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September 22, 2024 • 62 mins
In this special episode, the panel talks about NIL (Name, Image and Likeness), Conference Realignment, Player Safety, and Academics. The panel is Jorge Montiel and Max Weiland from Arizona State University, along with Bryan Chavez from California State University at Long Beach. All three students are specializing in sports journalism and have done coverage at their respective schools and online through their own digital channels. To be considered as a panelist click here.
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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, it's Steve Gregory. Thank you for joining us for
this episode of Studio six forty on demand. This week's
panel on Studio six forty.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
I'm Joge Montiel from Arizona State University.

Speaker 3 (00:10):
My name is Max Wyland. I go to the Walter
Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University.

Speaker 4 (00:14):
And my name is Brian Chavis.

Speaker 5 (00:16):
And I go to the California State University of Long Beach, the.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
Only program in southern California that breaks down the stories
of today through the voices of tomorrow's journalists. The students
come from campuses large and small, public and private. This
is Studio six forty. I'm Steve Gregory. Thanks for joining us.

(00:44):
Our top story of.

Speaker 6 (00:45):
The biggest off field rule changes in years is playing out.
It's called Name Image Likeness, and it allows college athletes
to sign paid endorsement deals. Dan Matheson is director of
the Sport and Recreation Management Program at the University of Iowa.
He's also a former NCAA Associate Director of Enforcement. Dan Mathieson,

(01:07):
thanks for joining us. This rule change whanted to affect
July of twenty twenty one.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
Has it been going so far?

Speaker 7 (01:13):
It's been going quite well. Student athletes have been signing
an IL deals to the tune of about a billion
dollars in the first year, and it's opened up new
rights that are benefiting student athletes across the country in

(01:35):
many different ways.

Speaker 6 (01:37):
There was some thought or some fear that would create
sort of haves and have nots that the big name,
big sport, big school athletes would wrap up all the
endorsement money and the other athletes would sort of be
fighting over what was left. Has that played out.

Speaker 7 (01:54):
No, Certainly, football student athletes are number one in terms
of NIL earnings. But one of the great benefits of Name,
Image and Likeness has been the opportunity to spread the
wealth a little bit. Amongst women's student athletes and what

(02:16):
are traditionally non revenue sports or the Olympic sports. The
majority of name Image and Likeness deals are for social
media influencer work, and so that really democratizes this space.
There are student athletes at non Division I schools that

(02:37):
are finding success in NIL work thanks to their ability
to build the following on social media.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
Brian Chavez from cal State Long Beach Welcome to the show,
talking about this NIL Name Image likeness Are you experiencing
any of this on your campus?

Speaker 4 (02:58):
I have not seen it my campus, know, So.

Speaker 1 (03:01):
How about in any of the local schools in colleges?
Are you keeping track of any of that here in
the southern California area.

Speaker 5 (03:08):
No, I'm not, but I do know that nios are
becoming more popular now. It's fairly new to student athletes.
I think it's great. Of course, there's gonna be flaws
and there's gonna be certain things that are gonna come
with it that are going to negatively impact the sport.

Speaker 1 (03:28):
So Max wiland Asu, I know that that's that's a
big sports campus in Tempe. What's you're kind of your
assessment of this and are you experiencing or have you
seen it yet? A issue?

Speaker 3 (03:43):
To be honest, I'm not sure. I know there's you know,
specially football football is a big one players getting NIO deals.
Our football team's kind of in the middle of a rebuild,
so I don't know if we're big on the NIO
right now. But I think the problem college football and
college sports has isn't doesn't have anything to do with NIL,

(04:04):
but more of the transfer portal.

Speaker 4 (04:07):
I do.

Speaker 3 (04:07):
I will admit that the NIL gives athletes kind of
I think a sense of entitlement. It used to be
an honor to go play for the school of your
choice for free, but the times have changed. There's more
money involved, and I agree that we should change with
the times. But when people used to ask me if
I liked NFL or college football more, I always had

(04:29):
college because they were kids trying to make a name
for themselves, trying to get to the NFL. And now
just that sense of special that that college football had,
that kind of special sense is gone. Now college football
was built on tradition, and now you have players coming
to a school, you get a fan base excited, and
it doesn't work out the first year and they're all
jumping ship. So I think the transfer portal is a

(04:52):
bigger problem than nil'sself.

Speaker 1 (04:54):
Horde montio Asu also, do you agree with your colleagues
assessment then, and do you see ni l as a
as a boon or do you see it as a bust?

Speaker 8 (05:05):
I would have to agree with my colleague Max. It
is true about the culture. You were talking about how
players used to be an honor to come to school
and it was a privilege, especially if you've got a
free ride to go and play. But once things got
a little tough, they started jumping ship, like, oh I
don't like the coach, or I don't like the players,
or we're losing all the time, and.

Speaker 1 (05:26):
That's not But weren't they signing contracts.

Speaker 2 (05:29):
They were signing contracts.

Speaker 8 (05:31):
But like you have, there's an obligation still there too
that it shows a character of the player as well.

Speaker 2 (05:39):
I'm sorry, but I don't think major league teams are
going to.

Speaker 8 (05:43):
Like drafting individuals that jump ship at the first time
in trouble. So I just I don't think it's a
culture that we should be bombing like that.

Speaker 1 (05:55):
Brian, do you think that this you know, Max kind
of touched on a little bit, and you're talking about
this is an amateur sport, it's supposed to be an
amateur sport. It's and I agree, I would. I would
rather watch college ball, actually high school ball, than I
would professional athletics. That's the way I've always been. But

(06:17):
do you see this as a benefit for college kids
or do you see this as just turning some more
kids into entitled brats.

Speaker 5 (06:25):
Uh that's a good question. Uh, It's it's complicated.

Speaker 1 (06:29):
Because sorry, I didn't mean to be so harsh about it.
But sometimes I'm thinking, why are we giving nineteen year
olds a million dollar endorsement deals? It just doesn't make
sense to me. But I mean, but Max said, you know,
this is the world we're in now, or and Jorge
said it too. It's just like this is the world
we've we've accepted. So I'm sorry to interrupt you.

Speaker 5 (06:47):
Well, I mean, you kind of have to blame the
NCAA for causing this, because they're the this is They're
the reason why nils are becoming a thing. They're the
reason why these kids are getting you know, multimillion dollar contracts.
They profited this the NCAA. You know, college football brings
billions of dollars every year.

Speaker 4 (07:08):
So when these kids, you.

Speaker 5 (07:11):
Know, bust their butts off weekend, week out and they
don't get any money off that them, it's going to
create tension and that as a result, this is what
we're seeing. I don't think, I don't necessarily think all students,
all college athletes, are gonna be this way. Of course,
they're gonna be going for the money. They're gonna you

(07:33):
know what, I actually read that former head coach from
Alabama and Nick Saban said that he was seeing the
culture change in his locker room because of these NIL deals.

Speaker 1 (07:45):
That's a good place to stop right there, and when
we come back, we'll pick it up. Okay, welcome back
to the studio six forty m Steve Gregory. We're talking
to three college sports journalists who are talking about some
of the issues facing college athletics. Before the break, Brian,
you were just about to get into some points you
were trying to make. We've been talking about the name
Image likeness otherwise known as NIL, where college athletes are

(08:08):
getting endorsements, and I want you to finish your point.

Speaker 5 (08:11):
Yeah, So I was talking about Nick Saban how he
said that he saw a change in the culture in
his locker in his locker room about players, how not all,
but most cared about money and playing time. Obviously those
those two correlate. The more playing time you get, the
better you play. The more playing time you will get

(08:32):
the better you play, you know what I mean.

