Roundtable Time!!!  

All right, this is what we do on Fridays. We fight it out. It's a round table. Camelot.

Camelot. It's only a model. Shit. In studio with me.

See, we have a two shot here. I don't know anything about TV. But in studio with me is Brian Murphy, WRAL Sports Investigative Reporter at Murph's Turf. And on your video camera there, but maybe just listening to him on the radio, he just tipped his cap. He's wearing an Oriel cap. Good for him.

Josh Graham Sports Hub Triad at Josh Graham Radio on Twitter. Your birds are doing OK. Third best record in the American League right now. But then you look at the wildcard standings.

Gosh, it's June and we're doing it. I'm an Orioles fan. We haven't been good in a long time.

And you see that long. Only up by like a game or two. And then the Twins, meanwhile, are leading the AL Central one game under 500. So that's a little depressing when everybody's awesome in the AL East and then the AL Central is meh.

Just don't be envious. Just keep your head down and keep winning games. That's the Carolina Panthers strategy. Exactly. Exactly. That division, though, I mean, that division, I could see somebody winning that division and being like 83 and 79. I mean, seriously, when it's all over, I can I get 100 percent.

And the Mets might would maybe would love to win 83 games this year. We're not talking about them. All right. Let's get right to it.

We're going to start with something that I have yet to talk about today, but I am fascinated by this. So Greg Sankey is in some the commission of the Southeastern Conference. Is that some college sports summit in Washington, D.C.? I don't know what the summit is for. I don't care what the summit is about, because when college sports has a summit, I am automatically skeptical of the motives.

OK, I just assume we're there to pretend that we care about something other than making money, but I don't believe it. So Greg Sankey was in I don't know if he was asked a question or he brings it up on his own, but he says all of these commissioners out here touting that they're not done yet. He's clearly talking to Brett Yormark of the Big 12, who thinks that the University of, I don't know, Guadalajara would be a nice ad for the Big 12. He's taken half his conference to Mexico and Sankey basically says, I hope everybody stays where they are. Well, sure you do. After you added Oklahoma and Texas, what an absolute joke. I'm going to start with you, Brian. Am I crazy for thinking that Greg Sankey has two mouths and he's talking out of both of them?

It's good to be king. That's what I got from that. He was on a panel about conference realignment and what's driving it and things like that.

What's driving it? And we needed a panel for this? What I found fascinating was like, you know, when you're on the top of the mountain, then you can look down at all the peasants and being like, why do you guys need to why do you need 20? Like, it's too hard to find TV windows if you're at 20. Why do you want to go coast to coast?

That doesn't really work. It's so specific when you have all of the best schools from Texas to Florida to be like, yeah, this is the best way to do things. Wait, they have TCU? They do not have TCU. I'm sorry, because if you were asking me who the best football school in Texas is, it would be TCU, not the two that are entering the Southeastern Conference. Josh Graham, your view of Greg Sankey being two-faced? At least Greg Sankey can find solace in that he is the second most obnoxious conference commissioner behind Brett Yermack, who makes the argument about, oh, my gosh, we are in a better position than the ACC is.

And there's all this posturing. Look at the conference revenue of what we're going to receive and what they're locked into the ACC is with the grant of rights. And they're saying, well, look at these schools that we're adding to. Goodness, Cincinnati and UCF. And all I could think was, do you think the SEC wants any more of your schools? If the SEC wanted more of your schools, they would have those schools. The ACC has schools, plural, that the SEC would want to have. Do they? They probably would if it wasn't for the grant of rights.

Yeah. You said schools? Schools, yeah, North Carolina, and probably a program that's won two national titles in the last five or six years, and Clemson. They probably would want those schools because, again, if you would say, oh, they already got a school in South Carolina. Well, they already had a school in Texas, too, and that didn't stop them from adding the University of Texas. So I think if you look at Texas is different than North Carolina, my man. And this goes back to Jim Phillips. He said it Amelia Island a few months ago or this was last month.

Goodness. He said that, you know, we're third we're third in revenue right now. You know, there's no there's nothing that says because you have more money means that you're automatically guaranteed dominance on the field.

Of course, it's a disadvantage. But I mean, you like Major League Baseball. Who's the best team in baseball right now?

Based on events of the last three days, the Braves. You know, the praise, but the Tampa Bay Rays, the most dominant team and the Yankees had more money than God, and they haven't won since 2009. It's not guaranteed that because you have more money, you're instantly going to win or else the Big Ten would have won something in the last 10 years. Yeah, Big Ten. There's no question that Big Ten hasn't won anything in a long while. Ohio State won a title that won the first college football playoff.

