February 10, 2025 • 22 mins
In this special bonus episode of The Deal, Alex Rodriguez and Jason Kelly hop on the mic to talk about the biggest night in sports. They discuss the pressures of being a quarterback at the Super Bowl, how FOX must feel about the game's ratings, the best sports-related ads of the night, and what it all means for the business of football.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio News Hie.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Welcome to a special edition of The Deal Our Super
Bowl Thoughts. Alex Rodriguez, my co host, myself Jason Kelly
joining you, breaking down the big game from you know,
what I would like to think is our unique perspective.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Alex. First of all, how are you doing?
Speaker 3 (00:29):
I'm doing great? You know, super Bowl Monday. This is
one of my favorite days of the year because it
reminds me, Jason in my career that baseball's right around
the corner. Yes, the Monday after the Super Bowl is
Baseball's almost here, Springs almost here, warm weather, all of it.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
That's great. That's a good point.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
That's a good point because, like I have to say,
Super Bowl Monday, I feel the same way. But I
also feel like, ah, football is over. You know, I
love watching football, you and I love talking about it,
So let's talk about it. I mean, this game. I
don't think anybody on this Super Bowl Monday is like,
hey everyone, great game, unless you're a Philadelphia Eagles fan.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
What did you think of it?
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Well? I just think that I can relate big time
with the Kansas City Chiefs. You know, Pat Mahomes obviously,
I've known him since he was a child because I
played with his father, Pat Mahomes Senior. But you know,
you either love the Chiefs or you hate the Chiefs,
and I think the chatter and at least in my opinion,
going in, I don't think people gave the Eagles enough
(01:29):
credit on how great they are from top or the
organization to bottom. It was an absolute masterclass from ownership
to GM to head coach, defensive coordinator, you name it.
They won every category by a landslide.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
All right, So there's a lot to unpact there, and
I want to unpack it with you. The first is
you touched on it, and I'm going to take it
a step further. I think the Kansas City Chiefs this
season essentially became the villain of the NFL.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Would you agree?
Speaker 2 (01:59):
And I dare say, like, you know a little bit
of what that's like playing for the TV you played for?
Speaker 1 (02:04):
How do you read that? Why was that well?
Speaker 3 (02:07):
I mean, look, when you're that good, I think there's
some fatigue, right, there's some jealousy for sure. I mean
fan bases that haven't been I mean, think about if
you're the Bills, right and you're a fan base and
you see the Chiefs just winning and winning and winning,
and they have now glamour and they have you know,
the great Taylor Swift, and they have Hall of Famers
all over the place, and you know, the red. It
gets a little bright for people. And I think that's
(02:29):
what you saw.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
And the other funny thing is like the Eagles are
a team that I don't know people love to hate
because you know, Philadelphia fans, again, this is something you
know as well as anyone, are like no other. They
have a ferocity all their own. And yet it did
feel like the stadium, at least watching it on TV,
it felt like the stadium was very pro Eagles. I
(02:52):
mean like it wasn't quite a home game, but like
it definitely felt like it was with them sort of
with them in the room.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
All right.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
I want to I want to lean on your expertise
here in two different ways, and I want you to
put yourself in the mindset of each of these quarterbacks.
Pat Mahomes, you said you noted you've known him since
he was a child, you played with his dad. The
pressure going into that game, what does that feel like?
What do you think was sort of going through his
(03:19):
head leading up to it and then as it is
like clearly coming apart.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Well, I think if you're Patrick Mahomes, you want to
eliminate the white noise because there's a lot of it.
Two weeks is a long time. It's a long time
between games. I think Patrick Mahomes knew how good the
Eagles were a little bit disconnect from I would say
the general fan base, and I feel that. You know,
he said after the game yesterday that the agony of
(03:45):
defeat hurts more than the glory of winning, or something
like that. I'm paraphrasing, obviously, but for me, there was
a lot of pressure on Patrick Mahomes and it's almost
a no win situation. Yes, you get the three pet
but man, you show up to the dance often enough,
it's just a matter of time.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
So you get whacked.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Yeah, and last night they got whacked. So I dare
say you felt that feeling. What does it feel like?
How do you process that when the expectations are so
high and you don't meet them.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
I think, Look, it's hard enough to repeat. I mean,
the numbers will tell you it's almost impossible not to
do a three P. That's almost really impossible, especially in
such a competitive league. Look, the Eagles had it all working,
and if you look at the numbers and you look
inside the data, the Eagles were a better team all
year long. Yeah, from training camp to last night. And
I think the Chiefs are looking at you know, we're
(04:36):
one point favorite when and a half point, and they're like,
I'm not sure about that. We might be the dogs here.
But I think for a guy like Patrick Mahomes, I'm
really looking forward to see how he comes back. But
the daunting task of having to do that back to
back to back, I think it was too much against
a team like the Eagles.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
So what's your advice to him?