Speaker 4 (08:34):
That's what I meant to say.

Speaker 5 (08:35):
And if you'll obviously get more money, if you're playing well,
you get more playing time.

Speaker 4 (08:41):
So all that correlates together.

Speaker 5 (08:44):
And I think that with these NIL deals and with
the transport portal becoming a lot more.

Speaker 4 (08:52):
I would say active.

Speaker 5 (08:54):
It's really gonna it's going to be a negative change
in some program. You know, you're everyone's gonna want to
go to those Alabamas, to those what it's a bit
another big one sometimes LSU or you know, Georgia, they're
gonna want to go to those teams and they're gonna
want to play a lot.

Speaker 1 (09:14):
Yeah, Max, tell everyone about to transfer portal. What are
we talking about?

Speaker 3 (09:18):
So the transfer portal is kind of let's just say
I was a football player at Arizona State and I
was as an incoming freshman. I was happy to be there.
I got there and I realized either I didn't like
the culture the coaching staff or I wasn't happy with
my playing time. At the end of the year, I
could enter the transfer portal and be basically recruited again

(09:40):
from all any other college that wants to recruit me.
I'm like basically an incoming freshman again. And so that's
a problem that transfer portal kids just decide.

Speaker 1 (09:49):
So they can just keep resetting and resetting and resetting.

Speaker 3 (09:51):
Yes, And I think that there needs to be a
rule maybe contract signing contracts like the NFL or NBA,
because you sign a con tracked in professional sports, you
don't just get on a team then leave the next year.
And if that's what college football is turning into now,
then there needs to be contracts where as an incoming freshman,
I signed a two year or even a four year
where I can't leave. I'm here, I declared here.

Speaker 2 (10:13):
Then some of our players do that for the football team.

Speaker 8 (10:16):
Weren't there people that entered the transfer portal because we
weren't happy about the locker room or whatever.

Speaker 3 (10:22):
Oh yeah, well we had Jade and Daniels, the last
Heisman winner who's now on the Commanders. He went to ASU,
and we also had on a team with him, Brandon
Ayuk who's dealing with the forty nine ers now trying
to get a contract. But we had some star players.
We were ranked top twenty fifth in in the nation
in twenty twenty one, and then the next year we

(10:45):
got slammed with violations because we were recruiting during COVID
when you weren't supposed to.

Speaker 1 (10:50):
I think a lot of a lot of things we're
supposed to.

Speaker 3 (10:54):
But unfortunately ASU got caught. Yeah, but same thing, they
just hit the hit the tr.

Speaker 1 (11:01):
Yeah, so then that's why I'm looking at it for
you know, we heard the audio at the top of
the segment here about the guy saying this is really
it's been going so so far, so good, and let's
bring everyone out to speed. The state. The states that
actually enacted the law. The NIL laws in twenty twenty
one included Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi,

(11:24):
New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and then in
twenty two in Texas, by the way, in twenty two,
twenty three, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, Oklahoma,
South Carolina, Tennessee. And then in twenty twenty five New
Jersey will join, So you're in essence, going to get
all of the big states. And then and there's legislation

(11:47):
pending in Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, and Rhode Island. But
I listening to what you guys are talking about now,
it sounds like this thing is flawed. It's not a
perfect system yet.

Speaker 3 (11:57):
Because it's changing the college football that we all love
and know, especially with how they changed, we'll get into
it later the conferences, but college football was built on tradition,
like I said, and having this drastic of a change
in just a year, it's not dwelling well with a
lot of people.

Speaker 2 (12:15):
Yeah, the culture is flawed.

Speaker 8 (12:16):
I mean, I do understand the point that Brian was
making up where the players when they don't get compensation,
and then NCAA is making billions of dollars and made
one point three billion dollars in twenty twenty three, students
hardly get any compensation for that. In twenty nineteen they
made fifteen point eight billion dollars, only eighteen point two

(12:37):
percent was returned to the athletes through scholarships, medical treatment,
and insurance. And while there does need to be I
feel a little bit of compensation, not a whole lot,
not the numbers we're talking about millions and billions of
dollars to where these people think they're Mike Trout or
you know, Tom Brady on the field. It needs to

(12:57):
be some compensation. But at the same time, it's like
us who get like free rides already. I don't feel
like you need all that much compensation. You're already getting
a free ride. Your education's paid for you know, your
jersey on the back's paid for. Everything's paid for. You know,
you're a prospect. You're trying to make a name for
yourself in these college arenas. You're not at the pro
level yet, and you need to start acting that way.

Speaker 2 (13:20):
You're not the star, you're a potential star.

Speaker 1 (13:24):
I think it takes away from the team and the
camaraderie when you've got three or four people out of
an entire team that are making a bunch of money
and getting endorsements, and I just don't I would see
a lot of resentment I think on the part of
the other because I mean, let's face it, guys and
no offense, but we're talking about young guys here. We're
talking mostly young guys, and in you know, there's a

(13:44):
lot of ego, there's a lot of that machismo. There's
a lot of that going on already as an athlete.
And then you add money to the mix and fame
to the mix. This is why we're reading about you know,
NFL players getting in trouble for domestic violence all the
time or for drugs or whatever because they don't know
how to process money and fame.

Speaker 3 (14:02):
Well, that's look at Georgia football right now. I think
in the last over the off season they've had twenty
five plus players go down in dui and reckless driving
because they're giving nineteen twenty year olds a Lamborghini.

Speaker 1 (14:15):
Yeah, it's it's not small. And then you know in hey,
you you talk about it too, is that you know
there's an equality to this. And you know, when you
go to college, you go to learn. You're not supposed
to be making money in college.

Speaker 4 (14:30):
That's it.

Speaker 1 (14:30):
I just I just, for some reason, I philosophically disagree
with the concept that I'm going to school to make money.
You know, you got to pay to go to school.
And I think those that are talented enough, whether it's
in academics or athletics, they should be able to get scholarships,
they should be able to get a free right if
their talent, you know, dictates it. But I'm having a

(14:52):
tough time wrap in my head around this college endorsement thing.

Speaker 8 (14:55):
It's just as this new culture of everybody's forgetting that
you need to pay to pay us to get to
the big leagues.

Speaker 2 (15:01):
And nobody wants to do that anymore.

Speaker 1 (15:03):
Everyone wants to make the big They want to make
the amateur sport the big leagues.

Speaker 8 (15:06):
Yeah, they want to make it the big leagues, like
you know, they want they want to live like these stars,
the glamorous you know, lifestyle and you know, getting the
money and the and the assets that these these players,
you know, earned, because everybody in the Major League is
like the older generations now, like the Derek Jeters of
the world and stuff like that.

Speaker 2 (15:25):
They paid their dues. They weren't making millions of.

Speaker 8 (15:28):
Dollars or whatever at the college level, right and look
at the type of player that he turned out to be.

Speaker 1 (15:34):
Welcome back to this the Studio six forty. I'm Steve
Gregory thinks for joining us. We've been talking with hordheim,
On Tiel nex Wiland, and Brian Travez about college athletics
and the topic. I think one of the biggest topics
about college athletics is this notion of name, image and likeness,
and laws have been passed in almost all the states

(15:55):
that are allowing universities and colleges to give endorsement pack
to their star athletes. You heard in the audio at
the top of the segment that most of those endorsements
are in the form of social media. It sounds like,
are you seeing anything other than that? Do you know,
off the top of your head, any college athletes that
are endorsing you know, beverages or clothing.

