Jay Bilas on the Maui wildfires, the discussion of conference realignment, & the future of the NCAA

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That's vroom.com. How much of it have you watched? I'm sure it has been difficult to watch.

And what do you know about the immediate future of that? Yeah, it's been heartbreaking. The devastation is just gut-wrenching to watch. It's really been kind of unimaginable. My wife actually brought out some pictures last night of that very area from just last year's tournament.

And, you know, it looks like an apocalyptic scene. So we're heartbroken for Maui and all the people there. As far as the tournament, I haven't heard anything, so I don't really know.

I read a report that the Civic Center, which is just up a hill above Lahaina, is still intact. But, you know, you can't imagine. It's hard to imagine in the aftermath of this you could have a tournament. During COVID, the Maui Invitational was played once in Asheville, North Carolina. And then the following year, when Maui was still closed down to visitors, they had it in Las Vegas.

So there are other options, but nobody's really thinking about that right now. It's just sort of trying to wrap your head around what happened. It's just so difficult to watch. I mean, just on a personal level, because I've read enough about it that there's something about it. I've never been to Hawaii, let alone Lahaina. There's something about the area that is different or special. Can you put your finger on what it is about the area? Well, it's like what's special about Charleston or Savannah or, you know, some of these historic districts. It's a historic district in that area. And, you know, a lot of the businesses have been there for a long, long time.

And the restaurants and all that, they're all gone. There's a banyan tree that survived. Although it's, you know, badly damaged and singed and all you can imagine from the heat. But that's been there since I think it was planted in 1857. But, you know, some of those some of those buildings have been there a long time, and they're just now charred rubble. And, and, you know, I mean, look, I saw Oppenheimer the other night. Yeah. And one, it's a really good movie.

I didn't think I'd like anything for three hours, but it was really good. But afterwards, you know, we, my wife and I were saying you could you could slide these pictures into some of the things that you saw in Oppenheimer and it fit in there. I mean, it was just so I could never have imagined this kind of thing. And the fact that it went all up and down the island and especially on one side of it. It's just it's just hard to believe really.

Yeah, I think at last read some somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 people have lost their lives. Jay Billis is joining us here on the Adam Gold Show. All right. I know how you are, whether it's intentional or not, have tried to be the voice of reason when it comes to college sports and athletes realizing their, their value in the marketplace. But this we're not even talking about NIL anymore because the conferences are not even resembling what they used to be. So you have thoughts on what has gone on in the last not not even just the last two weeks, but the last two years with major college conferences.

Yeah, Adam, I think it's kind of more of the same honestly, I've sort of been raising my eyebrows and rolling my eyes a little bit at the complaining from college administrators about this, the latest move. And look, I get it that nobody wanted to see the Pac 12 go away. But, you know, it wasn't like it wasn't like, you know, all these other conferences drove up in a van and dangle candy out the door to try to get the Pac 12 schools to get in so they could kidnap them.

You know, they went willingly and and this all started 30 years ago. And it's been going on for all this time, you know, you had Nebraska go to the Big Ten and Maryland go to the Big Ten and, and Texas and Oklahoma recently went to the Southeastern Conference Missouri went to the Southeastern Conference. You know you had the Big East take in all these schools and then the ACC took all those Big East schools, and the Big East kind of popped up again in a basketball context. The pack the Pac 12 to Colorado and Utah. And when I was in high school, the Pac 12 took in Arizona Arizona State like one of the things that makes me laugh is I played in the ACC, when it was eight teams, eight, and five of our seven road trips at Duke in conference were by bus. And now they're flying to Syracuse and Notre Dame and Miami and Boston College and all these places. You know it, we all kind of predicted that we were going to wind up with four super conferences. And now we, we have that, and we have the audacity to act surprised.

And those moves have been made they've been made for one reason for money and long term business sustainability and all the things that multi billion dollar businesses say. And, but the thing that makes me laugh about this, and I'm not saying you know it's funny, but I just kind of chuckle when administrators say I can't believe they're doing. Yeah.

And going, well you did it. So it's okay when you did it. But then it's out of control when somebody else does it. And then the ACC administrator saying Can you believe this like, I couldn't believe when you guys took in Syracuse Pittsburgh Boston College Notre Dame and Miami, and Virginia Tech.

You know, I mean, who's, who's the arbiter of what's crazy here. It's actually really normal, given what we've been doing in in this game and this this this industry over the last 30 years. Well, football is is unfortunately what it is it is not about the other sports. Eli drink wits the head football coach at Missouri wondered aloud, and I know he has said some things about NIL which we all roll our eyes at but I thought he was kind of on point when he said that we thought about the collateral damage of what was to all of the other athletes in who have to, it's not just about air miles.

It's about time zones. It's about none of those sports fly charter they all fly have to fly commercial. So, I don't know how many times I have been flying somewhere and I see, oh, I don't know the, the University of Louisville softball team, waiting for a connecting flight in an airport. The, the, the amount of burden on the athletes, not football or men's basketball is going to be devastating. Well, I don't think it'll be devastating I think will be fine, but what what I think is happening is these administrators, while at the same time, making these conference deals that turn the all of their teams in to give them NFL NBA Major League Baseball the capacity and the goal to turn around and say but we need guardrails on their compensation. And they're going to go in front of Congress and say well we're just little college sports all we do is educate and, and, you know, build leaders of tomorrow.

