The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Colin talks XFL with Fox Sports CEO and Executive Producer Eric Shanks

Episode Date: May 18, 2019

Colin talks with Fox Sports CEO and Executive Producer Eric Shanks about the XFL coming to FOX, the decision to start FS1 and what it was like to be a part of the NFL coming to FOX in 1994 in this exclusive podcast. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Presented by Capital One, founding partner of I Heart Women's Sports. I'm Michelle McPhee, and I've been unraveling the strangest criminal alliance I've ever reported on. A Mormon polygamist and an Armenian businessman. Multi-million dollar house, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, a billion dollar fraud. But how long can this alliance last? Tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves. their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app,

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Hi, everybody. Welcome to our Saturday morning podcast, award winning. All right, not really, but it sounds big and got you right through the door. This time we have a real guest, Eric Shanks, my boss, Fox Sports CEO and executive producer, Beyond the Multiple Emmys, Sports Business Journal 40 Under 40 Hall of Fame. He directs all aspects of Fox Sports TV, investments, partnerships, programming, and production. And in my career of doing this, has probably the best instincts of anybody I've ever met, which is remarkable because I don't know if you started in programming, but you have very good, for a boss,

you have very good TV instincts. and most bosses either come from sales, and their instincts stink, but they're smart. So where did you get your instincts for the business? You know what works quick, and I lean on you, and where does that come from? Well, first, Colin, thanks for having me. Good about.

Great to finally be on your podcast. Thank you. Long line for that, by the way. Exactly, exactly. I grew up literally right here at Fox Sports, just by having great producers that I work great talent, you know, great storytellers in live television. And I just, you know, I've just always been curious about it even since I was in high school working in radio stations and

writing every day in a newspaper. The idea of, you know, I love television, right? And I love, I love live television and the fact that, you know, you learn how to plan for every eventuality and then it never goes as planned, and you learn to just shake it off and, you know, throw an interception and go back and know that you've got to drive down the field again. And so learning from guys like Bob Stinner, Ritchie Zions, David Hill, John Madden, Matt Millen, Dick Stockton, all those guys are just kind of each bit of them, you know, has a little something to do with me. Let's talk. I want to talk because you are investments in partnerships, and I, and I, you know, I like, business. So I'll come up once a month and just, I always say to you, give me something. What's happening in the world? XFL debuts next year in February. I'm a believer in spring football for a lot of reasons. The convergence of legalized sports gambling. The appetite for

sports on TV with the emergence of the Netflix sports now is the thing that works. And frankly, half the NFL is undrafted. There is a surplus of talent. So I want to start with that. that I think one of the breaks that spring football, why it may not have worked 20 years ago, is this. Teams don't carry a third quarterback. So, again, the convergence of more college offense into the NFL, more of the college kids are working in the NFL, and now nobody keeps a third quarterback in the NFL.

So to me, can you guys find in the XFL 10 quarterbacks? I mean, that, to me, ensures it. it works. If the quarterback plays good, it works. Talk a little bit about the personnel available to you. Yeah, I think a couple of things there. Besides the things that you mentioned, if you talk to guys like Coach Madden or Jimmy Johnson, they'll tell you that 20 years ago, when you had to get your roster down to 53, it actually was pretty easy. Like, guy number 54, John would call him just a guy. Like you knew that guy number 54 was not as good as guy number 53. Yeah.

I think today they'll tell you it's harder than ever. The quality of athleticism, the quality of talent coming out of college makes it hard that there's not much difference between probably number 60 and number 50 today. So the quality of players and how they're being coached in college just means that the overall quality is up. and that, you know, 700 of them go undrafted every year coming out of Division I football. And so I think there's an enormous talent pool available to Oliver Luck and the coaching staffs at the XFL. But you're right, it has to be about quarterbacks. Got to hit on a few of those. You got to hit on a few quarterbacks, right?

