June 16, 2025 • 17 mins
Jon Wilner of The San Jose Mercury News and Wilner Hotline joins Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain to talk about WSU cutting sports, colleges having to budget more now and what else will get cut, the Pac-12’s media deal situation, and the playoff system.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's time for our weekly Pac twelve conversation with San
Jose Mercury News reporter John Wilner, brought to you by
Simply Seattle. Our friends at simply Seattle dot com have
the most amazing collection of all things Seattle Seahawks gear.
UW had some the largest selection of sonics gear anywhere
in the world. Learn more at simply Seattle dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
All right, here we go. Normally on Tuesday, How lucky
are we man the Monday five o'clock audience. You guys
don't really get this opportunity very often. This is a treat,
an absolute treat. Normally we make you wait till Tuesday.
But here we go because we got hockey tomorrow at
five from the San Jose Mercury News, the Pope of
the pack, the big ten baron. Our friend. Courtesy is
simply Seattle dot com. Be sure we use coke Kjar
(00:42):
fifteen for fifteen percent off anything anytime at simply Seattle
dot com. Our friend John Wilner, John, how are you man?
Speaker 3 (00:50):
I'm good? Thanks? Happy Monday?
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Yeah, happy Monday? Got I hate that? What an oxymoron hat?
Happy Monday? Shut up.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Day? Rank is? Where does Monday rank on your your
Days of the Week rankings.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Seventh, seventh out of seven? Not even close? Isn't it
seven for you? Not for me? What's what's number seven
for you?
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Tuesday?
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Tuesday?
Speaker 3 (01:14):
What break? Man?
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Are you kidding me? You guys? Are you know what?
Speaker 4 (01:18):
Monday's I got some juice, you know, coming out the weekend,
a lot to talk about, you know, and then you
spew it all out on Monday and you get to Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
You're like, what do I do now?
Speaker 4 (01:26):
I talk to John Wilner usually on Tuesday, which is
the only good thing about Let me just sum it
up for you.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Monday suck ass? Okay, how's that shut? I'm not sure
if I can jackson you with me. By the way,
Monday okay, thank you? All right? How about you? John?
Number seven on the days of the list days.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
I mean, other than five o'clock to five twenty on Tuesdays?
I have Tuesday's number seven?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Got you? I don't blame you? And by the way,
five o'clock on Tuesday, if I were you would be
a number seven for me too, if I were you.
Uh wazoo is eliminating track and field? Kind of what's
going on over in Pullman that you can share with people.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Well, I haven't seen all the details of which events
they are eliminating, but the big news is that they
are scaling back and its track and field. I think
what I think they're doing is focusing on distance running.
That is more you know, a strength of theirs over
the years. But what's happening in Pullman is going to
(02:25):
happen in other places. Because of this lawsuit and this
revenue sharing, schools are going to have to make hard
decisions on which Olympic sports they're going to keep, which
they're gonna cut, and which they're gonna downsize. And I
think there's gonna be a lot of downsizing in other words,
you know school X, you know tennis program, it's never
(02:47):
been really successful. They don't want to cut it all together,
so they will just reduce the resources to it and
it will become closer to a club sport. I think
we're going to see tier of sports at a lot
of schools. You know, big ten schools probably are gonna
focus hockey, women's volleyball, right, big those are big sports.
