1
00:00:00,400 --> 00:00:03,160
Speaker 1: Hello, I'm Scott Sasman, I'm Evan Nobi Williams, and I'm

2
00:00:03,160 --> 00:00:05,880
Speaker 1: like Lauren. This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports podcast,

3
00:00:05,880 --> 00:00:07,800
Speaker 1: where we explored the big money issues in the world

4
00:00:07,840 --> 00:00:12,000
Speaker 1: of sports. Today. We begin with a tense interview from

5
00:00:12,039 --> 00:00:16,120
Speaker 1: New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick ahead of Sunday's matchup

6
00:00:16,440 --> 00:00:19,200
Speaker 1: with the New York Jets. Let's let me just sum

7
00:00:19,239 --> 00:00:23,880
Speaker 1: it up. Very reporter asked about Antonio Brown. I think

8
00:00:23,880 --> 00:00:26,320
Speaker 1: it's important to say, with Dana Jacobson, a female reporter

9
00:00:26,760 --> 00:00:30,200
Speaker 1: important with what's going on, it's important to say this

10
00:00:30,240 --> 00:00:33,280
Speaker 1: was a female reporter. Yes, you are right, Okay, go ahead,

11
00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:36,480
Speaker 1: that just that was it was, Yeah, before the Jets game,

12
00:00:36,560 --> 00:00:39,440
Speaker 1: you get your interview with the coaches. And she talked

13
00:00:39,440 --> 00:00:41,559
Speaker 1: to Bill Belichick and she said I'd be remiss if

14
00:00:41,600 --> 00:00:44,159
Speaker 1: I didn't ask, which is sort of saying, yeah, I

15
00:00:44,159 --> 00:00:46,199
Speaker 1: know you don't want to talk about this, but I

16
00:00:46,280 --> 00:00:49,280
Speaker 1: have to. It's my job. What was the final straw

17
00:00:49,440 --> 00:00:54,400
Speaker 1: for releasing Antonio Brown? And in very belly chicken way,

18
00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:57,800
Speaker 1: he sort of just said, we're worried about the Jets. Okay,

19
00:00:57,920 --> 00:01:00,200
Speaker 1: if it had been that, okay, But then he just

20
00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:03,200
Speaker 1: sort of took this one one thousand to one thousand

21
00:01:03,720 --> 00:01:08,400
Speaker 1: glare more than stare like this annoying glare at her,

22
00:01:08,440 --> 00:01:10,640
Speaker 1: and so as he starts to walk away, like how

23
00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:14,240
Speaker 1: dare you? But beyond I mean, forget about they should

24
00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:17,240
Speaker 1: even looked at her. That that's the easy Well really

25
00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:20,360
Speaker 1: that for other people, but for the business of sport

26
00:01:20,360 --> 00:01:23,840
Speaker 1: I've been I want to take it wider in that

27
00:01:24,319 --> 00:01:28,840
Speaker 1: CBS has a very important relationship with the National Football League.

28
00:01:29,640 --> 00:01:32,080
Speaker 1: Sean McManus in one of the earnings called so they'll

29
00:01:32,080 --> 00:01:34,399
Speaker 1: do whatever is necessary to keep the NFL when it's

30
00:01:34,440 --> 00:01:36,520
Speaker 1: time to be up the contract in two. We all

31
00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:39,480
Speaker 1: know how important the NFL and the ratings are to

32
00:01:40,120 --> 00:01:47,440
Speaker 1: these networks. Do you want to anger team or owner, coach?

33
00:01:47,760 --> 00:01:50,080
Speaker 1: And then, by product, the NFL would have been very

34
00:01:50,120 --> 00:01:52,720
Speaker 1: happy for that question not to be asked. Well, but

35
00:01:52,960 --> 00:01:56,960
Speaker 1: hold on, there's no way you can avoid not asking well,

36
00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:00,360
Speaker 1: this is that this is the tap dance we're talking about.

