia. I believe, you know

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Speaker 1: in the in the opening round. You know, coming in second.

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Speaker 1: We don't like coming in second. And so again it

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Speaker 1: people aren't going to tune in if it's just gonna

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Speaker 1: be kind of the middle of the pack. And again

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Speaker 1: a silver medal. I mean, I have zero uh the

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Speaker 1: Olympic medals, but I do know how how people think

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Speaker 1: Lynchy and I think all of these things are combining

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Speaker 1: to just give a very men impression of all this. Well,

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Speaker 1: a bar hit the nail on the head thirteen hours

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Speaker 1: ahead of time. Now, if this was we'd have no

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Speaker 1: way of knowing what was happening, and we might tune

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Speaker 1: in at night. But I read all about the United

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Speaker 1: States basketball to men's basketball teams lost to France during

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Speaker 1: the day, and then I was on the couch. I

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Speaker 1: popped on the thing and there it is. It's the

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Speaker 1: first quarter of the of the men's basketball team. Is

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Speaker 1: that I know what happened in this thing? And I

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Speaker 1: went right to the golf. Then I went to the

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Speaker 1: Red Sox Yankees game. You know, Bill Belichick was asked

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Speaker 1: last year after the first game they played about new

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Speaker 1: fans in the stands. He said, what did it feel

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Speaker 1: like anyone practice? It felt like practice. And that's what

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Speaker 1: it feels like to me when I watched this. And

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Speaker 1: I feel bad for all these Olympians who have dedicated

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Speaker 1: their entire life for this one moment, But it feels

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Speaker 1: like I'm watching a dress rehearsal rather than the real thing. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I do think that that has has something to do

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Speaker 1: with it, even if even if you can't quite put

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Speaker 1: your finger when you tune in. It feels completely different,

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Speaker 1: I think, especially because now in one and who knows

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Speaker 1: what's going to happen the rest of the year. I mean,

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Speaker 1: they're with the delta variant. There are all sorts of questions,

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Speaker 1: and we're going to get into what's going on in

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Speaker 1: the NFL, which is a huge story in just a minute.

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Speaker 1: But I think at a time when we have seen

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Speaker 1: full arenas, we have seen full stadiums two, then it's

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Speaker 1: a little bit of and I don't you know, I'm

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Speaker 1: being a little bit overly live here, but there's a

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Speaker 1: little bit of this kind of flashback mentality, almost like PTSD, like,

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Speaker 1: oh my god, this is what we're doing a year

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Speaker 1: ago when watching sports with no arenas. It doesn't make

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Speaker 1: me feel good. I don't want to see that. I

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Speaker 1: don't want to be reminded of what was a very

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Speaker 1: terrible time last year when we were seeing you know,

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Speaker 1: football matches and and um and other things, the bubble,

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Speaker 1: the NBA bubble being played without any fans. So I

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Speaker 1: feel bad for the Olympians themselves. From an economic perspective,

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Speaker 1: We've talked about this and highly recommend our our conversation

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Speaker 1: about the business of the Olympics and the economics the

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Speaker 1: Olympics from a couple of weeks ago. This is a

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Speaker 1: disaster for the Japanese and a disaster for Tokyo, no

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Speaker 1: question about it, and maybe a disaster for the entire

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Speaker 1: Olympic movement because it's really going to be um set

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Speaker 1: back in economically. So we'll see, um what the ratings

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Speaker 1: end up being. As you guys have said, all of

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Speaker 1: these things colliding, uh for for really a bad, bad storyline. Um.

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Speaker 1: Speaking of ratings, the final numbers are out for the

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Speaker 1: NBA Final and I think we all anticipated this might

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Speaker 1: happen because of the teams that we're playing, even though

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Speaker 1: there was a lot of excitement about Janice versus Chris Paul,

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Speaker 1: and you know, these are two basketball crazy towns. So

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Speaker 1: here it is, by the numbers, guys, nine point nine

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Speaker 1: million average viewers per game in this year's NBA Finals.

