August 23, 2025 • 34 mins
On this edition of The Best Of The Week Of The Doug Gottlieb Show: Doug takes issue with Hall Of Famer Eric Dickerson saying that a source told him that NFL teams were told not to draft Shedeur Sanders.
Doug welcomes former three-time Super Bowl champ Mark Schlereth to cover the major headlines around the NFL and to discuss his latest Fantasy Football endeavor.
Doug brings in Jason Stewart to make a special announcement.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Thanks for listening to the best of The Doug Gottlieb
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
three to five Eastern twelve two Pacific on Fox Sports Radio.
Find your local station for The Doug Gottlieb Show at
boxsports Radio dot com, or stream us live every day
on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR boom Up America
Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio. I hope you're having
(00:27):
a great day. It's a football Friday. College football is
here as we're at week zero. You made it, You
made it, You made it. We'll make fun of something
ESPN posted. That's always fun. Mark Dominical join us that's
always entered. Interesting A really interesting hypotheses from Jason Stewart
(00:54):
on Jerry Jones. I want to share that with you.
Uh I remier backpedaling like a defensive back and was
Bill Belichick kind of privately raking the crafts. We got
a bunch to get to, but I want to start
with someone who Jay stew you worked with somebody who
(01:14):
I like, and we grew up watching play as one
of the greatest football players we've ever seen play. But
he did the thing that I just I find to
be not good, bizarre and sort of a credibility killer.
(01:38):
On the other hand, it is feeding the masses the
sugar that they so desire, even if it's bad for you,
even if it's bad for you. And like I remember
when when the president got elected his his first term,
(01:59):
and and I had I have several friends, black friends,
mixed race friends, and especially friends from their foreign friends,
and there was you know, between some of the travel
band and some of the narratives, there was the thought
of for me, I did not know there was a
(02:20):
level of xenophobia and racism that was being promoted. On
the other hand, some of it I had to take
a step back and go, Okay, how much of this
is real? How much of this is And when I
say media created, it's the media is drawn to the
fringes left and right right. But I'm just somebody. And Jason,
(02:41):
I think you can I don't know if you're can
attest to this or not. When you grew up in California,
it's so weird to hear people talk like racial politics.
And I know that California there's become a level of
racial politics. But again, you grew up and look you
grew up in a part of Orange County which was
(03:02):
mostly white, but it wasn't super rich. It was lower
middle income, and there were Hispanics as well. I grew
up in a very diverse part of Orange, California. Obviously,
playing basketball, y're surrounded by people of color. So when
I heard about, you know, like people saying there's still
all this racism, I was like, really, And then we
(03:23):
read about it, you watch on the news, You're like, well,
maybe there is. But then you settle back down to
the Hey, sports is a place where racism. We've generally
evolved out of it. Yes, we still use stereotypes fair, unfair,
mostly unfair, but we still use stereotypes.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
We do.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
But the idea that and we've talked about this before
with Eric b Enemy, that because he was a black man,
he could get a head coaching job. When I've walked
you through many times over the feedback I've gotten from
people who have interviewed him but not hired him as
a head coach. Now it's not even part of the conversation.
(04:04):
I remember. You go back, not this past year, the
five previous years probably, and Eric the Enemy was discussed
of you gotta hire this guy. He not anywhere close
to being disgusted. It's crazy like he's slightly ahead of
where Colin Kaepernick is to be a starting quarterback, where
(04:24):
he is to be a head coach in the NFL slightly.
So that brings me to Eric Dickerson, Hall of Fame
running back, two thousand yard season. And Eric, he's never
been shy to say what he thinks. That's why his
nickname with the Rams was the first four letters of
(04:45):
his last name, right, So this was Eric Dickerson, remember,
super opinionated Hall of Fame former Ram and Colton on
Rogan and Rodney on our am affiliate.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
And I'll tell you as much here what I and
what I heard from someone that's in the NFL that
the NFL put it, told other don't draft him, do
not draft him. We're gonna make up, we're gonna make
an example out of him. And this came from a
very good source, a very good source. And he said
that I won't say who. Somebody called the Cleveland Browns
(05:22):
and said, don't do that. Really, yep, draft him, don't don't.
Don't do that because they weren't go drafted either. They
weren't gonna drafted.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Only they did right, Only they did Okay, I'm not
denying that Eric Dickerson knows NFL people. I'm not denying
that people haven't talked a lot about Shador Sanders and
where he was drafted. But the NFL has been accused
of or even sued for collusion several times over the
(05:54):
past five years. Do we rea really think that thirty
two teams who want to win football games, if they
thought Shador Sanders was good enough. Do you really think
(06:14):
that Roger Goodell or somebody of power would have picked
up the phone and say, don't draft him and risk
not millions billions of dollars if that story was true
and got out right. Because that's an easy one. You know,
it's not truly a free market, but there's still free
market principles. Things you can't do. You can't call teams
(06:36):
in your league and say, do not draft this player
because we want to make an example out of him
when he's committed no real crime other than being an arrogant,
entitled Ridge Kidd who flaunted his wealth while playing college
football and disengaged in interviews with teams he didn't want
(07:00):
to go to, and did so in a fashion that
was hard to take for most teams in the league,
Like I'm not sure about a lot of things. A
scientific factor is only ninety seven percent. This screws people
up that don't know science. Like one of the things
science does is they leave room for the outliers and
(07:23):
the very small chance, but a scientifically proven fact, it's
like ninety seve percent chance that's right, or even ninety nine.
But with ninety nine, there's that one percent. Right, I
am one hundred percent certain the sunrise in the east
and sets in the west, and that there was no
collusion to keep Shador Sanders out of the league because
(07:44):
the league was trying to make a point about him.
And what's crazy is and this is where it's really
poison It's really poisoned because this is the type of
internet rumor that we see really in Washington. Now. You know,
we've we're employing conspiracy theorists to make major decisions for
(08:10):
the current and future of our country, right, and this
is just a conspiracy theory and this is who we become.
And I gotta tell you, like Eric Dickerson, I would
have him on one time for this, and that would
really it because that's a credibility killer. You run the
risk of being sued by the National Football League, a
(08:31):
multi multi, multi, multi billion dollar industry, because they don't
want to get sued for collusion. So if they don't okay,
if he doesn't retract, he's saying they cocluded and they
said nothing about it. And it's not like it's what's
the guy who tweets at the show Jay stew J
always talk about is it race car forty seven?
Speaker 3 (08:54):
Corvette Corvette Guy twenty seven.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
It's not Corvette Guy twenty seven. This is Eric freaking Dickerson.