37
00:02:00,440 --> 00:02:02,360
Speaker 1: Maybe there is What when do we get to the

38
00:02:02,400 --> 00:02:06,400
Speaker 1: point where Jimmy Pittar at ESPN, who is desperately trying

39
00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:09,960
Speaker 1: to mend fences at the NFL, would he pick up

40
00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:13,760
Speaker 1: a phone and say to his reporters, no Antonio Brown questions,

41
00:02:14,040 --> 00:02:16,040
Speaker 1: because what if the NFL says we'd rather not hear

42
00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:19,280
Speaker 1: about it. I mean, it is the right, but I'm

43
00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:22,519
Speaker 1: just saying it goes beyond just well Belichick acted like

44
00:02:22,560 --> 00:02:25,200
Speaker 1: a mean jerk. That's not what this is about. This

45
00:02:25,240 --> 00:02:27,600
Speaker 1: is the business of sports and there are implications to

46
00:02:27,760 --> 00:02:29,760
Speaker 1: all of it. Yeah, and I didn't I didn't watch

47
00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:32,680
Speaker 1: pregame shows this week. But if you, if you, if

48
00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:35,120
Speaker 1: you think back to to Week two, when Antonio Brown

49
00:02:35,160 --> 00:02:38,720
Speaker 1: did play in the lead up to the Patriots game,

50
00:02:39,639 --> 00:02:42,880
Speaker 1: CBS addressed very briefly. They brought on Jason the camp

51
00:02:42,919 --> 00:02:45,680
Speaker 1: for at one of their NFL dot Com reporters. He

52
00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:48,280
Speaker 1: came on to talk about what was happening legally with

53
00:02:48,280 --> 00:02:50,760
Speaker 1: Antonio Brown, and then James Brown looked at the camera

54
00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:54,440
Speaker 1: before introducing everybody else and said, uh, there's nothing new

55
00:02:54,440 --> 00:02:56,560
Speaker 1: to report regarding the lawsuits. So there's no question it

56
00:02:56,560 --> 00:02:59,120
Speaker 1: will be totally inappropriate for us to comment on anything

57
00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:02,480
Speaker 1: regarding Antonio other than on the field. That introduced everybody,

58
00:03:02,480 --> 00:03:04,120
Speaker 1: and it wasn't really mentioned at all during during the

59
00:03:04,120 --> 00:03:07,440
Speaker 1: rest of the pre so without question, and we can

60
00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:11,600
Speaker 1: talk motives or potential motives. But you know, the national

61
00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:16,680
Speaker 1: broadcasters are not talking that much about this story. But

62
00:03:16,880 --> 00:03:21,480
Speaker 1: the national broadcasters, who pay billions of dollars for the

63
00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:24,560
Speaker 1: rights to these games, have to tippy toe around these

64
00:03:24,600 --> 00:03:29,600
Speaker 1: issues because there is great harm to angering the NFL

65
00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:34,000
Speaker 1: and any lingering resentment by the NFL, if that could

66
00:03:34,120 --> 00:03:37,440
Speaker 1: lead to no games on your network, that's a huge problect. Okay, now,

67
00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:41,200
Speaker 1: I'm sorry I didn't but I gotta say this. It's

68
00:03:41,240 --> 00:03:44,360
Speaker 1: one thing if this was something in the locker room,

69
00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:48,120
Speaker 1: if something happened in the locker room and Bill Belichick

70
00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:50,280
Speaker 1: didn't want to talk about it and they gave the

71
00:03:50,280 --> 00:03:53,160
Speaker 1: the usual death stare. I mean, we've seen this before.

72
00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:59,880
Speaker 1: That's one thing. But we're talking now about one questions

73
00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:02,320
Speaker 1: on Antonio Brown, how do you translate the death? To me?

74
00:04:02,360 --> 00:04:05,560
Speaker 1: It's how dare you ask that? That's that's what that is?