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Well, I don't think he needs advice, but I think
knowing Patrick the way I do, I think he's going
to get back to the drawing board and I think
they have some more to do. Again, there is not
my circle of confidence, but it seems like they're going
to probably strengthen their line a little bit. It seems
like they're going to go out and get, you know,
beef up that roster a little bit and put their
necessary pieces for Patrick Mahomes to get back to the
(05:17):
Super Bowl and win it and look just like the
Eagles did a couple of years ago. They came back
stronger than ever. Yeah, I think the Chiefs will be back.
I can almost guarantee that.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
All Right, I'm going to move to the Eagles in
a second, but I'm going to push you on this
because I feel like, as your friend and your partner,
it is it's like I understand what you're saying about
the football, but as an athlete, like you have insights
into this that almost no one does.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Like, how do you get your head right after you
lose like that?
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Well, I think here's the deal. When we lost in
two thousand and four to the Red Sox after being
up three zero, I think that's a whole different way.
Not all losses are created equal. I think it's actually
easier to get over last night because that was that
was a whacking, right, I mean they got destroyed in
every they really did. I mean it was over from
the get go, and then you see the interceptions and
(06:04):
then you see another one, and I'm sure for Patrick
he felt quite embarrassed and some shame. I know that's
how I felt. You almost don't want to come out
of your house for a month or two. But I
think there's going to build him up. I think he's
crushed right now. I think he's a little bit in disbelief.
He played his worst game of the year, the biggest.
That's something that you can never say about Patrick Mahomes.
So I think he's I know that after two thousand
and four, I was destroyed and it took a lot
(06:26):
out of me. And I came back in OH five
and came back stronger than ever. I won an MVP,
and then of course in two thousand and nine we
won the world title. So I can see Patrick Mahomes
coming back stronger. But it's going to take a minute
to get over this loss. This one hurts.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Yeah, all right, So let's shift to Jalen hurts because
he comes into this game with like a head full
of bulletin board material, right, I mean, he played out
of his mind two years ago, I mean literally the
best game of his life and the team comes up short.
How does he in your mind? How did he go
(07:01):
into the game yesterday? And what does that feel like
from your perspective? And maybe it's O five, maybe it's
O nine for you. How does it feel like when
you're like, Okay, I put in the work and now
I see the fruits of that labor.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Much easier than Patrick Mahomes because here's a guy who
played really, really well yeah and couldn't close. But that's
easier from a psychological point of view because you can say, Okay,
I showed up in the biggest game. Great confidence. I
just need my boys to follow. Yeah. But it was
interesting after he lost that game a couple of years ago.
(07:37):
I think he said we'll be back, and he was
very resolute and very confident that they were going to
come back, and this time they're going to be ready.
And I think he's been prepping for last night the
Super Bowl for the last two years. Yeah, and it helps.
It helps, like a tidal wave of confidence when you
play well at the highest level and your teammates come
up a little short, then the other way around.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Yeah, Okay, that's really interesting.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
By the way, let me just say this the comp
and baseball. This is something I do know about. Is
Aaron Judge. Yeah, Like when Aaron Judge loses against the
Dodgers and he makes that you know, the mistake where
he drops the simple flyball and fans are getting on him,
I think that's a double avalanche to overcome. He played poorly,
and the Yankees got embarrassed. For a guy like Aaron
(08:21):
Judge is a double whammy that's much harder than the
battle we're talking about.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Yeah, all right, So you alluded to something really important,
which is what happens with the Eagles over the intervening
two years between that loss, and it happens very quickly.
And what's interesting is from an ownership perspective, these are
ownership groups that you and I know more than enough
to be dangerous about. I dare say both very resolute.
(08:46):
In the case of the Eagles, Jeffrey Loriie I did
a documentary about him a couple of years ago. He's
a very different sort of owner, very understated, as you know,
really is involved and also really trusts people.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
His relationship with Howie.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Roseman is probably one of the lesser known but arguably
most important storylines here because what they do over two
years is they draft incredibly well and they really identify
what the missing pieces are. When I think about the
business lessons from what the Eagles have done, that's what
(09:22):
strikes me is that, like they really figured out what
they needed and they went and got it. Because this
was an entirely different team especially on the defensive side
than we saw two years ago. And that's just again
we see all these lessons between sports and sort of
business more broadly. That to me is like a management
(09:44):
to use your word, a management masterclass.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Yeah, Jason. And the thing is, by the way, I
love that piece you did with them a few years
ago because I learned a lot about them. Jeffy Lourie.
I'm talking about the owner of the Philadelphia Eagles. The
adjustment they made was not that rare if you're talking
about five twenty years. What makes it rare is it
did it inside of two years? Yeah, And that is
a testament to jeff Louriy the owner. Now when you
(10:07):
think about their ownership group, you said it they draft, well,
they do one, free agency, They develop their players and
their alignment from top to bottom. Jeffrey Loriiy the owner,
he is the epitome of what VCP stands for, Big vision,
clear vision. He deploys tons of capital to go get
his players like Barkley, and then you go out and
(10:30):
get the best people in the world. And that just
doesn't mean on the field, but it also means this
general manager, his coach, his devisit coordinator, the head of business,
chief revenue officer. Jeff Lori is a masterclass on how
to run an organization and he deserves a lot of flowers.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Yeah, I mean, and did it, you know, very quietly.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
I mean again, in a city that you and I
both know does not hold back, and yet he is,
you know, he is revered. And listen, he has brought
this city two titles. It's first two NFL titles. It's
first two NFL championships, you know, over his ownership in
the last ten years.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
He's owned it for longer, but those have come there
with by the.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Way, two different coaches, two different quarterbacks, obviously a whole
different you know, roster of players and coaches underneath that.
