REShow: Tony Petitti - Hour 1 (6-6-2023)

This is the Rich Eisen Show. Miami Heat, as I said on the show the other day, it's like Godfather Part 3. Every time you think they're out... Murray to tie it, Heat wins! We pull you back in.

Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. They are back in. I just think nobody cares on our team. That's what I think it is.

I think it's the I-don't-give-a-damn factor. Today's guests, Big Ten Commissioner Tony Patetti, Baseball Hall of Famer Mr. October Reggie Jackson, NHL on TNT analyst Eddie Olchak. And now... It's Rich Eisen.

Well, hey everybody. Welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show. Live on the Roku channel in this Rich Eisen Show. Terrestrial radio affiliate Sirius XM Odyssey and more.

We are here live in Los Angeles, California. I want to thank Kirk Morrison for sitting in yesterday while I was able to hang out with the fam and watch my 12-year-old graduate from sixth grade. I went full Dick Vermeil.

It was full Richard Vermeil. It's all good. It's all right. By the way, I don't mean by winning on the one-yard line. My son, he went the whole distance. But at any rate, thanks to everybody for tuning in today. Good to see you, Chris Brockman. How are you, sir?

DJ Mikey Diaz and Deez Nuts and TJ Jefferson. Good to see you. What's up, bro? It's kind of wild.

All I was thinking about on the way down here is today's guest list and how, you know, wildly personal they are to me. Reggie Jackson is the guy who got me into baseball pretty much at age. It was 1977. He showed up in New York City.

I'm an eight year old sitting in Staten Island, New York. Yankees fresh off of getting swept by the big red machine. You know, Rose and and, you know, Bench and Sparky Anderson and Joe Morgan. And I'm, you know, totally in the tank for the Yankees. And then Reggie Jackson shows up from the Oakland A's just like Catfish Hunter.

And my whole entire world changed. I'm a Yankee fan because of Reggie Jackson and and him hitting three home runs. And he's going to be here in studio for our number two. We've been planning this caper for quite some time. He is here. He wants to talk about the lack of diversity in sports ownership and of course, his new documentary on Amazon Prime video called Reggie. So that's studio in studio guest hour number two.

And then our first guest that's joining us in about 17 minutes time. Tony Petitti is a longtime television executive who back in the day when I parted ways with ESPN or another way to put it handed a box by the worldwide leader in sports. And it was a wild time for me where I'm wondering, you know, I had an idea of what I was going to do next. And I was weighing a couple of offers that one of them, which wound up being the NFL Network, as we all know, which is turning 20 this fall. I'm on a honeymoon in Italy with Suze and got a phone call saying, Hey, CBS Sports wants you to host the US open late night tennis show.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, back in the day, CBS used to have in between David Letterman and Kilborn a half hour highlight show about the U.S. Open tennis tournament. And they wanted me to host it. And my head was swimming. I'm on my honeymoon. I'm no longer on ESPN.

I'm weighing options about what to do in my career. And I got a call from CBS saying, Hey, we want you to host this thing. Of course I did it. I'm a kid from New York City to work the U.S. Open. The executive who had the idea of hiring me is named Tony Petitti. He's now the Big Ten commissioner. And he's joining us. Wow.

In about 16 minutes time now. And tomorrow is my 20th wedding anniversary. So it's kind of like, wow, how these how these things work.

You know, 20 years. That's amazing. Oh, my gosh. So this is what I'm thinking about coming down to work today. And then all of a sudden I'm on the phone with Suze and she says, Oh, my gosh, I'm like, what?

She goes, the live tour just merged with the PGA tour. Boom. I'm like, what? What? I almost pulled over on the four or five, you know, if I wasn't speeding.

But, you know, luckily I was in traffic when it happened, dude. I'm like, wow. Are are we serious? The live tour and the PGA tour are merging.

How in the hell does that work? Yeah. I'm starting to see statements come out from the PGA tour.

The DP World Tour, the Dan Patrick World Tour is one of my favorite. But, you know, that's the folks over in Europe, a new collectively owned for profit entity that ensures all stakeholders benefit for a model that delivers maximum excitement and competition among the game's best players. Now, I don't want to go too deep into this because this is a business story. This is a sports business story. And it makes sense that CNBC was the entity that broke this story because this is a sports business story. It's a political story. It's a world politics story that just happens to involve sports and a major sports entity.

That plays in the United States of America. Even though the Canadian Open is happening, but I think you understand North America, whatever you want to say. Because this is a business story, it's a politics story. So you got to stick with me here as I do my best to try and understand it.

I spoke to a couple of people this morning who were in the know. I'm like, explain it to me like I'm five, will you please? And, you know, there's there's there's a the PGA Tour is a nonprofit, but it's also saying it's a for profit entity now.