75
00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:08,480
Speaker 1: That the translation? How dare you ask that question? If

76
00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:12,320
Speaker 1: any could be I don't know I'm asking how I'm saying,

77
00:04:12,360 --> 00:04:14,920
Speaker 1: how did I infer it? But yeah, and look he

78
00:04:15,280 --> 00:04:17,840
Speaker 1: Bill Belichick walked out of a press conference last week

79
00:04:17,920 --> 00:04:20,440
Speaker 1: when asked when there were too many bills? Too many

80
00:04:20,440 --> 00:04:24,320
Speaker 1: Antonio Brown's questions. It's clearly he doesn't asked about Antonio Brown.

81
00:04:24,400 --> 00:04:28,159
Speaker 1: Don't sign Antonio Brown. This is part of the business bill.

82
00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:31,880
Speaker 1: You're you're asking fans to pay to come networks to

83
00:04:32,080 --> 00:04:35,080
Speaker 1: show this is the reality show of sports. Well now

84
00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:37,800
Speaker 1: I think we're getting into This is a different conversation though,

85
00:04:37,880 --> 00:04:40,359
Speaker 1: right because it's all think. I don't think every coach

86
00:04:40,400 --> 00:04:43,640
Speaker 1: has to answer to media questions about why players are released.

87
00:04:43,920 --> 00:04:46,120
Speaker 1: I don't think that has to happen. And Bill Belichick

88
00:04:46,120 --> 00:04:49,320
Speaker 1: could have, in a much nicer way, said, listen, I

89
00:04:49,320 --> 00:04:50,800
Speaker 1: don't want to talk about that right now. You know

90
00:04:50,839 --> 00:04:53,200
Speaker 1: we're not going to get into player personnel decisions, etcetera,

91
00:04:53,360 --> 00:04:56,840
Speaker 1: especially when we're talking about a problem that involves an

92
00:04:56,880 --> 00:05:02,400
Speaker 1: alleged sexual assault and then another alleged sexual assault, and

93
00:05:02,440 --> 00:05:05,680
Speaker 1: then you give this death stare to a female reporter

94
00:05:06,200 --> 00:05:09,440
Speaker 1: asking about Antonio Brown, and you knew the question was

95
00:05:09,440 --> 00:05:12,039
Speaker 1: going to come up speaking of Antonio Bron. Yes, what

96
00:05:12,080 --> 00:05:14,680
Speaker 1: do you think's gonna happen next with Antonio Bron? Because

97
00:05:14,760 --> 00:05:17,800
Speaker 1: right now he's got very few dollars. When he gave

98
00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:21,560
Speaker 1: up tons of money with the Raiders, he signed for

99
00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:23,880
Speaker 1: nine million dollars signing bonus with the Patriots and a

100
00:05:23,880 --> 00:05:26,760
Speaker 1: million dollars salary. Guess what, He's not not part of

101
00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:28,719
Speaker 1: that team. Patriots are not going to pay him that money.

102
00:05:29,040 --> 00:05:35,479
Speaker 1: He would do five million dollars today. So gee, do

103
00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:39,840
Speaker 1: you think there will be the old filing comings a

104
00:05:41,160 --> 00:05:44,920
Speaker 1: ring ring ring. They're obligated to They're obligated. He's part

105
00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:48,039
Speaker 1: of the union. They're obligated to represent him. And he

106
00:05:48,080 --> 00:05:50,680
Speaker 1: also called them out pretty heavily over the way. I mean,

107
00:05:50,680 --> 00:05:52,160
Speaker 1: we can read his tweet or will not be playing

108
00:05:52,160 --> 00:05:54,800
Speaker 1: in the NFL anymore. These owners can cancel deals, do

109
00:05:54,839 --> 00:05:57,040
Speaker 1: whatever they want at any time. We will see if

110
00:05:57,040 --> 00:06:00,200
Speaker 1: the NFLPA holds them accountable. Sad they can just woid

111
00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:03,440
Speaker 1: guarantees anytime. So yeah, the NFL p A is likely

112
00:06:03,440 --> 00:06:06,039
Speaker 1: going to represent him, it seems like, and other people

113
00:06:06,040 --> 00:06:09,480
Speaker 1: have done this reporting. So shout out to Dan Wallack. Um,

