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January 13, 2022 48 mins

This week Rico sits down with long time friend and 3 time Pro Bowler with the Raiders, Lincoln Kennedy. Lincoln discusses the NFL, things he likes to do to relax and shares some off field antics while playing for the Raiders.

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Skinny with Rico and Kenna is a production of
I Heart Radio. Hey, I'm Lincoln Kennedy and this is
the skinny from the bath Heads I Wear Studios in Speedway, Indiana.
This is the Skinny brought to you by Toyota, Rhino, Classified,
General Tire and Dream Giveaway. This segment of the Skinny

(00:23):
is brought to you by Toyota. Hi. I'm Rikoel Elmore
and this is the Skinny. We are joined today by
a not only a great friend, but a longtime customer
of fat Heads. If you will so, Uh, Lincoln Kennedy,

(00:43):
how are you wonderful? Rico? Hiw you do on this morning?
But I'm good. I got to h cut to witness
your raiders take advantage of our poor play calling. Well,
I'm surprised at the outcome of the game as well,
So you're not the only one. And I cover them
all the seasons, all season long. It's kind of like
they tried it. They must have known that I bet
on it. That's the only thing I can really tell.

(01:06):
Must have taken place there, you know, I was surprised
that the line went up even when they announced Carson
Wentz was coming back. So you know, being around Vegas
and of course my my partner in the radio, Rent Musburger,
is always around gambling. Um, you know, the row a
little shillings down. I was surprised that the line went
up the way it did. Yeah, eight and a half.
Eight and a half was the spread, and uh what

(01:28):
was at forty five or forty six and a half
on the over? So I took the Colts in the
under and well, look and you would have if they
would have won it hadn't been different. But you know
that eight and a half is a pretty big number.
That's a huge number. Yeah, So I I thought that
they would cover it with winds coming back and just

(01:50):
was looking at it. But uh, he didn't. I mean
there was there was some Arran throws. There was a
couple of times I thought that if he would well,
definitely if he made those completions would change the outcome
of the game. Um. But I was surprised that the
Raiders defense held them down and controlled them as much
as they did because they've had issues with their COVID

(02:10):
as well as injuries as well. Uh to the secondary
was depleted. But I was really surprised at the way
they played. Yeah, so but now it was. It was
a great day and a lot of fun, a lot
of people in and and all of that. So we
talked a little bit about your your businesses that you've
got going now. Tell us about the restaurant, the one

(02:32):
in Vegas. Just opened up a restaurant and part of
a franchise called the Angry Crab Shack, which is occasion
seafood boils um. And we've got a number of restaurants
in Phoenix. I own one in Phoenix, just sold my
interest to another one in Phoenix, but then opened up
one in Vegas in a suburb called Henderson. Uh And
if you're familiar with the Vegas is off the sunset

(02:54):
and in Green Valley. Uh And it's not too far
away from the airport. It's been doing well. You know.
I really thought when my partners last year, when COVID
really struck, I really thought that we were going to
have the hardest time of staying open. And the issues
that we've had is that. And I was realized, to
my surprise that people are still eating out. They're just

(03:15):
taking out. They're not necessarily going out, they're just taking out,
you know. And so I thought there was gonna be
a dip um in our in our profits or whatever
it was. And it really didn't take too big of
a hit because we charge market prices for our seafood,
so it is what it is. But people were still
ordering out, so it was it was doing all right.
Unfortunately from my other business, my cigar business had to

(03:35):
take a back seat. Covid really really hurt our supply
chain and my my filler tobacco comes out of Colombia
and um due to the volatility they had in South
America with Venezuela and Colombia just became way more expensive
than it was to produce my cigars. So I don't know,
we'll have to see what what how the world returns
to normalcy or what is normal post covid um, if

(03:56):
I'll be able to get back into it, or it
just might have to create some new blends and I'm
not there yet right right, Well, I got to uh,
I definitely got to enjoy a few of them, so
it was it was nice. I was gonna ask you
about that. I definitely definitely enjoyed that. So it's interesting
how it's taken effect on everything. And you know, our

(04:18):
eyewear business, you know, you don't have many people that
want to go to the doctor. They don't you know,
they're still being Um. I mean listen, is it real.
It's it's completely rare, but it's also real manageable. Um
and uh, I just wish we could all get back
on the same page and move forward, because it's it's heard. Uh,

(04:43):
it's heard a lot of people in a lot of businesses,
and uh, you know it, it's we were fortunate enough
to work through that, uh with Ppe and things like that.
But you know, uh, move forward and keep things going.
So uh, you know, it's a little bit of a
different a different thing here with us today. One stouts

(05:07):
not with us, which we don't know if that's good
or bad, but uh, okay, yeah, we've heard from the
gallery it gets as good. But but the other is,
you know, usually we're talking racing NonStop. Have you got
any racing industry No? I mean you well, I mean
that I have interest because you're a good friend of mining.

