- 8 months ago
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Let's get started with the story of the day, which is the National Football League, and
00:04ironically, maybe not a coaching story here. A Missouri senator has introduced legislation
00:08to block the Chiefs from operating a sports book in the state after the team confirmed
00:12plans to move into a new stadium across the border in Kansas. Now, remember, in the state
00:17of Missouri, sports betting is legal as of December of last year, but a senator filed
00:22on the end of the year, December 31st, proposing a constitutional amendment to remove the Chiefs
00:27from the list of professional sports teams that are legally recognized for the purposes
00:31of sports betting. Obviously, this is some clapback from them saying that they want to leave Kansas
00:36City and head to Kansas. Meanwhile, yesterday in the NFL, we got a big surprise. This is
00:42the biggest one in the coaching cycle, without a doubt. We've got John Harbaugh fired as head
00:48coach of the Ravens. How about that? Head March of Broda, Brian Billick, remember him? John
00:54Harbaugh, one of the best coaches in arguably the last 20 years in the NFL, is going to be looking
00:59for a new destination. He will not have to wait very long. His agent said that seven different
01:03teams have contacted him. There are six openings, so that's probably one team that already has a coach.
01:09In 18 seasons, he won 180 games, 13-11 postseason record, even won a Super Bowl. John Harbaugh out as
01:16the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens. No one seems to be interested in talking about the
01:20Ravens, next head coach, just talking about where Harbaugh may end up. Meanwhile, in college
01:24football, Ohio State's wide receiver Cardell Tate has declared for the NFL draft. He had 1,800 yards
01:30receiving and 14 touchdowns over three years. He expected to be a first-day pick in the upcoming
01:35draft tape. Great player at Ohio State. Trinidad Chambliss still waiting to find out if he's going
01:40to get another year of eligibility. He has yet to receive a definitive answer. He's getting ready
01:44for Thursday night's game against the University of Miami. The Detroit Lions have fired offensive
01:49coordinator John Morton. He replaced Ben Johnson, who went on to the Chicago Bears. Morton had his
01:56play calling removed from head coach Dan Campbell, and also Cam Taylor Britt has been sentenced for a
02:01driving incident. He was sentenced to five days of jail time. Ohio Judge ruled on Tuesday. A lot of
02:07the action in sports last night happened in the NBA. LeBron James, in case you missed it, had a windmill
02:13dunk. First time I've seen that from him in a while. They beat the Pelicans, 111-103. They were five
02:18and a half point favorites. LeBron James, in the game, had 30 points, eight rebounds, and eight
02:23assists. They outscored the Pelicans 32-17 in the fourth quarter. Ironically, we haven't done a lot
02:28of LeBron talk on the show recently, but here he is after the win last night.
02:32But, you know, it sounds like I know I'm going to be here again, so, you know, I just think it's at
02:37this point, you know, in my career where, you know, I'm 41 years old, so, you know, just appreciating
02:41the ability to go out there and make winning plays, help my team win, compete for whatever
02:47we compete for that night. It's a loose ball here, if it's a possession here, whatever, so
02:51even more of a level of appreciation.
02:54Every night he doesn't have his best stuff, but he has enough to win, and you just got to, you know,
02:59I'm his catcher. I've figured out, you know, how to call the pitches. Sometimes he tells me to F off,
03:05and he calls his own pitch, which is fine, too. But it really is, to me, it's that. It's like,
03:11what's the best way to kind of utilize him tonight based on the opponent, based on the coverage,
03:16based on how he's moving? You know, we have conversations sometimes in games. How's your
03:21three ball feel? Okay, all right, I'm going to run the softball play for you, or I'm going to,
03:24you know, put you in this spot versus the pick and roll, because I know that you'll end up with
03:28the shot. And it's really just that ongoing dialogue with him. To me, what he's doing it
03:3541, what he did last year at 40, it's greatness. It's just a different form of greatness.
03:42Minnesota Timberwolves take care of the Miami Heat last night in big fashion, 122-94.
