October 16, 2025 • 11 mins
Amy Wagner is a Wealth Advisor with Dean Dorton Private Wealth, and she joins us every Wednesday to talk sports and money on ESPN1530. This week we discussed franchise valuations and what they tell us about how much money teams can spend on players as well as the IU QB who's becoming as well known for his financial acumen as his on-field performances.
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Podcasts of The Mo Egger Radio Show are a service of Longnecks Sports Grill.
Listen to the show live weekday afternoons 3:00 - 6:00 on ESPN1530.
Listen Live: ESPN1530.com/listen
Get more: https://linktr.ee/MoEgger
Follow on X: @MoEgger
Instagram too: @MoEgger
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's time to talk sports and money with our friend
Amy Wagner. Amy Wagner Wealth advisor from Dean Dorton Private Wealth.
You can learn more about Dean Dorton at deandortonwealth dot com.
It's always awesome to have you. Here's what I want
to ask you about. Okay, So every year CNBC comes
out with their list of like NFL franchise values, and
(00:23):
you know, you see this or you see this. Every
year with the start of the baseball season they come
out with their list of MLB franchise values. The Bengals,
for instance, worth over six billion dollars, which is a
lot of money. On the other hand, twenty nine NFL
teams are worth more. The Reds are worth one point
five billion dollars. That's a lot of money. It's a franchise, however,
(00:47):
that people criticize them for being cheap. So I'm going
to start with this. Explain for me the difference between
a franchise's valuation and what they might be able to
spend on stuff like players.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
I mean, I think that you know, five billion, six
billion sounds like a lot of money, but you're a
little bit lacking some perspective there sometimes you know, and
also you know, for comparison's sake, the largest team or
the largest team valuation, the Cowboys have more than doubled
what the Bengals are worth. The average team in the
NFL seven point sixty five billion. So we're below average here.
(01:22):
And you know, I think you have to understand there's
several layers of this. One of them is there are
there's certain pot of money that every team gets to split, right,
TV licensing and sponsorships. Those proceeds are shared evenly among
thirty two franchise teams, right to the tune of about
four hundred and thirty three million a team. So what's
the difference. Well, everyone has different stadiums, stadium financing deals.
(01:46):
We could spend days here just talking about PAYCREP, the Bangals,
Hamilton County in that whole deal. But I think it's
really important to understand that when you're looking at these valuations,
there's tangibles and then there's intangibles. Right, you can figure
out how much a stadium is worth, you can figure
out how much the equipment that the Bengals own are.
(02:07):
You can even look at how much you know their
payroll is worth. Right, But then there's intangibles, and I
think that's what makes the difference between where the Beangals
are and where the Cowboys are. Right, we'll just use
them as the other team and this example. And in
the intangible is things like brand right, like the it factor,
(02:29):
you know. I mean there's you know, Cowboys fans who
are from here who have no reason to be Cowboys fans.
What they just are because the team is iconic, the
cheerleaders are iconic, their costumes are iconic. And somehow along
the way a marketing machine was put into place in
(02:49):
Dallas that build that that builds out that iconic status.
And I would argue nothing against the Brown family that
maybe something along those lines could be a little bit lacking.
Here in Cincinnati, reading we have players that everyone wants
to talk about. Now, I mean, well, Joe Borrow being
hurt obviously is an issue. But I mean you've got
your Jamar Chase as, your Teas, your Trey Hendrickson's, You've
(03:11):
got great players that people want to talk about. But
when you remove those players from the conversation, what is
the Bengals organization? What does it stand for? What is
it all about? I think many fans would kind of
be scratching their heads with that answer.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
I don't know what would you say, Well, I mean,
I look at it from a very sort of basic perspective.
When you hear the Bengals don't have the money that
Jerry Jones does, or that the New York Giants might write,
or that the New England Patriots too, like, that's all
well and good. They still have a franchise worth six
billion dollars. And so you mentioned the stadium thing. There's
(03:49):
a lot of folks and I've evolved my way of
thinking because I used to be completely opposed to the
idea the taxpayers should fund pro sports stadiums. Now I
don't quite feel exactly the same, but it would be
nice if they would kick in more money for their stadiums.
And so people will say on the other end of
that screw that I shouldn't have to pay for the
(04:10):
Bengal stadium. The Brown family has a franchise worth six
billion dollars. Others will say that doesn't mean that they
can afford to pay their stadium, pay for their stadium
on their own. So which is it?