(05:27):
You're into racing. Remember we have a couple of years
back when the last time I think we were here,
we were talking about you know, going to the speedway
and watching the race and and really looking forward to
and then COVID struck and through a crimping all those plans,
but I'm still interested. I remember you very early in
my broadcasting career when I was with Fox Sports Radio,
they sent me to cover a NASCAR race out in Fontana,

(05:49):
and I had no idea about NASCAR. That was the
first time I was exposed to either circle the constant
smell of gas and the roar of the engines and
going around the track, and so I was pleasantly surprised.
And I still to this day don't really know much
about it because my interests haven't been involved with other places.
But certainly I'm a sports fan, so I love the excitement.

(06:10):
I love anything that it brings people together and and
they get to enjoy. Um. I mean it's popular. I
mean the numbers say it. It's very popular, you know,
racing from NASCAR to Indy Car, all of it and
stuff like that. And I think some of the coolest
racing that I've watched on TV where the road courses, Oh,
you know, I really like those. Those are awesome, like
when you're traveling through the streets and stuff like that.

(06:31):
So I I really got into those, But again I
don't know enough about the drivers or the stuff like
that to really follow it to say that I have
a true andres to be honest. So we'll be in
Phoenix at Firebird. And is that February? Yeah, February. It's
the second race out for the NHR at for you guys, so,

(06:53):
h be awesome. We've got your plugs. They're us. Uh,
it's an unbelievable, unbelievable cool cool deal. So but yeah,
we we've were involved in many different facets of it
and different things. And did I hear correctly one of

(07:13):
your drivers just want of race one of your sponsor
drivers and so Brady Bacon just one the one the
US ACT Championship. Uh, three years in a row, now
I believe. Yeah, three years in a row, and which
is an amazing feat. It's it's the it's the Cowboys

(07:35):
of the Cowboys that right there. Yeah, they're they're unbelievable,
how how how good they are and and uh yeah,
so we've we've got that and and uh a few
other key components that were involved with and and things
like that. So it's nice to be able to watch, Um,

(07:57):
it's nice to be able to watch the people that
you've been with for long time we've been Brady's been
with us thirteen years for a while or something like that.
That's cool and uh so it's really cool to have that,
to have that side of it and watch the success
and grow with them. And we've tried to do that
with several people, but you know, sum it's worked within

(08:19):
Summit hasn't so, but we're we're definitely, uh, definitely looking
at the up and coming stars. That's kind of where
it's at, you know, and and to kind of grow
with them as well. So pretty pretty good time. So
what else have you got going on? How's how's uh,

(08:40):
how's the announcing or the radio? Yeah? Then I call
the games for the Raiders Las Vegas Raiders along with
Britt Musburger. So we still got the rest of the season,
Big one coming up next week and a matter of fact,
Brent has not texted me yet, but we were seeing
if the game was going to be flexed against the Chargers.
The Raiders final game is against the Chargers. Both of
them need to win to get into playoffs, so um

(09:03):
so it's an important game and the NBC has the
ability to flex a schedule, so it's a playoff playoff
Atmosphere game. Brent feels that they're going to probably flex
it to get that game Sunday night. So, but it's
been going well. I also do college football. I commentate
a color commentator for the Pac twelve network, UM and
so called. I think it was eleven college football games

(09:24):
this season. UM that with being a single dad of
three teenagers, keeps me full, keeps me busy. Anthony still
doing that, Anthony becked, I think moved on to another network.
If I'm not If I'm not mistaken, I know you're
to refer it to. But he was. I don't know
if he's still there with the PAT twelve. I guess
his I guess this kid is pretty amazing. Yeah, uh football,

(09:46):
tam Nice. I I keep in touch with him from
time to time. But I knew that he was doing
that for a while and then, uh yeah, So how's
your Huskies rights Washington? Um, they didn't have they They
got a new coach. They just hired Kayalin dbar out
of Fresno State to to go up to the program
and try to take over. Didn't have a good year

(10:08):
last year. It was a little bit of a down year.
UM again, just coming out of post COVID a lot
of things, and the transfer portal college football is really
the climate college football has really changed with the trans
report and the coaches jumping ship. Um, it really has changed.
There's really no true direction in my opinion, other than
the ones that have maintained stability, like the ones who
will be playing here next week in the National Championship. Right,

(10:30):
you know, That's that's pretty much it. And programs are
trying to get to that, to that pillar of stability,
um anyway they can. And so it's really in the
process you leave your heads you have scratching your head
trying to figure out what these guys are doing and
what these universities are doing. So I kind of keep
a distance from it as an alumni and from AFAR,
and I'm involved in a few committees where they're trying

(10:51):
to write the ship when it comes to the conference
and the UM and things out west. But um, you
know it was it was a little bit of a
down year and then I'm glad it house football is
over because it really exhausts me. So I'm looking forward
to some vacation time when I can go do what
one of my favorite hobbies was just scuba diving, So
I go around the world, do good? All right on,
all right, give us a minute, we'll come back. This

