Best of Outkick the Coverage: 07/15/2020

Clay Travis reacts to today’s franchise tag deadline and focuses in on the Cowboys never-ending negotiations with QB Dak Prescott. How much is Dak really worth? Clay takes more calls from around the country about his kids-in-school topic, including a classic coaster ride of a call. Geoff Schwartz joins Outkick to weigh-in on all of the top stories. Plus, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey joins Clay to discuss this unique upcoming season!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of out Kick the
Coverage podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
morning from six to nine am Eastern three to six
am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station
for OutKick the Coverage at Fox Sports Radio dot com,
or stream us live every morning on the I Heart
Radio app by searching f s R. This is the
best of OutKick the Coverage with Clay Travis on Fox

(00:22):
Sports Radio. A lot to dive into today. Appreciate you
guys spending your Wednesday morning with us. Dak Prescott going
to be probably the biggest story of the day as
the Dallas Cowboys have been negotiating with Dak Prescott for

(00:44):
what feels like about two years now, and there are
reports now that nothing is going to happen in terms
of a long term extension for Deck uh So at
the four pm Eastern deadline today, Jack is expected to
play the season on the one year, thirty one point

(01:05):
four million dollar franchise tach So. What's interesting about this
in particular is Dak played for four years under his
rookie contract and only made two point seven million dollars,
so right at seven hundred thousand a little bit less
per year on average for a starting quarterback in the

(01:28):
NFL is unheard of in terms of of what the
deal is that the Cowboys got for him, and they
were unable to really take advantage of that and go
to the proverbial next level while they had all that
additional money to spend on other talent. And if you're

(01:48):
not sort of a capologist or someone who has spent
a lot of time paying attention to this in the NFL,
what the basically the goal has become in many ways
at least a big competitive advantage you can get is
if you draft a young quarterback, they are paid so
drastically below what market value is in the NFL that

(02:12):
if you have a young quarterback under either the first
round five years or even better a four year deal
without them being a first round pick, and they end
up a stud, you get a major competitive advantage. And that,
for instance, is what the Seahawks did when they went
to the Super Bowl twice with Russell Wilson before they

(02:33):
actually had to pay him thirty five million dollars a year.
He wasn't able to stay healthy. But that's one of
the advantages that the Eagles had with Carson Wentz. When
they were able to win the Super Bowl with Nick Foles,
it was because they had Carson Wentz partly under a
very affordable contract before he started to make thirty one

(02:56):
or thirty million dollars plus Jared Off. Look at what
happened with the l A Rams, who are now in
salary cap prison because they had to pay Jared Goff
a ton of money. But prior to giving Goff all
of that money, they had him under a relatively cap
friendly situation even though he was the number one overall pick.

(03:20):
But he led them to the Super Bowl. And so
you look around the NFL, and certainly Patrick Mahomes is
the most recent version of that number ten overall pick.
But now he's making the most money in the history
arguably potentially will see in all of American pro sports.
And uh and prior to that, he was under his

(03:43):
rookie contract and the Chiefs went out and won a
Super Bowl. So what happens kind of going forward is
an intriguing question for the Dallas Cowboys. Are they really
that far apart with Dak Prescott? Will Dak hold out?
I don't really know why he wouldn't, to be honest,

(04:04):
it's great to make thirty one million dollars in a year. Yeah.
I don't think anybody out there is feeling sorry for
him for this one year deal. But if you factor
in that he only made two point seven million over
the four years before, and that the Dallas Cowboys set
the precedent with Ezekiel Elliott that if you hold out,

(04:24):
you get paid a massive amount of money, even if
you have an existing contract, I wouldn't blame dec if
he decides to hold out. Of course, this also raises
the larger issue for the Cowboys, which is are they
gonna Kirk Cousins this situation in some way? By which
I mean if you remember what happened with Kirk Cousins

(04:45):
and the Washington Redskins Cousins, I believe you guys can
look this up and confirm it. Cousins was franchise tag
two years in a row by the Washington Redskins after
being unable to reach a long term deal with the team,
and then he just walked away and the Redskins got
nothing else. Now, the other question is, I'm not an

(05:07):
expert on the franchise tag, and we just don't see
it happen that often. For quarterbacks in general. Is there
any prohibition on how many years in a row you
can franchise tag a player? Now, well, one of you
guys try to look that up for me, because we've
got several players that are gonna be franchise tag none
as big of a story as Dak, but for instance,

(05:28):
Derrick Henry is getting ten point seven million. And if
I remember correctly, with Levian Bell, they tried to franchise
tag Levian Bell back to back years in Pittsburgh and
he set out the entire season in order to try
to become a free agent. And I know, I believe
I'm correct that Kirk Cousins was franchise tag back to

(05:49):
back years, but that players obviously do not want to
be franchise tagged ever, and they certainly don't want to
be franchise tagged in back to back years. But the
reason why, in case you're undering out there, is if
Dad got injured and hopefully he doesn't, and he had
a serious injury, let's say an Alex Smith like injury,
uh that that left him very very substantially needing a

(06:15):
long road to recovery, and it isn't like he's gonna
be out for only a few weeks or even for
the remainder of a season. Then he would have no
more guaranteed money, and uh, he'd have to go out
onto the market, and he might never make the money
that he otherwise would have, with reports that the Cowboys
have offered him over a hundred million dollars guaranteed and
him not believing that that dollar figure the Cowboys have

(06:39):
gotten to is worthy of what they are actually of
paying him. So that is the story there. Let me
bring in the crew because I think this is also
always interesting what would Dad be worth right now if
he were on the open market, Because that's the big debate,
and I know there are a ton of Cowboy fans
out there all over the country who follow along. I

(07:02):
kind of feel like thirty one million is about at
the high end of what DAK would make period. But
if you look at Cam Newton and you look at
Jamis Winson, and I know Dak is more accomplished right
now than both of those guys. There was not a
huge market in free agency for either. Andy Dalton is

(07:24):
obviously his backup. We saw that Teddy Bridgewater get around
twenty million a year. How many teams would actually pay
thirty million plus for Dak. I think that list is
pretty low. I'm not sure there's any team in the
NFL that would pay Dak Prescott on the open market

(07:44):
much more than thirty million dollars a year, Dan G.
What is what is Dak Prescott worth on the open
market right now? Well, you've actually come up on your
number because last offseason, I remember both you and had
him in the mid twenties. I think that Dak Prescott
is somewhere around the sixte best quarterback in the NFL

(08:10):
right now, Like if you were just which makes him
dead on average starter in the NFL. And I think
if you were trying to sketch out the best case
scenario for Dak, you'd probably be like, if you were
his agent, you'd argue that he's top ten, and I'm
sure the agent will argue he's top seven or eight,
because that's what agents do. Uh. And I think you

(08:31):
could also argue that he's that he's not, you know,
that he's no better than seventeen or eighteen if you
were trying to argue on the negative side, and I
would put him right squarely at that you know, fourteen fifteen,
sixteen range in the NFL. There are a lot of
guys I would rather have than Dak. Uh, there are

(08:52):
a lot of guys I would uh, I would rather
have with Dak than than than not. Right, So I
put him right around the average. But I don't think
they're that many NFL teams that would break the bank
for Dak Prescott if he suddenly were available. In fact,
like right now, who can you point to and say,
because remember, right now, there are a lot of NFL

(09:14):
teams that either have a guy they kind of believe
in and or hope is the future of the franchise,
or they have a really young quarterback and the verdict
is not in on them yet. How many teams can
you point to and say, oh, they one percent desperately
would need Dak Prescott. I just don't think they're very many, right,

(09:39):
I mean, when you look around the league, and this
is why Cam Newton had to take a million dollars,
It's why Jamis Winston had to take a million dollars,
there just aren't that many open jobs right now in
the NFL where a team would say, yeah, we're really
unsettled at the quarterback position, we're gonna bring you in.
We feel good about what Dak could do for the