This is two thousand yard season. This is a Hall
of Fame running back who used to be on Monday
Night Football as a broadcaster. And listen, I'm telling you
that he's wrong. I'm telling you whoever he talked to
is like, well this people are saying this is this
is like a trump ism, right, and this is honestly
(09:19):
what's kind of happened with the president where he can
say whatever and nobody calls them on it, and if
you call them on it, you know, I mean, he's
they're just gonna move on. Doesn't work out way. You
can't say that the NFL colluded to keep Shador Sanders
out to make a point, and you're like, well, of course, like, ka,
of course they would. Why why would they? If Shadoor
(09:40):
Sanders can win them football games? Nobody cares. And the
easiest example of that is the actual who should be
the starting quarterback of the Cleveland Browns, right, Deshaun Watson
was accused of sexual assault up to over forty times,
(10:02):
settled many of these settled some of these suits, and
yet the Cleveland Browns offered him a five year guaranteed contract,
the lights of which we had never seen before. Not
because he's white, he's not. He's black. Not because he
wanted Clemson or he wanted Houston, or because of they
thought he could win in Cleveland. That's it. They're tired
of looking for a quarterback and they had this is
their only way to get a quarterback. If you think
(10:27):
that's true, you're just feeding into internet rumors. And that's
what Eric Dickerson's doing, and it it creates this vicious
cycle of well, it's because he's it's it's the loud
black guy that they want to keep out of like nobody, now, well, yes, yes,
you want to keep out a guy who has a
gigantic ego. When you're supposed to walk in humble pie
and make people believe in you, you gotta believe in yourself.
(10:48):
But having a videographer, having listening to your own own
song on a you know, on a portable speaker, walking in,
not carrying your own bag, like lo, Bro, you're a
fifth round pick. Take it easy, carry somebody else's bag,
humble pie. But again, like I understand, we all understand
(11:11):
the position, right, And again I love people that want
to make it about race, Like, hey, cam Ward's number
one pick, He's black, right, And there's the famous video
with cam Ward and him working out and he's talking
about all these other things, and cam Ward's like, I
do football, right, I do football. So I'm not one
(11:38):
percent about a lot of things. I'm not, you know,
not one a lot of them. Ninety seven to ninety
nine percent. I'm sure the sun rise in the east
and sets in the west, and that there's no collusion
to keep store Sanders out of the NFL. Schadoor Sanders
dug Shadoor sanders own proverbial draft day grave, a grave.
(12:00):
He and his dad wanted to determine where they were going,
and so they they they acted like the worst possible
first state ever. We're not engaged, not paying attention, answering
their phone during an interview, Like what I have been
(12:21):
told again, you want to go buy sources that what
we've heard about the interviews is probably seventy five percent
as bad as the one hundred percent that it actually was.
And what happens in those interviews is everyone knows somebody
like we talked to in coaching, we talked to everybody,
(12:41):
Like I text with our rivals head coach on a day.
That's Bart Lundy at Milwaukee, Like like we openly they'll
take shots at us, will take shots, but like, look
but still we're in the same business and we're in
the same league, we're in the same state. Ever be in
the NFL talks, it's not collusion. If you go, how
is Shador? You're not gonna believe this, But he answered
(13:02):
the phone in the middle of an interview, You're not
gonna believe this, but he completely blew off Brian Dable
at the whiteboard. You're not gonna believe this. But yeah,
that spreads. That's not collusion, that's sharing information. And they're
all like, I just I want nothing to do with that.
But that's not what Eric Dickerson said. What Eric Dickerson said, okay,
(13:24):
and we have it on tape is hey, I heard
somebody that somebody from the NFL called and say, do
not draft this guy. We want to make a point
of it. That is collusion. And again I don't think
I know that no one is that stupid. It's just
like people who say NBA games are fixed, because all
it takes is one person to send out one text,
(13:47):
you know, or to screenshot one thing, and the entire
NBA loses all of the ability to have gambling on
the NBA, which is a billion dollar industry. The NFL
is on fire. Jason points it out every week. Okay,
he calls it the zarupa effect, right where the NFL
knows they're putting out a bad product and yet people
(14:08):
watch anyway. I don't think they know they're watching a
bad product. I do think they know it's not as
good as it could be. But whatever, the point is
that it doesn't matter. A good game, bad game. People watch,
people bet and they make tons of money. Right, do
you think they care that much about Shador Sanders that
they think him in the NFL hurts their product now
or so much so that they would tell you not
to try. Like again, think of the logic behind and
(14:30):
it's the same logic I used with Eric b Enemy right,
because what you would get from people who were the
conspiracy theorists or they wanted to bring racial politics into
it was he wasn't getting the job because he's black. Like,
they don't care if you're white or black. They just
want to win football games. It it's a professional organization.
(14:52):
They clearly don't care about Deshaun Watson his off the
field stuff, Otherwise they wouldn't have given him a five
year guaranteed contract that we had ever seen. Bef. They
don't care about your race. They don't care about your
sexual orientation. They really don't. They just care are we
going to win football games? Not one point and we're not. Goodbye, goodbye.
(15:15):
That's my feeling on it.
Speaker 4 (15:17):
This is the best of the Don dot Leaf Show
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Hey what up with you? Doug gott Leaves Show, Fox
Sports Radio. iHeartRadio, app. I hope you're having a great day.
The Dog Got Leave Show broadcast live every single day
right here, same bad time, same bat channel. Is it
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if you go to expresspros dot com. All right, coming
(15:45):
up next to let me come up next to sorry,
coming up in a moment, you'll hear, uh, I think unbelievable.
Ten minutes with Mark Shapiro, who is the president CEO
of TKO. TKO owns and runs the UFC and the
WWE UFC with a huge, huge new TV deal with
(16:09):
CBS and Paramount seven years, seven point seven billion dollars.
How did it come to be? Just stay tuned, you'll
find out in about starting about two minutes. Cubs Brewers
taking place right now, right Buyers got it on in studio.
He's watching and of course yesterday, so right now, it's
what top six with two outs and the Brewers have
(16:32):
runners at first and second. They're down five to three
to the Cubbies. And this is a day night doubleheader.
It's the makeup of last night's night game on the
day night doubleheader. It's a five game series, which you know,
I mean, it's really hard for the Cubs to try
and overcome this gargantuan lead that the Brewers have, but
becomes essentially impossible if they don't win the next what
(16:53):
four games of the series, Dan count.
Speaker 5 (16:55):
Yeah, yeah, you kind of need to win the next
four to have a chance.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
Yeah. And then of course, and then I think, super
interesting what happens with Dodgers tonight sweep the Padres and
then lose in the bottom of the ninth to the Rockies.
Have two more against the Rockies before going down to
San Diego take on the Padres yet again.
Speaker 6 (17:15):
Uh, Jay Stu, what was your What was your?
Speaker 1 (17:18):
Was it Instagram? Or was it a tweet about Manny
striking out to end the series? At the Ravine?
Speaker 3 (17:25):
I quoted the great Vin Scully. Vin Scully in these
moments would say something over and over again. He would
say that one was reduced to the basics. I'll throw
as hard as I can, you swing as hard as
you can, and we'll see who comes out on top.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Yeah. I was listening to the game actually driving up
from San Diego, and then I flipped over because I
was going to listen to Bayer. Bayer had the Sunday off,
so it was Monsey and Kerry Rhodes.
Speaker 5 (18:00):
Actually I've been doing the mornings this summer with Harmon. Well,
mornings for US Monty and Carry are two to five Pacific,
and Harmon and I are nine to eleven.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
But you go didn't know, Oh, didn't know. Sunday's not
usually my sports radio day. I was driving up, I
was like, man, I want to hear a buyer has
to say. I was like, dang, d d oh. So
we'll keep an eye on I Major League Baseball, the
game being played right now at Wrigley, but also the
(18:29):
game tonight, also at Wrigley, and the game tonight in Colorado.
