06-18-25 Hour 1 of Broncos Country Tonight

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome into it. Broncos Country Tonight short show post Rockies edition.
That's been all right here with you. I have six
six nine zero is text line. You guys want to
get involved in the conversation. Love to love to chat
with you always after the games and and everything else.
A lot of news around sports today to get into
a couple of franchises being sold, there's uh, there's just

(00:25):
a bunch of stuff to get to, you know, with
the sports stories. So I want I want to plow
right into it. Programming no full show tomorrow night myself
Nick Ferguson. I think we'll be joined by Steve Attwater
when we beat might join us as well. So a
big show tomorrow night. You guys want tune in live
for that at six pm. A former NFL defensive back

(00:45):
is suing the Kansas City Chiefs for wrongful termination from
his job as director of player Engagement after accusing the
franchise of discriminating against him because he's black. Ramsey Robinson,
who spent nine years with the Chiefs, filed a lawsuit
in the US District Court for the Western District of
Missouri on Sunday. In the lawsuit, Robinson claims he was

(01:09):
called into a meeting in February and accused of attacking
a female co worker, and that the Chiefs refused to
show him the security video of the encounter. Robinson ultimately
was fired from his position, which involved locker room management, mentorship,
and other responsibilities within the team. The lawsuit that Robinson
lawsuit claims Robinson was paid a salary of one hundred

(01:30):
and twenty five thousand dollars by the Chiefs, but that
his research found other NFL teams paid comperal positions on
an average salary of one hundred and see and ninety
three dollars. So Robinson is saying that the Chiefs paid
him one twenty five, whereas the NFL average for that
average not high, is one hundred and seventy one or
fifty thousand dollars shorter than that, not including benefits. It

(01:54):
also claims that the Chiefs paid African American business employees
less than the white counterparts. Chief spokesman Brad Gee said
the Associated Press on Wednesday that he would not comment
on pending legal matters, but to be clear, the Chiefs
do not tolerate discrimination of any kind and quote. He
also said, we look forward to the facts of this
case coming to light. Robinson, who is forty one, was

(02:18):
the final player chosen in the two thousand and seven
draft by the Detroit Lions. He played nineteen games over
two seasons for the Lions, appeared in three games for
Philly for for Cleveland in two thousand and nine, never
played for the Kansas City Chiefs. And it'll be interesting
to see if that lawsuit goes anywhere, but certainly certainly

(02:39):
interesting as he alleges that the Chiefs were paying him
less than what he was worth because of that, and
not the big thing there is not showing the security
video accusing him of attacking a female employee, but then
not showing him any video or not showing him the
evidence they supposedly had of that. That's a that's a
little iffy. I don't know. We'll but we'll see how

(03:00):
how that ultimately goes. The Chiefs also were given their
rings for winning the twenty twenty four AFC Championship today,
but Travis Kelsey sounded as if he wasn't interested in
receiving his saying quote, I'm only interested in Super Bowl rings,
Kelsey said after the Chiefs concluded their second MIDI camp practice.
I know what the AFC championship means to this organization,

(03:21):
to the Hunt family, and the fifteen wins and everything
is something special. I'll let everybody else be happy with that.
Last year wasn't a success for me, and I'm motivated
to make sure we get that other ring this year.
To that end, Kelsey, who is thirty five, said his
offseason workouts this year have been different from his normal ones.
He started earlier, shortly after the Super Bowl loss to
the Philadelphia Eagles, and he's put more time into them.

(03:43):
Said he shed some of his two hundred and sixty pounds,
although he indicated that reports out there that he's dropped
twenty five pounds were false, saying, quote, don't believe all
you read on the internet. I am down some weight. Yeah,
from the end of last season. Each year is different.
You've got to rebuild it. This year. I got some
time to really focus on some form, running some things
early in the offseason, but I just didn't have time

(04:05):
for last year. I'm certainly feeling good and I think
it's going to pay off. Kelsey led the Chiefs with
ninety seven catches last season, although his totals for yardage
eight hundred and twenty three and touchdowns three were both
the lowest in his eleven NFL seasons. He said he
wouldn't judge his twenty twenty five season on personal statistics
simply on whether the Chiefs win the Super Bowl or not.

