The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - The Big Suey: The Bed of Nails Theory

Episode Date: July 24, 2024

Pablo Torre is here to explain his most recent investigation into the corruption surrounding Olympics Sabre Fencing, its connection to Vladimir Putin and Russian oligarchs, and the "maximum fixing" going on in the sport. Despite the insane cheating details, the Shipping Container seemingly doesn't care enough about fencing to listen. Then, Taylor has soured on Stugotz after his time with WFAN, Tony was worried Ron Magill died, and Zaslow is struggling to root for Team USA's Men's Basketball team. Plus, David Samson is here to share the details of the most recent NBA Media Rights conversations, Cheryl Miller's comments on WNBA TV value, and why he wishes he was invited to Greg's birthday party. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to Giraffe King's Network. Go back to school with Rogers and get Canada's fastest and most reliable internet. Perfect for streaming lectures all day or binging TV shows all night. Save up to $20 per month on Rogers' internet. Visit Rogers.com for details. We got you, Rogers. Welcome to the Big Sui, presented by DraftKings. Why are you listening to this show? The podcast that seems very similar

to the other Dan LeBattard podcast. I'm sorry, I'm not gonna apologize for that. In fact, the only difference seems to be this imaging. I have been tempted in restaurants, just walking past tables to grab somebody's fries if they're just there. That hasn't happened to you guys? I've done it. And now, here's the marching man to nowhere, fat face, and the habitual liar.

This interview is presented by LinkedIn jobs. It is? All right. Pablo Torre is going to be on with us here in a moment. Pablo Torre finds out is wasting an extraordinary amount of money chasing down journalistic investigative stories nobody but he cares about. The most recent one involves Putin, seven anonymous sources, a whistleblower and Max Fixing in fencing. Maximum fixing in fencing. I can't get anyone around here excited about the Olympics.

Zaslow was complaining about the opening ceremonies in general. He doesn't make me watch that. Maximum fixing of fencing, yes. Not match fixing, maximum fixing. Maximum fixing. There's no way to fix it more than this. This is the most fixing there's ever been.

The most maximum. Someone say the most. Pablo. ever been. Someone say the boss. Pablo? Kind of kind of true. Dan has stumbled into a factual statement which is that no sport is more corrupt in the Olympics than saber fencing and if I can't convince you on the level of hey do you want to know what the guy who owns the largest super yacht in the world the yacht that got seized by the European Union because the owner was too tied to Vladimir Putin. And did you know that that guy's running fencing? I mean, is that that guy have to be friends with the president of the Olympic Committee?

If I can't get you in based on that premise alone, then we're just different people. We're just different people. I love I love the Olympics. Pablo, first of all, hello. Good to see you. How do you find out that fencing, as opposed to every other sport that no one cares about, is the one that has maximum fixing?

Because it's come to the United States. There is a, it starts with a scandal, really, my attention on it, starts with a scandal inside of Team USA. So there are Olympians right now in Paris who have been very credibly alleged by people that I interviewed to have benefited from maximum match fixing. People who have been getting favors from referees in saber fencing that have gone to the Olympics as Americans because of it, and they're over there right now and so the thing about the Olympics to broaden it out here even wider is That as you might know Nobody really cares about any of these things say for of course like basketball

Until this time every four years and so what that means is that in the background of all of these random subcultures There is all sorts of intense geopolitical, pride driven reasons to cheat, to humiliate yourselves, to do everything it takes to get the thing that has justified your existence as an athlete. And so I love anything that people care deeply about, as long as it also has stakes. And so I love anything that people care deeply about as long as it also has stakes. And so saber fencing is just one example, the one that I investigated, where you see this firsthand, where you see that literally the war in Ukraine helps explain why it is

that there are allegations of match fixing emanating out of US Olympic fencing. All of this stuff gets connected. Could have sworn you were gonna tackle like the anti-sex beds or something like that. This one's, you know, kinda, it's not surprising me. It's not surprising? So this is a thing that I am frustrated by. I can't even tell who wins when I'm watching the thing.

It happens so fast. That's part of the story. There's a light up helmet, which was like a great innovation. But that's the thing is that in saber fencing, so saber fencing very briefly, okay? I'm gonna try to radicalize you guys into saber fencing enthusiasts. The beds are made of cardboard.