(03:09):
Maybe not softball as much. SEC schools they love softball
and baseball, they'll focus on them. Maybe other sports will
be downsized more to club level. You have to make
hard decisions when you're when you're you know, distributing twenty
point five million in revenue sharing.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
And this is primarily you're talking about guys sports, right,
I mean, they're not going to chop a girls sport
without chopping a guy sport.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Right, Well, it'll depend. I think that we're gonna see
guys sports are more vulnerable for sure, but there could
be instances where guy where girls sports are getting cut
or scaled back. So you know, maybe you're your women's
soccer coach who had been making five hundred thousand, seven
(03:52):
hundred and fifty thousand top scale, maybe you know they
get have to take a pay cut, or when that
coach leads, the replacement comes in at two point fifty right,
finding ways to trim the budgets for those sports. Again,
only football and men's basketball are making money, So it's
how much do we want to allocate for a sport
(04:13):
that is not generating a profit.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Well, John wilners with us again. The story that came
out today that Washington State is eliminating field events jumping
and throwing entirely from their track and field program limiting
sprints and hurdles in the future. I mean, I'll just
tell you. I got a buddy of mine whose daughter
runs track at Washington State and she runs the one hundred,
two hundred and four hundred and she's done. She's lost
(04:38):
that chance to run in school. So she's got to
make a call. Does she stay there after two years
with all over friends who she's met, or does she
even go somewhere else to take part in track and field.
But the twenty point five million, for example, John, that
we talked about last week, that every school can offer
their athletes up to twenty and a half million dollars
(04:59):
in cash pay payments for playing there at that university.
Do you see Washington State maxing out? Do you see
Oregon State maxing out that number?
Speaker 3 (05:07):
No, I don't think any of the schools in the
new PAC twelve will max out or maybe even come close.
I mean I think that those schools could be you know,
seven and a half ten twelve and a half million
in revenue sharing. There's other ways to do it too,
like instead of the direct cash payments, you can apply
additional scholarships. Right because for a lot of sports you
(05:30):
can now put more athletes on scholarship than you were
allowed to before. So they could do that in some ways,
you know, to help the sports. But I don't think
any of the Pac twelve schools will will be close
to twenty point five. The question for them is how
close will they get on the football front? Right? I mean,
big ten SEC schools are gonna go fifteen million is
(05:53):
going to football players plus nil. I would think Pack
twelve schools, how much are they going to put towards football.
Is it gonna be five, is it gonna be seven
and a half, whatever it is, it won't be close.
They're gonna have to just be really good on recruiting
and evaluating and development.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
Well, John, you know, I'm concerned with with the golf programs. Obviously,
that's what my son wants to do in college. And
and now golf teams are a little bit different because
there's only a max of nine on a D one
golf team, whereas track and field can have you know,
I think it's capped.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
At forty five.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
So are smaller team rosters like golf maybe a little
more insulated or is it still gonna go more towards
the regionalizing where you know, golf is still gonna be
a good sport in southern California, but it's gonna be
eliminated up north.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
I think it could be regionalizing or just based on this,
you know, history of success at that school. The other
thing you got to account for is in state versus
out of state? Right are you drawing? Are most of
your golfers out of state? Because that's more money for scholarships,
and so that's a budgetary thing you've got to consider.
(07:05):
So you know, I don't so the new golf roster
max is nine? Is that right?
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Yeah? Well, at least don has of right now. I don't.
I don't know if it's new.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
I think it's I have to check to see what
it what it has been in the past. I know
it's nine right now.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
So that's you know, is it going to be are
they boosting that up to twelve? Or and has that
been nine? But that's you know, that's an equivalency sports.
So you could have eighteen players each getting a half scholarship, right,
that's what they do in baseball.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Yes, you can give halfs. Yes, you know, guys, here's
the thing. And John Wilner's with us, and I know
it's easy to get caught up in this and this
is the new way of life and blah blahh it is.
I mean, there's no doubt that this is part of
what happens when you start paying players that you know,
teams in universities have to decide where they want their
money spent. So track and field is getting reduced at
Washington State. Okay, So here's the thing. Getting of programs
(08:01):
is a tale as old as time. I mean, you
dubbed cut both its men's and women's swimming programs sixteen
years ago in two thousand and nine, So programs get
cut all the time. But I guess the question is this,
is this gonna be a situation John, where simply put,
(08:21):
high school athletes will not have as many opportunities now
as they did fifteen twenty years ago. End their story.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Yes, at opportunities as walk ons. There's more scholarship opportunities
because the roster of the scholarship totals have been increased.