Speaker 3 (16:17):
Just before we started this podcast, the quarterback of Georgia,
Carson Beck, just signed a sponsorship deal with a private
airline company. Oh yeah, that's at anything.

Speaker 1 (16:30):
See, I just think I don't know. I just have
a tough time with that because between the paying their
dues for one and this is still an amateur sport, right,
It's like the Olympics. I was never a fan of
Olympians getting paid. If they want to get endorsements on
their own, I guess that's fine too, But so how

(16:51):
do you think it's going to be? Now, let me
ask it to you this way. Ask as student sports
journalists going back to your respective schools, what are some
of the stories that you're looking at looking forward to
with respect to this. Is this something that's on your
radar or something you're looking into.

Speaker 5 (17:08):
Yeah, I'm gonna definitely check that out because I know
cal say, Long Beach has a pretty decent baseball program,
So that's where I'm definitely gonna look at, you know,
ask some questions. See how the nils are working. See
how the students are, you know, working around with it,
how the coaches are dealing with those egos, as you said,

(17:30):
But I you know the thing, I the thing that's
confusing is that in European soccer there's sixteen year olds
that are already playing, that have won major tournaments. There's
eighteen year olds getting million dollar contracts a year, and
the culture is different. They're not spending their money, like

(17:50):
how you see these basketball players. How do you see
these football players spending their money? So is it is
it just that there's some sort of lack of resources
that are helping these students that are not helping these students,
That's what I meant to say, because obviously they need
a mentor they need someone to tell them you can't
do this, you can't do that, you should be putting

(18:11):
your money somewhere else. You know, we're seeing the wrong
We're looking at the wrong cases.

Speaker 1 (18:16):
So what's the difference. It sounds like it's a cultural thing. Yeah,
So what's the difference between the young athletes in Europe
as opposed to here in the States.

Speaker 5 (18:26):
I want to say, it's gonna be social medium. They're
gonna want to flaunt their money. They're gonna want to
get the girls. They're gonna want to see like, they
want to seem like the big shot.

Speaker 1 (18:34):
Material Yeah, it's materialistic.

Speaker 8 (18:36):
Yeah, it's funny talking about the European circuit. I mean,
Spain just won the Olympics in soccer.

Speaker 2 (18:42):
They're winners.

Speaker 8 (18:44):
They're more focused on the game than we are here.
I mean, last I check, where's the US men's.

Speaker 2 (18:49):
Team, you know what I mean? Yeah, nowhere to be seen.

Speaker 8 (18:52):
Spain just won the and then you're talking about eighteen
seventeen year old they're out there and I saw them.

Speaker 2 (18:57):
I don't know the names.

Speaker 8 (18:58):
I wish I did because it's my favorite team, but whatever,
But they want they're more concerned about the game and
winning and performance. Is the money nice to have for them,
I'm sure they do some stuff with it, Yeah, but
that's not their main reason why they're there.

Speaker 2 (19:11):
They're there for the game. They're there to win. There
for the championship, and they just got it.

Speaker 3 (19:15):
It seems like American culture now is I'm doing this
to get the money, and maybe European culture is I'm
doing this for the sport. The money is just an
award after or part of it and who blame for that.

Speaker 4 (19:26):
I'd say coaches, coaches capitalism.

Speaker 1 (19:29):
Yeah, well you're not too far off there, and you
know what, we can talk more about this topic, but
I want everyone to learn who you are. So, Brian,
tell us a little bit about your goals. You're going
into a cal State Long Beach. Tell us what some
of the aspirations are and what you're doing in sports journalism.

Speaker 4 (19:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (19:45):
So I am transferring to cal State Long Beach from
Fullerton College. I love sports more into soccer. I want
to become a sports journalist. I want to be living
outside the country and you know, experiencing new things, meeting
new people. Definitely want to go to Europe. That's a
big goal of mine.

Speaker 1 (20:06):
Yeah, and some of the stuff you worked on, I mean,
what are some of the what's some of your passion stories?

Speaker 4 (20:13):
You know what?

Speaker 5 (20:13):
I think it would probably be human interest if it's
not sports. I know, also when it comes to health
and overall the mental mental health. That's also a lot
of my where my interest peaks.

Speaker 1 (20:27):
And that's a big one. In student athletes or most definitely.

Speaker 5 (20:30):
Yeah, I actually was doing a podcast that didn't run
too long, but it was based on student athletes aflutes
in college to try to get their experience, try to
give their experience and any tips to help any future athletes.

Speaker 1 (20:44):
Excellent, Well, welcome board. Thank you to having me again.
Max Asure. You've got to be pretty busy on that campus.
There's a lot of sports going on.

Speaker 3 (20:52):
Oh yeah, there's a lot of sports, a lot to do.
I was an executive producer for student ran news club
called the Cut Network school and we covered sports, local,
nationwide news, anything anyone wanted to talk about, and that
was really fun to do and put together.

Speaker 1 (21:10):
With the school year, you know, the new school year
with us being in the middle of it. Now, what
are some of the stories and topics you're looking forward
to covering in your space with sports?

Speaker 3 (21:20):
I really am excited for football because I think we
have the coaching. I think Kenny Dillingham is a good
coach for ASU. It's just about now, how can we
build on getting more recruits and creating a culture. And
like me said with Nil, it's hard to do now
in college football, So we'll see how it goes.

Speaker 1 (21:36):
And Hoardey, you've been now a frequent contributor. Good to
have you back and talk a little bit about your
sports journalism and aspirations, so might go.

Speaker 8 (21:45):
At the end of the rainbow here is to be
a sports broadcaster. I'd like to call the games. Baseball
is my big sport. I also watch a little bit
of basketball football as well. Honestly, at ASU like it's
great to be in a club and stuff, and there's
a lot of benefits to that. But our school is
just so ingrained with news and sports. Like our classes
that I just took for a sports videography and sports writing,

(22:07):
I covered local high school sports, so I was able
to talk to some coaches, some players even tell their
story through the camera as well, so.

Speaker 2 (22:16):
I like doing that.

Speaker 8 (22:17):
I like doing on camera interviews as well. I don't know,
just I enjoy it.

Speaker 1 (22:23):
And do you have an aspiration for any network at
all or you just want to do your own thing.

Speaker 8 (22:29):
I've always been kind of like, find my own road
type of person, through my own thing, make a name
for myself and see where it leads.

Speaker 1 (22:36):
You don't want to be with necessarily with the big
sports network or anything.

Speaker 2 (22:39):
If it leads to that, yes, but I'm not like
that's that's the only path.

Speaker 1 (22:42):
Oh cool, Well, this is cool that we're able to
sit and talk about some college athletics stuff, because that's
you guys, that's kind of in your wheelhouse. So we
want to do more of that, and we'll probably revisit it,
but we're going to take a break. When we come back,
we'll talk about our next topic. Welcome back to the
studio six forty Steve Gregory, Thanks for joining us. Been
talking with Jorge, Max and Brian, three college sports journalists

(23:06):
who have been talking a little bit about college athletics,
sort of what's been happening and what could be happening
in the future. And before the break, we were wrapping
up our discussion about nil name, image and likeness, which
is basically just you know, college athletes getting endorsements and
getting paid and not all the perks and Benny's that

(23:26):
go along with it. I mean, I remember when I
was going to school, even then, and we're talking a
long time ago, even then, any college athlete was a superstar.
You know, it just was really bizarre. You know, I
was a bank geek, so you know, you know where
I was at, right, so you guys know what I

(23:47):
was doing during the weekends while all the guys were
out at the parties. Right, We're putting equipment away and
going to the pizza hut. So, but the thing is
is that in back then, we didn't have social media
to sort of augment it or make it bigger, you know,
And now social media turns the most benign people into superstars.

