The Kevin Sheehan Show - Senator Cheerful

Episode Date: May 26, 2022

Kevin and Thom today on Virginia State Senator Chap Peterson's quotes that the Washington Commanders "have no history, no tradition and no fan base". It appears as if the chances Virginia approves $350 million towards a new Commanders' stadium are dwindling. The boys talked about a ton of other things including the passing of Ray Liotta.  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 Chean Show. Here's Kevin. Guess who is back on the show today after, I don't know, a week plus of being off of it. Tommy is back and he is sitting in a parking lot outside of Arby's. Where are you exactly?

In Dilberg, Pennsylvania, just south of Harrisburg. On your way back from Cooperstown? Well, we got back from Cooperstown last night, and I stayed in my buddy's house up in Bangor, Pennsylvania, near to Poconos. So tell everybody why you went to Cooperstown again? Well, a good friend of ours, he lost his wife not long ago, and he's a big sports fan, and he's never been to the baseball hall fame. So me and my best friend, Pete, we told him we'd take him up there, and that's what we did. Awesome. We went to the boxing hall of fame on Tuesday afternoon, and then we got into Cooperstown Tuesday night and spent a night, staying in a nice little lakefront motel on Lake Ostego.

And then we spent all day Wednesday at the baseball Hall of Fame. Is the Baseball Hall of Fame a Hall of Fame you can do in a day? Yeah, but you need a full day to do it. I mean, a boxing hall fame you can do in an hour. You know, it's not that big. The baseball hall fame, you need to get there when they open, go out for lunch, and then come back again. You've been many times, right? I've only been in, well, I've covered one, two, three induction ceremonies.

Tom Seaver, Eddie Murray, and Cowrickton. I was there as a fan before I became a sports writer back in the 80s so that's when I've been there but this guy had never been there and he's a youth sports fan and it was great because you know, because I'm a baseball writer

and a Hall fame voter I didn't really realize this I get in for free to the Hall fame How much does it typically cost? Well, $28. Okay. And I, and we got a behind-the-scenes tour of a lot of the stuff.

They only display 10% of what they have. So they took us downstairs in their archives and showed us all kinds of stuff. Oh, wow. So it was really good. And he had a good time. Yes. Yeah, it was great. But he had to pay 28 bucks.

Well, we paid for his ticket. Okay, good. No. Did you say his grandson was with you? We picked up a tab for this thing. Yeah, he was 21. Oh, that's nice. The grandson's 21.

He was with us, and he had a great time. Did he appreciate it? Was he a big enough baseball fan to appreciate it? Oh, he loved it. He loved it. Okay, good. He really, he may have the best time of all of us. More than maybe your granddaughter down in Orlando?

Oh, yeah. In Orlando? Yeah, yeah. Okay. Mortisha Adams? Yeah. Don't knock the goth look. There's nothing wrong with that.

Maybe she's just going through a phase. So you're on your way back. You have stopped at an Arby's, which I know this about you. It's Roy Rogers and Arbyes are probably your two favorite fast food joints, right? Yeah. Yeah, I'm looking at a sign in the window right now that says classic roast beef sandwiches, four for $10. You think I could eat four for lunch?

Four roast beef sandwiches for $10? I hope that's like a catering bill. Well, you could buy four for $10 and then maybe eat two of them and then, you know, get yourself a cooler with some mice on the money you saved on the sandwiches, keep them cold and eat them tomorrow. No, I don't believe in leaving food around. No, you don't. So you've had a nice couple of days.

That's good. Yeah, yeah, it was good. And I know there's been a lot going on while I've been gone. A lot going on. Let's get to it. Yeah, I don't need, I haven't, what I typically do is I'll create a list of the things that we haven't talked about since you've been out. We'll have to figure it out as we go along. I do want to remind everybody just to rate us and review us on Apple in particular, five stars, quick one to two sentence review.

And we like reading them. This from Zeke via Apple Podcasts, he rated us five. stars and he asked, can you please tell the story when you first met Tom from A to Z? Love the show. I listen every day. So thank you for supplying a nice stress reliever. Go commanders. Commanders with a lowercase C. Well, thank you, Zeke. Can I tell the story when I first met Tom from A to Z? I can't remember the first time I remember that I met Tom. I do remember. I remember it.

It wasn't dramatic. I remember I met you in the bullpen once. And that was it. You know, I'm positive we met at the station, obviously, because we weren't working together, and you were doing Andy and Steve's sports reporters show a lot. But you don't remember the day you met me from A to Z. The day of the week? No.

I don't remember the day of the week. don't remember anything about the first time we met. I remember we shook hands. We said hello, and I didn't really know who you were. Well, that's interesting because I don't remember the first time I met you, and you wouldn't have known who I was back then because I was probably just an update anchor at the station. Yes, you were. But let me just say to Zeke, I do remember the first time we were asked, I was asked, would I want to do a show with Tom Levero? And my answer was immediately yes. And the reason for that was I was a fan of Tom, when he was on with Andy and Steve.

Now, I'm sure we had had some conversations in the bullpen, you know, during those years. But, you know, you and I didn't know each other. Although, actually, now that I think about it, when I was doing the show with Rigo, I had you on the show a couple of times. You came on as a baseball guest on our show. Yes, I did. But I do remember specifically that this was, you know, Tom was still doing his appearances on the sports reporter. I had hosted a show with Rigo, but then after two and a half years, they decided to move on from the John Riggins show, which, by the way, was upsetting to me because I loved doing that show.

They wanted me to host a show in mid-days, and they put me with Doc. Doc and I did a show for about a year and a half, and then they wanted to put Doc with Coach Thompson, and they, and they wanted me to do the show by myself. I did this show by myself for like six months. Mark was producing it. Mark Stern was producing it. And then I had said all along, you know, if there's ever an opportunity to have a partner, I'm definitely interested.

And they came to me with a couple of ideas. I'm not going to tell you the names of the people that I said absolutely not to. but there were two names specifically, I remember. They said, you know, we've been thinking about doing something. And the show was going fine, but there was an opportunity to do something with the Washington Times. And it was a revenue opportunity for the station. And they said, would you consider doing a show with Tom Leverro? And I said, absolutely yes.