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Speaker 1: So let's set aside last year the bubble down in Orlando,

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Speaker 1: because that was seven and a half million, uh average

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Speaker 1: nightly viewers or average game viewers. Uh. This is the

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Speaker 1: worst since two thousand seven, the second worst during this century.

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Speaker 1: So you know, one uh series, and just for perspective,

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Speaker 1: the high point, to show you how far it's gone,

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Speaker 1: the high watermark was seen and that was twenty point

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Speaker 1: four million viewers a game that was Warriors versus Kas

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Speaker 1: for those who you know can't game every single UM

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Speaker 1: matchup per year. So twenty point four million versus nine

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Speaker 1: point nine, Lynchie, that's that's bad news for the NBA. Well,

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Speaker 1: to quote an old song from the sixties, there ain't

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Speaker 1: no cure for the summertime blues, and I'm gonna blame

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Speaker 1: it a on the middle of the summer b You've

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Speaker 1: got Milwaukee, which is market number thirty seven, Phoenix is

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Speaker 1: market number eleven. And again, people in the tip off

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Speaker 1: is like a nine fifty Eastern time. He just can't

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Speaker 1: hang in there till till midnight. If you love basketball.

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Speaker 1: The Bucks were a fun team to watch, and I

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Speaker 1: think most of the people were rooting for them because

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Speaker 1: the honest is a very unselfish player and they probably

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Speaker 1: demonstrate team basketball as well as anybody. But this is

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Speaker 1: remember the Finals always had a Kobe, a Lebron, a

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Speaker 1: Steph Curry in it over the years, and uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: Jannie playing in Milwaukee hasn't really elevated himself, uh marketing

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Speaker 1: wise to those three guys right there. But he's on

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Speaker 1: his way and that's that. There are all kinds of

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Speaker 1: things you you can factor in there for those low ratings. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean, And ultimately, the NBA had a decision to

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Speaker 1: make in terms of when they started this season. They

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Speaker 1: ended up starting it earlier than a lot of players,

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Speaker 1: including the aforementioned King James, wanted to. They got back

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Speaker 1: on the court, They played, you know, a shorter um,

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Speaker 1: but still pretty fulsome season. There are a lot of injuries,

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Speaker 1: uh maybe owing to that. Towards the end of the season,

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Speaker 1: it felt like even to those of us watching, much

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Speaker 1: less to the players, it felt like a grind bar

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Speaker 1: as we got towards the end, and you know, we're

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Speaker 1: gonna be back at it but before too long with

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Speaker 1: the NBA. But you know, probably the right decision to

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Speaker 1: get back on the court, of course, and there were

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Speaker 1: a lot of business decisions made to to get them there. Um.

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Speaker 1: But but kind of ending with a bit of a whimper.

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Speaker 1: I I'm just wondering going deeper here, have we hit

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Speaker 1: a point society wise where we're kind of hitting a

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Speaker 1: Saturay with sports altogether, because you can see any sport live,

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Speaker 1: whether it's stream for the most part whatever. Back in

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Speaker 1: the day, you know, you had to wait for the

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Speaker 1: NBA Game of the week or your local game, and

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Speaker 1: now you can see pretty much go to your you know,

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Speaker 1: the NBA network and you can pretty much get any

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Speaker 1: game you want. And and it goes for the same

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Speaker 1: for the other major sports. I'm just wondering if we've

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Speaker 1: had a saturation now. Yeah, I mean, I don't know

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Speaker 1: about that. I mean, I think that the consumption of

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Speaker 1: sports is shifting for sure. And one thing that I

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Speaker 1: will say, um and and we're all doing a lot

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Speaker 1: of work on this right now. And when we think

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Speaker 1: about the the modern fan, I think it is worth

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Speaker 1: pointing out that ratings may not be the best measure

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Speaker 1: of things. I mean, we talk a lot about them.

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Speaker 1: We know that the business is largely built on them.

