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Jacob & Brady examine the Big 12's Monster Energy Deal
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00:00College football always bring interesting storylines and certainly should this year as, you know, conferences kind of get together and
00:09you get a little news out of there and we're still waiting on this legislation and we get the big
00:13five and five change in college football.
00:15All these things just sort of sitting there waiting, it feels like, to start the snowball effect.
00:22Well, in the meantime, the Big 12, Brady, has always been, under Brett Yormark, forward thinking, let's call it.
00:30And no different with the news we get yesterday.
00:35Remember the Big 12, you know, aggressively expanded, saved the conference, in my opinion.
00:42They have tried everything.
00:45They've been, you know, they've been bringing celebrities into games.
00:49They had the video court.
00:51They had all of these different things, private equity options, everything that you can think of to try to generate
00:58money.
00:59Brett Yormark has been aggressive in trying to do it.
01:02And I applaud him for that.
01:03Even if they're not always the best ideas, ideas to try to move the needle a little bit for a
01:08conference that's playing behind the eight ball, a little bit behind the SEC and the Big 10.
01:12There's no doubt about that.
01:13So we get this news yesterday that Monster Energy is partnering with the Big 12 on a naming rights deal.
01:20Now, that's interesting, Brady.
01:22I don't know how much it's going to change people's experience.
01:27I would contend very little.
01:30I don't know that there's been blowback on this at all.
01:33That's usually what I lean on TJ for, like, what are people online saying about this?
01:40But in real life, I don't think people are going to really care.
01:42And I think it's a good thing for the league.
01:44Is it enough money?
01:45I don't know the answer to that because I've never seen these deals get done.
01:49What I do know, though, is it's a $20 million cash infusion, we're told, for multiple years.
01:54And what we do know is that that means every member school is going to get about a million dollars
01:59a year out of this deal.
02:01We know that it will include jersey patches.
02:06We know that it will include football, men's and women's basketball.
02:09We know that there will be on-field or on-court logoing.
02:13And that they are going to call it, and I highly doubt any of us will, but they are going
02:20to call it, you know,
02:23Big 12 football presented by Monster Energy or something like that.
02:26Monster Energy Big 12 football and Monster Energy Big 12 basketball.
02:31They can call it whatever they want.
02:32It's been, you know, the Phillips Big 12, Phillips 66 Big 12 tournament, whatever.
02:37Like, I think those kinds of things don't mean a lot to people, but to corporate entities spending a lot
02:42of money, it does, and that's fine.
02:43I don't really, it doesn't matter one way or the other to me.
02:46The only thing in this deal that matters to me, it's not, like, we'll get into all of it, but
02:51it's just a million dollars a school going into this.
02:56And, you know, I'll use, I don't know how they'll use the money.
03:01I think they'll probably, there'll be differing opinions on that among the schools on how to use it.
03:06Some will probably use it directly to try to get players.
03:09Some will probably use it to, you know, to upgrade facilities.
03:12Some might use it to try to help other programs that have been suffering because more resources have had to
03:19be poured into those money generating sports.
03:21I remember you take Wichita State, for example, to cut golf.
03:26Kevin Saul famously saying it costs about a million dollars a year to run a golf program.
03:30So just think about that for a second.
03:33It's a good thing, I think, regardless of what you think.
03:37You know, private equity was a little bit different animal.
03:39You know, what are you giving up in that is a loan.
03:42This just is a cash infusion.
03:43And at the cost of a jersey patch, here's where I would probably differ from the public on this.
03:51For the most part, like, that doesn't bother me.
03:55Like, you can NASCAR up these uniforms for all I care if it helps these schools operate in a complicated
04:03environment.
04:06You know, do we have you batted an eye at the on sleeve jersey patches in Major League Baseball or
04:13the NBA?
04:15They've had jersey patches now for years.
04:17I don't think it's impacted my life in any way.
04:21I don't care.
04:22Right.