But you know, baseball is now thirty four but in
the past, a lot of baseball teams you've had forty
to forty five kids on scholarship, some of them walk on,
(08:50):
some of them partial scholarships. Now you're going from forty
five back to thirty four as the max. They could
all be on scholarship or not. So overall, the number
of roster spots has been reduced and for walk ons,
for kids who become walk ons, that's where it's gonna
the opportunity is going to get cut.
Speaker 4 (09:09):
The most interesting John willon the're joining us and John
we started this thing is.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Though, this gets to the heart of the the economic
problem because sports has had for decades. Right, is that
you've got, say, you've got two sports that turn a
profit and anywhere from fourteen to twenty four sports that
don't turn a profit that are losing money. And this
subsidiation process where those two are funding everybody else is
(09:37):
now kind of coming home to roost with this new
economic era. Right, that's the problem. And also the fact
that football with eighties five scholarships counts a Title nine.
If there was some way they could pull football out
of Title nine, it would reconfigure everything.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Wow, well, this is more bills now, right, guys, more
bills and the player payroll is the new bill of all.
That's right. We started talking about the cougar.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
So let's stay in that conference, John, what is the
timeline for PAC twelve expansion slash media deal?
Speaker 3 (10:11):
You know, I would expect something, possibly both of those
things get wrapped up in the next couple of weeks.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
You know.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
I think that for Texas State July June, no July first,
not June thirtieth. July first, I believe their their exit
fee from the Sun Belt goes up. I would think
that the PAC twelve would want to have something finished
by July first. So we're you know, we're getting down
to nitty gritty time for the PAC twelve on both fronts.
(10:40):
The fact that they have been public the Commissioner Teresa
Goulds has said publicly that they are now focused on expansion.
That tells me that their media deal is basically down
to just crossing the t's dotting the eyes, and they
know what they're going to get with distribution, they know
what they're what they're gonna get with money, and now
they're focused on which schools to add. And I've thought
(11:02):
all along Texas State made the most sense for them.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Yeah, John Wilner with us and John, it's not as
big a deal for us because it's a home game.
This is a road game. But the you did a
little piece on the Alabama Georgia game and Oregon Penn
State are all going to be on the same day
as you dub at Ohio State. I mean, people are
trying to plan their fall, right, kids got games and things,
(11:26):
and I don't know it just I don't know about
you guys, but it still just drives me bananas that
the TV networks have so much power in college football
that we can literally just let them dictate when these
games are played, and they'll tell us six days before
a game. We know of almost all the circumstances, correct.
I mean there's some you know, obviously, flexing and things
like that, but for the most part, you know when
(11:47):
the Seahawks are playing the world's biggest the biggest league
in the country can do this, but college sports can't.
It just seems so backwards to me. But should Husky
fans prepare that that Ohio State you dubbed game on
September twenty seventh, it's gonna be a national TV CBS
twelve thirty.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
I can't figure out where it would be anywhere else,
because CBS is not going to pass up a chance
to have Ohio State they are the biggest ratings draw
in college football. It can't be played at in the
Big New Window because they're not gonna kick off nine
am in Husky Stadium, and NBC has already picked Oregon
Penn State for the late game. The Big Twelve, Sorry,
(12:27):
the Big Ten. There's three slots nine am, Pacific, twelve thirty,
and then four thirty. There's only one available. So I'm
saying it's like ninety nine percent sure that it's gonna
be twelve thirty on CBS.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
Love it great, John, You've talked about Tony Petiti's silence
hurting the Big Ten. When it comes to you, he
wants to do as far as how many teams are
guaranteed spots in the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Tony Petiti being.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
The conference commissioner, explain more about what you mean by
his silence hurting the conference.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Well, he's got a very radical proposal, which is that
of sixteen spots, thirteen of them are automatic bids. Before
the season even starts, the Big Ten gets four automatic bids,
even if the league isn't very good. It's radical. We
don't see it in any other sport, right. It's like
the NFC West automatically getting two spots in the playoffs
(13:23):
before they play a single game. NFL would never do that.