The other person that had been talked about at various times that I said absolutely yes to was Chris Naki. You know, because Naki was doing sports reporters. And I don't think that came up at that time. That may have come up at the time when Doc and I, when they moved Doc to Coach's show, and they said, would you do something with Chris Nocky? And I said, absolutely. And then they decided to go with me solo there with Mark producing it.

But when the Washington Times thing came up, I said, absolutely yes. and they said, well, the two of you, and I don't, did, and I'm assuming they came to you, and asked you as to whether or not you would do it, and what did you say? Yes. Look, and I wanted to get on the air with anybody pretty much. Yeah, right. So, I mean, full-time, I wanted to be on a radio full-time. Right.

You know, I wanted to be on every day. I know, but did you have a preference? Did I have a preference? Of who you'd like to work with? Not really. Okay. I tell you what, why don't we just say, did I have people I absolutely didn't want to work with who were on the radio? You were not on that list.

You and I decided to go out to lunch together, and we went and had lunch at Urban Barbecue. This is what I was getting to, because this is what I remember in terms of the first real, like you and I get it. together. We had known each other at that point because you'd been on the show. You'd been a guest on the show. We would, you know, I'm sure have had a lot of conversations. But you and I got together at the urban barbecue in Rockville, literally almost across the street from the station. And we talked about it. And I just, I remember the conversation going very well. And when it was over, thinking, yeah, it's exactly what I thought. I think this will be, Tommy will be easy. I shouldn't say easy to work with

because I don't know if I ever knew one way or another whether you'd be easy or difficult to work with but I knew that I thought it would be really good back and forth and that the conversations would be really easy because I think when I had you on the show

as a guest it was always good so that was my memory of it that the lunch went well and I think you know per usual I picked up the tab Well, yeah More likely than that.

It's important to set ground rules right from the start. Right. But do you remember that, lunch? Yeah, I remember that. Yeah. I remember that. An urban barbecue on the other side of the street from the radio station, you know, back behind the little shopping center there, yeah.

Right. I remember that. Now, what I am going to, well, what was your impression of that? What do you remember about us spending like the first real moments together contemplating doing a show? Because, you know, they had asked me, they said, you talk to Tommy, you get comfortable with it. And if you're comfortable with it, we'll do it because there's this opportunity with the times to make money. And I had already said, yeah, I would definitely consider it. And when I got done with that, I called, it must have been Chuck, right?

Or was it, was it Chuck or was it? No, it was Dennis. Oh, it was Dennis? Oh my God, of course it was Dennis. He still takes credit to this very day. It was Dennis, that's right. And I remember saying to Dennis, yeah, absolutely. Let's go for it.

What do you remember? Well, look, you know, the earth didn't move. If that's what you're looking for. I didn't ask for that. I mean, I was excited about being on the air. And I was looking forward to doing the show with you. But I really had a lot to learn. I figured out about how to do sports talk radio.

I had ideas about what would be good, and they were not necessarily the same that was... They were not accurate. Okay, how's that? I, well, I don't, I mean, I don't remember you and I really ever having... I swear this is true. to this day, I don't remember ever having a real confrontation with you about the show that we did together or even anything. Am I missing something?

We had, I don't remember what it was about, but we had a thing once where we both stood up out of our chairs and Stern came running into the room. Really? During a break. What was it? Yes. I don't even remember. I don't even remember what it was. I don't remember that at all.

That's the only thing I remember, and nothing happened out of it. But it was intense enough that Stern had to come in and calm us down. I swear on my kids, I do not remember that at all. I bet he remembers. Well, then you probably remember. And you're not being truthful here. I don't remember what it was about. No, I mean, he probably remembers the incident.

And maybe he remembers what it was about. I don't remember what it was about. I'm sure it was an argument about programming. What should we do that? A segment we should do or a guess we should have. You know? This was my learning curve. I was learning.

And you were much more experienced at it than I was and knew what people wanted to listen to. I wasn't super experienced at that point. But yeah, I had been doing a show as the, kind of lead decision maker on a show for more than you had ever done. I do remember, I do remember the abs, now you weren't mad at me, but you were very angry with something that I was about to do, that I was completely oblivious to the fact that this would anger you.

And you know what I'm going to say, right? Super Bowl, Radio Row. It was before the vote for Jacoby and Grim or something. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And the particular writer that was, you know, the guy that was pitching them in the Hall of Fame discussions was, you know, kept hovering around our table. And he kept asking me, you know, Kevin, you want me to come on? And I said, absolutely, why don't you stick around? We'll get you on.

And with that, I looked over at you and you stared me down like you wanted to kill me, but really what you wanted to do was kill this person. And then during a break, he had walked away and you said, if you put him on, I am leaving the table. I will not be here for that conversation. And I'm like, whoa. He was a weasel. That guy was a weasel of the first order. And I know that now. The fact that he did to me at the paper, I mean, that was, that was a deal breaker.

Well, you didn't know that at the time. I had no idea, but it was hysterical. But I do remember, and I remember, you know, you saying, and I just said, okay, that's fine. I didn't know. And you said, no, I know you didn't know, but it doesn't matter. If he sits down at this table, I'm getting up and I'm leaving. And so I went over to him, and I just said, hey, we don't have, we're not going to be able to do it today. But good luck.

Yeah. Which is perfectly believable because time for segments are valuable at Radio Row. Right. They were. God, you were. No. Is it fair to say that, I mean, there have been people that we haven't liked in this business. You know, we haven't respected, we haven't liked, we haven't put on any of our shows before,

and we've probably been in agreement on most of them. And that list, by the way, for me, isn't very long. longer for you. And no, it is longer for you. But is it fair to say that he is number one on your list, on the list that you keep? Yeah, I'd say so. Yeah. I think so. Should we disclose who it is? No, no, no, no, no. No, no. What's the point? Yeah, what's the point? No point in doing it. Exactly. You know? Nobody's mentioned his name

in any reference to anything in 10 years. Why should we be the first? I wonder if the argument you're talking about. I do remember early on you thought we should do a lot less of kind of the football, you know, Redskins talk and NFL talk and we should be doing much more baseball discussion. I do remember that early on. Yeah. Yeah. And I had to learn. And I learned, believe me.