Got some others as well. Note John Middlecoff's going to
join us in fifteen minutes. We'll get his thoughts on football. Course,
he was on with Colin today in studio for the Herd.
But I thought this would be something that you would
all enjoy. You know, when you're in business long enough,
(18:51):
you're going to be drawn to different people in turning
leadership roles. My favorite big boss I've ever had, Smart Shapiro.
And it wasn't because we were close. Wasn't clause he
gave me this huge raise. He did give me a
couple opportunities which I will. I am forever indebted to
him for but it was He's just a dynamic person
(19:12):
that is willing to take risks and also when you
have a conversation with him like, he's willing to share.
So that's what we did. We sat down with him.
We record about twenty minutes, but then we'll put the
entirety of it on the podcast, which you can hear
upcoming at the top of the hour. Just download podcast
our podcast for every download podcast, we'll see if we
(19:32):
can throw that interview up on the YouTube channel. By
the way, that's at Doug Gottlieb Show on YouTube. A
YouTube slash at Doug Gottlieb Show on YouTube. But here's
my conversation on Zoom with Mark Shapiro, TKO President and COO. Okay,
so Mark, let's let's let's start with UFC as a
business model pre dating your agreement with Paramount. Okay, you
(20:00):
on obviously both sides of these deals when you looked
at it, and the pay per view model with ESPN.
Speaker 6 (20:08):
How healthy a business was it for UFC?
Speaker 7 (20:12):
You know, it's been cyclical.
Speaker 8 (20:14):
I would say overall, the relationship with ESPN just extraordinary.
Speaker 7 (20:18):
And start there.
Speaker 8 (20:19):
I mean Obviously, ESPN is the destination for sports fans.
It's appointment viewing and there's no better marketing partner in
sports twenty four to seven. They want to get behind something,
they get behind it. You know it too well, because
of course when they don't, you.
Speaker 7 (20:34):
Also know that.
Speaker 8 (20:36):
And they they did more for the UFC than any
partner we've ever had. And I would say the fact
that we are mainstream and so strong with young men
and the demos that we have. Of course it has
a lot to do with our fighting stable and Dana
White in the history, but ESPN took us through another level.
Speaker 7 (20:53):
So it was great and we knew what we were
walking into.
Speaker 8 (20:56):
Doug right, this was an ESPN Plus play that they
are going to use the ESPN and ESPN two as
a barker channel to watch the prelimbs, maybe even watch
the early prims prelimbs, and then move you over to
ESPN Plus to sign up. So when we started with them,
we were in three million homes and we quickly grew
(21:17):
to twenty four million. And their words, not ours. We
were the anchor tenant of ESPN Plus, so it was great.
But I think over time, over the seven years a
couple things happened. One is they just kept raising price
and it got to a point where it was just
too much. And we know that for a fact because
the pay per views started slipping the total number of
(21:39):
buys and the pirrating went to insane levels. I mean,
and Dana, as you know, is now on the board
a metat. So we've seen unbelievable numbers across Facebook and
our relationship with YouTube.
Speaker 7 (21:52):
And tens of thousands of streams and.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
That give me, give me a sense, give me some
when you say the pirrating, okay, because I know what
you're talking about.
Speaker 6 (22:00):
As I've been to parties, We're like, do we buy this? Like, no, no,
we got a we got a fire stick. We're in
there there. What are the type of numbers that would
be pirated?
Speaker 8 (22:09):
Tens of thousands of streams and how many people were
watching each of those streams?
Speaker 7 (22:13):
We don't even know. It just it just got to
be too much because it's too expensive.
Speaker 8 (22:17):
You're paying eleven ninety nine to get ESPN plus that's
what you have to do monthly, and then to get
the pay per view you're paying eighty dollars, So it
almost becomes the sales prevention departments, and we discussed this
with ESPN and they had different data and they just
didn't agree, and they just kept going. They did introduce
some early bird specials if you buy two weeks before
(22:38):
and you get five bucks off, but it was nothing
that was going to solve the crisis. Now, in their defense,
the UFC, while obviously we have stars Amanda Nunez and
John Jones and you know, justin Gaetgee and a.
Speaker 7 (22:53):
Lot of folks along the way, Uswan Kamara.
Speaker 8 (22:56):
We didn't have any more of the level of Connor
McGregor on a ROWSI in the in the later years
of our seven year deal, and they would point to
the pipeline and so just being fair across the board.
Speaker 7 (23:08):
Look, you got to win to become a star. We
can't manufacture.
Speaker 8 (23:10):
It isn't this isn't the WWE, and so there might
be some truth to that. But the fighting itself, the matches,
the competition, the events have never been better, never been better.
And the fact that you have a lot of Russian
and Middle Eastern champions, it is what it is.
Speaker 7 (23:27):
You got to beat the best, and our core fans
get that.
Speaker 8 (23:30):
You do want commercial stars, and I think over time
It's very cyclical. It just it rides different waves. When
when GSP left the UFC is, oh my god, they
have no other stars, and then someone else emerges. So
you just you got to be patient and you got
to be in it for the long haul.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
If you were on the other side, right because I
like it. I like in this one too. When you
were at ESPN and had you lost Monday Night football, right, yeah,
because Sunday night.
Speaker 6 (24:01):
We lost Sunday Night.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
But you couldn't lose Monday Night if you were on
the other side, what would you have done to prevent
you from switching to paramount?
Speaker 8 (24:14):
I wouldn't let it get away. I mean, let me
just say, Bob Iger is the biggest sports fan of
any executive in the media business. I mean he started
at ABC Sports and he's a massive boxing fan too,
Like he knows the combat sports area.
Speaker 7 (24:26):
He came to our Sphere event last year, which was
a real spectacle.
Speaker 8 (24:31):
Look, you're launching ESPN direct to consumer. I think it launches,
you know in the next couple of days. Here you're
charging twenty nine to ninety nine. You want to see
people either authenticate if they have cable and satellite already
and if they don't, you want them to pay twenty
nine ninety nine, so you want all the premier sports.
Speaker 7 (24:49):
The UFC fan is very, very passionate. I mean it's
it's it's the fervor.
Speaker 9 (24:55):
The fan avidity is insane, right, And forty percent of
our audiences women, so you've got moms buying, and you've
got obviously young men, young women who watch six hour cards.
Speaker 7 (25:10):
I mean, this is what you dream about.
Speaker 8 (25:11):
There's forty three events, so look, it's easy to play
money morning quarterback. I don't know the budgets. I don't
know their dollars. They got a lot of money to spend.
They've made big investments in the NFL, the CFP, the NBA,
and you know what, money doesn't stretch that far, and
their linear business is declining, so they had to make
some decisions. I think the WWE deal is brilliant for them.
(25:32):
The idea of WrestleMania on ESPN brilliant, and maybe they
just couldn't afford everything. But having UFC, which is a
year round sport, while you're trying to launch D two
C at twenty nine to ninety nine, which would be
well received versus the one hundred dollars fans are paying
monthly now for ESPN Plus to get the paper fights.
(25:53):
To me, that's something I wouldn't have passed up. But
I don't criticize them. They're an important partner. They're still
the premier.
