Jon Wilner on Title IX, B1G Media Days, Transfers, Network End

Jon Wilner of The San Jose Mercury News and Wilner Hotline joins Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain to talk about Title IX, Big Ten media days coming up next week, transfer rules coming under focus, non-revenue sport futures, and the Pac-12 Network ending.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
It's time for our weekly Pac twelveconversation with Senos Mercury News reporter and John
Wilner, brought to you by SimplySeattle. Our friends at simply Seattle dot
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(01:04):
related on the website right now atsimply Sattle dot com. The Pope of
the Pack, the incoming Big tenMarin our buddy Johnny Walter. Back from
vacation, John, how are youpell? I am good? Thanks?
How you guys? Don't worry you? Where'd you spend your time off?
I spend a week on the DelawareShore and then a week or close to

(01:26):
a week in Washington, d C. Did you that's where I'm from?
Now? Good to see family forfirst time. I'd really been able to,
you know, kind of get awayfrom everything in years, because the
summers have been so busy in collegesports still, you know, basically starting
in twenty twenty. I love it. Does your family have any idea how

(01:46):
big a deal you've become in yourcareer? And do you remind them if
they don't, No, they haveno idea. They don't have any idea
what I do. Well, weappreciate it. Sounds like our families,
There's no question about it. Hey, John, Wait wait, I have
a big Can I start? Ihope? He goes timeline. But I
have a crucial question, what arethe what are the ni L opportunities for

(02:08):
your son? Oh? God thatI have no idea man a deal.
They can't even be recruited for twoyears, you know, they gotta be.
They gotta wait till after their sophomoreyear before coaches can even talk to
him. So they don't do thatin the sec No, of course not.
But this is you know, thisis the land of paying. You
know, we follow the rules outhere. Well, the question is will
there be opportunities for him to playcollege golf? Because that's a big concern

(02:32):
we had so John, we hadPat chun with us, like what two
weeks ago now? And the onlythe only question Dick wanted to ask,
Well, there be a golf team, you dog, are you gonna eliminate
that? I mean, how hownervous should parents of kids that played in
not Olympic sports like Dick and hiswife be I think a little bit nervous.

(02:53):
I would not say panicked, butuh, you gotta be nervous.
And I think even some female sportsare gonna have to you know, should
be nervous, right, not thebig ones, not soccer, softball,
basketball. But nobody knows what's gonnahappen with the Title nine situation as it
as it affects this this settlement.And uh, I mean, I think

(03:15):
if you're in any sport that's notyou know, the kind of the top
tier five or six men or women'sside, you've got to be a little
bit concerned. Will there be achallenge in court if men are getting paid
more NIL dollars than women? Wherethere will there be a Title nine challenge
in court on that? Well,there's already an issue a case in Oregon

(03:39):
where the you know, the Ducksare have their NIL situation is the subject
of a of a lawsuit that wasyou know, that they were not given
equal opportunity to the female athletes.How that lawsuit plays out in Oregon could
impact nationally, how you know,attorneys and potential plaintiffs go after this the

(04:04):
House lawsuit with regard to Title nine, there's so much has got to be
determined, and there are no guaranteeseven that this that the settlement is going
to get approved by the judge.Yes, it's bananas, but it's all
wait and see right now. AndTitle nine is certainly a huge piece of

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the unknown well, John Wilmers withus SO PAC twelve media day happening.
Media days. There's some PAC twelvethree two one Big Ten media days happening
next week. That won't be thelast time I do that, by the
way, in Indianapolis. Next weekTuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, obviously U
DUB goes on Thursday. SEC mediadays are happening this week and Greg Saki

(04:47):
coming out saying, look, wehave no interest in Florida State if they
leave the ACC. Normally, whenyou have media days like this, the
Commissioner talks, it's kind of astate of the Union, there's some big
news. What what what's the bignews news that we're waiting for? What
are the questions that we're looking foranswers to? When Tony Pettiti talks next
week, well, certainly he'll getasked about expansion and whether the Big Ten

(05:11):
is interested in Florida State, Clemson, North Carolina, you know, any
of the a SEC schools that couldbecome available. I would expect him to
basically reiterate what Greg Sankee said aboutthe SEC, which was our focus is
on the sixteen. I would say, patit, he's going to say,
our focus is on the eighteen.It's on getting Oregon, Washington, Ucla,

(05:33):
USC assimilated. It's on the expandedcollege football playoffs. It's on figuring
out how to navigate the you know, the revenue sharing with the players.
I don't expect him to make anyany news with any controversial statements. I
would say the things I'm looking fornext week, and unlike I think it's

(05:55):
a three day event, right,SEC's four days, right, Big Ten
is three. Washington and Oregon aregoing last, USC and Ucla I think
are day two. So I'm lookingat a couple of things, right.
It's a little bit layered. Oneis, you know, the team level,
you know what are Washington, Oregon, USC, UCLA gonna say the
coach is about the depth chart,about injuries, about transfers, about the

(06:17):
offseason workouts. Then there is theconference level stuff, which to me,
the biggest thing I'm looking for fromthe Big Ten is clarity on the tiebreaker
because if you've got eighteen teams,no divisions, and everybody is missing eight
teams, there's the potential for alog jam that could be difficult to untangle.

