- 2 days ago
Willard and Dibs debate the impact that Jed York's arrest will have on his future as the principal owner of the 49ers.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Owner Jed York, dealing with misdemeanor charges in the state of Ohio surrounding prostitution, the embarrassing details.
00:10He responded to an online ad. It turns out it was a sting, $140 at a trailer park.
00:18He filed for divorce in May. I know it's like that part again.
00:23It's impossible not to laugh, but also not because it's very sad and gross, I think.
00:32But I'm not the moral police. I'll be real with everybody here.
00:37This is not going to be on my mind when the Niners and Rams kick off on a couple Thursdays.
00:43Like, okay, I will completely compartmentalize this.
00:47Has the spread moved for the game in Australia?
00:49I don't think so. I don't think so.
00:51Just curious.
00:52But yes, it will also never not be a part of Jed York's story.
00:58And that is an issue for the organization and its operations into the future.
01:06I don't find it to be like an urgent, pressing sort of a thing, but this is a game changer
01:15for Jed.
01:15I don't know if it is for the 49ers.
01:18It might be for the ownership structure, because I don't know how that would necessarily affect what they're doing.
01:26And the only comp I can make is to the Giants, where Larry Bear didn't respond to an undercover ad,
01:32but he got caught in a bad moment with his wife.
01:35And because of that, he had to step away.
01:38And so the ownership power structure changed.
01:41And I do think that the way they've gone about doing things also changed.
01:44It did, although I think that had a lot to do just with the sort of change in ownership and
01:49some structures that were already evolving a little bit.
01:53I mean, I get where you're coming from on it.
01:55There's two major differences in this.
01:57First of all, with Larry Bear, no crime was committed.
02:00There was here.
02:02Second of all, though, unfortunately for Larry Bear and his wife and the Giants, there was video.
02:06And when everybody can see it, it just brings a completely different dynamic into play.
02:11But we really do.
02:12We want to know how this hits you as a Niner fan.
02:14Let's start with Rob in San Jose.
02:16Rob, thank you for calling Willard and Debs.
02:18What's up?
02:20Oh, man.
02:21This is not bothering me one bit.
02:23As a 49er fan, there is a part of me that thinks that this is very funny.
02:27And like you, Willard, I'm not the moral police.
02:30And saying he's divorced, he's a single dude who's a billionaire who looks for an ad online.
02:36And to go to a mobile home park for $140.
02:39Like, that's funny.
02:41I don't even know what else to say about it other than it's funny.
02:44And guys are dogs.
02:46Whether you're young, you're old, you're rich, or you're poor, guys are dogs.
02:50And they do stupid things.
02:52Like, Rob, I share everything you're saying.
02:56But there's a very big but.
02:58Which is, it's a crime.
03:01Like, you can be a, as you put it, a dog.
03:07And some people think we need more dogs.
03:09But you can be a dog.
03:10And do it in a legal way.
03:13It might still challenge people's morals.
03:16But you can go be a player and flash your billions or whatever.
03:21And it doesn't get you arrested.
03:24So, that's a piece of the story.
03:26And, Rob, the other part of it, and thank you so much for calling, is, look, I'm a big believer.
03:33You and I have had this conversation before.
03:35I get bothered when people are like, the rules are the same for everybody.
03:40No, they're not.
03:42What world do you live in?
03:44The rules are not the same for everybody.
03:46This person is the front-facing principal owner of a multi-billion dollar organization.
03:53Do you know what I mean?
03:54Let me give you another quick, silly example.
03:56If that Coldplay concert had just panned to two nobodies, two nobodies, the guy and the gal, and they're hanging
04:07out in the suite, and one of them suddenly hides behind.
04:09Oh, gotcha.
04:10If that's just, if that's like a school teacher and a janitor, whatever.
04:14But it turns out that these people were very high profile within their own company, and poof, the whole thing
04:22takes on a life of its own with their families and the scandal and all of this.
04:27And that's like skinny, small potatoes compared to Jed York.
04:32Well, think about it.
04:33That's a factor.
04:34If it's either you or I, and if this was something that you or I did in eastern Ohio, and
04:40this happened, I don't think that the mugshot makes it all the way to TMZ, and I don't even know
04:46if our own superiors here would find out about it.
04:49It's like, yeah, I got a call in sick Monday because, you know, I'm a little bit busy.
04:54I'm detained.
04:54It probably isn't a thing, but the fact that it is the owner, and it is Jed York, and you
05:00see the mugshot, and you see him in the orange jumpsuit,
05:03it becomes a much more gigantic thing.
05:05You're representing the organization.
05:08Like, look, this would be a bigger deal if Brock Purdy did it than a special teamer.