But Patiti has not gone public. I think he actually
I don't necessarily agree with him, but I think he's
got some good points. And the Big Ten is losing
the war of public opinion badly, and that opinion matters
in college sports. And if he went public and explained
(13:46):
here's why it would be better for the game if
we did it this way, because there's all these ripple
effects that would improve the regular season if we do
it this way. But Patiti is a behind doors kind
of got He does not He's certainly not anything like
Larry Scott in terms of look at me. He's not
as comfortable in the public as Greg Sank. But I
(14:08):
think he should make his case to the public because
he's got some good points.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Well, John, I gotta tell you when you guys, when
Dick mentioned that name, the first thought I had in
my head is I don't even know what the guy's
voice sounds like. And I will tell you those I
am a little bit disappointed. The average fan may not
care about this stuff, but I think it does impact everybody.
The Big Ten does not do media anywhere near as
well as the PAC twelve did. I mean, the PAC
(14:34):
twelve was incredible media day, thirty six players in coaches,
radio row, everybody going on. I was kind of bummed
out that we missed media day this year, and then
I heard they did nothing down there, nothing like the
PAC twelve used to do. Larry Scott, George Khlaioffkoff, all
the coaches, all the players. There's none of that stuff
going on. Why is the Big Ten just feel like, hey,
(14:55):
we don't need to do is just not part of
their culture the way it was on the West Coast.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
What's the difference, Well, it starts at the top. Petit
is not a public facing kind of guy. He comes
from the corporate world, you know, he worked for a
TV networks. He is not and I think that that
his approach kind of trickles down. They are going to
have big Big Ten Football Media Day will be in
(15:21):
Las Vegas in the middle of late July. I guess
it is, But no, they don't. And here's a great contrast, right,
the SEC just had their spring meetings and Sankee was
available to the public every day for like four days
in a row. The Big Ten did their spring meetings
in LA a few weeks ago. There was no media
and Sanki used that platform to make his case for
(15:44):
what works for the SEC. And it's not only being accountable,
but it is swaying public opinion. And right now the
Big ten's getting crushed on this playoff issue, which is
the hottest topic in the sport.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
Well, John, I guess I'm confused why Petit would want
to guarantee four necessarily because I agree more with the
SEC where you're gonna get five plus if you're the
Big Ten. I mean, how would we ever have a
scenario where only three teams made a sixteen team playoff
from the Big Ten?
Speaker 3 (16:18):
We probably wouldn't, And don't forget that in Patiti's model,
there's also a couple of at large bits. So even
though the Big ten would be guaranteed four, you could
potentially get five, whereas if you go the five plus eleven,
the Big ten could get end up getting six bits.
So that's the that's what the SEC sees. They look
(16:39):
at five plus eleven and they think we're gonna get
six or seven.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
The SEC and I think we should feel the.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
Reason Patit, Yeah, and the reason Patiti wants the four.
Automatic pitch is he wants to protect the conference so
that they can schedule tougher non conference games and those
losses won't hurt the teams because the selection committee is
looking at nine three, they're seeing the three and not
the nine. That's his big fear is that the selection
(17:05):
committee will use losses against you. And if you take
the selection process away from the committee and just guarantee
the big ten four bids, they could schedule much better
non difference games without fear of being punished.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Yeah, John Willner, great stuff, man, And again, if you
find yourself a little bit lonely tomorrow at five o'clock
in your normal spot, give me a buzz and we
can chat off here. Right.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
You got it all right, man, Thanks, thank you.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Next week, you bet John Wilner with us on the
radio show. We'll get to break. Brian Schmetz are going
to join at five point forty five. We're kind of
reshuffling our Tuesday lineup to Monday because of hockey tomorrow.
