May 16, 2024 • 36 mins
Jason and Mike debate if the NBA has a real playoff problem. Get used to the hefty cost of watching every NFL game. Plus, a holiday the NFL will never be able to touch!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
ten pm to two am Eastern seven to eleven pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for
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Speaker 2 (00:22):
Plea you're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Greetings, Welcome inside, Happy Wednesday, The Jason Smith Show with
my bes Friendmike Harmon, Live from the Tirack dot Com
Studios Direct dot com. I'll help you get there at
unmatched selection, fast free shipping, free road hazard protection, and
over ten thousand recommended installers tirack dot com the way
tire buying should be. Well, this is a very stretch.
(00:52):
This is almost gonna be a No Nicks night because
we'll watch you allot. But good, so much great, so
much stress. I don't have the next couple of nights
three to two lead. Everything is awesome. I kind of
felt like today, hey listen, Alex Tyshirt, Rick Carlile, we
don't have time to listen right now. I kind of
felt like the last day, like hey, this is how
I felt like when the Jets win a playoff game,
you know, like twelve years ago, Like, hey, I feel
(01:14):
good for I really really good for a couple of
days until they have to get nervous about them playing again.
It's like, that's kind of where I'm at right now.
It's pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Well, you get to chill and because I mean, you're
playing with house money.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Yeah, at this point.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
You know, it's a phrase that you know how much
I hate it as it's used way too liberally in
our business. But let's call it what it is. You're
playing with five and a half guys at this point.
So the fact that you have a series lead and
Game seven is in your pocket back home, Yeah, you're feeling.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Pretty deep, pretty deep, pretty good. You think there's this
there's a there's a mid playoff sponsorship deal for the
Knicks with five guys, Like, is there room for that?
I mean, I think you could really make some money
as long as they're still playing. Well.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
I mean, we saw how quickly nil deals came together
in the NCAA tournament. They were literally finding guys in
the hallways of their hotels two hours after games ending.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
You hit a big shot let's go no hit some
ca Oh, I have money for you. Hang on a second,
here's a bag of cash. You go against that beij
wall back there. Who's that guy next to my roommate?
Did he play tonight? Six minutes? Yeah, I'll get you
another time. Don't worry about it here. Congratulations, But look
tonight another big night in the NBA playoffs. Right now
(02:31):
into the first quarter, Dallas leads Oklahoma City twenty four
to twenty two. Oklahoma City trying to go up three
games to two over Dallas. And we saw Boston eliminate
the Cavaliers one thirteen to ninety eight. Has Donovan Mitchell
signed with the Lakers yet? I don't know. Lebron did
(02:51):
his recruiting visit.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
He did the last game, sat there, even brought a
really expensive bottle of wine court side.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Hey, this opus could be your man. Maybe that's why
he looked so upset on the side. I'm here and
he's not even playing a great I came all the
way to this game to scout him, and he didn't
even show up. I came to recruit him and also
to let people know that I could come here if
nobody else wants to draft Brony because I know I
can get the Cavaliers to draft Brownie if I say
(03:18):
I'm coming back. This is what a wasted trip this was.
Maybe he's not even playing.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
I gotta say the videos from those tunnels, the tunnel though,
as Lebron was walking into the arena, like the people
that looked up.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
It's like, what the hell, there's hey Lebron. Hey, It's
at this point it's like, yeah, he's here. He leaves,
he comes back, he leaves, he comes back. It doesn't
like it's gone. Could be a hologram. You don't even
know what you're back. Oh yeah, he's like he was
the guy that went away for so long. Oh now
he's back, and now he just comes back a lot.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Now, Yeah, he's that guy that comes back every uh
every Thanksgiving to the local bar where he was once king.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
We have a lot to get to with NFL schedule
lease day, but look, it's it's got to get in
something something seriously off off the top. And watching the
Celtics beat the Cavaliers, I know this series and other
series I'm watching, I say to myself, you know what,
the NBA really has a playoff problem. They have a
playoff problem in that too many series end like this
(04:18):
when a sport needs to be at its best, right,
this is when everybody is watching the NBA Playoffs have
everything to themselves. No NFL games are going on. You know,
we've seen baseball start. Here's the NBA playoffs with the
great stars that are out there, and too many series
end like this. They end in blowouts, and they end
with star players not playing. And I understand, you can't
control the game, and you can't control when guys are hurt. Mainly,
(04:41):
although sometimes I look and I go, really don and
Mitchell couldn't play anything. He finishes the last game, he
scores thirty five. He can't play in this game. Too
many NBA series end this way, and it's the reason
why there's so much attention on the Knicks and the Pacer.
You see, I said, no next or but the Knicks
and the Pacers for all going on? How much fun
is this series? Because I know both these teams are
(05:03):
trying to beat the brains out of the other one.
As much as I make fun of Rick carlile and
is whining and crying about a star, I know he
wants to win. I know how bad he wants to
beat the Knicks and get to the Eastern Conference Finals.
I know how bad Jalen Brunson wants to win, how
bad Dante DiVincenzo wants to win. I know how bad
that guys like TJ McConnell want to win. I know this,
(05:24):
But you look around the NBA and there's so many
playoffs that just kind of end with whimpers. Every other
game is a blowout. And when you see star players
that just sit that, you realize there's a playoff problem.
The numbers aren't going up. They're kind of been stagnant,
which has been an overall trend in the NBA because
you can you can look at some numbers say, okay,
well more people are watching here, but less people are
(05:45):
watching here. But overall, the NBA has a product issue.
I mean, it's why the NFL has come for Christmas Day. Hey,
NFL was never gonna play on Chrismas. Take and look,
NBA owned and everybody's watching. Now. Look look the NFL
saw last year. Hey we get twice so many people
watching our games is watching your games? So guess what.
We're gonna have games on Christmas Day every year? And
we got two games on Netflix now they've been seventy
(06:06):
five million dollars for it. The NFL has said, yeah,
you know what, the NBA not as big a threat,
but when you get to the playoffs, when you get
to the playoffs, this is the sport where the sport
needs to be at the highest level it can be.
And while it's great watching the Kola Jokic you'll play well,
it's really something and watching the Timberwolves play when every
game is a blowout and at the end I see
(06:28):
the Timberwolves say, oh, we're laughing, and what can we say?
Jokic is the MVP. You know what I want to
see after that? I want to see, hey man, we
can't let him do that. We cannot let him just
run free and roam free. We gotta find a way
because this is the bleep in NBA playoffs. We were
up to zip and now he's controlling this series. And
instead of you got Anthony Edwards saying, yeah, hey, what can
(06:48):
I do? I got to give Hims flowers. He's the MVP.
That's not what I want to hear at all if
I'm a fan. And this is part of what happens,
why the NBA playoff product is not what it should be,
and it's not as simple as well. They should less games,
so players wind up playing more and guys don't sit
out in the playoffs. It's just an overall playoff problem
that the sport is not at the level it should
(07:09):
be when it's honest high at stage it should be
where everybody is doing everything they can to either stay
in games, play in games, win games and nick pacers.
Used to be how every series was. Every series was
blood on the floor and hair on the walls, and
if you escape, you're like the final girl at the
end of a horror movie. Your arm is half hacked
off and your leg is bleeding and there's blood all
(07:30):
in your eyes and you don't know what's going on,
and your boyfriend is dead because he tried to save
you and he got a stake through the heart. Then
he got his arm chopped off, and he got his
head get sliced open. All these things. This is how
you need to come out of playoffs. This is what
got everybody so involved in the NBA and why we
love the playoffs so much. And it doesn't need to
be physical, it just needs to be a good product.
(07:51):
And the playoffs right now are not a great product.
Think about this, the playoff rounds we've had so far,
how many can you look back and say, wow, that
was something right? Nick Sixers was something right because you
had calls, You had Embiid and he was injured and
he was mad, and the Sixers were mad about calls
and Tyres Maxey has taken every bleep and shot he
can and he's scoring forty five points and in threes
(08:13):
from thirty five feet out because he's desperate. Look, there's
only a couple of series, and it's only coincidence I'm
saying the next for both of them. But there's only
a couple of series where you go, wow, that really
was fun. Like look looking at this series right now
with with the Celtics and the Cavaliers, can you say
that was fun? As as close as Denver and and
Minnesota seems, Is it really fun? Is it really close?