Right. And then they they got the benefit of a bad call and beat Miami in 2002, but they haven't won a basketball national championship in men's basketball since 2000. Yeah, 2000 when Michigan State did. But they never get framed like the ACC does. Everybody can say in Big Ten country, oh, it's Clemson and then everybody else who's the next best team. But God forbid you say that. When's the last time someone won a national title not named Ohio State in football?

Lloyd Carr in the mid 90s? That's what we're looking at? I'm supposed to believe you have more money. You're just going to dominate. The Big Ten and this is what I let's let's talk let's go talk about money things more, Brian. The Big Ten is blessed other than Northwestern. With massive state universities. I mean, the biggest universities in the country. Basically are all in the Big Ten. The SEC is blessed with all of these slightly smaller state schools in the Sunbelt where all they've got is college football. I'm not trying to disparage.

That's fine. It's a huge it's a huge sport and it's a huge part of the culture of the South. And nobody really wants to go, man, we are just freakin lucky. Nobody wants to admit that we are freakin lucky. Meanwhile, the ACC has got like we've got some football schools, but we've got half our schools are private and tiny. So many things are working against the AC. Nobody wants to admit that, man, man, we just stepped right in it.

Yeah. I mean, the Big Ten has alumni all over the country because they produce so many alumni. They've all moved like many people from the north and the northeast.

They have moved to the south and to the west. So that gives you enormous television potential. And not only is football king in the south where the SEC is located, but they produce football players like crazy out of all of those states.

So you have access to talent. Where I go back to is, is there an alternate reality in which the ACC figures that out, figures out that football is going to be king and makes moves to get ahead of the SEC somehow? And maybe there's no way they could have ever done it. But obviously, grabbing Syracuse and Boston College was not the right move.

Maybe it was the right move then. And they're still alive, which, you know, some conferences aren't alive. But is there an alternate reality where they grab a Penn State and a West Virginia?

Ah, that was that was a that was possible. Learn more at Chevy.com. Find new roads. Chevrolet. Thirty years ago. Right, right. Joe Paterno.

Rest his soul. Joe Paterno, in the late 80s, early 90s, when they were independent, was looking for an all sports conference. He wanted to create an Eastern football conference. Penn State would have been a great fit in the Atlantic Coast Conference. They already had a kind of a football rivalry with Maryland and that they would have been a good fit. But the ACC was not interested in expanding. Then they expanded. I think it was after it was either after or just before Penn State went to the Big Ten when Florida State came aboard. And then I think the theory of the AC said, Josh, I know you this is something right up your wheelhouse to up your wheelhouse.

I understand if that's even a thing. When the ACC added Miami, I mean, it was supposed to be Miami, Syracuse, Boston College. The theory was you were adding one of the great football brands of our time, of the era.

It just hasn't worked out. At that time, the ACC had more revenue than the SEC and the Big Ten when that happened. It's crazy to think about that now. But 20 years ago, that was the case. And when they were adding Miami, it was seen the ACC was being seen as a very, very more than competent football conference. When you're adding the, you know, the school of Michael Vick and Frank Beamer and you're adding Miami at that point, you're right.

They just haven't produced. And that's the thing they obviously need to get done. And this year is a huge opportunity to do so when the SEC, you know, or excuse me, the Big Ten isn't on ESPN and ABC. So you get prime slot games like best example, the opening weekend, North Carolina, South Carolina. If there were, you know, if they had the Big Ten, they would not be getting the prime ABC slot.

But they're getting that this year. So this really is a good opportunity when you have great quarterbacks and you got, you know, a lot of guys or a lot of a lot of teams that are going to be getting more exposure than they normally get to try to make up some ground. You're never going to catch the Big Ten and the SEC for the reasons you just outline with large alumni bases and all these types of things. But like we go back to before, these university presidents and these ADs, they will sell you on the idea that it is an existential crisis for the ABC, that they don't have as much money as those schools. When history has shown us where Allah, the Big Ten, they've had more money for a long time. And other examples in sports doesn't give you the birthright to be dominant and to win in such a major way. And if the ABC is in an existential crisis, having not had anyone poached them, how what then if that if the words existential crisis are going to be attached to the ABC, what words can we possibly use to describe the Pac-12?

There are after losing their top, top properties. There are only two groups of people who think the ABC is really in an existential crisis. Florida State fans and members of the college football media. That's it. But who sold them that lie?

