Will Cain Country - Don Lemon Spirals as Greenland Panic Exposes the Left’s Media Bubble (ft. Cody Campbell)

Episode Date: January 20, 2026

Story 1: Disgraced former CNN host Don Lemon continues to look silly as he tries to chase relevance. Will and The Crew analyze Lemon’s manipulative framing techniques in his “coverage” of the Minnesota church protest before reacting to his failed attempts to redefine crime. Plus, Will exposes Texas Rep. James Talerico’s (D-TX) attempts to disguise politics as religion and helps clear the air about President Donald Trump’s efforts to purchase Greenland.Story 2: Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Double Eagle Energy Holdings and Chairman of the Board of Regents of the Texas Tech University System Cody Campbell sits down with Will to discuss the landscape of College sports, from NIL and the Transfer Portal to the fight to keep Women's and Olympic sports going.Story 3: Will and The Crew help unpack the data behind the gendered political divide, and Will shows how women are becoming more radically Liberal, even across different countries. Subscribe to ‘Will Cain Country’ on YouTube here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Watch Will Cain Country!⁠⁠Follow ‘Will Cain Country’ on X (⁠⁠@willcainshow⁠⁠), Instagram (⁠⁠@willcainshow⁠⁠), TikTok (⁠⁠@willcainshow⁠⁠), and Facebook (⁠⁠@willcainnews⁠⁠)Follow Will on X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@WillCain  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Visit medcan.com slash moments to get started. Don Lemon, gold. Greatest hits as he interacts with people who know more than him, which basically means all of America. Cody Campbell, the president's chairman of regulating college sports, on the Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition, to the White House. and Chairman of the Board of Regents of Texas Tech University on National Champion Indiana Hoosiers. It is Will Cain Country at the Wilcane Country YouTube channel.

I'm happy to welcome you in on this Tuesday. What's up, Tinfoil Pat, Two a Days, Dan. We got Cody Campbell in studio today. That's going to be a lot of fun. We've had Cody on the show before. Yeah, we've excited. But we got him in person, in studio today. Do you think a lot of people know Cody?

Ooh, I don't want to be mean. Know who he is? I see him on the TV all the time. Well, the answer is probably... You watch football, you see him on the TV. During that? Yeah. Advertis.

You watch an ad? Yeah, you see him like 10 times a game. Yeah. Yeah, he's really running this ad campaign to try to... He has a vision for the future of college sports, and it's not exactly in line with the visions being pushed by Republicans with the Score Act, and not exactly in line, of course, with the Democrats who are pushing the Safe Act. This is an attempt to regulate NIL, I don't know, maybe transfer portal, the future of college sports. He is a billionaire from Double Eagle Energy Holdings in Texas. He played for the Texas Tech Red Raiders.

He played for the Indianapolis Colts, and he's very influential when it comes to the future of the relationship between government and sports. We got him coming in and just a little bit here. But we had some gold we wanted to share with you today. So Don Lemon, disgraced former CNN host. I don't know. He's doing a little bit of everything. Man, I mean, he's doing whatever he thinks will get attention. And that's really always been the case with women.

Honestly, it's just even when he was on CNN. His takes, you'll find no consistency and not as though he's following some practical common sense approach to each issue. It's really measured by the amount of tension it will garner. And now he's doing it now that he's been fired and he's out on his own. He's doing man on the street. He's doing field reporting. He's doing hot take. And so everybody saw this weekend when he was part of this crowd that burst in.

into a church in St. Paul, Minnesota, and they disrupted. By the way, the information that's coming out about the people that did this in St. Paul, these are very clearly,

at least led by professional agitators. The dude with the beard, he's been in Washington, D.C., harassing soldiers, National Guardsmen. Loseer behavior. He kind of just shows up. And his thing is he's extremely aggressive, cussing a lot, very disruptive.

Like, it doesn't appear that anything he's doing is an attempt to be constructive. And this is the group that Lemon embeds himself with. And they go into a church, they start haranguing young women, young men. I'm talking about, like, teenagers who are sitting with their parents, yelling at them about wearing their jewelry and their comfortable lives while their Somali brothers suffer. and this and that. And that's who Lemon's hanging with, right? That's what he's doing. And he acts like he was on the periphery, just kind of showing up doing his thing. But next thing, you know, he's right up front with his mic right in the face of the pastor. Do you notice, by the way,

how he said, don't push me. I'm trying to be respectful. Don't push me. He says to the pastor, right? And that's so calculated. Like, I will say, although he's an attention horror, Lemon is actually pretty good at the mechanics of television. Like he knows how to be Ron Burgundy. And that saying that is designed in that moment to make the audience feel like it's the pastor who's being aggressive. But if you look at the video, the pastor's leaning back. Like he is at about a 45 degree angle away from Lemon. Lemon is totally leaning in at a 45 degree angle the other way, bend at the waist with his microphone that stuck out.

And the pastor just kind of like, back up, bro. You know, like he's just holding them off, like gently like this. And Lemon's like, don't push me. I'm trying to be respectful. Well, Lemon then goes on. I don't know what show this is, Patrick. I don't think it's Jennifer Welch's show. And you guys know who Jennifer Welch is.

She's a D-Lis Celebrity Reality Star. I don't know what she did. Was she an interior decorator or something like that? She's not a real housewife. But something like that on Bravo. Yeah, it sounds great. And now she's the left spirit. animal. She's like a political pundit now. So anyway, here's Lemon hanging out with a very similar

crowd that he was with in the church, but this is just his online buddies. Here he is talking with Jennifer Welch. A certain degree of entitlement. I think people who are, you know, in the religious groups like that. It's not the type of Christianity that I practice, but I think that they're entitled and that that entitlement comes from a supremacy, a white supremacy. And they think that this country was built for them, that it is a Christian country when actually we left England because we wanted religious freedom. It's religious freedom, but only if you're a Christian and only if you're a white male, pretty much.

Ooh. Okay, so, it's so, all right, so many things. And this is his technique. By the way, the, when it's actually, is like, okay, now I'm just telling you the facts. Like, they think it's this, but, well, actually, here's the facts. Well, I hate to break you. The United States was founded as a Christian nation.

Yes, with religious freedom, but the undergirdings of a Christian nation. Just take a look at the founding document. see how many times as God is mentioned in the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, it's printed on our money. It is not a secular nation. It's not completely about religious freedom. It's certainly not, it's a meaning it is about religious freedom, but that doesn't mean it's a secular nation. This was founded upon Christian values, Christian nation, and the founders, in fact, said that a free people were not worthy of the freedoms that would be protected unless they had another moral undergirding in their vision, Christian morality. So, his characterization of. America. We left England because it was because of the Church of England, because there was

Calvinists and Protestants and Quakers who wanted to practice their Christianity in their own vision. And so, yes, there was a search for religious freedom, but that's not a denial. That's not a denial of the foundational elements of this being a Christian nation. I'm sorry, that's just a fact. That's just a fact. This isn't like a debate. This isn't, I should just Well, actually, Don. You know, but that's the truth. I was trying to go to you a little bit. That's the truth of America.

Not what Don had to say there. But, and by the way, he says, that's not the kind of Christianity that I practice. What kind do you practice? Like, what is your, is it the same kind as James Tolariko? You know, James Tallerico is the Democrat running for Senate in Texas. He's my fave, obviously. By the way, I'm starting to see some videos in standing up. Five-five?

What are we looking at here with Tala Rico? Look it up, Dan. Look it up. Talarico. Okay, professed seminarian. That means he studied religion, right? He's currently leading Jasmine Crockett, I think, by now 10 points in his race for the Democrat primary in Texas. He's the guy that Joe Rogan is called the future superstar of Democrats or something like that.

He was just on Ezra Klein's podcast, and he was asked about Christianity. So I'm curious if this is the kind of Christianity practiced by Don Lemon. I believe Christianity points to the truth. I also think other religions of love point to the same truth. I think of different religious traditions as different languages. So you and I could sit here and debate what to call this cup, and you could call it a cup in English. We'd call it something else in Spanish and French.