(08:34):
Especially after last night when it feels like Minnesota just said, hey,
we're done, Yeah, y'all get just the MVP. What are
we gonna do? It's not much we can do. Well,
that's it.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
That Like Edwards got everybody's praise earlier in the round, right,
talking about you know, it's my fault energy taking responsibility
for not rising to the challenge in that game three,
and then last night I was god like, ah, well,
you know he was in his bag.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
We're kind of cooked.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
We're young and index experience, and we can't possibly match that,
never mind the defensive Player of the Year and all
the other flowers that people have been throwing at you.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
The whole time. You know, it goes back.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
To what we've talked about a lot towards the end
of the regular season, where every game you're praying that
you don't add another name to your injury report or
that had short lived and that you can chalk it
up to load management, right versus we get into the playoffs,
and we've chronicled it every step of the way. This
guy's hurt, that guy's hurt. The Donovan Mitchell thing is
(09:33):
confusing as hell. Right as you said, he scores thirty five,
he looks, you know, they come up huge and then no,
he's done. So tonight they made just sweat and you know,
once again they got their backers.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
They lose by fifteen. If you bet.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
At late the spread had gone out to fifteen and
a half, so if you waited because you had a
much better line this morning before everybody got ruled out.
But you just go on on and down the li line.
It's the there's no incentive for you to play if
you're getting cooked early in a series or even midway through. Right,
(10:09):
all right, we're down thirty. The hell with it? Bench it,
save it for next time. You understand it from a
strategical standpoint, but from a viewing experience and compelling television.
I mean again, unless you bet it, you ain't watching it.
And I guarantee you ninety percent of the people that
bet it, they don't watch it anyway. They just wait
(10:30):
for the final score to pass on their phone while
they're out pushing their kid on the swing or you know,
ripping one on this sixteenth green.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
I mean, that's it. That's where we're at in this.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
So it's it's tough, right, You're hoping for compelling product,
but injuries and just the length of things, you know,
live for another day is very tough.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
You know. And and here's the thing is that the
Jason Smith Show with Mike Carbon like the reason the
NBA is in this in this issue, it's not selling.
It's not as simple as all the stars are sitting
out games. It goes further than that because no sport
of all the major sports has outgrown its rules and
norms more than the NBA has. Right, what we've seen
(11:14):
in Major League baseball. You can watch a Major League
Baseball game from like nineteen ten and it still kind
of looks the same here that does in twenty twenty four.
You would recognize it a little bit, right, but overall
this for some obvious differences, but yeah, well, but you
would recognize a major league game. And look what happens
with Major League baseball does Okay, what do we need
to do. We realize putting more teams in the playoffs
(11:34):
and keeping things going, that's what that's what's going to help,
all right, But major League Baseball hasn't really changed that much. NFL, yes,
does it change, Yes, but everybody's getting richer, players are
getting more money. It's happening. Yes, they're adding a game,
they've added the seventeens game. But by and large, the
NFL has not outgrown itself, whereas the NBA with the players,
(11:57):
and it's part of the players getting bigger and stronger
and playing more basketball when they're younger and coming into
the league and being asked to play some kind of
crazy schedule. You are seeing them the the the overall
level of strength and speed has outgrown an eighty two
game schedule with back to backs and tournaments in the
middle of the season and everything they have going on
(12:18):
right now, the NBA needs some changes where they need
a real forward thinking visionary who can say, all right,
these are the issues that are that are affecting the
NBA right now. Our ratings are our ratings are out
of stagnancy, and and players are missing games. Maybe we're
playing too much. Whatever it is, there needs to be
like a full body review to say to say we
(12:40):
got to change stuff, because how much longer can can
you can you sit here and go by this and say, yeah,
NBA rings gonna be the same. If you're not going up,
or you're not finding a way to get up and
reach more people and have your product growing, you're you're
dying and you're you're you're going backwards. And this is
why the NFL has taken over on Christmas Day, and
they'll take over more days too. It's but for right now,
you folks, us on the situation now, the NBA. They
(13:02):
have a playoff problem with making some kind of product
out there that people can't wait to see every single night,
and it's compelling and it's incredible, and even if it's
a blowout, it's something you really want to talk about
the next day. They really have an issue with that,
and there's only a couple of series so far that's
been able to do it. And that's been a trend
(13:22):
over the last couple of years. Mike, I don't see
it reversing.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
No, No, that's where we're at. I mean, you know,
we always joke to you know, we talk about the
size of the rink for the NHL versus you know,
the Olympic size. Should the skaters get a little more
room to work with? Maybe for the NBA we start
looking at the dimensions. I know, you don't want to
lose those nicks on the baseline right next to the action,
(13:46):
but maybe it's time that we start moving the floor
a little bit.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Exit out about a Fresca exit swollen dome. The Jason
Smith Show with my best friend Mike Carmon. Just understand,
the NBA has got a playoff problem, the nixt consolvement,
but the NBA has got a playoff problem thoroughbrett Racing
has a new independent regulator HAISA implementing comprehensive reforms, and
the sport is combining hands on care with cutting edge
technology to help keep its athletes safe. To learn more,
(14:13):
visit safetyeruns First dot com, Dot Safety Runs First dot Com. Well,
we got more NBA on the way. But coming up next,
it was NFL's schedule release day, and boy was it
a day unlike any other. We break down all the
big eye opening events coming up next right here, Jason
to Mike Fox.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 4 (14:44):
Hey, it's Ben, host of The Fifth Hour with Benmaller.
Would mean a lot to have you join us on
our weekly auditory journey. Dress one in God's Name is
the Fifth Hour. I'll tell you it's a spin off
of it. Ben Maler Show, a cold hit overnights on FSR.
Why should you in picture? If you will a world will?
We chat with captains of industry in media, sports, and
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(15:08):
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Speaker 1 (15:14):
Sports Radio, The Jason Smith Show with my best friend
Mike Harmon live from the tire rack dot Com studios.
Right now, Mavericks on top of the thunder four minutes
ago before halftime, big run by Dallas to open the
second quarter, twenty one to eleven run. They read it
lead at forty five thirty three. Luca's got twelve. Meanwhile,
(15:36):
for Oklahoma City Boy Shake Gildas Alexander just six points
on three of eight shooting, and your Guy by Carmen
Chet has seven points. He's minus eight for the game
so far. Your guy, what name Chet? Your guy Chet.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
Check minus eight, Struggle Lou Georges minus thirteen. I mean,
it's it's really a bad night for you man, bad
night for the guys.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
You nights.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
It's really not working out quite so. And I mean
PJ Washington, who's been a star, right. We've hyped him
a bunch for what the Mavericks have done since he
came over in trade. He's played twelve minutes, he's got
four boards, three assists, but he hasn't scored yet. I mean,
I guess what do I is this where I start
promoting how great the plus minus stat is.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
He's plus eleven. Man, that's great, a all right, we
do well when I'm on the court. Hey, look at me,
you know, honestly, no joke. If I played professional sports,
that would be probably my best category. I would be
a plus player. There's no way I'd be a minus player. Whatever.
If I played hockey, if I played back, I would
be a plus player. They would say, but you know
the guy, he makes some threes now and he does this,
(16:39):
he's a boy. Look at his plus minus. Man, it's
outstand We just we just played better when he's on
the floor. Now, I'd be a plus player. I like
that what you're all about? Yeah, plus player?
Speaker 3 (16:50):
You know you just try to make people better. That's
that's what you try to do.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Yeah, I mean, look, in hockey, i'd be a superstar
with a great plus minus. But like in basketball, i'd
be I'd make some threes now and again, but I'd
have a plus minus. That would be me.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
Well, it's all about, you know, having some variety and
a wealth of knowledge and skills that you could spend around.
It's like, you know that that Jeopardy spin off, that
that pop culture thing that they announced for prime video.
I mean I could star on that, I can host that,
I can dominate that.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Let's go South Hampshire. No again, it's not it's a
state in the United States. Okay, we'll have more from
the NBA coming up in a few minutes. But today
was a huge day of the NFL. Right, you're you're
like me and everybody. Look, not everybody is like me,
but you're like us. I got I got pieces here
with different notes about this. Let me take a look
(17:38):
at where my team is playing. The NFL schedule releases out,
and there's so many things to get to. You're looking
at your team, you're looking at the team's playing national television,
you're looking at who's playing overseas. But there was a
topic that superseded all of that today and this was
everybody sort of finally realized, oh, hey, if I want
(17:59):
to see all the NFL games this year, I gotta
spend at least eight hundred and fifty bucks because the
games are spread about so much on streaming services that
if you want to get all the games, because look,
we mentioned a few minutes ago. Netflix gets a couple
of games on Christmas Day. They paid one hundred and
fifty million dollars for Peacock's got games. You will have
(18:21):
to pay at least eight hundred and fifty bucks because
you gotta buy Sunday Ticket, YouTube TV, ESPN plus Prime, Netflix, Peacock, right,
and I trust all the numbers. Everybody seem to come
up with the fact that it was a numbers all
about just a little bit under one thousand dollars, so
between eight hundred and fifty and nine hundred dollars if
you want to see every single game. And already I
(18:43):
knew this is gonna be met with so much hate,
right already, I knew it. Said I can't have all
of it, and I get it. But I knew right
away as soon as I saw this, I said, oh man,
this is not gonna be This is not gonna be
fun for the NFL. All they're gonna hear is I
can can't pay for all that. I don't even know
where alf these things are. And I understand. I get
the hate. I get the hate. I get the hate
because you shouldn't have to pay all this money to
(19:04):
watch NFL games. I get the hate because it's difficult.