(10:02):
overall franchise. And even the teams that are bad right now,
they either have a quarterback who's still unproven or they've
got a brand new quarterback that they're trying to hope
is the long range future of the franchise. But I mean,
you just look around the NFL right now. I legitimately
don't know that there's any team that would say we

(10:23):
have to have Dak. Now, there's lots of you know, like,
let's use the Denver Broncos example. There's lots of teams
that think, hey, maybe this guy is going to be
the long range future of the franchise. I'm talking about
Drew Lock. But there's not a certainty about it one
way or the other. And maybe you could argue that
John Elway is erratic as he's been with quarterbacks. Oh,

(10:46):
he'd love to have a guy like Dak Prescott. But
I think Bronco fans are hoping that that Drew Lock
can be a top ten quarterback. And I just I
can't think of a team that would break the bank
right now to go out in side Deck if he
wore a free agent. So I think what he's making
this year in the in the franchise tag is probably

(11:09):
his ceiling. I don't think you can go much higher
than that. It is right there in the ballpark. A
year ago, I said thirty three was the max I
would give him, and so what it's thirty one and change.
He's gonna be thanking. So that's that's a good spot
for him, which is why I think it's gonna it's
gonna stay that way. It's gonna play out and this
is gonna be his make it or break it season,

(11:30):
if you will. For the Cowboys. He is in a
unique position because that Dallas Cowboy quarterback job is different
from quarterbacking the rest of the league. You're dealing with
Jerry Jones. Uh. You think back to his leadership with
what happened during the whole anthem thing the first time
around back in. He handled that really well. He's been

(11:53):
fabulous off the field for the Dallas Cowboys. I don't
think there's any doubt. Yeah, and that's part of the
reason why you pay him. I think by the way
I could mention the Jags, Jacksonville probably has the worst
quarter like it's obviously possible that Gardner Minshew is going
to be good. I think it's also possible that Jacksonville
has the worst quarterback position of anybody in the NFL

(12:17):
right now when you look at their situation, they don't
really have the guy going forward, and maybe Gardner Minshew
is that guy. But I would say most Jags fans
probably would be okay with Dak, but what's the dollar
figure they would want him for? Uh So, I think
probably Jacksonville is the wobbliest of all of the starting

(12:40):
quarterback situations right now. The Patriots certainly, but now they've
got Cam Newton, I don't think there's a much uncertainty there.
So I'd probably say the Jags are the weakest position
of any anybody out there, and it looks like if
things fall apart for the Jags, they may be in
the Trevor Lawrence sweepstakes to potentially go in and and
draft him dub What do you think about the value

(13:03):
of Dak as we approach this four o'clock Eastern deadline
when teams would have to get their contract talks finished. Well,
I think the deal that he has on the table
right now is probably the best he's gonna get, because,
like you mentioned, there's not a whole lot of teams
out there they're dying to have a quarterback next season.
Jacksonville's the obvious choice. But when you look at the
history in recent times in the NFL with Jacksonville rather

(13:26):
signed Dak Prescott to thirty five million dollars a year
or ago draft a guy in the first round, maybe
get Trevor Lawrence, there's no doubt they would rather go
into the first round. Every single team in the NFL
would choose that route. So I think the market itself
is not very big for Dak Prescott, and the fact
that they signed Andy Dalton, I think is a really
key factor here because you look at the weapons that
Dak has had over his career. He's had a top

(13:48):
three offensive line, he's had a top three running game,
and a pretty good set of wide receivers and tight ends.
I'm not so sure that. I mean, they went eight
in eight last year. I think if Andy Dalton was
a quarterback last year, they would have gone seven and
mine right and again, So I don't think the drop
off between Dac and Dalton is that significant at all.
What about you, Eddie, how would you break this down? Yeah?

(14:09):
I pretty much agree. I think with what everybody else
is saying. I understand Doak has been a good soldier,
he's been a good teammate, he's been a good representative
of the Cowboys organization, and he's been a good player,
not a great player. I just you know, I think
he's what he's going to get is fair. I know
he's holding out for the extra year. I guess, but uh,
if I were him, i'd i'd signed the contract that

(14:30):
they're offering him. I don't, I don't. I don't think
it's he's gonna get any any better anywhere else. Now,
maybe he plays this year and has a great year
and then can cash in. But I'm on the Cowboys side.
This is a never ending story. Did anybody look up?
I don't think there's any restriction on how many years
in a row you can be franchise tag. No, it
goes way up on the third time you would get

(14:50):
tagged in a row, which is why teams only do
it better. There's a new penalty basically, so I haven't heard.
I don't remember anybody ever going more than twice on
the franchise tag back to back. But that will be
the drama that will build in Dallas is Dak basically saying, Okay,
I'll play this year. But then you either need to

(15:11):
be as the Cowboys willing to let me explore free agency,
or you tag me a second time. And we know
that effectively this relationship is over and it seems like
maybe that's the direction this is trending. So look, Dac,
I'm curious to see whether he holds out, whether he
immediately signs this. This really has been a never ending story.

(15:34):
I feel like we've been talking about it for two
years and the Cowboys and Dac have have reached sort
of a impass in terms of trying to figure out
what his value is. When we come back, appreciate all
of you hanging out with us. By the way, we're
gonna dive into continuation of why I believe that we
need to have college football if you heard me talking

(15:55):
about that yesterday. Right now, we are scheduled to have
the Commissioner of the South the Etern Conference, Greg Sanky,
on an hour number three at eight twenty eastern. We'll
also talk with Jeff Shorts as we typically do in
the in the second hour, UH, and I'm gonna give you,
uh the data on why schools should be opening up

(16:16):
from kindergarten all the way through college. This isn't a
complicated decision when you actually look at the data surrounding
all the details in the coronavirus. We will discuss that
as well. Appreciate all of you guys hanging out. I
want to tell you the best way you can support
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(16:39):
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(17:00):
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(17:22):
All you have to do to sign up. Let's go
to OutKick dot com again. That's OutKick dot com. When
we come back. Why schools should be open up? This
is outkicked. The coverage with Clay Travis, we are often
running here, been sharing some data that's blowing the Corona

(17:44):
Brows mind. Speaking of the Corona Brows, King of the
Corona Bros on Twitter, Darren Ravelle, he was gonna come
on and debate the coronavirus with me and debate why uh,
college football shouldn't play and none of you should leave
your bedrooms and leave your houses and no sports should
be going on and uh, and then his bosses told

(18:05):
me he couldn't do it, so I tweeted that out.
So uh, I don't know if we'll ever have any
Corona Bros come on the show after what happened to
Peter King on the show what a couple of months ago.
I guess now there's a lot of fear. There's a
lot of fear porn out there in the Corona Borrow
community about what will happen to them if they come
on this show and have to deal with actual facts

(18:27):
as opposed to running around on social media with non facts.
And I'm just gonna keep hammering this drum because I
saw something where uh axios I guess had a poll
that came out about parents not wanting their kids to
go back to school. And my wife actually got last night.
We were getting ready for bed, and she came and
she said, Man, I'm on Facebook and some of these

(18:50):
moms are just losing their minds over the coronavirus and
they don't It's like they don't actually know any of
the data at all. And again, I've got a twelve
and nine and a five year old. I love them
more than anything, but they need to be playing sports,
they need to be back in school. Uh, the data
is straightforward. Your kids not in danger. Per the c

(19:10):
d C, thirty kids ages fifteen and under have died
of the coronavirus in the entire country. That compares to
a hundred and ninety who die from the seasonal flu
every year. So your kid is over six times as
likely to die of the seasonal flu every year. Four
hundred and thirty six who commits suicide. So your kid
is over ten times as likely to commit suicide and

(19:34):
they are nearly I guess it's what's the math here?
Over twenty times as likely I think, uh to be
murdered and they are over forty. I can't even do
the math. It's so much. Thirty kids aged fifteen and
under have died of the coronavirus, four thousand, one hundred
and fourteen have died from drowning or other unintentional deaths.

