Coming up today on PFT live, what does the Department of Justice's investigation into the NFL mean? The Texans make decisions on two of their core young players and what message does Giants offensive coordinator Matt Nagy have for quarterback Jackson Dart PFT live starts after this Friday edition of PFT live April 10 one-third of the way through draft month 13 days away from the start of the 2026 NFL draft which will be just up the road from me in Pittsburgh. I don't know what just came up on the screen There was the countdown, but It's okay. It's Friday Everybody's a little tired on Friday. I had a heck of a time dragging my ass out of bed the past couple of days But today there was an extra incentive to wake up to not call off to not no show Because it's run PFT day with the original run PFT $15 Santria's track suit that I got for Halloween 2024. Good morning, Michael Hawley Good morning a couple things on that. I'm glad you mentioned the run PFT thing. I was shocked A little stunned. I wasn't I won't say disappointed that that's going too far but You know, Mike Florio is a big time media celebrity. So you appear On tv stations across this great land you appear on radio stations And so I'm looking here in Boston and I look up And I see Mike Florio on a station Nesson the new england sports network and you're having a conversation with somebody And I noticed that you have on The gear you can't I mean It wasn't friday. You can't wear that That's not sanctioned by the league That's a uniform violation You were wearing that It was like I think what charity what charity does the fine money go to? Yeah, here's here's what happened I have a very strict rule one that applies to my attire for anything i'm going to do It's whatever's closest and whatever's cleanest Not that what I wore that day was all that clean I'd worn it to the barn last thursday night and I had had a cigar So it kind of reeks a little bit still But it was close enough And I grabbed it and I wore it and that was for john oran's varsity podcast for puck And when I sat down and logged in and he saw me he said you're dressed like Some sort of a european soccer player. So I told him the whole story. I don't think it was on air I told him the whole story about run pft and how you and I started the tradition and how I was breaking protocol I consciously broke protocol and were the That's my favorite one. That's the Kind of really dark blue but really black Hoodie sweatshirt zip That's my favorite one. I thought I had lost that one at some point and I was very upset at one point I thought I had lost like two or three of them and I had to do the full house inventory and I found them all So I'm stuck at Five I'm stuck at five there it is. I'm stuck at five and I I need to buy more. I want to buy one because I have a separate hoodie that My nephew gave me for christmas. It's got the pft logo Printed on to it, but it's like not the actual pft logo It's a little different and I kind of like it and I want to get an adidas Jack buy more that I that I had that I put that on I want to get that on it Don't buy more. Don't don't buy more. I I was thinking about this the other day, Mike I have a plan that I will not reveal here But I do have a plan For a sponsorship It's in the works. I got this I got this plan and I might be crazy. I probably am just totally crazy on it But I have in this grand plan I have We're both going to get like 30 of them our pick So don't buy anymore Until this plan is rejected officially I saw you know, it's funny most of the apparel deals that are done by athletes with adidas Nike New balances emerging is a fairly major player in that space. They have some deal with the patrits and their new facility and They're trying to get into the shoe cordon in boston by the way right down the street They they they want to get into the backup because there's a certain number of shoes you can wear Certain number of brands and they want to get in that mix new balance first pair of running shoes I ever had back in the 80s. I like new balance. Sorry adidas, but you aren't paying us yet uh, but but I I could come up with a plan to pressure adidas Into doing a deal with us. Oh what I was trying to say was there we go Most athletes who do those deals they just get apparel. They don't get money They just get free stuff just free stuff Out or up the wazoo. I never know whether it's up the wazoo or out the wazoo and I don't even know what the wazoo is but But when you when you have one of those deals, you can imagine what the wazoo is I bet you know, I bet you know what it is when you I really don't I really don't You don't know what a wazoo is Uh, anyway, those are what the the standard deals are very few players are getting money. They just get a bunch of free stuff Yeah, we're gonna get a bunch of free stuff, uh that we got this this great plan that's gonna happen for us We'll get the free stuff We'll wear it Every friday and we'll just switch up the combination. Maybe maybe we'll even be in a position to design Maybe they'll let us design a few too So it's just something to something to keep in mind when you uh Maybe it will be in place in the next two weeks when you make that trip to uh, Pittsburgh for the draft Are you gonna be there? Are you actually gonna go for the draft or you're just gonna watch it? On tv I've been to the draft since 2014. It's right up the street It's not up the street. I know I'm I know I know but one I got to work