1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:04,160 Speaker 1: It's time to get inside the Giants hutlet on Giants 2 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:09,440 Speaker 1: dot Com and the Giants Mobile the Giants Podcast Network. 3 00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:12,920 Speaker 1: Welcome to the newest episode of The Giants Huddle Podcast, 4 00:00:13,039 --> 00:00:16,120 Speaker 1: joined by Paul de Tino. Today's guest Mike Doroth. He's 5 00:00:16,160 --> 00:00:18,880 Speaker 1: the vice president of broadcasting for the National Football League. 6 00:00:18,880 --> 00:00:21,880 Speaker 1: We're gonna talk about the NFL schedule. Thank you for 7 00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:23,320 Speaker 1: being with us. Just to remind you can find the 8 00:00:23,360 --> 00:00:26,239 Speaker 1: Johnts Little Podcast Allen Giants dot com, Slash podcast, on 9 00:00:26,280 --> 00:00:29,840 Speaker 1: the Giants Mobile app, and on your favorite podcast platforms. Mike, 10 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:32,320 Speaker 1: thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate it. 11 00:00:32,840 --> 00:00:36,560 Speaker 1: And boy, I'm sure it was a process. I see 12 00:00:36,840 --> 00:00:39,440 Speaker 1: sunlight behind you. So you've been let out of the dungeon. 13 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:42,040 Speaker 1: Now that the work is done. Congratulations, Welcome back to 14 00:00:42,040 --> 00:00:44,680 Speaker 1: the world of a living sir, Thank you, thank you. 15 00:00:45,360 --> 00:00:48,320 Speaker 1: I'm I'm I'm Punks Tony phil Man. They take me 16 00:00:48,360 --> 00:00:51,400 Speaker 1: out once the year. They show me around, they let 17 00:00:51,479 --> 00:00:55,160 Speaker 1: me talk to some people, shake some hands, kick some babies, 18 00:00:55,200 --> 00:00:56,640 Speaker 1: and then they put me back in the hole until 19 00:00:56,640 --> 00:01:00,440 Speaker 1: next spring. Well let's start here. Let's get very basic 20 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:05,920 Speaker 1: with it. When did this process start? The scheduling process 21 00:01:05,959 --> 00:01:08,600 Speaker 1: starts the day after the regular season ends. That's when 22 00:01:08,600 --> 00:01:11,840 Speaker 1: we know the final matchups. You know, we're mostly rotation 23 00:01:11,880 --> 00:01:13,800 Speaker 1: based for who plays whom, but there's a couple of 24 00:01:14,160 --> 00:01:16,240 Speaker 1: standings based games, or at least there used to be. 25 00:01:16,520 --> 00:01:19,520 Speaker 1: Now there's three with the seventeen games. So uh, as 26 00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:23,000 Speaker 1: soon as we know all the matchups, we get started. Obviously, 27 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:25,840 Speaker 1: there's still a lot of storylines to finish up, who 28 00:01:25,880 --> 00:01:30,119 Speaker 1: wins the Super Bowl, rematches, the championship games. We follow 29 00:01:30,120 --> 00:01:32,160 Speaker 1: the off season like all the other fans, where the 30 00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:34,880 Speaker 1: free agents gonna go, what's gonna happen in the draft? 31 00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:38,120 Speaker 1: But we start, you know, the day after the regular 32 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:41,119 Speaker 1: season ends, and we'll use every minute of every day 33 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:43,640 Speaker 1: that the commissioner will give us. Uh, if he gave 34 00:01:43,720 --> 00:01:45,960 Speaker 1: us another month. So I'm sure we find another schedule 35 00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:48,240 Speaker 1: or two or ten. I'm not sure they'd be that 36 00:01:48,320 --> 00:01:50,080 Speaker 1: much better than what we're holding in our hands. They'd 37 00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:53,560 Speaker 1: be different, um, but we would use every minute they 38 00:01:53,560 --> 00:01:57,280 Speaker 1: give us. It's all day, every day seven uh, from 39 00:01:57,320 --> 00:01:59,200 Speaker 1: the day the regular season ends until the day the 40 00:01:59,200 --> 00:02:03,280 Speaker 1: schedule gets Really Mike had the schedule released in May 41 00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:06,600 Speaker 1: this year? Was that a matter of circumstances because of 42 00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:09,240 Speaker 1: the way things worked out with the pandemic and all 43 00:02:09,280 --> 00:02:12,160 Speaker 1: those other things that had to be logistically changed, or 44 00:02:12,280 --> 00:02:14,600 Speaker 1: was this a plan all along, and how do you 45 00:02:14,720 --> 00:02:17,520 Speaker 1: plan to do it going forward? This is something we've 46 00:02:17,560 --> 00:02:19,560 Speaker 1: been talking about for a couple of years. You guys know, 47 00:02:19,639 --> 00:02:21,600 Speaker 1: haven't done this for a long time. Schedule used to 48 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:24,280 Speaker 1: come out like second or third week in April, and 49 00:02:24,320 --> 00:02:26,200 Speaker 1: it just kind of got dropped on you. You know, 50 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:28,880 Speaker 1: we didn't know we were done until we were done. 51 00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:31,200 Speaker 1: And then as soon as the commissioner said, yep, that 52 00:02:31,240 --> 00:02:34,200 Speaker 1: one's good, let's go. Uh, you all had twenty four 53 00:02:34,320 --> 00:02:36,639 Speaker 1: maybe forty eight hours to get everybody back and get 54 00:02:36,639 --> 00:02:39,200 Speaker 1: together and get your ticket pricing right and get your 55 00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:42,040 Speaker 1: social media channels ready. And it just kind of dropped 56 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:44,760 Speaker 1: in the middle of April when everybody was mostly focused 57 00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:47,120 Speaker 1: on the draft. So now we can take all of 58 00:02:47,160 --> 00:02:50,160 Speaker 1: April really focused on the draft, really meet these kids, 59 00:02:50,200 --> 00:02:54,360 Speaker 1: meet these prospects, do everybody's mock draft. And then the 60 00:02:54,440 --> 00:02:58,040 Speaker 1: draft happened. Everybody gets there, you know, post mortem, everybody 61 00:02:58,040 --> 00:03:01,720 Speaker 1: gets their draft grades, and now we know where everybody's playing, 62 00:03:02,040 --> 00:03:03,760 Speaker 1: and now we can get ready to find out when 63 00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:06,400 Speaker 1: they're playing. So this is the new normal. Schedule is 64 00:03:06,400 --> 00:03:08,880 Speaker 1: gonna come out first or second week in May. Gives 65 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:11,360 Speaker 1: us a week or two to react to something in 66 00:03:11,400 --> 00:03:12,840 Speaker 1: the draft. You know, I don't think it was a 67 00:03:12,840 --> 00:03:15,040 Speaker 1: big surprise that Trevor Lawrence went to the JAG. But 68 00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:18,800 Speaker 1: if something big had happened, i e. A certain quarterback 69 00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:21,359 Speaker 1: in Green and Gold out in Wisconsin had changed teams, 70 00:03:21,360 --> 00:03:24,160 Speaker 1: you know, that's something we would have wanted to react to. 71 00:03:24,600 --> 00:03:26,520 Speaker 1: And obviously if the schedule was out in mid April 72 00:03:26,520 --> 00:03:28,360 Speaker 1: we couldn't. Now that it's gonna come out in May, 73 00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:30,960 Speaker 1: we'll at least have that window where if something earth's 74 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:34,359 Speaker 1: shattering happened, we can adjust. I know we have mock 75 00:03:34,480 --> 00:03:37,400 Speaker 1: draft season. Here comes mocks schedule season. Mike, You not 76 00:03:37,560 --> 00:03:39,560 Speaker 1: start having some fake schedules come out that are gonna 77 00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:41,200 Speaker 1: try to predict these things. Now you're ready for that. 78 00:03:42,240 --> 00:03:45,920 Speaker 1: Everybody's an expert. Nobody knows anything. Every time you see 79 00:03:46,320 --> 00:03:51,000 Speaker 1: a mock schedule or a supposed leak schedule before you 80 00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:54,160 Speaker 1: know a day or two out, Uh, it's false because 81 00:03:54,320 --> 00:03:57,120 Speaker 1: literally the schedule was not done. We didn't get the 82 00:03:57,120 --> 00:04:02,760 Speaker 1: commissioner's blessing until Monday, it's kent at about noon. So 83 00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:07,960 Speaker 1: anything prior to that was just conjecture, was just speculation. Um. 84 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:10,320 Speaker 1: You know, once we gave the schedule to the teams 85 00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:13,680 Speaker 1: on Tuesday, gave it to the television partners on Wednesday, 86 00:04:14,120 --> 00:04:15,840 Speaker 1: you know, a couple of things leaked out, some of 87 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:17,640 Speaker 1: it right, some of it wrong. I'm not sure it's 88 00:04:17,680 --> 00:04:21,080 Speaker 1: bad to have people speculating, and it's great that people care. 89 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:24,640 Speaker 1: But anybody that thinks they have one in March or 90 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:28,480 Speaker 1: April or early May, uh, you can rest assured that 91 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:32,359 Speaker 1: is false because it truly is not done until the 92 00:04:32,560 --> 00:04:36,159 Speaker 1: very last minute, until the commissioner says, all right, pencils down. Well, 93 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:37,720 Speaker 1: I want to follow up on that real quick, Mike. 94 00:04:37,760 --> 00:04:41,080 Speaker 1: That's actually earlier than usual to right, based on when 95 00:04:41,120 --> 00:04:43,160 Speaker 1: you have it done, having it done three days in 96 00:04:43,200 --> 00:04:45,040 Speaker 1: advance based on the past, isn't that a little bit 97 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:47,640 Speaker 1: earlier than usual? Yeah? Look what we did this year 98 00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:49,440 Speaker 1: kind of like you guys hinted at, as soon as 99 00:04:49,480 --> 00:04:51,360 Speaker 1: we said it's gonna be May and this is the 100 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:54,080 Speaker 1: new normal, we actually went ahead and confirmed the date. 101 00:04:54,440 --> 00:04:56,520 Speaker 1: So we gave all of our clubs date certainty. We 102 00:04:56,560 --> 00:04:59,440 Speaker 1: gave all of our broadcast partners date certainty, so we 103 00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:02,159 Speaker 1: knew it was made twelve whether we were done or not, 104 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:06,520 Speaker 1: so obviously wanting to get to the commissioner it wasn't made. 105 00:05:06,520 --> 00:05:08,560 Speaker 1: Tent was the first time he'd seen us in the 106 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:11,520 Speaker 1: first time he's seen schedules. We've been checkpointing with him 107 00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:13,760 Speaker 1: once a week every week for the last probably five 108 00:05:13,839 --> 00:05:16,039 Speaker 1: or six weeks, so he had a real good feel 109 00:05:16,080 --> 00:05:18,719 Speaker 1: for what we were doing, how we were solving the puzzle, 110 00:05:19,040 --> 00:05:21,440 Speaker 1: what the prime time schedule looked like, who was going 111 00:05:21,440 --> 00:05:24,320 Speaker 1: to London, who's playing on Thanksgiving, who's playing on Christmas? 112 00:05:24,640 --> 00:05:26,880 Speaker 1: What changes at the end. There is really kind of 113 00:05:26,920 --> 00:05:29,040 Speaker 1: on the margin that this three game road trip, for 114 00:05:29,160 --> 00:05:31,280 Speaker 1: that three game road trip, it this team with the 115 00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:33,360 Speaker 1: road after road Monday, or that team with the road 116 00:05:33,400 --> 00:05:35,520 Speaker 1: after road Monday, or this team has to play a 117 00:05:35,560 --> 00:05:37,240 Speaker 1: couple of teams coming off their five weeks or that 118 00:05:37,279 --> 00:05:39,479 Speaker 1: team does, and it just kind of moves around, you know, 119 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:41,680 Speaker 1: it's it's bad luck. It just kind of moves around. 