But we are all talking about the same reality. I believe Jesus Christ reveals that reality to us. But I also think that other traditions reveal that reality in their own ways with their own symbol structures. And I've learned more about my tradition by learning more about Buddhism and Hinduism and Islam and Judaism. And so I see these beautiful fake traditions as circling the same truth about the universe, about the cosmos. Yes, because that was Jesus' famous line. Not I am the truth and I am the way. But I am one of the truths.

I am one of the ways. If you find another way, that's cool, bro. but I'm one of the way as you can check out as well. That wasn't the message of Christianity. It's not the message of Jesus. This is heresy. And by the way, it's a one-sided heresy because I don't think Islam shares the same view.

I don't think it views it's just one of the ways to the truth. Go ahead, Two A-A-Dais. There's not much height information on Jamstall-Rico, unfortunately. I thought I found something, but it was a Jamstall-Rica that played Yale football who was 6'4. Not him. Did he play football for him? Yale? No, that would be interesting. He's not 277 pounds and 6'4. Oh, that's a James Tolerico, 277, 6-4? Yeah, 2012 Yale Bulldogs. Let me guess. Offensive tackle or defensive end?

That's a big defensive end for Yale. Like, I bet you're the Yale defensive ends are coming in at 225, 235. That's got to be an offensive lineman for Yale, James Calerico. That is. Yes. All right. Yeah. There's nothing about this James Talarico that reads Tackle. So, by the way, Talarico is selling a vision of progressivism and a vision of Christianity that's primary pitch is kindness. Like everything about him is designed to appeal to the human appetite for kindness. But, That kindness is fake, just like every other fraudulent thing about Tolariko. He is trying to be, in this clip, everything for everyone. This is not religion as an act of kindness.

This is politics as an avenue of vote getting. This is, please give me your votes. Yes, I'm trying to bring Christianity back to the Democrat Party, but I also want your votes, Muslims. I also want your votes, Hindu. So please don't marginalize me because I'm a Christian, because I'm not going to marginalize you because you're another religion. We can be everything to everyone.

And that's just simply not the truth. It's just not. And I know that a lot of people will hear that and think it feels good because don't judge me, bro, and faith is an act of faith, and how can we judge another's faith? but it's just like the founding of America and Don Lemon's characterization, it's not the truth of Christianity. It's not the word of God. If you believe the word of God, if you believe that Jesus was the son of God, then he is the way and he is the truth. He is not one of the ways.

If you find it through Muhammad, we hope you arrive at the truth. It isn't the golden calf. What if I worship a golden calf? What if I worship, you know, what if I'm a Wiccan? Is that cool, too, with James Tolariko on my path toward the truth? What if I'm satanic and I want to arrive at the truth? Is that cool as well with James Tauriko? Like, is it only Islam, Buddhism, Hindu, and Judaism that he's talking to? Or is he talking to all faiths? Yeah, like, what are we doing?

What's the line? And if religion is everything, isn't it nothing? If you are everything, aren't you nothing? Which in the end is the story of James Tolarik. He's trying to be everything for everyone, which really what you are is nothing. You're an empty vessel. You're fraudulent, as is, by the way, Don Lemon. And when Lemon interacts with someone who just has their wits about them, who doesn't freeze in front of a camera, who doesn't freeze when someone sticks a mic in their face,

and who knows something, because lemon will rattle off. They're doing this without warrants. They're doing this without due process. They're arresting American citizens. If that person has a base level store of knowledge, then lemon is exposed as a boob, like in this case. So misdemeanor is not a criminal act. No, if you get charged with a misdemeanor, that's not a criminal act. I'm in charge at all then.

If it's not a criminal act. Because we have different levels. of crime. Everything is not the same. So it is crime. No. We have different levels of, I shouldn't say crime, but it's not, it's not, it's not a crime. You're not breaking the law. I mean, you are breaking the law, but it's not a criminal act. So it's breaking the law. No, you're not breaking the law, but it's not a legal immigration is a criminal act. Because the talking point is out on the left that it's not a crime, that it's a civil infraction. You're breaking the law, but it's also a misdemean. You're breaking the law.

Right. It's a misdemeanor. So a misdemeanor is not a crime. No, it is a crime. Well, it's not a crime. It's breaking the law. So you're breaking the law. No, you're not breaking the law.

Which is it, Don? I don't know. Oh, God, those. I wish I could come up with the perfect thing now. He's Ron Burgundy. That's what it is. He's literally Ron Burgundy. Like, he's the closest thing in television that I've ever seen that is actually Ron Burgundy.

You can get away with it now because he's not at CNN. He's an Indusandy. independent journalists. So he can be that doofy. Bubery, as you say. Well, the truth has a way. The truth has a way. Speaking of Ron Burgundy's,

yours truly, got a nice shout out yesterday. From the president of the United States on truth social. Great interview today of Rodney Scott. Hold on, I can do better than that. Great interview today of Rodney Scott, CBP Commissioner. by the wonderful Will Kane on the Will Kane show. Thank you both, President DJT.

Is that good? Was that all right? That was pretty good. Let me tell you. A wonderful, Will Kane, great interview, Will Kane show. Watch it, 4 o'clock. By the way, he also posted this on Truth Social. It is Trump, J.D., and Marco Rubio arriving at Greenland and planting an American flag.

I'm not even sure you grabbed this one two of the days. I'm not even sure this is the best one. The best one may have been he has all the European leaders. Was that a real photo, Patrick? He's got all the European leaders in the Oval Office, and he's got a map up of North America. And not only is Greenland in the United States covered in the American flag, but Canada is as well.

They're very upset about it. The Brooklyn brunch crew does not like this. Greenland? Yeah. What do they have against Greenlanders? They asked you what the party line is on Invasion. an ally. Let's talk about Greenland for one second. I think we're about to welcome in Cody Campbell, but let's talk about Greenland for one second. We try to do this on the Will Cane. There's just a ton of

ignorance around Greenland. Okay. Okay, I get it. Yeah, Denmark's an ally. They're a member of NATO. We don't want to be invading a sovereign border. And I don't think that we are going to. I think Donald Trump is once again illustrating the art of the deal in that he's talking big and bluster and there's going to be a deal that's made in the United States for Greenland. Why? Well, Greenland has in some ways been the apple of the American eye for over 100 years. We laid that out on the Fox News Channel on the Will Cain Show. Multiple presidents, multiple administrations, multiple political parties have all understood the importance of Greenland to national security and their mineral-rich, vast land holdings. We've had several occasions where we've tried to buy Greenland from Denmark.

There are indications that Greenland is on the verge of independence from Greenmark. 56,000 Greenlanders within the next five years could become independent of Denmark, vote for independence and honored by Denmark. If Greenland goes independent, they have no military. When I say no, I mean zero military. You can't be a member of NATO if you don't have a military. It has a minimum military requirement to be a member of NATO. So who defends Greenland? And then who protects those 56,000 people and that huge important area from the, at a minimum, influence of the Chinese and Russian. And I think this is one of the main reasons. There's been a push for Greenland in the United States from President Donald Trump. Hey, I've got some fascinating stats. Have you guys ever seen the stuff about the rightward shift of young men? Well, I've got some fascinating stats I want to share with you a little bit later in the program about it's not young men.

We've got the graphs, the stats, the study. Young men haven't shifted to the right. But there's been a massive shift to the left. for women massive over the last 20 years. I'm going to lay that out for you coming up here on Wilcane country. Plus, Cody Campbell. But 20 days, one historic move, an unbelievable journey, Melania from Amazon MGM Studios captures the one-of-a-kind transition into the White House, showcasing the planning, pressure, and personal moments that come with stepping into the role of the first lady. She's doing so.

for the second time. From logistical complexities to decisions made behind closed doors, the film brings you closer to Mrs. Trump and her family as they return to the nation's capital. See what history looks like before the doors officially open. Melania arrives exclusively in theaters January 30th, 2026. Women, huge lurch to the left. Cody Campbell, the future of college sports. Coming up on Will King Country. This is Ainsley Earhart. Thank you for joining me for the 52 episode podcast. series, The Life of Jesus. A listening experience that will provide hope, comfort, and understanding of the greatest story

ever told. Listen and follow now at Fox News Podcasts.com or wherever you listen to podcasts. Huge leftward lurch for young women. It's not the young men that have moved to the right, but it's young women who have moved to the left. That's coming up on Wilcane Country. At the Wilcane Country YouTube channel, the Wilcane Facebook page, and you can always hear it's at Spotify or on Apple.

