00:00The big NHL news is that there's going to be a new CBA,
00:03four-year extension, begins 26-27 season.
00:06It's going to be announced today.
00:08And there are going to be 84 games instead of 82.
00:12In a couple of seasons, not next season.
00:15Correct.
00:17Is that going to mess up like with the NFL,
00:20adding the 17th game, you mess up records and all that stuff?
00:24Who cares? More money.
00:26It is surprising, though, isn't it?
00:29Because, I don't know, I felt like if the NBA or NHL
00:32was going to make a change in schedule,
00:35they would decrease the amount of regular season games.
00:38The NBA would because their games are devalued.
00:41The NHL, everybody plays.
00:42It's not the same thing.
00:45You have competitive hockey because they're going to remove
00:49two preseason games.
00:50Nobody goes to NHL preseason games.
00:52So you have a revenue opportunity.
00:54Players love to be out there playing.
00:56It's just apples to oranges.
00:59The NBA could never, no matter what the stakes are,
01:03could never add games because the regular season is already meaningless.
01:08Oh, they added that little goofy midseason tournament.
01:12That's what they need to do is add more, you know, razzle-dazzle.
01:18Change the court color.
01:20What?
01:21What?
01:21Yeah.
01:22What?
01:2350 uniforms.
01:26Change the court color.
01:28I'm telling you, man, get rid of conferences, get rid of divisions.
01:32Literally, you play 60 regular season games.
01:37One home game against every team, one road game against every single team,
01:41or 58 games.
01:42Damn it, how are you going to lose 22 games of revenue?
01:45You don't.
01:46Because then you expand the in-season tournament.
01:48You stop the regular season for about a month and a half.
01:51And for an entire month and a half, you make up those 20 games
01:54with the in-season tournament.
01:57One home game, one road game against every team in your group.
02:01You make it all the groups based on what the divisions are right now.
02:05So you still end up playing the Hawks, the Hornets, all your division teams
02:10multiple times in a year like you normally would.
02:12And then the top two teams from every group who win just like the FIFA
02:16Club World Cup advance to a knockout.
02:18And then you make up all those games with TV revenue through the in-season
02:23tournament.
02:24I'm telling you, it's right there in front of their faces.
02:26This is literally how teams, how it's done in Europe.
02:30Like, this isn't that difficult for soccer.
02:32It's how it's done.
02:34Move to Europe then.
02:35Solana, who would you take that from?
02:39Who would you take that?
02:40That was a great dismissive answer.
02:44Go move to Europe if you don't like the American way.
02:46Nobody.
02:47Crowder, I've been saying this for years.
02:50I've been saying this for years.
02:51He stole it from Europe.
02:53Literally.
02:54Like, this isn't a revolutionary concept.
02:56And it would make more sense.
02:59It would make more sense.
03:00Because guess what?
03:01The teams that don't care about the in-season tournament, okay,
03:03don't care about it then.
03:04Fine.
03:04But guess what?
03:06Fans, after a couple years, are going to care about it.
03:08Because you stop regular season play.
03:10And you tell people, these games don't count for the regular season.
03:14But you have a chance to go and either get healthy.
03:18If, you know, your roster is a little banged up, okay, then you don't prioritize the in-season tournament.
03:23Some teams in Europe don't prioritize the Champions League or the Europa League or the Nations League because, hey, we'd rather have better success in, you know, our actual league.
03:34Or some teams start off so poorly in the regular league, they know they have no chance, they prioritize the in-season tournaments.
03:42Like, it's strategy.
03:44It adds a whole new layer to what you're trying to do.
03:46It's not hard.
03:47They've been doing this for decades in soccer in every other continent outside the United States, America, North America.
03:55You can take your helmet off when you have this discussion.
03:57Well, the problem is, Adam Silver would say, wait a second, why do I need to fix something when we're a billion-dollar industry?
04:05The problem is you're never compelled to do that until people actually stop going to games and actually stop watching the games on TV.
04:17So we all say the same stuff, but we don't change our behaviors.
04:22So they don't have any impetus to actually do something like that.
04:26I'm with them.
04:27It makes sense.
04:28And if they were forced to do that because they were actually losing revenue, they would be forced to do it.
04:34But to change everything when you're getting record dollars from TV contracts, like the bidding war for the NBA rights was insane, which is why TNT lost it.
04:48I mean, the numbers are mind-boggling.
04:50So they really have no incentive to do that.
04:53They have an incentive to tell you, oh, yes, we hear your concern.
04:56And we're trying to address the bottom line is they're making more money than they've ever made before.
05:03Yeah.
05:05All salary caps are going up.
05:07Every sport.
05:08Yeah.
05:08But, Hawk, I mean, you would agree, like, there could always be better ways to format a league, even if the league is achieving success.
05:17First of all, like, you know, a 25-game regular season would be better than an 82-game regular season.
05:23Maybe a 50-game.
05:23But it's just, like, it's just conversation if you're more successful than you've ever been.
05:31I always do it with Trump, you know, when people would always go, oh, are you going to pivot to being more presidential back in 2016?
05:37And I was like, he just won the president.
05:39Why would he pivot now?
05:41You know what I mean?
05:42Like, you just reached the mountaintop.
