00:00James, who exactly was in charge of this hiring process? And was this their number one candidate? I'm sure they interviewed plenty of other candidates throughout this entire process, but it's hard to not imagine that this wasn't the clear-cut guy once maybe he was made available that he was interested.
00:20Well, Smiley, one of the interesting things is that the search committee here involved a lot of the names that you would expect, the pre-existing PGA Tour establishment, but it also involved the SSG, the Tour's new investment partners, really heavily.
00:37From what I heard, they have taken on a considerable amount of power in the PGA Tour gears of progress, and Brian's hiring is no less a feat of anything than it is the SSG has stepped into an important role.
00:55Well, from what I heard, Arthur Blank, who's one of the big investors in the SSG, also is the owner of the Atlanta Falcons, was one of the key figures in bringing Brian aboard.
01:05And to your point, I think that is like 100 percent, it's a coup for the PGA Tour. That's what people kept saying to me when we were talking about just Brian's hiring and what it represented.
01:16Everyone said, like, it's kind of shocking that he decided to leave the NFL, something he had flirted with for a long time.
01:22He'd gotten a few job offers to be the number one at other sports leagues in the past, and it kind of passed them down to stay at the NFL.
01:29So the fact that he made this decision to leave for the PGA Tour now, it speaks both to what he views as the opportunity in the PGA Tour situation, and also, like, what is ultimately a massive get for the PGA Tour as they think about kind of modernizing business.
01:47Do you worry at all, given what you've said, you know, his position, how comfy it was?
01:52Does he look like the heir apparent to Goodell?
01:54Is there any situation where if this doesn't go well with the tour in the short term, where you could see him saying, when Goodell retires, I'm going right back to take that job?
02:03Man, that's a heady question.
02:06Probably a little bit too far above my pay grade.
02:09I mean, I think that's certainly a consideration, right?
02:12I mean, he has worked at the NFL for 22 years, I believe, 23 years before coming over to the PGA Tour.
02:19And, you know, whenever that Goodell job opens up, like, I'm sure that Brian will be part of the consideration.
02:28Everyone who I spoke to said Brian was hugely involved in the growth of the media rights business at the NFL, which if you are like a big sports business person, you know, like, the NFL has made $150 billion from their TV rights over the last decade.
02:45And, you know, that is something that Brian has played an instrumental role in.
02:51So any business that the NFL has had that's been successful, which has been insanely successful over the last decade, Brian has been instrumentally involved in.
03:00So, yeah, I mean, I think that is a concern.
03:02But, yeah, I think as we kind of, like, look at this as golf fans and whatnot, I think it's fair to say, like, the bird in the hand here is a really valuable thing.
03:14And bringing Brian into the world.
03:15We'll take Brian as long as we can get him, right?
03:17Yeah, exactly.
03:18Yeah, exactly.
03:19And if he, you know, there's a chance that, you know, maybe that job at the NFL doesn't come open for another 10 years.
03:25And then all of a sudden, Brian's, you know, career looks different and maybe his family situation is different and he decides he wants to stay.
03:33Like, these things are all fluid.
03:35And the fact that he left for this specific position, to me, intimates that, like, you know, he's at least planning on spending some time here because it's a considerable jump.
03:45And it's a leap of faith that, frankly, he didn't have to make.