03:47Anthony Edwards last night had 26 points and hit five three-pointers. Minnesota playing good
03:52basketball. They've won three games in a row, and Chris Finch certainly happy with the outcome,
03:57not just to win, but they blew out the Heat. You know, when you play this team with the way they play,
04:01containing the ball is the most important thing. I thought we were really good.
04:08Upped our physicality, kind of stood them up when they were coming downhill, and,
04:13you know, tried to win that battle as many times as we could, and our guys were great. As the game
04:19went on, they got more and more physical, too, which I liked. Yeah, with even more of an avalanche,
04:25and then we showed less of a spirit in this one. You know, the one on Saturday, we had a spirit to
04:31fight, you know, all the way to the end. That's what is most disappointing to me as the head coach,
04:37the last six minutes. It just felt like we let it go. You know, at that point, we weren't going to win
04:44the game. You know, when they knocked down those threes. Once Randall hit that one, we were 16 for
04:5048 or something like that in the paint at some point, and then they, DiVincenzo hit two more
04:58threes, but still, what you have is your spirit, and you just keep on fighting, not just to let it
05:05go there at the end. Memphis Grizzlies hold on to beat the Spurs 106 to 105. Cam Spencer of the
05:12Grizzlies took the lead with 37 seconds left, and that ended up being the final. Victor Wimbayama
05:18had 30 points in just 21 minutes. He's been on limited minutes since coming back from injury.
05:24Here's Mitch Johnson on the loss that he had last night to the Grizzlies. We were probably in control
05:31for most of the game, and that was misleading because our process of what we were trying to
05:36execute was not sharp, and I thought that our body language and reactions and focus on the game plan
05:49execution and what needed to be done was not sharp, and you know, that's frustrating, and that's on
05:57on myself, and something that we're gonna have to continue to be better at, or we're gonna continue
06:04to find ourselves in situations like this. This team has zero quit in it. They are fighting. They
06:10represent everything that's good. They are everybody who's dressing is giving everything they have. They're
06:18fighting for each other. They never lose trust in it. They show emotion because they actually care,
06:24and they fight, and I'm incredibly, incredibly happy that they finally got some type of payoff for
06:31that. Those are the feelings that I am feeling. Indiana Pacers' tough season continues. They lost
06:38their 13th straight game. Doesn't sound real, but it is. 120 to 116 to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Cavs were
06:44six and a half point favorites. Darius Garland had 29 points. In college basketball, we'll dive more into
06:51this with Michael DeCourcy coming up in just a few minutes. Number six, Duke goes on the road to beat
06:56number 20 Louisville by a final of 84 to 73. Cam Boozer, Player of the Year candidate, had 27 points,
07:06eight rebounds. Duke 14 and one with six wins versus top 25 teams. That has John Shire in a good mood after
07:14last night's win. I think the first thing in order, I've been fortunate to see a lot of special players
07:18here. The special guys, man, they live it. He lives it. Over Christmas break, he wasn't relaxing. He
07:27was working out training every day. He's watching film. He's consumed by it. And so I think that makes
07:33him incredibly prepared, and that makes him incredibly confident in these situations. And then
07:38I think for him, he just understands what the game requires. Some games is more, he had nine assists last
07:44game for us. You know, this game, you know, again, he is 27, eight and four. And again, the defense
07:50was terrific. So I think it's those two things that really allow him to make such an impact,
07:58just his love for the game, his preparation, and then his ability to feel what's required.
08:04More college basketball, by the way, coming up with Michael DeCourcy of Sporting News. Also,
08:10one note from college football as well, Ty Simpson is leaving the University of Alabama.
