Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Yes it is. I'm back. Nice long extended break. It's
the first time I've done the show since the eleventh
of July and it was a nice chance to get
away with family and some friends and relax and now
(00:21):
back at it as we begin the countdown to college
football about a month away. Coming up today, we will
talk a lot of college hoops with Mike Decorsi from
The Sporting News and Chris Fisher from Catspaws dot Com.
Thanks to the folks that filled in Billy Rutledge, Dick Gabriel,
(00:46):
Maggie Davis. I think Maggie unfortunately drew the short straw
when there were technical problems to wrestle with. But I
got to hear a little bit. I was driving back
yesterday and her a little bit of Wesley Woodyard on
with Gabe. Great to hear Wesley and make sure you
check out his sixteen Ways golf event that is coming
(01:07):
up to raise money for some great causes. Let's get
to the Wildcat news of the day. It is a
service of Giuseppes of Lexington and a heartbreaking ending to
a really fun run again this summer with the Lat
Familia team of UK alums in the basketball tournament, and
they were down most of the game last night, and
(01:31):
if you were there or were watching, it was like
they just kept, you know, pushing the rock up the
hill and they would. At one point they got to
like forty one to thirty nine. I mean they got
down like ten early and they were digging out of
that whole the whole game. They got it to forty
one to thirty nine and then eiber Line Drive goes
on a run to push it back out, so finally
(01:52):
they La Familia gets back to it within I think
it was six at the end of the third quarter.
Sixteen oh run in the fourth quarter that took charge
of the game, but they hit a cold stretch Irline
Drive hit some threes, got back in it. They got
to the elam ending time and I think remember what
(02:14):
the edge was for lat familiar moments, it was maybe
six points. The number was seventy one, and it looked
like La Familia was gonna pull it out a couple
of different times and had a nice pick and roll
with Andrew Harrison and Willie Carley Stein or no, no,
it was a runout for Willie late in the game
(02:34):
that led to kind of an odd situation but anyway,
he makes that layup, I think they win that game.
So he understandably got fouled, and it was a hard
foul because Eberline Driver was trying to catch up and
keep him from scoring the winning bucket, and then he
was going to go to the free throw line, and
then he started limping and left the court, and they
(02:55):
got to designate substitute free throw shooter, and they picked
Archie Goodwin, who struggled the line throughout the tournament and
was outstanding in every other way. And he hit the
first one, missed the second one that would have won it,
and then eber Line Drive kept rebounding miss threes. They
needed a three to win, needed a three to win
on several possessions, and they kept rebounding misses and getting
(03:22):
extra chances, and you kind of hold your breath every
time they let it go. Some crazy shots. But anyway,
they finally made one and defeated La Familia seventy one
to seventy. Fantastic entertaining game. Khalil Whitney had his best
game coming alive in that fourth quarter rally, he and
(03:45):
Willie cauley Stein kind of fueled that run for Kentucky.
I said, Archie Goodwin was really good again. I think
he had nineteen to lead in the crowd was fantastic.
There were times I remember the last game in Memorial
Coliseum before Kentucky moved to Rupp Arena. There have been
I guess the n game, I think maybe the only
(04:06):
other actual non exhibition game that the Kentucky men's basketball
team played there. But what was going to be thought
to be the last game ever for Kentucky men's basketball
at the Coliseum was in seventy six March of seventy six,
and Kentucky had to win it. It was thought to
be able to get an NIT bid that season and
(04:29):
back when that was much more meaningful than it is now.
And they made this incredible rally against Mississippi State and
then won the game in overtime. Talked about it with
Goose and he was on the floor for Kentucky that night.
And anyway they come back, they pull it out, get
to overtime, win the game in the extra period. I
know Oscar Combs has said many times it was like
(04:50):
the ghosts of Kentucky basketball came up through the floor
and made sure Kentucky was going to win its last
game there in the coliseum. It felt like it's a
long winded way. It felt like that was kind of
happening for Lo Familia last night when the tide turned
there in the fourth quarter, but unfortunately they lose it
to eber Line Drive. Wouldn't be surprised if that team
(05:11):
goes on to win the tournament. Kind of had the
feel that this was maybe a game, but whoever won.
I think they even guys on the air on the
Fox coverage said maybe that whoever won this game would
have a great shot to win the whole thing. So
it was a lot of fun again like last summer,
and unfortunately they came out on the short end. Thanks
(05:32):
to the stories that we talk about each day, you
can find them on the bud Light Leech reboard page
at Tom leachky dot com. I Got a Head to
a Break and come Back with Chris Fisher from the
Cat's Pause, our opening segment presented each day by Giuseppes
of Lexington, and if you haven't been to Giuseppe's lately,
get to open Table today and make plans to get
(05:52):
their fantastic selection of homemade pastas and handcut steaks, fresh
seafood that shipped in a lot of locally sourcing readings
for the sides. It's all fantastic and a really special
atmosphere at just Sepis of Lexington. We'll be right back.
It is the Lachreport Radio Network coming to you from
the Clark's Pumping Shop studio. Return refresh and refuel at
(06:17):
Clark's and make sure to sign up for their loyalty
rewards program as well. Joining us now Chris Fisher from
katspaus dot Com was a lot of fun again this summer,
Chris culminating with unfortunately earlier than expected loss last night
for the Law Familiar team, But that has become a
popular event for the Big Blue Dation here in the
(06:40):
last couple of summers.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
I mean, what's not to love seeing all these former
guys come back and you know, be able to put
on the blue and white one more time. And you know,
I thought it was particularly enjoyable to watch guys like
Archie Goodwin and Khalil Whitney kind of have a little
bit of a redemption arc, you know, for the way
their Kentucky careers went and how they ended, and to
(07:06):
come back and feel the love and feel the support
from the fans, and on.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Top of that, play really really well. I thought, was
really really fun.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
And just just the way the fans support LT Familia,
the way they support TBT, and even the fans in Louisville,
you have to give them credit. Also, they had home
court advantage. They sold the most tickets and you know,
there's just nothing like basketball in the state of Kentucky.
And so for these guys to come back and have
that experience I think is really cool and I hope
(07:36):
it's around for a long long time.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Sean Woods said after the game, his place is special, man,
It's special. That's what makes this play special more than
any other place in the world. Talking about the crowd
support that they had.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
It just.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
I was watching on Fox last night after getting home,
but you know, you feel it almost through the screen
of just the energy and the building and the players
were playing off that, and it would have been, you know,
up a few more notches had they been playing again
next Monday for a spot in the Final four. And
as you mentioned, great crowds for Louisville two, and that
(08:11):
the atmosphere last year in Freedom Hall when they played
each other was tremendous. So it is they have found
something to tap into for the time being with this
event as it pertains to Kentucky.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Yeah, definitely, there's you know, July, you're a little bit
starved for for any kind of sports, and you kind
of feel like basketball is right around the corner. So
I think it's perfect timing to kind of satiate Kentucky
fans until October, until Big Blue Madness rolls around. And
you know, I watched some of these other kind of
random TVT games on TV and I look at the
(08:46):
crowd and I'm like, oh my gosh, they're you know,
they're so sparse. There's no excitement, there's no you know, support,
and so I just think Kentucky is really really lucky
in that regard to to have the type of you know,
fan support and the attendance that they've had at these
games at Historic Memorial Cosseum. And you know, I think
back to that the last time Kentucky played there in
(09:09):
the n I T in two thousand and nine, and
what an atmosphere that was. And I would really love
for Kentucky to.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Play maybe just one game a year at Memorial.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
I know the ticket sales would take a hit, you
know the gate would take a hit, but the the
atmosphere in a game like that, I think would just
be unmatched.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Yeah, for TBT, if they could, I wonder if they'll
at some point try to gravitate towards this where I
think the connection to the schools in the towns is
especially a big part of this. You know, for La Familia,
for the Ville and Louisville. Whereas you know, a team
like Eberline Drive, I mean, good players, but there's you know,
unless the people on Eberline Drive are getting together to
(09:53):
have a watch party, Uh, there's no big base to
tap into, Like there is that allegiance to schools. You know.