The President's Commission, the President's Council on. sports, fitness, and nutrition. One of the members is the Texas Tech University System Board of Regents Chairman Cody Campbell. He is also the chairman and CEO of Double Eagle Holdings, which are on Double Eagle, what, seven? Five. Five. Okay.

Which is a very successful oil and gas exploration drilling real estate company here in Texas. And by the way, for anybody that doesn't know who you are, Cody, you've been on the show. We've talked about your life story, how you went from. from the Indianapolis Colts for what? Three years? Two years. Two years. And then ultimately, back to West Texas, where you're from,

and started double Eagle. And you were telling me at the time, look, the Oil and Gas business is real estate. And that's what I went into after football. And Double Eagle has been so successful that you've now repeated the project five times over. That's right. How? And what is the secret?

Well, we have a great team. I have a partner, John Sellers, who's a guy I grew up with in Canyon, Texas, in West Texas. You know, and it's honestly just been a lot of hard work. You know, it's been a lot of, we've been blessed with a lot of opportunity in West Texas in the Permian Basin. So, you know, having the connections there and the understanding of the culture and the people and the relationships, that's been really important. But I think more than anything, we've just been good at making, you know, good, smart, quick, nimble decisions at the right time and have taken advantage of the opportunity that's been presented to us. You know, it's interesting. I mean, a lot of people at least around here know who you are.

And I think more and more people across the country get to know who you are because of the presidential appointment, which we'll get to in a little bit. But, you know, as a guy who grew up here, the oil and gas industry in Texas is a little bit dominated. And this is probably not accurate. But there's, you know, famous book, The Big Rich. right it's about the five big families the five big wildcatter's basically dating back to the 1920s you know hl hunt um sid richardson three other families and and and that's generational wealth that is defined texas in many ways for over a hundred years but it's it's you know it's interesting to see someone else come along in your case what now 15 years ago when you start this 15 we

started in 2008 2008 so a little over that and And it feels like in some ways, and I don't know if this is an accurate order to describe you, but the days of the wild catter are kind of behind us. Like everything's to be explored and discovered has been explored and discovered. But it doesn't seem the case. Here's to prove positive with your life. Yeah, you know, the oil and gas industry and the reason that we've achieved energy dominance in this country is all a result of technology. And the intersection of technology and extraction, we've always known the oil was there. it just wasn't technically recoverable.

And now because technology's advanced, and I don't think people fully appreciate how much science goes into the extraction of oil and gas these days. I mean, some of the smartest in the world are involved with figuring out how to get oil out of the ground. And so we're the fortunate beneficiaries of, you know, all that work that's been done technologically to figure out how to extract oil from this tight rock and from this shale and these places that we didn't think, it could ever come out before. And so, you know, we've been good at the part of it where, you know, all right, we figured out technically where the oil is. We're good at the part of it

where you can go out and acquire those properties where the oil is. And so, again, like you said, it's very similar to real estate. It's being nimble. It's being quick. It's making decisions that make sense. And, you know, not spending too much, but not spending too little. And, you know, and now we're an operator and we drill our own wells. We have our own technical people. And we do, we know we do all the things that everybody else does, but ultimately it comes down to technology and then just the free markets. You know, we have a lot of independent companies, smaller companies, and some of them are big but relatively small compared to the major oil companies who are nimble enough and

entrepreneurial enough to go try new ideas and develop new technologies and respond to the things that they see in the field. And so that's allowed this country to develop resources that haven't been able to be developed around the world. That's another great point. You feel like at this point it's also dominated by the big guys, but here you are as an independent. So that's kind of back to that wildcat or status. But do you know this off the top of the top of the head? The big guys in oil and gas, how much of the market do they sort of dominate? How much room is there? Or how big of a player can independence still be? Overall American oil and gas? If we're going to continue to develop and grow our production in this country, the independence are the ones that are going to have to lead the way. Because they're the ones that have been responsible for all the innovation and technological advances that are taking place. Because, again, we're nimble and we're thoughtful and we're more in the weeds than the big companies are. So typically what happens is an independent company, a smaller company.

And some of these companies are multi-billion-dollar companies. Don't get me wrong, but they're relatively small compared to Exxon or Chevron or those. So they go in and they kind of figure it out and prove the concept. and then the bigger companies will come in and consolidate the smaller ones as time goes by. And once it's proven. And so that's been the pattern in the Permian Basin and continues to be the pattern, you know, across the United States. So we'll see where it goes from here. You know, I think there are probably opportunities, you know, internationally in this hemisphere

where we can, you know, go out and use the learnings that we've figured out here in the United States and do it other places. I think there are other basins and other opportunities. basins and other opportunities and you know we keep in the permium basin we keep finding new intervals that work we keep going deeper um we keep you know finding new technologies things have been him and left behind again things that we knew that were they're always there we just weren't technically recoverable figuring out how to get them out of the ground and um you know recently there's been a lot of news about um you know a new uh interval you know it's deeper in the permian basin that's going to produce a whole lot of oil and gas and so um you know we're really excited about that

and we're going to be participants in that. And do I have this right, that American oil, specifically Permian Basin oil, West Texas, Intermediate, is actually some of the best oil in the world. It's the cleanest, easiest, needs the least refinement. So therefore, you add that together. It's also the cheapest. Right. So it's light, sweet, crude oil, meaning that it's a good grade.

It's not too heavy. It's not too thick. And it has low sulfur. And so that makes it easier to refine. What's interesting about that is it's actually cheaper. because we make so much of it here, then the oil that comes from other places that requires more refining.

So we've just done a really good job in the Permian, South Texas, other areas in the country, of bringing that oil up out of the ground, making an economic, creating a lot of jobs, and it's given us a huge macroeconomic advantage in this country because our energy costs are lower than anybody else.

And people don't recognize the fact that the cost of energy denominates the cost of everything because it's needed to manufacture everything, transport everything, you know, everything you see around us in this room right now is made of oil in some part or definitely needed energy in order to be made. And so our manufacturers and our industry all benefit from that. And so we need to make sure that we make as much of this as possible and keep, you know,

our energy cost reasonable. Now, people in our industry would like to see oil prices a little bit higher than they are now. What's the sweet spot, Cody? I saw that line in Landman. It's like we need it between, what is it, $60 and $75 a barrel. Yeah, you know, I think 70 to 90 is a pretty, It's kind of a sweet spot where, you know, again, the producers will have enough money there to continue to do the exploration and the testing and the development of technology. So they'll have enough margin there to do that.

But also, you know, prices at the pump staying low enough to where it's not going to hurt the economy too bad. And so right now, you know, we've been hovering around below 60s, high 50s and things like that. That's probably a little bit too low. I think you've seen a pullback in people trying new things and drilling new types of wells. and while our production has remained fairly flat, which is good, it won't remain flat forever because we kind of have to keep exploring and keep developing in order to maintain that production over the long run. But it's a pretty long cycle, and so you probably won't see the effects of these lower prices

for several years to come. What the effects in what way? Energy prices, electricity. Yeah, so, I mean, supply will, you know, over time, decline, and, you know, demand is continuing to rise, and especially international. And so, you know, over time, there just isn't going to be as much oil, and so the price is naturally going to rise. Okay. So these discoveries, perhaps in our hemisphere, as you bring up, are important to keep those prices down over a longer horizon. Very important. Yeah. You know, the companies need that margin in order to keep finding new oil.