(19:56):
The kids need to be back in school all the
way K through twelve, all the way through college. The
data is clear. Anyone arguing otherwise is not looking at
the data at all. For all, the adults are gonna
get sick crowd out there. Kids are more likely to
get it from adults than they are to give it
to adults, based on all the statistical data out there.

(20:17):
So that is what is going on here in the
community at large. If schools are not opening, it's because
people are not making rational decisions because they bought in
to the fear porn. Uh. Let's go to take a
couple more your calls, and then I'm gonna let Danny
g give some books away. I think we're que up
for that, right, Danny g Yeah, ready to go with that,
all right, So let's go ahead and take the rest

(20:38):
of these calls. Who we got, We got Shane in
New York, Shane, what you got for me? Clay, you're
officially a rock star, by the way, by peering on
Ingram recently, Man, appreciate she's great, destroying and take news
media every night. Listen, It's insane how the far radical
left is now trying to keep the schools closed, highlighted
by Blasio Cuomo, the Big Four, Newsom and Carcia CARSETI.

(21:00):
I mean, look at out in California eight point nine
million population, zero deaths between zero and seventeen, and now
the l A Teachers Union is demanding ban on charter schools,
wealth packs, money for ill legals, and medicare for all,
and defunding of the police to get the schools back open. Listen, man,
as we're worried about our schools being canceled this fall.

(21:22):
If Biden's elected, our country is going to be canceled. Man,
we got plenty of time to talk about politics. In particular,
My interest is just in having kids being able to
play little league. My interest is just in having high
school football be able to take place. There's no statistical
reality under which this shouldn't be occurring if you actually

(21:43):
look at the data, it's just not in any way
and uncertainty. Kids are not in danger of dying of
the coronavirus, and they're a tiny percentage of overall cases.
They don't even get it very much. And when they
do get it, do you know where they get it from? Adults?

(22:04):
So every adult out there who's worried about kids getting
them sick, it's not happening. You're getting kids sick, and
by sick, I'm putting in quotation marks the vast majority
of kids when they actually get this, and hardly anybody
gets it, they don't have any impact at all. Who's
up next? We got Chris in l A. Chris, what
you got for me? Well, the problem I have with

(22:25):
your theory here is not First of all, it's not
a theory. Stop Chris. It's not a theory. These are facts. No,
I'm not no, because you said this is a theory.
This is not a theory. These are facts. So the
way you're starting is the problem I have with your facts.
That's why they're not getting it. So what you're comparing
is the flu with kids that are going to school

(22:46):
constantly with no shutdown, with the virus that they can't
get because by everyone's admission, they're not in school and
they're not hanging out with their friends because they're at home.
So how can you even possibly spear this garbage on
the air? What? What's garbage? What's no? No, Chris, you're Chris.
You're being an idiot, Chris. They are four thousand kids

(23:09):
are drowning or dying of unintentional deaths. They are more
likely to be murdered, they are more likely to commit suicide,
and probably the suicide rate is up substantially because kids
are at home and by the way, kids are also
still interacting. We know that the data is out there.
They need to be in school. Do you have an
actual argument? No, I have an idiot, But what's your argument?

(23:32):
My argument is this, you're saying there's only been kids
under the age of fifteen to have gotten virus, and
compare it with the flu. Thirty kids school, thirty kids.
They didn't shut school down. That's why kids aren't getting
it because they're not in school where they can spread
it with each other they're at home. Quarantine Chris, everybody else, Chris,

(23:53):
the data and no, no, Chris, pause down. You're screaming,
you're making no sense, You're acting like a typical Corona brow.
You're all emotional, Chris. They have opened up all the
schools in Europe. Kids have been going to daycare centers
all over this country for people who have jobs that
they have to go to. The daycare centers. Have seen
no massive outbreaks the all over this country. Europe open

(24:15):
back up. All of their kids are in school. We
haven't seen any outbreaks there. Asian schools are opened by
and large, we haven't seen outbreaks there. All over the world,
kids are not getting this virus and they are not dying.
Your argument is what that non? Uh? That that that
completely without factual basis. I'll give you another chance to

(24:38):
make your case and not look totally irrational and totally
fear porn laden the floors yours? Okay, thank you. My
point is this Arizona in one day had more CV
nineteen cases than all of Europe with four fifty million people.
We're not Europe. They can shut down because they have
social all right, hold on a secon. Let me pause
you said we're not Europe. That's correct. We actually have

(25:00):
a lower death rate per capita than England, than France,
than Italy, than the Netherlands, I believe, than Sweden. Most
of the major countries in Europe have had a much
more substantial outbreak per capita on a death rate than
the United States has. The only major democracy, western democracy

(25:26):
in Europe that has done a better job than the
United States with this virus, by and large large population
is Germany. Here's the deal, Europe. The eight worst countries
and word ninth are all Europeans. So quick comparing us
to the worst countries that you was just compared us
to Europe. Hold on, stop, you just said Arizona is
far worse than Europe, and so I compared us to Europe,

(25:49):
and then you said, stop comparing us to Europe. You're
the one who brought up the European comparison. You know what,
you guys on the right that you like the comparative.
Why am I on the right? Why am I on
the right? Hold on, you guys on the right, You
just tried to dismiss my opinion by saying you guys
on the right, do you realize that I am pro
choice that I have never voted for a Republican president

(26:11):
in my life. Are you for masks wearing mandatory or no?
I don't know a hundred percent whether I'm not the
person who's driving around in my car wearing a mask.
I went to the gym today and our yesterday, and
I did not wear a mask. But if places want
you to wear a mask in order for you to

(26:31):
go into their place of business, like I'll give you
an example, uh, Costco. I go to Costco. It's like
the only place on the planet that I shop in.
Costco requires you to enter with a mask at their business.
They believe that makes sense. Then I will put a
mask on if there are businesses that require me. I'm
not somebody who goes out shopping. I buy everything that

(26:53):
I buy either from a from Amazon or from Costco.
Otherwise I do now opping in my house. But if
there are businesses my wife goes to the grocery store,
she puts on a mask. If if the requirement is
in order for schools to be open kids have to
wear masks, I would sign that paperwork in a heartbeat,

(27:14):
because it's more important that kids be in school than
it is anything else. Do you have anything else you
want to say? Uh? Yeah, I'm gonna apologize for saying
some of the stuff I said about you, But I
think masks are the only way we're going to reopen
our autonomy. And if we were sticking to a mandatory
mass policy, I could go to a Dodger game, I
kid go to my gym, I could go to my hairstylist,

(27:37):
I could go to a concert with with distancing. So
it just seems like the mask is the key, Okay,
but the man the mask can be the key. Don't
you think it's important that people know the data as
it pertains to kids. I hear people arguing left and right,
middle all over this country about whether school should open

(27:57):
back up, and I haven't heard any bodies say, as
a prelude to discussing whether school should open back up,
let's talk about the actual danger that our kids are
under from COVID nineteen. That's to me, that's to me
where we should start the debate, right if people want
to disagree about what the results should be. My big

(28:18):
issue in the country is we don't start with facts.
Like the facts have to be the foundation of any argument.
So the facts are thirty kids and again this is
from the CDC, but I'm reading it from yesterday's Wall
Street Journal. Uh, thirty kids fifteen and under in the
entire nation have died of of the coronavirus so far.

