The Kevin Sheehan Show - Details On Dan's Deeds

Episode Date: April 12, 2022

Kevin and Thom today with the latest story which filled in the blanks on the "financial improprieties" allegations made by Jason Friedman to Congress. They discussed the Lerners hiring an investment banker to explore a potential sale of the Nationals. Just how much did the Commanders overpay for Carson Wentz? The boys talked about that and Thom broke some news on Bradley Beal!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheehan Show. Here's Kevin. All right. For the second time in as many days, we are redoing the open to the podcast today. We've got a great podcast the rest of the way that talks about the learners, you know, selling the nationals.

We had some Carson Wentz in there. We had some Bradley Beale in there. I forget what we talked about now. But another breaking story today. So we are going to put this at the front of the podcast, and then you'll be able to hear the rest of it. Tommy is with me. And as we were finishing up the actual pod for the day, the news broke moments ago from Mark Maskey and Nikki Javala from the Washington Post. Congress is sending a bunch of these allegations from Jason Friedman to the Federal Trade Commission.

I'm going to read from the Post story. There's also the 20-page letter. which we haven't read through in its entirety in terms of the House Oversight Committee sending to the FDC. But here's the beginning of the story. The commanders and owner Daniel Snyder may have engaged in a troubling, long-running and potentially unlawful pattern of financial conduct that allegedly involved withholding as much as $5 million in refundable deposits from season ticket holders and also hiding money that was supposed to be shared among NFL owners, according to a letter sent from the House Committee on Oversight and Reform

to the Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday today. The 20-page letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Washington Post, freshly details allegations made by Jason Friedman, a former vice president of sales and customer service, who worked for the franchise for 24 years. The letter says Friedman told committee members the team maintain two sets of books, including one set of financial records used to underreport certain ticket revenue to the NFL. The letter cites documentation that the team's financial improprieties may have extended to tickets registered in Commissioner Roger Goodell's name.

It references evidence that it says indicates the revenue gained by the team through these practices was known internally as juice, and it details allegations that the commanders improperly attributed such revenue to being derived through a Navy Notre Dame college football game at FedEx Field or a Kenny Chenney concert so that it wouldn't be part of the NFL's revenue sharing pool. So I've read through the first part of the letter from the House Oversight and Reform Committee to the FTC. And, you know, it is really a bombshell of information. Now remember, okay, I'm completely aware of the fact that these are allegations made by a guy who was with the organization for 24 years and got fired in 2020. The next step on all of this is what will the FTC do? Okay, they have all of this information. There was lots of information turned over by Jason Friedman to the committee,

and the committee has now turned it over to the Federal Trade Commission. There are two buckets, if you will, of allegations. One is the one that was discussed last week, that the team essentially cooked the books on ticket revenue that was due back to the league as part of that rev share agreement where 40% of a game's ticket sales goes back to the league and then it's distributed among the 31 owners. There's a lot of information on specifically how they did that.

The more, I think, troubling for the team allegation is this second bucket, which is the team failed to return security deposits that were used for season tickets. When season ticket holders purchased season tickets, especially years ago, All right, there were licenses that were used and required when Jack Kent Cook built the new stadium that you had to pay a licensing fee. Many people remember these one-time refundable security deposits on tickets that you would get back at the end of your lease. You know, most of those leases, if my memory serves me correctly, were like 10 years. So when you bought, I remember as a season ticket holder, having to pay and say, sign a lease for 10 years and pay a refundable security deposit. Tommy, I'm going to go back

to see if I got mine. But I think I did when I got rid of the tickets. But the allegation from Friedman is that 2,000 season ticket holders who paid the one-time refundable security deposit never were provided their refunds. there are lots of reasons for this. The team was very deceptive in their practices. There's language in this allegation from Friedman that says a lot of people just forgot that, you know, 10 years after the fact that they had a non, that they had a refund coming to them and they just forgot.

And the team certainly never told those people about it. Others were forced to chase it to such a degree that, you know, They were told that you couldn't use email, that you had to use FedEx or U.S. mail. And then when they were told, when they used FedEx or U.S. mail, then the team would send back a letter saying, well, now you have to call. They would do everything they could to make it difficult for people to get that refund back for the tickets. And Friedman claims that around 2,000 accounts were never refunded. totaling approximately $5 million in revenue, that the team referred to as juice.

It was money, like essentially newfound money, in this case, generated through a very deceptive way of not refunding customers, season ticket holders, that were due refunds. You know, and so, you know, 2000 account, $5 million, that means, you know, an average of $2,500 account. It doesn't mean that everybody was owed $2,500 because people had different, you know, seats and that were more valuable than others.

But it was an average of $2,500 for the 2,000 customers totaling $5 million in revenue that was not refunded. I'm not going to go through this whole letter. I'm just going to tell you that there's just a lot of specific information from Jason Friedman on how they got out of refunding 2,000 customers, totaling $5 million worth of refunds for, you know, for licenses, leases on season tickets, and how they skimmed off the top of the ticket revenue

that was owed back to the league. I'll just tell you that, you know, he brought a lot of detail and provided a lot of evidence to the House Oversight and Reform Committee, which now has, turned it over to the FTC. If all this is true, there's no way that Dan Snyder survives this. Yeah, this is a big one.

This is a big one because it's got all the detail that's been missing from all of the other reports. Yes. The front office report. It's got, you know, blow by blow. Exactly how all this took place. Yes. And if this calls out to be true, I'm sure the team's going to push back on it because that's what they do, and that's what happens when an animal's corner, they fight back anyway they can.

And Snyder certainly will have enough attorneys to do that. But if this turns out to be true, it's a got-to-go situation. I don't care. I mean, I don't care how protective NFL owners are of their own. Yeah, I don't know. I want to give it more time. I want to read through the rest of this letter because one of my initial reactions would be, you know, it's Snyder. They're out to get them, so maybe they could get them on this, but this would be something that would be survivable by any other owner. I mean, certainly the Washington Redskins, the Washington football team, the Washington commanders, aren't the first business to ever make recovering a refundable deposit difficult. So that's for starters. But, you know, there's so much more.

to this because Tommy this started as an investigation into a workplace culture that included lots of sexual harassment and how the team's handling it, how the league handled the investigation, etc. And it led to this witness and this Jason Friedman dude who basically turned it into something more. You know, we've gotten away from the sexual harassment stuff that the House Oversight and Reform Committee was focused on and now we're here. I think this is something that that would be survivable by most, but maybe not by him because they're out, they really want him out. Look, I hope it leads to that.