But the one, you know, the one consistency there other
than Jeffrey Lorie.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Is Harry Roseman.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
So we got to get one of those guys on
this pod, by the way, we do.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
And Jason, I want to just kind of double tap
on what you just mentioned, because you know, as an
owner or an organization, sometimes you have easier markets to
be able to navigate, you know, adjustments. But in a
city that you have more white noise, arguably with that
fan base and the radio and the media than any
other franchise, you know, probably only second to New York
(11:47):
or one two, one A, one B. And to do
it in such a stealth matter, in such a noisy place,
which arguably you're talking about some of the most smartest,
most passionate fans and sports the Philadelphia where there's a Phillies.
The Eagles are the Sixers. They bring it every day,
and they expect you as a player, you as a
general manager, and you as an owner to bring it
twenty four to seven.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Let's go back to the game for a second, because
it was on your home network. As happy as the
Eagles were, I'm going to go out on not much
of a limb and say your friends at Fox were
not pleased at how lopsided that game was.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
I have not seen the final ratings.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
I have to think I've seen anecdotally that yourship dropped
off pretty dramatically after halftime because the game felt over,
and it turns out it definitely was over. If you're
sitting at Fox right now, like, are you just thinking
bad luck? You know, it's obviously outside of their control,
but like, what are they feeling right now?
Speaker 3 (12:57):
You know from the Murdocks to Eric Shanks, they're just great,
great people to work with. It's amazing. This is an
organization that they're not married to ratings. They control what
they can control. What it is anti climatic, right, I mean,
they've been planning for two years and this is the baby.
This is what they pay all those billions of dollars for.
And here's what I think Eric Shank would say, I'm
(13:20):
happy with all the control controllables. Yeah, we had a
good telecast, we put on a good show, we had
good numbers, and then the game fell off. And that's
not on us. But that's not just unique to Fox.
It was CBS, NBC, ABC, Disney, whatever. Everybody would be
disappointed with a game that's you know a little bit
out of reach past the middle of the second quarter.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Yeah, yeah, for sure. All right, So let's go to
the booths, Alex.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
These are your guys. Kevin Burkhardt, who is your other partner.
I'm very jealous of him, and obviously Tom Brady you're
a good friend. They're in the booth calling the game.
What's your obviously biased perspective on them?
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Well, again, disclaimer, I love him both. They're both very
good friends. I think Kevin Burkhardt is one of the
most underrated to this day still even after doing a
couple of Super Bowls, one of the most underrated, understung
superstars out there. He does not only a great job
for football and he kind of drives the bus for
Tom Brady. He does a great job with the Fox
(14:17):
World Series crew with Derek Jeter, myself, Dontre Willis, and
Big Poppy. And if Tom Brady was a stock, I
would buy as much as I can afford, I would
buy all of it. And the reason why I say that,
I think he got so much better from week one
to week call it twenty one last night, right to
the Super Bowl. I just think his work ethic is,
you know, second to none, and if you study his resume,
(14:39):
he's a guy that just you know, he knows a
sending better than anyone. And I think that in three
or four years he's gonna be one of the top guys,
if not the top guy in the game.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Yeah, I will say it was fun to watch him.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
I mean, there were so many undercurrents, especially because it
wasn't that long ago that he was playing.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Obviously, it was only a couple of years there's all
this goat debate.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
You know, this certainly was coming into it with Mahomes
and Mahomes. Had they won last night, the Chiefs and
Patrick Mahomes would have done something that Brady had not
done in terms of winning three in a round. I mean,
nobody has done it in the Super Bowl era. So
it was interesting to watch that. I mean it was
also interesting and again I don't know playing sports at
(15:22):
the level you or Tom Brady do certainly, but you
know this notion of you know, sort of Brady watching
all of this unfold, it must have been kididly like
challenging for him to just even process what he was
seeing because he must know, again more than anyone. How
that felt for Patrick Mahomes to have that sort of
(15:44):
performance and just be overwhelmed by a defense. I mean,
in some ways it happened to Tom a couple times,
you know, because he was seven and three in his
ten Super.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Bowls, so he didn't win everyone. But it's fascinating to
have him calling that game of any game.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Yeah, a few things there. There's a lot to unpack there, Jason.
So number one, you and I about a month month
and a half ago, did a pod here on the deal,
and I felt the same way probably Tom felt about
watching the great Patrick Mahomes. I felt the same way
watching Juan Sooa go through these negotiations. Yeah, because around
twenty four years ago, I was in that same spot
(16:21):
and that was kind of a weird unique That's why
I'm so glad we jumped in the pod. That's one too.
