Final Four Preview (Hour 1)

Planning a wedding can be intimidating, but finding the perfect suit shouldn't be. Indochino makes it easy to get a fully customized suit right from home. With dozens of high thread count fabrics, patterns and colors to choose from, Indochino lets you fine-tune every detail and design a suit tailored perfectly to your body and your personality. Set up your measurement profile on Indochino's website and choose Fabric and Customizations without leaving the house. Or book a showroom appointment and let Indochino's dedicated style guides help you and your wedding party look flawless for the big day. Their experts have been dressing grooms and groomsmen since 2007. And with suits starting at just $4.99 and fitted shirts at $89, Indochino is bespoke without the premium price tag.

Get a wedding suit as unique as you with Indochino. Go to Indochino.com and use code PODCAST to get 10% off any purchase of $3.99 or more. That's I-N-D-O-C-H-I-N-O dot com promo code PODCAST. Live from the police show yet not overly ostentatious, studios of CBS Sports Radio here in beautiful New York City sitting on top of the 10th floor 345 Hudson Street, welcome on in to a final 4 Friday edition of the Zach Gelb show across all the great local CBS Sports Radio. Affiliates Sirius XM, Channel 158 and that free Odyssey app. 855-212-4CBS number to jump on in. 855-212-4227. You can always get at me on Instagram where I'm straight flexing or via the good old cesspool of Twitter at Zach Gelb.

That's Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. Whole lot to do today. Coming up 20 minutes from now we'll take you to the final 4. Great college basketball analyst John Fanta is going to stop by for the fields of 68 and also does tremendous job calling games in season on FOX. At 720 p.m. Eastern, 4.20 p.m. Pacific, Hall of Fame safety, friend to show, Leroy Butler will stop by. And at 820 p.m. Eastern, 5.20 p.m. Pacific, the new head men's basketball coach at my alma mater, Temple, Adam Fisher will be joining us.

He was on the Penn State staff this past season and for a bunch of years he was an assistant on Jim Lara Nega's staff with Miami and he actually did recruit and was the lead recruiter for Isaiah Wong to Coral Gable. So with Miami in the final 4 we'll bring on Coach Fish, congratulate him a little bit on the Temple job and then talk about this final 4. A whole lot to do today but producing this extravaganza first for the next 4 hours is no other than hot take kicky. I don't know about that hot take kicky.

So I got an interesting question right out of the gate. And we know the matchups this weekend. You have San Diego State and FAU at the precise starting time of 609 p.m. Eastern tomorrow. And after that you will see the heavyweight showdown between Miami and UConn. Which coach out of the 4, Jim Lara Nega, Danny Hurley, Brian Dutcher, Dusty May has the most to gain this weekend? And my answer is actually Jim Lara Nega. And we all know Lara Nega has been to a final 4 before. No one could forget what he did in that memorable run with George Mason when he did go to the final 4.

Now though this is the second chapter and the last chapter of Jim Lara Nega. And I know you see the brand of Miami and you're like oh it's Miami it's a big job no one should be surprised by this. But Miami basketball is not as big of the way that you think about it when you think about the University of Miami. When you think Miami you think about the football and then also the good weather. To see what Lara Nega has been able to do with this program it's sensational. And we know last year they were in the elite 8 for whatever the reasons were a lot of people weren't talking about Miami this year maybe it's because of all the changes.

We know they have a ton of NIL money. But Lara Nega going into this tourney a lot of people were picking including yours truly Drake to beat Miami. And look where we are now where Miami is in the final 4 and they'll have a dogfight going up against UConn.

But I think it's Lara Nega for this reason and this being the biggest reason. You talk about history he already cemented himself as one of those coaches that went on an unprecedented run like one of those crazy Cinderella runs. Like there are certain coaches that you think of in recent memory when you discuss Cinderella's. Obviously anytime a 16 beats a 1 that's a name that will forever be remembered.

But you talk about coaches that went on these legendary runs recently or in the last 20 years of the NCAA tournament. You remember Brad Stevens. You remember Shaka Smart. You remember Jim Lara Nega.