(11:12):
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Rhino dot Co. All right, Welcome back. So Lincoln, you

(12:16):
were talking about talking about scuba diving, so we're at well.
I'd go various places around the world last year. Uh,
last season, I should say, because I'm trying to position
myself to work for six months and have six months off.
In the early party and the early part of the season,
I went to a sort of a Caribbean tour, went

(12:37):
to Cosomel Belize off the coast of Cancoon and um
and then um we also went to Hawaii. So that
was the part of my circuit last year and I'm
probably gonna do I haven't planned it yet because I
gotta wait to see when the NFL season is over
for for me. Um. But the thing is is want
to plan some more dive some more trips. Never doubt it.

(12:59):
Never what do you do? I mean you got race
car driving, driving, and I'm sure but is a hobby
of yours. But what do you do when you will
to be able to relax. I haven't been able to
do that. You've got to get to it. All work
and no play makes reco little more dol. Guy. I
don't think I'm doll, but sure as hell to pay sometimes.

(13:22):
But now it's uh, it's it's pretty pretty cool man.
Definitely an interesting, interesting deal. Michael. Have you scuba dived? Ye?
The water? The water is so peaceful for me and
I've always been a water baby, so you know, I

(13:42):
just enjoy it in there and the colors and you know,
let's see life and stuff like that. But it's a
little it can be a little overwhelming if you're down
like ninety feet and you look up and so far
away from the somewhat of a panic attack if you will, right,
don't think about it. You're all right, you're breathing, Just relax. Yeah, now,
I but no, I think I'd be all right with it.

(14:06):
It's something I need to try. The other thing. The
other thing I didn't think I needed to try. Like
a bunch of a bunch of friends went skiing this
over New Year's I'm like, yeah, no, I'm not not
you know, the gravity sports. I'm cool skydiving, skiing, No,
anything where I can't control that speed. I'm all right, right,

(14:29):
right right, And you see how big this is exactly
you know how bad this hurts on, This hits so,
it hits hard. It's very hard. So but no, it's
uh so I hear I heard heard rumor that Denver
maybe for sale. Denver will be bolt. There's a couple

(14:51):
of companies, Um, the Broncos are up for sale. And
actually I was just talking with Brent about this last
and turning round myself a conversation I think around March
is when the cell will happen. May involved. Yeah, he's
involved with actually a couple of groups that are looking
to purchase the team. Yeah, he's he's looking for that. Yeah.
And it was reported even when he left the game

(15:13):
that there were a number of organizations that were after him.
I mean, I think Cleveland wanted him to come run
the program. Um he had some he had It was
the report he had some interest here as far as
being a part of the UM staff, not ownership, but UM.
For a while, the Manning family has been looking forward
to getting more involved than than just being part of

(15:36):
like you know, office staff, you know what I mean.
They were looking an ownership and Archie has really been
pushing it. UM. It's some capacity. There hasn't really been
a lot of opportunities until now. But yeah, they were
looking for you know, Eli and Peyton and that that
Manning group we're looking to to become part owners who
be involved in that, So how many billion? I would

(15:59):
say that every Broncos are probably worth anywhere from one
and a half to two billion, two and a half
billion dollars instantly becomes worth more, probably with him involved. Definitely, yeah, definitely, yeah,
definitely yeah. Well, I he's a character, he's a he's

(16:20):
a character. He's actually he's he is he is such
a um a practical joker, which you know, somebody it's
that serious and somebody it's that good. One year we
were we were out. They were at camp at at
Tara Hote, as they were for many years. They were

(16:41):
at camp at Tara Hote and uh, the police were
over by the dorm and they end up coming by
coming back and the videoographer guy that would video all
of the practices he needed to get back to Indy,
put it in the machine, flip it out and bring

(17:02):
it back for the morning session. At dinner, he was
in there eating or wrapping up things whatever. They took
cellophane and wrapped his tahoe up with it on the
fifty yard line and it was him and Jeff Saturday
that did it. Okay, if this dude was pissed beyond belief,

(17:27):
pisted right, and so so Jeff Jeff and it was
probably like shrink wrapper or whatever. So Jeff and Peyton
are out on the field with this right in the

(17:48):
Tera Hope police officer because this guy had reported his
car stolen, the Terah police officer, and the Indiana State
Police officer. Uh in the campus police officer. We're out
there like, hey, Jeff, I really like it in this
videographer's piss. He's like, why are you even speaking to him?