(24:11):
And I just don't I just don't see where that's headed.
But it'll be interesting to maintain. So another thing that
impacts college athletics is conference realignment, the reshuffling of conferences,
which I understand is driven mostly by television contracts and
revenue distribution. Basically, the joke you made before the breakmacks
about capitalism, but it sounds like outside forces are influencing

(24:37):
how college athletics are being run.

Speaker 3 (24:40):
Yeah. I think it started with the Pac twelve. You know,
the first year that college football got this playoff picture
with the top four teams compete for the championship. Oregon,
that Marcus Mariota led team made it and they were
able to go to the championship, which they lost. But
after that the Pac twelve struggled. They faced a lot

(25:01):
of conference cannibalism where the top teams would lose to
randomly one of the worst teams in the conferences and
then the Pac twelve won't have anyone represent them in
the playoffs. And it happened up until last year Washington
made the playoffs and went to the championship. And I
think that the heads of NCUBLEA saw that and realized,

(25:23):
you know, this this conference that's struggling. It's it's ruining views.
There's blowouts and big games. We got to reshape and
try and get you know, college college football, which is
so big, to be more competitive.

Speaker 1 (25:35):
But do you think that this is because one thing
I was reading too is that this is also having
an impact on crowds, on audience, on fans. I mean,
it's causing confusion even with the fans.

Speaker 3 (25:45):
Right well, it sucks because we have I have a
lot of friends at USC and U C l A
and going to Arizona State. I won't play them again
in football, and it was always fun to kind of
have that rivalry. And it goes far beyond just my generation,
our parents, everyone. There's these games that you said in
European football, it's these teams have played each other for
hundreds of years and there's a lot of passion built

(26:09):
into these matchup tradition. Yes, And like I said before,
college football is built on tradition, and that's why everyone's
having such a hard time with this.

Speaker 1 (26:17):
Is this really our future in college athletics? I mean,
is it is? Or are the television networks going to
start dictating what happens in colleges?

Speaker 8 (26:28):
I mean, I think it's an issue of money, and
money's king to these big conglomerates. I mean, schools like
issue Oregon, Washington State, among others, left the PAC twelve
because I mean the revenue. I mean, if the PAC
twelve had better leadership that was navigating through the because

(26:48):
the athletic department at ten public universities in the PAC
twelve experienced in eighty one million dollars shortfall last year,
only five schools reported and operating surplus, according to John
On Willner of the San Jose Mercury News. So it's
not just affecting the fans, it's also like affecting the
schools with the revenue. I mean, they lost so much

(27:10):
money because they were just so hands off, like you
just let it ride, you know, it doesn't matter. They
didn't care about the viewership or the contracts until I
started biting them in the rear end. As we saw
last season, so I think it's we need better leadership.
The NCAA needs better leadership, and they need to be
more in touch with what the schools need and what

(27:32):
the audience needs.

Speaker 4 (27:34):
Do you agree, Brian, Yeah, most definitely.

Speaker 5 (27:37):
I mean I'm still a little confused on how the
conferences realignment is going to work. I know some of
the big teams are leaving to join what is considered
a more stronger conference. With that, it makes sense of course,
as a fan, as someone like who, as someone who

(27:57):
doesn't watch college football like myself, I'm gonna say, I'm
gonna be like, oh, WHOA, these two big teams that
the names I know are gonna be playing, I'm gonna
watch it. It's gonna gravitate people like me. Of course,
more more hardcore fans and people who watch college football
in the regular aren't gonna aren't appealing to it. And
it makes sense because you know, like you guys say,

(28:20):
college football is built on tradition, but again, it's just
about the money. Everyone just wants to make the most
money they possibly can. They're leaving out the little the
little guys, and that's what's scary. Once you don't because
I like, I like the argument, little guys, And I
don't know. I don't watch college football.

Speaker 3 (28:39):
Yeah, so sadly ASUA though, really yeah, well right now,
we've had good seasons in the past. But I would
say we're a little guy right now.

Speaker 1 (28:50):
Interesting. What where does the money go?

Speaker 5 (28:54):
I don't know off the top of my head, but
I'm gonna say it's gonna go to coach coaches salaries,
it's gonna go to the athletic departments, and it's gonna
it's probably gonna help those big schools as well with
their let's say lesser known at athletics. They it's definitely

(29:15):
gonna help, you know, the lacrosse team of a of
like ASU. It's gonna help the rugby team. Of course,
it's gonna have some benefits. But when we when we
look at the smaller universities, it's gonna take it's gonna
take a big toll on them.

Speaker 1 (29:28):
Sadly. Here's a good story I do for you guys.
It should all be public record. You should all pull
public records requests and find out what the colleges are
doing with their revenue.

Speaker 8 (29:37):
Yeah, because you're talking about escalating costs and stuff and
leaving out the little guys. Well, they are leaving at
the little guys with little guys, I mean, they're not
helping themselves because public universities athletic departments that lose roughly
forty million dollars per year and more like Universities of Connecticut, Houston, Massachusetts,
and James Madison University, the little guys, you know. And

(30:00):
these numbers are based on the National Collegiate Athletic Associated
Statistics provided by the universities. The top of commons say
they can significantly understate the true deficit, so they're not
even really reporting how much money they're spending. They say
they're in this deficit, but it's actually worse, and it's
going to coaches salaries, trying to make all the fancy

(30:23):
facilities so that they get these star players or whatever,
and you know, the contracts or whatever, and you know,
it's costing them a serious amount of money. So now
they have less money than they started with and no
star players because the big guys are gonna take them anyway.

Speaker 1 (30:37):
Okay, we're going to pause there. We'll come back on
the Welcome back on Steve Gregory, thanks for joining us.
This is Studio six forty before the Break or Hey,
you were talking a little bit about the conference realignment.
In sort of the I had asked the question, where
does the money go that is being you know, charged
for TV rights or whatever the case is, all that

(30:59):
revenue coming into these colleges. Are you seeing, uh, have
you ever seen where the money has gone? Do you
see new facilities? Do you see new uniforms? Do you
see it? Do you see actually where the money is
being spent?

Speaker 8 (31:13):
Not at the level that they're losing or they're spending. Yes,
there's there's some.

Speaker 1 (31:18):
Why are they losing money?

Speaker 8 (31:20):
Revaentments of they're losing money because they're putting investments into
something that's a risk, like oh, like we're going to
try to build these new facilities, even though.

Speaker 1 (31:32):
That capital improvements. It's all capital.

Speaker 8 (31:34):
Mostly capital improvements, but unnecessary capital improvements. Let's say the
facilities an eight out of ten. It's good, it's in
good shape, it's pass well, whatever, Why spend the exorbitant
amount of money to make it at ten out of ten?

Speaker 2 (31:45):
It's not a necessarily want to go ahead.

Speaker 3 (31:46):
It's almost like these schools are stuck in the same
mindset the players are. It's all about getting the money
and getting items. Instead of building a culture, schools should
be focused on building. We need a good football culture,
we need a good coaching staff and stuff of let's
just get the best weights.

Speaker 2 (32:02):
Just get the Nike patch on there, you know what
I mean.

Speaker 1 (32:03):
So let me tell you in the non educational world,
when you've got a situation like that, Let's say a
bridge was built and the bridge is ten years old
and it's still an amazing shape and it's still great,
looks good, and all of a sudden someone comes in,
so we have to redesign this bridge and build a
new bridge. And you're like, why the hell would you
spend the money on this bridge? Well, you have to

(32:26):
ask yourself, is who benefits from it? Do you know
where I'm headed here? Who benefits from building the new bridge?