Yeah, it's crazy. This is the second straight Olympics where they've tried to be like, hey, no one's on our watch. Every year we talk about the cardboard every year. It's just like, yeah. I haven't heard you find out about it. It is the thing about getting in the Olympics

is that it's not enough to simply presume that it happens from a corruption match fixing perspective. You got to get people to talk about it. And so when I talk about Sabre fencing, what I wanted, Mike, what I want to tell you is talk about saber fencing, what I wanted, Mike, what I want to tell you is that saber fencing is unique. Okay? Saber fencing is the one sport, the one weapon in fencing where you can hit people with the blade, right? The other two are sort of like poking with an antenna. You can hit people in the head, in

the torso with the actual blade of the saber. It's the most like sword fighting. Like you could slice them? People die all the time. they get cut in half okay Okay, I saw Rob Roy file the point of what I'm saying is that this stuff happens incredibly quickly to Mike's point and The electronic scoring system you would think oh that adjudicates all of it That's all we need it We just wait for whoever's light pops up first But this shit happens within milliseconds to the point where by rule a human being a referee needs to adjudicate who had the right of way

There's like a defensive driving aspect to who should get the point here There's a human interpretation and in a human interpretation There is just enough room to plausibly hide a corrupt judgment And what I have reported here is that approximately half of the top the best And what I have reported here is that approximately half of the top, the best referees in the world of international saber fencing are corrupt. And so you have a system in which Russia, for instance, is rewarding its gold medalists with seven-figure bonuses and the US does not do anything like that. You have a system where Russia is using a literal oligarchs to run a sport and bring rewards and great glory to a country using a,

I would call, using a perfect crime of an obscure sport that can result in lots of actual benefits for the people who participate. And so Saber Fencing to me is a, this is a true crime podcast. It's not a, hey, isn't this sport awesome? It's look at how this is hiding right in front of our eyes on NBC and nobody really understands that it's happening. That's crazy, but did you see Snoop Dogg's running with the torch? Pablo, this is why decency loses all over the world, all over the globe, because I'll tell you why.

I was thinking about this over the course of the weekend. The idea that you're not really fighting a fair fight if only one of the political parties has to address shame and hey, I'm getting old, I gotta get out, I've gotta be impacted by shame. But the other party doesn't have to have anything to do with shame. You're sitting here trying to get them interested

in cheating at the highest levels, they have no interest in what you're talking about, even though it is really hard journalistically to uncover cheating of this kind. I want to update the story, actually. I have been talking to people since the story came out, and there are literal investigations by governmental bodies that have resulted because of this episode. That doesn't scare you. Internationally.

I was zazz. It does scare me. I don't wanna die over saber fencing. No, thank you. It's not important enough to me. Not at all. I'd be really scared. Thank you for acknowledging a genuine concern that I have, which is that we had people on the record

who are speaking out against Vladimir Putin's oligarchs. I don't know how you guys became numb to this, but it is actually dangerous. Who's numb? I'm worried for you. I'm asking you if you're scared. But also there is there is human feces in that river and I don't know if they fix it in time. I don't think they feed. Also if you're coming after Pablo, he's in the New York office, not the Miami office, just FYI, Putin. To Zazz's point, you could argue plausibly that the cost benefit on this, given that the benefit has been a resounding lack of support from the shipping container, was not

worth the cost, which could plausibly be, I don't know, whatever that thing is that they inject into your food that makes you die. Like that probably wouldn't be worth it in the end. Hormones? Poison. Yeah, all of that. Seriously. I am somewhat concerned about that. die like that probably wouldn't be worth it in the end hormones poison yeah all that I am somewhat concerned about that no but when you sit here and make the jokes about this is dangerous I would argue that general numbness to all sorts of malfeasance that you can't journalistically get anyone interested

in what is an obviously interesting cheating story suggests to me that cheating is way too rampant throughout sports and that morality that all the walls have fallen down on morality around sports it's it then it's the bed of nails theory when there are a zillion corruption scandals happening which is a metaphor of course that applies directly to finally bed talk God the bed of nails if they, the bed of nails. If they made the beds of nails, people would not be having no sex whatsoever. Maybe so. I mean, some people were into that, but

hell, they're cardboard. If you've ever seen Hellraiser, they're into that. You were saying Pablo. I just wish that people realized that just because there are a thousand nails, it doesn't mean that each one of them is worthy of our concern. Like we, dad, I guess what I'm saying here,

I'm not, part of the whole premise of my show is that I'm gonna tell you a story about something that you on its face don't give a single shit about. When I take on saber-fencing, at the cost of perhaps the freedom and livelihood and health of various sources that I interview in a real way, it's not because I'm like, oh, this is going to be box office gold. It's going to be because you're going to be surprised

by what's inside of it, which is a story that you can understand and appreciate even if you don't care about it. And the Olympics writ large to me is exactly this. Again, what do I care about? I care about stakes and really I care about people's egos being on the line and nothing embodies that more than the Olympics where everybody gets together to cheat, to occasionally f*** and also, also to try and manage what it means to be the best. And in that mixture of things, there are scandals all over the place, but it's just really hard to prove. And so this was my attempt to prove that this one nail of saber fencing is sharper than anybody realizes.

