0:01

Here you go. Here

0:03

you go. Yeah.

0:16

Paywall. That's the nothing

0:18

personal word of the day. It is Tuesday,

0:20

December 19th, Koka

0:26

and I am preparing for this show, have

0:29

been talking a lot about paywalls, thinking about

0:31

the sporting class shows that we've

0:33

recorded with Skipper, and about the

0:36

streaming services and all of the new

0:38

apps that you all can get that

0:40

I get to, trying to keep track of

0:43

what I'm streaming, what I'm bundling, what I'm

0:45

paying per month, feeling

0:47

like you're getting nickeled and dimed and it

0:50

just automatically renews like Columbia

0:52

Records. And

0:55

it occurred to me that it's time now

0:57

for you all to realize and for me

0:59

to realize there's no

1:01

going back. Paywalls

1:04

are our present and our

1:06

future. You deciding

1:08

what you want to watch, when you want

1:10

to watch it, comes at a price. And

1:14

the question will always be, what are you willing

1:16

to pay to watch

1:19

what you want to watch, and at what point

1:21

does the price become too big that

1:24

the inflection point happens and you say,

1:26

you know what, I'm

1:28

going to cut my expenses here and

1:30

I will pass on watching this event

1:32

or that event. The

1:35

reason why it's been in our head is that the

1:38

number one story of 2023, and

1:42

we told you from the beginning it would

1:44

be number one and it has been, it

1:46

is still number one, and that is the

1:48

bankruptcy of Diamond. You

1:51

may know it as Bally's Regional

1:53

Sports Networks. They've

1:55

got baseball teams,

1:57

hockey teams, basketball teams. And

2:00

we've talked about what it meant. When

2:04

these teams, me included,

2:06

signed TV deals, local

2:09

broadcast revenue deals, these

2:11

are a huge part of

2:13

our P&L. And

2:18

the thought always was

2:20

that there's no bubble. It's

2:23

going to keep going forever because

2:25

people love live content.

2:29

And sports is the last remaining,

2:31

what we used to call, DVR

2:33

proof item. But

2:36

then, about

2:40

$10 billion later, Diamond

2:44

realized that the reason

2:46

why they were able to spend so much money

2:48

on teams is that they were

2:50

getting so much money from cable

2:52

companies to carry the channels

2:55

because the cable companies were getting so

2:57

much money from people who would buy

3:00

cable, basic cable, tiered table, top tier

3:02

cable. And

3:04

then, all of a sudden, people were getting rid of

3:06

cable. Subscribers were

3:08

leveling off and then declining at a

3:11

rapid pace. And

3:14

therefore, these networks, the

3:17

broadcast networks, the RSNs, were

3:19

simply not getting the money

3:21

they thought in,

3:23

but they were still paying the money

3:25

they were contractually obligated to pay out

3:27

to the teams. When

3:30

your inflow is less than

3:32

your outflow and that continues,

3:35

you go bankrupt. You've

3:37

heard me say my favorite line, hey, we

3:39

lose a dollar per unit, but don't worry,

3:42

we'll make it up on volume. The

3:44

joke of that philosophy is if you lose a dollar

3:46

on a unit and you make 100 units, you're

3:49

going to lose $100. And

3:52

then people say, no, no, David, it's the economies

3:54

of scale. And I say, no, no, you're losing

3:56

$1 per unit. It doesn't

3:58

matter how many units you make. And

4:01

so the networks said, eh, I

4:04

can't pay my mortgage, which

4:06

is a business,

4:08

that's personal mortgage. Business

4:11

is debt service. When you borrow money, you have to

4:13

pay interest, much like a mortgage. I

4:15

can't pay my bills. I'm going to go bankrupt.

4:18

I'm going to reorganize. Meanwhile,

4:21

part of reorganizing is figuring out

4:24

what new deals you can cut with

4:26

what teams. It helps

4:28

you while you've got the stain of chapter

4:30

11 in your past, or personally, it could

4:32

be chapter seven. Some people

4:34

don't care if they go bankrupt. Some people don't care if

4:36

they have bad credit ratings. Some people just don't

4:39

want to pay their credit card bills. And

4:41

once you say you're going to reorganize, you

4:45

then have a judge overlooking everything

4:47

you do. You've

4:49

got a creditors committee. Those

4:51

are the people who are owed money that you're not

4:53

paying. They let you money. You can't pay them back.

4:56

Instead of killing you, they're going to help

4:58

you figure out how you're going to sell

5:00

your assets or start making money in different

5:02

places so they can get their money back.

5:05

It's like when a bank forecloses your house, they

5:08

don't care what the value of your house is. They

5:11

only care that they get paid back whatever amount

5:13

of money your mortgage was. That's

5:17

why people like buying houses and cars

5:19

in foreclosure because banks are not meant

5:21

to maximize the value of the

5:24

underlying asset. They're meant to

5:26

get back to even and move on

5:28

to the next loan. So

5:32

there's a lot of interested parties watching

5:34

the reorganization. Part of the

5:36

reorganization is meeting with the leagues and

5:39

figuring out which teams you are going

5:42

to continue to cover. And we saw

5:44

last year, teams like the Padres were

5:47

dropped and then MLB

5:49

started producing them. Someone

5:52

came out yesterday that

5:54

MLB and Diamond, they are close

5:56

to a deal for 2024. I

6:00

want to explain why that happens. Majorly

6:04

baseball owners want to know what their revenue

6:06

is going to be. They sit in owners'

6:08

meetings and they say to the commissioner, thank

6:10

you for everything you do, all the national

6:13

deals you cut, all the

6:15

great sponsorship dollars that you have, all

6:17

the great money you get from playing

6:19

international games, but do me a favor,

6:22

can you just give me a number? How

6:25

many tens of millions of dollars are you

6:27

going to distribute to each of the 30

6:30

teams and when will you make that distribution?