114
00:06:09,640 --> 00:06:11,400
Speaker 1: this is gonna hinge on the ten million dollars of

115
00:06:11,480 --> 00:06:14,480
Speaker 1: the Patriots. Oh, him is going to hinge on wording

116
00:06:14,520 --> 00:06:17,320
Speaker 1: that's in his contract, which says that uh he has

117
00:06:17,400 --> 00:06:21,040
Speaker 1: to disclose any information that might make him uh ineligible

118
00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:23,440
Speaker 1: to play moving forward, which he may not have done

119
00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:27,120
Speaker 1: versus the NFL c b A, which says the teams

120
00:06:27,160 --> 00:06:30,919
Speaker 1: can't forfeit signing bonus money unless one of four things happen,

121
00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:35,720
Speaker 1: one being failure to play, practice, or join the team,

122
00:06:35,760 --> 00:06:38,000
Speaker 1: which is I think the reason why the Raiders avoided

123
00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:40,800
Speaker 1: his thirty million dollar deal to being him being incarcerated.

124
00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:43,360
Speaker 1: Antonio Brown is not in jail. Three unable to play

125
00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:45,560
Speaker 1: due to an off field injury that didn't happen in

126
00:06:45,600 --> 00:06:49,480
Speaker 1: this case. And for he chooses to retire before being released,

127
00:06:49,480 --> 00:06:51,520
Speaker 1: which that didn't happen either. Here's the scariest part for

128
00:06:51,560 --> 00:06:54,039
Speaker 1: the players though, and no matter what has happened with

129
00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:56,719
Speaker 1: Antonio Brown, here's the scary part. He has been charged

130
00:06:56,760 --> 00:06:59,880
Speaker 1: with nothing. He has not been suspended or put on

131
00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:03,440
Speaker 1: exempted list from the commissioner. He was not first fine

132
00:07:03,600 --> 00:07:08,039
Speaker 1: or suspended by the team. None of those things happened,

133
00:07:08,440 --> 00:07:10,920
Speaker 1: and yet he was released and the team will not

134
00:07:10,960 --> 00:07:14,960
Speaker 1: pay him. If I'm an NFL player again, forget about

135
00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:19,520
Speaker 1: what he did, did not do. None of those procedural

136
00:07:19,720 --> 00:07:23,440
Speaker 1: things that would lead to discipline or forfeit forfeiture of money,

137
00:07:23,880 --> 00:07:27,640
Speaker 1: none of it has happened. That is a scary situation

138
00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:29,920
Speaker 1: for any NFL player. And that's why he's looking at

139
00:07:29,920 --> 00:07:31,520
Speaker 1: the union. And I think that the really interesting thing

140
00:07:31,560 --> 00:07:34,440
Speaker 1: about Antonio Brown is that he's bringing up some I

141
00:07:34,440 --> 00:07:36,560
Speaker 1: think he's bringing up some some pretty good points, right

142
00:07:36,600 --> 00:07:39,320
Speaker 1: And in his tweet twitter storm over the weekend, you know,

143
00:07:39,360 --> 00:07:43,640
Speaker 1: he mentions Robert Kraft says, there may be you know,

144
00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:46,720
Speaker 1: there may be a difference in the way the NFL treats,

145
00:07:46,760 --> 00:07:50,320
Speaker 1: you know, off field violations by players versus owners. He

146
00:07:50,360 --> 00:07:52,760
Speaker 1: mentions Ben Roethlisberger. I think he's making some interesting points

147
00:07:52,760 --> 00:07:55,800
Speaker 1: about the way that players are treated relative to owners, etcetera.