I want to read from this letter because the new piece of news here today is this part about the team essentially committing some level of fraud, I would call it, defrauding customers of their deposits that were refundable at the end. of their leases because this is the new thing today, even though we got more information on the, you know, the ticket scam, you know, skimming off the top of what they owed back to the league. This is the new thing. And I want to read from this letter, the following from Friedman's testimony. Mr. Friedman stated that after Mr. Snyder purchased the team in 1999, rather than return the security deposits to customers at the end of the lease term, team executives directed employees,

to establish roadblocks to prevent customers from obtaining the security deposits that they were due effectively allowing the team to retain the money. Mr. Friedman explained, those security deposits per the terms of the contract are refundable at the end of the contract provided that the licensee has met their obligations, meaning paid their bill each year and not damaged their seat. The team failed to properly refund those security deposits in ten, intentionally and took various steps to retain as much of that money as possible, mainly by taking advantage of the passage of time. And that's where he goes on to describe how, you know, some people just forgot about it. In many cases, with corporate accounts in particular, the attention

name on the account would change over time. So the person who entered into the lease and agreed to pay the security deposit would be different from the person who was managing the account when the lease expired 10 years later, and the new contact wouldn't even know to ask for the security deposit. And specifically, he mentions Dan Snyder in here. He said, Mr. Freeman stated that Mr. Snyder and Mitch Gershman, Mr. Freeman's former supervisor and then chief operating officer of the commanders, would specifically instruct him to, quote,

go identify security deposits that are on dormant accounts, where in my estimation, the likelihood of the customer coming forward and asking for their deposit back is as close to zero as possible. Right. And then return the security deposit into the system and convert the credit that would then be on the customer's account into juice. Right. Juice means money, basically, juice is a term that's used throughout. this for both of these buckets.

Yeah. Okay, and that's the money. Like they were bookies. Yeah. There's a lot in here. It would take a whole hell of a lot of time to go through. But let me just say that for the first time, really, from my standpoint, because of all of this detail and understanding who the owner is and how much they want him out and how much

everybody wants them out. If this is true, there's a chance on this one. I wouldn't bet on it, but there's a chance on this one. And I think I feel that way primarily because it's him. And he's been such a long-running source of embarrassment for the league. And this market is such a lucrative opportunity that isn't being taken advantage of. You know, they've lost one of their big-time fan bases in this league. And, you know, they've had others come along to replace it. I understand it, but it's such a big-time market. It's such a lucrative market.

It's such an affluent market. They want this market to be what it once was. And they know that he's the one that has chased this fan base away. And they'd love to have something on him. they could really move on. And there hasn't been anything specific enough. And even though, again, I'll repeat, I don't think they're the first business that's made it difficult to recover a refundable deposit. At the end of the day, if he ripped off the other owners and he defrauded customers, maybe this could be something they could move on. I'd like to say we'll have plenty of

time to examine this in the future. But, our time will likely be consumed by the newest scandal that will emerge any day now. Because I've said about this team, this team is incapable of anything and capable of everything. Okay. There's a lot more to this. We may not even have gotten a lot of this right, but we'll have time to digest it. And I'll be back tomorrow. Tommy, you'll be back on Thursday. Here is the rest of the podcast that we did before this story broke. Tommy's here. I am here.

We will talk about the story that the Nats, owners, the learners, Ted Lerner, may be selling the team, something that Tommy talked about months ago and wrote about months ago. But before we get started, this from Ridgely, right at the top of the best podcasts in D.C., Kevin and Tom are great together. Nine hours on a bus. Gotta be at least a Netflix movie. Classic segment. Haven't even gotten to the commanders yet. Keep on rolling, boys. Thank you, Ridgely. Thank you, Dolf in McLean.

Rate us and review us, especially on Apple and Spotify. It takes you 30 seconds. You can pause it right now. Give us five stars and write a quick one to two sentence review. It's really important. A lot of you really enjoyed the show yesterday also with both Zabe and Scott on the show. And I appreciate that feedback as well. Yes, Tommy's story about his travels to Disney World or to Universal Studios in Orlando, where his wife had to go out and get his granddaughter in Spokane and then fly back through Phoenix to Orlando, which didn't work out.

Tommy trying to get from BWI to Orlando, then having to drive to Philadelphia to fly to Orlando. but the decision to put Liz, Tom's wife, on a flight with his granddaughter from Phoenix to Atlanta and then onto a bus, onto a bus for a nine-hour bus ride to Orlando. Yeah, that was hysterical. And several of you kind of commented on some of my comments and you felt the same way.

Liz is an absolute dear, dear soul for people. putting up with that plan from Tom's, from Tom. She did get there. She did get there. I think my wife would have put a bullet between my forehead if I told her she was getting on a bus for nine hours. But, you know, all's well that ends well, right? Look it.

It was like a prison break. Okay. She was trying to break out of Phoenix and we were trying to break out of Baltimore. Yeah. And it really didn't matter how it happened at that point. Right. Look, I mean, actually, when we first hit the snag, I turned to my son. I said, let's get in the car and drive.

Let's just drive. Well, because you wouldn't have done the driving. It's easy for you to say. Well, both of us would have done the drive. We could have been from Baltimore to Orlando 14 hours. Yeah. But he didn't like that option. No, that would not have been the option for me either.

You know, you guys ultimately probably could have gotten out of BWI the next morning. I don't know. Whatever. It was a funny episode. If you missed it, it was last Thursday that you were back, correct? It was Thursday morning that we did the nine-hour bus ride. Friday. No, it was Thursday.

It was Thursday because we didn't do a show on Friday. And then we did one on Saturday when the news broke about Dwayne Haskins. A prison break, Tommy went through. with his wife last week. They were on the run trying to get to the Promise Land, which was Universal Studios, where they had an okay time. It wasn't an all-timer because we're not exactly sure what the granddaughter thought of the whole trip. Right. But anyway, so I think we should start with the learners, don't you? I mean, you... I'd say so. You told me, you know, months ago, and you wrote about this months ago

that they were taking a pounding on their commercial real estate business, which is their core business, and you even suggested it's possible they may, you know, be hurting as far as the baseball team goes as well. So you kind of saw this coming. Well, I didn't know if it'd be this but

that they would actually be willing to put the team up for sale, considering this was Ted Lerner's, I mean, he's been pursuing buying a sports franchise for decades. I mean, they tried to buy the Orioles in 1979 when they wound up going, Edward Bennett Williams, and he tried to buy the football team in 1999, which wanted a bitter. So to finally get what they had been trying to for decades, I didn't think that things would get so bad that he would put it up for sale.

But, you know, not, I mean, apparently, it wasn't just the real estate, but it was the whole, how COVID really affected the business of baseball. I found out that they lost $170 million over the last two years. Yeah, I mean, a lot of teams lost money. And the learners had to go in their pockets to cover some of those losses. And that's not the learner way of doing business. It isn't the way they do business. No, they don't. And, you know, I mean, Ted is 96.

You know, there's the possibility that his children do not have the same fire for this that he did at this stage of their lives. The grandchildren apparently don't seem to either. And, you know, considering their real estate business, that's like any commercial. real estate business, particularly in the DMV, has taken a real hit. If you want to come up with a cash infusion, what do you have to do? You're going to sell a building that's losing money? Well, you're going to sell a baseball team that you bought for half a billion dollars and could probably sell for $2 billion now.

Yeah, I mean, I have to be honest with you. I mean, I was floored when, you know, the Post and Beres-Ver-Lugia broke this story yesterday. I know that you had mentioned some of this stuff previously, but, you know, there's a couple of things that struck me. Number one is they, the learners, it doesn't matter what their overall net worth is. They can certainly afford with, you know, an estimated $4 billion fortune to own this baseball team and have it lose money every single year if that's what they wanted. But that's not the way they've operated any business. they've ever gotten into. Everything is a stand-alone business, and it's got to make money, and this one isn't right now.