(28:38):
Thank Yeah. I think it's a I think you do
a great job with that. And I would just suggest
one other thing. He could look at those two hairstylists that, uh,
we're cutting hair while they were infected, and they came
in contact with a hundred forty of their clients and
nobody got it. Why math I did see that story

(28:59):
that into that that went viral about hairstylists and how
nobody had actually gotten and think it was in California.
One of the problems I would say in general is
the way our media works is they find an anecdote
and then that goes viral, Like why is the overall
death rate for the coronavirus in kids fifteen and under

(29:21):
not going viral? Like I just tweeted it out. Why
aren't five hundred thousand people on social media sharing that
information as opposed to sharing the information about one eight
year old kid who died, Which sucks. It's an awful story,
but that's not representative of what the data actually shows us.

(29:42):
That this is a big problem with the media in general,
and I'm obviously a part of the media. We have
moved from a fact driven media which is trying to
uncover the truth, to an anecdote layton media, which is
not tell stories that are representative of real interactions. And

(30:04):
this is going on with police interaction. And by the way,
this is another story. And and then what happens is
we make irrational decisions. And I'll give you a quick,
too quick example, schools should be open. I laid out
all that data. These idiots arguing defund the police. The
murder rate is skyrocketing across this country. Do you know

(30:25):
who the people are that are statistically being murdered? Now?
Black Black Lives Matter is out there protesting that Black
lives matter against the police. And then the politicians respond
by taking money away from the police, and then the

(30:46):
police are not on the streets to stop murder from happening.
I saw the data on New York City shootings. They
are the highest level they have been since n We
have gone back in time in New York City all
the way to as they are pulling police off the
streets Chicago, New York, Atlanta. The cities that have seen

(31:12):
the most aggressive Black Lives Matter protests are seeing the
most black murders skyrocketing, And it's like, are you crazy?
We don't talk about the police who do a good job.
Right During all these protests, how often did you hear
the media say, well, the vast majority of protesters are peaceful. Well,

(31:34):
that didn't stop a lot of protesters from also looting
and rioting. But people were like, hey, you can't paint
the protesters in the media. Media was like, you can't
paint the protesters with a broad brush. So they were
giving the benefit of the doubt to protesters and not
judging protesters based on the worst among them, But they

(31:56):
judge every police officer based on the worst thing that
a police officer has ever done. The vast, vast majority
of police and many of them listen to me in
all fifty states to start off their morning or while
they're working overnight shifts on the West Coast, and I
appreciate the work that you guys do. The vast, vast

(32:18):
majority of police officers are doing great work, and they
are saving tens of thousands of lives. The problem is
the lives that police save are not viral stories. Usually
we don't see the lives that police officers save on
a day to day basis. We only see the worst

(32:40):
video every six months of any police officer out there,
and then everybody paints them with a broad brush. The
politicians go out pull their funding, and then boom, the
murder rates high rockets. We know how this works. Eventually,
people are gonna say, oh, wait a minute, defunding the
police is the dumbest idea that has ever exists in

(33:00):
the history of the twenty first century. And we're gonna
start to spend more money on police, and the murder
rate is gonna go back down. We saw this happen.
It's called the nineteen nineties and crazily Democrats, one of
whom I worked for back in I volunteered on his campaign.
Bill Clinton is the one who turned the murder rate

(33:21):
the opposite direction because he put a lot more police
officers on the streets. Now it's racist somehow to want
more police. I don't understand it. People have lost their mind.
Who's up next, Danny Gaing, Yeah, we got Chris in
New York, Chris, Yeah, high Clay, I got a question

(33:43):
for you. We're talking about all the kids and wanting
them to go back to school, but what about the
forgotten kids, the ones with special needs? Yeah, well they're
obviously under an even more difficult challenge. So your daughter
is five, what what is her special need? She's autistic?

(34:03):
So you can speak to this far better than I can.
Is it possible for your five year old daughter to
be taught remotely through an iPad or through a screen?
Absolutely not. Yeah, and I'm not an expert. Yeah. Well,
first of all, I hope that So your point is
there are lots of special needs kids out there that

(34:23):
even more than, uh than than other kids need to
be in school exactly. I mean since February there is nothing,
no teachers know, nothing worth trying to figure out how
to teach her at home by ourselves. You get no help. Well,
I I certainly have a thank thank you for calling,
thank you for listening, And I certainly have a great

(34:44):
deal of respect and empathy for parents out there, uh
that are dealing with their children at home for months
at a time now while also trying to work. And
the challenges are even more substantial, certainly for parents with
kids with special needs, which are even more difficult to
be taught remotely. It's virtually impossible. And I can't speak

(35:05):
to that personally, but a lot of you out there
listening have friends and family that are going through that
as well. Their kids need to be in school even
more than other kids do, and so that in and
of itself is is a massive, massive challenge and it's
gonna be hard to catch up for those kids out there.
All right, I told you we were gonna give away

(35:25):
some books. Will actually give away some books for five
star reviews to start off our three. This is outkicked
the coverage with Clate Traffics. Jeff Schwartz joins us. Now, Jeff,

(35:52):
do you know today was tax Day? I just realized that.
You know, we bumped back tax day to July now,
So sorry for reminding everybody out there. I did know
because I filed an extension for some reason. I don't
know why. I have everything done but something extension. So
you had the extra months and you still filed an extension.
I was done. I might extension. I thought I thought

(36:14):
it did resect. I know much I owe. Yeah. Every
year we get an extension too, and I don't end
up officially filing until October. Uh, I don't even understand
like I used to be. If you're just a regular employee,
your taxes really aren't that complicated. I got so many
different moving parts now I never have any clue what's
going on when it comes to my taxes. But that's

(36:37):
that's that's what we always sawn extension because I just
get like a random ten nine nine to show up
in like July. You're right, I didn't file this one.
All right, let's dive into let's dive into the NFL.
What's Dak Prescott worth? Um? Like when you actually look
at the marketplace. Let's pretend, first question that he is

(36:57):
an unrestricted free agent. Would a team or teams be
willing to bid for his services? See, this is always
a tough discussion because there's a difference, in my opinion,
between what the market will pay you. I mean, everyone
will say you're worse as the market will pay you
and what he actually should get. Right, if you're looking
at what the actually should get, probably around thirty two

(37:18):
million dollars is probably about me. Ryan Tannehill, your boys
making By the way, Titans fans are absolutely insane. I
just put that out, you guys out of all families
I've dealt with, the Titans fans are absolutely insane. Well,
I think it's probably let me say this, you probably
have more Titans fans in your in your audience because
of me, right, because we don't make any better. No, No,

(37:40):
I'm just saying they're probably a higher percentage of the
people that follow you. Like, uh, you know, like I
would say if you were, like if I were ranking
fans of teams that follow me. Because I'm from Nashville,
I'm overpopulated in you know, the University of Tennessee and
the Tennessee Titans, and then know we have a national

(38:00):
show that's doing wildly well now, but I would be
interested in seeing what the data is of what fans
follow me. But because you do this show a lot,
you also would overlap with some of those same people. So,
but leave picking on the Titans aside. Let's go back
to the primary question here. So what's DA worth? Well,

(38:22):
so Tanne Hills making like thirty million dollars a year,
right over three year deal for one. You know, Cousins
is making a little over thirty and I feel like
over thirty million, it's probably about right, Um, And that's
what the offer stands right now, it's like thirty three million. Um.
You know, the question always becomes, is Dak a guy
that you win you a Super Bowl? I'm not quite
sure we know that yet. Um, because he hasn't been

(38:43):
in the playoffs, and when he has, they all they've done,
they've been okay. Um, but that's about where you're gonna
have to pay him. It's about thirty million dollars a year.
I mean, is he worth that much? I don't know,
but that's what the market says he's given to be.
It's about thirty million dollars here now on the open
market is different. And this is the thing that's interesting
about because even look, we've been looking to next year,
how many teams are really gonna need quarterbacks next year?