6:34

Owners like certainty. Anybody

6:38

who owns something would

6:40

love certainty of revenue. When

6:44

you're in the customer service business or when

6:46

you're in a big box retailer, you're in

6:48

a corner market or a corner furniture store,

6:50

you make an estimate as to the number

6:53

of people who are going to walk in

6:55

your door, buy online, buy inside your store,

6:57

you calculate your expenses of having people run

6:59

the store, what the rent is of the

7:01

store where you are and figure out if

7:03

it's even worth it to have a regular

7:06

walk-in presence or do we just switch

7:08

to online? All

7:10

of that is done because the people

7:13

who own the business are

7:15

looking for certainty. MLB

7:18

owners said to the commissioner, negotiate

7:20

with Diamond and figure out

7:23

what the heck they're doing. Are

7:25

they keeping the Braves, the Reds, the

7:27

Guardians, the Tigers, the Royals, the Angels,

7:29

the Marlins, the Brewers, the Cardinals, the

7:31

Rays, the Rangers or are

7:33

they not? Do

7:36

you remember when the NBA season started,

7:38

a deal was announced that Diamond was

7:40

going to carry all the NBA teams

7:42

for this current season but

7:44

then for next season, all

7:46

of the rights are going to revert,

7:49

the digital rights are reverting back to the NBA.

7:52

The reason why that's such an important

7:55

point is MLB's dream is

7:57

to have all digital rights of all 30 teams. that

8:00

they can then package nationally as

8:03

a way to increase the

8:05

amount of revenue that is shared between

8:07

the haves and the have-nots. There's

8:11

a problem with MLB's plan in

8:13

that there are certain teams that will

8:15

never give over their digital rights, like the

8:18

Yankees, like the Red Sox. And

8:21

when you're going out and selling your

8:23

league's digital rights, it would be the

8:25

equivalent of Don Garver of Major League

8:27

Soccer going to Apple and saying, we

8:29

would like to sell you all

8:31

the digital rights to MLS, except for

8:33

the team where Messi plays. Is

8:37

that going to impact the amount of money you give? And

8:40

Apple would say, I'm only giving you that

8:42

money because of Messi. So

8:46

it is critical for

8:48

all 30 teams to give their digital

8:51

rights to the commissioner and the commissioner's office.

8:53

And short of that, why bother?

8:57

That said, the deal that

8:59

MLB and Diamond are working on is

9:01

a deal that would have Diamond cover

9:03

all the aforementioned teams for one year.

9:06

And then after 2024,

9:09

while not announced, my guess is all

9:11

the digital rights for all 11 of

9:13

those teams would revert back to Major

9:16

League Baseball. So

9:19

the court and the

9:21

judge who's involved in the reorganization,

9:24

their job is to make sure

9:26

that Diamond is cutting the best

9:28

possible deal for its creditors, for

9:30

its shareholders. The

9:34

best possible deal is not always

9:36

doing a deal with the leagues

9:39

to cover all of the teams that you

9:41

own rights to. Sometimes it's

9:43

to do team by team. But

9:47

you're also on a parallel path. And

9:49

the parallel path is that you're looking

9:52

for angel investors. You're looking for people

9:54

who are willing to invest money into

9:56

your company, who believe in your company,

9:58

who can help. get you out of

10:00

the debt you're in and provide

10:03

you with a fresh start. Yesterday,

10:08

Amazon came

10:11

out, rumor through

10:13

leaks through sources, that

10:16

there is a possibility that

10:19

Amazon would be interested in taking

10:22

over all of Diamond. Wow,

10:25

I was floored and here's why.

10:29

Amazon Prime, you know

10:31

they did the Thursday Night Football package and

10:33

they're all excited when they get 11 million

10:35

or 12 million people watching. And

10:38

then they did the Black Friday game and they

10:40

were upset that only 9 million or 12 million

10:42

or whatever number of people have watched. And

10:45

they measure their investment in these

10:47

live sports properties according to the

10:50

conversions they get to people taking

10:52

Amazon Prime and using Amazon Prime

10:54

to get toilet paper delivered because

10:57

that's where their real money is. That's

11:00

their true business. Everything

11:03

Amazon does is to get people engaged

11:06

with Amazon to make their

11:08

purchases on Amazon. That's

11:11

their entire corporate goal. The

11:15

thought is that if they take

11:17

over all the regional sports networks, Amazon

11:21

Prime will be the place where people

11:23

go all over the country every single

11:25

day during the summer. Hundreds of hours

11:27

of content, not just Thursday Night Football.