All I gotta go here, I gotta buy all of
these things and keep it straight. It's a lot of streaming.
But here's the thing, and this is where sometimes you
just have to understand reality. This is the way the
world is going, both in the NFL and in other sports.
(19:24):
I get you don't like it, but this is the future.
And eventually the NFL is going to be full streaming
at some point when they figure it all out, all
sports are gonna be full streaming. Yes, the complaints are big,
and I understand, but you gotta get used to it
because this is gonna be the norm that with all
of these entities wanting to pay so much money for
just a few games. Of course, the NFL saying, oh
(19:46):
we can give you get you a game here for
seventy five million. We'll give you a game here for
another seventy five million. We'll play on Tuesday because it's Christmas.
Because we can do it and we can sell the game.
This is just the way it's going. I get that, Oh, well,
why can't we go back to the way it w Yeah,
but we don't go back to anyway. The way things
used to be. Like I know, we're not going back
to the way things were on television. This is the
(20:06):
new model. This is why network television is going by
the wayside. People don't watch shows anymore, why nobody watches
local news. This is just the way things are evolving,
and sports is evolving more towards streaming. And eventually, what's
gonna happen. Somebody huge is or Amazon's going to say,
you know what, we want the entire AFC package. Wait what, Yes,
(20:27):
we want the entire AFC package. Well, it's gonna be
give us a number. All right, Well it's gonna be.
Well we want we want like twenty billion. Do here
you go? Wait really, yep, there you go right here,
twenty do I got the check? Writer is now you
want twenty five billion. I'll give you that. Eventually, That's
what's gonna happen in the NFL is going to do
it because this is the way we're going with television.
(20:47):
Streaming is becoming more and more popular. It's not like
it's a dying institute or hey, we're buying something for relevancy.
More and more shows you're watching are on streaming. I
can't tell you the last network television show I watched.
I don't even know that I could tell you the
last show that that's only on cable that I've watched.
All the shows I watch are streaming now. Do I
have all the streaming services? No, so I missed some
(21:09):
of them, and I'm okay with that. But generally think
about viewing habits and where they're going. I get that
there's a big shock about this and you got to
spend a lot of money, but it's unfor but I'm
My biggest thing I can say is get right with it. Right.
This is the new norm, and this is the way
sports are gonna go, especially the NFL.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
All the boys upstairs want to see how much you'll
pay for what you used to get for free. Tom
Petty many years the last DJ Fantastic album. If you
don't have it in your playlist, I recommend that after
we get off air tonight, in addition to downloading our
podcast wherever you get audio, you also add that if
(21:47):
your Spotify or wherever you listen to music. Because really
kind of a damning thing. He kind of was railing about,
you know, the change.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
In radio for you know, your.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
Pop artists and whatever, but more or less just you know,
the change in the economic structures of it all.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
And that's the reality, you.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Know, as you lay it out, you know the old saying,
as we get to the Kevin Durant, you don't like it,
don't watch, And there's got to be some breaking point,
and you're trying to figure out where that line is
in the sand, where it's gone too far. You know,
there's always the potential that you start going into verticals
(22:28):
of you know, city packages or you know, how much
will it cost to just get to your team, which
is something long long ago as part of the initial
MLB entry into this stuff. Man as slow as they
normally are, they were first in terms of allowing you
to watch and listen to your home broadcasts early. But
(22:51):
now you just start getting into well what's it worth
for you? Right the three point fifty and you've got
to be a YouTube TV subscriber.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
You know, there's only eight million.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
I was starting to do all sorts of numbers as
to subscribers. Right when we get into Netflix, you're looking
at two hundred and seventy million subscribers worldwide. Amazon Prime.
You know, those are the two entities that are most
likely to say you know, we've got mountains of cash.
You know, what's it going to cost for the you know,
one of the conferences. But Amazon Prime there's two hundred
(23:22):
and thirty million worldwide. You start going. Only forty percent
of people say they still subscribe to cable. But what
does that mean in this day and age when you know,
compartmentalize it. I watch a couple of network shows, but
they're also available on the streamers immediately after.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Right, dude, you watch matt Lock reruns. That doesn't count.
That's not do thing.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
No, no, no, but like like the Law and Orders,
well they show up on Peacock immediately thereafter.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Right.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
At one point, my older daughter and I we were
watching Grays together.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
She quit on me. But that that is available, you know,
through the Disney Done. I'm a teenager and I'm done
that out now.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
Well no, it's like she started going down the rabbit
hole where else she watches his competition shows and not
the cool ones like cookoffs and stuff.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
So I'm out.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
I don't need to see Boston rob for the thirty
fifty years.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Okay, I'm done with that. That game. I'm finished now.
Look now I do have a silver lining, right it
is not because I get people being upset. But here's
a silver lining. This is not what the NFL wants
to do ultimately with its product. It does not want
to give a couple of games here to Peacock and
a handful of games here to Netflix, and a couple
of games of Prime and a couple of games to YouTube.
(24:31):
They don't want to do it. They're doing it now
because there are a lot of entities that are starting
to become big time. They're starting to become part of
the mainstream. So hey, we want these games. Hey we're
okay spinning off a couple of games here and there
because the NBA it is a bit of a gamble,
because you get to the point where for the NFL
it is a bit of a gamble, because you get
to the point where fans may say, you know what,
(24:52):
maybe I don't need to see every game, so I
don't need to see every game, and then some of
the entities that buy it, whether whether it's Prime or
Netflix or whatever the game is, hey boy, we didn't
really get great numbers for that game. And you'll know
the truth when they don't report the numbers, right, if
the numbers are great and everybody is watching. Oh look
at this, we had more people watching it here. But
but then they don't report the numbers, and you hear
the well, generally we don't report numbers. You know that
(25:14):
not many, not enough people watch, and it was a
bad investment for them. The NFL knows it's a risk.
They know it's a risk. Say, we're spinning this off
and we're asking a lot of consumers to spend a
lot of money on this, especially when it's in all
different places. So here's a silver lining what the NFL
is doing now, and I'll take it behind the strategy saying, Okay,
we know streaming is the future. What they want at
(25:35):
some point is to understand they want great partners, and
is the NFL at the point now where they can
say that, hey, Amazon is the best partner they could
possibly have. Maybe do they know that Peacock is probably not.
They're gonna find out about Netflix, They're gonna find out
about you know, how good is YouTube TV for everything?
Because everybody is happy, But the NFL needs to find
(25:56):
out now because there's so many people that want the product.
So the NFL is has given these games out and
they're gonna spend time the next couple of years gauging
how these entities do with games, and they're gonna see, hey,
this is the streaming site where our product does the best.
These are the people we can trust the best. This
(26:17):
is who we're going to enter into negotiations with for
the AFC package or the NFC package or Monday Night package,
whatever it is. So eventually it's going to streamline a bit.
You're not gonna get Hey, these games are on five
different or six different entities, You're gonna get two or
three like Nord because that's like everything else, it's gonna consolidate, right,
(26:37):
I mean we keep reading about all the land grabs
and you know, get if you're visiting southern California, get
all your studio tours in from the old movie lots,
because they're gonna consolidate and sell off those land land
pieces for housing soon enough. I mean we see it
all the time. Yeah, they're going to they're gonna take
a couple of years and they're gonna take a look
at the business models and what's happening and who's got
(26:58):
staying powered and who doesn't, and then they'll enter into
a long term deal and numbers are going to be staggering.
Whatever Netflix winds up paying for the NFL or whatever
Amazon winds up paying for the NFL. If I if
I had to guess, I would say Netflix and Amazon
will be the two big homes of the NFL just
because they're the biggest and I know they're not in
danger of going anywhere. So the other streamers are going
(27:21):
to try to figure out a way to make money
and stay relevant. There's gonna be some merging of some
of the streamers over the next couple of years, So
that would be my guess. I mean, but that's just
me looking at business and trying to, you know, push
it forward. But the NFL doesn't want to do this.
I don't think for a second they really like this.
