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August 23, 2025 • 12 mins

US correspondent Leon Busby joined Piney to discuss NBA contracts, the ongoing MLB season and the start of the NFL season.

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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from News Talks edb Ye.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Let's get your state side where there's always plenty happening
sports wisely on Busby as our American sports expert.

Speaker 3 (00:20):
Hello, mate, afternoon, Jason, thanks for having me back. Got
each to tell us, so let's go straight into it.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Yeah, let's do that, mate. I know you you're keen
to talk infl but we can we can hold off
on that because I want to get a couple of
bits of information around basketball and baseball. Could we start
in the NBA a couple of major headlines coming out,
some mega contracts to tell us about.

Speaker 3 (00:40):
Yes, even though the NBA is in a off season,
still to discuss the Just for clarity, Poney, I've converted
everything into New Zealand dollars. I like the support of
their reigning MVP and NBA championship Gilgess. Alexander from Oklahoma
City Thunder recently signed a massive contract essentition for one
hundred and twenty three million dollars a year. Not to
be outdone the Phoenix Suns. Only ten days later, resigned

(01:04):
All star Devin Booker, known in hard court circles as
book or d book to a new two year max
extension with the princely sum of one hundred and twenty
five million dollars annually. So we've got dear friends and Phoenix.
A quick shout out to the Updike family who often
attend home games and they love Devin Booker as the
face of the team. He's certainly beloved by the Sun's faithful,

(01:25):
so that they'll be excited that he's locked in for
the next couple of years at least. I think it's
a fair assumption, Piney, that the race is hon to
see who will be the first player in NBA history
to earn eighty two million dollars a staggering one million
dollars per regular season game, So that equates to one
hundred and forty two million dollars New Zealand yearly. Almost
impossible to get their heads around, right, and not a

(01:47):
matter of if I think by when that will happen.
So much like the NFL, it's almost as if the
NBA is printing their own money. Just recently, on your show,
Colin Smith mentioned the changes in how televised sports viewing
habits have changed and evolved over the last decade and
how we consume it. He also mentioned that the NFL
and NBA, they alise when we look at viewership, the

(02:08):
NFL especially, who had ninety of our one hundred most
watched TV programs in the US last year. It's crazy.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
Indeed, the Lakers. What's going on with the Lakers with
Luka Doncic Lebron James? What sort of shape are they
in moving forward?

Speaker 3 (02:23):
Yes, So the recent contract extension by the La Lakers
for Slavenian superstar Luka Doncish was notable because Lebron James
was absent at the press conference. Now, in the past,
he's been in attendance when star key players have signed
a new deal. And this speculation that Lebron's no show
was intentional by the front office to show that they've

(02:44):
taken back control of the team. So just decide, Noe Piney.
Lebron was actually playing golf that day, So reading through it,
what sort of message they were seening to the new
owners that aside, Luca is now seen as the face
of the franchise and the team will be built around
him a pursuit of another title moving forward.

Speaker 2 (03:02):
Let's go to baseball, Major League baseball, the regular season
is winding down of the World Series. Ho are some
of the teams and players leon who are showing out
for the playoffs and for the season awards.

Speaker 3 (03:13):
Yes, so most of your listens will be aware that
it's a grueling in one hundred and sixty two game
regular season and there are a number of teams that
are genuine contenders heading into October. Let's start. In the
American League, the Detroit Tigers leave the conference just ahead
of the Toronto Blue Jays, New York Yankees, Houston Astros,
and the Boston Red Sox. They round up the top five.

(03:34):
In the National League, the top five teams see the
Milwaukee Brewers leading the conference, closely followed by the Philadelphia Phillies,
Chicago Cubs, LA Dodgers, and the San Diego Padres. Also
the National League, the Colorado Rockies are on pace to
record a losing season of one hundred plus games. Since
nineteen fifty one, ninety one different teams have achieved this

(03:55):
ignominious feat. The current record is shared by the nineteen
sixty two New York Mets and the two thousand and
three Detroit Tigers. Not the sort of record to be
proud of unfortunately pining, so I know it's not the
sort of record you want to be proud of it
and on your record. Also, if we look at individual
players making their mark, leaning into the playoffs and pitching