I learned. Yeah. But I had to learn that because like most fans, most people. who contact the radio station like Capps fans and say, why don't you do more Caps talks? I guess I was at that mentality. I was thinking, geez, it's your show.

You can decide what you want to talk about. Why don't we do more of this? Right. I guess I didn't take account that there wouldn't be anybody listening. Well, it's not that there wouldn't be anybody listening. But it was the old, you know, Bruce Gilbert, who was, you know,

the CEO of the station for a few years. years, and he's not the only one to kind of coin the sports talk radio or just talk radio. Actually, it's music radio. Play the hits is what they said. And understand that your audience on live radio essentially is changing every 10 minutes. Like the average length of listening time is like 10 to 12 minutes. So even though you think you're being repetitive, the bottom line is you are, but it's not repetitive. to the majority of the audience.

And then what you end up doing, yeah. And that was at a time still when the football team was, quote, a viable NFL franchise. Yeah, when they were still viable and hadn't lost all their fans. Yes. That's what we will get to next. If you guys haven't seen it at this point, we'll certainly update you. on it, but Virginia State Senator Chap Peterson

who is one of the 40 state senators in Virginia that will be voting or perhaps not voting on June 1st to approve what I've been told is $350 million. In fact, when I say I've been told Michael Phillips

from the Richmond Times dispatch said it's not 300 million, it's 350 million that they are looking to approve to provide to provide to the team via, you know, bonds and tax revenue, etc. But the bottom line is $350 million will be voted on next week. And this particular state senator, his vote is going to be a no.

But really, the headline was why his vote is going to be a no. And we'll get to that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. I guess I'm assuming most of you have seen this story at this point. But for those of you who haven't, Eric Flack, the guy Tommy from Channel 9, broke this story last, you know, evening or, you know, last night at some point. A story on the WUSA 9 website. This guy's been doing a really good job, by the way, breaking a lot of news related to the team in the stadium in particular. And he wrote a story titled Commander Stadium Financing Bill is losing support of some Virginia lawmakers. Now, before I get to the money quote from State Senator Chap Peterson here in a moment,

just for Tommy's purposes, and for those of you that haven't been paying attention to this story, earlier this week, there was first, you know, it was a bit of, you know, of a cluster, you know what, on Tuesday when initially the team provided information to guys like John Kheim and others that they had purchased land in Dumfries. when in fact the story was that they had purchased, that they had an option to purchase land in Woodbridge. So they kind of, you know, once again, and not to defend them, I just will tell you that these are smarter people

and less arrogant people in that building now, much less. I'm not talking about the owner. I'm talking about the people that work for Jason Wright, and Jason in particular. They're not... They just seem to hide it well. Well, they are smart. and they are a lot less arrogant.

But they kind of bungled this on Tuesday. And the net of it was they have an option to buy a big plot of land in Woodbridge. And with that announcement came all these pretty pictures of what the new stadium would look like. And Ron Rivera just tweeted out moments ago, saw the designs of our new command post, our new team headquarters complete with meeting spaces, practice fields, and training facilities. looks amazing, proud of what we are building. And you see the practice facility and the big headquarters and the big stadium behind it. And, you know, this is all, by the way, right now,

including the Bungle Day on Tuesday that eventually got the announcement out that they had purchased or they had the option to purchase this land. What they're really trying to do right now is it's becoming much more clearer by the minute is they really want this very important vote in Virginia on June 1st. next week to go in their favor. They don't want this bill to die, the bill to provide $350 million to the team for a potential new stadium and a lot of, you know, retail, commercial, residential, mixed use around this stadium. More likely than not in Prince William County, but there's also, and Michael Phillips had some reporting on that, the team is still considering a location on the loud. County, Fairfax County lines.

So maybe, you know, the Ashburn-Hurndon kind of area, Sterling out there, which I think the team would prefer. West Virginia. West Virginia, that the team would prefer over Prince William. But anyway, so that was the other day. And then Eric Flack, the reporter from WUSAT TV 9, wrote last night, a plan to help fund a Washington Commander Stadium in Northern Virginia could be in danger of being sacked by lawmakers in Richmond.

WUSA 9 is learned owner Daniel Snyder is losing support for a bill that would give him hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars to move the team to the Commonwealth. And then you had all of these quotes from one of the 40 state senators who will vote on this, maybe vote on this if it's brought for a vote. And as I understand it, he's one of the sponsors. Yeah. Yeah, but he also voted for it back in January when it was a billion dollars. He was for it, and now he's not for it at $350 million.

But just so everybody understands, because I don't know that I did a good job of explaining this earlier this morning, but I've learned a lot more. There are 40 state senators. June 1st is the day before they adjourn essentially for the year. And if they don't vote on it, or if they vote on it, or if they vote on, it and it doesn't pass, but if they don't vote on it, it can't be brought up again until 2023. And if it's not available for them to vote on, that means they probably didn't have the votes to approve it. But this was something that back in February, there was like a 32 to 8 vote in favor of moving forward with, you know, gathering more information on it. But anyway,

let me get to the money quote from Chap Peterson, the state senator, who will be one. of the 40 that will either vote on it if it's available to be voted on or not. He's in no vote after being a yes vote back in January. He said the following in a release. Virginia State Senator Chap Peterson released a statement today regarding the proposal by the Washington commanders to build a football stadium in Prince William County. The commanders have recently obtained an option to purchase 200 acres of land near I-95. near Dumfries. I've had a chance to read the legislation.

It's actually near Woodbridge. I've had the chance to read the legislation closely several times in its original and amended form. I've also followed the news as the team has obtained an option on land in Virginia to build a stadium surrounding mixed-use development. I respect the fact that it might create jobs and revenue in Prince William. However, I do not plan to support the project or Virginia's pursuit of this NFL franchise. He writes, I have two concerns. One is that the development is too far removed from an urban setting, unlike Nat's Park at the Navy Yard, which will make it solely dependent on vehicle traffic for access. More importantly, and here it comes, I don't have confidence in the Washington commanders as a viable NFL franchise. I grew up a Washington Redskins fan and was a season ticket holder for 22 years.