148
00:07:56,280 --> 00:08:00,520
Speaker 1: But nobody's gonna listen to those points because of all

149
00:08:00,560 --> 00:08:04,160
Speaker 1: the other things that he's done. Um, So you know, again,

150
00:08:04,200 --> 00:08:07,440
Speaker 1: I think, unfortunately it doesn't necessarily matter that that he

151
00:08:07,600 --> 00:08:09,080
Speaker 1: think he's bringing up some things that I think the

152
00:08:09,160 --> 00:08:11,960
Speaker 1: NFL players and we spoke with the d Smith last week,

153
00:08:12,320 --> 00:08:13,960
Speaker 1: you know who runs the NFL p A. He talked

154
00:08:13,960 --> 00:08:16,120
Speaker 1: about some of these things as well. Um, there there

155
00:08:16,200 --> 00:08:17,720
Speaker 1: is some smart and I think there are some smart

156
00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:20,080
Speaker 1: things that Antonio Brown is saying, but it's going to

157
00:08:20,160 --> 00:08:22,160
Speaker 1: get lost in the noise because of all the unsmart

158
00:08:22,160 --> 00:08:23,760
Speaker 1: things that he's done. And by the way that this

159
00:08:23,800 --> 00:08:26,880
Speaker 1: is a little little odd. So my son is fiddling

160
00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:30,000
Speaker 1: around on the on demand and he he found this thing,

161
00:08:30,080 --> 00:08:32,040
Speaker 1: the mess singer. Have you have you heard about this?

162
00:08:32,800 --> 00:08:34,160
Speaker 1: All right, it's like, I guess we're in season two.

163
00:08:34,160 --> 00:08:36,559
Speaker 1: Were coming up on season two. These singers where these

164
00:08:36,559 --> 00:08:38,600
Speaker 1: costumes and then the panelists trying to figure out who

165
00:08:38,600 --> 00:08:43,240
Speaker 1: it is based on some clues whatever. I'm sorry the

166
00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:46,160
Speaker 1: show one of them like became this kind of endearing figure,

167
00:08:46,280 --> 00:08:47,800
Speaker 1: or many of them, but there's like, oh great, Greg

168
00:08:47,960 --> 00:08:50,360
Speaker 1: and then he unmassed and it was like it's NFL

169
00:08:50,400 --> 00:08:54,160
Speaker 1: star Antonio Brown. I had no idea he was on

170
00:08:54,200 --> 00:08:57,000
Speaker 1: the show. I mean, obviously this was a while back,

171
00:08:57,480 --> 00:09:00,120
Speaker 1: but kudos to the agent forgetting him sort of or

172
00:09:00,200 --> 00:09:03,400
Speaker 1: mainstream this sort of kind of gender image. And then boom,

173
00:09:03,440 --> 00:09:05,600
Speaker 1: this other stuff happens, and it's like, well for you,

174
00:09:05,640 --> 00:09:10,360
Speaker 1: forget all about that. I go back to some of

175
00:09:10,360 --> 00:09:12,920
Speaker 1: you said, I mean, you're exactly right. My father once

176
00:09:12,960 --> 00:09:16,520
Speaker 1: told me, he said, listen, you have what's called uh

177
00:09:17,080 --> 00:09:22,559
Speaker 1: good natured equity. You can't spend all your good natured equity,

178
00:09:22,760 --> 00:09:26,520
Speaker 1: and then come time when you really need something, you

179
00:09:26,640 --> 00:09:29,240
Speaker 1: may have a bottomless supply. You may have a bottomless

180
00:09:29,240 --> 00:09:33,160
Speaker 1: something to you know, who doesn't have a bottomless supply,

181
00:09:33,720 --> 00:09:37,280
Speaker 1: the Ricketts family. No sports owner has a bottomless supply,

182
00:09:37,679 --> 00:09:40,360
Speaker 1: Which brings us to the we're gonna talk about the

183
00:09:40,360 --> 00:09:43,240
Speaker 1: Cubs in the final game on w g N over

184
00:09:43,240 --> 00:09:47,440
Speaker 1: the week only smokes doesn't sound right right, It doesn't

185
00:09:47,440 --> 00:09:50,079
Speaker 1: sound right of uttering those words at all. Yeah, I mean,

186
00:09:50,080 --> 00:09:52,080
Speaker 1: and I didn't even realize it was coming up this quickly.

