Rick, uh, what are your sort of underlying impressions from this tour around the country, et cetera, even beyond, uh, to seeing all of these different World Cup games in all of these different venues?

First of all, thank you for the new name.

I, I'm gonna replace the car- kinda Harvard visiting professor moniker with friend of the pod.

I like friend of the pod.

That, that, that, that has a lot of benefits.

So friend of the pod goes to eight venues, and the perception I have is that the United States sure put on an incredible event series, a hundred and four effective Super Bowls, with unintended consequences.

We're talking off air about how ninety percent of these people had never been to an American stadium for mega events like this because they're from other countries, and they're soccer fans.

Do you think that we will see a noticeable jump, particularly in attention to European soccer in this country after this World Cup, or do you think that this really is a World Cup and a World Cup only phenomenon where the viewership skyrockets, but it's still, it's still a once every four-year thing?

But what inspired you to make that your career and get to the level that you've achieved over the years?

Long story, I'll do the highlights because it is emotional.

So in 65, 66, my first exposure to golf was at the foot of my dad watching Jack Nicklaus win his first Masters.

And then a year later, I was at Mount Sinai Hospital in Miami where we were at about the same time.

And he gave me a set of expansion Miami Dolphin tickets to begin to play six months later and said, we're going, we're going to every game.

Well, he had melanoma and he didn't make it.

And one of the things that happened was we said, is Jack going to win his second major in a row or second Masters? And he said, yeah, I think so.

You grew up in Miami, but what inspired you to make that your career and get to the level that you've achieved over the years?

Hi, Rick.

Friend of the pod.

I like that.

And almost precise.

My visit to Vancouver wouldn't be complete if we thought that that was part of the American annexation.

So I'm going to eight cities, eight venues.

Highlights will be July 4 game in Philly.

All right, so first of all, why are you doing this? Are you just a big soccer fan and you're paying out of pocket for all these tickets?

I'm just curious what your initial thoughts on it are and also what you think NBA teams are going to think about it.

Well, first of all, it is a, um, I remember working with David Stern.

He was the smartest guy in the room and he knew it back when we were getting expansion franchise in Miami.

And one of the things he used to convey, if not say is out complicate your enemy.

And I got to tell you, that there will be some general managers who will claim that they understand it.

It's not war and peace, but, you know, three, two, and one, there's a relegation zone.

You get weighted balls based on the number that you fall in the slot.

So I guess you consider

Explain.

Yeah, we were just talking, to put it in layman's terms.

So it was 805,001.

Yeah, I was there.

And the shattering of the NFL draft attendance record is just part of the story.

When you think about it, the draft starts in 36.

Shoot the guy who left the Radio City Music Hall deal that was locking the NFL down for its foray across America.

Do you agree with that hypothesis?

But, you know, why were you involved in that Miami Heat process? And what was your role as that expansion process proceeded?

Well, we got two touch points.

You know, my kind of role in professional life has been to be the kind of facility development and franchise expansion coordinator for the league.

So, you know, the Miami one was right after law school coming back.

Put together the Miami Sports Authority.

We tried like 40 different kind of processes, and we finally got an arena done, cobbled together.

And Ted Arison, the Carnival Cruise Lines guy, made a presentation, long story short, to David Stern at the time.

Now, you kind of led into it there, but why does expansion

I'm curious to hear why you were there and what you told them.

Yeah, I was there because it was all on the West Coast, Super Bowl 60, which was a little bit of a dud, but that's for another day.

And then played Pebble at Pebble and down to the NBA All-Star weekend, David Holt, the mayor of Oklahoma City, who won 86% of the vote, by the way.

The Thunder is there, the defending champions.

He convened a meeting of 60 mayors under the U.S. Conference of Mayors banner that he's president of to talk about what are the common interests around football mayors and public officials that want to preserve teams, do stadiums, maximize economic impact with them, how you sell it, how you generate more impact, how you win elections, and how you prepare for the future in a time where 100 years ago, we were responding to Spanish flu by roaring 20s public-private partnerships, Orange Bowl and otherwise.

Now, 100 years later, we're moving past COVID into a golden era, and he wanted the mayors to be prepared.

I was lucky enough to be part of this kind of mayors-only meeting.

But other than just rattling off the names, my question for you is, why is this all happening seemingly at the same time?

What is it from this particular game, Rick, that you're looking at that may lead you to such a conclusion?

Well, if you consider Mark Cuban a wealthy NIL individual, I guess that works.

Well, so do I.

And frankly, you know, Indiana has been a basketball school.

Mark Cuban knew it as a basketball school.

15-0 this year, first Big Ten championship since 67, Heisman Trophy for Fernando Mendoza, and setting the stage with Cignetti of an all-time amazing deal.

Bottom line, from my perspective, growing up in South Florida, is I remember the days when the guys would be the best team money could buy.

And is there more pressure on teams to land that star head coach than there ever has been before?