(39:05):
I mean, but the Patriots maybe might need a quarterback.
Maybe that's Jacksonville, but like, so that's it Jacksonville and Jacksonville,
by the way, could stink and just draft Trevor Lawrence
or Jet Fields. Right, So, how many things are really
gonna be out there looking to pay Dak Prescott, especially
if the Cowboys go you know, nine and seven and
win win playoff game. Um, you know what who's gonna

(39:27):
pay him all this money? So I'm I think the
markets about thirty million a year um and the Cowboys
are offering him that much right now. So he's not
gonna do it obviously. I mean, I've said since since
February he's not gonna do this deal. And Cowboys face
told me I was an idiot and told me I
was stupid and all that stuff, and I'm gonna end
up being right again. It just didn't feel like this
is ever coming together because they've had time to do it.

(39:50):
We we see all the time when teams want to
get a deal done, they get a deal done with
their quarterback, right like like you know, the Cowboys deal
is always that they want this extra year, they with
this this fifth year. They always one of their contracts
and then for the most part they do it. They
have them. They have the most players like under contract
for sixty year deals in the NFL. They they have
six guys on like six year deals. That's what they've

(40:11):
always done. I mean, Tyron Smith, they're about tackle signed
a ten year deal. He's a Hall of Famer, he's
severely underpaid. And this is what they've always done. And
most of the time, when it's time to make a compromise,
you do it for your quarterback and they don't want
to do it. And we see other teams do all
the time. The Chiefs just keep my homes five million
dollars um. You make it happen if you want to

(40:33):
make it work. And I don't think the Cowboys are
totally sold on Dak Prescott. And the last thing about
why I don't, I don't think they're sold on. And
this is something that people they think I'm I'm harping
on this and it's silly, but it's complete true. Mike McCarthy,
a new coach, did not talk to Dak Prescott for
over a week after getting the job. That's absolutely crazy

(40:54):
to me, Like that should have been your first call
because if you had talked to Jerry Jones about what
your plans are for the team, Dak Prescott was probably
percent of your conversation. And then how do you not
the city was too busy that that's that's bs man,
Matt Rule. I'm in Charlotte. He called Caim that he
called Kim day he was hired, and everyone knew Kim
wasn't gonna be here. Like you just you call your quarterback,

(41:17):
and the fact that he didn't do it strikes me
as something that's really interesting about the dynamic at played here.
I just something the Cowboys are completely sold on deck,
and that's going to test the market next year and
see what happens. It is interesting and so if he
tests the market, that's gonna be a great, uh sort
of situation. So you don't think the Cowboys old the
franchise tag him two years in a row. I mean

(41:38):
they could, um, you know, but then you're in a
cutin situation. You know. I just don't know, like like
I mean, I guess the idea is, you know, he
plays this year and it was he played, he plays
really well, and you're like, okay, maybe we'll do a
long term deal now, right. You know, he's proven to
us he can do it, or he doesn't play well
and you just let him go. I don't know what.
I don't know why you would franchise him for a

(41:59):
second year because you know this is a proven year
for him, brand new coach, and maybe you say, look,
last year was kind of weird, right, There was no offseason,
players got in the camp late. It was a very
weird year. Whats wait one more year to decide on DAC.
But you know that's not a really way to build
a team. I mean, you know, it's just you can't
build a team with your quarterback was on a franchise
and miss something that I think people don't get. The

(42:20):
franchise tag is not terribly great for teams and quarterbacks
because you want to have cost certinty and that's what
the Chiefs have now with Pat Mahomes. You want to
know what the highest guy in your team is gonna
make for years. You can build your salary cap and
your roster around that number. And it's not good for
the Cowboys to not know what that's going to make
next year, that year after that, that year after that,

(42:41):
and kind of being limbo with the best, you know,
the most important player, I should say, in your franchise.
So a friend of effect for for a quarterback is
not something the team really wants to do. So it
is interesting as you look at at DAC going forward,
Um to me, this assuming again the foot if three
out there just waking up the four o'clock eastern, you

(43:03):
have until the franchise tag becomes official. When you look
at DAK going forward, would you bet on him being
the Dallas Cowboys starting quarterback next year or not, Like,
how would you set the odds? You would not I
would not know. I'm and I probably would get plus
money for that. Um. But I just think that again,

(43:23):
I go back to, like, you know, the Redskins and
seeing I can't even say that now, right the Washington
football team, and I'm gonna make that mistake a thousand times. Um,
the Washington football team and uh, what's there was no
mascot this year, by the way, just one. If they
just with the Washington football team, it's possible. I mean,
it's a quick rebrand before the season. I don't know
if you're gonna have it ready in time. Um. Uh,

(43:44):
you know Washington in tons of situation. I mean they
both kind of just never met in the middle and
Cousins wanted a certain deal and the Redskins Washington wasn't
gonna meet it, and they just never made it work.
And I feel like that's what the Cowboys and Sacker
go do. It just kind of yeah, they like each
other enough, but not enough to commit long term. Okay.

(44:05):
Another team dealing with an interesting franchise tag decision that
is reportedly going to allow their player to play it
out on the franchise. You were just going after them
a little bit earlier. The Titans. The Titans are going
to pay Derrick Henry ten point seven million dollars I
believe is the number this year, and then he would
theoretically be an unrestricted free agent in the off season.

(44:28):
How does this situation play itself out? Who is in
a better spot here, Titan, Titans or Derrick Henry? Well,
the Titans are because they can find a running back
for much cheaper. They can give you eighty production and
the Derrick Henry hand. We we keep seeing these numbers
come out all the time of guys that are undrafted

(44:50):
seventh rowing picks, putting them just the production for the
first round pick can do. And I get it. That's
unfit to running backs. And I'm an offensive linement. I'll
love running backs. I love to block for Derrick Henry,
but if you're building a team, it makes no sense
to pay those guys all that money. Um, and are
the times are mean? Look? I I want to franchised

(45:12):
Tannehill and let Henry walk. But you know they signed Tannehill.
At least he didn't signed Henry to a long term deal,
and you know you played this year, you hope you
win a super Bowl, and then you just let him
go and you find someone else in the draft next year.
I mean, it's not it's not that complicated that the
data has showed that paying running backs is a complete disaster.
It does not help you win. And you can get
the production you need from that position from a seventh

(45:34):
round draft undrafted guy or third round draft pick. I mean,
nicknames someone else to do it. Look at their deals.
Zeke Elliott just got paid. How does he make the playoffs?
Last year? Tu Gurley got paid. How's that working out?
David Johnson got paid, got traded? Um. You know, Christian
McCaffrey got paid in last season. All his best games
were in blowouts. Everyone was like, oh my god. Receiving numbers,

(45:55):
we'll look at him. He had two hundred dard receiving games.
The Panthers scored like six and nine point in those games.
I mean, can grasps on getting a lot of yards,
it can help you win the game. So that position,
for whatever reason, it's just really under valued. Um, And
there's no reason to to to pay those guys all
that money. So the Titans, very great spot. Just franchise
in this year, see what happens and let him go.