08:17In fact, he is headed toward the NFL draft. There are different projections and predictions as to
08:23where Simpson could end up. Some have him as a first day pick. Some think that maybe he should
08:27stay at Alabama. We'll let somebody else make that determination. Welcome back to Newswire here on
08:33Sports Grid. Sam McQuillen is with us from Legal Sports Report. Sam, what would be another visit with
08:37you without discussing prediction markets? Let's get started and discuss the latest on Kalshi. You
08:43wrote about this over at legalsportsreport.com. Yeah, Kalshi's done a good job of getting a lot
08:48of new people to download their app, deposit some money and make some predictions. But what is the
08:52focus beyond that? Yeah, it's a great way to look at this. There's been a ton of growth. It's similar
09:00we're seeing to prediction markets what we saw to sportsbooks when they first came in and kind of took
09:05the country by storm, acquiring all these new users with incentives and bonuses. And now you have
09:11Kalshi kind of moving into that, you know, realm of things where now they are trying to retain all
09:17the great customers that have signed up and use the product and make sure they're really here to stay
09:22as opposed to kind of just being a fad, which is really important when you talk about prediction
09:27markets, which are fundamentally different than sportsbooks. Kalshi announcing this week
09:31it's going to have a VIP program, which is going to be essentially for its top users that it wants to
09:37retain, where it's going to be very similar to what sportsbooks have, where you have kind of a direct
09:42line of customer support day and night to make sure that everything is going smooth for the biggest
09:49customers they want to retain. For sportsbooks, these are their biggest programs. These are where they
09:53kind of make all their money is keeping these big kind of whales as they're known. So Kalshi,
09:59interesting following with kind of a similar move here. And it's really important from the standpoint
10:03to the prediction markets right now need a lot of liquidity. It's great to be able to offer all
10:09these markets on things that sportsbooks can't be in states where sportsbooks have not been able to
10:13get to right now. But if no one is on the other side of these markets, a lot of the time, you're not
10:19going to attract and keep the big bettors that you kind of want to take away from sportsbooks. So you can
10:24look at this as a move of improving the liquidity that Kalshi has on its platform, as well as kind
10:30of preparing for incoming competition. We know FanDuel and DraftKings have launched their own
10:36prediction markets as well. So they'll be competing in states where Kalshi so far has really only had
10:41to compete with Coinbase and a few other small prediction markets. Polymarket not fully back launched
10:46yet. So it's kind of a new pivot for the main prediction market here going into 2026. Last year was
10:54obviously all about launching, getting off the ground, having tons of volume. As you mentioned,
10:58Craig, a lot of app downloads as well. Now it's the how do we make this long term? How do we last?
11:06How do we keep these customers? Not just from a standpoint of is regulation coming? Are we going
11:10to be legal? But what happens when the rest of the industry catches up to us as well? So I would
11:15imagine there'd be similar kind of moves Kalshi and others make throughout the year signaling,
11:19but now they're kind of going to try to focus on customer retention as opposed to going out and
11:24grabbing market share. All right. Let's now speaking of the main reason, pun intended,
11:30let's get to Maine and talk about what's headed for them here in 2026. Some casino gambling potentially
11:36on deck. What's the latest there? Yeah, it's been a really slow story for states trying to legalize
11:43iGaming, online casino. We only have about five that have done it so far, which obviously is much less
11:49than sports betting, which is about 40 and then 50 when you count prediction markets. But Maine this
11:54week could become the sixth or seventh state, I believe. Don't have the fresh numbers in front of
11:59me that would have legal online casino games, otherwise what's known as iGaming, which is kind
12:05of this real endgame for the sports betting companies that want everyone to become the sports
12:08better and then eventually go over to online casino where it's much more profitable. But the main
12:13legislature actually passed a bill back in June of last year that would legalize iGaming in the state,
12:20but the governor has not signed it. The kind of legislature adjourned right after they passed it,
12:26she declined to sign it. And because in Maine, the governor can't act until the legislature is back
12:31this week. Now that the legislature is back, the governor has about three days to either veto it,
12:36sign the bill or let it become law without her signature, which are some pretty interesting outcomes
12:41when you look at who is opposed online casino in Maine. The governor has in the past been vocal
12:48about not being in favor of adding more gambling to the state, but hasn't really taken a hard stance
12:53and obviously hasn't vetoed it yet. You have the Maine Gaming Control Board, another regulator
12:58arguing that the structure of who would have to govern online casino under the bill would diverge from
13:05the current structure where casinos fall under the gambling board as opposed to the gambling unit.