The team that Kentucky beat, the all familiar beat in
the second game were ready, was Auburn fans. I'm sure
the Auburn fans were into that to some degree.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Yeah, there's some teams that are definitely have more of
a mercenary field to them. But yes, when you have
that school connection, when you have a team that is
you know, made up mostly of alumni, and even the
guys that didn't play for Kentucky like Marcus Warwick and
Karen Canter, at least they have some type of tie
to you know, the location or the program or the
(10:32):
state or what have you.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
And so I really enjoyed the teams.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
That twenty Beckham has has put together and will be
interested to see what the teams look like going.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Forward, told Chris Fisher from Katzpause dot com on The
Leach Report presented by Bobcat Enterprises. We'll take a quick
break and come back talk a little bit about what
Mark Pope had to say earlier this week at his
media session. It's the Leach Report. We'll be right back
twenty three past the the hour on this Wednesday edition
(11:02):
of The Leech Report. WHI chat with Chris Fisher from
katzpaus dot com. Earlier this week. It was on Monday,
Mark Pope had a press session and touched on a
lot of topics. What were some of the ones that, Well,
we just lost the connection to Chris. We're having some
technical issues, so apologize for that. We'll get him reconnected
(11:24):
here just a moment and get his thoughts on Mark
Pope and his press event earlier this week. One recruiting note,
Taj Kenney from Overtime Elite, former Newport High school basketball star,
(11:47):
has cut his list to five schools and his recruitment,
and Kentucky is one of them, along with Arkansas, Auburn, Indiana, Kansas,
actually more than five just read the headline. Auburn, Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Louisville,
(12:10):
Miami of Florida, Oregon, Purdue Tennessee, Texas and Xavier six
two point guard who is a five star prospect. Do
we have Chris back still working on Chris Fisher apologized Mike.
Of course he coming up in the second half of
the show today. Let me take a second here. We'll
talk about something we'll talk about when Mike joins us.
(12:31):
This is a story out of Yahoo Sports. You may
have seen last week report that the new College Sports Commission,
which is going to oversee the NIL world for under
this new path forward for college athletics, and that they
were going to say that collectives were not going to
(12:54):
be able to do deals with athletes, as has been
the case since pretty much since in Ile came on board.
And now according to this story in Yahoo Sports, it
says that they are apparently getting close to a resolution
on this that would allow collectives to be treated like
(13:17):
other businesses in terms of doing NIL deals. They'd still
be subject to you know, the market value rulings and
those kinds of things. I would have to couldn't just
be a pay per play, pay for play deal strictly,
but it would enable collectives, if this comes to fruition,
(13:40):
to be able to continue to do deals with athletes.
And I think what happened here sounds like from reading
multiple stories in the last couple of weeks, is that
there were going to be a wave of lawsuits coming
if they stuck, if the College Sports Commission stuck to
its original position basically trying to eliminate collectives. And now
(14:05):
they apparently are getting close to a settlement that will
continue to allow collectives to operate. You know, they may
be under different you know, under the umbrella of someone else.
Perhaps you know, there'd be I think some situations where
you know, a meteor rites holder for a school will
oversee this, but maybe the collective would operate under that umbrella.
(14:29):
We'll see how it all plays out, but anyway, it
looks like they're going to, according to the story, find
a way to a settlement that would allow collectives to
continue to operate, because it felt like that they were
going to continue to operate in some fashion anyway, and
either through legal challenges or under the table or whatever.
(14:50):
So the best thing is to keep it all up
on the table and figure a way to work together.
And it looks like that is what is coming. Is
is in this story from Yahoo's Sports I just read
you a little bit. An sec nil collective told on
three that it submitted a deal fourteen days ago with
(15:10):
multiple deliverables for an event with the clearinghouses delay. The
event that the football player was supposed to execute. It
since passed, So they are going to come to a
resolution where those kinds of deals can take place, all right.
Chris Fisher's back with us. Chris apologized for the technical issues.
What did you were your takeaways from Mark Pope's media
(15:31):
comments earlier this week.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Yeah, the thing I enjoyed and the thing that I
wrote about at Catspaws dot com was how Kentucky's reputation
has changed with the elite recruits. It was really hard
for Mark Pope to kind of sell last year's you know,
top talent on a vision. He had never won an
TAA tournament game, he had never produced an NBA draft pick,
(15:56):
and you know what a difference a year makes, And
now it seems like Kentucky is on the tip of
everybody's tongue. I feel like they have a, you know,
a legitimate shot. They're in the thick of a hunt.
With probably ten of the top twenty guys in the
twenty twenty six class, I think that class is starting
to kind of come into focus a little bit.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
You're seeing guys.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
Cut their lists down, their scheduling official visits. I think
seven have either taken an official visit to Kentucky or
scheduled one. And so it's crazy what Mark Pope has
done in year one at Kentucky and how different things
feel with the elite high school talent now than they
did a year ago.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Yeah, it was.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Certainly no surprise that he had in CLA tournament success
and that he produced draft picks when he had a
greater opportunity to do so at a place like Kentucky.
But still, until it's done, you don't, you know, check
that box or other people can use it against you,
probably more importantly in recruiting. So he still got everything
(17:00):
that Kentucky had to sell, and now those boxes have
been checked too.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Yeah, I think they're checking all the boxes. I mean,
you have the nil component you have the visibility component,
the stage, the biggest stage in college basketball, the most
fan support, but then you also have the player development.
You know, getting guys like Kobe Brea and Amari Williams
drafted after one year at Kentucky, I think not only
plays huge in the transfer portal, but it plays huge
(17:25):
with guys looking to be a one and done. And
then when you add in the offense and kind of
the up and down run and gun style, I think,
you know, it looks like Mark Pope really gives his
guys the freedom to play offensively. I think that's going
to be really, really attractive for the top high school talent,
and we're seeing that play out.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
You can read Chris's report on the Pope news conference
and more at katspause dot com. Follow him at Chris
Fisher twenty four to seven on X Chris Thank you
as always. All right, Thanks, It's Chris Fisher here on
the lead report, presented by Bob kN enterprises right with
Mike de Coursi. Well tripart coming to you from the
Clark's Pumpin' Shob Studio. Return, refresh and refuel at Clark's
(18:06):
Mike de Coursi joining us now from Sportingnews dot Com
at TSN, Mike on X and Mike just looking at
this story on Yahoo's Sports from Ross Dellinger about apparently
a settlement in the works or agreement, I guess is
the better term in the works between the College Sports Commission,
(18:30):
the new College Sports Commission, and the attorneys that would
be taking them to court representing collectives that would want
to challenge what was going to be the plan to
kind of de emphasize or eliminate collectives working with athletes,
and now they're going to find a way to keep
that in place. It looks like yeah, and.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
So it appears that if they follow that on its
most basic level, which would be that nothing much would
change to how the collectives have operated over the last
couple of years, that it's going to be this is
(19:10):
going to be a bonanza for the athletes that between
revenue share and the continuation of the NIL, the collective
NIL operation, they'll be making even more money than they
have been. That seems to be the case. Now we
still have to see it in practice, because there still
is that body that has to evaluate all the NIL deals.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
So if Kansas State wants to make a deal with PJ.