I think that's a weird way to think about it, but it's what made them $4 billion worth of net worth rich, you know, is making sure that every business that they ran ultimately was profitable and returned, you know, significantly on whatever their investment was, which, by the way, the baseball team has, valuation. You know, as a standalone, you're not able to realize the valuation gain from 450 million, which is what they paid for it in 2006 to potentially $2 billion today unless you sell. I mean, you know, you could certainly borrow against that. You could, you know, use that valuation to sell to minority investors. But, you know, based on my conversation this morning with Chelsea James, and I'm curious if you feel the same way, nobody seems to believe that.

the family hiring Allen & Company, the New York Investment Bank, that Allen and Company is looking for minority investors. They're looking for buyers for the team. Do you believe that? Yeah, I do believe that. Absolutely. Look, there's been recently this infusion of minority investments by private equity firms and sports teams. You know, a lot of it, the NBA. But that's a possibility, but highly unlikely. And as far as a single minority investor or individual investors, if you're in business with the learners and the learners are in charge, all that gets you is a better seat

in the owner's box. It might not even be a great seat and you might have to pay for it. Yeah, I mean, the learners are a family business and they keep it pretty much within the family. So yes, this team is for sale. So I had someone, a friend, reach out to me this morning to say, to talk about something that you didn't write about and I don't think anybody else has written about. So I just want to ask you whether or not you think this is sort of a plausible theory. They have several big name players that have contracts with a ton of deferred money. Max Scherzer has a ton of deferred money beginning in 2022 off of his deal here.

Strasbourg does. Corbin does. I think Daniel Murphy did. They have had a lot of structures to deals, which is one of the reasons that perhaps Bryce Harper didn't want the deal that they had offered, that pays out a lot of deferred money. So the theory goes that they have been, you know, essentially giving. hearing up for this for a while with the way they've structured contracts that the deferred money would eventually fall, you know, into the new owner's lapse. But in the meantime, you know,

they are a real estate company and they had this new area down by the stadium to develop, you know, what's become sort of a real estate bonanza, you know, and the stadium was the driver for that. And that this has been perhaps part of the long-term plan all along. and that the deferred contracts are, you know, a telltale sign of that. What do you think? I think that's a stretch. Look, it's feasible. It's possible.

I'm not saying it's far-fetched, but I think it's a stretch. This real estate bonanza around the stadium took a long time to happen. That's true, but they didn't know. They couldn't predict the 2008 financial crisis. They couldn't predict the pandemic. you know, those things. Right. But the intent.

But they both took a big hit. Yeah. I mean, the 2000, they hadn't signed any of these long-term deals when the recession was, had hit by the time the ballpark opened. It's certainly possible. You know, I mean, you know, maybe kids may have thought, well, once Ted, you know, passes away, you know, we'll put the team up for sale. at that point.

But I don't think, I think if there's no pandemic, I don't think they're selling the team. I just don't think that's happening. I mean, the pandemic hit them, look, no one's going to, like, look, you talked about, you know, how they could, they could own this team infinity and pretty much lose money. You know, I pointed out, my column, rich people don't like to lose money. Yeah. I said, even if they could lose them for thousands of years. that have vanity purchases that lose money, but that they will never, ever part with.

Yes, but that's not the learners. This is not the way they do business. And they had a double whammy for COVID. There's a lot of sad stories for COVID. Nobody should, you know, light a candle for the learners. But they won the World Series and never got a chance to get that. financial bump that comes with that. Never got a chance to cash in on the increased sponsors, never got a chance to make money on the increased attendance that would accompany that.

There was nobody in the stands the year after they won the World Series. It was empty, you know, and so, I mean, they got, they really got hurt because every team got hurt on COVID, but they missed their opportunity. Hence, the big losses that they had over the past two years. And I think if there's no pandemic, the learners would continue to own that franchise. I remember. They waited too long to own one, to bow out. Yeah, he is 96 years old.

And if the rest of the family is, if this isn't important or as important to them as it is to him, and they still have, and they have the same mindset of running business. to make money, you know, essentially a four-to-one returns pretty damn good on a $450 million investment. I remember saying to you, you know, when this pandemic started and the baseball season didn't start on time and you didn't have opening night and you didn't have a banner hanging and you didn't have fans and the whole thing, that, you know, I had read that story. I think it was from Sportico, if I recall, that said the Washington Nationals will miss out on the biggest financial boon of any World Series winner in recent memory because, you know, they had the lucrative market that is Washington, D.C. and the feel good of them winning the World Series and what it was going to do to attendance and then all of the offshoots, if you will, of attendance, you know, parking,

concessions, et cetera, all of the corporations and businesses that were going to want to do business with the nationals. This was going to turn into a massive, massive hall. And it wasn't a one-year thing. You know, it was a multi-year thing. And so that, you know, that along with the fact that their primary business is commercial real estate and the pandemic crushed commercial real estate because people weren't going into their offices. So there wasn't a need for as much office space, which, by the way, continues to be a concern in that industry moving forward because so many people got used to working remotely. And I'm not a big fan of it personally. But, you know, it's the way, you know, it was kind of going in that direction.

Anyway, and the pandemic kind of accelerated it. But what they missed out on being able to benefit financially from a World Series win? I mean, again, not lighting a candle for them, as you said. But wow. I mean, whatever issues there may have been in any kind of business, if it was going south, that would have been massive for the organization. So huge. And Tommy, think about this.

Not only didn't they get to better. benefit from that. When they did finally come back and play, they were a shell of the team that we last saw. They sucked. And they were horrible last year. And now they're going to be horrible moving forward. I'm curious. Do you think, okay, so let's just assume that they're trying to sell the team. Before we get to, you know, who you think the potential buyers would be, is the team more valuable or less valuable with Juan Soto signed to a long-term contract at $450, $450 million? There's the big expense, but then you also have one of the two or three best players in the sport. I would think it would be more valuable, slightly.

I don't know if that makes that much of a difference. The big difference in value to the team. Well, that's a big problem, too. But, again, you know, ironic is, I mean, Peter Angelo's is 92, and he's been seriously ill for quite a few years now, and everyone in baseball is convinced that once he passes on, the Orioles will be for sale as well. Right.

So you could have both baseball teams up for sale within a year or two of each other. And that whole massive thing could, you know, go away at that point. Well, what happens? What's a more attractive purchase? The Orioles or the Nationals? Oh, I think the Nationals because of the Washington D.C. You know, having, to be honest with you, having Congressman Smith come to your baseball game,

I think it's more attractive to a baseball owner than having Billy from Dundalk show up. Really? Okay. I think so. Okay. It just is. Now, that may be a little bit of league.

It's certainly elitist for you. I know. I think it just is. The biggest thing for the valuation of the teen is what's the new labor agreement, getting that done. Right. I mean, now you know you have labor security for, I don't know how many years, I don't know, seven, eight years. And that was the big thing in the value of all the franchises. So I think that has more of an impact than Juan Soto status at this point.

point. Two more questions. One, who's going to buy it? And two, do you think that this, that the learners selling the team for the fan base is perceived as a good thing or a bad thing? Well, I think right now, since we're two years removed from the World Series and fans, you know, don't have a long attention span these days. And the team is about to embark on probably its third straight losing season. I would say most people would think that's a good thing because, you know, I mean, everyone fantasizes about the owner coming in here and not being held back by the learner's method of doing business and spending lots of money, which is not always the case.