It's really hard to judge or praise both Tom Brady
and Kevin Burkhart in a game that's that wide open
because it really goes from first half is a super
Bowl to second half is talk radio. Yeah, and there's
no big watershed moments like I like to appraise announcers
(16:44):
in the seventh, eighth, and ninth and in and for
football down the stretch because I want Tom to tell
me should they do a three step drop or a
seventh step drop? Should they be doing a screen or
running here? And that only happens when you have all
the money on the table. So last night it's almost
like a pass, don't you don't know? You almost throw
out the report card. Really, yeah, because at this point
you're just trying to entertain and have a little fun,
(17:05):
which is very, very challenging and I've been in that position.
But you know, him talking about Patrick Mahomes I thought
was a great subplot. I think, you know, how does
he react if he's going to do the three p
The fact that he had access to production meetings this week,
I thought that's an interesting step because it's been talked
about that Tom Brady doesn't have access to production meetings
(17:26):
because of his ownership with the Raiders. And again, who
better if the game is a blowout? Who better to
talk about coming back in that stadium than Tom Brady?
Speaker 2 (17:38):
I will say as an Atlanta Falcons fan, it was
excruciating to think about. The biggest comparison, of course, had
they come back, would have been twenty eight to three.
Of course, like the worst will right right, like everybody
except New England Hatriots fans.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
But by the way, Jason, but you said something earlier
about the fans were a little bit louder for the
Eagles in Kansas City. You know, you remember in the
mid nineties to late nineties, the Brace fans sometimes wouldn't
sell out for the playoff games. Yeah, and because they
went every year, it was like unless it's the World
Series or bust, and I'm not going to get stimulated
(18:14):
over first or second round. Yeah, the Yankees went through
a little bit of a lull where they were very
spoils from winning, right. I think there's maybe a little
bit of the thatd with the Chiefs, where the Eagles
are like this kind of they're both blue collars, but
like we haven't won, we need to beat them. And
you felt a little bit more energy at least early
in the game before it was a blowout.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Yeah, all right, I want to wrap up by talking
a little bit about the ads. I got to tell
you I was a little bit underwhelmed. I feel like
we need a little more creativity. I will say one
theme that definitely joked out to me is a theme
that we've been talking about a lot on our podcast,
which is women's sports. And you know, clearly I thought
two of the most compelling ads were the Nike ad
(18:53):
your friends at Nike creating just a super powerful ad
with an unbelievable number of powerful female athletes. It's led
by Caitlin Carr, Chikari Richardson, Sabrina I and Scu and
a number of others. That is one that if people
haven't watched, they should go back just for the artistry,
the message, the music, all.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Of it, and then the other.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
And I feel like this is something we're probably going
to be dealing with and wanting to deal with on
the show.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Is flag football and everything that's happening there.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
The NFL is clearly pushing that from a business perspective.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
They know that there's.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
An audience for it and a way to grow the
audience for the NFL by getting more young women to
play football.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
What did you think?
Speaker 3 (19:34):
I love that. I love what Roger Goodell is doing
with trying to grow football, you know, and he's going
two places that are evident. One is youth sports and
youth trying to you know, take market share from baseball,
soccer and other sports by flag football. I think that's brilliant.
I think the more you can introduce young ladies to
the game the better. That's one. And two obviously the
global reach right where they have big ambitions to grow
(19:56):
the game and play all these global games, even with
more repetition. A couple of the ones that I liked
was Tom Brady and Snoop, you know, Fighting Hate. I
think that's a Robert Kraft production. Yes, he's deployed tons
of capital and resources to help fight hate. And also
it was nice to Snoop and Tom Brady. Neither one
got paid for that ad, which you know, props to them.
(20:19):
But my favorite was Nike. I think they had a
maybe a twenty plus year hiatus. I know it's been
a while, and to come back in the way they did,
I think was beautifully done, in a step in the
right direction because their stock has really struggled here in
the last five years.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Yeah for sure. Yeah, interesting, interesting turning point.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
We may see they got a new CEO, and you
know that's something I'm guessing we're going to be talking
about on future episodes. All right, So, speaking of which,
we're moving on to baseball man, like it's all happening.
You know, We've got a lot coming up on this show,
so we'll wrap for now. But I really love being
able to chop it up with you right after a
big event like this. It was fun to watch it
(20:56):
knowing it felt like homework in a good way.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Like I was taking a little.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
On my phone as I was watching gous, like I
gotta ask Alex about this, and I want to take
on these things. So appreciate you for hopping on and
I'm sure I'll be seeing you soon.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
You got it all right, look forward to it all right.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
My thanks to my partner Alex Rodriguez, and you've been
listening to a special edition of the.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Deal here from Bloomberg.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
The Deal is hosted by Alex Rodriguez and me Chasing Kelly.
This episode was made by Stacy Wong, Annamasaakus and Lizzie
Phillip Artha. Music was made by Blake Maples, Brendan Francis.
Neonham is our executive producer. Sage Fouman is the head
of Bloomberg Podcasts. Additional support from Kelly Lefarier, Ashley Honig,
(21:45):
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Speaker 3 (21:59):
Apple pot Cast.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
All you need to do is find the Bloomberg channel
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See you next time.