(46:17):
Will somebody else pay Derrick Henry? We were just talking
about Doc if he hit the open market. What if
Derrick Henry were on the open market right now, would
he may get most about what he's making this year.
There's always teams. I mean, you know, the Houston Texans
seem to not know what they're doing. I mean, they'll
they'll pay a running back who cares. But I mean,
you know, lay Down Bell got paid. Um, But I

(46:39):
is analytics kind of creeps more into front offices. I'm
not sure that we're going to see these because even
and I think next year she was a big year,
like Galvin Cooks a free agent, it's a great running
back year. This is a great running back year. So
I don't know what team it's gonna really want to
spend you know that fifteen million dollars a year on

(46:59):
a need, especially with the cap situation which is probably
not going to be great next season. Um, they're probably
gonna have to borrow from the future to make sure
the cap is probably flat for next season. Is probably
my best. Yeah, I don't think it will go down
that much, it won't go up and they'll know they'll
just borrow from the future to get it to be flat.
Are you gonna want to spend? You know? And what

(47:20):
you're talking about there? For people out there who are
not familiar the overall NFL revenues, because crowds are not
going to be either allowed at all or anywhere near
what they have been in normal years, the overall NFL
revenue is going to go down. And since players and
owners share, the idea is we're gonna limit future seasons

(47:40):
of cap numbers to make up for the money that
isn't going to come in this year. Right For people
out there who don't understand that, and you have you
have a ten year labor deal, so you can borrow
from the future to make I can't imagine what what
what would happen if there wasn't a cb A deal done,
I mean, NFL that's a great point, the complete wreck
right now. So um, you know, so you know, with

(48:01):
a cat being flat, do you really want to pay
a running back next year? All that money? I get
it if the cap was still rising at nine percent
and ten percent like it's been every year, But you know,
even it's just not there's no way it's gonna go
up this year. I mean, you know, I don't I
don't know if we'll get a full sixteen games. I
feel really confident that we're gonna start the season on time.
And I know there's a posting right now between both

(48:21):
sides as far as um, you know, kind of when
camp is gonna start, how it's gonna work. But both
sides want to play. And when do you think that
people start. I think it'll be July twenty eight. I
think they'll be in on time. Look, the NFL has
been a league that gets things done at the deadline
all the time, right, I mean, it just feels like
every time there's some sort of issue, it's like boom
by by the deadline, it gets figured out because Look,

(48:44):
the truth is players want to play, all right, players.
I understand their risks. There are there might be guys
that that that have autoimmune issues that that don't play.
I get that, Um, but we have short careers. We
don't get paid if we don't play. I don't think
we get paid if we don't play. The owners want
to make money too, they're they're they're just as greedy
as we are maybe more greedy. Um. And that's why

(49:05):
I think both sides will make it work because in
the end, they both want to play, and obviously some
of the issues right now are health and safety and
testing and kind of how we how we kind of
go about making sure everyone stays as healthy as possible.
So I think they will play. It's a much easier, Um,
it's it's much easier to get them going to college football,
which I just think it's I don't know what college football.

(49:27):
I mean, I I the conference only schedule is a
great way to do this in my opinion, especially out west.
I think I think in the South, the a c
C and SEC should probably join together and kind of
form their own little conference this year. That makes a
lot of sense to me because they're so regionally close.
I mean, it seems stilly that South Carolina and Clemson
can't play each other, but South Carolina can play in Missouri, right,
just seems kind of odd that. So I think the

(49:50):
A c C and SEC will join together. The big
toil would be on their own, the big tenant packs
ball will be on their own, and we'll get a
season in I just it might just be disjointed h
ask question for you, how many NFL Like, I'm kind
of stunned in a good way. In Dak Prescott's defense,
the guy is saying no to a hundred million dollars guaranteed. Right,

(50:10):
Like we're talking about the fact that he's going to
be at you know, he's gonna be franchise tag, but
that's because he's turning down a hundred million dollars guaranteed.
Last question for you, is this the first time ever
that a player is turning down a hundred million dollars
in NFL history? It's got to be right, Yeah, probably,
But here's the thing with a lot of these quarterbacks

(50:32):
now quite is the endorsement money he's at Campbell Soup. Yeah,
I'm sure he has speaking fees and he's probably making
millions of dollars off the field. So to him, he's like,
look on, make thirty one this year. The franchise clacks
like thirty seven next year, So that's seventy million dollars.
I'm are you making five ten million dollars off the field? Like,
I don't need to sign a deal that I don't

(50:52):
want now, I'll just let it ride. I'm a position
that I'm young. I have not been hurting Mike Trim.
He's missed a game because an injury. Yet, Um, I'm
a good offensive long and probably not gonna get hurt
this year. Just ride with it. And so his agent,
by the way, is really good at that. I think
they just want the toughest to negotiate with and was
according to the report. So yeah, probably first I ever
turned down that money. But it makes sense for him

(51:15):
because he's in Dallas and he has endorsements already, and
good for him. I mean, look, every player to get
every human do you get so much of money, is
to join the club, because that's the way we It's
interesting that people kind of root against it. I don't
really get it, Like I just roove every human to
get paying teachers and my wife and nurse she's underpaid.
I root for her to make more money. But I

(51:36):
always say this, like I want Skip Bayliss and stephen A.
Smith and Colin Cowherd and the guys that are older
than me and make more money. Now, I want them
to make as much money as possible because I want
them to set the bar as high as they can
possibly set it, because that's where I want to aspire
to be too. And if you're an NFL quarterback or
an NFL player, or like you said, it doesn't really

(51:58):
matter what your profession is A is at least if
you're in a public market setting, you should want your
competitors to make as much money as as possible. Good
stuff is always Jeff Shorts. This is outkicked the coverage
with Clay Travis pulled up Sweet Home, Alabama for Greg Sinky.

(52:21):
He is the commissioner of the SEC. And by the way,
I would encourage everybody out there to go listen to
our long form conversation that we had this past summer
about how you end up being the commissioner of a conference.
And by the way, Greg, I know you never would
have hoped this, but I tweeted out that you were joining.
And I usually don't go into my mentions, but I
happened to do it. And the very first response is

(52:44):
ask him how the SEC can have such absolutely terrible officiating.
And I want to say this right off the top.
You probably never would have believed that you would long
for the days when you got to go on and
talk about officiating errors as opposed to coming on to
talk about paying demmis I have. I've observed that I
long for the days of those complaints because that means

(53:05):
we're doing what we do and compete. UM. I will
note for that insightful user of social media, we have
a transition in our football officiating leadership and then our
men's basketball officiating leadership. So part of that is working
to get better, which we do every day. All right,
Gregg Sanking, you can follow him on Twitter at Greg Sanking.

(53:28):
I can't even imagine what your mentions have been like
as this process played itself out since honestly, you were
in Nashville and pulled players off the basketball court effectively
in the middle of the SEC basketball tournament. UM, and
ever since then, it's been a situation where you don't
really know from one moment to the next what to expect.

(53:50):
So I want to start with with this question for you,
UM right now, So far, I believe you have two
out of conference games have been impacted by decisions made
by the Big Ten. There were no games between the
SEC and the Big Ten, but then by Southern cal
UH and UH and Colorado is a part of the

(54:11):
Big twelve. Sorry, the Pact twelve decision not to play
only conference games. Alabama was gonna play sc and I
think A and M was gonna play play Colorado. Do
you expect for those two schools to replace those opponents?
Are they working on that right now? The expectation, I'm

(54:31):
always careful about that word in this environment, which you
can imagine, but the opportunities will be there. Uh. We're
not alone in having lost nonconference games because of other
conference decisions, and so all of these other football programs
that have lost opportunities are now looking for games as well.