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Speaker 1: In many ways. TV contracts are still the lifeblood, as

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Speaker 1: we know, you know, broadcasting contracts are still the life

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Speaker 1: But we know, but but but button and maybe this

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Speaker 1: is me being a little you know, trying to be

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Speaker 1: optimistic here. We know the way fans are engaging on

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Speaker 1: social media. We know, um, how people are taking it in,

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Speaker 1: but they are not watching in the same way and

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Speaker 1: you know, they're watching highlights. I mean, I think about

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Speaker 1: the way that people you know, the way that like

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Speaker 1: late night television has evolved right in the sense that

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Speaker 1: you don't have people staying up to watch those shows

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Speaker 1: on linear television necessarily. And yet the social media, uh,

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Speaker 1: the YouTube clips, you know, everything that shared on Twitter,

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Speaker 1: Instagram or or what have you has been huge for

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Speaker 1: the Jimmy Fallons and the rest of the gang in

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Speaker 1: in late night. So it's possible that what we're witnessing

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Speaker 1: is just a shift in consumption. The problem is is

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Speaker 1: how or the question is is how do the economics

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Speaker 1: really catch up there? And I think a lot remains

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Speaker 1: to be seen. All Right, we got to talk to

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Speaker 1: some college football because this is a massive, massive, potential realignment.

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Speaker 1: Oklahoma and Texas Lynch E maybe saying peace out to

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Speaker 1: the Big twelve and headed where else would you head? To?

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Speaker 1: The SEC? What did you think about this? My first

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Speaker 1: thought was the Southeast Conference wants to become the Amazon

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Speaker 1: of college sports. That was my That was my first reaction.

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Speaker 1: You know, when is enough enough? And they're the biggest

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Speaker 1: most powerful, most lucrative conference in all of college football

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Speaker 1: and maybe all of college sports. And now you bring

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Speaker 1: in two gigantic teams with long history of great, great

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Speaker 1: clubs going back to the forties in Oklahoma in Texas

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Speaker 1: in the sixties, and and you just say Texas Oklahoma,

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Speaker 1: who are big rivals, by the way, and bringing them

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Speaker 1: now into the SEC UM. You know, the people over

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Speaker 1: in that they're the big twelve now UM aren't happy

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Speaker 1: about it. The Texas A and M wants to be

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Speaker 1: the only team from the state of Texas in the

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Speaker 1: Southeast Conference. They don't want to share the SEC with

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Speaker 1: the Longhorns, who are the kings of that state. And

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Speaker 1: the same thing with Oklahoma State. They like their rivalry

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Speaker 1: with Oklahoma, but that's gonna be gone now and when

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Speaker 1: they take off, if they take off, and they probably

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Speaker 1: will because it's the old If you hear about it,

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Speaker 1: it's probably gonna happen. Yeah. And the reports are basically

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Speaker 1: saying that these discussions have been going on for months

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Speaker 1: and they've just kind of broken out into the open.

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Speaker 1: Does it change the way you look at college football?

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Speaker 1: Bar No, not at all. In fact, this is I mean,

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Speaker 1: I get it you're right. The Texas A and M

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Speaker 1: is like, oh, come on, man, we don't do that.

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Speaker 1: But we had our special things. Yeah, this was our thing,

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Speaker 1: and you messed it all up, you know. But the CEA,

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Speaker 1: Texas and Oklahoma go to the SEC. I'm in and

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Speaker 1: I can see a lot of Texas fans and a

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Speaker 1: lot of Oklahoma fans saying, you know what, okay, and

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Speaker 1: it's about to get really rugg in the SEC. Now. Well,

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Speaker 1: I mean, here's one thing that I think is definitely

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Speaker 1: worth mentioning. And a number of people picked up on

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Speaker 1: this over the weekend, and it was certainly one of

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Speaker 1: the first thoughts I had. I think you can't separate

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Speaker 1: this SEC news from three other letters, which is an

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Speaker 1: I L. And what you are seeing is an economic

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Speaker 1: realignment as much as anything you've seen it from the

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Speaker 1: broadcast side. We talk a lot about that, all the

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Speaker 1: attention that's been paid. You see it from the perspective

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Speaker 1: of the college football Playoff, where the SEC has been dominant.