Right. You know, that doesn't always happen. Not everyone's a Steve Cohen up in, you know, in New York with the Mets, who's a fan, gets the team and then signs Max Scherzer to a ridiculous contract. That doesn't always happen. But I think most fans would think that they're better off with a new owner who they don't know about than the current owners who they're familiar with, and they don't particularly like the way they're doing business right now. So who's going to buy the team? Well, I mentioned in the story. I threw out a couple of names, Ted Leoneses. I think he's

definitely in play. I think Ted has a vision of winding up, either buying out the whole NBC Sports Washington cable thing, getting this massive thing straightened out, and putting the Wizards, the Capitals, and the Nationals all on his sports network at that point. So I think Ted is definitely in play. I mentioned Theo Epstein, the former team president, Red Sox and the Cubs, there's been speculation about him leading a group to buy a baseball franchise at some point.

He's not doing anything right now. There's Josh Harris, the guy who owns the Sixers and a New Jersey Devils, who lost out on the Mets. You know, all those are possibility. And there are some names that could emerge that would surprise some people that we don't even know about. but I would put Ted right now as one of the front runners. And he's already a business partner with the learners.

The learners are minority owners in the capitals. So he knows the family very well. Is he allowed to own three of the four major sports teams in a market? I mean, does the NBA allow that? Does the NHL allow that? Does Major League Baseball allow that? Josh Harris owns the Sixers and a New Jersey devil that he tried to buy the Mets. Okay.

So I think he can. The Sixers are in a different market, though. I mean, I'm just wondering if you can own three in the same market. I don't know. Like Stan Cronky, you know, owns the Rams, owns the Nuggets in Denver, and owns the Avalanche in Denver. I think he's the only, I think he's one of the only owners that have three, teams in the four major sports, but they're not all in the same market.

Because at some point, I don't know what the downside is. I guess competition, you know, maybe it benefits a city to have multiple owners with teams to compete, you know, against each other for, you know, the fans, you know, for consumer dollars. I don't know. That's probably an answer that somebody should look into. to because it might eliminate Ted if the sport doesn't allow you to own three teams in the same market.

I think they do. Okay. I think they do. And here's what I'll, this is just speculation at this point, a little bit in foreign speculation, but speculation. I think if Ted winds up behind the nationals, it wouldn't happen in the immediate future. But at some point, I don't think he's in the Wizards and Capitals business after that. So he would sell both of those teams?

Not in the immediate future, but I think it's possible and even likely that that could happen. That's just me speculating. Baseball teams clearly make much more in top-line revenue than basketball or hockey teams do. Are they much more profitable than NBA teams and hockey teams? I think they are, right? I think they are. Yeah. As much as everyone loves the shiny glow of the NBA, it's still not the same business as Major League Baseball.

Right. Okay. Yeah. And God, I'll never forget when Ted told us a long time ago during one of those Lunch with a Legend things after we kind of lectured us on our content on our show, said we should be doing much more hockey than we were doing at that time. But I remember him saying that they don't make money. Now, this was two collective bargaining agreements ago. And remember, the league had a lockout there for a while too. But I remember him saying half the teams in the league need at least two home playoff games just to break even during the course of the year.

And I still think it's the case that most NBA, or I shouldn't say most, that there's probably, you know, 25 to 35% of NBA teams that don't make money, but a need to be good and get those extra playoff dates to make money. That may be different today. I don't know. You know what? That's a project for me. I'm actually really interested in that.

You know, what these, and some of this information is probably out there. NBA teams specifically how much money they make on just a, you know, on a P&LB. basis. The valuation increases, we understand that. All sports teams keep going up in value. But that doesn't mean that all sports teams on an annual basis are making a profit or turning a profit. Anyway, all right, what else? What else have we missed from this conversation? I don't think. I think that pretty much covers everything. The one thing, the way I ended my column, and you can read it in the Washington time. I've already read it, yes. Okay. You know, slash sports, you could find it on my Twitter account and my Facebook page.

The saddest part of this story, the wrong owner in this town is selling his team. Yeah, well, I mean, you know, if somebody had said three days ago, an owner of a sports team in town is going to be, there's going to be a report that he's retained an investment bank to look for a buyer. the odds. I mean, he would have been minus 400 to be the owner, Snyder would have been.

He would have been a heavy favorite to be the owner that we would have all guessed would have been the guy. I did read your column. You sent me your column. You cut and pasted your column and sent it to me,

which I much appreciate, and I referred to it several times on the show this morning, on the radio show, and I retweeted it immediately. When you said, I don't know if you've read my column or for those who haven't read. I thought you were kind of directing that towards me.

No, I read your column and referred to that several times this morning. I could tell you read my column by our discussion so far. So when I haven't read your column, you can tell that I haven't read your column. You do a good job of covering up the fact that I hadn't read your column. But many times I don't read your column because it requires me to become a subscriber of the Washington Times. and I've asked you and you've done it, you usually do it, is you'll cut and paste it and then send it to me, which I appreciate. Also makes it just much easier than trying to navigate that website,

which, you know, is not the easiest thing in the world. So there was something else in the athletic about the commanders. Remember the other day we read from the quotes from NFL execs, and Tom was all excited about the money bite. about teams say that they would rather have Taylor Heineke and 28 million bucks in salary caps, base in draft choices than Carson Wentz. Well, there is a follow-up to that. And there's another quote from someone that I want to read from and to all of you and then discuss.

We'll do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. NBA playoffs are starting tonight. Yeah, you got the playing games. You got the seven, eight games. Tommy. Do you know how the NBA playoffs work, this playing round? Do you know how it works? Vaguely. I know the Brooklyn Nets are in it. But do you know how it's set up to work? I'm not particularly interested, so why would I know? I know. I just wanted you to admit that you're not interested.

So the top six teams in each conference automatically qualify for the playoffs. And then the seventh through 10th place teams play in what they call the play-in round, which begins tonight. And the seven-seed plays the eight-seed, and then tomorrow night, the nine-seed plays the ten-seed in both conferences. The winner of the seven-eight game tonight, which in the east is Brooklyn versus Cleveland, and the west is Minnesota versus the clippers, the winner of that game gets the seven-seed. They're in, they get the seven-seed. The loser of the game isn't out. They will end up playing the winner of the 9-10 game on Thursday night,

and that winner ends up being the 8-seed. So if you're a 9 or a 10 seed right now, you have to win two straight games to get in. If you're the 7 or the 8-seed, you just have to win one game and you get two chances to qualify for the actual NBA playoffs. The reason that I bring it up is because you can bet the NBA playoffs tonight. You can bet the Brooklyn Nets laying nine and a half against Cleveland at MyBooky. Go to MyBooky.com or MyBooky.orgie. Use my promo code.

All right. Use my promo code Kevin D.C. And they'll match your first deposit, dollar for dollar, all the way up to a thousand bucks. The Brooklyn Nets tonight with the return potentially of Ben Simmons against the calves. The Nets are nine and a half point favorites. if they win that game, they'll be the seven seed, and they will face the Celtics, Tommy, and what will be a war of a first round series, a two-seven series that could go either way. In fact, the two-seven series winner in the East could go win the whole thing this year.