04:23Is there a point of no return?
04:25Can you take it too far?
04:26Well, of course there is.
04:27And of course you can.
04:29But what is, you know, right now I don't think we're anywhere near that.
04:34And we have to consider what these schools are trying to, you know, trying to work with until we get
04:39some structure to this chaos.
04:42Like, if it cost me a jersey patch to get a million dollars a year.
04:46And again, I don't know what the going rate for a jersey patch was before this deal.
04:50Can't imagine it was a million dollars a year.
04:52But that's for every school in your league.
04:54This is a deal I think that really helps the Big 12.
04:59I mean, it doesn't hurt it.
05:00And I agree wholeheartedly with what you said about Jormac as far as what he's done for the conference.
05:05He did save the conference because for the longest time, it was Big 12 was going to die and the
05:11Pac-12 was going to live.
05:13And if it wasn't for the expansion, it probably would have been that way.
05:17Instead, it was the other way around.
05:18Pac-12 goes.
05:19I mean, it's still, it's on life support.
05:22And I guess more teams are supposed to come in at some point.
05:25But, yeah, good, good turn of fortunes for the Big 12 on how dark things are looking.
05:32Jacob, when I looked at the headlines on this and I saw, and I saw a jersey patch, I'm not
05:37going to lie.
05:38I did eye roll.
05:39I did.
05:40I like that you eye rolled because I think that sentiment's going to be out there.
05:43Yeah, but I do, that's the way it is though now.
05:48And I, whatever romantic views, nostalgia of college sports, you know, thinking, like I said before on this show, like
05:57going back to a romantic view of watching Rudy or something like that and thinking that's what college sports is
06:03still.
06:04And granted, Rudy's not exactly a true story like we were told either.
06:09So, it's kind of like, well, we kind of have a messed up view anyway.
06:13That wasn't necessarily the most accurate take.
06:15But, yeah, we're so far gone anyway, I think, from what we know, quote, unquote, traditional college sports.
06:21So, really, overall, it doesn't really faze me too much because it is a, even though technically isn't it, it's
06:30still non-profit, technically the NCAA, like on paper, is it supposed to be like non-profit?
06:36Yeah, I'm pretty sure it is.
06:37I'm pretty sure it's kind of tax-free, but it's basically pro.
06:43It needs money to go.
06:46And that's the way it is.
06:47It just needs money to go.
06:48And I'd rather it keep going, whatever form it is.
06:52I'd rather, you know, I'm still going to watch.
06:54So, whatever, keep it going.
06:56And, again, a jersey patch.
06:57And I assume it's probably up on the, you know, shoulder area, if I had to guess.
07:02Maybe it's on a sleeve.
07:04But I would just, I would invite everybody to go.
07:09And I just did this myself.
07:11Like, look at NASCAR.
07:13You know, the NFL has been able to avoid this and probably will continue to because they can't.
07:19Right?
07:20They don't have to do this.
07:21We've seen both baseball and basketball and Major League and the NBA add them to the sleeve.
07:26But they have it on the practice jerseys.
07:28What's that?
07:29NFL has them on the practice jerseys.
07:32Yeah, okay.
07:32Like, so, they're doing some of them.
07:33Even when that came out, when that came out, people were like, yeah, but not on the field, for sure.
07:39And you're right.
07:40They don't have to.
07:40But I look at, I just pulled up, because I know this, I wanted to make sure of this.
07:45So, I just pulled up the Premier League in soccer, which I think is the top league.
07:51Don't quote me on that, but I'm pretty sure it is.
07:54And I just typed in uniforms.
07:58They have them, Brady, on, like, they don't have a team logo first.
08:05They have a sponsor logo first.
08:09Like, if you look at these uniforms, the main thing you see on the uniforms is the sponsor logo.
08:15And then you'll find a smaller team logo, right, up in, like, the corner or something.
08:22And they change.
08:25So, you know, does that change anybody's experience watching the Premier League?