And I think they'll come from both ends of the spectrum. I think they'll come from guys who don't get drafted. I think it'll come from guys who are really questioning whether they want to play the last two years of college, right? And they could still play a couple of years of the XFL and have the potential to go really high in the draft. Now, let's create clarity for our listeners here. The XFL does not have to wait three years. Yes. How does our partnership with the NFL, how do they view that?

you know, I think it's, it's tough for me to speculate on that. So I don't think I understand their point of view or if they have formulated, you know, a point of view on that. And then I think players will come from the other end of the spectrum like Mark Sanchez, right? You don't think Mark can still play and probably play well in the XFL. So I think they'll come from both sides, the quarterback selections. It's interesting. There always has been a little bit of a reluctance to go play in Canada. It's seen as second-tier football. But my feeling, and Mark Sanchez is, I think, a really good example.

The USFL, Jim Kelly, Steve Young, it was, I mean, Warren Moon and Vince Farragama or about the CFL guys that slipped through, right? But I go back to the USFL. I watched it. There were a lot of good players in that league. Yeah, I think the original incarnation of the XFL, it really says a lot about what this XFL is going to be or not be, right? And it's going to be more about real football, right, at a high level and probably strives to be more like what the USFL was at the beginning, which is it was a great talent pool that was. coming out going into the USF. You go back, somebody wrote a book about it.

It's remarkable how many pro bowlers came out of that. Yeah. Now I want to talk about something that I've never understood. My first job out of college was Vegas. I had friends who were odds makers. They were like Wall Street guys. They were analysts. They weren't guys that were in trench coats at night.

They were like numbers guys. Did you ever think you could be one of them? Well, first of all, everyone I knew that did it was really smart. Right. So I looked at Wall Street guys. And I looked at Vegas odds makers and I was like, I don't see the difference. So there was this stigma that you had to be in the market or you were dope. But if you had listened to a bookie or an odds maker, you were a creep.

And I never bought it. Right. And so the legalization of gambling to me is Europe's way ahead of us on this is, you know, you can go into an EPL stadium and bet it. I don't get it. Finally, I think, like a lot of things, legalized marijuana, it just takes a while for the country to get comfortable with it. you've spent a lot of time in Europe, so I think you are probably more comfortable with it. So Fox comes out.

We have a new online betting app called the Fox Bet right before the football season. It'll be introduced. This is a bank where I can put my money and trust it. Let's talk about this group, first of all, we have partnered with. Let's start with that, and then I'll move to a second question. The Stars Group. Right. So the Stars Group has been operating sports books and eye gaming, right, all around the

world for 15 years. So they're a leader in technology. And what we liked about them was, you know, they're a leader in knowing how to work with media brands in the sports wagering space. Oh, they are. Right. So they run Skybet in the UK. Okay. And Skybet is a tremendously successful sports wagering platform in the UK that takes the power of Sky and what it can do with integrating wagering. Tell our audience what Sky is. Oh, so Sky, Sky actually in the UK and all around Europe now is a combination of, say, a direct TV and Fox. Yes. So they are the distributor and the content owner of the channels. So imagine, you know, if, well, it's a lot like Comcast. actually, right?

So Comcast is a distributor and owns NBC at the same time. Right. Right. Right. So there's a platform in the UK called Skybet. Yeah. And tremendously successful. And the integration around the Premier League especially, but other sports, is very tightly integrated with the wagering platform.

So their talent on Saturdays and Sundays, will be very open talking about the favorites and who are the odds to win and that you can go place a bet on sky bet. And for us here, we take a little bit of a different tact, right? Because it's not legal in every state. That's right. We will still be tightly integrated from a marketing standpoint.

But the thing that we're going to, fans will see mostly at home this fall is us talking about a free-to-play game. So people will be able to download an app. We don't have a name for it yet what this product is. But no matter what state you're in, mostly, you'll be able to just pick

the outcome of six different things that we will be pushing that week, whatever games we pick. And if you pick the outcome of that, you're going to win a prize correctly. It's like picking a perfect bracket, right? for the week. Yeah.