11:33

And those people will engage

11:36

with their team through and

11:39

behind the paywall that is

11:41

Amazon Prime. So not

11:43

only do you pay the monthly fee for Amazon Prime

11:45

and you get movies and original series and all the

11:47

great things you get, but

11:50

also free Prime

11:52

delivery. Is

11:56

it possible that Amazon is in

11:58

the market? to not just

12:00

take over the RSNs and MLB,

12:03

but to do a national

12:05

TV package with the NBA

12:07

to complement their Thursday package

12:09

with the NFL. It

12:13

is an absolute sea change in

12:16

how Amazon is willing to allocate

12:19

its billions of dollars of market

12:21

cap, how they're willing to

12:24

basically deploy their capital in

12:27

a way that drives their true

12:29

bottom line. Because

12:32

the regional sports network

12:34

business is

12:36

dying, and

12:38

it's dying a very ugly,

12:41

painful death. And

12:44

the reason is the

12:46

concept of the paywall, where

12:49

you, as we started this show, are

12:52

gonna pay for what you want and only what you

12:54

want. So

12:56

can Amazon be the savior for

12:58

Diamond? If Amazon

13:01

is going to invest in Diamond, they're

13:04

gonna want the digital rights, and

13:06

they're gonna wanna cut a deal with MLB

13:09

and Diamond that

13:11

doesn't allow for the reversion of

13:13

those rights back to MLB, which

13:15

is something MLB doesn't want, but

13:17

MLB does want the support of

13:19

Amazon as a possible bidder down

13:22

the line for both national rights

13:25

and streaming rights. So

13:27

it is a tight rope that leagues

13:29

or anybody who's got something they're selling

13:32

and they're selling their live content, it's

13:34

a tight rope that you walk with

13:37

your buyers. You

13:39

want to make your product wanted, but

13:42

you don't want to look desperate. Diamond,

13:47

desperate. MLB,

13:51

desperate. But MLB has an

13:53

opportunity to hide their desperation in a

13:55

way that Diamond doesn't. So

13:57

where does it all end? I

14:01

can't say that line without saying with tears and a journey.

14:05

MLB will get a deal

14:07

done with Diamond for 24. Part

14:10

of that deal, however, is going to have

14:12

language in it that deals

14:14

with the reorganization of Diamond and

14:16

what will happen in case of

14:19

a investor like Amazon, which

14:22

will in theory keep Diamond operating.

14:27

There is all sorts of talk that Diamond wants to

14:29

keep operating or they'd like to close up shop and

14:31

get rid of all their deals. It

14:34

all depends on whether they can

14:36

find investors. This

14:38

story is not going away. When

14:40

I come up with my top things to look for in

14:43

2024 as part of mailbags next week, thank

14:47

you by the way for all the questions on davidsampsonpodcast.com

14:51

and davidsampson on

14:54

Twitter. We have two

14:56

mailbags that we're going to record. We've

14:58

done one already. You're going to get

15:00

three mailbags next week. And

15:03

part of one of the mailbags will be top storylines

15:05

for 2024. Spoiler

15:08

alert, the continued

15:11

reorganization of Diamond is

15:13

going to be on the list. The

15:18

Nationals and the Orioles are done

15:20

fighting. It really

15:23

is a major moment

15:25

in the history of those franchises.

15:28

The Nationals have been fighting with the Orioles

15:30

since the day they became the Nationals and

15:32

they're fighting about one thing, money,

15:35

obviously. Broadcast money,

15:38

maybe less obvious to some of you. When

15:41

the Nationals were moved from Montreal, the

15:44

way that MLB got the Orioles

15:46

to accept the Nationals

15:48

encroachment on their home territory was

15:51

that a new network was started and this

15:53

is at the height of regional sports networks

15:55

and it was called Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, MASN.

15:59

And the Orioles... had

16:01

a majority ownership of Masson

16:04

and it was guaranteed a deal

16:06

between Masson and the Nationals.

16:09

The only problem is they could not come to an

16:11

agreement on what the value of the TV deal was.

16:14

So they agreed to punt and

16:17

the thing about punting and procrastinating and

16:19

kicking the can is eventually

16:21

the bill comes due. You

16:23

can live your life on credit, eventually you're

16:25

either gonna have to pay or go bankrupt.

16:29

The Orioles and Nationals had

16:32

a deal except when you don't know

16:34

the amount of the deal it leads

16:36

to fighting and there have been years

16:38

and years of litigation between the Nats

16:40

and the Orioles and the whole subject

16:44

of the litigation is

16:46

how much Masson owes the Nationals.

16:51

They agreed that they would negotiate

16:53

every five years. Well

16:56

the Nationals and Orioles settled

16:58

another five-year stretch yesterday.

17:01

The five-year stretch from I think 16 to

17:04

21 so they're basically caught

17:06

up now finally and it

17:08

is a very big deal and

17:11

the reason it's a big deal is

17:13

that the Nationals have been for sale

17:15

since their patriarch head learner passed away.

17:18

The Orioles are rumored to be for

17:21

sale and are for sale. The

17:23

Orioles were in the news yesterday, Koka did you see that?

17:26

This is so good. Can

17:29

we go off the rundown for a minute?

17:32

The Orioles announced a new 30-year lease

17:35

with the politicians in Baltimore

17:38

with everybody exclaiming the Orioles

17:40

are here to stay, they're

17:42

not relocating, thank God for

17:44

small favors except

17:48

guess what came out later is that

17:51

everyone was lying to you. For

17:54

all of you Baltimore fans or those of you who pay

17:56

attention to stadium deals, the Orioles

17:58

have an apt-out clause. And

18:01

the opt-out clause is that they can get out of

18:03

their lease in 15 years if they

18:06

have not been granted the right to

18:09

develop the area all around Camden Yards.