05:12You are a front-facing person, leader of an organization, and so you have let them down, and you've let
05:20your kids down.
05:21You've let yourself down.
05:23All of that.
05:24209, it's not cheating.
05:26Who cares?
05:27It's a crime.
05:28I don't care.
05:29Like, yeah, people cheat on their spouses.
05:33Like, I'm not here to get all up into that.
05:36That's whatever.
05:37I don't like it.
05:38That's other people's business.
05:39That doesn't really, other than within their own families, that doesn't affect anybody else.
05:44This affects a lot of people in an odd way.
05:48He's front-facer of a huge organization.
05:51Well, it affects his ex-wife and their kids primarily.
05:53Sure, sure, and so, okay, he didn't cheat on anyone, but he committed a crime.
05:57He committed a crime.
05:59And it's a misdemeanor.
06:00So let's just say that he, I don't know, you know, backed into somebody in a shopping center, and, you
06:08know, he hit a car, and then he just drove away.
06:10He drove away without a note?
06:11He drove away, and he didn't leave a note.
06:13I'd be bothered.
06:13Well, and that person, like, saw him, or there was a witness who saw him, and then, you know, they
06:18call the police, and then the police pull him over, and it's like, hey, you just backed into somebody at
06:22Safeway.
06:24We didn't see you in the aisles, but we saw you in the parking lot.
06:26And it's like, well, yeah, I mean, I did that, and so now it's going to be a misdemeanor hit
06:31and run.
06:31That becomes embarrassing, but less embarrassing than this, and it's the mugshot, it's the details, it's the fact that it
06:39was a mobile home park and $140, and you're a billionaire in the orange jumpsuit.
06:45So you and I disagree about the video being more powerful.
06:49To me, the mugshot and the details of this is as powerful as the Dream on Green Day.
06:56And I respect that you feel that way.
06:58I bet that we could spend the rest of the show, and I feel very strongly that I could prove
07:04that video, video is what absolutely just convicts people.
07:12Well, video is video, and I think the mugshot, the power of the mugshot.
07:17So, like, you see Jed York, and I knew that he was, you know, kind of my height, but then
07:23you see him in the orange jumpsuit, and you see the chest hair.
07:27Oh, now we're height-shaming the guy.
07:28We're not height-shaming because I'm the same height, but you look and you go, he's about my height, 5
07:32'8", maybe 5'9".
07:34Yeah, he's 5'8".
07:35Orange jumpsuit, chest hair flying, and obviously he's not happy.
07:39It's a mugshot.
07:40To me, the power of the mugshot is as powerful, almost, as the video.
07:46Well, the video of Draymond and Jordan Poole is so powerful because he just walks over matter-of-factly and
07:53does what he does.
07:54Right, but that, as we have learned, has happened many times in the NBA, and nobody's even bothered by it.
08:00People laugh because Michael Jordan hit Steve Kerr.
08:03Remember when Steve Kerr, he had to deal with this, too?
08:05Nobody cares, but if you saw it, you're going to have a completely, completely different emotion about it.
08:12We have, I would bet, we have got a mountain of domestic violence situations that have come up in the
08:21NFL through all of the years, all of the decades.
08:24But there's one that really, really stands out to people.
08:28It's Ray Rice.
08:29It's because there was video and we saw it.
08:31And that's an interesting way to put it because we, like Greg Hardy, is an incident that we've heard about
08:36where he reportedly threw his girlfriend or his wife onto a pile of guns.
08:42No video.
08:43No video.
08:44So that doesn't have the same, I think, permanence, so to speak, as the Ray Rice thing.
08:50Agreed.
08:50So you're right to that extent, but when you get to this level, the mugshot, for me, it carries a
08:56little bit more weight than, like, your garden variety.
08:59Like, whatever, Bob Craft apparently went to a massage parlor and got extra services, so to speak, but no mugshot,
09:07no video.
09:07So it's just a story.
09:09Yeah.
09:09What if there was video of Jed York cruising through the mobile home?
09:12Don't you think you'd click on that and remember it a little bit more than the mug?
09:16And who's to say there won't be?
09:19Like, body cam footage or surveillance footage or, you know, the rest of it.
09:24Yeah, I mean, I'm not saying that the mugshot is a good look.
09:30You're right.
09:31No more V-necks, guys.
09:33Can we get, like, can we get an orange jumpsuit that doesn't have a plunging V?
09:40I don't know many criminals where that's a good look.
09:43Yeah.
09:43Not too many people show up looking like a model ready for their photo shoot.
09:47We're doing a plunging V?
09:49Come on.
09:50I mean, it's tough, and I've never had a mugshot, knock on wood, and so I don't know what I
09:56necessarily would go with as far as, like, expression or, you know, the outfit's kind of predetermined.