And then you get in the nightcap tonight, you get the Timberwolves, who are three-point favorites over the clippers in the 7-8 matchup. Go to MyBooky at mybooky.com, mybooky.ag. All of your NBA playoff needs are there. It's funny looking at the championship odds for this postseason. The favorites to win the whole thing, there's a lot of teams that don't have the best overall records in the league that have pretty good odds to win it all. and a team like Brooklyn, if they win tonight, they're going to be like the third or fourth pick in the east to win the Eastern Conference behind Miami and Boston in particular.

I do like the NBA playoffs, but I'll tell you what, Tommy, I've watched the least amount of NBA during a regular season that I've ever, ever watched. Okay, I told you the other day, and you were like, when are you going to get to the money bite? When are you going to get to the money bite? The money bite being from an NFL executive,

the story written by Mike Sando on the athletic. If you pulled the entire league and said you can have Taylor Heineke for $2 million, and you have $26 million to spend plus two third round picks, or you can have Carson Wentz, I'm pretty sure the majority would prefer Heineke. You know, another exec said I'd rather have Baker Mayfield and $8 million. So basically this NFL exec is saying what Washington did, the overall package that they had to give up to the Colts for Carson Wentz wasn't worth it. They should have kept Taylor Heineke and had all that cap space and the other

draft choices. So we read that to you and talked about that the other day. Now, a follow-up story on the athletic written by Shale Capadia, an NFL writer, this was another story where they went through all 32 teams and talked about some of the head scratching deals and some of the big time moves, et cetera. When you got to the Washington category, they, Shil Capadia wrote this. In my 10-step guide to avoiding a disastrous off-season, I noted that teams should not be overpaying for competency at quarterback. Well, the commanders failed that one by sending two picks,

a third and a third that can turn into a second, to the Colts for Wentz, and they're paying Wentz his full $28.3 million salary for 2020. Two. Well, Jason Fitzgerald, who runs over the cap, we refer to lots of times on this show when we talk about contracts or salary cap, we use either SpotRack or Over the Cap. They're the two sites that really keep track of every contract and how it impacts salary cap for each of the 32 NFL teams. Well, Jason Fitzgerald, who runs over the cap, said the following to the athletic, quote, Nobody can explain that. Nobody can understand it. It made no sense. The Colts owner was basically on record saying, I don't want this guy.

I'm going to pay him $15 million just to go away. I don't want him here. Washington said, we'll give you a couple of third round picks for him and maybe even jump to a two. What were they watching? This is a player Philadelphia gave up on. This is a player Indianapolis had given up on. and you're still giving up that many assets for a player all these teams had given up on,

it doesn't make any sense. It didn't make any sense whatsoever to do that type of trade. If you're taking on that money, they should be giving you something. That's how bad of a trade that was. That was the Christian Kirk of the trades this year. Closed quote. Christian Kirk, the big, you know, outrageous free agent contract that he signed. with Jacksonville is just sort of, you know, a less than top tier receiver.

Again, that was Jason Fitzgerald from Over the Caps quotes in the story written about some of the bungles of the offseason. So in back-to-back stories from the athletic, they've pretty much ripped the trade for once. So I think there's something important to, you know, assume here to have a conversation about how bad this was. And the assumption that you have to make is that there wasn't any other team involved willing to trade assets for Carson Wentz. My first reaction, Tommy, after this trade was they were, first of all, why Wentz? The guy's got baggage. The guys got red flags all over him. That was number one. Number two is they were going to get rid of them. They were going to cut him. You were

negotiating against yourself and you ate all $28.3 million and you gave up a second and third and you swapped second round picks for five spots lower in the second round in this year's draft. I mean, it just, I know people will say, yeah, but Kevin, if Wence is really the right answer, it'll look cheap in hindsight. That's true. But that doesn't mean that you couldn't have gotten a much better deal for Wence when they made the deal. Now, you have to assume that all of these people know what they're talking about, and that is there wasn't anybody else interested in trading any real assets for Carson Wentz. Diana Rusini told me on my radio show the day after the trade, because I said one of my problems is I kind of have this sense that Washington was bidding

against themselves, and they shouldn't have eaten this $28.3 million and had to give up all of these draft choices. And she said, I have a source that tells me there was one other team that was in the bidding. That makes a big difference. Now, it's still too much to give up for a guy that the other team has telegraphed since the end of the season they don't want. And they're, they're almost willing to pay somebody to take them from them. You know, if you'll eat half of this $28.3 million so we don't have to eat the whole thing, we'll just give them to you. Basically is what this guy Fitzgerald is saying. And it was my immediate reaction too. But if there's somebody else bidding for him, well, that changes the overall, you know, discussion. But let's assume that Diana on this may

have been wrong and that the others reporting here over the last couple of days in the athletic were right. Well, what it speaks to is what we've guessed all along. They panicked. They were desperate. And they negotiated very poorly. Again, even if Wentz turns out to be much better than I think he's going to be and he turns out to be the answer, you can say then, oh, they got a great deal, but it doesn't change what it was in the moment. And that is that they were desperate and they probably overpaid for once. Yeah. Desperate is the key word here. I mean, this has been the key word from the start.

This was a move made out of desperation. And, you know, look, I'm willing to entertain the possibility. I mean, that he could perform on some level well. I mean, like I said, we've said numerous times, 27 touchdowns and had seven interceptions in Indianapolis. I mean, he didn't necessarily stink up the joint, only when it counted when he did that. But if you believe this whole premise

that he just needs to be at the right place to get himself right, Is this the place you would think that would happen? No. I mean, this is the place where this is the opposite of that. This is not the place where people get fixed. And he needs to be fixed somehow, you know, haven't been banished by two teams.

So, you know, the whole desperation level speaks to the expectations that he's going to have by the coaches and the organization, as they begin, you know, their workouts and then training camp. And he doesn't do well with expectations. Yeah, I, the line from Jason Fitzgerald, it doesn't make any sense. It didn't make any sense whatsoever to do that type of trade. If you're taking on that money, they should be giving you something. That's how bad of a trade that was.

That was my initial instinct on this thing. It's like they were going to cut them. Now, I understand that. that you didn't want him to get released if you wanted him and then have Carson Wentz be able to pick where he gets to go and the team he wants to play for it because that has not worked out well for Washington. So, you know, trading something for him, but, you know, if there really wasn't another bidder, the Colts would have taken a third

and eaten half the salary. That's the deal that to me makes sense. Now, Wents doesn't make sense for me because of the baggage, okay? You know, and I also love the line because I think it's true. You can't overpay for just competency at quarterback, you know, and that would draw you back to the Heineke thing. But here's the thing about Heineke. Wence is an upgrade over Heineke, okay?