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Speaker 1: You see it in in programs of course, like Alabama

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Speaker 1: sort of standing out above the rest in all aspects.

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Speaker 1: But if money is going to be made by athletes

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Speaker 1: and you're an athlete and bar This goes back to

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Speaker 1: something I believe you were talking about you brought up

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Speaker 1: with Darren Heitner when we spoke with him last week,

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Speaker 1: who's in an i L expert, and again highly recommend

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Speaker 1: you listen to to that conversation. You're for interested in

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Speaker 1: going deep in n I L. If you are a

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Speaker 1: big time player, you want to go where you're going

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Speaker 1: to make the most money. This is not necessarily going

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Speaker 1: forward just to bet on all right, if I play

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Speaker 1: at Alabama and even if I'm a lower tier player,

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Speaker 1: I'm going to get more exposure to pro scouts, I'm

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Speaker 1: going to get more national media exposure, etcetera, etcetera. Now

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Speaker 1: you could be making actual money when you're when you're

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Speaker 1: at Alabama owing to the new worlds run, name, image

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Speaker 1: and likeness. You had Nick Saban come out last week

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Speaker 1: and say his sophomore quarterback was essentially yet to take

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Speaker 1: a snap, has already UM reached seven figures. Now people

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Speaker 1: are questioning whether that's actually true in terms of UM

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Speaker 1: how much the quarterback is making. Bryce Young is making

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Speaker 1: UM and the reports I saw over the weekend said,

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Speaker 1: you know, probably topping out the high end at five

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Speaker 1: six hundred thousand dollars, which, by the way, guys, still

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Speaker 1: a lot of money, and also more than zero, which

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Speaker 1: is what they were getting before. So that's where the

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Speaker 1: money is gravitating towards. So why wouldn't you, if you

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Speaker 1: were a college president, want to be in the top league.

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Speaker 1: That's where the money's gonna be. I mean, it's just

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Speaker 1: that simple, Lynchi and I can only imagine what their

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Speaker 1: television contract is going to do if you bring in

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Speaker 1: two teams like Texas and Oklahoma. I worry about the rivalries.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I know, like a lot of these big

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Speaker 1: rivalries are gone because they're in different conferences. You've got

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Speaker 1: Auburn and Alabama in the SEC, and you get Mississippi

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Speaker 1: Mississippi State. But everybody else now has to go outside

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Speaker 1: the conference. Georgia and Georgia Tech, Georgia Tech in the

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Speaker 1: a SEC, uh Florida Florida State. They're in two different conferences.

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Speaker 1: But you know what, I don't think anybody really cares

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Speaker 1: about that anymore. They care about the money. They care

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Speaker 1: about the exposure, They care about the retruit the recruits

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Speaker 1: and now name, image and likeness. This is just the beginning.

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Speaker 1: When Nick Nick Saban, you're gonna see Dan Mullin coming

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Speaker 1: out at Florida. Well, you know, our athletes are I

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Speaker 1: have gotten this wonderful deal here. You come on down

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Speaker 1: to to the Gators and you're gonna get yourself for

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Speaker 1: the Jason Kelly Chevrolet is going to gret He usually

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Speaker 1: run away and give you a good chunk of money

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Speaker 1: while you're down here. Yeah. Well, And and one of

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Speaker 1: the things that I saw, which will come as no

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Speaker 1: surprise either of you guys, is that it was not

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Speaker 1: an act. I mean, Nick Saban is a pretty smart fellow,

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Speaker 1: and there was no accident that he was making these

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Speaker 1: comments in front of a bunch of high school coaches

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Speaker 1: or high school a d s. I believe it is

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Speaker 1: who he was addressing when he let that slip. And

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Speaker 1: and in part that, one of the things I read

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Speaker 1: said Nick Saban doesn't have any intimate knowledge of what

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Speaker 1: the negotiations are. I mean, he's he's spit bawling and

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Speaker 1: freelancing a little bit on that, but he's talking to

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Speaker 1: his own book. He's selling his own program in the

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Speaker 1: same way that you you know, put your arm around

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Speaker 1: a recruit and bring him on to campus and show

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Speaker 1: him around this amazing facility. I was I always think, Lynchy,

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Speaker 1: about the mention you made a few months ago about

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Speaker 1: the the the miniature golf course that they have at Clemson.