(54:52):
So the good news is, even though we've had those
two that have slipped away, there will be opportunities for
both Alabama A and them to to find other opponents.
Should they should they move down that pathway? Uh? Do
you think they will announce that as as replacing opponents
or is that something that wouldn't be announced until into August?
And the reason why I ask is obviously Alabama USC

(55:15):
was going to be a huge game that was taking
place I believe in Dallas at a neutral site. But
there are now a lot of teams that are desperate
to replace the nonconference games that they may have had
scheduled against the Pac twelve and UH and against the
Big Ten. So if Alabama wanted to add a team
potentially to come to Tuscaloosa and play them, there's a

(55:35):
market out there of a lot of teams that would
want to get that game, I would imagine. And the
same thing is true for Texas A and M in
the wake of their their game against Colorado being canceled. Yeah,
that's true, and I'll be honest, I have not I've
visited with several with both athletics directors on several occasions.
In fact, we had an in person meeting all day

(55:55):
Monday for the first time since March, and so we've
talked out the interests and opportunities. I've not Clay asked
them when will you make this decision and when might
that be announced? So, uh, the the honest direct answer
is I don't know when they'll make the decision and
I don't know when they'll announce, but I'm certain if
they do make that additional game happen that we'll hear

(56:19):
about it in the right time. Print What was it
like to actually get to meet all of your athletic
directors in person? It's nice, you know. I reminded them
that when we had last met it was on a
Wednesday in Nashville, and we had provided them with a
press release that essentially said, for fans not comfortable attending,

(56:40):
we'll just give your money back, no questions asked, in
our basketball tournament. And they weren't quite quite ready on
that Wednesday morning to say that's the right way to go.
And the idea was kind of like voluntary social distancing
if you're not comfortable attending, and then we'll work if
you make it right. And then that day just spawn
in a whole different direction. So by about o'clock like that,

(57:01):
press releases in the background, and we were in a
whole different world. And so I reminded them of that,
which is a really good illustration of how information has
changed so quickly and even within a particular day. And uh,
a lot of space between people, a lot of a
lot of you know, face mask coverings and hand sanitizer around,

(57:24):
but really good conversation. I think we're all a little
bit tighter zoom. And so to being a being a
room and have people talk over each other a little bit,
is is really a healthy thing. What can you tell
me about testing numbers for SEC athletes? It seems like
a lot of times we only hear negatives, right l
s U seem to have an issue. Certainly we've heard

(57:45):
about Ohio State, or we've heard about Clemson, different places
that have had to shut down as a result. How
are the numbers looking at the sec among your athletes
now that most of them I believe have been back
on campus for over a month now. Yes, so just
a few elements. One testing happened uh at most places

(58:06):
upon return, and then most others, in fact, I think
all others shortly thereafter. And part of that is that
the testing decisions availability turnaround and our universities have not
a majority released all their numbers, So you can understand
I'm not going to do that, but it's important that
people understand the numbers. We brought people back and had

(58:29):
positive tests among our student athletes that had care that oversight,
they had the kind of support, and then um, we
had young people had to go through the learning experience
that college today and moving forward this fall doesn't appear
that it will be like college. When you were at
George Washington, right, you know, the gatherings and the way

(58:50):
you interact have impacts. So you had a lot of isolations,
not positive tests, but isolations. And now when I'm done here,
will jump on a call with our medical group. Last week,
our numbers are way down in the in the low
single digits to zero. Um. One of my presidents this
week said, hey, I'm comfortable that we can support and

(59:12):
oversee and keep people healthy. And part of what's had
to happen to the education about how you conduct yourself
on your own time. Have juniors and seniors on teams
had to kind of corral the freshmen and sophomores and say, hey, knuckleheads,
if we want to have a season, you guys got
to stay out of parties. You've got to stay out
of bars. You've gotta do things different than maybe, like

(59:34):
you just mentioned, a typical college kid might have done
it when you or I or a lot of the
people listening to us might have been college kids. A
couple of answers that I asked that question when after
one of those you know sources say this number had
this issue or this number of isolations, and I just
asked who it was, and and before I allowed the answer,

(59:56):
I said, are the juniors and seniors who are ready
to play, ready to have this opportunity educating young people?
So it's not a broad brush. I think generally there
is some truth to that that the wisdom of a
few years of age um has indeed been helpful, and
everyone's had to adjust. And you know, you come back

(01:00:16):
and you're back home, and that's the word that I've
heard used by by student athletes. You're back home on
campus and you have to think in a different way.
We've all had that. Even at our a D meeting,
you realize, Wow, in the first time in the meeting room,
we're gonna have to function a bit differently than we
would have six months ago. You said, I think, I
know you don't want to get into specifics, but you said,

(01:00:38):
potentially single digit positive cases across the SEC meeting, at
least on your campuses. The numbers are moving in a
positive direction among student athletes as opposed to in a
negative direction. Yeah. Yeah, that's correct and down to down
to zero. And our our programs are you know of

(01:01:00):
gated to report locally and through their health officials. I
do that appropriately, and uh, there has been a learning
in fact, that comment has been there repeatedly and part
of what I expect will happen upon return to campus.
There's a lot more information spread even more broadly about
behavioral changes that have to take place because of the

(01:01:21):
virus that is around us. Do you think that your
athletes are safer on campus than they would be if
they were at home in wherever they live right now.
And that's one of those judgment conversations that we spent
spent a lot of time on in April and May.
In fact Clay when we shut down back in March,

(01:01:41):
it's because there were so many unknowns, and then we
had to think about what that meant for young people.
We we disrupted the foundation of their lives, the rhythm,
and their opportunities. We continued with support to the extent
that was possible from a distance, and then as we
headed back to May, we took time of them bring
them back June one, run them back June eight. But

(01:02:03):
part of the reality was we had gym's opening up
all around the country and I was on a zoom
call with a student athlete who had gone to two
different gyms on the same day for two different workouts.
A smart guy. But you know, you don't know the gym,
you don't know who's overseeing that, you don't know the
the hygiene policies, of that facility. In our athletic programs,

(01:02:26):
you have embedded medical professionals that do this on a
daily basis. They look out for the health and well
being of our young people. They all had hygiene and
sanitization plans. They work in the small groups. They follow
every one of the guidelines that you could you could imagine,
they have long policies and UH it has worked well

(01:02:49):
to point um to date and they've they've met the
expectations of of managing themselves. And it's been a bit
of a learning experience for everyone, but it has gone
by accounts shared with me, uh and the way we
had hoped. All Right, I'm gonna hit you with with
a couple of facts that are going on in the
larger community of sports. Major League Baseball is coming back

(01:03:11):
next week. UH. The NBA and the NHL are coming
back the week after. I believe today in the state
of Tennessee, there are going to be potentially thirty thousand
fans watching an event in Bristol. UH MLB, NHL, NBA,
mL S, p G, A w n B, a UFC,

(01:03:33):
nws L, the p b, A, Boxing, NASCAR, and the
NFL are all planning to be back in some form
or fashion by August one, if they haven't already a
turn return. If all of those sports can play, why
can't college football. Well, that's the question, and it actually

(01:03:54):
informs the message that I've communicated repeatedly that I think
we need to be patient in our decision making. We will.
In fact, back in April of biostatistician with whom I
visit it said, look, if you can wait as long
as possible to make major decisions, you're gonna have better
information and actually have a list of probably not all

(01:04:16):
of those events, but the Bristol event tonight, I think
is an important step. Major League Baseball, who will move
people around. Uh, they're not in a bubble. They're gonna
move their umpires around. Uh. That's an important, uh, really
set of information for us, And we've visited with people
from those leagues and will continue to do so. The

(01:04:37):
start of NFL training camp is an important opportunity for
us to view football practice taking place, and we've got
time before our practices are scheduled to adjust. So all
of that's important information that will inform the decision and
the ability to answer the question of why can't you know?
That's out there, but our programs are on campus. Is uh,

(01:05:01):
the their high density areas and so the ability to
manage that full that full environment is really important. Travel
is going to be much different, um. And we don't
just have one team. So the luxury of baseball and
football at the professional level in soccer is they have
one sport, one set of athletes. We have between twenty

(01:05:23):
and twenty five sports and hundreds of young people involved,
and we want to make sure, uh, they were able
to do this safely. And UH, I don't know what
will happen this fall, yet we've been vocal we need
to see um some positive news and and continue to
see positive news and hopefully see that rapidly. You talk
about late July, when do schools have in terms of

(01:05:46):
making decisions about say football, when does schools have to
notify their students about whether students will be back on campus? Uh?
And what date I'm sure you've got this on your
calendar in some way. What date is the first day
that students would be returning to Southeastern Conference schools? Students
have been returning all spring. Again, you go back to