120 00:05:42,040 --> 00:05:43,760 Speaker 1: If we're doing our jobs or not letting it fall 121 00:05:43,839 --> 00:05:45,800 Speaker 1: on the same team over and over and over again, 122 00:05:45,880 --> 00:05:47,919 Speaker 1: or at least the same way over and over and 123 00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:50,400 Speaker 1: over again. So you know, everybody's got something in their 124 00:05:50,440 --> 00:05:53,159 Speaker 1: schedule that they don't love, but hopefully it's not the 125 00:05:53,200 --> 00:05:55,120 Speaker 1: same thing they didn't love in their schedule last year. 126 00:05:56,000 --> 00:05:59,760 Speaker 1: So people can appreciate exactly what you guys go through 127 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:02,360 Speaker 1: from the time the season ends. And I know there's 128 00:06:02,360 --> 00:06:04,920 Speaker 1: a lot of technology involved. I remember when Valve Pinchback 129 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:08,080 Speaker 1: had the medallion's on the board in his office years ago. 130 00:06:08,720 --> 00:06:11,880 Speaker 1: But what is the typical day like, do you actually 131 00:06:11,920 --> 00:06:15,000 Speaker 1: get any days off between the end of the season 132 00:06:15,240 --> 00:06:18,080 Speaker 1: and the schedule release or is it really something that 133 00:06:18,240 --> 00:06:22,680 Speaker 1: totally consumes you. No days off? Now it's twenty four seven. 134 00:06:22,760 --> 00:06:25,320 Speaker 1: It's all day every day. It has to be you know, 135 00:06:25,400 --> 00:06:29,760 Speaker 1: first and foremost, it's an impossible mathematical exercise, so we're 136 00:06:29,800 --> 00:06:32,600 Speaker 1: never gonna find the one, but we're gonna keep looking 137 00:06:32,640 --> 00:06:35,080 Speaker 1: for it. And you know, it would be irresponsible amount 138 00:06:35,080 --> 00:06:36,720 Speaker 1: to take every second of every day and make sure 139 00:06:36,720 --> 00:06:39,919 Speaker 1: the computers are searching through the infinite solution space and 140 00:06:39,960 --> 00:06:43,520 Speaker 1: looking for the magical, mythical one schedule. So we're all 141 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:45,920 Speaker 1: day every day, and you reference val you know we 142 00:06:45,920 --> 00:06:47,919 Speaker 1: were all day every day when we were working with 143 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:50,279 Speaker 1: thou but we were making the schedule one game at 144 00:06:50,279 --> 00:06:52,080 Speaker 1: a time, we would hang a tag under the giants, 145 00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:54,120 Speaker 1: hang a tag under the eagles, hang a tag under 146 00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:56,760 Speaker 1: the falcon, And you build a week, and then you 147 00:06:56,839 --> 00:06:58,640 Speaker 1: build the next week, and then you build the next week. 148 00:06:58,839 --> 00:07:00,960 Speaker 1: You had no idea where you were heading. You had 149 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:03,839 Speaker 1: no idea what corners you were painting yourselves into. You 150 00:07:03,920 --> 00:07:07,080 Speaker 1: had no idea what pain you were about to inflict 151 00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:09,600 Speaker 1: on somebody because of a decision you made a week ago. 152 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:12,400 Speaker 1: You know, now, with the way the computers work, basically 153 00:07:12,400 --> 00:07:15,560 Speaker 1: they're all VOW, and every single one of those computers 154 00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:17,920 Speaker 1: is a different VOWS, and they're all in a different 155 00:07:17,920 --> 00:07:19,840 Speaker 1: branch of the search tree, and they're all trying to 156 00:07:19,880 --> 00:07:24,960 Speaker 1: figure out all right, Primetime schedule, Sunday afternoon schedule, Thanksgiving, London, Christmas, 157 00:07:25,160 --> 00:07:28,800 Speaker 1: three game, road trip, stadium blocks, Beyonce concerts, whatever it is, 158 00:07:29,080 --> 00:07:32,240 Speaker 1: and we're just searching, searching, searching, And every single one 159 00:07:32,240 --> 00:07:35,040 Speaker 1: of those vows, every single one of those instances, every 160 00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:37,120 Speaker 1: single one of those computers, could come back with the 161 00:07:37,160 --> 00:07:39,600 Speaker 1: schedule every night. They're all talking to each other. They've 162 00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:41,720 Speaker 1: all got the same rules, they've all got the same constraints, 163 00:07:41,720 --> 00:07:44,240 Speaker 1: they've all got the same scoring system. So we wake 164 00:07:44,320 --> 00:07:46,400 Speaker 1: up in the morning, we might have eight, we might 165 00:07:46,440 --> 00:07:48,960 Speaker 1: have ten, we might have forty. One of them is 166 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:51,120 Speaker 1: going to be good. And at any given point in 167 00:07:51,160 --> 00:07:54,040 Speaker 1: the process, there's always one best so far leader in 168 00:07:54,040 --> 00:07:56,600 Speaker 1: the clubhouse that's hanging on the wall. If the Commissioner 169 00:07:56,640 --> 00:07:58,480 Speaker 1: came downstairs, I mean, we haven't actually been in the 170 00:07:58,520 --> 00:08:01,000 Speaker 1: office for him to come downstairs. If if the Commissioner 171 00:08:01,040 --> 00:08:03,160 Speaker 1: got on our zoom and said, give me the best 172 00:08:03,160 --> 00:08:05,160 Speaker 1: one you got, I do want to put it out tomorrow. 173 00:08:05,520 --> 00:08:07,560 Speaker 1: We've always got one. It's always hanging on the wall. 174 00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:10,400 Speaker 1: But there's always a flaw, or multiple flaws. What's the 175 00:08:10,440 --> 00:08:12,800 Speaker 1: worst thing about the leader in the clubhouse might be 176 00:08:12,840 --> 00:08:15,200 Speaker 1: that three game road trip for Houston, might be that 177 00:08:15,520 --> 00:08:18,160 Speaker 1: CBS one o'clock window, and week seven might be the 178 00:08:18,200 --> 00:08:21,480 Speaker 1: sequencing of the ESPN games in week thirteen, fourteen fifteen. 179 00:08:21,520 --> 00:08:24,840 Speaker 1: Whatever it is, go fix it. Computers were on all night. 180 00:08:25,040 --> 00:08:28,080 Speaker 1: You come in tomorrow morning. Now the Houston three game 181 00:08:28,160 --> 00:08:30,840 Speaker 1: road trips gone, the CBS one o'clock window in week 182 00:08:30,920 --> 00:08:34,800 Speaker 1: seven is perfect, and the ESPN sequencing in thirteen fifteen 183 00:08:34,960 --> 00:08:37,760 Speaker 1: couldn't be better. All right, what do we break? Now? 184 00:08:37,760 --> 00:08:39,719 Speaker 1: You've got a three game road trip for San Francisco. 185 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:42,640 Speaker 1: You've got a stadium block that you had to play 186 00:08:42,640 --> 00:08:46,520 Speaker 1: over in Atlanta, and you've got the Seattle Seahawks finishing 187 00:08:46,880 --> 00:08:48,800 Speaker 1: road road with a road Monday night game on the 188 00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:52,760 Speaker 1: East Coast in week seventeen. Is that schedule better? If 189 00:08:52,800 --> 00:08:54,959 Speaker 1: it is? Put it on the wall, new leader in 190 00:08:54,960 --> 00:08:56,719 Speaker 1: the clubhouse. What's the worst thing about it? Probably that 191 00:08:56,800 --> 00:08:59,600 Speaker 1: Seattle Road after road Monday in seventeen and eighteen. Let's 192 00:08:59,600 --> 00:09:03,439 Speaker 1: go fix that. If it's not better, Leader survives King 193 00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:06,680 Speaker 1: of the Hill, throw another contender at it. The more 194 00:09:06,760 --> 00:09:09,040 Speaker 1: contenders you throw at that Leader in the clubhouse and 195 00:09:09,080 --> 00:09:12,080 Speaker 1: the more it survives, the better we're gonna feel about it, 196 00:09:12,200 --> 00:09:16,000 Speaker 1: and the closer to optimal we're probably getting. So just 197 00:09:16,040 --> 00:09:18,160 Speaker 1: to understand how it works in Mike, will you guys? 198 00:09:18,200 --> 00:09:21,600 Speaker 1: Then basically, at the end of every day, go back 199 00:09:21,640 --> 00:09:24,679 Speaker 1: into your computers, put in a new like in additional rules. 200 00:09:25,040 --> 00:09:26,720 Speaker 1: We're like, all right, well, don't do this, don't do this, 201 00:09:26,760 --> 00:09:28,360 Speaker 1: and then see what happens. Is that how it works 202 00:09:28,360 --> 00:09:31,080 Speaker 1: pretty much? Yes, that's exactly right. The computers run all 203 00:09:31,160 --> 00:09:33,400 Speaker 1: night long. We come in in the morning. What did 204 00:09:33,440 --> 00:09:35,800 Speaker 1: we find. Well, here's a good schedule. Here's not as 205 00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:37,920 Speaker 1: good schedule. Here's a really good schedule. It's really good 206 00:09:37,920 --> 00:09:40,079 Speaker 1: for NBC, maybe not so good for you know, the 207 00:09:40,160 --> 00:09:43,880 Speaker 1: Kansas City Chiefs. But all these schedules are absolutely playable. 208 00:09:44,120 --> 00:09:47,680 Speaker 1: They're feasible, they're completed, they're legal. We could play any 209 00:09:47,679 --> 00:09:50,160 Speaker 1: one of them. Which one is the best so far? Well, 210 00:09:50,400 --> 00:09:52,240 Speaker 1: it's probably this one. But I don't like that three 211 00:09:52,240 --> 00:09:54,959 Speaker 1: game road trip and that schedule over there, Contender number 212 00:09:55,000 --> 00:09:57,760 Speaker 1: thirty seven, he had to die for that, you know, 213 00:09:57,840 --> 00:10:00,480 Speaker 1: back to back cross country trip for Miami. Didn't want 214 00:10:00,480 --> 00:10:02,440 Speaker 1: that this year. There's been years that had gone west 215 00:10:02,440 --> 00:10:05,200 Speaker 1: and stayed west and paired them up and practiced out there. 216 00:10:05,240 --> 00:10:07,679 Speaker 1: They didn't want that this year. So write some new rules. 217 00:10:07,720 --> 00:10:10,800 Speaker 1: Don't do that to Miami. Fix the stadium block in Minnesota, 218 00:10:10,880 --> 00:10:13,320 Speaker 1: fix the three game road trip for Houston, and dogg 219 00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:15,400 Speaker 1: gone it that week seven for CBS. We just can't 220 00:10:15,400 --> 00:10:17,440 Speaker 1: get it right. Maybe we should change the rules, change 221 00:10:17,480 --> 00:10:20,439 Speaker 1: the penalties, run it again and then tomorrow. We're getting 222 00:10:20,440 --> 00:10:22,840 Speaker 1: a little better, we're getting a little close to the optimal, 223 00:10:23,040 --> 00:10:25,160 Speaker 1: but we've also shrink the solution space because now there's 224 00:10:25,160 --> 00:10:27,400 Speaker 1: a whole bunch of stuff we're unwilling to see. So 225 00:10:27,520 --> 00:10:30,360 Speaker 1: every night we take a solution space and we shrink it. 226 00:10:30,559 --> 00:10:32,679 Speaker 1: We shrink it, we shrink it, and then, of course 227 00:10:32,760 --> 00:10:35,400 Speaker 1: one day we shrunk it too far. No good schedules 228 00:10:35,440 --> 00:10:36,920 Speaker 1: came out the next day, All right, what do we do? 229 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:39,120 Speaker 1: We broke it. Let's look back at all the rules 230 00:10:39,120 --> 00:10:42,200 Speaker 1: we've written over the last three days, five days, three weeks, 231 00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:44,800 Speaker 1: and maybe we're gonna have to build that solution space 232 00:10:44,840 --> 00:10:47,680 Speaker 1: back up again, change some rules, compromise some of the 233 00:10:47,720 --> 00:10:51,240 Speaker 1: things we wanted. A must have becomes the like to have, uh, 234 00:10:51,520 --> 00:10:54,400 Speaker 1: must not have becomes a preferred not to have, And 235 00:10:54,440 --> 00:10:56,280 Speaker 1: you just kind of keep tinkering. You just kind of 236 00:10:56,400 --> 00:10:59,640 Speaker 1: keep perturbing and moving the tags around like Val would 237 00:10:59,679 --> 00:11:02,040 Speaker 1: do by hand, except we get to do it, you know, 238 00:11:02,160 --> 00:11:05,199 Speaker 1: three thousand, five thousand, ten thousand times a night. At 239 00:11:05,240 --> 00:11:07,160 Speaker 1: some point, one of these schedules is going to check 240 00:11:07,200 --> 00:11:11,000 Speaker 1: most of our box. Mike, with the seventeenth game this year, 241 00:11:11,040 --> 00:11:13,560 Speaker 1: over the course of eighteen weeks, I saw a quote 242 00:11:13,559 --> 00:11:18,120 Speaker 1: from you about how it created infinite more possibilities and solutions. 