They know this is a way for us to make
a lot of money right now and really see where
our next partners are going to be. They've been partners
(27:43):
with Fox since the mid nineties. Fox jumped out of
nowhere and spent all kinds of money to get the NFL,
and they've had it forever, right see the Simpsons, and
it was The Simpsons and Married with Children. Yeah, and
nine O two and zero was just starting right. It's like,
oh wow, look at this. They didn't even get to
the Dylan Kelly Brenda triangle yet when this is happening.
(28:03):
So so this is this is just how the NFL
is going. They they they're taking their time right now
to see who's gonna wind up being our long term partner.
So we try it out a little bit here. Again.
They know the risk because they're asking a lot of
fans to say, this is what we're doing for all
our product and and they risk fans saying, hey, maybe
I don't need to see all these games. They don't
(28:23):
need to buy Peacock. I don't care because what I'll
do instead is, hey, one of my friends has Peacock.
I'll go over his house to watch the game. What
does that mean, Well, that's one less house that watches
the game. Before you think that's not a big deal,
it is. Because now everybody stays home, right, everybody stays home.
They stay home. Nobody goes to movies as much as
they used to. They stay home and watch television. We
all we all stay home and watch TV. So if so,
(28:44):
if if one out of every four NFL fans is saying, hey,
I'm not buying Peacock, I'm gonna go over Jump and
Knucklehead Billy's house to watch the game. Okay, that's one
less house, you know what, watching the game. All Right,
I got two things for you.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
One, I'm gonna put this in terms you'll really understand,
and America may weep. The latter being maybe the NFL
actually saves America. This way, people have to get out
of their own homes and actually congregate somewhere. Now we
have pot lucks to watch games, where we talk about problems,
We watch each other's kids, We make sure they're doing
(29:16):
their homework.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
I mean all of that stuff.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Maybe the NFL and Roger Goodell saves society. The other part,
you know, talking about you know, paying paying for what
you used to get for free.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
You know we were having this discussion the other day.
You know.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
McDonald's is phasing out the self serve on the sodas
by twenty thirty two.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
No more free refills. Jason, you had a good run.
Oh you know what I'll do, I'll just bring my
own soda own, So that's fine, No free I'll bring
my own soda, that's fine. Yeah, you really think that
there's gonna be a corkage fee too, can't you I
really think that's gonna work. You really think that's gonna work.
No free refills in twenty thirty two. Really, that's not
gonna work.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
Okay, Yeah, Well, individual operators will have the opportunity to
decide whether they're free or not. But you know they
have to absorb the costs. Much like these FI five
dollar meals. They're trying to make them sell when you
know they've added ancillary cost after ancillary cost.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
Here, particularly in California. Good luck making sorry body, good
luck making that stick. They have a better luck me
trying to get to go see Oh I got to
see the jets and the packers. Man, I gotta find
a way rather than say, oh I can't go here,
I can't get a free soda here. Well, I'll get
a free refills over here.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
Well, most jetskins are free. And look at McDonald's leads.
Other people follow suit man telling you throw atred.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
Raising has a new independent regulator HAISA that's implementing comprehensive reforms,
and the sport is combining hands on care with cutting
edge technology to help keep its athletes safe. To learn more,
visit Safety Runs First dot com that Safety Runs first
dot Com. So I understand there is a silver lining
amongst all of this crazy streaming news from the NFL.
Today The Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike
(30:54):
Carmon coming up next. The NFL has come after Christmas
and is taking it over. We got that, plus the holiday.
The NFL is never going to touch never What's that
That's next right here, Jason and Mike Fox.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific, Fox.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with My best friend
Mike Harmon. Slap of the Base early in the third quarter,
Dallas Leeds Oklahoma City fifty eight forty nine Mavericks on
the road, looking to take a three to two lead
over the Thunder. Continue to update you on this game
earlier tonight. Celtics win their series. They're in the Eastern
Conference Finals, knocking out the Cavaliers. But today was NFL's
(31:40):
schedule release day. One of the big headlines, of course,
was Hey, two NFL games on Netflix on Christmas Day,
and they're pretty good games, especially you're talking about the
Chiefs and the Steelers and the Ravens and the Texans. Right,
you got CJ. Stroud, you have Lamar Jackson, you have
whether Pittsburgh is at that point playing justin fields, which
(32:02):
they probably will be. And then you have Mahomes and
potentially Taylor Swift on Christmas Day and for all of
this surprise the NBA, I can't believe this. Of course
this is happening. The NBA television ratings on Christmas Day
aren't great, right was last year the across games was
two point eight million people. The highest game was was
(32:24):
Lakers Celtics, which five million people watch. The NFL doubles that, right, Like,
so of course they're coming for Christmas Day. The NBA
used to own Christmas Day. It was great. But now
we talked about the playoff problem that the NBA has,
the product problem that the NBA has. Ratings aren't going up.
They're kind of being staggered. Now the NFL it's said, okay,
it's our time. Now we can come for Christmas Day
(32:46):
and they're here and they're not going anywhere. I mean here,
we're getting games that they'll play Christmas Day games every
year now for the rest of time, because you can
do it. At the end of the season because they
play on Saturdays. Doesn't matter whatever day, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.
You're gonna get games on Christmas Day no matter what.
And the NBA is just gonna have to suck it
(33:06):
up and realize, Hey, we had it great for a
long time, and but now the NFL is here feeling
their power because every year we're just gonna continue to
feel out and push and push and push. Yeah, this
was always going to happen.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
Yeah, gentlemen's agreement to a point. And then what are
you doing? You're trying to figure out how to keep
growing the pie? Where's an obvious giant slice of people
sitting around on their asses after eating giant slices of
pie Christmas giant.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
Slices of pie. Uh. But you know, I'll tell you
this the one holiday. Now, it's like, what was the
NFL not to the one holiday? The NFL will never
come forward. It's not really a holiday, but they're still
never gonna do it. They will never play unless it
falls on a day in which they have to, which
is Sunday, Monday, or Thursday. They will never play on Halloween, Halloween,
(33:59):
It's nothing day.
Speaker 3 (34:00):
Then it's appropriate they got the clowns that are the
jets this year.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
They will unless it's unless it's hey, unless it's a
well we normally play on this day. You know they're
not going to touch Halloween because A it's a horrible
optic when when kids are out, when it's a day
you're supposed to be with your kids, it's a family day,
and people are out of the house. It doesn't matter
what kind of NFL game you have on. If your
(34:23):
kid wants to go trick or treating, your dad says, dad,
take me trick or treating, and guess what Dad's going
trick or treat. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (34:28):
In most communities though, I mean that that's kind of
waned a bit. Now you have more school led activities
and a bunch of just people being menaces out there.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
No. Well, number one, they're not going to get the
numbers because let no matter always get the numbers. That
what they won't go after Halloweens. They're not going to
go after we get the numbers, no matter what. Halloween
numbers when they have games are just okay. Halloween numbers
numbers are okay. Well, it depends if Zach Wilson is
playing quarterback or Aaron Rodgers. But no, but Halloween is
(35:01):
they play when they have to, when they have games
on there. The numbers are okay. They're never gonna go
crazy and say, hey, we're gonna sell games here on
Halloween because you don't get that much because it because
it is Halloween. No matter what people are out. Look,
the college football tried to make New Year's Eve happen
for play. This are the two biggest games of the
college football season. We're doing on New Year's Eve. It's tradition.
(35:22):
After one year, it's oh wait, even though college football
games are on, people go out and do things. Oh,
We're never doing that again. It's the same philosophy for Halloween. Well,
I mean, Halloween is a far, far less of it.
I mean, I don't know, I'm not I've never been
a guy that's been sprinting around to bars that seems,
(35:42):
you know, on Halloween, dressed up like a clown and
while getting out getting after it on those days. I
suppose those are the folks that aren't gonna sit and
watch anyway in a lot of cases, because otherwise you
just have one of those house parties we talked about.
And saves society.
Speaker 3 (36:01):
But now more and more schools have the first off,
so the opportunity certainly is there.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
I'll tell you man, it's gonna be really, really difficulty.
They will wind up hurting themselves and being and having
a bad optic outside of that too. And the NFL
is not gonna do it. Trust me, they won't get
they haven't yet. Why wouldn't they have gone after Halloween already?
What there's no other competition on Halloween to worry about
the NBA the look I had Halloween all themselves. Nope'm
(36:28):
not gonna go after Halloween. You have to recognize it
as a holiday. Not gonna Uh. Now a state is
a different story of all Saints state different November first. Yeah, okay,
we'll go after November first, when that becomes a thing absolutely. Uh.