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Well, and I think you can look at any business.
Since you have this business and it's worth X dollars.
That doesn't mean it's liquid. It doesn't mean you've got
all this money coming out of your pockets and out
of your pores that you have just to spend on things.
You know, I mean there is a gap there. And
you know, I don't just think the Bengals don't necessarily
have that gap. I mean the gap is going to
(04:43):
be in that intangible place because everyone's going to have
not the same fixed expenses, differing fixed expenses depending on
like how expensive your stadium is. But you know, and
I think also listen, I do not want to get
in the middle it is. I would rather talk politics
than talk Harold's County stadium deal. But you and I
have had the conversation before, too of you can't ignore
(05:05):
the spillover that happens, the economic impact that even the
Bengals during this season will bring to the Tri state area.
Detroit a few weeks ago, even if they weren't Bengals fans,
there were Detroit fans every we were in Newport and
Covington that day. They were everywhere, staying in hotel rooms,
(05:25):
flying in, driving in, filling up their guest tanks. Here
in Cincinnati, eating going to all the bars, all those places, right,
and so that economic impact spillover does impact our economy
locally for the positive. I know lots of people who
same thing. They're like, I don't care about the Bengals.
Why am I paying this tax? I would argue, And
(05:48):
maybe this is kind of where you've evolved over the
years and your thinking. We still all benefit from the
economic impact of the Bengals franchise of having the Cincinnati
Reds here. You move them to a front market and
it has an undeniable impact on our economy.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
My my change, my thinking change when the Bengals went
to the Super Bowl, because I felt like that the
branding of Cincinnati was important, right, the story of Cincinnati
being told nationally was important, and that happened on the
on the tails of the Bengals. With with baseball, like
baseball is different, right with football, it's it's direct revenue sharing.
(06:24):
Most of all the revenue gets thrown into the exact
same pot. It's it's not quite the same in Major
League Baseball. And so what do you say to the
Reds fan who's like, look, all right, the Bob Casteline,
he bought the team and paid like two hundred and
eighty million. The franchise itself is worth one point five
and yet we still have, you know, we're still on
the lower rent, the lower rung of what teams pay
for players. They have one point five billion dollars in worth,
(06:47):
So why can't they Why can't they double what they're
spending on players? What do you say to that fan?
Speaker 2 (06:52):
I think there's a percentage of money that's available right
for these payrolls. I mean, we can go back to
the fact that the Dodgers are They're payrolls five times
more what the Reds have, but also the team valuation,
the team is worth so much more, you know what
I mean. I don't know how we got kind of
the bad and the deal here in Cincinnati, But I
(07:14):
mean when you look at the rankings, of course, you know,
across MLB and NFL teams, we're at the bottom of
the barrel for both. We're smaller market, but there's also
other probably comparably sized markets that are doing somewhat better
than Cincinnati is in these rankings, you know, And I
think you can look at the dollar amount and say,
why can't we spend more? But I think you also
(07:36):
have to look at where we're ranked on that list
and saying, Okay, if the Dodgers are spending you know,
five hundred million or whatever that number is, and we're
at a one hundred and twenty eight every year, what's
the difference. Well, they have more money. I mean, they
just have more money. And so I don't think you
can look at that bottom line number and say that's
a lot of money. We should be spending more, you know.
(07:57):
And I don't know what their margins are, you know,
I don't know anything like that necessarily. But unfortunately we're
at the bottom of the barrel in.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Bookless and that's the thing like pro sports teams don't
have to open up their books, which makes it, I think,
from a fan perspective, doubly frustrating. Let's talk about this
is what's interesting to me. You're a Kentucky fan, but
your favorite college football players Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza. And
it doesn't have much to do with his play on
the field.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Yeah, I mean, never what I have ever thought I
would be talking about a Hoosier in such great But
you know, you and I have talked before about the
fact that the average career span of an NFL player
is three point three years and we've even seen stats
that say, like, hey, you know, a few years removed
from the league. Many of them have nothing to show
for the fact that they made millions and millions of dollars.
(08:43):
So their quarterback for Nando Mendoza, this kid is insanely smart.