243 00:11:18,440 --> 00:11:20,440 Speaker 1: I guess what I'd like to know is, from a 244 00:11:20,520 --> 00:11:24,120 Speaker 1: percentage perspective, how much harder, was it? Or did it 245 00:11:24,160 --> 00:11:27,400 Speaker 1: turn out actually to be a blessing for you? Did 246 00:11:27,480 --> 00:11:33,040 Speaker 1: a boat um strictly mathematically, it took an infinite solution 247 00:11:33,080 --> 00:11:36,480 Speaker 1: space and didn't just double or triple it, but exponentially 248 00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:38,720 Speaker 1: increased it. And like I said, I'm not sure we 249 00:11:38,760 --> 00:11:41,880 Speaker 1: get through the entire solution space. Ever, we certainly don't 250 00:11:41,920 --> 00:11:44,480 Speaker 1: get through it in one night with fifteen hours and 251 00:11:44,679 --> 00:11:47,880 Speaker 1: three thousand computers. So you know, I always liken this 252 00:11:47,920 --> 00:11:50,880 Speaker 1: process to finding the best grain of stand on the beach. 253 00:11:51,360 --> 00:11:53,880 Speaker 1: We just turned that beach into you know, the entire 254 00:11:53,920 --> 00:11:57,440 Speaker 1: Atlantic seaboard. I mean, there's just no way we're gonna 255 00:11:57,440 --> 00:11:59,640 Speaker 1: be able to search through the entire solution space, certainly 256 00:11:59,640 --> 00:12:02,720 Speaker 1: not in night. Um. That being said, there were a 257 00:12:02,720 --> 00:12:05,760 Speaker 1: couple of benefits to having the extra game. Um, you know, 258 00:12:05,840 --> 00:12:08,319 Speaker 1: the biggest thing was you look at those extra games, 259 00:12:08,320 --> 00:12:11,240 Speaker 1: those extra interconference games. This year it's NFC at a 260 00:12:11,320 --> 00:12:12,480 Speaker 1: f C. Next year it will be a f C 261 00:12:12,559 --> 00:12:15,120 Speaker 1: at NFC and will just keep rotating. But this year 262 00:12:15,120 --> 00:12:17,280 Speaker 1: you look at some of those extra games, Green Bay, 263 00:12:17,360 --> 00:12:22,160 Speaker 1: Kansas City, Dallas, New England, Seattle, Pittsburgh, Giants, Miami. You 264 00:12:22,160 --> 00:12:25,840 Speaker 1: know these extra games, there's some high quality inventory there, 265 00:12:25,880 --> 00:12:28,120 Speaker 1: and we've got a lot of mouths to feed with 266 00:12:28,160 --> 00:12:30,480 Speaker 1: all of our network partners now, the extra week worth 267 00:12:30,520 --> 00:12:33,560 Speaker 1: of prime time games and doubleheader games and having a 268 00:12:33,600 --> 00:12:36,800 Speaker 1: few extra really good juicy apples, know when everybody needs 269 00:12:36,800 --> 00:12:39,200 Speaker 1: a fight of the good apples, that helps us out 270 00:12:39,200 --> 00:12:41,160 Speaker 1: a lot. So, you know, a bit of both. It 271 00:12:41,240 --> 00:12:43,440 Speaker 1: made the solution space even harder to get through, but 272 00:12:43,480 --> 00:12:46,280 Speaker 1: it gave us a few more good apples to doll 273 00:12:46,360 --> 00:12:48,439 Speaker 1: out to the partners. You know, Mike, I want to 274 00:12:48,480 --> 00:12:50,920 Speaker 1: paint the picture here for fans out there because they 275 00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:52,280 Speaker 1: might not know, but you are one of the most 276 00:12:52,280 --> 00:12:58,680 Speaker 1: powerful suits at three Park Avenue. You're running the building. Now, 277 00:12:58,679 --> 00:13:01,480 Speaker 1: I'm just kidding. I have agine though you have the 278 00:13:01,480 --> 00:13:04,120 Speaker 1: TV Networks hanging on one sleeve, you have the team's 279 00:13:04,200 --> 00:13:07,400 Speaker 1: hanging on the on on your coattails, you have you know, 280 00:13:07,600 --> 00:13:09,360 Speaker 1: you have the guys that run the stadium's book in 281 00:13:09,400 --> 00:13:11,920 Speaker 1: different concerts hanging on your right sleeve. How do you 282 00:13:12,120 --> 00:13:16,040 Speaker 1: balance all of that together in trying to figure this out? 283 00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:18,320 Speaker 1: Because look, we all know how important the TV partners is. 284 00:13:18,320 --> 00:13:19,760 Speaker 1: None of us are doing what we're doing without the 285 00:13:19,800 --> 00:13:21,800 Speaker 1: money coming in from them. So let's not make believe 286 00:13:21,840 --> 00:13:24,199 Speaker 1: they're not really important, because they are. And we all 287 00:13:24,200 --> 00:13:26,920 Speaker 1: know how important obviously it is to maintain competitive balance. 288 00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:29,600 Speaker 1: So how do you kind of put all that into 289 00:13:29,600 --> 00:13:31,640 Speaker 1: the bowl, mix it up and make sure as many 290 00:13:31,720 --> 00:13:33,880 Speaker 1: people are as happy as possible when you get to 291 00:13:33,920 --> 00:13:38,800 Speaker 1: the end. It's part art and part science. Um, you know, 292 00:13:38,800 --> 00:13:40,880 Speaker 1: I hinted at some of the science here. When we're 293 00:13:40,880 --> 00:13:43,160 Speaker 1: searching through an infinite space, we use a negative based 294 00:13:43,200 --> 00:13:45,520 Speaker 1: scoring system, which means we penalize all the things that 295 00:13:45,559 --> 00:13:48,000 Speaker 1: we don't want to have happen, whether that's something happening 296 00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:51,160 Speaker 1: to a television partner or something happening to a team. 297 00:13:51,200 --> 00:13:53,559 Speaker 1: And the more penalty points you have in any given 298 00:13:53,600 --> 00:13:56,000 Speaker 1: schedule in theory, the more people you're gonna have that 299 00:13:56,000 --> 00:13:58,480 Speaker 1: are gonna be disappointed. So the lower the score of 300 00:13:58,480 --> 00:14:00,840 Speaker 1: the better. And the science us in the math and 301 00:14:00,880 --> 00:14:04,760 Speaker 1: the servers and the AWS instances. You know, they're searching, searching, searching. 302 00:14:05,400 --> 00:14:08,280 Speaker 1: They run all day, every day, and hopefully we're making 303 00:14:08,320 --> 00:14:11,520 Speaker 1: some progress there. But part of this is art as well, 304 00:14:11,559 --> 00:14:13,440 Speaker 1: and that's where some of the humans come in. You 305 00:14:13,440 --> 00:14:16,319 Speaker 1: guys know Howard Cats, who's been running the scheduling process 306 00:14:16,360 --> 00:14:19,280 Speaker 1: for the last fifteen years. Um, you know, some of 307 00:14:19,320 --> 00:14:22,000 Speaker 1: the things that get decided and the schedule get decided 308 00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:24,960 Speaker 1: in his gut, in his head. Uh, And some of 309 00:14:24,960 --> 00:14:27,720 Speaker 1: it is Howard just kind of offers up some guidelines 310 00:14:27,760 --> 00:14:30,440 Speaker 1: and some guardrails and some constraints, and we kind of 311 00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:32,920 Speaker 1: feed that into the computer. And basically it's the guy 312 00:14:32,960 --> 00:14:35,760 Speaker 1: that touches the computers the most. I'm trying to teach 313 00:14:35,840 --> 00:14:40,000 Speaker 1: them to read Howard's mind. You know, when Howard says, 314 00:14:40,640 --> 00:14:43,040 Speaker 1: I don't know if that's the right Sunday night football schedule, 315 00:14:43,160 --> 00:14:45,880 Speaker 1: I'll know it when I see it, all right, how 316 00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:47,640 Speaker 1: do you tell this computer that, you know, when Howard 317 00:14:47,680 --> 00:14:50,560 Speaker 1: says something like, oh that sounds like a football game, 318 00:14:51,400 --> 00:14:53,800 Speaker 1: all right, how do you write a mathematical model for that? 319 00:14:53,960 --> 00:14:57,000 Speaker 1: You know? So we're trying to teach the computers what's 320 00:14:57,000 --> 00:14:59,600 Speaker 1: in Howard's head and what's in Howard's head is the 321 00:14:59,640 --> 00:15:04,160 Speaker 1: best possible television with the least possible team pain And 322 00:15:04,240 --> 00:15:07,400 Speaker 1: those two things really are bifurcated. You know, you could 323 00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:11,400 Speaker 1: make a really good television schedule nothing but Giants and 324 00:15:11,560 --> 00:15:15,960 Speaker 1: Cowboys and Patriots and Packers and Chiefs every week, prime 325 00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:18,840 Speaker 1: time National Windows that's probably not gonna be our best 326 00:15:18,840 --> 00:15:20,480 Speaker 1: team schedule. There's gonna be a lot of pain on 327 00:15:20,520 --> 00:15:24,640 Speaker 1: the teams to accommodate that. You could make perfect team schedules, 328 00:15:24,680 --> 00:15:28,440 Speaker 1: every team home away, home away, mid season by nobody 329 00:15:28,480 --> 00:15:30,960 Speaker 1: plays in Florida in September when it's the hundred and 330 00:15:30,960 --> 00:15:33,920 Speaker 1: ten degrees. Nobody plays in Lambeau in January when it's 331 00:15:34,120 --> 00:15:36,720 Speaker 1: negative three. That's not gonna be our best television schedule. 332 00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:40,120 Speaker 1: So somewhere between those two extremes, we're trying to find 333 00:15:40,160 --> 00:15:43,160 Speaker 1: a balance, that right shade of gray that, like you said, 334 00:15:43,200 --> 00:15:47,000 Speaker 1: maybe it doesn't make everybody happy, but maybe disappoints them 335 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:51,080 Speaker 1: all equally and hopefully just a little. On the flip 336 00:15:51,120 --> 00:15:53,920 Speaker 1: side to that, Mike, and we all know human nature 337 00:15:54,120 --> 00:15:57,360 Speaker 1: is always going to try to complain about something. What 338 00:15:57,720 --> 00:16:01,520 Speaker 1: do you ever get really great implements from either some 339 00:16:01,640 --> 00:16:04,880 Speaker 1: of your network partners or some of your teams that say, boy, 340 00:16:04,920 --> 00:16:09,120 Speaker 1: you really took care of us this year. Uh. Look, 341 00:16:09,120 --> 00:16:11,600 Speaker 1: I'd be lying if I said the answer with no. Uh, 342 00:16:11,640 --> 00:16:15,160 Speaker 1: there are definitely people to call and say thank you. Um. 343 00:16:15,200 --> 00:16:17,920 Speaker 1: You know, there are definitely people that call with let's 344 00:16:17,920 --> 00:16:21,520 Speaker 1: call it constructive criticism, um, you know, what we try 345 00:16:21,560 --> 00:16:24,160 Speaker 1: to do, quite frankly, is learned from that. You know, 346 00:16:24,240 --> 00:16:27,040 Speaker 1: there are things, like I said, we write rules. There's probably, 347 00:16:27,560 --> 00:16:32,760 Speaker 1: at our absolute peak, let's say, twenty thousand rules that 348 00:16:32,800 --> 00:16:35,720 Speaker 1: are written that helps us get to this final product 349 00:16:35,800 --> 00:16:38,440 Speaker 1: right here. And those are rules for teams, those are 350 00:16:38,520 --> 00:16:43,160 Speaker 1: rules for stadium travel, rest, but also rules for television. 351 00:16:43,320 --> 00:16:46,080 Speaker 1: You know, quantity and quality and every window for CBS 352 00:16:46,120 --> 00:16:49,000 Speaker 1: and Fox and primetime games and who got primetime games 353 00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:50,920 Speaker 1: and who didn't get primetime games, and who got him 354 00:16:50,920 --> 00:16:52,400 Speaker 1: at home and who didn't get him at home? And 355 00:16:52,680 --> 00:16:54,480 Speaker 1: you know, if you took this game away from Fox 356 00:16:54,520 --> 00:16:56,000 Speaker 1: and you put it on NBC, then what are you 357 00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:58,280 Speaker 1: gonna give back the Fox to make good? You know, 358 00:16:58,480 --> 00:17:00,920 Speaker 1: it's a zero sum game, right you guys know this. 359 00:17:01,080 --> 00:17:04,320 Speaker 1: Anything good for the Giants, it's bad for the Eagles. 360 00:17:04,480 --> 00:17:07,960 Speaker 1: Anything good for CBS, it's probably bad for Fox. So 361 00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:11,159 Speaker 1: you know, we try to balance everybody. We try to 362 00:17:11,200 --> 00:17:15,080 Speaker 1: take the feedback. Uh, if somebody calls and says this 363 00:17:15,320 --> 00:17:19,200 Speaker 1: is perfect, we are so unbelievably happy, network or club. 364 00:17:19,280 --> 00:17:23,320 Speaker 1: If somebody calls in there that happy, maybe we tilted 365 00:17:23,359 --> 00:17:26,359 Speaker 1: it a little too far to them to if somebody calls. 366 00:17:26,400 --> 00:17:29,760 Speaker 1: He says, this is unacceptable. How could you do this? Like, 367 00:17:29,920 --> 00:17:32,040 Speaker 1: what is wrong with you? Guys? You claim to have 368 00:17:32,119 --> 00:17:35,080 Speaker 1: three thousand computers running, You need three thousand more. I 369 00:17:35,119 --> 00:17:37,360 Speaker 1: can't believe you guys think this is the best product. 370 00:17:37,720 --> 00:17:40,000 Speaker 1: You know, then we probably missed on that too, So 371 00:17:40,280 --> 00:17:43,159 Speaker 1: again trying to strike the balance. Nobody's ever all the 372 00:17:43,160 --> 00:17:46,200 Speaker 1: way happy. We try to think about it as everybody 373 00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:49,880 Speaker 1: gets something, nobody gets everything. Hey Giant Fans, Limited Giant 374 00:17:49,920 --> 00:17:52,919 Speaker 1: season tickets are on sale now for the season. In 375 00:17:52,960 --> 00:17:57,480 Speaker 1: addition to ticket savings, membership benefits include access to exclusive events, experiences, 376 00:17:57,560 --> 00:17:59,960 Speaker 1: free sales, and more. You can lock on your seat 377 00:18:00,040 --> 00:18:03,040 Speaker 1: starting at just one hundred bucks called e n y G. 378 00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:07,480 Speaker 1: Or visit Giants dot com slash tickets for more information. 