Shaheen Holloway is one of those names. You remember Andy Einfeld with getting Florida Gulf Coast to the sweet 16. There's like just certain teams in the last 20, 25 years that you remember being just iconic with what they've been able to do. And whenever you leave that school because whenever you go on one of these legendary runs and I know Lara Nega did stick around for a while.

You eventually get thrown in the hopper of when are you leaving and what's the big job that you're taking. And for Lara Nega he goes to Miami and he's done a wonderful job where now they're in the final four. So you may say Zach it's not Lara Nega because he's already cemented in a certain status and he's already so well known around the game. And probably this run of just getting to the final four will get him into the Hall of Fame. He should already be in the Hall of Fame with how many people and how sometimes I think the standards are low for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

But if Lara Nega gets this done, and he wins these next two games. I'm not saying he's one of the greatest coaches of all time. But I would say he's one of the more impressive coaches of all time.

Because we know he's going to now get into the Hall of Fame. And to now have this success on multiple stops at two programs that are not synonymous with greatness in college basketball is really a remarkable achievement. To do what he did at George Mason is insane, getting them to a final four. And now with Miami, it's one thing to have them winning and consistently be in the tournament. But to now get them to a final four and if he could cut down the nets and have that one shining moment on Monday night, that puts Lara Nega in just a different conversation. Because sometimes when a coach goes on one of these great runs in a smaller program, like what Coach L did at George Mason, they get a big job and people go, okay, now can you win a national championship? When Jim Lara Nega was joining Miami, no one expected in a million years that there would be a shot that he would win a national championship. And here we are two games left in this tourney.

He's one of the four teams remaining, and we'll see if he can get the job done on Saturday, and then get the job done on Monday. Now the other three coaches, Danny Hurley, if you get the next two, you start to, even though he's already now looked at as the next guy of UConn. Remember, it wasn't that long ago, and I know it ended in horrible fashion, where Kevin Ollie got that national championship, but then there wasn't able to be sustained success after that. With Danny Hurley, we all know how great of a basketball family he comes from, we know where his passion is, and we know the way that he runs a program. You win this championship, and then it's how many more can you win as people will look at Danny Hurley, who is not an old man, as the guy that's going to be the coach of the UConn Huskies for maybe the next two decades. For Dutch, Brian Dutcher at San Diego State, it would be really more than him, just him, because he's going to be associated always with the legendary coach Steve Fisher, from their time together at Michigan, and then what they have built here at San Diego State. But I don't think anyone goes into this weekend as expecting San Diego State to win it all.

I do think San Diego State right now is going to beat FAU, but I would not pick San Diego State to beat the winner of Miami or UConn. And then finally, it's Dusty May. It's kind of weird where Dusty May has nothing to lose this weekend, and probably the coach with the most to lose is Hurley because he's deemed to be the favorite. And if you're Lara Nega, not that I think he loses much with taking two teams now to the Final Four, but at your age, how many more times are you going to get a chance to go win a national championship, and you know that is a goal of his. But for Dusty May, you talk about the annals of history with some of these just great Cinderella runs. And one of the greatest runs, not that it's a Cinderella, but one of the greatest runs ever and one of the biggest upsets in the sport is Villanova beating Georgetown back in 85. But you look at those schools that we mentioned last 20, 25 years, George Mason, Florida Gulf Coast, St. Peter's, VCU, Butler got to the championship game twice. Now the second year was different, but you go through all those teams that go on these great runs, usually they don't win the championship. Now for Dusty May, that team only has three losses on the year. If he wins these next two, he's the hottest name in the sport right now when it comes to coaches deserving the next job.

But then it puts you in just a different category. It puts you in, not saying he's an all-time great coach because he's so young, but it puts you in that all-time great category of greatest things you ever see in an NCAA tournament. So those four coaches, Dusty May, it's the historical aspect of it, and just his stock even skyrocketing more than what it already is. For Dutch, it's really him getting a chance to be a head coach and what him and Steve Fisher built. For Danny Hurley, it's a start of being the next legendary UConn coach. And then for Jim Lyrenaga, it's maybe becoming one of the more impressive coaches of all time, taking George Mason to the Final Four.