And if you live in a state where sports wagering is legal, when you are in the free-to-play game, you'll actually probably get a link to take you to be able to place a wager. Yeah. So it's a proposition of free-to-play for everybody, wagering where it's legal. And, you know, like poker, I think most states, it's rolling pretty fast now. I think over the course of the next two or three years, it's probably going to be legal in 47, 48 states, some conservative states. I don't know where Utah may push back on it, but I think most, there are some southern states that are conservative, but they like their gambling. That's already there.

Yeah, so Tennessee's already all in on this, Eric Shanks. The second question I have on this is not the obvious one, because I think the NFL may not be as talkative about it as the NBA right now, but everybody knows you'll be able to have NFL games. The college situation is interesting because college's amateur. and I remember being at other companies where they didn't even like you to talk about betting if you talked about college football or college basketball. Is there a pushback? Is there a sense? Will college embrace it like I know all the pro leagues will? I think there's definitely a higher sensitivity in the college space, whether you talk to commissioners or ADs.

And there should be, right? I mean, it's a different thing. These are not professional athletes. Right. And it's not a professional game. Right. So there's definitely a higher sensitivity to it. I don't think anybody sits around and puts their head in the sand and says,

oh, well, nobody bets on college football. Yeah. So let's not talk about it. Yeah. So we do, we will treat college differently. Yeah. Especially when it comes to editorial and how much editorial you, you integrate into it. But, you know, at the end of the day, college is, is probably going to be the number, you know,

the number three, number four, most wagered on thing in the country. And, you know, no matter what sport you are and what your view is at the moment towards wagering, there is no question that you absolutely know that because of wagering, you're going to have higher engagement from your fans. So whether you endorse wagering or not, more people are going to watch your game longer than they have before wager. Yeah, that's not disputable. Absolutely.

And so, you know, even in. in the first few years of Fox bat, you know, if there's enough wagering or free-to-play games going on and we can raise the national ratings of an NFL regular season by a tenth or even two-tenths of a rating point, that's probably going to be, you know, as valuable, if not more valuable than the wagering itself because it is rolling out so slow. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness.

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Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you. you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the

headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaders to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answer. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Life throws hurdles big and small. The question is, how do you conquer them?

On Hurtle with Emily Abadi, we sit down with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness, professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions to talk about the challenges that shaped them and the mindset that keeps them going. From the WNBA standout, Kate Martin and rising hockey star, Layla Edwards. If a boy can do it, I don't see why a girl can't. Like, I've never understood that. Like, it didn't make sense in my brain.

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Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing.

And we're still chasing it, and we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro.

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He kind of controls our investments, partnerships, everything. It's been a frenetic last year for you as TV is changing, the business models of TV. There was just something in New York called Upfronts for the uninitiated. That is basically we go to New York. We bring our heads of states and the Joe Bucks and Eric and all that. And we sell our future. obviously we are a different company today but from what I heard yesterday from my age and he said Fox really presented a smart, swift, heavy sports model and that's what we are.

It's the new Fox. I kind of believe that's what you have to be going forward. I don't think there's any dispute on that either. WWE is interesting. So for years I used to just make fun of it, wrestling. I watched it as a kid. And then about five years ago at the other place I sat on the air, I said, listen, we've got 30 sports networks. These guys are all dying.

They're all dying for content. And I said at the time, I think it's time to put WWE on a big sports network. And I remember saying that and people were like, whoa, whoa, Colin. I'm like, the world's changed. So take your worldview of WWE 10 years ago and then the moment you decided, hey, I want to do business for these people. Yeah, we've at Fox been close.

to doing business with the WWE, you know, a couple of times in the past. When, and I think I probably ended up having kind of the same view as some of the people you were talking about with, you know,

if you're in a sport, a true sports media company, um, we were probably a little precious a decade ago about our product and the sanctity of, real sports. Because your view, from the outside, you seem like the fun network, but you were inside the walls.