(04:27):
Quote It's just kind of how I'm wired now. Earlier
in my career, I would set these goals for myself,
but now, let's just go out there and try to
make every play for my team. Be the best teammate,
be the best leader I can be. Last year, I
think I failed, especially in that last game and being
a leader and being the one out there that could
step up and make plays. So I'm just setting the
bar even higher for myself this year than I have
in the past. Kelsey is entering the final season of

(04:50):
his contract with the Chiefs, so that he didn't know
whether the twenty twenty five season would be his last,
but suggested that if he did play in twenty twenty six,
it would only be for the Chiefs. We'll try figure
something out next year. Kelsey said, the Chiefs organization knows
how much I love them. I can't see myself ever
playing anywhere else, so we'll deal with that. Down the
road when the time is right. Right now, I'm focused

(05:10):
on winning the championship next year, sticking around the AFC West.
If you guys saw this story or not, but remember
former wide receiver Henry Ruxs, somebody who was potentially a
target here in Denver. I think we all know about

(05:32):
his issue four years ago, but he was out on
special release from prison yesterday speaking at the Hope for
Prisoner's event in Las Vegas, and he apologized to the
family of the woman he killed in a car crash
nearly four years ago. Ruggs, who was driving his sports
car it speeds up to one hundred and fifty six
miles an hour in the city on November two, twenty

(05:54):
twenty one, slammed into a vehicle that killed driver Tina
Tintore and her dog Max. The intour was twenty three.
Ruggs was asked at the event what he would say
to is Indour's family, and he said, quote one, I
wish I could turn back the hands of time, he said.
In a video taken by the Las Vegas Review Journal,
he said, I would love for them to meet the

(06:15):
real Henry Ruggs and not the one that was escaping
from something I sincerely apologize for not only being a
part of that situation, but the fact that my face
is always in the news. It's always in the newspaper,
so they have to constantly be reminded of the situation
and be reminded of me. Ruggs, a former first round
draft pick, pled guilty in May of twenty twenty three
to fell any duy causing death and misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter.

(06:38):
He was sentenced in August of twenty twenty three to
a three to ten year prison sentence. Ruggs, of course,
was the teammate of Jerry Judy down there at Alabama.
Ruggs drafted before Judy. The Broncos drafted Judy that season.
And it's sort of fascinating because Ruggs was a guy
I thought could have been an absolute star in the NFL.

(06:58):
But there are questions about it maturity coming out and
you know, we all know what happened four years ago,
but I think you know based on and if you
watch this video, you can see a guy who has matured,
who has who lives with the gravity of his mistake
and lives every day with you know, the weight of

(07:21):
the damage that he has caused in taking of a
life and the damage that he has caused to the
family of the young woman whose life was taken. Just
a just a horrible situation, and really goes to hammering
home and remembering to people to make smart decisions. Don't

(07:41):
drink and drive. If you are drinking, just don't drive.
They got uber they got lyft, you know, whatever it is.
If you're going to drink, just don't drive either. Hire
someone if you're an NFL player, hire somebody to haul
you around, or have an uber lyft come pick you up.
There are there are any number of solutions to that.
You are never sober enough to drive, Like, just just

(08:02):
have that rule if I'm gonna have a drop, you know,
and that eliminates a lot of this stuff. You know.
I know, people, I came up in the South, where
you know, the attitude was sort of you know, I'm good,
I've only had two beers, that kind of stuff. But
now that's the wrong attitude, you know, that's that's the
wrong attitude. The attitude should be a am I putting
it people at risk getting behind the wheel here and yeah,

(08:26):
you know you are so you know, please heat the
sound of my voice and if you're gonna get a drink,
don't drive. This story dovetails with another story that hits
a little closer to home here, although no tragedy involved
in this one. Cleveland Brown's rookie quarterback and former CU
buff Shador Sanders was sighted by police early Tuesday morning

(08:47):
for driving one hundred and one miles per hour. An
officer for the Strongsville, Ohio Police Department stop Sanders at
twelve twenty four am for driving forty one miles an
hour over the posted sixty mile an hour speed limit
in his black Dodge TRX truck. According to police records, Sanders,

(09:07):
who was by some a projected first round pick, was
selected by the Browns after falling to the fifth round
of this year's draft. He must either pay fine of
two hundred and fifty dollars for the fourth degree misdemeanor
or fight the ticket in Strongsville Mayor's court on July third.
Sanders participated in the Browns mendatory MINDI camp last week,

