- 1 day ago
Raj Mathai, NBC Bay Area journalist, reporter, and anchor, joins Willard and Dibs to break down all angles on 49ers owner Jed York's reported arrest in Ohio.
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00:00Raj Mathai, the sports director, NBC, Bay Area.
00:04We love, love your work, Raj, so it's really cool to have you on.
00:08And obviously, this is quite a crossover story here.
00:12So joining us right now on the River Islands guest line is Raj Mathai here on Willard & Dibs 95
00:17.7 The Game.
00:18Good afternoon, Raj. How are you?
00:20Good afternoon, guys. Great to be on.
00:22And I'm no longer the sports director.
00:24I'm just a sports fan now watching it from afar, watching you guys.
00:27Well, I'll tell you what, either way, it makes you incredibly qualified to weigh in on this.
00:33So what is your initial reaction when you got the news this morning?
00:39Well, I mean, I think like everyone, I was pretty shocked.
00:42But then again, we've been through so many of these type of stories, and I know both of you have
00:46as well,
00:46where owners are making some sort of bad judgment or questionable decisions, whether it's on the field or off the
00:53field.
00:54So I was surprised.
00:55And yeah, I've been listening to you guys for a little while.
00:57I agree.
00:58It's just that it's a matter of judgment.
00:59You own an eight and a half billion dollar team, and you don't want to go down like that.
01:03So I'm surprised because I know Jed fairly well.
01:06I've known him for, gosh, 20 years now.
01:08And it's not in character to do this from my point of view.
01:12And if it's out of character, then it's a pretty bad mistake, Raj, for him to get caught up in
01:19this.
01:19And I just wonder about next steps as far as not the ownership and him being, quote, forced to sell
01:26or step down.
01:27But how does he go ahead and make a comeback from this?
01:31I think there's a couple of ways he can look at it, and I know there's some crisis PR firms
01:35that have reached out to him already.
01:37I think one way he can play it, and we've seen other people do this, is just come out and
01:41have one news conference and say, hey, guys, I'm owning up to it.
01:45I've got some personal stuff to deal with in my life, and let's move on.
01:48And then it's up to the fans.
01:50Do you want to hold him accountable?
01:51Are you pissed off at the Niners because of the owner?
01:54It's up to the fans to do that.
01:56The other way is he can not talk and just say, I'm dealing with some personal things.
02:00I'm going to go to some sort of rehab for whatever, step away from the team for several months, and
02:05Al Guido is going to be kind of the point man.
02:07So I think one of those scenarios is viable.
02:11Raj, that's an interesting way of kind of piecing this together.
02:15I feel confident in this moment this is not going to lead to some sort of rage situation for a
02:23large portion of the fan base out in the streets in front of games and things like that.
02:29My mind goes more to just sort of the PR side of this as a front-facing person for a
02:37front-facing team, corporate partnerships, et cetera, et cetera.
02:41Is he still able to be that guy who once upon a time said the Niners want to win with
02:48class?
02:49I don't think so at this point.
02:51Now, that doesn't mean things can't change in 90 days or next January, and I think that's what he's probably
02:57weighing out.
02:57And, again, this is just from what I understand from some PR crisis firms that have reached out to him,
03:02is that he's going to have to decide,
03:05can I be that person to go to the 49ers Foundation gala dinner at Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco
03:11or the Cub Scouts gathering or the gathering of sponsors in Palo Alto, wherever it might be?
03:17And I think that's what's going to have to happen.
03:19But I think just what's going on in his own life, he filed for divorce in May.
03:23I think it's probably a good time for him to say, I need to reclaim my family here, and I'll
03:29get back to the 49ers come January.
03:31That would be a good play.
03:32How much of this has to do with the high-stakes relationship with the Santa Clara City Council?
03:38I know the back story has been one that's been somewhat acrimonious.
03:42Does this give that council board a chance to maybe regain control of Levi's Stadium?
03:49I think that's what they're debating.
03:51I don't think it's right away.
03:52I don't think there's a direct correlation of, hey, this happened to Jed, therefore they're on lesser stance, lesser ground
03:58with Santa Clara.
03:59Jed's told me personally to my face and on camera at NBC that the relationship with Santa Clara is terrible,
04:05with the mayor, I should say, and they just want to minimize that.
04:08I think what happened these last 48 hours, though, isn't necessarily going to affect that immediately.