379 00:18:08,119 --> 00:18:11,879 Speaker 1: Let's get vaccinated. Go to COVID nineteen dot MJ dot 380 00:18:11,960 --> 00:18:15,960 Speaker 1: gov slash vaccine to register. Hey Giant Fans, don't miss 381 00:18:15,960 --> 00:18:18,919 Speaker 1: that on your chance to experience a premiere hospitality experience 382 00:18:19,160 --> 00:18:23,080 Speaker 1: watching Giant games or world class concerts as a Giant 383 00:18:23,160 --> 00:18:26,840 Speaker 1: Sweet partner. Limited full season locations are available, or place 384 00:18:26,880 --> 00:18:30,040 Speaker 1: a deposit for individual games called eight eight n y 385 00:18:30,160 --> 00:18:35,280 Speaker 1: G or visit giants dot com slash sweets for more information. Well, Mike, 386 00:18:35,320 --> 00:18:37,080 Speaker 1: I will send some good vibes your way because you're 387 00:18:37,119 --> 00:18:40,160 Speaker 1: sending us to l A and Miami in December. Thank 388 00:18:40,200 --> 00:18:42,680 Speaker 1: you for that. Not that's great, I'll deal with the 389 00:18:42,760 --> 00:18:45,480 Speaker 1: Chicago on January twod That might be a little chili, 390 00:18:45,800 --> 00:18:48,680 Speaker 1: that's okay. But we get the two more weather sides. 391 00:18:48,720 --> 00:18:51,040 Speaker 1: That's awesome. I'll tell you. It's always interesting to me 392 00:18:51,119 --> 00:18:55,720 Speaker 1: when the cold weather club complain about cold weather. Right, 393 00:18:57,000 --> 00:18:59,240 Speaker 1: you get a home game, it's gonna be just as cool. 394 00:18:59,359 --> 00:19:02,640 Speaker 1: But I get it. And look, remember this next year, 395 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:06,200 Speaker 1: when you know, week sixteen and seventeen, you're in cold 396 00:19:06,200 --> 00:19:09,119 Speaker 1: weather places again. I mean, it just kind of moves around. 397 00:19:09,119 --> 00:19:12,199 Speaker 1: It's just kind of spins differently every time. And like 398 00:19:12,240 --> 00:19:15,200 Speaker 1: I said, the schedule doesn't really finish until the very 399 00:19:15,280 --> 00:19:17,520 Speaker 1: very end, when the commissioner said, yeah, that's the one 400 00:19:17,920 --> 00:19:20,399 Speaker 1: and the one right before that might have had you 401 00:19:20,440 --> 00:19:24,119 Speaker 1: in Chicago in September, and might have had you, you know, 402 00:19:24,200 --> 00:19:27,840 Speaker 1: in Kansas City in week seventeen. You never know until 403 00:19:27,880 --> 00:19:31,040 Speaker 1: you're actually finished, until the jigsaw puzzle complete, and then, 404 00:19:31,040 --> 00:19:35,280 Speaker 1: like we said, everybody's probably got something to legitimately complain about, 405 00:19:35,440 --> 00:19:37,320 Speaker 1: but hopefully they've got something that they say, you know what, 406 00:19:37,400 --> 00:19:39,480 Speaker 1: that's gonna work out pretty well. And also, thank you, 407 00:19:39,520 --> 00:19:41,399 Speaker 1: by the way, no travel on the holidays, thanksgiving you 408 00:19:41,400 --> 00:19:43,439 Speaker 1: a Christmas that's always great. Love to love to do that. 409 00:19:43,520 --> 00:19:46,120 Speaker 1: We can drive to Philly, Dave on the We're big, 410 00:19:46,160 --> 00:19:48,440 Speaker 1: big fan of that, Mike, Thank you for that, Uma, 411 00:19:48,480 --> 00:19:51,000 Speaker 1: and remember that next year because Alice is back on 412 00:19:51,119 --> 00:19:57,800 Speaker 1: Fox on Thanksgiving and somebody's gotta go of without assigning 413 00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:00,159 Speaker 1: the request to the actual team, so we keep kind 414 00:20:00,160 --> 00:20:04,159 Speaker 1: of anonymous. What are the most common requests that you 415 00:20:04,280 --> 00:20:07,960 Speaker 1: usually get from teams? Is it consecutive road games? Is 416 00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:11,160 Speaker 1: it's not facing other teams off other teams by weeks? 417 00:20:11,359 --> 00:20:14,399 Speaker 1: Is one of the most common things from a competitive 418 00:20:14,440 --> 00:20:19,000 Speaker 1: balanced perspective that you get from teams in terms of requests, 419 00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:21,719 Speaker 1: so you know, they feel as good about their schedule 420 00:20:21,760 --> 00:20:25,840 Speaker 1: as possible simply from a football perspective. Yeah, Look, the 421 00:20:25,880 --> 00:20:28,560 Speaker 1: truth is everybody you know at all thirty two teams 422 00:20:28,600 --> 00:20:32,680 Speaker 1: submit a request a document in January. You know, here's 423 00:20:32,680 --> 00:20:34,760 Speaker 1: what you need to know, guys. Our stadium is and 424 00:20:34,840 --> 00:20:37,399 Speaker 1: isn't available on these weeks. And now that we know 425 00:20:37,480 --> 00:20:39,920 Speaker 1: our opponents, we do or do not want to pair 426 00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:43,240 Speaker 1: up across country trips. Um. You know, yeah, of course 427 00:20:43,320 --> 00:20:46,000 Speaker 1: we'd love to avoid going to Florida in September when 428 00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:47,920 Speaker 1: it's a hundred and ten. And of course we would 429 00:20:47,960 --> 00:20:51,120 Speaker 1: love to avoid going to Chicago on January two. Um, 430 00:20:51,240 --> 00:20:53,560 Speaker 1: you know, those requests, they're they're kind of evergreen. You know, 431 00:20:53,600 --> 00:20:56,080 Speaker 1: everybody wants the same thing. Everybody wants to open at home, 432 00:20:56,400 --> 00:20:58,760 Speaker 1: everybody wants to close at home, and everybody wants a 433 00:20:58,800 --> 00:21:01,240 Speaker 1: week tend by. I'm not sure we can do that 434 00:21:01,400 --> 00:21:03,800 Speaker 1: for all thirty two teams. So you know, some of 435 00:21:03,800 --> 00:21:06,440 Speaker 1: those requests are you know, they go on the pile 436 00:21:06,520 --> 00:21:10,199 Speaker 1: of the unlikely to be accommodated. But um, you know, 437 00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:12,760 Speaker 1: if there was something in there very specific to a club, 438 00:21:12,840 --> 00:21:15,240 Speaker 1: like said, you know, here's a team that caught a 439 00:21:15,240 --> 00:21:17,959 Speaker 1: three game road trip last year, and their coaches then 440 00:21:18,080 --> 00:21:20,400 Speaker 1: their general manager might think that a three game road 441 00:21:20,440 --> 00:21:22,680 Speaker 1: trip is the absolute worst thing you can do to us. 442 00:21:23,119 --> 00:21:25,520 Speaker 1: And you know when Ernie, of course, the year old guy, 443 00:21:25,880 --> 00:21:28,119 Speaker 1: helped us out a few years ago. You know, we 444 00:21:28,119 --> 00:21:29,600 Speaker 1: were trying to pick his brain, like what do you 445 00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:32,040 Speaker 1: look for in the schedule, and he told me something. 446 00:21:32,040 --> 00:21:34,440 Speaker 1: He told us something that you know, I've never forgotten. 447 00:21:34,760 --> 00:21:38,240 Speaker 1: It's who you play, not where. So if you've got 448 00:21:38,240 --> 00:21:40,520 Speaker 1: a three game road trip and you want to complain 449 00:21:40,560 --> 00:21:44,360 Speaker 1: about it, but those three road games are close trips, 450 00:21:44,720 --> 00:21:47,639 Speaker 1: and maybe playing three teams that combined had you know, 451 00:21:47,680 --> 00:21:50,400 Speaker 1: eight wins last year, we could break up that three 452 00:21:50,400 --> 00:21:52,639 Speaker 1: game road trip and give you a home game against 453 00:21:52,680 --> 00:21:56,119 Speaker 1: Kansas City. It's said, is that better? You know? I 454 00:21:56,160 --> 00:21:58,960 Speaker 1: don't know. So you know, everybody's got their own preferences. 455 00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:01,399 Speaker 1: They all get a chance to submit those preferences. The 456 00:22:01,440 --> 00:22:04,440 Speaker 1: teams and the network. We take all that feedback, We 457 00:22:04,520 --> 00:22:07,120 Speaker 1: solicit it, We meet with them, we have phone calls, emails, 458 00:22:07,119 --> 00:22:10,000 Speaker 1: text but then by about mid February we kind of 459 00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:13,119 Speaker 1: close and locked the door and that's it. And the 460 00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:15,280 Speaker 1: next time you hear from us is on release day. 461 00:22:15,800 --> 00:22:18,200 Speaker 1: And look, every team says we don't want a three 462 00:22:18,200 --> 00:22:21,360 Speaker 1: game road trip. Totally getting that. Mathematically, we haven't yet 463 00:22:21,480 --> 00:22:24,200 Speaker 1: late a schedule with zero three game road trip. So 464 00:22:24,240 --> 00:22:27,280 Speaker 1: it's gonna happen to somebody. But again, hopefully it moves around. 465 00:22:27,280 --> 00:22:29,160 Speaker 1: If you caught a three game road trip last year, 466 00:22:29,320 --> 00:22:31,359 Speaker 1: you shouldn't catch one again this year and probably not 467 00:22:31,480 --> 00:22:33,720 Speaker 1: next year either. And if you caught a road after 468 00:22:33,800 --> 00:22:35,919 Speaker 1: Road Monday, I think, if I'm right, you guys actually 469 00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:39,480 Speaker 1: caught two road after road Mondays, not that long ago. 470 00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:41,879 Speaker 1: You know, we tell the computer the following year, man, 471 00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:44,240 Speaker 1: we are not doing that to the Giants again. We'll 472 00:22:44,280 --> 00:22:46,760 Speaker 1: do something else they'll hate, but we will not do 473 00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:49,280 Speaker 1: that to the Giants again. And after about three or 474 00:22:49,320 --> 00:22:51,720 Speaker 1: four or five years, maybe the penalty for a road 475 00:22:51,720 --> 00:22:54,360 Speaker 1: after Road Monday for the Giants starts to inch back 476 00:22:54,400 --> 00:22:57,119 Speaker 1: down again because in the interim four or five years, 477 00:22:57,400 --> 00:22:59,320 Speaker 1: hold on to other teams have now had a road 478 00:22:59,359 --> 00:23:02,520 Speaker 1: after road to day. So it's bad luck. It moves around, 479 00:23:02,560 --> 00:23:04,760 Speaker 1: but hopefully it lands on people that it hasn't landed 480 00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:09,480 Speaker 1: on the same way recently. I understood you correctly, Mike. 481 00:23:09,520 --> 00:23:13,119 Speaker 1: You said the home opener, the season finale home game, 482 00:23:13,280 --> 00:23:16,080 Speaker 1: and the middle bye week were the three most favorite 483 00:23:16,119 --> 00:23:19,320 Speaker 1: things that people would like to get from you. Is 484 00:23:19,400 --> 00:23:24,800 Speaker 1: the three consecutive road games the biggest thorn that people 485 00:23:24,840 --> 00:23:27,240 Speaker 1: do complain about or is there something else that is 486 00:23:27,320 --> 00:23:32,000 Speaker 1: equally problematic for them? You know, the three game road 487 00:23:32,040 --> 00:23:35,440 Speaker 1: trips happened, and there have been three game road trips 488 00:23:35,440 --> 00:23:38,080 Speaker 1: in this league that have been ownerous, and there have 489 00:23:38,119 --> 00:23:40,560 Speaker 1: been three game road trips in this league that you know, 490 00:23:40,760 --> 00:23:45,119 Speaker 1: don't knock a team off their stride at all. I'll remember, Um, 491 00:23:45,119 --> 00:23:47,720 Speaker 1: this has got to be ten years ago now, because 492 00:23:47,800 --> 00:23:50,719 Speaker 1: Jeff Garcia was playing quarterback to the Eagles. They had 493 00:23:50,720 --> 00:23:53,919 Speaker 1: a three game road trip in December against all the 494 00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:58,000 Speaker 1: division opponents, and we knew that was tough. And when 495 00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:01,240 Speaker 1: we put the schedule out, we call uh the Eagles 496 00:24:01,240 --> 00:24:04,240 Speaker 1: ahead of time, and we warned them, and to their credit, 497 00:24:04,520 --> 00:24:07,280 Speaker 1: they didn't complain. Uh there. You know, the local media 498 00:24:07,359 --> 00:24:09,120 Speaker 1: was all over us, but the Eagles said, hey, look 499 00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:11,159 Speaker 1: they'll tell us when to play, we'll show up. We 500 00:24:11,240 --> 00:24:13,879 Speaker 1: knew we were playing those three division opponents, you know, 501 00:24:13,880 --> 00:24:16,520 Speaker 1: whether we play them in December or spread out throughout 502 00:24:16,520 --> 00:24:18,480 Speaker 1: the season, you know, they tell us want to show up, 503 00:24:18,520 --> 00:24:20,480 Speaker 1: we show up. They want all three of those games. 