Speaker 4 (19:38):
Haggerty a collective type deal. It's still going to have
to go through that body, and we don't know exactly
how they'll rule. I know that they were based on
things that I'd read on Twitter from a particular university's collective.
It was a mid major collective, but they were getting
(19:58):
rejected on almost everything. So whether they keep that aggression
up or whether this meeting, this settlement conference that they
went through in the last couple of weeks, whether that
changes their approach, we won't know until until much later, really,
because the vast majority I mean talking about profiting ninety
nine percent of collective style NIL deals for twenty five
(20:23):
twenty six were already in place when the House settlement
was approved.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Everybody hustled to get.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
Them done because they knew that it would be a
competitive advantage to make sure they did that.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
There's a lot of buzz now about that twenty point
five twenty point six figure for schools to distribute money
to athletes and how that's going to break down. And
you know, there was a story I think from Matt
Orlander of CBS Sports that suggested it might be you know,
almost like a fifty to fifty between Kentucky men's bas bsketball,
(21:00):
and football. There have been various reports that have suggested
that it's not going to be the case, and that
Football is very satisfied with what the breakdown is going
to look like here SEC schools like the numbers more
kind of like the fifteen million football, three million men's basketball,
and the rest split up among some number of sports.
(21:24):
What I wonder is, and we don't know, you know,
how all the breakdowns are working yet, but what I
wonder is if this comes about this agreement and then
let's say, you know, at a place like Kentucky, if
collectives can continue to operate, it's probably going to mean
more NIL money for athletes in deals that could be done.
(21:48):
So would athletes would say the men's basketball team not
need as big a share of that pie, and maybe
not only football, but you know some other sports could
share in it. And you know, same place that the
same at you know other places where you know, football
at Georgia, you know, those players can command a lot
more in IL than they can at you know some
(22:09):
other schools. So could that play into this too?
Speaker 4 (22:13):
Yeah, I mean I think that that that's very logical
that uh that for schools that have particular interests and
affinity for some minor I shouldn't say minor, I mean
I for some low revenue sports.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Let's put it that way.
Speaker 4 (22:29):
Yeah, that that if they like baseball being an example,
for a lot of for a lot of SEC schools,
or wrestling at Iowa or so, those sports might get
funded out of the revenue share. Uh and and the
the collectives that they have in place can can cover
(22:51):
what's necessary to build a successful men's basketball roster or
a successful football roster, et cetera. I think that's that's
very possible. I always knew that this was going to
wind up being challenged legally. I'm surprised, honestly that.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
It took so little fight.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
I think that they realized that it was probably a
losing cause, and so they wisely settled rather than pay
more legal fees, take another loss another have to pay
another settlement instead of just tweaking the rules. But I
think we're at the point now where the only thing
(23:31):
that in college athletics that really needs repaired is to
try to figure out how to make transferring a little
bit less attractive. You still want athletes to be able
to transfer when they get there and they don't play,
or they get there and they realize they're homesick, or
they get there and they realized that the school that
they were going to enter doesn't work for them academically,
(23:54):
or even just they just don't fit in socially. That's
pretty rare for an athlete, but I'm sure and sometimes
and so you want that to be still out there,
But you don't want athletes just be chasing every payday,
not necessarily because it's bad that they get paid, but
because it's it's not necessarily great for their development as
athletes or as people or as students.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
I think it impacts you on all those levels.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Yeah, And I wonder at some point if it becomes
a situation where from that it's like a they don't
have I guess contracts per se like you would in
professional sports. But there's an argument that, like, for the
good of the game, we're all in this together, and
(24:42):
now you guys are making money off the game, and
so we're gonna we're going to do some things that
are good for the overall good of the sport, whatever
sport it is, and you know, having some limits on
transfers would maybe be something that comes under that umbrella.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
I think it would be, but I think in order
to get there either.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
Basically you're going to have to have some sort of negotiation,
and they still have not negotiated any of this to
date with the athletes. The athletes are never in these rooms.
They don't have a collective bargaining agreement, they don't have
a player's association, either for all NCAA athletes or for
any particular sport, so it makes it difficult to do
(25:31):
that effectively without getting their input. But I do think
it's reasonable to make it so that a second change
after the first requires some penalty, if you want to
call it a penalty to have to sit out, or
it would be mandated that in order to not have
(25:51):
to pay that penalty, you would have to have a
significant change to your situation, like a coaching change in
your program, that sort of thing. I think those are
reasonable requests, but again, I think in order to do that,
you're going to have to acknowledge someone as the representation
for the players, as.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Are athletes, akin to let's say somebody that you hire
to paint your house. Now they're not an employee, but
they're providing a service. So if there's a dispute between
the person that paints your house, you can sue over it,
or maybe you know there's like small claims court or
different vehicles. Is there do you see something foresee something
(26:32):
that is like a I don't know, an arbitration element
to this where players would be able to have a
voice that way.
Speaker 4 (26:40):
I was always pretty adamant about the idea, not that
necessarily that I was opposed to the athletes being employees,
but that I know how opposed the schools are, and
that people are sort of steamrolling how opposed they are,
and there are a variety of reasons why they don't
want it to be that situation.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
And I was about a month.
Speaker 4 (27:03):
Ago, two months ago, I came across an interview with
one of the gentlemen that's involved in trying to represent
the athletes, and he came up with the first truly
brilliant idea that I've seen in this space, which is
a similar concept to the screen actors kill, wherein if
(27:23):
you are an actor and you are hired to be
on a movie, you are not technically employed by the
studio that's making that movie. You are a You are
a You are working for the picture for the for
the production, and you are not an employee of the.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Production, you are a contractor for the production.
Speaker 4 (27:44):
And I think there's a lot of similarity here because
the money that we're talking about is significant in both cases.
Both in if you're a you know, if you're a
first level actor in a significant television or motion picture production,
you're paid very well.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
And if you're a high level athlete.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
And Division one sports now you're paid very well. So
I think there's a lot of similarity there. And Screen
Actors Guild members have protections. There are minimums and our
limitations and oh shift things that come in, you know,
work safety things that come in.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
And I think all that would work really well for
the college athlete.
Speaker 4 (28:23):
And I think that it would be wise not only
for the athletes to pursue that, but for uh for
the schools to encourage them in that direction, because then
it would solve the employment conundrum pretty pretty comfortably, and
it would get all these other things that the schools want,
some some transfer restriction, et cetera in place.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
But chat with Mike de Coursy Sportingnews dot Com at
TSN MIC on X and we'll continue in just a
moment on the lead Trueport presented by bobcat Enterprises were
back with Mike Decursi from Sportingnews dot Com at t
SA and Mike talking about the business side of college
sports right now and a potential agreement that is on
(29:09):
the way that would enable collectives to continue to operate
to be treated if according to this Yahoo Sports story,
if the agreement is put in place, collectives would be
treated like other businesses that might employ in athletes services
for something and all and moving forward under the College
(29:32):
Sports Commission. That has to coincide or line up with
market prices right for you know, what something's worth. You
can't just you know, give a player one hundred thousand
dollars for being a player, or million dollars whatever, or
(29:53):
one hundred thousand dollars to go to an autograph signing.