Speaker 2 (32:36):
The politician is running that city, the.

Speaker 1 (32:38):
Contractors, contractor the people who own the businesses that build
the bridges. So when you're talking about a facility that's
only three years old and it's being redone again, you
have to ask the question who got the contract to
rebuild the school or rebuild the building, Because that's where
some of this lies, is the big money that's coming in,

(33:00):
you know, on the surface you're like, does it make
sense to me? It makes perfect sense to those that
are in charge. And this is why we are always
following the money in local government and state government, because
when they're always wanting to create these new nonprofits and
all this other stuff, you have to ask yourself who's
on the board of the nonprofits, who's building are they
renting in the nonprofit? And you find out they're tied

(33:22):
to a campaign or they're tied to something. There's always
a connection. So when you ask yourself for them. That's
why I ask you where the money's going. If you
know where the money's going, because I'm sitting here trying
to figure out if you're getting the TV broadcast rights
to your college's football games. That's multimillion dollar contract. Now,
so the coach is getting paid. What's the average salary

(33:43):
for a coach? Now, Oh, for.

Speaker 3 (33:45):
Like a top tier coach, sure, probably a million a game.

Speaker 1 (33:48):
Okay, that's one million. The broadcast rights are ten million,
So where's the nine other nine million going? Just hypothetical obviously, Yeah,
But I mean those are some of the things that
probably are worth digging into if you really want to
stir up the crap. If you want to. If you
don't want to get kicked out of school, then ignore it.
But yeah, but if you want to make a if

(34:11):
you really want to make your bones, and you really
want to make a statement, you should ask where the
money goes, and you should ask for an accounting of
all that money because that's where, that's where. And when
you said exactly when, that's what tipped me off? Or hey,
when you said, you know, some of these buildings are
only two or three years old. Now we're building a
new building, it's like, oh, now I get it. You
got to ask yourself who's building the building and what's

(34:32):
their connection to the person in charge, whether it's the
dean or the provost or whomever. Who are the people
in charge? And the board members too have a lot
of sway, right you know. I remember like when the
college athletics, you know, their college athletes would have to
go rub elbows with everyone on the alumni board because yeah,
all the boosters, because that's where all the money comes from.

(34:54):
And nowadays they don't need all that, they don't need
to do that anymore, you know, So very interesting stuff.
So what with with this conference realignment? Do you see
it changing? Do you see it shifting. How how old
is this conference realignment issue? Is this a fairly new thing?

Speaker 3 (35:12):
This is going to be the first year really Okay?

Speaker 1 (35:14):
So what was the impetus for it? I mean, whose
idea was it and why?

Speaker 3 (35:19):
Well, I would say the NCAA started with it, but
I think it was because you know, the last few
years in college football there's been the same two winners
Alabama Georgia.

Speaker 1 (35:29):
Oh, so they're doing their their part to try to
equalize it.

Speaker 3 (35:32):
That's what I think it mainly stems from. Obviously, like
we said, money is involved. They want to have more viewership.
We can't have blowout games in the championship if we
want to make more money. But yeah, I would say
it comes along and it goes far beyond. You know,
just you know, Oregon gets to play Michigan now instead
of Washington State. You know, a lot of the teams
going into the Big twelve, they're going to get better

(35:53):
recruits because recruits look at conferences as better play. A
lot of players want to go to the SEC because
that's where the best players is. Where the best teams
are now going to Arizona State leaving from the Pac
twelve to the Big twelve, there's gonna be maybe a
lot more players saying, oh yeah, I'll go to ASU.
They're in the Big twelve. They play a lot of
better teams now, so it could help there. And I

(36:14):
get to watch their games on TV now because PAC
twelve didn't have the TV rights, So all.

Speaker 1 (36:19):
Right, So but TV rights, it sounds like that drives everything,
even in like the awards world, like Oscars and Grammys
and all the other stuff. All of the things they
do are driven by the broadcast rights. So it is
it's all the almighty dollar again. Huh yeah, always is. Yeah. Yeah,
so Brian, you're talking about soccer because if memory serves,

(36:41):
it's still the world's number one sport.

Speaker 4 (36:43):
Correct, of course.

Speaker 1 (36:45):
Yeah. I enjoy I like watching soccer. It's pretty fun,
especially when the spoiled athletes pretend they're hurt.

Speaker 4 (36:50):
Oh get mad.

Speaker 1 (36:54):
I love that. I love when they're like, you know,
I love watching that over and over and over. It
makes me laugh, you know when they go back to
their you know, Lamborghini and they drive home. But how
do you see an international sport like soccer? The La Galaxy.
No one really had really heard of the La Galaxy,
but now it's a big players because they had they
had big players coming in right.

Speaker 5 (37:15):
Oh yeah, I mean the MLS is becoming bigger now.
It's they're recruiting. It's considered the retirement home for you know,
the big stars that are coming are coming here.

Speaker 4 (37:25):
I think so.

Speaker 5 (37:27):
I just feel like it's gonna these players are hopefully
going to make the league better, They're gonna make it
more entertaining. Soccer is becoming huge here now.

Speaker 1 (37:36):
But dude, are there college soccer teams? There are a
lot of college soccer teams.

Speaker 5 (37:40):
The college soccer teams. It's pretty It's yeah, it's pretty close.
There's not that big of a difference in terms of
the quality. It's just very technical. But I think college
soccer and professional soccer.

Speaker 1 (37:51):
You know, do you see this, Do you see all
of this that we're talking about happening in the college
or in the college soccer space.

Speaker 5 (37:58):
No, just because you know what drives what drives social
media more in the United States, it's still basketball. It's
still gonna be baseball, and it's still going to be football,
but you are seeing it. There is this fourteen year
old kid that has made his debut for the Philadelphia Union.
His name is Calvin Sullivan and I saw him on
the ad recently for Keines with his brother. I don't

(38:19):
know how much how much that contract's going to be worth,
but fourteen year old kid already soccer kid.

Speaker 1 (38:25):
Yeah, wow, geez, I did something wrong. We're gonna We're
gonna continue the conversation. Welcome back to Studio six forty.
I'm Steve Gregory. Thanks for joining us. Moving on to
another topic now, we've been talking about sports and college athletics,
talking with three sports student journalists jordeim On Tile, Max Wiland,

(38:48):
and Brian Chavez. You know, some interesting conversations we've been having.
But the one thing too that comes up a lot.
And I know what happens in the professional sports leagues,
and it's this player safety issue. Can cut have been
a big deal in the NFL. I know that a
lot of people are concerned about you know, owners and
in this case, coaches and colleges are just pushing their

(39:10):
people out there, just keep pushing them to the limit.
But how big of a concern is player safety on
your level?

Speaker 2 (39:17):
I think it's a big deal.

Speaker 8 (39:19):
It's not talked about a lot because you don't see
somebody getting rammed into every single second of football.

Speaker 2 (39:26):
But that whole player safety is big when it comes
to football.

Speaker 3 (39:31):
Though.

Speaker 8 (39:32):
I know local high school that I had to cover
for one of my classes, chaper High School. I was
talking to the athletic director about what they do for
player safety in terms of practicing in one hundred and
twenty degree weather, football helmets and all that. So wy
they do it with the football helmets is the football
helmet lifespan can't go more than ten years. You got

(39:54):
to replace the helmet. You actually you got to throw
it out after ten years. But they do send these
helmets to these facilities where they make sure they're and
working condition every single season, because last thing you want
to see is somebody getting rammed in the head and
the helmet splits in two or.