13:10And then you have the state's two commercial casinos, Hollywood Casino and Oxford Casino,
13:15which would not be allowed to be a part of this industry under the bill. That's kind of the big
13:19pressure point here. iGaming would only go to control of the state's four tribes with casinos
13:27who are partnered with DraftKings and Caesars, as they are in sports betting as well. So a lot of
13:32opposition there from that standpoint. If the governor does end up vetoing it, then you would need a
13:37two-thirds majority from the legislature to override her veto and really make legalizing
13:43iGaming possible. But based off of prior votes, it doesn't look like that majority is there.
13:48So if the governor vetoes it, it could be curtains for this bill. But again, she hasn't taken any
13:52action yet. So she could also just let it become law without her signature. We'll know in a few more
13:58days, but should be a pretty interesting situation up in Banger. Sam, Penn Entertainment in 2025 made a
14:06lot of headlines. I'm not sure they were for all the right reasons. They're definitely sticking
14:10around in the gaming space. But what direction will they head after a couple of failed attempts
14:15to really take over the markets? Yeah, Penn, the company behind ESPN Bet, which we know has
14:22come and failed behind Barstool Sportsbook, which had a very similar story, now trying to
14:28kind of salvage its sports betting and iGaming operations with the score bet. It's entering
14:342026 with a new plan for online gaming, which is going to revolve around the score. They just
14:40appointed chief technology officer Aaron LaBerge, who actually came over from ESPN and Disney to help
14:46facilitate that partnership and transition and has stayed on with Penn even after the ESPN
14:52partnership. They've appointed him to oversee the digital and technology segment behind its iGaming
15:00app and its sports betting app as well, where he'll be hoping to capture some more market share
15:04and quite frankly, just save more money and stop spending on frivolous partnerships that haven't
15:11worked out and really invest in the product. So LaBerge has a lot of experience rolling out the ESPN
15:16app, which, you know, was very ballyhooed and watched when that was coming out and being developed.
15:22Now he's going to be focusing primarily on Penn's gaming app. So we'll see what happens as far as
15:28progress this year. But it's definitely going to be kind of a new road that Penn is trying to take as
15:34it, you know, tries to attempt to salvage and make inroads from sports betting and hopefully turn a profit in
15:392026. We definitely knew at this time last year, Sam, that Missouri was headed toward legalizing
15:44sports betting. And that happened in quarter four at the end of last year. Saw some reports about
15:50Mississippi and Wisconsin maybe going online. I guess I'm sort of asking at this point more about
15:56Wisconsin than Mississippi, because Sam, quite frankly, I've been hearing about Mississippi going
16:00online for like six years and then nothing ever happens. They do have the retail shops there.
16:04Is this something that we should be paying attention to this year?
16:09Yeah, I think you're spot on with Mississippi. First of all, Craig, it's kind of been the same
16:13story. The tribal casinos or the commercial casinos, the retail casinos floating the idea and
16:19then kind of backing off. But with Wisconsin, the problem has rested largely on getting the tribes
16:26who have a lot of power there to agree to a framework that the commercial operators would want as well.
16:32You know, I don't I wouldn't hold my breath on Wisconsin's kind of start of the year. You hear
16:38some bubblings, you never really know where it's going to end up. If we could see some real momentum
16:42in Wisconsin, if we see it in any state this year. But again, it's another complicated tribal
16:48situation. And we'd have to kind of see how everything plays out throughout the legislature,
16:52the priorities of the year as well. And then obviously, you have a lot of other issues that are big on
16:57Wisconsin's docket right now as well. I don't know if legalizing sports betting is going to be one of
17:02them, but it certainly could pop up and we'll keep watching it the rest of the year as these
17:06legislatures really unfold and lawmakers get back to work. Sam, great stuff as always. Thanks for
17:12coming on the show. We'll check back later in the week. Appreciate you coming on Newswire today.
17:15Sounds good. Thanks, Craig.
Comments