Jon Wilner joins Softy and Dick to talk UW Athletics.

Jon Wilner joins the show to talk about the board of regents meeting and the financial situation with UW athletics.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
It's time for our weekly Pac twelveconversation with Senos Mercury News reporter John Wilner,
brought to you by Simply Seattle.Our friends at simply Seattle dot com
have the most amazing collection of allthings Seattle Seahawks gear. UW had some
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simply Seattle dot com. All right, big thanks to our friends at simply

(00:22):
Sattle dot com. By the way, you got your eye on anything on
the website, always use code KJRfifteen for fifteen percent off whatever at simply
Seattle dot com. Here he isthe Pope of the pack, the incoming
big ten baron our friend Johnny Wihner. John, how are you man?
I'm good days tell you guys,we're good, Man, good good.

(00:44):
Thanks for asking means a lot thatyou can lot going on. There's always
a lot going on, dude.It's amazing how much stuff is happening in
college sports these days. But whydon't we start off with this this big
regents meeting happening at you dub onThursday. You and I were yacking about
that a little bit off the airtoday and you know, my biggest question
is Dick knows, is how muchfinancial relief will Upper Campus provide for Pat

(01:07):
Chun's athletic department or will they makethem just kind of go at it by
themselves. So what are we kindof hoping to hear as Husky fans?
What are we expecting to hear asHusky fans on Thursday? Well, I
mean, if they make them goat it by themselves, it's self defeating
because you know, the athletic departmentas a whole, and especially the football
program, that's a huge marketing armfor the University of Washington, and financial

(01:34):
support is critical for the athletic departmentto succeed in the big ten. I
look at it, there's a coupleof things that I think are key.
One is the restructuring of the debton the Husky Stadium renovation, which I
believe right now they're in an interestonly period. They start paying principle as

(01:57):
well. I want to say it'san FY twenty five or twenty six,
and at that point the annual paymentis scheduled to go from like nine point
five million to eighteen million, right, And so they need to the regions
need to approve the restructuring of thatdebt. It's an internal lending program that
has basically given the athletic department themoney to for this renovation. So Washington

(02:23):
controls that completely. It's not astate issue at all. So we'll see
about that. We'll see if theyare willing to approve loans, either internal
loans or loans from the Big Ten, loans from Fox. You know,
Washington is projecting a thirty million dollardeficit for what FY twenty five, first

(02:46):
year in the Big Ten. That'sa lot of money. And that is
in addition to the fact that Washingtonis only getting half a share of the
Big Ten's revenue, which is athirty million dollar deficit compared to everybody else.
So they got a thirty million dollarbudget hole and they're getting thirty million
dollars less than everyone So they needsome help from campus. So how does

(03:08):
that compare, John, is youunique in this or how does that compare
to the other schools going to theBig Ten, the schools going to the
Big twelve, or even Wazoo andOregon State. As far as that twenty
nine point seven million dollar cash flowdeficit, Well, I guess compared to
the how many schools are in theBig ten eighteen I lose, I really

(03:29):
do lose tracks still, yeah,So to me, the most relevant comparison
for Washington is UCLA. The Bruinsannually are carrying a thirty or forty million
dollar operating deficit. They get almostno help from campus. Now the difference
is UCLA's going into the Big Tenas a full share member. The only

(03:52):
other school that is not getting afull share is Oregon, and Oregon for
many reasons, including Uncle Phil doesnot have a operating deficit in the twenty
thirty million dollar range. The Ducksare profitable. They're operating surplus is a
couple million a year with no helpfrom campus. So in a way,

(04:15):
Washington is alone relative to the otherseventeen teams. Doesn't mean that they can't
overcome this, but they do needto have help. Are they still better
off after all of that? Arethey still better off short and long term
as opposed to if they had stayedin the Pac ten and agreed to the

(04:38):
Apple deal? Boy, I stillthink that you can make the case that
all the schools would have been betteroff because some of the things that have
happened in college sports that have tiltedthe scale toward the big ten in the
SEC, like the CFT payouts.Right, those two leagues are getting the

(04:59):
vast majority of the seas passed.But those things would not have necessarily happened
if the PAC twelve had survived,because there would have been five power conferences
and there would have been much morebalance. Now that said, you know,
the Apple deal, there's some detailsthat I still am unclear on.
For instance, how easy would ithave been to make those revenue thresholds of

(05:24):
thirty million, thirty five million,fifty million. We still don't know how
successful Apple would have been at sublicensing some of the games to a linear
TV network. So there's a lotof murky stuff on the you know,
should they have stayed page? Butclearly there are some challenges, a lot
of challenges for the Huskies in theirnew existence. Well, another way to