And if he gets these next two, winning a national championship with Miami. I'm just fascinated because I don't think there's a wrong answer, and we'll ask this to Jon Fantu who's coming up in about five to ten minutes on the show. Who has the most to gain this weekend? And for me, it's Lyrenaga.

Hickey, let me get your answer on this because I think this may be one of the more difficult questions we've ever asked. But for you, who has the most to prove this weekend? I think it's Dusty May because I think if they win the title, I think they transform college basketball more than any of the other three schools winning a championship would. So I think FAU can become the East Coast version of Gonzaga. I think that drastically changed college basketball, the recruiting, the way you kind of view some of the big dogs, even the conferences with them going to the AAC. And now if you have the reigning national champ paired with Houston as well in the same conference, I think the AAC gets a big boost in terms of respect.

I think to me that there's no more, there's no real bigger moving of the needle than FAU winning it. The only thing I'll just say that is why would Dusty May stay for the long term? Like even if they win a national title, he had some doubts about taking the job and he's talked about this before.

You win, you know what the resources are like elsewhere. Wouldn't you go to what you would perceive to be the easier job and know there's going to be no way of topping what you did this year if they're able to win the next two? I don't know how much longer.

All we know is Dusty May's coming back for next year. I don't know after that how much longer that he'll stick around and stay. Well, if you win a championship, I mean, it only gets easier from there in terms of recruiting wise.

Why would you leave? The money that other schools could pay, the facilities that other schools have, the NIL resources that other schools have. It makes it easier when you have bigger resources at other schools. You don't think FAU would pony up? I mean, look at Gonzaga, look what Mark View has done.

They're in the same boat. Is FAU going to be able to outbid some of these big time players? I would say no.

Well, why not? Again, look at what Gonzaga's been able to build up. Gonzaga's done a great job recruiting and they're not this big time institution. It also requires the other schools, the coach to want to stay. I don't know if the coach is going to want to stay more than two, three, four years.

I don't know. And you're in Boca? Mark View wanted to stay. You win a championship?

I don't know why you want to leave. Don't get me wrong. I love Boca. My grandmother lives there. But is the location always the most important thing for the coach?

I don't know. Especially with Dusty May. So I would have a tough time ever expecting FAU, even if they win the national championship, to end up becoming like what Gonzaga has done. Who's never won a championship under Mark View, but they're always a big time player in college basketball. This is Zach Gelb's show on CBS Sports Radio. John Fanta will join us on the other side. His tremendous job for the field, the 68 Fox Sports.

He's in Houston, so we'll go down to the site of the Final Four next. Planning a wedding can be intimidating, but finding the perfect suit shouldn't be. Indochino makes it easy to get a custom suit right from home.

Fine tune every detail and design a suit tailored perfectly to your body and your personality, starting at just $4.99. Get a wedding suit as unique as you with Indochino. Go to Indochino.com and use code PODCAST to get 10% off any purchase of $3.99 or more.

That's Indochino.com promo code PODCAST. And that, of course, is John Fanta. John, happy Final Four Friday. How are you? Zach, happy Final Four Friday to you. Thank you so much for having me.

It's great to be checking in, coming to you from inside NRG Stadium following open practice day here. There's always a buzz no matter what. It's a different one this time around. But I think at this point, you always get to Friday and it's like anything, lead up to the Super Bowl. Can we get going? Can we kick this stuff off? And now about 24 hours away, I'm really intrigued to see what this Final Four brings. Because the fact is, the road to getting to this point has been unpredictable.

I've never seen anything like it. The last two weeks, I think, have been the most entertaining NCAA tournament weeks that I've seen. You being there on the scene, what's been the biggest storyline? Well, I think that the biggest storyline today is that Jordan Hawkins is out with a stomach bug, without a practice today. He's back at the hotel. He is resting, but has a stomach bug.

