Trading Secrets - 22: Talking NHL & Barstool Contracts with Paul Bissonnette, aka Biz Nasty

Episode Date: October 11, 2021

Paul Bissonnette, aka BizNasty, had one hell of a hockey career. However, while his achievements on the ice are impressive, his media work has outperformed it all…both the notoriety and dollars!  Biz breaks down his contracts, to the penny, both in the show and in his new world of media.  From podcasting to selling over 800,000 cases of Pink Whitney to his new TNT contract, NHL contracts, Barstool Sports success, and life advice, we cover it all with the 4th line NHL hockey fighter and legend Paul Bissonnette.  For All Access Content - join our networking group for less than 30 cents a day! Host: Jason Tartick Voice of Viewer: David Arduin Executive Producer: Evan Sahr Produced by Dear Media.

The following podcast is a dear media production. Welcome back to another episode of Trading Secrets. Today we are discussing the money and career moves of a former pro hockey player gone media monster from a fourth-line fighter and grinder to co-hosting, spit in chicklets with barstool sports, and doing media work with Arizona Coyotes, Paul Bissonette, aka Biznasty. Paul, thank you so much for being here.

Actually, you got to ask you, is it Paul or Biz? What do you prefer? You call me whatever you want, but I'll say this. That's quite the intro playing guilty this morning. I know you're a little bit hungover. Probably got into Caitlin's wine last night, but I can't even do it when I'm sober. So, bravo, buddy. I mean, I read it line for line, but yeah, I'm feeling a pretty. I was actually so hungover this morning.

We had a Zoom happy birthday. like the world we live in. My buddies, we haven't seen him a while. I was 15 of us just got absolutely reckless. So it's so bad that, and there's no Advil in this house. Zoom boozing, eh? Let's go. Zoom booze. So, I mean, I think last time actually we were hanging out was in Phoenix at Caitlin's show, we were completely lit dancing to all I want for Christmas. I think you were trying to convince Vino's to start coming after me. And Caitlin's like, what are you doing, Paul? You're sending the girls that are here to watch me to go after Jason.

What are you doing? Oh, we were playing a little game on stage. Yeah, things can turn quick for sure. You don't want to get on Caitlin's fans' bad side. It's like a little like, it's not a little. It's like a mafia. Like I screw up one way. I'll have like a whole lot of chicks coming after me. It would not be good.

The scrunchy squad. How many different names do they have? Oh, dude, the vinos, the scrunchy squad, the spade and sparrow claw. I don't know. They got so much shit going on. It's awesome. It's like watching like gangs in New York, but they're all her gangs. Exactly.

Meet at the town square. They're reckless too. And the thing is they party their ass. off, right? I mean, they party hard. They'll come at you. It's wild. But Paul, for you, you're fully focused in the OHL. You're even on the U18 Canadian team that wins the gold medal. I mean, at what point does kind of some of the partying and things come into fruition, your laser focus? Is that after you're drafted? Or at what point do, you know, you start to live a little bit in that world? I would say that one of my biggest issues was, yeah,

all of a sudden coming upon money and more freedom, obviously, because you're not living with a billet family now you're out on your own in the pro world yeah then i i started drinking and partying way too much that that was uh fortunately for me i came from a solid household where i wasn't being a complete idiot with my money like i did buy a truck when i signed that was a treat to myself but my next massive purchase was a home and well in ontario so it wasn't like i was just spending it like a complete donkey now going back to your comment about comment about school and the debt i have a pretty strong opinion on all that. I think I would say in Scandinavia they have it at least or Europe mostly have it a little bit more figured out where they seem to after high school kids are more likely to

go take at least a year off and travel maybe even two years for that delay to maybe go just see the world so you're not racking up student loan. Sure. And you're you're also figuring out what it is you want to do. I talk to so many people that that I went to high school with and and that I'm buddies with and they ended up going to school for something and they're not even using that education to what they do now. And some of which are doing jobs that will, I don't even know if they'll ever be able to erase their student debt. It's crazy. It's crazy. So the fact that people have more access to knowledge and there are more opportunities for jobs, not having to go through the traditional routes, I think it is very naive if you're not fully set on what you want to

go do in your life to decide right after, right after high school. It's a lot of pressure on these kids. A lot of, I mean, I started off 18. I don't know what the hell. The only thing I know is what's in front of me. I was like, I don't know, maybe I'll be a teacher. I was studying at a private school. I ended up leaving going to a public school. I'm studying fucking history. Like, I had no interest in history. Why am I studying history and spending 50 grand a year to do it? And the crazy thing about the whole student debt thing is that you want to go get a mortgage today, right? Let's say you want to go get a $300,000 mortgage. I mean, they cut you open.

I want three years tax returns. Which way did you walk when you were 16? Whoever you never pay? I mean, they go through everything. You want to get 300K loan for student loans. Just sign here, press hard. Good luck. Pay it back.

It's fucking crazy. One thing you talked about, though, Paul, was the fact you're good with your money. You got your first contract. What was that first contract like when you signed in the pros? I know you're drafted by Pittsburgh. Tell me a little bit about that. And I've been curious about some of the special. habits you may have seen from other people in the show when you're when you're starting to get in

those locker rooms so um it kind of sucked because the year that ielip signing was a year after the lockout and they yeah what they'd done is they they chop the bonuses down so alexander deg was was the guy who'd set the standard in the nchel where it got a little bit wacky and silly with the signing bonus similar to what it is in uh in football i would say football's even toned back a little bit i believe as well But, you know, I was a fourth round Jaff picked. I was probably looking at about like a $300,000 signing bonus. But because of the lockout, everything had been pushed down. I ended up signing for 175 grand where I had a three-year entry-level contract

where each of those years I would make a minimum salary of $55,000 in the American League. So that 175 grand would be spread over the three years. Okay. Distribution-wise, we're on July 1st. I would see a check. then, of course, each year. So I was making 110 grand each year, U.S.D. Wow. And then what that's not even factoring. Aren't there league escrows and probably agent fees and stuff like that to have to come out? Yeah. So three percent agent fee. And if you, if they handle your books where they're

filing your taxes and making sure everything is being handled properly, I believe that that was an extra percent, potentially maybe two. So I think I was paying five percent total on somebody to help me manage my money, make sure my credit cards were paid, anything I needed outside of that, just because you know, I'm young and still coming into that world. But yeah, like what you kind of realize is although with no student loan and the fact that I have a clean slate going into my professional career, I'm 19 years old for the next three years making 110 USD, which at the time, I believe the exchange rate was about 35 to 40 cents as well. And I was spending most of my time in Canada. So I was I was very, very grateful and happy at the time to be getting that type of money.

I mean, that's great that they have business managers in place like that, though, to manage your credit card debt and you're spending because at 19 years old. I mean, I was buying, I was going to like the libation on Tuesdays for quarter beers trying to stack them to the ceiling. And then you're making 110 USD, which is your point's about 150 when you do the conversion. It's a good thing those are in place. When you were looking at some of your peers, did they have similar managers doing that? or did you see people make some crazy financial decisions when they got those checks early at a young age?

Yeah, I mean, yeah, you definitely saw guys who were spending it a little bit more fervorously. Is that a word? What's a word? You nailed it. Well, Jesus, that's a brain glitch there. Not bad for a Saturday morning. I was fortunate where my agent, I was with Newport Sports, and they, everybody kind of just followed what they were doing.