(18:10):
Clearly he's the one that did this, you know. So yeah,
they went and stole his keys, took his car. I mean,
it just we had to do something to lightning up
the load. I remember many pranks back in the day
when when we we do other people and of course
one of the more infamous ones we had to tighten
and I'll keep his name private. We had a tight
in and refused to sing and um I was a

(18:33):
captain at the time and it really wasn't hazing, but
we had we had two options. You could either sing
in a mill or your group could design your haircut
to start the camp. Your your position of that. Okay,
so you had you had, you had a deal. There
was two things that you had to do at training
camp when you were rookie. Um, you did either have

(18:55):
to sing a full song uninterrupted at the meal or
your JUSTI group would decide on a haircut for you,
all right, and and and and it'll grow back, because
then back then we used to go to camp for
a while so that we had time to grow back.
So we had a one We had a rookie tight
end who refused to do both. And you know, he
was kind of walking around with his chest stuck out.

(19:17):
Ain't gonna do nothing cutting my hair and I don't
want to sing, and so he kind of got the
coach on the side and you know, hey, don't don't
hate the guys, don't don't do anything. And I was
just like, look, I'm I'm not an enforcer. I've got
other guys who were enforced my will, I say, but
you're going to do it because everyone else had to
do it. This is the way you pay you know,
you pay respect to the people that came before you

(19:38):
and you you earned your place in the team. So
I decided one night that we we were coming up
on a break and he still hadn't sung, or he
wouldn't get his haircut. It was the first breaking camp.
So I sent out an order to my my hinchman
to to get get ahold of his range were over

(20:00):
and take the tires off. So they took the tires
off of the range rover, put it on cinder blocks
the day before we were supposed to have a break. Uh,
and we hit his tires. So you've been around camp,
you saw how the everyone the masses just you know,
when you have a break. So we break practice and
everybody gets reared up. And then he comes out and

(20:24):
his range robbers on cinder blocks and he's just hot,
yelling what he and all this stuff. And I'm slowly
getting my truck and drive back to Oakland. Got a
phone call the next day. Coaches like, Lincoln, did you
do something to what's his name is the range rover?
I said, Coach, I did nothing. I don't know what

(20:46):
you're talking about. He's like, whoa, could you please just
tell me where his tires are? Oh? Yeah, I know
where that is. That So, yeah, we had we had
plenty of pranks like that, and plenty of pranks on
the on the other guys back in the day fun times.
Tony Stewart, of course, is a very close friend his
him and him and Slugger Labby we're having it out

(21:10):
and and uh, it definitely definitely turned bad for Tony
when when he would take an aerosol can and flame
the back of your legs and burned the burn the
hair right off of these guys legs right jacking with him.
So Slugger gets a road flare from one of his

(21:34):
semi drivers, ties it to a stick road flare, ties
it to a stick, sparks it. It goes over Tony's
in the car. They're out practicing, they're running tests. Tony's
in the car, buckled up, helmet on, race suit and
he puts that flare in there and grabs ahold of

(21:57):
the window net where he can't get it open, and
wow at Greg Zipadelli, which is which is Tony's crew chief.
H Zippy's like, looks at looks at Slugger. He's like,
keep going, all right, We'll be back in just a minute.

(22:20):
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All right, then we're back. So uh yeah, So anyhow,
the practical jokes and the and the good times that
are had had by men, I mean, it's uh I
could I could only imagine in the league you got,

(23:06):
especially the free time that you have big kids. Yeah,
exactly right, Yeah, some of them, some of the practical
jokes we used to play on each other back in
camp or it's anonymous. I recently wrote a book and
one of my good friends of Steve wi Newski, was
a fellow Guarden teammate, and when Jeff Hosteather played with
the team, we had guys like Kevin Gogan stuff you

(23:31):
know now about that he was he were talking about
a picture of that. By the way, Steve was telling
the story in the book about how they used to
play a prank. There was one time where they drilled
a hole between their rooms because they did were joining rooms,
and they released a bunch of mice, uh into the
other rooms and then so the payback from the other

(23:52):
guys where they released a ton of crickets and the
next in the other room. So we went back and forth.
We used to wedge guys doors shuts where they couldn't
get out east. You know. Of course, one of the
easy ones everyone did is either you tape up all
their pads and a big cell of fame ball so
they can't get to practice or the late for back
and stuff like that, or or hide their cleats and
stuff like that. I mean things like that. Fun times. Yeah, yeah,

(24:16):
they we used. I used to travel pretty extensively with
the Lucas family and do the and do the NHR
eight tour with them many years ago when Morgan raced
and uh, one of the guys that was on that
was on the team was a Cajun, right Roy and uh,

(24:38):
he sees this, he sees this alligator that's in like
a drainage ditch in Gainesville, Florida the Gator Nationals. Well,
we would all go out and get all ramped up,
you know, the night before that we clearly probably shouldn't
have been. We go out and have a good time. Well,
we got the keys to one on the other guy's

(25:00):
rooms and Vanetti's room, and uh, he took that gator
and put it underneath the comforter. If Betti Vanetti, Vanetti
comes in and he's he is, uh, he is nothing
short of hammered up. And when he come when he

(25:21):
comes in there, they're like, he's like trying to he's
trying to like get his bearings, and of course everybody's watching.
I went through the window and uh, you see this
thing move under the comforter and uh and he's like,
you seem like look over like he thought he saw