(09:28):
and he remained in Cleveland along with all the other
rookies for an orientation. But this is I mean coming
on the heels of Henry Ruggs being out there and
apologizing for this, and you're sure, Sanders and you're out there,
you know, racing. I don't know if he was actually racing,
but he was driving that fast at that point in time, Like,

(09:49):
it doesn't get you there any faster. I mean, you're
talking about mere minutes that it gets to your destination faster.
That's the other thing I never understood the people that
speed that fast. There aren't enough miles in you know,
unless you're traveling cost country for it to really save
you that much time, you know, or unless you're going
to be driving for an hour forty miles. An hour

(10:10):
faster will literally save you forty miles. So you're talking
about minutes a minute or two, and that's really it.
And so that kind of stuff, I just it blows
my mind what people will risk for how little time
that they actually save doing those kinds of things. The
Baltimore Ravens granted Lamar Jackson's wish today by signing Green

(10:32):
Bay Packers Corner JY R. Alexander. The one year deal
with Alexander's worth up to six million. It does include
two million eight incentives. The addition of Alexander to Baltimore
gives them a pretty talented secondary and reunites him with Jackson.
Lamar Jackson, a close friend and former teammate Louisville. After

(10:55):
Tuesday's mini camp practice, Jackson made a strong plea to
Ravens general manager Eric to to sign him, saying go
get Americ. Jackson went on to say, I level my
corner is still get me wrong, but go get Americ,
referring to his DaCosta referring to signing his friend Jyr Alexander.
After Alexander signed his deal with Baltimore, the Ravens posted
a video on social media Jackson celebrating with Alexander by

(11:16):
slapping hands and give him a hug. Alexander Jackson played
at Louisville together twenty fifteen to twenty seventeen. John Harbaugh said,
today it makes Lamar happy. I think made everybody happy.
It was an opportunity to become a better team today. Alexander,
who is twenty eight, was released by the Packers on
June ninth, following two straight injury filled seasons. It was

(11:38):
an All Pro in twenty twenty and twenty twenty two.
Bloody played in just thirty four of a possible sixty
eight games Since the start of the twenty twenty one campaign,
Alexander was scheduled to make seventeen point five million the season.
None of that was guaranteed. Alexander can remain healthy, Baltimore
will have one of the strongest defensive back fields in

(12:00):
the league. He joins the secondary that has first round
draft picks at corner in Marlin Humphrey and Eight Wiggins,
and at safety in Kyle Hamilton and Malachi Starks. Ravens
will likely line up Alexander and Wiggins on the outside
and use Humphrey as the slot corner. A quote that's
never been said and probably never will be an NFL
history is we've got too many corners who can cover.

(12:21):
Humphrey said, I think that's a great problem to have.
Baltimore is coming off of season which is past defense
ranked thirty first in the NFL, giving up two hundred
and forty forty yards per game. The Ravens have boosted
the secondary of this offseason by hiring Chuck Pagano as
the senior secondary coach and drafting Starks in the first
round and now signing, of course, Jyry Alexander, the number

(12:43):
eighteenth pick of the twenty eighteen draft. Alexander's total two
hundred and eighty seven tackles, twelve picks and seventy passes defense.
He's been one of the less in the league since
he got in. Kyle Hamilton said, you have anybody like that,
especially to Dab, It's super valuable. On the comeback news,

(13:05):
the Houston Texans has signed corner Damon Arnett to a
one year deal. Twenty twenty first round draft pick looks
to make his return to the NFL following numerous legal issues,
or to the ESPN, Arnett was most recently in the UFL,
playing for the Houston Roughnecks's past season. Signing comes shortly
after on June tenth, a Colorado federal judge ordered Arnett

(13:27):
to pay more than seventy eight thousand dollars to a
dancer who said he had assaulted her at a March
twenty twenty three house party. Barnett was accused of striking
the woman and smashing her head on the ground. A
former first round picked by the Raiders out of Ohio State,
Arnett was released in the November twenty twenty one season

(13:47):
after playing a combined thirteen games over two seasons while
facing a lawsuit for the lleged hit and run after
a video surface to Barnett making death threats while brandishing
a firearm on social media. Often signed Arnette to the
practice squad in December of twenty twenty one, but he
never appeared in any games and wasn't resigned by Miami
in the off season. Chiefs signed him to a futures