It flared up last night. So the big storyline now is the Connecticut Star, who's a top 20 NBA draft pick waiting to happen, Zach. He has been fantastic in this tournament. 44 points in the last two games. He really opens up UConn's offense. So the story today now is, all right, what's Hawkins' status? Andre Jackson of UConn told me in the last two hours that he fully expects Jordan Hawkins to play in this game.

But Jackson did say, look, you're always wondering when you're dealing with a stomach bug, how it affects you, how it affects everything. So that's a big story. Beyond that, here's the big story collectively. Brian Dutcher of San Diego State is 31-6 on the season, and the Aztecs under him the last four years have gone 107-22. They have the third best record in college basketball since 2019. That's ahead of Kansas and Baylor, the last two national champions. Florida Atlantic's played 38 games, Zach.

They've won 35 of them. Miami went to the Elite Eight a year ago, and now is in the Final Four. I think a lot of people are surprised, but it's like, look at how far they went. I've never seen a team out of the Atlantic Coast Conference, a league that had a bad year, but as prestigious as the ACC, now have a team in the Final Four that made the Elite Eight a year ago, and people are acting shocked.

The storyline is this. For all the narratives out there about how this Final Four is a collection of teams that are out of nowhere and Cinderella the slipper and whatnot, these four coaches, these four teams, their mentality is, we've won. All we've done is win. We didn't pull off one shocking win in the tournament. You know, UConn has rolled. But for the three others, we didn't pull off one shocking win in the tournament. No, we pulled off four wins to get here. This wasn't like FAU had an early moment in this tournament and then faded out. Like we sometimes say with March Madness, like early upset stakes for a worse tournament going forward. No, these teams all kept proving it and proving it. And I genuinely think that whereas a lot of people are saying UConn is the clear frontrunner, I still think that the safe pick is obviously the Huskies. But the longer the week goes, the more that I listen to these teams, the more that I'm around these teams, the more I think, why not the field? Why not one of the other three? With the way the nature of the season's gone.

It's kind of interesting to me, John Fanta, because you're right. You know, obviously FAU and San Diego State, no one's going to pick them to win the next two games. But for Miami, it is weird to me. I know UConn has been so dominant.

They haven't had to break a sweat in this NCAA tournament and they just go on these incredible runs. But it seems like no one's really giving the credit to Miami. And I actually like Miami tomorrow night. I don't understand, and I like UConn in this game, but I don't understand the lack of Miami love.

It makes no sense to me. First off, they're the most fun of the four teams to watch. If you watch their game against Texas, that was probably the most entertaining game of the tournament. And their backcourt's dominant, and you know that wins this time of the year.

Absolutely. That backcourt is playing insanely, insanely well right now. And when you have guys, how many teams can save it? In the last three games, Miami has had three different players score at least 26 points for them.

That's crazy. It could be Isaiah Wong. It could be Nigel Paak.

It could be Jordan Miller, who had a late in their game, didn't miss from the floor. I just don't think that we've given them enough credit. And Jim Larranaga has this group in such a great mental state. In such a great mental state.

They are unflappable. I mean, a lot of people, myself included, you watch Miami play Texas, when that game's at 13, when the lead's at 13 with 13 minutes on the clock, you're saying, wow, it's going to be Connecticut and Texas. Hey, that's a really interesting matchup. It's a big-time game. The way that Miami battled back in that game, I feel like it's not getting discussed enough. In an Elite 8 game, to come back from 13 down against an opponent as great as Texas speaks volumes about this team. This team is not phased. They're not going to be rattled by UConn. I think it comes down to, when we get into these football stadiums and we're playing Final Four games, who's the better shot-making team?

Well, right now, Miami, they're making shots at an incredible rate. So, they belong. They've shown that they belong.

And, you know, you look back at their path. Drake was a common upset pick. Miami grinded it out. They really rolled past Indiana, a good Indiana team.

