It is a football Wednesday!!!!!

A running back market would regenerate if those players could realize their market value before the inevitable decline of their skills.

We talked about this yesterday. The most brilliantly crafted arrangement is the one NFL owners have with the players from the owner's side. It is the single most one-sided document in sports. Players aren't going to get paid. It's so hard to get a second contract unless you're a quarterback or wide receivers can get a second contract and there obviously are players that do that. Quinnen Williams of the Jets, defensive lineman, got a second deal.

I'll be honest, I'm not sure that the last half of that deal is going to be any good. I'm totally honest. It is a brutal sport.

You've got to stay healthy for it. The word inhumane is about to come up today. Just so you know. And it is around the National Football League, but it has nothing to do with injuries. So just hang on to that. The word inhumane will come up. It may come up soon because it's in regard to the Jets. And I'm not saying it has anything to do with being a Jets fan.

Maybe money? We'll see. We'll get to it. We'll get to it. It is a very, very big day and I could not be more excited. So let's start. I'm not even sure that I said hi.

I'm Adam and that's Victoria. It is Wednesday and it's a football Wednesday. So let's start with football. All sorts of football.

We will start with football. United hosted Lyon. They played this match in Edinburgh, Scotland. Lyon is from the French league, Lyon. They beat them 1-0 in a club friendly. It's not really a big deal other than Red Devils are gonna head to the United States now as part of that Premier League tour with five other clubs. Among them, Chelsea happens to be in Chapel Hill tonight to take on Wrexham.

By the way, there will be a natural grass pitch laid over the artificial turf at Old Keenan. I'm going as a fan tonight. Good for you. You should. Yes. I could be live tweeting in Old English.

I have no idea. Is beer gonna be involved too? No, I can't because I'm driving.

I'm driving. There might be a beer but there will not be inebriation involved. I would love to say that Wrexham would be the defacto home team. I was just at the soccer tournament and Wrexham was the home team. They were the rockstars.

They were the Rolling Stones. Yeah. But Chelsea has a unique relationship with the grassroots youth soccer in North Carolina. And there are tons and tons of Chelsea fans in North Carolina. So there's just so many Chelsea fans here. I do believe that Chelsea will probably be the home side.

I think they'll have the majority of the supporters. But I'm efforting my Wrexham shirt. I don't know where it is.

I misplaced it somewhere. Anyway, Maurice Pochettino is the new Chelsea manager. And they've got so much overturn in terms of their squad from a year ago. They can only bring, I joked during the soccer tournament because Chelsea's training at Wake Med Soccer Park.

Do you have enough? Do you have enough room for all of Chelsea's first team? They didn't bring everybody. Pochettino talked about that.

Of course. I think we have, yes, are still working in the process to build the squad, to finish the squad. We are working really, really hard. We have a very young squad also. But I think the players are showing all the commitment and they are working so well. Only what we can say is that we are so happy about in the way that they are working. But of course still we need to work during this pre-season to build a really strong squad first.

And then to evolve in the way that we want to play and of course to apply all the concept and the thing that we expect from them. They have so much, they have so many good players. Last year they didn't know who to play.

I mean they had also 17 managers last year. You know what the number one thing they talked about though was the heat. Oh boy. Like man it's hot. It's really, really hot. They were fortunate that Chelsea was here but during the soccer tournament they were fortunate that until one day the weather was pretty mild. It was pretty cool.

So it wasn't a big deal. We got later in the evening it actually almost got cold one night. But that is not the case for Chapel Hill. Although it could be raining and maybe the temperature will be a little bit diminished. I'm going to try and predict Wrexham's lineup later. But I'm ready.

I am ready for the Red Dragons. Is it going to be on the bets too? Are you doing all bets? Oh absolutely.

I will make total bets about this today. I think it's an 8 o'clock match now. It's an ESPN apparently is airing it. Oh okay. So yes. So you can't be there. Shame on you.

But you can certainly watch it. So it's just a big week right? NCFC is hosting Sunderland on Friday. North Carolina FC. The USL League One team here. They are hosting Sunderland who for decades was a first tier English football club. They were in the Premier League for more than a decade.