04:14But I think all of this comes into play.
04:16I mean, you know, this is a guy that's 9 a.m., 9.30 a.m. on Sunday morning, gets
04:21arrested in a sting operation.
04:24That's hard to hear.
04:26As a family man, as one of the most prominent owners in the Bay Area in any business, I mean,
04:34that's hard to hear.
04:35And I think that's certainly going to damage the brand.
04:38And now it's his job to figure it out, whether it's immediately or down the road.
04:43Raj Mathai, NBC, is with us here.
04:45Withered and Dibbs, 95-7, the game in the wake of the Jed York situation.
04:51Raj, like a few times today, Dibbs has brought up, and obviously they're very, very different situations and all of
04:57that,
04:57but he's brought up what happened with Larry Baer seven years ago.
05:00And that led to sort of a, I mean, Larry wasn't at the very top, but it led to some
05:06power structure changes within the San Francisco Giants.
05:11Do you see anything like that here with the 49ers?
05:15It very well could happen.
05:16This is a market in an area that's not tolerant at all of this.
05:20And we did see what happened to Larry Baer.
05:22That's a good correlation there, Dibbs.
05:24And I think that's something that Jed's going to have to figure out now.
05:27Hey, do I just let Al Guido have more of a role here?
05:31And that's something that very much might happen in terms of conversations.
05:35Who knows what's going to happen?
05:36We're all just talking about this.
05:37But in terms of conversations behind closed doors right now, I'm sure that has come up.
05:42Hey, you know what?
05:42Maybe it's time for me to take a backseat and almost be like a shark's owner where we hardly know
05:49him,
05:49but he's still the owner, Hasso Plattner.
05:52And Jed just kind of steps back.
05:54Like someone like Al Guido steps forward and Jed kind of minimizes his public role.
05:58Not private role, but the public role.
06:00Hasn't this kind of already happened?
06:02And I'm looking at a quote from back in March when he said he had no idea that the team
06:06had signed Christian Kirk
06:08because, you know, Jed York is doing other things with overseas properties.
06:12Hasn't this already kind of been in the works?
06:16Yeah, but Jed's very active.
06:17I mean, you know, up until a short while ago, he was living in Los Altos Hills, right near team
06:22headquarters,
06:23very active in the communities, lives somewhat close to me, so I haven't seen him around.
06:27But I think just his family life has taken a turn, and many of us can relate to that.
06:32And I think he needs to focus on that.
06:34And I think what happened outside of Youngstown, Ohio, is maybe just a reflection of where he is and what
06:40he's going through.
06:41And from what I understand and what I know, he has been essentially living in Youngstown for the last several
06:46months,
06:46spending a lot of time there.
06:48Raj, listen, when I bring up the players on the 49ers, I'm not under the impression that Mike Evans is
06:53going to be on a go-route
06:54and drop the ball because of this by any stretch.
06:57But what is this going to be like for the players, if there's any effect whatsoever?
07:07Coaches hate it, and you guys know this, when the talk in the locker room from the media or the
07:12fans is not about football.
07:14And so whether it's Kyle Shanahan's car accident or Brandon Ayuk doing something wacky in a car
07:20or Jed York, the owner, getting arrested for prostitution, they hate that type of distraction.
07:26And the players don't want it because now the players are going to be called into a meeting today, if
07:30they haven't already,
07:31and they're going to be briefed, hey, tomorrow practice is open.
07:34You're going to have all sorts of reporters here locally and nationally asking not about the Raiders preseason game
07:40or the Rams game one in Melbourne, Australia, but instead, do you have a comment about your owner?
07:45And they're all going to say, no, that's not in my purview.
07:48So it's a distraction.
07:49You don't want distractions.
07:51In light of that, do you think that A, Jed York goes to Australia, and B, does he not get
07:58seen again throughout the course of this year?
08:01I've thought about that myself because we usually do, probably once a season, I will do kind of a sit
08:07-down TV interview with him,
08:08and it's usually the only one he does all season.
08:11And it's not like a softball interview.
08:15I ask him whatever's going on with the team and the league and the finances.
08:19And I'm curious now because he's going to have to address something at some point.
08:24But the way out of that, for him to buy time, is to say, I'm working on my personal life,
08:30which I think people can understand,
08:32and I'll get back to day-to-day functions come January.