Cody Green, by the way, is a five star offensive
tackle who committed to Oregon and then left Oregon to
go play for you Dobb. He's gonna join US at
(17:53):
about six oh five tonight right here on ninety three
three kJ arfm
It's time for our weekly Pac twelve conversation with San
Jose Mercury News reporter John Wilner, brought to you by
Simply Seattle. Our friends at simply Seattle dot com have
the most amazing collection of all things Seattle Seahawks gear.
UW had some the largest selection of sonics gear anywhere
in the world. Learn more at simply Seattle dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
All right, here we go. Normally on Tuesday, How lucky
are we man the Monday five o'clock audience. You guys
don't really get this opportunity very often. This is a treat,
an absolute treat. Normally we make you wait till Tuesday.
But here we go because we got hockey tomorrow at
five from the San Jose Mercury News, the Pope of
the pack, the big ten baron. Our friend. Courtesy is
simply Seattle dot com. Be sure we use coke Kjar
(00:42):
fifteen for fifteen percent off anything anytime at simply Seattle
dot com. Our friend John Wilner, John, how are you man?
Speaker 3 (00:50):
I'm good? Thanks? Happy Monday?
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Yeah, happy Monday? Got I hate that? What an oxymoron hat?
Happy Monday? Shut up.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Day? Rank is? Where does Monday rank on your your
Days of the Week rankings.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Seventh, seventh out of seven? Not even close? Isn't it
seven for you? Not for me? What's what's number seven
for you?
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Tuesday?
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Tuesday?
Speaker 3 (01:14):
What break? Man?
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Are you kidding me? You guys? Are you know what?
Speaker 4 (01:18):
Monday's I got some juice, you know, coming out the weekend,
a lot to talk about, you know, and then you
spew it all out on Monday and you get to Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
You're like, what do I do now?
Speaker 4 (01:26):
I talk to John Wilner usually on Tuesday, which is
the only good thing about Let me just sum it
up for you.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Monday suck ass? Okay, how's that shut? I'm not sure
if I can jackson you with me. By the way,
Monday okay, thank you? All right? How about you? John?
Number seven on the days of the list days.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
I mean, other than five o'clock to five twenty on Tuesdays?
I have Tuesday's number seven?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Got you? I don't blame you? And by the way,
five o'clock on Tuesday, if I were you would be
a number seven for me too, if I were you.
Uh wazoo is eliminating track and field? Kind of what's
going on over in Pullman that you can share with people.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Well, I haven't seen all the details of which events
they are eliminating, but the big news is that they
are scaling back and its track and field. I think
what I think they're doing is focusing on distance running.
That is more you know, a strength of theirs over
the years. But what's happening in Pullman is going to
(02:25):
happen in other places. Because of this lawsuit and this
revenue sharing, schools are going to have to make hard
decisions on which Olympic sports they're going to keep, which
they're gonna cut, and which they're gonna downsize. And I
think there's gonna be a lot of downsizing in other words,
you know school X, you know tennis program, it's never
(02:47):
been really successful. They don't want to cut it all together,
so they will just reduce the resources to it and
it will become closer to a club sport. I think
we're going to see tier of sports at a lot
of schools. You know, big ten schools probably are gonna
focus hockey, women's volleyball, right, big those are big sports.
(03:09):
Maybe not softball as much. SEC schools they love softball
and baseball, they'll focus on them. Maybe other sports will
be downsized more to club level. You have to make
hard decisions when you're when you're you know, distributing twenty
point five million in revenue sharing.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
And this is primarily you're talking about guys sports, right,
I mean, they're not going to chop a girls sport
without chopping a guy sport.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Right, Well, it'll depend. I think that we're gonna see
guys sports are more vulnerable for sure, but there could
be instances where guy where girls sports are getting cut
or scaled back. So you know, maybe you're your women's
soccer coach who had been making five hundred thousand, seven
(03:52):
hundred and fifty thousand top scale, maybe you know they
get have to take a pay cut, or when that
coach leads, the replacement comes in at two point fifty right,
finding ways to trim the budgets for those sports. Again,
only football and men's basketball are making money, So it's
how much do we want to allocate for a sport
(04:13):
that is not generating a profit.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Well, John wilners with us again. The story that came
out today that Washington State is eliminating field events jumping
and throwing entirely from their track and field program limiting
sprints and hurdles in the future. I mean, I'll just
tell you. I got a buddy of mine whose daughter
runs track at Washington State and she runs the one hundred,
two hundred and four hundred and she's done. She's lost
(04:38):
that chance to run in school. So she's got to
make a call. Does she stay there after two years
with all over friends who she's met, or does she
even go somewhere else to take part in track and field.