(14:08):
contract in January twentieth, twenty twenty two, but he was
released nine days later after he was jailed in Las
Vegas on two counts of assault with a deadly weapon,
carrying or concealing a gun without a permit, possession of
a controlled substance, and possession of marijuana or cannabis. The
January twenty twenty two case was dropped by the Clark
County District Attorney's office, but in May of twenty twenty three,

(14:29):
a grand jury indicted him on assault with the deadly
weapon and firearm related charges related to the incident. Arnett
agreed to a plea deal. Arnett, who hadn't signed with
an NFL team since the Chiefs, has found himself in
additional legal trouble since that contract. In July of twenty
twenty two, Barnett was arrested in Miami on charges of
possession controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, and driving with

(14:50):
a suspended license. In January of twenty twenty four, Arnett
was arrested and charged with possession of less than a
gram of meth and unlawful carrying of a Firearmy Richardson, Texas.
Arnett entered a diversion program for the Miami charges. As
lawyers said at the time of the Texas arrest that
it was due to our Nett being unable to provide
a prescription for lawful medication. Texans told ESPN they have

(15:12):
no comment regarding his legal history. Arnette has been out
of the league for three years looking to make his comeback,
and that would be it'd be a good story. I
mean he was you know, people who talked to him
and he played in the UFL the Spring, a lot
of them really thought he finally turned his life around.

(15:33):
You know, it's it's tough. You know, you get buried
in that much quicksand you start struggling, it gets worse.
But Arnett, who was a pick of then Raiders general
nature of Mike Mayock, you know, it was a guy
who had talent, but just just could not get it
all and keep it all together. And end of the day,
you know, chance after chance, he looks like he's getting

(15:56):
his last one, you know, with the Houston Texans here.
And I don't know if it'll make you since roster
or not, but I'm always rooting for guys to turn
their lives around. You know, I've been through I've been
through enough in my life where in mistakes that I've
made that people have given me chances and over the
last two or three years for me personally, have have
been have been great for me in turning areas of

(16:17):
my life around. You know, fellas, get yourself in therapy, man,
I'm telling you, like it sounds stupid, it sounds cheesy, whatever,
but just getting to talk to somebody and talking stuff
out and having somebody there to interact with your stream
of consciousness thoughts and point out you know, what it
is that you're doing and help you find solutions. It's
worked miracles for me, so I recommend it to anybody else.

(16:39):
And you know, Damon Arnett who's been through a little
bit of that and been through some rehabits some other
things trying to turn his life around. Down Er in Houston.
We'll see if he's he's able to do that. We
come back, I want to talk about the h the
two franchises being sold, the tamp Bear Rays and the
l A Lakers. You listened to Broncos Country to night
here on Kiawei. Welcome back to it, Broncos Country Tonight.
Ben's been all right here with you. Short show abbreviated

(17:01):
show post Rockies edition again myself Nick Ferguson. I'll be
live tomorrow night, full show. So you guys want to
join us for that. We always love having you. I mean,
we appreciate all you guys listening on the podcast as well,
Don't get me wrong, but we love when you guys
get a chance to interact with us live as we're
doing the show. That's one of the things I think
we love about this format about live radio, you know,

(17:23):
versus podcasting. And it's again not to take anything away
from the podcast listeners, but there's an element of you know,
it's dudes sitting around at the bar talk at sports,
you know kind of thing. There's an element of that
sort of live conversation that we really enjoy and so
we enjoy the text us even if we don't read
them all. We enjoy getting the opportunity to read those messages,

(17:45):
your reactions in real time, that kind of stuff, and
and so we always appreciate that. So five six six
nine zero is where you would where you would leave
those messages. Tampa Bay Rays principal owner Stu Steinberg. Sternberg
excuse me, is in is closing in on a one

(18:06):
point seven billion dollar deal to sell the Tampa Bay Rays.
Agreement's not quite done yet, but it does have a
signed letter of intent from a group led by Jacksonville
developer Patrick Salapuski. Zalapuski is a home builder in Jacksonville.
He's been identified as a potential lead buyer in a
deal that values the team at one point seven billion.