friday morning And chris doesn't live Right down the road from pittsburgh. So we won't be there doing the show and we haven't ever broadcast live from the draft number two I'm not real good in crowds like thousands of people just Everywhere like I don't like that. So if you don't like it, why would you do it? And at my age, there's no reason to do a damn thing that I don't like to do At age 55 that was when I first realized I'm only gonna do The stuff I absolutely have to do and the stuff I absolutely want to do at 60 It the half two stuff went away. I'm only doing the stuff I want to do I've lived this long Is this we're gonna enjoy the rest of it and I'm only doing what I want to do What was dr. Doom born at 55 or was dr. Doom born 60 years ago? Yeah, dr. Doom's always been there If anything dr. Doom's getting a little softer Dr. Doom realizes that the end comes for us all you may as well enjoy every moment of every day And that means don't go somewhere you don't want to go don't go to a place where there's going to be however many Thousand people and we know that they play games with those numbers That they act like there's going to be 700,000 people and there's still going to be a lot. There's no reason to pump it up. There's no need for alternative facts when it comes to How many people are at the draft, but they take the raw attendees for thursday night They add them to the raw attendees for friday. They add them to the raw attendees for saturday. Well, some of those people They're all three days So You don't know who's there all three days. It's not a completely unique set. It's not like three nights of bruce springsteen or kiss or Whoever else is popular now kiss kiss doesn't work here no more I couldn't think of anybody else springsteen's on tour will be in pittsburgh may 19 I may go to that one But and then what they do also if you're in the perimeter wherever the perimeter is if you're in it and you exit it and you re-enter it That's two people and if you exit it again you can't enter it. That's three people and that's why saturday They had more people in green bay on saturday than they had on thursday well anyone with eyes knows There were more people there thursday, but there were more people there saturday officially because you're hanging around for eight hours You know you wanted your car you want to get something to eat you want to your bathroom like whatever it is you exit the perimeter and you re-enter It's another number so whatever the number is It's impressive, but there's gonna be some fake phony baloney gigantic number that they use to hype it all up and that's I don't know there are words for that not wazoo So anyway, uh, what do we have gear? There was a story I was just gonna say really quickly. I was reading a story in the pittsburgh post-cousette which still exists It still exists. Maybe there's a last ditch effort. It's gone in may. I hope so, but it's gone in may I know I know just like steven colbert gone, but maybe that There could be some uh, you know some some hail mary a hail mary uh several hail maries that could save it I don't think so, but this story in the post-cousette, you know talking about the draft in pittsburgh They're very excited obviously It's gonna do a lot for The local economy and all these places green bay you mentioned pittsburgh Detroit cleveland, they're all excited to have the draft the mic Let me tell you the perfect place for the draft. They should have it there every year I was there a few years ago when it was in vegas It's like why didn't anybody think of this before? vegas In the nfl draft. I heard you uh and sims the other day and you described it perfectly draft picks are lottery tickets So the lottery ticket you win the lottery actually when the guy can it turns out to be a good player so is is any place known more for gambling and lottery tickets and getting lucky and hey, what's gonna happen next? I'm feeling something here then vegas vegas in the nfl draft makes all the sense in the world And I don't think they play with the numbers there They were people all over and we know You always have a bunch of tourists in vegas, but there are a lot of people who are there strictly for the nfl draft so Sorry other places local economies vegas makes the most sense for it Well, but what the nfl's realized is what makes the most sense is to move it around from city to city because The excitement will build in each city As they wait for their turn What year do we get the draft next year dc minnesota is trying to get 28 And it just kind of goes here to there to there to there And then I assume it'll circle back around and after 32 years of going on the road It'll start all over again in chicago. I don't know by the time it's the second time around Dr. Doom will have claimed me and uh But for now for now it's amazing. They have turned nothing Into something so big. I was on radio somewhere yesterday. They chicago the score And I said they could do this thing by group text if they wanted to And I don't think the hosts had ever considered that possibility, but they could they could because everybody gets swept up In the hype of the draft and at the end of the day It's you know, it's it's reading off a list of names And the top we're going to talk about this later. I think but the top guy isn't even going to be there frananda frananda is not going to pittsburgh so uh Anyway, that's coming up in 13 days our adidas sponsorship or new balance I mean we