And it's actually a metaphor for everything else that's happening. And the fact that you guys would rather talk about the cardboard bed makes me realize why the Olympics have remained exactly the same for about a century now. There's break dancing now. Speaking of cardboard,

do they spin on the cardboard, do you think? That should be like the home field, right? Well, we'll see, maybe it's clay. It can't be cardboard anymore. It can't, you can't get to the Olympic. It's in Paris, it's clay. You can't come out on- How much pressure is on us to win this?

Floor and just put out a piece of cardboard and spin on your back on it. That is not- Is there shit talking? Is that allowed in the Olympic? Are we the break? Are we the breakdancing favorite? We should be like, didn't we, I don't, did we invent it? I think we did. We had breaking one and two. All right. But South Sudan might have someone that's just as Brazilians have a good team. Wow. I hadn't even considered that. Capoeira. Yeah, I'm not positive the United

States put it on the pole please at LeBata show. Should the United States be the favorite in breakdancing? I want to assign to everyone on the show here some category here so that we can cover the sport correctly. The only way we covered it yesterday was Greg Cody out of nowhere taking out Michael Phelps. He had a point Dan. We only care about every four years and for two weeks and it's like art swimming and hookers Yeah, are you saying we should all take an obscure sport and be the correspondent? Yes. Yes. Yes. That's a great Draft According to Jason poo of medium via the favorite and breakdancing is Phil wizard from Canada That's a great name.

That can't be his real name. Every name that Billy just mentioned sounds fake. Jason Poo reported that. Matt Sullivan just helped me out. He told me that the favorite B-boy is from France. See you later, Pablo. We've got conflicting information. This cannot stand.

See you later, Pablo. Bye, Pablo. Tell the world my story if I, you know, disappear one day. Hey, it's Mike Ryan. How do you like to grill your barbecue? Tell me. I'll be quiet. I'll stand back. I'll listen for approximately two and a half seconds. Wow. A lot of great suggestions in there.

Let me give you a suggestion. I need everybody in the audience to pair their barbecue with Miller Light. I've been doing a lot of travel lately and I really reveled in the fact that I got to stay home with my family. It was hot out, it was a perfect day for the pool, and what goes good with that? Miller time, of course. You know that's what I was getting at. I don't like debates. And that's why I go with Miller Light, because it's got undebatable quality. It tastes as great as your barbecue. It's a beer that strips everything away that you don't need and holds onto what matters most. It's a beer that strips everything away that you don't need and holds on to what matters most.

It's the light beer with the most taste, less filling, at only 96 calories that is perfect for when you're eating some barbecue outside with your family. With a Miller Lite in your hand, grilling doesn't just taste great, it tastes like Miller time. To get Miller Lite delivered right to your door, visit MillerLite.com. Or you can find it pretty much anywhere that sells beer. Celebrate responsibly Miller Brewing Company Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories per 12 ounces. Don LeBattard. Pablo leads all of podcasting in reading while smiling.

If you listen to ESPN Daily, he sounds like he's having the time of his life. Stugats. Coming up next, I'm gonna tell you how the Savannah Bananas are changing things. Savannah Bananas. How do you know I'm smiling? How do you know I'm smiling? That's how I find my vocal range.

Sometimes I just say Savannah bananas. Savannah bananas. This is the Don Lebatar show with the Stugats. Chris Cody, do we have anyone monitoring what it is that Stugatz did, I guess, did anyone monitor because it's over. He's doing a morning show on WFAN because Zaslow was asking. He wants to hear some sound of what kind of lies Stugatz has told in New York and what kind of things he has done to disrespect both us and the audience, mostly the audience,