(18:28):
He's already executed a letter of intent to purchase the team.
And that's per Sportico, who first reported the talks. Sternberg
bought the Rays in two thousand and four for two
hundred million dollars. The team acknowledged the discussions in a
statement saying the Tampa Bay Rays announced that the team
has recently commenced exclusive discussions with a group led by
Patrick Zealipuski. Bill Cosgrove, Ken Babby and prominent Tampa Bay

(18:52):
investors concerning a possible sale of the team. Neither the
Rays nor the group left further comment during the discussions.
A year ago, Sternberg had a deal in place to
build a new stadium in the historic gas Plant District,
a reimagined recreational, retail and residential district in Saint Petersburg
to replace Tropicata Field. However, after Hurricane Milton shredded the

(19:15):
roof of the stadium last October, forcing the Rays into
temporary quarters, Sternberg's commitment has been less than resolute, saying
the team would have to bear excess costs or not
in the budget. In March, Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob
Manfred and some other owners began to privately push Sternberg
to sell the franchise. Zalapuski is the president and CEO

(19:36):
of Dream Finders' Homes, which was founded December two thousand
and eight to a member the board of Trustees at
the University of Florida. It's unclear what his group, if
it ultimately goes through with this purchase and is approved,
would do for a permanent stadium. At this time, the
Rays are currently playing at George M. Steinbrenderfield in Tampa,
located at the site of the New York Yankee spring

(19:58):
training facility and the home of their Single A Tampa Tarponds.
One point seven billion dollars for a Major League baseball
team is an interesting valuation when you juxtapose that with
NFL franchises. For instance, you know the Broncos in their
sale for Walton Penna Group for around six billion dollars.

(20:22):
The contracts in Major League Baseball are guaranteed versus Pro
Football ward or not. But you know, it takes a
little bit more operational capital to run a baseball team.
You travel more there or more games. There's more opportunity
to make money, but there's you know, with concessions and
stadium and tickets and whatnot. But you know, it could

(20:43):
be tough because your cash outlay is a little bit
more for a product that doesn't generate as much revenue
as the NFL. We juxtaposed that with perhaps the biggest
story of the day, and that is that the Bus
family is entering into an agreement to sell majority ownership

(21:05):
of the Los Angeles Lakers to Mark Walter for a
franchise valuation of approximately ten billion dollars, the most ever
for a US professional sports franchise. The Bus family would
keep a minority share of the team just over fifteen
percent for a period of time. In addition, Genie Bus
would remain the Lakers governor and continue to run the

(21:27):
team for at least quote a number of years. Sources
with knowledge of the deal told ESPNS Romona Shelburne it
was guaranteed as part of the agreement the Genie Bus
would remain in charge for the foreseeable future, and Walter
fully endorsed this plan. According to multiple sources, Walter, the
CEO and chairman of diversified holding company TWG Global, has

(21:49):
interested in multiple professional sports organizations, including the LA Dodgers,
the LA Sparks, the Billy Gene Cup, Cadillac Formula One team,
and the Professional Women's Hockey League. The Lakers have been
owned by the Bus family since nineteen seventy nine, when
Jerry Buss purchased the franchise from Jack Kent Cook and
a sixty five excuse me, sixty seven point five million

(22:11):
dollar transaction that also included the LA Kings and the Forum.
Since nineteen eighty, the Lakers have won eleven championships, the
most by any NBA team during that span. The Lakers
passed to Bus's children when he passed in twenty thirteen,
and his daughter Genie has served as the Lakers governor since.
Walter has been a stakeholder in the Lakers since twenty

(22:32):
twenty one, when he purchased phil Anshoot's shares of twenty
six percent of the team. That was also when Walter
received a rite of first refusal of the majority share
of the team. Lakers franchise legend Magic Johnson, who was
a business partner of Walters and somewhat extremely close to
gene Buss, endorsed the moves in a series of social

(22:52):
media posts, noting the Lakers fans should be ecstatic, saying quote,
Mark Walter is the best choice and will be the
best caretaker of the Laker brand. The proof isn't the
putting on what he's been able to accomplish with the Dodgers.
Mark's been nothing short of a winner, notching two World
Series and on eleven NL West Divisional titles in the
last twelve years. Johnson said he has certain Geni Bus
made the deal only after being convinced that Walter will

(23:13):
do right by the Lakers. Walter has been the controlling
over the Dodgers since twenty twelve, when his investment group
purchased the franchise for two billion. He has interests in
multiple sports organizations. What we already said, sparks, Formula one PBHL.
Johnson went on to say a few things I can
tell you about Mark. He's driven by winning, excellence and

(23:35):
doing everything the right way, and emphasis added he will
put in the resources needed to win. I can understand
why Genie sold the team to Mark Walter because they
are just alike. Their competitive people, have big hearts, love
to get back, and both prefer to be behind the scenes.
This makes all the sense in the world. Walter is
known for shunning the spotlight. He's the CEO of financial