18:12

Member of the development around ballparks that

18:14

we talk about that everybody wants to

18:16

do. Inter Miami is doing a real

18:18

estate development deal that includes a soccer

18:21

stadium. The Royals are trying to figure out

18:23

where they can be to develop all

18:25

those hundreds of acres. Ted Leonisis wants

18:27

to develop in Northern Virginia so they

18:29

announced that two billion dollar deal. The

18:34

Chicago Bears want to develop a whole

18:36

village around Arlington or wherever they bought

18:38

all that land. We

18:41

did a segment recently, I don't remember when it was

18:43

Koka, and the segment was all about owners

18:46

and development. The

18:49

Orioles could not come to agreement with

18:52

the public on them having

18:55

the right to monetize the

18:57

development and

18:59

to do the development. And

19:02

so instead of letting the lease run

19:04

out on December 31st and God forbid

19:06

you negotiate till the 31st because people

19:08

want Christmas break, they

19:10

said, well kick the can. We

19:14

kicked the can doing the Marlins Park deal on a

19:16

bunch of things. The biggest one was

19:18

Capital Reserve Fund. We kicked the

19:20

can to who would invest when Marlins

19:22

Park needed all sorts of renovations. Let

19:24

someone else worry about it. The

19:28

problem when you do that is

19:30

tomorrow becomes today really fast. So

19:34

the Orioles might think this is great,

19:36

we've got a 15 year deal, the

19:38

people of Baltimore this is great, we're

19:40

all set, the Orioles are staying, but

19:43

the conversations and the fighting are going

19:45

to continue. What is

19:47

going to happen though is the

19:49

log jam around the national sale is

19:52

now free. By

19:55

settling the massing deal, getting

19:57

back to the massing deal, it's like a

20:00

a dose of fiber or

20:03

special medicine that you take where you

20:05

better be near a WC. Because

20:09

the reason why the Nats have not been sold

20:12

is the Nats had a different idea

20:14

of what their TV money was and

20:16

the buyers had a different idea

20:18

of what their TV money was and would

20:20

be. Now

20:23

that you've got certainty, you're able

20:25

to figure out value. Unless

20:27

you can figure out value, you can have a

20:29

meeting of the minds about the valuation of a

20:31

team. One

20:34

of the things that I expect in

20:36

2024 is the sale of the Nationals. It

20:41

is something that is

20:43

going to be an interesting sale because

20:46

when you look at valuations of teams,

20:49

when you look at the potential

20:51

bubble of valuation of teams, each

20:54

data point we get gives

20:56

us more information as to where we are in

20:58

the cycle. So far in my

21:01

life, the cycle has been only one way. Up,

21:03

up, up, up, up. I

21:05

haven't seen anything where that is

21:07

permanent and I

21:09

would expect it not to be the case with the

21:11

value of sports teams, but we're going

21:14

to have to wait and see. So

21:17

before we go to break, I want to

21:19

sum up this first segment about

21:22

paywall and I want

21:24

you as a

21:26

favor to me. Over

21:29

the next, you've got 11 days

21:31

till the new year. I

21:33

would like each of you listening or watching the

21:35

show and nothing personal with David Sampson, could

21:38

you just write down a piece of paper, it can be

21:40

a spreadsheet, it can be an actual piece of paper, write

21:44

down the streaming services

21:46

that you currently pay

21:48

for, add them up and

21:51

then compare it to

21:53

what you used to pay for your

21:55

cable bill. And then

21:58

get back to me at David P Sampson on Twitter. or

22:00

through davidsamsonpodcast.com. And after the new

22:02

year when we're live again, starting

22:05

January 2nd, we have shows

22:07

all week this week, but then next week our mailbags,

22:10

January 2nd will be here sometime

22:13

in that first week. I'm gonna

22:15

wanna go through whether or not

22:17

what I believe to be the case and what

22:19

John Skipper believes to be the case, which is

22:22

that you're all paying more when

22:24

you thought you were going to pay less, but

22:26

you're doing it in a way that makes you

22:28

feel better because you think you're getting more value.