And they're still maintaining what's called a 501 C six nonprofit status entity status in the United States. It's very confusing. Trust me. So I don't know how this all works. And you know who also doesn't know how this all works? Anybody who's not named Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour commissioner and the folks involved in the Public Investment Fund, which is the PIF, which is what the Saudi Investment Fund is being called, because this is Saudi Arabia buying the PGA Tour and also buying the lawsuits that are going between both entities, the live tour and the PGA Tour, buying them, dropping these lawsuits, because that's part of this merger is litigation is getting. Dropped. That's what this is about. I had it explained to me again from multiple people.

The Saudi prince doesn't want to be deposed. Nope. Okay.

And the live tour players want back in on the PGA Tour. This is what's been described to me. And so everybody gets together and tries to figure this thing out how to make it work. And again, we're going to learn more about this news.

I'm coming on the air within an hour of finding out about it and reading about it and making some phone calls about it. This is the way it's been described to me from multiple people. Okay. And how it comes across is easy to sum up in two words. It stinks.

It stinks to high heaven. That's five words because in the lawsuit, the counter suit that the PGA Tour threw on live Jay Monan was quoted as saying in the counter suit. The counter suit is is I'm quoting from the counter suit. The live is using players quote and the game of golf to sports wash the recent history of Saudi atrocities. And today, what Saudi atrocities? We don't know. We have no idea. You tell me about these atrocities.

Boof, gone. OK, money, money. Read about it as much as you want. There's a new board. The PGA Tour will say that they can they're they're also have their nonprofit status. They're they're still a charitable organization. There's also a commercial entity now that the PIF, the Saudis are the exclusive investors in and they can also. Be in charge of who else is allowed to invest moving forward. What does that sound like?

Somebody owned something, correct? And so they're going to get together and figure stuff out. What does it look like? The team aspect of the live tour is apparently still on the table. I don't know how that looks on the PGA Tour.

Because I'll tell you what. The guys who said no to the live money and are now watching all the live guys who took the money have a path to come back and play with them. With their fat ass wallets in their back pockets. You think those guys are going to want to put on a fireball golf shirt and team up with those guys?

How does Rory McElroy feel today? Tiger who turned down damn near a billion bucks. And you could sit there and say, Rich, they're fine, whatever.

But this is the principle of the matter. They were principled in a situation where Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour commissioner, sounded principled and then heel turned. Because I cannot imagine how much money was put into this kitty by the PIF. And how do you think Rory and the guys who turned down the money feel when they turn on Twitter today and see not only these tweets from live tour players. Phil Mickelson, awesome day today with a smiley emoji. Brooks Koepcke, your recent PGA champion, welfare check on Shambly. Now he's referring to Brandel Shambly, the NBC, Peacock, Golf Channel analyst, he would call moralist, hand ringer. The live players hate him. How do you think the guys who turned down the money feel when they turn on Twitter and learn of the news? Through Twitter. Colin Morikawa, I love finding out morning news on Twitter.

Two time major champion. Jay Monahan did send a memo to the tour players. If you're also on the back end of the tour, you're sitting here thinking, does that make me, am I at least gonna be what, the 53rd man on the roster if I'm ranked 200, 225, 250, 300, do I now get at least a base salary? Do I get benefits?

Do I get childcare? What do I get now? Obviously, this is all going to get figured out. What if they didn't want the Saudi money? They're now going to take it just to get a tour card? What about the majors?

How about this? What if, let's just throw this out here, because you're already seeing the majors, like say the PGA Championship, you're already seeing some because of the readjustment the PGA tour made based on how much money Liv was pumping into the game from their point of, from their end of things. You're already seeing some of the purses on the majors not be some of the largest purses in the year. What if Liv decides, or pardon me, PIF or the new entity decides we're going to have a new tournament and we're going to pump so much damn money into this. We're not going to call it a new major. We won't call it a major, but the money will speak as if it's a new major.

What does that mean? How's it going to look when we all know the game, feel the game, appreciate the game the way that it has been with the tradition that the PGA tour is still waving in its press releases today? And in the press conference will play in a second from Jay Monahan. What if that totally gets upended by the money that gets pumped in here? It's going to be on the players to actually sit here and say, well, we're not going to play in that tournament or we'll play in this one or we're not playing in that major anymore because I'm kind of tired from making all that much more money at some defacto new major that's been created say on a course that might be owned by an individual who has been all about the live tour over the last several months. I'm just saying it's totally changed the Saudis own golf.

Period, end of story. Jay Monahan though held a press conference today. And Jay had this to say about how it's going to unify the game of golf. There's been a lot of tension in our sport over the last couple of years, but what we're talking about today is coming together to unify the game of golf and to do so under one umbrella. And David the way that we're doing that is we're creating a for-profit LLC that the PIF is going to invest in alongside the DP World Tour and together we're going to move forward and we're going to take efforts to grow and expand this great game and to take it to new heights. And so what's happened today and to your earlier question is we've recognized that together we can have a far greater impact on this game than we can working apart. And I give Yasser great credit for coming to the table, coming to the discussions with an open heart and an open mind. We did the same and the game of golf is better for what we've done here today. Sitting next to PIF's governor Yasser Al Rumayyan on CNBC. Pardon me, it was not a press conference. We're just, this is all so fresh.