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio News Hie.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Welcome to a special edition of The Deal Our Super
Bowl Thoughts. Alex Rodriguez, my co host, myself Jason Kelly
joining you, breaking down the big game from you know,
what I would like to think is our unique perspective.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Alex. First of all, how are you doing?
Speaker 3 (00:29):
I'm doing great? You know, super Bowl Monday. This is
one of my favorite days of the year because it
reminds me, Jason in my career that baseball's right around
the corner. Yes, the Monday after the Super Bowl is
Baseball's almost here, Springs almost here, warm weather, all of it.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
That's great. That's a good point.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
That's a good point because, like I have to say,
Super Bowl Monday, I feel the same way. But I
also feel like, ah, football is over. You know, I
love watching football, you and I love talking about it,
So let's talk about it. I mean, this game. I
don't think anybody on this Super Bowl Monday is like,
hey everyone, great game, unless you're a Philadelphia Eagles fan.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
What did you think of it?
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Well? I just think that I can relate big time
with the Kansas City Chiefs. You know, Pat Mahomes obviously,
I've known him since he was a child because I
played with his father, Pat Mahomes Senior. But you know,
you either love the Chiefs or you hate the Chiefs,
and I think the chatter and at least in my opinion,
going in, I don't think people gave the Eagles enough
(01:29):
credit on how great they are from top or the
organization to bottom. It was an absolute masterclass from ownership
to GM to head coach, defensive coordinator, you name it.
They won every category by a landslide.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
All right, So there's a lot to unpact there, and
I want to unpack it with you. The first is
you touched on it, and I'm going to take it
a step further. I think the Kansas City Chiefs this
season essentially became the villain of the NFL.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Would you agree?
Speaker 2 (01:59):
And I dare say, like, you know a little bit
of what that's like playing for the TV you played for?
Speaker 1 (02:04):
How do you read that? Why was that well?
Speaker 3 (02:07):
I mean, look, when you're that good, I think there's
some fatigue, right, there's some jealousy for sure. I mean
fan bases that haven't been I mean, think about if
you're the Bills, right and you're a fan base and
you see the Chiefs just winning and winning and winning,
and they have now glamour and they have you know,
the great Taylor Swift, and they have Hall of Famers
all over the place, and you know, the red. It
gets a little bright for people. And I think that's
(02:29):
what you saw.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
And the other funny thing is like the Eagles are
a team that I don't know people love to hate
because you know, Philadelphia fans, again, this is something you
know as well as anyone, are like no other. They
have a ferocity all their own. And yet it did
feel like the stadium, at least watching it on TV,
it felt like the stadium was very pro Eagles. I
(02:52):
mean like it wasn't quite a home game, but like
it definitely felt like it was with them sort of
with them in the room.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
All right.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
I want to I want to lean on your expertise
here in two different ways, and I want you to
put yourself in the mindset of each of these quarterbacks.
Pat Mahomes, you said you noted you've known him since
he was a child, you played with his dad. The
pressure going into that game, what does that feel like?
What do you think was sort of going through his
(03:19):
head leading up to it and then as it is
like clearly coming apart.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Well, I think if you're Patrick Mahomes, you want to
eliminate the white noise because there's a lot of it.
Two weeks is a long time. It's a long time
between games. I think Patrick Mahomes knew how good the
Eagles were a little bit disconnect from I would say
the general fan base, and I feel that. You know,
he said after the game yesterday that the agony of
(03:45):
defeat hurts more than the glory of winning, or something
like that. I'm paraphrasing, obviously, but for me, there was
a lot of pressure on Patrick Mahomes and it's almost
a no win situation. Yes, you get the three pet
but man, you show up to the dance often enough,
it's just a matter of time.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
So you get whacked.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Yeah, and last night they got whacked. So I dare
say you felt that feeling. What does it feel like?
How do you process that when the expectations are so
high and you don't meet them.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
I think, Look, it's hard enough to repeat. I mean,
the numbers will tell you it's almost impossible not to
do a three P. That's almost really impossible, especially in
such a competitive league. Look, the Eagles had it all working,
and if you look at the numbers and you look
inside the data, the Eagles were a better team all
year long. Yeah, from training camp to last night. And
I think the Chiefs are looking at you know, we're
(04:36):
one point favorite when and a half point, and they're like,
I'm not sure about that. We might be the dogs here.
But I think for a guy like Patrick Mahomes, I'm
really looking forward to see how he comes back. But
the daunting task of having to do that back to
back to back, I think it was too much against
a team like the Eagles.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
So what's your advice to him?
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Well, I don't think he needs advice, but I think
knowing Patrick the way I do, I think he's going
to get back to the drawing board and I think
they have some more to do. Again, there is not
my circle of confidence, but it seems like they're going
to probably strengthen their line a little bit. It seems
like they're going to go out and get, you know,
beef up that roster a little bit and put their
necessary pieces for Patrick Mahomes to get back to the
(05:17):
Super Bowl and win it and look just like the
Eagles did a couple of years ago. They came back
stronger than ever. Yeah, I think the Chiefs will be back.