Speaker 2 (40:06):
Something like that.

Speaker 8 (40:06):
Last thing you want to see on the football field. Now,
in terms of like practicing and the longevity of it,
if it's really that hot, they'll move their practices into
the basketball court. They'll sort of adjust how they practice
to the heat, because you can't be out there in
heavy football gear playing it in one hundred and twenty one.
You know a degree whether it's ridiculous, And then hydration

(40:29):
is a big issue, so they make sure they're hydrated constantly,
have the water dispensers there, the best gear and stuff
like that. So it depends on the sport, but I
imagine the college at the college level, they do the
same exact thing, where they're looking out for their players.
They're sending their helmets to reinforce them and making sure
everybody's got to go on the field.

Speaker 1 (40:46):
Well, especially in Phoenix or in Tempee where ASU campus is.
And I worked there five years before I got here,
so that heat is brutal. Yeah, And I remember, you know,
seeing the practice field over there, and I think it
was wasn't too soon after I was there or left
that they put that that portable tent over it, or
that semi portable Yeah, yeah, and so that they could

(41:09):
have some air inside of there. But do you think that, well,
let me ask it this way. Are there safety officers
of any kind who monitors the safety and who monitors
the health of those who's responsibility is it? Because you know,
you know, the coach is worrying about a bunch of
different stuff. But is there somebody that watches these college
athletes and make sure that they're fine.

Speaker 5 (41:29):
Yeah, there's definitely athletic trainers on the field up during practice,
during the games. They're there to make sure there's anything
If anything goes wrong, they're there.

Speaker 1 (41:38):
Yeah. And are there complaints filed against any universities or
colleges that you know of that with any violations of like,
do they have the same protections let's say that anybody,
Because here's the thing now, if these if these folks
are being you know, paid, and being endorsed and whatever
the case is, aren't they in essence becoming an employee

(41:59):
of somebody? I mean, is somebody responsible for making sure
these individuals are well taken care of.

Speaker 8 (42:04):
There's been cases in the past. I read an article
that was written by one of our cronkite students a
couple of years ago where people they were talking about
the statistic where colleges it's been like ten twenty years
at this point now, but they had players die of
heat exhaustion. There was some serious heat exhaustion. Nobody was

(42:26):
really looking at them. They thought, you know, gate over
your drink water will be fine.

Speaker 2 (42:30):
Neanxt thing, you know, he's collapsing and stuff.

Speaker 8 (42:32):
And I read the statistic while covering my enterprise story
this last semester where they made it a whole thing
in the leagues now where you have to have basically
multiple athletic trainers and circumnavigating where these players are playing

(42:54):
and how hard they're playing, the need to watch. They
take their blood temperatures, they take their temperature, they have
special massage groups, and something gets pulled, they're tight whatever,
they're like. They're constantly on these people because, as you
were saying, it's kind of like an investment.

Speaker 2 (43:06):
Now they're an employee.

Speaker 8 (43:07):
Imagine you make somebody a million dollar contract. In game two,
they're finished. I mean, what a waste. So they have
to protect these investments, and of course you can't. You
have to make sure nobody dies on the field. I mean,
that's should be job number one anyways. But like, yeah,
there's been serious legislation pieces, if you will, within the
NCAA and organizations like that that have really tackled these

(43:32):
problems in health.

Speaker 1 (43:34):
I see more and more stories of young kids collapsing
on fields, and I don't know why I'm seeing more
of those stories now than I've ever seen. You made them.
I mean, is there is there a problem going on
here with the kids, or just I see them collapsing.
I I'm hearing teenagers having heart issues.

Speaker 5 (43:52):
I mean these teenagers are the teenagers that are probably
having these heart issues, are probably just not eating good,
not sleeping well. They're probably over exerting their body. So
the teenagers, I don't think. I mean, obviously, if if
you're training in on a one hundred and twenty degree weather,
there's going to be more of a chance. But as
a teenager, I don't I never had a problem like that.

Speaker 1 (44:13):
How much of this How much pressure is on a
student athlete now? Because you knowge, you kind of kind
of alluded to it, you know, kind, oh, come on,
just drink some honor, you'll be fine, get over it
kind of thing. There's that sort of pressure to perform
and you don't want to look weak in front of
your colleagues or your classmates. Is that pressure still around

(44:33):
or because with the way our culture is now, or
has that tamped down a bit?

Speaker 5 (44:36):
I think it kind of went down a little bit.
I think I've seen it firsthand where some athletes they
get a little minor knock and they're limping. Maybe it's
because soccer people again, oh yeah, sadly, yeah, I mean
they got a bad rep but it's sometimes sometimes it's
probably their performance. They're not performing that and they're not

(44:57):
having the best game, so they injured themselves. They they
get injured, you know, air quote, m M.

Speaker 4 (45:03):
But I don't. I don't know. Just I don't see.

Speaker 5 (45:07):
I don't see the same aggression in the sports like
how it was before. There's so much technicality nowadays that
protects athletes well.

Speaker 1 (45:19):
And the other thing too, is I noticed with coaches.
Coaches can't be that gruff, screaming kind of person anymore
that you see in the movies or that I was
used to seeing growing.

Speaker 2 (45:27):
Up Varsity Blues.

Speaker 1 (45:28):
Yeah, you can't. You don't see those kind of coaches anymore,
do you. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (45:32):
Well, I want to bring up a point talking about coaches.
Tom Brady had an interview with Steven A. Smith of ESPN,
and he talked about if I can read his quote,
should I play the video or just read his quote.

Speaker 1 (45:42):
I just read the quote, Okay.

Speaker 3 (45:44):
He said, your coach is complaining about their own players
being tackled and not necessarily, why don't they talk to
their player about how to protect themselves. We used to
work on on the fundamental of those things all the time.
Now they're trying to be regulated all the time. Offensive
players need to protect themselves. It's not a defensive player's
jobs to perfect them to protect the offensive players. A

(46:05):
defensive player needs to protect themselves. I didn't throw the
ball to certain areas because I was afraid players were
going to get knocked out. That's the reality. I didn't
throw to the middle of the field when I played
ray Lewis because he was going to knock someone out
of the game and I couldn't afford to lose a
good player. I think that's a really good point. Tom
Brady played in both eras of football past and now modern,

(46:26):
and even Aaron Rodgers he used to get hit on
a lot in earlier his career. He doesn't throw to
the middle of the field, and that was for a reason.

Speaker 1 (46:33):
So there was a strategy to it. Yes, you know,
let's talk more about that. Let's pause. When we come back,
we'll pick up the conversation. Welcome back to Studio six forty.
I'm Steve Gregory. Thanks for joining us. Before the break, Max,
you were talking about you were reading a quote from
Tom Brady that he was speaking on ESPN about how
he would use his strategies to protect his players. But

(46:56):
that just seems that just seems like good sportsmanship to me.

Speaker 3 (46:58):
Well, it's a lot about the It goes along with
the development of players. You know. Tom Brady talked about
how a lot of quarterbacks in his time had to
play like that because they knew that that's how you
have to play or else you're gonna find injuries. And
it goes along not just football, with basketball too. There's
a huge culture of aau or in football seven on
seven where it's just about that's like my career. It's

(47:21):
like it's like playing my career in a video game.
Ins set about developing players, being part of a team,
knowing how you're supposed to play, clicking on all cylinders.
It's just about give me the ball, let me work.

Speaker 1 (47:32):
Do you have a lot of those hot shots out there?
You still have those kind of hot shot players in college?
Or do they tend to.

Speaker 3 (47:38):
Be I think that's what it mostly Isn't they.