Well, yes, but they feel they feed, they feed each other. I want to move on to a couple of other things, because because we don't have a ton of time left. Brian Murphy, WRL sports investigator, reporter and Josh Graham, sports hub triad, because Josh has a show starting in a little while. I want to give him an opportunity. Why?

Yeah, crazy. I do. You do. You do. So we're we don't have unlimited time.

It's not like where the public investment fund and we have unlimited money. So based on events and I'll throw this back to you, Josh, and then I'll go to Brian. Biggest winner, biggest loser of the we'll call it an arrangement since the PGA Tour no longer is calling it a merger between the public investment fund and the PGA Tour. Biggest winner, biggest loser.

It kind of makes my skin crawl a little bit to say it. But Phil Mickelson has to be a winner in this and that why it's crazy, because like is he he made a ton of money and he's still going to be welcomed back with open arms. It's going to happen. And this partnership. I don't think so. I don't think so at all. Phil Mickelson, like he did this thing and he was discarded from golf and called a hypocrite, essentially, or a terrible person by Jay Moynihan.

Nothing short of that. And then Jay Moynihan took the money from the same people that Phil Mickelson did. So in a sense, after he was such a loser a year ago, you got to say as much as I hate to say it, I think he's a winner in this. OK, give me the loser, because that's wrong. But that's fine. I found it.

Victoria, we found it. Just kidding. The absolute loser is Jay Moynihan, because you're... Moynihan, the commissioner of the PGA Tour. He's exposed himself and you had players on your behalf fight in favor of loyalty and all these things and not taking money from them. And you ultimately do that.

And many players find out the same way Adam Gold, Josh Graham and Brian Murphy found out. So I think he's the greatest loser. And as sad as I have to say, I think Phil Mickelson's a winner in this. All right, Brian.

I disagree totally with Josh. I think the biggest winner is Rory McIlroy. Winner? Who? He may not get the same money that Koepka got, but he is the only one that has kept his dignity through this whole thing. I think there are others.

I don't think he's the only one, but I think there are others. But he's been the most public and he's had to take the arrows for the PGA Tour. And I think he comes out... I think everybody else kind of comes out smelling pretty bad, except for Rory. So I think Rory is the winner. I think the loser is Greg Norman, actually.

Because I think the live tour is going away. Based on what you read now, Monahan is in charge of the live and he's going to get rid of it and he's going to cast out Greg Norman. And once again, Greg Norman is not going to be part of the fabric of golf. Maybe like he should be.

I mean, he was one of the great all-time players. Tiger before Tiger. Could never win without the major. Without the winning, yes. But in terms of attention and...

Brand. I mean, he was Tiger before Tiger. So I say McIlroy is the winner and Norman's the loser.

Okay. I could make the argument that Norman is a winner, but not the biggest one. Because he wanted to disrupt and in times destroy the PGA Tour. I don't know what the structure is going to look like going forward, so it's hard to say that he's not ultimately going to get what his endgame was. Which was to create a super tour. It's what he wanted to do.

I don't think that's going to happen, but I can't say it won't. See, I think Rory is the loser here because ultimately, the last 18 months, he put himself... Or allowed himself to be the face of a tour that ultimately couldn't do what he and Tiger set up for them to do. And Tiger Woods is almost in the same boat as Rory McIlroy.

We just haven't seen Tiger in a while. But they created a tour and the only reason why we have this arrangement now is because the tour that they created could not be sustained financially. This is about lawsuit avoidance and the fact that the PGA Tour with these elevated events and elevated purses and all of this money flowing from sponsors who mostly couldn't afford it. And the PGA Tour couldn't continue to dip into their reserves to fund it. That's why the arrangement with the Saudis is here. The Saudis are getting no return on their investment from Liv. They are willingly going to pull their money out of that eventually. Maybe not next year, but the year after. And they're going to fund the PGA Tour's wishes.

So to me, that's why we have this arrangement. But McIlroy was left, like, unknowing what was going on. So I think this whole thing feels like wasted time for Rory because all of the effort that they put into creating this is gone. The biggest winner is the European tour, which would have gone away. And now they are going to survive.

And I think that is the biggest winner here. Now, do we care? I don't know. Golf fans care.

Something to do on Saturday morning, waiting for the PGA Tour early starters to go off. Does Harold Warner get to play Sedgefield now? I hope so.

No. Not this year, but maybe in the future we get him back and some of the others. There will be a path back for those guys, but I think it's going to be costly. I mean, the lawyers are the real winner. Yeah, we got rid of the lawsuits.