Not that long ago. Then they had back to back years of relegation. Dropped down to League One which is the third tier of English football. But a couple of years ago they bumped back up to the championship. And this past year they got into the promotion play off. Didn't advance but had a chance to get back into the Premier League. So it's a historic side that has been playing football in England since 1890. Yeah. A minute.

18, 1890. So they'll be there on Friday and of course Friday is also Messi day. Lionel Messi will play his first match for Inter Miami. Maurice Panchatino was asked, Chelsea's manager now, was asked about Messi's arrival and what it will mean to Inter Miami. I think it's massive the impact on the MLS for the MLS. I think Lionel Messi is the best player in the world and because of that the impact is massive. We can see, we can saw in the last days was a presentation of Miami. How was, you know, the impact in the world.

Not only here in USA. But I think it's amazing to see him happy and of course that is going, the people in Miami and the Melissa is going to enjoy about one of the greatest players in the world. They actually called him the greatest player, best player in the world at the beginning of that clip. I'm not sure that's still the case but he's not very far down the list.

To be 100% honest he is not very far down the list. We drew the comparison. Lebron is no longer what Lebron used to be. Messi is no longer what he used to be.

But whatever they are today, still pretty damn great. So it should be, again, it's a great week if you are a fan of the beautiful game. Alright so there is American football to discuss. I'm not sure we're about to see an uptick in offensive linemen taking to social media about how disrespected they are as a group. But Dallas offensive guard Zach Martin is considering a holdout because he feels like he is underpaid. I mean, I think people certainly do look at Zach Martin as well, you might be the best guard in football.

Certainly on the short list of those candidates. But he restructured his contract a couple of years ago and he's got an $11 million cap hit this year. His overall, his average cap hit is about $14 million. That's his average value of his contract, $14 million. And that puts him 8th among offensive guards in the NFL. Former Boston College guard Chris Lidstrom just signed a long term deal with the Falcons. That's going to pay him $21 million this year. Quinton Nelson, who's probably the best guard in the game from the Indianapolis Colts, has a $20 million contract. So, you know, I understand Zach Martin's thought process there.

The only thing I would say is, timing is everything in the NFL and two years ago is a different time. Weddings are a celebration of finding the perfect fit. And with Indochino, you can design a custom suit made to your measurements.

Go to indochino.com and use code podcast for 10% off any order of $3.99 or more. If you can get more money, do it. I am always going to side with the player, unless it's stupid unreasonable. I'm going to side with the player. And if Zach Martin can get more money from the Dallas Cowboys, by all means, do it. Yesterday, everything was about Saquon Barkley.

We get it. It was all about him and his situation with the Giants. To refresh, for people who do not know, he was franchise tagged by the Giants in the spring. He did not sign his franchise tag and they had until Monday at 4 o'clock to negotiate a long term contract or he was stuck. That was the deadline.

4 o'clock PM Eastern Time Monday was the deadline. If you did not negotiate a long term contract by then, you were stuck with the Giants, can't play for another team. Unless the Giants allow you to become a free agent, you cannot sign a long term deal and this is where you are. Giants can't trade him. All they can do is, if they want to, rescind the tag and let him be free, which they would never do. He's their offense, I think. I think most people think. Anyway, so he didn't sign the franchise tag, which is $10 million guaranteed this year.

Maybe it's a shade more than that. He wants a long term deal. He wants to be in New Jersey. Kimberly Martin of ESPN on Barkley being the Giants offense. Brian Dabble saying, you know what, we're really not going to change up much.

Everybody knows the ball's going to say quite like we understand, like we're not going to deviate from what works. And you have seen Saquon always be that guy through injury to come back and to literally carry. He's the offense. We've said it so much on this network. He is their offense and he is that safety net for Daniel Jones.

It's more than a safety net, I think. Here's Barkley on whatever leverage he may have because that's this is my leverage. My leverage is I have to say to the Giants. I say to my teammates and be like, you want me to show you my work? I want to show you how much how valuable I am to the team. I won't show up. I won't play down. And that's a that's a that's a that's a play I can use.