That team defined our community for multiple generations. The Washington commanders are not that team. They have no history, no tradition, and no fan base. I do not consider them an appropriate economic partner for the Commonwealth of Virginia because I don't think that they have the community support to survive, closed quote. So Eric Flack's story along... Let me just point out, that's the biggest slapdown you'll hear from a public. politician. That's a major slapdown.

Yeah. I mean, basically, he just disrespected them as if they didn't exist. Yeah, no, I mean, he's essentially saying, I mean, somebody sent me something this morning. You know, the, the roasting of Michael Scott episode, when he pisses Dwight off, and Dwight gets up, stands up and says, you have no friends, you have no family, you have no land, you know. And so essentially that's what this guy is saying. You know, he says they, they are, the Washington commanders are not that team. They have no history, no tradition, and no fan base. Are you calling me an idiot? You ever talk to me that way. You pathetic,

short little man. You don't have any friends or any family or any land. So, what's your reaction to it? Well, initially my reaction, and I still maintain. this based on people I know in the business of football and the NFL, there is no way. The league is going to let the commanders put a football stadium in Woodbridge, Virginia. That's not going to happen. Okay. Okay? I mean, like the senator just said basically what the NFL would think.

You're putting this out in Bump, stock, you know, Virginia, you're Washington, D.C. Redskins. Now, there may be a lot of reasons why they can't get in Washington, but the NFL doesn't want to hear that. That's the owner's job to figure it out. Like I've told you before, getting the stadium for owners, getting a new stadium is one of the most, if not the most important thing. an owner does for the NFL the way the other owners see it. And, you know, I mean, Woodbridge, Virginia just isn't going to cut it. I mean, you know, so the NFL is never going to let him do that. Secondly, I see no reason to change at all.

the prediction I've had for a couple years now in that, you know, Virginia was never going to happen. These projects fall apart in Virginia all the time. This happens. I mean, again, I mean, it happened to Jack Kent Cook, who had three Super Bowls on his belt. I think that they're going to wind up right back where they are, building a stadium.

If they're lucky, building a stadium right next to Ghost Townsield. ultimately, I think that's where they're going to wind up. And, you know, I mean, what's happened in Virginia? I mean, even what... This is just like the beginning step. Let's say they get lucky and get the approval. There's so many hoops they have to jump through before that. That based on their incompetence and contrary to what you believe,

they're still remarkable arrogance. that they'll be incapable of jumping through the hoops that it takes to get a massive project like this. The third thing, you saw the plans for this, like this mini-city. Okay? This guy couldn't even keep a beer sponsor, and he's going to build a little city. He ran an amusement park company into the ground.

You know, everything. he has touched except this football team for the last 10 or 15 years seems to have turned the shit and he's going to build this massive project where where is the face that he can pull something

like this off? Right. I mean yeah, anybody's seen six flags? By the way, it's really hard to lose a beer sponsor when you're an NFL team. That's pretty funny. That's pretty funny. I don't know that I've been with you.

I mean, I don't know that I've always been with you on this, but I've been with you recently on this. And look, if they, by the way, let me make one thing clear. Even if they vote next week, and it's a yes, and they've got to get, by the way, simple majority, okay, of the 40 state senators, they've got to get simple majority. Actually, what they really need is 20 out of 40 to vote yes, because the tiebreaker is the lieutenant governor,

and Yonkin really wants this. So his lieutenant governor will probably vote yes if it's a tie at 2020. I was also kind of told that this probably won't come for a vote next week if they don't have the votes. And if they don't have the votes, they're just going to shelve it for a year, which means it's essentially dead. And if they get to that point, if we're here next week, where they don't vote on this, they adjourn for the year,

which means that it's dead, then Virginia's dead. And then we know D.C. is pretty much dead. And then we get back to Maryland. And by the way, Maryland's offered $400 million for, you know, Landover where Hogan made it very clear that this is not for the stadium. But whatever, it's $400 million. And they're only, you know, they're only voting in Virginia to provide $350 million worth of subsidies.

And here's the other thing. like the league offers 200 million to teams building a new stadium, but to your point, they've got to be okay with what the plan is. Now, San Francisco moved the 49ers from Candlestick, all right, to Santa Clara. I mean, we've seen teams move much further away, but, you know, no offense to Woodbridge. Santa Clara is right near San Jose, which is rather big bustling. city, which is part of Silicon Valley. So it's quite different down there. And D.C.'s got the second worst traffic problem in America. And part of it, and a big part of it, is the I-95 going south

situation down in the mixing bowl area, they call it. Newington and Woodbridge and all those areas down there. Woodbridge is basically where those outlets are, right? The, what you call it, Mills? Potomac Mills. Potomac Mills. Yes. So I said the other day, Tommy, I talked briefly when the first story came out about the land option. It's weird, but we're sitting here and we're talking about this. And we're talking about it today because this was a pretty, you know, a pretty provocative quote from a politician in Virginia. Yes.

Yes, it is. And we still haven't, you know, picked apart that quote yet, which we can do. But it's funny, I think that this is part of this guy's point, and that is, you know, it's not that they're not a viable business. Every NFL team is a viable business, and they'll never stop being a viable business. You know, if he's implying that an NFL team's going to lose money or run out of money, that's just not true. I mean, that last television deal was basically for like $110 or $115 billion over 10 years. I mean, the one that they signed last year. So, you know, that kicks in, I think, in 2024.

Maybe it's next year it kicks in. But it's none of these teams, you know, if that were the case, then teams in small markets would never survive. They're going to survive. The issue for him is whether or not people are going to care enough about this team in seven years when we've already seen the caring, dwindle to a fraction of what it used to be, and that if that's the case, then where are the job going to come from if nobody's showing up to this city that Dan's going to build?