Yeah, because you just don't know what, how people are going to react to it, right? And what's it going to do to your brand? But what they've done the last 10 years with the WWE has totally, you know, blown any doubts out of the water. what Vince, what Stephanie, what Paul, Triple H, you know, how they've managed that brand and really brought the storytelling and the rise of, you know, women into the league and really kind of just broadened it and made it so much more accessible and really embraced who they are that it was a no-brainer for us, especially on the broadcast network, right? The broadcast network for WWE was a fantastic opportunity because a broadcast network is exactly that. It's broad, right? And it reaches a lot of people. So we're, you know, look, the stars aligned and we were able to do it. And we're going to, we're going to make the absolute most of this.

I think we're probably going to have more fun integrating the WWE into all of our sports and entertainment assets than any other. network could. Eric Shanks joining me, Foxport's CEO and executive producer. He's never joined us on the Saturday podcast because he has high standards and sometimes we don't. Well, it's tough for me to get up early on a Saturday like this. Yeah, no kidding. I'm exhausted.

Barely getting through this. So it, kind of a macro question. I think it's a great time. I tell my friends this. Our company got rid of the movie stars. Now sports matters more. I tell my wife this. I'm like, I'm the soap opera guy now.

like I used to be at Fox there was movie stars and there was midday stars and then there was sports stars and then I think it's a great time to be in sports. I say this all the time is I've never seen

a more passionate group of people there's networks fighting over it. This has been in the last two years. Take me back to the beginning of your career. Cable TV changed the whole game.

And then Netflix feels like they're changing the game. Take me. back to the beginning and now, has this been the craziest two to three years? Or am I missing something that every five years it's always like this? No, it's

been the craziest that I can remember because there's not just one thing happening, right? If there was, if you go back you know, 25 years ago, there was

no cable competition. Direct TV was just starting. direct TV disrupted the world by getting Sunday ticket. And now all of a sudden, oh, yeah, I'll put a dish on my house, right, if I can get Sunday ticket, and there was disruption happening there. But it was just one thing disrupting the traditional model. And, you know, over time, yeah, the landline business got disrupted by cell phones. And I remember there was a business case study about how everybody at 18,

and T thought their world was over, right? And what am I going to do if I can't bill you $2 a minute for long distance and you're not going to have a landline in your house anymore? And they thought their business was going to come to an end. And then somebody said, well, you know what, why don't we charge per megabit for this thing called the internet over wireless? And, well, I think maybe, rather than have one phone in the house, we might actually have four or five phone bills in the house. AT&T's is big or bigger than it ever was right now. You fast forward to where we are today. There's multiple, multiple things happening right now. It's not just this division of Netflix's of the world and Amazon and Hulu disrupting the scripted entertainment space, but they're also

disrupting the distributors who were distributing that as right. So they're competing with the movie studios and the TV studios. They're also competing and disrupting the Comcasts and the charters and the dish and the direct TVs of the world. There's so many things happening all at once that that's kind of what makes it the craziest time that at least, you know, I can remember and have had to kind of deal with. A lot of what you know we deal with is the here and the now, which is great, what game are we going to produce this weekend? What story are we going to talk about? But what the heck does this business look like in five years?

And like how do you set your plan for it in five years? And what do you need to do to get there? Hi, guys, Summers here. Tommy John is ready to have you looking and feeling ready for Memorial Day barbecues and fourth of July fireworks. They're going to keep you patriotic from cheek to shining cheek with their all new red, white, Blue underwear collection, including USA flag print for both men and the ladies. The collection comes in all of their best-selling fabrics, including the cool cotton fabric that features breathable, lightweight fibers that keep you two to three times cooler and dry

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It would have been very easy for you to not create FS1, right? I mean, Fox stayed out of that for a while. CBS, I still think, was way too late to the party. NBC has not gone with on-air personalities, but you made a decision at this company, whenever it was, you know what? We're going to go with individuals who have shows 6A to 6P, and we're going to go up against the Titan, right? the industry leader. Take me back to when you and the Murdox said, okay, let's go for it.