And then they beat Houston, a team that a lot of us thought would be here. So, I'm really impressed with their road. And I got to tell you, Zach, one of the big takeaways from this week, just how great, just how great Jim Larranaga has been with the media. He's enjoying every second of this, and it's refreshing to watch. He said, I'm having fun doing this.

I love doing this. I tell my team, NIL, Portal, I get it. But he's like, I'm going to come in here at 3 o'clock, and if you want to become a better basketball player, that's what I can help you do. He's almost flooding all the things in the college basketball and college sports climate.

He's letting them all go on outside his home. But when his players step inside his house, he's saying, you know what, take a seat, and let's make you better. And I think his players have been very receptive to that. Why has he been willing to adapt? Because a lot of coaches that are established, and we all know what Larranaga did, taking George Mason to the Final Four.

They get up there in age, they get caught up in their ways, and they don't adapt to the times. Why has Larranaga done that? Because he got retired, obviously, a few years ago. We all look at him for that tremendous run at George Mason, but if he wins these next two games, man, to do that at two different spots is just ridiculous. It is. Hall of Fame material. Hall of Fame material. You know what, Jon, I'm glad you brought that up with how low the standard is sometimes for the Hall of Fame in basketball.

It's crazy that he's not already in it. Yes. Yes. And it's not like he's done it with the Lakers and the Celtics or Duke and Carolina. He's doing it at Miami.

Let's do an exercise here. Where would you put Miami in the ACC from a job standpoint, from a basketball standpoint? I don't know.

Fifth or sixth? It's not a creme de la creme job. That's the thing. People, they hear Miami and they think football and they think big university, but for basketball, they've been a mess. A mess.

A mess. When I think of Miami football, the last the first image that pops into my head is actually Fiesta Bowl. Hurricane Ohio State probably should have won the game. And Willis McGahee. That's what I think of.

I don't think of basketball, I think. You know, and I think what he's done here is by being at the programs that he's at, the standard is insanely high. But he's the guy who has made the most out of what he's got. And now with NIL, look, there's never been a question of Miami athletics and money.

Yeah, that's for sure. And the gold chain and the glamour and the glitz and the scene there, that campus. I mean, Larinaga said, he goes, look, and he had the room laughing, he goes, I wake up every morning, I go grab a smoothie and I go walk around our campus and look at the beauty of it.

And the whole press room was chuckling at that because, let's face it, you get down to the U and life is beautiful down in Coral Gables. And so he's enjoying that. He enjoys this job. He loves where he's at. And why not? He's got a team of guys that just, they play.

They are unfazed. So I do think one big thing for tomorrow night, Zach, is what if it's close late? UConn has won their four NCAA tournament games by a combined 90 points. What happens if we get into a one or two possession game late and this comes down to guard play? John Fanta here with us. So when we look at these coaches, John, most to gain out of the four, let's say you could have whoever you want to win the next two, most to gain. How do you view that?

Wow, great question. I'm actually, I mean, I'm going to say Dusty May because even though he's gained a ton, I still think, what if he wins the national championship? If he wins the national championship, his name is now going to be the hottest name at the next major job opening in the sport. If it isn't already, if it isn't already, you know, I think that Larone has gained a ton.

I don't think he has the most to gain. He's 73 years old. Brian Dutcher, people know, people know what he's done, what he can do. He's been very successful. I mean, you win a national championship at San Diego State.

It's very notable. Danny Hurley, I mean, you could argue that that Hurley's got a lot to gain here because if you, if you enter yourself in the class with Calhoun and then what they did in 2014 under Kevin Ollie, and you become the third different UConn head coach, like it's big. But if Dusty May wins, if Dusty May wins, he's got the least to lose. He's got the least to lose. There's no way Dusty May can lose this weekend.

None. No way. But he's got the most to gain because if he somehow wins this national championship, Dusty May becomes the guy that engineered the most improbable national championship run in the history of college basketball.