I would say. I couldn't get enough of him and Taylor, that story from the other day, oh my God. I will check with Taylor, because he's the one monitoring it. You're telling me Taylor has soured, because Taylor, this was fascinating to watch. Hosted him. We have a lot of people around here

who work for Metal Lark, who are super fans of the show, and so they get into the world that they've been listening to for a while and for a while they get delighted when they see up close that the things that we talk about being real are real. So the first 12 hours of whatever the Taylor experience was with Stugatz in New York, he was delighted how shameful all of that was, but now you guys are telling me that Taylor's broken, that he's dispirited because Stugatz made him all sorts of promises about how Taylor was going to be doing things with him, and

then next thing you know, Stugatz just ghosts Taylor because he can't be counted on to tell one syllable of truth anywhere in the last 20 years. That's the worst part, right? It's not that he didn't come through, it's that he just got ghosted in the end. Andy's underperforming for what Taylor wants from WFAN, which is he wants Yankees talk. Subway series, come on. He wants Yankees talk and he wants Hard Knocks talk

and he's getting neither. But he doesn't know anything. You expect him to do some research? You expect him to work? Like he doesn't, if he wanted to work, you would have taken the job they were offering him there now. You've got two four have I They offered him a job, and he turned it down and he turned it down because it wasn't enough money And he had to work are we sure there was an offer?

Allegedly everything's alleged even the fencing thing alleged by the way is it alleged he said alleged like 11 times I feel like Pablo did the hard Is it alleged? He said alleged like 11 times. I feel like Pablo did the hard journalistic work that you can now diminish with an alleged because- For his sake, alleged. For the record, I like Novikov. I think it's a great restaurant.

I love caviar. We didn't even get to the video of Pablo singing karaoke when he was with Sports Illustrated like 15 years ago. What? Dying because of a fencing scandal is the dumbest thing to ever happen. Like if that- Pablo out of a window? If he becomes a fencing martyr, he's an idiot. How'd he die? He uncovered a fencing scandal. Do youest thing to ever happen. Like if that becomes a fencing martyr, he's an idiot.

How'd he die? He uncovered a fencing scandal. Do you, I mean, we were very- That no one cared about. We were very close- Doing what he loved. To being killed by Buffalo in Africa. That would have been a pretty dumb way to die,

wouldn't you think? That would have been heroic actually. I wish that there was like some weird Marvel multiverse where that would have happened and the entire American sports media world would have to publicly acknowledge your tragic death at the hand of a cape buffalo like this universe's Levitard was killed by a buffalo. We need to get to this tomorrow monument My dad is back in studio tomorrow

He's skeptical of urine Ron's story in Africa and how close to how real the danger was and stuff He thinks that it was oversold. Well, Ron was certainly in More danger from the story that was recounted the thinks that it was oversold well Ron was certainly in more danger from the story that was recounted the day that it came out I wasn't in the show I was watching online because I remember I was here do playing the NCAA game while you guys were doing this and I was like is that why you're whispering yes that's why we're whispering because Dan was here doing very important work but also I also that's Taylor's normal delivery yes but I also didn't know if

Ron had actually died because in the preamble of Dan getting to the point. You thought Ron was dead. No, man. But the lighting was that Dan was in black and then he's building up like he was my great friend. I can't believe it. He's like my brother.

And I'm like, oh my god, did Ron die? Luckily, he didn't. I have rarely been as scared as I was in proximity to some of these animals that could at any point Move in a direction and my choice wouldn't be to run because that's the worst thing that you could Possibly do is not is run no running you cannot run Catch you though it well if you run and then they see fear or flight, they will chase you. But so, I was not in any peril when Ron was very nearly almost killed. But right before that, we did turn a corner in the dark.

It's one of the most haunting things I've ever seen, where you're in the dark and there are three buffaloes staring at you and they're breathing cold air so you could see their breath and if you move or make the wrong sound, they're just staring at you and they're breathing cold air so you could see their breath and if you move or make the wrong sound they're just staring at you waiting to see what it is that you're going to do and if you move out of the way they're going to come after you. This was the middle of the night right? It was, it wasn't the middle of the night but the particular time I'm talking about was like 7pm.

Let's get in your yard with your private pool what are you doing? Walking around in the dark of Africa in the middle of the night, sneaking up on Buffalo. Like, you kinda have it coming. And if we were to read a story, Ron going, that person was crazy, I can't believe it! Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no! It's like, yeah, duh, you shouldn't be doing that. Natural selection.

Yes, but these are camps, and the animals don't necessarily respect where it is that the human beings have put up the limitations of the camp. It's their land hours Just while I try to paint out this multiverse have you almost died in any other ridiculous fashions? You can chew on that for a little bit running across the highway in Las Vegas. Yes. I almost that's another thing not to do Why'd you do that? That's correct. That was a not it was a dumb thing to do

I shouldn't have run across the highway you think going on Safari is a dumb thing to do. I shouldn't have run across the highway. You think going on safari is a dumb thing to do, Billy? I would feel safe with Ron McGill, but like going out for a walk, I want to be walking. Even if it's with Ron McGill. If it's like 6 a.m. and it's dark and I just hear, hey Dan, I'm going to go walk out. You want to come with me? Joe Biden is out there. Come on, come walk with me. It's not a walk, guys. Go look at a buffalo. You have to get from one place to another.