look as dright shrewt once said and i'm not going to get the quote right But loyalty is very important to me and if someone were willing to pay me more for my loyalty They would get it That's kind of how it works in the world. Okay agreed yes so We may have gear up the wazoo out the wazoo in the wazoo or over the wazoo somewhere Over the wazoo. I'm not going to sing it, but I'll say it Here's what we need to say next as it relates to one of the issues that and our goal for today is to help the viewer understand What this all means you've heard in recent days you're paying attention to the drip drip of the nfl news cycle a lot of things We're going to talk about one of the things later, but and I trust is a word you've you've heard and yesterday if you were paying attention you heard that The wall street journal had a report that the department of justice is Now investigating the nfl and the initial report from the wall street journal was light on specifics But there was a supposition it had something to do with antitrust Which isn't a bad assumption when you consider the broader political climate because you've got the fcc talking about the nfl jeopardizing its antitrust exception you've got members of congress from both sides of the aisle talking about the nfl And it's antitrust exception later in the day abc news In an item that I found on the espn website, which is now 10 owned by the nfl so awkward awkward that espn partially owned by the nfl was putting out this story about how he the doj is uh Going to be probing Not in the way that the aliens probed the Four farmers who are just out trying to catch a few fish, but maybe maybe it's the same kind of probe the nfl over the question of antitrust Here's how it all here's the basic. Here's the reality I'll give it a simple as possible Because that helps me understand it In 1961 As the nfl was trying to grow As the nfl was striving to get a foothold in the american sports landscape Just a couple of decades after it was viewed as somewhere between college football and pro wrestling The nfl realized in the aftermath of the greatest game ever played the 19. What was it 56 championship game? I should remember that the cult's giants over time classic. I guess 58. I was trying to Wasn't it 58 58 58? You're right. I wasn't alive then you may be surprised to learn that but They were trying to build on that momentum 58. Thank you. So this is 61 Congress waves of magic won and gives the nfl an exemption from the antitrust laws Why does the nfl need the antitrust laws? Because at the end of the day the way they structured the league. It's all different businesses They're all independent businesses that work together under a trade association known as the national football league That's a key fact and that is undeniable at this point It is not one business. It is at the time however many teams there were 12 14 16. I don't know But they all came together and they got this exemption for the purposes of their broadcast rights And they needed it because that was the key to revenue sharing And that was where and the team that gets the most credit for that historically is the giants because they were the most popular team at the time the new york giants They were selfless They agreed to pull the tv rights With all the teams Sell them in a bundle and share the money equally even if The least popular team at the time and I don't even know who it would have been If the least popular team is not bringing much to the table It's fine. We're putting it all in a pot. We're going to divide it based upon the number of teams. So That's how This all got started the ability to sell the rights As a group and i've been talking for a while now Let me throw it to you For your two cents on how we get this thing off the ground and any specific questions that you would have because I have the curse of having Practice law and understanding some of this stuff more than maybe I otherwise would so I hand the baton back to you. Well I will say this uh one and and and i'm glad you kind of laid it out that way Because really that was that was the the whole breakdown the distribution revenue sharing and Crazy as this sounds I'm going to guess and this is a good exercise for us both to find out Who the least popular team was uh in the early 1960s? It was probably the Steelers believe it or not. They weren't very good They had a we talked we talked about Pittsburgh draft wise but going back in the 60s. They were terrible They were terrible for a long time Until you know chuck knoll came in Late 60s and finally in the early 70s. We know the dynasty that they had so I think they may have been the least popular or least Successful team the pittsburgh steelers If i'm guessing but the other thing is when I was thinking about this yesterday, Mike And it's hard for me to kind of separate my my football sensibility from my Uh real world cynicism So my first thought was Do they really care about this? I don't know if the doj really cares about the issue that they say This is about or like many investigations that we see recently They're weaponizing it for something else or they're settling the score or they're just trying to Troll somebody they're trying to put pressure on somebody so it's hard for me to separate that I do know this 1961 a completely different world or the completely different landscape than we have right now So if you just take politics out of it and you say This is what the world was