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Now, on with the show. Activating. No. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Here's the other surprising part.
With guest host, Kirk Morrison, live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Earlier on the show. Chief's head coach Andy Reed. Golf channel analyst Randall Chambly. Coming up.
Senior NBA writer for the athletic, Joe Varden. NFL VP of Broadcast Planning. Mike North. And now, filling in for Rich, it's Kirk Morrison. Back here, our number three of the Rich Eisen Show on this Friday, May 15th.
Oh man, so we're here, we made it, we made it to the weekend. One hour to go, and still got some things that we want to get covered here as we get ready for a big weekend in sports. Two, is it two game sixes tonight? I said two. Yeah, two game sixes tonight.
Pistons at Cavs, that comes up 7 p.m. Eastern Time. That'll be over on Prime, as well as 9:30 p.m. Eastern Time. Spurs at T-Wolves.
And we could see some possible game sevens on Sunday. That'll always be on the mind. We've got the PGA championship right now. And I think currently we have Aldrich Potgeeter right now. He is through six.
In his second round, he is overall right now at minus four, but you still got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight guys within a shot of Pot Geater. Eight guys within one shot of the lead.
So a lot going on over at the PGA Championship as well. One of the things that you look at too here on a Friday is. Is, you know, I would say we talked a lot about the scheduled release yesterday. But for me, I always look at this point now where, like, Boom, what what's what's upcoming? Like what's upcoming?
Because I got my list. I know when the games are happening in the NFL. But that's like the last like temp pole event for me. We've had the Super Bowl. Right.
We've had our draft. We've had free agency, all that stuff. And now we know when the games are.
So now it's almost like the break time is upcoming.
Now it's the planning part of how do you plan your summer.
So, a lot of guys for me and like a lot of our NFL writers. We go into National media, we go into this time where it's like, what do we analyze? What do we do? Because we're going to dissect the schedule for about another couple of days. We get the whole weekend, you get the early parts of next week.
Then you got the mandatory minicamp portions of the NFL, and then it's just quiet. You're focusing in maybe on the NBA a little bit. You kind of you know, gear up to, you know, the finals, NBA finals coming up or Western Conference finals. Get caught up on baseball a little bit. I know I still need to get caught up on baseball.
I have no idea who's winning right now. Who's the best team in baseball right now? Anybody know? I can tell you who's not the best team in baseball. Who's not the best team?
New York Metropolitans. Yeah.
So yeah, Yankees' best team? Thanks, Yankees, right? Really? Uh. You know, because my team who actually won recently, yeah, they've stunk so bad.
I think it's Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay. Actually, the Braves. Oh, Braves. Yeah.
Braves have their best record. 30 years. Tampa Bay get a new stadium yet? Are they working on it? They're fighting for it.
Pretty sure, but man.
Something like that. I mean, that's all I know. I mean, I just get the hot, you know, the hot topics. 28, 14, they're leading the East.
Okay. Yeah.
So I'm looking for all that. Tampa Bay's trying to get the stadium for the Rays. Hopefully, that happens. But again, I shift a lot of my focus. to now getting ready for the summer and upcoming.
And you plan your vacations around, and you get ready because it's going to be the season to be here before I know it. You're probably about two months away where guys are reporting. Rookies will be reporting before you know it. And next thing you know, preseason is going to be here. Training camp, then preseason, and then it's NFL season, it'll be here.
And so always think back to What's the expectation for a season? Versus If you're a fan of a team, obviously you want to see your team go all the way. You want to see your team go all the way. That's fine. But my expectation is sometimes it's like I have to this year just let things happen more so than kind of we wishful thinking.
I don't want to bring in the Cowboys in this conversation, but what I'm saying is that. Because you know, we're winning the Super Bowl. No. But so many times, like, if you think about it, Jay too. Like, there's an expectation each week, and the emotional stress that your team can put you through.
Like, I've seen so many people just, oh my God, this, and we're bad, or this. And I'm like, This is sports. Like so much, I think last year I put so much of my energy and time and feelings into this weekend, and my mood would be changed. And so, out of 17 games of a season last year with the Raiders, I only had three happy Mondays. You know what I'm saying?
Three. Three. It was 14 of them that went down, and you're like, oh my. But then you realize that, look, you get an offseason where things can happen. and can change and can move on and And there's the same thing, I think.
Other teams like Tennessee Titans. I mean, I know Rich is a New York Jets fan. There's a lot of New York Jets fans. And I look at the Jets, and they haven't been to the playoffs in ages, right? And yet people still get excited about what The possibilities can be.
What could this year be? Right, the draft brings belief.