And they kind of set up this safety blanket to where, yeah, I had a, uh, maximum on my credit card that they established for us because they had a strong working relationship with one of the banks. But yeah, I would definitely see other guys suspended a lot more crazy. But some of these guys also had signed for more money. You know, instead of buying maybe the pickup truck, they were going for the escalade. And I also think that back then there was this, it was, you know, as soon as you signed your deal, everyone seemed to want to go treat themselves with a nice vehicle. That just kind of was what everybody did. and I would say that it probably

a strong number of guys still do that. That seems fair. I mean, to treat yourself, you did it. So one thing I hate, though, is when you look out, like if you're doing research on players and stuff like that, and you're trying to figure out what they make, it's practically impossible. And even more, the thing that kills me is like,

oh, I wonder what someone's net worth is and you saw them on TV and you Google it or whatever. It's always fucking wrong. That information is never, ever accurate. But I did a little work on capfriendly.com. It said that your estimate career earnings over your whole NHL career was around 3.5 million. Would you say that's accurate, over or under?

I would, yeah, I would say, including my 12 years pro, I'm probably around 4 million because of my American League salaries as well. So, yeah, let's say, let's say three and a half to be ultra-conservative. And so was there, so you started, you broke down your first contract, was there like a huge spike in your earnings at one point that some, like your performance and things were picking up? And how directly correlated would you say is like your performance and everything you're doing with the actual amount you're paid in the renegotiations of these contracts?

Okay. So I finished that three year entry level contract and I ended up signing a two year extension with Pittsburgh because they own your rights for at least seven years. Oh shit. I didn't know. Yeah. So you're a restricted free agent. So they, you know, they sent an offer. I ended up signing where I was going to get 65. grand in the American League minimum for the next two years. So I wasn't getting my signing bonus anymore. But hey, 65 USD. What else am I going to do at that age? I was fortunate enough for that next year. I started the year in the NHL. I was up for 26 games. I played 15. When you're up in the NHL, you're on NHL pay. Doesn't matter whether you're in or out of the lineup.

So your contract changes right then for the minimum? Yeah. So what you're getting is you're getting a 65 salary for the American League and then I have a league minimum essentially salary for the NHL. It might have been dumped up an extra 50 grand. So I was making $550,000 on an 181 day schedule. So divide that by the days. And however many days you're in the NHL, those are your end up being your paycheck. So I went from in the American League probably seeing, I don't know, 2,700, 3 grand USD

every couple weeks to going up and seeing 20 grand every. I mean, so when we're, if you're watching a game and you see and they're talking about someone come up from the H.L. And they don't even see the ice for one minute. That financially is huge for them because they're getting the minimum salary requirement. That's kind of life changing if you can ride it out for a little bit. That pretty much sums up my career. The fact that I was able, as silly as it is and people are always, you know, like I was a healthy scratch more games in the NHL than I actually played. But fortunately, I found myself where fighting was still somewhat relevant. I was I was able to develop my skills to where I wasn't a complete liability on the ice. So I was mostly in and out of the lineup. Ah, you know what? They got a fighter tonight. You know, we'll play them three, four minutes. He'll add that intimidation, quote unquote. I don't think many fucking people were scared to me to be honest. And but because I was able to sign and remember this, when I ended up getting those five years for most of them, I was on a one-way contract. So which means like someone listening like,

What the hell is that mean? What does that mean? So the biggest deal in hockey was to get a one-way contract because I mentioned when I was restricted, how I was signing those two-ways where I would have an HL base and then there's that NHL salary. Well, when I signed, finally made it to the, I got picked up by waivers by Phoenix. I played that first year in Phoenix on a two-way.

So they could have set me down. But during that season, I ended up signing a two-year one-way extension. So even if I had been sent down, the minors, I would still be getting my NHL pay. That was huge. So yeah, so I signed a deal where I was making, I believe, 625, 625. So I was going to make in the next two years, 1.25 million. And, you know, from a kid who a couple years before, it signed where I was making 65 grand to hop to that. 10x. And, you know, I'm a fairly conservative guy. Like that was essentially going to pay for

my family's home when I ended up settling it all down right so it was uh yeah that was a big jump and then fortunately again I was able to sign another two year one way extension and that was at seven seven 25 750 and huge yeah though and those were my big contracts and you know a lot of people listening or you know it doesn't compare to the to the NFL quarterbacks or the first liners but for for a kid who who at a certain point didn't see myself getting to the NHL there seemed like the pretty big roadblock there. I was able to get my five years in. I got a bit of a pension to a certain degree, which is a story for another day. But yeah, it worked out well, Jason. One thing I got to ask you, though, before we transitioned to what your next career was, if someone in a professional

hockey player, they get hurt like that. And you do have like a one-way contract in place. Are you still getting paid? Yes. Okay. So you'll get paid throughout the whole completion of the contract. So one thing that's great about the NHL is contracts are guaranteed. What can happen is if you get bought out, they have to pay you two thirds of your contract. But I also believe, and you mentioned it earlier about escrow. Escrow is something that's been in place by the NHL in order to help the league. So let's say the Canadian dollar exchange isn't great or something like COVID happens where they're not getting gate. the hockey related revenue it some of it ends up having to be paid back by the players and at one point in my

NHL career we're paying about 20% oh shit yeah so you're looking at it from a tax standpoint let's say you're playing in Toronto or Montreal you're paying 50% tax in that tax bracket most guys on top of that tack on another 18% escrow then another at least 3% for your agent and then plus living wherever you've got to go and listen if you're making two million bucks i don't think anybody who's listening is going to be feeling sorry for somebody who's taken home maybe 800 grand of it but it does put things more in a perspective of how little you're actually making in the grand scheme of how much it all is yeah when you break those numbers down that's 29% of the gross number you actually hear right that's the number that hits the headlines that's the number that

people think you're making and only 29% of it comes home that changes things right especially when you already talked about, your longevity, your career is maybe two, three years. So that's wild. But for you, Paul, when you hang them up, you have your last shift, you're skating like Bambi out there, it's over, you're done, you get your fight in. What do you thinking is next? Because it's unbefucking leaveable the way that you transitioned your career into now, what I would say, probably the most relevant currently as far as the most influential person

in hockey is now you. So when you get out of your career, you hang them up, you're done. What's going through your head? What do you think is going to be next? Well, first of all, thanks. I wouldn't put it in that way. I just, I think fear is one aspect that has led me to doing what I've done and not in a bad way either. After I finished my NHL career, which I mentioned that five years I was able to play in Phoenix,

I couldn't get a contract that next summer. and I'll save the whole breakdown of it. I ended up finishing that year in the American League when we wanted to call their cup. But the beginning of that year, I had no money coming in. I had the feeling that nobody wanted me as a player. And I was left on my own. It was like, you know, it's like, holy shit, life comes out you fast, right? This career that I've known my entire life, it's the only thing I've ever done.