But the twenty point five million, for example, John, that
we talked about last week, that every school can offer
their athletes up to twenty and a half million dollars
(04:59):
in cash pay payments for playing there at that university.
Do you see Washington State maxing out? Do you see
Oregon State maxing out that number?
Speaker 3 (05:07):
No, I don't think any of the schools in the
new PAC twelve will max out or maybe even come close.
I mean I think that those schools could be you know,
seven and a half ten twelve and a half million
in revenue sharing. There's other ways to do it too,
like instead of the direct cash payments, you can apply
additional scholarships. Right because for a lot of sports you
(05:30):
can now put more athletes on scholarship than you were
allowed to before. So they could do that in some ways,
you know, to help the sports. But I don't think
any of the Pac twelve schools will will be close
to twenty point five. The question for them is how
close will they get on the football front? Right? I mean,
big ten SEC schools are gonna go fifteen million is
(05:53):
going to football players plus nil. I would think Pack
twelve schools, how much are they going to put towards football.
Is it gonna be five, is it gonna be seven
and a half, whatever it is, it won't be close.
They're gonna have to just be really good on recruiting
and evaluating and development.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
Well, John, you know, I'm concerned with with the golf programs. Obviously,
that's what my son wants to do in college. And
and now golf teams are a little bit different because
there's only a max of nine on a D one
golf team, whereas track and field can have you know,
I think it's capped.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
At forty five.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
So are smaller team rosters like golf maybe a little
more insulated or is it still gonna go more towards
the regionalizing where you know, golf is still gonna be
a good sport in southern California, but it's gonna be
eliminated up north.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
I think it could be regionalizing or just based on this,
you know, history of success at that school. The other
thing you got to account for is in state versus
out of state? Right are you drawing? Are most of
your golfers out of state? Because that's more money for scholarships,
and so that's a budgetary thing you've got to consider.
(07:05):
So you know, I don't so the new golf roster
max is nine? Is that right?
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Yeah? Well, at least don has of right now. I don't.
I don't know if it's new.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
I think it's I have to check to see what
it what it has been in the past. I know
it's nine right now.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
So that's you know, is it going to be are
they boosting that up to twelve? Or and has that
been nine? But that's you know, that's an equivalency sports.
So you could have eighteen players each getting a half scholarship, right,
that's what they do in baseball.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Yes, you can give halfs. Yes, you know, guys, here's
the thing. And John Wilner's with us, and I know
it's easy to get caught up in this and this
is the new way of life and blah blahh it is.
I mean, there's no doubt that this is part of
what happens when you start paying players that you know,
teams in universities have to decide where they want their
money spent. So track and field is getting reduced at
Washington State. Okay, So here's the thing. Getting of programs
(08:01):
is a tale as old as time. I mean, you
dubbed cut both its men's and women's swimming programs sixteen
years ago in two thousand and nine, So programs get
cut all the time. But I guess the question is this,
is this gonna be a situation John, where simply put,
(08:21):
high school athletes will not have as many opportunities now
as they did fifteen twenty years ago. End their story.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Yes, at opportunities as walk ons. There's more scholarship opportunities
because the roster of the scholarship totals have been increased.