That would be you know, maybe out of alignment. But
what's going to be interesting is you know, making that
determination on market value. It's not a real hard and
fast set of numbers. I wouldn't think. An example of
a buddy of mine sold his company and one of
(30:13):
the features he had in his company was they gave
the vending machines were all free for employees. You know,
if we want some to drink or food out of
the vending machine, you get it no cost to the employee,
cost the business about one hundred thousand dollars somewhere north
of that on an annual basis. When he sold the company,
he stayed on to run it for a while and
(30:35):
the new board wanted to do away with that, and
he made the argument to them with numbers why they
should keep it, and they ultimately did because they had
a lot to do with retention of employees and cost
of training new employees and those kinds of things, so
there was a justification for it. There's you know, a
business could do a deal with an athlete and actually
(30:58):
lose money on the deal, but that in the overall picture,
they're going to get more you know, recognition, more people
into their you know, restaurant or their business, and that
it will be positive in the long term. So those
kinds of battles I have to think will take place
in legitimate business enterprises, not anything that's you know, kind
of pay for play, but could be legitimate discussions.
Speaker 4 (31:19):
Yeah, it's a really complicated area because let's be honest,
I mean, most of the collective deals, the big collective
deals don't approach what would be considered standard market value
because a lot of a lot of this stuff. You know,
the athlete signs for seven figures through the collective and
(31:40):
certainly does some work to offset that, but the value
is in what that athlete provides on the field of play.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
That's that's the reality. And people are bothered by.
Speaker 4 (31:52):
The concept of pay for play, But I don't understand
why it's a bothersome concept because it's exactly.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
What revenue share is. So now the rulers are doing it,
so why can't the collectives.
Speaker 4 (32:01):
I don't understand that if they get really tough about this, Tom,
I just think it still winds up in court.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
Because if you if you got rid of.
Speaker 4 (32:14):
The collectives altogether and just went to the revenue share,
then a vast majority of the high major successful college athlete,
the players that you're seeing start on successful teams in
men's basketball and in football, would be taking pay cuts
that could that will run well into six figures and
(32:35):
could run into seven figures for some of them. And
I just can't see anybody saying, oh, that's fine, I'm
good about losing that much money, especially with the limited earning.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
Period that college athletics provides.
Speaker 4 (32:50):
I just think that that winds up in court, and
that's why I'll.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
Be very curious to see how this is executed.
Speaker 4 (32:57):
Now that there is an agreement that the NIL excuse me,
that the NIL collectives can continue. I'm very curious to
see if the business can continue as they have. I
mean a lot of the figures that we've seen have
been inflated, often by multiple millions of dollars, but that
still leaves them making millions of dollars.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
Even though that the figures that we've seen.
Speaker 4 (33:22):
Reported for some of these athletes have been inflated, it
still puts them into seven figures. And I don't know
that there's any work that could be done through a
collective that would truly be truly approach that level of work.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
So do you think this ultimately plays out in a
way that initially it was collectives could do. These fials
had to be completely separate for the school from the schools.
The schools could not have anything to do with that,
and then that's how the collective element came to prominence
(33:57):
in this system. That ultimate it plays out that simply
the collectives are now moved under the umbrella of the school,
which was originally thought to be, you know, something they
didn't want, and so that they move under the school's
umbrella and not a whole lot changes.
Speaker 4 (34:15):
We're seeing a lot of schools move in that direction,
and I don't know exactly what the resolution of that
will be because it's so complicated, because if they are
under the umbrella of the school, isn't that you know,
isn't that separate and apart from what this is supposed
(34:36):
to be. The collective concept is supposed to be an
outside body that's providing name, image and likeness compensation.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
If it's inside the.
Speaker 4 (34:44):
School, then it then it obviously right away runs foul
of that so hard.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Well, maybe it's inside the school though, like your analogy
earlier with the movie industry, it's inside the school as
the Steven Spielberg making the movie and you deal with
the student.
Speaker 4 (35:01):
Yeah, but in order to do that then there has
to be the representation concept and that so I think
that would have to come first in order for it
to be truly successful, in order for it to to
make sense. And you know, there's still there still is
this hang up about pay for play. Even though the
schools are now doing that with revenue share. There's still
(35:21):
this hang up relative to the collective concept about pay
for play. That's what that's where all of this began
when they were negotiating the House settlement, and so I
don't know how it'll how that will go. That's that's
a tough element of all of this in order to
I mean, I can look out and see that they
are likely to be legal challenges if the athletes aren't
(35:44):
allowed to be.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
Compensated at the level next year that they are now.
Speaker 4 (35:47):
That I can see, but I can't see how how
the collective operation will work inside or outside, as you know,
going through this commission or the Deloitte group. I don't
know how that's going to function because it doesn't really
seem to add up.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
I'm not saying it doesn't make it.
Speaker 4 (36:07):
It isn't right that they should that they that they
should be allowed to do this, but it doesn't seem
to fit the spirit of what the House Settlement was
initially intended.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
Mike Decorsi Sportingnews dot Com. Well, I'm sure continue to
talk about this moving forward, but we've got to cut
it short today. Thank you, Thanks tom As, Mike Decorsy.
You can read his work at Sporting News dot com,
follow him at TSN Mike on X and we'll be
right back with our final segment of this Wednesday edition
of The Leach Report, presented by Bob Katt Enterprises, Long days,
(36:40):
warm nights, cold cans in hand. That's what summer in
Kentucky is all about. And our friends at Cornbread Hemp
are keeping the good vibes rolling. They're new infused Seltzers
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This is the good life, Happy Birthday. Julescamara Jeweles finished
(37:27):
up on that twenty three team that ran off twenty
sixth Street wins and looked like it was headed to
a national title until Keith Bogan's Got Hurt. Jewles was
the leading scorer off the bench for that team that season.
So celebrating a birthday today and friend of the show,
Shannon spake It was on with us a couple of
weeks ago talking about her new Spake Up podcast. A
(37:47):
happy birthday to Shannon, while cat History Notes and Birthdays
presented by Kentucky Sports Cards and Memorabilia on Romedy Road
in Lexington and in roadshow Cards dot com. The the
University of Kentucky announced some ticket price increases for season
ticket renewals that are due by August twenty second. You
(38:10):
can see those at UA Athletics dot com or you'll
be hearing about it if you're a season ticket holder.
Tickets sun average are going up four to seven dollars
per game, and for the first time, all sections and
rep will require a k Fund donation starting as low
as fifty to one hundred dollars per seat, so season
ticket holders will earn k Phone Priority points for those
(38:31):
new donations. You can find out more UK Athletics dot com.