Speaker 1 (47:40):
Tend to get a wrangled? Are you think it's more
like that?

Speaker 3 (47:43):
I think that's it's turning into that now. Yeah, And
why do you think that is? I mean, just the
culture you hear Tom Brady just talked about it, there's
the lack of development. College football used to be about developing,
getting ready for the next step, and we're turning it
into a mini NFL less of that.

Speaker 1 (48:04):
Are you seeing more injuries with college athletes? Are you
seeing a rise in them in your respective campuses or
about the same or less fewer.

Speaker 5 (48:15):
I haven't really noticed any uprising on those on the injuries,
but I know that coaches, you know, it's.

Speaker 4 (48:21):
Not protecting the players.

Speaker 5 (48:24):
It's more about keeping them ready, keeping them fresh for
the big games. I first hand. I played last season
that at Flulton College. I played soccer there for a season,
and yeah, that's how it was. You know, you want
your best players to be fresh. Obviously, they're not going
to take it easy on them. They're not just going
to be laying back in the shade and sipping on

(48:44):
cold water or anything like that. They're just keeping them
fresh and ready for the big games.

Speaker 1 (48:49):
Are any campuses having issues with performance enhancements enhancement drugs?
Is that an issue at all?

Speaker 2 (48:56):
I mean, not more than usual.

Speaker 1 (48:58):
What's the usual?

Speaker 8 (49:00):
I mean you have a couple of cases, like every
couple of years. There's always some players.

Speaker 1 (49:05):
They make it sound so common and regular is it really.

Speaker 2 (49:08):
Yeah, it's constant.

Speaker 1 (49:09):
I've been out of the college game for a long time. Okay, so,
and I don't remember ever being an issue when I
was in school. But finish your thought.

Speaker 8 (49:17):
Yeah, it's common because we see it at the major
league level. I mean, how many MLB players have been
suspended or not let into the Hall of Fame just
within the last ten years because they were found out
using steroids. So when they when major league sets that example,
college is like, you know what, why don't we do
the same thing. You know, let's let's let's let's say
that's if you ain't cheating, you ain't trying.

Speaker 2 (49:36):
And they play.

Speaker 8 (49:39):
These games and then when they get caught, yeah, they
get expelled and everything. But like the culture is like
still there of do whatever it takes to win. And
I want to jump on something else here. You were
talking about how they want to get the players ready
for the big game and all that, and it's never
been more true than now. Back in the eighties and nineties,
when you pitched, you pitched don nine innings or as

(50:00):
far as you could go, especially if you were on
a roll. Now you know what you're done in five
that's good enough. Thank you very much. Even though the
players have a lot to give, even though they're on
the road, they want to keep you fresh.

Speaker 2 (50:10):
It's okay, Dave Roberts for that. Yeah, and I can't
stand that man's way of managing.

Speaker 1 (50:16):
But yeah, it's all about wellness now.

Speaker 8 (50:19):
Well, i'd rather be about performance, and that's why we
haven't won a World Series and a bunch of times.

Speaker 1 (50:25):
It sounds like we're going down a personal route that
we probably shouldn't go down right now. But but you
said something else that I was kind of getting too
early and trying to find out, is if there is
still this culture in college, you know, there's all this,
you know we're talking about. You don't see the coaches
that are getting they they don't lose their cool much anymore,
You don't. You don't hear about that much because now

(50:47):
all you have to do is complain to somebody about
the coach and it's over, you know. And so I
can't imagine being a coach trying to motivate a bunch
of young people to get out there on the field
and win when you're not allowed to raise your voice
or you're not allowed to say something that could be
construed as offensive. So is there still that desire to
get out there and win or is it just a

(51:08):
desire to get through the season.

Speaker 8 (51:10):
I think there's a it's a failure on both parts
because honestly, there's a fine line between being that coach
and you know, varsity blues, abusing your players, yelling at
them necessarily and all that, And there's a fine line
between that and raising your voice when it's necessary when
your team is not performing or they're not getting along.

Speaker 2 (51:30):
There's leadership that needs to be had.

Speaker 8 (51:32):
We can't pretend we're in Candyland when you know you're
two and seven on the season and your best players
aren't getting along.

Speaker 2 (51:38):
So and it's also.

Speaker 8 (51:41):
That I've noticed this at the lower levels too, at
least in high school, where these coaches like they don't
teach you how to be a team player. It's just
kind of like expected. They also don't teach you like
the fundamentals of the game. You were talking about Tom
Brady's quote about defensive players not being their job to
protect offensive players and stuff, because they're not it's.

Speaker 2 (52:00):
No longer a priority anymore.

Speaker 8 (52:02):
So there's a failure on coaching, and there's also a
failure on the players, because the players think.

Speaker 2 (52:06):
They know everything.

Speaker 8 (52:08):
We think we're Mandy Machado or Russell Wilson in his prime,
or Peyton Manning or whoever else you want to throw
out there. They think they're that person already and they're not.
And because of all these HR issues and regulations about
treating players with respect and on that, they're kind of
abusing that because now you can't the coach can't really
discipline them when they need to be disciplined.

Speaker 3 (52:30):
When I was a kid, one thing I was told
growing up playing sports is you can't teach You can't
teach attitude. And it sucks because you now it seems
like that would be the best thing to teach if
you could. It's so many like what we were talking
about the transfer portal, so many kids are just ready
to like, if it's not working, I'm gone. I'm not
really here, like I'm just here because this was a

(52:52):
good opportunity for me, not because I want to be here.
But you do find a few, you know, i'd say nuggets,
like even gold nuggets. Colorado State's quarterback Brandon Fowler and
the wide receiver Tory Horton, they both got offered. I
think it was five hundred K six hundred k to
enter the portal, and they both said, no, I chose here.

(53:13):
I'm here to win, and they're at Colorado State. So
I think it's important. Now it's not about how many
recruits you can get, it's about the type of recruits
you get.

Speaker 1 (53:22):
Brian, you're going to CSLB in the Colorado excuse me,
California State system. How does California's athletic system rank like
with Arizona State? Now? I mean in terms of how
they address issues? Are you seeing any of this sort
of either where you were at before or just in

(53:42):
your observations? Are you seeing anything different in the California
system because California tends to be there's a more liberal
way of approaching almost everything.

Speaker 4 (53:52):
Yeah, I agree.

Speaker 1 (53:53):
So do you think athletic programs in California are a
little different than an athletic program in Arizona?

Speaker 5 (54:00):
I think Arizona's too close to compare. I think if
you were to go somewhere where the where they take
their sports more seriously, like let's say Texas, how football
is a culture over there, it's.

Speaker 4 (54:12):
Gonna look worlds apart. I don't understand either. If I
was a coach.

Speaker 5 (54:18):
I would nail on my on my on my athletes,
you know, to get the best out of them, even
if it gets me in trouble. Obviously, times have changed
and you can't use certain words anymore to.

Speaker 1 (54:30):
Those I don't.

Speaker 4 (54:33):
You're probably gonna have to bleep them. You don't have
to beleeve them. You ready to beleeve it?

Speaker 5 (54:40):
No, Yeah, it's just times have changed and now everyone
is just they're just too sensitive. Parents get mad, which
I don't get because those parents weren't were born and
raised in those times where you had to be tough.
You if you wanted to win, you would have to
give it your awe. And now they give participation trophies
for the fifth place.

Speaker 2 (55:01):
That's ridiculous.