Like, I'm not going for strolls with Ron McGill in, you know, a sunset stroll. I have to go from one place to another. You can see it's breath. It's awesome. I like the voice, even though it doesn't sound like Joe Biden to me. I just find it pleasant It's kind of like your Harry Carrey and that it's super limited and then you start like doing more of it

It's worth the worst, but I still like the boys twang to it Zazzle asked for a clip from Stu gots. We do have one. It's him promoting his book while admitting how terrible it is Oh, no Shit, he's trying to promote his book now on WFAN, but he's doing so poorly by just ripping people off. Good Phil. Yeah, good timing by you. But at the end, the money wasn't enough,

and that's the truth. That's the God's honest truth. When they're paying me this much money to write this crap for Random House, I mean, it's gonna be a New York Times number one bestseller, and like I could, I mean, it's gonna be a New York Times number one bestseller. And like, I mean, it's gonna be a good book. The portions I wrote, not so good.

The portions that everyone else wrote, fantastic. That's how you sell it, right there. This crap, this crap from Random House. That's not great. It's not a great situation, what he does to our listeners. Do you feel any responsibility for him? I can't control him, like, do you? No, I don't.

Well, so why, you're the one who's producing him. Yeah, but you created him. You're his partner, man. We did. You kind of let this happen. We birthed him. We did, we all created this. I don't think the audience is gonna find it so funny,

though, when at the end of a contract year, we've got a real problem with him. Like, I don't think the audience is gonna throw back his head and laugh then. I love it. The real Tua situation, do you lock him up now? What do we do? Should you just give him $55 million?

Like I said with Tua, do it with Stugatz. Could be more in a year from now, if you don't do it. Let him play it out, and then run the shit out of the ball. It can't be more a year from now is the point. Have you not seen what's happening to the industry like what if it is? But it's not how about the threat though that this is gonna be his last contract I mean straight up this this is and then he's gonna stay too! He's gonna become a professor? He's not going anywhere! Where's he gonna go?

He glimps paycheck to paycheck somehow! Like, where's he gonna go? He needs money while claiming he doesn't need money! I actually think that's a pretty good negotiation tactic on his part. Come on! Give me what I want! It's my last one! Give me what I want! I cannot get anyone around here interested in the Olympics somehow.

Zaslow doesn't believe in the opening ceremony. No, make me watch the opening ceremonies. I'm going to sit around on a Friday, my wife's going to say, what are we doing tonight? I'm like, oh, we got the, it is the opening ceremonies. We're going to plant ourselves on the couch for four hours and learn about all these other small countries. Watch people walk around, give me a break. Get the hell out of here. Make me watch.

Well, what happened to this? Because this used to be something that America gathered around the television to watch as a spectacle. Holy cow, Morocco. Whoa. I'm, I'm in, I'm totally enraptured right now. Morocco is all over the world champion. Argentina preseason Olympics, who is a player of repute, but so the Olympic rules in soccer are kind of different. You essentially get three roster spots of dudes you've heard of before.

Well, why is the soccer started before the opening game? Why has anything started before the opening ceremony? This is not a real game. It's a friendly. No, it's a real game. A friendly? Guys, I hate to make you. This is actually another cup in the Olympics.

Yeah, this is the Olympic Cup competition. This is essentially the league's cup. Let's be honest. Can we be honest for a second with these cups? A little watered down. A little watered down. That's too American. Put it on the poll at LeBotardShow,

should there be Olympic games before the Olympic ceremony? Because I'm not sure when that started but that shouldn't be a thing. Like is there gonna be closing ceremonies with more games? We have to have more games after the closing ceremonies. A year from now, it's an Olympic games going on right now. Team USA actually does play today on USA Network.

That doesn't count. In soccer they play the host nation, France, who's gotta be considered among the favorites. Tough group. Yeah, like I said, is playing, like, who's gotta be considered among the favorites. Tough group. Yeah, like I said, his playing. Like, yeah dude, I couldn't believe it. How old is he? So you get like three guys that are over like 20,

and you have to be strategic with the roster placement that you do. Sometimes you have a longer in the tooth veteran that has eluded, that big national team success has eluded him, and it's like one last job like Jason Statham. Ray Chaser. Yeah.

So Zill playing? But like Alvarez is playing for Argentina. He's a first teamer. That's a, this is a shocking result right now. Morocco 2-0 over Argentina. Zasco, can I do anything to even make you interested in Team USA basketball? Okay.