22:32

I am very curious what the truth

22:34

will be. So get out

22:36

your pens and paper and let me know. All

22:40

right, let's take a break. When we come back, I'm

22:42

gonna tell a story answering

22:44

one of your questions about Canada and some

22:47

of the experiences I had in

22:49

going back and forth to Canada for two years with the

22:51

baseball team and how Miles

22:54

Bridges was not able to

22:56

go to Canada. And we're gonna review a

22:58

documentary that I expect has a good chance

23:00

to be nominated for best

23:02

feature documentary when the Oscar nominations

23:04

come out in January. We'll

23:07

be right back. Welcome

23:13

back to Nothing Personal. Thank you so

23:15

much. Let's push toward the end of

23:17

the year. Please review and

23:20

subscribe and tell your friends about

23:22

Nothing Personal and keep this pretty

23:25

cool thing that we have between us. We're gonna keep

23:27

it going. And it's

23:29

not quite as intimate as it used to be,

23:31

but I still pretend it is. And I love

23:33

engaging with all of you on David P. Sampson

23:35

on Twitter as much as I can and

23:38

on davidsampsonpodcast.com. I answer questions as

23:40

best I can. We're

23:42

gonna get to one person's question, but first I

23:45

gotta review a movie. Hours

23:47

are tight for me, but it really does help

23:49

the two hours. I got coke, I collapsed last

23:51

night. I was pretty sure I had COVID. I

23:54

wasn't gonna test. And what I realized

23:56

is my body was going into just shutdown. So

23:59

I slept last night. night from 9 30

24:02

till 1 a.m. which was I

24:05

felt brand new it's

24:07

like a new day the movie

24:10

that I watched yesterday was a documentary

24:13

called Little Richard I am everything

24:16

raise your hand if you heard of Little Richard

24:19

good golly miss molly I'd

24:22

heard of Little Richie I

24:25

was born in 1968 my jam is 80s

24:27

music I like 70s and 90s

24:32

and 2000s but really 80s is

24:34

where it's at give me something

24:36

give me level 42 in the

24:38

blow monkeys and I'm a happy guy so

24:41

I knew Little Richard but it

24:44

turns out I didn't know anything

24:47

did you know that Little Richard along with Jerry

24:49

Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley and fat stomino and

24:51

Chuck Berry are the true fathers of rock and

24:53

roll did you know that

24:55

Little Richard basically started the

24:58

careers of the Rolling Stones and

25:00

the Beatles did

25:02

you know that Little Richard never got

25:04

recognized by the Grammys and when he

25:06

won an American Music Award lifetime achievement

25:08

basically used it as an opportunity to

25:11

say why does everyone not treat me

25:13

with respect like Rodney Dangerfield I

25:17

learned more about Little Richard in that

25:19

documentary than I ever thought I would need to know and

25:21

it turns out I should have known all of it and

25:24

it made me think about something that

25:27

again maybe you all think about ego

25:32

how important is it for people to know

25:34

what you do and what you've done is

25:37

it only for public figures is only for artists

25:40

why can't it be for people inside a business

25:42

or a family business or a parent why

25:46

are there some people who demand recognition and

25:48

some people are fine without recognition and

25:50

it got me thinking about myself and my

25:53

ego and how my ego gets satiated which

25:55

is insatiable but how it gets satiated with

25:57

doing a show like this and the the

26:00

honor of having a platform like this. And

26:03

it made me think about sometimes on Levitar when

26:06

I'm crying out for more attention or upset

26:08

that I'm not getting treated fairly. And

26:11

I wonder whether I come off like Little Richard. Because

26:14

I don't know that I want to, however,

26:16

he is an icon, a legend, and so

26:18

great that maybe it's okay to come off

26:20

like that if you are of that ilk,

26:22

but if you come off like that and

26:24

you're not of that ilk, then oi,

26:27

that's a bad look. So

26:30

this was my 1 a.m. to 4 a.m.

26:32

situation last night as I was trying to

26:34

figure out, can I walk

26:36

the line? Is there a

26:39

way? Let me

26:41

know because I think I try. Little

26:43

Richard, I am everything. Literally, that's

26:46

what he views of himself. It's

26:48

outstanding. I do think it

26:50

should be nominated. It's one of the best documentaries I've seen

26:53

this year. And he

26:55

deserves for us to at least know

26:57

what he's done. Little

27:00

Richard. Thanks, Little Richard. Alright,

27:04

Koka, play that funky music. You

27:08

know what I want. I

27:12

want to talk to Samson. So

27:15

you want to talk to Samson. Alright,

27:17

there's a movie called Half Baked, and

27:19

if you get really, really baked and watch

27:21

it, you will laugh your kishkas off. And

27:24

inside that movie, there's a character named Samson. People want

27:27

to talk to him. Want to talk

27:29

to me? Give me your questions. Hi,

27:31

David. Hello. Thank

27:33

you for the many years of incredible

27:35

sports education. That's one way to get

27:37

your question right on the air. Ego.

27:41

Will Miles Bridges have his pay

27:43

withheld by the Hornets because his

27:45

criminal behavior resulted in his denial

27:47

of entry to Canada? Did

27:49

you hear about this? One

27:52

of the things about having teams in Canada, you know,

27:55

it happened during COVID, but it happens all

27:58

the time. There is a border. between

28:00

Canada and the United States of America.

28:02

And that requires you to cross a

28:04

border to play a basketball game, even

28:06

though they are in the National Basketball

28:08

Association. It is

28:10

real. When I was with the Expos

28:12

for two years, we crossed out of Canada, into

28:14

Canada. You had to fill out back then, you

28:17

actually had to fill out customs forms, paper

28:19

customs forms, if you remember those. And

28:22

then you go through border patrol. The

28:25

way it works in Canada is when you're

28:27

going to the US, you go through US

28:29

border patrol in Canada. So when you land,

28:31

you just go to wherever you are in

28:33

America. When you're going to

28:35

Canada, you land in Canada, and

28:38

you go through border control before you can get

28:40

out of the Pierre Trudeau or D'Orval, as I

28:42

called it, or

28:44

Mirabel, whatever the airports are in Canada

28:46

that you're flying into. The

28:50

way teams travel to Canada is

28:53

that the traveling secretary, when you've got

28:55

a trip to Toronto or to Montreal,

28:58

the traveling secretary gives you an itinerary

29:00

for the upcoming trip on the itinerary

29:02

in big, bold letters. Bring

29:05

your passport. We

29:08

then fill out the customs forms for the

29:10

players. But

29:12

we also say, don't bring

29:15

drugs. Little

29:18

note there, don't cross a border with drugs, if

29:20

you've ever seen Midnight Express. Not

29:22

worth it. Go get pencil shavings

29:24

in whatever island you're on. Don't

29:27

bring drugs overseas. Next,

29:31

anybody have a record? We

29:35

know in advance our players

29:37

and their status. We know their legal status.