The Chase and Smith Show and Mike Harvid Live from
the Tyraq dot Com Studios. We have more from the
NBA coming up next, as well as big news from
(36:50):
the NFL. As far as how I know, one big
quarterback is gonna be healthy all season long. This is
Fox
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
ten pm to two am Eastern seven to eleven pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon at Foxsports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every night on the
iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Plea you're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Greetings, Welcome inside, Happy Wednesday, The Jason Smith Show with
my bes Friendmike Harmon, Live from the Tirack dot Com
Studios Direct dot com. I'll help you get there at
unmatched selection, fast free shipping, free road hazard protection, and
over ten thousand recommended installers tirack dot com the way
tire buying should be. Well, this is a very stretch.
(00:52):
This is almost gonna be a No Nicks night because
we'll watch you allot. But good, so much great, so
much stress. I don't have the next couple of nights
three to two lead. Everything is awesome. I kind of
felt like today, hey listen, Alex Tyshirt, Rick Carlile, we
don't have time to listen right now. I kind of
felt like the last day, like hey, this is how
I felt like when the Jets win a playoff game,
you know, like twelve years ago, Like, hey, I feel
(01:14):
good for I really really good for a couple of
days until they have to get nervous about them playing again.
It's like, that's kind of where I'm at right now.
It's pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Well, you get to chill and because I mean, you're
playing with house money.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Yeah, at this point.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
You know, it's a phrase that you know how much
I hate it as it's used way too liberally in
our business. But let's call it what it is. You're
playing with five and a half guys at this point.
So the fact that you have a series lead and
Game seven is in your pocket back home, Yeah, you're feeling.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Pretty deep, pretty deep, pretty good. You think there's this
there's a there's a mid playoff sponsorship deal for the
Knicks with five guys, Like, is there room for that?
I mean, I think you could really make some money
as long as they're still playing. Well.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
I mean, we saw how quickly nil deals came together
in the NCAA tournament. They were literally finding guys in
the hallways of their hotels two hours after games ending.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
You hit a big shot let's go no hit some
ca Oh, I have money for you. Hang on a second,
here's a bag of cash. You go against that beij
wall back there. Who's that guy next to my roommate?
Did he play tonight? Six minutes? Yeah, I'll get you
another time. Don't worry about it here. Congratulations, But look
tonight another big night in the NBA playoffs. Right now
(02:31):
into the first quarter, Dallas leads Oklahoma City twenty four
to twenty two. Oklahoma City trying to go up three
games to two over Dallas. And we saw Boston eliminate
the Cavaliers one thirteen to ninety eight. Has Donovan Mitchell
signed with the Lakers yet? I don't know. Lebron did
(02:51):
his recruiting visit.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
He did the last game, sat there, even brought a
really expensive bottle of wine court side.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Hey, this opus could be your man. Maybe that's why
he looked so upset on the side. I'm here and
he's not even playing a great I came all the
way to this game to scout him, and he didn't
even show up. I came to recruit him and also
to let people know that I could come here if
nobody else wants to draft Brony because I know I
can get the Cavaliers to draft Brownie if I say
(03:18):
I'm coming back. This is what a wasted trip this was.
Maybe he's not even playing.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
I gotta say the videos from those tunnels, the tunnel though,
as Lebron was walking into the arena, like the people
that looked up.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
It's like, what the hell, there's hey Lebron. Hey, It's
at this point it's like, yeah, he's here. He leaves,
he comes back, he leaves, he comes back. It doesn't
like it's gone. Could be a hologram. You don't even
know what you're back. Oh yeah, he's like he was
the guy that went away for so long. Oh now
he's back, and now he just comes back a lot.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Now, Yeah, he's that guy that comes back every uh
every Thanksgiving to the local bar where he was once king.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
We have a lot to get to with NFL schedule
lease day, but look, it's it's got to get in
something something seriously off off the top. And watching the
Celtics beat the Cavaliers, I know this series and other
series I'm watching, I say to myself, you know what,
the NBA really has a playoff problem. They have a
playoff problem in that too many series end like this
(04:18):
when a sport needs to be at its best, right,
this is when everybody is watching the NBA Playoffs have
everything to themselves. No NFL games are going on. You know,
we've seen baseball start. Here's the NBA playoffs with the
great stars that are out there, and too many series
end like this. They end in blowouts, and they end
with star players not playing. And I understand, you can't
control the game, and you can't control when guys are hurt. Mainly,
(04:41):
although sometimes I look and I go, really don and
Mitchell couldn't play anything. He finishes the last game, he
scores thirty five. He can't play in this game. Too
many NBA series end this way, and it's the reason
why there's so much attention on the Knicks and the Pacer.
You see, I said, no next or but the Knicks
and the Pacers for all going on? How much fun
is this series? Because I know both these teams are
(05:03):
trying to beat the brains out of the other one.
As much as I make fun of Rick carlile and
is whining and crying about a star, I know he
wants to win. I know how bad he wants to
beat the Knicks and get to the Eastern Conference Finals.
I know how bad Jalen Brunson wants to win, how
bad Dante DiVincenzo wants to win. I know how bad
that guys like TJ McConnell want to win. I know this,
(05:24):
But you look around the NBA and there's so many
playoffs that just kind of end with whimpers. Every other
game is a blowout. And when you see star players
that just sit that, you realize there's a playoff problem.
The numbers aren't going up. They're kind of been stagnant,
which has been an overall trend in the NBA because
you can you can look at some numbers say, okay,
well more people are watching here, but less people are
(05:45):
watching here. But overall, the NBA has a product issue.
I mean, it's why the NFL has come for Christmas Day. Hey,
NFL was never gonna play on Chrismas. Take and look,
NBA owned and everybody's watching. Now. Look look the NFL
saw last year. Hey we get twice so many people
watching our games is watching your games? So guess what.
We're gonna have games on Christmas Day every year? And
we got two games on Netflix now they've been seventy
(06:06):
five million dollars for it. The NFL has said, yeah,
you know what, the NBA not as big a threat,
but when you get to the playoffs, when you get
to the playoffs, this is the sport where the sport
needs to be at the highest level it can be.
And while it's great watching the Kola Jokic you'll play well,
it's really something and watching the Timberwolves play when every
game is a blowout and at the end I see
(06:28):
the Timberwolves say, oh, we're laughing, and what can we say?
Jokic is the MVP. You know what I want to
see after that? I want to see, hey man, we
can't let him do that. We cannot let him just
run free and roam free. We gotta find a way
because this is the bleep in NBA playoffs. We were
up to zip and now he's controlling this series. And
instead of you got Anthony Edwards saying, yeah, hey, what can
(06:48):
I do? I got to give Hims flowers. He's the MVP.
That's not what I want to hear at all if
I'm a fan. And this is part of what happens,
why the NBA playoff product is not what it should be,
and it's not as simple as well. They should less games,
so players wind up playing more and guys don't sit
out in the playoffs. It's just an overall playoff problem
that the sport is not at the level it should
(07:09):
be when it's honest high at stage it should be
where everybody is doing everything they can to either stay
in games, play in games, win games and nick pacers.
Used to be how every series was. Every series was
blood on the floor and hair on the walls, and
if you escape, you're like the final girl at the
end of a horror movie. Your arm is half hacked
off and your leg is bleeding and there's blood all
(07:30):
in your eyes and you don't know what's going on,
and your boyfriend is dead because he tried to save
you and he got a stake through the heart. Then
he got his arm chopped off, and he got his
head get sliced open. All these things. This is how
you need to come out of playoffs. This is what
got everybody so involved in the NBA and why we
love the playoffs so much. And it doesn't need to
be physical, it just needs to be a good product.
(07:51):
And the playoffs right now are not a great product.
Think about this, the playoff rounds we've had so far,
how many can you look back and say, wow, that
was something right? Nick Sixers was something right because you
had calls, You had Embiid and he was injured and
he was mad, and the Sixers were mad about calls
and Tyres Maxey has taken every bleep and shot he
can and he's scoring forty five points and in threes
(08:13):
from thirty five feet out because he's desperate. Look, there's
only a couple of series, and it's only coincidence I'm
saying the next for both of them. But there's only
a couple of series where you go, wow, that really
was fun. Like look looking at this series right now
with with the Celtics and the Cavaliers, can you say
that was fun? As as close as Denver and and
Minnesota seems, Is it really fun? Is it really close?