He went to CAL and got into a really impressive
business school there, and as the story goes, he would
go to practice from five thirty to ten thirty every
morning and then drive across town to an internship all
day long and a really impressive investment bank place, and
(09:06):
then come back to the stadium and do all the
cold plunging and you know, watching reels, watching game tape videos,
and so his whole life has been both football and
also academics at the highest level. And when I worry
about often, right these players and how they're going to
(09:26):
react to these insane incomes that they're making, this is
someone who has the business acumen, the financial background to
make sure that he's fine. In fact, like quick story,
so when he announced that he was leaving from Cow
to come to IU for grad school, Cal was like, well,
you were on a full ride scholarship, but you've got
to pay for these classes while you're here. This last
semester he used nil money that he was going to
(09:48):
get right a lot more from IU to help pay
for that. But also his dad had a conversation with
him about, Hey, this nil money that you're getting feels
like a lot right now you are like front and
center IU. There are tax implications to that. And we've
also had conversations about our concerns that we have now
kids eighteen nineteen year old running around making forty thousand
(10:10):
or one hundred thousand where they never would before, and
maybe they don't have the backgrounds, you know, the business classes,
that the personal finance classes to know how to deal
with that. So I just think it's great to highlight
someone who, let's watch this kid. He's probably going to
go pretty high up in the draft in the NFL,
and he's probably going to make some insanely smart decisions
(10:33):
that may not only set up just his family, but
we can talk about generational wealth. Right when you start
making smart decisions, when that first paycheck comes in, that's
not only changing you and your children, that's your children's children.
And that's really understanding how these concepts work together.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Fernando Mendoza, quarterback of the third RDE team in the country.
But you don't see many of these guys profiled in
the Wall Street Journal. You brought this into me. He's
profiled as the finance nerd who might be college football's
next great quarterbacks.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
So check that out.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Business school grad who's been an intern at an investment firm.
He's I have not seen his LinkedIn profile, but apparently
he's like at the ball only.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Social media that he has. You think about the hype
that so many of these players have on their social
media accounts right their Instagram, their tiktoks there or whatever.
I mean. He is so laser focused on his academics
and his career that that's the only social media he
has and by the way, most efficient passer and major
college football right now. So it's like he is equally successful.
(11:32):
Rarely does anyone kind of reach that altitude on either
academics or athletics. He's reached it in both places, you know,
And I'm happy to cheer for who's your who's in
that kind of a place. Yeah, I'm with you.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
I think it's fun that Indiana's good and now a
quarterback who's easy to root for. Amy Wagner, Wealth Advisor,
Dean Dorton Private Wealth. Learn more at Dean doortonwealth dot
com
It's time to talk sports and money with our friend
Amy Wagner. Amy Wagner Wealth advisor from Dean Dorton Private Wealth.
You can learn more about Dean Dorton at deandortonwealth dot com.
It's always awesome to have you. Here's what I want
to ask you about. Okay, So every year CNBC comes
out with their list of like NFL franchise values, and
(00:23):
you know, you see this or you see this. Every
year with the start of the baseball season they come
out with their list of MLB franchise values. The Bengals,
for instance, worth over six billion dollars, which is a
lot of money. On the other hand, twenty nine NFL
teams are worth more. The Reds are worth one point
five billion dollars. That's a lot of money. It's a franchise, however,
(00:47):
that people criticize them for being cheap. So I'm going
to start with this. Explain for me the difference between
a franchise's valuation and what they might be able to
spend on stuff like players.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
I mean, I think that you know, five billion, six
billion sounds like a lot of money, but you're a
little bit lacking some perspective there sometimes you know, and
also you know, for comparison's sake, the largest team or
the largest team valuation, the Cowboys have more than doubled
what the Bengals are worth. The average team in the
NFL seven point sixty five billion. So we're below average here.
(01:22):
And you know, I think you have to understand there's
several layers of this. One of them is there are
there's certain pot of money that every team gets to split, right,
TV licensing and sponsorships. Those proceeds are shared evenly among
thirty two franchise teams, right to the tune of about
four hundred and thirty three million a team. So what's
the difference. Well, everyone has different stadiums, stadium financing deals.
(01:46):
We could spend days here just talking about PAYCREP, the Bangals,
Hamilton County in that whole deal. But I think it's
really important to understand that when you're looking at these valuations,
there's tangibles and then there's intangibles. Right, you can figure
out how much a stadium is worth, you can figure
out how much the equipment that the Bengals own are.