29:40

Miles Bridges is

29:43

currently on probation. Miles

29:46

Bridges, remember when he had

29:48

the domestic violence issue against

29:51

the mother of his children? And there

29:53

was a protective order filed against him. He couldn't go

29:55

near her. And then he did. And then

29:58

he got in trouble. Well,

30:00

Canada decided that they

30:03

were not going to allow Miles Bridges

30:05

into their country. When

30:08

we get word that a player is not

30:10

going to be allowed and we don't get

30:12

the word at the border, this is important

30:14

to understand. The Charlotte

30:16

Hornets, is that

30:19

their name? Do I have? I

30:21

did this wrong last time. I call them

30:23

the Bobcats. The Charlotte Hornets, they

30:26

knew going to Toronto to play the Raptors.

30:29

They didn't have to land in Toronto and have

30:31

Miles Bridges turned around at the border. They

30:34

knew in advance that he was not going

30:36

to be allowed. Why? Because

30:39

we're in contact with our connections in

30:41

Canada, with our border connections, and when

30:43

there's a problem, we find out. And

30:46

the only thing we ask of our

30:48

players and of our staff is no

30:51

surprises. One

30:54

time at band camp, we were

30:56

travelling to Montreal and

30:59

we had someone working in the clubhouse, got

31:02

caught with a bunch of drugs, with

31:05

denied entry. We had a

31:07

fire room of course. And all I said

31:09

was, how could you be so stupid? There's

31:12

equal access to drugs both north and

31:15

south of the border. There's no reason

31:17

to travel with them. And

31:19

every once in a while, they're going to check our

31:21

bags. We've told players that, we

31:23

tell staff that. Miles

31:26

Bridges did not suffer

31:29

from that issue. So

31:32

when the Hornets found out that he wouldn't be accepted

31:34

in, they spoke to their

31:36

coach, Steve Clifford, and they said, do me a favour

31:38

when you're asked about it, just say he's not available

31:40

to play. That

31:43

is not how I would want my coach

31:45

to answer that question. Instead,

31:48

I want my coach to say

31:50

exactly what's happening. Miles

31:52

Bridges is not allowed in Canada because of

31:54

his behaviour in the United States and because

31:57

of his current legal issues. It

32:00

makes you look ridiculous when everyone knows

32:02

the reason, yet you are unwilling to

32:04

comment. Yes, I'm out for

32:06

the year. No, I didn't have surgery. It wasn't Tommy

32:08

John. I just had my elbow reconstructed. You

32:11

lose credibility. What

32:16

you also lose if you're Miles Bridges is

32:19

me. Teams

32:22

have a choice whether or not to

32:24

pay a player for a game missed

32:26

that they cannot attend, because under the

32:28

Uniform Player Contract, when a player is

32:30

not available to play, and

32:32

it's not because of injury, they

32:35

are allowed to not

32:38

pay that player, to suspend

32:40

that player. There is a

32:42

mechanism within the collective bargaining agreement that

32:44

allows for a fine, if you will.

32:48

My view is always very simple. We

32:50

pay you to play 162 games. Period. I

32:54

am sorry that you have family issues,

32:56

but guess what? So does everybody else.

32:59

I'm sorry that you're upset, or not in

33:01

the mood, or not feeling great. Do your

33:04

job. Self-inflicted

33:07

problems are

33:09

not my favorite kind. And

33:11

that goes all the way on the field. If

33:14

you make a physical error, it is what

33:16

it is. A mental error, not excusable to

33:18

me. Miles

33:21

Bridges not being able to go

33:23

to Canada is simply because Miles

33:25

Bridges did something that stopped him

33:27

from doing his job one eighty-second

33:29

of his job. I

33:33

would absolutely withhold his pay, and

33:37

it's not because of the criminal behavior. It's

33:39

because he wasn't available

33:42

to do his job. Now,

33:44

some owners don't want that. Some

33:47

owners would like to keep paying the players. They don't want

33:49

the players to be upset. It's

33:51

not their fault. I have a

33:53

totally different view. It's totally Miles Bridges'

33:55

fault, and he should

33:57

have to pay the consequences. Okay.

34:06

When I took the pistons, I told you I was going to

34:08

keep taking the pistons. Do you remember that? Nothing personal

34:11

pick of the day. Hold on. Wait. I'm

34:13

getting something right now, Coco. We are live. Nothing

34:17

personal pick of the day brought to you

34:19

by... Hold on, I just lost service. Nothing

34:23

personal pick of the day is brought... It

34:26

won't even download. It's brought to you

34:28

by... I'm not

34:30

sure who. Hello? Anybody

34:32

out there? We had

34:34

the pistons plus 11 and a half verses of the

34:36

hawks and they covered. They lost, of course, but they

34:38

covered. And now I don't have to take the pistons

34:40

anymore. Thank the Lord. So

34:43

with the eagles up 17, 13, the

34:45

pistons having covered, we've got an undefeated

34:47

night happening. Everything's coming up,

34:49

roses. I make up for my crappy weekend

34:51

and then all of a sudden, Oliver

34:55

Luck... Give me

34:57

the name. God dang it, Coco.