And that's the bottom line. And we have, in order to keep the supply high enough to keep the price at a reasonable level, we have to keep finding more oil. Right. Because, you know, naturally these wells decline year over year. And so if you don't find new stuff, then, you know, over time, you're not going to have enough of it, especially as demand continues to. Do you watch Landman? I do. You do? Yeah. I like how he smiles. I mean, I guess you would kind of be the John Hamm character in that show. There's been a lot of debate around our office and industry around whether John, my partner, is John Hamm, and, you know, and who's the other guy? And, you know, I don't know. Billy Bob? Yeah, we're probably a mixture of the. the two. You know, have both been out in the field, signing leases, doing stuff, you know, have all kinds of crazy stories. Wait, wait, wait, wait. When you and John are arguing,

do you want to be John Hamm or Billy Bob? I think you want to be John Hamm because he's kind of the more handsome dignified, you know, one of the two. But Billy Bob's not bad either, you know. It's set in Fort Worth where Cody lives now. He's from West Texas, which is where Billy Bob lives in the show as well. Yeah, there's a, I don't know. Did you speak to Taylor Sheridan? You know, we know Taylor, we didn't have any part in the show. You know, we ought to talk to him, though. We'd have some good stories. He hasn't done research by talking to you.

Come on. Oh, he knows us and knows enough about us that I'm sure that there's some influence there. But no, we weren't a part of the show. Okay. But I love the fact that they have Texas, a lot of Texas Tech plugs. They do. And Billy Bob's son, you know, was a wrestler at Texas Tech, even though we don't have a wrestling team. But he was, yeah, so it's great that West Texas,

and the oil and gas industry are portrayed in a positive light generally. Now, I mean, we don't have, like, battles with the cartel and people dying every day. It's never happened? No. And if somebody died every single day on a workover rig, that workover rig wouldn't be. What about the cartel thing? I don't know. None of that's, you know, we've had issues with, we actually had issues with Venezuelan gangs for a while, stealing oil.

In Texas? In West Texas, yeah. Really? Yeah. And so, you know, that was a big problem for a little while. I mean, wait, wait, what is that? So, like, Trindayaagua type? Or is there other gangs?

I don't know which gang it was, but they were very well organized, very well equipped, very knowledgeable, because they had worked in the oil field in Venezuela, and they came and started, you know, stealing equipment and oil from... How do you steal oil? Taking the tanker? Yeah, so most new wells produced straight into pipeline, so that's harder to do. But the older vertical wells produce into tanks, and so they just go out there in the middle of the night, they know how to do it. They bring a tank truck with them, and they just steal the oil out of the tanks. So it was, I mean, the things that were set on TV are actually true.

Like, the Venezuelan gangs were a problem. Yeah. It's gotten better, you know. Yeah, I know she's in past tense. Yeah, I think a lot of those folks have been kind of rounded up, which is good. But it's tough, you know, your way out in the middle of the country, you know, there's, you know, 45 minutes or an hour for the sheriff to get there. And so there's nothing you can really do about it. You know, I think, you know, I talked about this.

I have a lot of family, mostly in-laws, in West Texas, in Odessa, in Lubbock. And if you're from West Texas, at least in the past 20 or 30 years, you're used to, you have a strong Latino influence in the way that you were raised. You were raised around them, but that traditionally meant Mexicans. And I remember them saying to me, you know what's interesting is there's a lot of Venezuelans all of a sudden showing up in West Texas. And it's just a little bit of an observational, anecdotal illustration of what changed in the past five to seven years. in America. Right. And I think that for the most part, especially in West Texas, if somebody shows up and wants to go to work, they're more than welcome to be there. And that's never been a problem. But if you want to steal, if you want to cause problems and crime and disrupt

the community, you're not welcome. And so I have, there has been a perceivable difference in over the last year in terms of that aspect of it. It seems to have slowed down and things are more under control than they were. But no, we've never had a cartel plane crash on our ranch with, you know, a bunch of drugs in it or anything like, you know, none of that stuff's ever happened. You know, we've never had anybody kidnapped or any shootouts or anything like that. Yeah. Knock on wood. But it's usually just, you know, fairly mundane, but very hard work. And, you know, and I work in an office most of the time or just have meetings with people. And so, but I have a ton of respect for the guys who are out there on the rigs. I mean, that's a tough job.

But something that I think a lot of people in other parts of the country take for granted. I mean, you flip your light switch on, your lights turn on. They don't understand how difficult it is for that energy to be extracted, refined, and turned into electricity. It takes a lot. And so, you know, those guys deserve a lot of respect. And I certainly do have a lot of it for them. All right, you brought up Texas Tech. Let's talk about college sports for a moment.

Well, let's just take a moment to celebrate Indiana, right? We should. Yeah. Are you happy for Indiana? I'm so happy for Indiana. Me too. Yeah. I mean, historically, the most losing program in college football history. Mark Cuban is playing a little bit of a Cody Campbell role, apparently, at Indiana. But they have an interesting formula. The most interesting thing that I saw, Cody, is the age of their roster. That was fascinating to me. You're looking at 22 and 23-year-olds. And even if you're getting five stars who are out of high school, they're still 17, 18 years old. And a 22-year-old is different than an 18-year-old. And they've got a great coach at Indiana and a great quarterback in Fernando Mendoza. But what a story. Yeah, it's a great story. And I think that the thing I respect about it is that Coach Signetti, and I don't know him,

but he seems to coach the way that you should be coach, which he's hard on the guys, he's tough on the guys, he demands discipline from them, but also has been good at acquiring and identifying talent. So they've done it the right way. They understand that football is still football. You still have to develop players. You know, you still have to have a culture. You still have to have a team.

But at the same time, you also have to have talented players. And so they've done a good job of balancing those two things. And, you know, in a very short period of time, have become a phenomenal team. You know, on both sides of the ball. They play tough. They play hard. They play disciplined. And so I think they're very impressive.

and I'm really, you know, admire what they've done at all levels at that school. All right. So how much did Brendan Sorsby cost? Well, he wasn't cheap. You know, I think that each position, it's interesting in the portal, and I've been, you know, pretty directly involved with now three portal cycles. And there is a supply and demand factor at each position. And so, like, for instance, this year, there are a lot of receivers in the portal.

And so receivers didn't bring as much money as even offensive linemen in some cases because there weren't as many offensive linemen. This year, there were only a few elite quarterbacks that were available. And so, you know, if you need one, if you want one, if you want to compete at the very highest level, as Texas Tech does, you know, you have to lean in and you have to spend the money to get them. And so we did and we figured it out, but all the deals are. The reports are $4 million, north of the million. And so that's not as straightforward as you think it might be. You know, there is an NIL component to it, which is, you know, permitted. There is a hard, you know, salary cap.

We call it the heavy powder, you know, like the real guarantee money that comes to revenue share. And so people report these huge numbers, and it's not always entirely transparent, you know, where do those numbers come from? But when they are reported, typically by an agent who's trying to, you know, build his own business or show that he can, can get these big deals or whatever. They report the highest possible amount that a person can be paid. Right. If all the NIL deals are done, if they're all approved by the College Sports Commission, all those sorts of things.

And so at Texas Tech, we've been really careful to make sure that we are following the rules. And to the extent that, you know, NIL is part of it, you know, that can't be guaranteed. It has to be, you know, has to be gotten. The deals have to be gotten. But then they actually have to be approved. And so Sorgeby has an opportunity to make a lot of money at Texas Tech. and he probably will because the program has become more high profile. In a town like Lubbock where you don't have a pro sports team,

the communities and the local businesses do support Texas Tech athletes very well because those athletes are their best opportunity to have Ceno Celebrity endorsements, so to speak, and people in the community really care about them. So if you're a car dealer in Lubbock, you know, Brennan Sorgeby is going to be the biggest name in town. So if he's going to, you know, come do a commercial for you, he's pretty appealing. And so, you know, we have that advantage. But, you know, everyone is trying to find ways to redirect money to kind of circumvent the cap and do different things with their apparel deals and everything else to make these packages,

give these pids these packages that are more appealing than the next guy. Some, I think, are doing it the right way like we are and being very careful to make sure to follow the rules. I think others are pushing boundaries a little bit. No, I'm not going to call anybody out, but I know who they are. And, you know, we'll see. The initial goal of the House settlement, which is what brought about this revenue share thing, was that that 22.5 million, it was last year, was 20 and a half, the 22 and a half million would be a hard cap. Like, that's the most that people can spend.