10:03You ever been arrested?
10:04Never.
10:04Yeah.
10:05Never.
10:06A couple close calls, but, yeah.
10:09Okay.
10:10Come on.
10:11Silk in Oakland.
10:12Hi, Silk.
10:12Thanks for calling.
10:13What's up?
10:15Hey, what's up, guys?
10:17Willard, I have to agree with you.
10:18You know, in 2019, it's happened to Robert Kraft, I believe, but he had a video out there, too, and
10:24we're not talking about that anymore.
10:26So, you know, I think we just need to let it go and focus on the game, man.
10:29It happens.
10:30Bang, bang, not a game.
10:31Silk, thanks.
10:32I mean, again, I know this is how a lot of people feel.
10:35The Bob Kraft thing, I think there are some things, whenever that's going to come up today, that we've got
10:39to mention.
10:39Those charges were dropped.
10:41These charges are not going to be dropped.
10:43There's already been a no-contest plea that's been entered there.
10:46However, what I would say about Jed York is sort of, I think, proven by how many people are calling
10:55today and bringing up Bob Kraft.
10:57You're bringing up Bob Kraft because when a story like this comes up, you don't shake it.
11:03Ever.
11:04And that's the realization for Jed today and the organization that I think is what needs to be dealt with
11:11and what is really hard to reason with, which is that this is never going away.
11:18When you're a billionaire owner and you get caught up in something like this, it is something that people will
11:24remember for all of the days.
11:26Right, and I'm just looking at the details here, and Bob Kraft was charged, and then they were dropped.
11:31All the charges were dropped, so he didn't plead no contest.
11:34Jed just goes ahead and pleads no contest because, yeah, I'm guilty, although no contest is not pleading guilty.
11:41It's pleading no contest, which is a little bit of a loophole in there.
11:45But Bob Kraft, he fought it, and he won because the video surveillance used was a violation of his personal
11:53freedom or whatever.
11:54And so Bob Kraft decided to go that route, so he was exonerated, but the whole thing ended up taking
12:00like a year and a half until he got to that point.
12:02And people still remember.
12:04Right, and people still think that he is guilty.
12:06Exactly.
12:07That's the biggest thing, is a lot of people don't realize that the charges were dropped because we just get
12:13that initial headline, and then on we go.
12:16On we go.
12:17So I don't think it affected Patriot football the same way, like, I'm not thinking that Drake May is going
12:25to take that first snap in a couple of weeks, drop back, look for A.J. Brown,
12:29and suddenly think of Diana Rossini and go, oh, no, I'm going to overthrow my receiver now.
12:34Yeah.
12:34I just, that's, I'm sorry.
12:36It's the way I look at it.
12:37This is embarrassing.
12:38It's an issue, but it's an issue off the field.
12:42It's an issue of ownership, leadership, and organizational functionality.
12:47It is not going to affect Brock Purdy, in my opinion.
12:51And the only person it might affect would be Kyle Shanahan, and it would do so positively because now he's
12:58no longer front and center and stuff for off-field things.
13:02So now.
13:03Did you feel like he was?
13:04Not continually, but it's been a few weeks, like 11 days, and then he's getting better, and now he's kind
13:11of all the way back.
13:11And so, even though if you were trying to, like, still look at Kyle for whatever reason, now you've got
13:17the owner who's got his mess to deal with.
13:21Let's go to Christian in Berkeley.
13:23888-957-9570.
13:24We'll take your calls all day.
13:27Christian, thanks for calling.
13:28What's up?
13:30Hey, what's going on, guys?
13:31Thanks for taking my call.
13:32Yeah, man.
13:34A couple things here, man.
13:35Yeah, like, the Bay Area, in my opinion, like, so this is like a different kind of beast out here,
13:41right?
13:41I mean, these type of moral and illegal issues, I don't think people or the media will let this go
13:49that easy.
13:51And think about it.
13:52The 49ers organization donates to a lot of anti-human trafficking organizations.
13:58So, I mean, how does that look for him, right?
14:00How does it look for him, the organization?
14:03It's embarrassing.
14:04And it's not a no-big-deal situation.
14:08And I think fans that say otherwise, they're doing some of that faith.
14:14I'm not going to disagree with you, Christian.
14:17Can I say one thing before you continue, though?
14:19Because I've heard a number of callers do this today.
14:22And, boy, this is going to be a tough point for me to try to make.
14:25Because I sure do not want to make it sound like I am not morally grossed out by all of
14:30this.
14:31But a lot of people keep using the word trafficking,
14:34which I know is horrific and a major part of many prostitution rings, but not all.
14:42And so I don't, like, the only reason I'm uncomfortable with that is I don't know that this is automatically
14:48a human trafficking situation.