I've really thought hard about this with Team USA basketball. And I'm not thought hard about this with team USA basketball and I'm not gonna sit here and tell you that I don't want them to win but I'm gonna sit here and tell you I don't care like I've been trying to get emotionally invested in it care in some fashion and all I can all I can manage to think about is I'm supposed to root for Jason Tatum now? Like all of a sudden Joel Embiid's flopping ass, I gotta root for him now? The three self- like Derek White, I'm supposed to hope Derek White continues to kill these other countries the way he killed the Miami Heat? I'm not rooting for these guys, I don't care about these guys.

I can't bring myself to root for anyone that's not Miami Heat, I care so much more about the Miami Heat than I do team USA. I'm sorry. I I'm sorry But you're not sorry Bam Adebayo is on the team. I'll root for him. Yep. I'll root for him So you're rooting for one guy? Yeah. Yeah, I hope Bam does really well these other guys like Kevin Durant all of a sudden I'm supposed to care about Kevin Durant. I don't like these guys Root for them all of a sudden. sudden, I want Jason Tatum to do well. Are there any heat players playing for other nations? I mean, I thought Niko Jovic was playing. I'll root for him.

I have made the argument before that there is nothing better that I can put on sports than patriotism. The only reason that the 1980 Olympic hockey team in the US is regarded as the greatest seminal achievement in the history of upsets in American sports? That's right. It's not because we care about hockey, it's because we draped the whole thing in the flag and it was an upset. What's better to put on sports? If I'm going to condense your sports, give you two weeks of addict fix, it's all gonna be just

sports running up and down and now I wrap it in the flag. I thought patriotism was supposed to lure people into the tent. All I could think about with these guys is none of them care. And I'm not saying that none of them care about the United States, but none of them care about actually playing during the time that I like watching basketball. And now all of a sudden I'm supposed to be rooting for these in particular guys. And I know I'm supposed to root for the name on the front and not the name on the back but I'm sorry like I can't help myself I can't bring myself to root for some of these guys it's just I hope again I hope they win but like I'm not gonna lose

doesn't sound like you hope they're not a second it sounds like you're afraid to say that you hope they lose no I don't hope they lose I just don't care I don't care sorry well if you don't care then you don't hope they win you just you you're totally indifferent and you're throwing out there that you hope they win just because you're trying to soften your position. Zass I can see you more as a three on three hoops guy for the USA team. Jimmer for Dead on the Team. Oh okay where's he been? Three on three ask All right, perfecting that three on three skill. When you're hiring for your small business,

you want to find quality professionals that are right for the role. That's why you have to check out LinkedIn jobs. LinkedIn jobs has the tools to help find the right professionals for your team, faster and for free. As MetalArk Media continues to grow as a content studio, we strive to hire only the best and most qualified candidates. Thankfully with LinkedIn, they've made it easy for us to find them. LinkedIn isn't just a job board. LinkedIn helps you hire professionals you can't find anywhere else.

Even those who aren't actively searching for new jobs might be open to the perfect role. In a given month, over 70% of LinkedIn users don't visit other job leading sites. So if you're not looking on LinkedIn, you're looking in the wrong place. On LinkedIn, 86% of small businesses get a qualified candidate within 24 hours. Hire professionals like a professional. On LinkedIn, post your job for free at LinkedIn.com slash prep. That's LinkedIn.com slash P R E P to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. Don LeBattard. We love you. We've got you. We've all got each other. Let's go right now.

Stugats. One, two, three, Brett. One, two, three, Brett. This is the Don LeBattard Show with the Stugats. It's a name of David Sampson's podcast is nothing personal every day at 8 a.m. You can catch David Sampson and I suggest that you do so because as I've told you many times around here, there is no one doing a solo show covering the terrain that he covers inside and outside of sports business. Let's start here with the matching of the Amazon NBA offer.

David, you, Skipper, Pablo have been talking about this for a while, there were too many poison pills for it to actually be matched. Do you believe this is just a bunch of nonsense? What is this now where you have a matched offer after it would appear that WBD did a whole lot of things wrong here in the negotiations publicly. Well, the intrigue is pretty cool.

I'll start with that. And it was really telegraphed over a year ago when David Zaslov said, we don't really need the NBA. And it turns out that maybe Adam Silver may have gotten upset by that, but don't buy into that. The NBA just moved past WBD. When you have an opportunity to partner with Amazon, you're going to do it. It's not just about toilet paper.