504 00:24:20,520 --> 00:24:22,879 Speaker 1: And Garcia took them to the playoffs. And it was 505 00:24:22,920 --> 00:24:25,400 Speaker 1: hard then for us that they that we had ruined 506 00:24:25,440 --> 00:24:28,520 Speaker 1: their season. That being said, we wrote a rule the 507 00:24:28,560 --> 00:24:30,880 Speaker 1: next year, let's not give anybody a three game road 508 00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:33,760 Speaker 1: trip against all three division of pons. So we learned 509 00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:37,080 Speaker 1: something every year some of it is ugly and bad 510 00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:39,359 Speaker 1: and we feel horrible about it. And we're not allowed 511 00:24:39,359 --> 00:24:41,520 Speaker 1: to root for anybody, of course, but if we gave 512 00:24:41,560 --> 00:24:44,040 Speaker 1: somebody a really tough stretch in their schedule, we might 513 00:24:44,040 --> 00:24:46,520 Speaker 1: be rooting for them at least over that stretch, just 514 00:24:46,560 --> 00:24:48,639 Speaker 1: to feel like, you know, we didn't ruin their season. 515 00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:50,560 Speaker 1: The truth of the matter is, you guys have been 516 00:24:50,560 --> 00:24:53,639 Speaker 1: doing this long enough. Uh. The good teams win and 517 00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:58,199 Speaker 1: overcome challenges, and the bad teams, you know, find reason 518 00:24:58,400 --> 00:25:03,520 Speaker 1: to struggle. I hope it's not a result of the schedule. Um, 519 00:25:03,560 --> 00:25:06,919 Speaker 1: but you know, nobody is writing in and asking for 520 00:25:06,960 --> 00:25:09,840 Speaker 1: a three game road trip, right, Nobody is asking for 521 00:25:09,880 --> 00:25:11,919 Speaker 1: a road after road Monday. And I'll tell you one 522 00:25:11,920 --> 00:25:14,480 Speaker 1: thing we're getting a little bit more surgical on is 523 00:25:14,840 --> 00:25:17,400 Speaker 1: maybe even after a home Monday. You know, we think 524 00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:20,280 Speaker 1: to ourselves of road Monday followed by a road game. Oh, 525 00:25:20,400 --> 00:25:22,720 Speaker 1: that's tough to do to a club. Sometimes a home 526 00:25:22,800 --> 00:25:25,960 Speaker 1: Monday followed by a road game could be just as bad, 527 00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:27,800 Speaker 1: depending on how far you're going and are you're gonna 528 00:25:27,800 --> 00:25:30,919 Speaker 1: travel on Friday. And yeah, all right, maybe it's not 529 00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:33,399 Speaker 1: a road Monday, but it's still a Monday. Yeah, you're 530 00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:35,359 Speaker 1: at home, but you're still not done with everything until 531 00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:37,840 Speaker 1: two o'clock, three o'clock, four o'clock in the morning, and 532 00:25:37,880 --> 00:25:40,560 Speaker 1: now you're on an airplane again on Friday. So we 533 00:25:40,640 --> 00:25:43,320 Speaker 1: can't guarantee that every single team that plays on Monday, 534 00:25:43,400 --> 00:25:46,000 Speaker 1: home or away is home the following weekend. But I 535 00:25:46,040 --> 00:25:47,440 Speaker 1: think one of the things that we're starting to pay 536 00:25:47,440 --> 00:25:49,320 Speaker 1: a little bit more attention to is, you know, some 537 00:25:49,440 --> 00:25:52,200 Speaker 1: of these long trips, if you're gonna go on a Friday, 538 00:25:52,600 --> 00:25:54,560 Speaker 1: we should pay a little more attention to where are 539 00:25:54,560 --> 00:25:56,600 Speaker 1: you the week before, and if you are at home, 540 00:25:57,240 --> 00:25:59,480 Speaker 1: maybe not on Monday. Stuff like that we learned a 541 00:25:59,520 --> 00:26:03,000 Speaker 1: little bit year. Everybody's, like I said, not real shy 542 00:26:03,040 --> 00:26:06,720 Speaker 1: with their constructive criticism. One thing I've heard, Mike that 543 00:26:07,160 --> 00:26:10,359 Speaker 1: you can't tell just by looking at an individual, individual 544 00:26:10,400 --> 00:26:13,720 Speaker 1: team schedule. That I know some teams have expressed, you know, 545 00:26:13,800 --> 00:26:16,800 Speaker 1: concerns over before is the amount of times the team 546 00:26:16,840 --> 00:26:19,159 Speaker 1: has to play an opponent that's either coming off of 547 00:26:19,160 --> 00:26:22,240 Speaker 1: a bye or a Thursday games, so they have more 548 00:26:22,320 --> 00:26:25,200 Speaker 1: rest days leading up to a particular matchup than your 549 00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:28,600 Speaker 1: team does. That's a tough thing to track, I think, 550 00:26:28,640 --> 00:26:31,080 Speaker 1: at least from our perspective is that something that you 551 00:26:31,119 --> 00:26:33,640 Speaker 1: guys do make a conscious effort to try to keep 552 00:26:33,640 --> 00:26:39,080 Speaker 1: relatively even across the teams. Uh, even is tough. Uh. 553 00:26:39,119 --> 00:26:41,760 Speaker 1: We're never gonna make a schedule where every single team is, 554 00:26:41,800 --> 00:26:44,199 Speaker 1: you know, either plus four or minus four and you know, 555 00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:47,879 Speaker 1: no edge cases. Um, what we try to do is 556 00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:53,360 Speaker 1: eliminate the real egregious outlier. So I'll give you an example. 557 00:26:53,440 --> 00:26:55,840 Speaker 1: You know, this schedule fits out in our software, and 558 00:26:55,880 --> 00:26:58,159 Speaker 1: these are all the home and road games, and you know, 559 00:26:58,240 --> 00:27:00,560 Speaker 1: there's a second page to this doctor you man that 560 00:27:00,640 --> 00:27:04,159 Speaker 1: comes right behind it, and it's literally every single teams wrapped. 561 00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:07,240 Speaker 1: You're playing somebody coming off a Monday night your plus one. 562 00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:10,320 Speaker 1: You're coming off your by, your plus seven, they're coming 563 00:27:10,320 --> 00:27:13,120 Speaker 1: off there by your minus seven, and we total everybody 564 00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:16,199 Speaker 1: up for the whole season. Now, you could have a 565 00:27:16,320 --> 00:27:20,760 Speaker 1: minus twelve or a minus thirteen and not play anybody 566 00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:23,640 Speaker 1: coming off thereby. You're playing them off a couple of Thursdays, 567 00:27:23,640 --> 00:27:26,160 Speaker 1: you're playing off Saturday or two. You could also play 568 00:27:26,200 --> 00:27:28,560 Speaker 1: a couple of teams coming off there by, But then 569 00:27:28,760 --> 00:27:30,920 Speaker 1: somebody's playing you coming off your by and you get 570 00:27:30,960 --> 00:27:33,800 Speaker 1: another Thursday back on a Saturday, and next thing, you know, 571 00:27:33,880 --> 00:27:37,360 Speaker 1: you're a zero. So we're never gonna balance it all 572 00:27:37,359 --> 00:27:39,520 Speaker 1: the way, but we try to eliminate the edge case. 573 00:27:39,640 --> 00:27:42,199 Speaker 1: If this document spits out and it says under New 574 00:27:42,280 --> 00:27:45,840 Speaker 1: York Giants minus thirty two, that sks gotta go on 575 00:27:45,840 --> 00:27:49,439 Speaker 1: the garbage. If it's this minus fifteen, well that's probably 576 00:27:49,440 --> 00:27:51,040 Speaker 1: on the edge of where we're willing to go. But 577 00:27:51,320 --> 00:27:53,119 Speaker 1: let's look back over the last couple of years. Like 578 00:27:53,119 --> 00:27:54,800 Speaker 1: we said, we shouldn't hit the Giants with a road 579 00:27:54,880 --> 00:27:56,600 Speaker 1: a three game road trip. If we had him with 580 00:27:56,640 --> 00:27:58,919 Speaker 1: a three game road trip last year, we probably shouldn't 581 00:27:58,960 --> 00:28:01,000 Speaker 1: hit him with a minus fifty. Mean if we hit 582 00:28:01,040 --> 00:28:03,720 Speaker 1: him with a minus sixteen last year. That being said, 583 00:28:03,760 --> 00:28:05,760 Speaker 1: and I'm sure your analytics guys are all over this, 584 00:28:06,520 --> 00:28:10,760 Speaker 1: I'm not sure rest disparity actually impact win percentage, And 585 00:28:10,840 --> 00:28:12,720 Speaker 1: Mike tells you of my question, because I don't think 586 00:28:12,720 --> 00:28:14,840 Speaker 1: it does based on the numbers. That's why I wondered 587 00:28:14,880 --> 00:28:17,480 Speaker 1: how much you actually tracked that or not. Look, it's 588 00:28:17,520 --> 00:28:20,320 Speaker 1: it's anecdotal maybe, And no team should ever feel like, 589 00:28:20,359 --> 00:28:22,600 Speaker 1: holy cow, we got the worst schedule in the league, 590 00:28:22,600 --> 00:28:25,760 Speaker 1: although obviously somebody has to um But again, if there's 591 00:28:25,800 --> 00:28:29,120 Speaker 1: a minus thirty something, that's probably not our best schedule. 592 00:28:29,200 --> 00:28:32,480 Speaker 1: If everybody's kind of somewhere between, you know, minus ten 593 00:28:32,560 --> 00:28:35,080 Speaker 1: and plus ten, that might be about the best we 594 00:28:35,119 --> 00:28:39,120 Speaker 1: can do. And when we have three thousand computers searching 595 00:28:39,120 --> 00:28:42,000 Speaker 1: through the infinite, infinite space every night, we can kick 596 00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:44,880 Speaker 1: out dozens and dozens of schedules every night. We can 597 00:28:44,880 --> 00:28:47,040 Speaker 1: throw away the ones that have an edge case where 598 00:28:47,080 --> 00:28:49,440 Speaker 1: somebody we know is going to be disappointed. If we 599 00:28:49,560 --> 00:28:53,280 Speaker 1: painted ourselves in a corner with the prime time schedule 600 00:28:53,640 --> 00:28:57,960 Speaker 1: in London and Mexico and Beyonce, then we might only 601 00:28:57,960 --> 00:29:00,120 Speaker 1: see three schedules in a night at the three are 602 00:29:00,120 --> 00:29:02,719 Speaker 1: one of them away just because somebody was minus seventeen total. 603 00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:05,960 Speaker 1: We might not have that luxury. So we do try 604 00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:08,480 Speaker 1: to track with our analytics. Folks. We talked to alist 605 00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:11,040 Speaker 1: all the time. You know, it used to be it 606 00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:13,680 Speaker 1: felt like it used to be. You play a road 607 00:29:13,760 --> 00:29:18,480 Speaker 1: game against the team coming off thereby, that's about the 608 00:29:18,480 --> 00:29:21,560 Speaker 1: worst thing you could do to somebody their home, they're rested. 609 00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:23,920 Speaker 1: You've got to get on an airplane and fly to them. 610 00:29:23,960 --> 00:29:26,880 Speaker 1: And I've been doing this now twenty something years. About 611 00:29:26,920 --> 00:29:29,440 Speaker 1: ten years ago we had maybe a ten year stretch 612 00:29:29,800 --> 00:29:32,640 Speaker 1: where the win percentage for the road team playing a 613 00:29:32,640 --> 00:29:37,320 Speaker 1: team coming off thereby with something like and that's down 614 00:29:37,360 --> 00:29:41,360 Speaker 1: about from the forty five percent or so that a 615 00:29:41,440 --> 00:29:44,600 Speaker 1: normal road win percentages. And so we always said, oh, 616 00:29:44,640 --> 00:29:46,560 Speaker 1: that's the worst you can do to somebody. We've been 617 00:29:46,560 --> 00:29:50,000 Speaker 1: tracking over the last few years. It's flipped, believe it 618 00:29:50,080 --> 00:29:52,440 Speaker 1: or not, it's actually gone the other way. Now you're 619 00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:56,680 Speaker 1: the road team and you're playing a guy coming off thereby, 620 00:29:56,920 --> 00:29:59,120 Speaker 1: you win in a better clip than if you guys 621 00:29:59,120 --> 00:30:02,960 Speaker 1: were at zero rest. It's just random, it's just anecdotical. 622 00:30:03,280 --> 00:30:06,960 Speaker 1: If there's something that somebody really says that is truly unfair, 623 00:30:07,640 --> 00:30:09,920 Speaker 1: we will obviously try to avoid it. I'm not sure 624 00:30:09,960 --> 00:30:13,920 Speaker 1: rest disparity falls in that category yet, Mike. I don't 625 00:30:13,920 --> 00:30:16,680 Speaker 1: want to go through all the different millions of conditions 626 00:30:16,720 --> 00:30:19,160 Speaker 1: and and rules that you put into the but there 627 00:30:19,280 --> 00:30:21,720 Speaker 1: is one that I do want to ask you about, 628 00:30:21,800 --> 00:30:25,200 Speaker 1: because every once in a while we see it. We're 629 00:30:25,720 --> 00:30:29,120 Speaker 1: common opponents. Let's say the Giants and Dallas might play 630 00:30:29,160 --> 00:30:32,200 Speaker 1: each other twice within a three week or four week span. 631 00:30:32,600 --> 00:30:35,960 Speaker 1: It does not happen very often, and I wonder if 632 00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:38,920 Speaker 1: that's something that you guys make a concerted effort not 633 00:30:39,040 --> 00:30:42,960 Speaker 1: to have. Yeah, I mean, look to two sides to 634 00:30:43,040 --> 00:30:46,160 Speaker 1: that coin. Um, you know, we've got six division games. 