I can almost guarantee that.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
All Right, I'm going to move to the Eagles in
a second, but I'm going to push you on this
because I feel like, as your friend and your partner,
it is it's like I understand what you're saying about
the football, but as an athlete, like you have insights
into this that almost no one does.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Like, how do you get your head right after you
lose like that?
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Well, I think here's the deal. When we lost in
two thousand and four to the Red Sox after being
up three zero, I think that's a whole different way.
Not all losses are created equal. I think it's actually
easier to get over last night because that was that
was a whacking, right, I mean they got destroyed in
every they really did. I mean it was over from
the get go, and then you see the interceptions and
(06:04):
then you see another one, and I'm sure for Patrick
he felt quite embarrassed and some shame. I know that's
how I felt. You almost don't want to come out
of your house for a month or two. But I
think there's going to build him up. I think he's
crushed right now. I think he's a little bit in disbelief.
He played his worst game of the year, the biggest.
That's something that you can never say about Patrick Mahomes.
So I think he's I know that after two thousand
and four, I was destroyed and it took a lot
(06:26):
out of me. And I came back in OH five
and came back stronger than ever. I won an MVP,
and then of course in two thousand and nine we
won the world title. So I can see Patrick Mahomes
coming back stronger. But it's going to take a minute
to get over this loss. This one hurts.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Yeah, all right, So let's shift to Jalen hurts because
he comes into this game with like a head full
of bulletin board material, right, I mean, he played out
of his mind two years ago, I mean literally the
best game of his life and the team comes up short.
How does he in your mind? How did he go
(07:01):
into the game yesterday? And what does that feel like
from your perspective? And maybe it's O five, maybe it's
O nine for you. How does it feel like when
you're like, Okay, I put in the work and now
I see the fruits of that labor.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Much easier than Patrick Mahomes because here's a guy who
played really, really well yeah and couldn't close. But that's
easier from a psychological point of view because you can say, Okay,
I showed up in the biggest game. Great confidence. I
just need my boys to follow. Yeah. But it was
interesting after he lost that game a couple of years ago.
(07:37):
I think he said we'll be back, and he was
very resolute and very confident that they were going to
come back, and this time they're going to be ready.
And I think he's been prepping for last night the
Super Bowl for the last two years. Yeah, and it helps.
It helps, like a tidal wave of confidence when you
play well at the highest level and your teammates come
up a little short, then the other way around.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Yeah, Okay, that's really interesting.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
By the way, let me just say this the comp
and baseball. This is something I do know about. Is
Aaron Judge. Yeah, Like when Aaron Judge loses against the
Dodgers and he makes that you know, the mistake where
he drops the simple flyball and fans are getting on him,
I think that's a double avalanche to overcome. He played poorly,
and the Yankees got embarrassed. For a guy like Aaron
(08:21):
Judge is a double whammy that's much harder than the
battle we're talking about.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Yeah, all right, So you alluded to something really important,
which is what happens with the Eagles over the intervening
two years between that loss, and it happens very quickly.
And what's interesting is from an ownership perspective, these are
ownership groups that you and I know more than enough
to be dangerous about. I dare say both very resolute.
(08:46):
In the case of the Eagles, Jeffrey Loriie I did
a documentary about him a couple of years ago. He's
a very different sort of owner, very understated, as you know,
really is involved and also really trusts people.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
His relationship with Howie.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Roseman is probably one of the lesser known but arguably
most important storylines here because what they do over two
years is they draft incredibly well and they really identify
what the missing pieces are. When I think about the
business lessons from what the Eagles have done, that's what
(09:22):
strikes me is that, like they really figured out what
they needed and they went and got it. Because this
was an entirely different team especially on the defensive side
than we saw two years ago. And that's just again
we see all these lessons between sports and sort of
business more broadly. That to me is like a management
(09:44):
to use your word, a management masterclass.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Yeah, Jason. And the thing is, by the way, I
love that piece you did with them a few years
ago because I learned a lot about them. Jeffy Lourie.
I'm talking about the owner of the Philadelphia Eagles. The
adjustment they made was not that rare if you're talking
about five twenty years. What makes it rare is it
did it inside of two years? Yeah, And that is
a testament to jeff Louriy the owner. Now when you
(10:07):
think about their ownership group, you said it they draft, well,
they do one, free agency, They develop their players and
their alignment from top to bottom. Jeffrey Loriiy the owner,
he is the epitome of what VCP stands for, Big vision,
clear vision. He deploys tons of capital to go get
his players like Barkley, and then you go out and
(10:30):
get the best people in the world. And that just
doesn't mean on the field, but it also means this
general manager, his coach, his devisit coordinator, the head of business,
chief revenue officer. Jeff Lori is a masterclass on how
to run an organization and he deserves a lot of flowers.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Yeah, I mean, and did it, you know, very quietly.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
I mean again, in a city that you and I
both know does not hold back, and yet he is,
you know, he is revered. And listen, he has brought
this city two titles. It's first two NFL titles. It's
first two NFL championships, you know, over his ownership in
the last ten years.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
He's owned it for longer, but those have come there
with by the.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Way, two different coaches, two different quarterbacks, obviously a whole
different you know, roster of players and coaches underneath that.