It's happening fast. Unifying the game of golf. In his letter to the PGA Tour members, he said we will work cooperatively to establish a fair and objective process for any players who desire to reapply for membership with the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour following the completion of the 2023 season consistent with each tour's policies. Aha, this is a complicated endeavor and one that will be guided by established PGA Tour rules and regulations. They're, what is the established rules and regulations?

If you want to go to live, you're out forever, right? What the hell does that mean? But they're unifying the game of golf. Oh, and I forgot the live tours about the youngers, the young kids.

Because it's on the CW, available on Roku by the way. Here's what he had to say, Jay Monahan, on that subject. When you look at the game on a global basis, there are now more people playing the game outside the U.S. than playing inside the United States. Okay, you look at everything that has transpired in terms of the forms of distribution, top golf and all the other ways that people can interface with our sport. There are now people off course, more off course participants than on course participants and that combined audience in the U.S. is 48% under the age of 35. Reaching a younger demographic at a time when the sport has never been more popular and doing so by coming together to collaborate at this point in time. That's where we see the commonality and purpose and that's where we see this huge opportunity. Let's ask the LPGA tour about the new entity that's involved in a country where they can't drive. Listen, this is about business, youth. Get out of here. I don't know a single kid that plays golf that's like, tell me about the four aces team. What's going on in that live tour?

The 5,000 people are watching on the CW. Joke. It's about business. It's about the business of having these lawsuits dropped. It's about the business of taking the money that the tour excommunicated players for doing. And rallied around the players that didn't defect and push them out as the face of the PGA tour that was fighting against the sports washing of the Saudi atrocities. And that entity just turned around and said, what atrocities?

And that in a way for sports, sports is an atrocity in its own. That's the way I feel about it. What about you?

844-204-rich number to dial. Eddie, old Chuck's going to come on the Vegas Knights, pardon me, Golden. Golden Knights, which up to, oh boy, they just absolutely pounded beasting the Florida Panthers time.

Miami Heat are now tied at one game apiece with the Nuggets. I'll give my two cents on that. Also on this program, Reggie Jackson studio, but coming up next, the commissioner of the Big Ten and somebody who I haven't spoken to in a very long time, but holds a near and dear place in my heart.

As I mentioned, first guy to hire me after ESPN gave me a cardboard box, Big Ten commissioner, Tony Petitti, when we come back. Men, do you get distracted during the day thinking about your underarms, sweating, itching or emitting an odor? Do those thoughts keep you from showing care when it counts? New and improved Dove Men Plus Care antiperspirant with 72-hour sweat and odor protection and one-quarter moisturizing cream helps you forget about your underarms so you can be present for the moments that matter. Don't let underarm insecurities keep you at arm's distance from the ones you care about.

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It's like saying, you're not allowed to use a pencil to create a piece of art. Rolling Stone Music Now, wherever you listen. Back here on The Rich Eisen Show, our Roku channel audience is here. Our radio audience will return in a few minutes. But joining me here on The Rich Eisen Show is the new Big Ten commissioner. I couldn't have been more happy to hear his name be mentioned because I know he's a smart man because he hired me back here in the day.

Joining me here from the front office of the Big Ten, the new commissioner of the Big Ten, Tony Petitti. How you been, Tony? Hey, Rich, great to hear from you and have a chance to speak with you.

I'm doing well. And that was a while back. I do remember all that.

I'll tell you what, Tony. I was on my honeymoon and I was just, you know, you know, wondering what was next and I kind of had an idea, but getting a call saying CBS Sports wants to hire you to do the US Open, I was all in and I can't thank you enough, truly, 20 years later. I appreciate that. You know, you did a great job for us back then and it was kind of, I'm sure it came a little bit out of the blue when we decided to do it, but it was great and you obviously followed all your success out of where you've been. So it's been glad we got a chance to work together.

I appreciate that. Were you the one who brought it up in a meeting? He's like, hey, let's see what Rich is up to. Let's go get this guy. Yeah, you know, I think it was sort of, I'll take credit for it. It worked out well.

Is that the way management works? Everybody runs right to it, right? I still have my jacket. I still have my jacket, Tony. I still have my serious blazer. It's still old school. I love the fact that the blazer still fly when you're watching those games.

Well, I mean, Nance cuts a great figure in it still, you know, and it's pretty, it was great back in the day. And so again, when I heard that you were taking over such an important position and I'm a Big Ten guy, I was pleased to hear about it. So, you know, congratulations on your new role. I'm back here on the Rich Eisen Show on the Roku Channel every single day. As you know, between 12 and 3 Eastern Time, right here, back on the Rich Eisen Show radio network, sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk, furnished by Grainger.

With supplies and solutions for every industry, Grainger is the right product for you. Call clickgrainger.com or just stop by. We were just chit-chatting on the Roku Channel, only segment with the new Commissioner of the Big Ten, Tony Petitti, who's here on the Rich Eisen Show. So, when did you get the call first to say, hey, would you like to leave MLB, where you helped launch that network to join the Big Ten?