Do I? Anybody knows me knows that's not something I want to do. But like it's something that has something that crossed my mind.

So I never I never thought I would ever do that. But now I'm at a point where it's like, Jesus, like I might have to take it to this level. Here's the problem. The leverage is not showing up. That's the leverage.

Yeah. Except that that leverage at best is delayed. The rules will not allow the Giants to even discuss a long term contract with Saquon Barkley now. So all he can do is sit out the year. It's all he can do or sit out all the way until November, because there's a drop dead date on when he can't even play this year.

It's like the middle of November, like eight, nine weeks, 10 weeks into the season, something like that. And then you can. But after that point, you're just you're not allowed to play. So he could sit out the first half of the season.

Giants can and who knows what the Giants record will be like this is, of course, a bet that if the Giants record is good, they're like, well, I guess we guessed right. Yeah, but they want Barkley and Barkley wants to be there. The problem is that there's nothing to hold out for right now. All you're doing is punishing. And I'm not saying he shouldn't do that.

I'm just saying you can't get your desired result from holding out. But again, his money. This is where the system is so broken against the player. And it's like it's broken and they're beating the player with the system.

It is awful, awful. Remember, I asked the question yesterday. We'll get to this later on. I asked the question yesterday.

Why do general fans side with management over players? It's crazy, but I have obviously because I I got an email about it. I'm going to read that later. But you know, no human being who worked for a company that made the money that these companies make. Yeah. Would want to be when you are the product. Yeah. Would accept the way some of the players, not all of the players, quarterbacks treated really well.

Real well. But no, nobody would accept these terms. But I understand why people look at it that way and will illustrate that with an email a little bit later on. Not that today's NFL news is all about teams that live and work in New Jersey. But there's a member where there's a reason why the NFL wanted the Jets on hard knocks. Yes, we all understand. Jets, by the way, are not going to make this easy.

This is this gets down to the inhumane part, right? They will not show players that they said this yesterday. They will not show players being cut.

Part of the drama is that interaction between the coach and the player when that player isn't going to make the team and they're releasing him. Right. I mean, that is it's actually the only episode I've ever watched of hard knocks was an episode where somebody got cut.

Well, I mean, just look at how popular The Bachelorette is or The Bachelor. It's the same thing. It's the same thing. And he takes the rose. He doesn't even give the rose. You don't get anything. They take the rose here. Bring me your rose and your playbook.

Cut your own flowers. So the. Oh, sorry. Anyway, so the Jets are not doing that because they feel like showing that is inhumane. Well, you just said that out loud. The sport is inhumane.

Right. I don't understand how these men do it. I have the utmost respect for for the men who play professional football. It is a brutal game. It literally is to me very good.

I could be. Not only is it cutthroat in in an emotional sense, it's it's physically it's a war of attrition. It is. I don't know how guys get through a 17 game season.

I can't even fathom it now. And there are players who I'm not hurt. All right. Look, we know there's a lot of painkillers involved.

That's not inhumane at all. Oh, we know that. We know there's insane amounts of playing through injury and physical sacrifice. All I think of is Patrick Mahomes.

I just last year. I'll just you could see it. Oh, yeah. Look, every guy's play through everything.

So but showing somebody being cut or released is inhumane. I just found that to be deliciously ironic. OK, so we understand the Jets fascination. It's the Aaron Rodgers show. So on get up today, it was Super Bowl or bust for the Jets or no, it's Aaron Rodgers, Super Bowl or bust.

Here's Rich Simony from ESPN who covers the Jets. I think he's a man on a mission right now. Everything I've seen about him, been around him for a few months now and he's all in. Now he's really taken ownership. He's he's running the offense. He's running some meetings. He's coaching different position groups in the OTA.

Even when he wasn't practicing because of his calf injury, he was out there coaching the young receivers, the young running backs. So he's taking complete ownership. He knows that he's got to get these guys all on the same page. It's his offense and he's trying to get everyone on board. So, you know, if there's pressure, I haven't seen it. Of course, it's only July.