Okay. The the the the draft brings hope. The schedule brings Uh understanding and when And then finally you just let it all play out.
So TJ As we go into this time where you're planning How you're going to view what games are you maybe going to or not, but what's the real expectation? Because we all know. Only one team can win the Super Bowl. But what's your real expectation going into this season? What is success outside of a Super Bowl for you?
Well, I think as a Cowboys fan, we're put up to this pedestal, even though obviously we haven't won in 30 plus years, right? I know this because I hear it every single day of my life, regardless of the fact of how many we've won in the past. I feel like for the Cowboys, the only way to have a successful season in everyone's eyes is not to just win the division, not to win the conference. We've got to win the Super Bowl. Like that is plain as well.
That it's plain and simple. That's Where the bar is as a Cowboys fan and as someone who I'm sure hates the Cowboys, which many, many people do, because again, I hear this, Kirk, every day of my life. But yeah, so to look at this schedule, as I've said. Cowboys' defense was historically horrible last year, right? Yeah.
But we had a. really great offense. With the addition of Caleb Downs, we put in work in the draft. I'm very happy with what we did draft-wise. I just say this.
We don't need to have, you know, the 85 Bears defense, right? We don't have to have that early 2000s Ravens defense. We just. Just don't have to suck. That's it, right?
Because they were so bad last year, Kurt, that all you have to do is just not be the worst. Be okay. This is a case where being average is going to get us at least three more wins than we had last year.
Well, I be seeing you and your celebrity friends on Sunday, December 20th.
Well, then, the Dallas Cowboys come to Los Angeles to take on the Los Angeles Rams. I know you have a lot of friends in high places. That's true. I do. I used to.
Now I feel like I don't have any friends. Oh, come on, man. But these guys know I love nothing more than to stay at the crib, watch my TVs, don't have to deal with parking, don't have to deal with people. I don't like to leave on Football Sunday because I got the remote. I can rewind.
I can pause. But you spoke of celebrities. There's a celebrity that we all know, maybe one of the biggest celebrities in town.
Okay. His name is Mike Del Tufo. He is a Los Angeles Rams ticket holder, and he's been promising me. That he and I are going to attend this game. If he doesn't go, he's at least just going to give me the ticket.
So, okay. Yeah, I will be as of now with one of LA's biggest celebs, Mike Del Tufo.
Okay. You know what I mean?
So that'll be a hot ticket. That will be a hot ticket.
So you look, you know, outside. That's like a Christmas present ticket, right? As close as that one is to Christmas. I got to make sure I don't go home early. I got to stay here for the game.
But yeah, man, looking at our out-of-you know, division games, of course, we know we got the Giants, the Iggles, and the Washington football team. Look, we've got the Ravens out of the country. We've got Houston, who. You know, that defense in Houston is scary, Chris. Yeah, I know.
Scary. And then you got the Bays, Tampa and Green Bay. The crazy part about all of this is that I look at the schedule, and a lot of times these schedules are what? Kind of y you you look at them based on The teams and what they were a year ago, a year ago, right? But it's changed, and it changes so quickly.
Because I remember last year it was all about, oh, man, they got the Commanders twice. And the Commanders was not good last year. You know what I mean?
That's always two dubs. Literally. Yeah, literally. But, man, I mentioned to you that we got two game sixes. That's right.
Two game sixes in the NBA. And here to join us now, Joe Varden of the Athletics and your NBA writer. And Joe, man, appreciate the time. I know it's been a busy, busy time, but what's the expectation tonight? Two game sixes, starting with the Pistons and the Cavs.
I mean, Pistons, best record in the East. And you kind of knew that, okay, they're on that verge, but they could be. out of the playoffs tonight. What what's the expectation when it comes to that series? Yeah, you know, it's been a while since a number one seed has advanced out of the east, certainly to the finals.
And then last year, the Cavs were in this position and actually lost 4-1.
So this is hard. And, you know, the Cavs have won three in a row in this series. They're at home where they haven't lost in the playoffs. And they seem to have figured something out offensively.
Now, Duncan Robinson being out of game five allowed them to go to Dannis Jenkins, and he was really good. He was actually really tough on Donovan for the first four quarters. And the Pistons certainly had a chance to win. But you look at the free throw discrepancy in the series, it's outrageous in favor of Cleveland. You can complain about the officiating if you want, but the Cavs are more active with the ball.
They're moving it more and they're getting to the rim, drawing contact.
So. You know, I hate to be a prisoner of the moment here, but it's hard to declare a road team that a road team's gonna come in to somebody else's building in a closeout series and take game six.