When did that first happen for you? Yeah, so I was working with Liberty Media and Investment Fund in Boston, because I had left MLB, but like at that point, you know, the process started sometime, I think, around in February, actually. And it was, you know, we kind of was, you put, obviously, expressed interest right away. You know, it's a huge job, huge role at a really critical time, so definitely was intrigued. And then just sort of got in the process and started to sort of understand, like, what was out there and went through it. And it was really thorough and, you know, it took a few months, but there was a lot of preparation that went into it.

And that's kind of the way I approached it, just trying to learn. It was great, because you start doing the research and, obviously, on the Big Ten side and what the conference means. And really, it was the first thing I did when I was at ABC back in the day of programming, and one of the first things I worked on were Big Ten. Back then, it was a joint deal, Big Ten Pac-Ten Football and the College Football Association. So there was a lot of connection to it and work really closely with Jim Delaney and his team back in the day.

So it was kind of great to reconnect it in that way. So, and to join the Big Ten Conference as its commissioner at this point in time, what is the first thing in your inbox to do? What is the first order of business for you, Tony? Yeah, there's a lot, actually.

There's sort of like two or three things I'd point to. One is no particular order, but just USC and UCLA coming in, right? We've got to do a great job there, integrate them in the conference. The conference has a really good history of doing that back in the day with Penn State and Rutgers, Nebraska, Maryland as well. So it's just, number one, making sure that works.

This is probably a little more challenging in terms of logistics and travel. So there's a lot of people in the office spending a lot of time on scheduling and trying to work through all those things, but we get those two great historic college athletics brands coming into the conference. So that's great.

So that's out there. There's some work on the media side. We're in a really great position to have three broadcast partners. So when you think about what Saturdays are going to be on the football side for the Big Ten, it's going to be pretty unique to have that kind of exposure. But with that, as you know, when you're balancing three partners, just the scheduling pieces, so completing that, making the schedules work for everybody, of course, member institutions, so that's out there. There's a lot of work in the future of the college football playoff in the Big Ten going forward. It's going to obviously expand, so that's out there doing that right. I think we have a huge opportunity around women's basketball and the success the conference had last year and just how the sport performed through the NCAA tournament. So there's some great opportunities there. And then there's just all these big issues facing college athletics that are kind of out there in terms of the governance and student athletes and all that. So you look at all those things, there's things that are just in the everyday work at the conference and there's some bigger issues that just take more time, more collaboration to address. Big Ten Conference Commissioner Tony Petitti here on the Rich Eisen Show.

Let's take them one at a time. You mentioned incorporating USC and UCLA into the conference. When do we find out, obviously, you know, the SEC had this whole business about their schedule and how many conference games they're going to schedule and they finally hammered that out. When do we find out when UCLA and USC get placed into a into a division and what that what that looks like in football, Tony?

Yeah, that's a great question. I think we're just honestly just playing just a few days away from sort of revealing like what it will look like going forward. I think there's been a lot about divisions, no divisions, been a lot of work. Obviously, a lot of work was done before I arrived in terms of what the right path is.

You know, the conference is playing nine games. There's a commitment to continue to do that. You know, I think there's everything was studied, but I think you'll see in really short order, you know, some information coming out about how we're going to play and how we're going to organize around our college football schedule and how it stays away. Who's been involved in those conversations? Are all the athletic directors, you know, given their two cents and then how does it all come out in the wash?

Yeah, again, like looking back is obviously wasn't in the early phases of how that was done. But it's obviously it's across like the conference office making recommendations. The athletic director is giving your feedback. I'm sure they talk to coaches, obviously, and get their views on scheduling. But I think there's some things that are important about nine in terms of strength of schedule, but also just how you play and how long it would take to rotate, right? So there's certain things that I think are important that I think they 100% that the conference work here reinforces it, where you want, you don't want to go too long where schools continue to miss each other in terms of how often they play. I think just by comparison, one of the great things that we changed at MLB was this year to look at the schedule, Rich, like everybody plays everybody now. So, you know, if you're Yankees, you're playing the Dodgers every year. You play them once at home and next year you go on the road potentially, however it alternates, but it just allows you to not have to wait that long as a fan to see those teams, especially when those teams have star players. I think it's exactly the same sort of idea here.

One, it's easier to have competitive balance, you're playing most frequently. So I think those are some of the really important tenants you'll see when we announce what the format is. I think those things were incredibly important and were, I think, handled the right way to make sure that, you know, members aren't missing each other for too many years. So this way it will feel more cohesive as a conference this way. But there's some rivalries that can't be broken up, right?

Or that you have to play every year. Do you have a list of those? Is there a list, Tony? You'll see pretty soon.