(01:06:09):
college experiences and that's a place where people wanted to be.
Now they may not have been in classes, but they've
been either on or around campus. We have some in
person classes taking place during the summer. When you look
to the fall semester, first day of classes is August
seventeen all of our schools, we have a range from
last check which was Friday, August seventeen, through the thirty

(01:06:32):
one of first day of classes. And you probably heard
a lot of kind of press fase, schedule, ability to adapt,
and being ready to adapt based on what happens from
a health standpoint. But students will come back well before
that first day of classes. There may be social opportunities,
fraternity sororities, or preparation move in. The moving dates may

(01:06:55):
have been spread longer, so that activity will begin in
late July early. All this relative to the students returning,
could you play with Let's say that they do, like, hey,
we're gonna do online learning for the first month, right,
Like who knows? Because every different local school district is
making different decisions. Could you play sports football in particular

(01:07:16):
without students on campus. Students are going to be on
and around campus. It appears no matter what. That's just reality.
What I have observed is our universities have to be
back in operation, and and the debate would be, well,
what form does that take and when is it appropriate

(01:07:37):
to commute playing athletics, because there may be other decisions
associated with U with expanded distant learning, distance learning. If again,
if you roll the tape back, what I've never said
is you know, all the students have to be back
on campus. Others have made that observation. I think it's
it's it's a bit overly broad, and that's probably been
acknowledged because you know, the fall semester, in fact, higher

(01:07:59):
education and moving forward I expect will look different than
it did even last year, or certainly ten or twenty
years ago. It's just a different world for a number
of reasons. The virus has accelerated some of this transition
and change. Do all five conferences need to have the
same decision made about returning for college football? Or for instance,

(01:08:22):
right now, the Big ten in the Pack twelve have said, hey,
we're not playing non conference. The a SEC and the
Big twelve in the SEC of which you're the commissioner,
have made decisions that they're going to wait longer. Could
it be a situation where one conference plays and one
conference does not one conference plays all games, another conference doesn't.

(01:08:42):
How much unanimity of final decision do we need across
the five conferences. I don't envision a total hodgepodge. So
there are three of us who have been UH in
the last week communicating it for obvious reasons about the
importance of patients in our decision in making, and right
now I could envision different directions UM. And that's part

(01:09:06):
of waiting. That doesn't mean Clay it will happen. I've
I've said UH with some frequency. If you look back
to March, we all made independent decisions and ended at
the same destination relative to our basketball tournament stopping. Now.
There are a lot of factors for that, but let's
go back to where we started this conversation. We've lost

(01:09:26):
two games, so the bulk of our nonconference games or
Big twelve and a CEC members others in the FBS,
and those games are still intact. So it's an indication
that we could do something different than others. But you
would there would be a need to have UH, in
my view, some participation of other conferences UH to to
not all be in the same conference only setting. UH.

(01:09:50):
You've got big rival games South Carolina, Clemson, Louisville, Kentucky,
Florida State, Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech. In particular with the
SEC I've in with the a c c UH. These
are games that all college football fans love, their in
state rivalry games. They also are pretty much all reachable
by bus. Have you had particular conversations with the a

(01:10:12):
c c about those games and a desire to preserve
them even if there might be non conference changes otherwise? Sure,
we at the end of last week. In fact, we
have regular calls, But on one of those calls with
with my colleagues, I observed those games. You know, I
don't know why it's it's better or worse. I guess

(01:10:34):
one could take their own side of evaluation. For Georgia
Tech to be on a bus and go up to Athens.
You know it's a non conference game, but it seems
one that it could happen, and you could could play
that out through other circumstances of games that have been canceled.
But for us, there are a set of proximal games.
There's also games between our conference institutions that are a

(01:10:56):
bit further, but we are going to have and have
been working for weeks and months with our medical teams
to have common testing protocol, common oversight, common reporting, common
isolation so that we can have healthy competition among non
conference teams. We're going to keep pursuing that with the
idea that those games are important now from a scheduling standpoint,

(01:11:18):
depending on what happens, Clay, you know, I don't know
what happens with the ability and the flexibility within a
schedule and the time that we may need UH to
play those games and still determine a conference champion. And
I think what you saw out of some others is
the heavy emphasis on creating space in their schedule so
they could play conference games and determine a conference champion.

(01:11:42):
We're not at that point, but you know that we
have to be attentive to what realities may develop and
guide our decision making. The last question for you, have
you guys designed potential changes in the schedule. Do you
have an eight team? Do you have a tin team?
You obviously have a twelve team schedule. Are there extran
aalities that you're preparing for in the event you have

(01:12:02):
to adjust? Yeah, let me just change one word, because
you're asking about teams. I'm gonna put it at game
so eight game. Um, yeah, so you know, an odd
number of conference games doesn't make a lot of sense
because then in addition debating whether you change your schedule,
you're debating who gets the extra home game right here
with me that one, and so you're gonna be in

(01:12:24):
an even number if you have to go to that.
We've been working on those scenarios and date scenarios, uh
for a long long time. So I saw a note
that you know there's no plan. Well, there's been a
plan and development ever since March. We've been working on
on what's next. The reality is the circumstances around us
change so rapidly that we're constantly having having to adapt

(01:12:48):
our plans and imagine and consider what else might be
out there for us. I might have bungled that a
little bit. But so there's a possibility that you could
play let's say a ten game sec A only schedule
if necessary. Well, you've seen the CFP debate, so I'm
not going to give that one away. But we'll be
prepared in certain directions that would be included if we

(01:13:10):
needed to. And when I corrected, you never correct the host.
But I didn't want people to think we're going to
be removing teams from the conference. Yeah, that would that
would be a hell of a headline. I know, I said,
I know, I said last question. But you talked over
the weekend and said your nervousness level about whether or
not the season would be played was high to very high.
After meeting with your athletic directors, talking to school presidents

(01:13:33):
and whatnot in the last several days, how would you
assess your current read on this situation for college football SEC,
in particular being played this fall. Yeah, I'm gonna I'm
gonna again correct the host. I used the word concerns.
I'm trying not to be nervous in life, but there
is concern and we're dealing with an uncertainty. And and

(01:13:54):
one of the first things I said to the A. D.
S Is, there's a really good book called Thinking, and
that's by any duke. It just says, you know what,
Poker is a really good example of a game where
you have to make decisions within complete information and you
make the best judgments possible. And we're in a situation
where we have in in complete information and the information
you have doesn't tend to say people are paying attention

(01:14:17):
and we're we're we're we're we're having the right kind
of trends. And you know what I mean, you've been
a part of it, right, It's all debatable, it's all changing.
You're trying to figure out how to access and evaluate information.
So in the environment we're in, yeah, that concern still exists.
I'm I'm really pleased with both our presidents and Chancellor's group,
and I've visited an individually with each one over the

(01:14:38):
weekend just to find out what they're thinking, what their
direction is, what's happening on campus. And then with our
A d S on Londony, uh committed to patients. You know,
it's like a baseball analogy, where we've been throwing a curveball.
We didn't make great contact, it's a groundball, but we
still we still need to run it out and see
what happens. And so we're gonna run this one out

(01:14:58):
and see what happens. But health and safety of our participants,
are student athletes or coaches, those around the game are
going to be at the forefront of our thinking. I
appreciate the time. I know how many different things you
have going on right now. I apologize for bungling the
past two questions. I'm glad you corrected me on it.
If if everybody gets mad at you, maybe you can
be a sports talk radio host one day. Well that

(01:15:21):
that may be if you I hear you have five
jobs open, right, so maybe let's do we do have
five jobs open? It out kick so you can go
put your resume in there. You go. Be sure to
catch live editions about Kick the Coverage with Clay Travis
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