We will see you tomorrow on the Leads Report. Have
a good day, Everyboddy
Yes it is. I'm back. Nice long extended break. It's
the first time I've done the show since the eleventh
of July and it was a nice chance to get
away with family and some friends and relax and now
(00:21):
back at it as we begin the countdown to college
football about a month away. Coming up today, we will
talk a lot of college hoops with Mike Decorsi from
The Sporting News and Chris Fisher from Catspaws dot Com.
Thanks to the folks that filled in Billy Rutledge, Dick Gabriel,
(00:46):
Maggie Davis. I think Maggie unfortunately drew the short straw
when there were technical problems to wrestle with. But I
got to hear a little bit. I was driving back
yesterday and her a little bit of Wesley Woodyard on
with Gabe. Great to hear Wesley and make sure you
check out his sixteen Ways golf event that is coming
(01:07):
up to raise money for some great causes. Let's get
to the Wildcat news of the day. It is a
service of Giuseppes of Lexington and a heartbreaking ending to
a really fun run again this summer with the Lat
Familia team of UK alums in the basketball tournament, and
they were down most of the game last night, and
(01:31):
if you were there or were watching, it was like
they just kept, you know, pushing the rock up the
hill and they would. At one point they got to
like forty one to thirty nine. I mean they got
down like ten early and they were digging out of
that whole the whole game. They got it to forty
one to thirty nine and then eiber Line Drive goes
on a run to push it back out, so finally
(01:52):
they La Familia gets back to it within I think
it was six at the end of the third quarter.
Sixteen oh run in the fourth quarter that took charge
of the game, but they hit a cold stretch Irline
Drive hit some threes, got back in it. They got
to the elam ending time and I think remember what
(02:14):
the edge was for lat familiar moments, it was maybe
six points. The number was seventy one, and it looked
like La Familia was gonna pull it out a couple
of different times and had a nice pick and roll
with Andrew Harrison and Willie Carley Stein or no, no,
it was a runout for Willie late in the game
(02:34):
that led to kind of an odd situation but anyway,
he makes that layup, I think they win that game.
So he understandably got fouled, and it was a hard
foul because Eberline Driver was trying to catch up and
keep him from scoring the winning bucket, and then he
was going to go to the free throw line, and
then he started limping and left the court, and they
(02:55):
got to designate substitute free throw shooter, and they picked
Archie Goodwin, who struggled the line throughout the tournament and
was outstanding in every other way. And he hit the
first one, missed the second one that would have won it,
and then eber Line Drive kept rebounding miss threes. They
needed a three to win, needed a three to win
on several possessions, and they kept rebounding misses and getting
(03:22):
extra chances, and you kind of hold your breath every
time they let it go. Some crazy shots. But anyway,
they finally made one and defeated La Familia seventy one
to seventy. Fantastic entertaining game. Khalil Whitney had his best
game coming alive in that fourth quarter rally, he and
(03:45):
Willie cauley Stein kind of fueled that run for Kentucky.
I said, Archie Goodwin was really good again. I think
he had nineteen to lead in the crowd was fantastic.
There were times I remember the last game in Memorial
Coliseum before Kentucky moved to Rupp Arena. There have been
I guess the n game, I think maybe the only
(04:06):
other actual non exhibition game that the Kentucky men's basketball
team played there. But what was going to be thought
to be the last game ever for Kentucky men's basketball
at the Coliseum was in seventy six March of seventy six,
and Kentucky had to win it. It was thought to
be able to get an NIT bid that season and
(04:29):
back when that was much more meaningful than it is now.
And they made this incredible rally against Mississippi State and
then won the game in overtime. Talked about it with
Goose and he was on the floor for Kentucky that night.
And anyway they come back, they pull it out, get
to overtime, win the game in the extra period. I
know Oscar Combs has said many times it was like
(04:50):
the ghosts of Kentucky basketball came up through the floor
and made sure Kentucky was going to win its last
game there in the coliseum. It felt like it's a
long winded way. It felt like that was kind of
happening for Lo Familia last night when the tide turned
there in the fourth quarter, but unfortunately they lose it
to eber Line Drive. Wouldn't be surprised if that team
(05:11):
goes on to win the tournament. Kind of had the
feel that this was maybe a game, but whoever won.
I think they even guys on the air on the
Fox coverage said maybe that whoever won this game would
have a great shot to win the whole thing. So
it was a lot of fun again like last summer,
and unfortunately they came out on the short end. Thanks
(05:32):
to the stories that we talk about each day, you
can find them on the bud Light Leech reboard page
at Tom leachky dot com. I Got a Head to
a Break and come Back with Chris Fisher from the
Cat's Pause, our opening segment presented each day by Giuseppes
of Lexington, and if you haven't been to Giuseppe's lately,
get to open Table today and make plans to get
(05:52):
their fantastic selection of homemade pastas and handcut steaks, fresh
seafood that shipped in a lot of locally sourcing readings
for the sides. It's all fantastic and a really special
atmosphere at just Sepis of Lexington. We'll be right back.
It is the Lachreport Radio Network coming to you from
the Clark's Pumping Shop studio. Return refresh and refuel at
(06:17):
Clark's and make sure to sign up for their loyalty
rewards program as well. Joining us now Chris Fisher from
katspaus dot Com was a lot of fun again this summer,
Chris culminating with unfortunately earlier than expected loss last night
for the Law Familiar team, But that has become a
popular event for the Big Blue Dation here in the
(06:40):
last couple of summers.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
I mean, what's not to love seeing all these former
guys come back and you know, be able to put
on the blue and white one more time. And you know,
I thought it was particularly enjoyable to watch guys like
Archie Goodwin and Khalil Whitney kind of have a little
bit of a redemption arc, you know, for the way
their Kentucky careers went and how they ended, and to
(07:06):
come back and feel the love and feel the support
from the fans, and on.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Top of that, play really really well. I thought, was
really really fun.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
And just just the way the fans support LT Familia,
the way they support TBT, and even the fans in Louisville,
you have to give them credit. Also, they had home
court advantage. They sold the most tickets and you know,
there's just nothing like basketball in the state of Kentucky.
And so for these guys to come back and have
that experience I think is really cool and I hope
(07:36):
it's around for a long long time.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Sean Woods said after the game, his place is special, man,
It's special. That's what makes this play special more than
any other place in the world. Talking about the crowd
support that they had.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
It just.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
I was watching on Fox last night after getting home,
but you know, you feel it almost through the screen
of just the energy and the building and the players
were playing off that, and it would have been, you know,
up a few more notches had they been playing again
next Monday for a spot in the Final four. And
as you mentioned, great crowds for Louisville two, and that
(08:11):
the atmosphere last year in Freedom Hall when they played
each other was tremendous. So it is they have found
something to tap into for the time being with this
event as it pertains to Kentucky.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Yeah, definitely, there's you know, July, you're a little bit
starved for for any kind of sports, and you kind
of feel like basketball is right around the corner. So
I think it's perfect timing to kind of satiate Kentucky
fans until October, until Big Blue Madness rolls around. And
you know, I watched some of these other kind of
random TVT games on TV and I look at the
(08:46):
crowd and I'm like, oh my gosh, they're you know,
they're so sparse. There's no excitement, there's no you know, support,
and so I just think Kentucky is really really lucky
in that regard to to have the type of you know,
fan support and the attendance that they've had at these
games at Historic Memorial Cosseum. And you know, I think
back to that the last time Kentucky played there in
(09:09):
the n I T in two thousand and nine, and
what an atmosphere that was. And I would really love
for Kentucky to.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Play maybe just one game a year at Memorial.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
I know the ticket sales would take a hit, you
know the gate would take a hit, but the the
atmosphere in a game like that, I think would just
be unmatched.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Yeah, for TBT, if they could, I wonder if they'll
at some point try to gravitate towards this where I
think the connection to the schools in the towns is
especially a big part of this. You know, for La Familia,
for the Ville and Louisville. Whereas you know, a team
like Eberline Drive, I mean, good players, but there's you know,
unless the people on Eberline Drive are getting together to
(09:53):
have a watch party, Uh, there's no big base to
tap into, Like there is that allegiance to schools. You know.