Speaker 7 (26:00):
Destination in sports, and we're going to help them build
this ESPN D to C.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
The rise of UFC right from when you were first
a young producer at ESPN to now, right like the
NFL is one hundred year bild hey, exactly, the NBA
has been one hundred years. Major League Baseball is over
one hundred years to go from where they were even
(26:25):
in the early two thousands where they were trying to
get to mainstream to now you're talking about a premier
property on the Tiffany Network. This is a story that
I don't think has ever played out as such before
in sports, Is.
Speaker 7 (26:40):
There, Doug. I'll tell you this.
Speaker 8 (26:43):
When I was running program, I got from oted to
the head of program I thirty two years old. In
twenty ten, Dana White and the Fertida brothers came and pitched,
and they pitched.
Speaker 7 (26:53):
Hard on the UFC.
Speaker 8 (26:55):
Like I wasn't sure if I'd get if I said no,
if I might get.
Speaker 7 (27:00):
Beat up or they left the room right, And I
didn't do it. And one of the reasons I didn't
do it wasn't all my decision.
Speaker 8 (27:07):
The mouse Disney wasn't about to put that that sport
where it was with blood on the mat on ESPN
or ABC Sports. Now, completely different story. Obviously, it is mainstream.
Speaker 7 (27:21):
It is the rise, the.
Speaker 8 (27:23):
Evolution, the ascension, the following, the fan base, the number
of fighters around the globe. How global it is. I mean,
you're talking two hundred and ten countries and territories that
the UFC is currently broadcast in. You have six hundred
plus fighters, right, you have seventy five different countries of
(27:45):
where they hail from, the fighters. You have fifty different
languages that broadcast UFC fights.
Speaker 7 (27:52):
I can't even believe it.
Speaker 8 (27:54):
I can't believe where it has has gone, you know
how it is has come that far. ESPN's been a
big part of that. I mean, they really supercharged it.
They they put turbo into this. Fox was important, Spike
was important, Every step of the way was important. But
I would tell you ESPN had had more to do
with than anything else.
Speaker 7 (28:14):
And of course Dana White and his team and the
way they got behind it.
Speaker 8 (28:18):
And locally and built these stars, these stars that won
and covered.
Speaker 6 (28:22):
The survive COVID two, absolutely survive COVID.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Right and expanded in COVID when when others had no
we had no live sports.
Speaker 7 (28:31):
I tell you he was the guy.
Speaker 8 (28:32):
He was calling Ari and I by the upward and
I'm not going down. UFC doesn't go down. We will
find a place to do this. We were on our.
Speaker 7 (28:40):
Way to do a vent at Tachi Wallace, an Indian.
Speaker 8 (28:44):
Reservation in California, so we wouldn't miss a month. And
by the way, we needed to because money wise, we
would have been in trouble. Just at that time, Endeavor,
all of our businesses were shut down like everybody else,
and yet we had this huge staff and expenses and
media right, we had to pay an IMG and so
we needed to keep the show going. And he worked
(29:05):
out a deal which would have kept us going in ESPN.
Speaker 7 (29:09):
Would have loved it. At the end of the day,
it was Newsom and.
Speaker 8 (29:12):
Bob Iger that said, hey, too soon, probably insensitive to
what's going on. We need you to stand down. So
we didn't do that event. We waited a month and
then bank Fight Island and they were ready for it.
Abu Dabi the bubble Newsom was good with it, Bob
Iger was good with it, and.
Speaker 7 (29:29):
We moved on and that saved the day. To your point, so.
Speaker 8 (29:33):
Many fans sampled it for the first time and became
full time fans.
Speaker 6 (29:39):
Amazing.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
Well listen, congrats on getting the deal done. I'm sure
you all have to do another one and I really
really appreciate your time.
Speaker 7 (29:45):
Great to see it. Congratulations on all your success.
Speaker 4 (29:48):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation yet. Catch all of our shows at Fox
sports Radio dot Com and within the iHeartRadio app. Fox
Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the name.
Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio dot com
and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to listen live.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Doug out Leaves show Fox Sports Trading. With the iHeartRadio app,
you can stream us live whenever you happen wherever you
happen to be catch us on our Fox Sports Radio
shows live twenty four to seven the new and improved
iHeartRadio app to search Foxport Trade in the app to
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Fox Sports Radio is one of the presets in the
iHeart app. It always pop up top of your screen.
Jay Stu, Floor's yours.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
Hey, Doug, I'll take it from here. Let me start
that over. Thank you, Doug. I'll take it from here.
Speaker 7 (30:35):
Maybe, Doug, I'll take it from here.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
So something special happened four years ago. And you know,
in this business, we need to celebrate milestones. I'm not
getting any younger, the business is getting more funky, So
I want to celebrate milestones. I want to bring attention
to stuff. And frankly, I was going to do this tomorrow,
but Dan Byer brought has brought to my attention that
this will be the last time we're together for a while,
(30:58):
so I'd like to do it as the four of us.
The A team is here today Sam on the twos
and ones, and we got Dan Byer on the updates,
and we got Doug Gottlieb. Four years ago today I
started working on the Doug Gottlieb Show.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
Four year anniversary. It's been quite a ride, quite right,
since Scott Shapiro and Don Martin took a chance on
a twenty year old vet to steer the Doug Gottlieb
Show into a better place. I've spoken to many media critics,
and they have told me that I have indeed steered
(31:37):
it into a better place. But yeah, four years, Doug.
And one thing I really like is when people try
to contribute to content. You know, I hate being me
and Doug hate being the soul creators on this show.
So Dan Byer helps out. Sam has never brought me
an idea in the eighteen months he's been here.
Speaker 7 (31:58):
So I fly though on the fly.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Yeah, he's on the fly. He's great on the drops,
human filibuster, great on the drops. And you know what, listeners,
when listeners contribute. I love that our listener, Brad in
Jacksonville has contributed something really special here and it sounds like.
Speaker 10 (32:17):
This, Yes is here in this and he's a semi
regulum on the show.
Speaker 7 (32:34):
His name is Jase.
Speaker 10 (32:37):
Now he's tweeting some more and God molds on his
faces and the place his name is Jason.
Speaker 3 (32:52):
Thank you Brad and Jacksonville. Uh that will go on
the permanent file list. And uh, four year anniversary.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
Guys, happy anniversary, Jay to.
Speaker 5 (33:01):
What is four years?
Speaker 2 (33:02):
What is that?
Speaker 1 (33:03):
Is it?
Speaker 7 (33:04):
Cotton pot plant?
Speaker 1 (33:13):
I'm laughing because potted plant. My dad would get my
mom a tracksuit and a potted plant for like every
and she didn't wear tracksuits and potted plants. She does
have a lot of in the back, but they weren't
the ones that I don't know, it was a lot anyway,
Happy anniversary. I love having you. And as you know,
(33:34):
and I think people learn, is like it's just everything
about you do with my coaching staff change this year.
There's no disrespect to the people who are not coaching
here any longer, like everybody, every one of those guys
that are not here anymore got a raise. But this
is gonna help me more and help my team more.
And the same thing happened four years ago when you
(33:56):
joined us, is we got better every day because you
love this. Right, you can only do sports radio every
day if you actually love it and if you love
content and you think you find interesting things in what
can be mundane. And yeah, so there you go. Let's
get to the let's get to the bar, get the press.
Speaker 4 (34:19):
The press.