And even on game days... Yeah, go ahead. Maybe the better way to say it is they wouldn't be a viable business partner. Yes, that's a better way to play. Yes, because the team obviously will make... money by itself. But, you know, if you're looking to make money off the team, that's pretty dismal right now. That's true. That's 100% the way that it should have been said. And maybe if he has a chance to speak more on this, that that's essentially what he, you know, he would say. That, you know,

instead of saying, I don't have confidence in the NF, in the Washington commanders as a viable franchise, you know, that the bottom line is, and he did say I don't consider them an appropriate economic partner for the Commonwealth of Virginia, that he doesn't believe that it's going to generate the kind of revenue that will allow them to pay off the bonds that they're going to have to use to give the team the money, you know, and that if 15 to 20,000 people are showing up to a 60,000 seat stadium only eight to nine times a year, well, that's fewer jobs. That's fewer revenue, much less revenue, and that would be the case you would make. And what I was getting to, before we circled back to his comments, I don't care about this

story. I mean, I thought that the quote was provocative and it's entertaining and it's fun to talk about, but I already have lost so much passion. 90% of my friends that were diehards and season ticket holders forever, they've lost the same level, if not more, sort of passion for the team. The name change was always going to be a huge financial risk to the team. I mean, even if the team had been doing well when they made the change on the field and otherwise, this is always a major risk to any longstanding brand. And no offense to those that would write or say on this subject long before the name was changed,

If they do it, it's going to be a financial bonanza to the team. They just, you know, they were ignorant to what, you know, emotional detachment to a brand actually means in dollars and cents. They need to win the Super Bowl this year. They need to be a 12-win team this year, you know, for them to have a chance to turn it into something resembling a financial, you know, gain. Forget, you know, bonanza. but it's like in 2027, this is not a big thing for me right now. We're the new stadium's going to be built. I still would prefer D.C. in the event that I'm still a fan five or six years from now,

but I don't even know how I'm going to feel about the team five or six years from now. Because if Snyder still owns the team, it probably means another five to six years of being worn down. And, you know, at that point, like many have already done, I might be completely out, completely checked out. I'm not completely checked out right now. I'm much less passionate, but six years from now, if we continue to have what we've had for the last 22, which by the way the odds are in favor of that, I'm not going to care where they build a stadium. I'm going to be doing other things on Sundays. Yeah.

Maybe not if I'm still doing it. this. But I think that's what this guy's getting at. It's like there are too many people like him that are like the commanders. You know, he's right when he says the Washington commanders are not that team. This is an expansion team without the changing of the owner. That's the way many are viewing it. 2-22 wasn't the final, it was it. It's, It's not that it was the final blow. There's been one body punch after another over the last couple of years in particular, but it was a jarring shot that I don't even think, you know, guy, I mean, look, Rigo and Kooley,

who I thought wouldn't care. Oh, actually, I predicted that Kooley would care more than he ended up, than he said he would care. They both were like, wow, this is commanders. I don't even identify with that. Rigo called it, what was? it was like something died in him that day. And I think a lot of people, I think a lot of people feel that way. And I know where he's coming from.

Now, he's wrong on the ability of that franchise to survive. No NFL business is going out of business. Exactly. Absolutely. But if you're relying on that NFL team for your paycheck to make money off of it, that's more accurate in terms of the damage that it could create. Now, here's another Virginia thing that everyone seems to just dismiss and flick away. And everyone may be right, but it's a fact of life right now.

The Attorney General for the state of Virginia, whatever you want to call it, I'm going to call it an investigation. It's investigating the football team. Okay? Yeah. I mean, he's looking, basically, he received a letter from the Oversight Committee about the details. Oh, yeah, right. Was it the FTC or the oversight committee, whatever it was, yeah.

Yeah, I think he got, it came from the oversight committee. I didn't see, I wouldn't see the FTC reaching out to a politician like that. So it came from the oversight committee about all the details that they've uncovered and alleged allegations. in their investigation and said, here, you might want to look at this. And he decided, yes, which I think kind of shocked a lot of people. Right. It's over the security deposit part of the financial impropriety allegations from Jason Friedman. Right.

Yeah. He could have said no. He could have said, this is a nice letter, put it in a circular bin, and nobody would have blinked an eye. It would have been expected. Yeah. I'm just curious about what's going to happen with that. What was the point of saying, yeah, we're going to look into this? I mean, there are some people who believe it's to make Dan Snyder look good to absolve him of any wrongdoing

so he can say, look, the Virginia Attorney General has absolved me, and maybe that'll be the case. You know, but that's a curious little thing that I think people may wind up being surprised about. Yeah, I mean, I think that the challenge for the people in the organization that are, you know, responsible for the new stadium, you know, working with Dan and Jason and the challenges for Jason as well, because Dan's certainly not out taking these meetings. I mean, they want to keep him as far away from any of these, you know, discussions as possible. is that for, you know, especially progressive politicians, it's really hard to tell your constituents, I need you to give up some of your tax money for Dan Snyder. I mean, this is the biggest problem.

You've talked about it for several years, that this was going to be a problem, that he's toxic, that nobody wants to do business with him, and the reason they don't want to do business with them is because they can't go back and look their constituents in the eye and say, hey, we're going to build a mistake. stadium. By the way, you know, nobody anywhere, you know, in this country really wants to spend money to build a stadium for these billionaire owners, let alone somebody like him. So I think that's

part of the challenge is that, you know, they're trying to get this done. They don't want to, you know, there's another, there's a math problem here too. And the math problem is this. We know, we know, that in Virginia, the stadium was going to be a billion dollars. The whole project was going to be $3 billion. Remember, I think Eric Flack, you know, kind of reported on all of that maybe, you know, during the fall or earlier this year, whenever it was. The whole project was going to be $3 billion, and the stadium was going to be a billion of that. Well, in a $3 billion project, which is, you know, stadium and then mixed use, you know, all around it, retail, commercial, residential, whatever. He can get other people to foot the bill for the

the other two billion dollars. It's the stadium that he's going to come out of pocket for if he doesn't get all of that money. If the stadium's going to cost a billion dollars, let's just say in Virginia, well, he's got potentially 350 million if they give it to him. He's got 200 million from the league that still puts them at, you know, $450 million short of finishing that stadium. He already owes the league. He already owes the league money for the money that he loaned to buy out as minority shareholders. Now, he can sell the pieces of land that he has. He owns a lot of land out in Loudoun County.