I'm not saying you're wrong because I don't think there's a wrong answer here, but I would actually go with Laronega because if he finds a way to win these next two games, he has a national championship at Miami and then a Final Four appearance at George Mason. I just think that puts him in a different category of one of not the greatest coaches of all time, but one of the more impressive coaches of all time. All right. Look, I can get behind that. I can get behind that. I think I don't think Jim has anything to lose. You know, I think when you get to the Final Four at that point, you know, I mean, here's the thing.

This is now I'm with you on the Laronega argument. I could see that it is big for Dan Hurley. Because we talk about Connecticut and are they a blue blood and the UConn standard? You win a national championship now. And remember, Dan's only 50.

Like Dan Hurley wants this to be his last stop. He could be the UConn coach for the next 15 years. You win a national championship tomorrow night. What can this program be in college basketball? I mean, they could be a dominant power every single year.

And a title surely helps. What decides FAU San Diego State, Jon Fanta? I think what decides it is FAU's individual players, Jon L. Davis, Nick Boyd, Elijah Martin, their ability to make things happen on the perimeter. Because to beat San Diego State, you have to have individual playmaking to get through their team defense. That's how Creighton nearly beat San Diego State because Ryan Caulfrenner was fantastic. Ryan Nembhard was really good for about 35 minutes. Trey Alexander, Baylor Shireman didn't have a great shooting day. I mean, here's the thing. Nobody's had a good shooting day against San Diego State.

Nobody. Now you compound that with a football stadium and you wonder what's it going to look like? I mean, San Diego State has held their four opponents in the NCAA tournament to a combined 23 points below their scoring average per game. And they've held teams to 18% from three.

I mean, I have to say, if somebody's going to beat the Aztecs, you've got to hit some timely shots. Now, something's got to give because for Florida Atlantic, this is where the matchup could doom Florida Atlantic, to be honest. Florida Atlantic has made at least eight threes in all four of their NCAA tournament wins.

And those have all come in somewhat narrow fashion. I mean, by single digits. So to me, I think it's big that FAU finds someone to catch fire and someone to kind of ride behind. Now, what they've got going for them is they've had balance. I mean, two of the four tournament games, they've had four guys in double figures. The other two, they've had three.

Like, they do have options. FAU goes legit nine deep. But I think for San Diego State, if they can find someone they can play behind, whether it be Lamont Butler, Micah Parrish, if it is Matt Bradley. I think Matt Bradley's important tomorrow. His last two games, he shot three for 17 from the floor.

And yet the Aztecs have won. If Bradley plays a strong game, San Diego State will win. John Fanta, do you think Dusty May will stay for more than one year? Like, will Noah be back next year? Do you think he stays a year after that? I don't see that.

Because I think you've got to cash in on your worth. And I think that he's going to get a power conference job. I wouldn't be surprised if he gets a job in the Big East or the Big Ten. I think Dusty May five or six years from now could very well be the coach of the Indiana Hoosiers. Wow. How about that? Especially with his school, the Bobby Knight connection as well. That would be some story.

Yeah, that's right. Mike Woodson won't be around forever. I mean, he's done a nice job here in two years.

Nothing, nothing. I think Woody, I honestly think that a lot of people ripped Woody when he got hired. And I think honestly, those people were wrong. I think Mike Woodson's done a good job at Indiana. Has it been the greatest job ever? No.

No. But he's done a nice job there. And we'll see what he does this upcoming year without Trace Jackson Davis. But the fact is, Mike Woodson's not going to be around forever. So when that job opens, Dusty May is going to be a candidate.

It's not a finalist. Last thing I'll ask you, John Fanta, can you see Jeff Goodman right now? I cannot see him right now.

I don't have my eyes on him at the moment. Do me a favor. Next time you see him, smack him over the head for me for saying Adam Fisher's a baffling hire by the Temple Owls, okay? Alright, I will.

You know, I will. And I think Adam Fisher has shown in his ability to recruit. Miami, hello? Yeah.

Especially in that area, the New Jersey, Pennsylvania area. I'm telling you, Goodman, we know Portner already banned him from Providence. I'm banning him from Temple. He's not allowed on those campuses anymore. Is he allowed on your show?