08:33I'm not sure.
08:34Are we used to that?
08:36Certainly not in, you know, we are in NASCAR, for sure, right?
08:41But you kind of tie it to that.
08:43And I'm not saying we should get to the point where monster energy replaces the go-power cat on the
08:52helmet or anything like that.
08:54Jacob, don't even.
08:55What I'm saying is, let's not be naive and let's be realistic.
09:02When we talk about what's important about, you know, college athletics and the things that we don't like,
09:09and a lot of people say they don't like the NIL and all these because it's traditional and these kids
09:14are for the love of the game.
09:16Well, guess what?
09:17It's really expensive to operate programs now and travel's expensive and all of these things.
09:23And if you really do believe that the most important thing is that the kids stick it out and do
09:29these things,
09:29then these schools are going to have to have money to do it.
09:32And so something like a jersey patch, to me, is just not a big deal at all.
09:39And if it were three or four jersey patches, it would not be a big deal at all.
09:46I think we have to be honest with the situation.
09:51We have to be fair to the situation.
09:53You can't have it all, right?
09:55Like, you can't.
09:56Somebody like me who has been a proponent of NIL from the get-go and a proponent of compensating players
10:03from the get-go
10:05cannot be naive and say, but you better not put a sponsored patch on the jerseys
10:11because I know that stuff has to be paid for, right?
10:16Like, there has to be revenue generated.
10:18So when I hear naming rights deals and these kinds of deals with Monster or whatever the idea is,
10:24I'm generally going to support it.
10:26Because I know it helps the more important issue here, which is that players are compensated
10:34for the work that they do and the money that they generate for these universities.
10:39I generally don't have a soft spot for you.
10:42I think universities hemorrhage money with no repercussions in a lot of ways.
10:47They continue to jack up our tuition, right?
10:49So I just don't have a lot of sympathy for, oh, but the traditions of this uniform.
10:57Like, we can't sully that with a sponsorship logo.
11:01Like, I just don't really have time for that energy.
11:03Because I think it's far more important that the players are better taken care of.
11:07And look, I'm not saying that we're perfect.
11:09We're not.
11:10We're far from it.
11:11But it's just not that big a deal.
11:13Like, what are you more concerned about?
11:16Throwing a jersey, a patch on the jersey?
11:19Or tuition rates going up again for the 60th straight year?
11:23You know what I mean?
11:24Like, what bothers you more?
11:26As a fan of college sports or, you know, this country, which one of those things irks you more?
11:32I think for a lot of people, they would say, oh, those jersey patches, man.
11:35Like, gosh, so what's happening to college athletics?
11:39They were putting patches on the jerseys now?
11:42And I just think that's an archaic, very, very outdated thing to worry about with all the other challenges of
11:50college athletics.
11:51Plus, it's already a million dollars and put a jersey on the put a patch on the jersey.
11:56Yeah, it's already happened that that idea of like, well, what's going to happen to college football?
12:01We do like it's already happened.
12:02Like, we're already whatever, whatever nostalgia used to have.
12:08We're way past that because of the financial construction of everything.
12:12The TV deals, there's so much money going around.
12:16You need to keep that money going around.
12:18And we crossed that bridge a long time ago.
12:21I mean, SEC teams might as well have an ESPN logo on their jersey.
12:26I mean, the ESPN SEC deal, to me, going back, like that was kind of an – when that happened,
12:34I was kind of thinking, oh, that's where things are going.
12:36And we'll continue to go.
12:37Do you remember when we all hated and made fun of the Longhorn Network?
12:40Right?
12:41Yeah.
12:41That's a good idea.
12:42It was.
12:43That was so poorly executed.
12:44We were mainly just jealous of it at the time because they were able to do it.
12:48We were.
12:48It was bumpy and it didn't – it wasn't executed well.
12:51But the whole idea behind it was so far ahead of its time.
12:55Yeah, very sound.