The team that Kentucky beat, the all familiar beat in
the second game were ready, was Auburn fans. I'm sure
the Auburn fans were into that to some degree.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Yeah, there's some teams that are definitely have more of
a mercenary field to them. But yes, when you have
that school connection, when you have a team that is
you know, made up mostly of alumni, and even the
guys that didn't play for Kentucky like Marcus Warwick and
Karen Canter, at least they have some type of tie
to you know, the location or the program or the
(10:32):
state or what have you.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
And so I really enjoyed the teams.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
That twenty Beckham has has put together and will be
interested to see what the teams look like going.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Forward, told Chris Fisher from Katzpause dot com on The
Leach Report presented by Bobcat Enterprises. We'll take a quick
break and come back talk a little bit about what
Mark Pope had to say earlier this week at his
media session. It's the Leach Report. We'll be right back
twenty three past the the hour on this Wednesday edition
(11:02):
of The Leech Report. WHI chat with Chris Fisher from
katzpaus dot com. Earlier this week. It was on Monday,
Mark Pope had a press session and touched on a
lot of topics. What were some of the ones that, Well,
we just lost the connection to Chris. We're having some
technical issues, so apologize for that. We'll get him reconnected
(11:24):
here just a moment and get his thoughts on Mark
Pope and his press event earlier this week. One recruiting note,
Taj Kenney from Overtime Elite, former Newport High school basketball star,
(11:47):
has cut his list to five schools and his recruitment,
and Kentucky is one of them, along with Arkansas, Auburn, Indiana, Kansas,
actually more than five just read the headline. Auburn, Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Louisville,
(12:10):
Miami of Florida, Oregon, Purdue Tennessee, Texas and Xavier six
two point guard who is a five star prospect. Do
we have Chris back still working on Chris Fisher apologized Mike.
Of course he coming up in the second half of
the show today. Let me take a second here. We'll
talk about something we'll talk about when Mike joins us.
(12:31):
This is a story out of Yahoo Sports. You may
have seen last week report that the new College Sports Commission,
which is going to oversee the NIL world for under
this new path forward for college athletics, and that they
were going to say that collectives were not going to
(12:54):
be able to do deals with athletes, as has been
the case since pretty much since in Ile came on board.
And now according to this story in Yahoo Sports, it
says that they are apparently getting close to a resolution
on this that would allow collectives to be treated like
(13:17):
other businesses in terms of doing NIL deals. They'd still
be subject to you know, the market value rulings and
those kinds of things. I would have to couldn't just
be a pay per play, pay for play deal strictly,
but it would enable collectives, if this comes to fruition,
(13:40):
to be able to continue to do deals with athletes.
And I think what happened here sounds like from reading
multiple stories in the last couple of weeks, is that
there were going to be a wave of lawsuits coming
if they stuck, if the College Sports Commission stuck to
its original position basically trying to eliminate collectives. And now
(14:05):
they apparently are getting close to a settlement that will
continue to allow collectives to operate. You know, they may
be under different you know, under the umbrella of someone else.
Perhaps you know, there'd be I think some situations where
you know, a meteor rites holder for a school will
oversee this, but maybe the collective would operate under that umbrella.
(14:29):
We'll see how it all plays out, but anyway, it
looks like they're going to, according to the story, find
a way to a settlement that would allow collectives to
continue to operate, because it felt like that they were
going to continue to operate in some fashion anyway, and
either through legal challenges or under the table or whatever.
(14:50):
So the best thing is to keep it all up
on the table and figure a way to work together.
And it looks like that is what is coming. Is
is in this story from Yahoo's Sports I just read
you a little bit. An sec nil collective told on
three that it submitted a deal fourteen days ago with
(15:10):
multiple deliverables for an event with the clearinghouses delay. The
event that the football player was supposed to execute. It
since passed, So they are going to come to a
resolution where those kinds of deals can take place, all right.
Chris Fisher's back with us. Chris apologized for the technical issues.
What did you were your takeaways from Mark Pope's media
(15:31):
comments earlier this week.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Yeah, the thing I enjoyed and the thing that I
wrote about at Catspaws dot com was how Kentucky's reputation
has changed with the elite recruits. It was really hard
for Mark Pope to kind of sell last year's you know,
top talent on a vision. He had never won an
TAA tournament game, he had never produced an NBA draft pick,
(15:56):
and you know what a difference a year makes, And
now it seems like Kentucky is on the tip of
everybody's tongue. I feel like they have a, you know,
a legitimate shot. They're in the thick of a hunt.
With probably ten of the top twenty guys in the
twenty twenty six class, I think that class is starting
to kind of come into focus a little bit.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
You're seeing guys.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
Cut their lists down, their scheduling official visits. I think
seven have either taken an official visit to Kentucky or
scheduled one. And so it's crazy what Mark Pope has
done in year one at Kentucky and how different things
feel with the elite high school talent now than they
did a year ago.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Yeah, it was.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Certainly no surprise that he had in CLA tournament success
and that he produced draft picks when he had a
greater opportunity to do so at a place like Kentucky.
But still, until it's done, you don't, you know, check
that box or other people can use it against you,
probably more importantly in recruiting. So he still got everything
(17:00):
that Kentucky had to sell, and now those boxes have
been checked too.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Yeah, I think they're checking all the boxes. I mean,
you have the nil component you have the visibility component,
the stage, the biggest stage in college basketball, the most
fan support, but then you also have the player development.
You know, getting guys like Kobe Brea and Amari Williams
drafted after one year at Kentucky, I think not only
plays huge in the transfer portal, but it plays huge
(17:25):
with guys looking to be a one and done. And
then when you add in the offense and kind of
the up and down run and gun style, I think,
you know, it looks like Mark Pope really gives his
guys the freedom to play offensively. I think that's going
to be really, really attractive for the top high school talent,
and we're seeing that play out.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
You can read Chris's report on the Pope news conference
and more at katspause dot com. Follow him at Chris
Fisher twenty four to seven on X Chris Thank you
as always. All right, Thanks, It's Chris Fisher here on
the lead report, presented by Bob kN enterprises right with
Mike de Coursi. Well tripart coming to you from the
Clark's Pumpin' Shob Studio. Return, refresh and refuel at Clark's
(18:06):
Mike de Coursi joining us now from Sportingnews dot Com
at TSN, Mike on X and Mike just looking at
this story on Yahoo's Sports from Ross Dellinger about apparently
a settlement in the works or agreement, I guess is
the better term in the works between the College Sports Commission,
(18:30):
the new College Sports Commission, and the attorneys that would
be taking them to court representing collectives that would want
to challenge what was going to be the plan to
kind of de emphasize or eliminate collectives working with athletes,
and now they're going to find a way to keep
that in place. It looks like yeah, and.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
So it appears that if they follow that on its
most basic level, which would be that nothing much would
change to how the collectives have operated over the last
couple of years, that it's going to be this is
(19:10):
going to be a bonanza for the athletes that between
revenue share and the continuation of the NIL, the collective
NIL operation, they'll be making even more money than they
have been. That seems to be the case. Now we
still have to see it in practice, because there still
is that body that has to evaluate all the NIL deals.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
So if Kansas State wants to make a deal with PJ.