You know what I mean? Like, you're the NFL and the NBA, what are you talking about, and and you made these decisions for hundreds of millions of dollars in a multi billion dollar industry. And you're going to try to say you're running the Little League World Series and the teams are being coached by by one player's dad is an insurance salesman, like come on now. I've always hesitated to use the word hypocrisy with college sports I just think it's, it can be incendiary and it raises people off. I've always said well there are a lot of contradictions. This is just straight out hypocrisy and any legislator congressman or senator who listens to these administrators complain about the transfer portal when the transfer portal is open for business for any school that wants to make its players travel cross country for a normal, normal conference game. They should laugh them right out of the committee rooms.

I am in 100% agreement on that. I am curious about this Jay Billis, and I know the NCAA is really just it's all the schools I am well aware of the power structure and Charlie Baker the new man in charge is basically just a mouthpiece for all the, all of the presidents, but somewhere along the line I would have loved to have seen some leadership from that office to publicly chastise the conferences for what are you doing you are destroying the fabric of all of this. Just trying to get more money for yourselves. I understand it's big business, but I thought as you said I thought it was college sports. But, but, are they really destroying the fabric of this like it's still college sports all the only difference between college sports and professional sports is the players are enrolled in school that's the only difference other than that it's entirely the same they have the same media rights deals they have schedules they have the same travel all that stuff. And so it's really no different. I don't, I don't think it's destroying it, and it's just the latest round of it we go through this every couple years remember when we were, you know, the latest apocalypse before this one was USC and UCLA. Right.

Oh my god, how's this going to work it's going to work fine. It won't be a problem, you know, and we had apocalypse is before when the ACC expanded, Texas and Oklahoma left and all that stuff. It's really not that big of a deal you know people like tradition that much do could still be in the Southern Conference. And I'm not sure that it's over yet with Florida State making rumblings and, you know, venture capital, private equity, considering getting involved in college sports, who knows we could see some issues with the ACC going forward. But, but it's, I get it where, you know, when things change.

There's a little bit of trepidation on the part of fans, but we've seen over the years, nobody has turned away, nobody turned away when I came in, nobody turned away when the transfer portal came in, nobody turned away when you know when I again going back to when I was in college, ACC eight school. There used to be the big eight, and it was the pack eight and shockingly the big 10 had 10 teams. It made sense that it was a big 12 and all that and then the big 10 started expanding the Big East expanded. You know that this is just normal business that that continues on where, where these schools are going to take the best deals and and to the point of the Missouri football coach, it's not all about football. All of these other sports. They do have inventory value for television.

Yeah. And for their media rights partners. So you're probably not going to see what makes sense is that if football is the, you know the valuable property, then play a football schedule how you want and and and you group together how you want and whatever conferences, and then all your other sports could play a more regional schedule and you have different conferences for them, but they want all their media rights bundled together to sell because they make more money than if they just sold football because basketball is still valuable softballs making money baseball's getting money, all these all these networks, whether they have a college sports network they have their own conference network.

They have that inventory to be able to sell maybe the little league softball World Series is on television in front of me right now Jay Bill is before I let you go just want to make it clear. I don't the games are never going to go away. I mean college football is the most the second most popular sport in the United States behind the NFL. We're always going to watch the games I've tried to make that clear all the time that those get the games are never going to go away. Just what we are what we are used to accustomed to with college football and the structure and the conferences. I mean, I personally think we're going to be one or two conferences in within five years. It's just going to look totally different but on game day. I don't think anybody will care with the CW getting involved in sports now. We're going to live golf tournaments. I've made I made the joke with Jim Phillips. Let's just get the public investment fund to underwrite ACC football and problem solved.

Yeah, I mean that may happen. Who knows what I think what what college sports administrators have shown is that they have no governor on taking the most money and and you probably hear it too. I hear it from time to time. I do a lot of primetime games and very fortunate to do so, but you may have a 930 game on Tuesday 9 30 p.m. on the east coast. Yeah, and in invariably an administrator will come up and say how can you guys put this game at 9 30 these guys got to go to school tomorrow and the fans are going to aren't going to get home until one in the morning and you have to gently remind them like we don't determine when the games are you do like you can play all your games at noon on Saturday and Sunday if you want we pay more at 930 right you took the money you sold us this game at 930 so so like and and you know, well sometimes we'll have a slide of the tip from like 932 to like 942 right and they'll complain about the slide and go you sold us that like we paid for that. If you don't want the game to slide then don't take the money and then we have some coaches will say don't want to do the halftime interview.

All right, but you sold it to us. We paid you for it, you know, like I don't care whether coach does a halftime interview. I don't think they're that great anyway, but but you know, they they took money for it and then they want to complain about having to do it. Like I'm sorry, you know, if you don't want to do it like Augusta National Golf Club could as you know could make so much more money than they make if they had more commercials and they had signage on the golf course and they charged what people would expect for a pimento cheese sandwich they pay 10 bucks for that thing and they charge three and they do it because of their, you know, they at least put money they have certain values and principles they're going to stick to. And the NCAA is unwilling to do that and all the member institutions they are unwilling to do that. You know, they could play all their games like the Ivy League on Friday and Saturday, and they won't do it. So they're going, hey, you'll pay more on Tuesday, 930, we'll take it. There you go. It's a matter of time. I think the ACC should be playing football every Friday night.

If they could get a bigger package, do it. Jay Billis, I appreciate your time. Have a good weekend, and we'll talk again soon, sir.

Jay Billis here on the Adam Gold show. My sleep is way better. My inflammation has gone way down. Golo saved my life. I was way overweight. That's what sent me down the path.

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