And so we've just seen, like, just like in everything else the last few years, just this erosion of, you know, control over the rules and how the players are paid and cost control and everything else. And so right now we're in a place where essentially those who have donor support and those who, have an administration that values athletics are going to do better than those who don't. Okay. I want to back up just so everybody understands what we're talking about. So Cody is on the board of regions, chairman of the board of regions at Texas Tech, but also a big booster for Texas Tech. And you and I think your partner as well, John Sellers, in a lot of ways to put tech, look, let's get everything out on the O. I like tech, okay? I'm a Longhorn fan. You know that.

My wife is from Lubbock, her family taught at Tech. And I have a fun spot in my heart for Tech. And I had told everybody that I know, hey, instead of your kids in Texas applying to Auburn in Georgia, when they don't get into UT or whatever, want to go out of state, I think that Texas Tech is going to be an increasingly popular option for people to go to school. And in no small part because they're getting good at sports. We saw what happened with TCU. TCU into the national championship game and their applications skyrocket. So I can imagine administration being interested in pumping up its biggest marketing vehicle, which is sports, but in particular, college football. Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, at different points this fall compared to last year, our applications were up as much as 63%. Is that right? And so that is why schools want to have successful athletic programs is because, you know, when else do you have an opportunity for the whole nation to see you on TV? I mean, it is that your athletics are your brand, right? That's how people perceive you. And so, you know, 20,000 Texas high school seniors per year have been leaving the state to go to other places, largely the SEC because, hey, it looks fun. You know, we see the amount playing football on Saturdays. It looks like a lot of fun.

We have the reality shows with the sororities and fraternities, and man, that looks like a lot of fun. So I'm going to go to school there, even though academically there are better choices in the state of Texas for sure. You know, they choose to go out of state. And so Texas Tech has done a good job of elevating our profile, getting people to understand our brand. And what you get when you go to Texas Tech is you get a little bit of West Texas kind of instilled in you, which is that grit and that toughness and that work ethic, which, you know, I want my kids to have. I grew up out there, so I kind of have it. But I want my kids to get it.

They're growing up, big city, you know, kind of bubble. I want them to go out there and kind of see how real people are, you know. And so it's also a fun school and a very good act. academic school. And so we this year enrolled our largest freshman class ever. We have record enrollment at Texas Tech this year, over 42,000 students. And so, you know, it is, there is a value to the institution itself to have successful athletic programs. And especially in places like the Midwest where they've had declining enrollment over the last few years. In fact, nationally, enrollment's down 15% over the last 10 or 15 years or so. In fact, a lot of years. In fact, a lot of

young men are the ones that are choosing to not go to school anymore. And I think rationally so in some cases are choosing to go to trade school and learn how to do it. I mean, that's probably a good thing. But that decline in enrollment causes serious financial problems at the university level. And so they want to, you know, try to remedy that. And one way to do it is to have a successful sports team. And I can't wait to see what Indiana's application numbers look like. Oh, I bet.

It's already kind of popular because you have a good business school. That's right. Yeah, no, Indiana is a great school, cool little town, you know, and, you know, has a lot of things going for it. It's cold, you know, and it's a long way from home for a lot of people. But, you know, a lot of kids are going to be interested in Indiana because of their football team and because of that brand that they're displaying for the country to see. So I brought up Brennan Sorsby from a minute I know. He was probably the top quarterback in the transfer portal this year, him, Sam Levitt, maybe, who went to LSU.

But you had first choice. You went for Brendan Sorsby from Cincinnati. We talked about how much money he made. You brought up offensive linemen. It's pretty, and I just want to do this for a moment before we talk about regulating college sports. The offensive linemen numbers seem to a jump this year. Like, I can't speak, you can, to what the going rate was.

But the reports are on some of these guys, and I understand where the reporting is coming from, I can take the University of Texas, which I'm a fan of just got to tackle from Wake Forest. Well, I heard anywhere from $2 to $3 million. And that's a big jump from what we were seeing from offensive linemen before. And what I'm asking you about is you've been in the portal three periods now.

Hyperinflation? Like from where you were three years ago, what you're having to pay today, I mean, I'll have to imagine it's multiple X for every position. Yeah. So, you know, I was an offensive lineman. And when NIL started, I just always assumed my offensive linemen never get anything. It'll be the quarterbacks, maybe receiver, whatever. But yeah, I've been shocked to see that, you know, when I started seeing offensive linemen get $200,000,

I was like, man, I actually could have made some money doing this, you know, if I'd, but it's all about supply and demand. And, you know, in football, there just aren't many big bodies that are also good athletes. And so they just don't exist. And so, and they tend to be more loyal. They tend to stay where they are more. And so in the portal, everyone is trying to get better up front because that's where the game is won and lost, offensive line and defensive line. And so there's just, there's a high demand for it. And there just isn't that much supply. Everybody He needs five offensive linemen, you know, and really you probably need seven because you need some depth. And they're just aren't enough of them so that the value of an offensive lineman has increased tremendously.

How does so – no, this gets us to regulating college sports, Cody. And you're on the President's Council on Fitness, which – in sports, which is looking at this. Republicans are pushing something – or a lot of Republicans called the Score Act. Right. Some Democrats are looking at something called the Safe Act. It's easy to do the math. You and I just described, okay, a quarterback in your case, whatever the reality of it is, it's somewhere between $3 and $5 million if you want one of the elite guys.

One of the elite offensive linemen, you're looking to $3 million. A running back, I know, is close to a million dollars. I don't even know a receiver. I think Cam Coleman went to New York, Texas, probably got $2 million. You probably know exactly what it is. I think you got quite a bit more than that. Oh, is that right? Yeah.

Let's take a quick break, but continue this conversation with the chairman of the board of regions of Texas Tech University and a member of the council on sports and fitness for the president of the United States. Cody Campbell on Will King Country. When the weather cools down, Golden Nugget Online Casino turns up the heat. This winter, make any moment golden and play thousands of games like her new slot Wolf It Up and all the fan favorite Huff and Puff games. Whether you're curled up on the couch or taking five. between snow shovels, play

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Physically President Ontario. Eligibility restrictions apply. See Golden Nugget Casino.com for details. Please play responsibly. Welcome back to Will Kane Country. We're still hanging out with the founder of Double Eagle Energy Holdings, chairman of the Texas Tech Board of Regents, on the Council for Sports and Fitness for the President of the United States.

Big Texas Tech booster, Cody Campbell. But it's easy to get north of the number 22 million. Yes. And that $22 million cap, which was part of the House settlement, was for all sports, not just football. That's right. So, you know, $15, $16 million goes to football. Most schools have allocated that $22 million department-wide cap based on the percentage of gross revenue that each sport brings in. So football brings in 75 or so percent of the revenue, so it gets 75 percent or so with the cap. Okay, so now we're at 15, 16 million. That's right. Yeah. And we can get the math there quickly how you spend more.

that's right. So where's it coming from? NIL? Yeah, it's coming. It's CAP circuit mentioned. I mean, and that's happened in every pro sports league. Because you don't have a clear set of rules, because you don't have an entity that can efficiently and effectively enforce those rules, then people, you know, try to find creative ways to get around them. And, you know, that's going to continue to happen until there is an unquestioned authority that can enforce rules. The intent of the House settlement was therefore to be a hard cap. Now that cap has sort of become the floor. And if you want to even approach being competitive, you have to at least spend that much and you probably have to spend

quite a bit more. In fact, we've seen new coaches get hired where they've said, you know, we're going to allocate $35 million or $40 million a year or whatever to spend on a roster. Well, that's double the cap. How is that even possible? Well, I guess it's possible through creative measures that different people are using. When you say creative measures, are we talking about the loose definition of NIL? Right. That NIL was, if we think about it in terms of what it was really envisioned, it is, as you said, hey, if that car dealer wants you to do an ad, you get an ad. Yes. Or if Nike wants to pay you to put their name on, your name on X, whatever it may be, then you get some of that jersey money.