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Speaker 1: I believe in the football facility, it's like just practice

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Speaker 1: your putting, but um. But you know, all of these

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Speaker 1: are things that that you're bringing to the four And

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Speaker 1: if you're saying if you're ultimately selling a high school

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Speaker 1: coach or high school a D and ultimately a high

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Speaker 1: school player, you know you're gonna say, listen, we've got

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Speaker 1: the most robust program, even though the university doesn't administer it.

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Speaker 1: Look what our players are making off the field. Look

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Speaker 1: what rock stars they are in Tuscaloosa and in Alabama

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Speaker 1: and across the Southeast and all the exposure. And your

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Speaker 1: point is exactly right, Lynchy on the TV contracts, because

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Speaker 1: if they've got the best players, then you're gonna have

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Speaker 1: advertisers gravitate toward that. You know, more and more teams.

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Speaker 1: I mean you're talking about, you know, going to UM

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Speaker 1: so the SEC would be would become so they have

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Speaker 1: fourteen teams now I believe they would they would go

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Speaker 1: to sixteen. The Big twelve, by the way, is only

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Speaker 1: ten schools right now, so they would go to eight.

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Speaker 1: I mean, the Big twelve may go away or at

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Speaker 1: the very least, I mean, with all due respect to

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Speaker 1: University of Cincinnati. I mean that's a team that's been mentioned,

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Speaker 1: as you know, coming into the new look Big twelve.

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Speaker 1: So it's like you lose Texas and you get Cincinnati.

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Speaker 1: Sorry Cincinnati, Like the Bearcats are not Longhorns. I'm just

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Speaker 1: I'm just saying sorry, Like in terms of national interest

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Speaker 1: in heritage and history and and all of that. So

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Speaker 1: I don't know, this is this is pretty radical. I

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Speaker 1: was texting this morning with it with a college president

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Speaker 1: and they were saying, this is just bananas. It's bananas

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Speaker 1: how all this is playing out because ultimately these are

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Speaker 1: institutional decisions that have to be made. Well, the the

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Speaker 1: SEC already is going to leave CBS in three years

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Speaker 1: and gonna go to ESPN in a three billion dollar deal,

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Speaker 1: and so the Big again, they're going to be the

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Speaker 1: Amazon of college sports. Yeah no, no, the way to

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Speaker 1: put it. Yeah, So watch this ACE and you know

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Speaker 1: what realignment happens on the back of this will be

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Speaker 1: fascinating to watch. All Right, as we wrap this up,

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Speaker 1: let's talk a little bit of football on the professional level,

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Speaker 1: the actual professional level, the NFL. This is a story

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Speaker 1: that I think we're going to be following, uh certainly

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Speaker 1: for weeks and maybe deep into the season. How the

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Speaker 1: NFL is going to deal with COVID and more pointedly

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Speaker 1: with vaccinations. This is this is really coming to a head.

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Speaker 1: It feels like lynching. Well, last Friday we did snooze

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Speaker 1: broke when the memo came out from Roger Goodell, and

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Speaker 1: we said the owners have the hammer and they're going

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Speaker 1: to start using it. And over the weekend we start

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Speaker 1: two assistant coaches who do not want to get vaccinated,

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Speaker 1: one in New England, one in Minnesota fired from their jobs.