Speaker 5 (34:22):
Did you guys also see fruit and flowers as the
four year that's that's what I'm seeing. Fruit and flowers
for your anniversary.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
That's the gift
Thanks for listening to the best of The Doug Gottlieb
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
three to five Eastern twelve two Pacific on Fox Sports Radio.
Find your local station for The Doug Gottlieb Show at
boxsports Radio dot com, or stream us live every day
on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR boom Up America
Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio. I hope you're having
(00:27):
a great day. It's a football Friday. College football is
here as we're at week zero. You made it, You
made it, You made it. We'll make fun of something
ESPN posted. That's always fun. Mark Dominical join us that's
always entered. Interesting A really interesting hypotheses from Jason Stewart
(00:54):
on Jerry Jones. I want to share that with you.
Uh I remier backpedaling like a defensive back and was
Bill Belichick kind of privately raking the crafts. We got
a bunch to get to, but I want to start
with someone who Jay stew you worked with somebody who
(01:14):
I like, and we grew up watching play as one
of the greatest football players we've ever seen play. But
he did the thing that I just I find to
be not good, bizarre and sort of a credibility killer.
(01:38):
On the other hand, it is feeding the masses the
sugar that they so desire, even if it's bad for you,
even if it's bad for you. And like I remember
when when the president got elected his his first term,
(01:59):
and and I had I have several friends, black friends,
mixed race friends, and especially friends from their foreign friends,
and there was you know, between some of the travel
band and some of the narratives, there was the thought
of for me, I did not know there was a
(02:20):
level of xenophobia and racism that was being promoted. On
the other hand, some of it I had to take
a step back and go, Okay, how much of this
is real? How much of this is And when I
say media created, it's the media is drawn to the
fringes left and right right. But I'm just somebody. And Jason,
(02:41):
I think you can I don't know if you're can
attest to this or not. When you grew up in California,
it's so weird to hear people talk like racial politics.
And I know that California there's become a level of
racial politics. But again, you grew up and look you
grew up in a part of Orange County which was
(03:02):
mostly white, but it wasn't super rich. It was lower
middle income, and there were Hispanics as well. I grew
up in a very diverse part of Orange, California. Obviously,
playing basketball, y're surrounded by people of color. So when
I heard about, you know, like people saying there's still
all this racism, I was like, really, And then we
(03:23):
read about it, you watch on the news, You're like, well,
maybe there is. But then you settle back down to
the Hey, sports is a place where racism. We've generally
evolved out of it. Yes, we still use stereotypes fair, unfair,
mostly unfair, but we still use stereotypes.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
We do.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
But the idea that and we've talked about this before
with Eric b Enemy, that because he was a black man,
he could get a head coaching job. When I've walked
you through many times over the feedback I've gotten from
people who have interviewed him but not hired him as
a head coach. Now it's not even part of the conversation.
(04:04):
I remember. You go back, not this past year, the
five previous years probably, and Eric the Enemy was discussed
of you gotta hire this guy. He not anywhere close
to being disgusted. It's crazy like he's slightly ahead of
where Colin Kaepernick is to be a starting quarterback, where
(04:24):
he is to be a head coach in the NFL slightly.
So that brings me to Eric Dickerson, Hall of Fame
running back, two thousand yard season. And Eric, he's never
been shy to say what he thinks. That's why his
nickname with the Rams was the first four letters of
(04:45):
his last name, right, So this was Eric Dickerson, remember,
super opinionated Hall of Fame former Ram and Colton on
Rogan and Rodney on our am affiliate.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
And I'll tell you as much here what I and
what I heard from someone that's in the NFL that
the NFL put it, told other don't draft him, do
not draft him. We're gonna make up, we're gonna make
an example out of him. And this came from a
very good source, a very good source. And he said
that I won't say who. Somebody called the Cleveland Browns
(05:22):
and said, don't do that. Really, yep, draft him, don't don't.
Don't do that because they weren't go drafted either. They
weren't gonna drafted.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Only they did right, Only they did Okay, I'm not
denying that Eric Dickerson knows NFL people. I'm not denying
that people haven't talked a lot about Shador Sanders and
where he was drafted. But the NFL has been accused
of or even sued for collusion several times over the
(05:54):
past five years. Do we rea really think that thirty
two teams who want to win football games, if they
thought Shador Sanders was good enough. Do you really think
(06:14):
that Roger Goodell or somebody of power would have picked
up the phone and say, don't draft him and risk
not millions billions of dollars if that story was true
and got out right. Because that's an easy one. You know,
it's not truly a free market, but there's still free
market principles. Things you can't do. You can't call teams
(06:36):
in your league and say, do not draft this player
because we want to make an example out of him
when he's committed no real crime other than being an arrogant,
entitled Ridge Kidd who flaunted his wealth while playing college
football and disengaged in interviews with teams he didn't want
(07:00):
to go to, and did so in a fashion that
was hard to take for most teams in the league,
Like I'm not sure about a lot of things. A
scientific factor is only ninety seven percent. This screws people
up that don't know science. Like one of the things
science does is they leave room for the outliers and
(07:23):
the very small chance, but a scientifically proven fact, it's
like ninety seve percent chance that's right, or even ninety nine.
But with ninety nine, there's that one percent. Right, I
am one hundred percent certain the sunrise in the east
and sets in the west, and that there was no
collusion to keep Shador Sanders out of the league because
(07:44):
the league was trying to make a point about him.
And what's crazy is and this is where it's really
poison It's really poisoned because this is the type of
internet rumor that we see really in Washington. Now. You know,
we've we're employing conspiracy theorists to make major decisions for
(08:10):
the current and future of our country, right, and this
is just a conspiracy theory and this is who we become.
And I gotta tell you, like Eric Dickerson, I would
have him on one time for this, and that would
really it because that's a credibility killer. You run the
risk of being sued by the National Football League, a
(08:31):
multi multi, multi, multi billion dollar industry, because they don't
want to get sued for collusion. So if they don't okay,
if he doesn't retract, he's saying they cocluded and they
said nothing about it. And it's not like it's what's
the guy who tweets at the show Jay stew J
always talk about is it race car forty seven?
Speaker 3 (08:54):
Corvette Corvette Guy twenty seven.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
It's not Corvette Guy twenty seven. This is Eric freaking Dickerson.
This is two thousand yard season. This is a Hall
of Fame running back who used to be on Monday
Night Football as a broadcaster. And listen, I'm telling you
that he's wrong. I'm telling you whoever he talked to
is like, well this people are saying this is this
is like a trump ism, right, and this is honestly
(09:19):
what's kind of happened with the president where he can
say whatever and nobody calls them on it, and if
you call them on it, you know, I mean, he's
they're just gonna move on. Doesn't work out way. You
can't say that the NFL colluded to keep Shador Sanders
out to make a point, and you're like, well, of course, like, ka,
of course they would. Why why would they? If Shadoor
(09:40):
Sanders can win them football games? Nobody cares. And the
easiest example of that is the actual who should be
the starting quarterback of the Cleveland Browns, right, Deshaun Watson
was accused of sexual assault up to over forty times,
(10:02):
settled many of these settled some of these suits, and
yet the Cleveland Browns offered him a five year guaranteed contract,
the lights of which we had never seen before. Not
because he's white, he's not. He's black. Not because he
wanted Clemson or he wanted Houston, or because of they
thought he could win in Cleveland. That's it. They're tired
of looking for a quarterback and they had this is
their only way to get a quarterback. If you think
(10:27):
that's true, you're just feeding into internet rumors. And that's
what Eric Dickerson's doing, and it it creates this vicious
cycle of well, it's because he's it's it's the loud
black guy that they want to keep out of like nobody, now, well, yes, yes,
you want to keep out a guy who has a
gigantic ego. When you're supposed to walk in humble pie
and make people believe in you, you gotta believe in yourself.