It's now in the control of other people, whether they want to sign me or not, and I'm vulnerable. And that experience in itself, I was fortunate enough where I was able to play three more years after that had happened, the Calder Cup year and then two more years with the King's Organization. But that was a massive wake-up call as to, hey, this is going to be ugly at one point if you don't figure out what it is you want to do. And because social media had taken on a mind of its own, especially on Twitter, media was definitely something that I was considering and I wanted to get into because it was something

that I was comfortable enough being in front of the camera. So I have never forget when I retired that first summer was when I did this film project called Biz Does BC. It was really silly. It was goofy. But it was more like I needed to start moving and figuring it out where whatever I wanted to do would take me. And I think it showed a lot of people that I was able to maybe push content

and be comfortable in front of the camera. And then I also got a job working for the coyotes in radio and also doing pre-post game and intermission reports for the television and was getting my reps in that regard. I hadn't even joined the podcast yet, spit and chicklets. So it was just the sense of when it all ended. I'm like, I need to hop into something because I got to occupy my mind and I don't want to be one of those people that are relying upon other people

in order to keep my life going. And it just, like I said, it was somewhat, if not all, fear-based, based on my experience three years prior. I think that's usually like when people can actually find what it is, like people lost out there looking for their career. When you do have your fear against you, some people push fear away for so long so that they don't have to face it.

But once fear is looking at you dead in the eyes, you really have no option but to do something. And that's when you do shit, like put out your series on YouTube and inevitably it moves to something else. The question I have for you that I feel like in some capacity in a weird fucking way relates to my world I go on the reality show, after the reality show, I go right back to corporate banker.

So here's a guy that's making out with a girl nonstop on TV, doing all his shit that's airing while I'm in a suit and tie, stiff banker talking to CFOs about how we're going to increase their working line of capital. Two totally fucked up different worlds. How do you go from working in the professional corporate culture, like the Arizona Coyotes, and then still be able to manage this, I don't know, open book, boisterous. I don't give a shit. I'm putting any thought and every thought from like sex and swearing to all that stuff on Twitter. Like how did those worlds ever collide or did you ever strategically think like, man, I got to give up one for the other, which I ended up having to do. Yeah.

So early on, it was just, online was also a different world. Like the shit I was saying on Twitter and even on the podcast when I started, I mean, there was some pushback. Yeah, there was sometimes I got called into the coyote's GM office for him to be like, yo what is like what is this tweet like this is fucking ridiculous and then i'm like okay you know peepy whack and then you're and then you're out of there and and you know eventually you try to try to figure it out and carve out this road fortunately for me when i actually went to the la kings organization one of their rules was is they just said hey stay off twitter like don't don't be doing

like you were doing before with the coyotes we're not really about that here and it was good because i got to take a step away and and kind of you know think about some things so and also i'm just the line has changed overall in the world, too. So I don't really go some places where I would have originally gone. Sure. But as far as the, you know, that corporate world is I've never really fit in in that world. And it's always been like I've, I've expressed myself to the coyotes, especially now. Like, hey, I get that there's some things I can't say.

But ultimately, my heart lies with me being myself and me being opinionated and me being who I am. So if I can go over there, do it and even monetize it more, and I'm having a blast and I get to have more control of what I'm putting out as opposed to here, well, that's where I'm going to go. If you're okay with me having this corporate side and talking a certain way on your broadcast, but also then transitioning to a podcast where you have to click, this is not being forced down anybody's throats. This is a different type of platform. And everybody has, it's worked. I've been able to flirt this fine line. I mentioned getting in trouble along the way in some regard,

but I think that ultimately people know that I'm not like mean-spirited. I'm just some clown who's trying to figure it out along the way. And I've definitely crossed the line at some points. Yeah, but I think crossing the line is something we're starting to see, especially in this whole like corporate structure because they see that guys like you that are real and authentic and our opinionated and maybe aren't playing by the same rulebook that they had 10 years ago is still driving ratings. It's creating fandom. It's having people tune in. And at the end of the day, what do they care about? They care about ratings and

money. So if you can continue to work that fine line and, in my opinion, slowly break this foundation that corporate America is put in place for us. I see it. I see it as a win-win. Yeah. You're able to do that. Yeah. And I, you know, I kind of, I spent a lot of time online observing, right? Because you're trying to figure out, and I'm working for Barstool Sports. who seems to have, you know, at least like they have the mentality of where, you know, like, we're fucking around. It ain't that serious. Like, you know, let's let's, let's throw jokes out there.

We're not going to be as politically correct as everybody else. And, you know, that's, of course, in today's age, you're going to come with judgment. But you also look at these other companies. And it's like those, the amount of people bitching online is such a small portion. And I feel like a lot of these companies are maybe altering to the people who are yelling the loudest but in the general landscape that's not how most people think would you agree with that so it's like they're eating themselves alive trying to please the small minority who might not even be spending the fucking money and aren't even a majority of their consumer and it's like it's

like so they're being lost based on the feedback that they're trying to take rather than just maybe being themselves and being a little bit more genuine to where how a lot of people just genuinely talk and act. Yeah, I think, so I think you're right, here's my take on it, is that I think there is this small group of people that are kind of like the loud mouths, right? And they have social media now that they can get their opinion out there. But I do believe that majority of people that are working for these big corporations

aren't satisfied with their work. They're not happy with the way they're treated. They're not happy with their bosses. I just don't feel like there's a huge job satisfaction right out there. And we're seeing it. Like Microsoft just released all this stuff about the fact that 54% of their employees are unhappy and trying to leave. That's Microsoft, dude. That's a bit. You work for Microsoft is huge, right? So I think there's going to be like a revolution in the next 10 to 15 years of how

companies operate. And I do think that Barstool is kind of like one of the catalyst drivers. Like, why does it really matter the way you talk or the tone you speak in or what you wear if your output is productive for the overall mission of the company, right? Oh, I couldn't agree more. And if anything, it's to the extreme. where, you know, an employee could probably go on Twitter and tell the, you know, Portnoy, the guy who founded it to fuck off. And they're going to get in a Twitter war and nobody's getting fired over it. It's just like it's, it's like, it's like the wild wild west.

And even going to the even like the more corporate side of it, you mentioned like a Microsoft. I just feel like the internet is the wild, wild west right now. And people aren't really limited to having to go work for these, these dinosaur companies that have been. And that's a bit naive calling, saying it to Microsoft, but I'm saying in general of the way that they want to do things where it's like, go do your own thing. Go create, you know, look about all the learning mechanisms online too. I mean, we kind of talked about the schooling situation

where it's like most people could learn how to run a business online by watching YouTube videos and maybe taking a couple master classes and by just going into it and trying it themselves and learning by by error and doing i mean think about like with spit and chicklets what you guys do right you got three microphones and a few guys sitting around bring a couple guests on shoot the shit your number one podcast in in all of like anything related to hockey and one of the best podcast at barstool sports and you got three guys just being honest and talking about life talking about hockey and a few microphones and the ability to monetize that now i mean obviously you know

the money behind podcasting for those that are successful with it it's it's it's it's absolutely, it's crazy. The wild love less is the best way to put it. We did an episode actually with two CEOs of the biggest and largest influencing companies in the United States. And they start to talk about brand deals and the dollar amounts and where they're being placed. And the kid that's opening the fucking presence online on YouTube, making 25, like it's in

the world in like their eyes, you know, they're studying every day what the future outlook of this. And they're like, listen, the platform might change, might be podcasting. It might not be this TikTok. might be this, but this social media influencing world and being able to place advertising spend is going nowhere in every single day. It's growing astronomically. Yeah, and these companies are allocating more dollars towards digital marketing and influencer marketing. And, you know, it's just, it's where the younger people are. So if you want to advertise, it's like that's where

the eyeballs are. I mean, Instagram, I haven't gotten into TikTok. I just, I don't, I got enough going on where I think it would just distract me. Are you a TikToker? No. I mean, I have a TikTok. I have like 100,000 followers, but I can't. I don't do the Dan shit. I just repost shit I put on Instagram on TikTok.