(08:34):
Especially after last night when it feels like Minnesota just said, hey,
we're done, Yeah, y'all get just the MVP. What are
we gonna do? It's not much we can do. Well,
that's it.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
That Like Edwards got everybody's praise earlier in the round, right,
talking about you know, it's my fault energy taking responsibility
for not rising to the challenge in that game three,
and then last night I was god like, ah, well,
you know he was in his bag.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
We're kind of cooked.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
We're young and index experience, and we can't possibly match that,
never mind the defensive Player of the Year and all
the other flowers that people have been throwing at you.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
The whole time. You know, it goes back.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
To what we've talked about a lot towards the end
of the regular season, where every game you're praying that
you don't add another name to your injury report or
that had short lived and that you can chalk it
up to load management, right versus we get into the playoffs,
and we've chronicled it every step of the way. This
guy's hurt, that guy's hurt. The Donovan Mitchell thing is
(09:33):
confusing as hell. Right as you said, he scores thirty five,
he looks, you know, they come up huge and then no,
he's done. So tonight they made just sweat and you know,
once again they got their backers.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
They lose by fifteen. If you bet.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
At late the spread had gone out to fifteen and
a half, so if you waited because you had a
much better line this morning before everybody got ruled out.
But you just go on on and down the li line.
It's the there's no incentive for you to play if
you're getting cooked early in a series or even midway through. Right,
(10:09):
all right, we're down thirty. The hell with it? Bench it,
save it for next time. You understand it from a
strategical standpoint, but from a viewing experience and compelling television.
I mean again, unless you bet it, you ain't watching it.
And I guarantee you ninety percent of the people that
bet it, they don't watch it anyway. They just wait
(10:30):
for the final score to pass on their phone while
they're out pushing their kid on the swing or you know,
ripping one on this sixteenth green.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
I mean, that's it. That's where we're at in this.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
So it's it's tough, right, You're hoping for compelling product,
but injuries and just the length of things, you know,
live for another day is very tough.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
You know. And and here's the thing is that the
Jason Smith Show with Mike Carbon like the reason the
NBA is in this in this issue, it's not selling.
It's not as simple as all the stars are sitting
out games. It goes further than that because no sport
of all the major sports has outgrown its rules and
norms more than the NBA has. Right, what we've seen
(11:14):
in Major League baseball. You can watch a Major League
Baseball game from like nineteen ten and it still kind
of looks the same here that does in twenty twenty four.
You would recognize it a little bit, right, but overall
this for some obvious differences, but yeah, well, but you
would recognize a major league game. And look what happens
with Major League baseball does Okay, what do we need
to do. We realize putting more teams in the playoffs
(11:34):
and keeping things going, that's what that's what's going to help,
all right, But major League Baseball hasn't really changed that much. NFL, yes,
does it change, Yes, but everybody's getting richer, players are
getting more money. It's happening. Yes, they're adding a game,
they've added the seventeens game. But by and large, the
NFL has not outgrown itself, whereas the NBA with the players,
(11:57):
and it's part of the players getting bigger and stronger
and playing more basketball when they're younger and coming into
the league and being asked to play some kind of
crazy schedule. You are seeing them the the the overall
level of strength and speed has outgrown an eighty two
game schedule with back to backs and tournaments in the
middle of the season and everything they have going on
(12:18):
right now, the NBA needs some changes where they need
a real forward thinking visionary who can say, all right,
these are the issues that are that are affecting the
NBA right now. Our ratings are our ratings are out
of stagnancy, and and players are missing games. Maybe we're
playing too much. Whatever it is, there needs to be
like a full body review to say to say we
(12:40):
got to change stuff, because how much longer can can
you can you sit here and go by this and say, yeah,
NBA rings gonna be the same. If you're not going up,
or you're not finding a way to get up and
reach more people and have your product growing, you're you're
dying and you're you're you're going backwards. And this is
why the NFL has taken over on Christmas Day, and
they'll take over more days too. It's but for right now,
you folks, us on the situation now, the NBA. They
(13:02):
have a playoff problem with making some kind of product
out there that people can't wait to see every single night,
and it's compelling and it's incredible, and even if it's
a blowout, it's something you really want to talk about
the next day. They really have an issue with that,
and there's only a couple of series so far that's
been able to do it. And that's been a trend
(13:22):
over the last couple of years. Mike, I don't see
it reversing.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
No, No, that's where we're at. I mean, you know,
we always joke to you know, we talk about the
size of the rink for the NHL versus you know,
the Olympic size. Should the skaters get a little more
room to work with? Maybe for the NBA we start
looking at the dimensions. I know, you don't want to
lose those nicks on the baseline right next to the action,
(13:46):
but maybe it's time that we start moving the floor
a little bit.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Exit out about a Fresca exit swollen dome. The Jason
Smith Show with my best friend Mike Carmon. Just understand,
the NBA has got a playoff problem, the nixt consolvement,
but the NBA has got a playoff problem thoroughbrett Racing
has a new independent regulator HAISA implementing comprehensive reforms, and
the sport is combining hands on care with cutting edge
technology to help keep its athletes safe. To learn more,
(14:13):
visit safetyeruns First dot com, Dot Safety Runs First dot Com. Well,
we got more NBA on the way. But coming up next,
it was NFL's schedule release day, and boy was it
a day unlike any other. We break down all the
big eye opening events coming up next right here, Jason
to Mike Fox.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 4 (14:44):
Hey, it's Ben, host of The Fifth Hour with Benmaller.
Would mean a lot to have you join us on
our weekly auditory journey. Dress one in God's Name is
the Fifth Hour. I'll tell you it's a spin off
of it. Ben Maler Show, a cold hit overnights on FSR.
Why should you in picture? If you will a world will?
We chat with captains of industry in media, sports, and
more every week explore some amazing facts about human Nature
(15:08):
and more. Listen to the Fifth Hour with Ben Maller
or the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get
your podcast, Fox.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Sports Radio, The Jason Smith Show with my best friend
Mike Harmon live from the tire rack dot Com studios.
Right now, Mavericks on top of the thunder four minutes
ago before halftime, big run by Dallas to open the
second quarter, twenty one to eleven run. They read it
lead at forty five thirty three. Luca's got twelve. Meanwhile,
(15:36):
for Oklahoma City Boy Shake Gildas Alexander just six points
on three of eight shooting, and your Guy by Carmen
Chet has seven points. He's minus eight for the game
so far. Your guy, what name Chet? Your guy Chet.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
Check minus eight, Struggle Lou Georges minus thirteen. I mean,
it's it's really a bad night for you man, bad
night for the guys.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
You nights.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
It's really not working out quite so. And I mean
PJ Washington, who's been a star, right. We've hyped him
a bunch for what the Mavericks have done since he
came over in trade. He's played twelve minutes, he's got
four boards, three assists, but he hasn't scored yet. I mean,
I guess what do I is this where I start
promoting how great the plus minus stat is.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
He's plus eleven. Man, that's great, a all right, we
do well when I'm on the court. Hey, look at me,
you know, honestly, no joke. If I played professional sports,
that would be probably my best category. I would be
a plus player. There's no way I'd be a minus player. Whatever.
If I played hockey, if I played back, I would
be a plus player. They would say, but you know
the guy, he makes some threes now and he does this,
(16:39):
he's a boy. Look at his plus minus. Man, it's
outstand We just we just played better when he's on
the floor. Now, I'd be a plus player. I like
that what you're all about? Yeah, plus player?
Speaker 3 (16:50):
You know you just try to make people better. That's
that's what you try to do.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Yeah, I mean, look, in hockey, i'd be a superstar
with a great plus minus. But like in basketball, i'd
be I'd make some threes now and again, but I'd
have a plus minus. That would be me.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
Well, it's all about, you know, having some variety and
a wealth of knowledge and skills that you could spend around.
It's like, you know that that Jeopardy spin off, that
that pop culture thing that they announced for prime video.
I mean I could star on that, I can host that,
I can dominate that.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Let's go South Hampshire. No again, it's not it's a
state in the United States. Okay, we'll have more from
the NBA coming up in a few minutes. But today
was a huge day of the NFL. Right, you're you're
like me and everybody. Look, not everybody is like me,
but you're like us. I got I got pieces here
with different notes about this. Let me take a look
(17:38):
at where my team is playing. The NFL schedule releases out,
and there's so many things to get to. You're looking
at your team, you're looking at the team's playing national television,
you're looking at who's playing overseas. But there was a
topic that superseded all of that today and this was
everybody sort of finally realized, oh, hey, if I want
(17:59):
to see all the NFL games this year, I gotta
spend at least eight hundred and fifty bucks because the
games are spread about so much on streaming services that
if you want to get all the games, because look,
we mentioned a few minutes ago. Netflix gets a couple
of games on Christmas Day. They paid one hundred and
fifty million dollars for Peacock's got games. You will have
(18:21):
to pay at least eight hundred and fifty bucks because
you gotta buy Sunday Ticket, YouTube TV, ESPN plus Prime, Netflix, Peacock, right,
and I trust all the numbers. Everybody seem to come
up with the fact that it was a numbers all
about just a little bit under one thousand dollars, so
between eight hundred and fifty and nine hundred dollars if
you want to see every single game. And already I
(18:43):
knew this is gonna be met with so much hate,
right already, I knew it. Said I can't have all
of it, and I get it. But I knew right
away as soon as I saw this, I said, oh man,
this is not gonna be This is not gonna be
fun for the NFL. All they're gonna hear is I
can can't pay for all that. I don't even know
where alf these things are. And I understand. I get
the hate. I get the hate. I get the hate
because you shouldn't have to pay all this money to
(19:04):
watch NFL games. I get the hate because it's difficult.