(25:43):
something move and he's like, oh, whatever, and then he
saw it move again and like flips the cover back.
They didn't broy didn't take this thing's mouth and oh no,
he didn't take his out. He would. Vanetti's on the
other bad like standy. Oh he was. He was all

(26:05):
kinds of upset. But it's a little far from me.
Those those guys are to the extreme with their with
their with their programs. But it's funny. But now it's uh,
it's it's it's something else. So mark David's ownership. I'm
at him the other night with you great guy. Yeah,

(26:28):
very personal, very personal, A lot a lot different than
his father was, but very personal. And he is a
good guy. And one of the things I respect most
about Mark is that when he first took over the team,
he announced in a press conference. You know, he very
very first conference. I'm not my father. I don't know
football like my father did, and so I'm going to
hire or try to surround myself with people he wants

(26:50):
to program to be as good as it can be. Um,
you know, we've had our fair share of termoil this season.
Obviously no secret to anyone, but you know where he
is and he appreciates alumni. So you know, when you
when you think about as far as ownership goes, when
you own a recognizable icon like the Raiders, UM, you

(27:11):
can only imagine all the things that might be seed
you both, you know, mentally and physically, as well as
just the pressure of putting a viable product out there.
So how many owners are there of the Raids? I know,
every team, I mean maybe with the acception of a few,
are all well. I don't know the exact number. I
know Mark owns the controlling interest was so the the

(27:33):
other pent has been spread out, and I know people
who own like a half a percent or a quarter
percent and stuff like that, but a lot, yeah, yeah,
which is a lot. But the majority ownership belongs to
the Davis family. Yeah yeah. And did I understand right
that he bought the w NBA. Yeah. Las Vegas really

(27:55):
is really is really coming into its own with sports.
Did he built? Is he building a new arena? Is
that what I No? No, No, he's building. He's actually
building what is it like? It's almost like a new
facility to empower women to be more in the in
the sports industry. Real. Yeah, yeah, the diversity that he's
trying to create. He wants more women executives. Um, he

(28:18):
wants women coaches. He wants it. So he really wants
to pick up that diversity dealing with the w n
b A and now they had they're trying to get
more women involved in the sports. Okay, that's pretty cool.
It is he's no, he's I'm not really sure to
be honest with you. Um, that's not no, it's not out.
It's not out. But but al did empower I mean

(28:39):
Amy Trask used to be the CEO, you know, of
the wraiters and one of the first executive But when
he when he took over the Aces and got a
part of the w n b A, he was really
avid about wanting to pick up the popularity, increased the popularity,
and he he had a good, good team. The Aces
were a good team. I don't know where they finished
this past NBA season, but I know that they had

(29:00):
one championship recently. And you know, just the over popularity.
Sports popularity is picking up in Vegas. He loves going
to go to nights. He's got a suite there. Um,
I don't know if he's Is that the hockey team, Yeah, yeah,
they they went all the way to the finals their
first season being extended. So um, in sports is picking up.

(29:21):
It won't be long before there's a there's an NBA
team and in a Major League Baseball team there as
well as professional soccer will be in Vegas real soon.
I could, I could fully imagine. What is the big
arena looking thing that they are building there you can
see when you're you're flying in almost looks like a ball.
The black building that's Allegian Stadium, that's already built. That's

(29:41):
where the regis. No no no, no no, no, no, that's
is much smaller than they might be trying to build there.
They're trying to invite a baseball team there. But but
the reports and I don't know if they started on
a stadium before that, I know that that what they
were talking about is they were talking about doing similar
to where Allegiance was across the freeway from the Strip,
tearing down the old Tropicana and building a baseball stadium there.

(30:04):
So I don't pretty wild, it would be pretty well, yeah,
that'd be pretty wild. Allegiance Stadium. It's beautiful, pamp it
is it looks I I dude, that place is unbelievable.
I've been involved with the Raiders for over a quarter
of century and this is the first time and I'm
so proud of the organization because they finally got it right.

(30:26):
It's theirs, you know. But you know what's best, Bob
Romansky told me, Old Bob Roman Bob Romansky told me
that they actually had a say in how the equipment
room and how the facility was going to be laid out. Yes, look,
Las Vegas, the committees and all the stuff that people
to put that thing together wrote out the red carpet,

(30:48):
what do you want? And their their training facility, their
offices inter Mountain Healthcare is absolutely gorgeous as well. We've
got our own studios there. We take to the TV
show and the radio shows there, um so. And it's
had enough the couple indoor practicacilities, a couple outdoor practicality.
I mean, it really is. And I think that's why
they're you're going to be inviting a baseball team and

(31:09):
a basketball team there, because when you see what happened
with professional sports so far, even from the go to
Knights of the Raiders, what's possible if your ownership you
relocate there. And of course it's an entertainment capital. People
are going there just to go to the stadiums has
become a landmark, right, be interesting to see what we
do here. I mean, you know, we're still operating in

(31:29):
nineteen eighty four out off of West fifties six Street,
which is they've they've redone it a lot, but it's
kind of like, I don't know how many more lean
two as they can do on it, you know. And uh,
there was rumor that, you know, which why the why
the Postal Service has that big sort facility downtown Indy.