35:01

Oliver Luck is Andrew Luck's father, the guy who's fighting

35:03

with Vince McMahon over the XFL. Drew

35:05

Luck. Drew Luck. I

35:09

was close. Drew Luck

35:12

leads Pete Carroll to

35:14

a victory, the type of victory that Pete

35:16

Carroll, I don't think, has had in his

35:18

entire fantastic, all-of-fame career. And

35:21

the Seahawks not only cover against the

35:23

eagles, they frickin' beat him. So

35:26

we're 191 and 184 after a one-on-one day. We're

35:30

going after money tonight. Money.

35:34

We're gonna do a parlay. The

35:36

Bucks are about 37-point favorites over

35:38

the San Antonio Spurs who stink,

35:40

but we're taking them on the

35:42

money line. Now you're gonna

35:44

think that's not much value, but we're parlaying

35:47

them with the Golden State Warriors to beat

35:49

the Celtics. Therefore, that's a parlay

35:51

of plus 204. So

35:54

Bucks Warriors Money Line Parlay. Let

35:57

me tell you why I like the Warriors tonight over the Celtics.

36:00

Did you see what is going on with

36:02

Draymond Green? We did a segment

36:04

where we told you that he was suspended. We thought

36:06

it would be under five games. It's over five games.

36:09

He's in counseling. There's some sort

36:11

of something he's got to do to get reinstated. Yesterday

36:15

it was announced, leaked more

36:17

like it, that Draymond Green

36:19

has started counseling and is likely

36:21

to miss the next three weeks

36:23

as a veteran of counseling of

36:26

every kind. The

36:28

only thing I've ever solved in three weeks

36:31

is learning my left from my right.

36:34

That's about it. Or the best way

36:36

to get to the therapist's office or to get

36:38

on Zoom. It

36:41

reminds me of the John Marantes. Yes,

36:43

John Marantes got problems. He went away

36:46

for five days and he's cured. I've

36:49

never heard of such a thing. You

36:52

think a lifetime of Draymond Green's anger is going

36:54

to be taken care of by meeting up with

36:57

Jack Nicholson and Adam Sandler, doing a little anger

36:59

management class with John Turturro jumping on top of

37:01

you? Maybe.

37:04

I feel pretty. Oh,

37:06

so pretty. If you know, you know.

37:10

So Draymond Green has three weeks to

37:12

fix himself, then get reinstated. I

37:16

keep wondering whether that's it for Draymond Green.

37:19

I wonder whether or not there is so

37:21

much squeeze for so little juice that finally

37:23

Steve Kerr and the rest of the Warriors

37:26

are going to say, he used to be

37:28

the glue and now he's the

37:30

rubber cement and

37:33

it's cracking. I

37:35

don't think they're going to release him. I

37:38

think that it's more likely they're going to trade him

37:40

because they sure as hell can't tell you that they're

37:42

going to rehabilitate him. That's

37:45

what they're going to get done. Three weeks. That's

37:47

it. I'm good. Madam Curie,

37:49

Mary Curie, man, I'm cured. So

37:54

the Warriors without Draymond Green are tremendous,

37:57

tremendous dogs against the best basketball.

38:01

I just feel like Del Curry's

38:03

son, I think he's had enough.

38:05

Remember his 3.3 got broken last

38:07

game? I think he had gone like 27 years, hitting

38:09

a 3 in every

38:11

game and then two nights

38:13

ago he went 0 for 9 maybe and didn't hit

38:16

a 3. I'm looking for

38:18

Steph Curry. What's his over-under coca and points? I

38:21

don't know if you have that handy but

38:24

that may be a little side sht up

38:26

I want to do. The

38:28

other player who's back tonight? Well

38:31

Draymond's not so it's not the other player. 4.8.69. Guess

38:34

who's back tonight? The

38:36

greatest player from the Zion Williamson draft

38:39

class, John Marant. This

38:42

is it, you remember he got suspended for the first 25 games

38:45

of the season? Well we're there. John

38:48

Marant will make his season debut

38:50

against Zion Williamson and the Pelicans.

38:53

You think Zion Williamson doesn't want

38:55

to kick John Marant's butt? You

38:58

think John Marant doesn't want to come in and

39:00

be the savior of the Grizzlies who are off

39:02

to a terrible start when they were supposed

39:04

to be good? Well

39:08

we're taking the Pelicans six and a half over

39:10

the Grizzlies and I got news for you I

39:12

would have taken them ten over the

39:14

Grizzlies. So our picks

39:16

today, Bucks Warriors, Moneyline

39:19

Parlay, Pelicans six and a

39:21

half over the Grizzlies and just

39:23

an added bet so I can get back

39:25

to ten over. Steph

39:27

Curry is 20 over 28 and

39:29

a half. We're taking

39:31

the over. Steph Curry

39:34

is gonna go O-double-F against

39:36

the Celtics. Alright

39:39

what are you all doing next August

39:42

September? Anybody want to go to

39:44

Brazil? Did

39:46

you see that from last night? The

39:49

NFL who plays all their international games

39:51

it's been another great source of content

39:53

for nothing personal. We told you about

39:55

NFL International. They want to rule the

39:57

world. They Roger Goodell, Yerl the Turtle.