But it really has no attachment at this point to any true market vehicle. No, not at all. No. In fact, what's happening is schools are redirecting the money that they have been getting paid for their multimedia rights or their apparel contract or whatever the case may be and directing it toward their athletes. And so it's basically coming out more money is coming out of the athletic department budget and going to the athletes themselves. So that has two effects. First of all, it means that the schools that have budget room or have good boosters or have a school that can support them, you know, give them more money basically from academic funds. are able to spend more money than those that don't. And so that, but that certainly wasn't the intent of the settlement. It was to be that $20, $20, $20,000, $22 million, whatever,

it was supposed to be the maximum that you can spend, which would be a good thing. Like it would give people cost certainty and cost control, which is what the pro leagues have done successfully, that keeps everybody in business, makes everybody competitive. But it also brings more parity. Like people want to see more Indiana's, you know, there, in the championship game?

Well, does it bring more parity? Because I would argue right now, we have more parity than we've had in a long time. The arrival of Texas Tech, Ole Miss, Indiana, and the arrival of those programs has been because of guys

like Mark Cuban, Cody Campbell, I don't know who's behind Old Miss, but it has put, it is meant that it's not Alabama and Georgia and Ohio State. Well, what's happened is that the, you know,

the identity of the Blue Bloods is just changing, right? So, you know, certain schools, that have historically been really good or have a great brand or have won a lot of national champions in the past won't anymore. And it's going to be those schools that have the financial resources that will. And so you'll start to see Indiana show up every year.

And people say, like, I'm kind of tired to see Indiana, you know, after a while. And so you're just trading one group of blue bloods for another, essentially. That's what's going to happen. And the differentiating factors, who has the donors and the loosters? That's right. So just, I'm not asking you to, but I'm just curious. I have to follow this. Like, what historical Blue Blood doesn't have that kind of financial backing?

Well, I mean, all right. So I'll just give you an example. It's just like you can look at the transfer portal ratings right now. And schools like Alabama and Auburn are struggling. You know, they don't have the booster support. And, you know, nothing against Alabama. I have a ton of respect for that program. But, you know, they can't raise the money like University of Texas can.

Is it just because they don't have that level of wealthy donors behind them in their alumni base? Yeah. They don't have as much money in the institution itself. They don't have the donor support. And it varies from school to school. And it's been kind of surprising who has the money and who doesn't. Most people don't know. So I'll just go ahead and back up and say it.

But football and men's basketball are the only two sports that make money. Right. All the rest of the sports in the athletic department lose money. And they are subsidized by the profits made off of football on basketball. Okay. And so, yeah. So if you don't have that institutional capability to raise more money or extract more money from the university itself, basically extract money from the educational mission of the university because your budget's so tight, then you can't compete. And that's what's happening at a number of the institutions.

So in 2024, and this was before the revenue sharing thing even started, this was just when money was coming straight from donors. It wasn't coming out of the university at all. the average budget deficit in FBS in an FBS athletic department was $20 million per year per school. And so we haven't seen the 2025 numbers yet, but I expect that it's going to be about $20 million higher than that. So, you know, they're running massive. $40 million deficit. Yeah. And so that's not sustainable.

So if you're a school that doesn't have those outside resources, you're just relying purely on your, relying purely on your operational revenue, you can't compete. And you're pointing to Alabama and Auburn look like they're having trouble competing on that. And I don't know specifically, but that's the impression that I get outward, you know, from the outside looking in. And so, you know, the SEC is not as dominant as they were several years ago. And that's because they can't stack their roster. You know, Daryl Royal had the famous quote, you know, I'm going to recruit a kid because he can't beat me if he's sitting on my bench. Right. Yeah.

And so, and that's what the SEC did in many cases. have an incredible amount of, obviously they're starting 22 were great, but then, you know, their backups could be everybody else also. Well, now if you're sitting on the bench at Georgia or Alabama or whatever, you're not going to sit on the bench. You're going to go somewhere, make a little bit of money, somewhere else, and then, you know, get developed and get coached and turn into a great player. And that's what schools like Indiana have done, is they picked up those guys that, you know, might not have been playing at one of the, you know, schools that used to be considered premier, and, you know, they're going other places and getting playing time.

On the other hand, without pointing directly to Texas Tech or Indiana, what schools do you see out there that do have big donor support that might not have been traditional powerhouses that we could see rise like Indiana? Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, really, like, this year, you know, the most active participants in the portal and, you know, the most competitive have been Oregon, Texas A&M, Texas, Indiana. You know, there are several others that are doing a really good job this year. Louisville has popped up somehow. I don't know what happened. I saw Kentucky.

Yeah, Kentucky's doing a good job. And it really comes down to how organized the fundraising function is at the school, how engaged the fans are, how passionate they are, how much they believe in the plan that the administration has, the leadership has. In Texas Tech, we've been fortunate to have some donors that have led the way for sure. But we have 3,500 different people who donated to our NIL collective. And we had, you know, a couple dozen people who were willing to write seven-figure checks. And so, you know, we have wealthy donors, but also wealthy donors that are willing to give because they love the school and they believe in the coach and the administration and what's going on. And so that's been the key is just, you know, how organized are you and how much money can you manage to raise? Other schools have just kind of stuck their head in the sand.

And they've said, we're not going to do this. We're not going to participate in it. or we don't want to raise all this money just to give it to the football team because we have other priorities at our university, which is not wrong way of thinking. I mean, ultimately, the mission of these universities is to educate people and get them ready for the workforce, right? So, you know, is it right to be giving all this money to athletics? Well, do you think to take this home now on you, one of my producers said, if anybody watching doesn't know who you are, they've probably seen you if they watch college football. You've got commercials running everywhere. You want, it seems from this fantasy point, you want to bring some cohesive regulation that in your mind, as you described, it would bring parity to the sport, that hard cap of what you can spend.

You've also made the argument in all of your ads that you're trying to save Olympic sports. But, I mean, if you had that, Cody, you wouldn't be able to do a lot of the things that you've already done to put Texas Tech on the map. Sure. So, like, if the chaos continues, Texas Tech wins. I mean, it's good for Texas Tech. So I'm working against the interest of my alma mater, you know, by trying to bring more order to things because we've been really good at staying ahead of the chaos and the changes and, you know, being on our front foot and being aggressive and things like that. So, yeah, so bringing more order back to it actually disadvantages Texas Tech. And so I have no ulterior motive here other than just that I love college sports. I'm very appreciative of the opportunity that I've gained in my life through the opportunity to play. Same thing with my dad, same thing with my brother. And I have a son who's now a recruit, and, you know, I want him to have that same opportunity.

But, yeah, the parity is one thing. But the real risk here is the women's sports and the Olympic sports. because like I said earlier, those sports do not make money. And so if you're going to run this thing purely like a business, like in any business, if you have a line of business, if you have a part of your enterprise that loses money every year, you're going to get rid of it, right? And so schools are having to make that choice.

They say, you know, do we want to invest in football and make it more competitive? Because, again, that's what drives enrollment. That's what drives applications. That's what gives us more exposure. that's where the money all comes from. We need to invest as much as possible in football and as little as possible in Olympic sports and women sports. And so schools are making that choice of cutting those sports. And so opportunities lost by women, opportunities lost by Olympic athletes, which is super damaging to our Olympic development program.