That land's worth a lot of money. The land in landover is worth a lot of money. He owns all of that. And he could certainly borrow against that, I guess, to fund the rest of it. But this comes back to, you know, the cash flow issue that we've been told for a few years now that he is having, which is why he had to borrow to buy out his shareholders, why he needed the debt limit waived so he could borrow to buy out his minority shareholders. Now, remember, he could take on a new group of minority shareholders and have them pay,

you know, a billion and a half dollars to be a 40% owner or whatever. And that could be where the new funds come from. But then he'd have to pay off the loan. I mean, I don't know, I don't have access to what they have, but I can tell you that their goal is to get the billion dollars that would go towards building the stadium completely funded by, you know, state, county, other entities that Dan doesn't want to come out of pocket for that, which is why if Virginia only approves $350 million, which now appears to be in jeopardy, and they get $200 million from the league and he's got to come out of pocket $450 million for a billion dollar stadium. Well, now maybe Landover looks better because it may not cost nearly as much to build the

stadium on a property that's already there, that he already owns. He doesn't have to buy the land. You know, he doesn't, you know, I don't know what would go into it and I don't know the exact costs of the stadium there. But the more and more you delve into this, the more and more it seems likely that the ultimate outcome will be Landover Part 2. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, anything else I think would be an upset. I mean, and like I pointed out, I know people don't like that, and they have good

reason not to like it. But the Giants built their stadium right next their old stadium. The Eagles built their stadium right next to the old stadium. A lot of teams do it. It's not an unusual thing to happen. Yeah. It's the pass of least resistance. Yeah, I mean, and shelling out taxpayer money to build these billionaires, their stadiums,

has become so much less popular over the years, and it doesn't always pencil out, you know, for these areas. Particularly with football, particularly with football, since, I mean, technically, you're only dealing with 10, home dates a year. Now you have the concerts and the other events that you put on, but that's not something you can just pencil in. You have to compete for those events. So it's not like a baseball stadium where 81 nights a year, there's going to be a crowd there, or even a basketball arena, where, you know, 41 nights a year, there'll be a crowd there. So a football stadiums, have a harder road to travel for public financing, to convince people that public financing is worthy. Let me finish up with this, because we didn't say this.

You know, there's always the possibility when it's a politician. He's just looking to, you know, with his handout to get something in return for a yes vote. That happens all the time. That's a possibility. But I think the statement was pretty definitive from him. So he would look pretty hypocritical at this point if he went back on it. And, you know, in many ways, he kind of looks hypocritical for voting for the billion dollars, and now a few months later voting, no.

He sounds to me very much like, you know, many of the people that I know, long-time, lifelong fan season ticket holder that, you know, that understands the brand is. that valuable anymore. And I'm not talking about, you know, the NFL franchise if it were to be sold and what it would be sold for. I'm talking about the brand right now in this market is at a point in which really probably no other NFL franchise is at, including Jacksonville. It's pretty close right now between Jacksonville and Washington as the bottom feeders from, you know, an ancillary revenue opportunity. outside of the TV dollars in the league. The other thing that I wanted to just close with on this was, I had another thought, and I'm forgetting what it was. Whatever.

I mean, we've spent too much time talking about something that I have claimed I'm not even interested in. But this quote was, you know, and I'm now very interested in the vote next week. Because if, for whatever reason, they don't vote on, it and it gets shelved, it's over in Virginia. It's over. And the team desperately, you can see it.

And I think this is what was, you know, the other day was about. And what Ron Rivera tweeting out this morning is about. They really need this vote to go their way because, oh, this is what I wanted to say. Because even if the vote goes their way, it doesn't mean that they're definitely locked into Virginia. But now Virginia is on board and now maybe they'll get more from Maryland. or maybe D.C. will somehow pull off a miracle inside straight. Because that's their preferred destination.

They want to be in D.C. The league wants them. When Tommy says the Ligain allowing them to build something in Woodbridge, the league does not want them to be in Woodbridge. The league wants a stadium on the RFK site, so when you get the overheads on Monday night football, you got a shot of the Capitol. You know, they want to be right near.

They want to be in the heart of this city again. But that is a hard path right now because, as we all know, it's, you know, federally owned land that the city would have to buy back. And then the city has already said, build it here, but we're not giving you a cent to do it. So I don't think it's going to happen in D.C. All right. Anything else on this? No. Well, it's just, it's stadiums, look, I mean, I've covered the whole Washington baseball stadium issue.

Right. And that was so different in so many ways. I know that, you know, the financing for the government money that they're talking about in Virginia is probably to come from special taxing districts for businesses surrounding the stadium. I'm thinking that would profit from being near the stadium, which is what happened with the baseball stadium. There was a special taxing district created. And the district, I don't know if they still are,

but the district made far more money than they anticipated making. It was a huge boon and success for the city, Nats Park, in terms of revenue. And I think they could actually pay off the stadium now if they wanted to. the debt on the stadium. That's how lucrative it's been. So I'll be real curious as to if this moved forward, how the rest of that's going to unfold. All right. Because right now, businesses don't even want to buy suites for this team to turn around and give their customers tickets to. Tommy, I've said this before, and as the days go by and whatever you,

said just sparked this thought in my mind again. This, this market would be better off with an actual expansion team with a new owner than trying to fit this square peg into a round hole. Because it is a square peg right now. And there's nothing that's fitting easily. But an expansion team with a new owner, it would be a completely different situation altogether. Yes. Yes, it would. Yes, it would. All right. More coming up on the show right after these words from a few of our sponsors. If you want to bet the NBA playoffs, and I watched that game last night, painful, and then it was at least going to be close, and then it wasn't. It went from a one-point game late in the third quarter to a 23-point Celtics lead five game minutes later.