(05:47):
raise revenue was approved recently, theon field logos. Now, we had
an on field logo for each AppleCup the last few years, but we're
talking about every game now. Potentiallywhat are we looking at as far as
you know, revenue raised there andthen our jersey's next are we gonna see
you know, a Dix Berger's logoon the Husky jersey here in the next

(06:08):
five years Taco time. Oh.I don't think there's any doubt about that,
No doubt. I mean, they'vegot to pay this. They got
this twenty million dollar revenue sharing agreementthat they got to deal with. They've
got ten million dollars more in additionalscholarship payments coming, They've got the money
lean withheld from the NCAA tournament.There are a lot of huge expenses for

(06:30):
Washington and all the other schools.My understanding is that a low a midfield
logo for a major football school likethe Huskies could catch four or five million
dollars a year. I don't knowwhat the smaller logos like at a twenty
five yard line, I don't knowwhat they would catch a fraction of that,
but you know that's five million bucks. Yeah, and again, they

(06:53):
got a twenty million dollar budget itemcoming with this revenue sharing. I think
it's only a matter of time beforewe see athletic departments basically sell themselves to
major corporations, right the University ofWashington athletic department sponsored by Amazon, the
the Microsoft Huskies. We're gonna getto that point. Well, I think

(07:15):
you just gotta be smart and justcreative and just think of everything as a
potential revenue stream. You know,sponsor, the goalpost sponsor, the upright
sponsor, the crossbar sponsor, thesideline have a video stream Dick and John
at halftime that shows you what's happeningin the locker room during a game,
and you can sell that. Youknow, Stanford for years has basically allowed

(07:36):
donors to purchase their their their theircoaches. I mean, Troy Taylor is
not the football coach, he's theBradford M. Freeman Director of football at
Stanford. Yeah, and there's noreason why Washington cannot do that as well
and start letting donors sponsor defensive coordinators, offensive coordinators, head coaches, things
like that and every sport. SoI feel like there are hundreds and I

(07:59):
literally mean that, guys, hundredsof untapped revenue streams that places like you
Dub can tap. I would saythat Washington, if they can make it
work, is as well prepared forthat existence as anybody, because look,
you've got all the the coock optionsfrom Amazon, Microsoft and Starbucks over the
last few decades. So absolutely thereare people in the Seattle area. Who

(08:22):
could you know the the so andso? Uh Pat Sean is the so
and so director of athletics. Correct, there's no there's zero doubt about that.
They could also, you know,they could also try to sell off
the Apple Cup. If the twoschools are committed to doing it, why
wouldn't you have the Apple Cup sponsoredby so and so? They do?
They do now. It's growing Microsoft. Yeah, it's Boeing now, my

(08:46):
John, they do it now.But I mean, Dick, you mentioned
the logo. Don't they have theAlaska Airlines field on the on the on
the field the entire year at atudub or Am I crazy? I think
on the twenty five? Yeah?I think that's there. The Boeing thing
comes for the Apple Cup, butTHESC Airlines right every game? Right?
Right? I think? John?Are you you're talking about for five million
dollars? You're talking about literally replacingthe w at midfield with a Microsoft logo?

(09:11):
Wow? Yes, absolutely? Orthe Amazon whatever that that swoosh thing
is they on their smile it's asmile, Oh okay, whatever it is.
Uh, that is what schools aregoing to sell. There is no
doubt about that, right Smack inthe middle of midfield. Well, how

(09:33):
do I mean? This? Tome? Just continues to be a pointing
down the road of group of fiveteams just not being allowed to compete for
a championship sooner rather than later.I mean, how are they ever going
to compete with what you're talking abouthere? And how long will it be
until the college football powers just sayforget about it. If you're not in

(09:54):
the Big Ten, you're not inthe SEC, You're not going to participate
because by that point, you know, the Clemsons of Florida States will probably
be in the SEC. Right.Well, the thing is, the group
of five haven't really competed for atitle in the playoff era, right Cincinnati
is the only one to get in, and they got they got smoked.
So in some ways the competitive balanceisn't gonna change. But there is one

(10:16):
piece that I think will be helpfulfor the Group of five, which is
in this settlement from this billion dollaranti trust lawsuit, right, they are
gonna put a roster. They're gonnabasically lift the cap on scholarships. Right
now, major college football programs haveeighty five scholarships, but they have like
one hundred and twenty guys right,because there's there's all these walk Ons up
Washington's probably got one hundred and tenhundred and twenty guys on their roster.