40:00

He wants to climb up on the

40:02

backs of every single concussed player and

40:04

whatever he sees he wants to rule

40:07

They've agreed to double the amount of international games

40:10

with the Cowboys saying I'll only go to Mexico

40:12

City Well, there's

40:14

a game in Sao Paulo and if you've never

40:16

been to Sao Paulo We just went to the

40:18

f1 race with my traveling

40:20

group of merry idiots the

40:23

cultural exchange club and Sao

40:25

Paulo is quite a place to go so

40:30

what came out yesterday is the NFL

40:32

may change their philosophy on international

40:34

games and start

40:36

the season internationally and I

40:40

had the greatest smile because

40:43

finally Football

40:45

is copying baseball It's

40:48

all we ever wanted all

40:51

we ever wanted is the young stepchild of the

40:53

NFL was to somehow Do something

40:55

well enough for the NFL would say oh that

40:57

seems like a good idea Major

41:00

League Baseball has been starting seasons overseas

41:02

like in they're starting in Korea this

41:04

March Did you know

41:06

that that Shohei Otani's first game as

41:08

a Dodger will not be at Dodger

41:10

Stadium. It will be in Korea

41:14

March 20th and 21st the Dodgers

41:16

and Padres have a two-game series

41:18

It's regular season and what

41:20

they do is they play overseas it counts

41:23

for the regular season Then they come home

41:25

play some spring training games and then start

41:27

the season again when everybody else does And

41:31

so the thought is that when you

41:33

start a season that way it's sort of

41:35

an exciting thing for fans It starts early. They're

41:37

sort of ready NFL

41:40

wants to go week one in

41:42

Brazil and they're going to it makes

41:44

perfect sense The

41:46

total time change between Miami

41:49

and Brazil is zero

41:51

or one hour It's

41:53

not like going to Asia or to Europe. There's

41:55

no jet lag. It's just a long flight, but

41:57

they have lied down seats. They'll be fine you

42:00

And the reason why the Dolphins are

42:03

believed to be the team that's going to

42:05

play in Brazil is

42:07

the Dolphins actually have marketing rights

42:10

in Brazil.

42:15

Do you remember MLB doesn't do this, they

42:17

don't give away areas to teams, but we

42:19

told you when the Chiefs went to, for

42:22

crying out loud, Coca, did

42:25

the Chiefs just go to Germany and

42:27

that's where they've got the rights, Frankfurt? I

42:30

think that's where it was. And

42:33

the Chiefs brought their houseboat and they had

42:35

all these activations and I told you that

42:37

it really doesn't add a dollar of value

42:39

to the team and it really doesn't add

42:41

much revenue. But the Dolphins, much

42:43

like the Marlins always wanted Cuba, hey when Cuba

42:45

opens up we want the Marlins to be assigned

42:48

to Cuba. Let us go play there, let us

42:50

be a part of it. The

42:54

Dolphins are doing that and it makes

42:56

sense geographically, they want to own South

42:58

America, Central America for

43:00

whatever reason. But that

43:03

said, NFL gives marketing rights away to

43:05

teams and the marketing rights in Brazil

43:07

are the Dolphins. So if you're going

43:09

to have your first ever game in

43:11

Brazil, why are people even wondering whether it

43:13

will be the Dolphins? Of course

43:16

it's going to be the Dolphins. It

43:18

makes no sense for it to be

43:20

anyone but the Dolphins. So

43:25

for all of you Dolphin fans who are worried that

43:27

you're going to lose a home game, for all the

43:29

people who subscribe to the

43:32

Jerry Jones philosophy of

43:35

international, not us, we're the

43:37

Dolphins. We sell out every

43:39

game. I mean sometimes people are

43:41

dressed as green seats but we sell out. Sometimes

43:45

they're cheering for the other team but we sell out. We

43:48

got a dedicated devoted fan base and we may

43:50

even be in the Super Bowl this year. For

43:54

all of you who are wondering how

43:56

that's going to work, two

43:59

comments. The game

44:01

in Brazil will lead off the NFL season and the

44:03

Dolphins will be in the game. So I'm going to

44:05

do a wait to see. When

44:08

I tell you something's going to happen, sometimes it

44:10

does, sometimes it doesn't, we got a

44:12

few wrong. Koka, I'm filing

44:14

an official protest with you. The

44:17

wait to see that you told me I got

44:19

wrong about Taylor Swift, someone got to me in

44:21

my DMs at David P. Sampson Twitter and said,

44:23

are you sure you lost that wait to see?

44:26

Because maybe the game was flexed because

44:28

Taylor Swift couldn't go to the Monday

44:31

game but could go to the Sunday

44:33

game. And I said, that's what I said.

44:36

So Koka, I'm filing an official protest and

44:38

I want to go to the independent arbitrator.

44:41

John McHale, are you available? Wait

44:45

to see. The Dolphins will

44:47

play in the Brazil game. Why?

44:51

Because for the Dolphins and for the NFL,

44:53

it's just business. We'll

44:55

be back tomorrow. This is

44:57

Nothing Personal.