187
00:09:52,120 --> 00:09:53,480
Speaker 1: I saw it on Twitter and I was like, you know,

188
00:09:53,800 --> 00:09:56,240
Speaker 1: let's discuss it. Like w g N has been showing

189
00:09:56,240 --> 00:10:01,200
Speaker 1: the Cub since but guess what the Cubs are doing. Yeah,

190
00:10:01,640 --> 00:10:04,840
Speaker 1: it's it's those three letters here. They all knowing, all

191
00:10:04,840 --> 00:10:10,320
Speaker 1: solving are and they are starting Marquee Sports Network, so

192
00:10:10,360 --> 00:10:12,560
Speaker 1: they're gonna have the games all of themselves, no freebees

193
00:10:12,600 --> 00:10:16,840
Speaker 1: over the air. Um, you think the Cub brand. It

194
00:10:16,920 --> 00:10:19,160
Speaker 1: doesn't always work. This was viewed as a panacea for

195
00:10:19,240 --> 00:10:22,000
Speaker 1: lots and lots of teams. I'll go back to Houston

196
00:10:22,040 --> 00:10:24,400
Speaker 1: where it was a disaster and there were lawsuits. Flying

197
00:10:24,720 --> 00:10:27,120
Speaker 1: works for the Yankees, works for the Mets, but does

198
00:10:27,160 --> 00:10:30,120
Speaker 1: not work everywhere. Dodgers started their RSN. They don't have

199
00:10:30,200 --> 00:10:33,360
Speaker 1: full distribution, but they're doing all right, they just said

200
00:10:33,360 --> 00:10:35,560
Speaker 1: an attendance record. Is the brand being hurt? I don't know,

201
00:10:36,400 --> 00:10:39,920
Speaker 1: but Evan, no, w g N over the air TV

202
00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:43,000
Speaker 1: in Chicago, and we still don't know what they're going

203
00:10:43,040 --> 00:10:46,120
Speaker 1: to charge the cable operators for this note. Yeah, I

204
00:10:46,160 --> 00:10:48,080
Speaker 1: think we can assume it's going to be in the

205
00:10:48,160 --> 00:10:51,040
Speaker 1: five to eight dollar range something. Something right in there

206
00:10:51,120 --> 00:10:54,199
Speaker 1: is that I think I think that'd be high. ESPN

207
00:10:54,320 --> 00:10:59,000
Speaker 1: is six and change, so I mean you think, yeah, yeah,

208
00:10:58,960 --> 00:11:00,920
Speaker 1: and it's one team all so I mean that's all

209
00:11:00,960 --> 00:11:02,319
Speaker 1: I got. Yeah, that's what I meant. Yeah, So this

210
00:11:02,600 --> 00:11:05,160
Speaker 1: is the Marquee Sports Network. It's being done with Sinclair

211
00:11:05,840 --> 00:11:08,800
Speaker 1: unrolling next year. That's your key good point. It's Sinclair.

212
00:11:08,880 --> 00:11:11,760
Speaker 1: So now you will guarantee yourself at least significant distribution.

213
00:11:12,200 --> 00:11:14,040
Speaker 1: And one of the things that I also find interesting

214
00:11:14,160 --> 00:11:17,560
Speaker 1: on this the Cubs had, you know, national available games

215
00:11:17,640 --> 00:11:21,079
Speaker 1: for so long. You know, the mystique and the popularity

216
00:11:21,120 --> 00:11:23,760
Speaker 1: of the Cubs I think is largely due in part

217
00:11:23,800 --> 00:11:25,559
Speaker 1: to the fact that they had this w g N

218
00:11:25,640 --> 00:11:29,640
Speaker 1: deal for for sevens. The exact same time. You have

219
00:11:29,720 --> 00:11:32,000
Speaker 1: to watch them on the superstation in New York as

220
00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:33,199
Speaker 1: a kid, and I'd be like oh, I want to

221
00:11:33,240 --> 00:11:35,400
Speaker 1: see Rick Maylor pitch both ends of the double header again.