We are the only country in the world that houses its Olympic development program in higher education. every other country has some kind of state-sponsored, state-funded Olympic development system. We do all of ours through college, which has worked exceptionally well for us, by the way. I mean, we win the metal count every year. And so there's going to be this slow erosion where people continue to cut the budgets, the scholarship spots, the roster spots, the teams themselves in women's sports and Olympic sports. And so over time, we're going to look up, and we have the Olympics in L.A. in 28. We'll see if it happens that soon. But, you know, the Chinese are going to beat us in the medal count one of these days.

and we're going to say, well, what hell happened? Well, what happened was is that the economic model in college sports was broken, and so we weren't able to fund Olympic development like we once were. But how does your sense of order preserve that? Because you will always have this collision of football demands the money, not just because it's the biggest marketing vehicle for the colleges, but as you point out earlier, a lot of that money is going directly to the athletes now. The athletes, like why is a wide receiver care about some of his money going over to the gymnastics team?

Well, on an individual basis, he shouldn't probably, and he won't. You know, he's never going to care. He wants to make as much money for himself as he possibly can. I'm a capitalist. I have no problem with that. But we just have to recognize and look at the bigger picture a little bit. The same thing goes for the more prominent conferences, the more prominent schools. You know, they want to keep as much money from themselves as they possibly can.

They don't want to share that with anybody else. And understandably so. I mean... You're talking about the SEC and the Big Ten, their television deals, to a somewhat of lesser extent, Big 12 and ACC, and you've proposed that everybody pool the entirety of their television contract. Yeah, and I've never said that I think everyone should make the exact same amount of money. But what has happened is that the bigger schools, the Big Ten, the SEC, ACC, and the Big 12 to a lesser extent,

have captured so much of the market that the G6 schools, the Olympic sports, the women's sports, just flat out can't survive anymore because it just isn't money there for them. And so we have to somehow address that problem. So there are two ways to do it in any business. It's you try to make more revenue and you try to control cost. And, you know, the way you can control cost, I think, is pretty straightforward. I mean, you have to set salary caps like every professional sport league does, and those have to be enforced and they have to be real.

You have to have a governing body that's empowered to do so that has the ability to enforce them. You have to have a governing body that is nimble and that can act quickly. it shouldn't take three or four years to adjudicate a violation. You know, they ought to run like a business. NCAA is not run like a business. It's governed by a multitude of committees that never can make decisions and can't move quickly. And so we have to change that. But then also we have to look at how we're actually monetizing the value that we have.

Right now, the NBA, so college football is the second most popular sport in the country. When you look at all the broadcasts, the top 100 broadcasts, a ton of NFL, but then pretty much the rest of them are college football. College football is very, very popular. College football has twice as many viewers as the NBA does, but college football makes half as much money off its media rights as the NBA does. The reason that's the case is because we have this fractionalized system for making our TV deals. Each conference does its own TV deal.

And that's because if they were to all join together and do a TV deal together, that would be a violation of antitrust law. The pro sports leagues have an exemption. from Annie Tresslaw through the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, so they can all come together and do a single deal. And so they're able to control their scheduling, just for instance. Right now, college football does a terrible job of cannibalizing viewership. You'll have one week where there are five or six really good games on,

and then the next week they're head-to-head against each other. Head-to-head against each other, and then the next week there are no good games on. And then the NFL would never do that. You know, they adjust their schedule to maximize viewership all the time. I mean, we think we can add at least 30% to the revenue that we make if we just were to be able to coordinate scheduling better. But then, you know, obviously, if you can all pool together and negotiate as one single unit, you have more leverage. And so you're able to negotiate a better deal. And so that's what we're trying to do is just essentially we've professionalized the cost side of things.

We're paying coaches a whole lot of money. We're paying players a whole lot of money. But we have this amateur model for how we monetize the asset, how we make money. And so that's why you have these massive budget deficits and why the system is broken. And we have to do that all at the same time while sort of maintaining this amateur model that has worked well for over a century now where the profitable sports support the non-profital sports and provide opportunity for a lot of women and Olympic athletes. And we need to make sure that that stays, not just at the big schools, but at every school. I use the example of Fresno State all the time. The opportunity that the kid gets to go be on the track team and get a scholarship at Fresno State,

that's just as life-changing as important is the opportunity is the kid that gets a scholarship to play at University of Georgia to play defensive tackle. I mean, it changes both their lives. And so, you know, the leadership development impact nationally is massive. You know, 60% of American CEOs have a college sports background. You know, and I think it's underappreciated. You know, we created this system accidentally more or less, but it's underappreciated the massive. massive positive impact that it has on the country. And to add to the degree of difficulty here, you've got to get, you know, hundreds of United States congressmen in their states, affiliated with those universities and those conferences and their own alma maters to care about everything you're saying right now.

That's right. And they have to care about not just themselves, but everyone, right? So, you know, the SEC and the Big Ten, just as a matter of political reality, have to be concerned about the Macs. and the Mountain West, if they're ever going to get a bill passed, because the Mack and the Mountain West have elected officials who have a vote who will decide whether this legislation passes or not. And so whatever, many things have been proposed, many things have failed in Congress so far in terms of trying to regulate this. And I can go into why Congress is necessary, but we have to have federal action in order to fix the problem, unfortunately. But whatever solution is proposed has to benefit everyone, has to at very least keep everyone in business. You know, this is very important to, you know, every sports team is very important to every community

around the country. Obviously, it's important to the kids that play them the opportunity they get, but if something is going to pass, everyone has to benefit to some extent, and we have to make sure that we preserve the entire system, not just the system at a few schools and not just in football and men's basketball. It's an unlikely champion. The guy that everybody says is spending all the money for Texas Tech as the guy that says, we got to get this, we got to get this together. Yeah. Well, you know, the reason.

What does the president think? You're on this council. What is the president think? Well, so, you know, he issued an executive order last summer. And his, the thrust of the executive order was that we need to preserve all the sports at all the schools. And he understands the importance of women's sports. He understands the importance of the Olympic movement.

And so, you know, that's what he said is, you know, you cannot cut any more roster spots. or any more scholarships in any of the sports and any of the schools. And that's the right way to think about it. But the problem with it is, is that through executive authority, there's no way to fund that. So that mandate to not cut any more sports or any more scholarships or any more roster spots is an unfunded mandate. There's not enough money for it. And so, you know, you're asking Kent State to run a massive budget deficit in order to maintain all these sports. and they just can't afford to do it.

And that's the case at nearly every school. And you'd be surprised, even in the Big Ten in the SEC, where their TV revenue is huge and they have gigantic operating revenue. The vast majority of those schools run a huge deficit. In fact, the only one I've heard not running a deficit is the University of Texas. But the rest of them will run, I think Ohio State's budget deficit last year, when they won the National Championship was like $29 million that year.

They sponsored a ton of Olympic sports. They do a lot of things that are very impactful to the country. Nobody wants to lose any of those sports. But again, the money just isn't there for them to pay for all of it. And so they have to make hard choices at some point. Well, I love the fight. I'm an Olympic sport athlete. I'd love to see water polo be something that continue.

And I love winning the Olympics. I know a lot of people don't care. I love the United States winning the Olympics. I think everybody loves winning the Olympics, you know, and especially when it's going on, like we all want to win. We all want to be successful. It's great for our country, national pride. But again, I think it goes beyond that.

You know, those kids that learn how to compete, they learn how to work hard, they learn how to deal with adversity, those people go on to have success in life also. They go on to being leaders in business. They go on to being leaders in education and in government. And we need those leaders in this country. And college sports is, you know, along with the military, is probably our best tool for development of leadership that we have. and we cannot let that go away. It's of great national importance. And so people think it's all just about football

because that's what people pay attention to. That's what people pay for. But really, the problem is much deeper than that and much more important than that, much more impactful on many lives. There's 500,000 student athletes in the country. And I know that if you ask each one of those young people, even when they get to be my age,

what was the most impactful thing that you did, what was the most important thing that you did, what helped you to grow as a person and develop the skills that you need to be successful in life, they'll point at the sport that they played and the things they learned through that. All right, man. Cody Campbell, stay away from the drug cartels. All right, man. Okay, thanks for coming in.