Let's go after, you know, it's probably the same meeting Southwest Herb had at Southwest Airlines 50 years ago. United Delta and somebody said, we're going to go. We're going to try and take on the Titans. Now look at Southwest. Dinner, moment, epiphany when you decided we're going to go after those guys with this cable sports network with opinion shows. Well, I do think it's an amazing point in the Fox Sports history. It clearly wasn't just me. You know, we have we have bosses here, especially, you know, Rupert, Lachlan, at the time Chase, Carrie was here, David Hill was still here. Always being able to kind of look ahead and make sure that you were.

are you're seeing what you need to be and not reacting, being proactive rather than reactive. And what they saw at the time was the fact that this bundle was going to go through a tremendous amount of pressure. People had, everybody had ridden the gravy train of just launching a new linear cable network and charging a dime or a quarter for it. and making a ton of money. It seemed like it was endless the amount of money that was going to come in through the pay TV system

and that people were just going to continue to subscribe to your traditional pay TV. They looked out and said, my gosh, we've got, I think, 11 brands that we need to have carried on a pay TV system. That's not sustainable. And that was seven or eight years ago, right? we had everything from a Fox movie channel to speed and fuel and Fox Soccer channel.

And so they said what we need to do, we need to have fewer brands in the Fox portfolio, but those brands really have to be meaningful and valuable in people's lives that they do want to have a bundle of channels that has us, in it. So we had to be bigger and powerful. Smaller brands, but bigger and powerful. And that's when we decided to call down some of the single purpose brands, like a motorsports or a soccer or whatever, and call it down into a more powerful national sports networks of FS1 and FS2. And that decision was, I mean, could you imagine if we were sitting here today and we had a singular motor sports channel and we had a singular soccer channel and a singular it would be on we wouldn't be we wouldn't be sitting here today would be our hair would be on fire figuring out what

we're going to do yeah and then once we launched fs1 as you know uh we didn't start off uh with the idea of having six a to six p personality based uh sports opinion and talk uh we started out with a with a lot of news. We thought we could make a go of it. And it was at the exact same time that sports news was being disrupted by phones and YouTube and Twitter and Facebook. And you've pivoted very quickly. And that's one thing I do

take pride in is that this place if something's not working, we'll pivot quickly. And we pivoted from our first brand campaign really quickly. We pivoted from news really quickly. And I tell you, I just couldn't be happy with where we are today. Because when you look at where we are today,

it's what this place was based on. This place was based on Fox NFL Sunday, Terry, Howie, Jimmy. And we should have seen from the very beginning that that's what we should have done, is base FS1 around really strong personalities that have big followings like you and Skip. And so I feel really good about where we are today. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect.

We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. he felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levant this went to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, Just how long can their empire survive?

The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling.

you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Life throws hurdles big and small. The question is, how do you conquer them? On Hurtle with Emily Abadi, we sit down with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness, professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions to talk about the challenges that shaped them, and the mindset that keeps them going. From the WMBA standout, Kate Martin and rising hockey star, Layla Edwards. If a boy can do it, I don't see why a girl can't.

Like, I've never understood that. Like, it didn't make sense in my brain. It's hard to be in spaces that no one looks like you, but don't ever feel like you don't feel on. Don't let that be the reason you don't do it. An Olympic champs, Gabby Thomas, and Katie Ledecki. The ability to show a gold medal to someone and have their face light up and smile,

that means the world to me. And that's what motivates me to win. more gold medals. At our level, at this scale, like being able to fail in front of the entire world. Like, I can do anything. I can do anything. Because resilience isn't just about winning. It's about showing up, even when it's hard. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHart Women's Sports. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games.

And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing.

And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, Because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro.

Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free, I Heart Radio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Eric Shanks is joining me. The NFL is just to me so much fun.

When you look, you join this company, I believe the first year that we Fox got the NFL, didn't you? 94. 94, yeah. Just take me back. What was it like? What was the NFL? Again, a lot of the people that listen to my podcast are 28 years old. 1994 NFL, so that's 25 years ago.