No. I don't, ah, maybe if I got to yell at him, sure. But then after that, I think we may ban him. It's been a very, I have to say this, it's been a very interesting March Madness from a media politics perspective for a variety of reasons. I mean, the people of Providence, I think I'm unbanned now.

I think I'm okay. But my gosh, you know, I can only cover the stories that are happening. You know, I can't pick and choose. And obviously, I mean, I got to tell you this, Zach, with us being Northeast Corridor guys and whatnot, the Big East next year is going to be insane. Oh, it's going to be awesome. The league is going to be dramatic as hell.

Those Providence games going up against Georgetown, especially when they go back to Providence, that's going to be awesome, John. It really will be. Must see. Must see. That's a national media-type moment in the month of December or January or February, whenever it happens for College Hoops.

That's going to be a hot ticket, and I think we'll have a lot of media out there. Even though I'm annoyed at Goodman right now, I have been enjoying all your coverage for the field of 68. Keep on pumping out great content and appreciate you always joining us. Zach, thank you so much. Let's enjoy the Madness here. One final weekend. You're listening to The Zach Gelb Show. So here's an interesting report.

This is Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio. For years, they've been talking about maybe putting a team in London. And the team that always gets floated out there is the Jaguars because they play one game a year out there.

But this would be for like a full-time basis. And then, hickey, there's been discussions before about maybe just one team, but never multiple teams. So if the NFL is considering expansion and adding more franchises, the league is going to look outside the United States for its next venture. The league is looking to create an international division in the coming years, an anonymous NFL owner told front office sports. So if they're talking about an international division, that would be four more teams, so you would go from 32 to 36. I don't love that.

Now, I know, right? There's been games in Germany, London, all over the place. You want to go a few times a year, right? Have like multiple games a year, OK? But an entire team and four of them? Like, I think it does put those teams at a disadvantage, hickey, because, yeah, you would say money is money. But I do think we lose sight of the family side of this as well. If you're a player and you get like, imagine if you get traded where you're with the Baltimore Ravens.

All right. We're trading you to one of the teams that's playing in either London or Germany. I don't think that's fair to the players. And we say this all the time with the NFL. They will sit there and tell you that they care about the players and they will say we do what's in the best interest of the players. That's a bunch of baloney. Whenever they say we do what's in the best interest of the players or the fans or player safety.

That's all a bunch of bullcrap. The owners do and Roger Goodell does what's in the best interest of lining their pockets. And there's some times where just because a move is going to get you more money, it doesn't always mean it's the best thing for the sport. And with how much money the NFL prints, I just don't think it's safe or safe is the wrong word. I don't think it's fair for the players where even if you just have to go to like free agency.

And and I know right. You can play the small violin because of the money that's getting involved. But if you don't have that big of a market and you've got to settle to have to move your family for a year to London or Germany or just yourself go. That's to me where I think right now we have a few games a year.

International games. I'm fine with. First off, we don't need four more teams in the NFL. But if you're adding four more teams, I don't think it's right to put those teams so far away from where all the other teams are. Like you have teams that bitch about cross-country flights.

So this to me, Hickey. I get why an owner would float this out there. I'm sure some owners think it's it's popular, but I can't imagine. And maybe I'm wrong here because, like I said, it's all about money that this is ever going to get passed. So reportedly it could bring three to five billion dollars in expansion fees for the owners. Right. If you go to an international division, massive amount of money. But just because it makes money. No, total that total.

Yep. Three to five billion dollars for up to four teams. If you expand for expansion fees, that will now be split by the other 32 owners throughout the league.

And just because it makes dollars does not mean it makes sense. You talked about before, like an extra four teams. The NFL doesn't need it. There's not enough talent, I think, right now in this country, in the NFL to support four more teams. Look how many teams struggle to find a quarterback. Let's see how good about their quarterback situation. Now you're going to add four more teams that are going to not be able to find a quarterback and have them try to succeed overseas. And like I said, where it's not even attractive in terms of free agency. If Lamar Jackson or if Patrick Mahomes, let's just say, ever reach for agency, do any of the four teams have a realistic chance of signing him? Probably not.