05:45Like, I'm going to change it now.
05:48And so I would submit to you the same thing with the NBA.
05:50While we all agree that the games feel meaningless during the regular season and there are ways to fix it, what is their real incentive to shake things up when they've never made more money?
06:05You just said fix it.
06:07It's not broken.
06:08Right.
06:08Well, it is, in a sense, though.
06:11Not in business-wise.
06:13It's not broken at all for business.
06:15Yeah.
06:16But it could be better.
06:18Like, the next TV contract could be more, like, greater money-wise.
06:24Right.
06:24But there's a percentage increase.
06:27And you say to yourself, if we get this percentage increase, then everything's fine.
06:31Now, if you set budgets and you don't hit budgets, that's when you start to reevaluate.
06:36And my guess is Adam Silver said, hey, when the next TV contracts are up, if we're able to get this, which they obviously did from NBC and Amazon, you know, again, it just doesn't, wouldn't make any sense to rock the boat, really.
06:52Yeah.
06:54It's just, in my opinion, like, divisions and conferences in the NBA make no sense.
06:59In the NFL, it does.
07:01But in the NBA, it makes no sense.
07:03When you play everybody already, yeah.
07:05You play everybody already, and the rivalries aren't the same because rivalries come into place based on who you play in the playoffs.
07:12And you can just fly anyways, no matter who you're playing in the NBA.
07:17Like, you don't need divisions anymore.
07:20You don't need conferences.
07:22Eliminate it.
07:23Get the top 16 teams based on a regular season schedule.
07:27And you're going to have a much more competitive product.
07:32But whatever.
07:33Somebody text in, the NBA is nowhere near the mountaintop.
07:36Ever since Jordan, they've been crashing and burning.
07:40You're just living in a world that you want to live in there.
07:44That's honestly your take.
07:45Go look at the TV contract.
07:47Hawk, Hawk, Hawk.
07:48That's your guy that's going to follow you on the Mervis conspiracy.
07:51So don't, don't, don't believe.
07:52That's my audience.
07:54That's my audience.
07:56You're right, sir.
07:57You're right.
07:58Facts are facts.
07:59Like, it just is.
08:00I'm not telling you I'm happy about it or not.
08:02And I'm not telling, but like, to think that, I mean, honestly, it's crashing and burning since.
08:09That's like the people who say we're not watching the NFL anymore because they have racism in the end zone.
08:15I mean, that's a narrative that you would, I'm guessing that texture, that you would love for it to be true.
08:22So you're saying it as if it is, but I am telling you, go look at the TV contracts that were just signed and tell me the league is crashing and burning because it's comical.
08:35That's a comical take.
08:38You see that though.
08:39People, people are like, oh, nobody watches the NFL anymore.
08:42Right.
08:43Meanwhile, the NFL in the top 100 ratings book has 98 of them.
08:48Right.
08:48Man, it's more than just networks now.
08:52They're streaming.
08:53There's every type of different distribution and all of them are billion dollar companies.
08:57That's crazy to say.
08:59Yeah.
08:59All right, guys, your weather from the DeMesman and Dover law firm.
09:03Call them 866-954-MORE, youraccidentattorneys.com.
09:07Free consultations 24-7, partly cloudy.
09:10Oh, Marlins are in Arizona, by the way.
09:12I don't think I've mentioned that on the show today, but 940 tonight.
09:15Marlins are in Arizona.
09:16They'll open up a three-game weekend series on the road against Randy Johnson and the Diamondbacks.
09:21Your weather, right now, 85 degrees, a little humid, and some rain as well.
09:29Josh Beckett on the bump for the fifth.
09:31On the bump, yeah.
09:32I was listening.
09:33I love Randy Johnson.
09:34Quampierre batting leadoff.
09:38All right, don't go anywhere.
09:39We're going to break down why the NBA is crashing and burning in the next segment.
09:45The guy texts back and he says, it's simple.
09:47Ratings.
09:47Look at the ratings.
09:48Go look at the ratings.
09:49100% the NBA has crashed.
09:52Again, it's a false narrative that you're creating because TV contracts are bought based
09:58off of ratings.
10:00Period.
10:00End of story.
10:02Advertisers and networks aren't stupid.
10:04They know how eyeballs and advertising works.
10:09Now, if you're suggesting that the share of viewership is down from 80s to now, when Michael
10:18Jordan was playing or 90s, yes, because there are more things to watch, but they don't sell
10:25advertising based on 2025 viewership versus 1991 viewership because it was a completely
10:34different media landscape.
10:36So what you're doing there, you're convoluting an argument.
10:41I'm telling you, if you want to know if something's crashing and burning, look what they just got
10:47for their broadcast rights.
10:49And unless you think that every media outlet forgot how business works, then you cannot say with a straight face that the NBA is crashing and burning.
11:04It's illogical.
11:06It's literally illogical.
11:09So I appreciate that you have your own narrative and you would like for it to be true.
11:13It's just not.
11:14And it's the conversation that we just had.
11:16I would love for there to be a come to Jesus moment for the NBA where they reduce the number of games from 82 and do what Solana is talking about.
11:26But they don't need to because they're not crashing and burning as much as I'm annoyed by how the league looks on a night in and night out basis.