So no surprise if the Cleveland Cavaliers are able to win this game. But I think when you look at the team that's already waiting for them, the New York Knicks, do you see a path for either these two teams to To put up a fight against the New York Knicks, not saying that they can't win, but being one of those long, drawn-out series, coming out of one like this against a team that's rested like the Knicks, does that give the Knicks an advantage against these two teams are still slugging it out? No, I don't think so. I think it's the other way around. And I, at the start of the second round, I wrote something to the effect of that I have no feel for any of the four teams who are left.
Like you could, you could tell me that any one of these four is going to make it, and that's fine.
Now, since then, the Knicks, of course, swept Philadelphia. And then when you add in what they had done to the Hawks in the first round, the Knicks have actually been playing lights out for seven consecutive games.
So I do like what they've been up to lately. But that time off, especially if Cleveland wins tonight. When you get to a game seven, and then whoever advances out of a game seven, that first game in the next series is usually pretty messy. But if Cleveland can get this done tonight and then you play Saturday, 3:30 at the garden, the Knicks will have been off for what, a week, close. And the Cavs will have been playing every other day, and they'll be in a rhythm.
So, you know, I think I would pick the Knicks to win that series. But you would look for in this event where if Cleveland wins tonight and they're there Sunday at 3:30, I would not be surprised to see the Cavs take that game. The athletics and your NBA writer Joe Varden joined the Rich Eisen show. Kirk Borson here filling in for Rich. We always look for rivalries, we always look for new matchups.
Things that we can kind of hold our hat on and see these year after year after year. We're hoping that it could be this San Antonio Spurs and Minnesota Timberwolves series that we can see this year after year. But right now, it looks like Wimby and the Spurs are holding court. And they have an opportunity to secure their birth into the Western Conference semifinals. What's been your take so far on this series as we get to game six?
Well, I've been pleasantly surprised by Minnesota. You know, you didn't know about Ant. And then, you know, just the Spurs have been so good all year. You know, and Minnesota was one of those teams that kind of. You know, you just weren't thrilled about it.
You just weren't thrilled about how the regular season went for them. But this is definitely a real series. There is every chance for Minnesota to win tonight, for sure. They are at home. They've already won once at home in this series.
So, you know, it's certainly not out of the realm for them, I would say, to force a game seven. And, you know, you like the emergence of some of these other players with the Timberwolves, like a McDaniels, you know. And the Spurs, for as good as they have been all year and as well as they are built for the present and the future, there still is some lack of experience there. And so they are working through that. You know, I assume that Wemby will keep his cool tonight and that will help the Spurs.
But I've really enjoyed that series. Yeah, I think it's been a series that a lot of people didn't know what to expect, right? This is Wimbinyama's first opportunity really on the national stage. I think he's shown out, but obviously, you mentioned he's got to keep his cool. But if he keeps his cool, I think we do get a chance to see what this Spurs team has been.
This is a new wave of Spurs. We know about the Spurs of old, but what about these new Spurs? And could this be the next power of the NBA for many years to come?
Well, you know, we haven't had a repeat champion since the 17 Warriors and 18 Warriors.
So we're looking to see if that happens this year with the Thunder. Feels like they're in the best position to maybe do it.
So all that is to say, We need to like, it's harder to declare any team the next great sustainable franchise. But I, I, I, you know, you're talking about rivalries with these two teams. Right. We got to remember, San Antonio pounded OKC during the regular season, just beat him up. Um and so assuming we get to a conference final conference finals out west with those two teams.
That might be a great series, yeah. And you certainly suspect in the west that you're going to see for a long time, you're going to see the thunder. You're going to see the Spurs group. You think that the Timberwolves should be competitive for years to come. And as long as Denver has Jokic, I think that rounds out the top four there pretty well.
You know, Joe, I know you got to run, and I apologize in advance because I have to ask I have to ask it one LeBron question. Because I know the Lakers are out of the playoffs. They have nothing to do with the playoffs right now currently, but yet LeBron James still has the headlines of the NBA Christians. I just never knew that LeBron was underappreciated by the Lakers.
So I'll quickly ask you: is there going to be a resolution to this, or is this one of those things that's drawn out all summer long again?
Well I if he wants to play. Then I think... it will be drawn out. I think that he would want to play and he would want to return to the Lakers. I just think those two things would go hand in hand.
And then if that's the case, unless the Lakers feel like they can get him for, let's say, a $15 million number, which is, I'm not very good at math, but roughly 35 to 37 million less than he's making this year. If they could lock that in before they go out. and really finish whatever they're trying to do in free agency and trades, then okay. But what I would suspect is in the event that LeBron wants to play, he says, okay, I want to come back. The Lakers say, great.