like the sports tv landscape was like in 1961 and then you fast forward to 2026 There's really not a lot of carryover. I mean nobody thought about streaming then there was no internet They didn't think that the rights would go through and out the wazoo like they have now so My my question is why do they care? I guess I guess that's what it comes down to for your everyday fans is Why do they care? And what are they going to do about it? Why do they care? Well, I will build in that direction. And what are they a great point? It's a great point and we're going to we're going to build this house from the foundation up. That's the foundation though and the season that was completed before the passage of the sports broadcasting act of 1961 included 13 NFL franchises the worst team in 1960 Was the expansion dallas cowboys at o 11 and 1 And they were in a local battle with the dallas texans who would eventually Surrender and move to canza city and become the chiefs because the cowboys became Despite going o 11 and 1 in their first season the more popular option in dallas the stealers that year who beat the cowboys in dallas september 24 1960 For the first game ever in the existence of the cowboys organization You can impress your friends and family with that little nugget if you even remember it viewers september 24 1960 stealers at the cowboys the stealers won that game. They went five six and one That year the champion was the pillow. They beat the packers Eagles beat that. Yeah, it goes beat the at the time. Yes Eagles beat the packers that year 1713 But the giants were regarded as the marquee team In the NFL as of 1960 so 1961 the giants are selfless They band together with only 13 teams 19 fewer than they have now and here's how the world changed Here's the moment. I've had this conversation With someone at the ownership level in the past because this thing has kind of been percolating as a possibility The purpose of giving The NFL and the other professional sports leagues, but specifically the NFL This broadcast antitrust exemption is where the whole black friday has to be done By six o'clock eastern can't play on saturdays between the middle of september to the middle of december That's the trade-off for the antitrust exemption protecting high school football protecting college football That's where that whole thing comes from the fact the NFL still respects. It shows you they're still trying to keep it So the idea was okay. We're going to give you this pass We're going to allow you to come together and engage in anti competitive activities We're going to allow 13 separate businesses To sell their product collectively not individually We're going to allow you to defy the antitrust rules that were put in place to prevent to prevent predatory practices that harm consumers, but here's what the consumers are getting They're getting free football They're getting football games that will be televised On three letter FCC regulated over the air networks rabbit ears Get your tv turn it on And you get to watch the games And they're on free tv now. There was no other kind of tv at the time But that's the way it was set up because the federal government owns the airwaves And the federal government licenses the use Of those airwaves to the networks and the networks make the content available for free obviously supported by ad revenue and viewership to get to the point where You turn a profit and they obviously do so Fast forward by 27 years really not that long in the grand scheme of things 26 years 1987 the first year the nfl carved off low peace of the Total package of games back at a time when there were 1987 there would have been 28 teams carved off low peace and sold it to the cable company That was the moment they jeopardized their antitrust exemption Not that the whole thing is going to go away, but you're engaging in activity that goes beyond What you're allowed to do Started with the cable package continued 1994 Sunday ticket sold to direct tv And it has reached i think a critical mass now that the streaming companies are much more profitable much more valuable than the networks and there the leverage That the nfl is using to try to cram new deals down the wazoo Of all the networks starting with cbs Which is going to be expected to go from 2.1 billion to 3 billion per year on a settled deal on a deal that's already done In the past when the nfl does these new deals You get a brand new number a new figure, but it kicks in after the current deal ends the nfl was going back to the table on existing deals And pulling an all-over twist and asking for more on existing deals And the thinking is once they get their 3 billion per year from david ellison and skydance paramount cbs They're going to pivot to rupert murdoch and fox and that's where That's where this all i think starts to become Something that Could have been done nearly 40 years ago the nfl has had Hiding in plain sight A violation of the antitrust exemption antitrust Violation as it relates to selling rights as a league to anything other Than abc cbs fox and nbc You sell as a league to anything else that provides this content for money cable satellite streaming It's an antitrust violation. It's that simple And it's been there for almost 40 years Sure, but for whatever reason now michael the planets have lined up the planets have lined up and they're feeling the pressure It's it's definitely a violation mike, but i guess you know back to my You