(31:52):
It's it's kind of a thing in the past. If
you will, but it would be interesting to see if
they could. Uh. I think that's where they want to
put it, and I think that's where the girls are
interested in in making that happen. So and they would
have they would have their camp and everything there. They

(32:14):
would have hotels, their hotel there that where they are,
you know, where they would stay when they you know,
when they have game days. Well when when when they
were putting together Allegiance, they took the liberty. The ones
that were directing it and doing it took went around
to various stadiums. They went to hard Rock in Miami,
they went to Jerry's World in Arlington, and they took

(32:35):
bits and pieces from all of those those new stadiums.
The people who designed or constructed the Minnesota Stateingum, the
Viking Stadium are the ones that created Allegiance. And so
it was that, you know, I don't know and I
can't remember the construction coming out the top of my head,
but I do know that it's very similar to to
Minnesota Stadium. The design, uh, and the acoustics and everything

(32:59):
was career. But I mean, the wind has got a
nightclub in there and on the end zone, you know,
there's MGM has got this a suite that I've never
seen the likes of in my life. It's huge, um.
But the great thing is that it's all Raiders, all
the art. They don't have to share what the a
is like they did in Oakland when we played in Oakland.
It's all the arts, all the all, all the lounges,

(33:22):
everything is Raiders. You've got the Hall of Famers and
all that stuff as his Runners. So it really is
a true testament to the organization. And I'm happy for him.
So question for you, were you with the Raiders And
I can't remember, so that's why I'm asking when Al
decided just to move him? No, No, that was before

(33:43):
my time, um, but I remember that the story. And
of course and ESPN did a big thirty thirty when
his deal with the NFL. You know, believe it or not.
He such a pioneer and such an innovator for what
his logic was. He wanted to go and make the
nf fell bigger, make the Raiders big, and in turn
make the you know, the the NFL bigger. Um. You

(34:07):
know when his team got the Colts from Baltimore, you know,
it's it's it was a big. See the thirty for
thirty on that. No, I didn't, Michael, you see the
thirty so old man, he say, Bob. They catch him
coming back on his plane back to Baltimore, and clearly

(34:27):
they've been tracking the tail tail number. Really they're like,
we understand that you were in Indianapolis. What are you
are you moving our team to Indianapolis because of course
the state you know, who's your dumb was already built.
We understand your move. I'm not moving anything. I wasn't it.
And he's hammered, hammered, and they blindside him when he

(34:49):
gets off the plane, like and it goes bad, it
goes way bad. And yeah, I think about the next
week they moved. So when I mean when the it's
moved from Oakland to Los Angeles, it was on the
promise of everything being bigger. They were. They were supposed
to renovate the coliseum, which because l A promised Al

(35:10):
Davis that they were going to put a hundred thousand
in the seats, and of course, when you have that capacity,
you know, that's that's what you want for your team.
They get down to the l A Coliseum, they share
it with them, they share it with the USC football.
Of course you still had the Rams and Anaheim not
too far from him. But the stadium was never developed
the way that it was promised. It was never renovated

(35:32):
UM and in order for it. No, well they're actually
doing it now. They're renovating for probably, but there you know,
there there's the stadiums finally had the bigger renovation renovations
and it's supposed to be UM something special. But the
big thing is, you know, when it comes to hosting
a Super Bowl or hosting premiere events, it's about the

(35:53):
suite levels. Got to get the suites. It's the corporate
and that's what the NFL was looking for so forever.
You know, there was the promise it was going to
get done. It didn't get done. And there was actually
a time when I was looking to move it outside
of Los Angeles support more to the Inland Empire, because
they had promised they were going to build him a stadium.
Never came to fruition. So then he moved back to Oakland.
And what the promise was back in Oakland, we are

(36:13):
going to renovate the coliseum in Oakland, and we are
going to even though you're gonna share you're gonna have
your own spot because it was supposed to be the A's.
We I played on one of the A's. We had
to play the on their field in field. We were
the last of the thirty two teams to Shaff Stadium
and forever, and so they the deal never got done.
And after I remember talking with Mr Deed and him

(36:36):
and Jim otto Um about their trips to Nevada when
Jim was playing, because I always thought the ideal place
for the Raiders would be Las Vegas, since city it
just seemed to go hand in hand. But because the
NFL was so hung up on the possibility of gambling
and everything else, well, because they became involved, so so

(36:58):
Caesar's and MGM and all those guys they they bought in.
There are all partners with the NFL. Now, may they
be able to mainstream gambling to where you can do
it from your phone? I was able to well, I pushed,
but but I mean, yeah, you got a sports book
on your phone and and and the only thing is
that you don't have access if you're a player, because