Let us go take a look at what we're trying to do elsewhere in free agency and see how much it costs, and then we'll come back to you with your fit, your role, and what we can pay you. And I think the answer will be yes. I just don't see a scenario where, like, the teams with room, um, the bulls have the most cap space, but adding 41 or 42-year-old LeBron doesn't turn that team around for where it needs to go long term.
So, you don't like that. in Cleveland Right now, they could pay him six million. That's less than Sam Merrill. Do you think he's coming here for that? I don't.
So then it just gets a little sticky.
So I just think to answer your question, If he wants to play. Then it would, you know, that he would rather stay with the Lakers and it would just be a little bit more of a drawn-out process. No. Well, you know, it's yeah, it's always fun when it's around LeBron, man. Hey, Joe, I know you got a run, man, but appreciate the time as always, and we'll catch up soon.
Okay, thanks for having me. All right. Thanks. That's Joe Barden, the athletic senior NBA rider. And yeah, it's always fun.
We got two game sixes and still the Lakers are still headlines. It's LeBron underappreciated.
Well, I know a guy who I appreciate. Can't wait for him to join the show. Yeah, I appreciate you always, TJ, but Mike North, the NFL's VP of Broadcast Planet. We'll find out how the sausage was made. That's the NFL schedule coming up next.
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Brought to you by PayPal, official peer-to-peer payment sponsor of the NFL. Hello on Sunday. And being able to see the college game. And watch the young guys as they prepare And they're just playing. They're doing it.
And then you watch 'em again on Sunday and you're like, dude, like It's fun, man. It really is. Cause I you I sat down with Tyler Shuck. in a meeting room in Louisville, Kentucky. And Man, y Just, you look at him and you root for him.
You root for a kid who was at Oregon and didn't get the opportunity behind Justin Herbert, who was Justin Herbert's backup. Goes to Texas Tech and he gets injured. And all of a sudden he's like, Uh, I got injured because I got hit, not because I have I'm not injury prone. Like, it's just those types of things. And now he's the starting quarterback of the New Orleans Saints.
But man, excited to talk to my next guest here, Mr. Mike North. He's the NFL VP of Broadcast Planning. And every time I see Mike, it's usually. This time of year.
No, at the no not this time of year. No, no, no, no. You know, Mike's at all the big events, right? And when he's at the big events, he's always got the ear PC in. He's always conducting traffic.
He's manning traffic. He's moving people out of the way. Hey, hey, get the stage set up. Hold on. Five seconds.
Oh, we got two minutes. Hold on. All right. He's moving. He's moving.
He's constantly. He's working, man. And it's finally. Yeah.
He's always a busy, busy guy. But he's even more busy when the schedule gets released. And so I do ask you, as I start right here, Mike, is how many texts and phone calls? and emails do you get right before the schedule was released as people are just cramming they want the schedule how many calls and texts do you get right before Yeah, I'm popular for but then but then I go right back in my hole. It's uh you know they take me out of my hole, they parade me around for a couple days and then they put me in my hole and I'll see you next spring.
Um, but no, very lucky, very grateful, appreciative, humble. Uh, it's amazing to be part of this process, and the fact that everybody cares so much is a testament to the power of the league and the power of the game and to get to play a small role, and it's awesome. I'd love to talk about it.
So, thanks for having me on. No, always, Mike. I appreciate it because I think people think that just putting a schedule together is pretty easy, and it's not. I know how difficult it is, and you've actually been able to invite more people in to see what the process even looks like and what you have to go through. I'll start with this.
What was the biggest challenge for 2026? What's the biggest challenge in putting this schedule together than maybe in past years? Yeah, part of it honestly is that everybody's gotten smarter. You know, we were lucky for decades sitting in that room back there with Val Pinchback, you know, hanging the tags on the board one at a time. And we were lucky to get a schedule done.
And nobody expected anything more from us, quite honestly. They were like, oh, good. We can play a season. Let's go.
Now stakes are higher. You know, there's a hundred billion reasons why we need to do a good job here. And there's, you know, stadium availability, player health and safety, weather, travel, rest disparity, bye weeks, nine international games, a Wednesday night game before Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving and Christmas have turned into a thing. This isn't getting any easier.
Everybody's getting smarter. And, you know, it's never going to get any easier. We know that, but take it as a challenge, grateful for the opportunity. This year was unique like the others, but I think we landed in a really good spot. Yeah, I people don't realize that a lot of the stadiums and venues, they tend to stay open, but there are events that are already booked.