(23:57):
services firm Guggenheim Partners, which is as needed to have
more than three hundred and twenty five billion dollars in assets.
Johnson is among Guggenheim's investors. The Lakers have been in
the control of the Bus family for forty six years.
It's the longest of any current NBA franchise. Herb Simon

(24:17):
bought the Indiana Pacers, currently in the NBA Finals in
nineteen eighty three. That would be the second longest current
ownership of an NBA club. Burchase agreement was preceded by
two of Genie Bus's closest confidence in the NBA governor's
community agreeing to sales for their team the last two years.
Mark Cuban sold a majority stake in the Dallas Mavericks

(24:38):
for three point five billion in twenty twenty three, and
what Grausbeck sold the Boston Celtics for six point one
billion about three months ago. The Celtics selling for six
point one and the Lakers selling for evaluation of ten
billion dollars is astronomical, And I think that at for me,

(25:03):
it's it's sort of interesting because people can't conceptualize how
much money a billion dollars really is, Right, a million dollars,
we can kind of conceptualize that. Right, if you make
fifty thousand dollars a year, in twenty years, you'll have
made a million dollars, and you can you can sort

(25:24):
of you can conceptualize that, but people can't wrap their
heads around how much money a billion dollars really is.
Most people will not make a billion dollars in their lifetime.
Overwhelming majority of ninety nine percent of people will not
make a billion dollars in their lifetime. They just won't.
And to illustrate the difference between a million and a
billion in a way that people can understand, I always

(25:49):
use a function of time, and that is to say
that if you had one million seconds, right, hours, minute seconds,
if you had one million seconds, how long would that be? Well,
the answer is it's about a little over eleven days.
It's almost two weeks, right, a million seconds, it's almost

(26:09):
two weeks. How long do you think a billion seconds are?
Think about that in your head, just just spitfall yourself
a guess, because I'm gonna tell you without looking, how
long do you think a billion seconds are? Because a
million seconds at just over eleven days, about two weeks, right,
a billion seconds is thirty three years. That's the difference

(26:32):
between a million and a billion. That's the that's the
staggering difference between a million dollars and a billion dollars.
And so when you when you have a sports franchise
selling for ten billion dollars, what that What that says
is Okay, this person obviously has and I say disposable income,

(26:57):
but it's not really disposable, but it has the UH
is the ability to be able to you know, come
up with that amount of money to be able to
pay for it. Now Mark Walter, interestingly, in February his
net worth was listed at six point one billion. But

(27:18):
what I imagine is is that that's more of a
liquidity and he will have to probably make a few
sales in terms of maybe letting go of his stakes
in F one or whatever else in order to sort
of make ends on these things. You know. It's it's

(27:39):
that is that is an astronomical amount of money. But
to put that in perspective right now, keep in mind
we were talking about one billion and one million being
you know, two weeks and thirty three years, and Walter
is supposedly worth six point one billion, although I think
it's a little more than that. In May of this year,

(28:02):
Forbes estimated Rob Walton, primary owner of the Denver Broncos,
to be worth one hundred and twelve and a half
billion dollars between one twelve and one to fifteen is
really you know where they put him, which makes him
the thirteenth wealthiest person in the world. But that is

(28:25):
still an obscene amount of money. He I mean, having
having that much money, I like, I can't even most
people count wrap their head around. It's the same way
when you talk about billions of stars in the sky
or whatever. You know, people think they have an idea
of what a billion is. But again, one hundred billion,

(28:49):
to put that again as a function of time, just
one hundred billion, not even the extra thirteen to fifteen billion,
just one hundred billion. We talked about one billion being
thirty three years, right, it would be three thousand, three
hundred years, and to put that in perspective, that would

(29:12):
be thirteen hundred years before the alleged birth of Jesus.
That that's how much money. If you put you know,
you put dollars to seconds and you start to work
it that way and you start to wrap your head
around exactly how much money. That is an absolutely just

(29:34):
massive amount. And then having the Lakers sell for ten billion,
which is a US sports record, you know, the Celtics
at six point one was was kind of eye opening
because that's an and that's an NFL number. Right. We
saw the Tampa Rays, you know, one point seven billion.
That that's that's more in line with some of these