Speaker 1 (55:02):
Yeah, welcome back to Studio six forty. I'm Steve Gregory.
Thanks for joining us as we enter into our final
segment of this program. Thanks again to Jorge, Max and
Brian coming in as aspiring sports journalists. They're going to
their respective schools. They have Horgey and Max from The Issue,
Brian from cal State Long Beach, and we've been talking

(55:25):
about a myriad of issues, but I want to I
want to kind of wrap up by talking about the
one thing that I always remember in school was that
you could not play in a game unless you had
a minimum grade point average. Is that still an issue?

Speaker 7 (55:39):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (55:40):
Do you still have to maintain a GPA of some kind?
What is that GPA you know? Or is it er
let's say two point zero, that's it.

Speaker 5 (55:47):
That's it's pretty low. It sounds pretty low. But sometimes
for college athletes that's even hard to get. That's a C, right,
that's a C average. Yeah, but now there's more incentives.
I know, coaches like to push their well, some coaches
like to push their their student athletes to get the
best they can possibly get because it brings in money

(56:08):
as well. You know, having a good academic team, you
could say, brings in awards and brings in some you know,
obviously the in some sports like soccer that they don't
have that much money for the scholarships. They incentivize having
a better grade because you will not only get an
athletic scholarship, but you could also get an academic scholarship,

(56:30):
which makes it more accessible for those athletes to go
to better schools.

Speaker 1 (56:35):
I always remember that if you had a star quarterback,
let's say that was a D average, student barely a D.
I remember the school making sure that they got the
best tutor, or at least a very good tutor that
could get them at least get them to that minimum.

(56:56):
Does that kind of stuff still happen to Are they
given tutors? Are these athletes given tutors? And I'm sure
that if we're giving them endorsements, I'm sure they're getting
all these academic perks too.

Speaker 3 (57:05):
Right, it seems it seems like it's a kind of
asking a frat brother what they do to get in
the frat you won't really get an answer. But you know,
if you ask a football player how you get that grade?
How you they won't give you the you know, a
full answer.

Speaker 1 (57:25):
It's just but what so what is the answer is?
I think you know the answer?

Speaker 3 (57:29):
Well, I think it's you know, they get set with
easy teachers, they get put in classes, or they get majors.
They don't choose their major. They get oh, you're going
to be arts and Crafts. No disrespect to anyone majors.

Speaker 1 (57:45):
But yeah, do you guys cover any of this stuff?
I mean, do you guys or are you you know,
as you look at your future as sports journalists, are
you looking at exposing stuff like this or are you
just looking into covering the game?

Speaker 3 (58:02):
Not if it's in my school, I won't. I won't
expose it.

Speaker 1 (58:04):
You Why not?

Speaker 3 (58:05):
Because I want my team to win.

Speaker 1 (58:08):
You don't want to rock the boat. You want to
wait to get out of school and then you go
after all the college teams or whomever. But what about you, guys?
Is this when you approach this? Well, let me also
ask it this way. Who gives you your assignments when
you when you write or or do something on air
or online in your field? Are you coming up with

(58:30):
your own story ideas or are you getting an assignment?

Speaker 8 (58:33):
It's I'd say we get to pick the topic, but
there are some parameters that the instructors set and we
work within those parameters.

Speaker 2 (58:44):
They're pretty big parameters.

Speaker 8 (58:45):
There's not a lot that they wouldn't tell us to do,
but we usually get to pick what we were doing.

Speaker 1 (58:54):
So any of the stuff we've been talking about today,
can I see any of these and some of your
stories in the future, any of this really tough stuff
we've been talking about.

Speaker 4 (59:00):
Hopefully.

Speaker 5 (59:01):
I don't know how it's going to work at Long Beach,
but at Fullerton they were it was more you get
to choose, and you get to choose the topic of
the story, and however you want to cover it, you
could cover it.

Speaker 1 (59:10):
Yeah. To the the sort of the academic part of this,
have you ever known any of the star players to
ever be benched because or sidelined because they didn't meet
the minimum GPA?

Speaker 4 (59:23):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (59:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (59:23):
Like I said, last year, I played at Fullerton College
for the men's soccer team, and our coach was pretty
strict on the grades. If you didn't have he wanted
a three point zero minimum three point two I think
it was, and if you didn't have that, he'd leave
you at the bench. You wouldn't you wouldn't even warm up.

Speaker 1 (59:40):
And he got the full support of college administration.

Speaker 5 (59:43):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure, I mean he wanted to.
He also he said you were a student first athlete.

Speaker 4 (59:50):
Second.

Speaker 1 (59:51):
Yeah, is that the way it is an issue?

Speaker 8 (59:54):
I don't know exactly the culture that we have at
a issue when it comes to that sort of thing,
but experience in California, that's that's the mentality.

Speaker 2 (01:00:03):
You're a student first player.

Speaker 8 (01:00:06):
Second. I had that attitude at Lecerna High school and
I had it at Suda's College. So that's the culture
here Arizona.

Speaker 2 (01:00:14):
I don't I don't know, Max. If you want to
chip in, you know, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:00:17):
Like you guys are afraid to talk about this. I
get the sense you're afraid to talk about I don't.

Speaker 3 (01:00:23):
Fully know, So I don't want to be up here being.

Speaker 1 (01:00:25):
Like, yeah, I'm looking at your body like it was like,
I'm not going there, you go there, I'm not doing it.
I'm not doing this. No, but I understand.

Speaker 3 (01:00:34):
I'm not really sure, but I'm sure. You know certain
SEC schools where they football is first, not being a student, definitely.

Speaker 1 (01:00:42):
Because I always remember that, you know, the Friday night lights,
you know Texas, those Texas and Oklahoma schools. Man, oh,
football is life everything. High school college football is life.
Everything's life.

Speaker 8 (01:00:55):
But I can tell you that it's not the culture
at issue. I don't think it's three point zero three
point one to be on the field. I can tell
you that there are resources available for non student athletes,
and it's a pretty wide array of tutors and everything.

Speaker 2 (01:01:08):
We have an excellent tutoring center.

Speaker 8 (01:01:10):
So these players, especially the star players, they've got to
be given the best of the best to help out
with their grades if they're really struggling.

Speaker 1 (01:01:19):
I have not yet gone to a college game in California,
and I've been here for a long time, but I
did go to some games at Sun Devil Stadium and
it was a lot of fun, and it was something
about just that, you know, it looks like that the
ASU campus really respects the athletes. It looks like they're
they're very much into their team, and it's and it

(01:01:40):
genuinely is a community event. Every business you know does
something for the before the games, whether it's restaurants or
the bars afterwards. Everyone is celebrating a game all the time.
It's kind of cool.

Speaker 3 (01:01:53):
That's why college sports is so big, not just with
Arizona or California. If you go to a place like
Kansas Basketball, it's like a religion. They don't have any
PEP sports. They don't so a lot of these college sports,
it's that's it. Yeah, that's huge.

Speaker 1 (01:02:07):
Well, listen, guys, this has been a great conversation. I've
learned a little bit today and really do appreciate your
perspectives and I wish you all the very best success
in your roles as student journalists and especially sports journalists.
And I hope it all works out. So as soon
as we wrap up here, we'll go offline. We'll talk
a little bit about gender equity in college sports, but
that's only exclusively on the podcast. Studio six forty plus.

(01:02:29):
For now, that's going to do it. Thank you guys
for being here.

Speaker 3 (01:02:31):
Thanks thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (01:02:35):
Studio six forty is a production of the KFI News
Department for iHeartMedia, Los Angeles. The show's executive producers are
Steve Gregory and Jacob Gonzalez. The line producer is Richie Kinteto.
The opinions expressed on this program are those of the
guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of KFI,
iHeartMedia or its affiliates.
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