Yeah, and then you find out what the big TikTokers are making. Oh, it's fucking crazy. It's wild. So it's, it's been a crazy world to observe from a distance. And it's, you know, it's been fun to be a part of too. Yeah. So one thing I can't let you go without telling me about is what you were, I think, the last edition to Barstool Spit and Chicklets podcast. And so, and correct me if I was wrong

there, but that's what I was reading. What was that process like? Like when Portnoy called, like, what is an interview with Dave Portnoy like? What's the recruiting process? They put a good package together. What's it like to be picked up and wanted to be on the team of Barstool sports? It happened very organically, like most things with that company happened. So originally Ryan Whitney had sent a tweet out to myself and Kobe Armstrong, another guy who we play within the American League to start this podcast. There wasn't a name for it at the time. I didn't even know what podcasts were.

It was a tweet and I was still playing in Ontario. And I, Ontario, California with the L.A. King's organization. And I said to him, I said, hey, I'm still playing maybe when I'm done. And Rear Admiral, who was a blogger and had been working part time for Barstow at the time who followed the Bruins.

He reached out to Witt said, oh, podcast, like I'd be interesting. And he had his own mixer. So he reached out to Witt. Witt agreed to do it. He would drive over once a week to his house. They would record on the couch, just them to. And, you know, they released probably 15 episodes. Then I believe Portnoy reached out to Witt and said,

hey, would you guys want to come on with Barstool? They ended up joining Barstool. And now they started releasing those podcasts through the Barstool Sports Platform. At this time, I don't even know that they had their first office in NYC yet. Like they were still maybe based out of Boston. but it was during that time where they were transitioning and starting to grow as a company. So Greenle, who was a producer at a radio station,

had his own mixer and he thought he lived from listening, I can make it sound a little bit better. I can produce the thing. It'll relieve a little bit of pressure from R.A. Why don't I shoot my shot? So he wrote rear ad or an email, Rear Reddit, didn't reply to it, just kept moving on.

Sure enough, that next podcast the next week, they're recording and R.A.'s mixer breaks. Oh, shit. So they don't put out that podcast. R.A. remembers the email that he got from Grinnelli. He goes back in. He says, hey, I have my mixer broke.

What about you showing up here next week at my place? You can record it. You can edit it. And that is how that happened. Then they drop another probably 50, 75 episodes. I'd come on as a guest twice. And I would go on there and I would let it fly. and I slowly started talking to Witt and he was like man like why don't you join us like you

fucking let it fly like I'm getting married and it kind of adds like a different element he talked to rear ad and I had that project that I'd done that previous summer so fast forward a year and a half two years now so we package it I said hey why don't we release this biz does bc series with these 15 NHLers all announced that I'm coming on with the podcast we'll add another guy of the group. We'll bring in the Canadian audience. And at that time, when I joined them, I think they were averaging about 30 to 50,000 downloads per podcast. And then within a year to two years, it was, you know, it's at half a million. I would say we'd get no less than half a million listeners now. And now with the fact that we've grown our YouTube channel, we're probably in the

550 range, maybe 600 downloads per podcast. And it just kind of naturally took on this crazy mind of its own where we just, you know, three, four guys meet up and we shoot some shit. And we were able to grow the vodka, the sandbagger golf rounds and whatever else comes our way. That, if for anyone listening, I just want to put that in perspective, 500,000 downloads is massive. I mean, we'll cover the recap, talk a little bit more about it, um, with David and I, but that's huge. How many episodes are you guys putting out a week? So, you know, we kind of went back to, to learning as you go. And, you know, you can learn so much online and from actually doing as opposed to having to pay someone to learn it.

It's like just dive in. And as things started accelerating, we started doing two episodes per week. And, you know, it's nice to be that up to speed. But it also, we kind of, it was too much. It was becoming too much like work. And we were showing up, especially during the pandemic, there weren't many things to talk about because the world is slowed down. So we went from two episodes down to one.

and what we do is we typically interview one or two guests, and then we talk about the current events that happened in that week in the NHL, and then we talk about other stories that might have happened in the world that have been gaining a lot of attention. And we're happy. We've also grown the gaming aspect. We did like a gaming tournament for all the NHL guys that currently play EA. And yeah, we've shifted our focus many times and grown in different areas

throughout this entire process. And a lot of the time, it's just listening to your fans. What do majority of the people enjoy trying to siphon online through what's good and what's bad? It's hard because when you're going there, you are seeing some of the negativity. But ultimately, if you want to know what your consumer wants, you got to listen to them.

I mean, I know there's so many takeaways just from that. One, you've got to listen to your fans. Two, you talk about how it's so funny how the video content stuff you did. What is it called the BC Biznasty? what was that? Yeah, business. He does BC. Yeah, business. He does BC. It's wild how I think for anyone listening, like, take a fucking shot. That came to actually fruition and was part of your plan as you guys build this podcast. And another one, I just take away the learning lesson is just like adjust, like execute and adjust. Like you guys put out too, it wasn't working. You adjust for what makes sense. One thing that really resonated with me was the listening to your fans. And so I got to interview the fat Jewish. And that's what the exact same thing he said. He goes, I don't, you know, when I was coming up with products and doing things, I just listen to my fans. He goes, I don't drink.

I don't even, I don't even enjoy rosé. My fans wanted canned rosé. We put it on the market. And it was the biggest acquisition Anheuser-Busch has ever made from a private label company. And he said pretty. You guys kind of did the same thing, right? So the Pink Whitney, Vock, I see it behind you, New Amsterdam.

It is all sparked by, I think, Ryan Whitney, just making a comment about an ad. Like, if you don't drink, you're VACA with Pink, lemonade, you're out of your damn mind, you put it out there. And the research I did two years later, you sold over 15 million bottles at over 100 million gross revenue. Tell me just a little bit about that project and how it came to fruition. Yeah, it was wild. New Amsterdam was getting more involved with the hockey world than they sponsored the NHL and they figured, hey, this is an up-and-coming hockey podcast. And it seems to be where like a majority of the attention is going for the younger crowd and it seems like what they want to listen to. So they became, they became our presenting

sponsor. And I think that they signed a three year presenting sponsorship deal. And one of the agreements was in the first episode, just, hey, mention what you mix with your vodka. And Witt was a big pink lemonade and vodka guy on the golf course all summer long. And he, you know, he's a great storyteller. So when he talked about his drink, he, she dressed it up. And then at the end, he's like, I'd call it the Pink Whitney. And it just had this ring to it where, you know, even and I laughed. I'm like, okay, this guy like has his own name drink. Like, okay, this is kind of funny. So for the next couple months, kept getting posts and Instagram tags and Twitter tags of Pink Whitney and this pink lemonade vodka. And my business manager and friend Jeff Jacobson was like,