635 00:30:46,160 --> 00:30:48,120 Speaker 1: We try to spread them out throughout the season. Now 636 00:30:48,160 --> 00:30:50,680 Speaker 1: that we're on a team weeks, you know, it's a 637 00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:53,800 Speaker 1: little harder to spread them out. But on the other 638 00:30:53,800 --> 00:30:58,400 Speaker 1: side of that coin, we love division games lead and 639 00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:01,000 Speaker 1: we tell the compute it or hey, look, if the 640 00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:04,560 Speaker 1: Cowboys and the Giants are gonna play each other only 641 00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:07,440 Speaker 1: two weeks apart, it should be a penalty. We'd love 642 00:31:07,480 --> 00:31:09,360 Speaker 1: to spread them out, but it should be a bigger 643 00:31:09,360 --> 00:31:12,320 Speaker 1: penalty if it happens in week six and eight, then 644 00:31:12,360 --> 00:31:15,320 Speaker 1: if it happens in week fifteen and seven. We love 645 00:31:15,400 --> 00:31:18,240 Speaker 1: division games late. It keeps the playoff races, tiight, It 646 00:31:18,320 --> 00:31:20,959 Speaker 1: keeps everybody in it. You know. A bit of an 647 00:31:20,960 --> 00:31:24,000 Speaker 1: anomaly in the NFC East this year. There's a lot 648 00:31:24,080 --> 00:31:26,960 Speaker 1: of division games in the NFC East late in the year. 649 00:31:27,120 --> 00:31:31,400 Speaker 1: I think the Washington might finish with five in a row. Um, 650 00:31:32,200 --> 00:31:35,880 Speaker 1: it's not exactly what we set out to accomplish, uh, 651 00:31:35,920 --> 00:31:38,720 Speaker 1: but it's gonna keep the NFC East interesting right to 652 00:31:38,760 --> 00:31:41,959 Speaker 1: the end. So, um, do we want them that close. 653 00:31:42,120 --> 00:31:45,640 Speaker 1: We don't. Do we want division series ending too early? 654 00:31:45,880 --> 00:31:48,880 Speaker 1: We don't. Uh do we love division games late in 655 00:31:48,880 --> 00:31:53,040 Speaker 1: the season. We do? Um, you know, ideally they're spread out, 656 00:31:53,160 --> 00:31:55,080 Speaker 1: maybe a little better than they are in the NFC 657 00:31:55,120 --> 00:31:57,640 Speaker 1: East this year. But when we get to December and 658 00:31:57,680 --> 00:32:01,040 Speaker 1: we have this conversation again, honestly, I'm hoping you're all 659 00:32:01,120 --> 00:32:05,200 Speaker 1: seven and seven, uh and every game matters, then the 660 00:32:05,320 --> 00:32:08,640 Speaker 1: NFD comes right down to the wire with some crazy 661 00:32:08,680 --> 00:32:12,720 Speaker 1: playoff tiebreaker scenarios that that's that's best case for me. Yeah, 662 00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:16,160 Speaker 1: I'll be good with that. UM to prime time questions, Mike, 663 00:32:16,240 --> 00:32:19,480 Speaker 1: what are the rules now in terms of does each 664 00:32:19,480 --> 00:32:22,200 Speaker 1: team have to be on Thursday? Ones is an overall 665 00:32:22,280 --> 00:32:25,560 Speaker 1: prime time once? Are there any set rules with how 666 00:32:25,680 --> 00:32:28,920 Speaker 1: many what teams are, how many times each team has 667 00:32:28,960 --> 00:32:31,080 Speaker 1: to be in prime time? Where they are in prime time? 668 00:32:31,440 --> 00:32:34,120 Speaker 1: The know at one point there was what's the rule 669 00:32:34,160 --> 00:32:38,240 Speaker 1: with that now? But the truth is everybody gets a 670 00:32:38,360 --> 00:32:42,600 Speaker 1: national game because we play Thursday games almost every week 671 00:32:42,600 --> 00:32:45,520 Speaker 1: of the season, and as you guys know, we don't 672 00:32:45,560 --> 00:32:50,560 Speaker 1: allow teams currently to have more than one short week Thursday. 673 00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:53,160 Speaker 1: So if we're gonna play Thursday games, that many games 674 00:32:53,160 --> 00:32:55,560 Speaker 1: you include Thanksgiving, you start in week two, you go 675 00:32:55,600 --> 00:32:57,440 Speaker 1: all the way through the Week six team, maybe Week 676 00:32:57,480 --> 00:33:00,400 Speaker 1: seven teams some years. You know, if you're gonna play 677 00:33:00,480 --> 00:33:04,320 Speaker 1: that many short weeks, everybody's gonna play one. So you know, 678 00:33:04,680 --> 00:33:07,480 Speaker 1: everybody's gonna be at least on the Thursday night football schedule. 679 00:33:07,800 --> 00:33:10,360 Speaker 1: As you guys have heard that Thursday night football schedule 680 00:33:10,440 --> 00:33:13,320 Speaker 1: shifts next year to Amazon. Um. Right now, it's kind 681 00:33:13,320 --> 00:33:16,720 Speaker 1: of split between NFL Network and Fox, but next year 682 00:33:16,760 --> 00:33:19,000 Speaker 1: it's gonna be all Amazon, and they're gonna have fourteen 683 00:33:19,080 --> 00:33:22,040 Speaker 1: or fifteen Thursday games, and that means everybody's gonna play one. 684 00:33:22,120 --> 00:33:25,000 Speaker 1: So you don't need a rule. You're kind of stuck 685 00:33:25,040 --> 00:33:28,480 Speaker 1: with it. Everybody's gonna be on national television somewhere. You 686 00:33:28,480 --> 00:33:31,040 Speaker 1: can also point to, you know, a nine thirty am London, 687 00:33:31,120 --> 00:33:33,520 Speaker 1: you can point the Thanksgiving. Is there a rule that 688 00:33:33,560 --> 00:33:35,680 Speaker 1: everybody has to be on Monday Night Football or Sunday 689 00:33:35,760 --> 00:33:39,320 Speaker 1: Night Football though? Um, but everybody's gonna be on national television. 690 00:33:39,760 --> 00:33:42,800 Speaker 1: And look, that's what flexible scheduling is for. You know, 691 00:33:42,840 --> 00:33:45,680 Speaker 1: there are definitely teams that on release day we're a 692 00:33:45,680 --> 00:33:48,520 Speaker 1: little surprised and maybe a little disappointed they weren't, you know, 693 00:33:48,880 --> 00:33:53,000 Speaker 1: represented more on the primetime schedule. But you know, you 694 00:33:53,040 --> 00:33:55,160 Speaker 1: get out the gates strong. You're in a playoff chase 695 00:33:55,160 --> 00:33:57,560 Speaker 1: in December. The Sunday night football game we thought and 696 00:33:57,600 --> 00:34:01,760 Speaker 1: may look great now suddenly doesn't have playoffs implications. You 697 00:34:01,800 --> 00:34:04,200 Speaker 1: can play your way on the prime time schedule. And 698 00:34:04,240 --> 00:34:06,720 Speaker 1: once we get to three and the new television deals 699 00:34:06,760 --> 00:34:09,520 Speaker 1: kick in, we've got flexible scheduling for Monday Night football 700 00:34:09,520 --> 00:34:14,200 Speaker 1: as well. So it's well, it's gonna be interesting. But 701 00:34:14,600 --> 00:34:16,640 Speaker 1: I'll tell you this, and it's the same thing with 702 00:34:16,640 --> 00:34:19,640 Speaker 1: the Sunday Night nobody's gonna be surprised, right, We're gonna 703 00:34:19,719 --> 00:34:22,600 Speaker 1: know six weeks out, four weeks out, and we're gonna 704 00:34:22,640 --> 00:34:25,520 Speaker 1: call you and tell you, hey, look, you see it. 705 00:34:25,560 --> 00:34:27,799 Speaker 1: We see it the Sunday night game, the Monday night 706 00:34:27,840 --> 00:34:29,560 Speaker 1: game and week fifteen that we thought back and may 707 00:34:29,640 --> 00:34:32,319 Speaker 1: look great. Maybe he isn't gonna be by the time 708 00:34:32,400 --> 00:34:34,759 Speaker 1: we get there and you see your record and you 709 00:34:34,800 --> 00:34:36,759 Speaker 1: see who you're playing that week, and you know you 710 00:34:36,800 --> 00:34:38,400 Speaker 1: want to tweet it out to your fans or you 711 00:34:38,440 --> 00:34:40,799 Speaker 1: want us to actually tell them, We'll tell them you 712 00:34:40,840 --> 00:34:43,839 Speaker 1: are a candidate. Six weeks from now for a move 713 00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:47,960 Speaker 1: into a bigger, higher profile television slot. Is that a 714 00:34:48,080 --> 00:34:52,120 Speaker 1: challenge for the fifty ticket holders? Yes? Is there a 715 00:34:52,160 --> 00:34:55,400 Speaker 1: benefit to the million people that are gonna watch on television? 716 00:34:55,840 --> 00:34:58,440 Speaker 1: Of course, So you know what it's Fox say. Sometimes 717 00:34:58,480 --> 00:35:00,479 Speaker 1: the needs of the many outweigh the needs to the few. 718 00:35:00,760 --> 00:35:04,080 Speaker 1: That's what's gonna end up happening. We're gonna make sure 719 00:35:04,520 --> 00:35:07,839 Speaker 1: that we've got, if we can, really good television games 720 00:35:07,840 --> 00:35:10,200 Speaker 1: and all the windows. And that's an opportunity for a 721 00:35:10,200 --> 00:35:13,080 Speaker 1: club that maybe felt a little underrepresented, a little underserved 722 00:35:13,080 --> 00:35:15,920 Speaker 1: by the primetime schedule and may has an opportunity to 723 00:35:15,920 --> 00:35:17,600 Speaker 1: play their way into those windows. You know, Mike, you 724 00:35:17,680 --> 00:35:20,680 Speaker 1: let me perfectly into my follow up prime time question 725 00:35:20,760 --> 00:35:23,160 Speaker 1: because for the second straight year, the Giants don't have 726 00:35:23,160 --> 00:35:26,160 Speaker 1: a Sunday night football game scheduled before the season started. Now, 727 00:35:26,360 --> 00:35:28,320 Speaker 1: I don't blame you guys the Giants in December. The 728 00:35:28,400 --> 00:35:30,480 Speaker 1: last five or six years, they haven't exactly been in 729 00:35:30,480 --> 00:35:32,759 Speaker 1: the playoff mix, So I get it. But Paul and 730 00:35:32,800 --> 00:35:34,239 Speaker 1: I would just talk about this on our show the 731 00:35:34,280 --> 00:35:37,120 Speaker 1: other day. You look at that December schedule. There's some 732 00:35:37,200 --> 00:35:42,080 Speaker 1: big markets there, Chicago, l A, Miami, Dallas, Philly. So 733 00:35:42,520 --> 00:35:45,200 Speaker 1: I've been kind of warning Giant fans that you might 734 00:35:45,280 --> 00:35:47,399 Speaker 1: want to hold your powder a little bit if you're 735 00:35:47,600 --> 00:35:50,720 Speaker 1: if you're booking flights and stuff, because if the Giants 736 00:35:50,719 --> 00:35:53,040 Speaker 1: are in it with some of those matchups, there's probably 737 00:35:53,080 --> 00:35:55,160 Speaker 1: a pretty decent chance you might find them on Sunday 738 00:35:55,239 --> 00:35:58,160 Speaker 1: Night Football sometime in December. Yeah. Look, we talked a 739 00:35:58,160 --> 00:36:01,000 Speaker 1: little earlier about part art and art science. You know, 740 00:36:01,440 --> 00:36:04,200 Speaker 1: are the New York Giants a slam dunk must appear 741 00:36:04,200 --> 00:36:07,920 Speaker 1: on the Sunday Night Football schedule in obviously not, otherwise 742 00:36:07,960 --> 00:36:10,160 Speaker 1: you'd be on it. Are they a slam dunk? Under 743 00:36:10,239 --> 00:36:13,320 Speaker 1: no circumstances? Can we consider a Giants game for Sunday 744 00:36:13,360 --> 00:36:16,239 Speaker 1: Night Football this year? No? Definitely not. We considered it. 745 00:36:16,480 --> 00:36:18,720 Speaker 1: So now you talk about you know, that's the art side. 746 00:36:18,719 --> 00:36:20,359 Speaker 1: What do we think the Giants are and look at 747 00:36:20,360 --> 00:36:21,719 Speaker 1: their opponents? And what do we want to do with 748 00:36:21,760 --> 00:36:24,600 Speaker 1: all those games? Now the science side, the math side. 749 00:36:24,800 --> 00:36:27,760 Speaker 1: The Giants go into the software on the NBC Sunday 750 00:36:27,840 --> 00:36:32,040 Speaker 1: Night schedule as a minimum zero maximum one. Let's say, 751 00:36:32,080 --> 00:36:38,120 Speaker 1: so the computer could spit out today and put Giants, Cowboys, Giants, Chiefs, Giants, Bucks, 752 00:36:38,160 --> 00:36:41,480 Speaker 1: on Sunday Night, But then those games aren't available for 753 00:36:41,520 --> 00:36:44,040 Speaker 1: Monday Night or for the Fox double header. You know, 754 00:36:44,520 --> 00:36:47,000 Speaker 1: I know Sunday nights the premier package, but you know 755 00:36:47,120 --> 00:36:50,560 Speaker 1: you're in the Fox double header window. You're on ESPN 756 00:36:50,600 --> 00:36:52,640 Speaker 1: a couple of times, You're on Thursday Night Football early 757 00:36:52,680 --> 00:36:55,759 Speaker 1: in the season on NFL network. Um, you know there's 758 00:36:55,760 --> 00:36:59,480 Speaker 1: still a lot of national television, part art, part science. 