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So I do want you to weigh in on the Jarrett Bell story and the Mark Maskey story on, you know, Snyder. And I'll read you some of the quotes that you missed because I know you weren't paying attention completely to the update to the story from the league meetings from Maskey. But this came out late yesterday. Judge denies NFL motions NFL's motions to dismiss the John Gruden lawsuit.

The NFL has wanted this Gruden lawsuit to be arbitrated. Well, a Nevada judge ruled in favor yesterday of John Gruden on two motions, opening up the possibility of a jury trial on his torturous interference claim that the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell selectively leaked Gruden's emails to force his removal on October 11th of last year. The judge denied the league's request for arbitration, so that means unless this gets settled,

it will go to trial. And if it goes to trial, there will be a discovery process which could lead to the release, of all of those emails that were found in the workplace investigation of our Washington football team, Washington commanders franchise. So, Gruden won that first step. What do you think the chances are the league settles now?

Yeah, you know, you're absolutely, well, I think the league is going to appeal it. And, you know, another judge could be more favorable to them. You never know how that's going to unfold. But you're right. I mean, if this was on the brink of going to, you know, a courtroom for a public trial, I would think that the league would turn itself inside out to settle it and make John Gruden a wealthier man than he already is. Yeah, he's pretty wealthy already.

Yes. So, yeah, that is a story by the story. the way to pay attention to because, you know, legitimately, if those emails were made a part of a jury trial and we knew, well, one of the things is who actually leaked the emails. Was it the league? Was it Dan Snyder? To try to get Bruce Allen. There have been a lot of theories on that over the last many months. But we'll see what happens. A Maski, by the way, speaking of Masky, He just wrote on this. Just updated the story.

Yeah. It's the same as the story I just read and skimming through it. But anyway, so what did you think of the stories over the weekend that Jared Bell wrote in USA Today suggesting that they are counting votes, you know, the implication being they are counting votes among owners to see if they've got 24 to oust Dan Snyder. the follow-up story from Maskey was that essentially, you know, they're considering tough suspension when the Mary Joe White investigation is over, assuming there's no new major bombshell or that, you know, they have proof that Tiffany Johnston's allegations were much more than he said.

She said that they're considering, you know, severe punishment. there's a quote in here from an owner on the condition of anonymity in Maskey's story. The owner says there's anger, but there's quite a difference between wishing he was gone and taking steps to force him out. I think one of the things we've learned from these two stories, Tommy, is just confirmation of how much they would love to see him gone, but how hard it is to actually vote him out for just being a bad owner. Yeah. I think everybody has always kind of known that. I think there is a smoking gun at some point that would, I don't know what it is, but I think something, there are something that would result in him being forced out at some point. But I'm curious as to why Jared Bell's anonymous owner sources are more valuable than Mark Maske's. Why would we take Maskey's sources? more credible than Jared Bell. I'm not saying that we should, but I guess my gut all along has been that it would be very hard to find 24 owners to vote him out without a real, you know, a real reason to do it other

than he's just a terrible owner and they'd like to see a new one. Okay, but if they are counting votes, it's a far cry from having enough votes, obviously. Yeah, of course. But if they are counting votes, that means it's on their minds. It's out there. And if they are counting votes, is there any reason to believe that Dan Snyder, given his track record of existence as an owner, will do anything to basically change, to find allies on his side?

In other words, to change that momentum. If there is momentum gathering, but not completely, to really take a vote on this guy, there's no reason to believe in the next six months. Dan Snyder won't do anything except add to that momentum. I understand what you're saying. I also think that this is the kind of thing, unfortunately, that may backfire for those that want him out. and that's because he is a, you know, dig heels deeper into the ground guy. Like, you know, he, I mean, I think on some level what they're trying to do here is pressure slash shame him into selling the team,

which is kind of what they did with Jerry Richardson, except that Jerry Richardson was 79 years old and may have already been thinking about selling the team. And, by the way, was directly implicated on some of those sexual harassment and even the, the insensitive racial remark situation. So I just, that's not really the analogy. It's not Jerry Richardson, but would they love him to voluntarily sell the team by making it very clear to him that he's not welcome in their club anymore, you know, that they can't stand him to the point where they're wishing he was gone? That's the quote, you know.

Maybe. just don't know if it would work with somebody like him. Yeah. Look, I, look, it's a long shot. It's a long shot for a lot of reasons that we've all discussed. But in a way, I just wonder, and I mean, these are, these are powerful men of industry, okay? And how long will they cower in fear of Dan Snyder? How long will they do that?

I don't know. But they do fear him. They do fear him. They do fear him. I mean, there's a line in the Maskey story, or maybe it was the Bell story, and I'm going to paraphrase it here, that basically they understand what would happen if they went down their path with regard to, you know, long-term litigation. They know what he is, and they know how he would respond. And as you always say, is the juice worth the squeeze? Look, it's an embarrassing situation and it's a missed opportunity in what should be one of their more lucrative markets.

And they're pissed about that. You know, they want a new owner in there. They desperately want a new owner in there. But they can't vote him out just because he's a terrible owner. That's just not a precedent they're willing to set. They're not going to set the precedent of running an owner that's, just a bad owner. And by the way, don't forget, some of these owners, especially in the NFC East, probably don't mind him continuing to own this team. Even though it isn't great for the

league, they don't have to worry about him as a competitor, not a consistent competitor anyway. But back to, you know, the precedent they don't want to set. I mean, okay, so let's say Jarrett Bell's right that an owner, that they are counting votes. You know, a couple of owners said they're counting votes. One owner said specifically they're used the quote they're counting votes. How many votes would they really get up to? That's the question. It might be four. Right. It's probably not

24. But the fact that there's an owner willing to say they're counting votes publicly, even though he's not identified, is a development, not in favor of Dan Snyder. Now,

I don't know if I've discussed this with you and not. If I'm repeat myself, I apologize. But do you think one of the things that NFL owners fear from Dan Snyder when we talk about discovery is the possibility that the commanders were not the only team in the league that did this ticket scam? Maybe. I mean, maybe they've been doing the same stuff.