hey, this is getting abnormal traction. Like a lot of people are tweeting about this. So he filed for the domains and just said, hey, why don't we try to get Barstle to do this? they were busy expanding at the time and I you know I throw a million ideas at the wall and 10 might stick and you know it's just that's kind of how you know a lot of people who have a mind that continually races goes and wit wasn't really that on board at the beginning either because he was like ah we're a hockey podcast like fuck we're not but his wife had mentioned it on the way to a Halloween party saying hey all my friends keep mentioning this pink Whitney why don't you guys do this and he's like biz said that so they called me from the car and I said yeah we filed for

the domains. I said, fucking rights that you're on board. I said, I said, let's talk the barstool about it. So we talked to barstool. They said, okay, actually, Gallo has been, you know, mentioning that they've seen, been seeing it pop up. So we finally got to the drawing board. We figured, hey, let's fucking do this. And it took on a mine of its own. And as you mentioned, 15 million bottles. So the rock, the rock had tweeted out at the fact that Taramana was one of the biggest alcohol launches in its first year in the history. I think it sold 300,000 cases in its first year of existence. In our first year of existence, we sold 807,000 cases of Pink Whitney in one year. And that, and for half the year, it wasn't even available in Canada, which where, it's a huge following for

you. Oh, it's massive. And they were pissed because it didn't get there right away. And trust me, they let us know. And, you know, finally we were able to get a steady stream to, to, to, to, to, to Canada. And specifically, Ontario was nuts. It would be our biggest state if it was in the United States. So it is done really well. And it's been fun because it's been allowed us to get funding and money to grow in other areas. Like I mentioned that I done that Biz does BC project. And I always joke around about it because I'm like, it's nothing earth shattering. And it's people might even watch it and be like, this is corny and cheesy. But what it did was it taught me to understand editing and sitting down and gaining trust with my friend pasha it allowed me to

understand where i have to be and what i have to think about when i'm in front of the camera just how the entire process works maybe you know how much money it should cost how many cameramen we might need in order to do something that is going to take a bit of a production aka the sandbaggers yep because now that has grown to where it's five cameramen two sound guys we need a couple guys there helping out where the position the cameras, the shot tracers, in order to create another product, which we now sell advertising for and we roll out on our YouTube channel, which hopefully by the time each of them are all said and done, you get about 300,000 views on them. And it's entertainment that our fans genuinely enjoy, enjoy. So now

the vodka can fund those ideas in order to grow. And then I don't know what's going to end up stemming from that. Right. I mean, there's like an all of, it's like a, it's like a tree, right? Where is it? Where's that thing going to bring in? Nowhere. Okay, whatever. There's another fucking branch over there. Find that next branch. And that goes back to exactly what you said about education, right? Like all those things that you just learned, you can't learn that shit in the classroom. You got to learn by doing it. And the other thing I don't want to overlook is those sales almost two, you know, two and a half times the rocks. Think, guys, think about the rock. The guy has over 200 million people following him. Two times the amount of Americans that watch the

Super Bowl are following this guy. And you guys come up with this pink lemonade idea. What the hell? Pink Whitney? Sure. Let's do it. You sell it. And it's three acts of the rocks. Last question before. And we're getting to wrap this up. And how we'll wrap it up is we'll do a, we'll open the, we call it cracking open the vault with Paul Bissonette. I'll ask you five rapid fire questions. And then we end with a trading secret, a secret in your industry that anyone listening, probably wouldn't have, be able to find on Google or learning the textbook. So we'll wrap with that. But the last question I got to end you before we get into that is I hear these numbers

and I'm fucking blown away, the YouTube numbers, the doubt, like those downloads, guys, those are, that's the probably top 2% of all podcasts out there in the entire. And you know how many podcasts there are. It's incredible. When you structured any of these deals, do you have any type of equity personally or royalty, whether it's the podcast or it's Pink Whitney or Sandbag? or some of the stuff you guys are doing? Yeah.

So when I first retired, my first promise to myself was that I was going to open up an LLC. And anybody I worked for it was essentially going to be a partnership. I was never going to be locked into one, like for instance, the coyotes gave me my first contract and I got employed by them. That was my first job before I'd even joined Barstool. So it was always going to be where I could kind of control my own fate. And yeah, fortunately with Barstool, they've been very. very fair as to what we can negotiate and where my time can get allocated.

And, you know, it didn't start as big as it was off the hop, but, you know, it's slowly grown to where I'm happy with where all these, all these deals have led me. And I'm also not going to be naive to what our team and what Barstool has provided me and then, you know, and vice versa. And same goes for RA, same goes for Grinnell and same goes for Ryan Whitney, who were members of the podcast. And yeah, it's it's been fun and it's been steady growth. So ultimately I'm just trying to set it up to where I can eventually be very comfortable,

but also have control and can even at one point fund my own ideas to where I don't need any of the money from from other places. So I know it wasn't a very direct answer about like exactly how I've structured all these deals. But yeah, it's it's, it's been nice to not be just pinned down to one one thing. Yeah, it sounds like either, you know, with the specifics, you've been strategic with it. So it certainly pays its dividends. Paul, I think the story is just incredible from grind in 13 years old on in Welland, Ontario to OHL, 12 years in the league to turning into like a media monster and doing it super successful.

I think the cool thing, one of the reasons I mentioned being one of the most relevant guys in hockey is like in our world, a bachelor world, a lot of our demographic following is females. And if you ask most of the people that follow us or we talk to or we're friendly with, they don't know one name when it comes to hockey, maybe Wayne Gretzky, but Paul, they do know you. So your story is awesome. Before we wrap with you, if you're cool with it, we got to open the vault, have like six, seven rapid fire questions and then get a trading secret before we let you go. Okay, awesome. All right, let's do it.

All right. So we are opening the vault with the biz nasty rapid fire questions. First one, here we go. One reality show you would go on if you had to go. on a reality show. If I can go back in time, probably fear factor. Fear factor. What makes you say that?

I don't expect that. Because I wouldn't want to go on one where like the Bachelor or the Bachelorette because I feel like they have too much control over the video. Like that is, they can portray you in any way that they want to. And I mean, hey, thankly for Caitlin,

she's a rock star and that's who she is. And she ended up, you know, she became America's darling, but in some cases, I feel like some girls are getting, or even guys are getting dragged through the mud when they go on there because they maybe, you know, weren't the best version of themselves when they go on there. So for me, it would be something where it's not entirely focused on just the characters, more so the crazy shit that they're doing as far as a competition. That is so fair. You control it. You'll eat whatever you got to do. I would call Caitlin America's darling, maybe Canadians, rock star, and both of us are pretty

fortunate with our edits on that show that we got out of there without getting dragged. Okay. So you, so you were on the Bachelor? Yeah. Also, I was on the Bachelorette. So I was, so Caitlin was the Bachelorette two, three seasons before I went on. Okay. She gets engaged and then I go on the Bachelorette and I end up finishing in third. So I got the bronze medal and I got the, I got, we're at the dinner before the fantasy suites. I get dumped at dinner. Oh, I did dinner. I never realized that you were on the show too i never knew that yeah so that's so i was a corporate banker i go on the show get off the show go back to work and then i'm working in seattle at the time katelyn's got her podcast she's running all over the country and she's in seattle and it was right when i you know they aired i just

got dumped and you know what's next for jason so she had me come on her podcast and that's when we met and we were friends for a little bit and that's how we started dating because i met her on the podcast okay let me let me ask you this were you happy with the way that you were portrayed throughout the process of the show? So first of all, your, your statement's 100% accurate about the editing. Like, you never know what you're going to get. I was thrilled with the way I was portrayed. Fucking rights. I got, I was very fortunate. I feel like I got very lucky that I was done right. One of the things they say to me, which I think is true from what I saw that whole season, is if you're an asshole, it's really, really easy for us to make you look like like a complete

asshole. If you're a nice guy, it's pretty damn easy for us to make you look like a nice guy. it's going to take us a lot of work. It's been done before. It's going to take a lot of work to make a nice guy look like an asshole and an asshole look like a nice guy and we have too much work to do. And that's something that resonated with me and then when I saw the show,

I'm like, yeah, that guy was a jerk. Oh shit, they really dragged him. He was, you know? So that's my take on the editing. Okay, fair enough. And so did you, like during the process of the show, were you trying to keep that in mind the entire time? Or was that just you naturally

where you didn't find yourself in these situations? or were there even other guys trying to drag you into these messy situations? I was always the guy like on the side. Like there's like these funny videos of me sitting on the side, like in the couch, drinking my ass off, just like laughing my ass off. I mean, these guys are having like model walkoffs. Who can have a better model walkoff? Who wears the better jacket?