12:57It's just – yeah, we have to be realistic with the times in which we live.
13:02The – what people might refer to as good old days of athletes just generating just bags of money for
13:12these schools with nothing to show for it are long gone.
13:16And they should be, in my opinion.
13:19And so now we have to find other revenue sources.
13:22And we have to get things under control for the schools too.
13:26But as we see schools struggling financially, which was bound to happen, of course it was.
13:31Taking a million-dollar-a-year cash infusion to throw a patch on the jersey and put it on the
13:36field somewhere?
13:37Easy decision.
13:38I'll wear that patch.
13:39And what I would love to know is what the market is for that, right?
13:46I don't know how long this deal is for Monster Energy.
13:49I would imagine you'll see the SEC or the Big Ten do one at some point soon.
13:55And the value of that will be significantly higher.
13:58But the Big 12 was the pioneer on this in some ways.
14:02And I appreciate that.
14:03And hopefully the next one is good too.
14:06And hopefully the next one, football is separate from men's and women's basketball.
14:10Like I think the ultimate goal of the TV deal getting separated is by Brett Yormark.
14:16I've said forever on these airwaves that I think that's the endgame for the Big 12.
14:21I think we're going to see the Big 12 try to have the first football deal separate from basketball deal.
14:28I think that's why they've leaned into basketball so much over these past few years.
14:32But it's media day.
14:33That was the big story out of the first day of media days.
14:36Because it's certainly, Brady, not about so much at this point meeting players since we don't know a lot of
14:43these players.
14:44TJ and I played a game yesterday.
14:45He rattled off every player that was coming to speak to the media and how many of them we knew
14:49or could get.
14:50I think I got 15 or 16 out of all the teams that are there.
14:53Oh, wow.
14:54So much player movement.
14:56And that was like out of 50 or something.
14:59It wasn't a good ratio.
15:01But all of this player movement, all of the unknowns of this league.
15:07I mean, we haven't, I don't think, received yet the preseason rankings, only the preseason teams.
15:15And I look up and down that preseason team list and it's a lot of unknowns as it always is
15:20in college sports.
15:21But it especially is now.
15:22And we'll see what happens.
15:24We will talk more about, and maybe a little bit tomorrow after we hear from KU and K-State, about,
15:31you know, what are we learning there?
15:34I think one of the big conference-wide topics is what does Texas Tech do at quarterback?
15:38They talked yesterday.
15:39You know, there are some of those things.
15:42But it's the start of an unknown in college football, which is more and more player movement.
15:47It means more and more uncertainty among these rosters, certainly in the Big 12.
15:51And it feels like it's anybody's game.
15:54And we'll see if anybody can answer the challenge, whether that be K-State or KU.
15:59They're certainly not the favorite.
16:01I think in the case of K-State, they could easily get there, and it wouldn't surprise anybody.
16:07KU, it would certainly surprise some people because we don't, I mean, you talk about not knowing any players.
16:15KU's, Dylan Edwards, and Dylan Edwards, Cam Pickett, and...
16:22Ballard?
16:23Is Ballard still the quarterback?
16:24I, but as far as I know, it's an undecided battle at quarterback.
16:30But he's still there.
16:31Yeah.
16:32So it's, you know, we're not going to learn a lot at media day, I don't think, of what KU's
16:39going to look like.
16:40We got to get him out on the field and just see what's there.
16:43I don't know.
16:44K-State's a little bit the same way, but we certainly know more about K-State than we do.
16:49But we'll have those answers.
16:50TJ will join us tomorrow.
16:52Tim Fitzgerald will join us tomorrow.
16:54We think Shriya Slata's in today, so we'll talk about it all.
16:57But I'm just seeing video right now of K-State arriving to media today.
17:01TJ will have that coverage on 12 News.
17:03All right.
17:03When we come back, what's gotten into the Royals?
17:06Brady gets to ask his favorite question and some history made for Kansas.
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