Yeah, but now we got the antitrust lawyers who are about to make a lot of money. Yeah, but how about we didn't even mention the Saudis just bought a sport. They own a professional sport. So to speak.

I don't think there are any absolutes. It's still going to be more owned by sponsors, whatnot. The Saudis are investors in the PGA Tour, which is all they care about. That's all they want to do. They just want to invest. They want the association.

I just want to make sure the show's not over yet. They want the association with the PGA Tour sponsors. So they want the associations with the financial companies and the insurance companies. That's what they want.

That's how they sports wash. They also understand that the oil economy is going away. That's what the Saudis want.

They have to shift their economy to entertainment and other things other than oil because eventually the oil runs out. Will there be probably a European tour event in Riyadh? Well, there used to be.

The Saudi Invitational or International used to be part of the European tour. And then it wasn't this happening, but a couple of years prior, like now we don't want it as part of it. But yes, there will be. And I think there will be whatever live golf is. I think it will look it will look different and it will probably involve.

It's not going to go away. Those events. I think it will be a fall series and there will be six events and there will be stupid money involved. And they'll get all these guys together to play and there will be a team concept there. I think there's money in those franchises, like not the way the live was doing it, but I think there is a way to make money.

The way live doing it, but with better players. Nobody cares about Pat Perez. Zero people other than the Perez family. Nobody cares about Pat Perez.

I think you nationalize it. There's a Japanese team, a couple of Australian teams. They thought they were going to have Hideki Matsuyama and a Japanese team. And then that was going to be worth a billion dollars that they really did.

And when Matsuyama said no and when Tom Kim, who was a star last year, said no. The new Chevy Silverado HD puts you in command. Own strength with its enhanced available Duramax six point six liter turbo diesel V8. Own the lake with its available advanced towing technology and own technology with an available thirteen point four inch diagonal touch screen. The new Chevy Silverado HD own work, own play, own life. Learn more at Chevy dot com. Find new roads.

Chevrolet. That was and when they when they weren't getting Rory and Ram and Justin Thomas, it was they were going to struggle this. There was really only two attractions.

Seriously, two attractions. It was Bryson DeChambeau and Dustin Johnson. That was over Koepcke and Mickelson. Yeah, Koepcke is not really an attract. I mean, I don't think Koepcke has got a huge fan base. He's a winner. But D.J.

was a star and DeChambeau, for one reason or another, was a huge attraction on the PGA Tour. All right. Real real quick before we have to say goodbye. Gambling. When will the governor sign it? And when can Josh lose his first bet? I suspect he'll sign it sometime next week. And why not? Why not tomorrow? He likes to take the time, the full the full 10 days. I don't think willing a Frank Reich and saying, we'll tell we'll call Bryce Young when we're on the clock. I don't think we'll get I don't think we'll hit January 8th, but I don't think it'll be June either. I think it'll be sometime maybe before March Madness. Any thoughts on that, Josh?

Yeah, just what can I bet on messy? It's a win for democracy in the sense of like we're like at its core, we're supposed to like elected officials are supposed to do the thing that us, the people want on our behalf. And all the polls you guys have had at WRAL for years have said overwhelmingly people want this. So the fact that we've gotten here and we haven't been a leader on it, I mean, states that touch us have had it for forever or not forever. But for the last few years, it seems like it's win for democracy, that the people we've elected finally did a thing that we all have said that we've wanted for such a long time.

So what a win that is whenever it comes. If you're listening to The Triangle, Jim Perry, the senator who helped get this through, will be on with me and Dennis Cox at three fifteen. Look at that. Oh, very nice. Good plug. That's Brian Murphy at Murph's turf on Twitter, WRAL sports investigative reporter. That's Josh Graham, who's going to be on the radio on his own show, Sports Hub Triad in twenty two and a half minutes at Josh Graham Radio. As always, I appreciate your time, Josh, and your time, Brian.

I didn't even make fun of you today, Josh. I'm glad. Go Deeks, too. Go Deeks.

Super regional. Go ahead. What did I do? I missed. Duke scored two runs. Five to four. Go Blue Devils and go Deeks. And I'll talk to you guys later on.

I appreciate your time. The new Chevy Silverado HD puts you in command. Own strength with its enhanced available Duramax six point six liter turbo diesel V8. Own the lake with its available advanced towing technology and own technology with an available thirteen point four inch diagonal touch screen. The new Chevy Silverado HD own work, own play, own life. Learn more at Chevy dot com. Find new roads. Chevrolet.