(06:41):
And it's not just about figuring outfirst and second place to meet in
the Big twelve Big Ten Championship.It's also about three four five because where
you finish could impact your playoff selectionas not large right, the playoff committee
made decided we want the third placeteam in the Big Ten. They got
to have a way to break atie. So to me, that's a
real issue for the Big Ten that'sgot to get resolved before the season starts.

(07:04):
John, I'm sure something will bedone eventually to prevent rampant transferring because
it's gotten out of control. Arewe going to see contracts signed? And
how long does that happen before wesee contracts that lock people in for at
least a couple of years. Toa school boy, I'm not sure that

(07:27):
feels like restrain of trade to me. If it's not collectively bargained, I
could be wrong. I know Ishould have gone to law school. The
last year has drummed that into myhead. But I think I don't know
how the NCAA is going to beable to enforce anything. They keep losing
in court. There's a bunch ofnew lawsuits coming down the pipeline, and

(07:53):
there's no union to collectively bargain,and so I don't know how anything is
enforceable, and the problem is thatthe players have no reason to collectively bargain
it, no reason to form aunion because they got everything they want right
now, unlimited transfers, you know, immediate eligibility, they're going to get
revenue sharing and nil. They gotit great. They have no reason to

(08:16):
organize a union. Yeah, John, I'm looking at at the twenty twenty
four to twenty five Husky volleyball schedule, and somebody may ask, why are
you looking at that softiet Well,because for the last few months we've been
waiting and asking for somebody to giveus some kind of clarity at how the
non Olympic travel is going to workwith sports like volleyball, softball, gymnastics,

(08:41):
et cetera. I'm looking at thewomen's volleyball schedule. They play Indiana
Illinois back to back nights in Septemberand then travel to the Midwest Iowa on
a Friday, Wisconsin Sunday, comehome Wednesday, Ucla, go back on
the road Sunday at Oregon, goback on the road Friday at Michigan,
Michigan stayed, and then come homeversus Rutgers. How much do you think

(09:03):
they're still kind of tinkering and howmuch are they allowing trial by error or
a trial and error to kind ofsee what works and what does it with
these non Olympic sports or these Olympicnon revenue sports. Sorry, yeah,
I hadn't realized that they had finalizedthe schedules for any of those Olympic sports.
I've been waiting for the basketball schedules, yeah, for the Big Ten

(09:24):
and the ACC especially. I can'twait to see Stanford cow But I don't
know, you know, if they'regoing to do any tweaking. To be
honest, I certainly think they willdo some make some adjustments for year two
right the twenty five twenty six collegesports season, but I don't know between

(09:46):
now and the fall how much tinkeringthere's going to be. It is going
to be difficult, right, AndI mean, they're not going to be
back to back trips, back toback weekends in the Midwest, but they're
could be deals where you're playing aroad trip against the West Coast school and
then you gotta go to the Midwestthe following week. It is gonna wear

(10:09):
on them. I don't think there'sa doubt about that. Like, for
example, November seventh, they're atMinnesota and presumably travel on the eighth,
and the next day they have awhole match against Nebraska. You got to
turn right around and play a wholematch here, you know, against the
Big Ten team. It's gonna bebrutal. It's not good for the athletes.
And here's the other thing about vyball. Volleyball women's Bible in the Big

(10:30):
Ten is a big deal. Imean it's a huge deal and it's really
good. And I think the fourWest Coast schools they're volleyball teams. It's
gonna be hard with the travel andit's gonna be hard with that competition.
Yeah, they had seventy five thousandpeople for a volleyball match this year in
Nebraska, in Nebraska, right atthe football stadium. That was actually pretty
cool. John Wilner joining us,Hey, John, You and Gonzano interviewed

(10:54):
Ashley Adamson about the end of thedeath of the Pac twelve network. Maybe
maybe give us a story that's stuckwith you from that conversation. Boy,
it stuck. That was like threethree and a half weeks ago. But
yeah, you're right, that's true. You know, the big thing that

(11:15):
I took away was you know,her passion for the PAC twelve and just
kind of the anguish that the employeeshad to endure going through that whole process
of uncertainty. I mean, wewere all watching it from the outside.
They were going through it for thirteenmonths from the inside, and then they

(11:41):
had to go through this last tenmonths, eleven months, knowing that the
end was coming, knowing that theywere no longer going to be employed by
the PAC twelve, and they stillhad to go out and do their jobs.
And so many of them did theirjobs, you know, just with
tremendous amount of pride and certainly youknow, I have a lot of spectrashes.