He's an upgrade over Heineke, and salary cap space doesn't all of a sudden, you know, make the balls that floated five feet over Terry McCorn's head on a simple out, pattern, get there on time. Wents can throw the ball like a professional NFL quarterback. They're going to have a chance to do things offensively with Wence that they could not do with Taylor Heineke. I understand their desire to upgrade the position. I do. He wasn't my choice, obviously, but when they, you know, struck out on the Wilson-Watson, you know, Rogers thing, which really wasn't going to be a possibility, I thought that they would end up with Trubisky and drafting somebody. That's what I thought it was. And, you know,

Kime told me last week that Garoppolo was a possibility before this surgery. I don't think that they would have had a chance for Ryan. I don't think that Atlanta knew that Ryan was going to be. You know, when Kime put out that they reached out to all 31 teams, which was a complete exaggeration. I mean, why would you reach out to Kansas City about Mahomes? Why would you reach out to several of these teams? But if they reached out to Atlanta and Atlanta told them that Ryan would be made available,

then I would have, then I'll be upset that they weren't patient. and that they didn't try for Ryan. But my sense is they were probably told, yeah, we're not trading Ryan. Remember, they restructured Ryan's contract with the sole purpose of creating more cap space to build out the team around him, you know, and around Kyle Pitts and around, you know, their other pieces. And then they got involved in the Deshaun Watson thing, and they didn't hit on that. And then for whatever reason, they just decided, we're going to rebuild. And the Colts gave up a third rounder for Matt Ryan.

and an $18 million cap hit next year. While the Falcons take a $40 million dead cap hit, and Washington gave up a second and a third, swapped spots in this year's second round, got a seventh in Wentz back and had to eat all $28.3 million of his salary. I've already said this 100 times. If the choice was Ryan or Wentz, I would have gone Ryan 10 times out of 10.

I just don't think they had Ryan as a choice. Look, I think that you're downplaying the fact that Atlanta, I mean, I reported back in October that Ryan wanted out of Atlanta and that he would likely be with a team next year. I mean, that was the word around the league, despite what the Falcons reporter said. And in terms of believing that the Falcons said he wasn't available, I would tend to leave A, to the Falcons. they probably didn't make the call, and B, that the Falcons already knew that Matt Ryan wasn't going to go to Washington. First of all, I know you reported that, but most people around the league, when the conversation of Matt Ryan came up, said the Falcons are not going to take a $40 million dead cap hit. They're going to restructure him and keep him, or he's going to play with them on this final year of the deal, and then it'll get better starting in 20. 23. But let's just say that the Falcons were intending on trading Matt Ryan all along.

What you just said there at the end is partially true. It doesn't mean that he was going to get traded to Washington. He may have gotten the Matt Stafford treatment, which is you've been with us. You've been a beloved member of our team, which he has been. He was a one-time NFL MVP. He's a borderline Hall of Famer. I personally don't think he's a Hall of Fame quarterback. But people will talk about Matt Ryan when his career is over about whether or not he had a Hall of Fame career. And so they traded him to a really good situation, you know. But, you know, and Brendan, my producer pointed this out this morning. He's like, well, if they had been patient, if they hadn't been desperate on Wentz, how many teams were really going to be able to deal for Matt Ryan?

You were down to Carolina in Washington. And I said, well, no, you would have been down to Indy. And Brendan pointed out, not if they released him and had to eat the $28.3 million because they wouldn't have had the money for Ryan. And that's a good point. That's right. They might have been able to make it work, perhaps. But it would have come down to Carolina and Washington. And Carolina is in Atlanta's division.

So if Washington really did know that Matt Ryan was going to be made available via trade, then they should have been patient. But if they knew he was going to be available and they knew that Matt Ryan was going to be available and they knew that Matt Ryan was going to be made available. Ryan didn't want to play in Washington and Atlanta was going to try to accommodate him like Detroit did with Stafford. Now, the Rams ended up making a better offer. But anyway, we're spending too much time on Matt Ryan. Back to the deal they made. If they were bidding against themselves, it really is a reflection of a desperate team that panicked. They didn't want to be in the situation that Carolina's in now. They had to make a move at quarterback. They had to get better at quarterback. They had to get a name quarterback.

because Rivera basically promised that. It aligns with the business interest, even though Carson Wentz is not a needle mover. In fact, I would argue, and I think you'd agree with me on this, that if they had not traded for Carson Wentz, and they were in the position that Caroline is in now, but they were deciding between Kenny Pickett and Malik Willis, that actually Pickett and or Willis would have been a bigger selling point to the future of this franchise than Carson Wentz's.

But it doesn't matter. Absolutely. Where they are now is... they overpaid for Carson Wentz more likely than not. Doesn't mean that Carson Wentz won't produce. Doesn't mean it might not look like a bargain down the road. But in the moment, it was a reflection of desperation, of panic. And it's Ron Rivera putting all of his eggs in this all-important third year of a five-year deal,

which he's built up into this big thing. Third year, you know, you got to start the process of contending or winning. you know, in developing a sustained winning pattern in the third year, he's put all of those eggs into the Carson Wentz basket. Good luck on that. It might work out, and he'll look genius if it does. Yes, I mean, I'm not dismissing the possibility that it could work out. It's just that the odds are against it, and those odds are doubled

because it's happening here in Washington. Now, I'll give them the benefit of this. They have every right to be desperate. okay yes they've stayed in a way they should be desperate i understand that that might that might lead to foolish things but they have every reason to feel a little bit of panic they of course they do i mean and it aligns football well when you say that hold on i want to make sure i understand what you're saying i'm saying it as a franchise this first year with the new name and the new brand it's crucial that they have a competitive team and a product that people actually latch on to.

If not, it will be devastating to them if they're a four and 13, five, and 12 kind of team. Are you saying it because of Rivera or because of what I just said? Both. That's certainly a big component of it. Absolutely. I mean, you know, I mean, you don't want to go into a big change. whether it's a new stadium or in this case, the rarity of a new name, and turn fans off right from the start with a poor product. We don't have to worry about a new stadium yet. I know.

I'm just saying that would be one of the things. Most people in sports business will say, when you open up a new stadium, you should have a good team to open it up with. Right. Well, most people in consumer marketing or branding would tell you if you're going to change the brand significantly, it better be a really good product right from the jump. Yeah.

So, yeah. But let me just also just emphasize the other part of this that just is bothersome to me is you have experienced people in that organization, Marty Herney, Martin Mayhew, Ron Rivera, Rob Rogers, you know, Polion. I mean, you've got like three former NFL general managers in the building. and if they pay it and they did not they the deal is essentially being laughed at by people from around the league as a pure desperate move where they way overpaid where the Colts were laughing all the way to the bank

somebody's going to actually offer us two picks and pick up the whole salary what are you kidding me and we're going to swap spots. Oh, you want a seventh back? Oh, yeah, here's your seventh rounder back. Take it. Here's the other thing, and I hear this from a lot of people. Well, this was their guy all along. They believe in this guy.

They were not going to risk for an extra third round pick or second round pick, you know, losing him, you know, and letting him get waived in him picking somewhere else. This is the guy they want. this is their upgrade. Okay, well then why haven't they restructured his contract? If they're so sure that he's their guy, his contract would have been restructured so they'd have more cap space for this year. And they wouldn't have had to release Matt Ionitis or Eric Flowers,

or at least not both of them. So if they restructure his deal and they take on risk in 2023 and 2024, then that's showing me that they're really committed to him. But I think they think what most of us think, which is he's got talent, he's better than what we have, we had to overpay for him, but we're hoping.