know questions i'm going back and forth uh yesterday just thinking about this It is violation and it is a different world as i said Then then then 1961 when this agreement came into place because nobody like at three abc cbs nbc nobody thought that ES espn I mean we're still i mean we were like 18 years away from espn in 1961 and And what's an what's an amazon prime? What's a netflix? What are we talking about like all these things and international games that they That nobody ever thought of that not to mention expansion here expansion teams and how this number could grow If they thought the league could grow, maybe they thought oh, yeah in 20 years, maybe we'll have 20 teams They certainly didn't think they'd have 32 teams. So a lot of things have changed but Is it really about the fans? Is it really about consumers and what's best for the consumer or During these negotiations will there be some kind of deal this investigation the investigation could lead to a negotiation where somebody is Yeah, you know Take care of me over here and you won't have any problems You know give us x amount or give us this assurance and we'll just make sure That the nice little agreement you have that you've had since the 60s will continue for the next 30 or 40 years That's that's my question that I feel like something It's not what it appears to be. This is not some altruistic. Hey, i'm here for the fans Let's fight for the fans because the fans are getting screwed in this. I feel like there are some We might have some dirty pool happening here Well, there's always dirty pool and politics are involved. I think what's going on here. You've got different political Mechanisms that are all focusing On this issue in one way or another and I think there's two different ways the NFL needs to be concerned number one that an arguably blatant and I trust violation Starting the moment they sold a package of games to any Forpay tv provider That that chicken has finally come home to roost after nearly 40 years and the reckoning has arrived. That's the doj angle Then there's the flat out assault on the entire existence of the antitrust exemption That's the congressional angle. Do we come together as a body and yonk take it away? Does it still make sense? in this day and age to give the national football league the ability To take what was 13 independent businesses has now mushroomed into 32 independent businesses to come together and sell their products To these various tv providers network or otherwise at a pay one price And you get whatever we give you it's like opening a labubu pack. You don't know what's inside of it That's why there's every year the the consternation among the networks. What schedule are we going to get? You don't get to pick the games They tell you what games you're going to get. That's how it works Has the time come to blow it all up has the time come to say hey cowboys are going to sell there Home games and the jaguars are going to sell theirs And there's going to be two very different prices paid by the highest bidder And it's going to be very hard I don't think they can Pull their revenue together and distribute it that in and of itself would be an antitrust violation Even if they're selling the rights individually, that's anti competitive behavior when it's independent businesses I mean think about all the pizza shops in town They're all in competition. You know what this sucks Man, we're all beating the hell out of each other. We're all cutting prices on the You know the large calzone and You know, it'd be easier if we all just came together and set one price It'd be easier if we all came together and set one wage rate man life would be easy We'd all make money if we weren't out here trying to cut each other's throats financially so That that is what if it ever goes away, it's chaos for the nfl And it could be the end of the nfl as we know it and i'm not saying it's going to go away I'm not saying it's going to go away, but that's one of the things that congress is sniffing around should we take it away Okay, right and so back to the back to that point you're I agree with you if this goes away It would be chaotic for the nfl Some teams Would be fine with it. I mean you think think back to How jerry jones changed the nfl by saying wait a minute. Why am I why aren't we selling this in the stating? Why aren't we doing this? So jerry jones and the cowboys would be fine Doing their own thing some of these successful franchises. I think the broncos will be fine the patriots will be fine Um, the giants because of where they are would be fine doing their own thing and then some other franchises would say oh wait a minute We're on our own We got to do this by ourselves Yeah, that that would be the chaotic part, but After the chaos settles down. Is it better for fans? See that's their hope their whole premise yesterday is just this is bad for the consumer Well, are you going to make it better for the consumer? I don't try I guess mike what i'm saying is I don't trust them I don't trust that yeah after the investigation After whatever the resolution is going to be that is going to be better for the consumer. I'm not even sure the consumer comes to mind With this investigation. It's not about the consumer at all This is it's about other stuff, but the consumer and what you're paying and uh, Is it fair for you? Are you getting everything that you deserve? That's not the motivation. So I kind of I kind of smirked