Game Day with Gazzola - Sept. 09/25

We recap last nights game and I love Tom's breakdown on where we are at with fans/media/management and the McDavid contract.

-jess

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's the Jess Jackson show. Joined by Tom Gazzola from
Edmonton Sports Talk. And you know what? I want to start, Tom,
by giving you a shout out because I did notice
that a few of the media outlets today were breaking
a story about a new Oilers jersey when you've been
telling us this for months.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Yeah, like 9 months. I, I, I usually don't really
engage in that or care, but it is kind of funny.
It's like, uh, yeah, no, that's, uh, it's not breaking.
It's been, I've put it out there a long time ago,
but welcome to the party. You can check us out
at Eton Sports Talk and, uh, you'll be up to
date on about everything. So yes, they're they're getting a

(00:38):
third jersey. It's gonna be white. It won't have a
traditional Oilers logo on it. It's gonna be a whole
new look.
Uh, I've seen the whole thing. I think it looks great.
You're gonna hear some fans say, oh, it's terrible. It's
not the Oilers. And you're gonna say other fans say,
this is awesome. And then guess what? Everybody's going to
buy one.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
Exactly. A recap of the Monday Nighter. Tom, might have
been the first NFL football game I watched in its entirety,
and I'm now a Vikings fan.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
Well, yeah, you, JJ McCarthy's winning everyone's hearts in Minnesota
and beyond. I mean, that was a great comeback and.
Uh, you know, you thought the Bears had it all
wrapped up. You thought this game would take the under. I,
I put a little sprinkle on the under. I had
all these bets lined up. I was going with Dusty's
play of the day, and thankfully that one hit, but yeah,

(01:25):
if you're the Bears, you're like, what the hell just happened?
And if you're
Minnesota, you're loving your, your young new quarterback who was
hurt last year, didn't get to play after being drafted,
and you look at Chicago, you're going, man, you're a
quarterback graveyard. Cayle Williams. We'll see how he does. I mean,
he was the first overall pick a year ago, and,
and the Bears have been a mess for a long time.
So it was an exciting game. We had some really

(01:48):
fun NFL football. This is the best time of year
for just football. I mean, we saw a great
E stamps game. The CFL is kicking into high gear
going into the playoffs. NFL is, is just under way,
and that gets everybody excited every weekend as well. NCAA
you sport like this is, if you just love football, Jess,

(02:09):
and it's OK to love both the CFL and the NFL,
you're in heaven.
You really are.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
I love it. OK. So I was under the impression
that we were all on the same page with Connor
McDavid where we were laughing like, hey, what's the update today?
Ha ha ha. We love him. He's the best. But
there are people that are legit pissed off about this
and siding against him. Like, get off. You, you, you
get out of here, you're gonna ruin it for us.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
I, when you told me that, that people are turning
on him or some are getting really angry, I was like, really?
But you think about how diehard Oilers fans can be,
are generally, then it's like, yeah, cause it's breaking their hearts.
So I understand that. But at the same time, you know, it,
it's easy to go, hey, Darrell Cates, open up the vault.
Give Connor McDavid whatever he wants. Hey, Connor McDavid.

(02:56):
You know, name your price. All right, let's get this done.
Let's get you locked up. But there's a little more
nuance to it than that. And, and the good thing
is that both sides are, are discussing, they're they're trying
to find the right deal. I think McDavid wants to
get what's best for him. He wants to appease the
NHLPA with record NHL revenues. There's, uh, revenue sharing with
the players. So, um, you know, when, when he resets

(03:19):
the bar.
Uh, with an AAV that's a record breaker, uh, it's,
it's beneficial to the rest of the players in the league.
So there's, there's all these responsibilities that come with it.
And then knowing Connor McDavid, he is pretty mindful of
the franchise's cap situation. He does want to help make
sure that there's a little bit of wiggle room to
go out and get a good player at the deadline.

(03:42):
And so I think there's a balancing act involved in
that and then.
Just talking to other outlets and other people in our business, Jess,
there's a responsibility and and nuance to all of this.
It's not simple. And then in the next couple of
years too with the revenues being what they are, record
revenues in the NHL, if he signs for like 2
or 3 years and then wants to get another deal done.

(04:03):
Uh, then it's understandable because the league's salary cap is
gonna jump from 95 million to 104 million next year
to 113 million two years from now. And if it
continues to go up, guess what? We're talking about $120
million 130 million. So, uh, that is significant, especially when
you're the best player in the world. It's not just

(04:24):
1 or 2 million extra a year. We're talking maybe
5 million extra on top of what he might get
on this deal. Like they got to factor stuff like
that in and.
And I think that's some of the, the details that
we're kind of overlooking when we get excited or upset
in regard to the, the process. OK.

Speaker 1 (04:39):
Where can we hear breaking news from Edmonton Sports Talk
9 months before it hits everyone
else?

Speaker 2 (04:46):
You can follow us on Sports Talk on X. You
can follow me, Tom Guzzola, or you know what, you
can listen to us on iHeart and TuneIn Radio. Just
look for Everton sports talk, so easy to listen to.
And then, uh, through to the visual side of things,
every one of our shows from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.,
Oilers pre and post game as well coming up soon.

(05:07):
We've got El pre and post game. We've got a
great golf show, VIP golf show on Sundays that's, uh,
still going. Uh, you can watch that on YouTube. Just
look up Edmonton Sports Talk. We won't let you down,
we promise.

Speaker 1 (05:19):
Perfect. Thanks for the time, Tom. We'll chat with
you tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (05:21):
Thank you Jeff. It's

Speaker 1 (05:22):
the Jess Jackson Show on Edmonton's Best Rock 100.3. The Bear.