222
00:11:35,440 --> 00:11:38,280
Speaker 1: You know, yeah, we used to see it all. I

223
00:11:38,280 --> 00:11:41,320
Speaker 1: would put Notre Dame football in that same category as

224
00:11:41,400 --> 00:11:43,760
Speaker 1: as a team that is regional but had a national

225
00:11:44,280 --> 00:11:47,400
Speaker 1: TV broadcast deal and and I think drove their their

226
00:11:47,480 --> 00:11:51,040
Speaker 1: increased popularity. So clearly the Rickett's family believes that, you know,

227
00:11:51,360 --> 00:11:53,880
Speaker 1: ending that deal, they're they're in a place now. They

228
00:11:53,920 --> 00:11:57,400
Speaker 1: just broke the curse they once World Series. Um, they

229
00:11:57,400 --> 00:11:59,240
Speaker 1: think that this is now the right time to move

230
00:11:59,320 --> 00:12:01,760
Speaker 1: kind of behind that that pay. But it doesn't It

231
00:12:01,800 --> 00:12:03,640
Speaker 1: interests me in the fact that you know, so much

232
00:12:03,679 --> 00:12:06,040
Speaker 1: of the reason why the Cubs are one of these

233
00:12:06,120 --> 00:12:09,880
Speaker 1: premier baseball teams, I believe is because they had the

234
00:12:09,920 --> 00:12:12,240
Speaker 1: steal in place and now it's over take it, take

235
00:12:12,240 --> 00:12:16,079
Speaker 1: it national. At what point does what is the straw

236
00:12:16,160 --> 00:12:18,240
Speaker 1: that breaks the camel's bag. What I'm getting at is

237
00:12:18,800 --> 00:12:23,880
Speaker 1: all of this the rs N s hinge on viewers watching, obviously,

238
00:12:24,080 --> 00:12:26,640
Speaker 1: and at what point do the viewers finally say, you

239
00:12:26,679 --> 00:12:29,920
Speaker 1: know what, I'd rather just chill out and watch the

240
00:12:30,040 --> 00:12:34,800
Speaker 1: National Vacuuming Championship whatever, because you, like you said, you

241
00:12:34,920 --> 00:12:36,839
Speaker 1: you still have to pay for that. That show sucks.

242
00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:44,000
Speaker 1: You know what, As we said with the S Network,

243
00:12:44,200 --> 00:12:46,640
Speaker 1: there's going to be a reimagined thing here when we

244
00:12:46,679 --> 00:12:48,640
Speaker 1: find out what the team's will and will not control

245
00:12:48,679 --> 00:12:50,840
Speaker 1: with digital rights and what they can do direct to consumers.

246
00:12:50,880 --> 00:12:55,600
Speaker 1: So still to come. Still tb D, but no cubs

247
00:12:55,640 --> 00:13:01,880
Speaker 1: on g N just seems odd tb D. You know me? Okay, nothing,

248
00:13:01,920 --> 00:13:04,560
Speaker 1: all right, I'm hearing chirps. This is the Bloomberg Business

249
00:13:04,559 --> 00:13:07,680
Speaker 1: of Sports podcast. I'm Michael Barr, along with Scott Sashnik

250
00:13:07,800 --> 00:13:10,920
Speaker 1: and Evan Novie Williams. We are here each and every Monday,

251
00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:13,199
Speaker 1: Wednesday and Thursday exploring the world of money in sports.

252
00:13:13,320 --> 00:13:14,600
Speaker 1: Join us again at the end of the week when

253
00:13:14,600 --> 00:13:17,360
Speaker 1: we speak with Pete glass Telica, who runs e Sports

254
00:13:17,360 --> 00:13:21,079
Speaker 1: for Activision Blizzard. Heading into the Super Bowl for Overwatch League,

255
00:13:21,200 --> 00:13:24,320
Speaker 1: the Grand Finale. A lot of Eppen time this week. Yeah,

256
00:13:24,320 --> 00:13:27,480
Speaker 1: because after Pong, that's it for me. You're listening to

257
00:13:27,520 --> 00:13:30,480
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Business of Sports on Bloomberg Radio around the world

258
00:13:30,520 --> 00:13:32,720
Speaker 1: and online wherever you get your podcast.