You know, they're talking about like who wears better hair. They're talking. I'm laughing my ass off. So my whole thing was like, I'm not getting dragged into that. And if I get tried to get dragged into that, I'm just going to leave. I don't have to be here. This is a fun, cool experience for me. Like, fuck it, I'll just leave.

And so the cool thing is, is that it just came off as who I was as a normal person, which actually worked out well. Big time. Yeah. So, yeah. So your experience was awesome and probably a big reason why you've had so much success past the show. Same with Caitlin, right?

So that's awesome, man. I'm happy to hear that. Sorry I didn't know you were on the show. I thought you were famous for other reasons. You know what? I totally get it. I am the shadow behind Caitlin Bristow. So most people don't know.

Not at all, man. You fuck go from being a, you said you were a Wall Street banker. Yeah, that was in the banking world now. A lot of Coke in that world, isn't there? Oh, there's a lot of everything in that world. I'm actually, dude, I just got a two book deal with Harper Collins. And my first book, I get in the weeds about all the, my restart is what I call it. So are you, so you must be pretty smart as far as where you want to invest your money then.

Yep. So I own a consulting company where we do. we bridge the gap of what the whole tagline is what we're not taught in schools but what we have to know is personal financial management career navigation stuff like that and then through that we have podcasts we have you know merch we do we have a networking group we have a bunch of stuff that's awesome man congratulations on all your success buddy that's wicked maybe you can give me a little advice what am i doing with what am i doing with bitcoin buy it okay all right buy it let's keep this goal we got two i got a few more questions i got a fire off and then we'll wrap it up but if

You could play anywhere in the NHL other than Arizona. Where would you go? For one year? One year. I would probably, I would probably want to play in Montreal. Montreal. Can I follow up and ask why? Well, it's weird.

If I'm thinking my single days, it's just an awesome, the culture is awesome. You're treated like a complete rock star, the history there. And every game is just, if you feel like you're, at the mecca of the hockey world. And people would say, well, that's Toronto. It's a little less suits in the bottom. Gotcha. Like the stadium's packed.

At the start of the period in Toronto, all the suits are probably doing ketokes underneath in their private suites or whatever they are. But like Montreal, there's just something about coming out even for warm up in Montreal. And I think it would be cool to play one season there. And as I mentioned,

I got family there. So I think it would be cool. It's a hell of a city. I tell you what, rapid fire of every guest, have we just go but fear factor in montreal throwing off had to ask i like it good answers all right you were a fighter in the nchel if you could step into the ring with one celebrity who would it be um i would probably want to step in with charlemagne all right charlemagne there it is i think he's

an arrogant fuck i think he's rude i think he's rude to his guess charlemagne there it is we want let's make it happen we'll do a non-for-profit and raise some money um all right so So professional athlete in one other sport other than hockey, what would you pick? We're making the biz nasty thing here. We're getting in the weeds. I would, uh, easy answer would be golf. Uh, F1 racing would be, if you consider that a sport. I would love like Lewis Hamilton just buzzing around in Mercedes and Ferraris or

whatever the, whatever nice cars he drives. Because I would imagine you get sick whips away from for free. And then I don't think you're, you're, you're not making a healthy salary either. Those guys are probably making 20, 30 million a year, aren't they? I'm sure. I think with like sponsorship and the viewing audience in that world is fucking crazy. Like the fandom is insane. All right.

That's a guy. You have the best answers that anyone's ever come on this pod. All right. What's the biggest tab with just a few more than we're going into your trading secret? Biggest tab you've ever stuck a rookie with that dinner. Oh, well, we used, so we have rookie parties in the NHL and you're maxed out at 5K per rookie. Now, that was the rule on our team. Now, I've heard Washington, I heard a story where Chris Bork, which is Ray Bork's kid,

had an unreal American hockey league career, played some games in the NHL. But he was called up and he was only up for about two weeks. And he was the only rookie on the team that year. So they did rookie party when he was up. And I think he got stuck with a, I think, a 25K bill for the rookie party. Yeah. And the funny part about it was he was only there for two weeks. so he ended up losing money on his call-up.

Oh, my God. He played for free, essentially, on his two weeks in the NHL that time. So I hope it was a good memorable night for him because that's a lot of coin to get stuck with. That's a tough. That's a half of Bitcoin right there. He maybe called Ben and said, help me out here. But he's doing just fun now. I think that's why people didn't feel sorry for him.

They're probably like, I think he's going to be inheriting enough. Yeah, they're good. So we can beat up his platinum card tonight. Get a few wire miles on his card. I love it. Speaking of platinum card, so you dropped that platinum ad. All right, let's keep it going. Two more. I've seen, you've got these fancy suits in. I've seen kind of your style game is kind of on point.

What do you think the most expensive jewelry or piece of clothing you own is? I got, I like Rolex. I got a, I got a Submariner, which is kind of like your, you know, your beat up your everyday watch. Wear it with jeans. You can wear it with a suit. The Wall Street watch right there. That's your banker watch. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah, some people might be listening and being like, oh, fuck of your basic, basic bitch. But I would probably say one of my favorite pieces is that Ralph Lauren big winter jacket I bought. And I wore it when I shot the puck from Center Ice in Chicago. I like, I like the three quarter length jackets. Yeah. The big poofy ones and stuff like that. I honestly just wear jogging pants most days.

Oh, really? Raining champ jogging pants. There you go. That's the answer right there. Rolex and raining chacks. like Tony Soprano in my later days. There you go. Love that. The old traxedo, we call them. The jackseedo. Well, you've heard it.

No, trachsito, like a track suit. Oh, okay, okay, gotcha, gotcha. You can use that. All right, Trachito. I'll take it. I'll take it. Last one. This is what I got to know.

It's the million dollar question. You made more in hockey or you made more in media? Media. Yeah, I figured that one. Yeah. I was a fourth liner in the show, and I think I'm at least second line now in the media world. So like I said, it's been an unreal ride. And for anybody listening, you said your demographic is more female than male?

Yeah, it's about, yeah, it's like 95% female. Oh, okay. Well, I'll say this. It doesn't really matter who the, the words are going to. I just felt like we've, we've stressed it a lot. You're going to probably land on your face at some point. Everybody has. And if you want to do anything remotely successful in life, you're going to, you're going to see so

many closed doors. Just keep trying to open them. and I think that that's ultimately what's led me to what I've done now. And I'm sure that there are people who are laughing at me when I started out doing what I was doing, right? They're looking from a distance. It's different. They're like, this is silly and stupid.