It's about expanding your brand internationally in a way that wasn't open to these leagues before. Unfortunately, there's a provision in the old media deals that allows the old partners to match if any newbies come. Unfortunately, there's a provision in the old media deals that allows the old partners to match if any newbies come. So TNT decided they're going to try to match the Amazon deal, except it's not what TNT said in their statement where we hope the NBA just executes the contract we sent. It's way more complicated than that.

And there are lawyers involved, except there are lawyers who have been involved for a long time. The deal that was cut with Amazon was cut in a way that, in my opinion, will make it impossible for TNT or Warner Brothers Discovery to actually match the deal. What they're trying to do is get into a negotiation, either to get a smaller fourth rights package, which is not going to happen, or to get their old package back, which is not going to happen, or to try to get some sort of remuneration in order to soften the blow of all the debt that their company has, which has had a quashian impact on their stock price. So there's a lot at play here. And it's a very, very expensive game of chicken that WBD is playing, because I think the worst case scenario for their company and their stock price, the worst case scenario,

is for the NBA to actually accept, and for TNT and WBD to have to pay 1.9 billion a year for 11 years. So we'll see how this plays out, but my guess is it will not play out into the season. You will see resolution prior to the start of the season. Your take is the strongest that I've seen on this because I've seen a lot of people theorize that the NBA is just going to find another package underneath the couch cushion and everybody's going to be happy.

You're saying flatly this will not happen? Yeah, I don't believe that Adam Silver has the votes for a fourth package. We talked on Nothing Personal and maybe on this show with Dominique and Pablo last week or two weeks ago about James Dolan and how angry he is, how he was the sole vote against the new media rights deals because he doesn't like that there's so many national games. It's hurting his RSN, which is MSG. So if you're going to create a fourth package, you're not going to take away from NBC or Disney. Those packages are done. Amazon's

not going to sit back and watch their package get decreased. That's not their intent. So the only way to do it is to take from your stable of assets, which are local games. And I don't think Adam has the votes for that. David, I keep hearing how WBD may take the NBA to court over this. They may sue them. They have to go to court. Is it kind of weird if you're going to take the NBA to court to force them to continue to be your partner? I guess weird, no? It's a funny concept, but people do it. It's called specific performance. It's when you sue somebody to say, hey, you're not doing what you promised you'd do, and I hate you, but please do what you promised you'd do.

It's like forcing a spouse to stay married to you, or forcing a partner to stay in business with you, or forcing a co-host to stay doing shows with you when it's not what that co-host necessarily wants. You may be able to do it, but it's sort of ugly and the end result is not gonna be good. A bit awkward, but David, there is precedent. NBA TV uses RSN broadcast

and then shoots it over to a studio team. This would be a diluted package, but it's not like it doesn't have a precedent. Do you think that that's a workaround? You're talking about the old side by side. And that is that's a funny one where you can get it in the local market. The NFL does a lot of this. Don't worry.

It's free over the air in your local markets. That was a lot of what the antitrust suit was about. I just don't think the NBA has the appetite for that, Mike. They have really worked hard to get these three packages. And I understand why WBD has to in theory save face, but dollars will rule the day as they always do. And just look at the performance of the company and look at this financial status of the company.

And they're in no mood. People talk about, oh, they'll fight this to the death. They'll spend whatever it takes to make sure that they stay partners with the NBA because Charles Barkley is upset with them. That really doesn't come up when boards meet and they look with the CFO about what's happening with the company.

So I just think that this is an intermediate step to try to get them a little face saving and a little bit of money. David, if we believe that Barkley is actually going to retire in a year from now, does that matter to either side? Does it matter to the NBA when it comes to, OK, we're going to accept your bid of matching? Should it matter to Warner Brothers Discovery as to whether or not they chose to match the deal? John Skipper had a great line in the in the sporting class, which LinkedIn sponsored as Pablo, one of his things, the host of the sporting class, that made me smile. John Skipper had a very funny line about that,

which is no, no one cares. Charles Barkley, he makes a lot of noise. The fans love him. He's got great ratings, people are watching. But when you're putting your package together, you want the games and you are paying for the games, you're paying for the live sports content. The ancillary programming that comes with it,

it's fun to talk about, but it is not dispositive in any way. Let me be clear on the reference you just made, because The Sporting Class is the business podcast that you do with Skipper and Pablo. It appeared recently on Pablo, Tory Finds Out, and you're telling me that the only thing that was sponsored, sponsored by LinkedIn, was Pablo as the host of The Sporting Class? Is that what you're telling me that the only thing that was sponsored, sponsored by LinkedIn, was Pablo as the host of the sporting class?