Speaker 4 (19:38):
Haggerty a collective type deal. It's still going to have
to go through that body, and we don't know exactly
how they'll rule. I know that they were based on
things that I'd read on Twitter from a particular university's collective.
It was a mid major collective, but they were getting
(19:58):
rejected on almost everything. So whether they keep that aggression
up or whether this meeting, this settlement conference that they
went through in the last couple of weeks, whether that
changes their approach, we won't know until until much later, really,
because the vast majority I mean talking about profiting ninety
nine percent of collective style NIL deals for twenty five
(20:23):
twenty six were already in place when the House settlement
was approved.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Everybody hustled to get.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
Them done because they knew that it would be a
competitive advantage to make sure they did that.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
There's a lot of buzz now about that twenty point
five twenty point six figure for schools to distribute money
to athletes and how that's going to break down. And
you know, there was a story I think from Matt
Orlander of CBS Sports that suggested it might be you know,
almost like a fifty to fifty between Kentucky men's bas bsketball,
(21:00):
and football. There have been various reports that have suggested
that it's not going to be the case, and that
Football is very satisfied with what the breakdown is going
to look like here SEC schools like the numbers more
kind of like the fifteen million football, three million men's basketball,
and the rest split up among some number of sports.
(21:24):
What I wonder is, and we don't know, you know,
how all the breakdowns are working yet, but what I
wonder is if this comes about this agreement and then
let's say, you know, at a place like Kentucky, if
collectives can continue to operate, it's probably going to mean
more NIL money for athletes in deals that could be done.
(21:48):
So would athletes would say the men's basketball team not
need as big a share of that pie, and maybe
not only football, but you know some other sports could
share in it. And you know, same place that the
same at you know other places where you know, football
at Georgia, you know, those players can command a lot
more in IL than they can at you know some
(22:09):
other schools. So could that play into this too?
Speaker 4 (22:13):
Yeah, I mean I think that that that's very logical
that uh that for schools that have particular interests and
affinity for some minor I shouldn't say minor, I mean
I for some low revenue sports.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Let's put it that way.
Speaker 4 (22:29):
Yeah, that that if they like baseball being an example,
for a lot of for a lot of SEC schools,
or wrestling at Iowa or so, those sports might get
funded out of the revenue share. Uh and and the
the collectives that they have in place can can cover
(22:51):
what's necessary to build a successful men's basketball roster or
a successful football roster, et cetera. I think that's that's
very possible. I always knew that this was going to
wind up being challenged legally. I'm surprised, honestly that.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
It took so little fight.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
I think that they realized that it was probably a
losing cause, and so they wisely settled rather than pay
more legal fees, take another loss another have to pay
another settlement instead of just tweaking the rules. But I
think we're at the point now where the only thing
(23:31):
that in college athletics that really needs repaired is to
try to figure out how to make transferring a little
bit less attractive. You still want athletes to be able
to transfer when they get there and they don't play,
or they get there and they realize they're homesick, or
they get there and they realized that the school that
they were going to enter doesn't work for them academically,
(23:54):
or even just they just don't fit in socially. That's
pretty rare for an athlete, but I'm sure and sometimes
and so you want that to be still out there,
But you don't want athletes just be chasing every payday,
not necessarily because it's bad that they get paid, but
because it's it's not necessarily great for their development as
athletes or as people or as students.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
I think it impacts you on all those levels.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Yeah, And I wonder at some point if it becomes
a situation where from that it's like a they don't
have I guess contracts per se like you would in
professional sports. But there's an argument that, like, for the
good of the game, we're all in this together, and
(24:42):
now you guys are making money off the game, and
so we're gonna we're going to do some things that
are good for the overall good of the sport, whatever
sport it is, and you know, having some limits on
transfers would maybe be something that comes under that umbrella.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
I think it would be, but I think in order
to get there either.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
Basically you're going to have to have some sort of negotiation,
and they still have not negotiated any of this to
date with the athletes. The athletes are never in these rooms.
They don't have a collective bargaining agreement, they don't have
a player's association, either for all NCAA athletes or for
any particular sport, so it makes it difficult to do
(25:31):
that effectively without getting their input. But I do think
it's reasonable to make it so that a second change
after the first requires some penalty, if you want to
call it a penalty to have to sit out, or
it would be mandated that in order to not have
(25:51):
to pay that penalty, you would have to have a
significant change to your situation, like a coaching change in
your program, that sort of thing. I think those are
reasonable requests, but again, I think in order to do that,
you're going to have to acknowledge someone as the representation
for the players, as.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Are athletes, akin to let's say somebody that you hire
to paint your house. Now they're not an employee, but
they're providing a service. So if there's a dispute between
the person that paints your house, you can sue over it,
or maybe you know there's like small claims court or
different vehicles. Is there do you see something foresee something
(26:32):
that is like a I don't know, an arbitration element
to this where players would be able to have a
voice that way.
Speaker 4 (26:40):
I was always pretty adamant about the idea, not that
necessarily that I was opposed to the athletes being employees,
but that I know how opposed the schools are, and
that people are sort of steamrolling how opposed they are,
and there are a variety of reasons why they don't
want it to be that situation.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
And I was about a month.
Speaker 4 (27:03):
Ago, two months ago, I came across an interview with
one of the gentlemen that's involved in trying to represent
the athletes, and he came up with the first truly
brilliant idea that I've seen in this space, which is
a similar concept to the screen actors kill, wherein if
(27:23):
you are an actor and you are hired to be
on a movie, you are not technically employed by the
studio that's making that movie. You are a You are
a You are working for the picture for the for
the production, and you are not an employee of the.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Production, you are a contractor for the production.
Speaker 4 (27:44):
And I think there's a lot of similarity here because
the money that we're talking about is significant in both cases.
Both in if you're a you know, if you're a
first level actor in a significant television or motion picture production,
you're paid very well.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
And if you're a high level athlete.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
And Division one sports now you're paid very well. So
I think there's a lot of similarity there. And Screen
Actors Guild members have protections. There are minimums and our
limitations and oh shift things that come in, you know,
work safety things that come in.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
And I think all that would work really well for
the college athlete.
Speaker 4 (28:23):
And I think that it would be wise not only
for the athletes to pursue that, but for uh for
the schools to encourage them in that direction, because then
it would solve the employment conundrum pretty pretty comfortably, and
it would get all these other things that the schools want,
some some transfer restriction, et cetera in place.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
But chat with Mike de Coursy Sportingnews dot Com at
TSN MIC on X and we'll continue in just a
moment on the lead Trueport presented by bobcat Enterprises were
back with Mike Decursi from Sportingnews dot Com at t
SA and Mike talking about the business side of college
sports right now and a potential agreement that is on
(29:09):
the way that would enable collectives to continue to operate
to be treated if according to this Yahoo Sports story,
if the agreement is put in place, collectives would be
treated like other businesses that might employ in athletes services
for something and all and moving forward under the College
(29:32):
Sports Commission. That has to coincide or line up with
market prices right for you know, what something's worth. You
can't just you know, give a player one hundred thousand
dollars for being a player, or million dollars whatever, or
(29:53):
one hundred thousand dollars to go to an autograph signing.