But, you know, if it brings you happiness and you're able to carve out your own journey and play by your own rules, it becomes a lot more fun as you start seeing the, you know, the payback from it. It's a hell of a trading secret. It's a good way to wrap this. And you know what? You said the exact same words. We just had the owner of Doug the Pug come on, a freaking dog that has over 18 million followers and a billion views.

That's fine. New York time bestseller list goes on. The exact word she said for her trading secret was when I did this. People laughed at me and told me I'm out of my mind and look where we are today. So it's a hell of a one to take away. Paul, thank you so much for being here 10 minutes after an hour. So you spent some extra time. You know, where can people find everything you have going on?

The podcast, the products. Let us know. Just you could follow me on Twitter, Biznasty 2.0 on Instagram, just biz nasty. And then also spit and checkouts podcast. We got an awesome crew. I'm very grateful for the family I've met there. And of course, it's all through barstool sports and a company that I've really loved working for. And they've continued to make some awesome moves.

Of course, everybody saw the barstool fund, which they created for small businesses. So it's cool. It's been a great ride. And I hope it continues. it's awesome and anyone that hasn't tried pink whitney get on it it's unbelievable paul thank you so much for being here on another episode of trading secrets we really appreciate your time buddy thank you and keep going and i'm looking forward for your for your trading advice there we go you're my new financial advisor you come to me brother i'll give it to you

We are making them money, money, money. Ding, ding, ding. We are ringing in the closing bell with the one, the only, the curious Canadian. And I actually just got back from Canada. Recently, I was in Eminton visiting Caitlin and her family. And I will tell you this, David, you got some fans out there. Someone came up to me and said, I'm a listener of the podcast. And right after that said, I love the curious Canadian.

and he's not here with you. I said, I'll tell you what, I'm going to pass that message to him. But before I even get your reaction to that, we had your boy on Biz Nasty. I know how much it pained you, David, to not be on this podcast because you look up to him,

you think he's hilarious. So I want to hear your take on everything hockey, everything contracts, the whole business. Before I do that, we had a challenge last week because we had the slutty vegan on Pinky Cole, and we said that we were going to go vegan for a full week.

It's been a full week. David, talk to me. I have three questions on being a vegan. The first one is for you. Number one, you ready for it? Yes. What is the most outrageous meal that you either made or ate in substitute of what you would have otherwise eaten being a vegan? Okay.

Okay. Lots on pack here. I think to really hit this off, I don't think eating vegan there's too many outrageous things. All I can, that sticks in my head is, I had a vegan, an impossible burger, and I went all out and got the vegan bun. I'm staring at this vegan bun, probably the most unappetizing thing that I've ever seen in my career. It looked like dog food.

But it actually tasted pretty good. So I don't really have an outrageous meal. I just had this bun sticking in my head, staring at my face when I think vegan. Wait, now I'm kind of rattled. Like, I'm confused because I didn't think that buns or bread would not be vegan. yeah so I went full on like wait so what is what is vegan about a carb no it's not

a carb it's just bread I think it's like the ingredients I don't know if it's like eggs or flour I should be honest I don't know so maybe I didn't go full vegan I'm going full okay because I didn't do vegan bread this bread look like it was dipped in water and then left out to dry in the sun

and then stepped on by my dog vegan cheese though I know you you used you like it big vegan cheese guy yeah big vegan cheese yet. Okay. That might be here to stay. My most, what's our most outrageous thing is I'm in the airport, right? Trying to get anything vegan while you traveling is fucking impossible. So I found a

Greek place, got a Greek salad. And at the top, just like, do you want feta? I wanted feta so damn bad, but I passed on it. And the second thing is like going into Chipotle being like, so what are my options? And like, we have Sofritus. I'm like, well, what is Sofritus? And it's tofu. Tofu is not as bad as you would think. No, so this are fritis, a Chipoli is really good. It's got a good spice. It just doesn't feel good six hours later. Yeah. The shits are, I'll tell you, that's probably my biggest takeaway. The shits is a vegan, at least when I first gone is different. It's different. And I wouldn't say the transitions been great. I think my biggest takeaway is if I ever went full vegan, I would just eat

french fries all the time. Which, that's not that you could eat like shit, like dessert, like certain desserts or stuff like that. Yeah. Real quick question. Yep. The best take or the best thing that's happened since you've gone vegan for this week? Has there been any changes? I feel good, to be honest. Like, I don't, I don't mean to be cheesy or, like, fake about it. Like, I actually feel good. My stomach feels a little tighter. Like, I'm a little less lethargic when I wake up. Like, I feel good. And just like anything else, you stack them together. I think I worked out more this week than I did any other week just because I'm eating healthy and I feel good. It makes you really contemplate what you're putting in your body and what the output is because

you're putting so much effort into it. I definitely lost some weight. The other thing is I've known like, you know, when you like, what's it called, like vaso-vascular or something, like your veins and stuff, I've noticed like, as weird as it is, like skin's getting tighter, like my veins are popping a little more. So I don't think I'm going to be a vegan for life. I will tell you, after just doing this for a week and talking slutty vegan, I will adjust a little bit. Like I think everything in moderation, I'm not a black and white guy, big gray guy. So I think I will try to just be aware. Like maybe in moderation, I'll just start eating a little the less meat. You?

That could be like a Monday to Thursday vegan guy. Yeah. You know, weekends just ham it up with the no eggs thing really throws me off because that takes away a lot of dressings, a lot of mayonnaise, a lot of like, so the no eggs throws me off. Gary is fucking brutal. All right. Let's get in this here. Talk to me. Biz. What are some of your takeaways? What do you think and where are we going with this? Shoot, brother. Yeah. My biggest takeaway is just honestly, I can't tell our listeners out there how

relatable he is to me and a lot of Canadians who grow up. in small town Canada with this dream that starts kind of from from something and um just a lot of similarities in his path and you know just seeing his successes i've been a fan of barstool fan of his i'm from vancouver just like him as well or not him but he moved there after um his playing days and you know just seeing his rise to fame and how he used to chirp guys on twitter to really parlayed into a lot of business success like she's just like any other entrepreneur we've had here who's just kind of like he said people laughed at him and now he was crushing it so um that was my big takeaways. I just, he's the funniest guy ever.

I just think he is. He's naturally, like, there is, you know how some people forced being funny? He is just funny. I've never seen him have an off moment where he's funny. I've seen him sober. I've seen him high. I've seen him drunk. He's fucking hilarious in every one of those stages. He's awesome. And he's, and he's

going to be a perfect fit for the, for the NHL moving forward with their new TV contract that they just signed. All right. So you always come on, you ask me about like business stuff and you ask me the jargon. And there was, I saw since we podcast with him, a big TNT deal or something. What is the, do you know the story of the specifics with that? Yeah.

Yeah. So the NHL season starts tomorrow. Everybody. Let's go. We're back, baby. My penguins are taking on the Tampa Lightning and the season opener. But so the NHL used to have all their exclusive TV rights with NBC. And that changed.