How is it different? yeah there huddles yeah there were huddles you know look I was in 1994 what was I was 23 years old

right and so I almost I don't really remember a lot of the 80s in the NFL right I think we came out of the greatest heroes

of the NFL at the time were still from the 70s I mean it was Terry right It was Roger Stauback. It was that golden era of the 70s. And so, you know, for me, it was like, you know, the NFL in the 80s for me as a fan is a little bit of a blur. Like, I just don't think it was a great era for them.

Yeah. And all of a sudden, you get a couple of new owners. You get Robert Kraft coming in as an owner. You get Jerry Jones coming in as an owner very close to one another. And you get Fox. coming into the NFL all at the same time, basically. And you get David Hill, who is coming from London and Australia, never produced an NFL game before.

And he introduced so many new things, music, graphics, personalities. The on-screen presentation of the NFL just took massive leaps and bounds in 1994. And if you are not old enough to remember it, it was night and day. And it was something that you, the play on the field just got better and better and better. There was more money going into the league because... It felt bigger on TV.

And it felt bigger on TV. The Cowboys and Jimmy Johnson were a rock tour. Yeah. I mean, I'm like the Jordan's Bulls. Yeah. Like I loved football in the 70s and 80s, but when I think of the explosion of the NFL, I think of Jimmy Johnson and the Dallas Cowboy.

The owner was a personality. The coach was a personality. The quarterback looked like a model. They were controversial. I agree with you. The 90s, like the NBA was largely dead before Magic and Bird. It was really in trouble. Magic and Bird not saved it, but certainly elevated it.

I feel like the Cowboys, Fox, gave it juice. Yeah. And don't forget, it was the first time, like, it was, people thought that Rupert was crazy for paying what he paid $400 million. So think about this. You know, we alone today, we pay, what, a billion two for our Sunday package. Back then Rupert paid $400 million. It was the first time that these owners were probably like, I can actually start to really spend money, you know, and it filtered down to the players.

And it created those stars. Let's not forget, it's money makes stars. Right. And so, you know, it just, it ushered in a whole new era, right, of the NFL. You know, before, I remember when we, it was David Hill that wanted to put the, the score and the clock up in the corner of the screen that had never been done before. Never been done before. And when we did it, people at other networks said that they would never do it, that it would get in the way of the game or, or they even wanted to hide the score of the game. If it was a blowout, they'd, They wanted you to have to watch maybe until it went to commercial to figure out what the score of the game was so that you didn't turn away. And imagine where we are, you know, then to where we are today. You have fantasy stuff up there now. A fantasy stuff up there. Eric Shanks, 30 great minutes, CEO executive producer.

We got XFL debuting in 2020, the Fox Bet app debuting probably close to football, August. Yeah, close to football. And W.W.E. begins October 4th, right here in Los Angeles at the Staples Center. By the way, I went to my first event with you and Larry Jones. I had no idea. It's 52 weeks. So the thing ends, for those listening, they usher them out to a limo to an airport, and the next night they're somewhere else. Or the next week they have, it's a remarkable production. Not only does Charlotte Flair love you. Oh, Lord. Absolutely loves you. Oh.

The, uh, if you go backstage and you see the, the tremendous amount of effort that this traveling, you know, village puts on, they're making a, they're making a feature film every Monday and Tuesday night. They have wardrobe. They're making, you know, they have, uh, people that are actually sewing the costumes from scratch back there. The lighting, the pyro, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the. the rehearsals that they have to do, the athleticism, the camera blocking. They're making a live feature film every Monday and Tuesday night. I was blown away by it. Behind the scenes, I was absolutely blown away by it.

I mean, they're just limos, airport, here goes, trucks rolling out, 18 wheelers, onto Atlanta. Going to the next one. I mean, it's just a half hour after match. Boom. Here we go. Eric, great seeing you. All right. Eric Shank's Saturday morning podcast.

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