That would be you know, maybe out of alignment. But
what's going to be interesting is you know, making that
determination on market value. It's not a real hard and
fast set of numbers. I wouldn't think. An example of
a buddy of mine sold his company and one of
(30:13):
the features he had in his company was they gave
the vending machines were all free for employees. You know,
if we want some to drink or food out of
the vending machine, you get it no cost to the employee,
cost the business about one hundred thousand dollars somewhere north
of that on an annual basis. When he sold the company,
he stayed on to run it for a while and
(30:35):
the new board wanted to do away with that, and
he made the argument to them with numbers why they
should keep it, and they ultimately did because they had
a lot to do with retention of employees and cost
of training new employees and those kinds of things, so
there was a justification for it. There's you know, a
business could do a deal with an athlete and actually
(30:58):
lose money on the deal, but that in the overall picture,
they're going to get more you know, recognition, more people
into their you know, restaurant or their business, and that
it will be positive in the long term. So those
kinds of battles I have to think will take place
in legitimate business enterprises, not anything that's you know, kind
of pay for play, but could be legitimate discussions.
Speaker 4 (31:19):
Yeah, it's a really complicated area because let's be honest,
I mean, most of the collective deals, the big collective
deals don't approach what would be considered standard market value
because a lot of a lot of this stuff. You know,
the athlete signs for seven figures through the collective and
(31:40):
certainly does some work to offset that, but the value
is in what that athlete provides on the field of play.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
That's that's the reality. And people are bothered by.
Speaker 4 (31:52):
The concept of pay for play, But I don't understand
why it's a bothersome concept because it's exactly.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
What revenue share is. So now the rulers are doing it,
so why can't the collectives.
Speaker 4 (32:01):
I don't understand that if they get really tough about this, Tom,
I just think it still winds up in court.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
Because if you if you got rid of.
Speaker 4 (32:14):
The collectives altogether and just went to the revenue share,
then a vast majority of the high major successful college athlete,
the players that you're seeing start on successful teams in
men's basketball and in football, would be taking pay cuts
that could that will run well into six figures and
(32:35):
could run into seven figures for some of them. And
I just can't see anybody saying, oh, that's fine, I'm
good about losing that much money, especially with the limited earning.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
Period that college athletics provides.
Speaker 4 (32:50):
I just think that that winds up in court, and
that's why I'll.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
Be very curious to see how this is executed.
Speaker 4 (32:57):
Now that there is an agreement that the NIL excuse me,
that the NIL collectives can continue. I'm very curious to
see if the business can continue as they have. I
mean a lot of the figures that we've seen have
been inflated, often by multiple millions of dollars, but that
still leaves them making millions of dollars.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
Even though that the figures that we've seen.
Speaker 4 (33:22):
Reported for some of these athletes have been inflated, it
still puts them into seven figures. And I don't know
that there's any work that could be done through a
collective that would truly be truly approach that level of work.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
So do you think this ultimately plays out in a
way that initially it was collectives could do. These fials
had to be completely separate for the school from the schools.
The schools could not have anything to do with that,
and then that's how the collective element came to prominence
(33:57):
in this system. That ultimate it plays out that simply
the collectives are now moved under the umbrella of the school,
which was originally thought to be, you know, something they
didn't want, and so that they move under the school's
umbrella and not a whole lot changes.
Speaker 4 (34:15):
We're seeing a lot of schools move in that direction,
and I don't know exactly what the resolution of that
will be because it's so complicated, because if they are
under the umbrella of the school, isn't that you know,
isn't that separate and apart from what this is supposed
(34:36):
to be. The collective concept is supposed to be an
outside body that's providing name, image and likeness compensation.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
If it's inside the.
Speaker 4 (34:44):
School, then it then it obviously right away runs foul
of that so hard.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Well, maybe it's inside the school though, like your analogy
earlier with the movie industry, it's inside the school as
the Steven Spielberg making the movie and you deal with
the student.
Speaker 4 (35:01):
Yeah, but in order to do that then there has
to be the representation concept and that so I think
that would have to come first in order for it
to be truly successful, in order for it to to
make sense. And you know, there's still there still is
this hang up about pay for play. Even though the
schools are now doing that with revenue share. There's still
(35:21):
this hang up relative to the collective concept about pay
for play. That's what that's where all of this began
when they were negotiating the House settlement, and so I
don't know how it'll how that will go. That's that's
a tough element of all of this in order to
I mean, I can look out and see that they
are likely to be legal challenges if the athletes aren't
(35:44):
allowed to be.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
Compensated at the level next year that they are now.
Speaker 4 (35:47):
That I can see, but I can't see how how
the collective operation will work inside or outside, as you know,
going through this commission or the Deloitte group. I don't
know how that's going to function because it doesn't really
seem to add up.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
I'm not saying it doesn't make it.
Speaker 4 (36:07):
It isn't right that they should that they that they
should be allowed to do this, but it doesn't seem
to fit the spirit of what the House Settlement was
initially intended.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
Mike Decorsi Sportingnews dot Com. Well, I'm sure continue to
talk about this moving forward, but we've got to cut
it short today. Thank you, Thanks tom As, Mike Decorsy.
You can read his work at Sporting News dot com,
follow him at TSN Mike on X and we'll be
right back with our final segment of this Wednesday edition
of The Leach Report, presented by Bob Katt Enterprises, Long days,
(36:40):
warm nights, cold cans in hand. That's what summer in
Kentucky is all about. And our friends at Cornbread Hemp
are keeping the good vibes rolling. They're new infused Seltzers
come in four delicious fruit flavors and are perfect for
a lightlift without the booze or the hangover. So if
you prefer something chewy, they're organic. Full sp gummies offer smooth,
(37:01):
balanced relaxation to help you unwind anytime. Wide array of
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you're a first time customer, you can get twenty percent
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This is the good life, Happy Birthday. Julescamara Jeweles finished
(37:27):
up on that twenty three team that ran off twenty
sixth Street wins and looked like it was headed to
a national title until Keith Bogan's Got Hurt. Jewles was
the leading scorer off the bench for that team that season.
So celebrating a birthday today and friend of the show,
Shannon spake It was on with us a couple of
weeks ago talking about her new Spake Up podcast. A
(37:47):
happy birthday to Shannon, while cat History Notes and Birthdays
presented by Kentucky Sports Cards and Memorabilia on Romedy Road
in Lexington and in roadshow Cards dot com. The the
University of Kentucky announced some ticket price increases for season
ticket renewals that are due by August twenty second. You
(38:10):
can see those at UA Athletics dot com or you'll
be hearing about it if you're a season ticket holder.
Tickets sun average are going up four to seven dollars
per game, and for the first time, all sections and
rep will require a k Fund donation starting as low
as fifty to one hundred dollars per seat, so season
ticket holders will earn k Phone Priority points for those
(38:31):
new donations. You can find out more UK Athletics dot com.
We will see you tomorrow on the Leads Report. Have
a good day, Everyboddy
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