(29:55):
other leagues. The Celtics at six point one and the
Lakers having a valuation of ten billion dollars is just
I mean, like I'm struggling to wrap my head around it.
That is, that is an obscene amount of money. One

(30:17):
more story I want to get to here, and while
we normally don't talk about cheerleaders, shout out to the
Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. Shout out to our good friend Mario Vitanzi,
whose cousin is one of the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. The
Cowboys cheerleaders are getting a serious increase in pay. One
of the cheerleaders said during the second season of Netflix's

(30:38):
America's Sweethearts Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders that the members are getting
a four hundred percent boost in pay. Cheerleaders have been
pushing for pay increases for years, and twenty nineteen, the
Cowboys settle a lawsuit with the former cheerleader that led
to the squad doubling the per game pay from two
hundred and four hundred dollars. The latest raise is now
four times that our efforts were heard and they wanted

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to give us a raise. Four year veteran Megan Mullaney
said on the show, we ended up getting a four
hundred percent increase, which can be life changing. According to ESPN,
the Cowboys agreed to pay four cheerleaders a total of
two point four million nine years ago to settle claims
by the women that teams longtime public relations chief Rich

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Dalrymple filmed them in the dressing room. Dalrymple denied the claims,
and the club said its investigation found no wrongdoing. Dalrymple
retired not long before the settlement became public in twenty
twenty two. The Cowboys had been the most valuable pro
sports team in the world for almost a decade. According
to Forbes, the number put on them late last year

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was ten point one billion, which again in juxtapposing that
with what the Lakers just valued at it's probably higher.
Happy isn't even the right word for it. Former cheerleader
Jada MacLean said on the show. I think it was
just kind of felt like a real like everything get
paid off, and it was, you know, finally we were
done fighting. And for those that didn't know, now you do.

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As of twenty nineteen, Cowboys cheerleaders were making two hundred
dollars a game. They doubled that to four hundred at
the time, and now they are going to be making
about eighteen hundred dollars a game. So they don't travel
with the team. Obviously they don't get paid on those days.
So the only days they get paid on is that
and then they get paid for appearances, just like the
Broncos cheerleaders. You get paid for game day and you
get paid for you appearances, but it's not not much money.

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You know. That's one of those things that we'll probably
ask our good friend really being about when we get
a chance at some point. I wanted to get her
comment on this story and what that means for those
who have who have cheerled last year. I wanted to
get to us the Giants and Elik Neighbors. Neighbors has

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had a nagging tow injury, but he's expected to be
ready for the start of training camp on July twenty second.
He did not participate in any of the practices opened
to me during OTAs or mandatory mini camp. Did, however,
take part in some walk through periods and was seen
jogging without a limp that coach Brian Daboles said earlier
this offseason. The Neighbors injured his toe last season and
has been issued for him since his days at LSU.

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They quote, every person's at a different part in call
it rehab if you will, or prehab, and we just
did what we thought was best for Elik to try
to get it as healthy as we can. Neighbors, the
sixth overall selection in last year's draft, finished his rookie
season with one hundred and nine catches twelve hundred and
four yards, seven touchdowns, and participated in the Pro Bowl.
Giants decided to play it safe the spring. Quote has

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had some issues, like I said in the past in
college with it, and Daviell said, and again that was
the plan that we came up with for him for
our football team. Neighbors was hardly the only Giants starter
limited the spring. Left tackle Andrew Thomas didn't participate in
practice as he comes back from with frank surgery he
had in October. All per defensive tackle Dester Lawrence, participate
only in individual drills throughout the spring. That one practice

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earlier this month, the Giants had eight starters, five on
defense not participating in team drills. The Giants are obviously
going to need a healthy Neighbors to fix a troubled
offense to finish thirty first last season in points per
game sport. It get to work this summer with new
starting quarterback Russell Wilson, who has yet to throw to
neighbors in live drills. Neighbors averages four point three yards

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after the catch per reception last season. That was eighty
second among all receivers. So you wanted the one to
get him up to speed and what he's able to
do with Russell Wilson's the starter there. You've paid attention
to the news coming out of mandatory midikiv at OTAs.
There's a pretty firm order there with Russ at the
top for the New York Giants, Jackson Darts struggle a
little bit, and Jamis has kind of been hit or miss,

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so we'll see how that works out. Guys are listening
to Broncos Country tonight right here on Koait's a fifty
am ninety four one FM News Talk Sports