And ESPN is now the main rights holder to the NHL for the first time since 2004. So ESPN has hockey now. ESPN has hockey now. ESPN has hockey. And ESPN is owned by ABC, who has the bachelor or everything. I mean, they got it all. Disney. So now they got an HL.

Okay. So ESPN has the A package and TNT has the B package. And I don't know how much you or reviewers watch the NBA, but the TNT is known in the NBA for having guys like Charles Barkley and Shaquille O'Neal and some really big personalities in the sport. Yeah. And so TNT now has hired Paul Bissonette to be on their panel as just this entertaining, fun, knowledgeable, and charismatic

guy. So I really think it's going to be a huge deal for the NHL. Wow. And let me tell you this. You know who else the NHL just signed as one of their ambassadors? Let's hear it. Who? TikTok superstar Josh Richards. Get the fuck out of here. Josh Richards is one of the exclusive ambassadors for

the NHL. So the NHL is doing their thing right now. I need a time out there. Yeah. You're a hockey guy. You've dedicated your life to hockey. There's a guy like Paul Bissinette who is funny, who is hilarious, who's been a pro hockey player. Yeah. Do you, when you see

Josh Richards getting a contract like that, does that piss you off at all? Like, does he have any credibility in this sport? He's a Canadian kid who played hockey growing up. So that's not really credibility. So at least he loves the sport. Credibility for me is like, I'm,

like you said, I've dedicated my life to the game. I want the game grown as much as possible. I mean, grown in any regard is the best. If it's the next generation, if it's the youth, if it's the female demographic,

like whatever it is. I just respect the NHL for not standing this like flag in the ground. We're old like the old man's club. Like we're not going to do it. I respect that. It's just like what I think baseball should get a little more flare. I think golf like should be a little more Ryder Cup 24-7. Like just I think it's good.

I think it's good expansion for the, and I love the direction the way the league is going. I like that you said that because my initial thought would be like, dude, like you have no credibility. These guys are like you. You literally are working on the sport. about 60 hours a week at minimum every week pretty much since you've been able to fucking walk. And then you got a guy like Josh Richardson coming out. I'm like,

you have no credibility. But I as a player, former player, you almost going pro, all that stuff. I totally get why you would just say, I don't care who you put in there. As long as more eyeballs are on the sport, it's a win. I also know that you're in the industry where it's like, hey, he has 100 million followers off his platforms. That's credibility in enough, right? You don't have to put the puck in the back on that to get credibility on the business side of things. And the one thing, too, which is interesting is while people have followers, the one thing people have no idea about is impressions. So if you look at like actual impressions, so I only have like, you know, 875 followers on Instagram, right? Not like, 875,000. But I will say

if I go to my insights, I bet you, if I'm doing it real quickly, I bet you the impressions I made over the last like week or so were probably over 10 million. So, that means like 10 million eyeballs probably at some point touched my Instagram. So if you look at what Josh Richardson is probably seeing like his impressions, Richards. Richards, sorry, Josh Richards is probably saying, I'm a big fan. So creating a hundred billion, you know, like a billion views a week, I bet.

Yeah, it's crazy. So to kind of tie a bow on the TV deals to talking about that, so that NHL is in a good place, seven-year deal. They're getting $625 million a year over ESPN and TNT. I'm just going to do a little comparison for you here because I'm a sports guy. Do you know, can you guess, if the NHL is getting $625 million a year

in the TV revenue from their networks, how much do you think the NFL is getting? It's got to be four times. They're getting close to $10 billion a year. What? Really quickly, NBC gives $2 billion a year just for Sunday night football rights. Fox gives $2.2 billion a year

just for the NFC rights. ESPN gives $2.7 billion just for Monday night football and CBS gives $2.1 billion for their longest lasting partner. Each of those networks gets three Super Bowls in the next 12 years. $10 billion a year to the NFL from TV contracts. It's only 17 weeks long plus playoffs. And all that money gets distributed evenly in revenue sharing towards the teams in the league.

And that, folks, is why the NFL could never sell a ticket for the next 10 years. And every team would still make money, money, money. Never sell a ticket and still be in the game. Exactly. So NFL doesn't rely on gate revenue, NHL and NBA does, MLB does, eight home games compared to 41 and 81 in baseball and basketball and hockey. It's a crazy sport. I would love to get into a dynamics of sports economics one day.

But just TV makes the world go around. You see it. That's why you're famous. That's why these leagues are able to, you know, to function. It's crazy. It's a crazy world to think you wouldn't have to sell a ticket only 17 weeks, but it goes back to our original point. Richards, that's why you get them up there, right?

because all it comes down to at the end of the day is marketing. That goes for anyone listening to. Marketing yourself. Look at the difference in those sports and the dollars behind it. The other thing that's crazy and I know we're wrapping up here, David, is just the Pink Whitney. 87,000 cases. That's about 10 million

bottles of fucking Pink Whitney this guy has sold. Anyone out there, brand yourself and the business will come. Any thoughts on the Pink Whitney? Yeah, I mean, you're just talking about impressions. It's impressions on your social. This is impressions of people, humans going on and buying goods because of a person. Because of marketing. And it's that. And you

touched on it in the episode, five to 600,000 downloads on their pod. Crazy. They crank out three and a half hour podcasts. People are listening and consuming these. That's one thing we've been working on like, how do we keep this under an hour? Because people don't have time. How do you listen to four hour podcasts and hockey? It's crazy. I mean, those guys just go on, Witt talks about golf and they talk to shoot stories. And it's, I mean, as a hockey guy, I love it. But they're killing it. Their impressions are great, but I got one thing for you to wrap it up. Okay. Businessy, you were awesome. Wish I was on the on the pod. We're transitioning. I got a question

to ask you. I was watching the finale of Bachelor in Paradise. Okay. And I saw our first ever guest, Dean Ungler, on the TV with Caitlin. And I texted you and what did I say, Jason? You said, how much do you think they're getting paid to be on that right now, right? I said exactly that. We know what they offered him for his two seasons and his episode. by episode, I got my guy, Dean and Caitlin. They're reading off a script. They got the earpiece in there. I know that's what they're doing. They're a success story.

What do you think that they're getting paid for their finale appearance? What do you think? And I'll tell you what I think. Give me your staff. I'm thinking to fly them down there, one episode finale. I'm thinking 10 grand. Is a guy who has, you know, had the opportunity to be on, obviously, my season. I did the premiere and finale for Colton season.

I was on the greatest seasons with Caitlin. I was asked to go in Paradise. We did listen to your heart. Had a cameo on Dancing with the Stars. Had a cameo on season 17. I believe it was with Katie Thurston. Did the Mentel-all. From my experience, I could tell you, there's no

way they got 10 grand for a quick cameo like that. No way. I'd be very surprised if it was more than three apiece. That's my guess. Three K each max. We'll trust the expert here. I'll be the hockey expert in this recap. You be the Bachelor

appearance fee expert. So I love it. Another great episode, though. Another great episode. This was awesome. David, thank you so much for coming on and give me your take all things hockey. We are trying to hit every industry in the industry in hockey and barstool sports. Apparently, it is going

to continue to be one of those, especially with the dollars and cents behind it. Guys, please, please, if you haven't, give us a five-star review. Please subscribe to our pod. We need you guys. We need you. We love you guys. We appreciate it. All the feedback is being listened to. We have an intern who is reading every single review. So please give it to us. Give us five stars. And be ready next week, next Monday for

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