And, you know, they don't want the audits to all of a sudden look. for the percentage of ticket revenue that didn't go back to the league. But on that subject, I mean, the bottom line is it's only going to be something that's a big deal if he was the only one doing it. I mean, this isn't an issue that would impact, you know, customers. You know, it potentially impacts players. That could make it a big deal. But with respect to, you know, this would be a league matter. You know, this isn't an FTC matter.

This isn't a congressional matter. But, you know, back to Snyder, the only way that he ends up being hurt by the Mary Joe White investigation into the financial impropriety stuff is if he was the only one doing it. If he was even doing it at all, if the organization was even doing it at all. And then if he was the guy ordering the code red. It's all long shot. It's all long shot material. The odds are in favor of nothing happening to Dan Snyder. Can we finish the show with this?

Ray Leota passed away. 67 years old. You know what? Henry Hill. Henry Hill lived longer. Oh, my God. Henry Hill lived to be 69. Oh, I thought he lived to even longer than that.

No, Henry Hill lived to be 69. And Ray Leola died two years before that. I mean, Ray, look, he made that movie. It was so good in that movie, and I've always been a big fan of his. But he's looked pretty haggard in his later years. Really haggard. Really haggard, for sure. So do we know what he died of yet?

No, I don't know. He died in his sleep, they said, while filming a movie down in the Dominican Republic. Tommy, did he do Field of Dreams before or after Goodfellas? Oh, I think it was before. Yeah. I'm pretty sure it was before. Field of Dreams might have been like mid-80s.

And Goodfellas is 1990, I'm pretty sure. Yeah, I think he did that before. Right. And he played, she was still Jack. except he was a right-handed hitter. Yeah. And Joe Jackson was a left-handed hitter. I ordered some spaghetti with mariner sauce, and I got egg noodles and ketchup.

The last, you know, the last 30 minutes, the movies, you know, certainly among most of you, probably listening, one of your all-time great movies. And we've done the thing before where we rank our favorite model. movies of all time. And by the way, the man that is, you know, garnering lots of headlines here in Fairfax County recently, Johnny Depp, I still love Donnie Brasco. I think Donnie Brasco, I think Donnie Brasco, out of all of them, it's not my favorite, but it's very close to Goodfellas. It's one of the best mob movies ever made. Oh, it's so good. Donnie Brasco. The Field of Dreams came out in 1989, and Goodfellas came out in 1990.

Oh, so it was a year before. Field of Dreams was a little year before. Yeah. Shoeless Joe Jackson. God, you know what movie's been on just a lot recently on the MLB network is the natural. It just, and is there a reason for that? Is Redford sick? I don't know. I don't know. Robert Redford is alive, right?

Of course he is. That would be a major, God, of like, of Hollywood stars, all-time stars. all-time stars, that would be a major, major story. Oh, absolutely. Robert Redford's 85 years old. 85. Wow. Huh. Ray Leota.

He's still better, he's still better looking than me. Both of us combined. All right. What else you got? I got nothing else for you. Boston. All right. Oh, except what are you thinking of Nats yesterday?

I had Zuck on the show today, and like he said, you know, they haven't won a game that way all year. Usually it's been an offensive explosion, but they shut out the Dodgers. I think it's the first time the Dodgers have been shut out since last, like, you know, June or July or something of last season. I mean, of all the outcomes that you wouldn't have expected, that certainly would have been it. Right. And Eric Feddy had six shutout innings.

And according to the Nats, in five starts this year, he has a 1.95, in five starts in May, he has a 1.95 ERA. Wow. Good for him. I mean, you know, you know what? I mean, there was a story recently about, you know, Davey and RIS. Do you think they're in trouble? Well, not with these owners, because these owners are selling a team. It's really complicated, but these owners are selling a team.

And by the way, Bill Madden, the New York Daily News baseball writer, All-fame baseball writer, reported that Larry Latino is looking to put a group together. Ah, you would love that. Maybe you got him thinking about it. it. I wouldn't just love it. Nats fans should love that. Yeah. Because everything that guy touches turns the gold in baseball. Yes, for sure. By the way, you know what we didn't mention today is that, you know, according to Schaefter, Colin Kaepernick got a workout yesterday with the L.A., with the Vegas Raiders. First workout, an actual workout with an NFL team,

since like 2017, you know, right before he left the league, I guess. God, is it that long now? Five years? Jesus. Five years, yeah. Wow. You know, the sham of the workout thing down in Atlanta, which I think really hurt him very much. And now he seems more serious about playing in the NFL.

it may be too late, who knows. I mean, remember there was the thing with Harbaugh at Michigan's spring game where he took cap and had him throwing to receivers, and apparently he looked really good doing it. You know, look, for a team to bring him in for a workout, I don't think that this is for PR purposes for the league anyway. I don't think the league cares as much anymore. I think that they did their best in that Atlanta thing,

and it turned into a complete, you know, fraud from Kaepernick's standpoint. But if they brought him in for a workout, maybe it's legitimate. And if he's good enough, I mean, who do they have as a backup? I didn't even check. Derek Carr's the stoner. Oh, that's right. It was Marcus Mariotta. Yeah.

They have Nick Mullins, and they just signed or traded for, Jarrett Stidham from New England. Maybe they gave up like a seventh round pick for Stidham, something like that. I mean, look, if you can't beat, you know, if you can't beat out Stidham and Mullins in Vegas

to beat Derek, to be Derek Carr's backup, like if he had a workout and didn't show enough where, you know, he can push Stidham and Mullins, then I don't know what to say, man. I mean, I have, you know, I've been, you know,

I've been on record for a while now, going back to when he was playing in Miami to say, there's definitely a case you can make for him not being one of the best 32 in the league, that he isn't a viable starter anymore. But I've always felt like it'd be hard to make the case that he's not one of the best 64, you know, in football. You know, meaning that there should be a spot for him as a backup quarterback. Okay, we're done for the day. See you. Okay, I'll see.

That's the hardest part. Today everything is different. There's no action. I have to wait around like everyone else. Can't even get decent food. Right after I got here, I ordered some spaghetti with marinera sauce, and I got egg noodles and ketchup. I'm an average nobody.

Get to live the rest of my life like a snook.