08:36Now, to answer your question, will he be in Australia now and Mexico City and all these high-profile 49ers
08:41games
08:41or just at the suite of Levi's or pre-game field like we see him every home game?
08:47I'm not sure.
08:48I wouldn't be surprised if he steps away for a little while.
08:50You know, Roz, you bring up these international trips, and obviously the Super Bowl was just here,
08:56and so the 49ers are right out front.
08:58If you're Roger Goodell, what's your reaction to this?
09:03Well, Roger works for Jed, so to speak.
09:06The commissioner works for the owner, so he's going to try to do something that's stable and not disruptive.
09:13And they're working behind the scenes.
09:15We're never going to know the conversations.
09:17But it might be this conversation.
09:19It might be, hey, why don't you take a break?
09:21And the benefit of all this here, and I can't underplay it, is having Al Guido in the office.
09:27That guy's been around for 15-plus years.
09:29He knows everything about the organization.
09:31He's well-liked.
09:32He's well-respected.
09:33He can absolutely be the front man, and no one would know anything,
09:37meaning the 49ers wouldn't drop off with sponsorships,
09:41with the way they handled front office, and the public perception.
09:44And Jed just could be the sideshow where, if you want to talk about him, you can,
09:49but he's not even in the building.
09:50He might not even be in the Bay Area for the next several months.
09:53And is the relationship between the 49ers and the community in the South Bay, is it strong?
09:58Is it rock solid?
09:59And is it something that will be vulnerable as a result of this news?
10:03I don't think so.
10:05I think this is a 49ers relationship.
10:06I don't think it's a South Bay, East Bay, Marin County thing.
10:10It's a Bay Area relationship, and it's strong.
10:12With the Raiders gone, they own this market.
10:16They've been relatively good citizens the last several years.
10:19The product on the field has been exceptional, right, in the last 10 years since Shanahan came.
10:23So I don't think it hurts the relationship.
10:27I just think each fan, or not even a 49er fan, will just kind of ask yourself,
10:32do you want to support a team and an owner that has been rung up for prostitution?
10:37And again, I can't think of, in various degrees, many owners that are liked by the fan base.
10:43Here in the Bay Area, I don't know one owner that's really well-liked.
10:47Lake, of course, was liked a lot, but now you can ask a bunch of Warriors fans,
10:50and there's something about that as well.
10:52But it's not like people love their owners.
10:54They root for the team, and they don't necessarily root for the owners.
10:57Hey, Raj, great work recently with your sit-down with Greg Papa.
11:03Oh, appreciate it.
11:05I mean, that's a friend to all of us.
11:06I know that.
11:07And I know he's just so appreciative of everyone.
11:10I mean, like he said, I walked in the house, in his house in San Rafael, he's like,
11:13I ain't dead.
11:15I'm not dead.
11:18It made me laugh right when I walked in.
11:20And he's a class act, and he'll be back, guys.
11:22As you guys know, he will be back.
11:24Yeah, I mean, I was just, like, I'd love to know what kind of, what struck you?
11:29What stood out to you about the conversation?
11:32He was just very honest.
11:34And I think at some point, if we all go through something like this, you know,
11:39when he said, I'm not afraid to die, it just, I started tearing up.
11:43You know, it's, he's seen death, you know, at his doorstep.
11:46And he wants to just change the way he lives.
11:50It's not that he was living poorly before, but he has a new lease on life, quite literally.
11:55And he wants to come back.
11:56And he was hurt about the radio departure.
11:59You know, he was hurt.
12:00He was very honest about that.
12:02What was your sense as to whether or not he's going to be able to maybe not make it back
12:07this year to do Niner games?
12:08But is that something that he still has very much in his crosshairs?
12:14Yeah, he'll be back on air is my, is my feeling to some degree in the next couple of months.
12:21In terms of a four-hour NFL broadcast, that's a, that's a tough assignment, even for the healthiest of people.
12:29So I wouldn't, I wouldn't think he's back this season to do that.
12:33But gosh, I hope I'm wrong, guys.
12:35Raj, really fun to have you on, man.
12:37Thank you so much for doing it.
12:39You guys do a great job.
12:40Keep it up.
12:41I got to go back to the news side of things now.
12:43Okay.
12:43I love it.
12:44All right.
12:44We'll take care of the fun side.
12:45There it is.
12:46Raj Mathai.
12:46Raj Mathai.
12:47NBC.
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