But the one, you know, the one consistency there other
than Jeffrey Lorie.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Is Harry Roseman.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
So we got to get one of those guys on
this pod, by the way, we do.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
And Jason, I want to just kind of double tap
on what you just mentioned, because you know, as an
owner or an organization, sometimes you have easier markets to
be able to navigate, you know, adjustments. But in a
city that you have more white noise, arguably with that
fan base and the radio and the media than any
other franchise, you know, probably only second to New York
(11:47):
or one two, one A, one B. And to do
it in such a stealth matter, in such a noisy place,
which arguably you're talking about some of the most smartest,
most passionate fans and sports the Philadelphia where there's a Phillies.
The Eagles are the Sixers. They bring it every day,
and they expect you as a player, you as a
general manager, and you as an owner to bring it
twenty four to seven.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Let's go back to the game for a second, because
it was on your home network. As happy as the
Eagles were, I'm going to go out on not much
of a limb and say your friends at Fox were
not pleased at how lopsided that game was.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
I have not seen the final ratings.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
I have to think I've seen anecdotally that yourship dropped
off pretty dramatically after halftime because the game felt over,
and it turns out it definitely was over. If you're
sitting at Fox right now, like, are you just thinking
bad luck? You know, it's obviously outside of their control,
but like, what are they feeling right now?
Speaker 3 (12:57):
You know from the Murdocks to Eric Shanks, they're just great,
great people to work with. It's amazing. This is an
organization that they're not married to ratings. They control what
they can control. What it is anti climatic, right, I mean,
they've been planning for two years and this is the baby.
This is what they pay all those billions of dollars for.
And here's what I think Eric Shank would say, I'm
(13:20):
happy with all the control controllables. Yeah, we had a
good telecast, we put on a good show, we had
good numbers, and then the game fell off. And that's
not on us. But that's not just unique to Fox.
It was CBS, NBC, ABC, Disney, whatever. Everybody would be
disappointed with a game that's you know a little bit
out of reach past the middle of the second quarter.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Yeah, yeah, for sure. All right, So let's go to
the booths, Alex.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
These are your guys. Kevin Burkhardt, who is your other partner.
I'm very jealous of him, and obviously Tom Brady you're
a good friend. They're in the booth calling the game.
What's your obviously biased perspective on them?
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Well, again, disclaimer, I love him both. They're both very
good friends. I think Kevin Burkhardt is one of the
most underrated to this day still even after doing a
couple of Super Bowls, one of the most underrated, understung
superstars out there. He does not only a great job
for football and he kind of drives the bus for
Tom Brady. He does a great job with the Fox
(14:17):
World Series crew with Derek Jeter, myself, Dontre Willis, and
Big Poppy. And if Tom Brady was a stock, I
would buy as much as I can afford, I would
buy all of it. And the reason why I say that,
I think he got so much better from week one
to week call it twenty one last night, right to
the Super Bowl. I just think his work ethic is,
you know, second to none, and if you study his resume,
(14:39):
he's a guy that just you know, he knows a
sending better than anyone. And I think that in three
or four years he's gonna be one of the top guys,
if not the top guy in the game.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Yeah, I will say it was fun to watch him.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
I mean, there were so many undercurrents, especially because it
wasn't that long ago that he was playing.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Obviously, it was only a couple of years there's all
this goat debate.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
You know, this certainly was coming into it with Mahomes
and Mahomes. Had they won last night, the Chiefs and
Patrick Mahomes would have done something that Brady had not
done in terms of winning three in a round. I mean,
nobody has done it in the Super Bowl era. So
it was interesting to watch that. I mean it was
also interesting and again I don't know playing sports at
(15:22):
the level you or Tom Brady do certainly, but you
know this notion of you know, sort of Brady watching
all of this unfold, it must have been kididly like
challenging for him to just even process what he was
seeing because he must know, again more than anyone. How
that felt for Patrick Mahomes to have that sort of
(15:44):
performance and just be overwhelmed by a defense. I mean,
in some ways it happened to Tom a couple times,
you know, because he was seven and three in his
ten Super.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Bowls, so he didn't win everyone. But it's fascinating to
have him calling that game of any game.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Yeah, a few things there. There's a lot to unpack there, Jason.
So number one, you and I about a month month
and a half ago, did a pod here on the deal,
and I felt the same way probably Tom felt about
watching the great Patrick Mahomes. I felt the same way
watching Juan Sooa go through these negotiations. Yeah, because around
twenty four years ago, I was in that same spot
(16:21):
and that was kind of a weird unique That's why
I'm so glad we jumped in the pod. That's one too.
It's really hard to judge or praise both Tom Brady
and Kevin Burkhart in a game that's that wide open
because it really goes from first half is a super
Bowl to second half is talk radio. Yeah, and there's
no big watershed moments like I like to appraise announcers
(16:44):
in the seventh, eighth, and ninth and in and for
football down the stretch because I want Tom to tell
me should they do a three step drop or a
seventh step drop? Should they be doing a screen or
running here? And that only happens when you have all
the money on the table. So last night it's almost
like a pass, don't you don't know? You almost throw
out the report card. Really, yeah, because at this point
you're just trying to entertain and have a little fun,
(17:05):
which is very, very challenging and I've been in that position.