(02:07):
You can even look at how much you know their
payroll is worth. Right, But then there's intangibles, and I
think that's what makes the difference between where the Beangals
are and where the Cowboys are. Right, we'll just use
them as the other team and this example. And in
the intangible is things like brand right, like the it factor,
(02:29):
you know. I mean there's you know, Cowboys fans who
are from here who have no reason to be Cowboys fans.
What they just are because the team is iconic, the
cheerleaders are iconic, their costumes are iconic. And somehow along
the way a marketing machine was put into place in
(02:49):
Dallas that build that that builds out that iconic status.
And I would argue nothing against the Brown family that
maybe something along those lines could be a little bit lacking.
Here in Cincinnati, reading we have players that everyone wants
to talk about. Now, I mean, well, Joe Borrow being
hurt obviously is an issue. But I mean you've got
your Jamar Chase as, your Teas, your Trey Hendrickson's, You've
(03:11):
got great players that people want to talk about. But
when you remove those players from the conversation, what is
the Bengals organization? What does it stand for? What is
it all about? I think many fans would kind of
be scratching their heads with that answer.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
I don't know what would you say, Well, I mean,
I look at it from a very sort of basic perspective.
When you hear the Bengals don't have the money that
Jerry Jones does, or that the New York Giants might write,
or that the New England Patriots too, like, that's all
well and good. They still have a franchise worth six
billion dollars. And so you mentioned the stadium thing. There's
(03:49):
a lot of folks and I've evolved my way of
thinking because I used to be completely opposed to the
idea the taxpayers should fund pro sports stadiums. Now I
don't quite feel exactly the same, but it would be
nice if they would kick in more money for their stadiums.
And so people will say on the other end of
that screw that I shouldn't have to pay for the
(04:10):
Bengal stadium. The Brown family has a franchise worth six
billion dollars. Others will say that doesn't mean that they
can afford to pay their stadium, pay for their stadium
on their own. So which is it?
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Well, and I think you can look at any business.
Since you have this business and it's worth X dollars.
That doesn't mean it's liquid. It doesn't mean you've got
all this money coming out of your pockets and out
of your pores that you have just to spend on things.
You know, I mean there is a gap there. And
you know, I don't just think the Bengals don't necessarily
have that gap. I mean the gap is going to
(04:43):
be in that intangible place because everyone's going to have
not the same fixed expenses, differing fixed expenses depending on
like how expensive your stadium is. But you know, and
I think also listen, I do not want to get
in the middle it is. I would rather talk politics
than talk Harold's County stadium deal. But you and I
have had the conversation before, too of you can't ignore
(05:05):
the spillover that happens, the economic impact that even the
Bengals during this season will bring to the Tri state area.
Detroit a few weeks ago, even if they weren't Bengals fans,
there were Detroit fans every we were in Newport and
Covington that day. They were everywhere, staying in hotel rooms,
(05:25):
flying in, driving in, filling up their guest tanks. Here
in Cincinnati, eating going to all the bars, all those places, right,
and so that economic impact spillover does impact our economy
locally for the positive. I know lots of people who
same thing. They're like, I don't care about the Bengals.
Why am I paying this tax? I would argue, And
(05:48):
maybe this is kind of where you've evolved over the
years and your thinking. We still all benefit from the
economic impact of the Bengals franchise of having the Cincinnati
Reds here. You move them to a front market and
it has an undeniable impact on our economy.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
My my change, my thinking change when the Bengals went
to the Super Bowl, because I felt like that the
branding of Cincinnati was important, right, the story of Cincinnati
being told nationally was important, and that happened on the
on the tails of the Bengals. With with baseball, like
baseball is different, right with football, it's it's direct revenue sharing.
(06:24):
Most of all the revenue gets thrown into the exact
same pot. It's it's not quite the same in Major
League Baseball. And so what do you say to the
Reds fan who's like, look, all right, the Bob Casteline,
he bought the team and paid like two hundred and
eighty million. The franchise itself is worth one point five
and yet we still have, you know, we're still on
the lower rent, the lower rung of what teams pay
for players. They have one point five billion dollars in worth,
(06:47):
So why can't they Why can't they double what they're
spending on players? What do you say to that fan?