759 00:36:59,719 --> 00:37:01,840 Speaker 1: What are the Giants worth to us? What are we 760 00:37:01,920 --> 00:37:04,799 Speaker 1: willing to see? What are we unwilling to see? And 761 00:37:04,840 --> 00:37:08,000 Speaker 1: then science, here's your minimum, here's your maximum, here's your 762 00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:11,560 Speaker 1: pool of eligible games. Go and when the computers come 763 00:37:11,600 --> 00:37:14,120 Speaker 1: back and they say, I've got a schedule with Giants 764 00:37:14,120 --> 00:37:18,520 Speaker 1: Cowboys on Sunday Night football, and computer number four says, well, 765 00:37:18,560 --> 00:37:21,440 Speaker 1: I've got a schedule with that Giants Cowboys game on Fox. 766 00:37:21,880 --> 00:37:25,200 Speaker 1: And then computer number three thousand, seven twelve says, I've 767 00:37:25,239 --> 00:37:29,440 Speaker 1: got a schedule with Giants Cowboys and Giants Chiefs on 768 00:37:29,480 --> 00:37:32,600 Speaker 1: Monday Night football. How do you compare all those schedules 769 00:37:32,719 --> 00:37:34,719 Speaker 1: top to bottom, right to last, as though you're the 770 00:37:34,719 --> 00:37:37,120 Speaker 1: president of each of these television network, as though you're 771 00:37:37,120 --> 00:37:39,080 Speaker 1: the coach of general manager of each of these teams 772 00:37:39,400 --> 00:37:41,759 Speaker 1: and you're just trying to strike the right balance. You know. 773 00:37:42,680 --> 00:37:45,240 Speaker 1: Was the schedule with the Giants Cowboys game on Sunday 774 00:37:45,320 --> 00:37:49,239 Speaker 1: Night Football playable? Absolutely? Yes? Was it better than the 775 00:37:49,239 --> 00:37:51,240 Speaker 1: one we're playing now where the Giants weren't on Sunday 776 00:37:51,280 --> 00:37:54,480 Speaker 1: Night Football but they're on ESPN twice obviously not are 777 00:37:54,480 --> 00:37:56,719 Speaker 1: we be playing that one? So this was the one 778 00:37:56,760 --> 00:37:59,319 Speaker 1: we chose. It's the perfect of course. Not did every 779 00:37:59,320 --> 00:38:02,280 Speaker 1: team have a legit him Ac grape They do, um, 780 00:38:02,320 --> 00:38:05,120 Speaker 1: but you know, the Giants not being on Sunday Night Football, 781 00:38:05,160 --> 00:38:07,280 Speaker 1: to your point, may not be the way we finished 782 00:38:07,280 --> 00:38:10,600 Speaker 1: the season. Final one from me, Mike, Do the networks 783 00:38:10,640 --> 00:38:13,440 Speaker 1: still have the protection rules in place where they can 784 00:38:13,480 --> 00:38:17,040 Speaker 1: still protect some and what is the maximum? It seemed 785 00:38:17,080 --> 00:38:19,000 Speaker 1: to me that at some point there was a maximum 786 00:38:19,080 --> 00:38:22,040 Speaker 1: number of primetime games the team could have, and then 787 00:38:22,080 --> 00:38:24,000 Speaker 1: all of a sudden, I think a year or two ago, 788 00:38:24,080 --> 00:38:27,000 Speaker 1: it seemed like they were exceptions where somebody could get 789 00:38:27,040 --> 00:38:31,080 Speaker 1: like a six game instead of just having five. Yeah, 790 00:38:31,120 --> 00:38:32,880 Speaker 1: that that That's always been the rule. You can be 791 00:38:32,920 --> 00:38:36,240 Speaker 1: scheduled for five, you can get flexed into a six, 792 00:38:36,960 --> 00:38:38,400 Speaker 1: and then when you get to the final weekend of 793 00:38:38,400 --> 00:38:41,400 Speaker 1: the season, especially now because this final weekend of the 794 00:38:41,440 --> 00:38:44,239 Speaker 1: season doesn't just need a Sunday night game at the end, 795 00:38:44,680 --> 00:38:47,799 Speaker 1: but it also needs to Saturday games. Think about your 796 00:38:47,840 --> 00:38:51,759 Speaker 1: game last year in Week seventeen against Dallas. You both 797 00:38:51,760 --> 00:38:55,520 Speaker 1: took the field knowing it was losing, go home, win 798 00:38:55,600 --> 00:38:58,759 Speaker 1: and get a little help. That's a perfect Saturday game 799 00:38:58,840 --> 00:39:00,799 Speaker 1: for the final weekend of the season. And now because 800 00:39:00,800 --> 00:39:03,280 Speaker 1: when it was on Sunday afternoon, there's eight, nine, twelve 801 00:39:03,360 --> 00:39:05,759 Speaker 1: other games going on, you know, it was basically a 802 00:39:05,760 --> 00:39:09,000 Speaker 1: playoff game. So that's a real good candidate for like 803 00:39:09,080 --> 00:39:12,640 Speaker 1: Saturday night of the final weekend of the season, two 804 00:39:12,680 --> 00:39:15,960 Speaker 1: teams fighting for their lives but not clinching any spots 805 00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:18,400 Speaker 1: and rendering a whole bunch of games on Sunday, you know, 806 00:39:18,480 --> 00:39:21,560 Speaker 1: now meaningless. So we're looking for those stay alive games, 807 00:39:21,560 --> 00:39:24,640 Speaker 1: those playing games. So now, yeah, the final weekend of 808 00:39:24,640 --> 00:39:27,400 Speaker 1: the season is going to have a few more national windows. 809 00:39:27,719 --> 00:39:30,320 Speaker 1: You can be scheduled for five, you can be flexed 810 00:39:30,360 --> 00:39:32,880 Speaker 1: into a six, and then the final weekend of the season, 811 00:39:33,239 --> 00:39:35,759 Speaker 1: anything goes. We're gonna find the right games for the 812 00:39:35,840 --> 00:39:38,400 Speaker 1: right windows and sequence the final weekend of the season. 813 00:39:38,800 --> 00:39:41,359 Speaker 1: So that hopefully you kind of start with the win 814 00:39:41,480 --> 00:39:43,600 Speaker 1: and hope, and then you get to the win and watch, 815 00:39:43,640 --> 00:39:45,720 Speaker 1: and then you get to Okay, these guys are fighting 816 00:39:45,719 --> 00:39:47,560 Speaker 1: for their lives. And then you get to the final 817 00:39:47,600 --> 00:39:50,600 Speaker 1: game in the season, which is hopefully a playoff game, 818 00:39:50,680 --> 00:39:53,399 Speaker 1: winning in losing, go home. That's that's what we're looking 819 00:39:53,440 --> 00:39:56,120 Speaker 1: for for the final weekends. And then how about the 820 00:39:56,120 --> 00:40:00,520 Speaker 1: protections Mike and these networks. Yeah, definitely. Look, CBS and 821 00:40:00,600 --> 00:40:04,360 Speaker 1: Fox obviously aren't volunteering to give away their best games 822 00:40:04,400 --> 00:40:07,640 Speaker 1: to prime time. They you know, want good ratings for 823 00:40:07,680 --> 00:40:10,080 Speaker 1: all NFL windows. But you know, like we said, it's 824 00:40:10,080 --> 00:40:12,120 Speaker 1: a zero sum game. If you take away CBS is 825 00:40:12,160 --> 00:40:14,400 Speaker 1: best game and you put it on NBC, CBS is 826 00:40:14,520 --> 00:40:17,800 Speaker 1: gonna be throw So three weeks out, on a rolling basis, 827 00:40:17,880 --> 00:40:20,360 Speaker 1: eighteen days out, CBS and Fox or each can be 828 00:40:20,440 --> 00:40:22,960 Speaker 1: able to protect the game from either being cross flex 829 00:40:23,440 --> 00:40:27,040 Speaker 1: or being moved into a primetime window just Sunday nights 830 00:40:27,040 --> 00:40:31,040 Speaker 1: for this year and next the Monday night Flex kicks in, 831 00:40:31,280 --> 00:40:32,799 Speaker 1: and again, I think we're gonna be really can do 832 00:40:32,800 --> 00:40:35,360 Speaker 1: with everybody. We're gonna be really honest. I will email 833 00:40:35,440 --> 00:40:38,080 Speaker 1: or call Mr Maron, I'll tell him this game is protected. 834 00:40:38,320 --> 00:40:40,360 Speaker 1: You don't have to worry about that when getting moved. 835 00:40:40,719 --> 00:40:42,879 Speaker 1: But that came right there is not and you see 836 00:40:42,880 --> 00:40:44,799 Speaker 1: who you're playing, and you see the Monday night game 837 00:40:44,880 --> 00:40:46,560 Speaker 1: that week, and you see it might be in trouble. 838 00:40:47,160 --> 00:40:49,080 Speaker 1: You should start thinking about and you may start one 839 00:40:49,120 --> 00:40:51,840 Speaker 1: on warning your fans that came as a candidate to 840 00:40:51,880 --> 00:40:54,520 Speaker 1: get moved into a higher profile time slot. I know 841 00:40:54,600 --> 00:40:56,759 Speaker 1: it's not ideal for the ticket holder, but it's a 842 00:40:56,760 --> 00:40:58,360 Speaker 1: win for the fan at home. It's a win for 843 00:40:58,400 --> 00:41:01,040 Speaker 1: the television viewer. And I think that's what we're gonna 844 00:41:01,080 --> 00:41:02,720 Speaker 1: try to do. We're gonna try to be real, honest, 845 00:41:03,000 --> 00:41:05,160 Speaker 1: a little aim high steering, let everybody know what's coming 846 00:41:05,160 --> 00:41:07,800 Speaker 1: down the pipe. And again, I don't think we're surprising anybody. 847 00:41:07,800 --> 00:41:10,600 Speaker 1: Anybody who gets flexed out of Sunday Night Football isn't 848 00:41:10,600 --> 00:41:13,640 Speaker 1: being told anything they don't know. Right, our season isn't 849 00:41:13,640 --> 00:41:15,439 Speaker 1: as good as we hope. I wish we were better, 850 00:41:15,719 --> 00:41:17,719 Speaker 1: but since we're not, you know, there's no reason for 851 00:41:17,800 --> 00:41:19,720 Speaker 1: us to play in primetime. There's no reason to subject 852 00:41:19,760 --> 00:41:22,600 Speaker 1: our fans to that. Why don't we let Tennessee or 853 00:41:22,640 --> 00:41:26,600 Speaker 1: Miami or Carolina teams that maybe the schedule makers didn't 854 00:41:26,600 --> 00:41:28,840 Speaker 1: see in their crystal ball back in May, but have 855 00:41:28,960 --> 00:41:31,399 Speaker 1: now played their way into the prime time slot. Put 856 00:41:31,440 --> 00:41:33,879 Speaker 1: them in the national windows. And I just to help 857 00:41:33,920 --> 00:41:36,560 Speaker 1: Giant fans out and tell me if I'm right or wrong. 858 00:41:36,640 --> 00:41:38,880 Speaker 1: If you're looking at the schedule in December and you 859 00:41:38,920 --> 00:41:43,399 Speaker 1: see a four game, probably better chance of four game 860 00:41:43,520 --> 00:41:47,359 Speaker 1: is protected that a game scheduled that one. Is that correct? Yeah? 861 00:41:47,400 --> 00:41:49,440 Speaker 1: You got it? I mean that being said, look at 862 00:41:49,520 --> 00:41:54,360 Speaker 1: week number fifteen, right, we've got a Seattle Rams games 863 00:41:55,040 --> 00:41:58,799 Speaker 1: at and maybe Fox protected, maybe they don't. But we've 864 00:41:58,840 --> 00:42:02,880 Speaker 1: also got Dallas Giants and green Bay Baltimore in the 865 00:42:02,920 --> 00:42:05,719 Speaker 1: one o'clock window that day. If I had to guess 866 00:42:05,840 --> 00:42:09,960 Speaker 1: right now, I would say probably either Dallas Giants or 867 00:42:10,000 --> 00:42:16,160 Speaker 1: Green Bay Baltimore moved to four to join the Western game. 868 00:42:16,239 --> 00:42:19,759 Speaker 1: They at the NFC West Game. And you know, yet, 869 00:42:19,960 --> 00:42:22,120 Speaker 1: generally speaking, when we put a game at four twenty 870 00:42:22,200 --> 00:42:24,359 Speaker 1: five and everybody can point to it, you know, Green Bay, 871 00:42:24,440 --> 00:42:28,560 Speaker 1: Kansas City, Dallas, New England, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, the obvious 872 00:42:28,600 --> 00:42:32,560 Speaker 1: if you will, for national doubleheader games, that's likely to 873 00:42:32,560 --> 00:42:35,399 Speaker 1: be protected by CBS and Fox. That's why we put 874 00:42:35,400 --> 00:42:38,359 Speaker 1: it there. But the one o'clock games where we've got three, 875 00:42:38,440 --> 00:42:40,719 Speaker 1: four or five, six, seven, eight games going on all 876 00:42:40,760 --> 00:42:42,840 Speaker 1: at the same time. You know, if there's a really 877 00:42:42,840 --> 00:42:45,680 Speaker 1: good one in there, only making it available the eighteen 878 00:42:45,760 --> 00:42:48,680 Speaker 1: or twenty percent of the country feels like that's not 879 00:42:48,719 --> 00:42:50,319 Speaker 1: the right thing for the fan. If there's a really 880 00:42:50,360 --> 00:42:52,799 Speaker 1: big game at one o'clock that more people need to 881 00:42:52,840 --> 00:42:55,520 Speaker 1: see that games of real good candidates move to four 882 00:42:55,640 --> 00:42:59,319 Speaker 1: twenty five four daft final question like, how did the 883 00:42:59,320 --> 00:43:02,759 Speaker 1: pandemic in packed this getting this schedule together for one 884 00:43:03,120 --> 00:43:05,560 Speaker 1: um and even you know, planning next year's schedule and 885 00:43:05,560 --> 00:43:07,480 Speaker 1: planning last year's schedule, and I guess you really know 886 00:43:07,520 --> 00:43:09,600 Speaker 1: about it at that point, But how did the pandemic 887 00:43:09,640 --> 00:43:13,440 Speaker 1: affect everything? You guys did get involved this together the 888 00:43:13,480 --> 00:43:15,680 Speaker 1: last couple of years. Yeah, I mean the first thing 889 00:43:15,680 --> 00:43:18,000 Speaker 1: is did obviously it impacted the team. Right, We're not 890 00:43:18,080 --> 00:43:20,040 Speaker 1: in the office, we're not in the Valve Pinchbeck room, 891 00:43:20,040 --> 00:43:21,600 Speaker 1: we're not sitting there with the peg board. You know, 892 00:43:21,680 --> 00:43:24,120 Speaker 1: we were on zooms every day sometimes for four or 893 00:43:24,120 --> 00:43:28,080 Speaker 1: five six hours on which everybody is right, that's what 894 00:43:28,120 --> 00:43:31,719 Speaker 1: we're all doing these days. Um, But you know, other 895 00:43:31,800 --> 00:43:35,120 Speaker 1: than the human toll. Um. The truth is, you know, 896 00:43:35,160 --> 00:43:38,320 Speaker 1: this whole process is automated. Like we said, there's computers. 