But you know, baseball is now thirty four but in
the past, a lot of baseball teams you've had forty
to forty five kids on scholarship, some of them walk on,
(08:50):
some of them partial scholarships. Now you're going from forty
five back to thirty four as the max. They could
all be on scholarship or not. So overall, the number
of roster spots has been reduced and for walk ons,
for kids who become walk ons, that's where it's gonna
the opportunity is going to get cut.
Speaker 4 (09:09):
The most interesting John willon the're joining us and John
we started this thing is.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Though, this gets to the heart of the the economic
problem because sports has had for decades. Right, is that
you've got, say, you've got two sports that turn a
profit and anywhere from fourteen to twenty four sports that
don't turn a profit that are losing money. And this
subsidiation process where those two are funding everybody else is
(09:37):
now kind of coming home to roost with this new
economic era. Right, that's the problem. And also the fact
that football with eighties five scholarships counts a Title nine.
If there was some way they could pull football out
of Title nine, it would reconfigure everything.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Wow, well, this is more bills now, right, guys, more
bills and the player payroll is the new bill of all.
That's right. We started talking about the cougar.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
So let's stay in that conference, John, what is the
timeline for PAC twelve expansion slash media deal?
Speaker 3 (10:11):
You know, I would expect something, possibly both of those
things get wrapped up in the next couple of weeks.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
You know.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
I think that for Texas State July June, no July first,
not June thirtieth. July first, I believe their their exit
fee from the Sun Belt goes up. I would think
that the PAC twelve would want to have something finished
by July first. So we're you know, we're getting down
to nitty gritty time for the PAC twelve on both fronts.
(10:40):
The fact that they have been public the Commissioner Teresa
Goulds has said publicly that they are now focused on expansion.
That tells me that their media deal is basically down
to just crossing the t's dotting the eyes, and they
know what they're going to get with distribution, they know
what they're what they're gonna get with money, and now
they're focused on which schools to add. And I've thought
(11:02):
all along Texas State made the most sense for them.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Yeah, John Wilner with us and John, it's not as
big a deal for us because it's a home game.
This is a road game. But the you did a
little piece on the Alabama Georgia game and Oregon Penn
State are all going to be on the same day
as you dub at Ohio State. I mean, people are
trying to plan their fall, right, kids got games and things,
(11:26):
and I don't know it just I don't know about
you guys, but it still just drives me bananas that
the TV networks have so much power in college football
that we can literally just let them dictate when these
games are played, and they'll tell us six days before
a game. We know of almost all the circumstances, correct.
I mean there's some you know, obviously, flexing and things
like that, but for the most part, you know when
(11:47):
the Seahawks are playing the world's biggest the biggest league
in the country can do this, but college sports can't.
It just seems so backwards to me. But should Husky
fans prepare that that Ohio State you dubbed game on
September twenty seventh, it's gonna be a national TV CBS
twelve thirty.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
I can't figure out where it would be anywhere else,
because CBS is not going to pass up a chance
to have Ohio State they are the biggest ratings draw
in college football. It can't be played at in the
Big New Window because they're not gonna kick off nine
am in Husky Stadium, and NBC has already picked Oregon
Penn State for the late game. The Big Twelve, Sorry,
(12:27):
the Big Ten. There's three slots nine am, Pacific, twelve thirty,
and then four thirty. There's only one available. So I'm
saying it's like ninety nine percent sure that it's gonna
be twelve thirty on CBS.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
Love it great, John, You've talked about Tony Petiti's silence
hurting the Big Ten. When it comes to you, he
wants to do as far as how many teams are
guaranteed spots in the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Tony Petiti being.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
The conference commissioner, explain more about what you mean by
his silence hurting the conference.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Well, he's got a very radical proposal, which is that
of sixteen spots, thirteen of them are automatic bids. Before
the season even starts, the Big Ten gets four automatic bids,
even if the league isn't very good. It's radical. We
don't see it in any other sport, right. It's like
the NFC West automatically getting two spots in the playoffs
(13:23):
before they play a single game. NFL would never do that.