(37:18):
now they can track it digitally. So if your name
is part of the NFL, you can't use the sports
book on your own team. You see what I'm saying.
So they've been able to regulate definitely, the story story
absolutely right. So so the whole thing about the desire
of Nevada was basically Mark Davis's dream, wanted passion to

(37:41):
fulfill the dream that he thought his father had and
get the team in Las Vegas. He got it done
pretty pretty handily. I was I looked, there was a
lot of I'm sure there was a lot that went
went into it, but I mean it just kind of
it was like here we are, well, you know what,
for for what it's worth? Um oh, and is one
of those cities that's actually owned by the state. And

(38:02):
what I mean by that is they don't really they're not.
They've always been the step brother to San Francisco. San
Francisco is his own little generator. Um. Oakland, you had
to do all kinds of things to get permission to
do and they had to go through the state, uh
to to make it happen. So even city leadership was lacking.
But when they couldn't get the support from the city
of Oakland or the state, I should say, to build

(38:23):
a new stadium, they didn't want to do it. They
didn't want to help out and chip in their part.
You know, Mark found a way, found a place that
was going He had rumors of, you know, going to
the to Los Angeles, but that was taken over quickly
by the Cronkey family. And when they went and built
so Far, they did it with all their own money. Yeah,
Crocky didn't get any help from the city or the

(38:44):
state or anything like that. He did. It was all
his own money. He developed that whole area and that's
why so Far has picked up so much. The way
it was, that was all his money he put in
um and then inviting the Chargers and giving them a
discount at least to be a part of it was
all part of the plan. Now you've got two teams
in Los Angeles. Los Angeles went out the window for
the Raiders. There were only a couple other places, and

(39:05):
then Vegas ord of Nevada collectively came in and said, look,
we want an NFL team. We're gonna push. This is
what we're offering you, and it made it happen. It's
pretty amazing. It is home for him. I always thought
that it would be a great spot for him, and
you know, it's It's one of those things, you know, Uh,
in Baltimore. Definitely, Baltimore was a football town, you know,

(39:29):
as Cleveland was and uh is still um but but
you know it was. It was interesting because well, I
guess what was interesting on the whole thing was we
went to raise last last game ray Lewis is last
regular season game played the Colts, and anyhow long the

(39:50):
short of it, Uh, the fans in Baltimore are are
absolutely uh wild. I mean that that whole, that whole
I can't remember whatever it is done. I'm setting there
looking up and I'm watching the lights move about ten

(40:12):
feet like cking down, and I'm about I'm about one
row from being able to give the the flyover a
high five when he goes. So uh, I clearly didn't
see any real way out of when I was trying
to move, you know. But but yeah, it was. But yeah,

(40:34):
there's there's some crowds like that, and and uh, I
think the Colts fans are good. I want to dog them,
but I mean they're not them, They're not those Well
it's a different I will say this from seeing the
game yesterday against the Raiders, there was pretty solid crowd.
It was pretty so they support them. Dude, there was
a lot of blacks the nation. Yeah, the nation travels well.

(40:56):
The Raider Nation travels. We were Michael and I were
looking at it. I mean it was like, yeah, that
four hundred all the way up. It was well. The
nation has always been one of a good a fan
group that travels well. But what I like and what
I respect about the Colts fan is one they know
the game. They understand the game, and they enjoyed themselves.
And you can see people in the camera and the
videotron and stuff like that, and people even go into

(41:18):
the game they're looking forward to it. You know, it's
it's one of those things now, you know, granted, because
you know you're limited. You see the fanfare they have
for Pacers basketball. You see the fanfare when when Indiana
was viable, the Hoosiers basketball. You see, there was one
guy who was even trying to change the TV to
the bar last night. We were watching the Chargers Bronco game.
He wanted to change it to Indiana Penn State basketball game.

(41:40):
So look we were here first and he's kind of
looked around. Then he turned around and still made the
guy change it. But it was I understand it. It's
it's different from place to place. And you look at Baltimore,
you look at the history they had, and when the
Colts came over was after a long NFL history, successful history,
and Baltimore so they lost their team. And even that's

(42:02):
how Cleveland felt when when when they got the Ravens,
Baltimore got the Ravens because really quickly they won started
winning and Cleveland has been hungry for a championship for
a while. So you know, you look at places like Detroit, Cleveland,
um just passionate I hold. I hold Indianapolis the same way.
And one thing I will say, because everything has been
set in place. We talked about the relocation of teams

(42:23):
and where Los Angeles and places. Indianapolis is safe. For
a while, the NFL wanted to hold over the head.
You give them a new stadium or you're moving to
Los Angeles or losing the team in Los Angeles. It's
not the case anymore. So then Los Angeles is full.
The next place, and really the the National Football League
collectively with his thirty two teams, in my opinion, the