You can guess on some of them, right? So, yeah, those are going to be protected. You have to in terms of, you know, what that is. And if you can get to a format where you're protecting those core rivalries at the same time, you're creating a rotation that has, you know, members playing each other frequently so you can provide that, you know, that same type of connection I think is really important. But obviously there's just certain things that you absolutely have to protect. Right, I know that.

And then how about game times as well? There's some serious tradition in the Big Ten on that front and you got three partners, Fox, CBS, and NBC, that I'm sure are all jockeying for that position and you're in that position. You know how to work this one. I mean, you've been involved on the other side, right?

For so many times in your career. Yeah, this is how I was trained, actually. This is the first thing I did was really college football and college basketball scheduling for ABC. Look, I think one thing to be, you probably would feel this way also, I think, to credit to Fox because what they did in creating this noon window, I think was a little bit non-traditional thinking, right, of putting big games at noon. That's worked extremely well, right? So that's just been a great decision on Fox's part and give those guys credit for, you know, taking the chance to do that.

And then obviously they had the research and the data and they were right. Then, you know, 3.30 to think about what we did at CBS when I was there to really anchor the SEC at 3.30 for all those years. That's been a great, you know, window to have that. And so then, you know, you look at the opportunity in prime. So I think where we have this great opportunity is to have that consistency through the day, right? Having, you know, in today's world, especially being able to, you know, to own noon and 3.30 in prime time across, right? It'll be a little bit of a bridge because this year CBS still has the SEC before they transition to pretty much just Big Ten. I think that's going to be really, really great.

Now your point is right. It does create, you know, some scheduling challenges, right? Everybody's looking for the same, same games and how you do all that out.

There's a whole selection process that has to be, you know, ironed out. We started doing it this year. It'll continue to evolve. But I think the good thing is with, you know, USC and UCLA coming in, there's just plenty of great games here.

And so we, you know, we'll have no problem getting through the day. There's some things that, you know, about when certain schools play, what time of year, at night, all those things are things that you're pointing out that are just, you know, traditions in the Big Ten that we have to, you know, respect and then work with. Tony Petitti, the new Commissioner of the Big Ten here on the Rich Eisen Show, where does expansion stand? I mean, again, you got three television partners.

You want to talk about windows that need to be filled up. You got college basketball and obviously the other sports in the Big Ten and the crazy world that we live in with expansion and who's out there and who wants to snap up other schools. Where do you stand on that subject matter as we're sitting here early June 2023? Yeah, this has come up a lot, obviously, and what I would say is, and I said this like right from the moment it was announced as the Commissioner, is that, you know, we're focused primarily on USC, UCLA, right? There's a lot of work to do. We got to do that right. The integration is really important. It's important to them, it's important to our student athletes across, how we schedule, do all those things, right?

So that's the absolute, you know, priority. And then next what I would say is, you know, not to cut the discussion short, but the Big Ten has always been really strong. It's, you know, my job to make sure it remains that way in the future, to take that legacy that was handed from Kevin and Jim Delaney and going all the way back to Wayne Duke, like this, you know, historically great conference and, you know, the job is to make sure that we are that way going forward and that doesn't, you know, things could change potentially, but right now the focus is just on this integration and doing it right, making sure that we're cohesive, trying to, you know, establish that, you know, some of these matchups feel like Big Ten games as fast as we can make them. That's across all sports. What do you think about, Tony, the idea of expanding not just, I just mentioned conference, but I guess it would also be contracting, just having Big Ten and other, if you will, big conferences, get together and have your own football league, have your own world, the whole Super League concept from a couple years ago that didn't work over in Europe, but the idea that you could at least come up with just a certain number of member schools with the same NIL rules, same transfer portal rules, same everything. It's just your world and it's through the college football playoff system.

What's your two cents on that writ large, Tony? Yeah, I start off with the idea that lots of strong conferences is the right model, right? Having strong conferences out there is really beneficial.

I think it creates, you know, intersectional libraries. It doesn't mean that, you know, as conferences get bigger, it's not the right thing as well. Obviously, it's what the Big Ten has chosen to do and the SEC as well, so I think that makes a lot of sense. But that's, I still think, you know, having an ecosystem with lots of strong conferences makes the most sense. How it's governed and organized, like right, obviously everybody's committed, you know, to the NCAA. I don't want to speculate on what that could look like in the future. But, you know, there are things that are unique to the larger conferences, right? And so I think that's why you raised that question as you as you think about that, right?

You typically, you know, being governed in systems that, you know, have sort of like-mindedness sort of same types of issues and problems usually makes the most sense. But I think, you know, right now it's not, you know, right now I think the focus across, you know, all the power five is just, you know, the issues that we're facing with student athletes, but then also making sure we get the new version of the CFP right. I guess before I let you go, Tony, you got a good, I mean, you got a good Madden story. You got a good John Madden story from back in your day, or did you did you not cross paths? Was he already gone?