(10:48):
But having a videographer, having listening to your own own
song on a you know, on a portable speaker, walking in,
not carrying your own bag, like lo, Bro, you're a
fifth round pick. Take it easy, carry somebody else's bag,
humble pie. But again, like I understand, we all understand
(11:11):
the position, right, And again I love people that want
to make it about race, Like, hey, cam Ward's number
one pick, He's black, right, And there's the famous video
with cam Ward and him working out and he's talking
about all these other things, and cam Ward's like, I
do football, right, I do football. So I'm not one
(11:38):
percent about a lot of things. I'm not, you know,
not one a lot of them. Ninety seven to ninety
nine percent. I'm sure the sun rise in the east
and sets in the west, and that there's no collusion
to keep store Sanders out of the NFL. Schadoor Sanders
dug Shadoor sanders own proverbial draft day grave, a grave.
(12:00):
He and his dad wanted to determine where they were going,
and so they they they acted like the worst possible
first state ever. We're not engaged, not paying attention, answering
their phone during an interview, Like what I have been
(12:21):
told again, you want to go buy sources that what
we've heard about the interviews is probably seventy five percent
as bad as the one hundred percent that it actually was.
And what happens in those interviews is everyone knows somebody
like we talked to in coaching, we talked to everybody,
(12:41):
Like I text with our rivals head coach on a day.
That's Bart Lundy at Milwaukee, Like like we openly they'll
take shots at us, will take shots, but like, look
but still we're in the same business and we're in
the same league, we're in the same state. Ever be in
the NFL talks, it's not collusion. If you go, how
is Shador? You're not gonna believe this, But he answered
(13:02):
the phone in the middle of an interview, You're not
gonna believe this, but he completely blew off Brian Dable
at the whiteboard. You're not gonna believe this. But yeah,
that spreads. That's not collusion, that's sharing information. And they're
all like, I just I want nothing to do with that.
But that's not what Eric Dickerson said. What Eric Dickerson said, okay,
(13:24):
and we have it on tape is hey, I heard
somebody that somebody from the NFL called and say, do
not draft this guy. We want to make a point
of it. That is collusion. And again I don't think
I know that no one is that stupid. It's just
like people who say NBA games are fixed, because all
it takes is one person to send out one text,
(13:47):
you know, or to screenshot one thing, and the entire
NBA loses all of the ability to have gambling on
the NBA, which is a billion dollar industry. The NFL
is on fire. Jason points it out every week. Okay,
he calls it the zarupa effect, right where the NFL
knows they're putting out a bad product and yet people
(14:08):
watch anyway. I don't think they know they're watching a
bad product. I do think they know it's not as
good as it could be. But whatever, the point is
that it doesn't matter. A good game, bad game. People watch,
people bet and they make tons of money. Right, do
you think they care that much about Shador Sanders that
they think him in the NFL hurts their product now
or so much so that they would tell you not
to try. Like again, think of the logic behind and
(14:30):
it's the same logic I used with Eric b Enemy right,
because what you would get from people who were the
conspiracy theorists or they wanted to bring racial politics into
it was he wasn't getting the job because he's black. Like,
they don't care if you're white or black. They just
want to win football games. It it's a professional organization.
(14:52):
They clearly don't care about Deshaun Watson his off the
field stuff, Otherwise they wouldn't have given him a five
year guaranteed contract that we had ever seen. Bef. They
don't care about your race. They don't care about your
sexual orientation. They really don't. They just care are we
going to win football games? Not one point and we're not. Goodbye, goodbye.
(15:15):
That's my feeling on it.
Speaker 4 (15:17):
This is the best of the Don dot Leaf Show
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Hey what up with you? Doug gott Leaves Show, Fox
Sports Radio. iHeartRadio, app. I hope you're having a great day.
The Dog Got Leave Show broadcast live every single day
right here, same bad time, same bat channel. Is it
time for a new job. That is time for Express
employment professionals quit the endless job on endless online job
searchon lists to pros and expressed never charges job seekers
if you go to expresspros dot com. All right, coming
(15:45):
up next to let me come up next to sorry,
coming up in a moment, you'll hear, uh, I think unbelievable.
Ten minutes with Mark Shapiro, who is the president CEO
of TKO. TKO owns and runs the UFC and the
WWE UFC with a huge, huge new TV deal with
(16:09):
CBS and Paramount seven years, seven point seven billion dollars.
How did it come to be? Just stay tuned, you'll
find out in about starting about two minutes. Cubs Brewers
taking place right now, right Buyers got it on in studio.
He's watching and of course yesterday, so right now, it's
what top six with two outs and the Brewers have
(16:32):
runners at first and second. They're down five to three
to the Cubbies. And this is a day night doubleheader.
It's the makeup of last night's night game on the
day night doubleheader. It's a five game series, which you know,
I mean, it's really hard for the Cubs to try
and overcome this gargantuan lead that the Brewers have, but
becomes essentially impossible if they don't win the next what
(16:53):
four games of the series, Dan count.
Speaker 5 (16:55):
Yeah, yeah, you kind of need to win the next
four to have a chance.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
Yeah. And then of course, and then I think, super
interesting what happens with Dodgers tonight sweep the Padres and
then lose in the bottom of the ninth to the Rockies.
Have two more against the Rockies before going down to
San Diego take on the Padres yet again.
Speaker 6 (17:15):
Uh, Jay Stu, what was your What was your?
Speaker 1 (17:18):
Was it Instagram? Or was it a tweet about Manny
striking out to end the series? At the Ravine?
Speaker 3 (17:25):
I quoted the great Vin Scully. Vin Scully in these
moments would say something over and over again. He would
say that one was reduced to the basics. I'll throw
as hard as I can, you swing as hard as
you can, and we'll see who comes out on top.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Yeah. I was listening to the game actually driving up
from San Diego, and then I flipped over because I
was going to listen to Bayer. Bayer had the Sunday off,
so it was Monsey and Kerry Rhodes.
Speaker 5 (18:00):
Actually I've been doing the mornings this summer with Harmon. Well,
mornings for US Monty and Carry are two to five Pacific,
and Harmon and I are nine to eleven.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
But you go didn't know, Oh, didn't know. Sunday's not
usually my sports radio day. I was driving up, I
was like, man, I want to hear a buyer has
to say. I was like, dang, d d oh. So
we'll keep an eye on I Major League Baseball, the
game being played right now at Wrigley, but also the
(18:29):
game tonight, also at Wrigley, and the game tonight in Colorado.
Got some others as well. Note John Middlecoff's going to
join us in fifteen minutes. We'll get his thoughts on football. Course,
he was on with Colin today in studio for the Herd.