What comes into account, especially this year with the World Cup happening pretty soon and venues having to put themselves back into NFL shape? Did that have anything to or any challenges for the NFL season? That's going to impact the preseason more than the regular season, as you can imagine. The World Cup will be done by mid-July, I guess, and they'll figure out what they're going to do with the seating configurations and the turf and the locker rooms and everything. There was a couple of venues that said, hey, we could use an extra week, maybe put us on the road week one of the preseason, just to be sure we're ready for week two.
But regular season shouldn't be impacted by that. It's the usual stuff. You know, we use these buildings. 10 times a year. That's an awful lot of days when these big, beautiful buildings that sometimes cost a lot of taxpayer money should be used for something else.
And occasionally those events wander into the fall. And so no team ever wants to say to their coach or general manager, hey, we had to put ourselves on the road a couple of weeks in a row or lack of early season home primetime games because we had to block the building for a rock concert.
So it's a fine line to tread. Everybody handles it a little bit differently. Again, when we were building the schedule by hand, I don't even think we could have taken those things under consideration.
Now, the software, the hardware, our tech partners, the strategy, the optimization, the heuristics, all the work that goes into finding the best solution to this puzzle, we can accommodate it for the most part.
So if there's an event that needs to happen or a team needs to be out of their building for whatever reason, we can usually accommodate it without destroying their season. NFL VP of broadcast planner, Mike Norf, joining the Rich Eisen Show. And now you mentioned it, we do have different platforms in which to watch football. Isn't just your traditional CBS and Fox, it's ESPN, it's Peacock, it's NBC, it's Netflix, it is now Amazon Prime. And so, how do you handle that part of putting games into those specific, not just time slots, but also the different streaming?
For the NFL year in and year out. Yeah, it's a challenge. I mean, these streaming partners are obviously strategically important to the league. It's not so much, you know, oh, how do we make more money? It's really about how do we get the games where the fans are ingesting their content.
And, you know, there's a lot of talk, obviously, about, you know, more games on streamers. But this year, you know, we got the four games back from ESPN. We had that Monday night side-by-side with a doubleheader the last couple of years. I still don't understand how we lost containment on that. Everybody hated it.
I thought it was fun. I thought it was a good idea. But taking those games back now, how do you use them? Yeah, a couple of them went to Netflix, but a couple of them went to broadcast also. An extra game for NBC, an extra game for Fox.
So it's not like we're taking all our games off broadcast television. Broadcast television's been very good to the National Football League. There's a reach that's still unduplicated by the streaming partners, but you're starting to see an Amazon game get up to broadcast television level viewership numbers. That 30 million for the wildcard game last year, that's as much as any broadcast network had ever done on a Saturday night of wildcard. Netflix on Christmas doing 28 million.
That's what broadcast partners do.
So the fans are there. They vote with their remotes. They tell us where they want to get their content. And, you know, everybody's got Netflix. Everybody watches Stranger Things.
Everybody's got Amazon Prime. We all need big pals. Like, we're going to where the fans are and we're ensuring that, you know, the biggest games are in the biggest windows. Yeah, launching a couple new ones Wednesday night before Thanksgiving will be interesting. Never tried that before.
And we'll see what it's like. The fans will tell us how it works. And, you know, one way to. Build a Foothold in any window is to put a pretty good game there.
So, a good game like Packers Rams on Wednesday night, a good game like Niners Rams in Melbourne, a good game on Christmas, like Seattle, San Francisco, on Fox. Like, it's all about trying to make sure that the biggest games are in windows where the fans can find them. Yeah, and the funny thing is, I always love the people who are out with their pitchforks and yet you have all the data in front of you, right? It's like, oh, why is this? Why is that?
Ken FL does. I'm like, the data shows you. People are watching. People always say they're going to turn it off, and yet they still someone's watching, right? It's a compelling product, right?
I mean, it's the best thing on television. And one could make an argument. It's like the one thing that traditional linear television is even, you know, utilized for anymore. And so obviously sensitive, obviously cognizant, but to your point, the data supports the fact that what we're doing seems to be working. Most watch season in whatever it was, 15 years last year, and still more Sunday ticket subscribers than ever before.
So the fans know they can watch any game they want with the right product. But I think it's working. Yeah, and obviously, I have to kind of pivot to my folks behind me in Raider Nation who say, Well, the Raiders and the offseason that they've had and drafting of the number one overall pick and Fernando Mendoza and Just a new head coach. There's a lot a lot of good juice and that's flowing through the Raiders' facility and yet no prime time games. And how does the league handle that part of it of zero primetime games for a people would say a big time franchise in the Raiders?
Yeah, look, none of us know when or if Lendo is going to see the field this year. Obviously, Kirk Cousins is a competent quality quarterback in this league. He may well have them relevant. The good news about the way our product is distributed is you don't necessarily have to be on prime time to be on a lot of television screens, right? Yes, you didn't get a lot of primes.