What do you got? I my best one was more on the key Jackson side and it was just give me that one work. I just I'm sure a bunch of the story but you know at the end of the day like a Monday morning Keith would call and one of the jobs I had was doing the maps. So we picked me at five or six regional games or 330 and my boss would call out the market and I would color it with a highlighter on the map to have all the APC stations, right? So literally I was picturing me saying that's what's colored highlights coloring over the stations and that would be distribution and Keith would typically call right about when we were done to figure out where he was going, you know, he had the he sounded exactly like he did on the air, you know, I had grown up watching him with Frank Broyles and our procedures like I'm just sitting on wait a second.

I'm in a I'm in a job with Keith Jackson's on it saying like, you know, I think I'm going to Tuscaloosa this week and I think that's right. So, you know, we had this sort of sense of you know, all of it and then just being around them and he was you know, he was great to me and just being part of that whole ABC system like we had which back in the day, you know, we had Brenton and Dick Vermeil as our second team and our lead team was Keith and Bob, you know, you think about like a lot of big names across that was just a college football. So it was just, you know, just amazing to get to work with him and be part of all that. Well, I just know that whenever he would call a Michigan game that that just put it on a different plane, you know, it would just put it on a different level when he was in Michigan Stadium when he was in the big house when I was a student there. It just is like Keith Jackson's here. It was like the president's here like this is that's the way it would work and then he's the voice the Rose Bowl right on which is obviously the premier Big Ten game traditionally the voice.

He's the truly, you know, it's it's great. Like it's what we did like you had Keith there and I'll give Sean a lot of credit. Like when we moved, you know, Vern Lundquist to do the SEC package, right?

It's the same thing talking about like it's just that consistency and being associated. I think that happened for Vern like being the voice the SEC for all those years and obviously Keith was a you know, sort of additional sort of a father of all that in terms of college football, but you know, I was really, you know happy because that was a big change from burn to go from the NFL to college and he embraced it and it just turned out to be great for it was great for fans. Oh, yeah, he was terrific at it and still here in Vern in the 16th Tower even just this past Masters Tony in your life really a truly it was great and and I'll you know, just to bring this conversation full circle working the US Open one of the great pleasures I got to enjoy was being around Dick Enberg all those three summers just being around him and just again that you mentioned that when you meet or spoke to Keith Jackson was a guy that you saw on TV. Same thing with Enberg same exact thing, you know, yeah, I mean, I'll let you I know you got to go about the guest but like at the end of the day like we're sitting around at Augusta. There were a couple years that dick was doing stuff at the Masters you sing in a room with Jim and Vern and Dick Enberg right and and all those guys you just thinking like wow, we had this little cramped office and we're all just sitting there all the talent and it just yeah, it was a lot of those moments. We just realized like hey this I'm really lucky just to be here to listen and keep my mouth shut and listen to the stories same thing with me and and just again just to wrap it up Tony. I was telling the story on the show last week that I got to call a fifth set tie break in the grandstand, which is kind of like the Cameron Indoor of you know, the US Open and I got to call a fifth set between Eunice Elenowy and Yuri Novak and it was such an intense fifth set that they sent maybe you did you were the one who did send it sent McEnroe over sent John over from Ash to join me and he sits down next to me. It's the first time I'd seen him all week because he wasn't around for the US Open late night show his brother Pat was my co my co-host Mike and and he sits down next to me because I can't believe I'm calling a tennis match with the guy from I love the 90s on VH1.

So he said I felt like I got welcomed, you know, like I got baptized by John McEnroe in the US Open coverage, you know, you baptized a lot of crews sure. Hey, listen, thanks for the time appreciate it. Hopefully we do we do some more and you know, obviously keep it fair for the Wolverines. You know, I mean you got it.

I will talk to you soon. Thank you. That's the commit you right back at you. That's the commissioner of the Big Ten Tony Petitti right here on the Rich Eisen show. Hey, oh, is he Del Tufo?

No, like Del Tufo to Petitti. Wow. Okay.

He has no idea. That's a voice for Notre Dame fan. I was talking you know, and I know that you know, and I know that you know that that you know and you know and you know that I know that we all know. Why USC is going to be put in Michigan's division with Ohio State and Michigan State and Penn State and UCLA. No, it's not a slight it's actually paying homage. Yeah, Michigan USC are some of the greatest games Rose Bowl games. Yes from back in the day and you want to talk tradition obviously, you know, USC, Ohio State, you know, they played. It's coming and UCLA is going to be in the other division with Wisconsin and Minnesota and other significant schools and institutions of higher learning that's coming and you know, it's going to complain about it.

You know, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, I will just say it's just par for the course and what this what has to be if you are the big dog on the street. Yeah, the SEC is going to no divisions anymore. Why doesn't the big 10 great? Does that mean Georgia is going to play Alabama every year? Oh, no, that doesn't mean that you don't know that they should play every year every year.

Oh, they do. It's called the SEC Championship game got it got it. But that's not I don't know why geography is so tough for you. That's not arrogant. Alabama.

And Georgia should play every year. They're not close by. What do you mean? They're not close by that works. We understand how geologists about to be in the same conference as in two schools, two time zones away.