(12:01):
She works really hard. I thinkshe's really good at what she does.
And I think the Big ten madea very smart move in hiring her
because they got four West Coast schools. They need people who know the West
Coast landscape, and she certainly does. It was a smart move by the
Big ten. And they're going todo the same thing, by the way,
and I know a lot of pantsare not gonna want to hear this

(12:22):
football officiating. Same thing. Theyare hiring a bunch of PAC twelve.
Yeah, football officials, So getready. I just had a welcome back
Codder moment here. Oh oh oh, I want to ask you about something,
and I'm looking for the email.I can't find it. I don't
know who's doing the communications now forthe PAC two, but I swear I
got an email in my inbox afew days ago with the PAC twelve Bowl

(12:45):
agreements for the upcoming season. Youprobably got the same email. And they're
still calling it the PAC twelve Bowls. So can you explain to people how
these bowl agreements are going to workwith the two teams that are still in
the PAC two, the teams thatwent to the Big twelve, and the
teams in the Big Ten. Well, there's a few things that have to
be that are still unresolved, butbasically it is going to be status quo

(13:13):
for PAC twelve teams as the bowlselections go, even all ten outbounds and
the two remaining, it's the samething it was. Now there's more playoff
bids, right, so some teams, some of the twelve teams could end
up in the playoff. But basically, if you are a current or former

(13:33):
PAC twelve school, it's the Alamo, It's the Holiday, Las Vegas,
Sun, La independence. That's whereyou're going. These schools are not gonna
put the outbound pack. Twelve schoolsare not participating in the games that are
affiliated with their new conferences. Theyare either going to be in the playoffs
or they are going to be inthe bowl games that the PAC twelve has

(13:56):
partnered with for the last five years. Okay, there's no change, So
let me ask you what the onething we don't know. We don't know
because they've used conference standings to determinewho goes where. They obviously can't use
conference standings when you've got four differentconferences. That's the piece that they haven't
yet resolved is how they're gonna definethe selection process. Okay, so if

(14:20):
if Big ten teams, for iffour Big Ten teams are going to represent
the PAC twelve during the bowl season, could Washington, Oregon, USC UCLA
play another Big ten team in aball game? Well, it would be
the Big Ten. It would bethe bowl games that match the PAC twelve

(14:43):
against the Big Ten. Now,the Rose Bowl is part of the playoffs,
so we got to discount that.The Las Vegas Bowl this year,
I can't I honestly can't remember LasVegas alternates between SEC and Big Ten,
and I don't remember who was init last year. What other Pac twelve
Big ten Bowl games are there?Because those are the games where, yes,

(15:07):
you could have Washington against Illinois,the Big twelve, the Big twelve
is the album you know, theAlamo Bowl is Big twelve against Pac twelve.
You could see Utah playing TCU.Well, John, we also now
have, for the first time,college football games conflicting with NFL games.
How do you think that's going towork? And do you think college football

(15:28):
playoff games will actually be able tosurvive against NFL games as far as the
ratings go, No, I do. I think I think that the So
the first thing is the College FootballPlayoff is thirty days. It's like December
twentieth to mlk's holiday that Monday,but it's either the twentieth or twenty first

(15:52):
to January is the National Championship game. It is a thirty day stretch the
beginning that first Saturday, where there'sa triple header of opening round games that
is five verse twelve, six verseeleven on campus sites that Saturday, the
twenty one of December. I believeit is that the first two games are

(16:15):
directly up against the NFL, andthey are big time NFL game. The
NFL was pissed. They wanted CollegeFootball Playoff to kind of back away from
that Saturday, and College Football Playoffdid not, and so the NFL responded
by scheduling the Steelers Ravens and theTexans Chiefs. So those are going to

(16:38):
be difficult games for college football togenerate an audience against. Yeah, you're
right. Friday, December twentieth isthe first round game, and the championship
is on Monday, January twentieth,so literally a month later. Man.
Yeah. The other problem is onceyou get through the quarterfinals, which are
New Year's even New Year's Day,like the tradition heart of the college bowl

(17:00):
season Year's Day, then you gotthe semi finals, which are on a
I think Thursday the eighth, youknow, and then you got the championship
game, which is on Monday thetwentieth, you know. So they're in
odd they're on odd day. Yeah, and they are all happening while the
NFL Playoffs are just rolling on andI think there's a real chance that the

(17:22):
College Playoff is going to get lost. Yeah, Semi Final number one is
on Thursday at the January ninth,the second one is on Friday the tenth,
and the championship game is on Mondaythe twentieth. So at least you
get ten or eleven days off versusthe week the Ouskies in Michigan got a
year ago. All right, man, great stuff, appreciate this. Glad
you're back from vacation, and wewill tell your family what a big deal

(17:45):
you are. All right, letus handle that for you, okay,
pal, I appreciate it. Thankyou, all right, man, John
Wilner with us on the radio show, though you make the call. Coming
up at six pm tonight, AllStar Game this evening, Mariners getting going
again on Friday. We got somenews in the NFL to get to as
well, coming up on ninety threethree kJ RFM,