Okay, so you're on Sunday afternoons a lot. There's still 30 million people watching NFL football at 1 o'clock Eastern on a Sunday, and hopefully 35 or 40 million people watching at 4 o'clock on a Sunday. These teams have every opportunity to play themselves into bigger windows. You know, we always say you play your way into primetime. You don't draft your way into prime time.
You don't fire your coach into prime time. You play your way into prime time. And look, if the Raiders have a better than we thought unexpected season, that's what flexible scheduling is for down the stretch. Those last five, six weeks of the season, if they're having a good year, it's probably because Denver or the Chargers are not. And so, if they're relevant, we'll find a way to get their games on national television down the stretch so that when they are playing playoff football in January, that's not the first time our fans are going to get to see a Raiders game.
NFL VP of Broadcast Planet Mike North joining us. A couple more minutes here in a record-tying seven. primetime stand alone games for the team here in Los Angeles, the Rams. And kind of what's the thought process behind the Rams and what they're doing? They didn't make the Super Bowl last year.
They aren't coming off of a Super Bowl, but yet it feels like they are a big draw for the NFL. Yeah, they are. I mean, look, they didn't make the Super Bowl, but they're a perennial playoff team. They have the league MVP, superstars on both sides of the ball. They've earned it, right?
We say we play your way into primetime. They've earned it. And plus, you see the graphic up on the screen. What a schedule. What a schedule.
Green Bay, a couple of San Francisco Dallas. Like, what are we supposed to do with those games? A Buffalo, a Philly. Those games have to find their way into big national windows. Those are the ones that the fans care about.
And we're not doing our jobs if we bury them at one o'clock. Like, if I have a regret, if there is such a thing, that Rams Eagles games that you just flapped up there. Sunday at one o'clock, we couldn't even find a primetime home for an Eagles-Rams game. Like, that's an embarrassment of riches.
So they've earned it. And to their credit, they were eager. You know, they definitely shot their hand up when we started talking about Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. They thought it would be a real fun event for them in that market. Fans turning out.
Nobody's going to work the next day. Nobody's going to school the next day. You know, Wednesday night before Thanksgiving is not a traditional television night. We may change that with games like this on Netflix. Yeah, we were talking about it earlier before.
That was just the night that you hung out with all your high school buddies and college friends who are back at home. Still can. And now, guess what? You can still do it. We just go to the bar and go watch a football game where, hey, everybody, come to my house and we go watch some football.
You know, Mike, the process of the schedule. When does it start? And when does it end? Like, is it how much does a draft play into it? How much does free agency play into it?
At what because we already know the games. That's the easy part. But when does it actually start to take place or take shape, the schedule? Yeah, I'm a little embarrassed to tell you we're already starting to look at 2027. I was going to ask that, but I was like, wait, it can't be starting on 27 just yet.
Even more international games, probably going to get to 10 next year. And I already know, you know, 14 of the 17 games for each of the teams.
So what's the rotation next year? It's the AFC East against the NFC East. Ooh, that could be fun. You know, the NFC North plays both the NFC West and the AFC West. That could be spicy.
Like, trying to already anticipate what we might be solving for for next year. But as far as this year goes, it starts in earnest the day after the regular season ends. That's when you know the last, whatever that is, 16, 48 games. Standings based game.
So you need those last three games. And then once you know the 272. We get started. We reach out to the clubs. What do we need to know?
Are you looking for international? Do you have stadium availability issues? Tell us what we did wrong last year. They're not shy. They remind us.
What do we owe you in terms of a home opener or a later buy or anything like that?
So we get started really day after the regular season. The final piece of the puzzle is the Super Bowl champion because now we know who's hosting that opening kickoff game on NBC. And then we go, kind of lock the doors and off we go. The computer's spinning non-stop 24-7 for 14 weeks, checkpointing with the commissioner along the way. If we hit him with something right at the end that surprises him, we did not do a good job managing that.
So hopefully he's not surprised by anything down the stretch and he's given us his feedback. I'll give you a good example. We showed him a schedule at one point that had Atlanta, New Orleans on the Monday night slate and had it in Atlanta. And he said, You dummies, put it in New Orleans. It's the 20th anniversary of the Superdome reopening.
Of course.
So he's, you know, not a mile wide, an inch deep. He's a mile wide and 10 miles deep on everything, including the schedule. And he sees everyone down the stretch. We met with him every day, and we did not get his blessing until Tuesday when he finally said, Yep, that's the one. Let's go.