Speaker 2 (06:52):
I think there's a percentage of money that's available right
for these payrolls. I mean, we can go back to
the fact that the Dodgers are They're payrolls five times
more what the Reds have, but also the team valuation,
the team is worth so much more, you know what
I mean. I don't know how we got kind of
the bad and the deal here in Cincinnati, But I
(07:14):
mean when you look at the rankings, of course, you know,
across MLB and NFL teams, we're at the bottom of
the barrel for both. We're smaller market, but there's also
other probably comparably sized markets that are doing somewhat better
than Cincinnati is in these rankings, you know, And I
think you can look at the dollar amount and say,
why can't we spend more? But I think you also
(07:36):
have to look at where we're ranked on that list
and saying, Okay, if the Dodgers are spending you know,
five hundred million or whatever that number is, and we're
at a one hundred and twenty eight every year, what's
the difference. Well, they have more money. I mean, they
just have more money. And so I don't think you
can look at that bottom line number and say that's
a lot of money. We should be spending more, you know.
(07:57):
And I don't know what their margins are, you know,
I don't know anything like that necessarily. But unfortunately we're
at the bottom of the barrel in.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Bookless and that's the thing like pro sports teams don't
have to open up their books, which makes it, I think,
from a fan perspective, doubly frustrating. Let's talk about this
is what's interesting to me. You're a Kentucky fan, but
your favorite college football players Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza. And
it doesn't have much to do with his play on
the field.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Yeah, I mean, never what I have ever thought I
would be talking about a Hoosier in such great But
you know, you and I have talked before about the
fact that the average career span of an NFL player
is three point three years and we've even seen stats
that say, like, hey, you know, a few years removed
from the league. Many of them have nothing to show
for the fact that they made millions and millions of dollars.
(08:43):
So their quarterback for Nando Mendoza, this kid is insanely smart.
He went to CAL and got into a really impressive
business school there, and as the story goes, he would
go to practice from five thirty to ten thirty every
morning and then drive across town to an internship all
day long and a really impressive investment bank place, and
(09:06):
then come back to the stadium and do all the
cold plunging and you know, watching reels, watching game tape videos,
and so his whole life has been both football and
also academics at the highest level. And when I worry
about often, right these players and how they're going to
(09:26):
react to these insane incomes that they're making, this is
someone who has the business acumen, the financial background to
make sure that he's fine. In fact, like quick story,
so when he announced that he was leaving from Cow
to come to IU for grad school, Cal was like, well,
you were on a full ride scholarship, but you've got
to pay for these classes while you're here. This last
semester he used nil money that he was going to
(09:48):
get right a lot more from IU to help pay
for that. But also his dad had a conversation with
him about, Hey, this nil money that you're getting feels
like a lot right now you are like front and
center IU. There are tax implications to that. And we've
also had conversations about our concerns that we have now
kids eighteen nineteen year old running around making forty thousand
(10:10):
or one hundred thousand where they never would before, and
maybe they don't have the backgrounds, you know, the business classes,
that the personal finance classes to know how to deal
with that. So I just think it's great to highlight
someone who, let's watch this kid. He's probably going to
go pretty high up in the draft in the NFL,
and he's probably going to make some insanely smart decisions
(10:33):
that may not only set up just his family, but
we can talk about generational wealth. Right when you start
making smart decisions, when that first paycheck comes in, that's
not only changing you and your children, that's your children's children.
And that's really understanding how these concepts work together.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Fernando Mendoza, quarterback of the third RDE team in the country.
But you don't see many of these guys profiled in
the Wall Street Journal. You brought this into me. He's
profiled as the finance nerd who might be college football's
next great quarterbacks.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
So check that out.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Business school grad who's been an intern at an investment firm.
He's I have not seen his LinkedIn profile, but apparently
he's like at the ball only.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Social media that he has. You think about the hype
that so many of these players have on their social
media accounts right their Instagram, their tiktoks there or whatever.
I mean. He is so laser focused on his academics
and his career that that's the only social media he
has and by the way, most efficient passer and major
college football right now. So it's like he is equally successful.
(11:32):
Rarely does anyone kind of reach that altitude on either
academics or athletics. He's reached it in both places, you know,
And I'm happy to cheer for who's your who's in
that kind of a place. Yeah, I'm with you.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
I think it's fun that Indiana's good and now a
quarterback who's easy to root for. Amy Wagner, Wealth Advisor,
Dean Dorton Private Wealth. Learn more at Dean doortonwealth dot
com
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