But Patiti has not gone public. I think he actually
I don't necessarily agree with him, but I think he's
got some good points. And the Big Ten is losing
the war of public opinion badly, and that opinion matters
in college sports. And if he went public and explained
(13:46):
here's why it would be better for the game if
we did it this way, because there's all these ripple
effects that would improve the regular season if we do
it this way. But Patiti is a behind doors kind
of got He does not He's certainly not anything like
Larry Scott in terms of look at me. He's not
as comfortable in the public as Greg Sank. But I
(14:08):
think he should make his case to the public because
he's got some good points.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Well, John, I gotta tell you when you guys, when
Dick mentioned that name, the first thought I had in
my head is I don't even know what the guy's
voice sounds like. And I will tell you those I
am a little bit disappointed. The average fan may not
care about this stuff, but I think it does impact everybody.
The Big Ten does not do media anywhere near as
well as the PAC twelve did. I mean, the PAC
(14:34):
twelve was incredible media day, thirty six players in coaches,
radio row, everybody going on. I was kind of bummed
out that we missed media day this year, and then
I heard they did nothing down there, nothing like the
PAC twelve used to do. Larry Scott, George Khlaioffkoff, all
the coaches, all the players. There's none of that stuff
going on. Why is the Big Ten just feel like, hey,
(14:55):
we don't need to do is just not part of
their culture the way it was on the West Coast.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
What's the difference, Well, it starts at the top. Petit
is not a public facing kind of guy. He comes
from the corporate world, you know, he worked for a
TV networks. He is not and I think that that
his approach kind of trickles down. They are going to
have big Big Ten Football Media Day will be in
(15:21):
Las Vegas in the middle of late July. I guess
it is, But no, they don't. And here's a great contrast, right,
the SEC just had their spring meetings and Sankee was
available to the public every day for like four days
in a row. The Big Ten did their spring meetings
in LA a few weeks ago. There was no media
and Sanki used that platform to make his case for
(15:44):
what works for the SEC. And it's not only being accountable,
but it is swaying public opinion. And right now the
Big ten's getting crushed on this playoff issue, which is
the hottest topic in the sport.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
Well, John, I guess I'm confused why Petit would want
to guarantee four necessarily because I agree more with the
SEC where you're gonna get five plus if you're the
Big Ten. I mean, how would we ever have a
scenario where only three teams made a sixteen team playoff
from the Big Ten?
Speaker 3 (16:18):
We probably wouldn't, And don't forget that in Patiti's model,
there's also a couple of at large bits. So even
though the Big ten would be guaranteed four, you could
potentially get five, whereas if you go the five plus eleven,
the Big ten could get end up getting six bits.
So that's the that's what the SEC sees. They look
(16:39):
at five plus eleven and they think we're gonna get
six or seven.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
The SEC and I think we should feel the.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
Reason Patit, Yeah, and the reason Patiti wants the four.
Automatic pitch is he wants to protect the conference so
that they can schedule tougher non conference games and those
losses won't hurt the teams because the selection committee is
looking at nine three, they're seeing the three and not
the nine. That's his big fear is that the selection
(17:05):
committee will use losses against you. And if you take
the selection process away from the committee and just guarantee
the big ten four bids, they could schedule much better
non difference games without fear of being punished.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Yeah, John Willner, great stuff, man, And again, if you
find yourself a little bit lonely tomorrow at five o'clock
in your normal spot, give me a buzz and we
can chat off here. Right.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
You got it all right, man, Thanks, thank you.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Next week, you bet John Wilner with us on the
radio show. We'll get to break. Brian Schmetz are going
to join at five point forty five. We're kind of
reshuffling our Tuesday lineup to Monday because of hockey tomorrow.
Cody Green, by the way, is a five star offensive
tackle who committed to Oregon and then left Oregon to
go play for you Dobb. He's gonna join US at
(17:53):
about six oh five tonight right here on ninety three
three kJ arfm
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!