that I did a lot of cussing guy always talk back Uh to stuff that i'm reading So I was talking back to that wall street journal article saying a lot of things that i'm not going to say here, but I just Uh, that that's not the point even though they say that's the point. That's not the point Well, and you made a great observation earlier We're living at a time where it feels like the doj has been weaponized against the enemies of the administration and The harder they try to deny it. I saw that the acting ag had a press conference the other day and You know, it's easy to stand up there and say whatever you want And we live in an age of stand up there and say whatever you want to say say whatever you have to say To just put out the fire Right to answer the question in a self-serving way truth be damned. We are in truth be damned times in this country And if somebody gets triggered by that and they want to turn the tv Bye. Bye. You know it. You know, we're in post truth america. You know, the truth doesn't matter anymore You know people just say whatever they need to say so The department of justice has been weaponized as long as it's not weaponized against me. I'm okay with it I'm not okay with it. I'm kidding. I just hope it's not weaponized against me based upon these very comments Uh, some of you out there who if if you work for the doj, please change the channel Don't listen to what I'm about to say. Um, but You've got the political reality and it feels like The department of justice has been more politicized than ever before so The suspicion has been That a lot of this stuff politically and fcc chairman brennan kahr He's been talking a lot about whether or not the nfl's ongoing push of games to streaming platforms Will cause The antitrust exemption to collapse. See he was framing it the wrong way The better question is Have they already violated the antitrust laws? This isn't a question of whether or not Well, you know, you've dramatically changed how you distribute your product We're gonna take away your antitrust exemption. The doj is going to frame this I believe as Hey guys You've already crossed the line You you started dancing on the line in 1987 and now you're doing a conga line On the wrong side of the line and you're giving everybody the middle finger who looks at it So I think that I'm somebody may have had an epiphany like Like because here's the thing here's the thing You know, there has been some antitrust litigation against the nfl involving Four pay tv providers There's a an appeal pending of a verdict that if it's reinstated would would be trebled under the antitrust laws and come in at more than $14 billion under the Sunday ticket pricing where the nfl demanded That it be at a certain level because they're trying to protect the cbs and fox package and they deliberately overpriced it To get people to say man, I'd like to watch the out of market game, but too rich for my blood I'm going to watch the cbs and fox game instead So that's already out there. That's already out there But the idea because who's going to sue the nfl This was consumers who sued the nfl in the sunday ticket case. It's still pending in california if if You know the nfl sells a package it could have gone to nbc to netflix You think nbc is going to sue the nfl If no a package that could have gone to cbs goes to amazon prime you think cbs is going to sue the nfl And permanently end any potential business the only way this is ever going to get teed up Is if the federal government comes in Investigates and tries to get a court order in joining the nfl From selling to any one other then abc nbc cbs and fox and I think that's the potential end result of this and look if I can understand it Then it can happen Because there's a lot of stuff that happens in the law that I don't understand But the stuff that you can understand And you see how The the maze would be navigated I I'm I look I don't understand it's likely or probable, but I definitely believe it's possible Yeah, and and look might They think is they think it's possible as well. You see how quickly the nfl came out with the statement And it was not It was not snarky It was not a belittling statement The nfl came out with this statement and talked about the 87 of free games and we've done more than any league Uh in north america To to make sure our fans have access to games. They know They know how precious this is they know that This is a this is a useful tool and they want to preserve it I'll I'll tell you where it may not go here. I think this is where it will stop one of the one of the assurances will be This is my prediction. This is a prediction Because it's already been mentioned Because we have the masters on amazon prime It's already been mentioned that it's going to be a super old. Maybe there's a super bowl on amazon prime Mm-hmm. I don't think so. This is not the time. Hey jaymarine. This is not the time to be talking about a super bowl On prime. He just talked about it this week. He just hard. No, no, no x-nay Jaymarine, this is not the time to be talking about a streaming super bowl This is where you go Please Please say this is bad. This is bad cut his mic Uh, yeah, I think uh, see though, that's where you can if you're accused of taking it too far I think that's where the accusation is fair You just can't have Something like the super bowl where Up See uh, uh, they went michael holly We're getting a little too close to the bone and somebody kicked