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Speaker 1: Now the National Football League is going to find players

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Speaker 1: a little bit more than fourteen thousand dollars if they

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Speaker 1: fail to follow protocol. Last year, the National Football League

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Speaker 1: lost four billion dollars um. That doesn't sit all with

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Speaker 1: the owners and it takes a long time to make

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Speaker 1: up for a billion with a B and average attendance

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Speaker 1: last year, I mean they had maybe a million total

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Speaker 1: of the whole year. Usually they have seventeen million. And

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Speaker 1: the word forfeit was the keyword. That's the radioactive word

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Speaker 1: in that memo last week. I think forfeit a game

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Speaker 1: if you have somebody that doesn't follow protocol. As we

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Speaker 1: mentioned last week, a home game is worth on average

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Speaker 1: eleven point six million dollars to an NFL home team

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Speaker 1: for a home game. Obviously, the Cowboys are much higher

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Speaker 1: at the Cincinnati Bengals would be much slower. But that's

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Speaker 1: a lot of money to forfeit in one game because

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Speaker 1: somebody either refuses to get vaccinated, doesn't wear a mask,

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Speaker 1: and doesn't follow protocol. So if you're a player, Michael Barr,

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Speaker 1: what do you do here? Well, if I'm a vaccinated

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Speaker 1: player and I lose my money from the game because

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Speaker 1: the other team, and I said this last week, because

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Speaker 1: the other team didn't do what they needed to do,

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Speaker 1: I'm ad as all gain up. And and that's the

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Speaker 1: part where I have the problem. Don't penalize the pay

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Speaker 1: of the team that's not forfeiting. If you're gonna do

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Speaker 1: it for the other team, that's the thing. Okay, they

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Speaker 1: forfeit the game, well then you also forward you pay.

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Speaker 1: But the other team who's doing it right, that's not fair.

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Speaker 1: And I said this last week. I'll say it again.

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Speaker 1: And I'll say it until the cows come home. That's

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Speaker 1: that's just not right. So I'll take it a step further.

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Speaker 1: If you feel that way about the other team, how

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00:23:30,359 --> 00:23:32,480
Speaker 1: are you going to feel about the guy three lockers

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00:23:32,520 --> 00:23:35,679
Speaker 1: down from you who who basically loses you a payday?

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Speaker 1: I mean, I think you're gonna have I mean, we

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00:23:39,400 --> 00:23:41,760
Speaker 1: we all know, not that any of us have have

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00:23:42,320 --> 00:23:49,520
Speaker 1: played professional football, but locker rooms are already, especially pro football,

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00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:54,560
Speaker 1: locker rooms are already, um, pretty high octane places. If

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00:23:54,640 --> 00:23:57,040
Speaker 1: you get guys basically you know, going up to each

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00:23:57,080 --> 00:24:00,320
Speaker 1: other and basically saying, hey man, you're loose, sing me

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Speaker 1: tens of thousands, maybe millions of dollars because I can't

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Speaker 1: play the game. I did the right thing. I did

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00:24:07,440 --> 00:24:09,640
Speaker 1: what I think we're all agreeing is the right thing,

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00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:13,600
Speaker 1: and got vaccinated. You refuse to do it. You're you're

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00:24:13,640 --> 00:24:16,359
Speaker 1: costing my family money. Like, I mean, this is a

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00:24:16,760 --> 00:24:20,280
Speaker 1: this is going to be a real live tension point,

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00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:23,160
Speaker 1: because this isn't like, well, let's agree to disagree, like

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Speaker 1: you're messing with my money. Yeah you you listen, there's

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Speaker 1: one major rule. You can call me any name you

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00:24:29,040 --> 00:24:31,520
Speaker 1: want in the book, but don't mess with the dinner plate.

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Speaker 1: That's what's happening when this goes down. So does this

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00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:39,879
Speaker 1: play out? You think, well, wait till the first player

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00:24:39,920 --> 00:24:42,520
Speaker 1: gets cut who is not vaccinated, and you're gonna hear

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00:24:42,560 --> 00:24:45,920
Speaker 1: a firestorm there. I'm waiting to hear from the Players Association.

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Speaker 1: And also I think a lot of these things is

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00:24:47,880 --> 00:24:50,800
Speaker 1: gonna wind up in litigation. You know, it is it is.

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00:24:50,960 --> 00:24:53,600
Speaker 1: It is a private enterprise and National Football league, and

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00:24:53,640 --> 00:24:56,400
Speaker 1: they can issue whatever they want, but there is a union.