All I gotta go here, I gotta buy all of
these things and keep it straight. It's a lot of streaming.
But here's the thing, and this is where sometimes you
just have to understand reality. This is the way the
world is going, both in the NFL and in other sports.
(19:24):
I get you don't like it, but this is the future.
And eventually the NFL is going to be full streaming
at some point when they figure it all out, all
sports are gonna be full streaming. Yes, the complaints are big,
and I understand, but you gotta get used to it
because this is gonna be the norm that with all
of these entities wanting to pay so much money for
just a few games. Of course, the NFL saying, oh
(19:46):
we can give you get you a game here for
seventy five million. We'll give you a game here for
another seventy five million. We'll play on Tuesday because it's Christmas.
Because we can do it and we can sell the game.
This is just the way it's going. I get that, Oh, well,
why can't we go back to the way it w Yeah,
but we don't go back to anyway. The way things
used to be. Like I know, we're not going back
to the way things were on television. This is the
(20:06):
new model. This is why network television is going by
the wayside. People don't watch shows anymore, why nobody watches
local news. This is just the way things are evolving,
and sports is evolving more towards streaming. And eventually, what's
gonna happen. Somebody huge is or Amazon's going to say,
you know what, we want the entire AFC package. Wait what, Yes,
(20:27):
we want the entire AFC package. Well, it's gonna be
give us a number. All right, Well it's gonna be.
Well we want we want like twenty billion. Do here
you go? Wait really, yep, there you go right here,
twenty do I got the check? Writer is now you
want twenty five billion. I'll give you that. Eventually, That's
what's gonna happen in the NFL is going to do
it because this is the way we're going with television.
(20:47):
Streaming is becoming more and more popular. It's not like
it's a dying institute or hey, we're buying something for relevancy.
More and more shows you're watching are on streaming. I
can't tell you the last network television show I watched.
I don't even know that I could tell you the
last show that that's only on cable that I've watched.
All the shows I watch are streaming now. Do I
have all the streaming services? No, so I missed some
(21:09):
of them, and I'm okay with that. But generally think
about viewing habits and where they're going. I get that
there's a big shock about this and you got to
spend a lot of money, but it's unfor but I'm
My biggest thing I can say is get right with it. Right.
This is the new norm, and this is the way
sports are gonna go, especially the NFL.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
All the boys upstairs want to see how much you'll
pay for what you used to get for free. Tom
Petty many years the last DJ Fantastic album. If you
don't have it in your playlist, I recommend that after
we get off air tonight, in addition to downloading our
podcast wherever you get audio, you also add that if
(21:47):
your Spotify or wherever you listen to music. Because really
kind of a damning thing. He kind of was railing about,
you know, the change.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
In radio for you know, your.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
Pop artists and whatever, but more or less just you know,
the change in the economic structures of it all.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
And that's the reality, you.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Know, as you lay it out, you know the old saying,
as we get to the Kevin Durant, you don't like it,
don't watch, And there's got to be some breaking point,
and you're trying to figure out where that line is
in the sand, where it's gone too far. You know,
there's always the potential that you start going into verticals
(22:28):
of you know, city packages or you know, how much
will it cost to just get to your team, which
is something long long ago as part of the initial
MLB entry into this stuff. Man as slow as they
normally are, they were first in terms of allowing you
to watch and listen to your home broadcasts early. But
(22:51):
now you just start getting into well what's it worth
for you? Right the three point fifty and you've got
to be a YouTube TV subscriber.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
You know, there's only eight million.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
I was starting to do all sorts of numbers as
to subscribers. Right when we get into Netflix, you're looking
at two hundred and seventy million subscribers worldwide. Amazon Prime.
You know, those are the two entities that are most
likely to say you know, we've got mountains of cash.
You know, what's it going to cost for the you know,
one of the conferences. But Amazon Prime there's two hundred
(23:22):
and thirty million worldwide. You start going. Only forty percent
of people say they still subscribe to cable. But what
does that mean in this day and age when you know,
compartmentalize it. I watch a couple of network shows, but
they're also available on the streamers immediately after.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Right, dude, you watch matt Lock reruns. That doesn't count.
That's not do thing.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
No, no, no, but like like the Law and Orders,
well they show up on Peacock immediately thereafter.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Right.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
At one point, my older daughter and I we were
watching Grays together.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
She quit on me. But that that is available, you know,
through the Disney Done. I'm a teenager and I'm done
that out now.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
Well no, it's like she started going down the rabbit
hole where else she watches his competition shows and not
the cool ones like cookoffs and stuff.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
So I'm out.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
I don't need to see Boston rob for the thirty
fifty years.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Okay, I'm done with that. That game. I'm finished now.
Look now I do have a silver lining, right it
is not because I get people being upset. But here's
a silver lining. This is not what the NFL wants
to do ultimately with its product. It does not want
to give a couple of games here to Peacock and
a handful of games here to Netflix, and a couple
of games of Prime and a couple of games to YouTube.
(24:31):
They don't want to do it. They're doing it now
because there are a lot of entities that are starting
to become big time. They're starting to become part of
the mainstream. So hey, we want these games. Hey we're
okay spinning off a couple of games here and there
because the NBA it is a bit of a gamble,
because you get to the point where for the NFL
it is a bit of a gamble, because you get
to the point where fans may say, you know what,
(24:52):
maybe I don't need to see every game, so I
don't need to see every game, and then some of
the entities that buy it, whether whether it's Prime or
Netflix or whatever the game is, hey boy, we didn't
really get great numbers for that game. And you'll know
the truth when they don't report the numbers, right, if
the numbers are great and everybody is watching. Oh look
at this, we had more people watching it here. But
but then they don't report the numbers, and you hear
the well, generally we don't report numbers. You know that
(25:14):
not many, not enough people watch, and it was a
bad investment for them. The NFL knows it's a risk.
They know it's a risk. Say, we're spinning this off
and we're asking a lot of consumers to spend a
lot of money on this, especially when it's in all
different places. So here's a silver lining what the NFL
is doing now, and I'll take it behind the strategy saying, Okay,
we know streaming is the future. What they want at
(25:35):
some point is to understand they want great partners, and
is the NFL at the point now where they can
say that, hey, Amazon is the best partner they could
possibly have. Maybe do they know that Peacock is probably not.
They're gonna find out about Netflix, They're gonna find out
about you know, how good is YouTube TV for everything?
Because everybody is happy, But the NFL needs to find
(25:56):
out now because there's so many people that want the product.
So the NFL is has given these games out and
they're gonna spend time the next couple of years gauging
how these entities do with games, and they're gonna see, hey,
this is the streaming site where our product does the best.
These are the people we can trust the best. This
(26:17):
is who we're going to enter into negotiations with for
the AFC package or the NFC package or Monday Night package,
whatever it is. So eventually it's going to streamline a bit.
You're not gonna get Hey, these games are on five
different or six different entities, You're gonna get two or
three like Nord because that's like everything else, it's gonna consolidate, right,
(26:37):
I mean we keep reading about all the land grabs
and you know, get if you're visiting southern California, get
all your studio tours in from the old movie lots,
because they're gonna consolidate and sell off those land land
pieces for housing soon enough. I mean we see it
all the time. Yeah, they're going to they're gonna take
a couple of years and they're gonna take a look
at the business models and what's happening and who's got
(26:58):
staying powered and who doesn't, and then they'll enter into
a long term deal and numbers are going to be staggering.
Whatever Netflix winds up paying for the NFL or whatever
Amazon winds up paying for the NFL. If I if
I had to guess, I would say Netflix and Amazon
will be the two big homes of the NFL just
because they're the biggest and I know they're not in
danger of going anywhere. So the other streamers are going
(27:21):
to try to figure out a way to make money
and stay relevant. There's gonna be some merging of some
of the streamers over the next couple of years, So
that would be my guess. I mean, but that's just
me looking at business and trying to, you know, push
it forward. But the NFL doesn't want to do this.
I don't think for a second they really like this.