(04:18):
in fevor to win the prestigious what they call the
Cy Young Award, where a minimum ten starts. This season,
we have all star all schemes of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
At an impressive six foot six, one hundred and eighteen kilograms,
the twenty twenty three MLB draft number one overall pick
has made sixteen starts this year, giving up only nine

(04:38):
home runs, struck out one hundred and seventy four batters,
and has the lowest earned run average what we call
the ERA in the majors. And to only his second season,
Steen has an incredible career two point zero seven ERA. Piney,
I feel in a way that it's only a matter
of time of when not left before another the stronger
clubs of all that money will entice them away from

(04:59):
Pittsburgh for a Kings ransom. So we look at the batting,
We look at the batters and the guys that are
up for the awards. There are three main categories that
they consider runners batted in which is called RBI, which
is led by Kyle Schwarba the Philadelphia Phillies with one
hundred and nine home runs, Cal Raley of the Seattle
Mariners with forty seven, and New York Yankee Saga Aaron

(05:20):
Judge with a betting average around only three point twenty
nine so far the season. So one of these three
guys will win a cover at MVP Award at season's end.

Speaker 2 (05:31):
Well, who are the favorites to win the World Series?
Just before we move to NFL?

Speaker 3 (05:35):
YEP, So I've done the heavy lifting here and calculated
the latest starts from three of the biggest betting agencies
in Las Vegas. The latest betting nods see the World
Series champion Dodgers favored to go back to back at
plus two ninety five, then a big gap to the
Philadelphia Phillies at plus six seventy, the Milwaukee Brewers at
plus seventy ten, the Detroit Tigers at plus eight eighty five,

(05:56):
and to round out the top five, the New York
Yankees at plus ninety five. So basically, what there's numbers
tell us is that the Dodgers, as long as they
stay relatively healthy, are almost assure and to repeat, and
every other team is fighting just to get to the
World Series. But as we know, piney sports aren't always
started on paper. It's all about he shows up on
the day.

Speaker 2 (06:15):
Hang on, especially in the business end of the season. Right,
Let's go to the NFL, not that far away from
getting underway, final few preseason games and then Round one
scheduled for a couple of weekends away. A couple of
bits of news here Dallas Cowboys, but a drama at
the Dallas Cowboys.

Speaker 3 (06:32):
Oh, I'll tell you what. The Cowboys they love the drama.
So college football officially kicked off earlier today and Dublin
Island of all places, so that means the NFL is
just around the corner. The biggest story in the league
right now is actually something unfolding off the stud The
Dallas Cowboys in the past often referred to as America's team,
and we're recently valued at more than twenty billion New

(06:52):
Zealand dollars are in a bit of a standoff right
now with their best player, defensive end Micah Parsons, is
em boiled in a contract dispute for team owner slash
general manager Jerry Jones, the star linebacker, is holding out
for a long term contract extension, which most are expecting
him to eventually get as the highest paid non QB
in the league, expected to be somewhere around seventy two

(07:14):
to seventy seven million dollars a year. Parsons is an
edge rusher and his role is to get out of
the opposing quarterback, causing chaos in the backfield. He's one
of only five players in NFL history to record twelve
or more sacks in his first four seasons. The other
four players they're all in the Football Hall of Fame. Now,
the problem with Jones as GM as that in the past.

(07:35):
By the time he inks then you deal with his
star players, it's often too late in the season to
back down, and he has to pay in the current
market value, which were as shrewd visits and makes no sense.
Dallas have been pretty much irrelevant on the field for
the last thirty years and they're only the third best
team is in their own division. So this drawn out
saga between Jones and Parsons what now defines a once

(07:57):
proud franchise and unfortunately for long suffering Cowboys fans, because
their own prefers the attention and unnecessary headlines, the team
will continue to un perform and be on the outside
looking at when it comes to being part of the
narrative as a genuine Super Bowl contender.

Speaker 2 (08:12):
Aaron Rodgers is the gift that keeps on giving. The
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback kin.