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00:24:56,400 --> 00:24:59,760
Speaker 1: There's a CBA in place for the Players Association, and

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00:24:59,760 --> 00:25:03,920
Speaker 1: that's really something that it's they encourage players to get vaccinated,

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00:25:03,960 --> 00:25:06,680
Speaker 1: they can't force them to get vaccinated. And watch out

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00:25:06,680 --> 00:25:10,480
Speaker 1: when this first player gets gets cut who was unvaccinated,

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00:25:10,520 --> 00:25:13,840
Speaker 1: and then the players there could be a workstopic who knows, yeah,

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00:25:14,040 --> 00:25:17,240
Speaker 1: right well, and and you're already seeing, you know, players

468
00:25:17,280 --> 00:25:19,320
Speaker 1: sort of go out on social media, then delete post,

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00:25:19,400 --> 00:25:21,720
Speaker 1: and then re up and then sort of reconsider and

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00:25:21,840 --> 00:25:24,240
Speaker 1: and all these different things. I mean, listen that these

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00:25:24,280 --> 00:25:28,960
Speaker 1: are for some people, these are very complicated decisions that

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00:25:29,040 --> 00:25:31,720
Speaker 1: they're making. I mean, I do think we're at a

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00:25:31,800 --> 00:25:35,399
Speaker 1: really interesting economic moment. I mean, looking beyond even the

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00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:39,320
Speaker 1: public health implications in many ways. From an economic perspective,

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00:25:39,359 --> 00:25:43,080
Speaker 1: I think everybody is seeing how bleak it was when

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00:25:43,080 --> 00:25:46,679
Speaker 1: the economy shut down, and if what we need to

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00:25:46,840 --> 00:25:51,000
Speaker 1: do to avoid that again is get more people vaccinated.

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00:25:51,560 --> 00:25:53,720
Speaker 1: I think the pressure is going to start to build,

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00:25:53,720 --> 00:25:56,439
Speaker 1: and those locker rooms that we're talking about are are

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00:25:56,480 --> 00:25:58,720
Speaker 1: a bit of a microcosm. You know, you're seeing it

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00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:03,040
Speaker 1: in workplaces where our companies are starting to maybe just

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00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:05,880
Speaker 1: turn the dial a little bit and and make it

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00:26:06,240 --> 00:26:09,479
Speaker 1: a little bit more uncomfortable for people who were, you know,

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00:26:09,680 --> 00:26:13,720
Speaker 1: holding out about getting vaccinated, to make it so that

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00:26:14,480 --> 00:26:18,800
Speaker 1: you know they're they're kind of different rules for different people,

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00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:22,119
Speaker 1: those who are vaccinated in those who aren't. So um,

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00:26:22,280 --> 00:26:24,520
Speaker 1: we'll see, but but it does feel like the NFL.

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00:26:24,800 --> 00:26:27,359
Speaker 1: NFL is going to be, uh, the tip of the

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Speaker 1: spear here, and you wonder if they're a bit of

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Speaker 1: a canary in the coal mine when it comes to

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Speaker 1: other professional sports, because you know, we'll have basketball back

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00:26:36,440 --> 00:26:38,679
Speaker 1: again before too long. But as we talked about it,

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Speaker 1: I think last fall, you know NFL, I mean you

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Speaker 1: think about just the sheer number of people who are

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Speaker 1: involved in the National Football League team, the players, the coaches,

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Speaker 1: the staff, all the traveling that's involved, and it's just

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Speaker 1: it's just incredible. It's just incredible. This is the Bloomberg

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Speaker 1: Business of Sports podcast. I'm Michael Barr. Follow me on

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00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:02,159
Speaker 1: Twitter at Big Bar Sports. And I'm Mike Lynch. You

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00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:04,560
Speaker 1: can follow me at Lynch e w CBB. And I'm

501
00:27:04,640 --> 00:27:07,359
Speaker 1: Jason Kelly following me at Jason Kelly News. We're here

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00:27:07,400 --> 00:27:10,800
Speaker 1: for you each and every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, exploring

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00:27:10,840 --> 00:27:13,280
Speaker 1: the world of money and sports. You're listening to Bloomberg

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Speaker 1: Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio around the world and

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