Thanks for having me. It's good to see you. Let's say what, let's take a quick break because I also want to talk about the leftward lurch of women. I have the data. I have the surveys. It's not young men lurching right. It's young women lurching left.

When we come back on Will Kane Country. I'm not sure we're the front runners for Greenland. I hear the Dodgers are interested. It says Jason Dela Cruz on YouTube. It is Wilcane Country on YouTube and on the Wilcane Facebook page. I haven't been paying a lot of attention because the two of days the Rangers are just out of spending right now. They're just not involved. But the Dodgers are signing everybody right now.

They're signed Kyle Tucker arguably the best player of baseball. So they're out for world domination. Last month. Yeah. Rets closer. They're like the team that you make if you're playing MLB2K on Easy Mode. So it is, it is Colin Coward has the famous take, okay, which I think he's right about this. Every year during March, you say you want the Cinderella story.

You say you want Butler, but you don't. The ratings reflect you actually want North Carolina versus Duke. that's what you want. And in the conversation we just had with Cody about college football, you know what will be interesting? What will the ratings be for last night, Indiana versus Miami? That is not two marquee programs from a traditional marketing brand perspective. Like if it had been Ohio State versus Texas, you know, how much lower are the ratings going to be for this? And you won't have it yet, Dan.

I see you look it up. No, I know. I was just looking at the years before. last year was 22 million. The year before that was 25 million. Yeah. So this idea of parity in college sports. Yeah, well, that's why it's valuable to become a national brand.

So I'm not sure, like, I agree with what Cody says and what he wants for college sports. I truly do. I like winning the Olympics. I hear what he's saying about, like, developing leaders and how it plays a role in the future generations of America. and all of those things. I like the system we had. I like the idea that, you know, Nebraska is good at gymnastics and Oklahoma State's good at wrestling.

And we have this feeder system. And I love that. The problem is that for decades, it was built on college football players getting underpaid, right? Or not paid at all. And if we're going to introduce market dynamics, then the college football players are going to demand the money that they deserve, that they get with the television ratings

and everything else. So how do you impose an order that funnels some money to keep those programs in the black, keep them going, while not getting sued by the football players? You know? Go ahead, Pat. I just don't understand, you know, we heard these stories about a decade ago. You know, this kicker has a YouTube channel and, you know, the NCAA is cracking down. They won't let them kick anymore or he has to get rid of the YouTube channel.

And so it made sense to have NIL, like, oh, I can get paid off of this YouTube channel or I can get paid for Johnny Mansell. Nike endorsement or whatever it is. Yeah, signing an autograph. Right. And that made a lot of sense to me. I just don't see why they have to get paid to get paid. And I also don't understand why we don't have contracts. Like every other sport, if you're in the NFL, you're signing a contract.

I should have asked Cody that. Dang it. I should have asked Cody about the contract thing. You're right. I don't know if he left. The Wild Wild West of the, there is no contracts, is insane. Also, I find it really fascinating to think about in their office. They're arguing about who's John Hamm and who's Billy Bob Thornton.

That is funny. Landman. That's really funny. Because they kind of are landman. I mean, like, that's the real life story that was just sitting here. It was just now. Hey, for a long time, you've heard about the huge rightward lurch for young men. Well, this is a fascinating poll put out by Gallup.

It surveys the years from 1999 to 2023. Take a look at this. We have not seen this huge lurch through 2023, at least, of young men going to the right. In fact, most recently there, what you'd call 21, 22, 23, they were headed back towards even. But look at what happened to young women over, this is 18 to 29-year-olds, by the way, over that same time. In 99, there's a 12-point gap between women and men. So, yes, women were more liberal by 12 points. Today, or in 23, that reached a 23-point gap.

As women went at their peak, which would have been about 2020, to plus 30, plus 30 liberal, young men at the same time were about plus, what, four or five, conservative. So it's the women that have moved far, far, far to the left. Go ahead, Dan. I think you blame this on dating. I think they might just see the men they're going out with and some of them are too radical for them, so they go the opposite other way. I mean, I just don't see what else it would be.

You know what I'm saying? Like, they just can't stand it, so they just go the other way. Well, um... Is that the dating age? What would it be? Yesterday I spoke to a couple of college students who told me it's in part college. College has had this effect. That now colleges are 60% female,

the student body and colleges have been a liberal indoctrination factory. I think it's something more. I think you have to acknowledge that women view the world primarily or disproportionately as compared to men through the lens of empathy. And that's a good thing in many aspects of our lives, certainly in our familial life. Women have a way of helping men see things more empathetically and from different angles than men naturally do. But I think that our politics in the past, certainly the last 10 years, has played to people's emotional instincts. And it has asked you to think about things in a very short-term emotional window and not a long-term logical consequences. So whether or not that's the racial stuff from Trayvon Martin through George Floyd or it's the immigration stuff today.

It plays on the empathy and the feelings of the short term, not asking anyone to consider the larger long-term consequences of prioritizing your empathy, right? Here's a microcosm. That dude is homeless. Should we help him? Should we invite him to our home? You know, you could see how that emotional appeal could be made. Look at all these homeless people. Should we invite them all into our home?

At some point, everybody's going to go, whoa, whoa, even women. But that's the issue we're having at a broader scale in America. But here's what's interesting. It's not just in America. Here is Germany. Germany is kind of similar. It's about a 23, 25 point gap. Men have gotten more conservative in Germany over that time frame by about five points, it looks like, five to ten points.

They're even zero. They're not plus conservative, not plus liberal. women, though, have moved to plus 25 liberal in Germany. Okay? How about South Korea? South Korea is a little different, but you see the huge gap, where women are liberal and men are conservative. The difference there is men in South Korea have gotten way more conservative. They've dropped to, or they have moved the chart to 20 points to the conservative direction,

while women are about 30 points in the liberal direction. So I have about a 40 to 50 point gap. in South Korea on how men and women view politics. And then there's the UK. The UK, which men and women were about the same for a long time, then began to diverge in about 2010. And women went plus 50, plus 50 liberal. Men got more liberal, too.

They're about plus 25 liberal. That's surprising. A 25 point gap. What's surprising there? Not at all. About UK, though. Because I feel like UK people are getting more conservative. because of immigration.

No. There's hasn't been near enough pushback for that. Like, they just let it go. Yeah, not yet, at least, I guess. I've seen a lot of men on the street stuff where it's like, I couldn't even think to move to America because of X, Y, and Z. And it's like some of the most basic things you can see.

They love liberalism there. Well, the gap is global. That's what's interesting. The gap between men and women. It's moved at various rates in different directions in some cases. But there's a consistency of the gap between men and women, seeing the world very, very differently than they did 15, 20 years ago. They were much more aligned men and women 15, 20 years ago. Now, very far apart.

And at least in America, that difference is women going farther, further, further, further to the left. Drop into the comments section on YouTube or Facebook. Let us know why. We'll bring your comments back in tomorrow if I can get two days to actually do that to go ahead and capture your... things, your comments for a day after. Go ahead, Tinfoil. Two things real quick. I do wonder if there's a difference between, I think I sent you guys some charts, difference between married and unmarried women, like how much that impacts things. Yeah. But also, if you guys missed it on Friday, we did Will call. So make sure if you have any questions or advice you want Will to answer,

send an email to Will Cain Show at Fox.com, and we'll try to answer it on Friday. I want to hear you answer some advice. Nice. No, you don't. Yes, I do. I really, really do. It'll be ugly. Yeah, fire off your questions and your situations.

And we'll give you advice on Friday's edition of Will Call. That's going to do it for us today here on Will Cain Country. We appreciate you hanging out with us. Hope you'll follow us on Spotify or Apple, and we'll see you again next time. Listen to ad free with a Fox News, podcast plus subscription on Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Prime members, you can listen to this show, ad-free on the Amazon Music app.