They know this is a way for us to make
a lot of money right now and really see where
our next partners are going to be. They've been partners
(27:43):
with Fox since the mid nineties. Fox jumped out of
nowhere and spent all kinds of money to get the NFL,
and they've had it forever, right see the Simpsons, and
it was The Simpsons and Married with Children. Yeah, and
nine O two and zero was just starting right. It's like,
oh wow, look at this. They didn't even get to
the Dylan Kelly Brenda triangle yet when this is happening.
(28:03):
So so this is this is just how the NFL
is going. They they they're taking their time right now
to see who's gonna wind up being our long term partner.
So we try it out a little bit here. Again.
They know the risk because they're asking a lot of
fans to say, this is what we're doing for all
our product and and they risk fans saying, hey, maybe
I don't need to see all these games. They don't
(28:23):
need to buy Peacock. I don't care because what I'll
do instead is, hey, one of my friends has Peacock.
I'll go over his house to watch the game. What
does that mean, Well, that's one less house that watches
the game. Before you think that's not a big deal,
it is. Because now everybody stays home, right, everybody stays home.
They stay home. Nobody goes to movies as much as
they used to. They stay home and watch television. We
all we all stay home and watch TV. So if so,
(28:44):
if if one out of every four NFL fans is saying, hey,
I'm not buying Peacock, I'm gonna go over Jump and
Knucklehead Billy's house to watch the game. Okay, that's one
less house, you know what, watching the game. All Right,
I got two things for you.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
One, I'm gonna put this in terms you'll really understand,
and America may weep. The latter being maybe the NFL
actually saves America. This way, people have to get out
of their own homes and actually congregate somewhere. Now we
have pot lucks to watch games, where we talk about problems,
We watch each other's kids, We make sure they're doing
(29:16):
their homework.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
I mean all of that stuff.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Maybe the NFL and Roger Goodell saves society. The other part,
you know, talking about you know, paying paying for what
you used to get for free.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
You know we were having this discussion the other day.
You know.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
McDonald's is phasing out the self serve on the sodas
by twenty thirty two.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
No more free refills. Jason, you had a good run.
Oh you know what I'll do, I'll just bring my
own soda own, So that's fine, No free I'll bring
my own soda, that's fine. Yeah, you really think that
there's gonna be a corkage fee too, can't you I
really think that's gonna work. You really think that's gonna work.
No free refills in twenty thirty two. Really, that's not
gonna work.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
Okay, Yeah, Well, individual operators will have the opportunity to
decide whether they're free or not. But you know they
have to absorb the costs. Much like these FI five
dollar meals. They're trying to make them sell when you
know they've added ancillary cost after ancillary cost.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
Here, particularly in California. Good luck making sorry body, good
luck making that stick. They have a better luck me
trying to get to go see Oh I got to
see the jets and the packers. Man, I gotta find
a way rather than say, oh I can't go here,
I can't get a free soda here. Well, I'll get
a free refills over here.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
Well, most jetskins are free. And look at McDonald's leads.
Other people follow suit man telling you throw atred.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
Raising has a new independent regulator HAISA that's implementing comprehensive reforms,
and the sport is combining hands on care with cutting
edge technology to help keep its athletes safe. To learn more,
visit Safety Runs First dot com that Safety Runs first
dot Com. So I understand there is a silver lining
amongst all of this crazy streaming news from the NFL.
Today The Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike
(30:54):
Carmon coming up next. The NFL has come after Christmas
and is taking it over. We got that, plus the holiday.
The NFL is never going to touch never What's that
That's next right here, Jason and Mike Fox.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific, Fox.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with My best friend
Mike Harmon. Slap of the Base early in the third quarter,
Dallas Leeds Oklahoma City fifty eight forty nine Mavericks on
the road, looking to take a three to two lead
over the Thunder. Continue to update you on this game
earlier tonight. Celtics win their series. They're in the Eastern
Conference Finals, knocking out the Cavaliers. But today was NFL's
(31:40):
schedule release day. One of the big headlines, of course,
was Hey, two NFL games on Netflix on Christmas Day,
and they're pretty good games, especially you're talking about the
Chiefs and the Steelers and the Ravens and the Texans. Right,
you got CJ. Stroud, you have Lamar Jackson, you have
whether Pittsburgh is at that point playing justin fields, which
(32:02):
they probably will be. And then you have Mahomes and
potentially Taylor Swift on Christmas Day and for all of
this surprise the NBA, I can't believe this. Of course
this is happening. The NBA television ratings on Christmas Day
aren't great, right was last year the across games was
two point eight million people. The highest game was was
(32:24):
Lakers Celtics, which five million people watch. The NFL doubles that, right, Like,
so of course they're coming for Christmas Day. The NBA
used to own Christmas Day. It was great. But now
we talked about the playoff problem that the NBA has,
the product problem that the NBA has. Ratings aren't going up.
They're kind of being staggered. Now the NFL it's said, okay,
it's our time. Now we can come for Christmas Day
(32:46):
and they're here and they're not going anywhere. I mean here,
we're getting games that they'll play Christmas Day games every
year now for the rest of time, because you can
do it. At the end of the season because they
play on Saturdays. Doesn't matter whatever day, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.
You're gonna get games on Christmas Day no matter what.
And the NBA is just gonna have to suck it
(33:06):
up and realize, Hey, we had it great for a
long time, and but now the NFL is here feeling
their power because every year we're just gonna continue to
feel out and push and push and push. Yeah, this
was always going to happen.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
Yeah, gentlemen's agreement to a point. And then what are
you doing? You're trying to figure out how to keep
growing the pie? Where's an obvious giant slice of people
sitting around on their asses after eating giant slices of
pie Christmas giant.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
Slices of pie. Uh. But you know, I'll tell you
this the one holiday. Now, it's like, what was the
NFL not to the one holiday? The NFL will never
come forward. It's not really a holiday, but they're still
never gonna do it. They will never play unless it
falls on a day in which they have to, which
is Sunday, Monday, or Thursday. They will never play on Halloween, Halloween,
(33:59):
It's nothing day.
Speaker 3 (34:00):
Then it's appropriate they got the clowns that are the
jets this year.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
They will unless it's unless it's hey, unless it's a
well we normally play on this day. You know they're
not going to touch Halloween because A it's a horrible
optic when when kids are out, when it's a day
you're supposed to be with your kids, it's a family day,
and people are out of the house. It doesn't matter
what kind of NFL game you have on. If your
(34:23):
kid wants to go trick or treating, your dad says, dad,
take me trick or treating, and guess what Dad's going
trick or treat. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (34:28):
In most communities though, I mean that that's kind of
waned a bit. Now you have more school led activities
and a bunch of just people being menaces out there.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
No. Well, number one, they're not going to get the
numbers because let no matter always get the numbers. That
what they won't go after Halloweens. They're not going to
go after we get the numbers, no matter what. Halloween
numbers when they have games are just okay. Halloween numbers
numbers are okay. Well, it depends if Zach Wilson is
playing quarterback or Aaron Rodgers. But no, but Halloween is
(35:01):
they play when they have to, when they have games
on there. The numbers are okay. They're never gonna go
crazy and say, hey, we're gonna sell games here on
Halloween because you don't get that much because it because
it is Halloween. No matter what people are out. Look,
the college football tried to make New Year's Eve happen
for play. This are the two biggest games of the
college football season. We're doing on New Year's Eve. It's tradition.
(35:22):
After one year, it's oh wait, even though college football
games are on, people go out and do things. Oh,
We're never doing that again. It's the same philosophy for Halloween. Well,
I mean, Halloween is a far, far less of it.
I mean, I don't know, I'm not I've never been
a guy that's been sprinting around to bars that seems,
(35:42):
you know, on Halloween, dressed up like a clown and
while getting out getting after it on those days. I
suppose those are the folks that aren't gonna sit and
watch anyway in a lot of cases, because otherwise you
just have one of those house parties we talked about.
And saves society.
Speaker 3 (36:01):
But now more and more schools have the first off,
so the opportunity certainly is there.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
I'll tell you man, it's gonna be really, really difficulty.
They will wind up hurting themselves and being and having
a bad optic outside of that too. And the NFL
is not gonna do it. Trust me, they won't get
they haven't yet. Why wouldn't they have gone after Halloween already?
What there's no other competition on Halloween to worry about
the NBA the look I had Halloween all themselves. Nope'm
(36:28):
not gonna go after Halloween. You have to recognize it
as a holiday. Not gonna Uh. Now a state is
a different story of all Saints state different November first. Yeah, okay,
we'll go after November first, when that becomes a thing absolutely. Uh.
The Chase and Smith Show and Mike Harvid Live from
the Tyraq dot Com Studios. We have more from the
NBA coming up next, as well as big news from
(36:50):
the NFL. As far as how I know, one big
quarterback is gonna be healthy all season long. This is
Fox
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