Speaker 3 (08:18):
Yeah, every time someone talks about Aaron Rodgers, you know
there's going to be some sort of drama around it.
So if we look at the top three quarterbacks for
the highest pass rating in NFL history, the Lamar Jackson
at number three from the Baltimore Ravens, Patrick Mahomes second
from m Kansasity Chiefs, and surprisingly, Aaron Rodgers is at
number one. So the new starting quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers,

(08:40):
he ranked first. And it's a bit surprising when when
we consider as last three to five seasons have seen
him slowly regress in terms of production and results as
he ages out. For example, last season alone, he failed
to pass over four thousand yards and recorded twenty eight
touchdowns and eleven interceptions, which is a long way office
heyday when he was stacking MVP awards. Also interesting is

(09:01):
that Rogers is sixth all time as a starting quarterback
in the NFL, but it's way down the list at
number twenty five all time in terms of fourth quarter comebacks.
Further time eventually catches up pony, especially when we discuss
proafi who are looking to extend their careers into their
forties nowadays.

Speaker 2 (09:20):
How much does it cost to go to an NFL game?

Speaker 3 (09:24):
Okay, I hope you're sitting down anyway, No ticket prices
for the opening week of the NFL season that they
vary greatly, So again, I've converted all the monetary figures
into the New Zealand dollars. For example, you can go
watch New Orleans versus Arizona for the low bargain price
of seventy five dollars, while at the top end of
the scale, you can attend the Philadelphia Dallas game for

(09:46):
no less than an iwatering nine hundred and thirty two dollars.
I mean, gosh, it's no wonder these guys are getting
paid astronomical suns when fans attending games have to shell
out their hard earned money. Just to put it into context,
the highest paid player in the NFL, but incredibly only
the third best player in his division earn are staggering

(10:06):
one hundred and two million per season, which averages a
mind blowing six million per game. Of the one hundred
and twenty four quarterbacks currently contracted in the NFL, the
lowest page still makes a decent mone point four million
per season. The crazy thing pinting. With new TV deals
on the horizon, these contracts will only continue to rise yearly.
This seems to be no seiling with these mega deals.

Speaker 2 (10:29):
Just outrageous money. Outrageous money. It is a Netflix series Quarterback,
No doubt you've caught it.

Speaker 3 (10:37):
Yeah, So I just wanted to ask you have you
watched the series before? Have you seen it?

Speaker 2 (10:41):
Or I haven't. I know it's on my list, but no,
I haven't watched it, ayjay.

Speaker 3 (10:46):
So it's reality TV at it's best, an intriguing look
into the most spots sports competition of the world. We
get to have a look behind the curtain into the
lives of professional athletes at the top of their game. Now,
the quarterback is widely considered the most important position in
all of sports, mainly because they're required to handle the
ball on almost every play and have to make quick

(11:06):
decisions under immense pressure. The success and failure of the
football team rests largely on their shoulders, hence the reason
they get paid the most. All of that aside those
Quarterback is a great series, and if some of your
listeners haven't you watched the series now into its second season,
I strongly encouraged them to do so before the season
kicks off. It's really compelling viewing. Maybe also a timey

(11:27):
distraction from the disappointment Oh well beloved automates early today.

Speaker 2 (11:30):
Finding maybe you're right, hey, just before you go, have
you have you done the heavy lifting on Super Bowl
on who's favored to lift it when we get round
of February?

Speaker 3 (11:41):
Yep, So most beating agencies expect the Baltimore Ravens and
Buffalo Bills to win Super Bowl sixty in February, followed
closely by the defending champion Philadelphia Eagles, then the Kansas
City Chiefs and the Detroit Lions rounding out the top five.
I've purposely left out the actual beating. I there's a
line off and shifts marginally before the regular season starts.
Your son's team. The Minnesota Vikings are hovering around number ten,

(12:04):
so this certainly in with the real chance to lift
along Mighty. But as often allude to Piney. The best
news is that the NFL season kicks off and only
eleven sleeps better than ten, counting down the days until Christmas.

Speaker 2 (12:16):
Bring it on, Mate, bring it on, and daily on
love your enthusiasm for all things American sports, Mate, thanks
so much for the update. Ly on buzby taking us
state side here on Weekend Sport.

Speaker 1 (12:28):
For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live
to news talks at b Weekends from midday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
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