But you know, him talking about Patrick Mahomes I thought
was a great subplot. I think, you know, how does
he react if he's going to do the three p
The fact that he had access to production meetings this week,
I thought that's an interesting step because it's been talked
about that Tom Brady doesn't have access to production meetings
(17:26):
because of his ownership with the Raiders. And again, who
better if the game is a blowout? Who better to
talk about coming back in that stadium than Tom Brady?
Speaker 2 (17:38):
I will say as an Atlanta Falcons fan, it was
excruciating to think about. The biggest comparison, of course, had
they come back, would have been twenty eight to three.
Of course, like the worst will right right, like everybody
except New England Hatriots fans.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
But by the way, Jason, but you said something earlier
about the fans were a little bit louder for the
Eagles in Kansas City. You know, you remember in the
mid nineties to late nineties, the Brace fans sometimes wouldn't
sell out for the playoff games. Yeah, and because they
went every year, it was like unless it's the World
Series or bust, and I'm not going to get stimulated
(18:14):
over first or second round. Yeah, the Yankees went through
a little bit of a lull where they were very
spoils from winning, right. I think there's maybe a little
bit of the thatd with the Chiefs, where the Eagles
are like this kind of they're both blue collars, but
like we haven't won, we need to beat them. And
you felt a little bit more energy at least early
in the game before it was a blowout.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Yeah, all right, I want to wrap up by talking
a little bit about the ads. I got to tell
you I was a little bit underwhelmed. I feel like
we need a little more creativity. I will say one
theme that definitely joked out to me is a theme
that we've been talking about a lot on our podcast,
which is women's sports. And you know, clearly I thought
two of the most compelling ads were the Nike ad
(18:53):
your friends at Nike creating just a super powerful ad
with an unbelievable number of powerful female athletes. It's led
by Caitlin Carr, Chikari Richardson, Sabrina I and Scu and
a number of others. That is one that if people
haven't watched, they should go back just for the artistry,
the message, the music, all.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Of it, and then the other.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
And I feel like this is something we're probably going
to be dealing with and wanting to deal with on
the show.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Is flag football and everything that's happening there.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
The NFL is clearly pushing that from a business perspective.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
They know that there's.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
An audience for it and a way to grow the
audience for the NFL by getting more young women to
play football.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
What did you think?
Speaker 3 (19:34):
I love that. I love what Roger Goodell is doing
with trying to grow football, you know, and he's going
two places that are evident. One is youth sports and
youth trying to you know, take market share from baseball,
soccer and other sports by flag football. I think that's brilliant.
I think the more you can introduce young ladies to
the game the better. That's one. And two obviously the
global reach right where they have big ambitions to grow
(19:56):
the game and play all these global games, even with
more repetition. A couple of the ones that I liked
was Tom Brady and Snoop, you know, Fighting Hate. I
think that's a Robert Kraft production. Yes, he's deployed tons
of capital and resources to help fight hate. And also
it was nice to Snoop and Tom Brady. Neither one
got paid for that ad, which you know, props to them.
(20:19):
But my favorite was Nike. I think they had a
maybe a twenty plus year hiatus. I know it's been
a while, and to come back in the way they did,
I think was beautifully done, in a step in the
right direction because their stock has really struggled here in
the last five years.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Yeah for sure. Yeah, interesting, interesting turning point.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
We may see they got a new CEO, and you
know that's something I'm guessing we're going to be talking
about on future episodes. All right, So, speaking of which,
we're moving on to baseball man, like it's all happening.
You know, We've got a lot coming up on this show,
so we'll wrap for now. But I really love being
able to chop it up with you right after a
big event like this. It was fun to watch it
(20:56):
knowing it felt like homework in a good way.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Like I was taking a little.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
On my phone as I was watching gous, like I
gotta ask Alex about this, and I want to take
on these things. So appreciate you for hopping on and
I'm sure I'll be seeing you soon.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
You got it all right, look forward to it all right.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
My thanks to my partner Alex Rodriguez, and you've been
listening to a special edition of the.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Deal here from Bloomberg.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
The Deal is hosted by Alex Rodriguez and me Chasing Kelly.
This episode was made by Stacy Wong, Annamasaakus and Lizzie
Phillip Artha. Music was made by Blake Maples, Brendan Francis.
Neonham is our executive producer. Sage Fouman is the head
of Bloomberg Podcasts. Additional support from Kelly Lefarier, Ashley Honig,
(21:45):
Rachel Scara Mazzino, and Elena Los Angeles. If you have
a minute, subscribe, rate and review our show. It'll help
other listeners find us. And remember, if you're a Blueberg subscriber,
you can listen to all of our episodes absolutely ad
free on.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
Apple pot Cast.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
All you need to do is find the Bloomberg channel
and connect your Bloomberg account. Thanks so much for listening,
See you next time.
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