We're hoping it works out. I mean, they are in with this trade, they're in the hope business. And they're not in the absolutely convinced business, because if they were, they would have already restructured his deal. They signed Joey Sly, the kicker to a two-year deal, two-year contract deal.

And by the way, the kicker Brian Johnson, the guy from Gonzaga that won the game against the Raiders, is still on the roster. So they'll have two guys in training camp for the first time in a while. But Sly, if you recall, was 12 for 12 on field goals with Washington. He missed one extra point. He was good, and he is part of the Carolina Panther Mafia. The Carolina Mafia continues to be able. big part of the Ron Rivera experience in Washington.

Sly was clearly their best kicker last year. He was an NFL kicker. No disrespect to Brian Johnson. I hope you catch on. You're a local. Went to Gonzaga. Purple Eagle. Joe Rada was telling me about Brian Johnson long before he signed here when he was in other places.

So I'm happy for him, and he hit a great game winner. The other guy, remember Chris Blewett is the guy that had three kicks blocked when he was here. I mean, they had a problem with block kicks last year. But, you know, Sly, by the way, and Brian Johnson, both Virginia tech guys as well. So you've got two kickers on the roster, both Hokies, and Joey Sly is going to end up being a kicker. I mean, they just signed them to a two-year deal. But, you know, with the injuries

they had, remember the Seattle game, the Monday night game, and this became a bit of a contentious issue with Ron Rivera because he was asked about, you know, why Tressway couldn't kick a 19 or 20-yard field goal at the end of that game when they were up 17 to 9? And he said, well, my special teams coach told me they couldn't kick it. Well, I mean, you know, don't most teams have like an emergency plan if their kicker gets hurt? Well, they didn't in that particular game. And they went for it on fourth down instead of kicking a field goal for an 11-point lead. and Logan Thomas had the touchdown pass, but it was overturned by replay. And then Russell Wilson, who hadn't done anything, the whole night drives them 96 yards,

and they scored touchdown. They missed the two-point conversion. But if they had lost that game, it would have been because they didn't have a plan for losing their kicker. And I'm still mystified as to why Tressway, who kicked several field goals at Oklahoma and college. why he couldn't go in there and punch one through from 19 or 20 yards. That still doesn't make sense to me. But Rivera was adamant. It doesn't make sense.

Rivera was adamant that the special teams coach, Nate Katzer, said, no, he's not able to do that. So there you go. We've got a couple of other things to finish up. We'll do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. I know you want to talk about Bradley Beale and the Wizards, which is always a surprise when Tommy wants to talk about the Wizards, especially since Ernie Grunfeld's not the general manager anymore.

But I wanted to start with this. I got this email from Gus. And Gus said, did you say yesterday that Adam Schaefter actually makes $9 million a year? What the hell? Yeah. Yeah, he does. And it made me start to think about this.

Adam Schaefter makes $9 million. dollars a year. He's got nine and a half million Twitter followers. So basically just call it, he's making a dollar per Twitter follower that he has per year. Adrian Wojnerowski

also got a new deal from ESPN recently for $7 million a year. This is insane to me. I can't figure it out at all. I mean, like I started looking And look, Scott's one of my best friends.

Scott's one of the most valuable people ESPN has. I think Stephen A is the highest paid ESPN, you know, on-air person, television person. Well, actually, no, Buck and Aikman are now. You know, Aikman and Buck signed deals that in aggregate were like $34 million. I think it's Aikman, $18 million and bucks $16 million. I think that's what it is. But they are calling Monday night football games perhaps the single biggest sports. property that ESPN has Monday night football. And, you know, they've gone through, you know,

the Joe Tessitores and the Steve Levy's and the Jason Wittons and the Booger McFarland's and the Lewis Riddicks, et cetera, over the last couple of years. And it's been a disaster. So, you know, I was thinking I can, I kind of get the Buck Aikman thing for ESPN. You know, and by the way, this is a trend with NFL analysts. I mean, the Tony Romo deal, they're just making insane money because the NFL is the number one property in this country. And if you're on television and you bring eyeballs and especially for a product like Monday Night Football, which has been struggling on ESPN, I kind of get that.

Adam Schaefter is not a TV person. I know he's on TV, but he's not even good on TV. People aren't watching ESPN because Adam Schaefter's on television occasionally. Wojnerowski is, sorry, but he's awful on television. okay but they have these unbelievable followings how woe generowski is only two million is two million lower than schaefter when and that's the NBA versus the NFL that's apples and oranges I would think shepter would make five times what woe generowski makes but the NBA is a big property of the SPN but Gus I have no idea how that pencils out I have no I know that with

Akeman and buck or stephen A or Scott the advertising dollars that come in for their programs justify what they're making. I have no idea how they generate enough revenue off of Schefter to offset $9 million a year in salary. I'm not saying that they don't. I just don't. I can't figure it out. This could be something that I'm completely missing and that this Twitter following

and being the, you know, the number one guy on the information, you know, front. There are a lot of guys that do it. Ian Rappaport, all these guys that do it a lot. And by the way, they work their asses off. They are tied to their cell phone 24-7. It actually would be a miserable existence to be one of these NFL reporters where you are paid to be first, as we talked about with the Dwayne Haskins story yesterday. You're paid to be first and you're paid to be accurate.

And you got, you know, and Schefter, by the way, is the number one guy on the NFL information beat, don't you think? Yes. Nine million. They're paying for the Twitter followers. That's what they're paying for, because those are eyeballs that probably go to their website, that, you know, that ESPN can monetize. I guess. They're paying for the Twitter followers.

It's pretty much simple as that. I don't get the TV personalities. I don't know anyone who watches television based on the announcers, not one person. I think you're right now. No, I don't think that's necessarily true, but it's more true than it used to be. You know, the game is the most important thing. I will agree with you on that. But ESPN's product has suffered because of the lack of a real star booth.

And because of it, by the way, the NFL has not given them great schedules. There's now the thought that Aikman and Buck are also going to command more respect from the NFL schedulers and that ESPN will get a better, you know, a better lineup of games. But that's not even really the point, Tommy. The point is that advertisers pay big for those games, big for those games and more, you know, for those games if those games are rating higher. And so if you get better games because you've got Aikman and Buck, then you're going to be able to monetize that more.

And by the way, 18 million and 15 million for an NFL broadcast booth, given the amount of money that comes in for NFL television is really a drop in the bucket at this point. I just don't know how you... If they get better games, then I understand it. We'll have to see. I'm not denying that the 9 million plus Twitter followers are monetizable. I understand that they are. I just would love to know how it works that they're monetizable at the rate of being

able to pay Adam Schefter $9 million a year. And here's the other factor. What? You don't want them leaving. You don't want them going to bar stool or fan duel or draft kings. That's what it is. Or something like that and putting one of those sites on the map. That's what it is 100%. I mean, they're all on the map. But, you know, blowing them up even more. He's in demand. You don't want them leaving. He's in demand. No doubt. And if he, if you don't have him and he goes somewhere else, then you don't have the number one NFL, all right, the biggest product on the planet, NFL inside.