So we're not you know, we're not going to see it this early. But I think he's all into this and he's got something to prove to the Packers and probably the rest of the NFL as well. That's every year is Aaron Rodgers, right? The Packers drafted Jordan Love. Aaron Rodgers won the MVP two years in a row. This is Aaron. It's what he does.

Can't make it up, man. Like whether it's real or imagined, he will find a villain to rub it in. Michael Jordan did this every single year.

Every year he did that. And that's whatever. That's good. Whatever. Whatever gets you through the night. I will say that. All right.

Final thing. Open championship starts tomorrow. Actually, we are less than 24 hours away from it.

In fact, I can't even do the math. We're like 15 hours away from the start. 1.35 a.m. Eastern Time tomorrow. First groups will go off the first tee at Royal Liverpool. They don't do it first and a tenth tee start. They send everybody out off the first.

You play as the rotation is supposed to be played. The only thing that would get in the way of that is bad weather. I mean, really bad weather. Unless it's lightning, they never stop because the ground is so it's just drained so well. Rarely do you get unplayable conditions.

You might get unplayable conditions based on wind. Yeah. If it's lightning, you could go get a lottery ticket. That's right today.

Today for a for a billion. Yeah. Martin Slumber is the executive director of the Royal and Ancient. That's the RNA. They are the governing body of golf everywhere in the world other than the United States and Canada, I believe.

The Royal and Ancient. So the RNA runs the open championship. And he said yesterday at his state of the game address, everybody's got a state of something address.

He said that they will not rule out accepting investments from the public investment fund. The Royal family of Saudi Arabia. That's live golf. That's a lot of Formula One. That's Newcastle United in the Premier League.

They're everywhere. We understand that. We now we now have the working arrangement or great framework for agreement between the PGA Tour and the public investment fund to take golf another step.

And we talked about this last week, the week before whatever. And my feeling then and it does not change is that this will be an inevitability not just in golf but in other sports as well. Because of what Saudi Arabia what that what that money is doing what their goal is. None of these things make money for them. Their investment in the live golf league loses money only loses money.

That's a terrible business model. But they don't care because they basically have a bottomless pit of money. But because of what they did, it has raised everybody's expectations financially. Randall Chamblee of Golf Channel was on Rich Eisen's show yesterday.

And here's what he had to say about that. I think whichever way you look at it, I think the game has been tilted towards greed. And to re anchor star players to the reality of their situation is going to be difficult. The ratings can't support the purses that players are playing for right now. And to re anchor because of private equity comes into support the private equity comes into and starts supporting the PGA Tour.

Look, they're they're not going to spend frivolously. You know, it's going to be tied to market principles. So these PGA Tour players are going to sort of have to re anchor their value to the reality of economics. And that's just not where they're at right now. And it's going to be tough to put that genie back in the bottle. The PGA Tour had to respond to the money being paid to live players in order to keep as many players as they could from going to the other league.

I had to do it. So that's when you got the mad scramble of elevated events, doubling purses, all of that. And everybody's like, Oh, man, now PGA Tour, these guys are making all the money, except that there was no source, or shouldn't say no source. They were really tapping themselves dry. They had to supplement as an organization. They couldn't continue to ask sponsors to Hey, I know we asked you for 8 million last year, but we need 15 million this year.

Because a lot of places didn't have that for them. And ultimately, they went scrambling back to the PIF. It's going to happen in golf, it's going to happen in tennis. Adam Silver said, Well, it won't won't happen in basketball. Bull, it's going to happen. It already has. The Public Investment Fund of I guess it's I don't know if it's called a PIF of Qatar, who basically flat flat out owns PSG in the French league, has purchased 5% of the company that owns the Washington Wizards. Ted Leonsis owns the Wizards and the Capitals and Qatar, the Qatar sovereign wealth fund has purchased 5% of his company. Good luck stopping it. The sovereign wealth funds, private equity funds are everywhere, everywhere.

Good luck. The ¡Ores huevos!