14:51This very easily could also just be an individual, and obviously this was set up by the authorities, this particular
15:00one.
15:00But there are prostitution situations where it is just an individual, not saying it's healthy or okay by any stretch.
15:08But I also think trafficking can be a little bit of a heavy word.
15:12Yeah.
15:13Agreed.
15:14But it's definitely a big part of it, right?
15:17So, yes, we don't know.
15:19We don't know.
15:20And I guess I'll just leave with this.
15:22I do agree with you guys.
15:23I don't think it will affect players or anything on the field besides the fact that I think people are
15:29going to roll their eyes if he likes to do those speeches post-game locker room and talk about accountability.
15:34I mean, people are, especially within this year or the next few seasons, people are going to look at that
15:39and, obviously, I think give them a side eye or roll their eyes at that.
15:44So, that's all I got.
15:45Yeah.
15:45Christian, thanks for calling.
15:46Listen, there's a staircase that needs to be climbed, and he may not.
15:53That's the way I'll put it.
15:55I don't think that the Niners are getting sold tomorrow.
16:00But the point that Christian is making is a fair one, which is, and this is a big part of
16:05what I think happens when something like this goes on and you're in a leadership position, it does rob you
16:11of some of your ability to be a leader.
16:14How the hell do you look people in the eye and try to give them an attaboy or a speech
16:19or a, this is how we do things around here, you know what I mean?
16:23This is what it means to be a Niner when, in the back of their mind, they're rolling their eyes
16:27going, dog, you were in a mobile home park three weeks ago.
16:31So, could this lead down a road that robs Jed York of his ability to lead, and does that lead
16:39down a road to where he's not the leader someday?
16:43It is possible.
16:44For sure, especially, and he made a good point about, like, the community outreach part of being an owner.
16:50So, you're the owner, and you're not the only owner, but if you're the front-facing owner, what do you
16:55actually do?
16:56Well, you do a lot with your corporate sponsors, you do a lot with your management team, and I'm sure
17:02you do a lot with the community.
17:03And so, if one of your community outreaches has to do with, you know, women and protecting women and women's
17:09rights, and yet you've got this now on your resume, it's hard for you, I'm sure, to be taken seriously
17:15in those spheres.
17:17100%.
17:18100%.
17:18And that, to me, that's the issue.
17:21I mean, like, this is completely dissimilar, but in a way, the road is not to what happened with his
17:28uncle.
17:29Like, Eddie D didn't do something that was like, oh my God, we cannot have this person near our organization
17:38anymore.
17:39But he went down a road, and this is many, many years ago, where the accusation and the crime was
17:48covering up a felony.
17:49There was a gambling ring, and this ended up heading down a road where part of what Eddie DiBartolo needed
17:58to do was kind of give up the day-to-day operations,
18:03and that's how the team ended up with his sister, and his sister is Jed's mom, and Eddie DiBartolo wasn't
18:09the owner anymore.
18:10So, I could see something like that happening here.
18:13I don't know who else in the York DiBartolo family could be the person, or does it need to be
18:20sold?
18:20Again, these are conversations for later, but I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility to head in
18:25that direction.
18:26Right, I mean, going down that road, it would have to be, I think, something where you had either sponsors
18:31or other people who are influential say,
18:34yeah, we need to go ahead and do this differently, and I'm looking at the Eddie D situation.
18:39He pled guilty to a felony in 1998, which was involving, you know, an extortion attempt, and he failed to
18:46report it.
18:47It was a riverboat gambling thing, and so he got caught up in that.
18:50And I think that Denise DiBartolo was, you know, somebody who probably wanted to get control anyway,
18:58and so Eddie D had to step back, and so Denise and John, her husband, stepped forward,
19:02and eventually they gave the reins to their son, John, a.k.a. Jed.
19:07And so, can Jed survive this? Maybe. Probably. I don't know.
19:11But if not, I'm sure there are some other people in the family who can step forward and do it.
19:15Or? Or?
19:17Or somebody else.
19:18Or maybe it does get sold.
19:20Dude, if you had asked me 10 years ago, what are the chances that we sit here in 2026
19:28and no one with the last name Buss has anything to do with Lakers ownership anymore,
19:34I'd have been like, no chance.
19:36No chance.
19:37But, yo, stuff happens in that world.
19:41Stuff happens.
19:43I mean, as we, hell, the person that bought the thing from the Buss family
19:48has already flipped it.
19:50And now the principal owner has the last name Kushner.
19:53Right.
19:54Life comes at you fast.
19:56Yeah, and there's a Kushner here owning the Giants as well, so.
19:58Same guy.
19:59Exactly.
20:00Exactly.
20:01Same guy.
Comments