So they're paying to keep them So they don't lose them to somebody else It's a defensive move Because I'm sure Schaefter and Wojnarowski You know, just like the TV guys at ESPN Have other networks coming for them It's still a shitload of money Right for a guy that just breaks NFL news

Like they're 12 of those guys that do it You know he just happens to be the one with the most Twitter followers and probably the one that's right the most often. And I know he's been wrong several times in recent months in particular. Many of you pointed that out when I told you, you know, when I shared with you my thoughts on the Schaefter initial tweet, which neither one of us picked up on, by the way, when we were doing the show live on Saturday. But anyway, what did you want to say about Bradley Deal? Well, first of all, just one last thing about Adam Schuster. He makes two million

dollars a year now more than Mike Shanahan made as to coach when he was with the football season. Well, think about how much more money he makes right now than a lot of the players he breaks news on. I know, but him and Mike are tight. Oh, that's true. When he first started covering the Denver Broncos, he never dreamed that he'd be making more than Mike Shattahan would. True. True. All right.

You know, I don't know if you notice, but the wizard season ended. Did you know that? It's over. Yes. Yeah. Candice Buckner, by the way, wrote a really good story on The Wizards. I don't know if I mentioned that on yesterday's podcast. She's actually a really good columnist. I told you.

No, I told you. A couple weeks ago. I told you. No, I told you. She's a very good column. No, you didn't. I did. No. Yes.

No, I said you need to have her on the show. Don't you remember this conversation? I do. I remember you agreeing with me and you're saying you're 100% right. You need to have her on the show. Because I said to you, Wasn't she a reporter? I read this column.

She's a really good columnist. And you said, you're right. She's excellent. No, I brought it up to you. Yeah. Okay. Okay. If you want that win, that's fine.

I'll tell you. It's not a big win. So they're not, they're not, they're not, they're not, not the playing game, right? They're not playing. No, you know they're not in the playing game. Okay. Okay. So now the big story is, well, the big weight is to see if Bradley B.

deal is going to sign a long-term deal to stay here for test-free agency. Right. And I'm here to tell you, they have a deal in place already. It's not signed. But when Bradley Beale had that surgery to have the torn ligament and his left wrist taken care of, from what I hear, part of that agreement to have the surgery was that that they would sign him to a deal, to a max contract, and he'd stay. It's like worth $250 million.

So think about this. Breaking news on the podcast, right? This is breaking news? Okay. Yeah, you can call breaking news if you want. This is, I mean, I'm pretty sure this is right. Are you going to tweet it out? Adam Schaefter style?

I may write it. Okay. No, I don't do that. I mean, I don't necessarily do that. But if he does, if this does happen, I believe it will, that means I think they'll have paid him almost $500 million since he's been with this organization. And what do they have to show for? I don't think there's any athlete in the history of Washington, D.C.

That has made $500 million from a Washington sports team. Well, you don't know that the next 250 won't produce something. No, I don't. But I know that they have to pay it. If he got hurt the day after he signed his contract that couldn't play anymore like John Wall, they'd have to pay it. Right.

So it's as good as money in the bank. Yeah, but it'll be a five-year deal worth $250 million bucks. I think that's what it is. I've got to look it up. It's something like that. So the $500 million number that you're citing doesn't account for the five years that haven't been played yet. No, it doesn't.

But it's money they owe him. It's money that they have agreed to pay him. There's nobody else in the history of this town that any sports team agreed to pay that much money to. It's amazing. It is amazing. You know, I think I have said this to you, but maybe it wasn't to you.

The trades that Tommy Shepard's made over the last couple of years, obviously, you know, the Westbrook thing, by the way, I think it's just hysterical to watch the Westbrook, Frank Vogel, L.A. Laker thing. I know it's not important to most of you. And ESPN obsesses with, you know, the Lakers season being over and why it went wrong. And Westbrook's complaining about Vogel. Vogel's fired. I don't know if Westbrook's going to play with the Lakers. I mean, bottom line is Westbrook and Anthony Davis and LeBron James barely even played all at the same time. time together. I think it was 21 games total. But that thing was so predictable from the beginning. But Tommy Shepard's made some really good traits. You know, he has. And I mentioned recently, and I forget if it was on the podcast or the radio show, that I did watch a little bit of Porzingis down the stretch before they sat him for the final few games. And they are a Bradley Beal being healthy, new contract, which you are breaking news that he's going to stay in Washington and sign the big deal. Porzingis actually playing a lot of games for the first time in his career.

Ahachamura continuing to develop. KSMA, KCP, and now just a point guard away from being relevant next year. And Malcolm Brogden is apparently on the block. And that would be a potential acquisition. You know, played at UVA, you know, the possibility that Indiana is ready to move Brogden and the Wizards have a major need for a point guard. I don't know what they'd have to give up. They might have to give up one of their pieces, but not Beale or Porzingis.

Or I don't think even Hacham or Akusma. But if they were to add a quality point guard like Malcolm Brogden along with Beale and Porzingis, and Hachamura and Kuzma and KCP and Gafford. That is a really good roster. Now, of course, the pitfalls of that roster is that none of these players seem to be able to stay healthy for an entire season and play. You know, Porzingis and Beal and Hachamara was out and all those.

But if you put that team together and you said it remained healthy for 75 of the 82 games, that's a team that would win a bunch of games. A bunch of games. I mean 45 games potentially, even in the East, which is really rough. That would be an interesting team to put on the floor next year if somehow they were able to work out a deal for like a Malcolm Brogden type to play point guard, because that's their biggest need now by far. That's their need. Well, they had a point guard That was supposedly a great locker room guy

But Bradley Beal didn't like him So they had to ship him out They had an alpha guy, Spencer Dinwiddie Yes Who Who See, I got major I've got some questions about

Wes Ansel Jr. And his ability to manage these players I mean, he did not make that locker room work when they had a point card. Remember when they were 10 and 3? They were 10 and 3, and everybody was so excited. No, something wasn't right. Something was not right in that locker room.

No doubt. No. And I remember everyone everyone was excited about Martel, what's his name, Montez-Harrell? Yeah, well, I mean, he did play very well for them. He played very well for them, yeah. And then they traded him. Yeah, they did. You know, I mean, I think there was an issue.

Again, there's not an issue there. They kind of had to move him because he wasn't signed for next year. But, yeah, no, I agree with you. I mean, there was something wrong, you know, after that start. And if you recall, when we were talking about their start to the season, and everybody was talking about how great they were on defense, what was I telling you? Do you remember?

You probably don't because you don't remember anything I say that proves to be right. But I said to you, I'm watching these games, and yeah, they're getting some defensive results, but they're not playing great defense. Teams are just missing shots, you know, during that 10-and-3 start. I don't see great team. I don't see great connected defense. You know, this isn't watching the Celtics, you know, play defense as they have here recently. And it turned out that they were not a very good defensive team.

They weren't a good team, period. I'm glad they lost their last three games, just increasing whatever chances they have of getting, you know, a decent pick in the lottery because they're going to be in the lottery this year. And it's going to be an interesting draft this year as well. But that's, let's not bury the lead here. Tommy has a source or sources that have said that have told him, Bradley Beale's going to resign and stay in Washington. Yes. Okay. Anything else for today?

I think I've given you more than you need. given a lot. More than you deserve. Much more. That's for sure. We're done for the day. Back tomorrow, Tommy, you'll be back with me on Thursday.