But I thought this would be something that you would
all enjoy. You know, when you're in business long enough,
(18:51):
you're going to be drawn to different people in turning
leadership roles. My favorite big boss I've ever had, Smart Shapiro.
And it wasn't because we were close. Wasn't clause he
gave me this huge raise. He did give me a
couple opportunities which I will. I am forever indebted to
him for but it was He's just a dynamic person
(19:12):
that is willing to take risks and also when you
have a conversation with him like, he's willing to share.
So that's what we did. We sat down with him.
We record about twenty minutes, but then we'll put the
entirety of it on the podcast, which you can hear
upcoming at the top of the hour. Just download podcast
our podcast for every download podcast, we'll see if we
(19:32):
can throw that interview up on the YouTube channel. By
the way, that's at Doug Gottlieb Show on YouTube. A
YouTube slash at Doug Gottlieb Show on YouTube. But here's
my conversation on Zoom with Mark Shapiro, TKO President and COO. Okay,
so Mark, let's let's let's start with UFC as a
business model pre dating your agreement with Paramount. Okay, you
(20:00):
on obviously both sides of these deals when you looked
at it, and the pay per view model with ESPN.
Speaker 6 (20:08):
How healthy a business was it for UFC?
Speaker 7 (20:12):
You know, it's been cyclical.
Speaker 8 (20:14):
I would say overall, the relationship with ESPN just extraordinary.
Speaker 7 (20:18):
And start there.
Speaker 8 (20:19):
I mean Obviously, ESPN is the destination for sports fans.
It's appointment viewing and there's no better marketing partner in
sports twenty four to seven. They want to get behind something,
they get behind it. You know it too well, because
of course when they don't, you.
Speaker 7 (20:34):
Also know that.
Speaker 8 (20:36):
And they they did more for the UFC than any
partner we've ever had. And I would say the fact
that we are mainstream and so strong with young men
and the demos that we have. Of course it has
a lot to do with our fighting stable and Dana
White in the history, but ESPN took us through another level.
Speaker 7 (20:53):
So it was great and we knew what we were
walking into.
Speaker 8 (20:56):
Doug right, this was an ESPN Plus play that they
are going to use the ESPN and ESPN two as
a barker channel to watch the prelimbs, maybe even watch
the early prims prelimbs, and then move you over to
ESPN Plus to sign up. So when we started with them,
we were in three million homes and we quickly grew
(21:17):
to twenty four million. And their words, not ours. We
were the anchor tenant of ESPN Plus, so it was great.
But I think over time, over the seven years a
couple things happened. One is they just kept raising price
and it got to a point where it was just
too much. And we know that for a fact because
the pay per views started slipping the total number of
(21:39):
buys and the pirrating went to insane levels. I mean,
and Dana, as you know, is now on the board
a metat. So we've seen unbelievable numbers across Facebook and
our relationship with YouTube.
Speaker 7 (21:52):
And tens of thousands of streams and.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
That give me, give me a sense, give me some
when you say the pirrating, okay, because I know what
you're talking about.
Speaker 6 (22:00):
As I've been to parties, We're like, do we buy this? Like, no, no,
we got a we got a fire stick. We're in
there there. What are the type of numbers that would
be pirated?
Speaker 8 (22:09):
Tens of thousands of streams and how many people were
watching each of those streams?
Speaker 7 (22:13):
We don't even know. It just it just got to
be too much because it's too expensive.
Speaker 8 (22:17):
You're paying eleven ninety nine to get ESPN plus that's
what you have to do monthly, and then to get
the pay per view you're paying eighty dollars, So it
almost becomes the sales prevention departments, and we discussed this
with ESPN and they had different data and they just
didn't agree, and they just kept going. They did introduce
some early bird specials if you buy two weeks before
(22:38):
and you get five bucks off, but it was nothing
that was going to solve the crisis. Now, in their defense,
the UFC, while obviously we have stars Amanda Nunez and
John Jones and you know, justin Gaetgee and a.
Speaker 7 (22:53):
Lot of folks along the way, Uswan Kamara.
Speaker 8 (22:56):
We didn't have any more of the level of Connor
McGregor on a ROWSI in the in the later years
of our seven year deal, and they would point to
the pipeline and so just being fair across the board.
Speaker 7 (23:08):
Look, you got to win to become a star. We
can't manufacture.
Speaker 8 (23:10):
It isn't this isn't the WWE, and so there might
be some truth to that. But the fighting itself, the matches,
the competition, the events have never been better, never been better.
And the fact that you have a lot of Russian
and Middle Eastern champions, it is what it is.
Speaker 7 (23:27):
You got to beat the best, and our core fans
get that.
Speaker 8 (23:30):
You do want commercial stars, and I think over time
It's very cyclical. It just it rides different waves. When
when GSP left the UFC is, oh my god, they
have no other stars, and then someone else emerges. So
you just you got to be patient and you got
to be in it for the long haul.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
If you were on the other side, right because I
like it. I like in this one too. When you
were at ESPN and had you lost Monday Night football, right, yeah,
because Sunday night.
Speaker 6 (24:01):
We lost Sunday Night.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
But you couldn't lose Monday Night if you were on
the other side, what would you have done to prevent
you from switching to paramount?
Speaker 8 (24:14):
I wouldn't let it get away. I mean, let me
just say, Bob Iger is the biggest sports fan of
any executive in the media business. I mean he started
at ABC Sports and he's a massive boxing fan too,
Like he knows the combat sports area.
Speaker 7 (24:26):
He came to our Sphere event last year, which was
a real spectacle.
Speaker 8 (24:31):
Look, you're launching ESPN direct to consumer. I think it launches,
you know in the next couple of days. Here you're
charging twenty nine to ninety nine. You want to see
people either authenticate if they have cable and satellite already
and if they don't, you want them to pay twenty
nine ninety nine, so you want all the premier sports.
Speaker 7 (24:49):
The UFC fan is very, very passionate. I mean it's
it's it's the fervor.
Speaker 9 (24:55):
The fan avidity is insane, right, And forty percent of
our audiences women, so you've got moms buying, and you've
got obviously young men, young women who watch six hour cards.
Speaker 7 (25:10):
I mean, this is what you dream about.
Speaker 8 (25:11):
There's forty three events, so look, it's easy to play
money morning quarterback. I don't know the budgets. I don't
know their dollars. They got a lot of money to spend.
They've made big investments in the NFL, the CFP, the NBA,
and you know what, money doesn't stretch that far, and
their linear business is declining, so they had to make
some decisions. I think the WWE deal is brilliant for them.
(25:32):
The idea of WrestleMania on ESPN brilliant, and maybe they
just couldn't afford everything. But having UFC, which is a
year round sport, while you're trying to launch D two
C at twenty nine to ninety nine, which would be
well received versus the one hundred dollars fans are paying
monthly now for ESPN Plus to get the paper fights.
(25:53):
To me, that's something I wouldn't have passed up. But
I don't criticize them. They're an important partner. They're still
the premier.
Speaker 7 (26:00):
Destination in sports, and we're going to help them build
this ESPN D to C.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
The rise of UFC right from when you were first
a young producer at ESPN to now, right like the
NFL is one hundred year bild hey, exactly, the NBA
has been one hundred years. Major League Baseball is over
one hundred years to go from where they were even
(26:25):
in the early two thousands where they were trying to
get to mainstream to now you're talking about a premier
property on the Tiffany Network. This is a story that
I don't think has ever played out as such before
in sports, Is.