So you're at an automatic disadvantage just because of where your location is. I hate it. I'm with you. You know who this is good news for? Who's that?

Josh Rosen. Got to be able to find a way to one of those teams. I'm sure they could put a hot tub in your apartment in London. You know what? You may be right. He can't play here, but he goes to Europe all of a sudden.

He's a German sensation. Like, how would players, like, how would they be? I'm serious. I know there's always a way to get paid. But I would really look at those rosters and I would wonder if those teams could even fill the best rosters. I'm sure there'd be some guys that will take a paycheck to extend their playing career, obviously. But are those teams ever going to be able to be really, really good? And also with how NIL is right now in college sports. Imagine if, let's just say, the team in London has the first overall pick. If let's say Caleb, like, I know this is not going to happen next year, but let's just say Caleb Williams has the decision.

You go back to school for another year and get more money. Or you just say, I have enough money right now. I'm not playing for you if you end up drafting me. Like, if I have the number and overall pick, I'm not going to London for four or five years.

Like, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying it's a bad place to live. But when you're from the United States, then have to go start your job and go to a totally different lifestyle. I would think there'd be some players like, yeah, there's always going to be a market for people because people are going to want jobs. But when we're talking about how competitive those teams be, I wonder how competitive they could be. Because just right off the bat, some people aren't just going to want to go move their families and sign deals with those teams because how far away they are.

I mean, it's real. Especially if you have a family and you have a young child. I don't think this will ever happen. Moving from Jacksonville to Chicago is nowhere near as different as going from Jacksonville to Germany with a four-year-old child trying to teach them, you know, have them go through school. And I know there's probably a lot of people listening right now that are going to be like, oh, suck it up. They're paying you like eight, nine million dollars a year. But if let's just say I had a team offering me five million dollars a year. And then I had a team offering me even like ten million dollars a year.

So that's a big difference. But I'm taking the team that's going to offer me five million dollars a year than ten million dollars a year. If I get to stay in, let's say, Miami with the Dolphins compared to having to go to Germany. That's the way that I would at least look at it, because everyone has a price.

I understand that. But to go live in a totally different area for and it's not just September, October, November, December. I would imagine those facilities for those teams are going to be based in London and Germany. It's not like, oh, just for the players, we're going to have the facility in Jacksonville. So you're out there for OTAs, training camp. Off-season activities. That's that's a big move.

That's a big life shift. So I didn't even think about it that way, Hickey, until you said it. Can you even really set those teams up to succeed?

Just where the talent is based in the U.S., I would say probably no, especially. I mean, we're talking about possibly four teams bringing to the league for that's like it's not one. We're OK. Fine. You pick some players off other teams like you're bringing four teams now expected to be competitive, like I don't see. And I know those fans have been great in games, but it's one thing to get the stadium full for one game.

And I know there's always international NFL fans, but those stadiums selling out each and every game like that. I don't know. I'm just asking the question just here. It's a bad team, like show the first game and maybe the first season because it's new.

OK, this is cool. If you're watching a team get, you know, go three and 14 for three years in a row. Right. It loses its appeal, loses its luster compared to now where you said the energy is great. And then when you have these these drafts and then when you have things where players are going to be calling like players are going to want to go there. There's no way that there's going to be enough players that are going to want to uproot their entire lifestyle and go live internationally. To get the best 53 man roster.

That's that's crazy to me. Alrighty. We'll take a break on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio will come on back. We'll update some of the biggest stories of the world of sports with some audio.

We call that segment the news brief. Hall of Fame safety. We'll ask about that. Leroy Butler is going to join us coming up in twenty five minutes and then at eight twenty p.m. Eastern five twenty p.m. Pacific. Adam Fisher, the new head coach of Temple basketball, did a big job recruiting a lot of these guys to Miami. We'll stop by as.