Is that what you're alleging? No, I'm saying that the previous segment you did on your show was sponsored by LinkedIn, and part of that was a LinkedIn resume, and part of Pablo's resume was host of the sporting class. I'm glad all of that made you smile. What did you think of Cheryl Miller's comments that the WNBA is being undervalued

and did she say mistreated? Well, that's what the union is coming out and saying. Now Cheryl Miller is trying to say that. And the reason why I'm smiling is they should be thanking their lucky stars that this 12-team league, which is gonna be 14 teams, has a $200 million dollar in the allocation to it up from 40 plus 20, which was the old deal for a total of 60. And now they're going to be at 200

plus maybe 60 for 260. And the reason I'm smiling is that Cheryl Miller is trying to claim and the union in the WNBA is trying to claim that this is a total underpay. And what they're ignoring is that nobody was bidding for the rights without getting the NBA. The NBA made it so if you want us, you're getting them too. It was not, hey, you're gonna get the NBA. Anyone wanna bid for the WNBA? No, it wasn't that.

It was an amount of money that these networks were willing to spend. And then an allocation was decided by Adam Silver His choice his right goes back to the networks and says 200 million of this is for the WNBA And now people are all up in arms on what an underpay it is not based on ratings not based on revenue not based on desire not based on anything but hope, aspiration and fantasy. And I just am surprised that that is the tack that the WNBA and its spokespeople are taking because the other way to look at it is, wow, this is a great thing that the NBA is recognizing

that the WNBA is worth more, that it's valued more. But we're now in the next 11 years years gonna grow up and 11 years from now, we're gonna be on our own and we're gonna get a huge package on our own. So David, are we supposed to believe then if Adam Silver didn't do that, the WNBA would not have gotten a deal that looked like this? It's a guarantee.

There's a reason why the WNBA is baked into the NBA deal and why it was last deal and why it still is this deal. We talked again on this show that this was gonna be very telling whether or not the WNBA in this set of media rights deals that the NBA just completed, will the WNBA be separated or will they still fall under the umbrella of the NBA?

That will be far more telling than Caitlin Clark or Angel Reese or any of the other great momentum they have. And don't get me wrong, there's incredible momentum. But when the rubber hits the road, the WNBA got tucked in under the NBA again. Why is it hope, aspiration, though, and fantasy when we're all seeing that this is something that has more value than it did? And how should Adam Silver react to what Cheryl Miller is saying? Like, how how do you imagine he thinks about those comments?

Oh, I think he'd rather her not talk at all. And my guess is he's being advised to say nothing and to just put a tourniquet around it. There will be a time when he meets the media when the deals are announced for real. Remember he hasn't still announced the actual deals. He just said it was done, but he was very circumspect. There's more to do. He didn't mention the names of the companies.

When there's a formal press conference, he will mention the WNBA and he will mention them in glowing terms. What an amazing asset it is, how much it's growing, how proud he is. They're going from 12 teams to 14 teams over the next two years. The commissioner would like to see Engelbert up to more, 20 teams, 14 teams over the next two years. The commissioner would like to see Engelbert up to

more 20 teams, 25 teams. They want to make it a full thriving women's league. And I absolutely want that to happen too. And once it does, they'll be able to gauge their demand. Right now, there just wasn't the demand for it. What is the movie that you're reviewing this week? I'm surprised to hear you say that just because I believe that if it became an open case of putting the WNBA out there as a free agent, there would be a demand for it. Like, there would be a demand. I didn't say no demand, Dan.

I said there wouldn't be a demand at the level of $200 million. And I guess you can't know those things until you throw them into the streaming services, because I didn't think the W I didn't think the NBA was gonna be worth what it's worth Everybody told me it wasn't gonna be worth what it was worth and then the NBA just held its ground that ended up being worth All of that

But that is that's also not right John skipper from the beginning on the sporting class predicted exactly what the new NBA deal would be because he recognized the value and viewed it as a triple, meaning triple the rights. And that's exactly what happened. And by the way, if the WNBA did have an independent market, you can bet your BIPI that it would have been independent and that they then they would have gotten more than 200. What is a BIPI? What is a BIPI? He's done this. I think it's like a body part or something. I don't know what it is. It's zippy. I forget. Kids YouTube channel. Hey it's Mike Ryan. How do you like to grill your barbecue? Tell me. I'll be quiet. I'll stand back. I'll listen for approximately two and a half seconds. Wow. A lot of great suggestions in there. Let me give you a suggestion. I need everybody in the audience to pair their barbecue with Miller Light. I've been doing a lot of travel lately and I really reveled in the fact that I got to stay home with my family. It was hot out, it was a perfect day for the pool,

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