Speaker 7 (26:40):
There, Doug. I'll tell you this.
Speaker 8 (26:43):
When I was running program, I got from oted to
the head of program I thirty two years old. In
twenty ten, Dana White and the Fertida brothers came and pitched,
and they pitched.
Speaker 7 (26:53):
Hard on the UFC.
Speaker 8 (26:55):
Like I wasn't sure if I'd get if I said no,
if I might get.
Speaker 7 (27:00):
Beat up or they left the room right, And I
didn't do it. And one of the reasons I didn't
do it wasn't all my decision.
Speaker 8 (27:07):
The mouse Disney wasn't about to put that that sport
where it was with blood on the mat on ESPN
or ABC Sports. Now, completely different story. Obviously, it is mainstream.
Speaker 7 (27:21):
It is the rise, the.
Speaker 8 (27:23):
Evolution, the ascension, the following, the fan base, the number
of fighters around the globe. How global it is. I mean,
you're talking two hundred and ten countries and territories that
the UFC is currently broadcast in. You have six hundred
plus fighters, right, you have seventy five different countries of
(27:45):
where they hail from, the fighters. You have fifty different
languages that broadcast UFC fights.
Speaker 7 (27:52):
I can't even believe it.
Speaker 8 (27:54):
I can't believe where it has has gone, you know
how it is has come that far. ESPN's been a
big part of that. I mean, they really supercharged it.
They they put turbo into this. Fox was important, Spike
was important, Every step of the way was important. But
I would tell you ESPN had had more to do
with than anything else.
Speaker 7 (28:14):
And of course Dana White and his team and the
way they got behind it.
Speaker 8 (28:18):
And locally and built these stars, these stars that won
and covered.
Speaker 6 (28:22):
The survive COVID two, absolutely survive COVID.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Right and expanded in COVID when when others had no
we had no live sports.
Speaker 7 (28:31):
I tell you he was the guy.
Speaker 8 (28:32):
He was calling Ari and I by the upward and
I'm not going down. UFC doesn't go down. We will
find a place to do this. We were on our.
Speaker 7 (28:40):
Way to do a vent at Tachi Wallace, an Indian.
Speaker 8 (28:44):
Reservation in California, so we wouldn't miss a month. And
by the way, we needed to because money wise, we
would have been in trouble. Just at that time, Endeavor,
all of our businesses were shut down like everybody else,
and yet we had this huge staff and expenses and
media right, we had to pay an IMG and so
we needed to keep the show going. And he worked
(29:05):
out a deal which would have kept us going in ESPN.
Speaker 7 (29:09):
Would have loved it. At the end of the day,
it was Newsom and.
Speaker 8 (29:12):
Bob Iger that said, hey, too soon, probably insensitive to
what's going on. We need you to stand down. So
we didn't do that event. We waited a month and
then bank Fight Island and they were ready for it.
Abu Dabi the bubble Newsom was good with it, Bob
Iger was good with it, and.
Speaker 7 (29:29):
We moved on and that saved the day. To your point, so.
Speaker 8 (29:33):
Many fans sampled it for the first time and became
full time fans.
Speaker 6 (29:39):
Amazing.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
Well listen, congrats on getting the deal done. I'm sure
you all have to do another one and I really
really appreciate your time.
Speaker 7 (29:45):
Great to see it. Congratulations on all your success.
Speaker 4 (29:48):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation yet. Catch all of our shows at Fox
sports Radio dot Com and within the iHeartRadio app. Fox
Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the name.
Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio dot com
and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to listen live.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Doug out Leaves show Fox Sports Trading. With the iHeartRadio app,
you can stream us live whenever you happen wherever you
happen to be catch us on our Fox Sports Radio
shows live twenty four to seven the new and improved
iHeartRadio app to search Foxport Trade in the app to
stream us live every day and be sure to select.
Fox Sports Radio is one of the presets in the
iHeart app. It always pop up top of your screen.
Jay Stu, Floor's yours.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
Hey, Doug, I'll take it from here. Let me start
that over. Thank you, Doug. I'll take it from here.
Speaker 7 (30:35):
Maybe, Doug, I'll take it from here.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
So something special happened four years ago. And you know,
in this business, we need to celebrate milestones. I'm not
getting any younger, the business is getting more funky, So
I want to celebrate milestones. I want to bring attention
to stuff. And frankly, I was going to do this tomorrow,
but Dan Byer brought has brought to my attention that
this will be the last time we're together for a while,
(30:58):
so I'd like to do it as the four of us.
The A team is here today Sam on the twos
and ones, and we got Dan Byer on the updates,
and we got Doug Gottlieb. Four years ago today I
started working on the Doug Gottlieb Show.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
Four year anniversary. It's been quite a ride, quite right,
since Scott Shapiro and Don Martin took a chance on
a twenty year old vet to steer the Doug Gottlieb
Show into a better place. I've spoken to many media critics,
and they have told me that I have indeed steered
(31:37):
it into a better place. But yeah, four years, Doug.
And one thing I really like is when people try
to contribute to content. You know, I hate being me
and Doug hate being the soul creators on this show.
So Dan Byer helps out. Sam has never brought me
an idea in the eighteen months he's been here.
Speaker 7 (31:58):
So I fly though on the fly.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Yeah, he's on the fly. He's great on the drops,
human filibuster, great on the drops. And you know what, listeners,
when listeners contribute. I love that our listener, Brad in
Jacksonville has contributed something really special here and it sounds like.
Speaker 10 (32:17):
This, Yes is here in this and he's a semi
regulum on the show.
Speaker 7 (32:34):
His name is Jase.
Speaker 10 (32:37):
Now he's tweeting some more and God molds on his
faces and the place his name is Jason.
Speaker 3 (32:52):
Thank you Brad and Jacksonville. Uh that will go on
the permanent file list. And uh, four year anniversary.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
Guys, happy anniversary, Jay to.
Speaker 5 (33:01):
What is four years?
Speaker 2 (33:02):
What is that?
Speaker 1 (33:03):
Is it?
Speaker 7 (33:04):
Cotton pot plant?
Speaker 1 (33:13):
I'm laughing because potted plant. My dad would get my
mom a tracksuit and a potted plant for like every
and she didn't wear tracksuits and potted plants. She does
have a lot of in the back, but they weren't
the ones that I don't know, it was a lot anyway,
Happy anniversary. I love having you. And as you know,
(33:34):
and I think people learn, is like it's just everything
about you do with my coaching staff change this year.
There's no disrespect to the people who are not coaching
here any longer, like everybody, every one of those guys
that are not here anymore got a raise. But this
is gonna help me more and help my team more.
And the same thing happened four years ago when you
(33:56):
joined us, is we got better every day because you
love this. Right, you can only do sports radio every
day if you actually love it and if you love
content and you think you find interesting things in what
can be mundane. And yeah, so there you go. Let's
get to the let's get to the bar, get the press.
Speaker 4 (34:19):
The press.
Speaker 5 (34:22):
Did you guys also see fruit and flowers as the
four year that's that's what I'm seeing. Fruit and flowers
for your anniversary.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
That's the gift
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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