That's a YP. Okay, that is not an SEC. It's coming TJ write it down because he won't write it down.

I'd write it down. No, because I already hear the bitching that's going to take place this fall next fall the fall after no, no, no, no schedule is wrong. We were tougher wrong beeward boasting boasting when you're getting boat raced another beeward boasting says the Syracuse orange, but I know the mother of my child loves Georgia. So let me be an SEC guy all of a sudden got it. Hey, I stay by your phone man. I may need you coach. I can't help with the heart wants. Let's take a break.

We'll be back 844 204 Rich number to dial Reginald Martinez Jackson is on his way to the studio get an inside. Look at Hollywood with Michael Rosenbaum actress Kristin Ritter your parents let you travel by yourself was a different time. They just put you on a train as a 15 year old girl. You went to New York. I went on a bus and I did get picked up at Port Authority.

They thought I was a runaway what would they do they detain you and I get people on the phone and then they finally let you go to your modeling job. How many times did it happen once or twice? It just seems like it wouldn't happen. It happens.

Yeah inside of you with Michael Rosenbaum wherever you listen. In this day and age though, I've had a conversation with fellow Hall of Famer John Smoltz a couple weeks ago Reggie said that kids don't mind of striking out as much these days. Did you have did you have an all-or-nothing mentality? Obviously, you're we all know how many strikeouts you had in your career. But did that matter at all to you because there's a lot of hand wringing over it today these days.

Well, I think I struck out too much and I average somewhere 2,521 years is a hundred and twenty-five a year so but that's too many and I think for a hundred and sixty-two games if I would have played him out of average a hundred and forty something that's too many strikeouts you can get by with it. This is wow. Hold on. Let me take this call from house. I'm going to call him right back. Okay, you go how I'll call you right back. It's ready. Okay.

Reg I mean seriously you could take that. I mean, you could put me on hold for the balls. That's okay. I got I wouldn't want I can't have you hear what I'm saying. Now. Hold on a second Reggie. Okay, hold on real quick though. I would not be doing my job if I didn't ask this question. If that was George back in the day, would you have been able to tell him no, no what you just told his son? No, no, I hung up on you. I might not even have told you I just acted like I was just acting like I wasn't on the phone.

I don't know. Oh, man, if that was Hank, I'd have probably got off the phone because it could he'd have some choice words for me to Reggie making its way to the studio to hang out with us and our number two of this very busy day right here on the Rich Eisen show on the Roku Channel and more back here on our program with our radio audience rejoining us here. So Reggie Reggie Jackson will be in studio our number two Eddie Olcheck our number three, you know the show big news of the live tour combining forces with the PGA tour. We'll talk about that a little bit more as the days throughout gets longer 8 4 4 2 0 4 Rich is the number to dial if you want to have a conversation here just to hung up with the Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti who says they will announce shortly the news that we've all been waiting for USC and UCLA where are they going to wind up in football divisions with the Big Ten and what does it mean and how does it break in break down? I was the the recording I made with the good folks of pardon my take hit air yesterday.

I saw that yeah nice and interesting conversation we had and one of the subject matters that they sliced up and put out on their social media feeds. I'll ask you this question. They were asking me if Urban Meyer came back.

Would I be crying in my sleep? If he came back to coach where Ohio State oh like if he came back to coach, Ohio State. Yeah, of course you would know I would why so let me ask you this question is beating your brains in for how long seven years in a row, right? Right. Do you think he would be as good a coach now in the world of the transfer portal as it currently stands you think so in college football all that guy has ever done is win win and all kids care about is winning. Okay, and not playing. I mean you've seen you've seen kids take off from Ohio State as a matter of fact starting for say Texas you see kids take off because there's first-round draft picks ahead of them the correct. I understand where else to get playing time.

Okay, that happens at every school not specific to Ohio State. What do you say TJ? Do you think he'd be just as good as if he came back you have to run the subject matter of Big 10 football right now. You have to wonder if everything that happened to him with the Jags right because like Chris said kids don't care but kids parents care. So does the controversy that short stint with the Jaguars does that hurt him in the eyes of some of these parents? I don't think it does. Oh in the eyes of the parents. Yeah, I don't think so.

So I don't think it hurts in the eyes of kids either. So then your answer is yes, he would be just as successful. No, but he's got the is my way or the highway approach which obviously Nick Saban clearly has as well and it's not like there aren't any other coaches that have my way or the highway. I don't know, but I also think my school is a hell of a lot better. It's as good as it's been then in the seven years that he was there. That's for damn sure. So you kind of welcome I would coming back. I would be different if it was, you know, a Matt rule situation where he had no success and you know, you know didn't win a championship in college went to the NFL blamed out like he did and then went back and was like, hey listen to me.

This guy's one everywhere. He's been no, I understand that. So I think it's a little bit different. I push back. I'm like I would not be crying myself to sleep at all. I would be I'd be fired up to tee it off right now to tee it up right now. Of course you would I mean you have to feel as good as about your program as you've ever felt in the history of your fandom, correct?