897 00:43:38,360 --> 00:43:41,880 Speaker 1: They're scattered throughout the planet, somewhere in Europe, somewhere in Asia. 898 00:43:42,320 --> 00:43:44,160 Speaker 1: Heaven knows where they are. All I know is, you 899 00:43:44,160 --> 00:43:45,799 Speaker 1: know there are four hours ahead of us or four 900 00:43:45,840 --> 00:43:49,000 Speaker 1: hours behind us. Um. You know, they never stopped running. 901 00:43:49,280 --> 00:43:51,440 Speaker 1: So as long as I can get to them, it 902 00:43:51,480 --> 00:43:55,000 Speaker 1: doesn't matter whether a three park or in Westchester County, 903 00:43:55,000 --> 00:43:57,480 Speaker 1: New York, or I don't want, say, on a golf course, 904 00:43:57,480 --> 00:44:02,680 Speaker 1: but somewhere else able to have make sure they're still working. Um. 905 00:44:02,719 --> 00:44:04,839 Speaker 1: You know, we spent a lot of time last year. 906 00:44:04,880 --> 00:44:07,560 Speaker 1: You know, we were building the schedule last year during 907 00:44:07,560 --> 00:44:10,600 Speaker 1: the early stages of the pandemic, and you guys know, 908 00:44:10,960 --> 00:44:12,840 Speaker 1: you know, the schedule kind of had some levers, and 909 00:44:12,920 --> 00:44:14,799 Speaker 1: it kind of had some trapdoors, kind of had a 910 00:44:14,800 --> 00:44:18,000 Speaker 1: few things in there where just in case we were 911 00:44:18,000 --> 00:44:21,520 Speaker 1: gonna have, you know, a little wiggle room. Um, if 912 00:44:21,520 --> 00:44:23,480 Speaker 1: you've looked at this year's schedule, you'll see that's not 913 00:44:23,520 --> 00:44:26,799 Speaker 1: the case. We're not anticipating being unable to start on time. 914 00:44:26,840 --> 00:44:29,480 Speaker 1: There's no weeks in there where nobody's got a division 915 00:44:29,480 --> 00:44:31,480 Speaker 1: game there's no weeks in there where you know, these 916 00:44:31,480 --> 00:44:33,319 Speaker 1: two weeks have one home in one road for every 917 00:44:33,360 --> 00:44:35,279 Speaker 1: team in the league. And therefore, if we had to 918 00:44:35,280 --> 00:44:36,839 Speaker 1: put two in the garbage ose of the first two 919 00:44:36,880 --> 00:44:40,040 Speaker 1: to go that there's nothing like that in this year's schedule. UM. 920 00:44:40,120 --> 00:44:42,040 Speaker 1: You know, if there was any sort of reaction to 921 00:44:42,080 --> 00:44:44,719 Speaker 1: the pandemic, you know, maybe walk before we run again 922 00:44:44,760 --> 00:44:47,439 Speaker 1: with the International Games. UH. You know, instead of four 923 00:44:47,480 --> 00:44:50,359 Speaker 1: games in London, one in Mexico. You know, we're talking 924 00:44:50,360 --> 00:44:53,160 Speaker 1: about Germany, we're talking about you know, all kinds of 925 00:44:53,160 --> 00:44:56,520 Speaker 1: other options this year. Just to just two in Mexico, 926 00:44:56,640 --> 00:44:59,200 Speaker 1: I'm sorry to in London. UM, let's make sure we 927 00:44:59,200 --> 00:45:02,480 Speaker 1: can get those in. Get everybody you know comfortable traveling again, 928 00:45:02,560 --> 00:45:06,200 Speaker 1: traveling internationally. UM. So you know that that was probably 929 00:45:06,200 --> 00:45:08,200 Speaker 1: the biggest give if you will, as far as the 930 00:45:08,200 --> 00:45:10,680 Speaker 1: pandemic gos UH that and I'll give you one more 931 00:45:10,719 --> 00:45:13,160 Speaker 1: because you guys were part of the two UH teams 932 00:45:13,320 --> 00:45:17,400 Speaker 1: pairing up cross country trips. Last year's schedule had I 933 00:45:17,440 --> 00:45:22,000 Speaker 1: think eight teams pairing up long trips, planning to go 934 00:45:22,440 --> 00:45:25,919 Speaker 1: and stay and find a practice facility and not kind 935 00:45:25,920 --> 00:45:28,360 Speaker 1: of ping pong back and forth. Across the country. We 936 00:45:28,360 --> 00:45:30,560 Speaker 1: didn't get nearly as many as requests this year from 937 00:45:30,560 --> 00:45:33,759 Speaker 1: the clubs to go and stay, so that may have 938 00:45:33,840 --> 00:45:36,040 Speaker 1: had something to do with with the pandemic, you know, 939 00:45:36,040 --> 00:45:37,520 Speaker 1: I might also have more to do with, you know, 940 00:45:37,560 --> 00:45:39,400 Speaker 1: just the rotation of the games. Maybe there were just 941 00:45:39,480 --> 00:45:43,040 Speaker 1: fewer teams playing, you know, that many cross country trips, 942 00:45:43,080 --> 00:45:46,399 Speaker 1: certainly the Eastern guys going west. The Western guys still 943 00:45:46,440 --> 00:45:49,359 Speaker 1: have obviously as usual, plenty of games coming east. Uh 944 00:45:49,520 --> 00:45:52,959 Speaker 1: Really only San Francisco was with adamant that they wanted 945 00:45:53,000 --> 00:45:55,080 Speaker 1: to make sure they paired a couple of months. A 946 00:45:55,080 --> 00:45:57,440 Speaker 1: few other teams were you know, open minded to it, 947 00:45:57,480 --> 00:46:00,520 Speaker 1: but not the must have like it was last year. 948 00:46:00,600 --> 00:46:04,040 Speaker 1: So maybe some clubs made some you know, concessions to COVID. 949 00:46:04,680 --> 00:46:06,080 Speaker 1: Like I said, we did a little bit with the 950 00:46:06,120 --> 00:46:10,880 Speaker 1: International Games, but otherwise, this schedule, like last year's schedule, 951 00:46:11,360 --> 00:46:14,880 Speaker 1: is intended to start on September night and be played 952 00:46:14,920 --> 00:46:17,200 Speaker 1: in order all the way through and finish up on 953 00:46:17,280 --> 00:46:19,160 Speaker 1: January night. I know, I said final question, but I 954 00:46:19,200 --> 00:46:21,239 Speaker 1: have to ask this question for Paul. I can't believe 955 00:46:21,239 --> 00:46:24,719 Speaker 1: he didn't ask it because he loves international travel so much. Mike, 956 00:46:24,960 --> 00:46:29,440 Speaker 1: what's the future here for NFL International with teams, you know, 957 00:46:29,719 --> 00:46:32,000 Speaker 1: just going forward, what should fans expect, What should these 958 00:46:32,000 --> 00:46:34,120 Speaker 1: teams expect in terms of how much they're gonna be 959 00:46:34,120 --> 00:46:37,600 Speaker 1: going overseas, how many year where just everything. You guys 960 00:46:37,640 --> 00:46:40,839 Speaker 1: are kind of work shopping right now on Park Avenue. Yeah, 961 00:46:40,920 --> 00:46:43,040 Speaker 1: here's what we're doing. It's one of the benefits of 962 00:46:43,080 --> 00:46:47,600 Speaker 1: the expanded season. Uh, We've got, as you know, one 963 00:46:47,840 --> 00:46:52,080 Speaker 1: conference with an extra home game every year, and we're 964 00:46:52,080 --> 00:46:55,520 Speaker 1: gonna rotate it not until infinity because otherwise what's gonna 965 00:46:55,520 --> 00:46:58,000 Speaker 1: happen is, you know, the same teams, if they keep 966 00:46:58,040 --> 00:47:00,680 Speaker 1: finishing in the same spots and they're stay ending, are 967 00:47:00,680 --> 00:47:03,200 Speaker 1: gonna visit those same teams every four years. We don't 968 00:47:03,239 --> 00:47:05,520 Speaker 1: want that. So at some point we're probably gonna reset 969 00:47:05,520 --> 00:47:08,160 Speaker 1: the rotation. But essentially we're gonna alternate N s C, 970 00:47:08,239 --> 00:47:09,960 Speaker 1: A s C, N S T A f C. Whichever 971 00:47:10,120 --> 00:47:16,000 Speaker 1: conference has the extra home game, four teams from that 972 00:47:16,160 --> 00:47:18,720 Speaker 1: conference are going to be part of the international package. 973 00:47:19,080 --> 00:47:21,960 Speaker 1: It just seems fair, It just makes sense. Like I said, 974 00:47:22,040 --> 00:47:25,560 Speaker 1: the predominant, you know, overwhelming majority games are gonna be 975 00:47:25,680 --> 00:47:29,319 Speaker 1: in the UK. We've built quite a fan base over there. 976 00:47:29,600 --> 00:47:31,279 Speaker 1: And they've gotten a lot smarter. I know you guys 977 00:47:31,320 --> 00:47:33,560 Speaker 1: have been over there. They're wearing jerseys of current players 978 00:47:33,560 --> 00:47:36,680 Speaker 1: now instead of just retired players. They're not cheering quite 979 00:47:36,800 --> 00:47:40,200 Speaker 1: loudly for punts and kickoff. They understand the game a 980 00:47:40,200 --> 00:47:43,319 Speaker 1: lot better. And uh, you know, the London games are 981 00:47:43,320 --> 00:47:47,200 Speaker 1: a spectacle. They are really really fun. Uh we're gonna play, 982 00:47:47,320 --> 00:47:49,600 Speaker 1: you know, three or four of those every year. We're 983 00:47:49,640 --> 00:47:51,880 Speaker 1: kicking around Germany a little bit. I'm sure we'll be 984 00:47:51,880 --> 00:47:55,279 Speaker 1: back in Mexico next year. But the expectation is that 985 00:47:55,440 --> 00:47:58,480 Speaker 1: the conference with the extra home game is gonna kick 986 00:47:58,520 --> 00:48:01,680 Speaker 1: in to help source the international games. And now you 987 00:48:01,719 --> 00:48:04,200 Speaker 1: can just get on a rotation. Four teams out of 988 00:48:04,200 --> 00:48:06,120 Speaker 1: the FC this year, four teams out of the NFC 989 00:48:06,200 --> 00:48:07,879 Speaker 1: next year, four teams out of the AFC this year, 990 00:48:07,960 --> 00:48:10,520 Speaker 1: and you're rotated around and basically once every eight years 991 00:48:10,680 --> 00:48:13,120 Speaker 1: you're gonna give up a home game to the international focus. 992 00:48:13,560 --> 00:48:15,920 Speaker 1: All right, sounds awesome, my great stuff. Man, we really 993 00:48:15,960 --> 00:48:18,440 Speaker 1: appreciate this is fantastic. You're very generous with your time. 994 00:48:19,160 --> 00:48:20,839 Speaker 1: Anything else you want to get out there or tell 995 00:48:20,880 --> 00:48:25,320 Speaker 1: the folks before we say goodbye. H Look, I'll only 996 00:48:25,360 --> 00:48:29,360 Speaker 1: say that you know, everybody's got something to complain about, 997 00:48:29,640 --> 00:48:32,680 Speaker 1: and that's fair. Um, but I hope, you know, the 998 00:48:32,719 --> 00:48:35,799 Speaker 1: more we talk about it like this, the more people realize, 999 00:48:36,200 --> 00:48:39,800 Speaker 1: you know, the conspiracy theorists and oh the league office 1000 00:48:39,960 --> 00:48:42,920 Speaker 1: ate this team or that player just couldn't be further 1001 00:48:42,960 --> 00:48:47,040 Speaker 1: from the They really couldn't. There's no such thing. Um. 1002 00:48:47,280 --> 00:48:51,239 Speaker 1: It's it's a labor of love. But it's also one 1003 00:48:51,320 --> 00:48:54,759 Speaker 1: where we know that it's a zero sum games. So, uh, 1004 00:48:54,800 --> 00:48:58,080 Speaker 1: we're really happy with where we landed. Yeah, there's gonna 1005 00:48:58,080 --> 00:49:00,759 Speaker 1: be some legitimate gripes if they really han out to 1006 00:49:00,840 --> 00:49:04,120 Speaker 1: be you know, impactful, we'll learn from them and and 1007 00:49:04,160 --> 00:49:08,200 Speaker 1: hopefully never do a team that same way again. Um. 1008 00:49:08,239 --> 00:49:10,040 Speaker 1: You know, most of the teams are pretty satisfied with 1009 00:49:10,080 --> 00:49:12,680 Speaker 1: their schedule, Most of the television networks pretty satisfied with 1010 00:49:12,680 --> 00:49:15,120 Speaker 1: their schedule. I hope it all plays out right. I 1011 00:49:15,160 --> 00:49:17,359 Speaker 1: hope it all goes according to plan. And I hope 1012 00:49:17,360 --> 00:49:20,319 Speaker 1: we're having this conversation again in December, where like I said, 1013 00:49:20,400 --> 00:49:22,799 Speaker 1: everybody seven and seven and everything is still to play 1014 00:49:22,840 --> 00:49:25,759 Speaker 1: for um, that that would be a good schedule. Well, 1015 00:49:25,760 --> 00:49:27,239 Speaker 1: and I hope Mike you can get some rest the 1016 00:49:27,239 --> 00:49:29,480 Speaker 1: next couple of months because you've earned it. We really 1017 00:49:29,520 --> 00:49:31,479 Speaker 1: appreciate it. Man, Stay safe out there, all right, Bud, 1018 00:49:31,960 --> 00:49:33,439 Speaker 1: I was a pleasure. Thanks for having me on, guys, 1019 00:49:33,480 --> 00:49:35,719 Speaker 1: and we hope that we hope that see a stadium 1020 00:49:35,840 --> 00:49:38,000 Speaker 1: or two this year, which would be great for everybody. 1021 00:49:38,680 --> 00:49:40,279 Speaker 1: That would be great. It would might be be much 1022 00:49:40,320 --> 00:49:42,479 Speaker 1: fan seeing me in my car soccer practice. I would 1023 00:49:42,520 --> 00:49:45,800 Speaker 1: love to see out of my life this year. Yes, absolutely, everybody, 1024 00:49:45,800 --> 00:49:47,200 Speaker 1: thanks for being with us in this episode of The 1025 00:49:47,200 --> 00:49:49,560 Speaker 1: Giant S Little Podcast. For Michael north End, Paulatino, I'm 1026 00:49:49,640 --> 00:49:51,600 Speaker 1: John Schmilk. We'll see you next time. Everybody,