(10:39):
What they're gonna do with this settlementis they are gonna make unlimited scholarships,
but they're gonna cap the roster,so there's gonna be ninety roster spots.
You can have all those guys onscholarship if you want, but there's only
gonna be ninety roster spots, whichmeans a lot of these really good walk
Ons are now not gonna be ableto sit at Washington. They're gonna have
to go to a group of fiveplaces, though in some ways it might

(11:01):
help. Yeah, Yeah, Igotta tell you, I'm actually fired up
for these revenue stream ideas. Ithink we get some great ideas from our
audience on ways that places like Udub can make money. So hit us
up four nine, four five onea couple thoughts that you think you know
maybe some untapped revenue streams that placeslike U DUB can go after. Hey,
John, I saw you write aboutMike Leach, and every now and

(11:22):
then some story comes across your deskand all of us can agree this is
just dumb and the fact that MikeLeach is not in the Hall of Fame
because the Hall of Fame requires forcoaches a minimum of ten years. Check
for Mike Leach and coached at leastone hundred games with a six hundred winning
percentage. Well, Mike Leach diedwith a winning percentage of point five nine

(11:46):
six. Now the Hall of Famedoes not round up for some dumb ass
reason. So can you tell meplease that there is something in the works
to get these imbeciles to change theirmind on this. Well, there's nothing
in the works this minute because technicallyLeech is not eligible until three years after
his last game, So the twentytwenty six nominating cycle would be the first

(12:13):
time Washington State, Mississippi State,or Texas Tech could nominate him. He
does, he misses by one wins. I think he's one hundred and fifty
eight and one oh seven. Ifhe were one fifty nine and one of
six, he would qualify. Sothere are two paths. One is he
could get in as a contributor tothe game, which is not the same

(12:33):
not doesn't have the same stature ascoach. The other one, the other
avenue for him to get in isthey basically use the fact that he died
while he was an active coach asa way to wiggles out of their own
policy. And I mean, youcan argue that Leech has had more impact

(12:56):
on football at all levels than anyother coach in the last fifty years.
The air raid is everywhere, anyone big at two schools that never win
big. So we'll see what happens. But right now we're in a holding
pattern because he's not even eligible untilthat three year window ends. He's the
Roberto clemene of coaches. He's dead. Put him in the Hall of Fame.

(13:18):
Roberto Clemeny died in a plane crashand he went in the next year.
You know why, because he wasdead. There was no need to
wait because the guy was dead.I mean, what are we doing here,
My god, this stuff drives menuts. Well, I mean,
but the contributor thing I think ofMike Leach's he was a contributor to the
game. I mean, he shouldbe a lock Hall of Fame contributor because

(13:39):
if let's just take out let's justsay Mike Leach didn't have the air raid
and he just ran a regular oldoffense like everybody else, and he won
fifty nine percent of his games.He's probably not in the Hall of Fame.
So he's a Hall of Famer basedupon him being a contributor anyway,
So that's where he should go in, right you could sure you can make

(14:00):
that case he should be in hisboth. I mean here's the other piece.
Though, they changed the rule onthe sixty percent winning percentage. Yea
like eighteen years ago. Hayen Fry, the legendary Iowa coach. He's in
the Hall of Fame as a coachand he was under six hundred. So
they have only they changed it atLeachs doesn't qualify under the new rule,
But our coaches in there with lessthan Chris winning percentage. So the other

(14:26):
thing is they don't take a noaccount where you coach, right, I
mean, it's harder to win fiftyfive percent of your games at Washington State
than it is to win sixty fivepercent of your games in Oregon or USC
or Washington, No question about that. He belongs in. I think all
Husky fans and Cougar fans can agreeon that. Age. John, one
more from me. Your preseason toptwenty five is out. Are our beloved

(14:48):
Husky basketball team with all their newstar players in your top twenty five like
they should be. They are notnot yet. It's too many, too
many unknowns, too many unknown John. We'll see how things go. I'm
you know, I think there's alot of reasons to be encouraged if you're
a Husky fan. But it tooktoo much of a leap of faith for

(15:11):
me to go ahead and put himin. John, you have an opportunity
to be a forward thinker. Weare giving We are giving you six months
before the season starts, five monthsbefore the season starts, an opportunity to
say I told you so in Marchwhen you rank them like third in the
Big ten going into this year andthey go to the sweet sixteen, and

(15:33):
you are passing up that opportunity thatSoftie and I are just graciously giving you.
I don't understand. Wo Yeah,it's living it for free and you're
saying no. Sometimes I'm like thecollege football Hall of Fame. I'm my
own worst center. All right,man, We'll see John. Great stuff
and we're talking a week buddy.Thanks guys,