And I just have a feeling that I would need to let's put it this way. I would need to see him be able to run his program in the manner that he ran Jacksonville's one would think the way that he went to Jacksonville. That's the only way that I can utilize my assessment of this is what he did in Jacksonville telling, you know, professional coaches professional football coaches.

You need to defend your resume and all the stories that you would hear that clearly that sort of approach in college now where kids can just say I'm out. I'm going to go play for Dionne, right? I'm going to go play for anybody else. That's not named Urban Meyer.

I'm out of here. Would he be able to do that and then to me just what happened at Ohio State would be part of the Ohio State it would it would come home to Roost. A second time around and I don't know how much that would that would fly. But I would welcome it back. That was that's for sure would have to change a little bit, but they also have a terrific coach right now. It was winning every single damn game and he plays with the exception of the last two against Michigan an occasional hiccup against a team. That's definitely a if you will lesser team in the conference and then Georgia.

He's beating everybody else. Yeah, if you're only losing the three teams in three years, that's not bad. That's right. Sort of like well, Michigan hasn't lost.

It's just they've lost to two teams in two years. So there's that just point out. It's a different story. Now.

You could see him chuckle all you want in that sign his shoes anymore. No, that's correct. Just the general landscape of college football is that's what I'm saying.

You really have to be able to navigate the transfer portal and the NIL. This is what I am saying. He did not have that.

Well, they were paying players just in a different way. Probably in his day. Let's be honest. Let's be real.

No, I didn't say this anybody wants to know and we're taking in the rich eyes and sure I did not say this was not rich eyes some kind of Waters. I think we can all wink wink agree to. But whatever like I said, let's keep it real.

Yeah, keep it real. I cannot believe the live tour. I'm buying with the PGA Tour done.

It's done. I just can't believe it. This is as big a sports story this century. It's not a bit but but it's not a sports, but it's all the story. It's sports. It's business.

It involves sports everything. It's business. It's geopolitics and business is a reason why CNBC broke this story and ESPN or a partner of the PGA Tour did not there is a reason for that.

It is a business story with geopolitics surrounding it. They did not want this the Saudis didn't want to get deposed and the PGA Tour didn't want an antitrust lawsuit. And I also think the PGA Tour didn't want to disclose all the sudden they have all this money to up the purses. Like as Phil said, hey, the PGA Tour sitting on this reserve of cash. How do we know what we don't know?

Just trust me. I'm telling you right and now suddenly 20 million dollar purses for events and I'm sure the sponsors were like we're tapped out. We're tapped out and the live tours looking at the ratings and they're like this thing stinks. Nobody's watching. Nobody's watching. Nobody's watching guys were buried there.

They were basically irrelevant except for their performances in the majors, which has been pretty good. Obviously Brooks Ko one the PGA. I just also just shout out for keeping this silent like nobody knew there were no leaks. There were no nothing all of a sudden just a bomb dropped it just had like Greg Norman was told that he got cold right before they went on the air. He didn't know none of the players knew obviously and it's supposed to PGA Tour supposed to be a players tour.

None of them found they were found out on Twitter Jay Monahan is having a 4 p.m. Eastern players chitchat at the Canadian Open today. That's this last line in his in his note to the players is like hold on. Let me read it. What a joke. It's what he wrote. I will be on site at the RBC Canadian open later today and would like to invite those in the field to a player meeting at 4 p.m. To help answer any questions you may have hope Rory shows up and knocks him out.

Rory shows up his hand raised. I've got a question. I got a question. Hey, are you scratching me a 700 million dollar check? Are you aware?

I turned down nine figures to back your play Reggie Jackson coming up. Are you aware that hey, hey, hey, you see all these holes in my body. I got a question shot after Arrow after free for you and the tour for the last year and a half. My game suffered because of it because I got up every week and answered every question and that pointed out the live tour players saying hey, everybody thought we wouldn't be sharp for the majors because we don't play as much. Well, guess who just won the Wanamaker?

Bill came in second at the mask. Yes, Brooks had the 54 hole lead then won the PGA and he's got he took the money and he's going to be allowed back on the tour because they're all one big happy family from the legal point of view but from the point of view of stances and Moral stances sports washing they just washed it away. Yep. They just washed it away. All that sports washing conversation. Holy smokes can't believe it happened. And then again, of course it can of course it can yeah money always seems to win and then lawsuits spur actions to use the phrase of our buddies Andrew Brandt right lawsuit spur actions and you know Saudis didn't want to get deposed and the PGA tour didn't want any antitrust questions asked of them. So guess what happens? Fireball t-shirts for everybody Reggie Jackson coming up. conspiracy theories paranormal UFOs science teacher Andrew Greenwood stated that a child ran into his classroom and was hysterically screaming and talking about the flying saucer outside hundreds of children ran out of their classrooms to go outside and see this unidentified flying object that was just above the school. Just imagine a bunch of kids running out of school. Most of them just ran home theories of the third kind on YouTube or wherever you listen.