the plug out of the wall Somewhere i'm kidding. We'll get him back. We'll get him back. That happens every once in a while So can we put the nfl statement back up? This is important because here's what they're saying They're touting the fact that over 80 per seven 87 80 per seven. Thank you very much 87 percent of the games are free That means nearly 13 aren't but pay no attention to the man behind the curtain Including 100 of the games in the markets Of the competing teams they have known from the get-go and I remember this vividly in 1987 when the nfl First sold we can take off the statement because it's pumping that music into my ear All right. Thank you when the nfl first sold a package to cable for sunday night the caveat was For the markets of the teams involved in the game It's going to be available on one of the free over the air broadcast networks So for every one of these games if you've got stele's vikings on sunday night football TV station in pittsburgh Over the air they're going to have a deal to have the game on that channel TV station in minneapolis, they're going to have a deal to have the game on that channel That's how they've tried to thread the needle. That's how they've tried to strike the balance because they acknowledge the mere fact That they feel compelled to do that in the local markets They're acknowledging There's an issue. They're acknowledging There's a problem potentially and again, it's gone on for 40 years they this is a An example of why they don't worry about sports betting and the potential ramifications You grab the money for as long as you can And then the reckoning comes and whenever the reckoning comes whatever it costs you is going to be a small piece of what you've made by putting your head down and going full speed ahead and They pulled it off for a long time And the sense is Now and look obviously this is Peacock and nbc sn part of the compcast family networks nbc so NBC has an incentive in having A reasonable deal available to it to televise nfo games right It doesn't change reality the reality is The nfl is coming back to the table For cbs the nfl has the ability to do that because CBS was sold to a new company. There's a change in control provision in the deal with the nfl that allows them to go back to the table So they've gone back to the table And they want three billion reportedly starting now And the thinking is fox is next and then i don't know who's next probably nbc after that because espn Slash abc they've got A contract that lasts one year longer because they've got that super bowl They want to finish the super bowl cycles through the four networks. So espn got an extra year Under the deals they go through 2029 for everyone else 2030 for espn they're going to swing back around and ask for more on the settled deals and fox the belief is Is trying to fight that trying to resist that and there was a thought in john orand of puck we mentioned him earlier I was on his podcast this week. He planted that flag march 22 23 time frame What if the networks just say no now cbs can't because of the change in control provision? But what if the networks just say no? What do they just say no? We're not going to do it We're going to fight back and this is an example of how There may be a fight Let by fox don't blame us don't blame nbc for this one You can blame me for a lot of stuff can't blame me for this I had nothing to do with this. I'm just trying to explain it to everybody So but the thinking is that fox is the one that's out there pushing the hardest for these political Levers to be pulled and for the nfl To find itself in a pickle and however it plays out The fact that you're on the radar screen of the federal government in three different ways regulatory through the FCC legislative through congress and Executive slash prosecutorial through the doj. That's not good That's not good You don't want that there's going to be some people at 345 park avenue who are very pissed off about how this came to be And they're going to be looking for somebody to blame Who allowed this to happen who failed to lobby the right people? How have we been backed into this corner? And somebody may have to say to whoever it is that came up with this idea to grab as much money as possible from the networks That we you know what at a time when? We had declared conclusively that mark cuban was wrong When he said pigs get fat hogs get slaughtered Maybe he was right and maybe this is the moment where The hog is being led to a place where the hog has never been and the hog is wondering What's going on here? This doesn't look familiar to me Uh-oh like tommy walking into the room where he got made He should have known when there were no other cars there Remember that scene in good fellas joe peshe's character. He should have known there was no one there. There were no other cars He heard nothing as he was walking into the room And then just like the hog So we'll see how it goes. We'll see how it goes Uh and And who knows how it all play out and who knows how it'll all look I got some other thoughts on it. I'll I'll defer them to pro football talk calm the digital operation for now we're going to take a break when we return we'll have Michael Holly back and we're going to talk about Probably the biggest story of the week we haven't talked about much here We're going to give it a try We're going to take off our shoes and we're going to tiptoe through the minefield Next on pft live