A couple more questions for you, Mike. What went into the last game of the 2020? Five season being The first game of the 2026 season. Yeah, look, those are two teams that played in the Super Bowl. They're obviously good teams.
They've earned it. I recognize the off-field drama, but we're focused on the field. And you think about a Super Bowl rematch, you know, remember last year that Philly KC Super Bowl rematch, I think it was in week two. Right. And it did like 32 million viewers on a Sunday afternoon on Fox.
Like a Super Bowl rematch in the first couple of weeks is a Super Bowl rematch. Correct. Once you get to like week six, seven, eight. Nobody's looking back at February. Everybody's looking forward to this February.
So if you're going to take advantage of the fact that it's a Super Bowl rematch, it's got to be kind of early. And look, there were other good options. The Giants would have worked. Chicago would have worked. Kansas City would have been interesting if we knew for certain Mahomes was coming back.
There were plenty of good options, but no hesitation to pick up with a Super Bowl rematch. It's a game that's going to mean a lot in week one and probably never more so than in week one. My last question before I let you go, Mike, is the year of Disney, the Super Bowl on ESPN and the ESPN family of networks, especially with Disney. How does that all play into this schedule? And what more should we see throughout the year as the NFL takes its talents, its Super Bowl, to ESPN?
Yeah, look, they bring a promotional machinery that nobody else brings. When you think about all the television programming and also all the Disney assets, whether it's Mickey and Minnie or it's now, what, The Simpsons, Star Wars, whatever else they have, they have already started, as you guys know, banging the drum. I mean, it's going to be the biggest Super Bowl ever.
Some of that's going to be driven, of course, by the teams in the game and the competitiveness of the game. Yeah, I think you look at the Monday night football schedule and I think it reflects not so much that they've got the Super Bowl, but when you take away those Monday night side-by-sides, now they've got this opportunity to take some of those Monday night games on ESPN and simulcast them on ABC.
So now you're talking about two broadcast homes between Espen and ABC. Those numbers are going to be significant. And that's why I think you see us putting maybe better matchups than they certainly would have expected over the last couple of years and maybe some fans as well. But you take a game like Dallas Philly, arguably. You know, a top two, top three game of the season, and put it on Monday Night Football Simulcast on ABC.
That's a message. That's a signal. And they deserve it. They earn it. It'll be fun to watch them build all season long towards a Super Bowl, not to forget that they've got a wildcard game, a divisional game.
They're in this from day one till the very end. And it's going to be fun to see how they bang the drum all season long, bring out all the promotional platforms and bring all their assets to bear. Plus, don't forget, Super Bowl's on President's Day weekend this year. Nobody's going to work on Monday. Nobody's going to school.
We've got a nice three-day weekend for the Super Bowl called a national holiday like it deserves. An embarrassment of riches, Mike. Indeed. We're very lucky. Hey, before I let you go.
What's up, man? Let me ask you, because I think I asked you this before, and I think I got two different answers. What did you look for? When the schedule came out, like, where does your eye go? Does it go to prime time games?
Does it go to weather? Does it go to the bye week? What is it that you used to look for? I always might, you already know. When is my bye week?
That's all I care about. When's the bye? That's the one time, one week that you can guarantee it's some time off to just get away from football, be with family. I always wanted to know where I was at in the months of December and January because that's when the weather changed, cold weather. Yeah, and one time you stuck me going to Cleveland in December, and I remembered that.
I blame you, my December in Cleveland. That's a different cold. It is, but you know what? That's the competitive advantage that the Browns have, you know. And I'm sure they acknowledge, you know, asking the fans to come out when they're not competitive is one thing, but when they are competitive, that's their competitive advantage.
Same thing with the Florida teams in September. You know, you have to balance this, you know, fan-friendliness, convenience, whatever aspect with, hey, we're trying to win a Super Bowl here, you know, and you don't want to rob those teams of those advantages. It's a narrow needle to thread. And I'm always curious what everybody looks for. And everybody, ask 10 people, you get 10 answers.
Oh, you get 10 answers. And I think my last thing to that, too, is when the primetime games come out, trust me, the ticket rest ticket requests come out as well. There you go. Nobody wants to, you know, everybody, they'll watch the 1 p.m. Eastern kicks, but man, wait, Monday night?
Cowboys last year? I mean, Cowboys Raiders last year at Allegiant, my phone wouldn't stop ringing.
Okay. So I could blame you again, but I love you. And you can blame me, but you can also call me. I can help you get tickets. Hey, Mike, man.
I appreciate it, man. Thank you so much for the time. Always good to see you, man. The best of, yeah, get some rest. How about?