(42:44):
states are built out. It's stunt. They're not going to
add any more. Teams because they've got uniformity with the
leagues and the divisions and stuff like that. Thirty two teams,
they're not gonna add more teams. But what I will say,
what's the next step, is that you will have a
team that moves to London, and it's most likely going
to be Jacksonville because con O's the soccer team over there,

(43:05):
Premier League soccer team, so it'll probably it'll probably be
in the Jacksonville Jaguars that move over to London. London
is the next spot. So what's that flight? No, no, no, no, no.
Um to England from the States, it's like four hours
right from New York or whatever it is, depends where
you're from. I would have to look up. I mean
the last time we came here a couple of years

(43:26):
ago when we played the Colts, we we ended up
flying too because we had to play in London. We
ended up flying from here over to London. And I
wanted to say it was like eight hours or something
like that. But you know the NFL, how was the
game when it was over there? Pretty good? It was
really good crowd And of course, because London is an
expensive city, NFL looks at the opportunity to make more money.

(43:49):
I mean, and then you had you had collective fans
from all over the country. Are all around the world
who were in the big NFL fans Germany, NFL. American
football is really big in Germany. It's picking up and
so it's one of those getting soccer popularity, which was
their football as well. And now American football is go
in that direction, which is kind of interesting. Never thought

(44:14):
you'd see it. Well, they tried it with the World League,
they tried it with a couple of spring leagues. You know,
the NFL doesn't really have a true amateur setting, so
other than college football, you don't have like a like
a Triple A league or G league and basketball and
stuff like that. NFL has been trying to create one.
Now you have the USFL that's going to start next spring,
that has eight teams, and that was just another form

(44:36):
of professional football just in spring to take advantage of it.
But you know, learning from history and learning what happened,
you know in previous leagues, the NFL is definitely gonna
write the ship. Look, people know you can't compete with
the NFL, so don't don't try. Don't try to come
in with another league like the XFL, or do something
and it's not not gonna work. You're gonna fail, miserable exactly. So.

(44:56):
But the next step is to go to London and um.
I remember when I first started working with the NFL network,
I had a conversation with then commissioner Paul Tagleville and
we were talking about them. We were talking about the
possibility of going over to Europe because the international games
have been played. We played in Barcelona, I remember, played

(45:17):
one time in Japan. Uh, stuff like that. International games
were starting to be played in The NFL recognized very
early that it's next thing was to go international like
basketball has um. But unfortunately, you know, the thing was
is to travel. You know, imagine flying from San Francisco
to London, you know what I mean? And so what
the way they figured it out, the way they've done
is they give those teams that play in the London

(45:38):
games buys. Now, I was interrupted due to COVID, and
I think they only did they did less games here,
but next year they're supposed to be the five or
six games in London. Okay, yeah, yeah, pick up. It's
it's it's the new frontier. What kind of person is
uh is uh Roger Goodell. He's one of those guys

(46:02):
that really tries hard to be liked. He's a good guy.
It is a very difficult position because you're answering to
thirty two millionaires exactly right um and having to control.
But the one thing they love about him is that
he's made them money. He's he's really he's turned over
a significant profit during his tenure and it's transcended the game,

(46:25):
not only with picking up the way that it's still
with gambling. You think about it, but you talk about
the TV contracts, the new media contract that came out.
You know a lot of people didn't read the details
of that and they were upset this season because a
lot of their games weren't shown. You had to go
to streaming networks. But that's the way that TV is evolving,
you know what I mean. You know, you gotta you

(46:45):
gotta get in line. You gotta be a part of
Amazon or you know, the NFL network that peacock all
the streaming networks because people are cutting the court of cable.
So you know, he was part of the first cable
contract with Direct TV that gave the NFL past. He
created that that did what it did for the time.
But because cable has become more and more expensive, and

(47:06):
because people are cutting the cable getting away from it,
UH direct hem and stuff like that, you had to
find a new new venue to put you out of
your product. And that's why the new media package that
they created came out the way that it did. Well.
This has been fun, Rico, man, I appreciate you having me. Yeah,
the last time we were setting here, this wasn't even
operation No. You were telling me what was going into play,
and I was looking forward to it. But you know

(47:27):
what I would honestly say is that I really appreciate
the hospitality every time I come to your city, which
you showed me to love and appreciation and take care
of me and my people. And I really do appreciate
that you're you're a long time friend and I don't
see that change and I agree, I agree, I appreciate it,
my friend, you got you. Thanks for being with us
here on the Skinny. This episode has been brought to

(47:48):
you by Toyota. Rhino classifies Dream give Away and General
Tire for the latest and sunglasses, optical frames, Excess Reason Apparel.
Be sure to check out bat hits dot com. That's
Bathheads with a Z. Production facilities provided by Fatheads I

(48:09):
Wear Studios. All rights reserved. The Skinny with Rico and
Kenna is a production of I heart Radio. For more
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