That vacation's in the mic, that's take care. Yep, NFL. VP of Broadcast Planning, Mike North. You heard it there, man. This is an unbelievable time, and what goes into the schedule, and a lot of good nuggets there, too.
I guess the the most watched NFL season last year. I can only imagine what it's going to be this year with these new broadcast windows and what he just said. You heard it there. What could be the the what biggest broadcast ever in terms of a Super Bowl right here on Disney Disney Plus, ESPN, every network. All right, we're wrapping everything up here, right here on the Rich Eisen Show coming up next.
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Oh, I outlasted two other people. I got to the showcase. I fell miserably, though, but you know. Yeah, the price is right, is really all is one of the. One of the all-time guest game shows of all time, watching Price is Right growing up.
That's when you know that's one of those sick days. Oh, yeah. Ginger O, Ginger El, yeah. Robotus and all of that. Ginger O, lemon.
Robotessen. Saltine crackers and Prices Rite. We had a conversation with my buddies the other day because I think we saw You know, I think somebody was playing. I guess there's a reboot of. What's that?
Highway to heaven? Is that the movie? What was the Michael? Yeah.
Highway to heaven? Not highway to heaven. I forgot what's the name of the. It was one of those olders, not SIPCON's, those shows, right? Kind of like, it wasn't, it's not a soap.
opera, but it's I forget what it was. I just saw we were talking about it. We were thinking about some of the daytime television and name nighttime. Like, you knew it was bedtime growing up when MASH came on. Highway to heaven, yeah.
Highway to heaven is going to be Nicolander. Yeah, they're making a remake of that. I'm telling you, you know how it is. You got to reboot it.
So, you're going to do the whole house in the prayer. Exactly.
So, we were just talking about that because I was like, man, how you going to make that? How are you going to redo that again? But that's the way it is now with shows. You redo it, but you do it more modernized. Because, oh, that's how we got into the topic.
That's how I remember now. You know you know what the to the topic was? How did the Devil Wears Product 2 get the bag? Have you seen the ratings for that and the revenue? Yeah, it's through the roof.
It's through the roof. That and the Michael Theater by my house. There's two movies playing there. Right. Every screen is either Devil Wears Product 2 or Michael.
I mean, Mortal Kombat. And Mortal Kombat. Yeah, well, that came in now.
So we're just talking about it, but like, you know, where. These movies or soaps are coming back with, you know, a version two, but a more of a. Um You know, more of a present-day look at it. And I saw Devil Worth Proud is still leading in the theaters with Michael, and I'm like, wow, like, that's unbelievable. Like, that's crazy.
So I can only imagine some of the game time shows I thought about growing up. What you saw on television.
So always remember, MASH is when it was time to go to bed. Young and the Restless was like midday. Don't talk. You know, Granny, hey, Granny's watching her soaps. You know, Young and the Restless.
And then we had Ricky Lake. You had Jerry Springer. Yeah.
And then what was like the mid-morning? It wasn't a mid-morning show, right? Growing up when you stayed at home. But I knew all the shows. Yeah, my grandma, we were at CBS house.
Oh, you're like, CBS was our local.
So it's like the news was on at noon, and then, you know, you had Young and the Wrestlers. Young and the Wrestlers came on. The beautiful. You had. Guiding light came on, it got in breeze.
Yeah, General Hospital. But that was an ABC. We didn't. ABC, you didn't have that? Grandma didn't.
She did not. After guiding Halai, Oprah. That antenna wasn't working for ABC.
Well, no, she just wasn't changing the channel. You know, once Oprah came on at like four, you know. My kids don't understand that, they don't realize that. They don't realize it. Like I didn't grow up in a remote household.
You were the remote. I was the remote. Yeah.
You know, I was the remote. Hey, go turn the channel. I'd have to get out of my seat and get over there and physically get to call from my grandparents. And I'll be like, they'd call me. Yes.
Change that TV to channel forward. And I'm like, but you're sitting. But you sit right there. You change it. I was the remote, man.
How things have changed, how things have changed. We've gone from changing TVs with now remotes. And now we're talking about how we're doing schedules where before the SCU NFL schedules were on a big giant board. And now we've got computer generating. AI versions Of a schedule that's being used that also helps out, and you do some tweaks here and there, man, but it's so fun, man.
Great to uh. Great to be here with you, as always, TJ. Oh, man. Jay, always a treat when players are. Kirk Warrison in.
This is me filling in for Rich. Have a great weekend. Thanks for listening to the Rich Eisen Show Podcast. You can watch and listen to The Rich Eisen Show live weekdays from noon to 3 Eastern on ESPN Radio, Disney Plus, and on the ESPN app, The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast.
